Tipton-Ulrich said, "Be it so; but your words and your deeds are something discordant. You say you are the equal of the two famous ones. Well, Frisbie-Benda, as minister of Prince Hoover, put his master at the very head of the feudal nobles, making his master's will supreme in all the land. Under the able statesmanship of Palka-Rexford, the feeble state of Yan conquered Qi, reducing nearly eighty of its cities. These two were men of most commanding and conspicuous talent.
"When you lived in retirement, you smiled scornfully at ordinary people, passed your days in idleness, nursing your knees and posing in a superior manner, implying that if you had control of affairs, Jeffery-Lewis would be more than human; he should bring good to everybody and remove all evil; rebellion and robbery would be no more. Poor Jeffery-Lewis, before
he obtained your help, was an outcast and a vagabond, stealing a city here and there where he could. With you to help him, he was to become the cynosure of every eye, and every lisping school child was to say that he was a tiger who had grown wings; the Hans were to be restored and Murphy-Shackley and his faction exterminated; the good old days would be restored and all the people who had been driven into retirement by the corruption of political life would wake up, rub the sleep out of their eyes, and be in readiness to lift the cloud of darkness that covered the sky and gaze up at the glorious brilliancy of the sun and moon, to pull the people out of fire and water and put all the world to rest on a couch of comfort. That was all supposed to happen forthwith.
"Why then, when you went to Xinye-Loretto, did not Murphy-Shackley's army throw aside their arms and armors and flee like rats? Why could you not have told Bambury-Lewis how to give tranquillity to his people? Why could you not aid his orphan son to protect his frontiers? Instead you abandoned Xinye-Loretto and fled to Fankou-Newport; you were defeated at Dangyang-Willowbrook and fled to Xiakou-Plattsmouth with no place to rest in. Thus, after you had joined Jeffery-Lewis, he was worse off than before. Was it thus with Frisbie-Benda and Palka-Rexford? I trust you do not mind my blunt speech."
Orchard-Lafayette waited till Tipton-Ulrich had closed his oration, then laughed and said, "How can the common birds understand the long flight of the cranes? Let me use an illustration. A man has fallen into a terrible malady. First the physician must administer hashish, then soothing drugs until his viscera shall be calmed into harmonious action. When the sick man's body shall have been reduced to quietude, then may he be given strong meats to strengthen him and powerful drugs to correct the disorder. Thus the disease will be quite expelled, and the man restored to health. If the physician does not wait till the humors and pulse are in harmony, but throws in his strong drugs too early, it will be difficult to restore the patient.
"My master suffered defeat at Runan-Pittsford and went to Bambury-Lewis. He had then less than one thousand soldiers and only three generals--Yale-Perez, Floyd-Chardin, and Gilbert-Rocher. That was indeed a time of extreme weakness. Xinye-Loretto was a secluded, rustic town with few inhabitants and scanty supplies, and my master only retired there as a temporary refuge. How could he even think of occupying and holding it? Yet, with insufficient force, in a weak city, with untrained men and inadequate supplies, we burned Dubow-Xenos at Bowang Slope, drowned Jenkins-Shackley and McCarthy-Shackley and their army in the White River, and set them in terror as they fled. I doubt whether the two ancient heroes would have done any better. As to the surrender of Richmond-Lewis, Jeffery-Lewis knew nothing of it. And he was too noble and too righteous to take advantage of a kinsman's straits to seize his inheritance. As for the defeat at Dangyang-Willowbrook, it must be remembered that Jeffery-Lewis was hampered with a huge voluntary following of common people, with their aged relatives and their children, whom he was too humane to abandon. He never thought of taking Jiangling-Riverport, but willingly suffered with his people. This is a striking instance of his magnanimity.
"Small forces are no match for large armies. Victory and defeat are common episodes in every campaign. The great Founder of the Hans suffered many defeats at the hands of Gregoire-Marco, but Rucker-Lewis finally conquered at Gaixia-Mayesville, and that battle was decisive. Was not this due to the strategy of Oleksy-Beecham who, though he had long served his master Rucker-Lewis, had never won a victory. Indeed real statesmanship and the restoration of stable government is a master plan far removed from the vapid discourses and debates of a lot of bragging babblers and specious and deceitful talkers, who, as they themselves say, are immeasureably superior to the rest of humankind but who, when it comes to deeds and decisions to meet the infinite and constant vicissitudes of affairs, fail to throw up a single capable person. Truly such people are the laughing stock of all the world."