Write on Burke's oratory with reference to his "Speech on Conciliation with America”

Question: "Burke's "Speech on Conciliation with America" is a fine specimen of oratory. Substantiate.

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Write on Burke's oratory with reference to his "Speech on Conciliation with America”

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Estimate Edmund Burke as an orator.

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Write a note on Burke's art and power as an orator.

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Point out the chief characteristics of Burke's oratorical method.

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Characterize Burke as an orator indicating briefly his oratorical method, and illustrating from his "Speech on Conciliation with America."

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Perhaps the greatest speech Burke ever made was that on "Conciliation with America." Give reasons for your answer.

Answer: "Burke is unquestionably the first orator among the Commons of England, boundless in knowledge, instantaneous in his apprehensions, and abundant in his language."

The critic does not praise blindly. In the 18th Century, Burke became immediately recognized as an extraordinary orator and represented the finest of the oratorical qualities of the English Language. By his high standard of debate and eloquence, he becomes a distinguished figure in England's long tradition of parliamentary speeches.

Burke's "Speech on Conciliation with America" has been acknowledged by historians and critics as a hallmark in the tradition of Western oratory. They applaud the speech for its wealth of imagery, political insight, and humanity. It has been widely appreciated throughout the world for its aesthetic qualities. In fact, the speech is a formal piece of oration with classical rhetoric, which was delivered in the House of Commons. The speech is not an arbitrary one produced impromptu; it is not created at the spur of- the moment rather it is well-structured and carefully thought-out.

In the "Speech on Conciliation with America," Burke is speaking in the vein of Cicero, the great classical orator. He begins with the exordium, the first part of a classical oration, where the speaker introduces his main theme. In the introductory part of his speech, he makes his motto clear to the audience. He unequivocally states that he is in pursuit of peace:

“The proposition is peace. Not peace through the medium of war; not peace to be hunted through the labyrinth of intricate and endless negotiations; not peace to arise out of universal discord fomented, from principle, in all parts of the Empire, not peace to depend on the juridical determination of perplexing questions, or the precise marking the shadowy boundaries of a complex government. It is simple peace; sought in its natural course, and in its ordinary haunts. It is peace sought in the spirit of peace and laid in principles purely pacific. I propose, by removing the ground of the difference, and by restoring the former unsuspecting confidence of the Colonies in the Mother Country, to give permanent satisfaction to your people; and (far from a scheme of a ruling by discord) to reconcile them to each other in the same act and by the bond of the very same interest which reconciles them to the British government."

As an orator, Burke always moves with a plan. He carefully constructs his speeches strictly according to classical principles. The plan and design are architectural. Brick by brick, the entire structure is raised on the solid foundation of accepted facts: each part of the argument is nicely balanced and adjusted with the others. The orderliness of the argument is perfect; a pleasant almost playful introduction leads us to a clear enunciation of the central proposition. The argument for and against it are elaborately laid out against each other. These lead to a discussion of alternative proposals, which are first stated, and then systematically refuted. Then on the solid foundations already laid, Burke builds the superstructure of his own constructive plan. The whole scheme is crowned with a noble appeal that at once lifts the arguments to a superior level. It is the careful design and architectural pattern of "Speech on Conciliation with America" which makes it one of the finest specimens in the tradition of British parliamentary speeches.

The first and foremost quality of an oration is the orator's supreme command over his subject. Burke was probably second to none in his time in his knowledge of America. In delivering his speech, Burke makes a powerful display of his scholarship and impresses the House considerably. He tried to overwhelm the audience and his opposition by giving countless facts, data, and figures of American colonies in powerful and eloquent language. In American colonies, their population, the fast flourishing trade, his "Speech" Burke devotes a significant portion delineating agriculture and fisheries, and, importantly, the nature and spirit of the people. In the speech, Burke shows supreme command over his subject and he exploits his knowledge to achieve desired effects.

Poetry is the life, the moving force of Burke's speech. In fact, he is a poet in prose. Hazlitt says -

“Burke's eloquence was that of the poet, of the man of high an unbounded fancy; his wisdom was profound and contemplative."

In his mingling of fact and fancy, philosophy, statistics, and his brilliant flights of the imagination to a degree never seen in English literature, Burke belongs to the new romantic school, while in style he is a model for the formal classicists. His metaphors are brilliant; his epigrams and antitheses are polished and pointed; the illustrations are full of pleasing and fanciful imagery. It is said that no writer of prose can be so opulent in imagery or lavish in color, as Burke is. The description of how the surplus agricultural produces of colonies support England is brilliant and emotionally appealing:

"The scarcity which you have felt would have been a desolating famine, if this child of your old age, with a true filial piety, with a Roman charity, had not put the full breast of its youthful exuberance to the mouth of its exhausted parent."

Burke possessed the gorgeous splendor of Romantic imagination and in his speech, there is a fusion of classical and imaginative, intelligence and emotion.

Burke the artist, and the rhetorician, always assails Burke the politician. Even though there are marks of political sagacity in the speeches that Burke made, as an orator, he is more remarkable for the artistic resourcefulness and brilliance that run through his speeches. The greatness of his oration lies in its worth as literature and in his unique capacity to rise above the immediate contest. Besides, the "Speech" is full of literary and historical allusions.

As an orator, Burke adorns his speeches with rhetorical devices. The decoration of his speeches in a manner peculiarly of his own renders them infatuating qualities. In the "Speech on Conciliation with America,” he manipulates all the powerful rhetorical tricks of rhythm, alliteration, assonance, consonance, repetition, and so on. The lines in which Burke explicitly states his motto of deliberation are mostly rhythmic-

"It is simple peace; sought in its natural course, and in its ordinary haunts. It is peace sought in the spirit of peace, and laid in principles purely pacific." 

The word 'peace' is emphasized and repeated. The alliteration of ‘p' sound makes the passages melodious and it helps attract the attention of the audience.

When Burke speaks of America's whale industry, he becomes eloquent and reveals the panoramic beauty of the polar regions:

"Whilst we follow them among the tumbling mountains of ice, and behold them penetrating into the deepest frozen recesses of Hudson's Bay and Davis's Straits, whilst we are In looking for them beneath the arctic circle, we hear that they have pierced into the opposite region of polar cold, that they are at the antipodes, and engaged under the frozen Serpent of the south."

The description, apart from its meaning, gives the audience physical delight.

With all these qualities Burke appears to be the greatest parliamentary orator in English. His "Speech on Conciliation with America" is regarded as a unique achievement. Here poetic imagination has been harmoniously blended with political foresight; emotion has been subjected to rational analysis and poignant eloquence has been controlled by constant references to facts. Of course, one may argue his "Speech" failed; his resolutions of conciliation were eventually rejected, but that is an altogether different question. The politician Burke may fail, but the artist Burke still lives We read Burke even today because he is a great orator; he made his "Speeches" great literature, which owns permanent appeal. Lord Macaulay rightly observes:

"There was Burke, ignorant indeed or negligent of the art of adapting his style and argument to the taste and capacity of his hearers but in amplitude of comprehension and richness of imagination, superior to all orators ancient or modern."