New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-07-28
SALOON AND STEERAGE.
THE SOCIAL ELEMENT IN THE BOUR-
GOGNE DISASTER.
From The London Spectator.


Why were the men on La Bourgogre so panic
stricken. while those on the Delaware, undet
circumstances Of even greater terror, for tney
had every chance Of beiEg burned alive. and az
the ship was loaded with combustibles. expected
momentary an explosion. were cooland orderly
made lanes on deck at the word OF command:
put the women first In the boats and we're Al
saved a still working organism? That SOUTH
erners more liable to panic than Nortnerh-
ers as they are more liable TO bursts OF fury'
and more easily moved 10 laughter or enthus'-
asm. is true hut they used 10 be capable Oh con-
trolling themselves. they showed IN num-
dred scenes Of despair. The victims NJ the Ter
ror. for the most part. faced deatn hucn
worse than drowning with CHEEKY stolclsn. ana
though the herOsm ~ the crew OF la Nengeur
is a myth. French sailors have gone down otten
enough as calmly as any others. Cndriiled i,a ac
ians died In heaps in the great rising OF IcoO
with the courage Of martyrs, ana In TINS very
month the serene fOrtitude OF the spanish san.
ors OF the Nizcaya extorted the LOUD shrnira,,on
Of their American conquerors. IL ~ utterly I'M
true TO say that the Latin peoples are cowardy'
and wherefore. then. did those on board Ia
Bourgogne exhibit such a frenzy OF terocious
fear? n they could not fall into rank as the
men OF the Delaware did. they could dle quieuy'
could at all events. abstain from klIng reiu-
gees who impored their aid. and make a as
tncti0n for instead Of against. the unhappy
women. II there had been no means OF escapo
one could partially understand ~ nut there
were means and all that was necessary was 30
much self-controI as would allow the weakest 70
escape first a self-contrOl which three priests
on board. two Of them Irishmen. showeo IN ls
amid the murderous riot as y FOR them mere
could be neither danger nor death All training
lid you say? Had one u them ever been In q
storm before?
We greatly fear that at tho bottom ~ the con-
duct Of the savages who broke out was some
thing worse than a mere failure OF hsrke
furious selfshness sharpened by social make.
Some Of the sailors and the storage passeh-
gers regarded the saloon passengers and tnoee
Of the second-clsss cabin as bourgeois, wnoss
money and position would give them. even IN
that equalizng hour 81 despair. an unjust aa-
vantage Madiened. not by fear. but oy envy
they attacked those who they fancle1 were pc
ing treated their superiOrs. Ihey cursed
them. and budgeoned them with Ooathooks.
and stabbed them. and drowned them out OF
sheer hate and dread NJ their social adVan,osss;;
SiRnor De Amics. In that wonderfully pictorlai
book which his translator calls ON eius
Water" aludes repeatedly 10 the existence OF
this feeling among Italian steerage passehsrrs;
He made voyage solely ~ observe them, ara
his account is at once pathetic ana depioraoie.
They are frightfully poor. they nate the ekhe
they yet accept and they gaze on We s s,,,,yy
menacins eyes. In one place he says: The emil
grants crowding toward the stern looked az ths
doors Of tho saloon and AT the hrst-class pas
sengers with n nercer eye than usual as u; they
would have liked 10 offer something more than
insolence-for why did we take W so much OK
the ship--why should we. hundred or 80. oc.
cupy nearly as much room as they peopleI
Didn't we eat up all those nice dishes that they
saw carried across tho piaZzetta twice day ana
OF which they got nothing but the smell? DIDN'T
we have servants In black 70 do all this running
about for us. while they had 10 rinse their pots
and pans at the deck trough. and wait for their
food at the kitchen door Ike begsars? why
should this boz" Men ~ that temper would re-
gard any special effort TO save passengers as at
once injury and an insult ~ themselves. JUS
tifying an attack upon the accursed aristocrats,
| who even in shipwreck were To be preferred 70
| ordinary people. They themselves were 10
| drown that the bourgeois who had paid heavily
| for passages might have an unjust chance That
| does not explain the furious attack upon the
women? Yes. II does. II there Is one thing more
| certain about the French Revolution than an
| other x is that the women provoked. or rather
| encountered. more hatred than the men. that
| they were 70 the guillotine as readily. that
| Nine lie Marquise seemed To the suffering proe-
| tariat more completely the representative or
: privilege and caste than VI lie Marquis Carrier
| drowned both with the same ferocious pleasure
as the assallants on board La Bourgogne are
| said by the witnesses 70 have done. MY OLD
| mother and Ave other women" said John Burge
| were malicously drowned" and TWO other Wit
nesses. not OF his nationality. corroborate MS
| statement -
| II this 4, truly the ultimate explanation Of the
scene on board La Bourgogne-and We cannot
conceive OF any other-it augurs Ill for the I'M
! mediate future Of the Latin races. and explains
| something OF the terrible. and as IL seems 10 US
| Engiishmen. the unjustifable. readiness with
| which those who rule them resort 20 sanguinary
| repression. Civil Of the worst sort must be
| latent in the hearts 81 men so dominated oy
| envy. a readiness 10 redress social wrongs real
| or fancied-they often horribly really IN.
flctng death on all who benefit by the social
system. Thousands 81 Continental Tories, az
we should call them. men who live their lives
among those whom they both fear and hate. be.
lieve firmly that this is the case and hold all
mercifu measures for Fighting wrongs 10 be
signs Of puerile weakness. The moment order 10
broken UP. they say as IL broken up on
board La Bourgogne. the Wild beast rises in his
lair and PUSHES for all he sees that are not ex-
actly as himself There is no defence they say.
excepting the revolver. and 10 the revolver.
therefore Il is the duty of all governments to
resort We not only disbelieve but detest the
doctrine. holding II better that justice be done
even II the Judges perish but II IL true. we fear,
that there is in the hearts Of the Latin many
ferocity Of protest against the few which threat
ems civilization. They have lost their faith In
the future they feel with an entirely new con-
scousness the weight OF their economic suffer-
ing and they have been taught for nearly q
century 10 attribute that suffering 10 the nJus-
tice ~ the well-to-dO. When. therefore. by any
chance, the pressure OF the accustomed is with
drawn they rise In instruction. and. being
Southerners shed blood In spirit OF angry VEN
geance. including in the slaughter the women,
who as they think benefit even more than the
men by social injustice. and enjoy II with moro
nsolence. II is a frightful prospect that is be-
fore the Latin peoples ard ne hardly wonder
that Il causes in their chiefs now vacation ana
again an almost incredible anger The storm
will pass for after all the inequalities created
by nature are far greater than those which are
due to man. and that fact will be recognized at
last but until Il has passed. whenever order
breaks UP. the Southern rough" will display .
sanguinary fury which tempts the rough" Of
the North 10 declare that he is hardly a human
being.