Chapter IV: Part 4

I do not know that the Colonies have, in any general way, or in any cool hour, gone much beyond the demand of humanity in relation to taxes. It is not fair to judge of the temper or dispositions of any man, or any set of men, when they are composed and at rest, from their conduct or their expressions in a state of disturbance and irritation. It is besides a very great mistake to imagine that mankind follow up practically any speculative principle, either of government or of freedom, as far as it will go in argument and logical illation. We Englishmen stop very short of the principles upon which we support any given part of our Constitution, or even the whole of it together. I could easily, if I had not already tired you, give you very striking and convincing instances of it. This is nothing but what is natural and proper. All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter. We balance inconveniences; we give and take; we remit some rights, that we may enjoy others; and we choose rather to be happy citizens than subtle disputants. As we must give away some natural liberty to enjoy civil advantages, so we must sacrifice some civil liberties for the advantages to be derived from the communion and fellowship of a great empire. But, in all fair dealings, the thing bought must bear some proportion to the purchase paid. None will barter away the immediate jewel of his soul. [Footnote: 65] Though a great house is apt to make slaves haughty, yet it is purchasing a part of the artificial importance of a great empire too dear to pay for it all essential rights and all the intrinsic dignity of human nature. None of us who would not risk his life rather than fall under a government purely arbitrary. But although there are some amongst us who think our Constitution wants many improvements to make it a complete system of liberty, perhaps none who are of that opinion would think it right to aim at such improvement by disturbing his country, and risking everything that is dear to him. In every arduous enterprise we consider what we are to lose, as well as what we are to gain; and the more and better stake of liberty every people possess, the less they will hazard in a vain attempt to make it more. These are the cords of man. Man acts from adequate motives relative to his interest, and not on metaphysical speculations. Aristotle, the great master of reasoning, cautions us, and with great weight and propriety, against this species of delusive geometrical accuracy in moral arguments as the most fallacious of all sophistry.

The Americans will have no interest contrary to the grandeur and glory of England, when they are not oppressed by the weight of it; and they will rather be inclined to respect the acts of a superintending legislature when they see them the acts of that power which is itself the security, not the rival, of their secondary importance. In this assurance my mind most perfectly acquiesces, and I confess I feel not the least alarm from the discontents which are to arise from putting people at their ease, nor do I apprehend the destruction of this Empire from giving, by an act of free grace and indulgence, to two millions of my fellow-citizens some share of those rights upon which. I have always been taught to value myself.

It is said, indeed, that this power of granting, vested in American Assemblies, would dissolve the unity of the Empire, which was preserved entire, although Wales, and Chester, and Durham were added to it. Truly, Mr. Speaker, I do not know what this unity means, nor has it ever been heard of, that I know, in the constitutional policy of this country. The very idea of subordination of parts excludes this notion of simple and undivided unity. England is the head; but she is not the head and the members too. Ireland has ever had from the beginning a separate, but not an independent, legislature, which, far from distracting, promoted the union of the whole. Everything was sweetly and harmoniously disposed through both islands for the conservation of English dominion, and the communication of English liberties. I do not see that the same principles might not be carried into twenty islands and with the same good effect. This is my model with regard to America, as far as the internal circumstances of the two countries are the same. I know no other unity of this Empire than I can draw from its example during these periods, when it seemed to my poor understanding more united than it is now, or than it is likely to be by the present methods.

But since I speak of these methods, I recollect, Mr. Speaker, almost too late, that I promised, before I finished, to say something of the proposition of the noble lord on the floor, which has been so lately received and stands on your Journals. I must be deeply concerned whenever it is my misfortune to continue a difference with the majority of this House; but as the reasons for that difference are my apology for thus troubling you, suffer me to state them in a very few words. I shall compress them into as small a body as I possibly can, having already debated that matter at large when the question was before the Committee.

First, then, I cannot admit that proposition of a ransom [Footnote: 66] by auction; because it is a mere project. It is a thing new, unheard of; supported by no experience; justified by no analogy; without example of our ancestors, or root in the Constitution. It is neither regular Parliamentary taxation, nor Colony grant. Experimentum in corpore vili [Footnote: 67] is a good rule, which will ever make me adverse to any trial of experiments on what is certainly the most valuable of all subjects, the peace of this Empire.

