3?5.1 U.S. rongress. House, Conaaittee on un31'if Foreign Affairs. Foreign criminals and paupers. LINCOLN ROOM LMNKRSnV OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY 3IEMORIAL the CLiss of 1901 founded h\ HARLAN HOVT HORNER (Old HKNRIETTA CALHOUN HORNLR 34th CoxGRKs, ) HOUSE OF r.KPRESF.NTATIVKS. ( Report 1«/ Session. \ ^ No. 359. Un2>l3f ' FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND i'AUPERS. [To accompany Bill II. R. V2i.] ArorsT 10, 1856. ^Ir. H. yi. Filler, from the Committeo t»n Foreign AfHiirs, iniule the following R i: iM) irr . The Committee on Foreign Affairs ntake the /oIlowiiKj report : Tlie su)»jt'ct relerreil \o the eoiuiiiittee is one (tf grave ini])ortance, as alVeeting nut only the fiscal allairs of the nation, bnt the morals, liahits, and character of the people, and the safety of t»iir institutions. It has accordingly received that careful consideration by the committee which its importance seemed to demand. It may he safely assumed that the national j)rosperitr of a community, no matter what the character or form «»f its government, mainly depends on the morals, industry, and frugality of its people, and that the weakest and least permanent of all governments is that in which indolence and vice are allowed to tiourish under the name of li])erty. A nation of freemen, no matter how great or ]»owerl"ul, cannot long continue as such without religion and morality, industry and frugality; for these are indispensable sup- ports of popular government. Crime and paui)erism are the bane of a republic, and they cannot be too carefully considered, nor too strin- .r..,,flv- guarded against, if those in autliority would be true to the trust ; I I in them by their fellow-citizens. That these evils have, of late years, grown far beyond the ratio of the increase of our popula- tion, and have alarmed the considerate and reflecting portion of all classes of the American jteople, is an admitted fact. That this increase is traceable to the immense influx of foreigners within the last ten years ])ast, no one who examines the subject can deny. Thousands have come hither within that period to fill our streets as beggars, or to become the inmates of our alms-houses, and other charitabh; insti- tutions. Undesirable as such a population may be, we are yet atllicted with one of a still worse character, derived I'rora the same source. Our country has l>een converted into a sort of penal colony, to which foreign governments ship their crinunals. It is not only the thriftless poor who come hither, spending their last cent in crossing the Atlantic to add to the burden of our poor laws, and to stand bt-tween native misfortune and the relief provided for it by charity, but inmates of the i»risons 2,102 4,086 ]Vpwn rk ....■*>•••.. 12,322 9,927 3,512 3,697 12,782 Mobile ..... ....... Detroit Total Portland \^p\v Ma vpn .....>«.. Total 868,917 542,832 318,914 150.064 Aggregate of free States 1,411,749 Aggregate of slave States 468,978 Aggregate population 1,880,727 Native 1,187;831 Foreign 692 , 896 It will thus be seen that almost one-third of the entire foreign pop- ulation in the country reside in the twenty cities named in the fore- going table, while they contain but about the fifteenth part of the native i^opulation of the United States. It will be seen, also, that of the foreign population of the New England States, there were in the cities of I3oston, Providence, Portland, and New Haven, no less than 63,555, being over 20 per cent, of the whole number in these States. In the cities of New York, Philadelphia, Newark, and Albany, there were 386,345, being 38 per cent, of the foreign population of the three middle States of New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. In Cincinnati, Chicago, Detroit, and Milwaukie, there were 92,932, being 17 per cent, of their number in the western and northwestern FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 3 States, comprising Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa. In the cities of St. Louis and Louisville, there were 50,858, being 43 per cent, of the number in the southwestern States of Ken- tucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas. In the cities of Baltimore, Richmond, Charleston, Mobile and New Orleans, there were 94,924, being 54 per cent, of those in the south Atlantic States of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Louisiana. An examination of the census returns of 1850 will disclose these facts : that near 40 per cent, of the foreign population therein, the State of New York, resided in the cities of New York and Albany ; that over one-fourth of those in Massachusetts were in Boston ; that 40 per cent, of those in Rhode Island were in Providence ; that about one-sixth of those in Connecticut, resided in the cities of Hartford and New Haven ; that the city of Newark alone had one-fifth of those in New Jersey ; and Philadelphia about 40 per cent, of those in Penn - sylvania. So in the southern States ; Mobile had about GO per cent, of the foreign population in Alabama; New Orleans, over 70 per cent, of those in Louisiana ; Savannah 37 per cent, of those in Georgia ; Charleston considerably over one-half of those in South Carolina; Louisville, near 40 per cent, of those in Kentucky ; St. Louis over one-half of those in Missouri ; Nashville and Memphis over 40 per cent, of those in Tennessee ; Baltimore about 67 per cent, of those in Maryland; and Wilmington about one-third of those in Delaware. And the same may be said of the western States. Of those in Ohio, over one-fourth were in Cincinnati, and of those in Illinois over one- eighth were in Chicago ; of those in Michigan about one-sixth in Detroit, and of those in Wisconsin, over one-ninth in Milwaukie. These facts clearly show that a very large portion of the immigrant 23opulation is in the cities and towns, and though we are without sta- tistics on the subject, we may fairly draw the inference that the major part of the worthless portion of it may be found in the cities and towns. It isthere where the outcasts, mendicants, and convicts, disgorged from the jails and workhouses of Europe, are mostly exercising their cor- rupting influence upon public morals, and oppressing the honest and virtuous citizen with heavy taxation. Need it then be wondered at that both national and State interference are now demanded ? The evil has become oppressive, and hence it is that sentiments like the following, taken from the last annual report of the governors of the New York city alms-houses, are now uttered in official documents in all parts of the country. " There are points of expenditure which are forced upon the depart- ment that ought to be obviated. Every effort is being made to pre- vent it in future, and obtain redress for the past. " The board need not remind you that they refer to the unjust im- position upon the citizens of New York, by the large number of vag- rants, prisoners, and lunatics, as well as the out-door poor, who are thrown upon them through the inability of the commissioner of emi- gration to support those avIio are thrown upon the public charity during the first five years of their residence here. The sum already expended, $60,000, without including any previous time when no ac- 4 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. count was rendered. This evil still exists, and unless some action is liad to remedy it, the burden will reach far beyond the present claims made for their support. "There is no good reason why the city should not be protected against this unjust use of its charities, by national or State interference in its behalf, or an increase of the fund of the commissioners of emi- gration, by an addition to the present passenger tax." INCREASE OF INTEMPERANCE, AND ITS CAUSE. Intemperance is undoubtedly one of the great causes of pauperism and crime. The progress of intemperance can, to a very great extent, be traced to the immense influx of foreigners of these classes. Espe- cially true is this in regard to all our commercial cities. As already shown, they love the haunts of cities, and do not spread themselves over the country and cultivate our soil. Coming generally without means, trades or professions, they are compelled to remain at the port at which they land upon our shore, and seek refuge in our public in- stitutions for the poor, or engage in some business requiring little or no capital. The first step of hundreds and thousands of them conse- quently is, to open a grog shop, and thus aid to promote vice. The natural result is, that irreligion, immorality, pauperism and crime radiate from the cities, and spread over the land their demoralizing influence. These are not mere assertions. A superabundance of facts may be adduced to substantiate its truth. Those engaged in keeping grog shops are generally of these classes, and though we are without accura'e statistical information on the subject, there is enough of an entirely reliable character to put at rest all doubts. The inspectors of the Moyamensing prison at Philadelphia, in their report of 1854, bear the following emphatic testimony on this point: Full three-fourths of all the crimes that are committed may l)e traced to intemperance. The rum shops that infest our city furnish a large proportion of our prisoners. It is not of unfrequent occurrence, that prisoners of the class alluded to are but a few hours released from confinement when they are brought back upon a similar charge. The turnkey's report for 1853, furnished by the mayor's clerk to the grand jury ot the March term of the Philadelphia quarter sessions, shows that of 9,112 prisoners, 7,852 were for intoxication or crimes induced by the use of strong