Edmund_Burke

qas: question: Where was Burke born?
answers: text: Dublin, Ireland

question: What was Burke's mother's maiden name?
answers: text: Nagle

question: When did Burke's mother die?
answers: text: 1770

question: When did Burke's father die?
answers: text: 1761

question: When did Burke's ancestors arrive in Ireland?
answers: text: 1185

question: What city was Mary nee Nagle born in?

question: When was Richard Burke born?

question: What is the latinised form of the last name Burke?

question: When did Henry II invade England?

question: Who converted into Catholicism?
context: Burke was born in Dublin, Ireland. His mother Mary née Nagle (c. 1702 – 1770) was a Roman Catholic who hailed from a déclassé County Cork family (and a cousin of Nano Nagle), whereas his father, a successful solicitor, Richard (died 1761), was a member of the Church of Ireland; it remains unclear whether this is the same Richard Burke who converted from Catholicism. The Burke dynasty descends from an Anglo-Norman knight surnamed de Burgh (latinised as de Burgo) who arrived in Ireland in 1185 following Henry II of England's 1171 invasion of Ireland.

qas: question: When did Burke begin attending Trinity College Dublin?
answers: text: 1744

question: What type of people did Trinity College Dublin not allow to earn degrees there?
answers: text: Catholics

question: When did Edmund Burke start a debate club?
answers: text: 1747

question: What club did Edmund Burke's debate club merge with in 1770?
answers: text: TCD's Historical Club

question: When did Edmund Burke graduate?
answers: text: 1748

question: When was Trinity College Dublin established?

question: In what year did Trinity College ban Catholics?

question: Who did Edmund Burke's Club split from?

question: What group of people did Middle Temple refuse to grant degrees to?

question: What year did Burke abandon law?
context: In 1744, Burke started at Trinity College Dublin, a Protestant establishment, which up until 1793, did not permit Catholics to take degrees. In 1747, he set up a debating society, "Edmund Burke's Club", which, in 1770, merged with TCD's Historical Club to form the College Historical Society; it is the oldest undergraduate society in the world. The minutes of the meetings of Burke's Club remain in the collection of the Historical Society. Burke graduated from Trinity in 1748. Burke's father wanted him to read Law, and with this in mind he went to London in 1750, where he entered the Middle Temple, before soon giving up legal study to travel in Continental Europe. After eschewing the Law, he pursued a livelihood through writing.

qas: question: Which bishop didn't realize the satirical nature of Burke's book?
answers: text: Bishop Warburton

question: Which lord didn't realize the satirical nature of Burke's book?
answers: text: Lord Chesterfield

question: When was the 2nd edition of Burke's book published?
answers: text: 1757

question: Where did Burke make it clear that his book was a satire?
answers: text: in the preface to the second edition

question: What did Bolingbroke argue for?

question: What did Lord Chesterfield believe Bolingbroke's arguments could also apply to?

question: What did critics particularly protest of Burke's work?

question: What did Burke note in the preface of the first edition of the book?

question: Which bishop wrote the preface for Burke's book?
context: Burke claimed that Bolingbroke's arguments against revealed religion could apply to all social and civil institutions as well. Lord Chesterfield and Bishop Warburton (and others) initially thought that the work was genuinely by Bolingbroke rather than a satire. All the reviews of the work were positive, with critics especially appreciative of Burke's quality of writing. Some reviewers failed to notice the ironic nature of the book, which led to Burke stating in the preface to the second edition (1757) that it was a satire.

qas: question: Who thought that Burke's imitation was too perfect to be effective ridicule?
answers: text: Richard Hurd

question: Why did a few scholars think Burke hadn't intended his book as a satire yet later claimed it was a satire?
answers: text: political reasons

question: Whose principles did Burke imitate?
answers: text: L. Bol.

question: What did Richard Hurd claim made Burke's satire perfect?

question: What is the name of one of the scholars who believe Burke wrote the Vindication in earnest?

question: What is the name of the book Richard Hurd wrote?

question: Why did Hurd believe Burke's imitation was near perfect?

question: Whose principles did L. Bol imitate?
context: Richard Hurd believed that Burke's imitation was near-perfect and that this defeated his purpose: an ironist "should take care by a constant exaggeration to make the ridicule shine through the Imitation. Whereas this Vindication is everywhere enforc'd, not only in the language, and on the principles of L. Bol., but with so apparent, or rather so real an earnestness, that half his purpose is sacrificed to the other". A minority of scholars have taken the position that, in fact, Burke did write the Vindication in earnest, later disowning it only for political reasons.

qas: question: When did Burke sign a contract for a history of England?
answers: text: 25 February 1757

question: How many words long was Burke's history of England contracted to be?
answers: text: nearly 400,000

question: How many pages long was Burke's history of England contracted to be?
answers: text: 640 pages

question: When was Burke's history of England published?
answers: text: 1812

question: Which author's history of England being published before Burke's might have dissuaded Burke from continuing his?
answers: text: David Hume

question: What is the name of David Hume's history?

question: What critic praised the Frenchness of Burke's text?

question: When was Hume's history of England published?

question: How long was the book Robert Dodsley wrote?

question: How many words was Lord Acton's commentary?
context: On 25 February 1757, Burke signed a contract with Robert Dodsley to write a "history of England from the time of Julius Caesar to the end of the reign of Queen Anne", its length being eighty quarto sheets (640 pages), nearly 400,000 words. It was to be submitted for publication by Christmas 1758. Burke completed the work to the year 1216 and stopped; it was not published until after Burke's death, being included in an 1812 collection of his works, entitled An Essay Towards an Abridgement of the English History. G. M. Young did not value Burke's history and claimed that it was "demonstrably a translation from the French". Lord Acton, on commenting on the story that Burke stopped his history because David Hume published his, said "it is ever to be regretted that the reverse did not occur".

qas: question: What publication did Burke found?
answers: text: Annual Register

question: The Annual Register covered international events of what type?
answers: text: political

question: Burke was the only known writer for the Register until what year?
answers: text: 1766

question: Burke was the chief editor for the Register until at least what year?
answers: text: 1789

question: Who wrote a biography of Burke?
answers: text: Philip Magnus

question: What was founded the year before the contract?

question: Whose biography did Burke write?

question: When did Burke become the chief editor?

question: Who wrote Dodsley's biography?

question: Dodsley was the only writer for the register until what year?
context: During the year following that contract, with Dodsley, Burke founded the influential Annual Register, a publication in which various authors evaluated the international political events of the previous year. The extent to which Burke contributed to the Annual Register is unclear: in his biography of Burke, Robert Murray quotes the Register as evidence of Burke's opinions, yet Philip Magnus in his biography does not cite it directly as a reference. Burke remained the chief editor of the publication until at least 1789 and there is no evidence that any other writer contributed to it before 1766.

