In the meanwhile, however, in accordance with your directions, I took the
first occasion of speaking with Lord Granville on the subject, telling him
that the exportation of paupers would be naturally resented by the people
and Government of the United States, and that I should address a private
note to him calling for information. This I accordingly did, and in reply
received an unofficial note from him conveying a statement from Lord
Spencer, the highest and most trustworthy authority, to the following
effect:
We have had no desire to send emigrants to the United States; hut
many wished it, and we put upon them the check of requiring those
asking to go there to show letters from relatives and friends
indicating that they would be helped to find work.
This was carried out in no illusory way.
Remember, too, that families have been selected with a view of their
being able to support themselves. As we want the scheme to suceed,
it is against our policy to send out those who would fail and become
paupers.
About 11,000 persons have been, aided to emigrate to the United
States, or have been approved of as emigrants to that country.
Very few can properly be called paupers. In some cases persons in
receipt of relief in workhouses have been sent out with other
emigrants, but they are a very small proportion of the whole number
selected.
In some few instances the aged father or mother of the emigrant has
been allowed to accompany the family, but only when there is reason
to believe that the working members of the family are sufficient in
number to maintain by their labor the aged persons referred to, as
well as the younger children.
The practice is to give one pound for each adult, and ten shillings
for each child over one year of age, as an allowance on landing; but
in consequence of a report received by the local Government board on
the subject of the demand for labor in the United States,
instructions have been given to the emigration committee to take
care that in determining upon the destinations of persons who may be
selected for emigration under the provisions of the twentieth
section of the “arrears of rent” (Ireland) act, the emigrants are
not allowed to proceed to the United States unless they desire to
join friends or relatives there and unless they can show that their
friends or relatives are in a position to put them in the way of
procuring employment and can help them to maintain themselves until
they obtain such employment. * * *
I also addressed a note to Mr. Sidney Buxton, M. P., agent for the so-called
“Tuke fund,” and received from him the following reply to my questions:
I may add to this statement, written on behalf of Mr. Buxton, that a late
article by him, contributed to the Fortnightly, gives a detailed account of
these proceedings.
I inclose, as containing additional information calculated to throw some
light on the matter, a letter of Mr. J. H. Tuke, reprinted from the Times of
the 15th of June, instant. * * *
I shall transmit further facts in relation to this subject as soon as I shall
be able to obtain them.
I think I may, in conclusion, express my conviction that nothing could be
farther from the wish of Her Majesty’s Government than to promote or connive
at the exportation of paupers to the United States, or to do anything that
would be so surely and properly offensive to the Government at
Washington.
[Inclosure in No. 573.]
Mr. Tuke to the
editor of the Times.
[Extract from the Times of June 11,
1883.]
Sir: Will you allow me, on my return from the
West of Ireland, to supplement the short statement of the work carried
on by the committte of the Tuke fund which appeared recently in the
Times?
Since March 23, the date of the first shipment, to June 3, when the last
party sailed, upwards of 800 families and a limited number of single
persons—in all 4,800 souls—have been assisted by the committee, under
the emigration clauses of the arrears act. In addition to ocean passage
and “landing money,” each emigrant had to be clothed and conveyed from
the home to the port of embarkation by means of cars, carts, or
boats—many of the people for a distance of from 30 to 60 miles. All
emigrants for the United States have been provided with through tickets
to the various destinations where friends resided who had promised
beforehand to find work and a home, or to employers with whom the
committee had previously made arrangements for their reception; while
for those going to Canada arrangements had also been made with the
agents of the Dominion Government to forward the emigrants to various
places, ranging from Toronto to Winnepeg, wherever labor was
demanded.
The total population of the four unions in Mayo and Galway, from which
the 4,800 emigrants have been assisted, is under 50,000, and it will at
once be evident that the departure of one in ten of the population, and
these from the poorest and smallest holdings, must prove a very sensible
relief to the existing destitution of these districts. At the same time
it is of the utmost importance to recognize that these emigrants are not
paupers. Deplorable as may be their want of proper food and clothing,
they are neither recipients of outdoor relief, nor inmates of the
workhouse, but impoverished from the entire want of employment and the
impossibility of living on their small holdings.
