Macaulay opens his most remarkable article on Milton by saying, "The
dexterous Capuchins never choose to preach on the life and miracles of a
saint, till they have awakened the devotional feelings of their auditors
by exhibiting some relic of him,--a thread of his garment, a lock of his
hair, or a drop of his blood." If we were in the mood, we might take
advantage of interesting manuscripts of Edmund Burke, which are now
before us, to say something of this remarkable character. But we shall
confine ourselves for the present to a passing glance at the manuscripts
which have strayed across the Atlantic.[A]
[Footnote A: These manuscripts are now in the possession of the Hon.
Charles Sumner, who is also the fortunate owner of the _Album Amicorum_
containing the autograph of John Milton.--ED.]
The authentic manuscripts of Burke have passed through several hands. On
his death, they were intrusted to the eminent civilian, Dr. French
Lawrence, of Doctors' Commons, and to Dr. King, afterwards Bishop of
Rochester. To these two gentlemen we are indebted for the first eight
volumes of the London octavo edition of Burke's Works. The career of Dr.
Lawrence was cut short by death in 1809. His associate had the exclusive
charge of the papers till 1812, when the venerable widow of Burke died
at Beaconsfield, and by her last will gave to Earl Fitzwilliam, the
Bishop of Rochester, and the Right Honorable William Elliott the entire
direction of the printing and publishing of such parts of the works of
her late husband as were not published before her decease,--bequeathing
to them all the printed and manuscript papers for this purpose. Eight
more volumes were published by the Bishop, who died in 1828, a few
months after the publication of the fifteenth and sixteenth volumes. Mr.
Elliott had already died in 1818. The papers now came into the sole
possession of Earl Fitzwilliam, the distinguished nobleman associated
with the latter portion of Burke's life, from whom they descended to his
son, the late Earl Fitzwilliam, who, in conjunction with Sir Richard
Bourke, published, in 1844, the four volumes of correspondence, with a
few notes of unpublished speeches.
We have personal reason to know that there are yet other unpublished
manuscripts of Burke in the hands of Lord Fitzwilliam, some of which it
was our fortune many years ago to inspect. Mr. Macknight, it appears,
applied to the present Earl for permission to publish some of those
which are preserved in the archives of Wentworth House, but, "out of
obedience to the expressed wish of his father, who published all he
thought necessary, he declined to sanction any further publication of
these documents."[A]
[Footnote A: Macknight's _Life of Burke_, Vol. III. p. 737.]
There are also letters of Burke which from time to time have seen the
light, as they were communicated by their possessors. Among these none
equals in interest that addressed to Pitt with regard to his pension,
which has been printed recently by Lord Stanhope, in his small, but rich
and rare collection, entitled "Miscellanies." This important letter came
to light among the papers of Pitt, and has been described by Macaulay as
"interesting and very characteristic."
The manuscripts now before us are none of these. They have a history of
their own.
They constitute a thin volume in folio, neatly bound, having a
book-mark, and arms with the name of _Fillingham_. Here are four
familiar autograph-letters from Burke to his amanuensis, Swift, all of
them written from Margate, on the sea-shore, and bearing Burke's frank
as a member of Parliament. According to habit with us, the frank of a
member of Congress is written in the right-hand upper corner of the
superscription, while the old English frank is in the left-hand lower
corner. But English law, while the privilege of franking existed,
required also that the name of the place where the letter was pasted,
and the day on which it was posted, written at length, should appear in
the superscription. Take, for instance, the following frank of Burke in
this collection:--
"Margate July seventeenth, 1791
"Mr Swift,
"Mr Burke's Chambers
"4 Stone Buildings
"Lincoln's Inn
"London.
"Edm. Burke."
These letters have been recently published by Mr. Macknight, who says of
them that "they show how kind and familiar Burke was to the humblest
dependants with whom he was thrown into any human relationship"; they
also "show the statesman, when at the height of literary fame, as busy
and anxious in sending his sheets through the press, and making
corrections and alterations, as any young author with his first proofs";
and he adds, "These letters seem to me quite as important, as
illustrations of Burke's private character, as those which he wrote to
the Nagles in former years." It seems that the amanuensis to whom they
were addressed had at his death other similar letters in his possession;
but his wife, ignorant of their value, deliberately committed them to
the names, and the four now before us are all that were saved. Mr.