Secondly, it is an experiment which must be fatal in the end to our Constitution. For what is it but a scheme for taxing the Colonies in the ante-chamber of the noble lord and his successors? To settle the quotas and proportions in this House is clearly impossible. You, Sir, may flatter yourself you shall sit a state auctioneer, with your hammer in your hand, and knock down to each Colony as it bids. But to settle, on the plan laid down by the noble lord, the true proportional payment for four or five and twenty governments according to the absolute and the relative wealth of each, and according to the British proportion of wealth and burthen, is a wild and chimerical notion. This new taxation must therefore come in by the back door of the Constitution. Each quota must be brought to this House ready formed; you can neither add nor alter. You must register it. You can do nothing further, for on what grounds can you deliberate either before or after the proposition? You cannot hear the counsel for all these provinces, quarrelling each on its own quantity of payment, and its proportion to others If you should attempt it, the Committee of Provincial Ways and Means, or by whatever other name it will delight to be called, must swallow up all the time of Parliament.

Thirdly, it does not give satisfaction to the complaint of the Colonies. They complain that they are taxed without their consent, you answer, that you will fix the sum at which they shall be taxed. That is, you give them the very grievance for the remedy. You tell them, indeed, that you will leave the mode to themselves. I really beg pardon--it gives me pain to mention it--but you must be sensible that you will not perform this part of the compact. For, suppose the Colonies were to lay the duties, which furnished their contingent, upon the importation of your manufactures, you know you would never suffer such a tax to be laid. You know, too, that you would not suffer many other modes of taxation, so that, when you come to explain yourself, it will be found that you will neither leave to themselves the quantum nor the mode, nor indeed anything. The whole is delusion from one end to the other.

Fourthly, this method of ransom by auction, unless it be universally accepted, will plunge you into great and inextricable difficulties. In what year of our Lord are the proportions of payments to be settled? To say nothing of the impossibility that Colony agents should have general powers of taxing the Colonies at their discretion, consider, I implore you, that the communication by special messages and orders between these agents and their constituents, on each variation of the case, when the parties come to contend together and to dispute on their relative proportions, will be a matter of delay, perplexity, and confusion that never can have an end.

If all the Colonies do not appear at the outcry, what is the condition of those assemblies who offer, by themselves or their agents, to tax themselves up to your ideas of their proportion? The refractory Colonies who refuse all composition will remain taxed only to your old impositions, which, however grievous in principle, are trifling as to production. The obedient Colonies in this scheme are heavily taxed, the refractory remain unburdened. What will you do? Will you lay new and heavier taxes by Parliament on the disobedient? Pray consider in what way you can do it. You are perfectly convinced that, in the way of taxing, you can do nothing but at the ports. Now suppose it is Virginia that refuses to appear at your auction, while Maryland and North Carolina bid handsomely for their ransom, and are taxed to your quota, how will you put these Colonies on a par? Will you tax the tobacco of Virginia? If you do, you give its death-wound to your English revenue at home, and to one of the very greatest articles of your own foreign trade. If you tax the import of that rebellious Colony, what do you tax but your own manufactures, or the goods of some other obedient and already well-taxed Colony? Who has said one word on this labyrinth of detail, which bewilders you more and more as you enter into it? Who has presented, who can present you with a clue to lead you out of it? I think, Sir, it is impossible that you should not recollect that the Colony bounds are so implicated in one another,--you know it by your other experiments in the bill for prohibiting the New England fishery,--that you can lay no possible restraints on almost any of them which may not be presently eluded, if you do not confound the innocent with the guilty, and burthen those whom, upon every principle, you ought to exonerate. He must be grossly ignorant of America who thinks that, without falling into this confusion of all rules of equity and policy, you can restrain any single Colony, especially Virginia and Maryland, the central and most important of them all.

Let it also be considered that, either in the present confusion you settle a permanent contingent, which will and must be trifling, and then you have no effectual revenue; or you change the quota at every exigency, and then on every new repartition you will have a new quarrel.

