The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1853-06-06

ldiUlly u1cEe ID no cover laid for them
Ireland, they have crossed the ocean to find occu
| patton, shelter, and bread on a foreign soil,
The "Celtio Exodus" as it has been aptly
termed is to all the parties Immediately connected
| with it one of the most important events of the
day. To the emigrants themselves it may be re-
| garded as a passing from death to life II will
benefit Ireland by reducing a surplus population
and restoring sounder and juster relation Of
| capital and labor. 1t will benefit the laboring
| classes in England, where wages have been kepi
down to the starvation point by the struggle be.
| tween the native population and the inhabitants oil
the sister Ireland This benefit will extend from
England to ourselves, and will lessen the pressure
| OF that competition which labor is Obliged to
sustain with the ill paid Iabor of Europe While
the constant influx into America of stout and eff
| Gent hands supplies the greatest want in a new
country, when Is that OF labor, gives value tc
land, and facilitates the execution of every species
| OF private enterprise and public work.
am not lnsensible to the temporary inconve.
nences which are to be Offset against these advan-
tages on both sides of the water Much suffering
attends the emigrant there, his passage, and
after his arrival 1t is possible that the value o.
| our native labor may have been depressed by toe
sudden and extensive supply from abroad; and il
| Is certain that our asylums and almshouses are
crowded with foreign inmates, and that the re.
| sources of public and private bencvolence have
been heavily drawn upon. These are considerable
| evils, but they have perhaps been exaggerated.
1t must be remembered, in the first place. that
the immigration daily pouring in from Europe is
by no means pauper immigration. On the con.
trary, 1t Is already regarded with apprehension
abroad, as occasonlng great abstraction Of cap.
ualS 1t Is attended no doubt with an influx of
foreign pauperism. In reference TO this / believe
your system of public relief is better here in New
York than ours in Massachusetts, in which how
ever, we are making important changes 1t is
said that, owing to some defect in our system or
It's administration, We support more than our share
| of needy foreigners. They are sent in upon us
from other States. New York, as the greatest sea
| port, must be exposed to similar burden How
mn <i1
| by judicious Legislation; and in the meantime
| Massachusetts, and New York might do a much
worse thing, with portion of their surplus mea ans
| than iced the hungry clothe the naked, give a
home to the stranger and kinde the spark OF rea-
son IN the mind OF the poor foreign lunatc; even
| though that lunatc may have been. las am
| ashamed for the credit of humanity to say has
happened) set on shore in the night from coast
ing vessel, and found in the morning in the fields
| half dead with cold, and hunger, and fright
| But you say, ''They foreigners" Well, do
| we owe no duties to foreigners? What was the
founder OF Virginia when the poor Indian girl
threw herself between him and the war club of her
father? What were the Pilgrim Fathers when the
| friendly savage-if We must call him sonnet them
| with the salutation of "Welcome, Engishmen?''
"Ihey are foreigners''-and suppose thew are
| Was not the country all but ready a year or two
| ago to plunge into a conflict with the military
despotsms of the east of Europe in order to redress
the wrongs OF the oppressed races who feed their
Hooks on the slopes of the Carpathians, and pas
ture their herds upon the tributaries of the Danube;
and do we talk of the hardship of relieving desti.
tute foreigners, whom the hand of G od had guided
across the ceanand conducted to our doors?
am not Indifferent to the increase of the public
burdens; but the time has been when have felt a
| nttie proud OF the vast sums paid in the United
States for the relief of poor emf grants from Europe
| II Is an annual sum, have no doubt equal to the
| interest on the foreign debt of the States which
| have repudiatsd their obligations When was in
London, few years ago, received letter from
| one OF the Interior counties of England, telling me
| that they had in their house of correction an
American seaman, Cor person who pretended to
| be- who was both pauper and rogue. They were
DESTROYS of being rid of him, and kindly offered to
place him at my disposal. Although he did not bid
fair to be very valuable acquisition, wrote back
That he mlg.t be sent to London, where he could
| be shipped by the American consul to the United
States. | ventured to add the suggestion that if
her majesty's minister at Washington were applied
to in similar way by the overseers of the poor and
wardens OF the prisons in the United States, he
would be pretty busily engaged. But really felt
pleased, at time when my own little State OF
Massachusetts, was assisting from ten to twelve
thousand destitute British subjects annually, to be
able to relieve the Brish empire of the only Anne
| rican pauper CHARTERED upon it.
Mr. President and gentlemen, my humble tale
is told Its first incident is Columbus, begging
bread for his child at the gate of a convent; its
last hnds you the stewards of this immense abun-
dance, the almoners of this more than imperial
charity, providing employment and food for starv-
ing nations, and home for fugitive races.
y In an instructive article relative to the German
emigration in Otto Hlbner's Jahrbuch fur Folks
tUrfhschGff und Statistic, the numbers who emf
grated from Germany from 1916 to 1851, inclusive
are estimated to have amounted to an annual ave.
rage of SO, $50, and the amount of capital alb.
straced by them from the country to an average
OF 1880 1893 riX dollars (about fifteen miliont
Spanish dollars) per annum.