New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1853-11-26
TIE uoRnoRs OF EMIGRATION.

The awful mortality on board the ship Constellation
calls for rigid investigation by the public authorities
She left Liverpool on the 2st of October with nine
hundred and sixteen passengers she reached this port
Yesterday with only eigAEndred and SIXTEEN, and with
twenty OF these so i'll that they taken to the Hos
pial In thirtyfve days there were One-hundred
deaths among that miserable throng of human beings.
The traditional horrors of the slaverade and of the
middlepassage do not much exceed this catalogue of
death Where lies the fault Is it with the Captain
Is it with the owners of the ship Or is 1t only
another fruit of fatal syseml These are questions
which should be clearly answered by the agents OF the
law But il is not hazardous to assert that both Cap
tain and owners are in manner responsible for
the decease of these hundred persons the account OF
death is more against the system than against them
They may be guty,-though we trust they are not
but the system is more guilty than they The mode OF
crvWdng human beings Of both sexes cpd all ages pro-
mseuously like animals destined for market, between
the decks of emigrant ships without ventilation, with
out sufficient water, without proper food or beds, or
the necessary care amid filth and stenches accumuat-
ing from the beginning to the end of the voyage and
with the weakness caused by scanty diet and sea sick
ness 10 predispose and prepare for fever the whole
wretched mass-a this is disgrace TO our progress
i've civilization and to the nineteenth century, and il is
one too which this country has TO pay for dearly in
the end.
The sole argument to justify the system which pro-
Guces these horrors is that Of excessive chepness the
law of demand and supply and whatever other phrase
we use to veil the criminal selfshness and Indifference
TO others welfare, which is pernicous feature Of
our social state We told that people wish TO
the Atlantic for next to nothing and that they get ac
cordnely such transportation this Of the Constea
ton. II is impossible, assured, to fetch passen
gers from Liverpool to New York ct rates varying from
ten to twenty dollars head and provide them with
tie comforts the ordinary necessaries OF life
They pay the price Of cattle, and the fare of cattle
they must expect; and if now and then quarter or
an eighth of the whole number perish the way, il
is only misfortune which we may regret, but could
not have prevented Those who pay for places in the
cabin sail in safety and comfort those who 60 in the
steerage must Iun the risk of dying on the passage
going TO the hospital disabled invads on their arrival
Make emgrAnts willing to pay for separate and decent
rooms and the very teerage where they now swelter
and die will at be parttioned Off and converted
into such But as it IT, they get good as they pay
for ard have right TO complain, even if part OF
them reach America and the friends waiting 10
welcome them 10 a new country and a new home.
This argument settles nothing and excuses nothing;
II does not bring the dead to life il cures none of the
patients at the hospital One thing Improves however
and that H. that the law has not inieriered sufficiently
for the protection Of cmgrants II has limited the
number ship may carry aud has prescribed the guam.
ny VI Wster and other necessnres which mast be on
board for esery passenger These benevolent prosIs-
ions were adopted because experiences showed that
soneiling wa Necessary, sud non experience has
sDeV repeated the inodnfl demonstration The long
ist of tie dead mahed IL the register Of passengers
~ bossd NJ even snip ihat arrives aud aboys all tho
LsAa,.1 deaths II ite Constellation sanhst leave
dDsbi ~ an ,tssVaaLe nina a.s,s stringent
iee j. ,eqaijaS Tue sme'aat .isl eijay % least
~ DE-, s5ss " e 30 mssi b. bette. iedeea bei,a.
It'd a. l aow aDd haze iao,l u ibe a.eass ~ e.4s
ls,s saa u iesiiae ~ health ~ ile passage Vs..
tD,sDjy jl as, eesl mas Asa % dals 50 b.ias lLa
psessYi esieees " aesih, di.e..e s.a -Ihssias ca
Ne 4 eesA ,ag,e " baas lAgs.a1a psaRs i,sa ~