A life of Edmund Burke

Front matter

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Contents

PARI

Dedication ., v

Advertisement to the Fifth Edition . . . • . xi Advertisement to the Second Edition .... xiii

Chapter I

Family and Birth of Burke. — The Naples. —Castletown Roche Schoolmaster.—Ballitore Anecdotes. — Studies, and Poetical Exercises at Col- '."^e. — Literary Society in Dublin. — Dramatic Notices. — First Political Writings. — Entry at the Middle Temple 1

CHAPTER n.

First Impressions of London and England generally. — Excursions. — Contemplates an Attempt for the Logic Professorship of Glasgow. — Report about St. Omer. — Letter to his Father respecting a visit to America. — First avowed Publications. — Ilis Marriajire. — Idea of a Perfect Wife 32

Chapter III

Abridgment of English History. — Annual Register. — Acquaintance witli Dr. Johnson. — A Canon of Lichfield. — Mrs. Ann Pitt, Bishop Warburton, Hume, Lord Charlemont, Mr. Fitzherbert. — Dr. Markham's Friendship. — Mr. Gerard Hamilton. — Letter to Mr. Flood. — His Pension.— Anecdote of his Humanity. — Patronises Barry. — Goldsmith 53

Chapter IV

Becomes Private Secretary to the Marquis of Rockingham. — The Duke of Newcastle and Gerard Hamilton. — Difficulties of Ministry. — Success in Parliament. — Dismission of Ministry. — Short Account of a short Administration.— Visit to Ireland. — Proposed for Office by the Duke of Grafton. — His Mother. — Anecdotes. — Gregories.— Pamphlet in Reply to Mr. Grirnville. — Junius. — Barry. — Garrick . . . 8i

Vm : CONliiNTS.

Chapter V

Mr. Burke and Sir William Ba^'ott.— Mr. Fox.— Letter to G. Nagle.— Puinplilet on the Discontents. — Parliamentary Business. — His Farming'. — Belief of liis being Junius. — Ottered Office in India. — Visit to France. — Character of Irish Absentees. — Letter to General Lee. — Speech of the 19th of April, 1774. — Goldsmith. — Ill-humour of Barry. — Johnson and Burke. — Election for Bristol 115

Chapter VI

Parliamentary Business. — Speech on American Conciliation. — Variety of his occupations. — Round llobin on Goldsmitli's Epitaph. — Proposed Secession from Parliament. — Use of a good Speech in Parliament. — Letters to the Sheritfs and two Gentlemen of Bristol. — Lettei's to Barry, Francis, Fox. — Dr. Robertson. — Speeches on the Address, and Employment of the Indians. — American Independence. — Two Letters on the Trade of Ireland. — Admii-al Keppel. — Pecuniaiy means. — Irish Volunteers 153

Chapter VII

Irish Affairs. — Economical Reform. — Parliamentary Reform. — Conduct during the Riots. — Intercedes for Mercy towards the Rioters. — Elocution Walker. — Slave Trade. — Rejection at Bristol. — The Prince of AVales, Burke, and the Curate — Crabbe the Poet. — Anecdotes of hia Humanity and Playful Humour. — Opposed to Fox on the Repeal of the IMarrirtge Act. — Sheridan. — Shearing the Wolf. — Letter to Lord Kenmare on Roman Catholics. — Change of Ministry. — Letter to Franklin

Chapter VIII

Appointed Paymaster General. — Wot in the Cabinet. — Death of Lord Rockingham and Change of Ministry. — Lord Shelburne. — Coalition. — Reports of the Select Committee on Bengal. — Communications on the Arts to Barry. — India Bill. — Mr. Pitt. — Mr. Burke elected Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow. — Reception in the New Parliament. — Dr. Johnson. — General Haviland and Family. — Jeu d'Esprit of Dean Marlay. — Miss Shackleton. — Anecdotes 213

Chapter IX

Count de Mirabeau. — Speech on the Nabob of Arcot's Debts. — Visit to Scotland. — Impeachment of Mr. Hastings. — His Character. — Peroration on opening of the Charges. — Visit to Ireland. — Conversations with a Gentleman n London. — Mr. Hardy's Account of him. — Hannah More. — Preface to Bellendenus.— Epitaph on the Marquis of Rockingham 243

CONTENTS.

