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MONUMENT TO GEN'L JAMES EDWARD OGLETHORPE-4

Source: Collections of the Georgia Historical Society - Vol 7 #89

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ADDRESS OF HON. J. RANDOLPH ANDERSON.
Mr. Anderson then in behalf of the Commission delivering the monument into the hands of the state, made the following address:

"We have met here today to celebrate the successful attainment of a great object which for many, many years has been dear to the hearts of the people of our state. For nearly a century successive generations of Georgians have agitated and hoped for the erection of a suitable memorial to the great soldier, statesman and philanthropist who cheerfully sacrificed the comforts of his home and laid aside a most prominent position and distinguished career in England to lead his chosen band of followers across the stormy wastes of the Ocean. As Goldsmith says:
'To distant climes, a dreary scene
Where half the convex world intrudes between
Through torrid tracts, with fainting steps they go
Where wild Altama murmurs to their woe.'

"Landing upon this bluff, he pitched his tent and established on the verge of an unexplored wilderness the beginnings of the colony of Georgia—the state which we, her sons, today acclaim with loving pride as the Empire State of the South; the largest, and in material resources, potentially perhaps the greatest of all these American states east of the Mississippi.

"It is often said that we live today in a wholly materialistic age, and that our people are so entirely absorbed in the work of the present and in plans for the future that they have no time for thoughts of the past and but scant respect for its deeds; but this distinguished assemblage demonstrates that firmly implanted within us we still possess the deeply rooted conviction of the sturdy Anglo-Saxon stock from which we sprung, that a people without monuments is a people without a history. History itself indeed shows us that a people without monuments is a people without civilization and without progress. No race and no people which have exhibited the trait of commemorating in storied marble or enduring bronze the deeds and virtues of its departed heroes has ever failed to mightily sway the destinies of mankind; and no people or race which has failed to do so has ever left more than a passing imprint on the sands of time.

"Of all the great Englishmen who had a hand in the discovery or in the colonization of this continent none is more worthy of being honored by the whole American people than he to whose memory we are paying tribute today; for aside from all other reasons, we know that to his fortitude, to his daring and military skill is due the fact that the dominant language and civilization of North America today is English instead of Spanish. To us Georgians he stands in a closer and dearer relation, for it was upon our soil he wrought out his great work and laid deep and strong the enduring foundations of our state. And, therefore, our people have always gratefully and affectionately revered his memory and will do so till time shall be no more. In the early days while he was still in life the people of the colony made annual celebration of his natal day; and since his death the continued desire has existed to erect a proper tribute to his memory.

"Time does not permit of my making mention here of the various efforts that at different periods have been made in this direction nor of how the hopes of our people were thwarted. As the years rolled on these efforts became more frequent and more earnest, but civil war, pestilence and panic all exerted their baleful effect to postpone once and again the desired day and balked the efforts of our people and of the state itself. I am informed that in the year 1860 the lower House of the General Assembly passed a bill carrying an appropriation for a monument to Gen. Oglethorpe, but the fast gathering clouds of the great war between the states were already casting their menacing shadows over the land ; and the Senate felt unable to enact the measure into law.

"Many times in the past have patriotic Georgians urged the erection of a fitting monument to Gen. Oglethorpe but it had been reserved to our own day and to our own generation to see this long-cherished and long-deferred hope of our people fulfilled. Today marks an important event
in our state's history. At last the cherished dream has become a reality, the long-deferred hope has ripened into fulfillment and Georgia has gathered here today her sons and daughters from Rabun Gap to Tybee Light, and by act of her General Assembly has caused her chief executive and a large part of the military forces of the state to participate in these unveiling ceremonies and to give to them a solemnity and impressiveness worthy of the dignity of the state and of the memory of the truly great man who was its founder.

"The day and the occasion are all the more auspicious because we are honored by the presence of the acting ambassador from the Court of St. James to this country, who is here to officially represent the British government and take part in doing honor to the memory of a man of whom both countries have just reasons to be proud. We are also honored by the presence of the chief executive of our sister state of Alabama, whose early history is so closely interwoven with our own; as well as by representatives of the federal government in the presence of the officers and men of a large body of troops and of ships of war.

"In the Legislature of 1905 and 1906, of which I was a member, the state determined that the time had at last come when this monument should be erected. By an act approved Aug. 16, 1906, the state was to be supplemented by the funds already raised by the Oglethorpe monument Association, and such other funds as it and the various patriotic societies of the state composing it, and other parties, might contribute. The distinguished gentleman who was then Governor of Georgia, and who is now our junior United States senator, and present with us today, appointed a Commission to carry out the work in the name and on behalf of the state, and did me the honor to appoint me as its chairman. On behalf of the Commission, I now have the honor to make personal report before this audience to the present chief executive of our state as to the actions of the Commission.

"Realizing, sir, that such a memorial, as our people desired could not be had with the funds then available, the Commission sought and obtained from the municipality of Savannah the additional sum of $12,000 for the monument and a further sum to aid in the ceremonies of the unveiling.
The Commission was very fortunate in being able to enlist the interest and obtain the services of the talented gentleman who is with us today, the great sculptor, Daniel Chester French, who is now generally regarded in this country as the greatest of all living American sculptors. I am
proud and happy also to be able to report that he himself considers this monument to be the finest piece of work he has ever done.

"The monument, sir, is now completed and the statue is about to be unveiled by your excellency. The Commission has completed its labors in this behalf and is now ready to deliver the monument into the care of the city of Savannah to be preserved for the people of this state."