The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-02-14
TO WHOM HONOR IS DUE.


able to Congressman Boutelle. of Maine.
adding:
This Maine Republican desired to get a
hearing for his resolution Of cenSure on the
Cleveland policy of infamy against free in
situations in Hawaii. There was an objec-
shut off distasteful inquiry into the subject
SO generally repugnant TO Democratic MEM
bers. Mr.. Boutelle's resolution was tenn
porarily met by an objection from a New
York member, VIGOROUSLY partial TO Mr..
Cleveland's peculiar policy; and Mr.. Bou-
telle; in a spirit of levity, strongly sug-
linespike, inquired If the White House
clock had struck that morning.
"Such,' says the article quoted from.
was the origin of the expression cuckoo"
This is a mistake. The now celebrated term
was first used as applied to subservient
Congressman by Senator Morgan, of Ala
bama, one of the wittiest and ablest mern-
bers of the Senate. On the 18th of October
last, during the special session, and in the
course of some remarks on the silver re-
peal bill, Senator Morgan, referring to the
enthusiasm with which some Senators were
championing the cause OF unconditional re-
peal, said:
The trumpet has sounded, the forces were
marshaled, the clock had struck at the
White House, and the cuckoos here all put
their heads out of the boxes and responded
10 inform us of the time of day; but they
did not seem fully TO know what they were
talking about and never took pains to find
out the state of the law.
This was the first use Of the word in its
present sense, but it remained for Con-
gresham Wilson, of Washington, to popu-
or,.o a - go -, a-otA ATarro4 IN.
regarded by all who heard it or who read
the report of the Senate proceedings as
witty and felicitous, but it might have
passed out of public memory had not a SUBJ
sequent incident brought it into vogue.
When the silver repeal bill was returned to
the House, and while Representative Tracey,
of New York, was effusively thanking the
administration men for their loyalty, Mr..
Wilson, from his seat on the Republican
side, sang out cuckoo in a voice that eX-
actly initiated the sound of a cuckoo clock.
The effect was electrical. The House roared,
the effect of Mr.. Tracey's speech was de-
stroyed, and from that moment cuckoo
became a famous word. The credit of orig
mating the idea and of it's first witty appli-
cation belongs wholly to Senator Morgan,
while that Of rescuing it from oblivion and
popularizing it belongs to Representative
Wilson, who, by the way, is an Indiana
man, having been born at Charlottesville.
Mr.. Boutelle's use of the word was long
after the Wilson incident, and, of course,
Ion. ~ b, &c 6ret ,,ea ~, Capo+o- NTorron
The New York Sun publishes a letter from
General Sickles. in which he says he re-
grets he was confined to a few minutes in
his speech on the Hawaiian question, as he
would have liked to say something about
the origin and strength of the provisional
government. He adds:
The provisional government of Texas in
1885 consisted mainly of Sam Houston and
his staff. With seven hundred Americans
in 1886 he won the battle of San Jacinto and
took Texas away from Mexico, n sister re-
public, territory equal TO five or six States
In the Union. We received Texas, believing
We had a good title, and did not inquire
into the regularity of Sam Houston'S pro-
visiona, government.
We received California into the Union
with a State government organized in 1880
by a mol of adventures from all parts OF
the world, without any enabling act, or any
semblance of authority.
Bolivar liberated South America from the
Spanish yoke and founded the republics of
that part of the continent, and had for a
provisional government, for years, only him.
self and his Estado Mayor. We recognized
them and so did Europe.
In 1873 l helped organize the Spanish re-
public. 1t was recognized the next day by
the United States.
The foundations of the British empire in
india, over zoo. 900. 900 of people were estab-
lished by Give in the last century, with two
49,. L. ~ OF ia hnnk
In comparison with these and other prece-
dents familiar to you, what is the matter
with the provisional government at Homo
lulu, supported by fifteen hundred bayonetS
and all the Americans on the island? Let
Dole hold on-and wait.
The man who left a leg at Gettysburg
cannot find it in his heart to denounce the
men who are trying to extend the principles
of the American Constitution and the pro-
lection of the American flag over Hawaii.
Despite the bad travelling and the most
unfavorable weather the day before, the
Lincoln League convention yesterday was
a marked success. The attendance from out
of town was unusually large, which, with
the representatives of the rapidly growing
clubs in this city. made an assemblage too
large for the court room In which the con-
vention was held. In character. intelligence
and enthusiasm the convention was all that
could be wished. 1t showed that in the
year Of grace 1894 the Republican party is
the one living and vigorous organization in
Indiana. The meeting was for organization
rather than for demonstration. but never
theleSS IL was very much of q demOnStra-