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AS MINISTER TO RUSSIA--1892-1894 + +Appointment by President Harrison. My stay in +London Lord Rothschild; his view of Russian treatment of the +Jews. Sir Julian Goldschmidt; impression made by him. Paris; the +Vicomte de Vogue; funeral of Renan; the Duke de la Rochefoucauld. +Our Minister, William Walter Phelps, and others at Berlin; talk +with Count Shuvaloff. Arrival in St. Petersburg. Deadening +influences: paralysis of energy as seen on the railways; little +apparent change in externals since my former visit; change +wrought by emancipation of the serfs. Improvement in the +surroundings of the Emperor. Visit to the Foreign Office. +Presentation to Alexander III; his view of the Behring Sea +Question; his acquiescence in the American view; his allusion to +the Chicago Exposition. My conversation with the Archbishop of +Warsaw. Conversation with the Empress; her reference to the Rev. +Dr. Talmage. Impression made upon me by the Emperor. My +presentation to the heir to the Throne, now the Emperor Nicholas +II; his evident limitations; main cause of these. Presentation to +sundry Grand Dukes. A reminiscence of the Grand Duke Michael. The +Grand Dukes Vladimir and Alexis. The diplomatic corps. General +von Schweinitz. Sir Robert Morier; his victory over the United +States at the Paris Arbitration Tribunal; its causes; its +lessons. + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. INTERCOURSE WITH RUSSIAN STATESMEN--1892-1894 + +Last days of Sir Robert Morier at St. Petersburg; his last +appearance at Court. Count de Montebello. Husny Pasha. +Marochetti. Count Wolkenstein. Van Stoetwegen and his views +regarding peace in Europe. Pasitch, the Servian Minister; his two +condemnations to death. Contrast between the Chinese and Japanese +representatives. Character of Russian statesmen; their good +qualities; their main defects. Rarity of first-class men among +them; illustrations of this view from The Hague peace programme +and from Russian dealings with Finland and with the Baltic +Provinces. M. de Giers; his love of peace; strong impression made +by him on me. Weakness and worse of Russia in the Behring Sea +matter. Finance Minister De Witte; his strength; his early +history. Difference in view between De Witte and his predecessor +Wischniegradsky. Pobedonostzeff. Dournovo. My experience with the +latter. The shirking of responsibility by leading Russian +officials; their lack of enterprise. An exception; Plehve. One +good example set us by Russia; value placed on Russian, compared +with the cheapening and prostitution of American, citizenship. + + +CHAPTER XXXV. "ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS OF MEN" IN +RUSSIA--1892-1894 + +The "Minister of Public Enlightenment," Delyanoff; his theory and +system. Hostility of sundry Russians to the Russian-Germans; +evident folly of this. Woronzoff-Daschkoff and General Annenkoff. +The Caucasian railways and the annexation of Bokhara. Galkin +Wraskoy and the prison system Orloff Davidoff, "the funniest +thing he saw in America." Professor Demetrieff's account of the +murder of Peter III and of the relation of Catherine II to it. +Prince Serge Wolkonsky; his ability and versatility; his tour de +force at the farewell dinner given me at St. Petersburg; his +lectures in the United States. Russian scientific men. Woeikoff. +Admiral Makharoff. Senator Semenoff and Prince Gregory Galitzin. +Mendeleieff. Two salons. Other attractions. General Ignatieff. +Princess Ourousoff and her answer to Alexander III. Princess +Radzivill. The copy-book used by Louis XIV when a child, +preserved in the Imperial Library; its historical importance. The +American colony at St. Petersburg. Mr. Prince; his reminiscences +of sundry American ministers. Mr. Buchanan's satire on spies, in +the Embassy Archives. Difficulties of the American Representative +arising from his want of a habitation. Diplomatic questions +between the two countries The Behring Sea Fisheries. My dealings +with the Commandant of the Russian Pacific Islands. Success of +Sir Robert Morier; how gained. Worldly wisdom of Great Britain. +Difficulties regarding Israelites; my long despatch on the +subject to Secretary Gresham. Adventurous Americans. Efforts to +prostitute American citizenship. Difficulties arising from the +complicated law of the Empire. Violations of the Buchanan Treaty. +Cholera at St. Petersburg; thorough measures taken by the +Government; death of Tschaikovsky; difficulty in imposing sanitary +regulations upon the peasantry. + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. MY RECOLLECTIONS OF POBEDONOSTZEFF--1892-1894 + +My desire to know Pobedonostzeff; his history; his power. Public +business which led to our meeting; his characteristics; reasons +for his course; his view of the relations of the Russo-Greek +Church to the Empire; his frankness in speaking of the Church. +His hostility to Western civilization. His discussion of +revolutionary efforts in Russia. His theory of Russian public +instruction. His ultra-reactionary views. His mingled feelings +regarding Tolstoi. His love for American literature; his +paradoxical admiration for Emerson, his translation of Emerson's +"Essays"; his literary gift. Feeling toward him in Russian +society. His religious character. His esthetic character. Charles +A. Dana's impression of him. Our discussion of possible relations +between the Russian and English Churches; his talks upon +introducing the "Holy Orthodox Church" into the United States. +His treatment of hostile articles in the English Reviews. His +professorial friends. His statements regarding Father Ivan; +miracles by the latter; proofs of their legendary character; +Pobedonostzeff's testimony on the subject. + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. WALKS AND TALKS WITH TOLSTOI--MARCH, 1894 + +Moscow revisited. Little change for the better. First visit to +Tolstoi. Curious arrangement of his household. Our first +discussions; condition of the peasants; his view of Quakers; +their "want of logic." His view of Russian religious and general +thought. Socrates as a saint in the Kremlin. His views of the +Jews; of Russian treatment of prisoners. His interest in American +questions. Our visit to the Moscow Museum; his remark on the +pictures for the Cathedral of Kieff; his love for realistic +religious pictures; his depreciation of landscape painting; deep +feeling shown by him before sundry genre pictures. His estimate +of Peter the Great. His acknowledgment of human progress. His +view of the agency of the Czar in maintaining peace. His ideas +regarding French literature; of Maupassant; of Balzac. His views +of American literature and the source of its strength; his +discussion of various American authors and leaders in +philanthropic movements; his amazing answer to my question as to +the greatest of American writers. Our walks together; his +indiscriminate almsgiving; discussion thereupon. His view of +travel. The cause of his main defects. Lack of interchange of +thought in Russia; general result of this. Our visit to the +Kremlin. His views of religion; questions regarding American +women; unfavorable view of feminine character. Our attendance at +a funeral; strange scenes. Further discussion upon religion. +Visit to an "Old Believer"; beauty of his house and its +adornments; his religious fanaticism; its effects on Tolstoi. His +views as to the duty of educated young men in Russia. Further +discussion of American literature. His hope for Russian progress. +His manual labor. His view of Napoleon. His easy-going theory of +warlike operations. Our farewell. Estimate of him. His great +qualities. His sincerity. Cause of his limitations. Personal +characteristics related to these. Evident evolution of his ideas. +Effect of Russian civilization on sundry strong men. + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. OFFICIAL LIFE IN ST. PETERSBURG--1892-1894 + +Difficulty in securing accurate information in Russia; the +censorship of newspapers and books; difficulty in ascertaining +the truth on any question; growth of myth and legend in the +Russian atmosphere of secrecy and repression. Difficulties of the +American Minister arising from too great proneness of Americans +to believe Russian stories; typical examples. American +adventurers; a musical apostle; his Russian career. Relation of +the Legation to the Chicago Exposition; crankish requests from +queer people connected with it; danger of their bringing the +Exposition into disrepute; their final suppression. Able and +gifted men and women scattered through Russian society. Russian +hospitality. Brilliant festivities at the Winter Palace; the +Blessing of the Waters; the "palm balls"; comparison of the +Russian with the German Court. Visit of Prince Victor Napoleon to +St. Petersburg; its curious characteristics. Visit of the Ameer +of Bokhara; singular doings of his son and heir. Marriage of the +Grand Duchess Xenia; kindness, at the Peterhof Palace, of an +American "Nubian." Funeral of the Grand Duchess Catherine; +beginnings of the Emperor's last illness then evident. Midnight +mass on Easter eve; beauty of the music. The opera. Midnight +excursions in the northern twilight. Finland and Helsingfors. +Moscow revisited. Visit to the Scandinavian countries. +Confidence reposed in me by President Cleveland. My resignation. + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. AS MEMBER OF THE VENEZUELAN COMMISSION--1895-1896 + +The Venezuelan Commission; curious circumstances of my nomination +to it by President Cleveland. Nature of the question to be +decided; its previous evolution. Mr. Cleveland's message. Attacks +upon him; his firmness. Sessions of the Commission; initial +difficulties; solution of them. The old question between the +Netherlands and Spain. Material at our command. Discreditable +features of the first British Blue Book on the subject; British +"fair play" in this and in the Behring Sea question. Distribution +of duties in the Commission. My increased respect for Lord +Aberdeen; boundary line accepted by him, striking confirmation of +his justice and wisdom by the Arbitration Tribunal at Paris. +Triumph of President Cleveland and Secretary Olney. Men whom I +met in Washington. Lord Panncefote. Secretary Carlisle, striking +tribute to him by an eminent Republican; his characteristics. +Vice-President Stevenson; his powers as a raconteur. Senator +Gray and Mr. Olney. Visit with the American Geographical Society +to Monticello; curious evidences there of Jefferson's +peculiarities; beauty of the place. Visit to the University of +Virginia. My increasing respect for the qualities of Mr. +Cleveland. + + +CHAPTER XL. AS AMBASSADOR TO GERMANY--1897-1903 + +Nomination by President McKinley. Light thrown upon his methods +by appointments of second secretary and military attache. +Secretary Sherman; his reference to President Johnson's +impeachment. Judge Harlan's reference to Dr. Burchard's +alliteration. Discussions with the German ambassador and others. +Change of the American legation into an embassy; its advantages +and disadvantages. First interview with Emperor William II; +subjects discussed. His reference to Frederick the Great's +musical powers. The Empress; happy change in the attitude of the +people toward her. The Chancellor of the Empire; Prince +Hohenlohe; his peculiarities; his references to Bismarck; his +opinion of Germans. Count von Bulow, Minister of Foreign Affairs, +resemblances between him and his father; his characteristics as +minister and as parliamentary leader. Ambassadorial receptions; +difficulties, mistaken policy of our government regarding +residences for its representatives. Change in German public +opinion toward the United States since my ministerial days; its +causes; evidences of it during Spanish War. Misrepresentations in +German and American papers, and their effects; our own +culpability as shown in the Fessenden case. International +questions; Haitian theory of the Monroe Doctrine. The Samoan +question; furor consularis; missionary squabbles; +reasonableness of Minister von Bulow. Attendance at Parliament; +its characteristics; notes on sundry members; Posadowski; +Richter, Bebel; Barth. The German Parliament House compared with +the New York State Capitol. + + +CHAPTER XLI. AMERICA, GERMANY, AND THE SPANISH WAR--1897-1903 + +The Chinese question; German part in it; my duties regarding it, +course of President McKinley and Secretary Hay. The exclusion of +American insurance companies; difficulties. American sugar +duties: our wavering policy. The "meat question"; American +illustration of defective German policy. The "fruit question" and +its adjustment. The Spanish-American War; attitude of the German +press; my course under instructions; importance of delaying the +war; conference in Paris with Ambassador Porter and Minister +Woodford; the destruction of the Maine and its effect; +conversation with the Emperor regarding it; his view of it. My +relations with the Spanish ambassador. Visit to Dresden to +present the President's congratulations to the Saxon king; +curious contretemps; festivities. Change in character of +European monarchs since Jefferson's letter to Langdon. The King +of Wurtemberg and Grand Duke of Baden. Notes on sundry pretenders +to European thrones. Course of German Government during our +Spanish War; arrest of Spanish vessel at Hamburg. Good news at +the Leipsic Fourth of July celebration. Difficulties arising in +Germany as the war progressed. The protection of American +citizens abroad; prostitution of American citizenship; examples; +strengthening of the rules against pretended Americans; baseless +praise of Great Britain at the expense of the United States. Duty +of the embassy toward American students; admission of women to +the German universities. Efforts of various compatriots to reach +the Emperor; psychological curiosities. Changes in Berlin since +my former official residence; disappearance of many strong men; +characteristics of sundry survivors; Mommsen; Harnack. + + +CHAPTER XLII. AMERICA, GERMANY, AND THE CHINESE WAR--1899-1902 + +Ex-President Harrison visits Berlin; attention shown him by the +Emperor and others; change in him since his Washington days. +Difficulty regarding embassy quarters; moral. Bicentenary of the +Royal Academy of Sciences--pomp and ceremony; picturesque +appearance of delegates, conversation with the Emperor on the +subject; his jocose statement of his theory of the monarchy. +Coming of age of the heir to the throne; reception of the Emperor +of Austria-Hungary; gala opera and opinion of the Chinese +minister regarding it; banquet; speeches of the two Emperors. +Characteristics of the Emperor Franz Josef; conversation with +him; his views of American questions; prospects of his Empire. +Visit from the German-American Kriegerverein. Outbreak of the +revolution in China; American policy; commendation of it from +foreign source; my duties relating to it. Fourth of July speech +at Leipsic in 1900. Visit to America; torrid heat at Washington; +new revelation of President McKinley's qualities; his discussion +of public affairs. Two-hundredth anniversary of the Prussian +kingdom, celebration; my official speech; religious ceremonies; +gala opera; remark upon it by the French ambassador. A personal +bereavement. Vacation studies on Fra Paolo Sarpi. Death of the +Empress Frederick; her kindness to me and mine; conversations; +her reminiscences of Queen Vietoria's relations to American +affairs; her funeral. + + +CHAPTER XLIII. CLOSING YEARS OF MY EMBASSY. BERLIN, YALE, OXFORD, +AND ST. ANDREWS--1901-1903 + +Assassination of President McKinley; its effect on German +feeling. My peculiar relations with the Chinese minister at +Berlin; our discussions: my advice to China through him; visits +from and to Prince Chun, on his expiatory errand. Visit to Mr. +Andrew Carnegie at Skibo Castle; evidences of kindly British +feeling regarding the death of President McKinley seen during +this English and Scotch journey; life at Skibo. America +revisited; Bicentenary at Yale. Am chosen to honorary membership +in the Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin. Interview with the +Emperor on my return from America; characteristics of his +conversation; his request to President Roosevelt on New Year's +day, 1902. Emperor's dinner to the American Embassy; departure of +Prince Henry for the United States; the Emperor's remarks upon +the purpose of it. The American "open door" policy; my duties +regarding it. Duties regarding St. Louis Exposition; +difficulties. Short vacation in Italy, my sixth visit to Venice +and new researches regarding Father Paul; Dr. Alexander +Robertson. Return to Berlin; visit of the Shah of Persia and the +Crown Prince of Siam. Am presented by the Emperor to the Crown +Princess of Saxony; her charming manner and later escapade. Work +with President Gilman in behalf of the Carnegie Institution for +Research, at Washington. Death of King Albert of Saxony; +attendance, under instructions, at his funeral; impressive +ceremonial, and long sermon. The new King; impression made by his +conversation. The Dusseldorf Exposition. Attendance as +representative of Yale at the Bodleian Tercentenary at Oxford; +reception of D.C.L. degree; peculiar feature of it; banquet in +Christ Church Hall; failure of my speech. Visit to the University +of St. Andrews; Mr. Carnegie's Rectoral address; curious but vain +attempts by audience to throw him off his guard; his skill in +dealing with them; reception of LL.D. degree. My seventieth +birthday, kindness of friends at Berlin and elsewhere; letters +from President Roosevelt, Mr. Hay, Secretary of State, and +Chancellor von Bulow. My resignation at this time in accordance +with resolution made years before. Final reception by the +Emperor. Farewell celebration with the American Colony and +departure. Stay at Alassio; visits to Elba and Corsica; relics of +Napoleon: curious monument of the vendetta between the Pozzo di +Borgo and Bonaparte families. + + +CHAPTER XLIV. MY RECOLLECTIONS OF WILLIAM II--1879-1903 + +My first knowledge of him, his speech as a student at Dusseldorf; +talk with his father and mother regarding it. His appearance at +court; characteristics. His wedding and my first conversation +with him. Opinion regarding him in Berlin. Growth of opinions, +favorable and unfavorable, in America. His dismissal of Bismarck; +effect on public opinion and on my own view. Effect of some of +his speeches. The "Caligula" pamphlet. Sundry epigrams. +Conversation at my first interview with him as Ambassador. His +qualities as a conversationist. His artistic gifts; his love of +music; his dealings with dramatic art. Position of the theater in +Germany. His interest in archaeological investigation; in +education; in city improvements; in improvements throughout the +Empire; sundry talks with him on these subjects. His feeling for +literature-extent of his reading; testimony of those nearest him. +His freedom from fads. His gifts as a statesman; his public and +private discussions of state and international questions: his +thoroughness in dealing with army and navy questions; his +interest in various navies. His broader work; his ability in +selecting men and his strength in standing by them; his relation +to the legislative bodies; his acquaintance with men and things +in all parts of the Empire and outside the Empire. His devotion +to work. His clearness of vision in international questions as +shown in sundry conversations; union of breadth and minuteness in +his views; his large acquaintance with men. His independence of +thought; his view of the Maine catastrophe. His impulsiveness; +good sense beneath it; results of some supposed exceptions. His +ability as a speaker; characteristics. His religious views; +comparison of them with those of Frederick the Great and +Frederick William I; his peculiar breadth of view shown in the +Delitzsch affair; also in his dealings with his Roman Catholic +subjects; treatment of the Strasburg and Metz Bishopric +questions; his skill shown in the Jerusalem church matter His +theory of monarchy; peculiar reasons for it; sundry criticisms of +him in this respect. Feeling of the German people regarding +attacks on the monarch The whole subject as viewed from the +American Democratic standpoint Thomas Jefferson's letter to John +Adams. The Emperor's feeling toward Parliamentary government; +strength he has given it by sundry appointments. His alleged +violations of the German Constitution; doubts regarding them. His +alleged hostility to the United States during the Spanish War and +at other times; facts regarding this charge. Sundry other charges +against him; his dealings with the Venezuela question; excellent +reasons for it. His feeling toward the United States. Summary of +his position in contemporary history. + + +CHAPTER XLV. AS PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN DELEGATION AT THE PEACE +CONFERENCE OF THE HAGUE: I--1899 + +Proposal of a Conference by Nicholas II. Reasons why the +Netherlands were preferred to Switzerland as its place of +meeting. General misunderstanding as to the Emperor's proposal. +My own skepticism. Resultant feeling regarding the Conference. My +acceptance of the nomination to it. Condition of things on our +arrival at The Hague. First meeting of the American Delegation. +Am chosen its president. General character of our instructions +from Washington. American plan of arbitration. Preliminary +meetings of delegates. The opening session. The "House in the +Wood"; its remarkable characteristics. Proceedings. General +skepticism at first. Baron de Staal as President of the +Conference. Count Nigra. Lord Pauncefote and others. Public +spirit of the Dutch Government. Growth of hope as to a good +result. Difficulties as to disarmament The peace lobby. Queer +letters and crankish proposals. Better ideas. M. de Bloch and his +views. Count Welsersheimb and others. Organization of the +Conference. First decision regarding the publication of our +proceedings. Rumors. Attitude of Count Munster, President of the +German Delegation. Attitude of Russia and sundry other powers +regarding the American proposal for exempting private property +from seizure on the high seas. New instructions sought by us from +Washington. First presentation of the Presidents of Delegations +to the Queen; her conversation. My talk with the British Admiral, +Sir John Fisher. Real and imaginary interviews published in +sundry European papers. + + +CHAPTER XLVI. AS PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN DELEGATION AT THE +PEACE CONFERENCE OF THE HAGUE: II--1899 + +Apparent wavering of Russia regarding an arbitration scheme. +Count Munster's view of the Russian proposals. Social gatherings. +Influx of people with notions, nostrums, and whimsies. First +meeting of the great committee on arbitration. Presentation of +the Russian plan; its serious defects. Successful effort of Sir +Julian Pauncefote to provide for a proper court. Excellent spirit +shown by the Russian delegates. Final character of the American +project for an arbitration plan. Festival given to the Conference +by the Burgomaster and City Council of The Hague. I revisit Delft +after an absence of thirty years; deep impression made upon me by +the tombs of William the Silent and Grotius. Amalgamation of the +Russian, British, and American plans for arbitration. A day in +London. Henry Irving in Sardou's "Robespierre"; good and evil of +the piece; its unhistorical features. Return to The Hague. The +American plan of "Special Mediation" and "Seconding Powers" +favorably received by the Conference. Characteristics of the +amalgamated plan for the Arbitration Tribunal; its results. Visit +from Count Munster; interesting stories of his life as Ambassador +at St. Petersburg; the young German savant rescued from Siberia; +Munster's quarrel with Gortchakoff; his quotation from the old +Grand Duke Michael. Questions in the Conference regarding +asphyxiating bombs, etc. Attitude of the American delegates +Question of the exemption of private property from seizure at +sea; difficulty in getting it before the Conference; earnest +support given us by the Netherlands and other governments. Talk +with the leading Netherlands Delegate, Van Karnebeek. Reasons why +South America was not represented in the Conference. Line of +cleavage between political parties in the Netherlands. Fears of +President McKinley regarding our special mediation proposal. +Continuance of hortatory letters and crankish proposals. +Discussion between American and Russian delegates on a fusion of +various arbitration plans. Difficulties discovered in our own; +alteration in them obtained from the State Department. Support +given by Germany to the American view regarding the exemption of +private property on the high seas. + + +CHAPTER XLVII. AS PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN DELEGATION AT THE +PEACE CONFERENCE OF THE HAGUE: III--1899 + +Festival given to the Conference by the city of Haarlem. +Difficulties encountered by the American proposal for the +immunity of private property at sea. Question as to what +contraband of war really is in these days. Encouraging meeting of +the great committee on arbitration and mediation. Proposal to the +Secretary of State that the American Delegation lay a wreath of +silver and gold upon the tomb of Grotius at Delft. Discussion of +the Brussels Conference Rules. Great social function at the house +of the British Minister; John Bull's wise policy in sustaining +the influence of his Embassies and Legations, its happy results +so far as Great Britain is concerned. Work on the arbitration +plans progressing. Discouragement. Germany, Austria, Italy, and +some minor powers seem suddenly averse to arbitration. +Determination of other powers to go on despite this. Relaxation +of the rule of secrecy regarding our proceedings. Further efforts +in behalf of the American proposal for exemption of private +property from seizure at sea. Outspoken opposition of Germany to +arbitration. Resultant disappointment in the Conference. Progress +in favor of an arbitration plan notwithstanding. Striking +attitude of French socialists toward the Conference. My earnest +talk with Count Munster in favor of arbitration; gradual change +in his attitude. My suggestion to Baroness von Suttner. + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. AS PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN DELEGATION AT THE +PEACE CONFERENCE OF THE HAGUE: IV--1899 + +Declaration against an arbitration tribunal received from their +Government by the German delegation; their consternation; +Professor Zorn and Secretary Holls sent to Berlin; my personal +letter to Baron von Bulow. Means by which the Conference was kept +from meeting until the return of these two gentlemen. Festival +given by the Netherlands Government to the Conference. Tableaux +and dances representing art and life in the Dutch provinces. +Splendid music. Visit to Leyden. Arrival of Speaker Reed of the +American House of Representatives. The Secretary of State +authorizes our placing a wreath of silver and gold on the tomb of +Grotius. Session regarding the extension of the Geneva Rules. +Return of Zorn and Holls from Berlin. Happy change in the +attitude of Germany. Henceforward American and German delegates +work together in favor of arbitration. Question of asphyxiating +bullets and bombs; view of Captain Mahan and Captain Crozier on +these subjects. Curious speech of the delegate from Persia, Mirza +Riza Khan. Great encouragement given by the new attitude of +Germany. Preparation at Delft for our Grotius celebration. Visit +to Rotterdam and Dort. Thoughts upon the Synod of Dort. Visit to +the house from which John De Witt went to prison and +assassination, and where Motley wrote much of his history. +Trouble regarding the relation of Switzerland to the Red Cross +Movement. The Duke of Tetuan. The Grotius wreath. + + +CHAPTER XLIX. AS PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN DELEGATION AT THE +PEACE CONFERENCE OF THE HAGUE: V--1899 + +Celebration of Independence Day at Delft in the presence of the +entire Conference and of eminent Netherlanders; speeches by the +Netherlands ministers and American delegates; telegram from the +King of Sweden. Impressive character of the service; the wreath +placed upon the tomb; breakfast given by our delegation to the +Conference, at the City Hall of Delft. Presentation of the +American Memorial in behalf of the immunity of private property +on the high seas; my speech in its favor: friendly answer by M. +de Martens in behalf of Russia. Visit to M. Cornets de Groot at +Ryswyck; relics of his great ancestor; curious information +regarding the latter. Dinner to the American delegation by the +prime minister of the Netherlands, happy reference to the +arbitration plan. Effects of our Grotius celebration. Great +dinner given by the Queen to the Conference at the palace in +Amsterdam, her speech; her conversations afterward. General +satisfaction shown at our Grotius tribute. My conversation with +Mr. Raffalovitch regarding Russian disarmament. Its difficulties. +Unfortunate article in the London "Spectator" on the work of the +Conference. Attack in the Conference upon the report on +disarmament. Discussion of matters subsidiary to arbitration. +Hostile attitude of the Balkan States toward the commission +d'enquette; ill feeling quieted. Field day regarding flattening +and expanding bullets; attitude of the British and American +delegates. Difficulties regarding the Monroe Doctrine; special +meeting called by our delegation to obviate these, apparent +impossibility of doing so; project of an American declaration; +private agreement upon it among leaders of the Conference, +agreement of the Conference to it. Final signing of the +conventions; seal used by me; reservation in behalf of the Monroe +Doctrine attached to our signatures. Closing of the Conference. +Speeches of M. de Staal and Count Munster. Drawing up of our +report; difficulties arising from sundry differences of opinion +in our delegation. Final meeting of the Conference. Remarks of +the leading representative of a Catholic power, on the +correspondence between the Vatican and the Netherlands Government +which had been presented to the Conference. Retrospect of the +Conference. Summary of its results. + + +CHAPTER L. HINTS FOR REFORMS IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE + +My connection with the Diplomatic Service at periods during the +last forty-five years. Questions which have been asked me +regarding it; reasons why I have not thought it best to reply +fully; reasons why I can now do so. Improvement in our service +since the Civil War; its condition during various administrations +before the Civil War; sundry examples. Mr. Seward's remark. +Improvement in the practice of both parties during recent years. +President Cleveland's worthy effort. Better public sentiment +among the people at large. Unjust charges of pessimists. Good +points in our service at various posts, and especially at London. +Faults of our service at present. My replies to young men anxious +to St themselves for it. Simplicity of the most important +reforms; suggestions. Choice of Ambassadors; of Ministers +Plenipotentiary; of Ministers Resident; of Secretaries of Embassy +and of Legation. Proper preparation of Secretaries; relation of +our Universities to it--part which should be taken in their +selection by the Secretary of State. Appointment of expert +attaches. Probable good results of the system proposed. Evil +results of the present system. Retention of the men best fitted. +Examples of English non-partizanship in such appointments. +Foremost importance of proper houses or apartments, owned or +leased for long terms by the United States for each of its +representatives abroad; evil results of the present system; +certainty of good results from the reform advocated. Present +American system contrasted with that of other nations. Services +rendered by sundry American diplomatists. Cheapness of our +diplomatic establishment compared with its value. Increase of +salaries. Summing up of results of all the reforms herein +advocated. + + +PART VI-SUNDRY JOURNEYS AND EXPERIENCES + +CHAPTER LI. EARLIER EXCURSIONS IN THE UNITED STATES--1838-1875 + +Usefulness of various journeys to me. Excursion through central +and western New York in 1838--in middle Massachusetts, Boston, +and New York City in 1842. Impression made by Trinity Church. +Beginning of visits to Saratoga in 1843; life there; visits of +Archbishop Hughes, Father Gavazzi, Washington Irving, Mr. +Buchanan; the Parade of Mme. Jumel. Remarkable progress of the +city of New York northward as seen at various visits. First visit +to the West. Chicago in 1858; the raising of the grade; Mr. +George Pullman's part in it. Impression made on me by the +Mississippi River. Sundry stays in Boston. Mr. Josiah Quincy. +Arthur Gilman; his stories and speeches; his delivery of Bishop +Eastburn's sermons; his stories regarding the Bishop. Men met at +Boston. Celebration of Bayard Taylor's birthday with James T. +Fields; reminiscences and stories given by the company; example +of Charles Sumner's lack of humor. Excursions in the Southern +States. Visit to Richmond at the close of the war; Libby Prison; +meeting with Dr. Bacon of New Haven at the former Executive +Mansion of the Confederacy. Visit to Gettysburg; fearful +condition of the battle-field and its neighborhood. Visit to +South Carolina, 1875. Florida. A negro church; discovery of a +Christmas carol imbedded in a plantation hymn. Excursion up the +St. Johns River. Visit to Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Collection +of books on the Civil War. A visit to Martha's Vineyard; pious +amusements; "Nearer, My God, to Thee" played as a waltz. + + +CHAPTER LII. ENGLAND REVISITED--1885 + +Reason for going abroad after my resignation of the Cornell +Presidency in 1885. "Tom Brown" at sea; sundry stories of his. +Southwest of England. Visit to the historian Freeman at Wells. +The Bishop and his palace. The Judge's dinner. The Squires in the +Court of Quarter Sessions. A Gladstonian meeting; Freeman's +speech; his defense of the last Abbot of Glastonbury. Bishop +Bickersteth at Heavitree and Exeter. The caves at Torquay and +their lessons. Worcester Cathedral and Deanery. "The Bungalow" of +Halliwell-Phillips at Brighton. Oxford; chapel of All Souls +College--?? interesting change seen at Magdalen; Bryce's +comparisons between British and American problems; visits to +various colleges. Discussions of university affairs. Freeman's +lectures. To Windsor. Stay with Sir Paul Hunter at Mortimer. +Visit to Bearwood. Mr. John Walter of the "Times." Visit to +"Bramshill." Cambridge. New acquaintances. Talks with Bishop +Creighton and Sir Henry Maine. Beginnings of technical +instruction at Cambridge. A Greek play. Lord Lytton. Professor +Seeley and his lectures. "Audit dinner" at Trinity College. +Professor Mahaffy's stories of Archbishop Whately. London. Talks +with Lecky. + + +CHAPTER LIII. FRANCE, ITALY, AND SWITZEBLAND--1886-1887 + +Mme. Blaze de Bury. From Paris to the Riviera. James Bryce. +George von Bunsen. Sir Charles Murray. Lord Acton; discussions +with the latter; his wide range of knowledge; his information +regarding Father Paul, the Congregation of the Index, etc. Sir +Henry Keating and the discussion at the Cercle Nautique of +Cannes. Lord Acton's view of Napoleon. Florence; talks with +Villari. Naples; the Doctrine of Intercession as shown in sundry +pictures. Amalfi. Sorrento; the Catechism of Archbishop Apuzzo; +Francis Galton; his discussion of dreams; Marion Crawford; Mr. +Mayall's story of Herbert Spencer. Visit to Monte Cassino; talk +with a novice. Excursions in Rome with Lanciani. Cardinal Edward +at St. Peter's. Discussions of Italian affairs with Minghetti, +Sambuy, and others. The sculptor Story. Non-intercourse between +Vatican and Quirinal. Judge Stallo. The Abbot of St. Paul Outside +the Walls; bis minute knowledge of certain American affairs. +Count de Gubernatis, at Florence, on the legendary character of +sundry Hindu marvels. Count Ressi and his Catawba wine. Alfieri +Sostegno and his school for political and social studies. +Ubaldino Peruzzi. Stay at the Italian lakes. Visit to my +colleague, Minister Both, in Switzerland; his duties as +Landamman. The Abbey of St. Gall and its library. Visit to the +Engadine. Talks with the British Admiral Irvine, at St. Moritz; +his advocacy of war vessels with beaks. Sermon at Geneva. Talks +with Mme. Blaze de Bury and Lecky at Paris. Architectural +excursions through the east of France. Outrages by "restorers" at +Rheims and at Troyes. London. Sermon by Temple, then bishop. More +talks with Lecky; his views of Earl Russell and of Carlyle. +Return to America. + + +CHAPTER LIV. EGYPT, GREECE, AND TURKEY--1888-1889 + +A great sorrow and disappointment. Court of Appeals decides the +Fiske suit, June, 1888. Reasons for going abroad. Scotland +revisited. Memorable sermon at St. Giles in Edinburgh. Cathedral +towns revisited. Sermons at Lichfield. The House of Commons; +scene between the Irish leaders and Mr. Balfour. A political +meeting in Holborn. Excursions to Rugby; to the home of Gilbert +White; to the graves of Gray, Thackeray, and others. A critic of +Carlyle at Brighton. Cambridge; interesting papers regarding the +American Revolution. Lord Aberdare's story of Frederick the Great +and a British minister. Hermit life in London; work at the +British Museum. Journey through Italy and Egypt with Willard +Fiske; effect of Egyptian and other Eastern experiences on me; +five weeks on the Nile; Brugsch Bey's account of his discovery of +the royal mummies; my visit to Artin Pasha and the great +Technical School of Cairo. Dinner with the Khedive; my curious +blunder. American and English missionaries in Cairo and +Alexandria; Dr. Grant's lecture on the Egyptian Trinities. Mr. +Nimr; bis scientific and other activities in Egypt. My enjoyment +of Saracenic architecture. Revelation to me of the connection +between Egyptian and Greek architecture. Disappointment in the +work of missionaries in Mohammedan countries. Stay in Athens. +Professor Waldstein. The American School of Archaeology. +Excursions with Walker Fearne and Professor Mahaffy. A talk with +the Greek prime minister. A function at the cathedral. Visit to +Mars Hill on Good Friday. To Constantinople. Our minister, Mr. +Straus. Discussions of art by Hamdi Bey and of literature by Sir +William White. Revelations of history and architecture in +Constantinople. St. Sophia. Return to Paris. The Exposition of +1889. The American "commission of experts"; its good and bad +sides. Great improvement in American art. Sargent and Melchers. +Tributes, in Paris, to Lafayette and Camille Desmoulins. Walks +and talks with Senator Gibson; our journey together to Homburg +and Belgium. + + +CHAPTER LV. MEXICO, CALIFORNIA, SCANDINAVIA, RUSSIA, ITALY, +LONDON, AND BERLIN--1892-1897 + +My stay of two years in America. Lectures at the University of +Pennsylvania. Archbishop Ryan's Latin pun. The Mohonk Conference +and President Hayes. Excursion with Andrew Carnegie to Mexico, +California, and Oregon. Meetings with Cornell students. Cathedral +of Mexico. Our reception by President Porfirio Diaz and his +ministers. Beauty of California in spring. Its two universities. +My relations with Stanford; pleasure in this visit to it; +character of its buildings; my lectures there. Visit to Salt Lake +City. To the Chicago Exposition buildings. The University of +Chicago and its work. My appointment as minister to St. +Petersburg. My arrival there on November 4, 1892. A vacation +visit to the Scandinavian countries. The University and Cathedral +of Upsala. Journey through the Swedish canals and lakes. +Gothenburg. Swedish system of dealing with the sale of +intoxicating liquors; its happy results. Throndheim; cathedral; +evidences of mediaeval piety and fraud. Impression made by Sweden +and Norway New evolution of human folly in Norway. The +Ethnographic Museum at Copenhagen. Moscow revisited. Muscovite +ideas of trade. My visit to Tolstoi. Resignation of my legation +at St. Petersburg. Italy revisited. Stay in Palermo The Church of +St. Josaphat; identity of this saint with Buddha; my talk +regarding him with the Commendatore Marzo. Visit to the Cathedral +of Monreale. The media val idea of creation as revealed in its +mosaics. The earthquake at Florence; our experiences of it; its +effects in the town. Return to America. Conversation with Holman +Hunt in London. Visits to sundry American universities; my +addresses before their students; reasons for publicly discussing +"The Problem of High Crime" in our country. The Venezuelan +Commission. My appointment in May, 1897, as ambassador to +Germany. + + +PART VII-MISCELLANEOUS RECOLLECTIONS + +CHAPTER LVI. THE CARDIFF GIANT: A CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF HUMAN +FOLLY--1869-1870 + +Twofold characteristics of the central route from New York to +Niagara. The lake country of western New York. The Onondaga +Valley; characteristics of its people; their agitation in the +autumn of 1869. Discovery of the "petrified giant." My visit to +it; my skepticism; its causes. Evolution of myth and legend. +General joy in believing in the marvelous origin of the statue. +Gradual growth of a skeptical view. Confirmation of suspicions. +Desperate efforts to resist skepticism. Clear proofs of a +swindle. Attempted revival of belief in it. Alexander McWhorter; +he declares the statue a Phenician idol, and detects a Phenician +inscription upon it. View of Dr. Schlottmann, Instructor in +Hebrew at Leipsic. My answer to his inquiry. Be persists in his +belief. Final acknowledgment and explanation of the whole thing +as a swindle. Sundry later efforts to imitate it. + + +CHAPTER LVII. PLANS AND PROJECTS, EXECUTED AND +UNEXECUTED--1838-1905 + +My early reverence for authors. Youthful tendency toward literary +studies. Change in this respect during my stay at Yale. +Difference between the Yale and Harvard spirit. Senator Wolcott's +speech on this. Special influence of Parker and Carlyle upon my +view of literature. My purpose in various writings. Preparations +for lectures upon the French Revolution and for a book upon its +causes; probabilities of this book at present. "Paper Money +Inflation in France," etc. Course of lectures upon the history of +Germany. Resultant plan of a book; form to be given it; reasons +for this form; its present prospects. My discussion of sundry +practical questions. Report as Commissioner at the Paris +Exposition of 1878; resultant address on "The Provision for +Higher Instruction in Subjects Bearing Directly on Public +Affairs." Happy progress of our universities in this respect. +Civil-service reform; speeches; article in the "North American +Review." Address at Yale on "The Message of the Nineteenth +Century to the Twentieth." Some points in the evolution of my +"History of the Warfare of Science with Theology." Projects +formed during sundry vacation journeys in Europe. Lectures on the +evolution of humanity in criminal law; growth of torture in +penalty and procedure; collection of material on the, subject. +Project of a small book to be called "The Warfare of Humanity +with Unreason." Vague project during sundry stays at Florence of +a history of that city; attractive points in such a history. +Project of a Life of Father Paul Sarpi formed at Venice; its +relinquishment; importance of such a biography. Plan for a study +on the Life of St. Francis Xavier; beauty of his life; lesson +taught by it regarding the evolution of myth and legend. Project +of a brief biography of Thomas Jefferson; partly carried out; how +formed and why discarded. Bibliographical introduction to +O'Connor Morris's short history of the French Revolution. Project +of a longer general bibliography of modern bi story transferred +to President Charles Kendall Adams. Project of book, "How Can +Wealthy Americans Best Use Their Money"; Deed of such a book in +the United States. Lectures given and articles projected on "The +Problem of High Crime in the United States"; reasons for taking +up this subject. Two projects of which I have dreamed; A brief +History of the Middle Ages as an introduction to Modern History; +desirable characteristics of such a book; beginnings made of it +in my lectures: "A History of Civilization in Spain"; reasons for +such a book; excellent material accessible: general +characteristics of such a history; recommendation of this subject +to historical scholars. Characteristics of American life in the +latter half of the nineteenth century unfavorable to the carrying +out of many extended projects. Distractions. An apologia pro +vita mea. + + +PART VIII-RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT + +CHAPTER LVIII. EARLY IMPRESSIONS--1832-1851 + +Religious ideas of the settlers in central New York. The +Protestant Episcopal Church; its relations to larger Christian +bodies. Effects of revivalism in them. My father and mother. A +soul escaped out of the thirteenth century into the nineteenth, +Henry Gregory. My first recollections of religious worship; +strong impressions upon me; good effects; some temporary evil +effects. Syracuse. My early bigotry; check in it; reaction. +Family influences. Influence of sundry sermons and occurrences. +Baptismal regeneration. My feelings as expressed by Lord Bacon. +The "Ursuline Manual" and its revelation. Effects of sectarian +squabbles and Sunday-school zeal. Bishop DeLancey; his impressive +personality. Effects of certain books. Life at a little sectarian +college. Results of "Christian Evidences". + + +CHAPTER LIX. IN THE NEW ENGLAND ATMOSPHERE--1851-1853 + +Influence of New England Congregationalism at Yale. Butler's +"Analogy." Revivals. Sermons and prayers in the college pulpit. +Noble efforts of sundry professors, especially sermons of Horace +Bushnell and President Woolsey. The recital of creeds. Effects of +my historical reading. Injury done the American Church at that +period by its support of slavery; notable exceptions to this. +Samuel J. May. Beecher. Chapin. Theodore Parker. Influence of the +latter upon me. Especial characteristics of Beecher as shown then +and afterward. Chapin and his characteristics. Horace Greeley as +a church-goer; strain upon his Universalism. Dr. Leonard Bacon. +Bishop Alonzo Potter. Archbishops Bedini and Hughes; powerful +sermon by the latter; Father Gavazzi's reply to it. + + +CHAPTER LX. IN THE EUROPEAN ATMOSPHERE--1853-1856 + +Student life in Europe. My susceptibility to religious +architecture, music, and the nobler forms of ceremonial. Beauties +of the Anglican service. Sundry experiences in European +cathedrals and English university chapels. Archbishop Sumner. +Bishop Wilberforce. My life in a Roman Catholic family in Paris. +Noble work of the Archbishop of Paris. Sibour; his assassination. +German Protestantism as seen in Berlin. Earnest character of +Roman Catholic worship in central Germany. The Russo-Greek Church +as seen in Russia; beauty of its service; its unfortunate +influence on the people. Roman Catholicism in Italy; its wretched +condition when I first saw it; irreverence of prelates at an +Easter high mass in st. Peter's. Pius IX; effectiveness of the +ceremonial in which he took part; Lord Odo Russell's reminiscence +of him. A low mass at Pisa and its effect. An effort at +proselytism in Rome; Father Cataldi. Condition of Rome at that +time. Improvements since. Naples and "King Bomba"; Robert Dale +Owen's statement to me. Catechism promoted by the Archbishop of +Sorrento. Liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius; remark of a +bystander to me. The doctrine of "intercession" illustrated. +Erasmus's colloquy of "The Shipwreck." Moral condition of Naples. +Influence of this Italian experience upon my religious views. + + +CHAPTER LXI. IN LATER YEARS--1856-1905 + +My relations with Professor Fisher at New Haven; his good +influence. My interest in church work as a professor at the +University of Michigan; am asked to select a rector; my success. +Readings in ecclesiastical history; effect of these. Sale's +Koran. Fra Paolo Sarpi's "History of the Council of Trent." Dean +Stanley's "Eastern Church." Bossuet, Spalding, Balmez, Buckle, +Lecky, Draper, the Darwinian hypothesis. Special influence of +Stanley's "Life of Arnold," Robertson's Sermons, and other works. +Good influences from sundry Methodists. Exceptions taken by +individuals to sundry Broad Church statements in my historical +lectures; their favorable reception. Sobering effect upon me of +"spiritualistic" fanaticism. My increasing reluctance to promote +revolutionary changes in religion; my preference for evolutionary +methods. Special experiences. The death-bed of a Hicksite Quaker. +My toleration ideas embodied in the Cornell University Charter; +successful working of these. Establishment of a university chapel +and preachership; my selections of preachers; good effects of +their sermons upon me. Effects of sundry Eastern experiences. +Mohammedan worship at Cairo and elsewhere. The dervishes. +Expulsion of young professors from the American Missionary +College at Beyrout; noble efforts of one of them afterward. The +Positivist Conventicle in London. The "Bible for Learners." +Summing up of my experience. Worship--public and private; +reasonableness of both. Recognition of spiritual as well as of +physical laws. Recognition of an evolution in religious beliefs. +Proper attitude of thinking men. Efforts for evolution rather +than for revolution. Need of charity to all forms of religion but +of steady resistance to clerical combinations for hampering +scientific thought or controlling public education. + + +LIST OF PUBLICATIONS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS. + + + + +AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW DICKSON WHITE + +Volume II + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +AS MINISTER TO RUSSIA--1892-1894 + +During four years after my return from service as minister to +Germany I devoted myself to the duties of the presidency at +Cornell, and on resigning that position gave all time possible to +study and travel, with reference to the book on which I was then +engaged: "A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology." + +But in 1892 came a surprise. In the reminiscences of my political +life I have given an account of a visit, with Theodore Roosevelt, +Cabot Lodge, Sherman Rogers, and others, to President Harrison at +the White House, and of some very plain talk, on both sides, +relating to what we thought shortcomings of the administration in +regard to reform in the civil service. Although President +Harrison greatly impressed me at the time by the clearness and +strength of his utterances, my last expectation in the world +would have been of anything in the nature of an appointment from +him. High officials do not generally think very well of people +who comment unfavorably on their doings or give them unpleasant +advice; this I had done, to the best of my ability, in addressing +the President; and great, therefore, was my astonishment when, in +1892, he tendered me the post of minister plenipotentiary at St. +Petersburg. + +On my way I stopped in London, and saw various interesting +people, but especially remember a luncheon with Lord Rothschild, +with whom I had a very interesting talk about the treatment of +the Jews in Russia. He seemed to feel deeply the persecution to +which they were subjected,--speaking with much force regarding +it, and insisting that their main crime was that they were sober, +thoughtful, and thrifty; that as to the charge that they were +preying upon the agricultural population, they preyed upon it as +do the Quakers in England--by owning agricultural machines and +letting them out; that as to the charge of usury, they were much +less exacting than many Christians; and that the main effort upon +public opinion there, such as it is, should be in the direction +of preventing the making of more severe laws. He incidentally +referred to the money power of Europe as against Russia, speaking +of Alexander II as kind and just, but of Alexander III as really +unacquainted with the great questions concerned, and under +control of the church. + +I confess that I am amazed, as I revise this chapter, to learn +from apparently trustworthy sources that his bank is now making a +vast loan to Russia--to enable her to renew her old treatment of +Japan, China, Armenia, Finland, Poland, the Baltic Provinces, and +her Jewish residents. I can think of nothing so sure to +strengthen the anti-Semites throughout the world. + +A few days later Sir Julian Goldschmidt came to me on the same +subject, and he impressed me much more deeply than the head of +the house of Rothschild had done. There was nothing of the +ennobled millionaire about him; he seemed to me a gentleman from +the heart outward. Presenting with much feeling the disabilities +and hardships of the Jews in Russia, he dwelt upon the +discriminations against them, especially in the matter of +military fines; their gradual and final exclusion from +professions; and the confiscation of their property at Moscow, +where they had been forced to leave the city and therefore to +realize on their whole estates at a few days' notice. + +At Paris I also had some interesting conversations, regarding my +new post, with the Vicomte de Vogue, the eminent academician, who +has written so much that is interesting on Russia. Both he and +Struve, the Russian minister at Washington, who had given me a +letter to him, had married into the Annenkoff family; and I found +his knowledge of Russia, owing to this fact as well as to his +former diplomatic residence there, very suggestive. Another +interesting episode was the funeral of Renan at the College de +France, to which our minister, Mr. Coolidge, took me. Eloquent +tributes were paid, and the whole ceremony was impressive after +the French manner. + +Dining with Mr. Coolidge, I found myself seated near the Duchesse +de la Rochefoucauld,--a charming American, the daughter of Mr. +Mitchell, former senator from Oregon. The duke seemed to be a +quiet, manly young officer, devoted to his duties in the army; +but it was hard to realize in him the successor of the great +duke, the friend of Washington and of Louis XVI, who showed +himself so broad-minded during our War of Independence and the +French Revolution. + +At Berlin I met several of my old friends at the table of our +minister, my friend of Yale days, William Walter Phelps--among +these Virchow, Professor von Leyden, Paul Meyerheim, Carl Becker, +and Theodor Barth; and at the Russian Embassy had an interesting +talk with Count Shuvaloff, more especially on the Behring Sea +question. We agreed that the interests of the United States and +Russia in the matter were identical. + +On the 4th of November I arrived in St. Petersburg after an +absence of thirty-seven years. Even in that country, where +everything moves so slowly, there had clearly been changes; the +most evident of these being the railway from the frontier. At my +former visit the journey from Berlin had required nine days and +nine nights of steady travel, mainly in a narrow post-coach; now +it was easily done in one day and two nights in very comfortable +cars. At that first visit the entire railway system of Russia, +with the exception of the road from the capital to Gatshina only +a few miles long, consisted of the line to Moscow; at this second +visit the system had spread very largely over the empire, and was +rapidly extending through Siberia and Northern China to the +Pacific. + +But the deadening influence of the whole Russian system was +evident. Persons who clamor for governmental control of American +railways should visit Germany, and above all Russia, to see how +such control results. In Germany its defects are evident enough; +people are made to travel in carriages which our main lines would +not think of using, and with a lack of conveniences which with us +would provoke a revolt; but the most amazing thing about this +administration in Russia is to see how, after all this vast +expenditure, the whole atmosphere of the country seems to +paralyze energy. During my stay at St. Petersburg I traveled over +the line between that city and Berlin six or eight times, and +though there was usually but one express-train a day, I never saw +more than twenty or thirty through passengers. When one bears in +mind the fact that this road is the main artery connecting one +hundred and twenty millions of people at one end with over two +hundred millions at the other, this seems amazing; but still more +so when one considers that in the United States, with a +population of, say, eighty millions in all, we have five great +trunk-lines across the continent, each running large +express-trains several times a day. + +There was apparently little change as regards enterprise in +Russia, whatever there might be as regarded facilities for +travel. St. Petersburg had grown, of course. There were new +streets in the suburbs, and where the old admiralty wharves had +stood,--for the space of perhaps an eighth of a mile along the +Neva,--fine buildings had been erected. But these were the only +evident changes, the renowned Nevskii Prospekt remaining as +formerly--a long line of stuccoed houses on either side, almost +all poor in architecture; and the street itself the same unkempt, +shabby, commonplace thoroughfare as of old. No new bridge had +been built across the Neva for forty years. There was still but +one permanent structure spanning the river, and the great stream +of travel and traffic between the two parts of the city was +dependent mainly on the bridges of boats, which, at the breaking +of the ice in the spring, had sometimes to be withdrawn during +many days. + +A change had indeed been brought by the emancipation of the +serfs, but there was little outward sign of it. The muzhik +remained, to all appearance, what he was before: in fact, as our +train drew into St. Petersburg, the peasants, with their +sheepskin caftans, cropped hair, and stupid faces, brought back +the old impressions so vividly that I seemed not to have been +absent a week. The old atmosphere of repression was evident +everywhere. I had begun my experience of it under Nicholas I, had +seen a more liberal policy under Alexander II, but now found a +recurrence of reaction, and everywhere a pressure which deadened +all efforts at initiating a better condition of things. + +But I soon found one change for the better. During my former stay +under Nicholas I and Alexander II, the air was full of charges of +swindling and cheatery against the main men at court. Now next to +nothing of that sort was heard; it was evident that Alexander +III, narrow and illiberal though he might be, was an honest man, +and determined to end the sort of thing that had disgraced the +reigns of his father and grandfather. + +Having made the usual visit to the Foreign Office upon my +arrival, I was accompanied three days later by the proper +officials, Prince Soltykoff and M. de Koniar, on a special train +to Gatchina, and there received by the Emperor. I found +him--though much more reserved than his father--agreeable and +straightforward. As he was averse to set speeches, we began at +once a discussion on various questions interesting the two +nations, and especially those arising out of the Behring Sea +fisheries. He seemed to enter fully into the American view; +characterizing the marauders in that sea as "ces poachers +la"--using the English word, although our conversation was in +French; and on my saying that the Russian and American interests +in that question were identical, he not only acquiesced, but +spoke at considerable length, and earnestly, in the same sense. + +He alluded especially to the Chicago Exposition, spoke in praise +of its general conception and plan, said that though in certain +classes of objects of art it might not equal some of the European +expositions, it would doubtless in very many specialties surpass +all others; and on my expressing the hope that Russia would be +fully represented, he responded heartily, declaring that to be +his own wish. + +Among the various subjects noted was one which was rather +curious. In the anteroom I had found the Greek Archbishop of +Warsaw arrayed in a purple robe and hat--the latter adorned with +an exceedingly lustrous cross of diamonds, and, engaging in +conversation with him, had learned that he had a few years before +visited China as a missionary; his talk was that of a very +intelligent man; and on my saying that one of our former American +bishops, Dr. Boone, in preparing a Chinese edition of the +Scriptures had found great difficulty in deciding upon a proper +equivalent for the word "God," the archbishop answered, "That is +quite natural, for the reason that the Chinese have really no +conception of such a Being." + +Toward the close of my interview with the Emperor, then, I +referred to the archbishop, and congratulated the monarch on +having so accomplished and devoted a prelate in his church. At +this he said, "You speak Russian, then?" to which I answered in +the negative. "But," he said, "how then could you talk with the +archbishop?" I answered, "He spoke in French." The Emperor seemed +greatly surprised at this, and well he might be, for the +ecclesiastics in Russia seem the only exceptions to the rule that +Russians speak French and other foreign languages better and more +generally than do any other people. + +This interview concluded, I was taken through a long series of +apartments filled with tapestries, porcelain, carvings, +portraits, and the like, to be received by the Empress. She was +slight in figure, graceful, with a most kindly face and manner, +and she put me at ease immediately, addressing me in English, and +detaining me much longer than I had expected. She, too, spoke of +the Chicago Exposition, saying that she had ordered some things +of her own sent to it. She also referred very pleasantly to the +Rev. Dr. Talmage of Brooklyn, who had come over on one of the +ships which brought supplies to the famine-stricken; and she +dwelt upon sundry similarities and dissimilarities between our +own country and Russia, discussing various matters of local +interest, and was in every way cordial and kindly. + +The impression made by the Emperor upon me at that time was +deepened during my whole stay. He was evidently a strong +character, but within very unfortunate limits--upright, devoted +to his family, with a strong sense of his duty to his people and +of his accountability to the Almighty. But more and more it +became evident that his political and religious theories were +narrow, and that the assassination of his father had thrown him +back into the hands of reactionists. At court and elsewhere I +often found myself looking at him and expressing my thoughts +inwardly much as follows: "You are honest, true-hearted, with a +deep sense of duty; but what a world of harm you are destined to +do! With your immense physical frame and giant strength, you will +last fifty years longer; you will try by main force to hold back +the whole tide of Russian thought; and after you will come the +deluge." There was nothing to indicate the fact that he was just +at the close of his life. + +At a later period I was presented to the heir to the throne, now +the Emperor Nicholas II. He seemed a kindly young man; but one of +his remarks amazed and disappointed me. During the previous year +the famine, which had become chronic in large parts of Russia, +had taken an acute form, and in its train had come typhus and +cholera. It was, in fact, the same wide-spread and deadly +combination of starvation and disease which similar causes +produced so often in Western-Europe during the middle ages. From +the United States had come large contributions of money and +grain; and as, during the year after my arrival, there had been a +recurrence of the famine, about forty thousand rubles more had +been sent me from Philadelphia for distribution. I therefore +spoke on the general subject to him, referring to the fact that +he was president of the Imperial Relief Commission. He answered +that since the crops of the last year there was no longer any +suffering; that there was no famine worthy of mention; and that +he was no longer giving attention to the subject. This was said +in an offhand, easy-going way which appalled me. The simple fact +was that the famine, though not so wide-spread, was more trying +than during the year before; for it found the peasant population +in Finland and in the central districts of the empire even less +prepared to meet it. They had, during the previous winter, very +generally eaten their draught-animals and burned everything not +absolutely necessary for their own shelter; from Finland +specimens of bread made largely of ferns had been brought me +which it would seem a shame to give to horses or cattle; and yet +his imperial highness the heir to the throne evidently knew +nothing of all this. + +In explanation, I was afterward told by a person who had known +him intimately from his childhood, that, though courteous, his +main characteristic was an absolute indifference to most persons +and things about him, and that he never showed a spark of +ambition of any sort. This was confirmed by what I afterward saw +of him at court. He seemed to stand about listlessly, speaking in +a good-natured way to this or that person when it was easier than +not to do so; but, on the whole, indifferent to all which went on +about him. + +After his accession to the throne, one of the best judges in +Europe, who had many opportunities to observe him closely, said +to me, "He knows nothing of his empire or of his people; he never +goes out of his house, if he can help it." This explains in some +degree the insufficiency of his programme for the Peace +Conference at The Hague and for the Japanese War, which, as I +revise these lines, is bringing fearful disaster and disgrace +upon Russia. + +The representative of a foreign power in any European capital +must be presented to the principal members of the reigning +family, and so I paid my respects to the grand dukes and +duchesses. The first and most interesting of these to me was the +old Grand Duke Michael--the last surviving son of the first +Nicholas. He was generally, and doubtless rightly, regarded as, +next to his elder brother, Alexander II, the flower of the flock; +and his reputation was evidently much enhanced by comparison with +his brother next above him in age, the Grand Duke Nicholas. It +was generally charged that the conduct of the latter during the +Turkish campaign was not only unpatriotic, but inhuman. An army +officer once speaking to me regarding the suffering of his +soldiers at that time for want of shoes, I asked him where the +shoes were, and he answered: "In the pockets of the Grand Duke +Nicholas." + +Michael was evidently different from his brother--not haughty and +careless toward all other created beings; but kindly, and with a +strong sense of duty. One thing touched me. I said to him that +the last time I had seen him was when he reached St. Petersburg +from the seat of the Crimean War in the spring of 1855, and drove +from the railway to the palace in company with his brother +Nicholas. Instantly the tears came into his eyes and flowed down +his cheeks. He answered: "Yes, that was sad indeed. My +father"--meaning the first Emperor Nicholas--"telegraphed us that +our mother was in very poor health, longed to see us, and +insisted on our coming to her bedside. On our way home we learned +of his death." + +Of the younger generation of grand dukes,--the brothers of +Alexander III,--the greatest impression was made upon me by +Vladimir. He was apparently the strongest of all the sons of +Alexander II, being of the great Romanoff breed--big, strong, +muscular, like his brother the Emperor. He chatted pleasantly; +and I remember that he referred to Mr. James Gordon Bennett--whom +he had met on a yachting cruise--as "my friend." + +Another of these big Romanoff grand dukes was Alexis, the grand +admiral. He referred to his recollections of the United States +with apparent pleasure, in spite of the wretched Catacazy +imbroglio which hindered President Grant from showing him any +hospitality at the White House, and which so vexed his father the +Emperor Alexander II. + +The ladies of the imperial family were very agreeable. A remark +of one of them--a beautiful and cultivated woman, born a princess +of one of the Saxon duchies--surprised me; for, when I happened +to mention Dresden, she told me that her great desire had been to +visit that capital of her own country, but that she had never +been able to do so. She spoke of German literature, and as I +mentioned receiving a letter the day before from Professor Georg +Ebers, the historical novelist, she said: "You are happy indeed +that you can meet such people; how I should like to know Ebers!" +Such are the limitations of royalty. + +Meantime, I made visits to my colleagues of the diplomatic corps, +and found them interesting and agreeable--as it is the business +of diplomatists to be. The dean was the German ambassador, +General von Schweinitz, a man ideally fit for such a position--of +wide experience, high character, and evidently strong and firm, +though kindly. When ambassador at Vienna he had married the +daughter of his colleague, the American minister, Mr. John Jay, +an old friend and colleague of mine in the American Historical +Association; and so came very pleasant relations between us. His +plain, strong sense was of use to me in more than one difficult +question. + +The British ambassador was Sir Robert Morier. He, too, was a +strong character, though lacking apparently in some of General +von Schweinitz's more kindly qualities. He was big, roughish, and +at times so brusque that he might almost be called brutal. When +bullying was needed it was generally understood that he could do +it con amore. A story was told of him which, whether exact or +not, seemed to fit his character well. He had been, for a time, +minister to Portugal; and, during one of his controversies with +the Portuguese minister of foreign affairs, the latter, becoming +exasperated, said to him: "Sir, it is evident that you were not +born a Portuguese cavalier." Thereupon Morier replied: "No, thank +God, I was not: if I had been, I would have killed myself on the +breast of my mother." + +And here, perhaps, is the most suitable place for mentioning a +victory which Morier enabled Great Britain to obtain over the +United States. It might be a humiliating story for me to tell, +had not the fault so evidently arisen from the shortcomings of +others. The time has come to reveal this piece of history, and I +do so in the hope that it may aid in bettering the condition in +which the Congress of the United States has, thus far, left its +diplomatic servants. + +As already stated, the most important question with which I had +to deal was that which had arisen in the Behring Sea. The United +States possessed there a great and flourishing fur-seal industry, +which was managed with care and was a source of large revenue to +our government. The killing of the seals under the direction of +those who had charge of the matter was done with the utmost care +and discrimination on the Pribyloff Islands, to which these +animals resorted in great numbers during the summer. It was not +at all cruel, and was so conducted that the seal herd was fully +maintained rather than diminished. But it is among the +peculiarities of the seals that, each autumn, they migrate +southward, returning each spring in large numbers along the +Alaskan coast, and also that, while at the islands, the nursing +mothers make long excursions to fishing-banks at distances of +from one to two hundred miles. The return of these seal herds, +and these food excursions, were taken advantage of by Canadian +marauders, who slaughtered the animals, in the water, without +regard to age or sex, in a way most cruel and wasteful; so that +the seal herds were greatly diminished and in a fair way to +extermination. Our government tried to prevent this and seized +sundry marauding vessels; whereupon Great Britain felt obliged, +evidently from political motives, to take up the cause of these +Canadian poachers and to stand steadily by them. As a last +resort, the government of the United States left the matter to +arbitration, and in due time the tribunal began its sessions at +Paris. Meantime, a British commission was, in 1891-1892, ordered +to prepare the natural-history material for the British case +before the tribunal; and it would be difficult to find a more +misleading piece of work than their report. Sham scientific facts +were supplied for the purposes of the British counsel at Paris. +While I cannot believe that the authorities in London ordered or +connived at this, it is simple justice to state, as a matter of +fact, that, as afterward in the Venezuela case,[1] so in this, +British agents were guilty of the sharpest of sharp practices. +The Russian fur-seal islands having also suffered to a +considerable extent from similar marauders, a British commission +visited the Russian islands and took testimony of the Russian +commandant in a manner grossly unfair. This commandant was an +honest man, with good powers of observation and with considerable +insight into the superficial facts of seal life, but without +adequate scientific training; his knowledge of English was very +imperfect, and the commission apparently led him to say and sign +just what they wanted. He was somehow made to say just the things +which were needed to help the British case, and not to say +anything which could hurt it. So absurd were the misstatements to +which he had thus been led to attach his name that the Russian +Government ordered him to come all the way from the Russian +islands on the coast of Siberia to St. Petersburg, there to be +reexamined. It was an enormous journey--from the islands to +Japan, from Japan to San Francisco, from San Francisco to New +York, and thence to St. Petersburg. There, with the aid of a +Russian expert, I had the satisfaction of putting questions to +him; and, having found the larger part of his previous alleged +testimony to be completely in conflict with his knowledge and +opinions, I forwarded this new testimony to those in charge of +the American case before the Paris tribunal, in the hope that it +would place the whole matter in its true light. With it was also +presented the concurring testimony taken by the American experts +who had been sent to the Behring Sea. Those experts were Drs. +Mendenhall and Merriam, scientists of the highest character, and +their reports were, in every essential particular, afterward +confirmed by another man of science, after study of the whole +question in the islands and on the adjacent seas--Dr. Jordan, +president of Stanford University, probably the highest authority +in the United States--and, perhaps, in the world--regarding the +questions at issue: a pupil and friend of Agassiz, a man utterly +incapable of making a statement regarding any point in science +which he did not fully believe, no matter what its political +bearing might be. + + +[1] See my chapter on the Venezuela Commission for the trick +attempted by British agents in the first British Blue Book on +that subject. + + +And now to another feature of the case. Before leaving Washington +for St. Petersburg, I had consulted with the Secretary of State +and the leading persons in charge of our case, and on my way had +talked with Count Shuvaloff, the Russian ambassador at Berlin; +and all agreed that the interests of the United States and Russia +in the matter of protecting the seals were identical. The only +wonder was that, this fact being so clear, the Russian Foreign +Office constantly held back from showing any active sympathy with +the United States in our efforts to right this wrong done to both +nations. + +At my first presentation to the Emperor I found him, as already +stated, of the same opinion as the Washington cabinet and Count +Shuvaloff. He was thoroughly with us, was bitter against the +Canadian marauders, agreed in the most straightforward and +earnest manner that the interests of Russia and the United States +in this question were identical, and referred severely to the +British encroachments upon both the nations in the northern +seas.[2] + + +[2] See detailed account of this conversation previously given in +this chapter. + + +All went smoothly until I took up the subject at the Russian +Foreign Office. There I found difficulties, though at first I did +not fully understand them. The Emperor Alexander III was dying at +Livadia in the Crimea; M. de Giers, the minister of foreign +affairs, a man of high character, was dying at Tzarskoye Selo; +and in charge of his department was an under-secretary who had +formerly, for a short time, represented Russia at Washington and +had not been especially successful there. Associated with him was +another under-secretary, who was in charge of the Asiatic +division at the Russian Foreign Office. My case was strong, and I +was quite willing to meet Sir Robert Morier in any fair argument +regarding it. I had taken his measure on one or two occasions +when he had discussed various questions in my presence; and had +not the slightest fear that, in a fair presentation of the +matter, he could carry his point against me. At various times we +met pleasantly enough in the anterooms of the Foreign Office; but +at that period our representative at the Russian court was simply +a minister plenipotentiary and the British representative an +ambassador, and as such he, of course, had precedence over me, +with some adventitious advantages which I saw then, and others +which I realized afterward. It was not long before it became +clear that Sir Robert Morier had enormous "influence" with the +above-named persons in charge of the Foreign Office, and, indeed, +with Russian officials in general. They seemed not only to stand +in awe of him, but to look toward him as "the eyes of a maiden to +the hand of her mistress." I now began to understand the fact +which had so long puzzled our State Department--namely, that +Russia did not make common cause with us, though we were fighting +her battles at the same time with our own. But I struggled on, +seeing the officials frequently and doing the best that was +possible. + +Meantime, the arbitration tribunal was holding its sessions at +Paris, and the American counsel were doing their best to secure +justice for our country. The facts were on our side, and there +seemed every reason to hope for a decision in our favor. A vital +question was as to how extensive the closed zone for the seals +about our islands should be. The United States showed that the +nursing seals were killed by the Canadian poachers at a distance +of from one to two hundred miles from the islands, and that +killing ought not to be allowed within a zone of that radius; +but, on the other hand, the effort of the British counsel was to +make this zone as small as possible. They had even contended for +a zone of only ten miles radius. But just at the nick of time Sir +Robert Morier intervened at St. Petersburg. No one but himself +and the temporary authorities of the Russian Foreign Office had, +or could have had, any knowledge of his manoeuver. By the means +which his government gave him power to exercise, he in some way +secured privately, from the underlings above referred to as in +temporary charge of the Foreign Office, an agreement with Great +Britain which practically recognized a closed zone of only thirty +miles radius about the Russian islands. This fact was telegraphed +just at the proper moment to the British representatives before +the tribunal; and, as one of the judges afterward told me, it +came into the case like a bomb. It came so late that any adequate +explanation of Russia's course was impossible, and its +introduction at that time was strenuously objected to by our +counsel; but the British lawyers thus got the fact fully before +the tribunal, and the tribunal naturally felt that in granting us +a sixty-mile radius--double that which Russia had asked of Great +Britain for a similar purpose--it was making a generous +provision. The conditions were practically the same at the +American and Russian seal islands; yet the Russian officials in +charge of the matter seemed entirely regardless of this fact, +and, indeed, of Russian interests. After secret negotiation with +Sir Robert, without the slightest hint to the American minister +of their intended sacrifice of their "identical interest with the +United States," they allowed this treachery to be sprung upon us. +The sixty-mile limit was established by the tribunal, and it has +proved utterly delusive. The result of this decision of the +tribunal was that this great industry of ours was undermined, if +not utterly destroyed; and that the United States were also +mulcted to the amount of several hundred thousand dollars, +besides the very great expense attending the presentation of her +case to the tribunal. + +I now come back to the main point which has caused me to bring up +this matter in these reminiscences. How was it that Great Britain +obtained this victory? To what was it due? The answer is simple: +it was due to the fact that the whole matter at St. Petersburg +was sure to be decided, not by argument, but by "influence." Sir +Robert Morier had what in the Tammany vernacular is called a +"pull." His government had given him, as its representative, all +the means necessary to have his way in this and all other +questions like it; whereas the American Government had never +given its representative any such means or opportunities. The +British representative was an AMBASSADOR, and had a spacious, +suitable, and well-furnished house in which he could entertain +fitly and largely, and to which the highest Russian officials +thought it an honor to be invited. The American representatives +were simply MINISTERS; from time immemorial had never had such a +house; had generally no adequate place for entertaining; had to +live in apartments such as they might happen to find vacant in +various parts of the town--sometimes in very poor quarters, +sometimes in better; were obliged to furnish them at their own +expense; had, therefore, never been able to obtain a tithe of +that social influence, so powerful in Russia, which was exercised +by the British Embassy. + +More than this, the British ambassador had adequate means +furnished him for exercising political influence. The American +representatives had not; they had been stinted in every way. The +British ambassador had a large staff of thoroughly trained +secretaries and attaches, the very best of their kind,--well +educated to begin with, thoroughly trained afterward,--serving as +antennae for Great Britain in Russian society; and as the first +secretary of his embassy he had no less a personage than Henry +Howard, now Sir Henry Howard, minister at The Hague, one of the +brightest, best-trained, and most experienced diplomatists in +Europe. The American representative was at that time provided +with only one secretary of legation, and he, though engaging and +brilliant, a casual appointment who remained in the country only +a few months. I had, indeed, secured a handsome and comfortable +apartment, and entertained at dinner and otherwise the leading +members of the Russian ministry and of the diplomatic corps, at a +cost of more than double my salary; but the influence thus +exercised was, of course, as nothing compared to that exercised +by a diplomatist like Sir Robert Morier, who had every sort of +resource at his command, who had been for perhaps forty years +steadily in the service of his country, and had learned by long +experience to know the men with whom he had to deal and the ways +of getting at them. His power in St. Petersburg was felt in a +multitude of ways: all officials at the Russian Foreign Office, +from the highest to the lowest, naturally desired to be on good +terms with him. They knew that his influence had become very +great and that it was best to have his friendship; they loved +especially to be invited to his dinners, and their families loved +to be invited to his balls. He was a POWER. The question above +referred to, of such importance to the United States, was not +decided by argument, but simply by the weight of social and other +influence, which counts so enormously in matters of this kind at +all European capitals, and especially in Russia. This condition +of things has since been modified by the change of the legation +into an embassy; but, as no house has been provided, the old +difficulty remains. The United States has not the least chance of +success, and under her present shabby system never will have, in +closely contested cases, with any of the great powers of the +earth. They provide fitly for their representatives; the United +States does not. The representatives of other powers, being thus +provided for, are glad to remain at their posts and to devote +themselves to getting a thorough mastery of everything connected +with diplomatic business; American representatives, obliged, as a +rule, to take up with uncomfortable quarters, finding their +position not what it ought to be as compared with that of the +representatives of other great powers, and obliged to expend much +more than their salaries, are generally glad to resign after a +brief term. Especially has this been the case in St. Petersburg. +The terms of our representatives there have generally been very +short. A few have stayed three or four years, but most have +stayed much shorter terms. In one case a representative of the +United States remained only three or four months, and in another +only six weeks. So marked was this tendency that the Emperor once +referred to it in a conversation with one of our representatives, +saying that he hoped that this American diplomatist would remain +longer than his predecessors had generally done. + +The action of the Russian authorities in the Behring Sea +question, which is directly traceable to the superior policy of +Great Britain in maintaining a preponderating diplomatic, +political, and social influence at the Russian capital, cost our +government a sum which would have bought suitable houses in +several capitals, and would have given to each American +representative a proper staff of assistants. I have presented +this matter with reluctance, though I feel not the slightest +responsibility for my part in it. I do not think that any +right-minded man can blame me for it, any more than, in the +recent South African War, he could have blamed Lord Roberts, the +British general, if the latter had been sent to the Transvaal +with insufficient means, inadequate equipment, and an army far +inferior in numbers to that of his enemy. + +I am not at all in this matter "a man with a grievance"; for I +knew what American representatives had to expect, and was not +disappointed. My feeling is simply that of an American citizen +whose official life is past, and who can look back +dispassionately and tell the truth plainly. + +This case is presented simply in the hope that it will do +something to arouse thinking men in public life, and especially +in the Congress of the United States, to provide at least a +suitable house or apartment for the American representative in +each of the more important capitals of the world, as all other +great powers and many of the lesser nations have done. If I can +aid in bringing about this result, I care nothing for any +personal criticism which may be brought upon me. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +INTERCOURSE WITH RUSSIAN STATESMEN--1892-1894 + +To return to Sir Robert Morier. There had been some friction +between his family and that of one of my predecessors, and this +had for some time almost ended social intercourse between his +embassy and our legation; but on my arrival I ignored this, and +we established very satisfactory personal relations. He had held +important positions in various parts of Europe, and had been +closely associated with many of the most distinguished men of his +own and other countries. Reading Grant Duff's "Memoirs," I find +that Morier's bosom friend, of all men in the world, was Jowett, +the late head of Oriel College at Oxford. But Sir Robert was at +the close of his career; his triumph in the Behring Sea matter +was his last. I met him shortly afterward at his last visit to +the Winter Palace: with great effort he mounted the staircase, +took his position at the head of the diplomatic circle, and, +immediately after his conversation with the Emperor, excused +himself and went home. This was the last time I ever saw him; he +returned soon afterward to England and died. His successor, Sir +Frank Lascelles, more recently my colleague at Berlin, is a very +different character. His manner is winning, his experience large +and interesting, his first post having been at Paris during the +Commune, and his latest at Teheran. Our relations became, and +have ever since remained, all that I could desire. He, too, in +every post, is provided with all that is necessary for +accomplishing the purposes of Great Britain, and will doubtless +win great success for his country, though not in exactly the same +way as his predecessor. + +The French ambassador was the Comte de Montebello, evidently a +man of ability, but with perhaps less of the engaging qualities +than one generally expects in a French diplomatic representative. +The Turkish ambassador, Husny Pasha, like most Turkish +representatives whom I have met, had learned to make himself very +agreeable; but his position was rather trying: he had fought in +the Russo-Turkish War and had seen his country saved from the +most abject humiliation, if not destruction, only at the last +moment, by the Berlin Conference. His main vexation in St. +Petersburg arose from the religious feeling of the Emperor. Every +great official ceremony in Russia is prefaced, as a rule, by a +church service; hence Husny was excluded, since he felt bound to +wear the fez, and this the Emperor would not tolerate; though +there was really no more harm in his wearing this simple +head-gear in church than in a woman wearing her bonnet or a +soldier wearing his helmet. + +Interesting, too, was the Italian ambassador, Marochetti, son of +the eminent sculptor, some of whose artistic ability he had +inherited. He was fond of exercising this talent; but it was +generally understood that his recall was finally due to the fact +that his diplomatic work had suffered in consequence. + +The Austrian ambassador, Count Wolkenstein, was, in many things, +the most trustworthy of counselors; more than once, under trying +circumstances, I found his advice precious; for he knew, +apparently, in every court of Europe, the right man to approach, +and the right way to approach him, on every conceivable subject. + +Of the ministers plenipotentiary the Dutch representative, Van +Stoetwegen, was the best counselor I found. He was shrewd, keen, +and kindly; but his tongue was sharp--so much so that it finally +brought about his recall. He made a remark one day which +especially impressed me. I had said to him, "I have just sent a +despatch to my government declaring my skepticism as to the +probability of any war in Europe for a considerable time to come. +When I arrived in Berlin eleven years ago all the knowing people +said that a general European war must break out within a few +months: in the spring they said it must come in the autumn; and +in the autumn they said it must come in the spring. All these +years have passed and there is still no sign of war. We hear the +same prophecies daily, but I learned long since not to believe in +them. War may come, but it seems to me more and more unlikely." +He answered, "I think you are right. I advise my own government +in the same sense. The fact is that war in these days is not what +it once was; it is infinitely more dangerous from every point of +view, and it becomes more and more so every day. Formerly a +crowned head, when he thought himself aggrieved, or felt that he +would enjoy a campaign, plunged into war gaily. If he succeeded, +all was well; if not, he hauled off to repair damages,--very much +as a pugilist would do after receiving a black eye in a fist +fight,--and in a short time the losses were repaired and all went +on as before. In these days the case is different: it is no +longer a simple contest in the open, with the possibility of a +black eye or, at most, of a severe bruise; it has become a matter +of life and death to whole nations. Instead of being like a fist +fight, it is like a combat between a lot of champions armed with +poisoned daggers, and in a dark room; if once the struggle +begins, no one knows how many will be drawn into it or who will +be alive at the end of it; the probabilities are that all will be +injured terribly and several fatally. War in these days means the +cropping up of a multitude of questions dangerous not only to +statesmen but to monarchs, and even to society itself. Monarchs +and statesmen know this well; and, no matter how truculent they +may at times appear, they really dread war above all things." + +One of my colleagues at St. Petersburg was interesting in a very +different way from any of the others. This was Pasitch, the +Servian minister. He was a man of fine presence and, judging from +his conversation, of acute mind. He had some years before been +sentenced to death for treason, but since that had been prime +minister. Later he was again put on trial for his life at +Belgrade, charged with being a partner in the conspiracy which +resulted in the second attempt against the life of King Milan. +His speech before his judges, recently published, was an effort +worthy of a statesman, and carried the conviction to my mind that +he was not guilty.[3] + + +[3] He was found guilty, but escaped death by a bitter +humiliation: it was left for others to bring about Milan's +assassination. + + +The representatives of the extreme Orient were both interesting +personages, but the same difference prevailed there as elsewhere: +the Chinese was a mandarin, able to speak only through an +interpreter; the Japanese was trained in Western science, and +able to speak fluently both Russian and French. His successor, +whom I met at the Peace Conference of The Hague, spoke English +admirably. + +Among the secretaries and attaches, several were very +interesting; and of these was the first British secretary Henry +Howard, now Sir Henry Howard, minister at The Hague. He and his +American wife were among the most delightful of associates. +Another in this category was the Bavarian secretary, Baron +Guttenberg, whom I often met later at Berlin. When I spoke to him +about a visit I had made to Wurzburg, and the desecration of the +magnificent old Romanesque cathedral there by plastering its +whole interior over with nude angels, and substituting for the +splendid old mediaeval carving Louis Quinze woodwork in white and +gold, he said: "Yes; you are right; and it was a bishop of my +family who did it." + +As to Russian statesmen, I had the benefit of the fairly friendly +spirit which has usually been shown toward the American +representative in Russia by all in authority from the Emperor +down. I do not mean by this that the contentions of the American +Embassy are always met by speedy concessions, for among the most +trying of all things in diplomatic dealings with that country are +the long delays in all business; but a spirit is shown which, in +the long run, serves the purpose of our representative as regards +most questions. + +It seems necessary here to give a special warning against putting +any trust in the epigram which has long done duty as a piece of +politico-ethnological wisdom: "Scratch a Russian and you will +find a Tartar." It would be quite as correct to say, "Scratch an +American and you will find an Indian." The simple fact is that +the Russian officials with whom foreigners have to do are men of +experience, and, as a rule, much like those whom one finds in +similar positions in other parts of Europe. A foreign +representative has to meet on business, not merely the Russian +minister of foreign affairs and the heads of departments in the +Foreign Office, but various other members of the imperial +cabinet, especially the ministers of finance, of war, of the +navy, of the interior, of justice, as well as the chief municipal +authorities of St. Petersburg; and I can say that many of these +gentlemen, both as men and as officials, are the peers of men in +similar positions in most other countries which I have known. +Though they were at times tenacious in questions between their +own people and ours, and though they held political doctrines +very different from those we cherish, I am bound to say that most +of them did so in a way which disarmed criticism. At the same +time I must confess a conviction which has more and more grown +upon me, that the popular view regarding the power, vigor, and +foresight of Russian statesmen is ill-founded. And it must be +added that Russian officials and their families are very +susceptible to social influences: a foreign representative who +entertains them frequently and well can secure far more for his +country than one who trusts to argument alone. In no part of the +world will a diplomatist more surely realize the truth embedded +in Oxenstiern's famous utterance, "Go forth, my son, and see with +how little wisdom the world is governed." When one sees what +really strong men might do in Russia, what vast possibilities +there are which year after year are utterly neglected, one cannot +but think that the popular impression regarding the superiority +of Russian statesmen is badly based. As a matter of fact, there +has not been a statesman of the first class, of Russian birth, +since Catherine the Great, and none of the second class unless +Nesselrode and the Emperor Nicholas are to be excepted. To +consider Prince Gortchakoff a great chancellor on account of his +elaborate despatches is absurd. The noted epigram regarding him +is doubtless just: "C'est un Narcisse qui se mire dans son +encrier." + +To call him a great statesman in the time of Cavour Bismarck, +Lincoln, and Seward is preposterous. Whatever growth in +civilization Russia has made in the last forty years has been +mainly in spite of the men who have posed as her statesmen; the +atmosphere of Russian autocracy is fatal to greatness in any +form. + +The emancipation of the serfs was due to a policy advocated by +the first Nicholas and carried out under Alexander II; but it was +made possible mainly by Miloutine, Samarine, Tcherkassky, and +other subordinates, who never were allowed to approach the first +rank as state servants. This is my own judgment, founded on +observation and reading during half a century, and it is the +quiet judgment of many who have had occasion to observe Russia +longer and more carefully. + +Next, as to the Foreign Office. Nearly a hundred years ago +Napoleon compared Alexander I and those about him to "Greeks of +the Lower Empire." That saying was repelled as a slander; but, +ever since it was uttered, the Russian Foreign Office seems to +have been laboring to deserve it. There are chancelleries in the +world which, when they give promises, are believed and trusted. +Who, in the light of the last fifty years, would claim that the +Russian Foreign Office is among these? Its main reputation is for +astuteness finally brought to naught; it has constantly been "too +clever by half." + +Take the loudly trumpeted peace proposals to the world made by +Nicholas II. When the nations got together at The Hague to carry +out the Czar's supposed purpose, it was found that all was +haphazard; that no adequate studies had been made, no project +prepared; in fact, that the Emperor's government had virtually +done nothing showing any real intention to set a proper example. +Nothing but the high character and abilities of M. de Martens and +one or two of his associates saved the prestige of the Russian +Foreign Office at that time. Had there been a man of real power +in the chancellorship or in the ministry of foreign affairs, he +would certainly have advised the Emperor to dismiss to useful +employments, say, two hundred to two hundred and fifty thousand +troops, which he could have done without the slightest +danger--thus showing that he was in earnest, crippling the war +clique, and making the beginning of a great reform which all +Europe would certainly have been glad to follow. But there was +neither the wisdom nor the strength required to advise and carry +through such a measure. Deference to the "military party" and +petty fear of a loss of military prestige were all-controlling. + +Take the army and the navy departments. In these, if anywhere, +Russia has been thought strong. The main occupation of leading +Russians for a hundred years has been, not the steady uplifting +of the people in intellect and morals, not the vigorous +development of natural resources, but preparations for war on +land and sea. This has been virtually the one business of the +main men of light and leading from the emperors and grand dukes +down. Drill and parade have been apparently everything: the +strengthening of the empire by the education of the people, and +the building of industrial prosperity as a basis for a great army +and navy, seem to have been virtually nothing. The results are +now before the world for the third time since 1815. + +An objector may remind me of the emancipation of the serfs. I do +not deny the greatness and nobleness of Alexander II and the +services of the men he then called to his aid; but I lived in +Russia both before and since that reform, and feel obliged to +testify that, thus far, its main purpose has been so thwarted by +reactionaries that there is, as yet, little, if any, practical +difference between the condition of the Russian peasant before +and since obtaining his freedom. + +Take the dealings with Finland. The whole thing is monstrous. It +is both comedy and tragedy. Finland is by far the best-developed +part of the empire; it stands on a higher plane than do the other +provinces as regards every element of civilization; it has +steadily been the most loyal of all the realms of the Czar. +Nihilism and anarchism have never gained the slightest foothold; +yet to-day there is nobody in the whole empire strong enough to +prevent sundry bigots--military and ecclesiastical--leading the +Emperor to violate his coronation oath; to make the simple +presentation of a petition to him treasonable; to trample Finland +under his feet; to wrong grievously and insult grossly its whole +people; to banish and confiscate the property of its best men; to +muzzle its press; to gag its legislators; and thus to lower the +whole country to the level of the remainder of Russia. + +During my stay in Russia at the time of the Crimean War, I had +been interested in the Finnish peasants whom I saw serving on the +gunboats. There was a sturdiness, heartiness, and loyalty about +them which could not fail to elicit good-will; but during this +second stay in Russia my sympathies with them were more +especially enlisted. During the hot weather of the first summer +my family were at the Finnish capital, Helsingfors, at the point +where the Gulf of Finland opens into the Baltic. The whole people +deeply interested me. Here was one of the most important +universities of Europe, a noble public library, beautiful +buildings, and throughout the whole town an atmosphere of +cleanliness and civilization far superior to that which one finds +in any Russian city. Having been added to Russia by Alexander I +under his most solemn pledges that it should retain its own +constitutional government, it had done so up to the time of my +stay; and the results were evident throughout the entire grand +duchy. While in Russia there had been from time immemorial a +debased currency, the currency of Finland was as good as gold; +while in Russia all public matters bore the marks of arbitrary +repression, in Finland one could see the results of enlightened +discussion; while in Russia the peasant is but little, if any, +above Asiatic barbarism, the Finnish peasant--simple, genuine--is +clearly far better developed both morally and religiously. It is +a grief to me in these latter days to see that the measures which +were then feared have since been taken. There seems a +determination to grind down Finland to a level with Russia in +general. We heard, not long since, much sympathy expressed for +the Boers in South Africa in their struggle against England; but +infinitely more pathetic is the case of Finland. The little grand +duchy has done what it could to save itself, but it recognizes +the fact that its two millions of people are utterly powerless +against the brute force of the one hundred and twenty millions of +the Russian Empire. The struggle in South Africa meant, after +all, that if worst came to worst, the Boers would, within a +generation or two, enjoy a higher type of constitutional liberty +than they ever could have developed under any republic they could +have established; but Finland is now forced to give up her +constitutional government and to come under the rule of brutal +Russian satraps. These have already begun their work. All is to +be "Russified": the constitutional bodies are to be virtually +abolished; the university is to be brought down to the level of +Dorpat--once so noted as a German university, now so worthless as +a Russian university; for the simple Protestantism of the people +is to be substituted the fetishism of the Russo-Greek Church. It +is the saddest spectacle of our time. Previous emperors, however +much they wished to do so, did not dare break their oaths to +Finland; but the present weakling sovereign, in his indifference, +carelessness, and absolute unfitness to rule, has allowed the +dominant reactionary clique about him to accomplish its own good +pleasure. I put on record here the prophecy that his dynasty, if +not himself, will be punished for it. All history shows that no +such crime has gone unpunished. It is a far greater crime than +the partition of Poland; for Poland had brought her fate on +herself, while Finland has been the most loyal part of the +empire. Not even Moscow herself has been more thoroughly devoted +to Russia and the reigning dynasty. The young monarch whose +weakness has led to this fearful result will bring retribution +upon himself and those who follow him. The Romanoffs will yet +find that "there is a Power in the universe, not ourselves, which +makes for righteousness." The house of Hapsburg and its +satellites found this in the humiliating end of their reign in +Italy; the house of Valois found it, after the massacre of St. +Bartholomew, in their own destruction; the Bourbons found it, +after the driving out of the Huguenots and the useless wars of +Louis XIV and XV, in the French Revolution which ended their +dynasty. Both the Napoleons met their punishment after violating +the rights of human nature. The people of the United States, +after the Fugitive Slave Law, found their punishment in the Civil +War, which cost nearly a million of lives and, when all is +reckoned, ten thousand millions of treasure. + +When I talked with this youth before he came to the throne, and +saw how little he knew of his own empire,--how absolutely unaware +he was that the famine was continuing for a second year in +various important districts, there resounded in my ears, as so +often at other times, the famous words of Oxenstiern to his son, +"Go forth, my son, and see with how little wisdom the world is +governed." + +Pity to say it, the European sovereign to whom Nicholas II can be +most fully compared is Charles IX of France, under the influence +of his family and men and women courtiers and priests, +authorizing the massacre of St. Bartholomew. The punishment to be +meted out to him and his house is sure.[4] + + +[4] The above was written before the Russian war with Japan and +the assassinations of Bobrikoff, Plehve, and others were dreamed +of. My prophecy seems likely to be realized far earlier than I +had thought possible. + + + +As I revise these lines, we see another exhibition of the same +weakness and folly. The question between Russia and Japan could +have been easily and satisfactorily settled in a morning talk by +any two business men of average ability; but the dominant clique +has forced on one of the most terrible wars in history, which +bids fair to result in the greatest humiliation Russia has ever +known. + +The same thing may be said regarding Russia's dealings with the +Baltic provinces. The "Russification" which has been going on +there for some years is equally absurd, equally wicked, and sure +to be equally disastrous. + +The first Russian statesman with whom I had to do was the +minister of foreign affairs, M. de Giers; but he was dying. I saw +him twice in retirement at Tzarskoye Selo, and came to respect +him much. He spoke at length regarding the entente between Russia +and France, and insisted that it was not in the interest of war +but of peace. "Tell your government," he said, "that the closer +the lines are drawn which bind Russia and France, the more +strongly will Russian influence be used to hold back the French +from war." + +At another time he discoursed on the folly of war, and especially +regarding the recent conflict between Russia and Turkey. He spoke +of its wretched results, of the ingratitude which Russia had +experienced from the peoples she had saved from the Turks, and +finally, with extreme bitterness, of the vast sums of money +wasted in it which could have been used in raising the condition +of the Russian peasantry. He spoke with the conviction of a dying +man, and I felt that he was sincere. At the same time I felt it a +pity that under the Russian system there is no chance for such a +man really to enforce his ideas. For one day he may be in the +ascendancy with the autocrat; and the next, through the influence +of grand dukes, women, priests, or courtiers, the very opposite +ideas may become dominant. + +The men with whom I had more directly to do at the Foreign Office +were the acting minister, Shishkin, who had formerly been at +Washington, and the head of the Asiatic department, Count +Kapnist. They were agreeable in manner; but it soon became clear +that, regarding the question of the Behring seal-fisheries, they +were pursuing a policy of their own, totally distinct from the +interests of the empire. Peter the Great would have beheaded both +of them. + +The strongest man among the Czar's immediate advisers was +understood to be the finance minister, De Witte. There always +seemed in him a certain sullen force. The story usually told of +his rise in the world is curious. It is, in effect, that when the +Emperor Alexander II and his family were wrecked in their special +train at Borki, many of their attendants were killed; and the +world generally, including the immediate survivors of the +catastrophe, believed for some time that it was the result of a +nihilist plot. There was, therefore, a general sweeping into +prison of subordinat'e railway officials; and among these was De +Witte, then in charge of a railway station. During the +examinations which ensued he showed himself so clear-headed and +straightforward that he attracted attention was promoted, put +into the finance ministry, and finally advanced to the first +place in it. His dealings with Russian finances have since shown +great capacity: he has brought the empire out of the slough of +depreciated currency and placed it firmly on a gold basis. I came +especially to know him when he offered, through me, to the United +States a loan of gold to enable us to tide over our difficulties +with the currency question. He informed me that Russia had in her +treasury many millions of rubles in American gold eagles, and +that the Russian gold reserve then in the treasury was about six +hundred millions of rubles. + +The only result was that I was instructed to convey the thanks of +the President to him, there being no law enabling us to take +advantage of his offer. What he wished to do was to make a call +loan, whereas our Washington Government could obtain gold only by +issuing bonds. + +I also met him in a very interesting way when I presented to him +Rabbi Krauskopf of Philadelphia, who discussed the question of +allowing sundry Israelites who were crowded into the western +districts of the empire to be transferred to some of the less +congested districts, on condition that funds for that purpose be +furnished from their coreligionists in America. De Witte's +discussion of the whole subject was liberal and statesmanlike. +Unfortunately, there was, as I believe, a fundamental error in +his general theory, which is the old Russian idea at the bottom +of the autocracy--namely, that the State should own everything. +More and more he went on extending government ownership to the +railways, until the whole direction and management of them +virtually centered in his office. + +On this point he differed widely from his predecessor in the +finance ministry, Wischniegradsky. I had met the latter years +before, at the Paris Exposition, when he was at the head of the +great technical school in Moscow, and found him instructive and +interesting. Now I met him after his retirement from the finance +ministry. Calling on him one day, I said: "You will probably +build your trans-Siberian railway at a much less cost than we +were able to build our first trans-continental railway; you will +do it directly, by government funds, and so will probably not +have to make so many rich men as we did." His answer impressed me +strongly. He said: "As to a government building a railway more +cheaply than private individuals, I decidedly doubt; but I would +favor private individuals building it, even if the cost were +greater. I like to see rich men made; they are what Russia most +needs at this moment. What can capitalists do with their money? +They can't eat it or drink it: they have to invest it in other +enterprises; and such enterprises, to be remunerative, must meet +the needs of the people. Capitalists are far more likely to +invest their money in useful enterprises, and to manage these +investments well, than any finance minister can be, no matter how +gifted." + +That he was right the history of Russia is showing more and more +every day. To return to M. de Witte, it seemed strange to most +onlookers that the present Emperor threw him out of the finance +ministry, in which he had so greatly distinguished himself, and +shelved him in one of those bodies, such as the council of state +or the senate, which exist mainly as harbors or shelters for +dismissed functionaries. But really there was nothing singular +about it. As regards the main body at court, from the grand +dukes, the women, etc., down, he had committed the sin of which +Turgot and Necker were guilty when they sought to save France but +found that the women, princes, and favorites of poor Louis XVI's +family were determined to dip their hands into the state +treasury, and were too strong to be controlled. Ruin followed the +dismissal of Turgot and Necker then, and seems to be following +the dismissal of De Witte now: though as I revise this chapter +word comes that the Emperor has recalled him. + +No doubt Prince Khilkoff, who has come in as minister of internal +communications since my departure from Russia, is also a strong +man; but no functionary can take the place of a great body of +individuals who invest their own money in public works throughout +an entire nation. + +There was also another statesman in a very different field whom I +found exceedingly interesting,--a statesman who had gained a +power in the empire second to no other save the Emperor himself, +and had centered in himself more hatred than any other Russian of +recent times,--the former Emperor's tutor and virtual minister as +regards ecclesiastical affairs, Pobedonostzeff. His theories are +the most reactionary of all developed in modern times; and his +hand was then felt, and is still felt, in every part of the +empire, enforcing those theories. Whatever may be thought of his +wisdom, his patriotism is not to be doubted. Though I differ from +him almost totally, few men have so greatly interested me, and +one of the following chapters will be devoted to him. + +But there were some other so-called statesmen toward whom I had a +very different feeling. One of these was the minister of the +interior. Nothing could be more delusive than his manner. He +always seemed about to accede to the ideas of his interlocutor, +but he had one fundamental idea of his own, and only one; and +that was, evidently, never to do anything which he could possibly +avoid. He always seemed to me a sort of great jellyfish, looking +as if he had a mission to accomplish, but, on closer examination, +proving to be without consistency, and slippery. His theory +apparently was, "No act, no responsibility"; and throughout the +Russian Empire this principle of action, or, rather, of inaction, +appears to be very widely diffused. + +I had one experience with this functionary, who, I am happy to +say, has since been relieved of his position and shelved among +the do-nothings of the Russian senate, which showed me what he +was. Two American ladies of the best breeding and culture, and +bearing the most satisfactory letters of introduction, had been +staying in St. Petersburg, and had met, at my table and +elsewhere, some of the most interesting people in Russian +society. From St. Petersburg they had gone to Moscow; and, after +a pleasant stay there, had left for Vienna by way of Warsaw. +Returning home late at night, about a week afterward, I found an +agonizing telegram from them, stating that they had been stopped +at the Austrian frontier and sent back fifty miles to a dirty +little Russian village; that their baggage had all gone on to +Vienna; that, there being no banker in the little hamlet where +they were, their letter of credit was good for nothing; that all +this was due to the want of the most trivial of formalities in a +passport; that they had obtained all the vises supposed to be +needed at St. Petersburg and at Moscow; and that, though the +American consul at Warsaw had declared these to be sufficient to +take them out of the empire, they had been stopped by a petty +Russian official because they had no vise from the Warsaw police. + +Early next morning I went to the minister of the interior, +presented the case to him, told him all about these +ladies,--their high standing, the letters they had brought, the +people they had met,--assured him that nothing could be further +from possibility than the slightest tendency on their part toward +any interference with the Russian Government, and asked him to +send a telegram authorizing their departure. He was most profuse +in his declarations of his willingness to help. Nothing in the +world, apparently, would give him more pleasure; and, though +there was a kind of atmosphere enveloping his talk which I did +not quite like, I believed that the proper order would be given. +But precious time went on, and again came telegrams from the +ladies that nothing was done. Again I went to the minister to +urge the matter upon his attention; again he assumed the same +jellyfish condition, pleasing but evasive. Then I realized the +situation; went at once to the prefect of St. Petersburg, General +von Wahl, although it was not strictly within his domain; and he, +a man of character and vigor, took the necessary measures and the +ladies were released. + +Like so many other persons whom I have known who came into Russia +and were delighted with it during their whole stay, these ladies +returned to America most bitter haters of the empire and of +everything within it. + +As to Von Wahl, who seemed to me one of the very best Russian +officials I met, he has since met reward for his qualities: from +the Czar a transfer to a provincial governorship, and from the +anarchists a bullet which, though intended to kill him, only +wounded him. + +Many were the sufferers from this feature in Russian +administration--this shirking of labor and responsibility. Among +these was a gentleman belonging to one of the most honored +Russian families, who was greatly devoted to fruit-culture, and +sought to bring the products of his large estates in the south of +Russia into Moscow and St. Petersburg. He told me that he had +tried again and again, but the officials shrugged their shoulders +and would not take the trouble; that finally he had induced them +to give him a freight-car and to bring a load of fruit to St. +Petersburg as soon as possible; but, though the journey ought to +have taken only three or four days, it actually took several +weeks; and, of course, all the fruit was spoiled. As I told him +of the fruit-trains which bring the products of California across +our continent and distribute them to the Atlantic ports, even +enabling them to be found fresh in the markets of London, he +almost shed tears. This was another result of state control of +railways. As a matter of fact, there is far more and better fruit +to be seen on the tables of artisans in most American towns, +however small, than in the lordliest houses of Moscow and St. +Petersburg; and this solely because in our country energetic men +conduct transportation with some little ambition to win public +approval and patronage, while in Russia a horde of state +officials shirk labor and care as much as possible. + +Still another sufferer was a very energetic man who had held +sundry high positions, but was evidently much discouraged. He +showed me specimens of various rich ores from different parts of +the empire, but lamented that there was no one to take hold of +the work of bringing out these riches. It was perfectly clear +that with the minister of the interior at that time, as in sundry +other departments, the great question was "how not to do it." +Evidently this minister and functionaries like him felt that if +great enterprises and industries were encouraged, they would +become so large as to be difficult to manage; hence, that it +would be more comfortable to keep things within as moderate +compass as possible. + +To this easy-going view of public duty there were a few notable +exceptions. While De Witte was the most eminent of these, there +was one who has since become sadly renowned, and who, as I revise +these lines, has just perished by the hand of an assassin. This +official was De Plehve, who, during my acquaintance with him, was +only an undersecretary in the interior department, but was +taking, apparently, all the important duties from his superior, +M. Dournovo. At various times I met him to discuss the status of +sundry American insurance companies in Russia, and was favorably +impressed by his insight, vigor, and courtesy. It was, therefore, +a surprise to me when, on becoming a full minister, he bloomed +out as a most bitter, cruel, and evidently short-sighted +reactionary. The world stood amazed at the murderous cruelties +against the Jews at Kishineff, which he might easily have +prevented; and nothing more cruel or short-sighted than his +dealings with Finland has been known since Louis XIV revoked the +Edict of Nantes. I can only explain his course by supposing that +he sought to win the favor of the reactionary faction which, up +to the present time, has controlled the Czar, and thus to fight +his way toward the highest power. He made of the most loyal and +happy part of the empire the most disloyal and wretched; he +pitted himself against the patriotism, the sense of justice, and +all the highest interests and sentiments of the Finnish people; +and he met his death at the hands of an avenger, who, in +destroying the enemy of his country, has struck a fearful blow at +his country's happiness. + +While a thoughtful American must condemn much which he sees in +Russia, there is one thing which he cannot but admire and +contrast to the disadvantage of his own country; and this is the +fact that Russia sets a high value upon its citizenship. Its +value, whatever it may be, is the result of centuries of +struggles, of long outpourings of blood and treasure; and +Russians believe that it has been bought at too great a price and +is in every way too precious to be lavished and hawked about as a +thing of no value. On the other hand, when one sees how the +citizenship of the United States, which ought to be a millionfold +more precious than that of Russia, is conferred loosely upon tens +of thousands of men absolutely unfit to exercise it,--whose +exercise of it seems, at times, likely to destroy republican +government; when one sees the power of conferring it granted to +the least respectable class of officials at the behest of ward +politicians, without proper safeguards and at times without any +regard to the laws; when one sees it prostituted by men of the +most unfit class,--and, indeed, of the predatory class,--who have +left Europe just long enough to obtain it, and then left America +in order to escape the duties both of their native and their +adopted country, and to avail themselves of the privileges of +both citizenships without one thought of the duties of either, +using them often in careers of scoundrelism,--one feels that +Russia is nearer the true ideal in this respect than we are. + +As a matter of fact, there is with us no petty joint-stock +company in which an interest is not virtually held to be superior +to this citizenship of ours for which such sacrifices have been +made, and for which so many of our best men have laid down their +lives. No stockholder in the pettiest manufacturing company +dreams of admitting men to share in it unless they show their +real fitness to be thus admitted; but admission to American +citizenship is surrounded by no such safeguards: it has been +cheapened and prostituted until many who formerly revered it have +come to scoff at it. From this evil, at least, Russia is free. + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +"ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS OF MEN" IN RUSSIA--1892-1894 + +Still another department which interested me was that known as +the "Ministry of Public Enlightenment," its head being Count +Delyanoff. He was certainly a man of culture; but the title of +his department was a misnomer, for its duty was clearly to +prevent enlightenment in the public at large. The Russian theory +is, evidently, that a certain small number should be educated up +to a certain point for the discharge of their special duties; but +that, beyond this, anything like the general education of the +people is to be discouraged; hence the Russian peasant is the +most ignorant and helpless in Christendom. + +There was evidently a disposition among very many of the most +ardent Russians to make a merit of this imperfect civilization, +and to cultivate hatred for any people whom they clearly saw +possessing anything better: hence it came that, just as so many +Frenchmen hate Great Britain, and so many in the backward, +slipshod regions of our country hate New England, it was quite +the fashion among large classes of Russians to hate everything +German, and especially to detest the Baltic provinces. + +One evening during my stay a young Russian at a social gathering +of military and other officials voiced this feeling by saying, "I +hope the time will soon come when we shall have cleared out all +these Germans from the Russian service; they are the curse of the +country." Thereupon a young American present, who was especially +noted for his plain speaking, immediately answered, "How are you +going to do it? I notice that, as a rule, you rarely give a +position which really involves high responsibility to a Russian; +you generally give it to a German. When the Emperor goes to the +manoeuvers, does he dare trust his immediate surroundings to a +Russian? Never; he intrusts them to General Richter, who is a +Baltic-Province German. And when his Majesty is here in town does +he dare trust his personal safety to a Russian? Not at all; he +relies on Von Wahl, prefect of St. Petersburg, another German." +And so this plain-spoken American youth went on with a full +catalogue of leading Baltic-Province Germans in positions of the +highest responsibility, finally saying, "You know as well as I +that if the salvation of the Emperor depended on any one of you, +and you should catch sight of a pretty woman, you would instantly +forget your sovereign and run after her." + +Richter and Von Wahl I knew, and they were certainly men whom one +could respect,--thoughtful, earnest, devoted to duty. Whenever +one saw the Emperor at a review, Richter was close at hand; +whenever their Majesties were at the opera, or in any public +place, there was Von Wahl with his eyes fastened upon them. + +The young American might now add that when a man was needed to +defend Port Arthur another German was chosen--Stoessel, whose +heroism the whole world is now applauding, as it once applauded +Todleben, the general of German birth who carried off the Russian +laurels of the Crimean War. + +One Russian official for whom there seemed to be deep and wide +respect was Count Woronzoff-Daschkoff; and I think that our +irrepressible American would have made an exception in his favor. +Calling upon him one day regarding the distribution of American +relief to famine-stricken peasants, I was much impressed by his +straightforward honesty: he was generally credited with stopping +the time-honored pilfering and plundering at the Winter Palace. + +One of the most interesting of all the Russians I met was General +Annenkoff. His brother-in-law, Struve, Russian minister at +Washington, having given me a letter to him, our relations became +somewhat close. He had greatly distinguished himself by building +the trans-Caucasian railway, but his main feat had been the +annexation of Bokhara. The story, as told me by a member of his +family, is curious. While superintending his great force of men +and pushing on the laying of the rails through the desert, his +attention was suddenly called to some horsemen in the distance, +riding toward him with all their might. On their arrival their +leader was discovered to be a son of the Ameer of Bokhara. That +potentate having just died, the other sons were trying to make +their way to the throne by cutting each other's throats, but this +one had thought it wise to flee to the Russians for safety. +Annenkoff saw the point at once: with a large body of his cavalry +he started immediately for Bokhara, his guest by his side; pushed +his way through all obstacles; seated the young prince on the +throne; and so made him a Russian satrap. I shall speak later of +the visit of this prince to St. Petersburg. It was evident that +Annenkoff, during my stay, was not in favor. It was said that he +had been intrusted with large irrigation-works in order to give +employment to peasants during the famine, and that he had not +managed them well; but it was clear that this was not the main +difficulty: he was evidently thought too progressive and liberal, +and in that seething caldron of intrigue which centers at the +Winter Palace his ambitions had come to grief. + +Another Russian who interested me was Glalkin Wraskoy. He was +devoted, night and day, to improving the Russian prison system. +That there was much need of such work was certain; but the fact +that this personage in government employ was so devoted to +improvements, and had called together in Russia a convention of +men interested in the amelioration of prison systems, led me to +think that the Russian Government is not so utterly and wilfully +cruel in its prison arrangements as the Western world has been +led to think. + +Another interesting Russian was Count Orloff Davidoff; and on my +meeting him, just after his return from the Chicago Exposition, +at General Annenkoff's table, he entertained me with his +experiences. On my asking him what was the most amusing thing he +had seen in America, he answered that it was a "sacred concert," +on Sunday, at a church in Colorado Springs, in which the music of +Strauss's waltzes and Offenbach's comic songs were leading +features, the audience taking them all very solemnly. + +In the literary direction I found Prince John Galitzin's readings +from French dramas delightful. As to historical studies, the most +interesting man I found was Professor Demetrieff, who was brought +to my house by Pobedonostzeff. I had been reading Billbassoff's +"Life of the Empress Catherine"; and, on my asking some questions +regarding it, the professor said that at the death of the +Empress, her son, the Emperor Paul, intrusted the examination of +her papers to Rostopchine, who, on going through them, found a +casket containing letters and the like, which she had evidently +considered especially precious, and among these a letter from +Orloff, giving the details of the murder of her husband, Peter +III, at Ropscha. The letter, in substance, stated that Orloff and +his associates, having attempted to seize Peter, who was +evidently on his way to St. Petersburg to imprison the Empress +Catherine,--if not to put her to death,--the Emperor had +resisted; and that finally, in the struggle, he had been killed. +Professor Demetrieff then said that the Emperor Paul showed these +papers to his sons Alexander and Nicholas, who afterward +succeeded him on the throne, and expressed his devout +thankfulness that the killing of Peter III was not intentional, +and therefore that their grandmother was not a murderess. + +This reminds me that, at my first visit to St. Petersburg, I +often passed, during my walks, the old palace of Paul, and that +there was one series of windows carefully barred: these belonging +to the rooms in which the Emperor Paul himself was assassinated +in order to protect the life of his son Alexander and of the +family generally. + +Another Russian, Prince Serge Wolkonsky, was certainly the most +versatile man I have ever known: a playwright, an actor, an +essayist, an orator, a lecturer, and admirable in each of these +capacities. At a dinner given me, just before my departure from +St. Petersburg, by the Russians who had taken part in the Chicago +Exposition, I was somewhat troubled by the fact that the speeches +of the various officials were in Russian, and that, as I so +imperfectly understood them, I could not know what line to take +when my own speech came; but presently the chairman, Minister +Delyanoff, called upon young Prince Serge, who came forward very +modestly and, in admirable English, gave a summary of the whole +series of Russian speeches for my benefit, concluding with an +excellent speech of his own. His speeches and addresses at +Chicago were really remarkable; and, when he revisited America, +his lectures on Russian literature at Cornell University, at +Washington, and elsewhere, were worthy of the College de France. +This young man could speak fluently and idiomatically, not only +his own language, but English, French, German, Italian, and I +know not how many other tongues. + +To meet scientific men of note my wont was to visit the Latin +Quarter; and there, at the house of Professor Woeikoff of St. +Petersburg University, I met, at various times, a considerable +body of those best worth knowing. One of those who made an +especially strong impression upon me was Admiral Makharoff. +Recently has come news of his death while commanding the Russian +fleet at Port Arthur--his flag-ship, with nearly all on board, +sunk by a torpedo. At court, in the university quarter, and later +at Washington, I met him often, and rated him among the +half-dozen best Russians I ever knew. Having won fame as a +vigorous and skilful commander in the Turkish war, he was +devoting himself to the scientific side of his profession. He had +made a success of his colossal ice-breaker in various northern +waters, and was now giving his main thoughts to the mapping out, +on an immense scale, of all the oceans, as regards winds and +currents. As explained by him, with quiet enthusiasm, it seemed +likely to be one of the greatest triumphs of the inductive method +since Lord Bacon. With Senator Semenoff and Prince Gregory +Galitzin I had very interesting talks on their Asiatic travels, +and was greatly impressed by the simplicity and strength of +Mendeleieff, who is certainly to-day one of two or three foremost +living authorities in chemistry. Although men of science, unless +they hold high official positions, are not to be seen at court, I +was glad to find that there were some Russian nobles who +appreciated them; and an admirable example of this was once shown +at my own house. It was at a dinner, when there was present a +young Russian of very high lineage; and I was in great doubt as +to the question of precedence, this being a matter of grave +import under the circumstances. At last my wife went to the +nobleman himself and asked him frankly regarding it. His answer +did him credit: he said, "I should be ashamed to take precedence +here of a man like Mendeleieff, who is an honor to Russia in the +eyes of the whole world; and I earnestly hope that he may be +given the first place." + +There were also various interesting women in St. Petersburg +society, the reception afternoons of two of them being especially +attractive: they were, indeed, in the nature of the French salons +under the old regime. + +One of these ladies--the Princess Wolkonsky--seemed to interest +all men not absorbed in futilities; and the result was that one +heard at her house the best men in St. Petersburg discussing the +most interesting questions. + +The other was the Austrian ambassadress, Countess Wolkenstein, +whom I had slightly known, years before, as Countess Schleinitz, +wife of the minister of the royal household at Berlin. On her +afternoons one heard the best talk by the most interesting men; +and it was at the salons of these two ladies that there took +place the conversations which I have recorded in my "History of +the Warfare of Science," showing the development of a legend +regarding the miraculous cure of the Archbishop of St. Petersburg +by Father Ivan of Cronstadt. + +Another place which especially attracted me was the house of +General Ignatieff, formerly ambassador at Constantinople, where, +on account of his alleged want of scruples in bringing on the war +with Russia, he received the nickname "Mentir Pasha." His wife +was the daughter of Koutousoff, the main Russian opponent of +Napoleon in 1812; and her accounts of Russia in her earlier days +and of her life in Constantinople were at times fascinating. + +I remember meeting at her house, on one occasion, the Princess +Ourousoff, who told me that the Emperor Alexander had said to +her, "I wish that every one could see Sardou's play 'Thermidor' +and discover what revolution really is"; and that she had +answered, "Revolutions are prepared long before they break out." +That struck me as a very salutary bit of philosophy, which every +Russian monarch would do well to ponder. + +The young Princess Radzivill was also especially attractive. In +one of her rooms hung a portrait of Balzac, taken just after +death, and it was most striking. This led her to give me very +interesting accounts of her aunt, Madame de Hanska, to whom +Balzac wrote his famous letters, and whom he finally married. I +met at her house another lady of high degree, to whom my original +introduction had been somewhat curious. Dropping in one afternoon +at the house of Henry Howard, the British first secretary, I met +in the crowd a large lady, simply dressed, whom I had never seen +before. Being presented to her, and not happening to catch her +name, I still talked on, and found that she had traveled, first +in Australia, then in California, thence across our continent to +New York; and her accounts of what she had seen interested me +greatly. But some little time afterward I met her again at the +house of Princess Radzivill, and then found that she was the +English Duchess of Buckingham. One day I had been talking with +the Princess and her guest on the treasures of the Imperial +Library, and especially the wonderful collection of autographs, +among them the copy-book of Louis XIV when a child, which showed +the pains taken to make him understand, even in his boyhood, that +he was an irresponsible autocrat. On one of its pages the line to +be copied ran as follows: + +L'hommage est du aux Roys, ils font ce qu'il leur plaist.