The Sun.
London, England, 1827-02-16 00:00:00

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crease, from 'year to s'ear, atitiiithe: smiles Of a contented family.
His children, instead of being Curses, were blessings, and sup-
plied him with labour, as his means enlarged, and the neces-
sity for assistance increased. He began to see his way to in-
dependence, if not to wealth, and this delightful •change was
produced by. abandoning a country in which not one ray of hope
beamed upon him, to illuminate the dreary darkness of his
course. The Committee, in their Report, bad not thought it
necessary to enter into mtich detail on the mode in which emi-
gration ought to be carried into effect. They had been required
rather to sanction a principle than to settle arrangements, and it
was left to Government and to Parliament to decide inwhat way the
principle should be carried in toeffect. It was for the House to con-
eider whether the expense necessarily incurred, in the outset, could be
repaid, so as ultimately to add nothing to the claims upon the national
purse. No man could venture to predieatethatthe whole would be re-
turned. There was no doubt that much of the money advanced
would find its way back to this country: The settler was only
called upon to reimburse the state, as his wealth and his means
augmented, and there seemed no reason in the world why this com-
paratively trifling out-lay should not be incurred, for the sake of
producing so much happiness, and, in the end, increasing the
prosperity and resources of the whole empire. He had never
heard from any quarter an objection to the principle of emi-
gration, as applicable to the peculiar circumstances of the
country, excepting as it was founded upon the supposition that
the expence was beyond any conceivable advantage. He took
it for granted, that no man could deny that the remuneration
for labour in Ireland was far below the wants of the labourer--
that the effect of such a state of things was, in the end, to
equalize poverty, and to spread it like a blasting mildew over
the whole face of the country. If any Irian held out a hope
that schemes of forced capital, of 'colonization at home on land's
of inferior fertility, would remedy the evil, he thought he could
promise, that before the Committee concluded its labours, it
would be conclusively proved that such a hope was worse than
&Has-ions. The only effect of such a course would be to continue
the worst characteristics of that which it was intended to improve
—that of splitting farms and the cottage system in Ireland ; and
at no very distant period the evils, of which we had now to corn-
plain, would be aggravated by the very experiment to remedy
them. He now begged to call the attention of the House to the
case as it related to England : he wished to establish by evi-
dence, before the Committee, that emigration might be car-
ried on from England without any outlay of public money,
' and that parishes would be induced to pay such a proportion
of the charge as would be sufficient for the purpose, wheat
combined with the unequivocal means the emigrants them-
selves could furnish. He would mention a case, which sup-
posed the re-payment of all the money advanced—that of the
parish of Shipley, in Sussex, with which he had been furnished by
the Hononrable Member for that county. If the House attende'd
to the details respecting this single parish, he should be able, with
more effect, to argue the question in its general application to tlee
rest of the empire. The rental of the parish of Shipley wag two
thousand five hundred and ninety-nine pounds, and the poor
rate 2,314/. If he were asked why the poor rate amount-
ed to a sum so near the whole rental, ha should reply, that
high prices during the war had brought thither a population
which now must be maintained. The paupers were tethered
there by the operation of the Poor Laws, and especially of those
which related to settlements. Forty-nine cottages were unable to
pay rates at all, and sixty-seven able bodied labourers, precisely
such as it was desirable to expect to make their fortunes in North
America, were employed in digging and breaking atones for the
roads, not because their labour was advantageous, but because,
it was better to employ them in this way than to allow them to
remain in idleness. Forty-seven persons, unable to undergo bard
work, were maintained in their own houses, and 70 were kept in
the poor-house. There were 233 regular labourers whom every
landholder in the parish was obliged in turn to employ in the
following ratio :—the farmer who rented good land to the amount
of 101., or had land to the amount of 11/. or 12/. a year, was
compelled to give work to one man, and in proportion upwards, as
the rent increased, the occupier of land worth 100/. a year having
nine labourers to provide with employment. Six men were, in fact,
as many as he wanted, so that three were absolutely superfluous.
The expellee of 233 labourers at 9s. each per week, was 5,432/.,
from which 33 per cent., or 1 Cl7l. WaS to he deducted for unneces-
sary labour. The addition of the pee.. roe made a total expense of
4,1311. ; and deducting the rental he had already mentioned, the
expense beyond that rental was 1,638/. Why was not this surplus
labour removed from the parish of Shipley ? Solely because
these was no demand fr,r their labour elsewhere ; and unless emi-
gration were a remeq for the evil, be knew no other. In
order to promote this object, those who paid the rates were
were willing to furnish 50/. out of the 100/. necessary to carry
each man to Canada, and to furnish him with the means of
support-67 labourers were upon forced employment, and 77
were engaged upon work which was not required, making toge-
ther 144 men. lie would take the calculation at 100 able-bodied.