drink. According to a statement of Mayor Con- rad of Philidelphia. in a message to the councils, there were 38,657 arrests made by the police during tlie year 1855, of which number 11,234 were for intemperance, and 18,344 for breaches of the peace, making an aggregate of near 30,000. Of these arrests, there were about 26,000 foreigners. In further corroboration of the assertion that intemperance is one of the great causes of the rapid progress of vice and immorality, and that the large accession of a vicious foreign population in our country contributes largely to the increase of intemperance, the following facts may be adduced : Mr. Headly, secretary of state, in a report to the New York legislature, states that intemperance was the cause of pau- perism in that State, during the last year, in no less than from 25,000 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 5 to 30,000 instances, of which the number of those of foreign birth is not given, but there is no doubt, judging from the other features of the report, tliat a large majority was of that class. The resident physician of Blackwell's Island, in his report for 1855, to the governors of the New York city alms-house, shows that 88 it, per cent, of all admitted could be classed under the heads of intemperance, or habitual drunk- ards, and that TOi'-q i)er cent, were of foreign birth. The report of the warden of the New York city prison, for 1855, shows that of 36,264 prisoners admitted, 32,703 were intemperate_, and that of the number admitted, 27,338 were foreigners. Of 301 arrested in New York city for drunkenness, during the first week of August, 1855, there were 252 foreigners, 211 of whom were from Ireland, 16 from Scotland, 12 from England, 7 from Germany, 3 from France, and 3 from Wales ; of 314 arrested for the same offence the week following, 286 were foreigners, 218 of whom were Irish, 17 German^ 14 English, and 14 Scotch . These statistics cannot be carefully examined without leading us irresistibly to the conclusion, that there is a close and intimate con- nexion between the large influx of a bad foreign immigration, and the increase of intemperance, and all its concomitant evils. We have materially changed as a people, since the first half century succeeding our independence as a nation ; and a careful inquiry must satisfy every unbiased mind, that the change has not been for the better. During the last decade, this influx, and the evils consequent thereon, have everywhere become visible, and not only destroyed the landmarks of those primitive virtues which characterized us as a people and a nation anterior thereto, but the gradual increase of the vice of intemperance, and its hand-maids, crime and pauperism, and juvenile vagrancy and viciousness, can be traced clearly and unmistakeably to the same cause. Let any one examine the statistics on the subject, and he will find, without difliculty, the source from whence comes this rapid increase of vice, which, of late years, has grown so enormously^ that it is now alike alarming to our morals, and the stability of our institutions. This increase, so fraught with evil consequences, has not been among those of native birth, or who have resided long in the country. It has been caused by those coming hither within the last ten years past, thousands of whom were the inmates of poor-houses and prisons in Europe. Is it not, then, a great moral and political evil, the mag- nitude and consequences of which demand an immediate remedy? Look at it. The census returns from 1830 to 1850, show the increase of our i^opulation to be sixty-one per cent. , ivliile the increase of pau- perism has been seven hundred and six per cent. In 1831, there was one pauper to every 123 persons. It is difficult to say what it is now, but in New York State, it has been ascertained to be this year one to every seventeen! The increase in that State, in 1855, over the pre- ceding year, was 70,000 persons, at an additional expense of over a million of dollars. Where could this increase come from? The reports of the various public institutions show that it comes from foreign lands. The same ratio continued twenty or thirty years longer will make us a nation of paupers and criminals. The public morals, the peace and prosperity of the country, the very existence of our institu- b FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. tions, all are imperilled thereby, and unite in invokins; prompt and effective legislation to guard and protect us against it. FOREIGN PAUPERISM. Tlie census returns of 1850 show that the amount of public means expended during the preceding year, for the support of paupers, is |2, 954, 806, and the number, of paupers supported during the same period, in whole or part, was 134,972. They show further that, of the number thus supported, there were 68,538 of foreign birth, heing over one half of the whole number. Those of foreign birth then in the country numbered 2,244,625, and one out of every thirty-three of that number was, therefore, a pauper ; while the native born, including the free colored, and those whose birth was unknown, numbered 19,979,563, of whom only one out of every three hundred was a charge on the publie. The following table exhibits the number of foreign and native paupers, during the year preceding 1850, and the amount of means expended in each State : States. Native. j Foreign. Maine New Hampsliire Vermont Massachusetts . . Rhode Island , . . Connecticut . . . . New Vork New Jersey Pennsylvania . . . Delaware Maryland Virginia North Carolina . . South Carolina. . Georgia Florida Alabama Mississippi Louisiana Texas Arkansas Tennessee Kentucky Ohio Michigan Indiana Illinois Missouri Iowa Wisconsin 4,553 2,853 2,043 6,530 1,115 1,872 19,285 1,816 5,898 569 2,591 4.933 1,913 1,313 978 64 352 248 133 7 97 994 971 1,904 649 860 386 1,248 100 169 950 747 1,611 9,247 1,445 465 40,580 576 5,653 128 1,903 185 18 329 58 12 11 12 290 8 11 155 609 541 322 411 1,729 35 497 Total. I Expenditure. 5,503 3,600 3,654 15,777 2,560 2,337 59,855 2,. 392 11,551 697 4,494 5,118 1,931 1,642 i;036 76 363 260 423 7 105 1,005 1,126 2,513 1,190 1,182 797 2,977 135 666 $26,600 33,577 52,098 229,759 25,865 23,906 553,918 22,407 113.060 3,274 30,. 333 5,513 559 8,752 1,567 147 531 836 27,318 331 337 8,431 25,578 12,329 25,597 23.217 30,963 1,786 10.998 Aggregate 66,434 68,538 134,972 2,954,806 The same census returns, from Avhich the foregoing facts are col- lected, show the following condition of things in the poor-houses, in the States named, on the first of June, 1850: Massachusetts had at that time 3,712 persons in the poor-houses, not including the out-of- FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 7 door paupers, who received public aid, of which number there were 989 foreigners, heing over one-third of the ivhole number, of whom 803 were from Ij^'^^nd, 13 from Germany, and 173 from other countries. Maryhand had 988, of which number 243 were of foreign birth, being near one-fourth, of whom 128 were from Ireland, 88 from G-ermany, and 27 from other countries. Missouri had 276, of which number 151 were foreign born, being over one-half, of whom 77 from Ireland, 43 from Germany, and 31 from other countries. A like disproportion of those of foreign birth existed in the other States, except in Virginia, North Carolina, and one or two other southern States. Other statistics, of more recent date, but no less reliable, prove that this disproportion of the foreign born, on the public charge, still con- tinues to exist, and is on the increase. The following facts, collated and derived from various authentic sources, presents, if possible, a still more startling picture of the evils of foreign pauperism than do the census returns of 1850, startling as they must be to everyone who has not hitherto had his attention turned to the subject. Mr. Whit- ney, in his admirable work, entitled "A Defence of the American Policy," states that the authorities of New York provide and support annually, for a population of diseased and destitute foreigners, the very refuse of Europe, to an extent equal to the entire population of any one county in the State, excepting the four or five largest, and far greater than many of the most thriving counties ; also, that ac- cording to the census returns of 1850, there were then ten counties in the State whose entire population, severally, was less than the number of foreign paupers entirely and permanently supported in the hospi- tals and asylums of the commissioners of emigration, during the year 1852 ! According to their report for that year, the number of immi- grants arrived at New York was 300,992, and the number supported or pecuniarily assisted by the commission was 141,992 ! The reports of the commissioners for the years 1852, '53, '54, exhibit the follow- mg statistics : Marine Hospital - - - Eefuge and Hospital on Ward's Island - - - - Lunatic Asylum . - - 1852. 8,887 15,182 355 1853. 4,796 14,365 362 1854. 4,762 15,950 260 Aggregate. 