aces where I could see clearly the ungodly
affairs of political life in my own country, that the progress of
politics became to me a hopeless thing.

The political nominations of 1882 involved no great principles. In New
York State this was significant, because it brought before the nation
Mr. Grover Cleveland as a candidate for Governor against Mr. Folger. The
general opinion of these two men in the unbiassed public mind was
excellent. They were men of talent and integrity. They were not merely
actors in the political play. I have buried professional politicians,
and the most of them made a very bad funeral for a Christian minister to
speak at. I always wanted, at such a time, an Episcopal prayer book,
which is made for all eases, and may not be taken either as invidious or
too assuring.

There was another contest, non-political, that interested the nation in
1882. It was the Sullivan-Ryan prize-fight. I had no great objection to
find with it, as did so many other ministers. It suggested a far better
symbol of arbitration between two differing opinions than war. If Mr.
Disraeli had gone out and met a distinguished Zulu on the field of
English battle, and fought their national troubles out, as Sullivan and
Ryan did, what a saving of life and money! How many lives could have
been saved if Napoleon and Wellington, or Moltke and McMahon had
emulated the spirit of the Sullivan-Ryan prize fight! I saw no
reasonable cause why the law should interfere between two men who
desired to pound one another in public; I stood alone almost among my
brethren in this conclusion.

The persecution of the Jews in Russia, which came to us at this time
with all its details of cruelty and horror, was the beginning of an
important chapter in American history. Dr. Adler, in London, had
appealed for a million pounds to transport the Jews who were driven out
of Russia to the United States. It seemed more important that
civilisation should unite in an effort to secure protection for them in
their own homes, than compel them to obey the will of Russia. This was
no Christian remedy. We might as well abuse the Jews in America, and
then take up a collection to send them to England or Australia. The Jews
were entitled to their own rights of property and personal liberty and
religion, whether they lived in New York, or Brooklyn, or London, or
Paris, or Warsaw, or Moscow, or St. Petersburg. And yet we were
constantly hearing of the friendly feeling bet