The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-29 00:00:00

row. The scene opened very much like a melodrama, only
he was sorry to say that the jocose part was very little in-
deed. The correspondence opened with an account
of two rascals. One of them pretended that he
was connected with some railway works in America,
and the other (who would not be misrepresented by
describing his actions as such es would well become the
character of an imp of the devil)—(hear, hear) —plotted
and made the necessary bargains with the people. He ac-
cordingly deluded 120 men to leave Ireland on a false
representation of the work and the amounf of wages to be
paid, but on board the steamer was a man cvNo was almost
a match for him. One of the men wore hie hat on the
side of his head, and by that means contrived to disguise
the fact that he had but one eye until they werO in the
middle of the ocean. Now, having but one eye de! not
make the man a worse labourer, but it did a worse
and on the man Feeney discovering it he abused him
very much, showing that his real object was to obtain men
for the American army and not for railway works. (Hear,
hear.) When the ship arrived in the docks the men were
surrounded and dosed with whisky. Many of them were
placed in the police cells, and collisions were stated to have
occurred between the policemen and the recruiting agents,
and in the end several of the men who emigrated found
themselves, much against their inclination, in the Federal
army. They applied naturally to our consuls for advice and
assistance, and a correspondence took place between our
consuls and Lord Lyons and the American Governmen`,
and also between Lord Lyons and the Foreign-office upon
the subject. From that correspondence, which, as he had
already said, had been printed, it appeared that emigrants
were made drunk, inveigled into the army, and robbed by
the recruiting agents of the bounty, so that the sharks
who preyed upon them made large profits; and many
of the scenes which Mr Consul Lousada witnessed at
Boston involuntarily recalled to his mind his experiences
in Cuba. It was, however, to be hoped that the publica-
tion of these facts would check the traffic. (Hear.) It
was stated that many of these speculators often cleared
500 dols and more by these transactions. The man Feeney,
who took this cargo of slaves out to America, was arrested
in Ireland on the charge of endeavouring to enlist men for
the Federal army, but he was released because it was
thought he produced proper and sufficient proofs that his
enterprise was a legitimate one—that of procuring men
for a railway undertaking. (Hear.) On the 7th of April,
1861, Consul Murray wrote to Lord Lyons with regard to
the men taken out by Feeney, that there could be no
doubt there was a systematic attempt to get the men drunk
for the purpose of enlisting them. The poor men
who left Blackburn under the direction of Ainsworth,
whom they first sent out to Canada to see if labour could be
found there, it was to be hoped had not shared the same
fate, but Ainsworth had turned up in a wretched state at
Portland, and his scheme had failed. (Hear.) His object
in bringing the subject under the consideration of the house
was to warn his fellow-countrymen for the future against
these designing agents, and not for the purpose of making
any charge against the American Government. On the
3d of May, 1834, Lord Lyons, in a despatch to the Foreign
Secretary, stated that the number of British subjects serv-
ing in the United States army and navy was very, conside-
rable. IThe most laborious, painful, and unsatisfactory
part of his duty since the war had broken out was con-
nected with the complaints of British subjects, and no
pains had been spared by himself or the consuls in inves-
tigating them, and every effort was made to obtain redress
in those cases that were well founded, but in few cases only
had their efforts produced any satisfactory results. (Hear,
hear.) Major General Dix, the military commandant at
New York, had informed the American Secretary to the
Navy that almost every imaginable form of fraud, outrage,
and dissipation had been developed by the American re-
cruiting ageota to obtain the recruiting bounty. Boys
had been delneed from their homes ; men had been
drugged ; and, in short, every artifice and fraud had
been resorted to, and men labouring under incurable
diseases had been pressed into the service, in order to
plunder the American Government of the bounty money.
The unfortunate men from this country were deceived
and kidnapped in the most scandalous and inhuman man-
ner in New York. Whilst they were unconscious from
drink they were clothed in the uniform of the Federal
army, and on coming to their senses they suddenly found
themselves absorbed in an army, and called upon to take
part in a war the objects of which they were not only igno-
rant of, but indifferent to its results. The noble lord then
further quoted from Lord Lyons's despatches which de-
picted the horrors of the system in America, and which was
corroborated by Major-General Dix; and in one of Lord
Lyons's despatchea he stated that British subjects who
claimed exemption had, contrary to the general rule, been
sent to the army, and many of them had been shot and
others wounded pending the inquiry into the justice of
their claims, In a war of defence it wos the duty of
every man to take up arms in support of his country; but
a war of aggression he looked upon as wicked, and those
who foisted themselves into it and took part in it did no
other than commit murder. It was true there were some
men—filibusters or buccaneers—who drew down on them-
selves a certain amount of approbation from a large
portion of mankind ; but he doubted if any right-minded
man applauded the conduct of those who joined in it, and
thereby prolonged that which every one would wish to see
stopped. (Hear, hear.) He had no wish to say anything
about the United States Government or army. He cared
not what government a country had so long as it protected
industry, was just, and gave the necessary amount of pro-
tection and happiness to its people; and with regard to the
American army, and also the Southern army, they had
shown themselves to be composed of men whose
fighting had not been equalled ; but he could not help
thinking that it would be more just towards those bravo
men that their numbers should not be added to by men who
had nothing to do with the struggle that was now raging
in America. (Hear, hear.) It was time that this struggle
should cease, and he thought we ought to do everything
in our power to prevent those evils being increased by the
emigration of our people to America. (Hear.) There were
now on both sides widows, sisters, and brothers wishing and
crying out, though not so audibly as they could desire, for
peace—(hear)—and it was our duty to prevent, as far as we
could, any fuel being added to the devouring flame. (Hear.)
