Speech on Conciliation with the Colonies, delivered in the House of Commons on March 22, 1775, by the Rt. Hon. Edmund Burke , M.P. for Bristol.
THE dying Chatham expended his latest eloquence upon the subject which inspired Edmund Burke at the zenith of his powers. Upon this, the troubles and the war with the American Colonies, they were at one. ' My proposition is peace,' said Burke; change the pronoun to ' our ' and the statement can be shared by Chatham. Yet, what might have been achieved, in this respect, by their united forces was hindered by their fundamental differences.
Chatham, a great statesman, was an opportunist, drawing ' from the cabinet of his own sagacious mind,' inspiration for his treatment of conditions ho found existing; while Burke was a great political philosopher, elaborating an unchanging theory of government applicable to all circumstances. The former, a Demosthenes of Parliament, seductively urged measures and strove to persuade his audience; the latter, a Bossuet of politics, stated his premises ' wound into his subject like a serpent,' and relied upon out-arguing his opponents.
The trouble with the American colonies was the first great subject which inspired Burke; the third was the French Revolution. On the former, his oratory is conspicuous for reason, judgment, and lucidity, which, on the latter, are largely replaced by declamation and passion. The second subject was the impeachment of Warren Hastings. An example of the eloquence occasioned by it will be presented next Sunday in the famous Begum Speech by Sheridan.
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