Edmund Burke, Volume I: 1730-1784

613 Pages·2008·11.16 MB·English

by  F.P. Lock

preface i
EDMUND BURKE
* * *
Volume 1
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preface iii
EDMUND BURKE
* * *
1730 1784
VOLUME I, –
F. P. LOCK
OXFORD · CLARENDON PRESS
iv preface
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Lock, F.P.
Edmund Burke/F.P. Lock.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents: v.1.1730–1784–
ISBN 0-19-820676-3 (v.1)
1. Burke, Edmund,1730–1797. 2. Great Britain—Politics and government—18th century. 3. Political
scientists—Great Britain—Biography. 4. Statesmen—Great Britain—Biography. I. Title.
DA506.B9L54 1998
941.07′3′092–dc21
[B] 98-7147
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ISBN 978-0-19-820676-3 (Hbk.)
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preface v
Preface
When Sir Walter Elliot, in Jane Austen’s Persuasion, decides to let his
ancestral home and retire to a more economical life at Bath, he is gratified
that his prospective tenant is an admiral. No friend to the carrière ouverte
aux talents, Sir Walter dislikes the Navy for bringing ‘persons of obscure
birth’ into ‘undue distinction’. Yet to be able to say ‘I have let my house to
Admiral Croft,’ he reflects, ‘would sound extremely well; very much better
than to any mere Mr ——; a Mr (save, perhaps, some half dozen in the
nation,) always needs a note of explanation. An admiral speaks his own
consequence, and, at the same time, can never make a baronet look small.’
Although much had changed in the twenty years between Burke’s death and
the publication of Persuasion, the England in which the novel is set remains
recognizably Burke’s world. Political power and social prestige are still
largely the preserve of the landed gentry. A baronet outranks an admiral,
and a ‘new man’ is still held in disdain by the likes of Sir Walter. Most of
those ‘persons of obscure birth’ who achieved distinction in the eighteenth
century rose, like Admiral Croft, through one of the professions: through
the Army or the Navy, the law or the Church. Some of these ‘new men’,
chiefly the lawyers, even worked their way into Parliament. Burke’s career
was unusual even among these exceptional few. Almost alone of the ‘new
men’ of his age who achieved political prominence, he owed his rise not to
professional success but to the force of his mind and his eloquence.
Burke’s life falls naturally into three periods, dividing at 1765, and at
1782 or 1784. Until 1765, the surviving evidence is scanty; in the ten-
volume edition of his letters, 1765 is reached half-way through volume i.
Even so, by digging in the archives (especially the student records at Trinity
College, Dublin) I have been able to treat Burke’s early years more fully
than previous biographers have done. Before 1766, Burke was known, if
at all, as an author. Yet only one of his early writings, the Philosophical
Enquiry, is familiar today. I have tried to redress the balance by treating at
length two works hitherto neglected: the Account of the European Settlements
in America(written in collaboration with William Burke) and his unfinished
‘History of England’.
In July 1765, Burke became private secretary to the Marquis of
Rockingham, himself just appointed First Lord of the Treasury; in Decem-
ber, he was elected to Parliament. Within a few months, he had established
himself as one of the handful of leading speakers in the Commons, with the
embryo of a national reputation. Though Rockingham’s secretary for only
a year, Burke remained tied to the marquis until his death in July 1782.
Rockingham headed the small but influential party named after him; Burke
vi preface
was one of its most prominent members. During these years with
Rockingham, Burke was concerned with an extraordinary variety of politi-
cal questions. The biographical problem is to select from the increasingly
abundant evidence so as to achieve coherence without misrepresentation.
Burke was never wholly occupied with the great issues of the day. Much of
his time and energy was devoted to local and temporary questions, and I
have used some of these to give a fuller and more varied account of his
parliamentary career.
Rockingham’s death changed Burke’s life, both liberating him and
cutting him adrift. I have chosen to take the story to 1784 in this volume,
because the general election of 1784 marks an even more decisive break
between Burke’s middle and later career. Burke is now chiefly remembered
for the cause of his last decade, his crusade against the French Revolution
and its principles. This will be the leading theme of my second volume.
Burke’sReflections on the Revolution in France (1790) is a classic of English
literature, of historiography, and of political thought. This eloquent mas-
terpiece, Burke’s greatest legacy to humanity, though written in less than a
