CHAPTER I. WHY SHOULD PEOPLE EMIGRATE?
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CHAPTER I.
WHY SHOULD PEOPLE EMIGRATE?
TO the labouring man the answers to this question are obvious. The numbers of his class have rapidly increased in an inverse ratio to the productive capabilities of his country, in which, from its overpopulation, he can no longer obtain a fair day's wages for a fair day's work; nay more, the difficulty with him is often to obtain work or wages at all, in which case, he must either depend for subsistence during a portion of his time, upon the sympathy of friends and relatives, a shade better off than himself; or these failing him, he has no other alternative than the Poor Law Union;-- to the latter alternative, he must, in too many cases, succumb towards the end of his life. What kind of an object is this to urge a man forward throughout the health and strength of his existence;-- to know that he is only working, in order that he may become a pauper at its close?
In our Colonies are neither Poor Law Unions, want of employment, low wages, nor any other of the causes which at home depress the energies and embitter the existence of the labouring man. On the contrary, there is scarcely a Colony, in which the cry is not, "send us labour, we cannot progress for the want of it. Why will people starve at home when by coming to us all anxiety on this head will disappear for ever?"
There is a yet higher ground than mere personal benefit, which will come home to the mind of the labouring man, in whose class all the social affections are deeply implanted. What hope has he, the father of a family, that his offspring will turn out well in life? Very little indeed. He can only bequeath to them his own impoverished condition. He may set them an honest and praiseworthy example, yet is it ten to one but that subsequent circumstances will nullify this example. In the present state of society, no labouring man can look upon a numerous family of children, and not fear that he has been adding something to social degradation, if not to crime. Emigration, no matter to what Colony, will remove all fear of social degradation, and--except to minds naturally
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vicious--all temptations to crime, by providing labour, and its just remuneration. Instead of his children becoming a burden to him, they will become, and that speedily, a source of comparative independence. A colonist may say with the Psalmist, "Children and the fruit of the womb are an heritage of the Lord. Blessed is he who hath his quiver full of them." If that be said to him in his present state, in this country, it is only a bitter mockery of his degraded and impoverished condition.
The serious question, then, with regard to the family of a labouring man is this: Shall I, by remaining where I am, involuntarily expose my children to poverty and temptation, or shall I, by voluntarily removing to new lands, remove them, together with myself, beyond the reach of both? The question is a serious one, and upon the practical reply depends the future welfare of the labourer and of his descendants.
Let the labouring man recall to mind the condition of those of his own class who have emigrated. If he have no connections of this kind, his neighbours have. Is not the tenor of their letters home, "Come out to us, why will you stay at home and starve, when you might place yourselves in a position to command your own self-respect, and the respect of those around you?" It would be scarcely possible to put this book into the hands of any labouring man, who cannot refer to instances of this kind. It is, for the most part, his want of the habits of reflection and decision which prevents him from wishing to follow their example.
But how is the labouring man to get out to a Colony? The Government of his country has no system for sending him there, except as a felon, after having gone to an expense in training him up in vice, which would have more than sufficed to place him and his whole family in honest respectability. This is a singular anomaly in our social system, but the labourer cannot alter it, and the Legislature will not. We must therefore look to some other means for the purpose of compassing his settlement as a colonist.
And here we will address ourselves to another class of persons whose best interests consist in emigration; viz., to those of the middle class who have no profitable occupation, but whose relatives and friends are able and willing to advance them a sum sufficient to establish them as colonists, upon an estate of their own:-- and
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also to those who possess a capital, small enough to he useless to them in this country, but which would be amply sufficient to place them in industrial independence in a Colony.
The class to which we now address ourselves is very numerous, perhaps more so in comparison than that of the labouring man. And what possible inducement have they to remain at home? Oh, "something will turn up," say they. What is that something? Where is it? The condition of the country is not such as to afford reasonable grounds for the expectation of eventual respectability to the mass, though accident may favour a few. This is hoping against hope, as steady reflection would not fail to convince them. How much more consistent would it be with a spirit of independence in the first of the two classes named, to avail themselves of the assistance of their connections in placing themselves in a position to become, not only less of a burden, but a positive advantage to their relatives. No dependent man can maintain that self-reliance without which it is impossible to prosper. To be tolerated, because he cannot be got rid of, is no very enviable position to a man of spirit, were he brought to regard his own position as he really stands in the eyes of others. Pride, one of the most valuable qualities in man, when well-directed;--is a very sorry basis upon which to fall back, if ill-directed. But from this position, it is impossible that young men in this country, however energetic, and however desirous they may be to better their condition, should extricate themselves. They are the victims to an artificial state of society which compels them to unprofitable inaction, in spite of their wishes to the contrary; from which unprofitable inaction there is no means of escape but by transplanting themselves into a new society in which no artificial obstacles to their wellbeing exist.
To the second of these classes, viz., those whose only reliance is on a small capital, the subject of emigration is of still greater importance;--their capital dwindled away, what is there to prevent them, or their children at any rate, from sinking down to the condition of the labouring man? --a condition, to which, in our day, the lower grades of the middle class have a decided tendency. In what way can the capital of such persons be employed without annually becoming "small by degrees and beautifully less?" Instead of becoming the foundation of wealth in a Colony, small
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capital in this country is merely the protraction of poverty, and it requires both skill and prudence to put off the evil to a late day. To the possessor--if he see old age--poverty may come. To his children it is pretty certain to come. There are few, whose experience of their neighbours' fortunes will not compel them to admit the truth of the observation. Why should the same causes produce different effects in their own case?
