Edmund
Burke (1729-97) was perhaps the greatest of British statesmen.
A lifelong liberal and Whig, he fought for the independence of
the House of Commons and its Members,
and he here sets out definitely the role of MPs as conscientious
representatives of the people, rather than delegates. Burke also
campaigned against the impositions upon the American colonies which
provoked the War of Independence; for the emancipation of Irish
Catholics; and against the cruelties of the East India Company's
regime in India. His prophetic Refections of the Revolution in
France (1790) warned against the reductive slogans of "the rights
of man" and argued that revolutionary fundamentalism would lead
to terror and war.
He
died on July 9, 1797, and this extract from one of his speeches has
been printed for the Edmund Burke Society to mark the bicentenary.
It
ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in
the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved
communication with his constituents. Their wishes ought to have great
weight with him; their opinion high respect; their business unremitted
attention. It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasures,
his satisfactions, to theirs; and, above all, ever, and in all cases,
to prefer their interest to his own. But his unbiassed opinion, his
mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice
to you, to any man, or to any set of men living. These he does not
derive from your pleasure; no, nor from the law and the constitution.
They are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply
answerable. Your representative owes you, not his industry only,
but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices
it to your opinion.
My
worthy colleague says his will ought to be subservient to yours.
If that be all, the thing is innocent. If government were a matter
of will upon any side, yours, without question, ought to be superior.
But government and legislation are matters of reason and judgment,
and not of inclination; and what sort of reason is that, in which
the determination precedes the discussion; in which one set of men
deliberate, and another decide; and where those who form the conclusion
are perhaps three hundred miles distant from those who hear the arguments?
To
deliver an opinion is the right of all men; that of constituents
is a weighty and respectable opinion, which a representative ought
always to rejoice to hear, and which he ought always most seriously
to consider. But authoritative instructions, mandates issued, which
the member is bound blindly and implicitly to obey, to vote, and
to argue for, though contrary to the clearest conviction of his judgment
and conscience; these are things utterly unknown to the laws of this
land, and which arise from a fundamental mistake of the whole order
and tenor of our constitution.
Parliament
is not a congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests,which
interests each must maintain, as an agent and advocate, against other
agents and advocates; but parliament is a deliberative assembly of
one nation, with one interest, that of the whole; where, not local
purposes, not local prejudices ought to guide, but the general good,
resulting from the general reason of the whole. You choose a member
indeed; but when you have chosen him, he is not a member of Bristol,
but he is a member of parliament. If the local constituent should
have an interest, or should form an hasty opinion, evidently opposite
to the real good of the rest of the community, the member for that
place ought to be as far as any other from any endeavour to give
it effect. I beg pardon for saying so much on this subject. I have
been unwillingly drawn into it; but I shall ever use a respectful
frankness of communication with you. Your faithful friend, your devoted
servant, I shall be to the end of my life: a flatterer you do not
wish for. On this point of instructions, how ever, I think it scarcely
possible we ever can have any sort of difference. Perhaps I may give
you too much rather than too little trouble.
From
the first hour I was encouraged to court your favour to this happy
day of obtaining it, I have never promised you anything but humble
and persevering endeavours to do my duty. The weight of that duty,
I confess, makes me tremble; and whoever well considers what it is,
of all things in the world will fly from what has the least likeness
to a positive and precipitate engagement. To be a good member of
parliament, is, let me tell you, no easy task; especially at this
time, when there is so strong a disposition to run into the perilous
extremes of servile compliance or wild popularity. To unite circumspection
with vigour is absolutely necessary; but it is extremely difficult.
We are now members for a rich commercial city; this city, however,
is but a part of a rich commercial nation, the interests of which
are various, multiform, and intricate. We are members of that great
nation, which however is itself but part of a great empire,extended
by our virtue and our fortune to the farthest limits of the east
and of the west. All these widespread interests must be considered;
must be compared; must be reconciled if possible. We are members
for a free country, and surely we all know that the machine of a
free constitution is no simple thing, but as intricate and as delicate
as it is valuable. We are members in a great and ancient monarchy;
and we must preserve religiously the true legal rights of the sovereign,
which form the key stone that binds together the noble and well-constructed
arch of our empire and our constitution. A constitution made up of
balanced powers must ever be a critical thing. As such I mean to
touch that part of it which comes within my reach. I know my inability,
and I wish for support from every quarter. In particular I shall
aim at the friendship, and shall cultivate the best correspond ence,
of the worthy colleague you have given me.
I
trouble you no farther than once more to thank you all; you, gentlemen,
for your favours; the candidates, for their temperate and polite
behaviour; and the sheriffs, for a conduct which may give a model
for all who are in public stations.
Edmund
Burke's speech to the electors of Bristol at the conclusion of the
poll, November 1774 |
