ABSTRACT
Edmund Burke's attack on the English government's failure in Irish affairs to distinguish between its power and moral right, implies his belief in the Natural Law. To appreciate fully Burke's appeals to the Natural Law in Irish, American, domestic, and Indian affairs, it is necessary to understand the historical conditions and immediate circumstances which called forth his pleas, and to examine the manner in which Burke sought to establish the principles of Natural Law through practical political action. He made direct use of Montesquieu's L'esprit des lois and Vattel's Le droit des gens; from the first he learned the historical method of treating ideas, while the second was his most frequently quoted modern authority on the law of nations In over a century and a half the Reflections has been used extensively in dealing with the French Revolution, and it remains as great a source of political wisdom as when it first appeared.
