The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-16 00:00:00

11.-EDUCATION.

(Mr. W. Cowper, M.P., president.)
The paper probably which excited the greatest interest in
this department was that which was read by Miss Mary
Carpenter, on " The Relation of Ragged and Industrial
Schools to the Parliamentary Educational Grant." She
commenced by remarking upon the fact that by far the
larger proportion of children in the poorest classes left
school before the age of 11. 19,336 children were appre-
hended in only. nine months, of whom but 3 per cent. could
read and write, and one-half of whom had no education at
all. Ragged schools formed the only instrument by which
this class could be reached. The educational Parliamen-
tary grant was made for the general education of the people,
and administered to stimulate voluntary efforts. In what
direction, then, could help be better bestowed than to aid
in educating those who without such help must remain
ignorant ? In no direction was there a greater voluntary
devotion of time and money than in the ragged-school
-movement. A strong claim, therefore, existed on the part
of ragged schools to a large proportion of the Parliamen-
tary grant. In June, 1856, a minute of Council was passed
offering aid to reformatory and ragged schools, placing
the latter upon a satisfactory footing ; but a
subsequent addition confined the application of the
grant to echools for convicted and vagrant
children, thus excluding the ragged schools. In last Decem-
ber a deputation waited upon the President of the Council,
headed by Lord Shaftesbury and Sir John Pakington, with
a memorial froM managers of ragged schools upon this sub-
ject. A minute of December, 1857, accordingly cancelled
that of June, 1856, and appeared to be expressly intended
for ragged schools and industrial schools. Against the in-
completeness of this minute Miss Carpenter directed her
observations. Only half the rent of rooms was promised,
and that only of such rooms as would not be wanted but for
industrial work. No help being given for a common school
room or playground, nothing was given for a master or mis-
tress unless certificated, which was seldom the case in rag-
ged schools. No aid was given for any assistants. Against
these and other deficiencies Miss Carpenter warmly pro-
tested, and concluded with an eloquent appeal for extended
and sufficient aid to the ragged school movement.
Mr. MONCKTON MILNES, M.P., remarked that the-chair-
man, being at the head of the Committee of Council, was
now really placed at the bar, and the meeting expected that
he would say something in his defence. (L'a'ughter.) Mr.
Milnes expressed his readiness to assist Miss Carpenter in
any effort, adding that in all her schemes she evinced not
only the most earnest philanthropy, but the soundest good
sense.
Mr. MELLY also advocated the claims of ragged schools.
The CHAIRMAN said Miss Carpenter, in her warm-hearted
energy, naturally took primarily the aspect of the question
which favoured the class of children whoin she advocated.
But it was in another aspect that it had become his duty to
look at them. One of the first things he had to ask was
whether the ragged class was to be looked upon as a per-
manent class in the country. He contended that it would
be quite wrong in an officer of the State to take for granted,
that there would be a permanently ragged school class.
It arose from a wrong state of things that such a class
existed, and the object to be aimed at ought to be to get that
class into other schools. He did not, from the inquiries he
had made, believe that the children of ragged school classes
were in general the children of parents who could not pay,
but of those rather who would not pay ; and this, although
not so much affecting the consideration of benevolent per-
sons, was a very material subject for Government to con-
sider as regarded the appropriation of their funds. The
Government had to see that every shilling laid out was
followed by the development of increased efficiency, and
had to avoid the danger of drawing children from the bet-
ter kind of industrial and other schools down to the ragged
schools. On these grounds he contended that the only
way in which the ragged schools could well receive Go-
vernment aid was through the industrial element which
was connected with them. The danger of making the
ragged schools permanent, and drawing other institutions
down to them, instead of raising the class who were re-
ceived by the latter, was that against which the Govern-
ment principally were compelled to guard.
Several other interesting papers were read, including one
by Professor Pillans on " Some prevailing Errors in the
Education of the Working Classes," and one by Miss Louisa
Selwyn, "On the Importance of combining Training in
useful Occupations with Instruction in National Schools."
111 —PUNISHMENT AND REFORMATION.
(The Earl of Carlisle, president.)
Captain CROFTON read an interesting paper in this de-
partment upon the proposition, " Can Intermediate Prisons
materially aid in solving the Difficulties of the Convict
Questions ?" The section was crowded during the reading
of the paper, and the discussion on it was delayed in order
that Lord Brougham might be enabled to take part in it.
