PLANS AND PROJECTS -1838 -1905 509 



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, &quot;qui s excuse, s ac 

 cuse ; 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 de 

 voted 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 obedi 

 ence 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 se 

 curing 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 depre 

 cated 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 



