Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1865-11-15

it before the war"
gag- Rev Henry Ward Beecher's
discourse at the funeral of Colonel Uric
Dahlgren was ore of his most eloquent,
beautiful, and impressive productions.
1t occupied an hour in its delivery, and
all accounts agree that it produced a
very deep effect The following is the
longest sketch of the address we have
seen:
He selected as his text from the Acts
of the Apostles, the words, "But none
of these things move ne, neither count
! nay life dear unto myself" and COM
menced with the remark that by nature
nothing is dearer to man than his own
life, therefore it is said, Gall that man
has will he give for his life, yet it is
true that mans life is of least worth
in comparison with his MANHOOD. Hon.
or is better than life, and the one or the
other must be chosen. Purity and fdel-
ity, truth and duty, courage, kindness,
generosity, and magnanimity are better
than life To live is not merely to
breathe, but to think, plan, execute, to
serve, suffer, reverence, obey, and wor-
ship. Life is not in things, but in moral
qualities, in noble deeds, in pains and
tasks endured for Others. How glorious
| ly may one live forever when he knows
how to die, and how many stalking
around think they are alive when they
are dead. A nation tenacious of life,
and which. thinks there is nothing more
precious given as an offering for truth
and principle, than human life, is un-
christian. Let life be and a country,
and those who die in their maintenance
sanctify and ennoble the times If the
nation had gone on another fifty years
without any more dying we should have
| been ruined.
Our young men had been environed
wi h influences which threatened their
manhood, and had begun to adopt policy
rather than principle, expediency rather
| than truth. The influences of the great
moral law had been perverted, tending
in the same direction. A progressive
old man is miracle and wonder, and
is therefore called conservative. The
young men had been taught to believe
in truth and justice, but never speak of
them openly. Bowling to the will of ma.
jorities was the custom of men who
cared nothing for principles, but all for
success. The tinsel was put in the place
of the gold, bat it pleased God to give
US deliverence from all the corrupting
influences which surround US.
The speaker regarded the civil war as
having blessed the nation in almost
every conceivable source Our bodies
had been made to suffer, but tell him of
one social or political element which
had not been elevated. Rain is good
for the roots of trees, and blood is good
for the roots of man, and we grow by it.
Delusive compromises are at an end,
and even the South and North can now
think what they say, and say what they
think. The benefits of liberty and civil
izstion, the result of the four years war,
have been of more value to the Union
than the life of man, the peace of the
household itself LA p
The nation for four years stood
stretching out their hands, saying, take
our money and place our children in the
field, Tut give us country of liberty
and civilization. Applause ~
We have learned to admire qualities
which we never had before. Our young
men are having new conceptions, and
will have new future. Though there
has been much cruelty and intemper-
ance, it has given us higher manhood,
and far higher civilization than hereto
fore. The moral sense has been
strengthened.
There never was so much justice and
and truth, and so much more cultivate
BILE soil than there is to-day Our for.
ests have been stripped of the giant
trees and brambles of wrong, and now
the sun strikes the soil and the plough
turns it. He gloried but yet grieved
that SO many young men had fallen, for
unless we die we cannot live. A death
that means moral purpose is not a
waste, but an accumulation. Thank
God, so many are so willing to die, not
merely spilling so much blood, but set
ting mp memorials to be read every
where, to endure as long as men may be |
willing to save their country by their
death.
The speaker said he could not forget
our enemies-in a higher sense, our
brethren. There are many desolated
hearts in both sections. The pity is,
that they brought the greatest courage
to the worst use to which it was ever
prostituted. He admitted the bravery
and persistence with which they served
a bad cause While we praise and give
thanks over our early dead, thousands of
their men died without a glorious name.
This is grief /
In conclusion the reverend gentleman
said they had come to pay their sad trib-
ute to one of the noblest of the nation.
How suddenly he became conspicuous
by his own merits, not by the aid of fa-
voring influences. Simple in the family
as child, he plunged forth in battle as
the hero of the hour. He carried home
virtues into the camp, and gloried to
give health and strength to a cause
dearer to him than life. The history of
the sufferings of Union prisoners in
rebel prison-houses has added one more
book to the history of cruelties. 1t was
a heroic purr ose that fred young Dahl /
gren to attempt TO rescue his brethren
in arms from this prison-house. He had !
almost completed bis circuit when bull.
let from an ambuscade pierced and
brought him TO the ground AS an eagle !
falls, so he fell His body was slain,
but his spirit was emsncipated. !
We are looking upon the place where
be once was. Now, his example walks
he earth with tireless feet; now, he
lwells in thousands of homes, in cities !
md in villages, on solitary farms, from q
he shores of the Atlantic to the Pacific r
His example will live and be honored .
IS long as our history lasts; Dahlgren
hall mean truth, heroism, and virtue; n
low glorious is such DEATH his suffer- .
ngs are ended, but not his work. AS
ong as the 3ea beats the shore, his =
forks will live. Many poet will fill {
is numbers with inspiration from his
epulchre. at the last day shall be :
wake to the triumph of God, and arise i
. victory and Immortality.