AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

 ANDREW DICKSON WHITE 



CHAPTEE 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 posi 

 tion gave all time possible to study and travel, with ref 

 erence to the book on which I was then engaged: &quot;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 re 

 gard to reform in the civil service. Although President 

 Harrison greatly impressed me at the time by the clear 

 ness 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 in- 



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