the emigrants were as flattering as those previously received. He had therefore a right to claim from the House the admission -setting aside, for the present, the question of whether the effect compensated for the expense which was incurred to produce it-that a considerable portion of pauper population had been placed in a state of progressive improvement such as had seldom been paralleled in the history of the world. was no reason why the capital advanced to the emigrants should not be repaid by them to this country, if not in money, at least in money's worth. As the families of the emigrants spread, the market for British manufactures would be widened; and the pursuance of the plan of colonization seemed to promise a series of benefits, which it would not be dangerous to anticipate. In our own empire it was indisputably true, that the proportion between capital and manual labour had not been preserved; and the consequence was, that the labouring classes did not receive that remuneration for their exertions which was consistent with their prosperity, and hardly with their existence. The conclusion, therefore to which the former committee had come was most sound and just : one part of our dominions required population, which the other could bestow with advantage, and the wants of one country could thus be supplied by the superfluities of the other. A very mistaken notion was entertained by many persons as to the mode in which emigration should be carried into effect. Those persons maintained that emigration should be conducted on the principle of supplying labourers only to the coloniesthat the expense should be limited to the The next question of interest connected with this subject was, how far the process of emigration was agreeable to the former inhabitants. Did the inhabitants of Upper Canada rejoice, or were they dissatisfied, that their soil was made the theatre of this experiment at colonization? It was satisfactory to know, that they were pleased that the tide of emigration had been turned into their province. This was put beyond all doubt by the contents of the addresses, which had been presented to the Lieutenant-governor of the province by the inhabitants of the county of Northumberland, and those of five other divisions of Canada. The addressers expressed their pleasure at the settlement of the emigrants in the province, and bore testimony to their good conduct. There were no addresses of a different character -a circumstance which clearly demon-carrying of the emigrants out, and landing strated, that the feelings of the colonists were in favour of the new-comers, and that they considered the addition which had been made to their population to be advantageous to them. They doubtless perceived that such an augmentation of their population comprised within it the elements of improvement, and that it was only by such means that they could hope to attain the rank amongst nations which, in the course of natural progression they had a right to expect. The colonial witnesses all concurred in thinking that the prosperity of the colony would be greatly advanced by the introduction of additional population. Those persons were interested in the prosperity of the colony, and would not, therefore, have given such evidence, if they had not been convinced of the truth of what they stated. The witnesses to whom he alluded, differed amongst themselves, in politics and religion, but they all agreed in stating, that the colony had derived benefit from the introduction of the emigrants; and they were likewise unanimous in expressing an opinion, that there them on the shores to be disposed of as chance or circumstances might direct. The principle on which the emigrations of 1823 and 1825 had been conducted was quite different. In both those instances it had been considered wise and necessary to plant the emigrants, and to supply them with capital, not in money, but in kind, to enable them to support themselves, and to accumulate property. In short, to place them in a condition to want labourers for themselves, rather than to become labourers to others. If labourers were wanted, nothing, certainly, could be better than to introduce them up to a certain point; but absorption must soon take place, the market would soon be abundantly supplied with labourers; but no limit could be assigned to the improvement which would result from colonizing upon the principle which had been acted on in 1823 and 1825, unless, indeed, the fertility of the land should become exhausted. That was the distinction which he drew between emigration where the individuals were fixed to the soil, and that desultory kind of emigration which consisted in merely con ing as it was founded upon the supposition, that the expense was beyond any conceivable advantage. He took it for granted, that no man could deny that the remuneration for labour in Ireland was far below the wants of the labourer-that the effect of such a state of things was, in the end, to equalize poverty, and to spread it like a blasting mildew over the whole face of the empire. If any man held out a hope that schemes of forced capital, of colonization at home on lands of inferior fertility, would remedy the evil, he thought he could promise, that before the commit tee concluded its labours, it would be clearly proved that such a hope was worse than fallacious. The only effect of such a course would be, to continue the worst characteristics of that which it was intended to improve-that of splitting farms, and the introduction of the cottage-system in Ireland; and at no very distant period, the evils, of which we had now to complain, would be aggravated by the very experiment to remedy them. veying them to a certain place, and then leaving them to make their way as they could. He would appeal to any man whether the advantages of continuing the plan hitherto pursued were