Excerpt from Observations on the Reflections of the Right Hon. Edmund Burke, on the Revolution in France: In a Letter to the Right Hon. The Earl of Stanhope Two parties are already formed in this country, who behold the French Revolution with a very oppofite temper To the one, it infpires the fentiment of exultation and rapture; and to the other, indignation and foam. I [hall not take upon me to confider what are the fecret pallions which have given birth to thele laf'c fentiments; and (hall content myfelf with obferving, that Mr. Burke has undertaken to be the oracle of this laft party. The abilities of this gentleman have been fully acknowledged by the impatience with which t 'e publick have waited for his obferva tions and when we co fider that he has been in a manner edu gated in the great fchool of Parliament, that he has aflit'ted in the publick councils of the Englith nation for the greater part of his life, we muf't fuppofe him fully competent to the talk he has un dertaken, of cenfuring the politicks of our neighbour kingdom, and entering into an exaet definition of thofe native rights which equally attach themfelves to every defcription of men. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
A selected collection of Burke's later writings on the French Revolution, illuminating important dimensions of Burke's political and social philosophy beyond his Reflections on the revolution in France.
This study develops a detailed reading of the interrelations between aesthetics, ideology, language, gender and political economy in two highly influential works by Edmund Burke: his Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful (1757), and the Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790). Tom Furniss's close attention to the rhetorical labyrinths of these texts is combined with an attempt to locate them within the larger discursive networks of the period, including texts by Locke, Hume and Smith. This process reveals that Burke's contradictions and inconsistencies are symptomatic of a strenuous engagement with the ideological problems endemic to the period. Burke's dilemma in this respect makes the Reflections an audacious compromise which simultaneously defends the ancien régime, contributes towards the articulation of radical thought, and makes possible the revolution which we call English Romanticism.
The mind of Edmund Burke has attracted the attention of countless political theorists, historians, and biographers. Nonetheless, one aspect of Burke's thinking has been neglected: his perspective on international relations. This book seeks to address that gap, by analysing Burke's reaction to the international events of his century. The book argues that the tension between Burke's constitutionalism and crusading is ultimately reconciled by his broader conception of international legitimacy and order. It is only by widening the definition of international theory to include domestic as well as international politics that one can resolve this tension in Burke's theory and arrive at a richer understanding of the nature of international order, both historically and today.