Reflections on the Revolution in France

When the French Revolution was still in its infancy, intellectual Edmund Burke put pen to paper and created a 1790 political masterpiece that has stood the test of time. In stark contrast to his initial conviction in August 1789 that it was a “wonderful spectacle,” Burke’s classic and hard-hitting polemic accuses the French people of throwing off “the yoke of laws and morals” alongside“ their political servitude.” Burke dismisses the French Revolution as a threat to European stability and argues that it was an altogether different affair from England’s “Glorious Revolution” of 1688. He reflects that the French Revolution was anarchic and destroyed all that he, as a conservative, held dear, such as religion, state, and culture.

Contemporaries such as “The Rights Of Man” author Thomas Paine savaged Burke’s work, branding him out of touch and sycophantic to figures such as Marie Antoinette. Yet Burke’s persuasive, logical argument that the French Revolution would add to the chaos and hardship of the French people has been proven right by history. “Reflections” is one of Burke’s best-known works. It is a superbly written socio-political observation from an extremely well-informed and contemporary source whose literary and rhetorical talents have dazzled each subsequent generation.