Selections from the Speeches and Writings | Page 8

with
the commonest themes of the hour,--was sustained and strengthened by
the purity of his heart, and the subjection of passion to the law of
conscience. And if the worshippers of mere intellect, apart from, or as
opposed to, moral elevation, are inclined to ridicule this view of
Burke's genius, we beg to remind them, that "One greater than the
Temple" of mortal Wisdom, and all the idols enshrined therein, has
asserted a positive connection to exist between mental insight and
moral purity. We allude to the Redeemer's words, when He
declares,--"If any man WILLS to do His will, he shall KNOW of the
doctrine." HOW the passions act upon our perceptions, and by what
process the motions of the Will elevate or depress the forces of the
Intellect, is beyond our metaphysics to analyse. But that there exists a
real, active, and influential connection between our moral and mental
life, is undeniable: and since Burke's power of seizing the essential Idea,
or fundamental Principle of every complex detail which came before
him, was pre-eminently his gift,--the intellectual insight such gift
developed, was not only an expression of senatorial wisdom, but also a

witness for the elevation of his moral character. We must now allude to
the public conduct of Burke, as a Statesman and Politician, and only
regret the limited range of a popular essay confines us to one view,
namely, his alleged inconsistency. There WAS a period when charges
of apostasy were brought against him with reckless audacity: but Time,
the instructor of ignorance, and the subduer of prejudice, is now
beginning to place the conduct of Burke in its true light. The facts of
the case are briefly these. Up to the period of 1791, Fox and Burke
fought in the same rank of opposition, and stood together upon a basis
of complete identity in principle and sentiment. But even before the
celebrated disruption of 1791, the progress of Republicanism in
America, and the approaching separation of the colonies from their
parent state, Burke's views of political liberty had received extensive
modifications; and the ardour of his confidence in the so?called friends
of freedom had been greatly cooled. But in 1791, the disruption
between Burke and Fox became open, absolute, and final, when the
latter statesman uttered, in the hearing of his friend, this fearful
eulogium on the French Revolution:--"The new constitution of France
is the most stupendous and glorious edifice of liberty which had been
erected on the foundation of human integrity in any age or country!"
(That ancient Sage unto whose political wisdom frequent reference has
been made in this essay, thus speaks on the reverence due unto an
existing government, even when contemplated from its weakest
side:--"Formidable as these arguments seem, they may be opposed by
others of not less weight; arguments which prove that even the rust of
government is to be respected, and that its fabric is never to be touched
but with a fearful and trembling hand. When the evil of persevering in
hereditary institutions is small, it ought always to be endured, because
the evil of departing from them is certainly very great. Slight
imperfections, therefore, whether in the laws themselves, or in those
who administer and execute the laws, ought always to be overlooked,
because they cannot be corrected without occasioning a much greater
mischief, and tending to weaken that reverence which the safety of all
governments requires that the citizens at large should entertain,
cultivate, and cherish for the hereditary institutions of their country.
The comparison drawn from the improvement of arts does not apply to
the amendment of laws. To change or improve an art, and to alter or

amend a law, are things as dissimilar in their operation as different in
their tendency; for laws operate as practical principles of moral action;
and, like all the rules of morality, derive their force and efficacy, as
even the name imports, from the customary repetition of habitual acts,
and the slow operation of time. Every alteration of the laws, therefore,
tends to subvert that authority on which the persuasive agency of all
laws is founded, and to abridge, weaken, and destroy the power of the
law itself."--Aristotle's "Politics.") The reply of Burke to this burst of
Jacobinism, with all its consequences in the political history of Europe,
is far too well known to be quoted here. But, since it was at this point in
the career of Burke the charge of apostasy was commenced, and which
has never quite died away, even in existing times, we may be permitted,
first, to cite a noble passage from Burke's self?vindication; and
secondly, to adduce a still more impressive evidence of his political
rectitude and wisdom, derived from the admission of those who were
once his uncompromising opponents. In relation to the attacks