offer peace with honor and safety (13). IX. Parliament has, then, two capital leading ques- tions to consider (14): A. Whether England ought to concede (14).
B. What the concession should be (14).
X. Parliament should determine both of these ques- tions, not upon abstract ideas of right or upon mere general theories of government, but ac- cording to the true nature and the peculiar circumstances of the case (14).
48 BURKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION BRIEF PEOPEE Direct proof A. England ought to conciliate the American colonies I. The nature and circumstances of "the object " require conciliation (15), for (15-30) — A. [Give here, in a complete sentence., the reason given in (15-16).]
B. [Give, as in A, reason in (17-28).
Find reasons for B, numbering 1 and 2; and if reasons are given for either of these, state and mark a, b, etc. Arrange as follows: 1.
a. 2.
a.
b.
Refutation II. Prudent management of the colonies is bet- ter than force (32), for (32-36)— [Find four reasons for the above state- ment, write in condensed but com- plete sentences, and mark with capital letters, placing after each reason, in marks of parenthesis, the number of the paragraph wherein the reason is given.]
INTRODUCTION 49 III. [State the third general reason] (37), for— A. The spirit of liberty is stronger in the English colonies than in any other people on the earth (38), for — [Here follow with reasons, num- IV. Something must be done with the fierce spirit of liberty which has grown up (46), for— .4^- Coercion has failed (46), for — ~**^i [State three unhappy results of coercion (46, 47), numbering as heretofore.]
V. Of three possible methods of dealing with America, the third only is feasible (48), A. [State first method, and find reasons for its impossibility, numbering 1, 2, etc., and if reasons are given for these, state and mark a, b, etc., as B. [Work out as you did A (59-64).]
C. The third method, being the only one left, we must therefore adopt Direct proof (The nature of the concession) We must satisfy the complaint of the colonies that they are taxed in a Parliament in which they are not represented (66), for (66-88)— I. To please (conciliate) any people, you must give them the boon which they ask 50 BURKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION Refutation II. The argument that England has a legal right to tax the colonies is immaterial A. It is not a question of right, but of policy (67).
B. [Find another reason in (68)], for — 1. As a matter of policy, we should [complete this reason] (69).
III. The objection that a repeal of the revenue laws would be followed by an attack upon the trade laws (71) is illogical, for (70-75)— IV. That the colonies will go further still (76) is untrue, for (76-77)— A. [Find reason implied in (76).]
Direct proof jy.)The genius of the English Constitution (the former policy) sustains Burke's plan of conciliation (79), for (80-87)— [Here work out as reasons, and mark cor- rectly, the four great examples in (80- 87), and the fifth, or summary, in (88), with reasons for each, if any are given.]
(The method of the concession) C. Although the distance prevents colonial represents^ tion in Parliament, a substitute for that method INTRODUCTION 51 I. The ancient constitutional policy of the kingdom has taught Parliament (90, 91) — A. To establish the equity and justice of a taxation in America by grant, and not by imposition (91).
[Follow in B, C, and D, with three other items given in (91).]
II. Parliament would command an immediate peace by admitting the following proposi- tions (92): A. That the colonies have no representation in Parliament (93).
B. That the colonies have been " touched and grieved " by unjust taxation [Work out reasons in (95, 96).]
C. [Briefly state the third proposition D. [Briefly state the fourth proposition (98), giving reasons for (99).]
E. [Briefly state the fifth proposition (100), stating reasons given in F. [Briefly state the sixth proposition (106), with reasons, if any are CONCLUSION A. Since it has been proved that coercion has failed, and that true conciliation has succeeded, shall not Parliament conclude to remove the discontent of the colonies by agreeing to " three consequential propositions"? [See (117), and for the "three consequential propositions " see (109), (114), and 52 BURKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION.
I. Parliament would remove discontent among the colonies by repealing the penal acts enumerated in the resolution (109), for — A. The Boston Port Bill is unjust (110), for— [Work out two reasons in (110).]
B. [State reason in (111).]
C. [State reason in (112).]
D. [State reason in (113).]
II. Parliament would remove discontent by se- curing a fair and unbiased judicature in the colonies (114).
III. Parliament would remove discontent by regu- lating the courts of admiralty (115), so that they should be more commodiously situated and should render justice (116).
