The National Geographic Magazine 



cellence and far-reaching influence of 

 these Canadian priests. Their human- 

 izing influence was felt forever after- 

 ward. The Indians came to know that 

 they could depend upon the word of 

 these missionaries and the Quakers, 

 which made their subsequent dealings 

 with all white men more peaceful. 



Not the least important of the alien 

 forces that combined to make the colo- 

 nial history of this country were the 

 thousands of Irish, who were sent to 

 England after the time of Cromwell, 

 compelled to give up their Irish names, 

 and given such names as * * Brown, ' ' 

 < 1 White, " " Black, " " Carpenter, ' ' 

 "Shoemaker," etc., after they set- 

 tled in Virginia and northward. It is 

 stated — which fact seems to be borne 

 out by the parliamentary discussions in 

 England after the war of the Revolu- 

 tion — that one-third of the American 

 soldiers in the Revolution were of Irish 

 birth or descent. 



This short history of the colonial set- 

 tlement of the United States is necessary 

 in order to emphasize the point that 

 what we call "American character" is 

 really a combination of the racial char- 

 acteristics of the alien forces that came 

 to the United States prior to the War 

 of the Revolution. As President Roose- 

 velt said in writing of New York city 

 of 1775: 



"New York's population was com- 

 posed of various races, differing widely 

 in blood, religion, and conditions of 

 life. In fact, this diversity has always 

 been the dominant note of New York. 

 No sooner had one set of varying ele- 

 ments been fused together than another 

 stream has been poured into the cru- 

 cible." 



In New York particularly this diver- 

 sity of race is most noticeable. Baron 

 Steuben was a Prussian ; Hamilton was 

 born among the West Indian Islands, 

 of Scotch parents ; Hoffman, the son of 

 Swedish parents ; Herkimer, a German; 

 Jay, Dutch ; Clinton, Irish ; Schuyler, 



Hollander; Morris, Welsh. This amal- 

 gam of blood and diverse races has re- 

 sulted in the acknowledged highest na- 

 tional character known to the civilized 

 world, and the fusion of their ideas has 

 had immense effect on the permanency 

 of the institutions we now enjoy. 



IMMIGRATION DURING NINETEENTH 

 CENTURY 



It is not necessary to go deeply into 

 the story of immigration during the 

 early part of the past century. It is 

 interesting, pathetic, and in some of its 

 details horrible. In the suburbs of 

 Montreal is a stone with the inscription 

 that it is " sacred to the memory of six 

 thousand emigrants who died of ship 

 fever in one year — 1847." The condi- 

 tions of immigration were then vastly 

 different. Immigrants were subjected 

 to treatment that would seem incredible 

 now. Most of them could not pay their 

 passage, and were sold on arrival by 

 the shipping companies into temporary 

 servitude as ' ' indented servants. ' ' Dur- 

 ing the whole of the eighteenth century 

 the prepayment of passage was the ex- 

 ception and subsequent slavery the rule. 

 As a consequence old people would not 

 sell well, and their children had to serve 

 longer to make up for them. When- 

 ever a ship arrived at New York or 

 Philadelphia, the immigrants were put 

 up at public sale. Families were sepa- 

 rated forever. A master not wishing 

 to keep his servant could transfer him 

 to another. Parents sold their children 

 for a period of years in order to become 

 free themselves. The treatment of these 

 poor creatures can be easily imagined. 

 This state of affairs continued until 

 18 19, when a law was passed compelling 

 certain improvements and the manifest- 

 ing of emigrants from 1820. Since this 

 law went into effect the number of im- 

 migrants arriving yearly has practically 

 been an almost infallible industrial ba- 

 rometer. 



The variations in our immigration 