qas: question: What was William Gerard Hamilton's nickname?
answers: text: Single-speech Hamilton

question: Who was William Gerard Hamilton's private secretary?
answers: text: Burke

question: When did Burke become the Prime Minister's private secretary?
answers: text: 1765

question: Who invited Burke to join the Freemasons?
answers: text: Charles, Marquess of Rockingham

question: What political party was Charles, Marquess of Rockingham in?
answers: text: Whig

question: What was Burke's nickname?

question: Who was Burke's secretary?

question: What country was Burke the Chief Secretary for?

question: What year did Burke go with Hamilton to Dublin?

question: When did Hamilton die?
context: At about this same time, Burke was introduced to William Gerard Hamilton (known as "Single-speech Hamilton"). When Hamilton was appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, Burke accompanied him to Dublin as his private secretary, a position he held for three years. In 1765 Burke became private secretary to the liberal Whig statesman, Charles, Marquess of Rockingham, then Prime Minister of Great Britain, who remained Burke's close friend and associate until his untimely death in 1782. Rockingham also introduced Burke as a Freemason.

qas: question: Who did Burke want constitutional limits on the power of?
answers: text: the king

question: What type of institution did Burke think could offer opposition to abuses of power?
answers: text: political parties

question: What type of group were the "king's friends"?
answers: text: neo-Tory

question: What was Burke's most important publication about limiting royal power?
answers: text: Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents of 23 April 1770

question: Who wanted to limit the powers of the political parties?

question: What was the name of the paper the neo-Tories published?

question: When did Burke take the leading role in the debate?

question: What party did Burke believe would have strong principles?

question: What were Burke and his friends nicknamed?
context: Burke took a leading role in the debate regarding the constitutional limits to the executive authority of the king. He argued strongly against unrestrained royal power and for the role of political parties in maintaining a principled opposition capable of preventing abuses, either by the monarch, or by specific factions within the government. His most important publication in this regard was his Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents of 23 April 1770. Burke identified the "discontents" as stemming from the "secret influence" of a neo-Tory group he labelled as, the "king's friends", whose system "comprehending the exterior and interior administrations, is commonly called, in the technical language of the Court, Double Cabinet". Britain needed a party with "an unshaken adherence to principle, and attachment to connexion, against every allurement of interest". Party divisions "whether operating for good or evil, are things inseparable from free government".

qas: question: What country did Burke propose restricting trade with?
answers: text: Ireland

question: What city did Burke represent in parliament?
answers: text: Bristol

question: When did Burke make a motion to restrict Irish trade?
answers: text: May 1778

question: What was Bristol's most important industry?
answers: text: trading

question: What country did Burke wish to decrease trade with?

question: What city supported Burke's decisions?

question: When was trade with Ireland originally restricted?

question: Why did Burke say he acquiesced to his constituents?
context: In May 1778, Burke supported a parliamentary motion revising restrictions on Irish trade. His constituents, citizens of the great trading city of Bristol, however urged Burke to oppose free trade with Ireland. Burke resisted their protestations and said: "If, from this conduct, I shall forfeit their suffrages at an ensuing election, it will stand on record an example to future representatives of the Commons of England, that one man at least had dared to resist the desires of his constituents when his judgment assured him they were wrong".

qas: question: Where was Burke worried Britain might not win a war?
answers: text: America

question: How many reasons against violence did Burke present?
answers: text: four

question: How far away was the potential conflict Burke argued against?
answers: text: thousands of miles

question: What area could the American colonists retreat to?
answers: text: the mountains

question: Who did Burke think Britain could beat at war?

question: What did Burke say was a victory?

question: How many reasons in favor of the use of force did Burke present?

question: What type of war did Burke endorse for the government?

question: What geographical feature would prevent the Americans from retreating?
context: Burke was not merely presenting a peace agreement to Parliament; rather, he stepped forward with four reasons against using force, carefully reasoned. He laid out his objections in an orderly manner, focusing on one before moving to the next. His first concern was that the use of force would have to be temporary, and that the uprisings and objections to British governance in America would not be. Second, Burke worried about the uncertainty surrounding whether Britain would win a conflict in America. "An armament", Burke said, "is not a victory". Third, Burke brought up the issue of impairment; it would do the British Government no good to engage in a scorched earth war and have the object they desired (America) become damaged or even useless. The American colonists could always retreat into the mountains, but the land they left behind would most likely be unusable, whether by accident or design. The fourth and final reason to avoid the use of force was experience; the British had never attempted to rein in an unruly colony by force, and they did not know if it could be done, let alone accomplished thousands of miles away from home. Not only were all of these concerns reasonable, but some turned out to be prophetic – the American colonists did not surrender, even when things looked extremely bleak, and the British were ultimately unsuccessful in their attempts to win a war fought on American soil.

qas: question: When did Lord Bathurst die?
answers: text: 1775

question: When did an angel supposedly speak to Bathurst?
answers: text: 1704

question: What political position did Samuel Johnson say would soon poison America?
answers: text: Whiggism

question: When was Lord Bathurst born?
answers: text: 1684

question: In Samuel Johnson's writing, who appeared to a Whig?
answers: text: the devil

question: What did Bathurst prophesy? 

question: When did Samuel Johnson die?

question: What mythical creature prophesied to Burke?

question: Who was impressed by Bathurst's prophesy?

question: What political party did Johnson claim the angel represented?
context: Among the reasons this speech was so greatly admired was its passage on Lord Bathurst (1684–1775); Burke describes an angel in 1704 prophesying to Bathurst the future greatness of England and also of America: "Young man, There is America – which at this day serves little more than to amuse you with stories of savage men, and uncouth manners; yet shall, before you taste of death, shew itself equal to the whole of that commerce which now attracts the envy of the world". Samuel Johnson was so irritated at hearing it continually praised, that he made a parody of it, where the devil appears to a young Whig and predicts that in short time, Whiggism will poison even the paradise of America!

qas: question: When did Lord North take office?
answers: text: 1770

question: When did Lord North leave office?
answers: text: 1782

question: Which victories against the Americans did the British celebrate?
answers: text: New York and Pennsylvania

question: How did Burke feel about the British celebrating victories against the Americans?
answers: text: appalled

question: When was the American Declaration of Independence issued?
answers: text: 1776

question: When was Lord North born?

question: How did Lord North feel about the British celebrations?

question: What states were the Americans victorious over Britain in?

question: What did Burke claim authoritarianism was being changed by?

