PRINTED AT THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY form p5 [vii-16-25 1550] TH "HE Bulletin is published monthly by The New York Public Library at 476 Fifth Avenue, New York City. Subscription $1.00 a year, current single numbers 10 cents. Entered at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., as second-class matter, February 10, 1897, under Act of July 16, 1894. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized. Printed at The New York Public Library, 476 Fifth Avenue. July, 1925, Volume 29, Number 7. BULLETIN OF THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS VOLUME 29 JULY, 1925 NUMBER 7 W WHAT DID MACAULAY SAY ABOUT AMERICA? EXPLANATORY ELL, what did he say, and what difference does it make, more than half a century after his death, whether he approved or disapproved? Surely we have outgrown by this time the sensitiveness of the generation that resented everything from the pen of Dickens or Captain Marryatt or Mrs. Trollope unless every phase of our social or political life was lauded without reserve. Could our present-day opinion be more scornful of anything than what it labels mid-Victorian, and if Macaulay was not mid-Victorian what was he? Were Macaulay's judgments of our political institutions any more permanent than his judgments of Warren Hastings or Milton or Johnson or anything else he handled with such clearness and certainty? He surely could not speak with the first-hand information of Bryce, but such a defect would scarcely prevent his speaking with vigor and emphasis. Some such thoughts as these were suggested by a telegram from an out-oftown newspaper one hot morning last summer, asking where in Macaulay's works could be found his prophecy concerning America. No great amount of research was required to run down two letters from Macaulay to Henry S. Randall, dated May 23, 1857, and October 9, 1858, printed in "Gunton's Magazine" for September, 1896; and a telegram was soon on its way, inviting attention to them and adding that they were not included in the regular editions of his collected works. And here, for the benefit of those who wish summaries and conclusions, who want the kernel set down plainly at the start and thus secure respite from further reading, let it be said that there are two other letters besides those just mentioned, all four written to Randall between 1857 and 1859; that [ 459 ] GEORGE F. Baker, Jr. CLEVELAND H. DODGE SAMUEL GREENBAUM EDWARD S. HARKNESS PATRICK J. HAYES ARTHUR CURTISS JAMES GRENVILLE KANE LEWIS CASS LEDYARD FRANK L. POLK EDWARD W. SHELDON JOHN F. HYLAN, Mayor of the City of New York, ex officio CHARLES L. CRAIG, Comptroller of the City of New York, ex officio WILLIAM T. COLLINS, Acting President of the Board of Aldermen, ex officio OFFICERS President, LEWIS CASS LEDYARD, 476 Fifth Avenue. First Vice-President, ELIHU Root. Second Vice-President, CLEVELAND H. DODGE. Secretary, FRANK L. POLK. Treasurer, EDWARD W. SHELDON, 45 Wall Street. Assistant Treasurer, UNITED STATES TRUST COMPANY, 45 Wall Street. Director, EDWIN H. ANDERSON, 476 Fifth Avenue. Chief Reference Librarian, H. M. LYDENBERG, 476 Fifth Avenue. Chief of the Circulation Department, FRANKLIN F. HOPPER, 476 Fifth Avenue. BUILDINGS AND BRANCHES CENTRAL BUILDING, 476 Fifth Avenue, contains general administrative offices of the whole 103 West 135th Street. 503 West 145th Street. (Hamilton Grange.) 1000 St. Nicholas Avenue. Cor. 160th Street. (Washington Heights.) 535 West 179th Street. (Fort Washington.) 190 Sherman Ave. (Inwood Sub-branch.) THE BRONX 321 East 140th Street. (Mott Haven.) 761 East 160th Street. (Woodstock.) 910 Morris Avenue. Corner 162nd Street. (Melrose.) 78 West 168th Street. (High Bridge.) 610 East 169th Street. (Morrisania.) 1866 Washington Avenue. Cor. 176th Street. (Tremont.) 1741 Wallace Ave. (Van Nest Sub-branch.) 2556 Bainbridge Avenue. (Fordham.) 3041 Kingsbridge Avenue. Near 230th Street. (Kingsbridge.) 3917 White Plains Road. Cor. 219th Street. (Williamsbridge Sub-branch.) 325 City Island Avenue. (City Island Subbranch.) RICHMOND 5 Central Avenue, Tompkinsville, P. O. (St. George.) 75 Bennett Street. (Port Richmond.) 85 State Street. (West New Brighton Sub-branch.) 132 Canal Street. 7430 Amboy Road. F 456 1 (Stapleton.) (Tottenville.) |