Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White — Volume 2

Appointment by President Harrison. My stay in London Lord Rothschild; his view of Russian treatment of the Jews. Sir Julian Goldschmidt; impression made by him. Paris; the Vicom...

Last days of Sir Robert Morier at St. Petersburg; his last appearance at Court. Count de Montebello. Husny Pasha. Marochetti. Count Wolkenstein. Van Stoetwegen and his views reg...

The "Minister of Public Enlightenment," Delyanoff; his theory and system. Hostility of sundry Russians to the Russian-Germans; evident folly of this. Woronzoff-Daschkoff and Gen...

My desire to know Pobedonostzeff; his history; his power. Public business which led to our meeting; his characteristics; reasons for his course; his view of the relations of the...

Moscow revisited. Little change for the better. First visit to Tolstoi. Curious arrangement of his household. Our first discussions; condition of the peasants; his view of Quake...

Difficulty in securing accurate information in Russia; the censorship of newspapers and books; difficulty in ascertaining the truth on any question; growth of myth and legend in...

The Venezuelan Commission; curious circumstances of my nomination to it by President Cleveland. Nature of the question to be decided; its previous evolution. Mr. Cleveland's mes...

Nomination by President McKinley. Light thrown upon his methods by appointments of second secretary and military attache. Secretary Sherman; his reference to President Johnson's...

The Chinese question; German part in it; my duties regarding it, course of President McKinley and Secretary Hay. The exclusion of American insurance companies; difficulties. Ame...

Ex-President Harrison visits Berlin; attention shown him by the Emperor and others; change in him since his Washington days. Difficulty regarding embassy quarters; moral. Bicent...

Assassination of President McKinley; its effect on German feeling. My peculiar relations with the Chinese minister at Berlin; our discussions: my advice to China through him; vi...

My first knowledge of him, his speech as a student at Dusseldorf; talk with his father and mother regarding it. His appearance at court; characteristics. His wedding and my firs...

Proposal of a Conference by Nicholas II. Reasons why the Netherlands were preferred to Switzerland as its place of meeting. General misunderstanding as to the Emperor's proposal...

Apparent wavering of Russia regarding an arbitration scheme. Count Munster's view of the Russian proposals. Social gatherings. Influx of people with notions, nostrums, and whims...

Festival given to the Conference by the city of Haarlem. Difficulties encountered by the American proposal for the immunity of private property at sea. Question as to what contr...

Declaration against an arbitration tribunal received from their Government by the German delegation; their consternation; Professor Zorn and Secretary Holls sent to Berlin; my p...

Celebration of Independence Day at Delft in the presence of the entire Conference and of eminent Netherlanders; speeches by the Netherlands ministers and American delegates; tel...

My connection with the Diplomatic Service at periods during the last forty-five years. Questions which have been asked me regarding it; reasons why I have not thought it best to...

Usefulness of various journeys to me. Excursion through central and western New York in 1838--in middle Massachusetts, Boston, and New York City in 1842. Impression made by Trin...

Reason for going abroad after my resignation of the Cornell Presidency in 1885. "Tom Brown" at sea; sundry stories of his. Southwest of England. Visit to the historian Freeman a...

Mme. Blaze de Bury. From Paris to the Riviera. James Bryce. George von Bunsen. Sir Charles Murray. Lord Acton; discussions with the latter; his wide range of knowledge; his info...

A great sorrow and disappointment. Court of Appeals decides the Fiske suit, June, 1888. Reasons for going abroad. Scotland revisited. Memorable sermon at St. Giles in Edinburgh....

My stay of two years in America. Lectures at the University of Pennsylvania. Archbishop Ryan's Latin pun. The Mohonk Conference and President Hayes. Excursion with Andrew Carneg...

Twofold characteristics of the central route from New York to Niagara. The lake country of western New York. The Onondaga Valley; characteristics of its people; their agitation...

My early reverence for authors. Youthful tendency toward literary studies. Change in this respect during my stay at Yale. Difference between the Yale and Harvard spirit. Senator...

Religious ideas of the settlers in central New York. The Protestant Episcopal Church; its relations to larger Christian bodies. Effects of revivalism in them. My father and moth...

Influence of New England Congregationalism at Yale. Butler's "Analogy." Revivals. Sermons and prayers in the college pulpit. Noble efforts of sundry professors, especially sermo...

Student life in Europe. My susceptibility to religious architecture, music, and the nobler forms of ceremonial. Beauties of the Anglican service. Sundry experiences in European...

