BURIAL OF MICHAEL COLLINS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3141, 30 October 1922, Page 8

BURIAL OF MICHAEL COLLINS.

(Daily Chronicle's Dublin Correspondent.) Michael Collins was buried to-day by the Dublin Guards, as he asked to be when he lay dying by the roadside at Ballnablath. He was buried with all the most solemn rites of the Roman Church, and with the imposing ceremonial accorded to a personage of State; but there was no moment more impressive than that at the graveside. 1 The coffini was lowered into the grave, the Last Post was sounded, and a volley fired. So, in simple, military fashion, the Dublin Guards took their farewell of the young, soldier-statesman whose thoughts were with them to the end. They laid him to rest on the slopes of Glasncvin, in the centre of a place set apart for soldiers, who have given their lives for Ireland. Not far away are the graves of Parnell and Arthur Griffith and others., Michael Collins' great fellow-country-men. All Ireland mourned Ins passing. Jn Dublin countless thousands thronged the seven miles of silent streets through which the funeral procession slowly passed. Everywhere in tine citv blinds were drawn and shops were shut. No work was done other than that which was vitally essential, and even guests in the hotels were left lor hours without food or drink while the staffs joined in the great army ol mourners. In the. gloomv Pro-Cathedral Requiem Mass for the soul of the dead! General was celebrated by the highest churchman in lhe land and a great body of assistant clergy. But, even more moving than any ol' the high religious rites was one little human incident so touching in its very simplicity. As tlie great congregation was bowed in prayer, a private soldier, carrying in his hand a single lily, walked down the aisle to the place where General Mulcahy sat with the officers of his staff. He whispered a few words to the General, and then went slowly on to the catafalque before the high altar, where was the coffin draped with the green, white and yellow flag. On it he reverently placed the flower. It was from Miss Kitty-Kiernan, the pale, slender girl in black, who sat in the first row of mourners with the two sisters of Michael Collins. It was she to whom the young soldier-statesman was engaged. With her in the Cathedral were representatives of every section of Irish life. There were the Dail Ministers, all young men, not much older than Collins himself. Then the Army leaders. most of them even younger, with General Mulcahy. the new Coinmanderin Chief, occupying the same seat where not more than a week ago Michael Collins himself sat mourning for Arthur Griffith. Ireland's destines are to-day in the hands of youth, and it was Young Ireland that one saw in the Cathedral praying for their lost young leader. Lor an hour the solemn service continued, and then the Archbishop, in cope and mitre, approached the catafalque to pronounce the final Absolution, passing through the- rows of clergy holding lighted candles. Every inch of the long route to the cemetery was thickly lined, and, as the cortege passed,, men and women sank down on their knees in prayer. In places the crowd was 12 and lo deep, and about half .a million people must have been distributed along the route.