No. 227.
Mr. Davis
to Mr. Lowell.
Department
of State,
Washington, May 25,
1883.
No. 596.]
Sir: I have to call your attention to the reported
action of the Government of Her Majesty in assisting emigration of
inhabitants of Ireland to the United States.
I inclose herewith for your information a copy of a dispatch from Mr. Fish,
our minister at Brussels, transmitting the following extract from the
Moniteur Beige, of the 6th of April last:
[Translation.]
On Friday last the first Irish emigrants, whose journey was paid by
the public treasury, and which is being conducted under the
management of the British Government, sailed from Ireland.
A number of families, composing 360 persons, left the little town of
Bemulet, situated in the most distressed district of Ireland, and
embarked for Boston, thence to go into the varions states of the
United States.
It seems doubtful whether the arrival of this sort of cargo will
cause much pleasure to the Americans, for it is stated that among
47,149 persons arrested and convicted in New York in 1882, there was
more than 50 per cent. foreign born, and that more than one-third of
the delinquents were Irish.
Mr. Fish also forwarded a copy of the same paper to the collector of the port
of Boston, who, as well as the governor of Massachusetts, [Page 423] wrote to the Secretary of the Treasury on the
subject. A copy of each of the letters (which have been referred to this
Department) is inclosed. I also inclose a copy of a report of our
consul-general in London, giving the results of inquiries made under his
direction, together with its annexes.
It may not be advisable at present, and in the absence of fuller and more
specific information than is now possessed by this Government, to make such
formal representations on the subject as might imply a complaint based on a
conviction that the action of the British authorities amounts to an act of
unfriendliness towards the United States. Still the system formally
recognized and authorized by the Irish land law of August 22, 1881, and by
the arrears of rent act of August 18, 1882 (Pub. Stats., chap. 49, sec. 32,
and Pub. General Stats., chap. 47, sec. 18), and the occasional declarations
in Parliamentary debates (Times, April 11, April 27, May 1, 2, and 5, 1883)
evince a strong readiness in the Government to extend the practice which has
already become very noticeable here. The circumstance that these assisted
emigrants have quite recently, on reaching our shores, become a burden upon
the community, is one which in the interest of neighborly good feeling
should be brought to the attention of Her Majesty’s Government. It may,
perhaps, be premature to pronounce a final judgment on the probable
consequences to this country of a further development of the reported policy
of Her Majesty’s Government, but the subject presents itself at the outset
under an aspect which this Government cannot view without concern, and
certain considerations may very properly be brought forthwith to your
attention, and by you to Lord Granville’s notice.
The policy of encouraging immigration to the United States has been
consistently followed by this Government, both as a political and economical
measure, and there is how no desire to depart from it. The option of
expatriation has been steadily urged as an inherent right, and, after many
years’ discussion, has been tacitly recognized by most European powers, and
formally admitted by some—among them Great Britain. While urging the
recognition of this right, the United States threw open their doors to the
inhabitants of all nations, but more particularly to the poorer thrifty
classes, who were heartily welcomed to our shores, given on the easiest
terms sufficient land for their support, and incorporated in our body
politic. To those desirous to improve their condition in the world, those
who honestly endeavor to avail themselves of the political privileges of our
Republican Government, the ports of the United States have never been
closed; but to the criminal and the pauper no such privileges are extended,
and the statutes of the United States empower the Executive to prevent their
landing. The laws prohibit the coming of those liable to become immediately
a charge upon the community, but the difficulty in the present case is to
apply the law to individual cases. Poverty is not in itself a valid
objection to the reception of an immigrant, for many of our worthiest
citizens landed without money, but, possessing industry, application,
ambition, and habits of economy, they have, while improving their own
condition, added to the wealth and strength of the nation. That the
self-reliant poor may, through misfortune, become a charge upon the
community where they seek a new home is true, but such a possibility does
not furnish a valid reason for returning them to their native country
immediately upon their arrival.
The policy of assisted emigration is likely to send to us many who, lacking
the qualities to secure a passage to America for themselves, [Page 424] and depending upon Government aid for this,
presumably do not possess the qualities to successfully cope with the
adverse circumstances which must necessarily attend their first efforts in a
strange country, and it is in this natural tendency of such a policy that we
find a legitimate reason for objection to its enforcement by Great Britain.
Honest, industrious and frugal immigrants will always be gladly received
here, but this Government cannot look without deep concern upon any action
by a foreign Government which tends to unloading its paupers, its
“ne’er-do-wells,” its aged and infirm, its cripples and weak-minded upon us,
that we may afford that support through taxation which their native country
owes them.
