The Irish standard., 1893-09-09
Bourke Cochran.


J. Flood, furnished the music.
Bourke Cochran.
The great anti-silver speech delivered
by Bourke Cochran in Congress on Aug.
28, marks him by the excellence of his
gifts as an orator and logician as the
most prominent figure in that tremendous
debate. Several members of the cabinet
including Gresham and several of the
senators came into the house to hear
him. It is admitted that there is no man
on either side of the house-or in the
senate for that matter-to be compared
with him in the domain of ora'ory. Mr..
Bryan, of Nebraska, is nimble and bril-
liant, but his fibre is too light and thin.
Reed of Maine, Springer of Illinois,
Breckenridge of Kentucky (the last a
speaker If great suavity and scholarship
are not at all to be compared with this
big, thick lookipg Irishman in the mast
cry of persuasive eloquence, says the
Chicago Post. Yet any one Of them was
known to the country long before g OK
ran had been heard of outside his state
assembly district. He first came before
the country in the Democratic national
convention in this town in 1884. He was
not full delegate, but an alternate, and
he appeared in the body of the conven-
ton by grace of the delegate from his
district, who did not come to Chicago.
John Kelly was leading the stubborn
fight OF New York against Cleveland.
Dan Manning, with blows like falls,
was beating Tammany back into a
corner. The projection OF State Senator
Thomas f. Grady, ''the silver-tongned
orator." into the convention added turb.
ulence to contest grim from the begin
ming, When the fight was at it's bitterest
Carter Harrison, with wholly character
istic tactlessness, dragged religion into
the debate. It was Cockran's oppor-
tunity, and with splendid force and the
keenest of satire he attacked the mayor.
Mr.. Harrison came out Of the hall after
the onslaught with his bat pulled down
over his eyes, and he was never heard
again in the convention. The speech
started Cochran upward. He had been
known as man of splendid ability,
but. Hs erased the but" The star
of Thomas F. Grady was on the descend
ant. Cochran rose to be the pet of Tam
many, and once in the full light the So
ciety saw how n,eager figure Grady had
been compared with this big man. He
has not been an alternate il convention
since then. In every historic gathering
in which Tammany Hall has participated
he has been their strongest card. No
speech in American history had more
vivid immediate effect and no speech of
purely partisan significance will live
longer than the famous "last ditch adj
dress before the convention last summer.
The best men in America had subsidized
before the storming galleries. Cochran
rose amid tormenting confusion Of adj
verse cries and mere clamor. Ia just the
time it took for his rich, deep voice, with
its melancholy cadence, to roll to the re-
mote corners of the gallery the riot was
quelled. For over an hour he held the
hostile body quiet, alternately pleading,
threatening and promising, bringing
tears to the eyes of many men who would
have been for cutting his throat few
hours before; not winning over bis en-
emies-that was task beyond hope-but |
at least softening the acerbities of the
session. The effort was purely Irish in |
the melancholy note that ran through it,
the splendor of some of the periods and |
The great dizziness of illustration. And |
Mr. Cochran is great deal of an Irish
nan, although he has command of logic
hat is lacking in the speeches of many
If his brilliant countrymen. Since his
Tammany has done we'll
or him. Besides sending him to con-
.ress it has given him law practice thai
s said to pay him nearly $4,000 year.
The Power Of Rome
Sunday evening, Aug. p, Rev. VIM.