The Exodus: Emigration and the Great Famine 9781138200777, 9781138200975, 9781315513898, 9781315513492

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THE HISTORY OF THE IRISH FAMINE

THE HISTORY OF THE IRISH FAMINE Edited by Christine Kinealy, Gerard Moran and Jason King Volume IV The Exodus: Emigration and the Great Famine Edited by Gerard Moran

First published 2019 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2019 selection and editorial matter, Christine Kinealy, Gerard Moran and Jason King; individual owners retain copyright in their own material. The right of Christine Kinealy, Gerard Moran and Jason King to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-1-138-20077-7 (set) ISBN: 978-1-138-20097-5 (volume IV) eISBN: 978-1-315-51389-8 (set) eISBN: 978-1-315-51349-2 (volume IV) Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC

CONTENTS

Introduction1 PART I

The exodus

21

  1 Petition from Margaret Cassidy (a widow) to W.S. Trench (Lord Shirley’s agent), dated Apr. 1846 (PRO,NI, Shirley Papers, D3531/A), that the landlord would pay the passage fare of her son to North America as she does not have the resources. Has five acre farm at Fath, Co. Monaghan, but has lost her potato crop

23

  2 Report from Belmullet, Co. Mayo of emigrants leaving on the Unity bound for North America citing the reasons they were leaving including the failure of the potato crop and the issue of rent arrears payments, Mayo Telegraph, 22 April 1846

25

  3 Petition from the labourers from the Rattibarren barony, Co. Sligo to the Government outlining their poverty and asking for aid to be sent to North America, promising to repay any loans they received. Appendix to Minutes taken before the Select Committee of the House of Lords on Colonisation, HC 1847 (737 – ii) vi, p. 197

27

  4 Letter of James Prendergast in Milltown, Co. Kerry to his son, Thomas, in Boston, 18 Jun. 1848, thanking him and his siblings for remittances they were sending back to help the family survive. Shelly Barber (ed), The Prendergast Letters: Correspondence from Famine-Era Ireland, 1840–1850 (Amherst & Boston, 2006), pp 130–32

29

v

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  5 Newspaper account of the large-scale emigration from Ireland in 1849 and the opportunities that exist in the United States for emigrants. London Times, January 1849

31

  6 Labourers in Co. Mayo contribute to a general fund and every two weeks names were selected and the passage fares provided for a labourer and his family to emigrate to North America. Galway Mercury, 17 April 1852

34

  7 Report of thirty-two former members of the Achill Church Mission Society Colony who were leaving for North America because of the increased hostility from former friends and relations, and greater threats from a rejuvenated Catholic Church after the Great Famine. Galway Vindicator, 17 May 1854

35

  8 Report from County Kerry of people emigrating who were able to pay their rent, but the landlords accepted a higher payment, forcing the families to leave. Kerry Examiner, 27 June, 1854

37

PART II

Support for emigration as a solution to famine

39

  9 Pamphlet from John Robert Godley and signed by 83 Irish noblemen calling on the British Prime Minister, Lord John Russell, to implement a scheme of colonization of pauper Irish families to North America

41

10 Correspondence between Adam Ferrie and Joseph Kincaid in relation to emigrants that were sent out from Lord Palmerston’s estate from Co. Sligo to Quebec in 1847. Papers relative to emigration to the British provinces in North America, Hc 1847–8 (932), xlvii, pp 35, 42

69

11 Correspondence and report in relation to Irish emigrants to New Brunswick in 1847. Papers relative to the emigration to the British provinces in North America, HC 1847–8 (932), xlvii, pp 49–55

85

12 Suggestions as to how emigration should be put in place, especially that of tenants who were assisted by their landlords. Limerick Reporter, 12 September 1848

97

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13 Attempts to encourage emigration by landowners and the gentry, and in particular to influence government officials, especially after 1847

99

14 Meeting in Cavan in September, 1849 to promote emigration to Australia, Nation, 8 September 1849

105

15 Speech by Lord Monteagle in the House of Lords on the emigration provisions in the Poor Relief (Ireland) Bill. Hansard, House of Lords Debates, vol. 107 (dated 13 July, 1849), cc 312–3

108

16 Suggestions to intending emigrants to North America from Thomas D’Arcy McGee. Armagh Guardian, 23 April  1849

111

17 Attempts to encourage the Irish to emigrate to Peru, Sligo Champion, 27 October, 1851

113

18 Attempts to encourage Irish paupers to emigrate to Argentina. Limerick Reporter and Tipperary Vindicator, 4 Mar 1850

115

19 Correspondence between R.A. Duncan, Poor Law Inspector for unions in County Limerick, and A.C. Buchanan, Emigration Agent in Quebec, in relation to workhouse pauper inmates sent to Canada in 1852. Papers relative to emigration to the North American colonies, HC 1852–3 (1650), lxciii, pp 23–8

117

PART III

Attitude in the colonies to the emigration

127

20 Evidence of Lt Col. Edward MacArthur to the Select Committee on Colonization from Ireland that the sending of Irish workhouse women to Australia would be a great benefit to the colony as there was a major shortage of girls as marriage partners. Minutes taken before the Select Committee of the House of Lords on Colonisation, HC 1847 (737 – ii) vi, pp 310–324

129

21 Sir Randolph Routh to Sir Charles Trevelyan objecting to the proposal that two million people be sent from Ireland to Canada over a two year period, arguing that the colony vii

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was not in a position to absorb such numbers. Appendix to Minutes before the Select Committee on Colonization from Ireland, HC 1847 (737-II), pp 34–5

134

22 Report from the Emigration Agent at St John’s, New Brunswick on the tenants sent out by Sir Robert Gore Booth from his Co. Sligo estate on the Aeolus and the Yeoman. Papers relative to emigration to the British provinces in North America, HC 1847–8 (932), xlvii, p 57

137

PART IV

Experiences of the emigrants on the Atlantic crossing

139

23 Letter of Rev. Bernard McGauran to Archbishop Joseph Signay outlining the condition of the Irish Famine emigrants who arrived at Grosse Isle in May 1847. Marianna O’Gallagher and Rose Masson Dompierre (eds), Eyewitness Grosse Isle, 1847 (Quebec, 1995), pp 50–51

141

24 Account from the wife of Captain Purdon of the Yeoman which sailed from Sligo to New Brunswick in June 1847 bringing tenants from Sir Robert Gore Booth’s estate. Second report of the Select Committee of the House of Lords on Colonization from Ireland, HC 1847–8 (368), xlvii, pp 262–3

144

25 Legislation enacted by the New York legislature regarding the entry of emigrants to the port of New York, and the conditions under which ship owners and masters could bring such passengers. Further papers relative to emigration to the British provinces in North America, Part 11, HC 1849 (593-II), xxxviii, pp 78–81

147

26 Account of the condition on board the “Lady Dombrain” that sailed from Killybegs to St. John, New Brunswick in 1848 from officials in St John. Papers relative to emigration to the British provinces in North America, HC, pp 132–4

154

27 Account of tenants sent from Colonel Wyndham’s estate in Co. Clare to Quebec on the “Governor” from Limerick in 1848. Papers relative to the emigration to the British provinces in North America, HC 1847–8 (971), xlvii, pp 1–3

158

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28 Debate in the Limerick Board of Guardians on how the female paupers from the workhouse who were sent to Australia were treated by the shipping crew on the sea voyage. Limerick Reporter, 31 July 1849

162

29 Complaints by Quebec officials about the brig “St. John” which carried emigrants from Galway port in 1849. Further papers relative to emigration to the British provinces in North America, pt II, HC 1849 (593-II), XXXVIII, pp 5–8

165

30 Debate in the House of Lords on the treatment of passengers on board the ships traveling to Australia. Hansard. House Of Lords Debates, Vol. 108 (Dated 15 February, 1850), Ccs. 810–14

169

31 Vere Foster’s account of conditions on board the “Washington” which sailed from Liverpool to New York in October 1850. Letter from Lord Hobart on Vere Foster’s statement regarding passengers on the “Washington” going to New York, HC 1851 (198) xl, pp 2–7

173

32 Account of emigrants on the “Berlin”, which sailed from Westport and arrived in St. John, New Brunswick in 1851. Papers relative to Emigration to the North American Colonies, HC 1852–3, (1650), lxviii, p. 42

184

PART V

The Famine emigrants’ experiences abroad

185

33 The position of Irish Catholic emigrants in Liverpool before the famine as indicated by Paul Cullen. Paul Cullen to Tobias Kirby, dated 25 June, 1842, Dublin Diocesan Archives (Cullen Papers, 1842)

187

34 Account of how famine emigrants from the west of Ireland arrived in Liverpool in such a poor state with little or no money. Nation, 14 November 1846, reprinted from the Liverpool Times190 35 Fear in 1847 of the large numbers of Irish emigrants flooding into Britain and in particular the ports of Liverpool and Glasgow. Manchester Guardian, 20 January 1847 ix

192

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36 Report on the medical condition of emigrants in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Papers relative to emigration to the British provinces in North America, HC 1847–48 (932), xlvii, pp 126–8

195

37 Parliamentary debate in the House of Commons on the impact which the large number of Irish pauper immigrants had on the city of Liverpool. Hansard Parliamentary Debates, xcii (dated, 7 May 1847), cc. 424–7

199

38 Influx of vast numbers of Irish poor fleeing famine put pressure on the Poor Law system in many towns and cities in England and Wales as seen by the situation in Manchester in December 1847. Manchester Guardian, 11 December 1847

202

39 Manner in which emigrants in Liverpool were swindled. Galway Vindicator, 5 April, 1848

206

40 Letter from the Henigan family who left Co. Sligo in 1847 and settled in St John’s, New Brunswick before moving to and settling in Maine. Appendix to minutes of evidence before the Select Committee on Colonization from Ireland, HC 1847–8 (737-ii), xl, pp 122–32

209

41 Some emigrants’ experience was positive and were prepared to acknowledge the support they had been given as with tenants from Lord Monteagle estate. NLI, Monteagle Papers (Ms13,400 (2), Letter from P. Danagher, Melbourne to Lord Monteagle, dated 20 Mar. 1848)

212

42 Warning from the Irish Emigrant Society of New York to those who were considering coming to New York. Armagh Guardian, 1 May 1848

214

43 Newspaper account of a post mortem carried out in York in July 1848 of the McAndrew family from Co. Sligo and who had died in the city from Famine Fever. York Herald, 10 July 1848 

218

44 Report of Irish Famine emigrants in Edinburgh indicating many were diseased and the appalling living conditions they endured. Edinburgh Medical Journal, 69 (1848)

220

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45 Letter from Margaret McCarthy to her father, Alexander McCarthy and family, who was assisted, from the Crown Estate at Kingwilliamstown, Co. Cork. Eilish Ellis, Emigrants from Ireland, 1847–1852: State-Aided Emigration Schemes from Crown Estates in Ireland (Baltimore, 1993), pp 64–7

221

46 Account of how Irish emigrants fared in the large American cities. Galway Vindicator, 30 July, 1853

225

47 Advertisement notifying the establishment of an emigrants’ home in Liverpool in July 1851. Nation, 12 July, 1851

227

48 Report of Irish people who had been resident in England for a long period being sent back to Ireland when they became destitute. Nation, 2 September, 1854

230

49 Report from the Chester Board of Guardians on the removal of Bridget Molloy, a widow and her six children, all born in England, who were returned to Ireland under the Act of Settlement. Evidence of J. Trevor, Chairman of the Chester Board of Guardians, Report of the Select Committee on Poor Removal, HC 1855, p. 270

232

50 Letter of H. Shire who had settled in South Africa to his brother in Shanagolden, Co. Limerick informing him of his life in Natal and the prospects for emigrating to the colony. Seventh report from the Select Committee on the (Poor Laws) Ireland, together with minutes of evidence, HC 1849 (237), xv, pp 134–7

235

51 How the forty girls sent out from Sligo workhouse on the Lady Kennaway in 1848 under the Female Orphan Scheme to Australia fared in Australia. Sligo Journal, 30 Nov. 1849

242

52 Letter from an emigrant in Australia who had been assisted by Lord Monteagle to emigrate. NLI, Monteagle paper (Ms 13400 (2) (Letter from Michal Martin to Lady Monteagle, dated 28 August 1850))

246

53 Letter from a pauper assisted by the Sligo Board of Guardians to the United States and who settled in Connecticut. Sligo Champion, 17 May 1851

248

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PART VI

Where to go to?

253

54 Letter from Vere Foster to the newspapers advising potential emigrants as to the best places in the United States to settle and proposing that Illinois as the best destination for emigrants. Nation, 9 August, 1851

255

55 Letter from Vere Foster calling for subscriptions to help single people to emigrate, especially young females (Vere Foster Papers, PRONI)

259

PART VII

The Poor Law and emigration

261

56 Memorial from the Kilrush Board of Guardians to the Prime Minister, Lord John Russell, advocating emigration from the workhouses as a solution to Ireland’s problems. Clare Journal, 26 November 1846

263

57 Materials used in the fitting out of the 38 females sent from Ballinasloe workhouse to Australia in August, 1848. Western Star, 19 August 1848

265

58 Letter from Bishop T. Murphy, Chairman of the Children Apprenticeship Board to the Colonial Secretary regarding the female workhouse paupers that had been sent out on the “Roman Emperor” in 1848. NAI, CSORP, 1848/0.3081 (Letter from Bishop T. Murphy to Lord Grey, dated, 21 November, 1848)

267

59 Letter from Australia, 12 Jan. 1849 from Ann Kelly to her mother who lived in Donegal. NLI, Monteagle paper (Ms 13400 (2) (Letter from Ann Kelly to her mother, dated 12 January 1849))

269

60 Evidence of E. Senior to the Select Committee on the Poor Law, recommending emigration of young workhouse female paupers to the colonies. Third report from the Select Committee on the Poor Law (Ireland), together with minutes, HC 1849 (137), xv, pp 113–5

272

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61 Proposal in the Skibbereen Board of Guardians to send female workhouse paupers to North America. Galway Vindicator, 20 December 1848

275

62 Evidence of the R.J.T. Orpen to the Select Committee on the Poor Law urging that emigration be used as a panacea to the overcrowding in the workhouses. Third report from the Select Committee on the Poor Law (Ireland), HC 1849(93) xv, p. 168

277

63 Report on the female orphans who sailed from Plymouth to Australia on the Thomas Arbuthnot in October 1849. Mayo Telegraph, 20 November 1850

279

64 Discussion in the Tuam Board of Guardians in October 1851 regarding contributing towards helping paupers to emigrate. Tuam Herald, 25 October, 1851

282

65 Names of the fifty girls sent from Mountbellew workhouse to Montreal on the Primrose in July 1854. Minutes of Mountbellew Poor Law Guardians, week ending 5 March (Galway County Council Archives, Mountbellew Poor Law minute book, Nov. 1852–May 1853)

285

PART VIII

Opposition to emigration

289

66 Letter from Bishop Edward Maginn of Derry condemning emigration from Ireland and those who advocated it. Nation, 17 April 1847

291

67 Newspaper editorial opposing emigration, 1849. Galway Mercury, 5 May 1849

297

68 Statement by Mr Horsely, a Tralee Poor Law Guardian, denouncing the sending of workhouse girls to North America. Kerry Examiner, 9 May 1854

299

Bibliography300 Keywords304

xiii

INTRODUCTION

Emigration is not a homogenous experience for those who leave with participants having different motives for going: how their travel is organized and paid for, how they integrate and assimilate in the host country, etc. Thus, there are eight million stories to be told by those who left Ireland in the nineteenth century. Up to recently the story of Irish emigration has largely been told through the evidence from officials and government agents in Ireland and the host country who encountered the emigrants and who largely displayed an intolerance and hostility towards those who left. As Kevin Kenny points out, the diaspora and emigration can be studied ‘only to the extent that the surviving evidence permits. And it is especially difficult to find diasporic sensibility among the poor and minimally literate who constitute the bulk of most mass migrations’.1 This is especially true of the Irish emigrant experience, in particular the Great Famine emigrants. The difficulties are exacerbated as the Irish were a transient group involved in step migration as they sought work and a better life not only in the host countries they went to, but also in a number of other countries. Only recently has the value of emigrant letters been acknowledged and championed by Kerby Miller, David Fitzpatrick and others.2 The letters tell us about the emigrants’ experiences regarding family news and their feelings towards the host countries they settled in. For some, leaving Ireland was a liberating experience; for others, while they were living in the large industrial centres in the United States and Britain, their hearts were back in Ireland. Ruth-Anne Harris suggests that the letter writing may be representative of the less-assimilated immigrant, their output diminishing as they became more accustomed to life in the new countries and increasing when they became disenchanted with life there.3 Unfortunately, the Irish Famine emigrants have left few traces of their own feelings and experiences, and as a result we are largely dependent on newspapers and officials records which often provide a biased and one-sided portrayal of those who left. Between 1700 and 1950 in the region of nine or ten million people left Ireland, and while 2.1 million emigrated between 1845 and 1855, even before the Great Famine the level of people leaving the country was on the increase, but in the second half of the century the emigration was such that it ‘had become a massive relentless, and efficiently managed enterprise’.4 Throughout the nineteenth 1

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century there was great diversity and complexity in Irish emigration patterns: the overseas destinations corresponded closely with religious affiliations, economic development and relative poverty. While large numbers of Ulster-Scots left for the North American colonies in the eighteenth century, estimated at a quarter of a million people, and a sizeable group from the south midland counties of Leinster went to Australia, what is strange is that the western countries were over represented in the emigration to the United States, but under represented to Britain and Australia. In the nineteenth century Irish migration was a series of diverse migrations, largely unconnected apart from that the people left the same island. The migration of Ulster Protestants to North America had little in common with the large numbers who left the west of Ireland in the last quarter of the century. The pattern of Irish migration in the century can be divided into three main phases. The first, from 1815 to 1845, shows the exodus was mainly from south Ulster, north Connacht and the midland counties of Leinster, with Ulster having by far the largest emigration rate. In the decades prior to the Great Famine, these regions suffered most from the collapse of the domestic textile industry, especially the spinning and weaving of linen. They were unable to compete with the mechanization process associated with the Industrial Revolution in Britain. Many of these families headed for the textile towns of Yorkshire, Lancashire and east Scotland in search of work. British North America (Canada) was another destination that the Irish travelled to, encouraged by the British government in order to provide security for the colony and at the same time to dilute the strong French influence there. There was a steady exodus to Britain in the 1820s, and by the early 1840s this had advanced to a major flow. In 1841 the Irish-born population of England and Wales stood at 291,000, but ten years later this had swelled to 520,000 as a result of the Famine exodus. Similarly, in Scotland the Irish-born population increased greatly in this period, from 128,000 in 1841 to 207,000 in 1851 when it represented 6.7 per cent of the total population. There is a general assumption that in the period after 1845 the vast majority of Irish emigrants settled in the United States, but the Irish-born made up a greater proportion of the population in Scotland, Canada and the Australian provinces by the early 1870s than in the United States. While many Irish emigrants held a bitterness and hostility towards Britain, that country rather than Canada or Australia received the second largest number of Irish migrants after the United States in the latter half of the nineteenth century, simply because of its proximity to Ireland, or as Ruth-Ann Harris states, it was the nearest place that was not Ireland.5 The second phase, 1845–1855, was different from the previous decades in that the departures were largely unplanned, a response to the failure of the potato crop and famine. In order to escape death and hunger, people were prepared to leave for North America in the late summer and early autumn when travelling conditions were at their worst and the prospects of securing jobs and accommodation in Canada and the United States poor. While the emigration up to 1845 was based on region and class, all parts of the country were involved in the Famine exodus 2

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and it was no longer the preserve of those who could afford to leave. Those with the funds were the first to go, but before long they were joined by the poorer sections who scraped together whatever they could. Those areas with a long tradition of emigration and easy access to the ports, such as Waterford, Wexford and south Tipperary, had a higher level of emigration than the national average in these years. People in these regions could call on friends and relations to provide them with financial assistance to pay the fares to North America and settle in those destinations where there were contacts with home. While there was a major exodus from the country during ‘Black ’47’, it was greater from some regions than others. The exodus from the poorer parts of the country, such as Mayo and Clare, was below the norm because the poverty of the people meant they could not afford to leave. As Captain Arthur Kennedy, the Poor Law Inspector for west Clare, reported, ‘The habits of the poor of this district are repugnant to emigration – they have neither the means nor the energy when left unassisted’. The high level of emigration from places like Leitrim, Roscommon, Queen’s Co. (Laois) and Longford was due to the high number of small holdings which resulted in high levels of evictions. Emigration from south Ulster, Longford and Leitrim was also increasing because poor rates were high and these areas had a large proportion of the holdings between £4 and £5. Landlords cleared their estates of those tenants because they, the landowners, were liable for the poor rates. The large-scale clearances resulted in between 250,000 and 500,000 people being evicted during the Famine with County Clare and County Mayo suffering most.6 Between 1846 and 1849, the Earl of Lucan was responsible for the demolition of 300 cabins and the eviction of more than 2,000 people in the parish of Ballinrobe, County Mayo, the largest number being turned out in November 1849.7 Even before 1847 there were great regional variations, with little or no emigration from some areas and large numbers leaving from others. Many parts of the diocese of Elphin, which took in large parts of Counties Sligo and Roscommon, recorded between 10 and 17 per cent of the Catholic population leaving for North America, while some villages in east Galway lost almost one-third of their populations between March and April 1846.8 During the second half of the 1840s Connacht lost nearly half of its young population as a result of the massive outward movement as well as very high mortality. 1847 marks the start of the major emigration when nearly 220,000 were officially stated to have left the country. Between 1847 and 1855, an average of 200,000 per annum emigrated, with 1851 being the high point when more than 350,000 departed. Between 1845 and 1855, an estimated 2.1 million emigrated, with 1.5 million going to the United States, 340,000 to British North America and between 200,000 and 300,000 settling permanently in Great Britain.9 As Kerby Miller points out, more people left Ireland in just eleven years than during the previous two and one-half centuries.10 Before 1851 1.2 million left, but as many as 900,000 emigrated over the following five years. By the mid-1850s there was not a part of the country which did not experience the impact of emigration. In the late 1850s one correspondent in County Clare stated, ‘There is scarcely a family 3

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in Clare which has not some member or members in America or Australia and remittances are constantly sent by those exiles to their relatives at home’.11 While large numbers wanted to leave to escape hunger and death, there were groups who were forced to go as they were regarded as a liability and a burden by their landlords. Even before the Famine, there were landowners who had assisted emigration schemes in place to get rid of those tenants who were in debt, unable to pay their rents and regarded as troublesome. Some landowners were in the process of consolidating the farms on their estates and saw the shipping of these smallholders and cottiers to North America as the panacea to their problems. These landlords included Sir Robert Gore Booth in County Sligo, Col Wandesforde in County Kilkenny and Col Wyndham in County Clare. While these schemes may be regarded as shipping out the poor, it did give these tenants an opportunity of pursuing a better life in the colonies even though in most cases only limited provisions were made after they arrived in Canada. With the onset of the Famine an increasing number of landowners started to provide their indebted tenants with the passage fares to North America, including Lord Palmerston in County Sligo, Lord Lansdowne in County Kerry and Mr Spraight in County Tipperary. While it was argued that those proprietors who engaged in assisted emigration schemes were providing these tenants with the chance to better themselves and that free emigration was better than eviction and being left on the side of the road to die, for many landowners the primary motive was economic rather than philanthropic: it was cheaper to send them to the colonies, in particular to Canada, than to pay for their upkeep in the workhouse. Major Denis Mahon of Strokestown, County Roscommon, was informed by his agent that the long-term savings would be greater than keeping them on the estate, while William Steuart Trench, Lord Lansdowne’s agent, told his employer the cost of sending the tenants to North America was £5 per person, the same as keeping them in the workhouse.12 There were estates where the tenants were happy to emigrate as with the Shirley tenants in County Monaghan, but in most cases the people were left with no option and were forced to take the emigrant boat.13 Landowners wanted to keep costs to a minimum and the lowest passage fares were nearly always secured. The emigrants were rarely provided with any assistance when they arrived at Quebec, St John, New Brunswick and New York. At the same time, the authorities in North America, in particular in New Brunswick, were incensed at the condition these emigrants had to endure and were critical of landowners such as Gore Booth, Major Mahon and Palmerston as they felt they were dumping their poor and destitute on the colonies which then had to provide them with relief. The authorities in particular condemned Palmerston as he was a government minister, but his agents, Stewart and Kincaid, made the travel arrangements.14 The landlord emigration schemes must be seen in an overall context and while the proprietors were criticized, they contributed to the overall emigration process. Once the emigrants were settled and established in North America they initiated a chain migration pattern with friends and relatives in Ireland, providing the 4

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passage fares so they could join them. It is likely these people would have been unable to emigrate without this assistance. As many as 100,000 people had their passage paid directly by landowners during the Great Famine, and while some were condemned for the manner in which the emigrants were treated, there is little doubt that the schemes saved many from death and starvation, and offered a better opportunity in foreign lands. On other estates, tenants were not as fortunate as many landowners evicted those who were in arrears and unable to pay their rents. Insolvent tenants and those unable to pay their rents were not the only destitute groups forced to leave. The Poor Law had been established in Ireland in 1838 and by the commencement of the Famine in 1845 most of the workhouses had been in operation for less than eighteen months and were unable to cope with the large number of paupers seeking admission when the potato failed. By June 1851, there were more than 256,000 inmates in the workhouses, many forced to seek admittance after the large-scale evictions that occurred after 1847. The groups that caused the greatest concern were orphans and young females who composed up to 40 per cent of the inmate population, as it was unlikely they would be able to cope outside the institutions. They were regarded as a ‘permanent deadweight’ and emigration was increasingly seen as the only option for these groups. Between 1848 and 1855 nearly 20,000 young girls had their passage paid to the colonies. These schemes were initiated by the Australian authorities who were prepared to fund the travel expenses of young females as there was a major demand for female domestic workers and wives in the colony where there were eight males for every female. Over a three-year period, 4,114 girls from 118 Irish workhouses left for Australia. The demand for places was greater than the number of places available, indicating that the female inmates were happy to emigrate for destinations outside of Ireland. The Australian scheme must be seen as providing those in the workhouses with no future, with the opportunity of a life away from Ireland, and while some experienced a life of hardship in the colony, many prospered.15 The Female Orphan Scheme to Australia opened up the debate as to providing assistance to other workhouse females to go to other colonies and Canada was chosen as the main destination because of its proximity, cheaper passenger fares and a major demand for female domestic labour. The boards of guardians were prepared to borrow the money and the British government provided grants to pay towards the passage costs. Unlike with the landlord schemes, the Canadian authorities cooperated with those Poor Law Unions who were sending female paupers to its jurisdiction. However, the Canadian authorities were not involved in the selection of the emigrants, unlike their Australian counterparts, and as a result the Poor Law Unions sent some girls who were unsuitable for life in the North American colony: women with children, girls who were over the specific age and many who had been troublesome in the workhouses. The female schemes to both Australia and Canada were better organized than those carried out by landlords and this ensured there were no complaints from the colonial authorities. Clothing was provided for the journey, a chaperone was appointed to accompany each group who sailed to Quebec, extra provisions were provided on the boat trips and 5

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‘landing money’ forwarded to the emigration agent in Quebec which was used to pay for the girls’ travel expenses to their final destinations in Canada.16 Guidelines were provided by the Canadian authorities as to when the emigrants should arrive in the colony and the type of girl that should be sent. Arrangements were made in Canada to provide many of the girls with training as domestic servants as they did not have these skills. Both the Canadian and Australian authorities sent the girls to a number of destinations where work was available. The workhouse emigration schemes must be seen as providing those without a future with the opportunity of having a better life abroad. While the Australian records allow us to chart the progress of those sent to the colony, unfortunately the Canadian sources are not as favourable. North America, and in particular the United States, became the major destination for emigrants, partly because of the serious economic recession in Britain between 1847 and 1851 which resulted in that destination being deemed unattractive. Nevertheless, as Britain was the nearest and cheapest destination to Ireland, it was inevitable that a sizeable group headed there, many hoping to eventually make their way to the United States. The Irish are described at this stage as being in ‘a curious middle place’ as they did not see Britain as their final destination, but could not return to Ireland.17 Transport fares from Ireland to ports in Britain, such as Liverpool, Cardiff, Glasgow, Bristol and Whitehaven, were relatively cheap, meaning that even the very poor could put together the fares. Families from the west of Ireland were prepared to walk to Dublin on the journey to Liverpool in order to reduce their costs. These ports and their surrounding towns bore the brunt of the Irish famine settlement, although Irish communities were established in many inland towns and cities such as York, Lincoln, Bath, Chepstow and Colchester. The exodus of this period is regarded as the largest international migration of the nineteenth century. Areas which previously had never experienced emigration now formed part of this exodus, although the poorer parts of the country saw much lower rates as with Mayo, Connemara, west Clare and west Cork. The heaviest emigration came from south Ulster, north Connacht and much of the midland counties. The third emigration phase occurred from the end of the Famine period up to the formation of the Irish Free State in 1921 when an estimated 4.5 million left. Initially, much of this came from the south and south west, but from 1861 to 1914 Connacht recorded the highest incidence of emigration. Between 1871 and 1925, 2.5 million people left Ireland. By this stage emigration touched every locality, social group and gender with the highest rates of outward movement consistently from counties in the west and south west. While the exodus between 1871 and the outbreak of World War I was increasingly a regional phenomenon based largely on the west, and to a lesser extent the south, it still remained a feature in more prosperous counties such as Antrim, Kildare and Wexford. Up to the 1880s many parts of the west retained pre-Famine features: the subdivision of holdings, early marriages and rising population still taking place. Between 1861 and 6

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1881 the populations of Castlereagh, Belmullet, Clifden, Newport, Oughterard and Swinford Poor Law Unions increased, in contrast with the trend in the rest of the country. County Mayo typified what was happening. While the overall population decline in the county between 1851 and 1881 was 10.6 per cent, it was much lower than that of Galway (24 per cent), Tipperary (39 per cent) and Meath (38 per cent).18 Between 1851 and 1911 a total of 194,550 are officially recorded as emigrating from Mayo with 41 per cent leaving between 1851 and 1881. The higher emigration level after 1881 reflects the response to the major subsistence crises that occurred in the west in the 1880s and 1890s. It supports the argument that emigration is an economically sensitive indication of the state of a country or a region, rising when crops fail and falling when harvests are good, or when trade booms or slumps, while also reflecting economic conditions in the receiving country. By European standards the level of emigration from Ireland was very high. In the 1870s the Irish rate was three times higher than that of its nearest rivals, Norway, Sweden and Scotland, and even by the 1890s the rate of those leaving Ireland was three times that of Italy. The United States attracted at least 80 per cent of all Irish emigrants who travelled outside of Europe. Some were diverted to Britain and Australia when there was a problem with the American economy as in 1878, 1885 and 1896. However, when there was a crisis with the American economy, potential emigrants were more likely to postpone their departure rather than settle in other destinations. A pattern emerged regarding Irish settlement and emigration as a result of the Great Famine. Emigrants from particular regions in Ireland moved to specific locations overseas, a feature that was to continue into the twentieth century. Canada was the favourite destination of people from the Tralee area, while those from the south east continued to move to the Atlantic regions of Canada, and those from Clifden went to Pittsburgh. The favourite destination of people from Belmullet and Erris, County Mayo, was west Yorkshire, in particular Leeds and York; Strafford tended to attract those from the general Castlereagh area, and emigrants from Achill settled in Cleveland. For many the new environment was a home away from home as outlined by Michael McLoughlin from Achill who settled in Cleveland and told his parents in a letter not to worry about him ‘for I feel as if I was at home, for I see more of my friends here than at home’.19 Once a pattern was established it tended to attract others from home to settle there. There were practical reasons for this: the new emigrant could rely on friends and relations already established in the host location for help with temporary accommodation until they found their feet, and information was provided about wage rates and job opportunities, but more important it gave the new arrivals the chance to settle into the new environment with familiar faces from home. However, the emigrant was not expected to overstay his or her welcome and to move once they had settled. As Annie O’Donnell, who emigrated from Spiddal, County Galway, aged 18 years and went to her two sisters who had settled in Pittsburgh, said, while they were happy to see her she was expected to find her own way and not ‘to depend solely on them’.20 7

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There are a number of features in relation to the Irish emigration patterns in the nineteenth century. During periods of crisis and crop failures, as with the Great Famine, the migration was unplanned whereas during normal times the departure was carefully coordinated. In the decades prior to the Famine the exodus was planned with those leaving for North America departing during the spring allowing them to settle in before the advent of winter and secure accommodation and jobs. Evidence from the late 1840s and early 1850s indicates that many of those leaving made no preparation, such was their desire to escape death and starvation, departing in late summer and autumn, arriving in North America when there were few job prospects. Many arrived with virtually no money and no place to go. These were ‘panic emigrants’ and these were also evident during other periods of crisis such as the early 1860s and early 1880s. Most Famine emigrants faced many vicissitudes on their journeys out of Ireland, not knowing where they would end up. The trip to North America was an ordeal with unseaworthy ships, hence called ‘coffin ships’, and sometimes rough treatment from the crews was encountered. Fraud was common as with bogus travel certificates. Patrick Levey was a 15  year old from Ballymahon, County Longford, and in March 1852 his father, who had previously left and settled in New York, sent a passage certificate for him and his young sister. The two children travelled to Liverpool to take the boat to New York, but they had to return to Longford as it was found the certificate was invalid.21 Other frauds that were committed on the ignorant and unsuspecting emigrants were the ‘runners’ who met them at ports such as New York and Liverpool, and conned them out of their money and left them destitute. While the Famine emigrants were fleeing starvation and death they encountered a hostile reception when they arrived in foreign destinations. There was prejudice and resentment towards them in Britain in the 1820s and 1830s, and this increased greatly with the massive influx of the late 1840s. Most of these emigrants took the shortest sea routes from Irish ports, journeys which lasted from 14 to 30 hours and cost 10d or less. The crossing was largely uncomfortable with the passengers enduring many hardships. The emigrants were used as ballast by the sea captains on the return journey from Irish ports. In the early stages of the Famine the British public was largely sympathetic to the Irish, but with the deluge that descended on the ports from 1847 this attitude changed to that of disdain and prejudice because of their poverty, dirt and disease. In places such as Liverpool and Manchester the authorities were having to spend a large proportion of their poor rates on supporting Irish paupers. Between 1846 and 1851 the Manchester authorities spent £63,000 on relieving and supporting the Irish poor in the city.22 The authorities in south Wales and Liverpool were worried about the Famine Irish for a number of reasons. First, they were afraid of the diseases the Irish brought with them, in particular what they called the ‘Irish Fever’, and they feared that this would be passed on to the host population. Second, the authorities were alarmed at the increasing costs in relieving the Famine Irish. The Liverpool authorities attempted different strategies to contain the number of Irish seeking relief: threatening them with 8

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imprisonment if they remained in the city for more than a month. Individuals were prosecuted who applied for relief and who were shown to possess the means to purchase their own food, and the Laws of Settlement were invoked which meant the removal of paupers to their parish of origin or place of settlement back in Ireland. They didn’t take them home – just dumped them at the nearest Irish port – usually Belfast or Dublin. And unlike England, Wales and Scotland, Ireland had no Law of Settlement. The attitude towards the Irish was not helped by the severe economic recession that occurred in Britain, especially in the Lancashire cotton towns between 1847 and 1851. The English working classes were suffering from large-scale unemployment and saw the Irish as a threat to the limited poor relief that was available and feared they would compete with them for the scarce jobs that were available. In the late 1840s and 1850s the Famine Irish were blamed for the high levels of disease and mortality that occurred in cities such as Liverpool, Cardiff, Swansea and London. Whenever there were outbreaks of cholera or typhus, the Irish were used as scapegoats and there were calls they be returned to Ireland. This strong anti-Irish feeling in Britain continued throughout the 1850s and 1860s, the Irish being repeatedly condemned and blamed for the urban conditions they lived in. The miserable urban conditions had existed in most British industrial cities and towns long before the arrival of the Famine Irish, but this was largely ignored as well as the point that the English working classes endured the same dirt, squalor and overcrowded conditions. Much of this anti-Irish prejudice came from English newspapers intent on blaming the Famine Irish for the ills of British industrial society. The impact of the Famine exodus was greater in some parts of Britain than others and this was especially the case in Liverpool. In 1846, 280,000 Irish emigrants landed at Liverpool, many with the intention of making the onward journey to North America, but less than 40 per cent did so.23 The following year 300,000 arrived at the port, 60 per cent of whom remained in the city because they did not have the money to continue the onward journey or they had been defrauded of their last remaining funds by unscrupulous Liverpudlians who preyed on the innocent Irish emigrants when they arrived at the port. Many were Irish-speakers which increased their vulnerability. The impact which the Famine exodus had on Liverpool can be seen in that the Irish-born population increased from 17.3 per cent in 1841 to 21.3 per cent in 1851, representing 84,000 people.24 The city authorities had great difficulties coping with the destitute poor who arrived in droves. Many residents in Liverpool and the nearby industrial towns saw the invasion as an attack on them as the emigrants had made no arrangements for accommodation or employment, and roamed around the city streets in the same way they had wandered Irish roads looking for subsistence and a way out of Ireland. In their search for shelter they moved into the cellars that the Liverpool authorities had been attempting to close in the north Docklands area, around the Vauxhall, Scotland and Exchange wards. In the early 1840s the authorities had begun to close down these cellars on health grounds and because of the high mortality levels.25 9

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The Liverpool authorities were prepared to return destitute emigrants to Ireland – especially to the workhouses. In Belfast it was the Ladies’ Relief Committee, which included Mary Ann McCracken, which helped them to then move on to their homes.26 While this was a face-saving exercise, it created problems for these destitute Irish when sent back to Ireland. Whatever relief was available in Liverpool, there was virtually nothing back in Ireland and in many cases the returnees were being sent to their deaths. It was not surprising that the Liverpool authorities adopted this approach for the large influx of famine emigrants posed a threat to the remedial action they were taking towards public health. William Duncan, the city’s medical officer who spearheaded the campaign to have the Docklands’ cellars closed, felt there was among the Irish an ‘innate indifference to filth’ and that the Irish were ‘the most apathetic about everything that befalls them’.27 What was not realized was that because of their poverty, the Irish had no other choice but to occupy the worst accommodations because rents were cheaper. As the Famine Irish arrived in a debilitated state, many carrying disease, there was a resentment towards them, but there were those who came to their aid. There was a high casualty rate among those who helped the destitute Irish during the late 1840s: ten Catholic priests, one Protestant minister, ten physicians and a number of relieving officers perished after contracting the dreaded ‘Famine Fever’.28 The Famine emigrants who arrived in Liverpool can be divided into three groups. First, there were those who came short term before embarking on a new life in North America. In many cases they stayed for a week or two until their ship departed, or until such time as they had earned enough money to make the transatlantic crossing. The second group were those who stayed in Liverpool for a longer period before heading off in search of work in the burgeoning industrial towns and cities of Lancashire such as Manchester, Salford, Oldham and St Helens. The third group were those who arrived with few resources and capital, and remained permanently in the city. Thirty-nine per cent of those who arrived at Liverpool port in 1847 were described as starving Irish and a large proportion settled in the north Docklands area. The popular perception was that the Vauxhall, Scotland, Exchange and Everton wards became ‘Little Irelands’, but even in 1851 the percentage of Irish in these areas was never more than 47 per cent, so while the Irish were a sizeable and significant group, they never formed the majority. In the Vauxhall and Exchange wards they were 47 per cent of the population, and they were 30 per cent in the Scotland ward. While certain streets and courts within these wards were almost exclusively Irish, such as Clements St and Pawnall Sq, they certainly were not ghettoized. At the street level the perception of the Irish taking over may have been alarming to the host community, but at the city or ward level there was no reason for concern. Those streets and courts that the Irish congregated in had poor sanitary and health facilities, and the mortality rate was high due to the congested homes. The death rate was especially high among children. As late as 1866, Fr John Nugent, a local priest, stated that the persistence of typhus in the Scotland Rd-Vauxhall area was due to a lack of pure air owing to the overcrowded conditions. 10

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The Irish in the north Docklands area of Liverpool were perhaps the group who were most reluctant to integrate or assimilate into British society. They tended to marry within their own ethnic circles and into the 1850s and 1860s 75 per cent of Irish-born men and 79 per cent of women married other Irish people.29 The reluctance to integrate can be put down to the emigrants themselves: proximity to Ireland meant they looked to Ireland rather than to Britain; many whose original aspiration had been to settle in North America were disappointed, but this had never been achieved and instead they had to be content with a life of poverty and squalor. Although they earned their living in Britain many believed it was the misgovernment of Ireland, especially during the Great Famine, that was responsible for them having to leave Ireland. While Britain was the nearest destination for the Irish emigrant, the United States was where they wanted to settle. Even before the Great Famine, Ireland contributed one-third of all emigrants to the United States between 1815 and 1845, estimated to be between 420,000 and 500,000. In addition to travelling directly, large numbers of Irish emigrants also came from Canada to the United States. In the 1830s and 1840s the numbers leaving for the United States were on the increase and for the period 1841 to 1844 the annual average was 50,000. While many left from ports such as Belfast, Derry, Cork, Limerick and Dublin, by the early 1840s an increasing number of Irish emigrants were embarking for the United States from Liverpool port. In 1845 92 per cent of Irish emigrants from the United States sailed from Liverpool. While Philadelphia was the main port for disembarkation up to the 1840s, it had been replaced by New York just before the Great Famine. Fares were cheaper between Liverpool and New York leading to an increasing number of Irish emigrants using this route. The period 1845–1855 represents the start of the large-scale emigration to the United States which continued for the rest of the century. Almost 1.5 million people sailed to the United States, but there was also a sizeable group who left for British North America and then made their way to the United States. While it is difficult to ascertain the exact level of this through migration, the figure is probably in excess of 200,000. A significant proportion of those who left during this period would have emigrated even if the catastrophe of the Famine had not occurred for the emigration stream had been on the increase in the decade prior to 1845. In the early stages of the Famine those with the financial resources left, but by 1847 even those with limited capital were putting together all they had and leaving. In the 1851–1855 period when the emigration records are more reliable, between 80 and 90 per cent of the emigrants were common farm labourers, or servants. Skilled workers never constituted more than 11 per cent of the total and about 8 per cent were farmers. The emigrants were likely to be Catholic, Irishspeaking, with low literacy skills. While the famine brought a new intensity from the ‘old’ zones of emigration, by 1850 it had moved to the south west and west. From 1845 to the 1930s the provinces of Munster and Connacht sent proportionately more emigrants than the other two provinces. 11

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The main point of entry for the Famine emigrants to the United States was through the port of New York. Between 1847 and 1851, 848,000 Irish emigrants disembarked there resulting in 26 per cent of the city’s population being Irishborn in 1850 and ten years later the figure stood at 25 per cent. Thirteen per cent of the total Irish population in the United States were living in New York and the city quickly became known as the urban centre with the largest Irish population outside of Ireland.30 A number of factors altered the pattern of Irish emigration to the United States in the decades after 1845. First, the Famine emigrants greatly multiplied the number choosing the United States as their destination for settlement. The decline in the demand for agricultural labourers and better wages for labour in North America enticed millions more to follow the great outflow of 1845–1855. Second, as many as 90 per cent of the Famine and post-Famine emigrants were Catholic and were to play a major role in the establishment and advancement of the Catholic Church in the United States. The Famine Irish who arrived in the United States could not have arrived at a more opportune time. Politically it was not the best with the growth of nativism and the Know Nothing Party and they got caught up in the slavery debate as many Irish immigrants supported the Democrats who were pro-slavery. The country was embarking on its Industrial Revolution with a major demand for unskilled labour. Its rail network had grown ten-fold from 3,000 to 30,000 miles between 1840 and 1860, in particular after 1850, providing construction jobs, advancing the development of the north eastern states and helping in the integration with the mid-west agricultural region. Manual work was mainly performed by the Irish as America-born workers left the industrial work to the emigrants. Many Americans were leaving the eastern states for the interior and created positions for newly arrived emigrants. It was unusual for almost two million newcomers to be integrated and accommodated in any country, but this happened when the Irish arrived in the United States between 1845 and 1860. While the Irish were to be found in all of the states in the union in the years prior to the Famine, those who left after 1845 tended to congregate in the north east, in particular New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. By 1870 half of the Irish-born population were settled in these states, and along with Connecticut, New Jersey, Ohio and Illinois, they contained 72 per cent of the Irish population in the United States. They were to be found mainly in the cities and larger towns and came to form a significant proportion of the population in New York, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Scranton, Boston, Fall River and Lowell. Why did the Famine Irish and those that followed congregate in the cities and large towns of the east coast? Most were caught up in America’s almost insatiable demand for urban labour and this provided them with a security which they had never known in Ireland. The great cities in the United States were booming and the Irish came at a time which coincided with one of the great industrial-urban expansions in history. Given the opportunities that were available, it is not surprising that the Irish settled in the east coast cities and even though they came from a rural Ireland, they 12

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were urbanized very quickly because the city provided them with opportunities and rewards that they could never have aspired to back home. They now had the chance of moving upwards both socially and economically. As the Irish looked for the cheapest accommodations in the cities, it was inevitable they would be close to Irish neighbours, often friends and relations from home. They moved into areas such as Five Points in New York and South Boston. The Famine Irish tended to have little in common with those countrymen and countrywomen who had left Ireland twenty or thirty years before them. While their occupational and social status severely limited their choice of location for settlement, the segregation of the Famine Irish was defined by sub-standard, multi occupied houses in high density areas near the points where they arrived. An important point was the lack of finances on their arrival. They had to secure work immediately and settlement in the city was the most obvious choice as unskilled manual employment was more easily available there. Five Points, situated in Lower Manhattan in New York’s sixth ward, was such a location when the Famine Irish came, regarded as one of the most decrepit slums in North America. About one thousand families came from County Sligo and County Kerry, many assisted from the Palmerston, Gore Booth and Lansdowne estates, and settled there in the late 1840s and early 1850s because of the cheap accommodation. They brought with them strong community bonds from Ireland and were mainly found in Orange St and Anthony St. In some cases up to fifteen persons lived in a single room and they were prepared to take in lodgers to supplement their income. Living close together with people from home had its advantages: neighbours contributed money towards funeral expenses, loaned money and kitchen utensils, looked after orphans and welcomed newcomers. While they brought with them the attributes of thrift and survival, many of the Famine emigrants in places like Five Points did prosper and continued to reside in those places they settled in out of choice rather than necessity because of the strong sense of community. Being close to those from home was important as it allowed the emigrant to keep in touch with events in Ireland. The letters of Annie O’Donnell reflect this as when she noted how a girl from Spiddal had come to work close to her and ‘I am just crazy to have a talk with her about my dear home and parents’.31 Even when established, there was a reluctance to travel further west and take up agriculture even though this presented them with greater opportunities and better wages. It was attempted to bring the Famine Irish from the east coast cities to the mid-west, but they were often stopped by influential figures within the Irish American community, such as Archbishop John Hughes of New York.32 There was a genuine fear that settlement out west posed a threat to the settlers’ faith as the Catholic Church did not have the resources or personnel to administer to the emigrants in the new settlements. For those who went west other issues had to be contended with. While the move might have meant more wealth and a better social status there were drawbacks. In 1873 an Irish settler who had taken up land in Minnesota wrote to his cousin in Ireland, ‘Women of all kinds are scarce 13

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here . . . Pick one for me, and [I] will pay her passage. I . . . have two good horses, four cows, eight sheep, twenty hogs and all the tools to work my farm. I am a carpenter to boot and will give her all the tea and coffee and pork she can possibly [want]’.33 The impact of the massive Famine exodus was to see the United States becoming the main destination for Irish emigrants over the next half century. The famine became an important part of the ethnic heritage of most Irish Americans. Between 1855 and 1921, 3.4 million left Ireland for the United States, 85 per cent of the total who left the country. They mainly came from Munster and Connacht, with Counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Galway and Mayo making up nearly half of the emigrants. By the 1850s the Irish comprised more than one-third of all emigrants who came to the United States, and were only marginally behind the Germans. In 1860, the Irish-born accounted for more than 5 per cent of the total population of the United States and by the end of the century there were more than 1.5 million living there. It was mainly agricultural labourers and the sons and daughters of small and average farmers who left for America. Boys left because of changing inheritance patterns that took place after the Famine as farms were no longer sub-divided between all the sons in the family, instead being given to the eldest son. Emigration was the only option remaining for many of the other male members and they departed in the thousands for the United States. Movement across the Atlantic was also characterized by the large number of women who left; nearly as many women as men emigrated. The extent of female emigration to the United States can be seen in that in the 1899 to 1910 period, 52 per cent of Irish emigrants were women, a figure way above that of other European countries: 21 per cent of Italians, 38 per cent of Scandinavians and 43 per cent of Jewish emigrants. Between 1885 and 1920, 700,000 women left Ireland, and they were mainly young and unmarried.34 The majority of Irish female emigrants chose domestic service as their occupation in the United States because it provided reasonably good pay and security. In 1900 54 per cent of all Irish-born women in the United States were employed as domestic servants.35 Irish emigrants to the United States were sensitive to economic downturns as they led to a decline in job opportunities: falling from 75,000 in 1873 to 12,000 in 1877 as a result of a banking crisis. Job opportunities also fell from 36,000 in 1836 to 12,500 in 1838 after an economic downturn. This pattern suggests that Irish emigrants relied on information from friends and relations who provided details as to the situation in the United States. It also indicates that the emigrants themselves were the best recruits for emigration. While the government, landlords, newspapers, etc. could extol the virtues of opportunities abroad, the friends and relations of potential emigrants played an important role in them deciding to leave as they provided the vital micro information that was necessary to make up their minds about pursuing a new life across the Atlantic. As one Belmullet emigrant who settled in Toronto wrote home, ‘If you give me a present of a house and farm in Tipp I would not go back to it . . . I could not describe it to you, its

14

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more like a Paradise, the very smell of the trees growing all along the footpaths here would do you good’.36 While economic factors might determine the flow of emigrants to North America, they were not deterred by adverse political circumstances. Even though the American Civil War in the early 1860s may have stopped some from leaving, there was still a major exodus across the Atlantic. The agricultural crisis of the early 1860s in Ireland was a more important factor in influencing the decision to leave and not the political situation in the host country. This was also evident with the subsistence crisis of 1879–1882 when push rather than pull factors influenced the exodus to the United States. It was largely the young, single and unskilled people who left. In 1847–1848, 45 per cent of the emigrants were aged between 15 and 24 years, but this increased to 57 per cent by 1881. Together with those between 25 and 34 years, the migration was never less than 65 per cent of the total number, and in many years was between 70 and 85 per cent. Between 1850 and 1887 two-thirds of the emigrants ranged in age from 16 to 35 years, and for the remainder of the century the proportion was never less than 80 per cent. Irish parents were more likely to send out those children who were the strongest and fittest because they were more likely to succeed in foreign lands and be in a position to send remittances. They were the ones with the bulk of their productive lives ahead of them and the cost of rearing them had been completed. After 1850 the number of married people never exceeded 16 per cent, indicating that it was the young, single and strong who left. The Irish who settled in the United States had a major advantage over other emigrant groups and this was their knowledge of the English language. It made their adjustment to life in America easier. While they were not on the higher rungs of the economic ladder, knowledge of English gave them a certain advantage in certain areas, in particular in the world of politics. They were able to keep up with world and national affairs through the daily newspapers, most of which provided detailed coverage of Irish events at home and in America. While many had left to escape hunger and to better themselves, there was the advantage that they were not part of a social hierarchy as had existed in Ireland. Emigration had important long-term consequences for Ireland: it benefitted those who remained behind as it reduced the pressure on the country’s limited resources, in particular land, leading to a reorganization of the rural economy. While emigration reduced the number of people per household, it did not reduce the number of households as it was mainly young single people who left. Nevertheless, it was an important safety valve for Ireland, relieving the pressure on land and reducing the supply of labour that the state could not absorb, which the Great Famine had indicated only all too clearly. One of the most important consequences of Irish emigration was the level of remittances that emigrants sent back to Ireland. Even before the Great Famine money was being remitted to Ireland by those who left, but this increased greatly with the start of the large-scale exodus of the late 1840s. This money was used to

15

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alleviate distress, allow family members to live in relative comfort in Ireland and pay for other family members to emigrate. The year 1848 was the first year that information on remittances was collected and it was conservatively estimated that £460,000 came to Ireland that year.37 At least 90 per cent of that money came from the United States and by 1869 this figure had increased to 99 per cent. Between 1847 and 1887, £34 million was sent back to Ireland in remittances or an annual average of £870,000, but a more realistic figure is £1 million. Even in small communities the level of remittances could be substantial. £10,000 was sent back to friends and relations in Clifden from the 500 families that had been assisted to emigrate by the English philanthropist and Quaker, James Hack Tuke, between 1882 and 1884.38 These funds were transmitted in many forms – banks drafts, money orders, cash, pre-paid passage tickets, etc. – and through a variety of channels. The Irish Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank, which was founded in New York in 1851, sent back £30 million to Ireland over the following thirty years.39 Irish girls contributed the major share of this money: in 1861 it was reported that eight out of ten who sent money home were girls. Those who were newly arrived sent larger sums than those settled in the United States for some time and those from poorer families were the most faithful in sending back remittances. Emigrants from more comfortable backgrounds were not as generous, probably because the need was not as great. Sometimes the money came on a regular basis for as long as the emigrant remained unmarried, but this declined once they had family commitments. The amounts also were less frequent when the parents in Ireland died, often ceasing completely. Christmas and Easter was when the funds normally arrived. In the early 1880s, after three successive bad harvests and widespread distress the money from the United States increased significantly: from £1 million in 1878 to more than £1.7 million the following year, reaching a peak in 1884 at £2.2 million.40 While the remittance money was used to improve the lives of those at home and provided a level of economic security, for many it was the difference between hunger and survival, raising families from poverty to comfort, but not to great prosperity. Without it many families would have reverted to the poverty and destitution of the pre-Famine era. In the 1890s families along the western seaboard, which formed part of the Congested Districts Board, indicated that remittances from family members accounted for up to 50 per cent of their annual income. The most important use of this money was to pay the rent as many farmers worried about the gale day when the rent was paid, more than anything else. This was the difference between eviction and keeping the farm. In the past the returns from seasonal migration to Britain were used to pay the rent along the western seaboard, but as this activity declined towards the end of the nineteenth century as British agriculture became more mechanized, dependence on the American money increased; one Connemara emigrant told her parents that she would send back money ‘so father can sit down by the fireside then and let the rough day pass him and us earning lots of money for him in this country where there is plenty of it’.41

16

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Money from America was also used to secure credit from shopkeepers. Families purchased goods from merchants who were prepared to give credit on the understanding that it could be repaid when the money from a son or daughter in the United States arrived at Christmas and Easter. Twenty per cent of the income of an ordinary family in Kilticlogher, County Leitrim, in 1893 came from American money.42 The American money was also used to provide pre-paid passage fares so that other family members and friends could emigrate, part of a chain migration process. Those who left during the famine sent back funds to help others to leave. There were instances of fathers and sons leaving for North America in order to earn the money to pay the passage fares for the rest of the family to join them.43 In 1848, 39 per cent of all the remittances sent to Ireland were in the form of pre-paid passage tickets and by 1872 this had increased to 44 per cent. In practice about 40 per cent of all remittances were used to pay for emigration. While emigration was seen as an evil within Ireland and condemned by such powerful groups as nationalist politicians, newspapers and individual members of the Catholic hierarchy, it did little to stem the exodus. The British government, landlords and others were blamed for the massive numbers leaving, but this never took into consideration that pull factors were mainly responsible for the migration. The outflow was such that by the end of the nineteenth century there were more Irish-born living in foreign lands than in Ireland. Hostility to emigration tended to be greatest when the British government was involved as in 1847 when proposals were being discussed regarding a massive colonization scheme to British North America which was to be funded by the British exchequer. At no time were the people themselves blamed for leaving and those who condemned the exodus were only too willing to reach out to the emigrants for financial contributions for their organizations: Catholic clergymen targeted the emigrants for donations to build new churches in Ireland and Charles Stewart Parnell looked for money for his party. There were proposals to stop the exodus but they were in the main not practical and indicated a lack of insight into why the people were leaving. While emigration was condemned it failed to stop the haemorrhage of people leaving. The emigrants, and in particular the young, wanted a better life for themselves and this could not be achieved if they remained in Ireland as the country did not have the resources to be able to provide for an expanding population with activities outside of agriculture. Emigration had its benefits as well as its disadvantages. Parents could have large families in the knowledge that the surplus members could take the emigrant boat and at the same time their remittances would help them have a higher standard of living. It also had the advantage that those who had to leave would have a better life abroad and could marry which was unlikely to happen in Ireland. The disadvantages were that the country lost its best and brightest who would have contributed to bringing about social and economic change. Emigration was a feature of Irish life throughout the nineteenth century, but the calamity of the Great Famine was the catalyst for the exodus becoming a tidal

17

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wave. After 1845 emigration became synonymous with Ireland. Prior to this it was more regional and class based, but with the failure of the potato in the late 1840s it was to be found in every part of Ireland and among all social groups. While the Great Hunger is associated with starvation and death, one of its greatest legacies was the massive outflow of its people which continued into the twentieth century. As a result Ireland was the only European country with a lower population in 1900 than it had 100 years earlier.

Notes 1 Kevin Kenny, ‘Diaspora and comparison: The global Irish as a case study’, Journal of American History (June 2003), p. 143. 2 Kerby A. Miller, Arnold Schrier, Bruce B. Boling and David Doyle (eds), Irish Immigrants in the Land of Canaan: Letters and Memoris From Colonial Revolutionary America, 1675–1815 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003); David Fitzpatrick, Oceans of Consolation: Personal Accounts of Irish Migration to Australia (Athica: Cornell University Press, 1994). 3 Ruth-Ann Harris, ‘ “Come you all courageously”: Irish women in America write home’, in Kevin Kennedy (ed.), New Directions in Irish-America History (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2003), p. 212. 4 David Fitzpatrick, ‘Emigration, 1800–70’, in W. E. Vaughan (ed.), A New History of Ireland, v: Ireland Under the Union, I, 1801–1870 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), p. 569. 5 Kenny, ‘Diaspora and comparison’, p. 136, Ruth-Ann Harris, The Nearest Place That Wasn’t Ireland: Early Nineteenth-Century Irish Labor Migration (Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press, 1994). 6 Tim P. O’Neill, ‘Mass evictions and the Great Famine’, in Carla King (ed.), Famine, Land and Culture in Ireland (Dublin: UCD Press, 2000), pp 30–31; J. S. Donnelly, ‘Mass evictions and the Great Famine’, in Cathal Porteir (ed.), The Great Irish Famine (Cork: Mercier Press, 1995), pp. 155–173. 7 James S. Donnelly, ‘Landlords and tenants’, in W. E. Vaughan (ed.), A New History of Ireland, v: Ireland Under the Union, 1801–70 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), p. 341; Donald E. Jordan, Land and Popular Politics in Ireland: County Mayo From the Plantation to the Land War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), pp. 112–113. 8 Oliver MacDonagh, ‘Irish emigration to the United States of America and the British colonies during the famine’, in R. Dudley Edwards and T. Desmond Williams (eds), The Great Irish Famine in Irish History, 1845–52 (Dublin: rep. Lilliput Press, 1994), p. 324. 9 Kevin Kenny, The American Irish: A History (New York: Routledge, 2000), p. 97. 10 Kerby A. Miller, Emigrants and Exiles: Ireland and the Irish Exodus to North America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985), p. 291. 11 Henry Coulter, The West of Ireland: Its Existing Condition and Prospect (London: Hodges and Smith, 1862), p. 44. 12 See Ciaran Reilly, Strokestown and the Great Irish Famine (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2014), pp. 107–108; Gerard J. Lyne, The Lansdowne Estate in Kerry Under W.S. Trench, 1849–72 (Dublin: Geography Publications, 2001), pp. 25–59. 13 See Patrick J. Duffy, ‘ “Disencumbering our crowded places”: Theory and practice of estate management schemes in mid-nineteenth century Ireland’, in Patrick Duffy and

18

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Gerard Moran (eds), To and From Ireland: Planned Migration Schemes, c1600–2000 (Dublin: Geography Publications, 2004), pp. 79–104. 14 See Thomas Power, ‘The Palmerston estate in county Sligo: Improvement and assisted emigration before 1850’, in Duffy and Moran, To and From Ireland, pp. 105–136; Desmond Norton, Landlords, Tenants, Famine: The Business of an Irish Land Agency in the 1840s (Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 2006), pp. 44–65. 15 See Richard Reid, Farewell My Children: Irish Assisted Emigration to Australia, 1848–1870 (New South Wales: Anchor Books Australia, 2011); Richard Reid and Cheryl Reid, ‘A Decent Set of Girls’: The Irish Famine Orphans of the Thomas Arbuthnot, 1849–50 (Yass, NSW: Yass Heritage Project, 1996). 16 Gerard Moran, ‘ “Shovelling out the paupers”: The Irish Poor Law and assisted emigration during the Great Famine’, in Ciaran Reilly (ed.), The Famine Irish: Emigration and the Great Hunger (Dublin: History Press, 2016), pp. 22–40; ibid., ‘ “Permanent deadweight”: Female pauper emigration from Mountbellew workhouse to Canada’, in Christine Kinealy, Jason King and Ciaran Reilly (eds), Women and the Great Hunger (Hamden, CT: Quinnipiac University Press, 2016), pp. 109–122. 17 David Fitzpatrick, ‘A curious middle place: The Irish in Britain, 1870–1921’, in Roger Swift and Sheridan Gilley (eds), The Irish in Britain, 1815–1939 (London: Pinter Publishers, 1989), pp. 10–59. 18 W. E. Vaughan and A. J. Fitzpatrick (eds), Irish Historical Statistics: Population, 1821–1971 (Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1978), pp. 285–339. 19 Gerard Moran, ‘ “Farewell to Kilkelly”, Ireland: Emigration from post-famine Mayo,’ in Gerard Moran and Nollaig O Muraile (eds), Mayo: History and Society (Dublin: Geography Publications, 2014), p. 395. 20 Maureen Murphy (ed.), Your Fondest Annie: Letters From Annie O’Donnell to James P. Phelan, 1901–1904 (Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 2003), p. 83. 21 Nation, 3 July 1852. 22 W. J. Lowe, The Irish in Mid-Victorian Lancashire: The Shaping of a Working Class Community (New York: Peter Lang, 1989), p. 35. 23 Ibid., p. 47. 24 Ibid., p. 22. 25 Frank Neil, Black ’47: Britain and the Famine Irish (Basingstoke: Macmillian Press, 1998), pp. 24–26; John Kelly, The Graves Are Walking: The History of the Great Irish Famine (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2012), p. 263; Lowe, Irish in MidVictorian Lancashire, pp. 26–28. 26 See Christine Kinealy, ‘The women of Belfast and the Great Famine’, in Patrick Fitzgerald and Anthony Russell (eds), John Mitchell, Ulster and the Great Irish Famine (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2017). 27 Neil, Black ’47, pp. 24–26. 28 Kelly, The Grave are Walking, p. 265. 29 Lowe, Irish in Mid-Victorian Lancashire, p. 121. 30 Hasia R. Diner, ‘ “The most Irish city in the union”: The era of great migration, 1847– 1877’, in Ronald H. Bayor and Timothy J. Meagher (eds), The New York Irish (Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 1996), p. 91. 31 Murphy (ed.), Your Fondest Annie, p. 65. 32 Leonard P. Riforgiato, ‘Bishop John Timmons, Archbishop John Hughes and Irish colonization: A clash of Episcopal views on the future of the Irish and Catholic Churches in America’, in William Daneck, Selma Berrol and Randolf Miller (eds), Immigration to New York (New York: New York Historical Society, 1991), pp. 27–55. 33 Quoted in Janet Nolan, Ourselves Alone: Women’s Emigration From Ireland, 1885– 1920 (Lexington, KY: Kentucky University Press, 1981), p. 42.

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34 Nolan, Ourselves Alone, p. 2. 35 Ibid., p. 68. 36 Emigration From Ireland; Being the Second Report of ‘Mr Tuke’s Fund’ (London, 1883), p. 8. 37 Arnold Schrier, Ireland the American Emigration, 1850–1900 (Chester Springs, PA: rep. Dufour Editions, 1848), p. 107. 38 Gerard Moran, ‘ “ From poverty to posterity”: Assisted emigration from Connemara in the 1880s’, in Micheal O hAodha and Mairtin O Cathain (eds), Irish Migrants in New Communities: Seeking the Fair Land (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2014), p. 102. 39 Schrier, Ireland and American Emigration, p. 109. 40 Ibid., p. 111. 41 Gerard Moran, Fleeing From Famine in Connemara: James Hack Tuke and His Assisted Emigration Schemes in the 1880s (Dublin: Four Courts Press, forthcoming). 42 James Morrissey, On the Edge of Want: A Unique Insight Into Living Conditions Along Ireland’s Western Seaboard in the Nineteenth Century (Dublin: Cranneog Books, 2001), p. 83. 43 See Gerard Moran, Sending Out Ireland’s Poor: Assisted Emigration to North America in the Nineteenth Century (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2004), p. 137.

20

Part I THE EXODUS While emigration from Ireland was on the increase in the decades prior to 1845, the failure of the potato in the last quarter of the decade accelerated the process. Those with the resources, contacts and funds were among the first to leave and in the early stages came from those regions where there was a strong tradition of emigration, in particular from the north, north midlands and south east of the country. As the crisis continued the exodus extended to all parts of the country and after 1847 became a flood which continued well after the main impact of the Famine ended in 1852. As Ireland had ensured periodic and regional famines over the previous three decades, the general feeling in 1845 was that the crop failure was temporary and normality would return the following year. However, the failure of the potato was greater in 1846 than in the previous year and most people did not have the resources to survive leading to emigration being seen as the only escape for many. While people had left when the crops failed on previous occasions, as between 1823 and 1825, by the second year of the Great Famine there was a dramatic increase in the numbers emigrating. What had been regional up to 1845 now became national with the exodus impacting on every part of the country. Even those who did not have to resources to emigrate pleaded with the government, landlords, poor law unions, friends, relations and whoever could help to assist them to leave. Landowners who had were engaged in providing assistance for their tenants to emigrate before 1845, such as Col. Wyndham and Sir Robert Gore Booth, were now inundated with requests to be sent abroad, while as early as 1846 a number of poor law unions pleaded with the government to relax the provisions so they could provide the support for paupers to emigrate.

1 PETITION FROM MARGARET CASSIDY (A WIDOW) TO W.S. TRENCH 1 (LORD SHIRLEY’S AGENT), 2 DATED APR. 1846 (PRO,NI, SHIRLEY PAPERS, D3531/A), THAT THE LANDLORD WOULD PAY THE PASSAGE FARE OF HER SON TO NORTH AMERICA AS SHE DOES NOT HAVE THE RESOURCES. HAS FIVE ACRE FARM AT FATH, CO. MONAGHAN, BUT HAS LOST HER POTATO CROP Cassidy, Widow Margaret. Farths, April 46 (overwritten by Morant and Smith): She has a young man her son whom she intends to send to America as she is not able to provide for him at home as Mr Smith can testify to your (sic)n situation in Life and has already laid out on him all she was able in providing him with such necessaries as she thinks requisite such as having apparel but cannot have his passage money. . . . Over written not from Smith: ‘I am aware of the situation in which the widow Cassidy has placed herself and her efforts to send her son to America having previously sent three other sons there so as to preserve her farm of 5 acres entire for her eldest son. Having lost her potatoes and being otherwise distressed she cannot now pay the rent but she has still a house and an industrious son to manage he can have employment at the culm drawing to make the – if allowed the free passage she seeks she could manage to put in the crops”; How did she act? – GM; “Nothing could be better than her conduct and that of her son upon all occasions. Every effort was made to shake her from her purposes but to no effect – Smith, “Granted” – Morant.3 Receipt for £2–10s signed Mgt Cassidy for passage “of my son to America that I might keep my farm in Farthes entire for my eldest son”. 23

T he exodus

Notes 1 William Steuart Trench (1808–1882) was agent on the Shirley estate, and later served in the same position on the Marquis of Lansdowne’s and Marquis of Bath’s estates. In 1868 he had his biography published, Realities of Irish Life (Longman’s, London; 1868) 2 Shirley was a landlord who engaged in large scale assisted emigration from his Co. Monaghan property during the Great Famine. The estate covered over 26,000 acres. As the Shirley family were absentee landlords, the management of the estate was left to an agent. He assisted over 1,300 of his tenants to emigrate. 3 George Morant succeeded William S. Trench as agent on the Shirley estate.

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2 REPORT FROM BELMULLET, CO. MAYO OF EMIGRANTS LEAVING ON THE UNITY BOUND FOR NORTH AMERICA CITING THE REASONS THEY WERE LEAVING INCLUDING THE FAILURE OF THE POTATO CROP AND THE ISSUE OF RENT ARREARS PAYMENTS, MAYO TELEGRAPH, 1 22 APRIL 1846 Emigration – We cheerfully publish the following, forwarded to us by our valued Correspondent at Belmullet:-2 “On the morning of the 16th instant the small steamer, Unity, from Sligo, arrived here to convey the Erris emigrants, bound for America, to join the passengers at Sligo. On the Quay it was really frightful to hear, and see, those creatures bewailing their hard fate in being obliged to leave their native land, and to separate from all they held dear on earth, their friends and relatives – the husband and his wife – the father from his children – the son from his mother – brothers from sisters, and daughters from mothers. I had conversed with many of them whom I thought were in comfortable circumstances, but alas! Their tale was truly doleful and lamentable, stating that they were in daily expectation of relief or employment from the Government, since their stock of potatoes had perished by the frightful disease, but they at length fully understood the procrastination of their Rulers – now that they were going to give them coercion as a substitute for food or employment, and knowing that would be swallowed up by the next course to save themselves and families from utter ruin. They were all Repealers and, the tears of sorrow which they shed on the shore of their dear loved land home I shall never forget, as the Belmullet Temperance Band played for them the National airs of their country. Previous to their embarkation they were several times heard to exclaim “that the land of liberty might afford them an opportunity of 25

T he exodus

remembering the land of Coercion.” The poor fellows boasted “that they were free, as they owe no debt.” As for rent, of course, the Landlord’s Agents were more assiduous this season than any other, by being before hand, in order to secure themselves, whatever might become of the people’s food.3 I do believe that there are not ten pounds due for rent in all Erris this day. My ears thrill with the frightful cries of separating friends while I write. I could give particulars more calamitous of the creatures who are not so fortunate as to commend the means of taking them to America and whose last meal of potatoes and last penny are exhausted.”

Notes 1 The Mayo Telegraph was a Repeal/Liberal newspapers based in Castlebar which was founded by Frederick Cavendish in 1830. In 1870 it changed its name to the Connaught Telegraph. 2 Those who left in 1846 had the resources to leave. Belmullet was one of the poorest areas of the country and most affected by the failure of the potato throughout the late 1840s. 3 The principal landlords in the Erris area were the Carters, Binghams and John Walsh.

