What springs to mind when thinking of this political and philosophical giant of the late 18th century? I’d imagine many others, like myself, would associate him with English politics, Conserativism and, above all, his opposition to revolutionary events in Paris in 1789. However Richard English’s recent book “Irish Freedom” casts a fascinating look at the great man’s relationship with the island of his birth, something often neglected and worth a mention here.
Burke was born in Dublin and educated at the Protestant only Dublin Trinity College. Nothing unusual in this you might think, his political views regarding the French revolution show him to be very much pro-estasblishment, as the Protestants in 18th century Ireland undoubtedly were. Yet Burke was actually born of a Catholic mother, and this perhaps explains why he was more sympathetic to their advancement than many of his contemporaries. Not because he was an ardent Irish nationalist as some later Republican groups would have us believe, but because he felt the dissaffection of the Catholic majority in Ireland might inevitably lead to the same revolutionary tendancies occurring on the Emerald Isle that he had been so critical of in France. Whilst he was sympathetic to the plight of his countrymen, and eager that greater Catholic emancipation occur, it was largely with England’s interests in mind. An unstable, revolutionary Ireland might spread to the British mainland or, just as bad, provide a gateway for France to exploit in her war with Britain. The latter proved prophetic, the French revolutionaries supporting a (failed) uprising in Ireland in the later 1790s.
Thus Richard English’s argument is that it is folly to claim Burke as being an Irish nationalist. Quite the opposite infact. He believed an all-encompassing British empire best served Ireland’s interests. Breaking up the Union would be a terrible idea, thought Burke. The irony here, then, is that his thinking can be of as much use in advancing Ulster Unionist arguements as the Irish nationalists who have claimed Burke as their own.
Evil-Scotsman
