PRACTICAL LETTERS ON IRELAND.

LETTER V.

Sth—My object in the present letter is to show that the difficulties of removing our unemployed labourers to the Colonies are not of an insuperable nature but that they are merely those of arrangement, such as statesmen may and ought to grapple with; and I wish further to indicate, without going much into detail, the principles which, in my opinion, should guide them in doing so.

The first great reform which is needed has reference to the selection of emi- grants; for nothing appears to be more clearly established by experience, than

that the existing emigration is not eo constituted as either to relieve effectually

the domestic labour-market or to satisfy the wants of the Colonies. Emigrants may be divided into three classes,—first, those who take with them means suffi- cient to go npon land at once; second, those whose means, whencesoever derived, are barely able to carry them to the new country, and who are dependant for em- ployment when they arrive on the natural and ordinary demand for labour; third, those who are sent for, received, and provided fur, by friends who have previously emigrated. Now it is obvious, that while the first class constitutes a very desira- ble element of colonization as far as the Colonies are concerned, its departure is to this country a positive loss, as tending not only to increase the existing dispro- portion of capital to labour, but also to deprive us pro [auto of a portion of the community to which we must look as likely to be (personally, and without re- ference to their pecuniary resources) one of the most important instruments of future improvement. Increased capital must, no doubt, be exported from the Mother-country to the Colonies along with the increase of emigrant labour; but the export of capital will be far less exhausting to the former, and more bene- ficial to the latter, it it be proportioned, under authoritative superintendence, to the exigencies of the labour-market, and devoted exclusively to meet them, than it can be while subjected to the irregular and unhealthy stimulus of those causes which deter from investment in Ireland, and distributed over the Colonies in such small separate amounts as to produce comparatively little effect in giving employ- ment. It has become an axiom among those who are conversant with the history of colonization, that labour must be combined, and employments divided, not only in order to produce the moral and social benefits which are included in the idea of civilization, but also to make capital perform effectually its special business, that of setting in motion reproductive labour. It is on this ground that I have no hesitation in maintaining, that money exported in the pockets of small farmers and tradesmen does not give employment to one quarter of the number of labour- ers which would be provided for by the outlay of the same sum upon a public work. Attention to this argument is very important, because we are often taunted with inconsistency when we lament over the class of emigrants which we are losing on account of the capital which they take with them, while we ad- mit that in any scheme of colonization there is necessarily involved a contribution on the part of the Mother-country towards providing for the emigrants—in other words, an exportation of domestic capital. Our notice of the first class of emi- grants may be thus summed up—it is desirable to send, not men who have already acquired capital, and who want to invest it, but labourers wham the facilities afforded by a new country may enable to become capitalists, while they would re- main a permanent burden on the community at home. The second class consists of those whose means have been exhausted on the passage, and who arrive in the Colonies in a state of destitution. Of the effects produced by a sudden increase in their numbers the present year affords a melan- choly example; and there is every reason to suppose that, unless some change of system be made, those effects will continue during the next and succeeding years,

to result from the convulsive efforts which Ireland must make to get rid of the

weight that oppresses her. The helpless and useless will be sent in a dispropor- tionate amount; in an unprovided and destitute condition, bearing with them the seeds of contagions disease; and in numbers regulated not by the accommodation procurable for their safe removal, nor by the demand for their labour in the Colo- nies, but by the means locally available for " shovelling them out": and they will continue to be met, as they have been met this year, by destitution and misery hardly less severe than that from which they fly. A fundamental altera- tion of the present system is, then, absolutely necessary with respect to the second class of emigrants also. The third kind of emigration which I have specified, that of labourers invited and furnished with the means of emigrating, either by Colonial Governments or by friends settled in the Colonies, is the only one which is of a thoroughly whole- some and desirable kind, and which it is therefore very important to interfere with as little as possible. Its amount, though large, has been, I think, much overrated, and the danger of causing it to ewe has been most unduly insisted on by the opponents of state emigration. In the first place, it is impossible to set it down as including more than one-fourth of the numbers who emigrate annually;

