Home

Correspondence of Adam Smith, ed. E. C. Mossner and I. S. Ross, vol. VI of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1987).

Part of: The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, 7 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.

Copyright information:

The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith and the associated volumes are published in hardcover by Oxford University Press. The six titles of the Glasgow Edition, but not the associated volumes, are being published in softcover by Liberty Fund. The online edition is published by Liberty Fund under license from Oxford University Press.

©Oxford University Press 1976. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be stored transmitted retransmitted lent or reproduced in any form or medium without the permission of Oxford University Press.

Fair use statement:

This material is put online to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. Unless otherwise stated in the Copyright Information section above, this material may be used freely for educational and academic purposes. It may not be used in any way for profit.

216.

To EDMUND BURKE

Address: The Honble Edmund Burke Esqr., Pay Office1

MS., Sheffield City Librs.; Burke Corr. v.3.

London, Monday 1 July 1782

My dear friend

I cannot avoid writing you a few lines to tell you how deeply I feel your affliction.2 I hope and trust that you will exert your usual firmness and that your friends and you will immediately plight unalterable faith to one another, and with unanimous consent chuse a leader whose virtues may command the same confidence with that which you all had in the worthy man whom it has pleased God to take from you.3 When I first heard of the misfortune my first movement was to run to your house; but I restrained myself for fear of disturbing your sorrow. I am ever yours

Adam Smith

[1 ]As Paymaster General, Burke had an office in Whitehall which he vacated on 17 July after resigning (Burke Corr. v. 18–19, 21).

[2 ]The Prime Minister, 2nd Marquis of Rockingham, died at noon on 1 July. He was head of the Administration that succeeded North’s, in March 1782, with a view to concluding peace with the Americans.

[3 ]Smith no doubt hoped Burke would rally Rockingham’s followers, e.g. Charles James Fox and Lord John Cavendish, to the side of Shelburne, then Secretary of State for Home Affairs. Shelburne did become Prime Minister, but Burke saw this as ‘a sore, a very sore tryal’ (Burke Corr. v. 20). Such was the suspicion of Shelburne that Burke, Fox, and Cavendish all resigned office.

Home

The Forum

Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

The Library

Return to Title Page for Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence Vol. 6 Correspondence of Adam Smith

The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

216.: To EDMUND BURKE - Adam Smith, Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence Vol. 6 Correspondence of Adam Smith [1740]