Chapter X

Burke at Mr. Crewe's. — Adventure with a Poor Artist. — Dr. Brocklcsby, — Reg^ency Question. — Affairs of Hasting-s. — Miss Buruey.— Mr. Wilberf'orce. — French Revolution.— Letters to Lord Charlemont and M. Menonville. — Rupture with Mr. Sheridan. — Mr. Mercer. — Mr. Philip Francis. — Parliamentary Business. — Mr. G. Hamilton . . 275

Chapter XI

' Reflections on the Revolution in France." — Testimonies in its favour. — Translation of it by Louis XVI. — Opposed by a strong- party. — Thoma Paine. — Letter to a Member of the National Assembly. — Rupture witli Mr. Fox.— Jury Bill of 1791.— "Visit to Margate.— Print of him bj Benedetti. — Caricatures 310

Chapter XII

Appeal from the New to the Old Whi^s. — Reception at the Levee. — French Emigrants. — Madame deGenlis. — Mr. (afterwards Baron) Smith. — Correspondence. — AVritinjs on French Affairs, and on the Roman Catholic Claims. — Empress of Russia. — Sir Joshua Reynolds. — Parliamentary Business. — Epistolary Communications. — Scene of the Dagg-er. — War with France. — Mr. Wiustanley . . . 346

Chapter XIII

Letter to the Duke of Portland on the Conduct of the Minority. — Mr. Dundas. — Remarks on the Policy of the Allies. — Epistolary Labours. — Death of Richard Burke the elder. — Report upon the Causes of the Duration of Hasting-s's Trial. — Retires from Parliament. — Junction of the Old Whigs with Ministry. — Death of Young Burke.— Dr. Laurence's Letters 376

Chapter XIV

Rumoured Appointment to Provostship of Trinity College, Dublin. — Grant of a Pension. — Correspondence with Smith on the Roman Catholic Question. — Recall of Earl Fitzwilliam. — Second Letter to Sir Hercules Langrishe, on the same subject. — Letter to William Elliott, Esq., on the Attack of the Duke of Norfolk in the House of Lords. — Letters to Mrs. Salisbury Haviland. — Letter to Lord Auckland, with Remarks on his Pamphlet. — Letter to Mr. Smith. — Thoughts and Details on Scarcity. — Anecdotes. — Letter to a J^oble Lord. — Correspondence with Dr. Hussey, a Roman Catholic Priest. — Folly of the cry in Ireland for Separation from England 407

X CONTENTS.

Chapter XV

Establishment of the Emigrant School at Penn.— Letter to Mr. Gahag^an. — Letters on a Regicide Peace. — His Prophetic Spirit as opposed to that of Mr. Pitt. — Letter to the Prince of Wurtemburg-. — Report concerning him. — An unprincipled Booksellei-. — Correspondence. — Visit to Bath. — Mr. AVilberforee. — Letter to JNIrs. Leadbeater. — His Illness and Death 431

Chapter XVI

His Person. — Manners. — Habits. — Conversational Powers and Sallies. — Private Character. — Ardour of Temper and Reputed Irritability. — Contemporary Opinions formed of him .... 463

CHAPTER XVI r.

His Eloquence. — His Writings. — His leading Principles as a Statesman. — Burke, Pitt, Fox 492 ladaz .537

ADVEETISEMENT TO THE EIETH EDITION.

The favour extended to this biography for many years, ua shewn by the sale of several large editions, has occasioned the demand for a new issue. In conformity with the spirit of the times, a more popular form is assumed, so as to bring the volume within the reach of that large and increasing class of readers who desire to have standard works in a portable compass, and of others whose thirst for information on topics of general interest may exceed their means of acquiring it. With this view, the work has undergone careful revision. No abbreviation has been made in the narrative, which, on the contrary, is rendered more full by additions and references to the correspondence of its subject. Those letters only have been omitted that possess little immediate connexion with the occurrences of Burke's life, and which will find a more appropriate place in the body of his works.

It is satisfactory to state, in testimony of the care with which the work was originally written, that in the many volumes of contemporary men and history since published, or in the four volumes of correspondence issued under the care of Earl Eitzwilliam and Sir Richard Bourke, no incident that I have mentioned is contradicted, and no new one has been added.