year, was the product of a lifetime’s reading, thought, and observation. To
aid an understanding of the man who wrote it, to illuminate his remarkable
mind, and to trace his ideas to their roots in his life, is the purpose of this
biography.
Any biography of Burke must depend heavily on the splendid edition of
his Correspondence, edited by Thomas W. Copeland and others. This has
been my constant resource, as has the edition of the Writings and Speeches
edited by Paul Langford and his team. I would also like to record my debt
to the many Burke scholars, dix-huitiémistes, and writers on the numerous
ancillary subjects which I have investigated in the course of researching this
book. I have learned much more from them than the specific indebtednesses
recorded in the notes.
Nor could this volume have been written without drawing on the re-
sources of many libraries and other institutions. To all of them, and to the
members of their staffs who have helped me in so many ways, I am most
grateful, and especially for permisison to quote from manuscripts or repro-
duce illustrations. In London: the British Library, the British Museum, Dr
Williams’s Library, Drummond’s Bank, the Guildhall Library, Harrow
School Archives Room, the Institute of Historical Research, the London
Metropolitan Archives, the Middle Temple Library, the National Portrait
Gallery, the Public Record Office, St Mary’s Battersea, the Westminster
Abbey Muniment Room (and the Dean and Chapter of Westminster), the
City of Westminster Archives, and the Westminster Diocesan Archives.
Outside London: the Buckinghamshire Record Office, Aylesbury; the Vic-
toria Art Gallery, Bath; the Birmingham Central Library; the Bristol Ref-
erence Library, the Bristol Record Office, and the University of Bristol
preface vii
Library; the Suffolk Record Office at Bury St Edmunds; the Cambridge
University Library; Churchill College, Cambridge; the Fitzwilliam
Museum; the Trustees of the Goodwood Collection; the Claydon House
Trust (and Sir Ralph Verney); the Derby Central Library; the Northamp-
tonshire Record Office; the University of Nottingham Library; the Not-
tinghamshire Archives (and the Principal Archivist); the Bodleian Library,
and Christ Church, Oxford; the Sheffield City Archives (and the Trustees
of Olive, Countess Fitzwilliam’s Chattels Settlement and the Director of
Libraries and Information Services). In Scotland: the National Library of
Scotland, the National Portrait Gallery of Scotland, the Royal Museum of
Scotland, the Scottish Record Office, the University of Edinburgh Library,
and the Glasgow University Archives. In Ireland: Trinity College, Dublin
(and the Board of Trinity College); the National Archives, the National
Library of Ireland, the National Gallery of Ireland, the Royal Irish Acad-
emy, the Representative Church Body Library, the Dublin City Library;
and the Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork. In Canada: the libraries of
Queen’s University at Kingston and of the University of Toronto. In the
United States: the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library and the
James M. and Marie Louise Osborn Collection, Yale University; the Yale
Center for British Art; the Lewis Walpole Library at Farmington; the
Harvard University Library; the library of the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign; the William L. Clements Library, University of
Michigan; and the Tulane University Law Library.
For financial assistance, I am grateful to the University of Queensland;
Queen’s University; the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
of Canada; and the Marguerite Eyre Wilbur Foundation.
Special thanks are due to the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Crawford and
Balcarres, the Rt. Hon. Lord Polwarth of Harden, the Hon. Lady Hastings,
Dr J. A. Perkins, and Dr Lars E. Troide. For reading early drafts and
making valuable suggestions, I would like to thank Dr Paula Backscheider,
Dr Vincent Carretta, and Dr Peter Sabor. At a later stage, Dr J. A. W.
Gunn kindly read the entire typescript. My greatest debt, however, is to my
wife, Margaret, for her constant help, advice, and encouragement.
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preface ix
Contents
List of Plates xi
List of Figures xiii
List of Abbreviations xiv
1. Growing Up Irish, 1730–1744 1
2. From a Boy to a Man, 1744–1750 29
3. Getting Started, 1750–1757 64
4. A Philosophical Enquiry, 1757 91
5. Maps of Mankind, 1756–1758 125
6. Journalist and Jackal, 1758–1765 165
7. Gleams of Prosperity, 1765–1768 209
8. Present Discontents, 1768–1770 259
9. Squalls and Stagnation, 1770–1773 298
10. America and Bristol, 1774–1776 349
11. Waiting on Events, 1776–1779 400
12. Shears or Hatchets, 1779–1781 443
13. Paradise Lost, 1781–1784 492
Index 545