The Turk can not govern: that is, the Sultan of Turkey can not govern his Asiatic and African provinces as he can those surround- ing Constantinople. Kurdistan is in central Asia; Brusa and Smyrna are in Asia Minor; the other names are too familiar to need annotation. The correctness of. Burke's statement is borne NOTES ON THE TEXT out by Omar Khayyam, the Persian poet of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, who, in the eleventh quatrain of the Rubaiyat, says: " With me along the strip of herbage strewn That just divides the desert from the sown, Where name of slave and Sultan is forgot— And peace to Mahmoud on his golden throne 1 " To truck and huckster. Note the applicability of these words to Burke's purpose. In the " auction of finance," ^| 10, he shows that the Government is seeking bids for privileges in a haggling manner, like that of truckers and hucksters who haggle with purchasers over the prices of their wares.
*([ 45. Observe Burke's summing up here, and the way in which he drives his points home, and concludes with this sentence: " From all these causes a fierce spirit of liberty has grown up." He follows this up in the next paragraph with the most natural question in the world, " What, in the name of God, shall we do with it? " This question is the text of the remainder of the brief proper.
Tf 46. Perhaps we might wish the colonists to be persuaded. Study the fine sarcasm here.
With all its imperfections on its head: Hamlet, Act I, sc. v. line 79.
You see the magnitude. Observe that Burke proceeds to expand these five points.
Operose: see dictionary.
Lord Dunmore: colonial governor of Virginia in Burke's time. His name is familiarly connected with the early days of Wash- ington.
Artificial media. The usual means or media of transmission of the wishes of the home government was by royal charters or de- crees, and by acts of Parliament.
T[ 47. We wholly abrogated. Burke here refers to an act passed by Parliament, May 11, 1774, entitled, "An act for the better regu- lating the government of the province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England." This act practically invalidated the charter of Massa- chusetts. It transferred nearly all functions of government from the people of Massachusetts to the crown. The upper chamber of the provincial assembly, which had been elected by the lower house, chosen directly by the people, was thereafter to be appointed by the crown. All magistrates, judges, and sheriffs were to be appointed by the royal governor, and were to hold their offices subject to his pleasure, thus enabling him to dictate their conduct. Jurymen, 152 BURKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION who had formerly been chosen by direct election, were by this act .summoned by the sheriffs, thus enabling the governor to secure any verdict that he desired; and no town meetings could be called ex- cept by special permission from the governor, so that popular delib- eration upon wrongs was rendered impossible except by chicane. (See note on " successful chicane," Tf 43.)
Tf 48. To change that spirit. Observe here Burke's method of argument. It is what may be called " argument by elimination." He shows that there are three, and only three, possible methods of settling the question. He demonstrates that the first two are not practicable, therefore leaving the third as the only reasonable method. ItwiU _be_noticed that this method makes it unnecessary tpjdiscuss or demonstrate the' third point (see ^f 65).
Tf 50. To make no farther grants of land. It had been urged that the difficulty with the colonies might be limited to its present ex- tent, at least by making no further grants of land, so that the colo- nies might be prevented from increasing to such proportions as would render them able successfully to resist the mother country. Note Burke's answer. His prophecy that they " would wander without a possibility of restraint " has proved true; but they did not " become hordes of English Tartars." No more noble class of people ever lived than those very pioneers who, without permission or grant, settled the western wilderness to which Burke refers.
Tf 51. English Tartars. Burke's reference is possibly to Attila and the Huns, or more probably to Genghis Khan.
Increase and multiply: Genesis i, 28.
Virtue of wax and parchment. All charters and documents at that time were written on parchment, and the seals of authority were imprinted thereon in wax. The ceremony of sealing had, among Englishmen, the effect of a sacred covenant. The simple signature of one's name was not enough. For example, the death warrant of Charles I was not only signed by the judges, but each imprinted his seal in wax beside his signature.
Tf 53. For no purpose but to be serviceable to us. This sentence is the keynote to all the trouble. The mother country felt that the colonies existed only for her benefit; the colonists felt that they existed for the purpose of securing their own happiness; that they existed for themselves, and that they had as good a right to exist for themselves as did Englishmen in England. Strange to say, Burke here seems to take his stand upon the mother coun- trv's side.
