Could I have commanded circumstances with a wish, I know not of any that would have more generally promoted the progress of knowledge, than the late Proclamation, and the numerous rotten Borough and Corporation Addresses thereon.* They have not only served...
In contemplating a subject that embraces with equatorial magnitude the whole region of humanity, it is impossible to confine the pursuit in one single direction. It takes ground on every character and condition that appertains to man, and blends the individual, the nation, and...
That men mean distinct and separate things when they speak of constitutions and of governments, is evident; or, why are those terms distinctly and separately used? A constitution is not the act of a government, but of a people constituting a government; and government...
Nothing can appear more contradictory than the principles on which the old governments began, and the condition to which society, civilization, and commerce, are capable of carrying mankind. Government on the old system, is an assumption of power, for the aggrandisement of itself; on...
Among the incivilities by which nations or individuals provoke and irritate each other, Mr Burke’s pamphlet on the French Revolution is an extraordinary instance. Neither the People of France, nor the National Assembly, were troubling themselves about the affairs of England, or the English...
From the part Mr Burke took in the American Revolution,* it was natural that I should consider him a friend to mankind; and as our acquaintance commenced on that ground, it would have been more agreeable to me to have had cause...
The times that tried men souls,1 are over—and the greatest and completest revolution the world ever knew, gloriously and happily accomplished.*
But to pass from the extremes of danger to safety—from the tumult of war to the tranquillity of peace, though sweet in...
There is no subject more interesting to every man than the subject of government. His security, be he rich or poor, and, in a great measure, his prosperity, is connected therewith; it is, therefore, his interest, as well as his duty, to make...
The
following little Piece was written in the winter of 1795 and ‘96; and, as I had not determined whether to publish it during the present war* or to wait till the commencement of a peace, it has lain by...
As the publication of this work has been delayed beyond the time intended, I think it not improper, all circumstances considered, to state the causes that have occasioned the delay.
The reader will probably observe, that some parts in the plan contained in this work...
Dissertation on First Principles of Government