Refutation B. " Here I should close; but I perceive some objec- tions remain, which I ought, if possible, to remove.'* I. The objection that the colonies will apply the concession made (government by grant) to all parts of legislative authority (118) can not be sustained, for — [Work out reasons in (119-121).] II. [State the objection in (122), and work out reasons in refutation in same paragraph.]
III. Lord North's plan is open to many objections [Work out seven reasons for this state- ment in (124-131), with reasons for I> IV. A comparison of Lord North's plan with Burke'?
will show which should be chosen (132), for-^ [Work out contrasts in (132) as reasons.]
INTRODUCTION 53 V. The objection that Burke's plan will give no revenue (133) can not be sustained, for — [Work out reasons in (133-136).]
PERORATION I. [State, in a single sentence, the thought in II. [State, in a sentence, the thought in (139).] III. Burke therefore moves his resolutions (140- EDMUND BURKE.
EDMUND BURKE'S SPEECH ON MOVING HIS RESOLUTIONS FOR CONCILIATION WITH THE COLONIES Delivered in the House of Commons, March 22, 177 f [1] I HOPE, Sir, that, notwithstanding the austerity of the Chair, your good nature will incline you to some degree of indulgence toward 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 busi- ness 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 aro at this very instant nearly as free to choose a plan for our American govern- ment as we were on the first day of the session. If, Sir, we incline to the side of conciliation, we are not at all 55 */ 55 */ 56 BURKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 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 warn- ing 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.
[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, the affairs of that continent pressed themselves upon us as the most important and most deli- cate object of parliamentary attention. My little share in this great deliberation oppressed me. I found myself a partaker in a very high trust; and having no sort of reason to rely on the strength of my natural abilities for the proper execution of that trust, I was obliged to take more than common pains to instruct myself in every- thing which relates to our colonies. I was not less under the necessity of forming some fixed ideas concern- ing the general policy of the British Empire. Some- thing of this sort seemed to be indispensable, in order, amidst so vast a fluctuation of passions and opinions, to concenter my thoughts, to ballast my conduct, to pre- serve me from being blown about by every wind of fash- ionable doctrine. I really did not think it safe or manly to have fresh principles to seek upon every fresh mail which should arrive from America.
[3] At that period I had the fortune to find myself in perfect concurrence with a large majority in this House. Bowing under that high authority, and pene- trated with the sharpness and strength of that early im- pression, I have continued ever since, without the least deviation, in my original sentiments. Whether this be owing to an obstinate perseverance in error, or to a re- ligious adherence to what appears to me truth and rea- son, it is in your equity to jiidge.
BURKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 57 j^j Sir, Parliament, having an enlarged view of objects, made, during this interval, more frequent changes in their sentiments and their conduct than could be justified in a particular person upon the con- tracted scale of private information. But though I do not hazard anything approaching to censure on the motives of former parliaments to all those alterations, one fact is undoubted — that under them the state of America has been kept in continual agitation. Every- thing administered as remedy to the public complaint, if it did not produce, was at least followed by, a heightening of the distemper; until, by a variety of ev- periments, that important country has been brought into her present situation — a situation which I will not miscall, which I dare not name; which I scarcely know how to comprehend in the terms of any description.
[5] In this posture, Sir, things stood at the begin- ning of the session. About that time a worthy member of great parliamentary experience, who in the year 1766, filled the chair of the American Committee with much ability, took me aside, and, lamenting the present aspect of our politics, told me, things were come to such a pass that our former methods of proceeding in the House would be no longer tolerated; that the public tribunal (never too indulgent to a long and unsuccessful opposi- tion) would now scrutinize our conduct with unusual severity; that the very vicissitudes and shif tings of ministerial measures, instead of convicting their authors of inconstancy and want of system, would be taken as an occasion of charging us with a predetermined dis- content which nothing could satisfy, while we accused every measure of vigor ' as cruel, and every proposal of lenity as weak and irresolute. The public, he said, would not have patience to see us play the game out with our adversaries: we must produce our hand It would be 58 BURKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION expected that those who for many years had been "active in such affairs should show that they had formed some clear and decided idea of the principles of colony gov- ernment; and were capable of drawing out something like a platform of the ground which might be laid for future and permanent tranquillity.
