6 THE EMIGRATION QUESTION. 



There is no part of the world in which a man can live, 

 as an Englishman wants to live, on the products of his 

 gun and his rod. Such a paradise exists only in the 

 dreams of over-fed sportsmen ; but if there were such a 

 place, and I had the luck to find it, I fear I should be 

 selfish enough not to share my happiness with my readers. 

 Self-preservation is the first law of nature, and we all 

 know the vast numbers of men who look upon shooting as 

 the great aim and object of their existence or, as it was 

 forcibly put by the old keeper who heard the game laws 

 were to be abolished, " Lord, save us, what win the 

 gentlemen do then ? " 



Let no one suppose from what I have just written that 

 I am not an advocate for emigration. Within the last 

 twenty years the cost of living in the old country has 

 doubled, and a fierce war has sprung up between capital 

 and labour which is paralyzing the manufacturers of 

 England. Every day the line which separates rich from 

 poor is getting broader and broader. Every day the 

 rich man is getting richer, and the poor man poorer. 

 Every day, owing to a fierce competition, the latter 

 finds the difficulties which hinder him from rising in the 

 social scale at home, more insurmountable. Nothing 

 remains for him but to turn his thoughts to emigration. 

 In this struggle for existence there is perhaps no class 

 worse off than poor gentle-folk. As the line widens 

 between rich and poor, they. become more isolated and 

 more helpless ; there is practically no place left for them in 

 the old country. When I see all this, I would advise no 

 fortuneless young man to stay at home who has the right 

 stuff in him to push his way in a new country ; I would 



