Two letters addressed to a member of the present Parliament, on the proposals for peace with the

198 Pages·2009·9.43 MB·English

by  Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797

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TWO
LETTERS
ADDRESSED TO
MEMBER
A
OP
THE PRESENT PARLIAMENT,
ON THE PROPOSALS FOR
PEACE
WITH THE
REGICIDE DIRECTORY
or
FRANCE.
5«35<
BY THE RIGHT HON. EDMUND BURKE.
ICcntJon:
PRINTED FOR F. AND C. RIVINGTON,
3T. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD.
179(3.
ERRATA.
Page 24, 1. 15, inftead of " Foras we have gone'* read
** Faras we have gone." &c.
39,1. 17, inftead of " with him,' read •• with
Citizen Banhelemi"
57, 1. 25, infteadof"fromher"read"fromthem."
LETTER
I.
On the Overtures ofPeace,
MY DEA"R SIR,
OUR
laft convcrfation, though not in the tone
ofabfohite defpondciicy, was far from chear-
We
ful. could not eafily account for fome un-
pleafant appearances. They were reprefented to
us as indicating the flate ofthepopular mind; and
they were not at all what we fhould have expedled
from our old ideas even ofthe faults and vices of
the Englifh character. The difaftrous events,
which have followed one upon another in a long
in:ibroken funereal train, moving in a proccflion,
that feemed to have no end, thefe were not the
We
principal caufes ofour dejedlion. feared more
from whatthreatened to fail within,than what me-
naced to opprefs us from abroad. To a people
who have once been proud and great, and great
becaufe they wereproud, a change in the national
fpirit is the moft terrible ofall revolutions.
I fliall not live to behold the unravelling of the
intricate plot, which faddens and perplexes the
B awful
"jt.rvra ->.«^ Ci '*!
( 2 )
awful drama of Providence, now ailing on tho
moral theatre of the world. Whether forthought
or for adlion, I am at theendofmy career. You are
in the middle of yours. In what part of it's orbit
the nation, with which we arecarried along, moves
at this inftant, it is not eafy to conje6lure. It
may, perhaps, be far advanced in its aphelion.—
But when to return ?
Notto lofc ourfelves in the infinitevoid of the
,
conjectural world, our bufinefs is with what is
likely to be affecled for the better or the
worfe, by the wifdom or weaknefs of our plans.
In all fpcculations upon men and human affairs,
it is of no fmall moment to diftinguifh things
of accident from permanent caufes-, and from
efFc61s that cannot be altered. It is not ewerf
irregularity in our movement that is a total devi-
ation from our courfc. I am not quite of the
mind ofthofc fpeculators, who fcem aflured, that
jiccelfarily, and by the conflitution of things, all
States have the fame periods of infancy, manhood,
and decrepitude, that are found in the individuals
who conipofc them. Parallels of this fort rather
furnilh limilitudcs to illuftrate or to adorn,
than to fupply analogies from whence to rca-
fon. The objc61s which arc attempted to be
forced into an analogy are not found in the fame
cloifcs of cxiftencc. Individuals are phyfical be-^
ings,
( 3 )
ings, lubje(5l to laws univerfal and invariable. The
immediate caufe adling in thefe laws may be ob-
fcure The general refults are fubjeds of certain
:
calculation. But commonwealths are not phylical
but moral ellences. They are artificial combina-
tions and in their proximate efficient caufe, the
;
arbitrary produdlions of the human mind. We
are not yet acquainted with the laws which necef-
farily influence the ftability of that kind ofwork
made by that kind of agent. There is not in the
phyfical order (with which they do not appear to
hold any affignable connexion) a difl:in6l caufe by
which any of thofc fabrick« muft neceflarily grow,
iiourilTi, or decay nor, in my opinion, docs the
;
moral world produce any thing more determinate
on that fubje6l, than what may ferve as an amufe-
mcnt (liberal indeed, and ingenious, but ftill only
-an amufement) for fpeculative men. I doubt whe-
therthe hiftory ofmankind isyet compleat enough,
if ever it can be fo, to furnilb grounds for a furc
theory on the internal caufes which ncceflarily af-
fe6l the fortune of a State, I am far from deny-
ing the operation of fach caufes But they arein-
:
finitely uncertain, and much more obfcurc, and
much more difficult to trace, than the foreign
caufes that tc/.d to raife, to deprefs, and fome-
times to overwhelm a community.
It is often impoffiblc, in thcfc pol'tical enquiries,
to find any proportion between the apparent force
B 2 of
*
( )
ofany moral caufcs we may ailign and theirknown
Wc
operation. arc thereforeobUged to deliver up
tl]at operation to mere chance, or more piouflj
(perhaps more rationally) to the occafional inter-
pofition and irrelil'tible hand of the Great Dif-
We
pofer. havefeen States ofconliderableduration,
which for ages have remained nearly as they have
begun, and could hardly be faid to ebb or flow.
Some appear to have fpent their vigour at their
commencement. Some have blazed out in their
glory a little before their extinction. The meri-
dian offome has been the moft fplendid. Others,
and they the greatcfl num.ber, have fluctuated, and
-experienced at diflercnt periods of their exillence
a great variety of fortune. At the very moment
when fome of them fccmedplunged in unfathom-
able abyfles of difgrace and difafter, they have
fuddcnly emerged. They have begun a new courfc
•
'Awd opened a new reckoning ; and even in the
depths oftheir calamity, and on the very ruins of
their country, have laid the foundations of a tow-
oring and durable grcatnefs. All this has happened
without any nppnrcnt previous change in the ge-
neral circumflanccs \\'hich had brouglit on their
diftrcfs. The death of a man at a critical junc-
ture, his ditgull, his retreat, his' dilgrace, have
brought innumerable calamitie? on a whole na-
tion. A common foldier, a child, a girl at the
door of an inn, have changed the face offortuue,
T.r'd ahnofr of Nature,
Such