--LOUIS. + +Under this the budding monarch had written the same words six +times, with childish care to keep the strokes straight and the +spaces regular. My account of this having led the princess to ask +me to take her and her friend to the library and to show them +some of these things, I gladly agreed, wrote the director, +secured an appointment for a certain afternoon, and when the time +came called for the ladies. But a curious contretemps arose. I +had met, the day before, two bright American ladies, and on their +asking me about the things best worth seeing, I had especially +recommended them to visit the Imperial Library. On arriving at +the door with the princess and the duchess, I was surprised to +find that no preparations had been made to meet us,--in fact, +that our coming seemed to be a matter of surprise; and a +considerable time elapsed before the director and other officials +came to us. Then I learned what the difficulty was. The two +American ladies, in perfectly good faith, had visited the library +a few hours before; and, on their saying that the American +minister had recommended them to come, it had been taken for +granted at once that THEY were the princess and the duchess, and +they had been shown everything with almost regal honors, the +officials never discovering the mistake until our arrival. + +The American colony at St. Petersburg was very small. Interesting +compatriots came from time to time on various errands, and I was +glad to see them; but one whose visits were most heartily +welcomed was a former consul, Mr. Prince, an original, shrewd +"down-easter," and his reminiscences of some of my predecessors +were full of interest to me. + +One especially dwells in my mind. It had reference to a former +senator of the United States who, about the year 1840, was sent +to Russia as minister. There were various evidences in the +archives of the legation that sobriety was not this gentleman's +especial virtue, and among them very many copies of notes in +which the minister, through the secretary of legation, excused +himself from keeping engagements at the Foreign Office on the +ground of "sudden indisposition." + +Mr. Prince told me that one day this minister's valet, who was an +Irishman, came to the consulate and said: "Oi 'll not stay wid +his igsillincy anny longer; Oi 've done wid him." + +"What's the trouble now?' said Mr. Prince. + +"Well," said the man, "this morning Oi thought it was toime to +get his igsillincy out of bed, for he had been dhrunk about a +week and in bed most of the toime; and so Oi went to him, and +says Oi, gentle-loike, 'Would your igsillincy have a cup of +coffee?' whin he rose up and shtruck me in the face. On that Oi +took him by the collar, lifted him out of bed, took him acrass +the room, showed him his ugly face in the glass, and Oi said to +him, says Oi, 'Is thim the eyes of an invoy extraorr-rrdinarry +and ministher plinipotentiarry?'" + +Among interesting reminders of my predecessors was a letter in +the archives, written about the year 1832 by Mr. Buchanan, +afterward senator, minister in London, Secretary of State, and +President of the United States. It was a friendly missive to an +official personage in our country, and went on somewhat as +follows: "I feel almost ashamed to tell you that your letters to +me, mine to you, and, indeed, everything that has come and gone +between us by mail, has been read by other eyes than ours. This +was true of your last letter to me, and, without doubt, it will +be true of this letter. Can you imagine it? Think of the moral +turpitude of a creature employed to break open private letters +and to read them! Can you imagine work more degrading? What a +dirty dog he must be! how despicable, indeed, he must seem to +himself!" And so Mr. Buchanan went on until he wound up as +follows: "Not only does this person read private letters, but he +is a forger: he forges seals, and I regret to say that his +imitation of the eagle on our legation seal is a VERY SORRY +BIRD." Whether this dose had any salutary effect on the official +concerned I never learned. + +The troubles of an American representative at St. Petersburg are +many, and they generally begin with the search for an apartment. +It is very difficult indeed in that capital to find a properly +furnished suite of rooms for a minister, and since the American +representative has been made an ambassador this difficulty is +greater than ever. In my own case, by especial luck and large +outlay, I was able to surmount it; but many others had not been +so fortunate, and the result had generally been that, whereas +nearly every other power owned or held on long lease a house or +apartment for its representative,--simple, decent, dignified, and +known to the entire city,--the American representative had lived +wherever circumstances compelled him:--sometimes on the +ground-floor and sometimes in a sky-parlor, with the natural +result that Russians could hardly regard the American Legation as +on the same footing with that of other countries. + +As I write, word comes that the present ambassador has been +unable to find suitable quarters save at a rent higher than his +entire salary; that the proprietors have combined, and agreed to +stand by each other in holding their apartments at an enormous +figure, their understanding being that Americans are rich and can +be made to pay any price demanded. Nothing can be more +short-sighted than the policy of our government in this respect, +and I shall touch upon it again. + +The diplomatic questions between the United States and Russia +were many and troublesome; for, in addition to that regarding the +Behring Sea fisheries, there were required additional +interpretations of the Buchanan treaty as to the rights of +Americans to hold real estate and to do business in Russia; +arrangements for the participation of Russians in the Chicago +Exposition; the protection of various American citizens of +Russian birth, and especially of Israelites who had returned to +Russia; care for the great American life-insurance interests in +the empire; the adjustment of questions arising out of Russian +religious relations with Alaska and the islands of the Northern +Pacific; and last, but not least, the completion of the +extradition treaty between the two nations by the incorporation +of safeguards which would prevent its use against purely +political offenders. + +Especial attention to Israelite cases was also required. Some of +these excited my deep sympathy; and, having made a very careful +study of the subject, I wrote to Secretary Gresham a despatch +upon it in obedience to his special request. It was the longest +despatch I have ever written; and, in my apology to the secretary +for its length I stated that it was prepared with no expectation +that he would find time to read it, but with the idea that it +might be of use at the State Department for reference. In due +time I received a very kind answer stating that he had read every +word of it, and thanked me most heartily for--it. The whole +subject is exceedingly difficult; but it is clear that Russia has +made, and is making, a fearful mistake in her way of dealing with +it. There are more Israelites in Russia than in all the remainder +of the world; and they are crowded together, under most +exasperating regulations, in a narrow district just inside her +western frontier, mainly extending through what was formerly +Poland, with the result that fanaticism--Christian on one side +and Jewish on the other--has developed enormously. The Talmudic +rabbis are there at their worst; and the consequences are evil, +not only for Russia, but for our own country. The immigration +which comes to us from these regions is among the very worst that +we receive from any part of the world. It is, in fact, an +immigration of the unfittest; and, although noble efforts have +been made by patriotic Israelites in the United States to meet +the difficulty, the results have been far from satisfactory. + +There were, of course, the usual adventurous Americans in +political difficulties, enterprising Americans in business +difficulties, and pretended Americans attempting to secure +immunity under the Stars and Stripes. The same ingenious efforts +to prostitute American citizenship which I had seen during my +former stay in Germany were just as constant in Russia. It was +the same old story. Emigrants from the Russian Empire, most of +them extremely undesirable, had gone to the United States; stayed +just long enough to secure naturalization,--had, indeed, in some +cases secured it fraudulently before they had stayed the full +time; and then, having returned to Russia, were trying to +exercise the rights and evade the duties of both countries. + +Many of these cases were exceedingly vexatious; and so, indeed, +were some which were better founded. The great difficulty of a +representative of the United States in Russia is, first, that the +law of the empire is so complicated that,--to use the words of +King James regarding Bacon's "Novum Organum,"--"Like the Peace of +God, it passeth all understanding." It is made up of codes in +part obsolete or obsolescent; ukases and counter-ukases; imperial +directions and counter-directions; ministerial orders and +counter-orders; police regulations and counter-regulations; with +no end of suspensions, modifications, and exceptions. + +The second difficulty is the fact that the Buchanan treaty of +1832, which guaranteed, apparently, everything desirable to +American citizens sojourning in the empire, has been gradually +construed away until its tattered remnants are practically +worthless. As the world has discovered, Russia's strong point is +not adherence to her treaty promises. + +In this respect there is a great difference between Russia and +Germany. With the latter we have made careful treaties, the laws +are well known, and the American representative feels solid +ground beneath his feet; but in Russia there is practically +nothing of the kind, and the representative must rely on the main +principles of international law, common sense, and his own powers +of persuasion. + +A peculiar duty during my last stay in St. Petersburg was to +watch the approach of cholera, especially on the Persian +frontier. Admirable precautions had been taken for securing +telegraphic information; and every day I received notices from +the Foreign Office as a result, which I communicated to +Washington. For ages Russia had relied on fetishes of various +kinds to preserve her from great epidemics; but at last her +leading officials had come to realize the necessity of applying +modern science to the problem, and they did this well. In the +city "sanitary columns" were established, made up of small squads +of officials representing the medical and engineering professions +and the police; these visited every nook and corner of the town, +and, having extraordinary powers for the emergency, compelled +even the most dirty people to keep their premises clean. +Excellent hospitals and laboratories were established, and of +these I learned much from a former Cornell student who held an +important position in one of them. Coming to town three or four +times a week from my summer cottage in Finland, I was struck by +the precautions on the Finnish and other railways: notices of +what was to be done to prevent cholera and to meet it were +posted, in six different languages; disinfectants were made +easily accessible; the seats and hangings in the railway-cars +were covered with leather cloth frequently washed with +disinfectants; and to the main trains a hospital-car was +attached, while a temporary hospital, well equipped, was +established at each main station. In spite of this, the number of +cholera patients at St. Petersburg in the middle of July rose to +a very high figure, and the number of deaths each day from +cholera was about one hundred. + +Of these victims the most eminent was Tschaikovsky, the composer, +a man of genius and a most charming character, to whom Mr. Andrew +Carnegie had introduced me at New York. One evening at a +dinner-party he poured out a goblet of water from a decanter on +the table, drank it down, and next day was dead from Asiatic +cholera. But, with this exception, the patients were, so far as I +learned, almost entirely from the peasant class. Although boiled +water was supplied for drinking purposes, and some +public-spirited individuals went so far as to set out samovars +and the means of supplying hot tea to peasant workmen, the answer +of one of the muzhiks, when told that he ought to drink boiled +water, indicated the peasant view: "If God had wished us to drink +hot water, he would have heated the Neva." + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +MY RECOLLECTIONS OF POBEDONOSTZEFF--1892-1894 + +On arriving at St. Petersburg in 1892 to take charge of the +American legation, there was one Russian whom I more desired to +meet than any other--Constantine Pobedonostzeff. For some years +various English and American reviews had been charging him with +bigotry, cruelty, hypocrisy, and, indeed, with nearly every +hateful form of political crime; but the fact remained that under +Alexander III he was the most influential personage in the +empire, and that, though bearing the title of "procurator-general +of the Most Holy Synod," he was evidently no less powerful in +civil than in ecclesiastical affairs. + +As to his history, it was understood to be as follows: When the +Grand Duke Nicholas, the eldest son of Alexander II,--a young man +of gentle characteristics, greatly resembling his father,--died +upon the Riviera, the next heir to the throne was his brother +Alexander, a stalwart, taciturn guardsman, respected by all who +knew him for honesty and directness, but who, having never looked +forward to the throne, had been brought up simply as a soldier, +with few of the gifts and graces traditional among the heirs of +the Russian monarchy since the days of Catherine. + +Therefore it was that it became necessary to extemporize for this +soldier a training which should fit him for the duties of the +position so unexpectedly opened to him; and the man chosen as his +tutor was a professor at Moscow, distinguished as a jurist and +theologian,--a man of remarkable force of character, and devoted +to Russian ideas as distinguished from those of Western Europe: +Constantine Pobedonostzeff. + +During the dark and stormy days toward the end of his career, +Alexander II had called in as his main adviser General +Loris-Melikoff, a man of Armenian descent, in whom was mingled +with the shrewd characteristics of his race a sincere desire to +give to Russia a policy and development in accordance with modern +ideas. + +The result the world knows well. The Emperor, having taken the +advice of this and other councilors,--deeply patriotic men like +Miloutine, Samarine, and Tcherkassky,--had freed the serfs within +his empire (twenty millions in all); had sanctioned a vast scheme +by which they were to arrive at the possession of landed +property; had established local self-government in the various +provinces of his empire; had improved the courts of law; had +introduced Western ideas into legal procedure; had greatly +mitigated the severities formerly exercised toward the Jews; and +had made all ready to promulgate a constitution on his +approaching birthday. + +But this did not satisfy the nihilistic sect. What more they +wanted it is hard to say. It is more than doubtful whether Russia +even then had arrived at a stage of civilization when the +institutions which Alexander II had already conceded could be +adopted with profit; but the leaders of the anarchic movement, +with their vague longings for fruit on the day the tree was +planted, decreed the Emperor's death--the assassination of the +greatest benefactor that Russia has ever known, one of the +greatest that humanity has known. It was, perhaps, the most +fearful crime ever committed against liberty and freedom; for it +blasted the hopes and aspirations of over a hundred millions of +people, and doubtless for many generations. + +On this the sturdy young guardsman became the Emperor Alexander +III. It is related by men conversant with Russian affairs that, +at the first meeting of the imperial councilors, Loris-Melikoff, +believing that the young sovereign would be led by filial +reverence to continue the liberal policy to which the father had +devoted his life, made a speech taking this for granted, and that +the majority of those present, including the Emperor, seemed in +accord with him; when suddenly there arose a tall, gaunt, +scholarly man, who at first very simply, but finally very +eloquently, presented a different view. According to the +chroniclers of the period, Pobedonostzeff told the Emperor that +all so-called liberal measures, including the constitution, were +a delusion; that, though such things might be suited to Western +Europe, they were not suited to Russia; that the constitution of +that empire had been, from time immemorial, the will of the +autocrat, directed by his own sense of responsibility to the +Almighty; that no other constitution was possible in Russia; that +this alone was fitted to the traditions, the laws, the ideas of +the hundred and twenty millions of various races under the +Russian scepter; that in other parts of the world constitutional +liberty, so called, had already shown itself an absurdity; that +socialism, anarchism, and nihilism, with their plots and bombs, +were appearing in all quarters; that murder was plotted against +rulers of nations everywhere, the best of presidents having been +assassinated in the very country where free institutions were +supposed to have taken the most complete hold; that the principle +of authority in human government was to be saved; and that this +principle existed as an effective force only in Russia. + +This speech is said to have carried all before it. As its +immediate result came the retirement of Loris-Melikoff, followed +by his death not long afterward; the entrance of Pobedonostzeff +among the most cherished councilors of the Emperor; the +suppression of the constitution; the discouragement of every +liberal tendency; and that fanatical reaction which has been in +full force ever since. + +This was the man whom I especially desired to see and to +understand; and therefore it was that I was very glad to receive +from the State Department instructions to consult with him +regarding some rather delicate matters needing adjustment between +the Greek Church and our authorities in Alaska, and also in +relation to the representation of Russia at the Chicago +Exposition. + +I found him, as one of the great ministers of the crown, residing +in a ministerial palace, but still retaining, in large measure, +his old quality of professor. About him was a beautiful library, +with every evidence of a love for art and literature. I had gone +into his presence with many feelings of doubt. Against no one in +Russia had charges so bitter been made in my hearing: it was +universally insisted that he was responsible for the persecution +of the Roman Catholics in Poland, of the Lutherans in the Baltic +provinces and in Finland, of the Stundists in Central Russia, and +of the dissenting sects everywhere. He had been spoken of in the +English reviews as the "Torquemada of the nineteenth century," +and this epithet seemed to be generally accepted as fitting. + +I found him a scholarly, kindly man, ready to discuss the +business which I brought before him, and showing a wide interest +in public affairs. There were few, if any, doctrines, either +political or theological, which we held in common, but he seemed +inclined to meet the wishes of our government as fully and fairly +as he could; and thus was begun one of the most interesting +acquaintances I have ever made. + +His usual time of receiving his friends was on Sunday evening +between nine and twelve; and very many such evenings I passed in +his study, discussing with him, over glasses of fragrant Russian +tea, every sort of question with the utmost freedom. + +I soon found that his reasons for that course of action to which +the world so generally objects are not so superficial as they are +usually thought. The repressive policy which he has so earnestly +adopted is based not merely upon his views as a theologian, but +upon his convictions as a statesman. While, as a Russo-Greek +churchman, he regards the established church of the empire as the +form of Christianity most primitive and pure; and while he sees +in its ritual, in its art, and in all the characteristics of its +worship the nearest approach to his ideals, he looks at it also +from the point of view of a statesman--as the greatest cementing +power of the vast empire through which it is spread. + +This being the case, he naturally opposes all other religious +bodies in Russia as not merely inflicting injury upon +Christianity, but as tending to the political disintegration of +the empire. Never, in any of our conversations, did I hear him +speak a harsh word of any other church or of any religious ideas +opposed to his own; but it was clear that he regarded Protestants +and dissident sects generally as but agents in the progress of +disintegration which, in Western Europe, seemed approaching a +crisis, and that he considered the Roman Catholic Church in +Poland as practically a political machine managed by a hierarchy +in deadly hostility to the Russian Empire and to Russian +influence everywhere. + +In discussing his own church, he never hesitated to speak plainly +of its evident shortcomings. Unquestionably, one of the wishes +nearest his heart is to reform the abuses which have grown up +among its clergy, especially in their personal habits. Here, too, +is a reason for any repressive policy which he may have exercised +against other religious bodies. Everything that detracts from the +established Russo-Greek Church detracts from the revenues of its +clergy, and, as these are pitifully small, aids to keep the +priests and their families in the low condition from which he is +so earnestly endeavoring to raise them. As regards the severe +policy inaugurated by Alexander III against the Jews of the +empire, which Pobedonostzeff, more than any other man, is +supposed to have inspired, he seemed to have no harsh feelings +against Israelites as such; but his conduct seemed based upon a +theory which, in various conversations, he presented with much +force: namely, that Russia, having within its borders more Jews +than exist in all the world besides, and having suffered greatly +from these as from an organization really incapable of +assimilation with the body politic, must pursue a repressive +policy toward them and isolate them in order to protect its rural +population. + +While he was very civil in his expressions regarding the United +States, he clearly considered all Western civilization a failure. +He seemed to anticipate, before long, a collapse in the systems +and institutions of Western Europe. To him socialism and +anarchism, with all they imply, were but symptoms of a +wide-spread political and social disease--indications of an +approaching catastrophe destined to end a civilization which, +having rejected orthodoxy, had cast aside authority, given the +force of law to the whimsies of illiterate majorities, and +accepted, as the voice of God, the voice of unthinking mobs, +blind to their own interests and utterly incapable of working out +their own good. It was evident that he regarded Russia as +representing among the nations the idea of Heaven-given and +church-anointed authority, as the empire destined to save the +principle of divine right and the rule of the fittest. + +Revolutionary efforts in Russia he discussed calmly. Referring to +Loris-Melikoff, the representative of the principles most +strongly opposed to his own, no word of censure escaped him. The +only evidence of deep feeling on this subject he ever showed in +my presence was when he referred to the writings of a well-known +Russian refugee in London, and said, "He is a murderer." + +As to public instruction, he evidently held to the idea so +thoroughly carried out in Russia: namely, that the upper class, +which is to conduct the business of the state, should be highly +educated, but that the mass of the people need no education +beyond what will keep them contented in the humble station to +which it has pleased God to call them. A very curious example of +his conservatism I noted in his remarks regarding the droshkies +of St. Petersburg. The droshky-drivers are Russian peasants, +simple and, as a rule, pious; rarely failing to make the sign of +the cross on passing a church or shrine, or at any other moment +which seems to them solemn. They are possibly picturesque, but +certainly dirty, in their clothing and in all their surroundings. +A conveyance more wretched than the ordinary street-droshky of a +Russian city could hardly be conceived, and measures had been +proposed for improving this system; but he could see no use in +them. The existing system was thoroughly Russian, and that was +enough. It appealed to his conservatism. The droshky-drivers, +with their Russian caps, their long hair and beards, their +picturesque caftans, and their deferential demeanor, satisfied +his esthetic sense. + +What seemed to me a clash between his orthodox conservatism on +one side, and his Russian pride on the other, I discovered on my +return from a visit to Moscow, in which I had sundry walks and +talks with Tolstoi. On my alluding to this, he showed some +interest. It was clear that he was separated by a whole orb of +thought from the great novelist, yet it was none the less evident +that he took pride in him. He naturally considered Tolstoi as +hopelessly wrong in all his fundamental ideas, and yet was +himself too much of a man of letters not to recognize in his +brilliant countryman one of the glories of Russia. + +But the most curious--indeed, the most amazing--revelation of the +man I found in his love for American literature. He is a wide +reader; and, in the whole breadth of his reading, American +authors were evidently among those he preferred. Of these his +favorites were Hawthorne, Lowell, and, above all, Emerson. +Curious, indeed, was it to learn that this "arch-persecutor," +this "Torquemada of the nineteenth century," this man whose hand +is especially heavy upon Catholics and Protestants and dissenters +throughout the empire, whose name is spoken with abhorrence by +millions within the empire and without it, still reads, as his +favorite author, the philosopher of Concord. He told me that the +first book which he ever translated into Russian was Thomas a +Kempis's "Imitation of Christ"; and of that he gave me the Latin +original from which he made his translation, with a copy of the +translation itself. But he also told me that the next book he +translated was a volume of Emerson's "Essays," and he added that +for years there had always lain open upon his study table a +volume of Emerson's writings. + +There is, thus clearly, a relation of his mind to the literature +of the Western world very foreign to his feelings regarding +Western religious ideas. This can be accounted for perhaps by his +own character as a man of letters. That he has a distinct +literary gift is certain. I have in my possession sundry articles +of his, and especially a poem in manuscript, which show real +poetic feeling and a marked power of expression. It is a curious +fact that, though so addicted to English and American literature, +he utterly refuses to converse in our language. His medium of +communication with foreigners is always French. On my asking him +why he would not use our language in conversation, he answered +that he had learned it from books, and that his pronunciation of +it would expose him to ridicule. + +In various circles in St. Petersburg I heard him spoken of as a +hypocrite, but a simple sense of justice compels me to declare +this accusation unjust. He indeed retires into a convent for a +portion of every year to join the monks in their austerities; but +this practice is, I believe, the outgrowth of a deep religious +feeling. On returning from one of these visits, he brought to my +wife a large Easter egg of lacquered work, exquisitely +illuminated. I have examined, in various parts of Europe, +beautiful specimens of the best periods of mediaeval art; but in +no one of them have I found anything in the way of illumination +more perfect than this which he brought from his monkish +brethren. In nothing did he seem to unbend more than in his +unfeigned love for religious art as it exists in Russia. He +discussed with me one evening sundry photographs of the new +religious paintings in the cathedral of Kieff in a spirit which +revealed this feeling for religious art as one of the deepest +characteristics of his nature. + +He was evidently equally sensitive to the beauties of religious +literature. Giving me various books containing the services of +the Orthodox Church, he dwelt upon the beauty of the Slavonic +version of the Psalms and upon the church hymnology. + +The same esthetic side of his nature was evident at various great +church ceremonies. It has happened to me to see Pius IX celebrate +mass, both at the high altar of St. Peter's and in the Sistine +Chapel, and to witness the ceremonies of Holy Week and of Easter +at the Roman basilicas, and at the time it was hard to conceive +anything of the kind more impressive; but I have never seen any +church functions, on the whole, more imposing than the funeral +service of the Emperor Nicholas during my first visit to Russia, +and various imperial weddings, funerals, name-days, and the like, +during my second visit. On such occasions Pobedonostzeff +frequently came over from his position among the ministers of the +crown to explain to us the significance of this or that feature +in the ritual of music. It was plain that these things touched +what was deepest in him; it must be confessed that his attachment +to the church is sincere. + +Nor were these impressions made upon me alone. It fell to my lot +to present to him one of the most eminent journalists our country +has produced--Charles A. Dana, a man who could discuss on even +terms with any European statesman all the leading modern +questions. Dana had been brought into close contact with many +great men; but it was plain to see--what he afterward +acknowledged to me--that he was very deeply impressed by this +eminent Russian. The talk of two such men threw new light upon +the characteristics of Pobedonostzeff, and strengthened my +impression of his intellectual sincerity. + +In regard to the relation of the Russo-Greek Church to other +churches I spoke to him at various times, and found in him no +personal feeling of dislike to them. The nearest approach to such +a feeling appeared, greatly to my surprise, in sundry references +to the Greek Church as it exists in Greece. In these he showed a +spirit much like that which used to be common among High-church +Episcopalians in speaking of Low-church "Evangelicals." Mindful +of the earnest efforts made by the Anglican communion to come +into closer relations with the Russian branch of the Eastern +Church, I at various times broached that subject, and the +glimpses I obtained of his feeling regarding it surprised me. +Previously to these interviews I had supposed that the main +difficulty in the way to friendly relations between these two +branches of the church universal had its origin in the "filioque" +clause of the Nicene Creed. As is well known, the Eastern Church +adheres to that creed in its original form,--the form in which +the Holy Ghost is represented as "proceeding from the +Father,"--whereas the Western Church adopts the additional words, +"and from the Son." That the Russo-Greek Church is very tenacious +of its position in this respect, and considers the position of +the Western Church--Catholic and Protestant--as savoring of +blasphemy, is well known; and there was a curious evidence of +this during my second stay in Russia. Twice during that time I +heard the "Missa Solennis" of Beethoven. It was first given by a +splendid choir in the great hall of the University of +Helsingfors. That being in Finland, which is mainly Lutheran, the +Creed was sung in its Western form. Naturally, on going to hear +it given by a great choir at St. Petersburg, I was curious to +know how this famous clause would be dealt with. In various parts +of the audience were priests of the Russo-Greek faith, yet there +were very many Lutherans and Calvinists, and I watched with some +interest the approach of the passage containing the disputed +words; but when we reached this it was wholly omitted. Any +allusion to the "procession" was evidently forbidden. Great, +therefore, was my surprise when, on my asking Pobedonostzeff,[5] +as the representative of the Emperor in the Synod of the +empire,--the highest assemblage in the church, and he the most +influential man in it, really controlling archbishops and bishops +throughout the empire,--whether the "filioque" clause is an +insurmountable obstacle to union, he replied, "Not at all; that +is simply a question of dialectics. But with whom are we to +unite? Shall it be with the High-churchmen, the Broad-churchmen, +or the Low-churchmen? These are three different bodies of men +with distinctly different ideas of church order; indeed, with +distinctly different creeds. Which of these is the Orthodox +Church to regard as the representative of the Anglican +communion?" I endeavored to show him that the union, if it took +place at all, must be based on ideas and beliefs that underlie +all these distinctions; but he still returned to his original +proposition, which was that union is impossible until a more +distinct basis than any now attainable can be arrived at. + + +[5] I find, in a letter from Pobedonostzeff, that he spells his +name as here printed. + + +I suggested to him a visit to Great Britain and his making the +acquaintance of leading Englishmen; but to this he answered that +at his time of life he had no leisure for such a recreation; that +his duties absolutely forbade it. + +In regard to relations with the Russo-Greek Church on our own +continent, he seemed to speak with great pleasure of the +treatment that sundry Russian bishops had received among us. He +read me letters from a member of the Russo-Greek hierarchy, full +of the kindliest expressions toward Americans, and especially +acknowledging their friendly reception of him and of his +ministrations. Both the archbishop in his letter, and +Pobedonostzeff in his talk, were very much amused over the fact +that the Americans, after extending various other courtesies to +the archbishop, offered him cigars. + +He discussed the possibility of introducing the "Holy Orthodox +Church" into the United States, but always disclaimed all zeal in +religious propagandism, saying that the church authorities had +quite enough work to do in extending and fortifying the church +throughout the Russian Empire. He said that the pagan tribes of +the imperial dominions in Asia seemed more inclined to +Mohammedanism than to Christianity, and gave as the probable +reason the fact that the former faith is much the simpler of the +two. He was evidently unable to grasp the idea of the Congress of +Religions at the Chicago Exposition, and seemed inclined to take +a mildly humorous view of it as one of the droll inventions of +the time. + +He appeared to hold our nation as a problem apart, and was, +perhaps, too civil in his conversations with me to include it in +the same condemnation with the nations of Western Europe which +had, in his opinion, gone hopelessly wrong. He also seemed drawn +to us by his admiration for Emerson, Hawthorne, and Lowell. When +Professor Norton's edition of Lowell's "Letters" came out, I at +once took it to him. It evidently gave him great +pleasure--perhaps because it revealed to him a very different +civilization, life, and personality from anything to which he had +been accustomed. Still, America seemed to be to him a sort of +dreamland. He constantly returned to Russian affairs as to the +great realities of the world. Discussing, as we often did, the +condition and future of the wild tribes and nations within the +Asiatic limits of the empire, he betrayed no desire either for +crusades or for intrigues to convert them; he simply spoke of the +legitimate influence of the church in civilizing them. + +I recall a brilliant but denunciatory article, published in one +of the English reviews some time since by a well-known nihilist, +which contained, in the midst of various charges against the +Russian statesman, a description of his smile, which was +characterized as forbidding, and even ghastly. I watched for this +smile with much interest, but it never came. A smile upon his +face I have often seen; but it was a kindly smile, with no trace +of anything ghastly or cruel in it. + +He seemed to take pleasure in the society of his old professorial +friends, and one of them he once brought to my table. This was a +professor of history, deeply conversant with the affairs of the +empire; and we discussed the character and career of Catherine +II. The two men together brought out a mass of curious +information, throwing a strange light into transactions which +only the most recent historians are beginning to understand, +among these the assassination of Czar Peter III, Catherine's +husband. On one occasion when Pobedonostzeff was visiting me I +tested his knowledge in regard to a matter of special interest, +and obtained a new side-light upon his theory of the universe. +There is at present on the island of Cronstadt, at the mouth of +the Neva, a Russo-Greek priest, Father Ivan, who enjoys +throughout the empire a vast reputation as a saintly worker of +miracles. This priest has a very spiritual and kindly face; is +known to receive vast sums for the poor, which he distributes +among them while he himself remains in poverty; and is supposed +not merely by members of the Russo-Greek Church, but by those of +other religious bodies, to work frequent miracles of healing. I +was assured by persons of the highest character--and those not +only Russo-Greek churchmen, but Roman Catholics and +Anglicans--that there could be no doubt as to the reality of +these miracles, and various examples were given me. So great is +Father Ivan's reputation in this respect that he is in constant +demand in all parts of the empire, and was even summoned to +Livadia during the last illness of the late Emperor. Whenever he +appears in public great crowds surround him, seeking to touch the +hem of his garment. His picture is to be seen with the portraits +of the saints in vast numbers of Russian homes, from the palaces +of the highest nobles to the cottages of the humblest peasants. + +It happened to me on one occasion to have an experience which I +have related elsewhere, but which is repeated here as throwing +light on the ideas of the Russian statesman. + +On my arrival in St. Petersburg my attention was at once aroused +by the portraits of Father Ivan. They ranged from photographs +absolutely true to life, which revealed a plain, shrewd, kindly +face, to those which were idealized until they bore a near +resemblance to the conventional representations of Jesus of +Nazareth. + +One day, in one of the most brilliant reception-rooms of the +Northern capital, the subject of Father Ivan's miracles having +been introduced, a gentleman in very high social position, and +entirely trustworthy, spoke as follows: "There is something very +surprising about these miracles. I am slow to believe in them; +but there is one of them which is overwhelming and absolutely +true. The late Metropolitan of St. Petersburg, Archbishop +Isidore, loved quiet, and was very averse to anything which could +possibly cause scandal. Hearing of the wonders wrought by Father +Ivan, he summoned him to his presence and sternly commanded him +to abstain from all the things which had given rise to these +reported miracles, as sure to create scandal, and with this +injunction dismissed him. Hardly had the priest left the room +when the archbishop was struck with blindness, and he remained in +this condition until the priest returned and restored his sight +by intercessory prayer." When I asked the gentleman giving this +account if he directly knew these facts, he replied that he was, +of course, not present when the miracle was wrought; but that he +had the facts immediately from persons who knew all the parties +concerned, as well as all the circumstances of the case; and, +indeed, that these circumstances were matter of general +knowledge. + +Sometime afterward, being at an afternoon reception in one of the +greater embassies, I brought up the same subject, when an eminent +general spoke as follows: "I am not inclined to believe in +miracles,--in fact, am rather skeptical; but the proofs of those +wrought by Father Ivan are overwhelming." He then went on to say +that the late metropolitan archbishop was a man who loved quiet +and disliked scandal; that on this account he had summoned Father +Ivan to his palace, and ordered him to put an end to the conduct +which had caused the reports concerning his miraculous powers; +and then, with a wave of his arm, had dismissed him. The priest +left the room, and from that moment the archbishop's arm was +paralyzed; and it remained so until the penitent prelate summoned +the priest again, by whose prayers the arm was restored to its +former usefulness. There was present at the time another person +besides myself who had heard the previous statement as to the +blindness of the archbishop; and, on our both asking the general +if he was sure that the archbishop's arm was paralyzed as stated, +he declared that he could not doubt it, as he had the account +directly from persons entirely trustworthy who were cognizant of +all the facts. + +Sometime later, meeting Pobedonostzeff, I asked him which of +these stories was correct. He answered immediately, "Neither: in +the discharge of my duties I saw the Archbishop Isidore +constantly down to the last hours of his life, and no such event +ever occurred. He was never paralyzed and never blind." But the +great statesman and churchman then went on to say that, although +this story was untrue, there were a multitude of others quite as +remarkable in which he believed; and he gave me a number of +legends showing that Father Ivan possessed supernatural knowledge +and miraculous powers. These he unfolded to me with much detail, +and with such an accent of conviction that we seemed surrounded +by a mediaeval atmosphere in which signs and wonders were the +most natural things in the world. + +As to his action on politics since my leaving Russia, the power +which he exercised over Alexander III has evidently been +continued during the reign of the young Nicholas II. In spite of +his eighty years, he seems to be, to-day, the leader of the +reactionary party. + +During the early weeks of The Hague Conference, Count Munster, in +his frequent diatribes against its whole purpose, and especially +against arbitration, was wont to insist that the whole thing was +a scheme prepared by Pobedonostzeff to embarrass Germany; that, +as Russia was always wretchedly unready with her army, The Hague +Conference was simply a trick for gaining time against her rivals +who kept up better military preparations. There may have been +truth in part of this assertion; but the motive of the great +Russian statesman in favoring the conference was probably not so +much to gain time for the army as to gain money for the church. +With his intense desire to increase the stipends of the Russian +orthodox clergy, and thus to raise them somewhat above their +present low condition, he must have groaned over the enormous +sums spent by his government in the frequent changes in almost +every item of expenditure for its vast army--changes made in +times of profound peace, simply to show that Russia was keeping +her army abreast of those of her sister nations. Hence came the +expressed Russian desire to "keep people from inventing things." +It has always seemed to me that, while the idea underlying the +Peace Conference came originally from Jean de Bloch, there must +have been powerful aid from Pobedonostzeff. So much of good--and, +indeed, of great good--we may attribute to him as highly +probable, if not certain. + +But, on the other hand, there would seem to be equal reason for +attributing to him, in these latter days, a fearful mass of evil. +To say nothing of the policy of Russia in Poland and elsewhere, +her dealings with Finland thus far form one of the blackest spots +on the history of the empire. Whether he originated this iniquity +or not is uncertain; but when, in 1892, I first saw the new +Russian cathedral rising on the heights above Helsingfors,--a +structure vastly more imposing than any warranted by the small +number of the "orthodox" in Finland,--with its architecture of +the old Muscovite type, symbolical of fetishism, I could not but +recognize his hand in it. It seemed clear to me that here was the +beginning of religious aggression on the Lutheran Finlanders, +which must logically be followed by political and military +aggression; and, in view of his agency in this as in everything +reactionary, I did not wonder at the attempt to assassinate him +not long afterward. + +During my recent stay in Germany he visited me at the Berlin +Embassy. He was, as of old, apparently gentle, kindly, interested +in literature, not interested to any great extent in current +Western politics. This gentle, kindly manner of his brought back +forcibly to my mind a remark of one of the most cultivated women +I met in Russia, a princess of ancient lineage, who ardently +desired reasonable reforms, and who, when I mentioned to her a +report that Pobedonostzeff was weary of political life, and was +about to retire from office in order to devote himself to +literary pursuits, said: "Don't, I beg of you, tell me that; for +I have always noticed that whenever such a report is circulated, +it is followed by some new scheme of his, even more infernal than +those preceding it." + +So much for the man who, during the present reign, seems one of +the main agents in holding Russian policy on the road to ruin. He +is indeed a study. The descriptive epithet which clings to +him--"the Torquemada of the nineteenth century"--he once +discussed with me in no unkindly spirit; indeed, in as gentle a +spirit as can well be conceived. His life furnishes a most +interesting study in churchmanship, in statesmanship, and in +human nature, and shows how some of the men most severely +condemned by modern historians--great persecutors, inquisitors, +and the like--may have based their actions on theories the world +has little understood, and may have had as little conscious +ferocity as their more tolerant neighbors. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +WALKS AND TALES WITH TOLSTOI--MARCH, 1894 + +Revisiting Moscow after an absence of thirty-five years, the most +surprising thing to me was that there had been so little change. +With the exception of the new gallery of Russian art, and the +bazaar opposite the sacred gate of the Kremlin, things seemed as +I had left them just after the accession of Alexander II. There +were the same unkempt streets; the same peasantry clad in +sheepskins; the same troops of beggars, sturdy and dirty; the +same squalid crowds crossing themselves before the images at the +street corners; the same throngs of worshipers knocking their +heads against the pavements of churches; and above all loomed, +now as then, the tower of Ivan and the domes of St. Basil, +gloomy, gaudy, and barbaric. Only one change had taken place +which interested me: for the first time in the history of Russia, +a man of world-wide fame in literature and thought was abiding +there--Count Leo Tolstoi. + +On the evening of my arrival I went with my secretary to his +weekly reception. As we entered his house on the outskirts of the +city, two servants in evening dress came forward, removed our fur +coats, and opened the doors into the reception-room of the +master. Then came a surprise. His living-room seemed the cabin of +a Russian peasant. It was wainscoted almost rudely and furnished +very simply; and there approached us a tall, gaunt Russian, +unmistakably born to command, yet clad as a peasant, his hair +thrown back over his ears on either side, his flowing blouse kept +together by a leathern girdle, his high jack-boots completing the +costume. This was Tolstoi. + +Nothing could be more kindly than his greeting. While his dress +was that of a peasant, his bearing was the very opposite; for, +instead of the depressed, demure, hangdog expression of the +average muzhik, his manner, though cordial, was dignified and +impressive. Having given us a hearty welcome, he made us +acquainted with various other guests. It was a singular +assemblage. There were foreigners in evening dress, Moscow +professors in any dress they liked, and a certain number of +youth, evidently disciples, who, though clearly not of the +peasant class, wore the peasant costume. I observed these with +interest but certainly as long as they were under the spell of +the master they communicated nothing worth preserving; they +seemed to show "the contortions of the sibyl without the +inspiration." + +The professors were much more engaging. The University of Moscow +has in its teaching body several strong men, and some of these +were present. One of them, whose department was philosophy, +especially interested and encouraged me by assurances that the +movement of Russian philosophy is "back to Kant." In the strange +welter of whims and dreams which one finds in Russia, this was to +me an unexpected evidence of healthful thought. + +Naturally, I soon asked to be presented to the lady of the house, +and the count escorted us through a series of rooms to a salon +furnished much like any handsome apartment in Paris or St. +Petersburg, where the countess, with other ladies, all in full +evening dress, received us cordially. This sudden transition from +the peasant cabin of the master to these sumptuous rooms of the +mistress was startling; it seemed like scene-shifting at a +theater. + +After some friendly talk, all returned to the rooms of the master +of the house, where tea was served at a long table from the +bubbling brazen urn--the samovar; and though there were some +twenty or thirty guests, nothing could be more informal. All was +simple, kindly, and unrestrained. + +My first question was upon the condition of the people. Our +American legation had corresponded with Count Tolstoi and his +family as to distributing a portion of the famine fund sent from +the United States, hence this subject naturally arose at the +outset. He said that the condition of the peasants was still very +bad; that they had very generally eaten their draught-animals, +burned portions of their buildings to keep life in their bodies, +and reduced themselves to hopeless want. On my suggesting that +the new commercial treaty with Germany might help matters, he +thought that it would have but little effect, since only a small +portion of the total product of Russian agriculture is consumed +abroad. This led him to speak of some Americans and Englishmen +who had visited the famine-stricken districts, and, while he +referred kindly to them all, he seemed especially attracted by +the Quaker John Bellows of Gloucester, England, the author of the +wonderful little French dictionary. This led him to say that he +sympathized with the Quakers in everything save their belief in +property; that in this they were utterly illogical; that property +presupposes force to protect it. I remarked that most American +Quakers knew nothing of such force; that none of them had ever +seen an American soldier, save during our Civil War, and that +probably not one in hundreds of them had ever seen a soldier at +all. He answered, "But you forget the policeman." He evidently +put policemen and soldiers in the same category--as using force +to protect property, and therefore to be alike abhorred. + +I found that to his disbelief in any right of ownership literary +property formed no exception. He told me that, in his view, he +had no right to receive money for the permission to print a book. +To this I naturally answered that by carrying out this doctrine +he would simply lavish large sums upon publishers in every +country of Europe and America, many of them rich and some of them +piratical; and that in my opinion he would do a much better thing +by taking the full value of his copyrights and bestowing the +proceeds upon the peasantry starving about him. To which he +answered that it was a question of duty. To this I agreed, but +remarked that beneath this lay the question what this duty really +was. It was a pleasure to learn from another source that the +countess took a different view of it, and that she had in some +way secured the proceeds of his copyrights for their very large +and interesting family. Light was thus thrown on Tolstoi's +remark, made afterward, that women are not so self-sacrificing as +men; that a man would sometimes sacrifice his family for an idea, +but that a woman would not. + +He then went on to express an interest in the Shakers, and +especially in Frederick Evans. He had evidently formed an idea of +them very unlike the reality; in fact, the Shaker his imagination +had developed was as different from a Lebanon Shaker as an eagle +from a duck, and his notion of their influence on American +society was comical. + +He spoke at some length regarding religion in Russia, evidently +believing that its present dominant form is soon to pass away. I +asked him how then he could account for the fact that while in +other countries women are greatly in the majority at church +services, in every Russian church the majority are men; and that +during the thirty-five years since my last visit to Moscow this +tendency had apparently increased. He answered, "All this is on +the surface; there is much deeper thought below, and the great +want of Russia is liberty to utter it." He then gave some +examples to show this, among them the case of a gentleman and +lady in St. Petersburg, whose children had been taken from them +and given to Princess ----, their grandmother, because the latter +is of the Orthodox Church and the former are not. I answered that +I had seen the children; that their grandmother had told me that +their mother was a screaming atheist with nihilistic tendencies, +who had left her husband and was bringing up the children in a +scandalous way,--teaching them to abjure God and curse the Czar; +that their father had thought it his duty to give all his +property away and work as a laborer; that therefore she--the +grandmother--had secured an order from the Emperor empowering her +to take charge of the children; that I had seen the children at +their grandmother's house, and that they had seemed very happy. +Tolstoi insisted that this statement by the grandmother was +simply made to cover the fact that the children were taken from +the mother because her belief was not of the orthodox pattern. My +opinion is that Tolstoi was mistaken, at least as to the father; +and that the father had been led to give away his property and +work with his hands in obedience to the ideas so eloquently +advocated by Tolstoi himself. Unlike his master, this gentleman +appears not to have had the advantage of a wife who mitigated his +ideas. + +Tolstoi also referred to the difficulties which translators had +found in securing publishers for his most recent book--"The +Kingdom of God." On my assuring him that American publishers of +high standing would certainly be glad to take it, he said that he +had supposed the ideas in it so contrary to opinions dominant in +America as to prevent its publication there. + +Returning to the subject of religion in Russia, he referred to +some curious incongruities; as, for example, the portrait of +Socrates forming part of a religious picture in the Annunciation +Church at the Kremlin. He said that evidently some monk, who had +dipped into Plato, had thus placed Socrates among the precursors +of Christ. I cited the reason assigned by Melanchthon for +Christ's descent into hell--namely, the desire of the Redeemer to +make himself known to Socrates, Plato, and the best of the +ancient philosophers; and I compared this with Luther's idea, so +characteristic of him, that Christ descended into hell in order +to have a hand-to-hand grapple and wrestle with Satan. This led +Tolstoi to give me a Russian legend of the descent into hell, +which was that, when Christ arrived there, he found Satan forging +chains, but that, at the approach of the Saviour, the walls of +hell collapsed, and Satan found himself entangled in his own +chains, and remained so for a thousand years. + +In regard to the Jews, he said that he sympathized with them, but +that the statements regarding the persecution of them were +somewhat exaggerated. Kennan's statements regarding the treatment +of prisoners in Siberia he thought overdrawn at times, but +substantially true. He expressed his surprise that certain +leading men in the empire, whom he named, could believe that +persecution and the forcible repression of thought would have any +permanent effect at the end of the nineteenth century. + +He then dwelt upon sundry evil conditions in Russia, on which my +comment was that every country, of course, had its own grievous +shortcomings; and I cited, as to America, the proverb: "No one +knows so well where the shoe pinches as he who wears it." At this +he asked me about lynch law in the United States, and expressed +his horror of it. I showed him that it was the inevitable result +of a wretched laxity and sham humanity in the administration of +our criminal law, which had led great bodies of people, more +especially in the Southern and extreme Western parts of the +country, to revert to natural justice and take the law into their +own hands; and I cited Goldwin Smith's profound remark that "some +American lynchings are proofs not so much of lawlessness as of a +respect for law." + +He asked me where, besides this, the shoe pinched in the United +States. I told him that it pinched in various places, but that +perhaps the worst pinch arises from the premature admission to +full political rights of men who have been so benumbed and +stunted intellectually and morally in other countries that their +exercise of political rights in America is frequently an injury, +not only to others, but to themselves. In proof of this I cited +the case of the crowds whom I had seen some years before huddled +together in New York tenement-houses, preyed upon by their +liquor-selling landlords, their families perishing of typhoid and +smallpox on account of the negligence and maladministration of +the local politicians, but who, as a rule, were almost if not +quite ready to mob and murder those of us who brought in a new +health board and a better order of things; showing him that for +years the very class of people who suffered most from the old, +vile state of things did their best by their votes to keep in +power the men who maintained it. + +We then passed to the subject of the trans-Siberian Railway. In +this he seemed interested, but in a vague way which added nothing +to my knowledge. + +Asking me regarding my former visit to Moscow, and learning that +it was during the Crimean War, he said, "At that time I was in +Sebastopol, and continued there as a soldier during the siege." + +As to his relations with the imperial government at present, he +said that he had been recently elected to a learned society in +Moscow, but that the St. Petersburg government had interfered to +stop the election; and he added that every morning, when he +awoke, he wondered that he was not on his way to Siberia. + +On my leaving him, both he and the countess invited me to meet +them next day at the Tretiakof Museum of Russian Pictures; and +accordingly, on the following afternoon, I met them at that +greatest of all galleries devoted purely to Russian art. They +were accompanied by several friends, among them a little knot of +disciples--young men clad in simple peasant costume like that +worn by the master. It was evident that he was an acknowledged +lion at the old Russian capital, for as he led me about to see +the pictures which he liked best, he was followed and stared at +by many. + +Pointing out to me some modern religious pictures in Byzantine +style painted for the Cathedral of Kieff, he said, "They +represent an effort as futile as trying to persuade chickens to +reenter the egg-shells from which they have escaped." He next +showed me two religious pictures; the first representing the +meeting of Jesus and Pilate, when the latter asked, "What is +truth?" Pilate was depicted as a rotund, jocose, cynical man of +the world; Jesus, as a street preacher in sordid garments, with +unkempt hair flowing over his haggard face,--a peasant fanatic +brought in by the police. Tolstoi showed an especial interest in +this picture; it seemed to reveal to him the real secret of that +famous question and its answer; the question coming from the +mighty of the earth, and the answer from the poor and oppressed. + +The other picture represented the Crucifixion. It was painted in +the most realistic manner possible; nothing was idealized; it was +even more vividly realistic than Gebhardt's picture of the Lord's +Supper, at Berlin; so that it at first repelled me, though it +afterward exercised a certain fascination. That Tolstoi was +deeply interested was clear. He stood for a time in silence, as +if musing upon all that the sacrifice on Calvary had brought to +the world. Other representations of similar scenes, in the +conventional style of the older masters, he had passed without a +glance; but this spectacle of the young Galilean peasant, with +unattractive features, sordid garb, poverty-stricken companions, +and repulsive surroundings, tortured to death for preaching the +"kingdom of God" to the poor and down-trodden, seemed to hold him +fast, and as he pointed out various features in the picture it +became even more clear to me that sympathy with the peasant +class, and a yearning to enter into their cares and sorrows, form +the real groundwork of his life. + +He then took me to a small picture of Jesus and his disciples +leaving the upper room at Jerusalem after the Last Supper. This, +too, was painted in the most realistic manner. The disciples, +simple-minded fishermen, rude in features and dress, were +plodding homeward, while Christ himself gazed at the stars and +drew the attention of his nearest companions to some of the +brightest. Tolstoi expressed especial admiration for this +picture, saying that at times it affected him like beautiful +music,--like music which draws tears, one can hardly tell why. It +was more and more evident, as he lingered before this and other +pictures embodying similar ideas, that sympathy for those +struggling through poverty and want toward a better life is his +master passion. + +Among the pictures, not to be classed as religious, before which +he thus lingered were those representing the arrest of a nihilist +and the return of an exile from Siberia. Both were well painted, +and both revealed the same characteristic--sympathy with the +poor, even with criminals. + +Some of the more famous historical pictures in the collection he +thought exaggerated; especially those representing the fury of +the Grand Duchess Sophia in her monastery prison, and the remorse +of Ivan the Terrible after murdering his son. + +To my surprise, he agreed with me, and even went beyond me, in +rating landscape infinitely below religious and historical +painting, saying that he cared for landscape-painting only as +accessory to pictures revealing human life. + +Among genre pictures, we halted before one representing a peasant +family grouped about the mother, who, with a sacred picture laid +upon her breast, after the Russian manner, was dying of famine. +This also seemed deeply to impress him. + +We stopped next before a picture of a lady of high birth brought +before the authorities in order to be sent, evidently against her +will, to a convent. I cited the similar story from Manzoni's +"Promessi Sposi"; but, to my surprise, he seemed to know little +of that most fascinating of historical romances. This led to a +discussion in which he said he had once liked Walter Scott, but +had not read anything of his for many years; and he seemed +interested in my statement that although always an especial +admirer of Scott, I had found it almost impossible to induce the +younger generation to read him. + +Stopping before a picture of Peter the Great's fatal conference +with his son Alexis, in reply to my remark upon the marvel that a +prince of such genius as Peter should have appeared at Moscow in +the seventeenth century, he said that he did not admire Peter, +that he was too cruel,--administering torture and death at times +with his own hands. + +We next halted before a picture representing the horrible +execution of the Strelitzes. I said that "such pictures prove +that the world does, after all, progress slowly, in spite of what +pessimists say, and that in order to refute pessimists one has +only to refer to the improvements in criminal law." To this he +agreed cordially, and declared the abolition of torture in +procedure and penalty to be one great gain, at any rate. + +We spoke of the present condition of things in Europe, and I told +him that at St. Petersburg the opinion very general among the +more thoughtful members of the diplomatic corps was that war was +not imminent; that the Czar, having himself seen the cruelties of +war during the late struggle in the Balkans, had acquired an +invincible repugnance to it. He acquiesced in this, but said that +it seemed monstrous to him that the peace of the empire and of +Europe should depend upon so slender a thread as the will of any +one man. + +Our next walk was taken across the river Moskwa, on the ice, to +and through the Kremlin, and as we walked the conversation fell +upon literature. As to French literature, he thought Maupassant +the man of greatest talent, by far, in recent days, but that he +was depraved and centered all his fiction in women. For Balzac, +Tolstoi evidently preserved admiration, but he cared little, +apparently, for Daudet, Zola, and their compeers. + +As to American literature, he said that Tourgueneff had once told +him that there was nothing in it worth reading; nothing new or +original; that it was simply a copy of English literature. To +this I replied that such criticism seemed to me very shallow; +that American literature was, of course, largely a growth out of +the parent stock of English literature, and must mainly be judged +as such; that to ask in the highest American literature something +absolutely different from English literature in general was like +looking for oranges upon an apple-tree; that there had come new +varieties in this growth, many of them original, and some +beautiful; but that there was the same sap, the same life-current +running through it all; and I compared the treatment of woman in +all Anglo-Saxon literature, whether on one side of the Atlantic +or the other, from Chaucer to Mark Twain, with the treatment of +the same subject by French writers from Rabelais to Zola. To this +he answered that in his opinion the strength of American +literature arises from the inherent Anglo-Saxon religious +sentiment. He expressed a liking for Emerson, Hawthorne, and +Whittier, but he seemed to have read at random, not knowing at +all some of the best things. He spoke with admiration of Theodore +Parker's writings, and seemed interested in my reminiscences of +Parker and of his acquaintance with Russian affairs. He also +revered and admired the character and work of William Lloyd +Garrison. He had read Longfellow somewhat, but was evidently +uncertain regarding Lowell,--confusing him, apparently, with some +other author. Among contemporary writers he knew some of +Howells's novels and liked them, but said: "Literature in the +United States at present seems to be in the lowest trough of the +sea between high waves." He dwelt on the flippant tone of +American newspapers, and told me of an interviewer who came to +him in behalf of an American journal, and wanted simply to know +at what time he went to bed and rose, what he ate, and the like. +He thought that people who cared to read such trivialities must +be very feeble-minded, but he said that the European press is, on +the whole, just as futile. On my attempting to draw from him some +statement as to what part of American literature pleased him +most, he said that he had read some publications of the New York +and Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, and that he knew and +liked the writings of Felix Adler. I then asked who, in the whole +range of American literature, he thought the foremost. To this he +made an answer which amazed me, as it would have astonished my +countrymen. Indeed, did the eternal salvation of all our eighty +millions depend upon some one of them guessing the person he +named, we should all go to perdition together. That greatest of +American writers was--Adin Ballou! Evidently, some of the +philanthropic writings of that excellent Massachusetts country +clergyman and religious communist had pleased him, and hence came +the answer. + +The next day he came over to my hotel and we went out for a +stroll. As we passed along the streets I noticed especially what +I had remarked during our previous walks, that Tolstoi had a +large quantity of small Russian coins in his pockets; that this +was evidently known to the swarms of beggars who infest the +Kremlin and the public places generally; and that he always gave +to them. + +On my speaking of this, he said he thought that any one, when +asked for money, ought to give it. Arguing against this doctrine, +I said that in the United States there are virtually no beggars, +and I might have gone on to discuss the subject from the +politico-economical point of view, showing how such +indiscriminate almsgiving in perpetual driblets is sure to create +the absurd and immoral system which one sees throughout +Russia,--hordes of men and women who are able to take care of +themselves, and who ought to be far above beggary, cringing and +whining to the passers-by for alms; but I had come to know the +man well enough to feel sure that a politico-economical argument +would slide off him like water from a duck's back, so I attempted +to take him upon another side, and said: "In the United States +there are virtually no beggars, though my countrymen are, I +really believe, among the most charitable in the world." To this +last statement he assented, referring in a general way to our +shipments of provisions to aid the famine-stricken in Russia. +"But," I added, "it is not our custom to give to beggars save in +special emergencies." I then gave him an account of certain +American church organizations which had established piles of +fire-wood and therefore enabled any able-bodied tramp, by sawing +or cutting some of it, to earn a good breakfast, a good dinner, +and, if needed, a good bed, and showed him that Americans +considered beggary not only a great source of pauperism, but as +absolutely debasing to the beggar himself, in that it puts him in +the attitude of a suppliant for that which, if he works as he +ought, he can claim as his right; that to me the spectacle of +Count Tolstoi virtually posing as a superior being, while his +fellow-Russians came crouching and whining to him, was not at all +edifying. To this view of the case he listened very civilly. + +Incidentally I expressed wonder that he had not traveled more. He +then spoke with some disapprobation of travel. He had lived +abroad for a time, he said, and in St. Petersburg a few years, +but the rest of his life had been spent mainly in Moscow and the +interior of Russia. The more we talked together, the more it +became clear that this last statement explained some of his main +defects. Of all distinguished men that I have ever met, Tolstoi +seems to me most in need of that enlargement of view and +healthful modification of opinion which come from meeting men and +comparing views with them in different lands and under different +conditions. This need is all the greater because in Russia there +is no opportunity to discuss really important questions. Among +the whole one hundred and twenty millions of people there is no +public body in which the discussion of large public questions is +allowed; the press affords no real opportunity for discussion; +indeed, it is more than doubtful whether such discussion would be +allowed to any effective extent even in private correspondence or +at one's own fireside. + +I remember well that during my former stay in St. Petersburg, +people who could talk English at their tables generally did so in +order that they might not betray themselves to any spy who might +happen to be among their servants. + +Still worse, no one, unless a member of the diplomatic corps or +specially privileged, is allowed to read such books or newspapers +as he chooses, so that even this access to the thoughts of others +is denied to the very men who most need it. + +Like so many other men of genius in Russia, then,--and Russia is +fertile in such,--Tolstoi has had little opportunity to take part +in any real discussion of leading topics; and the result is that +his opinions have been developed without modification by any +rational interchange of thought with other men. Under such +circumstances any man, no matter how noble or gifted, having +given birth to striking ideas, coddles and pets them until they +become the full-grown, spoiled children of his brain. He can at +last see neither spot nor blemish in them, and comes virtually to +believe himself infallible. This characteristic I found in +several other Russians of marked ability. Each had developed his +theories for himself until he had become infatuated with them, +and despised everything differing from them. + +This is a main cause why sundry ghastly creeds, doctrines, and +sects--religious, social, political, and philosophic--have been +developed in Russia. One of these religious creeds favors the +murder of new-born children in order to save their souls; another +enjoins ghastly bodily mutilations for a similar purpose; others +still would plunge the world in flames and blood for the +difference of a phrase in a creed, or a vowel in a name, or a +finger more or less in making the sign of the cross, or for this +garment in a ritual, or that gesture in a ceremony. + +In social creeds they have developed nihilism, which virtually +assumes the right of an individual to sit in judgment upon the +whole human race and condemn to death every other human being who +may differ in opinion or position from this self-constituted +judge. + +In political creeds they have conceived the monarch as the +all-powerful and irresponsible vicegerent of God, and all the +world outside Russia as given over to Satan, for the reason that +it has "rejected the divine principle of authority." + +In various branches of philosophy they have developed doctrines +which involve the rejection of the best to which man has attained +in science, literature, and art, and a return to barbarism. + +In the theory of life and duty they have devised a pessimistic +process under which the human race would cease to exist. + +Every one of these theories is the outcome of some original mind +of more or less strength, discouraged, disheartened, and +overwhelmed by the sorrows of Russian life; developing its ideas +logically and without any possibility of adequate discussion with +other men. This alone explains a fact which struck me +forcibly--the fact that all Tolstoi's love of humanity, real +though it certainly is, seems accompanied by a depreciation of +the ideas, statements, and proposals of almost every other human +being, and by virtual intolerance of all thought which seems in +the slightest degree different from his own. + +Arriving in the Kremlin, he took me to the Church of the +Annunciation to see the portrait of Socrates in the religious +picture of which he had spoken; but we were too late to enter, +and so went to the Palace of the Synod, where we looked at the +picture of the Trinity, which, by a device frequently used in +street signs, represents, when looked at from one side, the +suffering Christ, from the other the Holy Ghost in the form of a +dove, and from the front the Almighty as an old man with a white +beard. What Tolstoi thought of the doctrine thus illustrated came +out in a subsequent conversation. + +The next day he came again to my rooms and at once began speaking +upon religion. He said that every man is religious and has in him +a religion of his own; that religion results from the conception +which a man forms of his relations to his fellow-men, and to the +principle which in his opinion controls the universe; that there +are three stages in religious development: first, the childhood +of nations, when man thinks of the whole universe as created for +him and centering in him; secondly, the maturity of nations, the +time of national religions, when each nation believes that all +true religion centers in it,--the Jews and the English, he said, +being striking examples; and, finally, the perfected conception +of nations, when man has the idea of fulfilling the will of the +Supreme Power and considers himself an instrument for that +purpose. He went on to say that in every religion there are two +main elements, one of deception and one of devotion, and he asked +me about the Mormons, some of whose books had interested him. He +thought two thirds of their religion deception, but said that on +the whole he preferred a religion which professed to have dug its +sacred books out of the earth to one which pretended that they +were let down from heaven. On learning that I had visited Salt +Lake City two years before, he spoke of the good reputation of +the Mormons for chastity, and asked me to explain the hold of +their religion upon women. I answered that Mormonism could hardly +be judged by its results at present; that, as a whole, the +Mormons are, no doubt, the most laborious and decent people in +the State of Utah; but that this is their heroic period, when +outside pressure keeps them firmly together and arouses their +devotion; that the true test will come later, when there is less +pressure and more knowledge, and when the young men who are now +arising begin to ask questions, quarrel with each other, and +split the whole body into sects and parties. + +This led to questions in regard to American women generally, and +he wished to know something of their condition and prospects. I +explained some features of woman's condition among us, showing +its evolution, first through the betterment of her legal status, +and next through provision for her advanced education; but told +him that so far as political rights are concerned, there had been +very little practical advance in the entire East and South of the +country during the last fifty years, and that even in the extreme +Western States, where women have been given political rights and +duties to some extent, the concessions have been wavering and +doubtful. + +At this, he took up his parable and said that women ought to have +all other rights except political; that they are unfit to +discharge political duties; that, indeed, one of the great +difficulties of the world at present lies in their possession of +far more consideration and control than they ought to have. "Go +into the streets and bazaars," he said, "and you will see the +vast majority of shops devoted to their necessities. In France +everything centers in women, and women have complete control of +life: all contemporary French literature shows this. Woman is not +man's equal in the highest qualities; she is not so +self-sacrificing as man. Men will, at times, sacrifice their +families for an idea; women will not." On my demurring to this +latter statement, he asked me if I ever knew a woman who loved +other people's children as much as her own. I gladly answered in +the negative, but cited Florence Nightingale, Sister Dora, and +others, expressing my surprise at his assertion that women are +incapable of making as complete sacrifices for any good cause as +men. I pointed to the persecutions in the early church, when +women showed themselves superior to men in suffering torture, +degradation, and death in behalf of the new religion, and added +similar instances from the history of witchcraft. To this he +answered that in spite of all such history, women will not make +sacrifices of their own interest for a good cause which does not +strikingly appeal to their feelings, while men will do so; that +he had known but two or three really self-sacrificing women in +his life; and that these were unmarried. On my saying that +observation had led me to a very different conclusion, his +indictment took another form. He insisted that woman hangs upon +the past; that public opinion progresses, but that women are +prone to act on the opinion of yesterday or of last year; that +women and womanish men take naturally to old absurdities, among +which he mentioned the doctrines of the Trinity, "spiritism," and +homeopathy. At this I expressed a belief that if, instead of +educating women, as Bishop Dupanloup expressed it, "in the lap of +the church (sur les genoux de l'eglise)," we educate them in the +highest sense, in universities, they will develop more and more +intellectually, and so become a controlling element in the +formation of a better race; that, as strong men generally have +strong mothers, the better education of woman physically, +intellectually, and morally is the true way of bettering the race +in general. In this idea he expressed his disbelief, and said +that education would not change women; that women are illogical +by nature. At this I cited an example showing that women can be +exceedingly logical and close in argument, but he still adhered +to his opinion. On my mentioning the name of George Eliot, he +expressed a liking for her. + +On our next walk, he took me to the funeral of one of his +friends. He said that to look upon the dead should rather give +pleasure than pain; that memento mori is a wise maxim, and +looking upon the faces of the dead a good way of putting it in +practice. I asked him if he had formed a theory as to a future +life, and he said in substance that he had not; but that, as we +came at birth from beyond the forms of space and time, so at +death we returned whence we came. I said, "You use the word +'forms' in the Kantian sense?" "Yes," he said, "space and time +have no reality." + +We arrived just too late at the house of mourning. The dead man +had been taken away; but many of those who had come to do him +honor still lingered, and were evidently enjoying the "funeral +baked meats." There were clear signs of a carousal. The friends +who came out to meet us had, most of them, flushed faces, and one +young man in military uniform, coming down the stairs, staggered +and seemed likely to break his neck. + +Tolstoi refused to go in, and, as we turned away, expressed +disgust at the whole system, saying, as well he might, that it +was utterly barbarous. He seemed despondent over it, and I tried +to cheer him by showing how the same custom of drinking strong +liquors at funerals had, only a few generations since, prevailed +in large districts of England and America, but that better ideas +of living had swept it away. + +On our way through the street, we passed a shrine at which a mob +of peasants were adoring a sacred picture. He dwelt on the +fetishism involved in this, and said that Jesus Christ would be +infinitely surprised and pained were he to return to earth and +see what men were worshiping in his name. He added a story of a +converted pagan who, being asked how many gods he worshiped, +said: "One, and I ate him this morning." At this I cited +Browning's lines put into the mouth of the bishop who wished, +from his tomb, + + "To hear the blessed mutter of the mass, + And see God made and eaten all day long." + + +I reminded him of his definition of religion given me on one of +our previous walks, and he repeated it, declaring religion to be +the feeling which man has regarding his relation to the universe, +including his fellow-men, and to the power which governs all. + +The afternoon was closed with a visit to a Raskolnik, or Old +Believer, and of all our experiences this turned out to be the +most curious. The Raskolniks, or Old Believers, compose that +wide-spread sect which broke off from the main body of the +Russian Church when the patriarch of Moscow, Nikon, in the +seventeenth century attempted to remove various textual errors +from the Bible and ceremonial books. These books had been copied +and recopied during centuries until their condition had become +monstrous. Through a mistake of some careless transcriber, even +the name of Jesus had been travestied and had come to be spelled +with two e's; the crudest absurdities had been copied into the +test; important parts had become unintelligible; and the time had +evidently arrived for a revision. Nikon saw this, and in good +faith summoned scholars from Constantinople to prepare more +correct editions; but these revised works met the fate which +attends such revisions generally. The great body of the people +were attached to the old forms; they preferred them, just as in +these days the great body of English-speaking Protestants prefer +the King James Bible to the Revised Version, even though the +latter may convey to the reader more correctly what was dictated +by the Holy Spirit. The feeling of the monks, especially, against +Nikon's new version became virulent. They raised so strong an +opposition among the people that an army had to be sent against +them; at the siege of the Solovetsk Monastery the conflict was +long and bloody, and as a result a large body of people and +clergy broke off from the church. Of course the more these +dissenters thought upon what Nikon had done, the more utterly +evil he seemed; but this was not all. A large part of Russian +religious duty, so far as the people are concerned, consists in +making the sign of the cross on all occasions. Before Nikon's +time this had been done rather carelessly, but, hoping to impress +a religious lesson, he ordered it to be made with three extended +fingers, thus reminding the faithful of the Trinity. At this the +Raskolniks insisted that the sign of the cross ought to be made +with two fingers, and out of this difference arose more +bitterness than from all other causes put together. From that day +to this the dissenters have insisted on enjoying the privilege of +reading the old version with all its absurdities, of spelling the +word Jesus with two e's, of crossing themselves with two fingers, +and of cursing Nikon. + +This particular Raskolnik, or Old Believer, to whom Tolstoi took +me, was a Muscovite merchant of great wealth, living in a superb +villa on the outskirts of the city, with a large park about it; +the apartments, for size and beauty of decoration, fit for a +royal palace--the ceilings covered with beautiful frescos, and +the rooms full of statues and pictures by eminent artists, mainly +Russian and French. He was a man of some education, possessed a +large library, loved to entertain scientific men and to aid +scientific effort, and managed to keep on good terms with his +more fanatical coreligionists on one side and with the government +on the other, so that in emergencies he was an efficient +peacemaker between them. We found him a kindly, gentle old man, +with long, white hair and beard, and he showed us with evident +pleasure the principal statues and pictures, several of the +former being by Antokolski, the greatest contemporary Russian +sculptor. In the sumptuous dining-room, in which perhaps a +hundred persons could sit at table, he drew our attention to some +fine pictures of Italian scenes by Smieradsky, and, after passing +through the other rooms, took us into a cabinet furnished with +the rarest things to be found in the Oriental bazaars. Finally, +he conducted us into his private chapel, where, on the +iconostas,--the screen which, in accordance with the Greek +ritual, stands before the altar,--the sacred images of the +Saviour and various saints were represented somewhat differently +from those in the Russo-Greek Church, especially in that they +extended two fingers instead of three. To this difference I +called his attention, and he at once began explaining it. Soon he +grew warm, and finally fervid. Said he: "Why do we make the sign +of the cross? We do it to commemorate the crucifixion of our +blessed Lord. What is commemorated at the crucifixion? The +sacrifice of his two natures--the divine and the human. How do we +make the sign? We make it with two fingers, thus"--accompanied by +a gesture. "What does this represent? It represents what really +occurred: the sacrifice of the divine and the human nature of our +Lord. How do the Orthodox make it?" Here his voice began to rise. +"They make it with three fingers"--and now his indignation burst +all bounds, and with a tremendous gesture and almost a scream of +wrath he declared: "and every time they make it they crucify +afresh every one of the three persons of the holy and undivided +Trinity." + +The old man's voice, so gentle at first, had steadily risen +during this catechism of his, in which he propounded the +questions and recited the answers, until this last utterance came +with an outcry of horror. The beginning of this catechism was +given much after the manner of a boy reciting mechanically the +pons asinorum, but the end was like the testimony of an ancient +prophet against the sins which doomed Israel. + +This last burst was evidently too much for Tolstoi. He said not a +word in reply, but seemed wrapped in overpowering thought, and +anxious to break away. We walked out with the old Raskolnik, and +at the door I thanked him for his kindness; but even there, and +all the way down the long walk through the park, Tolstoi remained +silent. As we came into the road he suddenly turned to me and +said almost fiercely, "That man is a hypocrite; he can't believe +that; he is a shrewd, long-headed man; how can he believe such +trash? Impossible!" At this I reminded him of Theodore Parker's +distinction between men who believe and men who "believe that +they believe," and said that possibly our Raskolnik was one of +the latter. This changed the subject. He said that he had read +Parker's biography, and liked it all save one thing, which was +that he gave a pistol to a fugitive slave and advised him to +defend himself. This Tolstoi condemned on the ground that we are +not to resist evil. I told him of the advice I had given to +Dobroluboff, a very winning Russian student at Cornell +University, when he was returning to Russia to practise his +profession as an engineer. That advice was that he should bear in +mind Buckle's idea as to the agency of railways and telegraphs in +extending better civilization, and devote himself to his +profession of engineering, with the certainty that its ultimate +result would be to aid in the enlightenment of the empire; but +never, on any account, to conspire against the government; +telling him that he might be sure that he could do far more for +the advancement of Russian thought by building railways than by +entering into any conspiracies whatever. Tolstoi said the advice +was good, but that he would also have advised the young man to +speak out his ideas, whatever they might be. He said that only in +this way could any advance ever be made; that one main obstacle +in human progress is the suppression of the real thoughts of men. +I answered that all this had a fine sound; that it might do for +Count Tolstoi; but that a young, scholarly engineer following it +would soon find himself in a place where he could not promulgate +his ideas,--guarded by Cossacks in some remote Siberian mine. + +He spoke of young professors in the universities, of their +difficulties, and of the risk to their positions if they spoke +out at all. I asked him if there was any liberality or breadth of +thought in the Russo-Greek Church. He answered that occasionally +a priest had tried to unite broader thought with orthodox dogma, +but that every such attempt had proved futile. + +From Parker we passed to Lowell, and I again tried to find if he +really knew anything of Lowell's writings. He evidently knew very +little, and asked me what Lowell had written. He then said that +he had no liking for verse, and he acquiesced in Carlyle's saying +that nobody had ever said anything in verse which could not have +been better said in prose. + +A day or two later, on another of our walks, I asked him how and +when, in his opinion, a decided advance in Russian liberty and +civilization would be made. He answered that he thought it would +come soon, and with great power. On my expressing the opinion +that such progress would be the result of a long evolutionary +process, with a series of actions and reactions, as heretofore in +Russian history, he dissented, and said that the change for the +better would come soon, suddenly, and with great force. + +As we passed along the streets he was, as during our previous +walks, approached by many beggars, to each of whom he gave as +long as his money lasted. He said that he was accustomed to take +a provision of copper money with him for this purpose on his +walks, since he regarded it as a duty to give when asked, and he +went on to say that he carried the idea so far that even if he +knew the man wanted the money to buy brandy he would give it to +him; but he added that he would do all in his power to induce the +man to work and to cease drinking. I demurred strongly to all +this, and extended the argument which I had made during our +previous walk, telling him that by such giving he did two wrongs: +first, to the beggar himself, since it led him to cringe and lie +in order to obtain as a favor that which, if he did his duty in +working, he could claim as a right; and, secondly, to society by +encouraging such a multitude to prey upon it who might be giving +it aid and strength; and I again called his attention to the +hordes of sturdy beggars in Moscow. He answered that the results +of our actions in such cases are not the main thing, but the +cultivation of proper feelings in the giver is first to be +considered. + +I then asked him about his manual labor. He said that his habit +was to rise early and read or write until noon, then to take his +luncheon and a short sleep, and after that to work in his garden +or fields. He thought this good for him on every account, and +herein we fully agreed. + +On our return through the Kremlin, passing the heaps and rows of +cannon taken from the French in 1812, I asked him if he still +adhered to the low opinion of Napoleon expressed in "War and +Peace." He said that he did, and more than ever since he had +recently read a book on Napoleon's relations to women which +showed that he took the lowest possible view of womankind. I then +asked him if he still denied Napoleon's military genius. He +answered that he certainly did; that he did not believe in the +existence of any such thing as military genius; that he had never +been able to understand what is meant by the term. I asked, "How +then do you account for the amazing series of Napoleon's +successes?" He answered, "By circumstances." I rejoined that such +an explanation had the merit, at least, of being short and easy. + +He then went on to say that battles are won by force of +circumstances, by chance, by luck; and he quoted Suvaroff to this +effect. He liked Lanfrey's "History of Napoleon" and Taine's book +on the Empire, evidently because both are denunciatory of men and +things he dislikes, but said that he did not believe in Thiers. + +We came finally under the shade of the great tower and into the +gateway through which Napoleon entered the Kremlin; and there we +parted with a hearty good-bye. + +The question has been asked me, at various times since, whether, +in my opinion, Tolstoi is really sincere; and allusion has been +made to a book published by a lady who claims to have been in +close relations with his family, which would seem to reveal a +theatrical element in his whole life. To this my answer has +always been, and still is, that I believe him to be one of the +most sincere and devoted men alive, a man of great genius and, at +the same time, of very deep sympathy with his fellow-creatures. + +Out of this character of his come his theories of art and +literature; and, despite their faults, they seem to me more +profound and far-reaching than any put forth by any other man in +our time. + +There is in them, for the current cant regarding art and +literature, a sound, sturdy, hearty contempt which braces and +strengthens one who reads or listens to him. It does one good to +hear his quiet sarcasms against the whole fin-de-siecle +business--the "impressionism," the "sensationalism," the vague +futilities of every sort, the "great poets" wallowing in the mud +of Paris, the "great musicians" making night hideous in German +concert-halls, the "great painters" of various countries mixing +their colors with as much filth as the police will allow. His +keen thrusts at these incarnations of folly and obscenity in the +last quarter of the nineteenth century, and especially at those +who seek to hide the poverty of their ideas in the obscurity of +their phrases, encourage one to think that in the next generation +the day of such pretenders will be done. His prophesying against +"art for art's sake"; his denunciation of art which simply +ministers to sensual pleasure; his ridicule of art which can be +discerned only by "people of culture"; his love for art which has +a sense, not only of its power, but of its obligations, which +puts itself at the service of great and worthy ideas, which +appeals to men as men--in this he is one of the best teachers of +his time and of future times. + +Yet here come in his unfortunate limitations. From his +substitutions of assertion for inference, and from the inadequacy +of his view regarding sundry growths in art, literature, and +science, arises endless confusion. + +For who will not be skeptical as to the value of any criticism by +a man who pours contempt over the pictures of Puvis de Chavannes, +stigmatizes one of Beethoven's purest creations as "corrupting," +and calls Shakspere a "scribbler"! + +Nothing can be more genuine than his manner: there is no posing, +no orating, no phrase-making; a quiet earnestness pervades all +his utterances. The great defect in him arises, as I have already +said, from a peculiarity in the development of his opinions: +namely, that during so large a part of his life he has been wont +to discuss subjects with himself and not with other men; that he +has, therefore, come to worship idols of his own creation, and +often very unsubstantial idols, and to look with misgiving and +distrust on the ideas of others. Very rarely during our +conversations did I hear him speak with any real enthusiasm +regarding any human being: his nearest approach to it was with +reference to the writings of the Rev. Adin Ballou, when he +declared him the foremost literary character that America has +produced. A result of all this is that when he is driven into a +corner his logic becomes so subtle as to be imperceptible, and he +is very likely to take refuge in paradoxes. + +At times, as we walked together, he would pour forth a stream of +reasoning so lucid, out of depths so profound and reach +conclusions so cogent, that he seemed fairly inspired. At other +times he would develop a line of argument so outworn, and arrive +at conclusions so inane, that I could not but look into his face +closely to see if he could be really in earnest; but it always +bore that same expression--forbidding the slightest suspicion +that he was uttering anything save that which he believed, at +least for the time being. + +As to the moral side, the stream of his thought was usually +limpid, but at times it became turbid and his better ideas seemed +to float on the surface as iridescent bubbles. + +Had he lived in any other country, he would have been a power +mighty and permanent in influencing its thought and in directing +its policy; as it is, his thought will pass mainly as the +confused, incoherent wail and cry of a giant struggling against +the heavy adverse currents in that vast ocean of Russian life: + + "The cry of some strong swimmer in his agony." + + +The evolution of Tolstoi's ideas has evidently been mainly +determined by his environment. During two centuries Russia has +been coming slowly out of the middle ages--indeed, out of perhaps +the most cruel phases of mediaeval life. Her history is, in its +details, discouraging; her daily life disheartening. Even the +aspects of nature are to the last degree depressing: no +mountains; no hills; no horizon; no variety in forests; a soil +during a large part of the year frozen or parched; a people whose +upper classes are mainly given up to pleasure and whose lower +classes are sunk in fetishism; all their poetry and music in the +minor key; old oppressions of every sort still lingering; no help +in sight; and, to use their own cry, "God so high and the Czar so +distant." + +When, then, a great man arises in Russia, if he gives himself +wholly to some well-defined purpose, looking to one high aim and +rigidly excluding sight or thought of the ocean of sorrow about +him, he may do great things. If he be Suvaroff or Skobeleff or +Gourko he may win great battles; if he be Mendeleieff he may +reach some epoch-making discovery in science; if he be Derjavine +he may write a poem like the "Ode to God"; if he be Antokolsky he +may carve statues like "Ivan the Terrible"; if he be Nesselrode +he may hold all Europe enchained to the ideas of the autocrat; if +he be Miloutine or Samarine or Tcherkassky he may devise vast +plans like those which enabled Alexander II to free twenty +millions of serfs and to secure means of subsistence for each of +them; if he be Prince Khilkoff he may push railway systems over +Europe to the extremes of Asia; if he be De Witte he may reform a +vast financial system. + +But when a strong genius in Russia throws himself into +philanthropic speculations of an abstract sort, with no chance of +discussing his theories until they are full-grown and have taken +fast hold upon him,--if he be a man of science like Prince +Kropotkin, one of the most gifted scientific thinkers of our +time,--the result may be a wild revolt, not only against the +whole system of his own country, but against civilization itself, +and finally the adoption of the theory and practice of anarchism, +which logically results in the destruction of the entire human +race. Or, if he be an accomplished statesman and theologian like +Pobedonostzeff, he may reason himself back into mediaeval +methods, and endeavor to fetter all free thought and to crush out +all forms of Christianity except the Russo-Greek creed and +ritual. Or, if he be a man of the highest genius in literature, +like Tolstoi, whose native kindliness holds him back from the +extremes of nihilism, he may rear a fabric heaven-high, in which +truths, errors, and paradoxes are piled up together until we have +a new Tower of Babel. Then we may see this man of genius +denouncing all science and commending what he calls "faith"; +urging a return to a state of nature, which is simply Rousseau +modified by misreadings of the New Testament; repudiating +marriage, yet himself most happily married and the father of +sixteen children; holding that Aeschylus and Dante and Shakspere +were not great in literature, and making Adin Ballou a literary +idol; holding that Michelangelo and Raphael were not great in +sculpture and painting, yet insisting on the greatness of sundry +unknown artists who have painted brutally; holding that +Beethoven, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, and Wagner were not great in +music, but that some unknown performer outside any healthful +musical evolution has given us the music of the future; declaring +Napoleon to have had no genius, but presenting Koutousoff as a +military ideal; loathing science--that organized knowledge which +has done more than all else to bring us out of mediaeval cruelty +into a better world--and extolling a "faith" which has always +been the most effective pretext for bloodshed and oppression. + +The long, slow, every-day work of developing a better future for +his countrymen is to be done by others far less gifted than +Tolstoi. His paradoxes will be forgotten; but his devoted life, +his noble thoughts, and his lofty ideals will, as centuries roll +on, more and more give life and light to the new Russia. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +OFFICIAL LIFE IN ST. PETERSBURG--1892-1894 + +The difficulties of a stranger seeking information in Russia seem +at times insurmountable. First of these is the government policy +of suppressing news. Foreign journals come to ordinary +subscribers with paragraphs and articles rubbed out with pumice +or blotted out with ink; consequently our Russian friends were +wont to visit the legation, seeking to read in our papers what +had been erased in their own, and making the most amusing +discoveries as to the stupidity of the official censorship: +paragraphs perfectly harmless being frequently blotted out, and +really serious attacks on the government unnoticed. + +Very striking, as showing control over the newspaper press, was +an occurrence during my first summer at Helsingfors. One day our +family doctor came in, and reported a rumor that an iron-clad +monitor had sunk, the night before, on its way across the gulf +from Reval. Soon the story was found to be true. A squadron of +three ships had started; had encountered a squall; and in the +morning one of them--an old-fashioned iron-clad monitor--was +nowhere to be seen. She had sunk with all on board. Considerable +speculation concerning the matter arose, and sundry very guarded +remarks were ventured to the effect that the authorities at +Cronstadt would have been wiser had they not allowed the ship to +go out in such a condition that the first squall would send her +to the bottom. This discussion continued for about a week, when +suddenly the proper authorities served notice upon the press that +nothing more must be said on the subject. + +This mandate was obeyed; the matter was instantly dropped; +nothing more was said; and, a year or two afterward, on my +inquiring of Admiral Makharoff whether anything had ever been +discovered regarding the lost ship and its crew, he answered in +the negative. + +But more serious efforts than these were made to control thought. +The censorship of books was even more strongly, and, if possible, +more foolishly, exercised. At any of the great bookshops one +could obtain, at once, the worst publications of the Paris press; +but the really substantial and thoughtful books were carefully +held back. The average Russian, in order to read most of these +better works, must be specially authorized to do so. + +I had a practical opportunity to see the system in operation. +Being engaged on the final chapters of my book, and needing +sundry scientific, philosophical, and religious treatises, such +as can be bought freely in every city of Western Europe, I went +to the principal bookseller in St. Petersburg, and was told that, +by virtue of my diplomatic position, I could have them; but that, +in order to do so, I must write an application, signing it with +my own name, and that then he would sell them to me within a few +days. This took place several times. + +Still another difficulty is that, owing to lack of publicity, the +truth can rarely be found as regards any burning question: in the +prevailing atmosphere of secrecy and repression the simplest +facts are often completely shut from the foreign observer. + +Owing to the lack of public discussion, Russia is the classic +ground of myth and legend. One sees myths and legends growing day +by day. The legend regarding the cure of the Archbishop of St. +Petersburg by Father Ivan of Cronstadt, which I have given in a +previous chapter, is an example. The same growth of legend is +seen with regard to every-day matters. For example, one meets +half a dozen people at five-o'clock tea in a Russian house, and +one of them says: "How badly the Emperor looked at court last +night." Another says: "Yes; his liver is evidently out of order; +he ought to go to Carlsbad." Another says: "I think that special +pains ought to be taken with his food," etc., etc. People then +scatter from this tea-table, and in a day or two one hears that +sufficient precaution is not taken with the Emperor's food; that +it would not be strange if some nihilist should seek to poison +him. A day or two afterward one hears that a nihilist HAS +endeavored to poison the Emperor. The legend grows, details +appear here and there, and finally there come in the newspapers +of Western Europe full and careful particulars of a thwarted plot +to poison his Majesty. + +Not the least of the embarrassments which beset an American +minister in Russia is one which arose at various times during my +stay, its source being the generous promptness of our people to +take as gospel any story regarding Russian infringement of human +rights. One or two cases will illustrate this. + +During my second winter, despatches by mail and wire came to me +thick and fast regarding the alleged banishment of an American +citizen to Siberia for political reasons; and with these came +petitions and remonstrances signed by hundreds of Americans of +light and leading; also newspaper articles, many and bitter. + +On making inquiries through the Russian departments of foreign +affairs and of justice, I found the fact to be that this injured +American had been, twenty years before, a Russian police agent in +Poland; that he had stolen funds intrusted to him and had taken +refuge in America; that, relying on the amnesty proclaimed at the +accession of the late Emperor, he had returned to his old haunts; +that he had been seized, because the amnesty did not apply to the +category of criminals to which he belonged; that he had not been +sent to Siberia; that there was no thought of sending him there; +but that the authorities proposed to recover the money he had +stolen if they could. Another case was typical: One day an +excellent English clergyman came to me in great distress, stating +that an American citizen was imprisoned in the city. I +immediately had the man brought before a justice, heard his +testimony and questioned him, publicly and privately. He swore +before the court, and insisted to me in private, that he had +never before been in Russia; that he was an American citizen born +of a Swedish father and an Alaskan mother upon one of the Alaskan +islands; and he showed a passport which he had obtained at +Washington by making oath to that effect. On the other hand +appeared certain officers of the Russian navy, in excellent +standing, who swore that they knew the man perfectly to be a +former employee of their engineering department and a deserter +from a Russian ship of war in the port of St. Petersburg. It was +also a somewhat significant fact that he spoke Russian much +better than English, and that he seemed to have a knowledge of +Russian affairs very remarkable for a man who had never been in +Russia; but to account for this he insisted upon the statement as +to his birth in Alaska. Appearances were certainly very strongly +against him, and he was remanded to await more testimony in his +favor; but the next thing I heard was that he had escaped, had +arrived in New York, was posing as a martyr, had graciously +granted interviews to various representatives of the press, and +had thereby stimulated some very lurid editorials against the +Russian Government. + +Another case was that of a Russian who, having reached the United +States, burdened the files of the State Department and of the +legation with complaints against the American minister because +that official did not send out the man's wife to him. The +minister had, indeed, forwarded the necessary passports, but the +difficulty was that the German authorities would not allow the +woman to enter Germany without showing herself to be in +possession of means sufficient to prevent her becoming a public +charge; and these her husband could not, or would not, send, +insisting that now that he was naturalized he had a right to have +his wife brought to America. + +I have no apology to make for the Russian system--far from it; +but I would state, in the interest of international comity, that +it is best for Americans not to be too prompt in believing all +the stories of alleged sufferers from Russian despotism, and +especially of those who wish to use their American citizenship +simply in order to return to Russia and enjoy business advantages +superior to those of their neighbors. + +That there are many meritorious refugees cannot be denied; but +any one who has looked over extradition papers, as I have been +obliged to do, and seen people posing as Russian martyrs who are +comfortably carrying on in New York the business of +counterfeiting bank-notes, and unctuously thanking God in their +letters for their success in the business, will be slow to join +in the outcries of refugees of doubtful standing claiming to be +suffering persecution on account of race, religion, or political +opinion. + +Nor are Russian-Americans the only persons who weary an American +representative. One morning a card was brought in bearing an +undoubted American name, and presently there followed it a tall +raw-boned man with long flaxen hair, who began orating to me as +follows: "Sir, you are an ambassador from the President of the +United States; I am an ambassador from God Almighty. I am sent +here to save the Emperor. He is a good man; he is followed up by +bad men who seek his life; I can save him; I will be his +cup-bearer; I WILL DRIVE HIS TEAM." This latter conception of the +Emperor's means of locomotion struck me as naive, especially in +view of the fact that near my house was an immense structure +filled with magnificent horses for the Emperor and court--a +veritable equine palace. "Yes," said my visitor; "I will drive +the Emperor's team. I want you to introduce me to him +immediately." My answer was that it was not so easy to secure a +presentation to the Emperor, offhand; that considerable time +would be necessary in any case. To this my visitor answered: "I +must see him at once; I am invited to come by the Empress." On my +asking when he received this invitation, he said that it was +given him on board the steamer between New York and Hamburg, her +Majesty and her children being the only other passengers besides +himself in the second-class cabin. To this I said that there must +certainly be some mistake; that her Majesty rarely, if ever, +traveled on public lines of steamers; that if she had done so, +she certainly would not have been a passenger in the second +cabin. To this he answered that he was absolutely certain that it +was the Empress who had given him the invitation and urged him to +come and save the Emperor's life. On my asking him the date of +this invitation, he looked through his diary and found it. At +this, sending for a file of the official newspaper of St. +Petersburg, I showed him that on the day named her Majesty was +receiving certain officials at the palace in St. Petersburg; +whereat he made an answer which for the moment threw me +completely off my balance. He said, "Sir, I have lived long +enough not to believe everything I see in the newspapers." + +I quieted him as best I could, but on returning to his hotel he +indulged in some very boisterous conduct, one of the minor +features of which was throwing water in the faces of the waiters; +so that, fearing lest actions like this and his loud utterances +regarding the Emperor and Empress might get him into trouble, I +wrote a friendly letter to the prefect of St. Petersburg, stating +the case, and asking that, if it was thought best to arrest the +man, he should be placed in some comfortable retreat for the +insane and be well cared for until I could communicate with his +friends in America. Accordingly, a day or two afterward, a +handsome carriage drove up to the door of his hotel, bearing two +kindly gentlemen, who invited him to accompany them. Taking it +for granted that he was to be escorted to the palace to meet his +Majesty, he went without making any objections, and soon found +himself in commodious rooms and most kindly treated. + +It being discovered that he was an excellent pianist, a grand +piano was supplied him; and he was very happy in his musical +practice, and in the thought that he was lodged in the palace and +would soon communicate his message to the Emperor. At various +times I called upon him and found him convinced that his great +mission would soon be accomplished; but after a week or ten days +he began to have doubts, and said to me that he distrusted the +Russians and would prefer to go on and deliver a message with +which he was charged to the Emperor of China. On my showing him +sundry difficulties, he said that at any rate there was one place +where he would certainly be well received--Marlborough House in +London; that he was sure the Prince of Wales would welcome him +heartily. At last, means having been obtained from his friends, I +sought to forward him from St. Petersburg; but, as no steamers +thence would take a lunatic, I sent my private secretary with him +to Helsingfors, and thence secured his passage to America. + +A very curious feature in the case, as told me afterward by a +gentleman who traveled in the same steamer, was that this +American delighted the company day after day with his music, and +that no one ever saw anything out of the way in his utterances or +conduct. He seemed to have forgotten all about his great missions +and to have become absorbed in his piano. + +Among the things to which special and continued attention had to +be given by the legation was the Chicago Exposition. I was +naturally desirous to see it a success; indeed, it was my duty to +do everything possible to promote it. The magnificent plans which +the Chicago people had developed and were carrying out with such +wonderful energy interested thinking Russians. But presently came +endeavors which might easily have brought the whole enterprise +into disrepute; for some of the crankish persons who always hang +on the skirts of such enterprises had been allowed to use +official stationery, and they had begun writing letters, and even +instructions, to American diplomatic agents abroad. + +The first of these which attracted my attention was one +requesting me to ask the Empress to write a book in the shape of +a "Report on Women's Work in Russia," careful instructions being +given as to how and at what length she must write it. + +A letter also came from one of these quasi-officials at Chicago, +not requesting, but instructing, me to ask the Emperor to report +to his bureau on the condition of the empire; funnily enough, +this "instruction" was evidently one of several, and they had +been ground out so carelessly that the one which I was instructed +to deliver to the Emperor was addressed to the "King of Holland." +It was thus made clear that this important personage at Chicago, +who usurped the functions of the Secretary of State, had not even +taken the trouble to find out that there was no such person as a +"King of Holland," the personage whom he vaguely had in mind +being, no doubt, the Queen Regent of the Netherlands. + +Soon there followed another of these quasi-instructions, showing +another type of crankishness. Beginning with the weighty +statement that "the school-boys of every country are the future +men of that country," it went on with a declaration that it had +been decided to hold a convention of the school-children of the +world at Chicago, in connection with the Exposition, and ended by +instructing me to invite to its deliberations the school-children +of Russia. Of course I took especial care not to communicate any +of these things to any Russian: to have done so would have made +the Exposition, instead of the admiration, the laughing-stock of +the empire; but I wrote a letter to the assistant secretary of +state, Mr. Quincy, who presently put an end to these vagaries. + +One is greatly struck in Russia by the number of able and gifted +men and women scattered through Russian society, and at the +remarkable originality of some of them. The causes of this +originality I touch in my chapter on Tolstoi. + +It was a duty as well as a pleasure for me to keep up my +acquaintance with persons worth knowing; and, while many of the +visits thus made were perfunctory and tedious, some were +especially gratifying. My rule was, after office hours in the +afternoon, to get into the open sledge; to make my visits; and as +a result, of course, to see and hear a vast deal of frivolity and +futility, but, from time to time, more important things. + +The entertainments given by wealthy Russian nobles to the +diplomatic corps were by no means so frequent or so lavish as of +old. Two reasons were assigned for this, one being the abolition +of the serf system, which had impoverished the nobility, and the +other the fact that the Emperor Alexander III had set the fashion +of paying less attention to foreigners than had formerly been the +custom. + +The main hospitalities, so far as the Emperor and Empress were +concerned, were the great festivities at the Winter Palace, +beginning on the Russian New Year's day, which was twelve days +later than ours. The scene was most brilliant. The vast halls +were filled with civil and military officials from all parts of +the empire, in the most gorgeous costumes, an especially striking +effect being produced by the caftans, or long coats, of the +various Cossack regiments, the armor and helmets of the Imperial +Guards, and the old Russian costumes of the ladies. All of the +latter, on this occasion, from the Empress down, wore these +costumes: there was great variety in these; but their main +features were the kakoshniks, or ornamental crowns, and the +tunics in bright colors. + +The next of these great ceremonies at the Winter Palace was the +blessing of the waters upon the 8th of January. The diplomatic +corps and other guests were allowed to take their places at the +palace windows looking out over the Neva, and thence could see +the entire procession, which, having gone down the ambassadors' +staircase, appeared at a temple which had been erected over an +opening in the ice of the river. The Emperor, the grand dukes, +and the Archbishop of St. Petersburg, with his suffragan bishops, +all took part in this ceremonial; and the music, which was +selected from the anthems of Bortniansky, was very solemn and +impressive. + +During the winter came court balls, and, above all, the "palm +balls." The latter were, in point of brilliancy, probably beyond +anything in any court of modern times. After a reception, during +which the Emperor and Empress passed along the diplomatic circle, +speaking to the various members, dancing began, and was continued +until about midnight; then the doors were flung open into other +vast halls, which had been changed into palm-groves. The palms +for this purpose are very large and beautiful, four series of +them being kept in the conservatories for this special purpose, +each series being used one winter and then allowed to rest for +three winters before it is brought out again. Under these palms +the supper-tables are placed, and from fifteen hundred to two +thousand people sit at these as the guests of the Czar and +Czarina. These entertainments seem carried to the extreme of +luxury, their only defect being their splendid monotony: only +civil, military, and diplomatic officials are present, and a +new-comer finds much difficulty in remembering their names. There +are said to be four hundred Princes Galitzin in the empire, and I +personally knew three Counts Tolstoi who did not know each other; +but the great drawback is the fact that all these entertainments +are exactly alike, always the same thing: merely civil and +military functionaries and their families; and for strangers no +occupation save to dance, play cards, talk futilities, or simply +stare. + +The Berlin court, though by no means so brilliant at first sight +and far smaller,--since the most I ever saw in any gathering in +the Imperial Schloss at the German capital was about fifteen +hundred,--was really much more attractive, its greater interest +arising from the presence of persons distinguished in every +field. While at St. Petersburg one meets only civil and military +functionaries, at Berlin one meets not only these, but the most +prominent men in politics, science, literature, art, and the +higher ranges of agriculture, commerce, and manufacture. At St. +Petersburg, when I wished to meet such men, who added to the +peaceful glories of the empire, I went to their houses in the +university quarter; at Berlin I met them also at court. + +As to court episodes during my stay, one especially dwells in my +memory. On arriving rather early one evening, I noticed a large, +portly man, wearing the broad red ribbon of the Legion of Honor, +and at once saw that he could be no other than Prince Victor +Napoleon, the Bonaparte heir to the crown of France. Though he +was far larger than the great Napoleon, and had the eyes of his +mother, Princess Clothilde, his likeness to his father, Prince +Napoleon ("Plon-Plon"), whom I had seen years before at Paris, +was very marked. Presently his brother, who had just arrived from +his regiment in the Caucasus, came up and began conversation with +him. Both seemed greatly vexed at something. On the arrival of +the Italian ambassador, he naturally went up and spoke to the +prince, who was the grandson of King Victor Emmanuel; but the +curious thing was that the French ambassador, Count de +Montebello, and the prince absolutely cut each other. Neither +seemed to have the remotest idea that the other was in the room, +and this in spite of the fact that the Montebellos are descended +from Jean Lannes, the stable-boy whom Napoleon made a marshal of +France and Duke of Montebello, thus founding the family to which +the French ambassador belonged. The show of coolness on the part +of the imperial family evidently vexed the French pretender. He +was, indeed, allowed to enter the room behind the imperial train; +but he was not permitted to sit at the imperial table, being +relegated to a distant and very modest seat. I was informed that, +though the Emperor could, and did, have the prince to dine with +him in private, he felt obliged, in view of the relations between +Russia and the French Republic, to carefully avoid any special +recognition of him in public. + +A far more brilliant visitor was the Ameer of Bokhara. I have +already spoken of the way in which he was placed upon the throne +by General Annenkof. He now came to visit the Czar as his +suzerain, and with him came his eldest son and a number of his +great men. The satrap himself was a singular combination of +splendor and stoicism, wearing a gorgeous dress covered with +enormous jewels, and observing the brilliant scenes about him +with hardly ever a word. Even when he took his place at the table +beside the Empress he was very uncommunicative. Facing the +imperial table sat his great men; and their embarrassment was +evident, one special source of it being clearly their small +acquaintance with European table utensils. The Ameer brought to +St. Petersburg splendid presents of gold and jewels, after the +Oriental fashion, and also the heir to his throne, whom he left +as a sort of hostage to be educated at the capital. + +An eminent Russian who was in very close relations with the Ameer +gave me some account of this young man. Although he was then +perhaps fourteen or fifteen years of age, he was, as regards +conduct, a mere baby, bursting out into loud boohooing the first +time he was presented to the Emperor, and showing himself very +immature in various ways. Curiously enough, when he was taken to +the cadet school he was found to be unable to walk for any +considerable distance. He had always been made to squat and be +carried, and the first thing to be done toward making him a +Russian officer was to train him in using his legs. He took an +especial fancy to bicycles: in the park attached to the cadet +school he became very proficient in the use of them; and, +returning to Bokhara at his first vacation, he took with him, not +only a bicycle for himself, but another for his brother. Shortly +after his home-coming, the Ameer and court being assembled, he +gave a display of his powers; but, to his great mortification, +the Ameer was disgusted: the idea that the heir to the throne +should be seen working his way in this fashion was contrary to +all the ideas of that potentate, and he ordered the bicycles to +be at once destroyed. But on the young man's return to St. +Petersburg he bought another; resumed his exercises upon it; and +will, no doubt, when he comes to the throne, introduce that form +of locomotion into the Mohammedan regions of Northern Asia. + +Among the greater displays of my final year were a wedding and a +funeral. The former was that of the Emperor's eldest daughter, +the Grand Duchess Xenia, at Peterhof. It was very brilliant, and +was conducted after the usual Russian fashion, its most curious +features being the leading of the couple about the altar and +their drinking out of the same cup. + +Coming from the ceremony in the chapel, we of the diplomatic +corps found ourselves, at the foot of the great staircase, in a +crush. But just at the side was a large door of plate-glass +opening upon an outer gallery communicating with other parts of +the palace; and standing guard at this door was one of the +"Nubians" whom I had noticed, from time to time, at the Winter +Palace--an enormous creature, very black, very glossy, with the +most brilliant costume possible. I had heard much of these +"Nubians," and had been given to understand that they had been +brought from Central Africa by special command. At great +assemblages in the imperial palaces, just before the doors were +flung open for the entrance of the Majesties and their cortege, +two great black hands were always to be seen put through the +doors, ready to open them in an instant--the hands of two of +these "Nubians." I had built up in my mind quite a structure of +romance regarding them, and now found myself in the crush at the +foot of the grand staircase near one of them. As I looked up at +him he said to me, with deferential compassion, "If you please, +sah, would n't you like to git out of de crowd, sah, through dis +yere doah?" By his dialect he was evidently one of my own +compatriots, and, though in a sort of daze at this discovery, I +mechanically accepted his invitation; whereupon he opened the +door, let us through, and kept back the crowd. + +Splendid, too, in its way, was the funeral of the Grand Duchess +Catherine at the Fortress Church. It was very impressive, almost +as much so as the funeral of the Emperor Nicholas, which I had +attended at the same place nearly forty years before. The Emperor +Alexander III, with his brothers, had followed the hearse and +coffin on foot, and his Majesty was evidently greatly fatigued. +Soon he retired to take rest, and then it was that we began to +have the first suspicion of his fatal illness. Up to that time +there had been skepticism. Very few had thought it possible that +a man of such giant frame and strength could be seriously ill, +but now there could be no doubt of it. Standing near him, I +noticed his pallor and evident fatigue, and was not surprised +that he twice left the place, in order, evidently, to secure +rest. There was need of it. In the Russian Church the rule is +that all must stand, and all of us stood from about ten in the +morning until half-past one in the afternoon; but two high +officials covered with gold lace and orders, bearing tapers by +the side of the grand duchess's coffin, toppled over from +exhaustion and were removed. + +As to other spectacles, one of the most splendid was the midnight +mass on Easter eve. At my former visit I had seen this at the +Kazan Church; now we went to the Cathedral of St. Isaac. The +ceremony was brilliant almost beyond conception, as in the old +days; the music was heavenly; and, as the clocks struck twelve, +the cannons of the fortress of Peter and Paul boomed forth, all +the bells of the city began chiming, and a light, appearing at +the extreme end of the church, seemed to run in all directions +through the vast assemblage, and presently all seemed ablaze. +Every person in the church was holding a taper, and within a few +moments all of these had been lighted. + +Most beautiful of all was the music at another of these Easter +ceremonies, when the choristers, robed in white, came forth from +the sanctuary and sang hymns by the side of the empty sepulcher +under the dome. + +The singing by the choirs in Russia is, in many respects, more +beautiful than similar music in any other part of the world, save +that of the cathedral choir of Berlin at its best. I have heard +the Sistine, Pauline, and Lateran choirs at Rome; and they are +certainly far inferior to these Russian singers. No instrumental +music is allowed and no voices of women. The choristers are men +and boys. There are several fine choirs in St. Petersburg, but +three are famous: that of the Emperor at the Winter Palace +Chapel, that of the Archbishop at the Cathedral of St. Isaac, and +that of the Nevski Monastery. Occasionally there were concerts +when all were combined, and nothing in its way could be more +perfect. + +Operatic music also receives careful attention. Enormous +subsidies are given to secure the principal singers of Europe at +the Italian, French, and German theaters; but the most lavish +outlay is upon the national opera: it is considered a matter of +patriotism to maintain it at the highest point possible. The +Russian Opera House is an enormous structure, and the finest +piece which I saw given there was Glinka's "Life for the Czar." +Being written by a Russian, on a patriotic subject, and from an +ultra-loyal point of view, everything had been done to mount it +in the most superb way possible: never have I seen more wonderful +scenic effects, the whole culminating in the return of one of the +old fighting czars to the Kremlin after his struggle with the +Poles. The stage was enormous and the procession magnificent. The +personages in it were the counterparts, as regarded dress, of the +persons they represented, exact copies having been made of the +robes and ornaments of the old Muscovite boyards, as preserved in +the Kremlin Museum; and at the close of this procession came a +long line of horses, in the most superb trappings imaginable, +attended by guards and outriders in liveries of barbaric +splendor, and finally the imperial coach. We were enabled to +catch sight of the Cossack guards on the front of it, when, just +as the body of the coach was coming into view, down came the +curtain. This was the result of a curious prohibition, enforced +in all theaters in Russia: on no account is it permitted to +represent the sacred person of any emperor upon the stage. + +As to other music, very good concerts were occasionally given, +the musicians being generally from Western Europe. + +Very pleasant were sundry excursions, especially during the long +summer twilight; and among these were serenade parties given by +various members of the diplomatic corps. In a trim steam-yacht, +and carrying singers with us, we sailed among the islands in the +midnight hours, stopping, from time to time, to greet friends +occupying cottages there. + +As to excursions in the empire, I have already given, in my +chapter on Tolstoi, some account of my second visit to Moscow; +and a more complete account is reserved for a chapter on "Sundry +Excursions and Experiences." The same may be said, also, +regarding an excursion taken, during one of my vacations, in +Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. + +In 1893, a new administration having brought into power the party +opposed to my own, I tendered to President Cleveland my +resignation, and, in the full expectation that it would be +accepted, gave up my apartment; but as, instead of an acceptance, +there came a very kind indication of the President's confidence, +good-will, and preference for my continuance at my post, I +remained in the service a year longer, occupying my odds and ends +of time in finishing my book. Then, feeling the need of going +elsewhere to revise it, I wrote the President, thanking him for +his confidence and kindness, but making my resignation final, and +naming the date when it would be absolutely necessary for me to +leave Russia. A very kind letter from him was the result; the +time I had named was accepted; and on the 1st of November, 1894, +to my especial satisfaction, I was once more free from official +duty. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +AS MEMBER OF THE VENEZUELA COMMISSION--1895-1896 + +Early one morning, just at the end of 1895, as I was at work +before the blazing fire in my library at the university, the +winter storms howling outside, a card was brought in bearing the +name of Mr. Hamlin, assistant secretary of the treasury of the +United States. While I was wondering what, at that time of the +year, could have brought a man from such important duties in +Washington to the bleak hills of central New York, he entered, +and soon made known his business, which was to tender me, on the +part of President Cleveland, a position upon the commission which +had been authorized by Congress to settle the boundary between +the republic of Venezuela and British Guiana. + +The whole matter had attracted great attention, not only in the +United States, but throughout the world. The appointment of the +commission was the result of a chain of circumstances very +honorable to the President, to his Secretary of State, Mr. Olney, +and to Congress. For years the Venezuelan government had been +endeavoring to establish a frontier between its territory and +that of its powerful neighbor, but without result; and meantime +the British boundary seemed to be pushed more and more into the +territory of the little Spanish-American republic. For years, +too, Venezuela had appealed to the United States, and the United +States had appealed to Great Britain. American secretaries of +state and ambassadors at the Court of St. James had "trusted," +and "regretted," and had "the honor to renew assurances of their +most distinguished consideration"; but all in vain. At last the +matter had been presented by Secretary Olney to the government of +Lord Salisbury; and now, to Mr. Olney's main despatch on the +subject, Lord Salisbury, after some months' delay, had returned +an answer declining arbitration, and adding that international +law did not recognize the Monroe Doctrine. This seemed even more +than cool; for, when one remembered that the Monroe Doctrine was +at first laid down with the approval of Great Britain, that it +was glorified in Parliament and in the British press of 1823 and +the years following, and that Great Britain had laid down +policies in various parts of the earth, especially in the +Mediterranean and in the far East, which she insisted that all +other powers should respect without reference to any sanction by +international law, this argument seemed almost insulting. + +So it evidently seemed to Mr. Cleveland. Probably no man less +inclined to demagogism or to a policy of adventure ever existed; +but as he looked over the case his American instincts were +evidently aroused. He saw then, what is clear to everybody now, +that it was the time of all times for laying down, distinctly and +decisively, the American doctrine on the subject. He did so, and +in a message to Congress proposed that, since Great Britain would +not intrust the finding of a boundary to arbitration, the United +States should appoint commissioners to find what the proper +boundary was, and then, having ascertained it, should support its +sister American republic in maintaining it. + +Of course the President was attacked from all sides most +bitterly; even those called "the better element" in the +Republican and Democratic parties, who had been his ardent +supporters, now became his bitter enemies. He was charged with +"demagogism" and "jingoism," but he kept sturdily on. Congress, +including the great body of the Republicans, supported him; the +people at large stood by him; and, as a result, a commission to +determine the boundary was appointed and began its work in +Washington, the commissioners being, in the order named by the +President, David J. Brewer of Kansas, a justice of the Supreme +Court of the United States; Chief Justice Alvey of the District +of Columbia; Andrew D. White of New York; F. R. Coudert, an +eminent member of the New York bar; and Daniel C. Gilman of +Maryland, President of Johns Hopkins University. + +On our arrival in Washington there was much discouragement among +us. We found ourselves in a jungle of geographical and legal +questions, with no clue in sight leading anywhither. The rights +of Great Britain had been derived in 1815, from the Netherlands; +the rights of Venezuela had been derived, about 1820, from Spain; +but to find the boundary separating the two in that vast +territory, mainly unsettled, between the Orinoco and the +Essequibo rivers, seemed impossible. + +The original rights of the Netherlands had been derived from +Spain by the treaty of Munster in 1648; and on examining that +enormous document, which settled weighty questions in various +parts of the world, after the life-and-death struggle, religious, +political, and military, which had gone on for nearly eighty +years, one little clause arrested our attention: that, namely, in +which the Spaniards, despite their bitter hatred of the Dutch, +agreed that the latter might carry on warlike operations against +"certain other people" with reference to territorial rights in +America. These "certain other people" were not precisely +indicated; and we hoped, by finding who they were, to get a clue +to the fundamental facts of the case. Straightway two of our +three lawyers, Mr. Justice Brewer and Mr. Coudert, grappled on +this question, one of them taking the ground that these "other +people" referred to were the Caribbean Indians who had lived just +south of the mouth of the Orinoco, and had been friendly to the +Dutch but implacable toward the Spaniards, and that their +territory was to be considered as virtually Dutch, and, +therefore, as having passed finally to England. But the other +disputant insisted that it referred to the Brazilians and had no +relation to the question with which we had to deal. During two +whole sessions this ground was fought over in a legal way by +these gentlemen, with great acumen, the rest of us hardly putting +in a word. + +At the beginning of the third session I ventured a remonstrance, +saying that it was a historical, and not a legal, question; that +it could not possibly be settled by legal argument; that the +first thing to know was why the clause was inserted in the +treaty, and that the next thing was to find, from the whole +history leading up to it, who those "other persons" thus vaguely +referred to and left by the Spaniards to the tender mercies of +the Dutch might be; and I insisted that this, being a historical +question, must be solved by historical experts. The commission +acknowledged the justice of this; and on my nomination we called +to our aid Mr. George Lincoln Burr, professor of history in +Cornell University. It is not at all the very close friendship +which has existed for so many years between us which prompts the +assertion that, of all historical scholars I have ever known, he +is among the very foremost, by his powers of research, his +tenacity of memory, his almost preternatural accuracy, his +ability to keep the whole field of investigation in his mind, and +his fidelity to truth and justice. He was set at the problem, and +given access to the libraries of Congress and of the State +Department, as also to the large collections of books and maps +which had been placed at the disposal of the commission. Of these +the most important were those of Harvard University and the +University of Wisconsin. Curious as it may seem, this latter +institution, far in the interior of our country, possesses a +large and most valuable collection of maps relating to the +colonization history of South America. Within two weeks Professor +Burr reported, and never did a report give more satisfaction. He +had unraveled, historically, the whole mystery, and found that, +the government of Brazil having played false to both Spaniards +and Dutch, Spain had allowed the Netherlands to take vengeance +for the vexations of both. We also had the exceedingly valuable +services, as to maps and early colonization history, of Mr. +Justin Winsor, librarian of Harvard University, eminent both as +historian and geographer, and of Professor Jameson of Brown +University, who had also distinguished himself in these fields. +Besides these, Mr. Marcus Baker of the United States Coast Survey +aided us, from day to day, in mapping out any territories that we +wished especially to study. + +All this work was indispensable. At the very beginning of our +sessions there had been laid before us the first of a series of +British Blue Books on the whole subject; and, with all my +admiration for the better things in British history, politics, +and life, candor compels me to say that it was anything but +creditable to the men immediately responsible for it. It made +several statements that were absolutely baseless, and sought to +rest them upon authorities which, when examined, were found not +to bear in the slightest degree the interpretation put upon them. +I must confess that nothing, save, perhaps, the conduct of +British "experts" regarding the Behring Sea question, has ever +come so near shaking my faith in "British fair play." Nor were +the American commissioners alone in judging this document +severely. Critics broke forth, even in the London "Times," +denouncing it, until it was supplanted by another, which was fair +and just. + +I, of course, impute nothing to the leading British statesmen who +had charge of the whole Venezuelan question. The culprits were, +undoubtedly, sundry underlings whose zeal outran their honesty. +They apparently thought that in the United States, which they +probably considered as new, raw, and too much engaged in +dollar-hunting to produce scholars, their citations from +authorities more or less difficult of access would fail to be +critically examined. But their conduct was soon exposed, and even +their principals joined in repudiating some of their fundamental +statements. Professor Burr was sent abroad, and at The Hague was +able to draw treasures from the library and archives regarding +the old Dutch occupation and to send a mass of important material +for our deliberations. In London also he soon showed his +qualities, and these were acknowledged even by some leading +British geographers. The latter had at first seemed inclined to +indulge in what a German might call "tendency" geography; but the +clearness, earnestness, and honesty of our agent soon gained +their respect, and, after that, the investigators of both sides +worked harmoniously together. While the distinguished lawyers +above named had main charge of the legal questions, President +Gilman, who had in his early life been professor of physical and +general geography at Yale, was given charge of the whole matter +of map-seeking and -making; and to me, with the others, was left +the duty of studying and reporting upon the material as brought +in. Taking up my residence at Washington, I applied myself +earnestly to reading through masses of books, correspondence, and +other documents, and studied maps until I felt as if I had lived +in the country concerned and was personally acquainted with the +Dutch governors on the Cuyuni and the Spanish monks on the +Orinoco. As a result lines more or less tentative were prepared +by each of us, Judge Brewer and myself agreeing very closely, and +the others not being very distant from us at any important point. +One former prime minister of Great Britain I learned, during this +investigation, to respect greatly,--Lord Aberdeen, whom I well +remembered as discredited and driven from power during my stay in +Russia at the time of the Crimean War. He was wise enough in +those days to disbelieve in war with Russia, and to desire a +solution of the Turkish problem by peace, but was overruled, and +the solution was attempted by a war most costly in blood and +treasure, which was apparently successful, but really a failure. +He was driven from his post with ignominy; and I well remembered +seeing a very successful cartoon in "Punch" at that period, +representing him, wearing coronet and mantle and fast asleep, at +the helm of the ship of state, which was rolling in the trough of +the sea and apparently about to founder. + +Since that time his wisdom has, I think, been recognized; and I +am now glad to acknowledge the fact that, of all the many British +statesmen who dealt with the Venezuelan question, he was clearly +the most just. The line he drew seemed to me the fairest +possible. He did not attempt to grasp the mouth of the Orinoco, +nor did he meander about choice gold-fields or valuable strategic +points, seeking to include them. The Venezuelans themselves had +shown willingness to accept his proposal; but alleged, as their +reason for not doing so, that the British government had preached +to them regarding their internal policy so offensively that +self-respect forbade them to acquiesce in any part of it. + +Toward this Aberdeen line we tended more and more; and in the +sequel we heard, with very great satisfaction, that the +Arbitration Tribunal at Paris had practically adopted this line, +which we of the commission had virtually agreed upon. It need +hardly be stated that, each side having at the beginning of the +arbitration claimed the whole vast territory between the Orinoco +and the Essequibo, neither was quite satisfied with the award. +But I believe it to be thoroughly just, and that it forms a most +striking testimony to the value of international arbitration in +such questions, as a means, not only of preserving international +peace, but of arriving at substantial justice. + +Our deliberations and conclusions were, of course, kept secret. +It was of the utmost importance that nothing should get out +regarding them. Our sessions were delayed and greatly prolonged, +partly on account of the amount of work to be done in studying +the many questions involved, and partly because we hoped that, +more and more, British opinion would tend to the submission of +the whole question to the judgment of a proper international +tribunal; and that Lord Salisbury, the prime minister, who, in +his rather cynical, "Saturday-Review," high-Tory way, had scouted +the idea of arbitration, would at last be brought to it. Of +course, every thinking Englishman looked with uneasiness toward +the possibility that a line might be laid down by the United +States which it would feel obliged to maintain, and which would +necessitate its supporting Venezuela, at all hazards, against +Great Britain. + +The statesmanship of Mr. Cleveland and Mr. Olney finally +triumphed. Most fortunately for both parties, Great Britain had +at Washington a most eminent diplomatist, whose acquaintance I +then made, but whom I afterward came to know, respect, and admire +even more during the Peace Conference at The Hague--Sir Julian, +afterward Lord, Pauncefote. His wise counsels prevailed; Lord +Salisbury receded from his position; Great Britain agreed to +arbitration; and the question entered into a new stage, which was +finally ended by the award of the Arbitration Tribunal at Paris, +presided over by M. de Martens of St. Petersburg, and having on +its bench the chief justices of the two nations and two of the +most eminent judges of their highest courts. It is with pride and +satisfaction that I find their award agreeing, substantially, +with the line which, after so much trouble, our own commission +had worked out. Arbitration having been decided upon, our +commission refrained from laying down a frontier-line, but +reported a mass of material, some fourteen volumes in all, with +an atlas containing about seventy-five maps, all of which formed +a most valuable contribution to the material laid before the +Court of Arbitration at Paris. + +It was a happy solution of the whole question, and it was a +triumph of American diplomacy in the cause of right and justice. + +I may mention, in passing, one little matter which throws light +upon a certain disgraceful system to which I have had occasion to +refer at various other times in these memoirs; and I do so now in +the hope of keeping people thinking upon one of the most wretched +abuses in the United States. I have said above that we were, of +course, obliged to maintain the strictest secrecy. To have +allowed our conclusions to get out would have thwarted the whole +purpose of the investigation; but a person who claimed to +represent one of the leading presses in Washington seemed to +think that consideration of no special importance, and came to +our rooms, virtually insisting on receiving information. Having +been told that it could not be given him, he took his revenge by +inserting a sensational paragraph in the papers regarding the +extravagance of the commission. He informed the world that we +were expending large sums of public money in costly furniture, in +rich carpets, and especially in splendid silverware. The fact was +that the rooms were furnished very simply, with plain office +furniture, with cheap carpets, and with a safe for locking up the +more precious documents intrusted to us and such papers as it was +important to keep secret. The "silverware" consisted of two very +plain plated jugs for ice-water; and I may add that after our +adjournment the furniture was so wisely sold that very nearly the +whole expenditure for it was returned into the treasury. + +These details would be utterly trivial were it not that, with +others which I have given in other places, they indicate that +prostitution of the press to sensation-mongering which the +American people should realize and reprove. + +While I have not gone into minor details of our work, I have +thought that thus much might be interesting. Of course, had these +reminiscences been written earlier, this sketch of the interior +history of the commission would have been omitted; but now, the +award of the Paris tribunal having been made, there is no reason +why secrecy should be longer maintained. Never, before that +award, did any of us, I am sure, indicate to any person what our +view as to the line between the possessions of Venezuela and +Great Britain was; but now we may do so, and I feel that all +concerned may be congratulated on the fact that two tribunals, +each seeking to do justice, united on the same line, and that +line virtually the same which one of the most just of British +statesmen had approved many years before. + +During this Venezuela work in Washington I made acquaintance with +many leading men in politics; and among those who interested me +most was Mr. Carlisle of Kentucky, Secretary of the Treasury. He +had been member of Congress, Speaker of the House of +Representatives, and senator, and was justly respected and +admired. Perhaps the most peculiar tribute that I ever heard paid +to a public man was given him once in the House of +Representatives by my friend Mr. Hiscock, then representative, +and afterward senator, from the State of New York. Seated by his +side in the House, and noting the rulings of Mr. Carlisle as +Speaker, I asked, "What sort of man is this Speaker of yours?" +Mr. Hiscock answered, "As you know, he is one of the strongest of +Democrats, and I am one of the strongest of Republicans; yet I +will say this: that my imagination is not strong enough to +conceive of his making an unfair ruling or doing an unfair thing +against the party opposed to him in this House." + +Mr. Carlisle's talents were of a very high order. His speeches +carried great weight; and in the campaign which came on later +between Mr. McKinley and Mr. Bryan, he, in my opinion, and indeed +in the opinion, I think, of every leading public man, did a most +honorable thing when he deliberately broke from his party, +sacrificed, apparently, all hopes of political preferment, and +opposed the regular Democratic candidate. His speech before the +working-men of Chicago on the issues of that period was certainly +one of the two most important delivered during the first McKinley +campaign, the other being that of Carl Schurz. + +Another man whom I saw from time to time during this period was +the Vice-President, Mr. Stevenson. I first met him at a public +dinner in New York, where we sat side by side; but we merely +talked on generalities. But the next time I met him was at a +dinner given by the Secretary of War, and there I found that he +was one of the most admirable raconteurs I had ever met. After a +series of admirable stories, one of the party said to me: "He +could tell just as good stories as those for three weeks running +and never repeat himself." + +One of these stories by the Vice-President, if true, threw a +curious light over the relations of President Lincoln with three +men very distinguished in American annals. It was as follows: One +day, shortly before the issue of the Emancipation Proclamation, a +visitor, finding Mr. Lincoln evidently in melancholy mood, said +to him, "Mr. President, I am sorry to find you not feeling so +well as at my last visit." Mr. Lincoln replied: "Yes, I am +troubled. One day the best of our friends from the border States +come in and insist that I shall not issue an Emancipation +Proclamation, and that, if I do so, the border States will +virtually cast in their lot with the Southern Confederacy. +Another day, Charles Sumner, Thad Stevens, and Ben Wade come in +and insist that if I do not issue such a proclamation the North +will be utterly discouraged and the Union wrecked,--and, by the +way, these three men are coming in this very afternoon." At this +moment his expression changed, his countenance lighted up, and he +said to the visitor, who was from the West, "Mr. ----, did you +ever go to a prairie school?" "No," said the visitor, "I never +did." "Well," said Mr. Lincoln, "I did, and it was a very poor +school, and we were very poor folks,--too poor to have regular +reading-books, and so we brought our Bibles and read from them. +One morning the chapter was from the Book of Daniel, and a little +boy who sat next me went all wrong in pronouncing the names of +Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The teacher had great difficulty +in setting him right, and before he succeeded was obliged to +scold the boy and cuff him for his stupidity. The nest verse came +to me, and so the chapter went along down the class. Presently it +started on its way back, and soon after I noticed that the little +fellow began crying. On this I asked him, 'What's the matter with +you?' and he answered, 'Don't you see? Them three miserable +cusses are coming back to me again.'" + +I also at that period made the acquaintance of Senator Gray of +Delaware, who seemed to me ideally fitted for his position as a +member of the Upper House in Congress. Speaker Reed also made a +great impression upon me as a man of honesty, lucidity, and +force. The Secretary of State, Mr. Olney, I saw frequently, and +was always impressed by the sort of bulldog tenacity which had +gained his victory over Lord Salisbury in the arbitration matter. + +But to give even the most hasty sketch of the members of the +Supreme Court, the cabinet, and of both houses of Congress whom I +met would require more time than is at my disposal. + +This stay in Washington I enjoyed much. Our capital city is +becoming the seat of a refined hospitality which makes it more +and more attractive. Time was, and that not very long since, when +it was looked upon as a place of exile by diplomatists, and as +repulsive by many of our citizens; but all that is of the past: +the courtesy shown by its inhabitants is rapidly changing its +reputation. + +Perhaps, of all the social enjoyments of that time, the most +attractive to me was an excursion of the American Geographical +Society to Monticello, the final residence of President +Jefferson. Years before, while visiting the University of +Virginia at Charlottesville, I had been intensely interested in +that creation of Mr. Jefferson and in the surroundings of his +home; but the present occupant of Monticello, having been greatly +annoyed by visitors, was understood to be reluctant to allow any +stranger to enter the mansion, and I would not intrude upon him. +But now house and grounds were freely thrown open, and upon a +delightful day. The house itself was a beautiful adaptation of +the architecture which had reached its best development at the +time of Jefferson's stay in France; and the decorations, like +those which I had noted years before in some of the rooms of the +university, were of an exquisite Louis Seize character. + +Jefferson's peculiarities, also, came out in various parts of the +house. Perhaps the most singular was his bed, occupying the whole +space of an archway between two rooms, one of which, on the left, +served as a dressing-room for him, and the other, on the right, +for Mrs. Jefferson; and, there being no communication between +them save by a long circuit through various rooms, it was evident +that the ex-President had made up his mind that he would not have +his intimate belongings interfered with by any of the women of +the household, not even by his wife. + +But most attractive of all was the view through the valleys and +over the neighboring hills as we sat at our picnic-tables on the +lawn. Having read with care every line of Jefferson's letters +ever published, and some writings of his which have never been +printed, my imagination was vivid. It enabled me to see him +walking through the rooms and over the estate, receiving +distinguished guests under the portico, discussing with them at +his dinner-table the great questions of the day, and promulgating +his theories, some of which were so beneficent and others so +noxious. + +The only sad part of this visit was to note the destruction, by +the fire not long before, of the columns in front of the rotunda +of the university. I especially mourned over the calcined remains +of their capitals, for into these Jefferson had really wrought +his own heart. With a passion for the modern adaptation of +classic architecture, he had poured the very essence of his +artistic feelings into them. He longed to see every stroke which +his foreign sculptors made upon them. Daily, according to the +chronicle of the time, he rode over to see how they progressed, +and, between his visits, frequently observed them through his +telescope; and now all their work was but calcined limestone. +Fortunately, the burning of the old historical buildings aroused +public spirit; large sums of money were poured into the +university treasury; and the work was in process which, it is to +be hoped, will restore the former beauty of the colonnade and +largely increase the buildings and resources of the institution. + +During my work upon the commission I learned to respect more and +more the calm, steady, imperturbable character of Mr. Cleveland. +Of course the sensational press howled continually, and the press +which was considered especially enlightened and which had +steadily supported him up to this period, was hardly less bitter; +but he persevered. During the period taken by the commission for +its work, both the American and British peoples had time for calm +thought. Lord Salisbury, especially, had time to think better of +it; and when he at last receded from his former haughty position +and accepted arbitration, Mr. Cleveland and the State Department +gained one of the most honorable victories in the history of +American diplomacy. + + + +CHAPTER XL + +AS AMBASSADOR TO GERMANY--1897-1903 + +On the 1st of April, 1897, President McKinley nominated me +ambassador to Berlin; and, the appointment having been duly +confirmed by the Senate, I visited Washington to obtain +instructions and make preparations. One of the most important of +these preparations was the securing of a second secretary for the +embassy. A long list of applicants for this position had +appeared, several with strong backing from party magnates, +cabinet officers, and senators; but, though all of them seemed +excellent young men, very few had as yet any experience likely to +be serviceable, and a look over the list suggested many +misgivings. There was especially needed just then at Berlin a +second secretary prepared to aid in disentangling sundry +important questions already before the embassy. The first +secretary, whom no person thought of displacing, was ideally +fitted for his place--in fact, was fitted for any post in the +diplomatic service; but a second secretary was needed to take, as +an expert, a mass of work on questions relating to commerce and +manufactures which were just then arising between the two nations +in shapes new and even threatening. + +While the whole matter was under advisement, there appeared a +young man from Ohio, with no backing of any sort save his record. +He had distinguished himself at one of our universities as a +student in political economy and international law; had then +taken a fellowship in the same field at another university; and +had finally gone to Germany and there taken his degree, his +graduating thesis being on "The Commercial and Diplomatic +Relations between the United States and Germany." In preparing +this he had been allowed to work up a mass of material in our +embassy archives, and had afterward expanded his thesis into a +book which had gained him credit. As the most serious questions +between the two countries were commercial, he seemed a godsend; +and, going to the President, I stated the matter fully. Though +the young man was as far as possible from having any "pull" in +the State from which he came, was not at all known either to the +President or the Secretary of State or assistant secretary of +state, all of whom came from Ohio, and was equally unknown to +either of the Ohio senators or to any representative, and though +nothing whatever was known of his party affiliations, the +President, on hearing a statement of the case, ignored all +pressure in favor of rival candidates, sent in his nomination to +the Senate, and it was duly confirmed. + +The next thing was the appointment of a military attache. The +position is by no means a sinecure. Our government must always +feel the importance of receiving the latest information as to the +armies and navies of the great powers of the world; and therefore +it is that, very wisely, it has attached military and naval +experts to various leading embassies. It is important that these +be not only thoroughly instructed and far-seeing, but gentlemen +in the truest sense of the word; and I therefore presented a +graduate of West Point who, having conducted an expedition in +Alaska and served with his regiment on the Western plains most +creditably, had done duty as military attache with me during my +mission at St. Petersburg, and had proved himself, in every +respect, admirable. Though he had no other supporter at the +national capital, the Secretary of War, Governor Alger, granted +my request, and he was appointed. + +These matters, to many people apparently trivial, are here +alluded to because it is so often charged that political +considerations outweigh all others in such appointments, and +because this charge was frequently made against President +McKinley. The simple fact is that, with the multitude of +nominations to be made, the appointing power cannot have personal +knowledge of the applicants, and must ask the advice of persons +who have known them and can, to some extent, be held responsible +for them. In both the cases above referred to, political pressure +of the strongest in favor of other candidates went for nothing +against the ascertained interest of the public service. + +The Secretary of State at this time was Mr. John Sherman. I had +known him somewhat during his career as senator and Secretary of +the Treasury, and had for his character, abilities, and services +the most profound respect. I now saw him often. He had become +somewhat infirm, but his mind seemed still clear; whether at the +State Department or in social circles his reminiscences of public +men and affairs were always interesting, and one of these +confirmed an opinion I have expressed in another chapter. One +night, at a dinner-party, the discussion having fallen upon +President Andrew Johnson, and some slighting remarks having been +made regarding him by one of our company, Mr. Sherman, who had +been one of President Johnson's strongest opponents, declared him +a man of patriotic motives as well as of great ability, and +insisted that the Republican party had made a great mistake in +attempting to impeach him. In the course of the conversation one +of the foremost members of the House of Representatives, a man