NOTES ON THE TEXT 153 Spoliatis anna snpersunt: those who have been despoiled ma$ still resort to arms (Juvenal, Satires, viii, 124).
It was the custom in Burke's time (inexcusable now) to inter- sperse a speech with Latin quotations. Affected as it seems to us, this quotation expresses in three words what it would ordinarily take a paragraph to express.
*§ 55. Inquisition: reference to the Inquisition, whose spies were in almost every household of its time (see encyclopaedia).
Dragooning. It had been the custom in former years to keep a province in subjugation by means of dragoons or cavalrymen, whose business it was to ride from house to house throughout the province as a constant menace to incipient rebels. The dragoons in the days of the Scotch Covenanters would ride up to a house, knock on the door with the butt of a musket, enter, and search for arms or for Covenanters in the act of worshiping according to their peculiar doctrine. Read Scott's Old Mortality for a detailed account of " dragooning."
T[ 57. African vessel. In that day most vessels were what are now termed " tramp ships " — i. e., they had no regular ports between which they made stated voyages. Parliamentary decrees or procla- mations were sometimes sent to the southern colonies by means of a ship which was going from England to Angola or Guinea, on the west coast of Africa, for a ship load of slaves, to be taken thence to the American colonies. Observe the fine irony in this passage.
^f 59. Alterative coarse: a system of treatment of colonial troubles for the purpose of gradually changing the sentiment of the colonists; as " to change that spirit, as inconvenient, by remov- ing the causes," or " to prosecute it as criminal." Burke's reference is to the so-called " alterative " medicines which, taken in stated doses, are intended to change the human system from an unhealthy to a healthy state.
^f 60. Sir Edward Coke: an eminent English lawyer, born 1552, died 1633. He was counsel for the crown in 1603 in the trial of Sir Walter Raleigh for treason. In his speech for the conviction of the defendant he abused that nobleman shamefully, saying, " I will prove you the notoriousest traitor that ever came to the bar "; fur- ther on he said: " Thou art a monster; thou hast an English face but a Spanish heart "; and further on, " Thou viper; for I thou thee, thou traitor!" And then he triumphantly asked, "Havel angered you? " For a part of this speech, see The World's Best Orations, p. 1348.
154: BURKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION ^[ 61. Nice. Burke here uses this much-abused word correctly. What is the common error in the use of this word? Explain the correct use.
Ex vi termini: from the force of the term; from the meaning of the word.
For the head of the empire to insist. This is as plain a statement as a member of Parliament would dare to make with respect to the king that the people of the colonies were considered absolute rebels because they had resisted illegal taxation and had demanded the privileges of Englishmen.
Under the ban: see dictionary.
^f 62. Civil litigant: one engaged in a suit which concerns legal rights but not criminal offenses. In such cases, the person suing for the legal right or being sued for refusing to be deprived of a legal right is in no sense a culprit. The decision would be whether he should or should not have the right concerned in the suit; yet (says Burke), while the Americans are simply demanding a legal right, the British Government, instead of deciding whether they should or should not have it, proceeds to sentence them as crimi- nals, as shown in ^[ 63.
Tf 63. By lately declaring a rebellion. On February 9, 1775, one month and a half before this speech was made, both Houses of Par- liament had sent to the king an address stating: " We find that a part of your Majesty's subjects in the province of the Massachusetts Bay have proceeded so far to resist the authority of the supreme legislature that a rebellion at this time actually exists within the said province."
Formerly addressed. The two Houses of Parliament had, on February 13, 1769, presented to the king an address humbly be- seeching " your Majesty...to direct your Majesty's governor of Massachusetts Bay to take the most effectual methods for procuring the fullest information that can be obtained touching all treasons or misprision of treason committed within this government since the 30th day of December last,...together with the names of the persons who were most active in the commission of such offenses,...in order that your Majesty may issue a special commission for...hearing and determining the said offenses within this realm, pursuant to the provisions of the statute of the thirty-fifth year (1543-'44) of the reign of King Henry the Eighth."
Act of Henry the Eighth. This act provided that persons accused of treasonable acts committed outside of England should be brought NOTES ON THE TEXT 155 to England for trial. In the Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol, Burke says of the revival of this act: " To try a man under this act is, in effect, to condemn him unheard. A person is brought hither in the dungeon of a ship's 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."
Juridical ideas: see note on " juridical determination," If 9.
