Editing Edmund Burke (section)

==Member of Parliament==
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In December 1765, Burke entered the House of Commons of the [[Parliament of Great Britain|British Parliament]] as Member for [[Wendover (UK Parliament constituency)|Wendover]] in [[Buckinghamshire]], a [[pocket borough]] in the gift of Lord Fermanagh, later [[Earl Verney|2nd Earl Verney]] and a close political ally of Rockingham. After Burke delivered his [[maiden speech]], [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt the Elder]] said he had "spoken in such a manner as to stop the mouths of all Europe" and that the Commons should congratulate itself on acquiring such a Member.<ref>McCue, p. 16.</ref>

The first great subject Burke addressed was the controversy with the American colonies which soon developed into [[American Revolutionary War|war]] and ultimate [[United States Declaration of Independence|separation]]. In reply to the 1769 [[George Grenville|Grenvillite]] [[pamphlet]] ''The Present State of the Nation'', he published his own pamphlet titled ''Observations on a Late State of the Nation''. Surveying the finances of France, Burke predicts "some extraordinary convulsion in that whole system".<ref>Lock, ''Burke. Vol. I'', p. 262.</ref>

During the same year, with mostly borrowed money, Burke purchased Gregories, a {{convert|600|acre|km2|1|adj=on}} estate near [[Beaconsfield]]. Although the [[Estate (land)|estate]] included saleable assets such as [[art work]]s by [[Titian]], Gregories proved a heavy financial burden in the following decades and Burke was never able to repay its purchase price in full. His speeches and writings, having made him famous, led to the suggestion that he was the author of the ''[[Letters of Junius]]''.

At about this time, Burke joined the circle of leading intellectuals and artists in London of whom [[Samuel Johnson]] was the central luminary. This [[Social circle|circle]] also included [[David Garrick]], [[Oliver Goldsmith]] and [[Joshua Reynolds]]. [[Edward Gibbon]] described Burke as "the most eloquent and rational madman that I ever knew".<ref>''Private Letters of Edward Gibbon, II (1896)'' Prothero, P. (ed.). p. 251 cited in ''The Decline and Fall of the British Empire: 1781–1998'' (2007) Brendon, Piers. Jonathan Cape, London. p. 10 {{ISBN|978-0-224-06222-0}}</ref> Although Johnson admired Burke's brilliance, he found him a dishonest politician.<ref>Boswell, ''Life of Samuel Johnson'', edited by Hill-Powell; v. II, p. 349; 7 April 1775</ref><ref>Boswell, Journals, ''Boswell: The Ominous Years'', p. 134, edited by Ryskamp & Pottle; McGraw Hill, 1963</ref>

Burke took a leading role in the debate regarding the constitutional limits to the executive authority of the [[George III|king]]. He argued strongly against unrestrained royal power and for the role of political parties in maintaining a principled opposition capable of preventing abuses, either by the monarch or by specific factions within the government. His most important publication in this regard was his ''Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents'' of 23 April 1770.<ref>{{cite book |title=Burke: Select Works of Edmund Burke, Vol. 1, Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents }}</ref> Burke identified the "discontents" as stemming from the "secret influence" of a neo-Tory group he labelled as the "king's friends", whose system "comprehending the exterior and interior administrations, is commonly called, in the technical language of the Court, ''Double Cabinet''".<ref>Lock, ''Burke. Vol. I'', p. 277.</ref> Britain needed a party with "an unshaken adherence to principle, and attachment to connexion, against every allurement of interest". Party divisions, "whether operating for good or evil, are things inseparable from free government".<ref>Lock, ''Burke. Vol. I'', p. 283.</ref>

[[File:Gregories Estate near Beaconsfield Buckinghamshire 1792.jpg|thumb|The Gregories estate purchased by Burke for £20,000 in 1768]]
During 1771, Burke wrote a bill that would have given [[jury|juries]] the right to determine what was [[libel]], if passed. Burke spoke in favour of the bill, but it was opposed by some, including [[Charles James Fox]], not becoming law. When introducing [[Libel Act 1792|his own bill]] in 1791 in opposition, Fox repeated almost verbatim the text of Burke's bill without acknowledgement.<ref>Prior, p. 127 + pp. 340–342.</ref> Burke was prominent in securing the right to publish debates held in Parliament.<ref>Prior, p. 127.</ref>

