Selections from the Speeches and Writings of Edmund Burke

Name: Selections from the Speeches and Writings of Edmund Burke
Author: Burke, Edmund

Burke, Edmund

Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797; Essays; Political science; Speeches, addresses, etc.

No man ever doubted that the commodity of tea could bear an imposition
of threepence. But no commodity will bear threepence, or will bear a
penny, when the general feelings of men are irritated, and two millions
of people are resolved not to pay. The feelings of the colonies were
formerly the feelings of Great Britain. Theirs were formerly the
feelings of Mr. Hampden when called upon for the payment of twenty
shillings. Would twenty shillings have ruined Mr. Hampden's fortune?
No! but the payment of half twenty shillings, on the principle it was
demanded, would have made him a slave.




GOOD MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT.

To be a good member of parliament is, let me tell you, no easy task;
especially at this time, when there is so strong a disposition to run
into the perilous extremes of servile compliance or wild popularity.
To unite circumspection with vigour is absolutely necessary; but it is
extremely difficult. We are now members for a rich commercial CITY; this
city, however, is but a part of a rich commercial NATION, the interests
of which are various, multiform, and intricate. We are members for
that great nation, which however is itself but part of a great EMPIRE,
extended by our virtue and our fortune to the farthest limits of
the east and of the west. All these wide-spread interests must be
considered; must be compared; must be reconciled, if possible. We are
members for a FREE country; and surely we all know, that the machine of
a free constitution is no simple thing; but as intricate and as delicate
as it is valuable. We are members in a great and ancient MONARCHY; and
we must preserve religiously the true legal rights of the sovereign,
which form the key-stone that binds together the noble and
well-constructed arch of our empire and our constitution.




FISHERIES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

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Selections from the Speeches and Writings of Edmund BurkeBurke, Edmund

Philosophy

Selections from the Speeches and Writings of Edmund Burke

Burke, Edmund

Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797; Essays; Political science; Speeches, addresses, etc.

No man ever doubted that the commodity of tea could bear an imposition
of threepence. But no commodity will bear threepence, or will bear a
penny, when the general feelings of men are irritated, and two millions
of people are resolved not to pay. The feelings of the colonies were
formerly the feelings of Great Britain. Theirs were formerly the
feelings of Mr. Hampden when called upon for the payment of twenty
shillings. Would twenty shillings have ruined Mr. Hampden's fortune?
No! but the payment of half twenty shillings, on the principle it was
demanded, would have made him a slave.




GOOD MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT.

To be a good member of parliament is, let me tell you, no easy task;
especially at this time, when there is so strong a disposition to run
into the perilous extremes of servile compliance or wild popularity.
To unite circumspection with vigour is absolutely necessary; but it is
extremely difficult. We are now members for a rich commercial CITY; this
city, however, is but a part of a rich commercial NATION, the interests
of which are various, multiform, and intricate. We are members for
that great nation, which however is itself but part of a great EMPIRE,
extended by our virtue and our fortune to the farthest limits of
the east and of the west. All these wide-spread interests must be
considered; must be compared; must be reconciled, if possible. We are
members for a FREE country; and surely we all know, that the machine of
a free constitution is no simple thing; but as intricate and as delicate
as it is valuable. We are members in a great and ancient MONARCHY; and
we must preserve religiously the true legal rights of the sovereign,
which form the key-stone that binds together the noble and
well-constructed arch of our empire and our constitution.




FISHERIES OF NEW ENGLAND.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Selections from the Speeches and Writings of Edmund Burke

Selections from the Speeches and Writings of Edmund Burke

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