CANTERBURY EMIGRANTS.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 494, 8 January 1851, Page 4

CANTERBURY EMIGRANTS.

[The Tunes founds the following article on the occasion of the dejeuner given by the Canterbury Association on board the emigrant ship Randolph, of which an account appeared in our number of the 21st ultimo.] A column in our yesterday's paper rela'ed the incidents of an occasion which it n-ighL he supposed was by no mean 9 uncommon in this country. The small but active band of* noblemen and gentlemen who are attempting to tiansulant a slip of the mother country, under the name of the Canteibury Settlement, to the bhores of Nc\v Zta'and, gave a valedictory entertain* rnent on Tuesday (o a poition of the colon lslb about to sail at the end of this m.nith. There wa* nothing, and there could be nothing, veiy remailtablc in the oulwaid show of a festivity in which the company wcie such as one might have met at a concert or a horticultuial fc.e, in which he Üb'es weie sjuead from the inexhaust'ble resources of the London Tavern ; and the only peculianty wa«, that instead of a tent, or a saloon, the scene of the festivity was between the decks of a noble emigrant ship. Doubtless there was some oddity in the compaiison cuggested between the present holyday look of the vessel and its possible state three or four months !i"nce, when it may be driven before a north-wester off the Cape, its cabins and crils all peopled with sickness and sorrow, its hatches bnttrned down, its windows closed, and the soutidi above associated with the idea of actual danger. Such a comparison was obvious enough , but there was another with quite as much reason in it, and much moie piopiiely. Haifa century hence some of that company may be dwelling in the midst of thickly } copied countries surrounded by their childicn and giandtluldien, and venerated as the founders of cities, and the sncied links betwem England and her colonia! offspring. Theie is almost a human certainty that rome of them will be in that happy and honourable position. How often will their memoiy and their tongues icveit to the scene of Tuesday last — how often wilfttey dwJl with an almost supeistitous inteiest on such points of the addresses as might take root in their mindb '• A public breakfast in these days can be "•ot up on almost any occasion, but it is not often Th.it it associates one hemisphere with another, a new world with an old one, and the British empiie perhaps with one of its worthiest and most genuine offspring. The rank awd file of the settlement, indeed, weie not Iheie. They are still tcatteied over the old country, t<i!wu£ leave, winding up their little a/Fairs, making their humble preparations, and possibly, about to lend a hand at one moie EuglUh harvest, befoie they depart to sow & new soil. So there weie no agiicultural families, no store of implements, no chests and bedding, no tearful partings { all this was left to the imagination, and many who desiderated these realities would, probably, have been only too glad to dispense with them had they been present. There is no disguising the bitter truth— emigration is a very gieat leap, and a leap almost in tbe daik. It is not half, but the whole convex ocean that is to roll between the Canterbury settler and the land of his birth. Our sailing ybssc's now make the distance Only a hundred days, and before long it is probable that letters will be conveyed in half that time. The moral dislancp, however, is greater. The best thing a New Zealind colonist can do is to give up all idea of return to his native country, to do ail he can to carry his country with him, and to knit, as faa as Huavun will permit, new tie?, new affections, and new associations in ihe laud of i»io iwlnptinn. Colonisation is justly called an heioic work. IJut what heroic work was ever pieasam to begin with ? A hero is a man who does something arduous, painful, and perilous— who denies hia feelings, renounces present comfort, and stakes his life or his fortune for some great thing in prospect. One bean enough of heroism. Everybody is praising it. We have novel heroes, and Church heroes, and Dissenting heioe 1 ?, and political heroes, with suintp, martyis, and confessors enough and to spiie. Indeed, there is , scarcely anybody who does not think, himself a bit of j n hero. We pie-ume, then, that the woild in general will not take it amhs that emigration is generally accompanied with great mental pain and bodily discomfoit; and that we bhall not be expected to disguise its rugged features. Well, then ; let it be said that the Canterbury settlers are heroes in their way. A body of gentlemen and ladies, of clergymen, ol small proprietors and small farmers, and others tendered by English comfort, and tinctured with English refinement, undoubtedly incur a very great risk when they transplant themtelves en masse to an almost desert shore at the other end of the world. Society is not made in a day. A few months may disclose not only g ( eat errors, but evils it would have been impossible to provide against. A short supply of manual labor may throw the better soit of colonists entirely at the mercy of the working man. A want of capital may spread general ruin, and compel the purchasers of lots to sell them for what they will fetch. At least a twelvemonth must pass before the colonists can begin to live from the land ; and in tbe meantime he must live on his capital. We will take foi granted that all is made straight as regards the land, but we need not remind our leaders that New Zealand vies with England heraelf in terlitonal monopolies, defective titles, and speculative claimants. But we have gone on ionger than we intended with these sinistei auguries. A fool can prophecy moie evils than a wise man can secure against. Why is any one to fix his attention on the dark side of the co'onial piospect ? We will meet the objection with another. Is the prospect before the middle and the working classes of this country so entirely comfortable, and so secure, as to mnke it either silly or wrong to lun the links of emigiatii n ? On the contrary, iherc are risks and disngreeab'es in staying at home, jus; as there aie in cmigra'ing 1 , A man does not escape death, or disease, or povprty, or embarrassment by slaying at home. He does not escape the spirit of gambling, and ike chance of utter ruin. He has not the ceitainty of prospeiiug in his profession or his trade. If he has an increasing family dependent on his exeitions, he is not certain of biinging up his chilJien in his own station of life, of setting up his sons, and settling his daughters. He may see his sons sinking lower and lower, and his daughters growing old as governesses or companions. If we descend to a hu-übler clnss, it cannot be said that the prospects of a vilhge labourer and h.s wife are either very agreeable or very secure ; for ttieie is scarcely an imaginable misfortune, humiliation, sin, or disgrace, that is not within the scope of an o dinary Biitish labouter's expectations. We maintain, then, that for all classes, if there is ritk in a colony, there is risk at home. There is misuy and uncertainly everywhere, and we cannot say that tbe pr< spect of affairs in this country is such as to tempt a btld man from trying bis fortunes elsewhere. The trades, the professions, aie sticked; public Pioploynicnt is out of the question lor the com« monalty, and as for the army and navy, they call for reduction rather than increase. We shall be told, of course, that this is all fiee trade and ih.it we aie driving to the colonies the dupes of our own folly. But have thitigi ever been better in this country ? Was it ever easy for a ~ian with a large family, whether he were a luboii'ci, n tntdesmni), n Herpymnn, o» nvmber of nny

learned profession, to provide for them all? Were there no grown-up families of unsuccessful sons and portionless daughters before 1815 ? It is our humble opinion, then, that the noble band mustered on buard the Randolph last Tuesday, and ready to start, on tbe 29th of this month, for the longest voyage possible to mm, are taking not only a bold, but also a prudent venture. They cannot escape josiling anywhere, so they are going where there is more elbow-room. Emigration is a public necessity, so they are making a virtue of it, and are taking it up in right Royal fashion. Without inquuing too minutely into ihe rules of their associa ion, it must be said that tiny are attempting what has never been attempted before,— to cairy England with ihem, — that as Spain was repioduced in South and Central America, France in Cana-Jn, and Biitish Puritanism in New England, a completer and less exceptionable development of our national chaiacter may be established in New Zealand.