18,445 45,197 977 Total - - - 24,424 19,523 20,972 64,919 Boarded and lodged tempora- rily in the city - - - 117,568 44,514 44,514 206,796 Total cared for - 141,992 64,037 65,486 271,715 According to a report made to the New York legislature, by Mr. Hadley, secretary of state^ the amount expended for the support and relief of the poor in that State, during the year 1855, was ^1,379,950 50, and the number supported or relieved was as follows: county paupers, 84,934 ; town paupers, 18,412 ; total received and supported, 204,161 ; temporarily relieved, 159,092. T||,nativity of paupers is given as follows: natives, 80,324; foreign bOTa, 119,607; 8 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. and of those relieved there were 94,127 of foreign birth. There re- mained in the poor-honses at the end of the year 11/J97 paupers, of whom 5, 7 73 were foreigners, being almost one-half. •• The seventh annual report of the governors of the alms-houses, New York city, for the year 1855, exhibits a similar state of facts. The warden of the Belleview hospital, in his report to the governors, slates the number of admissions during the year to have been 5,755, of which number but 856 were natives, and 4,899 were foreigners,, heing over eighty per cent, of the luhole numher ; of whom 4,242 were from Ireland, 281 from Germany, 201 from England, 69 from Scot- land, 23 from Canada, 16 from France, 61 from other countries, and 6 unknown. The warden of the alms-house, Blackwell's Island, re- ports the whole number of admitted, from 1st of January to 31st of December, 1855, inclusive, was 3,096, of which number 773 were na- tives, and 2,323 were foreigners, heing three-fourths of the ivhole number admitted; of whom 1,949 were from Ireland, 148 from Germany, 121 from England, 38 from Scotland, and 67 from other countries. The report of the resident physician of the city Lunatic Asylum, states the admissions, during the year, to have been 371, of which number 78 were natives and 293 foreigners, heing over tivo-thirds of the lohole number ; of whom 178 were from Ireland, 63 from Germany, 19 from England, and the remainder from other countries. Of 418 children admitted into the New York House of Refuge, during the year 1855, four-fifths are reported to have been of foreign parentage, and of these two-thirds were Irish. According to the New York newspapers, the number of patients to whom medical services and medicines were fur- nished gratuitously, by the various dispensaries in that city, during the month of March, 1856, were 7,928, of which number 3,414 were males, and 4,514 females, 2,925 Americans and 5,085 foreigners, al- most two-thirds of the whole numher heing foreigners. The number of patients attended during July, 1855, at the northern dispensary in New York city, was 996, of whom &^^ icere foreigners , 568 being Irish, 24 English, 15 Scotch, 12 German, and 11 from other countries. So of 1,945 patients at the Eye and Ear Infirmary of the same city, dur- ing the year 1848, there were 1,118 foreigners. In Massachusetts there were relieved and maintained at the public expense, from 1837 to 1840, the aggregate number of 8,671 persons, of whom 6,104 were foreigners, heing over tiDO-tliirds of the numher. For the years 1850, '51, '52, and '53, ending November 1, the whole number amounted to 107,776, of which 48,469 were foreigners^ being not quite one half, and of these over 40,000 were from England and Ireland. A report made to tlie Massachusetts legislature, by a commission on insanity and lunacy in that State, discloses these facts : That in a population estimated at 1,124,676 there are 2,632 lunatics, and 1,087 idiots; that of the 2,632 lunatics there were 625 foreigners^ and of the 1,043 idiots, there were only 66 foreigners; that of the 2,632 lunatics, 1,522 were paupers, and 1,110 were supported by their own property or friends; and that of the 1,522 paupers, 693 were paupers of the State, ha-^up no legal settlement in the State. The report reveals further thi^triking disproportion in the number and condition of # FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. native and foreign lunatics. Of tlie lunatics not dependent on charity, 1,066 are natives, and only 44 foreigners, while of the pauper lunatics, 581 are foreigners and 941 natives. Of the 2,007 native lunatics, 1,227 are maintained by friends, and 780 in hospitals, (fee, while of 625 foreign lunatics, 568 are in hospitals, &c., and only 57 maintained by friends ; so that ninety -three jyer cent, of foreign lunatics in Mas- sachusetts are pauijers. The following is the aggregate of the monthly census taken of the inmates of the Blockley alms-house in Philadelphia, during the year 1855 : Number of inmates 25,262, of which number 6,319 were Ameri- cans, 1^578 negroes, and 17,345 foreigners, heing ahout sixty-eight 2Jer cent, of the iclwle number of foreigners. The society for the relief of the poor, in Philadelphia, report that for the year ending March 31, 1855, there were received into their establishment 1,266 persons, of whom there were 816 foreigners, 182 of unknown birth and 268 Americans ; of the foreigners there were 605 Irish, 122 English^ 41 German, 32 Scotch, 7 French^ 3 Welsh, 2 Italian, 2 West Indian, 1 from Switzer- land, and 1 from St. Helena. In the Pennsylvania hospital for the insane, of 2,576 patients ad- mitted, 635, being one-fourth of the number, were foreigners, of whom 346 were Irish, 118 English, 108 German, and the remainder from other countries. The following is a table of the admissions into the Pennsylvania Hospital, at Philadelphia, for a period of twelve years last past, showing the nativities of the persons received. Years. Other countries. 1842. 1843. 1844. 1845. 1846. 1847. 1848. 1849. 1850. 1851. 1852. 1853. 1854. Total It thus appears that the aggregate number received was 17,834 in these twelve years, of which 10,543 were foreigners, being consider- ably over one-half of the whole number, and of which more than tiuo- thirds loere from Ireland. Of those admitted during the year 1854, there were, as above stated, 579 natives, 902 Irish, 350 from other countries^ of whom 132 were German, 100 English, 38 Scotch, 13 French, 9 Welsh, 8 Swiss, 6 West Indians^ 4 Danes, 3 from Italy and East Indies, each, 2 from Newfoundland, Belgium, and at sea, each; and 1 from Hungary, Norway, Finland, Greece, Brazil, and Canada, each. 10 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. wJ^ The number received into the Baltimore alms-house, during the year 1851, was 2_,150, of which number about 900 were Irish and 6^er- mans ; and of 2,358 admitted to the same institution in 1854, there icere l,o9l forcigneos, of whom 641 were German and 593 Irish. Ac- cording to the report of the board of trustees, for the j^ear 1855, the number of inmates during the year was 2,411, of which number 996 were natives, and 1,415 were foreigners, iemj; a fraction less than fifty- nine i^er cent, of the whole numher foreigners , of whom 646 were from Germany, 568 from Ireland, 78 from England, 32 from Scotland, and 21 from France. The report for the Erie county prison. New York, located at Buftalo, shows that of 1,564 prisoners received during the year 1855, only 432 were Americans, and 1,083 foreigners, being more than tivo-thirds of the lohole number of the latter class. A Buffalo paper gives the follow- ing statement of the number committed to the work-house in that city for the last four years past : Years. 1852 1853 1854 1855 (11 months) - Native. 254 318 344 360 Foreign. 708 832 854 1,022 Total. 962 1,150 1,198 1,362 Total four years 1,276 3,416 4,692 At the New Orleans city work-house, the number committed dur- ing the two weeks ending August 3, 1855, was 108, of which 92 ivere foreigners, of whom 60 were Irish. At the charity hospital in the same city, the number of admissions in 1848, was 11,945, of whom but 1,579 belonged to the United States, and 10,280 were foreigners. In 1849, there were 15,558 persons admitted, of whom only 1,782 belonged to the United States^ and 13^634 loere foreigners. In the year 1853, there were 13,750 persons admitted, of whom 12,333 were foreigners, and 1,534 natives. So in Cincinnati, there were during the year 1848, about 3,000 persons admitted into the city hospital, of whom over tivo-thirds luere foreigner's; during the year 1854, the number admitted was 520, of whom 449 2oere foreigners ; the number who received in-door relief was 1,599, of whom 1,307 tvere foreigners ; and the total number of persons relieved at the institution during the same period, was 6,280, of whom 4,654 were foreigners. So at the Infirmary in the same city, the number admitted in 1854, was 660, of whom 505 were for- eigners. These are stubborn, undeniable facts, showing that a great and rapidly increasing public evil exists in our commercial cities, which demands a prompt and efficient remedy. Nor is the evil confined to the cities and large towns. It exists in the rural districts, and throughout the whole country. Of this we have ample evidence in the following statements from papers published at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania: That at Gettysburg states ''that the register of the Adams county alms-house, Pennsylvania, shows that the number of vagrant paupers relieved during the year 1855, was 545, of which FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 11 number but 45 were Americans and 449 foreigners, of whom 397 were from Germany, 79 from Ireland, and the remainder from other coun- tries. The number of day's relief for Americans was only 148, and for foreigners 2,777, of that at Chambersburg, states that for a period of nine months from January 1st, 1855, there were 553 wayfaring paupers entertained at the poor-honse of Franklin county, Pennsyl- vania, of Avhom 522 Avere foreigners, and but 31 Americans." FOREIGx\ CRIMINALS. The census of 1850 shows that the whole number of criminals within the year preceeding, in all the States, except California, was 26,679; of which number 12,988 were natives, and 13,691 foreigners, being one conxiciion out oi Qverj ffteen hundred and eiglitii of the natives, and one out of every one hundred and sixty-Jive of the foreign popula- tion of the United States at that time. The proportion of native and foreign crime, it thus appears, was as one to ten — one American to ten foreigners. The following table exhibits the number of con- victions in each State during the preceding year : States and Territories. Alabama Arkansas California Columbia " District". Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Illinois Indiana Jowa Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts . . , Michigan Mississippi Missouri New Hampshire New Jersey New York North Carolina . Ohio Pennsylvania . . Rhode Island. . , South Carolina , Tennessee Texas Vermont Virginia Wisconsin . . . . Minnesota . . . . New Mexico . • Oregon Utah Total Natives. ' Foreigners. 117 24 1 545 22 33 72 129 150 2 126 197 284 183 3.366 293 49 242 66 346 3,962 634 689 564 309 32 73 15 34 98 105 1 104 5 6 305 189 25 1 34 100 460 24 3,884 386 2 666 24 257 6.317 13 154 293 287 14 8 4 45 9 162 1 4 Total. 122 25 1 132 850 22 39 80 316 175 3 160 297 744 207 7,250 659 51 908 90 603 10,279 647 843 857 596 46 81 19 79 • 107 267 108 5 9 12 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. The statistics of State prisons and penitentiaries of 1850 show that there were then 4,758 white inmates, of whom 1,499 were of foreign birth, heing near one-third of the luhole number. The proportion of native and foreign inmates was therefore one native white out of ahoiit every six thousand, and one foreigner out of every 1,400. The following table shows the number of whites imprisoned in each State : States, &c. Alabama Arkansas Columbia District. Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Illinois Indiana Iowa Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts .. . . Michigan Mississippi Missouri New Hampshire . . New York New Jersey North Carolina . . . Ohio Penns3-lvania ..., Rhode Island South Carolina . . , Tennessee Texas Virginia , Vermont , Wisconsin , Total. I Native, i Foreign. 117 21 96 37 27 37 17 10. 146 117 29 1 12 89 1 12 85 4 127 85 42 131 106 25 147 2 126 21 195 89 106 79 62 17 115 81 34 389 264 125 111 73 . 38 85 80 5 165 107 58 91 77 14 1,380 835 514 123 86 39 12 12 • ••••••••• 362 291 71 328 205 123 35 21 14 32 19 13 189 180 9 5 2 3 130 119 11 69 39 30 29 8 19 Total Such were the relative proportions of the crimes committed by per- sons of native and foreign birth, when the census of 1850 was taken. More recent statistics, obtained from the reports of prison inspectors, prison discipline societies, &c., show that the relative proportion of crimes by persons of foreign birth is largely on the increase. Accord- ing to these, of the number of persons during the year 1856, one-fifth or 5,646 Avere sufficiently grave to incur a penitentiary punishment, while the remaining 20,899 were punished with ordinary jail and house of refuge incarceration. The following; will show the relative proportion of the whole number of cases in four of the northern States, which constitute two-thirds of the aggregate in all the States: FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 13 Massachusetts — Native '' Foreign New York — Native u u Foreign CONVICTIONS. 3,6GG 3,884 3,962 6,317 New Jersey — Native " " Foreign Pennsylvania — Native u Foreign 346 257 564 293 Total 18,989 10,751 were foreigners^ being more than one half the ivhole mimher. Of 314 inmates in tlie penitentiaries of New York, during the years 1852 and 1853, there were 322 foreigners, being over one half of the whole number. In the four cities of Buffalo, Albany, Brooklyn, and New York, the number of convictions was 3_,733 in the year 1852, of which 2,802 were foreigners, being over two-tliirds of the number. A Buffiilo journal recently published the following statement of persons committed to the jail of Erie county, New York: Native. Foreign. Total. 268 336 604 192 279 471 1853 1854 Total 460 61f 1,075 Showing that a large majority of the convicts were paupers. The warden of the New York cit}^ prison reports that during the year 1855 there were 36,264 received into the prison; of which num- ber 8,926 were natives^ and 27,338 foreigners, being over tliree-fourtlis of the ivhole number. The report of the warden of Blackwell's Island penitentiary states that during the year 1855 there were 5,197 pris- oners received, of which number 1,386 were natives, and 3,811 were foreigners, being almost two-thirds of the ivhole number; of whom 2,863 were from Ireland, 336 from Germany, 287 from England, 120 from Scotland, 91 from Canada. 45 from France, 15 from Italy, 10 from Wales, 10 from Spain, and the remainder from other countries. The report of the resident physician at Blackwell's Island, for the year 1855, gives the following statistics of the admission in the peniten- tiary hospital during the year; Number admitted, 2,158, of which number 627 were natives and 1,531 were foreigners, being over seventy per cent of the ivhole number: of whom 1,148 were from Ireland, 118 were from Germany, 109 from England, 61 from Scotland, 35 from Canada, 9 from ^Vales^ and the remainder from other countries. In Pennsylvania there' were admitted into the Eastern Penitentiary, from October, 1829, to the close of the year 1849, 2,421 persons, of whom 460 were foreigners, near one-sixth of the whole number, 199 being Irish; and of the 124 received in 1854, there were 41 foreigners, being one-third of the number. The inspectors of tlie Moyamensing prison at Philadelphia, report that of 273 sentenced in the year 1853 to hard labor, 114 were for- eigners, 68 of whom were Irish. In a message of the Hon. Robert T. Conrad, mayor of Philadelphia^ to the city councils, he presents the following police statistics for the year 1855 : Number of arrests during the year, 38,657, not including those made by ward officers, and those made under i)rivate prosecutions, of which number there 14 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. were 10^470 Americans, 2,281 negroes, and 26,906 foreigners, making within a fraction seventy percent, of the whole number foreigners ; of whom 21,830 were from Ireland, 2,452 were from Germany^ 1,281 from England, 121 from France, 110 from Italy, 53 from Spain, 11 from Switzerland, and the remainder[from other countries. The fol- lowing statistics, said to be taken from the hooks of the recorder's court at that city by the day and night police, made between certain dates specified, and the nativities of those arrested : Number arrested by the day police, from July 17, 1855, to March 1, 1856^ was 1,366, of which 102 were Americans, 73 negroes and 1,191 foreigners, making over tiuo-thirds of the whole number foreigners; of whom 801 were from Ireland, 239 from Germany and 151 from other countries. Total number of arrests made by the night police from April 16, 1855, to March 1, 1856, was 2,113, of which 143 were Americans, 151 negroes and 1,819 foreigners, making over eighty-five per cent, of the arrests foreigners; of whom 1,192 were from Ireland, 473 from Ger- many and 154 from other countries. A respectable local newspaper, a few months since, published the following statistics of crime and pauperisni in Hudson county, New Jersey, viz: 21,000 inhabitants, of whom 12,000 are natives, 5,000 Irish, and 4,000 other foreigners; 4,168 persons confined in city prison and county jail, 77 natives, and 4,Qdd foreigne7's, of whom 3,608 were Irish, 188 inmates of the alms-house, none of whom are natives ; all being Irish ; 723 received aid from the poor masters, of whom 3 were natives, and 720 Irish. Of 107 committed to the Jersey City prison during the month of June, 1855, but 13 were natives,, 3 of whom were colored, while the others were foreigners, 71 of whom were Irish, 14 English, and 9 German. According to a report of the marshal of the same city, there were, during the month of September last, 113 arrests for the following offences : Drunkenness, 61 ; breach of peace, 26 ; assault and battery, 14 ; vagrancy, 1 ; violation of the Sabbath, 2 ; disorderly house, 1 ; assaulting females in the street, 1 ; larceny, 7 — total, 113. Of this number, 82 were born in Ireland, 20 in the United States, 6 in Germany, 3 in England, 1 in Scotland, and 1 was colored. The captain of the watch reported, that during the same month there were 218 lodged in the watch-house, of whom 29 were females, whose nativity is not given, 67 Irish, 60 German, 22 English, 30 Americans^ and 10 colored. Louisiana contains the large city of New Orleans, and has, of course, its State prison filled. At the date of the annual report of 1854, there were 295 prisoners, 114 of whom were foreigners, being over three- eights of the number ; 55 being Irishmen, 15 German, 12 French, 6 English, 3 Mexican, 3 Prussian, 3 Italian^ and the remainder from other countries. In the Wisconsin penetentiary there were 105 re- ceived in 1854, of whom 72 were foreigners, being over two-thirds. In Ohio at the end of the year 1854, 387 inmates in the penitentiary at Columbus, 144 of whom were foreigners, being near one fourth of the number. In New Jersey, during 1852 and 1853, there were received in the State prison, at Trenton, 351 convicts, 113 of whom were foreigners, being nearly one-third of the number. Of 483 convicts re- ceived in the Massachusetts State prison, in 1852, there were 170 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 15 foreigners, being more than one-third of the whole nvmher ; and of 27,383 persons admitted into the various jails of that State, during the years 1850, 1851, and 1854, 9,367 were foreigners leing also over one-third of the ivhole nuniber. There were received into the houses of correc- tion, in the same State, 29,1TG persons, during the years 1850, '51, '52, '53, and '51, of which number, 11,149 were of foreign birth, being considerably over one-third of the number. Of 1,056 inmates of the house of correction in Boston, in 1852, there were 738 for- eigners, being tico-thirds of the number. And of 1,617 admitted into