[6] I felt the truth of what my honorable friend represented; but I felt my situation, too. His applica- tion might have been made with far greater propriety to many other gentlemen. No man was indeed ever better disposed, or worse qualified, for such an undertak- ing than myself. Though I gave so far in to his opin- ion that I immediately threw my thoughts into a sort of parliamentary form, I was by no means equally ready to produce them. It generally argues some degree of nat- ural impotence of mind, or some want of knowledge of the world- to hazard plans of government except from a seat of authority. Propositions are made, not only in- effectually, but somewhat disreputably, when the minds of men are not properly disposed for their reception; and for my part, I am not ambitious of ridicule; not absolutely a candidate for disgrace.
[7] Besides, Sir, to speak the plain truth, I have in general no very exalted opinion of the virtue of paper government, nor of any politics in which the plan is to be wholly separated from the execution. But when I saw that anger and violence prevailed every day more and more, and that things were hastening toward an incurable alienation of our colonies, I confess my cau- tion gave way. I felt this as one of those few moments in which decorum yields to a higher duty. Public calamity is a mighty leveler; and there are occasions when any, even the slightest, chance of doing good must be laid hold on, even by the most inconsiderable person.
BUKKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 59 [8] To restore order and repose to an empire so great and so distracted as ours, is, merely in the attempt, an undertaking that would ennoble the flights of the highest genius, and obtain pardon for the efforts of the meanest understanding. Struggling a good while with these thoughts, by degrees I felt myself more firm. I derived, at length, some confidence from what in other circumstances usually produces timidity. I grew less anxious, even from the idea of my own insignificance. For, judging of what you are by what you ought to be, (1 persuaded myself that you would not reject a reason- able proposition because it had nothing but its reason to recommend it.} On the other hand, being totally desti- tute of all shadow of influence, natural or adventitious, I was very sure that, if my proposition were futile or dan- gerous, if it were weakly conceived, or improperly timed, there was nothing exterior to it, of power to awe, dazzle, or delude you. You will see it just as it is; and you will treat it just as it deserves.
[9] The proposition is peace. Xot peace through the medium of war; not peace to be hunted through the labyrinth of intricate and endless negotiations; not peace to arise out of universal discord, fomented from principle, in all parts of the empire; not peace to de» pend on the juridical determination of perplexing ques- tions, or the precise marking the shadowy boundaries of a complex government. It is simple peace, sought in its natural course, and in its ordinary haunts. It is peace sought in the spirit of peace, and laid in principles purely pacific. I propose, by removing the ground of the difference, and by restoring the former unsuspecting ^ confidence of the colonies in the mother country, to give permanent satisfaction to your people; and (far from a scheme of ruling by discord) to reconcile them to each other in the same act, and by the bond of the very 60 BURKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION same interest which reconciles them to British govern- ment.
[10] My idea is nothing more. Kenned policy ever has been the parent of confusion; and ever will be so, as long as the world endures. Plain good intention, which is as easily discovered at the first view, as fraud is surely detected at last, is, let me say, of no mean force in the government of mankind. Genuine simplicity of heart is a healing and cementing principle. My plan, therefore, being formed upon the most simple grounds imaginable, may disappoint some people when they hear it. It has nothing to recommend it to the pruriency of curious ears. There is nothing at all new and captivat- ing in it. It has nothing of the splendor of the project which has been lately laid upon your table by the noble lord in the blue ribbon. It does not propose to fill your lobby with squabbling colony agents, who will require the interposition of your mace at every instant to keep .the peace among them.//It does not institute a magnifi- cent auction of finance, where captivated provinces come to general ransom by bidding against each other, until you knock down the hammer, and determine a propor- tion of payments beyond all the powers of algebra to equalize and settle. // [IT] The plan which I shall presume to suggest derives, however, one great advantage from the proposi- tion and registry of that noble lord's project, — the idea of conciliation is admissible. First, the House, in ac- cepting the resolution moved by the noble lord, has ad- mitted, notwithstanding the menacing front of our address, notwithstanding our heavy bills of pains and penalties, that we do not think ourselves precluded from all ideas of free grace and bounty.
[12] The House has gone further: it has declared c Miciliation admissible, previous to any submission on BURKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 61 the part of America. It has even shot a good deal be- yond that mark, and has admitted that the complaints of our former mode of exerting the right of taxation were not wholly unfounded. That right thus exerted is allowed to have had something reprehensible in it, some- thing unwise, or something grievous; since, in the midst of our heat and resentment, we, of ourselves, have pro- posed a capital alteration; and, in order to get rid of what seemed so very exceptionable, have instituted a mode that is altogether new; one that is, indeed, wholly alien from all the ancient methods and forms of Parlia- ment.
