blin, and
there learnt Oxenstiern's eternal lesson, that awaits all who penetrate
behind the scenes of government, _quam parva sapientia mundus regitur_.

The penal laws against the Catholics, the iniquitous restrictions on Irish
trade and industry, the selfish factiousness of the parliament, the jobbery
and corruption of administration, the absenteeism of the landlords, and all
the other too familiar elements of that mischievous and fatal system, were
then in full force. As was shown afterwards, they made an impression upon
Burke that was never effaced. So much iniquity and so much disorder may
well have struck deep on one whose two chief political sentiments were a
passion for order and a passion for justice. He may have anticipated with
something of remorse the reflection of a modern historian, that the
absenteeism of her landlords has been less of a curse to Ireland than the
absenteeism of her men of genius. At least he was never an absentee in
heart. He always took the interest of an ardent patriot in his unfortunate
country; and, as we shall see, made more than one weighty sacrifice on
behalf of the principles which he deemed to be bound up with her welfare.

When Hamilton retired from his post, Burke accompanied him back to London,
with a pension of L300 a year on the Irish Establishment. This modest
allowance he hardly enjoyed for more than a single year. His patron having
discovered the value of so laborious and powerful a subaltern, wished to
bind Burke permanently to his service. Burke declined to sell himself into
final bondage of this kind. When Hamilton continued to press his odious
pretensions they quarrelled (1765), and Burke threw up his pension. He soon
received a more important piece of preferment than any which he could ever
have procured through Hamilton.

The accession of George III. to the throne in 1760 had been followed by the
disgrace of Pitt, the dismissal of Newcastle, and the rise of Bute. These
events marked the resolution of the court to change the political system
which had been created by the Revolution of 1688. That system placed the
government of the country in the hands of a territorial oligarchy, composed
of a few families of large possessions, fairly enlightened principles, and
shrewd political sense. It had been preserved by the existence of a
Pretender. The two first kings of the house of Hanover could only keep the
crown on their own heads by conciliating the Revolution families