New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-06-28
u,sWyEyEy TIE SILVER ToNGU ED.

= McSWEENEY, TIE SILVERTONGUgD
The prominent features of the Ohio Dem
ocratic State Convention having received con"
sideration, opportunity is afforded to contem-
Mate that gatherings leading minor feature
Which his name was McSweeney, knopn 10
fame's local trump as McSweendy the silver
tor gued.r The silver-tongued being tempo
rnry chairman of course delivered a speech be-
fore proceeding to preside over the CHOSEN
representatives of Ohio Democracy. And
remarkable speech it was. MrSweeney, the
silyer-toD0ued " We should say so. Silver
topgued and Observation-Disclosures brass upon the
cheek being perhaps more noticeable than the
silver upon the tongue. There was puzzle
about the speech, the puzzle being the recep-
ton il met with from those to whom 1t was ad-
dressed. Ii was conspicuOusly comic speech,
and vet, strange to say, not so much as single
delegate greeted it with shouts of uncontroll-
able laughter. This total absence of apprecia-
tive recognition Of McSweeney would seem to
areue that the bump of humor on the head OF
the typical Ohio Democrat is only poorly de-
veloped. How the cold aud cruel iron must
have entered the soul of the silyer-tongued,
brass-checked OF ator rs he became conscious of
taken in earnest The world knows nothing OF
certain Of it's greatest men in regard to others
OF them it possesses only transformation.
McSweeney belongs to the latter class. His
Democratic friends and admirers regard him
as an eloquent statesman, when it is clear,
judging from this speech, that he Is simply
professional political jester.
DO We mete out injustice to insolvency in
this estimate of the quality of his oral genius
Most certainly not. Let the intelligent and
candid reader cast his eyes over these para
graphs which we Gull from McSweeneys
speech, and then tell us II, in the person of the
silver-tongued rampant wag does not stand
confessed:
And now, fcIlow-oitIzens, that spirit of the
fathers Of which have been speaking and which has
made ous ZONES pleasant here answered In the spirit Of
true philanthropy that greatinquestisn. Am broth
ers keeper Z" Whenever and wherever that question is
asked OF downodden and oppressed OF other lands
yes We that our brothers Keeper, and In
that spirit OF the old Democratic party which goes
forta in sympathy across oceans ana mountains 10 AID
and comfort the oppressed whenever the yrants band
Is rnised whether be over some poor bleeding back
Russian knOct or over in the Green island OF
the sea where under quick trials, the victims ascend
the scafiod and step OF to glory.
II ANYBODY asks, Waterman. what OF the night"
say. There Is no night" On the misty mountain tops
the ,ocund day stands tiptoe and points to glor
o1s victory Wheel tho old Democratic column around
On. onward to the contest There Is no such word rs
fail"
There you have Grichnessn as Is richness
The Democratic party. which during all tho
years of its power answered the crucial ques-
ton in regard to q brothers. keepership by
steadily upholding the hands of those who were
l. Of hu, hain in
abject slayery-the idea Of such a party's atti-
tudinizing as blooming philanthropist that
goes forth across oceans and mountains to aid
and comfort the oppressed! And yet not
man of those Democratic delegates laughed
long and loud after McSweeney had perpetrated
that broad joke Mt the party's expense. Equally
ana unaccountably undemonstrative were they
when. having requested tie old Democr attic
col umn to wheel around, he announced III SILL
yer -tongued terms that the daybreak was at
hand and in brass-cheeked terms that there
was no such word as fail " for the Democracy
Of Ohio. No doubt several of the Democrats
that listened TO McSweeney had memories.
These may not have been visbly affected ut
bis orders to the Democratic column, or his
views touching the Democratic daybreak. But
we cannot see how they could restrain an au-
dible smile when the Waterman that Nc
Sweeney conjured up allowed that for them
and their brethren there was no such word as
. fail in the political lexicon. They all knew
better Mcsweeney knew better the watch
man knew better. The Waterman must have
been taking something before McSweeney
asked him what of the night" Such a great
American huInorist of a Waterman might we'll
have moved craven image to levity. But
that entire Democratic convention evidently
regarded him as a serious character, uttering
not pleasantries but convictions.
Well, IL is the prerogatve OF genius to be
misjudged. Conscious OF that fact insolvency,
instead of calling out the Convention, may
choose to forgive it the droll wrong II has done
him. And by way of accounting for the error
into witch the delegates fell in taking his
speech seriously, he may remind himself that
the course uf Democracy during the last
quarter of o century has been 80 disastrous
that any member Of the party is excusable if
he has lost the capacity for smiling.
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