ge, could
see in the red light around him that not merely the freedom of a race
and the saving of a nation were at stake, but that behind all this
was the forward movement of civilization, brought once again to the
arbitrament of the sword. Slavery was barbarous and barbarizing. It
had dragged down the civilization of the South to a level from which it
would take generations to rise up again. Was this barbarous force now
to prevail in the United States in the nineteenth century? Was it to
destroy a great nation, and fetter human progress in the New World? That
was the great question back of, beyond and above all. Should this force
of barbarism sweep conquering over the land, wrecking an empire in its
onward march, or should it be flung back as Miltiades flung back Asia
at Marathon, and Charles Martel stayed the coming of Islam at Tours? The
brilliant career, the shining courage, best seen always where the dead
were lying thickest, the heroic death of Charles Lowell, are good for
us all to know and to remember. Yet this imperfect story of his life
has not been placed here for these things alone. Many thousand others,
officers and soldiers alike, in the great Civil War gave their lives as
freely as he, and brought to the service of their country the best that
was in them. He was a fine example of many who, like him, offered up
all they had for their country. But Lowell was also something more
than this. He was a high type of a class, and a proof of certain very
important things, and this is a point worthy of much consideration.

The name of John Hampden stands out in the history of the
English-speaking people, admired and unquestioned. He was neither a
great statesman, nor a great soldier; he was not a brilliant orator, nor
a famous writer. He fell bravely in an unimportant skirmish at Chalgrove
Field, fighting for freedom and what he believed to be right. Yet he
fills a great place in the past, both for what he did and what he
was, and the reason for this is of high importance. John Hampden was
a gentleman, with all the advantages that the accidents of birth could
give. He was rich, educated, well born, of high traditions. English
civilization of that day could produce nothing better. The memorable
fact is that, when the time came for the test, he did not fail. He was
a type of what was best among the English people, and when the call
sounded, he was ready. He was brave, honest, high-minded, and he
gave all, even his lif