People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 17, 23 April 1903, Page 10

People We Hear About

«J1 11 S 7r7 re £ orted l rom Halifax, Nova Scotia, that Mr. SSTi?^ a M k^ m , ember •*?' the Canadian Senate for Frel ?E i 22 f T Bru K nsWl <*. was 100 years old on February in^S Tq g iQn e o n b ° rn . at Londonderry, Ireland, on Febf« a 1 £ f rt : i2 ()8 ir He «, is , Baid to bo tn * oldest legislator ™«™ S2 r - d> Mr< k haa been in political fife 61 goSd"heatth S gaged in the timber industry, and ia in < Tvr3L,. :m lotor1 otor car ' A nn £ 6 the bi cycle (says the London Th?R^h + )T) T ? seems^ to be obtai ni"fir episcopal sanction. vSi^ £ Rev -^ Fra » cia Moatyn, Vicar-Apostolic of Wales, has caused a mild sensation in West London by EdwTrd, g Ch O isw hieh iek ChUrCh ° f ° Ur Lady ° f GmCe and St '

n,, Ji£i« h ° Donovan « parliamentary librarian of Queens and now on a visit to Rome, is one of the most distinguished men of letters in Australia. He is a Cork man. He was educated at the Sorbonne, in France, and afterwards became Professor of Modern Languages and Literature of the Catholic University of Paris. His first work, entitled Memories of Rome,' received universal commendation and a special encomium from Plus IX. He came to Australia in 1866, and in 1874 accepted the position m Queensland which he still holds. Mr. O'Donovan holds numerous honors from the learned societies of many .European nations.

™ J ° hn R « dlno nd was the guest of the London Welsh Society at the annual Welsh national dinner in the .Hotel Cecil, .London. Mr. William .Jones, M.P., presided and when Mr. Redmond rose to propose the toast, The Welsh Nation,' he met with & icception of such enthusiasm that several minutes elapsed before he was able to obtain a hearing. The inrgo company cheered agam and again, and sang ' He's a jolly good fellow, after which they all sprung to their feet and continued cheering till one might have thought that it was only physical exhaustion that brought the remarkable demonstration to an end.

A remarkable Englishman, who made the Pope's acquaintance in Brussels (says the ' Daily Chronicle '), was the late Father Ignatius Spencer, or, in the language of Dod and Debrett, the Hon. and Rev. George Spencer, the uncle of the Earl Spencer of to-day. In his ' Letter to the English People,' Pope Leo recalled his friendship with Father Spencer and the efforts of that convetit priest to bring back his countrymen to the ancient faith. Father Spencer was originally a beneiiced clergyman of the Church of England, and his going over to Rome, long before Manning and Newman took the same step, created a great sensation and much controversy. He joined the Order of Passionists, and was one of the founders of the church and monastery of that community on the top of Highgate Hill

The advice given to the jury by Lord Alverstone, the Chief J ustice of England, recently when trying a case between a playwright and a manager with' reference to an operatic version of ' Charles O'Malley,' ro read 'hat novel— advice which was enthusiastically seconded by Mr. Cnpps, K.C., M.P., who was one of the counsel in the case— may render it of interest (says the ' Freeman's Journal ') to recall recollection to the fact that Charles Lever, on the first appearance of ' Cha>rles O'Malley,' got into hot water with a distinguished member of the Connaught Bar, a Mr. Charles O'Malley, who had actually fought at Waterloo in an Irish Dragoon regiment, and resented the assumption of his name by the novelist for the title of his work. He sent a hostile message to Lever, who, however, made a satisfactory &*(•■ filiation. Mr. Lever and Mr. Charles O'Malley became f-.st friends, and Charles O'Malley was known to tht, end « f his days as ' The Irish Dragoon,' and became eventually very proud of the soubri:|u<>t.

It is of interest to record that by far the greatest number of the Irish-Americans interviewed by Captain Shaw-Taylor during his recent tour of investigation regarding the Celt's attitude in the States towards the British Empire are of Irish birth. For instance, in New York, the Hon. W, MacAdoo, Secretary of the Navy under Cleveland, is a native of Antrim. It may be mentioned that Mr. MacAdoo is the leader of his race in New Jersey, a district of which he represented for many years in Washington. Recorder Goff, a leader of Irish opinion in the Empire City, is a Wexford man, and before obtaining his present prominent position on the New York Bench, was at the head of the criminal lawyeis in Manhattan. Mr. Patrick Ford, the wellknown editor of the ' Irish World,' is a West of Ireland man ; and Mr. Patrick Egan's former connection with Dublin is, perhaps, too familiar for mention. Mr. T. St. John Gaffney, another New Yorker interviewed by the Captain, is a native of Limerick city, where his family at present fill a foremost position in professional and social circles. In Boston, Mr. Collins, the Mayor, is a Fennoy (County Cork) man, whose career in the States is a triumph and vindication of what pluck and energy '•an do in achieving- success under the most adverse circumstances. Mr. James Jeffrey Roche, another Irish American, of Boston, seen by the Secretary of the late Land Conference, is a native of Queen's County ; while when in Chicago, the Captain's interview with Colonel Finerty, President of the United Irish League of the States, brought him into contact with a native ofi the City of the Tribes.