perhaps, on an average, from 10,000 to 15,000 persons every year,—a mere drop m the ocean, as regards any real benefit to Ireland: and in the second place, if the amount of state contribution to an emigrant-fund were made to depend on the amount contributed by private sources, reasoning and experience lead us to infer that the latter would be, not diminished, but increased, by such encourage- ment. On the whole, it is utterly impossible to make out a case against State interference on the ground that matters are going on well now as regards the quality of emi- gration; and at the very root of a good system of State colonization lies a proper selection of emigrants. Nur does any serious difficulty occur to me as likely to arise in this branch of the business. Selection has long been habitually made for the same purpose in the case of free emigration to the Australian Colonies; and it is described by Mr. Elliott and the Australian witnesses as being easily and effectually accomplished. Similar principles of selection ought to be adopted in all cases of emigration aided by the State. The Colonies have a right to demand that we should send none of our surplus population to be a burden to them; and therefore a national emigration should include only the healthy and able-bodied, with a limited proportion of children. The aged and infirm are the proper objects of relief at home; and the Poor-law would easily and effectually meet their case, if the able-bodied for whom there are no means of employment were removed.

The next care of the Government should be that of the transport of emigrants and, by whatever agency it may be effected—whether by contract or otherwise— experience shows the necessity of superintendence by a responsible authority con- siderably stricter than that which is now exercised. I will take the opportunity, while upon this part of the subject, of correcting a mistake which is not uncom- monly made—that of supposing that there would be a deficiency of shipping for the transport of a largely increased number of emigrants. Lord Lincoln has shown, from official returns, that a sufficient number of ships sail from the United Kingdom to the North American Colonies annually, in ballast, to carry nearly 400,000 emigrants; and a very small additional demand and consequent rise of freight would probably double the quantity available. This year in consequence of the extraordinary demand for freight, produced by the transport of corn from all parts of the world, the price of passages rose considerably; but a stimulus having been given thereby to shipbuilding, the general opinion among well-in- formed persons is that there will be a reaction, and that for some years to come prices will rule unusually low.

The third and most important branch of State colonization will consist in pro- viding the means of employment and of settlement for the emigrants. It is evi- dent that a sudden and large addition to the present amount of emigration would utterly exceed and overwhelm the resources possessed by the Colonies for employ- ing them; and it is farther evident that the additional number would consist, in the case which we have been supposing, almost entirely of those who could not clear and sow laud, and subsist until their crops should come in, without a supply of means from some quarter or other. The state therefore, having undertaken the operation of removing the people from one part of the empire to another, must give them the means of settling finally in their new homes. This may be done in either of two ways,—by a grant of land, together with a certain amount of capital, in the shape of food, seed, and tools; or by securing employment at such wages as may enable them to save for themselves the capital requisite for settle- ment. The former plan was adopted in the experimental settlements effected by Government in 1823 and 1825; and though the experiment has proved eminently successful as regards the parties whom it was primarily intended to benefit,yet the cost of it was so great as to prevent its repetition, and to furnish a plausible argument to the opponents of State colonization. That no reasonable ground for such an argument exists, however, a very slight consideration will suffice to show. If the Government were so foolish as to un- dertake the supply of any large portion of the population, say the inhabitants of London, with their daily food by means of a commissariat, it will be at once conceded that the expense of such a proceeding would be two or three times as great as that incurred by the same persons collectively going into the market and providing for their own wants in their own way. Now this is, in principle, pre- cisely what was done in the case of the Peterborough emigration, and this is the true and sufficient cause of its expensiveness. Again, a very prominent feature of that and of most of the other plans of colonization which have been devised, was a free grant of a certain number of acres of land to each family. Calcula- tions were made of the number of acres required for each farm, and unless there were at the disposal of Government means of measuring off and distributing parallellograms of the given size and given number, it was concluded that the country was not prepared to receive the requisite amount of emigrants. Now, as the Crown has no land at its disposal in Canada, very little in the available situa- tions remaining unappropriated by private individuals, this view of the subject appears at first sight to present very serious obstacles to Canadian colonization. But to those acquainted with the actual circumstances of our North American Colonies they appear wholly visionary. In the first place, if a large additional population were suddenly thrown into Canada, they would not, if they could, all settle down upon fifty-acre farms; nothing of the sort ever took place in any country under heaven. Great numbers of them would build and inhabit towns; would practice trades and professions; would become labourers for hire, mann- facturers, miners; in short, would naturally fall into the social arrangements which prevail in every civilized country. To those who say there is not land enough in Canada for the redundant population of this country, it is a sufficient answer to point to the neighbouring State of New York, which within an area not superior in extent, soil, or climate, contains a greater number of people by three millions than the present population of Canada, and which nobody supposes to be half peopled. Again—land is a drug in our North American Provinces: the Government price is two dollars an acre, but as much as is wanted can be at any time got from private individuals at half that price; apd there are very few who would not be glad to give a certain portion of their estates to those who would undertake to clear and cultivate it, for a nominal sum, with a view to the increased value which would thereby be conferred on the remainder. All aorta of arrange- ments are made by labourers when about to go upon land, both with companies and individuals. They very seldom possess capital enough to buy the land at once, and they are generally allowed to pay the purchase-money of their farms by instalments. The apparent inadequacy of the means with which they are thus enabled to begin the world as landholders, and ultimately to struggle into prosperity, is often almost incredible; and it would be quite impossible to make their arrangements tally with the calculations involved in any scheme of Govern- ment allotments.