Reflect, besides, that when you have fixed a quota for every Colony, you have not provided for prompt and punctual payment. Suppose one, two, five, ten years' arrears. You cannot issue a Treasury Extent against the failing Colony. You must make new Boston Port Bills, new restraining laws, new acts for dragging men to England for trial. You must send out new fleets, new armies. All is to begin again. From this day forward the Empire is never to know an hour's tranquillity. An intestine fire will be kept alive in the bowels of the Colonies, which one time or other must consume this whole Empire. I allow indeed that the empire of Germany raises her revenue and her troops by quotas and contingents; but the revenue of the empire, and the army of the empire, is the worst revenue and the worst army in the world.

Instead of a standing revenue, you will therefore have a perpetual quarrel. Indeed, the noble lord who proposed this project of a ransom by auction seems himself to be of that opinion. His project was rather designed for breaking the union of the Colonies than for establishing a revenue. He confessed he apprehended that his proposal would not be to their taste. I say this scheme of disunion seems to be at the bottom of the project; for I will not suspect that the noble lord meant nothing but merely to delude the nation by an airy phantom which he never intended to realize. But whatever his views may be, as I propose the peace and union of the Colonies as the very foundation of my plan, it cannot accord with one whose foundation is perpetual discord.

Compare the two. This I offer to give you is plain and simple. The other full of perplexed and intricate mazes. This is mild; that harsh. This is found by experience effectual for its purposes; the other is a new project. This is universal; the other calculated for certain Colonies only. This is immediate in its conciliatory operation; the other remote, contingent, full of hazard. Mine is what becomes the dignity of a ruling people--gratuitous, unconditional, and not held out as a matter of bargain and sale. I have done my duty in proposing it to you. I have indeed tired you by a long discourse; but this is the misfortune of those to whose influence nothing will be conceded, and who must win every inch of their ground by argument. You have heard me with goodness. May you decide with wisdom! For my part, I feel my mind greatly disburthened by what I have done to-day. I have been the less fearful of trying your patience, because on this subject I mean to spare it altogether in future. I have this comfort, that in every stage of the American affairs I have steadily opposed the measures that have produced the confusion, and may bring on the destruction, of this Empire. I now go so far as to risk a proposal of my own. If I cannot give peace to my country, I give it to my conscience.

But what, says the financier, is peace to us without money? Your plan gives us no revenue. No! But it does; for it secures to the subject the power or refusal, the first of all revenues. Experience is a cheat, and fact a liar, if this power in the subject of proportioning his grant, or of not granting at all, has not been found the richest mine of revenue ever discovered by the skill or by the fortune of man. It does not indeed vote you L152,750 11s. 23/4d, nor any other paltry limited sum; but it gives the strong box itself, the fund, the bank--from whence only revenues can arise amongst a people sensible of freedom. Posita luditur arca. [Footnote: 68] Cannot you, in England--cannot you, at this time of day--cannot you, a House of Commons, trust to the principle which has raised so mighty a revenue, and accumulated a debt of near 140,000,000 in this country? Is this principle to be true in England, and false everywhere else? Is it not true in Ireland? Has it not hitherto been true in the Colonies? Why should you presume that, in any country, a body duly constituted for any function will neglect to perform its duty and abdicate its trust? Such a presumption [Footnote: 69] would go against all governments in all modes. But, in truth, this dread of penury of supply from a free assembly has no foundation in nature; for first, observe that, besides the desire which all men have naturally of supporting the honor of their own government, that sense of dignity and that security to property which ever attends freedom has a tendency to increase the stock of the free community. Most may be taken where most is accumulated. And what is the soil or climate where experience has not uniformly proved that the voluntary flow of heaped-up plenty, bursting from the weight of its own rich luxuriance, has ever run with a more copious stream of revenue than could be squeezed from the dry husks of oppressed indigence by the straining of all the politic machinery in the world? [Footnote: 70]

Next, we know that parties must ever exist in a free country. We know, too, that the emulations of such parties--their contradictions, their reciprocal necessities, their hopes, and their fears--must send them all in their turns to him that holds the balance of the State. The parties are the gamesters; but Government keeps the table, and is sure to be the winner in the end. When this game is played, I really think it is more to be feared that the people will be exhausted, than that Government will not be supplied; whereas, whatever is got by acts of absolute power ill obeyed, because odious, or by contracts ill kept, because constrained, will be narrow, feeble, uncertain, and precarious.