of +the highest standing and character, stated that he had himself, +when a young man, aided Mr. Johnson as secretary, and that he was +convinced that the ex-President could write very little more than +his signature. We had all heard the old story that after he had +become of age his newly wedded wife had taught him the alphabet, +but it was known to very few that he remained to the last so +imperfectly equipped. + +Of conversations with many other leading men of that period at +Washington I remember that, at the house of my friend Dr. Hill, +afterward assistant secretary of state, mention being made of the +Blaine campaign, an eminent justice of the Supreme Court said +that Mr. Blaine always insisted to the end of his life that he +had lost the Presidency on account of the Rev. Dr. Burchard's +famous alliteration, "Rum, Romanism, and rebellion," and that the +whole was really a Democratic trick. Neither the judge nor any +other person present believed that Mr. Blaine's opinion in this +matter was well founded. + +An important part of my business during this visit was to confer +with the proper persons at Washington, including the German +ambassador, Baron von Thielmann, regarding sundry troublesome +questions between the United States and Germany. The addition to +the American tariff of a duty against the sugar imports from +every other country equivalent to the sugar bounty allowed +manufactures in that country had led to special difficulties. It +had been claimed by Germany that this additional duty was +contrary to the most-favored-nation clause in our treaties; and, +unfortunately, the decisions on our side had been conflicting, +Mr. Gresham, Secretary of State under Mr. Cleveland, having +allowed that the German contention was right, and his successor, +Mr. Olney, having presented an elaborate argument to show that it +was wrong. On this point, conversations, not only with the +Secretary of State and the German ambassador, but with leading +members of the committees of Congress having the tariff in +charge, and especially with Mr. Allison and Mr. Aldrich of the +Senate and Governor Dingley of the House, showed me that the case +was complicated, the various interests somewhat excited against +each other, and that my work in dealing with them was to be +trying. + +There were also several other questions no less difficult, those +relating to the exportation of American products to Germany and +the troubles already brewing in Samoa being especially prominent; +so that it was with anything but an easy feeling that, on the +29th of May, I sailed from New York. + +On the 12th of June I presented the President's letter of +credence to the Emperor William II. The more important of my new +relations to the sovereign had given me no misgivings; for during +my stay in Berlin as minister, eighteen years before, I had found +him very courteous, he being then the heir apparent; but with the +ceremonial part it was otherwise, and to that I looked forward +almost with dismay. + +For, since my stay in Berlin, the legation had been raised to an +embassy. It had been justly thought by various patriotic members +of Congress that it was incompatible, either with the dignity or +the interests of so great a nation as ours, to be represented +simply by a minister plenipotentiary, who, when calling at the +Foreign Office to transact business, might be obliged to wait for +hours, and even until the next day, while representatives from +much less important countries who ranked as ambassadors went in +at once. The change was good, but in making it Congress took no +thought of some things which ought to have been provided for. Of +these I shall speak later; but as regards the presentation, the +trying feature to me was that there was a great difference +between this and any ceremonial which I had previously +experienced, whether as commissioner at Santo Domingo and Paris, +or as minister at Berlin and St. Petersburg. At the presentation +of a minister plenipotentiary he goes in his own carriage to the +palace at the time appointed; is ushered into the presence of the +sovereign; delivers to him, with some simple speech, the +autograph letter from the President; and then, after a kindly +answer, all is finished. But an ambassador does not escape so +easily. Under a fiction of international law he is regarded as +the direct representative of the sovereign power of his country, +and is treated in some sense as such. Therefore it was that, at +the time appointed, a high personage of the court, in full +uniform, appeared at my hotel accompanied by various other +functionaries, with three court carriages, attendants, and +outriders, deputed to conduct me to the palace. Having been +escorted to the first of the carriages,--myself, in plain +citizen's dress, on the back seat; my escort, in gorgeous +uniform, facing me; and my secretaries and attaches in the other +carriages,--we took up our march in solemn procession--carriages, +outriders, and all--through the Wilhelmstrasse and Unter den +Linden. On either side was a gaping crowd; at the various corps +de garde bodies of troops came out and presented arms; and on our +arrival at the palace there was a presentation of arms and +beating of drums which, for the moment, somewhat abashed me. It +was an ordeal more picturesque than agreeable. + +The reception by the Emperor was simple, courteous, and kindly. +Neither of us made any set speech, but we discussed various +questions, making reference to our former meeting and the changes +which had occurred since. Among these changes I referred to the +great improvement in Berlin, whereupon he said that he could not +think the enormous growth of modern cities an advantage. My +answer was that my reference was to the happy change in the +architecture of Berlin rather than to its growth in population; +that, during my first stay in the city, over forty years before, +nearly all the main buildings were of brick and stucco, whereas +there had now been a remarkable change from stucco to stone and +to a much nobler style of architecture. We also discussed the +standing of Germans in America and their relations to the United +States. On my remarking that it was just eighteen years and one +day since the first Emperor William had received me as minister +in that same palace, he spoke of various things in the history of +the intervening years; and then ensued an episode such as I had +hardly expected. For just before leaving New York my old friend +Frederick William Holls, after a dinner at his house on the +Hudson, had given his guests examples of the music written by +Frederick the Great, and one piece had especially interested us. +It was a duet in which Mr. Holls played one part upon the organ, +and his wife another upon the piano; and all of us were greatly +impressed by the dignity and beauty of the whole. It had been +brought to light and published by the present Emperor, and after +the performance some one of the party remarked, in a jocose way, +"You should express our thanks to his Majesty, when you meet him, +for the pleasure which this music has given us." I thought +nothing more of the subject until, just at the close of the +conversation above referred to, it came into my mind; and on my +mentioning it the Emperor showed at once a special interest, +discussing the music from various points of view; and on my +telling him that we were all surprised that it was not +amateurish, but really profound in its harmonies and beautiful in +its melodies, he dwelt upon the musical debt of Frederick the +Great to Bach and the special influence of Bach upon him. This +conversation recurred to me later, when the Emperor, in erecting +the statue to Frederick the Great on the Avenue of Victory, +placed on one side of it the bust of Marshal Schwerin, and on the +other that of Johann Sebastian Bach, thus honoring the two men +whom he considered most important during Frederick's reign. + +After presenting my embassy secretaries and attaches, military +and naval, I was conducted with them into the presence of the +Empress, who won all our hearts by her kindly, unaffected +greeting. On my recalling her entrance into Berlin as a bride, in +her great glass coach, seventeen years before, on one of the +coldest days I ever knew, she gave amusing details of her stately +progress down the Linden on that occasion; and in response to my +congratulations upon her six fine boys and her really charming +little daughter, it was pleasant to see how + + "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin," + +her eyes lighting up with pride and joy, and her conversation +gladly turning to the children. + +It may be added here that the present Empress seems to have +broken the unfortunate spell which for about half a century hung +over the queens and empresses of the house of Hohenzollern. I +remember well that, among the Germans whom I knew in my +Berlin-University days, all the sins of the period, political and +religious, seemed to be traced to the influence of Queen +Elizabeth, the consort of the reigning King Frederick William IV; +and that, during my first official stay in the same capital as +minister, a similar feeling was shown toward the Empress Augusta, +in spite of her most kindly qualities and her devotion to every +sort of charitable work; and that the crown princess, afterward +the Empress Frederick, in spite of all her endowments of head and +heart, was apparently more unpopular than either of her two +predecessors. But the present Empress seems to have changed all +this, and, doubtless, mainly by her devotion to her husband and +her children, which apparently excludes from her mind all care +for the great problems of the universe outside her family. So +strong is this feeling of kindness toward her that it was comical +to see, at one period during my stay, when she had been brought +perilously near a most unpopular course of action, that everybody +turned at once upon her agent in the matter, saying nothing about +her, but belaboring him unmercifully, though he was one of the +most attractive of men. + +These presentations being finished, our return to the Kaiserhof +Hotel was made with the same ceremony as that with which we had +come to the palace, and happy was I when all was over. + +Of the other official visits at this time, foremost in importance +was that to the chancellor of the empire, Prince Hohenlohe. +Although he was then nearly eighty years old and bent with age, +his mind in discussing public matters was entirely clear. Various +later conversations with him also come back to me--one, +especially, at a dinner he gave at the chancellor's palace to +President Harrison. On my recalling the fact that we were in the +room where I had first dined with Bismarck, Prince Hohenlohe gave +a series of reminiscences of his great predecessor, some of them +throwing a strong light upon his ideas and methods. On one +occasion, at my own table, he spoke very thoughtfully on German +characteristics, and one of his remarks surprised me: it was that +the besetting sin of the Germans is envy (Neid); in which remark +one may see a curious tribute to the tenacity of the race, since +Tacitus justified a similar opinion. He seemed rather melancholy; +but he had a way of saying pungent things very effectively, and +one of these attributed to him became widely known. He was +publicly advocating a hotly contested canal bill, when an +opponent said, "You will find a solid rock in the way of this +measure"; to which the chancellor rejoined, "We will then do with +the rock as Moses did: we will smite it and get water for our +canal." + +As to the next visit of importance, I was especially glad to find +at the Foreign Office the newly appointed minister, Baron (now +Count) von Bulow. During the first part of my former stay, as +minister, I had done business at the Foreign Office with his +father, and found him in every respect a most congenial +representative of the German Government. It now appeared that +father and son were amazingly like each other, not only in +personal manner, but in their mode of dealing with public +affairs. With the multitude of trying questions which pressed +upon me as ambassador during nearly six years, it hardly seems +possible that I should be still alive were it not for the genial, +hearty intercourse, at the Foreign Office and elsewhere, with +Count von Bulow. Sundry German papers, indeed, attacked him as +yielding to much to me, and sundry American papers attacked me +for yielding too much to him; but both of us exerted ourselves to +do the best possible, each for his own country, and at the same +time to preserve peace and increase good feeling. + +Interesting was it to me, from my first to my last days in +Berlin, to watch him in the discharge of his great duties, +especially in his dealings with hostile forces in Parliament. No +contrast could be more marked than that between his manner and +that of his great predecessor, the iron chancellor. To begin +with, no personalities could be more unlike. In the place of an +old man, big, rumbling, heavy, fiery, minatory, objurgatory, +there now stood a young man, quiet, self-possessed, easy in +speech, friendly in manner, "sweet reasonableness" apparently his +main characteristic, bubbling at times with humor, quick to turn +a laugh on a hostile bungler, but never cruel; prompt in +returning a serious thrust, but never venomous. Many of his +speeches were masterpieces in their way of handling opponents. An +attack which Bismarck would have met with a bludgeon, Bulow +parried with weapons infinitely lighter, but in some cases really +more effective. A very good example was on an occasion when the +old charge of "Byzantinism" was flung at the present regime, to +which he replied, not by a historical excursus or political +disquisition, but by humorously deprecating a comparison of the +good, kindly, steady-going, hard-working old privy councilors and +other state officials of Berlin with fanatics, conspirators, and +assassins who played leading parts at Constantinople during the +decline of the Eastern Empire. In the most stormy discussions I +never saw him other than serene; under real provocation he +remained kindly; more than one bitter opponent he disarmed with a +retort; but there were no poisoned wounds. The German Parliament, +left to itself, can hardly be a peaceful body. The lines of +cleavage between parties are many, and some of them are old +chasms of racial dislike and abysses of religious and social +hate; but the appearance of the young chancellor at his desk +seemed, even on the darkest days, to bring sunshine. + +Occasionally, during my walks in the Thiergarten, I met him on +his way to Parliament; and, no matter how pressing public +business might be, he found time to extend his walk and prolong +our discussions. On one of these walks I alluded to a hot debate +of the day before and to his suavity under provocation, when he +answered: "Old ----, many years ago, gave me two counsels, and I +have always tried to mind them. These were: 'Never worry; never +lose your temper.'" + +A pet phrase among his critics is that he is a diplomatist and +not a statesman. Like so many antitheses, this is misleading. It +may be just to say that his methods are, in general, those of a +diplomatist rather than of a statesman; but certain it is that in +various debates of my time he showed high statesmanlike +qualities, and notably at the beginning of the war with China and +in sundry later contests with the agrarians and socialists. Even +his much criticized remark during the imbroglio between Turkey +and Greece, picturing Germany as laying down her flute and +retiring from the "European Concert," which to many seemed mere +persiflage, was the humorous presentation of a policy dictated by +statesmanship. Nor were all his addresses merely light and +humorous; at times, when some deep sentiment had been stirred, he +was eloquent, rising to the height of great arguments and taking +broad views. + +No one claims that he is a Richelieu, a William Pitt, or a +Cavour; but the work of such men is not what the German Empire +just now requires. The man needed at present is the one who can +keep things GOING, who can minimize differences, resist +extremists, turn aside marplots, soothe doctrinaires, and thus +give the good germs in the empire a chance to grow. For this work +it would be hard to imagine a better man than the present +chancellor. His selection and retention by the Emperor prove that +the present monarch has inherited two of the best qualities of +his illustrious grandfather: skill in recognizing the right man +and firmness in standing by him. + +The next thing which an ambassador is expected to do, after +visiting the great representatives of the empire, is to become +acquainted with the official world in general. + +But he must make acquaintance with these under his own roof. On +his arrival he is expected to visit the Emperor and the princes +of his family, the imperial chancellor, and the minister of +foreign affairs, but all others are expected to visit him; hence +the most pressing duty on my arrival was to secure a house, and, +during three months following, all the time that I could possibly +spare, and much that I ought not to have spared, was given to +excursions into all parts of the city to find it. No house, no +ambassador. A minister plenipotentiary can live during his first +year in a hotel or in a very modest apartment; an ambassador +cannot. He must have a spacious house fully furnished before he +can really begin his duties; for, as above stated, one of the +first of these duties is to make the acquaintance of the official +world,--the ministers of the crown, the diplomatic corps, the +members of the Imperial Parliament, the members of the Prussian +legislature, the foremost men in the army and navy, and the +leaders in public life generally,--and to this end he must give +three very large receptions, at which all those personages visit +him. This is a matter of which the court itself takes charge, so +far as inviting and presenting the guests is concerned, high +court officials being sent to stand by the side of the ambassador +and ambassadress and make the introductions to them; but, as +preliminary to all this, the first thing is to secure a residence +fit for such receptions and for entertainments in connection with +them. + +Under the rules of European nations generally, these receptions +must be held at the ambassador's permanent residence; but, +unfortunately, such a thing as a large furnished apartment +suitable for a foreign representative is rarely to be found in +Berlin. In London and Paris such apartments are frequently +offered, but in Berlin hardly ever. Every other nation which +sends an ambassador to Berlin--and the same is true as regards +the other large capitals of Europe--owns a suitable house, or at +least holds a long lease of a commodious apartment; but, although +President Cleveland especially recommended provision for such +residence in one of his messages, nothing has yet been done by +the American Congress, and the consequence is that every +ambassador has to lose a great amount of valuable time, effort, +and money in securing proper quarters, while his country loses +much of its proper prestige and dignity by constant changes in +the location of its embassy, and by the fact that the American +representative is not infrequently obliged to take up his +residence in unfit apartments and in an unsuitable part of the +town. + +After looking at dozens of houses, the choice was narrowed down +to two; but, as one was nearly three miles from the center of the +city, selection was made of the large apartment which I occupied +during nearly four years, and which was bought from under my feet +by one of the smallest governments in Europe as the residence for +its minister. Immediately after my lease was signed there began a +new series of troubles. Everything must be ready for the three +receptions by the eighth day of January; and, being at the mercy +of my landlord, I was at a great disadvantage. Though paying +large rent for the apartment, I was obliged, at my own expense, +to put it thoroughly in order, introducing electric light, +perfecting heating apparatus, getting walls and floors in order, +and doing a world of work which, under other circumstances, would +have been done by the proprietor himself. As to furnishing, a +peculiar difficulty arose. Berlin furnishers, as a rule, have +only samples in stock, and a long time is required for completing +sets. My former experience, when, as minister, I had been obliged +to go through a similar ordeal, had shown me that the Berlin +makers could never be relied upon to get the apartment furnished +in time; and therefore it was that, having secured what was +possible in Berlin, I was obliged to make large purchases at +Dresden, London, and Paris, and to have the furniture from the +last-named city hurried on to Berlin in special wadded cars, with +attendants to put it in place. It was a labor and care to which +no representative of the United States or of any other power +ought to be subjected. The vexations and difficulties seemed +unending; but at last carpenters, paper-hangers, electric-light +men, furniture men, carpet-layers, upholsterers, and the like +were driven from the house just five minutes before the +chancellor of the empire arrived to open the first of these three +official receptions. Happily they all went off well, and thereby +began my acquaintance with the leaders in various departments of +official life. + +On my settling down to the business of the embassy, it appeared +that the changes in public sentiment since my former stay as +minister, eighteen years before, were great indeed. At that time +German feeling was decidedly friendly to the United States. The +Germans had sided with us in our Civil War, and we had come out +victorious; we had sided with them in their war of 1870-1871, and +they had come out victorious. But all this was now changed. +German feeling toward us had become generally adverse and, in +some parts of the empire, bitterly hostile. The main cause of +this was doubtless our protective policy. Our McKinley tariff, +which was considered almost ruinous to German manufactures, had +been succeeded by the Dingley tariff, which went still further; +and as Germany, in the last forty years, had developed an amazing +growth of manufactures, much bitterness resulted. + +Besides this, our country was enabled, by its vast extent of +arable land, as well as by its cheap conveyance and skilful +handling of freights, to sweep into the German markets +agricultural products of various sorts, especially meats, and to +undersell the native German producers. This naturally vexed the +landed proprietors, so that we finally had against us two of the +great influential classes in the empire: the manufacturers and +the landowners. + +But this was not all. These real difficulties were greatly +increased by fictitious causes of ill feeling. Sensational +articles, letters, telegrams, caricatures, and the like, sent +from America to Germany and from Germany to America, had become +more and more exasperating, until, at the time of my arrival, +there were in all Germany but two newspapers of real importance +friendly to the United States. These two journals courageously +stood up for fairness and justice, but all the others were more +or less hostile, and some bitterly so. The one which, on account +of its zeal in securing news, I read every morning was of the +worst. During the Spanish War it was especially virulent, being +full of statements and arguments to show that corruption was the +main characteristic of our government, cowardice of our army and +navy, and hypocrisy of our people. Very edifying were its +quasi-philosophical articles; and one of these, showing the +superiority of the Spanish women to their American sisters, +especially as regards education, was a work of genius. The love +of Spanish women for bull-fights was neatly glossed over, and +various absurd charges against American women were put in the +balance against it. A few sensational presses on our side were +perhaps worse. Various newspapers in America repaid Teutonic +hostility by copious insults directed at everything German, and +this aroused the Germans yet more. One journal, very influential +among the aristocratic and religious public of Northern Germany, +regularly published letters of considerable literary merit from +its American correspondent, in which every scandal which could be +raked out of the gutters of the cities, every crime in the +remotest villages, and all follies of individuals everywhere, +were kneaded together into statements showing that our country +was the lowest in the scale of human civilization. The tu-quoque +argument might have been used by an American with much effect; +for just about this period there were dragging along, in the +Berlin and other city journals, accounts of German trials for +fraud and worse, surpassing, in some respects, anything within my +memory of American tribunals. The quantity of fig-leaves required +in some of these trials was enormous; and, despite all +precautions, some details which escaped into the press might well +bring a blush to the most hardened American offender. It was both +vexatious and comical to see the smug, Pharisaical way in which +many journals ignored all these things, and held up their hands +in horror at American shortcomings. Some trials, too, which at +various times revealed the brutality of sundry military officers +toward soldiers, were heartrending; and especially one or two +duels, which occurred during my stay, presented features +calculated to shock the toughest American rough-rider. But all +this seemed not for a moment to withdraw the attention of our +Teutonic censors from American folly and wickedness. One of the +main charges constantly made was that in America there was a +"Deutschen Hetze." Very many German papers had really persuaded +themselves, and apparently had convinced a large part of the +German people, that throughout our country there existed a hate, +deep and acrid, of everything German and especially of +German-Americans. The ingenuity of some German papers in +supporting this thesis was wonderful. On one occasion a petty +squabble in a Roman Catholic theological school in the United +States between the more liberal element and a reactionary German +priest, in which the latter came to grief, was displayed as an +evidence that the American people were determined to drive out +all German professors and to abjure German science. The doings of +every scapegrace in an American university, of every silly woman +in Chicago, of every blackguard in New York, of every snob at +Newport, of every desperado in the Rocky Mountains, of every club +loafer anywhere, were served up as typical examples of American +life. The municipal governments of our country, and especially +that of New York, were an exhaustless quarry from which specimens +of every kind of scoundrelism were drawn and used in building up +an ideal structure of American life; corruption, lawlessness, and +barbarism being its most salient features. + +Nor was this confined to the more ignorant. Men who stood high in +the universities, men of the greatest amiability, who in former +days had been the warmest friends of America, had now become our +bitter opponents, and some of their expressions seemed to point +to eventual war. + +Yet I doubt whether we have any right to complain of such attacks +and misrepresentations. As a matter of fact, no nation washes so +much of its dirty linen in the face of the whole world as does +our own; and, what is worse, there is washed in our country, with +much noise and perversity, a great deal of linen which is not +dirty. Many demagogues and some "reformers" are always doing +this. There is in America a certain class of excellent people who +see nothing but the scum on the surface of the pot; nothing but +the worst things thrown to the surface in the ebullition of +American life. Or they may be compared to people who, with a +Persian carpet before them, persist in looking at its seamy side, +and finding nothing but odds and ends, imperfect joints, +unsatisfactory combinations of color; the real pattern entirely +escaping them. The shrill utterances of such men rise above the +low hum of steady good work, and are taken in Germany as exact +statements of the main facts in our national life. + +Let me repeat here one example which I have given more than once +elsewhere. Several years since, an effort was made to impeach the +President of the United States. The current was strong, and most +party leaders thought it best to go with it. Three senators of +the United States sturdily refused, their leader being William +Pitt Fessenden of Maine, who, believing the impeachment an +attempt to introduce Spanish-American politics into our country, +resolutely opposed it. The State convention of his party called +upon him to vote for it, the national convention of the party +took the same ground, his relatives and friends besought him to +yield, but he stood firmly against the measure, and finally, by +his example and his vote, defeated it. It was an example of +Spartan fortitude, of Roman heroism, worthy to be chronicled by +Plutarch. How was it chronicled? I happened to be traveling in +Germany at the time, and naturally watched closely for the result +of the impeachment proceedings. One morning I took up a German +paper containing the news and read, "The impeachment has been +defeated; three senators were bribed," and at the head of the +list of bribed senators was the name of Fessenden! The time will +come when his statue will commemorate his great example; let us +hope that the time will also come when party spirit will not be +allowed to disgrace our country by sending out to the world such +monstrous calumnies. + +As to attacks upon the United States, it is only fair to say that +German publicists and newspaper writers were under much +provocation. Some of the American correspondents then in Germany +showed wonderful skill in malignant invention. My predecessors in +the embassy had suffered much from this cause. One of them, whom +I had known from his young manhood as a gentleman of refined +tastes and quiet habits, utterly incapable of rudeness of any +sort, was accused, in a sensational letter published in various +American journals, of having become so noisy and boisterous at +court that the Emperor was obliged to rebuke him. Various hints +of a foul and scandalous character were sent over and published. +I escaped more easily, but there were two or three examples which +were both vexatious and amusing. + +Shortly after my arrival at my post, letters and newspaper +articles began coming deploring the conduct of the Germans toward +me, expressing deep sympathy with me, exhorting me to "stand +firm," declaring that the American people were behind me, etc., +etc., all of which puzzled me greatly until I found that some +correspondent had sent over a telegram to the effect that the +feeling against America had become so bitter that the Emperor +himself had been obliged to intervene and command the officials +of his empire to present themselves at my official reception; and +with this statement was coupled a declaration that I had made the +most earnest remonstrance to the Imperial Government against such +treatment. The simple fact was that the notice was in the +stereotyped form always used when an ambassador arrives. On every +such occasion the proper authorities notify all the persons +concerned, giving the time of his receptions, and this was simply +what was done in my case. On another occasion, telegrams were +sent over to American papers stating that the first secretary of +the embassy and myself, on visiting Parliament to hear an +important debate, had been grossly insulted by various members. +The fact was that we had been received by everybody with the +utmost kindness; that various members had saluted us in the most +friendly manner from the floor or had come into the diplomatic +gallery to welcome us; and that there was not the slightest +shadow of reason for the statement. As an example of the genius +shown in some of these telegrams, another may be mentioned. A +very charming American lady, niece of a member of Mr. McKinley's +cabinet, having arrived on the Norwegian coast, her children were +taken on board the yacht of the Emperor, who was then cruising in +those regions; and later, on their arrival at Berlin, they with +their father and mother were asked by him to the palace to meet +his own wife and children. A few days afterward a telegram was +published in America to the effect that the Emperor, in speaking +to Mrs. White and myself regarding the children, had said that he +was especially surprised, because he had always understood that +American children were badly brought up and had very bad manners. +The simple fact was that, while he spoke of the children with +praise, the rest of the story was merely a sensational invention. +One of the marvels of American life is the toleration by decent +fathers and mothers of sensational newspapers in their +households. Of all the demoralizing influences upon our people, +and especially upon our young people, they are the most steadily +and pervasively degrading. Horace Greeley once published a +tractate entitled, "New Themes for the Clergy," and I would +suggest the evil influence of sensation newsmongering as a most +fruitful theme for the exhortations of all American clergymen to +their flocks, whether Catholic, Jewish, or Protestant. May we not +hope, also, that Mr. Pulitzer's new College of Journalism will +give careful attention to this subject? + +As to public questions then demanding attention, the first which +I now recall was a bit of international comedy, serving as a +prelude to more important matters, and worth mentioning here only +as showing a misconception very absurd, yet not without dangers. + +One morning, as I had just sat down to my office work, there was +ushered in, with due ceremony, a young gentleman of light color, +Parisian to the tips of his fingers,--in accent, manner, and +garb,--who was announced as the charge d'affaires of Haiti. He +was evidently under deep concern, and was soon in the midst of a +somewhat impassioned statement of his business. + +It appeared that his government, like so many which had preceded +it, after a joyous career of proclamations, revolutions, +throat-cutting, confiscation, paper money, and loans, public and +private, had at last met a check, and that in this instance the +check had come in the shape of a German frigate which had dropped +into the harbor of Port-au-Prince, run out its guns, and demanded +redress of injuries and payment of debts to Germany and German +subjects; and the charge, after dwelling upon the enormity of +such a demand, pointed out the duty of the United States to +oblige Germany to desist,--in short, to assert the Monroe +Doctrine as he understood it. + +The young diplomatist's statement interested me much; it brought +back vividly to my mind the days when, as a commissioner from the +United States, I landed at Port-au-Prince, observed the wreck and +ruin caused by a recent revolution, experienced the beauties of a +paper-money system carried out so logically that a market-basket +full of currency was needed to buy a market-basket full of +vegetables, visited the tombs of the presidents from which the +bodies of their occupants had been torn and scattered, saw the +ring to which President Salnave had recently been tied when the +supporters of his successor had murdered him, and mused over the +ruins of the presidential mansion, which had been torn in pieces +by bombs from a patriotic vessel. My heart naturally warmed +toward the representative of so much glory, and it seemed sad to +quench his oratorical fire and fervor with a cold statement of +fact. But my duty was plain: I assured him that neither the +President whose name the famous "Doctrine" bears, nor the +Secretary of State who devised it, nor the American people behind +them, had any idea of protecting our sister republics in such +conduct as that of which the Germans complained; and I concluded +by fervently exhorting him to advise his government and people +simply to--pay their debts. + +It gave me pleasure to learn, somewhat later, that this very +prosaic solution of the difficulty had been adopted. + +I make haste to add that nothing which may be said here or +elsewhere in these recollections regarding sundry equatorial +governments has any reference to our sister republics of South +America really worthy of the name. No countries were in my time +more admirably represented at Berlin than the Argentine Republic, +Chile, and Brazil. The first-named sent as its minister the most +eminent living authority on international law; the second, a +gentleman deeply respected for character and ability, whose +household was one of the most beautiful and attractive I have +ever known; and the third, a statesman and scholar worthy of the +best traditions of his country. + +As to more complicated international matters with which my +embassy had to deal, the first to assume a virulent form was that +of the Samoan Islands. + +During the previous twenty-five years the United States, Germany, +and Great Britain had seemed to develop equal claims in Samoa. +There had been clashes from time to time, in which good sense had +generally prevailed; but in one case a cyclone which destroyed +the German and American vessels of war in the main port of the +islands seemed providential in preventing a worse form of +trouble. + +But now the chronic difficulties became acute. In the consuls of +the three powers what Bismarck used to call the furor consularis +was developed to the highest degree. Yet this was not the worst. +Under the Berlin agreement, made some years before, there was a +German president of the municipality of Apia with ill-defined +powers, and an American chief justice with powers in some +respects enormous, and each of these naturally magnified his +office at the expense of the other. To complete the elements of +discord, there were two great native parties, each supporting its +candidate for kingship; and behind these, little spoken of, but +really at the bottom of the main trouble, were +missionaries,--English Wesleyans on one side, and French Roman +Catholics on the other,--each desiring to save the souls of the +natives, no matter at what sacrifice of their bodies. + +This tea-pot soon began to boil violently. The old king having +died, the question arose as to the succession. The power of +appointing the successor having been in the most clear and +definite terms bestowed by the treaty upon the chief justice, he +named for the position Malietoa Tanu, a young chieftain who had +been induced to call himself a Protestant; but on the other side +was Mataafa, an old chief who years before had made much trouble, +had been especially obnoxious to the Germans, and had been +banished, but had been recently allowed to return on his taking +oath that he would abstain from all political action, and would +be true to his allegiance to the Malietoan kings. He had been +induced to call himself a Catholic. + +But hardly had he returned when, having apparently been absolved +from his oath, he became the leader of a political party and +insisted on his right to the kingship. + +The result was a petty civil war which cost many lives. Nor was +this all. A drunken Swiss having one day amused himself by +breaking the windows of the American chief justice's court and no +effective punishment having been administered by the German +president of Apia, the Yankee chief justice took the matter into +his own hands, and this Little Pedlington business set in motion +sensation-mongers throughout the world. They exerted themselves +to persuade the universe that war might, and indeed ought to, +result between the three great nations concerned. On the arrival +of the American Admiral Kautz, he simply and naturally supported +the decree which the chief justice had made, in strict accordance +with the treaty of Berlin, and was finally obliged to fire upon +the insurgents. Now came a newspaper carnival: screams of wrath +from the sensation press of Germany and yells of defiance from +the sensation press of the United States. + +It was fortunate, indeed, that at this period the American +Secretary of State was Mr. John Hay and the German minister of +foreign affairs Count von Bulow. Both at Washington and Berlin +the light of plain common sense was gradually let into this +jungle of half truths and whole falsehoods; the appointment of an +excellent special commission, who supplanted all the officials in +the islands by new men, solved various preliminary problems, so +that finally a treaty was made between the three nations +concerned which swept away the old vicious system, partitioned +the islands between the United States and Germany, giving Great +Britain indemnity elsewhere, and settled all the questions +involved, as we may hope, forever. + +Among my duties and pleasures during this period was attendance +upon important debates in the Imperial Parliament. That body +presents many features suggestive of thought. The arrangement +under which the Senate, representing the various states of the +empire, and the House, representing the people as a whole, sit +face to face in joint deliberation, strikes an American as +especially curious; but it seems to work well, and has one +advantage in bringing the most eminent servants of the various +states into direct personal relations with the rank and file from +the country at large. The German Parliament has various good +points. Some one has asserted that the United States Senate is as +much better than the British House of Lords as the British House +of Commons is better than the American House of Representatives. +There is much to be said for this contention, and there are some +points in which the German Parliament also struck me as an +improvement upon our Lower House: they do less than we in +committee, and more in the main assemblage; German members are +more attentive to the work in hand, and spread-eagleism and +speeches to the galleries which are tolerated at Washington are +not tolerated at Berlin. On the other hand, the members at +Berlin, not being paid for their services, absent themselves in +such numbers that the lack of a sufficient deliberating body has +been found, at times, a serious evil. + +As to men prominent in debate, allusion has already been made to +the chancellor, and various ministers of the crown might be +added, of whom I should give the foremost place to the minister +of the interior, Count Posadowski. His discussions of all matters +touching his department, and, indeed, of some well outside it, +were masterly. Save, perhaps, our own Senator John Sherman, I +have never heard so USEFUL a speaker on fundamental questions of +public business. As to the representatives, there were many well +worth listening to; but the two who attracted most attention were +Richter, the head of the "Progressist," or, as we should call it, +the radical fraction, and Bebel, the main representative of the +Socialists. Richter I had heard more than once in my old days, +and had been impressed by his extensive knowledge of imperial +finance, his wit and humor, his skill in making his points, and +his strength in enforcing them. He was among the few still +remaining after my long absence, and it was clear to me that he +had not deteriorated,--that he had, indeed, mellowed in a way +which made him even more interesting than formerly. As to Bebel, +though generally disappointing at first, he was quite sure, in +every speech, to raise some point which put the conservatives on +their mettle. His strongest characteristic seems to be his +earnestness: the earnestness of a man who has himself known what +the hardest struggle for existence is, and what it means to +suffer for his opinions. His weakest point seems to be a tendency +to exaggeration which provokes distrust; but, despite this, he +has been a potent force as an irritant in drawing attention to +the needs of the working-classes, and so in promoting that steady +uplifting of their condition and prospects which is one of the +most striking achievements of modern Germany. + +Among the many other members interesting on various accounts was +one to whom both Germans and Americans might well listen with +respect--Herr Theodor Barth, editor of "Die Nation," a +representative of the best traditions of the old National Liberal +party. He seemed to me one of the very few Germans who really +understood the United States. He had visited America more than +once, and had remained long enough to get in touch with various +leaders of American thought, and to penetrate below the mere +surface of public affairs. Devoted as he was to his own +fatherland, he seemed to feel intuitively the importance to both +countries of accentuating permanent points of agreement rather +than transient points of difference; hence it was that in his +paper he steadily did us justice, and in Parliament was sure to +repel any unmerited assault upon our national character and +policy. He was clear and forcible, with, at times, a most +effectively caustic utterance against unreason. + +While the whole parliamentary body is suggestive to an American, +the Parliament building is especially suggestive to a New-Yorker. +This great edifice at Berlin is considerably larger on the ground +than is the State Capitol at Albany. It is built of a very +beautiful and durable stone, and, in spite of sundry criticisms +on the dome in the center and the pavilions at the corners, is +vastly superior, as a whole, to the Albany building. It is +enriched in all parts, without and within, with sculpture +recalling the historical glories of all parts of the empire and +calculated to stir patriotic pride; it is beautified by paintings +on a great scale by eminent artists; its interior fittings, in +stone, marble, steel, bronze, and oak, are as beautiful and +perfect as the art of the period has been able to make them; and +the whole, despite minor architectural faults, is worthy of the +nation. The building was completed and in use within ten years +from the time of its beginning. The construction of the +State-house at Albany, a building not so large, and containing +to-day no work of art either in painting or sculpture worthy of +notice, has dragged along during thirty years, and cost nearly +four times as much as the Berlin edifice; the latter having +demanded an outlay of a trifle over five million dollars, and the +former considerably over twenty millions. + +The German Parliament House, apart from slight defects, as a +great architectural creation is in a style worthy of its +purpose--a style which is preserved in all its parts; while that +at Albany is, perhaps, the most curious jumble in the whole +history of architecture,--the lower stories being Palladian; the +stories above these being, if anything, Florentine; the summit +being, if anything, French Renaissance; while, as regards the +interior, the great west staircase, which is said to have cost +half a million of dollars, is in the Richardsonesque style; the +eastern staircase is in classic style; and a circular staircase +in the interior is in the most flamboyant Gothic which could be +got for money. To be sure, there are rooms at Albany on which +precious Siena marble and Mexican onyx are lavished, but these +are used so as to produce mainly the effect of an unintelligent +desire to spend money. + +While in or near the Berlin edifice there is commemoration by +sculpture or painting of a multitude of meritorious public +servants, there is nowhere in the whole building at Albany a +statue or any fit remembrance of the two greatest governors in +the history of the State, DeWitt Clinton and William H. Seward. + +The whole thing plunges one into reflection. If that single +building at Albany, which was estimated, upon plans carefully +made by the best of architects, to cost five millions of dollars, +and to be completed in four years, required over thirty years and +an expenditure of over twenty millions, what is a great "barge +canal" to cost, running through the whole length of the State, +encountering enormous difficulties of every sort, estimated at +the beginning to cost one hundred millions of dollars, but +including no estimate for "land damages," "water damages," +"personal damages," "unprecedented floods," "unforeseen +obstacles," "quicksands," "changes of plan," etc., etc., which +have played such a costly and corrupting part in the past history +of our existing New York canals? And how many years will it take +to complete it? This was the train of thought and this was its +resultant query forced upon me whenever I looked upon the +Parliament House at Berlin. + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +AMERICA, GERMANY, AND THE SPANISH WAR--1897-1903 + +During the early days of this second official stay of mine at +Berlin, Russia had, in one way and another, secured an entrance +into China for her trans-Siberian railway, and seemed to have +taken permanent possession of the vast region extending from her +own territory to the Pacific at Port Arthur. Germany followed +this example, and, in avenging the murder of certain +missionaries, took possession of the harbor of Kiao-Chau. Thereby +other nations were stirred to do likewise,--England, France, and +Italy beginning to move for extensions of territory or commercial +advantages, until it looked much as if China was to be parceled +out among the greater European powers, or at least held in +commercial subjection, to the exclusion of those nations which +had pursued a more dilatory policy. + +Seeing this danger, our government instructed its representatives +at the courts of the great powers to request them to join in a +declaration in favor of an "open-door policy" in China, thus +establishing virtually an international agreement that none of +the powers obtaining concessions or controlling "spheres of +influence" in that country should secure privileges infringing +upon the equality of all nations in competing for Chinese trade. +This policy was pushed with vigor by the Washington cabinet, and +I was instructed to secure, if possible, the assent of the German +Government, which, after various conferences at the Foreign +Office and communications with the minister of foreign affairs, +some more, some less, satisfactory, I was at last able to do. The +assent was given very guardedly, but not the less effectively. +Its terms were that Germany, having been from the first in favor +of equal rights to all nations in the trade of China, would +gladly acquiesce in the proposed declaration if the other powers +concerned would do so. + +The Emperor William himself was even more open and direct than +his minister. At his dinner to the ambassadors in the spring of +1900, he spoke to me very fully on the subject, and, in a +conversation which I have referred to elsewhere, assured me of +his complete and hearty concurrence in the American policy, +declaring, "We must stand together for the open door." + +Finally, on the 9th of April, 1900, I had the satisfaction of +sending to the German Foreign Office the proofs that all the +other powers concerned, including Japan, had joined in the +American declaration, and that the government of the United +States considered this acquiescence to be full and final. + +It was really a great service rendered to the world by Mr. +McKinley and Secretary Hay; their action was far-seeing, prompt, +bold, and successful. + +Yet another subject of contention was the exclusion of sundry +American insurance companies from Germany, due in part to a +policy of "protection," but also to that same distrust of certain +American business methods which had given me much trouble in +dealing with the same question at St. Petersburg. The discussions +were long and tedious, but resulted in a sort of modus vivendi +likely to lead to something better. + +The American sugar duties were also a sore subject. Various +writers in the German press and orators in public bodies +continued to insist that America had violated the treaties; +America insisted that she had not; and this trouble, becoming +chronic, aggravated all others. The main efforts of Count von +Bulow and myself were given to allaying inflammation by doses of +common sense and poultices of good-will until common sense could +assert its rights. + +The everlasting meat question also went through various vexatious +phases, giving rise to bitter articles in the newspapers, +inflammatory speeches in Parliament, and measures in various +parts of the empire which, while sometimes honest, were always +injurious. American products which had been inspected in the +United States and Hamburg were again broken into, inspected, and +reinspected in various towns to which they were taken for retail, +with the result that the packages were damaged or spoiled, and +the costs of inspection and reinspection ate up all profits. I +once used an illustration of this at the Foreign Office that +seemed to produce some effect. It was the story of the Yankee +showman who, having been very successful in our Northern and +Middle States, took his show to the South, but when he returned +had evidently been stripped of his money. Being asked regarding +it, he said that his show had paid him well at first, but that on +arriving in Texas the authorities of each little village insisted +on holding an inquest over his Egyptian mummy, charging him +coroner's fees for it, and that this had made him a bankrupt. + +Speeches, bitter and long, were made on both sides of the +Atlantic; the cable brought reports of drastic reprisals +preparing in Washington; but finally a system was adopted to +which the trade between the two countries has since been uneasily +trying to adjust itself. + +Then there was sprung upon us the fruit question. One morning +came a storm of telegrams and letters stating that cargoes of +American fruits had been stopped in the German harbors, under the +charge that they contained injurious insects. The German +authorities were of course honest in this procedure, though they +were doubtless stimulated to it by sundry representatives of the +land-owning class. Our beautiful fruits, especially those of +California, had come to be very extensively used throughout the +empire, and the German consumers had been growing more and more +happy and the German producers more and more unhappy over this +fact, when suddenly there came from the American side accounts of +the scale-insects discovered on pears in California, and of +severe measures taken by sundry other States of our Union to +prohibit their importation. The result was a prohibition of our +fruits in Germany, and this was carried so far that not only +pears from California, but all other fruits, from all other parts +of the country, were at first put under the ban; and not only +fresh but dried and preserved fruits. As a matter of fact, there +was no danger whatever from the scale-insect, so far as fruit was +concerned. The creature never stirs from the spot on the pear to +which it fastens itself, and therefore by no possibility can it +be carried from the house where the fruit is consumed to the +nurseries where trees are grown. We took pains to show the facts +in the case; dealing fairly and openly with the German +Government, allowing that the importation of scale-infested trees +and shrubs might be dangerous, and making no objection to any +fair measures regarding these. The Foreign Office was reasonable, +and gradually the most vexatious of these prohibitions were +removed. + +But the war with Spain drew on, and animosities, so far as the +press on both sides of the water was concerned, grew worse. +Various newspapers in Germany charged our government with a +wonderful assortment of high crimes and misdemeanors; but, +happily, in their eagerness to cover us with obloquy, they +frequently refuted each other. Thus they one day charged us with +having prepared long beforehand to crush Spain and to rob her of +her West Indian possessions, and the next day they charged us +with plunging into war suddenly, recklessly, utterly careless of +the consequences. One moment they insisted that American sailors +belonged to a deteriorated race of mongrels, and could never +stand against pure-blooded Spanish sailors; and the next moment, +that we were crushing the noble navy of Spain by brute force. +Various presses indulged in malignant prophecies: the Americans +would find Spain a very hard nut to crack; Spanish soldiers would +drive the American mongrels into the sea; when Cervera got out +with his fleet, the American fleet would slink away; Spanish +ships, being built under the safeguard of Spanish honor, must win +the victory; American ships, built under a regime of corruption, +would be found furnished with sham plating, sham guns, and sham +supplies of every sort. It all reminded me of sundry prophecies +we used to hear before our Civil War to the effect that, when the +Northern and Southern armies came into the presence of each +other, the Yankee soldiers would trade off their muskets to the +foe. + +Against President McKinley every sort of iniquity was charged. +One day he was an idiot; another day, the most cunning of +intriguers; at one moment, an overbearing tyrant anxious to rush +into war; at another, a coward fearing war. It must be confessed +that this was mainly drawn from the American partizan press; but +it was, none the less, hard to bear. + +In the meantime President McKinley, his cabinet, and the American +diplomatic corps in Europe did everything in their power to +prevent the war. Just as long as possible the President clearly +considered that his main claim on posterity would be for +maintaining peace against pressure and clamor. Under orders from +the State Department I met at Paris my old friend General +Woodford, who was on his way to Spain as minister of the United +States, and General Porter, the American ambassador to France, +our instructions being to confer regarding the best means of +maintaining peace; and we all agreed that everything possible be +done to allay the excitement in Spain; that no claims of a +special sort, whether pecuniary or otherwise, should be urged +until after the tension ceased; that every concession possible +should be made to Spanish pride; and that, just as far as +possible, everything should be avoided which could complicate the +general issue with personal considerations. All of us knew that +the greatest wish of the administration was to prevent the war, +or, if that proved impossible, to delay it. + +For years, in common with the great majority of American +citizens, I had believed that the Spanish West Indies must break +loose from Spain some day, but had hoped that the question might +be adjourned until the middle or end of the twentieth century. +For I knew well that the separation of Cuba from Spain would be +followed, after no great length of time, by efforts for her +annexation to the United States, and that if such annexation of +Cuba should ever occur, she must come in as a State; that there +is no use in considering any other form of government for an +outlying dominion so large and so near; that there is no other +way of annexing a dependency so fully developed, and that, even +if there were, the rivalry of political parties contending for +electoral votes would be sure to insist on giving her statehood. +I dreaded the addition to our country of a million and a half of +citizens whose ability to govern themselves was exceedingly +doubtful, to say nothing of helping to govern our Union on the +mainland. The thought of senators and representatives to be +chosen by such a constituency to reside at Washington and to +legislate for the whole country, filled me with dismay. +Especially was the admission of Cuba to statehood a fearful +prospect just at that time, when we had so many difficult +questions to meet in the exercise of the suffrage. I never could +understand then, and cannot understand now, what Senator Morgan +of Alabama, who once had the reputation of being the strongest +representative from the South, could be thinking of when he was +declaiming in the Senate, first in behalf of the "oppressed +Cubans," and next in favor of measures which tended to add them +to the United States, and so to create a vast commonwealth +largely made up of negroes and mulattos accustomed to equality +with the whites, almost within musket-shot of the negroes and +mulattos of the South, from whom the constituents of Mr. Morgan +were at that very moment withholding the right of suffrage. I +could not see then, and I cannot see now, how he could possibly +be blind to the fact that if Cuba ever becomes a State of our +Union, she will soon begin to look with sympathy on those whom +she will consider her "oppressed colored brethren" in the South; +and that she will, just as inevitably, make common cause with +them at Washington, and perhaps in some other places, and +possibly not always by means so peaceful as orating under the +roof of the Capitol. + +Moreover, the nation had just escaped a terrible catastrophe at +the last general election; the ignorant, careless, and perverse +vote having gone almost solidly for a financial policy which +would have wrecked us temporarily and disgraced us eternally. +Time will, no doubt, develop a more conservative sentiment in the +States where this vote for evil was cast; as civilization deepens +and advances, better ideas will doubtless grow stronger; but it +is sure that the addition of Cuba to the United States, if it +ever comes, means the adding of a vast illiterate mass of voters +to those who at that election showed themselves so dangerous. + +On all these accounts I had felt very anxious to put off the +whole Cuban question until our Republic should become so much +larger and so much more mature that the addition of a few +millions of Spanish-Americans would be of but small account in +the total vote of the country. + +Then, too, I had little sympathy with aspirations for what +Spanish revolutionists call freedom, and no admiration at all for +Central American republics. I had officially examined one of them +thoroughly, had known much of others, and had no belief in the +capacity of people for citizenship who prefer to carry on +government by pronunciamientos, who never acknowledge the rights +of majorities, who are ready to start civil war on the slightest +pretext, and who, when in power, exercise a despotism more +persistent and cruel than any since Nero and Caligula. No Russian +autocrat, claiming to govern by divine right, has ever dared to +commit the high-handed cruelties which are common in sundry West +Indian and equatorial republics. I felt that the great thing was +to gain time before doing anything which might result in the +admission of the millions trained under such influences into all +the rights, privileges, and powers of American citizenship. + +But there came the destruction of the Maine in the harbor of +Havana, and thenceforward war was certain. The news was brought +to me at a gala representation of the opera at Berlin, when, on +invitation from the Emperor, the ambassadors were occupying a +large box opposite his own. Hardly had the telegram announcing +the catastrophe been placed in my hands when the Emperor entered, +and on his addressing me I informed him of it. He was evidently +shocked, and expressed a regret which, I fully believe, was +deeply sincere. He instantly asked, with a piercing look, "Was +the explosion from the outside?" My answer was that I hoped and +believed that it was not; that it was probably an interior +explosion. To my great regret, the official report afterward +obliged me to change my mind on the subject; but I still feel +that no Spanish officer or true Spaniard was concerned in the +matter. It has been my good fortune to know many Spanish +officers, and it is impossible for me to conceive one of their +kind as having taken part in so frightful a piece of treachery; +it has always seemed to be more likely that it was done by a +party of wild local fanatics, the refuse of a West Indian +seaport. + +The Emperor remained firm in his first impression that the +explosion was caused from the outside. Even before this was +established by the official investigation, he had settled into +that conclusion. On one occasion, when a large number of leading +officers of the North Sea Squadron were dining with him, he asked +their opinion on this subject, and although the great +majority--indeed, almost all present--then believed that the +catastrophe had resulted from an interior explosion, he adhered +to his belief that it was from an exterior attack. + +On various occasions before that time I had met my colleague the +Spanish ambassador, Senor Mendez y Vigo, and my relations with +him had been exceedingly pleasant. Each of us had tried to keep +up the hopes of the other that peace might be preserved, and down +to the last moment I took great pains to convince him of what I +knew to be the truth--that the policy of President McKinley was +to prevent war. But I took no less pains to show him that Spain +must aid the President by concessions to public opinion. My +personal sympathies, too, were aroused in behalf of my colleague. +He had passed the allotted threescore years and ten, was +evidently in infirm health, had five sons in the Spanish army, +and his son-in-law had recently been appointed minister at +Washington. + +Notice of the declaration of war came to me under circumstances +somewhat embarrassing. On the 21st of April, 1898, began the +festivities at Dresden on the seventieth birthday of King Albert +of Saxony, which was also the twenty-fifth anniversary of his +accession; and in view of the high character of the King and of +the affection for him throughout Germany, and, indeed, throughout +Europe, nearly every civilized power had sent its representatives +to present its congratulations. In these the United States +joined. Throughout our country are large numbers of Saxons, who, +while thoroughly loyal to our Republic, cherish a kindly and even +affectionate feeling toward their former King and Queen. +Moreover, there was a special reason. For many years Dresden had +been a center in which very many American families congregated +for the purpose of educating their children, especially in the +German language and literature, in music, and in the fine arts; +no court in Europe had been so courteous to Americans properly +introduced, and in various ways the sovereigns had personally +shown their good feeling toward our countrymen. + +It was in view of this that the Secretary of State instructed me +to present an autograph letter of congratulation from the +President to the King, and on the 20th of April I proceeded to +Dresden, with the embassy secretaries and attaches, for this +purpose. About midnight between the 20th and 21st there came a +loud and persistent knocking at my door in the hotel, and there +soon entered a telegraph messenger with an enormously long +despatch in cipher. Hardly had I set the secretaries at work upon +it than other telegrams began to come, and a large part of the +night was given to deciphering them. They announced the +declaration of war and instructed me to convey to the various +parties interested the usual notices regarding war measures: +blockade, prohibitions, exemptions, regulations, and the like. + +At eleven o'clock the next morning, court carriages having taken +us over to the palace, we were going up the grand staircase in +full force when who should appear at the top, on his way down, +but the Spanish ambassador with his suite! Both of us were, of +course, embarrassed. No doubt he felt, as I did, that it would +have been more agreeable just then to meet the representative of +any other power than of that with which war had just been +declared; but I put out my hand and addressed him, if not so +cordially as usual, at least in a kindly way; he reciprocated the +greeting, and our embarrassment was at least lessened. Of course, +during the continuation of the war, our relations lacked their +former cordiality, but we remained personally friendly. + +In my brief speech on delivering President McKinley's letter I +tendered to the King and Queen the President's congratulations, +with thanks for the courtesies which had been shown to my +countrymen. This was not the first occasion on which I had +discharged this latter duty, for, at a formal presentation to +these sovereigns some time before, I had taken pains to show that +we were not unmindful of their kindness to our compatriots. The +festivities which followed were interesting. There were dinners +with high state officials, gala opera, and historical +representations, given by the city of Dresden, of a very +beautiful character. On these occasions I met various eminent +personages, among others the Emperor of Austria and his prime +minister, Count Goluchowsky, both of whom discussed current +international topics with clearness and force; and I also had +rather an interesting conversation with the papal nuncio at +Munich, more recently in Paris, Lorenzelli, with reference to +various measures looking to the possible abridgment of the war. + +On the third day of the festivities came a great review, and a +sight somewhat rare. To greet the King there were present the +Emperor of Germany, the Emperor of Austria, and various minor +German sovereigns, each of whom had in the Saxon army a regiment +nominally his own, and led it past the Saxon monarch, saluting +him as he reviewed it. The two Emperors certainly discharged this +duty in a very handsome, chivalric sort of way. In the evening +came a great dinner at the palace, at which the King and Queen +presided. The only speech on the occasion was one of +congratulation made by the Emperor of Austria, and it was very +creditable to him, being to all appearance extemporaneous, yet +well worded, quiet, dignified, and manly. The ceremonies closed +on Sunday with a grand "Te Deum" at the palace church, in the +presence of all the majesties,--the joy expressed by the music +being duly accentuated by cannon outside. + +I may say, before closing this subject, that Thomas Jefferson's +famous letter to Governor Langdon, describing royal personages as +he knew them while minister to France before the French +Revolution, no longer applies. The events which followed the +Revolution taught the crowned heads of Europe that they could no +longer indulge in the good old Bourbon, Hapsburg, and Braganza +idleness and stupidity. Modern European sovereigns, almost +without exception, work for their living, and work hard. Few +business men go through a more severe training, or a longer and +harder day of steady work, than do most of the contemporary +sovereigns of Europe. This fact especially struck me on my +presentation, about this time, to one of the best of the minor +monarchs, the King of Wurtemberg. I found him a hearty, strong, +active-minded man--the sort of man whom we in America would call +"level-headed" and "a worker." Learning that I had once passed a +winter in Stuttgart, he detained me long with a most interesting +account of the improvements which had been made in the city since +my visit, and showed public spirit of a sort very different from +that which animated the minor potentates of Germany in the last +century. The same may be said of the Grand Duke of Baden, who, in +a long conversation, impressed me as a gentleman of large and +just views, understanding the problems of his time and thoroughly +in sympathy with the best men and movements. + +Republican as I am, this acknowledgment must be made. The +historical lessons of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, +and the pressure of democracy, are obliging the monarchs of +Europe to fit themselves for their duties wisely and to discharge +them intelligently. But this is true only of certain ruling +houses. There seems to be a "survival of the fittest." At various +periods in my life I have also had occasion to observe with some +care various pretenders to European thrones, among them the +husband of Queen Isabella of Spain; Prince Napoleon Victor, the +heir to the Napoleonic throne; the Duke of Orleans; Don Carlos, +the representative of the Spanish Bourbons; with sundry others; +and it would be hard to conceive persons more utterly unfit or +futile. + +As to the conduct of Germany during our war with Spain, while the +press, with two or three exceptions, was anything but friendly, +and while a large majority of the people were hostile to us on +account of the natural sympathy with a small power battling +against a larger one, the course of the Imperial Government, +especially of the Foreign Office under Count von Bulow and Baron +von Richthofen, was all that could be desired. Indeed, they went +so far on one occasion as almost to alarm us. The American consul +at Hamburg having notified me by telephone that a Spanish vessel, +supposed to be loaded with arms for use against us in Cuba, was +about to leave that port, I hastened to the Foreign Office and +urged that vigorous steps be taken, with the result that the +vessel, which in the meantime had left Hamburg, was overhauled +and searched at the mouth of the Elbe. The German Government +might easily have pleaded, in answer to my request, that the +American Government had generally shown itself opposed to any +such interference with the shipments of small arms to +belligerents, and had contended that it was not obliged to search +vessels to find such contraband of war, but that this duty was +incumbent upon the belligerent nation concerned. This evidence of +the fairness of Germany I took pains to make known, and in my +address at the American celebration in Leipsic on the Fourth of +July declared my belief that the hostility of the German people +and press at large was only temporary, and that the old good +relations would be restored. Knowing that my speech would be +widely quoted in the German press, I took even more pains to show +the reasons why we could bide our time and trust to the +magnanimity of the German people. Of one thing I then and always +reminded my hearers--namely, that during our Civil War, when our +national existence was trembling in the balance and our foreign +friends were few, the German press and people were steadily on +our side. + +The occasion was indeed a peculiar one. On the morning of the +Fourth, when we had all assembled, bad news came. Certain German +presses had been very prompt to patch together all sorts of +accounts of American defeats, and to present them in the most +unpleasant way possible; but while we were seated at table in the +evening came a despatch announcing the annihilation of the +Spanish fleet in Cuban waters, and this put us all in good humor. +One circumstance may serve to show the bitterness at heart among +Americans at this period. On entering the dining-hall with our +consul, I noticed two things: first, that the hall was profusely +decorated in a way I had never seen before and had never expected +to see--namely, by intertwined American and British flags; and, +secondly, that there was not a German flag in the room. I +immediately sent for the proprietor and told him that I would not +sit down to dinner until a German flag was brought in. He at +first thought it impossible to supply the want, but, on my +insisting, a large flag was at last found. This was speedily +given a place of honor among the interior decorations of our +hall, and all then went on satisfactorily. + +As the war with Spain progressed, various causes of difficulty +arose between Germany and the United States, but I feel bound to +say that the German Government continued to act toward us with +justice. The sensational press, indeed, continued its work on +both sides of the Atlantic. On our side it took pains to secure +and publish stories of insults by the German Admiral Diederichs +to the American Admiral Dewey, and to develop various legends +regarding these two commanders. As a matter of fact, each of the +two admirals, when their relations first began in Manila, was +doubtless rather stiff and on his guard against the other; but +these feelings soon yielded to different sentiments. + +The foolish utterances of various individuals, spread by sundry +American papers, were heartily echoed in the German press, the +most noted among these being an alleged after-dinner speech by an +American officer at a New York club, and a Congressional speech +in which the person who made it declared that "the United States, +having whipped Spain, ought now to whip Germany." Still, the +thinking men intrusted with the relations between the two +countries labored on, though at times there must have recurred to +us a sense of the divine inspiration of Schiller's words, +"Against stupidity even the gods fight in vain." + +Of course the task of the embassy in protecting American citizens +abroad was especially increased in those times of commotion. At +such periods the number of ways in which American citizens, +native or naturalized, can get into trouble seems infinite; and +here, too, even from the first moment of my arrival in Berlin as +ambassador, I saw evidences of the same evil which had struck me +during my previous missions in Berlin and St. Petersburg--namely, +the constant and ingenious efforts to prostitute American +citizenship. Among the manifold duties of an ambassador is the +granting of passports. The great majority of those who ask for +them are entitled to them; but there are always a considerable +number of persons who, having left Europe just in time to escape +military service, have stayed in America just long enough to +acquire American citizenship, and then, having returned to their +native country, seek to enjoy the advantages of both countries +while discharging the duties of neither. Even worse were the +cases of the descendants of such so-called Americans, most of +them born in Europe and not able even to speak the English +language; worst of all were the cases of sundry +Russians--sometimes stigmatized as "predatory Hebrews"--who, +having left Russia and gone to America, had stayed just long +enough to acquire citizenship, and then returned and settled in +the eastern part of Germany, as near the Russian frontier as +possible. These were naturally regarded as fraudulent interlopers +by both the German and Russian authorities, and much trouble +resulted. Some of them led a life hardly outside the limits of +criminality; but they never hesitated on this account to insist +on their claims to American protection. When they were reminded +that American citizenship was conferred upon them, not that they +might shirk its duties and misuse its advantages in the land of +their birth, but that they might enjoy it and discharge its +duties in the land of their adoption, they scouted the idea and +insisted on their right, as American citizens, to live where they +pleased. Their communications to the embassy were, almost without +exception, in German, Russian, or Polish; very few of them wrote +or even spoke English, and very many of them could neither read +nor write in any language. For the hard-working immigrant, +whether Jew or Gentile, who comes to our country and casts in his +lot with us, to take his share not only of privilege but of duty, +I have the fullest respect and sympathy, and have always been +glad to intervene in his favor; but intervention in behalf of +those fraudulent pretenders I always felt to be a galling burden. + +Fortunately the rules of the State Department have been of late +years strengthened to meet this evil, and it has finally become +our practice to inform such people that if they return to America +they can receive a passport for that purpose; but that unless +they show a clear intention of returning, they cannot. Very many +of them persist in their applications in spite of this, and one +case became famous both at the State Department and at the +embassy. Three Russians of the class referred to had emigrated +with their families to America, and, after the usual manner, +stayed just long enough to acquire citizenship, and had then +returned to Germany. One of them committed a crime and +disappeared; the other two went to the extreme eastern frontier +of Prussia and settled there. Again and again the Prussian +Government notified us that under the right exercised by every +nation, and especially by our own, these "undesirable intruders" +must leave Prussian territory or be expelled. Finally we +discovered at the embassy that a secret arrangement had been made +between Germany and Russia which obliged each to return the +undesirable emigrants of the other. This seemed to put the two +families in great danger of being returned to Russia; and, sooner +than risk a new international trouble, a proposal was made to +them, through the embassy, to pay their expenses back to America; +but they utterly refused to leave, and continued to burrow in the +wretched suburbs of one of the German cities nearest the Russian +border. Reams of correspondence ensued--all to no purpose; a +special messenger was sent to influence them--all in vain: they +persisted in living just as near Russia as possible, and in +calling themselves American, though not one of them spoke +English. + +From time to time appeared in our own country attacks against the +various American embassies and legations abroad for not +protecting such American citizens, and a very common feature of +these articles was an unfavorable comparison between the United +States and England: it being claimed that Great Britain protects +her citizens everywhere, while the United States does not. This +statement is most misleading. Great Britain, while she is +renowned for protecting her subjects throughout the world, +--bringing the resources of her fleet, if need be, to aid +them,--makes an exception as regards her adopted citizens in the +land of their birth. The person who, having been naturalized in +Great Britain, goes back to the country of his birth, does so at +his or her own risk. The British Government considers itself, +under such circumstances, entirely absolved from the duty of +giving protection. The simple fact is that the United States goes +much further in protecting adopted citizens than does any other +country, and it is only rank demagogism which can find fault +because some of our thinking statesmen do not wish to see +American citizenship prostituted by persons utterly unfit to +receive it, who frequently use it fraudulently, and who, as many +cases prove, are quite ready to renounce it and take up their old +allegiance if they can gain advantage thereby. + +Another general duty of the embassy was to smooth the way for the +large number of young men and women who came over as students. +This duty was especially pleasing to me now, as it had been +during my life as minister in Berlin twenty years before. At that +time women were not admitted to the universities; but now large +numbers were in attendance. The university authorities showed +themselves very courteous, and, when there was any doubt as to +the standing of the institution from which a candidate for +admission came, allowed me to pass upon the question and accepted +my certificate. Almost without exception, I found these +candidates excellent; but there were some exceptions. The +applicants were usually persons who had been graduated from some +one of our own institutions; but, from time to time, persons who +had merely passed a freshman year in some little American college +came abroad, anxious to secure the glory of going at once into a +German university. Certificates for such candidates I declined to +sign. To do so would have been an abuse sure to lead the German +authorities finally to reject the great mass of American +students: far better for applicants to secure the best advantages +possible in their own country, and then to supplement their study +at home by proper work abroad. + +In sketches of my former mission to Berlin I have mentioned +various applications, some of them psychological curiosities; +these I found continuing, though with variations. Some +compatriots expected me to forward to the Emperor begging +letters, or letters suggesting to him new ideas, unaware that +myriads of such letters are constantly sent which never reach +him, and which even his secretaries never think of reading. +Others sent books, not knowing the rule prevailing among crowned +heads, never to accept a PUBLISHED book, and not realizing that +if this rule were broken, not one book in a thousand would get +beyond the office of his general secretary. Others sent medicine +which they wished him to recommend; and one gentleman was very +persistent in endeavoring to secure his Majesty's decision on a +wager. + +Then there were singers or performers on wind or string +instruments wishing to sing or play before him, sculptors and +painters wishing him to visit their studios, and writers of music +wishing him to order their compositions to be brought out at the +Royal Opera. + +All these requests culminated in two, wherein the gentle reader +will see a mixture of comic and pathetic. The first was from a +person (not an American) who wished my good offices in enabling +her to obtain a commission for a brilliant marriage,--she having +in reserve, as she assured me, a real Italian duke whom, for a +consideration, she would secure for an American heiress. The +other, which was from an eminently respectable source, urged me +to induce the imperial authorities to station in the United +States a young German officer with whom an American young lady +had fallen in love. And these proposals I was expected to +further, in spite of the fact that the rules for American +representatives abroad forbid all special pleading of any kind in +favor of individual interests or enterprises, without special +instructions from the State Department. Discouraging was it to +find that in spite of the elaborate statement prepared by me +during my former residence, which had been freely circulated +during twenty years, there were still the usual number of people +persuaded that enormous fortunes were awaiting them somewhere in +Germany. + +One application, from a truly disinterested man, was grounded in +nobler motives. This was an effort made by an eminent Polish +scholar and patriot to wrest American citizenship for political +purposes. He had been an instructor at various Russian and German +universities had shown in some of his books extraordinary +ability, had gained the friendship of several eminent scholars in +Great Britain and on the Continent, and was finally settled at +one of the most influential seats of learning in Austrian Poland. +He was a most attractive man, wide in his knowledge, charming in +his manner; but not of this world. Having drawn crowds to his +university lectures, he suddenly attacked the Emperor Franz +Josef, who, more than any other, had befriended his compatriots; +was therefore obliged to flee from his post; and now came to +Berlin, proposing seriously that I should at once make him an +American citizen, and thus, as he supposed, enable him to go back +to his university and, in revolutionary speeches, bid defiance to +Austria, Russia, and Germany. Great was his disappointment when +he learned that, in order to acquire citizenship, he would be +obliged to go to the United States and remain there five years. +As he was trying to nerve himself for this sacrifice, I presented +some serious considerations to him. Knowing him to be a man of +honor, I asked him how he could reconcile it with his sense of +veracity to assume the rights of American citizenship with no +intention to discharge its duties. This somewhat startled him. +Then, from a more immediately practical point of view, I showed +that, even if he acquired American citizenship, and could +reconcile his conscience to break the virtual pledge he had made +in order to obtain it, the government of Austria, and, indeed, +all other governments, would still have a full right, under the +simplest principles of international law, to forbid his entrance +into their territories, or to turn him out after he had +entered,--the right of expelling undesirable emigrants being +constantly exercised, even by the United States. This amazed him. +He had absolutely persuaded himself that I could, by some sleight +of hand, transform him into an American citizen; that he could +then at once begin attempts to reestablish the fine old Polish +anarchy in Austria, Russia, and Germany; and that no one of these +nations would dare interfere with him. It was absurd but +pathetic. My advice to him was to go back to his lecture-room and +labor to raise the character of the younger generation of Poles, +in the hope that Poland might do what Scotland had done--rise by +sound mental and moral training from the condition of a conquered +and even oppressed part of a great empire to a controlling +position in it. This advice was, of course, in vain, and he is +now building air-castles amid the fogs of London. + +In my life at Berlin as ambassador there was a tinge of sadness. +Great changes had taken place since my student days in that city, +and even since my later stay as minister. A new race of men had +come upon the stage in public affairs, in the university, and in +literary circles. Gone was the old Emperor William, gone also was +the Emperor Frederick, and Bismarck and Moltke and a host of +others who had given dignity and interest to the great +assemblages at the capital. Gone, too, from the university were +Lepsius, Helmholtz, Curtius, Hoffmann, Gneist, Du Bois-Reymond, +and Treitschke, all of whom, in the old days, had been my guests +and friends. The main exceptions seemed to be in the art world. +The number of my artist friends during my stay as minister had +been large, and every one of them was living when I returned as +ambassador; the reason, of course, being that when men +distinguish themselves in art at all, they do so at an earlier +age than do high functionaries of state and professors in the +universities. It was a great pleasure to find Adolf Menzel, +Ludwig Knaus, Carl Beeker, Anton von Werner, and Paul Meyerheim, +though grown gray in their beautiful ministry, still daily at +work in their studios. + +Three only of my friends of the older generation in the Berlin +faculty remained; and as I revise these lines the world is laying +tributes upon the grave of the last of them--Theodor Mommsen. +With him my relations were so peculiar that they may deserve some +mention. + +During my earlier stays in Berlin he had always seemed especially +friendly to the United States, and it was therefore with regret +that on my return I found him in this respect greatly changed: he +had become a severe critic of nearly everything American; his +earlier expectations had evidently been disappointed; we clearly +appeared to him big, braggart, noisy, false to our principles, +unworthy of our opportunities. These feelings of his became even +more marked as the Spanish-American War drew on. Whenever we met, +and most often at a charming house which both of us frequented, +he showed himself more and more bitter, so that finally our paths +separated. There comes back to me vividly one evening when I +sought to turn off a sharp comment of his upon some recent +American news by saying: "You must give a young nation like ours +more time." On this he exclaimed: "You cannot plead the baby act +any longer. More time! You have HAD time; you are already three +hundred years old!" Having sought in vain to impress on him the +fact that the policy of our country is determined not wholly by +the older elements in its civilization, but very largely by newer +commonwealths which must require time to develop a policy +satisfactory to sedate judges, he burst into a tirade from which +I took refuge in a totally different discussion. + +Some days later came another evidence of his feeling. Meeting an +eminent leader in political, and especially in journalistic, +circles, I was shown the corrected proofsheets of an "interview" +on the conduct of the United States toward Spain, given by +Mommsen. It was even more acrid than his previous utterances, and +exhibited sharply and at great length our alleged sins and +shortcomings. Certainly a representative of the American people +was not bound to make supplication, in such a matter, even to so +eminent a scholar and leader of thought, and my comment was +simply as follows: "I have no request to make in the premises--of +Mommsen or of anybody. The article will of course have no effect +on the war; of that there can be but one result: the triumph of +the United States and the liberation of the Spanish islands of +the West Indies; but may there not be some considerations of a +very different order as regards Mommsen himself? Why not ask him, +simply, where his friends are; his readers, his old students, his +disciples? Why not ask him whether he finds fewer clouds over the +policy of Spain than over that of the United States; of which +country, despite all its faults, he has most hope; and for which, +in his heart, he has the greater feeling of brotherhood?" + +How far this answer influenced him I know not, but the article +was never published; and thenceforth there seemed some revival of +the older kindly feeling. At my own table and elsewhere he more +than once became, in a measure, like the Mommsen of old. One +utterance of his amused me much. My wife happening, in a talk +with him, to speak of a certain personage as "hardly an ideal +man," he retorted: "Madam, is it possible that you have been +married some years and still believe in the ideal man?" + +His old better feeling toward America came out especially when I +next called upon him with congratulations upon his birthday--his +last, alas! But heartiest of all was he during the dinner given +at my departure. My speech was long,--over an hour,--for I had a +message to deliver, and was determined to give it--a message +which I hoped might impress upon my great audience reasons for a +friendly judgment of my country. As I began, Mommsen came to my +side--just back of me, his hand at his ear, listening intently. +There the old man stood from the first word to the last, and on +my conclusion he grasped me heartily with both hands--a +demonstration rare indeed with him. It was our last greeting in +this world. + +Would that there were space to dwell upon those in the present +generation of professors who honored me with their friendship; +but one is especially suggested here, since he was selected to +make a farewell address on the occasion above referred to--Adolf +Harnack. At various times I had heard him discourse profoundly +and brilliantly at the university, but came to know him best at +the bicentenary of the Berlin Academy, when he had just added to +the long list of his published works his history of the academy, +in four quarto volumes: a wonderful work, whether considered from +an historical, psychological, or philosophical point of view. His +address on that occasion was masterly, and his conversation at +various social functions instructive and pithy. I remember in one +of them, especially, his delineation of the characteristics and +services of Leibnitz, who was one of the founders of the Royal +Academy, and it was perfection in that kind of conversation which +is worthy of men claiming to possess immortal souls: for it +brought out, especially, examples of Leibnitz's amazing +forethought as to European policy, which seemed at times like +divinely inspired prophecies. He also gave me a number of +interesting things which he had noted in his studies of Frederick +the Great. Some of them I had found already in my own reading, +but one of them I did not remember, and it was both comical and +characteristic. A rural Protestant pastor sent a petition to the +King presenting a grievance and asking redress. It was to the +effect that his church was on one side of a river in Silesia, and +that a younger pastor, whose church was on the opposite side, was +drawing all his parishioners away from him. On the back of the +petition Frederick simply wrote, "Tell him to go and preach on +the other side of the river: that will drive his people back +again." + +Hearing Harnack and his leading colleagues in discourse at the +university or academy, or in private, whether in their loftier or +lighter moods, one could understand why the University of Berlin, +though one of the youngest, is the foremost among the +universities of the world. + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +AMERICA, GERMANY, AND THE CHINESE WAR--1899-1902 + +An interesting event of this period was the appearance in Berlin +of ex-President and Mrs. Harrison. The President had but recently +finished his long and wearisome work before the Venezuela +Arbitration Tribunal at Paris, and was very happy in the +consciousness of duty accomplished and liberty obtained. Marks of +high distinction were shown them. The sovereigns invited them to +attend the festivities at Potsdam in honor of the Queen and Queen +Mother of Holland, who were then staying there, and treated them +not only with respect, but with cordiality. The Emperor conversed +long with the President on various matters of public interest: on +noted Americans whom he had met, on the growth of our fleet, on +recent events in our history, and the like, characteristically +ending with a discussion of the superb music which we had been +hearing; and at the supper which followed insisted that Mrs. +Harrison should sit at his side, the Empress giving a similar +invitation to Mr. Harrison. At a later period a dinner was given +to the ex-President by the chancellor of the empire, Prince +Hohenlohe, at which a number of the leading personages in the +empire were present; and it was a pleasure to show my own respect +for the former chief magistrate by a reception which was attended +by about two hundred of our American colony, and a dinner at +which he and Mrs. Harrison made the acquaintance of leading +representative Germans in various fields. + +In another chapter of these memoirs I have spoken of President +Harrison as of cold and, at times, abrupt manners; but the +absence of these characteristics during his stay in Berlin, and +afterward in New York, made it clear to me that the cold exterior +which I had noted in him at Washington, especially when Mr. +Roosevelt, Mr. Lodge, and sundry others of us urged upon him an +extension of the classified civil service, was adopted as a means +of preventing encroachments upon the time necessary for his daily +duties. He now appeared in a very different light, his discussion +of men and events showing not only earnest thought and deep +penetration, but a rich vein of humor; his whole bearing being +simple, kindly, and dignified. + +During the winter of 1899-1900 came an addition to my experiences +of what American representatives abroad have to expect under our +present happy-go-lucky provision for the diplomatic service. As +already stated, on arriving in Berlin, I had great difficulty in +obtaining any fitting quarters, but at last secured a large and +suitable apartment in an excellent part of the city, its only +disadvantage being that my guests had to plod up seventy-five +steps in order to reach it. Having been obliged to make large +outlays for suitable fittings, extensive repairs, and furniture +throughout, I found that more than the entire salary of my first +year had been thus sunk; but I congratulated myself that I had at +least obtained a residence good, comfortable, and suitable. To be +sure, it was inferior to that of any other ambassador, but I had +fitted it up so that it was considered creditable. Suddenly, +about two years afterward, without a word of warning, came notice +from the proprietor that my lease was void--that he had sold the +house, and that I must leave it; so that it looked as if the +American Embassy would, at an early day, be turned into the +street. This was trying indeed. It was at the beginning of the +social season, and interfered greatly with my duties of every +sort. And there cropped out a feeling, among all conversant with +the case, which I cannot say was conducive to respect for the +wisdom of those who give laws to our country. + +But, happily, I had insisted on inserting in the lease a clause +which seemed to make it doubtful whether the proprietor could +turn me out so easily and speedily. Under German law it was a +very precarious reliance, but on this I took my stand, and at +last, thanks mainly to the kindness of my colleague who succeeded +me as a tenant, made a compromise under which I was enabled to +retain the apartment for something over a year longer. + +It may be interesting for an American who has a proper feeling +regarding the position of his country abroad to know that the +purchaser of the entire house--not only of the floor which I had +occupied, but of the similar apartment beneath, as well as that +on the ground floor--was the little Grand Duchy of Baden, which +in this way provided for its minister, secretaries, and others +connected with its legation in the German capital. + +On the theory of line upon line and precept upon precept, I again +call attention, NOT to the wrong done ME by this American policy, +or rather want of policy,--for I knew in coming what I had to +expect,--but to the injury thus done to the PROPER STANDING OF +OUR COUNTRY BEFORE THE OTHER NATIONS OF THE WORLD. Again I insist +that, in its own interest, a government like ours ought, in every +capital where it is represented, to possess or to hold on long +lease a house or apartment suitable to its representative and +creditable to itself. + +Early in the spring of 1900 came an event of some historical +interest. On the 19th of March and the two days following was +celebrated the two-hundredth anniversary of the founding of the +Royal Academy of Sciences. The Emperor, as well as the Academy, +had determined to make it a great occasion, and the result was a +series of very brilliant pageants. These began by a solemn +reception of the delegates from all parts of the world in the +great hall of the palace, my duty being to represent the +Smithsonian Institution at Washington, and my colleagues being +Professors White and Wolf of Harvard, who had been sent by the +American Academy of Sciences. The scene was very striking, all +the delegates, except those from America and Switzerland, being +in the costumes of the organizations they represented; most were +picturesque, and some had a very mediaeval appearance; those from +the ancient universities of Wurzburg and Prague, especially, +looking as if they had just stepped out of an illuminated +manuscript of the fourteenth century. At the time named for the +beginning of the festival the Emperor entered, announced by the +blare of trumpets, preceded by ministers bearing the sword, +standard, and great seal, and by generals bearing the crown, +scepter, and orb. He was surrounded by the highest officials of +the kingdom and empire, and having taken his seat on the throne, +there came majestic music preluding sundry orations and lists of +honors conferred on eminent men of science in all parts of the +world, among whom I was glad to note Professors Gibbs of Yale, +James of Harvard, and Rowland of Johns Hopkins. + +The Emperor's speech was characteristic. It showed that his heart +was in the matter; that he felt a just pride in the achievements +of German science, and was determined that no efforts of his +should be wanting to increase and extend them. After the close of +the function, which was made in the same stately way as its +beginning, my colleagues drove home with me, and one of them +said, "Well, I am an American and a republican, but when I am in +a monarchy I like to see a thing of this kind done in the most +magnificent way possible, as it was this morning." A day or two +afterward, at the dinner given to the ambassadors by the Emperor, +I told him this story. He laughed heartily, and then said: "Your +friend is right: if a man is to be a monarch, let him be a +monarch; Dom Pedro of Brazil tried to be something else, and it +did not turn out well." + +Impressive in a different way were the ceremonies attendant upon +the coming of age of the German crown prince, on the 6th of May, +1900. To do honor to the occasion, the Emperor Franz Josef of +Austria-Hungary had sent word that he would be present, and for +many days the whole city seemed mainly devoted to decorating its +buildings and streets for his visit; the culmination of the whole +being at the Pariser Platz, in front of the Brandenburg Gate, +where a triumphal arch and obelisks were erected, with other +decorations, patriotic and complimentary. On the morning of the +4th he arrived, and, entering the city at the side of the German +Emperor, each in the proper uniform of the other, he was received +by the burgomaster and town council of Berlin with a most cordial +speech, and then, passing on through the Linden, which was +showily decorated, he was enthusiastically greeted everywhere. No +doubt this greeting was thoroughly sincere, since all good +Germans look upon Franz Josef as their truest ally. + +Next evening there was a "gala" performance at the Royal Opera, +the play presented being, of all things in the world, Auber's +"Bronze Horse," which is a farcical Chinese fairy tale set to +very light and pleasing music. The stage setting was gorgeous, +but the audience was still more so, delegates from all the +greater powers of the world being present, including the heirs to +the British and Italian thrones, the Grand Duke Constantine of +Russia, and a multitude of other scions of royalty. One feature +was comical. Near me sat His Excellency the Chinese minister, +surrounded by his secretaries and attaches, all apparently +delighted; and on my asking him, through his interpreter, how he +liked it, he said, "Very much; this shows the Europeans that in +China we know how to amuse ourselves." Of the fact that it was a +rather highly charged caricature of Chinese officialdom he seemed +either really or diplomatically unconscious. + +On the following morning I was received in audience by the German +Emperor, bringing to him a warm message of congratulation from +President McKinley; and when His Majesty had replied very +cordially, he introduced me to the crown prince standing at his +side, to whom I gave the President's best wishes. Then came, in +the chapel of the palace, an impressive religious service, the +address by Dr. Dryander being eloquent, and the music, by the +cathedral choir and, at times, by a great military orchestra, +both far above us in the dome, beautiful. At its close the crown +prince came forward, stood before the altar, where I had seen his +parents married twenty years before, and the oath of allegiance, +which was quite long, having been read to him by the colonel of +his regiment, he repeated it, word for word, and made his solemn +pledge, lifting one hand and grasping the imperial standard with +the other. Then, after receiving affectionate embraces from his +father and mother, he was congratulated by the sovereigns and +royal personages. The ambassadors and ministers having been then +received by the Emperor and Empress, the young prince came along +the line and spoke to each of us in a very unaffected and manly +way. He was at that time somewhat taller than his father, with an +intelligent and pleasant face, and is likely, I should say, to do +well in his great position, though not possessing, probably, +anything like his father's varied gifts and graces. + +In the evening came a dinner in the White Hall of the palace to +several hundred guests, including the Emperor of Austria-Hungary, +the King of Saxony, and other visiting personages, with the heads +of the diplomatic missions, and the leading personages of the +empire; and near the close of it the Emperor William arose and +made an excellent speech, to all appearance extemporaneous. The +answer by the Emperor of Austria-Hungary was read by him, and was +sensible and appropriate. + +That this visit did much to strengthen the ties which bind the +two monarchies was shown not merely by hurrahs in the streets and +dithyrambic utterances in the newspapers, but by a mass of other +testimony. One curious thing was the great care everywhere taken +in the decorations to honor the crown and flag of Hungary equally +with that of Austria, and this, as was shown by the Hungarian +journals, had an excellent effect. By this meeting, no doubt, the +Triple Alliance was somewhat strengthened, and the chances for +continued peace increased, at least during the lifetime of the +Emperor Franz Josef. As to what will follow his death all is +dark. His successor is one of the least suitable of +men,--unprepossessing, and even forbidding, in every respect. +Brought up by the Jesuits, he is distrusted by a vast mass of the +best people in the empire, Catholic and Protestant. A devout +Catholic they would be glad to take, but a Jesuit pupil they +dread, for they know too well what such have brought upon the +empire hitherto, and, indeed, upon every kingdom which has +allowed them in its councils. His previous career has not been +edifying, and there is no reason to expect any change in him. The +Emperor Franz Josef is probably as thoroughly beloved by his +subjects as any sovereign in history has ever been. His great +misfortunes--fearful defeats in the wars with France and Germany, +the suicide of his only son, the assassination of his wife, and +family troubles in more recent times--have thrown about him an +atmosphere of romantic sympathy; while love for his kindly +qualities is mingled with respect for his plain common sense. +During his stay in Berlin I met him a second time. At my first +presentation at Dresden, two years before, there was little +opportunity for extended conversation; but he now spoke quite at +length and in a manner which showed him to be observant of the +world's affairs even in remote regions. He discussed the recent +increase of our army, the progress of our war in the Philippines, +and the extension of American enterprise in various parts of the +world, in a way which was not at all perfunctory, but evidently +the result of large information and careful observation. His +empire, which is a seething caldron of hates, racial, religious, +political, and local, is held together by love and respect for +him; but when he dies this personal tie which unites all these +different races, parties, and localities will disappear, and in +place of it will come the man who by force of untoward +circumstances is to be his successor, and this is anything but a +pleasing prospect to an Austro-Hungarian, or, indeed, to any +thoughtful observer of human affairs. + +Interesting to me at this period was a visit from representatives +of the "Kriegerverein"--German-Americans who had formerly fought +in the war between Germany and France, who had since become +American citizens, and who were now revisiting their native land. +They were a very manly body, evidently taking pride in the +American flag which they carried, and also in the part they had +played in Germany. Replying to a friendly address by their +commanding officer, I took up some current American fallacies +regarding Germany and Germans, encouraged my hearers to stand +firm against sensational efforts to make trouble between the two +countries, urged them to keep their children in knowledge of the +German language and in touch with German civilization, while +bringing them up as thoroughly loyal Americans, reminding them +that every American who is interested in German history or +literature or science or art is an additional link in the chain +which binds together the two nations. The speech was of a very +offhand sort; but it seemed to strike deep and speed far, for it +evoked most kindly letters of congratulation and thanks from +various parts of Germany and the United States. + +The most striking episode in the history of the world during +these years was the revolution in China. The first event which +startled mankind was the murder of Baron von Ketteler, the German +minister at Peking, a man of remarkable abilities and +accomplishments, who was thought sure to rise high among +diplomatists, and who had especially attracted American +friendships by his marriage with an American lady. The impression +created by this calamity was made all the greater by the fact +that, in the absence of further news from the Chinese capital, +there was reason to fear that the whole diplomatic corps, with +their families, might be murdered. American action in the +entanglements which followed was prompt and successful, and +thinking men everywhere soon saw it to be so. Toward the end of +July, 1900, being about to go to America for the summer, I took +leave of Count von Bulow at the Foreign Office, and, on coming +out, met one of my colleagues, who, although representing one of +the lesser European powers, was well known as exceedingly shrewd +and far-sighted. He said: "I congratulate you on the course +pursued by your government during this fearful Chinese imbroglio. +Other powers have made haste to jump into war; your admiral at +Tientsin seems the only one who has kept his head; other +governments have treated representatives of the Chinese Empire as +hostile, and, in doing so, have cut themselves off from all +direct influence on the Peking Government; the government at +Washington has taken an opposite course, has considered the +troubles as, prima facie, the work of insurrectionists, has +insisted on claiming friendship with the constituted authorities +in China, and, in view of this friendship, has insisted on being +kept in communication with its representative at the Chinese +capital, the result being that your government has been allowed +to communicate with its representative, and has thereby gained +the information and issued the orders which have saved the entire +diplomatic corps, as well as the forces of the different powers +now in Peking." + +It was one of those contemporary testimonies to the skill of Mr. +McKinley and Secretary Hay which indicate the verdict of history. + +Our later policy was equally sound. It was to prevent any further +territorial encroachments on China by foreign powers, and to +secure the opening of the empire on equal terms to the commerce +of the entire world. On the other hand, the German Government, +exasperated by the murder of its minister at Peking, was at first +inclined to go beyond this, and a speech of the Emperor to his +troops as they were leaving Germany for the seat of war was +hastily construed to mean that they were to carry out a policy of +extermination and confiscation. Even after the first natural +outburst of indignation against the Chinese, it looked as if the +ultimatum presented by the powers would include demands which +could never be met, and would entangle all the powers in a long +and tedious war, leading, perhaps, to a worse catastrophe. +Quietly but vigorously, from first to last, the American policy +was urged by Mr. Conger, American minister at Peking, and by +other representatives of our government abroad; and it was a +happy morning for me when, after efforts many and long continued, +I received at the Berlin Foreign Office the assurance that +Germany would not consider the earlier conditions presented by +the powers to the Chinese Government as "irrevocable." My +constant contention, during interviews at the Foreign Office, had +been that the United States desired as anxiously to see the main +miscreants punished as did any other nation, but that it was of +no use to demand, upon members of the imperial family, and upon +generals in command of great armies, extreme penalties which the +Chinese Government was not strong enough to inflict, or +indemnities which it was not rich enough to pay; that our aim was +not quixotic but practical, and that, in advocating steadily the +"open door" policy, we were laboring quite as much for all other +powers as for ourselves. Of course we were charged in various +quarters with cold-bloodedness, and with merely seeking to +promote our own interest in trade; but the Japanese, who could +understand the question better than the Western powers, steadily +adhered to our policy, and more and more, in its main lines, it +proved to be correct. + +On the Fourth of July, 1900, came the celebration of our national +independence at Leipsic, and being asked to respond to the first +regular toast, and, having at my former visit dwelt especially +upon the Presidency, my theme now became the character and +services of the President himself, and it was a pleasure to find +that my statement was received by the German press in a way that +showed a reaction from previous injustice. + +During August and September preceding the political campaign +which resulted in Mr. McKinley's reelection I was in the United +States. It was the hottest summer in very many years, and +certainly, within my whole experience, there had been no torrid +heat like that during my visits to Washington. Nearly every one +seemed prostrated by it. Upon arriving at the Arlington Hotel, I +found two old friends unnerved by the temperature, one of them +not daring to risk a sunstroke by going to the train which would +take him to his home in Chicago Retiring to one's room at night, +even in the best-situated hotels, was like entering an oven. The +leading official persons were generally absent, and those who +remained seemed hardly capable of doing business. But there was +one exception. Going to the White House to pay my respects to the +President, I found him the one man in Washington perfectly cool, +serene, and unaffected by the burning heat or by the pressure of +public affairs. Although matters in Cuba, in Porto Rico, in the +Philippines in China, and in the political campaign then going on +must have been constantly in his mind, he had plenty of time, +seemed to take trouble about nothing, and kept me in his office +for a full hour, discussing calmly the various phases of the +situation as they were affected by matters in Germany. + +His discussion of public affairs showed the same quiet insight +and strength which I had recognized in him when we first met, in +1884, as delegates at the Chicago National Convention. One thing +during this Washington interview struck me especially: I asked +him if he was to make any addresses during the campaign; he +answered: "No; several of my friends have urged me to do so, but +I shall not. I intend to return to what seems to me the better +policy of the earlier Presidents: the American people have my +administration before them; they have ample material for judging +it, and with them I shall silently leave the whole matter." He +said this in a perfectly simple, quiet way, which showed that he +meant what he said. At the time I regretted his decision; but it +soon became clear that he was right. + +At the beginning of the year 1901 came the two-hundredth +anniversary of the founding of the Prussian kingdom. +Representatives of the other governments of the world appeared at +court in full force; and, under instructions from the President, +I tendered his congratulations and best wishes to the monarch, as +follows: + +May it please Your Majesty: I am instructed by the President to +present his hearty congratulations on this two-hundredth +anniversary of the founding of the Kingdom of Prussia, and, with +his congratulations, his best wishes for Your Majesty's health +and happiness, as well as the health and happiness of the Royal +Family, and his earnest hopes for the continued prosperity of +Your Majesty's Kingdom and Empire. + +At the same time I feel fully authorized to present similar +congratulations and good wishes from the whole people of the +United States. The ties between the two nations, instead of being +weakened by time, have constantly grown stronger. As regards +material interests they are bound together by an enormous +commerce, growing greatly every year: as regards deeper +sentiments, no man acquainted with American History forgets that +the House of Hohenzollern was one of the first European powers to +recognize American Independence; and that it was Frederick the +Great who made that first treaty,--a landmark in the history of +International Law,--the only fault of which was that the world +was not far enough advanced to appreciate it. We also remember +that Germany was the only foreign country which showed decided +sympathy for us during our Civil War--the second struggle for our +national existence. + +I also feel fully authorized, in view of Your Majesty's interest +in everything that ministers to the highest interests of +civilization, to express thanks for service which the broad +policy of Germany has rendered the United States in throwing open +to American scholars its Universities, its Technical Schools, its +conservatories of Art, its Museums, and its Libraries. Every +University and advanced school of learning in the United States +recognizes the fact that Germany has been our main foreign +teacher, as regards the higher ranges of Science, Literature, and +Art, and I may be allowed to remind Your Majesty, that while +Great Britain is justly revered by us as our mother country +Germany is beginning to hold to us a similar relation, not only +as the fatherland of a vast number of American citizens, but as +one of the main sources of the intellectual culture spread by our +universities and schools for advanced learning. + +Allow me, then, sir, to renew the best wishes of the President +and people of the United States, with their hopes that ever +blessing may attend Your Majesty, the House of Hohenzollern the +Kingdom of Prussia, and the German Empire. + + +The Emperor in his reply spoke very cordially of the President's +special telegram, which he had received that morning, and then +gave earnest utterance to his belief that the time is coming when +the three great peoples of Germanic descent will stand firmly +together in all the great questions of the world. + +The religious ceremonies in the Palace Chapel, with magnificent +music; the banquet, which included pertinent speeches from the +monarchs; and the gala representation at the opera all passed off +well: but, perhaps, that which will dwell longest in my memory +took place at the last. The performance consisted of two pieces: +one a poem glorifying Prussia, recited with music; the other a +play, in four acts, with long, musical interludes, deifying the +great Elector and the house of Hohenzollern. Though splendid in +scenic setting and brilliant in presentation it was very long, +and the ambassadors' box was crowded and hot. In the midst of it +all the French ambassador, the Marquis de Noailles, one of the +most suave courteous, and placid of men, quietly said to me, with +inimitable gravity, "What a bore this must be to those who +understand German! (Comme ca doit etre ennuyeux a ceux qui +correprennent l'Allemand!)" This sudden revelation of a lower +depth of boredom--from one who could not understand a word of the +play--was worthy of his ancestors in the days of Saint-Simon and +Dangeau. + +During the following summer two great sorrows befell me and mine, +but there is nothing to be here chronicled save that in this, as +in previous trials, I took refuge in work which seemed to be +worthy. The diplomatic service in summer is not usually exacting, +especially when one has, as I had, thoroughly loyal and judicious +embassy secretaries. As in a former bereavement I had turned to a +study of the character and services of John of Portugal and his +great successors in the age of discovery, so now I turned to Fra +Paolo Sarpi and the good fight he fought for Venice and humanity. +To my large collection of books on the subject, made mainly in +Italy, I added much from the old book-shops of Germany, and with +these revised my Venetian studies. An old dream of mine had been +to bring out a small book on Fra Paolo: now I sought, more +modestly, to prepare an essay.[6] The work was good for me. +Contemplation of that noblest of the three great Italians between +the Renaissance and the Resurrection of Italy did something to +lift me above sorrow; reading his words, uttered so calmly in all +the storm and stress of his time, soothed me. Viewed from my +work-table on the island of Rugen, the world became less dark as +I thought upon this hero of three centuries ago. + + +[6] This essay has since been published in the "Atlantic Monthly" +of January and February, 1904. + +{Included etext: Project Gutenberg} +**************************************************************** +THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY: A MAGAZINE OF Literature, Science, Art, and +Politics VOLUME XCIII {From January, 1904--Number DLV. and +February, 1904--Number DLVI.} + +BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN AND COMPANY The Riverside +Press, Cambridge 1904 + + +COPYRIGHT, 1903 AND 1904 BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY + +The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A. Electrotyped and +Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company + +FRA PAOLO SARPI. + +I. + +A thoughtful historian tells us that, between the fourteenth +century and the nineteenth, Italy produced three great men. As +the first of these, he names Machiavelli, who, he says, "taught +the world to understand political despotism and to hate it;" as +the second, he names Sarpi who "taught the world after what +manner the Holy Spirit guides the Councils of the Church;" and as +the third, Galileo, who "taught the world what dogmatic theology +is worth when it can be tested by science." + +I purpose now to present the second of these. As a MAN, he was by +far the greatest of the three and, in various respects, the most +interesting, for he not only threw a bright light into the most +important general council of the Church and revealed to +Christendom the methods which there prevailed,--in a book which +remains one of the half-dozen classic histories of the +world,--but he fought the most bitter fight for humanity against +the papacy ever known in any Latin nation, and won a victory by +which the whole world has profited ever since. Moreover, he was +one of the two foremost Italian statesmen since the Middle Ages, +the other being Cavour. + +He was born at Venice in 1552, and it may concern those who care +to note the subtle interweaving of the warp and woof of history +that the birth year of this most resourceful foe that Jesuitism +ever had was the death year of St. Francis Xavier, the noblest of +Jesuit apostles. + +It may also interest those who study the more evident evolution +of cause and effect in human affairs to note that, like most +strong men, he had a strong mother; that while his father was a +poor shopkeeper who did little and died young, his mother was +wise and serene. + +From his earliest boyhood, he showed striking gifts and +characteristics. He never forgot a face once seen, could take in +the main contents of a page at a glance, spoke little, rarely ate +meat, and, until his last years, never drank wine. + +Brought up, after the death of his father, first by his uncle, a +priest, and then by Capella, a Servite monk, in something better +than the usual priestly fashion, he became known, while yet in +his boyhood, as a theological prodigy. Disputations in his youth, +especially one at Mantua, where, after the manner of the time, he +successfully defended several hundred theses against all comers, +attracted wide attention, so that the Bishop gave him a +professorship, and the Duke, who, like some other crowned heads +of those days,--notably Henry VIII. and James I.,--liked to +dabble in theology, made him a court theologian. But the duties +of this position were uncongenial: a flippant duke, fond of +putting questions which the wisest theologian could not answer, +and laying out work which the young scholar evidently thought +futile, apparently wearied him. He returned to the convent of the +Servites at Venice, and became, after a few years' novitiate, a +friar, changing, at the same time, his name; so that, having been +baptized Peter, he now became Paul. + +His career soon seemed to reveal another and underlying cause of +his return: he evidently felt the same impulse which stirred his +contemporaries, Lord Bacon and Galileo; for he began devoting +himself to the whole range of scientific and philosophical +studies, especially to mathematics, physics, astronomy, anatomy, +and physiology. In these he became known as an authority, and +before long was recognized as such through out Europe. It is +claimed, and it is not improbable, that he anticipated Harvey in +discovering the circulation of the blood, and that he was the +forerunner of noted discoveries in magnetism. Unfortunately the +loss of the great mass of his papers by the fire which destroyed +his convent in 1769 forbids any full estimate of his work; but it +is certain that among those who sought his opinion and advice +were such great discoverers as Acquapendente, Galileo, +Torricelli, and Gilbert of Colchester, and that every one of +these referred to him as an equal, and indeed as a master. It +seems also established that it was he who first discovered the +valves of the veins, that he made known the most beautiful +function of the iris,--its contractility,--and that various +surmises of his regarding heat, light, and sound have since been +developed into scientific truths. It is altogether likely that, +had he not been drawn from scientific pursuits by his duties as a +statesman, he would have ranked among the greater investigators +and discoverers, not only of Italy, but of the world. + +He also studied political and social problems, and he arrived at +one conclusion which, though now trite, was then novel,--the +opinion that the aim of punishment should not be vengeance, but +reformation. In these days and in this country, where one of the +most serious of evils is undue lenity to crime, this opinion may +be imputed to him as a fault; but in those days, when torture was +the main method in procedure and in penalty, his declaration was +honorable both to his head and heart. + +With all his devotion to books, he found time to study men. Even +at school, he had seemed to discern those who would win control. +They discerned something in him also; so that close relations +were formed between him and such leaders as Contarini and +Morosini, with whom he afterwards stood side by side in great +emergencies. + +Important missions were entrusted to him. Five times he visited +Rome to adjust perplexing differences between the papal power and +various interests at Venice. He was rapidly advanced through most +of the higher offices in his order, and in these he gave a series +of decisions which won the respect of all entitled to form an +opinion. + +Naturally he was thought of for high place in the Church, and was +twice presented for a bishopric; but each time he was rejected at +Rome,--partly from family claims of less worthy candidates, +partly from suspicions regarding his orthodoxy. It was objected +that he did not find the whole doctrine of the Trinity in the +first verse of Genesis, that he corresponded with eminent +heretics of England and Germany, that he was not averse to +reforms, that, in short, he was not inclined to wallow in the +slime from which had crawled forth such huge incarnations of evil +as John XXIII., Julius II., Sixtus IV., and Alexander VI. + +His orthodox detractors have been wont to represent him as +seeking vengeance for his non-promotion; but his after career +showed amply that personal grievances had little effect upon him. +It is indeed not unlikely that when he saw bishoprics for which +he knew himself well fitted given as sops to poor creatures +utterly unfit in morals or intellect, he may have had doubts +regarding the part taken by the Almighty in selecting them; but +he was reticent, and kept on with his work. In his cell at Santa +Fosca, he quietly and steadily devoted himself to his cherished +studies; but he continued to study more than books or inanimate +nature. He was neither a bookworm nor a pedant. On his various +missions he met and discoursed with churchmen and statesmen +concerned in the greatest transactions of his time, notably at +Mantua with Oliva, secretary of one of the greatest ecclesiastics +at the Council of Trent; at Milan with Cardinal Borromeo, by far +the noblest of all who sat in that assemblage during its eighteen +years; in Rome and elsewhere with Arnauld Ferrier, who had been +French Ambassador at the Council, Cardinal Severina, head of the +Inquisition, Castagna, afterward Pope Urban VII., and Cardinal +Bellarmine, afterward Sarpi's strongest and noblest opponent. + +Nor was this all. He was not content with books or conversations; +steadily he went on collecting, collating, and testing original +documents bearing upon the great events of his time. The result +of all this the world was to see later. + +He had arrived at middle life and won wide recognition as a +scholar, scientific investigator, and jurist, when there came the +supreme moment of a struggle which had involved Europe for +centuries,--a struggle interesting not only the Italy and Europe +of those days, but universal humanity for all time. + +During the period following the fall of the Roman Empire of the +West there had been evolved the temporal power of the Roman +Bishop. It had many vicissitudes. Sometimes, as in the days of +St. Leo and St. Gregory, it based its claims upon noble +assertions of right and justice, and sometimes, as in the hands +of pontiffs like Innocent VIII. and Paul V., it sought to force +its way by fanaticism. Sometimes it strengthened its authority by +real services to humanity, and sometimes by such monstrous frauds +as the Forged Decretals. Sometimes, as under Popes like Gregory +VII. and Innocent III., it laid claim to the mastership of the +world, and sometimes, as with the majority of the pontiffs during +the two centuries before the Reformation, it became mainly the +appanage of a party or faction or family. + +Throughout all this history, there appeared in the Church two +great currents of efficient thought. On one side had been +developed a theocratic theory, giving the papacy a power supreme +in temporal as well as in spiritual matters throughout the world. +Leaders in this during the Middle Ages were St. Thomas Aquinas +and the Dominicans; leaders in Sarpi's days were the Jesuits, +represented especially in the treatises of Bellarmine at Rome and +in the speeches of Laynez at the Council of Trent.[1] + + +[1] This has been admirably shown by N. R. F. Brown in his +Taylorian Lecture, pages 229-234, in volume for 1889-99. + + +But another theory, hostile to the despotism of the Church over +the State, had been developed through the Middle Ages and the +Renaissance;--it had been strengthened mainly by the utterances +of such men as Dante, aegidio Colonna, John of Paris, Ockham, +Marsilio of Padua, and Laurentius Valla. Sarpi ranged himself +with the latter of these forces. Though deeply religious, he +recognized the God-given right of earthly governments to +discharge their duties independent of church control. + +Among the many centres of this struggle was Venice. She was +splendidly religious--as religion was then understood. She was +made so by her whole environment. From the beginning she had been +a seafaring power, and seafaring men, from their constant wrestle +with dangers ill understood, are prone to seek and find +supernatural forces. Nor was this all. Later, when she had become +rich, powerful, luxurious, licentious, and refractory to the +priesthood, her most powerful citizens felt a need of atoning for +their many sins by splendid religious foundations. So her people +came to live in an atmosphere of religious observance, and the +bloom and fruitage of their religious hopes and fears are seen in +the whole history of Venetian art,--from the rude sculptures of +Torcello and the naive mosaics of San Marco to the glowing +altarpieces and ceilings of John Bellini, Titian, and Tintoretto +and the illuminations of the Grimani Psalter. No class in Venice +rose above this environment. Doges and Senators were as +susceptible to it as were the humblest fishermen on the Lido. In +every one of those glorious frescoes in the corridors and halls +of the Ducal Palace which commemorate the victories of the +Republic, the triumphant Doge or Admiral or General is seen on +his knees making acknowledgment of the divine assistance. On +every Venetian sequin, from the days when Venice was a power +throughout the earth to that fatal year when the young Bonaparte +tossed the Republic over to the House of Austria, the Doge, +crowned and robed, kneels humbly before the Saviour, the Virgin, +or St. Mark. In that vast Hall of the Five Hundred, the most +sumptuous room in the world, there is spread above the heads of +the Doge and Senators and Councilors, as an incentive to the +discharge of their duties on earth, a representation of the +blessed in Heaven. + +From highest to lowest, the Venetians lived, moved, and had their +being in this religious environment, and, had their Republic been +loosely governed, its external policy would have been largely +swayed by this all-pervading religious feeling, and would have +become the plaything of the Roman Court. But a democracy has +never been maintained save by the delegation of great powers to +its chosen leaders. It was the remark of one of the foremost +American Democrats of the nineteenth century, a man who received +the highest honors which his party could bestow, that the +Constitution of the United States was made, not to promote +Democracy, but to check it. This statement is true, and it is as +true of the Venetian Constitution as of the American.[1] + + +[1] See Horatio Seymour's noted article in the North American +Review. + + +But while both the republics recognized the necessity of curbing +Democracy, the difference between the means employed was +world-wide. The founders of the American Republic gave vast +powers and responsibilities to a president and unheard-of +authority to a supreme court; in the Venetian Republic the Doge +was gradually stripped of power, but there was evolved the +mysterious and unlimited authority of the Senate and Council of +Ten. + +In these sat the foremost Venetians, thoroughly imbued with the +religious spirit of their time; but, religious as they were, they +were men of the world, trained in the polities of all Europe and +especially of Italy. + +In a striking passage, Guizot has shown how the Crusaders who +went to the Orient by way of Italy and saw the papacy near at +hand came back skeptics. This same influence shaped the statesmen +of Venice. The Venetian Ambassadors were the foremost in Europe. +Their Relations are still studied as the clearest, shrewdest, and +wisest statements regarding the men and events in Europe at their +time. All were noted for skill; but the most skillful were kept +on duty at Rome. There was the source of danger. The Doges, +Senators, and controlling Councilors had, as a rule, served in +these embassies, and they had formed lucid judgments as to +Italian courts in general and as to the Roman Court in +particular. No men had known the Popes and the Curia more +thoroughly. They had seen Innocent VIII. buy the papacy for +money. They had been at the Vatican when Alexander VI. had won +renown as a secret murderer. They had seen, close at hand, the +merciless cruelty of Julius II. They had carefully noted the +crimes of Sixtus IV., which culminated in the assassination of +Julian de' Medici beneath the dome of Florence at the moment the +Host was uplifted. They had sat near Leo X. while he enjoyed the +obscenities of the Calandria and the Mandragora,--plays which, in +the most corrupt of modern cities, would, in our day, be stopped +by the police. No wonder that, in one of their dispatches, they +speak of Rome as "the cloaca of the world."[1] + + +[1] For Sixtus IV. and his career, with the tragedy in the +Cathedral of Florence see Villari's Life of Machiavelli, English +Edition, vol. ii. pp. 341, 342. For the passages in the +dispatches referred to, vide ibid. vol. i. p. 198. + + +Naturally, then, while their religion showed itself in wonderful +monuments of every sort, their practical sense was shown by a +steady opposition to papal encroachments. + +Of this combination of zeal for religion with hostility to +ecclesiasticism we have striking examples throughout the history +of the Republic. While, in every other European state, cardinals, +bishops, priests, and monks were given leading parts in civil +administration and, in some states, a monopoly of civil honors, +the Republic of Venice not only excluded all ecclesiastics from +such posts, but, in cases which touched church interests, she +excluded even the relatives of ecclesiastics. When church +authority decreed that commerce should not be maintained with +infidels and heretics, the Venetian merchants continued to deal +with Turks, Pagans, Germans, Englishmen, and Dutchmen as before. +When the Church decreed that the taking of interest for money was +sin, and great theologians published in Venice some of their +mightiest treatises demonstrating this view from Holy Scripture +and the Fathers, the Venetians continued borrowing and lending +money on usance. When efforts were made to enforce that +tremendous instrument for the consolidation of papal power, the +bull In Coena Domini, Venice evaded and even defied it. When the +Church frowned upon anatomical dissections, the Venetians allowed +Andreas Vesalius to make such dissections at their University of +Padua. When Sixtus V., the strongest of all the Popes, had +brought all his powers, temporal and spiritual, to bear against +Henry IV. of France as an excommunicated heretic, and seemed +ready to hurl the thunderbolts of the Church against any power +which should recognize him, the Venetian Republic not only +recognized him, but treated his Ambassador with especial +courtesy. When the other Catholic powers, save France, yielded to +papal mandates and sent no representatives to the coronation of +James I. of England, Venice was there represented. When Pope +after Pope issued endless diatribes against the horrors of +toleration, the Venetians steadily tolerated in their several +sorts of worship Jews and Greeks, Mohammedans and Armenians, with +Protestants of every sort who came to them on business. When the +Roman Index forbade the publication of most important works of +leading authors, Venice demanded and obtained for her printers +rights which were elsewhere denied. + +As to the religious restrictions which touched trade, the +Venetians in the public councils, and indeed the people at large, +had come to know perfectly what the papal theory meant,--with +some of its promoters, fanaticism, but with the controlling power +at Rome, revenue, revenue to be derived from retailing +dispensations to infringe the holy rules. + +This peculiar antithesis--nowhere more striking than at Venice, +on the one side, religious fears and hopes; on the other, keen +insight into the ways of ecclesiasticism--led to peculiar +compromises. The bankers who had taken interest upon money, the +merchants who had traded with Moslems and heretics, in their last +hours frequently thought it best to perfect their title to +salvation by turning over large estates to the Church. Under the +sway of this feeling, and especially of the terrors infused by +priests at deathbeds, mortmain had become in Venice, as in many +other parts of the world, one of the most serious of evils. Thus +it was that the clergy came to possess between one fourth and one +third of the whole territory of the Republic, and in its Bergamo +district more than one half; and all this was exempt from +taxation. Hence it was that the Venetian Senate found it +necessary to devise a legal check which should make such +absorption of estates by the Church more and more difficult. + +There was a second cause of trouble. In that religious atmosphere +of Venice, monastic orders of every sort grew luxuriantly, not +only absorbing more and more land to be held by the dead hand, +thus escaping the public burdens, but ever absorbing more and +more men and women, and thus depriving the state of any healthy +and normal service from them. Here, too, the Senate thought it +best to interpose a check: it insisted that all new structures +for religious orders must be authorized by the State. + +Yet another question flamed forth. Of the monks of every sort +swarming through the city, many were luxurious and some were +criminal. On these last, the Venetian Senate determined to lay +its hands, and in the first years of the seventeenth century all +these questions, and various other matters distasteful to the +Vatican, culminated in the seizure and imprisonment of two +ecclesiastics charged with various high crimes,--among these rape +and murder. + +There had just come to the papal throne Camillo Borghese, Paul +V.,--strong, bold, determined, with the highest possible theory +of his duties and of his position. In view of his duty toward +himself, he lavished the treasures of the faithful upon his +family, until it became the richest which had yet risen in Rome; +in view of his duty toward the Church, he built superbly, and an +evidence of the spirit in which he wrought is his name, in +enormous letters, still spread across the facade of St. Peter's. +As to his position, he accepted fully the theories and practices +of his boldest predecessors, and in this he had good warrant; for +St. Thomas Aquinas and Bellarmine had furnished him with +convincing arguments that he was divinely authorized to rule the +civil powers of Italy and of the world.[1] + + +[1] For details of these cases of the two monks, see Pascolato. +Fra Paolo Sarpi, Milano, 1893, pp. 126-128. For the Borghese +avarice, see Ranke's Popes, vol. iii. pp. 9-20. For the +development of Pope Paul's theory of government, see Ranke, vol. +ii. p. 345, and note in which Bellarmine's doctrine is cited +textually; also Bellarmine's Selbstbiographie, herausgegeben von +Dollinger und Rensch Bonn, 1887. pp. 181, et seq. + + +Moreover there was, in his pride, something akin to fanaticism. +He had been elected by one of those sudden movements, as well +known in American caucuses as in papal conclaves, when, after a +deadlock, all the old candidates are thrown over, and the choice +suddenly falls on a new man. The cynical observer may point to +this as showing that the laws governing elections, under such +circumstances, are the same, whether in party caucuses or in +church councils; but Paul, in this case, saw the direct +intervention of the Almighty, and his disposition to magnify his +office was vastly increased thereby. He was especially strenuous, +and one of his earliest public acts was to send to the gallows a +poor author, who, in an unpublished work, had spoken severely +regarding one of Paul's predecessors. + +The Venetian laws checking mortmain, taxing church property, and +requiring the sanction of the Republic before the erection of new +churches and monasteries greatly angered him; but the crowning +vexation was the seizure of the two clerics. This aroused him +fully. He at once sent orders that they be delivered up to him, +that apology be made for the past and guarantees given for the +future, and notice was served that, in case the Republic did not +speedily obey these orders, the Pope would excommunicate its +leaders and lay an interdict upon its people. It was indeed a +serious contingency. For many years the new Pope had been known +as a hard, pedantic ecclesiastical lawyer, and now that he had +arrived at the supreme power, he had evidently determined to +enforce the high mediaeval supremacy of the Church over the +State. Everything betokened his success. In France he had broken +down all opposition to the decrees of the Council of Trent. In +Naples, when a magistrate had refused to disobey the civil law at +the bidding of priests, and the viceroy had supported the +magistrate, Pope Paul had forced the viceroy and magistrate to +comply with his will by threats of excommunication. In every part +of Italy,--in Malta, in Savoy, in Parma, in Lucca, in Genoa,--and +finally even in Spain, he had pettifogged, bullied, threatened, +until his opponents had given way. Everywhere he was triumphant; +and while he was in the mood which such a succession of triumphs +would give he turned toward Venice.[1] + + +[1] For letters showing the craven submission of Philip III. of +Spain at this time, see Cornet, Paolo V. e la Republica Veneta, +Vienna, 1859, p. 285. + + +There was little indeed to encourage the Venetians to resist; +for, while the interests of other European powers were largely +the same as theirs, current political intrigues seemed likely to +bring Spain and even France into a league with the Vatican. + +To a people so devoted to commerce, yet so religious, the threat +of an interdict was serious indeed. All church services were to +cease; the people at large, no matter how faithful, were to be as +brute beasts,--not to be legally married,--not to be consoled by +the sacraments,--not to be shriven, and virtually not to be +buried; other Christian peoples were to be forbidden all dealings +with them, under pain of excommunication; their commerce was to +be delivered over to the tender mercies of any and every other +nation; their merchant ships to be as corsairs; their cargoes, +the legitimate prey of all Christendom; and their people, on sea +and land, to be held as enemies of the human race. To this was +added, throughout the whole mass of the people, a vague sense of +awful penalties awaiting them in the next world. Despite all +this, the Republic persisted in asserting its right. + +Just at this moment came a diplomatic passage between Pope and +Senate like a farce before a tragedy, and it has historical +significance, as showing what resourceful old heads were at the +service of either side. The Doge Grimani having died, the Vatican +thought to score a point by promptly sending notice through its +Nuncio to Venice that no new election of a Doge could take place +if forbidden by the Pope, and that, until the Senate had become +obedient to the papacy, no such election would be sanctioned. But +the Senate, having through its own Ambassador received a useful +hint, was quite equal to the occasion. It at once declined to +receive this or any dispatch from the Pope on the plea, made with +redundant courtesy and cordiality, that, there being no Doge, +there was no person in Venice great enough to open it. They next +as politely declined to admit the papal Nuncio on the ground that +there was nobody worthy to receive him. Then they proceeded to +elect a Doge who could receive both Nuncio and message,--a sturdy +opponent of the Vatican pretensions, Leonardo Donato. + +The Senate now gave itself entirely to considering ways and means +of warding off the threatened catastrophe. Its first step was to +consult Sarpi. His answer was prompt and pithy. He advised two +things: first, to prevent, at all hazards, any publication of the +papal bulls in Venice or any obedience to them; secondly, to hold +in readiness for use at any moment an appeal to a future Council +of the Church. + +Of these two methods, the first would naturally seem by far the +more difficult. So it was not in reality. In the letter which +Sarpi presented to the Doge, he devoted less than four lines to +the first and more than fourteen pages to the second. As to the +first remedy, severe as it was and bristling with difficulties, +it was, as he claimed, a simple, natural, straightforward use of +police power. As to the second, the appeal to a future Council +was to the Vatican as a red flag to a bull. The very use of it +involved excommunication. To harden and strengthen the Doge and +Senate in order that they might consider it as an ultimate +possibility, Sarpi was obliged to show from the Scriptures, the +Fathers, the Councils, the early Popes, that the appeal to a +Council was a matter of right. With wonderful breadth of +knowledge and clearness of statement he made his points and +answered objections. To this day, his letter remains a +masterpiece.[1] + + +[1] For Sarpi's advice to the Doge, see Bianchi Giovini, vol. i. +pp. 216, et seq. The document is given fully in the Lettere di F. +P. S., Firenze, 1863, vol. i. pp. 17, et seq.; also in Machi, +Storia del Consiglio dei Dieci, cap. xxiv., where the bull of +excommunication is also given. + + +The Republic utterly refused to yield, and now, in 1606, Pope +Paul launched his excommunication and interdict. In meeting them, +the Senate took the course laid down by Sarpi. The papal Nuncio +was notified that the Senate would receive no paper from the +Pope; all ecclesiasties, from the Patriarch down to the lowest +monk, were forbidden, under the penalties of high treason, to +make public or even to receive any paper whatever from the +Vatican; additional guards were placed at the city gates, with +orders to search every wandering friar or other suspicious person +who might, by any possibility, bring in a forbidden missive; a +special patrol was kept, night and day, to prevent any posting of +the forbidden notices on walls or houses; any person receiving or +finding one was to take it immediately to the authorities, under +the severest penalties, and any person found concealing such +documents was to be punished by death. + +At first some of the clergy were refractory. The head of the +whole church establishment of Venice, the Patriarch himself, gave +signs of resistance; but the Senate at once silenced him. Sundry +other bishops and high ecclesiastics made a show of opposition; +and they were placed in confinement. One of them seeming +reluctant to conduct the usual church service, the Senate sent an +executioner to erect a gibbet before his door. Another, having +asked that he be allowed to await some intimation from the Holy +Spirit, received answer that the Senate had already received +directions from the Holy Spirit to hang any person resisting +their decree. The three religious orders which had showed most +opposition--Jesuits, Theatins, and Capuchins--were in a +semi-polite manner virtually expelled from the Republic.[2] + + +[2] For interesting details regarding the departure of the +Jesuits, see Cornet, Paolo V. e la Republica Veneta, pp. 277-279. + + +Not the least curious among the results of this state of things +was the war of pamphlets. From Rome, Bologna, and other centres +of thought, even from Paris and Frankfort, polemic tractates +rained upon the Republic. The vast majority of their authors were +on the side of the Vatican, and of this majority the leaders were +the two cardinals so eminent in learning and logic, Bellarmine +and Baronius; but, single-handed, Sarpi was, by general consent, +a match for the whole opposing force.