‘No meagre doctrine of non-interference’: The Posthumous Career of Edmund Burke’s Economic Thought in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Britain

As a historian of Edmund Burke’s afterlife, and the ways in which his thought has been interpreted, adapted, and adulterated, I find the question raised by Collins’s illuminating study of Burke’s economic thought to be a relatively simple one—what took Burke scholars so long to treat his economic thinking in such a way? For me this is a question of not simply what Burke did, said, and wrote, but which aspects of his life and works were deemed most useful and representative for understanding both the ‘essence’ of his thought, as well as what aspects were prioritised in promoting Burke’s original contributions to the history of thought. This essay will therefore address the ways in which Burke’s economic thought was interpreted and positioned in the century follow his death in Britain. These were formative years in the development and canonisation of Burke’s thought and his status as an original and important political thinker, which also led to the invention of his now canonical position as the so-called ‘founder of modern conservatism’ prevalent around the world today. We need to look at two distinct
though related aspects of discussion of Burke’s economic thought in the years following his death in 1797 in Britain. The first aspect concerns representative accounts from the early nineteenth century and how these developed over time. The second considers the reasons for the relative elision of Burke’s economic thought as compared to his constitutional, political or imperial thought.