"Ease would retract Vows made in pain, as violent and void."

I, for one, protest against compounding our demands. I declare against compounding, for a poor limited sum, the immense, ever-growing, eternal debt which is due to generous government from protected freedom. And so may I speed in the great object I propose to you, as I think it would not only be an act of injustice, but would be the worst economy in the world, to compel the Colonies to a sum certain, either in the way of ransom or in the way of compulsory compact.

But to clear up my ideas on this subject: a revenue from America transmitted hither--do not delude yourselves--you never can receive it; no, not a shilling. We have experience that from remote countries it is not to be expected. If, when you attempted to extract revenue from Bengal, you were obliged to return in loan what you had taken in imposition, what can you expect from North America? For certainly, if ever there was a country qualified to produce wealth, it is India; or an institution fit for the transmission, it is the East India Company. America has none of these aptitudes. If America gives you taxable objects on which you lay your duties here, and gives you, at the same time, a surplus by a foreign sale of her commodities to pay the duties on these objects which you tax at home, she has performed her part to the British revenue. But with regard to her own internal establishments, she may, I doubt not she will, contribute in moderation. I say in moderation, for she ought not to be permitted to exhaust herself. She ought to be reserved to a war, the weight of which, with the enemies [Footnote: 71] that we are most likely to have, must be considerable in her quarter of the globe. There she may serve you, and serve you essentially.

For that service--for all service, whether of revenue, trade, or empire--my trust is in her interest in the British Constitution. My hold of the Colonies is in the close affection which grows from common names, from kindred blood, from similar privileges, and equal protection. These are ties which, though light as air, [Footnote: 72] are as strong as links of iron. Let the Colonists always keep the idea of their civil rights associated with your government,--they will cling and grapple to you, [Footnote: 73] and no force under heaven will be of power to tear them from their allegiance. But let it be once understood that your government may be one thing, and their privileges another, that these two things may exist without any mutual relation, the cement is gone [Footnote: 74]--the cohesion is loosened--and everything hastens to decay and dissolution. As long as you have the wisdom to keep the sovereign authority of this country as the sanctuary of liberty, the sacred temple consecrated to our common faith, wherever the chosen race and sons of England worship freedom, they will turn their faces towards you. The more they multiply, the more friends you will have; the more ardently they love liberty, the more perfect will be their obedience. Slavery they can have anywhere--it is a weed that grows in every soil. They may have it from Spain; they may have it from Prussia. But, until you become lost to all feeling of your true interest and your natural dignity, freedom they can have from none but you. This is the commodity of price of which you have the monopoly. This is the true Act of Navigation which binds to you the commerce of the Colonies, and through them secures to you the wealth of the world. Deny them this participation of freedom, and you break that sole bond which originally made, and must still preserve, the unity of the Empire. Do not entertain so weak an imagination as that your registers and your bonds, your affidavits and your sufferances, your cockets and your clearances, are what form the great securities of your commerce. Do not dream that your letters of office, and your instructions, and your suspending clauses, are the things that hold together the great contexture of the mysterious whole. These things do not make your government. Dead instruments, passive tools as they are, it is the spirit of the English communion that gives all their life and efficacy to them. It is the spirit of the English Constitution which, infused through the mighty mass, pervades, feeds, unites, invigorates, vivifies every part of the Empire, even down to the minutest member.

Is it not the same virtue which does everything for us here in England? Do you imagine, then, that it is the Land Tax Act which raises your revenue? that it is the annual vote in the Committee of Supply which gives you your army? or that it is the Mutiny Bill which inspires it with bravery and discipline? No! surely no! It is the love of the people; it is their attachment to their government, from the sense of the deep stake they have in such a glorious institution, which gives you your army and your navy, and infuses into both that liberal obedience without which your army would be a base rabble, and your navy nothing but rotten timber.