T[ 64. Menaces: references to the many threats in the parlia- mentary addresses to the king, assuring him that both Houses would give him all possible aid in supporting the authority of the king- dom in the colonies, and also in supporting the king's dignity and honor.
Nothing less: not at all.
•' 66. Characteristic mark and seal of British freedom: that they had not the rights of Englishmen.
Tf 67. That I am resolved, etc. Burke, in his Speech on Ameri- can Taxation, April 19, 1774, had at great length discussed the American question from the standpoint of taxation (see note Some gentlemen startle: here used intransitively, meaning seem surprised; presumably because Burke asserted that he did not intend to discuss the question from the standpoint of taxation, which had been a hobby with him.
Policy of the question. He intends to discuss the matter in rela- tion to the policy which would best conserve England's commercial interests, rather than from the standpoint of the rights of the colo- nists with respect to taxation, as he had discussed it in his Speech on American Taxation. He intends to show that England will lose financially by following Lord North's method (see ^[ 35).
Serbonian bog: Milton's Paradise Lost, Book II, 592-594. Ref- erence to Lake Serbonis, a boggy lake east of the mouth of the Nile. The sandstorms sometimes covered this bog with a layer of sand so that it looked like the surrounding desert. Tradition tells that armies invading Egypt marched upon this sand-covered bog, and were ingulfed and lost. Apply this figure to the conduct of the ministry.
156 BURKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION Evidence-room full of titles: governmental record room, where records of grants, titles, etc., were kept.
^[ 68. Had solemnly abjured all the rights of citizens. Dr. John- son, in his pamphlet Taxation no Tyranny, said that when the colonists left 'the mother country they voluntarily gave up the Eng- lishman's right to vote; and that after having given it up volun- tarily they had no right to claim it again.
• 69. To admit the people of oar colonies into an interest in the Constitution. This is Burke's answer to the question, " What shall our concession be? " — the beginning of the second half of the brief proper. The student should, at any expense of effort whatever, study the method by which Burke proves the possibility of the suc- cess of his proposition by the four examples given in the succeeding paragraphs.
Tf 70. The repeal of a revenue act: the repeal of the Stamp Act, Understood principle: that is, the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766 as an act for raising revenue, without saying anything about giving up the right to control trade, was then sufficient to bring about peace; but such a repeal now would not suffice, because we have heretofore followed up our repeals by the enactment of acts equally obnoxious, and the colonists have therefore grown sus- picious. Burke's statement finds proof in the fact that the Congress at Philadelphia, in 1774, expressly stated, in an address to the home government, that the repeal of the Stamp Act had " restored the former unsuspecting confidence of the colonies in the mother coun- try " (see T[ 9 and note on same). But now a simple repeal will not do; an absolute promise that no further attempt at taxation will be made is necessary to restore peace.
Tf 71. American financiers: members of Parliament who still adhered to the theory that America could be made to yield a reve- nue for England.
Taxation...trade laws: had no further hope that a revenue could be raised in the colonies, but feared that, if England re- nounced the right of taxing the colonies directly, the colonies would demand as a further concession the repeal of the Navigation Acts, which forced all American trade into the hands of British merchants whose wealth did pay a tax, thus raising a revenue from America in an indirect manner.
A gentleman of real moderation: a Mr. Rice, who by this mention of Burke's was rescued from oblivion.
NOTES ON THE TEXT 157 T 72. Acts of Navigation. The Navigation Acts were planned for the purpose of making the colonies useful and profitable to the mother country by compelling the colonists to buy their goods in England at a high price and to sell their goods in England at a low price. The colonists must sell their exports in England or south of Cape Finisterre, which prevented their trading with the Dutch, England's great commercial rival. By these acts the colonists were forbidden the purchasing of goods except in England, and the transporting of goods in any except English vessels manned by English seamen. Other trade acts followed, forbidding the erection of iron works, prohibiting the manufacture of steel, and restricting the making of beaver hats, etc.. in order to prevent the colonists' competing with English manufacturers. It was unlawful " to make even a nail for horseshoes."