not almost too obvious to require argument. The settler would be firmly fixed in the soil, instead of taking his chance of obtaining subsistence instead of being like a plant thrown down upon the earth, either to take root, or to be withered by the sun, he would be like a young and vigorous tree set by a careful hand, with all advantages of soil and climate. There was not one trait of resemblance between the happy state of the emigrant now, and his miserable condition while he remained in his native country, where not one ray of hope beamed upon him, to mitigate the extent of his sufferings. At present, he saw his little stock increasing, from year to year, amid the smiles of a contented family. His children, instead of being curses, were blessings, and supplied him with labour as his means enlarged and the necessity for assistance increased. He began to see his way to independence, if not to wealth, and this happy change was produced by abandoning a country in which not one ray of hope beamed upon him, to illuminate the dreary darkness of his course. The Committee, in their Report, had not thought it necessary to enter into much detail respecting the mode in which emigration ought to be carried into effect. That was the province of the committee now about to commence its duties. They had been required rather to sanction a principle, than to settle arrangements; and it was left to government and to parliament to decide in what way the principle should be carried into effect after the report of another committee. It was for the House to consider, whether the expense necessarily incurred in the outset, could be repaid, so as ultimately to impose no burthens upon the public. The settler would only be called upon to reimburse the state, as his wealth and his means augmented; and there seemed no conclusive reason why this comparatively trifling outlay should not be advanced, for the sake of producing so much happiness, and, in the end, of increasing the prosperity and resources of the whole empire. He had never heard from any quarter an objection to the principle of emigration, as applicable to the peculiar circumstances of Ireland, exceptVOL. XVI. Having stated thus much on the subject of emigration, as connected with Ireland, he begged to call the attention of the House to the effect which it would have upon England. It had been proved to the satisfaction of the committee, that emigration from England could be carried on without any outlay on the part of the public, for the expense of such an operation: that was to say, that certain parishes, acting on motives of self-interest, would be ready to make an advance, which, with the unequivocal means in the possession of the emigrant himself, would be sufficient to meet the expenditure of the passage, as well as that of localizing the emigrant in the colony, and placing him in a condition to require no additional pecuniary assistance. He begged to call the attention of the House to the details of the state of a parish in England, which would sufficiently illustrate the position he had advanced. The parish to which he alluded was Shipley, in Sussex, and he had the pleasure to acknowledge, that it was to the facilities afforded by the hon. member for the county of Sussex, that he was indebted for the details which he should now proceed to lay before the House. If the House attended to them, he should be able, with more effect, to argue the question in its general application to the rest of the empire. The rental of the parish of Shipley was 2,5994, and the R inhabitants of that parish. Would it not obviously be the interest of the rate-payers to raise a sum by annuity, which was to cease in ten years, and get rid of the necessity of maintaining, at least, the ablebodied labourers in the parish? Sixtyseven labourers, were engaged in forced employment; seventy-seven may be considered as uselessly occupied, amounting in all to 144. Suppose that number reduced to 100 all able-bodied men; he would say "able-bodied," because he never for a moment was so wild as to contemplate any other description of persons as possible objects of emigration. The yearly expense of each redundant labourer to the parish was 251. ; consequently, the expense of 100 men was 2,500l. per annum. The expense attending the emigration of that number of persons, on a calculation such as would insure the prosperity of the parties, would be about 10,000l., of which, let it be remembered, the emigrants might be called on to pay one-half: so that the whole disbursement which the parish would have to make, on account of the removal of the number of men above-stated, would not exceed 5,000l., a sum which they could raise without difficulty, by paying an annuity of 6477. a-year, to cease in ten years. Thus, then, the immediate effect of the abstraction of one hundred men from the above parish, in the way he had described, would be, to reduce its expense by the amount of about 75 per cent. A comparison had been made between the amount received by a labourer with a wife and four children, and by another with a similar family, both residing in Shipley, one being employed all the year round, and the other only during harvest, being maintained during the rest of the year by the parish; and it was found that the difference was no more than 31.6s. Many other agricultural parishes in England were in the same situation as that of Shipley. For such he knew of no remedy but emigration. The rate-payers of Shipley were of that opinion also, and had declared their willingness to contribute one-half of the expense which would be incurred by the removal of the superabundant population. And no one who heard these facts stated, could, he thought, doubt for a moment, that the rate-payers similarly placed throughout the kingdom would be glad to concur in a plan of emigration, which would be at→ tended with such