Edmund Burke (Megan Holden)
I’m a Whig leader in the English Parliament where I performed informed, incisive, and polished analyses of political problems, and I supported a conservative form of government. Here I argued for gradual, constitutional reform, not revolution, and emphasized that a political doctrine founded upon ideas such as liberty and the rights of man could be easily abused to justify methods of violence. I uncompromisingly condemned the French Revolution. I also believed that governments must respond to the practical needs of the people they govern and that political crises do not all yield to the same measures.
He preferred tradition to the Enlightenment concept of reason because he believed it embodied more reliable knowledge. Although Burke's traditionalism is clearly anti-Enlightenment, it shares an Enlightenment belief in progress: traditions are to be followed because they represent the 'progressive experience' of mankind. He predicted that the Revolution's disorder would make the army "mutinous and full of faction", and then a "popular general", commanding the soldier's allegiance, would become "master of your assembly, the master of your whole republic". Though he may have been thinking of Lafayette, Napoleon fulfilled this prophecy. In 1790, Burke wrote Reflections of the Revolution of France, and this was a critique of the radical attempt to restructure French society based on egalitarianism ideals and without regard for the nation's history and traditions. Burke predicted that contrary to the aspirations of the revolutionaries, the revolution would end not in more liberty for the individual but in war and dictatorship.
Direct Examination Questions:
- Would you say Napoleon assuming leadership of France the way he did was justified?
~Yes I think Napoleon assuming leadership like he did was the best course of action given the situation. Since the government must respond to the practical needs of the people they govern and that political crises do not all yield to the same measures, he made the right choice in taking his role as France’s leader. After the chaos of the Terror, France was slowly rebuilding itself, and Napoleon was able to bring back the pride and national identity that France had lost.