hman who keeps up the real
estate market. When I have suggested that it is because of his opposition
that he is regarded as an enemy, I have come to the heart of all that
I propose to say to-night. As a matter of fact, the Dutchman has never
been very aggressive. He may not be enterprising, but his powers of
resistance are superb, and as this world wags it is often better to hold
fast than it is to be fast.

If the Dutchman has not been aggressive, he has certainly been
steadfast. He has never become an enemy willingly, but always under
compulsion; willing to let other people alone if they will let him
alone, and if they will not do that, then he makes them do it. Those
dykes tell the whole story. The Dutchman did not want the sea--only the
earth. But when the sea wanted him he took up arms against it. It was so
with those Roman legions. The Dutchman had no quarrel with Rome until
Rome wanted to extend its empire that way, and to acquire him and grow
fat from his tribute money. But the Dutchman had no need of an empire up
his way, and so kept his tribute money, and sent the eagles home hungry.
If Spain had not wanted to whip the Dutchman, the Dutchman would not
have whipped Spain. If England had not wanted a brush with the Dutch,
that broom would never have been nailed to Tromp's masthead. If Jameson
had not tried to raid the Dutchman, the Dutchman would not have
corralled Jameson. From first to last, his battles have been on the
defensive. He has always been ambitious to be a good friend with the
latch-string always on the outside, and has only become an enemy when
somebody has tried to get into his house through the window. That kind
of enmity hurts no one who does not deserve to be hurt.

As this world goes, it is a great thing to say of a man that he never
gets down his gun until he sees another gun pointed his way, but it is a
greater thing to say that when he does see that other gun he does not
get under the bed, and that is what can be said of the Dutchman more
than of any other man in the world. He will not run into a fight; he
will not run away from a fight--in fact he has no reputation whatever as
a runner in any direction. But he can take a stand, and when the smoke
has cleared away there he is, still standing. He will not vote himself
an enemy, but if against his will he is voted an enemy, he accepts the
election, and discharges the duties of his office with painstaking
vigilance and care. Now, no one does