576 



EMIGRATION. 



.; ,::. 



To o(h<Ti 



,: T tH 



aBdhaurd 



CUfc 



Local at- 



t i .::.:. 

 or adcure 



t Till <'. l , 



majrbe 

 formed in 

 theaunc 

 people b, 



rirrunj- 



Political 

 ciroun- 

 ttancet may 

 determine 

 people 

 either for 

 or agaiiut 

 emigration. 



View, of 

 tbote who 



ndietded 

 in the Ro- 



ptre. 



A spirit *f 

 tnitgration 

 kindled 

 ometima 

 by acciden- 

 tal diacuve- 

 Tiet artfully 

 employed. 



their migrations were frequent, but they were not ex- 

 tensive, and a Urge river, an extensive desert, or an 



arm of the sea, commonly proved bunt- to them. 



The ancient inhabitants of many of the temperate re- 

 gions of the globe were accustomed to -uch c.-i-y mi- 

 grations ; and these have been also practised, in modem 

 tunes, by the tribes tluit occupy the vast pl.iins of Tar- 

 tary. The frequent passage of trailing parties and ca- 

 ravans, through country peopled by such wandering 

 hordes, has proved a temptation to robbery, and h is 

 added this feature to the character of many of the Arab 



rib** 



1 migration to remote countries is an occurrence more 

 serious, being accompanied with greater danger nnd 

 difficulty. It is particularly affecting when thoe who 

 emigrate have no expectation of again returning to 

 their native land ; yet there is evidence of many such 

 occurrences in remote ages, and the discovery of the 

 New World has rendered them frequent in latter tinu- 



The local attachments of the natives of Switzerland 

 are so remarkable, as to have become proverbial ; \ t-t, 

 in former times, the people of that country deliberately 

 resolved to abandon it, and persisted in that resolution. 

 Ambition had led a distinguished individual to i NCI t 

 his influence among them, for the forming of this re- 

 solution, but they persevered in it after he was gone, 

 and were prevented only by the superior discipline and 

 power of the Roman people. In altered circumstances, 

 it therefore appears, that in the same country, the peo- 

 ple, in general, may possess the strongest local attach- 

 ments, or may become resolved on a general emigra- 

 tion. 



By this it appears, that moral causes may induce a 

 nation to emigrate, and that political influence may be 

 employed extensively and successfully with this view. 

 Natural causes do not appear to be so prevalent, though 

 it cannot be doubted that their influence may have some 

 effect. The Swiss and the Scottish Highlanders inha- 

 bit the most rugged countries in Europe, and yet they 

 pmncuB as warm attachments to their native lands as 

 any nation on earth ; but the Swiss occasionally quit 

 their country, to serve in small bodies as warriors in 

 other lands! And frequent emigrations have taken 

 place from the Highlands of Scotland without any hope 

 or prospect of return. 



For those vast migrations of brave yet barbarous na- 

 tions, by which the Roman empire v : overwhelmed, 

 we may assign very natural can e-. The Itomans had 

 become a wealthy and a dissipated, and they were there- 

 fore a degenerated people. Their luxury and weak- 

 ness at once tempted and encouraged their invaders, 

 who emigrated in great multitude-, hoping to obtain 

 at one time the glory of conquest, anil settlements in a 

 richer and better country. 



Accident seems to have sometimes opened a way for 

 emigration. The occasional passage of some river or 

 sea, of some forest or desert, or chain of mountains, 

 which had served as a barrier, has opened a way at one 

 time to the noble spirit of discovery, and the insatiable 

 spirit of cupidity and ambition. BugMMMd reports 

 have commonly been made of the new discovered coun- 

 try, and if these have been employed in artful hands, 

 in order to excite emigration, great effects have taken 

 place. 



Savage tribes have often been driven to emigrate by 

 war. Jealous of their liberty, and wanting only a suit- 

 able extent of territory in which they may live by the 

 chase, they can readily remove out of a land in which 



they posse-x no cultivated fields, and no dwellings but Km!frrri. 

 such ns are slight and tcni|>orary. This view of things v ""' "~~" 

 furnishes an explanation of the numci' 



i -eldom recorded migrations which have 

 place among the tribes of North and South America. 



The spirit of colonization wus nearly as ardent among I 

 the commercial and powerful cities of antiquitv, as it is '"yagen 

 in modern times but the s not pracu- 



* 



in modern times ; but the means of gratifying tha' 

 rit were more limited. If the use of the mariner'- 

 pus had Ix'cn known, discovery and colonization n:: 

 have extended th. much earlier over the 



world. It i- nthcr to be wondered at, that occasional 

 storms and other accidents had not earlier and mon- 

 widely conveyed the knowledge of nation 

 other; but while the ocean intervened, and seamen 

 not venture to sail much beyond the sight of land, 

 extensive emigrations to remote parts were not practi- 

 cable. 



That considerable migrations, notwithstanding those \ el ,1^ ns _ 

 difficulties, have occasionally taken place, is belie- ti^ of one 

 ved on grounds apparently good. Whatever it may be j^n 

 that has impressed a strong and easily discrimi- K'be teem 



clnractcr on the different races of mankind, it ,' 

 seems undeniable that some of t! which IK 



long to one quarter of the globe have found their way at 

 into another. I li.-tory does not record the time, nor the ble ihs- 

 means of these migrations ; but an established reseni- ' ! " ce * - 

 blance in features, in stature, and complexion ; in habits 

 also, und even in language, appears demonstrative of 

 the fact. 



Few subjects of disquisition can be more interesting 

 than it would be to trace the causes and means of such 

 migrations ; but as neither the moral, nor the natural, 

 or political causes of such events ran now be certainly 

 ascertained, it seems better to restrain curiositv within 

 due bounds, and to attend particularly to event.- which 

 cannot fail to be interesting in this kingdom, especially 

 to those parts of it from which emigration has most 

 frequently and extensively drained away the inhabi- 

 tants. 



Very discordant and even opposite opinions are held ^.migration 



by different persons, with respect to the causes and the 0?. m . , th *, 

 * */... r ,. , , , Hurhlandi 



consequences or emigration irom the Highlands of O f Scotland. 



Scotland. The author of this article has long attended 

 to the subject ; and having no passion in these matters 

 to gratify, no interest to promote, and no end to accom- 

 plish, the views that he submits he conceives to have 

 been fairly and impartially formed. 



Many of the Scotish Highlanders resort to the diffe- 

 rent colonies of Great Britain, with a view to employ- 

 ment or fortune; and many betake themselves to the 

 lower districts of Scotland, or to England, and i. 

 mostly in the chief towns, or cities, with similar views. 



It is not to these persons, however numerous, that 

 this article is intended to apply : They have migrated 

 as individuals for private objects; and their choice of a 

 place of residence, or mode of employment, is not an 

 object of public attention. In many respects, their mi- 

 gration has been productive not only of private but of 

 public advantage. 



Hut when vessels are hired and chartered, for the pur- Emigration 

 pose of conveying great bodies of emigrants from n coun- of ,j 0> ? 

 try but thinly peopled ; and when the destination of a 

 these is to remote countries, to which it is often difficult 

 for them to procure a passage, and from which there 

 is no prospect of their returning, the matter becomes, 

 in no slight degree, interesting to the public. 



The history of emigration from the High'ands of 



