Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-11-29
A SOUTHERN VIEW.

Governor Gordon Makes Strong and
Patriotic Inauguration Speech.
Governor John B. Gordon was inau-
gurated for his second term of Office at
Atlanta, Ca, the other day. After re-
ferring to the continued growth of
Georgia and the South under Dem
ocratic rule, and the harmony between
the races, he said:
The responsibility of the States for the char
acter OF the Federal Administration is greater
than the average voter is prone to admit, and
the responsibility Of each individual State, like
to its prom nence and approach to leadership.
Georgia could not. therefore, Il she would, rid
herself of the grave responsibility which at
taches to the position which she has
achieved and which is so freely accorded
her as one of the conspicuous States of the
American Union. I will not undertake to
predict the policy that will be pursued toward
the South when the triumphant party shall
have gathered into its hands all the pow
ers of the legislative and executive de.
partments of the Government None Of the
reciprocal rights OF her people can justly be
abridged by any changes in the Federal Admin
istration. In this connection my sense of OBJ
legation to this contiding and patriotic people
compels me to declare my profound cony.ct!oE
that no overwhelming or crushing calamity
Will or can befall them. can not believe that
alienation and strife IS to be the lasting heri-
tage from our unhappy war, Notwithstanding
the melancholy fact that some OF the leaders
of the successful party, with great abilities and
in high places seek year by year to estrange
the s. cti ms and embroil the races. LIDO not
believe Lhat the return of the Republican party
to POWER in this era of prosperity and peace
means, or can mean, the enactment of farce
bills and the enslavement OF the States. In
this Americ an Republic and the reigning polit-
ical party proposes but the sovereign people
disposes. Passions may cry aloud for Federal
intervention in the affairs of States, but the
omnspotent fiat of a lofty patriotism which
sways the heart of the Amer can people will
surely condemn it. If there be one principle of
government dearer than all others to Ameri-
can freedom 1t is the independence, equality
and freedom OF the States. Tn is the central
thought of our political faith; it is the key
stone in the arch of the constitution. and when
that IS destroyed the doom of the constitution
and freedom is sealed. When the lndepend
ence and equality of the States are struck
down the Republic falls
o, no, the strangulation of the States by Fed
eral Intervention will never be tolerated by the
American people. What poss BILE excuse could
be gwen for interference by the general Govern
ment in the affairs of Georgia that would not
also justify interference with any State in the
Union? What evil exists here that does not
exist elsewhere and which is SO full of danger
that to correct it the fundamental laws must
be ignored and Statehood lmreriled? ] can
not doubt that there are men in high places
whose msjudgments of the Southern people
or whose sectional bias would dead them to the
threshold of revolutionary and destructive
legislation. In the light OF public sentiment
illustrated by the cordial reunion of both
armies at Gettysburg and elsewhere, with the
cause of sectional strife dead and the lingering
dlscord rapidly dying, with peace and prosper
ity frightening and cheering alike both South
ern and Northern homes, with the ties of So
clal intercourse multiplying and Strengthening,
with Northern ploducts in the hands of South
ern consumers and Northern money in South
ern bonds, railroads, mills and mines, with
both material interests and political liberty at
stake, how can we doubt that condemnation by
the great conservative masses of our Northern
would cause even the most incon-
of such precipice? Take courage, then, in the
thought that our interest is their interest, our
prosperity their prosperity, our State freedom
their State freedom, and that, whatever be the
demands OF partisan leaders, the day has long
S'nce passed when the American people can
calmly contemplate the destruction of this
I'm on by destroying the equality of the States
that compose it. We owe it to ourselves and
to children; owe it to both races whose
interests are linked by immutable DEGREES to a
common destiny: we owe it to each and all Of
our sister States; we owe it to the vital princi-
pies of our free institutions, to renew our vows
of fidelity and of unfalterng support OF a
Union of equal and independent States.