In the outset of his paper Captain Crofton proposed three
questions for consideration—What are the difficulties of the
convict question ? Why have we not solved them ? What
shall we do to solve those difficulties ? Taking the last
first, he laid it down that the difficulties are to devise a
course of treatment consistent with humanity which
shall either mend the offender or tend to render him
less noxious to the community, and which shall
have at the same time the effect of deterring others
from the commission of crime. From 1827 to 1836,
37,117 males and females were transported to the colonies ;
from 1837 to 184 e, 27,258 from 1847 to 1856,11979 ; and in
18,57, only 461. But the facility with which in the former
periods the mother country got rid of its criminals led to
gross carelessness, and eventually the colonies refused to
receive them. We had, however, learned two lessons from
transportation,—first that employment was a most powerful
agent in reformation ; and, secondly, that, notwithstanding
all the evils attendant on bad prison discipline, there was
still a large impressible class of prisoners who were willing
to work when employment was obtained, who gave satis-
faction to their employers, and who ultimately became
useful and industrious colonists. Why had we not solved
the difficulties of the convict question ? Simply
because, though experience had clearly proved that
there are two classes of prisoners impressible and
unimpressible —we had failed to avail ourselves
of that knowledge, and had treated our criminals in masses
up to the termination of their incarceration, and had dis-
charged them to take their chance and work their will.
When the colonies refused to receive convicts the experi-
ment was then tried on us at home, with the same result
and for a similar reason—the neglect to improve the im-
pressible class. We were ready to admit how difficult it
was for a man when discharged from prison to obtain em-
ployment, but what had' we done to enable him
to procure it ? Nothing, and it was not to be
wondered at, then, that we had signally failed. It had been
.our practice to delude ourselves with negative statistics, and
wo hsd concluded that unless a prisoner was re-convicted
he was reformed. This delusion had been our stumbling-
bloex, and well-nigh our ruin. The community objected
to employ the criminal when discharged, on the intelligible
ground that, although under strict surveillance and the
utter absence of temptation, his conduct had been good,
there was no guarantee that it would not be otherwise in
free life ; and thus the character so obtained, under such a
prison discipline,'was of little. or no value to the public.
What, then, shall we do to solve these difficulties? We
must treat our convicts individually, and not in the mass ;
we must qualify them to obtain employment, by so training
them that they will gain the confidence of the public ; we
must apply such special training as will fit them for a free
life and make them meet for employment ; we must inform
thenf of an honest world, of which they know little ; and
when lifargeilwemust not lose sight of them, but preserve
a ri
supervision which will tend to protect them and their em-
ployers. It is by enlisting the mind of the criminal in his
own reformation thatwedi: hope to combat the difficulty,
but it will be necessary
the early stages of his im-
prisonment his discipline shall be be of such a character as will

operate against the commission of crime. Captain Crofton
then dwelt on the inestimable value of labour as a refor!na-

Cory agent, and suggested that ample and useful employ-
ment could be found for our criminals in the construction
of harbours of refuge-and other works of a nab nal charac-
ter on the coasts. This should be done when they could be
cheaply located on the works, and to prove that it could be
effected, he mentioned that in Ireland they were enabled to
accommodate 3 officers and 50 men in a mo cable iron shed
for £350. It had been urged that the association of prison-
ers was calculated to give rise to demoralisation, but he
maintained that that experience had been gained under
different circumstances from those which now prevailed ;
and he justly observed, that if we cannot control our crimi-
nals in association after their long discipline we cannot ex-
pect the community to have much confidence in their future
well doing. Payments of gratuities, according to the amount
of work, would also tend to reformation ; but we must above
all things take care that the liberated criminal profitably
uses his special training. From these considerations Capt.
Crofton deduced the following :—That labour was necessary
to reformation ; that by classification and special training
convicts could be better prepared for employment ; that by
a system of registration after discharge we shall deter from
crime and assist reformation ; and lastly, that by noting to
the police the more noxious offenders we shall render their
incarceration more certain and lengthened, and thus pro-
tect society from their vices. A course of prison discipline
tending to produce these results was theoretically wise, and
that it was also practically so was proved, he maintained,
by the success of the system in Ireland. He said that
he could give many instances of its success, and men-
tioned that he could produce letters, dated Lucknow and
other places in India, from non-commissioned officers,
themselves once prisoners, to their old associates, earnestly
exhorting them to reformation. In conclusion Capt. Crof-
ton expressed his gratitude to the noble president of the
section for the assistance he had rendered to his system,
and stated that he was quite ready to give every informa-
tion as to its details to any gentleman who might desire it.
