The Sun.
London, England, 1827-05-22 00:00:00

EMIGRATION.

Mr. MAXWELL wished to put a question on the sub-
ject of the intentions of Government with respect to the
aid they were willing to afford to persons desirous of Emi-
grating. A number of petitions had been presentNl to
the House on this subject from Scotland, and it was most
important ihat they should know the opinion of his Ma-
jesty's Ministers on this most important question.

Mr. CANNING assured the Hon. Member that the
subject to which he alluded had occupied very much the
attention of His Majesty's Government, as well as of com-
mittees of that House; and if the conclusion to which they
had come, was (as he was afraid it would prove) not en-
couraging for the views of some of the constituents of the
Hon. Member, yet it was one which, upon the whole, the
public interests imperatively demanded. The case upon
this question stood thus :—ln consequence of the inquiries
of the committee which sat upon the subject of emigration,
some cases of very peculiar distress and suffering in
certain parts of England and Scotland were disclosed,
which, from their evident emergency, pressed for sepa-
rate and immediate consideration. The very same cases
had struck the attention of the committee of gentlemen
which had for some time, with so much credit to them-
selves and advantage to their country, sat in the city of
London to relieve distress in the manufacturing districts.
These gentlemen communicated on the subject with the
Parliamentary Committee ; and the substance of their pro-
position was, that they would advance, out of the subscrip-
tion fat ds placed at their disposal, a certain sum, to faci-
litate the emigration of some classes in particular districts
of the country, provided that double the amount of that
sum were granted by Government in aid of the same be-
nevolent purpose. The result of this communicaion from
the London Committee to that which sat up stairs, was
transmitted by the latter to Government, accompanied by
an approving expression of opinion, that it should be car- '
ried into effect. This reference to Government took place
between one and two months ago, and although there was
no circumstance at the time which ought to have actually
excluded its consideration, yet there were some circum-
stances which operated to prevent him from taking a lead
in its further prosecution at the period to which he
alluded. During this interval, he was happy to say, that
communications had passed from all the parties who were
principally interested in the promotion of the plan, an-
nouncing a greater degree of employment for those who
had little or none before, and that there was a sensible
and growing improvement in the trade of those classes
for whose relief the emigration expedielt bad been sug-
gested : so much so, indeed, that though their wages were
not at present very high, there were yet few, if any, work-
men actually out of employment.—(Hear, hear. )—The ac-
counts, in fact, stated, that no willing hands were out of
work; and similar reports had been received by the dif-
ferent Committees. It was, under these improved cirs
cmnstances, gratifying to find that the favourers of the
original plan were not called upon to prosecute their first
intention; and when he had had the honour this morning
of meeting some of the gentlemen who were engaged in
the recommendation which had been transmitted to Go-
vernment, he put to them this question—" If you were
called upon now, with the light of this change of circum-
stances, and with the conviction (which all throughout
had expressed) of the sensible inconvenience of such a
precedent for the application of public money, would you
be disposed to repeat the recommendation which under the
pressing circumstances of the moment, you transmitted to
the Government ?" Their answer was, "No : it was
only under that pressing emergency we expressed the ra
commendation."—(Hear, hear.)—lt was clear that in
principle the precedent would have been full of evil, and
that it could have been alone justified by the peculiar apo-

logy for a deviation from sound policy which the parti-
cular circumstances disclosed.—(Hear, hear.)—And be
was sure that the House would think the Government
bad but one duty to perform at this moment, and that
was to adhere to the sound principle itself, which most
fortunately it was not necessary now to infringe, from
the removal of an imperative pressure of an emergency
which could alone have sanctioned the deviatien.—(Hear,
hear.)--Having adverted to the labours of the Committee,
it was only justice to those who composed it, to say, that
both in what they had brought to light, and what they
bad kept from it, they had performed a signal service to
their country. By the confidence which they had justly
acquired, and by the calm and deliberate manner in which
they had conducted the inquiry, they had aided materially
in the preservation of a state of tranquillity among the suf-
fering classes, the value of which, both for these labouring
people themselves and for the public at large, could only
be appreciated by those who recollected the violence and
mischief which had characterized other times, when dis-
tresses had unfortunately existed.—(Hear, hear.)—He had
already explained the intentions of the Government. They
were not prepared to promote the plan which had been
submitted to them. It was a great consolation for them
to know that the parties by whom it had been suggested
had now avowed, that under the present gratifying im-
provement of trade, they would not themselves have made
it, because the severe urgency of the distress of some
classes, which overbore for the moment the safer principle,
had happily passed away.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. Alderman WAITHMAN inquired what had been
done with a petition presented from persons desirous of
emigrating to Colombia?
Mr. W. NORTON said it had been referred to the
Emigration Committee.
Mr. WOOD wished it to be understood that though the
distress in the Commercial and Manufacturing districts had
been alleviated, it was not removed. In act, whilst the
currency continued in its present state, the Manufacturing
districts would be subject to a kind of intermitting fever,
and he hoped the Emigration Committee would continue
its labours.
Mr. CANNING explained.
Mr. BARING was one of the Relief Committee. A
case of urgent distress had been brought before them, and
though averse to the general principle of granting money
for the relief of local grievances, they thought they could
not do better than recommend that a small suns should be
granted, to enable the individuals that were suffering so
much at home to emigrate. The Committee had been
unanimous on the subject, but he admitted that, if the
question was now brought before them, the condition of
the persons referred to having so much improved, he was
quite certain the Committee would not have suggested any
such grant.
Mr. PHILLIPS was also on the Relief Committee, and
though generally averse to the principle of holding out
bounties for emigration, which for his own part he deemed
quite :unnecessary, yet a case of such extreme distress had
been pioved to the Committee, that he (Mr. P.) had given
his vote for a recommendation to Government to grant

50,0001.
Mr. W. HORTON said he held in his hand a petition
from 9,000 persons, inhabitants of Manchester and its
neighbourhood, of almost every trade. He believed, in-
deed, that it included the names of persons engaged in 30
different trades. The petition was accompanied by a letter
from the Secretary of the Committee, in which he stated
that the market for goods 'of that day had been the best

House—that the pecuniary relief they proposed to afford to
those who were disposed to emigrate, was intended solely
for a particular description of persons, the hand-loom
weavers, and founded upon the peculiarity and urgency of
their particular case. Now, as it appeared that the
peculiarity of the rase and urgency of distress had
ceased, the Committee adopted the course which has
been already explained. The report of the whole
proceeding would, he hoped, be very soon in a state
to be laid on the table of that House; and it would be
then seen that the money of the country had been in no
single instance idly expended.
Mr. Alderman WAITHMAN complained that his ques-
tion had not yet been answered. He wished to know why
that petition, which had been for four or five months in
the Right Hon. Gentleman's (Mr. Wynn's) hands, was not
yet presented to the House ?
Mr. C. W. WYNN said, there was nothing which made
it imperative in him to present it; and the only answer he
could give was, that the petition complained of a grievance
which it was not in the power of the House to remedy.
These persons complained that they had emigrated, and
they found themselves mistaken in the hopes which they
bad formed of success; and he tiad handed it to his Friend
the Under Secretary for the Home Department, in order
that its statements might be examined by the Emigration
Committee. That course lie considered the best adapted
to the objects of the petitioners.
The petition was then read, and after a few words from
Mr. MAXWELL, ordered to be printed.