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3 PETITION FROM THE LABOURERS FROM THE RATTIBARREN BARONY, CO. SLIGO TO THE GOVERNMENT OUTLINING THEIR POVERTY AND ASKING FOR AID TO BE SENT TO NORTH AMERICA, PROMISING TO REPAY ANY LOANS THEY RECEIVED. 1 APPENDIX TO MINUTES TAKEN BEFORE THE SELECT COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS ON COLONISATION, HC 1847 (737 – II) VI, P. 197       Appendix No. 23     Petition from the Irish Poor   To the Right Honourable Lords Temporal and Spiritual Honoured Gentlemen We the undersigned, humbly request that ye will excuse the Liberty we take in troubling ye at a Time when ye ought to be tired, listening to our Cries of Distress; but like Beggars we are importunate. We the undersigned are the Inhabitants of the Barony of Rattibarren, Barony of Liney and County of Sligo. It is useless of us to be relating our Distress, for ye too were often distressed by hearing them, – for none could describe it; it can only be known by the Sufferers themselves. We thank ye, and our Gracious Sovereign, and the Almighty for the relief we have, though One Pound of Indian Meal for a full grown Person, which has neither Milk nor any other kind of Kitchen, it is hardly fit to keep the Life in them; but if we got all that we would be thankful. But if we have reason to complain, there is others who has more Reason to complain, for in the Parish Tawnagh2 they are but getting Half a Pound, and several of them are not able to but Half a Pennyworth of Milk. I fear the Curse of the Almighty will come heavier on this country, the 27

T he exodus

Way they are treating the Poor, but the Distress stares us in face more grim than ever, for we have no Sign of Employment, for the Farmers is not keeping either Boy or Girl or Workman they can avoid, but are doing the Work by their Families though they are not half doing it. In Times past the Poor of this Country had large Gardens of Potatoes and as much Conacre3 as supported them for nearly the whole Year, and when they had no employment they had their own Provision, but now there (are) Thousands and Tens of Thousands that has not a Cabbage Plant in the Ground; so we hope that ye will be so charitable as to send us to America, and give us Land according to our Families, and anything else ye will give us (and we will do with the coarsest Kind). We will repay the same, with the Interest thereof, by Instalments, as the Government will direct. And if they refuse or neglect to pay the same, the next Settler to pay the money and have his Land. And we will bind ourselves to defend the Queen’s Right to any place we are sent, and leave it on our Children to do the same. So we hope for the sake of Him gave ye the Power and England Power, and raised her to be the Wonder of the World, and enabled her to pay Twenty Million for the Slaves in India, and ye will lend us Half the Sum, which we will honestly repay, with the Interest thereof, for we are more distressed than they; and hope for the sake of him that said, ‘He that giveth to the Poor lendeth to the Lord and He will repay it’, that ye will grant our Petition. And may He grant ye heavenly Wisdom, with temporal and spiritual Riches also, is the earnest Prayer of your Petitioners. [Eighty-six names] We think it useless to ye with Names as we could get as many Names as would nearly reach across the Channel. We hope your Lordship will excuse the Liberty we take in troubling you. We know that you have Irish Poor at heart, and that you are their best friend, which is the Cause of us making so free. We hope ye will make Allowance for Deficiencies of this, for the Writer is a poor Man that knows little about Stiles and Titles, for we are not able to pay a Man that could it right. To Lord Monteagle,4 House of Lords, London

Notes 1 For the poor who did not have the resources to leave, such as labourers in the West of Ireland, they were prepared to plead to any quarter to be sent abroad. 2 Tawnagh parish is near Riverstown, Co Sligo. 3 Conacre was a quarter to two acres let to labourers by farmers on an eleven month tenure which was used to grow potatoes. 4 Lord Monteagle, Thomas Spring Rice (1790–1866) had an extensive property in Co. Limerick, who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1835 to 1839.

28

4 LETTER OF JAMES PRENDERGAST IN MILLTOWN, 1 CO. KERRY TO HIS SON, THOMAS, IN BOSTON, 18 JUN. 1848, THANKING HIM AND HIS SIBLINGS FOR REMITTANCES THEY WERE SENDING BACK TO HELP THE FAMILY SURVIVE. 2 SHELLY BARBER (ED), THE PRENDERGAST LETTERS: CORRESPONDENCE FROM FAMINE-ERA IRELAND, 1840–1850 (AMHERST & BOSTON, 2006), PP 130–32 Mr Thomas Prendergast No 16 Pearplace Boston State of Massachuesetts N. America Milltown 18th June 1848 My dear Children I received your letter of the 30th of May last containing a check for seven Pounds.3 It was a timely relief and tho I want it I assure you I felt more on your account than I did on my own account. I feared that some mishap had befallen ye as I heard not from ye for a long time. I was in debt one pound nineteen shillings which I borrowed time after time, since what you sent me was spent. I was in a very bad state of health and I feared I would have died before your relief would reach me and that I would be a burthen on the parish for my funeral necessary but, thank God, I received a new life when I received your letter and not so much on account of the order, as on account of the account it contains that ye are all well. It is always said that he who has tender 29

T he exodus

and careful children is happy. In that case I am really so, for my sons and daughter are so and I will say that I have two of the best children in the world, while I have Julia and Con. My dear children ye can be neither jealous nor displeased when I say that I am more thankful to him than to my [. . .] own. At the same time I have cause to thank you all. Mr Quill Manager of the National Bank cashed the Bill for your Mother on yesterday. She is so well that she left this place yesterday morning and arrived here in the Evening with the amount of her order. James Maurice was here. She gave him the three Pounds which ye ordered to carry to his father. Also the letter which ye sent (to his father), arrived here early in the evening and we carried it. His father said before this that he wrote ye consenting and praying that ye would take out the boy. James himself said so on yesterday. It is the only wish of the Boy. Ye need not delay to send for him as soon as ye receive this for I assure ye it is the wish of all his family both father and Mother as well as himself. His father will write directly and I am sure ye will have his letter, unless it miscarry, sooner than mine. If he were over once He ought to help his own family and free ye from a part of your cares here on this side. He desires to remember him to his aunt Julia and uncle Con4 and adds that every one of his family have the same wish as, in gratitude and every other respect as they are more indebted to Con than to their own blood relatives for his kindness. James says that if he were with ye he would try to shew (sic) ye that he knows what he and his family owe ye for your kindles and good natures. Mich(ea)ls Wife and children are well, and so are his fatherinlw and Motherinlaw. They are really attentive to children. His Wife is as attentive to us as daughter could be. They are doing well and would be glad to hear daily if possible from him. Tell Michl that he would not forget Michl Ginnaw for 18 shillings which was due to him when Michl left there. He knows that I am bound for it and that only Michl Ginna is so indulgent he should have paid long since, but he should not be forgotten on that account. Your Mother and I may say, every individual of our family both Maurice and Michls join with me in sending a sincere blessing to every one of their beloved family (the young and old) praying that the eldest members may live long and the youngest to be as old. I will on say I am Affectionately, Your Father James Prendergast.

Notes 1 Even before the famine there was large scale emigration from Milltown, Co. Kerry, Ruth-Anne Harris, ‘The Prendergast family in Ireland’ in Shelly Barber (ed), The Prendergast Letters: Correspondence from Famine-Era Ireland, 1840–1850 (University of Massachusetts Press, Amhert and Boston, 2006), p. 9. 2 James and Elizabeth Prendergast lived in Milltown, Co. Kerry, and had six children; Julia, Jeffrey, Cornelius and Michael emigrated and settled in Boston. 3 Between 1841 and 1850 the Prendergast children in Boston remitted £139, or $2,318 back to their parent in Co. Kerry. Harris, ‘The Prendergast family in Ireland’ in Barber, (ed), Prendergast Letters, p. 14. 4 Cornelius Riordan who was married to Julia Prendergast.

30

5 NEWSPAPER ACCOUNT OF THE LARGE-SCALE EMIGRATION FROM IRELAND IN 1849 AND THE OPPORTUNITIES THAT EXIST IN THE UNITED STATES FOR EMIGRANTS. LONDON TIMES, JANUARY 1849 WHOLESALE EMIGRATION It is a growing expectation in Ireland that we are now about to witness one of the most momentous operations of society – the removal of a people en masse to a distant shore. The half-million who have got off with no very great stir in the course of two years are but an advanced guard to the main body that follows. It must, indeed, be the most furious impulse of the direst necessity that can urge men at this season of the year to cast themselves on the deep, to brave the wide Atlantic, to be thrown on they know not what head-land or shoal, and at the best to land in a country still ribbed with ice and buried in snow. Yet we were told the other day of ten emigrant vessels taking refuge in the Cove of Cork,1 of crowds waiting at other ports for the chance of a passage, and of multitudes ejected from their holdings,2 and now lodging in towns with no other hope upon earth than once to put their feet on the shore of the new world. We believe it to be even as it is described. The failure of the staple crop, the burden of maintaining the victims of famine, the impossibility of paying rates upon small holdings, and the invincible objection to pay them upon holdings of any size, constitute an expellant force of which the like was never seen. Pauperism in all its bearings is depopulating the island. They who are paupers, they who expect to be paupers, and they who loathe the thought of contributing their hard earnings to be squandered upon paupers, are equally out of heart, and resolved to go elsewhere. When the mind is resolved, the means only are wanting. But among the many redeeming virtues of this intractable and unfortunate race is a strength of family affection which no distance, no time, no pressure, no prosperity can destroy; and every one of the half-million, who have safely effected their retreat consecrates his first earnings to the pious work of rescuing a parent, a brother, or a sister from Ireland.

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What most contributes to this result, more even than famine or any other actual event, is that the long cherished dream of Irish nationality has utterly vanished away. That fond delusion is a thing of the past. O’Connell saw it fade away, and his spirit died within him.3 A few poor misguided creatures have tried to take up his cause and blow it into life, but they are worse than dead. The impossible vision of a Celtic Republic consisting of a million or two small but unhappy freeholders, making their own laws, choosing their own lords, and playing fast and loose with Her Britannic Majesty, is now a nursery fable, and numbers with those superstitions which abound on St. Patrick’s Isle. But on that die has the Celt staked all his pride and romance. That hope gone he feels no other tie to his soil. Forced to give up the poetry of his national ambition, he is now ready to put up with the substance, and seek the solid benefits of land and employment in another soil. The fabulous and empiric nationality of O’Connell once exploded, little else survives of the national tie. Of all people in the world there are none who feel less mutual confidence than the Irish. That quality is the growth of industry, of cultivation, of arts, of institutions, of all that demonstrates the power of organised co-operation, and brings out the virtues that win mutual respect. The Irishman is painfully aware of his national weakness. His hope is now to rise, not on his strength, but on the strength of the thriving transatlantic community. And that we believe to be his only hope. Since it must be so – since so large a part of our British fellow-subjects must join a foreign allegiance, or a colony all but independent, we rejoice to see, in this inevitable event, the providential means of a beneficial mixture of races. The history of this island shows by how many invasions, conquests, compromises, and fusions of Races the British character has attained its noble though composite excellence. A week in our villages or streets, the survey of a market, a church, or a dining-table, will bear out the truth of history, that Britons, Romans, Saxons, Danes, Normans, Dutch, Flemish, French, and even more races, go to the happy composition of an Englishman and English Society.- Hence the versatility, hence the enlarged sympathies of the race. It is ascribed to our position in a fluctuating climate, and temperate zone, that we are able to adapt ourselves to any region of the earth, and pass with little injury to extremes of heat and cold. To an unparalleled variety of national ingredients, and the kindred fact of our complex social state and mixed constitution, we owe it that we excel in so many departments of human ambition, and enjoy so many internal sources of prosperity and happiness. The experience of our own good fortune makes us wish to see the Celtic race allied to more vigorous and fortunate elements. The fates, however, seem to forbid that fusion in these islands. The Celt calls Ireland his own, and is jealous of interlopers, while England, also our superior wealth and cultivation have created an interval which can seldom be passed. Religion also stands in the way. That part, too, of our industrial system which would otherwise offer the best opening for union and improvement is too full and too fixed to admit a Celtic immigration. A Connaught man may bring his family into Manchester and hide them in a

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cellar, but he could hardly get a night’s lodging in an agricultural village, except once a year for himself and his sickle. Now America, supplies the opportunities of national fusion and perfection which are impossible at home. In those vast and thinly-peopled countries labour is precious, has friends and elbow room, finds openings and opportunities everywhere, and, what is more, feels itself neither intruder nor exclusive owner, but simply a free citizen on a fair soil. There is no better chance for the Celt than that which he now sees and eagerly grasps, of learning the agricultural and mechanical arts, and the power of selfgovernment, among the enterprising, ingenious, industrious states diffused on the vast surface, and gathering the profuse treasures of the new world. Providence at this crisis widens the openings and multiplies the opportunities of Europe’s great outlet. The railroads, the river and lake communications of the States and British America have lately increased with unexampled rapidity. Within a few years the Union has almost doubled its territory. Besides what it has won by the sword and negotiation from Mexico, it has lately secured by treaty from the Indian tribes an extent of fertile plains watered by the tributaries of the Mississippi and Missouri as large as this island. To crown all, California, at this happy moment, reveals her hidden treasures, and invites myriads, who will have their places to be filled by immigration. For every man who leaves New York, or Boston, or Philadelphia, or Baltimore for the fields of gold, one more is wanted from these islands. If, too, the tide of wealth flows into a tithe of the expected amount, manufacture, trade and commerce will be stimulated to a degree which will readily absorb any amount of labour that we can supply. When such prospects are opened, we cannot be blind to the opportunity. It avails little to lament that the States are no longer ours, that our remaining colonies hang very loosely, and that the emigrant loses or imperials the birth-right of the British name. Old associations, a common faith, a common language, a common literature, and many common institutions, must supply the place of political union. It may possibly come to pass that the Celt, if he does now begin to disappear as a distinct race, will pass from a bad subject to a good ally.

Notes 1 Cove, or Cobh, Co. Cork, which was the main departure point for emigrants from within Ireland. 2 Between 1847 and 1852 between 250,000 and 500,000 people were evicted from their farms. This was after the introduction of the Quarter Acre Clause, also known as the Gregory Clause. This required that surrender that all relief appl8icants surrender all their land except a quarter acre and was used by landlord to evict large number of their tenants. 3 Daniel O’Connell (1775–1847) was the leader of the Repeal movement which sought the repeal of the Act of Union.

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6 LABOURERS IN CO. MAYO CONTRIBUTE TO A  GENERAL FUND AND EVERY TWO WEEKS NAMES WERE SELECTED AND THE PASSAGE FARES PROVIDED FOR A  LABOURER AND HIS FAMILY TO EMIGRATE TO NORTH AMERICA. GALWAY MERCURY, 17 APRIL  1852 EMIGRATION – A NOVEL SYSTEM So great is the anxiety felt by the poor labouring classes in this part of Connaught to escape from a country where every effort of industry is crushed by the pressure of enormous poor rates and taxes and where the owners of land seem determined not to come to any equitable accommodation with the tenant class, to one where freedom and prosperity await them, that such of them as have employment on the Drainage works here, have adopted the following novel and extraordinary mode of enabling themselves to emigrate: – It appears they are paid fortnightly, and when the pay night arrives, about three hundred of them assemble and pay sixpence each into a general fund. A number of tickets, corresponding with the number of persons present, are then placed in a hat, and on one of them the word “America” is written – all the rest being blank. A ballot then takes places, and the lucky drawer of the prize ticket, has his passage to America paid for him, and receives a small sum to subsist him for some time after his landing there.

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7 REPORT OF THIRTY-TWO FORMER MEMBERS OF THE ACHILL CHURCH MISSION SOCIETY COLONY 1 WHO WERE LEAVING FOR NORTH AMERICA BECAUSE OF THE INCREASED HOSTILITY FROM FORMER FRIENDS AND RELATIONS, AND GREATER THREATS FROM A REJUVENATED CATHOLIC CHURCH AFTER THE GREAT FAMINE. 2 GALWAY VINDICATOR, 17 MAY 1854 Thirty-three persons, emigrants, passed through Tuam yesterday, en route to America. Out of this number, there were no less than thirty-two Protestants from the Islands of Achill, which has attained such notoriety in the annals of proselytism. Bianconi’s cars3 have been engaged for the purpose of conveying on tomorrow 61 inmates of the Ballinrobe workhouse to the railway.4 Their destination is the British Colonies, in America. In every district of Mayo in fact, the preparations for emigration are increasing. Remittances from friends in America are arriving every day, and this money is invariably employed in defraying the emigration expenses of the parties who receive it. We have agricultural commodities at war prices and the farmers and labourers leaving us. What a strange and perplexing anomaly.

Notes 1 The Achill Church Mission Colony was established by Edward Nangle in 1834 and its function was to convert the local population to Protestantism. See Irene Whelan, ‘Edward Nangle and the Achill Mission, 1834–1852’ In Raymond Gillespie and Gerard Moran (eds), ‘A Various Country’: Essays in Mayo History, 1500–1900 (FNT, Westport; 1987) pp 113–34.

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2 With the end of the Famine in 1852 the Catholic Church under Archbishop John MacHale put increasing resources in to Achill to counteract the activities of Nangle’s society resulting in large numbers of the colony emigrating, in particular to Canada. 3 The coach system of Charles Bianconi was the main transport system in Ireland up to the 1850s. 4 In the early 1850s Irish workhouses sent over 15,000 of their young female inmates to Canada, See Moran, “‘Shovelling Out the paupers’ ”, pp 22–40.

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8 REPORT FROM COUNTY KERRY OF PEOPLE EMIGRATING WHO WERE ABLE TO PAY THEIR RENT, BUT THE LANDLORDS ACCEPTED A HIGHER PAYMENT, FORCING THE FAMILIES TO LEAVE. KERRY EXAMINER, 27 JUNE, 1854 EMIGRATION: REMARKABLE OCCURRENCE On Saturday last we witnessed the embarkation in boats of about fifty families, from the beach at Kilfanora village, to get on board the emigrant ship that lay at anchor off the Samphires. All were of the comfortable class of farmers, from the parishes of Castlemain and Milltown, and bound for New York, whense they were to proceed, some of the several and others to the western settlements. In the course f conversation with a very intelligent farmer who accompanied the emigrants “to see them off,” we learned a remarkable fact connected with some of them. It appeared that two of those held land jointly in the parish of Milltown, the term of which had lately expired and which had been in the possession of their fathers for over half a century. They offered the Landlord £100 for a renewal, but the offer was refused; a covetous and more wealthy neighbour bid £200 over, and was accordingly accepted and put into possession. The landlord was hardly to blame, but he who coveted the goods of another, and was the direct means of driving those honest and industrious people, young and adult, from the homes of their childhood, to seek asylum in a far distant clime, soon received an awful punishment at the hands of retributive Justice. In a month after he entered on possession while ploughing his field he fell suddenly to the ground a lifeless corpse! It is to the numerous similar acts of oppression perpetrated under the “outbidding system” so prevalent among the farming classes we may well attribute, in a great degree, the cause of the wholesale emigration from our shores by which this Land is stript [sic] of the bone and sinew of its strength and vitality.

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Part II SUPPORT FOR EMIGRATION AS A SOLUTION TO FAMINE In the decades preceding the Famine there were calls for emigration schemes from Ireland to the colonies to be introduced which would be supported and funded by the government. It was argued it would provide a remedy for the increasing levels of destitution and population congestion in the county. The only time the British government promoted and directly funded Irish emigration to the colonies was through the Peter Robinson scheme to Peterborough, Ontario between 1823 and 1825 when 2,500 people from the Blackwater region of North Munster had their passage paid, were provided with farms and looked after for the first year in the colony.1 The experiment was largely regarded as successful, but was never repeated because of the high cost, although there were calls from within Ireland for other such projects. Nearly all of the parliamentary select committees and royal commissions that dealt with Irish poverty before the Famine recommended some form of assisted emigration to the colonies. With the failure of the potato crop in 1845 calls for emigration increased with petitions and memorials from landlords, boards of guardians, labourers and others for government help with emigration. At this stage the Poor Law was the only public body providing support for the destitute poor, but was restricted by regulations in funding emigration, at a time when it was faced with increased demands on its limited resources. Despite the pleas for greater government intervention to facilitate emigration, both the Peel and Russell administrations were not prepared to support or fund such initiatives. In 1847 a memorial was forwarded to Sir John Russell by John Robert Godley and signed by 83 prominent Irish landowners, politicians and clergymen urging the government to provide the funding for two million people to settle in Canada. The government’s response was to establish the Select Committee of the House of Lords on Colonization which took statements and heard evidence from over one hundred witnesses from Ireland and the colonies. While the committee made suggestions and recommendations on the merits of Irish emigration to the colonies none was ever implemented as the government was not prepared to provide the funding and there was opposition in Canada to

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sending such large numbers to the colony. It was also claimed that such emigration would only discourage people from funding their own travel. By the time the committee issued its report emigration was in full flow and the government did not have to intervene. The Russell administration was prepared to encourage the colonial authorities to finance Irish emigration to their jurisdictions and there was support for this in some colonies as with the Female Orphan Scheme to Australia between 1848 and 1850 with young workhouse girls having their passage paid. However, this was more a solution to the colony’s gender problem than an attempt to deal with famine conditions in Ireland. In the early stages, landowners were among the most vocal supporters of emigration and while some looked to the government to provide assistance, this was more for economic rather than philanthropic reasons. While there was support for emigration during this period, there was little practical help for those who were desperate to leave.

Note 1 See Wendy Cameron, ‘Selecting Peter Robinson’s emigrants’ in Histoire Sociale: Social History, 9:17 (May, 1976); ibid., Peter Robinson’s settlers’ in Robert O’Driscoll and Lorna Reynolds (eds), The Untold Story: The Irish in Canada (Celtic Arts of Canada, Toronto; 1988), pp 343–54.

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9 PAMPHLET FROM JOHN ROBERT GODLEY 1 AND SIGNED BY 83 IRISH NOBLEMEN CALLING ON THE BRITISH PRIME MINISTER, LORD JOHN RUSSELL, TO IMPLEMENT A SCHEME OF COLONIZATION OF PAUPER IRISH FAMILIES TO NORTH AMERICA 2 To the Right Honourable Lord John Russell, First Lord of the Treasury My Lord, We the undersigned, being desirous of promoting Emigration as a Means of giving Effect to other Measures for permanently improving the Condition of Ireland, beg leave to submit our Views to your Lordship as the Head of Her Majesty’s Government. We must request, at the Outset, that our Signatures to this address may be received as expressing only a general Approval, by each of us, to the Plan which is recommended – not an Adoption, by us all, of every particular Opinion and Statement contained in it. On Matters of Opinion relating to its main subject there are Differences amongst us, and on Matters of Fact various Degrees of Information, such as to preclude us from professing an exact agreement except with regard to the Object in view, and the Means of attaining it. On these Points, as both are here set forth, we entirely concur. Although the Plan which we lay before you is intended to be complete in its general Features as a Measure of Emigration, we offer it to your Attention only as a Part of a more comprehensive Scheme of Remedies – as a Measure in aid of others of a widely different Character. We are persuaded that Emigration alone, on whatever Scale, and however admirably conducted, would not merely fail to remedy the social Evils of Ireland, but would be quite fruitless for that Purpose. It might be of great Service to those removed, but would not permanently affect the Condition of those who remained behind. We pray of your Lordship, therefore, to bear in mind, that our View of the Importance of Emigration is quite qualified by the Supposition that other Objects, which are unattainable by a mere Diminution of Numbers, will be pursued by appropriate and adequate Means. 41

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On this Supposition, however, we conceive that the Importance of Emigration can hardly be over-rated. Admitting that the simultaneous Operation of other Measures can render Emigration very useful, still those other Measures may be fruitless, or even mischievous, unless accompanied by Emigration. As it would be vain to diminish the present Competition for Employment and Land in Ireland, by means of a sufficient Emigration, if the Causes of the Competition were left in full Operation, so would it be impracticable to remove those Causes and prevent their Recurrence, whilst the Competition was severely felt. We would illustrate our Meaning by reference to some of the Suggestions of the Commissioners of Poor Law Inquiry in Ireland. Supposing it to be the Aim of a Poor Law to render the Owners of the Soil responsible for the Wellbeing of its Inhabitants, the Effect, whilst Population continued vastly in excess of Employment, would be a Confiscation of the Land, and a more complete pauperizing of the Poor. Supposing public works to be promoted by the State, with a view of so altering the Proportion between Employment and Labour, as to qualify Ireland for the beneficial Operation of a Poor Law, still this Effect could not be permanently maintained by a temporary Cause; the Evil of excessive Numbers would only be suspended; perhaps by a temporary Cause; the Evil of excessive Numbers would only be suspended; perhaps it would recur with a Force augmented rather than diminished by the artificial and temporary Demand for Labour. It may be questioned, moreover, whether any practicable Amount of Employment on public Works would be sufficient to permit the Establishment of a real Poor Law without confiscating the Land. The Exact excess of Numbers in Ireland is so great as to be incurable without a Diminution of Numbers. It is idle to hope that the Balance between Employment and Labour will be addressed by Increase of Employment alone; nay, the actual Excess of Numbers to an Impediment fatal to the beneficial Operation of Measures intended to increase Employment. There is a circle of Evil which we believe cannot be broken through, save by a great Mortality or a great Emigration. Supposing Starvation to be prevented this Year by maintaining Millions of destitute People at the public Cost, what, we must ask, is to happen in the Year 1848 and in the Year 1849? We do suppose that a great Mortality will be prevented by this Means; but this is not a Remedy, it is only a Palliative; and we cannot help believing that without a positive Diminution of Numbers, the Remedies which may be intended for permanent Effect will at best only mitigate the Evil; nay, that in the long run this may prove One of those Cases in which Palliatives have the Effect of increasing the Difficulty of a radical Cure. Let us pause, my Lord, for a Moment, to consider more carefully the Nature and Extent of the Crisis with which we have to deal. It is perfectly notorious and undeniable, that the Destruction of the Potato Crop in Ireland must produce, not only an immense Amount of temporary Misery, but a complete Revolution in the Agriculture and social Economy of that Country. Hitherto the great Mass of the Irish Agricultural Labourers and their Families (who constitute nearly Three Fourths of the whole Population) have depended almost entirely for their support on Potatoes – that is, on the lowest and cheapest Kind of Food: Henceforward 42

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they must cease to do so, and consequently, Means must be found for supplying them with cereal Food – that is, with Food more than twice as expensive as Potatoes. This sudden and compulsory Transition from a lower to a higher Kind of Food constituted a Phenomenon unparalleled in History; and we believe that public Attention has not been sufficiently drawn to its inevitable Consequences. It follows from it, that the Fund applicable to the Payment of Wages in Ireland must be suddenly more than doubled, or that a large Proportion of the present laboring Population must starve if they remain there. Now it has been proved, by the most incontestable Evidence, that, in order to provide this absolutely Increase in wages Fund, a Sum would be required exceeding the whole Rental of the Country; so that, even on the Hypothesis of the entire Produce of the Soil of Ireland being equally divided amongst its inhabitants, it would not suffice to satisfy their indispensible Necessities. We abstain from entering in detail Proof of this Proposition, because that Task has been already performed, and because very slight Consideration will convince every thinking Man of its general Truth. In order, then, to enable Ireland to feed her Inhabitants, there are but Two Alternatives which can be suggested; first, the Introduction of Capital as extra to such an Amount and its Application in such a Manner as will immediately and greatly increase Production; or, secondly, such a Diminution of the Numbers to be fed as will preserve them within the Limits of the existing Resources. Now the Alternative requires only to be stated, in order that all may see the Impossibility of its Application. The very Nature of the Disease precludes the Use of the Remedy. Capital will not flow into a Country where the whole social System in is process of Revolution – where Millions are struggling for Life, and where, consequently, there cannot be Security or Protection for Person and Property. From a Country in such a State it is far more likely that much of the Capital now invested will disengage itself, than that more will flow in; and it is useless to expect that the artificial Introduction of Capital by State Advances should be carried to such an Extent as to counteract the Operation of these natural Causes. Nor is this all; if the Capital were on the Spot, there is not the Skill to make use of it. The Transition must be made from a lower to a higher System of Husbandry, as well as from a lower to a higher Kind of Food. Farms must be enlarged, Labour must be combined, a whole Population must, in short, be educated afresh, and induced to alter their Habits, Character and Mode of Life, before the most lavish Application of Capital can produce the desired Result. The Period of Transition must, upon the most favourable Hypothesis, extend over many Years; and it is fearful to reflect upon the Demoralization and Misery with which that Period must be fraught, and which must indefinitely retard its Termination. Again, supposing it were possible that, in the course of Time, and in spite of all Difficulties, the Resources of Ireland might be developed so as to produce the necessary Amount of Food, it must be remembered that this very Process would tend to throw a vast Number of Labourers out of Employment. In England only Three Labourers are employed on every 100 Arable Acres; in Ireland, Eight. It follows then, that if the Agriculture of Ireland were brought up to the Level of that of England, it must be accompanied by such 43

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an increased Economy of Labour as would increase, to a proportionate Extent, the Surplus of Labourers which even now exists. These Considerations suffice to show the utter Inapplicability of the first Alternative which we have stated. Unless, then, the People of England are prepared to say that they will, for many Years to come, supply the Irish People with imported Food at an immense Expense, or suffer them to starve by Millions, they must turn to the second Alternative with a deep and earnest Desire that safe and salutary Means may be found for ensuring its immediate and extensive Application. It is to diminish the redundant Numbers of Ireland by means of well-regulated Emigration. Nor will we abstain from impressing on your Lordship our Conviction that inasmuch as Object of Emigration is to remove a Pressure of excessive Numbers, so heavy as to prevent the Operation of Measures otherwise calculated to produce a sound State of social Economy in Ireland, so it is essential that the Amount of Emigration should be sufficient for the Purpose in view. An Emigration which might be termed great, and which might be very large in comparison with any that has yet taken place, would be of no avail at all unless it were large enough. However, large it were, if it were short of the requisite Amount, it would not be a Remedy, but only a Palliative. Of such a Palliative we do not deny the Value; for it might be the least costly Mode of providing a Subsistence for the destitute; and the Increase of Numbers, and of Demand for British Manufactures, which it would occasion in new Countries, is not to be overlooked, whilst the assured Improvement of the poor Emigrant’s Condition is a very pleasing Consideration. But still this shortcoming Emigration might as well not take place at all for any Effect that it would have on the Relations between Employment and Labour in Ireland. With respect to a People of whom a large Proportion are on the verge Want; Emigration, whatever its amount, is pro tanto, preferable to Destitution and Death as a Check to the Increase of Numbers. But if it came short of such an Amount as would carry off from Time to Time any Superabundance of People over the Means of a decent Subsistence, it would not merely be inadequate, it would be unavailing, as a Remedy in aid of permanent Measures. It is hardly doubtful that Emigration from Ireland might be considerably increased without at all affecting the Condition of the People remaining behind. In order the |Results which we have in view, we are persuaded that Emigration must be limited by nothing but the Indisposition to emigrate; that it must be co-extensive with the Motives which lead to Emigration. When it should be seen that Emigration from Ireland was beginning to diminish, not in consequence of any Decrease of Demand for Irish Labour in new Countries, nor in consequence of any Diminution of the means of paying for a Passage, but in consequence of a general Facility of obtaining Employment or Decrease of Numbers, or both; then – that is, when the Motives to remaining at home were seen to be growing stronger than the Motives to Emigration – would be obvious that the Amount of Emigration had been sufficient. There appears to be no other adequate Test of the Sufficiency of this Remedy in aid. We must own, therefore, that we contemplate a very large Increase of Emigration. 44

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Comparing the probable Amount of a sufficient Increase with any Increase that is likely to take place in consequence of Measures higher to adopted by the Legislature, we must confess that those Measures (such as the Arrangements at present made for aiding poor Irish Emigrants on their arrival in British North America) appear not only totally in adequate, but likewise really irrelevant to the present Emergency. There is a good deal of vague remark about present Emigration from Ireland, and Assistance afforded by Government to the Emigrants, as a probable Means of beneficially affecting the social State of Ireland; the two Subjects are mentioned together, as if there were really an important Connection between them. We object to this View of the Matter, as claiming for present Arrangements by the State, with regard to Emigration from Ireland, a Degree of Importance which in no wise belongs to them. The Arrangements, so far, as they go, are useful and praiseworthy; the present Emigration is good for the Emigrants; good for the new Countries where they settle; good for the Manufactures and Commerce of the United Kingdom, whose Field of Employment for Capital and Labour is enlarged by it; but it has no closer Relation to the Cure of Irish Distress than a Spark has to a Fire as a Means of giving Warmth. A Remedy may be of the right Kind, and yet wholly ineffectual. It appears to us that, by failing to mark the Difference between Quality and Quantity, and falling into that Train of Ideas which connects Emigration with the permanent Improvement of Ireland as Cause and Effect, we should rather help to provide an Excuse for doing nothing, than represent our own Opinion that it is necessary to do a great deal in order to do anything effectual. At the same Time we should be misunderstood if your Lordship were led to suppose that we are amongst those who deem Ireland incapable of supporting the present Population in comfort. We cannot doubt, on the contrary, that if the social Economy of Ireland were made to resemble that of England, the Population of Ireland might be larger than it is. We are persuaded that, by such a System of Measures we would deserve to be called a Plan for the Regeneration of Ireland, the Wages of Labour, the Profit of Capital, and the Rent of Land, might be increased; and that the final and not very distant Effect might be an Increase in Numbers. It is only under the present Circumstances that the Population of Ireland is redundant: all that we desire is a temporary Decrease of Numbers as One essential means to the Production of other Circumstances in which the Population of Ireland might be greater than it has ever been, and well of into the Bargain. Having disposed of these preliminary Topics, we proceed to the Groundwork of our Plan, by setting forth the Principles on which it is founded. Amongst the poorer Classes in Ireland, there is a Disposition to emigrate and settle in Countries, which has no assignable Limit. If, at this Time, the Power to emigrate were co-extensive with the Inclination, Millions would seek a Home in Countries where Land is cheap, and the Wages of Labour and the Profits of Capital are both higher than anywhere in Europe. In that case, the entire Process of an effectual social Reform in Ireland might be commenced without Delay. But the Power to emigrate has obvious Limits; it cannot exceed either the Demand for immigrant Labour in new Countries, or the Means possessed by the Irish Poor of 45

E migration as a solution to famine

paying for a Passage. The Aim of our Plan is to extend these Limits – to cause such an Increase of the new-country Demand for Labour and of the Means of removing, that the prevalent Disposition to emigrate shall be unchecked. But we must emphatically declare that it is not our Object to increase mere Emigration from Ireland. The going forth of the poorest and most helpless Class of People in the World, to be Hewers of Wood and Drawers of Water in distant Countries, is only not to be deplored, because on the whole, it is better than the existing Alternative. But, though for that Reason not to be regretted, still it is attended by Circumstances which render it so unsatisfactory and displeasing as to produce comparatively little Desire for Extension. Nor can there be a Doubt that Emigration from Ireland, in order to be much to increase the Quantity, we trust that Her Majesty’s Government and Parliament may see fit to treat Emigration as but Part of something else – that is, as one of the Elements of Colonization. We are not the Advocates of an augmented Emigration from Ireland, but of an Irish Colonization which would comprise increased Emigration. The Favour with which Proposals of a systematic Colonization have of late been received by the Public, is not more Remarkable that the Vagueness of those Suggestions. It is commonly said, that for the Loose and scrambling Proceedings by which waste Territory of the British Empire is at present colonized, there ought to be substituted a System founded on definite Principles, carefully adapted to the Ends in view, sanctioned by legislative Authority, and carried into effect under the vigilant Superintendence of the executive Government; but nobody tells us what system ought to be. It is urged by many that our Colonization ought to carry our Society entire, and to plant it in the Wilderness in such a Way that the new Community should exhibit the Attributes of Civilization belonging to the old, without the Evils which arise from the Excess of Population; but nobody explains how all this is to be done. We are told that People of all Classes should be induced to emigrate; that the Poor should be accompanied by the Rich, who are their natural Leaders; that careful Preparation should be made for the Arrival of the Emigrants in their new Abode; that Religion and Education should be deliberately provided for in the Colony; and that the Colonists should really, as well as apparently, posses Institutions of Government as free as those of their Mother Country; but the modus operandi remains wholly unexplained. So vague, indeed, are the common Notions on this Subject, that One or Two recent Improvements in Method, or even the old Practices without the Improvements, are sometimes called by fashionable Name of ‘systematic Colonization.’ In using the Term, we intend something far more precise and real than these last Generalities. The Plan which we recommend may not obtain your Lordship’s Approval, or be worthy of public Support; but at any Rate it is a Plan. You will see that those by whom it has been framed have at least endeavoured to define the Objects in view, to discover the most suitable Means, to select the easiest and most effectual Methods, and to combine and arrange them into a harmonious system.

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None of us imagine, however, that it is a System fitted for universal Application. We should rather distrust than be inclined to recommend a Plan for which such lofty Pretensions were claimed. For it seems but reasonable to conclude, that no System can be applicable to the Work of Colonization by all Nations under all Circumstances; and that every System ought to be framed with regard to the Peculiarities of national and social Character, and to the other peculiar Circumstances of the Case. And this is the Course pursued in the present Instance. In this Case it is of the highest Importance to consider the Peculiarities and national and Social Character. That part of the Irish Nation to which a Measure of Colonization would be chiefly applicable, consists for the most part of the Descendants of the ancient native Population as distinguished from the AngloIrish, and presents a social Aspect widely different from that of the latter – different in Circumstances and Position as well as in Religion, Habits and Character. While they constitute the great Majority in point of Numbers, they possess, comparatively speaking, a very small Amount of Property in Land. It is needless, and would be out of place, to advert to the Causes of this Disproportion; but there is One Effect of it which we are satisfied must be deeply impressed on the Minds of those who would frame a good Plan of Colonization for Ireland. The Irish Roman Catholic Population comprises so small a Proportion of the middle and highest Classes, that it may be said to consist mainly of an indigent and uneducated Peasantry. The Exceptions from this Rule consist mainly of a very few Landowners, a few Lawyers and other professional Men, and some Merchants and Tradesmen – but few in comparison with the Proportion of the richer Classes among the Protestants; and, lastly, the Clergy. The Irish Roman Catholic People may be said to have, practically, almost no Aristocracy – no natural Leaders but their Priesthood; while from their Peculiarities of Character and Circumstances, they stand more in need of Leadership than any People on the Face of the Earth. Now, the most careful Government could not presently an Irish Roman Catholic Colonization with which neither exists at present nor could be created; it could not furnish the Classes of Gentry and Capitalists – the Natural Leaders or Caretakers of Society, who under a good System of Colonization would emigrate along with the poorest Class of English or Scotch, or Anglo Irish. By way of Stay and Help, and Guide and Government, to a great Body of Irish Roman Catholic Emigrants, it would be impossible to supply anything effectual, save only a significant Number of that Order of Men who constitute, as we have said, their real and actual Governors and Guides; that is their Clergy. With a view to Colonization rather than Emigration of Irish Roman Catholics, in order to transplant and establish in Society large Numbers of that People, there must be and transplanted and established along with them the only Institution to which the great Mass of them appear really attached to their native Land. If there were any other Institution which possessed an important influence here over the Irish Roman Catholic Peasantry, that also ought to emigrate along with them. But there are Two Reasons why the Transplantation of their Church is peculiarly indispensable. First, Because, as the

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only existing Institution really formed, respected, and loved by the People, it will be their chief Security against falling into a State of Anarchy or Barbarism – into that State which an Irish Roman Catholic Settlement in Canada, for example, invariably exhibits when planted without a Clergyman; and secondly, because everyone is familiar with the history of planting of Colonies, that great Success has never been attained when religious Provisions were neglected, and that the Influence of religious Provisions was wanting in all the Cases of remarkable Failure. We are speaking now of the Influence of Religion apart from Peculiarity of Creed. This is not the Place for us to express (however deeply we may, as Individuals, feel) a Conviction of the Superiority of one Form of religious Belief over another. As colonizers, we consider simply the wants and Wishes of the Emigrants. Those Wants and Wishes upon the Subject of Religion we cannot alter; and the only Question left is, how we are to deal with, and make the best Use of, Circumstances over Existence and Influence of which we have no Control. What we say of the Roman Catholic Church, we wish to apply to other Communions. It is because we believe that the Emigration of which we are Advocates must be in overwhelming Proportion Roman Catholic, that our Statement proceeds on the Hypothesis that it will be entirely so. At the same Time we wish it to be distinctly understood, that if it consisted mainly of Members of the Church of England, of the Church of Scotland, or the Wesleyan Body, we should give the foremost Place in our Plan to the Transplantation, along with the Emigrants, of the religious Influence to which they were accustomed at home, and which alone they would accept abroad; and in proportion as it may even consist of them, we wish that the religious Provisions of our Plan should apply to the fullest Extent to them also. Reverting to the past, we are convinced that the Church of England in Virginia, the Roman Catholics in Maryland, Quakerism in Pennsylvania, and the Puritanism in New England, were the principal Causes respectively of the Stability of Society in those Colonies of England, and of the wonderful Advancement in material Prosperity. Nay more, the Student of the Colonial History of England will not fail to observe the Prosperity of the old English Colonies in America seems to have been a pretty equal ratio of the Influences of Religion on the Emigrants; the Colonies in which religious Provisions were neglected were the least prosperous of modern Colonies, those of New England, were in fact Levitical Communities,3 almost entirely governed and managed by Influences of a religious Kind. On the other Hand, during the more recent Times Emigration has proceeded, and a sort of Colonization has gone on, as if the Work were merely economical or commercial – as if Religion were deemed of no Importance to Society – as if it were denied that a History of Religion would be a History of Mankind; and at length, we have gone into the Habit of saying that Colonization is one of the lost Arts. It is on general Grounds, therefore, relating to the Art of Colonization, as well as on the Score of the peculiar Dependence of the Irish Roman Catholics on their Church as Stay, Guide, and Government, that we insist on the Necessity 48

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of ample Religious Provisions as essential to the well-doing of an Irish Roman Catholic Colonization.4 There is another Influence, however, to which we attach a high Degree of Importance. It is that of Nationality. Apart from Religion, the Irish Roman Catholics are what may be termed a national People; that is, they are a People bound together and separated from the rest of the World by Pecularities and Sympathies of historical Recollections, of actual Circumstances, of Customs and Sentiments, and perhaps of Origin or Blood. They mix but little with any other People, either in England, Scotland, the English Part of Ireland, or even in the new Countries to which vast Numbers of them emigrate. This, like their Religion and its potent Influence on them, is a Fact of which no human Power can alter the Complexion; and we believe it to be one on which a sound Measure of Roman Catholic Irish Colonization must of necessity be founded. We believe that, in order to plant any Number of them happily in a new Country, and in order to render that Country attractive to great Numbers of them, their national Sympathies and Associations, as well as their Religion, must be carefully preserved and deliberately used for the Furtherance of the best Results of which Nationality and Nationality are capable of producing. It is therefore, most inadvisable to scatter Irish Emigration over numerous distinct Colonies. It seems most expedient to choose some one Country to which the main Stream of Emigration should be directed, and in which, accordingly, Irish nationality would at once take root. If the Emigrants were dispersed amongst a Number of Communities, in each of which they would be an alien Minority, their Nationality would be lost or wasted; the best that could happen to them, speaking nationally, would be a deeply Amalgamation with the different Nations or Communities into which they have been received. In this Case their Connexion with Ireland, as Nuclei of Attraction to further Bodies of Emigrants would soon disappear. But if, on the contrary, the great Bulk of an Irish Colonization took place in one Part of the World, the Process would establish an Irish Nation, with free Scope for the beneficial working of an Irish Nationality, and with such intimate Relations of national Sympathy between the new People and its Parent stock, as to provide the strongest moral or non-material Inducements to the Emigration of more People. Your Lordship will perceive that we are not thinking of a peddling Measure of mere Emigration, but of a Process of really systematic Colonization. In support of confining the Work of Irish Colonization which we contemplate to one Part of the World there are some more Reasons to which considerable Weight must be attached. It is indispensible, with a view to Economy, that the Field of Colonization should be the nearest Country to Ireland affording Room for a great Immigration. As there are many who think that Emigration is not a good Remedy for the Ills of Ireland, because ‘the Process of bridging over the Atlantic would be too expensive,’ so it seems worse than idle to propose that any Direction should be given to an Irish Emigration but that in which the Cost of Passage should be as low as possible. This is the Case with regard to North America, and for Two 49

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Reasons; partly because the Passage from Ireland to North America is the shortest of Emigrant Voyages, and partly because in the Trade between North America and the United Kingdom the Exports of America and Imports of Britain are bulky, the imports of America and Exports of Britain the reverse of bulky, so that Ships which come heavy laden to Britain go light to America, and carry Passengers at a very low Rate. This must be especially the Case for many Years to come, during which the Importation of Provisions from America must be incalculably larger than it has ever hitherto been, and must of course supply a corresponding Amount of Freight disposable for Emigration. In the next place, it is of the last Importance, with a view to Economy, that the Emigration should be directed to that Country in which the greatest Superabundance of Food already exists, and which possessed the greatest present Capacity of uninhabited Country, or one containing but few Inhabitants, it would be necessary to supply them for a Year or Two with Food procured from other Countries at a great Expense. We are informed that the first Colonists of South Australia and New Zealand imported nearly all their Food during the first Two or Three Years of their Settlement, and that the greater Part of that Food was sent to them from this Country. If a Million of Irish Emigrants were sent to any Country but North America, it would be necessary to send along with it after them about Four million Barrels of Flour, at a Cost of from 8,000,000l. to 10,000,000l.; and in all Probability the greater Part of the Flour would come from North America. Manifestly, therefore, it is to North America alone that a great Irish Emigration should be directed. It is there only that the emigrants would fall in with a great Store of Food ready for the Mouths of new comers; because it is there only that an Abundance of fertile Land exists in combination with a skillful agricultural Population many Times more numerous than any conceivable Amount of annual Emigration. For an English, or Scotch, or Anglo-Irish Colonization, an uninhabited Country, or one very slightly inhabited, may be suitable, because the Emigrants might carry with them an ample Capital, as in the recent Cases of South Australia and New Zealand; but an Irish Roman Catholic Emigration must chiefly consist of mere Labourers seeking Employment by the Capital of the Country to which they emigrate. Of Capital for the Employment of Emigrants, Food is the main Item. Of such Capital the greatest Abundance exists in North America; and there is no other Country in which it exists in sufficient Abundance for the Objects in view. But a great Part of North America is a foreign Country. We do not stop to ask whether it would be allowable or possible for the Government of Britain to make Arrangements with that of the United States, for the Reception and Absorption of a great Irish Emigration in the latter Country, because there are circumstances in the United States, independent of the Point of Foreign Dominion, which unfit that country for the Prosperity of a great Irish Colonization. If ever Two Nationalities came into collision by meeting, it is the Irish and the American in the United States. Everywhere in the United States the Irish-born Part of the Population is only tolerated by the Native Americans as what has been termed ‘a serviceable Nuisance;’ it is a Population of Foreigners and Outcasts, exceedingly valuable 50

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as a Mass of Labour which gives Productiveness to Capital in a Country where the Natives dislike working for Hire, but socially despised, and in so many Ways ill treated, but practically it does not enjoy that Equality of Rights which is the Boast of the American democracy. Your Lordship is doubtless aware of the recent Organisation of a Party in the United States with the Name of Native Americans. The Object of this Association is to give Effect to the American Sentiment of Hostility to the Irish. The Existence of that Sentiment in the United States, founded, as it is, on Antipathies of Religion and Race, and prevailing in a Country whose Irish-born Inhabitants must, under any Circumstances, be a small Minority, would be a fatal Impediment to the Employment of the religious and national Pecularities of the Irish, as a Means of prosperous Colonization, even if the United States were in the British Empire. The American Union is only suitable for a mere Immigration of the Irish as Hewers of Wood and Drawers of Water. We turn, therefore, to the Part of North America in which no such Impediment exists. In British North America an Irish Colonization, if it were so conducted as to be orderly and prosperous, would be cordially welcomed by the present Inhabitants. A Colonization directed to British North America might be regulated and fostered by the British Government. The Field of Colonization, therefore, which we propose, is the British Provinces in the Neighbourhood of the St. Lawrence. This Country is amply large enough for the Purpose. It is in the Part of the World where the greatest Abundance of human Food is brought into the Market at the lowest Price. It already contains a Population, for the most part engaged in Agriculture, exceeding any possible Amount of annual Irish Immigration; and so very large a Proportion of its fertile Soil is still uncultivated, that for many Years to come every Addition to its Numbers by Immigration will add to its Capacity of receiving more Immigrants. A considerable Part of the present Population is Irish-born; and in the greatest of the Provinces, the Roman Catholic Church is that of the Majority. It is in British North America, therefore, and especially in Canada, that Effect might be most rapidly given to the foregoing Suggestions, with regard to using the Nationality and Religion of the Irish as Means of successful Colonization. For the sake of Brevity we shall henceforth mention Canada only, but intending what is said of the One Province to be received as more or less applicable to them all, or rather to the whole of them as One Country; which indeed they are in Similarity of Circumstances and which they are not unlikely to become in Government and Name. Supposing the Attributes of Canada to be such as to render it the most suitable Field for a great Irish Colonization, its Deficiencies for that Purpose, and the Means of supplying them, must be next considered. That there are Circumstances in the present State of Canada very favourable to the Reception of a large Irish Immigration may be inferred from the Fact, that the greater Part of the Irish Emigrants who avail themselves of the Return of Lumber Ships to the St. Lawrence, in order to obtain a cheap Passage to America, merely pass through Canada on their Way to settle in the United States. Many of them, indeed, work for a Time 51

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in Canada, especially during the Harvest, and are thus counted by the Emigration Agents as Settlers in Canada; but we are assured by Persons who have carefully investigated this Subject on the Spot, that the Proportion of Roman Catholic Emigrants ultimately settling in Canada was very small indeed. Its Amount is said to be indicated by the very small Proportion which Canadian Remittances bear to the great Fund annually transmitted from North America to Ireland, by Irish Emigrants who have prospered in the British Colonies and the United States. Nor should any Surprise be felt at this Circumstance. Irish Emigration to America is almost a Pauper Emigration; its Cost is, in a great Measure, defrayed by the Relatives and Friends of the Emigrants who have gone before them, and made Money as Labourers for Hire; it is attracted and sustained by hardly anything but the Transatlantic Demand for Irish Labour. Now, by far the greater Part of this Demand exists in the United States. The Disproportion may at first sight be attributed to the Greatness of the Area and Population of the United States, in proportion to those of Canada; but on Examination it appears that in a Portion of the United States of which the Area and Population do not exceed those of Canada, the Demand for Labour is out of all Proportion greater than its Excess of Population over that of Canada. We are aware that such Comparisons are apt to mislead, when too strictly interpreted; but that are valuable as Indications of the approximate Truth. In this Instance we should infer from them, that it is neither Want of Room nor Want of People that keep down the Demand for Irish Labour in Canada; and the Inference is supported by Facts taken from numerous authentic Sources of Information. Until quite recently, Canada has been ruled by Two Governments, the one at Quebec, the other at Toronto, – that is, Five hundred and forty Miles apart, – in subordination to which the Inhabitants did not possess even the Semblance of those Delegations of local Authority which constitute a great Part of the Government of England, and which have been the principal Means of a vast Outlay of Capital and Labour in improving the Country of England as distinguished from the Metropolis. The Government of France under Napoleon, or of Russia, was not more thoroughly centralized than those of Upper and Lower Canada before the Union of the Provinces. Central Government in an old Country is a great Bar to Improvements, except at the Seat of Government. In a new Country, where not even great Lines of Communication have been accomplished by the local Authority, and where the People are much dispersed in consequence of the Cheapness of the Land it is perfectly fatal. Until the Period of the Union of the Provinces, accordingly, Canada was in such a State of Backwardness as regards local Improvement, and the Fact was so striking in comparison with Progress of any of the adjoining States, which enjoy very complete Institutions of local Management, independently of their State Governments, that the Contrast formed the Subject of a large Portion of Lord Durham’s Report on the Affairs of British North America; and the providing of a Remedy for this State of Things has been a prominent Object of the Government of the United Province. The Machinery

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of an eventual Remedy has been provided by establishing a municipal System founded on Lord Durham’s Recommendations; but this potent Instrument of local Improvement could not be expected to produce sudden Effects of any Importance; and its total Absence, until quite lately, is one of the principal Reasons why the Demand for Irish Labour has been so much less in Canada than in the State of New York. It may be said that Canada has yet to be made habitable. By means of Aid from the Imperial Government in the Form of Credit, Canada has recently made some important Improvements in the great Lines of Communication; but the inferior Lines, the Network of smaller Communications, which forms a main Distinction between civilized and barbarous Countries, has hardly been begun. In such a State of Things, the Accumulation of Capital is slow in proportion to the Difficulty of taking agricultural Produce to Market; neither private Enterprise nor public Works stimulate the Industry and increase the Resources of the People; and a general Stagnation is the State of public Economy. We have been assured, moreover, that the Precariousness or Unsteadiness of the Supply of Irish Labour in Canada is one Cause of the Smallness of the Demand. As the main Stream of Irish Immigration into Canada passes on into the United States, being attracted thither by the Numbers who have gone before, the Canadian Farmer (and in a Country like Canada Nine Tenths of the People are Farmers) seldom retains the Labour of a hired Emigrant, and is never sure of being able to replace it by that of another at the Moment when the first thinks proper to quit his Service. He seldom attempts, therefore, a Mode of Cultivation which requires the constant Employment of many Workmen; his Motive for accumulating Capital is very much weaker than it would be if we were always sure of an ample supply of Labour. Thus, paradoxical as it may seem to those who are always acquainted with the peculiar Circumstances of new Countries, the Want of a steady Supply of Labour in Canada tends to prevent a steady and continually increasing Demand for Labour. But there is another Circumstance in Canada still more adverse to the Settlement of Masses of Irish Roman Catholic Emigrants in that Colony. The general Poverty of the Irish Emigrants who settle in Canada is such as to preclude them from making a suitable Provision for their Church. The old Endowments of the Roman Catholic Church in the French Part of Canada are of scarcely any avail to the Irish, on account of the Differences of Language.5 For an Irish Roman Catholic Church a mere Trifle is provided by the State in Canada, though the Churches of England and Scotland and the Wesleyan Methodists are endowed by Law. In Canada, therefore, the Church of the Irish Roman Catholics occupies an inferior Position, and is really starved as well. In the United States, on the contrary, where the spiritual Government of all Creeds is on a footing of equal Equality, that Church which may be termed the Irish Roman Catholic, being the Church of Rome administered by a Clergy whose Language and Sympathies are those of the Irish Emigrants, is maintained by the Contributions of Large Masses of People who have acquired some Property by their Labour. Considering the

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peculiar Dependence of the Irish on their Church, it should almost be a Matter of Surprise that a greater Proportion of those who come from Ireland to Canada do not proceed to the United States. On the other hand, it must be admitted that there are Circumstances in the State of Canada singularly favourable to the Object in view. The Improvements of Communication recently effected by the Aid of Imperial Credit, and a Commencement of Activity by some of the District Councils, have given the Impulse to the Spirit of Improvement which is a Subject of general Remark in the Colony. Canada appears to have just reached that Point in the Career of a new American Country at which the hard Struggle with Difficulties almost ceases, and a continual Advancement or Prosperity becomes manifest to all Beholders. There is scarcely a Spot in the whole Country that fails to exhibit Marks of Progress. In the Amount of Produce raised from its soil, in rough Manufactures, in its Home Trade and its Foreign Trade, in Road-making and building, in Population and public Revenue, Canada has been steadily and rapidly advancing during the last few Years. The public Revenue has been more than doubled since 1843. Upon the whole, the Colony appears to be in just that State of Advancement on the one hand, and Room for further Progress on the other, which affords the best Opportunity for successful Colonization on a great Scale. By way of Apology for having troubled your Lordship with such lengthy Observations on the Character of Irish Emigration, and on the Circumstances of Canada, we must observe that our Plan is really founded on the foregoing View of the Materials of a Colonization, beginning by Emigration from Ireland, and completed by Settlement in Canada. If that View is correct, your Lordship will readily perceive the Nature of the Means by which Canada might (if so great an Object is by Means practicable) be rendered attractive of an Irish Immigration sufficient in Amount to be of importance Service to a reform of the social Economy of Ireland. It is obvious that the first Step in the Process of Success must be a great Increase of the Demand for Irish Labour in Canada. All the Measures that we are about to propose have been selected as more or less calculated to promote this One Object. If your Lordship should agree with us as to the Character of the Means proposed there will remain but Two Questions for your Consideration; namely, first, whether those Means, however suitable in Character, are sufficiently potent,; and, secondly, whether they are unobjectionable upon Considerations apart from Suitability. The great primary Want in Canada, as in every new Country, is Capital. Every Session of the Provincial Legislature, every official Report and Return, almost every Newspaper published in the Province, teems with evidence of the vast Field which exists for the profitable Employment of Capital, and of the anxious Desire felt to procure it. The Colonists see the great Results which have been effected in the United States by the easy Access which their new States possess to the Money Markets of the American Cities; they see the unparalleled Progress made through such Means by States not superior to their own Country in natural Advantages;

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and they complain loudly of the Impediments which prevent the natural Development of their own Resources, by depriving them of the Capital and Labour which they could so advantageously employ. It will be necessary for us here to consider what those Impediments are. The New American States as we have said, can procure from the American Money Markets a certain Amount at least of Capital, because the Capitalist knows that his Investment will be made in his native Country, and consequently will be guaranteed to him by its Laws, in which he has that Confidence which is necessary to all satisfactory commercial Transactions. But Canada, though a Part of an Empire the Resources of whose Capitalists are incalculably greater than those of the Americas, is in a Position altogether different as regards the Circumstances under which she can apply to them. We imagine that no one would deny that if Canada, with its present Inhabitants, and in its present State of Advancement, could be brought across the Atlantic and placed by the side of Ireland, under British Institutions and Laws, Ireland would no longer suffer from Excess of Numbers. The whole surplus Population of Ireland would at once find Employment, at good Wages, in the Settlement and Improvement of the new Territory. But this Effect would be far from due to the mere Facility of Emigration from the old into the new Ireland, situated Side by Side; for the mere Emigration of poor Labourers does not produce Employment for them. The Effect would be occasioned by the immediate Investment of all the Capital of the United Kingdom which could not find equally profitable Employment in its present Field, in the Cultivation and Improvement of the new Territory. British Capital would be advanced to the Owners and other Inhabitants of the new Territory, on all Sorts of Securities; on that of the Land itself; on that of Turnpike, Roads and Railways; and on that of Town and Country Rates. There would be Capital enough in the new Territory for the Employment of any conceivable Number of Immigrants; and until the whole of it was brought into the most productive Cultivation, the Increase of Capital, or the Demand for Labour, might go on increasing continually. This supposed Case leads to the Inquiry, whether it would be possible to enable the Inhabitants of Canada, remaining where it is, to obtain large Advances of Capital in the British Money Market. What is it that prevents the Canadians from obtaining in this Country a Supply of Capital equal to the Demand for it in Canada; that is, equal to the Opportunities of profitable Investment which Canada presents? Mere Distance is not the Impediment; for British Capital would be advanced without Stint to anybody at the Antipodes, who could offer what was deemed a really good Security, both in point of Value and in point of Faith or Obligation. Respecting the mere Value of Canadian Securities there would be no insuperable Doubt in the British Money Market, because Inquiry would soon convince Capitalists of the Ability of the Colonists to pay Debts incurred for the Improvement of their Country. But there would be Doubt on the Point of Faith or Obligation. It must not be overlooked that the former Province of Upper Canada was once in default with its public

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Creditors. The immense Losses which British Capitalists have suffered from the bad Faith of some of the United States, have caused a strong Feeling of Distrust and Repugnance with regard to all American Securities. The recent Rebellions in Canada, the Differences about Oregon, are Circumstances relating to Canada in particular, which tend to deprive that Colony of Credit in the British Money Market. But there is another Circumstance relating to all Colonies which operate with still more Effect. It is the Discredit which at present attaches in public Opinion to every thing relating to Colonies and Colonization. In the City of London, the great Money Mart of the World, the Disposition to engage in Colonial Enterprizes is extinct; and its Extinction is there attributed to Causes utterly beyond the Control of those who have lost their Money by engaging in Colonial Undertakings. It is idle to reason with this Sentiment; it is a prolonged Panic which cannot cease till its Causes shall be forgotten, or till a better System in the Administration of Colonial Affairs shall have had Time to create new Impressions. This View of the Causes of the low Credit of Canada in the British Money Market suggests Two Means by which, if they operated in conjunction, the Credit of the Colony might be sufficiently improved. There are Two Defects to be remedied; first a want of Confidence in the Stability of any Law but that of the Empire; secondly, a vague, but not less effectual Fear of the Instability of Imperial Law in Canada. In the first place, the British Capitalist doubts whether a Provincial Law, under which he had advanced Money in the Colony, might not be altered by Provincial Legislation; and, in the next Place, he has an Apprehension, which is far more definite, but therefore, perhaps, the more deterring, that political Events might ensure which would render even Imperial Law inoperative in Canada. There are Two Defects to be cured. The first of them – that is, the supposed Instability of Provincial Law, or the Liability of Provincial Law to lawful Alteration – might be cured by giving Contracts between British Capitalists and public Bodies in the Colony the Validity of Imperial Law; the Contracts should be made under a Law of the Imperial Parliament, which, according to the constitutional Law of the Colony (the Imperial Act for the Union of the Provinces), could be lawfully touched by Provincial Legislation. In this Case, the Contracts would be as much under the Sanction of Imperial Law as if they had been in pursuance of Provisions contained in the Union Act itself. A Method of curing the Second Defect is not so obvious. The Defect would, indeed, be cured by the simple Method of a specific Guarantee of the Imperial Parliament against adverse Political Events; but there would be an Awkwardness in the specific or direct Admission by the Imperial Government of even the bare Possibility of such Events, which deprives this Suggestion of practical Value. The Guarantee must needs be real; but there seems no Reason why it should be specific or direct. A real Guarantee to the whole Effect in question was given by the Imperial Parliament, when it assured a certain Rate of Interest to the British Capitalists who recently advanced 1,500,000l. to Canada for the Improvement of the Colony. Careful Inquiry has not enabled us to discover any other mode of Proceeding, of the same Character, by which the Apprehension

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of adverse Political Events could be removed without awkward Admissions by Parliament of the Possibility of such Events. But such a Guarantee of Interest as was given to Parliament in the Case of Loan of 1,500,000ls to Canada, even if otherwise unobjectionable, would not be in harmony with our View of the most efficient Mode of conducting the proposed Colonization. We are persuaded that the Mainspring of all successful Colonization consists of the Incentives of private Interest and Enterprise. We should as soon expect to establish a prosperous Settlement without this Impulse, as to see London fed without waste by a Commissariat. But a Parliamentary Guarantee of Interest, at the Market Rate, on Money invested in the Improvement of Canada, would deprive the Lender of all further Anxiety – of all motives for caring whether the Money were wasted or beneficially laid out. The Object is, to induce him to advance his Money at all, by removing his Fear of the Invalidation of Contracts through either lawful or lawless Proceedings, and yet to leave him with a strong Motive for taking care that his Money should be beneficially invested – to remove his Fear of a Loss from Events over which he could have no Control, and yet to place the Investment of his Money under the Influences of private Interest and Enterprise. It is therefore suggested, that with respect to Investments of British Money in the Improvement of Canada, the Canadian Government shall guarantee the Payment, at all events, of a very low Rate of Interest; not such a Rate as would alone obtain an Advance of Money – less than that – but such a Rate as, in conjunction with the Hope of being punctually paid a higher Rate of Profit by the Investments, would induce the Capitalist, to embark his Money in them. So far, however, the Security would be wholly Provincial, and therefore inadequate. It is, therefore, further suggested, that the Provincial Guarantee of this low Rate of Interest should be confirmed or backed by the Imperial Parliament. According to this Mode of Proceeding, the Capitalist would rely primarily on the Profits of the Investments. He would thus be induced by the Motive of a strong private Interest to exercise Caution in selecting Securities of ample Money Value – that is, in taking care that his Money should not be laid out except on Objects so productive as to yield him a higher Return that the very low Rate of Interest secured at all events. He would be constantly under the Influence of strong personal Inducement to so manage his Investment, that the Guarantee of Interest should ultimately be a Nullity. Having suggested the Mode in which, as it appears to us, the Discredit attaching to Canadian Securities may be effectively removed, we proceed to specify the Modes of Investment to which we conceive that the proposed Guarantees should apply. They are of Two Kinds. The first would consist of Loans to the District Councils in Canada, who would anxiously apply for, and extensively employ them. The second would consist in Undertakings, by British Capitalists, of public Works on their own Account. Persons intimately acquainted with the Colony know that if Capital were abundant in Canada, numerous public Works might be undertaken by Individuals or Companies, with at least as good a Prospect of

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Advantage to the Undertakers as is afforded by the far more costly public Works of old Countries. The Means of procuring a profitable Return are perceived; but there is wanting the comfortable moral Security which arises from perfect Confidence in the political and legal Validity of Contracts. To such Investments, no doubt, the suggested Guarantee would immediately direct a large Amount of British Capital. Another, and a very potent Means of augmenting the Capital of Canada, would be Measures which should have the Effect of attracting into that Colony, from the United States, Persons of Irish Birth or immediate Descent, who have acquired Property by their Labour, but whose Existence is made uncomfortable by the Antipathies of Religion and Race in the midst of which they live. Persons who have made it their Business to examine the State of the Irish-born Population of North America, declare their Impression, that if the moral Attraction of Canada were sufficient, the Amount of Capital brought into the Colony would surpass the Belief of those who have not attended to this Subject. By Sufficiency of moral Attraction, we mean such a Development in Canada of the Religion and Nationality of the Irish, as would present to the Roman Catholic Irish Inhabitants of the United States a striking and most gratifying Contrast with their present religious and social Position. The Machinery for producing this Result will be described presently. Another Means of providing Employment for Immigrant Labour would be the Preparation of Settlements for those who should be ready to go upon Land. This brings us to a Consideration of another and most important Branch of the Subject – the very Keystone, in short, of our whole Plan. If the Capital of Canada, or the Demand for Immigrant Labour were increased to the uttermost it would still be necessary to provide for a regular Succession of Immigrants, so that those who had acquired Property by their Labour should make Room in the Employment Market for fresh Arrivals. Otherwise, when once that Market was fully supplied with Labour, so great a Stream of Irish Emigration as we are anticipating must come to a Stop, or be materially decreased. Now, the making of Room for the fresh Arrivals of poor Immigrants could only be accomplished by promoting the Settlement on the Land of the first Comers, who had acquired some Capital by working for Wages. The Question then arises, by what Means could Irish Roman Catholic Settlement in Canada be more effectually promoted? This Question is so important as to deserve particular Examination. It is a curious but indisputable Fact, that the Irish, who at home seem to have a passionate Desire for the Occupation of Land, do not, speaking generally, settle upon Land when they emigrate to America. For the most part, on the contrary, they reside in or near Towns, and follow Occupations not agricultural. Their position in the social System of America is very much like that of the Irish Labouring Class who inhabit London or Lancashire. In England, it is true, many Circumstances conspire, along with the English Poor Law, to prevent the Irish from indulging their strong Inclination to occupy Land. In the United States, where

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any industrious Man may infallibly possess Land if he wishes to possess it, very different Causes have a similar Effect. The whole Effect, indeed, seems to be produced by Two Causes. In the first place, the alien Religion and Nationality of the Irish in the United States expose them to Annoyances and Wrongs when living scattered in the Country, from which they, to a certain Extent, preserved by congregating in Towns; and secondly, in the Towns, their Congregation enables them to enjoy the Observances of their Religion; whereas, if they are scattered in the Country, this great Comfort would be unattainable by most of them. But why, it may be asked, to they not settle on the Land in large Bodies – not scattered, but together – so as to enjoy Society without mixing with the native Americans, and so as to provide for religious Observances with the same Facility as if they were congregated in a Town? This Question had frequently been asked by English Travellers in America. Its Solution is to be found In no American Circumstances, but in a Peculiarity of the Irish in Ireland. For a Body of Men to settle happily upon Land in America, it is requisite that they have natural Leaders and the social Organisation and Self-reliance which the Possession of natural Leaders implied; but, as we have remarked before, the Roman Catholic Irish are, speaking generally, a People of one Order; they emigrate unaccompanied by Gentry or Capitalists of their own Religion and Race; and their Church (we mean a Church composed of Irish Roman Catholic Clergy) is not strong or rich enough in America to supply the Want of secular Leaders. In Canada, the religious Obstacle to scattered Settlement by the Irish is as effectual as in the United States; the gregarious Disposition of the Irish Immigrants is the same; and Settlement in Bodies is impeded by similar Wants and Incapacities. It is impossible to supply these Wants and Incapacities except by what may be termed artificial Means. No Power could at once supply Irish Immigrants with natural Leaders who help to constitute a self-relying Community; but it is possible to bestow upon Bodies of Irish Settlers in Canada the supporting and civilizing Aid of their own Church Government, and some other Aids which, in conjunction with that of the Church, would have the desired Effect. Irish Settlements in Canada required, in a Word, a kind of parental Care. What the Immigrants cannot do for themselves, must be done for them. Alone and unaided, they can do but little that required must Forethought or the Aid of Capital. They can work, no People can work harder; but they cannot combine their Labour in order to divide their Employments; and therefore their Settlements in Canada are apt, to say the least, to be singularly deficient in such absolutes Requisites of comfortable and prosperous Settlement as requires Combination of Labour and Division of Employment, – for example, main Drainage, Roads, a Mill, a Store, a Blacksmith’s Shop. Nay, frequently so heedless are the Emigrants as to settle on Land without a Title, yet the providing of Land for Settlement as a Task which unaided Bodies of Irish Emigrants would be at a Loss to perform. If Irish Settlement is to be largely promoted in Canada, the Land, as well as the Church, the Clergyman, Drainage and Roads, the Mill, the Store, the Blacksmith’s Shop, the School, must be furnished by some Providence, some

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Organization, some Exertions; not those of the Bulk of the Settlers. These Things may be termed Aids of Settlement; and to furnish these fully and extensively, above to secure the most important Feature of our Plan. We conceive that such Centres of Attraction for the Roman Catholic Irish, not only from Ireland, but from England, Scotland, and the United States, to a Country which would present Industrial Opportunities, and social Advantages, hitherto altogether out of their Reach. The Introduction of British Capital into Canada, as a Means of enriching the Colony and increasing Employment for Irish Emigrants, would be brought about, we conceive, without any Cost to the State; but the above-mentioned Aids of Settlement would not be provided by private Enterprise, and therefore a direct Outlay on the part of the State is required for them. Irish Settlement, is to use a common Expression, does not ‘pay in Canada’. It has been frequently tried as a Speculation, and, we are assured, invariably without Success. The principal Cause of Failure appears to be the Poverty and Helplessness of the People; another Cause is, the Difficulty, in a Part of the World where Land is so very cheap, of recovering with Profit, except under very peculiar and favourable Circumstances of Position, an Outlay upon Settlement by a Means of a sufficient Increase in the Market Value of the Land settled, But to whatever the Circumstance may be attributable, it is certain that Capitalists will not embark in this Kind of Undertaking. Wherefore, it may be said neither ought the State to embark on it. But in reply to this Objection we must observe, that although commercial Speculation is not a proper Function of the State, the taking care of its People assuredly is. The Question of Cost to the State, therefore, is one of political Expediency – we had almost said Necessity. Either in Ireland or somewhere else the State must incur a heavy Outlay in consequence of the State of Ireland. The Question, then, is, which of the Two would be less costly and more effectual; Expenditure in Ireland, or Expenditure on Irish Colonization in Canada? That Expenditure in Canada would be the more effectual there cannot be the slightest Doubt; for Expenditure in Ireland will have no Effect in diminishing Numbers – none but a bad Effect, perhaps, except the Saving of Lives; whereas Expenditure on Irish Settlement in Canada, in aid of a sufficient Irish Colonization, would be a Cost once incurred, and, if its Amount were sufficient, would put an End to the Expenditure in Ireland. The real Question, then, is, a Comparison between the requisite Amount of Expenditure in Canada, and the inevitable Amount of Expenditure in Ireland; and our View of the Case is, that the effectual Expenditure in Canada might be kept within such Limits as to be less that the ineffectual Expenditure in Ireland. We are willing that the whole Plan should be judged with a view to its Operation as a Saving of the Public Money. We have therefore taken Pains to provide Securities for the effective Outlay of Money advanced by the State in aid of Irish Settlement. There is one Provision for this Purpose which appears to be amply sufficient; namely, the Adoption of the Principal that the Money shall be payable only in proportion to Value received; and that if the Experiment proves wholly or in part unsuccessful, precisely in the

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same Ratio shall its Cost be reduced. The Mode of giving Effect to this Principle shall be stated presently. We also think that it would be necessary for the Imperial Government to assist in defraying the Cost of Passage for poor Emigrants. The Source for which Funds for this Purpose are principally derived, is Remittances from America to Ireland by Emigrants who have saved Money, and who thus aid their Friends and Relatives at Home in following their Example. The Discovery of the large Amount of such Remittances has only just been made by the British Public and Government; so little, under ordinary Circumstances do the British Government and Public know of the State of Irish Emigrants in America, and of their Sympathies and Intercourse with the Irish at home. But large as a Sum is – unusually great as it will be this year, its Limits are sure to be too narrow for so great an Emigration as would make a sensible Impression on the Population of Ireland. We look therefore to a further Outlay by the Government in the Shape of Passage Money for Emigrants. We are of the opinion, however, that Care should be taken to prevent this Outlay of the Government from having the Effect of diminishing the Outlay by Individuals on the same Object; for it is obvious that without such Precaution, the emigrating Class would be disposed to rely too much on the Government for defraying the Cost of their Passage. We are in hope of being able to suggest, among the Details of our Plan, a Mode of Proceeding in this Respect which would have the Effect of augmenting instead of decreasing, the Fund for Emigration derived from private Sources. But before stating those Details we have yet to invite your Lordship’s Attention to a Question of great Moment. Supposing the greatest Principles of the Plan to be approved, what is the Machinery by which they might best be carried into effect? The Business to be done would be extensive and multifarious. It would consist of raising Money in this Country to be lent to the District Councils of Canada; undertaking Works in the Colony; procuring Land for Settlements. Providing the Aids for Settlement before enumerated; managing the Contributions to the Fund for Passage Money; and generally whatever should need to be done, whether in Canada or in Ireland, with a view to the smooth and efficient working of the whole Plan. The successful Conduct of so great and varied a Business would require much Caution and Judgement, earnest Attention, incessant Watchfulness, and indefatigable Perseverance; it would be a great Measure, a Business, not of Routine, which everybody might be taught to conduct, not of moral Sympathies and Influences, which Men of a peculiar Aptitude could alone comprehend. It is obviously a Business the Management of which ought to be confined to special Hands; that is, to Persons not otherwise engaged, and especially responsible. There is no Department of the Government which could add such a Business to its present Functions with the least Chance of doing it well. A special Commission for the Purpose would be indispensable, if it were determined to employ an official Machinery of Execution. But there appear to be many Reasons for concluding that the wisest Course in this Instance would be to

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employ the old and most successful Instrument of English Colonization. Official Management has never colonized very successfully. Nearly all the very successful Colonial Enterprises of this National have been managed by Companies. A Company can do some Things which must be done as the Means of successful Colonization, but which the Executive Part of a Representative Government cannot do. It can choose its Servants with an exclusive Regard to their Fitness, and it can make their Tenure of Employment dependent, not merely on good Conduct in the Sense of good Intentions, Integrity, and Zeal, but on Capacity, as tested by success of Failure of their Labours. And there is another Class of Things which the Directors of a Company can do, but which the Members of a public Office are not expected to do. In colonizing well, there must be a familiar and friendly Intercourse between the Managers and the People of every Rank; and the greatest Part of the Business consists of innumerable petty Details. Now, whatever the personal Rank of the Directors of a Company, Notions of Dignity do not stand in the Way of their familiar and friendly Intercourse with Persons of all Ranks who may have Business to transact with them; and no Detail is too insignificant to obtain their personal Attention. Yet the Directors may be Men of higher private Station than the public Servants. Their Superiority in respect of unfastidious Earnestness is explained, by referring to their peculiar Motives. Their individual Interest as Proprietors of the Company is concerned in the Achievement of Success; and they are responsible to the Body of Proprietors, whose chief Thought is about the Dividend and the Value of the Joint Stock. Provided, therefore, that the Charter of a Company identify the pecuniary Interest of the Shareholders with the Accomplishment of the Objects of the Government, the Company, as an Agent or Instrument of the State, is, in fact, rewarded or punished, as its own Servants may be, according to the Success of Failure in managing the Work. With the Company as the Manager, the Principle of ‘no Cure no Pay’ may be adopted by the Government. Undoubtedly, it is most expedient that a Company, engaged in Business of a public Nature, should its Functions very clearly defined by the Legislature, should be subject to general Rules laid down by Parliament, should be liable to the recall of its Powers in case of Misconduct, and should be under that Sort of general Control by the Executive Government, which an official Department can exert with Effect. But, supposing all such Precautions taken by the Legislature in the Act or Charter by which the Company is incorporated, we cannot help thinking that in colonizing, more than in any other Class of public Business, it is wise to prefer the Course which all Experience suggests. We therefore suggest that a Company should be formed which might be called the Canada Company, and which should have a subscribed Capital and other Property. The Company should be authorized to lend Money to the District Council or other public Bodies in Canada, at such Rate of Interest as might be agreed upon between the Parties.

