that found refuge under the name of Moral Force, that those of us who
would vindicate our manhood cried wildly out again for the physical
test; and we cried it long and repeatedly the more we smarted under the
meanness of retrograde times. But the time is again inspiring, and the
air must now be cleared. We have set up for the final test of the man of
unconquerable spirit that test which is the first and last argument of
tyranny--recourse to brute strength. We have surrounded with fictitious
glory the carnage of the battlefields; we have shouted of wading through
our enemies' blood, as if bloody fields were beautiful; we have been
contemptuous of peace, as if every war were exhilarating; but, "War is
hell," said a famous general in the field. This, of course, is
exaggeration, but there is a grim element of truth in the warning that
must be kept in mind at all times. If one among us still would resent
being asked to forego what he thinks a rightful need of vengeance, let
him look into himself. Let him consider his feelings on the death of
some notorious traitor or criminal; not satisfaction, but awe, is the
uppermost feeling in his heart. Death sobers us all. But away from death
this may be unconvincing; and one may still shout of the glory of
floating the ship of freedom in the blood of the enemy. I give him
pause. He may still correct his philosophy in view of the horror of a
street accident or the brutality of a prize-fight.


IV


But war must be faced and blood must be shed, not gleefully, but as a
terrible necessity, because there are moral horrors worse than any
physical horror, because freedom is indispensable for a soul erect, and
freedom must be had at any cost of suffering; the soul is greater than