[3] + + +[3] In the library of Cornell University are no less than nine +quartos filled with selected examples of these polemics on both +sides. + + +Of all the weapons then used, the most effective throughout +Europe was the solemn protest drawn by Sarpi and issued by the +Doge. It was addressed nominally to the Venetian ecclesiastics, +but really to Christendom, and both as to matter and manner it +was Father Paul at his best. It was weighty, lucid, pungent, and +deeply in earnest,--in every part asserting fidelity to the +Church and loyalty to the papacy, but setting completely at +naught the main claim of Pope Paul: the Doge solemnly declaring +himself "a prince who, in temporal matters, recognizes no +superior save the Divine Majesty." + +The victory of the friar soon began to be recognized far and +near. Men called him by the name afterward so generally given +him,--the "terribile frate." The Vatican seemed paralyzed. None +of its measures availed, and it was hurt, rather than helped, by +its efforts to pester and annoy Venice at various capitals. At +Rome, it burned Father Paul's books and declared him +excommunicated; it even sought to punish his printer by putting +into the Index not only all works that he had ever printed, but +all that he might ever print. At Vienna, the papal Nuncio thought +to score a point by declaring that he would not attend a certain +religious function in case the Venetian Ambassador should appear; +whereupon the Venetian announced that he had taken physic and +regretted that he could not be present,--whereat all Europe +laughed. + +Judicious friends in various European cabinets now urged both +parties to recede or to compromise. France and Spain both +proffered their good offices. The offer of France was finally +accepted, and the French Ambassador was kept running between the +Ducal Palace and the Vatican until people began laughing at him +also. The emissaries of His Holiness begged hard that, at least, +appearances might be saved; that the Republic would undo some of +its measures before the interdict was removed, or at least would +seem to do so, and especially that it would withdraw its refusals +before the Pope withdrew his penalties. All in vain. The +Venetians insisted that they had committed no crime and had +nothing to retract. The Vatican then urged that the Senate should +consent to receive absolution for its resistance to the Pope's +authority. This the Senate steadily refused; it insisted, "Let +His Holiness put things as before, and we will put things as +before; as to his absolution, we do not need it or want it; to +receive it would be to acknowledge that we have been in the +wrong." Even the last poor sop of all was refused: the Senate +would have no great "function" to celebrate the termination of +the interdict; they would not even go to the mass which Cardinal +Joyeuse celebrated on that occasion. The only appearance of +concession which the Republic made was to give up the two +ecclesiastics to the French Ambassador as a matter of courtesy to +the French king; and when this was done, the Ambassador delivered +them to the Pope; but Venice especially reserved all the rights +she had exercised. All the essential demands of the papacy were +refused, and thus was forever ended the papal power of laying an +interdict upon a city or a people. From that incubus, +Christendom, thanks to Father Paul and to Venice, was at last and +forever free. + +The Vatican did, indeed, try hard to keep its old claim in being. +A few years after its defeat by Fra Paolo, it endeavored to +reassert in Spain the same authority which had been so humbly +acknowledged there a few years before. It was doubtless felt that +this most pious of all countries, which had previously been so +docile, and which had stood steadily by the Vatican against +Venice in the recent struggle, would again set an example of +submission. Never was there a greater mistake: the Vatican +received from Spanish piety a humiliating refusal. + +Next it tried the old weapons against the little government at +Turin. For many generations the House of Savoy had been dutifully +submissive to religious control; nowhere out of Spain had heresy +been treated more cruelly; yet here, too, the Vatican claim was +spurned. But the final humiliation took place some years later +under Urban VIII.,--the same pontiff who wrecked papal +infallibility on Galileo's telescope. He tried to enforce his +will on the state of Lucca, which, in the days of Pope Paul, had +submitted to the Vatican decrees abjectly; but that little +republic now seized the weapons which Sarpi had devised, and +drove the papal forces out of the field: the papal +excommunication was, even by this petty government, annulled in +Venetian fashion and even less respectfully.[1] + + +[1] The proofs--and from Catholic sources--that it was the Pope +who condemned Galileo's doctrine of the earth's movement about +the sun, and not merely the Congregation of the Index, the +present writer has given in his History of the Warfare of Science +with Theology, vol. i. chap. iii. + + +Thus the world learned how weak the Vatican hold had become. Even +Pope Paul learned it, and, from being the most strenuous of +modern pontiffs, he became one of the most moderate in everything +save in the enrichment of his family. Thus ended the last serious +effort to coerce a people by an interdict, and so, one might +suppose, would end the work of Father Paul. Not so. There was to +come a second chapter in his biography, more instructive, +perhaps, than the first,--a chapter which has lasted until our +own day. A. D. White. + + +{February, 1904, number DLVI.} II. + + +The Venetian Republic showed itself duly grateful to Sarpi. The +Senate offered him splendid presents and entitled him "Theologian +of Venice." The presents he refused, but the title with its duty, +which was mainly to guard the Republic against the encroachments +of the Vatican, he accepted, and his life in the monastery of +Santa Fosca went on quietly, simply, laboriously, as before. The +hatred now felt for him at Rome was unbounded. It corresponded to +the gratitude at Venice. Every one saw his danger, and he well +knew it. Potentates were then wont to send assassins on long +errands, and the arm of the Vatican was especially far-reaching +and merciless. It was the period when Pius V, the Pope whom the +Church afterwards proclaimed a saint, commissioned an assassin to +murder Queen Elizabeth.[1] + + +[1] This statement formerly led to violent denials by +ultramontane champions; but in 1870 it was made by Lord Acton, a +Roman Catholic, one of the most learned of modern historians, and +when it was angrily denied, he quietly cited the official life of +Pope Pius in the Acta Sanctorum, published by the highest church +authority. This was final; denial ceased, and the statement is no +longer questioned. For other proofs in the line of Lord Acton's +citation, see Bellarmine's Selbstbiographie, cited in a previous +article, pp. 306, et seq. + + +But there was in Father Paul a trust in Providence akin to +fatalism. Again and again he was warned, and among those who are +said to have advised him to be on his guard against papal +assassins was no less a personage than his greatest controversial +enemy,--Cardinal Bellarmine. It was believed by Sarpi's friends +that Bellarmine's Scotch ideas of duty to humanity prevailed over +his Roman ideas of fealty to the Vatican, and we may rejoice in +the hope that his nobler qualities did really assert themselves +against the casuistry of his brother prelates which sanctioned +assassination. + +These warnings were soon seen to be well founded. On a pleasant +evening in October, 1607, a carefully laid trap was sprung. +Returning from his day's work at the Ducal Palace, Father Paul, +just as he had crossed the little bridge of Santa Fosca before +reaching his convent, was met by five assassins. Two of his usual +attendants had been drawn off by the outburst of a fire in the +neighborhood; the other two were old men who proved useless. The +place was well chosen. The descent from the bridge was so narrow +that all three were obliged to march in single file, and just at +this point these ruffians from Rome sprang upon him in the dusk, +separated him from his companions, and gave him, in a moment, +fifteen dagger thrusts, two in his throat and one--a fearful gash +--on the side of his head, and then, convinced that they had +killed him, escaped to their boats, only a few paces distant. + +The victim lingered long in the hospital, but his sound +constitution and abstemious habits stood him in good stead. Very +important among the qualities which restored him to health were +his optimism and cheerfulness. An early manifestation of the +first of these was seen when, on regaining consciousness, he +called for the stiletto which had been drawn from the main wound +and, running his fingers along the blade, said cheerily to his +friends, "It is not filed." What this meant, any one knows who +has seen in various European collections the daggers dating from +the "ages of faith" cunningly filed or grooved to hold poison.[1] + + +[1] There is a remarkable example of a beautiful dagger, grooved +to contain poison, in the imperial collection of arms at Vienna. + + +As an example of the second of these qualities, we may take his +well-known reply when, to the surgeon dressing the wound made by +the "style" or stiletto,--who spoke of its "extravagance," +rudeness, and yet ineffectiveness,--Fra Paolo quietly answered +that in these characteristics could be recognized the style of +the Roman Curia. + +Meantime the assassins had found their way back to Rome, and were +welcomed with open arms; but it is some comfort to know that +later, when such conscience as there was throughout Italy and +Europe showed intense disgust at the proceeding, the Roman Court +treated them coldly and even severely. + +The Republic continued in every way to show Sarpi its sympathy +and gratitude. It made him many splendid offer, which he refused; +but two gifts he accepted. One was full permission to explore the +Venetian archives, and the other was a little doorway, cut +through the garden wall of his monastery, enabling him to reach +his gondola without going through the narrow and tortuous path he +had formerly taken on his daily journey to the public offices. +This humble portal still remains. Beneath few triumphal arches +has there ever passed as great or as noble a conqueror.[2] + + +[2] The present writer has examined with care the spot where the +attack was made, and found that never was a scoundrelly plot +better conceived or more fiendishly executed. He also visited +what was remaining of the convent in April, 1902, and found the +little door as serviceable as when it was made. + + +Efforts were also made to cajole him,--to induce him to visit +Rome, with fine promises of recognition and honor, and with +solemn assurances that no harm should come to him; but he was too +wise to yield. Only a few years previously he had seen Giordano +Bruno lured to Rome and burned alive on the Campo dei Fiori. He +had seen his friend and correspondent, Fra Fulgentio Manfredi, +yield to similar allurements and accept a safe conduct to Rome, +which, though it solemnly guaranteed him against harm, proved as +worthless as that of John Huss at the Council of Constance; the +Inquisition torturing him to death on the spot where, six years +earlier, it had burned Bruno. He had seen his friend, the +Archdeacon Ribetti, drawn within the clutch of the Vatican, only +to die of "a most painful colic" immediately after dining with a +confidential chamberlain of the Pope, and, had he lived a few +months longer, he would have seen his friend and confidant, +Antonio de Dominis, Archbishop of Spalato, to whom he had +entrusted a copy of his most important work, enticed to Rome and +put to death by the Inquisition. Though the Vatican exercised a +strong fascination over its enemies, against Father Paul it was +powerless; he never yielded to it, but kept the even tenor of his +way.[3] + + +[3] A copy of Manfredi's "safe conduct" is given by Castellani, +Lettere Inedite di F. P. S., p. 12, note. Nothing could be more +explicit. + + +In the dispatches which now passed, comedy was mingled with +tragedy. Very unctuous was the expression by His Holiness of his +apprehensions regarding "dangers to the salvation" and of his +"fears for the souls" of the Venetian Senators, if they persisted +in asserting their own control of their own state. Hardly less +touching were the fears expressed by the good Oratorian, Cardinal +Baronius, that "a judgment might be brought upon the Republic" if +it declined to let the Vatican have its way. But these +expressions were not likely to prevail with men who had dealt +with Machiavelli. + +Uncompromising as ever, Father Paul continued to write letters +and publish treatises which clenched more and more firmly into +the mind of Venice and of Europe the political doctrine of which +he was the apostle,--the doctrine that the State is rightfully +independent of the Church,--and throughout the Christian world he +was recognized as victor. + +Nothing could exceed the bitterness of the attacks upon him, +though some of them, at this day, provoke a smile. While efforts +were made to discredit him among scholars by spurious writings or +by interpolations in genuine writings, efforts equally ingenious +were made to arouse popular hostility. One of these was a +painting which represented him writhing amid the flames of hell, +with a legend stating, as a reason for his punishment, that he +had opposed the Holy Father. + +Now it was indeed, in the midst of ferocious attacks upon his +reputation and cunning attempts upon his life, that he entered a +new and most effective period of activity. For years, as the +adviser of Venice, he had studied, both as a historian and as a +statesman, the greatest questions which concerned his country, +and especially those which related to the persistent efforts of +the Vatican to encroach upon Venetian self-government. The +results of these studies he had embodied in reports which had +shaped the course of the Republic; and now, his learning and +powers of thought being brought to bear upon the policy of Europe +in general, as affected by similar papal encroachments, he began +publishing a series of treatises, which at once attracted general +attention.[1] + + +[1] For the extent to which these attacks were carried, see the +large number in the Sarpi collection at the Cornell University +Library, especially volume ix. + + +First of these, in 1608, came his work on the Interdict. Clearly +and concisely it revealed the nature of the recent struggle, the +baselessness of the Vatican claims, and the solidarity of +interest between Venice and all other European states regarding +the question therein settled. This work of his as a historian +clenched his work as a statesman; from that day forward no nation +has even been seriously threatened with an interdict. + +Subsidiary works followed rapidly from his pen, strengthening the +civil power against the clerical; but in 1610 came a treatise, +which marked an epoch,--his History of Ecclesiastical +Benefices.[2] In this he dealt with a problem which had become +very serious, not only in Venice, but in every European state, +showed the process by which vast treasures had been taken from +the control of the civil power and heaped up for ecclesiastical +pomp and intrigue, pointed out special wrongs done by the system +to the Church as well as the State, and advocated a reform which +should restore this wealth to better uses. His arguments spread +widely and sank deep, not only in Italy, but throughout Europe, +and the nineteenth century has seen them applied effectively in +every European country within the Roman obedience. + + +[2] The old English translation of this book, published in 1736 +at Westminster, is by no means a very rare book, and it affords +the general reader perhaps the most accessible means of +understanding Fra Paolo's simplicity, thoroughness, and vigor. + + +In 1611 he published his work on the Inquisition at Venice, +presenting historical arguments against the uses which +ecclesiasticism, under papal guidance, had made of that tribunal. +These arguments spread far, and developed throughout Europe those +views of the Inquisition which finally led to its destruction. +Minor treatises followed, dealing with state questions arising +between the Vatican and Venice, each treatise--thoroughly well +reasoned and convincing--having a strong effect on the discussion +of similar public questions in every other European nation. + +In 1613 came two books of a high order, each marking an epoch. +The first of these was upon the Right of Sanctuary, and in it +Sarpi led the way, which all modern states have followed, out of +the old, vicious system of sanctioning crime by sheltering +criminals. The cogency of his argument and the value of its +application gained for him an especial tribute by the best +authority on such questions whom Europe had seen,--Hugo Grotius. + +Closely connected with this work was that upon the Immunity of +the Clergy. Both this and the previous work were in the same +order of ideas, and the second fastened into the European mind +the reasons why no state can depend upon the Church for the +punishment of clerical criminals. His argument was a triumphant +vindication of Venice in her struggle with Paul V on this point; +but it was more than that. It became the practical guide of all +modern states. Its arguments dissipated the last efforts +throughout Europe to make a distinction, in criminal matters, +between the priestly caste and the world in general. + +Among lesser treatises which followed is one which has done much +to shape modern policy regarding public instruction. This was his +book upon the Education given by the Jesuits. One idea which it +enforced sank deep into the minds of all thoughtful men,--his +statement that Jesuit maxims develop "sons disobedient to their +parents, citizens unfaithful to their country, and subjects +undutiful to their sovereign." Jesuit education has indeed been +maintained, and evidences of it may be seen in various European +countries. The traveler in Italy constantly sees in the larger +Italian towns long lines of young men and boys, sallow, thin, and +listless, walking two and two, with priests at each end of the +coffle. These are students taking their exercise, and an American +or Englishman marvels as he remembers the playing fields of his +own country. Youth are thus brought up as milksops, to be +graduated as scape-graces. The strong men who control public +affairs, who lead men and originate measures in the open, are not +bred in Jesuit forcing-houses. Even the Jesuits themselves have +acknowledged this, and perhaps the strongest of all arguments +supplementary to those given by Father Paul were uttered by Padre +Curci, eminent in his day as a Jesuit gladiator, but who realized +finally the impossibility of accomplishing great things with men +moulded by Jesuit methods. + +All these works took strong hold upon European thought. Leading +men in all parts of Europe recognized Sarpi as both a great +statesman and a great historian. Among his English friends were +such men as Lord Bacon and Sir Henry Wotton; and his praises have +been sounded by Grotius, by Gibbon, by Hallam, and by Macaulay. +Strong, lucid, these works of Father Paul have always been +especially attractive to those who rejoice in the leadership of a +master mind. + +But in 1619 came the most important of all,--a service to +humanity hardly less striking than that which he had rendered in +his battle against the Interdict,--his history of the Council of +Trent. + +His close relations to so many of the foremost men of his day and +his long study in public archives and private libraries bore +fruit in this work, which takes rank among the few great, +enduring historical treatises of the world. Throughout, it is +vigorous and witty, but at the same time profound; everywhere it +bears evidences of truthfulness and is pervaded by sobriety of +judgment. Its pictures of the efforts or threats by +representatives of various great powers to break away from the +papacy and establish national churches; its presentation of the +arguments of anti-papal orators on one side and of Laynez and his +satellites on the other; its display of acts and revelations of +pretexts; its penetration into the whole network of intrigue, and +its thorough discussion of underlying principles,--all are +masterly. + +Though the name of the author was concealed in an anagram, the +book was felt, by the Vatican party, to be a blow which only one +man could have dealt, and the worst blow which the party had +received since its author had defeated the Interdict at Venice. +Efforts were made, by outcries and calumnies, to discredit the +work, and they have been continued from that day to this, but in +vain. That there must be some gaps and many imperfections in it +is certain; but its general character is beyond the reach of +ultramontane weapons. The blow was felt to be so heavy that the +Jesuit Pallavicini was empowered to write a history of the +Council to counterbalance it, and his work was well done; but +Ranke, the most unprejudiced of judges, comparing the two, +assigns the palm to Father Paul. His book was immediately spread +throughout Europe; but of all the translations, perhaps the most +noteworthy was the English. Sarpi had entrusted a copy of the +original to his friend, Antonio de Dominis, Archbishop of +Spalato, and he, having taken refuge in England, had it +translated there, the authorship being ascribed on the title-page +to "Pietro Soave Polano." This English translation was, in vigor +and pith, worthy of the original. In it can be discerned, as +clearly as in the original, that atmosphere of intrigue and +brutal assertion of power by which the Roman Curia, after packing +the Council with petty Italian bishops, bade defiance to the +Catholic world. This translation, more than all else, has enabled +the English-speaking peoples to understand what was meant by the +Italian historian when he said that Father Paul "taught the world +how the Holy Spirit guides the Great Councils of the Church." It +remains cogent down to this day; after reading it one feels that +such guidance might equally be claimed for Tammany Hall. + +Although Father Paul never acknowledged the authorship of the +history of the Council of Trent, and although his original copy, +prepared for the press, with his latest corrections, still +remains buried in the archives at Venice, the whole world knew +that he alone could have written it. + +But during all these years, while elaborating opinions on the +weightiest matters of state for the Venetian Senate, and sending +out this series of books which so powerfully influenced the +attitude of his own and after generations toward the Vatican, he +was working with great effect in yet another field. With the +possible exception of Voltaire, he was the most vigorous and +influential letter-writer during the three hundred years which +separated Erasmus from Thomas Jefferson. Voltaire certainly +spread his work over a larger field, lighted it with more wit, +and gained by it more brilliant victories; but as regards +accurate historical knowledge, close acquaintance with statesmen, +familiarity with the best and worst which statesmen could do, +sober judgment and cogent argument, the great Venetian was his +superior. Curiously enough, Sarpi resembles the American +statesman more closely than either of the Europeans. Both he and +Jefferson had the intense practical interest of statesmen, not +only in the welfare of their own countries, but in all the +political and religious problems of their times. Both were keenly +alive to progress in the physical sciences, wherever made. Both +were wont to throw a light veil of humor over very serious +discussions. Both could use, with great effect, curt, caustic +description: Jefferson's letter to Governor Langdon satirizing +the crowned heads of Europe, as he had seen them, has a worthy +pendant in Fra Paolo's pictures of sundry representatives of the +Vatican. In both these writers was a deep earnestness which, at +times, showed itself in prophetic utterances. The amazing +prophecy of Jefferson against American slavery, beginning with +the words, "I tremble when I remember that God is just," which, +in the light of our civil war, seems divinely inspired, is +paralleled by some of Sarpi's utterances against the unmoral +tendencies of Jesuitism and Ultramontanism; and these too seem +divinely inspired as one reads them in the light of what has +happened since in Spain, in Sicily, in Naples, in Poland, in +Ireland, and in sundry South American republics. + +The range of Sarpi's friendly relations was amazing. They +embraced statesmen, churchmen, scholars, scientific +investigators, diplomatists in every part of Europe, and among +these Galileo and Lord Bacon, Grotius and Mornay, Salmasius and +Casaubon, De Thou and Sir Henry Wotton, Bishop Bedell and +Vossius, with a great number of others of nearly equal rank. +Unfortunately the greater part of his correspondence has +perished. In the two small volumes collected by Polidori, and in +the small additional volume of letters to Simon Contarini, +Venetian Ambassador at Rome, unearthed a few years since in the +Venetian archives by Castellani, we have all that is known. It is +but a small fraction of his epistolary work, but it enables us to +form a clear opinion. The letters are well worthy of the man who +wrote the history of the Council of Trent and the protest of +Venice against the Interdict. + +It is true that there has been derived from these letters, by his +open enemies on one side and his defenders of a rather sickly +conscientious sort on the other, one charge against him: this is +based on his famous declaration, "I utter falsehood never, but +the truth not to every one." ("La falsita non dico mai mai, ma la +verita non a ogniuno.")[1] Considering his vast responsibilities +as a statesman and the terrible dangers which beset him as a +theologian; that in the first of these capacities the least +misstep might wreck the great cause which he supported, and that +in the second such a misstep might easily bring him to the +torture chamber and the stake, normally healthful minds will +doubtless agree that the criticism upon these words is more +Pharisaic than wholesome. + + +[1] For this famous utterance, see notes of conversations given +by Christoph, Burggraf von Dohna, in July, 1608, in Briefe und +Acten zur Geschichte des Dreissigjahrigen Krieges, Munchen, 1874, +p. 79. + + +Sarpi was now spoken of, more than ever, both among friends and +foes, as the "terribile frate." Terrible to the main enemies of +Venice he indeed was, and the machinations of his opponents grew +more and more serious. Efforts to assassinate him, to poison him, +to discredit him, to lure him to Rome, or at least within reach +of the Inquisition, became almost frantic; but all in vain. He +still continued his quiet life at the monastery of Santa Fosca, +publishing from time to time discussions of questions important +for Venice and for Europe, working steadily in the public service +until his last hours. In spite of his excommunication and of his +friendships with many of the most earnest Protestants of Europe, +he remained a son of the church in which he was born. His life +was shaped in accordance with its general precepts, and every day +he heard mass. So his career quietly ran on until, in 1623, he +met death calmly, without fear, in full reliance upon the divine +justice and mercy. His last words were a prayer for Venice. + +He had fought the good fight. He had won it for Venice and for +humanity. For all this, the Republic had, in his later years, +tried to show her gratitude, and he had quietly and firmly +refused the main gifts proposed to him. But now came a new +outburst of grateful feeling. The Republic sent notice of his +death to other powers of Europe through its Ambassadors in the +terms usual at the death of royal personages; in every way, it +showed its appreciation of his character and services, and it +crowned all by voting him a public monument. + +Hardly was the decree known, when the Vatican authorities sent +notice that, should any monument be erected to Sarpi, they would +anew and publicly declare him excommunicate as a heretic. At +this, the Venetian Senate hesitated, waited, delayed. Whenever +afterwards the idea of carrying out the decree for the monument +was revived, there set in a storm of opposition from Rome. Hatred +of the terrible friar's memory seemed to grow more and more +bitter. Even rest in the grave was denied him. The church where +he was buried having been demolished, the question arose as to +the disposition of his bones. To bury them in sacred ground +outside the old convent would arouse a storm of ecclesiastical +hostility, with the certainty of their dispersion and +desecration; it seemed impossible to secure them from priestly +hatred: therefore it was that his friends took them from place to +place, sometimes concealing them in the wall of a church here, +sometimes beneath the pavement of a church there, and for a time +keeping them in a simple wooden box at the Ducal Library. The +place where his remains rested became, to most Venetians, +unknown. All that remained to remind the world of his work was +his portrait in the Ducal Library, showing the great gash made by +the Vatican assassins. + +Time went on, and generations came which seemed to forget him. +Still worse, generation after generation came, carefully trained +by clerical teachers to misunderstand and hate him. But these +teachers went too far; for, in 1771, nearly one hundred and fifty +years after his death, the monk Vaerini gathered together, in a +pretended biography, all the scurrilities which could be +imagined, and endeavored to bury the memory of the great patriot +beneath them. This was too much. The old Venetian spirit, which +had so long lain dormant, now asserted itself: Vaerini was +imprisoned and his book suppressed. + +A quarter of a century later the Republic fell under the rule of +Austria, and Austria's most time-honored agency in keeping down +subject populations has always been the priesthood. Again Father +Paul's memory was virtually proscribed, and in 1803 another +desperate attempt was made to cover him with infamy. In that year +appeared a book entitled The Secret History of the Life of Fra +Paolo Sarpi, and it contained not only his pretended biography, +but what claimed to be Sarpi's own letters and other documents +showing him to be an adept in scoundrelism and hypocrisy. Its +editor was the archpriest Ferrara of Mantua; but on the +title-page appeared, as the name of its author, Fontanini, +Archbishop of Ancira, a greatly respected prelate who had died +nearly seventy years before, and there was also stamped, not only +upon the preliminary, but upon the final page of the work, the +approval of the Austrian government. To this was added a pious +motto from St. Augustine, and the approval of Pius VII was +distinctly implied, since the work was never placed upon the +Index, and could not have been published at Venice, stamped as it +was and registered with the privileges of the University, without +the consent of the Vatican. + +The memory of Father Paul seemed likely now to be overwhelmed. +There was no longer a Republic of Venice to guard the noble +traditions of his life and service. The book was recommended and +spread far and wide by preachers and confessors. + +But at last came a day of judgment. The director of the Venetian +archives discovered and had the courage to announce that the work +was a pious fraud of the vilest type; that it was never written +by Fontanini, but that it was simply made up out of the old +scurrilous work of Vaerini, suppressed over thirty years before. +As to the correspondence served up as supplementary to the +biography, it was concocted from letters already published, with +the addition of Jesuitical interpolations and of forgeries.[1] +Now came the inevitable reaction, and with it the inevitable +increase of hatred for Austrian rule and the inevitable question, +how, if the Pope is the infallible teacher of the world in all +matters pertaining to faith and morals, could he virtually +approve this book, and why did he not, by virtue of his divine +inerrancy, detect the fraud and place its condemnation upon the +Index. The only lasting effect of the book, then, was to revive +the memory of Father Paul's great deeds and to arouse Venetian +pride in them. The fearful scar on his face in the portrait spoke +more eloquently than ever, and so it was that, early in the +nineteenth century, many men of influence joined in proposing a +suitable and final interment for the poor bones, which had seven +times been buried and reburied, and which had so long been kept +in the sordid box at the Ducal Library. The one fitting place of +burial was the cemetery of San Michele. To that beautiful island, +so near the heart of Venice, had, for many years, been borne the +remains of leading Venetians. There, too, in more recent days, +have been laid to rest many of other lands widely respected and +beloved. + + +[1] For a full and fair statement of the researches which exposed +this pious fraud, see Castellani, Prefect of the Library of St. +Mark, preface to his Lettere Inedite di F. P. S., p. xvii. For +methods used in interpolating or modifying passages in Sarpi's +writings, see Bianchi Giovini, Biografia di Sarpi, Zurigo, 1847, +vol. ii. pp. 135, et seq. + + +But the same persistent hatred which, in our own day, grudged and +delayed due honors at the tombs of Copernicus and Galileo among +Catholics, and of Humboldt among Protestants, was still bitter +against the great Venetian scholar and statesman. It could not be +forgotten that he had wrested from the Vatican the most terrible +of its weapons. But patriotic pride was strong, and finally a +compromise was made: it was arranged that Sarpi should be buried +and honored at his burial as an eminent man of science, and that +no word should be spoken of his main services to the Republic and +to the world. On this condition he was buried with simple honors. + +Soon, however, began another chapter of hatred. There came a pope +who added personal to official hostility. Gregory XVI, who in his +earlier days had been abbot of the monastery of San Michele, was +indignant that the friar who had thwarted the papacy should lie +buried in the convent which he himself had formerly ruled, and +this feeling took shape, first, in violent speeches at Rome, and +next, in brutal acts at Venice. The monks broke and removed the +simple stone placed over the remains of Father Paul, and when it +was replaced, they persisted in defacing and breaking it, and +were only prevented from dragging out his bones, dishonoring them +and casting them into the lagoon, by the weight of the massive, +strong, well-anchored sarcophagus, which the wise foresight of +his admirers had provided for them. At three different visits to +Venice, the present writer sought the spot where they were laid, +and in vain. At the second of these visits, he found the +Patriarch of Venice, under whose rule various outrages upon +Sarpi's memory had been perpetrated, pontificating gorgeously +about the Grand Piazza; but at his next visit there had come a +change. The monks had disappeared. Their insults to the +illustrious dead had been stopped by laws which expelled them +from their convent, and there, little removed from each other in +the vestibule and aisle of the great church, were the tombs of +Father Paul and of the late Patriarch side by side; the great +patriot's simple gravestone was now allowed to rest unbroken. + +Better even than this was the reaction provoked by these +outbursts of ecclesiastical hatred. It was felt, in Venice, +throughout Italy, and indeed throughout the world, that the old +decree for a monument should now be made good. The first steps +were hesitating. First, a bust of Father Paul was placed among +those of great Venetians in the court of the Ducal Palace; but +the inscription upon it was timid and double-tongued. Another +bust was placed on the Pincian Hill at Rome, among those of the +most renowned sons of Italy. This was not enough: a suitable +monument must be erected. Yet it was delayed, timid men +deprecating the hostility of the Roman Court. At last, under the +new Italian monarchy, the patriotic movement became irresistible, +and the same impulse which erected the splendid statue to +Giordano Bruno on the Piazza dei Fiori at Rome,--on the very spot +where he was burned,--and which adorned it with the medallions of +eight other martyrs to ecclesiastical hatred, erected in 1892, +two hundred and seventy years after it had been decreed, a +statue, hardly less imposing, to Paolo Sarpi, on the Piazza Santa +Fosca at Venice, where he had been left for dead by the Vatican +assassins. There it stands, noble and serene,--a monument of +patriotism and right reason, a worthy tribute to one who, among +intellectual prostitutes and solemnly constituted impostors, +stood forth as a true man, the greatest of his time,--one of the +greatest of all times,--an honor to Venice, to Italy, and to +humanity. Andrew D. White. + +************************************************************* + +Then came the death of the Empress Frederick. Even during her +tragic struggle with Bismarck, and the unpopularity which beset +her during my former official term at Berlin, she had been kind +to me and mine. At my presentation to her in those days, at +Potsdam, when she stood by the side of her husband, afterward the +most beloved of emperors since Marcus Aurelius, she evidently +exerted herself to make the interview pleasant to me. She talked +of American art and the Colorado pictures of Moran, which she had +seen and admired; of German art and the Madonna painted by Knaus +for the Russian Empress, which Miss Wolfe had given the +Metropolitan Museum at New York; and in reply to my +congratulations upon a recent successful public speech of her +eldest son, a student at Bonn, she had dwelt, in a motherly way, +upon the difficulties which environ a future sovereign at a great +university. In more recent days, and especially during the years +before her death, she had been, at her table in Berlin and at her +castle of Kronberg, especially courteous. There comes back to me +pleasantly a kindly retort of hers. I had spoken to her of a +portrait of George III which had interested me at the old castle +of Homburg nearly forty years before. It had been sent to his +daughter, the Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg, who had evidently +wished to see her father's face as it had really become; for it +represented the King, not in the gold-laced uniform, not in the +trim wig not in the jauntily tied queue of his official portraits +and statues, but as he was: in confinement, wretched and +demented; in a slouching gown, with a face sad beyond expression; +his long, white hair falling about it and over it; of all +portraits in the world, save that, at Florence, of Charles V in +his old age, the saddest. So, the conversation drifting upon +George III and upon the old feeling between the United States and +Great Britain, now so happily changed, I happened to say, "It is +a remembrance of mine, now hard to realize, that I was brought up +to ABHOR the memory of George III." At this she smiled and +answered, "That was very unjust; for I was brought up to ADORE +the memory of Washington." Then she spoke at length regarding the +feeling of her father and mother toward the United States during +our Civil War, saying that again and again she had heard her +father argue to her mother, Queen Victoria, for the Union and +against slavery. She discussed current matters of world politics +with the strength of a statesman; yet nothing could be more +womanly in the highest sense. On my saying that I hoped to see +the day when Germany, Great Britain, and the United States would +stand together in guarding the peace of the world, she threw up +her hands and replied, "Heaven grant it; but you forget Japan." +The funeral at Potsdam dwells in my mind as worthy of her. There +were, indeed, pomp and splendor, but subdued, as was befitting; +and while the foreign representatives stood beside her coffin, +the Emperor spoke to me, very simply and kindly, of his sorrow +and of mine. Then, to the sound of funeral music and muffled +church bells, he, with the King of Great Britain and members of +their immediate family just behind the funeral car, the +ambassadors accompanying them, and a long procession following, +walked slowly along the broad avenue through that beautiful +forest, until, in the Church of Peace, she was laid by the side +of her husband, Emperor Frederick the Noble. + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +BERLIN, YALE, OXFORD, AND ST. ANDREWS--1901-1903 + +Darkest of all hours during my embassy was that which brought +news of the assassination of President McKinley. It was on the +very day after his great speech at Buffalo had gained for him the +admiration and good will of the world. Then came a week of +anxiety--of hope alternating with fear; I not hopeful: for there +came back to me memories of President Garfield's assassination +during my former official stay in Berlin, and of our hope against +hope during his struggle for life: all brought to naught. Late in +the evening of September 14 came news of the President's +death--opening a new depth of sadness; for I had come not merely +to revere him as a patriot and admire him as a statesman, but to +love him as a man. Few days have seemed more overcast than that +Sunday when, at the little American chapel in Berlin, our colony +held a simple service of mourning, the imperial minister of +foreign affairs and other representatives of the government +having quietly come to us. The feeling of the German people--awe, +sadness, and even sympathy--was real. Formerly they had disliked +and distrusted the President as the author of the protective +policy which had cost their industries so dear; but now, after +his declaration favoring reciprocity,--with his full recognition +of the brotherhood of nations,--and in view of this calamity, so +sudden, so distressing, there had come a revulsion of feeling. + +To see one whom I so honored, and who had formerly been so +greatly misrepresented, at last recognized as a great and true +man was, at least, a solace. + +At this period came the culmination of a curious episode in my +official career. During the war in China the Chinese minister at +Berlin, Lu-Hai-Houan, feeling himself cut off from relations with +the government to which he was accredited, and, indeed, with all +the other powers of Europe, had come at various times to me, and +with him, fortunately, came his embassy counselor, Dr. Kreyer, +whom I had previously known at Berlin and St. Petersburg as a +thoughtful man, deeply anxious for the welfare of China, and +appreciative of the United States, where he had received his +education. The minister was a kindly old mandarin of high rank, +genial, gentle, evidently struggling hard against the depression +caused by the misfortunes of his country, and seeking some little +light, if, perchance, any was to be obtained. In his visits to +me, and at my return visits to him, the whole condition of things +in China was freely and fully discussed, and never have I exerted +myself more to give useful advice. First, I insisted upon the +necessity of amends for the fearful wrong done by China to other +nations, and then presented my view of the best way of developing +in his country a civilization strong enough to resist hostile +forces, exterior and interior. As to dealings with the Christian +missionaries, against whom he showed no fanatical spirit, but +who, as he thought, had misunderstood China and done much harm, I +sought to show him that the presumption was in their favor, but +that if the Chinese Government ultimately came to the decision +that their stay in China was incompatible with the safety of the +nation, its course was simple: that on no account was it to kill +or injure any of them or of their converts; that while, in my +view, it would be wise to arrange for their continuance in China +under proper regulation, still, that if they must be expelled, it +should be done in the most kindly and considerate way, and with +due indemnity for any losses to which they might be subjected. Of +course, there was no denying that, under the simplest principles +of international law, China has the right at any moment to shut +its doors against, or to expel, any people whatever whom it may +consider dangerous or injurious--this power being constantly +exercised by all the other nations of the earth, and by none more +than by the American Government, as so many Chinese seeking +entrance to our ports have discovered; but again and again I +warned him that this, if it were ever done at all, must be done +without harshness and with proper indemnities, and that any +return to the cruelties of the past would probably end in the +dividing up of maritime China among the great powers of the +world. As to the building up of the nation, I laid stress on the +establishment of institutions for technical instruction; and took +pains to call his attention to what had been done in the United +States and by various European governments in this respect. He +seemed favorably impressed by this, but dwelt on what he +considered the fanaticism of sundry Chinese supporters of +technical education against the old Chinese classical +instruction. Here I suggested to him a system which might save +what was good in the old mode of instruction: namely, the +continuance of the best of the old classical training, but giving +also high rank to modern studies. + +We also talked over the beginning of a better development of the +Chinese army and navy, of better systems of taxation, and of the +nations from which good examples and competent instruction might +be drawn in these various fields. Curious was his suggestion of a +possible amalgamation of Chinese moral views with the religious +creeds of the western world. He observed that Christianity seemed +to be weak, mainly, on the moral side, and he suggested, at some +length, a combination of the Christian religion with the +Confucian morality. Interesting was it to hear him, as a +Confucian, dwell on the services which might thus be rendered to +civilization. There was a simple, kindly shrewdness in the man, +and a personal dignity which was proof against the terrible +misfortunes which had beset his country. Again and again he +visited me, always wishing to discuss some new phase of the +questions at issue. I could only hope that, as he was about to +return to China, some of the ideas brought out in our +conversations might prove fruitful. One result of the relation +thus formed was that when Prince Chun, the brother of the Emperor +of China, came to make apology before the throne of the Emperor +William, he called upon me. Unfortunately I was out, but, +returning his visit, I met him, and, what was more to the +purpose, the dignitaries of his suite, some of whom interested me +much; and I was glad of a chance, through them, to impress some +of the ideas brought out in my previous conversations with the +minister. I cannot say that I indulged in any strong hopes as +regards the prince himself; but, noting the counselors who +surrounded him, and their handling of the questions at issue, I +formed more hope for the conservation of China as a great and +beneficent power than I had ever had before. + +To this succeeded an episode of a very different sort. For some +time Mr. Andrew Carnegie had done me the honor to listen to +advice of mine regarding some of his intended benefactions in +Scotland, the United States, and elsewhere. I saw and felt the +great possibilities for good involved when so noble a heart, so +shrewd a head, so generous a hand had command of one of the most +colossal fortunes ever at the disposal of a human being; and the +bright purposes and plans revealed in his letters shone through +the clouds of that mournful summer. So it was that, on my journey +to America, made necessary by the sudden death of my son, I +accepted Mr. Carnegie's invitation to visit him at his castle of +Skibo in the extreme north of Scotland. Very striking, during the +two days' journey from London to Edinburgh, and from Edinburgh to +Bonar, were the evidences of mourning for President McKinley in +every city, village, and hamlet. It seemed natural that, in the +large towns and on great public buildings, flags at half-mast and +in mourning should show a sense of the calamity which had +befallen a sister nation; but what appealed to me most were the +draped and half-masted flags on the towers of the little country +churches and cottages. Never before in the history of any two +countries had such evidences of brotherly feeling been shown. +Thank God! brotherly feeling had conquered demagogism. + +The visit to Mr. Carnegie helped to give a new current to my +thoughts. The attractions of his wonderful domain forty thousand +acres, with every variety of scenery,--ocean, forest, moor, and +mountain,--the household with its quaint Scotch usages--the piper +in full tartan solemnly going his rounds at dawn, and the music +of the organ swelling, morning and evening, through the castle +from the great hall--all helped to give me new strength. There +was also good company: Frederic Harrison, thoughtful and +brilliant, whom I had before known only by his books and a brief +correspondence; Archdeacon Sinclair of London, worthy, by his +scholarly accomplishments, of his descent from the friend of +Washington; and others who did much to aid our hosts in making +life at the castle beautiful. Going thence to America, I found +time to cooperate with my old friend, President Gilman, in +securing data for Mr. Carnegie, especially at Washington, in view +of his plan of a national institution for the higher scientific +research. + +It was a sad home-coming; but these occupations and especially a +visit to New Haven at the bicentennial celebration of Yale aided +to cheer me. This last was indeed a noteworthy commemoration. +There had come to me, in connection with it, perhaps the greatest +honor of my life: an invitation to deliver one of the main +addresses; but it had been received at the time of my deepest +depression, and I had declined it, but with no less gratitude +that the authorities of my Alma Mater had thought me worthy of +that service. In so doing, I sacrificed much; for there was one +subject which, under other circumstances, I would gladly have +developed at such a time and before such an audience. But as I +listened to the admirable address given by my old college mate, +Mr. Justice Brewer, when the honors of the university were +conferred upon the President, the Secretary of State, and so many +distinguished representatives from all parts of the world, it was +a satisfaction to me, after all, that I could enjoy it quietly, +with no sense of responsibility, and could, indeed, rest and be +thankful. + +As to my own personal history, there came at this time an event +which could not but please me: the Royal Academy of Sciences at +Berlin chose me as one of its foreign honorary members. It was a +tribute of the sort for which I cared most, especially because it +brought me into closer relations with leaders in science and +literature whom I had so long admired. + +To finish the chronicle of that period, I may add that, on my +return from America, being invited to Potsdam for the purpose, I +gave the Emperor the very hearty message which the President had +sent him, and that, during this interview and the family dinner +which followed it, he spoke most appreciatively and intelligently +of the President, of the recent victory for good government in +the city of New York, of the skill shown by Americans in great +works of public utility, and especially of the remarkable +advances in the development of our navy. + +One part of this conversation had a lighter cast. At the close of +that portion of the communication from the President which +referred to various public affairs came a characteristic touch in +the shape of an invitation to hunt in the Rocky Mountain regions: +it was the simple message of one healthy, hearty, vigorous hunter +to another, and was to the effect that the President especially +envied the Emperor for having shot a whale, but that if his +Majesty would come to America he should have the best possible +opportunity to add to his trophies a Rocky Mountain lion, and +that he would thus be the first monarch to kill a lion since +Tiglath-Pileser, whose exploit is shown on the old monuments of +Assyria. The hearty way in which the message was received showed +that it would have been gladly accepted had that been possible. + +On New Year's day of 1902 began the sixth year of my official +stay at Berlin. At his reception of the ambassadors the Emperor +was very cordial, spoke most heartily regarding President +Roosevelt, and asked me to forward his request that the +President's daughter might be allowed to christen the imperial +yacht then building in America. In due time this request was +granted, and as the special representative of the sovereign at +its launching he named his brother--Prince Henry. No man in the +empire could have been more fitly chosen. His career as chief +admiral of the German navy had prepared him to profit by such a +journey, and his winning manners assured him a hearty welcome. + +My more serious duties were now relieved by sundry festivities, +and of these was a dinner on the night of the prince's departure +from Berlin, given to the American Embassy by the Emperor, who +justly hoped and believed that the proposed expedition would +strengthen good feeling between the two countries. After dinner +we all sat in the smoking-room of the old Schloss until midnight, +and various pleasant features of the conversation dwell in my +memory--particularly the Emperor's discussions of Mark Twain and +other American humorists; but perhaps the most curious was his +amusement over a cutting from an American newspaper--a printed +recipe for an American concoction known as "Hohenzollern punch," +said to be in readiness for the prince on his arrival. The number +of intoxicants, and the ingenuity of their combination, as his +Majesty read the list aloud, were amazing; it was a terrific +brew, which only a very tough seaman could expect to survive. + +But as we all took leave of the prince at the station afterward, +there were in my heart and mind serious misgivings. I knew well +that, though the great mass of the American people were sure to +give him a hearty welcome, there were scattered along his route +many fanatics, and, most virulent of all, those who had just then +been angered by the doings of sundry Prussian underlings in +Poland. I must confess to uneasiness during his whole stay in +America, and among the bright days of my life was that on which +the news came that he was on board a German liner and on his +return. + +One feature of that evening is perhaps more worthy of record. +After the departure of the prince, the Emperor's conversation +took a more serious turn, and as we walked toward his carriage he +said, "My brother's mission has no political character whatever, +save in one contingency: If the efforts made in certain parts of +Europe to show that the German Government sought to bring about a +European combination against the United States during your +Spanish war are persisted in, I have authorized him to lay before +the President certain papers which will put that slander at rest +forever." As it turned out, there was little need of this, since +the course both of the Emperor and his government was otherwise +amply vindicated. + +The main matter of public business during the first months of the +year was the Russian occupation of Manchuria, regarding which our +government took a very earnest part, instructing me to press the +matter upon the attention of the German Government, and to follow +it up with especial care. Besides this, it was my duty to urge a +fitting representation of Germany at the approaching St. Louis +Exposition. Regarding this there were difficulties. The Germans +very generally avowed themselves exposition-weary +(ausstellungsmude); and no wonder, for exposition had succeeded +exposition, now in this country, now in that, and then in various +American cities, each anxious to outdo the other, until all +foreign governments were well-nigh tired out. But the St. Louis +Exposition encountered an adverse feeling much more serious than +any caused by fatigue,--the American system of high protection +having led the Germans to distrust all our expositions, whether +at New Orleans, Chicago, Buffalo, or St. Louis, and to feel that +there was really nothing in these for Germany; that, in fact, +German manufacturing interests would be better served by avoiding +them than by taking part in them. Still, by earnest presentation +of the matter at the Foreign Office and to the Emperor, I was +able to secure a promise that German art should be well +represented. + +In March, a lull having come in public business as well as in +social duty, I started on my usual excursion to Italy, its most +interesting feature being my sixth stay in Venice. Ten days in +that fascinating city were almost entirely devoted to increasing +my knowledge of Fra Paolo Sarpi. Various previous visits had +familiarized me with the main events in his wonderful career; but +I now met with two pieces of especially good fortune. First, I +made the acquaintance of the Rev. Dr. Alexander Robertson, an +ardent admirer of Father Paul, and author of an excellent +biography of him; and, next, I was able to add to my own material +a mass of rare books and manuscripts relating to the great +Venetian. Most interesting was my visit, in company with Dr. +Robertson, to the remains of Father Paul's old monastery, where +we found what no one, up to our time, seems to have +discovered--the little door which the Venetian Senate caused to +be made in the walls of the monastery garden, at Father Paul's +request, in order that he might reach his gondola at once, and +not be again exposed to assassins like those sent by Pope Paul V, +who had attacked him and left him, to all appearances dead, in +the little street near the monastery. + +Returning to Berlin, the usual round of duty was resumed; but +there seems nothing worthy to be chronicled, save possibly the +visit of the Shah of Persia and the Crown Prince of Siam. Both +were seen in all their glory at the gala opera given in their +honor; but the Persian ruler appeared to little advantage, for he +was obliged to retire before the close of the representation. He +was evidently prematurely old and worn out. The feature of this +social function which especially dwells in my memory was a very +interesting talk with the Emperor regarding the kindness shown +his brother by the American people, at the close of which he +presented me to his guest, the Crown Princess of Saxony. She was +especially kindly and pleasing, discussing various topics with +heartiness and simplicity; and it was a vast surprise to me when, +a few months later, she became the heroine of perhaps the most +astonishing escapade in the modern history of royalty. + +As to matters of business, there came one which especially +rejoiced me. Mr. Carnegie having established the institution for +research which bears his name at Washington, with an endowment of +ten million dollars, and named me among the trustees, my old +friend Dr. Gilman had later been chosen President of the new +institution, and now arrived in Berlin to study the best that +Germans were doing as regards research in science. Our excursions +to various institutions interested me greatly; both the men we +met and things we saw were full of instruction to us, and of all +public duties I have had to discharge, I recall none with more +profit and pleasure. One thing in this matter struck me as never +before--the quiet wisdom and foresight with which the various +German governments prepare to profit by the best which science +can be made to yield them in every field. + +Upon these duties followed others of a very different sort. On +the 19th of June died King Albert of Saxony, and in view of his +high character and of the many kindnesses he had shown to +Americans, I was instructed to attend his funeral at Dresden as a +special representative of the President. The whole ceremonial was +interesting; there being in it not only a survival of various +mediaeval procedures, but many elements of solemnity and beauty; +and the funeral, which took place at the court church in the +evening, was especially impressive. Before the high altar stood +the catafalque; in front of it, the crown, scepter, orb, and +other emblems of royalty; and at its summit, the coffin +containing the body of the King. Around this structure were +ranged lines of soldiers and pages in picturesque uniforms and +bearing torches. Facing these were the seats for the majesties, +including the new King, who had at his right the Emperor of +Austria, and at his left the German Emperor, while next these +were the seats of foreign ambassadors and other representatives. +Of all present, the one who seemed least in accord with his +surroundings was the nephew of the old and the son of the new +King, Prince Max, who was dressed simply as a priest, his plain +black gown in striking contrast with the gorgeous uniforms of the +other princes immediately about him. The only disconcerting +feature was the sermon. It was given by one of the priests +attached to the court church, and he evidently considered this an +occasion to be made much of; for instead of fifteen minutes, as +had been expected, his sermon lasted an hour and twenty minutes, +much to the discomfort of the crowd of officials, who were +obliged to remain standing from beginning to end, and especially +to the chagrin of the two Emperors, whose special trains and +time-tables, as well as the railway arrangements for the general +public, were thereby seriously deranged. + +But all fatigues were compensated by the music. The court choir +of Dresden is famous, and for this occasion splendid additions +had been made both to it and to the orchestra; nothing in its way +could be more impressive, and as a climax came the last honors to +the departed King, when, amid the music of an especially +beautiful chorus, the booming of artillery in the neighboring +square, and the tolling of the bells of the city on all sides, +the royal coffin slowly sank into the vaults below. + +On the following morning I was received by the new King. He +seemed a man of sound sense, and likely to make a good +constitutional sovereign. Our talk was simply upon the relations +of the two countries, during which I took pains to bespeak for my +countrymen sojourning at Dresden the same kindnesses which the +deceased King had shown them. + +During the summer a study of some of the most important +industries at the Dusseldorf Exposition proved useful; but +somewhat later other excursions had a more direct personal +interest; for within a few hours of each other came two +unexpected communications: one from the president of Yale +University, commissioning me to represent my Alma Mater at the +tercentenary of the Bodleian at Oxford; the other from the +University of St. Andrews, inviting me to the installation of Mr. +Andrew Carnegie as lord rector of that institution; and both +these I accepted. + +The celebration at Oxford was in every way interesting to me; but +I may say frankly that of all things which gave me pleasure, the +foremost was the speech of presentation, in the Sheldonian +Theatre, when the doctorate of civil law was conferred upon me. +The first feature in this speech, assigning the reasons for +conferring the degree, was a most kindly reference to my part in +establishing the Arbitration Tribunal at the International +Conference of The Hague; and this, of course, was gratifying. But +the second half of the speech touched me more nearly; for it was +a friendly appreciation of my book regarding the historical +relations between science and theology in Christendom. This was a +surprise indeed! Years before, when writing this book, I had said +to myself, "This ends all prospect of friendly recognition of any +work I may ever do, so far as the universities and academies of +the world are concerned. But so be it; what I believe I will +say." And now, suddenly, unexpectedly, came recognition and +commendation in that great and ancient center of religious +thought and sentiment, once so reactionary, where, within my +memory, even a man like Edward Everett was harshly treated for +his inability to accept the shibboleths of orthodoxy. + +This reviving of old and beginning of new friendships, with the +hearty hospitality lavished upon us from all sides, left +delightful remembrances. Several times, during the previous fifty +years, I had visited Oxford and been cordially welcomed; but this +greeting surpassed all others. + +There was, indeed, one slight mishap. Being called upon to speak +in behalf of the guests at the great dinner in Christ Church +Hall, I endeavored to make a point which I thought new and +perhaps usefully suggestive. Having referred to the increasing +number of international congresses, expositions, conferences, +academic commemorations, anniversaries, and the like, I dwelt +briefly on their agency in generating friendships between men of +influence in different countries, and therefore in maintaining +international good will; and then especially urged, as the pith +and point of my speech, that such agencies had recently been made +potent for peace as never before. In support of this view, I +called attention to the fact that the Peace Conference at The +Hague had not only established an arbitration tribunal for +PREVENTING war, but had gained the adhesion of all nations +concerned to a number of arrangements, such as international +"Commissions of Inquiry," the system of "Seconding Powers," and +the like, for DELAYING war, thus securing time during which +better international feelings could assert themselves, and +reasonable men on either side could work together to bring in the +sober second thought; that thereby the friendships promoted by +these international festivities had been given, as never before, +time to assert themselves as an effective force for peace against +jingo orators, yellow presses, and hot-heads generally; and +finally, in view of this increased efficiency of such gatherings +in promoting peace, I urged that they might well be multiplied on +both sides of the Atlantic, and that as many delegates as +possible should be sent to them. + +"A poor thing, but mine own." Alas! next day, in the press, I was +reported as simply uttering the truism that such gatherings +increase the peaceful feeling of nations; and so the main point +of my little speech was lost. But it was a slight matter, and of +all my visits to Oxford, this will remain in my memory as the +most delightful.[7] + + +[7] The full speech has since been published in the "Yale Alumni +Weekly." + + +The visit to St. Andrews was also happy. After the principal of +the university had conferred the doctorate of laws upon several +of the guests, including Mr. Choate, the American ambassador at +London, and myself, Mr. Carnegie gave his rectorial address. It +was decidedly original, its main feature being an argument in +behalf of a friendly union of the United States and Great Britain +in their political and commercial policy, and for a similar union +between the Continental European nations for the protection of +their industries and for the promotion of universal peace, with a +summons to the German Emperor to put himself at the head of the +latter. It was prepared with skill and delivered with force. Very +amusing were the attempts of the great body of students to throw +the speaker off his guard by comments, questions, and chaff. I +learned later that, more than once, orators has thus been +entrapped or entangled, and that on one occasion an address had +been completely wrecked by such interruptions; but Mr. Carnegie's +Scotch-Yankee wit carried him through triumphantly: he met all +these efforts with equanimity and good humor, and soon had the +audience completely on his side. + +Returning to Berlin, there came preparations for closing my +connection with the embassy. I had long before decided that on my +seventieth birthday I would cease to hold any official position +whatever. Pursuant to that resolution, my resignation had been +sent to the President, with the statement that it must be +considered final. In return came the kindest possible letters +from him and from the Secretary of State; both of them +attributing a value to my services much beyond anything I would +dare claim. + +On my birthday came a new outburst of kindness. From all parts of +Europe and America arrived letters and telegrams, while from the +Americans in various parts of Germany--especially from the Berlin +colony--came a superbly engrossed address, and with it a +succession of kindly visitors representing all ranks in Berlin +society. One or two of these testimonials I may be pardoned for +especially mentioning. Some time after the letter from President +Roosevelt above mentioned, there had come from him a second +epistle, containing a sealed envelop on which were inscribed the +words: "To be opened on your seventieth birthday." Being duly +opened on the morning of that day, it was found to be even more +heartily appreciative than his former letter, and the same was +found to be true of a second letter by the Secretary of State, +Mr. Hay; so that I add these to the treasures to be handed down +to my grandchildren. + +Shortly afterward came a letter from the chancellor of the +empire, most kindly appreciative. It will be placed, with those +above referred to, at the close of this chapter. + +Especially noteworthy also was the farewell dinner given me at +the Kaiserhof by the German-American Association. Never had I +seen so many Germans eminent in politics, diplomacy, literature, +science, art, education, and commerce assembled on any single +occasion. Hearty speeches were made by the minister of the +interior, Count Posadowsky, who presided, and by Professor +Harnack of the university, who had been selected to present the +congratulations of my entertainers. I replied at length, and as +in previous speeches during my career, both as minister and +ambassador, I had endeavored to present to my countrymen at home +and abroad the claims of Germany upon American good will, I now +endeavored to reveal to the great body of thinking Germans some +of the deeper characteristics and qualities of the American +people; my purpose being in this, as in previous speeches, to +bring about a better understanding between the two nations. + +The Emperor being absent in England, my departure from Berlin was +delayed somewhat beyond the time I had fixed; but on the 27th of +November came my final day in office. In the morning my wife and +myself were received in special audience by both the sovereigns, +who afterward welcomed us at their table. Both showed unaffected +cordiality. The Emperor discussed with me various interesting +questions in a most friendly spirit, and, on my taking leave, +placed in my hands what is known as the "Great Gold Medal for Art +and Science," saying that he did this at the request of his +advisers in those fields, and adding assurances of his own which +greatly increased the value of the gift. Later in the day came a +superb vase from the royal manufactory of porcelain, bearing his +portrait and cipher, as a token of personal good will. + +On the same evening was the American Thanksgiving dinner, with +farewells to and from the American colony, and during the +following days farewell gatherings at the houses of the dean of +the ambassadors, the secretary of state for foreign affairs, and +the chancellor of the empire; finally, on the evening of December +5, with hearty good-byes at the station from a great concourse of +my diplomatic colleagues and other old friends, we left Berlin. + +Our first settlement was at a pretty villa at Alassio, on the +Italian Riviera; and here, in March, 1903, looking over my +garden, a mass of bloom, shaded by palms and orange-trees in full +bearing, and upon the Mediterranean beyond, I settled down to +record these recollections of my life--making excursions now and +then into interesting parts of Italy. + +As to these later journeys, one, being out of the beaten track, +may be worth mentioning. It was an excursion in the islands of +Elba and Corsica. Though anything but a devotee of Napoleon, I +could not but be interested in that little empire of his on the +Italian coast, and especially in the town house, country-seat, +and garden where he planned the return to Europe which led to the +final catastrophe. + +More interesting still was the visit to Corsica and, especially, +to Ajaccio. There the traveler stands before the altar where +Napoleon's father and mother were married, at the font where he +was baptized, in the rooms where he was born, played with his +brothers during his boyhood, and developed various scoundrelisms +during his young manhood: the furniture and surroundings being as +they were when he knew them. + +Just around the corner from the house in which the Bonapartes +lived was the more stately residence of the more aristocratic +family of Pozzo di Borgo. It interested me as the nest in which +was reared that early playmate and rival of Napoleon, who +afterward became his most virulent, persistent, and successful +enemy, who pursued him through his whole career as a hound +pursues a wolf, and who at last aided most effectively in +bringing him down. + +After exhausting the attractions of Ajaccio, we drove up a broad, +well-paved avenue, gradually rising and curving until, at a +distance of six or seven miles, it ended at the country-seat of +this same family of Pozzo di Borgo, far up among the mountains. +There, on a plateau commanding an amazing view, and in the midst +of a superb park, we found the rural retreat of the family; but, +to our surprise, not a castle, not a villa, not like any other +building for a similar purpose in Italy or anywhere else in the +world, but a Parisian town house, recently erected in the style +of the Valois period, with Mansard roof. As we approached it, I +was struck by architectural details even more at variance with +the surroundings than was the general style of the building: all +its exterior decoration presenting the features of a pavilion +from the old Tuileries at Paris; and in the garden hard by we +found battered and blackened fragments of pilasters, shown by the +emblems and ciphers upon them to have come from that part of the +Tuileries once inhabited by Napoleon. The family being absent, we +were allowed to roam through the house, and there found the +statues, paintings, tapestries, books, and papers of Napoleon's +arch-enemy, the great Pozzo di Borgo himself, all of them more or +less connected with the great struggle. There, too, in the +library were collected the decorations bestowed upon him by all +the sovereigns of Europe for his successful zeal in hunting down +the common enemy--"the Corsican Ogre." The palace, inside and +out, is a monument to the most famous of Corsican vendettas. + +My two winters at Alassio after leaving Berlin, though filled +with deferred work, were restful. During a visit to America in +1903, I joined my class at Yale in celebrating its fiftieth +anniversary, giving there a public address entitled "A Patriotic +Investment." The main purpose of this address was to promote the +establishment of Professorships of Comparative Legislation in our +leading universities. I could not think then, and cannot think +now, of any endowment likely to be more speedily and happily +fruitful in good to the whole country. In the spring of 1904 I +returned to my old house on the grounds of Cornell University, +and there, with my family, old associates, and new friends about +me, have devoted myself to various matters long delayed, and +especially to writing sundry articles in the "Atlantic Monthly," +the "Century Magazine," and various other periodicals, and to the +discharge of my duties as a Trustee of Cornell and as a Regent of +the Smithsonian Institution and a Trustee of the Carnegie +Institution at Washington. It is, of course, the last of my life, +but I count myself happy in living to see so much of good +accomplished and so much promise of good in every worthy field of +human effort throughout our country and indeed throughout the +world. + +Following are the letters referred to in this chapter. + +FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. +WHITE HOUSE, +WASHINGTON. + +OYSTER BAY, NEW YORK, + August 5, 1902. +MY DEAR AMBASSADOR WHITE: + +It is with real regret that I accept your resignation, for I +speak what is merely a self-evident truth when I say that we +shall have to look with some apprehension to what your successor +does, whoever that successor may be, lest he fall short of the +standard you have set. + +It is a very great thing for a man to be able to feel, as you +will feel when on your seventieth birthday you prepare to leave +the Embassy, that you have been able to serve your country as it +has been served by but a very limited number of people in your +generation. You have done much for it in word and in deed. You +have adhered to a lofty ideal and yet have been absolutely +practical and, therefore, efficient, so that you are a perpetual +example to young men how to avoid alike the Scylla of +indifference and the Charybdis of efficiency for the wrong.... + +With regards and warm respect and admiration, + Faithfully yours, + (Signed) THEODORE ROOSEVELT. + +HON. ANDREW D. WHITE, + Ambassador to Germany, + Berlin, Germany. + + +WHITE HOUSE, +WASHINGTON. + +OYSTER BAY, NEW YORK, +September 15, 1902 + +MY DEAR MR. AMBASSADOR: + +Will you read the inclosed on your seventieth birthday? I have +sealed it so you can break the seal then. +Faithfully yours, +(Signed) THEODORE ROOSEVELT. + +HON. ANDREW D. WHITE, + U. S. Ambassador, + Berlin, Germany. + + + +WHITE HOUSE, +WASHINGTON. + +OYSTER BAY, +September 15, 1902. + +MY DEAR MR. AMBASSADOR: + +On the day you open this you will be seventy years old. I cannot +forbear writing you a line to express the obligation which all +the American people are under to you. As a diplomat you have come +in that class whose foremost exponents are Benjamin Franklin and +Charles Francis Adams, and which numbers also in its ranks men +like Morris, Livingston, and Pinckney. As a politician, as a +publicist, and as a college president you have served your +country as only a limited number of men are able to serve it. You +have taught by precept, and you have taught by practice. We are +all of us better because you have lived and worked, and I send +you now not merely my warmest well-wishes and congratulations, +but thanks from all our people for all that you have done for us +in the past. Faithfully yours, + (Signed) THEODORE ROOSEVELT. + +HON. ANDREW D. WHITE, + U. S. Ambassador, + Berlin, Germany. + + + +FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE. +NEWBURY, N. H., + +August 3, 1902. + +DEAR MR. WHITE: + +I have received your very kind letter of the 21st July, which is +the first intimation I have had of your intention to resign your +post of ambassador to Germany. I am sorry to hear the country is +to lose your services in the place you have filled with such +distinguished ability and dignity. It is a great thing to say--as +it is simple truth to say it--that you have, during your +residence in Berlin, increased the respect felt for America not +only in Germany but in all Europe. You have thus rendered a great +public service,--independent of all the details of your valuable +work. The man is indeed fortunate who can go through a long +career without blame, and how much more fortunate if he adds +great achievement to blamelessness. You have the singular +felicity of having been always a fighting man, and having gone +through life without a wound. + +I congratulate you most on your physical and mental ability to +enjoy the rest you have chosen and earned.... + +My wife joins me in cordial regards to Mrs. White, and I am +always, + +Faithfully yours, +(Signed) JOHN HAY. + + +DEPARTMENT OF STATE, +WASHINGTON, + +November 7, 1902. + +DEAR MR. WHITE: + +I cannot let the day pass without sending you a word of cordial +congratulation on the beginning of what I hope will be the most +delightful part of your life. Browning long ago sang, "The best +is yet to be," and, certainly, if world-wide fame troops of +friends, a consciousness of well-spent years, and a great career +filled with righteous achievement are constituents of happiness, +you have everything that the heart of man could wish. + Yours faithfully, +(Signed) JOHN HAY. + +His Excellency ANDREW D. WHITE, etc., etc., etc. + + +FROM THE CHANCELLOR OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE. + Wilhelm Str. 77. + +MY DEAR AMBASSADOR: + +On the occasion of this memorable day, I beg to send you my best +wishes. May God grant you perfect health and happiness. Be +assured that I always shall remember the excellent relations +which have joined us during so many years, and accept the +assurance of the highest esteem and respect of your most +affectionate +BULOW. +7 Nov. 1902. + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +MY RECOLLECTIONS OF WILLIAM II--1879-1903 + +At various times since my leaving the Berlin Embassy various +friends have said to me, "Why not give us something definite +regarding the German Emperor?" And on my pleading sundry +difficulties and objections, some of my advisers have recalled +many excellent precedents, both American and foreign, and others +have cited the dictum, "The man I don't like is the man I don't +know." + +The latter argument has some force with me. Much ill feeling +between the United States and Germany has had its root in +misunderstandings; and, as one of the things nearest my heart +since my student days has been a closer moral and intellectual +relation between the two countries, there is, perhaps, a reason +for throwing into these misunderstandings some light from my own +experience. + +My first recollections of the present Emperor date from the +beginning of my stay as minister at Berlin, in 1879. The official +presentations to the Emperor and Empress of that period having +been made, there came in regular order those to the crown prince +and princess, and on my way to them there fell into my hands a +newspaper account of the unveiling of the monument to the eminent +painter Cornelius, at Dusseldorf, the main personage in the +ceremony being the young Prince William, then a student at Bonn. +His speech was given at some length, and it impressed me. There +was a certain reality of conviction and aspiration in it which +seemed to me so radically different from the perfunctory +utterances usual on such occasions that, at the close of the +official interview with his father and mother, I alluded to it. +Their response touched me. There came at once a kindly smile upon +the father's face, and a glad sparkle into the mother's eyes: +pleasing was it to hear her, while showing satisfaction and +pride, speak of her anxiety before the good news came, and of the +embarrassments in the way of her son at his first public address +on an occasion of such importance; no less pleasing was it to +note the father's happy acquiescence: there was in it all a +revelation of simple home feeling and of wholesome home ties +which clearly indicated something different from the family +relations in sundry royal houses depicted by court chroniclers. + +Not long afterward the young prince appeared at some of the court +festivities, and I had many opportunities to observe him. He +seemed sprightly, with a certain exuberance of manner in meeting +his friends which was not unpleasing; but it was noticeable that +his hearty salutations were by no means confined to men and women +of his own age; he was respectful to old men, and that is always +a good sign; it could be easily seen, too, that while he +especially sought the celebrities of the Franco-Prussian War, he +took pains to show respect to men eminent in science, literature, +and art. There seemed a healthy, hearty life in him well +befitting a young man of his position and prospects: very +different was he from the heir to the throne in another country, +whom I had occasion to observe at similar functions, and who +seemed to regard the whole human race with indifference. + +Making the usual visits in Berlin society, I found that people +qualified to judge had a good opinion of his abilities; and not +infrequent were prophecies that the young man would some day +really accomplish something. + +My first opportunity to converse with him came at his marriage, +when a special reception was given by him and his bride to the +diplomatic corps. He spoke at considerable length on American +topics--on railways, steamers, public works, on Americans whom he +had met, and of the things he most wished to see on our side the +water; altogether he seemed to be broad-minded, alert, with a +quick sense of humor, and yet with a certain solidity of judgment +beneath it all. + +After my departure from Berlin there flitted over to America +conflicting accounts of him, and during the short reign of his +father there was considerable growth of myth and legend to his +disadvantage. Any attempt to distil the truth from it all would +be futile; suffice it that both in Germany and Great Britain +careful statements by excellent authorities on both sides have +convinced me that in all that trying crisis the young man's +course was dictated by a manly sense of duty. + +The first thing after his accession which really struck me as a +revelation of his character was his dismissal of Bismarck. By +vast numbers of people this was thought the act of an exultant +young ruler eager to escape all restraint, and this opinion was +considerably promoted in English-speaking countries by an +ephemeral cause: Tenniel's cartoon in "Punch" entitled "Dropping +the Pilot." As most people who read this will remember, the iron +chancellor was therein represented as an old, weatherbeaten +pilot, in storm-coat and sou'wester, plodding heavily down the +gangway at the side of a great ship; while far above him, leaning +over the bulwarks, was the young Emperor, jaunty, with a +satisfied smirk, and wearing his crown. There was in that little +drawing a spark of genius, and it sped far; probably no other +cartoon in "Punch" ever produced so deep an effect, save, +possibly, that which appeared during the Crimean War with the +legend "General February turned Traitor"; it went everywhere, +appealing to deep sentiment in human hearts. + +And yet, to me--admiring Bismarck as the greatest German since +Luther, but reflecting upon the vast interests involved--this act +was a proof that the young monarch was a stronger man than any +one had supposed him to be. Certainly this dismissal must have +caused him much regret; all his previous life had shown that he +admired Bismarck--almost adored him. It gave evidence of a deep +purpose and a strong will. Louis XIV had gained great credit +after the death of Mazarin by declaring his intention of ruling +alone--of taking into his own hands the vast work begun by +Richelieu; but that was the merest nothing compared to this. This +was, apparently, as if Louis XIII, immediately after the triumphs +of Richelieu, had dismissed him and declared his purpose of +henceforth being his own prime minister. The young Emperor had +found himself at the parting of the ways, and had deliberately +chosen the right path, and this in spite of almost universal +outcries at home and abroad. The OLD Emperor William could let +Bismarck have his way to any extent: when his chancellor sulked +he could drive to the palace in the Wilhelmstrasse, pat his old +servant on the back, chaff him, scold him, laugh at him, and set +him going again, and no one thought less of the old monarch on +that account. But for the YOUNG Emperor William to do this would +be fatal; it would class him at once among the rois +fatneants--the mere figureheads--"the solemnly constituted +impostors," and in this lay not merely dangers to the young +monarch, but to his dynasty and to the empire. + +His recognition of this fact was, and is, to me a proof that the +favorable judgments of him which I had heard expressed in Berlin +were well founded. + +But this decision did much to render him unpopular in the United +States, and various other reports which flitted over increased +the unfavorable feeling. There came reports of his speeches to +young recruits, in which, to put it mildly, there was preached a +very high theory of the royal and imperial prerogative, and a +very exacting theory of the duty of the subject. Little account +was taken by distant observers of the fundamental facts in the +case; namely, that Germany, being a nation with no natural +frontiers, with hostile military nations on all sides, and with +serious intestine tendencies to anarchy, must, if she is to live, +have the best possible military organization and a central power +strong to curb all the forces of the empire, and quick to hurl +them. Moreover, these speeches, which seemed so absurd to the +average American, hardly astonished any one who had lived long in +Germany, and especially in Prussia. The doctrines laid down by +the young monarch to the recruits were, after all, only what they +had heard a thousand times from pulpit and school desk, and are a +logical result of Prussian history and geography. Something, too, +must be allowed to a young man gifted, energetic, suddenly +brought into so responsible a position, looking into and beyond +his empire, seeing hostile nations north, south, east, and west, +with elements of unreason fermenting within its own borders, and +feeling that the only reliance of his country is in the good +right arms of its people, in their power of striking heavily and +quickly, and in unquestioning obedience to authority. + +In the history of American opinion at this time there was one +comical episode. The strongholds of opinion among us friendly to +Germany have been, for the last sixty years, our universities and +colleges, in so many of which are professors and tutors who, +having studied in Germany, have brought back a certain love for +the German fatherland. To them there came in those days a curious +tractate by a little-known German professor--one of the most +curious satires in human history. To all appearance it was simply +a biographical study of the young Roman emperor Caligula. It +displayed the advantages he had derived from a brave and pious +imperial ancestry, and especially from his devout and gifted +father; it showed his natural gifts and acquired graces, his +versatility, his growing restlessness, his manifold ambitions, +his contempt of wise counsel, the dismissal of his most eminent +minister, his carelessness of thoughtful opinion, his meddling in +anything and everything, his displays in the theater and in the +temples of the gods, his growth--until the world recognized him +simply as a beast of prey, a monster. The whole narrative was so +managed that the young prince who had just come to the German +throne seemed the exact counterpart of the youthful Roman +monarch--down to the cruel stage of his career; THAT was left to +anticipation. The parallels and resemblances between the two were +arranged with consummate skill, and whenever there was a passage +which seemed to present an exact chronicle of some well-known +saying or doing of the modern ruler there would follow an +asterisk with a reference to a passage in Tacitus or Suetonius or +Dion Cassius or other eminent authority exactly warranting the +statement. This piece of historical jugglery ran speedily through +thirty editions, while from all parts of Germany came refutations +and counter-refutations by scores, all tending to increase its +notoriety. Making a short tour through Germany at that period, +and stopping in a bookseller's shop at Munich to get a copy of +this treatise, I was shown a pile of pamphlets which it had +called out, at least a foot high. Comically enough, its author +could not be held responsible for it, since the name of the young +Emperor William was never mentioned; all it claimed to give or +did give was the life of Caligula, and certainly there was no +crime in writing a condemnatory history of him or any other +imperial miscreant who died nearly two thousand years ago. In the +American colleges and universities this tractate doubtless made +good friends of Germany uneasy, and it even shocked some +excellent men who knew much of Roman history and little of +mankind; but gradually common sense resumed its sway. As men +began to think they began to realize that the modern German +Empire resembles in no particular that debased and corrupt mass +with which the imperial Roman wretches had to do, and that the +new German sovereign, in all his characteristics and tendencies +is radically a different being from any one of the crazy beasts +of prey who held the imperial power during the decline of Rome. + +Sundry epigrams had also come over to us; among others, the +characterization of the three German Emperors: the first William +as "Der greise Kaiser," the Emperor Frederick as "Der weise +Kaiser," and the second William as "Der Reise Kaiser"; and there +were unpleasant murmurs regarding sundry trials for petty +treason. But at the same time there was evident, in the midst of +American jokes at the young Emperor's expense, a growing feeling +that there was something in him; that, at any rate, he was not a +fat-witted, Jesuit-ridden, mistress-led monarch of the old +Bourbon or Hapsburg sort; that he had "go" in him--some fine +impulses, evidently; and here and there a quotation from a speech +showed insight into the conditions of the present world and +aspiration for its betterment. + +In another chapter I have given a general sketch of the +conversation at my first presentation to him as ambassador; it +strengthened in my mind the impression already formed,--that he +was not a monarch of the old pattern. The talk was not +conventional; he was evidently fond of discoursing upon +architecture, sculpture, and music, but not less gifted in +discussing current political questions, and in various +conversations afterward this fact was observable. Conventional +talk was reduced to a minimum; the slightest hint was enough to +start a line of remark worth listening to. + +Opportunities for conversation were many. Besides the usual +"functions" of various sorts, there were interviews by special +appointment, and in these the young monarch was neither backward +in presenting his ideas nor slow in developing them. The range of +subjects which interested him seemed unlimited, but there were +some which he evidently preferred: of these were all things +relating to ships and shipping, and one of the first subjects +which came up in conversations between us was the books of +Captain Mahan, which he discussed very intelligently, awarding +great praise to their author, and saying that he required all his +naval officers to read them. + +Another subject in order was art in all its developments. During +the first years of my stay he was erecting the thirty-two +historical groups on the Avenue of Victory in the Thiergarten, +near my house. My walks took me frequently by them, and they +interested me, not merely by their execution, but by their +historical purpose, commemorating as they do the services of his +predecessors, and of the strongest men who made their reigns +significant during nearly a thousand years. He was always ready +to discuss these works at length, whether from the artistic, +historical, or educational point of view. Not only to me, but to +my wife he insisted on their value as a means of arousing +intelligent patriotism in children and youth. He dwelt with pride +on the large number of gifted sculptors in his realm, and his +comments on their work were worth listening to. He himself has +artistic gifts which in his earlier days were shown by at least +one specimen of his work as a painter in the Berlin Annual +Exhibition; and in the window of a silversmith's shop on the +Linden I once saw a prize cup for a yacht contest showing much +skill in invention and beauty in form, while near it hung the +pencil drawing for it in his own hand. + +His knowledge of music and love for it have been referred to +elsewhere in these chapters. Noteworthy was it that his feeling +was not at all for music of a thin, showy sort; he seemed to be +touched by none of the prevailing fashions, but to cherish a +profound love for the really great things in music. This was +often shown, as, for example, at the concert at Potsdam to which +he invited President and Mrs. Harrison, and in his comments upon +the pieces then executed. But the most striking evidence of it +was the music in the Royal Chapel. It has been given me to hear +more than once the best music of the Sistine Pauline, and Lateran +choirs at Rome, of the three great choirs at St. Petersburg, of +the chorus at Bayreuth, and of other well-known assemblages under +high musical direction; but the cathedral choir at Berlin, in its +best efforts, surpassed any of these, and the music, both +instrumental and choral, which reverberates under the dome of the +imperial chapel at the great anniversaries there celebrated is +nowhere excelled. For operatic music of the usual sort he seemed +to care little. If a gala opera was to be given, the chances were +that he would order the performance of some piece of more +historical than musical interest. Hence, doubtless, it was that +during my whole stay the opera at Dresden surpassed decidedly +that at Berlin, while in the higher realms of music Berlin +remained unequaled. + +Dramatic art is another field in which he takes an enlightened +interest: he has great reason for doing so, both as a statesman +and as a man. + +As a result of observation and reflection during a long life +which has touched public men and measures in wide variety, I +would desire for my country three things above all others, to +supplement our existing American civilization: from Great Britain +her administration of criminal justice; from Germany her theater; +and from any European country, save Russia, Spain, and Turkey, +its government of cities. + +As to the second of these desired contributions, ten years in +Germany at various periods during an epoch covering now nearly +half a century have convinced me that her theater, next after her +religious inheritance, gives the best stimulus and sustenance to +the better aspirations of her people. Through it, and above all +by Schiller, the Kantian ethics have been brought into the +thinking of the average man and woman; and not only Schiller, but +Lessing, Goethe, Gutzkow, and a long line of others have given an +atmosphere in which ennobling ideals bloom for the German youth, +during season after season, as if in the regular course of +nature. The dramatic presentation, even in the smallest towns, +is, as a rule, good; the theater and its surroundings are, in the +main, free from the abuses and miseries of the stage in +English-speaking lands, and, above all, from that all-pervading +lubricity and pornographic stench which have made the French +theater of the last half of the nineteenth century a main cause +in the decadence of the French people. In most German towns of +importance one finds the drama a part of the daily life of its +citizens--ennobling in its higher ranges, and in its influence +clean and wholesome. + +It may be added that in no city of any English-speaking country +is Shakspere presented so fully, so well, and to such large and +appreciative audiences as in Berlin. All this, and more, the +Emperor knows, and he acts upon his knowledge. Interesting was it +at various times to see him sitting with his older children at +the theater, evidently awakening their interest in dramatic +masterpieces; and among these occasions there come back to me, +especially, the evenings when he thus sat, evidently discussing +with them the thought and action in Shakspere's "Julius Caesar" +and "Coriolanus," as presented on the stage before us. I could +well imagine his comments on the venom of demagogues, on the +despotism of mobs, on the weaknesses of strong men, and on the +need, in great emergencies, of a central purpose and firm +control. His view of the true character and mission of the +theater he has given at various times, and one of his talks with +the actors in the Royal Theater, shortly after my arrival, may be +noted as typical. In it occur passages like the following: "When +I came into the government, ten years ago, . . . I was convinced +that this theater, under the guidance of the monarch, should, +like the school and the university, have as its mission the +development of the rising generation, the promotion of the +highest intellectual good in our German fatherland, and the +ennobling of our people in mind and character.... I beg of you +that you continue to stand by me, each in his own way and place, +serving the spirit of idealism, and waging war against +materialism and all un-German corruptions of the stage." + +After various utterances showing his steady purpose in the same +direction, there came out, in one of the later years of my stay, +sundry remarks of his showing a new phase of the same thought, as +follows: "The theater should not only be an important factor in +education and in the promotion of morals, but it should also +present incarnations of elegance, of beauty, of the highest +conceptions of art; it should not discourage us with sad pictures +of the past, with bitter awakenings from illusions, but be +purified, elevated, strengthened for presenting the ideal. . . . +Our ordinary life gives us every day the most mournful realities, +and the modern authors whose pleasure it is to bring these before +us upon the stage have accepted an unhealthy mission and +accomplish a discouraging work." + +In his desire to see the theater aid in developing German ideals +and in enriching German life, he has promoted presentations of +the great episodes and personages in German history. Some of +these, by Wildenbruch and Lauff, permeated with veins of true +poetry, are attractive and ennobling. Of course not all were +entirely successful. I recall one which glorified especially a +great epoch in the history of the house of Hohenzollern, the +comical effect of which on one of my diplomatic colleagues I have +mentioned elsewhere; but this, so far as my experience goes, was +an exception. + +There seems much reason for the Emperor's strenuous endeavors in +this field. The German theater still remains more wholesome than +that of any other country, but I feel bound to say that, since my +earlier acquaintance with it, from 1854 to 1856 and from 1879 to +1881, there has come some deterioration, and this is especially +shown in various dramas which have been held up as triumphs. In +these, an inoculation from the French drama seems to have +resulted in destruction of the nobler characteristics of the +German stage. One detects the cant of Dumas, fils, but not his +genius; and, when this cant is mingled with German pessimism, it +becomes at times unspeakably repulsive. The zeal for this new +drama seems to me a fad, and rather a slimy fad. With all my +heart I wish the Emperor success in his effort to keep the German +stage upon the higher planes. + +Another subject which came up from time to time was that of +archaelogical investigation. Once, in connection with some talk +on German railway enterprises in Asia Minor, I touched upon his +great opportunities to make his reign illustrious by services to +science in that region. He entered into the subject heartily; it +was at once evident that he was awake to its possibilities, and +he soon showed me much more than I knew before of what had been +done and was doing, but pointed out special difficulties in +approaching, at present, some most attractive fields of +investigation. + +Interesting also were his views on education, and more than once +the conversation touched this ground. As to his own academic +training, there is ample testimony that he appreciated the main +classical authors whom he read in the gymnasium at Cassel; but it +was refreshing to hear and to read various utterances of his +against gerund-grinding and pedantry. He recognizes the fact that +the worst enemies of classical instruction in Germany, as, +indeed, elsewhere, have been they of its own household, and he +has stated this view as vigorously as did Sydney Smith in England +and Francis Wayland in America. Whenever he dwelt on this subject +the views which he presented at such length to the Educational +Commission were wont to come out with force and piquancy. + +On one occasion our discussion turned upon physical education, +and especially upon the value to students of boating. As an old +Yale boating man, a member of the first crew which ever sent a +challenge to Harvard, and one who had occasion in the +administration of an American university to consider this form of +exercise from various standpoints, I may say that his view of its +merits and his way of promoting it seemed to me thoroughly +sensible. + +From time to time some mention from me of city improvements +observed during my daily walks led to an interesting discussion. +The city of Berlin is wonderfully well governed, and exhibits all +those triumphs of modern municipal skill and devotion which are +so conspicuously absent, as a rule, from our American cities. +While his capital preserves its self-governing powers, it is +clear that he purposes to have his full say as to everything +within his jurisdiction. There were various examples of this, and +one of them especially interested me: the renovation of the +Thiergarten. This great park, virtually a gift of the +Hohenzollern monarchs, which once lay upon the borders of the +city, but is now in the very heart of it, had gradually fallen +far short of what it should have been. Even during my earlier +stays in Berlin it was understood that some of his predecessors, +and especially his father, had desired to change its corpse-like +and swampy character and give it more of the features of a +stately park, but that popular opposition to any such change had +always shown itself too bitter and uncompromising. This seemed a +great pity, for while there were some fine trees, a great +majority of them were so crowded together that there was no +chance of broad, free growth either for trees or for shrubbery. +There was nothing of that exquisitely beautiful play, upon +expanses of green turf, of light and shade through wide-expanded +boughs and broad masses of foliage, which gives such delight in +any of the finer English or American parks. Down to about half a +dozen years since it had apparently been thought best not to +interfere, and even when attention was called to the dark, swampy +characteristics of much of the Thiergarten, the answer was that +it was best to humor the Berliners; but about the beginning of my +recent stay the young Emperor intervened with decision and force, +his work was thorough, and as my windows looked out over one +corner of this field of his operations, their progress interested +me, and they were alluded to from time to time in our +conversations. Interesting was it to note that his energy was +all-sufficient; the Berliners seemed to regard his activity as +Arabs regard a sand-storm,--as predestined and irresistible,--and +the universal verdict now justifies his course, both on sanitary +and artistic grounds. + +The same thing may be said, on the whole, of the influence he has +exerted on the great adornments of his capital city. The position +and character of various monuments on which he has impressed his +ideas, and the laying out and decoration of sundry streets and +parks, do credit not merely to his artistic sense, but to his +foresight. + +This prompt yet wise intervention, actuated by a public spirit +not only strong but intelligent, is seen, in various other parts +of the empire, in the preservation and restoration of its +architectural glories. When he announced to me at Potsdam his +intention to present specimens representative of German +architecture and sculpture to the Germanic Museum at Harvard, he +showed, in enumerating and discussing the restorations at +Marienburg and Naumburg, the bas-reliefs at Halberstadt, the +masks and statues of Andreas Schluter at Berlin, and the +Renaissance and rococo work at Lubeck and Danzig, a knowledge and +appreciation worthy of a trained architect and archaeologist. + +As to his feeling for literature, his addresses on various +occasions show amply that he has read to good purpose, not only +in the best authors of his own, but of other countries. While +there is not the slightest tinge of pedantry in his speeches or +talk, there crop out in them evidences of a curious breadth and +universality in his reading. His line of reading for amusement +was touched when, at the close of an hour of serious official +business, an illustration of mine from Rudyard Kipling led him to +recall many of that author's most striking situations, into which +he entered with great zest; and at various other times he cited +sayings of Mark Twain which he seemed especially to enjoy. Here +it may be mentioned that one may note the same breadth in his +love for art; for not only does he rejoice in the higher +achievements of architecture, sculpture, and painting, but he +takes pleasure in lighter work, and an American may note that he +is greatly interested in the popular illustrations of Gibson. + +I once asked some of the leading people nearest him how he found +time to observe so wide a range, and received answer that it was +as much a marvel to them as to me; he himself once told me that +he found much time for reading during his hunting excursions. + +Nor does he make excursions into various fields of knowledge by +books alone. Any noteworthy discovery or gain in any leading +field of thought or effort attracts his attention at once, and +must be presented to him by some one who ranks among its foremost +exponents. + +But here it should be especially noted that, active and original +as the Emperor is, he is not, and never has been, caught by FADS +either in art, science, literature, or in any other field of +human activity. The great artists who cannot draw or paint, and +who, therefore, despise those who can and are glorified by those +who cannot; the great composers who can give us neither harmony +nor melody, and therefore have a fanatical following among those +who labor under like disabilities; the great writers who are +unable to attain strength, lucidity, or beauty, and therefore +secure praise for profundity and occult wisdom,--none of these +influence him. In these, as in other things, the Hohenzollern +sanity asserts itself. He recognizes the fact that normal and +healthy progress is by an evolution of the better out of the +good, and that the true function of genius in every field is to +promote some phase of this evolution either by aiding to create a +better environment, or by getting sight of higher ideals. + +As to his manner, it is in ordinary intercourse simple, natural, +kindly, and direct, and on great public occasions dignified +without the slightest approach to pomposity. I have known scores +of our excellent fellow-citizens in little offices who were +infinitely more assuming. It was once said of a certain United +States senator that "one must climb a ladder to speak with him"; +no one would dream of making any assertion of this sort regarding +the present ruler of the Prussian Kingdom and German Empire. + +But it would be unjust to suppose that minor gifts and +acquirements form the whole of his character; they are but a part +of its garb. He is certainly developing the characteristics of a +successful ruler of men and the solid qualities of a statesman. +It was my fortune, from time to time, to hear him discuss at some +length current political questions; and his views were presented +with knowledge, clearness, and force. There was nothing at all +flighty in any of his statements or arguments. There is evidently +in him a large fund of that Hohenzollern common sense which has +so often happily modified German, and even European, politics. He +recognizes, of course, as his ancestors generally have done, that +his is a military monarchy, and that Germany is and must remain a +besieged camp; hence his close attention to the army and navy. +Every one of our embassy military attaches expressed to me his +surprise at the efficiency of his inspections of troops, of his +discrimination between things essential and not essential, and of +his insight into current military questions. Even more striking +testimony was given to me by our naval attaches as to his minute +knowledge not only of his own navy, but of the navies of other +powers, and especially as to the capabilities of various classes +of ships and, indeed, of individual vessels. One thoroughly +capable of judging told me that he doubted whether there was any +admiral in our service who knew more about every American ship of +any importance than does the Kaiser. It has been said that his +devotion to the German navy is a whim. That view can hardly +command respect among those who have noted his labor for years +upon its development, and his utterances regarding its connection +with the future of his empire. As a simple matter of fact, he +recognizes the triumphs of German commercial enterprises, and +sees in them a guarantee for the extension of German power and +for a glory more permanent than any likely to be obtained by +military operations in these times. When any candid American +studies what has been done, or, rather, what has NOT been done, +in his own country, with its immense seacoast and its many +harbors on two oceans, to build up a great merchant navy, and +compares it with what has been accomplished during the last fifty +years by the steady, earnest, honest enterprise of Germany, with +merely its little strip of coast on a northern inland sea, and +with only the Hanseatic ports as a basis, he may well have +searchings of heart. The "Shipping Trust" seems to be the main +outcome of our activity, and lines of the finest steamers running +to all parts of the world the outcome of theirs. There is a +history here which we may well ponder; the young Emperor has not +only thought but acted upon it. + +As to yet broader work, the crucial test of a ruler is his +ability to select MEN, to stand by them when he has selected +them, and to decide wisely how far the plans which he has thought +out, and they have thought out, can be fused into a policy worthy +of his country. Judged by this test, the young monarch would seem +worthy of his position; the men he has called to the various +ministries are remarkably fit for their places, several of them +showing very high capacity, and some of them genius. + +As to his relation to the legislative bodies, it is sometimes +claimed that he has lost much by his too early and open +proclamation of his decisions, intentions, and wishes; and it can +hardly be denied that something must be pardoned to the ardor of +his patriotic desire to develop the empire in all its activities; +but, after all due allowance has been made, there remains +undeniable evidence of his statesmanlike ability to impress his +views upon the national and state legislatures. A leading member +of one of the parliamentary groups, very frequently in opposition +to government measures, said to me: "After all, it is impossible +for us to resist him; he knows Germany so well, and his heart is +so thoroughly in his proposals, that he is sure to gain his +points sooner or later." + +An essential element of strength in this respect is his +acquaintance with men and things in every part of his empire. +Evidences of this were frequent in his public letters and +telegrams to cities, towns, groups, and individuals. Nor was it +"meddling and muddling." If any fine thing was done in any part +of the empire, he seemed the first to take notice of it. Typical +of his breadth of view were the cases of various ship captains +and others who showed heroism in remote parts of the world, his +telegram of hearty approval being usually the first thing they +received on coming within reach of it, and substantial evidence +of his gratitude meeting them later. + +On the other hand, as to his faculty for minute observation and +prompt action upon it: a captain of one of the great liners +between Hamburg and New York told me that when his ship was ready +to sail the Emperor came on board, looked it over, and after +approving various arrangements said dryly, "Captain, I should +think you were too old a sailor to let people give square corners +to your tables." The captain quietly acted upon this hint; and +when, many months later, the Kaiser revisited the ship, he said, +"Well, captain, I am glad to see that you have rounded the +corners of your tables." + +He is certainly a working man. The record of each of his days at +Berlin or Potsdam, as given in the press, shows that every hour, +from dawn to long after dusk, brings its duties--duties demanding +wide observation, close study, concentration of thought, and +decision. Nor is his attention bounded by German interests. He is +a keen student of the world at large. At various interviews there +was ample evidence of his close observation of the present +President of the United States, and of appreciation of his doings +and qualities; so, too, when the struggle for decent government +in New York was going on, he showed an intelligent interest in +Mr. Seth Low; and in various other American matters there was +recognition of the value of any important stroke of good work +done by our countrymen. + +As to his view of international questions, two of the +opportunities above referred to especially occur to me here. + +The first of these was during the troubles in Crete between the +Greeks and the Turks. As I talked one evening with one of my +colleagues who represented a power especially interested in the +matter, the Emperor came up and at once entered into the +discussion. He stated the position of various powers in relation +to it, and suggested a line of conduct. There was straightforward +good sense in his whole contention, a refreshing absence of +conventionalities, and a very clear insight into the realities of +the question, with a shrewd forecast of the result. More +interesting to me was another conversation, in the spring of +1899. As the time drew near for the sessions of the Peace +Conference at The Hague, I was making preparations for leaving +Berlin to take up my duty in that body, when one morning there +appeared at the embassy a special messenger from the Emperor +requesting me to come to the palace. My reception was hearty, and +he plunged at once into the general subject by remarking, "What +the conference will most need is good common sense; and I have +sent Count Munster, my ambassador at Paris, because he has lots +of it." With this preface, he went very fully into the questions +likely to come before the conference, speaking regarding the +attitude of the United States and the various powers of Europe +and Asia with a frankness, fullness, and pungency which at times +rather startled me. On the relations between the United States, +Germany, and Great Britain he was especially full. Very +suggestive also were his remarks regarding questions in the far +East, and especially on the part likely to be played by Japan and +China--the interests of various powers in these questions being +presented in various aspects, some of them decidedly original and +suggestive. While there were points on which we could hardly +agree, there were some suggestions which proved to be of especial +value, and to one of them is due the fact that on most questions +the German delegates at The Hague stood by the Americans, and +that on the most important question of all they finally, after a +wide divergence from our view, made common cause with Great +Britain and the United States. I regret that the time has not +come when it is permissible to give his conversation in detail; +it treated a multitude of current topics, and even burning +questions, with statesmanlike breadth, and at the same time with +the shrewdness of a man of the world. There were in it sundry +personal touches which interested me; among others, a statement +regarding Cecil Rhodes, the South African magnate, and a +reference to sundry doings and sayings of his own which had been +misrepresented, especially in England. One point in this was +especially curious. He said, "Some people find fault with me for +traveling so much; but this is part of my business: I try to know +my empire and my people, to see for myself what they need and +what is going on, what is doing and who are doing it. It is my +duty also to know men and countries outside the empire. I am not +like ----," naming a sovereign well known in history, "who never +stirred out of the house if he could help it, and so let men and +things go on as they pleased." + +This union of breadth and minuteness in his view of his empire +and of the world is, perhaps, his most striking characteristic. +It may be safely said that, at any given moment, he knows +directly, or will shortly know, the person and work of every man +in his empire who is really taking the lead in anything worthy of +special study or close attention. The German court is considered +very exclusive, but one constantly saw at its assemblages men +noted in worthy fields from every part of Germany and, indeed, of +Europe. Herein is a great difference between the German and +Russian courts. If, during my official life at St. Petersburg, I +wished to make the acquaintance of a man noted in science, +literature, or art, he must be found at professorial gatherings +across the Neva. He rarely, if ever, appeared in the throng of +military and civil officials at the Winter Palace. But at Berlin +such men took an honored place at the court among those whom the +ruler sought out and was glad to converse with. + +As to the world outside the empire, I doubt whether any other +sovereign equals him in personal acquaintance with leaders in +every field of worthy activity. It was interesting from time to +time to look over the official lists of his guests at breakfast, +or luncheon, or dinner, or supper, or at military exercises, or +at the theater; for they usually embraced men noted in civil, +ecclesiastical, or military affairs, in literature, science, art, +commerce, or industry from every nation. One class was +conspicuous by its absence at all such gatherings, large or +small; namely, the MERELY rich. Rich men there were, but they +were always men who had done something of marked value to their +country or to mankind; for the mere "fatty tumors" of the +financial world he evidently cared nothing. + +A special characteristic in the German ruler is independence of +thought. This quality should not be confounded, as it often is, +with mere offhand decision based upon prejudices or whimsies. One +example, which I have given elsewhere, may be here referred to as +showing that his rapid judgments are based upon clear insight: +his OWN insight, and not that of others. On my giving him news of +the destruction of the Maine at Havana, he at once asked me +whether the explosion was from the outside; and from first to +last, against the opinions of his admirals and captains, insisted +that it must have been so. + +He is certainly, in the opinion of all who know him, +impulsive--indeed, a very large proportion of his acts which +strike the attention of the world seem the result of impulse; +but, as a rule, it will be found that beneath these impulses is a +calm judgment. Even when this seems not to be the case, they are +likely to appeal all the more strongly to humanity at large. +Typical was his impulsive proposal to make up to the Regent of +Bavaria the art appropriation denied by sundry unpatriotic +bigots. Its immediate result was a temporary triumph for the +common enemy, but it certainly drew to the Emperor the hearts of +an immense number of people, not only inside, but outside his +empire; and, in the long run, it will doubtless be found to have +wrought powerfully for right reason. As an example of an +utterance of his which to many might seem to be the result of a +momentary impulse, but which reveals sober contemplation of +problems looming large before the United States as well as +Germany, I might cite a remark made last year to an American +eminent in public affairs. He said, "You in America may do what +you please, but I will not suffer capitalists in Germany to suck +the life out of the working-men and then fling them like squeezed +lemon-skins into the gutter." + +Any one who runs through the printed volume of his speeches will +see that he is fertile in ideas on many subjects, and knows how +to impress them upon his audiences. His voice and manner are +good, and at times there are evidences of deep feeling, showing +the man beneath the garb of the sovereign. This was especially +the case in his speech at the coming of age of his son. The +audience was noteworthy, there being present the Austrian +Emperor, members of all the great ruling houses of Europe the +foremost men in contemporary German history, and the diplomatic +representatives of foreign powers--an audience representing wide +differences in points of view and in lines of thought, yet no one +of them could fail to be impressed by sundry references to the +significance of the occasion. + +Even the most rapid sketch of the Emperor would be inadequate +without some reference to his religious views. It is curious to +note that while Frederick the Great is one of the gods of his +idolatry, the two monarchs are separated by a whole orb of +thought in their religious theories and feelings. While a +philosophical observer may see in this the result of careful +training in view of the evident interests of the monarchy in +these days, he must none the less acknowledge the reality and +depth of those feelings in the present sovereign. No one who has +observed his conduct and utterances, and especially no one who +has read his sermon and prayer on the deck of one of his +war-ships just at the beginning of the Chinese war, can doubt +that there is in his thinking a genuine substratum of religious +feeling. It is true that at times one is reminded of the remark +made to an American ecclesiastic by an eminent German theological +professor regarding that tough old monarch, Frederick William I; +namely, that while he was deeply religious, his religion was "of +an Old Testament type." Of course, the religion of the present +Emperor is of a type vastly higher than that of his ancestor, +whose harshness to the youth who afterward became the great +Frederick has been depicted in the "Memoirs" of the Margravine of +Bayreuth; but there remains clearly in the religion of the +present Emperor a certain "Old Testament" character--a feeling of +direct reliance upon the Almighty, a consciousness of his own +part in guiding a chosen people, and a readiness, if need be, to +smite the Philistines. One phase of this feeling appears in the +music at the great anniversaries, when the leading men of the +empire are brought together beneath the dome of the Palace +Church. The anthems executed by the bands and choirs, and the +great chorals sung by the congregation, breathe anything but the +spirit of the Sermon on the Mount; they seem rather to echo the +grim old battle-hymns of the Thirty Years' War and the war in the +Netherlands. + +And yet it must be said that there goes with this a remarkable +feeling of justice to his subjects of other confessions than his +own, and a still more remarkable breadth of view as regards the +relations of modern science to what is generally held as orthodox +theology. The fearlessness with which he recently summoned +Professor Delitzsch to unfold to him and to his family and court +the newly revealed relations of Assyrian research to biblical +study, which gave such alarm in highly orthodox circles, and his +fairness in estimating these researches, certainly revealed +breadth of mind as well as trust in what he considered the +fundamental verities of religion. + +A good example of the curious union, in his mind, of religious +feeling, tolerance, and shrewd policy is shown in various +dealings with his Roman Catholic subjects. + +Of course he is not ignorant that his very existence as King of +Prussia and German Emperor is a thorn in the side of the Roman +Curia; he knows, as every thinking German knows, that, with the +possible exception of the British monarchy, no other is so hated +by the Vatican monsignori as his own. He is perfectly aware of +the part taken in that quarter against his country and dynasty at +all times, and especially during the recent wars; and yet all +this seems not to influence him in the slightest as regards +justice to his Roman Catholic subjects. He does indeed, resist +the return of the Jesuits into the empire,--his keen insight +forbids him to imitate the policy of Frederick the Great in this +respect,--but his dealings with the Roman Catholic Church at +large show not merely wisdom but kindliness. If he felt bound to +resist, and did successfully resist, the efforts of Cardinal +Rampolla to undermine German rule and influence in Alsace and +Lorraine, there was a quiet fairness and justice in his action +which showed a vast deal of tolerant wisdom. His visits to the +old Abbey of Laach, his former relations with its young abbot, +his settlement of a vexed question by the transfer of the abbot +to the bishopric of Metz, his bringing of a loyal German into +episcopal power at Strasburg, his recent treatment of the prince +bishop of Breslau and the archbishop of Cologne, all show a wise +breadth of view. Perhaps one of the brightest diplomatic strokes +in his career was his dealing with a Vatican question during his +journey in the East. For years there had been growing up in world +politics the theory that France, no matter how she may deal with +monks and nuns and ultramontane efforts within her own immediate +boundaries, is their protector in all the world beside, and +especially in the Holy Land. The relation of this theory to the +Crimean War, fifty years ago, is one of the curious things of +history, and from that day to this it has seemed to be hardening +more and more into a fixed policy--even into something like a +doctrine of international law. Interesting was it, then, to see +the Emperor, on his visit to the Sultan, knock the ground from +under the feet of all this doctrine by securing for the Roman +Catholic interest at Jerusalem what the French had never been +able to obtain--the piece of ground at the Holy City, so long +coveted by pious Catholics, whereon, according to tradition, once +stood the lodging of the Virgin Mary. This the Emperor quietly +obtained of the Sultan, and, after assisting at the dedication of +a Lutheran church at Jerusalem, he telegraphed to the Pope and to +other representatives of the older church that he had made a gift +of this sacred site to those who had so long and so ardently +desired it. + +Considerable criticism has been made on the score of his evident +appreciation of his position, and his theory of his relation to +it; but when his point of view is cited, one perhaps appreciates +it more justly. I have already shown this point of view in the +account of the part taken by him at the two-hundredth anniversary +of the Royal Academy, and of his remark, afterward, contrasting +his theory of monarchy with that of Dom Pedro of Brazil. Jocose +as was the manner of it, it throws light upon his idea of his +duty in the state. While a constitutional monarch, he is not so +in the British sense. British constitutional monarchy is made +possible by the "silver streak"; but around the German Empire, as +every German feels in his heart, is no "silver streak." This fact +should be constantly borne in mind by those who care really to +understand the conditions of national existence on the continent +of Europe. Herein lies the answer to one charge that has been so +often made against the German Emperor--of undue solicitude +regarding his official and personal position, as shown in sundry +petty treason trials. The simple fact is that German public +opinion, embodied in German law, has arrived at the conclusion +that it is not best to allow the head of the state to be the +sport of every crank or blackguard who can wield a pen or pencil. +The American view, which allowed Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley +to be attacked in all the moods and tenses of vituperation, and +to be artistically portrayed as tyrants, drunkards, clowns, +beasts of prey, and reptiles, has not yet been received into +German modes of thought. Luther said that he "would not suffer +any man to treat the Gospel as a sow treats a sack of oats"; and +that seems to be the feeling inherent in the German mind +regarding the treatment of those who represent the majesty of the +nation. + +And here a word regarding the relation of Kaiser and people. In +one of the letters to John Adams written by Thomas Jefferson as +they both were approaching the close of life, the founder of +American democracy declared that he had foreseen the failure of +French popular rule, and had therefore favored in France, +democrat though he was, a constitutional monarchy. Had Jefferson +lived in our time, he would doubtless have arrived at a similar +conclusion regarding Germany, for he would have taken account of +the difference between a country like ours, with no long period +of history which had given to dominant political ideas a +religious character,--a country stretching from ocean to ocean, +with no neighbors to make us afraid,--and a country like +Germany, with an ancient historic head, with no natural +frontiers, and beset on every side by enemies; and Jefferson +would doubtless have taken account also of the fact that, were +the matter submitted to popular vote, the present sovereign, with +his present powers, would be the choice of an overwhelming +majority of the German people. The German imperial system, like +our own American republican system, is the result of an evolution +during many generations--an evolution which has produced the +present government, decided its character, fixed its form, +allotted its powers, and decided on the men at the head of it; +and this fact an American, no matter how devoted to republicanism +and democracy in his own country, may well acknowledge to be as +fixed in the political as in the physical world. + +Of course some very bitter charges have been made against him as +regards Germany, the main one being that he does not love +parliamentary government and has, at various times, infringed +upon the constitution of the empire. + +As to loving parliamentary government, he would probably say that +he cannot regard a system as final which, while attaching to the +front of the chariot of progress a full team to pull it forward, +attaches another team to the rear to pull it backward. But +whatever his theory, he has in practice done his best to promote +the efficiency of parliamentary government, and to increase +respect for it in his kingdom of Prussia, by naming as life +members of the Senate sundry men of the highest character and of +immense value in the discussion of the most important questions. +Two of these, appointed during my stay, I knew and admired. The +first, Professor Gustav Schmoller, formerly rector of the +University of Berlin, is one of the leading economists of the +world, who has shown genius in studying and exhibiting the +practical needs of the German people, and in discerning the best +solutions of similar problems throughout the world--profound, +eloquent, conciliatory, sure to be of immense value as a senator. +The second, Professor Slaby, director of the great technical +institution of Germany at Charlottenburg, is one of the leading +authorities of the world on everything that pertains to the +applications of electricity, a great administrator, a wise +counselor on questions pertaining to the German educational +system. Neither of these men orates, but both are admirable +speakers, and are sure to be of incalculable value. I name them +simply as types: others were appointed, equally distinguished in +other fields. If, then, the Emperor is blamed for not liking +parliamentary and party government, it is only fair to say that +he has taken the surest way to give it strength and credit. + +As to the alleged violations of the German constitution, the +same, in a far higher degree, were charged against Kaiser William +I and Bismarck,--and these charges were true,--but it is also +true that thereby those men saved and built up their country. As +a matter of fact, the intuitive sense as well as the reflective +powers of Germans seem to show them that the real dangers to +their country come from a very different quarter--from men who +promote hatreds of race, class, and religion within the empire, +and historic international hatreds without it. + +So, too, various charges have been made against the Emperor as +regards the United States. From time to time there came, during +my stay, statements in sundry American newspapers, some +belligerent, some lacrymose, regarding his attitude toward our +country. It seemed to be taken for granted by many good people +during our Spanish War that the Emperor was personally against +us. It is not unlikely that he may have felt sympathy for that +forlorn, widowed Queen Regent of Spain, making so desperate a +struggle to save the kingdom for her young son; if so, he but +shared a feeling common to a very large part of humanity, for +certainly there have been few more pathetic situations; but that +he really cared anything for the success of Spain is exceedingly +doubtful. The Hohenzollern common sense in him must have been for +years vexed at the folly and fatuity of Spanish policy. He +probably inherits the feeling of his father, who, when visiting +the late Spanish monarch some years before his death, showed a +most kindly personal feeling toward Spain and its ruler, and an +intense interest in various phases of art developed in the +Spanish peninsula; but, in his diary, let fall remarks which show +his feeling toward the whole existing Spanish system. One of +these I recall especially. Passing a noted Spanish town, he +remarks: "Here are ten churches, twenty monasteries, and not a +single school." No Hohenzollern is likely to waste much sympathy +on a nation which brings on its fate by preferring monasticism to +education; and never during the Spanish War did he or his +government, to my knowledge, show the slightest leaning toward +our enemies. Certain it is that when sundry hysterical publicists +and meddlesome statesmen of the Continent proposed measures +against what they thought the dangerous encroachments of our +Republic, he quietly, but resolutely and effectually, put his +foot upon them. + +Another complaint sometimes heard in America really amounts to +this: that the Emperor is pushing German interests in all parts +of the world, and is not giving himself much trouble about the +interests of other countries. There is truth in this, but the +complainants evidently never stop to consider that every thinking +man in every nation would despise him were it otherwise. + +Yet another grievance, a little time since, was that, apparently +with his approval, his ships of war handled sundry Venezuelans +with decided roughness. This was true enough and ought to warm +every honest man's heart. + +The main facts in the case were these: a petty equatorial +"republic," after a long series of revolutions,--one hundred and +four in seventy years, Lord Lansdowne tells us,--was enjoying +peace and the beginnings of prosperity. Thanks to the United +States, it had received from an international tribunal the +territory to which it was entitled, was free from disturbance at +home or annoyance abroad, and was under a regular government +sanctioned by its people. Suddenly, an individual started another +so-called "revolution." He was the champion of no reform, +principle, or idea; he simply represented the greed of himself +and a pack of confederates whose ideal was that of a gang of +burglars. With their aid he killed, plundered, or terrorized +until he got control of the government--or, rather, became +himself the government. Under the name of a "republic" he erected +a despotism and usurped powers such as no Russian autocrat would +dare claim. Like the men of his sort who so often afflict +republics in the equatorial regions of South America, he had no +hesitation in confiscating the property and taking the lives, not +only of such of his fellow-citizens as he thought dangerous to +himself, but also of those whom he thought likely to become so. +He made the public treasury his own, and doubtless prepared the +way, as so many other patriots of his sort in such "republics" +have done, for retirement into a palace at Paris, with ample +funds for enjoying the pleasures of that capital, after he, like +so many others, shall have been, in turn, kicked out of his +country by some new bandit stronger than he. + +So far so good. If the citizens of Venezuela like or permit that +sort of thing, outside nations have no call to interfere; but +this petty despot, having robbed, maltreated, and even murdered +citizens of his own country, proceeded to maltreat and rob +citizens of other countries and, among them, those of the German +Empire. He was at first asked in diplomatic fashion to desist and +to make amends, but for such appeals he simply showed contempt. +His purpose was evidently to plunder all German subjects within +his reach, and to cheat all German creditors beyond his reach. At +this the German Government, as every government in similar +circumstances is bound to do, demanded redress and sent ships to +enforce the demand. This was perfectly legitimate; but +immediately there arose in the United States an outcry against a +"violation of the Monroe Doctrine." As a matter of fact, the +Monroe Doctrine was no more concerned in the matter than was the +doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints; but there was enough +to start an outcry against Germany, and so it began to spread. +The Germans were careful to observe the best precedents in +international law, yet every step they took was exhibited in +sundry American papers as a menace to the United States. There +was no more menace to the United States than to the planet +Saturn. The conduct of the German Government was in the interest +of the United States as well as of every other decent government. +Finally, the soldiers in a Venezuelan fort wantonly fired upon a +German war vessel--whereupon the commander of the ship, acting +entirely in accordance, not only with international law, but with +natural right, defended himself, and knocked the fort about the +ears of those who occupied it, thus giving the creatures who +directed them a lesson which ought to rejoice every thinking +American. At this the storm on paper against Germany, both in +America and Great Britain, broke out with renewed violence, and +there was more talk about dangers to the Monroe Doctrine. As one +who, at The Hague Conference, was able to do something for +recognition of the Monroe Doctrine by European powers, and who, +as a member of the Venezuelan Commission, did what was possible +to secure justice to Venezuela, I take this opportunity to +express the opinion that the time has come for plain speaking in +this matter. Even with those of us who believe in the Monroe +Doctrine there begins to arise a question as to which are nearest +the interests and the hearts of Americans,--the sort of "dumb +driven cattle" who allow themselves to be governed by such men as +now control Venezuela, or the people of Germany and other +civilized parts of Europe, as well as those of the better South +American republics, like Chile, the Argentine Republic, Brazil, +and others, whose interests, aspirations, ideals, and feelings +are so much more closely akin to our own. + +Occasionally, too, there have arisen plaintive declarations that +the Emperor does not love the United States or admire its +institutions. As to that I never saw or heard of anything showing +dislike to our country; but, after all, he is a free man, and +there is nothing in international law or international comity +requiring him to love the United States; it is sufficient that he +respects what is respectable in our government and people, and we +may fairly allow to him his opinion on sundry noxious and +nauseous developments among us which we hope may prove temporary. +As to admiring our institutions, he is probably not fascinated by +our lax administration of criminal justice, which leaves at large +more unpunished criminals, and especially murderers, than are to +be found in any other part of the civilized world, save, +possibly, some districts of lower Italy and Sicily. He probably +does not admire Tammany Hall or the Philadelphia Ring, and has +his own opinion of cities which submit to such tyranny; quite +likely he has not been favorably impressed by the reckless waste +and sordid jobbery recently revealed at St. Louis and +Minneapolis; it is exceedingly doubtful whether he admires some +of the speeches on national affairs made for the "Buncombe +district" and the galleries; but that he admires and respects the +men in the United States who do things worth doing, and say +things worth saying; that he takes a deep interest in those +features of our policy, or achievements of our people, which are +to our credit; that he enjoys the best of our literature; that he +respects every true American soldier and sailor, every American +statesman or scholar or writer or worker of any sort who really +accomplishes anything for our country, is certain. + +To sum up his position in contemporary history: As the German +nation is the result of an evolution of individual and national +character in obedience to resistless inner forces and to its +environment, so out of the medley of imperial and royal +Hohenstaufens, Hapsburgs, Wittelsbachs, Wettins, Guelphs, and the +like, have arisen, as by a survival of the fittest, the +Hohenzollerns. These have given to the world various strong +types, and especially such as the Great Elector, Frederick II, +and William I. Mainly under them and under men trained or +selected by them, Germany, from a great confused mass of warriors +and thinkers and workers, militant at cross-purposes, wearing +themselves out in vain struggles, and preyed upon by malevolent +neighbors, has become a great power in arms, in art, in science, +in literature; a fortress of high thought; a guardian of +civilization; the natural ally of every nation which seeks the +better development of humanity. And the young monarch who is now +at its head--original, yet studious of the great men and deeds of +the past; brave, yet conciliatory; never allowing the mail-clad +fist to become unnerved, but none the less devoted to the +conquests of peace; standing firmly on realities, but with a +steady vision of ideals--seems likely to add a new name to the +list of those who, as leaders of Germany, have advanced the +world. + + + +CHAPTER XLV + +AS PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN DELEGATION AT THE PEACE CONFERENCE +OF THE HAGUE: I--1899 + +On the 24th of August, 1898, the Russian Government proposed, in +the name of the Emperor Nicholas II, a conference which should +seek to arrest the constantly increasing development of armaments +and thus contribute to a durable peace; and on the 11th of +January, 1899, his minister of foreign affairs, Count Mouravieff, +having received favorable answers to this proposal, sent forth a +circular indicating the Russian view as to subjects of +discussion. As to the place of meeting, there were obvious +reasons why it should not be the capital of one of the greater +powers. As to Switzerland, the number of anarchists and nihilists +who had taken refuge there, and the murder of the Empress of +Austria by one of them shortly before, at Geneva, in broad +daylight, had thrown discredit over the ability of the Swiss +Government to guarantee safety to the conference; the Russian +Government therefore proposed that its sessions be held at The +Hague, and this being agreed to, the opening was fixed for the +18th of May. + +From the first there was a misunderstanding throughout the world +as to what the Emperor Nicholas really proposed. Far and near it +was taken for granted that he desired a general disarmament, and +this legend spread rapidly. As a matter of fact, this was neither +his proposal nor his purpose; the measures he suggested being +designed "to put an end to the constantly increasing development +of armaments." + +At the outset I was skeptical as to the whole matter. What I had +seen of the Emperor Nicholas during my stay in Russia had not +encouraged me to expect that he would have the breadth of view or +the strength of purpose to carry out the vast reforms which +thinking men hoped for. I recalled our conversation at my +reception as minister, when, to my amazement, he showed himself +entirely ignorant of the starving condition of the peasantry +throughout large districts in the very heart of the empire.