T 74. The pamphlet: by Dr. Tucker, Dean of Gloucester, of whom Burke sarcastically says, in his Speech on American Taxa- tion: " This Dr. Tucker is already a dean, and his earnest labors in this vineyard will, I suppose, raise him to a bishopric." Lecky, in Chapter XI of his England in the Eighteenth Century, calls Tucker " one of the best living writers on all questions of trade." Burke's reference is to a pamphlet in Dr. Tucker's Four Tracts on Political and Commercial Subjects. The pamphlet referred to is entitled The True Interest of Great Britain set forth in regard to the Colo- nies and the only Means of Living in Peace and Harmony with them. Dr. Tucker urged that separation was the only remedy; that trade always flows in the most lucrative channels; that as England could supply them with goods more cheaply than could any other country, their trade would come to England any way; therefore, in case of separation, England would have their trade without the expense of forcing it from them. Despite Burke's sar- casm, we know now that Dr. Tucker was right. For a good discus- sion of the trade relations of Great Britain and the American colo- nies, look through Book IV of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, especially Chapter VII.
T[ 75. A shadow of evidence. This statement is hardly cor- rect, for a glance through any good history of the colonies will show that there was constant chafing in the colonies under the Navigation and Trade Acts. It was a long-cherished sense of the injustice of these acts that brought the people to a readi- ness to resist the Stamp Acts (see Bancroft's United States, vol.
158 BUKKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION Tf 76. But the colonies will go further. This is a further objec- tion raised by Burke's opponents to a repeal of the revenue laws (see note on ^f 71). It means that if the revenue laws were repealed, »od the "trade laws" (Navigation Acts) in turn successfully at- tacked, the colonists would then "go further," and demand entire self-government, thus dissolving the " unity of the empire." Burke refutes this in f f 118-122.
If 79. The kings of Spain of the Austrian family: Emperor Charles the Fifth and his descendants of the house of Hapsburg.
Philip the Second: son and successor to Charles the Fifth; was the husband of Queen Mary of England, daughter of Henry the Eighth. Philip was the Spanish king who sent the Armada to contest with Elizabeth for the crown of England. He was a selfish, crafty prince, of deep and far-reaching, but not always successful, policy.
I consult the genius of the English Constitution. By " the genius of the English Constitution " he means the spirit of liberty in which it was formed, and the want of parliamentary action under it ac- cording to the letter rather than the spirit. (The student is sup- posed to know that the English Constitution is not a written docu- ment, like the Constitution of the United States, but that it consists of the principles underlying the vast body of past charters, traditions, precedents, parliamentary acts, etc.) Burke purposes showing what action the English Constitution dictates in the present case by the precedents set in the past with respect to Ireland, Wales, Chester, and Durham. It is safer, he says, to consult the genius of the Eng- lish Constitution than the genius of George the Third — whom he means, of course, in his reference to Philip the Second.
^f 80. The English conquest. The conquest of Ireland was ac- complished in the reign of Henry the Second, between the years 1169 a<id 1175. The final legislative union of England and Ireland was not consummated until January, 1801. For the terms of this union, see Cooley's Ulackstone, p. 103, footnote.
It is evident that, in a book of this character, no " note " can make, this paragraph intelligible to the student. The student will do well to read the matter up, under the word " Ireland," in Larned's History for Ready Reference, vol. iii, pp. 1745-1778, or in any good history of Ireland or England.
Magna Charta. English freedom began not with the common people, but with the barons, knights, and clergy, who, in 1215, at Runnymede, compelled King John to sign Magna Charta, which contained " the roots of our primitive Constitution." For Magna NOTES ON THE TEXT 159 Charta. see any good encyclopaedia, or any good English history. The entire text may be found in Larned's History for Ready Ref- erence, vol. ii, p. 803. Stubbs, in his Constitutional History of Eng- land, chap, xii, p. 155, says: " The whole of the constitutional his- tory of England is little more than a commentary on Magna Charta."
All Ireland. English law and liberty, when transferred to Ire- land, extended over a part of Ireland only, to a boundary line called "the pale," which marked the confines of what might be called English Ireland. For an extended explanation of " the pale," see Larned's History for Ready Reference, p. 1761.
Sir John Davies: an able English poet and judge, born 1570, died 1626. In 1603 solicitor-general of Ireland, later attorney- general of Ireland. In 1612 he published the work referred to by Burke. Its title was Discovery of the True Causes why Ireland was never entirely Subdued nor brought under Obedience of the Crown of England until the Beginning of his Majesty's Happy Reign. " His Majesty " was James the First. Davies entered Par- liament in 1621, and was made lord chief justice in 1626.