A lengthened discussion took place on the paper, and the
section generally seemed to concur in the views which it
expressed, although some few gentlemen objected to the
system of gratuities given to well-conducted and industrious
prisoners. We have not space even to enumerate the other
papers which were read in this d_epartment.
IV.—PUBLIC HEALTH.

(The Earl of SHAFTESBURY president.)
The proceedings in this section commenced by Dr. HOL-
LAND (the secretary) reading a paper on "The Construction
of Hospitals," contributed by Miss Florence Nightingale,
which appeared to be a continuation of the paper read on
the previous day, entitled "Notes on the Health of Hospi-
tals." Having advocated the absolute necessity of fresh air,
light, ample space, and the subdivision of the sick into4eve-
ral buildings, the paper proceeded to point out the deficien-
cies in hospital construction, which ought to be avoided,
under the following heads :—Defective means of natural
ventilation and warming ; excessive width of wards between
the opposite windows ' • arranging the beds along the dead
walls; having more than two rows of beds between the
windows; having windows only on one side ; defective ma-
terials for floors and the washing of floors (Miss Nightingale
alleging that "scrubbing the floors" was one of the main
causes of erysipelas in the hospital at Scutari) ; defective
condition of water-closets ; defective ward furniture ; de-
fective accommodation for nursing and discipline ; defective
hospital kitchens, and the inevitable "boiled beef;". defec-
tive hospital laundries ; selection of bad sites and bad local
climate:, for hospitals ; erecting hospitals in towns ; defec-
tive drainage and the construction of hospitals without free
circulation and external air. The paper was 'replete with
valuable practical suggestions, but so far as its details were
concerned they were intended more as a guidance to pro-
fessional or civil authorities than to be interesting to the
general public.
Sr. R. RAwmvsoN,:C.E. (one of the sanitary commis-
sioners sent out to the Crimea during the Russian war), ex-
plained the plans which had been sent down to illustrate
the paper. In the course of his remarks he stated that he
knew that the meat sent out to the navy was absolutely that
of beasts which had died in disease. He could speak from
experience in regard to the Crimean army that the cattle
were brought up at random from Asia Minor ; they were
shipped on board transports, and were sometimes six days
at sea without proper food or water, they were landed in the
Crimea mere scarecrowsthat we would not feed dogs with in
this country, and then driven up to the front and killed.
Personally, for two months he could not eat a single piece of
flesh, for he loathed it, and no amount of cooking could dis-
guise the disease. In the Crimea it was the practice not to
send intelligent men to attend upon the sick, but actually to
tell off the drunken and idle soldiers as hospital orderlies.
He had heard these fellows in their drunken brawls adding
fresh horrors to the already terrible horrors of wounds, dis-
ease, and war. He had known of the entire hospital being
divested of its orderlies at a moment's notice, without any
notice being given to the medical men. When he had the
misfortune to be wounded, the orderly told off to attend to
him was seized with cholera, and the poor fellow lay down
by the bed screaming and dying, no one coming near either
of them for more than three hours. The mortality among
the line and the officers was as five to one. With regard to
the great hospital at Scutari, no form of ventilation was
attempted to be carried out before the sanitary commision
arrived ; and on the second day, when the commission
walked through the corridors, they broke with their own
hands 400 panes of glass in the hospital windows to let out
the foul air.
A long discussion followed, in which Mr. Bracebridge,
who served along with Miss Nightingale for 10 months in
the Scutari Hospital, spoke in laudatory terms of that dis-
dinguished lady, and of the exertions of the late Alexis
Soyer.
After a few words from Sir H. Verney, M.P., and Mr.
Tite, M.P., it was resolved that these papers should be
printed separately and circulated.
Several other papers having been read relative to hospi-
tals and hospital treatment by Mr. Rawlinson, Mr. Chad-
wick, and others,
Two papers were read which opened up the question of
Asylums and the Law of Lunacy,—one by Dr. Conolly, on
" Residences for the Insane," and the other by Mr. Geo.
Robinson, M.D., on " The Further Amendment of the Law
of Lunacy."
Mr. TITS, M.P., advocated the formation of middle-class
establishments.
