Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/776

* BUBKE. 692 BURKE. Hamilton), then Secretary for Ireland, having appointed him his private secretary, he returned to Diililin, where, during two years' service, ho demonstrated his aptitude for jjolitical business, receiving in 17li3, in reward for his services, a pension on the Irish establishment of £300, wliich, however, he did not long enjoy. Returning to London in 1704, lie became a member of the literary club which met at the Turk's Head in Gerard Street, and whose history is associated with ahiiost every eonsicU'ral)le name in the literature of the period. But literaiy so- ciety did not call oil' liis attention from the chances of a political <"ireer. He became private secretary to the Jlarquis of Rockingham, on his becoming Premier (1705), and entered Parlia- ment as a member for Wendover (1700). Here his elo(|uence at once gave him the reputation of being "the first man in the Commons.' The Rock- ingham Administration, however, lived onlyafew months, and with it terminated this, his second political employment. He was successively niem- lier for Wendover, Bristol, and Malton; his Par- liamentary life extended without intermission to 1794. Twice he held the post of paymaster of the forces, once under Rockingliam, and again nnder Lord North, with the standing of a privy councilor. -After a career in Parliament remark- able for the laboriousness, earnestness, and brill- iancy with which every duty was discharged, and extending over nearly thirty years, he retired at last, receiving the thanks of the Commons for his numerous public services, and rewarded by the Government, on the express rcijuest of liis sov- ereign, with jiensions amounting in all to several thousand pounds. He administered the office of paymaster of the forces with scrupulous regard to public economy, and sacrificed all the perqui- sites of his office, exiiibiting a severe integrity then unusual among public men. In his relations with the constituency of Bristol, which was alien- ated from hitii by his advocacy of the claims of the Roman Catliolics and of the opening up of the trade of Ireland, he was the lirst to maintain the doctrine of the independence of Parliamen- tary representatives — that they are not machines to vote for measures approved by their constitu- encies simply for that reason, but men and think- ers chosen by them calmly to consider and legis- late for the good of the ('ommon wealth. During his career he rendered inure important service to the cause of liunianity tlian any other man of his time in Eurojie: he prepared the way for the abolition of the slave-trade, a measure which was destined to ripen to success in the hands of Wil- herforce; he advocated the clause of liunianity in India against the voracious greed of stocklioldcrs, who regarded its millions simply as materials for plunder, and largely contributed to improve the government of that country. Toward America he advocated a policy of justice and conciliation, which had it been adopted wouUl have averted the liorrors of the War of Independence, and re- tained the Colonies in amity with the mother country. To the advocacy of every cause which he espoused he brought a capacity for patient research that was unlimited, and an eloquence that has seldom been equalled. Burke produced a vast numlier of writings on many subjects. Among the more im|)ortant are: Obscnaiions on a Pamphlet on the Present Slate of the Xation (170!)), replying to a paper vari- ously ascribed to Fox or Grenville; On the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770) ; the celebrated speech in 1788 opening the trial of Warren Hast- ings (q.v), and the equally famous speeches on American Taxation (1774) and on CuneUiatiun leith America (1775), which may perhaps he re- garded as the most splendid monuments of his eloquence and statesmanship. On the other hand, with strange inconsistency, Burke resisted the movement for the reform of Parliamentary repre- sentation; and he failed utterly to grasp the true meaning of the French Revolutidu. In 1790 ap- peared his Reflections on the Rerolution in France, which had a remarkable success. Eleven editions were issued within the first year, and by 1797 more than 30.000 copies had been sold. It was received with delight by George III., and by every enemy of the Revolution; yet, as a contri- bution to the literature of social history, the book is worthless. Burke was an ardent lover of order ; and, deceived by the violence of the Jaco- bins, the man who had stood so bravely for the rights of the English colonists and the Hindus was unable to perceive that the French people were struggling to free themselves from a class despotism far more oppressive. In liis Rights of Man, Thomas Paine made a trenchant reply to Burke's book ; and it was also answered by Mack- intosh in Vindiciw (lallicce. Few men liave been the subjects of higlier panegyric than Burke, and, on the whole, few have better deserved praise. He was noble-mind- ed, pure in his life, and a purist in politics. In- tellectually, he was most richly endowed. Pos- sessing imagination, rare powers of observation, and indefatigable industry, there was no subject which he could not master, and none which, hav- ing mastered, he could not expound with un- paralleled richness of language. But with the.se virtues and powers were conjoined defects, which, without bating their greatness, largely neutral- ized their influence. He was, it may be said, too literarj' to be a philosopher, and too philosophic to be a politician. His career would seem to il- lustrate this position. His oratory astounded by its lirilliancy rather than persuaded by its tone and argument; and in the long run the eloquence which f.ailed to command the reason ceased to captivate the ear. The man who at first evoked the enthusiasm of the House by the brilliancy and power of his eIo(]ueiice, did actually at last eni])ty it by persistence in the monotonous s|deii- dors of his spceclics. Passionate and in a great degree intractable, he was unsuited for i)arty politics, and drifted from all his connections, breaking U]) slowly all party ties, and even the tics of friendship, till he reached at last almost a state of political isolation. At the same time, it must not be forgotten how great an inlluence he, half pliilosopher, half politician, exercised on the coun.sels of the State; many of his views on politics and public economy were anticipations of science, as many of his previsions of the course of events were prophecies. He died on Julv 7, 1797. There is an excellent edition of Burke's Marks in 12 volumes (Boston, 1871); reprinted in volumes in the Bohn series (London, 1880). His Letters, in 4 volumes, were edited by Earl Fitz- william and Sir R. Bourke (London," 1844) ; and they are reprinted in the edition of the Works (London, 1852). Consult: A. J. George, editor, Speeches on the American War, and Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol (Boston, 1891); James