Page:Emigration - a paper read at the Burdett Hall, Limehouse.djvu/9



object in writing the paper I am now about to read, is, not merely to direct those intending to emigrate, but also to instruct the public mind on the subject of emigration. The emigrant views emigration simply as the means of improving his own condition; the public are supposed to take a wider and more philosophical view of the subject—but I fear the public view is rather hazy and indistinct; and so long as this is the case, it is idle to expect any decided action on the part of our statesmen, who, as a rule, are influenced by "pressure from without." The horse, or engine, which we call public opinion, is behind the state car in which these gentlemen sit.

It is my intention, at some future time, to publish—or at least print—the paper I now hold in my hand; but I do not think it amiss to ventilate the subject, first, in the form of a lecture; and I know of no better time to do so than the present, nor of a better place than the East of London, where so many are idle and starving.

My introductory remarks had gone so far, at the time the paper was read. What follows, in the way of introduction, was written after the reading.

It is only right that I should state, that, both before and since the reading of this paper, something has been done, and well done, in the emigration line, by the East-end Emigration Society. The St. Lawrence left the port of London, for Canada, carrying about 150 emigrants, on the 23rd of April, 1868; and the Thames, on the 23rd of May, 1868, carrying 176 emigrants to the same colony. "As to the future," writes the Rev. Mr. Kitto (June 13th), "I can give no information, for the simple reason that I possess none. I fear that we shall not be able to send any more to Canada this season, but the Committee have not yet come to any decision in the matter. We have been trying, in vain, to arrange, to send to St. John's, New Brunswick."