Produced by Paul Murray, Susan Skinner and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team from images generously made available by the Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr THE WORKS OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EDMUND BURKE IN TWELVE VOLUMES VOLUME THE SECOND [Illustration: Burke Coat of Arms.] LONDON JOHN C. NIMMO 14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND, W.C. MDCCCLXXXVII CONTENTS OF VOL. II. SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION, April 19, 1774 1 SPEECHES ON ARRIVAL AT BRISTOL AND AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE POLL, October 13 and November 3, 1774 81 SPEECH ON MOVING RESOLUTIONS FOR CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA, March 22, 1775 99 LETTER TO THE SHERIFFS OF BRISTOL, ON THE AFFAIRS OF AMERICA, April 3, 1777 187 TWO LETTERS TO GENTLEMEN OF BRISTOL, ON THE BILLS DEPENDING IN PARLIAMENT RELATIVE TO THE TRADE OF IRELAND, April 23 and May 2, 1778 247 SPEECH ON PRESENTING TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS A PLAN FOR THE BETTER SECURITY OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF PARLIAMENT, AND THE ECONOMICAL REFORMATION OF THE CIVIL AND OTHER ESTABLISHMENTS, February 11, 1780 265 SPEECH AT BRISTOL PREVIOUS TO THE ELECTION, September 6, 1780 365 SPEECH AT BRISTOL ON DECLINING THE POLL, September 9, 1780 425 SPEECH ON MR. FOX'S EAST INDIA BILL, December 1, 1783 431 A REPRESENTATION TO HIS MAJESTY, MOVED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, June 14, 1784 537 SPEECH ON AMERICAN TAXATION. APRIL 19, 1774. PREFACE. The following speech has been much the subject of conversation, and the desire of having it printed was last summer very general. The means of gratifying the public curiosity were obligingly furnished from the notes of some gentlemen, members of the last Parliament. This piece has been for some months ready for the press. But a delicacy, possibly over-scrupulous, has delayed the publication to this time. The friends of administration have been used to attribute a great deal of the opposition to their measures in America to the writings published in England. The editor of this speech kept it back, until all the measures of government have had their full operation, and can be no longer affected, if ever they could have been affected, by any publication.