PASSENGERS REGULATION.
RETURN to an address of The Honourable House of Commons,
dated 7th March 1828;- for
COPIES OF DESPATCHES
Received at the Colonial Department from the Governors of
the British Colonies in North America, respecting the
necessity of imposing Regulations for the Conveyance of
Passengers to North America.
F. LEVESON GOWER.
Colonial Office,
10th March 1828.
1. - Copy of a Despatch, and its Enclosures, from Sir Howard
Douglas to Viscount Goderich, dated 14th September 1827.
2. - Copy of a Despatch, and its Enclosure, from Sir Howard
Douglas to Viscount Goderich, dated 16th October, 1827.
3. - Copy of a Despatch, and its Enclosure, from Sir James
Kempt to Viscount Goderich, dated 7th September 1827.
4. - Copy of a Despatch, and its Enclosure, from Sir James
Kempt to Mr. Secretary Huskisson, dated 25 November 1827.
5. - Copy of a Despatch from Sir Thomas Cochrane to Viscount
Goderich, dated 25th September 1827.
Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed,
10 March 1828.
Copy of a DESPATCH, and its Enclosures, from Sir Howard
Douglas to Viscount Goderich, dated 14th September 1827.
Fredericton, 14th September 1827.
MY LORD,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Earl
Bathurst's despatch of the 10th April 1826, transmitting
to me the copy of the Bill for repealing the Act of the 6
Geo. [George?] IV. for regulating vessels carrying passengers
to foreign ports, and desiring me to inquire into the treatment
of pauper emigrants during their passage to New Brunswick,
and to report the result of those inquiries.
I lost no time in desiring the secretary of the Emigrant
Society to call upon the several committees acting at the
principal sea-ports of the province to make every inquiry,
and to furnish me with the fullest information on this subject.
I have now the honour to transmit reports from the Emigrant
Societies at St. John, St. Andrew's, Miramichi, and Liverpool,
covered by a letter from the secretary of the Emigrant Society
of the province, by which your Lordship will perceive that the
repeal of the Act referred to is considered to have been
productive of much misery and distress to the emigrants, and
has occasioned a good deal of distress and alarm in the
province. So intensely, indeed, do the settlers appear to
feel upon the probable effects of this setting of a desultory
current of pauper emigrants, that I could not get answers
altogether confined to the points which I referred to the
secretaries, as expressed in Lord Bathurst's despatch. But
the documents transmitted herewith contain true statements
of what it is very important your Lordship should be made
acquainted with, and I transmit them accordingly.
I have the honour to be, &c. &c.
(signed) Howard Douglas.
The Right Honourable
Viscount Goderich,
&c.&c.&c.
Enclosure 1.
Fredericton, 10th September 1827.
Sir,
I have the honour to transmit to your Excellency the
accompanying letters from the secretaries of the several
agricultural and emigrant socities established in the
seaports of this province on the subject of the abolition
of the regulations which heretofore existed with regard
to the carrying of passengers from the United Kingdom
to the colonies. From these reports, as well as from
information received through other channels, added to
my own observation, I am persuaded that the tide of
indiscriminate emigration is flowing to our shores too
rapidly for the good of the colony, or for that of the
emigrants. Most of those who are able to work go to the
United States for want of adequate employment here; and
others who arrive in a diseased and helpless state
are a burthen to society, which, in the present depressed state
of the province, it is ill able to bear. It is notorious
that many of the poor emigrants are deluded from their
homes by false but specious statements of brokers
and ship-masters, whose sole object in prosecuting the
inhuman traffic appears to be that of collecting as
large cargoes as possible of their unsuspecting
fellow-subjects; and as the passage-money is paid in
advance, it is of little consequence to them, in a
pecuniary point of view, whether the hapless
victims of their cupidity perish on the voyage, or
live to spread disease and death among the people on
whose shores they may be landed.
A large proportion of the emigrants who land in this
province go to the United States, but on their way
thither the people of the settlements through which
they pass are burthened with the expense of feeding
them. Painful as it may be to allude to the characters
of the emigrants, yet is too true that many of them
are the veriest refuse of their own country. The
consequences of mixing such a people with our old
settlers may be easily forseen; and if the
present rage for indiscriminate emigration continue,
the only hope that will be left to the inhabitants is,
that their children may yet be preserved from that
contaminating communication which corrupts good
principles, and the poor rates kept within bounds
that will not prove ruinous, by making at once
contributions which perhaps they can ill afford,
for the purpose of accelerating the passage of those
unfortunate beings to a foreign country. Experience
has proved that the present want of system with
regard to emigration, has inflicted a positive evil
upon this province; but it has also proved, that
robust, healthy men, of steady habits, and with
means to commence agricultural operations in the
wilderness, may live in comparative comfort, and
in time become independent proprietors, and useful
members of the community. It will be necessary
for me to suggest to your Excellency, how highly
important it is that future settlers, like those
who are already established in the province, should
be firmly attached to their king, and to the laws
and institutions of their country.
