ch first of all a Dutch flag floated,
along this Hudson which was first discovered and explored and made
habitable by Dutch industry and Dutch thrift, there is no Dutch monument
to which we may proudly point as we pass by. There ought to be a statue
of that great Dutchman, William the Silent, on Riverside Drive. [Great
applause.] Do you ever think of him? Do you ever think of his career,
that of the prototype of our own Washington? At fifteen years of age the
companion of an emperor; at twenty-one years of age, the commander of a
great army, and later giving up wealth and pomp and power, preferring to
be among the people of God, than to dwell at ease in the tents of
wickedness; giving up everything for a life of tedious struggle in the
cold marshes of the Netherlands, finally to die at the hand of an
assassin with a prayer for his country upon his lips as he passed away.
He was the first human being on the face of this earth, who fairly and
fully understood the principles of religious and civic freedom. This
great city, the exemplifier of those principles to which it owes so much
for its prosperity and magnificence, has not yet commemorated that man.
How long shall it be, sons of Hollanders, before William the Silent
shall be there looking out upon the Hudson and lifted on high as an
example for all time? I hope our eyes will see the day! [Great
applause.]

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

THE HOLLANDER AS AN AMERICAN

[Speech of Theodore Roosevelt at the eleventh annual dinner of the
Holland Society of New York, January 15, 1896. The President, Dr.
D. B. St. John Roosa, said: "The next regular toast is: 'The
Hollander as an American,' and I shall have the pleasure of
introducing a gentleman who is a member of this Society, and,
therefore, descended on the male line [laughter] from some one who
came here before 1675, is it not? [A voice--"That is right; 1675."]
One of the first Roosevelts came very near outstripping Robert
Fulton and inventing the steamboat. He did invent a steamboat, and
you know the Roosevelts have had something of a steamboat in them
ever since. Now there is another thing I want you Dutchmen to teach
the Yankees to do--pronounce his name Rosavelt and not Rusevelt.
And, by the way, mine is pronounced Rosa too. Now Mr. Roosevelt is
a man, evidently, who has the courage of his convictions [A
Voice--"That is right." Applause], and i