82 POLITICAL LIFE -II 



eminent clergyman of New Haven took up the cudgels in 

 my favor, covered my opponent with ridicule, and did me 

 the honor to declare that my lecture was one of the most 

 effective anti-slavery arguments ever made in that city. 

 With this, I retired from the field well satisfied. 



The lecture was asked for in various parts of the coun- 

 try, was delivered at various colleges and universities, and 

 in many cities of western New York, Michigan, and Ohio ; 

 and finally, after the emancipation of the serfs, was re- 

 cast and republished in the "Atlantic Monthly " under the 

 title of "The Eise and Decline of the Serf System in 

 Kussia. ' ' 



And now occurred a great change in my career which, 

 as I fully believed, was to cut me off from all political life 

 thoroughly and permanently. This was my election to 

 the professorship of history and English literature in the 

 University of Michigan. 