The PRESIDENT stated that he had very strong views on
this subject. He would not trust one single person—no
living being in our fallen nature—with despotic, uncon-
trolled, and unseen exercise of power ; and he could oc-
cupy them for hours with records of horror surpassing
everything they could imagine coming upon persons of the
greatest wealth and position, who had been brought to suf-
fering and degradation far below the most wretched pauper
in the most wretched city of her Majesty's dominions.
Whatever they did, if it should please Providence to
afflict any of their relatives with that disorder, let them
listen to the advice which he had always given—which he
would act upon if his own wife or his own daughter were
unhappily afflicted—that wife or daughter should be trans-
ferred to some private asylum, in order that persons might
know where she was. In the whole management of these
affairs, whether in public or private establishments, whether
in reference to the poor or the rich, let them look to this,
that they were, from the very peculiarity of the disorder,
dealing with a person in such a condition that he had
not the ordinary means .of protection, which belonged
to other cases. They must trust more or less
the evidence given by the proprietor, the medical superin-
tendents, or the servants, who were interested parties.
They might take this as a rule, that the-evidence of a patient
in respect of himself or herself was not to be trusted, but
the evidence of patients in respect of other patients might
be received with confidence. (Hear.) He assured them
that there was no one class of human beings in existence so
much to be pitied as that particular class of small trades-
men, or persons with small incomes, if visited with a
malady. Persons in that condition could not be sent to a
pauper asylum. What else was open to them? There was
no form of medical treatment to be had in privhte asylums
that could be had under a less payment than a guinea
a-week. To a small tradesman, or a young lawyer
fighting the battle of life in a dark chamber, that pay-
ment would be a hopeless thing. To meet that, they
should endeavour to found a public asylum for the middle
classes and persons with small incomes, where moderate
charges would be the rule. Now, if medical men allowed
cases to go on until the evidence of insanity was so unmis-
takeable that every one was csnvinced, why then the parties
would be utterly incurable without any possibility of being
brought to their senses again. The only hope was in
the first development of the disorder; if then put under
proper control, the probability was that .75 per cent.
of the patients might be cured; but if they allowed the
disease to go on for 12 months, he would ask any medical
man whether the cures he would effect would be two in a
hundred ? It was a delicate point of judgment to decide
when a person was in the first stage ; but, if they followed
the rule laid down in the newspapers, he confessed they
might bring hundreds of these people to utter wreck and
ruin. (Applause.)
V. SOCIAL ECONOMY.

This department has been divided into two sections. In
the first, which was presided over by Sir James Stephen,
the following interesting and instructive paper was read by
Mr. T. M. Mackay, of the great shipping firm of Messrs. Jas.
Baines and Co., of Liverpool, upon the subject of Emigration:
—Among themany important subjects which affect the social
economy of society there is non• so momentous in its results
as the emigration of large masses of our population to other
lands. At the same time these great and continuous move-
ments, with few exceptions, go on with such peaceful and
silent regularity that public attention is rarely excited by
the daily ebbing of the dense population around us. No
doubt, this may be explained by the fact that these changes
are never, except under circumstances of dire necessity, the
simultaneous exodus from any particular locality, but com-
monly the isolated movements of families or individuals from
every part of the British Isles, in search of peace and pros-
perity, which they think can be more easily attained else-
where, and radiant with the hope that their fond expec-
tations will be sooner or later realised. No doubt, as
emigrants become successful in their adopted homes,
they exhibit a praiseworthy anxiety to be surrounded
by their kindred, and a large share of emigration to the
United States of America in latter years has proceeded from
this source. But whatever may be the influences which
produce this outpouring of our population, I am sure your
attention will be arrested by a sensation far deeper than
any mere novelty could excite when I mention the fact
that between' 1815 and 1857—a period of 42 years—no less
than 4,683,194 emigrants have left our shores, and of these
more than one-half between 1847 and 1851 inclusive. Their
destinations were as follows :
United States
British America
Australia and New Zealand
Other places
I need scarcely tell you that the great stream of emigration
has always proceeded from Ireland, and in the first famine
year of 1847, 258,270 took their departure, being more
than double the number fcr 1846, and of these 251,834
went to the United States of America and Canada.
