Reflections On The Revolution In France

Reflections on the Revolution in France begins with Edmund Burke providing context for his letter; he addresses the letter to a family friend, a French aristocrat, on the subject of the French Revolution. Immediately, Burke recounts a sermon given by Dr. Richard Price, a member of the Revolutionary Society, a London political club. In his sermon, Price heralds the positive contributions of the French Revolution. To frame his own reply, Burke states, “Indulging myself in the freedom of epistolary intercourse, I beg leave to throw out my thoughts, and express my feelings, just as they arise in my mind, with very little attention to formal method” (10). The style of Reflections on the Revolution in France is informal and the first third (and some significant portions after) are dedicated as a direct response to Price’s sermon and the radical sentiments therein. This is more than a letter to his friend: Burke’s audience is all of England, if not Europe. 

In the first section, Burke examines the claim as to whether France truly imitates England’s constitution in its proceedings during the French Revolution. To that end, Burke says it does not. First, Burke states, in regard to how France, which currently has their monarch imprisoned:

 […] the king of Great Britain, who most certainly does not owe his high office to any form of popular election, is in no respect better than the rest of the gang of usurpers, who reign, or rather rob, all over the face of this our miserable world, without any sort of right or title of the allegiance of their people (14).

According to Burke, by constitutional right, England’s king lawfully sits on the throne; according the French, he would be a usurper, rather than a rightful ruler. Next, Burke tackles the question of whether the people of England have a right to form their own government, as the National Assembly in France currently does. Again, Burke replies in the negative: “[…] not one word is said, not one suggestion made, of a general right to choose our own governors, to cashier them for misconduct, and to form a government for ourselves” (16). He adds that both rules remained in effect when William and subsequently Anne signed the bills, so the governing powers chose not to amend it either time.

Accordingly, when discussing Price’s advocacy of revolution, Burke then speaks on when a revolution is justified and what necessarily constitutes a revolution. To embark on a revolution, Burke claims, “Governments must be abused and deranged indeed, before it can be thought of, and the prospect of the future must be as bad as the experience of the past” (30). By this, Burke means he can agree to a revolution if there is some existing circumstance that makes lives demonstrably unlivable. However, he concedes those conditions are rare.