Ill 



Canada and New Brunswick. A very large majority of those who 

 landed at New York were Germans and Irish. It is stated by the 

 New York Commissioners of emigration, that of the 129,062 passen- 

 gers arrived at that port, from May 5th to December 31st, 1847, 

 53,180 were from Germany, and 52,946 from Ireland, thus showing 

 that the emigration from the former country exceeded that from the 

 latter. 



The condition of the German and Irish emigrants prior to their 

 embarkation, and during their transit of the ocean, was in most in- 

 stances conspicuously different. Whilst the former were generally 

 robust, and well provided on the passage with the means of subsist- 

 ence, and observant of cleanliness and ventilation, — the latter were 

 in most cases enfeebled from the want of sustenance, and on ship- 

 board, destitute of supplies of wholesome food, depressed in mind, 

 clothed in filthy garments, and crowded and confined in air rendered 

 pestiferous by the excrementitious matters eliminated from their own 

 bodies. In contrasting the hygienic circumstances in which the two 

 classes of emigrants were placed, it is easy to account for the greater 

 amount of sickness and mortality which occurred in one class than 

 in the other. It is said, that of the admissions of emigrants into 

 the hospitals and almshouse of New York, the Irish exceeded the 

 German in the proportion of about one to nine or ten; and we are 

 told, that the Irish in British ships suffered more than those in 

 American. 



The amount of disease and number of deaths which occurred in 

 emigrant ships, while crossing the Atlantic, are appalling to contem- 

 plate. Many thousands perished on the voyage to the United States 

 and Canada. In some ships bound to New York, from 20 to 30 

 died on the passage; and in many vessels destined to Canada, the 

 deaths were from 30 to upwards of 100. From one ship, the Vir- 

 ginia, bound from Liverpool to Quebec, with 470 passengers, 158 of 

 the number were buried at sea. 



The Montreal Immigrant Committee, in their report for 1847, 

 state, that " in no year since the conquest has Canada presented 

 such fearful scenes of destitution and suffering." "The year 1847 

 has been unparalleled for the amount of immigration to Canada ; near 

 100,000 souls have left the British isles for these provinces the past 

 year, — ever 5,000 of these died on their passage out, 3,389 at Grosse 

 Isle, 1,137 at Quebec, 3,862 at Montreal, 130 at Lachine, and 39 

 at St. Johns, making in all at these several places 13,815. How 

 many have died in other sections in Canada East cannot now be 



