LOWELL,
JAMES RUSSELL

(February 22, 1819–August 12, 1891), was an American poet, editor and diplomat. He was the son of Charles Lowell, minister of the West Church in Boston. A graduate of Harvard Law School, James Russell Lowell wrote poetry and prose which received wide acclaim. His well-known works include: Fable For Critics, 1848; and Biglow Papers, 1848–67. He edited the Atlantic Monthly, 1857–61; and the North American Review, 1862–72.

He received honorary degrees from both Oxford and Cambridge, and became a professor at Harvard. Lowell was appointed by President Rutherford B. Hayes as U.S. Minister to Spain, 1877–80, and England, 1880–85, where he was immensely popular. James Russell Lowell was once asked by Francois Guizot (1787–1874), the French historian and diplomat, “How long will the American Republic endure?” Lowell replied:

As long as the ideas of the men who founded it continue dominant.2522

On November 20, 1885, in his International Copyright, James Russell Lowell stated:

In vain we call old notions fudge,

And bend our conscience to our dealing;

The Ten Commandments will not budge,

And stealing will continue stealing.2523

In volume II of his Literary Essays, 1810–90, James Russell Lowell wrote New England Two Centuries Ago:

Puritanism, believing itself quick with the seed of religious liberty, laid, without knowing it, the egg of democracy.2524