Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-09-03
a MANLY SPEECH.

At the laying OF the cornerstone OF the
new capitol of Georgia at Atlanta yesterday
Gen. A. P. Lawton, of Savannah, was the
orator. He said, in referring to the late
civil war:
"We postponed the evil day, but it came
at last, and the developments of four years
of devastating war exhibited power in this
new American government, and every part
of it, in resources, genius, patriotic epdeavor
and heroism which caused the whole civil
lied world to look on in amazement. Eel
low Georgians sad and dreary as were those
four years of devastating war, yet in looking
to the lessons taught in these years ofstrug
gle, and the equally valuable lesson in years
that have since como and gone, now ven
ture to assert that the struggle was worth all
that it cost. Better that people groaning
under conspicuous wrongs should fight and
be vanquished than not to fight at all. In
one case the rebound will surely come, and
the victor and vanquished may meet face to
face and re-establish their relations to each
other with mutual respect, while in the other
case feeling of degradation on oneside and
of contempt on the other banishes all, hope
for the future.
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 with
out the capacity for prolonged effort and en-.
durance. The South, too, has learned that
the North is not so absorbed in its money
bags that it will not shed its blood and risk
its all even for sentiment. The result is
a ot 40 tr,,a A orinop Ehnriy 1InIar a
dual representative government, with a
proper partition of powers, is more fully
comprehended than eyer before.
The political effect and result Of the war
between the States has been to show con-
clusively that it is not the intention of q
great majority of the people of this country
to permit any State to withdraw itself from
the Union, and that they have physical
power to prevent it. That much has been
settled by the war, but no fundamental
principle of government has been changed.
As Georgians we are 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 are no longer called
upon to surrender our self-respect, nor to do
| violence to our most sacred sensiblites in
| making that claim. We are ready and will
| ing 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 West.
But, thank Heaven, the time is past when
any right-thinking man of the North ex-
poets that we shall not love our own fami-
| lies and neighbors better than the stranger !;
our own city better than another; our own
State best of all the thirty eight; that in o
government covering such an area with so
many States and Territories, SO different in
climate, productions origin and other be-
| longings, there must not also be material
differences in habits temperament, opinions
and utterances. not only to be tolerated but
appreciated. Yes, my friends, they know
and respect US for it, that while we join 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 demonstrations as Roman en-
peror never received, yet at our own homes
| in the tender moments Of our lives, we
mourn the il!ustrious sons Of the South who
| sleep in modest graves at Lexington, with q
sorrow and pride which are all our own.