AN GAOḊAL.
229
At the request of many students
we give the translations of Fathers
Burke and Carbery's letters to the
managers of the Inman Line Steam¬
ers which appeared in the last issue
of the GAEL, as follows. —
DEAR SIRS. I beg to return to you,
and to Messrs Inman my best thanks for all the
favors you have conferred on me. Deep as my
gratitude is for these personal favors, I am still
more grateful for the kindness and consideration
with which my fellow countrymen are treated on
board the magnificent ships of the Inman Line.
I came to America on one of your splendid steam¬
ers. There were nearly three hundred Irish emi¬
grants in the steerage. The kindness and tender¬
ness with which these emigrants were treated drew
from them expressions of the greatest satisfaction.
I had free access to them and they to me, at all
times, and I hope and pray that my poor country¬
men may be always treated as well as I have seen
them on board the Inman steamers.
I am, my dear Sir,
Yours very sincerely,
THOMAS N. BURKE, O. P.
To the
INMAN STEAMSHIP Co., Limited.
DEAR SIR;
Having seen recently in the newspapers a
controversy regarding the various lines of steam¬
ships running between New York and Liverpool,
I find it my duty to state my experience on board
the "CITY OF RICHMOND," of the INMAN LINE, which
left Queenstown June 1st, with 1,240 Scandinavian
and 240 Irish emigrant. Having previously heard
of the ill-treatment of emigrants, I was anxious to
ascertain for myself the real facts, and therefore
went through the apartments at early morning,
late at night and at intervals.
The order and discipline among the passengers
was such as to ensure comfort and the strictest
morality. Mr Jones, in charge of the Emigrant
Department, in his anxiety for their welfare show¬
ed the heart of a real father. For the unmarried
portion, separate rooms are provided.
Great attention was paid to ventilation, and the
food was plentiful and most excellent.
On many occasions I brought with me gentle¬
men from the saloon to see the quality of food for
the people at the varions meals.
The beef was of the first class, and the pork
seemed to have been selected with especial care.
The bread supplied to emigrants was the same
as that used by the saloon passengers, and so anx¬
ious was I about this matter that I frequently
visited the bake house to observe the preparation
of the bread.
On the second Sunday every facility was afford¬
ed by the officers and a suitable place prepared
to read prayers for the Catholic portion, and the
strictest care taken to preserve order during the
religious exercises and services; furthermore,
was afforded me in confessing any who sought the
use of my ministry.
When. therefore, zealous people who bring
charges of neglect and abuse in the transportation
of emigrants, they should be held to specify the
time, the ship, and the date of sailing, on which
such abuses occurred.
Knowing that such charges have been made, I
find it my duty, on the arrival at the landing stage
in New York, to volunter the expression of my
hearty and entire approval of the treatment given
the emigrants by the offices of the good ship "City
of Richmond," of the INNAN LINE.
And during my extensive tour through the
United States, it gave me especial pleasure to
notify my experience to the Bishops, priests, and
people, I had the pleasure of meeting during my
sojourn in this country.
As a lover of fair play I deem it my duty to
give this testimony to the care I witnessed as
shown to the poor emigrants in search of a new
home in a foreign land.
I am, with much respect,
Yours in Christ,
(Signed.)
Joseph J. Carbery, O. P.
ST. VINCENT FERRER'S CHURCH, NEW YORK.
The National Platform.
We regret to have to observe that our New York
friends at their initiatory ratification of the plat¬
form adopted at Philadelphia have omitted the
keynote of the platform. We would ask those
responsible for that omission if they ever attend¬
ed a play in which the principal cast of the play
was omitted, to state the sentiments which such
omission evoked, whether they were not those of
want of confidence in the actors and of contempt
for the play. These are the just sentiments evok¬
ed in the breast of every unselfish patriotic Irish¬
man by the Cooper Institute ratification farce.
The platform adopted at Philadelphia must be
carried out as a whole or failure will be the result.
There is no need to tamper with or mutilate that
platform; it is bold, manly, and complete, and we
would advise those who applied the pruning knife
to it on the occasion referred to, to be more care¬
ful for the future. The fourth plank in that
platform binds the whole together, omit it, and
the structure crumbles to atoms, because the lan¬
guage is the essence of nationality.
Every Irishman should get a copy
of the Dublin Gaelic Journal, its price
is only six shillings a year. It and the
GAEL are the only papers published in
the Irish Language.
