AWFUL EFFECTS OF EMIGRATION.
LORD Atuaressuar prophesied that emigration would leave Eng- land a deserted island on a weather-beaten coast ! It is true that Mr. Disraeli took the trouble to refute his noble colleague ; but Dr. Farr has, in the course of his duty, produced certain ominous tables of births, marriages, deaths, and emigration, which some think support Lord Malmesbury's view. We contemplate the possible fulfilment of the prophecy with a respectable amount of horror. Dr. Farr shows, that while the births of the last quarter have amounted to 152,066 children, and the deaths to 99,946, leaving the natural increase at 52,120, no fewer than 57,913 per- sons have emigrated from Great Britain; and that the total num- ber of emigrants who during the past year sailed from the ports of the 'United Kingdom is not less than 350,647, or, in round num- bers, 1000 a day. Dr. Farr thinks it is probable that the emigra- tion from England is not equal to its natural increase. By no -means certain, then ? England will surely become a " weather- beaten island," &c.
But let us remark one or two things ; for matters are not quite so bad as they look in this country, wherein the cries of "surplus population," " two millions of paupers sitting idle," and so forth, were raised not a very long time ago, and may be raised again. Let -us again appeal to Dr. Farr and consult his miraculous tables. There we see that the rate of the increase of marriages has been steady enough for the last six years, advancing from 32,439 in the summer quarters of 1848, to upwards of 437,155 in the corre- sponding quarters of 1852. In fact, the quarter ending Septem- ber 1852 gives no fewer than 38,291 couples who have sought refuge in the patriotic state of matrimonv,—for it is patriotism which counteracts emigration and confutes Mahnesbury. Why, then, all this fear and surprise. The "producing power" of England is, as Mr. Disraeli said, adequate to more alarming con- junctures. These marriages are the guarantees of the future. And if we hold them to be indicative of the prosperity of the country, as we assuredly may, we stand now in a favourable posi- tion to meet the spring emigration ; for prosperity will certainly not tend to cheek the productiveness of the human species, what- ever may be said to the contrary by the advocates of the Doubleday theory.
Seriously, England, with all her defects, is not a country to run away from, permanently. . The Diggings will send back 'their quota of population. Besides, Prosperity and Misfortune are the fates who preside, in a prudent community like ours, over the destinies of marriage and birth. While we are prosperous we shall legitimately increase—emigration notwithstanding. At the same time, the benefits of emigration are generally unquestionable, as the concurrent rise in wages and the price of certain necessaries exem- plify. The fact is, we can afford a great deal more of emigration yet, before the City be without clerks, the land without labourers, Dr. Farr without an assistant, and Lord Malmesbury reduced to eleemosynary dependence on Louis Napoleon's civil list.
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