Vain projects: reference to the attempted military subjugation of Ireland in the sixteenth century. The expedition of the ill-fated Earl of Essex was one of these.
Civility: civilization.
Changed the people: populated portions of Ireland with English and Scotch immigrants.
Altered the religion: from Roman Catholic to the Church of England.
Deposed kings: Charles the First and James the Second.
Eestored them: Charles the Second.
Altered the succession. The Act of Settlement, passed in 1701, deposed the house of Stuart and placed the succession in the house of Hanover. George the First, of the house of Hanover, came to the throne of England in 1714.
Usurpation: reference to the period of Cromwellian " usurpa- Restoration of monarchy. Charles the Second was "restored" in 1660.
Glorious revolution: that of 1688-'89, which deposed James the Second and placed William and Mary upon the throne. " Glorious " because, as a triumph of the Whigs, it coincided with Burke's ideas.
Great and flourishing kingdom. Burke's Irish nativity probably caused him to draw somewhat on his imagination here, for Ireland at that time was hardly a " great and flourishing kingdom."
160 BURKETS SPEECH ON CONCiLiATION Confusion of mighty troubles: reference to methods of govern* ment used in the times of Cromwell and William of Orange.
An exception to prove the rule: that is, the fact that a few cases of actual subjugation by arms, such as that of Cromwell and William the Third, stand out prominently because all other similar attempts were more or less failures. They only emphasized the failure of the idea of military subjugation.
1[ 81. Reduced by Henry the Third. Look up in Green's Short History of the English People.
Edward the.First: ditto.
Lords marchers: noblemen who received grants of large estates on the borders between England and Scotland and England and Wales, the condition of the grant being that they should protect the frontier from inroads of the semibarbarous Scots and Welsh. They had absolute power in the marches or territory that they controlled. The student can get a clear idea of lords marchers on the Welsh border by reading Scott's The Betrothed.
^ 82. You prohibit by proclamation. In the troublous time mentioned by Burke English consuls and agents were required by proclamation to keep a strict watch upon all shipments, in order to prevent the colonists from securing arms and munitions of war.
As you attempted to disarm. General Gage attempted to seize all <a,rms and munitions in and around Boston. The student will recall the fact that a month after this speech was made the battle of Lex- ington occurred on account of an attempt made by this general to seize the arms and munitions that the colonists had stored at Concord.
^[ 83. Here we rub our hands: probably a reference to the action of some member of the majority who thought that Burke, in saying that fifteen acts of penal regulations had been passed with respect to Wales, was affording his opponents an argument for the final passage of the Grand Penal Bill.
Bid: old form of rode.
Incubus: see dictionary.
Tf 84. Twenty-seventh year of Henry the Eighth: the year 1535.
Marches: the estates or domains of the lords marchers. See note on " lords marchers," ^[ 81.
Day-star: II Peter i, 19 — " Whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts."
NOTES ON THE TEXT Sinrol alba nautis, etc. " As soon as the clear-shining con- stellation has shone forth to the sailors, the troubled surge falls down from the rocks, the winds cease, the clouds vanish, and the threatening waves subside in the sea — because it was their will." — Horace, Ode to Augustus, Book I, Ode XII, 11. 27-32 (Smart's translation, p. 14).
The student should work out the application of the reference to Peter and the application of the quotation from Horace as Burke meant to apply them.
T 85. County palatine of Chester. A county palatine was a county in which the lord had sovereign rights over his people, the same as a king. For a good account of Chester as a county pala- tine, see Encyclopaedia Britannica, or Johnson's Cyclopedia, article " Palatine."
The student should here take note of Burke's purpose in giving the exact words of this petition. Heretofore in the speech he has repeatedly assured the House that he will not " consult the genius of Philip the Second " (meaning George the Third), but he would " consult the genius of the English Constitution." The strength of Burke's argument lies in the fact that all Englishmen reverence the English Constitution, of which this petition may be said to form a part. Burke's intention is to take advantage of this reverence by presenting his own resolutions concerning America in almost exactly the same words as are found in this petition, believing that thereby he could force the members of the House to vote for the resolutions he intended to present.
The student should not fail to compare T 85 with ^ 93 and 94, nor should he at any time during the study of the remainder o' the speech lose sight of this comparison, as it is the one thing upon which Burke bases the remainder of his argument.
