The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-09-04
A REUNITED COUNTRY.
Minister Lawton on the Lesson Taught by
the War Between the States.

ATLANTA, Ga, Sept. 3--The orner.stone Of
the new Georgia capitol was laid Yesterday with
imposing ceremonies. Governor Mcdaniel. on
behalf Of the capitol commissioners presented
the building to the Legislature General A. r..
Lawton, of Savannah, made the Grafton of tbe
day. He reviewed the history of Georgia. and
made patriotic references to the war, and to tho
present peace and prosperity of the country.
The following are the salient points of General
Lawton's speech:
I'm the United States the experiment of free
government has reached its maturity. We have
passed through second war with England, the
war with Mexico, numerous contests with ada
cent Indian tribes; but last, and greatest of all,
the war between the States, the severest and
mlghtiest test ever applied to the energies,
the resources and the endurance of great
people. And now the capacity Of man
for self-government is no longer an expert
ment We postponed the evil day but it
came at last and the developments of four years
of devastating exhibited power in this
new American government, and every part of it,
IN resources, genius, patriotic endeavor, hero
ism, which caused the whole civilized world to
to look on in amazement FellowGeorgians,
sad and dreary as were those four years of
devastating war, and painfully conscious of the
intense strain upon our manhood, the desolate
homes which never can be glad, and broken
hearts which can never be healed yet looking to-
the education and future development of g. great
people, the lessons taught in those years of strug-
gle, and the equally valuable lessons in years
that have since come and gone. now venture to
assert that the struggle was worth all it cost
The people OF the various sections OF this
country now understand each other better
than they ever did before. The North
knows that the South is not altogether
given to exhibitions of fiery temper and
capable only of much ebullition and explosion,
without the capacity for prolonged effort and
four more of loneliness and poverty which fol.
lowed, have satisfied them, and the whole world
knows how wrongly we were judged The
South too, has learned that the North is not so
absorbed in It's money-bags that it will not she'd
its blood and risk its all even for a sentiment.
The political effect and resutof the war between
the States has been to show conclusively that it
is not the intention of great majority Of the
withdraw itself from the Union, and that they
have physica power to prevent it. That much
has been settled by the war, but no fundamental
principle of government has been changed AS
Georgians, we arc also citizens of the United
States, and claim to be now as loyal to that
great government as any portion of the Union.
since we no longer called on to
surrender our self-respect, or to do
violence to our most sacred sensibiities.
In making that claim, we are ready
and willing to render service to defend her
honor, to fight her battles, to give every man Of
every section his just due. In that sense, we
know no North, no South, no East, no Vest
But, thank heaven, the time is past when any
right thinking man of the North expects that
we shall not love our own families and neighbors
better than the stranger own city better
than another. our own State better than
the Others Of the thirty, weight. Yes.
my friends, they know 1t. and re-
spect us for it. While we joined in good
faith in the tribute paid to the great soldier Of
the United States recently borne to the tomb in
Riverside Park with such displays and demon
STATIONS as Roman Emperor never received. yet
at our own homes, in the tenderest moments of
our lives we mourn the illustrious sons of the
South who sleep in the modest graves at Licking
ton with sorrow and pride which are all our
own"