Speech on American Taxation; Edited With Introd. and Notes by James Hugh Moffatt

by Edmund Burke

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132 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1905

About the author

After A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful , aesthetic treatise of 1757, Edmund Burke, also noted Irish British politician and writer, supported the cause of the American colonists in Parliament but took a more conservative position in his Reflections on the Revolution in France in 1790.

Edmund Burke, an Anglo statesman, author, orator, and theorist, served for many years in the House of Commons as a member of the Whig party. People remember mainly the dispute with George III, great king, and his leadership and strength. The latter made Burke to lead figures, dubbed the "old" faction of the Whig against new Charles James Fox. Burke published a work and attempted to define triggering of emotions and passions in a person. Burke worked and founded the Annual Register, a review. People often regard him as the Anglo founder.

Reviews

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually read this as part of the Collected Works of Edmund Burke, but I am reviewing them piecemeal as Goodreads has a 20,000 character limit to reviews; my references are to that work. Overall, this was good reading, especially for anyone with an interest in the pre-revolutionary period of American history. Often, the British side was represented as monolithic and under the direct command of King George III. Burke's speech, given in 1774, adds a good deal of color to this understanding, showing just what a raucous debate there was in England at the time and the options under consideration on the other side of the Atlantic. Burke also displays his insight into human nature and the realm of the possible within politics, so reading this work benefits any reader with an interest in politics as well.

Burke gives plenty of evidence in favor of maintaining at least some of the Navigation Acts and the policy of mercantilism, seeing it as advantageous to the commerce of England, though he was perhaps more liberal in this area than some of his contemporaries. By the same token, he claims taxing the colonies runs contrary to the spirit of mercantile commerce, while simultaneously making itself odious to the colonies, especially as they did not have (nor did Burke foresee their having) representation in Parliament.

So sure is Burke of the support of evidence and logic that he declares, "plain truth and clear evidence can be beat down by no ability." (location 19470-19471)

His observations on his contemporary politics are frequently tied to the specific context, though some are among his timeless observations. Take, for example, "it may be truly said, that men too much conversant in office are rarely minds of remarkable enlargement. Their habits of office are apt to give them a turn to think the substance of business not to be much more important than the forms in which it is conducted." (location 19851-19853) Or again, "He conceived, and many conceived along with him, that the flourishing trade of this country was greatly owing to law and institution, and not quite so much to liberty; for but too many are apt to believe regulation to be commerce, and taxes to be revenue." (location 19856-19858) And another, "Obstinacy, Sir, is certainly a great vice; and in the changeful state of political affairs it is frequently the cause of great mischief. It happens, however, very unfortunately, that almost the whole line of the great and masculine virtues, constancy, gravity, magnanimity, fortitude, fidelity, and firmness, are closely allied to this disagreeable quality." (location 20251-20253) And so perhaps all vices and virtues might be so tied together.

In his usual style, Burke remained a pragmatist throughout his argument, for instance waving away abuses of the Navigation Acts thus, "great trade will always be attended with considerable abuses." (location 19865-19866) His observation about the impossibility of taxing while remaining popular is worth repeating, "to tax and to please, no more than to love and to be wise, is not given to men." (location 20268-20269) But non-popular government was no more effective at extracting revenue; indeed less so: "Tyranny is a poor provider. It knows neither how to accumulate nor how to extract." (location 20408-20409)

Worth reading!

[Spenser White · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oy! This is a difficult book to wade through, but I fault myself, not the speaker. I enjoyed learning about the history of the beginning of the American Revolution from a British perspective.