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The Company should be authorized to undertake public Works in Canada and to purchase Land at a Valuation for the Purpose of such Works, as well as other Land in the Neighbourhood thereof, with a View to the Replacement of its Capital with Profit by means of an Increase in the Value of such other Land occasioned by the public Works; but the Company should not have the Power to make such Purchases without the special Consent of the Provisional Government in each case. The Company should be authorized to provide Aids of Settlement before enumerated; and its Remuneration for the Outlay and Trouble incurred should be fixed at the Rate of so much for each Emigrant. Let it be supposed that this Rate were 5l. for each Emigrant. For such Remuneration, the Company should provide these Aids in every Settlement, and each of them in such Proportion as should be required for the particular Case. For it must be borne in Mind, that a uniform Supply of these Aids in all the Settlements would be excessive in some Cases and inadequate in others. In some Cases, for example, the main Drainage and the Road-making might be already more or less accomplished; or a Miller or Store-keeper might establish themselves without any Exertion or Expenditure by the Company; in other Cases it might be necessary to spend more than 5l. for each Emigrant in affording these particular Aids. There would be such a Variety in the Amount of unsupplied Wants in the Settlements, that it is impossible to determine any Amount which would apply to all. The only safe Course would be to strike an Average; to determine a Sum which would be deemed fair and reasonable as the Cost of fixing Irish Emigrants in comfortable Settlement in Canada. By means of all or any of the Aids mentioned, and even by other Means, if more efficient Means should be suggested in working out the Schemes. On the Assumption that a Rate of Payment had been agreed upon, the Company would advance the whole Amount and manage the Outlay. But it is not proposed that the Company would be entitled to Repayment on Proof of Outlay, for Proof of Outlay would not be a Test of satisfactory Settlement. The Money might all be spent according to Agreement, and yet a Settlement be destroyed or debarred from Success by the injudicious Choice of its site, or by some other Fault of Detail. It is therefore proposed, on the contrary that Proof of Outlay be of no Weight, but that Payment shall be used as soon as, and not in any Circumstance, unless, the Governor General, as an Imperial Officer independently of his Office as Head of the Provincial Executive, shall certify that the Objects of the Imperial Government have been fully accomplished. The Company would receive Payment in respect of those Emigrants only, and would lose any Expenditure incurred by injudicious or unsuccessful Colonization. As soon as the whole Process should be complete, and the poor Irishman should have been transformed into a prosperous Colonist, then and then only would the State be called upon to contribute its Quota towards the Result by which it would have been so large a Gainer. In this, as in other Branches of the Plan, we have had in view to place at the Disposal of Government, in the Form of Agency, the Incentive of a strong private Interest in Success constantly operating on the Agent. It would be with the view of

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obtaining the greatest possible Amount of pecuniary Return, that the Company would set in motion all those subordinate Instruments and Agencies, direct and indirect, which private Enterprise alone is capable of employing with Effect. The Company would naturally use every Effort to increase Emigration, to stimulate Investment of Capital by offering it on reasonable terms, to enlarge the Field of Employment by undertaking public Works, to give such Wages as would enable the Labourers to go as soon as possible upon Land, and above all, to make its Settlements both morally and materially so attractive as to exhibit in the greatest possible Numbers those civilized and prosperous Settlers whose Existence would be the Condition of its own Gain. If the Principal of our Proposal were adopted it would be necessary of course to provide stringent Precautions, lest, on the one hand, the State should be called upon to pay for other Emigrants than those actually removed from Ireland and settled in Canada, through the Instrumentality of the Company, and lest, on the other hand, the Company should be deprived of its Due by the Neglect or Injustice of the Government Officer. These, however, are Matters for supplementary Negotiation which would not stand in the Way for a moment, if both the Parties to the Negotiations were bona fida anxious that it should be brought to a successful Conclusion upon equitable Terms. It must be evident to your Lordship that the precise Sum to be paid per Head must also be a matter of Negotiation between the Government and the Capitalists, and that its Amount must depend in a great Measure upon the State of the Money Market, and the Prospects which other Investments hold out, at the Time when the Management is made. It may be that a Sum greater, or it may be that a Sum less, than 5l. will be required, in order to attract a sufficient Amount of Capital into Canada to answer the Purpose required. In short, it will be necessary for the State to make such an Outlay as will insure that the Principle, if adopted shall be thoroughly and effectually worked out. With respect to Loans advanced by the Company to the District Councils of Canada, or other public Bodies in the Colony for the public Purposes of Improvement, with the Sanction in each case of the Provincial and Imperial Governments, the Two Governments, the Provincial first and then the Imperial, should guarantee, in case of Failure in the Payment of Interest by the Borrowers, a Rate of Interest considerably below the Market Rate at the Time of making any such Loan. With respect to Sums expended by the Company in providing Aids of Settlement, a Guarantee of even a low Rate of Interest would of course be contrary to the Principle of ‘no Cure no Pay’, on which the Mode of Payment to the Company in that Case is strictly founded. And, indeed, we must remark, that in the other Cases the Principle would be contravened, but only modified. The low Rate of Interest guaranteed at all events would be merely a Security against total Loss from Circumstances out of the Control of the Company; it would not be sufficient to deprive the Company of a very strong pecuniary Interest in advancing and embarking its Money only on Securities of ample Value, and only in Works of a

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profitable Character. It would but just induce the Company so to invest its Capital at all, leaving it with every Motive of private Interest for taking care to make such prudent and profitable Investments, as respects the Value of Securities and the Profit of Works, as would spare the Provincial and therefore the Imperial Government from ever being required to fulfill the Guarantee of Interest. With respect to the Cost of the Passage to America, we are of opinion that it ought to be defrayed partly from private Sources and partly from Government Aid. We suggest, that, whenever the Company should have made it apparent to the Satisfaction of the Government that they had produced or ascertained the Existence of a Demand for a certain Number of Labourers, and that they are ready on the Part of the Labourers, their Friends, their Landlords, or from any other Source, to provide the remaining Third; and if at any Time it should appear to the Government that Emigration were proceeding at too rapid a Rate as compared to the Absorption of Labour in America, they could at once put a Check on it by withholding the Government Contribution. It would, however, clearly be the Interest of the Company to discourage any really superfluous Emigration, which would only embarrass their Operations, and, by interfering with the Wages of Labour, prevent the Accumulation of Capital by Labourers, and consequently their Settlement upon Land. We conceive that it would be difficult to make Arrangements whereby this Contribution of One Third by the Government should operate as an Encouragement to providing Funds for Emigration, by giving to those, individually, who contributed Two Thirds, the Advantage of the One Third in the Shape of as much more Emigration as it would pay for. Thus, an intending Emigrant in Ireland would be the more induced to have 10l. towards the Passage Money of his Family, if he knew that the Government would increase it to 15l. for that Purpose, would the more be induced to provide the 1,000l.; thus, an Emigrant in Canada, wishing to assist his Relatives or Friends to emigrate, would be the more induced to provide Passage Money for Two of them, if he could thereby insure the Emigration of Three. The Arrangement for placing Funds thus contributed by Individuals and the Government at the Disposal of the individual Contributors for the Purpose of Emigration to Canada, and no other Purpose, are matters of too minute Detail to be properly stated here. Supposing the Powers, Functions, Rights and Obligations of the Company to be determined by Acts of Parliament, they would rest on the strong Foundation of Imperial Sanction, inasmuch as the Provincial Parliament is precluded, by the fundamental Law of the Colony (the Act of the Union of the Provinces), from interfering with Imperial Legislation. The Law relating to the Company would be unrepealable and unalterable by any Authority, save that of Parliament. Inasmuch, however, as the Colony would assuredly take deep Offence at Imperial Legislation relating so largely to its internal Affairs, if its Consent were not first obtained, the proposed Act should be declared to be of no Effect until after its formal Adoption by the Provincial Parliament. This Act itself should reserve to

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the Colony an absolute Option of Rejection or Adoption. If it were rejected by the Colony, it should thereby become null and void, as if it had never been passed; if adopted this Legislation by the Colony might be in Terms expressly acknowledging an Intention to give to the Act within the Province the Force of Imperial Law. By this Course the Colony, besides incurring a constitutional Obligation to respect the Law, would emphatically pledge its Honour to the same Effect. Before we conclude, your Lordship will naturally expect that we should give some Intimation of the Extent to which we contemplate that Emigration may possibly proceed under the System which we advocate; of the Cost to which, if it should do so, the Government would be Liable, and of the Means by which we propose that the Cost should be defrayed. With respect to the first of these Points, we have no Hesitation in saying that, in our Opinion, little real and permanent Good would accrue in Ireland unless in the course of the next Three or Four Years, Two Million of People proceeded to the new Ireland in Canada. We do not, however, contemplate that the whole of this Emigration should be carried on through the Instrumentality of the Company and by the Assistance of Government. On the contrary, if our Plan developed itself as successfully as we confidently hope might be the Case, we should anticipate that, parallel with the Emigration which we have been considering, would flow a considerable and annually increasing Stream, composed of small Capitalists from Ireland, attracted, as they would no doubt be, by the new and vigourous Irish Nationality which they would see growing up in British America, by the constantly increasing Field of Employment which the Increase of Population in that Country would afford, and by the great Advantages which they would there enjoy as Regards the Support and Position of their Church. Again, if, under the Influence of the same Inducements, as is highly probable, any large Proportion of the Irish Roman Catholics now employed in Great Britain and the United States should proceed to settle on Land in Canada, and to invest there the Earnings of their Labour, they would thus create an Opening in the Labour Market of those Countries, which would naturally be indirectly produced by our Plan, without entailing any Cost upon Government. After all Deductions made, however, we cannot calculate that less than Three Fourths of the Amount of Emigration which we have supposed – that is, less than 1,500,000 Persons- should be assisted by the Government to emigrate. Now, supposing that, as before stated 5l. per Head were the Sum agreed upon to be paid by the Governments for Aids of Settlement, and supposing that 1l. per Head were given by the Government in aid of Passage Money (being One Third of the probable average Cost of Passage), the Sum required on the whole would be about 9,000,000l. or 3,000,000l. annually; of which 7,500,000l. would be laid out in Canada on Aids of Settlement, and the remainder as Passage Money. In order to meet this Expenditure, we propose that a Property or Income Tax should be imposed on Ireland of such an Amount as would discharge the Interest of the Debt so incurred, and provide a Sinking Fund for the Repayment of the 66

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Principal. For example, if it were necessary to raise in the first Year 3,000,000l., and if the Loan could be obtained at 3½ per cent., a Property and Income Tax of 1 per Cent. Might be imposed, which would according to the Analogy of the British and Irish Contributions to direct Taxation, produced about the Sum (195,000l.) which would be required to pay 6½ per Cent. On the Loan; that is, to pay it off in Twenty-two Years. In the next Year and the Year after, a Loan of similar Amount would involve a similar Imposition; and thus, in the Three Years over which we have supposed the Operation of the Government Emigration to extend, Irish Taxation would be raised, in this respect, to a Level with that of Great Britain, in a manner and for a Purpose which would render the Burden comparatively light to Ireland, while it would greatly advance the general Interests of the Empire at large. There are some Topics which, though a Notice of them would be essential to the Completeness of the Plan, have been purposely omitted, in order that we might not overload this Exposition of our Views with Statements which are not essential to the Comprehension of it. We are conscious, moreover, that the Plan, as here set forth in its general Features, is susceptible of Improvement by Modification and Addition. Nor do we ask your Lordship to adopt the Plan without further Investigation. We submit it to you, on the contrary, with an earnest Request that you will carefully examine it. That if you should think the Subject at all deserving your Attention, you will do this, not in a hostile Spirit seeking for Objections, but with a Wish that Inquiry may lead your Judgment to concur with ours, we have the most entire Reliance; because we are sure that you must already feel with us the urgent Necessity of making some adequate Provisions of one Sort or another against the State of Things which at present threatens to exist in Ireland next Year and the Year after next. At the same Time, we are too well aware of the numerous and pressing Calls upon your Lordship’s Time, to expect that you should be induced to undertake the Labour of investigating by yourself the great Variety of Points involved in our Plan. This we know to be impossible; but we are desirous that our Views should be subjected to Examination by Persons in whose Ability and Judgment you place Confidence; and we believe that any competent Commission of Inquiry might report upon the whole Matter in time to enable the Government and Parliament to act on it during the present Session. We need not suggest to your Lordship the vast Importance of saving a year. We have the Honour to be my Lord, Your Lorship’s Most Obedient Servants. 23d March 18476

Notes 1 John Robert Godley was a son of a landlord with estates in Co. Leitrim and Co. Meath. He later emigrated to New Zealand and is regarded as having founded the city of Cantebury.

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2 Among those who signed Godley’s memorial were Archbishop Richard Whately of Dublin, the Earl of Ormonde, Earl Clanricarde, Lord Monteagle, Lord Lucan, Lord Adare and Maurice O’Connell, MP. 3 This is reference to Jewish males descended by tradition to Levi, the third son of Jacob. 4 At this time a group of Catholics from south Wicklow and North Wexford had left with their priest, Revd Hore, and settled in Iowa. See Seamus de Val, ‘Fr Thomas Hore and the 1850 migration’ in the Past, 21 (Wexford, 1998). 5 This a reference to the French-speaking region of Quebec. 6 The pamphlet led to the establishment of the Select Committee of the House of Lords on Colonization from Ireland which started its deliberations in 1847.

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10 CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN ADAM FERRIE 1 AND JOSEPH KINCAID 2 IN RELATION TO EMIGRANTS THAT WERE SENT OUT FROM LORD PALMERSTON’S 3 ESTATE FROM CO. SLIGO TO QUEBEC IN 1847. PAPERS RELATIVE TO EMIGRATION TO THE BRITISH PROVINCES IN NORTH AMERICA, HC 1847–8 (932), XLVII, PP 35, 42 NO. 19 COPY of a DESPATCH FROM Lord Grey4 to Governor-General the Earl of Elgin5 MY LORD,  Downing-Street, April 1848 A PAMPHLET which was published at Montreal, by Mr. Adam Ferrie, Member of the Legislative Council, having been received in this country, I beg leave to forward it to you, together with the copy of a letter which had been addressed to me on the subject by Mr. Kincaid, whose proceedings are strongly impugned in that pamphlet, and a report of that letter by the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners. I think it obvious that in a large portion of Mr. Ferrie’s statements he has been greatly misled, although doubtless only from feelings of humanity and of interest in the emigrants with whom his exertions brought him in contact. With regard to the intimidation which Mr. Ferrie appears to have received, that for days before the passengers were admitted, the vessels destined to receive them were anchored in the stream, and workmen actually employed in erecting additional berths, in order to ship the excessive number of emigrants, Mr. Ferrie does not specify the particular places to which he may allude; but I am assured that at all the great ports of this kingdom such facts as have been alleged to him would 69

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be inconsistent with the notorious practice of the trade and the general course of business. It is necessary that ships should load in the docks or at the quays of the great ports from which they sail; and when once they are laden, it is obviously necessary for the interests of all parties concerned in them that they should be despatched without delay. On this point, therefore, in addition to those on which fuller explanations are furnished by the Commissioners, there would appear reason to apprehend that Mr. Ferrie must have been deceived. I have, &c. (Signed)   GREY The Right Hon. The Earl of Elgin,   &c.   &c.  &c. _________________________________ Enclosure 1 in no. 19. My LORD,  Montreal, December 1, 1847. In bringing to your notice any communication connected with the honour and interests of Her Majesty’s Government, and the wholesome administration of those colonial enactments which have been ordained for the happiness and prosperity of the people of this province, I am sure I but anticipate the anxious desire of your Lordship on this, as on all occasions, to give to such subjects your ready attention and your favourable considerations. But when to such inducements is superadded the fact that the subject of this letter involves the claims of a common humanity the exercise of that “even-handed justice” which metes out alike to every man the measure of its requirements, I am encouraged to hope that it will not awaken your sympathies, but invoke the speedy interposition of that clemency and patriotism which are the prominent attributes of your Lordship’s enlarged and liberal mind. The subject of emigration, as connected with this province, and the transfer of a large portion of the destitute population of the British Isles to these colonial shores, is doubtless familiar to your Lordship; and the dangers and difficulties which have attended such an enterprise cannot have escaped the penetration and discernment of your active and inquiring mind. In the rapid introduction, during the present year, of so large a portion of impoverished and helpless beings as were brought to our ports in crowded ships, and under circumstances in every way so unfavourable, fearful apprehensions were entertained that in such an assemblage of wretchedness and misery, disease and death would speedily acquire an ample field for their work of suffering and devastation. In the sad realization of these apprehensions, Canada, my Lord, has furnished a “bill of mortality” which, in her future history, will constitute an unwelcome and melancholy record of her wrongs, and furnish just cause of reproach to the names and memory of those at whose instance the inhuman sacrifice was accomplished. Fully sensible of the alarm which such a state of things had unavoidably created, and desirous that some suitable expression embodying the general view of the people of this province should be made known to the Imperial Government, I had the honour, in my seat in the Legislative

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Council, on two occasions, to move an address to Her Most Gracious Majesty, which, having been voted, was forthwith addressed and forwarded. I do not desire to offer your Lordship, in the present communication, any views or opinions which I may have formed as to the policy of those measures which have been adopted by Her Majesty’s Government in relation to those emigrants who have been sent to Canada; nor is it my intention to impugn the motives of those landed proprietors of the mother country who have sought, through the great stream of emigration, to rid themselves of the burden of a worn out and unprofitable population, wholly destitute of that mental and physical exertion indispensable to useful labour and the success of honest industry.6 I am, my Lord, wholly averse to any vain and useless exhibition before the public eye which might bring me forward as a prominent actor in those scenes of human wretchedness and degradation which, in the performance of my official duties, it has been my misfortune to witness. Nothing short of that imperious sense of duty which all faithful and loyal subjects owe to the honour and interests of their Sovereign, and to the weightier responsibilities of an enlightened humanity could have induced the present appeal to the justice and clemency of your Lordship. The public positions in which, by the favour of the Executive Government here, I have been placed, as chairman of their Lay Commission, and, by the partiality of my fellow-citizens, as chairman of the annually chosen Emigrant Committee, have enabled me, through an experience of nearly twenty years, to understand something of the plan of emigration, as adopted by the Home Government and carried out by the regulations and provisions of our colonial policy. A large proportion of that time has been devoted to the interests and comforts of those who have, through untoward events, sought, in this land of their adoption, to improve their worldly means and to elevate their civil and political condition. Such, however, was the utter destitution and misery of a large portion of these misguided and ill-fated people on their arrival, that the unwearied ministrations of public charity and the resources of private benevolence fell far short of that alleviation which their immediate necessities so urgently demanded. Of the 100,000 men, women, and children who sailed from the various ports of England, Ireland, and Scotland, to Canada, the greater part were sent off by the extensive landed proprietors of Ireland and their agents. I beg leave most respectively to state to your Lordship that, in the frequent intercourse I had with the emigrants, I took occasion to question the adult portion of them, particularly the heads of families, as to the individuals under whose authority and direction they had been permitted to embark in such a defenceless and unprotected condition. The answer invariably was, that it had been done by one or the other of the parties above mentioned. When blamed on going on board those vessels, in which they sailed in such a state of debility and want, they gave for answer that they were starving at home, and were induced to that step by being promised many advantages, which they had never realized. For instance, there have been this year about 1000 people shipped off by the agents

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of Lord Palmerston, who not only promised them clothes, but they were assured that his Lordship had agents at Quebec, to whom instructions had been sent to pay them all from 2l. to 5l. each family, according to their numbers. On their arrival, however, no agents of his Lordship were to be found; and they were then thrown upon the bounty of the Government here, and the charitable donations of private individuals. If his Lordship was aware of this most horrible and heartless conduct on the part of his Irish agents, and he one of the Ministers of the Crown, I dare not say what he would deserve. But that charity, my Lord, which “thinkth no evil,” would teach me to hope that a nobleman of England, high in the confidence of Her Most Gracious Majesty, and sharing in the honourable administrations of Her Government, could not so far forget that duty which he owed to God, his Sovereign, and his country, but that it was the wanton and unauthorized act of a worthless and unprincipled hirelings, in whose bosoms every principle of humanity and every germ of mercy had become totally extinct. Many thousands of these unhappy beings have fallen victims to that cruel system of marine imprisonment, which, in crowded vessels and the impure atmosphere of twist decks, induced contagion and produced that endemical disease which so rapidly spreads over the mass of its congregated victims. Vast multitudes have died on the passage out, while a still greater proportion of them have reached our shores in such a sickly and debilitated state as to defy the penetration of medical skill, and to find wholly unavailing all the attentions and nursing care of their humane and faithful attendants. They landed on our shores only to find an early grave – the only asylum for that hopeless sorrow which so often embitters a blighted and miserable existence. Hundreds of them most solemnly declared that their food consisted entirely of bad biscuit and oatmeal, and that in many cases both of these articles were in a state not fit to feed swine, having become saturated with sea-water, and reduced to a mouldy and putrid condition. In many instances from 600 to 800 were huddled together in one indiscriminate mass, being double the number which the vessel were capable of accommodating with any degree of comfort or safety. I must here, my Lord, express my deep regret that men pretending to be Christian, and especially that Britons could be guilty of such barbarity, evidently for the paltry purpose of freeing themselves from the natural and just burden of assisting to support and provide for their own poor. Such an outrage on the claims of humanity, my Lord, might have been committed in the vile and heartless traffic of the slave trade, on which England has set the seal of her just reprobation, and against whose inhuman warfare she has pointed the cannon of her gallant navy; but that such horrible and disgusting scenes as just described should have been enacted under the very flag which should be a protection to her unfortunate and defenceless subjects, is unworthy of England, and throws a dark shade over the bright escutcheon of her well-earned fame and glory. It would in my opinion have been more humane to have deprived them at once of life, than to have thus subjected them to those extreme sufferings and privations which served only to increase the fears and magnify the terrors of a painful dissolution.

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I cannot here refrain from enumerating to your Lordship a few among the many instances where, in the shipment of these unfortunate beings, an utter disregard was had, not only to every principle of humanity, but to even to those common decencies of life which nature in the lowest depths of degradation and misfortune so scrupulously seeks to preserve. Those emigrants from Kilkenny, Queen’s County, Wicklow, and the estates of Virginia and Avon, of which Lords De Vesci7 and Fitzwilliam,8 and Major Mahon9 and Captain Wandesford10 are the several proprietors, were in a state of fearful destitution, as well as those from the estate of Lord Palmerston. In confirmation of this fact, I beg leave to state to your Lordship, that public meeting of the citizens of St. John, New Brunswick, has been recently held, at which it was resolved “to ship back to Ireland the decrepit, aged, and naked children and women brought to that port.” These unfortunate beings constitute a part of the two shipments from Lord Palmerston’s estate at Sligo. A copy of this resolution has been transmitted to his Excellency the GovernorGeneral, to be forwarded to Her Majesty’s Government. Comment, my Lord, is here unnecessary; and language would be wholly inadequate to express the measure of that indignation which such a development is calculated to inspire. The last cargo of human beings which was received from Lord Palmerston’s estate was by the “Lord Ashburton,”11 The captain of which but a few days since died of the prevailing fever, and consisted in all of 174 men, women, and youths; of which 87 were almost in a state of nudity. No time was lost in collecting from the military, who have on this occasion, and throughout the season, been most kind and liberal, and from other sources, sufficient articles of clothing for the males; while apparel for the females was purchased from pawnbrokers and other places. Fortunately, they were generally in good health, so that the Emigrant Commissioners were enabled to have them sent off without delay to their different places of destination. I feel grateful to be able to state to your Lordship that the people of the province generally are disposed to welcome to the country all who may feel inclined to emigrate. They are willing to lend a helping hand to those incipient efforts of emigration which by industry and probity eventually lead them to affluence and honour. They desire to see among them a vigourous and healthy population industriously employed in developing those great resources so amply possessed by Canada, in the several departments of Agriculture, Commerce, and the mechanical arts; and they confidently believe that the honest view, the moral improvement, and the immediate comfort of thousands of their fellow country-men at home, who now pine in want and indigence, might be eminently promoted by a removal of this portion of British North America. While, however, they would afford every facility to the Imperial Government in carrying into successful operation a well-digested system of emigration, they at the same time must earnestly remonstrate, nay, protest, against the introduction of such hordes of beggars and vagrants as have been so unceremoniously thrust upon this young and thinlypopulated country. They confidently thrust, my Lord, that the known humanity of Her Most Gracious Majesty, and that of Her advisers, will induce them without

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delay to take all necessary steps within their power to prevent a recurrence of the evils so justly complained of, and which form the subject of this appeal. The fatality which has attended the course of emigration since the month of May last cannot, my Lord, be present to your mind: it presents a picture from which the eye of the statesman, the patriot, and the Christian turns with affright, disgust and horror. Of the 100,000 human beings who left the land of their nativity to find a home in Canada, it is estimated that 50,000 were common paupers from the bye-lanes, poor-houses, and purlieus of large and populous cities. Of the original 100,000, 5,000 and upwards died on their passage to this country, and of those who landed on our shores (so far as the returns have been collected) upwards of 20,000 have fallen victims to an insidious and fatal disease.12 The remnants now scattered over various portions of the province have become dispirited in mind, and in many instances utterly reckless of their future condition and fortunes. Those orphans who have survived the memorial visitation, remain to be provided for and educated under the fostering care of those charitable associations already filled by the indigent children of the resident poor of the several towns and cities of Canada. A large number of our humane, wealthy, and distinguished citizens both of the clergy and laity, in various sections of the province, have sacrificed their useful and valuable lives in their efforts to relieve the distress, and comfort the last hours of the sick and dying. Such, my Lord, has been the result of emigration during the present year; and viewing the disastrous consequences which have followed its train, I would respectfully demand of your Lordship, to what cause are we to attribute those evils which have been so feebly depicted? How has it happened that whilst in former years when no extraordinary distress exists, Parliament felt compelled to lay down regulations for vessels engaged in the business in transporting emigrants, and Her Majesty’s Government appointed agents at all emigrant ports; and now, when emigration has ceased to be of a healthy character, and increased vigilance and more active measures are required both on the part of Her Majesty’s Government and the provincial Parliament of the province, no much precautions are deemed expedient? The necessary instructions, and the terms for receiving the emigrants on board those ships which are offered as a conveyance is now left, it would seem, entirely to the cupidity and despotic cruelty of the captains in command, and the ship agents temporarily appointed. It is a fact which cannot be questioned, my Lord, that the Government agents were in various instance s sadly deceived, and grossly imposed on by the mercenary views and artful policies of the ship agents, and those immediately concerned in this inhuman traffic of flesh and blood. For days before the emigrants were admitted on board, the vessels destined to receive them were anchored in the stream, having been previously furnished with a large quantity of materials and workmen actively employed for the express purpose of erecting additional berths. In some vessels two extra tiers from deck to deck were added, into which all ages, sexes and conditions, were indiscriminately forced. The pleading of humanity were stifled by the cannibal cravings of that rapacity which rejoiced in the anticipation that it was about to receive two pounds per head for every additional victim. 74

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From this overcrowding of the ships, and the absence of proper accommodation, it is easy to perceive that not only great inconvenience, but much severe suffering must have ensued to those who were compelled by poverty and destitution to place themselves in the hands of rapacious and unprincipled sharpeners. To whatever causes the present defects in the plan of emigration may be attributed, it is to be hoped, my Lord, that Her Majesty’s Government will wisely profit by the sad consequences which have resulted from the injudicious and arbitrary measures pursued both by the landed proprietors and their mercenary agents; and that they will avail themselves of those facilities which may be offered by the people of Canada and other portions of Her Majesty’s North American colonies to secure a more humane, liberal and beneficial plan of emigration than that which has heretofore been attempted. I confidently entertain the hope, my Lord, that the subject will receive at your hands that favourable and earnest consideration which its high importance demands; and that the same ability, wisdom and firmness which have been displayed by your Lordship on other subjects not less important to the interests and prosperity of this infant province, will be attracted to the subject of this communication. I have, &c., The Right Hon. Earl Grey,   &c.   &c. (Signed)  ADAM FERRIE ______________________________ Enclosure 2 in No. 19 MY LORD,  Leinster-street, Dublin, March 1, 1848 My attention has been called to a letter addressed to your Lordship by Adam Ferrie, Esq., of Montreal, Upper Canada, on the subject of emigration to the British colonies in North America, which is dated in December last, and which has lately appeared in the public prints, I request permission to offer a few observations upon it. It is not my intention to discuss the general question of emigration, or to occupy your Lordship’s time by entering upon any theoretical controversy of the relative bearings of the subject upon the interests either of this country or the colonies; but there being some statements in Mr. Ferrie’s letter reflecting upon the conduct of the Right Hon. Lord Viscount Palmerston, as well as other Irish landed proprietors and their agents, with reference to the emigrants sent out last year to Canada from their Irish estates, I hope to be excused, as the land agent of his Lordship’s Irish estates, for submitting to your Lordship a few observations in justification of the conduct of his Lordship’s agents, and in opposition to the unfounded accusations contained in Mr. Ferrie’s letter. The substance of the charges contained in this letter, are as follows, viz:That the greater part of the emigrants who arrived in Canada last season were sent from this country by the landed proprietors of Ireland. That they arrived in a state of great debility and destitution, and stated that they were induced to emigrate by promises of obtaining many advantages which they had never realized. 75

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That about 1000 persons had been shipped by the agents of Viscount Palmerston, who not only promised them clothes, but they were assured that his Lordship had agents at Quebec to whom instructions had been sent to pay them from 2l. to 5l. per family, according to their numbers. That these promises were not fulfilled, and that this “most horrible and heartless conduct on the part of his Lordship’s agents,” was, as he described it “the wanton and unauthorized act of worthless and unprincipled hirelings, in whose bosom every principle of humanity, and every germ of mercy had become totally extinct.” That many thousands fell victim of that cruel system. That there was not a sufficient quantity of food and water provided for the multiples on board ship, and that the food consisted entirely of bad biscuit and oatmeal, both of these articles being in many cases unfit to feed swine, having become saturated with sea water and reduced to a mouldy and putrid condition. That in the shipment of these unfortunate beings, an utter disregard was had to every principle of humanity and the common decencies of life; and at length he expresses deep regret, that men pretending to be Christians, and especially that Britons should be guilty of such barbarity, evidently for the paltry purpose of freeing themselves from the natural and just burden of assisting to support and provide for their own poor. These and other such statements contained in the latter, reflect so much upon all the parties concerned in emigration last year, the landlords and their agents, the shipowners and their agents, and the Government emigration agents at all the ports from which these unfortunate emigrants sailed, that I may be excused as one of parties concerned for endeavouring to disabuse your Lordship’s mind of the impressions which these statements are calculated to make, and to justify my own conduct and those connected with me, from the accusations to which we have been exposed. Statements put forth as these have been, under the countenance of your Lordship’s name and of Mr. Ferrie’s official position in Montreal, should, I submit, have been supported by the most convincing proofs of their unqualified truth, but so far from Mr. Ferrie having any proof of the truth of the allegations and charges contained in the letter, he has not even taken the most ordinary means of satisfying himself of the real facts of the case, or of the correctness of his statements and charges, most of which are without the least shadow of foundation. I do not doubt that the persons with whom he says he conversed on the subject, gave as exaggerated statements of their destitution and poverty as they could, in order to call forth the sympathy and liberality of their new friends; but I confess that I do not believe that Mr. Ferrie had even the sanction of the “heads of families,” and other adults alluded to in his letter, for the assertion, that 1000 persons shipped off by the agents of Lord Palmerston were promised clothes and were to be paid by agents of his Lordship in Quebec 2l. to 5l. per family on landing. There is something in the manner in which this allegation is made, as well as in the very words themselves, which tend to throw a doubt upon the veracity of the statement. Mr. Ferrie informs your Lordship that he took occasions to put certain questions to the adult portion of the emigrants, particularly the heads of families, and he 76

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was informed by them, among other things, that they were induced to emigrate by being promised many advantages which were never realized; and then he adds, “For instance, there have been this year about 1000 persons shipped by the agents of Lord Palmerston who not only promised them cloths, &c.” The connexion between this and the previous paragraph is not such as to lead to the conclusion that Mr. Ferrie intended it to be understood, that the adults and heads of families before alluded to, furnished him with this instance of a breach of faith on the part of the agents of Lord Palmerston, nor does he state that he was informed by any one. He puts it forward as a dictum of his own which he expects the public to receive as undeniable, though he carefully conceals the evidence on which it is founded. From the wording of the paragraph it is impossible to understand whether this “instance” was furnished to him by the adults and heads of families before alluded to, or by other parties of more questionable veracity, or whether it was the invention of his own imagination, as you will find out other statements in the letter to be. But the allegation is that the agents of Lord Palmerston “promised them clothes.” Now this I think is so puerile and absurd, that it carries with it its own contradictions: why should these poor people be promised clothes in Canada and not get them in Ireland, where they could be purchased cheaper than in Canada and might be useful to them on the passage. The promise of money on their arrival is an intelligible promise and the people could themselves understand the reason of it being payable in Canada, and not in Ireland, but why they should allow themselves to be cajoled by a promise of clothes on their arrival does not appear so clear, and I think Mr. Ferrie, if he heard such an allegation and believed it, must have been easily imposed upon ; but I confess, I think it is one of those loose and flippant assertions with which the letter abounds, founded not upon particular statements, but upon general conversation with the mass of the 100,000 emigrants with whom he alleges he was in communication, and picked up from stray expressions which fell upon these multitudes, without analysing with any precision the particular expression of the party from whom it proceeded. It only remains for me to contradict the statement, and to assure your Lordship, that as agent to Lord Palmerston, I never made any promise to any of the persons who emigrated last year from his Lordship’s estate, that they were to get clothes or money on their arrival in Canada, and I have the positive assurance of the gentlemen by whom the shipment of these emigrants was conducted, that he never made such a promise, and does not believe that any such promise was made by any one. A large proportion of them got clothes and blankets before sailing, but no promise was made of any further supply on landing, and nothing was said about his Lordship having any agents in Quebec, who would attend to their wants, or from whom they were to expect assistance on landing; the fact is no inducement was necessary to persuade the people to emigrate; they were themselves most anxious to go, and the applications for free passage were so numerous and pressing, that we were unable to supply the demand; there was no necessity for our promising them advantages which they could not realize, for our promising them clothes, or 77

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money, or anything else to persuade them to go, and it can scarcely be believed, that we would voluntarily enter into engagements, which were not demanded and not expected by the emigrants, and which, on our part, we never intended to fulfil. Mr. Ferrie states, that the charity which “thinkth no evil” teaches him to acquit Lord Palmerston of any criminal participation in the most horrible and heartless conduct on the part of his Irish agents. But he does not state what the character of that charity is, which leads him to condemn the guiltless, and to depict in language unworthy of a Christian or of a gentleman, the character of parties whom he is entirely unacquainted, as “mercenary agents and worthless and unprincipled hirelings in whose bosom every principle of humanity, and every germ of mercy had become extinct;” and this, without any sufficient evidence to attack to these parties the crimes of which he accuses them. His charge is founded upon inferences drawn from supposition of his own the foundation for which rests upon loose conversations with parties seeking for charitable aid on the plea of distress and broken promises. With respect to the charge, that the food with which the emigrants were provided on board ship was bad, and that there was not a sufficient quantity of food and water for the multitudes on board, I have only to say, that this does not apply to any of the emigrants from the estate of Lord Palmerston, nor does it appear from the context that it was intended to apply to them, neither can it apply to any of the numerous emigrants from the estates of other landed proprietors, to whom I and my partners as agents, sent out last season from the ports of Sligo, Limerick and Dublin. Besides the usual allowance of food and water required by Act of Parliament, the emigrants were, in every case, provided with biscuit of the very best quality, some of it bought at the enormous price of 30l. per ton, with tea, sugar, meat, rice, vinegar and other articles suited for the voyage. The greatest care was taken to procure the very best quality of food, and the quantity of each was determined upon after consultation with the most experienced ship agents and captains of vessels, and I have reason to know that there was no deficiency in any case, nor any complaint either as to the quality or quantity of food. As an evidence of the careless and flippant manner in which Mr. Ferrie’s statements are put before the public, I beg to refer to the paragraph in which he states that the last cargo of human beings which was received from Lord Palmerston’s estate, was by the “Lord Ashburton,” the captain of which but a few days since died of the prevailing fever, and consisted in all of 174 men, women, and youths of which 87 were almost in a state of nudity. It is not stated from what port this vessel sailed, nor do I know anything of the circumstances, but this I know, that none of Lord Palmerston’s tenants were sent out by the “Lord Ashburton,” nor have I heard that the captain of any of the vessels, which conveyed his Lordship’s tenants, died of fever. There is the same flippancy and want of caution in another paragraph, in which he proposes to enumerate a few more instances where, in the shipment of these unfortunate beings, an utter disregard was had not only to every principle of

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humanity, but even to those common decencies of life, which nature in the lowest depths of degradation and misfortune, so scrupulously seeks to preserve. “Those emigrants (he says) from Kilkenny, Queen’s County, Wicklow, and the state of Virginia and Avon, of which Lord De Vesci, Lord Fitzwilliam, Major Mahon and Captain Wandesford, are the several proprietors, were in a state of fearful destitution.” I have no knowledge of the condition in which the emigrants from the estates of Lord Fitzwilliam and Captain Wandesford sailed, but it is well known in this country that there are not a more comfortable and respectable body of tenantry in any part of Ireland, than those on the estate of Lord Fitzwilliam in the county of Wicklow, and it is utterly incredible that they could have arrived in a state of fearful destitution, or in a condition affording any evidence of a disregard to the common decencies of life or the principles of humanity, on the part of those who provided them with a passage to Canada; but I do know, that in the case of the numerous emigrants from Lord De Vesci’s estate in the Queen’s County, which sailed from the ports of Waterford and Dublin, no expense was spared to provide them with suitable clothing, and an ample supply of provisions of the best kind, and the utmost attention was paid to the convenience and comfort of these emigrants. The late Major Mahon sent no emigrants from the counties of Kilkenny, Queen’s County or Wicklow, or from the estates of Virginia and Avon, having no estates in those parts, and the introduction of his name in the paragraph is confirmatory of what is stated in the previous part of this letter, that some of Mr. Ferrie’s assertions are founded not upon particular facts or statements, but upon general conversations with a variety of emigrants from different places and different ports, with whom it appears he communicated, and whose varied statements are put together into a confused mass without any order or precision. I cannot conclude, without referring to the gratifying fact, that already considerable sums of money have been sent home by the emigrants of last season, to their friends in this country, and promises of further assistance as the season advances, to enable their friends and relatives to follow them; and several more pleasing letters have been received by tenants of Lord Palmerson encouraging them to proceed without delay, and assuring them of success and prosperity on their arrival, and great as was the stream of emigration last year, it was not greater than present prospects would lead us to expect this year will produce, especially to the United States. The demand by tenants for free passage from their landlord is fully as great as it was at any period last season. Apologising for the length to which my communication has extended. I have, &c., The Right Hon. Earl Grey,  (Signed)   J. KINCAID  &c.  &c.  &c. ____________________________________ Enclosure 3 in No. 19 Colonial Land and Emigration Office,

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Sir, We have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13th ultimo, enclosing the printed copy of a pamphlet on last year’s emigration to Canada, by Mr. Adam Ferrie, of Montreal, together with an answer to certain statements in that pamphlet, by Mr. Kincaid, of Dublin. Mr. Ferrie is a member of the Legislative Council of Canada, and was, during last season “Chairman of the Lay Commission,” and Chairman of the Emigrant Committee” of Montreal. Mr. Kincaid is agent to Lord Palmerston, and to several other large landed proprietors in Ireland. Mr. Ferrie’s statements are to the effect that the great bulk of the Irish emigrants of last year were sent out by their landlords, in a state of “utter destitution and misery,” and were induced to emigrate by promises which had not been fulfilled; that, for instance, 1000 persons had been shipped off by Lord Palmerston’s agents, who promised them clothes, and from 2l. to 5l. a family on their arrival at Quebec: that the emigrants from certain estates of Lords De Vesci and Fitzwilliam, and Major Mahon and Captain Wandesford, “were in a state of fearful destitution, as well as those from the estate of Lord Palmerston;” that “the last cargo of human beings which was received from Lord Palmerston’s estate was by the ‘Lord Ashburton,’ ” and that of these emigrants “87 were almost in a state of nudity;” that the food of many of these vessels was of the worst description; that the vessels were excessively overcrowded; that no sufficient vigilance was exercised in this respect by the agents at the outports; and that the whole mortality up to the time of his writing, had been upwards of 25 per cent of the number embarked. Mr. Kincaid’s letter is in answer to so much of this pamphlet as relates to the emigration from the estates of Lord Palmerston and the other Irish properties denounced by Mr. Ferrie. Mr. Kincaid denies that any such promises as are alleged were held out to Lord Palmerston’s emigrants, and gives reasons why the alleged promise of clothes would have been unreasonable. He asserts that there is not in Ireland a more comfortable and respectable body of tenantry than on Lord Fitzwilliam’s estates, and that, therefore, the account of their destitution and misery is incredible; that every pains was taken to supply Lord De Vesci’s tenantry with ample clothes and food; and that Mr. Mahon had no estates in the counties indicated by Mr. Ferrie, and could not, therefore have sent emigrants from them. And lastly, he states that none of Lord Palmerston’s tenants were sent out by the “Lord Ashburton,” and that, accordingly, the charge against his Lordship or his agent, as connected with that vessel, is unfounded. Mr. Kincaid enters so fully into all these points, that it would be superfluous for us to add anything to his observations. He appears to us to give a conclusive answer to this portion of Mr. Ferrie’s statements. He writes, indeed, in a tone of strong indignation, and comments in severe terms on the exaggerations into which Mr. Ferrie has been betrayed. We cannot, however, be surprised at this, when we consider that Mr. Kincaid is one of those whose conduct has been characterized by Mr. Ferrie as “most horrible and heartless,” and himself denounced as a worthless and unprincipled hireling, in whose bosom every principle of humanity and every germ of mercy had become 80

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totally extinct.” But before we dismiss Mr. Kincaid’s letter, we beg to call attention to the gratifying statement with which it closes, and which alone would, to a great extent, refute Mr. Ferrie’s assertions, that considerable sums of money had already been sent home, and more promised, by the emigrants who proceeded from Lord Palmerston’s estate last year, to enable their remaining friends and relations to join them in Canada. Passing then, from the portion of Mr. Ferrie’s pamphlet which relates to Irish landlords we proceed to notice those general statements by which the conduct of the Government or its officers is more particularly impugned. 1st. On the subject of food – Mr. Ferrie states that “hundreds of them (the emigrants) most solemnly declare that their food consisted mainly of bad biscuit and oatmeal, and that, in many cases, both of these articles were in a state not fit to feed swine, having become saturated with sea water, and rescued to a mouldy and putrid condition.” As Mr. Ferrie has specified none of the vessels to which this description applies, it is impossible to procure any specific answer to the charge. But we have negative proof of its inaccuracy in an observation in a letter, dated 7th January last, from Dr. Douglas13 to our secretary, that he had “found the bread stuffs generally better this season than in former years,” and in the silence of Mr. Buchanan,14 who, being at Quebec, would have an opportunity, which Mr. Ferrie could not have, of testing such a statement, and who would have been bound, had such a statement been made to him, to have ascertained its accuracy, and, if accurate, to have prosecuted the offending parties. Mr. Ferrie has added, that “the quantity of both food and water was much too small for the multitudes on board;” and as regards quantity of food, we fear he is in many cases correct. But it never was contemplated, nor had it happened before last year, that the passengers should throw themselves exclusively on the ship’s provisions, and should altogether neglect to take any stores of their own. That there was not enough water on board is not borne out by any of the reports which we have received from Canada. 2nd. In regards to numbers – Mr. Ferrie states, that “in many instances from 600 to 800 were huddled together in one indiscriminate mass, being double the number which the vessels were capable of accommodating with any degree of comfort or safety.” On examining the returns of ships that sailed for Canada from ports in the United Kingdom, where our officers are stationed, we find that one vessel of 1307 tons sailed with 816 passengers; three vessels, of 988, 1280, and 1163 tons respectively, sailed with 600, 602 and 646 passengers. We annex a memorandum showing the names of these vessels, the number of statute adults which, as the law then stood, each was competent to carry, and the number actually carried. It will be seen that none of them carried more passengers than the law permitted, and that in two instances (the “Sobraon” and “Argo”) the number of passengers was considerably within the legal number. 3rd. Mr. Ferrie demands why the measures which Parliament and the Government had adopted to regulate emigration at a time when emigration was healthy should have been abandoned when most needed; and he assumes that the 81

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arrangements on board passenger ships were, during last year, left entirely to the “cupidity and despotic cruelty” of the masters and agents of emigrant ships. He adds, “It is a fact which cannot be questioned, that the Government agents were in various instances sadly deceived, and grossly imposed on by the mercenary views and artful policy of the ship agents, and those immediately concerned in this inhuman traffic of flesh and blood. For days before the emigrants were admitted on board, the vessels destined to receive them they were anchored in the stream, having been previously furnished with a large quantity of materials and workmen actively employed in the express purpose of erecting additional berths. In some vessels two extra tiers from deck to deck were added, into which all ages, sexes and conditions were indiscriminately forced. The pleadings of humanity were stifled by the cannibal cravings of that rapacity which rejoiced in the anticipation that it was about to receive £2l. per head for each additional victim.” Mr. Ferrie is evidently but imperfectly acquainted with the state of the law, or the regulations of the Government, in this country, on the subject of emigration. We have every reason to believe that the law was last year faithfully and efficiently administered by the emigration officers at the outports, and that such occurrences as Mr. Ferrie described could not have taken place without their knowledge and interference. Here, again, we are unable to obtain any specific evidence, because the charges does not point out any specific cases; but we may appeal, as before, to the silence of Mr. Buchanan, and to the evidence of Dr. Douglas in the letter from which we have before quoted. In announcing that he had sent in his general report (which we have not yet received) he says, “I have endeavoured to show that the sickness and mortality which prevailed so extensively on the voyage and which has been attributed by the newspapers, both in this country and in England, to insufficiency of food and overcrowding on ship-board, and to a general disregard of the Passenger Act, was not caused by any such thing. I found the breadstuffs generally better this season than in former years, and I think fewer vessels had an excess of passengers over the number allowed by the Act.” 4th. In describing the mortality among the immigrants, Mr. Ferrie says, “Of the original 100,000” (who sailed from Canada) “5,000 and upwards died on their passage to this country, and of those who landed on our shores (as far as the returns have been collected), upwards of 20,000 have fallen victims to an insidious and fatal disease.” The Executive Council of Canada, in a report dated 7th December (six days after the date of Mr. Ferrie’s pamphlet) give the number, as far as returns have been received as follows:Total of emigrants embarked for Canada. . . . . . . . . . 89,738 Died on the passage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    5,293 After arriving in the colony. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10,037 These are the more important statements in Mr. Ferrie’s pamphlet, and we have gone through them thus at length, because the position as regards emigration, which Mr. Ferrie occupied during the past season, gives to any representation of his almost the weight of official authority. We are bound to say that his

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representations appear to us highly colourers. That Mr. Ferrie takes a warm interest in the welfare of the emigrants, is proved by the position which he so long held at the head of the Voluntary Emigration Committee of Montreal, and by the publication now before us; but he appears in the present instant to have allowed this feeling to carry him too far. The bare facts were appalling enough, and it is much to be lamented that when such was the case, Mr. Ferrie should, by such a publication as the present, have run the risk of increasing the excitement and irritation which those facts had naturally produced. We have, &c. T. W. C. MURDOCK.15 Herman Merivale, Esq.,  &c.,  &c.,  &c. C. ALEXANDER WOOD __________________________________ MEMORANDUM

Notes 1 Adam Ferrie was a member of the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada/ 2 Joseph Kincaid (1793–1853) was a partner in the land agency Stewart and Kincaid, the largest in Ireland in the 1840s, managing properties for landowners such as the Wingfield, Pakenham,Stratford and Palmerston estates. See Desmond Norton, Landlords, Tenants, Famine: The Business of an Irish Land Agency in the 1840s (UCD Press, Dublin; 2006). 3 The Palmerston estate comprised over 9,000 acres and was situated in Co. Sligo. In 1821 the population on the property was over 6,100. See Power, ‘The Palmerston estate in Co. Sligo’ pp 105–136. 4 Earl Grey (1802–1894) was Colonial Secretary in the administration headed by Lord John Russell. 5 James Bruce, Third Earl of Eglin was Governor General of Canada between 1847 and 1854. He later served as Viceroy of India. 6 On the subject of landlord assisted emigration to Canada see, Moran, Sending Out Ireland’s Poor, pp 35–69; Olive MacDonagh, ‘Irish emigration to the United States of America and the British colonies during the famine’ in R. Dudley Edwards and T. Desmond Williams (eds), The Great Famine: Studies in Irish History, 1845–52 (rep. Lilliput Press, Dublin; 1994), pp 332–40. 7 The de Vesci estate was situated in Queens Co. (Laois). It comprised over 15,000 acres. 8 The Fitzwilliam estate was situated in Co. Wicklow and comprised nearly 80,000 acres. Fitzwilliam assisted nearly 6,000 of his tenants to emigrate. See Fidelma Byrne, ‘The mechanics of assisted emigration: From the Fitzwilliam estate in Wicklow to Canada’ in Ciaran Reilly (ed), The Famine Irish: Emigration and the Great Hunger (History Press, Dublin, 2016), pp 41–54. 9 The Mahon estate at Strokestown, Co. Roscommon comprised 2,105 acres and nearly 1,500 people were assisted to North America. See Reilly, Strokestown and the Great Irish Famine. 10 The Wandesford estate in Co. Kilkenny comprised 19,290 acres and a population of 17,000 people. 7,700 people were assisted from the estate to emigrate before and during the Famine. 11 The ‘Lord Ashburton’ arrived at St John on 30 October 1847. 107 of the passengers had died on the voyage and 60 arrived at the port seriously ill.

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12 For documentary evidence of the condition of the emigrants upon their arrival in Canada see Marianne O’Gallagher and Rose Mason Dompierre, Eye Witness Grosse Isle, 1847 (Quebec, 1995). 13 Dr George Douglas was the Medical Superintendant at the quarantine station, Grosse Isle, during the Famine. 14 A. C. Buchan was the Chief Emigration Agent in Quebec. 15 T.W.C Murdock was Chief Secretary at Government House, Montreal.

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11 CORRESPONDENCE AND REPORT IN RELATION TO IRISH EMIGRANTS TO NEW BRUNSWICK IN 1847. PAPERS RELATIVE TO THE EMIGRATION TO THE BRITISH PROVINCES IN NORTH AMERICA, HC 1847–8 (932), XLVII, PP 49–55 No. 23. Copy of a DESPATCH from Lieut.-Governor Sir W. M. G. COLEBROOKE1 to Earl GREY. Fredericton, New Brunswick, December 28, 1847. My LORD, (Received January 17, 1848.) In reference to my Despatch, No. 105, dated the 14th instant, I have now the honour to forward the annular report of Mr. M. H. Perley,2 the emigration officer at St. John, and it is with great concern that I noticed in the return, so a great mortality amongst the emigrants who have come out; and which, according to his estimate, may be stated at 2 per cent. on the returns, and 14 per cent. including those who have died in the sheds. It is unnecessary that I should recapitulate the causes to which the mortality has been attributable, and from the review of the subject in your Lordship’s despatch, NO. 135, dated the 2nd instant, and the Report of the Land and Emigration Commissioners, I trust that the measures which your Lordship has authorized to be proposed to the provincial Legislature, (in which I will be prepared to be guided by the information I receive from Lord Eglin, of those submitted to the Canadian Legislature,) will have a salutary effect in the future treatment of emigrants on the passage, to which so much of their suffering may be ascribed. I anticipate much benefit from the amendment proposed in the Passengers’ Act, for diminishing the numbers in proportion to the tonnage of vessels, and also from requiring that an adequate supply of wholesome provisions should be provided for the voyage. Experience has, however shown, that when the constitution has been impaired by starvation and disease, the sudden return of a plentiful diet by persons

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not subject to hard work, or able to perform it, will, in itself, prove injurious to health, unless regulated by medical advice, and if it should be found impracticable to require that emigrant ships destined to these provinces, should carry a surgeon, it might at least, be provided that a medical officer should be appointed in each port, from whence they embark, with authority to inspect the emigrants before the clearance of the vessel, and to give such direction in regard to diet, and the use of medicines, as well as to cleanliness and ventilation as would be calculated to guard against the production and spread of disease. If such regulations to which the health of the troops on long voyages is so much attributable, do not admit being enforced by law, it may be apprehended that they will, in many cases, be put imperfectly observed; although a check will be given to the neglect of them by the higher charges to which vessels may be made subject in such cases, and still more by their detention in quarantine. It will afford me much satisfaction to be able to apprize the Mayor and Common Council of St. John, as also the Provincial Assembly, that Her Majesty’s Government will be prepared to recommend to the consideration of Parliament, the claims of this province to a fair share of assistance in meeting the burthens that have been thrown upon it, and I do not doubt that they will be prepared to co-operate in such measures as will be calculated, as far as possible, to provide against a recurrence of the suffering of the present year, as well in justice to the emigrants as to the community. As soon as the accounts of the expenditure during the year can be made up, I will lose no time in transmitting an abstract of them. I have already, while at St. John, required such an account to be prepared, as well of the receipts and disbursements of the Emigrant fund; and I hope to be able to forward these statements by the ensuing mail, together with estimates of the expense that would attend the necessary improvement of the emigrant buildings at Partridge Island.3 I am glad to be able to report, that there is every reason to hope, that the Orphan Asylum at St. John,4 will prove a great resource to the community, as well as a refuge to the children who have been left destitute; and in regards to the measures taken for the suppression of vagrancy, I have already referred the Act to which your Lordship has adverted, to the law officer, by whom, I  am given to understand, that its leading provisions, taken from English laws, have been long in force in the province, and I propose, accordingly, to draw the attention of the magistrates to these enactments. In reference to your Lordship’s despatch, No. 124, of the 18th November, I have the honour to enclose the copy of the reply which the Emigrant officer, at St. Andrews, has transmitted from Mr. Boyce, to the reference made to him, and of an instruction which I have given to Mr. Perley to enquire into the case, so far as may be necessary. I also enclose copy of a Report from the officer appointed to make disbursements at Shippegan, in the county of Gloucester, of the measures taken by him for the relief and settlement under the Act of 1832, showing the amount of advances made in the present year, under the authority of your Lordship’s Despatch, No. 99, dated 7th August. 86

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I have, &c. (Signed)   W. M. G. COEBROOKE. The Right Hon. Earl Grey  &c.  &c.  &c. ____________________________________________ Enclosure 1 in No. 23. To his Excellency Sir William M. G. COLEBROOKE, K.H., Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Province of New Brunswick, &c., &c., &c. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, I have to honour to submit, for the information of Her Majesty’s Government, the annual report from this office, together with the returns (in duplicate) for the quarter, and for the year ending 31 December, 1847. The return for the year shows the total number of emigrants landed in New Brunswick, during the past season, to have been, 16,251, being an increase on the previous year’s emigration of 6486, equal to 66 per cent. Of the whole number of vessels with emigrants, 99 came direct from Ireland; and although the other seven vessels sailed from Liverpool, yet the passengers were nearly, without exception, all from Ireland also. The immigration of the season was confined almost solely to the humblest class of Irish peasantry, chiefly from the south and west of Ireland, who, long prior to embarkation, had suffered from every species of privation, and had become enfeebled by disease. Some thousands had consisted of those who had been tenants holding less than five acres of land, and of mere cottiers, who had never held land at all, sent out at the expense of the landlords, or proprietors of the soil, on which they had lived, to relieve the estates from the expense of their support. They landed in New Brunswick, and the fatigues of the voyage, as to be, in a great measure, incapable of performing sufficient labour to earn a subsistence, and they became a heavy burden upon private charity, as well as upon the public funds. Of the 17,074 who embarked this season for New Brunswick, 823 died on shipboard, 96 in the lazaretto at Miramichi, 601 in the lazaretto at St. John, and 595 in the hospital at the same place, making a total of 2115 deaths officially reported. The whole number of deaths for the season, up to the present date, may be safely estimated at 24000, or one-seventh of those who embarked. Of the survivors, very nearly one half have found their way into the United States, notwithstanding the exertions used to prevent their entrance there. Of the residue, some were forwarded to the interior of this province at the public expense, and others made their way into the rural districts; but these were too feeble, and so little accustomed to work of any kind, that they were almost useless to the farmer; and I regret to say, that their course through the country was almost invariable marked by disease and death. They introduced fever into the farm-houses where they were employed, and a very general disinclination was soon manifested to receiving them as inmates on any terms. There are at present 560 in the hospital attached to the almshouse at this place. To provide for the orphan children of deceased emigrants, an establishment has been opened in this city, into which nearly 200 children have already been 87

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received and clothed, and those of sufficient age are being instructed in schools of industry within the building. The establishment bids fair to be of a most useful character; it is to be hoped that it will be permanently sustained, and its means of usefulness increased. The sympathy of benevolent individuals has already been excited in behalf of the undertaking, and contributions have been made, to render the establishment more comfortable and beneficial for these helpless orphans. As the institution advances, charitable assistance will, no doubt, be afforded on an enlarged scale; still a more considerable sum will be required from the public funds for this asylum, which it is to be trusted will be forthcoming for an object so necessary and so laudable. Among the emigrants of this season there was an unusual proportion of aged and infirm people of both sexes, and of widows, and deserted wives, with large families of children. Several instances came under my notice, where aged grandfathers and grandmothers arrived with a swarm of young and helpless grandchildren, the immediate generation having remained in Ireland. The expense connected with the emigration of this year have already far exceeded the grant of 3000l., made in anticipation by the provincial legislature at its last session, and the head money collected during the season; and as expenses are now being incurred in various parts of the province for the care and support of emigrants, which must be continued for some time, it becomes a matter of grave consideration how the amount is to be met. The expenditure of this port having been made through the Commissioners for the almshouse, no public money whatever have been placed at my disposal, and I have, therefore, none for which to account. A statement will be rendered of the sums advanced by me to defray the incidental expenses incurred in performing the duties and conducting the business of this department. The number of able-bodied labourers, such as were able and willing to work, was this year unusually small; in fact, far less than the business of the country required. While this city was literally crowded with emigrants, and others were daily arriving, the rate of wages for good labourers steadily advanced, and the average for the season was as high as it ever was before. But few employers could be found who would incur the trouble of teaching men who were willing to work, but who were wholly unaccustomed to continuous labour, whose strength was unequal to any but light work; whose diet and management required great attention, or they fell ill directly, and with whom there was the constant risk of infectious fever, the seeds of which appeared to lurk in the constitutions of all, without exception. It may safely be stated, that labour through New Brunswick, as such as the business of the country requires, is both scarce and dear; and 1000 good and healthy labourers (with their families equal to 5000 souls) would find employment next season in various parts of the province at fair wages. Should any greater number be introduced into the colony, employment must be provided for them

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in public works. The St. Andrew’s and Woodstock Railway is the only work of a public nature actually in progress in the province, and that has not advanced so rigorously as the directors wished, owing to the scarcity and high price of labour, and the impossibility, under such circumstances, of finding contractors willing to undertake the construction of those sections of the line which were offered at reasonable rates. Should the St. Andrew’s company determine to push forward its works next season to any considerable extent, the directors will, in all probability, be obliged to make special arrangements for a supply of competent labourers, not interfering with the labour market in the rest of the province. The corporation return which is enclosed shows that, in the year 1844, only 2,500 emigrants landed at this port, and that the number has steadily advanced since then, until in the past season, it reached 15,000. In former years, also, there was a very small amount of sickness, and the hospital accommodations at the quarantine station at Partridge Island was considered quite sufficient. But they were altogether inadequate to the emergency of the past season, when cargo after cargo of sick, filthy, and miserable wretches, had to be landed in rapid succession, infecting the medical men, the nurses and attendants, and nearly all who in any way had communication with them. If this species of emigration is to continue, even without the increase which appears probable, other and more ample preparation in every respect must be made without delay. The quarantine establishment at Partridge Island should be placed under an active and efficient superintendent, the medical officer should be provided with a sufficient number of assistants, stewards and nurses should be engaged, and a proper police organized, as well as for the prevention of improper intercourse with the emigrants, as for the care and safe-keeping of their stores and property of every description. The buildings now on the island may be used for storehouses, and also for convalescents and attendants. The following new buildings are absolutely requisite: – 1st. A fever hospital, capable of receiving 300 patients, with apartments for nurses and attendants; and attached thereto a bath and wash-house, cookhouse, storerooms, and offices. 2. A small-pox hospital, capable of containing 30 patients, with the necessary officers. 3. A dwelling-house for the medical officer and assistants, with a dispensary and surgery attached. 4. A dwelling-house for the superintendent, with accommodation for boatman and policemen. 5. A receivinghouse for emigrants and their stores, of large size, with temporary sleeping-rooms, and a large wash-house and cook-house attached. There being a deficiency of water upon the island, a sufficient number of wells must be sunk to furnish the requisite supply. As great numbers have been buried on the island during the past season, in trenches imperfectly covered with soil, some expense must be incurred in covering these trenches with lime, sea-sand, and soil, to prevent the unpleasantness and injurious effects of the cadaverous exhalations.

