them" a consummation devoutly to be wished."

The want of such a process is the great cause of half the misery and wickedness of mankind.

The great evil at present is, that at the actual high wages, which in some places for canal labourers, are 12, 13, and 15 dollars per month, with board and lodging, enough of people cannot be procured-and thus the completion of those grand instruments of national prosperity, canals and railroads, is greatly retarded.

To apply a remedy to those evils, would be highly salutary to the two nations, and must command the approbation and support of the benevolent of both.

I venture to propose a remedy, of easy application, and requiring only the co-operation of a few active individuals, and a very small sum of money.

Let a suitable agent be appointed to proceed forthwith to Ireland, with an authenticated statement of the situation of this country-the unparalleled advantages it holds out to the labouring classes as to food and clothing-the wages of labour-the prices of provisions-together with all the other items of information necessary to make them perfectly acquainted with what they have to expect, so that they may not be discouraged by exaggerated difficulties or embarrassments—nor, on the other hand, be led to indulge in golden dreams, or to form extravagant expectations, likely to end in disappointment.

The emigrants from Ireland and from other countries, may be divided into two great classes; those who are able to pay for their passage, and those whose poverty precludes them from this advantage.

For the former all that is necessary, in order to bring over thousands and tens of thousands annually, is to give them correct information, and to have associations in our sea-ports to direct them where to locate themselves in the interior, to prevent the waste of their slender means on their landing, and to guard them against becoming a prey to designing persons-a fate that has happened to too many of them heretofore.

The other class, unable to pay for their passage, will have to bind themselves for a term of time, adequate to compensate by their labour, for the expense of their passage, and the risk of sickness and of death. This subject requires great consideration.

Redemptioners, as they are called, have heretofore been

greatly oppressed, and advantage been taken of their necessi ties. They have been bound for three and four years, and sometimes for five, which have appeared to them somewhat like an eternity. Their fetters bore hard on them, and they, accordingly, have frequently been discontented, sullen and dogged-and run away.

To avoid this result, and do impartial justice to both parties, it is proposed that the term of servitude be reduced to that point, which will afford a remuneration for the expense of passage, and the risk of sickness and death. Let us examine what is that point.

A steerage passage from Ireland is 12 dollars; provisions probably 15 dollars, say on the whole 27 dollars. Wages of labour on canals vary from 10 to 15 dollars per month, exclusive of board-say only 10. If, therefore, a canal contractor had the faithful service of an active redemptioner for three months, he would stand merely on the same ground as if he, for that period, hired a free labourer at the minimum of current wages. But as various contingencies may arise among the rest, sickness, which would subject the contractor to expense and loss, I presume that the period of servitude might with propriety be fixed for the present, at six months. This would save in wages, enough, beyond the passage money, to insure against every contingency. The period of service, too, would be so short, that there would be little temptation to, or danger of, elopement.

To guard as far as practicable against the danger of importing worthless, disorderly characters, it might be well for the agent to agree with none but such as produced proper recommendations from their clergymen, or from magistrates, for sobriety, industry, and honesty.

It might also be advisable to have them arranged in half dozens, each of whom to be responsible for the remaining five. With these precautions, there is no danger of loss on the part of the persons paying the passages of the redemptioners. They will be amply indemnified—and the country will acquire a great accession of useful population.*

The plan as regards redemptioners, may be liable to objec

"There is no people on earth that are more amenable to the law than the Irish peasantry, if they are let alone." British Report on Emigration, 1827, page 153.

tions.

can pay

None can lie against that which regards persons who their passage.

With regard to the immigrants it is delightful to reflect on the advantages this plan holds out to them. It will transport them from the extreme of poverty and wretchedness; from the most abject state of existence, to superabundance of food, good clothing, and the prospect-honesty, frugality and industry presumed-of acquiring independence and wealth in due season! Those who may be the happy instruments of producing this result, to 20, 25, or 30,000 persons, per annum, will find it balm to their souls at the time when they shall be about to "shuffle off this mortal coil."

Numerous instances are to be found throughout this country, of Irish labourers on canals, who landed two or three years since in extreme poverty, and are now comfortably settled in small houses of their own.

The advantages of this plan will not be confined to the emigrants. The population that remain, will profit by the increased value of labour.

It may not be improper to count the cost of this undertaking. A suitable person might be procured for 200 or 250 dollars, exclusive of his expenses, which need not exceed $350—a paltry sum compared with the object in view. To a single person under a large contract, it would be worth while to defray the whole expense, which would be amply compensated. But ten or a dozen contractors would very probably unite.

