The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-11
The New Better Than the Old.

The New Better Than the Old.
The remark of MAcAULAY, quoted by a
correspondent few days ago, that no one
who has an accurate knowledge of the past
will take desponding view of the pres
ent, seems to be justified by the obser-
vations made and recorded by the Rev.
JOHN MILLER in the New York Of 1895, in
book recently reviewed by us. That
English clergyman found that drunken
ness prevailed, that the moral tone OF
the community was desperately low,
that marriage was lightly regarded and
divorces We're frequent.
As New York had at that time popu-
lation of only about 1000 souls, the wick
edness must have been proportionately
very great and frequent to produce so
sad an impression of general depravity
on the English clergyman. At later
period Dr. TIMOTHY DWIGHT, travelling
from Connecticut, recorded somewhat
similar impressions of the social condi-
ton of New York. But New England
itself was not free from the same re-
proach. In the second generation of
the Puritan settlers there was much
moral decadence, and when WHITEFIELD
visited New England toward the middle
Of the eighteenth century he was ap-
palled by the depth and extent of it.
We print to-day letter from clergy
man, which is pertinent as suggesting
an explanation of these social condi-
tons. In it he refers to a deplorable
episode Of our early history, or the
white servitude of the "redemptioners,'
so-called, and "indentured servants
He recalls remarks made in Congress
in May, 1850, by JAMES JACKSON, Rep
resentative from Georgia, when a
motion was made to insert in the Impost
bill duty of $40 each on the i'm
portaton of slaves. If ever such mo-
ton comes forward again, said Repre-
sentative JACKSON, Al hope it will COM
prehend the white slaves as well as the
black; the white slaves imported from
all the jails of Europe Wretches con-
victed of the most fragrant crimes, he
went on, ARE brought here and sold
without any duty whatever"
Two years afterward, during a debate
on the Rule of Naturalization bill, he
spoke of the grievous injury done to the
good name of the new country by the
common class of Migrants, paupers and
other outcasts from Europe, and advo-
Gated that before being admitted to
American citizenship something more
than mere residence among us be re-
quired. The immigrant, said the Georgia
Representative, ought to pass some
time in a state of probation and at the
end of the time be able to bring testi-
monais of proper and decent behavior;
and he suggested that power might be
vested in the grand jury or district courts
"to determine on the character of the
man, as they should find it,
The subject of the white servitude"
in this country, to which JACKSON re-
ferred, is very interesting and very sig
nifcant, and it deserves much more
thorough treatment than it has yet re-
ceived. A late discussion of this system
of white bondage, or redemption servi-
tude" in the American Colonies in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
is in a paper read before the Monmouth
County Historical Association, last Octo-
Der, by Mr. ALFRED M. HEsToN of Allan
tic City. 1t is very creditable histori-
cal study from which We gather some
facts that will probably be novel to
very many people.
"Redemptioners" were persons whose
services were bought for stipulated
number of years, seldom more than
seven years. The system was intro
duced by the English. These white bond
servants were increased by criminals,
vagabonds and other obnoxious persons
transported by order of the English
courts subsequent to 1918 and by per-
sons, usually children, kidnapped in the
streets Of London and Liverpool and sold
by ship captains to American planters
The demand for servants here was lr-
gent, and, accordingly, the trade be-
came lucrative for they could be trans
ported Tor from SIX TO eight pounds and
sold for from forty to sixty pounds
English spectators consigned cargoes
of them to American merchants on n
venture, SO bad lot of people were
sent over that DR.. JOHNSON, in l760
spoke cDntemptuously Of Americans as
"a race of convcts who ought to be
content with anything we may allow
them, short of hanging" According
to a note in the last edition of Boswell
"convicts were sent tO nine OF the Ameri-
can settlements, and "Dr. LANG, after
comparing various estimates, concluded
that the number sent might be about
So, 900 altogether" The American His
torical Register represents BANCROFT
ms saying, IL 1887, that, in speaking Of