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No time should be lost in making these preparations, as the brief space until the arrival of emigrants in the spring, will barely admit of the necessary buildings being erected, and other arrangements made in due season. The following prosecutions were instituted during the past season for violations of the Passengers’ Act, in every one of which a conviction was obtained: – Austin Yorke, master of the “Linden,” from Galway, for insufficient issues of provisions and water to passengers, convicted in the penalty of 20l. sterling, and costs, which have been paid. Samuel Fox, master of the Brigantine “Susan Anne,” from Berehaven, for carrying passengers without beams for a lower deck, convicted in the penalty of 20l. sterling, and costs, which have been paid. The same Samuel Fox, master of the “Susan Anne,” for an excess of passengers, convicted in the penalty of 5l. sterling, and costs, which were paid. Michael Brown, master of the schooner “Lady Dombrain,” from Killybegs, for carrying passengers without permanent beams for a lower deck, convicted in the penalty of 20l. sterling, and costs, which were paid. Patrick Beegan, master of the schooner “Bloomfield,” from Galway, for insufficient issues of provisions and water, convicted in the full penalty of 50l. sterling, and costs, not yet paid. The issue of the “Eliza Liddell,” at Shippegan, and of the unfortunate vessel, the “Looshtank,” at Miramichi, have been thoroughly investigated, I have only now to refer to my special reports on those cases, dated 18th and 19th October last. I observed during the season, that in those ships which had ample height between decks, and sufficient means of ventilation, there was less sickness and a smaller number of deaths than in others not possessing such advantages. In all cases, cleanliness, regular issues of provisions at short intervals, and the encouragement of active exercise were always evident in inspecting the emigrants upon their arrival. The use of Sir William Burnett’s disinfecting fluid (chloric of zinc) was also highly advantageous. In the case of the brig “St. Lawrence,” from Cork to St. Andrews, the passengers embarked with several cases of fever, yet from good management on the voyage, and the free use of this chloride, they landed at St. Andrews in better health than when they embarked. The provision of the Passengers’ Act, in reference to good sound boats, of suitable size, is in many cases shamefully evaded, and more attention to their inspection is absolutely requisite. Some of the boats attached to passenger ships this season were mere baskets, an incumbrance to the ship and nothing more. Anything boat-shaped is deemed sufficient by some masters and owners, if the necessary certificates for clearance can be obtained. After such certificate and safe voyage across the Atlantic, it would be difficult to procure a conviction here for this violation of the Act, more especially as it is easy to allow boats to be stove by a sea. In one case this season, a large boat belonging to a passenger ship, provided as an extra boat to comply with the Act, was sold for 8s. currency, said to be its full value; and in another case, a long-boat was sold at 34s. currency, which proved to 90

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be too weak to be hoisted out. The attention of Emigration Officers, and Custom house Officers in the United Kingdom, should be directed to this point, as in cases of wreck or accident, the most fearful consequences may arise from the insufficiency of boats. The issue of biscuit in the Irish passenger trade should be limited as much as possible, as also the issue of “whole meal” made from wheat without any sifting, which as passed as wheat flour. In some cases, biscuit only was furnished to the passengers, to which they were wholly unaccustomed, and they nearly starved in consequence. It is difficult to make the whole meal into palatable bread, even when of the best quality; and with the imperfect means of working on board a passenger vessel at sea, it is quite out of the question. In the absence of potatoes, oatmeal should be strictly insisted upon, as a species of food to which the Irish peasantry are accustomed, and which they can prepare in any weather, and under all circumstances. The destitute emigrants of this season relied almost wholly upon the supply of provisions furnished by the ship, and many suffered in consequence of the food not being such as they could prepare or use. During the past season no money whatsoever has been remitted to this office by landholders or others in Ireland, to be paid to the passengers on their arrival here; and although various noblemen and gentlemen have sent out pauper emigrants this year, no money, to my knowledge, has been paid to them, on or after arrival here. All were left to shift for themselves, or become a burthen upon the revenues of the colony, or else to subsist upon charitable institutions, or the assistance of the benevolent. The character of the emigrant during the past year having been altogether different from any that preceded it, no comparison can be drawn between it and that of any former year. Heretofore sturdy labourers and farmers have arrived, very often possessed of some means, however small, and all looking forward to becoming settlers and proprietors of the soil by their energy and industry; but a large proportion of the emigrants of this season will require time and training to become even useful labourers. The quantity of Crown land sold during the year amounts to 64,000 acres, of which 16,000 acres, in the county of Gloucester, were sold early in the year to an English gentleman on speculation, but no movement has yet been made towards opening it for settlement. I have so often alluded to the slow progress of this fine province in former reports, that I have only now to say that the same state of things continues, and that the colony continues to languish under it. The price of land in New Brunswick is entirely too low, and the application of the proceeds of sales is highly objectionable. If instead of 2s. 6d. per acre, as at present, for forest land, the price was advanced to 10s. per acre, three-quarters of the purchase money to be expended by the Government in opening roads, building bridges, and constructing necessary works to render that land accessible, and capable of being occupied with comfort and advantage to the settler, the revue would be equally benefited, and the province would then advance both in wealth and population. 91

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There are various lines of country in New Brunswick through which new roads could be made, that would open large tracts of fertile land for sale and settlement. The opening of these roads would afford employment to emigrant labourers, and give them such employment as would lead to their becoming good settlers. If the country were thus opened by ordinary roads, or by, what would be still more advantageous, the construction of railways, bodies of settlers could be organized to form whole settlements at once. Municipal institutions, on the voluntary principle, should be established; and those elementary forms of the British constitution rendered applicable to the views and dispositions of the settlers, by bye-laws and regulations, varying according to circumstances, would introduce habits of self-dependency, and that spirit of energy and enterprise, without which no new country can prosper. The investment of private capital in the settlement of the country would thus be stimulated and encouraged, and colonization to a large extent might then take place upon a secure and certain basis, and with the certain prospect of success. In 1844 the emigrants at this port, as already stated, amounted to 2,500; in 1845 there were 6,000, in 1846 they increased to 9,000, and this year they have swelled to 15,000. This rapid augmentation of numbers has led to a great increase in the business of this office which I cannot now perform alone, and during the last two seasons I have been compelled to employ clerks, and occasional assistance during the emigration season. To meet the requirements of the service, I have taken a larger suite of offices in the public building known as the new Custom-house; and I beg most respectfully to represent, that if emigration continues even at the present rate, without increase, I shall require at least one efficient clerk at all times, to enable me to perform the duties of the office fully and satisfactorily. It only remains for me to say, that the usefulness of this is much fully limited by the entire absence of funds for any purpose whatever, however necessary or useful either to the emigrant or public interest. Which is respectfully submitted, Government Emigration Office,  (Signed)   M. H. Perley, St. John, New Brunswick, 31st December, 1847.  H.M. Emigration Officer. _______________________________________ Enclosure 2 in No. 23. Deputy Treasurer’s Office, St. Andrew’s, Sir,  December 7, 1847. In reply to your letter of 23rd ultimo, I have to state that no time was lost in laying before Mr. Boyd a copy of the communication from Earl Grey to his Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, together with a report from the Land and Emigration Commissioners to certain observations made by him respecting the conduct of the Government Emigration Officers in Ireland, I have now the honour to transmit to you Mr. Boyd’s letter to me of this date, in explanation. 92

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I have, &c., (Signed)   D. W. Jack. The Hon. John S. Saunders, Provincial Secretary,   &c.  &c.  &c. _______________________________________ Sir, St. Andrew’s, December 7, 1847. I HAVE to acknowledge the receipt of your of the 29th ultimo, accompanied by a report from the Land and Emigration Commissioners to some observations made by me in a communication to his Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, while in discharge of my duty as one of a committee of magistrates to attend to the wants of sick and destitute emigrants arriving in this place. Also a copy of a letter from Ear Grey, requesting me to make explanations of the remarks made by me in the communication referred to. I can only repeat, as formerly stated, that with regard to my information, it was altogether from the masters of vessels, none of whom are present here. I am therefore not enabled to particularize the cases, with the exception of the “Magna Carta.”5 In that case the neglect was palpable, from the fact that before the vessel was 40 days at sea, not only were the provisions put on board for the emigrants but the ship’s provisions also consumed, and had they not been fallen in with at sea, they must have inevitably perished of hunger. At three different times had the master to board vessels and purchase provisions, and on their arrival here they had not one mouthful. I have since made inquiry of masters of vessels belonging to this port, who have been in the habit of bringing passengers to this country, and they inform me that the examination into the quantity and quality of the provisions appear to be a mere matter of form, merely taking a sample of bread or meat from a particular barrel pointed out to them; and as to quantity, taking the account of the shipping agents, a class of men above all others not to be depended upon, – men whom I do not hesitate to pronounce traffickers in human beings, with no more feelings than, or, in fact, with regard to the health and comfort of the passengers, with not half so much feeling as those engaged in the slave trade, the latter having a motive to land the cargo in good order, the former having nothing farther to expect than the passage-money received. With regard to the excess of passengers. This information I received from the passengers themselves, the masters of vessels taking especial care to hide the matter when they can. As to the practice of allowing temporary decks to be made use of in ships carrying passengers, I have only to say that my opinion in that particular is sadly at variance with those of Messrs. Elliot and Wood. The idea that water should not be introduced between the decks of vessels carrying passengers, for the purpose of cleaning, is preposterous. Dry rubbing will do very well after washing and scrubbing, but it is not good enough of itself. I know of instances where the masters of ships having cargo would not offer a passenger to enter on board until the shipper had the temporary deck caulked in order that water might be used when opportunity offered. I should be sorry to impugn the character or conduct of any public officer without good and sufficient reason; but I feel satisfied that great neglect is to be 93

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attributed somewhere, and that is stated to me to be the want of care on the part of the Government agents. The case of the “Elizabeth Grimmer” is a palpable instance.6 She having taken in about 30 passengers in Liverpool, bound for this place, after having been about three weeks at sea had to put back to Londonderry. During this time deaths had occurred, and there was much sickness on board, and although the circumstance was reported to the authorities there, they were allowed to fill up with the number of passengers allowed by law, thereby endangering the life of every passenger who went on board, many of whom in consequence did die, and have left us with widows and orphans to provide for. In conclusion, I can only say, that if I have anything to do with that class of persons the ensuing year, I will be more particular, and shall have no hesitation in charging the parties who may be to blame, and giving my authority for so doing. I am, &c., (Signed)   JAMES BOYD.7 David W. Jack, Esq.,   &c.  &c. ___________________________________ Sir, Secretary’s Office, Fredericton, December, 1847. I have the honour, by direction of his Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, to transmit to you herewith copies of two Despatches from Earl Grey, dated respectively 3rd and 18th November last, with copies of their Enclosures, together with Mr. Jack and Mr. Boyd’s answers, in reference to a representation made by the latter respecting the conduct of the Government Emigration Officers in Ireland in superintending the departure of emigrant vessels to New Brunswick, and I am to request you to inquire into the merits of the cases referred to therein, for the information of Lord Grey. I have, &c., M. H. Perley, (Signed)   John S. SAUNDERS.8 Government Emigration Office, St. John ________________________________________ Enclosure 3 in No. 23. DEAR Sir, Shippegan, November 27, 1847. Enclosed I beg leave to transmit to you the accounts and vouchers of the expenditure for the emigrants “Ex Eliza Liddell” at the hospital here, to be laid before his Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, which I hope will meet his Excellency’s approval. Under all the circumstances that I have been placed in, I have adhered to the strictest economy in the expenditure. On the arrival of this vessel, nothing could exceed the picture of misery and destitution of these emigrants at the first landing; many had not sufficient clothing to cover them principally, others had on only what they had left their native homes on their backs, no second change; any extra cloth some had were nothing but rags in the most filthy condition. My first care was to examine every one individually, 94

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and destroy all that they had of the above description, all their rags of bed and bedding they had, made them wash in salt water, and commenced a general cleansing, washing over again both clean and what was dirty: several I made go bathing in salt-water. I continued this sort of treatment until Dr. Baldwin took charge of them. I attribute the first step of management in preventing the disease from spreading, and was the real cause of saving many lives. After I took charge again of the hospital in Dr. Baldwin’s illness, they got no other medicine except castor oil; I found nothing like the first course of treatment, with strict discipline exercised daily, and giving them fresh change of clothing to the most destitute ones: they were soon restored to health, and as they were discharged under Dr. Gordon’s directions, I kept them still a few days longer before I durst venture to send them through the country, for fear of a relapse. I sent them by families in different directions, giving, at the same time, a letter to some friend. I had to assist them to get settled, furnishing each family or person with money to pay their ferries, and also with provisions for their support on the road, so that the public had no further burthen to bear. Some were sent to Richibucto, Tabishintac, Tracadie, Soumouche, New Bandon Settlement, and Bathurst; and I have much pleasure to state to his Excellency, those settled from Tabishintac to Bathurst are comfortably settled for the winter, enjoying the blessings of good health. There are still two families which I could not possibly get disposed of – James Quin, who was labouring under the disease of dropsy ever since he arrived; he could not be removed; he died on the 30th October, and then it was too late in the season to remove the widow and family; another family of the name of Minty is here, and in my opinion they have never been anything else in Ireland but paupers; they call themselves one of Lord Palmerston’s tenants; the man cannot work, he appears to me not of good intellect. I have taken a house for these two families until the 15th day of May at a rent of 40s.; and the stove and pipe charge, in the Hon. Joseph Conard’s account, are for their use for the winter, and all the provisions I have for them is two barrels of herrings charged to Geo. Taylor’s account, and as the accounts are now closed up to 27th November, I will not make any more advances until I know his Excellency’s pleasure what I am to do with them. I applied to the overseers of the poor of this parish to take charge of them, but they said the Act of 4 Vic. Cap. 5, and continued by Act of 8 Vic. Cap. 11, exempted them from recognizing them as charitable on this parish. The part of these two families that are able to work, I shall endeavour to get them disposed of into places for the winter. I am not aware of what balance there may be in the hands of H. W. Baldwin, Esq., at Bathurst. I shall send him an abstract of my account showing the net balance due to date, and request him to forward me what balance he had to go to liquidate the balance due. The balance of 1l. 14s. 2d. in hand, kept in case I may require some provisions for these two families in the mean time. 95

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I also beg leave to submit my own account; I hope it will meet his Excellency’s approval; I have made no charge previous to my appointment, except expenses incurred going to Bathurst or any further service to attend on these two families that remain. I shall make no further charge on the fund during this winter. The distribution of clothing I have kept a careful account, which I hope may also prove satisfactory. I have &c., (Signed)  JOHN DORAN, The Hon. John S. Saunders,  Emigration Agent, Gloucester County.  &c.  &c.

Notes 1 William MacBean George Colebrook (1787–1870) was Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick between 1841 and 1848. 2 Moses Henry Perley (1804–1862) was provincial emigration agent for New Brunswick between 1843 and in 1847 was appointed the British government’s emigration agent in the colony. 3 Partridge Island was the quarantine station at St John’s, New Brunswick. About 30,000 immigrants passed through Partridge Island during the Famine of whom 1,196 died. 4 The Emigrant Orphan Asylum was opened on King St East in October 1847 and over the following two years looked after over three hundred children. See Peter Murphy, Poor Ignorant Children: Irish Famine Orphans in Saint John, New Brunswick (D’Arcy McGee Chair of Irish Studies, Halifax, Nova Scoria, 1999), pp. 17–19. 5 The ‘Magna Carta’ left Sligo with passengers for St. John, New Brunswick in June 1847. 6 The ‘Elizabeth Grimmer’ arrived in St. John on 13 July 1847. 7 James Boyd was the acting Emigration Officer for St Andrew’s port. 8 John S. Saunders was Provincial Secretary in Frederickton, New Brunswick.

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12 SUGGESTIONS AS TO HOW EMIGRATION SHOULD BE PUT IN PLACE, ESPECIALLY THAT OF TENANTS WHO WERE ASSISTED BY THEIR LANDLORDS. LIMERICK REPORTER, 12 SEPTEMBER 1848

EMIGRATION Mr. Wilson Gray, brother of Dr. Gray, of the Freeman, and a gentleman who, from a residence of several years in the United States, is entitled to speak with authority on this subject, has, in a letter addressed to Captain Kennedy (late secretary to the Devon Commission), in reply to certain questions concerning the extent to which improving landlords might transplant a portion of the surplus population on their estates in Ireland without risk of suffering to the people sent forth, or of pecuniary loss to themselves, has furnished ample details of a scheme of emigration. The first step is stated thus: – The best way of assisting your emigrants who were seeking their support from the ordinary labour market of the country would be to have an intelligent, zealous, and well paid agent in each of the western cities to whom they should all proceed, and who would direct them on their arrival, and distribute them to the points where they were likely to find a market for their labour. About £150 a year would probably command the services of a good agent to conduct such a business on a large scale. I say a western city for these reasons: In the first place, the demand for labour is generally greater in the west than in the east; in the second place, it would be much easier for you to take care of the family, while the father travelled through the country in search of employment, in a western city or its neighbourhood than in New York or its neighbourhood. In the third place, land is cheaper in the west and labourers rise faster to the condition of farmers than in the east; therefore it would be better for your emigrants to be there. The duties of your agent should be to make himself acquainted with the several localities around him where labourers would have the best prospect of finding remunerative employment, to receive your emigrants as they arrived and to direct and forward them to 1

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the localities where he had previously ascertained that labour was most in request. In some years this would be a very easy task, as your labourers would sometimes be employed on the spot as fast as they arrived. In other years it would require exertion, as your agent should see not only that your emigrants found employment from day to day during the summer months, but also that they were likely to be employed and have a home for their families during the succeeding winter. It often happens, even in the western cities, that labourers that have lingered on in them during the winter months, finding at that season a fair amount of employment, are thrown almost wholly idle in winter. When winter arrives, they find themselves in a place where lodging is dear, and firewood dear, and their earnings almost nothing, and they consequently suffer great distress. Your agent should, therefore, as much as he could, forward them into the adjacent country, to the employment of farmers if possible. They would find many farmers who would give them a log hut for their families; when winter came then they would have their lodging provided for, their firewood for the cutting, and provisions so cheap, that the smallest earnings would support their families. These are admirable and reasonable suggestions, and we shall on a future occasion [to] quote more largely on the plan.

Note 1 Moses Wilson Gray (1813–1875), born in Claremorris, Co. Mayo was brother of John Gray of the Freeman’s Journal. He emigrated to North America and took an interest in colonization, in 1848 published, Self-Paying Colonization in North America. In 1856 he emigrated to Australia.

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13 ATTEMPTS TO ENCOURAGE EMIGRATION BY LANDOWNERS AND THE GENTRY, AND IN PARTICULAR TO INFLUENCE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, ESPECIALLY AFTER 1847 Mt Trenchard, Foynes, Oct. 21, 1848 My dear Clarendon,1 You are a rash man in having asked for any hints I can give you on the subject of emigration. But you must pay the penalty and I hardly think you will regret it, as I feel confident that no one like yourself can have applied a powerful mind to the consideration of the question without feeling its importance and being ready to pardon the earnestness of one who like me has given up the last two years to the subject, one who without considering it “the one thing needful” believe it to be a needful thing and without which in many cases, all other remedies will be fruitless, or rather cannot be tried at all. As to its necessity, the Crown itself is my first witness, and Ballykilcline2 is my locus in quo – all that a landlord could do was these at the command of the Woods and Forests. Her Majesty was not a bankrupt squire – still less can it be surmised that the Queen was receipt in the performance of her duties to her tenants – yet above £5000 of actual rent was absolutely lost to the Crown. The lands of Ballykilcline were the focus of resistance to the law; though the whole gross produce of the land was abandoned to the tenants, so far was this from tending to their prosperity, that the land lay waste, there was no stock upon it, nisthess rates nor taxes were paid, 320 were living on rations, and all this misery and disorganisation was produced, not withstanding the wealth and intelligence of the landlord (the Crown) and not withstanding the exhortation of the powers of the law, the Constabulary, and I believe the military to prevent outrage. At length it occurred to some sound logician that whereas an excess of population had produced this mischief, a lessening of the numbers might, by possibility be a remedy. Accordingly emigration was resorted to. The lands are now freed from the locusts, and that which was previously worth only the negative quantity of bills of costs becomes an article which in the market is exchangeable for rents or 99

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for purchase money – assuming a rental of £500, and a sale of 18 years purchase the Crown now has a property worth £9000, without which emigration would not have been worth one farthing. There is peace likewise where formerly there would have been insubordination, and they have been transformed into consumers of British manufactures abroad, who would only have been Whiteboys3 and Molly Maguires4 without either principles or breeches at home. Had this remedy been resorted to sooner the Crown would in addition have paid the whole expenses of the emigration out of the arrears of £5000 now absolutely lost, and put one half of that sum into the Exchequer. Should you not enable others to do that which the Crown has effectively done, and which cannot be done by others without help? Are there not many lands in Ireland resembling Ballykilcline, but is there one landlord who can command the resources of the Crown? All this perhaps will be admitted and it will be admitted likewise that there is “ample space and verge (sic) enough” in our Colonial possessions for profitable settlement if we can get our people there. You wish to know how the question is to be solved practically. Before I give you some hints pray consider the inequality of the working of the existing system as relates to Ireland. Supposing that I were an assisted emigrant going to Australia, and living in the precinct of Wappary or Rotheirhithe. When my papers are approved of, I step on board ship, and after some 90 days wake at Sydney. If I happen to live at Limerick I have not only to make my way to Cork, but to Plymouth afterwards. This is not equal justice. . . . The additional cost is nearly equal to the passage to America. I admit that Ireland will be mainly the benefitted and should mainly be the paymasters. This is conceding too much perhaps, for every Colonial emigrant the more from Ireland is a migrant into England the less – and the Irishman is the mortal who consumes the least of your manufactures at home, but, who abroad feels a natural appetite for Manchester cottons, Leeds woollens, and for tea and sugar which are paid for by English industry. But considering for a moment this argument, and supposing that the whole cost can be defrayed from Irish resources as I suggest, I must dispose of a preliminary objection on which Grey relies. He says, you have already a given amount of emigration, which is going on well. If you give any extensive aid, the same emigration only, will be continued, your artificial encouragement being used in substitution for the existing private efforts – Is this so? Supposing some new discovery which made freights cheaper, would not more emigrants cross the sea, and in proportion as the cost was reduced, would not the humbler class emigrate? If emigration now costs £5 per head, reduction to 50s. would not merely enable the same number to emigrate saving the one half of the cost – but many more than double the numbers would emigrate, inasmuch as the new circle opened by cheapness would be a large one than that which preceded, nor need this increased number be apprehended as a Colonial mischief. The Canadians or New Brunswickers did not quarrel with numbers but with disease. Millions may be absorbed in Australia, if you can get them there (a mere question of

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money) and at the Cape, Pottinger says, “Emigration cannot be overdone”5 – at present there are two classes to whom you can confine emigration; the small capitalist whom we do not wish to lose, contagion, the colony is unwilling to receive and the pauper tenant paid for by his landlord who, if accompanied by contagion, the colony is unwilling to receive which is our present system for which we are told to bless the Colonial office and to be thankful. Now assuming that way £180,000 charge on the Consolidated Fund, is given me for emigration purposes, with a power of capitalizing it from time to time, I proceed to give you a sketch of the modes in which the appropriation of it may be rendered useful. Let me have an emigration agency established, exercising the discriminatory functions which those excellent public servants Murdock and his colleagues now perform in task for Westminster. The larger operation contemplated for Ireland cannot be made an adjunct to the English department, it requires a machinery of its own. This is essential. No emigrants should be assisted but adults capable of supporting themselves, or members of a family carrying with them a just proportion of adult labour. This Commission should I think be fixed at Cork and be provided with a depot for emigrants on the place adopted at Plymouth. 2 The ships should in this case sail from Cork that being a port alike suited for the voyage to B. N. America and to Australia. Remember we are now extending our members and our system, and making is, so far as my present argument is concerned, “Irish”; it being however understood that British emigration is still continued as at present. 3 Supposing my public funds provided, I wish to add to them by various ways – landlords whose estates will be benefitted should be called upon to contribute, and permitted when contributing to apply on behalf of their tenants. Do not think that the consequences would be to enable landlords to save their money, it would rather induce them to open it, and to make it go further. Ask Palmerston if his outlay on emigration has been aided whether his estate at Cliffony6 would have sent out a larger number than it did? He would have doubled his emigration, not spared one half of his emigration. Would have also been the case with Sir R. Gore Booth,7 Lord Fitzwilliam and others. I would give landlords a power of making application for aid, on the actual deposits of a given amount of contributions and subject to the approval of the Commissioners of Emigration given in the measures now adopted for Australian emigration. 4 I should aid, in this manner, the relations of emigrants sending home money for the passage of their friends. But I should do so after fashion. When a remittance was made equal to the passage of two emigrants I should allow them the selection of a third, who would get a free passage. Thus the industry of the colonist would be stimulated in places of being lessened. This proportion 1

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of 2 to 1 might be applied to B. N. America, but in Australia, one free passage might be granted in addition to every passenger sent out by private funds. 5 Poor Law Unions might in Ireland as in England participate in the privilege of recommending emigrants. The provisions of the Poor Law in this respect should be more nearly assimilated in the two countries than they now are; preserving however as far as is possible, the principle of encouraging the landlords contribution. 6 I should encourage the formation of voluntary associations in Ireland. A, B, and C may be pint owners of an electoral division. If A simply spends money made for emigration he should be publicly notified and read before the Board of Guardians. This would render it as difficult as it would be disgraceful for any man to (???) a capitalist on the Government, or on the colony, if such party stood in no need of the assistance sought for. 7 I hear it would be necessary to accompany the whole scheme with colonial measures. Or is it not necessary, it would be prudent and expedient. This would be best done by the encouragement of colonial public works – a railroad from Quebec to Halifax for example, temporary employment being provided for a given number of emigrants, till acclimatised, instructed in colonial labour, and thus (???) for being absorbed in the natural colonial labour market. If you doubt either the fitness or the inclination of Irish emigrants for such purposes, take the trouble of turning to the evidence of Mr. Nuietiosy (unclear) session of 1848 (see 3246, 3247–3250) to see the result of New York experience. Various degrees of assistance to colonial works would be required. In such cases, a guarantee of interest from the mother country would be sufficient. In others a given account of money contributions, and this proportion should be fixed by negotiation with the colonial office – a facilitation of settlement along the line of the new railways at a fixed price for land by lease, or by grant should be made part of the system. Possibly shareholders in the railway might be allowed to select a certain number of emigrants, in proportion to their advance of capital, and thus public works would be undertaken and executed, not only essential to the prosperity of our own colonies but to their continued connection with us. Unless this is done, all in B.N. America must gravitate towards the U.S. The Montreal and Portland Railway is an Iron Tyrant who will fight a hard battle with the St. Lawrence. Consider the value to Canada West of opening the line from the Toronto side to the Georgian Bay, or Goderich)???) escaping some 1100 miles of circuitous navigation, and you will find that great as many be the benefits to Ireland of the system I propose, the consequences to the colonies will be still greater. Must Australian local emigration funds by aid granted out of my proposed capital, and thus give a fairer chance to the more distant colony, and consider, apart from former pledges and prejudices, the wisdom of fixing a lower upset price on colonial lands than you have done. The step of raising the upset price to £1 was taken contrary to the advice of our wisest colonial governor (Sir R. Bourke)8 has raised the land revenue of Australia, and by forcing on the 102

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squatting system artificially, has made the settlement on land of small agriculturalists nearly impossible. Remember I do not separate landlords’ applications from landlords’ contributions. I thus obtain a pledge of their convictions that the emigration is required, and I also take security that they will do their best to prevent a recurrence of the evil of either persuading or encouraging the subdivisions, and splitting of land. They thus enter into recognizance against the filling up of the vacuum, to the full account of their contributions. I am ashamed of this long yarn. But another word before I close. Trevelyan9 in his “Irish Crisis” (he will have another to write before long) seems to think that emigration is sought for as a substitute for other improvements. On the contrary it is in many instances a condition prudent to such improvements. How could agriculture be applied to Ballykilcline where some of the pauper tenants occupied less than a rood of land? Your Land Improvement Act is therefore paralysed. How can the Poor Law be administered, where, as in Ballykilcline, cultivation ceased, rents, rates, and taxes were all left unpaid, and where an overpopulation absorbed, the whole gross produce of the land, making even ordinary cultivation impossible because profitless, and where the result was the conversion of 320 of the inhabitants into paupers living on rations? After emigration, and not before, the lands may be tilled, rates paid, and the people raised to be contributors not recipients – producers, not mere consumers, I have thus endeavoured to sketch an outline of my modus operandi. I should willingly have discussed it last year with Grey if he desired it. I stated his willingness, but the offer was not accepted, and I was desirous to discuss adversely a question in which I had hoped for good will and for friendly cooperation. I am however not discouraged, and even prepared to fight the good fight next year. I should however infinitely prefer labouring in this vocation with the government and with Lord Grey, to being placed in a position of antagonism and opposed to him. I had expected better things than his speech on the 10th of August (which was however a very clever one) or hence the cold wet blanket which he threw over the deliberation of the Committee. I have struck off a few copies of my reply with pieces justifications annexed. I have ordered my son at the Foreign Office to send you one. This speech and this interminable letter will perhaps furnish your mind with matters for reflexion, and if you can work the question forward you will render an additional service to the country which already owes you so much. Always my dear Clarendon and most truly yours, (signed)  Monteagle.10 P.S. I think where public works are carrying on in Ireland, something might be done by encouraging parties to lay by a percentage out of their earnings, as in a savings bank. A premium might be given in addition to such savings when appropriated to emigration. As for example, if the passage were £3 to Quebec, supposing a workman saved £2he might be rewarded with £1 additional. NLI, Mounteagle paper (Ms 13400 (2) (Letter from Lord Monteagle to Lord Clarendon, dated 21 October 1848). 103

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Notes 1 Earl of Clarendon, George Villiers (1800–1870) was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland between 1847 and 1852. 2 The Crown Estate at Ballykilcline, Co. Roscommon consisted of 602 acres and in 1834 had 74 under-tenants. 366 people from the estate had their passage paid to New York by the Crown between 1847 and 1848, leaving on five ships. See Eilis Eilis, Emigrants from Ireland, 1747–1852: State-Aided Emigration Schemes from Crown Estates in Ireland (Genealogical Publishing Co., Balitmore, 1993), pp 10–21; Robert Scally, The End of Hidden Ireland: Rebellion, Famine and Emigration (Oxford University Press, New York, 1996). 3 The Whiteboys were a secret Irish agrarian organisation who used violent tactics to defend the lands of tenant farmers against landlords and those who took over the farms of evicted tenants. 4 The Molly Maguires were a secret society found among the Irish communities in the coal mining areas of Pennsylvania, but also active in Ireland. See Kevin Kenny, Making Sense of the Molly Maguires (Oxford University, New York;1990). 5 Lieutenant General Sir Henry Pottinger became Governor General of the Cape Colony in 1847. 6 Cliffony was the centre of the Palmerston estate in North Sligo. 7 The Gore Booth estate comprise 32,000 acres in Co. Sligo and during the Famine he assisted 1,122 people to emigrate to North America, see Gerard Moran, Sir Robert Gore Booth and his Landed Estates in Co. Sligo; Land, Famine, Emigration and Politics (Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2006). 8 Sir Richard Bourke (1777–1855) was Governor General of New South Wales from 1831 to 1837. He was born in Ireland and encouraged the emancipation of the convicts in the colony. 9 Sir Charles Trevelyan (1807–1886) was Assistant Secretary to the Treasury between 1840 to 1859, and during the Famine was responsible for relief. 10 Lord Moneagle was an Irish landowner with estates in Co. Limerick who was an advocate of Irish emigration and had been involved in sending Irish families to Australia. He was a member of the House of Lord and had been Chancellor of the Exchequer.

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14 MEETING IN CAVAN IN SEPTEMBER, 1849 TO PROMOTE EMIGRATION TO AUSTRALIA, NATION, 8 SEPTEMBER 1849 EMIGRATION A meeting was recently held in Cavan, which was attended by the Right Hon. Lord Farnham, K.P.;1 the Earl of Lanesborough;2 the Hon. H. Cavenish Butler, Esq.; J.P., D.L.; – – Nesbitt, Esq., of Lismore Castle; John Little, Esq.; Lieut.Colonel Macarthur,; Wm. Tatlow, Esq. J.P.; Abraham Brush, Esq., J.P.; W. Armitage Moore, Esq.; Samuel Swanzy, Esq., Clerk of the Crown, &c. The object of the meeting was to promote emigration and to hear an address upon that subject from Mr. Logan, an agent from an Australian Emigration Society.3 Lord Farnham was called to the chair and stated the objects of the meeting. Mr. Logan, after some introductory remarks, said, in reference to Australia, often did he regret, in that stranger land in which he sojourned so long, on reading accounts of the melancholy state of the poor in this country, that they could not be moved thither, where they might enjoy comfort and plenty under one of the finest skies which canopied the earth. On conversing with enlightened people here and in England, he found the circumstances of Australia were as much understood as its geography. Australia is as large as Europe, and not one-sixth of it is explored. It has a sea-board, from the Adelaide in South Australia to Moreton Bay of 1,600 miles, or if you take a belt from Swan River to Moreton Bay, of upwards of 2,000 miles. Sydney is within a fortnight’s sail of New Zealand, one week’s sail of Van Dieman’s Land, and three weeks or a month’s sail of the numerous Islands in the Southern Pacific Ocean. The population of Australia is 200,000, of which 50,000 are in the town of Sydney, and 14,000 in Port Philip. To give an idea of the abundance of farm stock compared to the inhabitants, the honourable gentleman stated that there were 10,000,000 sheep and 11,000,000 cattle, which, divided by the population gave 50 sheep and 5 head of cattle to each individual. Mutton is labelled at Sydney market at 1d. per pound, but this price is merely nominal, for, from the preponderance of the article over the consumption, it can be obtained even lower than that. The people frequently kill the cattle and boil them to make tallow. Emigration to Australia has been hitherto conducted

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on wrong principles. When the government sent out emigrants, they sent them by starts, and sometimes glutted the market with labour. At other times, there was such a dearth of hands, that the colony was paralysed. When he left Sydney the wages of shepherds was up to 35l. a-year, and every other class proportionately high. This was not always the case, he deemed it only fair to state, that there was no time that the emigrant could not get employment at fair wages. To remedy the evils of the wants of emigration, the inhabitants of what is called the Middle District in New South Wales raised a fund for the purpose of aiding industrious people of good character, who were starving in Ireland, to go there, and that is the fund he (Mr. Logan) has at his disposal; therefore all emigrants assisted by this money, would be sent to that part of the colony. Mr. Logan then read the terms of which he proposed to accept parties as emigrants, first ascertaining that they be honest and industrious persons. “1st. Agricultural labourers, shepherds, herdsmen, and female domestics and farm servants, between the ages of 14 and 40, on payment of 2l. each. – 2nd. Country mechanics, such as blacksmiths, bricklayers, carpenters, masons, miners, wheelrights, gardeners, and females of the working class, not being domestic or farm servants, between the above ages, 5l. each. – 3rd. Other persons of the labouring class, if deemed by the commissioners desirable for the colony, between the ages stated, 7l. – 4th. All children under fourteen years of age will pay 1l. each; and if the family contains at the time of embarkation more than two children under ten years of age, for each such child 5l. additional must be paid. – 5th. Young men under eighteen not accompanying their parents are admissible only on payment of the sum in 3rd class of the scale.” The colonial fund was now vested in commissioners, who saw it fairly administered. Mr. Logan never heard of an instance where emigrants were unemployed for any space of time, if willing to work. The day after, and following days, the inhabitants were admitted to employ the other emigrants. To show the care the government takes of the emigrants he would state, that a single female is not allowed to hire with anyone until it is first proved he is of unexceptionable character; then a form of agreement is drawn up and signed, of which there are three copies – one held by the employer, another by the servant, and the third by the government. If this agreement is violated at any time, the aggrieved party can obtain immediate redress. There were similar agreements signed in all other cases. The hon. gentleman then explained the arrangements made for supplying the settlers at distant stations with religious instruction; and named the following gentlemen as a local committee to carry out the intentions of the Australian Emigration Society in Cavan:Lord Farnham, Hon. H.C. Butler, Sir James Young, Bart., M.P.; Robert Borrowes, Esq.; William Humpreys, Esq.; Theophilus Lucan Clements, Esq.; John E. Vernon, Esq.; Robery Erskins, Esq.; Mr. Wuilliam Johnson and Mr. John Ehan to act as secretaries and local agents.

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Notes 1 Henry Maxwell, the seventh Lord Farnham was also an MP for Co. Cavan. The estate with one of the largest in Co. Cavan with over 24,000 acres. 2 The Earl of Lanesborough held property in Co. Fermanagh and Co. Cavan. 3 Charles Logan of the Australian Emigration Society who lived in Australia for 14 years before returning to Ireland.

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15 SPEECH BY LORD MONTEAGLE IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS ON THE EMIGRATION PROVISIONS IN THE POOR RELIEF (IRELAND) BILL. HANSARD, HOUSE OF LORDS DEBATES, VOL. 107 (DATED 13 JULY, 1849), CC 312–3 I feel some surprise at the mode in which the noble Marquess (The Marquess of Lansdowne) has disposed of the Emigration Clauses. He has told us that they were introduced by a very respectable Member of Parliament, and formed no part of the Government Bill; they are treated as matters of comparative indifference. Are Her Majesty’s Ministers prepared individually, as well as collectively, to justify such an opinion? Can they, with the evidence before them, either state that emigration is unnecessary, or that it is now going on so extensively, so rapidly, and so satisfactorily, that it neither required aid or guidance? But is this consistent with their own acts? The First Lord of the Treasury had himself proposed, in the Select Committee, that powers should be given to impose rates of 2s. 6d. in the pound, or one-eight of the whole rental of Ireland, for the purpose of emigration. I therefore have at least Lord John Russell’s authority for my assertion, that it is necessary and expedient to assist emigration from Ireland. Unless, therefore, you undervalue that noble Lord’s authority, it is an invention and a calumny on the part of those who describe emigration as a selfish device of the landlord to get rid of a burdensome population. Lord J. Russell would not have appropriated 1,600,000l. for a purpose so indefensible. It is true there is a large emigration now in progress; – that emigration will and must increase; but of what elements is it composed? It is the emigration of the most active and industrious classes; it is the emigration of the small capitalists; of those whom you grieve to lose, and whom you would readily made large sacrifices to retain. Captain Farren says – “Those who are principally going are the holders of land.” (6,338.) “Those who have means are leaving the country, and therefore the country, to a certain extent, will lose.” (6,340.) Colonel Clarke observes – “You take away the best qualities of the population.” (7,706.) The best prop of every country is the middle class, who are now quitting Ireland; it is only upon that class

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that you can depend for the stability of the country; and I look upon every individual taking himself away, and possessing capital and intelligence, as a positive loss; and that to a double degree, because he leaves behind him those who are a deadweight upon the land.” Mr. Senior1 is equally explicit. He observes – “Under the existing system of emigration, left to natural causes, precisely the people who go whom you would wish to keep, and precisely the people stay whom you wish to go.” (1,845.) “Facts have come to my knowledge proving that very large sums of money are taken away by emigrants to the United States. Those who are generally in the first place, the most energetic and best part of our population; and secondly, they are persons whose departure diminishes the remaining capital.” (1,845.) Colonel Gore Knox expresses the same opinions: – “The emigrants are persons who have capital; they are a loss in both ways; they created capital by their labour, and sufficient capital remaining to keep them afloat; they had a good deal of means – 200l., 100l., 70l.,” &c. (2,132.) “The class going are a better class than the small farmers; they are holders of fifty acres and upwards.” (Kincaid, 3,128.) “There will be a large emigration of farmers from Connaught this year.” (Bourke, 3,194.) Mr. Brett observes, in relation to the county of Mayo – “All the industrious classes who have the means of going at all are going; farmers and tradespeople seeking no livelihood of realising a support for themselves and families; they see nothing but ruin and misery around them, and the certainty of spending their capital by remaining at home.” (4,995.) Such is the emigration for which my noble Friend and the Postmaster General took credit some short time since, and which he seemed to discourage. The emigration of such industrious small capitalists who, when they found they could not profitably cultivate land in Ireland, quitted the country, has led to the abandonment of farms, and has produced the existing waste and desolation. To rely upon such emigration is as great an error as it would be, in a case of disease, to rely upon the fatal bleeding of an artery in place of the opening of a vein. It is arterial blood that is flowing from Ireland. I have ever contended that the emigration which is most required from Ireland is that which would likewise be most beneficial to our colonies. Let the emigration be but assisted, and we shall check an emigration which is morally, socially, and economically injurious. It is an error to suppose that the emigration of capitalists is that which will be useful in the colonies. I can refer to cases in which it would be mischievous to the colonies to add capital without accompanying that capital by labour, as it would be to Ireland to retain its labour, and to lose capital. It is not capital so much as labour which is required in New South Wales; it is rather labour to make colonial capital productive; in the Australian colonies its sheep are slaughtered and boiled down for tallow, for want of hands to sheer them. The universal complaint of those colonies is, the insufficiency and high price of labour. If we encourage the emigration of capitalists, we raise the price of labour, and thus inflict an evil upon the colony which receives the capital, and on Ireland whence the capital is withdrawn. If these observations be true – and they rest upon undeniable evidence – how is it possible to treat this great question lightly? The clauses

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of the Bill respecting emigration are important as affirming the principle; but they must be strengthened and rendered practical if the Legislature seeks to perform its duties towards Ireland. I shall propose that Amendments for that purpose.

Note 1 Nassau William Senior, a government adviser on economic and social policy.

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16 SUGGESTIONS TO INTENDING EMIGRANTS TO NORTH AMERICA FROM THOMAS D’ARCY MCGEE. 1 ARMAGH GUARDIAN, 23 APRIL  1849 HINTS TO EMIGRANTS. The subjoined letter, which we extract from a recent number of the New York Nation, contains some instructive suggestions intended for the benefit of persons who propose to emigrate. The advice conveyed in this epistle, which forms one of a series addressed to “friends in Ireland”, contrasts favourably, in point of practical utility, with other counsels of the same writer before he became an “exile of Erin”:“TO THE EMIGRANTS OF 1849. “NATION OFFICE, NEW YORK. February 6th, 1849. “My Friends – There may not be any use in addressing you this letter, since, though no people listen to advice more attentively, none are more sure to take their own way in the end. As a matter of duty, however, I write, and for your own interest I hope you will read. “Your common sense must be your guide in what you shall bring to America, and where you shall embark. But now you are to prepare yourselves for the new state of society into which you are to be precipitated, is what I am going to tell you. In every truth, you are bound for a new world, so new that you shall feel ‘born again’ on your landing. “You may buy in Cork, in Dublin, or Liverpool, or where ever else you sail from, a little shilling book, which I earnestly recommend to you as the best preliminary study for an emigrant. It is called The Life of Franklin, and therein you will read, how, by industry, system, and self-denial, a Boston printer’s boy rose to be one of the most prosperous, honourable and important citizens of the republic. It will teach you that in America no beginning, however humble, can prevent a man reaching any rank, however exalted, that, though the land does now grow gold, neither does it smother any energy by which fortune is created; that, above all, the genius of the people and the State, is entirely and radically practical. These are lessons you should have by heart.

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“This great grizzly continent needs an enormous increase of practical ability to clothe it with fulness and beauty. If you are coming in the idea that an easier living can be made here than elsewhere, turn back, and smoke yourselves out of tobacco, and keep in your easy chairs as long as the bottoms are in them. If you have learned Latin and Greek, I advise you, on your arrival, to keep it a profound secret, otherwise you may utterly ruin your prospects. Not a word of your “classics”, if you would not be written down an ass. But if you can farm land, or work at a bench, or on a scaffold, or carry a hod, or mix mortar or medicine, or cast up accounts, or unlade ships, come on fearlessly and try your fortune. In short if you are fit for any practical business in life, come forth and fear not. “While crossing the great sea, and reading Franklin’s Life, lose no opportunity of gathering information from your fellow-travellers, and exercising your powers of observation and reflection. You are coming into a land where knowledge is, absolutely, power. You, besides, are making a change which will test severely your moral principles. Cut adrift from all your early associations, you are about to fling yourselves into a society where conscience, for a time, will be your sole observer. “Let those who must come, come. But let them prepare for hard labour, and no patronage. No man here can make another man. Society throws the stranger almost unmercifully on his own resources.- If he shows pluck and wit, every one wishes him well, and nobody stands in his way. If he has not the stamina of growth in him, he will fade and wither, and fall like a badly transplanted tree. Such is America! Whosoever dare gallantly adventure into this new world, and trust to himself alone, will live to see the accuracy of this description, and to thank the voice that forewarned him of what he had really to encounter and expect. Yours always, “T.D. McGee.

Note 1 Thomas D’Arcy McGee (1825–1868) was a Young Irelander who took part in the 1848 Rebellion and left for the United States. In 1857 he settled in Canada and helped create the Canadian Confederation in 1867. The following year he was assassinated. In 1850 he wrote A History of the Irish Settlers in North America.

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17 ATTEMPTS TO ENCOURAGE THE IRISH TO EMIGRATE TO PERU, SLIGO CHAMPION, 27 OCTOBER, 1851 EMIGRATION OF ROMAN CATHOLOICS TO PERU There is an agent of the Peruvian Government at Cork (Mr. Kennelly), a respectable citizen, using his best exertions to induce Roman Catholics to emigrate to Peru, where, he declares, they will be received with open arms by the government of that country. We are told by the Cork Examiner that “the Peruvian government consents to pay in the first instance about two-thirds of the passage money, which, for an adult, is £10 10s. Of this £10 10s. they consent to pay £6, leaving the balance of £4 10s. to be paid by the emigrant, but in such a manner as to render the payment a matter of trifling consideration. The £6 will be given as a free grant, in case that parties are willing to enter into a contract, binding themselves to certain employers for five years, during which time they will be paid at a rate of wages of which they have no possible conception in this country. And they may also pay back the balance of £4 10s. at the rate of 2½ dollars a month out of their wages. But if they be unwilling to enter into a contract such as we mention, when the whole sum advanced must be repaid at the same easy rate of monthly instalments. We can understand that the whole fare will be advanced in favour of some individuals, and even families; but, as may be expected, these parties must be only of the best and most commendable character, but really an acquisition, from their skills and ability in such departments of industry that they profess. The classes required are all kinds of artisans and mechanics, the best agricultural labourers, gardeners, and domestic servants of both sexes, including coachmen, footmen, grooms, cooks, ladies maids, housekeepers, housemaids, and also seamstresses and other classes of dexterous and industrious females. We have also learnt that a good domestic servant, will readily earn from £24 to £40 a year; while the highest class will receive wages larger in proportion according to their competency and skill. The Peruvian government are not desirous of having any but Catholic emigrants: perhaps, for the wise reason that, as the people of that country are of the same religion, Irish Catholics would best harmonise with their new employers, and sooner become accustomed to their new dwelling-place. We further

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understand that an Irish Catholic clergyman, who has been in the country before, will accompany the emigrants to their home on the part of the government under whose auspices and protection they are invited to seek for a better fortune than any which the poverty and depression of their own country would enable them to realise.

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18 ATTEMPTS TO ENCOURAGE IRISH PAUPERS TO EMIGRATE TO ARGENTINA. 1 LIMERICK REPORTER AND TIPPERARY VINDICATOR, 4 MAR 1850 NENAGH UNION – Thursday JOHN BAYLY, Esq. D.L. in the chair. The Guardians present were Messrs. John Bennett, John Going, C. F. O’Meara, J. J. Poe, Maurice Studdart, Major H. Dundas, J.P. T.G. Stoney. J. P. Geo. Atkinson, &c, &c. Mr. O’Brien, Poor Law Inspector, was also in attendance. The Chairman read the following from the Commissioners: “Poor Law Commission Office, Dublin, 19th Feb. 1850. “Sir – I am directed by the Commissioners for administering the law for the Relief of the Poor in Ireland, to transmit to you the enclosed extracts from a communication relating to the advantages of Buenos Ayres as a field for emigration from Ireland; and I am to state that the enclosed extracts are taken from a communication received by the Commissioners, which is entitled to credit, and are transmitted for your information: “ I have the honour to be, Sir, “Your obedient servant, W. STANLEY, Secretary. EXTRACTS REFERRED TO. “The price of labour of all kinds is excessive, and there is an especial demand for that sort of labour which the Irishman is peculiarly adapted to supply, such as hedging, ditching, and other agricultural works, cattle keeping, sheep farming, and the droving of flocks from district to district. “Many proprietors have stated to me their willingness to enter into engagements to receive any number of Irish emigrants, and to employ them permanently from the day of their landing at four pounds per month, maintaining them at the same time, as well as contributing to the expense of the voyage; amongst others, S. R. has declared his readiness to receive and give permanent employment to a thousand heads of families.

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“The Irish emigration is held to present the fewest inconveniencies. The religion is identical, and the character of the two people presents many points of similarity. So promptly do the Irish adapt themselves to the habits and sentiments of the Guacho, that the children are only to be distinguished from the natives by their fairness. “To W. P. O’Brien, &c. &c.” Mr. Poe – There are vast numbers in the house fit objects for emigration. Mr. Hayes – What would you say, Mr. Chairman, if we borrowed the £3,000 for emigration purposes. Chairman – Oh, you must wait till Mr. Disraeli’s motion is carried (a laugh).2 Liabilities of the Nenagh Union last Saturday, in January, 1850. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £8194 9 5 Rate uncollected last Saturday, in January. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2,564 2 5 The £8,194 9s. 5d. includes £3005 16s. 9d. Rate-in-aid. Expenses for January, 1850, for in and out-door relief . . . . . . . . . . .    763 12 8 Of which £6 18s. 8d. was for out-door relief.

Notes 1 For the history of the Irish in Argentine see Thomas Murray, The Story of the Irish in Argentine (Cork University Press, Cork; 2012); Helen Kelly, Irish ‘Ingleses’: The Irish Immigrant Experience in Argentina (Irish Academic Press, Dublin; 2011). 2 Benjamin D’Israeli (1804–1881) who was British Prime Minister from 1874–1880 and was at this time a senior figure in the Conservative Party.

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19 CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN R.A. DUNCAN, POOR LAW INSPECTOR FOR UNIONS IN COUNTY LIMERICK, 1 AND A.C. BUCHANAN, EMIGRATION AGENT IN QUEBEC, IN RELATION TO WORKHOUSE PAUPER INMATES SENT TO CANADA IN 1852. PAPERS RELATIVE TO EMIGRATION TO THE NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES, HC 1852–3 (1650), LXCIII, PP 23–8 Copies and Extracts of Correspondence with Poor Law Inspectors in Ireland. Sir, New Castle, County Limerick. April 28, 1852 I have the honour to apprize you that the Guardians of the New Castle poor law Union have sent by the ship “Governor”, which sailed yesterday from the port of Limerick for Quebec, 120 of the inmates of the workhouse, chiefly females, there being only 11 children, and no adult males, and the females being, with few exceptions, single, and all able-bodied, and apparently well fitted for farm or household service where that can be procured.2 My intention when advising you of the transmission of these parties was to enclose the allowance of money to be given them on landing, 10s for adult and 5s for children, but Mr. Spraight,3 the shipowner to whom the guardians draft for the amount was given, that he might procure a bank order in favour of you, has disappointed me in providing the order. I doubt not he will send it by an early post, but as I am unwilling to lose the mail of to-morrow to write you, I cannot wait its receipt. However, the money forwarded by succeeding mail will probably reach you some time before the arrival of emigrants. I know it is needless to ask your attention to these emigrants, for I already have had evidence of the care and trouble you take with such persons in the case of

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another of my Unions, that of Listowel, from which a number of emigrants were sent out last year. You will be good enough to expend so much of the money as you think right in forwarding the parties to the most suitable localities for employment; the remainder I presume then to be given them. There is another point which also particularly induces me to write you at present. Several of the boards of guardians in my district propose to send out emigrants this spring of the same class as the 120 referred to, and probably up to the number of 1,000. Now I am anxious to be informed by you if there is likely to be sufficient employment to absorb this number, or if any suffering or any inconveniences is likely to be entailed upon them from the state of the labour market on their arrival. Your opinion as to the advisability or prudence of the step contemplated by the guardians would be received by me as a great favour, and I will endeavour to deter the guardians from sending out any great portion of 1,000 until I may have a reply to this letter. Have you any objection to a widow with, say, four or five or larger number of children being sent out, where they are over seven years of age, and able to be useful to some extent? Any suggestion you may think right to give me regarding the classes which ought to be sent will also be received by me as a great favour. May I beg you to excuse the liberty I have taken in addressing you, and all the trouble I have given you. I have, &c. A.C. Buchanan, Esq. (Signed)   R. A. Duncan, Chief Agent at Quebec. Poor Law Inspector. _____________________ Government Emigration Office, Quebec, Sir, May 15, 1852 I HAVE to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 28th ultimo, which reached me this morning, informing me of the shipment by the guardians of the New Castle poor law Union of 120 females by the ship “Governor.” On arrival of this vessel it shall be my endeavor to have your wishes carried out to the fullest extent of my power. The sum to be paid each on landing, to be remitted by Mr. Spaight, has not reached me, but no doubt will be forthcoming before the “Governor” makes his appearance. We have already had an arrival from your section of 248 paupers, chiefly females, from the Nenagh and Killrush Unions. They received 15s sterling each on landing here 200 of the party proceeded direct to Toronto, at an expenditure of 12s sterling each; and from a letter received from Mr. Hawke, the chief emigrant agent for Western Canada, two days since, he reports that there was but little demand for their services in and about that city, but that with the assistance of the Roman Catholic clergy, he forwarded a detachment of them to Hamilton, St. Catherine’s, and to Cobourg, and no doubt but they would be speedily disposed of. 118

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The agent at Kingston writes me that he can dispose of 3 to 400 in the New Castle district, and in the settlement bordering on the Bay of Quinte, as I am in daily expectation of the arrival of a further party of 180 from the Nenagh Union, reported to have sailed in the ship “Jessy”, these with the party of the “Governor” will, I anticipate, fully supply that section of the country for the present. Further west, in the London and western districts, there is, however, a very great demand for female domestic servants; and I have no doubt, if 5 or 600 were sent to that quarter, they would be at once absorbed; the expense attending their reaching this section of the province has prevented my forwarding them heretofore. I enclose you a printed paper which will show you the cost of our inland transport, from which you will see that the allowance of 10s sterling on land here is wholly insufficient to defray the cost of their transport to the districts which offer the best opening for their reception. I state this with reference to your desire to obtain information as to the expediency of the other unions in your district deciding on sending out a number of their people this spring. I can on this point only state that I do not anticipate any difficulty in being able to dispose of the number you state, if the guardians will only allow a sufficient sum to each on landing to enable the agents of this department to forward them to where they will be required. This sum should not be less than 20s sterling each. Owing to the great deduction which has taken place in the emigrant tax this season, equal to 30 per cent., this department does not possess the necessary funds, as in former years, to permit so general or so extensive a distribution as would be necessary; and to allow poor helpless females to accumulate on any of our cities would cause a vast amount of distress among these poor people, and dissatisfaction to the inhabitants. It is to guard against a result so disastrous, and so contrary, I am sure, to the feelings and wishes of the guardians themselves, that I would desire to impress upon them the necessity of appropriating not less than the sum above states to such as they may send out. With reference to widows with families, if the youngest children are not under what you state (7 years), and the women healthy, and disposed to exert themselves, there is no question but a few of them will do well. The foregoing remarks I have just thrown together, as you appear anxious for a reply to your letter; and if I did not write to-day I would lose this post, so I hope you will overlook any omission. I expect Mr. Hawk here in a few days, and will submit your letter to him, and should anything further suggest itself I will again write you. I am, &c. To R. A. Duncan, Esq.,  (Signed)   A. C. BUCHANAN, Poor Law Inspector, Chief Agent Newcastle Union, County Limerick. ____________________________________ 119

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New Castle, June 10, 1852. Sir,  I BEG to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 15th ultimno, and to express my best thanks for the information it contained. I took the liberty of laying it before the boards of guardians who contemplate emigration from their workhouses. The New Castle guardians at once agreed to be guided by your suggestion as regards the sum to be paid the emigrants on landing, and they desire me to say that they fully appreciate your attention as regards the persons sent out. A further party of 280, of nearly the same class as the 120 dispatched on the 26th April, proceeded yesterday by the Ship “Roderick Dhu.” They were inmates of the New Castle workhouse, and I can speak in the highest terms of their moral, orderly, and industrious conduct during the considerable period they came under my observation. I transmit herewith a bank order, amount 247l., being an allowance of 1l. for each adult, of whom there are 214, and 10s. for those under 14, numbering 66. You will be good enough to dispose of this sum as may be best for the advantage of the poor persons, and I  trust it may enable you to send them into the fields which offer good prospects of their speedy employment. A further party will said from New Castle Union on the 26th instant, consisting of, probably, 160. A number, about 200, will also proceed at the same time from Rathkeale Union, all of whom, I think, will be found well fitted for employment when they can obtain it. I enclose a list of the parties on board the “Roderick Dhu.” Yesterday was her day of sailing, and I think it likely she was able to do so. She sails from Cork. I shall be happy to receive any suggestions from you which might be useful to me, as regards the future emigrants that may be sent from my district. Again thanking you for your valuable assistance. I remain, &c., To A. C. Buchanan, Esq.,  (Signed)   R. A. DUNCAN. Emigration Department, Quebec.  Poor Law Inspector. ______________________________________ Dear Sir,  Emigration Department, Quebec, July 2, 1852. I am in receipt of your letter of 10th ultimo, with the list of persons sent out from the New Castle Union in the “Roderick Dhu,” I find by the list there are but 278 persons, viz. 217 over 14 years, and 61 under, which, to pay them the sum stated, viz, 20s. and 10s., will amount to 247l. 10s. I shall have therefore to pay one adult 10s in place of 20s., the draft being that sum short. Since I wrote you last, I have received several communications from a gentleman residing at Bytown on the Ottawa River. Of the 110 females, part of your last shipment, and of these from the Nenagh Union which I sent up there, they all obtained situations within two days of landing there, and the demand exists for a considerable number more. I shall accordingly ship from 75 to 100 of those 120

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disposed to proceed to that quarter from among the “Roderick Dhu” passengers, and I have advised the parties to this effect. I enclose you a Quebec paper, in which I have had copied a notice from a Limerick paper of the embarkation of your people, at the same time drawing the attention of the parties through the country who may be desirous of securing their services, to communicate at once with this department. I have had a letter from the clerk of the Killyadysart Union,4 informing me that they had sent by the same vessel 150 inmates of their workhouse to whom they would allow a gratuity of 10s. each. I shall write to you on the arrival of the “Roderick Dhu.” I have, &c. To R. A. Duncan, Esq.,  (Signed)   A. C. BUCHANAN, Chief Agent. Poor Law Inspector, New Castle.  _____________________________________ Dear Sir, Emigration Department, Quebec, August 10th, 1852. On the 31st ultimo I wrote you a few lines reporting the arrival of the “Roderick Dhu.” She reached port on the 1st instant; passengers all in good health. I boarded the vessel on the 2nd, and arranged that the party from your union, as also from Killyadysart, should leave the next day, when I should accompany them as far as Montreal. I found, on comparing your list with the persons on board, that the following parties had been landed at Cork, viz: No. 107. Mary Corbett 56      £  s.  d. No. 108. Ellen Corbett 16 Landing money  –  –   3  0  0 No. 109. John Corbett 14 No. 249. Ellen Power 46 No. 250. Robert Power 14 Landing money  –  –   3  0  0 No. 251. James Power 12 No. 218. Mary Kallaha, 9, died at sea; money paid to her mother. I paid each of the adults 10s. sterling on landing, and to each child 5s., and they were distributed as follows: Obtained situations in this city and Montreal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   13 Forwarded by steam to Port Dover, Lake Erie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    60 To Kingston, Toronto, and Hamilton, and distributed at the Ports on Lake Ontario. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   168 To the United States. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     30 Relanded at Cork. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .       6 Died at sea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    1 _________ 378 121

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The parties who obtained situations in this city and in Montreal, as also those who went to the United States, I paid them the money in full. Those forwarded to Western Canada received 10s. sterling, and the balance was applied towards their transport. They were forwarded in three separate divisions, in order to prevent too great a number being landed at the same time at any one port. I had written Mr. Hawke, the chief agent for Western Canada, as soon as I heard of the vessel being at hand, in order that he might meet them at Kingston, and arrange for their distribution. The party forwarded to Port Dover on Lake Erie was preceded by Mr. Fuller, district clerk of the county of Norfolk, who happened to be in this city on their arrival, and applied to have 100 females sent to his district, and he could procure them situations immediately on arrival. I was too happy to avail myself of such an offer, and finding a steamer in Montreal bound for Port Dover, I at once shipped 60 of your party and 54 of those from the Kiladysart Union, and am satisfied they will do well. Mr. Hawke writes me from Toronto, dated 6th instant, that the party of 150 had just arrived, and that he should find no difficulty in procuring them situations. The demand for all kinds of labour has much increased during the past two months, and a dollar per day for from 3 to 5,000 men is now offered at Hamilton. The farmers also have difficulty in finding hands to secure their crops. The sum of 5l. 10s. sterling remains in my hands subject to your order. I have, &c. (Signed)   A. C. BUCHANAN, R. A. Duncan,  Poor Law Inspector, New Castle. Chief Agent. ______________________________________ Dear Sir,  Emigration Department, August 21, 1852. I wrote you on the 10th instant respecting the arrival and disposal of the emigrants sent out by the “Roderick Dhu.” I now enclose you a copy of a letter received from Mr. Fuller, to whose care I forwarded the party sent to Port Dover per steamer “Reminder,” as you will doubtless desire and learn how they were received and disposed of, Norfolk I have, &c. R. A. Duncan, Esq.,  (Signed)   A. C. BUCHANAN, Poor Law Inspector, New Castle.  Chief Agent. ____________________________________ Sir,  County Clerk’s office, Simcoe, Norfolk, August 12, 1852. The young women you forwarded per “Reindeer,” Purdy master, reached Port Dover on Monday evening the 9th instant at dusk, and only a few hours after my own arrival at home. My time to make arrangements for them was so short, and the hour at which they arrived so late, that I only kept fifty-six, and directed Captain Purdy to land twenty at Port Burwell, and the balance at Port Stanley.

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On Tuesday I placed every one of the number, many in excellent, all in good places, at two dollars per month for six months certain. Only one, Mary Winn, (Kiladysart), arrived in ill health, the effects of severe cold and fatigue. She is placed in the family of Dr. Seagon of Port Dover, who has engaged to keep her on the same conditions as others if she recovers within a week, of which I have little doubt. The boy, Patrick Noone, (Newcastle,) is in my service. From the shortness of notice and late arrival I had to incur an expense of 1l. 6s. 101/2d. in providing for them until placed out. They are now all safely and well placed. If you have an opportunity of another propeller for Port Dover, I will undertake to place sixty more on similar terms, conditioned only that they are young, cleanly, and healthy; and if a week’s notice is sent they will cost little or nothing after they are landed at Dover. I will also place out thirty lads or smart boys to equal advantage; and if it is an object to you to get them off your hands, and distributed where they will become useful members of the community, and well provided for, I will, at a very small charge, take off from eighty to 100 per month through the season. A reply will oblige me much. I have, &c. To A. C. Buchanan, Esq.,  (Signed)   STEPHEN J. FULLER, Chief Agent at Quebec. County Clerk, County of Norfolk. __________________________________________ My Dear Sir,  New Castle, County Limerick, August 25, 1852. I delayed thanking you for your gratifying letter of the 2nd ultimo till I should have occasion to write regarding other matters. The prospects of employment for the poor people which you mentioned relieves me of a great deal of anxiety, and the board of guardians expressed itself very grateful for the active attention you are giving to the emigrants, in which feeling I need not say I participate. A further party, 161 emigrants, from the New Castle Union, sailed by the “Georgiana” from Limerick for Quebec, on the 7th instant, and 202 from the Croom Union by the “Hope,” from the same port, on the 10th instant. A list of these parties, with the necessary particulars, and remittances at the rate of 1l. for each adult, and 10s. for those under 14 years, have been transmitted by last mail by the clerks of the unions. This completes the emigration from my district for the present season; and although the arrival of the number last sent may be at a late period of the year, I trust your efforts to obtain employment for them may be successful. I shall be happy to hear from you as to the disposal of the emigrants; and thanking you for your valuable assistance/

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I have, &c. (Signed)   R. A. DUNCAN, To A. C. Buchannan, Esq.  Chief Agent, Quebec.  Poor Law Inspector. P.S. – I have just received your letter of 31st ultimo, announcing the safe arrival of the “Roderick Dhu,” which will be welcome news to a great many. (Signed)  R. A. D. __________________________________________ My Dear Sir, New Castle, September 9th, 1852. In acknowledging your very satisfactory letters of the dates 10th and 21st August respectively, I cannot express too strongly the sense entertained by the guardians of your exertions, and the feeling of gratitude and thankfulness they bear to you, in which I need not say I fully participate. The emigrants by the “Roderick Dhu” appear to have been successful by your aid in obtaining employment even beyond what could have been expected, and the rapid transition of these poor people from their burthensome and useless condition in the workhouse, to a state of independence and industry, relieving this country of a heavy drag upon its progress, and benefiting that to which they are sent, is in my mind the most hopeful feature of the present time. Nothing could be more satisfactory than Mr. Fuller’s letter, which you enclosed in your communication of the 21st ult. As regards the balance of 5l. 10s. remaining in your hands, the guardians propose yet sending out the parties for whom it was intended, so that you can just hold it over till I write you again. I should say that since the Poor Law Commissioners issued their several circulars to all unions, founded on your letter to me (of which they published a copy) regarding the amount to be given the emigrants on landing, you find the remittance from the guardians who send out their paupers more liberal. Both the Commissioners and guardians of my district take a deep interest in the emigration experiment, and your letter, which I take the liberty of laying before them, all apprehensions, and are looked upon with great satisfaction by the local newspapers; they completely disarm the opposition which was likely to arise to emigration from workhouses by the Roman Catholic clergy, as statements of ill treatment when landed would not now be believed in this locality. Again thanking you, and awaiting your kind communications regarding the further parties sent out from the workhouses with which I am connected. I have, &c. A. C. Buchannan, Esq.,  R. A. DUNCAN, Chief Agent, Quebec.  Poor Law Inspector. ____________________________________ My Dear Sir,  Emigration Department, Quebec, November 11, 1852. I last had the pleasure of addressing you on the 21st August, since when I am in receipt of your letters of 25th August and of September, all of which duly reached 124

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me, the last during my absence on leave, which is my apology for not having answered it sooner. My letters of 30th September and 4th October to the respective clerks of the Croom and New Castle Unions, which you doubtless may have seen, would have informed you of the arrival and disposal of their respective parties of emigrants. Since the date of these letters I have received very satisfactory accounts of the disposal of those who followed my advice and went to Upper Canada. The 96 girls from the Croom Union, forwarded to Kingston, were all sent to Belleville, on the Bay of Quinte, where they found immediate employment. 92 of the “Georgiana” party proceeded to Toronto, and Mr. Hawke informs me that they have all been employed. \Then on-receipt of the money for the Rathkeale paupers caused me a great deal of additional trouble, that is, however, not of any serious importance. I am glad I have succeeded in tracing the greater part of them, and have paid them their money. The absence of a correct list of these people, as also those of the “Georgiana,” caused some difficulty, which I hope will be prevented in future. Some days after the “Georgiana’s” passengers had left this, I received a letter from Mr. Fuller, requesting that I should forward a further party of young females to his section of the country; it came, however, too late for this season; but I have promised to supply him from among the first party which may arrive next year. Having forwarded you a copy from a former letter of this gentleman, and as he refers favourably to the conduct and satisfaction given by that party, I send you a copy of his letter, which you will please communicate to the guardians of the Kiladysart and New Castle Unions. The season is now drawing to a close. Our emigration numbers 32,292. It has on the whole been most satisfactory, remarkably healthy, and but a few or any complaints have come under my notice. Employment has been most abundant at much beyond the average wages of former years, and I am not aware of any emigrants at present unemployed. The demand for labourers during the season of 1853 is likely to increase very considerably, all disposed to emigrate next spring, will be certain of finding steady and profitable employment. As soon as the season arrives I shall be glad to hear from you as to the probable number and class of emigrants we may expect from your district. I have, &c. To R. A. Duncan, Esq.,  (Signed)   A. C. BUCHANAN, Poor Law Inspector, Newcastle.  Chief Agent. _________________________________________ County Clerk’s Office, Sincoe, County Norfolk. Dear Sir, October 13, 1852. Severe and protracted illness has prevented me writing at an earlier date. 125

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As the emigrant girls which I got up in August are doing well, and giving my general satisfaction, and as I see that numbers are reported as leaving Ireland, and arriving below, I should be glad to know if you could send me up 100 or 120 more girls, and 40 boys, this fall, for whom I will at one get good places. The propeller could, as before, land them at Port Dover, and by sending me a couple of days notice I would be perfectly prepared to receive them. The county Clare (Kiladysart) girls are universally liked; and although the New Castle girls have all turned out well, and given satisfaction, there is still a decided preference given to the others. Not one of the party has changed places, nor is there any desire to change them at present. An early reply would oblige me, as applications are daily made to know if any more are coming. I have, &c. STEPHEN J. FULLER, To A. C. Buchanan,  Chief Agent, Quebec.  County Clerk, County Norfolk.

Notes 1 R.A Duncan initiated the large scale emigration from the workhouses in the south-west of Ireland in the 1852–3 period working closely with A.C. Buchanan and drawing up rules and approached which were sent to all Poor Law Unions who were sending out female workhouse paupers. 2 A Total of 561 paupers from Newcastle workhouse were sent to Canada in 1851–2. See Moran, Sending Out Ireland’s Poor, p, 142. 3 Francis Spaight was a landlord with property at Derry, Co. Tipperary and a shipping owner involved in the transfer of emigrants from Limerick to North America. 4 Killydysart was one of the 33 new workhouses and it opened its doors in February 1850. It was situated in Co. Clare.

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Part III ATTITUDE IN THE COLONIES TO THE EMIGRATION In the decade prior to the famine the Irish were increasingly emigrating to countries in the English speaking world. There was a demand for settlers in countries such as Canada, Australia and the United States for economic and security reasons and a number of parliamentary and select committees saw witnesses arguing in favour of emigrants coming to their colonies.1 The Australian authorities in particular were encouraging female migration. With the outbreak of the famine in 1845 those with the resources were the first to leave, with little opposition from the host countries as they were not considered to be a burden. This changed radically with ‘Black ’47’ as it was the poor and destitute who were leaving. As Britain was the nearest destination it was inevitable that this exodus descended on its cities and towns, and ports like Liverpool and Glasgow bore the brunt of this invasion and inevitably led to a change in attitude from the host populations. While many descended on Liverpool with the intention of moving to North America, the majority did not have the funds and became a burden on local charities and the rates.2 Their arrival coincided with an economic downturn in Liverpool and other industrial town in Lancashire resulting in competition for accommodation, work places and charitable funds, with the Irish being blamed for the spread of contagious diseases such as typhoid and consumption. As the famine emigrants converged on nearly all the urban centres in Britain they tended to be blames for the problems and ills associated with the industrial cities although opposition was not as hostile in the smaller centres such as Whitehaven and Stafford, as the Irish were not as numerous as in places like Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow.3 The hostility towards the emigrants resulted in the Laws of Settlement where the destitute Irish were return to their place of origin in Ireland regardless of how long they had resided in Britain and even if their dependent children had been born there. The flight to North America was the main aim of many and again the initial reaction of the host population was one of sympathy and charity with provisions made available for the emigrants. At its height in 1847 the deluge of emigrants arriving at Quebec and St. John in Canada led to increasing anger and hostility at those

A ttitude in the colonies to the emigration

who were sending their poor and destitute tenants to the colony as they arrive with little more that the clothes on their backs. Canadian officials condemned landlords such as Lords Palmerston, Fitzwilliam, Major Mahon and others, as it was felt they were dumping their destitute poor on the colony without any provision for their well-being and health. It was emphasised that the colony was prepared to take the strong and healthy who would contribute to the country. The pattern of emigration to Canada was disheartening as the authorities saw that two-thirds who arrived at their ports made their way to the United States: those with skills, money and the ability to get on. It was more difficult for the Famine emigrants enter the United States because travel costs were higher and the authorities had more stringent regulations in place. At the same time the country needed the unskilled labour because of the demand for labour. The numbers entering Australia was small because the cost of travelling to the colony was high and without imperial or colonial assistance was beyond the reach of most intending emigrants. While the host countries took in the Irish, and in many cases they were the panacea to their settlement and labour problems, there was still much opposition and hostility to those fleeing from hunger and death.

Notes 1 See evidence of witness to the Second Report of the Select Committee of the House of Lords on Colonization from Ireland, together with the further Minutes of Evidence, HC 1847–8, (593), xviii. 2 Neill, ‘Black ’47’, pp 123–56. 3 For the Irish in the smaller urban centres in Britain see Donald R. McRaild, Culture, Conflict and Migration: The Irish in Victorian Cumbria (Liverpool University Press, Liverpool; 1998); John Herson, “Migration, ‘community’ or integration: Irish families in Victorian Stafford” in Roger Swift and Sheridan Gilley, The Irish in Victorian Britain: The Local Dimension (Four Courts Press, Dublin; 1999), pp 190–212.

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20 EVIDENCE OF LT COL. EDWARD MACARTHUR 1 TO THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON COLONIZATION FROM IRELAND THAT THE SENDING OF IRISH WORKHOUSE WOMEN TO AUSTRALIA WOULD BE A GREAT BENEFIT TO THE COLONY AS THERE WAS A MAJOR SHORTAGE OF GIRLS AS MARRIAGE PARTNERS. 2 MINUTES TAKEN BEFORE THE SELECT COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS ON COLONISATION, HC 1847 (737 – II) VI, PP 310–324 3088. You have been employed on the Staff in Ireland during the Period of Distress? I have been employed during the last Four Years. 3089 In what part of Ireland have you been employed? I have been employed in the County of Leitrim, in Tipperary, and in Sligo where I am now stationed 3090. Has it been part of your Duty to observe the Condition of the Poor in those Parts of the Country? It has; and to report upon that Condition. It is most wretched. 3091. Have any Districts in Ireland come under your Observation, in which peculiar Density of Population exists? There have. I refer especially to Estates belonging to Lord Palmerston and Sir Robert Gore Booth in Sligo.

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3092. Are these Estates the Property of Two Individuals who have been most active and liberal in their Desire to meet the present Distress, and to improve the Condition of their Tenants.? They are; and these intelligent Proprietors have been promoting considerable Emigration to North America. 3093. Considering the State of those and other similar Parts of Ireland, and taking also into account the prodigious Change which will be required in Food and if the Potato should permanently fail as an Article of Subsistence, have you any large Districts come within your Observation in which you, in your Judgement, think there will be found an Impossibility of supporting the Population on cereal Food? I think it would be so found in Practice throughout many Parts of Connaught and Munster. 3094. In those Cases, do you consider that Emigration would be an appropriate Aid to any other Remedies which the State can devise or Individuals can carry into effect? It would be of essential Use in that particular respect. 3095. Do you know at what Rate Paupers are generally supported in the Workhouses in these Districts? I am fearful of making any Statements upon the Subject lest I should err. 3096. Assuming it to be Five Pounds per Annum per Head, do you conceive that, as a mere Matter of Money saving, Emigration may be considered as an economic Remedy as well as a wise and effectual one? Undoubtedly I do. 3097 In the course of your public Duty in Ireland have you observed the Consequences of the Process of the Ejectment resorted to for clearing Estates of a surplus Population? It is perfectly ruinous to the unfortunate People so ejected. 3098. Have you known it to be productive of Consequences which endanger the Peace of the Country? I have no Doubt that it is so; but no such Case has fallen immediately under my own Eye. 3099. But you are aware, from public Documents, that many cases of Crime in Ireland can be traced to that Cause? There is no Doubt to the Fact. 3100. Bearing in mind the Necessity of agricultural Improvement in Ireland, do you conceive that any such effectual agricultural Improvement can take place as will raise Grain enough to support a Population heretofore fed upon Potatoes so long as the small Divisions of Land are continued, and the System of Cottier Occupants and Conacre are continued likewise? 130

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It appears to me impossible. I have frequently conversed with one of the most intelligent Agriculturalists in Ireland, – Mr Wynne of Hazelwood,3 who has assured me that, unless a Large-farm System can be adopted in Ireland, it will be quite impossible to extricate the Country from its existing social Difficulties and Embarrassments. 3101. Can it be adopted either consistently with Humanity or with the Preservation of the public Peace, unless the Change be assisted by a large Emigration? I think not. I wish now to add, lest the Statement should hereafter occur to me, that, as respects Colonization to Australia, it is most advisable that People should be introduced from those parts of Europe whose Climates in some Degree assimilate to the Climate of Australia. It would be a great Advantage to have persons from Switzerland, from France, from Spain, from parts of Germany, and perhaps even from Madeira. They would show our People shorter Processes in the Cultivation and Preparation of a Variety of Products, with which the Inhabitants of the United Kingdom are unaccustomed and a Knowledge of which they can only acquire by a long and wasteful Course of experimental Labour in the Colonies. . . . .  . . . . 3017. You have spoken of the Importance of getting an Infusion of Foreign Labourers for the Purpose of assisting and promoting the Cultivation of Foreign Articles. Will you state whether you think the Irish Emigrant is well adapted for the simpler and more ordinary Labours in raising European Agricultural Produce? There is one Class of Irish Emigrants that would be admirably adapted for the ruder Labours of the Country. Very many of them, particularly the People of Connaught, would be admirably suited to the Occupation of Herdsmen and Shepherds, meaning thereby Persons who follow Sheep from the Folds to their Pasture and Back. It is an Occupation quite suited to the Civilization of the People. 3108. From your Observations in Ireland do you think that the young Girls of Ireland would be peculiarly suited for Farming Servants? I think the Children who incumber the Poorhouses in Ireland at the present Time might be introduced into the Australian Colonies with very great Advantage.4 3109. Are you acquainted with the Authority and Reputation acquired by Sir Richard Bourke during the Period of his Australian Government? I am fully aware how much Australia is indebted to him. 3110. In his Examination before a Committee on the House of Lords in the present Year, having been asked with respect to the Character of the Irish Convicts as compared to the Convicts from other Parts of the Empire, he states that he thinks ‘that the usual Propensities of the Irish followed them to New South Wales, but that they were esteemed to be good Labourers, and they were always sought after by the Owners of the large Estates. They were not so much sought for in Towns as in Country Districts, but they were certainly preferred 131

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as Agricultural Labourers.’ Does that Answer given by Sir Richard Bourke coincide with the Information that you have obtained? It does. I know that most valuable Agricultural Servants have been found amongst the Irish. 3111. Sir Richard Bourke adds, in a Second Answer, that he has known several of the most respectable Settlers desire to have Irish Convicts employed upon their lands. Now if this be true with respect to the Convict Population, is it your Opinion that it would be equally true with respect to free Emigrants from Ireland. I think so, but at the same Time it is right that I should distinctly state that it would he highly advantageous for the Irish themselves if they could be intermixed with Population from every Part of Great Britain. 3112. You would not be favourable to the Introduction of Irish Emigrants to be kept as a separate Class, and located together in a sort of New Ireland, planted in Australia or any other Colony? I think it would not be advantageous 3113. Have you any Evidence to give relating to the first Emigration you carried on to New South Wales. The Accounts sent home by those Emigrants produced such a Desire to emigrate that I could have had a great Number of Paupers. I possessed the Means of conveying them to Sydney, both from the United Kingdom and from the Banks of the Rhine. 3114. Do you believe that the Desire to Emigrate in the Colony is as great as the Desire in Europe to emigrate? I do. May I be allowed to read a short Extract from a Petition to the House of Commons in favour of Colonization, from Merchants and others residing in London (in the Appendix to the Fifteenth Report, April 1843, Page 134). The Petitioner say. ‘It seems, therefore, but a reasonable Adjustment, that England, which has the Command of Money at a low Rate of Interest, should allow to the Colony, which cannot obtain Money excepting at much higher Rates, the Use of Funds, on the Security of its unsold Lands, to be expended here at home in improving Means of Conveyance to the Colony of as many People as can there be advantageously employed.’ I would wish to point out that the Money which is expended in Colonization, or rather in the Conveyance of Emigrants, is expended within the Limits of the Mother Country’

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Notes 1 Lieutenant General Edward MacArthur (1789–1872) was a British army officer who spent time in Australia in the 1820s and 1830s. During the Famine he was stationed in Ireland. He promoted emigration to the colony and in 1855 became Commander-inChief of the British Army in Australia. 2 The House of Lords Select Committee on Colonization from Ireland was established as a result of pressure from a number of Irish politicians and took evidence from over one hundred witnesses as to the feasibility of sending large numbers of Irish emigrants to the colonies. 3 John Arthur Wynne of Hazelwood, Co. Sligo, who was appointed a member of the Devon Commission in 1843. The Wynne family had an estate of 14,500 acres in Sligo. During the Famine Wynne was one of the few landlords in the county to reduce his rents. 4 By the early 1840s there was a major gender problem in the Australian colonies with one woman for every eight men. In the late 1840s the colony attempted to encourage female emigrants by paying their passage fares. Between 1848 and 1850, 4,114 young female paupers were sent to Australia from the Irish workhouses.

