Joseph Cowen. By William Duncan. (Walter Scott Publishing Co. Cs.
6d.)—Mr. Cowen was emphatically a Radical ; but he was never dominated by that strange solidarity of disconnected opinions which the Radical sometimes exhibits. There is a class of men who, being convinced Pro-Boers, are by some inscrutable process of logic opponents of vaccination. Mr. Cowen thought for himself on every subject. Sometimes, in our opinion, he thought wrong. The views expressed by him on the Bishoprics Bill of 1878 seem to us very illiberal and narrow. And his sympathy with Arabrs movement was scarcely the outcome of a well. informed judgment. Who imagines that if that movement had succeeded Egypt would have prospered under the rule of these military adventurers as it has under British administration ? Mehemet Ali was not an ideal ruler ; but it would not have been to the advantage of the country if the Mamelukes had over- powered him. The general result of Mr. Cowen's political life was not a success. Evidently he did not himself regard it as such, for he resigned his place in Parliament and refused to be nominated for another borough,—he was asked to stand for Dundee, or to be renominated for Newcastle. His public career would be an excellent text for any one who desired to discourse on the advantages and disadvantages of party. A House full of Cowens would be an unmanageable Assembly. That may be con- ceded; but it is by no means the last word on the question. Mr. Duncan has written out of a full knowledge of his subject, having been for many years connected with Mr. Cowen's paper, the Newcastle Chronicle.
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