| This dissertation disputes the widespread view of Edmund Burke as the originator of modern conservatism, arguing that he developed a dynamic, even progressive conception of statesmanship within the framework of the ancient European system of politics and society. Burke, I contend, always viewed a nation's forms and institutions from the perspective of the statesman seeking to bring about "a great arrangement" of the astonishing variety of human characters, interests, and associations found in any extended society. Burke further believed the historically and congruently evolved constitutions of the European states formed a broader polity which was essentially aristocratic and republican in character. His statesmanship, I conclude, centered on improving those constitutions in times of peace, and on securing their common bases during the radically unstable years following the French Revolution. Accordingly, Chapter One sketches Burke's conception of the nature, scope, and general principles of statesmanship. Chapter Two examines Burke's understanding of the political origins and purposes of aristocracy, particularly as evolved in the pan-European polity. Chapter Three examines Burke's analyses of the anti-aristocratic arguments advanced by late 1700s radicals, and presents his comprehensive response to those arguments. Chapter Four elaborates Burke's understanding of the moral and political centrality of aristocracy in the pan-European constitution. Volume Two turns from general principles to a detailed narrative of Burke's political activities and strategic writings in the critical years following the French Revolution. Chapter Five discusses Burke's analyses of the nature and causes of the Revolution, and of the threat it posed to the pan-European constitution. Chapters Six through Nine describe Burke's practical engagement as a counter-revolutionary on the English and international scenes following the overthrow of the French ancien regime. This account demonstrates that Burke's late politics aimed to re-establish in France all the bases of the ancient pan-European constitution, and especially its aristocratic element. Seen against the general principles described in chapters One through Four, this account suggests that a concern for improving and securing the bases of this pan-European constitution, broadly and in particular nations, was central to Burke's principles and practice of statesmanship. |
