The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1854-10-25
(Rrou he Northern whls, Belfast, IrslAnd-)
Irish EmiaratiOn.


The spirit Of "Know-N Nottingham ',hs man.
ifested IL the complaints which some
parties arc disposed TO make Of the ex-
tent to which emigration from our shores
is still going. on, Notwithstanding the
sensible check which il has begun to re-
ceiVe. Those who set about devising
artificial or legislative means to check en-
igration, are about as foolish as those
who would devise artificial means to pro-
mote emigration. A natural emigration, to
however large On extent il may be carried,
can never be an evil to a country; il is, in
deed, an outlet. provided by natural laws for
the evils which might arise from over popu-
lation. IL the whole Of US, OF our own free
will, were 10 resolve to emigrate, in a body;
to some far distant land, where money was
plentiful, and the comforts which money
procures cheap, it would be difficult to find
any good reason to bewail such movement
As our places became vacant, they would
I be filled up by other races coming in our
place-by men not very inferior to our
selves-perhaps by men nearly as industri-
Gus, and energetic, and wise, and good, as
we ourselves are. The first great impulse
given to that emigration which, on account
OF its wholesale character, has obtained the
name of "the Exodus" was given by the
great famine Of l847. The famine was
terrible evil; the extensive emigration which
| followed it was, in great measure, reme-
dy for its after consequences. The first
and most urgent motive to emigration was
the fear Of want amongst many; to this
cause is to be added the honorable motive
of finding, in foreign fields, that remunera-
ton Cor labour which could not be found at
home; aud to this motive was added the de-
sire, on the part of numerous adventures
to acquire large fortune at the cost of q
few years. labour in the y-discovered
gold fields of the West. All these were
natural causes of emigration, and genera
good has resulted from them. The condi.
ton OF the emigrants was, in many cases
bettered; the condition of the home popu.
lation was necessarily improved. The We y
same causes which led the emigrants from
Ireland, in 1851, to amount to the enormou;
number of 254,537-the highest figure
: which it ever 'reached-caused it to fall, ir
the next year (l852,) to 224,S97; and, las
year, (l853,) to 1919 ,392-a decrease of S.,
, l45 below the rate of 1851. The comrar
ative prosperity of 1853 over 1851 and the
preceding years, from the baleful year o
lS47, is the real and natural cause of thu
, check given to emigration. The presen
year, of which nine months are now past
has been more prosperous than its prede
cessor, and the harvest, which is now near
: ly secured, promises an increase of well-be
, ing for the year 1855. We are, therefore
already in n condition to anticipate that
when the Emigration Statistics of 1854 art
made up, there will be found decided de
crease in the number of emgrants, as com
pared with the number of 1853; and with
out being so presumptuous as to make cal
culatons for too long period before us
the emigration tables for 1855, it may b.
: predicted, will show that the decrease in tht
l amount of emigration, which commenced il
1852, is now going on at a rapidly elera
ted ration. Already we are arrived at pc
rod in our history. when we can look bacl
) on the sulferings of the past with tina
amount of calmness and consolation whicl
, arises from the conviction that, in the dis
pensation of Providence which never fail
to mingle mercies with its judgments, NJ
unmiXed calamities are ever permitted t
fall on large bodies of the human race
that even war. and pestlence, and famine
have their mission of good wrapped up il
: their terrors; and that the comparativel,
, prosperous condition of our people in 1876;
is, in no small measure, owing to the calam
tiles of l847. The great lesson which man
kind ought to be taught by this considera
ton, and by the equally important truth
2 that there is no unmixed good in this world
is conveyed in the motto which the mos
charming of onr Irish writer's has affixed t
; the most delightful work of fiction in tn
English language-f that may be called fc
: ton which is SO full of profound truth
"sperate mseri; cavete felices.''