Edmund Burke 1729-1797 The time when America was waging her war for independence was a stirring time in the history of the world. Great Britain had through her officials devastated India, Ireland was in a state of upheaval, and the French were on the eve of their bloodiest revolution. It was a time when the world needed great men and a time when the stimulus of events was certain to produce greatness in men. Edmund Burke was one of the leaders of the time, a man as fearless as he was eloquent in debate, and as wise and far-sighted in his policy as he was startling and effective in his defense of it. The colonies had no wiser nor more faithful friend and no friend who was more earnestly their champion. From the time when Burke made his first ringing speech on the Stamp Act till the last days of his life he was consistently the advocate of justice and freedom. He was born in Dublin, and was one of the fifteen children of an Irish lawyer who desired this son to follow the same profession. Accordingly he was carefully educated in preparation for college and finally graduated from Trinity, Dublin, in 1748. Here he distinguished himself in no special way except for his erratic and somewhat tempestuous nature and for the enthusiasm with which he read,-absorbed at one time in one study and then entering with equal ardor in some other branch, but never permanently excellent in anything unless it was in Latin. Upon graduation he was sent by his father to London to study law but at the end of four years Edmund, then about twenty-five years of age, abandoned the profession and resolved to devote himself to literature. This act so exasperated his father that he withdrew his support and the young man was left dependent entirely upon his own resources. The keenness of his intellect and the brilliancy of his powers of expression should have made him famous and wealthy but he was never successful in the conduct of his own affairs. While his prominence brought him a good income his extravagance and poor management left him heavily in debt in spite of the fact that admiring friends came frequently to his rescue, advancing large sums of money and cancelling heavy obligations to themselves. He purchased a large estate hoping to found an enduring house but the death of his son destroyed his hope of the peerage and the increasing burden of his debts finally drove him from public life. For the three years preceding his death he devoted himself faithfully to literary labors in the vain hope of retrieving his fallen fortunes. Lord Buckingham in his will finally freed Burke's estate and ordered the destruction of all evidences of the latter's indebtedness. |