EDMUND BURKE, a politician whose political philosophy was
the product of his day-to-day political activities, wrote and spoke
always with an eye to particular problems. It was left to the
student to build up a coherent philosophy out of a variety of
utterances in a way that Burke himself did not. Nowadays
builders of Burkes philosophical system tend to emphasize the
unity and consistency of his thought. As regards his fundamental
moral basis they are probably right. ¹ But since his writings were
closely related to changing situations, since his attitude to
various controversial questions crossed the usual party lines of
his day, and since he was of an excitable nature, large variations
and even inconsistencies appear in his statements.

Burke was too clever to be caught out frequently contra-
dicting himself. His changes of mind appeared in shifts of
emphasis, and his inconsistencies in varying the meaning of
words. For instance, while Burke was undoubtedly, throughout
his political life, the champion of aristocratic government, his
attitude towards the relation between government and 'people'
changed considerably. In 1780 he told the House of Commons
that he had not followed the sense of the people, but had met it
on the way while pursuing their interest according to his own

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