After paying some graceful tributes to England and thus winning the hearts of his auditors, he suddenly turned towards Dr.Hamilton, and with the most captivating grace, he said: "I do not yield to my British brother in righteous abhorrence of the institution of negro slavery.

I abhor it all the more because it was our disastrous inheritance from our English forefathers, and came down to us from the time when we were colonies of Great Britain! And now if my brother Hamilton will enact the part of _Shem_, I will take the place of _Japhet_, and we will walk backward and will cover with the mantle of charity _the shame of our common ancestry_," This sudden burst of wit, argument and eloquence carried the audience by storm, and they were obliged to applaud the "Yankee orator" in spite of themselves.

I count this retort by Dr.Cox one of the finest in the annals of oratory.
Several years afterwards he visited England as a delegate to the first Evangelical Alliance.

It was attended by the foremost divines, scholars and religious leaders of both Britain and the continent; and a brief five-minutes' speech made by Dr.Cox was unanimously pronounced to have been the most splendid display of eloquence heard during the whole convocation.
He owed a great deal to his commanding figure, fine voice, and graceful elocution.

His memory also was as marvelous as that of Dr.Storrs or Professor Addison Alexander.