bearings and merits of the subject. His task was no sinecure; he had to peruse and arrange a vast mass of controversial correspondence laid before the British Parliament and the American Congress. We believe that in this matter the labours of Grattan were of no small value to our own Government. He condensed the quantity of matter thus accumulated in the shape of notes, extracts, commentaries, pamphlets, reports, and newspaper articles, and reduced them to limits sufficiently compact to be readable; and these he communicated to Lord Ashburton, when that nobleman arrived in the United States as Minister Plenipotentiary, in the year 1842, for the purpose of settling the boundary question, and others of minor importance. Matters had at this time reached a very critical position between the two countries, and each considered that a war was not unlikely to take place. And, indeed, had the slightest collision arisen upon the frontiers, the consequences would, in all human probability, have been very serious, inasmuch as the whole population of the United States, exasperated by what they considered the unjustifiable pretensions of the English nation, were ready to pour into Canada and the British possessions en masse. It was, then, at this juncture that negotiations were opened at Washington between Lord Ashburton and the American Cabinet, at the head of which was Daniel Websterthe President at that period being John Tyler. Seven commissioners were appointed by the two states of Massachusets and Maine, whose joint interests in the disputed territory" entitled them to take part in the negotiation. Unanimity on all points was required amongst the commissioners, the consequence of which was, that any one had it in his power to render abortive the views of all the others. It was, therefore, a matter of the utmost importance to the successful issue of the negotiations, to keep in harmony men whose political views and interests were often in opposition the one to the other. Mr. Grattan was well known to all the commissioners; and it was no slight mark of their confidence and respect, that they proposed to him, the official employé of the antagonist nation, to accompany them to Washington, and assist in the negotiation. Grattan did not hesitate in acceding to the proposal, as he deemed that his presence and aid might be useful to his own state. Accordingly, having dispatched a communication to the chief of his department in England, he set out for Washington with his Yankee friends, and in due time presented them and himself to the British peer. The negotiations were now formally opened between the two nations, Mr. Grattan assisting in his non-official and subordinate character. We are not about to enter upon the details of this question, which is now settled for ever. We may, however, observe, before dismissing the matter, that the treaty then concluded between the two nations conceded to the Americans a larger territory than they were justly entitled to. Of this opinion we believe was Grattan, although England was at the time unable to adduce positive proof of her rights to a more favourable boundary line. Besides, the Government at home were desirous to make great sacrifices, rather than engage in war with a nation, which, on their part, believing that they demanded no more than their rights, would not be likely to accept less. Under these circumstances, the line was fixed; the treaty was ratified, and all parties were as well satisfied as the parties to partitions, whether they be by suits or treaties, usually are. Each Power claimed credit for having sacrificed large tracts of territory to the other, in order to insure peace and friendly relations, by striking a medium line. One thing, however, might be predicated by a by-stander who looked on at the dispute without having any bias of interest: and that was, that the assertion of one nation or the other must have been incorrect; both could not have been losers in actual territory. However, matters were scarcely concluded, when it came to the knowledge of Grattan, that while Lord Ashburton and Webster were apparently playing the diplomatic game cartes sur table, the American chief was well aware of the existence of certain evidence, that the claims of England to a more extended boundary were just, while those of America were untenable. What this evidence was, we shall endeavour to state very briefly, Those who took any interest in the question, will remember that it was amply discussed in both countries, both in and out of their respective legis blies. On the one hand, while the English insisted on the concl evidence, the Americans, on the other, even admitting the e evidence, denied that it established the rights of Great Britain

It appears that Mr. Jared Sparkes, when in Paris in the year 1841, discovered in the archives of the Bureau des Affaires Etrangers there a map, on which Dr. Franklin, one of the commissioners for concluding the treaty of 1783, had drawn a red line, tracing, for the information of the Count de Vergennes, the minister of Louis XVI., as appears by his letter to that nobleman, the true line of boundary, "as settled in the preliminaries between the British and American plenipotentiaries." Mr. Sparkes had forwarded this map, with others, to Mr. Webster previous to the negotiations with Lord Ashburton in 1842; and it was a matter of some justifiable pride to Grattan to discover, when the existence of this document became notorious, that it proved almost identical with the boundary for which he had argued upon very strong grounds of probability, and which England had at first contended for. Mr. Grattan lost no time in communicating to his own Government at home the fact of these discoveries. It may readily be supposed that the intelligence created not a little surprise in the Foreign-Office, and there was much speculation as to the consequences upon the validity of the treaty. However, the Peace principles were in the ascendant, and we are disposed to think happily so at the time. Sir Robert Peel, then at the head of the Government, accommodated matters in a speech in the House, and the treaty has ever since remained undisturbed, though certainly not unassailed by a distinguished statesman now a member of her Majesty's Government. For ourselves, we rejoice that the question was settled by Lord Ashburton with the promptness which distinguished that negotiation, even though the terms of that settlement were not all that England was entitled to all that she might have insisted upon, were the facts known to Lord Ashburton at the time which subsequently came to light. Still, under all the circumstances of the case, the settlement was a good one for Britain, and has insured for both countries the prospect of the continuance of those amicable relations which it is so much the interest of each to cherish and maintain.