the State reform school, nearly one-half icere foreigners, or the children of foreigners. Alarming as is the proportion of offences committed by those of foreign birth, it is still more so when we come to inquire into the con- victions for capital offences. Though without any very reliable or satisfactory data on the subject, there is abundant reason to believe that a very large majority of the murders, manslaughters, burglaries, and other bigh crimes, are committed by the foreign born. In a speech delivered by the Hon. James Cooper, of Pennsylvania, in the Senate, in February, 1855, he stated that of the convictions for capi- tal offences, the proportion of foreign to native born was startling, and that out of two hundred and twenty convictions which took place in about eighteen months, in seven States, viz: in New York, Penn- sylvania, Missouri, Louisiana, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Mary- land, there were 138 oi foreigners to 82 of natives. Mr. Whitney in his Defence of the American Policy, states that an examination of the record of the New York city prison, in December, 1853, exhibited the fact, that within eleven months there were twenty-three persons fully committed for trial on the charge of murder, of whom eight were Americans (including two negroes) and ff teen foreigners. During the same period there were six committed for manslaughter, of whom one was an American, and five foreigners. For assault with intent to kill, there were thirty-five committals, of whom eight were Americans, (including five negroes,) and twenty-seven foreigners. For arson there were four committals, all of luhom icere foreigners. Here we have an appalling account of sixty-nine commitments, for the highest crimes known to our laws, and of the whole number so committed, there were only ten white Americans, five of whom were of foreign parentage, seven American negroes, and the remaining fifty-two all foreigners ! Many other like facts might be adduced, but it cannot be necessary to add any more. Let the following remarks of Judge Edmonds in passing sentence on certain murderers, in the New York city court of oyer and terminer, at the October term, 1851, suffice : "Eight j)ersons have been arraigned at this term for murder. Five of you have been convicted, and upon three of you the last punish- ment known to our law is denounced. All of you owe your crimes to your indulgence in the ruinous habit of intoxication. All of you are foreigners, who have sought our soil that you might enjoy the benefit of our free institutions, and, in return for the protection which our laws so freely offer, you violate them without scruple, and apparently without remorse, even unto the shedding of blood. The preservation of peace and good order among us, and the security of human life, 16 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. admonish us, in a peculiar manner, under such circumstances to en- force the law upon you." JUVENILE VAGRANCY AND ITS CAUSE. Juvenile vagrancy is another evil now exhibiting itself to a very alarming extent in all our large towns and cities, and an examination of the records of our juvenile delinquent institutions shows but too plainly from whence this painful increase comes. A few facts will make it apj^areut to the most doubting mind, and to the dullest com- prehension. Let us examine them. It is reported by the Massachusetts Keform School, that of 324 in- mates in 1849, there were 66 of foreign birth, of whom 42 were Irish, and of the 286 native born, no less than 96 were of Irish parentage ; and of 278 admitted into the New York house of refuge, in 1850, there were 25 foreign born, and 163 were of Irish parentage. During the year 1853, there were received 112 in the Rochester house of refuge, 73 of whom were of foreign birth, and of these 40 were Irish. Of 157 admitted into the house of refuge, in 1853, at Cincinnati, 107 were foreign born. Marshal Tukey,.of Boston, made a report to the mayor of that city in 1849, respecting the number, character, social circumstances, etc., of the street children, in habits of vagrancy, wan- dering about and contracting idle habits, &c., from which it appears that the whole number of the class of children designated, between six and sixteen years of age, was 1,066, which were arranged as fol- lows: of American parents 103, and of foreign parents 963! It has been stated in the public journals, that of 16,000 commit- ments for crimes in New York city, during 1852, at least one-fourth were minors, and that no less ilan 10,000 children are daily suffering all the evils of vagrancy in that city. In 1849 the chief of the police department of that city called attention to the increasing number of vagrant, idle, and vicious children of both sexes, growing up in igno- rance and profligacy, and destined to a life of misery, shame, and crime, the number of whom were given upon authority and with an exactness which claims confidence. He stated that there were then 2,955 children of the class described, known to the police in eleven patrol districts, of whom two-thirds Avere females between eight and sixteen years of age. "Most of the children," as was stated at the time, were of German or Irish parentage, the proportion of American born being not more than one in five. These facts present a melancholy picture of the evil influences that are operating upon a large portion of the rising generation of our country. A volume of well attested cases might be cited to show the inevitable effects upon our free institutions from such a population. If it were one of the objects of our government to sow broad-cast the seeds of its own destruction, there could be no better nor more effec- tive scheme devised, than to stultify itself on the subject, and adopt no means whereby the vast juvenile vagrant population, now so rapidly on the increase, may be rescued from its youthful career of immorality, vice and crime. The sources of this great moral evil may be almost wholly traced to the many vices of our foreign population, FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 17 who afford no other examples to their children than habits of disorder, idleness and uncleanliness, and degrading vices of all kinds, and who exercise no parental authority Avhatever over them. How can it be expected that children, with no other examples to emulate, who are neither sent to school nor church, nor put to work, will grow up other- wise than as vicious idlers, with whom vagrancy is a confirmed habit, and thieving a profession, long before they arrive at the age of man- hood ? NEGLECT OF EDUCATION. If it be true, and no rational mind will doubt it, as we are told by Washington^ in his farewell address, that "in proportion as the struct- ure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that jiublic opinion should be enlightened;"' then we have another serious cause of alarm in the deleterious influences the immense influx of vicious foreigners must exercise upon our free institution. Ignorance is the parent of vice ; and it is a lamentable fact, that a large portion of the immigrant population are not only ignorant themselves, and wholly incapable of communing with either the school book or the Bible, but, 'what is yet worse^, permit their offspring to grow up in the same ignorance. Though our schools are open to all, it is neverthe- less true that thousands of the children of this class of our popula- tion do not attend the schools, but grow up in ignorance, idleness, vagrancy and vice. A brief examination of the census statistics of 1850 will make this fact apparent. According to the returns in Compendium of the Census, there were, in 1850, no less than 9,516,538 native whites, and 1,344,346 foreigners in the country, who were over the age of twenty, of whom 982,898 were not able to read and write. Of the number thus ignorant, 767,- 784 were native whites, and 195,114 foreigners. These returns show a decided difference between the native whites and the foreign born. One in every twelve of the native white population, over twenty years, could not read and write, while of the foreign, not one out of every seven could do so. According to the same returns, there were, in 1850, in this country 4,792,576 native whites, and 313,681 foreign whites, who were between five and fifteen years of age. Of the na- tives, 3,915,620 were at school, making a per centage of 8.81 of native whites at school, while the per centage of those of foreign birth at school was 51.73. Here we have an explanation from whence the increase of juvenile vagrancy comes. IMPORTATION OF FOREIGN INFIDELITY. Another serious evil resulting from the unguarded admission of vicious foreigners, is the flood of infidelity which has been brought along with them, and is now being attempted to be popularized by them in this country. \ large portion of them are atheists, deeply imbued with feelings of hostility both to religion and social order. The social institutions of this country are regarded by them as so many unjust restrictions on individual liberty. Our laws for the observance of the sabbath are openly condemned, and often wholly H. Rep. 359 2 18 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. disregarded by these disciples of the illumincdi, whose creed is war upon religion and civil institutions. In the cities, this class of for- eigners are organized into associations for the purpose of proselyting, and these take no trouble to conceal their hostility to the institutions of their adopted country. The determined opposition to all laws to restrain drunkenness and debauchery, and providing for the proper observance of the sabbath, emanates almost entirely from this class of men, who