decided advantages. poor-rates, 2,3147. If he were asked the cause of this extraordinary relation between the amount of the rental of the parish, and that of its poor-rates, he would ascribe it to the change of the times, and say, that the high prices in time of war had attracted a population to this place, and provided for it; and that, on a change of circumstances, the population could not be sustained on its labour, and being as it were tethered to the place, were obliged to look to the parish for subsistence. But to proceed with the details. The rate-payers were forty-one in number. Forty-nine cottages were unable to pay rates at all. Sixty-seven ablebodied labourers, precisely such as it was desirable to export to make their fortunes in North America, were employed in digging and breaking stones for the roads, not because their labour was advantageous, but simply because it was thought better to employ them in this way than to allow them to remain in idleness. One hundred and forty-seven persons, unable to undergo hard work, were maintained in their own houses, and seventy were kept in the poor-house. There were 233 regular labourers whom every landholder in the parish was now obliged, in turn, to employ in the following ratio:-The farmer who rented poor land to the amount of 101., or better land to the amount of 117. or 127. a year, was compelled to give work to one man. And in proportion to the rent and the quality of the land, the occupier of land of an average quality, for example, worth 1007. a year, had to provide nine labourers now with employment. Six men were, in fact, as many as he wanted; so that three were absolutely superfluous. The annual expense of 233 labourers at 9s. each per week, was 5,4521., from which 33 per cent, or 1,7791. was to be deducted for unnecessary labour. This added to the poorrate (if the labour be calculated for the whole year) would be 4,1137., from which deducting the rental he had already mentioned, the expense beyond that rental was 1,5147. Why was not this surplus labour removed from the parish of Shipley? Solely because there was no demand for their labour elsewhere; and unless emigration were a remedy for the evil, he knew of no other. When such facts were stated upon authority that could not be resisted, he knew not what hope there was of an amelioration taking place in favour of the The hon. member referred to the result | he could not understand how the arguof the last and preceding emigrations, as ment which they heard repeated so often affording the best evidence of the practi- could be supported; namely, that a limited cability of future experiments. In Ireland emigration might perchance be successful, particularly, this evidence was more but that one on a larger scale must cerwidely spread than it was in this country. tainly fail. There was another mistake He had himself seen a number of letters into which those fell who argued against from emigrants who had gone out in 1823, the propriety of emigration from Ireland, to their friends in Ireland, expressing and that was when they insisted upon the strongly their satisfaction with their pre- advantages resulting from the liberal emsent condition, and using every incentive ployment of capital. Now, so far from to their countrymen to follow their ex- the increase of capital carrying with it a ample. Nothing could be more conclusive demand for labour as a necessary conseof the way in which the change had been quence, it much more frequently produced regarded by those for whose use it was in- quite the contrary effect. Upon that subtended. And when we reflected for a ject, the evidence of Mr. Brackenridge was moment upon the state of things in Ire- of the greatest importance. He says, that land, it was impossible not to say that the "notwithstanding labour is so cheap in change was for the better. He was as Ireland, every kind of product of labour, little a friend to expatriation as any man; whether from agriculture or manufactures, but who could deny that it was better to is dearer than it may be had in England." translate persons to a fruitful soil, rather The reason he gives for that is, that there than to leave them starving under a system is a deficiency of implements, such as of paralyzing pauperism? As a further machinery for manufacture, and hoes, illustration of his opinions, the hon. harrows, and ploughs for agriculture, the member referred to an address trans- latter being in every respect of the worst mitted by the emigrants of 1823, to Mr. material and most clumsy construction. Robinson, who presided over that emigra- But did not the House see what would be tion, expressive of their thanks to him for the consequence of any improvement in being instrumental in bringing about the machinery, or in harrows and ploughs, from fortunate change which had taken place the application of capital? Why, that the in their circumstances. This address was demand for labour for a time would be dated in December last. The parties decreased in an exact ratio with the imappeal to their loyalty as the best test of provement, and that in proportion as they their comfort; and Mr. Robinson, in reply, found themselves able to produce the had recommended them "to persevere, to same quantity, or a greater quantity, forget the past, and be obedient to the of any product or manufacture from laws;" and there was every reason to the use of improved tools or machinery, believe, that they would attend to the re- in that proportion would the demand commendation. for labour by the hand be diminished. If therefore, there was even an application of greatly-increased capital to agriculture, so long as the population continued to increase, the effect might, in the first instance, be rather to exaggerate than diminish the evil; and those who enlarged upon the effect of capital would find, that in a country placed in the