MR. COWEN AND HIS SUPPORTERS. (TO TRH EDITOR OP TIIR
SrxenkTou,"j SIR,—As an appreciative reader for nearly a quarter of a cen- tury, I know the Spectator would. not be guilty of unveracity or unfairness; but there is a reference in last week's issue to Mr. Joseph Cowen which needs qualification. It cannot be truly said that he was returned for Newcastle "in a great measure through the influence of Mr. Gladstone," rather that he was elected. in spite of setting himself determinedly against the popular current at the general election, and the ascendancy of a great name. In season and, out of season he condemned the Eastern policy of the Liberal Leader, and thus lost the sup- port of many who were guided solely by a sense of party or political consistency. Though Mr. Gladstone, in one of ha passing speeches, made a characteristically generous allusion to his opponent, the unconcealed hostility between them, and their views, especially on foreign questions, was a decidedly adverse influence, so far as Mr. Cowen was concerned. It is strangely out of place, and unjust, to imply that Mr. Cowen,. in now acting with the Irish Members, as he formerly did with Conservatives, is purposely "making to himself friends," in order to secure re-election by an. incongruous, if not impossible, combination of Jingoes and. Fenians. Every one who is acquainted with his life and work would admit that he is utterly incapable of scheming after this fashion ; indeed, that be unwisely indifferent to politic considerations, and has ever aeted in accordance with his convictions, regardless of personal con- sequences or the effect on party organisation. Nor does he need 8uch resorts to ensnre a seat for his native town, so long as he iseeks the distinction. I was one of the representatives from a neighbouring town when Lord Hartington visited Newcastle. At the great mid-day gathering an address from the local Liberal Association, strongly condemnatory of Mr. Cowen's. " Eastern " views, was enthusiastically adopted. Shortly after,. Joseph Cowen quietly entered the hall; the vast audience rose almost en muse, and gave him a reception which con- clusively asserted his personal ascendancy. Those who. stood by their well-tried friend and leader in many a stern fight, even when he had departed from them on a vital point,. are not likely to desert him for his Irish sympathies ; and if he cared only for re-election, he could find a safer and more agreeable way than causing distrust, "justly " or otherwise, amongst " the Liberals of Newcastle." No doubt, there is, as Mr. Fry, the Member for Darlington, declared in the Howie of Commons last week, a strong feeling of antagonism to the Government policy of coercion amongst working-men in the northern con- stituencies, In Sunderland, a meeting, attended by over 3,000, and addressed by two of the recognised Liberal leaders in the borough, emphatically protested against coercion ; and. similar meetings might, and possibly will, be held in Middlesbrough, Stockton, and other towns. All this unrest and positive action
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