All this, I know well enough, will sound wild and chimerical to the profane herd [Footnote: 75] of those vulgar and mechanical politicians who have no place among us; a sort of people who think that nothing exists but what is gross and material, and who, therefore, far from being qualified to be directors of the great movement of empire, are not fit to turn a wheel in the machine. But to men truly initiated and rightly taught, these ruling and master principles which, in the opinion of such men as I have mentioned, have no substantial existence, are in truth everything, and all in all. Magnanimity [Footnote: 76] in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together. If we are conscious of our station, and glow with zeal to fill our places as becomes our situation and ourselves, we ought to auspicate [Footnote: 77] all our public proceedings on America with the old warning of the church, Sursum corda! [Footnote: 78] We ought to elevate our minds to the greatness of that trust to which the order of providence has called us. By adverting to the dignity of this high calling our ancestors have turned a savage wilderness into a glorious empire, and have made the most extensive and the only honorable conquests--not by destroying, but by promoting the wealth, the number, the happiness, of the human race. Let us get an American revenue as we have got an American empire. English privileges have made it all that it is; English privileges alone will make it all it can be.

In full confidence of this unalterable truth, I now, quod felix faustumque sit, [Footnote: 79] lay the first stone of the Temple of Peace; and I move you--

"That the Colonies and Plantations of Great Britain in North America, consisting of fourteen separate governments, and containing two millions and upwards of free inhabitants, have not had the liberty and privilege of electing and sending any Knights and Burgesses, or others, to represent them in the High Court of Parliament."

FOOTNOTES

[Footnote: 1. grand penal bill. This bill originated with Lord North. It restricted the trade of the New England colonies to England and her dependencies. It also placed serious limitations upon the Newfoundland fisheries. The House of Lords was dissatisfied with the measure because it did not include all the colonies.]

[Footnote: 2. When I first had the honor. Burke was first elected to Parliament Dec. 26, 1765. He was at the time secretary to Lord Rockingham, Prime Minister. Previous to this he had made himself thoroughly familiar with England's policy in dealing with her dependencies--notably Ireland.]

[Footnote: 3. my original sentiments. After many demonstrations both in America and England the Stamp Act became a law in 1765. One of the first tasks the Rockingham ministry set itself was to bring about a repeal of this act. Burke made his first speech in support of his party. He argued that the abstract and theoretical rights claimed by England in matters of government should be set aside when they were unfavorable to the happiness and prosperity of her colonies and herself. His speech was complimented by Pitt, and Dr. Johnson wrote that no new member had ever before attracted such attention.]

[Footnote: 4. America has been kept in agitation. For a period of nearly one hundred years the affairs of the colonies had been intrusted to a standing committee appointed by Parliament. This committee was called "The Lords of Trade." From its members came many if not the majority of the propositions for the regulation of the American trade. To them the colonial governors, who were appointed by the king, gave full accounts of the proceedings of the colonial legislatures. These reports, often colored by personal prejudice, did not always represent the colonists in the best light. It was mainly through the influence of one of the former Lords of Trade, Charles Townshend, who afterwards became the leading voice in the Pitt ministry, that the Stamp Act was passed.]

[Footnote: 5. a worthy member. Mr. Rose Fuller.]

[Footnote: 6. former methods. Condense the thought in this paragraph. Are such "methods" practised nowadays?]

[Footnote: 7. paper government. Burke possibly had in mind the constitution prepared for the Carolinas by John Locke and Earl of Shaftesbury. The scheme was utterly impracticable and gave cause for endless dissatisfaction.]

[Footnote: 8. Refined policy. After a careful reading of the paragraph determine what Burke means by "refined policy."]

[Footnote: 9. the project. The bill referred to had been passed by the House on Feb. 27. It provided that those colonies which voluntarily voted contributions for the common defence and support of the English government, and in addition made provision for the administration of their own civil affairs, should be exempt from taxation, except such as was necessary for the regulation of trade. It has been declared by some that the measure was meant in good faith and that its recognition and acceptance by the colonies would have brought good results. Burke, along with others of the opposition, argued that the intention of the bill was to cause dissension and division among the colonies. Compare 7, 11-12. State your opinion and give reasons.]

