Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-19

| ly as the statue of of the half dozen
| greatest soldiers of all time, and therefore
| peculiarly appropriate for placing in this
War College. but | accept 1t the statue
| of a great man. whose life was devoted to
| the service of a great people, and whose
deeds fastened the approach of the day
| when united Germany should spring into
being
AS soldier Frederick the Great ranks
| in the very, very small group which in
| cludes Alexander, Caesar and Hannibal in
antiquity, and Napoleon. and possibly Gus
| tavus Adophus, in modern times. He be-
| longed to the ancient and illustrious house
| of HohenZollern. which, after playing
strong and virle part in the middle ages,
| and after producing some men like the
| great elector, who were among the most
| famous princes of their time, founded the
royal house of Prussia two centuries ago,
| and at last in our own day established the
mighty German empire as among the fore
most of world powers. We receive this gilt
now at the hands of the present emperor.
himself a man who has markedly added to
the luSter of his great house ana ms great
nation, a man who has devoted his life to
the welfare of his people, and who while
keeping ever ready to defend the rights OF
that people, has also made it evident In
emphatic fashion that he and they desire
peace and friendship with the other nations
of the earth.
1t is not my purpose here to discuss at
length the career of the mighty king and
mighty general whose statue we have just
received. In all history no other great COM
mander save only Hannibal fought SO long
against such terrible odds, and while Han
nibal finally failed Frederick finally tri-
umphed. In almost every battle he fought
| against great Odds: and he almost always
won the victory.
Great After Defeat
When defeated he rose to even greater
altitude than when victorious. The memory
of the Seven Years will last as long
as their lives in mankind the love of hero
ism, and it's operations will be studied to
the minutest detail as long as the world
sees a soldier worthy of the name. 1t Is
difficult to know whether to admire most
| the victories of Leuthen and Prague, Ross
| bach and Zorndorf, or the heart-breaking
| campaigns after Kunersdorf. when the
great king, after having been beaten to the
| ground by the banded might Of Europe, yet
rose again, and by exhibition of skill,
tenacity, energy and daring such as had
| never before been seen united in one person.
| finally wrested triumph from defeat. Not
only must the military scholar always turn
! to the career of Frederick the Great for
lessons in strategy and tactics; not only
| must the military administrator always
turn to his career for lessons in organizing
success: not only will the lover of heroism
read the tales of his mighty feats as long
as mankind cares for heroic deeds; but
even those who are not attracted by the
valor of the soldier must yet, for the sake
of the greatness of the man, ponder and adj
mire the lessons taught by his undaunted
resolution, his infiexibe tenacty of pur-
pose, his farsighted grasp of lofty posi-
bilities, and his unfiinching, unyielding de-
termination in following the path he had
marked out 1t is eminently fitting that
the statue Of this iron soldier, this born