The sources indeed whence I drew my information, rendered the omission of any event of moment improbable. To those formerly noticed, may be added the following : The recollections of Mr. Burke's niece, Mrs. Haviland, for several years an inmate of her uncle's house, as communicated bv her son ; those of Mr. Shackleton, Burke's schoolfellow, and of his daughter Mrs. Leadbeater, with both of whom frequent correspondence was maintained ; several others of his private friends and correspondents to whom occasional reference occurs ; while from another contemporary source, materials previously unknown were put into my hands illustrative of his studies and pursuits while in Trinity College, of which it will be seen occasional use is made.

XU ADVEETISEMENT TO THE FIFTH EDITION.

Altogether, these furnish evidence of early formation of character, and indicate how truly the predilections of the youth were destined to shine forth in the man. Few readers but will find interest in tracing out such a career. Personally I cannot but feel gratified at having lent my humble aid to the more just representation of his motives and character at a time when there was a disposition to throw censure upon both, by the surviving members of an angry, because discomfited, order of politicians, who had never forgiven their overthrow on the questions connected with Revolutionary France. Nor are the anticipations in the original preface to this publication less fully verified, namely, that the misconstructions to which he had been subjected would soon cease; that esteem no less than fame awaited him ; and that while receding from the fleeting passions and contentions of the day, he would ascend to that position among the first order of mankind, where according to the estimate of the distinguished men of the last and of the present age, as will be seen in the sixteenth chapter of this work, he has no Buperior and scarcely an equal.

Norfolk Crescknt, September, 1854.

ADVEETISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION.

In presenting a second and mucli enlarged edition of tliia work to the public, the writer cannot omit to express his acknowledgments for the favourable reception experienced by the first ; not only from the periodical censors of literature who assume to guide public taste, but from private testimonies of approbation afforded by persons of the very first consideration and talents in the country.* Opinions which would seem to be confirmed by the sale of a large impression of the work in no very considerable space of time.

This encouragement induced corresponding diligence on his part, to endeavour, by every available means, to add to its interest and correctness ; and the inquiry and research resorted to with this view though laborious, have not been in vain. The additional matter collected, almost the whole of which is original, adds nearly a second volume to the work, and has necessarily caused a new arrangement in many parts for its introduction in the order of time, while other passages are wholly re-written. The work may thence be considered in many parts new. This plan he conceived to be more systematic and desirable than merely to give a supplemental volume of disjointed letters, anecdotes, and fragments thrown together without such coherence as their nature and importance deserved.

For the information thus received the writer is indebted to a variety of sources upon which he can place implicit reliance. Some of these are noticed in the progress of the volumes. Several persons to whom he is obliged, think it obtrusive or unnecessary to give their names to the world upon circumstances of lighter moment in themselves, or which carry with them in substance a sufficient guarantee of authenticity. He should be ungrateful however not to avow

• The late Earl of Liverpool, when Prince Minister ; Mr. Canning, when Secretary of State ; Sir Robert Peel, Sir James Mackintosh, and many others of high political position.

XIT ADVERTISEMENT TO THE

in a particular manner his acknowledgments to the Hon. Sir William C. Smith, Bart., F.R.S., Second Baron of the Court of Exchequer in Ireland, for the documents with which he has been obliging enough to favour him. He is likewise indebted for some contributions to the late Mr. James Goinme, F.S.A., who died shortly after they were communicated. But more especially his thanks are due to Thomas Haviland Burke, Esq. of Lincoln's Inn, grand nephew and nearest surviving relative to Mr. Burke, and no less near to him in the virtues of the heart than in blood, and who, from the satisfaction which the writer has derived from his personal acquaintance, he must consider to require only more time and opportunities to display no inconsiderable portion of the talents of his family . He has been kind enough to supply every document and information in his power for these volumes.

To advert to the criticisms passed upon the work will not be thought necessary further than to acknowledge the conciliatory and approving spirit in which they are generally couched. It is satisfactory also to find that the plan chalked out by the writer for himself, of touching very briefly upon the parliamentary and other great public labours of Mr. Burke, which are already embodied in the history of the country as well as in other works of general interest and of course accessible to every description of reader, has been approved.

