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Summary
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Reflections on the Revolution in France, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Use and Abuse of History
Nature, Tradition, and Wisdom
Revolution and Reform
Theory vs. Practicality
Summary
Analysis
Burke addresses himself to a “dear Sir” who has been pressing him for his views on recent upheavals in France. He explains that, although he wishes that France “may be animated by a spirit of rational liberty,” he is doubtful that this will be the case. His correspondent had thought that Burke was sympathetic to the French Revolution, because certain London clubs—the Constitutional Society and the Revolution Society—have publicly approved it.
Burke’s correspondent is young French aristocrat Charles-Jean Francois Depont, who solicited Burke’s opinion in two separate letters. (It’s important to note, though, that while Burke addresses Depont directly, he’s also using the letter as a rhetorical device for addressing a broader English and European audience.) The Constitutional Society was a group of Whigs and dissenters, and the Revolutionary Society was a group that met in commemoration of the 1688 Glorious Revolution.
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Literary Devices
Burke says that those who uphold England’s constitution and celebrate its revolution should be cautious in their affiliation with anyone who, “under the pretext of zeal towards the Revolution and Constitution, too frequently wander from their true principles,” and he assures Depont that he is not a member of either the Constitutional or the Revolution Society.
Burke establishes one of his primary arguments, which is that the English constitution and the Glorious Revolution cannot legitimately be adopted as precedents for the revolutionary events currently taking place in France.
Themes
The Constitutional Society, Burke explains, is a kind of circulating library for political materials, though he suggests that he hasn’t heard of anyone deriving much benefit from their holdings. The Revolution Society, by contrast, has attracted more notice in France. In fact, France’s National Assembly has established contact with the Revolution Society, and the Society seeks to extend Revolutionary principles in England. Burke disapproves of such unauthorized, formal correspondence between a society and a foreign government, especially because of the absence of signatures.
The Revolution Society will be of special concern to Burke, because its London members correspond with French leaders and openly extol the French Revolution in England. Because of what he sees as misplaced enthusiasm on the part of its members, he will go to great lengths to refute their radical political claims.
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Burke supposes that he loves “liberty” as much as anyone in the Revolution Society. However, he cannot “give praise or blame to any thing which relates to human actions, […] in all the nakedness […] of metaphysical abstraction.” “Circumstances” are what give reality to principles and schemes. It makes no sense, for example, to praise a government in the abstract, without knowing what type of government it is, or to congratulate a “madman” on his “liberty” from his restraints.
Burke begins to build his argument that particular circumstances are the concern of government rather than abstract theories. He uses the examples of government and liberty to illustrate that it doesn’t make sense to judge a disconnected concept; one must know something of the specifics in order to form a meaningful judgment.
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Burke goes on to say that he must suspend his judgment regarding France’s newfound liberty until he sees how it has been “combined with government […] with the solidity of property; with peace and order,” and other elements of civic life. Without these things, liberty won’t last. In particular, liberty among bodies of people “is power,” and until it’s evident how that power is being used, Burke thinks a judgment would be premature.
Burke anticipates some of the aspects of a nation’s life which he will explore later in the work—things like government, force, armies, morality, and other specific means by which a people’s liberty is secured and expressed. Because liberty, in the current discussion, is not just a matter of individual freedom, but of social action, France’s present situation calls for special scrutiny.
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Burke describes his “uneasiness” upon studying the published proceedings of the Revolution Club, including a sermon given by Dr. Price; all of these were designed not only to connect the affairs of France and England, but to draw England “into an imitation of the conduct of the National Assembly.” As time goes on, the true nature of the Assembly becomes more evident, giving good reason for concern. Because of this concern, Burke will not only address Depont’s concerns, but his own, “with very little attention to formal method.”
Revolution Club member Dr. Richard Price was a dissenting (non-Anglican Protestant) preacher and philosopher. Burke will dissect his sermon “A Discourse on the Love of our Country” in what follows. The National Assembly is the legislative body that was drawing up a new constitution for France at the time. Burke’s remarks to Depont indicate the scope he has been intending all along, and although Reflections is not a traditionally structured treatise, his warning about the lack of “formal method” is likely a knowing exaggeration.
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