The Sun.
London, England, 1828-03-12 00:00:00

EMIGRATION.

(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)

The subject of Emigration which has been brought
under the consideration of the House of Commons
by Mr. WILMOT HORTON is one of great impor-
tance and difficulty, for though the general principle
may be clear, there are great doubts as to its appli-
cation. We may see the eril and its causes, but
still we may not be so sanguine, as Mr. HORTON as
to the practicability of remedyiug,or even of greatly
palliating it. There cannot, we think, be a doubt,
that the crowded community of this country groans
at present under the weight of its unemployed la-
bourers. We have more people than we can employ,
and the consequence is that the labouring classes are
suffering severe misery. This evil of over-popula-
tion, as we all know, is inherent in the very nature
of human society. Mankind have the power and
the tendency to multiply faster than food can be
provided for them; and any excess of this nature
appears in the well-known symptoms of want of
employment, and of general distress, its necessary
consequence. This is the case at present both in
England and Scotland, and still more in Ireland,
which is crowded with inhabitants who cannot find
work, and who overflow into the adjacent countries,
lowering the general rate of wages, and thus spread-
ing far and wide the contagion of poverty. All this
is true. There is unfortunately too clear evidence
of the miserable condition of the labouring classes
in Ireland; and also, though in a lesser degree, in
England and in Scotland ; and with regard to the
cause, it seems evidently to be an over-supply of
labour. In these circumstances Mr. HORTON pro-
poses to transport part of this superfluous labour.
from the markets of Great Britain and Ireland,
where it is not wanted, to the newly settled countries
of Canada, Nova Scotia, and Van Diemen's Land,
where it can scarcely be procured at any price. In
all newly settled countries there is plenty of work,
labour is scarce, wages high, and provisions cheap ;
a new colony is, in short, the Elysium of labourers.
From the evidence of the most respectable residents
in Canada, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, 8.7 e. it ap-
pears that these half. cultivated countries would easily
afford subsistence for an immense increase of in-
habitants ; and all those numerous emigrants who
have escaped from the starving and over-crowded
community of Ireland, to those happier shores, how-
ever destitute on their first have soon be-
come thriving settlers on their own properties. Ac-
cording to the most obvious maxims of trade and of
common sense, we transport the produce of labour
from the countries where it is superabundant to
those where it is scarce ; and, in applying this rule
to the labourer himself, we have this further en-
couragement, that we save a large class of our fel-
low-creatures from misery, and establish them in
comfort and independence. It is calculated that our
North American Colonies would easily absorb more
than from 30 to 50,000 persons every year; and
such a quantity of labour annually withdrawn from
the markets of this country would necessarily, it is
supposed, create a greater demand for the remainder;
it would thus increase the wages of the labouring
classes, and raise them in some degree at least from.
j their present depressed state.
That the advocates of Emigration so far proceed
on sound and correct views there can be no doubt ;
but the practical question for the consideration of
the Statesman is, whether such schemes can .be
carried on to such an extent as to afford any per-
ceptible or efficient relief. Such is the power of
population, that it far outstrips in its progress any
outletthat we can contrive for its overflowing stream;
and the doubt that we have is, whether in encou-
raging such plans we are not warring with the little
peddling weapon of an artificial policy, against the
irresistible course of nature. The drain which we
open for clearing away the surplus population is so
contemptible, compared with the prodigious supply
which is continually pouring in, that the question is
whether it can ever be perceived. It has been cal-
culated that any given quantity of people, if they
have plenty of food, will double in fifteen years; and
the history of our American Colonies offer us well-
authenticated examples of this rapid increase. Ap-
plying this rule to the population of Great Britain
and Ireland, which amounts to nearly 15 millions, it
will give an annual increase of one million. If we
had the means of subsistence, we have the power of
increasing, according to this ratio, a million an-
nually ; and we propose to withdraw annually from
this great reservoir of people about 30 or 40,000 in-
dividuals. It is superfluous to comment on this mise-
rable disproportion of the means to the end—or to
point out how little the market of labour in this
country can ever be relieved by such schemes.

But there is no doubt the Emigrants themselves
will be greatly benefited by their transference from
the over-crowded communities of this country, when
they cannot live by their labour, to Canada or Nova
Scotia, where they may have the certain means of
realizing an independence. And in this view we
are well warranted in making this experiment of po-
licy and benevolence. It is wisely proposed that
the advances to the Emigrants shall constitute a debt
against them, whieh they are to pay by instalments,
and according to the evidence of those who have
conducted Emigrations on a small scale, there is little
risk of loss in the adventure. The new settler, with
plenty of work and good wages, is soon enabled to
save enough out of his earnings to repay the expellees
of his transportation and settlement; and with care
and good management, therefore, some plan of Emi-
gration, to a certain extent, might certainly be car-
ried into effect, to the unspeakable benefit of num-
bers of human beings extremely destitute, and with-
out any loss either to the public or to individual.