[Footnote: 10. the noble lord in the blue ribbon Lord North (1732-1792) He entered Parliament at the age of twenty-two, served as Lord of the Treasury, 1759; was removed by Rockingham, 1765; was again appointed by Pitt to the office of Joint Paymaster of the Forces, became Prime Minister, 1770, and resigned, 1781 Lord North is described both by his contemporaries and later histonaus as an easy-going, indolent man, short-sighted and rather stupid, though obstinate and courageous. He was the willing servant of George III, and believed in the principle of authority as opposed to that of conciliation. The blue ribbon was the badge of the Order of the Garter instituted by Edward III Lord North was made a Knight of the Garter, 1772. Burke often mentions the "blue ribbon" in speaking of the Prime Minister. Why?]

[Footnote: 11. Colony agents. It was customary for colonies to select some one to represent them in important matters of legislation. Burke himself served as the agent of New York. Do you think this tact accounts in any way for his attitude in this speech?]

[Footnote: 12. our address Parliament had prepared an address to the king some months previous, in which Massachusetts was declared to be in a state of rebellion. The immediate cause of this address was the Boston Tea Party. The lives and fortunes of his Majesty's subjects were represented as being in danger, and he was asked to deal vigorously not only with Massachusetts but with her sympathizers.]

[Footnote: 13. those chances. Suggested perhaps by lines in Julius Caesar, IV., iii., 216-219:--

"There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries."]

[Footnote: 14. according to that nature and to those circumstances. Compare with 8. Point out the connection between the thought here expressed and Burke's idea of "expediency."]

[Footnote: 15. great consideration. This paragraph has been censured for its too florid style. It may be rather gorgeous and rhetorical when considered as part of an argument, yet it is very characteristic of Burke as a writer. In no other passage of the speech is there such vivid clear-cut imagery. Note the picturesque quality of the lines and detect if you can any confusion in figures.]

[Footnote: 16. It is good for us to be here. Burke's favorite books were Shakespeare, Milton, and the Bible. Trace the above sentence to one of these.]

[Footnote: 17.

"Facta parentun
Jam legere et quae sit poteris cognoscere virtus."
--VIRGIL'S Eclogues, IV., 26, 27]

Notice the alteration. Already old enough to study the deeds of his father and to know what virtue is.

[Footnote: 18. before you taste of death. Compare 16.]

[Footnote: 19. Roman charity. This suggests the more famous "Ancient Roman honor" (Merchant of Venice, III., 11, 291). The incident referred to by Burke is told by several writers. A father condemned to death by starvation is visited in prison by his daughter, who secretly nourishes him with milk from her breasts.]

[Footnote: 20. complexions. "Mislike me not for my COMPLEXION."--M. V. Is the word used in the same sense by Burke?]

[Footnote: 21. the thunder of the state. What is the classical allusion?]

[Footnote: 22. a nation is not governed.

"Who overcomes By force hath overcome but half his foe"
--Paradise Lost, 1, 648, 649.]

[Footnote: 23. Our ancient indulgence. "The wise and salutary neglect," which Burke has just mentioned, was the result of (a) the struggle of Charles I. with Parliament, (b) the confusion and readjustment at the Restoration, (c) the Revolution of 1688, (d) the attitude of France in favoring the cause of the Stuarts, (e) the ascendency of the Whigs. England had her hands full in attending to affairs at home. As a result of this the colonies were practically their own masters in matters of government. Also the political party known as the Whigs had its origin shortly before William and Mary ascended the throne. This party favored the colonies and respected their ideas of liberty and government.]

[Footnote: 24. great contests. One instance of this is Magna Charta. Suggest others.]

[Footnote: 25. Freedom is to them Such keen analysis and subtle reasoning is characteristic of Burke It is this tendency that justifies some of his admirers in calling him "Philosopher Statesman". Consider his thought attentively and determine whether or not his argument is entirely sound. Is he correct in speaking of our Gothic ancestors?]

[Footnote: 26. Abeunt studia in mores. Studies become a part of character.]

