Reflections On The Revolution In France

Burke uses the staunch British character and its solid, conservative nature as a motif in Reflections on the Revolution in France. Though Burke addresses his letter to his French friend, Depont, he seeks to build up the British character to the reader, to persuade the country not to follow the course of French revolutionaries. As such, the letter glorifies the reactionary ways of Great Britain, reaffirming the nation’s trust in its history and traditions. He cites evidence of their responsibility, writing “All would our ancestors at the Revolution have deserved their fame for wisdom, if they had found no security for their freedom, but in rendering their government feeble in its operations, and precarious in its tenure; if they had been able to contrive no better remedy against arbitrary power than civil confusion” (30). England has, and always will, Burke argues, provide for its people; the people can trust in the system of those that govern for them. In the event of any shift in power, the government always reestablishes order swiftly and adequately for the sake of its citizenry.

Next, Burke establishes that, in light of the French Revolution, and the abolishment of its existing systems, England revised its government more than once, each time reaffirming its desire to retain an inheritable monarchy and landed nobility because such law preserves the land from past generations and for future generations.