156 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -XV 



fects, as a great architectural creation is in a style wor 

 thy of its purpose a style which is preserved in all its 

 parts; while that at Albany is, perhaps, the most curious 

 junible 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 mil 

 lion of dollars, is in the Richardsonesque style; the east 

 ern 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 commemora 

 tion 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 great 

 est 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, re 

 quired over thirty years and an expenditure of over twenty 

 millions, what is a great &quot;barge canal&quot; to cost, running 

 through the whole length of the State, encountering enor 

 mous difficulties of every sort, estimated at the beginning 

 to cost one hundred millions of dollars, but including no 

 estimate for &quot;&quot;land damages,&quot; &quot;water damages,&quot; &quot;per 

 sonal damages, &quot; &quot; unprecedented floods, &quot; &quot; unforeseen ob 

 stacles,&quot; &quot;quicksands,&quot; &quot;changes of plan,&quot; 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. 