labourers, and no man could contemplate the removal of the
sick and infirm. The annual expense of each labourer was esti-
mated at 251.—consequently the charge for 100 would be 2,5001.
as long as they remained in the parish. What pose:hie objection
could there be to reduce this expense as far as was consistent
with placing the emigrants in a situation to conquer their early
difficulties—for the House ought to look at the MiIIi'MPJYI
of capital capable of effecting this object. The charge of emi-
gration would be 10,000/., of which the parish was willing to
pay half, and 5000/. could be raised by annuity for ten year's, at
6471. Thus the poor-rate for 100/., now amounting to about
2,500/. would instantly be reduced to 6471., a diminution of nos
less than 75 per cent. This statement he should be prepared Sc.
lay, and prove before the Committee ; and when such facts as
these became generally known among agriculturists, they would
be immediately sensible of the great advantage of lending their
aid to promote Emigration. What would be the effect in Ire-
land ? Those who had already settled so touch to their satisfiw-
tion in Upper Canada, had already written to their friends de-
scribing the contrast of their situation, and using all incen-
tives to induce others to come out and partake their ad-
vantages. The correspondence between Mr. Robiuson and
the Emigrants of 1823 and 1825, proved how well eon- '
tented they were in their new situation, and how heartily
they congratulated themselves on the change. In his replies.
that Gentleman had required them to forget the past, and to
obey the laws, and there seemed no chance that they would be
inattentive to his recommendation. Any man, therefore, who
did not approve of emigration in the present circumstances of
the country, must view facts with eyes very different from those
with which he contemplated them. It was an advantage ate
tenclant upon emigration to countries like Canada, that every
succeeding class of einigrants presented a market for the Con-
sumption of the products, whether of agriculture or manufac-
tures, supplied by those who preceded them, thereby at once
receiving and conferring advantages ; and when be considered
the matter in that light, he could not, for the life of him un-
derstand how the argument they heard repeated so often could
be supported—that a limited number of Colonists might per-
chance be successful, but that a greater number must certainly
fail. There was another mistake into which those fell who ar-
pod upon the propriety of emigration, and that was when they
tfgif.erinthinecreased
insisted upon the advantages resulting from the liberal employ_
improve.
ment of capital. Now, so far from the increase of capital carry-
ingßra quitecketilitiew
iccoignetrlavrasy effect. etchte.
greatesttrpn
with it a demand for labour as a necessary consequence, it
labour is so cheap in
be
had
in
andE n g
thatlEngland."
d t," n' e.
iltm:1;11tilnr: tcul3m,bnioceelec.:Tte rtehl•eekesi notwithstandingfrequentlyaisi.il(l:ife'le)ti:l(ro:cafilt:llll:l;ecr:ti of labour, whether from agricul-
ture or manufactures, is dearer than it mayyto
The reason be gives for that is,siotilfvl.ae
any
n y there
able i
products a
irm.n deficiency of im-
plements, suds as machinery for manufacture, and hoes, hatrOws,
and ploughs for agriculture, the latter being in every respect of
the worst material and most clumsy construction. But did not
Ihanatufpa:Lploreitr-
the House see what would be the consequence of any
merit in machinery,
aosreilirsenharainuis•
appli-
cation of capital ? "Why, that the demand for labour would be in an exact ratio with the improvement,
from time use of improved tools or machinery, so lit: t
quantity,proportion
or nas
gratert hey fougnidi a
ntltsict7,
tioo ould the demand for labour by the hand e diminished.
capital, so long as the population continued
effect might be rather to exaggerate than d' to
increase,'
its
those who enlarged upon the effect of capitalniminish
the
evil;
and
.
If, therefore, there w
would find, that in .a country placed in the situation that Ireland was, emigration could
alone prove an adequate relief. Thee.`
from the manufacturers of Gl.s had been petitions presented
of the moat appalling distress and its vicinity, complaining
feared hut too strongly . ; and representing in terms, he
borne out by the facts, the hopeless and
irremediable condition oft portion of the artisans and
manufacturing Population agreathe
of that portion of Scotland. In
be
Committee he was
sthen about to propose, evidence would_
heard, too, from them • and the House would, from the Re-
port,' be enabled to see how' far their statement's were upheld by
the proofs, and how
it
mi,htbe rudeotto
listen to their
prayers for assistance to leave a compory where they could no
longer earn the means of existence. They ought, however, to
remember, that the habits necessarily engendered by the life of
a manufacturer or artisan were not so favourable to their po..
sensor, upon emigration, as if he had been reared In the know-
ledge of agriculture; and it would be for tl c Committee to see
how far the principle of emigration could be safely carried into
effect with a manufacturing population. The principle /night -
3an(l
application ploughs,