NATIONAL EMIGRATION. (From the Times.)

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 324, 5 July 1849, Page 2

NATIONAL EMIGRATION. (From the Times.)

As emigration will soon be presied on the attention of tbe legislature, it becomes neceisary to repot ton the progress of the question. For our own part>*wc can. not think the ex»e to be exact Ty the same now as it was in January, 1847, or even in January, 1848. Since the former date half a million of souls hare left these shores ; and ' lince the latter datfc, this unexampled emigration has aisumed the form of a upontaneous and regular itream. Nor is there any visible abatement of the locomotive furor* We may, therefore, conclude that, for some time to come, nearly the who'e annual increase of our .home population wilt tike wing. Of thii annual sfrnrm certainly not lets than two hundred thousand will be Irish ; .anjl as, according to the- common, mode of reckoning, the natural increase on a population of eight millions will be not much more thin <me hundred thousand, it follows, that Irelaud mutt now be undergoing an actual depopulation at tbe rate of a hundred thousand -a year, putting fever and , famine out of count. Now, this may be a gratifying fact, or a consolatory fact, or a necessary fact ; bat it - is, at all events, a very serious fact, and a new element In the question. Artificial ingenuity is tender with interfering with natural operations of gigantic and unututl character. When Cubitt was about to shove the cliffs of Dover into the Channel, the appearance of a natuial land-slip would probably have induced him to } suspend operations. .He would, have let nature work i awhile, and then proceeded on her bakis, 1 st he should find that be had thrown away his labour, or even done positive mischief. Now, here is a great slip of the British population, and so long as the wanderers) have a land of milk and honey to go to, which they certainly have, we may be honestly and unaffectedly rejoiced at their departure. Still caution, and even humility, recoil from any extensive and unnecessary interference with so colossal a movement, At all events, let us contemplate the fact in its various bearings. In the first place, there is the question of money. At present the British. Government does not assist emigration from the public resources. With but few exceptions, whatever amount and degree of "assistance" is now given from the colonial funds. The colonial paymasters have a general preference for En^liih and Scotch labourers, as being better op to theit work, and therefore, more worth their money. Government, therefore, is not at liberty to apply these funds, and locate the depots for colonial emigration where some people may think them most needed* It is merely in the position of a factor or agent, commit* sioned to engage practised agricultural labourers, with certain limitations, and t > pay all or part of their passage. Moi cover, the fund is but small. What Government, therefore, does out of the public resources is confined to superintendence, and to, diminishing, as much as possible, the manifold casualties inseparable from large movements of men, whether by sea or by land. This does not entail a very large expense. On the other hand, any attempt to assist general emigration must needs be costly. Government .would not merely pay a certain addition to tbe present self-paid emigration, it would have to undertake all. Almost everybody in Iteland threw hiaose)f,oq the.relitf fund, .and almost every one wbq wished 40, 'emigrate would throw himself on the emigration fund* There would be the ■ >me difficulty of discrimination, and the same same want o( boneat and efficient, auxiliaries on the ■pot. Will anybody venture to name the sum of money which would not be required from the Government in fulfilment of its pledges ? Ar million would be nothing among so many. ' B^it the country cannot afford a million ju«t now.' There is a dire necessity for reducing the national expenditure. Neither manufacturers nor agriculturists on this side of the channel will agree to spare a million for such a purpose, or for any other purpose not absolutely necessary. It so happens, that for many years past theie has been a continual succession of new demands for money. The money has been spent, and then it has been found that Ireland wanted regeneiating quite as much as eyer* What we say of speuding, we say also of lending. Lending and spending in thcae days are pretty much the same thing. As far as regards the condition and prospects of the emigrants themselves, neither Canada nor tbe States exhibit tbus far any signs of repletiou. In fact, thdre is less complaint just now, with a quarter of a million per annum, thanl there used to be with a quarter of that number. For these twenty years, there have been loud remonstrances against the- Irish: imm'granti, who have been constantly described as lingering at New York, qe othec port of debarcation, as herding incouru and cellars, and naturalising in the land of freedom the misery, the rags, and the filth of their own op« pressed country. The operatives of those cities have formed themselves ino combination against the invaders, and there has been a political party against them. Even Charming, in 1840, looked with dread to the increased inroads of European helotism that might soon be expected when steam had destroyed half the distance between the old and the new world:— " I would aik (he said) what is to be the effect of bringing the labouring classes of Europe twice as near to us as they now are ? Is there no danger of a competition that is to depress the labouring classes here ? Can the workmen here stand his ground against the half-famished, ignorant workman of Europe, who will toil for any wages, and who never thinks of redeeming an hour for personal improvement ? Is there no d*»ag«r that, with increased intercourse with Europe, wt^.tteU import the staking, fearful contrasts, which there divide one people into separate nations ? Sooner than our labouring classes should become an European populace, a good man would almost wish that perpetual humcaneß, driving every ship from tbe ocean, should sever wholly the two hemispheres from each other. • • Perhaps my fears may be groumJleii. I do not as* you to adopt them/

They were groundless. Since Charming wrote these words, the railroads and other Internal communications of the States have brought the vast interior within* few i»ys of the seaboard. What were the bwk woods in out youth, ire now central states, where old, men re«t «t eaie, while their ions aeek the far west. Evciywhere, Iben, the cry ii for more hands. . Thus much for the United States. The e migratton to that country we are forced to speak of as a fact which has iti consolations. Loyalty will prefer Cauida and the other Uritlsh colonies. They do not complain of being saturated with agricultural labour, and there is still the same refage for volunt.ry emulation. There is no apparent reason why a hundred thousand natives of Irclund should not find on the banks ol the St. Lawrence that employment, and on the shores of the Uuon that fixity of tenure, for which they pine in vain at home. The geographical and political circumstances of Canada prevent, and indeed supersede, that minute attention on the part of the mother country, which we cannot attempt wilh the remote aud comparatively iufant colonies of Australia. Quebec, Montreal, Totouto, and other thriving cities, are markets of land and of labour, where the emigrant can soon suit himself with laud or a master, according to bis taste or means. Canada is a self-governing country, with a representative Legislature and a Ministry of its own. All that the British government can do with emigration to that quarter is to see that llw emigrant i» not forced from his native soil, is not tiepanned by fraudulent agents, or ia not exposed to disease, starvation, or shipwreck, by dithonest shipowners, and is not ianded absolutely belplesi at the Canadian port. Once landed, he wilt take care of himii-lf, and will even crosi the fron'ier, and swell the anti-British party in th« States, if such it his humour. We wish, indeed, that something could be done with the selection of the emigiants. Necessity and chance now decide. The impulse which drives out a quarter of a million will not discriminate. We hate passed the opportunity of a really national emigration, and now find the movement beyond our control.