People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 15, 9 April 1903, Page 10

People We Hear About

The decision arrived at that the late Sir Charles Gavan Duffy should be buried in Irish soil reminds one (the ' Westminster Gazette ' says) that some of Ireland's most illustrious sons have found their last resting-place out of Ireland. Edmund Burke sleeps at Beaconsfield, Sir John Parnell is buried in the vaults beneath St. George's Church, Hanover Square ; and Henry Grattan was interred in Westminster Abbey. The body of Curran was placed in the vaults in Paddington Church, and was many years afterwards taken to Ireland and interred in Glasnevin Cemetery. It is not, perhaps, generally known that to Mr. Hugh Law, M.P., may be in a large measure attributed the origin of the Cambridge University Hibernian Club, at whoso annual dinner Mr. T. P. O'Connor, the Hon. "William Gibson, and Mr. Law himself were guests. Last July Mr. Law, who is himself a distinguished Oxford graduate, went down to Cambridge on special invitation to move a motion in the Cambridge Union Society against the Coercion regime in Ireland. His speech had the good effect of banding together the young Irishmen of the various colleges m Cambridge in the attempt to work for Irish interests. The establishment of the University Hibernian Club quickly followed, which now numbers amongst its members a great proportion of the Irish graduates and undergraduates of the University. The president of the club for this year is Mi. S. G." Campbell, a Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, whose academic career has been marked by unusual distinction. At the annual dinner, besides Mr. Law himself and the Hon. Edmund Gibson, a son of Lord Ashbourne's, another son of an Irish Lord Chancellor also spoke — Lord O'Hagan. The circumstance of Mr. John Dillon having been commissioned to perform the sad duty of selecting the last resting-place of Sir Charles Gavan Duffy in Glasne\m Cemetery will render it of interest (says the 'Freeman's Journal') to recall Duffy's pen and ink portrait ol Mr. Dillon's father, Mr. John Blake Dillon, who was, perhaps, with the sole exception of Davis, his dearest mend. ' Dillon,' writes Duffy, in ' Young Ireland,' ' desired a National existence primarily to get rid of social degradation and suffering which it wrung his heart to witness without being able to relieve. He was neither morose nor cynical, but he had one Instinct in common with Swift, the villainies of mankind made his blood boil. He was simple and unselfish, and to him falsehood or equivocation was impossible. He was grave with the sweet gravity which comes from habitual thought. Mr. Bright remarked that there was that in his e\ c and in the tone of his voice, and in his manner altogether which marled him for an honorable and a great man. and Mr. Thackeray assured me in later years that amongst the half-do/en men in the United States whom he lened to remember, the modesty and wholesome sweetness of John Dillon, then a political refugee, gave him a foremost place Under a stately and somewhat resetted demeanor lay latent the simplicity and joyousness ol a boy. Some weeks ago it was thought worth while to cable to these colonies the opinions of his Eminence Cardinal Gibbons en the divorce pml which is creating so much misery in the United States Evidently the Cardinal's opinions aie thought much of in America, as the following extract from the New York, ' Sun ' will show : — Tho Cardinal has had a large experience with newspaper men, and understands what is news and the value of it perfectly — also when to keep news and when to let it go out To those writers who treat him well and respect his confidence he is coidial and often frank, but woe to ihe coriespondent or reporter who violates a pledge of discretion. Necessarily fi om his position, he must be ca.telul in his speech. Great interests are confided in his discretion, and his public utterances are- closely scanned, analysed, and commented upon. A single sermon oi his has set the whole country talking When no harm can be done he will converse freely and pleasantly enough Tho little room on the right at the top of the staiis, facing Charles street, is the Cardinal's study, in which he frequently iecei\es visitors. It is very simply furnished The Cardinal, in addition to all his other labors, Imds time to write book,s\ and some of his works have had an extraordinat y circulation. Probably half a million copies of 'The Faith of Our Fathers,' have been sold, and the woik has been tianslated into many languages, lie piodiue-s a book with creat care, employing himself upon it at odd moments Se\en talents are not so good an endowment as tact The Cardinal possesses this quality in a supreme degieo, and it has oft on been rc-niai'r-e'd of him that in his speeches on public occasions he may ulwa\s be counted upon to say precisely the rmht thing He figures freqiuentlv at delicate functions, when an indiscreet word would do irreparable mischief, and alwa\s with skill, wisdom, and adroitness acquits huusell ol the rosponsibilit v involved without offence to otheis or (oinpioiiiisc to himself. With this discretion mics much simplicity of character, a dislike of parade or show, gentle manners, kindness of heart, and Warmth of leolmg He is amiable, yet also strong and firm. He makes up his mind with care, and is very decided when a conclusion has been reached. He is supremely practical and sensible, and, while he has given proof of his ability in many directions, there is perhaps no bettor one than is exhibited in his administration of the prosperous and peaceful archdiocese.