INTRODUCTION
The Address of President Roosevelt on his presentation of the Hubbard Medal of the National Geographic Society to Commander Robert E. Peary, at the annual banquet of the Society, December 15, 1906.
I count myself fortunate in having been asked to be present this evening at such a gathering and on behalf of such a society to pay a tribute of honour to an American who emphatically deserves well of the commonwealth. Civilised people usually live under conditions of life so easy that there is a certain tendency to atrophy of the hardier virtues. And it is a relief to pay signal honour to a man who by his achievements makes it evident that in some of the race, at least, there has been no loss of hardy virtue.
I said some loss of the hardier virtues. We will do well to recollect that the very word virtue, in itself, originally signifies courage and hardihood. When the Roman spoke of virtue he meant that sum of qualities that we characterise as manliness.
I emphatically believe in peace and all the kindred virtues. But I think that they are only worth having if they come as a consequence of possessing the combined virtue of courage and hardihood. So I feel that in an age which naturally and properly excels, as it should excel, in the milder and softer qualities, there is need that we should not forget that in the last analysis the safe basis of a successful national character must rest upon the great fighting virtues, and those great fighting virtues can be shown quite as well in peace as in war.
They can be shown in the work of the philanthropist; in the work of the scientist; and, most emphatically of all, in the work of the explorer, who faces and overcomes perils and hardships which the average soldier never in his life knows. In war, after all, it is only the man at the very head who is ever lonely. All the others, from the subordinate generals down through the privates, are cheered and sustained by the sense of companionship and by the sense of divided responsibility.
You, the man whom we join to honour to-night, you, who for month in and month out, year in and year out, had to face perils and overcome the greatest risks and difficulties with resting on your shoulders the undivided responsibility which meant life or death to you and your followers—you had to show in addition what the modern commander with his great responsibility does not have to show. You had to show all the moral qualities in war, together with other qualities. You did a great deed, a deed that counted for all mankind, a deed which reflected credit upon you and upon your country; and on behalf of those present, and speaking also for the millions of your countrymen, I take pleasure in handing you this Hubbard medal, and in welcoming you home from the great feat which you have performed, Commander Peary.
COMMANDER ROBERT E. PEARY