These departures increased, with only one or two inter-
missions, until 1855, the climax having been reached in
1852, when 368,761, about the annual increase of our popu-
lation, left us in search of other homes. There is a pleasing
retrospect even in these numbers, indicative of the ros-
perity of the sister island, for while she contributed 75 Per
cent. of the whole emigration in 1851, she only sent 4 1 in
1857. The destinations, too, of our adventurous fellow-
countrymen since 1852 are no less cheering ; for, although
in 1851 only 61 per cent. went to our Australian colonies
from the various parts of the United Kingdom, I find the
increase had extended to 29 per cent. in 1857, and this year
it will most probably count not less than one-half of our
entire emigration. In the midst of my avocations, con-
nected chiefly with emigration, I have not been alto-
gether negligent in my endeavours to fathom the cause
which produce such sudden changes in'the numbers who
under ordinary circumstances seek to better their condition
in our colonies. No doubt the recruiting sergeant during
the heat of the Crimean war and the fiery indignation of
the Indian revolt carried away many aspiring youths from
the Black Ball flag I represent, to the glorious banner of
their Queen, and I can also understand the sudden impulses
which hurry men away when the discovery of a goldfield,
with fabulous descriptions of its riches, is blazoned over
the land ; but I confess I am still unable to explain why in
two years of comparative equality twice as many should
emigrate in one year as the other, a result which I look for-
ward to in 1857 compared with 1858. It is a paradox worthy
of investigation, for I have made the most mmute inquiries

through the medium of an agency of 300 intelligent men of
business, and with one accord they have confessed it inex-
plicable. The number of males who emigrate is, in conse-
quence of the demand for their labour in all new countries,
much greater than females •, indeed, to Australia the pro-
portion was nearly 3 to 2, but although the efforts of the
emigration commissioners to lessen thp disparity by appro-
priating the colonial funds intrusted to them m sending out
as many eligible single women as possible are incessant, I
must be ungallant enough to add that they find more diffi-
culty in making. a proper selection than would be supposed.'
There is one beautiful feature in the Irish character con-
nected with this subject which shines in charming contrast
with the cooler and more calculating affection of either the
Englishman or the Scot. I refer to the immense sums re-
mitted by successful Irishmen for the purpose of bringing
out their indigent relatives to participate in their prospe-
rity. Since 1848 the amount sent to this country from
America alone has been £9,937,000, about £1,000,000 a-year.
It is beyond all human calculation to imagine the amount
of misery which this prodigious fund has not only relieved
but absolutely annihilated, and whatever may be the creed
of those whose chief anxiety is to share the blessings of
Providence with their poor kindred, rest assured, in that
day when the Almighty discerner of the human heart makes
up his jewels, such warm-hearted followers of their Divine
master will not be forgotten. It is not the least interesting
part of our inquiry (and I am indebted to the report of the
Emigration Commissioners for the past year for the infor-
mation) to examine the different classes of people who go
from us to make "the wilderness and the solitary place glad
for them, and the desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose."
Chief among the ten thousands are those who under the
generic term of labourer, those useful hewers of wood and
drawers of water, whose ambition rarely extends beyond
good diet, decent clothing, and a comfortable bed ; and I
find the proportion their numbers• bear to all other emi-
grants, whatever clime they seek to sojourn in, is very
much 'alike. Next come the more hopeless mass, who ac-
knowledge no distinct occupation, like weeds grow apace
in the great garden of life, and being useless in the old
world are thrown over the wall in the hope of a better ger-
mination in the new. Then follow those whose pursuits
have been less or more associated with agriculture, and the
number who seek their fortunes among the pastoral lands
of Australia show how much they are preferred to the prairies
of the west or the forests of British America. Miners and
quarrymen muster strongly also among the Australian emi-
grants, showing. how attractive are the goldfields of Bendigo
and Ballarat than the coal mines of Pennsylvania and Nova
Scotia. Carpenters and joiners, the most useful men in all
countries, new and old, have not left its in such members as
we might suppose, for they only amount to about 2,500 and
of these only one-third went to the southern hemisphere. I
fear to name the number of " gentlemen and professional
men" who couldn't find the means of existence among us.
