CRIMPING IRISH EMIGRANTS.
[From THe Times.]
What are the newspapers of Ireland about? Are they
paid by the landowners to assist in getting rid of the
superfluous population? We cannot suppose them so base
as to have taken Federal money. But why do they not
tell their readers what they are to expect on the other
side of the Atlantic? Once inveigled on board the
emigrant ship, on the pretence of some railway or some
builder being in want of hands, they are thenceforth
no more their own masters than a pig from Cork once
on board a Bristol steamer. Bribed with drink and fed
with magnificent promises, the emigrant often sells
his allegiance before he lands. But even if he land
a free man, he has to pass a worse ordeal. Invited
to drink, he is soon reposing in deep slumber from
the fatigues of his voyage. He awakens to find
himself in the uniform of 175th New York Regiment of
Volunteers, with some greenbacks in his pocket, with
comrades keeping a sharp look-out on his movements,
the deputy of the Provost-Marshal at hand, and a
burning thurst [thirst?] tempting to fresh libations
in his newly-adopted cause. In three days he is
whisked off in a car, with fifty others, to
Washington, and thence to the front. Except
speculation in army clothing and in gold, the most
thriving trade in the States for some time has been
the procurement of Irish recruits by any means, fair
or foul - more generally foul than fair. It is true
that just now, for very shame, the Government at
Washington has published a promise - of which we may
believe as much as we please - that no more fees are
to be given for the procurement of recruits; and as
this is expected to chick the supply of the Irish
animal, it is announced at the same time that the
emancipated negroes are to be enlisted in their stead
- all the worse for poor Sambo!
Lord Lyons, it will be remembered, was instructed
to make some tender enquiries into the fate of seven
Irishmen, who, on their arrival at Portland in the
Nova Scotian, were kidnapped and carried off to the
war. One of them, by this time, was out of the reach
of inquiry, having been "killed in action" - so it
was said. Three of the men were eventually sent back
to Portland, and a fourth was on his way there. One
of them, upon his arrival at Boston, on his way back
to Portland, was invited to a house by two men, who
stripped him of his uniform, and wanted him to
re-enlist and accept the bounty over again. The
following is his account of the treatment he and his
companions received after the interference of Lord
Lyons in their behalf. It is in the form of a letter
from Thomas Tulley to Consul Murray:-
" Camp Berry, Portland, June 30, 1864.
" I beg most respectfully to inform you that Michael
Moran (reported killed, but still alive). James
Higgins and Martin Hogan arrived at this camp from the
army on the evening of the 28th inst., and I think it
right for me to make known to you the treatment they
received on their journey. On receipt of the order
from the Secretary at War, they were, on the 9th inst.,
sent from their regiment to the Provost Marshal's
head-quarters, who read and kept the order, and then
ordered the men to be placed in the bull-ring, an open
space in the fields, surrounded by armed men, wherein
are placed prisoners of all grades. One the next day
there was a number of armed men going to Washington
and the above-named sent a note to the Provost Marshal,
explaining their position, and requesting to be
forwarded with them, but the captain of the guard made
answer that they were not going to puff General
Patrick with notes; they were consequently transferred
from one bull-ring to another, from the 9th to the 23rd
inst., where they were well-nigh starved, as they had
at one time to march three successive days without a
mouthful of food, and consequently were reduced to
eating clover and green apples to support nature.
They remonstrated with the authorities, stating that
they were not prisoners, but the invariable answer
was they could not be assisted otherwise, as in fact
there were in the bull-ring men dying of hunger, and
brought to in hospital afterwards. On an inspection
by the doctor, one of your clients being well-nigh
dead with hunger, was seen by him, and after making
inquiries respecting him and the others, he was
informed they were not prisoners, but foreigners
proceeding to Portland under British protection. The
doctor then departed with apparent disgust, and gave
no assistance; and from the feeling of the men and
their conversation of such undeserved and destroying
treatment, I firmly allege that no idea can be had
of the misery they endured. On the 23rd they were
sent with convicts under guard to Washington, and
then transferred to the Old Capitol; from thence they
were sent in irons to Boston, where they were left
handcuffed together all night, but for the purpose
of getting sleep they had to break the cuffs. The
consequence was that they were marched through Boston
tied with ropes, and arrived in Portland as before
stated. They did their utmost to see Her Majesty's
Minister at Washington. but failed; nor could they
see you on their arrival, as they were sent under
guard to this place. You have in the foregoing an
outline of their travels, but the men say that as
long as they live they will not forget the treatment
they received, after fighting bravely in all the
late battles, as documents from their officers can
make manifest."
We have preferred to quote at length, because we
shall be charged with garbling if we do not, and it
will also be said that the letter suggests the
suspicion of exaggeration, or at least of the ill-
humour of raw recruits, not prepared to rough it in
the field and take things as they come. But anyhow
this is a picture of military life which we commend
to the attention of our Irish fellow-subjects. We
appeal to the common sense of our Irish countrymen.
As for remonstrance with the American Government,
that is out of the question. If we had hocussed a
dozen Americans upon their landing at Liverpool,
carried them off to a recruiting office, compelled
them to fight against their will, got one killed and
another wounded in the head, refused them food and
medicine, because they were Americans; reduced them
to clover and hedge apples, handcuffed them with
convicts, and dragged the strung to a rope through
the streets of London, labelled "American citizens,"
we should probably hear something about it, and
certainly should have a right to expect that. But
from the Americans themselves we must suffer every-
thing without complaint. This is not our present
object. It is for the benefit of Thomas Tulley's
own countrymen that we quote his story. This is
what they are to expect if they leave Queen Victoria
for Mr. Abraham Lincoln. This is what he will do for
them. But they say, perhaps, they will not enlist.
We tell them, once over there they can hardly help
themselves. Perhaps they answer again that they will
not complain or ask for British protection. Small
difference will that make. Out of the whole war not
one man in three - no, not one man in four - ever
returns alive. And that man, depend upon it, is not
an Irishman, but some skulker from New York or Boston,
or some sharp fellow from the back States. The Irish
fight and die. What they are to die for in this
instance they know better than we. It is not for
liberty; it is not for independence; it is not for
the negro. Whomever it is for, they had best be left
to settle their own quarrel.
