5 What we would have lost in border wars without the Union, or what we have gained simply by the peace it has secured, no estimate can be made of. The influence of the Government on us is like that of the atmosphere around us. Its benefits are so silent and unseen that they are seldom thought of or appreciated. Our institutions constitute the basis, the matrix, from which spring all our characteristics of developments and greatness. Look at Greece. There is the same fertile soil, the same blue sky, the same inlets and harbors, the same JEgean, the same Olympus; there is the same land where Homer sung, where Pericles spoke; it is in nature the same old Greece—but it is living Greece no more. Descendants of the same people inhabit the country; yet what is the reason of this mighty difference? In the midst of present degradation we see the glorious fragments of ancient works of art —temples with ornaments and inscriptions that excite wonder and admiration—the remains of a once high order of civilization which have outlived the language they spoke—upon them all Ichabod is written—their glory has departed. Why is this so? I answer, their institutions have been destroyed. The same may be said of Italy. Where is Rome, once the mistress of the world ? There are the same seven hills now, the same soil, the same natural resources; nature is the same, but what a ruin of human greatness meets the eye of the traveller throughout the length and breadth of that most down-trodden land! Why have not the people of that Heaven-favored clime the spirit that animated their fathers ? Why this sad difference ? It is the destruction of her institutions that has caused it; and my countrymen, if we shall in an evil hour rashly pull down and destroy those institutions which the patriotic band of our fathers labored so long and so hard to build up, and which have done so much for us and the world, who can venture the prediction that similar results will not ensue ? Let us avoid it if we can. I trust the spirit is among us that will enable us to do it. Let us not rashly try th^ experiment, for, if it fails, as it did in Greece and Italy, and in the South American Republics, and in every other place wherever liberty is once destroyed, it may never be restored to us again. There are defects in our government, errors in administration, and shortcomings of many kinds, but in spite of these defects and errors Georgia has grown to be a great state. Let us pause here a moment. In 1850 there was a great crisis, but not so fearful as this ; for, of all I have ever passed through, this is the most perilous, and requires to be met with the greatest calmness and deliberation. There were many among us in 1850 zealous to go at once out of the Union, to disrupt every tie that binds us together. Now, do you believe, had that policy been carried out at that time, we would have been the same great people that we are to-day ? It may be that we would, but nave you any assurance of that fact? Would you have made the same advancement, improvement, and progress in all that constitutes material wealth and prosperity that we have ?
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