About 1,103 went to America, while Australia was deluged
to the extent of 1,200. It seems in vain to warn those who
come under the definition of "gentlemen" that hands and
capital are the stuff for young settlements. Every family
sends its fastest son to learn steadiness and make a liveli-
hood, if not a fortune in some of our colonies, and after ex-
hausting his shattered frame at the diggings or elsewherehe
usually falls back on the towns a wreck, if not a curse to the
community. Strange to say, only 1,050 masons, bricklayers,
plasterers, and slaters have emigrated during the past year,
and in equal number, west and south. The demand
for masons at the Cape of Good Hope,
where there is abundance of good stone, is likely
to draw off large numbers during the pre-
sent season, but the increasing number of stone build-
ings in all the large towns of England may account for their
indisposition to seek employment elsewhere. I fear the
exodus of painters, paperhangers, plumbers, and glaziers
would hardly warrant the idea of the extravagant decora-
tions we hear so much about occasionally from abroad, nor
the extension of those domestic comforts which are really
our greatest luxuries now a days. As for the outpouring of
boot and shoemakers I could not divine the paucity of their
numbers until I learnt the price of soleing and heeling at
Melbourne was 145., and as a new pair of shoes can be had
for 155., truly the cobbler's occupation in Australia, if it
ever had a beginning, is gone. I was wondering why so
few bakers were tempted to expatriate themselves when I
remembered that " damper" was there what the Americans
call "an institution;" and no doubt the scarcity of tailors as
emigrants may be explained by the large export of ready-
made clothing and the indisposition of those who follow such
sedentary employments ever to go into the " bush."
Engineers seem alive to the opening which must necessarily
arise in such communities, for 300 in nearly equal numbers
between America and Australia have taken their departure,
while there seem to hive been great misgivings as to the
cultivation of native manufactures, for only two tallow
chandlers and soap makers ventured on the speculation.
Of the fair sex I find a goodly array of 11,000 of that most
equivocal occupation abroad,—viz., domestic servants, have
sought to " better their condition" by looking for places, 6,600
in Australia, and the rest to add to the arihy of indifferent
"helps" in America. Truly, glad was Ito find that of that
most patient, most honourable, most useful, and most ill-re-
quited of all professions—l mean governesses—only 20 were
found adventurous enough to seek an asylum in Australia,
while three had courage enough to trust their fortunes in
America. A good deal has been said and written about
the moral administration of emigrants during their voy-
age, but after a very anxious inquiry I have never been able
to find out anything to warrant the statement that syste-
matic profligacy is the rule rather than the exception.
Indeed, the large numbers who are usually congregated
together forbid the idea of gross improprieties, unless
we are prepared'to admit that human nature, under such
associations, sinks to a level with the brute creation. The
accusation has never been made but in a loose, general way,
and I believe it in the main to be entirely without founda-
tion. Another and most important section of this subject
is the machinery which regulates this vast movement, and
its history records a reformation involving more real com-
fort than any other social revolution of the present century.
The first Emigration Act of any value was that passed in
1835, wherein the 'tween decks were only required to be
51 feet high, a fact indicative of the .small size of vessels
then in use ; and if there were more than two tiers
of berths (an arrangement now • perfectly inadmis-
sible) the lowest were to be at least six inches from the
deck. Not a word was written about light or ventilation,
and a supply of provisions equal to 11b.• per day of bread or
biscuits or oatmeal, or 71b. of potatoes as an equivalent, was
the dietary of the poor emigrants, unless they brought sup-
plies of their own. The maximum penalty for any violation
of the Act was only 1"20. In those days there was no survey
as to the seaworthiness of the vessel, unless the collector of
customs was informed to the contrary, an event never
likely to take place unless from vindictiveness or jealousy,
and it was not until 1845 that competent surveyors were
appointed, whose examination of emigrant ships and their
equipments is now so stringent as to have obtained the most
perfect. confidence of the underwriters. Unfortunately, or
probably I might'say fortunately, I have not been able to
gain any access to any authentic records of the sickness,
mortality, or loss from shipwreck during the earlier efforts
at legislation, or I fear they would tell a sad story of misery
and disaster. But there was a time coming to test the total
inadequacy of the law as it then stood. There was a
famine in the land, and year after year the destruc-
tion of the potatoe crop spread despair and starvation
among the people of Ireland, who fled in myriads as
from the face of the avenging angel. They landed on
the quays of this town in thousands every day, and their
first impulse was to rush to the nearest ship bound to Ame-
rica, fondly hoping that one sight of its banner would,
like the brazen serpent in the wilderness, save them from
destruction. Every vessel was crowded with these
famished wretches, and amid an atmosphere which
became hourly more poisonous, a light which only served
to "make darkness visible," and a dietary barely suf-
ficient to keep the lamp of life flickering in the socket
arose that terrific scourge, the ship fever, which in its
merciless rage spread such havoc among those helpless crea-
tures so predisposed to disease. Happily, in thii emergency,
the Emigration Commissioners were "the right men in the
right place," their orders. were peremptory for increased
light and ventilation, issues of beef and pork, which were
then only permitted as substitutes for farinaceous food,
were made imperative, and by degrees the much dreaded
malady was subdued. In 1852 and 1855 more stringent
Acts were passed, and since those periods the improve-
ments of the emigration ship are in every respect so remark-
able that the mortality among the greatest numbers on the
longest voyage is less than among the same number inhabit-
ing the most salubrious spot in England. No doubt, the
immense change in the character of the ships in this service,
the tonnage of which has increased from 500 tons to
those of 1,000 to 2,500 with 'tween decks from 7 feet
to 8 feet high, instead of 6 feet 5, and ventilation
along their entire decks, has had a material influence
in producing this sanitary change, and making a voyage to
the antipodes a comparative luxury. But it gives me great
pleasure to testify to the valued labours of the emigration
officers who have carried out all these improvements.