I have, &c.
(signed) R. Simonds [Simmonds?],
Sec [Secretary to the Central Agricul. [Agricultural?]
and Emig. [Emigration?] Society.
To His Excellency
Major-General Sir Howard Douglas,
&c. &c. &c.
Enclosure 2.
St. John, New Brunswick, 17th Sept. 1827.
The condition of emigrants arriving in this port during the
present season has, generally speaking, been of a most
deplorable character. Many families landing in a state of
absolute destitution, and others suffering under a
complication of disease.
The causes of these appear to be the poverty of the
emigrants at the time of their embarkation, through which
they are unable to provide suitable provision for the
voyage; and the very crowded state in which they are
kept during the long passage of the Atlantic, being,
at the same time, subject to no salutary regulations,
save their own guidance, in the application of their
stores, which often fall short, and little pains being
taken for the comfort or cleanliness, diseases of
various kinds soon take root amongst them, which, ere
they arrive in port, attain an alarming, and frequently
fatal extent.
That the abrogation of the law formerly in force, regulating
the
treatment and restricting the number of passengers on board of
merchant vessels, tends to increase the sufferings of these
unhappy beings, there appears too much reason to believe, and
arrivals have taken place here among the present summer, of
vessels, in a state never witnessed before, and disgaceful to
those having the charge of them. The emigrant has been
repeatedly called upon to relieve those on board, who,
suffering from disease, and had not wherewithal to procure
a meal of the most ordinary food. On such occasions medical men
have attended, whose opinions were, that the maladies arose
from privations on the voyage extended through the crowded and
unclean state of the vessels.
Notwithstanding the very benevolent donations of His Majesty's
Government, in addition to the sums raised here for their
relief, much misery still exists about the city, and so great
are the demands made upon the public charitable funds, that
should they continue at the present ratio, the expenditure will
exceed the receipts, 25 per cent for the year; and as the tale
ships are said to be about to bring an increase to the number
already here and unemployed, it is to be feared that the
district during winter will be most afflicting.
The provisional hospital established for their relief has been
full of patients during the summer, but the expenses attending
it, and supplying provisions, &c. to those sent into the
country, will soon exhaust the funds at the disposal of the
society; and< humane as the inhabitants of this place are, any
further appeal to them at this hour of general depression might
increase their sympathy, but could not justly be expected to
produce any additional means of relief.
There is a general complaint made by the emigrants, which, if
correct, is highly reprehensible on the part of those concerned;
viz. that they are deluded by prospects held out to them by
their venal carriers previous to embarkation, which induces
many to part with their all, in order to raise the amount of
passage-money under the assurance, that, on their landing here,
His Majesty's Government will furnish them with lands,
implements of husbandry, and provisions for twelve months;
this imposition is fraught with much mischief to the individual,
and highly unjust to our Government.
It is also much to be regretted, that amongst the destitute,
though probably deserving emigrants, there should be sent hither
characters of the worst description, not under the name of
honest voluntary emigrants, but self-reputed criminals supplied
and sent here by the Police of Ireland! several cases of which
occurred during the present season.
That a continuance of this practice will engender a strong
feeling amongst all classes of society here against the body of
emigrants is beyond doubt, whilst its moral consequences to the
province will be felt now and hereafter, nor can we be surprised
that a prejudice should arise, when we behold the increase of
crime here, and that in the long list of criminal's on the
sheriff's calendar at the last assizes held here, the name of
only one native of the province was found.
On the part of the ship-owners carrying passengers in the
present depressed state of navigation, it must be said, that
the unlimited number which they may take on board, and the rate
of passage-money which they pay, hold forth strong temptations
for them to employ their vessels in the trade; but the
advantages they may derive from its prosecution under its
unrestrained character, will only prove the means of extending
the misery of our unfortunate fellow-creatures.
(signed) A. Wedderburn,
Sec to St. John Agricultural and
Emigrant Society.
Enclosure 3.
Saint Andrew's, 1st August 1827.
