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in this field the diflBculties of the management of materials are so much greater — but you always acceded, showed rec- ognition and encouragement for every effort, gave opportun- ity to the peculiar ability of each, and knew how to moderate and to reconcile differences when they came into sharp con- flict. And with whatever active sympathy did you follow the later work of the members, no matter what direction it took, or whether they adhered to or diverged from your treatment of the subject.
"To every view you gave freedom; even pretty strong antagonisms in politics and religion, which so often are in- volved in the problems of the historians, you removed, and never let them disturb the relations of the old association. Scientific earnestness and honesty of conviction alone were important for you. So to-day men of the most divergent positions and opinions, who once sat at your feet, gather around you and all confess that from you more than from any one else they received stimulus and teaching. With the historians gather also many who have achieved distinction in other fields, teachers of political science and philosophy, practical statesmen and journalists."^
1 GlucJcwunschschreiben, 4, 5. Waitz, on pp. 5-7, describes the methods he fol- lowed in his own seminary at Gottingen.
