CHAPTER I. A Glance at the causes which produce Emigration from our own country.
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CHAPTER I.
A Glance at the causes which produce Emigration from our own country.
IT has been observed that there is little chance of living comfortably in this country, unless by some sweeping mortality, one-half of its inhabitants should be sent to their graves. The inhabitants of this country are too numerous for its means of subsistence. The feast is not large enough for those who require to partake of it. Some, indeed, occupy such good seats at the table, as give them the command of the choicest dishes; but these are few, compared with the number who are very scantily provided for. So great, indeed, is the crowd pressing for admission to the table, that some cannot obtain seats at all, and hence the accounts with which we are every now and then horrified, of persons dying from absolute want of the indispensable necessaries of life. And is it possible, that in a country, whose resources are so much extolled--a country abounding with bibles and churches--a country, where so many enjoy all the luxuries which wealth can command, there should be found persons dying for want of a crust of bread to keep body and soul together. O tempora! O mores! There must be something rotten in the institutions or government of a country, in which instances of such appalling destitution are found--where there is so wide a disproportion between the condition of one human being and another--between the aristocrat who inhabits a sumptuous palace, and the poor wretch in his vicinity, who, from no fault of his own, cannot obtain a sufficiency of food to stop the agonizing cries of his starving offspring! The case would not be so bad, if those who sit at that part of the table which is plentifully furnished, would allow the less fortunate guests to purchase their provisions at the cheapest market: but when an application to this effect is made, these wealthier guests tell their needy brethren, that from the rank which it is proper they should maintain, no such concession can be granted; that their depot must have
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the exclusive benefit of whatever purchases are made; and to this arrangement, dictated by the most obvious selfishness, as the aristocracy have the government in their hands, the people are obliged to submit.
But the desire to remove from this country is strengthened by a variety of other causes. The burthen of taxation with which it is overloaded, to discharge the interest of more than eight hundred millions of debt, yearly augmenting--the monopoly of the productions of the soil claimed and exercised by its aristocratic proprietors--the hopelessness of seeing effected any substantial reforms of the rank abuses of the commonwealth by a government composed of men who, like Louis Phillippe, have belied their professions, betrayed the too generous confidence of their supporters, and whose elevation to power has annihilated all distinction, except the name between a Whig and a Tory government, these are among the causes which have contributed to break the ligament, and a pretty strong one it usually is, that attaches men to the country which gave them birth, and to induce them to try their fortune in a foreign land.
If ever the Scottish adage "Look before you loup" should be seriously attended to, it is when a man is deliberating on the important design of transporting himself and family--if he have one--to a distant land. Some indeed abandon their native country from no other motive than a love of adventure, or a restless desire of change, and such usually pay dear for their rashness; but if a man possess an ordinary share of prudence, he will not determine on emigration to any country however favourably represented, till he has satisfied himself, from authentic sources of information, that his settlement in it is likely to bring along with it that improvement in his condition which it is his object to attain. To assist enquirers on this important subject, which at present engages so large a portion of public attention; to lay before them a succinct view of the claims which New Zealand possesses, as a field for emigration, is the design of this publication. The writer deems it due to himself, as well as to his reader to state, that he has not the slightest connection, either directly or indirectly, with any company or persons whose interests may be affected by New Zealand emigration. Having, therefore, no interest to serve, but that of truth, he trusts that in whatever other respects he may be found deficient, his claim to the credit of impartiality will be conceded.