Shewen: old form of shown.
Where: whereas.
Disherisons: deprivations.
Ne: nor.
T 86. Reject it as a libel. Recall what Patrick Henry, in the speech before the Virginia Convention, says of colonial petitions: " We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves at the foot of the throne, and implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our suoplications, 162 BUEKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION disregarded; and we have been spurned with contempt from the foot of the throne."
In the Speech on American Taxation Burke says: " The colo- nies of Massachusetts Bay and New York did send remonstrances objecting to this mode (the Stamp Act) of parliamentary taxation. What was the consequence? They were suppressed; they were put under the table, notwithstanding an order of the council to the con- trary, by the ministry which composed the very council that had made the order; and thus the House proceeded to its business of taxing without the least regular knowledge of the objections which were made to it. But to give that House its due, it was not over- desirous to receive information or to hear remonstrance. On the 15th of February, 1765, while the Stamp Act was under delibera- tion, they refused with scorn even so much as to receive four peti- tions presented from so respectable colonies as Connecticut, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Carolina, besides one from the traders of Jamaica. As to the colonies, they had no alternative left to them but to disobey, or to pay the taxes imposed by that Parliament which was not suffered, or did not suffer itself, even to hear them remonstrate upon the subject."
f 87. County palatine of Durham: a county in northeastern England. See Encyclopedia Britannica for brief account of.
Tf 88. Judge Harrington's account: Daines Barrington, born 1727, died 1800, a distinguished jurist, naturalist, and antiquarian; made justice of the Welsh counties of Anglesey, Caernarvon, and Merioneth in 1757. The " account " to which Burke refers was probably Observations upon the Statutes, chiefly the more Ancient, from Magna Charta to the 21 Jac. I, c. 27.
Your legislative authority is perfect: a statement that had been made by Burke's opponents.
Virtually represented. The Tory party asserted that America was virtually represented. Their reasons for this assertion were as fol- lows: A member of the British House of Commons represents not his own county, as does a member of the American House of Repre- sentatives his district, but he represents all Englishmen. The Ameri- cans were Englishmen; therefore they were " virtually represented."
Electric force: sarcastic allusion to representation which could extend three thousand miles away into a country which a member had never visited. It should be remembered that Dr. Franklin, the discoverer of electricity, was at this time in London, and had cre- ated much interest by his experiments in electricity.
NOTES OX THE TEXT 163 % T 89. Opposuit natura: Xature has opposed, Those who have been more confident: those who believed that American representation in Parliament was feasible. Dr. Franklin believed this. Burke was probably right in that day, when it took not less than six months to get a reply to a message to America. In this day of steamships and electric cables it would not be so impracticable.
If 90. Eepublic of Plato: reference to one of Plato's di'.iogues, in which Plato describes his ideal state.
Utopia of More: an imaginary country or state described by Sir Thomas More, Lord Chancellor of the Exchequer under Henry the Eighth. This book was published in 1516.
Oceana of Harrington; another work of similar nature by James Harrington, published in 1656.
And the rude swain: from Milton's Comus, 634, 635. Milton has " dull swain."
Until the year 1763: the year in which the Grenville ministry, of Stamp Act notoriety, came into power.
Tf 91. The student can not overrate the importance of this para- graph. Let him take notice that in this paragraph Burke states four propositions which the student should fully understand before he passes on. He should know exactly what each proposition means before he goes on to the next paragraph. ^[ 91 is the expansion of By grant and not by imposition. Taxation by grant would be a system of taxation under which the people of America would have no taxes assessed upon them by the English government, but a sys- tem under which they would be permitted by the mother country to grant moneys to the king by act of the provincial Assemblies. Taxa- tion by imposition would deny this privilege and would tax the colonists by act of Parliament — as. for example, by the Stamp Act. It is likely to appear to the high-school student that this was a very small thing to dispute about; but underlying this is, in reality, the most important principle of the English Constitution — the prin- ciple over which the king and the people had disputed for hundreds of years, whether the people should voluntarily grant the king money, or whether the king should have the right to impose taxes upon the people. After hundreds of years of contention the dispute was definitely settled in favor of the people. Burke's opponents were afraid to grant this power to the colonists because the recog- nition of the right to grant aids would be a practical recognition 164: BURKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION