THE VOICE OF THE NORTH TO THE SOUL OF THE SOUTH

Address of Senator Beveridge representing Indiana, the Indiana Shiloh National Park Commission and Indiana's Union soldiers, at the dedication of Indiana's monuments on the battle-field of Shiloh, Tennessee, April 6, 1903.

SINCE

INCE all must die, how fortunate to die for an undying cause and under the approving eye of his

tory.

So fell those who fell on this field. For they gave their lives to save the life of the Nation, and history recites no nobler story than the story of their sacrifice.

Thus they are the subject not only of our pride and love, but of our envy. For it is not given to us so to close the volume of our years; and if it were, we dare not say that we should meet that opportunity as they met it.

That the ground on which they stood and fought may be marked and that our children may be worthy of the heroes sleeping here, Indiana builds these monuments. Not that she would rear warriors we pray for peace -but that she would have her sons develop souls so great that the giving of their lives for a worthy cause will be to them a welcome thing.

And such were the souls of our fathers and brothers, who, on this field, on this spot, paid that price for our Nation's immortality.

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For their blood was shed to make of the American people a single Nation, and not for any lesser purpose. Other results of our Civil War were incident to that. And so they died no less for the people of the South than for the people of the North-for the American people undivided, indivisible. Their martyrdom was to establish for ever the brotherhood of the flag- a relationship so lofty that it can not recognize sections within the boundaries of the Republic.

That purpose they accomplished. Devotion to the Nation is to-day the first principle of all Americans. In our recent war the proudest to wear the Nation's uniform were the sons of those who on this field met in arms their Northern brothers; the first to die beneath the flag was a son of Carolina. And the giving of one's life is the highest proof of loyalty. Exhausted in arms but by arms unconquered, the Southern people have yielded to a great and true idea. That idea is American nationality.

To me the thought of a people, a nation, a master nation devoted to ideals, is so vast and fine that even the simplest words are not strong enough to state it. And that was the thought our heroes died for. And that ideal fought on for them. It is now the ideal of us all, men and women of North and South alike.

How little these words - Southern and Northern! Let us forget them. How much grander the single word, American! Let us think of that, and only that. Let us who live be worthy of our dead.

And let us who live be tolerant of the views of the heroes of the other side. Only the years can tell what elements of just opinion were confused and tangled in

that cataclysmal conflict. For us it is enough to know

that our central thought of nationality was true and that our brothers of the other side assert it now even as we ourselves assert it. Tolerance, then, and loving kindness, and charitable forgiveness on both sides; and through all the land sweet reasonableness! Nothing but these are important; for in these abides Truth - and Truth is the only sovereign.

War is awful. Yet this word can be said even for war - it reveals elemental and eternal things. In peace, men consider action, plan and purpose from the central point of selfish interest. War comes, and the same men are conscious of a thing which can not be measured by yardstick, nor weighed in scales, nor listed in stock-markets; and yet a thing for which they go to the grave glad, grand, masterful in a savage unselfishness.

That wonderful thing which makes men welcome. death is principle. In war's light they see it. Our heroes who sleep here saw it. God grant us their joy of seeing, without their agony of battle. Not that they found it hard to die they did not - but horrible to slay.

For the moment, at least, standing with their graves around us, we may measure the height of their outlook.

the breadth of their thought. And, as we measure, how little, transient, foolish seem men's plots for power, plans for place, schemes for self-aggrandizement! How they dissolve into nothingness and only the true, the beautiful and the good remain!

I speak for Indiana soldiers. Therefore I submit no statistics of comparative carnage. Whether more men were killed here, or there, in Cæsar's conquests, or Napoleon's wars, or Alexander's battles, or on our own sad,

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red fields is not important. History shows that mankind in all ages and in all lands has been physically courageous. The cause, the thought, the principle, the ideal for which they fought, is the real thing. That is what Indiana's soldiers think. That is how I interpret Indiana's mind.

In the presence of our heroes dead, surrounded by our heroes living, how dare I interpret their supreme sentiment otherwise?

For Indiana's veterans, in common with all the people of our state, believe that nothing is worth fighting for that is not worth dying for; and that nothing is worth dying for but Truth.

Such is our Indiana view of peace and war.

For Indiana's people are neither rich nor poor, neither covetous, nor envious, nor cringing, nor brawlers, nor afraid.

They are sturdy, gentle people, living simply, eager for noble teaching; and knowing, when called on in righteousness, how to give battle and how to die.

And in this we take no peculiar pride. We take pride only in that we share this view with all Americans. For we Indiana people are national above all else.

I said I spoke for Indiana soldiers. But you who live and these who died were not Indiana soldiers you and they were Union soldiers the Nation's soldiers from Indiana. We have no state flag. Not many of Indiana's three million people would know what it was if we did have one. But every one of Indiana's people knows the Stars and Stripes. Every one of them would die for it. It is the Nation's flag- it is our flag, our only flag.

Let it similarly be the only flag of every state. Let others be forgotten.

When thinking of the Nation let Carolina forget her Palmetto banner, dear though it be with memories, and remember only the banner of the Nation! Let Texas forget her Lone Star ensign, sacred though it be with tradition, and remember only the flag of our common country! Let Maine forget her pine tree device and remember only the colors of the Republic!

States are invaluable for local government; but with this battle-field before us we can not see state linesour eyes are too full of tears. We forget that ever there were sections; and, whether we will or no, our very souls cry out two words" Nation!"-" American!"

Yes, that is it! the American Nation! We have "found ourselves" at last. And it is because our heroes died here that we have come to the consciousness of that fact the American people, a Nation, one, indivisible, everlasting. And you, and I, and all of us are parts of that Nation. That is enough. If those who rest here know that we have comprehended that thought — and they do know it - they are glad. It is enough for any man to die for. How blessed of the Father, therefore, are we who may live for that thought!

And we do not live worthily of it, if we do not consecrate our Nation to righteousness. But how shall we tell what is righteous and what is unrighteous? We believe differently and sincerely. To one it seems God's work to give order and law, and, by slow processes, so that they may see and understand, liberty and civilization to alien and inferior peoples. To another, such a course seems wrong. To one, a certain internal policy