Evaluate Edmund Burke as a political thinker with illustrative reference to his “Speech on Conciliation with America”

Answer: To many Burke is not a politician; neither is he a progenitor of political theories. He is never read by the students of political science. One hardly comes across any political invention in his works. He deals with politics like a generous man of the world, like a poet who approaches his subject from a humanitarian standpoint, like a prophet who appeals to all to take the world as it is good and evil and to live by compromise with adverse circumstances and by balancing inconveniences. Burke’s influence on the theory and practice of British politics during the last hundred and fifty years has been unique. His stature as a philosopher of politics has grown, though not steadily, since his demise.

Professor K. Banerjee points out four salient characteristics of Edmund Burke as a political philosopher. (i) He applies broad and general principles to practical politics for a more certain and lasting result. (ii) He wants necessary reforms without risking the old order based on the wisdom of ages. (iii) He has the outlook of a mystic who regards society as a complex growth of time and experience molded by some unseen but all-pervasive power, and therefore to be looked upon with reverential awe. (iv) He has the pessimistic outlook of a devout Christian who believes that everything good is inextricably mixed up with a corresponding evil. There is no absolute good, no abstract theory, but everything is linked up with something evil.

“Speech on Conciliation with America” is generally considered as the greatest speech Burke has ever delivered. It has been acknowledged by historians and critics as a hallmark in the tradition of Western oratory. They applaud the speech for its wealth of imagery, political insight, and humanity. The speech is also appreciated for the political doctrines embedded in it. T. E. Utley comments in this regard that –

“It is not merely a guide to practical statesmanship; it contains some at least of the essentials of a philosophy of politics. Those who are determined to dissect can distinguish principles of general application in this magnificent exercise of the art of political analysis.”

Burke does not mean to put forward any political doctrine in his speech. He fervently and passionately, as is always the case with him, argues for conciliation with the colonies. But, as he argues his political thinking gets revealed and some general principles of politics emerge from it.

The first and foremost principle that we come across in the “Speech on Conciliation with America” is the principle of utility. It upholds the theory that no consideration of abstract right sufficient basis for just authority and just obedience, but that the proper end of government is the happiness of its subjects. He unequivocally tells that:

“The question with me is, not whether you have a right to render your people miserable, but whether it is not your interest to make them happy. It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do, but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I ought to do.”

To Burke, the welfare of the subjects is the sovereign guide for the conduct of the government, and the same consideration shall be determining the standard of how far it shall press its authority in practice. To this practical politician expediency in politics is an important factor. He understands that without granting certain “local privileges” to the subjects the rights of the authority cannot be established. He says:

“All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter. We balance inconveniences; we give and take; we remit some rights, so that we may enjoy others; and we choose rather be happy citizens than subtle disputants. As we must give away some natural liberty to enjoy civil advantages, so we must sacrifice some civil liberties for the advantages to be derived from the communion and fellowship of a great empire. But, in all fair dealings, the thing bought must bear some proportion to the purchase paid. None will barter away the immediate jewel of his soul.”

The second principle that emerges is that a nation’s character is the product of its history and geography. It is a principle to which Montesquieu had given systematic expression. But it has been thoroughly assimilated by Burke in the “Speech” through his elaborate enumeration of the circumstances which determine the American character. In fact, Burke has done what in later days came to be called as ‘geopolitics’. His understanding of American character and also the value of the opulent colonies to the mother country, which is Burke’s motherland, is significant and thought-provoking.

The third principle is the principle of the automatic harmony of interests. It is a doctrine that was very fashionable in eighteenth-century England. In the “Speech on Conciliation with America,” Burke stresses the fact that force cannot always win and argues that the view that force can accomplish everything is wrong. Because he knows that “Man acts from adequate motives relative to his interest, and not on metaphysical speculations”, he advocates for judiciousness. actions. He is of the view that a country may often best promote its interests in the long run by curbing its ambitions in the short run. Burke is acting rationally and selfishly. He is moving for the greater interest of his homeland. Nothing less than “the whole of America” will content him. He upholds the policy of concession and compromise because he does not want to lose the opulent colonies. He states with confidence:

“Let the Colonists always keep the idea of their civil rights associated with your government,–they will cling and grapple to you, and no force under heaven will be of power to tear them from their allegiance. But let it be once understood that your government may be one thing, and their privileges another, that these two things may exist without any mutual relation, the cement is gone the cohesion is loosened and everything hastens to decay and dissolution. As long as you have the wisdom to keep the sovereign authority of this country as the sanctuary of liberty, the sacred temple consecrated to our common faith, wherever the chosen race and sons of England worship freedom, they will turn their faces towards you.”

The next principle that comes out is the importance of experience in the sphere of politics. In the speech, there is the appeal to experience, the plea for a reverent consideration not of legal precedents but of the moral and political convictions of the ancestors. For Burke historical precedents are significant and they should provide guidelines for future actions. In the speech, he cites instances from history and argues to adopt policies in their light.

“>Another principle that emerges is that experimentation in politics is often a dangerous propensity. Burke nourishes the notion that by “a variety of experiments” the American colonies have been brought into their present chaotic condition. He urges “to put an end to pernicious experiments”. He nurtures the view that the consequences of action in politics are always so complex that every possible guide should be sought from history.

Burke’s “Speech” failed to win the hearts of the members of the Parliament, but his prediction about the character of America came true. His memorable speech defies the tooth of time and it contains the gist of his political thinking. In spite of his failures in the field of politics, Burke occupies a central position in British political thought. He is still relevant today.