[8] +That he was a kindly man, wishing in a languid way the good of +his country, could not be doubted; but the indifference to +everything about him evident in all his actions, his lack of +force even in the simplest efforts for the improvement of his +people, and, above all, his yielding to the worst elements in his +treatment of the Baltic provinces and Finland, did not encourage +me to believe that he would lead a movement against the enormous +power of the military party in his vast empire. On this account, +when the American newspapers prophesied that I was to be one of +the delegates, my feelings were strongly against accepting any +such post. But in due time the tender of it came in a way very +different from anything I had anticipated: President McKinley +cabled a personal request that I accept a position on the +delegation, and private letters from very dear friends, in whose +good judgment I had confidence, gave excellent reasons for my +doing so. At the same time came the names of my colleagues, and +this led me to feel that the delegation was to be placed on a +higher plane than I had expected. In the order named by the +President, they were as follows: Andrew D. White; Seth Low, +President of Columbia University; Stanford Newel, Minister at The +Hague; Captain Mahan, of the United States navy; Captain Crozier, +of the army; and the Hon. Frederick W. Holls as secretary. In +view of all this, I accepted. + + +[8] See account of this conversation in "My Mission to Russia," +Chapter XXXIII, pp. 9-10. + + +Soon came evidences of an interest in the conference more earnest +and wide-spread than anything I had dreamed. Books, documents, +letters, wise and unwise, thoughtful and crankish, shrewd and +childish, poured in upon me; in all classes of society there +seemed fermenting a mixture of hope and doubt; even the German +Emperor apparently felt it, for shortly there came an invitation +to the palace, and on my arrival I found that the subject +uppermost in his mind was the approaching conference. Of our +conversation, as well as of some other interviews at this period, +I speak elsewhere. + +On the 16th of May I left Berlin, and arrived late in the evening +at The Hague. As every day's doings were entered in my diary, it +seems best to give an account of this part of my life in the +shape of extracts from it. + + +May 17, 1899. + +This morning, on going out of our hotel, the Oude Doelen, I found +that since my former visit, thirty-five years ago, there had been +little apparent change. It is the same old town, quiet, +picturesque, full of historical monuments and art treasures. This +hotel and the neighboring streets had been decorated with the +flags of various nations, including our own, and crowds were +assembled under our windows and in the public places. The hotel +is in one of the most attractive parts of the city +architecturally and historically, and is itself interesting from +both points of view. It has been a hostelry ever since the middle +ages, and over the main entrance a tablet indicates rebuilding in +1625. Connected with it by interior passages are a number of +buildings which were once private residences, and one of the +largest and best of these has been engaged for us. Fortunately +the present Secretary of State, John Hay, has been in the +diplomatic service; and when I wrote him, some weeks ago, on the +importance of proper quarters being secured for us, he entered +heartily into the matter, giving full powers to the minister here +to do whatever was necessary, subject to my approval. The result +is that we are quite as well provided for as any other delegation +at the conference. + +In the afternoon our delegation met at the house of the American +minister and was duly organized. Although named by the President +first in the list of delegates, I preferred to leave the matter +of the chairmanship entirely to my associates, and they now +unanimously elected me as their President. + +The instructions from the State Department were then read. These +were, in effect, as follows: + +The first article of the Russian proposals, relating to the +non-augmentation of land and sea forces, is so inapplicable to +the United States at present that it is deemed advisable to leave +the initiative, upon this subject, to the representatives of +those powers to which it may properly apply. + +As regards the articles relating to the non-employment of new +firearms, explosives, and other destructive agencies, the +restricted use of the existing instruments of destruction, and +the prohibition of certain contrivances employed in naval +warfare, it seems to the department that they are lacking in +practicability and that the discussion of these articles would +probably provoke divergency rather than unanimity of view. The +secretary goes on to say that "it is doubtful if wars will be +diminished by rendering them less destructive, for it is the +plain lesson of history that the periods of peace have been +longer protracted as the cost and destructiveness of war have +increased. The expediency of restraining the inventive genius of +our people in the direction of devising means of defense is by no +means clear, and, considering the temptations to which men and +nations may be exposed in a time of conflict, it is doubtful if +an international agreement of this nature would prove effective." + +As to the fifth, sixth, and seventh articles, aiming, in the +interest of humanity, to succor those who by the chance of battle +have been rendered helpless, to alleviate their sufferings, and +to insure the safety of those whose mission is purely one of +peace and beneficence, we are instructed that any practicable +proposals should receive our earnest support. + +On the eighth article, which proposes the wider extension of +"good offices, mediation, and arbitration," the secretary dwells +with much force, and finally says: "The proposal of the +conference promises to offer an opportunity thus far unequaled in +the history of the world for initiating a series of negotiations +that may lead to important practical results." The delegation is +therefore enjoined to propose, at an opportune moment, a plan for +an International Tribunal of Arbitration which is annexed to the +instructions, and to use their influence in the conference to +procure the adoption of its substance. + +And, finally, we are instructed to propose to the conference the +principle of extending to strictly private property at sea the +immunity from destruction or capture by belligerent powers +analogous to that which such property already enjoys on land, and +to endeavor to have this principle incorporated in the permanent +law of civilized nations. A well-drawn historical resume of the +relations of the United States to the question of arbitration +thus far is added, and a historical summary of the action of the +United States, hitherto, regarding the exemption of private +property at sea from seizure during war. + +The document of most immediate importance is the plan furnished +us for international arbitration. Its main features are as +follows: + +First, a tribunal "composed of judges chosen, on account of their +personal integrity and learning in international law, by a +majority of the members of the highest court now existing in each +of the adhering states, one from each sovereign state +participating in the treaty, who shall hold office until their +successors are appointed by the same body." + +Secondly, the tribunal to meet for organization not later than +six months after the treaty shall have been ratified by nine +powers; to organize itself as a permanent court, with such +officers as may be found necessary, and to fix its own place of +session and rules of procedure. + +The third article provides that "the contracting nations will +mutually agree to submit to the international tribunal all +questions of disagreement between them, excepting such as may +relate to or involve their political independence or territorial +integrity." + +The fifth article runs as follows: "A bench of judges for each +particular case shall consist of not fewer than three nor more +than seven, as may be deemed expedient, appointed by the +unanimous consent of the tribunal, and shall not include any +member who is either a native, subject, or citizen of the state +whose interests are in litigation in the case." + +The sixth article provides that the general expenses of the +tribunal be divided equally among the adherent powers; but that +those arising from each particular case be provided for as may be +directed by the tribunal; also that non-adherent states may bring +their cases before it, on condition of the mutual agreement that +the state against which judgment shall be found shall pay, in +addition to the judgment, the expenses of the adjudication. + +The seventh article makes provision for an appeal, within three +months after the notification of the decision, upon presentation +of evidence that the judgment contains a substantial error of +fact or law. + +The eighth and final article provides that the treaty shall +become operative when nine sovereign states, whereof at least six +shall have taken part in the conference of The Hague, shall have +ratified its provisions. + +It turns out that ours is the only delegation which has anything +like a full and carefully adjusted plan for a court of +arbitration. The English delegation, though evidently exceedingly +desirous that a system of arbitration be adopted, has come +without anything definitely drawn. The Russians have a scheme; +but, so far as can be learned, there is no provision in it for a +permanent court. + +In the evening there was a general assemblage of the members of +the conference at a reception given by Jonkheer van Karnebeek, +formerly Dutch minister of foreign affairs, and now first +delegate from the Netherlands to the conference. It was very +brilliant, and I made many interesting acquaintances; but, +probably, since the world began, never has so large a body come +together in a spirit of more hopeless skepticism as to any good +result. Though no one gives loud utterance to this feeling, it is +none the less deep. Of course, among all these delegates +acquainted with public men and measures in Europe, there is +considerable distrust of the intentions of Russia; and, +naturally, the weakness of the Russian Emperor is well +understood, though all are reticent regarding it. The only open +utterances are those attributed to one or two of the older +European diplomatists, who lament being sent on an errand which +they fear is to be fruitless. One of these is said to have +bewailed this mission as a sad ending to his public services, and +to have declared that as he had led a long life of devotion to +his country and to its sovereign, his family might well look upon +his career as honorable; but that now he is probably doomed to +crown it with an open failure. + +May 18. + +At two o'clock in the afternoon the conference held its open +session at the "House in the Wood." The building is most +interesting, presenting as it does the art and general ideas of +two hundred and fifty years ago; it is full of historical +associations, and the groves and gardens about it are delightful. +The walls and dome of the great central hall are covered with +immense paintings in the style of Rubens, mainly by his pupils; +and, of these, one over the front entrance represents Peace +descending from heaven, bearing various symbols and, apparently, +entering the hall. To this M. de Beaufort, our honorary +president, the Netherlands minister of foreign affairs, made a +graceful allusion in his opening speech, expressing the hope that +Peace, having entered the hall, would go forth bearing blessings +to the world. Another representation, which covers one immense +wall, is a glorification of various princes of Orange: it is in +full front of me, as I sit, the Peace fresco being visible at my +left, and a lovely view of the gardens, and of the water beyond, +through the windows at my right. + +The "House in the Wood" was built early in the seventeenth +century by a princess of the house of Orange, the grandmother of +William III of England. The central hall under the dome, above +referred to, is now filled up with seats and desks, covered with +green cloth, very neat and practical, and mainly arranged like +those in an English college chapel. Good fortune has given me one +of the two best seats in the house; it being directly in front of +the secretaries, who are arranged in a semicircle just below the +desk of the president; at my left are the other members of our +delegation, and facing me, across the central aisle, is Count +Munster, at the head of the German delegation. This piece of good +luck comes from the fact that we are seated in the alphabetical +order of our countries, beginning with Allemagne, continuing with +Amerique, and so on down the alphabet. + +The other large rooms on the main floor are exceedingly handsome, +with superb Japanese and Chinese hangings, wrought about the +middle of the last century to fit the spaces they occupy; on all +sides are the most perfect specimens of Japanese and Chinese +bronzes, ivory carvings, lacquer-work, and the like: these rooms +are given up to the committees into which the whole body is +divided. Up-stairs is a dining-hall in which the Dutch Government +serves, every working-day, a most bounteous lunch to us all, and +at this there is much opportunity for informal discussion. Near +the main hall is a sumptuous saloon, hung round with interesting +portraits, one of them being an admirable likeness of Motley the +historian, who was a great favorite of the late Queen, and +frequently her guest in this palace. + +Our first session was very interesting; the speech by the +honorary president, M. de Beaufort, above referred to, was in +every way admirable, and that by the president, M. de Staal, +thoroughly good. The latter is the Russian ambassador to London; +I had already met him in St. Petersburg, and found him +interesting and agreeable. He is, no doubt, one of the foremost +diplomatists of this epoch; but he is evidently without much +knowledge of parliamentary procedure. Congratulatory telegrams +were received from the Emperor of Russia and the Queen of the +Netherlands and duly answered. + + +May 19. + +At eleven in the morning, in one of the large rooms of the hotel, +the presidents of delegations met to decide on a plan of +organization and work; and, sitting among them, I first began to +have some hopes of a good result. Still, at the outset, the +prospect was much beclouded. Though a very considerable number of +the foremost statesmen in Europe were present, our deliberations +appeared, for a time, a hopeless chaos: the unfamiliarity of our +president, Baron de Staal, with parliamentary usages seemed +likely to become embarrassing; but sundry statesmen, more +experienced in such matters, began drawing together, and were +soon elaborating a scheme to be presented to the entire +conference. It divided all the subjects named in the Mouravieff +circular among three great committees, the most important being +that on "Arbitration." The choice of representatives on these +from our delegation was made, and an ex-officio membership of all +three falls to me. + +In the course of the day I met and talked with various +interesting men, among them Count Nigra, formerly Cavour's +private secretary and ambassador at the court of Napoleon III, +where he accomplished so much for Italian unity; Sir Julian +Pauncefote, the British ambassador at Washington; and M. +Bernaert, president of the Belgian Chamber. In the evening, at a +reception given by the minister of foreign affairs, M. de +Beaufort, I made further acquaintances and had instructive +conversations. + +In addition to the strict duties of the conference, there is, of +course, a mass of social business, with no end of visits, calls, +and special meetings, to say nothing of social functions, on a +large scale, at the houses of sundry ministers and officials; but +these, of course, have their practical uses. + +The Dutch Government is showing itself princely in various ways, +making every provision for our comfort and enjoyment. + +In general, I am considerably encouraged. The skeptical feeling +with which we came together seems now passing away; the recent +speech of the Emperor William at Wiesbaden has aroused new hopes +of a fairly good chance for arbitration, and it looks as if the +promise made me just before I left Berlin by Baron von Bulow, +that the German delegation should cooperate thoroughly with our +own, is to be redeemed. That delegation assures us that it is +instructed to stand by us as far as possible on all the principal +questions. It forms a really fine body, its head being Count +Munster, whom I have already found very agreeable at Berlin and +Paris, and its main authority in the law of nations being +Professor Zorn, of the University of Konigsberg; but, curiously +enough, as if by a whim, the next man on its list is Professor +Baron von Stengel of Munich, who has written a book AGAINST +arbitration; and next to him comes Colonel Schwartzhoff, said to +be a man of remarkable ability in military matters, but strongly +prejudiced against the Russian proposals. + +As to arbitration, we cannot make it compulsory, as so many very +good people wish; it is clear that no power here would agree to +that; but even to provide regular machinery for arbitration, +constantly in the sight of all nations, and always ready for use, +would be a great gain. + +As to disarmament, it is clear that nothing effective can be done +at present. The Geneva rules for the better care of the wounded +on land will certainly be improved and extended to warfare on +sea, and the laws of war will doubtless be improved and given +stronger sanction. + +Whether we can get our proposals as to private property on the +high seas before the conference is uncertain; but I think we can. +Our hopes are based upon the fact that they seem admissible under +one heading of the Mouravieff circular. There is, of course, a +determination on the part of leading members to exclude +rigorously everything not provided for in the original programme, +and this is only right; for, otherwise, we might spend years in +fruitless discussion. The Armenians, for example, are pressing us +to make a strong declaration in their behalf. Poland is also here +with proposals even more inflammatory; so are the Finlanders; and +so are the South African Boers. Their proposals, if admitted, +would simply be bombshells sure to blow all the leading nations +of Europe out of the conference and bring everything to naught. +Already pessimists outside are prophesying that on account of +these questions we are doomed to utter failure. + +The peace people of all nations, including our own, are here in +great force. I have accepted an invitation from one of them to +lunch with a party of like mind, including Baroness von Suttner, +who has written a brilliant book, "Die Waffen Nieder," of which +the moral is that all nations shall immediately throw down their +arms. Mr. Stead is also here, vigorous as usual, full of curious +information, and abounding in suggestions. + +There was a report, on our arriving, that the Triple Alliance +representatives are instructed to do everything to bring the +conference into discredit, but this is now denied. It is said +that their programme is changed, and things look like it. On the +whole, though no one is sanguine, there is more hope. + + +May 21. + +In the morning went with Dr. Holls to a Whitsunday service at the +great old church here. There was a crowd, impressive chorals, and +a sermon at least an hour long. At our request, we were given +admirable places in the organ-loft, and sat at the side of the +organist as he managed that noble instrument. It was sublime. +After the closing voluntary Holls played remarkably well. + +To me the most striking feature in the service was a very earnest +prayer made by the clergyman for the conference. During the +afternoon we also visited the old prison near the Vijver, where +the De Witts and other eminent prisoners of state were confined, +and in front of which the former were torn in pieces by the mob. +Sadly interesting was a collection of instruments of torture, +which had the effect of making me better satisfied with our own +times than I sometimes am. + +In the evening, with our minister, Mr. Newel, and the Dean of +Ely, his guest, to an exceedingly pleasant "tea" at the house of +Baroness Gravensteen, and met a number of interesting people, +among them a kindly old gentleman who began diplomatic life as a +British attache at Washington in the days of Webster and Clay, +and gave me interesting accounts of them. + +The queer letters and crankish proposals which come in every day +are amazing. I have just added to my collection of diplomatic +curiosities a letter from the editor of a Democratic paper in +southern Illinois, addressed to me as ambassador at Mayence, +which he evidently takes to be the capital of Germany, asking me +to look after a great party of Western newspaper men who are to +go up the Rhine this summer and make a brief stay in the +above-named capital of the empire. I also receive very many +letters of introduction, which of course make large demands upon +my time. The number of epistles, also, which come in from public +meetings in large and small American towns is very great, some +evidently representing no persons other than the writers. As I +write the above, I open mechanically a letter from a peace +meeting assembled in Ledyard, Connecticut, composed of "Rogerine +Quakers"; but what a "Rogerine Quaker" is I know not. Some of +these letters are touching, and some have a comic side. A very +good one comes from May Wright Sewall; would that all the others +were as thoughtful! + +It goes without saying that the Quakers are out in full force. We +have been answering by cable some of the most important +communications sent us from America; the others we shall try to +acknowledge by mail, though they are so numerous that I begin to +despair of this. If these good people only knew how all this +distracts us from the work which we have at heart as much as +they, we should get considerably more time to think upon the +problems before us. + + +May 22. + +In the afternoon came M. de Bloch, the great publicist, who has +written four enormous volumes on war in modern times, summaries +of which, in the newspapers, are said to have converted the young +Emperor Nicholas to peace ideas, and to have been the real cause +of his calling the conference together. I found him interesting, +full of ideas, and devoted most earnestly to a theory that +militarism is gradually impoverishing all modern states, and that +the next European war will pauperize most of them. + +Just afterward Count Welsersheimb, president of the Austrian +delegation, called, and was very anxious to know the line we are +to take. I told him frankly that we are instructed to present a +plan of arbitration, and to urge a resolution in favor of +exempting private property, not contraband of war, from seizure +on the high seas; that we are ready to go to the full length in +improving the laws of war, and in extending the Geneva rules to +maritime warfare; but that we look on the question of reducing +armaments as relating wholly to Europe, no part of it being +applicable to the United States. + +As he seemed strongly in favor of our contention regarding +private property on the high seas, but fearful that Russia and +England, under a strict construction of the rules, would not +permit the subject to be introduced, I pointed out to him certain +clauses in the Mouravieff circular which showed that it was +entirely admissible. + + +May 23. + +In the morning came a meeting of the American delegation on the +subject of telegraphing Washington for further instructions. We +find that some of the details in our present instructions are +likely to wreck our proposals, and there is a fear among us that, +by following too closely the plan laid down for us at Washington, +we may run full in the face of the Monroe Doctrine. It is indeed, +a question whether our people will be willing to have matters of +difference between South American States, or between the United +States and a South American State, or between European and South +American States, submitted to an arbitration in which a majority +of the judges are subjects of European powers. Various drafts of +a telegram were made, but the whole matter went over. + +At ten the heads of delegations met and considered a plan of +organizing the various committees, and the list was read. Each of +the three great committees to which the subjects mentioned in the +Mouravieff circular are assigned was given a president, +vice-president, and two honorary presidents. The first of these +committees is to take charge of the preliminary discussion of +those articles in the Mouravieff circular concerning the +non-augmentation of armies and the limitation in the use of new +explosives and of especially destructive weapons. The second +committee has for its subject the discussion of humanitarian +reforms--namely, the adaptation of the stipulations of the +Convention of Geneva of 1864 to maritime warfare, the +neutralization of vessels charged with saving the wounded during +maritime combats, and the revision of the declaration concerning +customs of war elaborated in 1874 by the Conference of Brussels, +which has never yet been ratified. The third committee has charge +of the subject of arbitration, mediation, and the like. + +The president of the first committee is M. Bernaert, a leading +statesman of Belgium, who has made a most excellent impression on +me from the first; and the two honorary presidents are Count +Munster, German ambassador at Paris, and myself. + +The president of the second committee is M. de Martens, the +eminent Russian authority on international law; and the two +honorary presidents, Count Welsersheimb of Austria-Hungary, and +the Duke of Tetuan from Spain. + +The third committee receives as its president M. Leon Bourgeois, +who has held various eminent positions in France; the honorary +presidents being Count Nigra, the Italian ambassador at Vienna, +and Sir Julian Pauncefote, the British ambassador at Washington. + +There was much discussion and considerable difference of opinion +on many points, but the main breeze sprang up regarding the +publicity of our doings. An admirable speech was made by Baron de +Bildt, who is a son of my former Swedish colleague at Berlin, has +held various important positions at Washington and elsewhere, has +written an admirable history of Queen Christina of Sweden, and is +now minister plenipotentiary at Rome. He spoke earnestly in favor +of considerable latitude in communications to the press from the +authorities of the conference; but the prevailing opinion, +especially of the older men, even of those from constitutional +states, seemed to second the idea of Russia,--that communications +to the press should be reduced to a minimum, comprising merely +the external affairs of the conference. I am persuaded that this +view will get us into trouble; but it cannot be helped at +present. + + +May 24. + +As was to be expected, there has begun some reaction from the +hopes indulged shortly after the conference came together. At our +arrival there was general skepticism; shortly afterward, and +especially when the organization of the arbitration committee was +seen to be so good, there came a great growth of hope; now comes +the usual falling back of many. But I trust that this will not be +permanent. Yesterday there was some talk which, though quiet, was +none the less bitter, to the effect that the purpose of Russia in +calling the conference is only to secure time for strengthening +her armaments; that she was never increasing her forces at a +greater rate, especially in the southwestern part of the empire +and in the Caucasus, and never intriguing more vigorously in all +directions. To one who stated this to me my answer simply was +that bad faith to this extent on the part of Russia is most +unlikely, if not impossible; that it would hand down the Emperor +and his advisers to the eternal execration and contempt of +mankind; and that, in any case, our duty is clear: to go on and +do the best we can; to perfect plans for a permanent tribunal of +arbitration; and to take measures for diminishing cruelty and +suffering in war. + +Meeting Count Munster, who, after M. de Staal, is very generally +considered the most important personage here, we discussed the +subject of arbitration. To my great regret, I found him entirely +opposed to it, or, at least, entirely opposed to any +well-developed plan. He did not say that he would oppose a +moderate plan for voluntary arbitration, but he insisted that +arbitration must be injurious to Germany; that Germany is +prepared for war as no other country is or can be; that she can +mobilize her army in ten days; and that neither France, Russia, +nor any other power can do this. Arbitration, he said, would +simply give rival powers time to put themselves in readiness, and +would therefore be a great disadvantage to Germany. + +Later came another disappointment. M. de Martens, having read the +memorandum which I left with him yesterday on the subject of +exempting private property, not contraband of war, from seizure +upon the high seas called, and insisted that it would be +impossible, under any just construction of the Mouravieff +programme, to bring the subject before the second committee as we +had hoped to do; that Russia would feel obliged to oppose its +introduction; and that Great Britain, France, and Italy, to say +nothing of other powers, would do the same. This was rather +trying, for I had especially desired to press this long-desired +improvement in international law; and I showed him how persistent +the United States had been as regards this subject throughout our +whole history, how earnest the President and his cabinet are in +pressing it now, and how our delegation are bound, under our +instructions, to bring it before the conference. I insisted that +we should at least have the opportunity to present it, even if it +were afterward declared out of order. To this he demurred, saying +that he feared it would arouse unpleasant debate. I then +suggested that the paper be publicly submitted to our whole body +for special reference to a future conference, and this he took +into consideration. Under other circumstances, I would have made +a struggle in the committee and, indeed, in the open session of +the full conference; but it is clear that what we are sent here +for is, above all, to devise some scheme of arbitration, and that +anything which comes in the way of this, by provoking ill-feeling +or prolonging discussion on other points, will diminish our +chances of obtaining what the whole world so earnestly desires. + +During the day our American delegation held two sessions; and, as +a result, a telegram of considerable length to the State +Department was elaborated, asking permission to substitute a new +section in our original instructions regarding an arbitration +tribunal, and to be allowed liberty to make changes in minor +points, as the development of opinion in the conference may +demand. The substitute which we suggested referred especially to +the clash between the original instructions and the Monroe +Doctrine. I was very reluctant to send the despatch; but, on the +whole, it seemed best, and it was adopted unanimously. + +In the afternoon, at five, the presidents of all the delegations +went to the palace, by appointment, and were presented to the +young Queen and to the Queen-mother. The former is exceedingly +modest, pretty, and pleasant; and as she came into the room, +about which were ranged that line of solemn, elderly men, it +seemed almost pathetic. She was evidently timid, and it was, at +first, hard work for her; but she got along well with Count +Munster, and when she came to me I soon brought the conversation +upon the subject of the "House in the Wood" by thanking her for +the pains her government had taken in providing so beautiful a +place for us. This new topic seemed to please her, and we had +quite a long talk upon it; she speaking of her visits to the +park, for skating and the like, and I dwelling on the beauty of +the works of art and the views in the park. Then the delegates, +going to the apartments of the Queen-mother, went through a +similar formality with her. She is very stout, but fine-looking, +with a kindly face and manner. Both mother and daughter spoke, +with perfect ease, Dutch, French, German English, and how many +other languages I know not. The young Queen was very simply +dressed, like any other young lady of seventeen, except that she +had a triple row of large pearls about her neck. In the evening, +at 9.30, the entire delegations were received at a great +presentation and ball. The music was very fine, but the most +interesting thing to me was the fact that, as the palace was +built under Louis Bonaparte and Hortense, the main rooms were in +the most thoroughgoing style Empire, not only in their +decorations, but in their furniture and accessories,--clocks, +vases, candelabra, and the like. I have never seen that style, +formerly so despised, but now so fashionable, developed as fully. + +After the presentation I met Sir John Fisher, one of the English +delegates, an admiral in the British navy, and found him very +intelligent. He said that he was thoroughly for peace, and had +every reason to be so, since he knew something of the horrors of +war. It appears that in one of the recent struggles in China he +went ashore with eleven hundred men and returned with only about +five hundred; but, to my regret, I found him using the same +argument as regards the sea that Count Munster had made regarding +the land. He said that the navy of Great Britain was and would +remain in a state of complete preparation for war; that a vast +deal depended on prompt action by the navy; and that the truce +afforded by arbitration proceedings would give other powers time, +which they would otherwise not have, to put themselves into +complete readiness. He seemed uncertain whether it was best for +Great Britain, under these circumstances, to support a +thoroughgoing plan of arbitration; but, on the whole, seemed +inclined to try it to some extent. Clearly what Great Britain +wants is a permanent system of arbitration with the United +States; but she does not care much, I think, for such a provision +as regards other powers. + +There is considerable curiosity among leading members to know +what the United States really intends to do; and during the day +Sir Julian Pauncefote and others have called to talk over the +general subject. + +The London "Times" gives quite correctly a conversation of mine, +of rather an optimistic nature, as to the possibilities and +probabilities of arbitration, and the improvement of the customs +of war; but in another quarter matters have not gone so well: the +"Corriere della Sera" of Milan publishes a circumstantial +interview with me, which has been copied extensively in the +European press, to the effect that I have declared my belief in +the adoption of compulsory arbitration and disarmament. This is a +grotesque misstatement. I have never dreamed of saying anything +of the kind; in fact, have constantly said the contrary; and, +what is more, I have never been interviewed by the correspondent +of that or of any other Continental paper. + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + +AS PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN DELEGATION AT THE PEACE CONFERENCE +OF THE HAGUE--II + +May 25. This morning a leading delegate of one of the great +European powers called and gave me a very interesting account of +the situation as he sees it. + +He stated that the Russian representatives, on arriving here, +gave out that they were not prepared with any plan for a definite +tribunal of arbitration; but that shortly afterward there +appeared some discrepancy on this point between the statements of +the various members of their delegation; and that they now +propose a system of arbitration, mediation, and examination into +any cause of difficulty between nations. + +In the evening our secretary spoke of the matter to M. de Staal, +the president of the Russian delegation and of the conference, +and was told that this plan would, within a day or two, be +printed and laid before the whole body. + +This is a favorable sign. More and more it looks as if the great +majority of us are beginning to see the necessity of some scheme +of arbitration embracing a court and definite, well-contrived +accessories. + +The above-mentioned discrepancy between various statements of the +Russians leads me to think that what Count Munster told me some +days since may have some truth in it--namely, that +Pobedonostzeff, whom I knew well, when minister to Russia, as the +strongest man of moral, religious, and social questions in that +country, is really the author of the documents that were +originally given to the world as emanating from the Russian +Foreign Office, and that he has now added to them this definite +scheme for arbitration. Remembering our old conversations, in +which he dwelt upon the great need of money in order to increase +the stipends of the Russian clergy, and so improve their moral as +well as religious condition, I can understand easily that he may +have greatly at heart a plan which would save a portion of the +enormous expenditure of Russia on war, and enable him to do more +for the improvement of the church. + +Dined at the British legation with the minister, my old friend of +St. Petersburg days, Sir Henry Howard, De Martens, the real head +of the Russian delegation, being of the party, and had a long +talk with the latter about Russia and Russians. He told me that +Pobedonostzeff is now becoming old and infirm, and it appears +that there has been a sort of cleaning out of the Foreign Office +and the Ministry of the Interior--a procedure which was certainly +needed in my time. + +Later in the evening we went to a reception by Baron van +Hardenbroek, the grand chamberlain, where I met various +interesting persons, especially M. Descamps, the eminent Belgian +delegate, who, in the fervor of his speech yesterday morning, +upset his inkstand and lavished its contents on his neighbors. He +is a devotee of arbitration, and is preparing a summary for the +committee intrusted with that subject. There seemed to be, in +discussing the matter with various delegates at this reception, a +general feeling of encouragement. + +During the day Mr. Loeher, a Berlin sculptor, called, and carried +me off to see his plan of a great statue of "Peace" which he +hopes to induce the Emperor Nicholas to erect in Paris. It seems +to me well conceived, all except the main figure, which I could +not induce myself to like. In the anxiety of the sculptor to +avoid any more female figures, and to embody virile aspirations +for peace, he has placed this main figure at the summit of the +monument in something like a long pea-jacket, with an +insufficient mantle at the back, and a crown upon its head. + +The number of people with plans, schemes, notions, nostrums, +whimsies of all sorts, who press upon us and try to take our +time, is enormous; and when to this is added the pest of +interviewers and photographers, life becomes serious indeed. + + +May 26. + +At two the committee on arbitration met, and, as it is the +largest of all, its session was held in the main hall under the +dome. The Russian plan was presented, and was found to embrace +three distinct features: + +First, elements of a plan of mediation; secondly, a plan for +international arbitration; thirdly, a plan for the international +examination of questions arising between powers, such examination +being conducted by persons chosen by each of the contestants. +This last is a new feature and is known as a commission +internationale d'enquete. + +The project for a plan of arbitration submits a number of minor +matters to compulsory arbitration, but the main mass of +differences to voluntary arbitration. + +But there was no definite proposal for a tribunal, and there was +an evident feeling of disappointment, which was presently voiced +by Sir Julian Pauncefote, who, in the sort of plain, dogged way +of a man who does not purpose to lose what he came for, presented +a resolution looking definitely to the establishment, here and +now, of an international tribunal of arbitration. After some +discussion, the whole was referred to a subcommittee, to put this +and any other proposals submitted into shape for discussion by +the main committee. In the course of the morning the American +delegation received an answer to its telegram to the State +Department, which was all that could be desired, since it left us +virtually free to take the course which circumstances might +authorize, in view of the main object to be attained. But it came +too late to enable us to elaborate a plan for the meeting above +referred to, and I obtained permission from the president, M. +Leon Bourgeois, to defer the presentation of our scheme until +about the middle of next week. + +Just before the session of the main committee, at which the +Russian plan was received, I had a long and very interesting talk +with Mr. van Karnebeek, one of the leading statesmen of the +Netherlands, a former minister of foreign affairs, and the +present chief of the Dutch delegation in the conference. He seems +clear-headed and far-sighted, and his belief is that the +conference will really do something of value for arbitration. He +says that men who arrived here apparently indifferent have now +become interested, and that amour propre, if nothing else, will +lead them to elaborate something likely to be useful. He went at +considerable length into the value of an international tribunal, +even if it does nothing more than keep nations mindful of the +fact that there is some way, other than war, of settling +disputes. + +A delegate also informed me that in talking with M. de Staal the +latter declared that in his opinion the present conference is +only the first of a series, and that it is quite likely that +another will be held next winter or next spring. + +In the evening I made the acquaintance of Mr. Marshall, a +newspaper correspondent, who is here preparing some magazine +articles on The Hague and the conference. He is a very +interesting man on various accounts, and especially at present, +since he has but just returned from the Cuban campaign, where he +was fearfully wounded, receiving two shots which carried away +parts of the vertebral column, a bullet being left in his body. +He seems very cheerful, though obliged to get about on crutches. + + +May 27. + +In the morning, calls from various people urging all kinds of +schemes for arbitration and various other good things for the +human race, including considerable advantages, in many cases, for +themselves. + +Best of all, by far, was John Bellows of Gloucester, our old +Quaker friend at St. Petersburg, whom I was exceedingly glad to +take by the hand: he, at least, is a thoroughly good +man--sincere, honest, earnest, and blessed with good sense. + +The number of documents, printed and written, coming in upon us +is still enormous. Many are virtually sermons displaying the +evils of war, the blessings of peace, and the necessity of +falling back upon the Bible. Considering the fact that our +earlier sacred books indicate approval by the Almighty of some of +the most bloodthirsty peoples and most cruel wars ever known, +such a recommendation seems lacking in "actuality." + +This morning we had another visit from Sir Julian Pauncefote, +president of the British delegation, and discussed with him an +amalgamation of the Russian, British, and American proposals for +an arbitration tribunal. He finds himself, as we all do, +agreeably surprised by the Russian document, which, inadequate as +it is, shows ability in devising a permanent scheme both for +mediation and arbitration. + +During the day President Low, who had been asked by our +delegation to bring the various proposals agreed to by us into +definite shape, made his report; it was thoroughly well done, +and, with some slight changes, was adopted as the basis for our +final project of an arbitration scheme. We are all to meet on +Monday, the 29th, for a study of it. + +In the evening to the concert given to the conference by the +burgomaster and city council. It was very fine, and the audience +was large and brilliant. There was music by Tschaikovsky, Grieg, +and Wagner, some of which was good, but most of it seemed to me +noisy and tending nowhither; happily, in the midst of it came two +noble pieces, one by Beethoven and the other by Mozart, which +gave a delightful relief. + +May 28. + +Drove with Dr. Holls to Delft, five miles, and attended service +at the "New Church." The building was noble, but the service +seemed very crude and dismal, nearly the whole of it consisting +of two long sermons separated by hymns, and all unspeakably +dreary. + +Afterward we saw the tombs of William of Orange and Grotius, and +they stirred many thoughts. I visited them first nearly forty +years ago, with three persons very dear to me, all of whom are +now passed away. More than ever it is clear to me that of all +books ever written--not claiming divine inspiration--the great +work of Grotius on "War and Peace" has been of most benefit to +mankind. Our work here, at the end of the nineteenth century, is +the direct result of his, at the beginning of the seventeenth. + +Afterward to the Prinzenhof, visiting the place where William of +Orange was assassinated. Was glad to see the new statue of +Grotius in front of the church where he lies buried. + +May 29. + +In the morning President Low and myself walked, and talked over +various proposals for arbitration, especially our own. It looks +much as if we can amalgamate the Russian, British, and original +American plans into a good arrangement for a tribunal. We also +discussed a scheme for the selection, by disagreeing nations, of +"seconding powers," who, before the beginning of hostilities, or +even after, shall attempt to settle difficulties between powers, +or, if unsuccessful, to stop them as soon after war begins as the +honor of the nations concerned may allow. The Germans greatly +favor this plan, since it resembles their tribunal of honor +(Ehrengericht); it was originally suggested to us by our +secretary, Dr. Holls. + +In the evening, at six, the American delegation met. We had +before us type-written copies of our whole arbitration project as +elaborated in our previous sessions, and sundry changes having +been made, most of them verbal, the whole, after considerable +discussion, was adopted. + +At ten I left, via Hook of Holland and Harwich, for London, +arriving about ten the next morning, and attending to various +matters of business. It was fortunate for me that I could have +for this purpose an almost complete lull in our proceedings, the +first and second committees of the conference being at work on +technical matters, and the third not meeting until next Monday. + +In the evening I went to the Lyceum Theatre, saw Henry Irving and +Ellen Terry in Sardou's "Robespierre," and for the first time in +my life was woefully disappointed in them. The play is wretchedly +conceived, and it amazes me that Sardou, who wrote "Thermidor," +which is as admirable as "Robespierre" is miserable could ever +have attached his name to such a piece. + +For the wretchedness of its form there is, no doubt, some excuse +in the fact that it has been done into English, and doubtless +cut, pieced, and altered to suit the Lyceum audiences; but when +one compares the conspiracy part of it with a properly conceived +drama in which a conspiracy is developed, like Schiller's +"Fiesco," the difference is enormously in favor of the latter. As +literature the play in its English dress is below contempt. + +As to its historical contents, Sardou resorts to an expedient +which, although quite French in its character, brings the whole +thing down to a lower level than anything in which I had ever +seen Irving before. The center of interest is a young royalist +who, having been present with his mother and sister at the +roll-call of the condemned and the harrowing scenes resulting +therefrom, rushes forth, determined to assassinate Robespierre, +but is discovered by the latter to be his long-lost illegitimate +son, and then occur a series of mystifications suited only to the +lowest boulevard melodrama. + +As to the action of the piece, the only thing that showed +Irving's great ability was the scene in the forest of +Montmorency, where, as Robespierre, he reveals at one moment, in +his talk with the English envoy, his ambition, his overestimate +of himself, his suspicion of everybody and everything, his +willingness to be cruel to any extent in order to baffle possible +enemies; and then, next moment, on the arrival of his young +friends, boys and girls, the sentimental, Rousseau side of his +character. This transition was very striking. The changes in the +expression of Irving's face were marvelous--as wonderful as those +in his Louis XI; but that was very nearly all. In everything +else, Coquelin, as I had seen him in Sardou's "Thermidor," was +infinitely better. + +Besides this, the piece was, in general, grotesquely +unhistorical. It exhibits Robespierre's colleagues in the +Committee of Public Safety as noisy and dirty street blackguards. +Now, bad as they were, they were not at all of that species, nor +did their deliberations take place in the manner depicted. +Billaud-Varennes is represented as a drunken vagabond sitting on +a table at the committee and declaiming. He was not this at all, +nor was Tallien, vile as he was, anything like the blackguard +shown in this piece. + +The final scene, in which Robespierre is brought under accusation +by the Convention, was vastly inferior to the same thing in +"Thermidor"; and, what was worse, instead of paraphrasing or +translating the speeches of Billaud-Varennes, Tallien, and +Robespierre, which he might have found in the "Moniteur," Sardou, +or rather Irving, makes the leading characters yell harangues +very much of the sort which would be made in a meeting of drunken +dock laborers to-day. Irving's part in this was not at all well +done. The unhistorical details now came thick and fast, among +them his putting his head down on the table of the tribune as a +sign of exhaustion, and then, at the close, shooting himself in +front of the tribunal. If he did shoot himself, which is +doubtful, it was neither at that time nor in that place. + +But, worst of all, the character of Robespierre was made far too +melodramatic, and was utterly unworthy of Irving, whom, in all +his other pieces, I have vastly admired. He completely +misconceives his hero. Instead of representing him as, from first +to last, a shallow Rousseau sentimentalist, with the proper +mixture of vanity, suspicion, and cruelty, he puts into him a +great deal too much of the ruffian, which was not at all in +Robespierre's character. + +The most striking scene in the whole was the roll-call at the +prison. This was perhaps better than that in Sardou's +"Thermidor," and the tableaux were decidedly better. + +The scene at the "Festival of the Supreme Being" was also very +striking, and in many respects historical; but, unless I am +greatly mistaken, the performance referred to did not take place +as represented, but in the garden directly in front of the +Tuileries. The family scene at the house of Duplay the carpenter +was exceedingly well managed; old Duplay, smoking his pipe, +listening to his daughters playing on a spinet and singing +sentimental songs of the Rousseau period, was perfect. The old +carpenter and his family evidently felt that the golden age had +at last arrived; that humanity was at the end of its troubles; +and that the world was indebted for it all to their lodger +Robespierre, who sat in the midst of them reading, writing, and +enjoying the coddling and applause lavished upon him. And he and +they were to go to the guillotine within a week! + +Incidentally there came a little touch worthy of Sardou; for, as +Robespierre reads his letters, he finds one from his brother, in +which he speaks of a young soldier and revolutionist of ability +whose acquaintance he has just made, whom he very much likes, and +whose republicanism he thoroughly indorses--one Buonaparte. This +might have occurred, and very likely did occur, very much as +shown on the stage; for one of the charges which nearly cost +Bonaparte his life on the Ninth Thermidor was that he was on +friendly terms with the younger Robespierre, who was executed +with his more famous brother. + +On the whole, the play was very disappointing. It would certainly +have been hissed at the Porte St. Martin, and probably at any +other Paris theater. + +June 1. + +Having left London last evening, I arrived at The Hague early +this morning and found, to my great satisfaction, that the +subcommittee of the third committee had unanimously adopted the +American plan of "seconding powers," and that our whole general +plan of arbitration will be to-day in print and translated into +French for presentation. I also find that Sir Julian Pauncefote's +arbitration project has admirable points. + +The first article in Sir Julian's proposal states that, with the +desire to facilitate immediate recourse to arbitration by nations +which may fail to adjust by diplomatic negotiations differences +arising between them, the signatory powers agree to organize a +permanent tribunal of international arbitration, accessible at +all times, to be governed by a code, provided by this conference, +so far as applicable and consistent with any special stipulations +agreed to between the contesting parties. + +Its second provision is the establishment of a permanent central +office, where the records of the tribunal shall be preserved and +its official business transacted, with a permanent secretary, +archivist, and suitable staff, who shall reside on the spot. This +office shall make arrangements for the assembling of the +tribunal, at the request of contesting parties. + +Its third provision is that each of the signatory powers shall +transmit the names of two persons who shall be recognized in +their own country as jurists or publicists of high character and +fitness, and who shall be qualified to act as judges. These +persons shall be members of the tribunal, and a list of their +names shall be recorded in the central office. In case of death +or retirement of any one of these, the vacancy shall be filled up +by new appointment. + +Its fourth provision is that any of the signatory powers desiring +to have recourse to the tribunal for the settlement of +differences shall make known such desire to the secretary of the +central office, who shall thereupon furnish the powers concerned +with a list of the members of the tribunal, from which such +powers may select such number of judges as they may think best. +The powers concerned may also, if they think fit, adjoin to these +judges any other person, although his name may not appear on the +list. The persons so selected shall constitute the tribunal for +the purpose of such arbitration, and shall assemble at such date +as may be most convenient for the litigants. + +The tribunal shall ordinarily hold its sessions at ----; but it +shall have power to fix its place of session elsewhere, and to +change the same from time to time, as circumstances may suggest. + +The fifth provision is that any power, even though not +represented in the present conference, may have recourse to the +tribunal on such terms as may be prescribed by the regulations. + +Provision sixth: The government of ---- is charged by the +signatory powers, on their behalf, as soon as possible after the +conclusion of this convention, to name a permanent council of +administration, at ----, composed of five members and a +secretary. This council shall organize and establish the central +office, which shall be under its control and direction. It shall +make such rules and regulations as may be necessary for the +office; it shall dispose of all questions that may arise in +relation to the working of the tribunal, or which may be referred +to it by the central office; it shall make all subordinate +appointments, may suspend or dismiss all employees, and shall fix +their salaries and control their expenditure. This council shall +select its president, who shall have a casting-vote. The +remuneration of the members shall be fixed from time to time by +accord between the signatory powers. + +Provision seventh: The signatory powers agree to share among them +the expenses pertaining to the administration of the central +office and the council of administration; but the expenses +incident to every arbitration, including the remuneration of the +arbiters, shall be equally borne by the contesting powers. + +From a theoretical point of view, I prefer to this our American +plan of a tribunal permanently in session: the judges, in every +particular case, to be selected from this. Thus would be provided +a court of any odd number between three and nine, as the +contesting powers may desire. But from the practical point of +view, even though the Russian plan of requiring the signatory +powers to send to the tribunal a multitude of smaller matters, +such as those connected with the postal service, etc., is carried +out, the great danger is that such a court, sitting constantly as +we propose, would, for some years, have very little to do, and +that soon we should have demagogues and feather-brained +"reformers" ridiculing them as "useless," "eating their heads +off," and "doing nothing"; that then demagogic appeals might lead +one nation after another to withdraw from an arrangement +involving large expense apparently useless; and in view of this +latter difficulty I am much inclined to think that we may, under +our amended instructions, agree to support, in its essential +features as above given, the British proposal, and, with some +reservations, the code proposed by the Russians. + +Among the things named by the Russians as subjects which the +agreeing powers must submit to arbitration, are those relating to +river navigation and international canals; and this, in view of +our present difficulties in Alaska and in the matter of the +Isthmus Canal, we can hardly agree to. During the morning Sir +Julian came in and talked over our plan of arbitration as well as +his own and that submitted by Russia. He said that he had seen M. +de Staal, and that it was agreed between them that the latter +should send Sir Julian, at the first moment possible, an +amalgamation of the Russian and British plans, and this Sir +Julian promised that he would bring to us, giving us a chance to +insert any features from our own plan which, in our judgment, +might be important. He seemed much encouraged, as we all are. + +Returning to our rooms, I found Count Munster. As usual, he was +very interesting; and, after discussing sundry features of the +Russian plan, he told one or two rather good stories. He said +that during his stay in St Petersburg as minister, early in the +reign of Alexander II, he had a very serious quarrel with Prince +Gortchakoff the minister of foreign affairs, who afterward became +the famous chancellor of the empire. + +Count Munster had received one day from a professor at Gottingen +a letter stating that a young German savant, traveling for +scientific purposes in Russia, had been seized and treated as a +prisoner, without any proper cause whatever; that, while he was +engaged in his peaceful botanizing, a police officer, who was +taking a gang of criminals to Siberia, had come along, and one of +his prisoners having escaped, this officer, in order to avoid +censure, had seized the young savant, quietly clapped the number +of the missing man on his back, put him in with the gang of +prisoners, and carried him off along with the rest; so that he +was now held as a convict in Siberia. The count put the letter in +his pocket, thinking that he might have an opportunity to use it, +and a day or two afterward his chance came. Walking on the quay, +he met the Emperor (Alexander II), who greeted him heartily, and +said, "Let me walk with you." After walking and talking some +time, the count told the story of the young German, whereupon the +Emperor asked for proofs of its truth. At this Munster pulled the +letter out of his pocket; and, both having seated themselves on a +bench at the side of the walk, the Emperor read it. On finishing +it, the Emperor said: "Such a thing as this can happen only in +Russia." That very afternoon he sent a special police squad, +post-haste, all the way to Siberia, ordering them to find the +young German and bring him back to St. Petersburg. + +Next day Count Munster called at the Foreign Office on current +business, when Gortchakoff came at him in a great rage, asking +him by what right he communicated directly with the Emperor; and +insisting that he had no business to give a letter directly to +the Emperor, that it ought to have gone through the Foreign +Office. Gortchakoff reproached the count bitterly for this +departure from elementary diplomatic etiquette. At this Munster +replied: "I gave the letter to the Emperor because he asked me +for it, and I did not give it to you because I knew perfectly +well that you would pigeonhole it and the Emperor would never +hear of it. I concede much in making any answer at all to your +talk, which seems to me of a sort not usual between gentlemen." +At this Gortchakoff was much milder, and finally almost +obsequious, becoming apparently one of Munster's devoted friends, +evidently thinking that, as Munster had gained the confidence of +the Emperor, he was a man to be cultivated. + +The sequel to the story was also interesting. The policemen, +after their long journey to Siberia, found the young German and +brought him to St. Petersburg, where the Emperor received him +very cordially and gave him twenty thousand rubles as an +indemnity for the wrong done him. The young savant told Munster +that he had not been badly treated, that he had been assigned a +very pleasant little cottage, and had perfect freedom to pursue +his scientific researches. + +On my talking with the count about certain Russian abuses, and +maintaining that Russia, at least in court circles, had improved +greatly under Alexander III as regarded corruption, he said that +he feared she was now going back, and he then repeated a remark +made by the old Grand Duke Michael, brother of Alexander II, who +said that if any Russian were intrusted with the official care of +a canary he would immediately set up and maintain a coach and +pair out of it. + +At six o'clock our American delegation met and heard reports, +especially from Captain Mahan and Captain Crozier, with reference +to the doings in the subcommittees. Captain Mahan reported that +he had voted against forbidding asphyxiating bombs, etc., +evidently with the idea that such a provision would prove to be +rather harmful than helpful to the cause of peace. + +Captain Crozier reported that his subcommittee of committee No. 2 +had, at its recent meeting, tried to take up the exemption of +private property from seizure on the high seas in time of war, +but had been declared out of order by the chairman, De Martens, +the leading Russian delegate, who seems determined to prevent the +subject coming before the conference. The question before our +American delegation now was, Shall we try to push this American +proposal before the subcommittee of the second committee, or +before the entire conference at a later period? and the general +opinion was in favor of the latter course. It was not thought +best to delay the arbitration plan by its introduction at +present. + +In the evening dined with Minister Newel, and had a very +interesting talk with Van Karnebeek, who had already favorably +impressed me by his clear-headedness and straightforwardness; +also with Messrs. Asser, member of the Dutch Council of State, +and Rahusen, member of the Upper Chamber of the States General, +both of whom are influential delegates. + +All three of these men spoke strongly in favor of our plan for +the exemption of private property on the high seas, Van Karnebeek +with especial earnestness. He said that, looking merely at the +material interests of the Netherlands, he might very well favor +the retention of the present system, since his country is little +likely to go into war, and is certain to profit by the carrying +trade in case of any conflict between the great powers; that, of +course, under such circumstances, a large amount of commerce +would come to Holland as a neutral power; but that it was a +question of right and of a proper development of international +law, and that he, as well as the two other gentlemen above named, +was very earnestly in favor of joint action by the powers who are +in favor of our proposal. He thought that the important thing +just now is to secure the cooperation of Germany, which seems to +be at the parting of the ways, and undecided which to take. + +In the course of the evening one of my European colleagues, who +is especially familiar with the inner history of the calling of +the conference, told me that the reason why Professor Stengel was +made a delegate was not that he wrote the book in praise of war +and depreciating arbitration, which caused his appointment to be +so unfavorably commented upon, but because, as an eminent +professor of international law, he represented Bavaria; and that +as Bavaria, though represented at St. Petersburg, was not +invited, it was thought very essential that a well-known man from +that kingdom should be put into the general German delegation. + +On my asking why Brazil, though represented at St. Petersburg, +was not invited, he answered that Brazil was invited, but showed +no desire to be represented. On my asking him if he supposed this +was because other South American powers were not invited, he said +that he thought not; that it was rather its own indifference and +carelessness, arising from the present unfortunate state of +government in that country. On my saying that the Emperor Dom +Pedro, in his time, would have taken the opportunity to send a +strong delegation, he said: "Yes, he certainly would have done +so; but the present government is a poor sort of thing." + +I also had a talk with one of the most eminent publicists of the +Netherlands, on the questions dividing parties in this country, +telling him that I found it hard to understand the line of +cleavage between them. He answered that it is, in the main, a +line between religious conservatives and liberals; the +conservatives embracing the Roman Catholics and high orthodox +Protestants, and the liberals those of more advanced opinions. He +said that socialism plays no great part in Holland; that the +number of its representatives is very small compared with that in +many European states; that the questions on which parties divide +are mainly those in which clerical ideas are more or less +prominent; that the liberal party, if it keeps together, is much +the stronger party of the two, but that it suffers greatly from +its cliques and factions. + +On returning home after dinner, I found a cipher despatch from +the Secretary of State informing us that President McKinley +thinks that our American commission ought not to urge any +proposal for "seconding powers"; that he fears lest it may block +the way of the arbitration proposals. This shows that imperfect +reports have reached the President and his cabinet. The fact is +that the proposal of "seconding powers" was warmly welcomed by +the subcommittee when it was presented; that the members very +generally telegraphed home to their governments, and at once +received orders to support it; that it was passed by a unanimous +vote of the subcommittee; and that its strongest advocates were +the men who are most in favor of an arbitration plan. So far from +injuring the prospects of arbitration, it has increased them; it +is very generally spoken of as a victory for our delegation, and +has increased respect for our country, and for anything we may +hereafter present. + + +June 2. + +This morning we sent a cipher telegram to the Secretary of State, +embodying the facts above stated. + +The shoals of telegrams, reports of proceedings of societies, +hortatory letters, crankish proposals, and peace pamphlets from +America continue. One of the telegrams which came late last night +was pathetic; it declared that three millions of Christian +Endeavorers bade us "Godspeed," etc., etc. + +During the morning De Martens, Low, Holls, and myself had a very +thoroughgoing discussion of the Russian, British, and American +arbitration plans. We found the eminent Russian under very +curious misapprehensions regarding some minor points, one of them +being that he had mistaken the signification of our word +"publicist"; and we were especially surprised to find his use of +the French word "publiciste" so broad that it would include M. +Henri Rochefort, Mr. Stead, or any newspaper writer; and he was +quite as surprised to find that with us it would include only +such men as Grotius, Wheaton, Calvo, and himself. + +After a long and intricate discussion we separated on very good +terms, having made, I think, decided progress toward fusing all +three arbitration plans into one which shall embody the merits of +all. + +One difficulty we found, of which neither our State Department +nor ourselves had been fully aware. Our original plan required +that the judges for the arbitration tribunal should be nominated +by the highest courts of the respective nations; but De Martens +showed us that Russia has no highest court in our sense of the +word. Then, too, there is Austria-Hungary, which has two supreme +courts of equal authority. This clause, therefore, we arranged to +alter, though providing that the original might stand as regards +countries possessing supreme courts. + +At lunch we had Baron de Bildt, Swedish minister at Rome and +chief of the Swedish delegation at the conference, and Baron de +Bille, Danish minister at London and chief delegate from Denmark. +De Bille declared himself averse to a permanent tribunal to be in +constant session, on the ground that, having so little to do, it +would be in danger of becoming an object of derision to the press +and peoples of the world. + +We were all glad to find, upon the arrival of the London "Times," +that our arbitration project seemed to be receiving extensive +approval, and various telegrams from America during the day +indicated the same thing. + +It looks more and more as if we are to accomplish something. The +only thing in sight calculated to throw a cloud over the future +is the attitude of the German press against the whole business +here; the most virulent in its attacks being the high Lutheran +conservative--and religious!--journal in Berlin, the +"Kreuz-Zeitung." Still, it is pleasant to see that eminent +newspaper find, for a time, some other object of denunciation +than the United States. + + +June 3. + +In the afternoon drove to Scheveningen and took tea with Count +Munster and his daughter. He was somewhat pessimistic, as usual, +but came out very strongly in favor of the American view as +regards exemption of private property on the high seas. Whether +this is really because Germany would derive profit from it, or +because she thinks this question a serviceable entering wedge +between the United States and Great Britain, there is no telling +at present. I am sorry to say that our hopes regarding it are to +be dashed, so far as the present conference is concerned. Sundry +newspaper letters and articles in the "Times" show clearly that +the English Government is strongly opposed to dealing with it +here and now; and as France and Russia take the same position, +there is no hope for any action, save such as we can take to keep +the subject alive and to secure attention to it by some future +conference. + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +AS PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN DELEGATION AT THE PEACE CONFERENCE +OF THE HAGUE: III--1899 + +June 4. + +We have just had an experience which "adds to the gaiety of +nations." Some days since, representatives of what is called "the +Young Turkish party" appeared and asked to be heard. They +received, generally, the cold shoulder, mainly because the +internal condition of Turkey is not one of the things which the +conference was asked to discuss; but also because there is a +suspicion that these "Young Turks" are enabled to live in luxury +at Paris by blackmailing the Sultan, and that their zeal for +reform becomes fervid whenever their funds run low, and cools +whenever a remittance comes from the Bosphorus. But at last some +of us decided to give them a hearing, informally; the main object +being to get rid of them. At the time appointed, the delegation +appeared in evening dress, and, having been ushered into the +room, the spokesman began as follows, very impressively: + +"Your Excellencies, ve are ze Young Turkeys." + +This was too much for most of us, and I think that, during our +whole stay at The Hague thus far, we have never undertaken +anything more difficult, physically, than to keep our faces +straight during the harangue which followed. + +Later, we went with nearly all the other members of the +conference to Haarlem, in a special train, by invitation of the +burgomaster and town council, to the "Fete Hippique" and the +"Fete des Fleurs." We were treated very well indeed, refreshments +being served on the grand stand during the performances, which +consisted of hurdle races, etc., for which I cared nothing, +followed by a procession of peasants in old chaises of various +periods, and in the costumes of the various provinces of the +Netherlands, which interested me much. The whole closed with a +long train of fine equipages superbly decorated with flowers. + +Discussing the question of the immunity of private property, not +contraband of war, on the high seas, I find that the main +argument which our opponents are now using is that, even if the +principle were conceded, new and troublesome questions would +arise as to what really constitutes contraband of war; that ships +themselves would undoubtedly be considered as contraband, since +they can be used in conveying troops, coal, supplies, etc. + + +June 5. + +Having given up the morning of the 5th mainly to work on plans of +arbitration, mediation, and the like, I went to the meeting, at +the "House in the Wood," of the third great committee of the +conference--namely, that on arbitration. + +The session went off satisfactorily, our duty being to pass upon +the report from the subcommittee which had put the various +propositions into shape for our discussion. The report was +admirably presented by M. Descamps, and, after considerable +discussion of details, was adopted in all essential features. The +matters thus discussed and accepted for presentation to the +conference as a whole related: + +(1) To a plan for tendering "good offices." + +(2) To a plan for examining into international differences. + +(3) To the "special mediation" plan. + +The last was exceedingly well received, and our delegation has +obtained much credit for it. It is the plan of allowing any two +nations drifting into war to appoint "seconding nations," who, +like "seconds" in a duel, shall attempt to avert the conflict; +and, if this be unsuccessful, shall continue acting in the same +capacity, and endeavor to arrest the conflict at the earliest +moment possible. + +Very general good feeling was shown, and much encouragement +derived from the fact that these preliminary matters could be +dealt with in so amicable and business-like a spirit. + +Before the meeting I took a long walk in the garden back of the +palace with various gentlemen, among them Mr. van Karnebeek, who +discussed admirably with me the question of the exemption of +private property from seizure on the high seas. He agreed with me +that even if the extreme doctrine now contended for--namely, that +which makes ships, coal, provisions, and very nearly everything +else, contraband--be pressed, still a first step, such as the +exemption of private property from seizure, would be none the +less wise, leaving the subordinate questions to be dealt with as +they arise. + +I afterward called with Dr. Holls at the house of the burgomaster +of The Hague, and thanked him for his kindness in tendering us +the concert last Saturday, and for various other marks of +consideration. + +On the whole, matters continue to look encouraging as regards +both mediation and arbitration. + + +June 6. + +In the morning Sir Julian Pauncefote called, and again went over +certain details in the American, British, and Russian plans of +arbitration, discussing some matters to be stricken out and +others to be inserted. He declared his readiness to strike out a +feature of his plan to which from the first, I have felt a very +great objection--namely, that which, after the tribunal is +constituted, allows the contesting parties to call into it and +mix with it persons simply chosen by the contestants ad hoc. This +seems to me a dilution of the idea of a permanent tribunal, and a +means of delay and of complications which may prove unfortunate. +It would certainly be said that if the contestants were to be +allowed to name two or more judges from outside the tribunal, +they might just as well nominate all, and thus save the expense +attendant upon a regularly constituted international court chosen +by the various governments. + +Later in the day I wrote a private letter to the Secretary of +State suggesting that our American delegation be authorized to +lay a wreath of silver and gold upon the tomb of Grotius at +Delft, not only as a tribute to the man who set in motion the +ideas which, nearly three hundred years later, have led to the +assembling of this conference, but as an indication of our +gratitude to the Netherlands Government for its hospitality and +the admirable provision it has made for our work here, and also +as a sign of good-will toward the older governments of the world +on the occasion of their first meeting with delegates from the +new world, in a conference treating of matters most important to +all nations. + +In the evening to Mr. van Karnebeek's reception, and there met +Mr. Raffalovitch, one of the Russian secretaries of the +conference, who, as councilor of the Russian Empire and +corresponding member of the French Institute, has a European +reputation, and urged him to aid in striking out the clause in +the plan which admits judges other than those of the court. My +hope is that it will disappear in the subcommittee and not come +up in the general meeting of the third great committee. + + +June 8. + +The American delegation in the afternoon discussed at length the +proposals relating to the Brussels Conference rules for the more +humane carrying on of war. Considerable difference of opinion has +arisen in the section of the conference in which the preliminary +debates are held, and Captain Crozier, our representative, has +been in some doubt as to the ground to be taken between these +opposing views. On one side are those who think it best to go at +considerable length into more or less minute restrictions upon +the conduct of invaders and invaded. On the other side, M. +Bernaert of Belgium, one of the two most eminent men from that +country, and others, take the ground that it would be better to +leave the whole matter to the general development of humanity in +international law. M. de Martens insists that now is the time to +settle the matter, rather than leave it to individuals who, in +time of war, are likely to be more or less exasperated by +accounts of atrocities and to have no adequate time for deciding +upon a policy. After considerable discussion by our delegation, +the whole matter went over. + +In the evening to a great reception at the house of Sir Henry +Howard, British minister at this court. It was very brilliant, +and the whole afforded an example of John Bull's good sense in +providing for his representatives abroad, and enabling them to +exercise a social influence on the communities where they are +stationed, which rapidly becomes a political influence with the +governments to which they are accredited. Sir Henry is provided +with a large, attractive house, means to entertain amply, and has +been kept in the service long enough to know everybody and to +become experienced in the right way of getting at the men he +wishes to influence, and of doing the things his government needs +to have done. Throughout the whole world this is John Bull's wise +way of doing things. At every capital I have visited, including +Washington, Constantinople, St. Petersburg, Rome, Paris, Berlin, +and Vienna, the British representative is a man who has been +selected with reference to his fitness, kept in the service long +enough to give him useful experience, and provided with a good, +commodious house and the means to exercise social and, therefore, +political influence. The result is that, although, in every +country in the world, orators and editors are always howling at +John Bull, he everywhere has his way: to use our vernacular, he +"gets there," and can laugh in his sleeve at the speeches against +him in public bodies, and at the diatribes against him in +newspapers. The men who are loudest in such attacks are generally +the most delighted to put their legs under the British +ambassador's mahogany, or to take their daughters to his +receptions and balls, and then quietly to follow the general line +of conduct which he favors. + + +June 9. + +In the morning an interesting visit from M. de Staal, president +of the conference. We discussed arbitration plans, Brussels rules +and Geneva rules, and, finally, our social debts to the Dutch +authorities. + +As to the general prospects of arbitration, he expressed the +belief that we can, by amalgamating the British, Russian, and +American plans, produce a good result. + +During the day, many members of the conference having gone to +Rotterdam to see the welcoming of the Queen in that city, I took +up, with especial care, the Brussels rules for the conduct of +war, and the amendments of them now proposed in the conference, +some of which have provoked considerable debate. The more I read +the proposals now made, the more admirable most of them seem to +be, and the more it seems to me that we ought, with a few +exceptions, to adopt them. Great Britain declines to sanction +them as part of international law, but still agrees to adopt them +as a general basis for her conduct in time of war; and even this +would be a good thing for us, if we cannot induce our government +to go to the length of making them fully binding. + +At six o'clock Dr. Holls, who represents us upon the subcommittee +on arbitration, came in with most discouraging news. It now +appears that the German Emperor is determined to oppose the whole +scheme of arbitration, and will have nothing to do with any plan +for a regular tribunal, whether as given in the British or the +American scheme. This news comes from various sources, and is +confirmed by the fact that, in the subcommittee, one of the +German delegates, Professor Zorn of Konigsberg, who had become +very earnest in behalf of arbitration, now says that he may not +be able to vote for it. There are also signs that the German +Emperor is influencing the minds of his allies--the sovereigns of +Austria, Italy, Turkey, and Roumania--leading them to oppose it. + +Curiously enough, in spite of this, Count Nigra, the Italian +ambassador at Vienna and head of the Italian delegation, made a +vigorous speech showing the importance of the work in which the +committee is engaged, urging that the plan be perfected, and +seeming to indicate that he will go on with the representatives +who favor it. This, coming from perhaps the most earnest ally of +Germany, is noteworthy. + +At the close of the session Sir Julian Pauncefote informed Dr. +Holls that he was about to telegraph his government regarding the +undoubted efforts of the German Emperor upon the sovereigns above +named, and I decided to cable our State Department, informing +them fully as to this change in the condition of affairs. + +At eight went to the dinner of our minister, Mr. Newel and found +there three ambassadors, De Staal, Munster, and Pauncefote, as +well as M. Leon Bourgeois, president of the French delegation; +Sir Henry Howard, the British minister; Baron de Bildt, the +Swedish minister; and some leading Netherlands statesmen. Had a +long talk with M. de Staal and with Sir Julian Pauncefote +regarding the state of things revealed this afternoon in the +subcommittee on arbitration. M. de Staal has called a meeting of +the heads of delegations for Saturday afternoon. Both he and Sir +Julian are evidently much vexed by the unfortunate turn things +have taken. The latter feels, as I do, that the only thing to be +done is to go on and make the plan for arbitration as perfect as +possible, letting those of the powers who are willing to do so +sign it. I assured him and De Staal that we of the United States +would stand by them to the last in the matter. + +Late in the evening went to a reception of M. de Beaufort, the +Netherlands minister of foreign affairs, and discussed current +matters with various people, among them Count Nigra, whom I +thanked for his eloquent speech in the afternoon, and Baron de +Bildt, who feels as I do, that the right thing for us is to go +on, no matter who falls away. + + +June 10. + +This morning I gave to studies of the various reports sent in +from the subcommittees, especially those on arbitration and on +the Brussels Conference rules. Both have intensely interested me, +my main attention being, of course, centered on the former; but +the Brussels rules seem to me of much greater importance now than +at first, and my hope is that we shall not only devise a good +working plan of arbitration, but greatly humanize the laws of +war. + +At four o'clock in the afternoon met the four other ambassadors +and two or three other heads of delegations, at the rooms of M. +de Staal, to discuss the question of relaxing the rules of +secrecy as regards the proceedings of committees, etc. The whole +original Russian plan of maintaining absolute secrecy has +collapsed, just as the representatives from constitutional +countries in the beginning said it would. Every day there are +published minute accounts in Dutch, French, and English journals +which show that, in some way, their representatives obtain enough +information to enable them, with such additional things as they +can imagine, to make readable reports. The result is that various +gentlemen in the conference who formerly favored a policy of +complete secrecy find themselves credited with speeches which +they did not make, and which they dislike to be considered +capable of making. + +After a great deal of talk, it was decided to authorize the +chairman of each committee to give to the press complete reports, +so far as possible, keeping in the background the part taken by +individuals. + +At six the American delegation met, and the subject of our +instructions regarding the presentation of the American view of +the immunity of private property on the high seas in time of war +was taken up. It was decided to ask some of the leading +supporters of this view to meet us at luncheon at 12.30 on +Monday, in order to discuss the best way of overcoming the +Russian plan of suppressing the matter, and to concert means for +getting the whole subject before the full conference. + + +June 11. + +Instead of going to hear the Bishop of Hereford preach on +"Peace," I walked with Dr. Holls to Scheveningen, four miles, to +work off a nervous headache and to invite Count Munster to our +luncheon on Monday, when we purpose to take counsel together +regarding private property on the high seas. He accepted, but was +out of humor with nearly all the proceedings of the conference. +He is more than ever opposed to arbitration, and declares that, +in view of the original Russian programme under which we were +called to meet, we have no right to take it up at all, since it +was not mentioned. He was decidedly pessimistic regarding the +continuance of the sessions, asking me when I thought it would +all end; and on my answering that I had not the slightest idea, +he said that he was entirely in the dark on the subject; that +nobody could tell how long it would last, or how it would break +off. + + +June 12. + +At half-past twelve came our American luncheon to Count Munster, +Mr. van Karnebeek, and Baron de Bildt, each of whom is at the +head of his delegation,--our purpose being to discuss with them +the best manner of getting the subject of immunity of private +property at sea, not contraband, before the conference, these +gentlemen being especially devoted to such a measure. + +All went off very well, full interchange of views took place, and +the general opinion was that the best way would be for us, as the +only delegation instructed on the subject, to draw up a formal +memorial asking that the question be brought before the +conference, and sending this to M. de Staal as our president. + +Curious things came out during our conversation Baron de Bildt +informed me that, strongly as he favored the measure, and +prepared as he was to vote for it, he should have to be very +careful in discussing it publicly, since his instructions were to +avoid, just as far as possible, any clash between the opinions +expressed by the Swedish representatives and those of the great +powers. Never before have I so thoroughly realized the difficult +position which the lesser powers in Europe hold as regards really +serious questions. + +More surprising was the conversation of Count Munster, he being +on one side of me and Mr. van Karnebeek on the other. Bearing in +mind that the Emperor William during his long talk with me just +before I left Berlin in referring to the approaching Peace +Congress had said that he was sending Count Munster because what +the conference would most need would be "common sense," and +because, in his opinion, Count Munster had "lots of it," some of +the count's utterances astonished me. He now came out, as he did +the day before in his talk with me, utterly against arbitration, +declaring it a "humbug," and that we had no right to consider it, +since it was not mentioned in the first proposals from Russia, +etc., etc. + +A little later, something having been said about telegraphs and +telephones, he expressed his belief that they are a curse as +regards the relations between nations; that they interfere with +diplomacy, and do more harm than good. This did not especially +surprise me, for I had heard the same opinions uttered by others; +but what did surprise me greatly was to hear him say, when the +subject of bacteria and microbes was casually mentioned, that +they were "all a modern humbug." + +It is clear that, with all his fine qualities,--and he is really +a splendid specimen of an old-fashioned German nobleman devoted +to the diplomatic service of his country,--he is saturated with +the ideas of fifty years ago. + +Returning from a drive to Scheveningen with Major Burbank of the +United States army, I sketched the first part of a draft for a +letter from our delegation to M. de Staal, and at our meeting at +six presented it, when it met with general approval. President +Low had also sketched a draft which it was thought could be +worked very well into the one which I had offered, and so we two +were made a subcommittee to prepare the letter in full. + + +June 13. + +This morning come more disquieting statements regarding Germany. +There seems no longer any doubt that the German Emperor is +opposing arbitration, and, indeed, the whole work of the +conference, and that he will insist on his main allies, Austria +and Italy, going with him. Count Nigra, who is personally devoted +to arbitration, allowed this in talking with Dr. Holls; and the +German delegates--all of whom, with the exception of Count +Munster, are favorably inclined to a good arbitration plan--show +that they are disappointed. + +I had learned from a high imperial official, before I left +Berlin, that the Emperor considered arbitration as derogatory to +his sovereignty, and I was also well aware, from his +conversation, that he was by no means in love with the conference +idea; but, in view of his speech at Wiesbaden, and the petitions +which had come in to him from Bavaria, I had hoped that he had +experienced a "change of heart." + +Possibly he might have changed his opinion had not Count Munster +been here, reporting to him constantly against every step taken +by the conference. + +There seems danger of a catastrophe. Those of us who are faithful +to arbitration plans will go on and do the best we can; but there +is no telling what stumbling-blocks Germany and her allies may +put in our way; and, of course, the whole result, without their +final agreement, will seem to the world a failure and, perhaps, a +farce. + +The immediate results will be that the Russian Emperor will +become an idol of the "plain people" throughout the world, the +German Emperor will be bitterly hated, and the socialists, who +form the most dreaded party on the continent of Europe, will be +furnished with a thoroughly effective weapon against their +rulers. + +Some days since I said to a leading diplomatist here, "The +ministers of the German Emperor ought to tell him that, should he +oppose arbitration, there will be concentrated upon him an amount +of hatred which no minister ought to allow a sovereign to incur." +To this he answered, "That is true; but there is not a minister +in Germany who dares tell him." + + +June 14. + +This noon our delegation gave a breakfast to sundry members of +the conference who are especially interested in an effective plan +of arbitration, the principal of these being Count Nigra from +Italy; Count Welsersheimb, first delegate of Austria; M. Descamps +of Belgium; Baron d'Estournelles of France; and M. Asser of the +Netherlands. After some preliminary talk, I read to them the +proposal, which Sir Julian had handed me in the morning, for the +purpose of obviating the objection to the council of +administration in charge of the court of arbitration here in The +Hague, which was an important feature of his original plan, but +which had been generally rejected as involving expensive +machinery. His proposal now is that, instead of a council +specially appointed and salaried to watch over and provide for +the necessities of the court, such council shall simply be made +up of the ministers of sundry powers residing here,--thus doing +away entirely with the trouble and expense of a special council. + +This I amended by adding the Netherlands minister of foreign +affairs as ex-officio president, there being various reasons for +this, and among these the fact that, without some such provision, +the Netherlands would have no representative in the council. + +The plan and my amendment were well received, and I trust that +our full and friendly discussion of these and various matters +connected with them will produce a good effect in the committees. + +Count Nigra expressed himself to me as personally most earnestly +in favor of arbitration, but it was clear that his position was +complicated by the relations of his country to Germany as one of +the Triple Alliance; and the same difficulty was observable in +the case of Count Welsersheimb, the representative of Austria, +the third ally in the combination of which Germany is the head. + +In the course of our breakfast, Baron d'Estournelles made a +statement which I think impressed every person present. It was +that, as he was leaving Paris, Jaures, the famous socialist, whom +he knows well, said to him, "Go on; do all you can at The Hague, +but you will labor in vain: you can accomplish nothing there, +your schemes will fail, and we shall triumph," or words to that +effect. So clear an indication as this of the effect which a +failure of the conference to produce a good scheme of arbitration +will have in promoting the designs of the great international +socialist and anarchist combinations cannot fail to impress every +thinking man. + +Dined in the evening with the French minister at this court, and +very pleasantly. There were present M. Leon Bourgeois, the French +first delegate, and the first delegates from Japan, China, +Mexico, and Turkey, with subordinate delegates from other +countries. Sitting next the lady at the right of the host, I +found her to be the wife of the premier, M. Piersoon, minister of +finance, and very agreeable. I took in to dinner Madame Behrends, +wife of the Russian charge, evidently a very thoughtful and +accomplished woman, who was born, as she told me, of English +parents in the city of New York when her father and mother were +on their way to England. I found her very interesting, and her +discussions of Russia, as well as of England and the Netherlands, +especially good. + +In the smoking-room I had a long talk with M. Leon Bourgeois, +who, according to the papers, is likely to be appointed minister +of foreign affairs in the new French cabinet. He dwelt upon the +difficulties of any plan for a tribunal, but seemed ready to do +what he could for the compromise plan, which is all that, during +some time past, we have hoped to adopt. + + +June 15. + +Early this morning Count Munster called, wishing to see me +especially, and at once plunged into the question of the immunity +of private property from seizure on the high seas. He said that +he had just received instructions from his government to join us +heartily in bringing the question before the conference; that his +government, much as it inclines to favor the principle, could not +yet see its way to commit itself fully; that its action must, of +course, depend upon the conduct of other powers in the matter, as +foreshadowed by discussions in the conference, but that he was to +aid us in bringing it up. + +I told him I was now preparing a draft of a memorial to the +conference giving the reasons why the subject ought to be +submitted, and that he should have it as soon as completed. + +This matter being for the time disposed of, we took up the state +of the arbitration question, and the consequences of opposition +by Germany and her two allies to every feasible plan. + +He was very much in earnest, and declared especially against +compulsory arbitration. To this I answered that the plan thus far +adopted contemplated entirely voluntary arbitration, with the +exception that an obligatory system was agreed upon as regards +sundry petty matters in which arbitration would assist all the +states concerned; and that if he disliked this latter feature, +but would agree to the others, we would go with him in striking +it out, though we should vastly prefer to retain it. + +He said, "Yes; you have already stricken out part of it in the +interest of the United States," referring to the features +concerning the Monroe Doctrine, the regulation of canals, rivers, +etc. + +"Very true," I answered; "and if there are any special features +which affect unfavorably German policy or interests, move to +strike them out, and we will heartily support you." + +He then dwelt in his usual manner on his special hobby, which is +that modern nations are taking an entirely false route in +preventing the settlement of their difficulties by trained +diplomatists, and intrusting them to arbitration by men +inexperienced in international matters, who really cannot be +unprejudiced or uninfluenced; and he spoke with especial contempt +of the plan for creating a bureau, composed, as he said, of +university professors and the like, to carry on the machinery of +the tribunal. + +Here I happened to have a trump card. I showed him Sir Julian +Pauncefote's plan to substitute a council composed of all the +ministers of the signatory powers residing at The Hague, with my +amendment making the Dutch minister of foreign affairs its +president. This he read and said he liked it; in fact, it seemed +to remove a mass of prejudice from his mind. + +I then spoke very earnestly to him--more so than ever +before--about the present condition of affairs. I told him that +the counselors in whom the Emperor trusted--such men as himself +and the principal advisers of his Majesty--ought never to allow +their young sovereign to be exposed to the mass of hatred, +obloquy, and opposition which would converge upon him from all +nations in case he became known to the whole world as the +sovereign who had broken down the conference and brought to +naught the plan of arbitration. I took the liberty of telling him +what the Emperor said to me regarding the count himself--namely, +that what the conference was most likely to need was good common +sense, and that he was sending Count Munster because he possessed +that. This seemed to please him, and I then went on to say that +he of all men ought to prevent, by all means, placing the young +Emperor in such a position. I dwelt on the gifts and graces of +the young sovereign, expressed my feeling of admiration for his +noble ambitions, for his abilities, for the statesmanship he had +recently shown, for his grasp of public affairs, and for his way +of conciliating all classes, and then dwelt on the pity of making +such a monarch an object of hatred in all parts of the world. + +He seemed impressed by this, but said the calling of the +conference was simply a political trick--the most detestable +trick ever practised. It was done, he said mainly to embarrass +Germany, to glorify the young Russian Emperor, and to put Germany +and nations which Russia dislikes into a false position. To this +I answered, "If this be the case, why not trump the Russian +trick? or, as the poker-players say, 'Go them one better,' take +them at their word, support a good tribunal of arbitration more +efficient even than the Russians have dared to propose; let your +sovereign throw himself heartily into the movement and become a +recognized leader and power here; we will all support him, and to +him will come the credit of it. + +"Then, in addition to this, support us as far as you can as +regards the immunity of private property on the high seas, and +thus you will gain another great point; for, owing to her +relations to France, Russia has not dared commit herself to this +principle as otherwise she doubtless would have done, but, on the +contrary, has opposed any consideration of it by the conference. + +"Next, let attention be called to the fact--and we will gladly +aid in making the world fully aware of it--that Germany, through +you, has constantly urged the greatest publicity of our +proceedings, while certain other powers have insisted on secrecy +until secrecy has utterly broken down, and then have made the +least concession possible. In this way you will come out of the +conference triumphant, and the German Emperor will be looked upon +as, after all, the arbiter of Europe. Everybody knows that France +has never wished arbitration, and that Russian statesmen are +really, at heart, none too ardent for it. Come forward, then, and +make the matter thoroughly your own; and, having done this, +maintain your present attitude strongly as regards the two other +matters above named,--that is, the immunity from seizure of +private property on the high seas, and the throwing open of our +proceedings,--and the honors of the whole conference is yours." + +He seemed impressed by all this, and took a different tone from +any which has been noted in him since we came together. I then +asked him if he had heard Baron d'Estournelles's story. He said +that he had not. I told it to him, as given in my diary +yesterday; and said, "You see there what the failure to obtain a +result which is really so much longed for by all the peoples of +the world will do to promote the designs of the socialistic +forces which are so powerful in all parts of the Continent, and +nowhere more so than in Germany and the nations allied with her." + +This, too, seemed to impress him. I then went on to say, "This is +not all. By opposing arbitration, you not only put a club into +the hands of socialists, anarchists, and all the other +anti-social forces, but you alienate the substantial middle class +and the great body of religious people in all nations. You have +no conception of the depth of feeling on this subject which +exists in my own country, to say nothing of others; and if +Germany stands in the way, the distrust of her which Americans +have felt, and which as minister and ambassador at Berlin I have +labored so hard to dispel, will be infinitely increased. It will +render more and more difficult the maintenance of proper +relations between the two countries. Your sovereign will be +looked upon as the enemy of all nations, and will be exposed to +every sort of attack and calumny, while the young Emperor of +Russia will become a popular idol throughout the world, since he +will represent to the popular mind, and even to the minds of +great bodies of thinking and religious people, the effort to +prevent war and to solve public questions as much as possible +without bloodshed; while the Emperor of Germany will represent to +their minds the desire to solve all great questions by force. +Mind, I don't say this is a just view: I only say that it is the +view sure to be taken, and that by resisting arbitration here you +are playing the game of Russia, as you yourself have stated +it--that is, you are giving Russia the moral support of the whole +world at the expense of the neighboring powers, and above all of +Germany." + +I then took up an argument which, it is understood, has had much +influence with the Emperor,--namely, that arbitration must be in +derogation of his sovereignty,--and asked, "How can any such +derogation be possible? Your sovereign would submit only such +questions to the arbitration tribunal as he thought best; and, +more than all that, you have already committed yourselves to the +principle. You are aware that Bismarck submitted the question of +the Caroline Islands for arbitration to the Pope, and the first +Emperor William consented to act as arbiter between the United +States and Great Britain in the matter of the American +northwestern boundary. How could arbitration affect the true +position of the sovereign? Take, for example, matters as they now +stand between Germany and the United States. There is a vast mass +of petty questions which constantly trouble the relations between +the two countries. These little questions embitter debates, +whether in your Reichstag on one hand, or in our Congress on the +other, and make the position of the Berlin and Washington +governments especially difficult. The American papers attack me +because I yield too much to Germany, the German papers attack Von +Bulow because he yields too much to America, and these little +questions remain. If Von Bulow and I were allowed to sit down and +settle them, we could do so at short notice; but behind him +stands the Reichstag, and behind our Secretary of State and +myself stands the American Congress." + +I referred to such questions as the tonnage dues, the additional +tariff on bounty-promoted sugar, Samoa, the most-favored-nation +clause, in treaties between Germany and the United States, in +relation to the same clause in sundry treaties between the United +States and other powers, and said, "What a blessing it would be +if all these questions, of which both governments are tired, and +which make the more important questions constantly arising +between the two countries so difficult to settle, could be sent +at once to a tribunal and decided one way or the other! In +themselves they amount to little. It is not at all unlikely that +most of them--possibly all of them--would be decided in favor of +Germany; but the United States would acquiesce at once in the +decision by a tribunal such as is proposed. And this is just what +would take place between Germany and other nations. A mass of +vexatious questions would be settled by the tribunal, and the +sovereign and his government would thus be relieved from +parliamentary chicanery based, not upon knowledge, but upon party +tactics or personal grudges or inherited prejudices." + +He seemed now more inclined to give weight to these +considerations, and will, I hope, urge his government to take a +better view than that which for some time past has seemed to be +indicated by the conduct of its representatives here. + +In the afternoon I went to the five-o'clock tea of the Baroness +d'Estournelles, found a great crowd there, including the leading +delegates, and all anxious as to the conduct of Germany. Meeting +the Baroness von Suttner who has been writing such earnest books +in behalf of peace, I urged her to write with all her might to +influence public prints in Austria, Italy, and Germany in behalf +of arbitration, telling her that we are just arriving at the +parting of the ways, and that everything possible must be done +now, or all may be lost. To this she responded very heartily, and +I have no doubt will use her pen with much effect. + +In the evening went to a great reception at the house of the +Austrian ambassador, M. Okolicsanyi. There was a crush. Had a +long talk with Mr. Stead, telling him D'Estournelles's story, and +urging him to use it in every way to show what a boon the failure +of arbitration would be to the anti-social forces in all parts of +Europe. + +In the intervals during the day I busied myself in completing the +memorial to the conference regarding the immunity from seizure of +private property at sea. If we cannot secure it now, we must at +least pave the way for its admission by a future international +conference. + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + +AS PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN DELEGATION AT THE PEACE CONFERENCE +OF THE HAGUE: IV--1899 + +June 16. This morning Count Munster called and seemed much +excited by the fact that he had received a despatch from Berlin +in which the German Government--which, of course, means the +Emperor--had strongly and finally declared against everything +like an arbitration tribunal. He was clearly disconcerted by this +too literal acceptance of his own earlier views, and said that he +had sent to M. de Staal insisting that the meeting of the +subcommittee on arbitration, which had been appointed for this +day (Friday), should be adjourned on some pretext until next +Monday; "for," said he, "if the session takes place to-day, Zorn +must make the declaration in behalf of Germany which these new +instructions order him to make, and that would be a misfortune." +I was very glad to see this evidence of change of heart in the +count, and immediately joined him in securing the adjournment he +desired. The meeting of the subcommittee has therefore been +deferred, the reason assigned, as I understand, being that Baron +d'Estournelles is too much occupied to be present at the time +first named. Later Count Munster told me that he had decided to +send Professor Zorn to Berlin at once in order to lay the whole +matter before the Foreign Office and induce the authorities to +modify the instructions. I approved this course strongly, +whereupon he suggested that I should do something to the same +purpose, and this finally ended in the agreement that Holls +should go with Zorn. + +In view of the fact that Von Bulow had agreed that the German +delegates should stand side by side with us in the conference, I +immediately prepared a letter of introduction and a personal +letter to Bulow for Holls to take, and he started about five in +the afternoon. This latter is as follows: + +(Copy.) (Personal.) + + June 16, 1899 +DEAR BARON VON BULOW: + +I trust that, in view of the kindly relations which exist between +us, succeeding as they do similar relations begun twenty years +ago with your honored father, you will allow me to write you +informally, but fully and frankly, regarding the interests of +both our governments in the peace conference. The relations +between your delegates and ours have, from the first, been of the +kindest; your assurances on this point have been thoroughly +carried out. But we seem now to be at "the parting of the ways," +and on the greatest question submitted to us,--the greatest, as I +believe, that any conference or any congress has taken up in our +time,--namely, the provision for a tribunal of arbitration. + +It is generally said here that Germany is opposed to the whole +thing, that she is utterly hostile to anything like arbitration, +and that she will do all in her power, either alone or through +her allies, to thwart every feasible plan of providing for a +tribunal which shall give some hope to the world of settling some +of the many difficulties between nations otherwise than by +bloodshed. + +No rational man here expects all wars to be ended by anything +done here; no one proposes to submit to any such tribunal +questions involving the honor of any nation or the inviolability +of its territory, or any of those things which nations feel +instinctively must be reserved for their own decision. Nor does +any thinking man here propose obligatory arbitration in any case, +save, possibly, in sundry petty matters where such arbitration +would be a help to the ordinary administration of all +governments; and, even as to these, they can be left out of the +scheme if your government seriously desires it. + +The great thing is that there be a provision made or easily +calling together a court of arbitration which shall be seen of +all nations, indicate a sincere desire to promote peace, and, in +some measure, relieve the various peoples of the fear which so +heavily oppresses them all--the dread of an outburst of war at +any moment. + +I note that it has been believed by many that the motives of +Russia in proposing this conference were none too good,--indeed, +that they were possibly perfidious; but, even if this be granted, +how does this affect the conduct of Germany? Should it not rather +lead Germany to go forward boldly and thoughtfully, to accept the +championship of the idea of arbitration, and to take the lead in +the whole business here? + +Germany, if she will do this, will certainly stand before the +whole world as the leading power of Europe; for she can then say +to the whole world that she has taken the proposal of Russia au +serieux; has supported a thoroughly good plan of arbitration; has +done what Russia and France have not been willing to do,--favored +the presentation to the conference of a plan providing for the +immunity of private property from seizure on the high seas during +war,--and that while, as regards the proceedings of the +conference, Russia has wished secrecy, Germany has steadily, from +the first, promoted frankness and openness. + +With these three points in your favor, you can stand before the +whole world as the great Continental power which has stood up f +or peace as neither Russia nor France has been able to do. On the +other hand, if you do not do this, if you put a stumbling-block +in the way of arbitration, what results? The other powers will go +on and create as good a tribunal as possible, and whatever +failure may come will be imputed to Germany and to its Emperor. +In any case, whether failure or success may come, the Emperor of +Russia will be hailed in all parts of the world as a deliverer +and, virtually, as a saint, while there will be a wide-spread +outburst of hatred against the German Emperor. + +And this will come not alone from the anti-social forces which +are hoping that the conference may fail, in order that thereby +they may have a new weapon in their hands, but it will also come +from the middle and substantial classes of other nations. + +It is sure to make the relations between Germany and the United +States, which have been of late improving infinitely more bitter +than they have ever before been and it is no less sure to provoke +the most bitter hatred of the German monarchy in nearly all other +nations. + +Should his advisers permit so noble and so gifted a sovereign to +incur this political storm of obloquy, this convergence of hatred +upon him? Should a ruler of such noble ambitions and such +admirable powers be exposed to this? I fully believe that he +should not, and that his advisers should beg him not to place +himself before the world as the antagonist of a plan to which +millions upon millions in all parts of the world are devoted. + +From the United States come evidences of a feeling wide-spread +and deep on this subject beyond anything I have ever known. This +very morning I received a prayer set forth by the most +conservative of all Protestant religious bodies--namely, the +American branch of the Anglican Church--to be said in all +churches, begging the Almighty to favor the work of the peace +conference; and this is what is going on in various other +American churches, and in vast numbers of households. Something +of the same sort is true in Great Britain and, perhaps in many +parts of the Continent. + +Granted that expectations are overwrought, still this fact +indicates that here is a feeling which cannot be disregarded. + +Moreover, to my certain knowledge, within a month, a leading +socialist in France has boasted to one of the members of this +conference that it would end in failure; that the monarchs and +governments of Europe do not wish to diminish bloodshed; that +they would refuse to yield to the desire of the peoples for +peace, and that by the resentment thus aroused a new path to +victory would be open to socialism. + +Grant, too, that this is overstated, still such a declaration is +significant. + +I know it has been said that arbitration is derogatory to +sovereignty. I really fail to see how this can be said in +Germany. Germany has already submitted a great political question +between herself and Spain to arbitration, and the Emperor William +I was himself the arbiter between the United States and Great +Britain in the matter of our northwestern boundary. + +Bear in mind again that it is only VOLUNTARY arbitration that is +proposed, and that it will always rest with the German Emperor to +decide what questions he will submit to the tribunal and what he +will not. + +It has also been said that arbitration proceedings would give the +enemies of Germany time to put themselves in readiness for war; +but if this be feared in any emergency, the Emperor and his +government are always free to mobilize the German army at once. + +As you are aware, what is seriously proposed here now, in the way +of arbitration, is not a tribunal constantly in session, but a +system under which each of the signatory powers shall be free to +choose, for a limited time, from an international court, say two +or more judges who can go to The Hague if their services are +required, but to be paid only while actually in session here; +such payment to be made by the litigating parties. + +As to the machinery, the plan is that there shall be a dignified +body composed of the diplomatic representatives of the various +signatory powers, to sit at The Hague, presided over by the +Netherlands minister of foreign affairs, and to select and to +control such secretaries and officers as may be necessary for the +ordinary conduct of affairs. + +Such council would receive notice from powers having differences +with each other which are willing to submit the questions between +them to a court, and would then give notice to the judges +selected by the parties. The whole of the present plan, except +some subordinate features of little account, which can easily be +stricken out, is voluntary. There is nothing whatever obligatory +about it. Every signatory power is free to resort to such a +tribunal or not, as it may think best. Surely a concession like +this may well be made to the deep and wide sentiment throughout +the world in favor of some possible means of settling +controversies between nations other than by bloodshed. + +Pardon me for earnestly pressing upon you these facts and +considerations. I beg that you will not consider me as going +beyond my province. I present them to you as man to man, not only +in the interest of good relations between Germany and the United +States, but of interests common to all the great nations of the +earth,--of their common interest in giving something like +satisfaction to a desire so earnest and wide-spread as that which +has been shown in all parts of the world for arbitration. + +I remain, dear Baron von Bulow, +Most respectfully and sincerely yours, + (Sgd.) ANDREW D. WHITE. + + +P. S. Think how easily, if some such tribunal existed, your +government and mine could refer to it the whole mass of minor +questions which our respective parliamentary bodies have got +control of, and entangled in all sorts of petty prejudices and +demagogical utterances; for instance, Samoa, the tonnage dues, +the sugar-bounty question, the most-favored-nation clause, etc., +etc., which keep the two countries constantly at loggerheads. Do +you not see that submission of such questions to such a tribunal +as is now proposed, so far from being derogatory to sovereignty, +really relieves the sovereign and the Foreign Office of the most +vexatious fetters and limitations of parliamentarianism. It is +not at all unlikely that such a court would decide in your favor; +and if so, every thoughtful American would say, "Well and good; +it appears that, in spite of all the speeches in Congress, we +were wrong." And the matter would then be ended with the +good-will of all parties. +(Sgd.) A.D.W. + + +It is indeed a crisis in the history of the conference, and +perhaps in the history of Germany. I can only hope that Bulow +will give careful attention to the considerations which Munster +and myself press upon him. + +Later in the day Sir Julian Pauncefote called, evidently much +vexed that the sitting of the subcommittee had been deferred, and +even more vexed since he had learned from De Staal the real +reason. He declared that he was opposed to stringing out the +conference much longer; that the subcommittee could get along +perfectly well without Dr. Zorn; that if Germany did not wish to +come in, she could keep out; etc., etc. He seemed to forget that +Germany's going out means the departure of Austria and Italy, to +say nothing of one or two minor powers, and therefore the +bringing to naught of the conference. I did not think it best to +say anything about Molls's departure, but soothed him as much as +I could by dwelling on the success of his proposal that the +permanent council here shall be composed of the resident +diplomatic representatives. + +The other members of our commission, and especially President +Low, were at first very much opposed to Dr. Holls's going, on the +ground that it might be considered an interference in a matter +pertaining to Germany; but I persisted in sending him, agreeing +to take all the responsibility, and declaring that he should go +simply as a messenger from me, as the American ambassador at +Berlin, to the imperial minister of foreign affairs. + +June 17. + +The morning was given largely to completing my draft of our +memorial to the conference regarding the immunity of private +property in time of war from seizure on the high seas. + +In the afternoon drove to Scheveningen to make sundry official +visits, and in the evening to the great festival given by the +Netherlands Government to the conference. + +Its first feature was a series of tableaux representing some of +the most famous pictures in the Dutch galleries the most +successful of all being Rembrandt's "Night Watch." Jan Steen's +"Wedding Party" was also very beautiful. Then came peasant dances +given, in the midst of the great hall, by persons in the costumes +of all the different provinces. These were characteristic and +interesting, some of them being wonderfully quaint. + +The violinist of the late King, Johannes Wolff, played some solos +in a masterly way. + +The music by the great military band, especially the hymn of +William of Nassau and the Dutch and Russian national anthems, was +splendidly rendered, and the old Dutch provincial music played in +connection with the dances and tableaux was also noteworthy. + +It was an exceedingly brilliant assemblage, and the whole +festival from first to last a decided success. + + +June 18, Sunday. + +Went to Leyden to attend service at St. Peter's. Both the church +and its monuments are interesting. Visited also the church of St. +Pancras, a remarkable specimen of Gothic architecture, and looked +upon the tomb of Van der Werf, the brave burgomaster who defended +the town against the Spaniards during the siege. + +At the university I was much interested in the public hall where +degrees are conferred, and above all in the many portraits of +distinguished professors. Lingered next in the botanical gardens +back of the university, which are very beautiful. + +Then to the Museum of Antiquities, which is remarkably rich in +Egyptian and other monuments. Roman art is also very fully +represented. + +Thence home, and, on arriving, found, of all men in the world, +Thomas B. Reed, Speaker of our House of Representatives. Mr. +Newel, our minister, took us both for a drive to Scheveningen, +and Mr. Reed's conversation was exceedingly interesting; he is +well read in history and, apparently, in every field of English +literature. There is a bigness, a heartiness, a shrewdness, and a +genuineness about him which greatly attract me. + + +June 19. + +Called on M. de Staal to show him Holls's telegram from Berlin, +which is encouraging. De Staal thinks that we may have to give up +the tenth section of the arbitration plan, which includes +obligatory arbitration in sundry minor matters; but while I shall +be very sorry to see this done, we ought to make the sacrifice if +it will hold Germany, Italy, and Austria to us. + +A little later received a hearty telegram from the Secretary of +State authorizing our ordering the wreath of silver and gold and +placing it on the tomb of Grotius. Telegraphed and wrote Major +Allen at Berlin full directions on the subject. I am determined +that the tribute shall be worthy of our country, of its object, +and of the occasion. + +In the afternoon took Speaker Reed, with his wife and daughter, +through the "House in the Wood," afterward through the grounds, +which are more beautiful than ever, and then to Delft, where we +visited the tombs of William the Silent and Grotius, and finally +the house in which William was assassinated. It was even more +interesting to me than during either of my former visits, and was +evidently quite as interesting to Mr. Reed. + +At six attended a long meeting of the American delegation, which +elaborated the final draft of our communication to M. de Staal on +the immunity of private property on the high seas. Various +passages were stricken out, some of them--and, indeed, one of the +best--in deference to the ideas of Captain Mahan, who, though he +is willing, under instructions from the government, to join in +presenting the memorial, does not wish to sign anything which can +possibly be regarded as indicating a personal belief in the +establishment of such immunity. His is the natural view of a +sailor; but the argument with which he supports it does not at +all convince me. It is that during war we should do everything +possible to weaken and worry the adversary, in order that he may +be the sooner ready for peace; but this argument proves too much, +since it would oblige us, if logically carried out, to go back to +the marauding and atrocities of the Thirty Years' War. + + +June 20. + +Went to the session of one of the committees at the "House in the +Wood," and showed Mr. van Karnebeek our private-property +memorial, which he read, and on which he heartily complimented +us. + +I then made known to him our proposal to lay a wreath on the tomb +of Grotius, and with this he seemed exceedingly pleased, saying +that the minister of foreign affairs, M. de Beaufort, would be +especially delighted, since he is devoted to the memory of +Grotius, and delivered the historical address when the statue in +front of the great church at Delft was unveiled. + +A little later submitted the memorial; as previously agreed upon, +to Count Munster, who also approved it. + +Holls telegraphs me from Berlin that he has been admirably +received by the chancellor, Prince Hohenlohe, and by Baron von +Bulow, and that he is leaving for Hamburg to see the Emperor. + +At four P.M. to a meeting of the full conference to receive +report on improvements and extension of the Red Cross rules, etc. +This was adopted in a happy-go-lucky unparliamentary way, for the +eminent diplomatist who presides over the conference still +betrays a Russian lack of acquaintance with parliamentary +proceedings. So begins the first full movement of the conference +in the right direction; and it is a good beginning. + +Walked home through the beautiful avenues of the park with Mr. +van Karnebeek and Baron d'Estournelles, who is also a charming +man. He has been a minister plenipotentiary, but is now a member +of the French Chamber of Deputies and of the conference. + + +June 21. + +Early in the morning received a report from Holls, who arrived +from Hamburg late last night. His talks with Bulow and Prince +Hohenlohe had been most encouraging. Bulow has sent to the +Emperor my long private letter to himself, earnestly urging the +acceptance by Germany of our plan of arbitration. Prince +Hohenlohe seems to have entered most cordially into our ideas, +giving Holls a card which would admit him to the Emperor, and +telegraphing a request that his Majesty see him. But the Emperor +was still upon his yacht, at sea, and Holls could stay no longer. +Bulow is trying to make an appointment for him to meet the +Emperor at the close of the week. + +Early in the afternoon went with Minister Newel and Mr. Low to +call on M. de Beaufort regarding plans for the Grotius +celebration, on July 4, at Delft. It was in general decided that +we should have the ceremony in the great church at eleven o +'clock, with sundry speeches, and that at half-past twelve the +American delegation should give a luncheon to all the invited +guests in the town hall opposite. + +Holls tells me that last night, at the dinner of the president of +the Austrian delegation, he met Munster, who said to him, "I can +get along with Hohenlohe, and also with Bulow, but not with those +d--d lawyers in the Foreign Office" ("Mit Hohenlohe kann ich +auskommen, mit Bulow auch, aber mit diesen verdammten Juristen im +Auswartigen Amt, nicht."). + + +June 22. + +Up at four o'clock and at ten attended a session of the first +section at the "House in the Wood." Very interesting were the +discussions regarding bullets and asphyxiating bombs. As to the +former, Sir John Ardagh of the British delegation repelled +earnestly the charges made regarding the British bullets used in +India, and offered to substitute for the original proposal one +which certainly would be much more effective in preventing +unnecessary suffering and death; but the Russians seemed glad to +score a point against Great Britain, and Sir John's proposal was +voted down, its only support being derived from our own +delegation. Captain Crozier, our military delegate, took an +active part in supporting Sir John Ardagh, but the majority +against us was overwhelming. + +As to asphyxiating bombs, Captain Mahan spoke at length against +the provision to forbid them: his ground being that not the +slightest thing had yet been done looking to such an invention; +that, even if there had been, their use would not be so bad as +the use of torpedoes against ships of war; that asphyxiating men +by means of deleterious gases was no worse than asphyxiating them +with water; indeed, that the former was the less dangerous of the +two, since the gases used might simply incapacitate men for a +short time, while the blowing up of a ship of war means death to +all or nearly all of those upon it. + +To this it was answered--and, as it seemed to me, with +force--that asphyxiating bombs might be used against towns for +the destruction of vast numbers of non-combatants, including +women and children, while torpedoes at sea are used only against +the military and naval forces of the enemy. The original proposal +was carried by a unanimous vote, save ours. I am not satisfied +with our attitude on this question; but what can a layman do when +he has against him the foremost contemporary military and naval +experts? My hope is that the United States will yet stand with +the majority on the record. + +I stated afterward in a bantering way to Captain Mahan, as well +as others, that while I could not support any of the arguments +that had been made in favor of allowing asphyxiating bombs, there +was one which somewhat appealed to me--namely, that the dread of +them might do something to prevent the rush of the rural +population to the cities, and the aggregation of the poorer +classes in them, which is one of the most threatening things to +modern society, and also a second argument that such bombs would +bring home to warlike stay-at-home orators and writers the +realities of war. + +At noon received the French translation of our memorial to De +Staal, but found it very imperfect throughout, and in some parts +absolutely inadmissible; so I worked with Baron de Bildt, +president of the Swedish delegation here, all the afternoon in +revising it. + +At six the American delegation met and chose me for their orator +at the approaching Grotius festival at Delft. I naturally feel +proud to discharge a duty of this kind, and can put my heart into +it, for Grotius has long been to me almost an object of idolatry, +and his main works a subject of earnest study. There are few men +in history whom I so deeply venerate. Twenty years ago, when +minister at Berlin, I sent an eminent American artist to Holland +and secured admirable copies of the two best portraits of the +great man. One of these now hangs in the Law Library of Cornell +University, and the other over my work-table at the Berlin +Embassy. + +June 23. + +At work all the morning on letters and revising final draft of +memorial on immunity of private property at sea, and lunched +afterward at the "House in the Wood" to talk it over with Baron +de Bildt. + +At the same table met M. de Martens, who has just returned by +night to his work here, after presiding a day or two over the +Venezuela arbitration tribunal at Paris. He told me that Sir +Richard Webster, in opening the case, is to speak for sixteen +days, and De Martens added that he himself had read our entire +Venezuelan report, as well as the other documents on the subject +which form quite a large library. And yet we do not include men +like him in "the working-classes"! + +In the evening to a reception at the house of M. de Beaufort, +minister of foreign affairs, and was cordially greeted by him and +his wife, both promising that they would accept our invitation to +Delft. I took in to the buffet the wife of the present Dutch +prime minister, who also expressed great interest in our +proposal, and declared her intention of being present. + +Count Zanini, the Italian minister and delegate here, gave me a +comical account of two speeches in the session of the first +section this morning; one being by a delegate from Persia, Mirza +Riza Khan, who is minister at St. Petersburg. His Persian +Excellency waxed eloquent over the noble qualities of the Emperor +of Russia, and especially over his sincerity as shown by the fact +that when his Excellency tumbled from his horse at a review, his +Majesty sent twice to inquire after his health. The whole effect +upon the conference was to provoke roars of laughter. + +But the great matter of the day was the news, which has not yet +been made public, that Prince Hohenlohe, the German chancellor, +has come out strongly for the arbitration tribunal, and has sent +instructions here accordingly. This is a great gain, and seems to +remove one of the worst stumbling-blocks. But we will have to pay +for this removal, probably, by giving up section 10 of the +present plan, which includes a system of obligatory arbitration +in various minor matters,--a system which would be of use to the +world in many ways. While the American delegation, as stated in +my letter which Holls took to Bulow, and which has been forwarded +to the Emperor, will aid in throwing out of the arbitration plan +everything of an obligatory nature, if Germany insists upon it, I +learn that the Dutch Government is much opposed to this +concession, and may publicly protest against it. + +A curious part of the means used in bringing about this change of +opinion was the pastoral letter, elsewhere referred to, issued by +the Protestant Episcopal bishop of Texas, calling for prayers +throughout the State for the success of the conference in its +efforts to diminish the horrors of war. This pastoral letter, to +which I referred in my letter to Minister von Bulow, I intrusted +to Holls, authorizing him to use it as he thought fit. He showed +it to Prince Hohenlohe, and the latter, although a Roman +Catholic, was evidently affected by it, and especially by the +depth and extent of the longing for peace which it showed. It is +perhaps an interesting example of an indirect "answer to prayer," +since it undoubtedly strengthened the feelings in the prince +chancellor's mind which led him to favor arbitration. + + +June 24. + +Sent to M. de Staal, as president of the conference, the memorial +relating to the exemption of private property, not contraband of +war, from capture on the high seas. Devoted the morning to +blocking out my Grotius address, and afterward drove with Holls +to Delft to look over the ground for our Fourth-of-July festival. +The town hall is interesting and contains, among other portraits, +one which is evidently a good likeness of Grotius; the only +difficulty is that, for our intended luncheon, the rooms, though +beautiful, seem inadequate. + +Thence to the church, and after looking over that part of it near +the monuments, with reference to the Grotius ceremony, went into +the organ-loft with the organist. There I listened for nearly an +hour while he and Holls played finely on that noble instrument; +and as I sat and looked down over the church and upon the distant +monuments, the old historic scenes of four hundred years ago came +up before me, with memories almost overpowering of my first visit +thirty-five years ago. And all then with me are now dead. + + +June 25. + +At nine in the morning off with Holls to Rotterdam, and on +arriving took the tram through the city to the steamboat wharf, +going thence by steamer to Dort. Arrived, just before the close +of service, at the great church where various sessions of the +synod were held. The organ was very fine; the choir-stalls, where +those wretched theologians wrangled through so many sessions and +did so much harm to their own country and others, were the only +other fine things in the church, and they were much dilapidated. +I could not but reflect bitterly on the monstrous evils provoked +by these men who sat so long there spinning a monstrous theology +to be substituted for the teachings of Christ himself. + +Thence back to The Hague and to Scheveningen, and talked over +conference matters with Count Munster. Received telegrams from +Count von Bulow in answer to mine congratulating him on his +promotion, also one from Baron von Mumm, the German minister at +Luxemburg, who goes temporarily to Washington. + + +June 26. + +At work all the morning on my Grotius address Lunched at the +"House in the Wood," and walked to town with sundry delegates. In +the afternoon went to a "tea" at the house of Madame Boreel and +met a number of charming people; but the great attraction was the +house, which is that formerly occupied by John De Witt--that from +which he went to prison and to assassination. Here also Motley +lived, and I was shown the room in which a large part of his +history was written, and where Queen Sophia used to discuss Dutch +events and personages with him. + +The house is beautiful, spacious, and most charmingly decorated, +many of the ornaments and paintings having been placed there in +the time of De Witt. + + +June 27. + +At all sorts of work during the morning, and then, on invitation +of President Low, went with the other members of the delegation +to Haarlem, where we saw the wonderful portraits by Frans Hals, +which impressed me more than ever, and heard the great organ. It +has been rebuilt since I was there thirty-five years ago; but it +is still the same great clumsy machine, and very poorly +played,--that is, with no spirit, and without any effort to +exhibit anything beyond the ordinary effects for which any little +church organ would do as well. + +In the evening dined with Count Zanini, the Italian minister and +delegate, and discussed French matters with Baron d'Estournelles. +He represents the best type of French diplomatist, and is in +every way attractive. + +Afterward to Mr. van Karnebeek's reception, meeting various +people in a semi-satisfactory way. + + +June 29. + +In the morning, in order to work off the beginnings of a +headache, I went to Rotterdam and walked until noon about the +streets and places, recalling my former visit, which came very +vividly before me as I gazed upon the statue of Erasmus, and +thought upon his life here. No man in history has had more +persistent injustice done him. If my life were long enough I +would gladly use my great collection of Erasmiana in illustrating +his services to the world. To say nothing of other things, the +modern "Higher Criticism" has its roots in his work. + + +June 30. + +Engaged on the final revision of my Grotius speech, and on +various documents. + +At noon to the "House in the Wood" for lunch, and afterward took +a walk in the grounds with Beldiman, the Roumanian delegate, who +explained to me the trouble in Switzerland over the vote on the +Red Cross Conference. + +It appears that whereas Switzerland initiated the Red Cross +movement, has ever since cherished it, and has been urged by +Italy and other powers to take still further practical measures +for it, the Dutch delegation recently interposed, secured for one +of their number the presidency of the special conference, and +thus threw out my Berlin colleague, Colonel Roth, who had been +previously asked to take the position and had accepted it, with +the result that the whole matter has been taken out of the hands +of Switzerland, where it justly belonged, and put under the care +of the Netherlands. This has provoked much ill feeling in +Switzerland, and there is especial astonishment at the fact that +when Beldiman moved an amendment undoing this unjust arrangement +it was, by some misunderstanding lost, and that therefore there +has been perpetuated what seems much like an injustice against +Switzerland. I promised to exert myself to have the matter +rectified so far as the American delegation was concerned, and +later was successful in doing so. + +In the evening dined at Minister Newel's. Sat between Minister +Okolicsanyi of the Austrian delegation, and Count Welsersheimb, +the chairman of that delegation, and had interesting talks with +them, with the Duke of Tetuan, and others. It appears that the +Duke, who is a very charming, kindly man, has, like myself, a +passion both for cathedral architecture and for organ music; he +dwelt much upon Burgos, which he called the gem of Spanish +cathedrals. + +Thence to the final reception at the house of M. de Beaufort, +minister of foreign affairs, who showed me a contemporary +portrait of Grotius which displays the traits observable in the +copies which Burleigh painted for me twenty years ago at +Amsterdam and Leyden. Talked with Sir Julian Pauncefote regarding +the Swiss matter; he had abstained from voting for the reason +that he had no instructions in the premises. + + +July 2. + +In the morning Major Allen, military attache of our embassy at +Berlin, arrived, bringing the Grotius wreath. Under Secretary +Hay's permission, I had given to one of the best Berlin +silversmiths virtually carte blanche, and the result is most +satisfactory. The wreath is very large, being made up, on one +side, of a laurel branch with leaves of frosted silver and +berries of gold, and, on the other, of an oak branch with silver +leaves and gold acorns, both boughs being tied together at the +bottom by a large knot of ribbon in silver gilded, bearing the +arms of the Netherlands and the United States on enameled +shields, and an inscription as follows: + + + To the Memory of HUGO GROTIUS; + In Reverence and Gratitude, + From the United States of America; + On the Occasion of the International Peace Conference + of The Hague. + July 4th, 1899. + + +It is a superb piece of work, and its ebony case, with silver +clasps, and bearing a silver shield with suitable inscription, is +also perfect: the whole thing attracts most favorable attention. + + + + CHAPTER XLIX + +AS PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN DELEGATION AT THE PEACE CONFERENCE +OF THE HAGUE: V--1899 + +July 4. + +On this day the American delegation invited their colleagues to +celebrate our national anniversary at the tomb of Grotius, first +in the great church, and afterward in the town hall of Delft. +Speeches were made by the minister of foreign affairs of the +Netherlands De Beaufort; by their first delegate, Van Karnebeek; +by Mr. Asser, one of their leading jurists; by the burgomaster of +Delft; and by Baron de Bildt, chairman of the Swedish delegation +and minister at Rome, who read a telegram from the King of Sweden +referring to Grotius's relations to the Swedish diplomatic +service; as well as by President Low of Columbia University and +myself: the duty being intrusted to me of laying the wreath upon +Grotius's tomb and making the address with reference to it. As +all the addresses are to be printed, I shall give no more +attention to them here. A very large audience was present, +embracing the ambassadors and principal members of the +conference, the Netherlands ministers of state, professors from +the various universities of the Netherlands, and a large body of +other invited guests. + +The music of the chimes, of the organ, and of the royal choir of +one hundred voices was very fine; and, although the day was +stormy, with a high wind and driving rain, everything went off +well. + +After the exercises in the church, our delegation gave a +breakfast, which was very satisfactory. About three hundred and +fifty persons sat down to the tables at the town hall, and one +hundred other guests, including the musicians, at the leading +restaurant in the place. In the afternoon the Americans gathered +at the reception given by our minister, Mr. Newel, and his wife, +and in the evening there was a large attendance at an "American +concert" given by the orchestra at the great hall in +Scheveningen. + +July 5. + +Early in the morning to the second committee of the conference, +where I spoke in behalf of the Beldiman resolution, doing justice +to Switzerland as regards the continuance of the Red Cross +interests in Swiss hands; and on going to a vote we were +successful. + +Then, the question of a proper dealing with our memorial +regarding the immunity of private property on the high seas +coming up, I spoke in favor of referring it to the general +conference, and gave the reasons why it should not simply be +dropped out as not coming within the subjects contemplated in the +call to the conference. Though my speech was in French, it went +off better than I expected. + +In the afternoon, at the full conference, the same subject came +up; and then, after a preface in French, asking permission to +speak in English, I made my speech, which, probably, three +quarters of all the delegates understood, but, at my request, a +summary of it was afterward given in French by Mr. van Karnebeek. + +The occasion of this speech was my seconding the motion, made in +a very friendly manner by M. de Martens, to refer the matter to a +future conference; but I went into the merits of the general +subject to show its claims upon the various nations, etc., etc., +though not, of course, as fully as I would have done had the +matter been fully under discussion. My speech was very well +received, and will, I hope, aid in keeping the subject alive. + +In the afternoon drove to Ryswyck, to the house of M. Cornets de +Groot, the living representative of the Grotius family. The house +and grounds were very pleasant, but the great attraction was a +collection of relics of Grotius, including many manuscripts from +his own hand,--among these a catechism for his children, written +in the prison of Loewenstein; with official documents, signed and +sealed, connected with the public transactions of his time; also +letters which passed between him and Oxenstiern, the great +Swedish chancellor, some in Latin and some in other languages; +besides sundry poems. There were also a multitude of portraits, +engravings, and documents relating to Olden-Barneveld and others +of Grotius's contemporaries. + +The De Groot family gave us a most hearty reception, introducing +their little girl, who is the latest-born descendant of Grotius, +and showing us various household relics of their great ancestor, +including cups, glasses, and the like. Mr. De Groot also gave me +some curious information regarding him which I did not before +possess; and, among other things, told me that when Grotius's +body was transferred, shortly after his death, from Rostock to +Delft, the coffin containing it was stoned by a mob at Rotterdam; +also that at the unveiling of the statue of Grotius in front of +the church at Delft, a few years ago, the high-church Calvinists +would not allow the children from their church schools to join +the other children in singing hymns. The old bitterness of the +extreme Calvinistic party toward their great compatriot was thus +still exhibited, and the remark was made at the time, by a member +of it, that the statue was perfectly true to life, since "its +back was turned toward the church"; to which a reply was made +that "Grotius's face in the statue, like his living face, was +steadily turned toward justice." This latter remark had reference +to the fact that a court is held in the city hall, toward which +the statue is turned. + +In the evening to a dinner given by Mr. Piersoon, minister of +finance and prime minister of the Netherlands, to our delegation +and to his colleagues of the Dutch ministry. Everything passed +off well, Mr. Piersoon proposing a toast to the health of the +President of the United States, to which I replied in a toast to +the Queen of the Netherlands. In the course of his speech Mr. +Piersoon thanked us for our tribute to Grotius, and showed really +deep feeling on the subject. There is no doubt that we have +struck a responsive chord in the hearts of all liberal and +thoughtful men and women of the Netherlands; from every quarter +come evidences of this. + +A remark of his, regarding arbitration, especially pleased us. He +said that the arbitration plan, as it had come from the great +committee, was like a baby:--apparently helpless, and of very +little value, unable to do much, and requiring careful nursing; +but that it had one great merit:--IT WOULD GROW. + +This I believe to be a very accurate statement of the situation. +The general feeling of the conference becomes better and better. +More and more the old skepticism has departed, and in place of it +has come a strong ambition to have a share in what we are +beginning to believe may be a most honorable contribution to the +peace of the world. I have never taken part in more earnest +discussions than those which during the last two weeks have +occupied us, and especially those relating to arbitration. + +I think I may say, without assuming too much, that our Grotius +celebration has been a contribution of some value to this growth +of earnestness. It has, if I am not greatly mistaken, revealed to +the conference, still more clearly than before, the fact that it +is a historical body intrusted with a matter of vast importance +and difficulty, and that we shall be judged in history with +reference to this fact. + + +July 6. + +At 5.30 P.M. off in special train with the entire conference to +Amsterdam. On arriving, we found a long train of court carriages +which took us to the palace, the houses on each side throughout +the entire distance being decorated with flags and banners, and +the streets crowded with men, women, and children. We were indeed +a brave show, since all of us, except the members of our American +delegation, wore gorgeous uniforms with no end of ribbons, stars, +and insignia of various offices and orders. + +On reaching our destination, we were received by the Queen and +Queen-mother, and shortly afterward went in to dinner. With the +possible exception of a lord mayor's feast at the Guildhall, it +was the most imposing thing of the kind that I have ever seen. +The great banqueting-hall, dating from the glorious days of the +Dutch Republic, is probably the largest and most sumptuous in +continental Europe, and the table furniture, decorations, and +dinner were worthy of it. About two hundred and fifty persons, +including all the members of the conference and the higher +officials of the kingdom, sat down, the Queen and Queen-mother at +the head of the table, and about them the ambassadors and +presidents of delegations. My own place, being very near the +Majesties, gave me an excellent opportunity to see and hear +everything. Toward the close of the banquet the young Queen arose +and addressed us, so easily and naturally that I should have +supposed her speech extemporaneous had I not seen her consulting +her manuscript just before rising. Her manner was perfect, and +her voice so clear as to be heard by every one in the hall. +Everything considered, it was a remarkable effort for a young +lady of seventeen. At its close an excellent reply was made by +our president, M. de Staal; and soon afterward, when we had +passed into the great gallery, there came an even more striking +exhibition of the powers of her youthful Majesty, for she +conversed with every member of the conference, and with the +utmost ease and simplicity. To me she returned thanks for the +Grotius tribute, and in very cordial terms, as did later also the +Queen-mother; and I cannot but believe that they were sincere, +since, three months later, at the festival given them at Potsdam, +they both renewed their acknowledgments in a cordial way which +showed that their patriotic hearts were pleased. Various leading +men of the Netherlands and of the conference also thanked us, and +one of them said, "You Americans have taught us a lesson; for, +instead of a mere display of fireworks to the rabble of a single +city, or a ball or concert to a few officials, you have, in this +solemn recognition of Grotius, paid the highest compliment +possible to the entire people of the Netherlands, past, present, +and to come." + + +July 7. + +In the morning to the great hall of the "House in the Wood," +where the "editing committee" (comite de redaction) reported to +the third committee of the conference the whole arbitration plan. +It struck me most favorably,--indeed, it surprised me, though I +have kept watch of every step. I am convinced that it is better +than any of the plans originally submitted, not excepting our +own. It will certainly be a gain to the world. + +At the close of the session we adjourned until Monday, the 17th, +in order that the delegates may get instructions from their +various governments regarding the signing of the protocols, +agreements, etc. + + +July 8. + +In the evening dined with M. de Mier, the Mexican minister at +Paris and delegate here, and had a very interesting talk with M. +Raffalovitch, to whom I spoke plainly regarding the only road to +disarmament. I told him that he must know as well as any one that +there is a vague dread throughout Europe of the enormous growth +of Russia, and that he must acknowledge that, whether just or +not, it is perfectly natural. He acquiesced in this, and I then +went on to say that the Emperor Nicholas had before him an +opportunity to do more good and make a nobler reputation than any +other czar had ever done, not excepting Alexander II with his +emancipation of the serfs; that I had thought very seriously of +writing, at the close of the conference, to M. Pobedonostzeff, +presenting to him the reasons why Russia might well make a +practical beginning of disarmament by dismissing to their homes, +or placing on public works, say two hundred thousand of her +soldiers; that this would leave her all the soldiers she needs, +and more; that he must know, as everybody knows, that no other +power dreams of attacking Russia or dares to do so; that there +would be no disadvantage in such a dismissal of troops to +peaceful avocations, but every advantage; and that if it were +done the result would be that, in less than forty years, Russia +would become, by this husbanding of her resources, the most +powerful nation on the eastern continent, and able to carry out +any just policy which she might desire. I might have added that +one advantage of such a reduction would certainly be less +inclination by the war party at St. Petersburg to plunge into +military adventures. (Had Russia thus reduced her army she would +never have sunk into the condition in which she finds herself now +(1905), as I revise these lines. Instead of sending Alexeieff to +make war, she would have allowed De Witte to make peace--peace on +a basis of justice to Japan, and a winter access to the Pacific, +under proper safeguards, for herself.) + +Raffalovitch seemed to acquiesce fully in my view, except as to +the number of soldiers to be released, saying that fifty or sixty +thousand would do perfectly well as showing that Russia is in +earnest. + +He is one of the younger men of Russia, but has very decided +ability, and this he has shown not only in his secretaryship of +the conference, but in several of his works on financial and +other public questions published in Paris, which have secured for +him a corresponding membership of the French Institute. + +It is absolutely clear in my mind that, if anything is to be done +toward disarmament, a practical beginning must be made by the +Czar; but the unfortunate thing is that with, no doubt, fairly +good intentions, he is weak and ill informed. The dreadful +mistake he is making in violating the oath sworn by his +predecessors and himself to Finland is the result of this +weakness and ignorance; and should he attempt to diminish his +overgrown army he would, in all probability, be overborne by the +military people about him, and by petty difficulties which they +would suggest, or, if necessary, create. It must be confessed +that there is one danger in any attempted disarmament, and this +is that the military clique might, to prevent it, plunge the +empire into a war. + +The Emperor is surrounded mainly by inferior men. Under the shade +of autocracy men of independent strength rarely flourish. Indeed, +I find that the opinion regarding Russian statesmen which I +formed in Russia is confirmed by old diplomatists, of the best +judgment, whom I meet here. One of them said to me the other day: +"There is no greater twaddle than all the talk about far-seeing +purposes and measures by Russian statesmen. They are generally +weak, influenced by minor, and especially by personal, +considerations, and inferior to most men in similar positions in +the other great governments of Europe. The chancellor, Prince +Gortchakoff, of whom so much has been said, was a weak, vain man, +whom Bismarck found it generally very easy to deal with." + +As to my own experience, I think many of those whom I saw were +far from the best of their kind with whom I have had to do. I +have never imagined a human being in the position of minister of +the interior of a great nation so utterly futile as the person +who held that place at St. Petersburg in my time; and the same +may be said of several others whom I met there in high places. +There are a few strong men, and, unfortunately, Pobedonostzeff is +one of them. Luckily, De Witte, the minister of finance, is +another. + +July 10. + +The evil which I dreaded, as regards the formation of public +opinion in relation to the work of our conference, is becoming +realized. The London "Spectator," just received, contains a most +disheartening article, "The Peace Conference a Failure," with an +additional article, more fully developed, to the same effect. +Nothing could be more unjust; but, on account of the +"Spectator's" "moderation," it will greatly influence public +opinion, and doubtless prevent, to some extent, the calling of +future conferences needed to develop the good work done in this. +Fortunately the correspondent of the "Times" gives a better +example, and shows, in his excellent letters, what has been +accomplished here. The "New York Herald," also, is thus far +taking the right view, and maintaining it with some earnestness. + + +July 17. + +This morning, at ten, to the "House in the Wood" to hear Mr. van +Karnebeek's report on disarmament, checking invention, etc., +before the session of committee No. 1. It was strongly attacked, +and was left in shreds: the whole subject is evidently too +immature and complicated to be dealt with during the present +conference. + +In the afternoon came up an especially interesting matter in the +session of the arbitration committee, the occasion being a report +of the subcommittee. Among the points which most interested us as +Americans was a provision for an appeal from the decision of the +arbitration tribunal on the discovery of new facts. + +De Martens of Russia spoke with great force against such right of +appeal, and others took ground with him. Holls really +distinguished himself by a telling speech on the other +side--which is the American side, that feature having been +present in our original instructions; Messrs. Asser and Karnebeek +both spoke for it effectively, and the final decision was +virtually in our favor, for Mr. Asser's compromise was adopted, +which really gives us the case. + +The Siamese representatives requested that the time during which +an appeal might be allowed should be six instead of three months, +which we had named; but it was finally made a matter of +adjustment between the parties. + + +July 18. + +The American delegation met at ten, when a cable message from the +State Department was read authorizing us to sign the protocol. + + +July 19. + +Field day in the arbitration committee. A decided sensation was +produced by vigorous speeches by my Berlin colleague, Beldiman, +of the Roumanian delegation, and by Servian, Greek, and other +delegates, against the provision for commissions d'enquete,--De +Martens, Descamps, and others making vigorous speeches in behalf +of them. It looked as if the Balkan states were likely to +withdraw from the conference if the commission d'enquete feature +was insisted upon: they are evidently afraid that such "examining +commissions" may be sent within their boundaries by some of their +big neighbors--Russia, for example--to spy out the land and start +intrigues. The whole matter was put over. + +In the evening to Count Munster's dinner at Scheveningen, and had +a very interesting talk on conference matters with Sir Julian +Pauncefote, finding that in most things we shall be able to stand +together as the crisis approaches. + + +July 20. + +For several days past I have been preparing a possible speech to +be made in signing the protocol, etc., which, if not used for +that purpose, may be published, and, perhaps, aid in keeping +public opinion in the right line as regards the work of the +conference after it has closed. + +In the afternoon to the "House in the Wood," the committee on +arbitration meeting again. More speeches were made by the +Bulgarians and Servians, who are still up in arms, fearing that +the commissione d'enquete means intervention by the great states +in their affairs. Speeches to allay their fears were made by +Count Nigra, Dr. Zorn, Holls, and Leon Bourgeois. Zorn spoke in +German with excellent effect, as did Holls in English; Nigra was +really impressive; and Bourgeois, from the chair, gave us a +specimen of first-rate French oratory. He made a most earnest +appeal to the delegates of the Balkan states, showing them that +by such a system of arbitration as is now proposed the lesser +powers would be the very first to profit, and he appealed to +their loyalty to humanity. The speech was greatly and justly +applauded. + +The Balkan delegates are gradually and gracefully yielding. + + +July 21. + +In the morning to the "House in the Wood," where a plenary +session of the conference was held. It was a field day on +explosive, flattening and expanding bullets, etc. Our Captain +Crozier, who evidently knows more about the subject than anybody +else here, urged a declaration of the principle that balls should +be not more deadly or cruel than is absolutely necessary to put +soldiers hors de combat; but the committee had reported a +resolution which, Crozier insists, opens the door to worse +missiles than those at present used. Many and earnest speeches +were made. I made a short speech, moving to refer the matter back +to the committee, with instructions to harmonize and combine the +two ideas in one article--that is, the idea which the article now +expresses, and Crozier's idea of stating the general principle to +which the bullets should conform--namely, that of not making a +wound more cruel than necessary; but the amendment was lost. + +July 22. + +Sir Julian Pauncefote called to discuss with us the signing of +the Acte Final. There seems to be general doubt as to what is the +best manner of signing the conventions, declarations, etc., and +all remains in the air. + +In the morning the American delegation met and Captain Mahan +threw in a bomb regarding article 27, which requires that when +any two parties to the conference are drifting into war, the +other powers should consider it a duty (devoir) to remind them of +the arbitration tribunal, etc. He thinks that this infringes the +American doctrine of not entangling ourselves in the affairs of +foreign states, and will prevent the ratification of the +convention by the United States Senate. This aroused earnest +debate, Captain Mahan insisting upon the omission of the word +"devoir," and Dr. Holls defending the article as reported by the +subcommittee, of which he is a member, and contending that the +peculiar interests of America could be protected by a +reservation. Finally, the delegation voted to insist upon the +insertion of the qualifying words, "autant que les circonstances +permettent," but this decision was afterward abandoned. + + +July 23. + +Met at our Minister Newel's supper Sir Henry Howard, who told me +that the present Dutch ministry, with Piersoon at its head and De +Beaufort as minister of foreign affairs, is in a very bad way; +that its "subserviency to Italy," in opposition to the demands of +the Vatican for admittance into the conference, and its +difficulties with the socialists and others, arising from the +police measures taken against Armenian, Finnish, New Turkish, and +other orators who have wished to come here and make the +conference and the city a bear-garden, have led both the extreme +parties--that is, the solid Roman Catholic party on one side, and +the pretended votaries of liberty on the other--to hate the +ministry equally. He thinks that they will join hands and oust +the ministry just as soon as the conference is over. + +Some allowance is to be made for the fact that Sir Henry is a +Roman Catholic: while generally liberal, he evidently looks at +many questions from the point of view of his church.