ABSTRACT
Edmund Burke is the subject of the opening section. He used all his political skills to oppose the French Revolution of 1779 as it turned into a bloody assize. He became an outspoken critic of the excesses of the revolution and mourned both the death of the queen and the passing of an era. As such, he has been seen as a champion of the counter Enlightenment and a forerunner of conservatism, despite his support for the Whig group associated with Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham who had supported the American Revolution as a welcome continuity with the 1688 Glorious Revolution.