[13] The principle of this proceeding is large enough for my purpose. The means proposed by the noble lord for carrying his ideas into execution, I think, indeed, are very indifferently suited to the end; and this I shall endeavor to show you before I sit down. But, for the present, I take my ground on the admitted principle. I mean to give peace. Peace implies recon- ciliation; and, where there has been a material dispute, reconciliation does in a manner always imply concession on the one part or on the other. In this state of things I make no difficulty in affirming that the proposal ought to originate from us. Great and acknowledged force is not impaired, either in effect or in opinion, by an un- willingness to exert itself. The superior power may offer peace with honor and Avith safety. Such an offer from such a power will be attributed to magnanimity. But the concessions of the weak are the concessions of fear. When such a one is disarmed, he is wholly at the mercy of his superior; and he loses forever that time and those chances, which, as they happen to all men, are the strength and resources of all inferior power.
[14] The capital leading questions on which you must this day decide are these two: First, whether you (52 BURKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION ought to concede^ and secondly, what your concession ought to be. On the first of these questions we have gained (as I have just taken the liberty of observing to you) some ground. But I am sensible that a good deal more is still to be done. Indeed, Sir, to enable us to determine both on the one and the other of these great questions with a firm and precise judgment, I think it may be necessary to consider distinctly the true nature and the peculiar circumstances of the object which we have before us; because after all our struggle, whether we will or not, we must govern America according to that nature and to those circumstances, and not ac- cording to our own imaginations, nor according to abstract ideas of right; by no means according to mere general theories of government, the resort to which appears to me, in our present situation, no better than arrant trifling. I shall therefore endeavor, with your leave, to lay before you some of the most material of these circumstances in as full and as clear a manner as I am able to state them.
, ^[15] The first thing that we have to consider with regard to the nature of the object is, the number of people in the colonies. I have taken for some years a good deal of pains on that point. I can by no calcula- tion justify myself in placing the number below two millions of inhabitants of our own European blood and color, besides at least 500,000 others, who form no incon- siderable part of the strength and opulence of the whole. This, Sir, is, I believe, about the true number. There is no occasion to exaggerate where plain truth is of so much weight and importance. But whether I put the present numbers too high or too low, is a matter of little moment. Such is the strength with which popu- lation shoots in that part of the world, that state the numbers as high as we will, while the dispute continues, BUKKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 63 the exaggeration ends. While we are discussing any given magnitude, they are grown to it. While we spend our time in deliberating on the mode of governing two millions, we shall find we have millions more to manage. Your children do not grow faster from infancy to manhood than they spread from families to communities, and from villages to nations.
V^j^lG] I put this consideration of the present and the growing numbers in the front of our deliberation; because, Sir, this consideration will make it evident to a ^ blunter discernment than yours, that no partial, narrow, contracted, pinched, occasional system will be at all suitable to such an object. It will show you, that it is not lo be considered as one of those minima which are out of the eye and consideration of the law; not a paltry excrescence of the state; not a mean dependent, who may be neglected with little damage, and provoked with little danger. It will prove that some degree of care and caution is required in the handling such an object; it will show that you ought not, in reason, to trifle with ? so large a mass of the interests and feelings of the hu- , man race. You could at no time do so without guilt; S and be assured you will not be able to do it long with Y impunity.
—[17] But the population of this country, the great * and growing population, though a very important con- .psideration, will lose much of its weight if not combined J with other circumstances. The commerce of your colo- j J nies is out of all proportion beyond the numbers of the people. This ground of their commerce indeed has been trod some days ago, and with great ability, l>y;; distinguished person, at your bar. This gentleman, after thirty-five years — it is so long since he first ap- peared at the same place to plead for the commerce of Great Britain— has come again before you to plead the 64 BURKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION same cause, without any other effect of time, than that to the fire of imagination and extent of erudition which even then marked him as one of the first literary char- acters of his age, he has added a consummate knowledge in the commercial interest of his country, formed by a long course of enlightened and discriminating experi- ence.
[18] Sir, I should be inexcusable in coming after such a person with any detail, if a great part of the members who now fill the House had not the misfortune to be absent when he appeared at your bar. Besides, Sir, I propose to take the matter at periods of time somewhat different from his. There is, if I mistake not, a point of view from whence, if you will look at this subject, it is impossible that it should not make an im- , pression upon you.
