Edmund Burke

   The Life of Edmund Burke

     When Richard Burke’s wife Mary gave birth to their son Edmund in Dublin, Ireland in 1729, Richard already had plans for his baby boy.  Edmund was to become a lawyer, just like his father.  Richard could not have foreseen that his son would be a successful politician in England and the author of the most influential piece of literature written on the French Revolution, with political and economic theories that would continue to be discussed into the 21st century.

     Richard Burke grew up in the Catholic faith, but converted to Protestantism as an adult so that he would legally be allowed to practice law in Ireland.  His wife remained Catholic, and it is thought that Richard Burke probably privately continued to practice this religion as well.  Edmund was raised in the religious tradition of his father, as were his brothers Garret and Richard, while his sister Juliana was raised Catholic.  As a child Edmund was sickly, and was sent to stay with Catholic relatives of his mother in County Cork from 1735 to 1740.  These strong Catholic influences in Burke’s early life are likely the reason that Burke later expressed sympathy toward the oppressed Catholics in Ireland during his time as a politician.

     It is evident in the writings of Burke that he was a well-educated man, especially in the classics, as he frequently used Latin quotes in his work.  He attended a Quaker school in Ballitore from 1741 to 1744 before pursuing higher education at Trinity College in Dublin until 1750.  While at Trinity, Burke first began to explore the world of politics and literature, publishing a weekly paper concerning the harsh treatment of the peasantry by the aristocracy called The Reformer.  Burke developed the idea that property should be secure and a class system was necessary, but it was the duty of the rich to improve their property so that the wealth of the nation as a whole would be increased and all classes would benefit.  Still following his father’s wishes for him, Burke began attending law school at Middle Temple in London in 1750.

     Burke’s time as a law student did not last.  He began to make friends at Middle Temple that further aroused his interest in literature, and to his father’s dismay he gave up a potential career in law to become a writer.  His first works, A Vindication of Natural Society and A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful were published in 1756 and 1757 by a man named Dodsley, who continued to support his work.  His Vindication was an essay that attacked the application of abstract social philosophy to politics, implicitly targeting the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.  In this work, he expressed his belief that religion should be based on emotion rather than abstract or speculative reason, thus offering his criticism of the popular ideas of the Enlightenment.  In Vindication Burke hinted at a political theory that would continue to develop in his speeches and writings throughout his life.  He expressed his reverence for social customs and his trust in the testimony of historic figures over the rational demonstrations of science.  In other words, he preferred the wisdom of experience to the modern idea of rationality.

     The broad influence of Burke’s Enquiry on the literary community reflects his talent as a young writer.  From a scientific perspective, he explored in this work the way people perceive the world around them.  His belief was that each person is comprised of the same basic anatomical features, and therefore perceives all external objects in the same way.  Differences in descriptions or opinions of these objects are simply due to errors in the interpretation of language or differences in the degree in which these objects are perceived.  He discussed the difference between the “sublime” and the “beautiful,” explaining that they are two opposing feelings that can affect a person when perceiving an object.  In Burke’s definition, the “sublime” is anything that evokes passions concerning preservation of oneself or fear, and is a reaction a person has to something that is strange or that has greater power than himself.  Alternatively, the “beautiful” according to Burke is associated with society, familiarity, and the perception of something whose power is less than one’s own.  His ideas were unique and controversial, and greatly contributed to Romanticism.

     Burke married Jane Nugent in 1757, and she gave birth to sons Richard and Christopher shortly thereafter.  This additional economic pressure caused Burke to seek income beyond his writings.  He soon took a job writing an annual review of history, politics, and literature, called the Annual Register for Dodsley, as well as working as the personal assistant of a powerful man named William Gerard Hamilton.  It was at this time that he came into contact with prominent members of the literary community such as Samuel Johnson, Joshua Reynolds, and Oliver Goldsmith.

     In 1761 Burke accompanied Hamilton to Dublin when Hamilton became Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.  He returned to London three years later and left Hamilton for personal reasons, becoming instead the secretary of a rich Whig faction leader, the Marquis of Rockingham.  The Marquis soon after became the First Lord of the Treasury of Great Britain, now called the Prime Minister, and Burke was plunged into the political sphere.  Meanwhile, he was founding a literary society called “the Club” with Johnson and Reynolds, as well as befriending economic theorist Adam Smith.

     In 1765, Burke was elected to the House of Commons by Lord Verney, who controlled the election in Wendover.  He developed a strong reputation as a politician and was able to win a seat again in 1775, this time by his own merits, for Bristol.  He continued his participation in the House of Commons for almost thirty years, until three years before his death.  In his speeches in the House of Commons, Burke expressed a political philosophy that was relatively conservative and greatly concerned with maintaining order in society.  His speeches and political ideas are reminiscent of his Enquiry, as he viewed a good society as one in which there is a balance between emotions associated with beauty and those associated with the sublime.  Beautiful elements such as love, tenderness, and affection, would keep the society and families united, while emotions associated with the sublime, such as fear and awe, induced by a powerful government, would remind citizens to do their duties.  Although he was probably Catholic himself, Burke believed that in public all men should follow the religion of the Established Church to preserve order and unity in society, while in private one could practice what he wished.  Additionally, Burke was a strong supporter of the old constitution, believing that a government should reform slowly and build on the wisdom that has been collected through the ages, rather than completely reinvent itself.

     Burke became well known for his political ideas in 1790 due to his controversial opinions on the French Revolution, expressed both in a speech to the House of Commons as well as his most famous work, entitled Reflections on the Revolution in France.  This work, which was originally intended as a letter to a gentleman in Paris, highlights Burke’s disapproval of the actions and ideas of French revolutionaries as well as their English supporters. 

     Burke’s opposition to this revolution came as a shock to many of his supporters, as he had long been considered a fairly liberal and progressive man and was now embracing counter-revolutionary ideas.  Before this work was published, he had been a supporter of the American rebellions against excessive British control, an opponent of royal patronage and court influence, and a defender of the oppressed in both India and Ireland.  His essay sparked numerous responses, including Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Men, which attacked both his ideas and his character.  William Godwin was also disappointed by Burke’s assertions, explaining that liberals who had admired him were disgusted by this work.  Despite the shock of many of his contemporaries, numerous historians agree that close analysis of Burke’s writings throughout his lifetime show little evidence of a dramatic change in his overall political theories.

     Edmund Burke fell ill a short time after writing his Reflections, probably with tuberculosis.  He continued to express his political ideas, including his fear that the French Revolution would destroy the aristocratic world.  He asked that he be buried in an unmarked grave separate from his family for fear that the French revolutionaries would conquer England and destroy his resting place.  Following his death in 1797, he was buried at Beaconsfield, which had come to be his home.

- by Courtney Sullivan