This third volume of Edmund Burke's collected works brings together several of his parliamentary speeches and political writings, including his speech on the debts of the Nabob of Arcot, remarks on army estimates, and Reflections on the Revolution in France. It offers listeners a direct encounter with Burke's rhetorical style and his thoughts on empire, finance, and revolution.
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Text source: gutenberg.org · The work is in the public domain.
Opening of the book
THE WORKS OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EDMUND BURKE IN TWELVE VOLUMES VOLUME THE THIRD London JOHN C. NIMMO 14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND, W.C. MDCCCLXXXVII
CONTENTS OF VOL. III. SPEECH ON THE NABOB OF ARCOT'S DEBTS, February 28, 1785; with an Appendix 1 SUBSTANCE OF SPEECH ON THE ARMY ESTIMATES, February 9, 1790 211 REFLECTIONS ON THE REVOLUTION IN FRANCE 231 SPEECH ON THE MOTION MADE FOR PAPERS RELATIVE TO THE DIRECTIONS FOR CHARGING THE NABOB OF ARCOT'S PRIVATE DEBTS TO EUROPEANS ON THE REVENUES OF THE CARNATIC, FEBRUARY 28, 1785. WITH AN APPENDIX,
CONTAINING SEVERAL DOCUMENTS.
Ένταῦθα τί πράττειν ἐχρῆν ἄνδρα τῶν Πλάτωνος καὶ
Άριστοτέλους ζηλωτὴν δογμάτων; ἀρα περιοραν ἀνθρώπους άθλίους τοῖς κλέπταις ἐκδιδομένους, ἢ κατά δύναμιν αὐτοῖς ἀμύνειν, οἰμαι ὡς ἤδη τὸ κύκνειον; ἐξάδουσι διὰ τὸ θεμισές έργαστήριον των τοιούτων; Έμοι μέν ούν αίσχρόν είναι δοκεί τους μεν χιλιάρχους, όταν λείπωσι τὴν τάξιν, καταδικάζειν' ... τὴν δὲ ὑπέρ ἀθλίων ἀνθρώπων ἀπολείπειν τάξιν, όταν δεη πρός κλέπτας άγωνίζεσθαι τοιούτους, και ταῦτα τοῦ θεοῦ συμμαχοῦντος ἡμῖν, ὅσπερ οὐν ἔταξεν.
JULIANI Epist. 17.
ADVERTISEMENT.
That the least informed reader of this speech may be enabled to enter fully into the spirit of the transaction on occasion of which it was delivered, it may be proper to acquaint him, that, among the princes dependent on this nation in the southern part of India, the most considerable at present is commonly known by the title of the Nabob of Arcot.
This prince owed the establishment of his government, against the claims of his elder brother, as well as those of other competitors, to the arms and influence of the British East India Company. Being thus established in a considerable part of the dominions he now possesses, he began, about the year 1765, to form, at the instigation (as he asserts) of the servants of the East India Company, a variety of designs
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