The English Catholic Truth Society.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 44, 31 October 1901, Page 4

The English Catholic Truth Society.

The English Catholic Truth Society's Conference was held in Newcastle this year, and was one of the most successful ever held under the auspices of the Society. The correspondent of the Dublin Freeman* Journal writes ns follows concerning it :—: — Everybody — not Catholics only — is still talking of the magnificent gatherings held in Newcastle last week in connection with the Catholic Truth Conference. I anticipated a striking assemblage of our Catholic Irish people of the North, but I must confess that, like many others, I was astonishei by the numbers and the social strength exhibited in the demonstrations. Residents in Newcastle have fully realised the advances which have been made in recent years, but those, like myself, from the surrounding districts had no idea that the Catholic body was t-o weighty, so wealthy, so rich, too, in distinguished and successful members. Take the first Olympia meeting. The hall i 3 oblong in shape, with galleries on

three sides, the fourth being occupied by a stage, with proscenium. It is illuminated by 100 electric lamps. It seats from 6000 to 7000 people, being the largest hall in Newcastle. An hour before the time for speech-making it was crowded in every part. To fill even such a hall with the working elapses would be easy in this populous centre ; but the audience was not of this type merely. For admission a. half-crown ticket was necessary, only a few seats in the galleries being available for the cheaper tickets. Facing the platform, and upon it, were some 300 priests and higher ecclesiastics, with doctors, professors, leaders in municipal life, foreign Consuls, members of old English county families, like the Ridd^lls, the Liddells, and Sir Hubert Jerningham i and then, stretching as far as the eye could reach, a vast sea of faces, In which the comfortable middle classes were in a considerable preponderance. Quite half'of those present were ladies, and most of them were in evening drees. Again, the reception given in the Assembly Rooms at Barre's Bridge on the Tuesday evening was an equally impressive if more select throng. The wide staircases, the spacious halls were filled with a fashionable party numbering some 1200. The cream of Catholic society in the three oonntiea was there — everyone you met was remarkable in some way, by title, by dignity, by clerical or municipal eminence, by achievements in trade, profession, or the arts. I would not be an Irishman if I did not say that the rare beauty and grace of the softer sex was specially notioeable. Just a sentence or two about Cardinal Vaughan's speech at Olympia. I have heard Gladstone, Morley, Cowen, and Chamberlain at their best, but I never listened to a more effective platform oration. He frankly read from manuscript and held to every letter strictly, but it was no encumbrance. His voice was full, penetrating, melodious, every syllable distinct and measured, every point emphasised by a wave of the hand, a winning smile, or, as he denounced the blasphemous Accession Oath, the thrilling combination of the united powers of passionate indignation. A memorable soene, indeed. The enraptured audience, the Bishops in their robes, the priests with their beaming faces. In the midst of them, on a raised platform placed well forward, that venerable Prince of the Church, in his 70th year, just recovered from illness, but inspired with vigor, both physical and mental ; his fine, clear-cut countenance bright with the joy of close union with so many of his beloved and admiring children ; his tones ringing, hia terse phrases appealing, his features and gestures in lively play.