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21 SIR RANDOLPH ROUTH TO SIR CHARLES TREVELYAN OBJECTING TO THE PROPOSAL THAT TWO MILLION PEOPLE BE SENT FROM IRELAND TO CANADA OVER A  TWO YEAR PERIOD, ARGUING THAT THE COLONY WAS NOT IN A POSITION TO ABSORB SUCH NUMBERS. 1 APPENDIX TO MINUTES BEFORE THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON COLONIZATION FROM IRELAND, HC 1847 (737-II), PP 34–5 Sir R. Routh to Mr. Trevelyan, dated 11th May 1847 on Mr Godley’s Plan.2 I drew up last Night a few Ideas on the Subject, and I send you a Copy of them. I have not seen Mr. Godley’s Pamphlet; but all that I have said is thoroughly practical as far as it goes; and I have not Time to give a more extended Consideration to the Subject, 11 May 1847 I was unsuccessful in my Attempt to procure Godley’s Pamphlet on Colonization, though I tried several Shops in London, and nearly every Bookseller in Liverpool. I met, however, a Gentleman who had read it, and he informed me that the Object of the Pamphlet was to prove the Feasibility of conveying Million and a Half of Emigrants, in this and the ensuing Year to America. Permit me to explain to you some of the Difficulties of such an Operation. First, how are so large a Body of Men to be conveyed, and where is Shipping to be found for even a Fifth of that Number?

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The Province of Lower Canada contains a very dense Population, so much so that the Land which they occupy is unable to maintain them, and they are obliged to fall back on the Forest Settlements. In Upper Canada the Part only which is occupied is cleared, and a new Settler must go into the Forest. Emigrants usually arrive about the End of May or Beginning of June. They have nearly Three Months before them to be employed in cutting down the Trees of their Location, in burning them off, and preparing the Land for Seed. The Trees cannot be burnt off immediately. They must lie Six Weeks on the Ground to dry sufficiently to admit the Fire. Then there is the fencing and the building of the Log-house. So that all these Occupations, adding to them the Time lost in the Choice of Location, will consume nearly the whole Summer. A Fall Crop in Upper Canada can be put into the Ground, but it is a precarious Crop in the Lower Province. The Emigrant, therefore, must bring with him enough to subsist his Family, and meet these Expenses, for the First Year, or he must obtain Employment in the Neighbourhood, upon which he can exist until his own Crops come into use. This Employment can only be counted on for a limited Number. It is only after the First Year that he begins to be a little independent, and only a little; for he has to purchase a Beginning to Poultry, Pigs, and perhaps a Cow. Thus an Emigrant, with Money in his Pocket, and Means sufficient for his first Establishment, cannot complete his Settlement before the Third Year, when, if he is industrious and sober, he may expect something like the Commencement of a rough Abundance. Having these Premises in view, I leave your Lordship to consider the Difficulty of locating any large Body of Men at once in a Forest; for to this it must come, as we cannot suppose that poor Emigrants have the means of purchasing cleared Farms, or even cleared Land. As Far as my own Experience goes, I believe that the Course of Emigration must be gradual, slow, and natural, to be absorbed by Degrees in the existing Population, and that a Plan might be established by which the Numbers that could be so absorbed might be annually increased; but I do not believe that any violent or sudden Attempt, such as I understand Mr. Godley’s Pamphlet to recommend, can be reasonably expected to succeed. No one can thoroughly appreciate all the Obstacles which a Forest or a new Settlement, removed at a distance from other Habitations, offers to an Emigrant, unaccustomed to contend with these Difficulties. It is enough to make some Men despair; but with perseverance, and a Prudent Direction, and not by Force but by natural Means, everything is to be overcome, though at first slowly and gradually, and every successful Year will add to their Comfort and Independence. And now, my Lord, to draw some closer Comparison of the delay of Settlement of new Colonists in a new Soil, I will suppose that an Attempt were made

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to locate 100 or 500 Families in some unoccupied Part of this Country. The Process of ploughing, of building, of sowing, and reaping must all be undertaken and accomplished before the Means of Subsistence could be obtained; and even in such a Case, with all the Advantages of Civilisation, and every Assistance of Labour and Art, the first Progress will be slow, though it would go on increasing as it advanced. But compare this with the attempt to colonize a Country covered with dense Forests, and without any of the Advantages constantly at hand in Europe, and some Idea may be entertained of the gradual Nature of the Operation. What appears to me to be the most practical Method of undertaking such an Enterprise is to purchase a large Tract of Forest Land, – say One, Two, or more Counties, – and by Degrees to settle One Half or Two Thirds of this Property, reserving the other Half or Third for Sale. The value of this Reserve would be so much increased from the Occupation of the other Part by labouring classes, that it would sell for nearly as much, and perhaps more, than the first Purchase of the whole Tract. I have thrown these Ideas very hastily together, as I have so little Time for a more mature Consideration of the Subject; but chiefly with the Object of exhibiting to your Lordship the Fact, that a System of Emigration must be carried on by slow, gradual, and natural Means; and that the Scheme which I understand to be advanced by Mr Godley, of shipping to the Colonies a Million and Half of People in the course of One or Two Seasons, is altogether chimerical and impracticable. I do not touch upon the Question whether this is an Enterprise to be undertaken by Government or Individuals, on which there is so much Variety of Opinion; but I think your Lordship will agree that the Plan ought to be well and practically made out, and the Expense defined, before it could become a safe Operation as a public Measure.

Notes 1 Sir Randolph Routh (1782–1858) was a government official who superintended the distribution of relief during the Great Famine. He had previously worked for the government in Canada which resulted in him being knighted. For his services there. 2 This was relation to the memorial by John Robert Godley in relation to Irish colonization to Canada.

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22 REPORT FROM THE EMIGRATION AGENT AT ST JOHN’S, NEW BRUNSWICK ON THE TENANTS SENT OUT BY SIR ROBERT GORE BOOTH FROM HIS CO. SLIGO ESTATE ON THE AEOLUS AND THE YEOMAN. PAPERS RELATIVE TO EMIGRATION TO THE BRITISH PROVINCES IN NORTH AMERICA, HC 1847–8 (932), XLVII, P 57 Colonial Land & Emigration Office 9 Park Street Westminster 20th November 1847 Sir, With respect to the enclosed extracts of the Government Emigration Agent at Saint John’s New Brunswick relative to the condition & class of emigrants stated to have been sent out from your estate in the course of the past season, – The commissioners of Colonial Lands and Emigration have thought that you would very probably desire to see these statements, & I am therefore directed to forward them to you, & to say that should you wish to offer any remarks upon them, the Commissioners will be very happy to receive them. – I have the honor to be Sir, Your obedient Servant, S. Walcott [query] Secretary Extracts of reports from the Govt. Emigration Agent at St. John’s, New Brunswick 1. About one-third of those who have arrived have re-emigrated to the United States. A large number of those who remain have become a public charge, from their inability to work, and utter destitution. Among those at present chargeable are many of the emigrants by the AEolus, from Sligo. The passengers by this vessel, 500 in number, state that they were ‘exported’ by their landlord, Sir Robert Gore Booth, who paid their passage-money in order to disencumber his estate. Several of these people will, in all probability become a permanent charge on the public funds; and this shoveling of helpless paupers, without any provision for them here, if continued, will inflict 137

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very serious injury on a this colony. This case of the passengers by the AEolus is mentioned, as it will necessarily come under consideration hereafter, and should, without delay, be noticed and condemned.   I have to report the arrival of the barque Yeoman from Sligo, 514 passengers, and brig Alice from Galway, 125 passengers, and enclose ship returns, to which I refer. The whole of the passengers by the Yeoman were tenants on the estate of Sir Robert Gore Booth, Bart., at Lissidell, near Sligo, and are sent out at his individual expense, they having yielded up their several holdings on his estate as a consideration for their passage and expenses. They were amply provided with provisions of the best description, in every variety for the voyage, and no pains have been spared to render them comfortable.1 They are to receive a weeks allowance of provisions on landing, after which they must shift for themselves. These passengers appear somewhat superior to those which came from the same estate by the AEolus, a large proportion of whom are now a public charge. I examined the passengers by the Yeoman very strictly, and informed them that all those who could not or would not provide for themselves, would in all probability be sent back again to Sligo. The master of the Yeoman informs me that the ship Lady Sale, may be expected in a few days from Sligo, with another 500 from Sir Robert Gore Booth’s estate; and I therefore reserve certain observations I am desirous of making until after the arrival of the Lady Sale. 1. In the Lady Sale three deaths occurred on the voyage, and 15 persons are sick on board. The passengers by the Lady Sale are from the estate of Robert Gore Boothe [sic], Bart., and are reported to be of a worse class than those which have arrived by the AEolus and Yeoman from the same estate. Many of them will become a public burthen from the moment of their landing.2 2. The passengers by the ship Lady Sale are tenantry from the estate of Sir Robert Gore Boothe [sic], and sent out at his expense. No less than 176 adult females embarked in the Lady Sale, of whom nine are widows, with 57 children. Judging from the samples of Sir Robert Gore Boothe’s [sic] tenantry which have already arrived here, another infliction of paupers may be expected in this instance, with a large proportion of widows and orphans. signed M.H. Perlay, The Hon. John S. Saunders, Provl. Secretary

Notes 1 Gore Booth sent out 396 on his tenants on the Yeoman and they were given a cow to provide them with milk on the journey. See Moran, Sending Out Ireland’s Poor, pp 65–6. 2 The Lady Sale arrived in St John in September 1847 with 412 passengers: 150 from the Gore Booth property, 200 sent out by Lord Palmerston and 62 by other landlords. There were 120 orphans in the group. Moran, Sending Out Ireland’s Poor, pp 102–3.

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Part IV EXPERIENCES OF THE EMIGRANTS ON THE ATLANTIC CROSSING In the early states those with the funds and resources left, but by 1847 the poor and destitute, who could gather the travel fare were emigrating. While North America was the destination of many, some did not have the money to go there directly and instead travelled to Britain as the passage fare was within their capabilities. Those leaving for North America from Irish ports faced a major ordeal on boat that were often unsuitable for the Atlantic voyage, inadequate provisions were provided for the voyage and the crews felt they were above the law and treated the passengers brutally and with distain. Often the boats only provided minimum provisions and water with the passengers expected to provide additional supplies. This created problems for those tenants sent out by their landlords such as Lords Lansdowne, Palmerston and Major Mahon who kept the expenditure to a minimum. However, other landowners adopted a more benevolent approach as with Sir Robert Gore Booth and Co. George Wyndham, who gave additional provisions and supplies. The Canadian authorities were extremely critical of the condition of the emigrants when they disembarked at Quebec and St John, New Brunswick as an increasing number had typhus of Famine Fever, resulted in many having to be quarantined at Grosse Isle and Partridge Island. One of the most notorious was the Virginius which left Liverpool and arrived at Gross Isle in May 1847 with 496 tenants from the Mahon estate at Strokestown, Co. Roscommon. On the journey 158 of the passengers died along with some of the crew, while another 180 arrived at the quarantine station with fever. The high mortality rate was due to passengers contracting typhus. While they boarded in a healthy state, some incubated the fever and because of the poor conditions on board passed it to other passengers. By the time the boats arrived at the Canadian ports many of the emigrants were close to death. They had been passed as healthy to travel when they sailed from Liverpool and the Irish ports. The journey to Australia was not as hazardous largely because medical personnel accompanied the emigrants and they were inspected by doctors

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before they sailed from Plymouth. Those travelling to Australia also tended to have better resources and were in better health. Travel at this time was largely unregulated and once at sea the ship captain and his crew were beyond the force of the law. While Stephen de Vere, Vere Foster and others catalogued the brutality inflicted on passengers there was little the authorities could do as the allegations were denied or the passengers threatened. It was only when passengers with influence highlighted what was taking place that action was taken, but in general the overall outcome was negligible. Lack of regulation was also evident in relation to the number of passengers which boats were legally allowed to carry, evident from the Brig St John which sank at Cohasset in 1850. The previous year, the ship captain, Mr Oliver, had been charged with carrying too many passengers to St John, New Brunswick, but released on a technicality. For many passengers the threat of death on the high seas or the treatment of boat crews was better than remaining in Ireland where death and hunger seemed inevitable.

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23 LETTER OF REV. BERNARD MCGAURAN 1 TO ARCHBISHOP JOSEPH SIGNAY 2 OUTLINING THE CONDITION OF THE IRISH FAMINE EMIGRANTS WHO ARRIVED AT GROSSE ISLE IN MAY 1847. MARIANNA O’GALLAGHER AND ROSE MASSON DOMPIERRE (EDS), EYEWITNESS GROSSE ISLE, 1847 (QUEBEC, 1995), PP 50–51 Grosse Isle, Monday, 1847. My Lord, I hasten to give you a few notes on the very sad state of Grosse Isle. Tonight we can count seven hundred sick in the hospitals, all in desperate condition. Doctor Douglas3 does not want to receive any more on the island; since we truly have to place for them, he forces the captains to keep them on board, and we have at present thirty-two of these vessels which are like floating hospitals, where death makes the most frightful inroads, and the sick are crowded in among the more healthy, with the result that all are victims to this terrible sickness. If, My Lord, you and the friends of humanity do not take measures to force this inhuman person (the doctors) to pitch tents on the farms where at least the healthy could be landed, the consequences could be terrible even for the good of the country itself, because you know that the greater number of the ships that come to Quebec are packed with these unfortunates, victims of the greed of their landlords, who send them, on a painful journey, with food amounting to hardly a pound of either potatoes, or flour, or corn, and if we keep these ships for entire months and if we turn them into hospitals or worse bunkhouses, Quebec’s commerce will be ruined. This must be weighed, and prompt and practical measures must be taken. If we do not land the sick, which we cannot do under the present circumstances, all the ships of the Island being already full of sick, we will need as many priests as there are ships. There are usually four or five hundred on board. Today I spent five

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hours in the hold of one of these where I administered the sacraments to a hundred people, while my very welcome colleague was on board another. It would be better to spend one’s entire life in a hospital than to spend just a few hours in the hold of one of these vessels where there are so many people, and so many sick among them. It is there, My Lord, that we are in the most danger. While we are on the ships, there are people dying in the hospital without the sacraments. I have not taken off my surplice today; we meet people everywhere in need of the sacraments; they are dying on the rocks, and on the beach where they have been cast by the sailors who simply could not carry them to the hospitals. We buried twentyeight yesterday, twenty-eight today, and now (two hours past midnight), there are thirty dead whom we will bury tomorrow. I have not gone to bed for five nights. The spectacle, My Lord, is heart-rending. Once these people are struck down by this strange malady, they lose all mental and physical powers and die in the most acute agony! We hardly give anyone Holy Communion, because we do not have time. You can imagine what it was like before Mr. McGuirk arrived. It is but ten days since the first ship came in, and already the number of dead has risen to 135. My Lord, during a whole year of the cholera, 1834, the number of dead never rose beyond 115, as the register before me confirms. This fact alone speaks loud and clear and allows your Grace to see that I exaggerate nothing. The calamity is only too real. Among the seven hundred who are in the hospitals, without counting the 32 ships which are still full, there are not more than 40 Protestants. It would be better to be Mountain4 than McGauran. I ought to tell your Grace that I am not at all afraid of the fever, I have never felt happier in my actual state. The Master Whom I serve holds me in His all powerful Hand. Night and day we are in the midst of the sick where there are many sudden deaths. We can hardly stop to take a rest, but someone comes in haste to summon us. There are already a great number of orphans, whom I recommend to your Grace. Even though we know that we bring a measure of consolation and happiness to the immigrants, it is ironic that we can be unhappy that the prevailing east winds continue to drive so many vessels at the same time to our shores. Perhaps it will happen, and I really hope that one priest will be enough here. However, Doctor Douglas fears that the numbers will increase for the present. My Lord, it is impossible that two priests will do, my legs are beginning to bother me, because I am always on my feet. I recommend myself to your prayers, My Lord, and remain your Grace’s very devoted servant, Bernard McGauran Priest

Notes 1 Rev. Bernard McGauran was a Catholic priest who in May 1847 was sent to minister to the emigrants who arrived at Grosse Isle and who contracted typhus fever.

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2 Joseph Signay became Archbishop of Quebec in 1833 and during 1847 sent Cathollic priests to the quarantine station at Grosse Isle to administer to those emigrants who were sick and dying. 3 Dr George Douglas (1809–1864), the Medical Superintendant at Grosse Isle. 4 George Mountain, the Anglican Bishop of Quebec.

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24 ACCOUNT FROM THE WIFE OF CAPTAIN PURDON OF THE YEOMAN WHICH SAILED FROM SLIGO TO NEW BRUNSWICK IN JUNE 1847 BRINGING TENANTS FROM SIR ROBERT GORE BOOTH’S ESTATE. SECOND REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF LORD ON COLONIZATION FROM IRELAND, HC 1847–8 (368), XLVII, PP 262–3 After leaving Sligo Bay we had a fair Wind for the first Week, which carried us a long Way, since that Time it has been variable and adverse. To-day it is calm, thick, hazy Weather. The Fiddler has been of great Service; he makes happy Faces and nimble Feet all around him. Mr. Yeates is a very pleasant and agreeable Person; every Sabbath he has read Prayers and a Sermon, Morning and Evening.1 Our Little Church is formed of Sails and Flags. The Congregation is pretty numerous, and very attentive. The Cow is doing well. It was a most valuable Present of Sir Robert’s; all the Sick, and particularly the Children, have found the Benefit of it, as well as myself. I am happy to inform your Ladyship that we arrived here safely on the 19th of Month. We have great Reason of Thankfulness that, although there was a great deal of Sickness on board, there were only Two Deaths; the old Woman I formerly mentioned, whose Name I understand was not Mrs Hugh, but Connolly, and a Man of the Name of M’Gowan. I was very sorry for his poor Wife; she nursed him most tenderly. The Doctor came on board the Morning after our Arrival, and sent all the Sick to Partridge Island. Among those who went was poor Miss Walker. She was pretty well during the Passage, but had been very unwell for a few Days. She is

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now, I am glad to say, better, but still detained on the Island. For several Days after we came the Doctor sent on shore new Cases every morning. Between Saturday Afternoon and Sabbath Forenoon Five Children died. I was both surprised and sorry, for I had been rejoicing that we had not lost One on the Passage. We had Three Births. But only One of the Children lived. On Tuesday the Doctor brought Mr. Purley, the Government Agent, with him. The Agent said he would not allow One to go on shore unless they promised faithfully to work, as there are 150 of those who came by the ‘Eolas’ lying like a Drag upon the St John’s People. He seemed pleased with the Appearance of our People. He and Dr. Harding ordered Captain Purdon to land the Passengers without Delay upon the Island; and those who were well would be passed as soon as possible by the Doctor. This was thought to be the best Plan for getting them to St. John’s in good Health, as by all Appearance the longer we were kept in Quarantine the faster the People were getting sick, and it was better to land them well than to send a Number there every Morning sick. A great many of the Crew are in the Marine Hospital sick. The Doctor says it is a very mild Kind of Fever. Our Steward, Third Mate, Carpenter, and White are among the sick. Captain Purdon went to St. John’s immediately on the Doctor and Agent leaving the Ship. Mr. Robertson and he engaged a Steamboat to take the People off the Island next Morning; it did not come till the Day after. Messrs Johnson and Campbell were sent to erect Tents for those who could not be accommodated otherwise. Plenty of Provision was sent with him. The Two Nights they were there were warm and beautiful. On Thursday all that the Doctor would allow were brought by the Steamboat to St John’s, and Mr. Robertson and Captain Purdon saw them all safely lodged in a large Building which had been provided for them. Mr. Purdon is very kind in getting Situations for the young Women, and also some of the Doctors are interesting themselves in their Favour. Captain Purdon got 150 sent off to Fredericktown Yesterday, where there is plenty of Work. The Misses Gilmour are with a Dressmaker, who has undertaken to get Situations for them; their Brother is engaged for 20l. a Year to go to a Farm in the Country. O’Harr’s Child is with the same Lady who has the Misses Gilmour; she is going to keep her till Mr. Purley can sent her on to her Friends. Judith Warren and the Girl Maxwell were lodged in Dr. Harding’s the first Night, to whom we recommended them, and he has undertaken to get Situations for them; Judith Warren is to go his Sister. Three of the Feeneys got situations before they left the Island; and I think from all I hear there is plenty of work and good Wages if People are inclined to accept it. I have Two Girls on Board, Mary Byrne, who took charge of the Cow, and the Gamekeeper’s sister, for whom I will get Situations when the Ship goes to Town. Our poor Sailmaker lost his right Eye by his Knife slipping and running into it one Day about a Fortnight before we came here. Mr. Yeates has been to Town with Captain Purdon several Times, and has been doing all in his Power to interest the Gentlemen to whom he had been introduced in favour of the Passengers; he knows the Character of many of them, and can recommend them;

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he has also made himself very useful to Captain Purdon in assisting among the Sick. I hope he may get a good Situation; from all I have seen he richly deserves it.

Note 1 Prior to his departure, Mr Yeates had been the organist at the Church of Ireland chapel in Drumcliff.

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25 LEGISLATION ENACTED BY THE NEW YORK LEGISLATURE REGARDING THE ENTRY OF EMIGRANTS TO THE PORT OF NEW YORK, AND THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH SHIP OWNERS AND MASTERS COULD BRING SUCH PASSENGERS. FURTHER PAPERS RELATIVE TO EMIGRATION TO THE BRITISH PROVINCES IN NORTH AMERICA, PART 11, HC 1849 (593-II), XXXVIII, PP 78–81 Enclosure 2, in No. 1. LAWS concerning the Commissioners of Emigration of the City of New York. ____________________________ An ACT concerning the Passengers in Vessels coming to the City of New York,    Passed 5 May 1847. (Pursuant to Sec. 14, Art. VII of the Constitution.) The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do   Enact as follows: Sect. 1. WITHIN 24 hours after the arrival of any ship or vessel at the port of New York from any of the United States other than this state, or from any country out of the United States, the master or commander of such ship or vessel shall make a report in writing, on oath or affirmation, to the mayor of the city of New York, or in case of his absence, or other inability to serve, to the person discharging the duties of his office, which report shall state the name, place of birth, last legal residence, age occupation, of every person or passenger arriving in such ship or vessel 147

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on her last voyage to said port, not being a citizen of the United States, and who shall have, within the preceding 12 months, arrived from any country out of the United States, at any place within the United States, and who shall not have paid the communication-money mentioned in the next section of this Act, intituled, “An Act concerning Passengers in Vessels coming to the Port of New York,” passed 11th February 1824. The said report shall contain a like statements of all such persons or passengers as aforesaid, as shall have landed or been suffered to land from any such ship or vessel, at any place during such last voyage, or who shall have been put on board, or been suffered to go on board of any other ship, vessel or boat, with the intention of proceeding to or through said city of New York. The said report shall further specify whether any of said passengers so reported are lunatic, idiot, deaf and dumb, blind or infirm, and if so, whether they are accompanied by relatives likely to be able to support them, and shall further specify particularly the names, last place of residence and ages of all passengers who may have died during said last voyage of such vessel. In case any such master or commander shall omit or neglect to report as aforesaid any such person or passenger, with the particulars aforesaid, or shall make any false report or statement in respect of any such person or passenger in all or any of the particulars hereinbefore specified, such master or commander shall forfeit the sum of 75 dollars for every such passenger in regard to whom any such omission or neglect shall have occurred, or any such false report or statement shall be made, for which the owner or owners or every such ship or vessel shall also be liable, jointly or severally, and which may be sued for and recovered as herein provided. Sect. 2. It shall be the duty of the said mayor or other person discharging the duties of his office as aforesaid, by an endorsement to be made on the said report, to require the master or commander of such ship or vessel, to pay the Chamberlain of the city of New York, the sum of one dollar for every person or passenger reported by such master or commander, as aforesaid, which sum shall be paid, as aforesaid, within three days after the arrival of such ship or vessel at the said port of New York. Sect. 3. It shall be the duties of the Commissioners of Emigration hereinafter named to examine into the condition of passengers arriving at the port of New York in any such ship or vessel, and for that purpose, all or any of the said Commissioners, and such other person or persons as they shall appoint, shall be authorized to go on board and through any such ship or vessel; and if on such examination there shall be found among such passengers any lunatic, idiot, deaf or dumb, blind or infirm persons, not members of emigrant families, and who, from attending circumstances are likely to become permanently a public charge, they shall report the same to the said mayor particularly, and thereupon the said mayor, or the person discharging the duties of his office as aforesaid, or 148

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in any subsequent endorsement or endorsements thereon, that the master or commander of such ship or vessel, with two sufficient sureties, shall execute a joint and several-bond to the people of this State, in a penalty of 300 dollars for every such passenger, conditioned to indemnify and save harmless, each and every city, town or county within this State, from any cost or charge which any such city, town or county shall incur, for the maintenance or support of the person or persons named in such bond, or any of them, within five years from the date of such bond. The sureties to the said bonds shall be required to justify before and to the satisfaction of the officer making such endorsement, and by their oath or affirmation shall satisfy such officer that they are respectively residents of the State of New York, and worth double the amount of the penalty of such bond, over and above all debts, liabilities and property exempt from execution. Sect. 4. Gulian C. Verplanck,1 James Boorman, Jacob Harvey, Robert B. Minturn,2 William F. Havemeyer3 and David C. Colden, are hereby appointed Commissioners for the purpose of carrying into effect the intent and provisions of the said Act, of whom the said Gulian C. Verplanck and James Boorman shall constitute the first class, and shall hold their office two years; and the said Jacob Harvey and Robert B. Minturn shall constitute the second class, and hold their office for four years; and the said William Havemeyer and David C. Colden shall constitute the third class, and hold their office six years; and upon the expiration of their several terms of office their places shall be filled by appointment to be made by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and the persons so appointed shall respectively for the term of six years. The Mayor of the city of New York, the Mayor of the city of Brooklyn, the President of the German Society and the President of the Irish Emigrant Society of New York, shall severally by virtue of their offices be Commissioners aforesaid. The said Commissioners shall be known as the “Commissioners of Emigration,” and by that title shall be capable of suing and being sued. They money so as aforesaid to be paid to the Chamberlain of the city of New York shall be paid out of the warrant of the said Commissioners, or a majority of them. It shall be the duty of the said Commissioners to provide for the maintenance and support of such of the persons for whom communication-money shall have been paid as aforesaid, or on whose accounts bonds shall have been taken as aforesaid, as would otherwise become a charge upon any city, town or county of the State; and the said Commissioners shall appropriate the moneys aforesaid for that purpose in such a manner as to indemnify as far as may be, the several cities, towns and counties of the State, for any expense or charge which may be incurred for the maintenance for the support of the persons aforesaid, such appropriation shall be in proportion to the expenses incurred by said cities, towns and 149

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counties severely for such maintenance and support; and the more fully to effect the object contemplated by this Act, the said Commissioners are authorized to apply to their discretion any part of the said money to aid in removing any of said persons from any part of this State to another part of this or any other State, or from this State, or in assisting them to procure employment, and thus prevent them from becoming a public charge. The said Commissioners are also authorized in their discretion to apply any part of the said money to the purchase or lease of any property, or the erection of any building which they may deem necessary for the purposes aforesaid. But any expense so incurred by the Commissioners in any city, town or county shall be charged to the share of such money which any such city, town or county shall be entitled to receive thereof for expenses incurred in the support or maintenance of the persons for whom communication-money shall have been paid as aforesaid, or on whose account bonds shall have been taken as aforesaid. Sect. 5. In case any of the persons for whom communication-money has been paid aforesaid, or for whom a bond has been given as aforesaid, shall at any time within five years from the payment of such money, or the execution of such bond, become chargeable upon any city, town or county within this State, it shall be the duty of the said Commissioners to provide for the payment of any expenses incurred by any such town, city or county, and the maintenance and support of any such person, out of the communication-money to be paid as aforesaid, and the money collected on these bonds, so far as the same will enable them to do so. The said Commissioners shall prescribe such rules and regulations as they shall deem proper, for the purpose of ascertaining the right, and the amount of the claim of any city, town or county, to indemnify under the provision of this and the preceding section. The said Commissioners shall have the power to provide for the support and maintenance of any person for whom communication-money shall have been paid, or on whose account a bond shall have been given as heretofore provided, and who shall become chargeable upon any city, town or county, in such a manner as they shall deem proper; and after such provision shall have been made by such Commissioners, such city, town or county shall not be entitled to claim any further indemnity for the support and maintenance of such person. Sect. 6. The said Commissioners are authorized to employ such agents, clerks and servants, as they shall deem necessary for the purpose aforesaid, and to pay a reasonable compensation for their services out of the money aforesaid. Sect. 7. The Chamberlain of the city of New York shall, on the first Monday in January in every year, and at such other times as he shall be thereunto required by the said Commissioners, report to them the amount of money received by him since his last previous report for 150

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communication-money as aforesaid, and the amount of such monies remaining in his hands. Sect. 8. The said Commissioners shall annually, on or before the first day of February in each year report to the Legislature the amount of money received under the provision of the Act during the preceding year, and the manner in which the same has been appropriated particularly. Sect. 9. In the case of a vacancy in said Board of Commissioners, the same shall be filled by an appointment to be made by the Governor, by and with the advice of the Senate. The person so appointed, shall hold his office for the remainder of the term of the person in whose place he shall be appointed. The said Commissioners shall in all cases be residents of the city of New York or city of Brooklyn. Sect. 10. If any person for whom a bond shall have been given as aforesaid, shall within five years from the date of such bond, become chargeable upon any city, town or county of this State, or upon the moneys under the control of the said Commissioners as aforesaid, the said Commissioners may bring an action on such bond in the name of the People of this State, and shall be entitled to recover on such bond, from time to time, so much money, not in the whole exceeding the penalty of such bond, exclusive of costs, as shall be sufficient to defray the expenses incurred by any such city, town or county, or the said Commissioners, for the maintenance and support of the person for whom such bond was given as aforesaid. Sect. 11. If any master or commander, as aforesaid, shall neglect or refuses to pay over to the said Chamberlain, such sum on money as is heretofore required for communication-money for each and every person, within three days after the arrival of such vessel at the port of New York, or shall neglect or refuse to give any bond so required as aforesaid within the said three days, every such master, or commander, and the owner or owners of such ship or vessel, severally and respectively, shall be subject to a penalty of 300 dollars for each and every person or passenger, on whose account such communication-money or such bond may have been required, to be sued for in the manner hereinafter provided. Sect. 12. The penalties and forfeitures prescribed by this Act may be sued for and recovered with costs of suit by and in the name of the said Commissioners of Emigration, in any court having cognizance thereof, and when recovered, shall be applied to the purposes specified in the Act. It shall be lawful for the said Commissioners, before or after suit brought, to compound for any of the said penalties or forfeitures, upon such terms as they shall think proper. Sect. 13. Any ship or vessel whose master or commander, owner or owners shall have incurred any penalty or forfeiture under the provisions of this Act, shall be liable for such penalties or forfeitures, which may be a lien upon such ship or vessel, and may be enforced and collected, 151

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by warrant of attachment, in the same manner as is provided in the Title Eight, of Chapter Eight, of the Third Part of the Revised Statutes, all the provisions of which title shall apply to the forfeitures and penalties imposed by this Act. And the said Commissioners of Emigration shall, for the purpose of such attachment, be seemed creditors of such ship or vessel, and of her master or commander and owner or owners respectively. Sect. 14. The money now authorized by law to be collected by the Health Commissioner from the passengers in vessels arriving at the port of New York, for the use of the Marine Hospital, except such as are paid under protest, shall be paid at such times as the said Commissioners shall direct, to the Chamberlain of the city of New York, and shall be drawn in the manner prescribed in the 4th section of this Act; and the expenditure of the same for the purposes of the Marine Hospital as now authorized by law, shall be made by the Commissioners constituted by this Act, or by the Commissioners of Health under their supervision and direction, and any surplus which shall remain beyond such expenditure, and the appropriations made by existing laws, shall be applied by the said Commissioners to the general purposes of this Act. Sect. 15. Any appropriation made by existing laws from said moneys shall hereafter be paid out of the same by the Commissioners appointed by this Act; and any moneys which have been and shall hereafter be paid under protest, shall, upon the settlements or judicial determination in favour of the State of the claims thereto, be paid to the Chamberlain of the city of New York, to the credit of the Commissioners of Emigration, and shall be applied by them according to the provisions of the Act. Sect. 16. The said Commissioners are authorized to erect such buildings and make such improvements upon the land belonging to the State, known as the “Marine Hospital,” as they shall deem necessary for the purposes of this Act, and of the said Hospital, out of the moneys in the Treasury of the State belonging to the “Mariners’ Fund,” which have not been paid under protest, or which have not been otherwise appropriated. Sect. 17. If the communication-money collected under the provisions of the 2nd section of this Act, and the surplus of the revenue of the “Mariners’ Fund,” applicable to the purposes of this Act, as provided by the 14th section thereof, shall at any time to be insufficient to defray the expenses incurred by the said Commissioners, under the provisions of this Act, and also to enable them to reimburse as in hereinbefore provided to the several cities, towns and counties of the State, such sums as shall have been expended by them for the maintenance and support of persons for whom communication-money shall have been paid or bonds given as aforesaid, such deficiency shall be paid out of the surplus of the moneys in the Treasury of the State belonging to the “Mariners’ Fund,”

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which have not been paid under protest, remaining after the expenditure for buildings and improvements authorized by this Act. Nothing in this section contained shall be applicable to the moneys paid to the credit of said “Mariners’ Fund,” by the Trustees of the Seaman’s Fund and Retreat in the city of New York. Sect. 18. The Act passed 11 February, 1824, intituled, “An Act concerning Passengers in Vessels coming to the Port of New York,” and the Act passed 12 April 1842, intituled, “An Act for the Relief of the County of King’s from the support of Foreign Power,” are hereby repealed. Sect. 19. This Act shall take effect immediately. State of New York, Secretary’s Office. I have compared the preceding with the original law on file in this office, and do certify that the same is a correct transcript therefrom, and of the whole of the said transcript. Archibald Campbell,4 Albany, 6 May 1847.  Dep. Sec. of State.

Notes 1 Julian C. Verplanck (1786–1870), a New York lawyer and politician who was a member of the New York State Assembly and Senate. 2 Robert B. Mintum (1805–1866) was a New York merchant and shipowner. 3 William F. Havemeyer (1804–1874) was a German-American politician who was mayor of New York on three occasions. 4 Archibald Campbell (1779–1856) was Assistant Secretary of State for New York from 1812 to 1853.

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26 ACCOUNT OF THE CONDITION ON BOARD THE “LADY DOMBRAIN” THAT SAILED FROM KILLYBEGS TO ST. JOHN, NEW BRUNSWICK IN 1848 FROM OFFICIALS IN ST JOHN. PAPERS RELATIVE TO EMIGRATION TO THE BRITISH PROVINCES IN NORTH AMERICA, HC, PP 132–4 (No. 61.)

Enclosure 11, in No. 28.

Government Emigration Office, St. John, Sir,  21 September 1847. Referring to my letter (No. 58) of the 13th instant, and the case of the schooner “Lady Dombrain” therein mentioned, I have now the honour to report, that the master was summoned on my complaint for bring passengers from a port in the United Kingdom in the schooner “Lady Dombrain,” that vessel having no beams for a lower deck, and was convicted in the penalty of 10l. sterling costs, which fine and costs have been paid. A certified copy of the proceedings is enclosed, to which I beg to refer. The affidavits of the master state that the vessel was inspected by an emigration officer at Killybegs before sailing, and on this ground the magistrates were induced to mitigate the penalty to 10l.; Lieutenant Woolridge, R.N., the officer mentioned, shall have an opportunity of explaining why he permitted this vessel to proceed to sea, as at present the blame rests with him. I have, &c., The Hon. John S. Saunders,  (Signed)   M. H. Perley. Prov. Sec. &c. &c. &c. ________________________________________________ City and County of St. John’s. Magistrates’ Court, 15 September 1847 154

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The Queen by Moses H. Perley, Esq., Emigration  For a Penalty not exceeding Officer, against Michael Browne, Master of the  Fifty Pounds Sterling Ship or vessel called the “Lady Domrain.” In the above cause, Moses H. Perley, Esquire, Emigration Officer for New Brunswick on behalf of Her Majesty, made complaint against Michael Brown, master of the ship or vessel called the “Lady Dombrain,” before Benjamin L. Peters, Esquire, one of her Majesty’s Justices of the Peace, in and for the city and county of St. John, charging said Michael Brown, with a violation of the Acts of the Imperial Parliament, in carrying on board said ship or vessel, as a merchant passenger-vessel, from a port or place in the United Kingdom to the port of St. John, in the province of New Brunswick, North America, during the month of July, August and September in the present year, passengers, under an Act of the Imperial Parliament, called the “Passenger Act,” without the said ship or vessel so called the “Lady Dombrain,” having lower or hold beams, forming part of the permanent structure of the vessel. Upon the said complaint, the said Benjamin L. Peters caused the said Michael Brown, as master of the said ship or vessel to be summoned to be and appear at the office of Benjamin L. Peters, in King-street, in the city of St. John, at the hour of eleven o’clock in the forenoon of Wednesday this 15 day of September, before two of Her Majesty’s Justices of the Peace, in and for the said city and county of St. John, then and there to answer to the said offence; and to show cause, if any he had, why a penalty not exceeding 50l. British sterling should not be imposed upon him, under the provisions of the said Passengers’ Act. And the said Michael Brown, as the master of the said ship or vessel appears before us, Benjamin L. Peters, and Daniel Ansley, Esquire, two of Her Majesty’s Justices of the Peace, in and for the said city and county of St. John, in pursuance of said summons, and being now present and in hearing, the said complaint is by us, the said Justices stated fully to him, and he says that he is quite ignorant of having committed any offence, and requests the hearing of the cause may be adjourned, as he required time to procure legal advice and assistance, and also witnesses for his defence. M. H. Perley, Esquire, prosecuting officer, consenting to adjourn, the further hearing is by us, the said Justices, adjourned until Thursday morning, the 16th of September instant, then to meet at ten o’clock, a.m. at the office of Benjamin L. Peters, for trial. (Signed)   Benj. L. Peters,1 Justice of Peace. Danl Ansley Justice of Peace. ______________________________ Thursday Morning, 16 September 1847 Met pursuant to adjournment, and the defendant appears with J. J. Kelly his attorney, and he says he now pleads guilty to the charge and complaint as made against him; that he was entirely ignorant of the law requiring the said vessel to be fitted 155

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up for passengers in the manner as directed in and by the Passengers’ Act; that he had not a copy of the Passengers’ Act furnished to him until at the time of clearing out the said vessel at the Custom-house in Ireland, for the clearance of the vessel, and upon which she was cleared, that he considered all the requisites of the law had been complied with; and further, that he was not made acquainted with the irregularity of fitting up the vessel, until informed of it by Mosely H. Perley, Esq., emigration officer at St. John; and further, he requests to be allowed to submit his own affidavit of these facts in mitigation of the penalty, for the favourable consideration of the Justices, in coming to judgement upon the complaint. Permission being given by us the said Justices, the accompanying affidavit is submitted, and we adjourn the further consideration, until 12 o’clock this day, to give our judgement. (Signed)   Benj. L. Peters, Justice of Peace. Danl Ansley Justice of Peace. _________________________________________ Having fully considered all the facts in the foregoing case, we are of the opinion that there must have been much want of care, on the part of the emigration officer, in certifying that the ship or vessel called the “Lady Dombrain” was, under the Act of Parliament, fitted up as required in and by the said Act, for taking passengers from the United Kingdom as a merchant passenger-vessel; and, under the affidavit submitted, we are disposed to mitigate the penalty, and do find the defendant, Michael Brown, guilty of the offence charged in the complaint and information; and we do convict him upon his own confession, and order that for the said offence he, the said Michael Brown, has forfeited the sum of 10l. British sterling money – say 12l. New Brunswick currency – to be applied as directed in and by said Passengers’ Act is required, together with the further sum of 44s. coasts of prosecution; and we further order, that in case the said amount of fine and costs be not forthwith paid, that execution do issue as required and directed in and by the said Passengers’ Act. Dated at St. John, New Brunswick, September the 16th, 1847 (Signed)   Benj. L. Peters, Justice of Peace. Danl Ansley Justice of Peace. _____________________________________________ The following is a true copy of Mr. Michael Brown’s affidavit, upon oath, taken and Submitted to the Justices in mitigation. New Brunswick, to wit. MICHAEL BROWN, master of the schooner “Lady Dombrain,” now lying in the port of St. John, New Brunswick, maketh oath and saith, that in the month of July last, the said vessel was lying at Kellybegs, in Ireland, taking in passengers

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for the port of St. John; that this deponent was then, and now is, master of the said vessel; that this deponent had never, previous to the said month of July last, been master or mate of a vessel carrying passengers under the Passenger’s Act, and no vessel for passengers had left Kellybegs aforesaid previous to the month of July, went to Ballyshannon to clear the said vessel; that this deponent cleared her there on that day, and then received a copy of the Passenger’s Act, which he had no opportunity of, nor did he see before that day; that the said Ballyshannon is distant from Kellybegs, about 22 miles; that deponent, on the 19th returned to Kellybegs, and arrived late in the evening, and sailed early the next day, on the said 19th July, and reported everything satisfactory, and gave a certificate, which this deponent filed at the Custom-house, in Ballyshannon; and this deponent was wholly ignorant that there had been any violation of the law in the said vessel not having lower-deck beams, until informed of it by Moses H. Perley, Esq., emigrant officer at New Brunswick; that this deponent done his best to further the comforts of the passengers; had no sickness on board, and landed all his passengers in perfect health and condition, and they appeared all perfectly satisfied with their treatment; and he, deponent saith, that he does not believe that the said vessel will more than cover her expenses on the voyage, owing to the expense of fitting up; the length of the voyage, and the time occupied in quarantine; and deponent saith, that the violation of the law (if any) was committed in ignorance, and unintentional; and that, in point of fact, no hardship, suffering or inconvenience was, in consequence thereof, sustained by any of the said passengers. (signed)  Michael Brown. Sworn at the City of St. John, this day 16th of September, A. D. 1847. (signed)  Daniel Ansley, Justice of Peace.       City and County of St. John, Province of New Brunswick. I hereby certify the foregoing copy of trial and examination had before me, Benj. L. Peters and Daniel Ansley, Esqs., two of Her Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for the city of county of St. John, is a just and true copy of the whole proceedings; and further, that the annexed copy of affidavit is a true copy of affidavit, submitted to the said Justices in mitigation of damages by the defendant, Michael Brown.   Dated at St. John’s, New Brunswick, 21 September 1847. (signed)   Benjn L. Peters, Justice of the Peace.

Note 1 Benjamin L. Peters (1790–1852) was a merchant, politician and Justice of the Peace for St John, New Brunswick.

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27 ACCOUNT OF TENANTS SENT FROM COLONEL WYNDHAM’S ESTATE IN CO. CLARE TO QUEBEC ON THE “GOVERNOR” FROM LIMERICK IN 1848. 1 PAPERS RELATIVE TO THE EMIGRATION TO THE BRITISH PROVINCES IN NORTH AMERICA, HC 1847–8 (971), XLVII, PP 1–3 COPY of a DESPATCH from Governor-General the Right Hon. The Earl of ELGIN and KINCARDINE to Earl GREY. Government House, Montreal, May 22, 1848. MY LORD (Received June 15, 1848). I have the honour to transmit herewith an extract of a letter from Dr. Douglas, the Superintendent of the Quarantine Establishment at Quebec, and to request your Lordship’s attention to the account contained in it of the condition of the emigrants on board the brig “Governor,” from Limerick.2 I have, &c. (Signed)   ELGIN and KINCARDINE. The Right Hon. Earl Grey,  &c.  &c. &c. ____________________________________________ Enclosure in No. 1. Extract from Letter from Dr, Douglas, Medical Superintendent, Grosse-Isle, May 16, 1848. “I cannot avoid bringing under the notice of his Excellency the GovernorGeneral the wretched state in which the majority of the passengers of the brig “Governor” have been sent from Limerick. This vessel cleared with 174 souls, 120 of whom were tenants from the estates of Colonel; these people were huddled on board, almost destitute of clothing and without beds and bedding, the captain having furnished many of the women and children with spare sails to cover them. 158

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Their sole provision has consisted, during the voyage, of the ship’s allowance of biscuit, with a small quantity of tea and sugar. A great number of them have assured the master and surgeon that their sole subsistence for two years previous to leaving was green food – turnips, nettle tops, &c., with a chance and precarious supply of Indian corn-meal. “I feel persuaded, from the great care and attention, and the liberal supply of animal food and medical comforts which I have seen supplied many years to the tenants sent out from the estate in Norfolk of Colonel Wyndham and his father, the late Earl of Egremont, that Colonel Wyndham is not personally acquainted with the manner in which these people have been cleared from his Irish estates by this vessel. So wretched, diseased, and miserable were they even on embarking in port, that Captain Hugill, the master, assures me that if he had not been despatched immediately, he would have re-landed every one, or left the vessel himself. “Out of 174 who left, 20 have died up to last night, and as many more are sent to hospital.” ___________________________________________ No. 2. Copy of a letter from B. Hawes, Esq. to Colonel Wyndham. Downing Street, June 22, 1848. Sir I am directed by Earl Grey to transmit, for your information, the enclosed copy of a report addressed to the Governor-General of Canada by the Medical Superintendent at the quarantine station, respecting the condition in which a large body of tenants from your estate in Ireland have been shipped in the brig “Governor,” and respecting the state in which they had reached Canada. More than a tenth of their number, it will be observed, had died already, and as many more were removed into hospital, sick. There is no reason to believe that the present case forms an exception to the general character of this year’s immigration into British North America. Having no distinct knowledge whether those tenants were sent by your aid or with your authority, but feeling confident that in that case you could not approve of their being forwarded in such a condition, Lord Grey has felt it due to you to put you in possession of these facts, and to mention that experience has clearly proved that to despatch people in the miserable state in which these passengers sailed, involved the almost certain destruction of a large number proportion of their numbers by pestilence. I have, &c. Colonel Wyndham, (Signed)  B. HAWES.  &c.  &c. ___________________________________________________ No. 3 Copy of a LETTER from Colonel WYNDHAM to B. HAWES, Esq. 10, Grosvenor Place, July 1, 1848. 159

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(Received July 3, 1848.) Sir,  I received your letter of the 22nd ult., with its enclosures from Dr. Douglas. I referred both to my agent in Ireland, and I beg to forward to you his explanations. I can forward the original letter if you wish it, but there are other subjects mentioned. I am, &c. J. WYNDHAM. B. Hawes, Esq.,   &c.  &c. ___________________________________________________ (Copy) Enclosure in No. 3. Dear Sir, Ennis, June 29, 1848. I return herewith the extract of Dr. Douglas’s letter, as also that of Mr. Hawes, respecting the emigrants sent out in the “Governor;” these people were in fact not your tenants, they were a parcel of people put on the lands of Erribule by the late Mr. Barclay, in direct opposition to the covenants in his lease, and on your evicting Mr. Barclay for non-payment of rent, these emigrants came here, requesting to be sent to America; you were but a few days in possession of the land at the time.3 With respect to their supply of provisions, it was the same as all the others whom you sent out, and double the quantity of that supplied in the ordinary way to other passengers. Before I wrote this I went to Limerick to make inquiry at Mr. Spaight’s lest there might be an omission in giving the supply, and found all as I have stated, and also that an additional quantity of rice, which I had advised in case of illness, was added to their sea-store; and, as a further proof of sufficiency, I yesterday received a letter from the captain of the vessel, in which he states that a large supply of food remains, for which he could not procure sale at Quebec, and will bring it back to Limerick. The number of passengers on board, I suppose could not exceed what the law permits, but as to their illness, I cannot see how you or any other person can be accountable: they were inspected by a doctor before sailing, who reported them in good health, and so certified, and this doctor accompanied them to Quebec. As to their clothing, the few who applied to me I supplied, there was no demand for beds or bedding, in general they bring such with them. The extra provisions for these people in the “Governor” cost 151l. 5s.; for their passage 484l.; and money on landing 72l. 5s.; total for this ship, 707l. 10s. As for the statement of these people that their food for the last two years was principally nettle-tops, &c., I do not credit it; I am well aware how they exaggerate, not doubting, however, that they have been very badly off for some time. I remain, &c. Colonel Wyndham.  (signed)   THOS. CROWE.4 _______________________________________________ (No. 249.) No. 4.

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Copy of a DESPATCH from Earl GREY to Governor-General the Right Hon. the Earl of ELGIN and KINCARDINE. Downing street, July 5, 1848. My Lord,  With reference to your Lordship’s Despatch, NO. 61, of May 22, accompanied by a Report from Dr. Douglas on the state in which certain tenants from Colonel Wyndham’s estate in Ireland arrived in the “Governor,” I have the honour to enclose for your Lordship’s information the copy of a letter which I caused to be addressed on the subject to Colonel Wyndham, together with the reply which he has returned, containing the explanation of his agent in Ireland. I have, &c., The Right Hon. the Earl of Elgin, (Signed)   GREY.  &c.  &c.  &c. _______________________________________________________

Notes 1 Col. Wyndham in 1848 sent out tenants to Quebec from Limerick on the “Jane Black” and the “Jessy”. The estate in Co. Clare covered 44,000 acres and in the 1830s and 1840s was regarded as severely over populated. 2 The 120 passengers assisted by Col. Wyndham had been sub-tenants on the estate. 3 Mr Barclay leased the land from Col. Wyndham and then sub-leased the land to the under-tenants. 4 Thomas Crowe was agent for Col. Wyndham’s estates in Co. Clare and Co. Limerick.

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28 DEBATE IN THE LIMERICK BOARD OF GUARDIANS ON HOW THE FEMALE PAUPERS FROM THE WORKHOUSE WHO WERE SENT TO AUSTRALIA WERE TREATED BY THE SHIPPING CREW ON THE SEA VOYAGE. 1 LIMERICK REPORTER, 31 JULY 1849 BOARD OF GUARDIANS – SATURDAY Mr. M. B. Ryan occupied the chair. Upon the examination of the Relieving Officer’s books it appeared that the number of applicants for out-door relief was considerably reduced owing to the advanced state of the Crops and the revival of field labour to some extent. Owing to objections being made for having the books signed in haste before a due consideration of the claims of applicants for out-door relief, it was agreed that in future the names of each pauper should be called out previous to being rejected or admitted to relief. Mr. James Barry, one of the collectors of the Union, sent in his resignation letter, to the Board, which was accordingly accepted. Mr. McCarthy said he wanted to bring an important question before the Board, which, he was sure, would be warmly taken up by those present as it ought to be. Some time ago he had also averted to the subject; but he now read a letter for the Board, which he had received from a friend, stating the horrible usage experienced by the female paupers sent out from the Irish Unions. (Mr. McCarthy then read the letter, which stated that scarcely one female remained intact from the brutal violence of the officers and crew of one ship.) The writer called on Mr. McCarthy to give publicity to the matter, and his first step was, after hearing of the occurrence, to go to the Post-office to see were there any letters from the female emigrants. In these he expected to get accounts of the villainous conduct pursued towards these creatures who were obliged to quit their native land. They were bad enough at home, but he would sooner see the female paupers of Ireland dead than obliged to breed slaves in a foreign land. When he called to the Post-office he found that letters had arrived from some of the female emigrants, but that in 162

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consequence some of their friends being unable to release them, they were sent to the dead letter office. He hoped the board would release these letters and get them back, as it was quite evident they contained some account of the atrocities endured by the females sent from the several unions. He would not look for any enquiry from the British Government since he detested their interference in any way, as they were the cause of all Ireland’s misery. Mr Monsell, the County Member, had made enquiries about the matter in the House of Commons; and Mr. Haws, the Colonial Secretary, admitted that the owner of the Sobraon was fined 500l. for the ill-treatment received by female emigrants on board that vessel from the officers and crew. Mr Monsell was entitled to respect for having taken up the matter, and the ruffians who attacked the virtue of which the celtic race was never destitute on the high seas, knew well that they were far from those who would shield and protect them – (cries of hear, hear.) He (Mr. McCarthy) would never advocate emigration as he now knew the result. Mr. McCarthy also read a passage from the Daily News, which he said as the gentlemen of the press present knew, he had an opportunity of meeting, from his habit of going thro’ the papers. The passage from the Daily News detailed the manner in which the Irish females were treated, and gave an account of an investigation into the circumstances instituted in Australia, at which the Doctor of the vessel said he had invented a new punishment for refractory females which was by tying them by the wrist with a belt to some part of the vessel and there to expose them to the ridicule of the crew. After knowing this usage, Mr. McCarthy trusted the board would vindicate its high character, not alone on account of the females who left their own union, but also on account of the females from all parts of Ireland. Mr. Caswell observed that it would be hard for the board to act on as the communication read by Mr. McCarthy, as it was anonymous. Mr. Cullen said he had heard Mr. M’Carthy’s statement with much pain. It was melancholy to reflect on such a state of things. It was manifest when a ruffian captain was fined five hundred pounds, that injury had been inflicted. He cared not – the board cared not – to what district or country the females belonged. They were unprotected, and a searching inquiry should be instituted. His friend, Mr M’Carthy, to whom he felt obliged for bring the matter before them, had stated that papers had been suppressed. That would not do. The Colonial Secretary would supply that deficiency. He begged to move that he be at once written to on the subject. If the Poor Law Commissioners were honest men, they would, if necessary, send out a person to that country to know the particulars, and also to know if they, the Board of Guardians, should, at no small expense, send out innocent females to be the sport and prey of brutalized mariners. Mr. Cullen, in feeling terms, alluded to the painful separation of those females from their parents, who, he said, would sooner part their life blood, than their innocent children, did they suppose, that under the British Flag, they would be insulted, as it now appears they had been. After some further observations from Mr. Cullen, it was agreed that Mr. O’Connor would write to the Colonial Secretary relative to treatment received by female paupers on their passage to Australia. 163

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A vote of thanks was then passed to Mr. Monsell for having brought the subject under the notice of Parliament – Passed unanimously. The meeting then adjourned to Wednesday.

Note 1 The Limerick Board of Guardians sent 74 girls from the workhouse to Australia under the Female Orphan Scheme, see Trevor McClaughlin, ‘Lost children?: Irish Famine orphans in Australia’ in History Ireland, 8, no. 4 (Winter, 2000) pp 30–34.

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29 COMPLAINTS BY QUEBEC OFFICIALS ABOUT THE BRIG “ST. JOHN” WHICH CARRIED EMIGRANTS FROM GALWAY PORT IN 1849. 1 FURTHER PAPERS RELATIVE TO EMIGRATION TO THE BRITISH PROVINCES IN NORTH AMERICA, PT II, HC 1849 (593-II), XXXVIII, PP 5–8 Enclosure 1, in No. 3. Sir, Emigration Office, Quebec, 24 April 1849. I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of yesterday, enclosing the order of reference from Mr. Assistant-secretary Parent, on the case of the brig “St. John,” and requesting that I should furnish you with the particulars of the proceedings taken by me against Captain Oliver,2 for the alleged infraction of the Imperial Passengers’ Act. I have to state, that on the receipt of your letter of 2nd June last, transmitting Mr. Fife’s report of the excesses of passengers on board this vessel, which I herewith enclose you, I immediately submitted the case to Mr. Duval, Q.C.; a copy of my letter you have herewith, and instructed him to institute proceedings against the master. The case was heard before W. K. M’Cord, Esquire and Captain C. Alleyn, R. M., the sitting magistrates on the occasion. The case was however dismissed, for the reasons stated in their judgment, a copy of which I enclose. With reference to the quality of the provisions on board this vessel, I can only state that on the arrival; of the passengers from Grosse Isle, sometime after the vessel had reached this port, where they had been detained in consequence of sickness, a general complaint was made by them respecting the provisions provided by the ship. I consequently visited the vessel to inquire into the correctness of these charges, and found a quantity of biscuit and a number of sacks of flour. The biscuit was of a very inferior quality, and the greater part of it mouldy, and all in large lumps, and together unfit food for human beings. The first mate, who was in charge of the vessel, stated that these provisions were part of the supplies put on board for the use of the passengers. I, after some persuasion, induced a few 165

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of the passengers to remain as witnesses, in order that I might proceed against the master; but the great majority objected, as, in consequence of their long detention in quarantine, they did not wish to be subject to any more delay, for which they would receive no adequate compensation. The parties who had promised to remain were, I found afterwards, bribed by one of the owners of the vessel to leave the city, and I was consequently obliged to discontinue further proceedings. I can only say, that a more gross infraction of the Passenger Act has not come under my notice for some years. In a report which I made to Mr. Assistantsecretary Parent, on the 2nd of August last, I gave him full particulars of the case, and at the same time forwarded a copy of the judgment, the original of which I now enclose (Paper, No. 3). I herewith annex an extract from my letter to Mr. Parent. “On the arrival of this vessel in port, it was found that she had brought out an excess of passengers over her legal compliment, equal to 64 persons calculated under the Act II Vict., c.6; the master stated that he was cleared by the officer of customs at the port of Galway, under the Acts 5 & 6 Vict., c.107, but even under this Act (which had expired on the 28th March) it was found that there was an excess of 12½ adults over her legal number, owing to sixteen persons having been cleared out as cabin passengers, who, it was ascertained from their own admission, and the knowledge of the master, were not cabin passengers; as with the exception of five, who merely slept in the cabin, they all messed and occupied the steerage. I have, &c. (Signed)   A. C. Buchanan. H. Jessopp, Esq., Collector, &c.  ______________________________________________ Enclosure 2, in No. 3. Sir,  Customs House, Quebec, 31 May 1848. I have the honour to report the arrival of the brig “St. John’s,” B. Oliver, master, from Galway, having 156 passengers, who were landed at Grosse Isle; there was not a medical practitioner on board. It appears by the certified list, the superficial space, 1,184 feet, that she can legally carry per Act. II Vict., 6, 84½ passengers; deduct 7 infants from 156, exhibit an excess of 64½ passengers. The master states the vessel was cleared outwards at the port of departure, under the provisions of the old Act. I have, &c. (Signed)  John Fife, H. Jessopp, Esq.,  Tidewater. Collector H. M. Customs, Quebec. ___________________________________________ Enclosure 4, in No. 3. Emigration Department, Quebec,

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2 June 1848. Sir,  I have the honour ro enclose you the list of passengers that arrived at Grosse Isle, on board the brig “St. John,” B. Oliver, master, from Galway. I also enclose you the report of Mr. Fife, the tide-surveyor, of this port, with reference to the excess of passengers on board this vessel. The master, however, states, in justification that he was cleared out under the old Act, 5 & 6 Vict., c. 107, which permits vessels to carry one adult passenger for every ten superficial feet. This would allow her 118. There are, however, 16 passengers, equal to 12½ adults, on board entered as cabin passengers, who are not so, as the greater part, if not the whole, occupied the steerage, of the vessel, and, moreover, did not mess with the cabin price; they cannot in any way, be considered as cabin passengers within the meaning of the Act. This vessel, has consequently, under the old Act, had 12½ adults over her legal compliment. I may further state, that she is reported to have arrived at Grosse Isle in a very sickly and filthy state, 13 passengers, having died at sea, and seven at Grosse Isle, and 28 were sent to the hospital there. Under the second clause of the 5 & 6 Vict., c. 107, the master is liable to a penalty not exceeding 5l. for each adult over his legal number. I have therefore to request that you will take the necessary legal steps to enforce the penalty of the law against the master. I have, &c. (Signed)   A. C. Buchanan, J. Duval, Esq., Q. C.  Chief Agent. ____________________________________________ District of Quebec Whereas Alexander Carlisle Buchanan, of Quebec, Esquire, Government Emigrant Agent, on the 13th day of June in the year of our Lord 1848, at the city of Quebec, in the county and district of Quebec, came before William King, Esquire, one of Her Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for the said district of Quebec, and the said A. C. Buchanan, for our Sovereign Lady the Queen, in that behalf complained, prosecuted and informed the said justice aforesaid, that on or about the 1st of April past, Bartholomew Oliver, now at Quebec, mariner, then being the master and commander of a certain brig called the brig “St. John,” of the registered tonnage of 267 tons, and measuring 1,184 superficial feet in several compartments set apart for the passengers on deck, at the port of Galway, in that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called Ireland, did take and receive on board of the said brig “St. John,” divers passengers, to wit 149 passengers, on the deck upon which passengers live, to be conveyed in the said brig from the said port of Galway to the port of Quebec, in the province of Canada, and that afterwards to wit, on the said 1st day of April last past, the said brig “St. John,” the said Bartholomew Oliver being the master and commander thereof, did sail from the said port of Galway to the port of Quebec, not having on board a surgeon duly qualified by law to practice in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as a physician,

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surgeon or apothecary, but having the said 149 passengers on board thereof, and arrived at the aforesaid port of Quebec, to wit, on the 31st May last past year, with the said 149 passengers on board thereof: and the said complainant further averred that the said Bartholomew Oliver, being such master and commander of the brig “St. John,” did, on the passage aforesaid, from the port of Galway aforesaid to the said port of Quebec, carry more passengers on the deck upon which the passengers live on board of the said brig than in the proportion of one passenger to every 14 superficial feet of the space occupied by the said passengers, and appropriated to their use, and unoccupied by store, not being the personal luggage of the said passengers, that is to say, 64 passengers more than the due proportion allowed by law, against the form of the statute in such case made and provided: and whereas the said Bartholomew Oliver, being duly summoned to answer the said charge, appeared before us William M’Cord and Richard Israel Alleyn, Esquires, two of Her Majesty’s justices of the peace for the said district of Quebec, on the 16th day of June aforesaid, at the Court House in the city of Quebec, in the said district of Quebec, by Joseph Power Bradley, Esquire, his attorney, and the said Alexander C. Buchanan, by John Francis Duvel, Esquire, his attorney, also then and there attended before us, for the purpose of proving the offence charged upon the said Bartholomew Oliver in and by the said complainant; we, the said justices, do hereby certify, that on theb17th June of the year aforesaid, having heard what the said Alexander Carlisle had to allege in that behalf, and the evidence adduced by him in proof of the said offence, and having also heard that the said Bartholomew Oliver then and there alleged in his defence, and it manifestly appearing to us that although the said Bartholomew Oliver did commit the offence mentioned in the said information and complaint, yet he did not do so knowingly, inasmuch as the vessel sailed from the port of Galway, in Ireland, on the 1st of April, whilst the law he had contravened was only passed on the 24th day of March previous in London, consequently he could not have been aware of its existence, we are therefore of the opinion that he has not offended against the spirit and intention of the said law, and accordingly we dismiss the said complaint, without costs. Given under our hands, at the said city of Quebec, this 17th day of June 1848. (Signed)   William M’Cord, J. P. R. I. Alleyn, J. P.

Notes 1 The Brig St John was to sink in 1849 at Cohasset, Mass., with the loss of 99 passengers and sever crewmen. See Catherine Shannon, ‘The wreck of the Brig St. John and its commemoration, 1849–2014’ in Patrick Fitzgerald, Christine Kinealy, and Gerard Moran (eds), Irish Hunger and Migration: Myth, Memory and Memorization (Quinnipiac University Press, 2015), pp 69–82. 2 Martin Oliver, a native of Scotland, but who lived in Galway, was the captain of the Brig St John.

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30 DEBATE IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS ON THE TREATMENT OF PASSENGERS ON BOARD THE SHIPS TRAVELING TO AUSTRALIA. HANSARD. HOUSE OF LORDS DEBATES, VOL. 108 (DATED 15 FEBRUARY, 1850), CCS. 810–14 The EARL of MOUNTCASHEL,1 in pursuance of the notice which he had given, rose to inquire whether the Government had received any communications relative to the ill-treatment of the emigrants on board the bark Indian, destined for Port Adelaide, South Australia? He had seen – as he had no doubt many of their Lordships had seen – in the Morning Post a statement regarding this emigrant vessel, which, in the course of last year, had sailed with 182 emigrants on board, to Australia. Amongst those emigrants were married, and many unmarried, women. It appeared that the treatment to which these women were exposed during the voyage was of so gross and scandalous a character, that, on their arrival at Adelaide, their friends called, by advertisement, a public meeting, at which a great number of emigrants themselves were present. The chairman stated generally to the meeting the gross and shameful usage which the emigrants, particularly the females, had experienced, owing to the remissness of the captain, and the disgraceful conduct of the second mate, the surgeon, and the steward, by whom the vessel had been converted into a sink of iniquity worse than any brothel in London. The second mate, in his drunken fits, had forced himself into the cabins of the female passengers, and had committed the most revolting debaucheries with those who admitted, and had been guilty of great cruelty and violence towards those who stood firm against, his advances. One innocent young woman, who resisted his proposals, and complained of his conduct to the captain, was taken upon deck, and buckets of water were thrown upon her. One of the male passengers, who stood up in her defence, was grossly insulted. Violence was exhibited towards all who stood up for her protection; and the captain informed her that, if she made a second complaint of the conduct of his officers, she should be placed in confinement.

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The only officer on board the ship who acted in a proper and becoming manner was Mr. David, the first mate; all the rest acted shamefully. He called the attention of Her Majesty’s Ministers to these outrageous transactions, because it was very important that some measures should be adopted to prevent the recurrence of them. He had been informed that a society had been recently established in London, by which a large sum had been subscribed by benevolent individuals, for aiding distressed women to emigrate to our colonies. Now, after the publication of such a statement as that of which he had given their Lordships the substance, was it likely that any virtuous and well-conducted woman would trust herself on board a vessel if she was not sure of protection? He was sorry to say that this was not an isolated case, for he had heard of other vessels where similar profligacy had prevailed, although the outrageous conduct of the officers and crew had not been made public. Besides the reasons he had already mentioned, there was another which induced him to bring this abominable state of things under the notice of Parliament. During the course of last summer, the Poor Law Commissioners in England and Ireland had sent to the different boards of guardians in both countries circulars inquiring whether they had, in their respective districts, any poor, but well conducted, girls who were willing to emigrate. Many such young women were selected in both countries, and several from the union with which he was connected.2 Now, if there were to be no protection offered to these friendless young women, either by the captain, or the mates, or the other officers of the emigrant vessels in which they had embarked, and if the matron were to be reduced to a mere cypher, and left without any power, it must be productive of the greatest evil. It also appeared, from statements made at the meeting at Adelaide, that, in contravention of the express provisions of the Passengers’ Act, spirits had been publicly sold on board this vessel, though there was a heavy penalty affixed to every distinct offence of that sort; and that it was in and after the drunken revelries of the officers that these atrocious assaults on unprotected women were generally attempted. In contravention of another provision of the same Act, it appeared that the proper quantity of water and food allotted to each passenger, had been systematically kept from them; and that, in consequence, they had been obliged to live on short commons during the greater part of their long voyage. Memorials on this subject, he understood, had been sent both to the noble Secretary for the Colonies, and to his right hon. Relative the Secretary for the Home Department. He wished to know whether those memorials had been received, and, if so, what were the steps which the Government intended to take upon them? EARL GREY, in reply to the question of the noble Earl, said, that no official communication on this subject had yet been received by Her Majesty’s Government. In a newspaper, however, from the colony, which had been recently received in this country overland from India, and of a later date than the last official despatches, he had seen an account of the outrages to which the noble Earl had referred. From that newspaper it appeared that allegations of the existence of very serious abuses on board this emigrant vessel had been preferred at a public meeting in the colony. Those allegations were now under the investigation of the colonial government, 170

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and he could assure the noble Earl that it would be strictly carried on not only by the colonial government but by the Government at home; and that, if abuses had taken place, those who had been guilty of them had incurred, and should be made subject to severe penalties under the Passengers’ Act for any abuses committed during the voyage, and the shipowners also would not escape from them. The Emigration Commissioners, by virtue of the contracts they had made with the shipowners, were entitled to hold back a portion of the passage-money paid for these emigrants in case any abuses took place on board their vessels. He informed their Lordships that whenever abuses had taken place, the Emigration Commissioners had not hesitated to exercise the power vested in them. When the noble Earl stated that the present was not a solitary case of abuse, but that there were many others which had not come before the public, he appeared to him (Lord Grey) to be, if not wholly uninformed, at least very nearly so. He (Lord Grey) appealed to those noble Lords who had read the papers recently laid on the table on the subject of emigration, whether they did not contain satisfactory proof both of the pains and of the success with which the Emigration Commissioners had exerted themselves to check abuses of this kind. He did not say that cases of abuse must sometimes occur; but he could assure the noble Earl that, whenever they did occur, they should not, as far as he (Earl Grey) was concerned, pass unpunished. For the conduct of the officers of the ship the Emigration Commissioners were not responsible, for the officers were selected by the shipowners; but the Commissioners had this check upon the shipowners, that they could deprive them of a large portion of the passage-money, in case they appointed officers who were either committed themselves or sanctioned abuses in others. In one case, he had himself directed the Emigration Commissioners to enforce the whole amount of the forfeiture on the shipowners, and the Emigration Commissioners had in consequence withheld from them 500l., to which they would otherwise have been entitled. The surgeon of the vessel was under the control of the Commissioners; but, as no great remuneration was offered to the surgeon of emigrant vessels, there was some difficulty in getting competent persons to act in that capacity. In a great majority of cases, however, the surgeons had performed their duty very admirably. In the present case, the surgeon had been very hastily appointed, in consequence of a very serious illness which had suddenly attacked the surgeon previously appointed. [The Earl of MOUNTCASHEL: Mr. Sandford?] Yes, and looking at the testimonials upon which he had received his appointment, he must say that they were sufficiently strong to justify the Emigration Commissioners in sanctioning it. The noble Earl had referred to other instances of abuse, which, he alleged, had occurred in the case of female emigrants from Ireland. Generally speaking, the female emigrants from Ireland had turned out well; but in one case great abuses had occurred, not indeed on the part of the officers of the vessel which carried them out, but in consequence of the gross deceit which had been practiced on the Emigration Commissioners by parties in Ireland as to the character of the women embarked. The poor law guardians, for some reason or other, allowed other women, especially from the town of Belfast, to be sent on board instead 171

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of those of whose good character they had given testimonials.3 This was almost the only case of abuse with which he was acquainted. As soon as the information reached him, he took care that more caution should be exercised by the authorities in Ireland. He readily admitted to the noble Earl that in including emigration to so distant a quarter of the globe, the difficult of guarding against abuses was very great; but on the other hand, he assured him that no effort had been, and that no effort would be, spared to guard against them. So far as the Emigration Commissioners were concerned, emigration was conducted with as little abuse as possible. The EARL of MOUNTCASHEL said, that he was very glad to hear the statement of the noble Earl, which he thought would produce the most beneficial results.

