[MR. JOSEPH COWEN is the eldest son of the late Sir Joseph Cowen, M.P. He was born at Blaydon, near Newcastle-on-Tyne, in 1831; and married Jane, daughter of the late Mr. John Thompson of Fatfield. Elected for Newcastle-on-Tyne in January 1874. Is proprietor of the 'Newcastle Daily Chronicle,' and has written largely both for that newspaper, and for other Advanced Liberal journals.]

MR. JOSEPH COWEN.

T is not, perhaps, unusual for a Member

IT

6

of the House of Commons to become famous by reason of a single speech. From the days of Single-speech Hamilton' down to our own there have, in fact, been many instances of men attaining Parliamentary notoriety by an unexpected outburst of eloquence. The misfortune is, that in the great majority of these cases the first success has also been the last. The 'splendid speech' which, coming from an unknown man, has thrilled the House, and raised high expectations regarding the speaker's future, has, in

nine cases out of ten, been followed by attempts in which the ambition of the maiden effort was unaccompanied by its success, and in which painful evidence has been afforded of the real poverty of the mind, which for a moment had seemed to be so richly endowed.

Mr. Joseph Cowen is one of the men who have gained Parliamentary notoriety by a single speech; but he is also one of the rare exceptions to the rule of which I have just spoken. His first speech, in other words, has been neither his last nor his best, but has been followed up by a series of oratorical successes, which have secured for him high rank among the independent Members of the House of Commons.

Those who were present on the occasion when Mr. Cowen delivered his memorable attack upon the Bill for creating the Queen Empress of India, unanimously declare that

he achieved one of the most unqualified triumphs which Parliament has ever witnessed. In spite of serious personal disadvantages, arising chiefly from his rough, northern accent, Mr. Cowen had not spoken many moments before the whole House was listening to him in breathless interest; entranced not merely by the easy flow of his sentences and the choice English words of which they were constructed, but by the fine imagery and striking illustrations which gave colour and life to his vigorous argument. When he had finished, and his fellow-Members were released from the spell he had thrown over them, the verdict of the whole assembly was that a brilliant addition had been made to the long roll of Parliamentary orators. A House of Commons, which up to that moment had been singularly barren and commonplace, had suddenly shown that it contained at least one man not unworthy

to succeed the eloquent veterans whose final appearance could not be long deferred.

That which was a great surprise to the House of Commons and the country at large, was no surprise at all to those who had known Mr. Cowen before he entered Parliament. Though still a young man, the Member for Newcastle has had a training in public speaking probably equal to that of any other politician of our time. From his youth upwards he has been accustomed to speak in public. The youthful Spurgeon was not more irresistibly drawn by the weight of his own genius to the pulpit than was young Cowen to the platform. For a quarter of a century he has been known as the most powerful and eloquent political speaker in the North of England. His oratorical reputation, even in his own town of Newcastle, did not, however, reach its full height until the closing months of 1873, when, as the selected