Reply of Mr. Knox.
Excellency: I had not known until I entered this hall, sacred not only to the liberty of Venezuela but to all of Latin America, that the great honor was to be done to me of permitting me to speak in this distinguished presence. It would be a cold heart that would not throb with the highest emotions standing in this sacred place. This noble scene, depicted upon canvas in the background, is a reenactment of one in our own history that is sacred to every American, be he a North or South American, because, after all, we were but a short time before you in our aspirations for liberty and in our declaration of independence. Your excellency has been kind enough to wish that my sojourn among you should be pleasant. I am frank to say that in the short time that we have been upon your hospitable soil one act of kindness has crowded another act of kindness so rapidly that one’s vocabulary of gratitude and appreciation is inadequate to meet such a splendid ovation. I wish to proceed from this hall, dedicated to the holy cause of liberty, with my suite to the adjacent park and there lay, as an evidence of the appreciation of the American Government and the American people, a wreath at the foot of Bolívar, the great Liberator of the South.