Through you I wish on behalf of the people of the United States to thank his Majesty, the German Emperor, and the people of Germany for the gift to the Nation which you have just formally delivered to me. I accept it with deep appreciation of the friendly regard which it typifies for the people of this Republic both on the part of the Emperor and on the part of the German people. I accept it not merely as the statue of one of the half-dozen greatest soldiers of all time, and therefore peculiarly appropriate for placing in this War College, but I accept it as the statue of a great man, whose life was devoted to the service of a great people, and whose deeds hastened the approach of the day when a united Germany should spring into being. As a soldier Frederick the Great ranks in that very, very small group which includes Alexander, Cæsar, 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 a strong and virile 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 foremost of world powers. We receive this gift now at the hands of the present Emperor, himself a man who has markedly added to the lustre of his great house and his 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.