That man, whether his capital be large or small, must be very deficient in observation, who has not perceived that the accumulation of wealth in few hands, has in this country had the effect of concentrating in large establishments the trade which was formerly distributed amongst innumerable small capitalists. To enter into familiar instances of this. What chance has the tailor, with 500l. to begin business with, of contending with the Jew clothesman, backed by the aid of a millionaire of his own people, who does not know what else to do with his money? To open shop in opposition to such overwhelming means, with a sum so insignificant, could only lead to its loss; yet that sum is amply sufficient to place its owner on a good estate of his own in a Colony, with the certainty of future independence and immediate comfort. Or what chance has the grocer, possessed of a similar amount, of competing with the advertising sloe-leaf merchant, with 20,000l. to back him, but a similar probability of losing his money if he set up in the same neighbourhood? The same system of wealth in opposition to small capital has extended itself to every town in the kingdom as well as in the metropolis, and to every trade and occupation: to multiply instances would be useless.
The question then amounts to this: That in the employment of small capital in most of the pursuits common in this country, the probability is in favour of its loss. This is not so in Colonies. Small capital is not there opposed to contending interests. With ordinary prudence and industry on the part of its possessor, its reward is as certain as its accumulation. The virgin soil of the earth asks no expensive modes of cultivation, but places the unskilful cultivator on a par with the most skilful, though the latter is slow in believing this. There are no ruinous conventional elegances of life which must be indulged, in order to maintain a certain station amongst people who absurdly aim at concealing
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poverty by an expenditure beyond their means. Taxation, and its concomitant evils and annoyances have all been left behind. Pauperism, except to the utterly worthless, is altogether unknown, and men neither envy nor fear their neighbours. Let the small capitalist say for himself which state of society is the better, the one in which he can with ease realize this comfortable independence and relieve himself of all anxiety with regard to his family, or the one which involves the loss, or at best, the precarious possession of his slender means of subsistence.
It is to this class of small capitalists that the labouring man must look for his extrication from his pauperized condition. The colonist with capital necessarily wants labour, and in the amount of purchase which has been paid for his land, is included the sum which is to procure labour to place upon that land, without which labour it would he valueless. It is only in this way that the labourer can expatriate himself, and leave his degradation behind him. The eagerness of thousands of the labouring classes to do this, forms the best proof that they are alive to the disadvantages of their present position. The colonist enriches himself at the same time that he confers a benefit upon his industrious fellow-countrymen. There is no prouder position, certainly none more useful, than that of a man who can place himself in a colony upon his own land, tilled by labourers emanating from his own district at home, and who, relying on his judgment, have followed him to the land of his adoption. How many are there, now leading useless lives in this country, who might readily place themselves in a position so desirable to their dependants, and so beneficial to themselves, but who, by frittering away their limited means in this country, are only gradually sinking to the condition of dependants themselves?
There is a singular reluctance amongst the middle classes of our countrymen to emigrate. One reason is, that they see around them a society living in luxury, of which they hope one day to become participators, forgetting that the gulf which separates them from their wealthy neighbours is becoming every day wider. Another reason is, their attachment to their native country; but this, powerful as it is, should hardly weigh with men to whom it can only bring misfortune. A still more solid reason is, the utter want of education to any useful or productive purpose. This is so
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peculiar a failing amongst too many of our countrymen, that its effects are worthy of more than a passing notice. From the very same motive we have just mentioned, viz., that of enabling their children to rank with the wealthy and luxurious, we find the sons of persons in the lower middle class educated in great numbers for the productionless professions, as lawyers, doctors, parsons, &c., forgetting that these professions produce nothing to the general stock, but that those exercising them must of necessity live upon those who do produce. Yet where are these expectations fulfilled in the mass? What is the result to a large majority of those so educated? --A beggarly dependence upon others, and incapacity to embark in any productive employment.
How much better would it be to educate the majority of these as colonists; to impress upon them from childhood that there is no room for them in their own country, unless they shall first acquire a competency abroad, which will enable them to return home in independence. We might learn a valuable lesson in this respect from our Scottish neighbours. The lesson to their children is, that Scotland is no place for them: they must go abroad, when or where depending upon circumstances. Their education is sound and practical, and the result is, that, throw a Scotchman into any locality whatever, and under any circumstances, he is sure to "alight on his feet," as the proverb is. There is no reason for this, but that, from the habitual discipline of early education to the purpose exactly adapted to his after life, he has acquired a clear perception of his objects, and is enabled to follow them out with a dogged perseverance, which, permitting itself to turn neither to the right hand nor the left, seldom fails in accomplishing its purpose. He is born an emigrant, and he fulfils his destiny.
How different is the education of the lower middle class in England--how purposeless and inefficient. The only idea inculcated is that of raising themselves above the station in which they were born. How? --is not pointed out, nor are the mysteries of the art of acquiring a fortune, with nothing to begin with, communicated to them. To recommend a really useful education for his son to an ambitious parent, would almost be regarded as an insult. Yet rarely is this ambition gratified. Wealth is a lottery, in which are a vast number of candidates for a very few prizes. The majority, who
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draw blanks, have infinitely more reason to be disappointed than had they remained in their original station, and received such an education therein, as would have enabled them legitimately to raise their fortunes.
Let parents choose whether of the two courses is the better. In sending out their sons to colonies, having first practically fitted them for this end, there is a possibility, nay, every probability, that their children may return to them, in competence, to cheer the evening of their days. No such general results can be hoped for from keeping them at home to swell the difficulties with which every man's hearth is beset.
These are they who should emigrate, lightening the burdens of their country, and receiving competence in return. Their humble neighbours, to whom the means of emigration are afforded from their enterprise, will not be slow to follow them, and to assist them in their career.
