Abstract: The focus of The Ambassadors is on the natural affinity, as well as inevitable conflict, between the aesthetic and moral impulses within human nature. By transcending such conventional dichotomies as modernity vs. tradition, aesthetics vs. morality and, finally, America vs. Europe, James, in The Ambassadors, has projected his vision of an ideal form of cultural and social life in response to his profound diagnosis of the crisis of Man in the Age of Modernity. Against the background in which Edwardian Britain witnesses the decline of religion and the assertiveness of various forms of individual subjectivity, James's moral and ethical ideas made him a prominent member of the intellectuals of his time who sought to forge a new conscience for their countries and societies.

Key words: Henry James, The Ambassadors, aesthetics vs. morality, the conscience of the nation, cultural criticism, Europe vs. America