‘The brightness of eyes and quiet assurance which seem to say American’: Alfred Deakin's Identification with Republican Manhood

Abstract

In 1885 the young Alfred Deakin made a pilgrimage to the grave of Ralph Waldo Emerson in Concord, and undertook a tour of the battlefields of the American War of Independence in and around Boston. Three years later, Deakin began a long and passionate friendship with Harvard philosopher Josiah Royce, who would, in 1908, send a copy of his new book The Philosophy of Loyalty to Deakin, now Prime Minister, in advance of the arrival of the US naval fleet in Melbourne that year. Theodore Roosevelt had decided to detour the fleet to Australia at the special invitation of Deakin, who greeted Admiral Sperry and his men by quoting Royce to invoke the two countries’ special affinity and fraternal kinship. Previous biographical and historical studies of Deakin have largely ignored his passionate identifications with American manhood and what might be called his republican desire. This article explores the possible meanings of these relationships in the context of Deakin's profound ambivalence towards the British connection and his continuing conflict with the Colonial Office.