question: What was published in 1775?
context: The administration of Lord North (1770–1782) tried to defeat the colonist rebellion by military force. British and American forces clashed in 1775 and, in 1776, came the American Declaration of Independence. Burke was appalled by celebrations in Britain of the defeat of the Americans at New York and Pennsylvania. He claimed the English national character was being changed by this authoritarianism. Burke wrote: "As to the good people of England, they seem to partake every day more and more of the Character of that administration which they have been induced to tolerate. I am satisfied, that within a few years there has been a great Change in the National Character. We seem no longer that eager, inquisitive, jealous, fiery people, which we have been formerly".

qas: question: Where had Paymasters been able to get money from directly until 1782?
answers: text: HM Treasury

question: After 1782, where would money from Paymasters' withdrawal requests go?
answers: text: the Bank of England

question: Whose administration repealed the Paymaster General Act?
answers: text: Shelburne

question: When was the Paymaster General Act passed?
answers: text: 1782

question: When did Paymasters begin to get money directly from the HM treasury?

question: Who could no longer make withdrawal requests to the Bank of England after 1782?

question: How often could paymasters make withdrawals?

question: Which administration proposed the Paymaster act?

question: The Paymaster Act allowed Paymasters to withdraw funds from what source at their own discretion?
context: The Paymaster General Act 1782 ended the post as a lucrative sinecure. Previously, Paymasters had been able to draw on money from HM Treasury at their discretion. Now they were required to put the money they had requested to withdraw from the Treasury into the Bank of England, from where it was to be withdrawn for specific purposes. The Treasury would receive monthly statements of the Paymaster's balance at the Bank. This act was repealed by Shelburne's administration, but the act that replaced it repeated verbatim almost the whole text of the Burke Act.

qas: question: What type of government did Burke think would be inept?
answers: text: democratic

question: For how many reasons did Burke oppose democracy?
answers: text: three

question: What did Burke think could arouse common people's dangerous passions?
answers: text: demagogues

question: What type of impulses did Burke think could gain power through commoners' passions?
answers: text: authoritarian

question: Who did Burke think protected unpopular minorities?
answers: text: the upper classes

question: What type of government system did Burke favor?

question: How many reasons did Burke present for the intelligence of the common people?

question: What group did Burke believe would instigate passions of demagogues?

question: Who did Burke say unpopular minorities protected?

question: What did Burke say established religion undermined?
context: Burke was a leading sceptic with respect to democracy. While admitting that theoretically, in some cases it might be desirable, he insisted a democratic government in Britain in his day would not only be inept, but also oppressive. He opposed democracy for three basic reasons. First, government required a degree of intelligence and breadth of knowledge of the sort that occurred rarely among the common people. Second, he thought that if they had the vote, common people had dangerous and angry passions that could be aroused easily by demagogues; he feared that the authoritarian impulses that could be empowered by these passions would undermine cherished traditions and established religion, leading to violence and confiscation of property. Third, Burke warned that democracy would create a tyranny over unpopular minorities, who needed the protection of the upper classes.

qas: question: When was Warren Hastings impeached?
answers: text: 1786

question: Where was Hastings formerly the governor?
answers: text: Bengal

question: How long before Hastings's trial had Britain been dealing with Indian unrest?
answers: text: two decades

question: What was Burke made chairman of in 1781?
answers: text: the Commons Select Committee on East Indian Affairs

question: When Burke said the Indian problems 'began in commerce', where did he say the problems ended in?
answers: text: empire

question: Who attempted to impeach Burke?

question: When was Burke taken to trial?

question: What was Hastings the governor of during his impeachment?

question: When did the war with Hyder Ali begin?

question: Who did Burke want Hastings to recall?
context: For years Burke pursued impeachment efforts against Warren Hastings, formerly Governor-General of Bengal, that resulted in the trial during 1786. His interaction with the British dominion of India began well before Hastings' impeachment trial. For two decades prior to the impeachment, Parliament had dealt with the Indian issue. This trial was the pinnacle of years of unrest and deliberation. In 1781 Burke was first able to delve into the issues surrounding the East India Company when he was appointed Chairman of the Commons Select Committee on East Indian Affairs—from that point until the end of the trial; India was Burke's primary concern. This committee was charged "to investigate alleged injustices in Bengal, the war with Hyder Ali, and other Indian difficulties". While Burke and the committee focused their attention on these matters, a second 'secret' committee was formed to assess the same issues. Both committee reports were written by Burke. Among other purposes, the reports conveyed to the Indian princes that Britain would not wage war on them, along with demanding that the HEIC recall Hastings. This was Burke's first call for substantive change regarding imperial practices. When addressing the whole House of Commons regarding the committee report, Burke described the Indian issue as one that "began 'in commerce' but 'ended in empire.'"

qas: question: When did Burke charge Hastings for impeachment?
answers: text: 4 April 1786

question: What was the impeachment formally called?
answers: text: Article of Charge of High Crimes and Misdemeanors

question: Which house acquitted Hastings?
answers: text: House of Lords

question: Which house impeached Hastings?
answers: text: House of Commons

question: Like what creature did Burke say Hastings was 'devouring the dead'?
answers: text: ravenous vulture

question: When did Hastings present his article against Burke?

question: What nickname was Burke given for his emotional indignation?

question: What did the House of Commons compare Hastings to?

question: When did the House of Lords impeach Hastings?

question: Which house acquitted Burke?
context: On 4 April 1786, Burke presented the Commons with the Article of Charge of High Crimes and Misdemeanors against Hastings. The impeachment in Westminster Hall, which did not begin until 14 February 1788, would be the "first major public discursive event of its kind in England", bringing the morality and duty of imperialism to the forefront of public perception. Burke already was known for his eloquent rhetorical skills and his involvement in the trial only enhanced its popularity and significance. Burke's indictment, fuelled by emotional indignation, branded Hastings a 'captain-general of iniquity'; who never dined without 'creating a famine'; whose heart was 'gangrened to the core', and who resembled both a 'spider of Hell' and a 'ravenous vulture devouring the carcasses of the dead'. The House of Commons eventually impeached Hastings, but subsequently, the House of Lords acquitted him of all charges.

qas: question: Who did Parisian women want to return to Paris?
answers: text: King Louis XVI

question: What was Burke's son's name?
answers: text: Richard Burke

question: Who requested that Burke support the French Revolution?
answers: text: Charles-Jean-François Depont

question: When did Burke first publicly condemn the French Revolution?
answers: text: 9 February 1790

question: What did Burke condemn in August 1789?

question: When did Burke march in Versailles?

question: When did Burke write to Laurence?

question: Who did Burke want to support the revolution?

