The journey began badly, and continued so until New Jersey was sighted. The sea was rough, the _Parthia_ rolled, and the captain proved a churl. The embarkation of the steerage passengers was managed with an "uncouth harshness" which was painful to witness; to threaten "to put a man 'in irons' for coming back to give a last wave of his hand to a weeping sweetheart," commented my father, "was just a little too hard." On the 17th the passengers on board the _Parthia_ had the mortification of seeing the _Adriatic_ (White Star Line), which had left Liverpool two days after them, pass them, and forge ahead with a speed which soon left the _Parthia_ behind. Everything seemed combined to render his journey unpleasant and vexatious.[1] [Footnote 1: In reference to Mr Bradlaugh's voyage in the _Parthia_ I append an extract from the _New York Herald_ for 7th September 1881, which purports to be an account of an interview between the reporter of that journal and Mr J. Walter, M.P., of the _Times_:-- "THE BRADLAUGH INCIDENT. "'Don't you think Bradlaugh was harshly treated?' 'Oh dear, no,' was Mr. Walter's eager response. 'That's all nonsense about his having crysipelas, and having been so brutally treated. He's a perfect ruffian. A fellow-passenger on the _Bothnia_ told me of Bradlaugh and some of his comrades violently disturbing some religious services held on board the _Parthia_, so that Captain Watson was compelled to threaten him with putting him in irons before he would stop.'" My father, of course, wrote to the _New York Herald_ and to Mr Walter, contradicting this, saying that the statement was "monstrously untrue." He made only the one voyage on the _Parthia_; he said: "No attempt of any kind was made by any one to disturb religious services during that voyage. There was a disagreement between Captain Watson and the passengers as to the singing after dinner in the smoking-room, but it had not the smallest connection with religious services. The particulars were given in a letter signed by the passengers, and which was published at the time in several of the American papers. I never sang in my life, and was most certainly not even one of the singers."] My father arrived in New York unfortunately too late for many of his engagements. He was due to speak in Dartmouth College (New Hampshire) on the 20th, and he had barely time to get there. On the way he was delighted to meet Henry Wilson in the train. They chatted long together, enjoying each other's company, and talking much of Charles Sumner, a man reverenced and honoured by both, who had died since Mr Bradlaugh's last visit to America. As it happened, too, Sumner's opinion of my father's first lecture in Boston had only lately been published in the Boston papers. It was given in a letter written by Wendell Phillips in reply to some inquiries made of him by the Secretary of a lecture committee at Winchester, Mass. The letter ran:--