My Dear Sir,
It was only on the 30th ultimo that I received your esteem
favour of the 20th. I rejoice to find that the subject of the
treatment of emigrants on the late relaxed principles of transportation
has attracted the attention of His Majesty's Government. Viewing
the subject as I do, as one of great importance, affecting the
health, comfort and safety of so many unfortunate, and I was
going to add (but your communication proves the contrary)
unprotected and disregarded human beings.
I do not apprehend that from the new system much injury will
arise amongst such passengers as may arrive in regular
established traders, where the masters have an interest in
maintaining a character for humanity and attention to the
cleanliness, health and comfort of those intrusted to their
charge; but more than one half of the emigrants come out in
transient vessels, chartered for the express purpose of making
money, by men reckless of character or consequences, so long as
they suppose the law will not reach them.
The brig William Henry, owned by N. Marks of St. Stephen, but
chartered by a Dublin house, arrived here last month with 250
passengers (from Dublin), had no surgeon, and insufficient
supply of provisions and bad water. Their sufferings were
dreadful - of the number, 39 are chargeable to this parish,
two have died, and others are not considered out of danger.
This is a glaring instance of the evils arising from the new
system, and it is not a solitary one, although the most
prominent at this port. At Halifax, still-greater misery has
been exhibited, and from similar causes. I had omitted to
state, that a large proportion of the passengers per william
Henry are of the most useless description, mere beggars, squalid, loathsome, dejected; I trust in God, and I feel
confident, that the paternal and watchful care of His
Majesty's Government is such, that no vessel will hereafter
be permitted to leave the United Kingdom with passengers,
without a minute and careful investigation that they
are provided with medical aid, wholesome provisions and water,
adequate to their probable necessities; and also, thaty the
vessels shall not be too much crowded.
I feel confident, that the accounts you may receive from St.
John, will substantially accord with my statement.
I am, with much esteem, &c.
(signed) Peter Stuls,
Secretary of the Charlotte County Agricultural
and Emigrant Society.
Rich. Simonds, esq.
Sec to the New Brunswick Agricultural and Emigrant Society.
Enclosure, 4.
Miramichi, 5th September 1827.
My dear Sir,
I have received your favour of 8th ultimo, containing certain
queries relative to the effect which the present system of
emigration from the mother country to the British Colonies has
had upon this place; when I say the present system, I allude to
the recent measure of the Government at home in suspending the
operations of the late Act of the British Parliament imposing
certain restrictions and obligations upon the masters and ship
-owners, in the conveying and exporting of emigrants to these
colonies; and in reply I beg leave to observe, that as the
enforcing of these parliamentary restrictions and obligations
were attended with the most salutary and beneficial
consequences to the poor emigrants, so the doing away with them
must be attended with the utmost serious evils: at all times
ships arriving at this place with emigrants were apparentlty
too much crowded, and contagious or epedemic disorders were very
frequently the consequence, but since the suspension of the
above-mentioned restrictions upon the masters and owners, the
state of the emigrant on his arrival is deplorable and heart-
rending in the extreme; little or no attention is apparently
paid to their health or comfort on board the vessel, but as many
as can possibly be stowed into the vessel are embarked; in fact
the only inquiry that is made or object looked to, by those
concerned in the exportation of those unfortunate people (if I
can judge from the situation of the human cargoes that have
arrived this season), are simply whether the passenger can pay
for his passage, and lay in his sea stores; indeed as relates
to the ship-owners and masters, it is altogether matter of
speculation, and very little better than the slave trade; the
consequence is, that an overwhelming number of the most
miserable and squalid race of emigrants ever beheld, have this
season been landed upon our shores pennyless; many of them
diseased and unable to work, by which means the country is
inundated with the scum of the population at home, half of them
paupers shipped off, we have too much reason to belive, in many
cases by the police of many of the towns at home, to free
themselves from the burden of supporting their own poor.
