The Sun.
London, England, 1818-10-28 00:00:00

Amtrica

~ ..\-fiv l'orh, iJai 17, 1811.

DRAR --, Desire yntir friend, the painter
Rn'l glazicr, to put up ‘vi!lt any wisfottnite be-
fore he thildis of America ; as nothing can he so
hostile to Irish hopes a.nd feelings as the climate
and people of this country, nor is there any
place whet e life is so curtailed, or provisions
worse. I assure you, I would prefer a year in
NeWgAte to a year's residence among the scoun-
drel, and hungry, and rascally race .horn in Am.e-
rica.

" Yon world he surprised at the numbers of
devittne and unfortunate Irish %rho are fretting
and Mining to see Ireland again; but ‘vho never
can, as their moncy is gone, and employment
litre so scarce, except hboilring work, that they
never can hope to the means of escaping.
" Aly papers ‘Aill furnish you with a more to-.
larged idea of this country than my leiteis.
" Your's truly,
w. cox."

NutzP York, Sept, 10, 151 S.

" DEAR As there is one Newspaper now
in let land, honest and candid enough to give in-
sertion to communications of nt;ne on Atilt' ir.7,41
;:fr:irs, I send you an article of important hitt.-
for the use of artificers and mechanics, who
iniv he led away by the prevailing etttlitt:,insm
‘vitich impels my poor and clktressed countrymen
to enti,,:rate to the United States.

is the mune of a village in
the State of New Jersey, a tew hours' passage
front this city ; it is exclusively occupier) by mi-
nutacturers io the iron and cotton trades. The
ptoprietols are two brothers, who reside in New
York city. Those two men are opulent, and are
true Yankees ; they are cold-hearted, avaricious,
beggarly, and superstitions—the general moral
features of all born in this most inhospitable and
frightful region.
" The village of Ramapo is the property of
those twin rascals, and admirably suited for a very
extensive manufactming establishment ; it is di-
ided equally by a small river, oflorditig several
mill sites, and most advantageously placed to
sati•fy the spirit of monopoly and cruelty which
distinguishes the illiberal owners, as it is cut off'
from a,y communication %vitt) any liftman settle-
ment, by gloomy and impervious forest, more
than eight miles ‘vide, or deep, inhabited only by
cattle-snakes and wild cats, as numerous as ' the
budding leaves when Spring descends in showers ;'
for, I assure you, not one feathered creature ever
snouted a song, or made a nest, in this thick and
Clark wilderness. The songsters of the grove,
which set our Irish I .iet..:;es to music, and from our
truitful meadows disperse their harmony to the
domicil turrets of the sky, are unknown to this
gloomy region. it, by any chance, a bird is dis-
covered, he is as mute as the drab-coloured race
who reign over the towns and forests of this New
World.

" In a country where the birds are as sulky as
the men, and the flowers are as devoid of fragrance
a; the human species is of every social quality,
von may conceive how degraded is the artificer
who exchanged green Ireland for the sandy bar-
rens which cover America, when you understand
•vco part of the vile terms he must submit to, for
leave to spend his life in intense labour in the
village of Ram.ei►o. By the laws of Ramapo, the
two sexes arc to live separated, one occupying
each bank of the strean►, and to pass which no
person dare do, without a written per►uission
signed by one of the two proprietors.
" A large and extensive store, or retail-shop,
containing every species and quality of food, as of
raiment, and other necessaries of life, of which
the two brothers are principals—and from this
store, only, most the wretched inhabitant 3 take
slid) food and clothing, firewood, soap, candles,
and other articles for family use ; any infraction
of this regulation, by attempting to introduce si-
milar necessaries from the city of New York,
where such things may be had from 70 to 100 per
cent. cheaper anti better, is invariably punished
by immediate expulsion from the settlement,
which the miserable wretches consider exemplary
and lamentable, as they are well informed, front
t►ctusl experience, how difficult it is for any trades-
man to obtain subsistence, shelter, and fuel, in a
country where the artificer is worse paid titan in
any country in Europe, if ire is paid any part of
%ow he had previously stipulated for ; and as to
shelter, how precarious and expensive this is may

