4334. 1839–1846. Thomas Colley Grattan (1792–1864)

Grattan was an Irishman who resided on the Continent for over 20 years, during which he acquired some literary reputation and the favor of the King of the Belgians. The latter was at least in part responsible for his appointment as British Consul at Boston, where he resided from 1839–46. "Civilized America," it appears from the map in the first volume, consisted of the states of the eastern seaboard; the more westerly ones are divided into two degrees of rawness. The United States under its Constitution, Grattan thought, was "better adapted than any country on earth for securing the greatest amount of good to the greatest number of mankind," but far less so for the cultivation of the higher degrees of human excellence. In spite of his own considerable success as a public speaker, Grattan found life at Boston increasingly distasteful, and his topical chapters speedily turn into homilies on the deficiencies of American character and achievement. They reflect, however, an acquaintance both wide and intimate with the public life and public men of the 1840’s.

4335. Civilized America. London, Bradbury & Evans, 1859. 2 v. 2–2416 E166.G81