Page:Immigration and the Commissioners of Emigration of the state of New York.djvu/55

 CHAPTER III.

BONDING AND COMMUTING—PRIVATE HOSPITALS FOR IMMIGRANTS.

A NEW era in emigration began after the great Napoleonic wars. It may be said to have formally opened with the year 1819, which witnessed the passage of the first United States law on the subject.

Up to that time no precise and connected information concerning any phase of immigration was obtainable in this country. No systematic effort had been made where to gather reliable facts and figures, and the scanty data anterior to the year named that have descended to us are obtained from a variety of sources. With the law of 1819 a regular supply of statistics on the subject was assured.

The history of immigration after 1819 may be divided into two periods: the first opening in the year named and ending in 1847, the year of the creation of the Board of the Commissioners of Emigration of the State of New York; the second beginning with 1847 and coming down to our days. The former period will be first considered.

In 1817, no less than 22,240 persons, including Americans from abroad, arrived at ports of the United States from foreign countries. In no previous year had one-half as many foreign passengers reached this country. In December, 1817, two shiploads, bound for Philadelphia, were sold into the slave State Delaware. The transaction was shocking in the extreme, and created a painful sensation all over the country; but there were no laws of the United States either limiting the number of persons which a passenger ship or vessel was allowed to carry, or providing in any way for the health or comfort of the passengers. The subject attracted the immediate attention of Congress. On March 10, 1818, Louis McLane, of Delaware, reported to the House of Representatives a bill "regulating passenger ships and vessels," which was read twice and referred. In December of the