question: When did Pitt and Fox officially denounce the revolution?
context: Initially, Burke did not condemn the French Revolution. In a letter of 9 August 1789, Burke wrote: "England gazing with astonishment at a French struggle for Liberty and not knowing whether to blame or to applaud! The thing indeed, though I thought I saw something like it in progress for several years, has still something in it paradoxical and Mysterious. The spirit it is impossible not to admire; but the old Parisian ferocity has broken out in a shocking manner". The events of 5–6 October 1789, when a crowd of Parisian women marched on Versailles to compel King Louis XVI to return to Paris, turned Burke against it. In a letter to his son, Richard Burke, dated 10 October he said: "This day I heard from Laurence who has sent me papers confirming the portentous state of France—where the Elements which compose Human Society seem all to be dissolved, and a world of Monsters to be produced in the place of it—where Mirabeau presides as the Grand Anarch; and the late Grand Monarch makes a figure as ridiculous as pitiable". On 4 November Charles-Jean-François Depont wrote to Burke, requesting that he endorse the Revolution. Burke replied that any critical language of it by him should be taken "as no more than the expression of doubt" but he added: "You may have subverted Monarchy, but not recover'd freedom". In the same month he described France as "a country undone". Burke's first public condemnation of the Revolution occurred on the debate in Parliament on the army estimates on 9 February 1790, provoked by praise of the Revolution by Pitt and Fox:

qas: question: When did Richard Price give a sermon to the Revolution Society?
answers: text: 4 November 1789

question: What was the Revolution Society commemorating?
answers: text: the Glorious Revolution of 1688

question: Who did Price think should see themselves as citizens of the world?
answers: text: Englishmen

question: What philosophy did Price support?
answers: text: universal "Rights of Men"

question: What was the name of Burke's sermon?

question: When was the Revolution Society founded?

question: How did Burke say Englishmen should see themselves?

question: When did Burke propose the idea of universal rights for men?

question: When did Price read Burke's sermon?
context: In January 1790, Burke read Dr. Richard Price's sermon of 4 November 1789 entitled, A Discourse on the Love of our Country, to the Revolution Society. That society had been founded to commemorate the Glorious Revolution of 1688. In this sermon Price espoused the philosophy of universal "Rights of Men". Price argued that love of our country "does not imply any conviction of the superior value of it to other countries, or any particular preference of its laws and constitution of government". Instead, Price asserted that Englishmen should see themselves "more as citizens of the world than as members of any particular community".

qas: question: Which of Burke's writings was inspired by Price's sermon?
answers: text: Reflections on the Revolution in France

question: When did Burke publish his Reflections on the Revolution in France?
answers: text: 1790

question: How many copies did Reflections on the Revolution in France sell in 2 months?
answers: text: 17,500

question: Who translated 'Reflections on the Revolution in France' into French?
answers: text: Pierre-Gaëton Dupont

question: When was the tenth printing of the French translation of 'Reflections on the Revolution in France'?
answers: text: June 1791

question: What did Price draft after his initial sermon?

question: How much did most pamphlets cost at the time?

question: How many copies had sold by June 1791?

question: Who translated Burke's work from French?

question: What pamphlet was published on 13 February 1790?
context: Immediately after reading Price's sermon, Burke wrote a draft of what eventually became, Reflections on the Revolution in France. On 13 February 1790, a notice in the press said that shortly, Burke would publish a pamphlet on the Revolution and its British supporters, however he spent the year revising and expanding it. On 1 November he finally published the Reflections and it was an immediate best-seller. Priced at five shillings, it was more expensive than most political pamphlets, but by the end of 1790, it had gone through ten printings and sold approximately 17,500 copies. A French translation appeared on 29 November and on 30 November the translator, Pierre-Gaëton Dupont, wrote to Burke saying 2,500 copies had already been sold. The French translation ran to ten printings by June 1791.

qas: question: Who did Burke say we look up to with awe?
answers: text: kings

question: Who did Burke say we look to with affection?
answers: text: parliaments

question: Who did Burke say we look to with reverence?
answers: text: priests

question: How did Burke say we look towards nobility?
answers: text: with respect

question: How did Burke say we look towards magistrates?
answers: text: duty

question: What theory did Burke praise?

question: Burke claimed that the contract did not affect what groups of people?

question: Who did Burke say looks to us with reverence?

question: Who did Burke say owes us duty?

question: Who did Burke say gives us respect?
context: Burke put forward that "We fear God, we look up with awe to kings; with affection to parliaments; with duty to magistrates; with reverence to priests; and with respect to nobility. Why? Because when such ideas are brought before our minds, it is natural to be so affected". Burke defended this prejudice on the grounds that it is "the general bank and capital of nations, and of ages" and superior to individual reason, which is small in comparison. "Prejudice", Burke claimed, "is of ready application in the emergency; it previously engages the mind in a steady course of wisdom and virtue, and does not leave the man hesitating in the moment of decision, skeptical, puzzled, and unresolved. Prejudice renders a man's virtue his habit". Burke criticised social contract theory by claiming that society is indeed, a contract, but "a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born".

qas: question: Who was featured in the most well-known part of Burke's Reflections?
answers: text: Marie-Antoinette

question: Who said Burke wrote 'pure foppery' about Marie-Antoinette?
answers: text: Philip Francis

question: Who adored Burke's chivalry?
answers: text: Edward Gibbon

question: How did Marie-Antoinette react to Burke's writing about her?
answers: text: she burst into tears

question: What did Philip Francis call Marie-Antoinette?

question: When did Marie-Antoinette read Burke's writings?

question: How did Marie-Antoinette react to Edward Gibbon's praise?

question: Who admired Francis's chivalry?

question: Who thought the October Days were a cowardly attack on the Jacobins?
context: The most famous passage in Burke's Reflections was his description of the events of 5–6 October 1789 and the part of Marie-Antoinette in them. Burke's account differs little from modern historians who have used primary sources. His use of flowery language to describe it, however, provoked both praise and criticism. Philip Francis wrote to Burke saying that what he wrote of Marie-Antoinette was "pure foppery". Edward Gibbon, however, reacted differently: "I adore his chivalry". Burke was informed by an Englishman who had talked with the Duchesse de Biron, that when Marie-Antoinette was reading the passage, she burst into tears and took considerable time to finish reading it. Price had rejoiced that the French king had been "led in triumph" during the October Days, but to Burke this symbolised the opposing revolutionary sentiment of the Jacobins and the natural sentiments of those who shared his own view with horror—that the ungallant assault on Marie-Antoinette—was a cowardly attack on a defenceless woman.

qas: question: Who re-translated the Reflections into French?
answers: text: Louis XVI

question: Which British ministers disagreed with Burke's Reflections?
answers: text: Richard Sheridan and Charles James Fox

question: What political party was Charles James Fox?
answers: text: Whig

question: What political party was Earl Fitzwilliam?
answers: text: Whigs

question: What political party was Richard Sheridan?
answers: text: Whig

question: What did Charles James Fox translate?

question: Which Whigs publicly endorsed Burke?

question: Who was the Duke of Portland?

question: When did John Cavendish write to Burke?

