A Sketch of Cardinal Manning.

Southland Times, Issue 11952, 25 January 1892, Page 3

A Sketch of Cardinal Manning.

The following sketch of Cardinal Manning embodied in an interview which a New York Herald reporter bad witb his Eminence a ehort time Ago, will be read with more than ordinary interest now that the news of his death has arrived : — Up to very recently the Cardinal bas been seen in London, looking about aa usual. Indeed, the writer Baw him in one of the most squalid spots in London only a short time ago, pursuing his work among the London poor. He was clad in a simple clerical garb. His figure, though thin and bent, still arose far above those of ordinary men whom he met. Standing erect he would measure nearly six feet three inches In stature. His hair was very scant and white as snow. But it was the clean cut face of this old man that would attract attention. Over it the skin was drawn like parchment. It was a long, Chin, powerful, ajsthetio face, with intellectuality in every line and wrinkle. In the contour of the jaw and chin there were those marks of decision and strength of character that stamp the leader of men. Now and then some passer by would tender the aged man a respectful salute, aud he in turn would not fail to bow a graceful courtesy. Again he would pause to pat some ragged, dirty-faced urchin on the btead and address to the abashed youngster some smiling remark. Such was Henry Edward Cardinal Manning, Archbishop of Westminster, head of the Boman Catholic Church in England, and the last of the great English Cardinals in the Roman Church. It was significant of the character of the man that although past eighty-three years of age, he was still to oe seeu in the London slums attending to church work that some curates would think it beneath their dignity to perform. The aged Cardinal, since Newman s death, has stood alone |and unique among English oburebmen. He has outlived all his followers. Cardinal Newman, in some resneots the greatest of them, Jb dead. Pusey and the other leaders in the Tractanan movement that brought both Newman and Manning into the Boman Cathohu Church are deal long since. Cardinal Howard, of the jrreat Catholic family of the Howards, still Uvea, but he has been at Borne these many years, and has been in such a, 1 condition of mind that it has been necessary to keep him under restraint. , So Manning may be said to.be the last ot the Cardinals in England, and, what is more, when he dies it is more tban probable that his place will not be filled for many years at least. Cardinal Manning says that the Catholio Church ia growing constantly throughout all England, end he ought to know. It I* J™* W v trae » on fche

1 other hand, that it has of late years developed no great churchman. The ablest of them, Newman and Manning himself, were converts. There **ire great Catholic noblemen, like the Duke of Norfolk and the Marquis of Bute, who may wish the Cardinals to be kept up, but Leo XIII. has not yet found a man big enough to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Newman, and to appoint a successor to Manning will not be less difficult when the time comes. An old servant, who has been with the Cardinal for twenty-five years, ushered me into his presence. I passed through the great ballroom where the Guards used to dance, then descended some atone steps, and was in the Cardinal's presence. The first thing that struck me when I glanced about the room was the thought that he is inclined to be an untidy worker. Papers, books, pamphlets, letters, are heaped on the floor, on chairs, everywhere in confusion. Nearly a dozen tables crowded the room, all of them oovered with letters from everywhere. The Cardinal does not himself work at any of the tables. He sits in a great arm chair in the middle of the room, and when he writes it is upon a small pad that he rests on his knee or in his hand. I was surprised by this oddity on the last occasion when I was granted the privilege of seeing the Cardinal in this workshop. He noticed thia and smiled. " I bave written in this way for fifteen years," he said simply, " and it has become a second habit with me." Then the old prelate, noting my glance at tbe litter of letters about the room, again smiled in his pleasant way. " You think my mail must be large," he said. ** Well, so it is. I receive hundreds of letters every day from almost everywhere. I open them all myself, and I assure you ib takes not a little^time. Some of them I answer personally, and the rest are answered by my two secretaries. It is no small part of their duties, and it keeps them at work many hours every day." Here the Cardinal reached a table near by and picked up a small envelope. It had on 'it an American post-mark. " Tbis," he Baid, "is from an American schoolgirl. It is strange that a good many letters I receive come from children. They write me from the United States, from Canada, and even Australia, and I take a food deal of pleasure in those letters, too. adeed, my greatest friends are among the children. On July 15 — that is my birthday — they never fail to send me flowers without number. They quite fill the bouse." The aged man nere paused and mused for a moment. "It is a long, long time since I myself was young," he said at length. " When one passes four score and three years he begins to feel old and rather feeble, just as I do." I suggested that the Cardinal was still doing a good deal of work despite his advanced age. "Yes, he replied. "I have been used to work, hard work, all my life. I love work. It is part of my life. Besides, there is so much to be done, tbat I do not feel that I can be idle. I have a long day. BeS' nnuig at six o'clock in the morning, lam equently still at work at eleven at night. I dine early, at balf past one and have tea at half-past seven. In addition to my other work I read the principal newspapers, paying particular attention to foreign news. Going on, the Cardinal said that since 1868 he had been a total abstainer from the use of liquor, and that of late years he has been almost a vegetarian as well. It was when the Cardinal's attention was drawn to statements that Christianity was not holding its own against infidels, agnostics, and the' like that he spoke most vigorously. "I have been in the thick of religious life for more than sixty years," said he, with a I flash of bis steel-blue eyes, " and I believe j from my experience that faith and religion have enormously grown in England since the time of John Wesley. From the time of Elizabeth to, say 1780, religion had steadily declined. Since the time of Wesley, both in and ont of the Established Church, it has just as steadily advanced. There is still a good deal of reason run to seed in England, a good deal of free thought and much spritual ignorance among tbe overworked masses. But we are making a steady headway against that. If you could go among London working men as? do you would3.ee this. There are more than one million five hundred thousand Catholics in England now, and they are increasing in number. What is more, they really practice their religion." "And the other churches?" " Ah, my son," said the Cardinal, smilingly, "I am too old to throw stones. It is no part of my duty to criticise those who are without our lines." Then tbe question of temperance came up. " England sober," said tbe aged churchman, "is England happy and contented. If we could make the English workman a total abstainer we could settle the most serious of the social problems that confront us now. I have worked towards this end for very many years, and with some success. But it is a fight against odds. The drunkenness and the misery growing out of it here in London make my heart sick at times. But the Catholic Church uT&gainst the traffic in rum, and will continue to be, and time will tell many things. Here in London our priests are preaching total abstinence all the time and to considerable effect. lam glad to notice the strength of the same movement in America." The Cardinal takes a very hopeful view of the labour outlook, and he is peculiarly competent to speak on the matter. In bis opinion workingmen and their employers are coming closer together all the time." " When employers extend exact justice to their workmen, and vice versa, we shall be through with labour troubles in the main," he said ; "from a basis of common justice both may arise to a better understanding, and I think such an era is approaching. The position of the Catholic Church is plain. . Leo XIII, in his old age, is giving his whole mind to these questions. In America, Cardinal Gibbons is doing all he can to improve the relations between labour and capital, and here in England we are doing the same. Then you will notice every where a tendency to arbitrate where it is at all possible. Take it all in all, I see no reason to fear for the future."