Mr. Fish to Mr. Andrews
Sir: The Department is surprised to learn from a dispatch of the 4th ultimo from Mr. Gerhard Gade, consul of the United States at Christiania, in Norway, that Count Lewenhaupt, late chargé d’affaires of Sweden and Norway here, had, in an official report to his government of the 24th of November last, stated that public opinion in this country was unfavorable to immigration, and therefore that the Government desired to discourage it. Mr. Gade represents that the report referred to has been extensively published in the Swedish and Norwegian newspapers.
In view of the acknowledged intelligence of Count Lewenhaupt and his supposed good-will toward the United States, it is unaccountable why he should have embodied so unfounded a statement in an official report. So far from being true that public sentiment in this country is adverse to immigration from abroad, and that the Government is disposed to discourage it, the reverse is, and always has been, the fact. From the foundation of this Government, it has been obvious to every reflecting person that the great want of the country was labor. The policy of the Government, therefore, has from the beginning been so shaped as to offer tempting inducements to immigrants from foreign countries; such as good lands at nominal prices, and municipal privileges on a footing with the natives of the soil, in many quarters immediately on landing, and in others upon a short probation as to residence. It may have been that in process of time new-comers from some countries may have been preferred to those from others, but it is at least questionable if any have been more heartily welcome than those from Sweden and Norway. It is not necessary to explain the reason for this.
[Page 803]As the misapprehensions of Count Lewenhaupt, from their official character and extensive publication, may, if uncontradicted, tend to discourage such of his countrymen from seeking a home here as otherwise might have been so disposed, it is desirable that they should be corrected, and, if practicable, as publicly as they have been proclaimed. You will, in any event, make an informal representation on the subject to the Swedish minister of foreign affairs, and will endeavor in every proper way to cause erroneous impressions to be removed.
I am, &c.,