Abstract
In order to understand the history, one would have to pay attention to analysis of events by people contemporary to certain epoch. In this context, analyst would have to be pay attention to documents of the previous times and be able to interpret them critically in respect to certain time and stage of human development. One of the best examples is Edmund Burke and his reaction to the British Empire strength in colonies before the American Civil War described in his famous Speech on Conciliation with America presented to the House of Commons on 22nd March 1775. The aim of this essay is to outline the contemporary reaction to Burke’s speech taking into account its historical conditionality.
Key words: the British Empire, colonies, Edmund Burke, the American Civil War.
In Protection of the Empire
In order to understand history or specific period in it, one would have to pay attention to the analysis of events by people contemporary to them. The precaution would be the time those authors belonged to and its limitations. In this context, analyst would have to be careful in reading documents of the previous times and be able to interpret them critically in respect to his time and stage of human society development.
One of the best examples is Edmund Burke and his reaction to the British Empire strength in colonies before the American Civil War described in his famous Speech on Conciliation with America presented to the House of Commons on 22nd March 1775. The aim of this essay is to outline the contemporary reaction to Burke’s speech taking into account its historical conditionality.
The essence of Burke’s speech is an actual explanation of the equality between English people and the inhabitants of the American colonies. In this context, Burke reminded his rulers that Americans were descendants of the English people and that they shared the same perception of the world as any noble Englishman. He argued that, just as English people, would have not allowed the Crown to impose unconditional taxes on internal and external trade relationship without even giving them representation rights, so the Americans would not allow that to happen on the territory they considered to be their home (Burke, 2002). This revelation was particularly important in the society where colonies and their inhabitants were considered to be savages and of lower status than English people. From a certain perspective, Burke can be viewed as a fighter for what we call today human rights and equality of people and nations in the world. This statement can be proved by the further considerations.
First of all, he argued that distance and differences in living conditions could not change desire of an individual to live in freedom and crave for equality. This idea can be derived from his statement that “wherever the chosen race and sons of England worship freedom, they will turn their faces towards you” (Burke, 2002, p. 60). Although he connected freedom with the Imperial rule and the unique right of the Crown to grant liberties and freedom to its subjects, he actually outlined the unity of values shared by people on both continents. He might have not referred to other colonies and equality of all people around the world, but he had already acknowledged the unity between English and American people, irrespective of different statuses of subordination to the Crown. This was a step forward in the society where Imperial rule was unquestionable and colonies were to obey and pay taxes without any right of representation.
On the other hand, except for those progressive thoughts, one should not be delusional about the actual intentions of the author conditioned by time he lived in and the actual historical situation he wrote about. Although today, Bourke’s ideas can be viewed as original basis of democratic perception of the world, they had only one intention – strengthening of the British Empire and its ties with the colonies. It is most likely that the reason why he was so liberal in his speech was conditioned by the fact that increased taxations in forms of Writs of Assistance (1761), the Stamp Act (1765) and finally the Tea Act (1775) had adverse effect of colonies’ uprising and the Boston Tea Party mutiny.
Thus, Bourke’s liberal tone was rather an attempt to offer a radical solution for an entirely hopeless situation, when sides were preparing for war. Bourke did not struggle for equality of people and liberation of nations from the Imperial rule. He simply recommended the Crown how to tie colonies by granting liberties and imposing economic dependence in a hopeless political situation.
Work Cited
Burke Edmund (2002). Burke’s Speech on Conciliation with America 22nd March 1775. The Project Gutenberg Ebook. Available from http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/burke10.txt.
