Burkes Speech on Conciliation with America | Page 9

affairs, seems to furnish the
necessary condition for the exercise of a great mind, and Burke is never
so effective as when thoroughly aroused. His imagination needed the
chastening which only a great moment or critical situation could give.

Two of his greatest speeches--Conciliation, and Impeachment of
Warren Hastings--were delivered under the restraining effect of such
circumstances, and in each the figurative expression is subdued and not
less beautiful in itself than, appropriate for the occasion.
Finally, it must be observed that no other writer of English prose has a
better command of words. His ideas, as multifarious as they are, always
find fitting expression. He does not grope for a term; it stands ready for
his thought, and one feels that he had opportunity for choice. It is the
exuberance of his fancy, already mentioned, coupled with this richness
of vocabulary, that helped to make Burke a tiresome speaker. His mind
was too comprehensive to allow any phase of his subject to pass
without illumination. He followed where his subject led him, without
any great attention to the patience of his audience. But he receives full
credit when his speeches are read. It is then that his mastery of the
subject and the splendid qualities of his style are apparent, and
appreciated at their worth.
In conclusion, it is worth while observing that in the study of a great
character, joined with an attempt to estimate it by conventional
standards, something must always be left unsaid. Much may be learned
of Burke by knowing his record as a partisan, more by a minute
inspection of his style as a writer, but beyond all this is the moral tone
or attitude of the man himself. To a student of Burke this is the greatest
thing about him. It colored every line he wrote, and to it, more than
anything else, is due the immense force of the man as a speaker and
writer. It was this, more than Burke's great abilities, that justifies Dr.
Johnson's famous eulogy: "He is not only the first man in the House of
Commons, he is the first man everywhere."

A GROUP OF WRITERS COMING IMMEDIATELY AFTER
BURKE
Wordsworth . . . . 1770-1850
Coleridge . . . . . 1772-1834
Byron . . . . . . . 1788-1824
Shelley . . . . . . 1792-1822
Keats . . . . . . . 1795-1821
Scott . . . . . . . 1771-1832

TOPICS FOR SPECIAL REPORTS
1. "Like Goldsmith, though in a different sphere, Burke belongs both to
the old order and the new." Discuss that statement.
2. Burke and the Literary Club. (Boswell's Life of Johnson.)
3. Lives of Burke and Goldsmith. Contrast.
4. An interpretation of ten apothegms selected from the Speech on
Conciliation.
5. A study of figures in the Speech on Conciliation.
6. A definition of the terms: "colloquialism" and "idiom" Instances of
their use in the Speech on Conciliation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Burke's Life. John Morley. English Men of Letters Series.
2. Burke. John Morley. An Historical Study.
3. Burke. John Morley. Encyclopaedia Britannica.
4. History of the English People. Green. Vol. IV., pp 193-271.
5 History of Civilization in England. Buckle. Vol I, pp. 326-338
6. The American Revolution. Fiske. Vol. I, Chaps. I., II.
7. Life of Johnson. Boswell. (Use the Index)

EDMUND BURKE
ON MOVING HIS RESOLUTIONS FOR CONCILIATION WITH
THE COLONIES. HOUSE OF COMMONS, MARCH 22, 1775
I hope, Sir, that notwithstanding the austerity 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, [Footnote: 1] 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