852 



EMIGRATION EMIGRES. 



evil arising from the dissatisfaction of the people with 

 tiieir condition. If things have come to such a state, 

 tliat men think they cannot obey the laws of their 

 country without violence to their consciences, they 

 ought to be at liberty to seek in other countries reli- 

 gious and political freedom. Besides, in the abstract, 

 emigration is a right inherent in man. Every person 

 does as much as can lie required of him, if he obeys 

 the laws of that country in which he chooses to reside, 

 and only very peculiar circumstances can justify the 

 checking of emigration. The most cruel tyranny 

 was exercised by Louis XIV., when he deprived the 

 Protestants of their religious privileges, and endeav- 

 oured to prevent their emigration. The end of go- 

 vernment is the welfare of the citizens, and they are 

 at liberty to retire from the state when their welfare is 

 no longer provided for by the state. 



It is one of the fundamental privileges of the Bri- 

 tish nation, to leave the country without special per- 

 mission, which is limited only in regard to those who 

 stand in some particular relations to the state, such 

 as magistrates or soldiers ; and, in certain cases, it 

 may be taken away by the writ ne exeat regno, under 

 tlie great or privy seal. Acts of parliament have 

 often been passed, by the British government, to 

 prevent its citizens from engaging in foreign military 

 service ; for instance, in that of the South American 

 insurgents, in 1819 ; but these were not directed 

 against emigration. The emigration of manufactur- 

 ers of wool, silk, iron, &c., has been forbidden by 

 separate laws (by those of 1719, 5 Geo. I., cap. 27 ; 

 1740, 23 Geo. II., cap. 13 ; and 1782, 22 Geo. III., 

 cap. 60). The only punishment, however, for emi- 

 grants of this class, declining to return on receiving 

 a summons to that effect, is the loss of citizenship. 

 Those who instigate them to quit the country are liable 

 to fine and imprisonment. 



The French code also, at least since 1789, has 

 permitted unlimited emigration ; and the laws since 

 made against emigrants were only owing to the hos- 

 tile spirit of most of those who emigrated ; for the 

 emigrants were unwilling to give up their right of citi- 

 eenship in France, and attacked the new government in 

 the ranks of its foreign invaders. By the act of the 

 German confederation, article 13, the right of emigra- 

 tion is allowed to all the members of the confederacy. 



Well founded information in regard to the dangers 

 tliat threaten emigrants in foreign countries, mea- 

 sures for increasing the means of labour, the removal 

 of the artificial restraints, by which the great mass 

 of wealth is kept in a few hands, freedom of trade, 

 these are the means by which a spirit of emigration 

 may be checked, and the love of home revived. 

 1'rohibitions of emigration are unjust, as well as im- 

 politic, and always prove, that a government which 

 allows them has an incorrect idea of its rights. If 

 a dense population is the cause of emigration, let the 

 government establish colonies. The British govern- 

 ment have taken means for aiding the settlement of 

 emigrants in Canada, the cape of Good Hope, and 

 New Holland. Still more was done in Russia, for 

 the support of those who had emigrated thither, after 

 disease and want had carried off a multitude of those 

 unhappy men in the unhealthy steppes of Odessa. 

 Emigrants to the United States of America have 

 often been deceived in their expectations, have 

 fallen, on their arrival, into the hands of sharpers, or 

 have wasted the little resources which they brought 

 with them, for want of information respecting the 

 best way to proceed. To remedy these inconveni- 

 ences, by giving information and advice to newly 

 arrived emigrants, a society in New York established 

 the free emigrant's office, a very useful institution, 

 and worthy of imitation. 



From England, Scotland, and Ireland, a large 



emigration takes place, to the United States, to 

 Canada, New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, 

 &c. ; from Wurtemberg and 1'russia, to Russia and 

 Poland, which, however, has been less extensive of 

 late ; from the Eastern and Northern States of 

 America, to the Western States ; of coloured persons 

 from the United States to Liberia in Africa, and to 

 Hayti (very few, however, in number, particularly 

 to the latter country.) 



From official returns, ordered to be printed by the 

 house of commons, we learn, that the whole number 

 of passengers, which embarked from the year 1812 

 to 1821, both years inclusive, for the United States, 

 from Ireland, was 30,653 ; from England, 33,608 ; 

 from Scotland, 4727 ; whole numl>er, 68,988 : for 

 the British dominions in North America, from Ire- 

 land, 47,223; from England, 23,783, and from 

 Scotland, 19,971 ; total, 90,972. Thus the whole 

 number of emigrants from the United Kingdom for 

 North America, from the year 1812 to the year 

 1821, both years included, was 159,960. But the 

 number of emigrants from Ireland has since very 

 much increased. In the beginning of July, 1830, it 

 was calculated, that about 12,300 Irish emigrants 

 had arrived at Quebec during the season. In 1832, 

 the number of persons who emigrated from the Unit- 

 ed Kingdom to British North America, was 66,339, 

 to the United States 32,890 ; to the Cape of Good 

 Hope 202 ; and to Australia 3,792. A late Quebec 

 newspaper states, that the accession of population 

 which the British North American provinces and the 

 United States have received from Europe since 1816, 

 cannot be less, on an average .than 35,000 a-year, or 

 490,000. It may, indeed, fairly be estimated at 

 500,000. Allowing each fomily of five persons, to 

 have brought out money, clothes, and other property, 

 valued at twenty sovereigns, they would have added 

 a capital of .2,000,000 sterling. Supposing their 

 labour worth twenty sovereigns a year, their pro- 

 ductive industry will now be worth, at a very low 

 estimate, 2,000,000 annually. 



The emigrants from Germany, Alsace, and Swit- 

 zerland are very numerous, and are among the most 

 valuable additions to the American population, as 

 the great body of them are sober, industrious, and 

 orderly people, and good farmers. A singular cir- 

 cumstance, to which the history of no other nation 

 affords a parallel, is the emigration of the Ameri- 

 cans from the east constantly westward. It would 

 almost seem that they had no pleasure in the fruits 

 of their labour, but that the labour itself was their 

 enjoyment. After partially clearing up the wilder- 

 ness, and surrounding himself with the comforts of 

 civilized life, the enterprizing pioneer of civilization 

 often moves still farther into the depths of the forest, 

 and his place is supplied by the less restless emigrant 

 from Europe. Among these, the German is not un- 

 frequent, who is delighted with the prospect of 

 becoming an owner of land in fee simple, and of 

 being able to save something which he can truly call 

 his own. He converts his land into a fine productive 

 farm. But his ignorance of the language of the 

 people about him prevents him from partaking fully 

 in their advantages, and confines him to a compara- 

 tively limited sphere of action ; he, therefore, re- 

 mains far behind his American brethren in all that 

 regards moral and intellectual education, as, for in- 

 stance, in schools, instruction, &c. This, at least, is 

 the case where the German settlers are so numerous 

 as not to be obliged to mingle much with Americans, 

 as in some counties in Pennsylvania. For the French 

 Emigres, see the following article. 



EMIGRES (emigrants). We meet in history 

 with many instances of large bodies of men being 

 obliged to leave their country on account of religious 



