Note 530 — Chapter LII · SEVENTH YEAR OF THE WAR.—CAPTURE OF SPHAKTERIA.

Let us read some remarks of Mr. Burke on the temper of England during the American war.

“You remember that in the beginning of this American war, you were greatly divided: and a very strong body, if not the strongest, opposed itself to the madness which every art and every power were employed to render popular, in order that the errors of the rulers might be lost in the general blindness of the nation. This opposition continued until after our great, but most unfortunate, victory at Long Island. Then all the mounds and banks of our constancy were borne down at once; and the frenzy of the American war broke in upon us like a deluge. This victory, which seemed to put an immediate end to all difficulties, perfected in us that spirit of domination which our unparalleled prosperity had but too long nurtured. We had been so very powerful, and so very prosperous, that even the humblest of us were degraded into the devices and follies of kings. We lost all measure between means and ends; and our headlong desires became our politics and our morals. All men who wished for peace, or retained any sentiments of moderation, were overborne or silenced: and this city (Bristol) was led by every artifice (and probably with the more management, because I was one of your members) to distinguish itself by its zeal for that fatal cause.” Burke, Speech to the Electors of Bristol previous to the election (Works, vol. iii, p. 365).

Compare Mr. Burke’s Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol, p. 174 of the same volume.