Much of the favour shewn to the author arises no doubt from the great popularity of his subject -with the best informed and reflecting order of men. But it is not to be denied, that there is in this country a considerable number of politicians, who from strong bias in judgment, or peculiarity of opinion upon certain constitutional points, persist in censuring the conduct of Mr. Burke for the part he took on the question of the French Eevolution, although it might be supposed that observation and the progress of events, independent of aU argument, had confirmed the accuracy of his views on that matter beyond dispute.

It was not therefore with much surprise that he lately (1825) saw an attempt, under cover of a criticism on his book, to maintain that Mr. Burke was so far mistaken in his assertion of there being no good likely to result from the Eevolution, that France bad at length acquired by it that

SECOND EDITIOS". XV

freedom for which she had so long contended. This statement does not fairly give his argument. He never said, or believed, that she was condemned to such a state of perpetual, irreversible slavery, that no accident in the progress of time could extricate her from it. What he really said and enforced was, that her Revolution of which she was at first so proud, contained no one principle of which a wise and good mau could approve ; that its acts, means, and purposes Avere indefensible ; and that in itself it was not likely to lead to any system of rational freedom. Experience has taught us that it did not voluntarily introduce or attempt to introduce, any such system.

Another critical remark about France having contended for the establishment of her constitutional freedom, is so notoriously contrary to fact, that the wonder has been how perseveringly the nation struggled against it. She never, in fact, seriously set about seeking it ; neither did she by the exertion of any wisdom, talent, or intelligence of her own, win it. The freedom, or the rudiments of freedom now enjoyed, were thrust upon her. A series of fortuitous circumstances which she not only did not forward, but on the contrary opposed by every means in her power, led'to the production and establishment of the Charter. That important measure, therefore, so far from being her own work, was the business of the combined armies of Europe.

We may fairly question whether she ever possessed clear conceptions of the blessings of a free constitution, or understood anything of how it was to be introduced or managed. Eor with the example of England before her, which might be considered a sufficient guard against committing gross mistakes, she plunged every succeeding year from her first efforts deeper and deeper into error ; floundering from simple financial embarrassments into general anarchy ; from anarchy into a system of massacre and tyranny ; from this into the crude and impracticable scheme of a directory ; from a directory into a poor imitation of the consular government of ancient B,ome ; and from this pedantic folly into the next and natural stage, a grinding military despotism. In all this series of changes there was no approach to the establishment of consistent, steady, practical liberty. And at the beginning of 1814 she had neither in fact nor in appearance advanced one step nearer to obtaining it, than in 1714 or any othef

XVI ADVERTISEMENT.

period of her history ; nor was likely so to do, had not the wild ambition of her ruler led to his downfal and to the general change in her institutions. Consequently France has no claim to be considered her own liberator. So far from it she struggled hard to continue enslaved, and was at length only by defeat and misfortune drubbed out of her propensity for the restraints of absolute government. "While a constitutional system, the most valuable present that could possibly be made to any nation, worth more than all the conquests ever effected had she been permitted to retain them all, has been a gift from her conquerors — not her own acquisition.

So little therefore did her revolution, with all its spoliations, proscriptions, terrors, massacres, and wars, for more than twenty-two years, effect for its nominal aim — that of giving freedom and security to her people. And so fully was the anticipation of Mr. Burke verified, that an event which inflicted and permitted so many evils, could scarcely, when left to itself be productive of good.

Preface

Few things interest the curiosity of mankind more, or prove so instructive in themselves, as to trace tlie progress of a powerful mind, by the honoui\able exertion of native energies, rising amid serious obstructions and difficulties from a private condition to stations of public eminence and trust, and in its progress acquiring the power to rule, or to influence the destiny of nations.

Such a person, as sprung not from the privileged few, but from among the mass of the people, we feel to be one of ourselves. Our sympathies go along with him in his career. The young imagine that it may possibly be their own case. The old, with a glance of retrospective regret, may fancy that, with a little more of the favour of fortune, it might have been theirs. And, at any rate, we are anxious to ascertain, the causes of his superiority, to treasure up his experience, to profit by what he experienced to be useful, to avoid what he found to be disadvantageous. The lesson becomes doubly instructive to that large class of society who are born to be tlie architects of their own fortune when it impresses the great truth, that natural endowments however great, receive their highest polish and power, their only secure reward, from diligent study — from continued, unwearied application — a homely faculty within the reach of all men ; one whose fruits, as they bear testimony to the industry of the possessor and intrinsic value of the possession, are above all others likely to wear well. Of the great results of such endowments, fostered and directed by such cultivation, we have not a more distinguished example than Edmund Burke.