[19] I have in my hand two accounts: one a com- parative state of the export trade of England to its colo- nies, as it stood in the year 1704, and as it stood in the year 1772; the other a state of the export trade of this country to its colonies alone, as it stood in 1772, com- pared with the whole trade of England to all parts of the world (the colonies included) in the year 1704. They are from good vouchers; the latter period from the accounts on your table, the earlier from an original manuscript of Davenant, who first established the in- spector-general's office, which has been ever since his time so abundant a source of parliamentary information. [20] The export trade to the colonies consists of three great branches: the African, which, terminating almost wholly in the colonies, must be put to the ac- , count of their commerce; the West Indian; and the / North American. All these are so interwoven that the ^j attempt to separate them would tear to pieces the con- texture of the whole; and if not entirely destroy, would BURKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 65 very much depreciate the value of all the parts. I therefore consider these three denominations to be, what in effect they are, one trade.
[21] The trade to the colonies, taken on the export side, at the beginning of this century, that is, in the year 1704, stood thus: — Exports to North America and the West Indies.. £483,265 To Africa 86,665 [22] In the year 1772, which I take as a middle year between the highest and lowest of those lately laid on your table, the account was as follows: — To North America and the West Indies £4,791,734 To Africa 866,398 To which, if you add the export trade from Scotland, which had in 1704 no existence 364,000 [23] From five hundred and odd thousand, it has grown to six millions. It has increased no less than twelvefold. This is the state of the colony trade as compared with itself at these two periods within this • century; and this is matter for meditation. But this is not all. Examine my second account. See how the export trade to the colonies alone in 1772 stood in the other point of view, that is, as compared to the whole trade of England in 1704.
The whole export trade of England, including that to the colonies, in 1704 £6,509,000 Export to the colonies alone in 1772 6,022,000 Difference £487,000 \ [24] The trade with America alone is now within less than £500,000 of being equal to what this groat commercial nation, England, carried on at the beginning 66 BURKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION Hr fr of this century with the whole world! ^f I -had taken the largest year of those on your table, it would rather have exceeded.^ But, it will be said, is not this Amer- ican trade an unnatural protuberance, that has drawn the juices from the rest of the body? The reverse. It is the very food that has nourished every other part into its present magnitude. Our general trade has been greatly augmented, and augmented more or less in almost every part to which it ever extended; but with I 'this material difference, that of the six millions which in i the beginning of the century constituted the whole mass of our export commerce, the colony trade was but one- twelfth part: it is now (as a part of sixteen millions) I considerably more than a.third of Jhe whole. This is VN the relative proportion of the importance of the colonies x at these two periods; and all reasoning concerning our mode of treating them must have this proportion as its 1 basis, or it is a reasoning weak, rotten, and sophistical.
[25] Mr. Speaker, I can not prevail on myself to hurry over this great consideration. It is good for us to 0 -be here. We stand where we have an immense view of 1 what is, and what is past. Clouds, indeed, and darkness rest upon the future. Let us, however, before we de- scend from this noble eminence, reflect that this growth of our national prosperity has happened within the short period of the life of man. It has happened within sixty- eight years. There are those alive whose memory might touch the two extremities. For instance, my Lord Bathurst might remember all the stages of the progress. He was in 1704 of an age at least to be made to com- prehend such things. He was then old enough acta parentum jam leg ere, et quce sit poterit cognoscere virtus. Suppose, Sir, that the angel of this auspicious youth, foreseeing the many virtues which made him one of the most amiable, as he is one of the most fortunate, men of BURKE-S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 67 his age, had opened to him in vision that when, in the fourth generation, the third prince of the House of Brunswick had sat twelve years on the throne of that nation which (by the happy issue of moderate and heal- ing councils) was to be made Great Britain, he should see his son, Lord Chancellor of England, turn back the current of hereditary dignity to its fountain, and raise him to a higher rank of peerage, while he enriched the family with a new one — if, amidst these bright and happy scenes of domestic honor and prosperity, that angel should have drawn up the curtain and unfolded the rising glories of his country, and while he was gazing with admiration on the then commercial grandeur of England, the genius should point out to him a little speck, scarce visible in the mass of the national interest, a small seminal principle, rather than a formed body. and should tell him — " Young man, there is America, which at this day serves for little more than to amuse you with stories of savage men and uncouth manners; yet shall, before you taste of death, show itself equal to the whole of that commerce which now attracts the envy of the world. Whatever England has been grow- ing to by a progressive increase of improvement, brought