THE AMERICAN FLEET IN MELBOURNE

New Zealand Tablet, 17 September 1908, Page 13

THE AMERICAN FLEET IN MELBOURNE

THE CATHOLIC WELCOME >he Queen City of the South (writes the Melbourne correspondents the Freeman's Journal) excelled herfleet All that is bnghtest and best in . Melbourne, ZLl°\ k matter > f **» Victorian citizenship, did honor «to by honoring- the Americans. When the odds come to be summed: up it will be found that the generosity of the Melbourne celebration , was on a levd SM ? f f^' ° f C ° UrSe ' we could not *c with the Mother State in regard to the natural advantages of the harbor, but we gave a welcome from the shire St^ 'u aS j med i° r thWt y miles > beginning at Port Phillip Heads. Tl» Admiral's progress through £c

city was a veritable triumph when he drove £o meet the Governor at the^Treasury Buildings. His Excellency returned the visit on theilagship of the Admiral. A genuine Cead Mile Faille was accorded over iooo men of the fleet who attended the Cathedral on Sunday. They were met by 2000 Catholic .cadets at Spencer street, and headed by these and the two Orphanage Bands (Geelong and South Melbourne) they proceeded through Collins and Spring streets hemmed in by a crowd numbering over a hundred thousand The greatest enthusiasm was manifested all along the line. At the entrance to the Cathedral 1000 girls of the Cathedral 'parish schools, led by Professor Frederic Beard, sang ' Hail, Columbia ' and ' The Star-spangled Banner.' His Lordship Bishop Corbett celebrated High Mass. There were many priests in the sanctuary, and the Papal Knights, Dr. A. L. Kenny and Dr. M. U. O' Sullivan were also present. The Very Rev. Dean Phelan, V.G., addressed the men/ In the course of an eloquent and patriotic discourse based on words from the second book of Kings, 10th to 1 2th verses, gave them an idea of the policy pursued by David/ a policy not of plunder, but of protection. And if they came 700 years nearer, to the days c f another *>;am Jewish leader, Judas Maccabeus, tlicy found him preachings the same dot-trine. It was because the policy oi their great country was the policy of David and of Judas Maccabeus that the American sailors received from Australians that hearty welcome that had been extended to them at the ports they had visited, and was given to them in Victoria. They came as friends and the embodiment of a great nation in those huge leviathans that were now anchored calmly in Hobson's Bay They came with peace and not with war, to teach the lesson of internal development protection, and self-defence which David preached and Judas Maccabeus practised, and to show what coukl be done ay encouraging the laudable effort of a free people, the purity of family life, and the aspirations of national life so eloquently preached time and again by their greaf President. The Dean said he regretted the absence of their great and illustrious Archbishop whose eloquent voice, corteous manners, and princely hospitality would have made «. lasting impression He thanked the visiting prelates for their joining- in the welcome to the fleet. s Some thousands of people waited patiently to view the march of the men to the Cathedral Hall where the Dean entertained them at luncheon There were no speeches. In the evening the Cathedral was packed. Bishop Reville, 0.5.A., presided. The Bishop of Sale and £ a ?£ PPeStS^ eStS T re rP rCSent - Dn Reville was attended at the throne by Rev. J. McCarthy, P.P. (Chancellor l%f rt^Veiy Rev. Dean Hegarty, P.P., V.F. (Kyneton). The chaplain of the Catholic section of the fleet, Captain M. C. Gleeson, delivered a fine discourse, in the course of which he paid a warm tribute to the missionary spirit of the Irish race iriir nCa and . Aus * a ! ia " H * Was P«>ud to find Irishmen occupying high and honorable positions in North and South America; and in this county of glorious promise. Coming to the welcome from 1 the people of Melbourne, Father Gleeson said that the men of the Atlantic fleet and those who commanded them had found more gold in the hearts o? Shdr m US the WtTfV^ CVer thC Au ""*an. had found in the heart of their great country. The welcomes would ong be remembered, and would serve tc Xw them close .to the heart of the Great RepubJfc, to b£d by a. friendship that would endure with the aeesl and which no national peril could ever endangef * He hoped on his return to the land of the Stars inH Stripes to address their kith and km in anoflS great temple dedicated to St. Patrick in New York aid ?n S^/^ T°' , thG SP i Cndid W ° rk done S£n3f d and State by Irishmen beneath the Southern Cross He had not found the evil of sectarianism in -Australia and he hoped that it would not find a place here ii was based on ignorance. They should make it a practice to give the same liberty to others of conscience as they wished for themselves •