ABSTRACT
In 1896, in his essay, "The Interpreter of English Liberty", Woodrow Wilson praised Edmund Burke's political principles, and noted that they "have emerged from the mass of political writings in their time with their freshness untouched, their significance unobscured, and their splendid vigor unabated". What is Burke's perennial appeal as a political writer? In response to this question in this chapter, the author describes three basic ingredients in his thought and expression that may explain his enduring significance. The significance involves his conception of society and appeal to history, his basic political principles and methods in practical politics, and his literary genius and supreme mastery of English prose. Burke believed that legislators learned from historical experience because "history is a preceptor of prudence, not of principles". He considered prudence to be "in all things a virtue, in politics the first of virtues". For Burke, political philosophy provided the basic principles of politics, such as Natural Law.