question: Who did the Duke of Devonshire recommend Reflections to?
context: Louis XVI translated the Reflections "from end to end" into French. Fellow Whig MPs Richard Sheridan and Charles James Fox, disagreed with Burke and split with him. Fox thought the Reflections to be "in very bad taste" and "favouring Tory principles". Other Whigs such as the Duke of Portland and Earl Fitzwilliam privately agreed with Burke, but did not wish for a public breach with their Whig colleagues. Burke wrote on 29 November 1790: "I have received from the Duke of Portland, Lord Fitzwilliam, the Duke of Devonshire, Lord John Cavendish, Montagu (Frederick Montagu MP), and a long et cetera of the old Stamina of the Whiggs a most full approbation of the principles of that work and a kind indulgence to the execution". The Duke of Portland said in 1791 that when anyone criticised the Reflections to him, he informed them that he had recommended the book to his sons as containing the true Whig creed.

qas: question: Who wrote 'The Rights of Man'?
answers: text: Thomas Paine

question: Who wrote 'A Vindication of the Rights of Men'?
answers: text: Mary Wollstonecraft

question: Who said the Reflections were "the manifesto of a Counter Revolution"?
answers: text: James Mackintosh

question: Who did Mackintosh compare Burke to?
answers: text: Lord Bacon and Cicero

question: What types of wisdom did Mackintosh say Burke had?
answers: text: political and moral

question: When did Mary Wollstonecraft publish her response?

question: When did Mary meet Burke?

question: What did Mackintosh claim he had more of than any other writer?

question: Who did Thomas Paine compare Burke to?

question: What did Paine call Reflections?
context: Burke's Reflections sparked a pamphlet war. Thomas Paine penned the Rights of Man in 1791 as a response to Burke; Mary Wollstonecraft published A Vindication of the Rights of Men and James Mackintosh wrote Vindiciae Gallicae. Mackintosh was the first to see the Reflections as "the manifesto of a Counter Revolution". Mackintosh later agreed with Burke's views, remarking in December 1796 after meeting him, that Burke was "minutely and accurately informed, to a wonderful exactness, with respect to every fact relating to the French Revolution". Mackintosh later said: "Burke was one of the first thinkers as well as one of the greatest orators of his time. He is without parallel in any age, excepting perhaps Lord Bacon and Cicero; and his works contain an ampler store of political and moral wisdom than can be found in any other writer whatever".

qas: question: Who asked Burke for more "very refreshing mental food"?
answers: text: François-Louis-Thibault de Menonville

question: When did Burke release 'A Letter to a Member of the National Assembly'?
answers: text: April 1791

question: Which French philosopher did Burke attack?
answers: text: Jean-Jacques Rousseau

question: When did Rousseau visit Britain?
answers: text: 1766–7

question: Who did Rousseau stay with when visiting Britain?
answers: text: David Hume

question: What was Burke a member of?

question: What did François-Louis-Thibault de Menonville publish in April 1791?

question: When did Jean-Jacques Rousseau die?

question: What did Rousseau say Burke had in regards to understanding human nature?

question: What vice-filled book did Hume publish?
context: In November 1790, François-Louis-Thibault de Menonville, a member of the National Assembly of France, wrote to Burke, praising Reflections and requesting more "very refreshing mental food" that he could publish. This Burke did in April 1791 when he published A Letter to a Member of the National Assembly. Burke called for external forces to reverse the revolution and included an attack on the late French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, as being the subject of a personality cult that had developed in revolutionary France. Although Burke conceded that Rousseau sometimes showed "a considerable insight into human nature" he mostly was critical. Although he did not meet Rousseau on his visit to Britain in 1766–7 Burke was a friend of David Hume, with whom Rousseau had stayed. Burke said Rousseau "entertained no principle either to influence of his heart, or to guide his understanding—but vanity"—which he "was possessed to a degree little short of madness". He also cited Rousseau's Confessions as evidence that Rousseau had a life of "obscure and vulgar vices" that was not "chequered, or spotted here and there, with virtues, or even distinguished by a single good action". Burke contrasted Rousseau's theory of universal benevolence and his having sent his children to a foundling hospital: "a lover of his kind, but a hater of his kindred".

qas: question: Fox praised revolutionary principles in a debate about which country?
answers: text: Russia

question: What type of power did Fox think Burke was wrong about?
answers: text: hereditary

question: Which constitution did Burke condemn on May 6, 1791?
answers: text: French

question: Fox quoted Burke's speeches from how long ago?
answers: text: fourteen and fifteen years

question: When did Parliament debate the Quebec bill?

question: Who interrupted Burke?

question: What type of speech did Lord Sheffield give in regards to Burke?

question: Fox quoted his own speeches from how long ago?

question: Who condemned the Canadian constitution?
context: These events and the disagreements that arose from them within the Whig Party, led to its break-up and to the rupture of Burke's friendship with Fox. In debate in Parliament on Britain's relations with Russia, Fox praised the principles of the revolution, although Burke was not able to reply at this time as he was "overpowered by continued cries of question from his own side of the House". When Parliament was debating the Quebec Bill for a constitution for Canada, Fox praised the revolution and criticised some of Burke's arguments, such as hereditary power. On 6 May 1791, during another debate in Parliament on the Quebec Bill, Burke used the opportunity to answer Fox, and to condemn the new French Constitution and "the horrible consequences flowing from the French idea of the Rights of Man". Burke asserted that those ideas were the antithesis of both the British and the American constitutions. Burke was interrupted, and Fox intervened, saying that Burke should be allowed to carry on with his speech. A vote of censure was moved against Burke, however, for noticing the affairs of France, which was moved by Lord Sheffield and seconded by Fox. Pitt made a speech praising Burke, and Fox made a speech—both rebuking and complimenting Burke. He questioned the sincerity of Burke, who seemed to have forgotten the lessons he had learned from him, quoting from Burke's own speeches of fourteen and fifteen years before.

qas: question: When did Burke leave the Whig party?
answers: text: 5 June 1791

question: Who did Burke turn down money from?
answers: text: Fitzwilliam

question: What did Burke say 'envenoms everything it touches'?
answers: text: French constitution

question: Who thought that Fox and Burke could still be friends?
answers: text: Fox

question: Who thought that Fox and Burke's friendship was lost?
answers: text: Burke

question: Who declined taking money from Burke?

question: When did Burke leave the party?

question: Who kept their friend at the cost of their duty?

question: What did Fox say about the French constitution?

question: Who overcame his emotions in order to finish his speech?
context: At this point, Fox whispered that there was "no loss of friendship". "I regret to say there is", Burke replied, "I have indeed made a great sacrifice; I have done my duty though I have lost my friend. There is something in the detested French constitution that envenoms every thing it touches". This provoked a reply from Fox, yet he was unable to give his speech for some time since he was overcome with tears and emotion, he appealed to Burke to remember their inalienable friendship, but also repeated his criticisms of Burke and uttered "unusually bitter sarcasms". This only aggravated the rupture between the two men. Burke demonstrated his separation from the party on 5 June 1791 by writing to Fitzwilliam, declining money from him.

