EMIGRATION TO AMERICA
We publish the following for the information and
guidance of such persons as may have determined on proceeding
to the United States. The advice it contains will be valuable,
and it comes from a source which entitles it to the confidence
of our country men:-
THE IRISH EMIGRANT SOCIETY OF NEW YORK TO THE PEOPLE OF
IRELAND.
Since the organisation of our society, we have deemed it
president to address you annually on the subject of emigration
to the United States of America. We have now little to add to
what we have before presented on that subject; but as
some to have probably forgotten, and as many others have
never read our former statements, we consider to useful to
repeat at this season what we have previously urged upon your
attention, with such additional matter as times and an
enlarged experience have afforded us.
And first, we cannot advise any of the non-producing
classes to emigrate to America. The occupations suited to these
classes are over-stocked here as well as in Europe. Clerks, accountants,
copyists, and professional men, will in most cases, be disappointed,
if they emigrate with the hope of improving their condition. The
commercial towns are crowded with young men, natives of the
United States, seeking employment, who, when a chance of
employment occurs, are, in most cases, very naturally preferred
to foreigners. We cannot, then, with confidence, advice
any persons to incur the expense, the embarrassments, and
risk of removing to America, except labourers, mechanics, and
those who, possessing a small capital, and some practical
knowledge of agriculture, are willing to settle in our new
status and territories. All should avoid the Atlantic cities
and distribute themselves throughout our widespread rural
districts. Every emigrant should provide himself before his
departure with something more than the price of his passage and
supplies. Thousands continually land entirely penniless, and are at
once reduced to a state of destitution; whereas, each should
have at least £5 on his arrival, to enable him to prosecute
his journey to the interior. Immediate application for
information and advice should be made at the offices of
the Irish Emigrant Society, so that there may not be a moments
unnecessary delay; never considering the journey ended until
the point in the country selected for settlement is
reached. The condition of the emigrant who remains in the
Atlantic cities is very little, if at all, improved. He has not
the same opportunities of employment; he is more exposed to
the centagion of vicious habits; all the necessaries and comforts of
life are fourfold higher than in the country; and he has not an
epual chance of making a respectable provision for his family.
For all persons in all occupations, temperance, integrity, and the
love of peace, are indispensable; and, as we said on
a former occasion, Father Mathew's pledge is as available as
the best letter of recommendation. It is, at all events, prima
facie evidence in favour of the emigrant.
The season of the year at which it is best to arrive in America,
should be seriously considered. Beyond all question, the months of
April, May, and June, are to be preferred; and April, when
circumstances will permit should be preferred to all others.
The emigrant should, therefore, be ready to take his departure
from home in the middle of February. It is always well to
allow for two months for the voyage, including the journey
to the port of embarkation; and even this time is too short
if vessels of the first class are not selected. Summer is
a desagreeable and dangerous time to arrive, owing to the
intense heat, and the greater prevalence of disease - Autumn
is also unhealthy, besides being too quickly followed by winter,
when the settler can do little on his land.
The emigrant must carefully endeavour to avoid the
frauds and disappointments, to which he is exposed
at the port of embarkation. Transient vessels are generally
advertised to sail several days before they do sail, and
not unfrequently several weeks - These vessels, too, are
mostly of an inferior description - often not seaworthy,
and slow sailors. The vessels that we can recommend with
most confidence for punctuality in sailing, for suitable
accommodations, and treatment, are the regular packets,
which are composed of five lines, and which sail on the
1st, 6th, 11th, 16th, 21st, and 26th of every month.
But this is not the only subject, in relation to which
the emigrant must be extremely cautious. He will find
himself beset by knaves both in Liverpool and New
York. In Liverpool he must be particularly wary of money-brokers.
Only a few months since, a poor man arrived here with sixty
dollars of sparious notes of pretended or broken banks of
this state, having given twelve sovereigns in Liverpool, all
the money he had, for these rags. Such frauds are common
in Liverpool. Let him bring all his money in English gold or silver.
In New York the emigrant must be aware of certain
boarding-houses established here for his special accommodation;
but which too often, prove to be dens where
he can be cheated, plundered and insulted. He can
avoid all this by either consulting with one of the agents of the
Irish Emigrant Society, who is generally at the quarantine clock
where the emigrants are first landed, or when he comes up to the
city, by applying without delay at the office of the society. Before
going to any boarding house he should make a distinct bargain
with the keeper of it for his board, having expressly understood
whether he is to settle by the day or by the week, whether
he is to be at liberty to leave at any time, and pay to the time
leaving, or is to be held responsibly for a certain period, whether
he stops so long or not, whether any charge is to be made for
the storage of his luggage or not, etc. In fact he cannot
be too careful in his dealings with boarder house
keepers, or too particular in the bargain he makes with them;
and by having a fellow passenger present at the time etc.
witness to the bargain, he will in many instances save himself
much trouble, vexation, and expense.
The act passed in parliament of the united kingdom
(5th and 6th Vic. cap. 107) for regulating the carriage of
passengers in merchant vessels, was well intended, and contains
some excellent provisions; but there are few cases, in which they
can be enforced; for the persons who suffer from the violation
of them never have it in their power for them to return to England
to seek redress, and the law, of course, is not available here.
We suggest that some ammendment should be made to it,
allowing the affidavits of emigrants, taken before some
competent authority here, to be read before the justice in
England, having jurisdiction of the complaint. However
useful this act may be in some respects, we hope it will
not, in the least degree, prevent emigrants from exercising
due precaution themselves - an effect, which, the interference
of public authority with matters within the scope of
individual sagacity too frequently produces.
We advise those emigrants, whose destination is the
United States, not to embark for any part of British
America; but, of they intend to settle in any of the
Middle States, Viz: - New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana or Michegan, to come direct
to New York, and, if their destination is any of the Western
States, bordering on either side of the Mississippi river, as
Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky,
Tennessee, Wisconsin, or Iowa, to take passage direct to New
Orleans, and thence to ascend the Mississippi to the point
nearest their destination. The proper time to leave Liverpool
for New Orleans, is from the latter part of August to the
middle of March. This, we believe, is the best
mode of proceeding to Iowa, now about being admitted
into the Union, and which, in common with the
adjoining territory of Wisconsin, possesses more advantages
for the agriculturist than any other portion of the
globe. In those fertile and healthful regions, the
emigrant possessing the suitable means and qualifications
will meet a happy home, and let him not linger a moment in
the eastern towns, if his circumstances enable him to
persue his journey to the Western States, where new land can
generally be purchased for five shillings sterling per acre. With
this practical advise, we conclude by warning no man to come
hither with the hope of escaping the necessity of labour or the restraints
of social order and morality. The same qualities which conduce to
respectability and success in Europe, are still more essential here.
None but the frugal, the industrious, and the temperate, can hope
for success in America. Such indeed may emigrate with confident
expectation of a prosperous result. They must be prepared, however, to
encounter disappointments, to surmount difficulties, and not to be
over come by apparent discouragement, but if they proceed without
delay to that part of the interior, which, after careful inquiry,
they ascertain to be most suitable to their tastes and calling, in all
human probability they wil, in due time, find their prospects brightening
and their circumstances and social position substantially improved.
T.W. Clerke, President
Vice presidents - B. Graham, G. Dillon, and Patrick
Kelly
Secretaries - C.E. Shea, and J.T. Doyte.