It is quite evident how the assisted emigration of such thriftless and
dependent classes may at once relieve the burdens of the home community and
entail corresponding burdens on a foreign community to an extent to justify
international remonstrance. It is equally clear that the expedient of
assisting emigration by Government aid is one only to be resorted to under
circumstances which shall produce the greatest good to all alike, analogous,
for instance, to an enlightened scheme of colonization. The object in view
should rationally be not mere deportation of unproductive elements, but to
offer to those whose home productiveness is impeded the advantages of a
fresh start in life under more auspicious surroundings, such as the Great
West supplies, whether in Canada or the United States. To such emigration as
comes to its shores, willing, and within proper limits, able to join in the
general work of production and self-sustenance, neither a fruitful
dependency of the home state nor a friendly foreign state can rightly
object.
Besides bringing the matter to the attention of Lord Granville, it is
desirable that you examine into the subject and communicate to this
Department your views thereon, together with any information you may be able
to obtain on the subject of assisted emigration and its practical
workings.
I am, &c.,
JOHN DAVIS,
Acting
Secretary.
[Inclosure 1 in No. 596.]
Mr. New to Mr.
Frelinghuysen.
Treasury Department,
April 25, 1883.
Sir: I have the honor to transmit for your
consideration and for such action as you may deem proper a copy of a
report from the collector of customs at Boston, Mass., dated the 20th
instant, with copies of two of its inclosures, in relation to the
shipment of pauper emigrants to this country under the auspices of the
British Government.
Very respectfully,
JOHN C. NEW,
Acting
Secretary.
[Inclosure.]
Mr. Worthington to
Mr. Folger.
Custom-House, Boston, Mass.,
Collector’s Office, April 20, 1883.
Sir: I beg leave to inclose herewith a
communication from United States Minister Fish, at Brussels, of the 6th
instant, advising me of the shipment to the United States of Irish
pauper emigrants, shipped under the control of the British Government,
by [Page 425] whom their journey is paid.
These emigrants are reported as coming from the most distressed district
of Ireland.
Accompanying this communication is an extract from the Moniteur Beige,
Brussels. [See ante].
The steamship Phoenician arrived at this port on the 4th instant, having
on board 420 ste rage passengers, of whom 213 were known as “assisted
immigrants.”
The steamship Nestorian, which arrived on the 14th instant, brought 770
steerage passengers, of which number 538 were assisted immigrants,
nearly all of whom were ticketed through to various parts of the west;
some, however, being destined to the oil and coal districts of
Pennsylvania.
The alien passenger commissioner represents to me that all these steerage
passengers were able-bodied, and. therefore, prima
facie, able to “take care of himself or herself without
becoming a public charge.”
It is understood that the British Government supplied these assisted
emigrants with money varying from £1 to £8 per family, according to the
number of each family.
I regard this great influx of Irish pauper immigrants shipped under the
control of the British Government as presenting a very grave question,
and fraught perhaps with disastrous results, and I have deemed it my
duty to transmit a copy of Minister Fish’s letter for Department
consideration, and have, &c.,
R. WORTHINGTON,
Collector.
[Inclosure 2 in No. 596.]
Mr. Folger to Mr.
Frelinghuysen.
Treasury Department, May 1, 1883.
Sir: Referring to this Department’s letter of
the 25th ultimo, transmitting a copy of a letter from the collector of
customs at Boston, dated the 20th ultimo, in relation to the deportation
of pauper emigrants to this country, under the auspices of the British
Government, I beg leave to transmit herewith a copy of a communication
from the governor of Massachusetts, dated the 23d ultimo (with its
inclosure), in relation to the same subject, with a renewal of the
earnest request expressed in the former letter that you will take such
action with reference to this matter as you may deem appropriate.
CHARLES J. FOLGER,
Secretary.
[Inclosure.]
Governor Butler to
Secretary Folger.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Executive
Department,
Boston, April 23,
1883.
Dear Sir: I have the honor to call your
attention to a matter of very considerable importance to this
commonwealth, which is perhaps as succinctly stated as it may well be,
in the inclosed extract from the Moniteur Beige of April 6, 1883, of
which I send you also the translation. [See
ante.]
One cargo of these emigrants has already arrived in Boston, and another
is momentarily expected. If I were convinced that it was in the power of
this commonwealth to prevent their landing, I should deem it my duty so
to do. Many of them immediately become a charge upon the commonwealth
for support. As to themselves and their families, I have the strongest
and deepest sympathy with these poor people, and if landed, will
endeavor to see that they are humanely and properly cared for.
