Burke's speech on American taxation

Preface

William Hazlitt said : " There is no single speech of Mr. Burke which can convey a satisfactory idea of his powers of mind : to do him justice, it would be necessary to quote all his works; the only specimen of Burke is, all that he wrote.' 1 If a specimen must be selected, it is wise to select his two speeches on American affairs, both of which should be read by every student of literature and of history. This edition of American Taxation has been prepared to meet the actual demands of the class room. Too often the student is content with reading Conciliation with America. Experience in class rooms for four years with six hundred students has shown that, notwithstanding the excellence of Conciliation with America, it gives students a one-sided impression of Burke as an orator and a debater, which can be corrected by a study of American Taxation. His speeches were not always so calm, dignified, and temperate as Conciliation with America. The energy and wit of American Taxation are more typical of him. Like most of his speeches it was not prepared in advance, but spoken extemporaneously ; what it loses in coordination of construction it gains in intensity of argument. It came white hot from the furnace of his convictions. It reveals his skill in detecting the weaknesses of his opponents, which long experience in the minority had taught him. It illustrates the historical method of debate which Burke applied to every question, and which appears to a less noticeable degree in Conciliation with America. In the latter Burke argued as if he were hoping against hope ; but American Taxation was delivered almost a vi PREFACE

year earlier, before he had lost hope in England's treating her colonies justly. It is full of the spirit and the conviction of a man who is hastening to warn his country of impending danger.

In the Introduction to this edition Burke's speeches and writings are not discussed in chronological order, but collected into groups according to their subjects. This method enables the student to realize exactly what Burke accomplished for the causes which he championed. An effort is also made not merely to tell the names of his speeches, but to sum up in a sentence their main arguments. The Notes are rather full, giving all the information a student needs for a complete understanding of the speech. Theoretically it is better for a student to hunt up the information, but in practice nine-tenths of the students have neither time nor opportunity for this work. The text is that of Dodsley's second edition, 1775, except that the spelling has been made to conform to that of the other books of this series.

The editor wishes to acknowledge with gratitude the help he has received from E. J. Payne's edition of Burke's Select Works, F. G. Selby's edition of Burke's American Speeches, and from Professor C. A. Goodrich's British Eloquence; their notes are frequently quoted. He also gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness to Professor Cheesman A. Herrick and Professor Albert H. Smyth for practical advice, and to Dr. John L. Haney and David Wallerstein, Esq., for valuable criticisms of the Introduction and Notes. He hopes that this little book will help some students to appreciate the work and to honor the memory of Edmund Burke, the "Interpreter of English Liberty."

J. H. M.

Central High School, Philadelphia January 23, 1905

Contents

Introduction Page

The Life of Edmund Burke ix

For Ireland xv