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BUR care of Dr. Nugent, who was equally distinguished as a physician and a scholar, and a cordial friendship grew up between them. Burke became an inmate of the doctor's house, and ultimately the husband of his daughter, a union which was productive of the greatest happiness throughout life to both. Notwithstanding the great reputation which he had acquired, Burke had still to struggle slowly upwards. For three years he was occupied with occasional writing, with editing a "History of the European Settlements in America," and with a History of England, which, though prosecuted as far as eight sheets, was never completed, and with the establishment, in conjunction with his publisher, Dodsley, of the Annual Register. He had now directed his attention chiefly to political subjects, and there is no doubt he was anxiously casting about for the means of coming forward in that course, for which he was by intellect and education so eminently fitted. That opportunity was afforded him by the earl of Charlemont, who introduced him to Mr. W. G. Hamilton (better known as "Single-speech Hamilton"), then secretary for Ireland, and this gentleman appointed Burke to the office of his private secretary in 1761, and with him he returned to his native land. In this office he continued for two years, rendering great services to the administration, and a pension of £300 a year was bestowed upon him, charged on the Irish establishment. The conduct of Mr. Hamilton, however, towards him, though it has never been fully explained, was such that a man of Burke's independent spirit could no longer act with him. He therefore broke off all connection with Hamilton, relinquished his pension, and in 1763 again returned to England. But in returning to London, Burke found that his character for political knowledge had preceded him, and he was looked upon as a man whose future position was sure to be a high one. Two years after his return the marquis of Rockingham was appointed prime minister: he chose Burke as his private secretary, and upon the opening of parliament in January, 1766, he took his seat as member for Wendover. Upon the first night that he sat an opportunity was afforded him for the display of his great abilities. He spoke upon American affairs in such a manner as to astonish the house, and draw from Mr. Pitt, who followed him, a panegyric as unusual from the latter as it was honourable to the subject of it. The Rockingham administration was dissolved in July, 1766, and Mr. Burke retired to Ireland with the reputation of being "the first man in the commons." On his return to London an offer was made to him by Mr. Pitt, which he refused, and he appeared as the leader of the most powerful section of the opposition to the new ministry. In the next parliament he was again returned for Wendover, and purchased an estate in Buckinghamshire. His first avowed political pamphlet was published in the year 1769, being observations upon a pamphlet written either by Mr. Fox or Mr. Grenville—On the Present State of the Nation. Burke's "Observations" were characterized by powerful argumentation and force of expression, and were extremely well received; and it is a proof of the high estimation in which he was held, both as a politician and a writer, that the celebrated Letters of Junius, which appeared about that time, were attributed to him. In the following year appeared his celebrated pamphlet "On the Cause of the Present Discontents," which, for its merit as a literary composition and for the profound and comprehensive knowledge which it exhibits, may be placed beside the best productions of its author.

From this period we find Burke actively engaged in all the political questions of those momentous times. In the contest with the colonies he took a conspicuous part on behalf of the Americans, and he was appointed agent for New York in 1771. In the conflict which arose at this period between the house of commons and the city of London upon the arrest of the printers, Burke espoused the cause of the latter: he also took part in the debates on the affairs of India in the following year. In 1773 he went to France, the social state of which was then such as to make a profound impression on his mind. In the meantime the position of our relations with America was becoming daily more critical, and on the 19th of April, 1774, a motion was brought on for the repeal of the duty on tea. On this occasion Burke rose to reply to a violent speech of Mr. Cornwall, and though the house had been wearied of the debate, and most of the members had left, such was the power of his eloquence, the force of his reasoning, and the readiness with which he replied on the moment to the arguments of the government, that the house became filled with admiring listeners; and even the auditors in the galleries could scarcely be restrained from breaking out into applause. At the conclusion of one of those splendid bursts with which he electrified the house. Lord John Townshend exclaimed—"Good heavens! what a man is this! where could he have found such transcendant powers?" On the dissolution of parliament Burke stood for Malton, on the Rockingham interest, and was successful; but immediately after consented to be put in nomination for Bristol, where he was returned, free of expense, 3rd November. The following year Burke came forward with his thirteen resolutions for quieting America, which he introduced in a speech no less celebrated than that of the previous year, and of which Lord Chatham and Mr. Fox spoke in terms of the highest commendation. On the 11th February, 1780, he brought forward his motion for economical retrenchment in a speech which is a repertory of political wisdom and general knowledge, and which added to his popularity. Burke's advocacy of the Roman Catholic claims, as well as his support of the acts for opening the trade of Ireland, diminished his popularity with the electors of Bristol, so that when he went to stand again for that town, after the dissolution in 1780, he found that the populace were disfavourable to him, though the enlightened and higher portion of the constituency publicly expressed their continued confidence. He therefore declined to contest the representation, and was returned for Malton, which he continued to represent during the rest of his political life. In 1782 Lord Rockingham again became prime minister. Burke was not admitted into the cabinet, to which his merits entitled him, but he was made privy councillor and paymaster of the forces. In this last office he gave evidence of a scrupulous and severe integrity unexampled in public men. The interest of the money lying in bank in the paymaster's name amounted to about £25,000 a year, which was always considered the fair perquisite of the office. Of this sum Burke refused to appropriate one penny, though his private circumstances were very straitened; and he brought in a bill by which he effected a saving in the public expenditure of £72,000 yearly. The Rockingham administration terminated by the death of that nobleman in 1782, when Lord Shelbourne succeeded, and Burke retired from office. The famous coalition of Fox and Lord North put out the Shelbourne administration in 1783, and Burke resumed his old office, and on the second reading of the East India bill, December 1, 1783, made one of his magnificent speeches, displaying the vast amount of his knowledge and the great resources of his mind—a speech that now remains only as a monument of superb abilities misapplied. The bill was carried in the house of commons, but lost in that of the lords, and on its defeat the ministry went out, Mr. Pitt coming in as premier, and henceforth Burke was to be found in the ranks of the opposition. The state of India was now a most engrossing subject, and Burke applied all the energies of his mind to it. For years had Burke been engaged in deep and laborious investigations in relation to the wrongs of India. In 1780 and 1781 two committees had been appointed upon Indian affairs, and of those Burke was a most laborious member; and then report charged Warren Hastings, the governor-general of Bengal, and William Hornby, the president of the council at Bombay, with having "in sundry instances acted in a manner repugnant to the honour and policy of this nation, and thereby brought great calamity on India;" and declared that it was the duty of the directors to remove them from office. Hastings was recalled, and returned to England in 1785. In February of the following year Burke brought forward his specific charges against Hastings, upon the motion for papers, which was followed by his going into the detail of these charges successively, which occupied the house at intervals during that and the following year; and during the progress of these proceedings Burke displayed all the powers of his intellect, and the vigour and industry of one who put his soul to the work that he felt called upon to prosecute. On the 10th of May, 1787, Burke accused Hastings at the bar of the house of lords in the name of the commons of England, and on the 13th February, 1788, the trial commenced in Westminster Hall, in the most august form in which English justice has ever appeared. The king, with the house of lords, spiritual and temporal, sat on the tribunal; the commons of England stood at the bar. After the articles of impeachment were read, Burke, on the third day, opened the case in a statement which occupied four days. Whether viewed as a piece of forcible reasoning, or looking to the momentous importance and vastness of the