Advice to Emigrants From the Irish Emigrant Society of New York.
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.Close