82 Progress of Population and Wealth 



was 22,840. He supposes that the number, in any preceding year, 

 did not amount to 10,000, except, perhaps, in 1794. In three of 

 the years of this decennial term, that is, during the war with Great 

 Britain, migration to this country was almost totally suspended. 

 If, then, we suppose, that in the three years from 1818 to 1820, 

 both inclusive, the number of passengers was the same as in 1817, 

 and if we deduct from the whole number 2,840, (1,840 for the 

 American citizens, that being about the proportion at that time,) 

 we shall have 84,000 for the number of foreign emigrants to the 

 United States for those four years. If we further suppose, that in 

 the remaining six years the number was 30,000,* we shall have 

 114,000 for the whole number of white immigrants from 1810 to 

 1820. 



From 1820 to 1830, when the collectors of the customs were re- 

 quired to report to the State department the number of foreigners 

 who had arrived in their respective ports by sea, we might have 

 expected entire accuracy ; but these reports are so much at vari- 

 ance with other documents, entitled to respect, and are confessedly 

 so defective, that they cannot be relied on. Thus, to give an ex- 

 ample, the number of emigrants who left the United Kingdom in 

 1829 for the United States, was, according to British official re- 

 turns, 15,678 ; yet the whole number of foreign emigrants from all 

 parts of the world, reported to the State department in the same 

 year, was but 15,285, there being, besides less important omissions, 

 that of New York for the third quarter. Again, the number of 

 foreign emigrants returned to the State department for 1830, is but 

 9,406, though 30,224 landed in New York alone in that year, for 

 the whole of which the proper officers had failed to make any re- 

 turn. In consequence of these, and like instances of failure of duty, 

 the number of foreign emigrants returned to the State department 

 for the six years from 1825 to 1830, both inclusive, was only 

 87,140 ;f whilst the number who emigrated from the United King- 



* That is, 10,000 per annum for three years, excluding the three years of war. I 

 have not ventured to go beyond 10,000 a year, from respect to Dr. Seybert's opinion ; 

 and I could not take a less number, from a regard to the progressive increase of immi- 

 gration both before and after this period. 



t This number is obtained partly by computation, that is, by adding to the official 

 number returned for five and a quarter years, (from the 30th Sept., 1825, to the 31st 

 Dec, 1830,) three-fourths of the number returned for the year 1825. This was neces- 

 sary, as the annual returns to the State department were, before 1828, closed on the 

 30th September, and subsequently, at the end of the year. 



