Page:Eminent English liberals in and out of Parliament.djvu/76

, appalling; but John Bright, I am sure, knowing that icebergs have a habit of melting long before they reach the shores of the Mediterranean, would never have been guilty of bringing any berg of his so far south. As it is, the political iceberg from the north has liberated Bulgaria, while that from the south, pushed on by English Jingoes, has ineffectually striven to roll its icy mass over the young shoots of Roumelian liberty.

Apart, however, from this deplorable Jingo infatuation, Mr. Cowen's parliamentary achievements have in no way belied the high hopes that his friends reposed in his great abilities and immense experience. His speeches on the Friendly Societies Bill, on the County Suffrage Bill, on Mr. Plimsoll's bill, on the County Courts Bill, the Licensing Boards Bill, and, above all, on the Royal Titles Bill, have given evidence of a varied capacity for legislative work which has not been equalled by any member of his own standing in the House.

During the parliamentary contest in Newcastle, occasioned by the death of his father, Mr. Cowen delivered a series of speeches on political questions and public policy which justly arrested national attention. They have been collected, and will abundantly repay perusal. They are, without exception, as fine electioneering speeches as I ever read, and, if he had never opened his lips again, would have entitled him to no mean place among English orators and statesmen. On one point only did he show a disposition to lower the Radical flag,—to be unfaithful to himself and his glorious antecedents. He was repeatedly taxed with being a republican; and his explanation was, that he