CONTENTS Letter from the Right Hon. the Lord Auckland, to the Lord Letter to Sir Charles Bingham, bart. dated October 1773; Letter to the Honourable Charles James Fox, dated October 1777; on the American War Letter to the Marquis of Rockingham, dated January 1777; on a proposed Secession from Parliament of Members, who had opposed the American War p. 161. A proposed Address to the King, on the same subject p. 173. Address to the British Colonists in North America p. 199. Letter to the Right Honourable Edmund Perry, Speaker of the House of Commons of Ireland, dated July 1778; Letter to Thomas Burgh, Esq. dated New Year's Day 1780; in vindication of the Author's Parliamentary Conduct, relative to the Affairs of Ireland Letter to John Merlott, Esq. an eminent merchant of Bristol, dated April 1780; on the same subject as the Letters (to the Lord Chancellor, to the Earl Bathurst, and to Sir Grey Cooper) with Reflections on the Exe- cutions of the Rioters in 1780 Letter to the Right Honourable Henry Dundas, one of His Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, dated Easter Monday Night 1792; with the Sketch of a Letter to the Chairman of the Buckinghamshire Meeting, held 13th April 1780, at Aylesbury; on the Duration of Parliaments, and a more equal Representation of Tracts, relative to the Laws against Popery in Ireland, Letter to William Smith, Esq. dated January 1795, then Member of the Irish Parliament, now one of the Barons of the Court of Exchequer in Ireland, on the Second Letter to Sir Hercules Langrishe, dated May 1795, on the same Subject TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM ELLIOT. ME DEAR SIR, AS some prefatory account of the materials, which compose this Second✶ posthumous Volume of the Works of Mr. Burke, and of the causes, which have prevented its earlier appearance, will be expected from me, I hope I may be indulged in the inclination I feel to run over these matters in a Letter to you, rather than in a formal address to the Publick. Of the delay, that has intervened since the publication of the former volume, I shall, first, say a few words. Having undertaken, in conjunction with the late Dr. Lawrence, to examine the manuscript papers of Mr. Burke, and to select and prepare for the press such of them as should be thought proper for publication, the difficulties attending our co-operation were soon experienced by us. The remoteness of our places of residence in summer, and our professional and other avocations * IX. and X. Volumes of the present Edition. VOL. IX. b in in winter, opposed perpetual obstacles to the progress of our undertaking. Soon after the publication of the Fourth Volume I was rendered incapable of attending to any business by a severe and tedious illness. And it was not long after my recovery, before the health of our invaluable Friend began gradually to decline; and soon became unequal to the increasing labours of his profession, and the discharge of his parliamentary duties. At length we lost a Man, of whom, as I shall have occasion to speak more particularly in another part of this undertaking, I will now content myself with saying, that in my humble opinion he merited, and certainly obtained with those best acquainted with his extensive learning and information, a considerable rank amongst the eminent persons, who have adorned the age, in which we have lived, and of whose services the Publick have been deprived by a premature death. From these causes little progress had been made in our work, when I was deprived of my Coadjutor. But from that time you can testify of me, that I have not been idle. You can bear witness to the confused state, in which the materials, that compose the present volume, came into my hands. The The difficulty of reading many of the manuscripts, obscured by innumerable erasures, corrections, interlineations, and marginal insertions, would perhaps have been insuperable to any person less conversant in the manuscripts of Mr. Burke than myself. To this difficulty succeeded that of selecting from several detached papers, written upon the same subject, and the same topicks, such as appeared to contain the Author's last thoughts and emendations. When these difficulties were overcome, there still remained, in many instances, that of assigning its proper place to many detached members of the same piece, where no direct note of connexion had been made. These circumstances, whilst they will lead the Reader not to expect in the cases, to which they apply, the finished productions of Mr. Burke, imposed upon me a task of great delicacy and difficulty, namely, that of deciding upon the publication of any, and which of these unfinished pieces. I must here beg permission of you, and Lord Fitzwilliam, to inform the Publick, that in the execution of this part of my duty I requested and obtained your assistance. Our first care was to ascertain from such evidence, |