Objections are often urged against our work, based upon the belief that
the vacant holdings will be immediately filled up, and the question is
repeatedly asked, “What has become of the land now vacated?” The
statistics taken from one electoral division of the Clifden Union will,
I think, dispel some of these objections, and, so far as my information
goes, may be regarded as a fair illustration of the whole unions, unless
it be that a larger proportion of holdings may remain unfilled in some
still poorer divisions.
Of forty-three holdings twenty-seven were held by head tenants, paying
rent from 25s. to £5 each; seven held by under
tenants; and nine held in conacre. As regards the land of the
twenty-seven head tenants, nineteen of the holdings have been added to
those of adjoining tenants, and eight remain unoccupied, the land being
deemed too poor, or the landlord preferring to retain it without a
tenant, while the lands of the seven under tenants and nine conacre men,
who held by the season only, have reverted to the head tenants. So far
as this evidence goes, it seems all in the right direction, viz, the
consolidation of holdings, and increase in the quantity of land required
for those who remain. And if, as I believe, the same beneficial results
have been attained for the whole of the districts from which the 800
families who have been assisted by the committee have been drawn, it
may, I think, fairly be claimed that family emigration thus conducted
benefits alike those who leave and those who remain. In addition it may
be said to those who dread a refilling of these miserable holdings, that
the sense of the impossibility of living upon them has at length
[Page 439]
strongly taken hold upon the
minds of the people in the West of Ireland, and that, subject to the
success of those who have gone forth this year, thousands more will be
ready to leave if the chance is given them another year. And if, as I
think, the evidence is conclusive as to the benefit conferred upon the
localities from which this emigration has taken place, what, it will be
asked, are the results for those who have left?
It is as yet too early to speak with any degree of certainty of these
results, although many letters have been received from the emigrants who
left early, speaking of the abundance of the employment and the welcome
they have received from their friends. But this may undoubtedly be said,
that no emigrants have left their homes in Ireland under happier
auspices, with less risk of failure, or with better chances of; success.
Well clothed, and conveyed from their door to the port of embarkation,
where they are met and have lodgings and food provided by the agents of
the Government and the committee, until the ocean steamers are ready to
convey them to their destinations; provided with free passages and
railway tickets to any part of Canada or the United States that they may
select, and are approved by the committee, and on landing, met by agents
appointed by the English or Canadian Government, the emigrant feels that
he is cared for, and that friendly hands have been stretched out to aid
and succor him; above all, among a people with whom the family tie is so
paramount, the fact that the family is not divided, that husband and
Wife, and the long procession of older or younger “Pats and Peters,
Marys and Barbaras, with Festy and ‘the couple,”’ are allowed to go
together, gives to the “fremigration” (as it called) a wholly different
character.
This deprives the embarkation of its sadness, and in the ten or twelve
shipments at which I have assisted there has rarely been the painful
wailing so familiar at the railway stations when one member of a family
leaves alone. As I heard it remarked, one day, “One would suppose the
people were going for a picnic, they are so cheerful and happy.” And as,
at parting, they crowd with prayers and blessings around those who have
had the happiness of being allowed to assist them, their gratitude is
evinced in many little acts very touching to witness. That this feeling
is not merely momentary, the captains of the various steamers of Messrs.
Allan & Co. have borne ample evidence. One extract only I will ask
you to find room for; it is from Captain Browne, of the steamship
Phoenician, whose name is well known for courage and seamanship as
“Atlantic Browne.” It is dated May 20, 1883, steamship Phoenician,
Glasgow:
“We arrived here yesterday all well, after our second trip with
emigrants from Ireland, assisted by Tuke’s fund, and in
referring to them I feel it my duty to say something in their
favor. They have on both voyages behaved themselves in a manner
most creditable, always strictly observing all orders given and
company’s rules, which are printed in the steerage. I consider
they are deserving of all praise. Before landing at Boston I
gave them the money (landing) as per Mr. Tuke’s list, when they
appeared to be truly thankful. In fact every time I spoke to
them they were very pleased and grateful to those gentlemen who
had assisted them in leaving their old homesteads.
“Your obedient servant,
JOHN BROWNE.”
It will also be satisfactory to those who have assisted in this movement
to learn that the emigrants selected have entirely satisfied the agents
of the Canadian Government on their arrival, and have even won from
their opponents in the United States a very favorable notice. Mr.