I recognize, and rejoice in the theory upon which our Government was
founded, that America should be a home for the oppressed and
down-trodden everywhere. We welcome, therefore, all, however humble, who
come to us of their own free will, aided by their energy, enterprise and
resources. Such people, whether men, or women and their children, are a
source of wealth to the country. But by this I by no means recognize the
right of the Government of Great Britain to deport all its paupers to
our shores, as if we were, though not a penal, yet a pauper colony of
that Empire. By laws that trench very nearly on the penal, they have
made these poor people of Ireland paupers, and then to get rid of
feeding them, at governmental expense, send them to us, perhaps after
they have selected the best of them to be sent to their own colonial
dependencies. England ought not, in my judgment, to be permitted to
empty her almshouses into the United States, nor ought she to be
permitted in Ireland, where she has [Page 426] not almshouses to care for the people that her
laws have made paupers, to impose them as a burden upon State
charities.
May I ask of you, Mr. Secretary, therefore to take such means as to your
good judgment may seem legal and proper to prevent the landing of such
deportations at least within the limits of Massachusetts, and I promise
you whatever aid in that regard the executive of the State may be able
to give.
If it so happen that the laws of the United States may be ineffectual to
hinder the landing of these forlorn creatures, certainly it is within
the scope of the diplomatic power of the United States to make such
representations to the Government of Great Britain as will prevent their
being sent here against the will and wish of our Government. If the
latter is the only way in which the evil can be reached, may I beg of
you to present the matter to the President for his Consideration and
intervention diplomatically if he shall see cause?
I have, &c.,
BENJ. F. BUTLER,
Governor.
[Inclosure 4 in No. 596.]
irish distress and emigration.
Report by Consul-General Merritt, of
London.
The reports published on both sides of the Atlantic relative to the
extent and alarming character of the present distress among the Irish
peasantry have been so conflicting and exaggerated that I have deemed an
inquiry into the real facts of the situation would be of service to
philanthropists, who too often give where charity is uncalled for and
mistakenly withhold where it is needed. But aside from this
consideration Irish distress means increasing emigration to the United
States, and it includes many political questions into which it is not my
province to enter. Wholesale emigration aided by Government is looked
upon in many quarters as the only relief from the periodic famine, and
measures are now on foot to send thousands of poor families from the
“congested districts” of Ireland across the Atlantic.
Considering the subject in these aspects one of legitimate inquiry, on
the 28th of February last I addressed a circular letter to the members
of the United States consular corps in Ireland, asking them to make
investigation in their respective districts and to report on the
following points:
- I.
- Whether the published accounts of the distress were
substantially correct or were exaggerated.
- II.
- Whether the prospects of amelioration in the immediate future
were encouraging.
- III.
- To what extent will the existing conditions tend to a more
rapid emigration to the United States or the English
colonies.
- IV.
- Whether the Government, the guardians of the poor, or
associations are engaged in sending paupers to the United
States.
I.
The reports submitted in reply to the first question, while admitting the
gravity of the situation, generally agree that the distress prevailing
at present is not exceptional in its character, and that the published
accounts to the contrary are exaggerated. In the poorer agricultural
districts the situation of the peasantry is miserable, and abject
poverty is the rule, but sad as it is it has been the same for years and
has become the normal condition of life. The partial failure of the
potato crop in certain parts of Ireland has to some extent aggravated
the situation. The fisheries have again been unsuccessful, and the rainy
autumn and winter, while foreboding no good to the coming crops, have
interfered with the work of the laborer. Consul Piatt, of Cork, says
upon this point:
“While I am inclined to believe that the destitution and distress in
Western and Southern Ireland are great enough and worthy of the
assistance that our people are always disposed to give, there is
certainly room to doubt whether the picture as it is shown to the
outside world is not exaggerated. Boards of guardians and popular
bodies, I am assured, are in a measure responsible for this
exaggeration, as they, in their anxiety to have the poor-rates relieved
by the opening of relief works by the Government, have made efforts to
magnify the distress in some localities.”
In brief, it may be safely assumed that the much talked of “starvation
point” has not been reached, however bad the situation may be, and that
the local and Government authorities have abundant means at hand to
relieve actual necessity.
[Page 427]
II.
