194 POLITICAL LIFE-X 



ent position which he had taken as Vice-President, Mr. 

 Arthur had refused, and when taxed with ingratitude he 

 said: "No. For the Vice-Presidency I was indebted to 

 Mr. Conkling, but for the Presidency of the United States 

 my debt is to the Almighty. " 



The new President certainly showed this spirit in his 

 actions. Rarely has there been a better or more dignified 

 administration; the new Secretary of State, Mr. Freling- 

 huysen, was in every respect fitted for his office, and the 

 other men whom Mr. Arthur summoned about him were 

 satisfactory. 



Although I had met him frequently, and indeed was on 

 cordial terms with him before his elevation to the Presi- 

 dency, I never met him afterward. During his whole ad- 

 ministration my duties in connection with Cornell Uni- 

 versity completely absorbed me. I was one of the last 

 university presidents who endeavored to unite profes- 

 sorial with executive duties, and the burden was heavy. 

 The university had made at that period its first great 

 sale of lands, and this involved a large extension of 

 its activity; the famous Fiske lawsuit, involving nearly 

 two millions of dollars, had come on; there was every 

 sort of detail requiring attention at the university it- 

 self, and addresses must be given in various parts of 

 the country, more especially before alumni associations, 

 to keep them in proper relations with the institution; 

 so that I was kept completely out of politics, was hardly 

 ever in Washington during this period, and never at the 

 White House. 



The onljjmatter which connected me with politics at all 

 was my conviction, which deepened more and more, as 

 to the necessity of reform in the civil service ; and on this 

 subject I conferred with Mr. Dorman B. Eaton, Mr. John 

 Jay, and others at various times, and prepared an article 

 for the "North American Review" in which I presented 

 not only the general advantages of civil service reform, 

 but its claims upon men holding public office. My main 

 effort was to show, what I believed then and believe still 