Macknight adds, in a note,--"These letters I owe to the kindness of John
Fillingham, Esq., of Hoxton, who allowed me to inspect and copy the
originals."[A]
[Footnote A: _Life of Burke_, Vol. III. p. 410.]
Of one of these letters there is an accurate _fac-simile_, which will be
found in the third volume of Mr. Macknight's elaborate biography of
Burke.
But the main paper in the collection is none other than the manuscript
of the "Observations on the Conduct of the Minority," being the
_identical copy_ from which the surreptitious publication was made which
disturbed the last hours of Burke. The body of it is in the handwriting
of the amanuensis to whom the familiar letters were addressed; but it
shows the revision of Burke, and on several pages most minute and
elaborate corrections and additions, with changes of sections. Of one of
these pages there is an accurate _fac-simile_ in the third volume of Mr.
Macknight, who says that "the manuscript was given by Swift's sister,
after his death, to the gentleman who kindly permitted him to inspect
it." [A]
[Footnote A: _Lifo of Burke_, Vol. III. p. 700.]
These manuscripts--both the letters and the Observations--all concern
the closing period of Burke's life, after the unhappy feud between
himself and Fox, to which they directly relate. In order to appreciate
their value, we must glance at the scene by which the memorable
friendship of these men was closed.
Few political events in English history are read with more interest than
the separation of Burke and Fox. They had been friends and allies; but
the French Revolution, which separated so many persons in France,
reached across the Channel to separate them. They differed so radically
with regard to this portentous, undeveloped movement, that their
relations, both political and personal, were rudely severed. Burke, in
the House of Commons, openly announced this result. He was most
earnestly inveighing against France, when he said, "It may be indiscreet
in me at my time of life to provoke enemies, and give occasion to
friends to desert me." Fox whispered, "There is no loss of friends."
Burke for a moment paused, and then exclaimed, "Yes, there is a loss of
friends; I know the price of my conduct. I have done my duty at the
expense of my friend. Our friendship is at an end." As he finished,
Burke walked across the floor of the House, and squeezed himself between
Pitt and Dundas on the Treasury Bench. Fox rose to reply, while tears
streamed down his face. In the course of his remarks he intimated that
Burke had heaped upon him the most ignominious terms. Burke at once said
that he did not recollect having used any; when Fox replied, "My right
honorable friend does not recollect the epithets. They are out of his
mind. Then they are completely and forever out of mine. I cannot cherish
a recollection so painful; and from this moment they are obliterated and
forgotten."
But the difference was too intense. A few days later it broke forth
again. "I complain," said Burke, "of being obliged to stand upon my
defence by the right honorable gentleman, who, when a young man, was
brought to me and evinced the most promising talents, which I used my
best endeavors to cultivate; and this man, who has arrived at the
maturity of being the most brilliant and powerful debater that ever
existed, has described me as having deserted and abandoned every one of
my principles!" Fox replied, but alluded to Burke no longer as "friend",
but as "the right honorable gentleman", and said, in a taunting style,
that "all he had to do was to repent, and his friends would be ready to
receive him back and love him as they had previously done". Burke was
indignant. He said,--"I have gone through my youth without encountering
any party disgrace, and though in my age I have been so unfortunate as
to meet it, I do not solicit the right honorable gentleman's friendship,
nor that of any other man, either on one side of the House or the
other." [A] This most important and historic friendship was at an end.
[Footnote A:_Parliamentary History_ Vol. XXIX. p. 426.]
The larger part of the Whigs at that time sided with Fox. But Burke
turned away from Parliament and politicians in one of the most masterly
productions of his pen, entitled, "An Appeal from the New to the Old
Whigs." One of the autograph-letters in the collection before us,
addressed to the amanuensis, Swift, relates to the last corrections of
this tract, and contains the title, arranged for the printer. It is the
letter of which a _fac-simile_ is given by Mr. Macknight.