qas: question: What did Burke want the Whigs to condemn?
answers: text: the French Revolution

question: What did Burke publish on Aug 3, 1791?
answers: text: Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs

question: Burke thought the French Revolution was against whose principles?
answers: text: the Whig party

question: Burke attacked Whigs who supported what?
answers: text: the French Revolution

question: What did the Whig party want Burke to condemn?

question: What pamphlet did Fox publish in 3 August 1791?

question: When did Burke write that he wanted to represent the whole party?

question: What party did the French Revolution condemn?

question: Burke believe most party member agreed with which opponent?
context: Burke knew that many members of the Whig Party did not share Fox's views and he wanted to provoke them into condemning the French Revolution. Burke wrote that he wanted to represent the whole Whig party "as tolerating, and by a toleration, countenancing those proceedings" so that he could "stimulate them to a public declaration of what every one of their acquaintance privately knows to be...their sentiments". Therefore, on 3 August 1791 Burke published his Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs, in which he renewed his criticism of the radical revolutionary programmes inspired by the French Revolution and attacked the Whigs who supported them, as holding principles contrary to those traditionally held by the Whig party.

qas: question: Who thought Burke should have written in a more moderate tone?
answers: text: Portland and Fitzwilliam

question: Who said he 'perfectly differed from Mr. Fox'?
answers: text: Francis Basset

question: What was Francis Basset's political party?
answers: text: Whig

question: How did Burke think the Whigs secretly felt?
answers: text: galled

question: Who thought Burke and Fox shouldn't have made their argument public?
answers: text: Charles Burney

question: Who did Burke want to use more moderate language?

question: What type of Whig was Fitzwilliam?

question: Who claimed to be similar to Mr. Fox?

question: Who did Basset send a copy of his letter to?

question: Who wanted the argument to go public?
context: Although Whig grandees such as Portland and Fitzwilliam privately agreed with Burke's Appeal, they wished he had used more moderate language. Fitzwilliam saw the Appeal as containing "the doctrines I have sworn by, long and long since". Francis Basset, a backbench Whig MP, wrote to Burke: "...though for reasons which I will not now detail I did not then deliver my sentiments, I most perfectly differ from Mr. Fox & from the great Body of opposition on the French Revolution". Burke sent a copy of the Appeal to the king and the king requested a friend to communicate to Burke that he had read it "with great Satisfaction". Burke wrote of its reception: "Not one word from one of our party. They are secretly galled. They agree with me to a title; but they dare not speak out for fear of hurting Fox. ... They leave me to myself; they see that I can do myself justice". Charles Burney viewed it as "a most admirable book—the best & most useful on political subjects that I have ever seen" but believed the differences in the Whig Party between Burke and Fox should not be aired publicly.

qas: question: Who did Burke write to on Nov 4, 1793?
answers: text: William Windham

question: Which faction's uprising in La Vendee did Burke support?
answers: text: royalist

question: Who did Burke urge to send reinforcements to La Vendee?
answers: text: Henry Dundas

question: Where did Burke think La Vendee might lead to a march on?
answers: text: Paris

question: What did Burke support Britain fighting against?
answers: text: revolutionary France

question: Who wrote to Burke on Nov 4, 1793?

question: What faction was Burke opposed to in La Vendée?

question: When did Henry Dundas write to Burke?

question: Whose advice did Dundas heed?

question: Burke considered supporting the war against the revolution as being against which nation?
context: Burke supported the war against revolutionary France, seeing Britain as fighting on the side of the royalists and émigres in a civil war, rather than fighting against the whole nation of France. Burke also supported the royalist uprising in La Vendée, describing it on 4 November 1793 in a letter to William Windham, as "the sole affair I have much heart in". Burke wrote to Henry Dundas on 7 October urging him to send reinforcements there, as he viewed it as the only theatre in the war that might lead to a march on Paris. Dundas did not follow Burke's advice, however.

qas: question: When did Prince Charles write to Burke?
answers: text: 23 October

question: How many foreign supporters did Burke think a French royalist was worth?
answers: text: twenty

question: What did Burke see as proof of the importance of French royalists?
answers: text: La Vendée

question: What country was Prince Charles part of the ruling family of?
answers: text: France

question: In what writing did Burke comment about the importance of La Vendee?
answers: text: Remarks on the Policy of the Allies with Respect to France

question: Who thought Burke was not taking the uprising seriously?

question: How many foreigners did Burke say twenty Frenchman were worth?

question: What region did Prince Charles use to back up his points? 

question: When did Burke enter His Majesty's Service?

question: Who told Burke Frenchman were worth more than foreigners?
context: Burke believed the Government was not taking the uprising seriously enough, a view reinforced by a letter he had received from the Prince Charles of France (S.A.R. le comte d'Artois), dated 23 October, requesting that he intercede on behalf of the royalists to the Government. Burke was forced to reply on 6 November: "I am not in His Majesty's Service; or at all consulted in his Affairs". Burke published his Remarks on the Policy of the Allies with Respect to France, begun in October, where he said: "I am sure every thing has shewn us that in this war with France, one Frenchman is worth twenty foreigners. La Vendée is a proof of this".

qas: question: When did Burke receive a vote of thanks?
answers: text: 20 June 1794

question: When did Burke's son die?
answers: text: August 1794

question: What did King George III want to make Burke an Earl of?
answers: text: Beaconsfield

question: How much money did Burke accept instead of the Earlship?
answers: text: £2,500

question: Who attacked Burke for receiving recognition from King George III?
answers: text: Duke of Bedford and the Earl of Lauderdale

question: When did Burke submit a vote of thanks?

question: Who did Burke thank in June 1794?

question: When did Richard resign?

question: What pension did the Duke of Bedford receive?

