New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-11-20


ander Cesar and Hannibal in antiquity and
Napoleon and possibly Gustavus Adolphus in
modern times He belonged to the ancient and
illustrious house of Hohenzollern, which, after
playing strong and yirile part in the Middle
Ages. and after producing some men, like the
princes of their time founded the royal house OF
Prussia two centuries ago. and at last in our
own day established the mighty German EN-
pire as among the foremost of world powers
We receive this gift now at the hands of the
present Emperor, himsef man who has mark
edly added to the lustre of his great house and
his great nation. man who has devoted his life
to the welfare of his people, and who. while
people has also made il evident in emphatic
fashion that he and they desire peace and
friendship with the other nations OF the earth.
GREAT KING AND GENERAL.
It is not my purpose here to discuss at length
the career of the mighty King and mighty gem
eral whose statue we have just received In all
history no other great commander, save oniy
Hannibal, fought SO long against such terrible
eric6 finally triumphed. In almost every battle
he fought against great odds and he almost al
ways won the victory When defeated he rose TO
an even greater altitude than when victorious.
The memory of the Seven Years War will last
as long as tnere lives in mankind the love OF
heroism, and itg operations viii be studleo 10
the minutest detail long as the world sees d
soldier worthy of the 1t is difficult 10
know whether to admire most the victories of
Leuthen and Prague Rossbach and Zorndorf, or
the heart breaking campaigns after hunersdorl,
when the great King, after having been peaten
yet rose again, and by an exhibition OF Skill
tenacity energy and daring such as mad never
before been seen united in one person. hlaIi'
wrested triumph from defeat.
Not only must the military scholar always
turn to the career Of Frederick the Great TOT
lessons in strategy and tactics; not only must
the military administrator always turn 10 MS
career fer lessons in organizing success: not
only will tina lover of heroisn read the tales
OF his mighty feats as long mankind cares
for heroic deeds: but even those who ars NOT
attracted by the valo- OF the solder must yet
a.. Of
and admire the lessons taught by his undaunted
resolution. his infexible tenacity OF purpose ms
farsghted grasp OF lofty posslbinees; ana tno MS
ing the path he had marked out
1t is emnently fitting that the statue OF this
iron soldier, this born leader of men, should mo
a place in this War College; for when soldierly
genius and soldierly heroisTu reach the highest
point of achievement the man in whom they are
displayed gross TO belong not merely to the ma
ton from which he sprang, but to all nations
capable OF showing, and therefore capable of APP
which alone make victors in those dread strug
giles where resort is at last had to the arbttra-
ment Of arms.
STATUE A SYMBOL OF FRIENDSHIP.
But, Mr. Ambassador, in accepting the statue
given US to-day through you from the German
Emperor, I accept it not merely because 1t is
the statue of a mighty and terrible soldier, but
accept 1t as a symbol Of the ties OF friendship
and good will which / trust as the years go on
will bind ever closer together the American and
the German peoples. There is knsh!p OF blood be-
| are OF mixed stock. In our veins runs the blood
| OF almost all the peoples Of middle, northern
| and western Europe. We already have history
| OF which We feel that we nave the right 10 De
| legitimately proud and yet our nationality Is
still in the formative period. Nearly three CEN
turtles have elapsed since the landing of the Eng
| lsh at jamestown marked the beginning or
what has since grown into the United States
During these three centuries streams or new
corners from many different countries abroad
have in each generation contributed TO swell the
| increase OF our people Soon after the English
Settieo IN virginia ana ldlIq, ! IIle ~ 5
! lander settled at the mouth of the Hudson ana
the Swede at the mouth Of the Delaware. Even
In Colonial days theGerman element had become
very strong among our people IN various parts
OF this country; the Irish element was predomi-
nant in the foothills of the AlleghanieS; French
Huguenots were numerous. BY the time of the
Declaration OF Independence that process OF
fusion which has gone on ever since was wei
under way. From the beginning of our national
history men of German origin or German par
entage played distinguished part in the at
fairs both of peace and OF war. In the Revolu-
Muhenberg, an American OF German descent
| just among the soldiers from abroad who
came TO aid us one of the most prominent was
! the German, Steuben. Muhlenberg was the hrSt
Speaker of the House Of Representatives; and
the battle which in the Revolution saved the
valley of the Mohawk to the American cause was
fought under the lead of the German. Herkimer
AS all the different races here tend rapidly to
fuse together, it is rarely possible after one or
two generations to draw sharp line between
the various elements; but there is no student OF
our national conditions who has failed to appre-
| ciate what invaluable element in our COM
| poste stock the German is. Here on this plat
| form, Mr.. Ambassador among those present to-
| day many men partly or wholly Of German
| blood, and among the officers OF the army and
| navy who have listened to you and who now
! join with in greeting you there are many
| whose fathers or grandfathers were born IN
| Germany, and not a few who themselves first
saw the light there.
PEACE AND GOOD WILL TO ALL.
Each nation has its allotted tasks to do; each
nation has its peculiar difficulties TO encounter;
| and as the peoples of the world tend to be-
| come more closely knit together alike for good
| and for evil, it becomes ever more important to
! all that each should prosper for the prosperity
| OF one is normally not a sign OF menace. but a
| sign of hope for the rest. Here this cOnti-
| nent, where it is absolutely essential that the
| different peoples coming to our shores should
| our unCeasing effort is to strive to keep and
| profit by the good that each race brings to our
! shores, and at the same time to do away with
| all racial and religious animosities among the
| various stocks. In both efforts we have met
| with an astonishing measure Of success. AS the
years go by 1t becomes not harder. but easier, to
live in peace and good will among ourselves; and
! I firmly believe that it will also become not
harder, but easier, to dwell in peace and friend
ship with the other nations OF the earth.
young people a people OF composite stock
we have kinship with many different nations
but we are Identical with none OF them, and
developing a separate national stock we
have already developed separate national life
We have in our veins the blood of the English
man, the Welshman and the Irishman, the
German and the Frenchman, the Scotchman the
DutChman. the Scandinavian, the italian, the
Magyar, the Finn. the SlaV, that to each of
the great powers of the Old World we can claim
a more or less distant knship by blood: and to
each strain OF blood we owe some peculiar quail
ity in national life national character
AS such is the case, 1t is natural that we
should have a peculiar feeling of nearness to
most earnestly wish not only to keep unbroken
our friendship for each but so far as we ca
without giving. offence by an appearance of
meddling to seek TO bring about n better under
standing and a broader spirit Of fair dealing