ed triumph
of the Paris Commune? The longer the present position of affairs
continues, the greater is the probability of such convulsions after the
close of a great war. Thus, with the growth of military burdens rise
waves of popular discontent, threatening a social revolution.

Such are the consequences of the armed peace of Europe--slow destruction
in consequence of expenditure on preparations for war, or swift
destruction in the event of war--in both events convulsions in the
social order.

EDMUND BURKE

Reflections on the Revolution in France

Edmund Burke, born on Jan. 12, 1729, at Dublin, Ireland, was
educated at Trinity College there, and proceeded in 1750 to the
Middle Temple, London, but forsook law for the pursuit of
literature and politics. His earliest serious work was the essay on
"The Sublime and Beautiful," published in 1756, of which the full
title is "A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of
the Sublime and Beautiful." In 1761 he became private secretary to
Hamilton, the Secretary of Ireland, and four years later to the
Premier, the Marquis of Rockingham, when he also became M.P. for
Wendover, and, in 1774, for Bristol. He died on July 9, 1797.
Burke's magnificent treatise on the French Revolution, of which the
full title is "Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the
Proceedings of Certain Societies in London relative to that Event;
In a Letter Intended to Have Been Sent to a Gentleman in Paris,"
was published in 1790, and was read all over Europe, powerfully
encouraging strenuous resistance to the Revolution. It is, perhaps,
in all literature, the noblest expression of all that is noble in
conservatism. His treatise is as profound in its penetration into
political principles as it is magnificent in conception and in
language. As Burke had stood for a true liberty in America, so he
took his stand against a false liberty in Europe. But history has
not justified him so completely in the latter case as in the
former. Revolutionism was not only, or chiefly, libertinism; and
the wonderful modern France has largely disappointed his
predictions.

_I.--The Meaning of Freedom_

Dear Sir, You are pleased to call again, and with some earnestness, for
my thoughts on the late proceedings in France. You will see, sir, that
though I do most heartily wish