My relations with Professor Fisher at New Haven; his good influence. My interest in church work as a professor at the University of Michigan; am asked to select a rector; my suc...

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 position gave all time p...

To return to Sir Robert Morier. There had been some friction between his family and that of one of my predecessors, and this had for some time almost ended social intercourse be...

Still another department which interested me was that known as the "Ministry of Public Enlightenment," its head being Count Delyanoff. He was certainly a man of culture; but the...

On arriving at St. Petersburg in 1892 to take charge of the American legation, there was one Russian whom I more desired to meet than any other--Constantine Pobedonostzeff. For...

Revisiting Moscow after an absence of thirty-five years, the most surprising thing to me was that there had been so little change. With the exception of the new gallery of Russi...

The difficulties of a stranger seeking information in Russia seem at times insurmountable. First of these is the government policy of suppressing news. Foreign journals come to...

Early one morning, just at the end of 1895, as I was at work before the blazing fire in my library at the university, the winter storms howling outside, a card was brought in be...

On the 1st of April, 1897, President McKinley nominated me ambassador to Berlin; and, the appointment having been duly confirmed by the Senate, I visited Washington to obtain in...

During the early days of this second official stay of mine at Berlin, Russia had, in one way and another, secured an entrance into China for her trans-Siberian railway, and seem...

An interesting event of this period was the appearance in Berlin of ex-President and Mrs. Harrison. The President had but recently finished his long and wearisome work before th...

Darkest of all hours during my embassy was that which brought news of the assassination of President McKinley. It was on the very day after his great speech at Buffalo had gaine...

At various times since my leaving the Berlin Embassy various friends have said to me, "Why not give us something definite regarding the German Emperor?" And on my pleading sundr...

On the 24th of August, 1898, the Russian Government proposed, in the name of the Emperor Nicholas II, a conference which should seek to arrest the constantly increasing developm...

Soon came evidences of an interest in the conference more earnest and wide-spread than anything I had dreamed. Books, documents, letters, wise and unwise, thoughtful and crankis...

He stated that the Russian representatives, on arriving here, gave out that they were not prepared with any plan for a definite tribunal of arbitration; but that shortly afterwa...

We have just had an experience which "adds to the gaiety of nations." Some days since, representatives of what is called "the Young Turkish party" appeared and asked to be heard...

June 16. This morning Count Munster called and seemed much excited by the fact that he had received a despatch from Berlin in which the German Government--which, of course, mean...

On this day the American delegation invited their colleagues to celebrate our national anniversary at the tomb of Grotius, first in the great church, and afterward in the town h...

In view of a connection with the diplomatic service of the United States begun nearly fifty years ago and resumed at various posts and periods since, I have frequently been aske...

From my boyhood I have been fond of travel, and at times this fondness has been of great use to me. My constitution, though never robust, has thus far proved elastic, and whenev...

fields, were fragments of shell, of cannon, of harness, of clothing, and equipments of every sort. The trees, especially those near the great centers of the struggle, where the...

In 1885, having resigned the presidency at Cornell, after twenty years of service, I went to Europe; my main purpose being to leave my successor untrammeled as to any changes wh...

New Year's day of 1886 found my wife and myself again in Paris; and, during our stay of nearly a fortnight there, we met various interesting persons--among them Mr. McLane, the...

While under the influence of the greatest sorrow that has ever darkened my life, there came to me a calamity of a less painful sort, yet one of the most trying that I have ever...

Arriving at New York in the autumn of 1889, I was soon settled at my accustomed work in the university,--devoting myself to new chapters of my book and to sundry courses of lect...

The traveler from New York to Niagara by the northern route is generally disappointed in the second half of his journey. During the earlier hours of the day, moving rapidly up t...

Among those who especially attracted my youthful admiration were authors, whether of books or of articles in the magazines. When one of these personages was pointed out to me, h...

When the colonists from New England came into central and western New York, at the end of the eighteenth century, they wrote their main ideas large upon the towns they founded....

At Yale I found myself in the midst of New England Congregationalism; but I cannot say that it helped me much religiously. It, indeed, broadened my view, since I was associated...

Chapin was a Universalist, and his most interesting parishioner was Horace Greeley, whose humanitarian ideas naturally inclined him to a very mild creed. As young men, strangers...

Leaving Yale in 1853, I passed nearly three years in Europe; and observation of the effects resulting from the various orthodoxies in England, France, Germany, Russia, and Italy...

On my return to America I remained for a short time as a resident graduate at New Haven, and there gained a friend who influenced me most happily. This was Professor George Park...