Stafford, the able emigration agent for the Canadian Government at
Quebec, on the arrival of the fourth of our shipments, says: “The
emigrants are remarkably well behaved. You have made really good
selections, and the health, appearance and good conduct of the people
were all that could be desired. Labor is in good demand, and I have no
doubt all your people are at work.”
After the violent opposition with which we were threatened by the
American newspapers, it is especially gratifying to find that they have
been compelled to change their curses into blessings, as” the following
quotation from the Boston Daily Advertiser will show:
“The much-expected ‘emptying of the almshouses of Great Britain upon our
shores’ does not appear to have begun yet, and neither statute law nor
diplomacy has been needed to be applied to assisted immigrants. The
steamship Phoenician, of the Allan line, reached its dock at this port
yesterday bringing 821 steerage passengers, of whom 415 had been
‘assisted.’ This assistance, as explained in the Advertiser of April 24,
is provided in Ireland partly from a benevolent fund known as the ‘Tuke
fund,’ and partly from the treasury of the British Government. These
passengers came principally from the West of Ireland, being taken on
board at ports where the agents of this line of steamers have contracted
to do so. The customary strict inspection was made by the state
superintendent of alien passengers or his deputy.
[Page 440]
None were found to be objectionable on the
score of being likely to become subjects of public charity, and they
appeared to be a physically sound and healthy lot of people, quite up to
the average of immigrants coming here without assistance. Wherein this
class conspicuously differs from the general run of immigrants from
Ireland, is the greater portion of children among them. Of the 415
assisted passengers of the Phoenician, 196 were of less than 15 years of
age, and of the 415, there were 92 destined to different points in this
State.
“The ticket which is given in Ireland to an assisted passenger conveys
him to his ultimate destination. The Montana-bound party, for example,
did not have to get anything more in the shape of a ticket, or the like,
when they reached this port. These points of destination are not
invariably a matter of option on the part of the assisted passenger. He
has the option of remaining at home, but if he takes passage he must go
to a point where the agent of the assisting parties has information that
employment can be found on arrival. In general, they are assisted beyond
the price of the passage by a gift outright of money, in varying sums of
from 10s. to £12.
“So far as can be ascertained, no person of the five different arrivals,
of assisted passengers reaching this port since April 3 has become a
‘burden to the State,’ though all have paid the head-money of half a
dollar. The sum total of this head-money is held as a fund by the
treasurer of the United States, with due credit to Massachusetts on the
books, to offset the liability which the State incurs. If any of these
passengers become subjects of public charity, wherever they may be, this
fund is liable to be drawn upon to maintain them. Whenever it shall be
exhausted, if it so happen, the treasury of Massachusetts will be
liable, but the State may at any time relieve itself of the burden by
sending the pauper back to Ireland. The first lot of assisted passengers
coming to this port arrived in the Phoenician on her previous voyage,
April 3. The arrival of yesterday makes the fifth lot. The following
table indicates the general facts of this immigration:
| Description. |
Phœnician,
April 3. |
Nestorian,
April 15. |
Canadian,
April 28. |
Austrian,
May 1. |
Phœnician,
May
10. |
| Assisted passengers |
213 |
554 |
511 |
129 |
415 |
| Of fifteen year or less |
85 |
248 |
224 |
491 |
196 |
| From fifteen to twenty-five
years |
68 |
165 |
139 |
49 |
101 |
| From twenty-fire to fifty
years |
45 |
97 |
116 |
94 |
91 |
| Above fifty years |
18 |
34 |
41 |
7 |
27 |
| Males |
123 |
267 |
276 |
66 |
205 |
| Females |
90 |
287 |
241 |
63 |
210 |
| Families |
44 |
81 |
76 |
17 |
64 |
Before closing, I will ask your permission to be allowed publicly to
express to his excellency the lord-lieutenant, Mr. R. G. Hamilton, and
Mr. Henry Robinson the deep sense of our gratitude for the unvarying
kindness and assistance which they have at all times accorded to those
who, like myself, have been engaged in the practical carrying out of
this responsible work, and the warm interest which they have evinced has
materially aided a work often both arduous and difficult. The experience
of the past three or four months has more than ever confirmed the
opinion that a carefully considered system of State-aided emigration is
essential for the districts under consideration in the West of Ireland,
and not less absolutely needed are measures for the development of the
resources of these districts, if the prosperity of the whole Government
and its good government are to be permanently secured.
I am, &c.,
