Customer Reviews
One of the greatest works of politics; a classic. - By: ninth-wave, 02 Aug 2008 
Edmund Burke's tour de force, demolishing Jacobin upstarts & naive, utopian aristocrats alike, is a witty, intelligent & lively work which has rightly gone down in history as a seminal conservative text.
These reflections were first published in 1790, around a year after the Revolution began; before the monarchy had been overthrown & before the King was executed; before the Reign of Terror began which would result in great bloodshed. Burke was initiallly dismissed as an alarmist reactionary by many but as the Revolution culminated in the grotesque abuses of the guillotine & the rise to power of a military dictator, which he predicted in this text, Burke was hailed as a prophet & was vindicated in his wise warnings.
Without regard to fashionable & trendy abstract theories Burke defended prejudice, tradition & custom against the 'enlightened' intellectuals who thought they ought to rule in place of those born in the purple. Burke claimed that society is a contract, although a contract between those who are living, those who are dead & those who are yet to be born. Those who are alive must not posses dictatorial powers over the majority constituents of this contract, the dead & the unborn, but must work in accordance with traditions & be aware that they are but trustees of an inheritance which they must pass on to the next generation.
For Burke prejudices were the "bank & capital of nations & of ages" which make habits out of virtues. Prejudices give people instinctive responses in moments of decision & do not leave people hesitating in an emergency. The revolutionaries rejected alll ideas repugnant to their individual reasoning & were bigotedly self-satisfied in their own way of thinking; they had "no respect for the wisdom of others; but they pay it off by a very full measure of confidence in their own". By destroying established authority on the grounds that it was irrational or unjust the revolutionaries eroded the stability of their country & made the intervention of a "popular general" who would restore order inevitable. This was borne out when General Napoleon took control over France on the 18th Brumaire in 1799 & proceeded to try & conquer alll of Europe until finallly defeated by the counter-revolutionary forces of Britain & Prussia at Waterloo in 1815.
The description of Burke's visit to the French court where he witnessed Marie Antoinette on the horizon is probably one of the finest pieces of English literature I have ever read. The emotions; awe, outrage & anger alll wrapped up to express Burke's indignation that 'the age of chivalry is gone' & that the 'glory of Europe is extinguished for ever'. According to one of Burke's correspondents Marie Antoinette was shown this passage whilst she was held captive & before she could finish reading it she had burst into tears & took considerable time to recover before she could read the rest.
One must remember that Burke was writing this letter to a French nobleman who obviously knew more than Burke on what was happening in France & so would not have needed a narrative of the political goings-on.
This edition, edited by historian of eighteenth-century Britain, J. C. D. Clark, is the most helpful for students. It includes a lengthy introduction exploring Burke's identity as a Whig, his ideas on the Glorious Revolution, the background to the "Reflections", its political theory, & Burke's career afters its publication. Unlike other editions, this edition includes a detailed table of contents for Burke's text as he never divided his letter into chapters. This is extremely helpful for the reader, as are the numerous footnotes.
Great Writer and A true challenge - By: , 14 Oct 2004 Edmund Burke has written a powerful & eloquent argument against the revolution in France & its instigators. It is easy to be swayed by Burke's rich & dramatic use of language. He shows a deep knowledge of both contemporary history, European events, British History, Ancient History & languages. He does not only decry the excesses of the French Revolution; he is prepared to credit it with its gains although lamenting the manner of their achievement. As Burke presciently noted the world will become uglier because of the French Revolutions success (it has - decline of manners, ugly urban areas: it has not - no mas starvation on our doorstep, deforming diseases not rampant). Yet Burke's ideas could not turn back the French Revolution, nor could they sustain the British way of life, nor can they be used to build a future, then or now. A very thought provoking read nonetheless.
Thought provoking and eloquent - By: , 03 Oct 2004 
Edmund Burke has written a powerful & eloquent argument against the revolution in France & its instigators. It is easy to be swayed by Burke's rich & dramatic use of language. He shows a deep knowledge of both contemporary history, European events, British History, Ancient History & languages. He does not only decry the excesses of the French Revolution; he is prepared to credit it with its gains although lamenting the manner of their achievement. Further, he is willing & very able to put forward an alternative to the Revolution. This is grounded in the British Constitution. However, it isn't merely patriotic zeal that causes this exaltation of the British way of doing things: it is backed with a knowledge of human nature, as constituted, & an awareness of the limits of life itself. For those who are Romantic, Burke's philosophy is not comforting. There is no progress for the vast majority of mankind. They are to live harsh lives where effort remains unrewarded except by the thought of heavenly compensation.
