Excerpt from The Works Correspondence the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 6 of 8 I N order to lay this matter with full satisfaction before the reader, I shall collect into one point of view, and state, as shortly and as clearly as I am able, the purport of these laws, according to the objects which they affect, without making at present any further observation upon them, but just what shall be necessary to render the drift and intention of the legislature, and the tendency and operation of the laws the more distinct and evident. I shall begin with those which relate to the possession and inheritance of landed property in popish hands. The first opera tion of those acts upon this object was only to change the course of descent by the common law; to take away the right of primo geniture; and, in lieu thereof, to substitute and establish a new species of statute gavelkind. By this law, on the death of a Papist possessed of an estate in fee simple, or in fee tail, the land is to be divided by equal portions between all the male children and those portions are likewise to be parcelled out, share and share alike, amongst the descendants of each son, and so to proceed in a similar distribution ad infinitum. From this regulation, it was proposed, that some important consequences should follow. First. By taking away the right of primogeniture, perhaps in the very first generation, certainly in the second, the families of Papists, however respectable, and their fortunes, however considerable, would be wholly dissipated, and reduced to obscurity and indi gence, without any possibility that they should repair them by their industry or abilities; being, as we shall see anon, disabled from every species of permanent acquisition. Secondly. By this law the right of testamentation is taken away, which the inferior tenures had always enjoyed; and all tenures from the 27 Henry VIII. Thirdly. The right of settlement was taken away, that no such persons should, from the moment the act passed, be ena bled to advance themselves in fortune or connexion by marriage, being disabled from making any disposition in consideration ofsuch marriage, but what the law had previously regulated; the reputable establishment of the eldest son, as representative of the family, or to settle a jointure, being commonly the great object in such settlements, which was the very power which the law had absolutely taken away. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The Works and Correspondence, Vol. 2 of 8: The Right Honourable Edmund Burke; A New Edition About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 8 Three Letters addrefled to a Member of the pre/ent Parliament, on the Pro pofals for Peace with the Regicide Directory of France. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The Works and Correspondence of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 4 of 8: A New Edition The directors having drawn up their order to the presidency on these principles, communicated the draught of the general letter in which those orders were contained to the board of his majesty's ministers, and other servants lately constituted by Mr. Pitt's East India Act. These ministers, who had just carried through parlia ment the bill ordering a specific inquiry, immediately drew up another letter, on a principle directly opposite to that which was prescribed by the act of parliament, and followed by the directors. In these second orders, all idea of an inquiry into the justice and origin of the pretended debts, particularly of the last, the greatest, and the most obnoxious to suspicion, is abandoned. They are all admitted and established without any investigation whatsoever; except some private conference with the agents of the claimants is to pass for an investigation; and a fund for their discharge is assigned and set apart out of the revenues of the Carnatic. - To this arrangement in favour of their servants, servants suspected of corruption, and convicted of disobedience, the directors of the East India Company were ordered to set their hands, asserting it to arise from their own conviction and opinion, in flat contradiction to their recorded sentiments, their strong remonstrance, and their declared sense of their duty, as well under their general trust and their oath as directors, as under the express injunctions of an act of parliament. The principles upon which this summary proceeding was adopted by the ministerial board are stated by themselves in a number in the appendix to this speech. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 4 M Letter: addrm'ed to a M ember cf 25: pram Parli ament, on tbc Pnpamlrfor Peace mite tbe Regicide Di. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.