[Footnote: 27. winged ministers of vengeance. A figure suggested perhaps by Horace, Odes, Bk. IV., 4: "Ministrum fulmims alitem"--the thunder's winged messenger.]

[Footnote: 28. the circulation. The Conciliation, as all of Burke's writings, is rich in such figurative expressions. In every instance the student should discover the source of the figure and determine definitely whether or not his author is accurate and suggestive.]

[Footnote: 29. its imperfections.

"But sent to my account
With all my imperfections upon my head."
--Hamlet, I, v, 78, 79.]

[Footnote: 30. same plan. The act referred to, known as the Regulating Act, became a law May 10, 1774. It provided (a) that the council, or the higher branch of the legislature, should be appointed by the Crown (the popular assemblies had previously selected the members of the council); (b) that officers of the common courts should be chosen by the royal governors, and (c) that public meetings (except for elections) should not be held without the sanction of the king. These measures were practically ignored. By means of circular letters the colonies were fully instructed through their representatives. As a direct result of the Regulating Act, along with other high-handed proceedings of the same sort, delegates were secretly appointed for the Continental Congress on Sept. 1 at Philadelphia. The delegates from Massachusetts were Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Paine, and Thomas Cushing.]

[Footnote: 31. their liberties. Compare 24]

[Footnote: 32. sudden or partial view. Goodrich, in his Select British Eloquence, speaking of Burke's comprehensiveness in discussing his subject, compares him to one standing upon an eminence, taking a large and rounded view of it on every side. The justice of this observation is seen in such instances as the above. It is this breadth and clearness of vision more than anything else that distinguishes Burke so sharply from his contemporaries.]

[Footnote: 33. three ways. How does the first differ from the third?]

[Footnote: 34. Spoliatis arma supersunt. Though plundered their arms still remain.]

[Footnote: 35. your speech would betray you. "Thy speech bewrayeth thee"--Matt. xxvi 73. There is much justice in the observation that Burke is often verbose, yet such paragraphs as this prove how well he knew to condense and prune his expression. It is an excellent plan to select from day to day passages of this sort and commit them to memory for recitation when the speech has been finished.]

[Footnote: 36. to persuade slaves. Does this suggest one of Byron's poems?]

[Footnote: 37. causes of quarrel. The Assembly of Virginia in 1770 attempted to restrict the slave trade. Other colonies made the same effort, but Parliament vetoed these measures, accompanying its action with the blunt statement that the slave trade was profitable to England. Observe how effectively Burke uses his wide knowledge of history.]

[Footnote: 38. ex vi termini. From the force of the word.]

[Footnote: 39. abstract right. Compare with 14; also 8. Point out connection in thought.]

[Footnote: 40. Act of Henry the Eighth. Burke alludes to this in his letter to the sheriffs of Bristol in the following terms: "To try a man under this Act is to condemn him unheard. A person is brought hither in the dungeon of a ship hold; thence he is vomited into a dungeon on land, loaded with irons, unfurnished with money, unsupported by friends, three thousand miles from all means of calling upon or confronting evidence, where no one local circumstance that tends to detect perjury can possibly be judged of;--such a person may be executed according to form, but he can never be tried according to justice."]

[Footnote: 41. correctly right. Explain.]

[Footnote: 42. Paradise Lost, II., 392-394.]

[Footnote: 43. This passage should be carefully studied. Burke's theory of government is given in the Conciliation by just such lines as these. Refer to other instances of principles which he considers fundamental in matters of government.]

[Footnote: 44. exquisite. Exact meaning?]

[Footnote: 45. trade laws. What would have been the nature of a change beneficial to the colonies?]

[Footnote: 46. English conquest. At Henry II.'s accession, 1154, Ireland had fallen from the civilization which had once flourished upon her soil and which had been introduced by her missionaries into England during the seventh century. Henry II. obtained the sanction of the Pope, invaded the island, and partially subdued the inhabitants. For an interesting account of England's relations to Ireland the student should consult Green's Short History of the English People.]

[Footnote: 47. You deposed kings. What English kings have been deposed?]