Diseases and distemper of the most virulent and appaling nature
are thus introduced among the population of the country, and so
far from the country deriving benefit from an increase of
population thus produced, it is literally looked upon by the
inhabitants, from woeful experience, as a curse upon the country
so severely have they felt, and so seversly do they continue to
feel, the direful effects of the evils thus introduced among
them; in truth the present system of emigration, as far as we
can at present judge, is only calculated to exchange or transfer
the miseries, arising from a redundant population, from the old to
the new world, merely changing the scene of distress, infesting
the country with a set of worthless and depraved characters, and
burdening the inhabitants with additional poor-rates. I think I
am within bounds, when I say one half of the emigrants that have
arrived here this season, who have remained in the country, are
now dependent upon the bounty of the inhabitants for their
subsistence. I do not mean by what I have said to discourage
emigration in toto, but merely to point out the dread ful
consequences, both to the emigrant and to the inhabitants of the
country they emigrate to, under the present system. I at the
same time do not hesitate to say, that I am clearly of opinion,
that two or three hundred emigrants well selected, men of sober,
steady and industrious habit, might be advantageously located
annually upon the wilderness lands in this part of the province,
if sent out under the auspices of Government, say with two years
or eighteen months' provisions in advance, less will not do.
Emigration upon such a system would be of infinite service, and
soon be the means of replacing our black forests with fields of
corn, and fill the country with a hardy and robust peasantry;
the climate healthy, the lands easily cultivated, and agriculture
simple. Emigrants of this description, and with such
encouragement, cannot fail to make a comfortable livelihood.
I have thus given you my ideas upon this subject, formed
principally from observation and from information I have been
able to collect from those who are aware of the manner in
which these emigrants are picked up and shipped off in the
old country. I believe what I have said is quite in unison
with the opinion of all the principal inhabitants of this
place, certainly with all with whom I have conversed upon
the subject.
I remain, my dear Sir, yours truly,
Richard Simonds, esq. (signed) A. Street.
&c. &c.
Fredericton.
Enclosure 5.
Liverpool, Co. of Kent, August 3d, 1827.
Sir,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your favour
of the 24th ultimo; I have endeavoured so far as possible
to obtain all the information from ship-masters (in the
habit of carrying passengers from the mother country to
North America, I could) on the subject of the late alteration
in the regulation for bringing out passengers from Great
Britain and Ireland to this country.
It appears that the difference of price on the old, and
the present system, is comparatively speaking nothing, as
ships are generally chartered by brokers for the purpose
of bringing out passengers; the broker fixes the price and
agrees with as many as the law did allow, and now as many
as the ship will carry, the price per head being much the
same, without regard to the health or comfort of the
passengers or crew; at the end of the voyage, the former
(under the present regulations) are landed with their health
generally impaired by the voyage, owing to the great number,
being almost literally starved on board, and are unable to
labour for some time, even if it should be offered; whereas
on the old system the passengers would land in good health,
ready and able to go to work at once; such I am told is not
unfrequently the case in Newfoundland.
There being so few passengers arriving at this port, that
I can form no opinion from my own observations.
I am, &c.
(signed) John W. Weldon,
Richard Simonds, Esq. Secy Kent Agricultural and
Secy N. B. A. & E. Society Emigrant Society.
- 2. -
Copy of a DESPATCH, and its Enclosure, from Sir Howard
Douglas to Viscount Goderich, dated 16th October 1827.
Fredericton, 16th October 1827.
My Lord,
In my Despatch of the 14th September, No 6, of 1827, I had
the honour to transmit to your Lordship some documents on the
important reference made in Earl Bathurst's despatch of the
10th April 1827, desiring me to report the result of my
inquiries as to the effects produced from the repeal of the Act
for Regestering Vessels carrying passengers to Foreign Ports.
The petition which I now have the honour to transmit from His
Majesty's Justices of the peace for the city and county of St.
John in this province bears forcibly upon this important
reference, and I beg to forward it accordingly, for the serious
consideration of His Majesty's Government.
I am well aware of, and can certify the truth of the statements
contained in the petition; and whilst I can safely repeat my
assurances that a well organized system of emigration, with
provident resources managed by the Government in the manner and
to the extent which I have already reported, would be beneficial
to the province, and to the persons so adventuring, I must
express in the strongest terms that soome restraint should be
laid to check that current of pauper and totally destitute
emigration, which has, within the last season, produced the sad
effects set forth in the petition, and which has laid a very
heavy burthen on the people of this province, in various
quarters, on the approach of a long winter, and in a very
distressed state of its affairs; vast numbers of these poor
emigrants have been forced to move to the States; many of them
would have been glad to return to their own country; but the
vessels which bring them hither in ballast, for trifling sums,
cannot relieve us of them for triple the amount;
and as this importation is made for the profit of the captain,
it may be well to consider whether it would not be very expedient
to adopt, in any new Bill that may be enacted, some such security
as that submitted in the petition against the recurrence of the
evils complained of.