Notes 1 Stephen Moore, Third Earl of Mountcashel (1792–1883) was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat who entered the House of Lord in 1826. 2 Mountcashel was connected with Cashel Poor Law Union who sent 70 young girls to Australia under the Female Orphan Scheme. 3 This a reference to those girls sent out on the Earl Grey in 1848 from the |Belfast workhouse.

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31 VERE FOSTER’S ACCOUNT OF CONDITIONS ON BOARD THE “WASHINGTON” WHICH SAILED FROM LIVERPOOL TO NEW YORK IN OCTOBER 1850. 1 LETTER FROM LORD HOBART ON VERE FOSTER’S STATEMENT REGARDING PASSENGERS ON THE “WASHINGTON” GOING TO NEW YORK, HC 1851 (198) XL, PP 2–7 CORRESPONDENCE on the TREATMENT of the PASSENGERS Enclosure to Lord Hobart’s Letter of 13 January 1851 Ship  “Washington,” My dear – –,  1 December 1850. As the weather is very beautiful t0day, and the wind and sea perfectly still, I will take advantage of so fit an opportunity of writing you some account of my voyage thus far, during the intervals between the performance of my household duties as cook to our mess. We are now, and have been for several days within one day’s sail of our destination, if we had a fair wind, but unfortunately there is no wind. This is a magnificent vessel of 1,600 tons register burthen, or 3,500 tons measurement, with two lofty and well-ventilated passenger decks, each between seven and eight feet high, and very high bulwarks, over six feet, to protect the deck from the spray of the sea; she is a new vessel and very strong and dry, and probably as well furnished with all necessary conveniences as the best of the emigrant ships between Liverpool and New York. Her crew consists of 31 men, 3 boys and 5 officers; namely the captain and 4 mates, and she has on board upwards of 900 passengers, whose sleeping berths are a shelf long each side of the whole length of the two decks, with low boards dividing the shelf into berths, all of one size, and each containing from four to six persons; one end of the upper deck is divided off as a separate apartment, containing 12 enclosed cabins, each having two, four or

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six berths, and each berth containing two persons. The passengers in this part of the vessel pay a somewhat higher price, viz, 5l. instead of 3l 15s., or 4l. I occupy one of the berths in a cabin containing four berths, Mr. James Ward, late literary teacher at Glasnevin Model Farm, being my bedfellow; and there are four other men in the same cabin, one of whom is a plasterer, another a miller (American), a third a tanner, and the fourth a young American, who has been travelling in England for his amusement. The quantity of provisions, which, according to Act of Parliament and according to the stipulations of our contract tickets, in which their price is included, ought to be served out to each emigrant weekly, is, besides three quarts of water daily, and the supply of sufficient firing, 2 oz. of tea, 2 ½ ;lbs. of bread 1 lb. of wheaten flour ½ lb. of sugar, 5 lbs of oatmeal ½ Lb. of molasses, 2 lbs. of rice, Vinegar; And, John Taylor, Crook & Co., agent to this company, which is that of the “Black Star Line of Packets,” engage to supply in addition to the above, one pound of pork (free of bone) to each passenger weekly. The extra provisions which I have brought on board for the use of my bedfellow and myself, in addition to the ship’s provisions, are the same as what I have been in the habit of supplying to such passengers I have sent at my own expense to America, viz., for each of us 1 ½ stone of wheaten flour 2 lbs. sugar, brown, 6 lbs. bacon Salt, 2 ½ lbs. butter, Soap, ¼ lb. of tea, Soda; A four pound loaf.    These provisions cost 10s 6d. I also brought some cooking utensils, and other tin ware, bedding, towels and dish clouts. I consider the above quantity of extra provisions to be plenty, so far necessity is concerned, with the exception of a pint of vinegar in summer; a cheese, more flour, a few herrings and some potatoes would however be, and were found to be, by many of my fellow passengers, a palatable and desirable addition, particularly during the first fortnight, until the stomach becomes inured to the motion of the ship. All the passengers who arrive at Liverpool a day or more before the sailing of an emigrant ship, have to be inspected by a surgeon appointed by the Government, who will not allow anyone to go on board who has infectious disease of a dangerous character. I passed before him for inspection, which occupied only one or two seconds. He said without drawing breath, “ ‘What’s your name? Are you well? Hold out your tongue,” and then addressed himself to the next person. We were again all inspected and passed before him on board the ship, while sailing down the river. 174

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There were no regularity or decency observed with regard to taking the passengers on board the ship; men and women were pulled in any side or end foremost, like so many bundles. I was getting myself in as quickly and dexterously as I could, when I was laid hold by the legs and pulled in, falling head foremost down upon the deck, and the next man was pulled down upon the top of me. I was some minutes before I recovered my hat, which was crushed as flat as a pancake. The porters, in their treatment of passengers (naturally) look only to getting as much money as they possibly can from them in the shortest space of time, and heap upon them all kinds of filthy and blasphemous abuse, there being no police regulations, and the officers of the ship taking the lead in the ill-treatment of the passengers. The “Washington” went out of dock on the 25th, and anchored in the river; I went on board the next day, and witnessed the first occasion of giving out the daily allowance of water to the passengers, in doing which there was no regularity; the whole 900 and odd passengers were called forward at once to receive their water, which was pumped out into their cans from barrels on deck. The serving out of the water was twice capriciously stopped by the mates of the ship, who during the whole time, without any provocation cursed and abused, and cuffed and kicked the passengers and their tin cans, and, having served out the water to about 30 persons, in two separate times, said they would give no more water till the next morning, and kept their word. I gently remonstrated with one of the mates, who was cuffing and kicking the poor steerage passengers, observing to him that such treatment was highly improper and unmanly, and that he would save himself a great deal of trouble and annoyance, and win, instead of alienating, the hearts of the passengers, if he would avoid foul language and brutal treatment, and use civil treatment, and institute regularity in the serving out of the water, 7c; but he, in reply, said that he would knock me down if I said another word. I was happy to find, however, that my rebuke had the effect of checking for the moment the bullying conduct. Provisions were not served out this day, notwithstanding the engagement contained in our contract tickets, and not withstanding that all the passengers were now on board, the most of them since yesterday, and had no means of communication with the shore, and that many of them, being very poor, had entirely relied upon the faithful observance of the promises contained in their tickets, the price of which included payment for the weekly allowance of provisions. I was on board of a fine vessel, of the same size as the “Washington”, about five weeks ago, named the ‘Constellation,” one of Tapscott’s line of packets, on which I sent some passengers. There were 875 passengers on board, and the provisions were served out punctually on the day appointed for sailing, although she was yet in dock, and did not sail for several days afterwards. While a steamer towed the “Washington” down the river on Sunday, 27th October, all the passengers were mustered on deck, and answered to their names as they were called over by the chief clerk of the agency office at Liverpool. This formality was for the purpose of ascertaining that there was no one on board but 175

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such as had tickets. One little boy was found hidden, having made his way on board, thinking to escape notice. He was sent ashore. On the 28th we were so fortunate to have as a most favourable breeze, which carried us out of the Irish Channel, being that part of the voyage in which we expected the greatest delay. On the 29th I went round of the lower deck with Mr. Charles Reynolds, surgeon of the ship, observing him take down the numbers in each berth. These berths are constructed to hold four persons in them, and some as many as six. I observed that the doctor noted down, in many instances, persons between the ages of 14 and 16 as under 14, that is as not adults, although it is expressly stated in out tickets that 14 years of age constitute an adult, and any one above that age is paid for extra as such; this was the purpose of making a saving in the issuing of provisions, as half rations only are served out to passengers under 14 years of age. The doctor remarked to me at the time, that as regarded the issuing of provisions, 16 years of age was considered on board the “Washington” as constituting an adult. On the 30th October no provisions had yet been served out, and the complaints of the poorer passengers in the steerage were naturally increasing, as they had no means of living, excepting on the charity of those who had brought extra provisions. At their request I drew up a letter, of which the following is a copy, addressed to the captain of the ship. Page: “We, the undersigned passengers on board the ship ‘Washington’, paid for and secured our passages on the confident expectation that the allowance of provisions promised on out contract tickets would be faithfully delivered to us. Four entire days have expired since the day on which (some of us having been on board from that day, and most of us from before that day) the ship was appointed to sail, and three entire days since she actually sailed from the port of Liverpool, without having received one particle of the stipulated provisions excepting water, and many of us having made no provision to meet such an emergency, we request that you inform us when we may expect to commence receiving the allowance which is out due (signed) “Vere Foster. John Hickey. Denis Mangan. “James Maolony. Samuel Thorn. Charles O’Donoghue “ John Collins. James Ward. H. Hopkins. “Jas. McNamara. Thomas Hotchin. “P.S. From want of conveniences of writing, but particularly from the fear of being interfered with by the officers of the ship, no more signatures have been proceeded with, otherwise nearly 900 might have been added. While writing the former part of this letter at the request of my fellow passengers, the first mate, Mr. Williams, knocked me down upon the deck with a blow in the face. “Another day has elapsed without provisions being served out. “31 October 1850.”  (signed)   Vere Foster When the mate knocked me down, which he did without the smallest previous intimidation or explanation, he also made use of the most blasphemous and abusive language. I said not a word, knowing the severity (necessarily so) of the laws 176

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of discipline on board of ships, but retired as he bade me to my own cabin. He then forbade my going into any of the steerage part of the vessel. A passenger heard him make use to the cabin cook, of the observation, that if he caught me in ‘tween decks again he would not hit me, but that he would throttle me. I ought to have noticed that last night the mate said to me, “Damn and blast you, come and give me a hand at the rope,” on which I said, “if you’ll be civil perhaps I may;” and at the same time I went forward to pull at the rope at which the sailors were hauling, on which the mate seized hold of me by the collar and thrust me aside, swearing at me like a trooper, and saying that he remembered having seen a specimen of me before, alluding to the first day of serving out the water. On the morning of the 31st October, I presented the letter to Captain Page. He asked me the purpose of it, and bade me read it. Having read out one-third of it, he said that was enough, and that he knew what I was; I was a damned pirate, a damned rascal, and that he would put me in irons and on bread and water throughout the rest of the voyage. The first mate then came up, and abused me foully and blasphemously, and pushed me down, bidding me get out of that, as I was a damned b – – –. He was found by one of the passengers soon afterwards, heating a thick bar of iron on the kitchen fire; the cook said, “What is he doing that for?” and the mate said, “There is a damned b – – – on board, to whom I intend giving a singeing to before he leaves the ship. Provisions were issued to the passengers for the first time this day. I took the precaution of bringing a weighing-machine on board, weighing as low as two ounces, in order to compare the allowances issued with the quantities due, which afterwards proved extremely useful for my own purposes, and to other persons. Mr. Ward and I received about 2 ¾ lbs. of wheaten flour, which was ¾ lb. more than our due; about 2 ½ lbs. of biscuit instead of 5 lbs., and 7 ½ lbs. of rice and oatmeal mixed, instead of 14 lbs. The steerage passengers did not receive as much.” On Saturday, 2 November, groceries were issues for the first instead of the second time to the passengers; the six persons in my cabin received all their provisions together; we got 6 oz. of tea instead of 12 oz., nearly our proper amount of sugar, and 1 ¼ lb. of molasses instead of 3 lbs., and no vinegar. We have as yet received no pork, though we should have received our second weekly allowance of pork to-day. On Thursday, 7th November, flour, biscuits, oatmeal and rice were issued in the same proportion as before, excepting that the flour was a little under the allowance. I was looking on during nearly the whole of the time, and could see that the quantities were the same to each person. The six persons in my cabin received8 lbs. of oatmeal instead of 30 lbs., 8 lbs. of rice instead of 12 lbs., 8 lbs of flour instead of 6 lbs., 8 ¾ lbs. of biscuits instead of 15 lbs. A slight mistake occurred by a second person coming for the provisions for berth No. 115, not knowing that another person had just received the provisions for the whole of the persons in that berth; the first mate told him to get out of that and go to hell; and on the man, an old man he was, saying that he had not received 177

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his provisions, the first mate rushed at him and beat him and knocked him down, using the most violent and blasphemous language. On Saturday the 9th November an allowance of pork was issued for the first instead of the third time; the six persons in my cabin got 6 lbs. When one of the occupants of berth No. 180 came up for his pork, not knowing that another man from the same berth had just received for the whole of its occupants, the first mate instantly ran at him and hit him with his clenched fist, and with a rope’s end, about the face and head, and then added, “if any other b – – annoys me, God damn his soul, I’ll smash his head for him.” Whenever provisions are served out, a sailor stands by with a rope’s end and capriciously lays about him, with or without the slightest provocation. The captain never appears to trouble himself in the slightest degree about the passengers, nor even ever to visit the part of the ship occupied by them. The first and second mates, the surgeon and the man specially appointed to look after the passengers, and the cooks – all these very seldom open their lips without prefacing what they may have to say, with “God damn your soul to hell, you damned b – –, ” or, “by Jesus Christ I’ll rope’s end you,” or some other expression from the same category. I hear occasionally some of the passengers complain to the first mate or to the captain, of the favouritism shown by the passengers’ cooks to those who give them money, or whiskey, and who consequently get five or six meals cooked daily, which those poor passengers who have not the money to give, or who do not give, are kept the whole day waiting to have one meal cooked, or can have only one meal cooked every second day. In my own case, on one of the first mornings of my being on board, the cook took up the kettle of water, which had been waiting one hour and a half to be put on the fire, and said to me, “What are you going to give to me to cook that for you?” I replied, that I intended to take my chances, the same as the rest of the passengers, and was contented to take my proper turn in having my victuals cooked, for that if I paid for a preference in having them cooked I should be monopolizing a right which is common to us all, at the expense of those fellow passengers who were not able to pay. The cook then put down the kettle again, saying, “That God damn that fellow is not going to pay up, so his kettle may wait,” The captain’s cook cooks for those passengers who give him 10s, or 12s. each person for the voyage, and a great many do so. I did not, for I wished to place myself as such as I conveniently could in the same position as the general run of my fellow passengers. I find now, that either in consequence of good words in my favour from some of those passengers whom I have had small opportunities of being of service to, or in consequence of an appreciation of my fairness in taking my proper turns, though I am well able to pay for doing otherwise. Or of my aiding him by remonstrances to keep the galley (kitchen) from being too crowded and to keep order, the cook now favours me as much as if I did pay him. Asked the third mate where we were, and received the same reply as usual, that he could not tell. No one knows the whereabouts of the vessel except the captain and first mate, and they keep that a profound secret from the ship’s company and passengers. No groceries were issued, as they should have been this day. 178

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13th November. – I have spoken frequently with different sailors, asking them if this was the first time of their sailing in this ship; all answer yes, and that it will be their last, and some of them express an opinion that the first and second mates will get a good thrashing at New York. One of the female passengers played a dirty trick this evening of committing a nuisance on the desk at the top of the steps; being caught in the act, she was (very properly) made to take it up with both her hands and throw it overboard. 14th. – Provisions of oatmeal, biscuits, flour and rice were issued this day as usual. I weighed what was given to four adults and a boy, occupying one of the steerage berths. They received – 10 ¾ lbs. of oatmeal, instead of 22 ½ lbs. due. 4 ½ lbs. of biscuits    “   “  11 ¼   “ 4 lbs. of flour      “   “   4 ½   “ 5 ½ lbs. of rice      “   “   9       “ 16th. – Groceries were issued as usual. 17th November. – The doctor this evening heaved over a great number of chamber-pots belonging to the female passengers, saying that henceforward he would allow no woman to their business below, but that they should come to the filthy privies on deck. I heard him say, “There are a hundred cases of dysentery in the ship, which will all turn to cholera, and I swear to God that I will not go amongst them; if they want medicines they must come to me.” This morning the first mate took it into his head to play the hose upon the passengers in occupation of the waterclosets, drenching them from head to foot; the fourth mate did the same a few mornings ago. 18th November. – Mr. Williams, a surgeon passenger, has been canvassing for a subscription among the passengers as a testimonial to the good services of the doctor, for the purpose of serving as an inducement to him to conduct himself well during the rest of voyage, but he appears now disposed to abandon his project, as his canvass has not been favourably received. This morning the ship doctor remarked to one of the passengers that this project seems likely to fail, as most similar projects usually do; that the steerage passengers had plenty of pence amongst them, which they would not know what to do with when they got to New York, and that if they would not look after him, he would not look after them. When it was bruited about the ship that a subscription was sought to be raised for the doctor, some passengers remarked, that they would not mind each contributing a shilling to buy a rope if they thought he would be hanged with it. This is a correct index of the general feeling towards him. A delicate old man, named James M’Corcoran, of berth No. 111, informed me that on Sunday last he had just come on deck, and, after washing, and wringing a pair of stockings, when the first mate gave him such a severe kick with his knee on his backside as he was stooping down, that he threw him down upon the deck, since which he has been obliged to go to the watercloset three or four times a day, passing blood every time. 179

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A passenger having a family with him told me that one of the first days after coming on board, the doctor applied to him a present, saying, that of course he was paid for his services to the passengers, but that to those persons who liked to give anything, of course he should pay more particular attention; the passenger then gave him 2s. 6d. He applied in the same manner to Mr. Homer, of cabin No. 8, who gave him 1s. The doctor then said, “And there was that glass of castor oil of the other day, for which you owe me 6d.” which Mr. H. then gave him. The doctor has no right to charge for any medicines, but has, I am told, received a great deal of money on board in the same way. The first mate beat one of the sailors severely this evening with a rope. 20th.- Pork was issued to the passengers as usual. 21st. November.- Provisions as usual were issued of flour, rice, oatmeal and biscuits. A violent gale commenced this evening. 22nd.- The gale became perfectly terrific; for a few minutes we all expected momentarily to go to the bottom, for the sea, which was foaming and rolling extremely high, burst upon the deck with a great crash, which made us all believe that some part of the vessel was stove in. The wave rushed down into the lower deck, and I certainly expected every moment to go down. Some of the passengers set to praying; the wind blew a perfect hurricane so that it was quite out of the question to attempt to proceed on our proper course. We therefore scudded before the wind, having up the main-topsail close reefed and the fore-topsail staysail only. The water which had rushed upon the deck remained there to the depth of several feet; it was got rid of by breaking holes in the bulwarks with a hatchet. The whole sea was a sheet of foam. Towards 9 P. M. the gale began to be less, though still violent, and moderate during the night. 25th November.- Another child, about 12 in all, died of dysentery from want of proper nourishing food, and was thrown into the sea sown up, along with a great stone, in a cloth. No funeral service has as yet been performed, the doctor informs me, over anyone who has died on board; the Catholics objecting, as he says, to the performance of any such service by a layman. As there was no regular service, the man appointed to attend to the passengers seized the opportunity, when the sailors pulling at a rope raised the usual song of – Haul in the bowling, the Black Star bowling, Haul in the bowling, the bowling haulto throw in the child overboard at the sound of the last word of the song, making use of it as a funeral dirge. We passed some ships’ spars this and the following day, belonging, perhaps, to vessels which may have suffered in the late gale. 26th-. Tea and sugar issued to those who lost any during the late storm. I and my two mess companions received our allowance together, receiving between 2 oz. of tea and ½ lb. of sugar. 28th-. The same quantities as usual issued of flour, oatmeal, biscuits and rice. 30th.- The doctor came down to the second cabin in company with the first mate, and to display his authority, drew himself up and swelled himself out 180

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excessively tremendous, roaring out, “Now then, clean and wash out your rooms every one of you, God damn and blast your souls to hell.” Tea and sugar as usual. 2nd December.- A beautiful day and a favourable breeze; took a pilot on board. Many of the passengers have, at different times during the voyage, expressed to me their intention of making a public complaint respecting their ill-treatment on board this ship, so to meet their wishes I wrote the few following lines, which were signed this evening by the persons whose names are attached. Ship Washington, off New York, 2 December 1850” “We testify, as a warning to, and for the sake of future emigrants, that the passengers generally, on board of this noble ship, the ‘Washington,’ commander A. Page, have been treated in a brutal manner by its officers, and that he have not received one-half of the quantity of provisions allowed by Act of Parliament and stipulated for us by our contract tickets. (signed)

“Vere Foster. H. Hopkins. James Ward. John Swinburne. Catherine Swinburne Benjamin Homer. Emmeline Homer. James Moloney. Catherine Moloney. William Harvey. James Macnamara. Michael M’Callan. Thomas Cowper. Oratura Cowper. Henry Disney. G. Hannity. Matilda Dickson. Marianne Dickson. John Robertson. George Elliott. David Crolly. George M’Nab. Anne Brenief. Eliza Stokes. Marianne Horsfall. Anne Mellet. Thomas Canavan. Sarah Thompson. George Elliott, Jun. Mary Conall. Anne M’Cabe. John Williams. Emma Williams. Samuel Thompson. Eliza M’Nab.

July Flynn. Peter Cullen. Anne Doyle. Bridget Doyle. L. Hopkins. Mrs Richard Sullivan. John Phelan. Eleanor Slattery. Mary Hoyne. Robert Cleary. James Kavanagh. Peter Walsh. Denis Byran. Thomas Curry. Michael Walsh. James Cormons. Mary Curry. Caroline Malone. Richard Kealy. Pat. Cahill. John Clancy. John Murray. Martin Maher. Sally Kiggins. Denis M’Evoy. John Hefferman, B. Eliza Lynard. Judith Farrell. James Byrne. Bridget Murphy. James Hutchin James Doran. James Tyrrell. Thomas Anderson. Pat. Bryan.

181

Michael Hurley. Mary Neary. Edward Rice. Honour Delany. Catherine Delany. Denis Martin. Michael Mangan. Owen Heputtlan. James Troymor. Francis Turlit. James M’Elroy. Francis Foley. John S. Kelly. John Marvill. John Doran. John ---------. James Wilson. James Kelsey. John Collins. M.Ma. Peter Mathias. Denis Mangan. J.H. Hennelly. M. Killar. E. Longworth. Connolly. John Treavy. James Coroney Thomas Callan. Michael Lynch. Peter Mathews. Daniel Myraw. John Magee. James Frances. James Hugh.

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Margaret M’Nab. John Hales. Michael Flynn. James Farrell. Fanny Flynn. Timothy Cullen. Catherine Flynn. Margaret Campbell.

Catherine Byran. Lawrence Byran. Mary Byrne. Thomas Fitzpatrick. Richard English. James Delaney. Martin Riley. Patrick Shea.

John Welsh. John Morrison. Patrick M’Cabe. Eugene Lynch. Thomas Hartney. Thomas Mangan. John Mason.

3rd December.- A few of the passengers were taken ashore to the Hospital at Staten Island, and we arrived alongside the quay at New York this afternoon. The 900 passengers dispersed as usual among the various fleecing houses, to be partially or entirely disabled for pursuing their travels into the interior in search of employment. 6th December. – I met this day with some friends of mine, who came out two months ago in the “Atlas,” Captain Osborne, with 415 passengers. They describe the treatment of the passengers on board that vessel by the officers, as considerably worse than what I have related respecting the “Washington.” The provisions, as on board the “Washington,” were not served out till about the end of the first week, and no pork was served at all, excepting to such persons as were willing to buy it. The “Atlas” is also one of the “Black Star line of packets.” I also met to-day with some friends who came out in the “St Louis,” which arrived here the day before yesterday. It was gratifying to hear them describe the treatment of the passengers on board that ship, on the part of the captain, the mates, the cooks, and the men specially appointed to attend to the passengers, as most kind and considerate, and the rations of provisions and water as ample. There were 350 passengers, and there was no death from dysentery on board this vessel, for the captain paid, and caused to be paid, every necessary attention towards the sick. The “St. Louis” sailed from Liverpool one day after the “Washington” and arrived at New York also one day after her. To attend to the 900 and odd passengers on board the “Washington,” only one man was appointed, and he was a brute. I have since met with passengers whom I sent out on the “Washington” on her previous voyage, and I learn from them, that no provisions were served out during the first fortnight of her voyage, and that no meat was served out during the whole of her voyage; I have also met with passengers whom I sent on the “Wm Rathbone,” whose treatment by the officers, and as regards provisions, was similar. The “W. R.” is one of the same line of packets. Here follows a comparison of the provisions due and the provisions received by each passenger during the voyage of 37 days.

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Due.

Received.

Deficiency.

lbs.   oz. lbs.   oz. lbs.    oz. Pork  5 2⁄7  0  2   0  3 2⁄7  0 Flour  5 2⁄7  0  5   0  0 2⁄7  0 Oatmeal 26 ½   0 11 ¼  0 15 ¼   0 Rice 10 ½   0  6 ¼  0   4 ¼   0 Biscuit 13 ¼  0  6      0  7 ¼   0 Tea      10 ½  0      4         6 ½ Sugar  2   10  1  13      13 Molasses   2   10   0     6 ⅔   2      3 ⅓ Vinegar, no specific quantity None.

Note 1 Vere Foster (1819–1900) was an educationalist and philanthropist who in the 1850s provided part of the passage fares for young, single girls to emigrate to North America. See Mary McNeill, Vere Foster, 1919–1900: An Irish Benefactor (Institute of Irish Studies, Belfast; 1991).

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32 ACCOUNT OF EMIGRANTS ON THE “BERLIN”, WHICH SAILED FROM WESTPORT AND ARRIVED IN ST. JOHN, NEW BRUNSWICK IN 1851. PAPERS RELATIVE TO EMIGRATION TO THE NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES, HC 1852–3, (1650), LXVIII, P. 42 Government Emigration Office, St. John, N. B., Sir, December 27, 1852. I ENCLOSE a ship return for the barque “Berlin,” from Westport, whose arrival I have already reported. The whole of the passengers by this vessel (except two females) were forwarded to Boston in the steamer “Admiral,” last Friday morning. Advantageous places, and the highest wages were offered to the females in this vessel, nearly all of whom were seeking situations. The anxiety to return them here induced the belief that they would obtain much higher wages in Boston, and all left except two of their number, who were very destitute of clothing. The passengers explained to me of having been four weeks on short allowance of provisions and water. I told them they could obtain immediate redress by applying to the stipendiary magistrate, and that they should have any assistance in any proceedings they wished to adopt; but they declined taking any steps against the master, provided they were sent at once to Boston, which was done. The crew charged the passengers with having broken open the ship’s storeroom, and wasted the provisions as well as the water; and this was not denied in my presence. The fresh provisions provided by the master after the arrival of vessel here, the male passengers (Connacht men) sold for spirits, and they were all more or less intoxicated up to the hour of their departure. I have, &c. The Hon. J. R. Partelow, (Signed)   M. H. PERLEY.

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Part V THE FAMINE EMIGRANTS’ EXPERIENCES ABROAD Prior to the great exodus of 1845–55, the Irish were leaving in increasing numbers and had mixed experiences with the host populations in those countries they settled in. While emigration to North America was on the increase, the general tendency was that the Irish were accepted and generally integrated, partly because most shared the same religion and came with capital. The Irish in Britain had a different experience in the decades leading up to the Famine: there were complaints they were destitute, engaged in crime and responsible for lowering wages. The introduction of the Poor Law in Ireland, modelled on the English system of 1834, was largely to control the numbers of destitute Irish coming to Britain. In many ways the reaction to the Famine Irish who landed in Britain had been established in the decades prior to 1845. The initial response to the large-scale Irish Famine emigrants in the United States and Britain was one of pity and a desire to provide assistance and charity. However, by 1847 these sentiments changed as the number of emigrants disembarking at ports such as Liverpool, Glasgow, Quebec, St John, New Brunswick and New York increased, bring with them disease and death. These cities were unable to cope with the deluge of destitute emigrants that descended upon them and despite valiant efforts from individuals were unable to cope not alone with the massive influx they had to deal with, but also with the problems they brought with them. While famine emigrants were to be found in nearly all urban centres in Britain, it was the industrial towns and cities in Lancashire, and in particular Liverpool, that bore the brunt of this invasion. This was at time when Lancashire was suffering from its own economic crisis brought about by a major downturn in the cotton industry and a severe banking collapse. It led to the host population blaming the Irish for a decline in job opportunities and an increase in the poor law rates. At the same time the British government was not prepared to provide additional resources to places like Liverpool to deal with the massive influx of poor, destitute Irish. The crisis led to the implementation of the Act of Settlement where if a person became destitute and had not lived in an area for five years

T he famine emigrants ’ experiences abroad

continuously, they could be returned to their place of origin. As a result, 63,000 Irish were returned from Britain to Ireland, mainly from Lancashire, ending up in workhouses where they knew nobody. There was a similar reaction in North America. While a quarantine station had been established at Grosse Isle in 1832 to deal with those emigrants who arrived with diseases, it was only in 1847 that the station and its medical personnel were overwhelmed with the numbers that had to be dealt with. A similar pattern occurred at Partridge Island quarantine station at St John, New Brunswick. While most officials felt pity for the emigrants, their wrath was directed at those who sent them out in such conditions and forced the colonial authorities to provide them with relief and charity. Some emigrants stated they were forced to leave, but Canada was not the final destination for most of these emigrants. Most wanted to travel to the United States where job opportunities were available. It was to the big cities such as New York, Boston and Philadelphia they came to. The Famine Irish had left their small farms back home for the industrial centres in Britain and the United States.

186

33 THE POSITION OF IRISH CATHOLIC EMIGRANTS IN LIVERPOOL BEFORE THE FAMINE AS INDICATED BY PAUL CULLEN. 1 PAUL CULLEN TO TOBIAS KIRBY, DATED 25 JUNE, 1842, DUBLIN DIOCESAN ARCHIVES (CULLEN PAPERS, 1842) 25 June 1842. Liverpool.

Mr Dear F. Kirby,2 I have just received your of the 13th June and Norris’s of the 11th written on the same sheet. I was very happy to learn that everything was going so well, and especially that the students were giving such general satisfaction. I trust with the blessing of God and the intercession of H. Mother they will continue to do so. You have not said anything about your own health but I hope you are cautious to avoid everything dangerous, and that you do not fatigue yourself too much. It would be a sad thing if you were now to get sick again, I hope you will be most particular in taking every care of yourself. As for me, I am wonderfully recovered and one would think that I had never been sick at all. The aid of Liverpool is not certainly the most balmy, not the most bright. However we had several sunny days since I came here and the thermometer was nearly as high on one day as it was last year in Rome. At present it is raining and blowing just as it would in the month of March. There is great distress and even destitution among the poor in this country – but you see not beggars through the streets as the policemen are charged to remove all such nuisances, lest the eyes of the rich should be offended by such sights. Things will go on very badly here if the harvest be bad again. The poor will be completely starved, whilst the rich who are wallowing in luxury, will not aid them, nor allow provisions to be brought from foreign countries to their relief. A Mr. Boranguet has written a work in which he proves the demonstration that the English are the most uncharitable people on the face of the earth. I fear that the talk of the immediate conversion of England is without the least prospect

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of becoming probable. However God can do as he likes. I think more lose the faith than those who are converted. Here in Liverpool there are 100,000 Catholics scarcely 10,000 hear mass on Sundays – and not even that number frequent the sacraments – that is not a good conversion. However the priests are not at all numerous enough. There were, as many people, I am told, in the chapels at Jubilee, as the priests could confess in six months. Thousands of them were not heard, and having lost the opportunity in getting on rapidly here – it will be a great blessing to the poor to have a place to look for religious instructions. The priests here have purchased a large house outside of the town, they intend opening a school – if well conducted it will be useful. Dr. Browne has not returned here yet, but is expected shortly. I wish they had here some brave agitator of a bishop to stir up the Catholics, otherwise little will ever be done. You will see from this letter that I have not gone over to Ireland as yet. I expect to be there for St. Peter and Paul. F[ather] Maher of Carlow is here.3 So I have plenty of company and all kinds of conversation. F[ather] Maher has abandoned politics altogether, and never says a word about them now. I am glad to hear the vineyard was going on well. I will see F[ather] Foley shortly, and make arrangements with him. Keep up the baking at home, if you can in order not to make bills with the Fornano. You can get someone to work for a month or two – the homemade bread helps to keep the students in good health. I will send you a clock for this. I will also try to send the turnip machine but probably you will not have in time for this season – after plenty of turnips sowed. How are the potatoes going on. I hope you are selling them well – write about everything, and especially about the Students. Mi dispiacque to hear that Wilson was uneasy. He could not do a more foolish thing than to interrupt his course of studies for the sake of a few scudi. If he could consider the matter calmly, he would see the folly of it – what advantage would 100 scudi be to such a mission in New York – his loss on the other hand would be more serious. I hope however that he will let himself be regulated by those who have no other object in view but to promote his real interests. We must make up our minds to be satisfied with students as long as they are really good, though they may be a little strange at times. What of Smith and Molony and Derry and Slevin. I suppose you might as well get Slevin ordained Deacon as he gone so far. It would be well also to keep them on good term by kindness. I shall write no more. All my friends here desire to be remember to you. Believe me to be, Yours Sincerely, Paul It would be well to send F[ather] Brennan’s picture as soon as possible. Get it well packed – if the Madonna that Gragliandi got to repair be worth sending let it be packed with the crucifix. I mean the Madona Cavallo, like the one you bought. You have said nothing of Dr. Meyler’s vestments. I hope they are on the way. Send them as soon as possible. The case I sent has not arrived yet.

188

I rish C atholic emigrants in L iverpool

I heard here of poor Dr. England’s death.4 What a loss to America. Mention who will be appointed in his place. Misse mispetti al sigr. Ab Palma, al Abbate Melia, Hay, Norris and all the Students. Dr. Walsh of Kingston is one to Rome, I believe. I did not meet him.

Notes 1 Paul Cullen, (1803–78) was Rector of the Irish College, Rome (1831–1849). From 1850 to 1852 he was Archbishop of Armagh and Archbishop of Dublin from 1852 to 1878. In 1866 he became a cardinal. 2 Rev Tobias Kirby (1804–1895), Vice-Rector of the Irish College, Rome between 1837 and 1849, and succeeded Paul Cullen as Rector when he was appointed Archbishop of Armagh. 3 Rev James Maher (1793–1874) PP of Carlow-Graigue was a cousin of Archbishop Paul Cullen. He was heavily involved with O’Connell’s Repeal movement. 4 Bishop John England, the first Roman Catholic bishops of Charleston, South Carolina who died in 1842.

189

34 ACCOUNT OF HOW FAMINE EMIGRANTS FROM THE WEST OF IRELAND ARRIVED IN LIVERPOOL IN SUCH A POOR STATE WITH LITTLE OR NO MONEY. 1 NATION, 14 NOVEMBER 1846, REPRINTED FROM THE LIVERPOOL TIMES EMIGRATION OF THE IRISH POOR During the last two months there has been a very great increase of pauper emigration into Lancashire, from Ireland. On particular days the roads leading from Liverpool to Manchester, and other parts of the county, are covered with Irish families consisting of men, women, and children, of all ages, from the grandsire to the infant in arms. We have counted as many as half a dozen families, in half an hour’s walk on the Liverpool and Manchester road; and last week one of the county police officers, who lives by the roadside, between Manchester and Eccles, informed us, as a piece of news, that there were as many as ten times as many Irish passing along the road towards Manchester as there usually are from all parts of Ireland. Some of them are from the most distant counties, such as Sligo and Roscommon. They all say that they cannot get a living of any sort in Ireland, and that they are coming over to England to see if they can find work for their children in the factories, and for themselves in any other way. Many of these poor people are most decent and respectable in their manners and language. From the greatly increasing numbers in which these poor creatures are now arriving, there is reason to fear that they will before long produce a considerable effect both on wages and poor rates in the country. The facilities for getting across to England and Scotland are now so great, that emigrants of this class are likely to come in increasing numbers, as the pressure of distress increases in Ireland. Those who have paid any attention to the nature of the extensive emigration which is going on from Ireland and which is already sufficiently great to prevent any apparent increase of population in a country in which it is increasing more rapidly than in any other country in Europe, must be aware that it consists of two kinds of emigrants – the emigrants of hope and the emigrants of despair. The class which emigrants from Ireland, not from sheer necessity, but from the 190

A ccount of famine emigrants in L iverpool

hope of improving its condition, consists principally of small farmers possessed of some capital, say from 10l. to 100l. each, who go to seeks means of improving their condition in Canada and the States, whilst the second class, the emigrants of despair, consists of the poorest of the poor, who cannot live at home, or obtain the means of emigrating to America, but who beg or borrow the trifle which is necessary to bring them over to this country. For the last twenty years this class has been increasing, with every improvement in the mode of communication between the two countries, until a populous Irish quarter has been formed in London, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, and most other large towns in England and Scotland. Had it not been for the strong affection which all Irishmen, even the poorest, feel for their native country, the emigration would have been much greater than it has been. An Irishman will endure what no one else would endure, rather than leave his native country; but still there is a limit to his powers of endurance, and the increasing crowds which are now pouring into this country prove that this has been passed.

Note 1 For many emigrants who did not have the passage fares to North America, they travelled to the nearest place outside of Ireland which was Britain. Liverpool was one of the major recipients of Irish famine emigrants.

191

35 FEAR IN 1847 OF THE LARGE NUMBERS OF IRISH EMIGRANTS FLOODING INTO BRITAIN AND IN PARTICULAR THE PORTS OF LIVERPOOL AND GLASGOW. MANCHESTER GUARDIAN, 20 JANUARY 1847 INFLUX OF IRISH PAUPERS INTO BRITAIN Let not the people of England and Scotland imagine that they can allow the poor of Ireland to be left to perish without bringing a just punishment on their own heads. Thousands of these unfortunate creatures have already found their way to Liverpool and Glasgow, driven by misery and famine, and tens of thousands will follow in the course of the next few months, unless relief is furnished to them in their own country. The Irish workhouses are full, crowded almost to suffocation; and as outdoor relief is rigorously refused in Ireland, except on the government works, multitudes of poor creatures, rather than lie down and die, have spent their last shilling in getting over to England, feeling convinced that they will not, be allowed to perish in the streets. In this expectation they have not been deceived, so far at least as Liverpool is concerned, for, though they have no legal claim on that parish, and though the ruinous consequences of relieving them are evident, the magistrates have thought it better to make every sacrifice, and to encounter every risk, rather than to take the consequences, either of refusing them relief in England, or of sending them back to Ireland,. In either case they would have perished by thousands, from absolute starvation. The effect of removing them may, however, be seen in the following statement of the number of persons relieved casually in a single week in Liverpool, made at the last meeting of the special vestry of that parish, held on Tuesday the 12th of January instant. The number of cases of casual poor relieved during the preceding six days was as follows:-

192

I rish emigrants flooding into B ritain

Monday. “ “

January 4, “ “

Tuesday. “ “

January 5, “ “

Wednesday,

January 6,

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, “ “

January 7, January 8, January 9, “ “

796 cases, or 489 males. “ 568 females. “ 2132 children Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3189 810 cases, or 521 males. “ 671 females. “ 2045 children. Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3237 1125 cases, or 4511 individuals. 1310 cases, or 4692 individuals. 1292 cases, or 5426 individuals. 1851 cases, or 1509 males “ 1656 females. “ 5188 children Total . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . 8262

Or a grand total of 29,317 persons in the six days. In the first four days of the succeeding week the number of casual poor relieved was as follows:   Families Persons Monday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  1919 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9726 Tuesday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1988 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10074 Wednesday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2155 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10095 Thursday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2236 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11513 These of course, are not all different persons, but the same persons relieved day by day, and who will have to be relieved for months, if not years, unless something is done to supply their wants at home. This is only a beginning, for, since the above return was drawn up, not less than 1848 men, women, and children have arrived in Liverpool, from Ireland, in a state of total destitution, who will have to be supported here or elsewhere, or to pick up a living by begging. This is only the first wave of a flood of Irish pauperism, which will soon spread over the whole land, unless immediate steps are taken to check its course. What is now happening in Liverpool cannot be concealed; and no sooner shall it be known in Ireland, that thousands of Irish paupers are fed daily in this town, than tens of thousands will flock into it. To blame these people would be absurd, for where is the man living who would not do the same to save himself and his wife and children from

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T he famine emigrants ’ experiences abroad

famine? No; if we are to cast blame, let it be on our legislators, who have allowed the owners of property in Ireland to escape with the payment of a miserable pittance of from one to two hundred thousand pounds a year, for purposes to which nearly five million sterling are applied nearly every year in England. If the people of England allow this state of things to continue, they deserve the punishment which they will assuredly meet with, namely, that of having to support the poor of Ireland as well as their own. To talk of enforcing the Vagrant Act against these wretched outcasts is idle. No one would have the heart to attempt it; and if anyone could be found to do so, there would be ten times more difficulty in getting them out of prisons, where they would be well fed, warmly clothed, and sheltered from the blasts and piercing cold of winter, than in sending them into them. In the last extremity of wretchedness, common penalties become ineffectual, because the humane spirit of the English law supplies all parties under-going punishment, with everything that is necessary to support health and strength, and thus relieve them from evils which are infinitely more dreadful than any term if imprisonment.

194

36 REPORT ON THE MEDICAL CONDITION OF EMIGRANTS IN FREDERICTON, NEW BRUNSWICK. 1 PAPERS RELATIVE TO EMIGRATION TO THE BRITISH PROVINCES IN NORTH AMERICA, PP 126–8 Enclosure 4, in No. 28. Secretary’s Office, Fredericton, Gentlemen,  20 August 1847. I have the honour to inform you, that his Excellency the Lieutenant-general has been pleased to appoint you a Board of Commissioners to inquire into the state of the sick emigrants at Fredericton, and to suggest measures, &c. The result of your inquiry you will please to transmit to this office for the information of the Government. I have, &c. Dr. Tolderoy, Dr. Odell, (Signed)   John C. Saunders Fredericton. ____________________________________ Secretary’s Office, Fredericton, Gentlemen, 20 August 1847. With reference to your appointment in inquire into the state of emigrants at Fredericton, I am directed by his Excellency the Lieutenant-governor, to call upon you for a report, embracing, inter alia.

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T he famine emigrants ’ experiences abroad

1st. The sources of the ship typhus fever now so prevalent among the emigrants from Ireland, its infectious nature and treatment. 2nd. The sufficiency or insufficiency of the arrangement for the accommodation and treatment of the sick, and what more may be required. 3rd. The means of prevention, and whether, amongst others, these do not include wholesome diet, due attention to cleanliness and ventilation on board the emigrant ships during the passage, and the necessity of requiring that the vessels should carry a surgeon. 4th. The means of preventing the spread of disorder in the community; and – 5th. The expenses necessary to be incurred. I have, &c. Drs Tolderoy and Odell,  (Signed)   John S. Saunders Fredericton. _______________________________________________ REPORT of Drs. Tolderoy and Odell, upon the condition of the Irish Emigrants in this city. Sir,  Fredericton, 14 September 1847. In answer to your letter of the 21 ultimo, appointing us a Commission to report upon the conditions of the emigrants in this city, and the sanatoria measures pursued or to be pursued in connexion therewith, we have the honour to report, that since the middle of June last a very considerable number of emigrants have arrived here. Their appearance upon the whole has been very bad, and their constitutions evidently lowered by, in all probability, years of privation. It is not therefore to be wondered, that in their own country fever of a highly pestilential character should have generally appeared; and that those who had the additional misery of a sea voyage in a crowded and ill-found ship, should, on their passage, or soon after their arrival become the subject of the same; if they had not been exposed to contagion before leaving home, we believe the circumstances of their voyage to have been sufficient to determine the outbreak of fever amongst them, probably also the change of climate may have induced its occurrence in those who landed in apparent health. We believe that a large number have passed through here on their way probably to the United States, and since the Establishment of the Emigrant Hospital in the beginning of July last, as many as 124 cases of fever and dysentery have been treated there. The disease which has chiefly prevailed amongst them is one of the worst forms of typhus; it has been generally accompanied with dysentery, but occasionally the latter disease has occurred per se. This form of typhus depends chiefly upon a depression of the vital or organic nervous power, and its character, like that of most epidemic diseases, often assumes a frightfully aggravated form. Under certain circumstances, it spontaneously appears, and that having appeared, it may spread with alarming rapidity by contagion alone. 196

E migrants in F redericton , N ew B runswick

The safety of any community into which this disease has been introduced, will mainly depend on isolating the affected individuals as much as possible, and at the same time widely inculcating habits of public cleanliness, together with the best means of avoiding those causes which are known as predisposing to it. As to the treatment, we may briefly state that the general absence of inflammatory symptoms in any of the organs, and the impoverished state of the constitution, has induced the profession in the British Province to rely mainly upon a stimulant treatment, with nourishing diet. Since the 10th of July last, when the Emigrant Hospital was opened in this city, 124 individuals have been admitted, of whom 22 were males, 57 females, and 45 children under 10 years of age. Twenty-one have died; namely three males, four females, and 14 children; though it is right to state that many of these sank within 24 hours of their admission. There are still 77 in the hospital, and 39 under medical treatment. At the first opening of the establishment, the accommodation was certainly insufficient, and even now, with the addition of the new building, cases of relapse have occurred from the want of means of properly separating the convalescents. The greatest difficulty has been the supply of nurses and other attendants, the fear of infection deterring all from almost willing communication with the hospital. At one time the only two nurses we had were laid up (one of them died from fever), and during their illness, the whole of the duties devolved upon one or two patients who were just recovering. At present there is only one attendant for the whole, and it is obvious that much more good might be done if the cleansing and washing departments were more efficient. The supply of wholesome food, wine and medicine has been ample and sufficient; but it would lead very much to the improvement of the poor sufferers, were there a better provision for the more frequent change of bedding and linen. There is a total want of water on the premises, and in every point of view it would be advisable to sink a proper well in the immediate vicinity. As to your question respecting the best means of preventing the spread of the disease in this community, it is obvious that, apart from the influence of contagion, the first principle is, to insist upon the strictest cleanliness in all those portions of the city which are liable to become crowded by the poor; and, if possible, the early removal of fever cases occurring under circumstances likely to aggravate the disorder or endanger the public health. It is difficult to account wholly for the spread of this fever in Fredericton, without supposing that there has been a want of a proper system at the ports, as many of the emigrants arrive here with the disease fully developed. The sanitary establishments at the out-ports, ought to be in a position to retain, under medical surveillance, those emigrants who have not quite rallied from the effects of the disease, or those in whom a process of acclimatization seems to be going on. Another question which our attention is directed, relates to the means to be employed on the passage to the colony. Whereupon, we may observe, 197

T he famine emigrants ’ experiences abroad

1st. That all persons offering themselves as passengers, out to be certified to be free from Any contagious disorder, and that they have not immediately left any infected Districts where fever of a bad character, small pox, &c., had been raging. 2nd. That greater strictness should be used by the officers acting under the Customs and Emigration Acts, to see that the provisions of the said Acts are complied with to the Letter; especially as concerns the quality and quantity of the food and water of the Ship, and the number of passengers permitted, in proportion to each ship’s tonnage. The appointment of a surgeon to ships carrying emigrants, would be conducive to most beneficial results; and we are of opinion, that in all cases ships sailing to these provinces should be compelled each to carry a medical officer where the number of souls on board exceed fifty. We have, &c., (Signed)   James B. Tolderoy, M. D. Hon. John S. Saunders,  &c.,  &c.,  &c. G. M. Odell, M. D.

Note 1 For the position on the Irish emigrants in St John see James S. Whalen, “‘Almost as bad as Ireland’: The experience of the Irish Famine immigrants in Canada, Saint John, 1847” in Robert O’Driscoll and Lorna Reynolds (eds), The Untold Story: The Irish in Canada, vol 1, (Celtic Arts of Canada, Toronto; 1988), pp 155–70.

198

37 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE IMPACT WHICH THE LARGE NUMBER OF IRISH PAUPER IMMIGRANTS HAD ON THE CITY OF LIVERPOOL. HANSARD PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES, XCII, (DATED, 7 MAY 1847), CC. 424–7 SIR B. Hall1 wished to ask a question of the Home Secretary on the subject of the vast influx of Irish paupers into Liverpool, which had been represented in a petition to that House from the select vestry of Liverpool, from which petition he would read the statement of facts:- “ That, by official returns, the number who have come into the port from Ireland since the 1st of January is 150,750; that of these only 48,186 have emigrated, leaving 102,564 who are either wandering about the Town of Liverpool and the neighbouring villages, or spreading, as mendicants, throughout the whole Kingdom. That, in addition to these numbers, officially returned, your petitioners believe that 27,218 have arrived since the 1st of December, to which must be added the multitudes who have come into Glasgow and the seaports of Wales. That 250 persons have recently been sent over to Liverpool by the mayor of Wexford, the cost of whose passage was defrayed by a public subscription raised by the inhabitants of Wexford, and 130 of whom immediately became chargeable, and demanded and received parochial relief; and that your petitioners are informed by authority, that such proceeding on the part of the mayor and inhabitants of Wexford was not contrary to any known law, and that the only redress your petitioners have is one which they would be reluctant to have recourse to – the removal of these poor persons under the provisions of the Act 8 and 9 Victoria, col.17, which Act, moreover, from its complicated and expensive process, is found ineffective, and the local magistrates have not deemed it expedient to attempt to put it in force. That the number of immigrants has increased, is increasing, and, so far from diminishing, will, as your petitioners confidently believe, and as they were warned would be the case, increase more rapidly as the weather improves, and the facilities of travelling become greater, more especially

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T he famine emigrants ’ experiences abroad

as it appears that the wealthy inhabitants of Ireland may subscribe to send destitute persons over to England for relief without committing a breach of any law. That this immigration is a great and heavy burden upon the ratepayers of the parish of Liverpool, but that the pecuniary burden is comparatively trifling, and the least of the evils of which they have to complain. That some of the immigrants come over in a state of actual infectious disease, and a large number of them so predisposed to it that they fall sick shortly after their arrival, and so spread and propagate disease and death among an otherwise healthy population. That the consequences are most disastrous and alarming to the people – dysentery, diarrhoea, smallpox, and typhus abound. Three of the relieving officers have already died of typhus fever, and two now lie dangerously ill; one of the medical officers is dead, and another is ill; one of the nurses of the Lying-in- Hospital is dead; and another ill. 654 paupers have been buried in the workhouse cemetery within the last month, the average number of interments during the last twelve years being only 1,367 annually, so that in one month the interments have nearly equalled half the number they usually amount to in one whole year. That your petitioners deplore the miseries of the Irish poor, and are ready and anxious, by every means in their power, to relieve those miseries, and are of opinion that the inhabitants of Liverpool have exhibited a noble and generous sympathy in behalf of their suffering fellow-subjects. But while they are most anxious to extend justice and charity to Ireland, they conceive that they are entitled to demand justice and charity for the parishioners of Liverpool, whom they represent; and for themselves, and with every the most sincere wish that the distressed pauper Irish should be relieved, humbly and earnestly petition that they may be relieved at home, and prevented from spreading sickness and death and the moral contagion of degrading mendicancy amongst the towns and villages of England.” He wished to ask whether it were the intention of the Government to take any steps to relieve the pressure on the rates at the various ports in England and Wales, and whether they intended to introduce a law of settlement for Ireland? Sir G. GREY2 said, that statements precisely similar in substance to those contained in the petition of the hon. Baronet had referred to had been from time to time addressed to him by the municipal or parochial authorities at Liverpool, and by deputations who had represented the number of immigrants from Ireland, and the consequent progress of disease. The last deputation he saw two days ago, and they stated to him that, since the 15th of January, when an accurate account was first kept, the number of Irish paupers that had arrived in Liverpool was no less than 180,000; of these 40,000 or 50,000 had emigrated; a large number had passed to other parts of the country, but that still from 60,000 to 80,000 remained, in addition to the ordinary population of Liverpool. A statement was also made, that cases had occurred of steamboats having brought paupers over from Ireland in a state of fever, whom they landed at Liverpool. In consequence of these statements, instructions had been addressed to the custom-house authorities at Liverpool, directing that two ships lying in the Mersey, which were employed during quarantine (though fortunately they were very seldom required) as Lazarettoes,3 200

P arliamentary debate in the H ouse of C ommons

be used as hospital-ships, so as to prevent the spread of infection. A custom-house officer would board every steamer or vessel with deck passengers, and if he found any of them suffering from disease, he would hoist the yellow flag. She would then be inspected by a medical officer, and those passengers having fever would be taken to the hospital-ship, and kept apart, instead of being landed at Liverpool. Notice had also been given to the owners of those vessels which brought over fever passengers, that if the practice were persisted in, it would be necessary to place the vessel under quarantine for a limited period. He had received a letter from the Mayor of Liverpool, acknowledging the receipt of these directions, and stating that he anticipated the most beneficial results from them. The greatest satisfaction he had been given also to the inhabitants of Liverpool by the adoption of these precautions, which he believed to be indispensably necessary. With regard to other places, the same representations had not been made to him as from Liverpool. In reply to the application for pecuniary relief, he was not able to hold out any hope that the Government would be able to bear any portion of the burden thus imposed upon the ratepayers of Liverpool. An offer had been made, however, of tents, if places could be found outside the town where they could be fixed, and in which the immigrants would have a better chance of escaping disease. A building at Cardiff had also been applied as an hospital for the sick. Three weeks ago he had received a notice from Liverpool, that from 250 to 300 Irish passengers who were rescued from an emigrant ship and taken to Wexford were forwarded to Liverpool by a public subscription on the part of the inhabitants of Wexford, the Mayor of Wexford. He replied that the proceeding was not against any law that he knew of; and that the only remedy was the law to facilitate the removal of such destitute persons back to Ireland. It was not the intention of the Government to propose any alteration in the law of settlement in Ireland. SIR H.W. BARRON4 wished to know whether the right hon. Baronet intended to propose any law providing that the 6,000,000 pounds annually spent in this country by Irish noblemen, Members of Parliament, and other persons connected with Ireland, should be spent in that country?

Notes 1 Sir Benjamin Hall, MP for Monmouth. 2 Sir George Grey (1799–82) was Home Secretary in the Russell administration. 3 Lazorettoes are quarantine station for maritime travellers. 4 Sir Henry W. Barron (1795–1872) was MP for Co. Kilkenny

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38 INFLUX OF VAST NUMBERS OF IRISH POOR FLEEING FAMINE PUT PRESSURE ON THE POOR LAW SYSTEM IN MANY TOWNS AND CITIES IN ENGLAND AND WALES AS SEEN BY THE SITUATION IN MANCHESTER IN DECEMBER 1847. MANCHESTER  GUARDIAN, 11 DECEMBER 1847 THE POOR-LAW ADMINISTRATION IN THE MANCHESTER UNION It usually affords a fair presumption for the excellence of any administrative system, that it proves equal to extraordinary exigencies. Now, we know no past period of emergency at all approaching in severity and extent, and even in duration, of pressure, to that through which the authorities for administering relief to the poor within the large and populous union of Manchester have been, and still are, passing. With many thousands of our own workpeople idle, and many thousands more having only partial employment, with a large and continuous influx of Irish paupers, importing with their usual rags, and wretchedness, and improvidence, the additional concomitant of a wide-spreading infectious fever, which even now is more malignant and fatal than for some time past; and with, recently, a generally unhealthy condition of the atmosphere, more or less affecting and afflicting all classes of the community; these circumstances, taken in connection with the increased cost of food during a part of the year, and the depressed state of trade during the whole of it, surely present such a combination of evils, as guardians of the poor in this or any other union have rarely been called upon to cope with at one and the same time. The administration which not only does not break down, but readily expands its powers and its means as the evils to be grappled with increase and multiply, is surely one deserving of all praise, and of general imitation. Let us see, then, what the Manchester board of guardians has had to contend with, and it has discharged its unusually onerous and responsible duties.

202

I nflux of vast numbers of I rish poor

Taking the relief cases of the week ending the 4th instant, the following will exhibit the great increase in the number of paupers, and in the amount and cost of relief (omitting shillings and pence), compared with the corresponding week if last year:-

Casual Manchester Irish

Week ending December 4, 1847 No. Cases Cost 2363 340 3108 441 2563 404

Increase over Corresponding week, 1846 Cases. Cost 3158 1922

514 327

Total

8034

5080

841

1185

In other words, comparing the first week of December of 1846 and 1847, the total number of cases relieved in the week had increased from 2,954 to 8,034; and the cost of relief from £344 to £1,185. This does not exhibit the total number of individuals relieved during the week, which in the week ending Saturday last exceeded nineteenth thousand seven hundred. Then, as the ravages of disease, whether we turn to the medical’s officers’ reports, from the seven medical districts of the union, or to that of the principal surgeon at the Millgate fever hospital, we shall find a heavy burden of unusual responsibility and of duties quite beyond the routine functions of boards of guardians. One medical officer reports last week, “ a larger number of medical orders than in any week since the introduction of the New Poor Law;” and Mr. D. Noble’s report of the Millgate hospital for the same week shows that of 325 patients admitted, 75 were discharged cured, 10 died, 213 remained in the sick wards, and 27 were convalescent. Since the opening of this hospital, 3,662 patients have been admitted; of whom 2,946 have been discharged cured, and 240 remain now in the hospital. We will content ourselves with merely naming, as a sad and fearful effect of the famine fever, the sacrifice of the lives of medical men, and other useful officers of the union, including several relieving officers, the master of the hospital, and a number of nurses of both sexes. And how have these large, unforeseen, and pressing demands upon the poor’s fund been met by the guardians? With the most careful and anxious deliberation, followed by the most prompt and efficient action. One spacious building after another was obtained, fitted up, and opened, wither as a workhouse or a fever hospital, till at one time there were, besides the union workhouse in Strangeways (which, in all ordinary times, suffices both for workhouse and hospital), a fever hospital in Millgate, and another in Minshull-street; and additional workhouses in Tib-street and Canal-street. The staffs of relieving officers were increased; the relief boards divided itself into two boards, sitting in separate locations, for the greater dispatch of the large extent of business then pressing on them; and, in short, the guardians manifested an amount of solicitude and care for the due

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discharge of their almost overwhelming duties, and a degree of energy and activity in meeting every new emergency as it arose, which must commend them to the warmest thanks and the most general commendation and gratitude of the whole community. One remarkable feature in the zealous and disinterested labours of the guardians is, that this enormous amount of work has been accomplished without that large increase of expenditure, for its staff and establishment, which might be supposed wholly unavoidable under the circumstances. Mr. Harrod, the intelligent and active clerk of the board (which will be found in another column), we find that there were practically only the same number of relieving officers (five) in 1846 as there were in 1823; and that, although the population of the township of Manchester had increased in that interval from 108,000 to nearly 200,000, and the average of weekly cases relieved, from 1,000 to 1,800; the charges of the establishment, which in the year 1823 (under the old poor law) were £1,600, had only increased to £1,900 in the year 1846. The salaries of the various officers in the establishment, from the directing overseer, or clerk to the guardians, to the porters at the gates, amounted in 1823 to (with a population of 108,000), to £1,566; in 1833 (population 142,000), to £2,123; and in 1846 (population 163,000), to £2,006; being an actual reduction on the amount paid thirteen years previously was increased by 21,000, and by consequence the number of Irish relieved must have been much fewer than during last year. Another no less remarkable circumstance, and one that to us seems of great importance, and worthy of general attention, is, that all this fearful amount of pauperism and destitution, of sickness and infection, has been sheltered, clothed, and fed, nursed and ministered unto, and that during a season of great scarcity, and consequent high prices of provisions, – by the legally constituted functionaries, and that without any departure from the strict line and course of their duty. There has been no diversion of the poor rate from its legitimate channels; no appeal to the public to aid the guardians by auxiliary relief boards, by individual subscriptions, soup kitchens, or any other mode of eleemosynary assistance. All that the guardians have asked, was for cast-off clothing, to get rid of the pestiferous rags of the fever-stricken paupers which were wisely burned to prevent further spread of infection. The guardians were not without solicitations to depart from their own proper duties, and to organise soup kitchens and countenance the distribution of food or food by self-constituted relief boards of benevolent individuals. Deputation exhorted them to accept of administrative aid from without; and more than intimated that the board, as constituted, was not adequate to the relief of the poor in so sudden and pressing an emergency; but the guardians steadily pursued the course prescribed by the law; enlarging their accommodation; increasing their staff of officers  – visiting, relieving, and medical; and expanding the amount of relief, as the demands upon them increased in magnitude; and, in short, meeting every contingency as it arose, not by unauthorised expedients, requiring

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subsequent indemnity; but by the natural elasticity of the system of relief established by the new poor law, administered by men of judgement, foresight, and sagacity, desirous in no case to withhold relief from the really necessitous, but having, as trustees of the public purse, too strong a regard for their duty, to lavish the funds entrusted to their care, on the idle, the profligate, and the worthless. But the guardians are not, by any means, disposed to rest satisfied with what they have done. The report of their meeting, on Thursday, in our tenth page, gives evidence of extensive improvements just adopted in the organisation, arrangement, and working of the relief boards and staffs; to some of which we have already adverted. We shall not further dwell upon them now, but in conclusion express, with Mr. Harrop, the confident hope that the additional expenditure which these improvements may involve, “will be amply repaid by the more perfect discharge of the duties in the out-door relief departments of this important union.”

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39 MANNER IN WHICH EMIGRANTS IN LIVERPOOL WERE SWINDLED. GALWAY VINDICATOR, 5 APRIL, 1848 IMPORTANT TO EMIGRANTS (From the Daily News) THE PLUNDER OF POOR EMIGRANTS IN LIVERPOOL – The imposition and extortion practiced upon poor persons, particularly the Irish, who seek Liverpool as a port of embarkation to America, is thus exposed in a letter published in the Liverpool Courier of Wednesday: In order to give you (says the writer), a more correct idea of its operation, I shall suppose a case in point. Patrick Murphy, wife, and family, residing at present in the town of Longford, intend to emigrate; he writes, as he supposes, to a friend of his, residing at Liverpool, to know the rate of passage and the time of sailing of the packets for New York, or some other port in America, and all other requisite information. In a few days he gets an answer from his false friend, giving him every information, and who will not forget to tell him to write and state on what day he expects to be at Liverpool, and by what boat, and he may meet him on the pier-head, and conduct him and family to his house, probably in Dublin, Regent, Stewart, or Carlton street. Nothing particular occurs until his arrival in Dublin, where he meets with a gang of sharpeners, or what is technically termed, “man-catchers,” who will endeavour all in their power to persuade him and family to take their passage from Dublin; but having in his possession the letter from the “man-catcher” in Liverpool, who had given him every caution upon this point, he refuses to comply with the Dublin advisers, and proceeds to Liverpool in one of the steamers; and, according to appointment, meets with his friend on the quay immediately on his arrival, to whom he pays a well merited compliment for his punctuality and kindness in meeting him, by a hearty shake of the hand. The “man-catcher” then promises him all the comfort of a home. He then gets them some refreshment, and tells them to hurry over it, in order to proceed at once to secure the passage, as the vessel is nearly full, and the rates likely to advance considerably. The “man-catcher” is invariably in the pay of some particular office or company, as they are generally termed, and is in receipt of from 10s. to 20s. per week for the support he gives to the company in his capacity of “man-catcher;” and to

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this office he takes the innocent dupes, with, we’ll say, 60l. in their pockets, and introduces them to one of the clerks as “old neighbours of his own,” from the town of Longford, with whom he went to school, &c. &c., and hopes they may be favoured with a good ship, and at a cheap rate, on his account, and hopes to compensate the company by bringing others who may be better able to pay higher rates. The bargain is then made, well say for 30l. to land them at New York, free of all other charge, and the ship to sail next day. But little the poor emigrants knows that his false friend gets 7½ per cent. on the transaction, or 1s. 6d. for every 1l. – say 2l. 5s., which we call item first. He then urges them to come along with him to purchase sea stores, and have all ready to go on board the following day. Again everything is pre-arranged for the benefit of the “mancatcher.” Supposing the family is eight adults, the cost of the provision and bedding would come to say 10l. out of which he pockets 12½ percent, or 2s. 6d. in the 1l. – say 1l. 5s.; this is item second. Instead of sailing the following day the ship is delayed eight days, as a cost of 6d. a night for lodgings alone, or 4s. per day, or 1l. 12s. for eight days. The “man-catcher” then preaches to him the great inconvenience of landing on the shores of America with nothing but English money, and advised him to have it exchanged forthwith. The emigrant at once complies, and at once proceeds with him to an exchange office “to be dollared,” as it is technically termed. Here the poor emigrant is more in the mist than ever, and knows nothing of the relative value of money. Instead of receiving a premium of about 10 per cent. on the £13 12s., being the current premium of exchange in favour of this country –  Dol.       Cents. Say in America money 66    65 The unfortunate emigrant only gets 60   50 Profit divided between the exchange broker And the man-catcher   6     5 Or about 13s. 6d. each. Thus the poor emigrants proceeds on their voyage with their 13l. 12s., of sixty dollars and fifty cents, reduced, by the operation of exchange, to about 12l. sterling, and that often is uncurrent money in the States, for which a further discount would be deducted at New York, of about 1½ per cent., often. Let us see what the sharper has made by these transactions, viz.: One week’s wages from the office £1   0 0 7½ per cent. on 30l., passage money 2  5 0 12½ per cent. on 10l. provisions 1  5 0 5 per cent. on exchange of 13l. 12s. 0 13 6 Lodgings for eight nights, at 6d. each 1 12 0 ________ £6 15 6

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This amount ought to have been in the pockets of the poor emigrants: in all 20l. 7s. 6d., or equal to 11¼ per cent. discount on 60l. Having been victimised myself, and having had occasion to return to this country, I have had numerous opportunities of witnessing their abominable proceedings I would suggest that benevolent societies be at once established in all seaport towns, to counsel and give advice gratis to emigrants, to enable them to lay out their money economically.

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40 LETTER FROM THE HENIGAN FAMILY WHO LEFT CO. SLIGO IN 1847 AND SETTLED IN ST JOHN’S, NEW BRUNSWICK BEFORE MOVING TO AND SETTLING IN MAINE. 1 APPENDIX TO MINUTES OF EVIDENCE BEFORE THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON COLONIZATION FROM IRELAND, HC 1847–8 (737-II), XL, PP 122–32 St John N. B. Feb. 15 1848 Dear Father and Mother. I take the present opportunity of letting you know that I am in good health hoping this will find you and all friends in the same. I wrote you shortly after I came here but received no answer which makes me very uneasy until I hear from you and how you are and all friends. Dear Father we had a pretty favourable passage{.} we Cast Anchor at Partridge Island after 5 Weeks passage there were 4 Deaths on the passage but the Second day after we arrived here and after the Doctor came on Board the Sickness commenced we were then put on the Island for 3 Weeks at the end of which time my dear Little Biddy died{.} thank God I got safe off and continues to enjoy good health since. Dear Father Pen could not write the distress of the Irish Passengers which arrived here thro Sickness death and distress of every Kind[.] the Irish I know have suffered much and is still suffering but the Situation of them here even the Survivors at that awful time was lamentable in the extreme[.] there are thousands of them buried on the Island and those who could not go to the States are in the Poorhouse or begging through the Streets of St John, let me know how James Burns and Sister are and let me know how John Burns is, and Biddy Kelly and family. I am living 10 miles from St John Church Land[.] when you write direct the Care of the Revd

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Edmund Quinn C. C. forwarded to Neal Quinn Church Land St. John N. B. If you would wish to come here I would like you was here as I think times will mend here after some time and dear Father I will soon send you some help[.] let me know if Catherine Bradley Mary M’Gowan and Mary Kinloghan wrote home as I do not know where they went or to where they are. Milk and Butter is very dear here 4d. per quart and 15d, per lb. I went to the country with my uncle but he went off to the States since [.] let uncle Paddy know that Thom. Went to Boston with his uncle[.] Thom. Got a place for the boys in Boston[.] Biddy’s two Sons do not neglect but write as soon as you can as I will be uneasy until I hear from you. NO more at Present But remains your affectionate Daughter till Death, CATHERINE HENNEGAN Hallowell State of Maine Dear Son  March 17th 1848 We Take this Favourable opportunity of writing these few lines hoping to Find ye in as good a State of health as the writing of this letter leaves us in at present[.] thanks be to God for his mercies to us. Dear Son we wish to Let you know how we are getting on in this Country since we left miserable St John[.] It is almost as bad as Ireland[.] we are going on very well since we Came to the State of Maine[.] Peter and Thomas is Getting on well[.] Peter sent us an much money to us as supported in Saint Johns and paid our passage on the Coach five Hundred and had a good house for us and the rent of it paid until Summer[.] he had two barrels of flour one barrel of beef and fire wood and has three pounds Sterling to you and that is only a Token of our love to you[.] we will send of the first of the month and it is only now itself we are beginning to do our likeing and after the frost and snow is over we will be Able to Send you Some thing that will be worth naming[.] it would be our wish that you would Come out here but you may do as you please and do not forget John and we will not forget after a little[.] my Father and Mother Sends their Love and best Respects to you and to Nelly for her Kindness to their children and their best Respects to her only Brother and family[.] Molly Healy and family is well in saints Johns[.] Molly Scanlon is well[.] Let John Cristol know that at the time we went we were in Boston his Daughter hired with a farmer[.] we can give no further Account of her[.] Let John Hennigans daughter is hired out in the Country from Saint John[.] Let Paday Hennigan know that his Son Tomy is here and Left John Hark in Boston with Michl Mc Loughlin that lived Between Carney and Oxfield in Ireland and has Patt out here in a farmers house and the Legacy was let run to Long[.] we could not recover it after it was let run 21 years[.] we are is happy as the day is Long[.] we have as much of our own Country pole here[.] Let Edward Hennigan of Patch know that if he was here it would be better for him[.] there is Some trouble betwixt Irish folks here[.] you need not send now Answer for this Leter[.] But be on the Look out for the

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next Letter[.] we will send it on the first of the next month and there will be some money in it. No more at present, but here remains your Affectionate Parents Owen and Honr Henigan Till Death.

Note 1 Members of the Henigan family had been tenants on the Gore Booth estate in North Sligo and the landlord had paid their passage to St John. See Moran, Sir Robert Gore Booth and his Landed Estate, pp. 33–48.

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41 SOME EMIGRANTS’ EXPERIENCE WAS POSITIVE AND WERE PREPARED TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE SUPPORT THEY HAD BEEN GIVEN AS WITH TENANTS FROM LORD MONTEAGLE ESTATE. NLI, MONTEAGLE PAPERS (MS13,400 (2), LETTER FROM P. DANAGHER, MELBOURNE TO LORD MONTEAGLE, DATED 20 MAR. 1848) LETTER FROM AN IRISH EMIGRANT TO LORD MONTEAGLE1 Melbourne, Port Philip, 20th of March, 1848.

My Lord, I as in duty bound, feel called upon to inform your Lordship how the Emigrants who obtained a passage through your intercession are situated. All the Girls are employed in the Town of Melbourne, at the rate of Twenty-five to Twenty-six pounds per annum, they are all in respectable places. Thos. Sheehan is employed in the Town adjoining, attending bricklayers at Four Shillings and Six pence per day – John Enraght on Public Work, at the same rate. The general hire for Labourers of every description my lord, is from Twenty-eight to Thirty-two Pounds per annum, with board and lodgings. There is nothing in such demand in the Colony as Male and Female servants: I was employed myself, my lord, on board the Lady Peel, by the Colonial Doctor, filling up forms of agreement between Masters and Servants, so that I had an opportunity of knowing all the particulars concerning wages, terms of employment, occupations, etc. etc.. I would mention all, but I consider your lordship will feel satisfied when you know they are all in good situations, and with respectable masters and mistresses. 212

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I have seen a good deal of the Emigrants whom I knew at home, that obtained a passage through your lordship’s intercession about eleven years ago, some of them live in the Town of Melbourne, and are living comfortably. Ellen Shanahan (Loughill), is married to one Rockford, in this Town, and keeps a Hotel. Maurice Connors of Foynes, is living in this town, and has so much money spared as exempts him from personal labour. I have heard from some more of them who live in this Country, and as far as I can learn my lord, they are living independently. Ellen Sheahan is just going up to her brother accompanied by her first cousin, Daniel Mulcaire of Clounlikard, himself and his brother has lived some time in this Town, and kept a Grocer’s shop. They have acted the part of a brother to me, my lord, they gave me the best of entertainment, and procured a situation for me with one, Mr. Ham, a Surveyor. I am going up the Country to the Avoca River to survey a Station; my wages are Twenty-one pounds for six months. Mr. Hurley has sent for his nephew and his aunt, they are on their way up this time. I expect, my lord, to be able to remit some money to your lordship, in recompense for the expenses incurred on my and my sister’s account by your lordship, as well as some relief to my poor mother, brothers and sisters. I hope, my lord, this humble but imperfect epistle will find your Lordship, Lord Monteagle, Mr. Spring Rice, and all his family in good health. Any information I can give your lordship respecting the interior of this Country, will not be lost sight of on my part. Mr Thos. Ham, of Great Collins Street, Melbourne, would forward any commands to me, my lord, if your lordship should want any more information concerning any of the late or former Emigrants. Everything in this Colony, my lord, is from three to four times as dear here as it is in England or Ireland, except Bread, Beef, Mutton, etc., the best of which is obtained at Three half-pence to Two-pence per lb. I am, My Lord, with profound veneration, Your Lordship’s most devoted Servant, P. DANAGHER, P.S. My Sisters, also my lord, beg leave to return their most sincere thanks to your Lordship and Lady Monteagle. John Flanagan and Wife are employed by a man names Murphy, a Brewer, about twelve miles out in the Country, wages Fifty pounds per annum.