We are quite sure the subject of our present memoir entertained sentiments similar to those which we have just expressed. Indeed, in an able pamphlet, printed and privately circulated by him about this time, in which the arguments previously urged by him are thrown into a very condensed and intelligible form, he has taken occasion, while demonstrating the soundness of his original views, to deprecate any attempt at disturbing the treaty. The arguments are certainly very cogent, and they did not fail to be appreciated. The great literary authority in America, the North American Review, admitted Mr. Grattan's pamphlet to contain the best argument on the English side of the question; and we believe that some of the Americans confessed that Grattan's reasoning had convinced them that the English claim was just.

As we have already stated, literature has for some time ceased to be the profession of Grattan. Nevertheless, during the intervals of his official duties he occasionally employed his pen and his voice to promote the interests and to elevate the position of his countrymen in the states of America. He spoke repeatedly in their favour on public occasions, always with the object of upholding their social rights, and exhibiting to the Americans the better points of their character. In the North American Review he wrote as opportunity afforded, with the same purpose. In one of his articles in that periodical, he thus eloquently described the feelings of the Irish emigrant :

"It is, in fact, unquestionable that the Irishman looks upon America as the refuge of his race, the home of his kindred, the heritage of his children and their children. The Atlantic is, to his mind, less a barrier of separation between land and land, than is St. George's Chaunel. The shores of England are farther off, in his heart's geography, than those of New York or Massachusets. Degrees of latitude are not taken into account in the measurements of his enthusiasm. Ireland-old as she is, and fond as he is of calling her so-seems to him but a part and parcel of that great continent which it sounds, to his notions, unnatural to designate as the new world. He has no feeling towards America but that of love and loyalty. To live on her soil, to work for the public good, and die in the country's service, are genuine aspirations of the son of Erin, when he quits the place of his birth for that of his adoption.

"The Boundary Question Revised, and Dr. Franklin's Red Line shown to be the right one. By a British Subject. New York. 1843."

No nice distinctions of nationality, no cold calculation of forms, enter into his mind. Exile and alien are words which convey no distinct meaning to him. He only feels that he belongs to the country where he earns his bread. His birthright has hitherto been but a birthright of suffering. The instinct of naturalisation is within his soul; and he cannot conceive that the ocean which he is crossing should be more powerful to deprive him of, than his own heart-yearnings are to secure to him, all the rights and privileges which that instinct seems to claim.

"His first foot-print on the soil of the New World, is to him a virtual seal placed on the bond of his fidelity. The first breath of air he inhales is a cordial to his heart, for he knows it is the air of freedom. He looks round in the consciousness of new-born dignity. He never before felt himself really a man; for the blight of petty proscription had, ever until now, hung over and around him. He never before knew the obligations of the word alleigance; for a host of small impediments stood between him and the object to which he owed it. Now he comprehends and acknowledges it. He feels himself to be identified with that to which his fealty is due. He considers himself an integral portion of the State. He is at once, in heart and soul, if not in form, a citizen."

And then touchingly appeals to the generosity and good sense of Ameri

cans:

"And may it not here be asked, Is the man who thus comes into the country-a part of it by impulse, a patriot ready made-a fit object of doubt and odium? and might it not be more generous, just, and politic to meet half way his ingenuous views, to stretch out to him the hand of brotherhood, to join in the bond of fellowship which his heart has already ratified? Might not a fairer estimate of his character than that which generally prevails, and a higher trust in human nature itself, combine, and safely too, so as at once to invest him with the title he aspires to, and the rights which it confers, thus making him in reality what he be lieves himself to be, and giving him the best of all inducements to learn and uphold the real interests of the country he would thus belong to, and removing the dangerous chance of his being misled and imposed on by the temptations which induce the emigrant, while an alien, to give to a faction an adherence which is due to the commonwealth ?"

One of Grattan's favourite schemes, in relation to his countrymen, was the establishment of an emigration society in Boston; and after many years he had the satisfaction of witnessing the realisation of his wishes, in the formation of a society of that description, established with the concurrent support of the authorities of the city and the state of Massachusets, and joined by large numbers of the citizens of Boston, of every religious persuasion and of all political parties. Upon the return of Grattan to Europe a few years since, he was permitted, in consideration of his services, to resign his consulship in favour of his eldest son, Mr. Edmond Grattan - a post which several years of diplomatic training under his father as vice-consul fitted him to fill with credit; and he still continues to keep the name of Grattan alive amongst the affections and regard of the worthy Bostonians.

-as ever.

And now Thomas Colley Grattan is once more a free man-free as he was in the days of boyhood, when, gun in hand, he walked the moors and hills of his native Ireland. What is he going to do?-why doesn't he do something? He has been enlarging his former experience by constant travel since he left America. He is ever improving his mind by books and by men. He is as sprightly, as imaginative, as genial - we had almost said as young Let him, then, do something for the literature of the day for the literature of Ireland above all. True it is that since he originally engrossed so much of public favour new men have arisen, a new school has been formed. But what of that?-the taste for old things, provided they be good, has not passed away; the success with which reprints of his own tales have met with may prove that to his satisfaction. But even were it otherwise, he has enough of original genius to cut out for himself a new path, and to achieve a new fame. Let him once more take up his pen, and we dare be sworn many a friendly critic will welcome him back amongst the brotherhood of letters.

VOL. XLII.-NO. CCLII.

2 Y

A SECOND FLIGHT; OR, A VISIT TO
BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE FALCON FAMILY," ETC.

Ecce iterum Diabolus! He made his
appearance laughing prodigiously, that
you could hear him from Cancer to
Capricorn, though you were as deaf,
sir, as those who don't choose to hear
a degree of the malady beyond the
doctors.