People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, 8 June 1911, Page 1065

People We Hear About

. One-fourth of the Bishops in the United States have ■ been consecrated by Cardinal Gibbons, about' two thousand priests have been ordained by him. Mrs.,Marion F. Crawford, widow ,of the novelist, lives .at lier villa near Rome, where she is often visited by readers '.and admirers of Mr. Crawford’s, works. v>:v Mr. Trefle, honorary. Minister in charge„ of the NewSouth Wales Department of Agriculture, at twelve years'of age stood behind the plough, and afterwards became a • champion ploughman with both double and treble ' furrow ploughs. . : ' v The Life of Cardinal Vaughan, published by Messrs. Burns and Oates, has had the seal set upon its triumph by the very warm approval of his Holiness the Pope. Pius X. has written its author, Mr. Snead-Cox, a letter of warmest congratulation in his own hand, and congratulate! him in a private-audience. The following is a translation of the letter: ‘ Sincerely congratulating our well-beloved son, John- Snead-Cox, upon his admirable work upon the life and labors of the much-loved Cardinal Vaughan, Archbishop of Westminster, and earnestly hoping that, for the spread of good example, it may -be translated into the languages of other nations, we most affectionately bestow upon him, in token of our favor and goodwill, the Apostolic Benediction.—PlUS X., Pope. From the Vatican on the sth day of April, 1911.’ ; : ~i y. _ News was cabled recently to the effect that the exEmpress Eugenie’s health is causing anxiety. On May 5 the venerable lady celebrated, the 85th year of her age. Born in Spain, won by a president, married to an emperor, she established in Paris a court Whose brilliancy has not been equalled. But she was compelled to escape from the Tuilleries in disguise, on the fatal night of the- downfall of the Empire just as the mob broke in the other side of the buildings. With one attendant and the Austrian and Italian ambassadors, she found her. way to the street. . An urchin recognised her -—she was betrayed by her beautyi Fearful, the ambassadors thrust her into a carriage and drove to find a friendly shelter. Exhausted with the search and with terror, Eugenie remembered at last that Dr. Evans, the American dentist, lived near. She threw herself on his protection, and was escorted by him in safety to the English shore. , . ■ ,u ' Canada lost one of her great men on April 14 by the death of Sir Henri Elzear Taschereau, the representative of the Dominion upon the Judical- Committee of the Imperial Privy Council, and ex-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. For three hundred years the Taschereau family have been prominent in the public life of Canada, either in politics, law, or the Church. During all this period the 1 aschereaus ; possessed seignorial rights in Quebec, ' and doubtless owing to this cause, and to the knowledge which he aeonired from In's grandfather and father, both of whom were judges, Sir Henri was recognised as, the greatest authority on the seignorial- system in Canada. - Sir Henry Taschereau was the oldest Canadian /Judge, his first appointment being made in 1871. He was a man of wide reading and courtly bearing. The late Cardinal laschereau was his cousin. ; It will come as news to many people that of the several colonial 1 rime Ministers now in London in connection with the Coronation three are Catholics—Sir Wilfrid Laurier (Canada)’ Sir J - G. Ward (New Zealand), and Sir Edward 1i . Morns (Newfoundland). Sir Wilfrid Laurier has been close on fifteen years Prime Minister of Canada. FrenchIrish in descent, he is in religion a staunch Catholic. .It is impossible to be in his society a few hours withoutrealising the presence of one of the great masteru of statecraft , He possesses a . unique and striking personauty. He has been described as a picture-gallery all in himselt. i He is like, some splendid portrait that has walked down from the walls of a mediaeval French chateau. Imagine a very tall, a very slight, almost a bony figure; imagine a face exactly the —that is .to say, long narrow and bony— voir will have some idea f of what : Sir Wilfrid Laurier is like in the flesh. There is not a spare ounce on that body, which, nevertheless, ' seems as alert active, and enduring as that of some - deer-hound. Hie face seems to ,concentrate itself in the mouth, which is large—as 18 the: mouth usually ,of the orator—mobile, . lightly pursed. The face is clean shaven, which also gives a certain look at once of academic distinction and of eighteenth century, character. You could take him if you did not know him, for a great scientific scholar, for a professor, or you might fanny that he was a brilliant nit and encyclopaedist—one of that band that prepared the French Revolution. You could take him for manv Hungs, but never for anything that was not intellectual distinguished, ■ and {well born. intellectual,