Interestingly, Burke here suggests that those responsible for the French Revolution from the unusual perspective of its influence on foreign traffic.

The advocates for this Revolution, not satisfied with exaggerating the vices of their ancient government, strike at the fame of their country itself by painting almost all that could have attracted the attention of strangers, I mean their nobility and their clergy, as objects of horror. Burke, lest one need to be reminded, is one of the gods of political conservatism an ideology which consistently proves itself more than capable of telling other countries what they are doing wrong. In what might today be referred to as Anglo-splaining, Burke feels compelled to justify his criticism of the French Revolution by informing the people of France that they are more ill-suited to be the judge of what is actually taking place in their country than a foreigner by virtue of the fact that the foreigner is not as emotionally involved. In France, you are now in the crisis of a revolution and in the transit from one form of government to another - you cannot see that character of men exactly in the same situation in which we see it in this country. Writers in both genres felt the compunction to situate the reason for their compositions within the construct of reality and here Burke is providing context for his ambition and motivation to lay down a philosophical treatise on the internal politics of a foreign country. Prefatory material such as this was commonplace for both non-fictional as well as fictional works by British writers of the period which can create some confusion for modern readers. The opening line of the text provides the background by which Burke came to sit down and write his critical analysis of the effects of the French Revolution. This produced on his part a new and pressing application for the Author's sentiments. The reasons for the delay in sending it were assigned in a short letter to the same gentleman. It has been since forwarded to the person to whom it was addressed. That letter is alluded to in the beginning of the following sheets.

An answer was written some time in the month of October 1789, but it was kept back upon prudential considerations. It may not be unnecessary to inform the reader that the following Reflections had their origin in a correspondence between the Author and a very young gentleman at Paris, who did him the honor of desiring his opinion upon the important transactions which then, and ever since, have so much occupied the attention of all men. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.

Burke reflections