question: Who wanted to make Richard Burke an Earl?
context: On 20 June 1794, Burke received a vote of thanks from the Commons for his services in the Hastings Trial and he immediately resigned his seat, being replaced by his son Richard. A tragic blow fell upon Burke with the loss of Richard in August 1794, to whom he was tenderly attached, and in whom he saw signs of promise, which were not patent to others and which, in fact, appear to have been non-existent (though this view may have rather reflected the fact that Richard Burke had worked successfully in the early battle for Catholic emancipation). King George III, whose favour he had gained by his attitude on the French Revolution, wished to create him Earl of Beaconsfield, but the death of his son deprived the opportunity of such an honour and all its attractions, so the only award he would accept was a pension of £2,500. Even this modest reward was attacked by the Duke of Bedford and the Earl of Lauderdale, to whom Burke replied in his Letter to a Noble Lord (1796): "It cannot at this time be too often repeated; line upon line; precept upon precept; until it comes into the currency of a proverb, To innovate is not to reform". He argued that he was rewarded on merit, but the Duke of Bedford received his rewards from inheritance alone, his ancestor being the original pensioner: "Mine was from a mild and benevolent sovereign; his from Henry the Eighth". Burke also hinted at what would happen to such people if their revolutionary ideas were implemented, and included a description of the British constitution:

qas: question: What was Burke's final publication?
answers: text: Letters on a Regicide Peace

question: When was Burke's final publication?
answers: text: October 1796

question: What did Burke think was missing from the French Revolutionary Government?
answers: text: Individuality

question: What did Burke think were the French Revolutionary Government's only goals?
answers: text: dominion and conquest

question: What negotiations did Burke think were appeasement?
answers: text: negotiations for peace with France by the Pitt government

question: What was Pitt's last publication?

question: Who did Burke say had too much individuality?

question: What did Burke say was problematic in his First letter?

question: What did Burke believe would be good for the national dignity?
context: Burke's last publications were the Letters on a Regicide Peace (October 1796), called forth by negotiations for peace with France by the Pitt government. Burke regarded this as appeasement, injurious to national dignity and honour. In his Second Letter, Burke wrote of the French Revolutionary Government: "Individuality is left out of their scheme of government. The State is all in all. Everything is referred to the production of force; afterwards, everything is trusted to the use of it. It is military in its principle, in its maxims, in its spirit, and in all its movements. The State has dominion and conquest for its sole objects—dominion over minds by proselytism, over bodies by arms".

qas: question: What did Burke think the war with France was against?
answers: text: an "armed doctrine"

question: Burke hoped which country wouldn't be partitioned?
answers: text: France

question: What kind of empire did Burke think the French revolutionaries wanted?
answers: text: universal

question: Who did Burke think the war was against, rather than France as a whole?
answers: text: the revolutionaries governing her

question: What type of doctrine did Burke propose?

question: What country did Burke want partitioned?

question: What kind of empire did Burke think Europe would become?

question: What did Burke say France was trying to extend?
context: This is held to be the first explanation of the modern concept of totalitarian state. Burke regarded the war with France as ideological, against an "armed doctrine". He wished that France would not be partitioned due to the effect this would have on the balance of power in Europe, and that the war was not against France, but against the revolutionaries governing her. Burke said: "It is not France extending a foreign empire over other nations: it is a sect aiming at universal empire, and beginning with the conquest of France".

qas: question: Who did Burke write to about the price of corn?
answers: text: Pitt

question: Who introduced a bill in 1795 about minimum wage?
answers: text: Samuel Whitbread

question: Who was the Secretary of the Board of Agriculture?
answers: text: Arthur Young

question: Burke's unfinished letter to Arthur Young became part of what publication?
answers: text: Thoughts and Details on Scarcity

question: When was 'Thoughts and Details on Scarcity' published?
answers: text: 1800

question: When did Pitt write to Burke?

question: What bill did Fox introduce?

question: What was the subject of the letter Arthur Young did not complete?

question: What was the name of the letters Young published?

question: When did Fox die?
context: In November 1795, there was a debate in Parliament on the high price of corn and Burke wrote a memorandum to Pitt on the subject. In December Samuel Whitbread MP introduced a bill giving magistrates the power to fix minimum wages and Fox said he would vote for it. This debate probably led Burke to editing his memorandum, as there appeared a notice that Burke would soon publish a letter on the subject to the Secretary of the Board of Agriculture, Arthur Young; but he failed to complete it. These fragments were inserted into the memorandum after his death and published posthumously in 1800 as, Thoughts and Details on Scarcity. In it, Burke expounded "some of the doctrines of political economists bearing upon agriculture as a trade". Burke criticised policies such as maximum prices and state regulation of wages, and set out what the limits of government should be:

qas: question: Whose ascendancy did Burke think was malignant?
answers: text: Protestant

question: What did Burke call corporate tyranny in India?
answers: text: Indianism

question: Which continent did Jacobinism affect?
answers: text: Europe

question: When did Burke decide Indianism was the worst threat?
answers: text: March 1796

question: What did Burke think was the worst threat in 1795?
answers: text: Jacobinism

question: What did Burke think was overrated?

question: Who practiced Protestant ascendency?

question: What did Burke initially call Indianism?

question: When did Burke decide Indianism was not as great of an issue?

question: Burke never changed his mind on which ideology, which he called "the greatest evil"?
context: Writing to a friend in May 1795, Burke surveyed the causes of discontent: "I think I can hardly overrate the malignity of the principles of Protestant ascendency, as they affect Ireland; or of Indianism [i.e. corporate tyranny, as practiced by the British East Indies Company], as they affect these countries, and as they affect Asia; or of Jacobinism, as they affect all Europe, and the state of human society itself. The last is the greatest evil". By March 1796, however Burke had changed his mind: "Our Government and our Laws are beset by two different Enemies, which are sapping its foundations, Indianism, and Jacobinism. In some Cases they act separately, in some they act in conjunction: But of this I am sure; that the first is the worst by far, and the hardest to deal with; and for this amongst other reasons, that it weakens discredits, and ruins that force, which ought to be employed with the greatest Credit and Energy against the other; and that it furnishes Jacobinism with its strongest arms against all formal Government".

qas: question: What did Burke think was crucial for human life?
answers: text: property

question: What did Burke think a social hierarchy should be based on?
answers: text: property

question: Who did Burke think a social class structure benefited?
answers: text: all subjects

question: Who wrote that Burke "appealed to property owners"?
answers: text: Christopher Hitchens

question: What did Hitchens think Burke supported preserving?
answers: text: the ancestral and the immemorial

question: Who was influenced by modern conservatism?

question: What did Christopher Hitchens believe was essential to human life?

question: What did Burke believe kept the classes in check?

question: What did Hitchens appeal to?

question: What did Burke believe was against the natural order of events?
context: Burke believed that property was essential to human life. Because of his conviction that people desire to be ruled and controlled, the division of property formed the basis for social structure, helping develop control within a property-based hierarchy. He viewed the social changes brought on by property as the natural order of events, which should be taking place as the human race progressed. With the division of property and the class system, he also believed that it kept the monarch in check to the needs of the classes beneath the monarch. Since property largely aligned or defined divisions of social class, class too, was seen as natural—part of a social agreement that the setting of persons into different classes, is the mutual benefit of all subjects. Concern for property is not Burke's only influence. As Christopher Hitchens summarises, "If modern conservatism can be held to derive from Burke, it is not just because he appealed to property owners in behalf of stability but also because he appealed to an everyday interest in the preservation of the ancestral and the immemorial."

