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454 army. When the courts were re-established, he re- sumed his office, and in 1785 was appointed one of three commissioners to form a digest of the state law. He was outspoken in the state convention against the federal constitution, because he feared consolidated power, but after its adoption was elected to the 1st congress. He served from 4 March, 1789, until he resigned in 1791, the South Carolina legislature having passed a law prohibit- ing any state judge from leaving the state. Judge Burke was for several years a member of the as- sembly, and just before his death became chancellor of the state. He published a pamphlet against the Society of the Cincinnati, which became famous, and caused that body to abandon some of the aristocratic provisions formerly in its constitution. The pamphlet was translated into French by Mi- rabeau, and used by him in the assembly. Judge Burke had a plentiful fund of Irish wit, and many stories are told of him ; but, though eccentric, he was an u])right and earnest republican.

BURKE, Edmund, English statesman, b. in Dublin, 1 Jan., 1730; d. in Beaconsfield, England, 9 July, 1797. He was the son of a Dublin attorney, was graduated at Trinity college in 1748, studied law, and, going to London, wrote political articles for newspapers there. In 1755 he was offered a government place in America, and was anxious to take it, but was deterred by his father's opposition. He published in 1756 his &ldquo;Vindication of Natural Society&rdquo; and the essay on &ldquo;The Sublime and Beautiful,&rdquo; in 1757 &ldquo;An Account of the European Settlements in America,&rdquo; and in 1758-'9 established, with Dodsley, &ldquo;The Annual Register.&rdquo; In 1761-'5 he was the friend and adviser of William Gerard Hamilton, secretary to the lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and in 1765-'6 was secretary to the prime-minister, Rockingham, and entered parliament 14 Jan., 1766. He took an active part in the discussion of American questions, and proved himself an able and eloquent speaker. His thorough acquaintance with American affairs was rewarded, in November, 1771, by the appointment of agent for the colony of New York. On 19 April, 1774, he made a speech on American taxation, considered by many as the greatest effort of oratory ever heard in the house of commons. His speech of 22 March, 1775, recommending conciliatory measures toward the colonies, also excited general admiration. His earnestness in espousing the cause of the colonists displeased his constituents, and he defended his course in two able &ldquo;Letters to Gentlemen of Bristol.&rdquo; At the opening of the November session of parliament in 1781, Burke ridiculed the king's speech, which, in spite of Cornwallis's surrender, insisted on the rights of the crown in America. He compared the ministry to men who would shear a wolf, and in the next year the combined attacks of Fox and himself on the conduct of the war, forced North to retire. During Rockingham's brief administration in 1782, Burke was a privy councillor and paymaster of the forces, a place he also held under the coalition ministry in 1783. He took a prominent part in the affairs of India, and, in January, 1786, began the prosecution of Warren Hastings. His speech on the opening of Hastings's trial, 10 Feb., 1788, was worthy of the occasion and of his great reputation. Though the impeachment of Hastings was not carried, the herculean labors of Burke in behalf of India were not fruitless. In November, 1790, he published his great work in opposition to the French revolution, entitled &ldquo;Reflections on the Revolution in France.&rdquo; On 6 May, 1791, an open rupture took place between Burke and Fox, who accused him of abandoning the

principles of his party. Burke vindicated himself in his &ldquo;Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs.&rdquo; In 1796 he wrote his &ldquo;Letter to a Noble Lord,&rdquo; one of the most successful and popular of all his productions. The best edition of his works is that edited by George Nichols (12 vols., Boston, 1865-'7).

BURKE, John Edmund, clergyman, b. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 22 Jan., 1852. He 'attended St. Francis Xavier's college in New York, and studied for the priesthood at Mount St. Mary's seminary, Emmetsburg, Md., and at the American college in Rome, where he was ordained a priest on 4 Aug., 1878. On his return to the United States he be- came pastor of the church of the Epiphany, New York. Becoming deeply interested in the spiritual condition of the colored Roman Catholics of that city, and realizhig their great need of church accom- modation, he, in 1878, voluntarily resigned his pas- toral charge to devote himself to supplying this want of the colored Roman Catholics. On 4 Oct., 1883, the property of the 3d Universalist church society, on the southeast corner of Bleecker and Downing streets, was purchased by James Clyne for Father Richard L. Burtsell, of the church of the Epiphany, and on 18 November of that year the church was re-dedicated as the church of St. Bene- dict the Moor, the Rev. Mi-. Burke being appointed its pastor. This is the first church for colored Roman Catholics in the United States.

BURKE, Stevenson, lawyer, b. in St. Lawrence CO., N. Y., 26 Nov., 1826. He was admitted to the bar in Elyria, Ohio, in 1848, was judge of common pleas in Lorain co. from 1862 till 1869, and subsequently practised law in Cleveland. He was attorney for the Erie railway company in the proceedings connected with the re-organization of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad, and acted with Chief-Justice Waite as arbitrator in the case. He was counsel for some of the Oberlin rescuers, who forcibly released an escaped slave that had been seized by sheriff's officers from Kentucky. Despairing of an acquittal of his clients in Cleveland, he secured the arrest of the Kentuckians and their indictment for kidnapping in Lorain co., a proceeding that impelled the opposite counsel to agree to a discontinuance of the cases on both sides. In the Butzman and Mueller case in 1884 he delivered a notable argument against the constitutionality of the Scott liquor law. He was the agent employed by the managers of the New York Central railroad in the purchase of the New York, Chicago, and St. Louis, known as the " Nickel Plate " railroad, and has been the regular attorney of several railroad corporations and taken an active part in the management of railroads, becoming vice-president of the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis, and the Indianapolis and St. Louis railroads, and president of the Cleve-