No. 128.
Mr. Bancroft to Mr. Fish.
Berlin, January 25, 1873. (Received February 15.)
Sir: The landholders of Prussia have been dismayed at the great emigration from Germany to the United States at the present time. A Pomeranian landholder said to me, “I have the strongest sympathies with the United States, twenty-five per cent. of the inhabitants of my district of country have gone to them.” In the Chamber yesterday the ministry was subjected to an interpellation on the subject. Count von Eulenburg, the minister of the interior, answered in the name of the government:
“The question is of extraordinary importance, cutting deep, and very worthy of consultation. On all sides the loss of population in the circles is observed and felt with pain, but the whole phenomenon is due to deeper causes than such as can be put aside by regulations of police.
“The causes which bring about emigration do not lie in the deterioration of the condition of our agricultural population, but in this, that in spite of its improvement, the strong desire has entered the minds of the population to remove where they think they can gain for themselves greater enjoyments of life, and it is not possible to counteract this desire in its principle. If we regard the principle of the free change of domicile as a just one, and apply it to a change of residence from one place to another in Germany, we cannot contest it where the change of domicile extends to emigration. Most of the propositions which have thus far been made cannot be reconciled with the existing laws. They violate the principle which lies at the foundation of the freedom of the change of domicile.
“The question, therefore, is if the evil could assume dimensions which would justify a change of the law. I believe that the solution of this question will require a long period of time, longer, perhaps, than the lives of the present generation. We must resist the pressure by laws which will make for the emigrants their old home more home like. We must aim at an improvement in industry, in roads, in railroads and canals, in the dwellings of the agricultural classes, the greater ease of [Page 277] gaining a domicile, in savings banks, &c.; in short, if emigration is to be checked, it must be done by a whole system of measures for raising the condition of the humbler agricultural classes—an object which legislation may promote, but depends chiefly on that class of population which has the greatest interest in retaining the population at home.”
This authoritative speech of the minister proves beyond a doubt that there is no intention on the part of the government to limit the liberty of emigration, and that they will endeavor to counteract the strong attractions of our country only by just and wholesome legislation and by fostering the interests of industry and freedom in Germany.
The ministry meet the complaints of the landholders by urging the landholders to do more for the comfort and happiness of the men whom they employ.
I remain, &c.,