qas: question: Who thought Burke was prophetic about the French revolution's consequences?
answers: text: Philip Francis

question: What did Francis think Burke's writing had too much of?
answers: text: passion

question: Who made speeches very similar to Burke's in Parliament?
answers: text: William Windham

question: When did Windham speak against peace with France?
answers: text: 1801

question: When did Wordsworth initially attack Burke?
answers: text: 1793

question: When did both liberals and conservatives condemn Burke?

question: When did Fox make a speech against peace with France?

question: Besides Burke, who were Windham's favourite writers?

question: What did Burke criticise Francis for having too much of in his writing?

question: When did Benjamin Disraeli say he was deeply affected by Burke?
context: In the nineteenth century Burke was praised by both liberals and conservatives. Burke's friend Philip Francis wrote that Burke "was a man who truly & prophetically foresaw all the consequences which would rise from the adoption of the French principles" but because Burke wrote with so much passion, people were doubtful of his arguments. William Windham spoke from the same bench in the House of Commons as Burke had, when he had separated from Fox, and an observer said Windham spoke "like the ghost of Burke" when he made a speech against peace with France in 1801. William Hazlitt, a political opponent of Burke, regarded him as amongst his three favourite writers (the others being Junius and Rousseau), and made it "a test of the sense and candour of any one belonging to the opposite party, whether he allowed Burke to be a great man". William Wordsworth was originally a supporter of the French Revolution and attacked Burke in 'A Letter to the Bishop of Llandaff' (1793), but by the early nineteenth century he had changed his mind and came to admire Burke. In his Two Addresses to the Freeholders of Westmorland Wordsworth called Burke "the most sagacious Politician of his age" whose predictions "time has verified". He later revised his poem The Prelude to include praise of Burke ("Genius of Burke! forgive the pen seduced/By specious wonders") and portrayed him as an old oak. Samuel Taylor Coleridge came to have a similar conversion: he had criticised Burke in The Watchman, but in his Friend (1809–10) Coleridge defended Burke from charges of inconsistency. Later, in his Biographia Literaria (1817) Coleridge hails Burke as a prophet and praises Burke for referring "habitually to principles. He was a scientific statesman; and therefore a seer". Henry Brougham wrote of Burke: "... all his predictions, save one momentary expression, had been more than fulfilled: anarchy and bloodshed had borne sway in France; conquest and convulsion had desolated Europe...the providence of mortals is not often able to penetrate so far as this into futurity". George Canning believed that Burke's Reflections "has been justified by the course of subsequent events; and almost every prophecy has been strictly fulfilled". In 1823 Canning wrote that he took Burke's "last works and words [as] the manual of my politics". The Conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli "was deeply penetrated with the spirit and sentiment of Burke's later writings".

qas: question: What political party was Gladstone in?
answers: text: Liberal

question: What countries did Gladstone think Burke was wise about?
answers: text: Ireland and America

question: What was Cobden an activist against?
answers: text: Corn Law

question: Lord Macaulay thought Burke was the best author since whom?
answers: text: Milton

question: Who thought Burke was like an architect remodeling an old house instead of tearing it down?
answers: text: Francis Hirst

question: What law was William Ewart Gladstone against?

question: Which pamphlet did Lord Acton praise?

question: Who did Macaulay say was the best man since Burke?

question: How many books did Lord Acton publish on Burke?

question: What architect admired Burke?
context: The 19th-century Liberal Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone considered Burke "a magazine of wisdom on Ireland and America" and in his diary recorded: "Made many extracts from Burke—sometimes almost divine". The Radical MP and anti-Corn Law activist Richard Cobden often praised Burke's Thoughts and Details on Scarcity. The Liberal historian Lord Acton considered Burke one of the three greatest Liberals, along with William Gladstone and Thomas Babington Macaulay. Lord Macaulay recorded in his diary: "I have now finished reading again most of Burke's works. Admirable! The greatest man since Milton". The Gladstonian Liberal MP John Morley published two books on Burke (including a biography) and was influenced by Burke, including his views on prejudice. The Cobdenite Radical Francis Hirst thought Burke deserved "a place among English libertarians, even though of all lovers of liberty and of all reformers he was the most conservative, the least abstract, always anxious to preserve and renovate rather than to innovate. In politics he resembled the modern architect who would restore an old house instead of pulling it down to construct a new one on the site". Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France was controversial at the time of its publication, but after his death, it was to become his best known and most influential work, and a manifesto for Conservative thinking.

qas: question: Who thought Burke's trial of Hastings was a moral foundation of the British Empire?
answers: text: Piers Brendon

question: What did Burke think the British Empire should be governed based on?
answers: text: a plan of freedom

question: What did Burke call 'a smuggling adventure'?
answers: text: opium trade

question: What did Burke think had disgraced Britain in India?
answers: text: opium trade

question: What historian laid the foundations for the morals of the British Empire?

question: What did Burke say the plan of freedom must be governed by?

question: What did Burke say had disgraced India in Britain?

question: What did Burke nickname his paternalistic doctrine?

question: What kind of doctrine did Hastings propose?
context: The historian Piers Brendon asserts that Burke laid the moral foundations for the British Empire, epitomised in the trial of Warren Hastings, that was ultimately to be its undoing: when Burke stated that "The British Empire must be governed on a plan of freedom, for it will be governed by no other", this was "...an ideological bacillus that would prove fatal. This was Edmund Burke's paternalistic doctrine that colonial government was a trust. It was to be so exercised for the benefit of subject people that they would eventually attain their birthright—freedom". As a consequence of this opinion, Burke objected to the opium trade, which he called a "smuggling adventure" and condemned "the great Disgrace of the British character in India".

qas: question: Which church did Burke most defend?
answers: text: Anglican

question: What did Burke think was the foundation of society?
answers: text: religion

question: What religion was Burke's mother?
answers: text: Catholic

question: What religion was Burke's father?
answers: text: Protestant

question: Burke thought religion was beneficial to what besides souls?
answers: text: political arrangements

question: What did Burke believe was the foundation of religion?

question: Which of Burke's parents was an athiest?

question: Which of Burke's parents was a deist?

question: What did Burke believe made political arrangements difficult?

question: Burke failed to show concern for what sect of Christianity?
context: Burke's religious writing comprises published works and commentary on the subject of religion. Burke's religious thought was grounded in the belief that religion is the foundation of civil society. He sharply criticised deism and atheism, and emphasised Christianity as a vehicle of social progress. Born in Ireland to a Catholic mother and a Protestant father, Burke vigorously defended the Anglican Church, but also demonstrated sensitivity to Catholic concerns. He linked the conservation of a state (established) religion with the preservation of citizens' constitutional liberties and highlighted Christianity's benefit not only to the believer's soul, but also to political arrangements.