are always foremost in mobs and riots, and almost univer- sally hostile to the exercise of civil authority. Ours is a government which rests not only on the conservative prin- ciples of constitutional liberty, but on the distinct recognition of the authority of the living God. Our revolutionary forefathers acknow- ledged their dependence on Him, and did not look with favor upon an irreligious character, or regard him as a safe and proper depository of power. Now that these foreign infidels are in our midst, and in an organized manner seeking to establish their anarchial and licentious doctrines, let us sustain the true character of American freemen, and do what we can to the extent of the constitutional j)owers of govern- ment to prevent the importation of a class who come but to prey upon society, and who, not recognizing that the Lord ruleth in the affairs of men, are fit material to add to our pauperism and crime. On this subject, Mr. Sanderson, in a work recently published, containing an elaborate and able exposition of the views of American statesmen, en- titled, Bepuhlican Landmark, very forcibly comments as follows : "■ Exposed to every disease or contagion, moral and physical^ which originates in a foreign atmosphere, and filled with foreigners, who have no sympathy for the conservative elements in our Constitution, cherish no American feeling, entertain no attachment to our country, its history and institutions ; and instead of admiring the purer days of our national existence, venerating the heroism of the revolution, and emulating the wisdom, virtue, and patriotism of the founders of our government, do not conceal their contempt for all ; how can it be otherwise than that our country needs the faithful devotion and services of all who would preserve the Constitution and perpetuate the Union? When there are thousands of those of foreign birth in our midst, fol- lowers and disciples of Paine, Heine, and other infidel writers, who concert together, and in an organized form seek to secure the adoption of measures Avhich would inevitably destroy our system of government, and be a warfare against the Cliristian religion, it would assuredly seem to be high time that the descendants of the sires of 1776 should make some effort to inspire reverence for historical names and respect for revolutionary virtue, to reinstate the authority of the framers of our government, and establish anew their precepts and examples in the hearts of the people. When these men publicly proclaim that they ' hold the sabbath laws, tJianlsgivhig days, j^rayers in Congress and legislatures, the ocdhs upon the Bible, the introduction of the Bible into the free schools, the exclusion of cdheistsfrom legal acts, (t'C, as an open violation of humoji rights as icell as of the Constitution, and demand their removal;' and when men of foreign birth openly threaten, that ' year by year the Irish are becoming more and more powerful in America;' and that when 'the propitious time will come, they mean FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 19 to use the Americans for their own purposes.' When these things are openly and boldly avowed, it becomes the duty of all true Americans to revert to first principles, and remember those lessons taught and practised, by their revolutionary ancestors, and to restudy the prin- ciples and precepts of the founders of the republic, with which those now promulgated by the foreigners among us are in such strange and startling contrast." IMPORTATION OF CONVICTS AND PAUPERS. It is not alone, however, in the effects following the influx of vicious foreigners that we have the evidence of the evil consequences resulting from it. We are left in no doubt as to the fact that a large number of them are paupers and convicts, whose passage across the Atlantic is paid for them, and who come here without character, morality, re- ligion, industry, or anything else to commend them to our favor. A policy has long prevailed on the continent of Europe to transport pau- pers and criminals to this country. As early as 1836 and 1837 this evil attracted the attention of the municipal governments of Boston, New York, Newark, Baltimore, and New Orleans, and measures were taken by them to arrest and guard against it. The legislature of Massachusetts in 1836 examined into the subject^ and finding ample proof of the introduction of this class of foreigners by their govern- ments, adopted a resolution of instructions to their senators "to use their endeavors to ol)tain the passage of a law to prevent the introduc- tion of foreign paupers into this country, and to favor any other meas- ure which Congress may be disposed to adopt to effect this object " Hon. John Davis, then one of the senators from that State, presented this resolve on the 2d May, 1836, and made a speech, in which he made some startling disclosures of the magnitude of the evil com- plained of, and asked to be remedied.* The Senate adopted a resolu- tion requesting the Secretary of the Treasury to obtain all the informa- tion he could in relation to the matter, and report at the next session. Pursuant to this request of the Senate, the Secretary of the Treasury made a report on the 7th December, 1836, from Avhich a number of documents are extracted, and form a part of the appendix annexed to this report. t A reference to these only is necessary to satisfy the mind of the most incredulous that there existed ample cause for the evil complained of. During the summer of -1837 the evil became so alarming that the city authorities of Boston, New York, Newark, Baltimore, and New Orleans took some action on the snbject, but accomplished very little. A ship load of Hessian convicts, numbering from 200 to 250, Avere brought into the port of Baltimore witli manacles and fetters remain- ing on their hands and feet until within the day of their arrival. General Samuel Smith, then mayor, on discovering the character of the passengers, detained the vessel at Fort IMcHenry until he could communicate with the President of the United States ; but he was in- formed, on inquiry, tliat there was no renied}'-, and was therefore re- luctantly obliged to permit the convicts to be landed, and turned loose * Appendix, 1. t Nos. 2 to 4, inclusive. 20 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. to prey upon society.* About the same time, or soon after, a gross violation of the quarantine laws was perjjctrated, which aroused a strong indignation at Newark and in New York. The master of the British ship Lockwood landed his pauper passengers at Amboy, and went to sea^ and still more of the same class were about arriving or be- ing landed when the escape of the Lockwood became known. The fact being communicated to Mayor Clark, of New York city, by the health officer at quarantine, the mayor addressed a message to tlie city council, communicating all the facts, on which the council took action, and adojited some measures to guard against the introduction of such con- victs and paupers. t In April, 1838, the House of Representatives adopted a resolution, requesting the President to communicate co2)ies of all correspondence and communications Avith foreign governments relating to the intro- duction of foreign paupers, and what steps^ if any, had been taken to prevent the introduction of such paupers. In reply to this request, President Van Buren forwarded a number of documents to the House, the most important of which, showing the existence of such a policy on the part of certain European governments, will be found in the ap- pendix annexed to this report. | These documents were referred to a select committee, which, through its chairman, Mr. Russell, of New York, made a report some time afterwards^ but no action was had on the subject. Accompanying the report are a number of letters, which throw a flood of light on the subject, and are hereto annexed in the appendix. t This report and the documents accompanying it are well worthy of a careful examination. They show that hundreds and thousands of convicts and paupers were then already im})orted into this country to fill our alms-houses and jails; but the evil, as it is shown then to have existed, was but insignificant as compared with the im- mense number of paupers and criminals with which the country has since been flooded from Europe. During the session of Congress in 1844-'45, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, of which the late Mr. Berrien, of Georgia^ was chair- man, had a number of memorials and resolutions relative to the subject referred to it. The committee accordingly, in pursuance of authority given to it, issued commissions to New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New Orleans, to take testimony, and made a report, accompany- ing which there was a mass of testimony returned to it by the com- missioners, the most important and material of which, to the present subject of inquiry, will be found in the appendix hereto. § At the same session the Senate adopted a resolution requesting the Secretary of State to communicate such information as might be in posses- sion of his department on the subject. In January, 1855, the evil became so manifest, and assumed such a magnitude in the city of New York, as to induce Mayor Wood to ad- dress the President of the United States a letter, in which he asked the interference of the general government to protect our country against these foreign aggressions. j| About the same time resolutions ♦Appendix, 15. f Appendix, 16. t Nos. 17 to 22, inclusive. § Appendix, 241^. II Appendix, 25. FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 21 of inquiry on the subject were introduced in tlie Senate, by Senator Cooper, of Pennsylvania, who made a speech showing tlie enormous extent of the evil.