[9] + + +[9] As it turned out, he was right: the ministry was ousted, but +not so soon as he expected, for the catastrophe did not arrive +until about two years later. Then came in a coalition of high +Calvinists and Roman Catholics which brought in the Kuyper +ministry. + + +July 24. + +For some days--in fact, ever since Captain Mahan on the 22d +called attention to article 27 of the arbitration convention as +likely to be considered an infringement of the Monroe +Doctrine--our American delegation has been greatly perplexed. We +have been trying to induce the French, who proposed article 27, +and who are as much attached to it as is a hen to her one chick, +to give it up, or, at least, to allow a limiting or explanatory +clause to be placed with it. Various clauses of this sort have +been proposed. The article itself makes it the duty of the other +signatory powers, when any two nations are evidently drifting +toward war, to remind these two nations that the arbitration +tribunal is open to them. Nothing can be more simple and natural; +but we fear lest, when the convention comes up for ratification +in the United States Senate, some over-sensitive patriot may seek +to defeat it by insisting that it is really a violation of +time-honored American policy at home and abroad--the policy of +not entangling ourselves in the affairs of foreign nations, on +one side, and of not allowing them to interfere in our affairs, +on the other. + +At twelve this day our delegation gave a large luncheon at the +Oude Doelen--among those present being Ambassadors De Staal, +Count Nigra, and Sir Julian Pauncefote, Bourgeois, Karnebeek, +Basily, Baron d'Estournelles, Baron de Bildt, and others--to +discuss means of getting out of the above-mentioned difficulty. A +most earnest effort was made to induce the French to allow some +such modification as has been put into other articles--namely, +the words, "autant que possible," or some limiting clause to the +same effect; but neither Bourgeois nor D'Estournelles, +representing France, would think of it for a moment. Bourgeois, +as the head of the French delegation, spoke again and again, at +great length. Among other things, he gave us a very long +disquisition on the meaning of "devoir" as it stands in the +article--a disquisition which showed that the Jesuits are not the +only skilful casuists in the world. + +I then presented my project of a declaration of the American +doctrine to be made by us on signing. It had been scratched off +with a pencil in the morning, hastily; but it was well received +by Bourgeois, D'Estournelles, and all the others. + +Later we held a meeting of our own delegation, when, to my +project of a declaration stating that nothing contained in any +part of the convention signed here should be considered as +requiring us to intrude, mingle, or entangle ourselves in +European politics or internal affairs, Low made an excellent +addition to the effect that nothing should be considered to +require any abandonment of the traditional attitude of the United +States toward questions purely American; and, with slight verbal +changes, this combination was adopted. + + +July 25. + +All night long I have been tossing about in my bed and thinking +of our declaration of the Monroe Doctrine to be brought before +the conference to-day. We all fear that the conference will not +receive it, or will insist on our signing without it or not +signing at all. + +On my way to The Hague from Scheveningen I met M. Descamps, the +eminent professor of international law in the University of +Louvain, and the leading delegate in the conference as regards +intricate legal questions connected with the arbitration plan. He +thought that our best way out of the difficulty was absolutely to +insist on a clause limiting the devoir imposed by article 27, and +to force it to a vote. He declared that, in spite of the French, +it would certainly be carried. This I doubt. M. Descamps knows, +perhaps, more of international law than of the temper of his +associates. + +In the afternoon to the "House in the Wood," where the "Final +Act" was read. This is a statement of what has been done, summed +up in the form of three conventions, with sundry declarations, +voeux, etc. We had taken pains to see a number of the leading +delegates, and all, in their anxiety to save the main features of +the arbitration plan, agreed that they would not oppose our +declaration. It was therefore placed in the hands of +Raffalovitch, the Russian secretary, who stood close beside the +president, and as soon as the "Final Act" had been recited he +read this declaration of ours. This was then brought before the +conference in plenary session by M. de Staal, and the conference +was asked whether any one had any objection, or anything to say +regarding it. There was a pause of about a minute, which seemed +to me about an hour. Not a word was said,--in fact, there was +dead silence,--and so our declaration embodying a reservation in +favor of the Monroe Doctrine was duly recorded and became part of +the proceedings. + +Rarely in my life have I had such a feeling of deep relief; for, +during some days past, it has looked as if the arbitration +project, so far as the United States is concerned, would be +wrecked on that wretched little article 27. + +I had before me notes of a speech carefully prepared, stating our +reasons and replying to objections, to be used in case we were +attacked, but it was not needed. In the evening I was asked by +Mr. Lavino, the correspondent of the London "Times," to put the +gist of it into an "interview" for the great newspaper which he +serves, and to this I consented; for, during the proceedings this +afternoon in the conference, Sir Julian Pauncefote showed great +uneasiness. He was very anxious that we should withdraw the +declaration altogether, and said, "It will be charged against you +that you propose to evade your duties while using the treaty to +promote your interests"; but I held firm and pressed the matter, +with the result above stated. I feared that he would object in +open conference; but his loyalty to arbitration evidently +deterred him. However, he returned to the charge privately, and I +then promised to make a public statement of our reasons for the +declaration, and this seemed to ease his mind. The result was a +recasting of my proposed speech, and this Mr. Lavino threw into +the form of a long telegram to the "Times." + + +July 26. + +At ten to a meeting of our American delegation, when another +bombshell was thrown among us--nothing less than the question +whether the Pope is to be allowed to become one of the signatory +powers; and this question has now taken a very acute form. Italy +is, of course, utterly opposed to it, and Great Britain will not +sign if any besides those agreed upon by the signatory powers are +allowed to come in hereafter, her motive being, no doubt, to +avoid trouble in regard to the Transvaal. + +Mr. Low stated that in the great committee the prevailing opinion +seemed to be that the signatory powers had made a sort of +partnership, and that no new partners could be added without the +consent of all. This is the natural ground, and entirely tenable. + +I would have been glad to add the additional requirement that no +power should be admitted which would not make arbitration +reciprocal--that is, no power which, while aiding to arbitrate +for others, would not accept arbitration between itself and +another power. This would, of course, exclude the Vatican; for, +while it desires to judge others, it will allow no interests of +its own, not even the most worldly and trivial, to be submitted +to any earthly tribunal. + +The question now came up in our American delegation as to signing +the three conventions in the Acte Final--namely, those relating +to arbitration, to the extension of the Geneva rules, and to the +laws and customs of war. We voted to sign the first, to send the +second to Washington without recommendation, and to send the +third with a recommendation that it be there signed. The reason +for sending the second to Washington without recommendation is +that Captain Mahan feels that, in its present condition, it may +bring on worse evils than it prevents. He especially and, I +think, justly objects to allowing neutral hospital ships to take +on board the wounded and shipwrecked in a naval action, with +power to throw around them the safeguards of neutrality and carry +them off to a neutral port whence they can again regain their own +homes and resume their status as combatants. + +The reason for submitting the third to Washington, with a +recommendation to sign it there, is that considerable work will +be required in conforming our laws of war to the standard +proposed by the conference, and that it is best that the +Washington authorities look it over carefully. + +I was very anxious to sign all three conventions, but the first +is the great one, and I yielded my views on the last two. + +The powers are to have until the 31st of December, if they wish +it, before signing. + + +July 27. + +Early in the morning to a meeting of our American delegation, Mr. +van Karnebeek being present. We agreed to sign the arbitration +convention, attaching to our signatures a reservation embodying +our declaration of July 25 regarding the maintenance of our +American policy--the Monroe Doctrine. A telegram was received +from the State Department approving of this declaration. The +imbroglio regarding the forcing of the Pope into the midst of the +signatory powers continues. The ultramontanes are pushing on +various delegates, especially sundry Austrians and Belgians, who +depend on clerical support for their political existence, and, in +some cases, for their daily bread; and the result is that M. +Descamps, one of the most eminent international lawyers in +Europe, who has rendered great services during the conference, +but who holds a professorship at the University of Louvain, and +can hold it not one moment longer than the Jesuits allow him, is +making a great display of feeling on the subject. Italy, of +course, continues to take the strongest ground against the +proposal to admit his Holiness as an Italian sovereign. + +Our position is, as was well stated in the great committee by Mr. +Low, that the contracting parties must all consent before a new +party can come in; and this under one of the simplest principles +of law. We ought also to add that any power thus admitted shall +not only consent to arbitrate on others, but to be arbitrated +upon. This, of course, the Vatican monsignori will never do. They +would see all Europe deluged in blood before they would submit +the pettiest question between the kingdom of Italy and themselves +to arbitration by lay powers. All other things are held by them +utterly subordinate to the restoration of the Pope's temporal +power, though they must know that if it were restored to him +to-morrow he could not hold it. He would be overthrown by a +revolution within a month, even with all the troops which France +or Austria could send to support him; and then we should have the +old miserable state of things again in Italy, with bloodshed, +oppression, and exactions such as took place throughout the first +half of this century, and, indeed, while I was in Italy, under +the old papal authority, in 1856. + +In the afternoon to the "House in the Wood" to go over documents +preliminary to signing the "Final Act." + + +July 28. + +In the afternoon in plenary session of the conference, hearing +the final reports as to forms of signing, etc. + +To-day appears in the London "Times" the interview which its +correspondent had with me yesterday. It develops the reasons for +our declaration, and seems to give general satisfaction. Sir +Julian Pauncefote told Holls that he liked it much. + +The committee on forms of the "Final Act," etc., has at last, +under pressure of all sorts, agreed that the question of +admitting non-signatory powers shall be decided by the signatory +powers, hereafter, through the ordinary medium of diplomatic +correspondence. This is unfortunate for some of the South +American republics, but it will probably in some way inure to the +benefit of the Vatican monsignori. + + +July 29. + +The last and culminating day of the conference. + +In the morning the entire body gathered in the great hall of the +"House in the Wood," and each delegation was summoned thence to +sign the protocol, conventions, and declarations. These were laid +out on a long table in the dining-room of the palace, which is +adorned with very remarkable paintings of mythological subjects +imitating bas-reliefs. + +All these documents had the places for each signature prepared +beforehand, and our seals, in wax, already placed upon the pages +adjoining the place where each signature was to be. At the +request of the Foreign Office authorities for my seal, I had sent +a day or two beforehand the seal ring which Goldwin Smith gave me +at the founding of Cornell University. It is an ancient carnelian +intaglio which he obtained in Rome, and bears upon its face, +exquisitely engraved, a Winged Victory. This seal I used during +my entire connection with Cornell University, and also as a +member of the Electoral College of the State of New York at +General Grant's second election, when, at the request of the +president of that body, Governor Woodford, it was used in sealing +certificates of the election, which were sent, according to law, +to certain high officials of our government. + +I affixed my signature to the arbitration convention, writing in, +as agreed, the proviso that our signatures were subject to the +Monroe Doctrine declaration made in open session of the +conference on July 25. The other members of the American +delegation then signed in proper order. But the two other +conventions we left unsigned. It was with deep regret that I +turned away from these; but the majority of the delegation had +decreed it, and it was difficult to see what other course we +could pursue. I trust that the Washington authorities will +rectify the matter by signing them both. + +We also affixed our signatures to the first of the +"declarations." + +At three P.M. came the formal closing of the conference. M. de +Staal made an excellent speech, as did Mr. van Karnebeek and M. +de Beaufort, the Netherlands minister of foreign affairs. To +these Count Munster, the presiding delegate from Germany, replied +in French, and apparently extemporaneously. It must have been +pain and grief to him, for he was obliged to speak respectfully, +in the first place, of the conference, which for some weeks he +had affected to despise; and, secondly, of arbitration and the +other measures proposed, which, at least during all the first +part of the conference, he had denounced as a trick and a humbug; +and, finally, he had to speak respectfully of M. de Staal, to +whom he has steadily shown decided dislike. He did the whole +quite well, all things considered; but showed his feelings +clearly, as regarded M. de Staal, by adding to praise of him +greater praise for Mr. van Karnebeek, who has been the main +managing man in the conference in behalf of the Netherlands +Government. + +Then to the hotel and began work on the draft of a report, +regarding the whole work of the conference, to the State +Department. I was especially embarrassed by the fact that the +wording of it must be suited to the scruples of my colleague, +Captain Mahan. He is a man of the highest character and of great +ability, whom I respect and greatly like; but, as an old naval +officer, wedded to the views generally entertained by older +members of the naval and military service, he has had very +little, if any, sympathy with the main purposes of the +conference, and has not hesitated to declare his disbelief in +some of the measures which we were especially instructed to +press. In his books he is on record against the immunity of +private property at sea, and in drawing up our memorial to the +conference regarding this latter matter, in making my speech with +reference to it in the conference, and in preparing our report to +the State Department, I have been embarrassed by this fact. It +was important to have unanimity, and it could not be had, so far +as he was concerned, without toning down the whole thing, and, +indeed, leaving out much that in my judgment the documents +emanating from us on the subject ought to contain. So now, in +regard to arbitration, as well as the other measures finally +adopted, his feelings must be considered. Still, his views have +been an excellent tonic; they have effectively prevented any +lapse into sentimentality. When he speaks the millennium fades +and this stern, severe, actual world appears. + +I worked until late at night, and then went to Scheveningen +almost in despair. + + +July 30. + +Returned to The Hague early in the morning, and went on again +with the report, working steadily through the day upon it. For +the first time in my life I have thus made Sunday a day of work. +Although I have no conscientious scruples on the subject, it was +bred into me in my childhood and boyhood that Sunday should be +kept free from all manner of work; and so thoroughly was this +rule inculcated that I have borne it in mind ever since, often +resisting very pressing temptation to depart from it. + +But to-day there was no alternative, and the whole time until +five o'clock in the afternoon was given to getting my draft +ready. + +At five P.M. the American delegation came together, and, to my +surprise, received my report with every appearance of +satisfaction. Mr. Low indicated some places which, in his +opinion, needed modification; and to this I heartily agreed, for +they were generally places where I was myself in doubt. + +My draft having thus been presented, I turned it over to Mr. Low, +who agreed to bring it to-morrow morning with such modifications, +omissions, and additions as seemed best to him. The old proverb, +"'T is always darkest just before daylight," seems exemplified +in the affairs of to-day, since the kind reception given to my +draft of the report, and the satisfaction expressed regarding it, +form a most happy and unexpected sequel to my wretched distrust +regarding the whole matter last night. + + +July 31. + +The American delegation met at eleven in the morning and +discussed my draft. Mr. Low's modifications and additions were +not many and were mainly good. But he omitted some things which I +would have preferred to retain: these being in the nature of a +plea in behalf of arbitration, or, rather, an exhibition of the +advantages which have been secured for it by the conference; but, +between his doubts and Captain Mahan's opposition, I did not care +to contest the matter, and several pages were left out. + +At six in the afternoon came the last meeting of our delegation. +The reports, duly engrossed,--namely, the special reports, signed +by Captain Mahan and Captain Crozier, from the first and second +committees of the conference; the special report made by myself, +Mr. Low, and Dr. Holls as members of the third committee; and the +general report covering our whole work, drawn almost entirely by +me, but signed by all the members of the commission,--were +presented, re-read, and signed, after which the delegation +adjourned, sine die. + + +August 1. + +After some little preliminary work on matters connected with the +winding up of our commission, went with my private secretary, Mr. +Vickery, to Amsterdam, visiting the old church, the palace, the +Zoological Gardens, etc. Thence to Gouda and saw the +stained-glass windows in the old church there, which I have so +long desired to study. + + +August 3. + +At 8.30 left The Hague and went by rail, via Cologne and +Ehrenbreitstein, to Homburg, arriving in the evening. + + +August 5. + +This morning resumed my duties as ambassador at Berlin. + +There was one proceeding at the final meeting of the conference +which I have omitted, but which really ought to find a place in +this diary. Just before the final speeches, to the amazement of +all and almost to the stupefaction of many, the president, M. de +Staal, handed to the secretary, without comment, a paper which +the latter began to read. It turned out to be a correspondence +which had taken place, just before the conference, between the +Queen of the Netherlands and the Pope. + +The Queen's letter--written, of course, by her ministers, in the +desire to placate the Catholic party, which holds the balance of +power in the Netherlands--dwelt most respectfully on the high +functions of his Holiness, etc., etc., indicating, if not saying, +that it was not the fault of her government that he was not +invited to join in the conference. + +The answer from the Pope was a masterpiece of Vatican skill. In +it he referred to what he claimed was his natural position as a +peacemaker on earth, dwelling strongly on this point. + +The reading of these papers was received in silence, and not a +word was publicly said afterward regarding them, though in +various quarters there was very deep feeling. It was felt that +the Dutch Government had taken this means of forestalling local +Dutch opposition, and that it was a purely local matter of +political partizanship that ought never to have been intruded +upon a conference of the whole world. + +I had no feeling of this sort, for it seemed to me well enough +that the facts should be presented; but a leading representative +of one of the great Catholic powers, who drove home with us, was +of a different mind. This eminent diplomatist from one of the +strongest Catholic countries, and himself a Catholic, spoke in +substance as follows: "The Vatican has always been, and is +to-day, a storm-center. The Pope and his advisers have never +hesitated to urge on war, no matter how bloody, when the +slightest of their ordinary worldly purposes could be served by +it. The great religious wars of Europe were entirely stirred up +and egged on by them; and, as everybody knows, the Pope did +everything to prevent the signing of the treaty of Munster, which +put an end to the dreadful Thirty Years' War, even going so far +as to declare the oaths taken by the plenipotentiaries at that +congress of no effect. + +"All through the middle ages and at the Renaissance period the +Popes kept Italy in turmoil and bloodshed for their own family +and territorial advantages, and they kept all Europe in turmoil, +for two centuries after the Reformation,--in fact, just as long +as they could,--in the wars of religion. They did everything they +could to stir up the war between Austria and Prussia in 1866, +thinking that Austria, a Catholic power, was sure to win; and +then everything possible to stir up the war of France against +Prussia in 1870 in order to accomplish the same purpose of +checking German Protestantism; and now they are doing all they +can to arouse hatred, even to deluge Italy in blood, in the vain +attempt to recover the temporal power, though they must know that +they could not hold it for any length of time even if they should +obtain it. + +"They pretend to be anxious to 'save souls,' and especially to +love Poland and Ireland; but they have for years used those +countries as mere pawns in their game with Russia and Great +Britain, and would sell every Catholic soul they contain to the +Greek and English churches if they could thereby secure the +active aid of those two governments against Italy. They have +obliged the Italian youth to choose between patriotism and +Christianity, and the result is that the best of these have +become atheists. Their whole policy is based on stirring up +hatred and promoting conflicts from which they hope to draw +worldly advantage. + +"In view of all this, one stands amazed at the cool statements of +the Vatican letter." + +These were the words of an eminent Roman Catholic representative +of a Roman Catholic power, and to them I have nothing to add. + +In looking back calmly over the proceedings of the conference, I +feel absolutely convinced that it has accomplished a great work +for the world. + +The mere assembling of such a body for such a purpose was a +distinct gain; but vastly more important is the positive outcome +of its labors. + +First of these is the plan of arbitration. It provides a court +definitely constituted; a place of meeting easily accessible; a +council for summoning it always in session; guarantees for +perfect independence; and a suitable procedure. + +Closely connected with this is the provision for "international +commissions of inquiry," which cannot fail to do much in clearing +up issues likely to lead to war between nations. Thus we may +hope, when there is danger of war, for something better than that +which the world has hitherto heard--the clamor of interested +parties and the shrieks of sensation newspapers. The natural +result will be, as in the Venezuelan difficulty between the +United States and Great Britain, that when a commission of this +sort has been set at work to ascertain the facts, the howling of +partizans and screaming of sensation-mongers will cease, and the +finding of the commission be calmly awaited. + +So, too, the plans adopted for mediation can hardly fail to aid +in keeping off war. The plans for "special mediation" and +"seconding powers," which emanated entirely from the American +delegation, and which were adopted unanimously by the great +committee and by the conference, seem likely to prove in some +cases an effective means of preventing hostilities, and even of +arresting them after they have begun. Had it been in operation +during our recent war with Spain, it would probably have closed +it immediately after the loss of Cervera's fleet, and would have +saved many lives and much treasure. + +Secondly, the extension of the Geneva rules, hitherto adopted for +war on land, to war also on the sea is a distinct gain in the +cause of mercy. + +Thirdly, the amelioration and more careful definition of the laws +of war must aid powerfully in that evolution of mercy and right +reason which has been going on for hundreds of years, and +especially since the great work of Grotius. + +In addition to these gains may well be mentioned the +declarations, expressions of opinion, and utterance of wishes for +continued study and persevering effort to make the +instrumentalities of war less cruel and destructive. + +It has been said not infrequently that the conference missed a +great opportunity when it made the resort to arbitration +voluntary and not obligatory. Such an objection can come only +from those who have never duly considered the problem concerned. +Obligatory arbitration between states is indeed possible in +various petty matters, but in many great matters absolutely +impossible. While a few nations were willing to accept it in +regard to these minor matters,--as, for example, postal or +monetary difficulties and the like,--not a single power was +willing to bind itself by a hard-and-fast rule to submit all +questions to it--and least of all the United States. + +The reason is very simple: to do so would be to increase the +chances of war and to enlarge standing armies throughout the +world. Obligatory arbitration on all questions would enable any +power, at any moment, to bring before the tribunal any other +power against which it has, or thinks it has, a grievance. Greece +might thus summon Turkey; France might summon Germany; the +Papacy, Italy; England, Russia; China, Japan; Spain, the United +States, regarding matters in which the deepest of human +feelings--questions of religion, questions of race, questions +even of national existence--are concerned. To enforce the +decisions of a tribunal in such cases would require armies +compared to which those of the present day are a mere bagatelle, +and plunge the world into a sea of troubles compared to which +those now existing are as nothing. What has been done is to +provide a way, always ready and easily accessible, by which +nations can settle most of their difficulties with each other. +Hitherto, securing a court of arbitration has involved first the +education of public opinion in two nations; next, the action of +two national legislatures; then the making of a treaty; then the +careful selection of judges on both sides; then delays by the +jurists thus chosen in disposing of engagements and duties to +which they are already pledged--all these matters requiring much +labor and long time; and this just when speedy action is most +necessary to arrest the development of international anger. Under +the system of arbitration now presented, the court can be brought +into session at short notice--easily, as regards most nations, +within a few weeks, at the farthest. When to these advantages are +added the provisions for delaying war and for improving the laws +of war, the calm judgment of mankind will, I fully believe, +decide that the conference has done a work of value to the world. + +There is also another gain--incidental, but of real and permanent +value; and this is the inevitable development of the Law of +Nations by the decisions of such a court of arbitration composed +of the most eminent jurists from all countries. Thus far it has +been evolved from the writings of scholars often conflicting, +from the decisions of national courts biased by local patriotism, +from the practices of various powers, on land and sea, more in +obedience to their interests than to their sense of justice; but +now we may hope for the growth of a great body of international +law under the best conditions possible, and ever more and more in +obedience to the great impulse given by Grotius in the direction +of right reason and mercy. + + + +CHAPTER L + +HINTS FOR REFORMS IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE + +In view of a connection with the diplomatic service of the United +States begun nearly fifty years ago and resumed at various posts +and periods since, I have frequently been asked for my opinion of +it, as compared with that of other nations, and also what +measures I would suggest for its improvement. Hitherto this +question has somewhat embarrassed me: answering it fully might +have seemed to involve a plea for my own interests; so that, +while I have pointed out, in public lectures and in letters to +men of influence, sundry improvements, I have not hitherto +thought it best to go fully into the subject. + +But what I now say will not see the light until my diplomatic +career is finished forever, and I may claim to speak now for what +seems to me the good of the service and of the country. I shall +make neither personal complaint of the past nor personal plea for +the future. As to the past, my experience showed me years ago +what I had to expect if I continued in the service--insufficient +salary, unfit quarters, inadequate means of discharging my +duties, and many other difficulties which ought not to have +existed, but which I knew to exist when I took office, and of +which I have therefore no right to complain. As to the future, I +can speak all the more clearly and earnestly because even my +enemies, if I have any, must confess that nothing which is now to +be done can inure to my personal benefit. + +As to the present condition, then, of our diplomatic service, it +seems to me a mixture of good and evil. It is by no means so bad +as it once was, and by no means so good as it ought to be and as +it could very easily be made. There has been great improvement in +it since the days of the Civil War. The diplomatic service of no +other country, probably, was so disfigured by eminently unworthy +members as was our own during the quarter of a century preceding +the inauguration of President Lincoln, and, indeed, during a part +of the Lincoln administration itself. + +During one presidential term previous to that time our ministers +at three of the most important centers of Europe were making +unedifying spectacles of themselves, whenever it was possible for +them to do so, before the courts to which they were accredited. +On one occasion of court festivity, one of them, in a gorgeous +uniform such as American ministers formerly wore, ran howling +through the mud in the streets of St. Petersburg, the high +personages of the empire looking out upon him from the windows of +the Winter Palace. Sundry other performances of his, to which I +have referred in the account of my Russian mission, were quite as +discreditable. + +Another American representative, stationed at Berlin during that +same period, disgraced his country by notorious drunkenness; and +though some of our countrymen at that capital sought to keep him +sober for his first presentation to the King, they were +unsuccessful. Happily, his wild conduct did not culminate abroad; +for a murder which he committed in a drunken fit did not occur +until after his return to our country. A third American +representative at that period published regularly, in his home +newspaper, such scurrilous letters regarding the authorities of +the country to which he was accredited, his colleagues in the +diplomatic service, and, indeed, the country itself, that, +according to common report, his early return home was caused by +his desire to escape the consequences. These were the worst, but +there were others utterly unfit,--men who not only spoke no other +language used in diplomatic intercourse, but could not even speak +with fairly grammatical decency their own. As to the early days +of Mr. Lincoln's administration, there is a well-authenticated +story that, a gentleman having expostulated with the Secretary of +State, Mr. Seward, for sending to a very important diplomatic +post a man whose conduct was the reverse of exemplary, Mr. Seward +replied, "Sir, some persons are sent abroad because they are +needed abroad, and some are sent because they are NOT wanted at +home." + +It is a great pleasure to note that since the war both of the +political parties have greatly improved in this respect, and that +the standard of diplomatic appointments has become much higher. +It is a duty as well as a pleasure to acknowledge here that no +President of the United States has ever taken more pains to make +the diplomatic and consular services what they should be than a +representative of the party to which I have always been +opposed--President Cleveland. Especially encouraging is the fact +that public opinion has become sensitive on this subject, and +that the only recent case of gross misconduct by an American +minister in foreign parts was immediately followed by his recall. + +And it ought also to be said, even regarding our diplomatic +system in the past, that sundry sneers of the pessimists do our +country wrong. It is certain that no other country has been +steadily represented in Great Britain by a series of more +distinguished citizens than has our own,--beginning with John +Adams, and including the gentleman who at present holds the +position of ambassador to the Court of St. James. Much may also +be said to the credit of our embassies and legations generally at +the leading capitals of Europe. As to unfortunate exceptions, +those who are acquainted with diplomatists in different parts of +the world know that, whatever may have been the failings of the +United States in this respect, she has not been the only nation +which has made mistakes in selecting foreign representatives. + +Our service at the present day is, in some respects, excellent; +but it is badly organized, insufficiently provided for, and, as a +rule, has not the standing which every patriotic American should +wish for it. + +I have frequently received letters from bright, active-minded +young men stating that they were desirous of fitting themselves +for a diplomatic career, and asking advice regarding the best way +of doing so; but I have felt obliged to warn every one of them +that, strictly speaking, there is no American diplomatic service; +that there is no guarantee of employment to them, even if they +fit themselves admirably; no security in their tenure of office, +even if they were appointed; and little, if any, probability of +their promotion, however excellent their record. Moreover, I have +felt obliged to tell them that the service, such as it is, +especially as regards ambassadors and ministers, is a service +with a property qualification; that it is not a democratic +service resting upon merit, but an aristocratic service resting +largely upon wealth,--a very important--indeed, +essential--qualification for it being that any American who +serves as ambassador must, as a rule, be able to expend, in +addition to his salary, at least from twelve to twenty thousand +dollars a year, and that the demands upon ministers +plenipotentiary are but little less. + +And yet, if Congress would seriously give attention to the +matter, calling before a proper committee those of its own +members, and others, who are well acquainted with the necessities +of the service, and would take common-sense advice, it could +easily be made one of the best, and quite possibly the best, in +the world. The most essential and desirable improvements which I +would present are as follows: + +I. As regards the first and highest grade in the diplomatic +service, that of ambassadors, I would have at least one half +their whole number appointed from those who have distinguished +themselves as ministers plenipotentiary, and the remaining posts +filled, as at present, from those who, in public life or in other +important fields, have won recognition at home as men fit to +maintain the character and represent the interests of their +country abroad. + +II. As regards the second grade in the service,--namely, that of +ministers plenipotentiary,--I would observe the same rule as in +appointing ambassadors, having at least a majority of these at +the leading capitals appointed from such as shall have especially +distinguished themselves at the less important capitals, and a +majority of the ministers plenipotentiary at these less important +capitals appointed from those who shall have distinguished +themselves as ministers resident, or as secretaries of embassy or +of legation. + +III. As to the third grade in our service, that of ministers +resident, I would observe the general rule above suggested for +the appointment of ambassadors and ministers plenipotentiary; +that is, I would appoint a majority of them from among those who +shall have rendered most distinguished service as first +secretaries of embassy or of legation. When once appointed I +would have them advanced, for distinguished service, from the +less to the more important capitals, and, so far as possible, +from the ranks of ministers resident to those of ministers +plenipotentiary. + +IV. As to the lower or special or temporary grades, whether that +of diplomatic agent or special charge d'affaires or commissioner, +I would have appointments made from the diplomatic or consular +service, or from public life in general, or from fitting men in +private life, as the President or the Secretary of State might +think the most conducive to the public interest. + +V. I would have two grades of secretaries of legation, and three +grades of secretaries of embassy. I would have the lowest grade +of secretaries appointed on the recommendation of the Secretary +of State from those who have shown themselves, on due +examination, best qualified in certain leading subjects, such as +international law, the common law, the civil law, the history of +treaties, and general modern history, political economy, a +speaking knowledge of French, and a reading knowledge of at least +one other foreign language. I would make the examination in all +the above subjects strict, and would oblige the Secretary of +State to make his selection of secretaries of legation from the +men thus presented. But, in view of the importance of various +personal qualifications which fit men to influence their +fellow-men, and which cannot be ascertained wholly by +examination, I would leave the Secretary of State full liberty of +choice among those who have honorably passed the examinations +above required. The men thus selected and approved I would have +appointed as secretaries of lower grades,--that is, third +secretaries of embassy and second secretaries of legation,--and +these, when once appointed, should be promoted, for good service, +to the higher secretaryships of embassy and legation, and from +the less to the more important capitals, under such rules as the +State Department might find most conducive to the efficiency of +the service. No secretaries of any grade should thereafter be +appointed who had not passed the examinations required for the +lowest grade of secretaries as above provided; but all who had +already been in the service during two years should be eligible +for promotion, without any further examination, from whatever +post they might be occupying. + +VI. I would attach to every embassy three secretaries, to every +legation two, and to every post of minister resident at least +one. + +One of the thoroughly wise arrangements of every British embassy +or legation--an arrangement which has gone for much in Great +Britain's remarkable series of diplomatic successes throughout +the world--is to be seen in her maintaining at every capital a +full number of secretaries and attaches, who serve not only in +keeping the current office work in the highest efficiency, but +who become, as it were, the ANTENNAE of the ambassador or +minister--additional eyes and ears to ascertain what is going on +among those most influential in public affairs. Every embassy or +legation thus equipped serves also as an actual and practical +training-school for the service. + +VII. I would appoint each attache from the ranks of those +especially recommended, and certified to in writing by leading +authorities in the department to which he is expected to supply +information: as, for example, for military attaches, the War +Department; for naval attaches, the Navy Department; for +financial attaches, the Treasury Department; for commercial +attaches, the Department of Commerce; for agricultural attaches, +the Department of Agriculture; but always subject to the approval +of the Secretary of State as regards sundry qualifications hinted +at above, which can better be ascertained by an interview than by +an examination. + +I would have a goodly number of attaches of these various sorts, +and, in our more important embassies, one representing each of +the departments above named. Every attache, if fit for his place, +would be worth far more than his cost to our government, for he +would not only add to the influence of the embassy or legation, +but decidedly to its efficiency. As a rule, all of them could +also be made of real use after the conclusion of their foreign +careers: some by returning to the army or navy and bringing their +knowledge to bear on those branches of the service; some by +taking duty in the various departments at Washington, and aiding +to keep our government abreast of the best practice in other +countries; some by becoming professors in universities and +colleges, and thus aiding to disseminate useful information; some +by becoming writers for the press, thus giving us, instead of +loose guesses and haphazard notions, information and suggestions +based upon close knowledge of important problems and of their +solution in countries other than our own. + +From these arrangements I feel warranted in expecting a very +great improvement in our diplomatic service. Thus formed, it +would become, in its main features, like the military and naval +services, and, indeed, in its essential characteristics as to +appointment and promotion, like any well-organized manufacturing +or commercial establishment. It would absolutely require +ascertained knowledge and fitness in the lowest grades, and would +give promotion for good service from first to last. Yet it would +not be a cast-iron system: a certain number of men who had shown +decided fitness in various high public offices, or in important +branches of public or private business, could be appointed, +whenever the public interest should seem to require it, as +ministers resident, ministers plenipotentiary, and ambassadors, +without having gone through examination or regular promotion. + +But the system now proposed, while thus allowing the frequent +bringing in of new and capable men from public life at home, +requires that a large proportion of each grade above that of +secretary, save a very small number of diplomatic agents, +commissioners, and the like, shall be appointed from those +thoroughly trained for the service, and that all secretaries, +without exception, shall be thoroughly trained and fitted. Scope +would thus be given to the activity of both sorts of men, and the +whole system made sufficiently elastic to meet all necessities. + +In the service thus organized, the class of ambassadors and +ministers fitted by knowledge of public affairs at home for +important negotiations, but unacquainted with diplomatic life or +foreign usages and languages, would be greatly strengthened by +secretaries who had passed through a regular course of training +and experience. An American diplomatic representative without +diplomatic experience, on reaching his post, whether as +ambassador or minister, would not find--as was once largely the +case--secretaries as new as himself to diplomatic business, but +men thoroughly prepared to aid him in the multitude of minor +matters, ignorance of which might very likely cripple him as +regards very important business: secretaries so experienced as to +be able to set him in the way of knowing, at any court, who are +the men of real power, and who mere parasites and pretenders, +what relations are to be cultivated and what avoided, which are +the real channels of influence, and which mere illusions leading +nowhither. On the other hand, the secretaries thoroughly trained +would doubtless, in their conversation with a man fresh from +public affairs at home, learn many things of use to them. + +Thus, too, what is of great importance throughout the entire +service, every ambassador, minister plenipotentiary, or minister +resident would possess, or easily command, large experience of +various men in various countries. At the same time, each would be +under most powerful incentives to perfect his training, widen his +acquaintance, and deepen his knowledge--incentives which, under +the old system,--which we may hope is now passing away,--with its +lack of appointment for ascertained fitness, lack of promotion +for good service, and lack of any certainty of tenure, do not +exist. + +The system of promotion for merit throughout the service is no +mere experiment; the good sense of all the leading nations in the +world, except our own, has adopted it, and it works well. In our +own service the old system works badly; excellent men, both in +its higher and lower grades, have been frequently crippled by +want of proper experience or aid. We have, indeed, several +admirable secretaries--some of them fit to be ambassadors or +ministers, but all laboring under conditions the most depressing +--such as obtain in no good business enterprise. During my stay +as minister at St. Petersburg, the secretary of legation, a man +ideally fitted for the post, insisted on resigning. On my +endeavoring to retain him, he answered as follows: "I have been +over twelve years in the American diplomatic service as +secretary; I have seen the secretaries here, from all other +countries, steadily promoted until all of them still remaining in +the service are in higher posts, several of them ministers, and +some ambassadors. I remain as I was at the beginning, with no +promotion, and no probability of any. I feel that, as a rule, my +present colleagues, as well as most officials with whom I have to +do, seeing that I have not been advanced, look upon me as a +failure. They cannot be made to understand how a man who has +served so long as secretary has been denied promotion for any +reason save inefficiency. I can no longer submit to be thus +looked down upon, and I must resign." + +While thus having a system of promotion based upon efficiency, I +would retain during good behavior, up to a certain age, the men +who have done thoroughly well in the service. Clearly, when we +secure an admirable man,--recognized as such in all parts of the +world,--like Mr. Wheaton, Mr. Bancroft, Mr. Charles Francis +Adams, Mr. Marsh, Mr. Townsend Harris, Mr. Washburne, Mr. Lowell, +Mr. Bayard, Mr. Phelps, and others who have now passed away, not +to speak of many now living, we should keep him at his post as +long as he is efficient, without regard to his politics. This is +the course taken very generally by other great nations, and +especially by our sister republic of Great Britain (for Great +Britain is simply a republic with a monarchical figurehead +lingering along on good behavior): she retains her +representatives in these positions, and promotes them without any +regard to their party relations. During my first official +residence at Berlin, although the home government at London was +of the Conservative party, it retained at the German capital, as +ambassador, Lord Ampthill, a Liberal; and, as first secretary, +Sir John Walsham, a Tory. From every point of view, the long +continuance in diplomatic positions of the most capable men would +be of great advantage to our country. + +But, as the very first thing to be done, whether our diplomatic +service remains as at present or be improved, I would urge, as a +condition precedent to any thoroughly good service, that there be +in each of the greater capitals of the world at which we have a +representative, a suitable embassy or legation building or +apartment, owned or leased for a term of years by the American +Government Every other great power, and many of the smaller +nations, have provided such quarters for their representatives, +and some years ago President Cleveland recommended to Congress a +similar policy. Under the present system the head of an American +embassy or mission abroad is at a wretched disadvantage. In many +capitals he finds it at times impossible to secure a proper +furnished apartment; and, in some, very difficult to find any +suitable apartment at all, whether furnished or unfurnished. Even +if he finds proper rooms, they are frequently in an unfit quarter +of the town, remote from the residences of his colleagues, from +the public offices, from everybody and everything related to his +work. His term of office being generally short, he is usually +considered a rather undesirable tenant, and is charged +accordingly. Besides this, the fitting and furnishing of such an +apartment is a very great burden, both as regards trouble and +expense. I have twice thus fitted and furnished a large apartment +in Berlin, and in each case this represented an expenditure of +more than the salary for the first year. Within my own knowledge, +two American ministers abroad have impoverished their families by +expenditures of this kind. But this is not the worst. The most +serious result of the existing system concerns our country. I +have elsewhere shown how, in one very important international +question at St. Petersburg, our mistaken policy in this respect +once cost the United States a sum which would have forever put +that embassy, and, indeed, many others besides, on the very best +footing. If an American ambassador is to exercise a really strong +influence for the United States as against other nations he must +be properly provided for as regards his residence and +support,--not provided for, indeed, so largely as some +representatives of other nations; for I neither propose nor +desire that the American representative shall imitate the pomp of +certain ambassadors of the greater European powers. But he ought +to be enabled to live respectably, and to discharge his duties +efficiently. There should be, in this respect, what Thomas +Jefferson acknowledged in the Declaration of Independence as a +duty,--"a decent regard for the opinions of mankind." The present +condition of things is frequently humiliating. In the greater +capitals of Europe the general public know the British, French, +Austrian, Italian, and all other important embassies or +legations, except that of our country. The American embassy or +legation has no settled home, is sometimes in one quarter of the +town, sometimes in another, sometimes almost in an attic, +sometimes almost in a cellar, generally inadequate in its +accommodations, and frequently unfortunate in its surroundings. +Both my official terms at St. Petersburg showed me that one +secret of the great success of British diplomacy, in all parts of +the world, is that especial pains are taken regarding this point, +and that, consequently, every British embassy is the center of a +wide-spread social influence which counts for very much indeed in +her political influence. The United States, as perhaps the +wealthiest nation in existence,--a nation far-reaching in the +exercise of its foreign policy, with vast and increasing +commercial and other interests throughout the world,--should, in +all substantial matters, be equally well provided for. Take our +recent relations with Turkey. We have insisted on the payment of +an indemnity for the destruction of American property, and we +have constantly a vast number of Americans of the very best sort, +and especially our missionaries, who have to be protected +throughout the whole of that vast empire. Each of the other great +powers provides its representative at Constantinople with a +residence honorable, suitable, and within a proper inclosure for +its protection; but the American minister lives anywhere and +everywhere,--in such premises, over shops and warehouses, as can +be secured,--and he is liable, in case of trouble between the two +nations, to suffer personal violence and to have his house sacked +by a Turkish mob. No foreign people, and least of all an Oriental +people, can highly respect a diplomatic representative who, by +his surroundings, seems not to be respected by his own people. +The American Government can easily afford the expenditure needed +to provide proper houses or apartments for its entire diplomatic +corps, but it can hardly afford NOT to provide these. Full +provision for them would not burden any American citizen to the +amount of the half of a Boston biscuit. Leaving matters in their +present condition is, in the long run, far more costly. I once +had occasion to consider this matter in the light of economy, and +found that the cost of the whole diplomatic service of the United +States during an entire year was only equal to the expenditure in +one of our recent wars during four hours; so that if any member +of the diplomatic service should delay a declaration of war +merely for the space of a day, he would defray the cost of the +service for about six years. + +Mr. Charles Francis Adams, by his admirable diplomatic dealing +with the British Foreign Office at the crisis of our Civil War, +prevented the coming out of the later Confederate cruisers to +prey upon our commerce, and, in all probability, thus averted a +quarrel with Great Britain which would have lengthened our Civil +War by many years, and doubtless have cost us hundreds of +millions. + +General Woodford, our recent minister at Madrid, undoubtedly +delayed our war with Spain for several months, and skilful +diplomatic intervention brought that war to a speedy close just +as soon as our military and naval successes made it possible. + +The cases are also many where our diplomatic representatives have +quieted ill feelings which would have done great harm to our +commerce. These facts show that the diplomatic service may well +be called "The Cheap Defense of Nations." + +When, in addition to this, an American recalls such priceless +services to civilization, and to the commerce of our country and +of the world, as those rendered by Mr. Townsend Harris while +American minister in Japan, the undoubted saving through a long +series of years of many lives and much property by our ministers +in such outlying parts of the world as Turkey and China, the +promotion of American commercial and other interests, and the +securing of information which has been precious to innumerable +American enterprises, it seems incontestable that our diplomatic +service ought not to be left in its present slipshod condition. +It ought to be put on the best and most effective footing +possible, so that everywhere the men we send forth to support and +advance the manifold interests of our country shall be thoroughly +well equipped and provided for. To this end the permanent +possession of a suitable house or apartment in every capital is +the foremost and most elementary of necessities. + +And while such a provision is the first thing, it would be wise +to add, as other nations do, a moderate allowance for furniture, +and for keeping the embassy or legation properly cared for during +the interim between the departure of one representative and the +arrival of another. + +If this were done, the prestige of the American name and the +effectiveness of the service would be vastly improved, and +diplomatic posts would be no longer so onerous and, indeed, +ruinous as they have been to some of the best men we have sent +abroad. + +And in order fully to free my mind I will add that, while the +provision for a proper embassy or legation building is the first +of all things necessary, it might also be well to increase +somewhat the salaries of our representatives abroad. These may +seem large even at present; but the cost of living has greatly +increased since they were fixed, and the special financial +demands upon an ambassador or minister at any of the most +important posts are always far beyond the present salary. It is +utterly impossible for an American diplomatic representative to +do his duty upon the salary now given, even while living on the +most moderate scale known in the diplomatic corps. To attempt to +do so would deprive him of all opportunity to exercise that +friendly, personal, social influence which is so important an +element in his success. + +To sum up my suggestions as to this part of the subject, I should +say: First, that, as a rule, there should be provided at each +diplomatic post where the United States has a representative a +spacious and suitable house, either bought by our government or +taken on a long lease; and that there should be a small +appropriation each year for maintaining it as regards furniture, +care, etc. Secondly, that American representatives of the highest +grade--namely, ambassadors--should have a salary of at least +$25,000 a year; and that diplomatic representatives of lower +grade should have their salaries raised in the same proportion. +Thirdly, that an additional number of secretaries and attaches +should be provided in the manner and for the reasons above +recommended. + +If the carrying out of these reforms should require an +appropriation to the diplomatic service fifty per cent. higher +than it now is,--which is an amount greater than would really be +required by all the expenditures I propose, including interest +upon the purchase money of appropriate quarters for our +representatives abroad,--the total additional cost to each +citizen of the United States would be less than half a cent each +year. + +The first result of these and other reforms which I have +indicated, beginning with what is of the very first +importance,--provision for a proper house or apartment in every +capital,--would certainly be increased respect for the United +States and increased effectiveness of its foreign +representatives. + +As to the other reforms, such as suitable requirements for +secretaryships, and proper promotion throughout the whole +service, they would vastly increase its attractiveness, in all +its grades, to the very men whom the country most needs. They +would open to young men in our universities and colleges a most +honorable career, leading such institutions to establish courses +of instruction with reference to such a service--courses which +were established long since in Germany, but which have arrived +nearest perfection in two of our sister republics--at the +University of Zurich in Switzerland, and in the ecole Libre des +Sciences Politiques in Paris. + +It seems certain that a diplomatic service established and +maintained in the manner here indicated would not only vastly +increase the prestige and influence of the United States among +her sister nations, but, purely from a commercial point of view, +would amply repay us. To have in diplomatic positions at the +various capitals men thoroughly well fitted not only as regards +character and intellect, but also as regards experience and +acquaintance, and to have them so provided for as to become the +social equals of their colleagues, would be, from every point of +view, of the greatest advantage to our country materially and +politically, and would give strength to our policy throughout the +world. + +And, finally, to a matter worth mentioning only because it has at +sundry times and in divers manners been comically argued and +curiously misrepresented--the question as to a diplomatic +uniform. + +As regards any principle involved, I have never been able to see +any reason, a priori, why, if we have a uniform for our military +service and another for our naval service, we may not have one +for our diplomatic service. It has, indeed, been asserted by +sundry orators dear to the galleries, as well as by various +"funny-column" men, that such a uniform is that of a lackey; but +this assertion loses force when one reflects on the solemn fact +that "plain evening dress," which these partizans of Jeffersonian +simplicity laud and magnify, and which is the only alternative to +a uniform, is worn by table-waiters the world over. + +Yet, having conceded so much, truth compels me to add that, +having myself never worn anything save "plain evening dress" at +any court to which I have been accredited, or at any function +which I have attended, I have never been able to discover the +slightest disadvantage to my country or myself from that fact. + +Colleagues of mine, clad in resplendent uniforms, have, indeed, +on more than one occasion congratulated me on being allowed a +more simple and comfortable costume; and though such expressions +are, of course, to be taken with some grains of allowance, I have +congratulated myself with the deepest sincerity on my freedom +from what seems to me a most tiresome yoke. + +The discussion of a question of such vast importance--to the +censors above referred to--would be inadequate were mention not +made of a stumbling-block which does not seem to have been +adequately considered by those who propose a return to the +earlier practice of our Republic--and this is, that the uniform +is, at any European court, but a poor thing unless it bears some +evidence of distinguished service, in the shape of stars, +crosses, ribbons, and the like. A British ambassador, or minister +plenipotentiary, in official uniform, but without the ribbon or +star of the Bath or other honorable order, would appear to little +advantage indeed. A representative of the French Republic would +certainly prefer to wear the plainest dress rather than the most +splendid uniform unadorned by the insignia of the Legion of +Honor, and, in a general way, the same may be said of the +representatives of all nations which approve the wearing of a +diplomatic uniform. + +But our own Republic bestows no such "decorations," and allows +none of its representatives, during their term of office, to +receive them; so that, if put into uniform, these representatives +must appear to the great mass of beholders as really of inferior +quality, undistinguished by any adornments which indicate good +service. + +All this difficulty our present practice avoids. The American +ambassador, or minister, is known at once by the fact that he +alone wears plain evening dress; and this fact, as well as the +absence of decorations, being recognized as in simple conformity +with the ideas and customs of his country, rather adds to his +prestige than diminishes it, as far as I have been able to +discover. Perhaps the well-known case of Lord Castlereagh at the +Congress of Vienna is in point. In the midst of the throng of his +colleagues, all of them most gorgeously arrayed in uniforms, +stars, and decorations of every sort, he appeared in the simplest +evening attire; and the attention of Metternich being called to +this fact, that much experienced, infinitely bespangled statesman +answered, "Ma foi! il est bien distingue." + +Of course we ought to give due weight to the example set by +Benjamin Franklin when presented to Louis XVI, and the fact that +his simple shoe-strings nearly threw the court chamberlains into +fainting-fits, and that his plain dress had an enormous influence +on public opinion; but, alas! we have also to take account of the +statement by an eminent critic to the effect that Franklin, at +his previous presentation to Louis XV, had worn court dress, and +that he wore similar gorgeous attire at various other public +functions, with the inference that he was prevented from doing +so, when received by Louis XVI, only by the fact that somehow his +court dress was inaccessible.[10] + + +[10] See Sainte-Beuve, "Causeries du Lundi," Vol. VII, Article of +November 29, 1852. + + +All these facts, conflicting, but more or less pertinent, being +duly considered, I would have the rule regarding dress remain as +it is, save in the rare cases when the sovereign of a country, at +some special function, requests some modification of it. In such +case the Secretary of State might, one would suppose, be allowed +to grant a dispensation from the ordinary rule without any danger +to American liberty. + +For the more profound considerations which this vast subject +suggests, the judicious reader may well consult "Sartor +Resartus." + + + +PART VI + +SUNDRY JOURNEYS AND EXPERIENCES + +CHAPTER LI + +EARLIER EXCURSIONS IN THE UNITED STATES--1838-1875 + +From my boyhood I have been fond of travel, and at times this +fondness has been of great use to me. My constitution, though +never robust, has thus far proved elastic, and whenever I have at +last felt decidedly the worse for overwork or care, the best of +all medicines has been an excursion, longer or shorter, in our +own country or in some other. Thus it has happened that, besides +journeys into nearly every part of the United States, and +official residences in Russia, France, Germany, and the West +Indies, I have made frequent visits to Europe--among them ten or +twelve to Italy, and even more to Germany, France, and England, +besides excursions into the Scandinavian countries, Egypt, +Greece, and Turkey. To most of these I have alluded in other +chapters; but there are a few remaining possibly worthy of note. + +The first of these journeys was taken when I went with my father +and mother from the little country town where we then lived to +Syracuse, Buffalo, and Niagara. This must have been in 1838, when +I was about six years of age. Every step of it interested me +keenly. Like the shop-girl in Emile Souvestre's story, who +journeyed from Paris to St. Cloud, I was "amazed to find the +world so large." Syracuse, which now has about one hundred and +twenty thousand inhabitants, had then, perhaps, five thousand; +the railways which were afterward consolidated into the New York +Central were not yet built, and we traveled mainly upon the +canal, though at times over wretchedly muddy roads. Niagara made +a great impression upon me, and Buffalo, with its steamers, +seemed as great then as London seems now. + +Four years later, in 1842, I was taken to the hills of middle +Massachusetts to visit my great-grandfather and +great-grandmother, and thence to Boston, where Faneuil Hall, the +Bunker Hill Monument, Harvard College, and Mount Auburn greatly +impressed me. Returning home, we came by steamer through the +Sound to the city of New York, and stayed at a hotel near Trinity +Church, which was then a little south of the central part of the +city. On another visit, somewhat later, we were lodged at the +Astor House, near the City Hall, which was then at the very +center of everything, and thence took excursions far northward +into the uttermost parts of the city, and even beyond it, to see +the newly erected Grace Church and the reservoir at Forty-second +Street, which were among the wonders of the town. Most of all was +I impressed by the service in the newly erected Trinity Church. +The idea uppermost in my mind was that here was a building which +was to last for hundreds of years, and that the figures in the +storied windows above the altar would look down upon new +generations of worshipers, centuries after I, with all those +living, should have passed away. My feeling for religious music +was then, as since, very deep; and the organ of Trinity gave +satisfaction to this feeling; the tremulous ground-tone of the +great pedal diapasons thrilling me through and through. + +At this period, about 1843, began my visits with the family to +Saratoga. My grandfather, years before, had derived benefit from +its waters, and the tradition of this, as well as the fact that +my father there met socially his business correspondents from +different parts of the State, led to our going year after year. +Drinking the waters, taking life easily upon the piazzas of the +great hotels festooned with Virginia creepers, and driving to the +lake, formed then, as now, the main occupations of the day. But +there was then one thing which has now ceased: in many of the +greater hotels public prayers were held every evening, some +eminent clergyman officiating; and a leader in these services was +David Leavitt, a famous New York bank president, shrewd, but +pious. Now and then, as the political campaigns drew on, we had +speeches from eminent statesmen; and I give in the chapters on +"My Religion" reminiscences of speeches on religious subjects +made by Archbishop Hughes and Father Gavazzi. An occasional visit +from Washington Irving or Senator (afterward President) Buchanan, +as well as other men of light and leading, aroused my tendencies +toward hero-worship; but perhaps the event most vividly stamped +into my memory was the parade of Mme. Jumel. One afternoon at +that period she appeared in the streets of Saratoga in an open +coach-and-four, her horses ridden by gaily dressed postilions. +This was regarded by very many visitors as an affront not merely +to good morals, but to patriotism, for she had the fame of having +been in relations, more intimate than edifying, with Aaron Burr, +who was widely considered as a traitor to his country as well as +the murderer of Alexander Hamilton; and on the second day of her +parade, another carriage, with four horses and postilions, in all +respects like her own, followed her wherever she went and +sometimes crossed her path: but this carriage contained an +enormous negro, black and glossy, a porter at one of the hotels, +dressed in the height of fashion, who very gravely rose and +doffed his hat to the applauding multitudes on either side of the +way. Mme. Jumel and her friends were, of course, furious; and it +was said that her postilions would in future be armed with +pistols and directed to fire upon the rival equipage should it +again get in their way. But no catastrophe occurred; Mme. Jumel +took one or two more drives, and that was the end of it. + +In my college days, from 1849 to 1853, going to and from New +Haven, I frequently passed through New York, and the progress of +the city northward since my earlier visits was shown by the fact +that the best hotel nearest the center of business had become +first the Irving House, just at the upper end of the City Hall +Park, and later the St. Nicholas and Metropolitan hotels, some +distance up Broadway. Staying in 1853 at a hotel looking out upon +what was to be Madison Square, I noticed that all north of that +was comparatively vacant, save here and there a few houses and +churches. + +Going abroad shortly afterward, I gave three years to my +attacheship and student life in Europe, traveling across the +continent to St. Petersburg and back, as well as through Germany, +Switzerland, Austria, and Italy, all of which were then under the +old regime of disunion and despotism. To these journeys I refer +elsewhere. + +Interesting to me, after my return home, were visits to Chicago +in 1858 and at various times afterward. At my first visits the +city was wretchedly unkempt. Workmen were raising its grade, and +their mode of doing this was remarkable. Under lines of brick and +stone houses, in street after street, screws were placed; and, +large forces of men working at these, the vast buildings went up +steadily. My first stay was at the Tremont House, then a famous +hostelry; and during the whole of my visit the enormous +establishment, several stories in height, was going on as usual, +though it was all open beneath and rising in the air perceptibly +every day. Years afterward, when Mr. George Pullman had become +deservedly one of the powers of Chicago, he gave me a dinner, at +which I had the pleasure of meeting a large number of the most +energetic and distinguished men of the city. Being asked by a +guest as to the time when I first visited Chicago, I stated the +facts above given, when my interlocutor remarked, "Yes, and if +you had gone down into the cellar beneath the Tremont House you +would have found our host working at one of the jack-screws." I +had already an admiration for Mr. Pullman; for he had told me of +his creation of the Pullman cars, and had shown me through the +beautiful artisan town which bears his name; but by this remark +my respect for him was greatly augmented. + +My first visit to the upper Mississippi left an indelible +impression on my mind. No description of that vast volume of +water slowly moving before my eyes ever seemed at all adequate +until, years afterward, I read Mark Twain's "Tom Sawyer," and his +account of the scene when his hero awakes on a raft floating down +the great river struck a responsive chord in my heart. It was the +first description that ever answered at all to the picture in my +mind. Very interesting to me were sundry later excursions to +Boston, generally on university or other business. At one of +these I purchased the library of President Sparks for the +university, and, staying some days, had the pleasure of meeting +many noted men--among them Mr. Josiah Quincy, whose reminiscences +were to me very interesting, his accounts of conversations with +John Adams perhaps more so than anything else. At various clubs I +met most charming people, the most engrossing of these being +Arthur Gilman, the architect: then, and at other times, I sat up +with him late into the night,--once, indeed, the entire +night,--listening to his flow of quaint wit and humor. The range +of his powers was perhaps best shown in a repetition of what he +claimed to be the debate in the city council of Boston on his +plans for a new city hall, which were afterward adopted. The +speeches in Irish brogue, Teutonic Jargon, and down-east Yankee +dialect, with utterances interposed here and there by solemnly +priggish members, were inimitable. His pet antipathy seemed to be +the bishop of the diocese, Dr. Eastburn. Stories were told to the +effect that Gilman, early in life, had desired to take orders in +the Protestant Episcopal Church, but that the bishop refused to +ordain him, on the ground that he lacked the requisite +discretion. Hence, perhaps his zeal in preaching what he claimed +to be the bishop's sermons. Dr. Eastburn was much given to +amplification, and Gilman always insisted that he had heard him +once, when preaching on the parable of Dives and Lazarus, discuss +the prayer of Dives in torments for a drop of water, as follows: +"To this, my brethren, under the circumstances entirely natural, +but, at the same time, no less completely inadmissible request, +the aged patriarch replied." + +The bishop, who enjoyed a reputation for eloquence, was wont to +draw his lungs full of air at frequent periods during his +discourses, thus keeping his voice strong, as skilful +elocutionists advise; and on one very warm summer afternoon, +according to Gilman's account, a little boy in the congregation, +son of one of the most distinguished laymen in the diocese, +becoming very uneasy and begging his mother to allow him to go +home, she had quieted him several times by assuring him that the +bishop would soon be through, when, just at one of the most +impressive passages, the bishop having drawn in his breath as +usual, the little boy screamed so as to be heard throughout the +church, "No, he won't stop, mama; no, he won't stop; don't you +see he has just blowed hisself up again?" + +Gilman also told us a story of the bishop's catechizing the +children in a Boston church, when, having taken the scriptural +account of Jonah and carried the prophet into the whale's belly, +he asked very impressively, "And now, children, how do you +suppose that Jonah felt?" Whereupon little Sohier, son of the +noted lawyer, piped out, "Down in the mouth, sir." Gilman +insisted that the bishop was exceeding wroth, and complained to +the boy's father, who was unable to conceal from the bishop his +delight at his son's answer. + +At one visit or another, mainly during the years of my connection +with Cornell University, I met at Boston, pleasantly, the men who +were then most distinguished in American literature. One of +these, who interested me especially, was Ticknor, author of the +"History of Spanish Literature." Longfellow always seemed to me a +most lovely being, whether at Nahant or at Cambridge. Lowell was +wonderfully brilliant as well as kindly, and Edward Everett Hale +delightful. It was the time of Hale's short stories in the +"Atlantic Monthly," which seem to me the best ever written. +Oliver Wendell Holmes I met so rarely that I have little memory +of his brilliant conversation. Emerson I met then and at other +times,--once, especially, in a railway train during one of his +Western lecture tours; he was then reading the first volume of +Carlyle's "Frederick the Great," and, on my asking him how he +liked it, instead of showing his usual devotion to the author, he +burst forth into a stream of protests against Carlyle's +"everlasting scolding at Dryasdust." A man who was as much +overrated then as he is underrated now was Whipple, the essayist; +he was always bright, and often suggestive; but too reliant upon +a style which is now out of date,--frequently summoning +"alliteration's artful aid," and resorting to other devices, +fashionable then, but now discarded. Perhaps the best of all his +sentences was the one on the three great statesmen of that +period, to the effect that Webster was INductive, Calhoun +DEductive, and Clay SEductive; which was not only well stated but +true. Very vividly comes back to me a supper-party given early in +1875 at the house of James T. Fields, in celebration of Bayard +Taylor's birthday. Besides Mr. and Mrs. Fields and Taylor were +present Richard H. Dana, eminent in law and letters; Cranch, then +known both as a painter and poet; Mr. Osgood; and myself. Taylor +recited, as I had heard him do at other times, from the +productions of the Georgia poet, Chivers, and especially from the +"Eonx of Ruby." Chivers, according to Taylor's showing, had +become infatuated with Poe, and adorned his verses with every +sort of beautiful word which he could coin, the result being as +nonsensical a medley as was ever known. Earlier in the evening, +Taylor, Fields, and myself had each of us been giving a lecture, +and this led Taylor to speak of a recent experience of his while +holding forth in one of the smaller towns of Massachusetts. The +chairman of the lecture committee, being seated beside him on the +platform, and wishing to entertain him with edifying conversation +while the audience was coming in remarked that they had had +rather a trying experience during the lecture of the week before. +On Taylor's asking what it was, the chairman answered: "The +lecturer was seized by a virago on the stage." He meant vertigo. +Dana told good stories of old Dr. Osgood of Medford, whose hatred +of Democracy was shown not only in his well-known reading of +Governor Gerry's proclamation, but in his bitter sermon at the +election of Thomas Jefferson. At this some one gave a story +regarding our contemporary Dr. Osgood, the eminent Unitarian +clergyman, who, toward the end of his life, had gone into the +Protestant Episcopal Church. I had known him as a man of much +ability and power, but with a rather extraordinary way of +asserting himself and patronizing people. He had recently died, +and a legend had arisen that, on his arrival in the New +Jerusalem, being presented to St. Paul, he said: "Sir, I have +derived both profit and pleasure from your writings, and have +commended them to my congregation." + +Our host, Fields, was especially delightful. He gave +reminiscences of his stay with Tennyson on the Isle of +Wight--among others, of taking a walk with him one dark evening +when, suddenly, the great poet fell on his knees, and seeming to +burrow in the grass called out gutturally and gruffly: "Man, get +down on your marrow-bones; here are violets." Fields also gave +reminiscences of Charles Sumner, showing the great senator's +utter lack of any sense of humor, and among them a story of his +summoning his office-boy to his presence on the eve of the Fourth +of July and addressing him on this wise: "Patrick, to-morrow is +the natal day of our Republic; it is a day for public rejoicing, +a time of patriotic festivity. You need not come to the office; +go out and rejoice with our fellow-citizens that your lot is cast +in so happy a country. Here are fifty cents; I advise you to pass +the day at the cemetery of Mount Auburn." + +Very interesting to me were sundry excursions in the Southern +States, the first as far back as 1864. After attending the +Baltimore Convention which renominated Mr. Lincoln, and paying my +respects to him at Washington, as stated in my political +reminiscences, I went somewhat later to Richmond. Libby Prison +had a sad interest for me, as for many at that time, and on all +sides was seen the havoc of war; but perhaps the most curious +feature of my stay was a visit to the house which had served as +the White House of the Confederacy--the dwelling of Jefferson +Davis, for, just as I entered the door I met one of the arch +antislavery men of New England, Dr. Leonard Bacon of New Haven. +Both of us were happy at the outcome of the war, but it was with +a very solemn sort of joy that we thus met in such a place. I +seemed to hear, as so often in the South of that day, and, +indeed, in the North also, that fearful prophecy of Thomas +Jefferson--when speaking of slavery in the Southern +States--beginning with the words, "I tremble when I remember that +God is just." Halting at Gettysburg on my return northward, I +found marks of the terrible contest of the previous year still +vivid. For miles, in all directions, on the roads and through the +fields, were fragments of shell, of cannon, of harness, of +clothing, and equipments of every sort. The trees, especially +those near the great centers of the struggle, where the cemetery +now is, were gashed and torn in trunk and branches, and here and +there were to be seen fragments of human bodies which, having +been too hastily buried, had been washed out by the rains. + +About ten years later,--February, 1875,--being much worn with +labor and care at the university, I made a short stay in the more +Southern States, my first stop being at Washington, where I +passed an interesting evening at the Executive Mansion with +President Grant, who was as simple and cordial in manner as ever. +The next day I left Washington for Richmond and the far South, +and on the morning following was aroused at one of the +way-stations by hearing negroes singing in a neighboring car. +They were happy at the prospect of breakfast, but a curious +preliminary was that each came out upon the platform, and, taking +a currycomb which was hung up for the purpose, curried himself, +much as an ostler administers that treatment to a horse--every +negro grasping in his turn the large wooden handle and pulling +the iron teeth through his plentiful wool. + +Stopping next at Columbia in South Carolina, I saw flagrant +examples of carpet-bag rule; but of those in the State-house I +have already spoken. Here was a focus of Southern feeling; and at +the State University, which was charmingly situated, and +altogether a most fitting home for scholars and thinkers, I was +taken into the library where formerly stood the bust of Francis +Lieber, once a professor in the institution. Never had the South +a wiser or better friend. In after years I knew, loved, and +respected him. No man with a deeper knowledge of free +institutions, or with greater love for them, has ever lived in +our country; but when the news came to his old university, where +he had been so greatly admired, that he was true to the Union, +his marble bust was torn from its place, dishonored, and +destroyed. There could be no better illustration of Bishop +Butler's idea of "a possible insanity of States." + +On Sunday, having been taken by one of the professors in the +university to a Protestant Episcopal church for colored people, +of which he was rector, I was surprised at the light color and +real beauty of many of the women present: nowhere, save in +Jamaica, had I seen people of mixed races so attractive. In +Charleston there were on all sides ruins, due not only to the +Civil War, but to the more recent fire and earthquake. It all +seemed as if the vengeance of Heaven had been wrought upon the +city. My sympathies were deeply enlisted; I felt no anger over +the past, no exultation. I was taken to a home for Confederate +orphans and to another for widows, and in both were pointed out +to me members of families, now hopelessly destitute, who before +the war lived in luxury. In no city, at home or abroad, have I +ever seen a line of stately mansions which seemed more fitting +abodes for wealth and culture than those upon the esplanade at +Charleston; in the days gone by a noble hospitality had centered +there, but all was now silent and distressed. + +On the 4th of March we arrived in Florida and found it +fascinating. Never before had I been farther south upon the +mainland of the United States than Charleston, and never had I +seen anything of this region, save when the frigate bearing the +Santo Domingo Commission touched at Key West. Among the most +characteristic things at Jacksonville was a large church +belonging to the negro Baptists, who were evidently the leading +sect. The church was large, but unfinished, and a main feature of +every service was passing the hat for contributions. The services +were singular indeed. There was one old negro pastor who, though +he could read little if at all, had schooled himself to look into +the Bible while reciting parts of chapters, and to keep his eyes +upon the pages of his hymnal while repeating the hymns; and a +very weighty function was the reading of notices of every sort of +social gathering, especial prominence being given to meetings of +fire-engine companies. The number of Northern visitors was very +large, and it was evident that the negro managers of the +congregation felt the importance of keeping on good terms with +all of them without regard to party; for, on one occasion, as the +pastor was giving these notices, slowly deciphering them, with +the aid of a younger minister, and reading them mechanically, he +began as follows: "Dere will be a meetin' of de Republikins of +dis ward"--and instantly a number of the brethren started to +their feet, and put up their hands with a long "Hu-u-u-sh!" The +preacher was greatly embarrassed and passed on immediately to +"There will be a meeting of No. 2 Fire Company," etc., etc. Most +hearty of all was the singing, in which the whole congregation +joined loudly and with voices clear and silvery. After the +services were over there came regularly what was called the +"sperritual part." Some one of the more gifted singers--of whom, +perhaps, the most satisfactory was a young colored man in a black +velvet coat and a brilliant red tie--came forward, stood before +the pulpit, and began a long solo--as a rule, with scores of +verses. One was on the creation, another on the flood, each verse +paraphrasing the scriptural account; and the refrain, in which +the whole congregation joined, was as follows: + + "Ole Pharaoh he got law-s-t-- + Got law-s-t, got law-s-t-- + Ole Pharaoh he got drownded + In the Re-e-e-e-d Sea." + +But soon came a song which amazed me. It was totally different in +character from any of the others, and was called "The Seven +Glories of Mary." One of the verses ran as follows: + + "An' de berry next glory dat Mary she had, + It was de glory of sebben-- + It was dat her Son Jesus he tolled de bells of hebben;" + +and then, as at the end of each verse, came from the whole +congregation the refrain: + + "Oh, trials an' tribulashuns! + I'm gwine to quit dis world." + + +Next day I sent for the singer and asked him where he had learned +his songs. His answer was, "Boss, I made 'em up myself." To this +I answered, "Quite likely, some of them; but not 'The Seven +Glories of Mary.'" He thought a moment, and then said, "Yes, +boss, you 're right; dat song I brought down from ole Virginny." +It was as I had thought. The song was an old Christmas carol, +evidently brought from England in Colonial times; and the +negroes, having substituted here and there a word or a phrase +which struck them as finer than the original had preserved it. + +Strange, indeed, were the devotions of this great congregation. +Occasionally some old plantation negro, gray-headed and worn with +labor, would rise and lead in the prayers with a real +inspiration, pouring out his whole heart, with all its hopes and +sorrows. Never have I heard more pathetic supplications. More +than once I have seen tears streaming from the eyes of the +Northern visitors, and then, almost in a moment, the same faces +wreathed in smiles at some farce in giving out the notices or in +taking up the collections. + +A charming episode in this Florida stay was an excursion up the +St. John's River, through beautiful semi-tropical vegetation. But +one thing was exceedingly vexatious. On the deck of the steamer +were various tourists who enjoyed themselves by shooting the +beautiful birds and interesting saurians of the region--mere +wanton killing, with never any stop to pick up the bodies of +these creatures. It reminded me of the old wastefulness in the +North,--the exhaustive fishing of the rivers and streams, +especially the trout-streams; the killing of deer by hundreds; +and the wanton extermination of the buffalo. Wonderful to me were +the great springs of the region--springs so large that the little +steamer could make its way to them and upon them, so that from +the deck we could look far, far down into the depths as through +clear crystal. Most interesting of the people I met were +Professor and Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, who were passing the +winter in their house at Mandarin near by, and invited us to +visit them. Theirs was a happy-go-lucky sort of life, in a simple +cottage surrounded by great orange orchards, beyond which was a +fringe of palmettos. On the morning after our arrival, Mrs. Stowe +came in and said, "Well, we shall have dinner." To which I said, +"Of course we shall." "No," said she, "not 'of course,' for when +I awoke this morning there was nothing for dinner in the house, +and no prospect of anything in the village; but, taking my walk, +I met a negro with a magnificent wild turkey which he had just +shot, and that we will have." Just before dinner, our hostess and +I walked out into the orange orchard and there picked from the +trees a large market-basket full of the most beautiful oranges +ever seen,--large, sweet, and juicy; and these, embedded deftly +by her in a great mass of rich green leaves, glorified the table +during the discussion of the turkey, and became our dessert. +Never was there a more sumptuous dinner, and never better talk. +Mrs. Stowe was at her best, and the Doctor abounded in quaint +citations from French memoirs, of which he was an indefatigable +reader. + +On the way North I stopped again at Charleston, visiting Drayton +Hall, a fine old mansion dating from 1740, but never completed, +surrounded by beautiful gardens filled with great azaleas in full +bloom, the most gorgeous I have ever seen in any part of the +world; but a cloud seemed to rise over it all when we were told +that, except in winter, remaining on the island was for white +people certain death. In all this journey through the South I +added much to my library regarding Secession and the Civil War; +accumulating newspapers, tracts, and books which became the +nucleus of the large Civil War collection at Cornell. Then, too, +there were talks with people on the train and in the hotels, +sometimes profitable and sometimes amusing. As to the feeling +between the whites and the negroes, a former master said to me, +"My old niggers will do anything I wish except cast their ballots +for me; they will give me anything they have in this world except +their votes; they would starve themselves for me, but they won't +vote for me." Among myriads of stories I heard one which seemed +to argue more philosophic power in the negro than many suppose +him to possess. A young planter at one of the Southern +watering-places appeared every day terribly bitten by mosquitos, +so that, finally, some of the guests said to his negro +body-servant, "Bob, why don't you take pains to protect your +master with mosquito curtains?" To which the negro answered, "No +use in it, sah; de fact is, sah, dat in de night-time Mars Tom is +too drunk to care for de skeeters, and in de daytime de skeeters +is too drunk to care for Mars Tom." There was also a revelation +of negro religious feeling in a story told me regarding "Thad" +Stevens. Mr. Stevens was in his day, on many accounts, the most +powerful member of the House of Representatives--at times a very +stern mentor to Mr. Lincoln, and to President Johnson a terror. I +remember him as rough and of acrid humor, but with a sort of +rugged power. The story was that one day, while at dinner, he +heard at the sideboard the crash of a platter, and immediately, +in a fury, called out, with a bitter oath, "Well, you idiot +--------, what have you broken now?" To which the negro woman +answered, "Bress de good Lord, it ain't de third commandmunt." + +There were various other journeys on American soil, and among +them a very delightful summer stay, in 1884, at Nantucket; but of +all the impressions upon me at that period perhaps the strongest +was made by a piece of crass absurdity not unusual in a certain +stratum of American society. Making an excursion with my friend +President Gilman from Nantucket to the United States Fisheries +Station at Woods Hole, we stopped overnight at Martha's Vineyard, +a beautiful little island which has now become a sort of saints' +rest where, during the summer, a certain class of pious New +Englanders of the less intellectual type crowd themselves into +little cottages and enjoy a permanent camp-meeting. Never, +except, perhaps, among the dervishes of Cairo, have I seen any +religion more repulsive. On the evening of our arrival, Gilman +and I went into the large skating-rink where a German band was +blowing its best, and a large concourse of young men and women +from the various pious families of the place were disporting +themselves. Dancing was not allowed them, and so, with their arms +around each other's waists, they were executing various gyrations +on roller-skates to the sound of this music. Presently, as I sat +rather listlessly looking on, I was struck by a peculiar change +in the tune. Gilman, too, seemed in a way paralyzed by it; and, +turning to him, I said, "Tell me what that music is." Then he +came out of his daze and said, "Great heavens! it is 'Nearer, my +God, to Thee'--played as a waltz!" So it was. The whole thing, to +any proper religious, moral, or esthetic sense, was ghastly. +These pious young men and women, who, on no account, were allowed +to dance, were going through something far more indecent than any +dancing I had ever seen, and to music which was a travesty of one +of the most sacred of Christian compositions. I have long +regarded camp-meetings as among the worst influences to which our +rural youth are subjected--Joe Miller jokes in the pulpit, +hysterics in the pews, with an atmosphere often blasphemous and +sometimes erotic. A devoted country clergyman doing his simple +duty--trying to lift his congregation to better views of life, +partaking their joys and alleviating their sorrows, often a +martyr to meddlesome deacons or to pompous trustees, and his wife +a prey to the whimsical wives of opinionated pew-owners--such a +man I deeply revere; but the longer I live the more I am +convinced that the professional revivalist and the sensation +preacher are necessarily and normally foes both to religion and +to civilization. + + + +CHAPTER LII + +ENGLAND REVISITED--1885 + +In 1885, having resigned the presidency at Cornell, after twenty +years of service, I went to Europe; my main purpose being to +leave my successor untrammeled as to any changes which he might +see fit to make. He was an old friend and student of mine whom, +when the trustees had asked me to nominate a man to follow me I +had named as the best man I knew for the work to be done; but, +warm as were the relations between us, I made up my mind that it +was best to leave him an entirely free hand for at least a year. + +Crossing the ocean, I had the close companionship of Thomas +Hughes ("Tom Brown"), and he was at his best. Among the stories +he told was one of Browning. The poet one morning, hearing a +noise in the street before his house, went to his window and saw +a great crowd gazing at some Chinamen in gorgeous costumes who +were just leaving their carriages to mount his steps. Presently +they were announced as the Chinese minister at the Court of St. +James and his suite. A solemn presentation having taken place, +Browning said to the interpreter, "May I ask to what I am +indebted for the honor of his Excellency's visit?" The +interpreter replied, "His Excellency is a poet in his own +country." Thereupon the two poets shook hands heartily. Browning +then said, "May I ask to what branch of poetry his Excellency +devotes himself?" to which the interpreter answered, "His +Excellency devotes himself to poetical enigmas." At this +Browning, recognizing fully the comic element in the situation, +extended his hand most cordially, saying, "His Excellency is +thrice welcome, he is a brother, indeed." + +The month of October was passed in the southwest of England, and +there dwell in my mind recollections of Chatsworth, Haddon Hall, +and Bristol; but, above all, of a stay with the historian Freeman +at Wells. The whole life of that charming cathedral town and its +neighborhood was delightful. Freeman's kindness opened all doors +to us. The bishop, Lord Arthur Hervey, showed us kindly +hospitality at his grand old castle, which we had entered by a +drawbridge over the moat. Of especial interest to me was a +portrait of one of his predecessors--dear old Bishop Ken, whose +morning and evening hymns are among the most beautiful ties +between England and the United States. In the evening, dining +with the magistrates and lawyers, I heard good stories, among +them some characterizing various eminent members of the +profession, and of these I especially remember one at the expense +of the late Lord Chancellors Westbury and Cranworth. Lord +Cranworth, after the amalgamation of law and equity, was for some +time in the habit of going to sit with the new judges in order to +familiarize himself with the reformed practice, whereupon some +one asked Lord Westbury, "Why does 'Cranny' go to sit with the +judges?" to which Westbury answered, "Doubtless from a childish +fear of being alone in the dark." + +Next day I was invited to sit with the squires in the Court of +Quarter Sessions, and was greatly interested in their mode of +administering justice. There was a firmness, but at the same time +a straightforward common sense about it all which greatly pleased +me. A visit to Wells Cathedral with Freeman was in its way ideal; +for never in all my studies of mediaeval buildings have I had so +good a guide. But perhaps the most curious experience of our stay +was an attendance upon a political meeting at Glastonbury, in the +Gladstonian interest. The first speech was made by the candidate, +Sir Hugh Davey; and in his anxiety to propitiate his hearers he +began by addressing them as men whose ancestors had for centuries +shown their devotion to free principles, and had especially given +proof of this by hanging the last Abbot of Glastonbury at the old +tower above the town. But, shortly afterward, when Freeman began +his speech, it was evident that his love of historical truth and +his devotion to church principles would not permit him to pass +this part of Davey's harangue unnoticed. Referring then +respectfully to his candidate for Parliament, Freeman went on to +say in substance that his distinguished friend was in error; that +the last Abbot of Glastonbury was not a traitor, but a martyr--a +martyr to liberty, and a victim of that arch-enemy of liberty, +Henry VIII. Any one who had heard Freeman in America as a +lecturer would have been amazed at his ability as a political +speaker. As a lecturer, trying to be eloquent while reading a +manuscript, he was generally ineffective and sometimes +comical,--worse even than the general run of lecturers in the +German universities, and that is saying much; but as a public +speaker he was excellent--so much so that, congratulating him +afterward, and bearing in mind the fact that he had been formerly +defeated for Parliament, I assured him that if he would come to +America and make speeches like that, we would most certainly put +him in Congress and keep him there. + +Toward the end of October we went on to Exeter, and there, at +Heavitree Church, heard Bishop Bickersteth preach admirably, +meeting him afterward at our luncheon with the vicar, and taking +supper with him at the episcopal palace. He was perhaps best +known in America as the author of the poem, "Yesterday, To-day, +and Forever"; and of this he gave me a copy, remarking that every +year he received from the American publisher a check for fifty +pounds, though there was no copyright requiring any payment +whatever. In his study he showed me a copy of "The Book Annexed," +which presented the enrichments and emendations which a number of +devout scholars and thinkers were endeavoring to make in the +Prayer-book of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United +States, and he spoke with enthusiasm of these additions, which, +alas! have never yet been adopted. + +Next came a visit to Torquay, where Kent's Cavern, with its +prehistoric relics, interested me vastly. Looking at them, there +could be no particle of doubt regarding the enormous antiquity of +the human race. There were to be seen the evidences of man's +existence scattered among the remains of animals long ago +extinct--animals which must have lived before geological changes +which took place ages on ages ago. Mixed with remains of fire and +human implements and human bones were to be seen not only bones +of the hairy mammoth and cave-bear, woolly rhinoceros and +reindeer, which could have been deposited there only in a time of +arctic cold, but bones of the hyena, hippopotamus, saber-toothed +tiger, and the like, which could have been deposited only when +the climate was torrid. The conjunction of these remains clearly +showed that man had lived in England early enough and long enough +to pass through times of arctic cold, and times of torrid heat; +times when great glaciers stretched far down into England and, +indeed, into the Continent, and times when England had a land +connection with the European continent, and the European +continent with Africa, allowing tropical animals to migrate +freely from Africa to the middle regions of England. + +The change wrought by such discoveries as these, not only in +England, but in Belgium, France, and elsewhere, as regards our +knowledge of the antiquity of the human race and the character of +the creation process, is one of the great things of our +epoch.[11] + + +[11] I have discussed this more fully in my "History of the +Warfare of Science with Theology," Vol. I, chap. vi. + + +Thence we visited various cathedral towns, being shown delightful +hospitality everywhere. There remains vividly in my memory a +visit to Worcester, where the dean, Lord Alwyn Compton, now +Bishop of Ely, went over the cathedral with us, and showed us +much kindness afterward at the deanery--a mediaeval structure, +from the great window of which we looked over the Severn and the +famous Cromwellian battle-field. + +Salisbury we found beautiful as of old; then to Brighton and to +"The Bungalow" of Halliwell-Phillips the Shaksperian scholar, and +never have I seen a more quaint habitation. On the height above +the town Phillips had brought together a number of portable +wooden houses, and connected them with corridors and passages +until all together formed a sort of labyrinth; the only clue +being in the names of the corridors, all being chosen from +Shakspere, and each being enriched with Shaksperian quotations +appropriate and pithy. At his table during our stay we met +various interesting guests, one of whom suggested the idea +regarding the secret of Carlyle's cynicism and pessimism to which +reference is made in my "Warfare of Science." Next came visits to +various country houses, all delightful, and then a stay at +Oxford, to which I was reinitiated by James Bryce; and for two +weeks it was a round of interesting visits, breakfasts, +luncheons, and dinners with the men best worth knowing at the +various colleges. Interesting was a visit to All Souls College, +which, having been founded as a place where sundry "clerks" +should pray for the souls of those killed at the battle of Crecy, +had, as Sir William Anson, its present head, showed me, begun at +last doing good work after four hundred years of uselessness. In +the chapel was shown me the restored reredos, which was of great +size, extending from floor to ceiling, taking the place of the +chancel window usual in churches, and made up of niches filled +with statues of saints. As the heads of all the earlier statues +had been knocked off during the fanatical period, there had been +substituted, during the recent restoration, new statues of saints +bearing the heads of noted scholars and others connected with the +college, among which Max Muller once pointed out to me his own, +and a very good likeness it was. Interesting to me were Bryce's +rooms at Oriel, for they were those in which John Henry Newman +had lived: at that hearth was warmed into life the Oxford +Movement. At one of the Oriel dinners, Bryce spoke of the changes +at Oxford within his memory as enormous, saying that perhaps the +greatest of these was the preference given to laymen over +clergymen as heads of colleges. An example of this was the +president of Magdalen. I had met him not many years before in +Switzerland, as a young man, and now he had become the head of +this great college, one of the foremost in the university. This +impressed me all the more because my memory suggested a +comparison between him and the president at my first visit, +thirty years before: Warren, the present president, being an +active-minded layman hardly over thirty, and his predecessor, +Routh, a doctor of divinity, who was then in his hundredth year. +It was curious to see that, while this change had been made to +lay control, various relics of clerical dominance were still in +evidence, and, among these, the surplice worn by Bryce, a member +of Parliament, when he read the lessons from the lectern in Oriel +chapel. At another dinner I was struck by a remark of his, that +our problems in America seemed to him simple and easy compared +with those of England; but as I revise these recollections, +twenty years later, and think of the questions presented by our +acquisitions in the West Indies and in the Philippine and +Hawaiian islands, as well as the negro problem in the South and +Bryanism in the North, to say nothing of the development of the +Monroe Doctrine and the growth of socialistic theories, the query +comes into my mind as to what he would think to-day. + + +November 9, 1885. + +Dining at All Souls with Professor Dicey, I met Professor +Gardiner, the historian, whom I greatly liked; his lecture on +"Ideas in English History," which I had heard in the afternoon, +was suggestive, thorough, and interesting: he is evidently one of +the historians whose work will last. In the hall I noted Lord +Salisbury's portrait in the place of honor. + +Tuesday, November 10. + +Breakfasting at Oriel with Bryce, I met Broderick, warden of +Merton, and there was an interesting political discussion. Bryce +thought Chamberlain had alarmed the well-to-do classes, but +trusted to Gladstone to bring matters around right, and, apropos +of some recent occurrences, remarked upon the amazing depth of +spite revealed in the blackballing at clubs. Took lunch at +Balliol, where the discussion upon general and American history +was interesting. Dined with Bryce at Oriel, and, the discussion +falling upon English and American politics, sundry remarks of +Fowler, president of Corpus Christi College, were pungent. He +evidently thinks bitterly of political corruption in America, and +I find this feeling everywhere here; politely concealed, of +course, but none the less painful. I could only say that the +contents of the caldron should not be judged from the scum thrown +to the surface. In the evening to Professor Freeman's and met Mr. +Hunt, known as a writer and an examiner in history. He complained +bitterly of the cramming system, as so many do; thought that +Jowett had done great harm by promoting it, and that the main +work now done is for position in the honor list,--cram by tutors +being everything and lectures nothing. + +Wednesday, November 11. + +Took luncheon with Fowler, president of Corpus Christi, a most +delightful and open-minded man. I have enjoyed no one here more, +few so much. We discussed the teaching of ethics, he lamenting +the coming in of Hegelianism, which seems mainly used by sophists +in upholding outworn dogmas. Afterward we took a long stroll +together, discussing as we walked his admirable little book on +"Progress in Morals"; I suggesting some additions from my own +experience in America. In the afternoon came Professor Freeman's +lecture on Constantine. It was a worthy presentation of a great +subject, but there were fewer than ten members of the university +present, and only two of these remained until the close. In the +evening I dined at Balliol, and, the conversation falling upon +the eminent master of the college, Jowett, and his friendship +with Stubbs, Bishop of Oxford, and Freeman, a budding cynic +recalled the verses: + + "I go first; my name is Jowett; + I am the Master of Balliol College; + Whatever's worth knowing, be sure that I know it; + Whatever I don't know is not knowledge."[12] + + +[12] This is given differently in Tuckwell's reminiscences. + + +Whereupon some one cited a line from an Oxford satire: "Stubbs +butters Freeman, and Freeman butters Stubbs"; at which I could +only say that Jowett, Stubbs, and Freeman had seemed to me, in my +intercourse with them, anything but dogmatic, pragmatic, or +unctuous. + +November 13. + +In the morning breakfasted with Bryce and a dozen or more +graduates and undergraduates in the common room at Oriel, and was +delighted with the relations between instructors and instructed +then shown. Nothing could be better. The discussion turning upon +Froude, who had evidently fascinated many of the younger men by +his style, Bryce was particularly severe against him for his +carelessness as to truth. This reminded me of a remark made to me +by Moncure Conway, I think, that Froude had begun with the career +of a novelist, for which he had decided gifts; that Carlyle had +then made him think this sort of work unworthy, urging him to +write history; and that Froude had carried into historical +writing the characteristics of a romance-writer. In the afternoon +to a beautiful concert in the great hall of Christ Church. A +curious sort of accommodation in quasi-boxes was provided by +pushing the dining-tables to the sides of the room and placing +the audience in chairs upon them and in front of them; it seemed +to me more serviceable than cleanly. In the evening dined at +Lincoln College with the rector, Dr. Merry, who was very +agreeable and entertaining, giving interesting accounts of his +predecessor, Mark Pattison, and of Wilberforce when Bishop of +Oxford. One of the guests, a fellow of New College, told me that +some fifty years ago an American, being entertained there showed +the college dons how to make mint-julep, or something of the +sort, and then sent them a large silver cup with the condition +that it should be filled with this American drink every year on +the anniversary of the donor's visit, and that this is regularly +done. This pious donor must have been, I think, "Nat" Willis. + +Sunday, November 15. + +Lunched with Johnson, fellow of Merton, and met my old friend +Mlle. Blaze du Bury. Her comments, from the point of view of a +brilliant young Frenchwoman, on all she saw about her at Oxford +were pungent and suggestive. In the evening heard the Archbishop +of York Thompson, preach at St. Mary's. He urged the students to +consecrate themselves by their example to the maintenance of a +better standard of morality; but, despite his strength and force, +the sermon seemed heavy and perfunctory. + +November 16. + +To Windsor with a party of friends, and as we had a special +permit to see a large number of rooms and curious objects not +usually shown, the visit was very interesting. Sadly suggestive +was Gordon's Bible, every page having its margins covered with +annotations in his own hand: it was brought from Khartoum after +his murder, presented by his sister to the Queen, and is now +preserved in an exquisitely wrought silver casket. + +Tuesday, November 18. + +Visited Somerville Hall for women, which shows a vast advance +over Oxford as I formerly knew it. To think that its creation +honors the memory of a woman who attained her high scientific +knowledge in spite of every discouragement, and who, when she had +attained it, was denounced outrageously from the pulpit of York +Minster for it! Dined at Merton College with the warden, Hon. +George Broderick, in the hall, which has been most beautifully +restored by Sir Gilbert Scott. When will the founders of our +American colleges and universities understand the vast +educational value of surroundings like these, and especially of a +"hall" in which students meet every day, beneath storied windows +and the busts and portraits of the most eminent men in the +history of science, literature, and public service? + +In answer to the question whether in American universities there +was anything like the association between instructors and +students in England, I spoke of the evolution of our fraternity +houses as likely to bring about something of the sort. The +fraternal relation between teachers and taught is certainly the +best thing in the English universities, and covers a multitude of +sins. If I were a great millionaire I would establish in our +greater universities a score or so of self-governing colleges, +each with comfortable lodging-rooms and studies and with its own +library and dining-hall. In the common room, after dinner, I sat +next Professor Wallace, whose book on Kant I had read. He thinks +the system of ethics really predominant in England is modified +Kantianism. + +November 19. + +To Mortimer, near Reading, on a visit to Sir Paul Hunter, who +once visited me at Cornell. Extracts from my diary of this visit +are as follows: + +November 20. + +To Bearwood, the seat of John Walter, M.P., proprietor of the +"Times," and for the first time in my life saw a fox hunt, with +the meet, the huntsmen in red coats, and all the rest of it. + +November 21. + +Visited the old Abbey Church at Reading with Sir Paul, and in the +evening met various interesting people at dinner, among them Sir +John Mowbray, M.P. for Oxford and Mr. Walter. + +Sunday, November 22. + +After morning service in the beautiful parish church which, with +its schools, was the gift of Mr. Benyon, several of us took a +walk to Silchester, with its ruins of an old Roman bath, on the +Duke of Wellington's estate. In the evening Mr. Walter, who +usually appears so reticent and quiet, opened himself to me quite +freely, speaking very earnestly regarding the unfortunate turn +which the question between Catholics and Protestants has taken in +England under pressure from the Vatican, especially as regards +marriages, and illustrating his view by some most suggestive +newspaper cuttings. He also gave me what he claimed was the true +story of Earl Russell's conduct in letting out the Confederate +cruisers against us during the Civil War, attributing it to the +fact that an underling charged with preventing it went suddenly +mad, so that the matter did not receive early attention. But this +did not modify my opinion of Earl Russell. Thank Heaven, he lived +until he saw Great Britain made to pay heavily for his obstinacy. +Pity that he did not live to see the present restoration of good +feeling between the two countries; esto perpetua (1905). + +Monday, November 23. + +In the afternoon drove to "Bramshill," the magnificent seat of +Sir William Cope; after all, there has never been any domestic +architecture so noble as the Elizabethan and Jacobean. In the +evening to a Tory meeting, Sir John Mowbray presiding; his +opening speech astounded me. Presenting the claims of his party, +he said that the Tories were not only the authors of extended +suffrage under Lord Beaconsfield, but that they ought also to +have the credit of free trade in grain, since Sir Robert Peel had +supported the bill for the repeal of the corn laws. Remembering +the treatment which Sir Robert Peel received from Disraeli and +the Tory party for this very act, it seemed to me that Sir John's +speech was the coolest thing I had ever heard in my life. It was +taken in good part, however. In America I am quite sure that such +a speech would have been considered an insult to the audience. + +November 24. + +To Cambridge, where I met a number of old friends, including Dr. +Waldstein, director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, and Sedley Taylor, +fellow of Trinity; and in the evening dined at King's College +with the former and a number of interesting men, including +Westcott, the eminent New Testament scholar (since Bishop of +Durham). + +November 26. + +Dined at Trinity College with Sedley Taylor and others, and +thence to the Politico-Economic Association to hear a discussion +upon cooperation in production; those taking the principal part +in the meeting being sundry leading men among the professors and +fellows devoted to political economy. During the day I called on +Robertson Smith, the eminent biblical critic, who, having been +thrown out of the Free Church of Scotland for revealing sundry +truths in biblical criticism a dozen years too soon, has been +received into a far better place at Cambridge. + +November 27. + +Had a delightful hour during the morning in King's College chapel +with Bradshaw, the librarian of the university--a most +accomplished man. He has a passion for church architecture, and +his discussions of the wonderful stained windows of the chapel +were very interesting. The evening service at King's College was +most beautiful: nothing could be more perfect than the antiphonal +rendering of the Psalms by the two choirs and the great organ. +More and more I am impressed by the EDUCATIONAL value of such +things. + +November 28. + +During the greater part of the day in the library of Trinity +College with Sedley Taylor. Years before, I had explored its +treasures with Aldis Wright, but there were new things to +fascinate me. Dining at King's College with Waldstein, met +Professor Seeley, author of the "Life of Stein," a book which, +ever since its appearance, has been an object of my admiration. + +November 29. + +In the morning, at King's College chapel, I was greatly struck by +the acoustic properties of this immense building; for, having +seated myself near the door at the west end, I distinctly heard +every word of the prayer for the church militant as it was +recited before the altar at the other end. Afterward, at Oscar +Browning's rooms, looked over a multitude of interesting +documents, including British official reports from New York +during our War of the Revolution; and in the evening, at +Waldstein's rooms, met Sir Henry Maine and discussed with him his +book on "Popular Government." He interested me greatly, and I +pointed out to him some things which, in my opinion, he might +well dwell more strongly upon in future editions, and among these +the popularity of the veto power in the United States, as shown +in its extension by recent legislation of various States to items +of supply bills. + +At noon to luncheon at Christ's College with Professor Robertson +Smith, the Scotch heretic. This was the Cambridge home of Milton +and Darwin, interesting memorials of whom were shown me. Among +the guests was Dr. Creighton, professor of ecclesiastical +history. The early part of Creighton's book on the "History of +the Papacy During the Reformation Period" had especially +interested me, and I now enjoyed greatly his knowledge of Italian +matters. He discussed Tomasini's book on Machiavelli, and sundry +new Italian books on the relations of the Popes and Fra Paolo +Sarpi. + +November 30. + +Took tea at St. Mary's Hall with Sir Henry Maine, and continued +our discussion on his "Popular Government," which, while opposed +to democracy, pays a great tribute to the Constitution of the +United States. Dined with Professor Creighton; met various +interesting people, and discussed with him and Mrs. Creighton +sundry points in English history, especially the career of +Archbishop Laud; my opinion of Macaulay's injustice being +confirmed thereby. + +December 11. + +Went in the morning with Sedley Taylor and Professor Stuart, +M.P., an old friend of former visits, and inspected the +mechanical laboratory and workshops. There were about seventy +university men, more or less, engaged in these, and it was +interesting to see English Cambridge adopting the same line which +we have already taken at Cornell against so much opposition, and +surprising to find the Cambridge equipment far inferior to that +of Cornell. Afterward visited the polling booths for an election +which was going on, and noted the extraordinary precautions +against any interference with the secrecy of the ballot. Also to +the Cavendish physical laboratory, which, like the mechanical +laboratory, was far inferior in equipment to ours at Cornell. In +the evening to the Greek play,--the "Eumenides" of +Aeschylus,--which was wonderfully well done. The Athena, Miss +Case of Girton College, was superb; the Apollo imposing; the +Orestes a good actor; and the music very effective. I found +myself seated next Andrew Lang, so well known for his literary +activity in various fields; and on speaking to him of the evident +delights of life at Cambridge and Oxford, I found that he had +outlived his enthusiasm on that subject. + +December 2. + +In the morning took a charming walk through St. Peter's, Queen's, +and other colleges, enjoying their quiet interior courts, their +halls and cloisters, the bridges across the Cam, and the walks +beyond. Then to a lecture by Professor Seeley on "Forces of +Government in History." It was admirably clear, though, in parts, +perhaps too subtle. As to England he summed all up by saying that +its present system was simply revolution at any moment. Walking +home with him afterward, I asked why, if his statement were +correct, it did not realize the old ideal in France--namely, that +of "La revolution en permanence." At luncheon with Waldstein at +King's College we found Lord Lytton, recently governor-general of +India, known to literature as "Owen Meredith," with Lady Lytton; +also Sir William Anson, provost of All Souls; as well as the +Athena of last evening, Miss Case; the Orestes, the Apollo, Sir +Henry Maine, and others. I was amused at the difference between +Lord Lytton's way of greeting me and his treatment of Sir William +Anson. When I was introduced, he at once took me by the hand, and +began talking very cordially and openly; but when his eminent +countryman was introduced, each eyed the other as if in +suspicion, did not shake hands, bowed very coldly, and said +nothing beyond muttering some one of the usual formulas. It was a +curious example of the shyness of Englishmen in meeting each +other, and of their want of shyness in meeting men from other +countries. At table Lord Lytton spoke regarding the annexation of +Burmah, likely to be accomplished by the dethronement of the +king, Theebaw; said that it ought to have been accomplished long +ago, and that the delay of action in the premises was due to +English timidity. Both he and Lady Lytton were very agreeable. He +gave an interesting account of a native drama performed before +him in India at the command of one of the great princes, though +speaking of it as "deadly dull." Speaking of difficulties in +learning idioms, he told the story of a German professor who, +priding himself on his thorough knowledge of English idioms, +said, "We must, as you English say, take ze cow by ze corns." At +this some one rejoined with the story of the learned baboo in +India who spoke of something as "magnificent, soul-inspiring, and +tip-top." As another example of baboo English was mentioned the +inscription upon one of the show-cases in an exhibition in India: +"All the goods in this case are for sale, but they cannot be +removed until after the day of judgment." + +In the evening met the Historical Club at Oscar Browning's rooms, +and heard an admirable paper by Professor Seeley on "Bourbon +Family Compacts." He said that the fact of their existence was +not fully established until Ranke mentioned them, and that he, +Seeley, then examined the English Foreign Office records and +found them. He spoke of them as refuting the arguments of +Macaulay and others as to the folly of supposing that different +branches of the same family on different thrones are likely to +coalesce. Oscar Browning then read a paper on the flight of Louis +XVI to Varennes. It was elaborate, and based on close study and +personal observation. Browning had even taken measurements of the +distance over which King Louis passed on that fatal night, with +the result that he proved Carlyle's account to be entirely +inaccurate, and his indictment against Louis XVI based upon it to +be absurd. So far from the King having lumbered along slowly +through the night in Mme. Korf's coach because he had not the +force of character to make his driver go rapidly, Browning found +that the journey was made in remarkably quick time. + +December 3. + +Breakfasting with Sedley Taylor, I met Professor Stuart, M.P., +who thinks a great liberal, peaceful revolution in the English +constitution will be accomplished within the next fifty years. +Thence walked with Taylor to Newnham College, where we were very +kindly received by Miss Gladstone, daughter of the prime +minister, and shown all about the place. We were also cordially +received by Miss Clough, and made the acquaintance of two +American girls, one from New Jersey and the other from +California. Much progress had been made since my former visit +under the guidance of Professor and Mrs. Fawcett. Thence to Jesus +College chapel and saw William Morris's stained glass, which is +the most beautiful modern work of the kind known to me. + +December 4. + +Visited St. John's, St. Peter's, and other colleges; in the +afternoon saw the eight-oared boats come down the river in fine +style; and in the evening went to the annual "audit dinner" at +Trinity College, the number of visitors in the magnificent hall +being very large. I found myself between the vice-master, +Trotter, and Professor Humphrey, the distinguished surgeon. The +latter thought Vienna had shot ahead of Berlin in surgery, though +he considered Billroth too venturesome, and praised recent +American works on surgery, but thought England was still keeping +the lead. At the close of the dinner came a curious custom. Two +servants approached the vice-master at the head of the first +table, laid down upon it a narrow roll of linen, and then the +guests rolled this along by pushing it from either side until, +when it had reached the other end, a strip of smooth linen was +left along the middle of the whole table. Then a great silver +dish, with ladles on either side, and containing some sort of +fragrant fluid, was set in front of the vice-master, upon the +narrow strip of linen which had formed the roll, and the same +thing was repeated at each of the other tables. The vice-master +having then filled a large glass at his side from the dish, and +I, at his suggestion, having done the same, the great dish was +pushed down the table to guest after guest, each following our +example. Waiting to see what was to follow, I presently observed +a gentleman near me dipping his napkin into his glass and +vigorously scrubbing his face and neck with it, evidently to cool +himself off after dinner; this was repeated with more or less +thoroughness by others present; and then came a musical grace +after meat--the non nobis, Domine--wonderfully given by the +choir. In the combination room, afterward, I met most agreeably +Mr. Trevelyan, M.P., a nephew of Macaulay, who has written an +admirable biography of his uncle. + +December 6. + +Dined at Trinity College as the guest of Aldis Wright, and met a +number of interesting men, among them Mahaffy, the eminent +professor of Greek at Trinity College, Dublin. Both he and Wright +told excellent stories. Among those of the latter was one of a +Scotchwoman who, on being informed of the change made by the +revisers in the Lord's Prayer,--namely, "and deliver us from the +evil one,"--said, "I doot he'll be sair uplifted." Mahaffy gave +droll accounts of Whately, Archbishop of Dublin. One of these had +as its hero a country clergyman who came to ask Whately for a +living which had just become vacant. The archbishop, thinking to +have a little fun with his guest, said, "Of course, first of all, +I must know what your church politics are: are you an +attitudinarian, a latitudinarian, or a platitudinarian?" To which +the parson replied, "Thank God, your Grace, I am not an Arian at +all at all, if that's what ye mane." The point of this lay in the +fact that among the charges constantly made by the High-church +party against Whately was that of secret Unitarianism. But the +reply so amused Whately that he bestowed the living on the old +parson at once. Mahaffy also said that when Archbishop Trench, +who was a man exceedingly mindful of the proprieties of life, +arrived in Dublin he assured Mahaffy that he intended to follow +in all things the example of his eminent predecessor, whereupon +Mahaffy answered, "Should your Grace do so, you will in summer +frequently sit in your shirt sleeves on the chains in front of +your palace, swinging to and fro, and smoking a long pipe." + +Some one capped this with a story that, on a visitor once telling +Whately how a friend of his in a remote part of Ireland had such +confidence in the people about him that he never locked his +doors, the archbishop quietly replied, "Some fine morning, when +your friend wakes, he will find that he is the only spoon left in +the house." + +December 7. + +For several days visiting attractive places in London. Of most +interest to me were talks with Lecky, the historian. He +especially lamented Goldwin Smith's expatriation, and referred to +his admirable style, though regretting his lack of continuity in +historical work. Though an Irishman devoted most heartily to +Ireland, Lecky thought Gladstone's home rule policy suicidal. On +my telling him of Oscar Browning's study of Louis XVI's flight to +Varennes, he stood up for Carlyle's general accuracy. He liked +Sir Henry Maine's book, but was surprised at so much praise for +"The Federalist," since he thought Story's "Commentaries" much +better. He thought Draper's "History of the Intellectual +Development of Europe" showed too much fondness for very large +generalizations. He liked Hildreth's "History of the United +States" better than Bancroft's, and I argued against this view. +He praised Buckle's style, and when I asked him regarding his own +"Eighteenth Century," he said it was to be longer than he had +expected. As to his "European Morals," he said that it must be +recast before it could be continued. Returning to the subject of +home rule in Ireland, he said it was sure to lead to religious +persecution and confiscation. He speaks in a very low, gentle +voice, is tall and awkward, but has a very kind face, and pleases +me greatly. During my stay in London I did some work in the +British Museum on subjects which interested me, and at a visit to +Maskelyne and Cooke's great temple of jugglery in Piccadilly saw +a display which set me thinking. Few miracle-mongers have ever +performed any feats so wonderful as those there accomplished; the +men and women who take such pleasure in attributing spiritual and +supernatural origin to the cheap jugglery of "mediums" should see +this performance. + + + +CHAPTER LIII + +FRANCE, ITALY, AND SWITZERLAND--1886-1887 + +New Year's day of 1886 found my wife and myself again in Paris; +and, during our stay of nearly a fortnight there, we met various +interesting persons--among them Mr. McLane, the American minister +at that post, whom I had last seen, over thirty years before, +when we crossed the ocean together--he then going as minister to +China, and I as attache to St. Petersburg. His discussions both +of American and French politics were interesting; but a far more +suggestive talker was Mme. Blaze de Bury. Though a Frenchwoman, +she was said to be a daughter of Lord Brougham; his portrait hung +above her chair in the salon, and she certainly showed a +versatility worthy of the famous philosopher and statesman, of +whom it was said, when he was appointed chancellor, that if he +only knew a little law he would know a little of everything. She +apparently knew not only everything, but everybody, and abounded +in revelations and prophecies. + +On the way from Paris to the Riviera we encountered at Lyons very +cold weather, and, giving my wraps to my wife, I hurried out into +the station in the evening, bought of a news-vender a mass of old +newspapers, and, having swathed myself in these, went through the +night comfortably, although our coupe was exposed to a most +piercing wind. + +Arriving at Cannes, we found James Bryce of the English +Parliament, Baron George von Bunsen of the German Parliament, and +Lord Acton (since professor of history at the University of +Cambridge), all interesting men, but the latter peculiarly so: +the nearest approach to omniscience I have ever seen, with the +possible exception of Theodore Parker. Another person who +especially attracted me was Sir Charles Murray, formerly British +minister at Lisbon and Dresden. His first wife was an +American,--Miss Wadsworth of Geneseo,--and he had traveled much +in America--once through the Adirondacks with Governor Seymour of +New York, of whom he spoke most kindly. Discussing the Eastern +Question, he said that any nation, except Russia, might have +Constantinople; he gave reminiscences of old King John of Saxony, +who was very scholarly, but the last man in the world to be a +king. Most charming of all were his reminiscences of Talleyrand. +The best things during my stay were my walks and talks with Lord +Acton, who was full of information at first hand regarding +Gladstone and other leaders both in England and on the Continent. +Although a Roman Catholic, he spoke highly of Fraser, late +Anglican Bishop of Manchester. As to Americans, he had known +Charles Sumner in America, but had not formed a high opinion of +him, evidently thinking that the senator orated too much; he had +with him a large collection of books, selected, doubtless, from +his two large libraries, in London and in the Tyrol, and with +this he astonished one as does a juggler who, from a single small +bottle, pours out any kind of wine demanded. For example, one +day, Bunsen, Bryce, and myself being with him, the first-named +said something regarding a curious philological tract by Bernays, +put forth when Bunsen was a student at Gottingen, but now +entirely out of print. At this Lord Acton went to one of his +shelves, took down this rare tract, and handed it to us. So, too, +during one of our walks, the talk happening to fall upon one of +my heroes, Fra Paolo Sarpi, I asked how it was that, while in the +old church on the Lagoon at Venice I had at three different +visits sought Sarpi's grave in vain, I had at the last visit +found it just where I had looked for it before. At this he gave +me a most interesting account of the opposition of Pope Gregory +XVI--who, before his elevation to the papacy, had been abbot of +the monastery--to Sarpi's burial within its sacred precincts, +and of the compromise under which his burial was allowed. This +compromise was that his bones, which had so long been kept in the +ducal library to protect them from clerical hatred, might be +buried in the church on the island, provided Sarpi were, during +the ceremonies, honored simply as the discoverer of the +circulation of the blood,--which he probably was not,--and not +honored as the greatest statesman of Venice--which he certainly +was. This, as I then supposed, closed the subject; but in the +afternoon a servant came over, bringing me from Lord Acton a most +interesting collection of original manuscripts relating to +Sarpi,--a large part of them being the correspondence between the +papal authorities and the Venetians who had wished to give +Sarpi's bones decent burial, over half a century before. I now +found that the reason why I had not discovered the grave was that +the monks, as long as they were allowed control, had persisted in +breaking up the tablet bearing the inscription; that they could +not disturb the bones for the reason that Sarpi's admirers had +inclosed them in a large and strong iron box, anchoring it so +that it was very difficult to remove; but that since the death of +the late patriarch and the abolition of monkish power the +inscription over the grave had been allowed to remain +undisturbed. + +During another of our morning walks the discussion having fallen +on witchcraft persecution, Lord Acton called in the afternoon and +brought me an interesting addition to my collection of curious +books on that subject--a volume by Christian Thomasius. + +On another of our excursions I asked him regarding the +Congregation of the Index at Rome, and its procedure. To this he +answered that individuals or commissions are appointed to examine +special works and reports thereupon to the Congregation, which +then allows or condemns them, as may seem best; and I marveled +much when, in the afternoon of that day, he sent me specimens of +such original reports on various books. + +He agreed with me that the papal condemnation of Victor Hugo's +"Les Miserables" was a mistake as a matter of policy--as great a +mistake, indeed, as hundreds and thousands of other condemnations +had been. Of Pope Leo XIII he spoke with respect, giving me an +account of the very liberal concessions made by him at the +Vatican library, so that it is now freely opened to Protestants, +whereas it was formerly kept closely shut. At a later period this +was confirmed to me by Dr. Philip Schaff, the eminent Protestant +church historian, who told me that formerly at the Vatican +library he was only allowed, as a special favor, to look at the +famous Codex, with an attendant watching him every moment; +whereas after Pope Leo XIII came into control he was permitted to +study the Codex and take notes from it at his ease. + +In another of his walks Lord Acton discussed Gladstone, whom he +greatly admired, but pointed out some curious peculiarities in +the great statesman and churchman,--among these, that he +worshiped the memory of Archbishop Laud and detested the memory +of William III. + +Very interesting were sundry little dinners on Saturday evenings +at the Cercle Nautique, at which I found not only Lord Acton, but +Sir Henry Keating, a retired English judge; General Palfrey, who +had distinguished himself in our Civil War; and a few other good +talkers. At one of these dinners Sir Henry started the question: +"Who was the greatest man that ever lived?" Lord Acton gave very +interesting arguments in favor of Napoleon, while I did my best +in favor of Caesar; my argument being that the system which +Caesar founded maintained the Roman Empire during nearly fifteen +hundred years after his death; that its fundamental ideas and +features have remained effective in various great nations until +the present day; and that they have in our own century shown +themselves more vigorous than ever. Lord Acton insisted that we +have no means of knowing the processes of Caesar's mind; that we +know the mode of thinking of only two ancients, Socrates and +Cicero; that possibly, if we knew more of Shakspere's mental +processes, the preeminence might be claimed for him, but that we +know nothing of them save from his writings; while we know +Napoleon's thoroughly from the vast collections of memoirs, state +papers, orders, conversations, etc., as well as in his amazing +dealings with the problems of his time; that the scope and power +of Napoleon's mental processes seem almost preternatural and of +this he gave various remarkable proofs. He argued that +considerations of moral character and aims, as elements in +greatness, must be left out of such a discussion; that the +intellectual processes and their results were all that we could +really estimate in comparing men. Sir Henry Keating observed that +his father, an officer in the British army, was vastly impressed +by the sight of Napoleon at St. Helena; whereupon Lord Acton +remarked that Thiers acknowledged to Guizot, who told Lord Acton, +that Napoleon was "un scelerat." That seemed to me a rather +strong word to be used by a man who had done so much to revive +the Napoleonic legend Lord Acton also quoted a well-authenticated +story--vouched for by two persons whom he named, one of them +being the Count de Flahaut, who was present and heard the +remark--that when the imperial guards broke at Waterloo, Napoleon +said, "It has always been so since Crecy." + +Toward the end of February we went on to Florence, and there met, +frequently, Villari, the historian; Mantegazzi; and other leading +Florentines. Mention being made of the Jesuit Father Curci, who +had rebelled against what he considered the fatal influence of +Jesuitism on the papacy, Villari thought him too scholastic to +have any real influence. Of Settembrini he spoke highly as a +noble character and valuable critic, though with no permanent +place in Italian literature. He excused the tardiness of Italians +in putting up statues to Giordano Bruno and Fra Paolo Sarpi, +since they had so many other recent statues to put up. As I look +back upon this conversation, it is a pleasure to remember that I +have lived to see both these statues--that of Bruno, on the place +in Rome where he was burned alive, and that of Sarpi, on the +place in Venice where the assassins sent by Pope Paul V left him +for dead. + +Early in March we arrived in Naples, going piously through the +old sights we had seen several times before. Revisiting Amalfi, I +saw the archbishop pontificating at the cathedral: he was the +finest-looking prelate I ever saw, reminding me amazingly of my +old professor, Silliman of Yale. Then, during the stay of some +weeks in Sorrento, I took as an Italian teacher a charming old +padre, who read his mass every morning in one of the churches and +devoted the rest of the day to literature. He was at heart +liberal, and it was from him that I received a copy of the famous +"Politico-Philosophical Catechism," adopted by Archbishop Apuzzo +of Sorrento, than which, probably, nothing more defiant of moral +principles was ever written. The archbishop had been made by +"King Bomba" tutor to his son, and no wonder that the young man +was finally kicked ignominiously off his throne, and his country +annexed to the Italian kingdom. This catechism, written years +before by the elder Leopardi, but adopted and promoted by the +archbishop, was devoted to maintaining the righteousness of all +that system of extreme despotism, oath-breaking, defiance of +national sentiment, and violations of ordinary decency, which had +made the kingdom of Naples a byword during so many generations. +Therein patriotism was proved to be a delusion; popular education +an absurdity; observance of the monarch's sworn word opposition +to divine law; a constitution a mere plaything in the monarch's +hands; the Bible is steadily quoted in behalf of "the right +divine of kings to govern wrong"; and all this with a mixture of +cynicism and unctuousness which makes this catechism one of the +most remarkable political works of modern times. + +At this time I made an interesting acquaintance with Francis +Galton, the eminent English authority on heredity. Discussing +dreams, he told me a story of a lady who said that she knew that +dreams came true; for she dreamed once that the number 3 drew a +prize in the lottery, and again that the number 8 drew it; and +so, she said, "I multiplied them together, 3 X 8 = 27, bought a +ticket bearing the latter number, and won the prize." + +Very interesting were my meetings with Marion Crawford, the +author. Nothing could be more delightful than his villa and +surroundings, and his accounts of Italian life were fascinating, +as one would expect after reading his novels. Another new +acquaintance was Mr. Mayall, an English microscopist; he gave me +accounts of his visit to the Louvre with Herbert Spencer, who, +after looking steadily at the "Immaculate Conception" of Murillo, +said "I cannot like a painted figure that has no visible means of +support." + +On my return northward I visited the most famous of Christian +monasteries,--the cradle of the Benedictine order,--Monte +Cassino, and there met a young English novice, who introduced me +to various Benedictine fathers, especially sundry Germans who +were decorating with Byzantine figures the lower story, near the +altar of St. Benedict. At dinner the young man agreed with me +that it might be well to have a Benedictine college at Oxford, +but thought that any college established there must be controlled +by the Jesuit order. He professed respect for the Jesuits, but +evidently with some mistrust of their methods. On my asking if he +thought he could bear the severe rule of his order, especially +that of rising about four o'clock in the morning and retiring +early in the evening, he answered that formerly he feared that he +could not, but that now he believed he could. On my tentative +suggestion that he come and establish a Benedictine convent on +Cayuga Lake, he told me that he should probably be sent to +Scotland. + +The renowned old monastery seems to be mindful of its best +traditions, for it has established within its walls an admirably +equipped printing-house, in which I was able to secure for +Cornell University copies of various books by learned +Benedictines--some of them, by the beauty of their workmanship, +well worthy to be placed beside the illuminated manuscripts which +formerly came from the Scriptoria. + +At Rome I was taken about by Lanciani, the eminent archaeologist +in control of the excavations, who showed me beautiful things +newly discovered and now kept in temporary rooms near the +Capitol. To my surprise, he told me that there is absolutely no +authentic bust of Cicero dating from his time; but this was +afterward denied by Story, the American sculptor, who pointed out +to me a cast of one in his studio. Story spoke gloomily of the +condition of Italy, saying that formerly there were no taxes, but +that now the taxes are crushing. He added that the greatest +mistake made by the present Pope was that, during the cholera at +Naples, he remained in Rome, while King Humbert went immediately +to that city, visited the hospitals, cheered the +cholera-stricken, comforted them, and supplied their wants. + +On Easter Sunday I saw Cardinal Howard celebrate high mass in St. +Peter's. He had been an English guardsman, was magnificently +dressed, and was the very ideal of a proud prelate. The audience +in the immediate neighborhood of the altar were none too +reverential, and in other parts of the church were walking about +and talking as if in a market; all of this irreverence reminding +me of the high mass which I had seen celebrated by Pope Pius IX +at the same altar on Easter day of 1856. + +Calling on the former prime minister, Minghetti, who had been an +associate of Cavour, I found him very interesting, as was also +Sambuy, senator of the kingdom and syndic of Turin, who was with +him. Minghetti said that the Italian school system was not yet +satisfactory, though young men are doing well in advanced +scientific, mathematical, historical, and economic studies. On my +speaking of a statistical map in my possession which revealed the +enormous percentage of persons who can neither read nor write in +those parts of Italy most directly under the influence of the +church, he said that matters were slowly improving under the new +regime. He spoke with respect of Leo XIII, saying that he was not +so bitter in his utterances against Italy as Pius IX had been. +Discussing Bismarck and Cavour, he said that both were eminently +practical, but that Cavour adhered to certain principles, such as +free trade, freedom of the church, and the like, whereas Bismarck +was wont to take up any principle which would serve his temporary +purpose. Minghetti hoped much, eventually, from Cavour's idea of +toleration, and spoke with praise of the checks put by the +American Constitution on unbridled democracy, whereupon I quoted +to him the remark of Governor Seymour in New York, the most +eminent of recent Democratic candidates for the Presidency, to +the effect that the merit of our Constitution is not that it +promotes democracy, but that it checks it. Minghetti spoke of Sir +Henry Maine's book on "Free Government" with much praise; in +spite of its anti-democratic tendencies, it had evidently raised +his opinion of the American Constitution. He also praised +American scientific progress. Sambuy said that the present growth +of the city of Rome is especially detested by the clergy, since +it is making the city too large for them to control; that their +bitterness is not to be wondered at, since they clearly see that, +no matter what may happen,--even if the kingdom of Italy were to +be destroyed to-morrow,--it would be absolutely impossible for +the old regime of Pope, cardinals, and priests ever again to +govern the city; that with this increase of the population, and +its long exercise of political power, the resumption of temporal +power by the Pope is an utter impossibility; that even if +revolution or anarchy came, the people would never again take +refuge under the papacy. + +Very interesting were sundry gatherings at the rooms of Story, +the sculptor. Meeting there the Brazilian minister at the papal +court, I was amazed by his statements regarding the rules +restricting intercourse between diplomatists accredited to the +Vatican and those accredited to the Quirinal; he said that +although the minister from his country to the Quirinal was one of +his best friends, he was not allowed to accept an invitation from +him. + +The American minister, Judge Stallo of Cincinnati, seemed to me +an admirable man, in spite of the stories circulated by various +hostile cliques. At the house of the British ambassador Stallo +spoke in a very interesting way of Cardinal Hohenlohe as far +above his fellows and capable of making a great pope. The +political difficulties in Italy, he said, were very great, and, +greatest of all, in Naples and Sicily. Dining with him, I met my +old friend Hoffmann, rector of the University of Berlin, and a +number of eminent Italian men of science, senators, and others. + +At the house of Dr. Nevin, rector of the American Episcopal +church, I met the Dutch minister, who corroborated my opinion +that the British parliamentary system generally works badly in +the Continental countries, since it causes constantly recurring +changes in ministers, and prevents any proper continuity of state +action, and he naturally alluded to the condition of things in +France as an example. + +Among other interesting people, I met the abbot of St. Paul +Outside the Walls, to whom Lord Acton, in response to my question +as to whether there was such a thing as a "learned Benedictine" +extant, had given me a letter of introduction. The good abbot +turned out to be an Irishman with some of the more interesting +peculiarities of his race; but his conversation was more vivid +than illuminating. He had reviewed various books for the +Congregation of the Index, one of these, a book which I had just +bought, being on "The Architecture of St. John Lateran." He held +a position in the Propaganda, and I was greatly struck by his +minute knowledge of affairs in the United States. The question +being then undecided as to whether a new bishopric for central +New York was to be established at Utica or Syracuse, he discussed +both places with much minute knowledge of their claims and of the +people residing in them. I put in the best word I could for +Syracuse, feeling that if a bishopric was to be established, that +was the proper place for it; and afterward I had the satisfaction +of learning that the bishop had been placed there. The abbot had +known Secretary Seward and liked him. + +Leaving Rome in May, we made visits of deep interest to Assisi, +Perugia, Orvieto, and other historic towns and, arriving at +Florence again, saw something of society in that city. Count de +Gubernatis, the eminent scholar, who had just returned from +India, was eloquent in praise of the Taj Mahal, which, of all +buildings in the world, is the one I most desire to see. He +thinks that the stories regarding juggling in India have been +marvelously developed by transmission from East to West; that +growing the mango, of which so much is said, is a very poor +trick, as is also the crushing, killing, and restoration to life +of a boy under a basket; that these marvels are not at all what +the stories report them to be; that it is simply another case of +the rapid growth of legends by transmission. He said that hatred +for England remains deep in India, and that caste spirit is very +little altered, his own servant, even when very thirsty, not +daring to drink from a bottle which his master had touched. + +Dining with Count Ressi at his noble villa on the slope toward +Fiesole, I noted various delicious Italian wines upon the table, +but the champagne was what is known as "Pleasant Valley Catawba," +from Lake Keuka in western New York, which the count, during his +journey to Niagara, had found so good that he had shipped a +quantity of it to Florence. + +A very interesting man I found in the Marquis Alfieri Sostegno, +vice-president of the Senate,--a man noted for his high character +and his writings. He is the founder of the new "School for +Political and Social Studies," and gave me much information +regarding it. His family is of mediaeval origin, but he is a +liberal of the Cavour sort. Preferring constitutional monarchy, +but thinking democracy inevitable, he asks, "Shall it be a +democracy like that of France, excluding all really leading men +from power, or a democracy influenced directly by its best men?" +In his school he has attempted to train young men in the +practical knowledge needed in public affairs, and hopes thus to +prepare them for the inevitable future. This college has +encountered much opposition from the local universities, but is +making its way. + +Another man of the grand old Italian sort was Peruzzi, syndic of +Florence, a former associate of Cavour, and one of the leading +men of Italy. Calling for me with two other senators, he took me +to his country villa, which has been in the possession of the +family for over four hundred years, and there I dined with a very +distinguished company. Everything was large and patriarchal, but +simple. The discussions, both at table and afterward, as we sat +upon the terrace with its wonderful outlook over one of the +richest parts of Tuscany, mainly related to Italian matters. All +seemed hopeful of a reasonable solution of the clerical +difficulty. Most interesting was his wife, Donna Emilia, well +known for her brilliant powers of discussion and her beautiful +qualities as a hostess both at the Peruzzi palace in Florence and +in this villa, where one meets men of light and leading from +every part of the world. + +From Florence we went on to the Italian lakes, staying especially +at Baveno, Lugano, and Cadenabbia. Especially interesting to me +were the scenes depicted in the first part of Manzoni's "Promessi +Sposi." An eminent Italian told me at this time that Manzoni +never forgave himself for his humorous delineations of the priest +Don Abbondio, who figures in these scenes after a somewhat +undignified fashion. Interesting also was a visit to the tomb of +Rosmini, with its portrait-statue by Vela, in the monastery +looking over the most beautiful part of the Lago Maggiore. Thence +by the St. Gotthard to Zurich, where we visited my old colleague, +Colonel Roth, the Swiss minister at Berlin. Very simple and +charming was his family life at Teufen. In the library I noticed +a curious shield, and upon it several swords, each with an +inscription; and, on my asking regarding them, I was told that +they were the official swords of Colonel Roth's +great-grandfather, grandfather, father, and himself, each of whom +had been Landamman of the canton. He told me that as Landamman he +presided from time to time over a popular assembly of several +thousand people; that it was a republic such as Rousseau +advocated,--all the people coming together and voting, by "yes" +and "no" and showing of hands, on the proposals of the Landamman +and his council. Driving through the canton, I found that, while +none of the people were rich, few were very poor, and that the +Catholic was much behind the Protestant part in thrift and +prosperity. + +My love for historical studies interested me greatly in a visit +to the Abbey of St. Gall. The mediaeval buildings are virtually +gone, and a mass of rococo constructions have taken their place. +Gone, too, in the main, is the famous library of the middle ages; +but the eminent historian and archivist, Henne Am Rhyn, showed me +the ancient catalogue dating from the days of Charlemagne, and +one or two of the old manuscripts referred to in it, which have +done duty for more than a thousand years. Then followed my second +visit to the Engadine, reached by two days' driving in the +mountains from Coire; and during my stay at St. Moritz I made the +acquaintance of many interesting people,--among them Admiral +Irvine of the British navy. Speaking of the then recent sinking +of the Cunarder Oregon, he expressed the opinion that a squadron +of seven-hundred-ton vessels with beaks could best defend a +harbor from ironclads; and in support of this contention he cited +an experience of his own as showing the efficiency of the beak in +naval warfare. A few years before he had anchored in the Piraeus, +his ship, an ironclad, having a beak projecting from the bow, of +course under water. Noticing a Greek brig nearing him, he made +signals to her to keep well off; but the captain of the brig, +resenting this interference, and keeping straight on, endeavored +to pass, at a distance which, no doubt, seemed to him perfectly +safe, in front of the bows of the ironclad. The admiral said that +not the slightest shock was felt on board his own vessel; but the +brig sank almost immediately. She had barely grazed the end of +the beak. At another time the admiral spoke of the advance of the +British fleet, in which he held a command, upon Constantinople in +1878. The British Government supposed that the Turks had +virtually gone over to the Russians, and the first order was to +take the Turkish fortresses at Constantinople immediately; but +this order was afterward withdrawn, and the matter at issue was +settled in the ensuing European conference. + +It was a pleasure to find at this Alpine resort my old friend +Story the sculptor. He gave us a comical account of the +presentation at the Vatican of Mr. George Peabody by Mr. Winthrop +of Boston. Referring to Mr. Peabody's munificence to various +institutions for aiding the needy, and especially orphans, Mr. +Winthrop, in a pleasant vein, presented his friend to Pope Pius +IX as a gentleman who, though unmarried, had hundreds of +children; whereupon the Pope, taking him literally, held up his +hands and answered, "Fi donc! fi donc!" + +Our stay at St. Moritz was ended by a severe snowstorm early in +August. That was too much. I had left America mainly to escape +snow; my traveling all this distance was certainly not for the +purpose of finding it again; and so, having hugged the stove for +a day or two, I decided to return to a milder climate. Passing by +Vevey, we visited our friends the Brunnows at their beautiful +villa on the shore of Lake Leman, where my old president at the +University of Michigan, Dr. Tappan, had died, and it was with a +melancholy satisfaction that I visited his grave in the cemetery +hard by. + +Stopping at Geneva over Sunday, I observed at the Cathedral of +St. Peter, Calvin's old church, that the sermon and service +carefully steered clear of the slightest Trinitarian formula, as +did the churches in Switzerland generally. Considering that +Calvin had burned Servetus in that very city for his disbelief in +the doctrine of the Trinity, this omission would seem enough to +make that stern reformer turn in his grave. Returning to Paris, I +again met Lecky, who was making a short visit to the French +capital; and, as we were breakfasting together Mme. Blaze de Bury +being present, our conversation fell on Parisian mobs. She +insisted that the studied inaction of the papal nuncio during the +Commune caused the murder of Darboy, Archbishop of Paris, who was +hated by the extreme clerical party on account of his coolness +toward infallibility and sundry other dogmas advocated by the +Jesuits. Lecky thought Lord Acton's old article in the "North +British Review" the best statement yet made on the St. +Bartholomew massacre The discussion having veered toward the +Jewish question, which was even then rising, Lecky said that +Shakspere probably never saw a Jew--that Jews were not allowed in +England in his time, the only exceptions being Queen Elizabeth's +physician and, perhaps, a few others. + +During the latter part of September I started on an architectural +tour through the east of France, and was more than ever +fascinated by the beauty of all I found at Soissons, Laon, +Chalons, Troyes, and Rheims, the cathedral at the latter place +seeming even more grand than when I last saw it. I have never +been able to decide finally which is the more noble--Amiens or +Rheims; my temporary decision being generally in favor of that +one of the two which I have seen last. But I found iniquity +triumphant: the "restorers" had been at work, and had apparently +done their worst. A great scaffolding covered the superb +rose-window of the west front, perhaps the finest of its kind in +Christendom, and, in a little book published by one of the +canons, I soon learned the reason. It appears that the architect +superintending the "restoration" had dug a deep well at one +corner of one of the massive towers for the purpose of inspecting +the foundations; that he had forgotten to fill this well; and +that, during the winter, the water from the roofs, having come +down into it and frozen, had upheaved the tower at one corner, +with the result of crumbling and cracking this immense window +adjacent. + +At Troyes it was hardly better. It is a city which probably never +had sixty thousand inhabitants, and yet here are four of the most +magnificent architectural monuments in Europe. But the work +wrought upon them under the pretext of "restoration" was no less +atrocious than that upon the cathedral at Rheims, and of this I +have given an example elsewhere.