te, and to
decorate that side of the question which he supported."

This observation suggests the great advantage he derives as a political
instructor from the facts that all his political speeches and writings
are polemical. The difficulty of keeping exposition from being dry is
familiar to everybody who has ever sought to communicate knowledge on
any subject. But Burke in every one of his political theses had an
antagonist, who was literally as he says himself, a helper: who did the
work of an opposing counsel at the bar, in bringing out into prominence
all the weak points of Burke's case and all the strong ones of his own;
who set in array all the fallacies to be exposed, all the idols to be
overthrown, all the doubts to be cleared up. Moreover he was not, like
the man who usually figures in controversial dialogues, a sham opponent,
but a creature of flesh and blood like Grenville, or the Sheriffs of
Bristol, or the King's friends, or the Irish Protestant party, who met
Burke with an ardor not inferior to his own. We consequently have, in
all his papers and speeches, the very best of which he was capable in
thought and expression, for he had not only to watch the city but to
meet the enemy in the gate.

After the close of the American War, the remainder of Burke's career was
filled with two great subjects, to which he devoted himself with an
ardor which occasionally degenerated into fanaticism. One was the
government of India by the East India Company, and the other was the
French Revolution. Although the East India Company had been long in
existence, and had towards the middle of the eighteenth century been
rapidly extending its power and influence, comparatively little had
been known by the English public of the nature of its operations.
Attention had been drawn away from it by the events in America and the
long contest with the King in England. By the close of the American War,
however, the "Nabobs," as they were called,--or returned English
adventurers,--began to make a deep impression on English society by the
apparent size of their fortunes and the lavishness of their expenditure.
Burke calculated that in his time they had brought home about
$200,000,000, with which they bought estates and seats in Parliament and
became a very conspicuous element in English public and private life. At
the same time, information as to the mode in which their money was made
and their government carried on was scanty and hard to