Before the _Reflections_ was published the predominant sentiment in England had been one of mixed astonishment and sympathy.

Pitt had expressed this common mood both in the House of Commons and in private.

It was impossible for England not to be amazed at the uprising of a nation whom they had been accustomed to think of as willing slaves, and it was impossible for her, when the scene did not happen to be the American colonies or Ireland, not to profess good wishes for the cause of emancipation all over the world.

Apart from the natural admiration of a free people for a neighbour struggling to be free, England saw no reason to lament a blow to a sovereign and a government who had interfered on the side of her insurgent colonies.

To this easy state of mind Burke's book put an immediate end.