drained him as dry as they can, they are loth to part with him entirely, and they write out per next steamer a full, true, and particular account of him-his parish, his relations, his priest, and his estimated stock of money-to a similar gang in New York. Paddy-simple fellow-arrives in New York in due time, and is greeted on landing by the same affectionate inquiries. If his eyes have not been opened by woeful experience, he thinks once more that he has fallen among friends, and is led off by the "smart" man-catchers of the New York gang, to be robbed of the last farthing that he can be persuaded to part with; and he is possibly induced to spend the savings of years in the purchase of land, supposed to be in the far west, but having no other existence but such as paper and lies can give it. loo Dock, whence the greater number of emigrant vessels take their departure, will see a profuse display of the various articles upon which the man-catcher makes his gains-articles generally of the most inferior quality, and sold at the most extravagant and ridiculous prices. The man-catching business, in all its various departments, has been reduced to a regular system, and no London sharper can be more sharp than the Liverpool runners. Perhaps the most complicated and ingenious trick is the following: When a steam-vessel laden with emigrants leaves an Irish port for Liverpool, one of the Liverpool fraternity, dressed up as a raw Irishman, with the usual long-tailed, ragged, and patched gray frieze coat, the battered and napless hat, the dirty unbuttoned knee-breeches, the black stockings, the shillelah, and the short pipe, takes his place among them, and pretends to It must not be supposed, from the statebe an emigrant. Before the vessel arrives at ments in reference to the rogueries practised Liverpool he manages to make acquaintance by runners and man-catchers upon the with the greater portion of them, learns the simple, emigrants themselves do not occaparish they came from and the names of the sionally endeavor to commit frauds, both relatives whom they have left behind, not upon each other and upon the owners and forgetting those of the parish priest and the captains of ships. The Irish emigrant, with principal people of the neighborhood. He the passion for hoarding which is so common also ascertains the names of the friends in among his countrymen, often hides money America whom they are going to join. He in his rags, and tells a piteous tale of utter tells them of the roguery of Liverpool, and destitution, in order to get a passage at a warns them against thieves and man-catchers, cheaper rate. The shameless beggary, which bidding them take especial care of their is perhaps the greatest vice of the lower money. On arriving at the quay, in Liver- classes of Irish, does not always forsake them, pool, he jumps ashore among the first, where even when they have determined to bid farea gang of his co-partners are waiting to re- well to the old country; and I have several ceive him. He speedily communicates to times been accosted by men and women, on them all the information he has gained, and board emigrant ships in dock, and asked for the poor people on stepping ashore are beset contributions to help them when they got to by affectionate inquiries about their friends New York. “Sure, yer honor, and may the in Ireland, and that good old man the parish Lord spare you to a long life; I've paid my priest. They imagine that they have fortu- last farden for my passage," said a sturdy nately dropped among old acquaintances, Irish woman, with a child in her arms, when and their friend of the steamboat takes care accosted on the quarter-deck of a fine ship, to inform them that he is not going to be in the Waterloo Dock, "and when I get to "done" by the man-catchers, but will lodge New York I shall have to beg in the strates, while at Liverpool at such and such a place, unless yer honor will take pity on me.” On which he recommends. They cannot imagine being asked to show me her ticket, she said that men who know all about the priest and her husband had it; and her husband-a their friends and relatives can mean them wretched-looking old man-making his apany harm, and numbers of them are usually pearance and repeating the same story, was led off in triumph to the most wretched but pressed to show the document. He did so most expensive lodging-houses. Once in the at last, when it was apparent that he had power of the man-catchers, a regular siege paid upwards of seventeen pounds-eightyof their pockets is made, and the poor emi-two dollars and twenty-five cents-for the grant is victimized in a thousand ways for his passage money, for his clothes and utensils, and for his food. Even after they have passage of himself and wife and his family of five children. “And do you mean to say that you have no money left?" was inquired of him. man. "Not one blessed penny," said the "No, nor a fardin," said the woman, "and God knows what'll become of us." "Do you know nobody in New York?" "Not a living sowle, yer honor." "Have you no luggage?" "Not a stick or a stitch, but the clothes we wear." As the good ship was detained two days beyond her advertised time of sailing, all the emigrants, as usual, had liberty to pass to and from the ship to the streets, as caprice or convenience dictated. On the following day, this sturdy woman and her husband were seen entering the Waterloo Dock gates with a donkey-cart, tolerably well piled with boxes, bedding, and cooking utensils. When they were down in the steerage, and she was asked whether that was her luggage, she replied it was. "You said yesterday, however, when you were begging, that you had no luggage." "Sure, it's a hard world, yer honor, and we're poor people God help us." those who have money. Those who really have none at all, or who possibly have not sufficient to pay their passage, resort to other schemes for crossing the Atlantic at a reduced rate, or free of charge altogether, and "stow away." This is a practice which is carried on to a great and increasing extent. After encountering these perils of poverty