It is by measures similar to this that the inhabitants of the
sea-ports in the States protect themselves from such repeated
and expensive calls upon their charity and humanity; and as the
absence of such a regulation here naturally tends to bring to
these ports great numbers of persons, who leave our own country
for the express purpose of proceeding to the United States, but
choose this as the cheaper passage, it may on this account be
considered the more expedient to entertain the measure prayed
for, viz. an enactment authorizing the officers of His Majesty's
Customs to exact from every ship, bringing passengers into the
province 15s sterling for each passenger, excepting only small
vessels from the contiguous colonies of Canada and Nova Scotia;
the said sum to be paid over to the province treasurer, to be
applied only to the support of such emigrants as have, or might
become destitute.
I have, &c.
(signed) Howard Douglas.
The Right Honourable
Viscount Goderich,
&c. &c. &c.
To His Excellency Sir Howard Douglas, Bart.,
Lieutenant-Governor,
Commander-in-Chief in the Province of New Brunswick, &c.
&c.
The Petition of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the
City and county of Saint John, in Sessions assembled.
Humbly Showeth,
That they approach your Excellency on the subject of support
for destitute emigrants with regret; well aware of the attention
your Excellency has given the matter, and of how ineffectual the
assistance granted has been, either in relieving every instance
of misery, or in enabling your memorialists, as magistrates for
this city and county, to reduce the assessments made upon the
inhabitants for the support of emigrants.
That it is not necessary for your memorialists to question the
policy of throwing so many of the helpless peasantry of Ireland
on the shores of this colony, nor is this the place, even if to
your Excellency such detail were necessary, to enter into a
description of the general character of the emigrants - their
poverty - the diseases they bring into the country - their
inability, for a length of time, to do the work required here -
or their vices; but your memorialists do conceive it to be their
duty, fully to state to your Excellency that the fact of so many
persons, from a distant country, being thrown on the scanty
population of this city and county for support, (12 or 13,000
being the whole population,) is most oppressive
and even unjust. And that the taxes annually imposed by your
memorialists for the support of these emigrants, and of numerous
black persons brought from the United States during last war,
and left here, are so deeply felt as to make this appeal necessary,
more particularly as the evil, (owing to the former
restrictions, in respect to emigrants from Britain, being at an
end,) is much on the increase, as appears by the custom house
books, which show the numbers landed in this port during 1825 as
1,865, for 1826 as 2,752, and for this year, to this date, as
3,200.
That as the passage money is paid to the ship master in
advance, it becomes a matter of consideration with him, how many human
beings he can take on board; and that of course the passenger
vessels are crowded to excess, no regard being had to their age,
the state of their health, or their capability to procure a
livelihood in America. On landing here, the young and active
push their way on to the United States (their destination on
leaving Ireland, though they came this way, as being less expensive
as a direct passage, where the numbers are very limited,) leaving the
old, the infirm, the diseased, here.
That it appears to your memorialists there are only two plans
by which the city and county of St. John, and the province in
general, can be relieved from the burthen they now complain of,
and that neither of those plans can be carried into effect by
your memorialists; viz. either that an Act of the Imperial
Parliament pass, authorizing the officers of His Majesty's
Customs to exact from any ship, bringing passengers into the
province fifteen shillings sterling (25s. being paid in the
United States) for each passenger, (excepting only small vessels
from the contiguous provinces of Canada and Nova Scotia,) which
sum should be paid over to the province treasurer, and be
applied only to the support of such emigrants as were or might
become destitute; or that an exact account, on oath, be kept of
the expenses attending the emigrants, and that the British
Government make provision for the same, on the requisite
documents being sent to London through your Excellency or the
Lieutenant Governor for the time being:
That your memorialists have suggested the above two plans,
under the hope that your Excellency will take the necessary
steps to bring ths subject before His Majesty's Government,
and that they do so under the certainty of your Excellency's
being perfectly aware of the evil, and fully disposed to secure
relief; and also that it appears to your memorialists that the
first plan is not only a definite measure, and one attended with
no difficulty in collecting, but likewise that it imposes no
material tax on the parties paying the same, though relief
from it would be given to your memorialists.
By attending to the prayer in the above petition, your
memorialists will be obliged to your Excellency, and, as in
duty bound, will ever pray,
By order of the Court,
(signed) Jas [James?] Peters, jun., Clerk.
St. John, 2d October 1827.
- 3. -
Copy of a DESPATCH, and its Enclosure, from Sir James
Kempt to Viscount Goderich, dated 7th September 1827.
Halifax, 7th September 1827.
