Washington Irving and the Knickerbocker Group



Irving and the Knickerbocker Group 189
promise sectional dissensions. He made no comment on the
Kansas-Nebraska Bill, the Fugitive Slave Law, the emer-
gence of Lincoln, the controversies between Calhoun and
Jackson, the activities of Garrison, John Brown and other
firebrands of the tumultuous times. He was similarly de-
tached from the social problems of the period, such as the
enfranchisement of women and the temperance agitation.
He was a notable figure in civic celebrations : the laying of
the Atlantic cable, as in earlier days he had been prominent
in founding the Astor library and at a functional dinner to
Charles Dickens.

He was an old man when the furious political turmoils
were approaching a climax and it was not in his nature to
reverse the habit of a lifetime which had been to labor in his
bland way to promote that which unites people rather than
that which divides. As diplomat he performed important
duties, among them a share in the amicable settlement of the
Oregon boundary dispute. But his outstanding service had
been that of ambassador of good will from his own country
to Europe. In saying which I have been anticipated by
Thackeray (a famous old American scholar used to say
that Aristotle had anticipated him in his conclusions) ;
Thackeray called Irving “the first ambassador from the
new world of letters to the old.” In their final meeting
Queen Isabella of Spain said, “you may take with you into
private life the intimate conviction that your frank and
loyal conduct has contributed to draw closer the amicable
relations which exist between North America and the Spanish
nation.” He had worked for a better understanding between
this country and Great Britain, to a lesser degree between
this country and Germany, between this country and France.
International rancors were mollified by the presence of
Washington Irving.



More intriguing information

1. FUTURE TRADE RESEARCH AREAS THAT MATTER TO DEVELOPING COUNTRY POLICYMAKERS
2. From Aurora Borealis to Carpathians. Searching the Road to Regional and Rural Development
3. The name is absent
4. The name is absent
5. Visual Artists Between Cultural Demand and Economic Subsistence. Empirical Findings From Berlin.
6. Who’s afraid of critical race theory in education? a reply to Mike Cole’s ‘The color-line and the class struggle’
7. The Veblen-Gerschenkron Effect of FDI in Mezzogiorno and East Germany
8. The Modified- Classroom ObservationScheduletoMeasureIntenticnaCommunication( M-COSMIC): EvaluationofReliabilityandValidity
9. Word searches: on the use of verbal and non-verbal resources during classroom talk
10. The name is absent
11. Business Cycle Dynamics of a New Keynesian Overlapping Generations Model with Progressive Income Taxation
12. Why unwinding preferences is not the same as liberalisation: the case of sugar
13. I nnovative Surgical Technique in the Management of Vallecular Cyst
14. The name is absent
15. Gender stereotyping and wage discrimination among Italian graduates
16. The name is absent
17. The problem of anglophone squint
18. RETAIL SALES: DO THEY MEAN REDUCED EXPENDITURES? GERMAN GROCERY EVIDENCE
19. EXECUTIVE SUMMARIES
20. Testing Hypotheses in an I(2) Model with Applications to the Persistent Long Swings in the Dmk/$ Rate