To an attentive reader of our political and literary history during the sixty years that are past,* no name will more frequently attract attention, whether w^e consider the large space he occupied in the public eye, the original genius he possessed, the diversified talents he displayed, the great events connected Avith the whole of his public life, and the alternate eulogy and abuse by which since the period of the French Revol ition, his reputation has been assailed.

• This \¥a3 written in 1824.

XVIU PEEFACE.

Two slight accounts of this remarkable man have been written. One was a volume of slander, dictated by envenomed partyspirit andprobably meant atthe moment to answer some party purpose. The other was more just to his deserts ; but both were wholly deficient in facts, very little being stated or known of his family or early life until his connexion with the Marquis of Ecckingham and subsequent entry into Parliament. Obvious as this deficiency in political biography was, accident suggested to the present writer the attempt to supply it. Contemplating his qualities natural and a^q^uired, and his career at large as extraordinary and successful, he drew up a character of him at some length in the autumn of 1819, which being thrown by for above two years without further notice, chanced when lying on his desk to come under the notice of a friend, who recommended that it should be enlarged and altered from the form it then bore : for that as it stood some parts would be obscure to the general reader, some liable to mistake or misapplication, and some, perhaps unintelligible if not grounded upon a memoir. This additional labour was undertaken certainly without regret. Some new materials were already in the writer's hands, and by application to various friends in England and Ireland, a variety of others, chiefly unknown to the world and of undovibted authenticity were procured. And as illustrative of his opinions, criticisms, and style of correspondence, as well of the friendly as of the more formal description, several letters have been added, little or not at all familiar to the public eye.

An extended detail of his career, embracing minute exposition of labours in Parliament, in Westminster Hall on the prosecution of Hastings, or of his published works, together with lengthened notices of American, India, French or other important public aftairs with which he was much concerned, was not deemed necessary. Judicious biography does not require this. To make such a work long, deprives it of half its interest. Besides, such labours make part of the history of the country, and would overload any private memoir beyond the time or patience of ordinary readers. K or would I forget the dictum of the eminent man whose life is here recorded " that a great book is a great evil." I have aimed therefore not to make a great book, but a compact one ; to condense within a msderate compass aU that was necessary

PEEFACE. XIX

to be known and which few would seek in the ponderous form of two or more quartos. The particulars of his exertions in the various scenes alluded to will be found in his works, in four volumes of speeches printed by an anonymous editor in 1816, and in specific histories of the events with whicli he was connected. Here it is only necessary to mention them in brief. The notices in explanation or illustration are chiefly drawn from himself and in his own words. s^ Great as is the reputation of this eminent man, it stands \ so far as party feelings are concerned, in rather a singular predicament. It is well known that he would not go all lengths with any body of men, and constantly declined to fall in with popular humours, of the tendency of which he had the smallest doubt. A contrary plan would have insured to him, as it did to others, a great increase of general favour ; but he was a man of no compromises excepting under the pressure of irresistible necessity, and then yielded only with a bad grace. Right, under whatever circumstances, appears to have been his predominant passion. Thus he had an utter ibhorrence of any thing resembling undue exercise of power or domination no matter from what quarter it proceeded ; and by endeavouring to preserve a certain balance of powers in the state as well as in difierent orders of the community and in the different interests, religious, political, and commercial of the kingdom by stepping in to the assistance of the weak against the strong, which is beyond dispute the duty of honest patriotism and sound wisdom, he incurred censure from the more violent or domineering of every class. He was assailed by the zealots of power for opposing the coercion of America, and for prosecuting Mr. Hastings ; by the zealots of freedom for opposing French Eevolution ; by zealots in religion for advocating the cause of the dissenters and Eoman Catholics ; and by zealots of various descriptions in affairs of less moment. Many reasons might be adduced why he was not always at the head of the party whose cause lie chiefly espoused ; the chief of which perhaps were, that he wanted that consequence from birth, fortune, and family couiiexion,7Fhich with great abilities and amiable private quahties, centred in Mr. Fox.

