of--but imputations upon my personal integrity
so injurious and groundless, that as I think of them now, nothing but
the proprieties of the occasion restrain me from denouncing them and
their author as I feel at liberty to do in the walks of private life.
Mr. President, according to that Christian code which I have been
taught, there is no atonement in the thin lacquer of public courtesy,
or of private ceremonial observance, for the offence one man does
another when he violates that provision of the Decalogue, which,
speaking to him, says, 'Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy
neighbour,' and which means thou shalt not do it, whatever thy
personal or political pique or animosity may be. The member from
Richmond did me honour overmuch in an individual if not personal
exhortation wherein he was pleased to run some parallel between
himself and me.... Let me supplement the parallel by recalling a
remark of a great Crusader when Richard of England and Leopold of
Austria had held dispute over the preliminaries of battle: 'Let the
future decide between you, and let it declare for him who carries
furthest into the ranks of the enemy the sword of the cross.'"[1579]

[Footnote 1579: Conkling, _Life of Conkling_, pp. 538-549; New York
_Tribune_, October 1, 1877.]

From a mere reading of this speech it is difficult, if not impossible,
to realise its effect upon those who heard it.[1580] As an oratorical
exhibition the testimony of friends and of foes is alike offered in
its unqualified praise. He spoke distinctly and with characteristic
deliberation, his stateliness of manner and captivating audacity
investing each sentence with an importance that only attaches to the
utterances of a great orator. The withering sneer and the look of
contempt gave character to the sarcasms and bitter invectives which he
scattered with the prodigality of a seed-sower. When he declared
Curtis a "man-milliner," his long, flexible index finger and eyes
ablaze with resentment pointed out the editor as distinctly as if he
had transfixed him with an arrow, while the slowly pronounced
syllables, voiced in a sliding, descending key, gave the title a
cartoon effect. Referring to the parallel in Curtis's peroration, he
laid his hand on his heart, bowed toward his antagonist with mock
reverence, and distorted his face with an expression of ludicrous
scorn. In repelling the innuendo as to his "personal integrity," the
suppressed anger and slowly spok