Archibald Philip Primrose Rosebery (1847–1929)

Charmingly jejeune. The author - already Earl of Rosebery - spent three months in North America in fall 1873, both in Canada and the USA, spending somewhat more of his sojourn south of the border due to an extended railway trip to Utah (he did not make it all the way out to California, but had several nights in Salt Lake City, meeting Brigham Young and learning about the interesting Mormons and their ways.)

Rosebery was a good traveller, and although he has few profound observations, it's interesting to note the range his interests. Judged from the amount of space he dedicated in his journal to the topics, at this point in his life Rosebery was most interested in horse racing, socializing and drinking with new friends, attending legislative sessions in Ottawa and Washington DC, and visiting prisons and mental hospitals.

At the end of his journey, Rosebery affirms his touching enthusiasm for the "American project" in words (from early 1874) that seem to speak to the condition of the USA in 2017. "It is easy to taunt and deride, to point to a small vulgarism here and a petty venality there, and to denounce the whole state as one stinking mass of corruption. The blotches exist indeed but they are the blemishes of the growing youth which are the virile promise of a coming beard and a splendid manhood. But after all let us reduce the whole subject of contention into a single issue and abide by it. Lay before the world the exact advantages offered by every state to its inhabitants, and where would they go? We know already, for all uncared for humanity flows there now and does not return - to the United Sates. By that single test it seems to me that the merits of the United States as a community are sufficiently tests, and overwhelmingly established."… (mehr)