My Lord,
IT will be my duty, at a future period, to communicate
with your Lordship more fully than I am now prepared
to do relative to the pernicious effects that have come
under my own personal observation resulting from the
late repeal of the Act of Parliament "for regulating
vessels carrying passengers;" but an alarming instance
of this evil having been this morning made known to me,
I think it right not to defer any longer calling your
Lordship's attention to the subject.
I always considered the 17th section of the 6 Geo. IV.
c. 117, exempting vessels carrying passengers from
Ireland to any of the North American colonies, from the
excellent provisions of that Act, as an unwise enactment,
notwithstanding the controlling power vested in the Lords
of the Treasury over vessels desirous of availing themselves of such exemptions; but even that restriction, insufficient
as it has proved to prevent abuse, is now removed, and the
result is as might have been expected.
There this day arrived in the brig James, from Waterford,
120 passengers of the most wretched description, all of
whom, as well as the whole crew, are labouring under
the typhus fever, as will appear by the enclosed copy of
a letter from the health officer.
One hundred and sixty embarked in Ireland; five died at
sea; and the vessel being obliged to put into St. John,s,
Newfoundland, for medical assistance and provisions,
thirty-five were left behind there, too ill to proceed.
The disease among these miserable people was occasioned
solely by their scanty nourishment during the voyage - by
the crowded and filthy state of the ship, and by a want
of medical assistance. I wish that this were the only
case of a like nature that I could adduce.
During the summer five vessels have arrived at this port
from Ireland, all crowded with passengers, among whom
sickness, produced by the same causes, prevailed to so
great an extent as to oblige me to establish an hospital
expressly for the reception of these poor emigrants.
Nor are the fatal consequences of the repeal of the Act
in question confined to the passengers, their disease is
contagious, and many of the inhabitants of the town have
been and are afflicted with it.
What I have stated will probably be sufficient to satisfy
your Lordship of the expediency of re-enacting the
Passenger Act, (with the exception of the objectionable
clause to which I have alluded,) or of substituting some
new regulations before next season, to guard against the
continuance of the existing evils; but as the medical
gentlemen in charge of the hospital, and the committee I
have appointed to administer relief to those unfortunate
emigrants, are preparing a report of their proceedings,
and as your Lordship might wish for a more detailed
statement than that I now offer, I shall do myself the
honour of addressing your Lordship again upon the subject.
I have, &c.
The Right Honourable (signed) James Kempt.
Viscount Goderich,
&c. &c. &c.
Enclosure.
Halifax, September 7th.
Sir,
I BEG leave to state, for the information of his
Excellency, the arrival of brig James, Grace, master,
from Waterford, last from St. John's, Newfoundland,
which port she left 29th August, with 120 passengers,
all labouring under typhus fever, which has extended
itself to the crew who are dangerously ill; I have
therefore ordered the said vessel to remain at
quarantine till his Excellency's pleasure shall be
known; several deaths occured during the vessel's stay
at Newfoundland, and two on the passage from Newfoundland
here.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
your most obedient servant,
Sir Rupert D. George, Bart. (signed) Charles W. Wallace
&c. &c. &c.
- No 4. -
Copy of a DESPATCH, and its Enclosure, from Sir James
Kempt to Mr. Secretary Huskisson, dated 25th November 1827.
Halifax, Nova Scotia, 25th November 1827.
Sir,
IN my Despatch of the 7th of September last, addressed
to Lord Goderich, (to which I beg to refer,) I had the
honour of bringing under his lordship's notice the
pernicious effects that had resulted from the repeal of
the Act of Parliament "for regulating Vessels carrying
Passengers," and I now take leave to transmit to you,
and to call your particular attention to the enclosed
copy of a report made to me by a Committee of His
Majesty's Council, representing in very forcible terms
the necessity of reviving those Regulations, or the
substitution of some other legislative enactment to
prevent the recurrence of the alarming evils that have
been experienced in this province in the course of the
present year.
I stated in that letter that I had been under the
necessity of establishing (and at very considerable
expense) an hospital expressly for the relief of the
emigrants who had arrived from Ireland in the wretched
state therein described.
Sickness has now so far disappeared as to enable me to
discontinue that establishment, but I am sorry to say
that the mortality that has taken place in this town
within these few months is quite unprecedented.
Although the climate is particularly healthy, and the
most humane and judicious measures were adopted to
prevent the diffusion of disease, yet out of a
population of 11,000, more than 800 have died since
the month of January last, two-thirds of whom were
either emigrants from Ireland, or whose deaths were
occasioned by infectious disease introduced by them.