The prospects of amelioration of the present condition in the immediate
future are most discouraging. Mr. Eccles, consular agent at Sligo,
says:
“The wet weather of last harvest prevented much peat fuel being saved,
and the poor suffer much from want of fire in consequence. Unless
employment is given, or temporary charity be distributed until the warm
dry weather comes, great distress, will, I believe, prevail; but the
laborers and small farmers do not like to become the recipients of
charity and are anxious to obtain employment to support themselves and
families. There is no prospect at present of this employment being
obtained, and the outlook is gloomy indeed.”
It is altogether unlikely that the Government will shortly commence
public works in order to give employment to the people, as the policy
settled upon is relief either by the workhouse or by emigration. The
chief secretary for Ireland in a recent, speech said that the condition
of the poorer class of farmers was more deplorable than that of any
class of people living in any civilized country; that there were 67,000
farms of from 1 to 5 acres, and 160,000 of from 5 to 15 acres; and in
the latter class there were not more than from 2 to 2½ acres of arable
land in their holdings. Under more favorable conditions the agricultural
interests in Great Britain have suffered severely, the present price of
farming land being the lowest known in generations, and the oppression
of bad seasons and foreign competition has reduced the Irish farmer,
whether tenant or owner, to still lower depths of poverty. Trade in
Ireland is extremely dull. Land is almost unsalable at any price, and
the unsettled political state of the country forbids the hope of capital
being forthcoming to extend manufacturing interests. From whatever point
of view the subject is looked at there is little or no chance for an
improvement in the immediate future.
III.
With great unanimity the consuls agree that the present condition must
act as a powerful stimulus to emigration, and many interesting facts are
given in their reports to illustrate this branch of the investigation.
In 1882 the emigration was 89,566, an increase of 10,847 over 1881, and
the present year, at the lowest, will certainly show an emigration of
over 100,000. The total numbers represented 17.2 per 1,000 of the
population as it stood in 1882; 74.8 per cent. of the persons who left
Ireland last year were between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five,
showing that a. large majority were able-bodied. Of the 47,426 males who
emigrated, no less than 32,955 were returned as simple laborers. As to
farmers, the figures for the past three years are: 1880, 1,994; 1881,
2,440; and 1882, 3,140.
IV.
As to the question whether the Government, the guardians of the poor, or
associations are engaged in sending paupers to the United States, some
diversity of opinion exists, which may be accounted for by the
difference of the localities from which the consuls write. Consul
Barrows, of Dublin, says that no such practice is in operation in his
district. Consul Wood, of Belfast, writes:
“I know of no organized effort for any large deportation of sufferers or
paupers to the United States. No doubt many will find their way there by
the aid of friends, and often in a measure by charitable funds. It is to
be feared that most of such emigrants are without means, and, what is
worse, without skill in trades or other occupations, and with so little
money as to afford no promise of any respectable support on their
arrival in America.”
Consul Livermore, of Londonderry, understands that “Government agents,
with no great success, however, endeavor to induce the poor and lazy to
emigrate.” Mr. Eccles, at Sligo, after saying that the guardians of the
poor have scheduled out certain districts under the emigration clauses
of the land act, states that in the Sligo union alone 600 applications
have been made, and in the western unions considerably more. Continuing,
he says:
“The bulk of these emigrants will go to the United States. They will
receive £7 per head to cover cost of passage and outfit. It has been
calculated that this will cost £6 each, which will leave about £1 to
each on arrival. As it appears to me, the guardians of the poor are
desirous to emigrate those who are likely to be in a state of chronic
poverty at home and save the rates from their possible support. If these
people are thrown upon the cities of the United States without provision
being made beforehand for their employment, they may become burdens on
the rates there also, and the country of their adoption may become a
looser instead of a gainer by their influx. * * * I believe also among
the families who intend to emigrate there will be infants and many
children of both sexes under fourteen years; old people will try to [Page 428] get out by giving fictitious
ages, and similarly also with those suffering from insanity, idiocy, and
other infirmities.”
I have thus briefly indicated the nature of the information which these
consular reports contain and the general conclusions to which they tend,
which I believe to be worthy of serious consideration. * * * As to
relieving Irish distress by contributions of money from the United
States, which have always been so liberal, the charges have been so
frequent in the past that much of this money has been used for other
purposes, that I suggest in the future the utmost care be taken in
choosing the channels through which the charity is to be
administered.
In conclusion, I desire to express my sincere thanks to the United States
consular corps in Ireland for their full and prompt replies to my
questions on the subject of this investigation.
E. A. MERRITT,
Consul-General.
United States
Consulate-General,
London, March 21,
1883.
