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 American colonies, then in almost open insurrection. On the 19th April, on a motion by Mr. Rose Fuller, he electrified the House by a display of thrilling eloquence that had seldom been equalled within its walls, and that called forth irrepressible exclamations of admiration. In autumn, Parliament was dissolved. Through the Marquis of Kockingham's interest, Mr. Burke was returned for Malton. As he was expressing his acknowledgments to his new constituents, a deputation arrived from Bristol asking him to stand for that important borough. Travelling night and day, he arrived on the sixth day of the poll, addressed the electors, and after a contest of twenty-seven days was returned — no small honour, considering the weight of the Bristol constituency at that period. In March 1775, he introduced in Parliament his Thirteen Propositions for quieting the troubles in America. His speech on the occasion, recommending some conciliatory measures towards the colonies, then on the eve of revolt, commanded general admiration. In April 1777 he drew up and published an able defence of his conduct on the American question, in the form of A Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol. This was followed in 1778 by Two Letters to Gentlemen in the City of Bristol, on the Bills depending in Parliament relative to the Trade of Ireland, relating to a subject upon which he had given great offence to many of his constituents. On 11th February 1780, he delivered his speech on economical reform, in submitting to Parliament his plan for the regulation of the affairs of the Household, the Ordnance, the Mint, the Exchequer, the Army, Navy, and Pension-pay offices, in five Bills. The favour with which this speech was received both within and without the House was almost unprecedented. On the dissolution, in the summer of this year, he prudently declined standing again for Bristol, his opinions upon almost all questions being in advance of those of his constituents, who were especially incensed against him for the support he had given to the Acts for opening the trade of Ireland, and for his advocacy of Catholic relief measures. He was returned for Malton, a borough he continued to represent during the remainder of his parliamentary career. In March 1782, Lord North and his colleagues resigned. Lord Rockingham again came into power, and Mr. Burke was made a Privy-Councillor, and appointed Paymaster of the Forces. With noble disinterestedness he immediately brought in a Bill curtailing the enormous profits of this office. He fixed the salary at £4,000 a year, where previous occupants netted nearly £20,000. Starting from the vantage ground this treatment of his own interests gave, he carried other Bills of economical reform, in the face of powerful opposing interests. In July 1782 Lord Rockingham died, and on the appointment of Lord Shelbourne to the head of the Treasury, Mr. Burke resigned. In 1783 he was again Paymaster in the short-lived coalition ministry of Fox and Lord North. The result of the motion on Mr. Fox's India Bill (in the debate upon which he displayed his master-grasp of all matters connected with the great Eastern Empire coming under the dominion of Great Britain) sealed the fate of this ministry. Mr. Pitt came into office. Burke was again thrown into the ranks of the opposition, and never afterwards was a member of the Government. To the affairs of India he now devoted most of his attention. The impeachment of Hastings was forced on mainly by his intellectual grasp of the Indian question, and by his matchless eloquence. In 1786 he presented to the House the articles of charge against Warren Hastings for his treatment of the natives and sovereigns of India whilst Governor-General. In February 1788, Hastings' trial commenced in Westminster Hall. Burke opened proceedings, that ultimately dragged on for six years, in a noble speech occupying four days. Preoccupation in Indian affairs did not prevent him from giving earnest attention to the causes and results of the French Revolution. In November 1790 appeared Reflections on the French Revolution, perhaps the ablest of all his works, certainly that prepared with most care. Within one year 19,000 copies were sold in England, and about as many more of a French translation on the Continent. Mr. Prior says: "The publication proved one of the remarkable events of the year, perhaps of the century; for it may be doubted whether any previous political production ever excited so much attention, so much discussion, so much praise from one party, so much animadversion from another." It had a profound influence upon public opinion in Great Britain and Ireland. Testimonials of approval flowed in upon the writer from different quarters. The allied sovereigns, the French Princes, Catherine of Russia, Stanislaus, King of Poland, sent Mr. Burke direct acknowledgments; while George III. had a number of copies elegantly bound—declaring it was "a book which every gentleman ought to read." The praises of the learned, however, preceded in the order of time, the approval of the great. The University of Dublin conferred upon him the degree of LL.D.; the graduates of Oxford presented him with an address; Gibbon wrote: "Burke's book is a most 46