Meanwhile, the difference between the two statesmen became more fixed
and intense. The Whig Club declared, "that their confidence in Mr. Fox
was confirmed, strengthened, and increased by the calumnies against
him." Burke and some forty-five noblemen and gentlemen withdrew from the
club. It was then that Burke, in justification of himself and his
friends, took the pen, and drew up what his biographer Prior calls the
"famous" paper, entitled, "Observations on the Conduct of the Minority,
particularly in the Last Session of Parliament, addressed to the Duke of
Portland and Lord Fitzwilliam, 1793," which will be found in the third
volume of Bonn's edition of his Works.
This paper presents, in fifty-four articles, duly numbered, objections
to the course and policy of Fox. It was, in brief, an arraignment of
that distinguished gentleman. But it was not intended for publication,
at least at that time. It was transmitted to the Duke of Portland, with
a letter, asking that it might not even be read at once, but that the
Duke would keep it locked in the drawer of his library-table, and when a
day of compulsory reflection came, then be pleased to turn to it.
Communicated thus in confidence, it might have remained indefinitely, if
not always, unknown to the public, locked in the ducal drawer, if the
amanuensis whom Burke employed in copying it had not betrayed him. This
was none other than Swift, to whom the familiar letters were addressed.
Unknown to his employer, he had appropriated to himself a copy in his
own handwriting, with corrections and additions by Burke, which seems to
have come between the original rough draught and the final copy
transmitted to the Duke of Portland. Some time afterwards, while Burke
was in his last illness, feeble and failing fast, this faithless
scrivener communicated this copy to an equally faithless publisher, by
whom it was advertised as "Fifty-Four Articles of Impeachment against
the Eight Honorable C.J. Fox." When this was seen by Mrs. Burke, she
felt it her duty to keep all newspapers and letters from her husband,
that he might know nothing of the treachery, at least until it was
relieved so far as it could be. Dr. Lawrence and Dr. King, assisted by
the affidavit of Mr. Rivington, succeeded in obtaining an injunction
against the publisher on the very day when the tract appeared. But two
thousand copies had already stolen abroad.
It was not until Mrs. Burke, on opening a letter from Dr. Lawrence to
her husband, learned that the injunction had been obtained, that, at two
o'clock in the afternoon of the 15th of February, 1797, she delivered to
him his newspapers and correspondence for the past week. He was less
disturbed than had been expected. "This affair does vex me," he said;
"but I am not in a state of health at present to be deeply vexed at
anything. Had I intended it for the public, I should have been more
exact and full. Many temperaments and explanations there would have
been, if ever I had had a notion that it should meet the public eye." He
was justly indignant at the knavish publisher, whose conduct surpassed
that of the Dublin pirates, or Edmund Curll. But he was at a loss to
know how the publisher obtained a copy. He did not suppose that the Duke
of Portland had given up his, and he remembered only "the rough and
incorrect papers" constituting the first draught, which, it seems, Dr.
Lawrence, about a year before, had paid the false Swift a guinea to
deliver back. He had forgotten the intermediate copy made by Swift and
corrected by himself.
This illicit publication, especially under such a title, was calculated
to attract attention. Its author was dying, so that it seemed to be his
last words. Pitt read it with delight, and declared it to be a model in
that style of composition. But his latest biographer says of it, that
"it may, perhaps, be regretted that Burke ever wrote the 'Observations
on the Conduct of the Minority.' It is certainly the least pleasing of
all his compositions."[A] In style, it is direct, terse, and compact,
beyond any other composition of Burke's. Perhaps, as it was not intended
for the public, he was less tempted to rhetorical indulgence. But the
manuscript now before us exhibits the minute care with which it was
executed. Here also may be traced varieties of expression, constituting
the different forms which a thought assumed, not unlike the various
drawings of Raffaelle for the same wonderful picture.
[Footnote A: Macknight, Vol. III. p. 532.]
But we must stop. It is only as a literary curiosity that we are now
dealing with this relic.