"  No  tongue,  then,  can  express  the  surprise  with
which  I  heard  the  honorable  senator  waste  a  full  hour
or  more  of  the  opening  of  his  speech,  and  some  pre-
cious health  and  strength,  in  slowly  dealing  out  a  suc-
cession of  well-premeditated  and  smallish  sarcasms  on
me.  I  was  surprised,  because  I  think  the  Senate  will
on  all  sides  bear  witness  to  what,  under  the  very  pecu-
liar circumstances,  I  may  be  excused  for  calling  to
mind,  —  my  own  general  habit  of  courtesy  here.  Not
participating  with  excessive  frequency  in  debate,  nor
wholly  abstaining  from  it,  I  have  sought  always  to  ob-
serve the  manner,  as  I  claim  to  possess  the  sentiments,
of  a  gentleman.  In  such  a  body  as  this,  such  a  course
is,  indeed,  no  merit  and  no  distinction.  It  is  but  an
unconscious  and  general  sense  of  the  presence  in  which
we  speak.
