vice
laughed at him for supposing that his one year's leave of absence would
suffice for his far more important mission. Yet the revision of the
Burlingame treaty, restricting the importation of cheap coolie labor
into this country, which he sought, was accomplished within two months.
Another important commercial treaty relative to the importation of
opium was likewise completed at the same time. He was also successful in
his mission to Turkey in 1898 and as a member of the Alaska Fisheries
and other international commissions.

But his heart was in his work at Ann Arbor, and thither he always
returned despite flattering temptations to enter diplomatic life. A
great opportunity lay before him when he took up his new duties and he
recognized it. It was his task to bring the State, exemplified in
particular by a not always sympathetic Legislature, and by a Board of
Regents of continually varying complexion, to a realization of the true
function of a university supported by the State. He must arouse the
enthusiasm for education and learning which he knew lay deep in the
hearts of the people of Michigan. As Professor Charles Kendall Adams,
later President of Cornell and Wisconsin, said: "What was called for
first of all was the creation and dissemination of an appreciative
public opinion that would produce, in some way or other, the means
necessary for the adequate support of the University." So well did Dr.
Angell accomplish this purpose that of late years he loved to dwell, in
his speeches before the alumni, upon what he chose to call the "passion
for education" on the part of the people of the State, forgetting
utterly the yeoman service he performed all his life toward bringing
about that same regard for popular education.

It is true that the foundation and declaration of the educational ideals
of the West cannot be ascribed to him. Nevertheless he must be regarded,
more than any other one man, as the successful pilot who avoided the
difficulties which the very novelty of the situation presented. The
comparative freedom from precedent offered an unrivaled opportunity to
try new theories in education, and was a continual temptation to try
policies which must have proved too advanced for the place and the time.

[Illustration: ALUMNI MEMORIAL HALL]

A survey of the educational system in the West at the time he came to
Michigan may be of interest. As regards the number of students, quality
of work, and the eminence of