[Footnote: 48. Lords Marchers. March, boundary. These lords were given permission by the English kings to take from the Welsh as much land as they could. They built their castles on the boundary line between the two countries, and when they were not quarrelling among themselves waged a guerilla warfare against the Welsh. The Lords Marchers, because of special privileges and the peculiar circumstances of their life, were virtually kings--petty kings, of course.]

[Footnote: 49. "When the clear star has shone upon the sailors, the troubled water flows down from the rocks, the winds fall, the clouds fade away, and, since they (Castor and Pollux) have so willed it, the threatening waves settle on the deep."--HORACE, Odes, I., 12, 27-32.]

[Footnote: 50. Opposuit natura. Nature opposed.]

[Footnote: 51. no theory. Select other instances of Burke's impatience with fine-spun theories in statescraft]

[Footnote: 52. Republic of Plato Utopia of More Ideal states Consult the Century Dictionary]

[Footnote: 53. "And the DULL swain
Treads daily on it with his clouted shoon"
--MILTON'S Comus, 6, 34, 35.]

[Footnote: 54. the year 1763 The date marks the beginning of the active struggle between England and the American colonies. The Stamp Act was the first definite step taken by the English Parliament in the attempt to tax the colonies without their consent.]

[Footnote: 55. legal competency. This had been practically recognized by Parliament prior to the passage of the Stamp Act. In Massachusetts the Colonial Assembly had made grants from year to year to the governor, both for his salary and the incidental expenses of his office. Notwithstanding the fact that he was appointed (in most cases) by the Crown, and invariably had the ear of the Lords of Trade, the colonies generally had things their own way and enjoyed a political freedom greater, perhaps, than did the people of England.]

[Footnote: 56. This is not my doctrine, but that of Ofellus; a rustic, yet unusually wise]

[Footnote: 57. Compare in point of style with 43, 22-25; 44, 1-6 In what way do such passages differ from Burke's prevailng style? What is the central thought in each paragraph?]

[Footnote: 58. misguided people. There is little doubt that the colonists m many instances were misrepresented by the Lords of Trade and by the royal governors. See an interesting account of this in Fiske's American Revolution.]

[Footnote: 59. an Act. Passed in 1767. It provided for a duty on imports, including tea, glass, and paper.]

[Footnote: 60 An Act. Boston Post Bill.]

[Footnote: 61. impartial administration of justice. This provided that if any person in Massachusetts were charged with murder, or any other capital offence, he should be tried either in some other colony or in Great Britain]

[Footnote: 62. An Act for the better regulating See 87, 23. ]

[Footnote: 63. Trial of Treasons See 50, 20.]

[Footnote: 64. de jure. According to law. de facto. According to fact.]

[Footnote: 65. jewel of his soul.

"Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls"
--Othello, III, iii, 155,156.]

[Footnote: 66. proposition of a ransom. See 8, 13.]

[Footnote: 67. An experiment upon something of no value.]

[Footnote: 68. They stake their fortune and play.]

[Footnote: 69. Such a presumption Is Burke right in this? Select instances which seem to warrant rest such a presumption. Discuss the political parties of Burke's own day from this point of view.]

[Footnote: 70. What can you say about the style of this passage? Note the figure, sentence structure, and diction. Does it seem artificial and overwrought? Compare it with 43, 22-25; 44. 1-6; also with 90, 23-25, 91, 1-25, 92, 1-23.]

[Footnote: 71. enemies. France and Spain.]

[Footnote: 72. light as air.

"Trifles light as air
Are to the jealous confirmations strong
As proofs of holy writ"
--Othello, III, iii, 322-324]

[Footnote: 73.

grapple to you.
"The friends thou hast and their adoption tried
Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel"
--Hamlet, I., iii, 62,63.]

[Footnote: 74. the cement is gone. Figure?]

[Footnote: 75. profane herd.

"Odi profanum volgus et arceo"
I hate the vulgar herd and keep it from me
--Horace, Odes, III, 1, 1]

[Footnote: 76. Magnanimity. Etymology?]

[Footnote: 77. auspicate Etymology and derivation?]

[Footnote: 78. Sursum corda. Lift up your hearts.]

[Footnote: 79. quod felix faustumque sit. May it be happy and fortunate.]