situation that Ireland was in at present, emigration alone could prove an adequate preparation for relief to that country. If, then, 105 families were induced to emigrate in 1823, and 1,200 in 1825, with success, he saw no reason why the principle might not be unlimitably applied, as long as land remained in the settlements uncultivated. Any man who did not approve of emigration, in the present circumstances of the country, must view facts with eyes very different from those with which he contemplated them. It was an advantage attendant upon emigration to countries like Canada, that every succeeding class of emigrants presented a market for the consumption of the products, whether of agriculture or the coarser sort of manufactures, supplied by those who preceded them, thereby at once receiving and conferring advantages; and when he considered the matter in that light, There had been petitions presented from the manufacturers of Glasgow and its vicinity, complaining of the most appalling distress; and representing in terms, he feared but too strongly borne out by the facts, the hopeless and irremediable condition of a great portion of the artisans and manufacturing population of that portion of Scotland. In the committee he was then about to propose, evidence would be heard, too, from them; and the House would, from the report, be enabled to see how far their statements were upheld by the proofs, and how far it might be prudent to listen to their prayers for assistance to leave a country where they could no longer earn the means of subsistence. The House ought, however, to remember, that the habits necessarily engendered by the life of a manufacturer or artisan, were not so favourable to their possessor, upon emigration, as if he had been reared in the knowledge of agriculture; and it would be for the committee to see how far the principle of emigration could be safely carried into effect, with a manufacturing population. The opinion, however, of that class being wholly ineligible for emigration, might, he conceived, be carried too far; for recent events had shown, that emigrants of that description had been very successful in Upper Canada. There was, indeed, a peculiar distinction between the agricultural and manufacturing population in one respect; namely, that it became extremely difficult, from the nature of the employment of the manufacturer, and from its frequent variations, to say whether there was, at any particular time, a redundancy in any branch of trade. They had seen thousands out of employment to-day, receiving high wages and in full work on the morrow; and in such sudden changes and alternations it became extremely difficult to say at what time, or to what extent, any branch ought to be relieved. In his opinion, the only method of ascertaining the state of a population under such circumstances, was by the rate of wages: and he would say, that if it could be demonstrated, that the average rate of wages spread over a series of years, although subjected to occasional fluctuations, were sufficient to support an artisan in any class of manufactures, it would be too much to assert, that there was a permanent redundancy of hands in that branch of manufactures. On the contrary, if the average wages of labour were for a long period insufficient to the maintenance of an artisan in any particular employment, it was fair to infer that there was a redundancy of labour in his class, which could not find vent elsewhere. He supposed that no one would deny, that that principle which regulated the price of commodities, also regulated | the price of the labour of those who produced them; and that, whenever the supply became in either case in excess, as compared with the demand, the price must sink until the market was cleared of that proportion of the article, whether a commodity or labour, which was really in excess. If, therefore, the market could by any means, such as emigration, be cleared of those hands which were at the present moment superabundant, it followed, that the remainder would find the wages of labour increased to such an amount as would afford them an adequate remuneration. To take the parish of Blackburn, in Lancashire, for example. In the year 1814, the average price for weaving was 9s. 6d. for each hand-loom piece, of which there were then 27,000 made in a week, and the produce to the weavers was 12,0951. At the end of the year 1826, the average price of weaving a piece of the very same description, was 1s. 9d. Was not this, he would ask, a state of things which required remedy? Did it not show that something more was requisite, than a mere increase of demand? These persons had petitioned the House in terms of the bitterest distress and despondency; but he would venture to say, that they had ascribed their misfortunes to circumstances which had no conceivable reference to their present condition. Among other mistaken causes, these parties persisted in asserting that their situation was produced from the employment of machinery, and that they would be relieved by its destruction. He would ask, was it not of some importance that they should be made to understand their real situation, through the investigation and inquiries of a committeeand that they should be made to appreciate the consequences of the superabundant hands introduced from Ireland and other places. Suppose that the machinery in one parish were destroyedought they not to be made aware that the manufacturers would erect new machinery in another, and the means of employment in the parish from whence it was removed would be taken away, without, in the slightest degree, diminishing that effect of machinery of which they complained. In Manchester there was a population of 120,000 persons, and yet there were at the present moment, dependent on poorrates, 3,590 families, making upwards of 14,000 souls, of whom half were desti |
