Unpublished Burke Letters (III), 1763-96

Abstract

Thirty‐four letters from Edmund Burke are here printed for the first time. An additional letter, nominally by Richard Burke, Jr. (1758–94), but in substance reporting Burke's own response to the criticisms of his Reflections on the Revolution in France made by the Abbé Maury (1746–1817), has also been included. They range from short business notes to carefully articulated position papers. Three are early (one each from 1763, 1765, and 1777); the others are dated between 1780 and 1796. Twenty‐four of the letters, ranging in date from 1765 to 1796, are to Alexander Wedderburn (1733–1805), created Lord Loughborough in 1780, and Lord Chancellor from 1793 to 1801. The other correspondents are: Sir James Harris (1746–1820; created Lord Malmesbury in 1788), three letters; the third Duke of Portland (1738–1809), and James Bland Burges (1752–1824), two each; and Sir Robert Wilmot (d. 1772), Duncan Campbell (1726–1803), Joseph Hill (c. 1720–1811), and John Baker Holroyd, Lord Sheffield (1735–1821), one each. These are the first letters from Burke to Harris, Wilmot, and Campbell to have been found. Earlier gatherings of unpublished Burke letters appeared ante, cxii. 119–41 and cxiv. 636–57.