Some of the circumlocution offices in London would stand
aghast if they were told that in less than 51 years 2,031
ships, counting 2,516,259 tons, had been despatched from
Liverpool, carrying 789,581 passengers, that their provi-
sions, medicines, and water had been all examined, their
hulls and rigging, berths, accommodation, and hospitals
surveyed, every complaint redressed, and in cases of Go-
vernment emigrants (not less than 100,000 in number)
every article in their kits examined by Captain Schomberg
and his staff, consisting of only 13 in number, at a cost of
about £2,000 per annum. Yet this is a fact, and one I feel
glad to record, differing, as it does, so widely from the
usual inefficiency of public establishments, and proving,
where least expected, that there is no rule without excep-
tion. But, after all, the grand consideration is—what are
the effects of this mighty exodus ? Well, let their deeds
show. It may be hard to trace the exact course of our
2,800,000 emigrants who have gone to America (more than
one-tenth of the population of the United States) amid,
the ceaseless workings of that great Republic, but no one
can deny them a fair share in its progress, but when we
measure this by its products, that of cotton alone being only
second in importance to our own wheat crop, from the
millions now dependent on its manufacture, can we doubt
for a moment that their industry has contributed in no
mean degree to the riches and happiness of their native
land ? The same process has been in action in British
America, and, although neither the soil nor climate has
been so congenial to the cultivation of many valu-
able crops as the sunny South, yet upwards of a mil-
lion of our fellow-countrymen have carried there the in-
domitable perseverance of our Anglo-Saxon race, cleared
the dense forests of the Canadas, and made them with their
inland seas tributary to their own comfort as well as the
wealth of Old England. But it ie to our Australian colo-
nies we must look if we would see the most extraordinary
development of emigration in the: history of the human
race. It seems like yesterday that New South Wales, then
only known as Botany Bay, was associated in our minds
with all the pains and penalties of a convict settlement.
Indeed, the first record of any one leaving England for
Sydney who did'nt "leave it for his country's good" was
only 33 years ago, and, with the exception of the four years
from 1848 to 1851, when an extraordinary excitement ex-
isted, and upwards of 78,000 emigrants sailed for Australia,
the increase of the population was very gradual, although
great pastoral prosperity was knpwn to exist, and a growing
inclination towards its shores wits: very perceptible. By this
time Victoria had emerged from its infancy, and Melbourne,
from its situation as the outlet of a large district teeming
with abundant pastures, was becoming a place of some im-
portance, while the rich ores of South Australia, together
with its fertile soil and fine climate, had also advanced it in
an almost equal ratio. Van Dieman's Land, now Tas-
mania, had then become the great receptacle for our con-
victs, and was thriving even with the aid of such labour,
overawed by a considerable gentry and middle population of
many years' growth, while New Zealand struggling against
an artificial system of emigration was comparatively for-
gotten. Such was the picture of the Australasian group
within the last seven years, their population scarcely ex-
ceeding 300,000 ; but great industry and contentment
reigned everywhere, and the young offshots from the
mother country were diligent in the patriarchal occupation
of shepherds or the more daring pursuits of the cattle and
horse-breeding stations. At length a rumour went abroad
that an adventurer from California (and the name of Har-
greaves should never be forgotten) had discovered gold in
the uplands of Victoria and Sydney. It ran wilder than
the bush-fire through the land, and reached the shores of
Great Britain 'as if carried on the wings of the hurricane.
The old country was staggered, but only for an instant.
" To the diggings" was the cry, 'and within 12 months
nearly 100,000 adyenturers had tempted a vOyage of 16,000