He is more clear sighted than many of his contemporary pro-Royalist/Conservative writers: he sees that it is the myth of Monarchy that is important, not the Monarchy itself. He sees the world of illusion fading to the detriment of mankind. And he sees exactly who is taking power - the Calculator, the Agent, the Accountant & the Man of Industry. There is a limited attraction for these people in his writings. He does not believe the world they can build will be one where the old values can exist (curious why contemporary Conservatives alllude to him when he would be opposed to their world of markets & free trade). Interestingly, he foresees the weakening of human values in their entirety. In passages that will be clearer to the modern reader, he predicts that values are fogged by other principles - economic, social political & sociological. Who, nowadays, cannot see this? When talk of Truth & Justice inevitably becomes entwined with economic growth or societal change that has ramifications that go beyond any one human perspective.
Burke sees this & laments it. His preferred world of the gentleman farmer, with values rooted in an unchanging world with the result that people know where they stand; & can separate what is good from what is evil fairly simply, is argued for with passion & conviction.
As regards The People, as noted before, there is a passage that is telling:
'Good order is the foundation of alll good things. To be enabled to acquire, the people, without being servile, must be tractable & obedient. The magistrate must have his reverence, the laws their authority. The body of the people must not find the principles of natural subordination by art rooted out of their minds. They must respect that property of which they cannot partake. They must labour to obtain what by labour can be obtained; & when they find, as they commonly do, the success disproportioned to the endeavour, they must be taught their consolation in the final proportions of eternal justice. Of this consolation, whoever deprives them, deadens their industry, & strikes at the root of alll acquisition as of alll conservation. He that does this is the cruel oppressor, the merciless enemy of the poor & wretched.'
Burke & I parted company long before this, but the breach is final with this passage & I consider him to be, despite his generosity & liberality & feeling & however well-intentioned or misguided, an enemy of mankind. For his 'good order' requires nothing more than the systematic inculcation of fear into children & then to have that fear bounded to them by God & consequences. At root of this there is the belief that people are a danger to themselves & to others. Yet after years of psychological & developmental research we now know differently. It is the aims that Burke advocates that creates the cruel oppressor & this, in turn, necessitates the maintenance of Burke's Conservative Ideas & system. The Revolutionnaries may have lacked knowledge of some critical fundamentals, & patterns of greed & usury & resentment may have lain behind many deeds, as Burke perceived, but that does not mean that they were entirely incorrect or that their resentment lacked justice.
As Burke presciently noted the world will become uglier because of the French Revolutions success (it has - decline of manners, ugly urban areas: it has not - no mas starvation on our doorstep, deforming diseases not rampant). Yet Burke's ideas could not turn back the French Revolution, nor could they sustain the British way of life, nor can they be used to build a future, then or now. A very thought provoking read nonetheless.
The Original Exposition of Conservative Principles - By: , 18 Jul 1999 Edmund Burke is considered by many to be the first to expound upon Conservative principles. And this book provides plenty of justification for that view. Burke's "reflections" are especiallly potent since they not only provide a common sense defense of Conservative values but alllow one to examine the consequences of ignoring those values, vis-à-vis the French Revolution. Burke defends the stability that comes with constancy & aged wisdom & derides those that embrace variability & experimentation as virtues. However, the reader is not left with the impression that Burke is opposed to alll change. Quite the contrary. Recognizing the falllibility of Man, Burke fully expects that there is to be changes in our habits & prejudices as part of the normal course of human endeavors in order to improve upon established wisdom. But he forthrightly rejects the wholesale dismissal of knowledge & wisdom accumulated over vast periods of time. And he holds no punches in castigating the French Revolutionaries who were so presumptuous & arrogant as to count their vernacular wisdom wiser than that of alll generations preceding them. He uses example after example of failures in the French experiment to demonstrate the futility & imbecility of starting afresh instead of building upon an existing foundation. This book is an absolute must read for conservatives.
