The age-herald., 1900-05-09
WEBSTER DAVIS
 DEFENDS BOERS He Spoke to Large Crowd in Interest of BuTghers' HIS ADDRESS WELL RECEIVED Mir. Davis Gave Some Interesting Des- criptions of the Habits of inc
 Boers and Their Battles
 With the British.
HIS ADDRESS WELL RECEIVED

Webster Davis, former assistant secretary of the interior, addressed an audience of about four hundred persons a large pro- portion of whom were women, at the Jeff ferson theater last night. MT. Davis has recently been the South African repub- lie, and in his speech related circumstances which he states came under his observa- ton.
 He said the Boer side had never been heard in this country; that the news of the war and the questions leading up to It had never been correctly stated in the American press; that the cables were con- trolled by the British, and that they cen sored all telegrams that came to this coun- try. He attempted to stricture the Ameri- can press for the sympathy which he said 1t showed for the British, and further charged that the papers of Birmingham had only given one side of the question: and that they would not give the other He said that they had only given one side and and then closed with grandiloquent essay on liberty.
 MT. Davis Is a good speaker and possesses splendid command of the English language lie has many of the requisites of an orator and well merits the title of "spell-binder." which has been applied to him in political campaigns.
 Was Frequently AppIauded
 heavy rain fell just after o'clock and 10 that fact is due to some extent. perhaps. the smallness of the audience From the frequent applause that greeted his remarks IL was evident that a large part of the a,,- dience sympathized with the Boers, though the applause was not general
 MT. Davis was introduced bv Former Mayor J. A. VanHoose, who stated that he oeiieVed the Boers were right and that they were fighting for liberty. The lecture was gwen under the auspices of the Birming- ham Lyeeum.
 It was $40 o'clock when Mir VanHoose arose to introduce MT. Davis. MT. Van Hoose said:
 I have had the privilege of introducing number of persons to Birmingham audi ences, most of the time as mayor, but this time am going to stand here as an indi- vidual and introduce to you a plain American citizen. This man not more than three minutes ago told me that he was not to receive cent for his speech here.'
 MT. VanHoose expressed his sympathy for. the Boers, saying that he saw no diff ference between the Boers of the present day and the Eighteenth century heroes he had taught his children to revere"
 His Opening Remarks
 MT. Davis was then introduced and said:
 MT. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:
 For the first time in my life I stand before an Alabama audience. come as a plain American citizen to talk to you about kings and emperors and royalty. I think the greatest title any one can have is that of free American citizen Why should we become the tail to England's kite? Since when have we been tied to Great Britain? Why should we sympa- thze with a tyrant. The same spirit that possessed the Americans at Saratoga, and at Brandywine warns the brave Boers of today Many years ago they left their homes in their native land and went to South Africa where they planted the tree of liberty. They builded a home where their children might be crowned with happiness. There they built up their little cities and fought day after day the sav- ages They continued until 1906 when they passed out of the hands of the East India company and fell into the hands of the English and then began the hardships and sufferings such as they had not before known. The British sided with the savages against the Boers and the British colonial secretary did the unheard of thing of turn ing the land back to the natives
 Then the British put few Hottentot chiefs in command The BoerS regarded the Hottentots as inferior socially to them selves, and in 1915 a small portion of them rebelled. What did England do? She hung six of the Boers before the eyes of their families.
 The Boers then went over into Natal. t.,e most beautiful portion of Africa. They bought the territory, and then, melted by certain Britishers, England pursued une Boers and in a short time annexed Natal.
 '"rhen the Boers said We will go far ther;' and the brave Boer women said We will go with our husbands.' They settled in the Orange Free State. There they lived peaceably for time. Some time later the Basutulanders attacked the Boers, and, notwithstanding England's promise to protect the Boers, she aided and abetted the Basutuas What was the result? The Boers triumphed over the forces of both countries
 EngIand's Power
 "England, who claims 10 be the great ciyilizer, undertook to civilize the little ter ritory in which is located the diamond mines of Kimberley. She compelled the Boers to accept s90,00O for the Kimberley mine. e.-z--
 iGold was discovered in the Transvaal, and then the eyes of Great Britain turned in that direction. Wherever gold is discov- cred there England's eyes are turned long, ingly No sooner had gold been discovered in Alaska than tho dispute arose over the boundary and if. England didn't have so much on hand elsewhere I believe we would have trouble over that question. Now is good time to settle that question. It is the time Germany settles her difficult