Quiz: Reflections on the Revolution in France

All 40 questions. A perfect score earns the gold medal; 80% earns silver.

1. 1. Whose report on the state of the army does Burke quote at length?

   The Marquis de La Fayette, of the National Guard The war minister, La Tour du Pin M. Necker M. de Calonne, from exile
2. 2. What image does Burke use for the English sympathisers with the French Revolution?

   Grasshoppers making the field ring while great cattle chew in silence Rats leaving the ship of state while the crew keeps quietly to its work Wolves in sheep’s clothing creeping into the fold while the shepherds sleep Flies buzzing round a sleeping lion that will one day shake them off
3. 3. Where does Burke say the principles of the Revolution of 1688 are to be found?

   In the sermons preached at the Old Jewry In the statute called the Declaration of Right In the resolutions of the Revolution Society of London In the writings of the French philosophers
4. 4. Into what does Burke say the paper system will metamorphose France?

   One great workshop of artisans One great play-table of gamesters One great barracks for the army One great monastery of monks
5. 5. Where did Dr. Richard Price preach the sermon of 4 November 1789 that Burke attacks?

   In St Paul’s Cathedral before the Lord Mayor At the Old Jewry Dissenting meeting-house In the king’s chapel at St James’s Palace At the London Tavern
6. 6. Which of these is not one of the three “cements” Burke says will hold the new republics together?

   The confiscation with its paper currency The supreme power of Paris The army The Catholic Church
7. 7. What institution does Burke say the Assembly forgot, which no projector of a republic had omitted before?

   A standing army A national bank A senate A supreme court
8. 8. What kind of partnership does Burke say the state is?

   A partnership between the living, the dead and those who are to be born A trading partnership that may be dissolved at the will of the parties A partnership among property owners for the protection of their estates A partnership between the king and the people alone
9. 9. Which example does Burke use to show that unequal representation does no harm in Britain?

   Wales has no members of its own at all Cornwall elects as many members as all Scotland Bristol elects more members than Ireland London elects fewer members than the county of Yorkshire
10. 10. What does Burke say Henry VIII did before confiscating the abbeys, unlike the National Assembly?

    He paid the monks and abbots the full value of their estates out of his own treasury He had a commission report their crimes and abuses and procured formal surrenders He let each parish vote on whether its abbey should be dissolved and its lands sold He sought and obtained the Pope’s consent to the suppression through his envoys in Rome
11. 11. What, according to Burke, should the true lawgiver be like?

    He should be a philosopher free of all prejudice He should consult only the strict principles of geometry and arithmetic He should have an undoubting confidence and act swiftly He should love and respect his kind, fear himself, and move slowly
12. 12. What stage spectacle does Burke say was used to turn Parisians against their clergy?

    A play on the St Bartholomew massacre showing the Cardinal of Lorraine ordering slaughter A tragedy about the murder of Henry IV, blaming the Jesuits for arming his assassin An opera about the Spanish Inquisition, showing monks burning heretics at an auto-da-fé A comedy mocking the Archbishop of Paris and the luxury of the higher clergy at court
13. 13. Which four establishments does Burke say the English are resolved to keep?

    A church, a monarchy, the Bank of England and the East India Company A monarchy, a parliament, the courts and the universities A church, a monarchy, an aristocracy and a democracy A church, a monarchy, an army and a navy
14. 14. How does Burke describe nobility?

    As the foundation stone on which the whole state rests As the sword arm of the monarchy As the Corinthian capital of polished society As the shield of the poor
15. 15. What qualification does Burke say a voter in the primary assemblies of the canton must have?

    Membership of a recognised guild Ownership of land worth at least a mark of silver a year Literacy and a year’s residence in the canton Direct taxes worth the local value of three days’ labour
16. 16. According to the Note to the Reader, when did Burke write his first answer to the young gentleman in Paris?

    January 1790 October 1789 November 1790 July 1789
17. 17. Which of these is not one of the three rights Price says the English acquired by the Revolution?

    To abolish the House of Lords To cashier them for misconduct To frame a government for ourselves To choose our own governors
18. 18. Whom does Burke recall seeing at Versailles sixteen or seventeen years before?

    The Marquis de Lafayette, then a young officer King Louis XV The Duc d’Orléans, then Duc de Chartres The queen of France, then the Dauphiness
19. 19. What does Burke predict will end the army’s state of faction?

    A restoration of the king’s full authority over his officers and troops The election of all officers by the soldiers of each regiment The disbanding of the army in favour of the National Guard of the communes A popular general who commands personal obedience and becomes master of all
20. 20. What, according to Burke, has succeeded the age of chivalry?

