Vindiciae Gallicae and Other Writings on the French Revolution

Introduction

5 introduction The late opinions of Mr. Burke furnished more matter of astonishment to those who had distantly observed, than to those who had correctly examined the system of his former political life. An abhorrence for abstract politics , a predilection for aristocracy, and a dread of innovation,haveeverbeen among the most sacred articles of his public creed. It was not likely that at his age he should abandon to the invasion of audacious novelties, opinions which he had received so early, and maintained so long, which had been fortified by the applause of the great, and the assent of the wise, which he had dictated to so many illustrious pupils, and supported against so many distinguished opponents. Men who early attain eminence, repose in their first creed. They neglect the progress of the human mind subsequent to its adoption, and when, as in the present case, it has burst forth into action, they regard itas atransientmadness,worthyonlyof pityorderision. They mistake it for a mountain torrent that will pass away with the storm that gave it birth. They know not that it is the stream of human opinion in omne volubilis aevum,1 which the accession of every day will swell, which is destined to sweep into the same oblivion the resistance of learned sophistry , and of powerful oppression. But there still remained ample matter of astonishment in the Philippic of Mr. Burke. He might deplore the sanguinary excesses—he might deride the visionary policy that seemed to him to tarnish the lustre of the Revolution , but it was hard to have supposed that he should have exhausted against it every epithet of contumely and opprobium that language 1. “Rollingitsfloodforever.”Horace,Epistles, inSatires,Epistles,andArspoetica, trans. H. Rushton Fairclough (London and Cambridge, Mass.: Heinemann and HarvardUniversity Press, 1978), 264–65 (I.ii.43). 6 vindiciae gallicae can furnish to indignation; that the rage of his declamation should not for one moment have been suspended; that his heart should not betray one faint glow of triumph, at the splendid and glorious delivery of so great a people. All was invective—the authors, and admirers of the Revolution— every man who did not execrate it, even his own most enlightened and accomplished friends, were devoted to odium and ignominy. This speech did not stoop to argument—the whole was dogmatical and authoritative; the cause seemed decided without discussion; the anathema fulminated before trial. But the ground of the opinions of this famous speech, which, if we may believe a foreign journalist, will form an epoch in the history of the eccentricities of the human mind, was impatiently expected in a work soon after announced.2 The name of the author, the importance of the subject, and the singularity of his opinions, all contributed to inflame the public curiosity, which though it languished in a subsequent delay, has been revived by the appearance, and will be rewarded by the perusal of the work. It is certainly in every respect a performance, of which to form a correct estimate, would prove one of the most arduous efforts of critical skill. “We scarcely can praise it, or blame it too much.”3 Argument every where dextrous and specious, sometimes grave and profound, cloathed in the most rich and various imagery, and aided by the most pathetic and picturesque description, speaks the opulence and the powers of that mind, of which age has neither dimmed the discernment nor enfeebled the fancy, neither repressed the ardor, nor narrowed the range. Virulent encomiums on urbanity , and inflammatory harangues against violence; homilies of moral and religious mysticism, better adapted to the amusement than to the conviction of an incredulous age, though they may rouse the languor of attention, can never be dignified by the approbation of the understanding. Of the Senate and people of France, his language is such as might have been expected to a country which his fancy has peopled only with plots, 2. Edmund Burke, Substance of the Speech of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, in the Debate on the Army Estimates, in the House of Commons, on Tuesday the 9th Day of February, 1790 (London: Debrett, 1790). 3. Oliver Goldsmith, “Retaliation: A Poem,” in Collected Works, ed. A. Friedmann, 5 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966), 4:353. original introduction 7 assassinations, and massacres, and all the brood of dire chimeras which are the offspring of a prolific imagination...