[13] + + +[13] See Chapter XXI. + + +Continuing my way homeward, I stopped a few days in London. From +my diary I select an account of the sermon preached in one of the +principal churches of the city by Dr. Temple,--then bishop of +London, but later archbishop of Canterbury,--before the lord +mayor, lady mayoress, and other notable people. The sermon was a +striking exhibition of plain common sense, without one particle +of what is generally known as spirituality. The text was, "Freely +ye have received, freely give," and the argument simply was that +the congregation worshiping in that old church had received all +its privileges from contributions made centuries before, and that +it was now their duty, in their turn, to contribute money for new +congregations constantly arising in the new population of London. +Of spiritual gifts to be acknowledged nothing was said. In the +afternoon took tea with Lecky, and on my referring to Earl +Russell, he spoke of him as wonderful in getting at the center of +an argument. Of Carlyle he said that he knew him in his last days +intimately, often walking with him; but that his mind failed him +sadly; that the last thing Lecky read him was a selection from +Burns's letters; and that Carlyle, when left to himself, often +toned down his harsh judgments of men. At his funeral, in +Scotland, Lecky was present, and, judging from his account, it +was one of the most dismal things ever known. Speaking of +America, Lecky said that Carlyle was really deeply attached to +Emerson; and he added that Dean Stanley, on his return from +America, told him that the best things he found there were the +private libraries, and the worst the newspapers. Lecky thought +Americans more prone to give themselves up to a purely literary +life than are the English, and cited Prescott, Irving, and +others. He spoke of "The Club," of which he is a member. It is +that to which Sir Joshua Reynolds, Dr. Johnson, Burke, and +Goldsmith belonged; its members dine together every fortnight; +one black ball excludes. Speaking of Gladstone, he thought that +he had greatly declined as a speaker of late years, and that no +one had had such power in clouding truth and obscuring a fact. + +Returning to America, I again settled in my old quarters at +Cornell University, hoping to devote myself quietly to the work I +had in hand. My old home on the campus had an especial charm for +me, and I had begun to take up the occupations to which I +purposed to devote the rest of my life, when there came upon me +the greatest of all calamities--the loss of her who had been for +thirty years my main inspiration and support in all difficulties, +cares, and trials. For the time all was lost. In all calamities +hitherto I had taken refuge in work; but now there seemed no +motive for work, and at last, for a complete change of scene, I +returned to Europe, determined to give myself to the preparation +of my "History of the Warfare of Science with Theology." + + + +CHAPTER LIV + +EGYPT, GREECE, AND TURKEY--1888-1889 + +While under the influence of the greatest sorrow that has ever +darkened my life, there came to me a calamity of a less painful +sort, yet one of the most trying that I have ever known. A long +course of mistaken university policy, which I had done my best to +change, and the consequences of which I had especially exerted +myself to avert, at last bore its evil fruit. On the 13th of +June, 1888, I was present at the session of the Court of Appeals +at Saratoga, and there heard the argument in the suit brought to +prevent the institution from taking nearly two millions of +dollars bequeathed by Mrs. Willard Fiske. I had looked forward to +the development of the great library for which it provided as the +culminating event in my administration, and, indeed, as the +beginning of a better era in American scholarship. Never in the +history of the United States had so splendid a bequest been made +for such a purpose. But as I heard the argument I was satisfied +that our cause was lost,--and simply from the want of effective +champions; that this great opportunity for the institution which +I loved better than my life had passed from us during my +lifetime, at least; and then it was that I determined to break +from my surroundings for a time, and to seek new scenes which +might do something to change the current of my thoughts. + +At the end of June, taking with me my nephew, a bright and active +college youth, I sailed for Glasgow, and, revisiting the scenes +made beautiful to me by Walter Scott, I was at last able to think +of something beside the sorrow and disappointment which had beset +me. Memorable to me still is a sermon heard at the old Church of +St. Giles, in Edinburgh. The text was, "He wist not that his face +shone," and the argument, while broad and liberal, was deeply +religious. One thought struck me forcibly. The preacher likened +theological controversies to storms on the coast which result +only in heaps of sand, while he compared religious influences to +the dew and gentle rains which beautify the earth and fructify +it. + +Healing in their influences upon me were visits to the cathedral +towns between Edinburgh and London. The atmosphere of Durham, +York, Lincoln, Ely, Peterborough, aided to lift me out of my +depression. In each I stayed long enough to attend the cathedral +service and to enjoy the architecture, the music, and my +recollections of previous visits. At Lichfield Cathedral I heard +Bach's "Easter Hymn" given beautifully,--and it was needed to +make up for the sermon of a colonial bishop who, having returned +to England after a long stay in his remote diocese, was fearfully +depressed by the liberal tendencies of English theology. His +discourse was one long diatribe against the tendency in England +toward broad-churchmanship. One passage had rather a comical +effect. He told, pathetically, the story of a servant-girl +waiting on the table of the late Archbishop of Canterbury, who, +after hearing the clergymen present dealing somewhat freely with +the doctrine of the Trinity, rushed out into the passage and +recited loudly the Nicene Creed to strengthen her faith. I, too, +felt the need of doing something to strengthen mine after this +tirade, and fortunately strolled across the meadows to the little +Church of St. Chad, and there took part in a lovely "Flower +Service," ended by a very sweet, kindly sermon to the children +from the fatherly old rector of the parish. Nothing could be +better in its way, and it took the taste of the morning sermon +out of my mouth. + +Of various experiences in London, the one of most interest to me +was a visit to the House of Commons, where the Irish Home Rulers +were attempting to bait Mr. Balfour, the government leader. One +after another they arose and attacked him bitterly in all the +moods and tenses, with alleged facts, insinuations, and +denunciations. Nothing could be better than his way of taking it +all. He sat quietly, looking at his enemies with a placid smile, +and then, when they were fully done, rose, and before he had +spoken five minutes his reply had the effect of a musket-shot +upon a bubble. It was evident that these patriots were hardly +taken seriously even by their own side, and, in fact, did not +take themselves seriously. I then realized as never before the +real reasons why the oratorical and other demonstrations of Irish +leaders have accomplished so little for their country. + +A Liberal political meeting in Holborn also interested me. The +main speaker was the son of the Marquis of Northampton, Earl +Compton, who was standing for Parliament. His speech was all +good, but its best point was his answer to a man in the crowd who +asked him if he was prepared to vote for the abolition of the +House of Lords. That would seem a trying question to the heir of +a marquisate; but he answered instantly and calmly: "As to the +House of Lords, better try first to mend it, and, if we cannot +mend it, end it." + +He was followed by a Home Ruler, Father McFadden, whose speech, +being simply anti-British rant from end to end, must have cost +many votes; and I was not surprised when, a day or two afterward, +his bishop recalled him to Ireland. + +Very pleasing to me were sundry excursions. At Rugby I was +intensely interested in the scenes of Arnold's activity. He had +exercised a great influence over my own life, and a new +inspiration came amid the scenes so familiar to him, and +especially in the chapel where he preached. + +Visiting some old friends in Hampshire, I drove with them to +Selborne, stood by the grave of Gilbert White, and sat in his +charming old house in that beautiful place of pilgrimage. + +Most soothing in its effect upon me was a visit to Stoke Pogis +churchyard and the grave of Thomas Gray. The "Elegy" has never +since my boyhood lost its hold upon me, and my feelings of love +for its author were deepened as I read the inscription placed by +him upon his mother's monument: + +"The tender mother of many children, only one of whom had the +misfortune to survive her." + +A Sunday afternoon in Kensal Green cemetery, with a visit to the +graves of Thackeray, Thomas Hood, and Leigh Hunt, roused thoughts +on many things. + +Somewhat later, revisiting Mr. Halliwell-Phillips's "Bungalow" at +Brighton, I met at his table the most bitter and yet one of the +most just of all critics of Carlyle whom I have ever known. He +spoke especially of Carlyle's treatment of his main historical +authorities,--many of them admirable and excellent men,--and +dwelt on the fact that Carlyle, having used the results of the +life-work of these scholars, then enjoyed pouring contempt and +ridicule over them; he also referred to Carlyle's address to the +Scotch students, in which he told them to study the patents of +nobility for the deeds which made the nobility of England great, +but did not reveal to them the fact that the expressions in these +patents were stereotyped, and the same, during many years, for +men of the most different qualities and services. + +Running up to Cambridge for a day or two, and dining with Oscar +Browning at King's College, I afterward saw at his rooms a +collection of intensely interesting papers, and, among others, +reports of British spies during the Revolutionary War in America. +Very curious, among these, was a letter from the British minister +at Berlin in those days, who detailed a burglary which he had +caused in that capital in order to obtain the papers of the +American envoy and copies of American despatches. The +correspondence also showed that Frederick the Great was much +vexed at the whole matter; that the British ministry at home +thought their envoy too enterprising; that he came near +resigning; but that the whole matter finally blew over. This was +brought back to me somewhat later at a dinner of the Royal +Historical Society, where the president, Lord Aberdare, recalled +a story bearing on this matter. It was that Frederick the Great +and the British minister at his court greatly disliked each +other, and that on their meeting one day the old King asked, "Who +is this Hyder Ali who is making you British so much trouble in +India?" to which the bold Briton answered: "Sire, he is only an +old tyrant who, after robbing his neighbors, is now falling into +his dotage" ("Sire, ce n'est qu'un vieux tyran qui, apres avoir +pille ses voisins, commence a radoter"). + +Having made with my nephew a rapid excursion on the Continent, up +the Rhine, and as far as Munich, I returned to see him off on his +return journey to America, and then settled down for several +weeks in London. It was in the early autumn, Parliament had +adjourned, most people of note had left town, and I was left to +myself as completely as if I had been in the depths of a forest. +Looking out over Trafalgar Square from my pleasant rooms at +Morley's Hotel, with all the hurry and bustle of a great city +going on beneath my window, I was simply a hermit, and now found +myself able to resume the work which for so many years had +occupied my leisure. At the British Museum I enjoyed the +wonderful opportunities there given for investigation; and there, +too, I found an admirable helper in certain lines of work--my +friend Professor Hudson, since of Stanford University, +California. + +The only place where I was at all in touch with the outside world +was at the Athenaeum Club; but the main attraction there was the +library. + +Now came a sudden change in all my plans. My health having +weakened somewhat under the influence of this rather sedentary +life in the London fog, I consulted two eminent physicians, Sir +Andrew Clarke and Sir Morell Mackenzie, and each advised and even +urged me to pass the winter in Egypt. Shortly came a letter from +my friend Professor Willard Fiske, at Florence saying that he +would be glad to go with me. This was indeed a piece of good +fortune, for he had visited Egypt again and again, and was not +only the best of guides, but the most charming of companions. My +decision was instantly taken, and, having finished one or two +chapters of my book, I left London and, by the way of the St +Gotthard, soon reached Florence. Thence to Rome, Naples, and, +after a charming drive, to Castellammare, Sorrento, Amalfi, and +Salerno, whence we went by rail to Brindisi, and thence to +Alexandria, where we arrived on the 1st of January, 1889. + +Now came a new chapter in my life. This journey in the East, +especially in Egypt and Greece, marked a new epoch in my +thinking. I became more and more impressed with the continuity of +historical causes, and realized more and more how easily and +naturally have grown the myths and legends which have delayed the +unbiased observation of human events and the scientific +investigation of natural laws. On a Nile boat for many weeks, +with scholars of high character, and with an excellent library +about me, I found not only a refuge from trouble and sorrow, but +a portal to new and most fascinating studies. + +Nor was it only the life of old Egypt which interested me: the +scenes in modern Eastern life also gave a needed change in my +environment. At Cairo, in the bazaar in contact with the daily +life, which seemed like a chapter out of the "Arabian Nights," +and also in the modern part of the city, in contact with the +newer life of Egypt among English and Egyptian functionaries, +there was constant stimulus to fruitful trains of thought. + +For our journey of five weeks upon the Nile we had what was +called a "special steamer," the Sethi; and for our companions, +some fourteen Americans and English--all on friendly terms. Every +day came new subjects of thought, and nearly every waking moment +came some new stimulus to observation and reflection. + +Deeply impressed on my mind is the account given me by Brugsch +Bey, assistant director of the Egyptian Museum, of the amazing +find of antiquities two or three years before--perhaps the most +startling discovery ever made in archaeology. It was on this +wise. The museum authorities had for some time noted that +tourists coming down the river were bringing remarkably beautiful +specimens of ancient workmanship; and this led to a suspicion +that the Arabs about the first cataract had discovered a new +tomb. For a long time nothing definite could be found; but, at +last, vigorous measures having been taken,--measures which +Brugsch Bey did not explain, but which I could easily understand +to be the time-honored method of tying up the principal +functionaries of the region to their palm-trees and whipping them +until they confessed,--the discovery was revealed, and Brugsch +Bey, having gone up the Nile to the place indicated, was taken to +what appeared to be a well; and, having been let down into it by +ropes, found himself in a sort of artificial cavern, not +beautified and adorned like the royal tombs of that region, but +roughly hewn in the rock. It was filled with sarcophagi, and at +first sight of them he was almost paralyzed. For they bore the +names of several among the most eminent early sovereigns and +members of sovereign families of the greatest days of Egypt. The +first idea which took hold of Brugsch's mind while stunned by +this revelation was that he was dreaming; but, having soon +convinced himself that he was awake, he then thought that he must +be in some state of hallucination after death--that he had +suddenly lost his life, and that his soul was wandering amid +shadows. But this, too, he soon found unlikely. Then came over +him a sense of the reality and importance of the discovery too +oppressive to be borne. He could stay in the cavern no longer; +and, having gone to the entrance of the well and signaled to the +men above, he was drawn up, and, arriving at the surface, gasped +out a command to them all to leave him. He then sat down in the +desert to secure the calm required for further thought; and, +finally, having become more composed, returned to the work, and +the mummies of Rameses the Great and of the other royal +personages were taken from their temporary home, carried down the +river, and placed in the museum at Cairo. + +Another experience was of a very different sort. I had passed a +day with the Egyptian minister of public instruction, Artin +Pasha, at the great technical school of Cairo, which, under the +charge of an eminent French engineer, is training admirably a +considerable number of Egyptians in various arts applied to +industry; and at luncheon, I had noticed on the wall a portrait +of the Khedive, Tewfik Pasha, representing him as most commanding +in manner--over six feet in height, and in a gorgeous uniform. On +the evening of that day I went to dine with the Khedive, and, +entering the reception-rooms, found a large assemblage, and was +welcomed by a kindly little man with a pleasant face, and in the +plainest of uniforms, who, as I supposed, was the prime minister, +Riaz Pasha. His greeting was cordial, and we were soon in close +conversation, I giving him especially the impressions made upon +me by the school, asking questions and making suggestions. He +entered very heartily into it all, and detained me long, I +wondering constantly where the Khedive might be. Presently, the +great doors having been flung open and dinner announced, each +gentleman hastened to the lady assigned him, and all marched out +together, my thought being, "This is the Oriental way of +entertaining strangers; we shall, no doubt, find the sovereign on +his throne at the table." But, to my amazement, the first place +at the table was taken by the unassuming little man with whom I +had been talking so freely. At first I was somewhat abashed, +though the mistake was a very natural one. The fact was that I +had been completely under the impression made upon me by the +idealized portrait of the Khedive at the technical school, and +the thought had never entered my mind that the real Khedive might +be physically far inferior to the ideal. But no harm was done; +for, after dinner, he came to me again and renewed the +conversation with especial cordiality. I also had a long talk +with the real Riaz, and found him intelligent and broad-minded. +One thing he said amused me. It was that he especially liked to +welcome Americans, because they were not seeking to exploit the +country. + +In Cairo and Alexandria I enjoyed meeting the American and +English missionaries,--among them my old Yale friend Dr. Henry +Jessup, who has for so many years rendered admirable services at +Beyrout; but the most noteworthy thing was a lecture which I +heard from Dr. Grant, an eminent Presbyterian physician connected +with the mission. It was on the subject of the Egyptian +Trinities. The doctor explained them, as well as the Trimurtis of +India, by expressing his belief that when the Almighty came down +in the cool of the day to refresh himself by walking and talking +with Adam in the garden of Eden, he revealed to the man he had +made some of the great mysteries of the divine existence, and +that these had "leaked out" to men who took them into other +countries, and there taught them! + +I also found at Cairo another especially interesting man of a +very different sort, an Armenian, Mr. Nimr; and, on visiting him, +was amazed to find in his library a large collection of English +and French books, scientific and literary--among them the "New +York Scientific Monthly" containing my own articles, which he had +done me the honor to read. I found that he had been, at an +earlier period, a professor at the college established by the +American Protestant missionaries at Beyrout; but that he and +several others who had come to adopt the Darwinian hypothesis +were on that account turned out of their situations, and that he +had taken refuge in Cairo where he was publishing, in Arabic, a +daily newspaper a weekly literary magazine, and a monthly +scientific journal. I was much struck by one remark of his--which +was, that he was doing his best to promote the interests of +Freemasonry in the East, as the only means of bringing Christians +and Mohammedans together under the same roof for mutual help, +with the feeling that they were children of the same God. He told +me that the worst opposition he had met came from a very +excellent Protestant missionary, who had publicly insisted that +the God worshiped by the Mohammedans was not the God worshiped by +Christians. This reminded me of a sermon which one of my friends +heard in Strasburg Cathedral in which a priest, reproving his +Catholic hearers for entering into any relations with +Protestants, especially opposed the idea that they worshiped the +same God, and insisted that the God of the Catholics and the God +of the Protestants are two different beings. + +Among the things which gave me a real enjoyment at this period, +and aided to revive my interest in the world about me, was the +Saracenic architecture of Cairo and its neighborhood. Nothing +could be, in its way, more beautiful. I had never before realized +how much beauty is obtainable under the limitations of +Mohammedanism; the exquisite tracery and fretwork of the +Saracenic period were a constant joy to me, and happily, as there +had been no "restorers," everything remained as it had left the +hands of the men of genius who created it. + +In this older architecture a thousand things interested me; but +the greatest effect was produced by the tombs at Beni Hassan, as +showing the historical linking together of human ideas both in +art and science--the development of one period out of another. Up +to the time of my seeing them I had supposed that the Doric +architecture of Greece, and especially the Doric column, was of +Greek creation; now I saw the proof that it was evolved out of an +earlier form upon the lower Nile, which had itself, doubtless, +been developed out of forms yet earlier. + +At one thing I was especially surprised. I found that, excellent +as are our missionaries in those regions, their work has not at +all been what those who send them have supposed. No Mohammedan +converts are made. Indeed, should the good missionaries at Cairo +wake up some fine morning in the spacious quarters for which they +are so largely indebted to the late Khedive Ismail, and find that +they had converted a Mohammedan, they would be filled with +consternation. They would possibly be driven from the country. +The real Mohammedan cannot be converted. There were, indeed, a +few persons, here and there, claiming to be converted Jews or +Mohammedans; but we were always warned against them, even by +Christians, as far less trustworthy than those who were true to +their original faith. Whatever good is done by the missionaries +is done through their schools, to which come many children of the +Copts, with perhaps a certain number of Mohammedans desirous of +learning English; and the greatest of American missionary +successes is doubtless Robert College at Constantinople, which +has certainly done a very noble work among the more gifted young +men of the Christian populations in the Turkish Empire. + +Several times I attended service in the United Presbyterian +church at Cairo, and found it hard, unattractive, and little +likely to influence any considerable number of persons, whether +Mohammedan or Christian. It was evident that the preachers, as a +rule, were entirely out of the current of modern theological and +religious thought, and that even the best and noblest of them +represented ideas no longer held by their leading coreligionists +in the countries from which they came. + +After a stay of three months in Egypt, we left Alexandria for +Athens, where I enjoyed, during a considerable stay, the +advantages of the library at the American School of Archaeology, +and the companionship of my friend Professor Waldstein, now of +Cambridge University. Very delightful also were excursions with +my old Yale companion, Walker Fearne, our minister in Greece, and +his charming family, to the Acropolis, the Theater of Dionysus, +the Bay of Salamis, Megara, and other places of interest. An +especial advantage we had in the companionship of Professor +Mahaffy of Trinity College, Dublin, whose comments on all these +places were most suggestive. + +Very interesting to me was an interview with Tricoupis, the prime +minister of the kingdom. His talk on the condition of things in +Greece was that of a broad-minded statesman. Speaking of the +relations of the Greek Church to the state, he said that the +church had kept the language and the nationality of the people +alive during the Turkish occupation, but that, in spite of its +services, it had never been allowed to domineer over the country +politically; he dwelt on the importance of pushing railway +communications into Europe, and lamented the obstacles thrown in +their way by Turkey. His reminiscences of Mr. Buchanan and Mr. +Dallas, whom he had formerly known at the Court of St. James +during his stay as minister in London, were especially +interesting. + +The most important "function" I saw was the solemn "Te Deum" at +the cathedral on the anniversary of Greek independence, the King, +Queen, and court being present, but I was less impressed by their +devotion than by the irreverence of a considerable part of the +audience, who, at the close of the service, walked about in the +church with their hats on their heads. As to the priests who +swarmed about us in their Byzantine costumes and long hair, I was +reminded of a sententious Moslem remark regarding them: "Much +hair, little brains." + +On Good Friday I visited Mars Hill and mused for an hour over +what has come from the sermon once preached there. + +Toward the end of April we left the Piraeus, and, after passing +through the aegean on a most beautiful day, arrived in +Constantinople, where I made the acquaintance of Mr. Straus, our +minister at that capital. Thus began a friendship which I have +ever since greatly prized. Mr. Straus introduced me to two of the +most interesting men I have ever met; the first of these being +Hamdi Bey, director of the Imperial Museum at Constantinople. +Meeting him at Mr. Straus's table and in his own house, I heard +him discuss sundry questions relating to modern art--better, in +some respects, than any other person I have ever known. Never +have I heard more admirably discriminating judgments upon various +modern schools of painting than those which he then gave me. + +The other person to whom Mr. Straus introduced me was the British +ambassador, Sir William White, who was very hospitable, and +revealed to me much in life and literature. One thing especially +surprised me--namely, that though a Roman Catholic, he had a +great admiration for Renan's writings, of which he was a constant +reader. Here, too, I renewed my acquaintance with various members +of the diplomatic corps whom I had met elsewhere. Curious was an +evening visit to the Russian Embassy, Mrs. Straus being carried +in a sedan-chair, her husband walking beside her in evening dress +at one door, I at the other, and a kavass, with drawn sword, +marching at the head of the procession. + +While the Mohammedan history revealed in Constantinople gave me +frequent subjects of thought, I was more constantly carried back +to the Byzantine period. For there was the Church of St. Sophia! +No edifice has ever impressed me more; indeed, in many respects, +none has ever impressed me so much. Bearing in mind its origin, +its history, and its architecture, it is doubtless the most +interesting church in the world. Though smaller than St. Peter's +at Rome, it is vastly more impressive. Taking into account the +view as one enters, embracing the lofty vaults retreating on all +sides, the arches springing above our heads, and, crowning all, +the dome, which opens fully upon the sight immediately upon +passing the door way, it is certainly the most overpowering of +Christian churches. Gibbon's pictures thronged upon me, and very +vividly, as I visited the ground where formerly stood the Great +Circus, and noted the remains of monuments where the "Blues" and +"Greens" convulsed the city with their bloody faction fights, and +where squabbling Christian sects prepared the way for that +Turkish dominion which has now burdened this weary earth for more +than five hundred years. + +From Constantinople, by Buda-Pesth, Vienna, Munich, Ulm, and +Frankfort-on-the-Main, to Paris, stopping in each of these +cities, mainly for book-hunting. At Munich I spent considerable +time in the Royal Library, where various rare works relating to +the bearing of theology on civilization were placed at my +disposal; and at Frankfort added largely to my +library--especially monographs on Egypt and illuminated +manuscripts of the middle ages. + +At Paris the Exposition of 1889 was in full blast. As to the +American exhibit, there were some things to be lamented. Our +"commission of experts" was in part remarkably well chosen; among +them being a number of the best men in their departments that +America has produced; but, on the other hand, there were some who +had evidently been foisted upon the President by politicians in +remote States--so-called "experts," yet as unfit as it is +possible to conceive any human beings to be. One of these, who +was responsible for one of the most important American +departments, was utterly helpless. Day in and day out, he sat in +a kind of daze at the American headquarters, doing +nothing--indeed, evidently incapable of doing anything. One or +two of his associates, as well as sundry Frenchmen, asked me to +aid in getting his department into some order; and this, though +greatly pressed for time, I did,--devoting to the task several +days which I could ill afford. + +Very happy was I over one improvement which the United States had +made since the former exposition, at which I had myself been a +commissioner. Then all lamented and apologized for the condition +of the American Art Gallery; now there was no need either of +lamentation or apology, for there, in all their beauty, were +portraits by Sargent, and Gari Melchers's picture of "A Communion +Day in Holland"--the latter touching the deep places of the human +heart. As I was sitting before it one day, an English gentleman +came with his wife and sat beside me. Presently I heard him say: +"Of all the pictures in the entire exposition, this takes the +strongest hold upon me." Many other American pictures were also +objects of pride to us. I found our minister, Mr. Whitelaw Reid, +very hospitable, and at his house became acquainted with various +interesting Americans. At President Carnot's reception at the +palace of the Elysee I also met several personages worth knowing, +and among them, to my great satisfaction, Senator John Sherman. + +During this stay in Paris I took part in two commemorations. +First came the Fourth of July, when, in obedience to the old +custom which I had known so well in my student days, the American +colony visited the cemetery of the Rue Picpus and laid wreaths +upon the tomb of Lafayette,--the American band performing a +dirge, and our marines on duty firing a farewell volley. It was +in every way a warm and hearty tribute. A week later was the +unveiling of the statue of Camille Desmoulins in the garden of +the Palais Royal,--this being the one-hundredth anniversary of +the day on which, in that garden,--and, indeed, on that spot, +before the Cafe Foy,--he had roused the mob which destroyed the +Bastille and begun the whirlwind which finally swept away so much +and so many, including himself and his beloved Lucille. Poor +Camille, orating, gesticulating, and looking for a new heaven and +a new earth, was one of the little great men so important at the +beginning of revolutions and so insignificant afterward. It was +evident that, in spite of the old legends regarding him, the +French had ceased to care for him; I was surprised at the small +number present, and at the languid interest even of these. + +Among my most delightful reminiscences of this period are my +walks and talks with my old Yale and Paris student friend of +nearly forty years before, Randall Gibson, who, having been a +general in the Confederate service, was now a United States +senator from Louisiana. Revisiting our old haunts, especially the +Sorbonne, the Pantheon, St. Sulpice, and other monuments of the +Latin Quarter, we spoke much of days gone by, he giving me most +interesting reminiscences of our Civil War period as seen from +the Southern side. One or two of the things he told me are +especially fastened in my mind. The first was that as he sat with +other officers over the camp-fire night after night, discussing +the war and their hopes regarding the future, all agreed that +when the Confederacy obtained its independence there should be no +"right of secession" in it. But what interested me most was the +fact that he, a Democratic senator of the United States, +absolutely detested Thomas Jefferson, and, above all things, for +the reason that he considered Jefferson the real source of the +extreme doctrine of State sovereignty. Gibson was a typical +Kentucky Whig who, in the Civil War, went with the South from the +force of family connections, friendships, social relations, and +the like, but who remained, in his heart of hearts, from first to +last, deeply attached to the Union. + +Leaving Paris, we went together to Homburg, and there met Mr. +Henry S. Sanford, our minister at Belgium during the Civil War, +one of Secretary Seward's foremost agents on the European +continent at that period. His accounts of matters at that time, +especially of the doings of sundry emissaries of the United +States, were all of them interesting, and some of them +exceedingly amusing. At Homburg, too, I found my successor in the +legation at Berlin, Mr. Pendleton, who, though his mind remained +clear, was slowly dying of paralysis. + +Thence with Gibson and Sanford down the Rhine to Mr. Sanford's +country-seat in Belgium. It was a most beautiful place, a lordly +chateau, superbly built, fitted, and furnished, ample for the +accommodation of a score of guests, and yet the rent he paid for +it was but six hundred dollars a year. It had been built by a +prince at such cost that he himself could not afford to live in +it, and was obliged to rent it for what he could get. Thence we +made our way to London and New York. + + + +CHAPTER LV + +MEXICO, CALIFORNIA, SCANDINAVIA, RUSSIA, ITALY, LONDON, AND +BERLIN--1892-1897 + +Arriving at New York in the autumn of 1889, I was soon settled at +my accustomed work in the university,--devoting myself to new +chapters of my book and to sundry courses of lectures. Early in +the following year I began a course before the University of +Pennsylvania; and my stay in Philadelphia was rendered very +agreeable by various new acquaintances. Interesting to me was the +Roman Catholic archbishop, Dr. Ryan. Dining in his company, I +referred admiringly to his cathedral, which I had recently +visited, but spoke of what seemed to me the defective mode of +placing the dome upon the building; whereupon he made one of the +most tolerable Latin puns I have ever heard, saying that during +the construction of both the nave and the dome his predecessors +were hampered by lack of money,--that, in fact, they were greatly +troubled by the res angustae domi. Interesting also was +attendance upon the conference at Lake Mohonk, which brought +together a large body of leading men from all parts of the +country to discuss the best methods of dealing with questions +relating to the freedmen and Indians. The president of the +conference, Mr. Hayes, formerly President of the United States, I +had known well in former days, when I served under him as +minister to Germany, and the high opinion I had then formed of +him was increased as I heard him discuss the main questions +before the conference. It was the fashion at one time among +blackguards and cynics of both parties to sneer at him, and this, +doubtless, produced some effect on the popular mind; but nothing +could be more unjust: rarely have I met a man in our own or any +other country who has impressed me more by the qualities which a +true American should most desire in a President of the United +States; he had what our country needs most in our public +men--sobriety of judgment united to the power of calm, strong +statement. + +The two following years, 1890-1891, were passed mainly at +Cornell, though with excursions to various other institutions +where I had been asked to give addresses or lectures; but in +February of 1892, having been invited to lecture at Stanford +University in California, I accepted an invitation from Mr. +Andrew Carnegie to become one of the guests going in his car to +the Pacific coast by way of Mexico. Our party of eight, provided +with cook, servants, and every comfort, traveled altogether more +than twelve thousand miles--first through the Central and +Southern States of the Union, thence to the city of Mexico and +beyond, then by a series of zigzag excursions from lower +California to the northern limits of Oregon and Washington, and +finally through the Rocky Mountains and the canons of Colorado to +Salt Lake City and Denver. Thence my companions went East and I +returned alone to Stanford to give my lectures. During this long +excursion I met many men who greatly interested me, and +especially old students of mine whom I found everywhere doing +manfully the work for which Cornell had aided to fit them. Never +have I felt more fully repaid for any labor and care I have ever +given to the founding and development of the university. Arriving +in the city of Mexico, I said to myself, "Here certainly I shall +not meet any more of my old Cornellians"; but hardly was I +settled in my room when a card came up from one of them, and I +soon learned that he was doing honor to the Sibley College of the +university by superintending the erection of the largest +printing-press which had ever been brought into Mexico. The +Mexican capital interested me greatly. The cathedral, which, up +to that time, I had supposed to be in a debased rococo style, I +found to be of a simple, noble Renaissance character, and of real +dignity. Being presented to the President, Porfirio Diaz, I was +greatly impressed by his quiet strength and self-possession, and +then understood for the first time what had wrought so beneficent +a change in his country. His ministers also impressed me +favorably, though they were evidently overshadowed by so great a +personality. One detail struck me as curious: the room in which +the President received us at the palace was hung round with satin +draperies stamped with the crown and cipher of his +predecessor--the ill-fated Emperor Maximilian. + +California was a great revelation to me. We arrived just at the +full outburst of spring, and seemed to have alighted upon a new +planet. Strong and good men I found there, building up every sort +of worthy enterprise, and especially their two noble +universities, one of which was almost entirely officered by +Cornell graduates. To this institution I was attached by a +special tie. At various times the founders, Governor and Mrs. +Stanford, had consulted me on problems arising in its +development; they had twice visited me at Cornell for the purpose +of more full discussion, and at the latter of the two visits had +urged me to accept its presidency. This I had felt obliged to +decline. I said to them that the best years of my life had been +devoted to building up two universities,--Michigan and +Cornell,--and that not all the treasures of the Pacific coast +would tempt me to begin with another; that this feeling was not +due to a wish to evade any duty, but to a conviction that my work +of that sort was done, and that there were others who could +continue it far better than I. It was after this conversation +that, on their asking whether there was any one suitable within +my acquaintance, I answered, "Go to the University of Indiana; +there you will find the president, an old student of mine, David +Starr Jordan, one of the leading scientific men of the country, +possessed of a most charming power of literary expression, with a +remarkable ability in organization, and blessed with good, sound +sense. Call him." They took my advice, called Dr. Jordan, and I +found him at the university. My three weeks' stay interested me +more and more. Evening after evening I walked through the +cloisters of the great quadrangle, admiring the solidity, beauty, +and admirable arrangement of the buildings, and enjoying their +lovely surroundings and the whole charm of that California +atmosphere. + +The buildings, in simplicity, beauty, and fitness, far surpassed +any others which had at that time been erected for university +purposes in the United States; and I feel sure that when the +entire plan is carried out, not even Oxford or Cambridge will +have anything more beautiful. President Jordan had more than +fulfilled my prophecies, and it was an inspiration to see at +their daily work the faculty he had called together. The students +also greatly interested me. When it was first noised abroad that +Senator Stanford was to found a new university in California, +sundry Eastern men took a sneering tone and said, "What will it +find to do? The young men on the Pacific coast who are as yet fit +to receive the advantages of a university are very few; the State +University of California at Berkeley is already languishing for +want of students." The weakness of these views is seen in the +fact that, at this hour, each of these universities has nearly +three thousand undergraduates. The erection of Stanford has given +an impetus to the State University, and both are doing noble +work, not only for the Pacific coast, but for the whole country. +One of the most noteworthy things in the history of American +university education thus far is the fact that the university +buildings erected by boards of trustees in all parts of the +country have, almost without exception, proved to be mere jumbles +of mean materials in incongruous styles; but to this rule there +have been, mainly, two noble exceptions: one in the buildings of +the University of Virginia, planned and executed under the eye of +Thomas Jefferson, and the other in these buildings at Palo Alto, +planned and executed under the direction of Governor and Mrs. +Stanford. These two groups, one in Virginia and one in +California, with, perhaps, the new university buildings at +Philadelphia and Chicago, are almost the only homes of learning +in the United States which are really satisfactory from an +architectural point of view. + +The "City of the Saints," which I saw on my way, had much +interest for me. I collected while there everything possible in +the way of publications bearing on Mormonism, beginning with a +copy of the original edition of the "Book of Mormon"; but nothing +that I could find in any of these publications indicated any +considerable intellectual development, as yet. + +More encouraging was a rapid visit, on my way home, to the +Chicago Exposition buildings, which, though not yet fully +completed, were very beautiful; and still more pleasure came from +a visit to the new University of Chicago, which was evidently +beginning a most important work for American civilization. Its +whole plan is remarkably well conceived, and with the means that +it is rapidly accumulating, due to the public spirit of its main +benefactor and a multitude of others hardly second to him in the +importance of their gifts, it cannot fail to exercise a great +influence, especially throughout the Northwestern States. First +of all, it will do much to lift the city in which it stands out +of its crude materialism into something higher and better. It is +a pleasure to note that its buildings are worthy of it: they seem +likely to form a fourth in the series of fit homes for great +centers of advanced education in the United States,--Virginia, +Stanford, and the University of Pennsylvania being the others. + +Having returned to Cornell, I went on quietly with my work until +autumn, when, to my surprise, I received notice that the +President had appointed me minister to St. Petersburg; and on the +4th of November I arrived at my post in that capital. Of my +experience as minister I have spoken elsewhere, but have given no +account of two journeys which interested me at that period. The +first of these was in the Scandinavian countries. The voyage of a +day and night across the Baltic through the Aland Islands was +like a dream, the northern twilight making night more beautiful +than day, and the approach to the Swedish capital being, next to +the approaches to Constantinople and to New York, the most +beautiful I know. + +Very instructive to me was a visit to Upsala--especially to the +university and cathedral. As to the former, the "Codex of +Ulfilas," in the library, which I had long desired to see, +especially interested me; and visits to the houses of the various +"nations" showed me that out of the social needs of Swedish +students in the middle ages had been developed something closely +akin to the fraternity houses which similar needs have developed +in our time at American universities. The cathedral, containing +the remains of Gustavus Vasa and Linnaeus, was fruitful in +suggestions. By a curious coincidence I was at that time +finishing my chapter entitled "From Creation to Evolution," and +had been paying special attention to the ancient and mediaeval +conceptions of the creation of the world as a work done by an +individual in human form, laboring with his hands during six +days, and taking needed rest on the seventh; and here I found, at +the side entrance of the cathedral, a delightfully naive +mediaeval representation of the whole process,--a series of +medallions representing the Almighty toiling like an artisan on +each of the six days and reposing, evidently very weary, on the +seventh. + +The journey across Sweden, through the canals and lakes, was very +restful. At Christiania Mr. Gade, the American consul, who had +served our country so long and so honorably in that city, took me +under his guidance during various interesting excursions about +the fiords. At Gothenburg I took pains to obtain information +regarding their system of dealing with the sale of intoxicating +liquors, and became satisfied that it is, on the whole, the best +solution of the problem ever obtained. The whole old system of +saloons, gin-shops, and the like, with their allurements to the +drinking of adulterated alcohol, had been swept away, and in its +place the government had given to a corporation the privilege of +selling pure liquors in a restricted number of decent shops, +under carefully devised limitations. First, the liquors must be +fully tested for purity; secondly, none could be sold to persons +already under the influence of drink; thirdly, no intoxicant +could be sold without something to eat with it, the effects of +alcohol upon the system being thus mitigated. These and other +restrictions had reduced the drink evil, as I was assured, to a +minimum. But the most far-reaching provision in the whole system +was that the company which enjoyed the monopoly of this trade was +not allowed to declare a dividend greater than, I believe, six +per cent.; everything realized above this going into the public +treasury, mainly for charitable purposes. The result of this +restriction of profits was that no person employed in selling +ardent spirits was under the slightest temptation to attract +customers. Each of these sellers was a salaried official and knew +that his place depended on his adhering to the law which forbade +him to sell to any person already under the influence of liquor, +or to do anything to increase his sales; and the whole motive for +making men drunkards was thus taken away. + +I was assured by both the American and British consuls, as well +as by most reputable citizens, that this system had greatly +diminished intemperance. Unfortunately, since that time, fanatics +have obtained control, and have passed an entirely "prohibitory" +law, with the result, as I understand, that the community is now +discovering that prohibition does not prohibit, and that the +worst kinds of liquors are again sold by men whose main motive is +to sell as much as possible. + +The most attractive feature in my visit to Norway was Throndheim. +With my passion for Gothic architecture, the beautiful little +cathedral, which the authorities were restoring Judiciously, was +a delight, and it was all the more interesting as containing one +of those curiosities of human civilization which have now become +rare. In one corner of the edifice is a "holy well," the +pilgrimages to which in the middle ages were, no doubt, a main +source of the wealth of the establishment. The attendant shows, +in the stonework close to the well, the end of a tube coming from +the upper part of the cathedral; and through this tube pious +monks in the middle ages no doubt spoke oracular words calculated +to enhance the authority of the saint presiding over the place. +It was the same sort of thing which one sees in the Temple of +Isis at Pompeii, and the zeal which created it was no doubt the +same that to-day originates the sacred fire which always comes +down from heaven on Easter day into the Greek church at +Jerusalem, the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius in the +cathedral at Naples, and sundry camp-meeting utterances and +actions in the United States. + +Sweden and Norway struck me as possessing, in some respects, the +most satisfactory civilization of modern times. With a +monarchical figurehead, they are really a republic. Here is no +overbearing plutocracy, no squalid poverty, an excellent system +of education, liberal and practical, from the local school to the +university, a population, to all appearance, healthy, thrifty, +and comfortable. + +And yet here, as in other parts of the world, the resources of +human folly are illimitable. A large party in Norway urges +secession from Sweden, and both remain divided from Denmark, +though the three are, to all intents and purposes, of the same +race, religion, language, and early historical traditions. And +close beside them looms up, more and more portentous, the Russian +colossus, which, having trampled Swedish Finland under its feet, +is looking across the Scandinavian peninsula toward the good +harbors of Norway, just opposite Great Britain. Russia has +declared the right of her one hundred and twenty millions of +people to an ice-free port on the Pacific; why shall she not +assert, with equal cogency, the right of these millions to an +ice-free port on the Atlantic? Why should not these millions own +a railway across Scandinavia, and a suitable territory along the +line; and then, logically, all the territory north, and as much +as she needs of the territory south of the line? The northern +and, to some extent, the middle regions of Norway and Sweden +would thus come under the sway of a czar in St. Petersburg, +represented by some governor-general like those who have been +trying to show to the Scandinavians of Finland that newspapers +are useless, petitions inadmissible, constitutions a fetish, +banishment a blessing, and the use of their native language a +superfluity. The only sad thing in this fair prospect is that it +is not the objurgatory Bjornson, the philosophic Ibsen, and the +impulsive Nansen, with their compatriots, now groaning under what +they are pleased to call "Swedish tyranny," who would enjoy this +Russian liberty, but their children, and their children's +children. + +At Copenhagen I was especially attracted by the Ethnographic +Museum, which, by its display of the gradual uplifting of +Scandinavian humanity from prehistoric times, has so strongly +aided in enforcing on the world the scientific doctrine of the +"rise of man," and in bringing to naught the theological doctrine +of the "fall of man." + +A short stay at Moscow added to my Russian points of view, it +being my second visit after an interval of nearly forty years. +Although the city had spread largely, there was very little +evidence of real progress: everywhere were filth, fetishism, +beggary, and reaction. The monument to Alexander II, the great +emancipator, stood in the Kremlin, half finished; it has since, I +am glad to learn, been completed; but this has only been after +long and slothful delays, and the statue in St. Petersburg has +not even been begun. It is well understood that one cause of this +delay has been the reluctance of the reactionary leaders in the +empire to glorify so radical a movement as the emancipation of +the serfs. + +I had one curious experience of Muscovite ideas of trade. Moscow +is one of the main centers for the manufacture of the church +bells in which the Russian peasant takes such delight; and, being +much interested in campanology, I visited several of the +principal foundries, and was delighted with the size and +workmanship of many specimens. Walking one morning to the +Kremlin, I saw at the agency of one of these establishments a +bell weighing about two hundred and fifty pounds, most +exquisitely wrought, and such a beautiful example of the best +that Russians can do in this respect that I went in and asked the +price of it. The price being named, I said that I would take it. +Thereupon consternation was evident in the establishment, and +presently the head of the concern said to me that they were not +sure that they wished to sell it. But I said, "You HAVE sold it; +I asked you what your price was, you told me, and I have bought +it." To this he demurred, and finally refused altogether to sell +it. On going out, my guide informed me that I had made a mistake; +that I was myself the cause of the whole trouble; that if I had +offered half the price named for the bell I should have secured +it for two thirds; but that, as I had offered the entire price, +the people in the shop had jumped to the conclusion that it must +be worth more than they had supposed, that I had detected values +in it which they had not realized, and that it was their duty to +make me pay more for it than the price they had asked. The result +was that, a few weeks afterward, a compromise having been made, I +bought it and sent it to the library of Cornell University, where +it is now both useful and ornamental. + +The most interesting feature of this stay in Moscow was my +intercourse with Tolstoi, and to this I have devoted a separate +chapter.[14] + + +[14] See Chapter XXXVII. + + +One more experience may be noted. In coming and going on the +Moscow railway I found, as in other parts of Europe, that +governmental control of railways does not at all mean better +accommodations or lower fares than when such works are under +individual control. The prices for travel, as well as for +sleeping-berths, were much higher on these lines, owned by the +government, than on any of our main trunk-lines in America, which +are controlled by private corporations, and the accommodations +were never of a high order, and sometimes intolerable. + +During this stay in Russia my sympathies were enlisted for +Finland; but on this subject I have spoken fully elsewhere.[15] + + +[15] See Chapter XXXIV. + + +Having resigned my position at St. Petersburg in October of 1894, +the first use I made of my liberty was to go with my family to +Italy for the winter; and several months were passed at Florence, +where I revised and finished the book which had been preparing +during twenty years. Then came a rapid run to Rome and through +southern Italy, my old haunts at Castellammare, Sorrento, and +Amalfi being revisited, and sundry new excursions made. Among +these last was one to Palermo, where I visited the Church of St. +Josaphat. This edifice greatly interested me as a Christian +church erected in honor of a Christian saint who was none other +than Buddha. The manner in which the founder of that great +world-religion which preceded our own was converted into a +Christian saint and solemnly proclaimed as such by a long series +of popes, from Sixtus V to Pius IX, inclusive, by virtue of their +infallibility in all matters relating to faith and morals, is one +of the most curious and instructive things in all history.[16] + + +[16] A full account of this conversion of Buddha (Bodisat) into +St. Josaphat is given, with authorities, etc. in my "History of +the Warfare of Science with Theology," Vol. II, pp. 381 et seq. + + +At first I had some difficulty in finding this church; but, +finally, having made the acquaintance of an eminent scholar, the +Commendatore Marzo, canon of the Cappella Palatina and director +of the National Library at Palermo he kindly took me to the +place. Over the entrance were the words, "Divo Josaphat"; within, +occupying one of the places of highest honor, was an altar to the +saint, and above it a statue representing him as a young prince +wearing a crown and holding a crucifix. By permission of the +authorities I was allowed to send a photographer, who took a +negative for me. A remark of the Commendatore Marzo upon the +subject pleased me much. When, one day, after showing me the +treasures of his great library, he was dining with me, and I +pressed him for particulars regarding St. Josaphat, he answered, +"He cannot be the Jehoshaphat of the Old Testament, for he is +represented as a very young man, and contemplating a crucifix: e +molto misterioso." It was, after all, not so very mysterious; for +in these later days, now that the "Life of Barlaam and Josaphat," +which dates from monks of the sixth or seventh century, has been +compared with the "Life of Buddha," certainly written before the +Christian era, the constant coincidence in details, and even in +phrases, puts it beyond the slightest doubt that St. Josaphat and +Buddha are one and the same person. + +Very suggestive to thought was a visit to the wonderful cathedral +of Monreale, above Palermo; for here, at this southern extreme of +Europe, I found a conception of the Almighty as an enlarged human +being, subject to human weakness, identical with that shown in +the sculptures upon the cathedral of Upsala, at the extreme north +of Europe. The whole interior of Monreale Cathedral is covered +with a vast sheet of mosaics dating from about the twelfth +century, and in one series of these, representing the creation, +the Almighty is shown as working, day after day, like an artisan, +and finally, on the seventh day, as "resting,"--seated in almost +the exact attitude of the "weary Mercury" of classic sculpture, +with a marked expression of fatigue upon his countenance and in +the whole disposition of his body.[17] + + +[17] I have given a more full discussion of this subject in my +"History of the Warfare of Science with Theology," Vol. I, p. 3. + + +During this journey, having revisited Orvieto, Perugia, and +Assisi, I returned to Florence, and again enjoyed the society of +my old friends, Professor Willard Fiske, Professor Villari, with +his accomplished wife, and Judge Stallo, former minister of the +United States in Rome. + +The great event of this stay was an earthquake. Seated on a +pleasant April evening in my rooms at the house built by Adolphus +Trollope, near the Piazza dell' Independenza, I heard what seemed +at first the rising of a storm; then the rushing of a mighty +wind; then, as it grew stronger, apparently the gallop of a corps +of cavalry in the neighboring avenue; but, almost instantly, it +seemed to change into the onrush of a corps of artillery, and, a +moment later, to strike the house, lifting its foundations as if +by some mighty hand, and swaying it to and fro, everything +creaking, groaning, rattling, and seeming likely to fall in upon +us. This movement to and fro, with crashing and screaming inside +and outside the house, continued, as it seemed to me, about +twenty minutes--as a matter of fact, it lasted hardly seven +seconds; but certainly it was the longest seven seconds I have +ever known. At the first uplift of the seismic wave my wife and I +rose from our seats, I saying, "Stand perfectly still." +Thenceforward, not a word was uttered by either of us until all +was over; but many thoughts came,--the dominant feeling being a +sense of our helplessness in the presence of the great powers of +nature. Neither of us had any hope of escaping alive; but we +calmly accepted the inevitable, thinking each moment would be, +the last. As I look back, our resignation and perfect quiet still +surprise me. That room, at the corner of the Villino Trollope, +which an ill-founded legend makes the place where George Eliot +wrote "Romola," is to me sacred, as the place where we two passed +"from death unto life." + +Nearly all that night we remained near the doors of the house, +ready to escape any new shocks; but only one or two came, and +those very light. Crowds of the population remained out of doors, +many dwellers in hotels taking refuge in carriages and cabs, and +staying in them through the night. + +Next morning I walked forth to find what had happened,--first to +the cathedral, to see if anything was left of Giotto's tower and +Brunelleschi's dome, and, to my great joy, found them standing; +but, as I entered the vast building, I saw one of the enormous +iron bars which take the thrust of the wide arches of the nave +pulled apart and broken as if it had been pack-thread; there were +also a few cracks in one of the piers supporting the dome, but +all else was as before. + +At the Palazzo Strozzi a crowd of people were examining sundry +crevices which had been made in its mighty walls: and at various +villas in the neighborhood, especially those on the road to San +Miniato, I found that the damage had been much worse. A part of +the tower of one villa, occupied by an English lady of literary +distinction, had been thrown down, crashing directly through one +of the upper rooms, but causing no loss of life; the villa of +Judge Stallo, at the Porta Romana, was so wrecked that he was +obliged to leave it; and in the house of another friend a heavy +German stove on the upper floor, having been thrown over, had +come down through the ceiling of the main parlor, crashing +through the grand piano, and thence into the cellar, without +injury to any person. One of the professors whom I afterward met +told me that he was giving a dinner-party when, suddenly, the +house was lifted and shaken to and fro, the chandeliers swinging, +broken glass crashing, and the ladies screaming, and, in a +moment, a portion of the outer wall gave way, but fortunately +fell outward, so that the guests scrambled forth over the ruins, +and passed the night in the garden. Perhaps the worst damage was +wrought at the Convent of the Certosa, where some of the +beautiful old work was irreparably injured. + +It was very difficult next morning to get any real information +from the newspapers. They claimed that but three persons lost +their lives in the city: it was clearly thought best to minimize +the damage done, lest the stream of travel might be scared away. +I remarked at the time that we should never know fully what had +occurred until we received the American papers; and, curiously +enough, several weeks afterward a Californian showed me a very +full and minute account of the whole calamity, with careful +details, given in the telegraphic reports of a San Francisco +newspaper on the very morning after the earthquake. + +On the way to America I passed a short time, during the month of +June, in London, meeting various interesting people, a most +pleasant occasion to me being a dinner given by Mr. Bayard, the +American minister, at which I met my classmate Wayne MacVeagh, +formerly attorney-general of the United States, minister to +Constantinople and ambassador to Rome, full, as usual, of +interesting reminiscence and witty suggestion. Very interesting +also to me was a talk with Mr. Holman Hunt, the eminent +pre-Raphaelite artist. He told me much of Tennyson dwelling upon +his morbid fear that people would stare at him. He also gave an +account of his meeting with Ruskin at Venice, when Ruskin took +Hunt to task for not having come to see him more frequently in +London; to which Hunt replied that, for one reason, he was very +busy, and that, for another, he did not wish to be classed with +the toadies who swarmed about Ruskin. Whereupon Ruskin said that +Hunt was right regarding the character of most of the people +about him. Hunt also spoke of the ill treatment of his beautiful +picture, "The Light of the World." From him, or from another +source about that time, I learned that formerly the Keble College +people had made much of it; but that, some one having interpreted +the rays passing through the different openings of the lantern in +Christ's hand as typifying truth shining through different +religious conceptions, the owners of the picture distrusted it, +and had recently refused to allow its exhibition in London. + +It surprised me to find Holman Hunt so absorbed in his own art +that he apparently knew next to nothing about that of other +European masters,--nothing of Puvis de Chavannes at Paris; +nothing of Menzel, Knaus, and Werner at Berlin. + +Having returned to America, I was soon settled in my old +homestead at Cornell,--as I supposed for the rest of my life. +Very delightful to me during this as well as other sojourns at +Cornell after my presidency were sundry visits to American +universities at which I was asked to read papers or make +addresses. Of these I may mention Harvard, Yale, and the State +universities of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, at each of +which I addressed bodies of students on subjects which seemed to +me important, among these "The Diplomatic Service of the United +States," "Democracy and Education," "Evolution vs. Revolution in +Politics," and "The Problem of High Crime in the United States." +To me, as an American citizen earnestly desiring a noble future +for my country, it was one of the greatest of pleasures to look +into the faces of those large audiences of vigorous young men and +women, and, above all, at the State universities of the West, +which are to act so powerfully through so many channels of +influence in this new century. The last of the subjects +above-named interested me painfully, and I was asked to present +it to large general audiences, and not infrequently to the +congregations of churches. I had become convinced that looseness +in the administration of our criminal law is one of the more +serious dangers to American society, and my earlier studies in +this field were strengthened by my observations in the +communities I had visited during the long journey through our +Southern and Pacific States, to which I have just referred. Of +this I shall speak later. + +Returning to Washington in February of 1897, I joined the +Venezuela Commission in presenting its report to the President +and Secretary of State, and so ended my duties under the +administration of Mr. Cleveland. Of my connection with the +political campaign of 1896 I have spoken elsewhere. In May of +1897, having been appointed by President McKinley ambassador to +Berlin, I sailed for Europe, and my journeys since that time have +consisted mainly of excursions to interesting historical +localities in Germany, with several short vacations in the +principal towns of northern Italy, upon the Riviera, and in +America. + + + +PART VII + +MISCELLANEOUS RECOLLECTIONS + +CHAPTER LVI + +THE CARDIFF GIANT: A CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF HUMAN +FOLLY--1869-1870 + +The traveler from New York to Niagara by the northern route is +generally disappointed in the second half of his journey. During +the earlier hours of the day, moving rapidly up the valleys, +first of the Hudson and next of the Mohawk, he passes through a +succession of landscapes striking or pleasing, and of places +interesting from their relations to the French and Revolutionary +wars. But, arriving at the middle point of his journey,--the head +waters of the Mohawk,--a disenchantment begins. Thenceforward he +passes through a country tame, monotonous, and with cities and +villages as uninteresting in their appearance as in their names; +the latter being taken, apparently without rhyme or reason, from +the classical dictionary or the school geography. + +And yet, during all that second half of his excursion, he is +passing almost within musket-shot of one of the most beautiful +regions of the Northern States,--the lake country of central and +western New York. + +It is made up of a succession of valleys running from south to +north, and lying generally side by side, each with a beauty of +its own. Some, like the Oneida and the Genesee, are broad +expanses under thorough cultivation; others, like the Cayuga and +Seneca, show sheets of water long and wide, their shores +sometimes indented with glens and gorges, and sometimes rising +with pleasant slopes to the wooded hills; in others still, as the +Cazenovia, Skaneateles, Owasco, Keuka, and Canandaigua, smaller +lakes are set, like gems, among vineyards and groves; and in +others shimmering streams go winding through corn-fields and +orchards fringed by the forest. + +Of this last sort is the Onondaga valley. It lies just at the +center of the State, and, although it has at its northern +entrance the most thriving city between New York and Buffalo, it +preserves a remarkable character of peaceful beauty. + +It is also interesting historically. Here was the seat--the "long +house"--of the Onondagas, the central tribe of the Iroquois; +here, from time immemorial, were held the councils which decided +on a warlike or peaceful policy for their great confederation; +hither, in the seventeenth century, came the Jesuits, and among +them some who stand high on the roll of martyrs; hither, toward +the end of the eighteenth century, came Chateaubriand, who has +given in his memoirs his melancholy musings on the shores of +Onondaga Lake, and his conversation with the chief sachem of the +Onondaga tribe; hither, in the early years of this century, came +the companion of Alexis de Tocqueville, Gustave de Beaumont, who +has given in his letters the thoughts aroused within him in this +region, made sacred to him by the sorrows of refugees from the +French Revolution. + +It is a land of peace. The remnant of the Indians live quietly +upon their reservation, Christians and pagans uniting +harmoniously, on broad-church principles, in the celebration of +Christmas and in the sacrifice of the white dog to the Great +Spirit. + +The surrounding farmers devote themselves in peace to their +vocation. A noted academy, which has sent out many of their +children to take high places in their own and other States, +stands in the heart of the valley, and little red school-houses +are suitably scattered. Clinging to the hills on either side are +hamlets like Onondaga, Pompey, and Otisco, which in summer remind +one of the villages upon the lesser slopes of the Apennines. It +would be hard to find a more typical American population of the +best sort--the sort which made Thomas Jefferson believe in +democracy. It is largely of New England ancestry, with a free +admixture of the better sort of more recent immigrants. It was my +good fortune, during several years, to know many of these +dwellers in the valley, and perhaps I am prejudiced in their +favor by the fact that in my early days they listened very +leniently to my political and literary addresses, and twice sent +me to the Senate of the State with a large majority. + +But truth, even more than friendship, compels this tribute to +their merits. Good influences have long been at work among them: +in the little cemetery near the valley church is the grave of one +of their early pastors,--a quiet scholar,--the Rev. Caleb +Alexander, who edited the first edition of the Greek Testament +ever published in the United States. + +I have known one of these farmers, week after week during the +storms of a hard winter, drive four miles to borrow a volume of +Scott's novels, and, what is better, drive four miles each week +to return it. They are a people who read and think, and who can +be relied on, in the long run, to take the sensible view of any +question. + +They have done more than read and think. They took a leading part +in raising regiments and batteries for the Civil War, and their +stalwart sons went valiantly forth as volunteers. The Onondaga +regiments distinguished themselves on many a hard-fought field; +they learned what war was like at Bull Run, and used their +knowledge to good purpose at Lookout Mountain, Five Forks, and +Gettysburg. Typical is the fact that one of these regiments was +led by a valley schoolmaster,--a man who, having been shot +through the body, reported dead, and honored with a public +commemoration at which eulogies were delivered by various +persons, including myself, lived to command a brigade, to take +part in the "Battle of the Clouds," where he received a second +wound, and to receive a third wound during the march with Sherman +to the sea. + +Best of all, after the war the surviving soldiers returned, went +on with their accustomed vocations, and all was quiet as before. + +But in the autumn[18] of 1869 this peaceful region was in +commotion from one end to the other. Strange reports echoed from +farm to farm. It was noised abroad that a great stone statue or +petrified giant had been dug up near the little hamlet of +Cardiff, almost at the southern extremity of the valley; and +soon, despite the fact that the crops were not yet gathered in, +and the elections not yet over, men and women and children were +hurrying from Syracuse and from the farm-houses along the valley +to the scene of the great discovery. + + +[18] October 16. + + +I had been absent in a distant State for some weeks, and, on my +return to Syracuse, meeting one of the most substantial citizens, +a highly respected deacon in the Presbyterian Church, formerly a +county judge, I asked him, in a jocose way, about the new object +of interest, fully expecting that he would join me in a laugh +over the whole matter; but, to my surprise, he became at once +very solemn. He said, "I assure you that this is no laughing +matter; it is a very serious thing, indeed; there is no question +that an amazing discovery has been made, and I advise you to go +down and see what you think of it." + +Next morning, my brother and myself were speeding, after a fast +trotter in a light buggy, through the valley to the scene of the +discovery; and as we went we saw more and more, on every side, +evidences of enormous popular interest. The roads were crowded +with buggies, carriages, and even omnibuses from the city, and +with lumber-wagons from the farms--all laden with passengers. In +about two hours we arrived at the Newell farm, and found a +gathering which at first sight seemed like a county fair. In the +midst was a tent, and a crowd was pressing for admission. +Entering, we saw a large pit or grave, and, at the bottom of it, +perhaps five feet below the surface, an enormous figure, +apparently of Onondaga gray limestone. It was a stone giant, with +massive features, the whole body nude, the limbs contracted as if +in agony. It had a color as if it had lain long in the earth, and +over its surface were minute punctures, like pores. An especial +appearance of great age was given it by deep grooves and channels +in its under side, apparently worn by the water which flowed in +streams through the earth and along the rock on which the figure +rested. Lying in its grave, with the subdued light from the roof +of the tent falling upon it, and with the limbs contorted as if +in a death struggle, it produced a most weird effect. An air of +great solemnity pervaded the place. Visitors hardly spoke above a +whisper. + +Coming out, I asked some questions, and was told that the farmer +who lived there had discovered the figure when digging a well. +Being asked my opinion, my answer was that the whole matter was +undoubtedly a hoax; that there was no reason why the farmer +should dig a well in the spot where the figure was found; that it +was convenient neither to the house nor to the barn; that there +was already a good spring and a stream of water running +conveniently to both; that, as to the figure itself, it certainly +could not have been carved by any prehistoric race, since no part +of it showed the characteristics of any such early work; that, +rude as it was, it betrayed the qualities of a modern performance +of a low order. + +Nor could it be a fossilized human being; in this all scientific +observers of any note agreed. There was ample evidence, to one +who had seen much sculpture, that it was carved, and that the man +who carved it, though by no means possessed of genius or talent, +had seen casts, engravings, or photographs of noted sculptures. +The figure, in size, in massiveness, in the drawing up of the +limbs, and in its roughened surface, vaguely reminded one of +Michelangelo's "Night and Morning." Of course, the difference +between this crude figure and those great Medicean statues was +infinite; and yet it seemed to me that the man who had carved +this figure must have received a hint from those. + +It was also clear that the figure was neither intended to be +considered as an idol nor as a monumental statue. There was no +pedestal of any sort on which it could stand, and the disposition +of the limbs and their contortions were not such as any sculptor +would dream of in a figure to be set up for adoration. That it +was intended to be taken as a fossilized giant was indicated by +the fact that it was made as nearly like a human being as the +limited powers of the stone-carver permitted, and that it was +covered with minute imitations of pores. + +Therefore it was that, in spite of all scientific reasons to the +contrary, the work was very generally accepted as a petrified +human being of colossal size, and became known as "the Cardiff +Giant." + +One thing seemed to argue strongly in favor of its antiquity, and +I felt bound to confess, to those who asked my opinion, that it +puzzled me. This was the fact that the surface water flowing +beneath it in its grave seemed to have deeply grooved and +channeled it on the under side. Now the Onondaga gray limestone +is hard and substantial, and on that very account used in the +locks upon the canals: for the running of surface water to wear +such channels in it would require centuries. + +Against the opinion that the figure was a hoax various arguments +were used. It was insisted, first, that the farmer had not the +ability to devise such a fraud; secondly, that he had not the +means to execute it; third, that his family had lived there +steadily for many years, and were ready to declare under oath +that they had never seen it, and had known nothing of it until it +was accidentally discovered; fourth, that the neighbors had never +seen or heard of it; fifth, that it was preposterous to suppose +that such a mass of stone could have been brought and buried in +the place without some one finding it out; sixth, that the +grooves and channels worn in it by the surface water proved its +vast antiquity. + +To these considerations others were soon added. Especially +interesting was it to observe the evolution of myth and legend. +Within a week after the discovery, full-blown statements appeared +to the effect that the neighboring Indians had abundant +traditions of giants who formerly roamed over the hills of +Onondaga; and, finally, the circumstantial story was evolved that +an Onondaga squaw had declared, "in an impressive manner," that +the statue "is undoubtedly the petrified body of a gigantic +Indian prophet who flourished many centuries ago and foretold the +coming of the palefaces, and who, just before his own death, said +to those about him that their descendants would see him +again."[19] To this were added the reflections of many good +people who found it an edifying confirmation of the biblical +text, "There were giants in those days." There was, indeed, an +undercurrent of skepticism among the harder heads in the valley, +but the prevailing opinion in the region at large was more and +more in favor of the idea that the object was a fossilized human +being--a giant of "those days." Such was the rush to see the +figure that the admission receipts were very large; it was even +stated that they amounted to five per cent. upon three millions +of dollars, and soon came active men from the neighboring region +who proposed to purchase the figure and exhibit it through the +country. A leading spirit in this "syndicate" deserves mention. +He was a horse-dealer in a large way and banker in a small way +from a village in the next county,--a man keen and shrewd, but +merciful and kindly, who had fought his way up from abject +poverty, and whose fundamental principle, as he asserted it, was +"Do unto others as they would like to do unto you, and--DO IT +FUST."[20] A joint-stock concern was formed with a considerable +capital, and an eminent show man, "Colonel" Wood, employed to +exploit the wonder. + + +[19] See "The Cardiff Giant Humbug," Fort Dodge, Iowa, 1870, p. +13. + +[20] For a picture, both amusing and pathetic, of the doings of +this man, and also of life in the central New York villages, see +"David Harum," a novel by E. N. Westcott, New York, 1898. + + +A week after my first visit I again went to the place, by +invitation. In the crowd on that day were many men of light and +leading from neighboring towns,--among them some who made +pretensions to scientific knowledge. The figure, lying in its +grave, deeply impressed all; and as a party of us came away, a +very excellent doctor of divinity, pastor of one of the largest +churches in Syracuse, said very impressively, "Is it not strange +that any human being, after seeing this wonderfully preserved +figure, can deny the evidence of his senses, and refuse to +believe, what is so evidently the fact, that we have here a +fossilized human being, perhaps one of the giants mentioned in +Scripture?" + +Another visitor, a bright-looking lady, was heard to declare, +"Nothing in the world can ever make me believe that he was not +once a living being. Why, you can see the veins in his legs."[21] + + +[21] See Letter of Hon. Galusha Parsons in the Fort Dodge +Pamphlet. + + +Another prominent clergyman declared with ex cathedra emphasis: +"This is not a thing contrived of man, but is the face of one who +lived on the earth, the very image and child of God."[22] And a +writer in one of the most important daily papers of the region +dwelt on the "majestic simplicity and grandeur of the figure," +and added, "It is not unsafe to affirm that ninety-nine out of +every hundred persons who have seen this wonder have become +immediately and instantly impressed with the idea that they were +in the presence of an object not made by mortal hands.... No +piece of sculpture ever produced the awe inspired by this +blackened form.... I venture to affirm that no living sculptor +can be produced who will say that the figure was conceived and +executed by any human being."[23] + + +[22] See Mr. Stockbridge's article in the "Popular Science +Monthly," June, 1878. + +[23] See "The American Goliath," Syracuse, 1869, p. 16. + + +The current of belief ran more and more strongly, and soon +embraced a large number of really thoughtful people. A week or +two after my first visit came a deputation of regents of the +State University from Albany, including especially Dr. Woolworth, +the secretary, a man of large educational experience, and no less +a personage in the scientific world than Dr. James Hall, the +State geologist, perhaps the most eminent American paleontologist +of that period. + +On their arrival at Syracuse in the evening, I met them at their +hotel and discussed with them the subject which so interested us +all, urging them especially to be cautious, and stating that a +mistake might prove very injurious to the reputation of the +regents, and to the proper standing of scientific men and methods +in the State; that if the matter should turn out to be a fraud, +and such eminent authorities should be found to have committed +themselves to it, there would be a guffaw from one end of the +country to the other at the expense of the men intrusted by the +State with its scientific and educational interests. To this the +gentlemen assented, and next day they went to Cardiff. They came; +they saw; and they narrowly escaped being conquered. Luckily they +did not give their sanction to the idea that the statue was a +petrifaction, but Professor Hall was induced to say: "To all +appearance, the statue lay upon the gravel when the deposition of +the fine silt or soil began, upon the surface of which the +forests have grown for succeeding generations. Altogether it is +the most remarkable object brought to light in this country, and, +although not dating back to the stone age, is, nevertheless, +deserving of the attention of archaeologists."[24] + + +[24] See his letter of October 23, 1869, in the Syracuse papers. + + +At no period of my life have I ever been more discouraged as +regards the possibility of making right reason prevail among men. + +As a refrain to every argument there seemed to go jeering and +sneering through my brain Schiller's famous line: + +"Against stupidity the gods themselves fight in vain."[25] + + +[25] "Mit der Dummheit kampfen Gotter selbst vergebens." Jungfrau +von Orleans, Act III, scene 6. + + +There seemed no possibility even of SUSPENDING the judgment of +the great majority who saw the statue. As a rule, they insisted +on believing it a "petrified giant," and those who did not dwelt +on its perfections as an ancient statue. They saw in it a whole +catalogue of fine qualities; and one writer went into such +extreme ecstatics that he suddenly realized the fact, and ended +by saying, "but this is rather too high-flown, so I had better +conclude." As a matter of fact, the work was wretchedly defective +in proportion and features; in every characteristic of sculpture +it showed itself the work simply of an inferior stone-carver. + +Dr. Boynton, a local lecturer on scientific subjects, gave it the +highest praise as a work of art, and attributed it to early +Jesuit missionaries who had come into that region about two +hundred years before. Another gentleman, who united the character +of a deservedly beloved pastor and an inspiring popular lecturer +on various scientific topics, developed this Boynton theory. He +attributed the statue to "a trained sculptor . . . who had noble +original powers; for none but such could have formed and wrought +out the conception of that stately head, with its calm smile so +full of mingled sweetness and strength." This writer then +ventured the query, "Was it not, as Dr. Boynton suggests, some +one from that French colony, . . . some one with a righteous soul +sighing over the lost civilization of Europe, weary of swamp and +forest and fort, who, finding this block by the side of the +stream, solaced the weary days of exile with pouring out his +thought upon the stone?"[26] Although the most eminent sculptor +in the State had utterly refused to pronounce the figure anything +beyond a poor piece of carving, these strains of admiration and +adoration continued. + + +[26] See the Syracuse daily papers as above. + + +There was evidently a "joy in believing" in the marvel, and this +was increased by the peculiarly American superstition that the +correctness of a belief is decided by the number of people who +can be induced to adopt it--that truth is a matter of majorities. +The current of credulity seemed irresistible. + +Shortly afterward the statue was raised from its grave taken to +Syracuse and to various other cities, especially to the city of +New York, and in each place exhibited as a show. + +As already stated, there was but one thing in the figure, as I +had seen it, which puzzled me, and that was the grooving of the +under side, apparently by currents of water, which, as the statue +appeared to be of our Onondaga gray limestone, would require very +many years. But one day one of the cool-headed skeptics of the +valley, an old schoolmate of mine, came to me, and with an air of +great solemnity took from his pocket an object which he carefully +unrolled from its wrappings, and said, "There is a piece of the +giant. Careful guard has been kept from the first in order to +prevent people touching it; but I have managed to get a piece of +it, and here it is." I took it in my hand, and the matter was +made clear in an instant. The stone was not our hard Onondaga +gray limestone, but soft, easily marked with the finger-nail, +and, on testing it with an acid, I found it, not hard carbonate +of lime, but a soft, friable sulphate of lime--a form of gypsum, +which must have been brought from some other part of the country. + +A healthful skepticism now began to assert its rights. Professor +Marsh of Yale appeared upon the scene. Fortunately, he was not +only one of the most eminent of living paleontologists, but, +unlike most who had given an opinion, he really knew something of +sculpture, for he had been familiar with the best galleries of +the Old World. He examined the statue and said, "It is of very +recent origin, and a most decided humbug.... Very short exposure +of the statue would suffice to obliterate all trace of +tool-marks, and also to roughen the polished surfaces, but these +are still quite perfect, and hence the giant must have been very +recently buried.... I am surprised that any scientific observers +should not have at once detected the unmistakable evidence +against its antiquity."[27] + + +[27] See Professor Marsh's letter in the "Syracuse Daily +Journal," November 30, 1869. + + +Various suspicious circumstances presently became known. It was +found that Farmer Newell had just remitted to a man named Hull, +at some place in the West, several thousand dollars, the result +of admission fees to the booth containing the figure, and that +nothing had come in return. Thinking men in the neighborhood +reasoned that as Newell had never been in condition to owe any +human being such an amount of money, and had received nothing in +return for it, his correspondent had, not unlikely, something to +do with the statue. + +These suspicions were soon confirmed. The neighboring farmers, +who, in their quiet way, kept their eyes open, noted a tall, lank +individual who frequently visited the place and seemed to +exercise complete control over Farmer Newell. Soon it was learned +that this stranger was the man Hull,--Newell's +brother-in-law,--the same to whom the latter had made the large +remittance of admission money. One day, two or three farmers from +a distance, visiting the place for the first time and seeing +Hull, said, "Why, that is the man who brought the big box down +the valley." On being asked what they meant, they said that, +being one evening in a tavern on the valley turnpike some miles +south of Cardiff, they had noticed under the tavern shed a wagon +bearing an enormous box; and when they met Hull in the bar-room +and asked about it, he said that it was some tobacco-cutting +machinery which he was bringing to Syracuse. Other farmers, who +had seen the box and talked with Hull at different places on the +road between Binghamton and Cardiff, made similar statements. It +was then ascertained that no such box had passed the toll-gates +between Cardiff and Syracuse, and proofs of the swindle began to +mature. + +But skepticism was not well received. Vested interests had +accrued, a considerable number of people, most of them very good +people, had taken stock in the new enterprise, and anything which +discredited it was unwelcome to them. + +It was not at all that these excellent people wished to +countenance an imposture, but it had become so entwined with +their beliefs and their interests that at last they came to abhor +any doubts regarding it. A pamphlet, "The American Goliath," was +now issued in behalf of the wonder. On its title-page it claimed +to give the "History of the Discovery, and the Opinions of +Scientific Men thereon." The tone of the book was moderate, but +its tendency was evident. Only letters and newspaper articles +exciting curiosity or favoring the genuineness of the statue were +admitted; adverse testimony, like that of Professor Marsh, was +carefully excluded. + +Before long the matter entered into a comical phase. Barnum, King +of Showmen, attempted to purchase the "giant," but in vain. He +then had a copy made so nearly resembling the original that no +one, save, possibly, an expert, could distinguish between them. +This new statue was also exhibited as "the Cardiff Giant," and +thenceforward the credit of the discovery waned. + +The catastrophe now approached rapidly, and soon affidavits from +men of high character in Iowa and Illinois established the fact +that the figure was made at Fort Dodge, in Iowa, of a great block +of gypsum there found; that this block was transported by land to +the nearest railway station, Boone, which was about forty-five +miles distant; that on the way the wagon conveying it broke down, +and that as no other could be found strong enough to bear the +whole weight, a portion of the block was cut off; that, thus +diminished, it was taken to Chicago, where a German stone-carver +gave it final shape; that, as it had been shortened, he was +obliged to draw up the lower limbs, thus giving it a strikingly +contracted and agonized appearance; that the under side of the +figure was grooved and channeled in order that it should appear +to be wasted by age; that it was then dotted or pitted over with +minute pores by means of a leaden mallet faced with steel +needles; that it was stained with some preparation which gave it +an appearance of great age; that it was then shipped to a place +near Binghamton, New York, and finally brought to Cardiff and +there buried. It was further stated that Hull, in order to secure +his brother-in-law, Farmer Newell, as his confederate in burying +the statue, had sworn him to secrecy; and, in order that the +family might testify that they had never heard or seen anything +of the statue until it had been unearthed, he had sent them away +on a little excursion covering the time when it was brought and +buried. All these facts were established by affidavits from men +of high character in Iowa and Illinois, by the sworn testimony of +various Onondaga farmers and men of business, and, finally, by +the admissions and even boasts of Hull himself. + +Against this tide of truth the good people who had pinned their +faith to the statue--those who had vested interests in it, and +those who had rashly given solemn opinions in favor of +it--struggled for a time desperately. A writer in the "Syracuse +Journal" expressed a sort of regretful wonder and shame that "the +public are asked to overthrow the sworn testimony of sustained +witnesses corroborated by the highest scientific authority"--the +only sworn witness being Farmer Newell, whose testimony was not +at all conclusive, and the highest scientific authority being an +eminent local dentist who, early in his life, had given popular +chemical lectures, and who had now invested money in the +enterprise. + +The same writer referred also with awe to "the men of sense, +property, and character who own the giant and receive whatever +revenue arises from its exhibition"; and the argument culminated +in the oracular declaration that "the operations of water as +testified and interpreted by science cannot create +falsehood."[28] + + +[28] See letter of "X" in the "Syracuse Journal," republished in +the Fort Dodge Pamphlet, pp. 15 and 16. + + +But all this pathetic eloquence was in vain. Hull, the inventor +of the statue, having realized more money from it than he +expected, and being sharp enough to see that its day was done, +was evidently bursting with the desire to avert scorn from +himself by bringing the laugh upon others, and especially upon +certain clergymen, whom, as we shall see hereafter, he greatly +disliked. He now acknowledged that the whole thing was a swindle, +and gave details of the way in which he came to embark in it. He +avowed that the idea was suggested to him by a discussion with a +Methodist revivalist in Iowa; that, being himself a skeptic in +religious matters, he had flung at his antagonist "those +remarkable stories in the Bible about giants"; that, observing +how readily the revivalist and those with him took up the cudgels +for the giants, it then and there occurred to him that, since so +many people found pleasure in believing such things, he would +have a statue carved out of stone which he had found in Iowa and +pass it off on them as a petrified giant. In a later conversation +he said that one thing which decided him was that the stone had +in it dark-colored bluish streaks which resembled in appearance +the veins of the human body. The evolution of the whole affair +thus became clear, simple, and natural. + +Up to this time, Hull's remarkable cunning had never availed him +much. He had made various petty inventions, but had realized very +little from them; he had then made some combinations as regarded +the internal-revenue laws referring to the manufacture and sale +of tobacco, and these had only brought him into trouble with the +courts; but now, when the boundless resources of human credulity +were suddenly revealed to him by the revivalist, he determined to +exploit them. This evolution of his ideas strikingly resembles +that through which the mind of a worthless, shiftless, tricky +creature in western New York--Joseph Smith--must have passed +forty years before, when he dug up "the golden plates" of the +"Book of Mormon," and found plenty of excellent people who +rejoiced in believing that the Rev. Mr. Spalding's biblical novel +was a new revelation from the Almighty. + +The whole matter was thus fully laid open, and it might have been +reasonably expected that thenceforward no human being would +insist that the stone figure was anything but a swindling hoax. + +Not so. In the Divinity School of Yale College, about the middle +of the century, was a solemn, quiet, semi-jocose, +semi-melancholic resident graduate--Alexander McWhorter. I knew +him well. He had embarked in various matters which had not turned +out satisfactorily. Hot water, ecclesiastical and social, seemed +his favorite element.[29] He was generally believed to secure +most of his sleep during the day, and to do most of his work +during the night; a favorite object of his study being Hebrew. +Various strange things had appeared from his pen, and, most +curious of all, a little book entitled, "Yahveh Christ," in which +he had endeavored to demonstrate that the doctrine of the Trinity +was to be found entangled in the consonants out of which former +scholars made the word "Jehovah," and more recent scholars +"Yahveh"; that this word, in fact, proved the doctrine of the +Trinity.[30] + + +[29] The main evidence of this is to be found in "Truth Stranger +Than Fiction: A Narrative of Recent Transactions involving +Inquiries in Regard to the Principles of Honor, Truth, and +Justice, which Obtains in a Distinguished American University," +by Catherine E. Beecher, New York, 1850. + +[30] See "Yahveh Christ, or the Memorial Name," by A. McWhorter, +Boston, 1857. + + +He now brought his intellect to bear upon "the Cardiff Giant," +and soon produced an amazing theory, developing it at length in a +careful article.[31] + + +[31] See McWhorter, "Tammuz and the Mound-builders," in the +"Galaxy," July, 1872. + + +This theory was simply that the figure discovered at Cardiff was +a Phenician idol; and Mr. McWhorter published, as the climax to +all his proofs, the facsimile and translation of an inscription +which he had discovered upon the figure--a "Phenician +inscription," which he thought could leave no doubt in the mind +of any person open to conviction. + +That the whole thing had been confessed a swindle by all who took +part in it, with full details as to its origin and development, +seemed to him not worthy of the slightest mention. Regardless of +all the facts in the case, he showed a pathetic devotion to his +theory, and allowed his imagination the fullest play. He found, +first of all, an inscription of thirteen letters, "introduced by +a large cross or star--the Assyrian index of the Deity." Before +the last word of the inscription he found carved "a flower which +he regarded as consecrated to the particular deity Tammuz, and at +both ends of the inscription a serpent monogram and symbol of +Baal." + +This inscription he assumed as an evident fact, though no other +human being had ever been able to see it. Even Professor White, +M.D., of the Yale Medical School, with the best intentions in the +world, was unable to find it. Dr. White was certainly not +inclined to superficiality or skepticism. With "achromatic +glasses which magnified forty-five diameters" he examined the +"pinholes" which covered the figure, and declared that "the +beautiful finish of every pore or pinhole appeared to me strongly +opposed to the idea that the statue was of modern workmanship." +He also thought he saw the markings which Mr. McWhorter +conjectured might be an inscription, and said in a letter, +"though I saw no recent tool-marks, I saw evidences of design in +the form and arrangement of the markings, which suggested the +idea of an inscription." And, finally, having made these +concessions, he ends his long letter with the very guarded +statement that, "though not fully DECIDED, I INCLINE TO THE +OPINION that the Onondaga statue is of ancient origin."[32] + + +[32] The italics are as in the original. + + +But this mild statement did not daunt Mr. McWhorter. Having +calmly pronounced Dr. White "in error," he proceeded with sublime +disregard of every other human being. He found that the statue +"belongs to the winged or 'cherubim' type"; that "down the left +side of the figure are seen the outlines of folded wings--even +the separate feathers being clearly distinguishable"; that "the +left side of the head is inexpressibly noble and majestic," and +"conforms remarkably to the type of the head of the +mound-builders"; that "the left arm terminates in what appears to +be a huge extended lion's paw"; that "the dual idea expressed in +the head is carried out in the figure"; that "in the wonderfully +artistic mouth of the divine side we find a suggestion of that of +the Greek Apollo." Mr. McWhorter also found other things that no +other human being was ever able to discern, and among them "a +crescent-shaped wound upon the left side," "traces of ancient +coloring" in all parts of the statue, and evidences that the +minute pores were made by "borers." He lays great stress on an +"ancient medal" found in Onondaga, which he thinks belongs "to +the era of the mound-builders," and on which he finds a "circle +inclosing an equilateral cross, both cross and circle, like the +wheel of Ezekiel, being full of small circles or eyes." As a +matter of fact, this "ancient medal" was an English penny, which +a street gamin of Syracuse said that he had found near the +statue, and the "equilateral cross" was simply the usual cross of +St. George. Mr. McWhorter thinks the circle inclosing the cross +denotes the "world soul," and in a dissertation of about twenty +pages he discourses upon "Baal," "Tammuz," "King Hiram of Tyre," +the "ships of Tarshish," the "Eluli," and "Atlas," with plentiful +arguments drawn from a multitude of authorities, and among them +Sanchoniathon, Ezekiel, Plato, Dr. Dollinger, Isaiah, +Melanchthon, Lenormant, Humboldt, Sir John Lubbock, and Don +Domingo Juarros,--finally satisfying himself that the statue was +"brought over by a colony of Phenicians," possibly several +hundred years before Christ.[33] + + +[33] See the "Galaxy" article, as above, passim. + + +With the modesty of a true scholar he says, "Whether the final +battle at Onondaga . . . occurred before or after this event we +cannot tell"; but, resuming confidence, he says, "we only know +that at some distant period the great statue, brought in a 'ship +of Tarshish' across the sea of Atl, was lightly covered with +twigs and flowers and these with gravel." The deliberations of +the Pickwick Club over "Bill Stubbs, His Mark" pale before this; +and Dickens in his most expansive moods never conceived anything +more funny than the long, solemn discussion between the erratic +Hebrew scholar and the eminent medical professor at New Haven +over the "pores" of the statue, which one of them thought "the +work of minute animals," which the other thought "elaborate +Phenician workmanship," which both thought exquisite, and which +the maker of the statue had already confessed that he had made by +rudely striking the statue with a mallet faced with needles. + +Mr. McWhorter's new theory made no great stir in the United +States, though some, doubtless, took comfort in it; but it found +one very eminent convert across the ocean, and in a place where +we might least have expected him. Some ten years after the events +above sketched while residing at Berlin as minister of the United +States, I one day received from an American student at the +University of Halle a letter stating that he had been requested +by no less a personage than the eminent Dr Schlottmann, +instructor in Hebrew in the theological school of that +university,--the successor of Gesenius in that branch of +instruction,--to write me for information regarding the Phenician +statue described by the Rev Alexander McWhorter. + +In reply, I detailed to him the main points in the history of the +case, as it has been given in this chapter, adding, as against +the Phenician theory, that nothing in the nature of Phenician +remains had ever been found within the borders of the United +States, and that if they had been found, this remote valley, +three hundred miles from the sea, barred from the coast by +mountain-ranges, forests, and savage tribes, could never have +been the place chosen by Phenician navigators for such a deposit; +that the figure itself was clearly not a work of early art, but a +crude development by an uncultured stone-cutter out of his +remembrance of things in modern sculpture; and that the +inscription was purely the creation of Mr. McWhorter's +imagination. + +In his acknowledgment, my correspondent said that I had left no +doubt in his mind as to the fact that the giant was a swindle; +but that he had communicated my letter to the eminent Dr. +Schlottmann, that the latter avowed that I had not convinced him, +and that he still believed the Cardiff figure to be a Phenician +statue bearing a most important inscription. + +One man emerged from this chapter in the history of human folly +supremely happy: this was Hull, the inventor of the "giant." He +had at last made some money, had gained a reputation for +"smartness," and, what probably pleased him best of all, had +revenged himself upon the Rev. Mr. Turk of Ackley, Iowa, who by +lung-power had worsted him in the argument as to the giants +mentioned in Scripture. + +So elate was he that he shortly set about devising another +"petrified man" which would defy the world. It was of clay baked +in a furnace, contained human bones, and was provided with "a +tail and legs of the ape type"; and this he caused to be buried +and discovered in Colorado. This time he claimed to have the aid +of one of his former foes--the great Barnum; and all went well +until his old enemy, Professor Marsh of Yale, appeared and +blasted the whole enterprise by a few minutes of scientific +observation and common-sense discourse. + +Others tried to imitate Hull, and in 1876 one--William Buddock of +Thornton, St. Clair County, Michigan--manufactured a small effigy +in cement, and in due time brought about the discovery of it. +But, though several country clergymen used it to strengthen their +arguments as to the literal, prosaic correctness of Genesis, it +proved a failure. Finally, in 1889, twenty years after "the +Cardiff Giant" was devised, a "petrified man" was found near +Bathurst in Australia, brought to Sydney, and exhibited. The +result was, in some measure, the same as in the case of the +American fraud. Excellent people found comfort in believing, and +sundry pseudo-scientific men of a cheap sort thought it best to +pander to this sentiment; but a well-trained geologist pointed +out the absurdity of the popular theory, and finally the police +finished the matter by securing evidences of fraud.[34] + + +[34] For the Ruddock discovery see Dr. G.A. Stockwell in the +"Popular Science Monthly" for June, 1878. For the Australian +fraud see the London "Times" of August 2, 1889. + + +To close these annals, I may add that recently the inventor of +"the Cardiff Giant," Hull, being at the age of seventy-six years, +apparently in his last illness, and anxious for the glory in +history which comes from successful achievement, again gave to +the press a full account of his part in the affair, confirming +what he had previously stated, showing how he planned it, +executed it and realized a goodly sum for it; how Barnum wished +to purchase it from him; and how, above all, he had his joke at +the expense of those who, though they had managed to overcome him +in argument, had finally been rendered ridiculous in the sight of +the whole country.[35] + + +[35] For Hull's "Final Statement" see the "Ithaca Daily Journal," +January 4, 1898. + + + +CHAPTER LVII + +PLANS AND PROJECTS, EXECUTED AND UNEXECUTED--1838-1905 + +Among those who especially attracted my youthful admiration were +authors, whether of books or of articles in the magazines. When +one of these personages was pointed out to me, he seemed of far +greater stature than the men about him. This feeling was +especially developed in the atmosphere of our household, where +scholars and writers were held in especial reverence, and was +afterward increased by my studies. This led me at Yale to take, +at first, much interest in general literature, and, as a result, +I had some youthful successes as a writer of essays and as one of +the editors of the "Yale Literary Magazine"; but although it was +an era of great writers,--the culmination of the Victorian +epoch,--my love for literature as literature gradually +diminished, and in place of it came in my young manhood a love of +historical and other studies to which literature was, to my mind, +merely subsidiary. With this, no doubt, the prevailing atmosphere +of Yale had much to do. There was between Yale and Harvard, at +that time, a great difference as regarded literary culture. +Living immediately about Harvard were most of the leading +American authors, and this fact greatly influenced that +university; at Yale less was made of literature as such, and more +was made of it as a means to an end--as ancillary in the +discussion of various militant political questions. Yale had +writers strong, vigorous, and acute: of such were Woolsey, +Porter, Bacon, and Bushnell, some of whom,--and, above all, the +last,--had they devoted themselves to pure literature, would have +gained lasting fame; but their interest in the questions of the +day was controlling, and literature, in its ordinary sense, was +secondary. + +Harvard undoubtedly had the greater influence on leading American +thinkers throughout the nation, but much less direct influence on +the people at large outside of Massachusetts. The direct +influence of Yale on affairs throughout the United States was far +greater; it was felt in all parts of the country and in every +sort of enterprise. Many years after my graduation I attended a +meeting of the Yale alumni at Washington, where a Western +senator, on taking the chair, gave an offhand statement of the +difference between the two universities. "Gentlemen," said the +senator, "we all know what Harvard does. She fits men admirably +for life in Boston and its immediate neighborhood; they see +little outside of eastern Massachusetts and nothing outside of +New England; in Boston clubs they are delightful; elsewhere they +are intolerable. And we also know what Yale does: she sends her +graduates out into all parts of the land, for every sort of good +work, in town and country, even to the remotest borders of the +nation. Wherever you find a Yale man you find a man who is in +touch with his fellow-citizens; who appreciates them and is +appreciated by them; who is doing a man's work and is honored for +doing it." + +This humorous overstatement indicates to some extent the real +difference between the spirit of the two universities: the +influence of Harvard being greater through the men it trained to +lead American thought from Boston as a center; the influence of +Yale being greater through its graduates who were joining in the +world's work in all its varied forms. Yet, curiously enough, it +was the utterance of a Harvard man which perhaps did most in my +young manhood to make me unduly depreciate literary work. I was +in deep sympathy with Theodore Parker, both in politics and +religion, and when he poured contempt over a certain class of +ineffective people as "weak and literary," something of his +feeling took possession of me. Then, too, I was much under the +influence of Thomas Carlyle: his preachments, hortatory and +objurgatory, witty and querulous, that men should defer work in +literature until they really have some worthy message to deliver, +had a strong effect upon me. While I greatly admired men like +Lowell and Whittier, who brought exquisite literary gifts to bear +powerfully on the struggle against slavery, persons devoted +wholly to literary work seemed to me akin to sugar-bakers and +confectionery-makers. I now know that this view was very +inadequate; but it was then in full force. It seemed to me more +and more absurd that a man with an alleged immortal soul, at such +a time as the middle of the nineteenth century, should devote +himself, as I then thought, to amusing weakish young men and +women by the balancing of phrases or the jingling of verses. + +Therefore it was that, after leaving Yale, whatever I wrote had +some distinct purpose, with little, if any, care as to form. I +was greatly stirred against the encroachments of slavery in the +Territories, had also become deeply interested in university +education, and most of my thinking and writing was devoted to +these subjects; though, at times, I took up the cudgels in behalf +of various militant ideas that seemed to need support. The +lecture on "Cathedral Builders and Mediaeval Sculptors," given in +the Yale chapel after my return from Europe, often repeated +afterward in various parts of the country, and widely circulated +by extracts in newspapers, though apparently an exception to the +rule, was not really so. It aimed to show the educational value +of an ethical element in art. So, too, my article in the "New +Englander" on "Glimpses of Universal History" had as its object +the better development of historical studies in our universities. +My articles in the "Atlantic Monthly"--on "Jefferson and +Slavery," on "The Statesmanship of Richelieu," and on "The +Development and Overthrow of Serfdom in Russia"--all had a +bearing on the dominant question of slavery, and the same was +true of my Phi Beta Kappa address at Yale on "The Greatest Foe of +Modern States." Whatever I wrote during the Civil War, and +especially my pamphlet published in London as a reply to the +"American Diary" of the London "Times" correspondent, Dr. +Russell, had a similar character. The feeling grew upon me that +life in the United States during the middle of the nineteenth +century was altogether too earnest for devotion to pure +literature. The same feeling pervaded my lectures at the +University of Michigan, my effort being by means of the lessons +of history to set young men at thinking upon the great political +problems of our time. The first course of these lectures was upon +the French Revolution. Work with reference to it had been a labor +of love. During my student life in Paris, and at various other +times, I had devoted much time to the study of this subject, had +visited nearly all the places most closely connected with it not +only in Paris but throughout France, had meditated upon the noble +beginnings of the Revolution in the Palace and Tennis-court and +Church of St. Louis at Versailles; at Lyons, upon the fusillades; +at Nantes, upon the noyades; at the Abbaye, the Carmelite +monastery, the Barriere du Trone, and the cemetery of the Rue +Picpus in Paris, upon the Red Terror; at Nimes and Avignon and in +La Vendee, upon the White Terror; had collected, in all parts of +France, masses of books, manuscripts, public documents and +illustrated material on the whole struggle: full sets of the +leading newspapers of the Revolutionary period, more than seven +thousand pamphlets, reports, speeches, and other fugitive +publications, with masses of paper money, caricatures, +broadsides, and the like, thus forming my library on the +Revolution, which has since been added to that of Cornell +University. Based upon these documents and books were my lectures +on the general history of France and on the Revolution and +Empire. Out of this came finally a shorter series of lectures +upon which I took especial pains--namely, the "History of the +Causes of the French Revolution." This part of the whole course +interested me most as revealing the strength and weakness of +democracies and throwing light upon many problems which our own +republic must endeavor to solve; and I gave it not only at +Cornell, but at Johns Hopkins, the University of Pennsylvania, +Stanford, Tulane, and Washington. It still remains in manuscript: +whether it will ever be published is uncertain. Should my life be +somewhat extended, I hope to throw it into the form of a small +volume; but, at my present age and with the work now upon me, the +realization of this plan is doubtful. Still, in any case, there +is to me one great consolation: my collection of books aided the +former professor of modern history at Cornell, Mr. Morse Stevens, +in preparing what is unquestionably the best history of the +French Revolution in the English language. Nor has the collection +been without other uses. Upon it was based my pamphlet on "Paper +Money Inflation in France: How It Came, What It Brought, and How +It Ended," and this, being circulated widely as a campaign +document during two different periods of financial delusion, did, +I hope, something to set some controlling men into fruitful +trains of thought on one of the most important issues ever +presented to the American people. + +Another course of lectures also paved the way possibly for a +book. I have already told how, during my college life and even +previously, I became fascinated with the history of the +Protestant Reformation. This led to further studies, and among +the first courses in history prepared during my professorship at +the University of Michigan was one upon the "Revival of Learning" +and the "Reformation in Germany." This course was developed later +until it was brought down to our own times; its continuance being +especially favored by my stay in Germany, first as a student and +later as minister of the United States. Most of my spare time at +these periods was given to this subject, and in the preparation +of these lectures I conceived the plan of a book bearing some +such name as "The Building of the German Empire," or "The +Evolution of Modern Germany." As to method, I proposed to make it +almost entirely biographical, and the reason for this is very +simple. Of all histories that I have known, those relating to +Germany have been the most difficult to read. Events in German +history are complicated and interwoven, to a greater degree than +those of any other nation, by struggles between races, between +three great branches of the Christian Church, between scores of +territorial divisions between greater and lesser monarchs, +between states and cities, between families, between individuals. +Then, to increase the complication, the center of interest is +constantly changing,--being during one period at Vienna, during +another at Frankfort-on-the-Main, during another at Berlin, and +during others at other places. Therefore it is that narrative +histories of Germany become to most foreign readers wretchedly +confusing: indeed, they might well be classed in Father +Bouhours's famous catalogue of "Books Impossible to be Read." +This obstacle to historical treatment, especially as regards the +needs of American readers, led me to group events about the lives +of various German leaders in thought and action--the real builders +of Germany; and this plan was perhaps confirmed by Carlyle's +famous dictum that the history of any nation is the history of +the great men who have made it. Impressed by such considerations, +I threw my lectures almost entirely into biographical form, with +here and there a few historical lectures to bind the whole +together. Beginning with Erasmus, Luther, Ulrich von Hutten, and +Charles V, I continued with Comenius, Canisius, Grotius, +Thomasius, and others who, whether born on German soil or not, +exercised their main influence in Germany. Then came the work of +the Great Elector, the administration of Frederick the Great, the +moral philosophy of Kant, the influence of the French Revolution +and Napoleon in Germany, the reforms of Stein, the hopeless +efforts of Joseph II and Metternich to win the hegemony for +Austria, and the successful efforts of Bismarck and the Emperor +William to give it to Prussia. My own direct knowledge of Germany +at different dates during more than forty-five years, and perhaps +also my official and personal relations to the two personages +last mentioned, enabled me to see some things which a man drawing +his material from books alone would not have seen. I have given +much of my spare time to this subject during several years, and +still hope, almost against hope, to bring it into book form. + +Though thus interested in the work of a professor of modern +history, I could not refrain from taking part in the discussion +of practical questions pressing on thinking men from all sides +and earnestly demanding attention. + +During my State senatorship I had been obliged more than once to +confess a lack, both in myself and in my colleagues, of much +fundamental knowledge especially important to men intrusted with +the legislation of a great commonwealth. Besides this, even as +far back as my Russian attacheship, I had observed a similar want +of proper equipment in our diplomatic and consular service. It +was clear to me that such subjects as international law, +political economy, modern history bearing on legislation, the +fundamental principles of law and administration, and especially +studies bearing on the prevention and cure of pauperism, +inebriety, and crime, and on the imposition of taxation, had been +always inadequately provided for by our universities, and in most +cases utterly neglected. In France and Germany I had observed a +better system, and, especially at the College de France, had been +interested in the courses of Laboulaye on "Comparative +Legislation." The latter subject, above all, seemed likely to +prove fruitful in the United States, where not only the national +Congress but over forty State legislatures are trying in various +ways, year after year, to solve the manifold problems presented +to them. Therefore it was that, while discharging my duties as a +commissioner at the Paris Exposition of 1878, I took pains to +secure information regarding instruction, in various European +countries, having as its object the preparation of young men for +the civil and diplomatic service. Especially was I struck by the +thorough equipment for the diplomatic and consular services given +at the newly established ecole Libre des Sciences Politiques at +Paris; consequently my report as commissioner was devoted to this +general subject. On my return this was published under the title +of "The Provision for Higher Instruction in Subjects bearing +directly on Public Affairs," and a portion of my material was +thrown, at a later day, into an appeal for the establishment of +proper courses in history and political science, which took the +final form of a commencement address at Johns Hopkins University. +It is a great satisfaction to me that this publication, acting +with other forces in the same direction, has been evidently +useful Nothing in the great development of our universities +during the last quarter of a century has been more gratifying and +full of promise for the country than the increased provision for +instruction bearing on public questions, and the increased +interest in such instruction shown by students, and, indeed, by +the community at large I may add that of all the kindnesses shown +me by the trustees of Cornell University at my resignation of its +presidency, there was none which pleased me more than the +attachment of my name to their newly established College of +History and Political Science. + +During this same period another immediately practical subject +which interested me was the reform of the civil service; and, +having spoken upon this at various public meetings as well as +written private letters to various public men in order to keep +them thinking upon it, I published in 1882, in the "North +American Review," an article giving historical facts regarding +the origin, evolution, and results of the spoils system, +entitled, "Do the Spoils Belong to the Victor?" This brought upon +me a bitter personal attack from my old friend Mr. Thurlow Weed, +who, far-sighted and shrewd as he was, could never see how +republican institutions could be made to work without the +anticipation of spoils; but for this I was more than compensated +by the friendship of younger men who are likely to have far more +to do with our future political development than will the old +race of politicians, and, chief among these young men, Mr. +Theodore Roosevelt. I was also drawn off to other subjects, +making addresses at various universities on points which seemed +to me of importance, the most successful of all being one given +at Yale, upon the thirtieth anniversary of my class, entitled, +"The Message of the Nineteenth Century to the Twentieth." It was +an endeavor to strengthen the hands of those who were laboring to +maintain the proper balance between the humanities and technical +studies. To the latter I had indeed devoted many years of my +life, but the time had arrived when the other side seemed to +demand attention. This address, though the result of much +preliminary meditation, was dictated in all the hurry and worry +of a Cornell commencement week and given in the Yale chapel the +week following. Probably nothing which I have ever done, save +perhaps the tractate on "Paper Money Inflation in France," +received such immediate and wide-spread recognition: it was +circulated very extensively in the New York "Independent," then +in the form of a pamphlet, for which there was large demand, and +finally, still more widely, in a cheap form. + +Elsewhere in these reminiscences I have given an account of the +evolution of my "History of the Warfare of Science with +Theology." It was growing in my mind for about twenty years, and +my main reading, even for my different courses of lectures, had +more or less connection with it. First given as a lecture, it was +then extended into a little book which grew, in the shape of new +chapters, into much larger final form. It was written mainly at +Cornell University, but several of its chapters in other parts of +the world, one being almost wholly prepared on the Nile, at +Athens, and at Munich; another at St. Petersburg and during a +journey in the Scandinavian countries; and other chapters in +England and France. At last, in the spare hours of my official +life at St. Petersburg I made an end of the work; and in Italy, +during the winter and spring of 1894-1895, gave it final +revision. + +For valuable aid in collecting materials and making notes in +public libraries, I was indebted to various friends whose names +are mentioned in its preface; and above all, to my dear friend +and former student, Professor George Lincoln Burr, who not only +aided me greatly during the latter part of my task by wise +suggestions and cautions, but who read the proofs and made the +index. + +Perhaps I may be allowed to repeat here that my purpose in +preparing this book was to strengthen not only science but +religion. I have never had any tendency to scoffing, nor have I +liked scoffers. Many of my closest associations and dearest +friendships have been, and still are, with clergymen. Clergymen +are generally, in our cities and villages, among the best and +most intelligent men that one finds, and, as a rule, with +thoughtful and tolerant old lawyers and doctors, the people best +worth knowing. My aim in writing was not only to aid in freeing +science from trammels which for centuries had been vexatious and +cruel, but also to strengthen religious teachers by enabling them +to see some of the evils in the past which, for the sake of +religion itself, they ought to guard against in the future. + +During vacation journeys in Europe I was led, at various +historical centers, to take up special subjects akin to those +developed in my lectures. Thus, during my third visit to +Florence, having read Manzoni's "Promessi Sposi," which still +seems to me the most beautiful historical romance ever written, I +was greatly impressed by that part of it which depicts the +superstitions and legal cruelties engendered by the plague at +Milan. This story, with Manzoni's "Colonna Infame" and Cantu's +"Vita di Beccaria," led me to take up the history of criminal +law, and especially the development of torture in procedure and +punishment. Much time during two or three years was given to this +subject, and a winter at Stuttgart in 1877-1878 was entirely +devoted to it. In the course of these studies I realized as never +before how much dogmatic theology and ecclesiasticism have done +to develop and maintain the most frightful features in penal law. +I found that in Greece and Rome, before the coming in of +Christianity, torture had been reduced to a minimum and, indeed, +had been mainly abolished; but that the doctrine in the mediaeval +church as to "Excepted Cases"--namely, cases of heresy and +witchcraft, regarding which the theological dogma was developed +that Satan would exercise his powers to help his votaries--had +led to the reestablishment of a system of torture, in order to +baffle and overcome Satan, far more cruel than any which +prevailed under paganism. + +I also found that, while under the later Roman emperors and, in +fact, down to the complete supremacy of Christianity, criminal +procedure grew steadily more and more merciful, as soon as the +church was established in full power yet another theological +doctrine came in with such force that it extended the use of +torture from the "Excepted Cases" named above to all criminal +procedure, and maintained it, in its most frightful form, for +more than a thousand years. This new doctrine was that since the +Almighty punishes his erring children by tortures infinite in +cruelty and eternal in duration, earthly authorities may justly +imitate this divine example so far as their finite powers enable +them to do so. I found this doctrine not only especially +effective in the mediaeval church, but taking on even more +hideous characteristics in the Protestant Church, especially in +Germany. On this subject I collected much material, some of it +very interesting and little known even to historical scholars. Of +this were original editions of the old criminal codes of Europe +and later criminal codes in France and Germany down to the French +Revolution, nearly all of which were enriched with engravings +illustrating instruments and processes of torture. So, too, a +ghastly light was thrown into the whole subject by the +executioners' tariffs in the various German states, especially +those under ecclesiastical rule. One of several in my possession, +which was published by the Elector Archbishop of Cologne in 1757 +and stamped with the archbishop's seal, specifies and sanctions +every form of ingenious cruelty which one human being can +exercise upon another, and, opposite each of these cruelties, the +price which the executioner was authorized to receive for +administering it. Thus, for cutting off the right hand so much; +for tearing out the tongue, so much; for tearing the flesh with +hot pincers, so much; for burning a criminal alive, so much; and +so on through two folio pages. Moreover, I had collected details +of witchcraft condemnations, which, during more than a century, +went on at the rate of more than a thousand a year in Germany +alone, and not only printed books but the original manuscript +depositions taken from the victims in the torture-chamber. Of +these were the trial papers of Dietrich Flade, who had been, +toward the end of the sixteenth century, one of the most eminent +men in eastern Germany, chief justice of the province and rector +of the University of Treves. Having ventured to think witchcraft +a delusion, he was put on trial by the archbishop, tortured until +in his agony he acknowledged every impossible thing suggested to +him, and finally strangled and burned. In his case, as in various +others, I have the ipsissima verba of the accusers and accused: +the original report in the handwriting of the scribe who was +present at the torture and wrote down the questions of the judges +and the answers of the prisoner. + +On this material I based a short course of lectures on "The +Evolution of Humanity in Criminal Law," and have often thought of +throwing these into the form of a small book to be called "The +Warfare of Humanity with Unreason"; but this will probably remain +a mere project. I mention it here, hoping that some other person, +with more leisure, will some day properly present these facts as +bearing on the claims of theologians and ecclesiastics to direct +education and control thought. + +Of this period, too, were sundry projects for special monographs. +Thus, during various visits to Florence, I planned a history of +that city. It had interested me in my student days during my +reading of Sismondi's "History of the Italian Republics," and on +resuming my studies in that field it seemed to me that a history +of Florence might be made, most varied, interesting, and +instructive. It would embrace, of course, a most remarkable +period of political development--the growth of a mediaeval +republic out of early anarchy and tyranny; some of the most +curious experiments in government ever made; the most wonderful, +perhaps, of all growths in art, literature, and science; and the +final supremacy of a monarchy, bringing many interesting results, +yet giving some terrible warnings. But the more I read the more I +saw that to write such a history a man must relinquish everything +else, and so it was given up. So, too, during various sojourns at +Venice my old interest in Father Paul Sarpi, which had been +aroused during my early professorial life while reading his pithy +and brilliant history of the Council of Trent, was greatly +increased, and I collected a considerable library with the idea +of writing a short biography of him for American readers. This, +of all projects not executed, has been perhaps the most difficult +for me to relinquish. My last three visits to Venice have +especially revived my interest in him and increased my collection +of books regarding him. The desire to spread his fame has come +over me very strongly as I have stood in the council-rooms of the +Venetian Republic, which he served so long and so well; as I have +looked upon his statue on the spot where he was left for dead by +the emissaries of Pope Paul V; and as I have mused over his +grave, so long desecrated and hidden by monks, but in these +latter days honored with an inscription. But other work has +claimed me, and others must write upon this subject. It is well +worthy of attention, not only for the interest of its details, +but for the light it throws upon great forces still at work in +the world. Strong men have discussed it for European readers, but +it deserves to be especially presented to Americans. + +I think an eminent European publicist entirely right in saying +that Father Paul is one of the three men, since the middle ages, +who have exercised the most profound influence on Italy; the +other two being Galileo and Machiavelli. The reason assigned by +this historian for this judgment is not merely the fact that +Father Paul was one of the most eminent men in science whom Italy +has produced, nor the equally incontestable fact that he taught +the Venetian Republic--and finally the world--how to withstand +papal usurpation of civil power, but that by his history of the +Council of Trent he showed "how the Holy Spirit conducts the +councils of the church" ("comme quoi le Saint Esprit dirige les +conciles").