    The age of merchants, mariners and manufacturers The age of saints and martyrs The age of soldiers, conquerors and adventurers The age of sophisters, economists and calculators
21. 21. Why, according to Burke, is English bank paper of value?

    It bears a high rate of interest It is taken by choice and convertible into cash at pleasure It is secured on the lands of the Church of England It is legal tender, enforced by Act of Parliament and the courts
22. 22. On what three “bases” does Burke say the Assembly rests its system of representation?

    Clergy, nobility and commons Birth, landed property and liberal education Territory, population and contribution Provinces, parishes and trade guilds
23. 23. How does Burke rate John Law’s Mississippi scheme compared with the assignats?

    Law’s was worse because it was built entirely on foreign trade They were identical in principle and equally ruinous Law’s was a more generous delusion, aimed at commerce, without force Law’s succeeded where the assignats failed
24. 24. By how much, according to M. Vernier’s report cited by Burke, had the national revenue fallen?

    Two hundred million livres, more than a third Four hundred million livres, nearly two thirds Twenty million livres, about a tenth Half the whole revenue of the kingdom
25. 25. What is Burke’s “standard of a statesman”?

    Obedience to the will of the people Strict adherence to abstract principles A disposition to preserve and an ability to improve Boldness in pulling down old institutions and rebuilding
26. 26. What title, according to Burke, did “the proudest domination that ever was endured on earth” give itself?

    “The Defender of the Faith” “The Servant of Servants” “The Father of his People” “The First Citizen”
27. 27. What does Burke name as the fundamental excellence of the abolished parliaments?

    They were free of all faction They were independent They were elected They were cheap
28. 28. Why does Burke call a perfect democracy “the most shameless thing in the world”?

    Because blame is spread so thin that no individual feels disgrace for public acts Because its assemblies meet in public and parade their vices before the world Because democracies abolish religion and lose all fear of divine judgement Because the poor who rule in it have no reputation or property to lose by crimes
29. 29. Which two groups does Burke blame for the attack on Church property?

    The moneyed interest and the political men of letters The parlements of the provinces and the princes of the blood The Protestants and the Jansenists The peasants and the army
30. 30. According to Burke, what made up a very great proportion (perhaps a majority) of the Assembly’s members?

    Officers of the army Practitioners in the law Peasants and artisans Merchants and bankers of Paris
31. 31. What does Burke call “the most important of all revolutions”, dating it from 6 October 1789?

    A revolution in the ownership and tenure of land A revolution in the public finances and credit of the state A revolution in sentiments, manners and moral opinions A revolution in the art of war
32. 32. What does Burke say the French might have done with their old constitution?

    Turned it into an elective monarchy Repaired its walls and built on its old foundations Restored the absolute monarchy of Louis XIV Replaced it with a copy of the American constitution
33. 33. How, according to Burke, has the English Constitution from Magna Charta to the Declaration of Right claimed the nation’s liberties?

    As the spoils of a victory over the nobility As natural rights prior to and above all government As an entailed inheritance from our forefathers As grants revocable at the king’s pleasure
34. 34. Why does Burke say the English cherish their prejudices?

    Reason is useless in politics, and only blind custom can keep the multitude obedient to the law They were written into Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights, and so have the force of fundamental law Private reason is small; prejudice stores the wisdom of ages and makes virtue a habit The Church of England commands them, and a good Christian may not question what the Church teaches
35. 35. Which English agitator does Burke offer to exchange for the Archbishop of Paris?

    Joseph Priestley John Wilkes Lord George Gordon Thomas Paine
36. 36. What standard does Burke use first to judge whether the old French government was destructive?

    The size and growth of the population The number of executions The number and freedom of its newspapers The size of the army
37. 37. In Burke’s image of society as a partnership, what is the man with five shillings entitled to?

    A vote equal to that of the largest partner in the concern Nothing until he holds five hundred pounds His own five shillings’ share, not an equal dividend An equal share of the whole product of the joint stock
38. 38. According to Burke, what did Necker’s budget of May 1789 show?

    A surplus of revenue over expenses That the debt could be paid only by selling the crown lands and forests A deficit so large that only a declared bankruptcy could meet it A deficit of some 56 million livres that savings could cover
39. 39. Which two London clubs had given French proceedings what Burke calls a “solemn public seal of sanction”?

    The Jacobin Club and the Cordeliers The London Corresponding Society and the Royal Society The Constitutional Society and the Revolution Society The Whig Club and the Society of Friends
40. 40. What does Burke call “the first principle (the germ, as it were) of public affections”?

    To revere the king as father of his people To obey the general will of the nation To love the little platoon we belong to in society To seek the greatest happiness of the greatest number