* Mayor "Wood also addressed our ministers, con- suls, and other representatives in Europe, invoking their aid and co- operation to put an end to the evil, in reply to which he received a number of letters, which were published, and the most important of which will be found in the appendix.! RIGHT OF RELIEVING OURSELVES DENIED. So emboldened have foreign powers become in making our country the receptacle for the dregs and off-scourings of their population, and thus relieving themselves of the burden of pauperism and crime, that some of them even now have the audacity to deny our right to pre- vent them from so doing. It will be perceived by the following pre- amble and resolution, adopted by the government of Wurtemberg, and a copy of which was transmitted to the German Emigration Society of New York, in 1855, that that government has the elBFron- tery to claim the right to impose its jmupers and convicts upon us, and impudently denies our right to relieve ourselves by returning from whence they came their wretched outcasts. The preamble, it will be seen, fully admits that these vagabonds are transported at the public expense. •' Whereas, It has repeatedly occurred that German emigrants to America, and among them natives of Wurtemberg, who desired to return home on account of sickness, or incapacity to labor, have been forwarded to this country by the German Emigration Society, of New York, and ' ' Whereas, It is desirable that those who have once emigrated to America, cmd especially those luho have heen iransportcd thither at the expense of the State, or the communes, and are unable, whether or not it be from any fault of their own, to earn their subsistence, should not return here, to be a burden to the State or the commune, {which in that case will have defrayed the expense of their journey in vain:) and " Whereas, The American authorities are scarcely autliprized to send back those who, having once been admitted to the country, can- not earn their subsistence in America, and " Whereas, It is much less the business of the German Emigration Society of Ncav York to promote the return of such individuals ; there- fore, ^^ Resolved, That necessary steps are to be taken to prevent their transportation back to this country." POWER TO PROTECT SOCIETY. The Wurtemberger denial of our right to protect ourselves against their criminals and paupers is, in itself, strong evidence of the neces- sity which exists for so doing. It is undoubtedly true, as Yattel, in his work on international law, states, that "it belongs to the nation and its rulers to fulfill the duties oi humanity towards strangers;" * Appendix, 26. t Nos. 27 to 31 inclusive. 22 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. but it is equally true, as he also states, that " it belongs exclusively to each nation to form her own judgment of what her conscience pre- scribes to her — of what she can or cannot do — of what it is proper or improper for her to do ; and, of course, it rests solely with lier to ex- amine and determine whether she can perform any office for any other nation, without neglecting the duty which she owes to herself/' The duty wc owe to our OAvn country, and its free institutions, is tlie liighest imposed on us next to that we owe to our God. Hence the legislation to protect society against the gigantic evils growing out of the introduction into this country of foreign criminals and paui)ers commenced with the settlement of the first colonists. The pilgrims at Plymouth, as early as 1639, required the removal of foreign paupers. So did other colonies. In Virginia, laws were passed at an early period to prohibit the importation of paupers, &c. All of the colonies had laws more or less stringent on the subject, and continued to exercise tlie power until the adoption of the federal Con- stitution. Massachusetts, in 1783, enacted a law forbidding refugees to return, and other States followed her example ; and the exercise of this power was fully recognized in the first naturalization laws passed by Congress, Avhich expressly provided that such refugees could not become naturalized without special consent of the States which had 2)rohibited their return. After the adoption of the federal Constitution, but before the organi- zation of the general government under it, the Congress of the old confederation unanimously adopted a resolution recommending to the several States '"'to pass laws for preventing the transportation of con- victed malefactors from foreign countries into the United States," in pursuance of which, all the States did pass laws to that effect. That of Virginia, passed in 1*788, forbid masters of vessels from landing convicts, under a penalty of fifty pounds, and the provisions of those passed by the other States were of a similar character. Though there are those who entertain doubts as to the power of the general govern- ment on the subject, it has been exercised from time immemorial by the various States of the Union — in some as to conricts, some as to paupers; some as to refugees, some as to slaves, and some as to free blacks. DUTY TO OUR COUNTRY. Adopting the sentiment expressed by Mayor Wood, in his letter to the President of the United States, '^' that the inherent right of every community to protect itself from dangers arising from such immigra- tion cannot be questioned," so it must be conceded by every one fully sensible of the enormity of the evil, that it is the duty of the commu- nity, so threatened with danger, to guard and protect itself against it. If it be the duty of government to protect us from foreign aggression with ball and cannon, it surely must also be within the scope of its duty to protect an enemy more insidious and destructive, though coming in another form. The evil is upon us, and it is our impera- tive duty to relieve the country from it as far as possible. As now administered, our institutions seem almost to be alone for the use of foreign paupers and criminals, wliile we who have established and FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 23 support them, have comparatively verylittle use for tliem. Ours has been a policywhich has substantially rather invited than repelled the refuse of Europe to our shores, that we might su})port them, or suffer from their idleness and crime. Facts abundantly show to what a ruinous extent our misguided philanthropy, and ridiculous sentiments of philanthropy have been carried. " Behold, therefore, 1 will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations ; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy Avisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness," was the prophetical language of one of the inspired writers, Avhich may with force be just now applied to us. Can it be possible that Avith the experience we have, there are any among us who do not feel it a duty to put an end to the evil under which the country now labors? It is sincerely to be hoped there are none such. Our duty is a plain one. Let us manfully and faithfully perform it. How can that be best done ? HAS CONGRESS POWER OVER IMMIGRATION? It is the inherent right of every community to protect itself against all public evils ; and why has it not also the power to close our ports againts convicts and paupers, sent here by foreign governments^ and whose corrupt public morality disseminate and popularize infidelity, disturb the public peace, degrade our character as a nation, fill our j)risons and alms-houses, and seriously impair the stability of our free institutions ? The power exists somewhere, either in the States, or in the general government, or in both of them. It is certainly true, that the ninth section of the Jii'st article of the Constitution, which provides that " the migration or importation of such persons as any of the States, now existing, shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by Congress prior to the year 1808, but a tax may be im- posed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person," was at the time of its adoption generally understood, perhaps, as ap- plying altogether to slaves ; and it is equally true, that the power of Congress, under that provision, to regulate, restrain, or prohibit the immigration of foreigners, or whether, under it, Congress has any power over the subject at all, is not well settled even to the present time. Two of the framers of the Constitution, both of whom were eminent jurists, and afterwards held seats on the bench of the Su- preme Court, seem to have clearly understood the section referred to as conferring such power upon Congress. Judge Wilson, in the Penn- sylvania convention which ratified the Constitution, referred to this provision, in reply to objections urged against it by Mr. Findley, and gave it this construction.* So did Judge Iredell, in the North Carolina convention, in reply to a similar objection made to it by Mr. GalloAvay.f Robert Goodloe Harper, another member of the convention which framed the Constitution, admits that the intention was to confine tax- ation to slaves, but in his letter to the Maryland legislature contended that the language employed was such as to extend the tax to immi- grants as well as slaves. | * See No. 32. j See No. 33. | See No. 34. 