What was the opinion of the man who was beat com-
petent to pronounce an opinion upon this subject? Earl
Russell, in his despatch to Lord Lyons, dated May 27, 1864,
referred to the case of Irishmen enlisted at Portland and
Boston for the American army, and said it appeared to her
Majesty's Government to be clear, from the reports received
from her Majesty's consuls at those ports, that those en.
lietments were effected by the most fraudulent schemes,
and contrived and executed in disregard of the neutral
rights of Great Britain. It appeared that when they
landed at Portland the unfortunate emigrants were plied
with drink. They were then dealt with in a manner
which made it natural that they should yield to the temp-
tations and persuasions of the recruiting officers, who
obtained access to them by the aid of the police autho-
rities. Those facts having come to his (Lord E. Howard's)
knowledge,- he felt it to be only his duty to bring the ques-
tion before the house with the view of warning those who
might still be seduced into those ruinous engagements.
Ho thought that the Secretary for the Colonies might be
better able to warn the public generally through the many
emigration agents against this abominable system. The
right hon. gentleman, he believed, had applied to the
agents at Liverpool on the subject, but they said that
they could not aid him in his object. He held in his
hand a card distributed by those agents, headed "Notice
to Emigrants," which, as fa: as it went, was very good and
unobjectionable. But at the bottom of it he observed a
very significant notice—" Remetetber that in America
a dollar is equal to 4s. 2d. English money, and that
a cent is equal to one farthing." (Lettjhter.) Now, he
thought there ought to be some special yearning to the
public in respect to that particular point, inastouch as we
all knew that an American dollar was worth nothing like 4a
in English money at the present time. It was a mere otees-f
tion of humanity to do all they could to prevent some p
those poor wretches from enlisting in the United States
army, and by doing so to assist in preventing that unneces-
sary effusion of blood which was a disgrace to humanity.
He did not wish to utter any threats, At the same time the
United States Government ought to know that our resources
were ample, and that we were in a position to become, if ne-
cessary, the arbiters of the world. If it were possible he
should like the Government to give some expression of
opinion upon the subject; but, at all events, he felt certain
the Foreign-office would do all that was possible to
protect those who had been kidnapped from their native
land to take part in a war which was a disgrace to both of
the contending parties.
Mr LAYARD said the noble lord had done good service
in calling attention to the subject of emigration to America.
He could not see how many of the difficulties mentioned
by the noble lord were to be avoided, but he,advised the
greatest caution to be observed by all quitting their native
land. The Government had directed the proper authori-

ties to do all that was possible to protect Engl;sh emigrants,
but at the sa:ne time he hoped that those parties who went
to America, because it was idle to suppose that emigration
could be stopped, to exercise the greatest discretion. The
emigration officers, the node lord might rest assured, would
do all in their power to prevent unfair practices, but he
felt certain that blame was not to be attributed to the Ame-
rican Government. He would willingly give the papers
the noble lord desired.
Mr P. HENNESS Y, seeing the Secretary for Ireland
in his place, wished to know whether the emigration from
Cork, to enlist in the American army,
present time to the same extent as it was at the beginning
g
of the year ? was going on.at the
reatest importance
I%lr LINDSAY said it was of the
that extreme caution should be exercised by emigrants.
The present value of the American dollar was certainly not
4s. 2d. To show the extent of the horror.i of the present
struggle and the sacrifice of human life, t was said that
up the 30th of June upwards of a million lives have been
already lost.
Sir H. PEEL, in reply to the hen and learned member,
said a proclamation had been issued by the Lord Lieutenant,
eff,ectkthe r
e tide
beingo made to make all
emigration from
which
hndhe .
parties well acquainted with the state' of affairs in America,
hTohpee d
arts w
After a few words, from Mr P. AYLOR.,
Lord J. MANNLItS thou ht the Emigration Commis-
siGners should issue a warning stating that it was not safe
for the humble people of England to go to America to find
a home.
The motion was agreed to.
The house thtn adjourned.