Hesperothen; Notes from the West, Vol. II (of 2)

The Service at Roche's Point-Queenst

ye on board, compared to the trimness and paint of the Cunard steamers, there was nothing to regret in our accommodation or service. There were so many passengers that the dining-saloon, illuminated by the electric light-which was also used for the purpose of lighting the engine-room and the lamps in the corridors-would not contain them all at the same time, and so there were two messes for dinner. Epergnes filled with the most beautiful flowers were ranged in order, and a rampant war-steed composed of white roses was displayed on the table. I am not about to give a log-book, or to trespass on the pati

e fog-horn. But what must it be for the captain, who is perforce obliged to go at full speed, or as near to it as he can, with the expectation every moment of some startled cry from the bow "Sail right ah

" steamed through a rising sea, with a strong beam wind, into the roadstead of Roche's Point, burned her roc

t the tug as she paddled up to us, rising and falling on the waves, we were seized with reasonable misgivings as to the pro

int and Queenstown. In fine weather and in daylight it is not of much consequence, perhaps, what discomfort one may be exposed to in a short passage to the shore; but to affront women and

le cabin, stuffy and comfortless, and moreover occupied by a couple of women who had come out to see friends by way of a pleasure excursion, and who were suffering the last extremities of sea-sickness. The spray broke over the luggage and passengers; it was in such circumstances that the custom-house officers began their search. One of them, opening my bag, which was unlocked, found a small revolver. It was unloaded, and there was no ammunition for it; but, nevertheless, it was seized, for I was "importing arms into a proclaimed district without licence." A similar mishap occurred to a Spanish officer, who was not quite so easily appeased as I was by the assurance that the arm would be given up on proper application to the police. His revolver, he insisted, was part of his uniform, a necessity of his existence, and the authorities might as well seize his epaulettes or spurs. However, my deadly weapon was restored to me some days afterwards, after a correspondence with the custom-house, and I dare say the Hidalgo was equally fortunate. These were incidents to denote that we were in the midst of trouble. There was but a sorry welcome for us when we landed at Que

nterested in promoting the welfare of the port, and in making the route through Ireland less thoroughly objecti

rative of our little excursion with a political disquisition, indeed I have not the materials for forming any opinion respecting the breadth and depth of what may be called the Irish national movement in the United States; but there seems to be a general vague impression in America that as the British Government was not very wise and equitable in its dealings with the people of the thirteen colonies in the reign of King George, it is, somehow or other, at the present moment, treating with harshness and injustice the whole of the Irish race in Ireland. It is impossible not to recognise the fact that the head, perhaps the heart, and certainly the purse of this development of Irish discontent are in the United States. The arms, the body, and the legs are in Ireland. During the whole time of our visit, although we visited towns where eminent orators were lecturing upon Irish subjects, and where representatives of the League were in session, there was not a trace brought home to us of the strong sympathy which undoubtedly exists in many American cities with the movement in Ireland. There w

merican bar. I heard him denounce the Land Bill in terms he might have used in denouncing the atrocities of the Saxon in his hot days when O'Connell was king. The influence which has been acquired in many parts of the Union by the Irish immigration and by the descendants of immigrants has naturally excited at various times the opposition and indignation of the American born, and it has always been more or less opposed by the Teutons of different nationalities who occupy such a powerful position in all the great States of the West. But "the Native Party" is now either dead or sleeping. A very distinguished officer and politician said to me that he had at one time been a most eager and ardent adherent of the policy of the Native American Party, but that when he saw how earnestly and devotedly the Irish had come forward in defence of the Union, how brilliantly they had fought, and how recklessly they had sacrificed their lives, in 1861, he felt constrained to abandon his principles, and to admit their free right to all the privileges of American citizenship. I could not, however, but recollect that General Richard Taylor, in his most amusing, able, and graphic work on that same war, from the Confederate side of the question, bore the strongest testimony to the services of the Irish in the army which fought under the banner of the Slave States. In New York and in San Francisco the Irish element has exercised almost supreme control in municipal matters, and it may be said, wi