ROCKS, STORMS, AND PERIL -1868 -1874 415 



more. But we brought together at Albany a few of the 

 most devoted, and in fifteen minutes the whole amount was 

 subscribed : four members of the board of trustees agreed 

 to give each twenty thousand dollars ; and this, with Mr. 

 Cornell s additional subscription, furnished the sum 

 needed. 



Then took place one of the things which led me later in 

 life, looking back over the history of the university, to 

 say that what had seemed to be our worst calamities 

 had generally proved to be our greatest blessings. Among 

 these I have been accustomed to name the monstrous 

 McGuire attack in the Assembly on Mr. Cornell, which 

 greatly disheartened me for the moment, but which even 

 tually led the investigation committee not only to show 

 to the world Mr. Cornell s complete honesty and self- 

 sacrifice, but to recommend the measures which finally 

 transferred the endowment fund from the State to the 

 trustees, thus strengthening the institution greatly. So 

 now a piece of good luck came out of this unexpected debt. 

 As soon as the subscription was made, Mr. George W. 

 Schuyler, treasurer of the university, in drawing up the 

 deed of gift, ended it with words to the following effect : 

 1 i And it is hereby agreed by the said Ezra Cornell, Henry 

 W. Sage, Hiram Sibley, John McGraw, and Andrew D. 

 White, that in case the said university shall ever be in 

 position to repay their said subscriptions, then and in that 

 case the said entire sum of one hundred and sixty thousand 

 dollars shall be repaid into a university fund for the cre 

 ation of fellowships and scholarships in the said univer 

 sity.&quot; A general laugh arose among the subscribers, Mr. 

 McGraw remarking that this was rather offhand dealing 

 with us ; but all took it in good part and signed the agree 

 ment. It is certain that not one of us then expected in his 

 lifetime to see the university able to repay the money ; but, 

 within a few years, as our lands were sold at better prices 

 than we expected, the university was in condition to make 

 restitution. At first some of the trustees demurred to 

 investing so large a sum in fellowships and scholarships, 