While, therefore, the two great divisions in politics of Whig and Tory, the former more especially, have deemed it a species of allegiance to endeavour to depress his name for the purpose of exalting those of their particular leaders :

6 2

XX PBETACl!.

and a more violent though a small body, known under varioua appellations have sworn ceaseless enmity for his overthrow of their doctrines during the revolutionary fever in France, no special party remained on whom devolved the obligation of upholding his fame. The old Whig connexion of which he was so long the tongue and the soul, ought to have performed tliis duty, but they wanted vigour, or had become merged in other parties. Depreciation and abuse from political adversaries have in consequence been suffered to remain uncontradicted. If he did not write and speak himself into repute, nobody else perhaps can do it for him ; no one else certainly has hitherto attempted it. He has been left to the buoyancy of his own merits ; to sink or swim in public opinion by intrinsic powers. " For what I have been," said he, " I put myself upon my country ; " and among the educated and dispassionate part of it he has no reason to complain of the decision. He has worked his way into general esteem, not by the applauding pens of intoxicated followers, but by more eloquent though less noisy advocates — by the slow but steady and sure evolution of national sentiment, by the living and flourishing evidences to his deserts of a constitution preserved from demolition or inroad, an unshaken tlirone, an unpolluted altar, an unplundered nobility and gentry, and the continuance of those moral ties and habitudes wliich bind together and form the safeguard of the whole.

Misrepresentation indeed may answer its end for a time. And were it not indicative of angry or mistaken feeling, it would be curious to observe the ignorance or prejudice respecting the sentiments of Burke on a variety of public matters by persons who at a venture attribute to him any thing tluat happens to be unpopular at the moment — circumstances in which he had no participation or interest, and principles which he opposed and disclaimed. In this spirit the reverend president of a political society at Liverpool not long ago stigmatised him as a deserter from the cause of parliamentary reform ; and more tlian one of the orators of civic assemblies in Loudon, amid other flying reproaches just as mucli founded in truth, repeated the. accusation. At two or three county meetings held some time back, he was spoken of as a sinecure placeman and enemy to liberty. At a large book estabhshment ni London, on inquiring for a volume in wliich it was said there was something concerning

PEEFACE. XX\

him, " a satire, sir, I suppose," was the reply ; as if satire was the legitimate coin with which his puhlic labours deserved to be repaid. In a private company of that consideration in society in which I least expected to hear observations thrown out of an illiberal or untrue description, his motives in t!ie impeachment of Hastings were sharply arraigned by some members of what is called the Indian interest, though on being pushed for facts, none of the party could assign any thing like an improper motive. In another company, less select but of some consideration, he was admitted to be a most surprising man, but unhappily opposed to the reformation of all abuses in government. In a third he was an ingenious and able writer, but too jlowery in his style, lu a fourth, his political conduct was said to be regulated by regard merely to his own interests. In a fifth, probably from the want of some better handle for censure, it was gravely urged as a drawback upon his fame, that he originally possessed no private property; nay that he was humble enough to receive the profits of his literary labours, and that at length he accepted of a pension ; — so that, by this ingenious argument the original sin charged against him of want of fortune was not permitted to be remedied, either by tlie fair exertion of those talents with which Providence had endowed him or by public gratitude. All these circumstances came lately under the eye and ear of the writer. They are samples of what is heard every day in the ill-read, or ill-considered remarks of such as have not taken the trouble to be better informed ; and are only worthy of notice as coming occasionally from persons who assume a lead in conversation, and who would have felt not a little indignant at being told, what was nevertheless fact, that they were disseminating untruths or nonsense.

Another order of persons, of more influence and information, chiefly of the class of public writers, who have in view to exalt another great political name, that of Mr. Fox, think it necessary for this purpose to lower, though indirectly and circuitously, the reputation of Burke.

From these we hear of him frequently as a man of great genius, of many acquirements, of brilliant fancy, and amusing talents ; keeping out of view, as if unknown, those more useful and profound qualities which constitute his chief claims to distinction. Sometimes again, he is what they are pleased