[36] + + +[36] Since writing the above, I have published in the "Atlantic +Monthly" two historical essays upon Sarpi. + + +Yet another subject which I would have been glad to present was +the life of St. Francis Xavier--partly on account of my +veneration for the great Apostle to the Indies, and partly +because a collation of his successive biographies so strikingly +reveals the origin and growth of myth and legend in the warm +atmosphere of devotion. The project of writing such a book was +formed in my Cornell lecture-room at the close of a short course +of lectures on the "Jesuit Reaction which followed the +Reformation." In the last of these I had pointed out the beauty +of Xavier's work, and had shown how natural had been the immense +growth of myth and legend in connection with it. Among my hearers +was Goldwin Smith, and as we came out he said: "I have often +thought that if any one were to take a series of the published +lives of one of the great Jesuit saints, beginning at the +beginning and comparing the successive biographies as they have +appeared, century after century, down to our own time much light +would be thrown upon the evolution of the miraculous in +religion." I was struck by this idea, and it occurred to me that, +of all such examples, that of Francis Xavier would be the most +fruitful and interesting. For we have, to begin with, his own +letters written from the scene of his great missionary labors in +the East, in which no miracles appear. We have the letters of his +associates at that period, in which there is also no knowledge +shown of any miracles performed by him. We also have the great +speeches of Laynez, one of Xavier's associates, who, at the +Council of Trent, did his best to promote Jesuit interests, and +who yet showed no knowledge of any miracles performed by Xavier. +We have the very important work by Joseph Acosta, the eminent +provincial of the Jesuits, written at a later period, largely on +the conversion of the Indies, and especially on Xavier's part in +it, which, while accepting, in a perfunctory way, the attribution +of miracles to Xavier, gives us reasoning which seems entirely to +discredit them. Then we have biographies of Xavier, published +soon after his death, in which very slight traces of miracles +begin to be found; then other biographies later and later, +century after century, in which more and more miracles appear, +and earlier miracles of very simple character grow more and more +complex and astounding, until finally we see him credited with a +vast number of the most striking miracles ever conceived of. In +order to develop the subject I have collected books and documents +of every sort bearing upon it from his time to ours, and have +given a brief summary of the results in my "History of the +Warfare of Science." But the full development of this subject, +which throws intense light upon the growth of miracles in the +biographies of so many benefactors of our race, must probably be +left to others. + +It should be treated with judicial fairness. There should not be +a trace of prejudice against the church Xavier served. The +infallibility of the Pope who canonized him was indeed committed +to the reality of miracles which Xavier certainly never +performed; but the church at large cannot justly be blamed for +this: it was indeed made the more illustrious by Xavier's great +example. The evil, if evil there was, lay in human nature, and a +proper history of this evolution of myth and legend, by throwing +light into one of the strongest propensities of devout minds, +would give a most valuable warning against basing religious +systems on miraculous claims which are constantly becoming more +and more discredited and therefore more and more dangerous to any +system which persists in using them. + +Still another project interested me; effort connected with it was +a kind of recreation; this project was formed during my attache +days at St. Petersburg with Governor Seymour. It was a brief +biography of Thomas Jefferson. I made some headway in it, but was +at last painfully convinced that I should never have time to +finish it worthily. Besides this, after the Civil War, Jefferson, +though still interesting to me, was by no means so great a man in +my eyes as he had been. Perhaps no doctrine ever cost any other +country so dear as Jefferson's pet theory of State rights cost +the United States: nearly a million of lives lost on +battle-fields, in prisons, and in hospitals; nearly ten thousand +millions of dollars poured into gulfs of hatred. + +With another project I was more fortunate. In 1875 I was asked to +prepare a bibliographical introduction to Mr. O'Connor Morris's +short history of the French Revolution. This I did with much +care, for it seemed to me that this period in history, giving +most interesting material for study and thought, had been much +obscured by ideas drawn from trashy books instead of from the +really good authorities. + +Having finished this short bibliography, it occurred to me that a +much more extensive work, giving a selection of the best +authorities on all the main periods of modern history, might be +useful. This I began, and was deeply interested in it; but here, +as in various other projects, the fates were against me. Being +appointed a commissioner to the French Exposition, and seeing in +this an opportunity to do other work which I had at heart, I +asked my successor in the professorship of history at the +University of Michigan, who at a later period became my successor +as president of Cornell, Dr. Charles Kendall Adams, to take the +work off my hands. This he did, and produced a book far better +than any which I could have written. The kind remarks in his +preface regarding my suggestions I greatly prize, and feel that +this project, at least, though I could not accomplish it, had a +most happy issue. + +Another project which I have long cherished is of a very +different sort; and though it may not be possible for me to carry +it out, my hope is that some other person will do so. For many +years I have noted with pride the munificent gifts made for +educational and charitable purposes in the United States. It is a +noble history,--one which does honor not only to our own country, +but to human nature. No other country has seen any munificence +which approaches that so familiar to Americans. The records show +that during the year 1903 nearly, if not quite, eighty millions +of dollars were given by private parties for these public +purposes. It has long seemed to me that a little book based on +the history of such gifts, pointing out the lines in which they +have been most successful, might be of much use, and more than +once I have talked over with my dear friend Gilman, at present +president of the Carnegie Institution at Washington, the idea of +our working together in the production of a pamphlet or volume +with some such title as, "What Rich Americans have Done and can +Do with their Money." But my friend has been busy in his great +work of founding and developing the university at Baltimore, I +have been of late years occupied in other parts of the world, and +so this project remains unfulfilled. There are many reasons for +the publication of such a book. Most of the gifts above referred +to have been wisely made; but some have not, and a considerable +number have caused confusion in American education rather than +aided its healthful development. Many good things have resulted +from these gifts, but some vastly important matters have been +utterly neglected. We have seen excellent small colleges +transformed by gifts into pretentious and inadequate shams called +"universities"; we have seen great telescopes given without any +accompanying instruments, and with no provision for an +observatory; magnificent collections in geology given to +institutions which had no professor in that science; beautiful +herbariums added to institutions where there is no instruction in +botany; professorships of no use established where others of the +utmost importance should have been founded; institutions founded +where they were not needed, and nothing done where they were +needed. He who will write a thoughtful book on this subject, +based upon a careful study of late educational history, may +render a great service. As I revise this chapter I may say that +in an address at Yale in 1903, entitled, "A Patriotic +Investment," I sought to point out one of the many ways in which +rich men may meet a pressing need of our universities with great +good to the country at large.[37] + + +[37] See "A Patriotic Investment," New Haven, 1903. + + +Yet another project has occupied much time and thought, and may, +I hope, be yet fully carried out. For many years I have thought +much on our wretched legislation against crime and on the +imperfect administration of such criminal law as we have. Years +ago, after comparing the criminal statistics of our own country +with those of other nations, I came to the conclusion that, with +the possible exception of the lower parts of the Italian kingdom, +there is more unpunished murder in our own country than in any +other in the civilized world. This condition of things I found to +be not unknown to others; but there seemed to prevail a sort of +listless hopelessness regarding any remedy for it. Dining in +Philadelphia with my classmate and dear friend Wayne MacVeagh, I +found beside me one of the most eminent judges in Pennsylvania, +and this question of high crime having been broached and the +causes of it discussed, the judge quietly remarked, "The taking +of life, after a full and fair trial, as a penalty for murder, +seems to be the only form of taking life to which the average +American has any objection." Many of our dealings with murder and +other high crimes would seem to show that the judge was, on the +whole, right. My main study on the subject was made in 1892, +during a journey of more than twelve thousand miles with Mr. +Andrew Carnegie and his party through the Middle, Southern, +Southwestern, Pacific, and Northwestern States. We stopped at all +the important places on our route, and at vast numbers of +unimportant places; at every one of these I bought all the +newspapers obtainable, examined them with reference to this +subject, and found that the long daily record of murders in our +metropolitan journals is far from giving us the full reality. I +constantly found in the local papers, at these out-of-the-way +places, numerous accounts of murders which never reached the +metropolitan journals. Most striking testimony was also given me +by individuals,--in one case by a United States senator, who gave +me the history of a country merchant, in one of the Southwestern +States, who had at different times killed eight persons, and who +at his last venture, endeavoring to kill a man who had vexed him +in a mere verbal quarrel, had fired into a lumber-wagon +containing a party coming from church, and killed three persons, +one of them a little girl. And my informant added that this +murderer had never been punished. In California I saw walking +jauntily along the streets, and afterward discoursing in a +drawing-room, a man who, on being cautioned by a policeman while +disturbing the public peace a year or two before, had simply shot +the policeman dead, and had been tried twice, but each time with +a disagreement of the jury. Multitudes of other cases I found +equally bad. I collected a mass of material illustrating the +subject, and on this based an address given for the first time in +San Francisco, and afterward at Boston, New York, New Haven, +Cornell University, and the State universities of Wisconsin and +Minnesota. My aim was to arouse thinking men to the importance of +the subject, and I now hope to prepare a discussion of "The +Problem of High Crime," to be divided into three parts, the first +on the present condition of the problem, the second on its +origin, and the third on possible and probable remedies. + +Of all my projects for historical treatises, there are two which +I have dreamed of for many years, hoping against hope for their +realization. I have tried to induce some of our younger +historical professors to undertake them or to train up students +to undertake them; and, as the time has gone by when I can devote +myself to them, I now mention them in the hope that some one will +arise to do honor to himself and to our country by developing +them. + +The first of these is a history of the middle ages in the general +style of Robertson's "Introduction to the Life of Charles V." +Years ago, when beginning my work as a professor of modern +history at the University of Michigan, I felt greatly the need +for my students of some work which should show briefly but +clearly the transition from ancient history to modern. Life is +not long enough for the study of the minute details of the +mediaeval period in addition to ancient and modern history. What +is needed for the mass of thinking young men is something which +shall show what the work was which was accomplished between the +fall of Rome and the new beginnings of civilization at the +Renascence and the Reformation. For this purpose Robertson's work +was once a masterpiece. It has rendered great services not only +in English-speaking lands, but in others, by enabling thinking +men to see how this modern world has been developed out of the +past and to gain some ideas as to the way in which a yet nobler +civilization may be developed out of the present Robertson's work +still remains a classic, but modern historical research has +superseded large parts of it, and what is now needed is a short +history--of, say, three hundred pages--carried out on the main +lines of Robertson, taking in succession the most important +subjects in the evolution of mediaeval history, discarding all +excepting the leading points in chronology, and bringing out +clearly the sequence of great historical causes and results from +the downfall of Rome to the formation of the great modern states. +And there might well be brought into connection with this what +Robertson did not give--namely, sketches showing the character +and work of some of the men who wrought most powerfully in this +transition. + +During my stay at the University of Michigan, I made a beginning +of such a history by giving a course of lectures on the growth of +civilization in the middle ages, taking up such subjects as the +downfall of Rome, the barbarian invasion, the rise of the papacy, +feudalism, Mohammedanism, the anti-feudal effects of the +crusades, the rise of free cities, the growth of law, the growth +of literature, and ending with the centralization of monarchical +power in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. But the lectures +then prepared were based merely upon copious notes and given, as +regarded phrasing, extemporaneously. It is too late for me now to +write them out or to present the subject in the light of modern +historical research; but I know of no subject which is better +calculated to broaden the mind and extend the horizon of +historical studies in our universities. Provost Stille of the +University of Pennsylvania did indeed carry out, in part, +something of this kind, but time failed him for making more than +a beginning. The man who, of all in our time, seems to me best +fitted to undertake this much needed work is Frederic Harrison. +If the general method of Robertson were combined with the spirit +shown in the early chapters of Harrison's book on "The Meaning of +History," the resultant work would be not only of great service, +but attractive to all thinking men. + +And, last of all, a project which has long been one of my +dreams--a "History of Civilization in Spain." Were I twenty years +younger, I would gladly cut myself loose from all entanglements +and throw myself into this wholly. It seems to me the most +suggestive history now to be written. The material at hand is +ample and easily accessible. A multitude of historians have made +remarkable contributions to it, and among these, in our own +country, Irving, Prescott, Motley, Ticknor, and Lea; in England, +Froude, Ford, Buckle, and others have given many pregnant +suggestions and some increase of knowledge; Germany and France +have contributed much in the form of printed books; Spain, much +in the publication of archives and sundry interesting histories +apologizing for the worst things in Spanish history; the +Netherlands have also contributed documents of great value. There +is little need of delving among manuscripts; that has already +been done, and the results are easily within reach of any +scholar. The "History of Civilization in Spain" is a history of +perhaps the finest amalgamation of races which was made at the +downfall of the Roman Empire; of splendid beginnings of liberty +and its noble exercise in the middle ages; of high endeavor; of a +wonderful growth in art and literature. But it is also a history +of the undermining and destruction of all this great growth, so +noble, so beautiful, by tyranny in church and state--tyranny over +body and mind, heart and soul. A simple, thoughtful account of +this evolution of the former glory of Spain, and then of the +causes of her decline to her present condition, would be full of +suggestions for fruitful thought regarding politics, religion, +science, literature, and art. To write such a history was the +best of my dreams. Perhaps, had I been sent in 1879 as minister +to Madrid instead of to Berlin, I might at least have made an +effort to begin it, and, whether successful or not, might have +led other men to continue it. It is now too late for me, but I +still hope that our country will supply some man to undertake it. +Whoever shall write such a book in an honest, broad, and +impartial spirit will gain not only honor for his country and +himself, but will render a great service to mankind. + +In closing this chapter on "Plans and Projects, Executed and +Unexecuted," I know well that my confessions will do me no good +in the eyes of many who shall read them. It will be said that I +attempted too many things. In mitigation of such a judgment I may +say that the conditions of American life in the second half of +the century just closed have been very different from those in +most other countries. It has been a building period, a period of +reforms necessitated by the rapid growth of our nation out of +earlier conditions and limitations. Every thinking man who has +felt any responsibility has necessarily been obliged to take part +in many enterprises of various sorts: necessary work has abounded +and has been absolutely forced upon him. It has been a period in +which a man could not well devote himself entirely to the dative +case. Besides this, so far as concerns myself, I had much +practical administrative work to do, was plunged into the midst +of it at two universities and at various posts in the diplomatic +service, to say nothing of many other duties, so that my plans +were constantly interfered with. Like many others during the +latter half of the nineteenth century, I have been obliged to +obey the injunction, "Do the work which lieth nearest thee." It +has happened more than once that when all has been ready for some +work which I greatly desired to do, and which I hoped might be of +use, I have been suddenly drawn off to official duties by +virtually an absolute command. Take two examples out of many: I +had brought my lectures on German history together, had collected +a mass of material for putting them into final shape as a +"History of the Building of the New Germany," and had written two +chapters, when suddenly came the summons from President Cleveland +to take part in the Venezuela Commission,--a summons which it was +impossible to decline. For a year this new work forbade a +continuance of the old; and just as I was again free came the +Bryan effort to capture the Presidency, which, in my opinion, +would have resulted in wide-spread misery at home and in dishonor +to the American name through out the world. Most reluctantly then +I threw down my chosen work and devoted my time to what seemed to +me to be a political duty. Then followed my appointment to the +Berlin Embassy, which could not be declined; and just at the +period when I hoped to secure leisure at Berlin for continuing +the preparation of my book on Germany, there came duties at The +Hague Conference which took my time for nearly a year. It is, +perhaps, unwise for me thus to make a clean breast of it,--"qui +s'excuse, s'accuse"; but I have something other than excuses to +make: I may honestly plead before my old friends and students who +shall read this book that my life has been mainly devoted to +worthy work; that I can look back upon the leading things in it +with satisfaction; that, whether as regards religion, politics, +education, or the public service in general, it will be found not +a matter of unrelated shreds and patches, but to have been +developed in obedience to a well-defined line of purpose. I +review the main things along this line with thankfulness: First, +my work at the University of Michigan, which enabled me to do +something toward preparing the way for a better system of higher +education in the United States; next, my work in the New York +State Senate, which enabled me to aid effectively in developing +the school system in the State, in establishing a health +department in its metropolis, in promoting good legislation in +various fields; and in securing the charter of Cornell +University; next, my part in founding Cornell University and in +maintaining it for more than twenty years; next, the preparation +of a book which, whatever its shortcomings and however deprecated +by many good men, has, as I believe, done service to science, to +education, and to religion; next, many speeches, articles, +pamphlets, which have aided in the development of right reason on +political, financial, and social questions; and, finally, the +opportunity given me at a critical period to aid in restoring and +maintaining good relations between the United States and Germany, +and in establishing the international arbitration tribunal of The +Hague. I say these things not boastingly, but reverently. I have +sought to fight the good fight; I have sought to keep the +faith,--faith in a Power in the universe good enough to make +truth-seeking wise, and strong enough to make truth-telling +effective,--faith in the rise of man rather than in the fall of +man,--faith in the gradual evolution and ultimate prevalence of +right reason among men. So much I hope to be pardoned for giving +as an apologia pro vita mea. + + + +PART VIII + +RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT + +CHAPTER LVIII + +EARLY IMPRESSIONS--1832-1851 + +When the colonists from New England came into central and western +New York, at the end of the eighteenth century, they wrote their +main ideas large upon the towns they founded. Especially was this +evident at my birthplace on the head waters of the Susquehanna. +In the heart of the little village they laid out, largely and +liberally, "the Green"; across the middle of this there gradually +rose a line of wooden structures as stately as they knew how to +make them,--the orthodox Congregational church standing at the +center; close beside this church stood the "academy"; and then, +on either side, the churches of the Baptists, Methodists, and +Episcopalians. Thus were represented religion, education, and +church equality. + +The Episcopal church, as belonging to the least numerous +congregation, was at the extreme left, and the smallest building +of all. It was easily recognized. All the others were in a sort +of quasi-Italian style of the seventeenth century, like those +commonly found in New England; but this was in a kind of +"carpenter's Gothic" which had grown out of vague recollections +of the mother-country. To this building I was taken for baptism, +and with it are connected my first recollections of public +worship. My parents were very devoted members of the Protestant +Episcopal Church. With a small number of others of like mind, +they had taken refuge in it from the storms of fanaticism which +swept through western New York during the early years of the +nineteenth century. For that was the time of great "revivals." +The tremendous assertions of Jonathan Edwards regarding the +tyranny of God, having been taken up by a multitude of men who +were infinitely Edwards's inferiors in everything save +lung-power, were spread with much din through many churches: +pictures of an angry Moloch holding over the infernal fires the +creatures whom he had predestined to rebel, and the statement +that "hell is filled with infants not a span long," were among +the choice oratorical outgrowths of this period. With these loud +and lurid utterances went strivings after sacerdotal rule. The +presbyter--"old priest writ large"--took high ground in all these +villages: the simplest and most harmless amusements were +denounced, and church members guilty of taking part in them were +obliged to stand in the broad aisle and be publicly reprimanded +from the pulpit. + +My mother was thoughtful, gentle, and kindly; in the midst of all +this froth and fury some one lent her a prayer-book; this led her +to join in the devotions of a little knot of people who had been +brought up to use it; and among these she found peace. My father, +who was a man of great energy and vigor, was attracted to this +little company; and not long afterward rose the little church on +the Green, served at first by such clergymen as chanced to be in +that part of the State. + +Among these was a recent graduate of the Episcopal College at +Geneva on Seneca Lake--Henry Gregory. His seemed to be a soul +which by some mistake had escaped out of the thirteenth century +into the nineteenth. He was slight in build, delicate in health, +and ascetic in habits, his one interest in the world being the +upbuilding of the kingdom of God--as he understood it. It was the +time when Pusey, Newman, Keble, and their compeers were reviving +mediaeval Christianity; their ideas took strong hold upon many +earnest men in the western world, and among these no one absorbed +them more fully than this young missionary. He was honest, +fearless, self-sacrificing, and these qualities soon gave him a +strong hold upon his flock,--the hold of a mediaeval saint upon +pilgrims seeking refuge from a world cruel and perverse. + +Seeing this, sundry clergymen and influential laymen of what were +known as the "evangelical denominations" attempted to refute his +arguments and discredit his practices. That was the very thing +which he and his congregation most needed: under this opposition +his fervor deepened, his mediaeval characteristics developed, his +little band of the faithful increased, and more and more they +adored him; but this adoration did not in the least injure him: +he remained the same gentle, fearless, narrow, uncompromising man +throughout his long life. + +My first recollections of religious worship in the little old +church take me back to my fourth year; and I can remember well, +at the age of five, standing between my father and mother, +reading the Psalter with them as best I could, joining in the +chants and looking with great awe on the service as it went on +before my admiring eyes. So much did it impress me that from my +sixth to my twelfth year I always looked forward to Sunday +morning with longing. The prayers, the chants, the hymns, all had +a great attraction for me,--and this although I was somewhat +severely held to the proper observance of worship. I remember +well that at the age of six years, if I faltered in the public +reading of the Psalter, a gentle rap on the side of my head from +my father's knuckles reminded me of my duty. + +At various times since I have been present at the most gorgeous +services of the Anglican, Latin, Russian, and Oriental churches; +have heard the Pope, surrounded by his cardinals, sing mass at +the high altar of St. Peter's; have seen the Metropolitan +Archbishop of Moscow, surrounded by prelates of the Russian +Empire, conduct the burial of a czar; have seen the highest +Lutheran dignitaries solemnize the marriage of a German kaiser; +have sat under the ministrations of sundry archbishops of +Canterbury; have been present at high mass performed by the +Archbishop of Athens under the shadow of Mars Hill and the +Parthenon; and, though I am singularly susceptible to the +influence of such pageants, especially if they are accompanied by +noble music, no one of these has ever made so great an impression +upon me as that simple Anglo-American service performed by a +surpliced clergyman with a country choir and devout assemblage in +this little village church. Curiously enough, one custom, which +high-churchmen long ago discarded as beneath the proper dignity +of the service, was perhaps the thing which impressed me most, +and I have since learned that it generally thus impressed +new-comers to the Episcopal Church: this was the retirement of +the clergyman, at the close of the regular morning prayer, to the +vestry, where he left his surplice, and whence he emerged in a +black Geneva gown, in which he then preached the sermon. This +simple feature in the ceremonial greatly impressed me, and led me +to ask the reason for it: at which answer was made that the +clergyman wore his white surplice as long as he was using God's +words, but that he wore his black gown whenever he used his own. + +Though comparatively little was said by Episcopalians regarding +religious experiences or pious states of mind, there was an +atmosphere of orderly decency during the whole service which +could hardly fail to make an impression on all thinking children +brought into it. I remember that when, on one or two occasions, I +was taken to the Congregational church by my grandmother, I was +much shocked at what seemed to me the unfit dress and conduct of +the clergyman,--in a cutaway coat, lounging upon a sofa,--and at +the irreverent ways of the sturdy farmers, who made ready to +leave the church during the final prayer, and even while they +should have been receiving the benediction. + +I thus became a devotee. Of the sermons I retained little, except +a few striking assertions or large words; one of my amusements, +on returning home, was conducting a sort of service, on my own +account, with those of the household who were willing to take +part in it; and, from some traditions preserved in the family +regarding my utterances on such occasions, a droll sort of +service it must have been. + +In my seventh year the family removed to Syracuse, the "Central +City" of the State, already beginning a wonderful career, +although at that time of less than six thousand inhabitants. My +experience in the new city was prefaced by an excursion, with my +father and mother and younger brother, to Buffalo and Niagara; +and as the railways through central New York were then +unfinished,--and, indeed, but few of them begun,--we made the +journey almost entirely on a canal-packet. Perhaps my most vivid +remembrance of this voyage is that of the fervid prayers I then +put up against shipwreck. + +At Syracuse was a much larger and more influential Protestant +Episcopal church than that which we had left,--next, indeed, in +importance to the Presbyterian body. That church--St. Paul's--has +since become the mother of a large number of others, and has been +made the cathedral of a new diocese. In this my father, by virtue +of his vigor in everything he undertook, was soon made a +vestryman, and finally senior warden; and, the rectorate +happening to fall vacant, he recommended for the place our former +clergyman, Henry Gregory. He came, and his work in the new place +was soon even more effective than in the old. + +His first influence made me a most determined little bigot, and I +remember well my battles in behalf of high-church ideas with +various Presbyterian boys, and especially with the son of the +Presbyterian pastor. In those days went on a famous controversy +provoked by a speech at a New England dinner in the city of New +York which had set by the ears two eminent divines--the Rev. Dr. +Wainwright, Episcopalian, and the Rev. Dr. Potts; Presbyterian. +Dr. Potts had insisted that the Puritans had founded a "church +without a bishop and a state without a king"; Dr. Wainwright +insisted that there could be no church without a bishop; and on +this the two champions joined issue. Armed with the weapons +furnished me in the church catechism, in sundry sermons, and in +pious reading, I took up the cudgels, and the battles then waged +were many and severe. + +One little outgrowth of my religious intolerance was quickly +nipped in the bud. As I was returning home one evening with a +group of scampish boys, one of them pointed out the "Jew +store,"--in those days a new thing,--and reminded us that the +proprietor worshiped on Saturday and, doubtless, committed other +abominations. At this, with one accord, we did what we could to +mete out the Old Testament punishment for blasphemy--we threw +stones at his door. My father, hearing of this, dealt with me +sharply and shortly, and taught me most effectually to leave +dealing with the Jewish religion to the Almighty. I have never +since been tempted to join in any anti-Semitic movement whatever. + +Meanwhile Mr. Gregory--or, as he afterward became, Dr. +Gregory--was fighting the battles of the church in many ways, and +some of his sermons made a great impression upon me. Of these one +was entitled "The Church not a Sect," the text being, "For as to +this sect, we know that it is everywhere spoken against." Another +sermon showed, especially, his uncompromising spirit and took yet +stronger hold upon me; it was given on an occasion when +Presbyterians, Methodists, and Baptists were drawn in large +numbers to his church; but, disdaining all efforts to propitiate +them, he took as his subject "The Sin of Korah," who set himself +up against the regularly ordained priesthood, and was, with all +his adherents, fearfully punished. The conclusion was easily +drawn by all the "dissenters" present. On another occasion of the +same sort, when his church was filled with people from other +congregations, he took as his subject the story of Naaman the +Syrian, his text being, "Are not Abana and Pharphar, rivers of +Damascus, better than all the rivers of Israel? May I not wash in +them and be clean?" The good rector's answer was, in effect, "No, +you may not. The Almighty designated the river Jordan as the +means for securing health and safety; and so in these times he +has designated for a similar purpose the church--which is the +Protestant Episcopal Church: outside of that--as the one +appointed by him--you have no hope." + +But gradually there came in my mind a reaction, and curiously, it +started from my love for my grandmother--my mother's mother. +Among all the women whom I remember in my early life, she was the +kindest and most lovely. She had been brought as a young girl, by +her parents, from Old Guilford in Connecticut; and in her later +life she often told me cheerily of the days of privation and +toil, of wolves howling about the cottages of the little New York +settlement in winter, of journeys twenty miles to church, of +riding on horseback from early morning until late in the evening, +through the forests, to bring flour from the mill. She was +quietly religious, reading every day from her New Testament, but +remaining in the old Congregational Church which my mother had +left. I remember once asking her why she did not go with the rest +of us to the Episcopal Church. Her answer was, "Well, dear child, +the Episcopal Church is just the church for your father and +mother and for you children; you are all young and active, but I +am getting old and rather stout, and there is a little too much +getting up and sitting down in your church for me." To the harsh +Calvinism of her creed she seemed to pay no attention, and, if +hard pressed by me, used to say, "Well, sonny, there is, of +course, some merciful way out of it all." Her religion took every +kindly form. She loved every person worth loving,--and some not +worth loving,--and her benefactions were extended to people of +every creed; especially was she a sort of Providence to the poor +Catholic Irish of the lower part of the town. To us children she +was especially devoted--reconciling us in our quarrels, soothing +us in our sorrows, comforting us in our disappointments, and +carrying us through our sicknesses. She used great common sense +in her care of us; kindly and gentle to the last degree, there +was one thing she would never allow, and this was that the +children, even when they became quite large, should be out of the +house, in the streets or public places, after dark, without an +elderly and trusty companion. Though my brother and I used to +regard this as her one fault, it was really a great service to +us; for, as soon as dusk came on, if we were tempted to linger in +the streets or in public places, we returned home, since we knew +that if we did not we should soon see her coming to remind us, +and this was, of course, a serious blow to our pride. + +When, then, I sat in church and heard our mediaeval saint preach +with ardor and unction, Sunday after Sunday, that the promises +were made to the church alone; that those outside it had +virtually no part in God's goodness; that they were probably +lost,--I thought of this dear, sweet old lady, and my heart rose +in rebellion. She was certainly the best Christian I knew, and +the idea that she should be punished for saying her prayers in +the Presbyterian Church was abhorrent to me. I made up my mind +that, if she was to be lost, I would be lost with her; and soon, +under the influence of thoughts like these, I became a religious +rebel. + +The matter was little helped when our good rector preached upon +retribution for sin. He held the most extreme views regarding +future punishment; and the more he developed them, the more my +mind rejected the idea that so many good people about me, +especially the one whom I loved so much, could be subjected to +such tortures,--and the more my heart rebelled against the Moloch +who had established and was administering so horrible a system. I +must have been about twelve years old when it thus occurred to me +to question the whole sacred theory; and this questioning was +started into vigorous life after visiting, with some other +school-boys, the Presbyterian church when a "revival" was going +on. As I entered, a very unspiritual-looking preacher was laying +down the most severe doctrines of divine retribution. In front of +him were several of our neighbors' daughters, many of them my +schoolmates, whom I regarded as thoroughly sweet and good; and +they were in tears, apparently broken-hearted under the storm of +wrath which poured over them from the mouth of the revival +preacher. At this I revolted entirely, and from that moment I +disbelieved in the whole doctrine, utterly and totally. I felt +that these kindly girls, to whom I had looked with so much +admiration in the classes at school and in our various little +gatherings, were infinitely more worthy of the divine favor than +was the big, fleshly creature storming and raging and claiming to +announce a divine message. + +Some influence on my youthful thinking had also been exercised by +sundry occurrences in our own parish. Our good rector was +especially fond of preaching upon "baptismal regeneration"; +taking the extreme high-church view and thereby driving out some +of the best "evangelicals" from his congregation. One of these I +remember especially--a serene, dignified old man, Mr. John +Durnford. After he left our church he took his place among the +Presbyterians, and I remember, despite my broad-church +tendencies, thinking that he was incurring serious danger by such +apostasy; but as I noted him, year after year, devoting himself +to the newly founded orphan-asylum, giving all his spare time to +the care of the children gathered there, even going into the +market and thence bearing provisions to them in a basket, I began +to feel that perhaps his soul was safe, after all. I bethought +myself that, with all my reading of the Bible, I had never found +any text which required a man to believe in the doctrines of the +Protestant Episcopal Church; but that I had found, in the words +of Jesus himself, as well as in the text of St James regarding +"pure religion and undefiled," declarations which seemed to +commend, especially, labors for the poor, fatherless, and +afflicted, like those of Mr. Durnford. + +But still more marked was the influence on my thinking of a +painful clash in the parish. It came on this wise. Our rector was +one day called to attend the funeral of a little child but a few +weeks old, the daughter of neighbors of ours. The father was a +big-bodied, big-hearted, big-voiced, successful man of business, +well liked for his bluff cordiality and generosity, who went to +church because his wife went. The mother was a sweet, kindly, +delicate woman, the daughter of a clergyman, and devoted to the +church. + +It happened that, for various reasons, and more especially on +account of the absence of the father from home on business, the +baptism of the child had been delayed until its sudden death +prevented the rite forever. + +The family and neighbors being assembled at the house, and the +service about to begin, an old maiden lady, who had deeply +absorbed the teachings of Dr. Gregory and wished to impress them +on those present, said to the father, audibly and with a groan, +"Oh, Mr.----, what a pity that the baby was not baptized!" to +which the rector responded, with a deep sigh and in a most +plaintive voice, "Yes!" Thereupon the mother of the child burst +into loud and passionate weeping, and at this the father, big and +impulsive as he was, lost all control of himself. Rising from his +chair, he strode to the side of the rector and said, "That is a +slander on the Almighty; none but a devil could, for my +negligence, punish this lovely little child by ages of torture. +Take it back--take it back, sir; or, by the God that made us, I +will take you by the neck and throw you into the street!" At this +the gentle rector faltered out that he did not presume to limit +the mercy of God, and after a time the service went on; but +sermons on baptismal regeneration from our pulpit were never +afterward frequent or cogent. + +Startled as I was at this scene, I felt that the doctrine had not +stood the test. More and more there was developed in me that +feeling which Lord Bacon expressed so profoundly and pithily, in +his essay on "Superstition," when he said: + +It were better to have no opinion of God at all, than such an +opinion as is unworthy of Him; for if the one is unbelief, the +other is contumely: and certainly superstition is the reproach of +the Deity. Plutarch saith well to that purpose: "Surely, I had +rather a great deal that men should say there was no such man at +all as Plutarch, than that they should say that Plutarch ate his +children as soon as they were born;"--as the poets speak of +Saturn: and as the contumely is greater towards God, so the +danger is greater towards men. + + +The "danger" of which Bacon speaks has been noted by me often, +both before and since I read his essays. Once, indeed, when a +very orthodox lady had declared to me her conviction that every +disbeliever in the divinity of the second person in the Trinity +must be lost, I warned her of this danger and said, "We lately +had President Grant here on the university grounds. Suppose your +little girl, having met the President, and having been told that +he was the great general of the war and President of the United +States, should assert her disbelief, basing it on the fact that +she had formed the idea of a much more showy and gorgeous person +than this quiet, modest little man; and suppose that General +Grant, on hearing of the child's mistake, should cruelly punish +her for it; what would you think of him? and what would he think +of you, were he to know that you asserted that he could be so +contemptibly unjust and cruel? The child's utterance would not in +the slightest offend him, but your imputation to him of such +vileness would most certainly anger him." + +A contribution to my religious development came also from a very +different quarter. Our kitchen Bridget, one of the best of her +kind, lent me her book of devotion--the "Ursuline Manual." It +interested me much until I found in it the reasons very cogently +given why salvation was confined to the Roman Catholic Church. +This disgusted me. According to this, even our good rector had no +more chance of salvation than a Presbyterian or Baptist or +Methodist minister. But this serious view of the case was +disturbed by a humorous analogy. There were then fighting +vigorously through the advertisement columns of the newspapers +two rival doctors, each claiming to produce the only salutary +"sarsaparilla," and each named Townsend. At first one claimed to +be "THE Dr. Townsend," then the other claimed to be "THE Dr. +Townsend"; the first rejoined that HE was "Dr. JACOB Townsend," +whereupon the other insisted that HE was "Dr. Jacob Townsend"; to +this the first answered that HE was "the ORIGINAL Dr. Jacob +Townsend," and the other then declared that HE was "the ORIGINAL +Dr. Jacob Townsend"; and so on, through issue after issue, each +supplying statements, certificates, arguments, rejoinders ad +nauseam. More and more, then, the various divines insisting on +the exclusive possession of the only remedy for sin reminded me +of these eminent sarsaparilla-makers,--each declaring his own +concoction genuine and all others spurious, each glorifying +himself as possessing the original recipe and denouncing his +rivals as pretenders. + +Another contribution to my thought was made one day in the +Sunday-school. While reading in the New Testament I had noticed +the difficulties involved in the two genealogies of Jesus of +Nazareth--that in Matthew and that in Luke. On my asking the +Sunday-school teacher for an explanation, he gave the offhand +answer that one was the genealogy of Joseph and the other of +Mary. Of course it did not take me long to find this answer +inadequate; and, as a consequence, Sunday-school teaching lost +much of its effect upon me. + +But there was still one powerful influence left in behalf of the +old creed. From time to time came the visitation by the bishop, +Dr. DeLancey. He was the most IMPRESSIVE man I have ever seen. I +have stood in the presence of many prelates in my day, from Pope +Pius IX down; but no one of them has ever so awed me as this +Bishop of Western New York. His entry into a church chancel was +an event; no music could be finer than his reading of the +service; his confirmation prayer still dwells in my memory as the +most perfect petition I have ever heard; and his simple, earnest +sermons took strong hold of me. His personal influence was also +great. Goldsmith's lines in the "Deserted Village," + + "Even children follow'd with endearing wile + And pluck'd his gown, to share the good man's smile," + +accurately pictured the feelings of many of us as we lingered +after service to see him greet our fathers and mothers. + +As to my biblical studies, they were continued, though not +perhaps as systematically as they might well have been. The +Protestant Episcopal Church has for a youth at least one +advantage in this respect,--that the services including Introits, +Canticles, Psalter, Lessons, Epistles Gospels, and various +quotations, familiarize him with the noblest utterances in our +sacred books. My mother had received instruction in Bible class +and prized Scripture reading; therefore it was that, when I was +allowed to stay at home from church on Sunday afternoons, it was +always on condition that I should read a certain number of +chapters in the Bible and prove to her upon her return that I had +read them carefully,--and this was not without its uses. + +Here I am reminded of a somewhat curious event. One afternoon, +when I had been permitted to remain at home, on the usual +conditions, my mother, returning from service, said to me that by +staying away from church I had missed something very interesting: +that there was a good sermon well given, that the preacher was of +fine appearance, dignified,--and an Indian; but that she would +never have suspected him to be an Indian were it not for his +words at the conclusion of his sermon, which were as follows: +"And now, my brethren, I leave you. We shall probably never meet +again in this world, and doubtless most of you will forget all +the counsels I have given you and remember nothing save that you +have to-day heard a sermon from an Indian." The point of interest +really was that this preacher, Eleazar Williams, though he gave +no hint of it on this occasion, believed himself, and was +believed by many, to be the lost Dauphin of France, Louis XVII, +and that decidedly skilful arguments in favor of his claims were +published by the Rev. Mr. Hanson and others. One of the most +intelligent women I have ever known believes to this hour that +Eleazar Williams, generally known as a half-breed Indian born in +Canada, was the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and that +his portly form and Bourbon face were convincing additions to +other more cogent testimonies. + +At various times I sought light from new sources, and, finding on +the family shelves a series of books called the "Evangelical +Family Library," I read sundry replies to Hume, Gibbon, and other +deists; but the arguments of Hume and Gibbon and those who +thought with them seemed to me, to say the least, quite as +forcible as those in answer to them. These replies simply +strengthened my tendency to doubt, and what I heard at church +rather increased the difficulty; for the favorite subjects of +sermons in the Episcopal Church of those days, after the +"Apostolical Succession" and "Baptismal Regeneration," were the +perfections of the church order, the beauty of its services, and +the almost divine character of the Prayer-book. These topics were +developed in all the moods and tenses; the beauties of our own +service were constantly contrasted with the crudities and +absurdities of the worship practised by others; and although, +since those days, left to my own observation, I have found much +truth in these comparisons, they produced upon me at that time +anything but a good effect. It was like a beautiful woman coming +into an assemblage; calling attention to the perfections of her +own face, form, and garments; claiming loudly to be the most +beautiful person in the room; and so, finally, becoming the least +attractive person present. + +This state of mind was deepened by my first experiences at +college. I had, from my early boyhood, wished to go to Yale; but, +under pressure from the bishop, I was sent to the little church +college at Geneva in western New York There were excellent men +among its professors--men whom I came to love and admire; but its +faculty, its endowment, its equipment, were insufficient, and for +fear of driving away the sons of its wealthy and influential +patrons it could not afford to insist either on high scholarship +or good discipline, so that the work done was most +unsatisfactory. And here I may mention that the especial claim +put forth by this college, as by so many others like it +throughout the country, was that, with so small a body of +students directly under church control, both the intellectual and +religious interests of the students would be better guarded than +they could be in the larger and comparatively unsectarian +institutions. The very contrary was then true; and various +experiences have shown me that, as a rule, little sectarian +colleges, if too feeble to exercise strong discipline or insist +on thorough work, are the more dangerous. As it was, I felt that +in this particular case a wrong had been done me and charged that +wrong against the church system. + +I have been glad to learn of late years that the college just +referred to has, since my student days, shared the upward +progress of its sister institutions and that with more means and +better appliances a succession of superior instructors have been +able to bring its students into steady good work and under +excellent discipline. + +Much was made in those days of the "Christian evidences," and one +statement then put forth, regarding the miraculous, produced a +temporary effect upon me. This statement was that the claims of +the religions opposed to Christianity did not rest upon miracles; +that there was, at any rate, no real testimony to any except +Christian miracles; and that, as a rule, other religions did not +pretend to exhibit any. But when I, shortly afterward, read the +life of Mohammed, and saw what a great part was played by his +miracle at the battle of Beder, during which, on his throwing +dust into the air, there came to his rescue legions of angels, +who were seen and testified to by many on the field,--both by his +friends and by his enemies; and when I found that miraculous +testimonies play a leading part in all religions, even in favor +of doctrines the most cruel and absurd, I felt that the +"evidences" must be weak which brought forward an argument so ill +grounded. Moreover, in my varied reading I came across multitudes +of miracles attributed to saints of the Roman Catholic +Church,--miracles for which myriads of good men and women were +ready to lay down their lives in attestation of their +belief,--and if we must accept one class of miracles, I could not +see why we should not accept the other. + +At the close of this first year, for reasons given elsewhere, I +broke away from this little college and went to Yale. + + + +CHAPTER LIX + +IN THE NEW ENGLAND ATMOSPHERE--1851-1853 + +At Yale I found myself in the midst of New England +Congregationalism; but I cannot say that it helped me much +religiously. It, indeed, broadened my view, since I was +associated with professors and students of various forms of +Christianity, and came to respect them, not for what they +professed, but for what they really were. + +There also I read under an excellent professor--my dear friend +the late President Porter--Butler's "Analogy"; but, though it +impressed me, it left on my mind the effect of a strong piece of +special pleading,--of a series of arguments equally valuable for +any religion which had once "got itself established." + +Here, too, a repellent influence was exercised upon me by a +"revival." What was called a "religious interest" began to be +shown in sundry student meetings, and soon it came in with a full +tide. I was induced to go into one or two of these assemblies, +and was somewhat impressed by the penitence shown and the pledges +given by some of my college friends. But within a year the whole +thing was dead. Several of the men who had been loudest in their +expressions of penitence and determination to accept Christianity +became worse than ever: they were like logs stranded high and dry +after a freshet. + +But this religious revival in college was infinitely better than +one which ran its course in the immediate neighborhood. Just at +the corner of the college grounds was a Methodist Episcopal +church, the principal one in New Haven, and, a professional +revivalist having begun his work there, the church was soon +thronged. Blasphemy and ribaldry were the preacher's great +attractions. One of the prayers attributed to him ran as follows: +"Come down among us, O Lord! Come straight through the roof; I'll +pay for the shingles!" Night after night the galleries were +crowded with students laughing at this impious farce; and among +them, one evening, came "Charley" Chotard of Mississippi. Chotard +was a very handsome fellow: slender, well formed, six feet three +inches tall, and in any crowd a man of mark, like King Saul. In +the midst of the proceedings, at some grotesque utterance of the +revivalist, the students in the galleries burst into laughter. +The preacher, angrily turning his eyes upon the offenders, saw, +first of all, Chotard, and called out to him: "You lightning-rod +of hell, you flag-staff of damnation, come down from there!" Of +course no such grotesque scenes were ever allowed in the college +chapel: the services there, though simple, were always dignified; +yet even in these there sometimes appeared incongruous features. + +According to tradition in my time, an aged divine, greatly and +justly beloved, from a neighboring city, had been asked to preach +before the students. It was at the time when the whole +English-speaking world had been thrilled by the story of the +relief of Lucknow, and the cry of the Scotch lassie who heard the +defiant slogan and heart-stirring pibroch of the Highlanders +coming to the relief of the besieged had echoed across all the +oceans. Toward the close of his sermon the dear old doctor became +very impressive. He recited the story of Lucknow, and then spoke +in substance as follows: "So to-day, my young friends, I sound in +your ears the slo-o-o-broch of salvation." The alliteration +evidently pleased him, and he repeated it with more and more +emphasis in his peroration. When he sat down another clergyman +who was with him at the sacred desk reminded him of his mistake, +whereupon the good old doctor rose and addressed the students as +follows: "My young friends, you doubtless noticed a mistake in my +final remarks. I said 'slo-o-o-o-broch'; of course I meant +'pi-i-g-a-a-an.'" + +Then, too, it must be confessed that some of the weekday prayers +made by lay professors lent themselves rather too easily to +parody. One of my classmates--since known as a grave and +respected judge--was especially gifted in imitating these +petitions, with the very intonations of their authors, and these +parodies were in great demand on festive occasions. The pet +phrases, the choice rhetoric, and the impressive oratory of these +prayers were thus made so familiar to us in caricatures that the +originals were little conducive to devotion. + +The influence at Yale of men like Goodrich, Taylor, Woolsey, and +Porter, whom I saw in their professors' chairs, was indeed strong +upon me. I respected and admired them; but their purely religious +teaching took but little hold on me; I can remember clearly but +two or three sermons which I heard preached in Yale chapel. One +was at the setting up of the chapel organ, when Horace Bushnell +of Hartford preached upon music; and another was when President +Woolsey preached a baccalaureate sermon upon "Righteous Anger." +The first of these sermons was very beautiful, but the second was +powerful. It has had an influence--and, I think, a good +influence--on my thoughts from that day to this; and it ought to +be preached in every pulpit in our country, at least once a year, +as an antidote to our sickly, mawkish lenity to crime and wrong. + +In those days conformity to religious ideas was carried very far +at Yale. On week-days we had early prayers at about six in the +morning, and evening prayers at about the same hour in the +afternoon; but on Sundays we had not only morning and evening +prayers in the chapel, but morning and afternoon service at +church. I attended St. Paul's Episcopal church, sitting in one of +the gallery pews assigned to undergraduates; but cannot say that +anything that I heard during this period of my life elevated me +especially. I joined in the reading of the Psalter, in the +singing of the chants and hymns, and, occasionally, in reciting +part of the creeds, though more and more this last exercise +became peculiarly distasteful to me. + +Time has but confirmed the opinion, which I then began to hold, +that, of all mistaken usages in a church service, the most +unfortunate is this demand which confronts a man who would gladly +unite with Christians in Christian work, and, in a spirit of +loyalty to the Blessed Founder of Christianity, would cheerfully +become a member of the church and receive the benefit of its +ministrations;--the demand that such a man stand and deliver a +creed made no one knows where or by whom, and of which no human +being can adjust the meanings to modern knowledge, or indeed to +human comprehension. + +My sympathies, tastes, and aims led me to desire to enter fully +into the church in which I was born; there was no other part of +the service in which I could not do my part; but to stand up and +recite the creeds in all their clauses, honestly, I could not. I +had come to know on what slender foundations rested, for example, +the descent into hell; and, as to the virgin birth, my reading +showed me so weak a basis for it in the New Testament taken as a +whole, and so many similar claims made in behalf of divine +founders of religions, that when I reflected upon the reasons for +holding the doctrine to be an aftergrowth upon the original +legend, it was impossible for me to go on loudly proclaiming my +belief in it. Sometimes I have refrained from reciting any part +of the creed; but often, in my reverence for what I admire in the +service, in my love for those whom I have heard so devoutly take +part in it in days gone by, and in my sympathy with those about +me, I have been wont to do what I could,--have joined in +repeating parts of it, leaving out other parts which I, at least, +ought not to repeat. + +Various things combined to increase my distrust for the +prevailing orthodoxy. I had a passion for historical +reading,--indeed, at that time had probably read more and thought +more upon my reading than had most men of my age in college,--and +the more I thus read and thought, the more evident it became to +me that, while the simple religion of the Blessed Founder of +Christianity has gone on through the ages producing the noblest +growths of faith, hope, and charity, many of the beliefs insisted +upon within the church as necessary to salvation were survivals +of primeval superstition, or evolved in obedience to pagan +environment or Jewish habits of thought or Greek metaphysics or +mediaeval interpolations in our sacred books; that most of the +frightful systems and events in modern history have arisen from +theological dogmatism; that the long reign of hideous cruelty in +the administration of the penal law, with its torture-chambers, +its burnings of heretics and witches, its cruelties of every +sort, its repression of so much of sane human instinct and noble +human thought, arose from this source, directly or indirectly; +and that even such ghastly scenes as those of the French +Revolution were provoked by a natural reaction in the minds of a +people whom the church, by its theory of divine retribution, had +educated for ages to be cruel. + +But what impressed me most directly as regards the whole orthodox +part of the church was its virtual support of slavery in the +crisis then rapidly approaching. Excellent divines, like Bishop +Hopkins of Vermont, the Rev. Dr Parker of New Jersey, and others +holding high positions in various sects throughout the country, +having based elaborate defenses of slavery upon Scripture, the +church as a whole had acquiesced in this view. I had become +bitterly opposed, first to the encroachments of the slave power +in the new Territories of the United States, and finally to +slavery itself; and this alliance between it and orthodoxy +deepened my distrust of what was known about me as religion. As +the struggle between slavery and freedom deepened, this feeling +of mine increased. During my first year at college the +fugitive-slave law was passed, and this seemed to me the acme of +abominations. There were, it is true, a few religious men who +took high ground against slavery; but these were generally New +England Unitarians or members of other bodies rejected by the +orthodox, and this fact increased my distrust of the dominant +religion. + +Some years before this, while yet a boy preparing for college, I +had met for the first time a clergyman of this sort--the Rev. +Samuel Joseph May, pastor of the Unitarian church in Syracuse; +and he had attracted me from the first moment that I saw him. +There was about him something very genial and kindly, which won a +way to all hearts. Though I knew him during many years, he never +made the slightest effort to proselyte me. To every good work in +the community, and especially to all who were down-trodden or +oppressed, he was steadfastly devoted; the Onondaga Indians of +central New York found in him a stanch ally against the +encroachments of their scheming white neighbors; fugitive slaves +knew him as their best friend, ready to risk his own safety in +their behalf. + +Although he was the son of an honored Massachusetts family, a +graduate of Harvard, a disciple of Channing, a man of sincere +character and elegant manners, he was evidently dreaded by the +great majority of the orthodox Christians about him. I remember +speaking to him once of a clergyman who had recently arrived in +Syracuse, and who was an excellent scholar. Said Mr. May to me, +"I should like to know him, if that were possible." I asked, "Why +not call upon him?" He answered, "I would gladly do so, but do +you suppose he would return my call?" "Of course he would," I +replied; "he is a gentleman." "Yes," said Mr. May, "no doubt he +is, and so are the other clergymen; yet I have called on them as +they have come, and only two or three of them all have ever +entered my house since." Orthodox fanatics came to remonstrate +and pray with him, but these he generally overcame with his sweet +and kindly manner. To slavery he was an uncompromising foe, being +closely associated with Garrison, Phillips, and the leaders of +the antislavery movement; and so I came to see that there was a +side to Christianity not necessarily friendly to slavery: but I +also saw that it was a side not welcomed by the churches in +general, and especially distrusted in my own family. I remember +taking to him once an old friend of mine, a man of most severe +orthodoxy; and after we had left Mr. May's house I asked my +friend what he thought of the kindly heretic. He answered, "Those +of us who shall be so fortunate as to reach heaven are to be +greatly surprised at some of the people we are to meet there." + +As a Yale student I found an additional advantage in the fact +that I could now frequently hear distinguished clergymen who were +more or less outside the orthodox pale. Of these were the liberal +Congregationalists of New York, Brooklyn, and Boston, and, above +all, Henry Ward Beecher, Edwin Chapin, and Theodore Parker. At +various times during my college course I visited Boston, and was +taken by my classmate and old friend George Washburn Smalley to +hear Parker. He drew immense crowds of thoughtful people. The +music-hall, where he spoke, contained about four thousand seats, +and at each visit of mine every seat, so far as I could see, was +filled. Both Parker's prayers and sermons were inspiring. He was +a deeply religious man; probably the most thorough American +scholar, orthodox or unorthodox, of his time; devoted to the +public good and an intense hater of slavery. His influence over +my thinking was, I believe, excellent; his books, and those of +Channing which I read at this time, did me great good by checking +all inclination to cynicism and scoffing; more than any other +person he strengthened my theistic ideas and stopped any tendency +to atheism; the intense conviction with which men like Channing, +Parker, and May spoke of a God in the universe gave a direction +to my thinking which has never been lost. + +As to Beecher, nothing could exceed his bold brilliancy. He was a +man of genius; even more a poet than an orator; in sympathy with +every noble cause; and utterly without fear of the pew-holders +inside his church or of the mob outside. Heresy-hunters did not +daunt him. Humor played over much of his sermonizing; wit +coruscated through it; but there was at times a pathos which +pervaded the deep places of the human heart. By virtue of his +poetic insight he sounded depths of thought and feeling which no +mere theological reasoning could ever reach. He was a +man,--indeed, a great man,--but to the end of his life he +retained the freshness of youth. General Grant, who greatly +admired him, once said to me, "Beecher is a boy--a glorious boy." + +Beecher's love of nature was a passion. During one of his visits +to Cornell University, I was driving through the woods with him, +and he was in the full tide of brilliant discourse when, +suddenly, he grasped my hand which held the reins and said +peremptorily, "Stop!" I obeyed, and all was still save the note +of a bird in the neighboring thicket. Our stop and silence lasted +perhaps five minutes, when he said, "Did you hear that bird? That +is the----(giving a name I have forgotten). You are lucky to have +him here; I would give a hundred dollars to have him nest as near +me." + +During this visit of his to my house, I remember finding, one +morning, that he had been out of doors since daylight; and on my +expressing surprise at his rising so early after sitting up so +late, he said, "I wanted to enjoy the squirrels in your trees." + +Wonderful, too, was his facility, not merely in preaching, but in +thinking. When, on another visit, he stayed with me, he took no +thought regarding his sermon at the university chapel, so far as +one could see. Every waking moment was filled with things which +apparently made preparation for preaching impossible. I became +somewhat nervous over this neglect; for, so far as I could learn, +he had nothing written, he never spoke from memory, and not only +the students, but the people from the whole country round about, +were crowding toward the chapel. + +Up to the last moment before leaving my house for the morning +service, he discussed the best shrubs for planting throughout our +groves and woods, and the best grasses to use in getting a good +turf upon the university grounds. But, on leaving the house, he +became silent and walked slowly, his eyes fixed steadily on the +ground; and as I took it for granted that he was collecting his +thoughts for his sermon, I was careful not to disturb him. As we +reached the chapel porch, a vast crowd in waiting and the organ +pealing, he suddenly stopped, turned round, lifted his eyes from +the ground, and said, "I have been studying your lawn all the way +down here; what you need is to sow Kentucky blue-grass." Then he +entered the chapel, and shortly was in the midst of a sermon +evidently suggested by the occasion, his whole manuscript being a +few pencilings on a sheet or two of note-paper, all the rest +being extemporized in his best vein, both as to matter and +manner. + +Chapin, too, was brilliant and gifted, but very different in +every respect from Beecher. His way was to read from manuscript, +and then, from time to time, to rise out of it and soar above it, +speaking always forcibly and often eloquently. His gift of +presenting figures of speech so that they became vivid realities +to his audience was beyond that of any other preacher I ever +heard. Giving once a temperance address, and answering the +argument as to the loss of property involved in the confiscation +of intoxicants, he suddenly pictured a balance let down from the +hand of the Almighty, in one scale all the lucre lost, in the +other all the crimes, the wrecks, the miseries, the sorrows, the +griefs, the widows' groans and orphans' tears,--until we +absolutely seemed to have the whole vast, terrific mass swaying +in mid-air before us. + +On another occasion, preaching from the text, "Now we see through +a glass darkly, but then face to face," he presented the picture +of a man in his last illness, seeing dimly, through a +half-transparent medium, the faint, dim outline of the Divinity +whom he was so rapidly nearing; and then, suddenly, death,--the +shattering of the glass,--and the man, on the instant, standing +before his Maker and seeing him "face to face." It all seems poor +when put upon paper; but, as he gave it, nothing could be more +vivid. We seemed to hear the sudden crash of the translucent +sheet, and to look full into the face of the Almighty looming up +before us. + +Chapin was a Universalist, and his most interesting parishioner +was Horace Greeley, whose humanitarian ideas naturally inclined +him to a very mild creed. As young men, strangers to the +congregation, were usually shown to seats just in front of the +pulpit, I could easily see Mr. Greeley in his pew on a side +aisle, just behind the front row. He generally stalked in rather +early, the pockets of his long white coat filled with newspapers, +and, immediately on taking his seat, went to sleep. As soon as +service began he awoke, looked first to see how many vacant +places were in the pew, and then, without a word, put out his +long arm into the aisle and with one or two vigorous scoops +pulled in a sufficient number of strangers standing there to fill +all the vacancies; then--he slept again. Indeed, he slept through +most of the written parts of Dr. Chapin's sermons; but whenever +there came anything eloquent or especially thoughtful, Greeley's +eyes were wide open and fixed upon the preacher. + +Greeley's humanitarianism was not always proof against the +irritations of life. In his not infrequent outbursts of wrath he +was very likely to consign people who vexed him to a region +which, according to his creed, had no existence. + +A story told of him in those days seemed to show that his creed +did not entirely satisfy him; for one day, when he was trying, in +spite of numberless interruptions, to write a "Tribune" leader, +he became aware that some one was standing behind his chair. +Turning around suddenly, he saw a missionary well known in the +city slums,--the Rev. Mr. Pease,--and asked in his highest, +shrillest, most complaining falsetto, "Well, what do YOU want?" +Mr. Pease, a kindly, gentle, apologetic man, said deprecatingly, +"Well, Mr. Greeley, I have come for a little help. We are still +trying to save souls in the Five Points." "Oh," said Mr. Greeley, +"go along! go along! In my opinion, there ain't half so many men +damned as there ought to be." + +But though Chapin's influence did not restrain Greeley at all +times, it undoubtedly did much for him, and it did much for us of +the younger generation; for it not only broadened our views, but +did something to better our hearts and raise our aims. + +In this mention of the forces which acted upon my religious +feelings I ought to include one of a somewhat different sort. +There was one clergyman whose orthodoxy, though not of an extreme +type, was undoubted, and who exercised a good and powerful +influence upon me. This was the Rev. Dr. Leonard Bacon, pastor of +the First Congregational church in New Haven. He was a man of +great intellectual power, a lover of right and hater of wrong, a +born fighter on the side of every good cause, at times pungent, +witty, sarcastic, but always deeply in earnest. There was a +general feeling among his friends that, had he not gone into the +church, he would have been eminent in political life; and that is +my belief, for he was by far the most powerful debater of his +time in the councils of his church, and his way of looking at +great questions showed the characteristics of a really +broad-minded statesman. His sermons on special occasions, as at +Thanksgiving and on public anniversaries, were noted for their +directness and power in dealing with the greater moral questions +before the people. On the other hand, there was a saying then +current, "Dull as Dr. Bacon when he's nothing but the Gospel to +preach"; but this, like so many other smart sayings, was more +epigrammatic than true: even when I heard him preach religious +doctrines in which I did not at all believe, he seemed to me to +show his full power. + +Toward the end of my college course I was subjected to the +influence of two very powerful men, outside of the university, +who presented entirely new trains of thought to me. The first of +these was Dr. Alonzo Potter, Bishop of Pennsylvania, who had been +the leading professor at Union College, Schenectady, before his +elevation to the bishopric, and who, both as professor and as +bishop, had exercised a very wide influence. He was physically, +intellectually, and morally of a very large pattern. There was +something very grand and impressive about him. He had happened to +come to Syracuse during one of my vacations; on a Saturday +evening he gave a lecture upon the tendencies to loose +supernaturalism as shown in what were known as "spiritualistic" +phenomena; and on the following day he preached a simple, plain, +straightforward sermon on Christian morals. Both these utterances +impressed me and strengthened my conviction that every thinking +young man and woman ought to maintain relations with some good +form of religious organization just as long as possible. + +Toward the end of my Yale course came an influence of a very +different sort. It was at the consecration of a Roman Catholic +church at Saratoga. The mass was sung by an Italian prelate, +Bedini, who as governor and archbishop at Bologna had, a few +years before, made himself detested throughout the length and +breadth of Italy by the execution of the priest patriot Ugo +Bassi; and he was now, as papal nuncio to Brazil, environed by +all the pomp possible. The mass did not greatly impress me, but +the sermon, by Archbishop Hughes of New York, I shall always +remember. His subject was the doctrine of transubstantiation, +and, standing upon the altar steps, he developed an argument most +striking and persuasive. He spoke entirely without notes, in a +straightforward way, and at times with eloquence, though never +with any show of rhetoric: voice and bearing were perfect; and +how any one accepting his premises could avoid his conclusions I +could not see then and cannot see now. I was proof against his +argument, for the simple reason that I felt the story of the +temptation of Jesus by Satan, which he took for his text, to be +simply a legend such as appears in various religions; still, the +whole was wonderfully presented; and, on my return to the hotel, +my father was greatly encouraged as to my religious development +when I gave to him a synopsis of the whole sermon from end to +end. + +Next day there resulted a curious episode. Notices were posted +throughout Saratoga that Father Gavazzi, the Italian patriot and +heretic, famous for his oratory, would hold a meeting in the +grove back of Congress Hall Hotel, at three in the afternoon, and +would answer the archbishop's argument. When the hour arrived an +immense crowd was assembled, and among them many Catholics, some +of whom I knew well,--one of them a young priest to whom I had +become strongly attached at school. Soon appeared the orator. He +was of most striking presence--tall, handsome, with piercing +black eyes and black hair, and clad in a long semi-monastic +cloak. His first line of argument was of little effect, though +given with impassioned gestures and a most sympathetic voice; but +soon he paused and spoke gently and simply as follows: "When I +was a priest in Italy I daily took part in the mass. On festivals +I often saw the fasting priest fill the chalice as full as he +dared with strong wine; I saw him pronounce the sacred words and +make the sacred sign over it; and I saw, as everybody standing +round him clearly saw, before the end of the service, that it +flushed his face, thickened his voice, and enlivened his manner. +My fellow-Christians" (and here his voice rang out like a +trumpet), "who is the infidel, who is the blasphemer,--I who say +that no change took place in the wine before the priest drank it, +and that no miracle was performed, or the man who says that his +fellow-man can be made drunk on the blood of the blessed Son of +God?" + +The effect was startling, even on Protestants: but on the Roman +Catholics present it was most thrilling; and I remember that an +old Irishwoman, seated on the steps of the platform as these +words were uttered, clapped her hands to her ears and ran from +the place screaming. I must confess that my sympathies were with +her rather than with the iconoclast, despite his gifts and +graces. + + + +CHAPTER LX + +IN THE EUROPEAN ATMOSPHERE--1853-1856 + +Leaving Yale in 1853, I passed nearly three years in Europe; and +observation of the effects resulting from the various orthodoxies +in England, France, Germany, Russia, and Italy developed my +opinions in various ways. I was deeply susceptible to religious +architecture, music, and, indeed, to the nobler forms of +ceremonial. I doubt whether any man ever entered Westminster +Abbey and the various cathedrals of Great Britain--and I have +visited every one of them of any note--with a more reverent +feeling than that which animated me; but some features of the +Anglican service as practised at that time repelled me; above +all, I disliked the intoning of the prayers, as I then heard it +for the first time. A manly, straightforward petition made by a +man standing or kneeling before his Maker, in a natural, earnest +voice, has always greatly impressed me; but the sort of whining, +drawling, falsetto in which the Anglican prayers were then +usually intoned simply drove out all religious thoughts from my +mind. I had a feeling that the Almighty must turn with contempt +from a man who presumed thus to address him. Some prayers in the +church service had from a very early period taken a deep place in +my heart: the prayer of St. Chrysostom in the morning service, +the first prayer in the ante-communion service, the prayer "for +the whole state of Christ's church militant," and some of the +collects had become, as it were, part of me; so much the more +disappointed and disgusted was I, then, to hear prayer made in +what seemed to me a sickly, unmanly whine. + +Although the feelings thus aroused by religious observances in +England and other parts of Europe were frequently unedifying, +there was one happy exception to the rule. Both in the Church of +England and in the Roman Catholic churches of the Continent I +always greatly enjoyed the antiphonal chanting of the Psalter. To +me this has always been--the imprecatory psalms excepted--by far +the noblest feature in Christian worship as worship; for, coming +down as it does from the Jewish Church through the whole history +of the Christian Church, and being practised by all the great +bodies of Jews and Christians, it had, and still has, to me a +great significance, both religious and historic. In the +cathedrals of the continent of Europe--and I have visited every +one of note except those of Spain--I cared little for what +Browning's bishop calls "the blessed mutter of the mass," but the +chanting of the Psalter always attracted me. Many were the hours +during which I sat at vespers in abbeys and cathedrals, listening +to the Latin psalms until they became almost as familiar to me as +the English Psalter. On the other hand, I was at times greatly +repelled by perfunctory performances of the service, both +Protestant and Catholic. The "Te Deum" which I once heard recited +by an Anglican clergyman in the chapel at the castle of Homburg +dwells in my memory as one of the worst things of its kind I ever +heard, and especially there remains a vivid remembrance of the +invocation, which ran as follows: + +"Ha-a-ow-ly, Ha-a-a-ow-ly, Ha-a-ow-ly: La-a-rd Gawd of Sabbith!" + +But this was not the only thing of the kind, for I have heard +utterances nearly, if not quite, as bad in various English +cathedrals,--as bad, indeed, as the famous reading, "He that hath +yeahs to yeah, let him yeah." + +As to more important religious influences, I had, during my first +visit to Oxford in 1853, a chance to understand something of the +two currents of thought then showing themselves in the English +Church. On a Sunday morning I went to Christ Church Cathedral to +hear the regius professor of Hebrew, Dr. Jacobson, whom, years +afterward, I saw enthroned as bishop in the cathedral at Chester. +It is a church beautiful in itself, and consecrated not only by +the relics of mediaeval saints, but by the devotions of many +generations of scholars, statesmen, and poets; and in front of +the pulpit were a body of young men, the most promising in Great +Britain; yet a more dull, mechanical discourse could not be +imagined. The preacher maundered on like a Tartar praying-mill; +every hearer clearly regarding his discourse as an Arab regards a +sand-storm. + +In the afternoon I went to St. Mary's, and heard the regular +university sermon, before a similar audience, by Fraser, a fellow +of Oriel College. It was not oratorical, but straightforward, +earnest, and in a line of thought which enlisted my sympathies. +The young preacher especially warned his audience that if the +Church of England was to remain the Church of England, she must +put forth greater efforts than any she had made for many years; +and he went on to point out some of the lines on which these +exertions should be made,--lines which, I am happy to say, have +since been taken by great numbers of excellent men of the +Anglican communion. + +During the evening, in the dining-room of the Mitre Inn, I +happened to be seated at table with an old country clergyman who +had just entered his son at Oxford and was evidently a rural +parson of the good old high-and-dry sort; but as I happened to +speak of the sermons of the day, he burst out in a voice gruff +with theological contempt and hot toddy: "Did you hear that young +upstart this afternoon? Did you ever hear such nonsense? Why +couldn't he mind his own business, as Dr. Jacobson did?" + +Nor did sermons from Anglican bishops which I heard at that +period greatly move me. The primate of that day, Dr. Sumner, +impressed me by his wig, but not otherwise. He was, I think, the +last archbishop of Canterbury who used this means of enhancing +his dignity. Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, was far better; but, +after all, though his preaching showed decided ability, it was +not of the sort to impress one deeply, from either the religious +or the intellectual point of view. + +Then, and at various times since, I have obtained more from +simpler forms of worship and less pretentious expositions of the +Gospel. + +As to religious influence in France, there was little. I lived in +the family of a French professor, a devout Catholic, but Gallican +in his ideas,--so much so that he often said that if he could +wake up some morning and hear that the Pope had been dispossessed +of his temporal power, it would be the happiest day of his life, +since he was persuaded that nothing had so hampered the +church--and, indeed, debased it--as the limits imposed upon the +papacy by its sovereignty over the Roman states. + +A happy impression was made upon me by the simple, philanthropic +character of the Archbishop of Paris at that period--Sibour. +Visiting a technical school which he had established for artisans +in the Faubourg St. Antoine, I derived thence a great respect for +him as a man who was really something more than a "solemnly +constituted impostor"; but, like the archbishops of Paris who +preceded and followed him, he met a violent death, and I have +more than once visited and reflected over the simple tablet which +marks the spot in the Church of St. Etienne du Mont where a +wretched, unfrocked priest assassinated this gentle, kindly, +affectionate prelate, who, judging from his appearance and life, +never cherished an unkind feeling toward any human being. + +The touching monuments at Notre Dame to his predecessor, Affre, +shot on the barricades in 1848 when imploring a cessation of +bloodshed, and to his successor Darboy, shot by the Communards in +the act of blessing his murderers, also became, at a later +period, places of pilgrimage for me, and did much to keep alive +my faith that, despite all efforts to erect barriers of hatred +between Christians, there is, already, "one fold and one +shepherd." + +As to my life on the Continent in general, German Protestantism +seemed to me simple and dignified; but its main influence upon me +was exercised through its music, the "Gloria in Excelsis" of the +morning service at the Berlin Cathedral being the most beautiful +music by a choir I had ever heard,--far superior, indeed, to the +finest choirs of the Sistine or Pauline chapel at Rome; and a +still deeper impression was made upon me by the congregational +singing. Often, after the first notes given by the organ, I have +heard a vast congregation, without book of any kind, joining in +the choral, King Frederick William IV and his court standing and +singing earnestly with the rest. It was a vast uprolling storm of +sound. Standing in the midst of it, one understands the Lutheran +Reformation. + +The most impressive Roman Catholic ceremonies which I saw in +Europe were in Germany, and they were impressive because simple +and reverential; those most so being at Wurzburg and Fulda, +where, in the great churches, large bodies of the peasantry +joined simply and naturally in the singing at the mass and at +vespers. + +In Russia I had the opportunity to study a religion of a very +different sort--the Russo-Greek Church. While this church no +doubt contains many devoted Christian men and women, it is, on +the whole, a fossilized system; the vast body of the people being +brought up to rely mainly on fetishes of various sorts. The +services were, many of them, magnificent, and the music most +beautiful; but it was discouraging to reflect that the condition +of the Russian peasantry, ignorant, besotted, and debased, was +the outcome of so many centuries of complete control by this +great branch of the Christian Church. It had for ages possessed +the fullest power for developing the intellect, the morals, and +the religion of the people, and here was the result. Experience +of Russian life is hardly calculated to increase, in any thinking +man, confidence in its divine origin or guidance. One bears in +mind at such times the words of the blessed Founder of +Christianity himself, "By their fruits ye shall know them." + +But the most unfavorable impression was made upon me in Italy. It +was the palmy period of reactionary despotism. Hapsburgs in the +north, Neapolitan Bourbons in the south, petty tyrants scattered +through the country, all practically doing their worst; and, in +their midst, Pius IX, maintained in the temporal power by French +bayonets. It was the time when the little Jewish child Mortara +was taken from his parents, in spite of their agonizing appeals +to all Europe; when the Madiai family were imprisoned for reading +the Bible with their friends in their own house; when monks +swarmed everywhere, gross and dirty; when, at the centers of +power, the Jesuits had it all their own way,--as they generally +do when the final exasperating impulse is needed to bring on a +revolution. All old abuses of the church were at their highest +flavor. So far as ceremonial was concerned, nothing could be more +gorgeous than the services at St. Peter's as conducted by Pope +Pius IX. For such duties no one could be better fitted; for he +was handsome, kindly, and dignified, with a beautiful, ringing +voice. + +During Holy Week of 1856 I was present at various services in +which he took the main part, in the Sistine Chapel and elsewhere; +but most striking of all were his celebration of pontifical high +mass beneath the dome of St. Peter's on Easter morning, and his +appearance on the balcony in front of the cathedral afterward. +The effect of the first ceremony was somewhat injured by the +easy-going manners of some of the attendant cardinals. It was +difficult to imagine that they believed really in the tremendous +doctrine involved in the mass when one saw them taking snuff in +the midst of the most solemn prayers, and going through the whole +in the most perfunctory fashion. At the close of the service, the +Pope, being borne on his throne by Roman nobles, surrounded by +cardinals and princes, and wearing the triple crown, gave his +blessing to the city and to the world. There must have been over +ten thousand of us in the piazza to receive it, and no one could +have performed his part more perfectly. Arising from his throne, +and stretching forth his hands with a striking gesture, he +chanted a benediction heard by every one present, even to the +remotest corners of the square. Many years afterward, Lord Odo +Russell, British ambassador at Berlin, on my mentioning the +splendor of this ceremony to him, said to me, "Yes, you are +right; but it was on one of those occasions that I discovered +that the Pope was mortal." On my asking him how it was, he said, +"I had occasion, as the British diplomatic representative, to +call on Pope Pius IX on Easter Monday, and, after finishing my +business with him, told him that I had been present at the +benediction in front of St. Peter's on the day before, and had +been much impressed by the beauty of his voice; and I added, +'Your Holiness must have been trained as a singer.' At this the +Pope was evidently greatly pleased, and answered, 'You are right, +I WAS trained as a singer; BUT YOU OUGHT TO HAVE HEARD ME TWO OR +THREE YEARS AGO.'" + +But while these great services at St. Peter's in those halcyon +days were perfect in their kind, the same could not be said of +many others. The worst that I ever saw--one which especially +dwells in my memory--was at Pisa. I had previously visited the +place and knew it well, so that when, one Sunday morning, a +Canadian clergyman at the hotel wished to go to the cathedral, I +offered to guide him. He was evidently a man of deep sincerity, +and, as was soon revealed by his conversation, of high-church and +even ritualistic tendencies; but, to my great surprise, he +remarked that he had never attended service in a Roman Catholic +church. Arriving at the cathedral too late for the high +celebration, we walked down the nave until we came to a side +altar where a priest was going through a low mass, with a small +congregation of delayed worshipers, and we took our place back of +these. The priest raced through the service at the highest +possible speed. His motions were like those of an automaton: he +kept turning quickly to and fro as if on a pivot; clasping his +hands before his breast as if by machinery; bowing his head as if +it moved by a spring in his neck; mumbling and rattling like wind +in a chimney; the choir-boy who served the mass with him jingling +his bell as irreverently as if he were conducting a +green-grocer's cart. My Anglican companion immediately began to +be unhappy, and was soon deeply distressed. He groaned again and +again. He whispered, "Good heavens, is it like this? Is this the +way they do it? This is fearful!" As we came from the church he +was very sorrowful, and I administered to him such comfort as I +could, but nothing could remedy this most painful disenchantment. + +And here I may say that I have never been able to understand how +any Anglican churchman can feel any insufficiency in the Lord's +Supper as administered in his own branch of the church. I have +never taken part in it, but more than once I have lingered to see +it, and even in its simplest form it has always greatly impressed +me. It is a service which all can understand; its words have come +down through the ages; its ceremonial is calm, comprehensible, +touching; and the whole idea of communion in memory of the last +scene in the Saviour's life, which brings the worshiper into +loving relation not only with him, but with all the church, +militant and triumphant, is, to my mind, infinitely nobler and +more religious than all paraphernalia, genuflexions, and +man-millinery. How any Protestant, however "high" in his +tendencies, can feel otherwise is incomprehensible to me. + +At that first of my many visits to Rome, there had come one +experience which had greatly softened any of my inherited +Protestant prejudices. Our party had been lumbering along all day +on the road from Civita Vecchia, when suddenly there dashed by us +a fine traveling-coach drawn by four horses ridden by postilions. +Hardly had it passed when there came a scream, and our carriage +stopped. We at first took it for granted that it was an attack by +bandits, but, on getting out and approaching the other coach, +found that one of the postilions, a beautiful Italian boy of +sixteen, in jaunty costume, had been thrown from his horse, had +been run over by the wheels of the coach, and now lay at the +roadside gasping his last. We stood about him, trying to ease his +pain, when a young priest came running from a neighboring church. +He showed no deference to the gorgeously dressed personages who +had descended from the coach; he was regardless of all +conventionalities, oblivious of all surroundings, his one thought +being evidently of his duty to the poor sufferer stretched out +before him. He knelt, tenderly kissed the boy, administered +extreme unction, and repeated softly and earnestly the prayers +for the dying, to which fervent responses came from the peasants +kneeling about him. The whole scene did much to tone down the +feelings which had been aroused the previous day by the filth and +beggary at the papal port where we had landed, and to prepare me +for a more charitable judgment of what I was to see in the papal +city. + +But an early experience in Rome showed a less beautiful +manifestation of Christian zeal. We were a band of students, six +in number, who had just closed a year of study at the University +of Berlin; and the youngest, whom I will call Jack Smith, was a +bright young fellow, son of a wealthy New England manufacturer. +The evening after arriving in Rome, Jack, calling on an American +aunt, was introduced to a priest who happened to be making her a +visit. It was instantly evident that the priest, Father Cataldi, +knew what Jack's worldly prospects were; for from the first he +was excessively polite to the youth, and when the latter remarked +that during his stay in Rome he would like to take Italian +lessons, the priest volunteered to send him a teacher. Next day, +at the appointed hour, the teacher appeared, and in the person of +the priest himself. Thenceforward he stuck to the young American +like a brother, kept him away from the rest of us as much as +possible, and served not only as his teacher, but as his +cicerone. + +Among various dignitaries to whom he presented the young American +was his Eminence Cardinal Tosti; and when the cardinal extended +his hand to be kissed, Jack grasped and cordially shook it. The +two clerical gentlemen were evidently disconcerted; but the +priest said to the cardinal, in an undertone, "e un principe +Americano," whereupon the cardinal seemed relieved and shook +hands heartily. + +One day, when the priest was not with our companion, we all +visited one of the basilicas, where some great function was going +on, and, though we found a crowd at the doors, obtained a sight +of the high altar,--and there, in magnificent attire, in the +midst of the great prelates, was a person who bore a most +striking resemblance to Jack's clerical guide. We were all struck +by this curious coincidence, but concluded that in the distance +and through the clouds of incense we had simply seen a chance +resemblance, and in the multitude of matters we soon forgot it. A +month afterward, as we were leaving Rome, Jack asked his new +friend for his bill, whereupon the priest drew himself up with a +superb gesture and, presenting his card, said: "You evidently do +not know who I am." The card bore the inscription, "Monsignor +Cataldi, Master of the Papal Ceremonies." The young American was +quite confounded, but listened submissively while this dignitary +expressed the hope that they might yet meet within the pale of +that church which alone could give a claim to salvation. + +The condition of Rome at that period was not such as to induce +much respect for priestly government. Anything more dirty, +slipshod, and wretched could hardly be imagined. No railways had +yet been allowed; the Vatican monsignori feeling by instinct the +truth stated by Buckle, that railways promote the coming in of +new ideas. Nor did the moral condition of the people seem to be +any better. + +Any one who visits Rome to-day, with the army of monks swept out +of the place, with streets well cleaned, with the excavations +scientifically conducted, with a government which, whatever its +faults, is at any rate patriotic, finds it difficult to imagine +the vileness of the city under the old regime. + +But, bad as was Rome, Naples was worse. The wretched Bourbon then +on the throne, "King Bomba," was the worst of his kind. Our +minister of that period, Mr. Robert Dale Owen, gave me some +accounts of the condition of things. He told me, as a matter of +fact, that any young man showing earnest purpose of any sort was +immediately suspected and discouraged, while worthless young +debauchees were regarded as harmless, and therefore favored. + +The most cherished counselor of the King was Apuzzo, Archbishop +of Sorrento. In addition to what I have already said of +Leopardi's political catechism, which the archbishop forced upon +the people, I may note that this work took great pains to show +that no education was needed save just enough to enable each man +to accomplish his duties within the little sphere in which he was +born, and that for the great body of the people education was a +curse rather than a blessing. The result of this policy was +evident: the number of persons unable to read or write, which was +from forty to fifty per cent. in Piedmont, was from sixty to +sixty-five per cent. in Rome, from eighty to eighty-five per +cent. in the Papal States, and above eighty-five per cent. in +Naples and Sicily.[38] + + +[38] See maps in Vol. II, of "L'Italis Economica nel 1873" (Roma, +Tipografia Barbera, 1873). This work was the result of official +surveys and most careful studies made by leading economists and +statisticians. For a copy of it I am indebted to Mr. H. N. Gay, +Fellow of Harvard University. + + +I also had the advantage of being present at the great religious +function of Naples--the liquefaction of the blood of St. +Januarius, patron of the city. It was in the gorgeous chapel of +the saint which forms part of the Cathedral of Naples, and the +place was filled with devout worshipers of every class, from the +officials in court dress, representing the Bourbon king, down to +the lowest lazzaroni. The reliquary of silver gilt, shaped like a +large human head, and supposed to contain the skull of the saint, +was first placed upon the altar; next, two vials, containing a +dark substance said to be his blood, were also placed upon the +altar, near the head. As the priests said prayers, they turned +the vials from time to time; and, the liquefaction being somewhat +delayed, the great crowd of people burst out into more and more +impassioned expostulations and petitions to the saint. Just in +front of the altar were the lazzaroni who claimed to be +descendants of the saint's family, and these were especially +importunate: at such times they beg, they scold, they even +threaten; they have been known to abuse the saint roundly, and to +tell him that, if he does not care to show his favor to the city +by liquefying his blood, St. Cosmo and St. Damian are just as +good saints as he, and will, no doubt, be very glad to have the +city devote itself to them. At last, as we were beginning to be +impatient, the priest, turning the vials suddenly, announced that +the saint had performed the miracle, and instantly priests, +people, choir, and organ burst forth into a great "Te Deum"; +bells rang and cannon roared; a procession was formed, and the +shrine containing the saint's relics was carried through the +streets, the people prostrating themselves on both sides of the +way and showering rose-leaves upon the shrine and upon the path +before it. The contents of these precious vials are an +interesting relic indeed, for they represent to us vividly that +period when men who were willing to go to the stake for their +religious opinions thought it not wrong to "save souls" by pious +mendacity and consecrated fraud. To the scientific eye this +miracle is very simple: the vials contain, no doubt, one of those +waxy mixtures fusing at low temperature, which, while kept in its +place within the cold stone walls of the church, remains solid, +but which, upon being brought out into the hot, crowded chapel +and fondled by the warm hands of the priests, gradually softens +and becomes liquid. It was curious to note, at the time above +mentioned, that even the high functionaries representing the King +looked at the miracle with awe: they evidently found "joy in +believing," and one of them assured me that the only thing which +COULD cause it was the direct exercise of miraculous power. + +So, too, I had here an opportunity to study one of the +fundamental ideas of the prevalent theology--namely, the doctrine +of "intercession," which has played such a part not only in +Catholic but in Protestant countries,--the idea that, just as in +an earthly court back-stairs influence is necessary to secure +favor, so it must be in the heavenly courts. I was much edified +by the way in which this doctrine was presented in certain great +pictures representing the intervention of the Almighty to save +Naples from the plague. One of them, as I remember it, +represented, on an enormous canvas, the whole transaction as +follows: In the immediate foreground the people of Naples were +represented on their knees before their magistrates, begging them +to rescue the city from the pestilence; farther back the +magistrates were represented as on their knees before the monks, +begging for their prayers; the monks were on their knees before +St. Januarius, begging him to intervene; St. Januarius was then +represented as on his knees before the Blessed Virgin; the +Blessed Virgin was then pictured as beseeching her divine Son; +and he at last was represented as presenting the petition to a +triangle in the heavens behind which appeared the lineaments of a +venerable face. + +One can understand, after seeing pictures of this kind, what +Erasmus was thinking of, five hundred years ago, when he wrote +his colloquy of "The Shipwreck," the most exquisite satire on +mediaeval doctrine ever made. After a most comical account of the +petitions and promises made by the shipwrecked to various saints, +Adolphus says: "To which of the saints did you pray?" Antony +answers, "To not one of them all, I assure you. I don't like your +way of bargaining with the saints: 'Do this and I 'll do that. +Here is so much for so much. Save me and I will give you a taper +or go on a pilgrimage.' Just think of it! I should certainly have +prayed to St. Peter, if to any saint; for he stands at the door +of heaven, and so would be likeliest to hear. But before he could +go to the Almighty and tell him my condition, I might be fifty +fathoms under water." Adolphus: "What did you do then?" Antony: +"I went straight to God himself, and said my prayer to him; the +saints neither hear so readily nor give so willingly." + +In the city itself were filth, blasphemy, and obscenity +unspeakable. No stranger could take his seat at a cafe without +having proposals openly made to him which would have disgraced +Pompeii. Cheatery and lying prevailed on all sides. Outside the +city was brigandage,--so much so that various parties going to +Paestum took pains to combine their forces and to bear arms. + +This, then, was the outcome of fifteen hundred years of Christian +civilization in a land which had been entirely in the hands of +the church authorities ever since the downfall of the Roman +Empire; a country in which education, intellectual, moral, and +religious, had been from the first in the hands of a body, +claiming infallibility in its teaching of faith and morals, which +had molded rulers and people at its own will during all these +centuries. This was the result! It seemed to me then, as it seems +to me now, a reductio ad absurdum of the claims of any church to +superintend the education of a people; and if it be insisted that +there is anything exceptional in Italy, one may point for +examples of the same results to Spain, the Spanish republics, +Poland, and sundry other countries. + +Before going to Italy, I had taken pains to read as much as +possible of the history of the country, and, among other works, +had waded through the ten octavo volumes of Sismondi's "History +of the Italian Republics," as well as Gibbon's "Decline and Fall +of the Roman Empire"; and this history had served to show me what +any body of ecclesiastics, not responsible to sound lay opinion, +may become. In looking over the past history and present +condition of Italy, there constantly rang in my ears that great +warning by Christ himself, "By their fruits ye shall know them." + + + +CHAPTER LXI + +IN LATER YEARS--1856-1905 + +On my return to America I remained for a short time as a resident +graduate at New Haven, and there gained a friend who influenced +me most happily. This was Professor George Park Fisher, at that +time in charge of the university pulpit, an admirable scholar and +historian. His religious nature, rooted in New England orthodoxy, +had come to a broad and noble bloom and fruitage. Witty and +humorous, while deeply thoughtful, his discussions were of great +value to me, and our long walks together remain among the most +pleasing recollections of my life. He had a genius for +conversation; in fact, he was one of the two or three best +conversationists I have ever known, and his influence on my +thinking, both as regards religious and secular questions, was +thoroughly good. While we did not by any means fully agree, I +came to see more clearly than ever what a really enlightened +Christianity can do for a man. + +I had returned to America in the hope of influencing opinion from +a professor's chair, and my dear old friend Professor--afterward +President--Porter urged me to remain in New Haven, assuring me +that the professorship of history for which I had been preparing +myself abroad would be open to me there. A few years later a +professorship at Yale was offered me, and in a way for which I +shall always be grateful; but it was not the professorship of +history: from that I was debarred by my religious views, and +therefore it was that, having been elected to a professorship in +that department at the State University of Michigan, I +immediately and gladly entered upon its duties. + +Installed in this new position at Ann Arbor, I not only threw +myself very heartily into my work, but became interested in +church and other good work as it went on about me. From the force +of old associations, and because my family had also been brought +up in the Episcopal Church, I attended its services regularly; +and, while it represented much that I could not accept, there +were noble men in it who became my very dear friends, with whom I +was glad to work. + +It has always seemed to me rather an amusing episode in my life +during this period that, in spite of grave doubts regarding my +orthodoxy, my friends elected me vestryman of St. Andrew's Church +at Ann Arbor, and gave me full power to select and call a rector +for the parish at my next vacation excursion in the East. This in +due time I proceeded to do. Attending the convention of the +Episcopal Church in the diocese of Western New York, I consulted +with various clerical friends, visited one or two places in order +to hear sundry clergymen who were recommended to me, and at last +called to our rectorate a man who proved to be not only a +blessing to that parish, but to the State at large. In the annals +of American charitable work his name is writ large, though +probably there never lived a man more averse to publicity. He has +since been made a bishop, and in that capacity has shown the same +self-sacrifice and devotion to works of mercy which marked his +career as pastor. + +As to my religious ideas in general, they were at that time +influenced in various ways. I read much ecclesiastical history as +given by leading authorities, Protestant and Catholic, and in +various original treatises by thinkers eminent in the history of +the church. A marked influence was exercised upon me by reading +sundry lives of the mediaeval saints: even the quaintest of these +showed me how, in spite of childlike credulity, most noble lives +had been led, well worthy to be pondered over in these later +centuries. + +The general effect of this reading was to arouse in me admiration +for the men who have taken leading parts in developing the great +religions of the world, and especially Christianity, whether +Catholic or Protestant; but it also caused me to distrust, more +and more, every sort of theological dogmatism. More and more +clear it became that ecclesiastical dogmas are but steps in the +evolution of various religions, and that, in view of the fact +that the main underlying ideas are common to all, a beneficent +evolution is to continue. + +This latter idea was strengthened by my careful reading of Sale's +translation of the Koran, which showed me that even Mohammedanism +is not wholly the tissue of folly and imposture which in those +days it was generally represented to be. + +Influence was also exerted upon me by various other books, and +especially by Fra Paolo Sarpi's "History of the Council of +Trent," probably the most racy and pungent piece of +ecclesiastical history ever written; and though I also read as +antidotes the history of the Council by Pallavicini, and copious +extracts from Bossuet, Archbishop Spalding, and Balmez, Father +Paul taught me, as an Italian historian phrases it, "how the Holy +Spirit conducts church councils." At a later period Dean Stanley +made a similar revelation in his account of the Council of +Nicaea. + +The works of Buckle, Lecky, and Draper, which were then +appearing, laid open much to me. All these authors showed me how +temporary, in the sum of things, is any popular theology; and, +finally, the dawn of the Darwinian hypothesis came to reveal a +whole new orb of thought absolutely fatal to the claims of +various churches, sects, and sacred books to contain the only or +the final word of God to man. The old dogma of "the fall of man" +had soon fully disappeared, and in its place there rose more and +more into view the idea of the rise of man. + +But while my view was thus broadened, no hostility to religion +found lodgment in my mind: of all the books which I read at that +time, Stanley's life of Arnold exercised the greatest influence +upon me. It showed that a man might cast aside much which +churches regard as essential, and might strive for breadth and +comprehension in Christianity, while yet remaining in healthful +relations with the church. I also read with profit and pleasure +the Rev. Thomas Beecher's book, "Our Seven Churches," which +showed that each Christian sect in America has a certain work to +do, and does it well; also, the sermons of Robertson, Phillips +Brooks, and Theodore Munger, which revealed a beauty in +Christianity before unknown to me. + +Another influence was of a very different sort. From time to time +I went on hunting excursions with the pastor of the Methodist +Episcopal church at Ann Arbor; and though he made no parade of +religion, there was in him a genial, manly piety which bettered +me. + +But I cannot say that this good influence was always exercised +upon me by his coreligionists. There was especially one, who rose +to be a "presiding elder," very narrow, very shrewd, and very +bitter against the State University, yet constantly placing +himself in comical dilemmas. On one occasion, when I asked him +regarding his relations with clergymen of other religious bodies, +he spoke of the Roman Catholics and said that he had made a +determined effort to convert the Bishop of Detroit. On my asking +for particulars, he answered that, calling upon the bishop, he +had spoken very solemnly to him and told him that he was +endangering his own salvation as well as that of his flock; that +at first the bishop was evidently inclined to be harsh; but that, +on finding that he--the Methodist brother--disliked the +Presbyterian Dr. Duffield, who had recently attacked Catholic +doctrine, as much as the bishop did, the relations between them +grew better, so that they talked together very amicably. + +At this point in our conversation a puzzled expression overspread +the elder's face and he said, "The most singular experience I +ever had was with a French Catholic priest in Monroe. Being in +that town and having a day or two of vacation, I felt it my duty +to go and remonstrate with him. I found him very polite, +especially after I had told him that his bishop had received me +and discussed religious questions with me. Presently, wishing to +make an impression on the priest, I fixed my eyes on him very +earnestly and said as solemnly as I could, 'Do you know that you +are leading your flock straight down to hell?' To this the priest +made a very singular answer,--very singular, indeed. He said, +'Did you talk like that to the bishop?' I answered, 'Yes, I did.' +'Didn't he kick you out of his house?' 'No, he didn't.' 'Then,' +said the priest, '_I_ won't.'" And the good elder, during the +whole of this story, evidently thought that the point of it was, +somehow, against the PRIEST! + +As a professor at the University of Michigan lecturing upon +modern history, I, of course, showed my feelings in opposition to +slavery, which was then completely dominant in the nation, and, +to all appearance, intrenched in our institutions forever. From +time to time I also said some things which made the more +sensitive orthodox brethren uneasy; though, as I look back upon +them now, they seem to me very mild indeed. In these days they +could be said, and would be said, by great numbers of devoted +members of all Christian churches. These expressions of mine +favored toleration and dwelt upon the absurdity of distinctions +between Christians on account of beliefs which individuals or +communities have happened to inherit. Nothing like an attack upon +Christianity itself, or upon anything vital to it, did I ever +make; indeed, my inclinations were not in that direction: my +greatest desire was to set men and women at thinking, for I felt +sure that if they would really think, in the light of human +history, they would more and more dwell on what is permanent in +Christianity and less and less on what is transient; more and +more on its universal truths, less and less upon the creeds, +forms, and observances in which these gems are set; more and more +on what draws men together, less and less on that which keeps +them apart. + +I became convinced that what the world needed was more religion +rather than less; more devotion to humanity and less preaching of +dogmas. Whenever I spoke of religion, it was not to say a word +against any existing form; but I especially referred, as my +ideals of religious conduct, to the declaration of Micah, +beginning with the words, "What doth the Lord require of thee?"; +to the Sermon on the Mount; to the definition of "pure religion +and undefiled" given by St. James; and to some of the wonderful +utterances of St. Paul. But even this alarmed two or three very +good men; they were much exercised over what they called my +"indifferentism"; and when I was chosen, somewhat later, to the +presidency of Cornell University, I found that they had thought +it their duty to write letters urging various trustees to prevent +the election of so dangerous a heretic. + +Scattered through the Michigan university town were a number of +people who had broken from the old faith and were groping about +to find a new one, but, as a rule, with such insufficient +knowledge of the real basis of belief or skepticism that the +religion they found seemed less valuable to them than the one +they had left. Thiers, Voltairian though he was, has well said, +"The only altars which are not ridiculous are the old altars." + +Some of the best of these people, having lost very dear children, +had taken refuge in what was called "spiritualism"; and I was +invited to witness some of the "manifestations from the +spirit-land," and assured that they would leave no doubt in my +mind as to their tremendous reality. Among those who thus invited +me were a county judge of high standing, and his wife, one of the +most lovely and accomplished of women. They had lost their only +daughter, a beautiful creature just budding into womanhood, and +they thought that "spiritualism" had given her back to them. As +they told me wonderful things regarding the revelations made by +sundry eminent mediums, I accepted their invitation to witness +some of these, and went to the seances with a perfectly open and +impartial mind. I saw nothing antecedently improbable in +phenomena of that sort; indeed, it seemed to me that it might be +a blessed thing if there were really something in it all; but +examination showed me in this, as in all other cases where I have +investigated so-called "spirit revelations," nothing save the +worthlessness of human testimony to the miraculous. These +miracles were the cheapest and poorest of jugglery, and the +mediums were, without exception, of a type below contempt. There +was, indeed, a revelation to me, not of a spirit-world beyond the +grave, but of a spirit-world about me, peopled with the spirits +of good and loving men and women who find "joy in believing" what +they wish to believe. Compared with this new worship, I felt that +the old was infinitely more honest, substantial, and healthful; +and never since have I desired to promote revolutionary changes +in religion. Such changes, to be good, must be evolutionary, +gradual, and in obedience to slowly increasing knowledge: such a +change is now evidently going on, irresistibly, and quite as +rapidly as is desirable. + +There were other singular experiences. One day a student said to +me that an old man living not far from the university grounds was +very ill and wished to see me. I called at once, and found him +stretched out on his bed and greatly emaciated with consumption. +He was a Hicksite Quaker. As I entered the room he said, "Friend, +I hear good things of thee: thou art telling the truth; let me +bear my testimony before thee. I believe in God and in a future +life, but in little else which the churches teach. I am dying. +Within two or three days, at furthest, I shall be in my coffin. +Yet I look on the future with no anxiety; I am in the hands of my +loving Father, and have no more fear of passing through the gate +of death into the future life than of passing through yonder door +into the next room." After kindly talk I left him, and next day +learned that he had quietly passed away. + +After about five years of duty in the University of Michigan, I +was brought into the main charge of the newly established Cornell +University; and in this new position, while no real change took +place in my fundamental religious ideas, there were conflicting +influences, sometimes unfortunate, but in the main happy. In +other chapters of these reminiscences I have shown to what unjust +attacks the new institution and all connected with it were +subjected by the agents and votaries of various denominational +colleges. At times this embittered me, but the ultimate result +always was that it stirred me to new efforts. Whatever ill +feelings arose from these onslaughts were more than made up after +the establishment of the Sage Chapel pulpit. I have shown +elsewhere how, at my instance, provision was made by a +public-spirited man for calling the most distinguished preachers +of all denominations, and how, the selection of these having been +left to me, I chose them from the most eminent men in the various +Christian bodies. My intercourse with these, as well as my +hearing their discourses, broadened and deepened my religious +feeling, and I regard this as among the especially happy things +of my life. + +Another feature of the university was not so helpful to me. I +have spoken in another chapter regarding the establishment of +Barnes Hall at Cornell as a center of work for the Christian +Association and other religious organizations of the university, +and of my pleasure in aiding the work there done and in noting +its good results. At various times I attended the services of the +Young Men's Christian Association; and while they often touched +me, I cannot say that they always edified me. I am especially +fond of the psalms attributed to David, which are, for me, the +highest of poetry; and I am also very fond of the great and noble +hymns of the church, Catholic and Protestant, and especially +susceptible to the best church music, from Bach and Handel to +Mason and Neale: but the sort of revival hymns which are +generally sung in Christian Associations, and which date mainly +from the Moody and Sankey period, do not appeal to my best +feelings in any respect. They seem to me very thin and gushy. +This feeling of mine is not essentially unorthodox, for I once +heard it expressed by an eminent orthodox clergyman in terms much +stronger than any which I have ever used. Said he, "When I was +young, congregations used to sing such psalms as this: + + "The Lord descended from above, + And bowed the heavens most high; + And underneath His feet He cast + The darkness of the sky. + + "On cherubim and seraphim + Right royally He rode, + And on the wings of mighty winds + Came flying all abroad. + + "His seat is on the mighty floods, + Their fury to restrain; + And He, our everlasting Lord, + Forevermore shall reign. + +"But now," he continued, "the congregation gets together and a +lot of boys and girls sing: + + "Lawd, how oft I long to know-- + Oft it gives me anxious thought-- + Do I love Thee, Lawd, or no; + Am I Thine, or am I nawt! + +"There," said he, "is the difference between a religion which +believes in a righteous sovereign Ruler of the universe, and a +maudlin sentiment incapable of any real, continued, determined +effort." + +I must confess that this view of my orthodox friend strikes me as +just. It seems to me that one of the first needs of large +branches of the Christian Church is to weed out a great mass of +sickly, sentimental worship of no one knows what, and to replace +it with psalms and hymns which show a firm reliance upon the Lord +God Almighty. + +It is with this view that I promoted in the university chapel the +simple antiphonal reading of the psalms by the whole +congregation. Best of all would it be to chant the Psalter; the +clergyman, with a portion of the choir, leading on one side, and +the other section of the choir and the congregation at large +chanting the responses. But this is, as regards most Protestant +churches, a counsel of perfection. + +Staying in London after the close of my university presidency, I +was subject to another influence which has wrought with power +upon some strong men. It was my wont to attend service in some +one of the churches interesting from a historical point of view +or holding out the prospect of a good sermon; but, probably, a +combination which I occasionally made would not be approved by my +more orthodox fellow-churchmen. For at times I found pleasure and +profit in attending the service before sermon on Sunday afternoon +at St. Paul's, and then going to the neighboring Positivist +Conventicle in Fetter Lane to hear Frederic Harrison and others. +Harrison's discourses were admirable, and one upon Roman +civilization was most suggestive of fruitful thought. My tendency +has always been strongly toward hero-worship, and this feature of +the Positivist creed and practice especially attracted me; while +the superb and ennobling music of St. Paul's kept me in a +religious atmosphere during any discourse which succeeded it. + +My favorite reading at this period was the "Bible for Learners," +a book most thoughtfully edited by three of the foremost scholars +of modern Europe--Hooykaas, Oort, and Kuenen. Simple as the book +is, it made a deep impression upon me, rehabilitating the Bible +in my mind, showing it to be a collection of literature and moral +truths unspeakably precious to all Christian nations and to every +Christian man. At a later period, readings in the works of Renan, +Pfleiderer, Cheyne, Harnack, Sayce, and others strengthened me in +my liberal tendencies, without diminishing in the slightest my +reverence for all that is noble in Christianity, past or present. + +Another experience, while it did not perhaps set me in any new +trains of thought, strengthened me in some of my earlier views. +This was the revelation to me of Mohammedanism during my journey +in the East. While Mohammedan fanaticism seems to me one of the +great misfortunes of the world, Mohammedan worship, as I first +saw it, made a deep impression on me. Our train was slowly moving +into Cairo, and stopped for a time just outside the city; the +Pyramids were visible in the distance, but my thoughts were +turned from them by a picture in the foreground. Under a +spreading palm-tree, a tall Egyptian suddenly arose to his full +height, took off an outer covering from his shoulders, laid it +upon the ground, and then solemnly prostrated himself and went +through his prayers, addressing them in the direction of Mecca. +He was utterly oblivious of the crowd about him, and the +simplicity, directness, and reverence in his whole movement +appealed to me strongly. At various other times, on the desert, +in the bazaars, in the mosques, and on the Nile boats, I +witnessed similar scenes, and my broad-churchmanship was thereby +made broader. Nor was this general effect diminished by my visit +to the howling and whirling dervishes. The manifestations of +their zeal ranged themselves clearly in the same category with +those evident in American camp-meetings, and I now understood +better than ever what the Rev. Dr. Bacon of New Haven meant when, +after returning from the East, he alluded to certain Christian +"revivalists" as "howling dervishes." + +I must say, too, that while I loved and admired many Christian +missionaries whom I saw in the East, and rejoiced in the work of +their schools, the utter narrowness of some of them was +discouraging. Anything more cold, forbidding, and certain of +extinction than the worship of the "United Presbyterians" at the +mission church at Cairo I have never seen, save possibly that of +sundry Calvinists at Paris. Nor have I ever heard anything more +defiant of sane thought and right reason than the utterances of +some of these excellent men. + +But the general effect of all these experiences, as I now think, +was to aid in a healthful evolution of my religious ideas. + +It may now be asked what is the summing up of my relation to +religion, as looked upon in the last years of a long life, during +which I have had many suggestions to thought upon it, many +opportunities to hear eminent religionists of almost every creed +discuss it, and many chances to observe its workings in the +multitude of systems prevalent in various countries. + +As a beginning, I would answer that, having for many years +supplemented my earlier observations and studies by special +researches into the relations between science and religion, my +conviction has been strengthened that religion in its true +sense--namely, the bringing of humanity into normal relations +with that Power, not ourselves, in the universe, which makes for +righteousness--is now, as it always has been, a need absolute, +pressing, and increasing. + +As to the character of such normal relations, I feel that they +involve a sense of need for worship: for praise and prayer, +public and private. If fine-spun theories are presented as to the +necessary superfluity of praise to a perfect Being, and the +necessary inutility of prayer in a world governed by laws, my +answer is that law is as likely to obtain in the spiritual as in +the natural world: that while it may not be in accordance with +physical laws to pray for the annihilation of a cloud and the +cessation of a rain-storm, it may well be in accordance with +spiritual laws that communication take place between the Infinite +and finite minds; that helpful inspiration may be thus +obtained,--greater power, clearer vision, higher aims. + +As to the question between worship by man as an individual being, +face to face with the Divine Power, and worship by human beings +in common, as brethren moved to express common ideas, needs, +hopes, efforts, aspirations, I attribute vast value to both. + +As to the first. Each individual of us has perhaps an even more +inadequate conception of "the God and father of us all" than a +plant has of a man; and yet the universal consciousness of our +race obliges a human being under normal conditions to feel the +need of betterment, of help, of thankfulness. It would seem best +for every man to cultivate the thoughts, relations, and practices +which he finds most accordant with such feelings and most +satisfying to such needs. + +As to the second. The universal normal consciousness of humanity +seems to demand some form of worship in common with one's +fellow-men. All forms adopted by men under normal conditions, +whether in cathedrals, temples, mosques, or conventicles, clearly +have uses and beauties of their own. + +If it be said that all forms of belief or ceremonial obscure that +worship, "in spirit and in truth," which aids high aspiration, my +answer is that the incorporation, in beliefs and forms of +worship, of what man needs for his spiritual sustenance seems to +me analogous to the incorporation in his daily material food of +what he needs for his physical sustenance. As a rule, the truths +necessary for the sustenance and development of his higher nature +would seem better assimilated when incorporated in forms of +belief and worship, public or private, even though these beliefs +and forms have imperfections or inadequacies. We do not support +material life by consuming pure carbon, or nitrogen, or hydrogen: +we take these in such admixtures as our experience shows to be +best for us. We do not live by breathing pure oxygen: we take it +diluted with other gases, and mainly with one which, if taken by +itself, is deadly. + +This is but a poor and rough analogy, but it seems a legitimate +illustration of a fact which we must take account of in the whole +history of the human race, past, present, and future. + +It will, in my opinion, be a sad day for this or for any people +when there shall have come in them an atrophy of the religious +nature; when they shall have suppressed the need of +communication, no matter how vague, with a supreme power in the +universe; when the ties which bind men of similar modes of +thought in the various religious organizations shall be +dissolved; when men, instead of meeting their fellow-men in +assemblages for public worship which give them a sense of +brotherhood, shall lounge at home or in clubs; when men and +women, instead of bringing themselves at stated periods into an +atmosphere of prayer, praise, and aspiration, to hear the +discussion of higher spiritual themes, to be stirred by appeals +to their nobler nature in behalf of faith, hope, and charity, and +to be moved by a closer realization of the fatherhood of God and +the brotherhood of man, shall stay at home and give their +thoughts to the Sunday papers or to the conduct of their business +or to the languid search for some refuge from boredom. + +But thus recognizing the normal need of religious ideas, +feelings, and observances, I see in the history of these an +evolution which has slowly brought our race out of lower forms of +religion into higher, and which still continues. Nowhere is this +more clearly mirrored than in our own sacred books; nowhere more +distinctly seen than in what is going on about us; and one finds +in this evolution, just as in the development of our race in +other fields, survivals of outworn beliefs and observances which +remain as mile-stones to mark human progress. + +Belief in a God who is physically, intellectually, and morally +but an enlarged "average man"--unjust, whimsical, revengeful, +cruel, and so far from omnipotent that he has to make all sorts +of interferences to rectify faults in his original scheme--is +more and more fading away among the races controlling the world. + +More and more the thinking and controlling races are developing +the power of right reason; and more and more they are leaving to +inferior and disappearing races the methods of theological +dogmatism. + +More and more, in all parts of the civilized world, is developing +liberty of thought; and more and more is left behind the tyranny +of formulas. + +More and more is developing, in the leading nations, the +conception of the world's sacred books as a literature in which, +as in a mass of earthy material, the gems and gold of its +religious thought are embedded; and more and more is left behind +the belief in the literal, prosaic conformity to fact of all +utterances in this literature. + +To one who closely studies the history of humanity, evolution in +religion is a certainty. Eddies there are,--counter-currents of +passion, fanaticism, greed, hate, pride, folly, the unreason of +mobs, the strife of parties, the dreams of mystics, the logic of +dogmatists, and the lust for power of ecclesiastics,--but the +great main tide is unmistakable. + +What should be the attitude of thinking men, in view of all this? +History, I think, teaches us that, just so far as is possible, +the rule of our conduct should be to assist Evolution rather than +Revolution. Religious revolution is at times inevitable, and at +such times the rule of conduct should be to unite our efforts to +the forces working for a new and better era; but religious +revolutions are generally futile and always dangerous. As a rule, +they have failed. Even when successful and beneficial, they have +brought new evils. The Lutheran Church, resulting from the great +religious revolution of the sixteenth century, became immediately +after the death of Luther, and remained during generations, more +inexcusably cruel and intolerant than Catholicism had ever been; +the revolution which enthroned Calvinism in large parts of the +British Empire and elsewhere brought new forms of unreason, +oppression, and unhappiness; the revolution in France substituted +for the crudities and absurdities of the old religion a "purified +worship of the Supreme Being" under which came human sacrifices +by thousands, followed by a reaction to an unreason more extreme +than anything previously known. Goldwin Smith was right when he +said, "Let us never glorify revolution." + +Christianity, though far short of what it ought to be and will +be, is to-day purer and better, in all its branches, than it has +ever before been; and the same may be said of Judaism. Any man +born into either of these forms of religion should, it seems to +me, before breaking away from it, try as long as possible to +promote its better evolution; aiding to increase breadth of view, +toleration, indifference to unessentials, cooperation with good +men and true of every faith. Melanchthon, St. Francis Xavier, +Grotius, Thomasius, George Fox, Fenelon, the Wesleys, Moses +Mendelssohn, Schleiermacher, Dr. Arnold, Channing, Phillips +Brooks, and their like may well be our exemplars, despite all +their limitations and imperfections. + +I grant that there are circumstances which may oblige a +self-respecting man to withdraw from religious organizations and +assemblages. There may be reactionary zeal of rabbis, priests, +deacons, destructive to all healthful advance of thought; there +may be a degeneration of worship into fetishism; there may be +control by young Levites whose minds are only adequate to decide +the colors of altar-cloths and the cut of man-millinery; there +may be control by men of middle age who preach a gospel of +"hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness"; there may be tyranny +by old men who will allow no statements of belief save those +which they learned as children. + +From such evils, there are, in America at least, many places of +refuge; and, in case these fail, there are the treasures of +religious thought accumulated from the days of Marcus Aurelius, +St. Augustine, and Thomas a Kempis to such among us as Brooks, +Gibbons, Munger, Henry Simmons, Rabbis Weinstock and Jacobs, and +very many others. It may be allowed to a hard-worked man who has +passed beyond the allotted threescore years and ten to say that +he has found in general religious biography, Jewish, Catholic, +and Protestant, and in the writings of men nobly inspired in all +these fields, a help without which his life would have been poor +indeed. + +True, there will be at times need of strong resistance, and +especially of resistance to all efforts by any clerical +combination, whether of rabbis, priests, or ministers, no matter +how excellent, to hamper scientific thought, to control public +education, or to erect barriers and arouse hates between men. +Both Religion and Science have suffered fearfully from unlimited +clerical sway; but of the two, Religion has suffered most. + +When one considers the outcome of national education entirely +under the control of the church during over fifteen hundred +years,--in France at the outbreak of the revolution of 1789, in +Italy at the outbreak of the revolution of 1848, in the +Spanish-American republics down to a very recent period, and in +Spain, Poland, and elsewhere at this very hour,--one sees how +delusive is the hope that a return to the ideas and methods of +the "ages of faith" is likely to cure the evils that still linger +among us. + +The best way of aiding in a healthful evolution would seem to +consist in firmly but decisively resisting all ecclesiastical +efforts to control or thwart the legitimate work of science and +education; in letting the light of modern research and thought +into the religious atmosphere; and in cultivating, each for +himself, obedience to "the first and great commandment, and the +second which is like unto it," as given by the Blessed Founder of +Christianity. + + + +LIST OF PUBLICATIONS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS ESPECIALLY HISTORICAL + +BY ANDREW D. WHITE + +The Greater Distinctions in Statesmanship. Yale Literary Prize +Essay, in the "Yale Literary Magazine," 1852. + +The Diplomatic History of Modern Times. De Forest Prize Oration, +in the "Yale Literary Magazine," 1853. + +Qualifications for American Citizenship. Clarke Senior Prize +Essay, in the "Yale Literary Magazine," 1853. + +Editorial and other articles in the "Yale Literary Magazine," +1852-1853. + +Glimpses of Universal History. The "New Englander," Vol. XV, p. +398. + +Care of the Poor in New Haven. A Report to the Authorities of +Syracuse, New York. The "Tribune," New York, 1857. + +Cathedral Builders and Mediaeval Sculptors. An address before the +faculty and students of Yale College, 1857. With various +additions and revisions between that period and 1885. (Published +only by delivery before various university and general +audiences.) + +Jefferson and Slavery. The "Atlantic Monthly," Vol. IX, p. 29. + +The Statesmanship of Richelieu. The "Atlantic Monthly," Vol. IX, +p. 611. + +The Development and Overthrow of Serfdom in Russia. The "Atlantic +Monthly," Vol. X, p. 538. + +Outlines of Courses of Lectures on History, Mediaeval and Modern, +given at the University of Michigan. Various editions, Ann Arbor +and Detroit, 1858-1863; another edition, Ithaca, 1872. + +A Word from the North West; being historical and political +statements in response to strictures in the "American Diary" of +Dr. W. H. Russell. London, 1862. The same, Syracuse, New York, +1863. + +A Review of the Governor's Message. Speech in the State Senate, +1864, embracing sundry historical details. Albany, 1864. + +The Cornell University. Speech in the State Senate. Albany, 1865. + +Plea for a Health Department in the City of New York. A speech in +the New York State Senate. Albany, 1866. + +The Most Bitter Foe of Nations, and the Way to Its Permanent +Overthrow. An address before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Yale +College, 1866. New Haven, 1866. + +Report on the Organization of a University, with historical +details based upon the history of advanced education, presented +to the trustees of Cornell University, October, 1866. Albany, +1867. + +Address at the Inauguration of the first President of Cornell +University, with historical details regarding university +education. Ithaca, 1869. + +The Historical and part of the Political Details in the Report of +the Commission to Santo Domingo in 1871. Washington, 1871. + +Report to the Trustees of Cornell University on the Establishment +of the Sage College for Women, with historical details regarding +the education of women in the United States and elsewhere. First +edition, Ithaca, 1872. + +Address to the Students of Cornell University and to the Citizens +of Ithaca Oil the Recent Attack upon Mr. Cornell in the +legislature. Albany and New York, 1873. + +The Greater States of Continental Europe (including Italy, six +lectures; Spain, three lectures; Austria, four lectures; The +Netherlands, sis lectures; Prussia, five lectures; Russia, five +lectures; Poland, two lectures; The Turkish Power, three +lectures; France, from the Establishment of French Unity in the +Fifteenth Century to Richelieu, four lectures). Syllabus prepared +for the graduating classes of Cornell University. Ithaca, the +University Press, 1874. + +An Address before the State Agricultural Society, at the Capitol +in Albany, on "Scientific and Industrial Education in the United +States," giving historical details regarding the development of +education in pure and applied science. New York, 1874. Reprint of +the same in the "Popular Science Monthly," June, 1874. + +The Relations of the National and State Governments to Advanced +Education. Paper read before the National Educational Association +at Detroit, August 5, 1874. Published in "Old and New," Boston, +1874. + +An Abridged Bibliography of the French Revolution, published as +an appendix to O 'Connor Morris's "History of the French +Revolution." New York, 1875. + +The Battle-fields of Science. An address delivered at the Cooper +Institute, New York, and published in the "New York Tribune," +1875. + +Paper Money Inflation in France: How it Came; What it Brought; +and How it Ended. First edition, New York, 1876; abridged edition +published by the New York Society for Political Education, 1882; +revised edition with additions, New York, 1896. + +The Warfare of Science. First American edition, New York, 1876; +first English edition, with Prefatory Note by Professor John +Tyndall, London, 1876; Swedish translation, with Preface by H. M. +Melin, Lund, 1877. + +Syllabus of Lectures on the General Development of Penal Law; +Development and Disuse of Torture in Procedure and in Penalty; +Progress of International Law; Origin and Decline of Slavery; +etc. Given before the senior class of Cornell University, 1878. +(Published only by delivery.) + +The Provision for Higher Instruction in Subjects bearing directly +upon Public Affairs, being one of the Reports of the United +States Commissioners to the Paris Universal Exposition of 1878. +Washington, 1878. New edition of the same work, with additions +and extensions by Professor Herbert B. Adams, Baltimore, 1887. + +James A. Garfield. Memorial Address. Ithaca, 1881. + +Do the Spoils belong to the Victor?--embracing historical facts +regarding the origin and progress of the "Spoils System." The +"North American Review," February, 1882. + +Prefatory Note to the American translation of Muller, "Political +History of Recent Times." New York, 1882. + +The New Germany, being a paper read before the American +Geographical Society at New York. New York, 1882. German +translation, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1882. + +Two addresses at Cleveland, Ohio, October, 1882. First, On a Plan +for the Western Reserve University. Second, On the Education of +the Freedmen. Ithaca, 1882. + +Outlines of Lectures on History. Addressed to the students of +Cornell University. Part I, "The first Century of Modern +History," Ithaca, the University Press, 1883. Part II, "Germany +(from the Reformation to the new German Empire)," same place and +date. Part III, "France" (including: 1. "France before the +Revolution"; 2. "The French Revolution"; 3. "Modern France, +including the Third Republic"), same place and date. + +Speech at the Unveiling of the Portrait of the Honorable Justin +S. Morrill. Ithaca, June, 1883. + +The Message of the Nineteenth Century to the Twentieth. An +address delivered before the class of 1853, in the chapel of Yale +College, June 26, 1883. New Haven, 1883; second and third +editions, New York, 1884. + +Address at the First Annual Banquet of the Cornell Alumni of +Western New York, at Buffalo, April, 1884. + +What Profession shall I Choose, and how shall I Fit Myself for +It? Ithaca, 1884. + +Address at the Funeral of Edward Lasker. New York, 1884. + +Address delivered at the Unveiling of the Statue of Benjamin +Silliman at Yale College, June 24, 1884. New Haven, 1884; second +edition, Ithaca, 1884. + +Some Practical Influences of German Thought upon the United +States. An address delivered at the Centennial Celebration of the +German Society of New York, October 4, 1884. Ithaca, 1884. + +Letter defending the Cornell University from Sundry Sectarian +Attacks. Elmira, December 17, 1884. + +Sundry Important Questions in Higher Education: Elective Studies, +University Degrees, University Fellowships and Scholarships; with +historical details and illustrations. A paper read at the +Conference of the Presidents of the Colleges of the State of New +York, at the Twenty-second University Convocation, Albany, 1884. +Ithaca, 1885. + +Studies in General History and the History of Civilization, being +a paper read before the American Historical Association at its +first public meeting, Saratoga, September 9, 1884. New York and +London, 1885. + +Instruction in the Course of History and Political Science at +Cornell University. New York, 1885. + +Yale College in 1853. "Yale Literary Magazine," February, 1886. + +The Constitution and American Education, being a speech delivered +at the Centennial Banquet, in the Academy of Music, Philadelphia, +September 17, 1887. Ithaca, 1887. + +A History of the Doctrine of Comets. A paper read before the +American Historical Association at its second annual meeting, +Saratoga, October, 1885. Published by the American Historical +Association. New York and London, 1887. (This forms one of the +"New Chapters in the Warfare of Science.") + +New Chapters in the Warfare of Science: Meteorology. Reprinted +from the "Popular Science Monthly," July and August, 1887. New +York, 1887. + +College Fraternities. An address given at the Metropolitan Opera +House, New York, with some historical details. The "Forum," May, +1887. + +New Chapters in the Warfare of Science: Geology. Reprinted from +the "Popular Science Monthly," February and March, 1888. New +York, 1888. + +The Next American University. The "Forum," June, 1888. + +The French Revolution. Syllabus of lectures, various editions, +more or less extended and revised, for students at the University +of Michigan; Cornell University; University of Pennsylvania; +Johns Hopkins University; Columbian University; Tulane +University; and Stanford University. Various places, and dates +from 1859 to 1889. + +The Need of Another University. The "Forum," January, 1889. + +A University at Washington. The "Forum," February, 1889. + +New Chapters in the Warfare of Science: Demoniacal Possession and +Insanity. Reprinted from the "Popular Science Monthly," February +and March, 1889. + +New Chapters in the Warfare of Science: Diabolism and Hysteria. +"Popular Science Monthly," May and June, 1889. + +The Political Catechism of Archbishop Apuzzo. A paper read +before, and published by, the American Historical Association, +Washington. December, 1889. + +My Reminiscences of Ezra Cornell. An address delivered before the +Cornell University on Founder's Day, January 11, 1890. Ithaca, +1890. + +Remarks on Indian Education. Proceedings of the Lake Mohonk +Conference, 1890. + +Evolution and Revolution. A commencement address before the +University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1890. + +The Teaching of History in our Public Schools. Remarks before the +Fortnightly Club, Buffalo, 1890. + +Democracy and Education. An address given before the State +Teachers' Association at Saratoga, 1891. Published by the +Department of Public Instruction, Albany, 1891. + +The Problem of High Crime in the United States. Published only by +delivery--before Stanford University in 1892, and, with various +additions and revisions, before various other university and +general audiences down to 1897. + +The Future of the American Colleges and Universities. Published +in "School and College Magazine," February, 1892. + +A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom. +New York, 1896. French translation, Paris, 1899. Italian +translation, Turin, 1902. + +An Address at the Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the +Onondaga Orphan Asylum. Syracuse, 1896. + +Erasmus, in "The Library of the World's Best Literature." New +York, 1896. + +An Open letter to Sundry Democrats (Bryan Candidacy). New York, +1896. + +Evolution vs. Revolution, in Politics. Biennial address before +the State Historical Society and the State University of +Wisconsin, February 9, 1897. Madison, Wisconsin, 1897. + +Speech at a Farewell Banquet given by the German-Americans of New +York. New York, 1897. + +Sundry addresses at Berlin and Leipsic. Berlin, 1897-1902. + +A Statesman of Russia--Pobedonostzeff. The "Century Magazine," +1898. + +The President of the United States. Speech at Leipsic, Germany, +July 4, 1898. Berlin, 1898. + +Address before the Peace Conference of The Hague at the Laying of +a Silver and Gold Wreath on the Tomb of Grotius at Delft, in +Behalf of the Government of the United States, July 4, 1899. The +Hague, 1899. + +Walks and Talks with Tolstoy. "McClure's Magazine," April, 1901. + +The Cardiff Giant. The "Century Magazine" for October, 1902. + +Farewell Address at Berlin, November 11, 1902. The "Columbia" +magazine, Berlin, December, 1902; reprinted "Yale Alumni Weekly," +January 14, 1903. + +Speech at the Bodleian Tercentenary, Oxford. "Yale Alumni +Weekly," March 11, 1903. + +A Patriotic Investment. An address at the fiftieth anniversary of +the Yale class of 1853, New Haven, 1903. + +Reminiscences of My Diplomatic Life. Various articles in the +"Century Magazine," 1903-5. + +The Warfare of Humanity with Unreason, including biographical +essays on Fra Paolo Sarpi, Hugo Grotius, Christian Thomasius, and +others. "Atlantic Monthly," 1903-5. + +Speech at the Laying of the Corner-stone of Goldwin Smith Hall. +Ithaca, N. Y., October 13, 1904. Published by the Cornell +University, 1905. + +The Situation and Prospect in Russia. "Collier's Weekly," +February 11, 1905. + +The Past, Present, and Future of Cornell University. An address +delivered before the New York City Association of Cornell Alumni, +February 25, 1905. Ithaca, 1905. + +The American Diplomatic Service, with Hints for its Reform. An +address delivered before the Smithsonian Association, Washington, +D. C., March 9, 1905. Washington, 1905. + +Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White. New York, 1905. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg etext of The Autobiography of Andrew +Dickson White, Volume 2. + + diff --git a/1370.zip b/1370.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..22b759a --- /dev/null +++ b/1370.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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