The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-16
TENSE MOMENT AS WILLIAMS ARISES Replies to Heyburn's Insult
 to the South TURNED VERY PALE Members Could See That It Was With the Greatest Difficulty That
 He Controlled His
 Temper
TURNED VERY PALE
By WALTER HARPER


 Washington. July 15.-(Special.)- )-That was a tense moment in the United States Senate Thursday morning when at the close of his speech opposing the reten- ton of James Jones. the old body guard of Jefferson Davis, on the pay roll or the Senate employees, Senator Hepburn of Idaho referred to the Confederate cause as an infamous cause"
 There was more than the sting of the phrase itself. There was the sarcastic sting of the evident intent. The senator from the west knew that he had insulted every southern man on the floor as he had intended to do and he sat down.
 John Sharp Williams of Mississippi was leaning forward in the very seat once honored by President Davis of the Confederacy. His left hand was cupped behind his left ear as Is his habit. He had begun to tremble as Hepburn ap- preached his bitter climax. He seemed to know what was coming.
 When Hepburn sat down, visibly ex- cited Williams rose slowly. The two men faced each other. It was impossible for Williams to conceal his feelings. He did not speak for minute. It was a long minute. There was supreme silence in the chamber It seemed as if every man on the floor and in the gallery held his breath. But Williams was breathing hard. His face was first white as the fieecy cotton from his Mississippi plan- tation and then a. flood of crimson came over it before he spoke.
 Then he had somewhat gotten his tenn per under control. He spoke slowly de- liberatey, carefully. T am sure that when the senator from Idaho sees his last words in print tomorrow that he will repent them"
 A little later he added: "As the son of man who gladly gave his life to a cause that he thought was right, I am not willing to hear a civilized man in this twentieth century call it an infamous cause. But for the parliamentary rules that restrain me I would have few | words to say about the kind of human being in whose heart such thoughts can exist.''
 As Williams proceeded win his most eloquent tribute to the loyalty of the southern slave, the patriotism of the ksouthern soldier and his stinging rebuke of the islander uttered by the senator from Idaho, the republican senator 1n- terrupted several times to temper his bit ter speech with~qua1ifying tribute to the personal heroisrn of the southern soldier, but these excuses did not obliterate or paliate the original insult and his ex- precision was repudiated by many of his republican colleagues when they voted with Williams to retain the old negro on the pay rolls as an exceptional case and not as a pensioner.
 More than once Senator Williams In his reply to Hepburn approached a blister ing climax of invective, and would stop suddenly and apologize to the Senate, No, I will not say that
 Chairman Penrose and the admitted leader of the administration on many questions, voted with Williams on this proposition.
 The new member from Mississippi was clearly winner in the. contest. A few nights ago I was sitting in the lobby of the New Willard hotel, talking to one of the oldest newspaper men in Washington There is the loneliest man In Washing ton,' he remarked as a well dressed, trim little old gentleman passed near us to the cigar stand, bought newspaper and re- tired to the reading room.
 It was easy to recognize the man re- ferred to as a foreigner, but gentleman of fine fiber. genteel and with the polish of wide education and experience.
 ''He Is the minister from Venezuela" continued my friend. "Yes, he has his friends and is popular in diplomatic cir cles, but he has not those familiar things and faces about him that the man of his caliber wants. The people, the customs, everything is strange to him, and he will never be able to adjust himself to these things.
 This is true of most of the foreign ministers and ambassadors to this coun- try, as well as our representatives In other countries. This Is especially true of the man who goes to a small country or to the man from small country who comes to America His duties are not such as to keep him busy and he has time to brood and become mserably lonely.
 ''I know how it is. l was once a consul to one of the small countries in Asia. l was buried. I was lonely; I was home- sick 1 have ever since known how to appreciate the loneliness of the foreign ministers from these small countries To- cated in the United States"