Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-07-27
SOMETHING OF AN ORATOR
HIMSELF.
(NorJoM LdndmGrk)

resigned that Office to stump th,
country in favor of the Beers, de.
serves to be credited with indepen.
dence of thought and courage OF
action. A great deal Of alleged fur
has been made of his earnest pleas for
, the South African farmers who have
been and are still making so valiant
tight against terrific odds, but this
IS the fate of all sincere men of one
idea.
The Democratic National Conven-
ton at Kansas City adopted astrong
plank In sympathy with the brave
burghers and wished them well.
When the Democrats took this action,
Mr.. Davis stepped upon the platform
and made a speech which shows that
Mr.. Bryan is not the only orator on
earth. The speaker had his audience
with hlm,he was passionately enthusi-
astlc over his theme, and he made the
best of the situation. The speech was
not long; and as an example of
forensic eloquence of the "spell-
binding" order it is we'll worth
reproducing:
"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of
the Convention-I appreciate very
highly the honor conferred on me in
inviting me to say few words at this
time, and shall detain you but few
moments. | have been honored by
another great party than this in the
past. l have served that party and
have rendered services for all that |
received, and the account is balanced
now. (Great applause and cheers }
Life, human life, is but narrow one
between two great unknown eterni-
ties, and life is too short for man to
sacrifice principles for money or for
public office. Enthusiastic applause
and cheers.) l have never yet heard
platform that was SO intensely
American as that read here in this
convention. Continued applause and
cheering.) Old conditions have pass
ed away, old questions have passed
and gone-many Of them-and new
questions are now before the Ameri-
can people. L care not snap of my
finger for party or private criticism.
! care nothing for office, because /
gave up one voluntarily, better than
any you can give me, (Great applause
and cheers) and the man or news
paper that makes the statement that
| was forced to leave the Admins
tratlon against my will absolutely and
maliciously falsifies. 1 love liberty,
| love equality of rights and l love
justice, and when the party that /
belonged to was too cowardly to take
a stand for liberty and against British
aristocracy and morarchy, / left it
and left it for good. wild and en-
thusiastic applause and cheers.)
''In every part of Europe and
Africa the charge is made by the
British press and the British officials
that thereis secret alliance between
this country and Great Britain, to
the effect that in case of any foreign
nation attempting to intervene in
behalf of the poor Beers the great
Republic will stand by Great Britain
with its army and navy. (Cries of
"No! No!O l have yet to hear the
Administration deny the report. In
every address l have made since my
unfortunate visit to the Transvaal,
| have defended the Administration
but say now that will never defend
it again, because it has not taken the
chance at its National Convention to
tell the American people that we are
for liberty and republican forms of
government. (Great applause). Lib
erty We all love, the splendid word,
the sweetest word that ever blossomed
and came upon human ears, and as
one of the great Republican Senators
in the United States Senate said: 1T
has come to pass that we must
whisper the word liberty in Wash
ington,'
''ls it fact that liberty is to be-
come obsolete in the American lexi-
con? Is it a fact that this great Re
public must chain itself to the
chariot wheels of the British Empire
in its mad race for land and gold?
81 sympathize with people strug
Cling for liberty everywhere. l SYM
pathized with them as they struggled
for liberty in Armenia, l sympathized
with them as they struggled for lib
erty in Greece and when the war broke
out with Spain we said then that
it was a war not for conquest, not
for territory, bat for carrying liberty
to people who were crying for help
at our feet. cloud applause.) And
the boys marched up from the North
land whose fathers once marched in
tattered blue with the song their
fathers loved, my Country, 'Tis of
Thee. And the boys came from the
Southland whose fathers once
marched in ragged gray to the music
OF SWAY Down South in Dixie
(Applause.) They followed the men