The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 06 (of 12)

Works, Vol. V., quarto edition, (London, F., C., & J. Rivington, 1812,)—Vol. IV. of that edition (London, F. & C. Rivington, 1802) being the first posthumous volume,—and Vols. I., II., and III. (London, J. Dodsley, 1792) comprising the collection published during the lifetime of Mr. Burke.

2

Prefixed to the first volume, in the other editions. For the account referred to, see, in the present edition, Vol. I., pp. xiii., xiv.

3

Page 86 of the present edition.

4

In this edition, p. 91, near the top.

5

In the fourth volume of the present edition.

6

The quarto edition,—extending as far as Book II. ch. 2, near the middle of the paragraph commencing, "The same regard to the welfare of the people," &c.

7

This design the editor did not live to execute.

8

The Rev. J.J. Talman.

9

Here I have fallen into an unintentional mistake. Rider's Almanack for 1794 lay before me; and, in troth, I then had no other. For variety, that sage astrologer has made some small changes on the weather side of 1795; but the caution is the same on the opposite page of instruction.

10

Souverains opprimés.—See the whole proceeding in the Procès-Verbal of the National Assembly.

11

Hic auratis volitans argenteus anser

Porticibus GALLOS in limine adesse canebat.

12

See debates in Parliament upon motions made in both Houses for prosecuting Mr. Reeves for a libel upon the Constitution, Dec., 1795.

13

"In the costume assumed by the members of the legislative body we almost behold the revival of the extinguished insignia of knighthood," &c., &c.—See A View of the Relative State of Great Britain and France at the Commencement of the Year 1796.

14

Mr. Thomas Burgh, of Old Town, was a member of the House of Commons in Ireland.—It appears from a letter written by this gentleman to Mr. Burke, December 24, 1779, and to which the following is an answer, that the part Mr. Burke had taken in the discussion which the affairs of Ireland had undergone in the preceding sessions of Parliament in England had been grossly misrepresented and much censured in Ireland.

15

This intention was communicated to Mr. Burke in a letter from Mr. Pery, the Speaker of the House of Commons in Ireland.

16

Mr. Grattan.

17

Mr. Hussey Burgh

18

Mr. Stanley, member for Lancashire.

19

An eminent merchant in the city of Bristol, of which Mr. Burke was one of the representatives in Parliament.—It relates to the same subject as the preceding Letter.

20

One of the Secretaries of the Treasury.

21

It appears by the following extract from a letter written by the Earl of Mansfield to Mr. Burke, dated the 17th July, 1780, that these Reflections had also been communicated to him:—"I have received the honor of your letter and very judicious thoughts. Having been so greatly injured myself, I have thought it more decent not to attend the reports, and consequently have not been present at any deliberation upon the subject."

22

Cicero de Legibus, Lib. L 14,15 et 16.—"O rem dignam, in qua non modo docti, verum etiam agrestes erubescant! Jam vero illud stultissimum existimare omnia justa esse, quæ scita sint in populorum institutis aut legibus," etc. "Quod si populorum jussis, si principum decretis, si sententiis judicum jura constituerentur, jus esset latrocinari, jus adulterare, jus testamenta falsa supponere, si hæc suffragiis aut scitis multitudinis probarentur."

23

William Smith, Esq., to whom this Letter is addressed, was then a member of the Irish Parliament: he is now (1812) one of the Barons of the Court of Exchequer in Ireland.