Note 1 Lord Monteagle had an estate at Shannagolden, Co. Limerick and in the 1830s helped a number of his tenants to emigrate to Australia. See Christopher O’Mahony and Valerie Thompson, Poverty to Promise: The Monteagle Emigrants, 1838–58 (Crossing Press, Australia, 1994).

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42 WARNING FROM THE IRISH EMIGRANT SOCIETY OF NEW YORK TO THOSE WHO WERE CONSIDERING COMING TO NEW YORK. 1 ARMAGH GUARDIAN, 1 MAY 1848 We desire, preliminary, to caution you against entertaining any fantastic idea, such as that magnificence, ease, and wealth, are universally enjoyed in this country. We are apprehensive that you may be deluded by tales of prosperity delineated as princely, and declared certain of attainment; originated on the one hand by men who criminally do so with a selfish purpose, and upon the other, by those who thoughtlessly do so to gratify their own vanity. Thus they may be indirectly suggested through unsuspected agencies, by the influence of parties, who, if they secure your passage money, are utterly indifferent, should you be landed here diseased and poverty-stricken, with no prospect save a lingering sickness, a loathsome death, and a pauper’s grave. Another, a guiltless, and by you unsuspected source of deception is, perhaps, the letters and remittances you receive from your friends who have been heretofore migrated; some may write that they have become “government officers” who, in truth, are employed as mere day labourers, in the meanest and most menial capacities which, by a stretch of perversion, can be so described. Others may send you glowing accounts of the elevation of their prospects, who in fact are but “hewers of wood and drawers of water”, earning no more than the necessaries of life. Others again may, and to the credit of your country people it is that a great proportion of them do, send their friends in Ireland money, which is not over plus funds, but is the proceeds of hard labour long continued, which have been accumulated only by exercising the most parsimonious economy. Dismiss entirely from your regard all stories which might be of interested origin, and take with many grains of allowance the representations of your friends. It is natural for persons who have adventured to leave home and to seek their fortunes in a foreign, and far distant country, to give highly coloured accounts of a success, which in reality has been but the obtaining of a laborious employment, and it is equally natural for those who send you money, to wish rather that you

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suppose it a reckless gift from the lavishness of wealth, than a charitable donation from the sympathy of poverty. Against all these various sources of deception, and as well against any uneasy, aimless, and indefinable desire to come hither which may possess your own minds, we give you full warning. Among us are all degrees and stations, the rich and the poor, the proud and the humble, in the same manner, though, perhaps, not to the same extent, nor in the same degree, as they exist in European society. The advantages of emigration apply more particularly than to any other to the mechanical, agricultural and laboring classes, and to persons male and female, proposing to engage in domestic employment. If after having well and sufficiently considered the warning we have tendered, which you are merely to take as suggestions to reflection, you feel that you can reasonably and sensibly conclude to come to our country, it must be expecting not luxury but labour, with your minds determinedly fixed to encompass difficulties, to endure hardships, and to encounter difficulties, it must be with a spirit prepared to conquer impatience, and to avoid discouragement, at even what may appear insuperable obstacles. Supposing you to have properly or otherwise concluded to come here, it is one of the objects of our organisation to offer you the best advice we can upon the course you should pursue. We first mention a danger which besets you near home. You may be disposed to think, and will, by many of those about you, near the time of starting, be advised that one of the important preparations for your journey is the purchase of American money. If you have money in British gold do not change it at all, and if at all, not for bank bills nor drafts upon America. If you do, you will to almost a certainty have palmed off upon you in exchange some worthless trash which you will upon this side of the Atlantic discover to be mere rubbish. British gold can be used here with as much convenience as our own currency. Depend upon this, notwithstanding, your own preconceived notions,- the apprehensions of your friends- and the representations of merely interested parties. Many instances have come to our knowledge in which persons have attempted to obtain American money in Liverpool and elsewhere, and almost invariably they have been defrauded. Many come with the expectation of meeting here the countenance of what they believed to be influential and powerful friends. Such a hope is futile, unless the friend depended upon has been a long resident here, and during his residence has been of sober and correct deportment, and then unless he holds out to you offers of his assistance. If upon your leaving home, you have a friend here whose qualities come up to that standard, and calculate upon his aid, you must be prepared before your departure with the surest and most minute directions you are able to obtain for finding him upon your arrival. Every individual emigrating will find that he has but his own exertions upon which to depend.

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Upon the coming of the ship into the harbour of New York, or upon her arrival at the wharf, she will be boarded by an agent of this Society, by whose advice and directions it will be highly advantageous for you to be guided. She will also be boarded by a large number of persons known as “runners”(many of whom are Irishmen, speaking the Irish language) who make it a business in this manner to apply to emigrants to take board and lodging at the different houses for which they may be employed. Of these persons beware! They will agree to furnish you with good board at a trifling price, and after having got you, and your baggage at their houses, will give you a meagre entertainment, and upon your leaving, will demand two, three or four times what they agreed and what is reasonable, and will refuse to permit your baggage and furniture to leave their premises until their extortionate charge be paid, and will perhaps maltreat you besides. It is much easier for you, by following our directions to avoid such difficulty, than for us to relieve you after you have become involved. These runners will tell you to have a care how you deal with our Society – that “we wish to rob you”, and other gross and monstrous slanders, the falseness of which you will perceive, when we inform you that no charge is made, nor money received by the Society or any of its agents – that all the services rendered are rendered gratuitously. Our agent who boards your vessel will make all arrangements for you, if you will but listen to him, and be governed by his directions. This Society keeps an office at No. 22 Spruce-street in the city of New York, where, at all times, every advice and information as to boarding houses and their proper rates of charges, as to travelling routes and their expenses, etc., will be readily and gratuitously furnished to such of you as apply. With another – a general remark – we shall close. You may have full dependence upon your own ingenuity and knowledge of the world, but they are entirely insufficient to enable you to avoid the ever varying devices of men, who make knavery their study, and plunder their livelihood. In perhaps the very cases in which a man of prudence would be disposed, if uninformed, to venture upon his own judgement, the greatest danger exists. You will therefore find much advantage in consulting with us, and by doing nothing which involves the outlay of money, or by incurring of responsibility without our advice and approval. We hope that by presenting a dark prospect, we may not dishearten any whose only hope consists in coming to this country. It is a land of plenty, but the seed must be sown, and the crop must be gathered with equal labour here as in other parts of the earth. – It is a land where honesty, sobriety, and industry are sure of their reward – but where poverty is subject to the same trials and difficulties as elsewhere. Nor must you conclude from the fact that there are men here who make it a business, systematically to defraud emigrants upon their arrival, that this is a people not worthy of respect. You must reflect that by natural increase and by a great influx of population, this has become a large community, – that it is inherent to every large, community, to have lazy and worthless men among its members, 216

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who prefer cheating to working, and that emigrants, by their ignorance, and often by an overweening confidence in their own shrewdness, afford a practicable and profitable field for the practice of piratical industry. You must remember that when you come here it is to a people who, though they knew you not heretofore, extend to you the hand of friendship, and invite you to partake of the rights and privileges of manhood.

Note 1 The Irish Emigrant Society of New York was founded in 1841 to aid emigrants that arrived in the city.

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43 NEWSPAPER ACCOUNT OF A  POST MORTEM CARRIED OUT IN YORK IN JULY 1848 OF THE MCANDREW FAMILY FROM CO. SLIGO AND WHO HAD DIED IN THE CITY FROM FAMINE FEVER. YORK HERALD, 10 JULY 1848 1 The wife of the deceased, who was herself apparently much indisposed, stated that some weeks ago, she, her husband and four children came to this country from county Sligo in Ireland, having in that time in their possession the sum of £2, the proceeds of their little property previous to their leaving their native country. Having reached Bradford they remained there until after she was confined and the whole of their money expended. The infant and three of the children died in the town of hunger and measles combined. Deceased, his wife and the remaining child afterwards proceeded to Leeds and from thence to York, where they slept in the Vagrant Office one night, the next night in a barn. They applied for admittance into several of the lodging houses but the inmates, thinking they had fever, refused to take them in, saying that the priests and the doctors had told them they were not to admit them. On the evening of Thursday 2nd July they found their way to the vicinity of the Union Hospital and here they were seen (among others) by Mr Thomas, the surgeon to the institution. They were laid on the bank with their feet in a dry ditch. Having inquired into the circumstances, he told the deceased there was no room for him at that time in the hospital, but recommended for him to go to the Relieving Officer whose duty it was to provide for them if they were destitute. The deceased did apply to the city Relieving Officer who informed him that the case was not in his district and directed him to the rural officer. The deceased went to him but found he was from home. On Friday evening Mr Thomas found the deceased and family still on the roadside and he, along with Mr Tuke junior,2 endeavoured to provide some place of shelter for them. Being unable to do so, Mr Tuke furnished them with some straw and an additional blanket, they having had one previously, and he was determined to get the deceased into hospital the next day if possible. One Saturday morning the poor fellow expired suddenly at 10 o’clock. The deceased was, in 218

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Mr Thomas’s opinion, ‘with the blankets and other coverings better off than he would have been in many of the lodging houses, therefore, his sleeping under a hedge had nothing to do with accelerating his death’.

Notes 1 About 2,000 Famine Irish arrived in York, a provincial town in the north of England. Also shows the work the Tuke Family who were philanthropists for the emigrants. See Francis Finnegan, Poverty and Prejudice: A Study of Irish Poverty in York, 1840–1875 (Cork University Press, Cork: 1982). 2 James Hack Tuke (1819–1893).

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44 REPORT OF IRISH FAMINE EMIGRANTS IN EDINBURGH INDICATING MANY WERE DISEASED AND THE APPALLING LIVING CONDITIONS THEY ENDURED. 1 EDINBURGH MEDICAL JOURNAL, 69 (1848) These poor people, wretchedly clothed, exposed to cold and wet as deck passengers, many of them starving, and not a few of them actually labouring under disease, were ushered into our densely populated towns, there to seek the cheapest and most wretched lodging-houses or places of shelter. Fever thus became induced into their abodes, and after its induction it was kept up by a system as loathsome as culpable until the authorities, in many instances, interfered for its removal. It was impossible to put it down, however, as whenever they had their houses whitewashed and cleansed and bedclothes washed at the public expense, they resumed the same system. I had several opportunities of visiting these lodging houses occupied by the poor Irish. They in general consist of large-sized rooms, in dirty and badly aired localities (largely the poorest in the town) in which beds are arranged on the floor as thickly as they can be placed. Here all sexes and ages occupied; and when one took fever and was removed to the hospital, no cleansing took place, but the next applicant was admitted into the bed just vacated by the fever patient. In this way the disease spread. In Edinburgh almost every case admitted into the Infirmary at the beginning of the epidemic was from Ireland; and for nearly three months they continued so.

Note 1 The famine emigrants came with Famine Fever and were regarded as the carriers of disease by the host populations.

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45 LETTER FROM MARGARET MCCARTHY TO HER FATHER, ALEXANDER MCCARTHY AND FAMILY, WHO WAS ASSISTED, FROM THE CROWN ESTATE AT KINGWILLIAMSTOWN, CO. CORK. 1 EILISH ELLIS, EMIGRANTS FROM IRELAND, 1847–1852: STATE-AIDED EMIGRATION SCHEMES FROM CROWN ESTATES IN IRELAND (BALTIMORE, 1993), PP 64–7 New York, September 22nd 1850. My Dr. Father and Mother, Brothers and Sisters,2 I write these few lines to you hoping that these few lines may find you all as in good State of health as I am at present. thank God I received your welcome letter to me Dated 22nd of May which was a credit to me for the Stile and elligance [sic] of its Fluent Language, but I must Say Rather Flattering. My Dr. Father I must only say that this is a good place and A Good Country for if one place does not Suit A Man he can go to Another and can very easy please himself. But there is one thing that’s ruining this place especially the frontier towns and cities where the flow of emigration is most. The emigrants has not money enough to take them to the interior of the country which obliges them to remain here in York and the like; places for which reason causes the less demand for labour and also the great reduction in wages. For this reason I would advise no one to come to America that would not have some money after landing here that [would] enable them to go west in case they would not get work to do here. But any man or woman without a family are fools that would not venture and come to this plentiful country where no man or woman ever hungered or ever will and where you are not seen naked. But I can assure you there are dangers upon dangers attending coming here, but 221

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my friends nothing venture nothing have fortune will have the brave. Have courage and prepare yourself for the next time that, that worthy man, Mr. Boylan,3 is sending out the next lot and come you all together courageously and bid adiu to that lovely place the land of our birth. That place where the young and old joined together in one common union, both night and day engaged in innocent amusement. But alas, I am told it’s the gulf of misery, oppression, degradation and ruin of every description which I am sorry to hear. So doleful a history to be told of our dr. country. This my dr. father induces me to remit to you in this letter 20 dollars, that is four pounds, thinking it might be some acquisition to you until you might be clearing away from that place all together and the sooner the better. For believe me I could not express how great would be my joy at our seeing you all here together where you would never want or be at a loss for a good breakfast and dinner. So prepare as soon as possible for this will be my last remittance until I see you all here. Bring with you as much tools as you can as it will cost you nothing to bring them and as for clothing you need not care much. But that I would like that yourself would bring one good suit of cloth that you would spare until you come here. And as for Mary, she need not mind much as I will have for her a silk dress, a bonnet and veil according. And Ellen I need not mention what I will have for her. I can fit her well. And you are to bring enough flannels and do not form it at home as the way they wear flannel at home and here is quite different: for which reason I would rather that you would not form any of it until you come, with the exception of whatever quantity of drawers you may have. You can make them at home, but make them roomy enough, but make no jackets. My dr. father, I am still in the same place, but do not intend to stop there for the winter. I mean to come to New York and there spend the winter. Thade Houlehan wrote to me saying that if I wished to go up the country that he would send me money, but I declined so doing until you come and them after you coming if you think it may be better for us to remain here or go west it will be for you to judge, but until then I will remain here. Dan Keliher4 tells me that you knew more of the house carpentry than he did himself and he can earn twelve to fourteen shillings a day; that is seven shillings British and he also tells me that Florence will do very well and the Michl can get a place right off as you wish. And as for John he will be very shortly able to be bound too; so that I have every reason to believe that we will all do well together so that I am sure its not for slavery. No, its for affording my brothers and sisters and I an opportunity of showing our kindness and gratitude, and coming on your senior days that we would be placed in that position that you my Dr. Father and mother could walk about leisurely and independently without requiring your labour; an object which I am sure will not fail even by myself if I was obliged to do it without the assistance of brother and sister for my D{ea}r. Father and mother. I am proud and happy to be away from where the County Charges man or the poor Rates man, or any other Rates man, would have the satisfaction of once impounding my cow or any other article of mine. Oh, how happy I feel and am

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sure to have luck as The Lord had not it destined for . . . to get married to some Loammun or another at home that after a few months he and I may be an encumbrance upon you or perhaps in the poor house by this. So my dear father, according as I had stated to you, I hope that whilst you are at home. I hope that you will give my sister, Mary, that privilege of enjoying herself innocently on any occasion that she pleases. So far as I have said innocently and as for my dear Ellen, I am in raptures of joy when I think of one day seeing her and you at the dock in New York and if I do not have a good bottle of brandy for you awaiting your arrival it’s a Causion. Well, I have only to tell my dear mother to bring all her bed clothes and also to bring the kettle, and an oven and have handles on them, and do not forget the smoothing iron, and beware when you are on board to bring some good flour and engage with the captain cook and he will do it better for you and for very little. And also bring some whiskey and give [to] the cook and some sailors that you may think would do you any good, to give them a glass once in a time and it may do no harm. And dear father, when you are coming here if you possibly can bring my Uncle Con I would be glad that you would, and I am sure he would be the great acquisition to you on board and also tell Mary Keeffe that if her child died that I will pay her passage very shortly, and when you are coming do not be frightened. Take courage and be determined and bold in your undertaking as the first two or three days will be the worst to you and mind whatever happens on board. Keep your own temper, do not speak angry to any or hasty. The mildest man has the best chance on board. So you made your own way with every one and further you are to speak to Mr. Boyan and he I am sure will get one request for you. My Boyan will do it for me. When you are to come ask Mr Boyan to give you a few lines to the agent or berth master of the ship that will secure to you the second cabin which I am sure Mr. Boyan will do, and as soon as you receive this letter write to me and let me know about every thing: when you are to come and what time and state particulars of everything to me and direct as before. And if you are come shortly when you come to Liverpool write to me also and let me know when you are to sail and the name of the ship you sail in as I will be uneasy until I get an answer. No more at present, but that you give Mr. and Mrs. Boyan my best love and respect and let me know how they and family are as they would or will not be better than I would wish them to be. Also, Mrs. Minton and Charles, Mr. and Mrs. Roche and family, Mr and Mrs. Day and family, Mr. Walsh and as for his family I [am] sure are all well; Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan and family, Mrs. O’Brien, Con Sheehan, wife and family; all the Hearlihys and family, Tim Leahy and family, Own Sullivan of Carrigans and family, Darby Guinee and family, John Callaghan and family, Timothy Callaghan and family, Timothy Sheehan and mother. So no more at present from your ever dear and loving child. Margaret McCarthy

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Notes 1 The Kingwilliamstown estate is situated near Kanturk, Co. Cork. The Crown assisted 191 people from the estate between 1849 and 1850, leaving on two boats from Liverpool. See Ellis, Emigrants from Ireland, pp 42–53. 2 Her father was Sandy (Michael McCarthy), a carpenter and the family lived at Boherboy. 3 Michael Boylan was the agent for the Kingwilliamstown estate and organised the emigration scheme. 4 This is possibly Dan Kelleher, aged 29 years, from Tooreenglanahee who also left on the Columbus. He left with his wife, their son (aged 3 years) and daughter (aged 2 years), his father, brother and sister.

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46 ACCOUNT OF HOW IRISH EMIGRANTS FARED IN THE LARGE AMERICAN CITIES. GALWAY VINDICATOR, 30 JULY, 1853 THE POOR IRISH IN AMERICA We copy the following letter from the New York Irish American:To the Editor of the Irish American, SIR, – As an Irishman and a philanthropist, I object to your “remarks” as you call them, made in your last publication on a letter that has appeared in the Galway Vindicator from a New York correspondent of that journal. My opinion is that you have endeavoured more to make null and untrue that better, rather than pass remarks on it, and that you have failed. “The correspondent” feels convinced that of the 4,000 emigrants who arrived not over 400 will realize their expectations and thinks sickness, accidents, over work and dissipation will be the cause of their want of success. Now, sir, who are the men that are over worked in this country, worked like beasts – doing at least twice as much work in a given time as an Irish, Scotch, or English labourer in their respective countries? – are they not almost to a man Irish. Who are the sunstruck persons who are so awfully cut down throughout the country, numbering, some 60 individuals in the City of New York during the last few weeks! – Irishmen brutalized by Yankee and Irish bosses;” wrought to death under the piercing rays of a scorching sun, and the quick blaspheming tongue of these go-ahead sons of liberty. To whom do the greater number of accidents happen, at the reckless constructions of houses, railroads, and factories, which Yankee enterprise gets up so fragile and with such boastfulness – alas, it is to the poor Irish emigrants. The correspondent says again, “thousands of these misguided emigrants lost their lives and souls, other thousands lose the souls of their children.” Now, sir, what are the porter houses of New York, take it for one city, speaking generally, dens of gambling idleness and vice. Would such sinks of drunkenness, infamy, and ruffianism be permitted for a day in any city or town in Ireland? What would be thought of the house or its occupants there that would countenance the card playing, blasphemy, immoral scenes and discourse that takes place unchecked or discountenanced by the authorities, day and night in ninety-one out of every one hundred 225

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houses licenced and un licenced in your capital city. Have your any Irishman ever witnessed or dreamt of such infamy and licentiousness in Ireland, as meet you at every corner, and in almost every stage of youth in this great republic? Yet you never make a “remark” on this specimen and their children. And what is the result of the education that Irish children receive here? The great bulk of them undoubtedly learn to disregard the love of God and their parents, which they would have retained firmly had they lived in Ireland. The law or the administration of it, which is almost the same thing, is in this country notoriously passive, amounting to an encouragement for immorality in every shape and form, so as to become as great a grievance to the moral and well disposed here, as the exterminating laws of England are to the unfortunate Irish people. It is a well known fact, that rape, murder, and robbery is more common here, than petty theft in Ireland, and that more of these crimes are committed in the city of New York and its environs in one week, than there are in Ireland in fifty-two. You justly condemn the base, heartless landlords of Ireland, who ship our unfortunate countrymen in dangerous vessels commanded by brutal captains, but believe me there are but very few emigrant vessels cross the Atlantic that ruffianism and bad treatment are not as customary in as those you condemn. But what is the treatment the poor sea tossed exile receives here on his landing, under your own eye, in your own city of New York? When he first set his foot on the land of promise, where you say he will be received “with open arms,” is he not in almost every instance fleeced of the “little all” he saved from the rapacious maw of the tyrant landlord, and his ruffian bailiff, deceived, misled, and frequently maltreated by a hoard of robbing procurators and boarding house keepers, over whom your law and police and emigrant protective societies hold no more control than I do over the planets? How frequently do we see poor Irish girls and strong men sitting on the sidewalks crying over robbery that has been heartlessly practised on them; no doubt having their grief made more bitter by knowing that it was in America they were treated so, and reflecting most probably that I know no part of the world where English laws are administered, can they be treated with such bare-faced fraudulence. In no city or town in England would the uneducated boors of that country, bad as they are termed, treat the “wild Irish” as they are treated in New York. There is, when fairly tested, fair play there; an article, none but “green horns” expects to find in the city of New York. I have no desire (God forbid) to extol England at the expense of America. I think there are few persons exist who are more rejoiced than I am at the great rival England finds in this country. Long may it continue, and shame on the Irishman who would not say amen. But I protest against what I consider blind enthusiasm – showing the bright colors of the picture, and leaving the dark tints unrevealed. I have not the ability to write on this subject, as the irregular arrangement on this communication and its blunders too well authenticate, but I consider this should not prevent you from meeting my arguments which are held to be sound by thousands of Irishmen here. You may reject this letter altogether, or pass it over with a slight notice; however I expect a different fate for it from the Irish American. In any case I pledge myself it will go “all the road to Galway” in your paper or mine, Yours respectfully, AN IRISH PEASANT. 226

47 ADVERTISEMENT NOTIFYING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN EMIGRANTS’ HOME IN LIVERPOOL IN JULY 1851. NATION, 12 JULY, 1851 EMIGRANTS’ HOME, LIVERPOOL, VULCAN- STREET, Opposite Clarence Dock, OPENED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 21ST MAY, 1851. The imposition and extortions practised upon the Emigrants who pass through Liverpool on their way to America, (in numbers frequently exceeding 4,000 per week), have attracted, for some years past, the attention of Government and of the Corporate Authorities of the Town; but no steps have hitherto been taken to furnish an adequate remedy for a state of things, which is admitted to be one of the great social evils of the day, nor any definite plan projected to afford security to the Emigrants, from the heartless frauds and demoralizing influences to which they are exposed during their temporary stay. As the very great majority of these Emigrant are Catholics, it has been determined to establish a Home for them, in which they will not only be comfortably lodged and fed at a very low rate of charge, and protected from the imposition and loss, but where they will have every facility for the performance of their religious duties, before entering upon a voyage which is to conduct them to a new state of existence, and be under the immediate and constant care of their natural guardians, the Clergy of their own Church. The system of management will be as follows: The Home will accommodate Eight Hundred persons. The Dormitories for married people, single women, and single men, will be entirely separate. The Dining Hall will be furnished with writing tables, and be supplied with American Maps and Guide Books. Washing and drying rooms will be provided for each sex; and Hot and Cold Baths will be in readiness at all hours, without any charge whatever. Luggage will be ticketed on arrival (on the Foreign railway plan), and will be kept in a store devoted to that object only.

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Amusements, especially in the Evenings, will be provided for the inmates, in order to induce them to stay indoors, and to keep them from the streets and public houses. The Chaplains of the Establishment will be on the spot at all times. The Emigrants will be advised and assisted to secure their passage, and to leave Liverpool with as little delay as possible, so as to save their money and time; and they will not be carefully warned against the impositions which will be attempted on them when they arrive in America, but will be directed to the Protective Societies, which are established for their aid, at the United States and Canadian Ports. Beddings and Sea Stores will be supplied, of the best qualities, at the lowest price, so that the robberies now too often practiced on such purchases may be avoided. The Domestic Regulations of the House will be submitted for the approval of H. M. Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners. The charge of the Lodgings will be Sixpence per Statute Adult per night (counting two children between one and fourteen as one Adult.) Meals (all ready cooked) will be supplied to those who wish it, as follows: Breakfast – half pint Tea, half pound Bread, and half ounce Butter, at two pence per head. Dinner – half pound Beef, and one pound Potatoes, at two pence, ditto. Supper – half pint Tea, half pound Bread and half ounce Butter, at two pence, ditto. Infants under twelve months will not be charged for. All communications and inquiries to be addressed to Mr. FREDERICK MARSHALL, at the Home. We, the Undersigned CATHOLIC CLERGY of LIVERPOOL, duly impressed with the urgent necessity which exists for the Establishment of such an Institution as is described in the accompanying Prospectus, and for the removal of the manifold and intolerable evils which it is designed to remedy, and placing entire confidence in the judgement and experience of Mr. Marshall, warmly recommend the intended Emigrants’ Home to the Catholic Clergy of Ireland, and earnestly invite their co-operation in its support. VERY REV. JAMES CROOKE, V.G. REV. EDWARD KENRICK,1 REV. BERNARD O’REILLY,2 St. Patrick’s. REV. PIERCE POWER, REV. THOMAS NEWSHAM, REV. H. MARSHALL, REV. W. GILLETT, St. Anthony’s. REV. JOSEPH MAINI, REV. THOMAS KELLY3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . St. Alban’s. REV. JOS. JOHNSON, S.J. 228

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REV. FRANCIS WEST, S.J. Saint REV. R. O’CONNELL, S.J. Fran. Xavier’s REV. RICH. SUMNER, S.J. REV. J. SHERIDAN, O.S.B. REV. T. B. ALMOND, O.S.B. St. Mary’s REV. T. M. SHEPHERD, O.S.B. REV. JOHN WORTHY, REV. JAMES NUGENT, REV. JOWN WALLWORK, St. Nicholas. REV. JAMES CARR, REV. JAMES WALNSLEY. . . . . . . . . . . The Convent, Mount Vernon. REV. T. MARGISON, O.S.B. REV. CHAS. PRICE, O.B.S. St. Peter’s. REV. W. CARTER, REV. M. DUGGAN, St. Josephs. REV. T. SPENCER, REV. JAMES EGAN, O.M.J. REV. JOHN NOBLE, O.M.J. Holy Cross. REV. ROGER COOK, O.M.J. REV. V. JAULIVET, O.M.J.

Notes 1 Canon Edward Kenrick (1818–1860) was a curate at St Patrick’s Parish, Liverpool between 1847 and 1851. 2 Revd Bernard O’Reilly (1824–1894) was a curate in St Patrick’s Parish, Liverpool, from 1847–1852. From 1873 to 1894 he was Roman Catholic Bishop of Liverpool. 3 Revd Thomas Kelly was appointed the first Parish Priest of St Alban’s in 1849.

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48 REPORT OF IRISH PEOPLE WHO HAD BEEN RESIDENT IN ENGLAND FOR A LONG PERIOD BEING SENT BACK TO IRELAND WHEN THEY BECAME DESTITUTE. 1 NATION, 2 SEPTEMBER, 1854 THE IRISH POOR IN ENGLAND. At the sitting of the Limerick court on Monday, the Mayor and Mr. J. W. Mahony on the bench. The Mayor said – On yesterday, a woman named Elizabeth Seigne, with her four children, came before me. She said she was landed out of a vessel on the quay at Limerick. She reported herself to be the wife of a mariner, who resided in London for sixteen years, but business being bad with him, he was obliged to go to America, and the consequence was, that she, with her children, was obliged to apply to the relieving officer of the Clerkenwell union for out-door relief. She received out-door relief for a week, at the same time stating that she would not require it for more than a month, as she was in expectation of receiving a remittance from her husband, who had gone to America. However, the next week they refused to give her the relief, and on last Wednesday she was told that she must leave the house, she having stated that she was born in the county Wexford. She lived fifteen years in London. She remonstrated: she said it would be a cruel thing to send her away, particularly as she was expecting a remittance from her husband. They put her, against her will, on board a Limerick vessel, and she landed yesterday without anything – without a shilling to support her. I felt it my duty to see her supported, and ordered her into prison. However, she was not taken into prison, but in the course of the day a man representing himself to be an officer of the Clerkenwell workhouse found her out here. She asked him why he had not come over with her. He said he was half an hour late for the vessel, but that his instructions from the guardians were so pressing, he was determined to see her in Ireland. He came on to Cork, landed there, and came over here to see her. She recognised the man, who said he had means enough to take her to her own place. She was asked if she willing to go to Wexford? She said she was delighted to go 230

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to Wexford – her native place. He sent her off yesterday to Wexford, by train to Kilkenny. So far we have got rid of her, but if her tale be true, it is only a continuation of the severity exercised towards the poor in England. I thought it necessary to mention this matter publicly, as it has already gone through the town. If she had not been sent away, we would have relieved her in the same way as we did the poor woman who was thrown on the banks of the Shannon a few weeks ago. Mr. J. W. Mahony – I believe no remonstrance will produce any effect on the other side. They are determined to spurn our remonstrances. In the other case the poor woman was twenty years living in London, and yet they sent her away. Mr. Joynt – It is right that this case should be reported to the committee – not so much for the purpose of making out a case of Ireland against England, but of changing the law in England which is of so cruel a nature that, under colour of it, they submit these poor people to the most cruel and illegal acts. Mayor – They have the power of sending the Irish poor people over here, but we have no power of sending English poor to England. Mr. J. W. Mahony – They have a law of settlement for England, but we have not. The Mayor – I will write to the Board of Guardians and also Mr. Baines respecting it. The matter here ended.

Note 1 Under the Act of Settlement Irish people who became destitute in England were returned to place of birth in Ireland, regardless of the length of time they were resident in England. An estimated 63,000 Irish people were returned to Ireland during the Famine under this legislation.

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49 REPORT FROM THE CHESTER BOARD OF GUARDIANS ON THE REMOVAL OF BRIDGET MOLLOY, A  WIDOW AND HER SIX CHILDREN, ALL BORN IN ENGLAND, WHO WERE RETURNED TO IRELAND UNDER THE ACT OF SETTLEMENT. 1 EVIDENCE OF J. TREVOR, CHAIRMAN OF THE CHESTER BOARD OF GUARDIANS, REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON POOR REMOVAL, HC 1855, P. 270 We had a case which I wish to mention to the Committee as illustrating the system, when you resort to compulsory removals, how the people return upon you. It was a case in which at the time I felt great sympathy; it was the case of Bridget Mulloy, the mother of six legitimate children, and a widow. I considered at the time, as all her children had been born in England, that it was an exceedingly great hardship to remove the woman to Ireland, and the Board of Guardians expressed themselves to the relieving officer not to put the law in force. She unfortunately had an illegitimate child; that disentitled her to out-door relief, except with the sanction of the Poor Law Board; it had been our rule never to transmit a case of that kind to the Poor Law Board, except we could allege an extenuation of the misconduct. However, the parish officers removed her, and, as I said before, I felt great sympathy with the woman; she was removed on the 3rd of April; she came back in a very few days, and had an order given to her to go into our workhouse. On her being brought before the Board, I asked her how she had come back; she said that she had been taken before the Lord Mayor of Dublin; that she had presented the case; that the case had been explained by some of the officials in the administration of the Poor Law in Dublin, and that the Lord Mayor had given her 232

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10s to come back. She came back and she was again removed on the 26th; and I am sorry to say I can give the Committee no further account of her. Perhaps the Committee will wonder, as her removal and that of her family, in the first instance, cost £2. 18s 2d., how she came back with 10s. In the first place, we are obliged to pay the expense to put the law in motion; there is then the cost of conveyance by railway, and the packet fare from Liverpool to Dublin; sometimes it is 2s. 6d., sometimes it is 5s. There are two prices in those packets; one in going from England to Ireland, but a less charge in coming back; and the woman would get herself brought from Dublin to Liverpool for 1s., two of her children brought for another shilling, and she could get back to Liverpool with her family, perhaps for 4s. Then she could come upon the railway for about four railway fares, at 1s. 3d. each; so that the 10s. which the Lord Mayor of Dublin gave her amply covered the expense back. I merely mention this as an illustration of what I know is an exceedingly common occurrence. I recollect a case perfectly well; I have not the name here; I think it occurred before 1851, soon after the Irish famine, where a family of I think, the name Branigan were removed compulsorily from Chester; the neighbours made a collection to bring them back again; it was given to the woman in the presence of the removing officer, and she was back as soon as the relieving officer. I merely mention this, to show that where there is a will there is a way; and if England is better than Ireland, they will find their way back . . . There is scarcely a Board-day when an Irish case does not come before us, or even an English case which is unsettled, when the case is not debated in principle. I have illustrated it by bringing to notice, if the power of removal were put into operation, whether in cases of English or Irish removal, the hardships to which it would subject the poor, and I have never heard from our guardians a dissenting remark. Q. Are you of opinion that the Irish poor in the large manufacturing districts, Liverpool for instances, Manchester, Wolverhampton, and those districts in your neighbourhood, occasion an undue burden on the rates, taking into account the advantages which their labour must necessarily confer? A. Certainly not; if you look at the increase in population in the manufacturing districts of Lancashire, and some parts of Cheshire and Derbyshire, if you look to the great increase of population which has occurred, which cannot have occurred by breeding, but by the importation of labourers, either from the agricultural districts of England, but principally from Wales and Ireland, and the great advantages resulting to the capital and the wealth of the country, I am strongly of opinion that, notwithstanding the temporary pressure which was imposed upon these districts by the Irish famine, which perhaps threw an undue proportion upon them, and rather overstocked them, yet, from what I read of the statistics of those towns, the paupers in them are not receiving more than due proportion of relief . . . I do not find that either in Chester, or Birkenhead, or Liverpool, previous to the Irish famine, there was any undue pressure upon the rates from Irish poor; that unfortunate event did operate certainly, not only

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as a great blight in Ireland, but it operated in certain places in this country very disadvantageously upon the funds of the ratepayers, and also upon the labour market. It brought a great deal of disease with it, for this reason; the densely crowded courts of Liverpool were not adequate to the great influx of population; they were not sufficiently drained or ventilated; there were no sanitary arrangements, and fever was the natural consequence in the town. It operated in a less degree, but certainly also very prejudicially, in the city of Chester, and we felt it necessary to remove these unfortunate people into temporarily constructed fever hospitals. That cost us £700 or £800; we got rid of it very well and cheaply, but I did not find that the Irish convalescents when fit to go to labour at all pressed upon the rates.

Note 1 The Mayor of Dublin in 1855 was Joseph Boyce.

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50 LETTER OF H. SHIRE WHO HAD SETTLED IN SOUTH AFRICA TO HIS BROTHER IN SHANAGOLDEN, CO. LIMERICK INFORMING HIM OF HIS LIFE IN NATAL AND THE PROSPECTS FOR EMIGRATING TO THE COLONY. 1 SEVENTH REPORT FROM THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE (POOR LAWS) IRELAND, TOGETHER WITH MINUTES OF EVIDENCE, HC 1849 (237), XV, PP 134–7 Milkwood Krall, (Natal, South Africa,) Dear James, 27 March 1848. Yesterday I received your letter of the 1st December last, and, agreeably to your request, lost no time in replying. I am happy to find that you have received my letter: I was apprehensive that it would miscarry, there not being a post-office yet established here I therefore addressed another letter to you in January last, which was simply intended by me to let you know that I had come here, in the event of the other letter miscarrying. I have no distinct recollection of the particulars of these two letters. Whatever I mentioned to you in them, however, you may rely on as being correct, as far as I had the means of ascertaining. I shall now proceed to give you the information you require respecting the description of crops, manner of living, and the probable expense of supporting a family, and what crops may be realized by the working members of it, for private consumption. When I arrived here in August 1846, and purchased this farm, on which I have since resided, I had no white neighbours nearer than then miles in one direction, or than 20 in the opposite one; no house, no cultivation, nothing but green fields

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intersected by deep ravines, with continual succession of hill and ale all over the country; how then was it possible for me to tell you what may be the productions of this country? ‘Tis true that this district has been taken possession of five or six years before by perhaps 200 Dutch farmers, who had emigrated from Cape Colony, in consequence of some imaginary wrongs connected with slave emancipation, the country being then totally depopulated, the Kaffir2 chief having just been killed, and the cattle of his nation plundered by the Julie tribe, situated contiguous to this district on the north (the most powerful of all of all the Kaffir tribe). These Dutch Boers, through want of education, and freedom from all restraint, living beyond the control of the Cape Government, appear to have contracted all the predatory habits of the Kaffir tribes; and finding themselves in sufficient force, they attacked the Zulu3 king, defeated and killed him, and placed another in his stead, from whom they obtained a formal cession Of the district of Natal, which was claimed by that tribe in right of conquest. Elevated by their success the Boers wished to make this an independent settlement, and even sent to Holland, acquainting the government of their having thrown off all allegiance to her Britannic Majesty. Immediately troops were sent from the old colony, who after considerable resistance on the part of the Boers, and some bloodshed, gained the upper hand, and they then submitted and returned to their former allegiance, on being permitted to retain possession each of the 6,000 acres of land; and being still dissatisfied in consequence of being prevented from treating the Kaffirs (who sought protection under the newly established government from the absolute power of all the neighbouring Kaffir chiefs) as slaves, and finding a large tract of country to the west beyond the boundary of the district, well adapted for grazing purposes, they emigrated a second time, selling their farms when they could find purchasers, and mine (4,500 acres) is a part only of one farm, which although now worth at least 2,000l. I then bought for 300l. The country to which the Boers have retired does not afford pasture in winter for their cattle, on account of frost and snow; should they continue there, they would be under the necessity of saving hay for fodder; and here it is not necessary to do so, there being abundance of grass through the year; beside, the lately-appointed governor, Sir H. Smith, who is very popular among them, has condescended to flatter their prejudices (through pity for them, and to prevent their falling altogether into a state of barbarism), so that they are now decided on returning. This district being without inhabitants for so many years, and the Boers when stationary never planting more than they think necessary for their own consumption, and the want of experience of the few English who have only commenced finding out their way here during the last 12 months, leaves it as yet undetermined what the resources of the country may be. I have not an opportunity of seeing any wheat growing, but I have seen excellent wheat and flour in sacks which was grown and ground here. I have seen as good oats growing here as ever I saw in Europe. Maize, that which there is no food more wholesome or substantial, produces abundantly. A kind of round corn about the size as duck shot, also excellent, which produces 236

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two or three hundred fold, called by the natives mabela,4 is grown here; I am informed that barley grows also, but I have not seen any. Pumpkins, the best in the world, and an excellent substitute for potatoes, melons, cucumbers, calabash, with various other vegetables of which you must know nothing, but all excellent, are in abundance; carrots, onions, cabbage, and I believe all your garden herbs, are or may be grown; but the stable produce of the country, and which will make it hereafter the first in importance of all the British colonies, is cotton and Indigo, of which it appears, par excellence, in the native soil. I have seen perhaps fifteen varieties of the indigo plant growing in the fields without cultivation, and so thick that seven men collect a ton weight of the plant in a week, but no one knows here how to manufacture it. Two or three persons have attempted to extract the indigo from the plant by means of tubes and buckets, and obtained some of excellent quality, by following some directions which they met with by accident in a book which does not properly treat on that subject, but in a cursory manner. I think I have already told you in what abundance cotton may be grown here. Experience since confirms what then may perhaps have been conjecture; and even this year it is thought that nearly 100 tons of it will be shipped for England from this port. I sent you a newspaper published here, in which there is an article on cotton, to which I refer you, and shall only add on that subject, that the cotton plant here is known to increase in size and productiveness for at least ten years (how much longer we must wait for time to tell), instead of being an annual plant, as in America and India, I believe; and further, that not one species alone on it, but all of them, appears to be perennial. Tobacco of the best quality also grows here in the greatest luxuriance. Although the soil is lose enough when once broken up, yet it is very difficult to break the first time. With a good Scotch Iron plough, perhaps ten oxen may be sufficient; with the Dutch plough, which leaves a furrow two feet of a foot-anda-half wide, 16 are required. The Irish or Scotch spade is the only one fit for this country, and there are none here, nor a smith able to make them. Smiths, carpenters, and masons would obtain high wages, particularly smiths. Tradesmen for the supply of luxuries, would starve. Sober men only may hope to prosper, for you must know that half our population, perhaps, are professional temperance people, and the rest extremely sober. A fat ox may be had for 3l. Sheep are numerous in the interior, and may be purchased, perhaps, for 6s. Pork is now sold at 6d. per lb.; maize, at perhaps, 6d. for 50 lbs; Kaffir corn at the same price. Pumpkins weighing 20 lbs., for 1d. or 2d. Fowl (I have never seen them so fat anywhere else) for 3d. or 4d. Eggs, 6d. per dozen. Deer, for the trouble of shooting them, they are numerous, and in great variety. You may now calculate how persons not of expensive habits may live. I have a steel mill, with which I grind maize. I sift the flour, the finest part of which I make bread with, either mixed with the wheat flour, or unmixed. The coarse part, like the groats of oatmeal, is vastly superior to rice, when boiled; and if the white maize is used, it is, when boiled, as white as snow. Potatoes grow, but are neither as sweet or as large as in Ireland; perhaps the seed is not as good. Beans and 237

T he famine emigrants ’ experiences abroad

peas may be sown at any time, and will be fit to gather in about ten weeks after. Although this is, I think, the general harvest season, yet maize is being sown, and has been continually during the last six months. You may, perhaps, buy a steel mill in Cork for 20s.; take it to pieces; it packs in small compass. You can bring nothing more useful, and I have not seen one in this country but my own. You kill an ox, and salt the beef. You can always have maize, mabela, peas, beans, fowls, and consequently eggs; and you may buy two or three milch cows, with their calves, for about 50s. each, but strange to say, you may sell butter for 1s. the pound. The cows here give no more than half as much milk as in Ireland; the calf always sucks the cow at milking, which is invariably done by Kaffirs, as many of whom as required may be hired at 4s. per month, or a cow for twelve months. They do a pretty fair day’s work at hoeing; they are becoming expert at driving and management of working oxen; but I have never heard of one of them being able to plough. But I have digressed from my subject; you see that even without friends, it would cost only a trifle to live here, until a man would be able to raise sufficient for his own consumption. I do not think that the sugar cane will do well here, so you will always have to buy sugar,; but there are two herbs that grow here, without cultivation, either of which I prefer to tea, and all the Europeans I have conversed with on the subject have given them preference. The waggon used in this country is the most expensive article a farmer has to purchase; a new one, properly finished with canvass coverings, would cost 60l.; but they are constructed to serve instead of a dwelling house, and many of the Dutch Boers have lived in them, with their large families, for years; indeed in a country where no inns are to be met with, and for people of their patriarchal mode of life (we find that Abraham had no house), some such contrivance has hitherto been absolutely necessary; but for a person residing within a moderate distance of the market town, a cart or two-wheeled dray is vastly preferable, and they are getting in use among the English. An iron plough may be bought for about 9l., and a span (12 oxen) would cost about 30l., or perhaps more, but these will always sell for what they cost, and in fact for 6l. or 9l. more. Six or eight doubles of untanned ox hide, twisted together, of sufficient length and strength for the number of oxen, runs between them as they are yoked by two; and the yokes are attached to this rope. Everything belonging to this harnessing may be made by an ordinary handy man, there being always plenty of wood in the nearest ravines; in fact, the wheels and axel for the dray with the necessary iron works are the only things that a careful saving person need purchase for conveying his produce. Your information is correct respecting the entrance of this port; there is a bar, which is impassable for vessels over 150 tons burthen; but it is easily remedied, and will not, I hope, remain long an obstacle to the entrance of the largest ships; the water is deep enough inside the bar, where vessels may be secure from every wind that blows. I commend you much for using much precaution, and ascertaining everything necessary for you to know before you undertake so important an affair as making so long a voyage, you who never made one perhaps, unless to Limerick; to 238

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me, who have spent much time at sea for a landsman, it would appear nothing; understand me well, however, do not come unless you perceive a very material advantage in so doing; I do not urge you to the step, and should be sorry to give you cause to reproach me hereafter, which with or without reason you might be disposed to do; I have no interest except the pleasure of having my brother near me, in your coming; and to confess the truth, I have not always acted so wisely myself as to place implicit reliance on my own judgement. If on maturely weighing everything you find it suits you to come, I will sell you 500 acres of as good land as this country affords, adapted for pasture and agriculture, at such price as land at an equal distance from the port may be worth at the time of your arrival, and you shall pay me when you can. I will also lend you 16 or 20 oxen if you want them, for 12 months if necessary, or until you can procure others of your own, and all such grains and seeds as I have, that you may require for sowing; I promise you nothing more, and you must not even in your own mind blame me if you come and afterwards regret it. I forgot, or was near forgetting, the subject of our own personal security here. I have been much more here, and felt it from the beginning, than I ever thought myself in Ireland. I arrived in Cape Town just when the Kaffir war broke out in the old colony; and yet I came to Port Natal, which is surrounded on every side by Kaffirs, except seaweed, with at present about 100,000 of them in the district; when I came here there was not perhaps more than 5,000. I was aware that more than two or three of these Kaffir tribes, for various reasons, never act in concert, nor ever will. The chiefs of tribes will not receive refugees from one another; the chief has absolute power over the lives and property of their people, hence those who have acquired property in cattle are never safe, as on that account they are frequently put to death, the chief or king always (in this case) taking their cattle to himself. Now in this district there is no chief but Queen Victoria; all the Kaffirs here, as well as the subjects of the neighbouring chiefs, know well that their lives and properties are safe, hence they arrive in thousands every month, and were the district attacked from outside, would fight for the English to the last man; with them they have security, without them they would every Kaffir of them be swept off the face of the earth in a month. Thus during the Kaffir war, we had here no more than five companies of the 45th Regiment, a dozen artillerymen, a few sappers, and two companies of the Cape Mounted Rifles, and no one felt the least apprehension. But in case of attack, the white inhabitants would alone be sufficient. I have already told you how about 200 Boers dethroned the strongest chief in this part of the country. Besides, the country will be ten times more thickly inhabited than Cape Colony; here there is not, as there, large tracks of barren sands; every foot of land is available for tillage or pasture. These are my reasons for feeling perfectly secure here; I have no one, male or female, as servants or labourers but Kaffirs; I have on an average 12 or 14 continually, who remain with me on an average only three or four months; they have care of perhaps 250 head of cattle. I have been from home for weeks at a time; my house (if I may give it that name) had no lock on it, nor even a door 239

T he famine emigrants ’ experiences abroad

to put a lock on; there was in boxes, many of them without books, portable property to the amount of more than 200l., and yet I have always found everything safe, and do not know that a Kaffir ever stole to the value of 6d. from me. I have young cattle on this farm in charge of kaffirs that I have not seen for the last six months, and may not for six months to come, and yet I am as sure of their safety as if they were continually under my own eye; should I be so sure of my property if I had Europeans about me? Moreover, there was not a single Kaffir convicted of theft or robbery since my arrival in the district, nor have I heard that there was before. The Kaffirs, and many white men also, live in huts constructed in the form of a beehive, of an elliptical sphere, near the ground; pliable twigs about an inch in diameter are firmly tied together where they cross each other, leaving little diamond spaces between them three or four inches; these are covered with grass, which is fastened on by twigs, which are about a foot and a half in length, with both ends inserted in the grass; the huts are then impenetrable to the heaviest rains. The kind of house I have hitherto lived in is rather better than the one above described; it consists of poles, firmly fastened in the ground about a foot and a half apart, and about six feet high; strong twigs are woven on these poles, and the whole plastered with clay tempered with cowdung; this is covered with rafters and thatch sewn in the usual way. I am now, however, building a regular farm-house of stone (the only building but one of the kind within fifty miles of me, the houses in the town at the port being of brick);and to give you an idea of the expense of such buildings I shall tell you its dimensions. It is 46 by 20, the gable to be raised to a pitch with the roof, with a chimney in each of them; there is a verandah 6½ feet wide at both sides; at each corner there is a room ten feet long, at each end of the verandah, and raised to a pitch with the roof; the floor, which is boarded, is two feet above the surface, and it is to be nine feet between the beams, which, as well as the rafters and battens, are of sawn wood, with a thatch roof, there is also an oven in the kitchen. I pay the mason for the work 60l., and the wood and woodwork with cost more than as much more; you must judge from this how labour is paid for here. I have ploughed no more than about three acres, in which I sowed white maize, which produced a splendid crop; this grows five hundred fold. You know I never ploughed much, but I find I would do it well if I had nothing else to do; but I have the Kaffirs to superintend, and the milch cows and calves to look at every day, and various temporary buildings to put up for pigs, poultry, goats, sheep, &c., together with carpenter jobbing of various kinds; so you see I do not pass my time in idleness. I intend forthwith to commence planting cotton; in this respect I am behind my neighbours, but I do as well as I can. I never enjoyed better health than since I came here; the climate is the finest in the world, and would suit your complaint admirably. If you come bring me a gallon of furze seed; I know nothing so good to make hedges, and here there are none. Bring a few forest-tree seeds also, not one of your trees are to be found here; also seeds of fruit trees. The peach, apricot, nectarine, apple, pear, orange, lemon, quince, vine, &c. grow, but they are as yet so scarce, that I cannot get cuttings or seeds of them. The fig is very common. The gooseberry, currant, and plum will not grow; they 240

L etter of H . S hire to his brother

require the frost, and we have none nearer than 100 miles. The reason why it is so near and yet does not pay us a visit, is, that the land rises with extreme rapidity for about 150 miles, where it gradually sinks all the way to the Gulf of Guinea; so that until now an immense tract of country, that has hitherto been considered plains of sand scorched by the rays of a burning sun, is now known to be a beautiful pasture land, covered three or four months of the year with frost and snow, and as cold as you have it in Ireland in winter. Remember me in the kindest way to Johanna and all your family, and believe me, my dear James, your affectionate brother. (signed)   H. Shire. Mr. James Shire,  Shannagolden, County Limerick, Ireland.

Notes 1 Shire came from Co. Limerick but had joined the British Army, and had been stationed in India, before moving and settling in Natal. 2 Kaffir, a slur used in Cape Colony to refer to a black African. 3 Zulus are an ethnic Bantu tribe in South Africa. 4 Marbela is a sorghum grown in southern Africa.

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51 HOW THE FORTY GIRLS SENT OUT FROM SLIGO WORKHOUSE ON THE LADY KENNAWAY IN 1848 UNDER THE FEMALE ORPHAN SCHEME TO AUSTRALIA FARED IN AUSTRALIA. SLIGO JOURNAL, 30 NOV. 1849 Poor Law Commissioners, Dublin 23 November 1849 SIR – I am directed by the Commissioners for administering the Laws for relief of the Poor in Ireland, to state for the information of the Board of Guardians of Sligo Union, that the Commissioners have received a communication from the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners, for which it appears that the Orphan Girls who emigrated from the Union to Port Philip in September, 1848, by the ship “Lady Kennedy,” (sic) conducted themselves with great propriety during the voyage, and speedily obtained situations in the Colony, with good wages, and their subsequent conduct had been spoken of in satisfactory terms. I am at the same time to enclose an extract from a return enclosed in the communication which the Commissioners have received from the Emigration Office, showing the disposal of the girls on their arrival in the colony. By Order of the Commissioners, W. STANLEY, Secretary. To the Clerk of the Sligo Union. _____________________ The following is a list of Emigrants, per ship “Lady Kennedy,” (sic) to Port Philip, from Sligo Union, with Name of Emigrant, Name and Residence of Employer, Employment, Terms and Wages:Name of Emigrant

 ame and Residence Employment N of Employer

Terms and wages

Jane Barrett1

Mrs J T Turnbull, Gippsland

house maid

12 months, £12 a year and rations

Bridget Benson

Mr J Pearson, Melbourne

nurse maid

12 months, £11 a year and rations

242

Name of Emigrant

 ame and Residence Employment N of Employer

Terms and wages

Mary Brady2

Mr J Graham, do

house servant

terms not fixed

Catherine Brennan3

Mrs E Gorton, do

do

do

Biddy Bourke

Mr j Hennery, do

housemaid

6 months, £10 a year and rations

Catherine Bourke5

Mr Green, Woodlands

housemaid

12 months, £8 a year and rations

Ellen Bourke6

Mr JT Fulford, Melbourne

house servant

12 months, £8 a year and rations

Margaret Coggins

Mr F Atkin, do

do

6 months, £9 a year and rations

Biddy Doherty

Mr R M’Kevor do

do

terms not fixed

Ellen Doyle

Mr A Wright Bushy Park

do

6 months, £10 a year abd rations

Jane Drum8

Mrs Hobson, Yarra Yarra

do

6 months, £12 a year and rations

Eliza Drum9

Mrs Hobson, do

do

6 months, £12 a year and rations

Mary Early10

Mr W O’Farrell, Melbourne

housemaid

6 months, £12 a year and rations

Eliza Early11

Mr G W Bell, do

do

do

Ann Early

Mrs Hearndon, do

house servant

12 months, £8 a year and rations

Mary Folliotte

Mr H Crossley, do

do

6 months, £12 a year and rations

Ann Folliotte

Mrs W Doyle, do

do

6 months, £12 a year and rations

Jane Gardner

Mr Megson, do

nursemaid

6 months, £10 a year and rations

Bessy Golden13

Mr J Harwood, do

house servant

terms not fixed

Anne Golden14

Mr Empsor, do

house maid

12 months, £9 a year and rations

Bessy Grady15

Mr W Hatch, do

house maid

12 months, £14 a year and rations

Ellen Hamilton16

Mrs Burns, Pascorville

do

6 months, £7 10s a year and rations

Mary Kearns17

Mrs Clark, Melbourne

do

12 months, £8 a year and rations

4

7

12

T he famine emigrants ’ experiences abroad

Name of Emigrant

 ame and Residence Employment N of Employer

Terms and wages

Elizabeth Kelly18

Major Friebrace, Milford

house servant

12 months, £9 a year and rations

Catherine Kelly

Mrs Whyte, Melbourne

do

12 months, £10 a year and rations

Margaret Loftus19

Mr G Groves, do

do

6 months, £10 a year and rations

Mary M’Gowan

Mr J Lynch, do

housemaid

6 months, £12 a year and rations

Catherine M’Hugh20 Mrs J Fitzgerard, do house servant

12 months, £8 a year and rations

Catherine M’Loughlin

Mr O M Morgan, Melbourne

house servant

6 months, £12 a year and rations

Anne Moran

Mr W Stewart, do

do

9 months, £9 a year and rations

Winfied Nealas

Major Friebrace, Milford

house servant

12 months, £11 a year and rations

Mary Saltry21

Mr R Duffy, Melbourne

housemaid

12 months, £12 a year and rations

Dorinda Saltry22

Mrs Harless, Herdelberg

house servant

6 months, £12 a year and rations

Sarah Saltry23

Mr R Stepenson, Charlesworth

do

12 months, £10 a year and rations

Mary Sheehan

Mr Hume, Melbouorne

nursemaid

6 months, £9 a year and rations

Catherine Sheehan

Mrs Rycrofy, do

house servant

6 months, £6 10s a year and rations

Margaret Smith24

Mrs M Brissanon, do nursemaid

12 months, £10 a year and rations

Anne Waters25

Mr J Marke, do

do

12 months, £10 a year and rations

Susan Pavey26

Mr H Cadden, do

house servant

3 months, £6 a year and rations.

Eliza Macline

Mrs Sweetman, do

housemaid

9 months, £10 a year and rations

Notes 1 Jane Barrett was 17 years when she left the workhouse. She later married George Yeomans and died aged 90 in 1890 in Maryborough.

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2 Mary Brady was 14 years when she left Sligo workhouse. http//.www.irishfamineme morial.org. 3 Catherine Brennan was 14 years when she left Sligo workhouse and in 1854 married Alexander Lawrence. http//.www.irishfaminememorial.org. 4 Biddy Bourke was 16 years when she left the workhouse, her parents were Brian Bourke and Honor Gilmartin. Her two sisters, Catherine and Ellen, also travelled on the ‘Lady Kennaway’ to Port Philip. She married Peter Galway in 1852 and died in 1876 aged 44 years. http//.www.irishfaminememorial.org. 5 Catherine Bourke was 15 years when she left with her sisters, Biddy and Ellen. In 1851 she married Charles Stuart and died in 1924 aged 90 years. http//.www.irishfamineme morial.org. 6 Ellen Bourke was 14 years when she left Sligo workhouse. In 1850 she married Joseph Bell Hardy and died in 1896. http//.www.irishfaminememorial.org. 7 Ellen Doyle was 18 years when she left the workhouse. http//.www.irishfaminememo rial.org. 8 Jane Doyle was 18 years when she left Sligo and in 1855 married William Pereira who was Portugese. http//.www.irishfaminememorial.org. 9 Eliza was 17 years when she left Sligo and in 1851 married Patrick Kelly, a carpenter. http//.www.irishfaminememorial.org. 10 Mary Early was 17 when she left the workhouse along with her sister, Eliza and Ann. She married Thomas Davis in 1849 and died in 1906. http//.www.irishfaminememorial.org. 11 Eliza Early was 19 years when she was assisted along with Mary and Ann, her sisters. In 1860 she married Patrick Gibbons. http//.www.irishfaminememorial.org. 12 Ann Early was 15 years when she travelled to Australia with her sisters, Eliza and Mary. In 1850 she married Andrew Carroll, an ex-convict from Ireland. http//.www. irishfaminememorial.org. 13 Bessy Golden was 15 years when she left Sligo. http//.www.irishfaminememorial.org. 14 Ann Golden was 16 years when she travelled to Australia and married Edward Fletcher in 1853. She died in 1869. http//.www.irishfaminememorial.org. 15 Bessy Grady was 16 years when she arrived in Australia. http//.www.irishfaminememorial.org. 16 Ellen Hamilton was 16 years when she left the workhouse. http//.www.irishfaminememorial.org. 17 Mary Kearns left Sligo workhouse when she was 16 years and married Matthew Kemp in 1850.She died in 1900. http//.www.irishfaminememorial.org. 18 Elizabeth Kelly was 15 years when she left the workhouse and in 1850 married John Holland. In 1872 she married James Ogden and died in 1879. http//.www.irishfaminememorial.org. 19 Margaret Loftus was 18 when she left Sligo. http//.www.irishfaminememorial.org. 20 Catherine McHugh was 15 years when she left the workhouse. http//.www.irishfaminememorial.org. 21 Mary Saltry was 18 years when she came to Australia with her sister, Sarah. She married Joseph Thorne in 1850 and died in 1902. http//.www.irishfaminememorial.org. 22 Dorindra Saltry was 16 when she left Sligo and in 1850 married Samuel Ethelred Bryanan. She died in 1867. http//.www.irishfaminememorial.org. 23 Sarah Saltry, the sister of Mary, was 16 years when she arrived in Australia. She died in 1850 aged 17 years. http//.www.irishfaminememorial.org. 24 Margaret Smith was 16 years when she left Sligo. http//.www.irishfaminememorial.org. 25 Anne Waters was 14 years when she arrived in Australia. http//.www.irishfaminememorial.org. 26 Susan Pavey was 15 years when she left the workhouse. http//.www.irishfaminememorial.org.

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52 LETTER FROM AN EMIGRANT IN AUSTRALIA WHO HAD BEEN ASSISTED BY LORD MONTEAGLE TO EMIGRATE. NLI, MONTEAGLE PAPER (MS 13400 (2) (LETTER FROM MICHAL MARTIN TO LADY MONTEAGLE, DATED 28 AUGUST 1850)) August 28, 1850

Port Philip,

Dear Madam, I am sorry I had not the means of sending you the money your Ladyship paid for me and my wife before this. The reason I can easily account for my delay as I was washing wool and I fell in the river and was almost Lord. But it caused me a great deal of sickness. My time and money was gone and I had the Doctor to pay a very heavy Bill. But thank God and your Ladyship for being the means of sending me in a country that I soon get a few pounds to your Ladyship. I never forget your kindness to us when we had nothing but poverty. Since we came here we never forgot our friends at home. I hope this small trifle will not offend your Ladyship. If I had more I would send it, but I know your goodness to us poor creatures has been great as we cannot see our benefactors we must pray for you and Lord Monteagle. May the Lord bless you in all your ways dear Madam. My father, Edmond Martin, my brother, Patrick Martin, and my brother, Martin Martin, would be glad to hear from me, and if your Ladyship thinks well of sending my brothers to this country I will pay their expenses and I will forever bound to pray for you my wife’s people if your Ladyship thinks right of sending them. She has a sister which I know would do well here. She is a well informed girl, Her mother lives in Sandfield, the Widow Kelly. She is a tenant of Mr. Hastings.1 If your Ladyship thinks proper to send both our sisters together they would soon earn enough to pay their own passage money to your Ladyship. Dear Madam, if you can send my wife’s brothers, their names is (sic) Patrick and Michael Kelly. I will leave it to your own goodness which to send, but which ever you send I will pay by the first opportunity their deposit money. I hope Mrs. 246

L etter from an emigrant in A ustralia

Edly is well. I am very thankful to your Ladyship for sending me to this country where there is plenty of employment to be got and well paid for it. I was sending ten pounds by my master. I am a great distance from Melbourne. He did not come back for three months and forgot the address. I had to go to Melbourne myself and it has lost me four pounds for my traveling and my board and lodgings while I am in town. But my master, Mr. Murray, is a very good man as I would not go back to him again. My wife has got another sister in Shanagolden married to Michael Girson. If your Ladyship be pleased to see any opportunity of sending them and they shall return to you whatever their expenses and if they don’t I will. I would be glad to know how Mr. Patrick Hartnet is getting on. If your dear Ladyship knew the sorrows of the poor of our own town when I was leaving home, my sickness was nothing when I thought of them and their families. If Mr. Hartnet was here he would do well. If your dear Lady would tell him I said him the ship I came in was the Adelaide. Please to direct your letter to Mr. Balentine, Clerk of Works, Port Philip. I must thank Lord Monteagle and your Ladyship for myself and my wife and for all of my shipmates for though I do not see them. I shall stop in town now for a few days. But I have gone by my wife’s wishes to send this as soon as possible. Michal Martin has got a brother that is very bad. His wife would not like him to know it for he has got a very bad head. No more at present, but I remain your Ladyship’s most humble servant. Michal Martin2

Notes 1 Unclear who Mr Hastings is. 2 Michael Martin was from Dunmolyan, Shanagolden, Co. Limerick.

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53 LETTER FROM A PAUPER ASSISTED BY THE SLIGO BOARD OF GUARDIANS TO THE UNITED STATES AND WHO SETTLED IN CONNECTICUT. SLIGO CHAMPION, 17 MAY 1851 TO THE BOARD OF GUARDIANS OF THE SLIGO UNION Weathersfield, State of Connecticut, America, 19th April, 1851 Gentlemen – From the hasty manner in which my outfit was of necessity conducted, and from having only half a day’s notice to complete the arrangements I had previously planned, I was deprived of the opportunity of testifying my gratitude, and in due form tendering you my sincere and heartfelt thanks for your very liberal grant of £30. Will you be kind enough, after the lapse of two months, to afford me the pleasure of doing so, and at the same time of letting you know my success in this so-called Land of Happiness and Freedom to which your bounty has sent me. Your generosity leaves me and every member of my family under the most powerful obligation of gratitude for ever; and it is our unbounded duty to remember you at the Throne of Grace, and to pray the God may bless you and prosper the institution over which you preside. To Mr. Savage I am greatly indebted for the interest he lately felt in my prosperity, and the indulgence he showed me while an inmate in your house. There was, indeed, something very unpleasant connected with the arrangements of my passage after I left Sligo; but on that subject I shall say nothing. We were six weeks and three days on sea. The weather was very cold and the seas tempestuous, but thank God we had little sickness, and no deaths. I had £3 16s on leaving Sligo; when I landed I had but 10s British. Mrs Goldrick had letters of introduction from her brother to Baptist ministers in New York who received her kindly, and got the two oldest girls into religious families 70 miles from the city. Herself and the youngest child were taken into the Baptist home to be trained for situations, and then recommended. My boy got service three days after landing in Jersey City – he is with his sisters in the same family at 80 dollars a year and his board, 50 miles from me. I was left myself bird alone without a shilling in my pocket to seek my fortune in a city crowded with emigrants from every quarter of the world similarly circumstanced. 248

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People at home have no conception of the state of affairs here until the reality is experienced by them in all its horrors. There are more poor Irish, Dutch, and other nations of Europe in the city of New York alone in a state of greater distress, as they are more despised and looked down on, than in half the workhouses of Ireland. Those who have no money [have] to push their way forward to the interior or to the back settlements, who have no friends in the city to receive them, nor a constitution to endure the work they may fall into under the influence of extremes of heat and cold they were not used to, and taskmasters more unfeeling than Egyptians depots, had better died in their old country. America is the worst in the world for old broken down gentlemen, or persons expecting to get lucrative and easy filled situations. The whole energy of men is here put forth in gigantic struggles for the accomplishment of one object. Cents and dollars are the deities of America, this occupy the Yankee through day and night, and no labour is too heavy or too slavish to obtain them. Every soul here is a working person, and the man who is unable or unwilling to bend down to the drudgery gets neither quarters nor commiseration. Of all who come to this country the Irish are the most abhorred – and very justly so, owing to their meanness and intemperance. No matter what qualifications an Irishman may possess he gets no situation better here in New York, unless recommended by some very influential native. Where ever he goes the spade, the barrow, the hod, and hoe await him. When left alone I sought like others, some snug, easy nest, like the situations in poor old Ireland. But I was only a green-horn, and not, therefore, eligible for any employment beyond that of labourer. In this state of disappointment and heart-break I would have sunk in the port I landed, or become a fragment of the great wreck seen here every day drifting down the current of misfortune, had not some pieces of my poetry which appeared in the American paper brought me into notice. I got 15 dollars for scraps composed on board the Sir Henry Pottinger, in praise of Ireland, from a few Irish gentry in the city. I had a kind of het weir among them for two months. In the beginning of November a piece on the American flag obtained for me the friendship and patronage of a literary gentleman in the city. He furnished me with money to travel, and invited me back to his home in case I did not succeed. I dwelt six weeks on the romantic banks of the Delaware employed as the amanuenses to an old Hungarian refugee who spoke English very imperfectly. I sang my way like Homer through the States, and paid my footing with ballads. I am now in the service of my old wealthy Yankee patron, acting as his clerk in a factory at a salary of £40 British. My cottage is furnished at his expense; but the locality is not very inviting. No society, no religion, no intercourse, almost with civilized mankind, envied, on account of my patronage, and despised for my country. I have no great desire to end my days here. America is anything but a pretty country. I know not why people praise it so much as they do. What is its loveliest scenery to Ireland’s mountain woods and valleys, if heaven had not withdrawn from it the blessing and the abundance which are scattered here? In all I travelled of the States, I never saw anything equal to the locality round Sligo. They have no system of agriculture, or in fact, of doing anything in a business-like manner as the old country. The lands 249

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are coarse, wet, and sterile for want of proper cultivation; and yet the old Yankee boor is too proud to change his slovenly system and adopt a better. No money at all, almost in circulation here. Orders must be taken to shops and stores for means here, and the commodity he sells. This is a great inconvenience. I have not had one dollar in cash since I left New York. For my wages I must travel to the city of Hartford with an order to some shop for what I want. May heaven bless poor Ireland, however, with humanity and religion. My heart is in my country, and I am sorry that my folly deprived me of the patronage of my best friend, and left me a stranger despised in a land I dislike. Will you, in conclusion, permit me to send you one of my poems, composed on taking the last view of my dear native land. May God bless the kind guardians of the Sligo Board, the workhouse, and the worthy Master, is the prayer of, gentlemen, your most grateful humble servant, JOHN GOLDERICK. LINES On taking the last view of Ireland from on board the Sir Henry Pottenger, 3 o’clock, 26 June 1850. Farewell Erin – lovely isle, My native home adiew; And ye, blue mountains in the East, There sinking from my view. How do the gales, that swell my sails, And home-bound crafts I see, And every bridge that fans the seas Bear back my heart to thee, Should I forget, tossed on the waves, The home that once had been So long the subject of my mind, Though billows roll between; No, Erin, though we parted be, Though seas between us lie, Thy mountains vales and shamrock dells Shall still my theme supply. Strange that the country, though so poor, These feelings now impart, Oft takes the place which God should hold, Enthroned within my heart;

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I love my home, though rude it be, I love its woods and dells, Though fallen, still the favoured spot, The Yankee home excels. My rustic muse still prides to own The land of ancient song, Where kings and monarchs once hath ruled: Where bards had flourished long; And though misfortunes hand had done The work of ruin there, And changed the peasant’s merry song To groans and sad despair. I’ll back to Erin ere I die, My native home to see, I’ll bring some offering to her shrine If fortune favours me; Till then my country’s praise I’ll sing In regions far away, And dedicate to scenes I love The genious of my lay.

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Part VI WHERE TO GO TO? While many left reluctantly, other saw emigration as an opportunity of a new life abroad. The exodus did present many with better prospects, in particular in North America and Australia, and those with the means and resources availed of the chance. In the early stages of the famine those with the funds and contacts left and by 1849 many commentators pointed out that the best and those with capital had left leaving behind the poor who wanted to emigrate, but had not the means to do so. As the exodus gained momentum there were those who offered advice as where the emigrants should settle, where there were opportunities and where they would have a better life. Among the places that were suggested were the mid-western states of the United States, in particular Illinois. However, only those with the resources could settle in these destinations, ruling out many of the famine emigrants who were barely able to secure the funds to cross the Atlantic. Most of those writing on the choices available for settlement were opposed to the emigrants making their homes in the large industrial cities of the east, pointing out they would be exchanging a life of poverty and destitution in Ireland to a similar fate in the industrial cities. Among those who were happy to emigrate and prepared to settle in anyplace that would accept them were those who were unable to pay for their travel and relied on others to provide the funding, often landlords, the poor law and philanthropists. The experiences of those sent out by the poor law to Australia and Canada between 1848 and 1856 was largely positive as they were given no alternative as their destinations. This can be noted by the correspondence sent back by the Sligo workhouse girls who travelled on the Lady Kennaway to Melbourne in 1848 under the Female Orphan Scheme. Others, however, did they not fare as well in the destinations they settled in. The experience of those sent out by their landlords was not as positive and they endured a precarious existence in those areas they resided in, usually the poorest and most decrepit, as with the Lansdowne tenants from Co. Kerry and the Palmerston tenants from Co. Sligo who ended up in slum tenements in Five Points, New York. While the emigrants had been attached to land in Ireland they went to those destinations where they could afford to live, usually the large industrial centres. They had come to a new environment and a different experience.

