FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF CORNELL -1870 -1872 381 



given by our professor of moral philosophy, Dr. Wilson, 

 a man broad in his views and strong in reasoning power, 

 who had been greatly impressed by the ideas of Friedrich 

 List, the German protectionist. But lectures were also 

 given by free-traders, and I adopted the plan of having 

 both sides as well represented as possible. This was, at 

 first, complained of; sundry good people said it was like 

 calling a professor of atheism into a theological seminary ; 

 but my answer was that our university was not, like a 

 theological seminary, established to arrive at certain con 

 clusions fixed beforehand, or to propagate an established 

 creed; that, political economy not being an exact science, 

 our best course was to call eminent lecturers to present 

 both sides of the main questions in dispute. The result was 

 good. It stimulated much thought, and doubtless did 

 something to promote that charity to opposing economical 

 opinions which in my own case had been, through my 

 early manhood, so conspicuously lacking. 



The second of these departments history was the 

 one for which I cared most. I believed then, and later 

 experience has strengthened my conviction, that the best 

 of all methods in presenting every subject bearing on po 

 litical and social life is the historical. My own studies 

 had been mainly in this field, and I did what I could 

 to establish historical courses in the university. The 

 lectures which I had given at the University of Michigan 

 were now developed more fully and again presented; but 

 to these I constantly added new lectures and, indeed, new 

 courses, though at a great disadvantage, since my admin 

 istrative duties stood constantly in the way of my pro 

 fessorial work. At the same time I went on collecting my 

 historical library until it became, in its way, probably the 

 largest and most complete of its kind in the possession of 

 any individual in the United States. Gradually strong 

 men were drawn into the department, and finally there 

 came one on whom I could lay a large portion of the work. 



The story is somewhat curious. During the year 1877- 

 1878, in Germany and France, I had prepared a short 