Speaking in a Parliamentary debate on the prohibition on the export of grain on 16 November 1770, Burke argued in favour of a [[free market]] in corn: "There are no such things as a high, & a low price that is encouraging, & discouraging; there is nothing but a natural price, which grain brings at an universal market".<ref>Lock, ''Burke. Vol. I'', pp. 321–322.</ref> In 1772, Burke was instrumental in the passing of the [[Repeal of Certain Laws Act 1772]] which repealed various old laws against dealers and forestallers in corn.<ref>Lock, ''Burke. Vol. I'', p. 322.</ref>

In the ''Annual Register'' for 1772 (published in July 1773), Burke condemned the [[First Partition of Poland|partition of Poland]]. He saw it as "the first very great breach in the modern political system of Europe" and as upsetting the balance of power in Europe.<ref>[[Brendan Simms]], ''Three Victories and a Defeat. The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire, 1714–1783'' (Allen Lane, 2007), pp. 569–571.</ref>

On 3 November 1774, Burke was elected Member for [[Bristol (UK Parliament constituency)|Bristol]], at the time "England's second city" with a large constituency in a genuine electoral contest.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/bha002/page/2/mode/2up|title=Bristol and Burke|date=18 March 1961|publisher=Bristol Historical Association|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> At the conclusion of the poll, he made his ''Speech to the Electors of Bristol at the Conclusion of the Poll'',<ref>[http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch13s7.html uchicago.edu: "Edmund Burke, Speech to the Electors of Bristol"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708002901/http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch13s7.html |date=8 July 2014 }} 3 Nov. 1774, Works 1:446–448</ref> a remarkable disclaimer of the constituent-imperative form of democracy, for which he substituted his statement of the "representative mandate" form.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Revista de Sociologia e Política|volume=20|issue=44|date=2012|title=Discurso aos eleitores de Bristol|editor=trans|pages=97–101|doi=10.1590/S0104-44782012000400008|doi-access=free}}</ref> He failed to win re-election for that seat in the subsequent [[1780 British general election|1780 general election]].

In May 1778, Burke supported a [[Motion (parliamentary procedure)|Parliamentary motion]] revising restrictions on Irish trade. His constituents, citizens of the great trading city of Bristol, urged Burke to oppose [[free trade]] with Ireland. Burke resisted their protestations and said: "If, from this conduct, I shall forfeit their suffrages at an ensuing election, it will stand on record an example to future representatives of the Commons of England, that one man at least had dared to resist the desires of his constituents when his judgment assured him they were wrong."<ref>Prior, p. 175.</ref>

Burke published ''Two Letters to Gentlemen of Bristol on the Bills relative to the Trade of Ireland'' in which he espoused "some of the chief principles of commerce; such as the advantage of free intercourse between all parts of the same kingdom ... the evils attending restriction and monopoly ... and that the gain of others is not necessarily our loss, but on the contrary an advantage by causing a greater demand for such wares as we have for sale."<ref>Prior, pp. 175–176.</ref>

Burke also supported the attempts of [[Sir George Savile, 8th Baronet|Sir George Savile]] to repeal some of the [[Penal law (British)|penal laws]] against Catholics.<ref>Prior, p. 176.</ref> Burke also called capital punishment "the Butchery which we call justice" in 1776 and in 1780 condemned the use of the [[pillory]] for two men convicted for attempting to practice [[sodomy]].<ref name="ODNB"/>

This support for unpopular causes, notably free trade with Ireland and [[Catholic emancipation]], led to Burke losing his [[Legislative seat|seat]] in 1780. For the remainder of his Parliamentary career, Burke represented [[Malton (UK Parliament constituency)|Malton]], another pocket borough under the [[Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham|Marquess of Rockingham]]'s patronage.