THE MAN WHO TAKES JOHN DILLON'S PLACE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 3, 11 May 1883, Page 13

THE MAN WHO TAKES JOHN DILLON'S PLACE.

Wm. O'Bkthn, M.P. for Mallow, is thus described in the N. Y. Sun by T. P. O'Connor, M.P.;— " One of the incidents of debate has been the maiden speech of Mr. Wm. O'Brien, the memberjfor Mallow and the editor of United Ireland. There is always some Irish member who has the reputation of being the most extreme man of his party, and for the moment Mr. O'Brien fits this place in the not very well instructed imaginations of the English public. He is certainly a man of very decided views, and of a passionate and vehement nature. Physically he looks just what he is. He is tall and thin, and his gaunt face, with its sharply denned features, has the pallor of Ihe delicate. He comes from a family that has had a strange history

Two of his brothers and his sister have died of consumption, and 4 terrible fact was that these three members of his family and his father all died within a few weeks of each other. His mother waa seriously ill at the time when O'Brien himself was sent by Mr. Forster to Kilinainham, and died shortly after his release. O'Brien was brought up in strong national principles, and has taken an active part in politics from, his boyhood. He is in some respects more like a Frenchman than an Irish journalist — the embodiment of the literary revolutionist. His maiden speech was naturally looked forward to with a good deal of interest, and, if it had been announced beforehand, would probably have drawn a large audience. As it was, it was delivered iD the early hour of a Wednesday sitting — a sitting that is nearly always tame and sparsely attended. But the few who did hear the address were much struck by it, and though of course there is wild horror at its outspokenness, and the London papers to-day rave themselves hoarse over its violence, it has made a favourable imprecision. It is generally conceded that the. Irish party has added to their ranks not only a marked and striking individuality, but an orator of rare power. I heard O'Brien make a few speeches daring the Mallow contest, and I was then struck with his style. It is entirely unlike any thing alieady in public life. He is terse almost to curtness. Every word is shot forth as 'twere hissing, and rushes unerringly to its aim. There is aa air of suppressed passion that gives a strange impressiveness to the language and ideas. Yet, O'Brien is almost entirely without training ; indeed, until he started for Mallow, I believe he had never made a speech ; but when he gets control of his voice, which at present is a little shrill, and is more composed, he will probably be one of the orators of the House of Commons.