The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-04-28
LECTURE UPON THE SUBJECT OF MIGRATION
DELIVERED BY CHR. RUMELIN,
BEFORE THE FARMERS AND MECHANICS
INSTITUTE, CHEVIoT, OHIO.
Corrected for the National Era.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: In addressing you
this evening upon the subject of migration,
do not intend to expatiate upon the great name
of Moses, Columbus, Penn, or any othel
celebrated heroes or leaders of extensive migra
ton expeditions; history has done ample justice
to their hOn0red names; nor do mean to draw
your attention to any particular period in his
tory--suoh as the migration of the lsraeliteS-
the great emigration In the middle ages-ol
such as the Spanish aud Portuguese or Eng
lsh emigrating expeditions, of later years
have set myself an humber task | wish t.
speak about, and for, those migrating millions
| whose names are written upon the sands of time
whose deeds and arts are not treasured up by
history and whose tolls, whose dangers, and
whose abors, are never sung by poets wish
to submit to your calm and quiet consideration
a few suggestions about those people, whose
starting places antiquaries conjecture about
who emigrate without plan; who travel with
out pleasure; and whom no biographies guide
to the country of their adoption. / wish to
speak of men, women, and children, to whom
their native countries bid farewell without re-
greet, and whom their adopted countries meet
with irown, because they bring with them
no money--nothing but hearts to feel, heads to
think, and bodies to labor.
History reports to us, along with some fabu-
lous Details about one of the earliest migrating
expeditions, that it arose in consequence of
prophecy made to certain king "that some
ShOelesS wanderer would arrive, and take from
him his kingdom" The prophecy became true
then, and it has been a truism to this hour
The shOeless wanderers havo erected splendid
empires; they have created wealth; they give
power; and in their path has followed national
greatness while the colonies of princes and of
kings live out a sickly existence The shoeess
are still wandering amidst jeers and gibes, and
insults Of all kinds from the Rhine to the Mis-
sissppi, the Danube to the Ohio, from tho Shan
non, the Seine and the Thames, to the Schuyl-
kill and the Hudson No governments protect
them no legislatures take care of them sci
ence has for them no longitude and no latitude
the star of liberty is to them the cloud by day.
and the pillar Of fire by night they follow no
leaders thoy have no heroes they arrive in
rags, and they find nothing here but life of
toll. Still their hives grow and prosper, while
the provinces planted by kings, aided, as they
may be, by science, wealth, and power, can
hardly be called permanent ct the Cape of
Good Hope, in South America, in Africa, on
tho Ganges or in East or West India Ii is
not blasphcmy to say, that the first God directs
the latter, man.
Whether it be true that all mankind have
sprung from one pair, or whether there are
several distinct races, and each with differ
ent origin, still, all will admit that, without
migration, much of the earth would have beer
q solitude; and that without it, the lakes anC
seas would have remained a desert waste o
waters"
We are told that God blessed man, and biz
him to multiply, and replenish tho earth, AM
subdue it, To follow this commandment, maj
must migrate; and hence we find, in almos
every human heart that desire. Why else ar
Journeys SO fascinating to US all 2 Why els
leaps within us responsive imagination, as
helpmate to colder calculations! Why does
Imagination ply its dangerous arts,
in aid direct
"to Reasons soberer promptngs? "
| The California fever in our land and th
American fever in Europe-what is it, but thu
general foyer which has chung to man eve
since he was driven from PARADISE He carrie
it with him from the furthest east to the fu
thest west, and it makes him wander all Owe
the earth, to refund that fairy land called Pa
adise.
No emigrant is entirely happy Toll ms
, curity, hard labor, and obloquy, are the accom-
panments Of On emigrants life. His memor
is ever returning to the scenes Of his childhoo
However beautiful the new country to which
emigrates, he will always have divided hea
, between the land of his birth and the land
, his adoption But the wandering spirit pr
walls over all this. 1t has peopod Asia Afric
: and Europe, and it is now peopling Amcric
I from the Delaware to the Columbia river, frol
I the Arctic circle to Cape Horn. Where is thel
a green spot on earth, or an unfrozen sea- thu
is safe from mans wandering footsteps! III
desire to roam is the master passion with tn
4 nomadic Indian his home is simple he fine
I his pleasures almost everywhere his god is
| spirit, whose voice he hears in every tempes
and whom he finds in every linoament of n,
lures face his religion builds no temples, an
no has no history the only things he rcgre
to leave are the graves of his fathers Civilize
E man is more settled in his habits; but still
even with him it needs but an incident to r,
, kindle the old migratory feeling, and to rendG
it an epidemic.
! All over the face of the earth are strewn til
f wrecks Of the grand conceptions of man, whe
he seemed to say to himself
Here let us stay
The ruins of Nineveh and the pyramids
Egypt-tale-bearers as they may be of io
! mer great people, eloquent rs they may be i
their silent grandeur-still failed to stay an
fix the people amidst whom they were built
neither could the Tower of Babel nor Solomon
, Temple, nor Mahsmct's Mecca, nor that prout
est and grandest of oil temples, the Church
st, Peter, fix permanently tho human famil
; Even Napoleon's gigantic genius failed to mai
Paris long the centre of civilization, science an
, enjoyment. The precept $50 we into ali I'll
world, still finds followers, and to the high an
the low there il, even in our day, as in the da,
. of Abraham, voice saying Get thee out
D thy country, aud from thy kindred, and fro
: thy fathers house unto land will sho
thoa ~