I feel that I need say no more to induce His
Majesty's Government to take the subject into serious
consideration.
I have, &c.
(signed) James Kempt.
The Right Honourable
Wm Huskisson.
&c. &c. &c.
Enclosure.
Copy of a Report of a Committee of H. M. Council;
dated Halifax, 20th November 1827.
The Committee of His Majesty's Council appointed to
examine the accounts rendered for the expenses of
the Hospital established at Bankhead, for the
reception and relief of the sick among the
unfortunate emigrants who arrived during the
season from Ireland, -
Report, that they have examined the said accounts,
and find regular vouchers for all the payments; they
think that the establishment has been conducted with as
much attention to economy as was practicable, and that
the public are much indebted to the zeal, activity and
humanity of the committee appointed by his Excellency,
and the commissioners of the poor of the town of
Halifax, by whose unremitting exertions the distresses
of the unfortunate sufferers have been much alleviated,
and the progress of disease checked.
The Committee cannot close this report without calling
the attention of his Excellency and the board, to the
pernicious effects which have ensued from the removal of
those regulations, which the wisdom and benevolence of
Parliament established for the government of vessels
bringing emigrant passengers from the mother country.
These unfortunate beings are no longer protected by the
wholesome restraint which was formerly imposed upon the
cupidity and want of principle of those who engage to
provide them with passage across the Atlantic, and are
now crammed together on board vessels, without any
adequate means of subsistence, without medical aid, or
room to afford them decent accommodation. Under these
circumstances, disease is inevitable, and the wretched
beings are not only thrown on shore in a state which
renders them incapable of procuring their own
subsistence, but they carry infection among those who
may charitably receive them; the law which restrained
these evils is no longer in force in Great Britain, and
we have no legislative enactment here to prevent the
recurrence of the calamity which we have endured this
year, or to punish the authors of it. The United States,
on the contrary, have most wholesome regulations upon
this subject; and while this state of things continues,
it is obvious that the refuse only of the superabundant
population at home will come to us, while all the valuable
and useful emigrants will embark for the United States.
No decent person, who has the means of procuring a
comfortable passage for himself or family, will venture
on board one of these receptacles for filth and disease;
he will seek for accommodation in some American vessel,
which will convey him to the United States, where he will
be lost to his country for ever, while we shall be
overwhelmed with as many ignorant paupers as the artful
and unprincipled men can carry on this traffic can delude.
Your Committee therefore suggest the propriety of
bringing this matter under the consdideration of His
Majesty's Government, without loss of time, in the
hope that those useful regulations may be revived,
or that some legislative enactment may be resorted
to, to prevent the recurrence of so alarming an evil.
(signed) Jas Stewart,
Brenton Walliburton,
S. B. Robie.
Committee Room, Halifax, 20th Nov. 1827.
-5-
Copy of a DESPATCH from Sir Thomas Cochrane to
Viscount Goderich, dated 25th September 1827.
Government House, St. John's, Newfoundland,
25th September 1827.
My Lord,
IN the month of May, a vessel named the "Freedom,"
arrived from Waterford in Ireland, partly laden with
salt, and having a number of passengers on board in a
very sickly state, several of whom died on the passage,
and a number were landed in a most deplorable condition.
Other vessels laden with passengers have since come
in, either bound direct to this port or on their way to
Quebec or Halifax, more or less similarly afflicted by
disease, which has been communicated to the lower orders
of people in this town, spreading itself in the first
instance in a manner to excite much alarm; but I am
happy to say the deaths only amount as yet to eighty-one,
and all serious cause for apprehension has ceased.
Of the vessels that have thus brought passengers and
disease to this port, I will now have the honour of
bringing two of them under your Lordship's more
immediate observation; the first is the "Freedom," a
small brig, burthened only 119 tons; the accompanying
particulars contained in two reports from the surveyor
of navigation, will more fully depict the state of that
vessel than any detail of mine can give, nor will any
remarks from me be necessary to excite your Lordship's
sympathies in learning that fellow-creatures have been
so inhumanly dealt with as the poor wretches embarked
on board this vessel; but it is incumbent on me to
state to your Lordship, that from every information I
at the time received, of the condition of these people
either oral or in writing, I do really believe there are
not many instances of slave traders from Africa to
America exhibiting so disgusting a picture, and that the
affecting narratives which the public prints so often
detail of the state of slave vessels boarded by British
cruizers would apply in all its force to the case of the
"Freedom," and might with almost equal truth have been
published to the world by any foreign vessel of war,
that unfortunately might chance to have fallen in with
her; and I have no hesitation in assuring your Lordship,
that the most favourable account between her and a French
slave brig, captured by me four years ago, when in
command of a frigate on the Leeward Island station.
