IMMIGRATION. 



353 



people against political oppression had re- 

 mained doubtful. But the 2d of December, 

 1851, having decided the success of the op- 

 pressors for a long time to come, the majority 

 of those who felt dissatisfied with the reac- 

 tionary regime left their homes. The fact, that 

 the largest number of Germans ever landed in 

 one year in the United States came in 1854, 

 showed the complete darkening of the politi- 

 cal horizon at that time. The apprehension 

 of a new continental war, which actually broke 

 out a year later in the Crimea, also hastened 

 the steps of those who sought refuge in this 

 country. People of the well-to-do classes, 

 who had months and years to wait before they 

 could sell their property, helped to swell the 

 tide to its extraordinary proportions. From 

 January 1, 1845, till December 31, 1854, there 

 arrived 1,226,392 Germans in the United States, 

 452,943 of whom came in the first five years 

 of this period, and 773,449 in the last five. 



u But the numerical strength of emigration 

 to this country is not governed by material 

 and moral disturbances in Europe only. While 

 bad crops, commercial and industrial crises, 

 and unfavorable turns in political affairs in the 

 Old World tend to increase emigration, the 

 appearance of the same phenomena in the 

 United States as certainly tends to decrease it. 

 Thus, in 1838, the total of emigration de- 

 creased to 38,914, while in the previous year 

 it had amounted to 79,340, and in 1839 and 

 1840 it increased again to 68,069 and 84,066 

 respectively. The reason of this extraordinary 



decrease was the great financial crisis of 1837, 

 which shook the foundation of the whole in- 

 dustrial and agricultural life of the United 

 States. Again, the influx of aliens into New 

 York was smaller in 1858 and 1859 than in 

 any previous year since 1842, for the only rea- 

 son that the commercial crisis of 1857 had 

 frightened those who wanted to make a living 

 by the labor of their hands. In 1858 and 

 1859 only 78,589 and 79,322 immigrants re- 

 spectively arrived in New York, while in 

 1856 their number amounted to 142,342, and 

 in 1857 to 186,733. In 1860 it rose to 105,162, 

 but, in consequence of the breaking out of the 

 civil war, it fell again in 1861 to 65,539, and in 

 1862 to 76,306. In 1867 the German immi- 

 gration in New York increased over that of 

 1866 by more than 10,000, in which last-men- 

 tioned year it had already reached the large 

 number of 106,716 souls. Its ranks were swol- 

 len in 1867 in consequence of the emigration 

 of men liable to military service from the new 

 provinces annexed to Prussia in 1866, and of 

 families dissatisfied with the new order of 

 things. Hanover contributed the largest share 

 to this kind of emigration. In 1868 the tide sub- 

 sided again, as people began to become recon- 

 ciled to the sudden change. In short, bad times 

 in Europe regularly increase, and bad times in 

 America invariably diminish, immigration." 



The occupations of the passengers that ar- 

 rived in the United States, during the thirteen 

 years from 1856 to 1868 inclusive, are shown 

 in the following statement : 



g The above figures include the arrivals of years with the total number of alien arrivals 



citizens of the United States, returning to this for the same period given above, 



country, the proportion of which will be found It is estimated that more than two-thirds of 



by comparing the aggregates for the different the population gained by the United States 

 VOL. is. 23. A 