The agent might finish his operations in two or three months -as, when the business was once under way, it would go on without any further interference. The favourable accounts of the first settlers would induce thousands to follow. If the business be undertaken with proper spirit, I should not despair of seeing 20, 25, or 30,000 arrive annually. The English government would probably co-operate in the effectuation of this plan, as they are desirous to have a portion of the superfluous population exported.

The plan might be advantageously extended to Germany and Switzerland, under the auspices of the German Societies established in our sea-ports.

In order to test the disposition of the public to patronize this undertaking, it is proposed that meetings be held in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, on

the 11th of August next, to take the subject into consideration. Contractors in contiguous situations might be invited to attend.*

Philadelphia, July 18, 1828.

Address to those on whom Heaven has bestowed the goods of fortune, and, what is more valuable, hearts to make a proper use of them for the public benefit.†

"Cari sunt parentes-cari liberi, propinqui, familiares; sed omnes omnium caritates patria una complexa est, pro quâ quis bonus dubitet mortem oppetere, si ei sit profuturus?”‡—Cicero.

Philadelphia, October 11, 1824.

It is proposed to form a society in this city for the promotion of national improvements, of which the object shall be to collect into one focus, and to disseminate throughout the United States, the most valuable and correct information that can be procured, on the subject of the construction of canals, roads, bridges, railways, steam-engines, and other objects tending to advance "the national wealth, power, and resources," as well as individual prosperity. But while concerns of national interest will occupy a due share of the attention of, and their promotion be among the great ends proposed by, the society, internal improvement within our own state, will be its primary object.

It is contemplated to publish and distribute gratuitously small pamphlets of thirty or forty pages, six or eight times a

* This plan, which could scarcely have failed to be eminently beneficial to Ireland and the United States, met with no encouragement, and of course did not go into operation.

+ This address led to the formation of "the Pennsylvania Society, for the Promotion of Internal Improvement," which was organized, Nov. 30, 1824. They raised nearly 6000 dollars, and commissioned Mr. Strickland, a respectable architect and engineer, to proceed to Europe to procure information on the subject of railroads, canals, bridges, &c., which he accomplished much to their satisfaction, and to the great advantage of the nation. The publications and efforts of this society accelerated the march of internal improvement in Pennsylvania; some persons believe ten years-others six or seven. The latter is highly probable.

"Dear to us are our parents-dear our children-dear our relations and our friends-but all these holy ties are embraced by our beloved country, for which who would hesitate to lay down his life, if such a sacrifice would promote her prosperity?"

year, on the above important subjects-and, as most important improvements have within a few years been made in Great Britain in the construction of roads and railways, in cutting canals, and in steam-engines, it is also contemplated to send some duly qualified person to Great Britain, to examine in person, and report to the society such improvements in these various objects as are not in use in this country.

As long experience has proved that societies, of which the members are very numerous, and the subscriptions small, are generally inefficient for great objects, it has been determined to limit the number of members of this society to twenty-five.* But as the effectuation of the great objects of the society will require considerable expenditures, it is contemplated to have the subscription for the first year one hundred dollars, payable in four instalments-one-fourth when the society is organized -one-fourth in four months-one-fourth in eight-and the remainder in twelve months. Future subscriptions will be regulated by the society.

It is unnecessary to expatiate largely on the immense advantage which such a society, prosecuted with a due degree of zeal, commensurate with its great objects, cannot fail to produce as they must forcibly strike even superficial observers. We shall barely observe, that, passing over the lavish expenditures on abortive or injudicious attempts at making canals, the money squandered through the mistaken system on which our turnpike roads are constructed, is probably at least 25 or 30 per cent. of the whole cost-and it would not be extravagant to estimate this loss in the United States within the last ten years, at a million of dollars, which might have been saved by adopting the modern improvements in road making.

Among the inducements to this undertaking, it may be mentioned that the great question now pending, of opening a navigable communication between the Atlantic states and those to the westward, demands the utmost vigilance on the part of the citizens of Pennsylvania. It is one of the most important questions for the lasting interests of the state that has ever been agitated. Should the decision be incorrect, and the route by the Chesapeake be adopted, nearly the whole of what remains of the western trade, will be irrecoverably lost to Philadelphia, and go to the aggrandizement of Washington and the circumjacent country. Every man, therefore, who has any interest in The number was increased to forty-eight.

*