BIBLIOGRAPHY THE standard Life of Burke is that by Sir J. Prior, which is published in Bohn's Standard Library. Boswell's Johnson, Macaulay's Essays, and Trevelyan's History of the American Revolution contain many appreciative passages; consult the indexes. John Morley's Burke in the English Men of Letters is an excellent short biography. Augustine Birrell's Lecture on Burke in Obiter Dicta, Volume II, is the most entertaining account that has been written. QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 1. Why is Burke worthy of our attention? Give four reasons. 2. In what important respect did he differ as a boy from his brothers and sisters? 3. What did he learn at Shackleton's school? 4. Describe the growth of his mind at college. 5. Were his interests narrow or broad? Do not answer by a mere yes or no, but state fully the reasons for your conclusion. 6. Give some account of his friendships. 7. Enumerate the three greatest public questions with which his name is linked. 8. State the fundamental political principle that governed all his conduct. 9. If he were alive to-day, what would be his attitude toward autocracy? Toward socialism? 10. In what book did he first attack anarchy? 11. What literary labor gave him his first insight into American affairs? 12. How did he acquire his grasp on English politics? 13. What was the dominating purpose of George III? 14. Was George III an Englishman? 15. What, in Burke's opinion, was the most prominent characteristic of the American character? 16. How many representatives did he propose that the Colony of New York should send to Parliament? 17. Upon what force, in his judgment, should Great Britain depend in order to keep the Empire intact? 18. Did Burke's Speech on Conciliation produce any immediate result? Has it produced any ultimate results? If so, what? 19. Describe the services rendered by Burke to the people of India. 20. Explain wherein Burke was right and wherein he was wrong in his views of the French Revolution. 21. Was his attitude toward the French Revolution inconsistent with his attitude toward the American Revolution? 22. Why was he never Prime Minister? 23. Would it be a good thing if Members of Congress, like Members of Parliament, were allowed to represent districts in which they do not reside? 24. Is the English system of requiring the legislature to be in harmony with the executive better than ours? 25. Why are Burke's teachings important to-day? SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA 3 1. I HOPE, Sir,1 that, notwithstanding the austerity 2 of the Chair, your good nature will incline you to some degree of indulgence towards human frailty. You will not think it unnatural that those who have an object depending⭑ which strongly engages their hopes and fears, should be somewhat inclined to superstition. As I came into the House full of anxiety about the event of my motion, I found, to my infinite surprise, that the grand penal bill, by which we had passed sentence on the trade and sustenance of America, is to be returned to us from the other House." I do confess I could not help looking on this event as a fortunate omen. I look upon it as a sort of providential favor, by which we are put once more in possession of our deliberative capacity upon a business so very questionable in its nature, so very uncertain in its issue. By the return of this bill, which seemed to have taken its flight forever, we are at this very instant nearly as free to choose a plan for our American Government as we were on the first day of the session. If, Sir, we incline to the side of conciliation, we are not at all embarrassed (unless we please to make ourselves so) by any incongruous mixture of coercion and restraint. We are therefore called upon, as it were by a superior warning voice, again to attend to America; to attend to the whole of it together; and to review the subject with an unusual degree of care and calmness. 9 2. Surely it is an awful subject, or there is none so on this side of the grave. When I first had the honor of a seat in this House,10 the affairs of that continent pressed |