On the whole, then, I conclude that by far the cheapest and most effectual way of providing for emigrants, is by supplying them with the means of getting land and food for themselves; and that it they have that, they will find no difficulty in distributing themselves over the country. Now, Mr:Cunard, whose authority as a witness cannot be disputed, tells us that he finds by experience 101. a sufficient capital for a family to go on land with in the spring of the year. But it would

not be sufficient to give 101. to each head of a family on landing, with the cost of his journey to his allotment; though, if it could be done, it would be a very cheap way of disposing of him. Unacquainted with the country, unaccustomed to the

use of an axe, or to the new mode of cultivation required, the emigrant would find himself perfectly helpless in such a predicament, and would probably spend his

IOL before lie had made up his mind what to do. A different mode of promeding,

then—one which shall provide him with experience as well as mom—is ueoes- eery. The State must find him employment, at such wages as shall enable him

to save money to go upon land by the time that he shall have learned how to use

it. Public works must be undertaken—not merely works of an extensive and what may be called Imperial character, but roads, bridges, mills; in short, the

country must be opened fur settlement at the public expense. It ie almost im- possible to devise any public work which will not pay in a new country, especially if time very process of making it bring into the country the population which is to settle around it and turn it to account. At the same time, no doubt, there will be a certain loss at first; and therefore it is necessary to remember, that if the

outlay were all clear loss, it would still be the cheapest way of providing for our surplus population, for it would enable them to settle definitively as self-support- ing colonists. I maintain that a sufficient expenditure upon public works in America would become, in three years, a positive saving of the resources of the country, independently of all prospective benefits, ecoemnieal and moral. To prove this I will shortly state the elements of the calculation. Every unproductive labourer and his family will cost the country at least 5s. weekly. The burden will be divided among different portions of the United King- dom, and will be felt in the inefficiency of under-paid labour, and in the waste of land unprofitably cultivated, as well as in the increase of alms and poor-rates. Still the fact remains: if we should be only as well-off without the labour of the suppm.ed individual as with it, we shall be clear losers to the amount of ,58. per week by him, that is 391. in three years. Now 39/. may, be so expended as to re- move him to America and settle him there, as follows. He represents 5 persons, or 3t " statute adults." At Si. per " statute adult," (a high average,) their pas sage to America will cost 101. 10s.; and 21 10s. will bay sea store and carry them to the point of embarkation. The labourer may be at once set to work at 10s. a week, half to be paid as subsistence-money, half to.be laid by, to his -credit. In one year he will thus have cost 261.; of which 131. will have supported him end his family, 131. will be available to him as capital wherewith to settle upon lend. Deducting 31. more for the cost of bringing the family bathe work and building a "shanty " for them near it, there will remain to their-credit 10/.; precisely the sum which Mr. Cunard has laid down as the necessary capital for each head of a family when going upon land, and which, if be be able-bodied and industrious, ought, in Mr. Cunard's opinion, to put him permanently thenceforth beyond the reach of want. Of course, the estimate which I have made is very rough, -and liable to great disturbance; bat it may suffice to show in a general way how very soon the actual sum which we are paying annually to keep alive an unemployed and therefore demoralized population, would, if expended in colonization, dispose once for all of the cost of maintaining them.

