The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-05-01
THE EUROPEAN WORLD.

The EUkUPEhN WURID,
The remarkable last trips Of the rival Steamers
Rapid increase Of Steam Commu nicatIon between
Europe and Ameriea-Emigration 90 America In
creasisg far beyond all previous anticIpation-n Is
being found cheaper to pay the expenses Of Irish
PauPers to America than to keep life In their bodies
at home-The large and valuable Emigration of
this season from Hesse and schelsewig Hoistein-
The undue proportion Of Women and Children
among the Irish coming over-They arrive
here scarcely alive, butt recuperating, 90 In
dusiriously to work-These who have been here
month vie with each other In assisting the helpless
as they arrive-They devote considerable share Of
their savings 10 the relief Of their distressed friends
mt home-An example worthy Of all praise-Russias
Germanic Confederation scheme apparently n fail
ure, and the consequence thereof-A probable new
Combination the Continent; its CONSEQUENTIAL
London joke-The penalty Of injustice-France, &c
New York, Apra 81, 1851.
| To the Editor ofthe National Era:
Our good people are hardly yet over Growing
about the unprecedented Qaso trips OF the Pacific,
from port to port-from Liverpool to New York
in nine days and twenty hours. The Asia, ar
irving subsequently, made the trip in some twen-
ty-four hours more than the time above men.
toned. On the whole, it strikes me that her time
proves her the better sailer of the two-the Pa
c6c having had the advantage throughout almost
her entire trip Of the recent northeastern gale
the longest and most severe blowing ct this sea-
son within the last twenty-five years.
Ii may not be amiss to mention that, within the
next month, eleven first class steamers are to
leave Atlantic IT, 81 ports for England. Some
1 Al L.
visters to the Worlds Fair. Yet at the rate at
which American and English ocean steam navi-
cation increases, in year or two we shall have
that number running regularly in the delightful
month of May. One of the great stimulants to
this description Of navigation is emigration to our
shores, increasing at this moment with rapidty
which sets sll previous calculation at defiance.
| From the end of the third week in March to the
end Of the third week Of this month some seven
teen thousand five hundred came into this port,
principally from miserable because much abused)
Ireland. The European press, as well as reliable
private letters, assure that this unprecedented
| avalanche is but "drop in the bucket"-full we
may look for this season.
The Irish landlords, after serious reflection
and careful calculation, have discovered that the
cheapest way of providing for the poor, with the
maintenance of whom their respective estates are
for the most part ohargeable, is to pay their
expenses to America, the British Government
sharing the cost with them On every day in
the week, consequently, hundreds or thousands
| of the most miserable looking beings are "dump-
ed, as it were, into our streets, to be provided
for, temporarily at least by this population,
this tax and trouble Of supporting the fleeing
poor of the old world with cheerful good will and
excellent temper.
Schleswig Holstein and Hesse Csssel are also
sending US their due share. Those coming from
that quarter usually possess more means, in pro-
portion to their numbers, than any others now
arriving from Europe. The recent political trou.
bles in Hesse and Schleswig Holstein furnish, Of
course, the key to their unprecedented desertion
now in course Of progress. Better foreign-born
citizens could not come among u.s. Sober indus
trious, thrifty, and intelligent they flee ON the
home of their fathers to avoid political persecu.
ton or In other words in search of the blessings
! of Civil and Religious Liberty won and bequeath-
ed to us by our sncestors-the brothers of their
fathers.
However troublesome the Irish paupers now
pouring in upon us may be, in time they are des.
tined to prove of great service to our country
They consist Of an undue proportion Of women
and children-ten, apparently, for every full
grown man among them Poor creatures or
landing, the majority of them are hardly able Il
stagger from the wharves to the depot for them
the Office of the Commissioners of Emigration
around which hundreds are constantly to be seen
lying on the sidewalks, like lazssroni in Naples
The history of the Irish in America, so intimately
connected with every public improvement requir-
| ing, in its construction, the exertion Of human
snews by thousands, from dawn till nightfall,
furnishes proof that the apparent universal men,
deity of those now coming among us is the result
of combination Of circumstances over which
they have had no control. | see no sights in this
wonderful city which so touch my heart az the
mournful professions Of these people, from the
Office in the Park to the almshouses, whittier they
are generally sent to recover their strength after
the voyage, in which they suffer almost az much
as Africans in SLAYER on the " middle passage
notwithstanding the efforts of both Governments
to the contrary. A very few weeks serves to re-
cuperate them, generally, and they are soon to be
seen industriously driving some casual employ.
ment In our streets. Young and old, they all, of
both sexes, appear eager to get at something by
which to earn an honest penny. The women and
female children turn the first dollar coming into
their hands into oranges apples, toothpcks, can
dies, &c.; their ragamufin boys theirs into Her
aids, Suns, and other newspapers while their
men carry our loads, lay our pavements, and dig
trenches for our gss-pipes IL is rare, indeed, to
see such troop passing from the Emigration
Office to a place Of shelter for the mighty as
have described above, without finding them at
tended by others Of their countrymen and women,
whose months sojourn among us is only to be
told by their healthier appearance; the latter
buying bread, fruit, &c, for the helpless Of the
cavalcade, at each green-grocer's in their line
line of march. There is poetry in this which
touches me to the heart. | cannot do the "pa-
thetic," so am unable to express on paper the
emotions with which this 80 constantly occurring
scene FIJI my own breast. Yet, | may write you
truthfully, that these two striking characteristics
Of the pauper Irish emigration 10 America brand,
as false-founded all the prejudices against the
race, which are 90 common in the interior Of our
country. A people more distinguished for indus
try and sympathy with distress active sympathy
for the misfortunes Of their hGethren-cannot
fail in the aggregate, to benefit greatly by CON-
ing among US. ! welcome them, every one of
them Would that We had twice a. many uncul-
-
Is, to offer them
True, the records Of our courts show that an