1 8 2 7. J Th ird Report of the Em igration Comm it tee. 571 



my produce ; why am I compelled by law to pay an enormous price for 

 yours ?" Denied as though chastisement were to impend upon injustice 

 the very ruin that overtakes him, brings his revenge upon the back of it. His 

 vent abroad ceasing, he throws himself in the shape of a glut into the home 

 market; and cuts down the prices of his fellow dealers, and runs up the 

 poor-rates upon his opponents, (the landowners) ; on the one hand, with 

 his cheap unsaleable goods, and on the other with his chargeable unem- 

 ployed labour. 



Dismissing, however, both farther cultivation, and farther importation 

 of food, from their minds, as impracticable under the burthens and circum- 

 stances of the country, the Committee, alter hearing an infinity of evidence 

 upon all sides, concludes by deciding to report in favour of " Emigration." 

 Our chief complaint against which course is, simply and shortly, that we 

 think it clear that the sort of emigration that they recommend, can tend to 

 nothing ; and that, if there be any truth in the data upon which their re- 

 commendation is founded, they might just as well except for fashion's 

 sake have concluded without any recommendation at all. As it is, we 

 shall beg the attention of our readers, while we examine, very shortly, 

 how far the expectations held out in the Report are likely to be realized. 



Emigration being resolved upon as the most efficient remedy for the 

 admitted distress, the principal points which the Committee had to inquire 

 into were these: First, the expediency of "removal," as regarded the wel- 

 fare of the individuals removed. Second, the extent to which such a 

 removal as its policy contemplated, would relieve the market of the surplus 

 labour that distressed it. Thirdly, the question whether any vacuum cre- 

 ated by emigration was, or was not, likely to be immediately filled up. 

 Fourthly, the means to pay the expenses of emigration a topic which 

 divides itself into a variety of minor inquiries. And lastly, the position and 

 detail of the proposed colonization : matters which we shall not go into at 

 present ; because we doubt the whole case will break down before we arrive 

 at the point which would make their discussion necessary. 



The first of the above five questions, then, although it has excited a 

 good deal of contest in some quarters, we are inclined to dismiss very sum- 

 marily. We are far from thinking that the lot of the Emigrants will be free 

 from hardship : but of this we are convinced that the condition of a 

 pauper who emigrates, must be better than the condition of a pauper who 

 remains at home. The man who already digs in the earth, or spins in a 

 cotton mill, sixteen hours a day, for six shillings a week whose bed is 

 straw, with at best a single blanket, and his food oatmeal or potatoes, and 

 even these in a quantity barely sufficient to sustain existence this man 

 has not a great deal, go where he may, to apprehend from fortune. We 

 feel no apprehension ourselves as to the " unfitness of weavers for agricul- 

 tural pursuits." The weavers, during the war, made good soldiers: no 

 better: and men who could fell Frenchmen will be able to fell trees: if 

 they could open trenches to besiege fortresses, they can open trenches 

 to plant celery. Besides, this very trivial objection touches only a 

 handful of individuals. It neither affects the English or Irish pea- 

 santry ; nor yet (among the artisans) the hand-loom weaver ; who, 

 according to the evidence, united the trades of agriculturist and manu- 

 facturer ; generally adding to his cottage a comfortable garden, which 

 he cultivated, and which furnished great part of the daily sustenance of his 

 family. Therefore, upon this first question, we are ready to join issue at 



4D2 



