Reflections on the Revolution in France Section 2 Summary & Analysis

Burke describes the French Revolution as “the most astonishing thing that has hitherto happened in the world,” a “strange chaos of levity and ferocity,” a “tragi-comic scene.” However, not everyone feels this way: some see it as “a firm and temperate exertion of freedom,” deserving of “all the devout effusions of sacred eloquence.”

Burke’s emphasis on unlikely mixtures—levity and ferocity, tragedy and comedy—might point to his later remarks on the unprecedented (and, in his view, incongruous) mixing of classes in emerging French politics. With “sacred eloquence,” Burke sets up his critique of Price’s sermon.

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Last November 4th, Richard Price preached at the Old Jewry (district in London that includes a Dissenting meeting house), a sermon which Burke calls “a sort of porridge of various political opinions,” with the French Revolution being “the grand ingredient in the cauldron.” He adds that such “meddling” sermons contain more passion than genuine understanding of political realities.

Burke continues with the imagery of questionable mixtures in the way he describes Price’s sermon; perhaps he even hints that the sermon is a kind of harmful witch’s brew, the opposite of a sacred discourse. His language suggests that the mixing of religion and immoderate political speech is unseemly.

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In his sermon, Price tells the Revolution Society that a king is only a lawful king if he “[owes] his crown to the choice of his people.” Burke points out that, if this is the case, then the king of Great Britain is no better than a “usurper.” Burke suggests that preachers like Price are trying to “habituate” their audiences to this theory during relatively peaceful times, so that, “picked in the preserving juices of pulpit eloquence,” it can be saved for future use.

Burke suggests that radical preachers like Price use their platforms to accustom their audiences to ideas—like the people having a say in the occupant of the throne—that seem too remote to be threatening during times of peace, but that might prove useful when the political climate shifts. By that time, people will have been exposed to such ideas so often that they’ll seem plausible.

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Political preachers like Price carry on in this way, attracting little notice, but when they are pressed regarding their views, then “equivocations and slippery constructions” abound. Burke points out that, if one looks far enough into the history of most European dynasties, the heads of those dynasties were, in some sense, “chosen.” But according to the rules of modern Great Britain, the King is king according to a law of succession. Both he and his successors will take the throne according to that same law, without regard for the opinions of the Revolution Society.

Burke argues that the views put forth by political radicals like Price don’t hold up to historical scrutiny. Furthermore, they don’t accord with present realities of government. This hints at the argument Burke will soon develop—that history is often abused for the sake of revolutionary aims. It also hints at his view that appealing theories often don’t stand up to reality.

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Burke says that in Price’s Discourse on the Love of Our Country, Price asserts three “fundamental rights,” according with the principles of the Glorious Revolution, which belong to the English: the right “to choose our own governors”; “to cashier them for misconduct”; and “to frame a government for ourselves.” Burke argues that this “unheard-of bill of rights” belongs to the Revolution Club alone, not to the English people, who are bound by the laws set down at the time of the Glorious Revolution—that very Revolution whose name the Society “abuses.”

The so-called Glorious Revolution, which was virtually bloodless, took place in November, 1688, when James II and VII was deposed as king of England and replaced by James’s daughter, Mary, and his nephew and Mary’s husband, the Dutch William III. Though the Revolution Society was formed to commemorate that event, Burke makes a rhetorical blow by arguing that, despite their appropriation of the name, Price and his associates are out of step with the laws established in England after the Glorious Revolution.

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Burke argues that the gentlemen of the Revolution Club are so preoccupied with the Glorious Revolution, the Great Rebellion and Commonwealth of 40 years before that, and the current French Revolution that they are “constantly confounding” these three events. Therefore it’s necessary to separate these events, starting by clarifying the acts and principles of the Revolution of 1688.

Burke’s argument will rest on the frequent misuse of history by those who appeal to it. The “Great Rebellion” refers to the English Civil War, which was really a series of civil wars fought in the 1640s over the way that England should be governed. The Civil War (and King Charles I’s resulting execution) was followed by a period of republican government (the Commonwealth). During this time, it was established that English monarchs govern with the consent of Parliament, although that wasn’t codified legally until after the Glorious Revolution.

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Reflections on the Revolution in France: Section 2 Summary & Analysis