Abe guessed at, whet, it .s known, drat 'house Teo-
is five times as high in this city as in Dublin. It
has frequently come under toy own observation to
'witness forty of. my poor countrymen and women
actually living together in one room, not more
than eighteen feet square ; and when one 'consi-
ders such a multitude piled up together, in a climate
where the thermometer continues for -successive
weeks so high as 98 degrees, the duration of life,
or the enjoyment of existence, cannot form any
rational hopes of happiness, under disasters and.
misery almost without parallel.
" The Lords of Ramapo allow their depend-
. ent-s to have fresh beef once in each week ; the
opportunity occurs every Thursday, by killing a
cow or bullock, which is cut tip into four pound
pieces, and distributed to such as !nay venture op
the expence, which is, on an average '2.s. per
pound. At the same time that the proriT-
tors are conferring this favour, they accompany it
with insult, as any person who dares to prefer nice
joint to another, or one piece to another, is sore
to he disappointed, by getting the reverse of his
wishes, or none at all.
These slave; are lodged in wooden lints, the
rent of each 30 dollars a year ; but, on no ac-
count, is a chimney allowed to any of them ; the
iubstifute for the chimney, or fire-place, is an
iron stove, from which the smoke is conveyed by
iron tubes. This stove is formed of metal plates,
and divided into stories, one for the tire, the
others to contain the aliment to be baked or
stewed ; each stove is rented at eight dollats a-
, year—a pretty hearth-tax, where taxes are nut
;allowed by law ; yet every petty tyrant is a le-
gislator. Poultry, pigs, and other domestic ani-
mals ate prohibited, and spirituous Ininors also,
only so tar as one pint of ruin each week to each
which is furnished by the store, and, like
the othur good,, at such a Hee as the proptietot s
please to charge.
" There is cruelty annexed to this affectation of
sobriety ; its tie excessive heat of the weather and
incessant toil render spirituous liquors absolutely
necessary to support lite ; as drought is excited by
profuse perspiration, think 'mist be had ; and as
the water cannot be drank without risk of life, it
requires to be impregnated with some portion of
strong liquor.
" The great mortality, this summer, at all of
the public pimps, particularly among the Irish, by
incautiously &inking, slims the danger of raw
water. without something to eontroul its poison-
ous influence.

I u the season, farmers, from remote places,
are permitted to carry apples for sale into Ra-
mapo. 'lbis indulgence the wretched people avail
thenrselves of, as they are at liberty to have as
much as they Hke ; but on no account is the seller
allowed to take any money or reveal the price he
charges. Ile is paid by the proprietors, and the
.consumers remain in the dark as to the price un-
til the end of the year, or until their removal
from ihe factory.
" Thuogh mercy and charity are foreign to the
regulations of this dreadful establishr:ent, the
owners appear to be very solicitous for the salva-
tion of their slaves, as no Sunday passes that ore
of the partners dots not preach a sermon or two
in Ihe village, to which every person is sum-
moned to attend, under heavy penalties for dis-
obedience.

" I cowl(' give the names of mnny persons
pining and working in this miserable work-house,
who were very h'ely decent and respectable in
Ilo%lever, as proofs appear to be ne-
cessary to meet the infatuated prejudices which
suppose America a Paradise, and every man in it
a friend, I will venture to use the name of Mr.
John Walsh, one of the present inmates of Hs..
mapo, where be conducts the cotton works on the
usual terms, subject to all the rigour and religion
established by the proprietors.
" Mr. Walsh has the appearance, and possesses
the manners of a Gentleman, 111ld wilt well known
in Dublin as an eminent manufacturer in the Li-
berty, and subsequently on Lisher's-quay.
" His wife and children arrived front Dublin, a
few weeks ago, in the Neptune, Captain Field.—
Ile flattered himself that his tastily would be al-
lowed to console hint in his voluntary slavery ;
but the illusion was very plainly dismissed, as he
was told that neither his wife nor children would
he permitted to come within the limits of the sur-
rounding forest !—a sentence which confines this
poor family to New York city, where, it is to be
expected, Providence, or the pale deputy of hii
wrath in Autericm, the yellow fever, will include
this family in the thousands it sweeps away every
summer. " Your's &c.

WALTER COX."

GREENWICH, OcT. 24.—A pensioner of Green-
wich hospital went lest Monday to Charlton
Fair, and on his return to Greenwich,he, to his
great surprise, found in one of his coat pockets a
handsome silk purse, with a gilt clasp, containing
a draft for 30/ , payable three mouths after date,
drawn by a person at Woolwich. The pensioner
very properly immediately gave it up to the Lieu-
tenant-Governor 01 the Hospital, who has caused
the proper officer to-write to the party whose sig-
nature appears to the draft. It is conjectured
some pickpockets stole the purse in the fair, and
having secured what money it might have con-
tained, dropped it, with the draft, into the pen-
sioner's pocket, to prevent their being tonod
upon his own person : and there is not a doubt
that had the pickpocket been collared by the
loser, but he would have instantly pointed out the
pensioner as the thief, and would have declared
he saw him commit the robbery, which would
have been confirmed by the pnise, &c. being
found in his possession ; and dins might an ho-
ttest Man (rave been transported through the vil-
lainy of an adept at knavery.

A child, eleven months old, was drowned in
.the flat of a butter-firkin, containing only a few
inches of water, on 111ondny, in Call•mall-build-
iugs. The parents had put the child out of bed
early in the morning to play about the room,
and they were asleep when the accident happened.
A horse and gig yeste►day suddenly disappeared
near the entrance of Russell-mews, the. ground
under them giving way. They fella considerable
depth, but without serious injury. Tke cause of
this accident was the rotten state. of th.c subter-
ranean arching across the road.

•,..
DDLCI's,EX SC~SIO S.

CURIOUS CASE OF HONOUR.