The second vessel is the brig "James," of Waterford,
bound to Halifax, having on board 164 passengers, 21 of
whom, and 4 of her crew, were ill with typhus fever on
her arrival, and who put in here for want of provisions.
There is no complaint made of the room in this vessel
for the number of persons on board, but the system adopted
in her, and which now very generally prevails, of making
the passengers supply themselves with provisions during
the voyage, is one which calls for your Lordship's
serious consideration. Many of the individuals who came
out in these vessels probably never saw one before, and
all of them are totally ignorant of the necessary
provisions to lay in for so uncertain a voyage as that
of crossing the Atlantic; and even were the stock of each
calculated on first sailing to meet the longest passage,
it may with as much reason be expected that sailors, if
supplied each with an adequate allowance for a voyage
round the globe, shoyld make it last until their return,
as that these ignorant people should economize their
provision for the period it was provided for; and it is
to be apprehended that some serious consequence will
ensue if the present system is permitted to continue,
for a vessel named the "Maria" came in under similar
circumstances to the "James," with the addition of the
passengers in a state of mutiny, several of them in irons,
and the master armed to protect his own provision from
seizure by the remainder.
Until the year before last the Passenger Acts applied
to Newfoundland, except in the case of hired servants,
when another Act was passed, from the operation of which
Newfoundland and the Labrador were altogether expressly
excluded; upon what principle such exclusion took
place, or at whose instigation His Majesty's government
were induced to make the exception, I am entirely
ignorant; and I have little doubt but false
representations must have been made on the subject, by
those persons who make a trade of importing paupers
here in the spring, and provided they can get a freight
for their vessels, which would otherwise come in ballast,
are indifferent as to the consequences that result from
it.
I must further trespass upon your Lordship's time,
while I explain the system at present pursued by those
who carry on this unprincipiled trade. Proclamations,
such as I have the honour to enclose, are posted up in
different parts of Ireland, &c., as your Lordship will
perceive, totally falsifying the real state of the
vessel intended to transport those wishing to emigrate;
the parties either pay down four pounds and find their
food, or six pounds and are victualled; if they cannot
pay themselves, they procure a bond from their friends,
to be cancelled if they can, on their arrival at the
port of debarkation, obtain the required sum upon the
strength of their future labour; if not, the bond is
sent home and enforced; the more passengers, therefore,
the merchant can put on board his vessel, the greater
his profit; and although disease may assail the whole
or part of them, the advantage to him is the same,
who is not even at the expense of the meanest medical
attendant for the moltey and dense crew he takes on
board.
Should it hereafter be deemed advisable to re-enact
the Passengers Act, or enact a new one, I must beg to
draw your Lordship's attention to that part of it (6
Geo. IV. c.116,) which exempts from its operation all
hired servants coming to the fishery. I am not aware
of the grounds for this exemption; if inserted from
the supposed interest the hirer would have in the
welfare of his servants, it quite fails to secure
them the expected advantage, for in point of fact it
scarcely ever occurs, except at some few establishments
in the out-ports, that the hirers make use of them in
the fishery; the ideal master only so shipping them as
servants, to evade the operation of the Act, disposing
of them on his arrival at the port of destination.
If I may be permitted to offer an opinion, I would
observe, that at once to do justice to the shipper and
passenger, medical men duly qualified, and others
conversant on these subjects, should be consulted as
to the extent of space absolutely necessary for thehealth of
each individual who embarks; the quantity of
water and provisions that should be provide per diem,
and the rules and regulations that should be adopted
for cleanliness; and when this is once satisfactorily
ascertained, it would be as cruel to the passengers to
admit of an increased number on board, as it might be
unfair to the merchant to restrict him to a smaller
limit; but the law should then make it penal, by summary
process, the transgressing the prescribed bounds and
regulations; and I would further beg to suggest to your
Lordship, that the offenders should be liable to be
proceeded against in the colonies, as well as in Great
Britain, a defect in the late Passenger Act, which
limited the proceedings in such cases to the mother
country.
I have, &c.
(signed) Thos Cochrane.
The Right Honourable Viscount Goderich,
&c. &c. &c.
