on Economical Reform.

For invective we can turn to

his masterly oration on the Nabob of Arcot's debts, or to some of his efforts in the impeachment of Hastings. One of the most appalling word-pictures of the horrors of war is that in which he describes in the "Nabob speech the devastation of the Carnatic by Hyder Ali. Everyone has read his brilliant description of Marie Antoinette as Dauphiness, in the "Reflections on the "Revolution in France "-a description which, for beauty of imagery and impassioned eloquence, is probably unsurpassed in English literature. Or take the famous panegyric on Fox, with which he concluded his speech on the East India Bill; what a consummate piece of finished eloquence it is, what a splendid tribute of friendship to the man, and of admiration to the statesman! His written political treatises are equally good. Among others may be mentioned his

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Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents," a most powerful analysis of the forces that were then at work to corrupt and undermine the power and influence of the House of Commons, and to restore the dangerous preponderance of the Crown, which the previous generations had with infinite difficulty and disturbance curtailed. As an exponent of British

constitutional principles and practice he stands unrivalled. The first part of his "Reflections on "the Revolution in France," his "Appeal from the "New to the Old Whigs," and his speech at the close of the poll at Bristol in 1774, where he defines the position and duties of a Member of Parliament, all afford convincing proof of the truth of this statement. Perhaps the most significant evidence of Burke's genius is to be found in the esteem in which he was held by the great men with whom he associated. a society comprising, among others, such intellectual giants as Sir Joshua Reynolds, Oliver Goldsmith, Edward Gibbon, and Samuel Johnson, he was recognised as more than the equal of them all. Their opinion of him was summed up in Johnson's appreciation: "Burke, Sir, is such a man that if you met "him for the first time in the street, where you were

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In

stopped by a drove of oxen, and you and he stepped

aside to take shelter but for five minutes, he'd talk "to you in such a manner that, when you parted, you "would say, 'This is an extraordinary man.'” Nor was he less admirable on the social side than on the intellectual. The author of "Evelina," who met him. in 1782, thus enthusiastically describes him: "He is

'tall, his figure is noble, his air commanding, his "address graceful; his voice is clear, penetrating,

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sonorous, and powerful; his language is copious,

various, and eloquent; his manners are attractive, "his conversation delightful. Since we lost Garrick "I have seen nobody so enchanting." Miss Burney then records how he darted from subject to subject with as much rapidity as entertainment, adding: "Neither is the charm of his discourse more in the

matter than the manner; all, therefore, that is "related from him loses half its effect in not being "related by him." Another attribute for which Burke will always be remembered was his goodness of heart and benevolence. The poet, Crabbe, after appealing in vain to various eminent men of the day, at last found in Burke a warm and generous protector; and his practical philanthropy was manifested in innumerable cases to the victims of Indian and Jacobin oppression.

One of the greatest merits of Burke's speeches and writings consists in their perfect symmetry and unity of composition. Hence it is difficult to convey their full value and excellence by detached passages. They resemble some harmonious masterpiece of architecture,

which must be viewed in its entirety in order to be thoroughly appreciated. Hazlitt, indeed, applies this observation to his works as a whole. "There is," he says, "no single speech of Burke's which can convey a satisfactory idea of his powers of mind: to "do him justice, it would be necessary to quote all

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"his works. The only specimen of Burke is, all that "he wrote." But, just as the spectator can feast his eye upon some particular beauty of a noble edifice, so can the reader turn to passages of supreme excellence in Burke's orations and dwell on them with equal zest, although to grasp their full merit his productions must be read from exordium to peroration, for it is a misfortune to miss a word.

We have, in the following chapters, selected what we have thought would best present to the reader a correct view of Burke's principles as unfolded during the three great struggles of his life.

CHAPTER II.

THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES

IN 1765, when Burke became private secretary to the Marquess of Rockingham, during that statesman's first ministry, the trouble with the American colonies was becoming acute, and took the form of bitter opposition to the hated Stamp Act. The Act was repealed in 1766, probably under Burke's influence, and he had ever since devoted his attention to the colonial question with that grasp of great principles and painstaking mastery of details which he alone among statesmen combined. The Rockingham Administration lasted only about twelve months, and the ministries that followed drove the colonists into open rebellion by their reckless disregard of the most elementary principles of justice, and their exasperating fits of overbearing truculence and craven concession. Burke maintained a consistent but futile opposition to this disastrous policy, which he predicted would end in the dismemberment of the