When Ewing rejected this protest as “gratuitous and unfounded,” the aggrieved legislator replied in a statesmanlike fashion, remarking that he “had not been induced by any unkind feelings towards the speaker” and that there was “no reason we should wound each other’s feelings, or that those civilities and kindnesses which mark the character and intercourse between gentlemen, should be violated and endangered.” He maintained that the “official conduct, or decisions of public officers is public property, and are fair and legitimate subjects of criticism, so that facts are correctly stated, and inferences fairly drawn. In my own much more humble sphere, I freely concede the right of investigating my public conduct, and if dealt ingenuously with, will not be found to complain.”
Source: Abraham Lincoln ∶ A Life ▫𓂃
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