54 LETTER FROM VERE FOSTER TO THE NEWSPAPERS ADVISING POTENTIAL EMIGRANTS AS TO THE BEST PLACES IN THE UNITED STATES TO SETTLE AND PROPOSING THAT ILLINOIS WAS THE BEST DESTINATION FOR EMIGRANTS. 1 NATION, 9 AUGUST, 1851 After advising the emigrants to ask the British Council to direct them to some society or individual who would protect them from fraud after landing, he (Vere Foster) advises the emigrants to proceed into the interior of the country.2 Locations in Illinois Mr. Foster’s route lies through Illinois. He describes the location of Mr. Bouchier, from the County of Clare, as comfortable and satisfactory, who had purchased part in government land, and part of a purchased farm, which he bought, with buildings etc., for five dollars an acre. He says – “This land is cultivated with Indian corn, wheat, and oats, and some potatoes; the produce of Indian corn in this part of the country being, on an average, from thirty to thirty-five bushels, of fifty-five pounds each, per acre; of wheat, twelve bushels, of sixty pounds each, per acre; of oats, twenty-five bushels, on only thirty-two pounds each; and of potatoes, 100 bushels. Mr B. Strongly dissuades any emigrant from taking a farm of uncleared land, as the process of clearing land, for a livelihood to an emigrant wholly inexperienced, as he is, to the use of the axe in such an occupation, is enough to drive him crazy. There is always plenty of cleared land to be bought from native Americans, who are seldom unready to sell – and that at any reasonable price, – to new comers, and to proceed further west, to clear new land, at which they are expert, and to enjoy their favourite sport of hunting deer, turkeys, squirrels, and other game. Throughout most of this district, which is one of the most unsettled, I passed a house at least every half mile;

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so that an emigrant need not – apprehend that, in going to the interior, he will be thrown quite out of the range of the society of neighbours. “Proceeding up to Springfield, I passed through several small towns, each of which has its local weekly newspaper – namely, Benton, Salem, Hillsboro and Vandalia. North of Benton the land is mostly open prairie, nearly level spaces of fine grazing land, ranging from one or two to eight or ten miles square, skirted with timber. These prairies are not so thickly settled as the wood country, except along the edge of the wood; and as when I approached within twenty miles of Springfield, and between that and Naples, where I found all the land owned by individuals, and well cultivated, or covered with herds of fine Devon cattle, and mixed breeds of Durhams and Herefords and flocks of sheep. As I  proceeded north, I found the richness of the soil increase to a deep black mould, and the average produce of the land from thirty bushels of corn to from fifty to sixty, the extremes being twenty-five and 120; and twelve bushels of wheat to twenty; and twenty-five bushels of oats to fifty; the produce of the land, particularly in wheat, being still greater further north. Price of Produce “The price of corn and wheat – corn being the principal produce in the south of Illinois – I found to be about twenty-five cents per bushel, though sometimes as low as ten cents, and about thirty-five cents at market; of wheat, fifty-five cents at home, and sixty-five to seventy cents at market; of pork three dols. Per cwt.; fowls, one to one and a quarter dols. Per dozen; eggs, eight cents per dozen; butter, ten cents per lb. Further north, I found the average price of corn at home to be twelve and a half cents, and from eighteen to twenty cents at market; and it is used chiefly to fatten coffee and hogs. Lands for Sale “There are still lands extensive tracts of public lands for sale throughout the state of Illinois, particularly, for many leagues on each side of an imaginary line drawn from Shelbyville, in the centre of the State, to a point sixty miles each of Chicago, and in the north-west section of the State. There are, also, still, hundreds of thousands of acres for sale in the south. These lands are for sale at one dol. and a quarter per acre, excepting within six miles on each side of the line, not yet decided upon, of the contemplated Central Railroad. Within that distance, on either side of the intended railway, the land will be disposed of, by granting alternative strips to the Railway Company, and selling the others, on the part of Congress, at the rate of 2 dols. and a half per acre, which increased price will be well worth, on account of the increased facilities of conveying produce to market. These stripes are composed of square sections of 640 acres each. Good farms, consisting of, say 100 acres, with plank or log dwellings – house and outhouses, and about forty acres cultivated and fenced, may be bought at from two to six dols. per acre, in the south and middle parts of the State; and in the moderately settled parts of the more northern parts of the State uncultivated prairie land may be bought for from five to ten dols. per acre, and timber land from seven to fifteen

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dols., or farms may be rented at one-third of the produce. A man will generally cultivate, by himself, from thirty to forty acres. Wages for Labourers “The wages of farm labourers vary, according to their efficiency, in the southern part of the State, from eight to twelve, or fourteen dollars; and in the north, and other more thickly-settled portions, from ten to eighteen dollars per month, besides board, washing and lodging. Girls can find no employment as domestic servants in the southern part of the State, but command wages in the north, and other more settled portions, at from seventy-five cents to two dollars per week, according to their capacities. Board and lodgings cost from one one-fourth to two dollars per week. Many emigrants acquainted with farming, particularly those having families, would, probably, find it convenient, instead of labouring with a farm for hire, to hire for himself, as he would find opportunities of doing, part of the farm of an older settler already in cultivation, with timber adjoining it, and with rough farm buildings stock, implements, and seed. He would, without difficulty, if believed to be a bona fide settler, obtain all the provisions, etc., necessary for six months or more, on credit from the neighbourhood, and the usual rent he would pay for the use of the farm, etc., would be one-third of the produce; or, again, he might obtain the freehold ownership of land, buildings, fences, stock, seed, implements, provisions – all on credit. A man, with his wife and two children, would require, for six months, about thirty dollars worth of provisions, including two and a half barrels of flour, two of pork, groceries etc. “I met with a pleasing instance of a young man rising industrially into independence, in the person of my driver from Salem northwards. He is now within four months of twenty-three years of age. Having twenty-five dollars to start with, he hired himself to a farmer for one-hundred dollars a year: and, at the end of the year, having spent 25 dollars, bought, with the remaining 100, eighty acres of rich Congress, prairie land, at one-fourth dollar an acre; he then hired himself out for another year for 120 dollars; and having spent 20 dols. bought from a private owner twenty acres of timber land, adjoining his prairie land, at five dollars an acre; he then engaged himself to drive, every second day, the stag car on which I found him, for ten dollars per month, and his board, lodgings and washing, doing odd jobs on alternate days at which he earns from ten to twelve dollars per month. He has been driving now seven and a half months, and has thus accumulated 150 dollars, and married six weeks ago, his father-in-law presenting him with forty acres of prairie land, partly cultivated and fenced, a cow and a calf, and two sows. He will stock and fix himself on his farm. His younger brother, in much the same manner, has also acquired his eighty acres of prairie and twenty acres of timber land, adjoining those of his elder brother. Mr Foster points out the destructive habits of drinking in the States. They prevent labourers from attaining a certain independence. He shows that there is no likelihood to be a slack of labour in this State, as a number of railroads are being opened through it.

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The horrors and abominations of the emigrant ship are again referred to, and he shows that they are quite as bad in the steamers that ply upon the Mississippi. These remarks apply to the steerage passage. He proceeds to say: – “I consider that no State in the Union offers greater advantages to intending emigrants, either in search of employment for hire or of farms, than Illinois, and no state offers greater prospects of the most rapid advancement in material prosperity. In the first place, it has a greater amount of fertile soil, being all fertile, both actually and in proportion to its extent, than any other State of the Union, except Texas, which is subject to division into three by Congress and, in the second place it has greater natural facilities for carrying its produce to market than any other State, being nearly surrounded by the Mississippi, Ohio and Wabash Rivers, and Lake Michigan, and intersected by the Illinois River. Thus it has ready means of communication with the Atlantic Ocean, by way of Lake Michigan and the St. Lawrence or Erie Canal, by the River Ohio or Baltimore, and by the Mississippi and New Orleans. “This city of Far West already contains, as the mayor informers me, 90,000 inhabitants of whom 40,000 are Germans. There are generally forty steamboats lying in the wharf, chiefly to start the same or the next day; and a railroad will soon be commenced towards Utah, the Mormans at the Salt Lake having offered to construct the remaining portion of the road from the settlement to the Pacific. I am going, the day after to-morrow, to traverse parts of Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, which I am told are being settled fast by German and Irish emigrants from the eastern States of the Union, particularly from the slave States of Kentucky and Tennessee. – Yours, etc. VERE FOSTER, St. Louis, Missouri, June 8, 1851.

Notes 1 Vere Foster travelled round the mid west in 1850–51 visiting many states which had the potential to take Irish emigrants. 2 By the early 1850s with the massive number of emigrants arriving in North America some commentators started advising the best places to settle in.

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55 LETTER FROM VERE FOSTER CALLING FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS TO HELP SINGLE PEOPLE TO EMIGRATE, ESPECIALLY YOUNG FEMALES 1 (VERE FOSTER PAPERS, PRONI) Subscription List For the purpose of raising the condition of the poorest families in the poorest districts of Ireland, by assisting the emigration to the United States or Canada of ONE ABLE-BODIED MEMBER OF EACH FAMILY’ specially selected on account of her poverty, good character and industrious habits, with the natural expectation that she will afterwards, from her earnings in America, extend that assistance to the remaining members of her family in imitation of the notorious and very characteristic example of hundreds of thousands of the very poorest class of Irish emigrants, who have most affectionately and generously so devoted their hard earnings during the last few years, thus exhibiting a most noble example of Christian charity to their superiors in wealth and intellectual education. The expense of passage to New York, Quebec, or other parts, usually varies from £3 to £5; about 30s. will be required for outfit and other expenses, previous to embarkation; and arrangements will he made so that such emigrants as have no friends to meet them on arrival in America shall receive free a passage to where employment can be readily obtained. Whoever approves of the above object, is respectfully invited to contribute at least one penny. ST Louis, November, I854 VERE FOSTER. SUBSCRIBERS R. K. Swift, Banker, Chicago 20 pounds Earl of Eglin, ex Governor General of Canada 1 pound Capt. Schomberg, Chief Govt. Emigration officer at Liverpool 1 shilling Lady Albinia Foster 1penny Lord Hobart 6 pence Jan.12th in 1855 No. of subscribers 223

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Amount subscribed = 29 pounds1shilling 3½ pence I sent 105 persons with the proceeds of a similar fund raised in 1852 amounting to 200 pounds and my own contribution, and I have ascertained that all obtained situations within two days after landing, and that nearly all have sent for one or more of their relatives, some for as many as 5 and 6 from the County Clare, Ireland. V.F.

Note 1 Between 1850 and 1885 Vere Foster helped over 20,000 young single people, mainly girls, to emigrate to North America by providing part of the passage fare.

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Part VII THE POOR LAW AND EMIGRATION While the poor law came into existence in 1838, modelled on the English system, with accommodation for 100,000 destitute poor in the workhouses, by 1847 most were over capacity and by June 1850 had over 256,000 inmates. Under the original legislation provision was made where assistance could be provided for the poor to emigrate to the colonies, but few unions availed of this option. Attitudes changed with the massive influx of the poor into the workhouses with the guardians in particular worried with the large number of young female inmates who it was feared would become ‘a permanent deadweight’ on the system and a longterm financial burden on the rates.1 A number of poor law unions were passing resolutions as early as 1846 which called for measures to be introduced to send the surplus population to the colonies.2 It was argued that while it cost £5 a year for the upkeep of a pauper in the workhouse, the same sum could be used to pay for their passage to North America. At the same time there was a major demand for females in the colonies, in particular in Australia where there was a gender imbalance of eight males for every female.3 In March 1848 the Australian authorities suggested bringing female paupers from the workhouses in England and Wales to address this imbalance, and Earl Grey, the Colonial Secretary persuaded them to extend the proposal to Ireland. Between 1848 and 1850, 4,114 girls from 118 workhouses were sent to Australia under the Females Orphan Scheme with the largest groups coming from Skibbereen (110), Enniskillen (107), Roscrea (90) and Tipperary (87).4 The guardians’ enthusiasm was due to the Australian authorities paying the passage fares; the only expenditure for the unions was the provision of clothing and the cost of their travel to Plymouth, the point of embarkation for the colonies. The girls were to be aged between fourteen and eighteen years, although there were occasions where some unions broke this rule and while the workhouse officials provided lists of suitable applicants the final decision rested with the representatives of the Australian authorities after the girls were interviewed. While the scheme ended in 1850, largely because of opposition in the colonies to the settlement of Irish Catholic paupers, it was seen as successful.

T he P oor L aw and E migration

As a result of the Australian scheme, legislation was introduced in 1849 giving the poor law unions greater freedom to provide assistance for pauper emigration. Over the following six years 14,000 workhouse inmates, mainly young females, had their passage paid to start a new life in the colonies, mainly in Canada.5 The Canadian approach differed to the Female Orphan Scheme to Australia in that the North American authorities had little input into the selection of candidates as they did not contribute towards the costs. Funding was mainly provided through the remaining money in the Rate-in-Aid Fund and borrowings by the individual unions.6 While there was opposition in the unions to the schemes, overall there was strong support because of the long-term savings that would accrue. Advocates argued that the emigration would benefit the colonies and provide the paupers the opportunity to better themselves, but the economic motives were the primary consideration. The workhouse schemes to Canada were better organised than those of the landlord assisted schemes to Quebec and New Brunswick of the late 1840s as there was direct communication between the Canadian authorities and the poor law union officials in Ireland resulting in ‘Landing Money’ being forwarded to allow the emigrants travel to those destinations where there was demand for their labour, and when was the best time for the emigrants to travel to the colony.7 The poor law also facilitated the emigration of those family members who had to resort to the workhouses when fathers and sons emigrated in search of work, but who did not have the resources to pay for the travel costs of other family members. For many the poor law was the only vehicle which provided them with the means to emigrate.

Notes 1 Moran, ‘Shovelling out the paupers’, pp 22–41. 2 Moran, Sending Out Ireland’s Poor, pp123–9. 3 Richard Reid, Farewell My Children: Irish Assisted Emigration to Australia, 1848–1870 (Anchor Books Australia, Spit Junction, NSW, 2011), pp 13–6. 4 McClaughlin, ‘Lost children?: Irish famine orphans in Australia’, p. 31. 5 See Moran, ‘Shovelling out the paupers’ pp 22–40. 6 The Rate-in-Aid Fund had been established in 1849 whereby the better off poor law unions in Ireland provided assistance to those who had financial difficulties. See Christine Kinealy, This Great Calamity: The Irish Famine, 1845–52 (Dublin, 1994), pp254–64. 7 For the landlord schemes see Moran, Sending Out Ireland’s Poor, pp 35–69.;

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56 MEMORIAL FROM THE KILRUSH BOARD OF GUARDIANS TO THE PRIME MINISTER, LORD JOHN RUSSELL, ADVOCATING EMIGRATION FROM THE WORKHOUSES AS A  SOLUTION TO IRELAND’S PROBLEMS. 1 CLARE JOURNAL, 26 NOVEMBER 1846 KILRUSH UNION.2 At a meeting of the Board of Guardians of the above Union, held on the 11th inst, Colonel C.M. Vandeleur,3 D.L. in the chair, and present – H.S. Burton, D.L.; J.F. Studdert, Capt. R.N. and J.P.; W.C. Marrett, J.P.; George Studdert, J.P.,4 ExOfficios, and 16 Elected Guardians, the following resolutions and memorial were proposed by Capt. Studdert, and adopted: Resolved – That the degree of destitution prevailing throughout this county, especially amongst the poorer classes, calls for the best exertions of every wellminded person towards its alleviation. Resolved – That this Board, the constituted Guardians of the Poor of our Union, after close investigation into the state of our several districts, contrasting the present extent of this calamity, and the certainty of a continuous for months – also, the possibility of a repetition – with the amount of the resources made available by law as a remedy thereto, are of opinion, that for so great and heavy visitation, such measures are not only utterly inadequate, but rather calculated to add to the list of paupers, and that an extensive and popular system of emigration appears to us to be a more feasible as a more permanent measure of relieving such multidinous destitution. Resolved – That while supplies are being provided, we address our Brother Guardians throughout the Kingdom to solicit their co-operation in an unanimous appeal to her Majesty’s Government, to consider with that attention so important a matter requires the actual state of our country in order to device some plan of emigration commensurate with its wants: and that we express our readiness to

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co-operate with the Government in carrying into effect, the provisions of some such suitable enactment. Resolved – That on obtaining the cordial co-operation of the several Boards of Guardians for the purpose specified, no further time be lost in entering upon the arrangements necessarily required to promote such a national charity – and that a memorial to that effect, addressed to Her Majesty’s Government be forthwith prepared for adoption by this Board, a copy of which, together with a copy of these resolutions, to be transmitted to the several Boards of Guardians, throughout Ireland. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD JOHN RUSSELL We, your Memorialists, the constituted Guardians of a Union containing nearly 100,000 inhabitants, fully sensible that the dreaded calamity of a barely suspended starvation, with which between 2 and 3 millions of Her Majesty’s Irish subjects are daily threatened, is an admitted fact as shown by the measures already devised by the Government to lighten such an affliction. We therefore hasten to lay before the Executive our deep conviction, arrived at, after minute investigation into the state of our several electoral divisions, that the remedies now provided by law, are utterly inadequate to encounter successfully, a necessity of such magnitude. We do therefore respectfully, yet anxiously solicit the serious attention of Her Majesty’s Ministers towards devising some more effective and permanent measure, one that while it affords relief to the already destitute – may not lay the foundation of an increase to their numbers. And we do not hesitate to suggest, that every great feature leading to, or now exhibited by the present crisis, points to an extensive system of Emigration, by families, as the remedy not only best adapted to relieve the distress of this land, but also to become a means of increasing our Empire, by reclaiming to the use of man, some of the large uncultivated tracts of our colonies. And while your Memorialists would urgently press upon the Government the wisdom of such a measure, we do at the same time pledge our cordial co-operation therein.

Notes 1 Up to 1849 the poor law unions could provide the finances for assisted emigration, but this had to be paid for through the poor rates. Most rate payers were opposed to providing the additional funding for emigration. 2 Kilrush was one of the most distressed unions in Ireland during the Famine. See Matthew Lynch, The Mass Evictions in Kilrush Poor Law Union during the Great Famine (Old Kilfarboy Society, Milltown Malbay, 2013). 3 Col. Vandelaeur was chairman of the Kilrush Board of Guardians and one of the largest landlords in Co. Clare with an estate of nearly 19,000 acres, mainly in the barony of Moyarta. The family played a major role in the development of the town of Kilrush. 4 George Studdert was an landowner with an estate of about 640 acres.

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57 MATERIALS USED IN THE FITTING OUT OF THE 38 FEMALES SENT FROM BALLINASLOE WORKHOUSE TO AUSTRALIA IN AUGUST, 1848. 1 WESTERN STAR, 19 AUGUST  1848 BALLINASLOE UNION The following memorandum was read from the Matron of the list of clothing for the female emigrants: 210 yards of cotton; 150 yards of merron; 75 yards of cotton; 180 yards of calico; 180 pairs of stockings; 30 worsted shawls; 60 neck handkerchiefs; 772 yards of linen; 30 pairs of mitts; 30 pairs of stays; 30 bonnets and trimmings, &c. 160 yards of grey calico; tapes, treads, &c. [The guardians, in this instance, are acting well; they are sending out those poor girls with a very comfortable outfit. A  person will be appointed to take them in charge to Plymouth,2 from which port they are to take shipping. They are extremely well-looking, healthy, young women; for their own sakes we are rejoiced to see them leave their birth-place, but it is a sad reflection in a fine country like this, capable of rearing and maintaining its population, if its vast resources were employed, to see the strong and healthy seeking another country to provide mere sustenance; to remain at home, their lives can only be preserved by public charity. There is not one of those young women who, if there were manufactures established here, or any suitable industry for females, that would not earn a livelihood. “Half-savages,” “idle blackguards,” &c., are the complimentary epithets applied to our countrymen by the lying Times, and others that we expected much better from; it would be more generous if those parties would be advocates and introduce useful industry, and give the wretched people of exhibiting their willingness to serve themselves. Much has been said about keeping away English capital from circulating amongst us; this we look upon as rank folly. What, for instance, has an Englishman to dread in coming to this neighbourhood, where a fine field presents itself? “A hair of his head” would not be touched; and not alone in this locality but to every other part of Ireland, if he treats the people well. We are well aware that acts of atrocity have been perpetrated by the peasantry, and in some instances towards those who have come amongst them for good, but acts 265

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as barbarous, as cold-blooded, and unmanly are every day committed in England. A coward fear may prevent some timid persons from speculating in Ireland, but men of enlarged views and generous purpose may safely enterprise amongst us. We never have heard of an Englishman or Scotchman refused a good “braw berth” in the land, and we are sorry to say they have got some of the best, to the neglect of Ireland’s own children. We wish some English capitalist would make the trial here – as to hands, the fact of transporting thirty fine young women, is a proof that we have a super abundance – as to opportunity for carrying on a successful traffic, there is a large extent of country surrounding this thickly populated area – a river capable of turning a thousand wheels, carriage from this town, land carriage in all directions, very moderate, a railway thirty miles, a liberal nobleman to treat with, and everything to favour a man of enterprise and capital. We invite such a man here, and we promise him that, if he thinks he will meet none but “half-savages” and “idle blackguards,” he will be agreeably disappointed by finding the people quiet, peaceable, and industrious].

Notes 1 A total of thirty-eight girls were assisted from the Ballinasloe workhouse to Australia under the Female Orphan Scheme and they departed from Plymouth on the Lady Kennaway for Melbourne. 2 Plymouth was the port of embarkation for all of the workhouse girls sent to Australia under the Female Orphan Scheme.

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58 LETTER FROM BISHOP T. MURPHY, 1 CHAIRMAN OF THE CHILDREN APPRENTICESHIP BOARD TO THE COLONIAL SECRETARY REGARDING THE FEMALE WORKHOUSE PAUPERS THAT HAD BEEN SENT OUT ON THE “ROMAN EMPEROR” IN 1848. NAI, CSORP, 1848/0.3081 (LETTER FROM BISHOP T. MURPHY TO LORD GREY, DATED, 21 NOVEMBER, 1848) 21 November 1848. Adelaide, 19 female orphans arrived on 23 October on the “Roman Emperor.” All of them except one who is sick, have found a situation. Unfavourable reports were circulated about them as being insubordinate during the voyage and as being an inferior class of their kind and one newspaper described them as ‘a rough lot.’ Five members of the Board visited the ship on arrival and were well satisfied with the appearance of the orphans. They were clean and orderly and did credit to the surgeon and matron in charge. The emigrants are as useful a class as could have been sent to this colony. The orphans should be sent out between 1 June and 31 October to be gradually prepared for the effects of the hot weather. Three instances occurred in which the Board removed girls from their situations, five of which the girls and their mistresses did not agree, and several others may possibly happen. The wages are as follows: 14–15 years. £5 p. a. 15–16 years, £6 p. a. 16–17 years. £7 10s. p. a. 267

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17–18 years. £9 p. a. 18–19 years, £10 p. a.

Note 1 Bishop Thomas Murphy (1795–1858), born in Ireland, was the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Adelaide being appointed in 1844.

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59 LETTER FROM AUSTRALIA, 12 JAN. 1849 FROM ANN KELLY TO HER MOTHER WHO LIVED IN DONEGAL. NLI, MONTEAGLE PAPER (MS 13400 (2) (LETTER FROM ANN KELLY TO HER MOTHER, DATED 12 JANUARY 1849)) Melbourne, 12th January, 1849 My Dear Mother, I write this to let you know that I have arrived safely at my journey’s end after a very good voyage of 3 months. We were all very well treated on board the ships by every person, the Doctor, Captain and Matron being all very kind to us and we were fortunate enough to have only one death during the whole voyage. When we arrived here the Emigration Agent, (Mr Patterson) came on board and took down our names, and the next day we were all brought on all ashore and put into a regular place made for us to live in, when the Gentlemen and Ladies of the town were allowed to visit us, and engage us. The wages are very good being from £12 to £18, so the sooner you come out the better. You must not believe all the bad reports you hear about this Country, for it is far better than home and there is everything out here to make you comfortable. We only pay 2d. per pound for beautiful beef out here and the 2 pound loaf is about the same price as at home. Clothing is not so cheap as at home, but then you can live well and have good wages, instead of half-starving as a good many do at home. I wish my brother, John, and sister, Margaret, were out here, I think they should come as soon as possible, and let them keep little John at school till they come. If you could come out too Dear Mother, I am sure you would be far better than at home. Will you be kind enough to let Revd. Mr. McGettigan1 know that we are all well and have arrived safe with no deaths or sickness. I am hired with Dr Patterson who once lived in Strabane, and who knows Bishop McGettigan very well. You should try and get all the girls you can to come out. I and Margaret McGettigan are in the same house and Margaret is going with Dr. Patterson’s married daughter, about

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200 miles in the bush, but we must not think that there is any danger from the Blacks, for there are very few now, and those that you do see are quite quick and sometimes become shepherds, and servants for the settlers. Catherine Doherty and, Mary, her sister are both in the same house, but are 100 miles up the bush. It would be too much to mention all the girls names, but let it be sufficient to say that they are all well, and in good places. Catherine, David and Bell Kinsella are living in town and a great many more of the girls are in town and we can often see each other. The two little girls, Catherine and Beth, slept in the same berth with me on the way out, and were not at all sick. There were 250 girls in the ships and they all got placed in less than a fortnight, so you see we are well off. If you would let my Aunt know that I have been looking about for Joseph and Fanny, and Jane McAllister and have only been able to hear that Joseph is about 100 miles in the country, and when I see him, he will tell me something about the girls, but tell my Aunt not to be down-hearted as I hope they are living and well. I hope that my Uncle and Aunt will not forget you till I am able to send you some money, which I hope to do in my next letter. Give my kindest love to cousins Ann, Elizabeth, and Robert, and also to my Uncle and Aunt, and Mary Starrit, her Husband and family, and tell them I hope before long to see them all out here in this land of plenty, and ask Mary Starrit to let me know if James McAllister is dead or married. If you want to write to any of the Girls, you had better direct it to the care of “Dr. Patterson, Acting Emigration Agent, Melbourne, Poer (sic) Philip.” Give my love to all my friends, and all who enquire after me and let Mrs Callaghan of Ballyboe2 that I have not found her Mother or Uncle yet, but as soon as I do I will let her know. Tell Mr. Graham and Mr. and Mrs. McHale that the girls are all well and that we had no bad weather, and now my dear mother as I have nothing more to say I must conclude, so with love to all and yourself. Believe me your affectionate daughter, Ann Kelly,3 Be sure not to mistake to direct your letter to Dr Patterson’s care, and write as soon as you get this for I am anxious to hear from you. I forgot to tell you that Dr. Patterson had the dispensary at Kilmacrenan4 many years ago. He was married to one of old Mrs. Starrets daughters who lived in Letterkenny for a long time, and often talks to us about the old Letterkenny people. And now Dear mother I hope that we will meet again before we leave this world. If you would rather stay at home, I will always send you help in the way of money, but I hope that, if we don’t meet again in this world, we will in Heaven.

Notes 1 This is probably Daniel McGettigan (1815–1887) who in the 1840s was a curate in Letterkenny and afterwards was Bishop of Raphoe and Archbishop of Armagh. 2 Ballyboe is a townland in the Letterkenny Poor Law Union.

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3 Ann Kelly was 19 years when she left Letterkenny workhouse on the Lady Kennaway and found immediate employment with Dr Patterson in Melbourne. In 1850 she married Edward Bedford and died in 1897. There were 191 workhouse girls on the Land Kennaway. 4 Kilmacrenan is a small village in Co. Donegal near Letterkenny.

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60 EVIDENCE OF E. SENIOR 1 TO THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE POOR LAW, RECOMMENDING EMIGRATION OF YOUNG WORKHOUSE FEMALE PAUPERS TO THE COLONIES. THIRD REPORT FROM THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE POOR LAW (IRELAND), TOGETHER WITH MINUTES, HC 1849 (137), XV, PP 113–5 2331. Mr. G.C. Lewis.]2 Do you think it desirable that any steps should be taken for relieving the workhouse population by means of emigration? – I believe it to be the utmost importance to do so. 2332. To what portion of the population would you apply that remark? – I should apply it to persons aged from 13 or 14 to 18 or 19, especially to girls. I apprehend that arrangement might be made by which the respective unions should defray the cost of clothing and removal to the port of embarkation, and probably some portion of the expense of the voyage. I believe it would be desirable, beforehand, to require some species of education and industrial test, in order to give an additional stimulus to the proper education of children. 2333. Is the accumulation of young women in the workhouses now greater than of young men? – Much greater. 2334. Would you confine the emigration to orphans and deserted and illegitimate children, or would you extend it to children generally in the workhouses? – I should confine it to orphans and deserted children, meaning by orphan children those who have lost the head of family, and not exclusively to those who have lost both parents. 2335. Out of what fund would you defray such portion of the expense as was not defrayed by the unions? – A portion of the funds must come, I apprehend, either from the Imperial Treasury or from the sale of land fund of the colonies. The arrangement ought to be an equitable one. As regards the colonies you should only send a description of persons who will be serviceable there, and I apprehend there is a large supply of that description of labour. 272

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2336. Would not the emigration of females be advantageous in most of the Australian settlements? – I believe it would be highly advantageous. I may explain that the tendency to be a deadweight in the workhouses on the part of children is constantly increasing in every part of Ireland; epidemics and fevers, and other causes, carry off the heads of the family, but the children are left: more than half of the inmates of the workhouses now consist of children. . . . .  . . . . . . 2350. Sir W. Somerville.]3 Did you assist in the rent arrangements that were set on foot for removing orphan children from the north? – I took a very active part in those arrangements. 2351. How many children were removed from the workhouses under your care? – About 300; we could have sent 600 with advantage, and persons of unblemished character and of proper age, but the number was limited. 2352. Is it your decided opinion that the immigration of those children into the Australian colonies would be a valuable acquisition? – I believe it will. In every case we made strict inquiries, and we rejected everybody of whom there was any doubt as to previous character, and any person of weak constitution, or where there was anything to render them undesirable as servants; and their presence in the workhouses is a proof of the distress that existed, for in the absence of such distress such persons would not have applied for admission. 2353. It was necessary for the Board of Guardians to provide clothing and outfits for the parties who were sent? – Yes, 5l. each was the cost. 2354. Did any union refuse to provide that? – One union, and only one. 2355. What union was that? – Lurgan. 2356. Mr. Bright.]4 On what ground did they refuse? – They said that the twenty persons who were selected by me as being proper candidates for emigration, and who on their part were anxious to go, were not suitable, inasmuch as the Board of Guardians considered that they ought to be able to support themselves out of the workhouse by their own exertions; but experience has proved their inability, for the greater part of them have remained there to this day. 2357. Sir W. Somerville.] Those children who were sent were exclusively orphans? – Yes. 2358. I think I understood you to say that you would extend that power of emigrating persons to deserted children; do you think there would be any danger in extending it in that way, that it might open the door to abuse? – I think there would be a great danger of abuse, unless it was very carefully guarded. It might be provided, for instance, that there should have been a continued residence in the workhouse for four years, and that nothing was known of the parents.

Notes 1 Edward Senior was Assistant Poor Law Commissioner in Ulster and an advocate of assisted emigration from the workhouses.

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2 George Cornewall Lewis (1806–1863) was a commissioner who inquired into the condition of the poor Irish residents in Britain and Ireland and in his writings proposed an efficient workhouse organisation. 3 Sir William Somerville (1802–1883) was MP for Drogheda between 1837 and 1852. He was Chief Secretary for Ireland between 1847 and 1852. 4 John Bright (1811–1889), Radical politician who was an MP from 1843 to 1889.

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61 PROPOSAL IN THE SKIBBEREEN BOARD OF GUARDIANS TO SEND FEMALE WORKHOUSE PAUPERS TO NORTH AMERICA. GALWAY VINDICATOR, 20 DECEMBER 1848 Skibbereen Union1 The Guardians of this Union met on Thursday, at the usual hour, for the disposal of the ordinary business, and also for the consideration of some special notices of motion given on the previous day of meeting. PAUPER EMIGRATION Mr. Daniel McCarthy then rose to propose a motion, of when he had given notice on a former board day, relative to pauper emigration. He did so, he said under the firm conviction that a well regulated system of emigration, from that house, of able-bodied paupers, would relieve the union generally, in a pecuniary point of view, and also relieve the paupers themselves. He hoped many of the Guardians would agree with him – he knew that many of them differed with him. He believed they had given the matter full consideration and took their view from a conscientious feeling; but he thought that after the discussion of that day, which, he hoped, would be carried on calmly and impartially they would change their minds and agree with him. With regard to the expenses of the house they all knew what they were. He believed that at present the cost of each pauper, for the provisions alone, was one shilling a week – it had been 1s 3d; but he now took it at the minimum, and that, added to the item of clothing, would make at the very least three pounds a year. Then if that were the whole expense, and if they multiplied that expense by the average number of years an able bodied pauper would spend in that house, and they would not consider his statement exaggerated when he said the average length of time might be five years – if they multiplied three by five, they would have £15 as the expense of each able-bodied pauper in the house. Now, if it bettered their condition to send them elsewhere – and he would only send as many as would go willingly – they would serve them and relieve the union. He understood that paupers could be sent to America at £4 a-head, and if they got one pound additional – because they never get on in America or elsewhere, without 2

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having some small sum in their pocket – that would make £5. That he understood, would be the average cost of pauper emigration from the union. He found that the Marquis of Lansdowne had sent off some tenants from his property in the Queen’s County,3 and that he did it at a cost of £2 12s a head; but his lordship might have had a more cheap mode of doing it than they could have, and therefore he thought it would be better to take £5 as an average. But let them look as the matter in a more human and philanthropic view, and they would find it would better their condition to send them from a land of misery to one of plenty, to send them from wretchedness to comfort (loud cries of here here.) And if the expense to send them out were greater, they should as guardians and men send them rather than keep them in the wretched dungeon in which they were – crammed in wretched apartments where there was neither walking nor sitting, nor even standing room. It was wonderful that they were not swept away by disease. Let them just imagine hundreds of human beings cooped in that fetid atmosphere – it was really the Providence of God that kept them alive there. Next they found that hundreds who went to America did well there and were able to send money home to their friends in this country, and they were to assume that the paupers whom they sent out would make as much money there as those who had gone before, and would not only send money to their relatives but help to take them out which would be a great assistance to the Union. The speaker here read some extracts of emigration from a lecture delivered in Liverpool on the subject of emigration, from which it appeared that labour was highly remunerated in the States – that labourers got as much as £25 a year and board and lodgings, in Philadelphia, and equally high wages in other parts of the United States, and that mechanics and others were remunerated in proportion. A man who held a cabin and an acre of ground on his (Mr. C’s) land, emigrated a few months ago. He got a few pounds on giving up his ground; and he sent a letter from America to the relatives sending over money. The letter was dated 4th October, so that was a late instance. The Speaker here read the letter in which the poor man stated that ‘he and his wife blessed the day they landed in America,” for they were earning plenty of money and “could eat far better food every day than his friends at home could get at Christmas,’ – that he was earning twenty-five dollars a month – that they could support themselves on nine dollars, and saved £3 15s a month – that he could get a pound of tobacco for nine pence and a gallon of whiskey for one shilling.

Notes 1 The Skibbereen Union was one of the areas most impacted during the Great Famine. See Patrick Hickey, Famine in West Cork: The Mizen Peninsula, Land and People 1800– 1852 (Mercier Press, Cork; 2002). 2 Daniel was the Poor Law Guard for the Cashlora Electoral Division. 3 The Marquis of Lansdowne Irish estates covered 120,000 acres in Kerry, Limerick, King’s Co, Queen’s Co., and Dublin.

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62 EVIDENCE OF THE R.J.T. ORPEN TO THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE POOR LAW URGING THAT EMIGRATION BE USED AS A PANACEA TO THE OVERCROWDING IN THE WORKHOUSES. 1 THIRD REPORT FROM THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE POOR LAW (IRELAND), HC 1849(93) XV, P. 168 30 March 1849 3043. Then the potato having failed, and cooked Indian meal being the cheapest food that can be given, is there any other remedy than that of emigration, or do you look upon it as the only remedy? – I confess I do not see any other hope for many of the unions in Ireland but the emigration of the mere paupers, because the country will not be able to support them. The present state of taxation will, I think, reduce the country to a state of poverty in all such unions: we have nothing else to look at. 3044. What proportion of the male population of the Union of Kenmare with which you are conversant should you say are paupers? I cannot tell that; I could not discover the number in the poorhouse; beyond an approximation, in August last. 3045. What proportion of the population removed by emigration, or in any other way, from the union, would restore the union to a healthy state? – I would say the proportion that is now in the poorhouse; the day I was there were 600 ablebodied persons in the poorhouse. 3046. Do you think the removal of those 600 would be all that would be necessary for the prosperity of the Union of Kenmare? – Either the removal of them and their families, or giving them some kind of employment. There is a great deal said about loans to railway companies, and if the Government were to insist, when

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they made a loan to a railway company, that the persons who were able-bodied now in the poorhouses should be employed, that would give assistance. 3047. But would you contemplate the employment of the people at the Government expense as a permanent mode of relieving the district? – It could not be permanent. 3048. If the growth of the potato is no longer to be depended upon, how would affairs stand when that mode of relief ceased? In what degree would they be better off than they are now when the period arrived that that public aid could no longer be given? – I cannot devise a mode. I think it is a visitation of Providence that we cannot remedy. I do not see how it can be remedied except by emigration.

Note 1 R.J.T. Orpen was a landowner in the Kenmare Union, and resided at Killaha Castle. The estate comprised 955 acres. By the late 1840s many Poor Law unions were urging that the government allow them to help the poor to emigrate.

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63 REPORT ON THE FEMALE ORPHANS WHO SAILED FROM PLYMOUTH TO AUSTRALIA ON THE THOMAS ARBUTHNOT IN OCTOBER 1849. 1 MAYO TELEGRAPH, 20 NOVEMBER 1850 IRISH FEMALE EMIGRANTS Some of our readers may recollect to have seen, in the middle of October last year, files of smart and cleanly  – dressed young women, under the care of matrons, passing along the quays to embark on board Irish steamers for Plymouth. Similar files had been seen the preceding year; and all who had seen them agreed that a more comely race, and better adopted for the new life on which they were about to enter, it would be impossible to discover. Last year’s supply was chiefly drawn from the unions of Galway, Loughrea, Gort, Scariff, Ennis, Enistymon, Listowel, Dingle, Dublin, and some over districts. The Irish emigrants numbered about 200, and, as many of our readers are aware, were sent at the expense of the Land and Emigration Commissioners to New South Wales, the Guardians merely furnishing the outfit and bearing the expense to the port of embarkation. This was but a single charge, the clothing having been either manufactured or made up in the workhouse, so that a few pounds per head as the cost of transit, was the only charge on the union funds. The girls were selected from among the best qualified in the female wards – most of them under twenty, and all of them unmarried. The conduct of the last group during the voyage will afford gratification to the guardians and to the friends of these poor girls, who must have been ignorant of the fate of their relatives in their voyage to the antipodes. We are enabled to furnish some particulars from the narrative of the surgeon superintendent, a man eminently fitted for the duties which he appears to have discharged. Mr. Strutt2 proved a most efficient officer, and in seconding the views of the Commissioners, who have made every provision for the comfort and moral safety of the passengers, his conduct contracts strongly with that of other officers in similar circumstances, who grossly violated their trust, and propagated drunkenness and debauchery among the hitherto chaste and temperate. The selection of persons like Mr. Strutt, who, to a conscientious discharge of duty, adds that tenderness 279

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and consideration for of female helplessness which operate so powerfully on the female mind, should be, next to the proper funding of the ship, the permanent aim of societies charged with the emigration of females. On such an offer the order, regularity, and moral deportment of the passengers will mainly depend. If he be faithless to his trust no vigilance on the part of the matron or ship’s officers will prevent containment and disorder. The emigrants embarked at Plymouth on the 28th of October, 1849, on board the Thomas Arbuthnot, specially freighted for the purpose. The internal arrangements of the ship were admirably suited to promote the comfort and health of the passengers. There was sickness on board, with the exception of the usual nausea, from which the passengers rapidly recovered. The discipline was not severe, but sufficient; indeed, the deportment of the Irish emigrants was such during the voyage, of nearly four months, that not a well found complaint was preferred against one! The one was on a day dear to all Christians, and particularly impressive to the Irish peasant who spends the day of Nativity far away from the land of his youth and his affection. It was a touching sight. After prayers had been said – and we wish some more satisfactory provision had been made for Catholic worship on board emigrant ships – the poor girls could not restrain their rising grief. “They would assemble in small groups lamenting their fate and Old Ireland, and deploring the absence from their ever loved country and friends. Circle after circle formed, and soon the sounds of grief and woe were heard throughout the ship.” The deep tenderness of the Irish nature on such an occasion might well be excused – and indeed it was excused – the only penalty for excessive sorrow being a threat of withholding a modicum of plumb pudding! The English and Scotch emigrants exhibited a more worldly indifference. They did not mourn for home or friends, and, very like, associated Christmas Day with nothing more touching or reverential than roast beef and Yorkshire pudding! How ineradicable and all-absorbing is this passion in the breast of the Irish peasant. Home first – then country! It breaks out in wild fits on the slightest occasions. No time – no distance, can impair that tender devotion – less romantic, but far more deeper and more touching than the love which has immortalized the national character of Switzerland. The Irish peasant is proverbially idle and uneducated. Such is the constant depreciation of prejudice and ignorance. Well, if these qualities of idleness and non-intelligence could find ample verge for development anywhere it must be on board ship, with all the heaviness and nausea of a long sea voyage and the uncertainty of the future which most incapacitate the mind of the emigrant for any active exertion. To relieve the dreariness of the voyage schools were established after the vessel; had passed Madeira. For the purpose of classification lists were taken of such as could read and write. The contingents of several unions could both read and write, while several had a fair knowledge of arithmetic, and could cast accounts with tolerable precision. At the head of all, and foremost in acquirements, were the girls from Ennis; and the last are stated to be those from Dingle and Galway. Mr. Strutt, however, details one incident which elevates the Galway claims. One poor girl requested permission to assist the cook, although exposed 280

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to the fierce heat of a tropical and vertical sun. She conceived that some slight knowledge of the culinary art would serve her in her new condition, and she was gratified. Not less desirous was she to improve her understanding, and so rapidly did she learn, that though utterly ignorant in the commencement of the voyage she was able to read and write, and make up simple accounts at the close! One hundred and twenty in all volunteered for instruction. To fill up whatever few pauses remained of their time the girls were set to knitting some materials which a friendly lady had contributed in Plymouth. Instruction here was not needed – the girls quite astonished the matron and superintendent. Nearly “all,” says Mr. Strutt, “could knit, and in every variety of pattern. In fact, it seemed a much more general accomplishment amongst the Irish than amongst the English and Scotch of the same class.” The reason is obvious enough. The young English and Scotch girl is transferred from the parental roof to the factory to tend spindles or do some other unhousewife-like business, while the Irish girl of the same age is occupied in knitting or spinning for domestic uses, and which almost universal training, though course and homely, is one of the causes why the Irish female child becomes so expert, and at so little expenditure of time and labour, in acquiring the higher arts of embroidery and lace making. The Thomas Arbuthnot anchored off Sydney on the 2nd of February last. The emigrants were inspected by the government officers, who were better pleased with their appearance and unexceptionable deportment during the voyage. Mr Strutt bears unmixed testimony to their habitual cheerfulness, excellent temper, obedience to rule, and desire for improvement. Everything was kept with regularity, and more than the cleanliness, of a man-of-war on board the Thomas Arbuthnot. “Not a spot or speck was to be seen,” and on the whole a gentler, more promising, and better behaved freight never crossed the ocean. How they were disposed of an arrival we have not learned, but it is to be hoped in proportion to their merits and their morals. – Freeman.

Notes 1 The Thomas Arbuthnot sailed from Plymouth on 28 October 1849 and arrived in Sydney on 3 February 1850 with 194 girls from Irish workhouses. See Richard Reid and Cheryl Mongan, ‘A Decent Set of Girls’: The Irish Famine Orphans on the ‘Thomas Arbuthnot, 1849–1850 (Yass Heritage Project, NSW; 1996). 2 Dr Charles Strutt, Surgeon-Superintendent who travelled on the Thomas Arbuthnot and kept a journal of the voyage.

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64 DISCUSSION IN THE TUAM BOARD OF GUARDIANS IN OCTOBER 1851 REGARDING CONTRIBUTING TOWARDS HELPING PAUPERS TO EMIGRATE. TUAM HERALD, 25 OCTOBER, 1851 TUAM UNION – MEETING OF GUARDIANS The meeting of the Board was held on Wednesday. The members present were: – DENIS KIRWAN, Esq., Chairman,1 Denis Bodkin, John F. Browne,2 Charles Blake (Thornhill), T.M. O’Flaherty, Richard Savage, Thomas Higgins, Richard Kelly, E.L. Hunt, Thomas Finney, T. Lally, Dominick Lynch, David Ruttledge and J.W. Benson, Esqrs. John Reynolds, Esq. M.P.,3 was present during a portion of the proceedings. The minutes of the previous meeting were read, as also the communications from the Commissioners none of which possessed any particular interest. The visiting Committee recommended that the Master should post up daily returns of the industrial operations carried out in the establishment. Mr. Hunt said there was a number of girls in the house now who were likely to remain permanent burdens upon the rate-payers. These he proposed to send to America but they required clothes to enable them to go, and to provide which he would ask the Guardians to contribute a share, say about 10s. a head. Their passage out which was £3 10s. would be paid by Mr. St. George,4 and £1 each would be given them on landing. Some of them were in this house from two to four years and if not disposed of in some such way as he now proposed would remain there forever. The Chairman observed that he mentioned the matter at last meeting and instanced a case somewhat similar that lately occurred in Mt. Bellew, where a sum of money was given by the Guardians to help in defraying the expenses of emigration. He supposed that they could now act in like manner. Mr. Bodkin5 read the section of the Act bearing on such cases, and by which it appeared that monies so granted should be charged on the electoral divisions to which the paupers were chargeable. Mr. Hunt – in that case it would avail very little; for if charged on the division of Headford, Mr. St. George himself would have to pay for all in the end. He considered that he went sufficiently far in making the offer he did – let the union 282

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pay even half the expense of clothing and the project can be carried out, otherwise it must be given up. He would send ten now, some of them would soon send for those they left behind and Mr. St. George would again assist in sending out another lot. Thus will they drain the house of incumbrance that would otherwise be perpetual. Mr. Higgins – Perhaps it is also intended to drain the land of its population in this way. But if the owners of land wised to reduce rates, they should take their paupers out of the workhouse, restore their habitations to them and employ them in some useful works on the thousands of acres of land that are now laying waste and unprofitable in this country. Chairman – If Mr. Higgins asked for a certain sum to aid in the emigration of those parties, they might be better enabled to deal with his application then, than its present shape. Mr. C. Blake – Let the division pay half and the remainder be charged upon the union; altogether it would be but a small amount. Mr. Bodkin – The law is explicitly against such a proceeding; besides it would be rather unfair, to relieve one division at the expense of the others. Mr. Higgins – On looking over the books, it appears that there are 700 less in the house now than last year; where are those gone to? He looked upon emigration altogether as a bad system and as such he was uniformly opposed to it. The Chairman was also against it, unless in such cases as the present, where a burden otherwise permanent could be got rid of. Mr. Hunt – Then as the division must pay for it, there’s an end of the matter. At a subsequent stage of the proceedings, Mr. Reynolds remarked that the bread was of a very bad description, and asked how much did each pauper cost per week. He had been through the house and observed that the children particularly looked well. The chairman said the cost last week was 10 3s/4d. That was higher than Loughrea, or Galway, or any other neighbouring union. Mr. Reynolds – that is small shade over Kilrush. In the Dublin unions they give their paupers the best white bread. He trusted they would not think him intrusive in giving his opinion. Mr. Bodkin – Certainly not: but the comparisons of Dublin with these unions was not warranted by the circumstances of each being so widely different. The No. in the house this day (Saturday), is 1302; Average weekly cost of a healthy inmate 9¼ d; Do. In Infirmary 11¾ d; Do in Fever Hospital 1s 5¾ d; general average cost 9¾ d. The Board adjourned at 5 o’clock.

Notes 1 Denis Kirwan of Castlehacket was Chairman of the Board of Guardians from 1851 to 1862). 2 John F. Browne was vice-chairman of the Board of Guardians from 1844–1865.

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3 John Reynolds (1797–1868) was MP for Dublin City from 1847–1852 and a Repeal politician. 4 The St George family of Headford Castle had an estate of 1,600 acres i8n north Galway. The family also had land in Roscommon, Limerick and Queen’s Co. hppt//:www.landed estates.nuigalway.ie. 5 Denis Bodkin of Kilcoony and had an estate of 2,312 acres. For information on the estate see Gerard Moran, ‘the Irish Purchase and Settlement Company and the attempted migration scheme to Kilcloony in the 1880s’ in Irish Economic and Social History, xxxii (2005), pp 47–62.

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65 NAMES OF THE FIFTY GIRLS SENT FROM MOUNTBELLEW WORKHOUSE TO MONTREAL ON THE PRIMROSE IN JULY 1854. 1 MINUTES OF MOUNTBELLEW POOR LAW GUARDIANS, WEEK ENDING 5 MARCH (GALWAY COUNTY COUNCIL ARCHIVES, MOUNTBELLEW POOR LAW MINUTE BOOK, NOV. 1852–MAY 1853) Name

Age

Electoral Division

Length in Workhouse Pauper Nu

Catherine Connolly

20

Ballinakill

7 3/4

892

Biddy Barrett+

16

Ballinakill

7 1/2

910

Margaret Coffey

19

Cooloo

3 1/2

843

Biddy Healy

16

cooloo

6 3/4

231

Mary Coffey

17

Cloonkeen

3 1/4

844

Honor Corbett

15

Cloonkeen

6

819

Winny Dowd

17

Cloonkeen

3

696

Mary Dowd

20

Cloonkeen

4

818

Mary Brennan

22

Cloonkeen

3 1/2

810

Catherine Higgins

19

Castleblakney

3 1/2

901

Mary Shannon

15

Castleblakney

3 1/2

1042

Mary Rafferty

17

Caltra

3 1/2

1016

285

Name

Age

Electoral Division

Length in Workhouse Pauper Nu

Celia McCabe

19

Derryglassann

4 1/2

915

Mary Daly

20

Derryglessann

4 1/2

823

Catherine Kilgannon

15

Derryglessann

5 3/4

791

Honor Quinn

18

Derryglessann

4. 75

826

Biddy Cox

20

Derryglessann

3

1026

Mary Mitchell

16

Mount Hazel

3 3/4

116

Mary Warde

16

Mount Hazel

5 3/4

65

Mary Dooly

20

Mount Hazel

4 1/4

865

Mary Coffey

18

Mount Hazel

5 3/4

995

Catherine Keogh

20

Mountbellew

4 1/2

896

Fanny Geraghty

15

Tameboy

6

877

Biddy Kelly

18

Castleffrench

3 1/2

835

Biddy Molloy

18

Annagh

3 1/2

94

Honor Connell

20

Union at Large

3 1/2

978

Biddy Ruane

40

Union at Large

4 1/4

774

Jane Murray

15

Derryglassann

7

605

Mary Killarney

21

Derryglassann

2

69

Biddy Toohey

18

Derryglassann

5

114

Judy Healy

20

Derryglassann

5

95

Anne McGrath

15

Cooloo

6

640

Mary Concannon

15

Cooloo

5

128

Honor Brady

16

Cooloo

3

269

Biddy Breheny

20

Killeraran

5

127

Kitty Heneghan

26

Killeraran

3

99

Catherine Fallon

17

Killeraran

4

39

Peggy Lohan

18

Ballinakill

5

93

Ellen Egan

15

Castleblakney

6

659

Biddy King

18

Castleblakney

6

993

N ames of the fifty girls sent to M ontreal

Name

Age

Electoral Division

Length in Workhouse Pauper Nu

Kitty Loughnane

15

Castleblakney

3

269

Honor Gibbons

23

Castleblakney

3

246

Ellen Brennan

18

Cloonkeen

5

35

Bessy Fallon

16

Castleffrench

6

252

Ellen Madden

18

Clonbrock

5

145

Kitty Rabbitt

18

Castleffrench

7

62

Mary Kilfoyle

18

Mount Hazel

3

32

Jane Kelly

40

Mountbellew

5

1068

Mary Carr

19

Annagh

2

104

Note 1 For an account of the scheme that brought the 50 girls to Quebec on the Primrose see Moran, ‘Permanent deadweight’, pp 109–22.

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Part VIII OPPOSITION TO EMIGRATION While emigration was a major part of the Irish life cycle in the decades before the Great Famine, it was the massive exodus of the late 1840s and early 1850s which led to a belief that the ‘best and brightest’ and the ‘bone and sinew’ were leaving the country. It was only when the exodus reached alarming proportions that certain groups began to question the necessity of emigration, arguing that it was ‘treachery’ and there were other methods of keeping the people in Ireland where they could have a decent standard of living. Among those strongly opposed to the large numbers leaving were members of the Catholic hierarchy, such as Archbishop John MacHale of Tuam, and bishops Thomas Feeney of Killala and Edmund Maginn of Derry. They publicly rebuked the proposed colonisation scheme to Canada in 1847 and criticized the government for its failure to introduce remedial measures which would contain the exodus.1 Their concerns appeared to be vindicated by statements from Bishop Joseph Signay from Quebec and other members of the North American hierarchy who urged their Irish counterparts to dissuade their flocks from coming to Canada and the United States. The Irish bishops were also concerned about the religious welfare of the emigrants when they settled in Britain and North America as it was feared it would lead to a ‘leakage’ from the Church. These countries did not have the resources and manpower to cater for the Famine emigrants, especially outside of the major urban centres. While the bishops might publicly condemn the large-scale exodus from Ireland, many local clergymen adopted a more pragmatic approach and realised that emigration was the only alternative to death and starvation for their parishioners. Clerics like Fr John O’Sullivan from Kenmare, Co. Kerry, while opposed to the emigration of his flock, reluctantly agreed they were better off in the United States than trying to survive at home. Fr Thomas Hore went so far as to organise for himself and his parishioners from south Wicklow to emigrate and establish a colony in Wexford, Iowa.2 The hierarchy were not the only group to condemn the massive migration from the country. The nationalist press was very critical of the numbers leaving the country. The Nation, the main organ of Irish nationalism, condemned government policies, stating that its approach was a new form of “to ‘Hell or to Connaught’ –

O pposition to E migration

to Canada or the grave”. Other newspapers such as Galway Vindicator, the Banner of Ulster and the Mayo Telegraph, maintained the approach of the government and the landlords was leading to the compulsory export of the people. What is surprising was the attitude of these forums to the emigration policies of the poor law unions, who largely ignored the schemes or even suggested that the paupers who were being sent to Australia and Canada would have a better life abroad than in the workhouses. Most nationalist politicians were opposed to the numbers leaving the country, but with the death of the Repeal leader, Daniel O’Connell, in May 1847 and the failure of the Young Ireland rebellion in 1848, Irish politics was divided and leaderless. There was no unified or coordinated approach on most issues, including emigration, to the detriment of the country. While politicians, nationalists, clergymen and others were opposed to the people leaving, there was little they could do to prevent the haemorrhage. For most of those who left, survival was their main concern.

Notes 1 See Moran, Sending Out Ireland’s Poor, pp 74–5. 2 See Seamus de Val, ‘Fr Thomas Hore and the 1850 migration’ in the Past, 21 (1998).

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66 LETTER FROM BISHOP EDWARD MAGINN OF DERRY CONDEMNING EMIGRATION FROM IRELAND AND THOSE WHO ADVOCATED IT. 1 NATION, 17 APRIL 1847 Derry, April 9th, 1847.2 Gentlemen – I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your circular directing my attention to a letter and memorial presented on Wednesday, 31st March, to Lord John Russell, and soliciting, should I approve of the principles or purposes advocated in them, an early notification of my assent or adhesion to them.3 I read the documents alluded to with some attention, and of course, as all must do who shall have perused them, felt the ability with which they are written, and the exceedingly plausible reasoning with which your committee, consisting of Irish landlords, have advocated the necessity of expatriating a few million of us Irish Catholics. The scheme is a gigantic one, suggested, no doubt, by the purest philanthropy, unmixed with a single grain of selfishness; for, proceedings from such a source as a committee of Irish landlords, the slightest suspicion could not for a moment be entertained of its having been conceived in the most friendly spirit. Heretofore the Catholic inhabitants of a few townlands in every parish were constrained by the kindly interposition of a ‘notice to quit,’ or the more stringent operation on an ‘ejectment decree,’ supported by the Sheriff’s countenance and a posse comitatis of bailiffs, peelers, etc., to emigrate from their father’s homesteads to Connaught, Canada, or H-1. It appears every day more comprehensive, and it cannot now be satisfied, except by embracing the whole length and breadth of the land, and thrusting out not only hundreds or thousands, but millions. Of those objects who have, as the annals of our country fully record, even enlisted the deepest sympathies of the members of your committee. It is, gentlemen, a noble undertaking, a most patriotic device – and if the Irish Catholics ever forget it to you, they are not that grateful race which both friend and foe have hitherto given them credit for. God gave us Ireland, to feed us, clothe us, and provide us with every means of substance. The gift, you will admit, was a munificent one; for, under Heaven’s sun there is not a more beautiful land; but your committee, dissatisfied with God’s gift to us, would exhibit their surpassing benevolence by transporting us to the woods of Canada. The Shannon is a miserable stream when compared with the great St. Lawrence; the change must therefore be for the better; 291

O pposition to emigration

and should it be our lot to starve or die on the banks of that noble river, we could not surely regret our destiny, as death or starvation in a foreign land, notwithstanding that Jacob thought or Joseph commanded, must be much more delightful than in the sight of the hills and cabins that saw us born. If it were not so a committee of Irish landlords could not bring themselves to recommend it. You promised to send out with our millions their ever-faithful companion, the Irish Catholic Church. Well, really the kindness of your committee is amazing! Other committees would rest contented with sending with our people a few swaddling preachers, a parson, or a Presbyterian minister; but you (it is only the liberality of the nineteenth century that can account for it) propose sending out the bishops and priests of the Irish Church to watch over the young colony, to tend and teach them until they have reclaimed for you (of course not for themselves, but why should there be tenant right in Canada which is wrong in Ireland?) the eternal forests, the swamps, or the prairies of that land of promise. The Irish Catholic clergy would surely be obliged to you. It is still an improvement on olden times, when they were sent off to ’scavenger’s daughter’ or the ‘gallows.’ It was, however, even then done with the same friendly intention. It was merely an emigration to a happier land. But, in sober earnestness, gentlemen, why send your circular to a Catholic bishop? Why have the barefaced impudence to ask me to consent to the expatriation of millions of my co-religionists and fellow countrymen? You, the hereditary oppressors of my race and my religion – you, who reduced one of the noblest peoples under Heaven to live on the most fertile island on earth on the worst species of a miserable exotic, which no human man having anything better would constantly give to his swine or his horses – you, who have made the most beautiful island under the sun a land of skulls to of ghastly spectres – you are anxious I presume, to get a Catholic bishop to abet your wholesale system of extermination  – to head in pontificals the convoy of your exiles, and thereby give the sanction of religion to your atrocious scheme. You never, gentlemen, laboured under a more egregious mistake than by imagining that we could give in our adhesion to your principles, or could have any, the least confidence, in anything proceeding from you. It is not the ex-officio clause in the new poor law bill bantling, or that of your leader Lord Stanley?4 Is not the quarter of an acre test for relief your creation? Your committee are abettors of an amendment as iniquitous as it was selfish – viz, to remove the poor rates from their own shoulders to that of their pauper tenantry? Are they not, the same members who recently advocated in the House of Commons the continuation of the fag-end of the bloody penal code of the English statute book, by which our English breather could be transported or hanged for professing the creed of their conscience, the most forward in this emigration plan? What good could we expect from such a Nazareth? If the plan itself were so specious, the advocacy of such personages would be sufficient to condemn it. It would in the mind of every patriot, of every man who loves Ireland and her people, be a prima facie evidence, that no matter how fair the device might appear, or how sunny the project held out, that offering

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L etter from B ishop E dward M aginn

from such a source must contain, like the basked presented to Cleopatra, an adder concealed beneath the flowers. You, gentlemen, propose a plan and principle for me adhesion. ‘Petimus damusque vicissim.’ You can have no objection to my submitting for your adhesion another plan, conceived, in my mind, to be based on much more impartial, comprehension, and equitable principles. I, therefore, submit to your considerate attention the transportation of the criminals, whoever they may be poor or rich – transport, if you will the whole Irish Catholic peasantry, if they be the guilty party! If they be not guilty, but the proprietors of the soil who robbed them and pillaged them for centuries – who forced them to make double quantities of brick, and would not allow them even a wisp of straw – who reduced them to a condition a thousand times worse than the negro slave – who made the lost the Israelite under the Egyptian Pharaoh enviable – who, not satisfied with oppressing them, defamed them – imputed the poverty and ignorance which they themselves created to their miserable victims – employed a hireling press to heap insult on injury – to calumniate them, that they might trample on them with impunity – who heard their wailing, and were unremoved – looked on their agony without remorse or pity, but rather gloated over the writhing of them they racked and tortured – why, of course, as friends to distributive justice, not transport them, the taskmasters, to Canada, and let them enjoy the good things you have provided for the innocent poor on the banks of the St. Lawrence. Lest you should consider me partial in advising this in my mind equitable course, the case between the Irish peasantry and their peers I will submit to any English jury, or a jury composed of every or any nation, and will bow with resignation to their verdict on this subject, even should I myself be among the first of the exiles. You ask the government for nine million to transport fifteen hundred thousand Catholics to Canada to reclaim there the waste lands. If it be a love of or a sympathy for our Irish peasantry, who will not give up to them the waste lands of Ireland, and ask the government for those nine million to help to reclaim them? The government proposes to reclaim the waste lands, and employ and place on them what you call the superabundant population. Where are the petitions of your committee in favour of that important and beneficent measure? Where is your disinterestness, telling the government to take these waste lands of yours and so employ the surplus labour on them? No; the very proposal of this measure struck the greater part of your committee with horror. To think of the like, was, forsooth, an invasion of the right of property – even to think of such a benevolent scheme of providing for the people. It was shocking even to imagine that the serf by these means would be converted into a substantial yeoman, or that he should have the liberty to exist independently of Irish proprietors. Employ the Catholic peasant anywhere, say you, but not in Ireland. Join us in removing the carrion people from before our eyes beyond the seas, or anywhere, that we may forget the misery we created, and banish the apprehension of retributive justice, which God always reserves for the tenants and oppressors of people through the instrumentality of

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O pposition to emigration

the oppressed. The murderers would wish to hide the victims lest their mangled frames should rise in judgement against them. I will not, however, gentlemen, do. The bulk of the Irish Catholic people will stick to their native soil, were it for nothing else but to haunt you in your dreams of pleasure. Since you would not let the peasants live as Christians, you will be forced to look at their spectres – they will stick to you like ‘the man of the sea on Sinbad’s back,’ and since you would not raise them up they will have the gratification of bringing you down to their level. You may shudder at the thought of being brought into association with the filth and rags of these skeletons of your own making, as Satan shrunk back when he saw the hideous forms of Sin and Death which he himself had created. Since, then, many of you had the wickedness of the fallen angel to work this ruin, have his pride to boldly confess the parentage, and recognise your offspring, repeating with Byron’s fury – ‘This wreck of a realm – this deed of our doing, For ages we have done, and would still be renewing.’ Should any, however, among our people volunteer to disassociate themselves with you, and sing on their leaving the Egypt you made for them. ‘In exitu Israel de Egypto, domus Jacob de populace barbaro,’ could you think that any friend of theirs would advise them to go to any land where the members that compose your committee could exercise any, the least, influence over them, or could make themselves their ex-officio guardians? Would any friend advise them to lie down with your favourite beast, the old British lion, when they might place themselves under the all-protecting wing of the young transatlantic eagle? No, gentlemen, if our starving people be forced to emigrate, they will go to the ‘land of the brave and home of the free’. They will take shelter under the star-spangled banner, colonise the far west, or in some sunny vale on the banks of the Mississippi aspire to the proud position of being some day a bright luminary in the glorious constellation of the great Republic. They will there be free from your ex-officio, your ‘quarter acre tests,’ your ‘notice to quit,’ and your ‘ejectment decrees,’ grateful to God, who provided this noble elm in the new world for the trodden-down vines of the old. When I this evening received your circular, I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw the first name appended to it – that of an O’Connell.5 Gracious God! Is it come to this – that the revered name which is written on the tablets of Irish hearts with a pen of steel, could be got to sanction and serve a confederacy linked together for the purpose of transporting millions of Irish Catholics from the homesteads of their fathers for no crime but poverty, and not that of their own creation! That a Shirley, Farnham, or a Jocelyn6 should combine for such a purpose, and prominently stand forth to see the infamous project carried into execution, would excite no surprise; but that an O’Connell would lend the sanction of that honoured name to such a cause is monstrous – is incredible! Shame, where is thy blush? An O’Connell should, at least, have allowed the man who railed his name by his 294

L etter from B ishop E dward M aginn

patriotism, and other surpassing virtues, to a position which the world envies, to be gathered to his fathers before turning recreant to the principles of that illustrious relative. Alas! The saying of the ancient poet is but applicable to use – ‘Illiacos intra muros peceaturet extra, Quidquid delirant reges plectuntur achivi’ Witness such unprincipled exhibitions, I would despair of my country; and, like the ancient Roman, covering my head with a veil of sorrow, bow in resignation to our cruel destiny, and with an ‘et tu Brutu’ give up all for lost, did I not believe that an All-wise and Merciful Providence permit such evils, for a time and half a time, for our good that we may lean upon Him alone and only expect at His hands, in the proper season, the redemption of our country from treachery, and misrule. An apology is due to you, gentlemen, for the length of this letter – none for the sentiment it contains, as I believe them to be the truth. I had not the time to make it more concise. You will, however, sufficiently understand from it that I at least do not adhere to the principle of your letter and memorial to Lord John Russell – because we have an abundance of waste lands and resources in Ireland to employ and feed double the present population; because I believe this scheme of yours to have been conceived in hatred to the Irish people and their favourite creed; because I recognise among the principles in your committee the names of descendants of those who abetted Cromwell in transporting seventy thousand of the Irish people to the Indies, to die there like dogs, unanointed, annealed. I further dissent from the principles of your letter and memorial, because I could not lend myself to make the innocent suffer for the guilty, nor consent to the removal of millions from Ireland, to whom, I believe, the laws of God and nature have given a just title to the soil, which no human law can place in abeyance without a fraud, or annul without a crime. Finally, I dissent from the principles of your committee, and refuse them in every way my adhesion, because I believe its members, with one or two honourable exceptions, devoid of patriotism – bigoted, selfish, the ghost of that misnamed ‘Irish Party’ which Ireland – first cajoled and then shamelessly misrepresented by it – now justly distrusts and England deservedly scorns. I remain, gentlemen, your most obedient servant. Edward Maginn Bishop of Ethosia and C. Adm. of Derry. To M.J. O’Connell, Esq. M.P.; W.H. Gregory, Esq., M.P.;7 and John R. Godley, Esq.,

Notes 1 Bishop Edward Maginn (1802–1849) of Derry. He died of typhus fever in 1849. 2 While there were those who saw emigration as the solution to the death and hunger in Ireland, including many Catholic clergymen, most of the bishops, including Edward

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O pposition to emigration

Maginn and Archbishop John MacHale of Tuam were totally opposed as they feared for the religious welfare of the emigrants in the new destinations. 3 This is a reference to the John Robert Godley memorial. 4 Edward Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby (1826–1893), Conservative Party politician. 5 A reference to Maurice O’Connell MP. (1801–1853), the son of Daniel O’Connell who represented the constituency of Tralee at this time. 6 This a reference to landowners: Shirley in Co. Monaghan, Farnham in Co. Cavan. 7 William H. Gregory (1816–92) of Coole Park, Co. Galway and MP for Dublin at this time. He is best remembered for ‘the Gregory clause’ of 1847. In 1872 he was appointed Governor of Ceylon.

296

67 NEWSPAPER EDITORIAL OPPOSING EMIGRATION, 1849. GALWAY MERCURY, 5 MAY 1849

PAUPER EMIGRATION Emigration is one of the sovereign specifies which modern quackery prescribes for Ireland. Freight ships, victual them, supply them with all applications and means requisite to make the voyage comfortable, fill them with men, women and children, and send them away; and what then? Great wonders are promised to result from such clearances; but they are all to come. No benefit has arisen to the country as yet from the disappearance of the many thousands who have left its shores during the last two years; and we venture to say, that if the whole navy of Great Britain should be employed for two years to come in carrying away additional numbers from every port in Ireland, the distress and misery which afflict the people would not appear in the end to have undergone the slightest perceptible diminution. Death and emigration have reduced the population to a fearful extent from the time that Lord John Russell and his colleagues insisted upon curing the evils of our land by a method which all Ireland exclaimed against as pernicious and delusive, but the amount of pauperism still goes on increasing and to multiply. The people cannot be mowed down fast enough to make way for the gathering mass as it advances. Neither typhus nor cholera, prison nor poor house, have been able to effect any apparent reduction in the daily throng which crowds around the doors of the relieving officer howling to be fed. There is not a man too many in Ireland, if the resources of Ireland were made fairly and legally applicable to the support of its inhabitants. But through their truculent and blind obduracy, who have undertaken to manage these resources, all classes of the people are robbed and the poor are starved. To attempt relief by removing a few shiploads of famished families, at an expense which by judicious management would made them useful and prosperous at home, would be as ineffectual as wasteful; for as long as the evil is suffered to exist by which they have been made destitute, new claimants will succeed to their place, just as flies brushed from the wounds of wayfaring men only retiring to make way for a more eager and ravenous swarm.

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O pposition to emigration

Keep the rents from emigrating and the people may stay at home. Permit the occupiers of the land to pursue a course of hopeful industry, and employment will do what no poor law ever did or ever can do. But while half the arable land of the country is untilled, through a despondent feeling that the rate collector would inevitably gather the harvest, and while agents and receivers only visit the tenants in order to sweep away the rents and remit them to London or to Paris for the hire of opera boxes, and the encouragement of cooks and modesties, in those luxurious capitals, the pretence of the Government and its majority, that Irish property can and must support Irish poverty, is a mockery, a delusion and a lie.

298

68 STATEMENT BY MR HORSELY, A TRALEE POOR LAW GUARDIAN, DENOUNCING THE SENDING OF WORKHOUSE GIRLS TO NORTH AMERICA. 1 KERRY EXAMINER, 9 MAY 1854

TRALEE UNION – 2 MAY Mr. Horseley denounced in terms no less strong than just the evil of emigrating paupers at the expense of the Union. It is a system most objectionable leading to and encouraging the greatest injustice, it being notorious, that there are many in the workhouse – Mr Horselely states ONE HUNDRED – with plenty of money in their pockets and only waiting to complete a certain time as inmates to qualify them to be sent free by the rate payers to America. But for this system they would have gone at the expense [of] their friends at the other side of the Atlantic and therefore it is now full time for the guardians to refuse their sanction to a cause of providing so fraudulent and unjust.

Note 1 There were poor law guardians who were opposed to sending out the emigrants from the workhouses claiming it increased the financial burden of rate payers.

299

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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KEYWORDS

agents almshouses Anglo-Irish asylum Australia beggars Boards of Guardians Britain Canada (British North America) Catholic Church charity children coffin ships colonies colonization Commissioners of Colonial Land and Emigration cottiers destitution disease domestic servants Earl Grey Scheme emigration empire evictions exodus Famine ‘Famine Fever’ fraud free passage funding gentry

host population House of Lords imperial government impoverished integration Ireland landing money landlords Laws of Settlement Legislative Council (Canada) Little Irelands Liverpool marriage mortality mother country New Brunswick New York opportunities orphans outcasts overcrowding pamphlets Passenger Act paupers petitions Poor Law Poor Law Commissioners pre-paid passage prejudice public funds public works quarantine station 304

K eywords

Quebec rate payers regulations religion remittances rents settlement starvation surplus population survivors

trade transportation treatment of passengers United States vagrants wages widows workhouses wretchedness

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