and cheating, the crowd becomes finally located on board of ship, and assigned their quarters for the voyage. It is a strange place for the new-comers, and their admiration of the new life they have entered upon begins with the first day's issue of regulation food. The experience of most of them in the edible way, has hitherto been confined to "murphys" or, at most, Indian meal, which they heartily detest as "starvation porridge." They now come to the allowances, as above, handed them by law. The meal, the tea, the rice, the sugar, and molasses prove frequently a puzzler-tea in particular-and it is not unfrequently the case that a brawny Pat, who could do a good turn at Donnybrook fair, but whose knowledge of drinkables is confined to whisky, will, after gravely surveying the tea for a while, deliberately fill his pipe with a por In tion. Others, with more expansive ideas, will at times mix the whole in a mass, and boil it into a thick soup or pudding, well specked with the expanded tea leaves. formation comes with experience, however, and the first serious experience is sea-sickness, which utterly prostrates them, mind and body, aggravating every dirty habit they may have formed. Then is exerted the utmost power of the captain to enforce cleanliness; he usually selects a dozen or two of the more intelligent, and investing them with authority, a general turn-out, and a thorough cleaning every morning, and in all weathers, is compelled. An incident of a kind not very dissimilar occurred on board of another American liner. When the passenger roll was called over, it was found that one man, from the county of Tipperary, had only paid an instalment upon his passage money, and that the sum of $6 each for three persons, or $18, was tion, and smoke it with much satisfacstill due from him. On being called upon to pay the difference, he asserted vehemently that he had been told in the broker's office that there was no more to pay, and that to ask him for more was to attempt a robbery. The clerk insisted upon the money, and showed him the tickets of other passengers to prove the correctness of the charge. The man then changed his tone, and declared that he had not a single farthing left in the world, and that it was quite impossible he could pay any more. "Then you and your family will be put on shore," said the clerk, "and lose the money you have already paid." The intending emigrant swore lustily at the injustice, and declared that if put on shore he would "get an act of Parliament" to put an end to such a system of robbery. The clerk, however, was obdurate, and the man disappeared, muttering as he went that he would have his "act of Parliament to punish the broker, the clerk, and the captain." He returned in a few minutes from below, and, without saying a word of what had happened, and looking as unconcerned as a stranger, coolly presented a £5 note, or $24 25, and asked for his change. Such is a specimen of the rogueries attempted by By the rigid observance of this rule, much of the former sickness and mortality has been avoided. A voyage of some thirty days usually brings the human freight within sight of New York harbor. It almost invariably occurs that in the first delight of arrival every utensil and article of bedding is pitched overboard. No matter how are the people, or how hardly the things may have been come by, over they go; and cleaning for the landing takes place. How full of anxieties is that landing! poor CHAPTER III. LANDING IN NEW-YORK-FUTURE HOMES. THE Castle Garden, at New York, is allotted for the reception of the passengers under the Commission of Emigration, which was organized by law in 1847, and which charges a tax of two dollars per head on each immigrant, applying the proceeds to the support of the needy and destitute among them. The operations of this commission have become very extensive. It has charge of the Quarantine. Since its organization it has raised large hospitals on Ward's Island, where the sick are cared for. They are also sent to the Marine Hospital and the New York Hospital, and they reimburse the towns and counties of the state for the charges they incur for support of poor aliens, and advance money to immigrants on pledge of baggage, without interest. In the year 1859 $2,180 was so advanced to 162 families, and $2,031 was paid back. The operations of the commission in 1859 were:Receipts for commutation Other receipts Total receipts.... Balance in hand, January, 1859. Office... $16,486 Hospitals Counties for support 6,380 23,555 Castle Garden.. 34,727 Agent at Rochester. 1,087 Albany.. 2,160 2,601 $159,112 This account gives a general idea of the operations of the commission. The whole amount disbursed by the commission, May 5, 1847, to Jan. 1, 1860, was $834,786. The proportion who go into hospital appears to be about six per cent. of the arrivals. A large majority of those who here land have their friends awaiting them to guide them to their future homes. Numbers have to seek their way amid numberless perils. But nearly all these have come provided with instructions more or less minute, derived from the numerous agents in Europe of the American land companies, who hold out inducements to settlers. The Germans are mostly inclined to agriculture, and they soon find their way, by the emigrant trains of the great trunk lines of railroads. Those lines have all exerted themselves to profit by the movement. The following table, from official sources, gives the number of Germans and British under each head, and also the aggregate of 182,566 all the aliens arrived since the returns have 5,656 | been regularly kept. Some of the passengers $188,222 report themselves from Great Britain, without stating which portion. These are under the head "Great Britain." Thus, the total from Great Britain to 1859, is 2,670,059, of which, 1,415,399 are reported from Great Britain, 289,654 from England, 918,729 from Ireland, 46,277 from Scotland. NUMBER OF PASSENGERS THAT ARRIVED IN EACH YEAR IN THE UNITED STATES FROM ENGLAND, IRELAND, SCOTLAND, GREAT BRITAIN, AND GERMANY, WITH THE TOTAL FROM ALL COUNTRIES. |