Of coarse, too, there will be many difficulties in applying-the principles which I have laid down; but they vanish altogether when compared with those which any other attempt to solve the Irish question presents. For example, it will be dif- ficult to set in motion the requisite machinery for the selection of marks, and for the superintendence and management of them when undertaken. Yet I cannot think they will appear insuperable to those who recollect the manner in which, without precedent or preparation, and in spite of all the obstacles presented by the disorganized state of the country and the defects of the law, 700,000 Irish labourers were set to work and kept at it during the spring of this year by Go- vernment officers. In British America, there would be no obstacles connected with the state of society or the tenure of land; the emigrants would be surrounded by influences and examples of a beneficial and enoouraging kind s and, instead of the operations being clogged by the disheartening reflect-km of their useless if not mischievous character, it would be felt that with every stroke-of the axe and the spade a step would be made in the march of civilization. I abstain from discussing the question whether the entire colonizing operation which I advocate should be undertaken under the direct control and agency of Government, or whether it might not be cheaper and more effectual to contract with individuals or companies for the settlement of emigrants, as was done with signal success by James the First in the plantation of Ulster. I should myself prefer the latter plan; but the former, as being more simple and intelligible, and at the present time less strange and novel, is the one more likely to be pursued: If so, the Legislatures of the different Provinces should be invited to select within their respective limits such public works as may appear to them desirable, and to specify the amount which they may be prepared to contribute towards the un- dertaking. In doing so, they may be assisted in their tarn by -the District Councils, to whom they will naturally refer applications for works of local and restricted importance. These bodies should discharge the preliminary functions of the Baronial Sessions in Ireland, while the-sanction and management of the works would reside with the Imperial authority. I am not one of these who con- template any Colonial difficulty in carrying out a plan of colonization such as I recommend. It is true that there must be negotiation and explanation, and that not only the interests, but the natural and just pride of the colonists, must be con- ciliated. If the plan which I have suggested, however, were adopted, they would be enabled to guard themselves against all possible inconvenience; for no works would be undertaken except such as their own representatives should select, and only such a number of labourers would be imported as the, works so selected would employ. I have no doubt that we should see province competing with pro- vince, and township with township, for their respective shares • in an operation which would open up their country, provide markets for their.produce, bring trade to their cities, double the value of their land, and enable: them to make in five years greater progress in civilization and prosperity than under ordinary circumstances will be accomplished in fifty.

The financial part of the question undoubtedly presents great " difficulties "; and no wonder. It is very " difficult " for this country tp-rovide in any way for the support of all its inhabitants; still, it must be done: and I have shown that the least "difficult," indeed, the only possible way of doing it, is afforded by colo- nization. The questions, then, which remain for consideration, are—first, what the expense of colonization would be; and second, how itought to be apportioned. Now, according to the calculation already made, the eostof removing.and settling each emigrant in British America would be about ill.; and if the.whole sum ne- cessary to remove the unemployed population of the United Kingdom could , be raised and applied to that purpose in one year, the money would be well laid out. This would not be possible, however; it will, at the best, take three or four years to do it; and, in the mean time, various causes will come into operation which will materially diminish the pressure upon the national resources. it is remarkable, that capital is hardly ever deficient in a new country; as compared with labour, it is almost uniformly in superabundance, except during transient intervals of de- pression. Now, this fact, which is accounted for by the rapidity with which capital is created and replaced wherever fertile and unocenpied,land is plentiful and cheap, and the consequent attractiveness possessed by,se profitable a field for investment, has an important bearing on the present -question. There is in the British Colonies unlimited extent of cultivable .wastes; national AAA-

'on would supply abundance of labour; and care would be, taken in the . place to employ that labour in opening the country .by internal commu- nications. Now, I say, that in such a case the conditions of the most rapid creation of capital in those countries, and the strongest attraction of it from other countries into them, are exhibited. Mr. Perley, the Government Emigration Agent for New Brunswick, has pointed out, in his evidence, the extent and man- lier in which capital, so produced, would be employed. " For every emigrant la- bourer," he says, "employed on a railway, it is caleulated. in the Proviocethat four other emigrant labourers are set to work on the undertakings, agricultural and commercial, which spring up in consequence of his epoployinent.. Again— the evidence of all the Colonial witnesses leads to the ballet,' that, the Provincial Legislatures would be ready and willing to contribute largely, to the expen,se of public works, provided they were encouraged to do so by a ,proportionate Imperial expenditure. The Australian' Colonies, where the want.of tabour is. pe- cuharly felt, would perhaps contribute such an amount au to eampensate for the greater expense of Australian as compared with American colonization. On the whole, though it is quite impossible to say how far the. expense of colonization would be shared by Colonial funds, we have a right to-calculate on such assistance to a very considerable extent. The remainder must be defrayed out of the public funds of this country; and, in my opinion, should be thus apportioned—the princi- pal sum necessary should be raised on the credit of the empire at large, and the interest should be provided from Irish sources exclusively. I am content to rest the whole case upon the ground of economy; upon the ground thatas•eelonization will:finally provide for-every unemployed labourer in Groat Beitain . and Ireland at the:expense of his -subsistence for three years at home, to tualestake it in earnest would.be andricalculable saving of the country's resources.