leum casks; that there was neither tea nor sugar on board; and that the potatoes were rotten. The Commissioners instituted an inquiry, which resulted in proving the truth of all the charges; to which might be added another—that there was neither a doctor nor a drug store on board! Had the ship been longer at sea, the mortality would have been more terrible, as the survivors were pale and feeble, worn and emaciated, and some suffering from diarrhoea and disorders of the bowels. One little child was left as the sole representative of a family of five who sailed from Antwerp in perfect health; the boy's father, brother, and sister having died on board, and his mother in the hospital-ship soon after reaching quarantine. One would suppose this paragraph, from the report of the gentleman by whom the atrocious case was investigated on the part of the Commissioners, had been written twenty years before:—
'Second—The water. I found it in large sperm oil casks, the oil swimming on the surface. I tried to taste a glass, but the smell was so offensive that I could not overcome my disgust. Captain True (referred to above), however, says he drank half tumbler of the water, with the object of testing it, and he was shortly afterwards taken with a severe diarrhoea. John Bertram, a passenger from Ahrbuch, Rhenish Prussia, says, under oath, that his dying child asked for some water, and that the cook gave him some, but that it was so bad it had to be boiled in order to make it drinkable, and that deponent had to pay five francs to the cook ?or attending to him and his family. Third—The bread. Captain True says that the bread was the worst he ever saw—mouldy and disgusting and that from one piece an entire bean was taken. I examined the biscuit, of which I tasted a piece; it was of the worst quality—sandy, burned, and hardly digestible—even its appearance was loathsome.
Among other proceedings of the Commissioners was the adoption of a resolution, proposed by the Hon. Richard O Gorman—one of those Irishmen who is a credit and an honour to his country,—referring the case to the urgent attention of the Government.
Mr. O'Gorman is one of the ex-officio members of the Commission. The others are the Mayors of New York and Brooklyn, and the President of the German Society.
Mr. O'Gorman is the President of the Irish Emigrant Society of New York—an admirable institution; but one which might be rendered still more useful, not only in diffusing information valuable to the emigrant, but in imparting a healthful impetus to the occupation of the land by the agricultural class of Irish migrants.