24 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. The construction tliiis given to the Constitution seems to be sus- tained by various judicial opinions. In the celebrated case of Gihhons V. Ogden, reported in Wheaton, vol. 9, Chief Justice Marshall, in de- livering the opinion of the court, held the following language in relation to the section of the Constitution now under consideration : ''The section which restrains Congress from prohibiting the migra- tion or importation of such persons as any of the States may think proper to admit until 1808, has always been considered as an excep- tion from the power to regulate commerce ; and certainly seems to class migration with importation. Migration applies as appropriately to voluntary, as importation does to involuntary arrivals ; and, so far as an exception from a power proves its existence, this section proves that the power to regulate commerce applies equally to the regulation of vessels employed in transporting men, Avho pass from place to place voluntarily, and to those who pass involuntarily."' And so Justice Johnson, who concurred with the majority, but delivered a separate opinion, seems to have construed that provision of the Constitution. His language was as follows: "Commerce, in its simplest significa- tion, means an exchange of goods ; but in the advancement of society, labor, transportation, intelligence, care, and various mediums of ex- change, become commodities, and enter into commerce ; the subject, the vehicle, the agent, and their various operations, become the objects of commercial regulation. That such was the understanding of the framers of the Constitution is conspicuous, not only considers the right of controlling personal ingress or migration, as apjilied in the powers previously vested in Congress over commerce, but acknowl- edges it as a subject of revenue. And, although the leading object of this section undoubtedly was the importation of slaves, yet the words are obviously calculated to comprise persons of all descriptions, and to recognize in Congress a power to prohibit." In the cases of Smith v. Turner, and Norris v. Cifi/ of Boston, in which the constitutionality of the passenger laws of Xew York and Massachusetts came under consideration, and which they declared un- constitutional. Justice McKinley deliv red an opinion embodying his views in relation to the section, which seems entirely to accord with those already cited;* and Justice Wayne concurred in Justice Mc- Kinley's interpretation of the section in question, saying that it includes within it the migration of other persons as well as the im- portation of slaves, and in terms recognizes that other persons as well as slaves moi/ be the subjects of importation and commerce," having in view, possibly, convicts and paupers, who do not come hereof their own volition, but are transported at the expense and under the direc- tion of their respective governments. It is due, however, to add, that Chief Justice Taney, and Justices Daniel, Nelson and Woodbury, did not concur with Justice McKinley and a majority of the court. The current and weight of judicial authority seems to be, that the ninth section of the first article of the Constitution is an exception to the power of Congress to regulate commerce, so that if it had not been introduced, the power to in-ohibit the importation would have resulted from the general grant to regulate commerce ; and the section in ques- * See No. 35 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 25 tion, according to this construction, not only considers the right of controlling personal ingress or migration, as implied in the powers previously vested in Congress over commerce, but acknowledges it as a subject of revenue. POWER OF THE STATES ON THE SUBJECT. Whatever diiference of opinion may be entertained as to the power of Congress over immigration, there can be none as to their internal police power of the States being sufficiently extensive to enable them, if they deem it necessary to exercise it, to exclude entire classes of persons. They have reserved tliat power which relates to the public morals, and even in that limited view would embrace pauperism and crime, whilst in law it includes all legislation for the internal policy of a State. In the case oi New York v. ilfiYwe, Justice Barbour in delivering the opinion of the court, 12 Peters, made use of this em- phatic language: "We think it as competent and as necessary for a State to provide precautionary measures against the moral pestilence of paupers, vagabonds and possibly convicts, as it is to guard against the physical pestilence which may arise from unsound and infectious articles imported, or from a ship, the crew of which may be laboring under an infection." So Justice Story, in the case oi Prigg v. Penn- sylvania, expressed himself as follows on the same subject : " We en- tertain no doubt whatsoever that the States, in virtue of their general police power, possess full jurisdiction to arrest and restrain runaway slaves and remove them from their borders, and otherwise to secure themselves against their depredations and evil example, as they cer- tainly may do in cases of idlers, vagabonds and paupers." The internal police power of the States being complete, un- qualified and conclusive, the only question is, how far can that power be exercised by the States without coming into conflict with the power of Congress over commerce? This is a question not definitely or clearly settled; for it involves unfortunately a principle in relation to which a difference of opinion has existed, and still exists, among the judges of the Supreme Court. Justice McLean in the license cases, reported in 5tli Howard, has laid it down that the police power of a State, and the foreign commercial power of Congress, must stand to- gether, and that neither of them can be so exercised as materially to affect the other.* Be this as it may, sufficient power is possessed by the States to do much more than yet has been done to stay the tor- rent of foreign crime and pauperism, and to guard and protect the American people from the evil consequences following in its train. WHO SHALL REMEDY THE EVIL? Both the general and State governments can do much to stay the tide of immigration of this undesirable population, and to protect society against its pernicious influences, and the injuries it threatens, not only to the prosperity and welfare of the country, but the perpe- tuity of our republican institutions. Each can, within its own sphere and the limits of its constitutional power, not only adopt measures which will contribute greatly to prevent and put an end to the intro- ~ * See No. 36. 26 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. duction of foreign convicts and paupers, but to save our country from the further increase of the evils resulting from such an accession to our population. Both the national and State governments having ample iiower, -what is to prevent the adoption of measures hy Con- gress and by the State legislatures to guard against this gigantic evil? It is known, felt, and acknowledged to exist; and the most in- different to the subject cannot but appreciate the imminence of the danger alike to the public prosperity and the public morals, as well as the oppressive character of the public burdens it imposes upon our countrymen. The necessity for prompt and energetic measures to ar- rest its further progress must be evident to every sagacious statesman. Let us then have legislative action, State and national, on the sub- ject. Meet it we must, and it is the duty of those in power to meet it at once, or in a little while longer it will prove irremedial. HOW TO BE REMEDIED. So far as State legislatures are concerned, with a few exceptions, they have been as remiss as Congress in the discharge of their duties on the subject. Though they cannot enact laws that will come in conflict with the poAver of Congress over commerce, they may enact such as will materially prevent the landing of convicts and paupers upon our shores. Under the reserved internal police power which they all possess, they may throw such safeguards around the commu- nity, and such obstacles in the way of disembarking foreign imbeciles and desperadoes, as will soon put an end to their transportation hither. This is, however, not all they may do. They may adopt measures, also, to remedy the evil which those now in the country have brought upon it. Congress has not the power to adopt and carry out such measures of reform. The States have the power to its fullest extent, and should exercise it to restrain and suppress those evil influences, now everywhere felt, and which, if they be not checked, will eventu- ally undermine public and private virtue, and public and private lib- erty. Congress can and ought to exert its authority to prevent the further introduction of those who exercise such influence upon society, but beyond this it can accomplish but little. It cannot reform, though it may materially aid in preventing a further accumulation here of the refuse population of Europe, who, after they come here are only fit to fill our streets as beggars, our almshouses as paupers, or our jails as criminals. STATE MEASURES OF REFORM. The only deductions fairly to be drawn from the facts adduced in regard to the immigration of foreign paupers and criminals are plainly and unmistakeably these : First. That it is the chief source of intemperance, and the main cause of the alarming increase of that great public evil in our country. Second. That it has filled our commercial cities with a foreign con- vict and pauper population, the material of which mobs are made to such an extent as to endanger the public peace and the public morals, and to be generally regarded as a frightful evil. FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 27 TJiird. That it is a fruitful source of pauperism, and the chief cause of its fearful increase within the last few years. Fourth. That it is a prolilic source of crime, and that to it the enor- mous increase of crime may almost wholly be attributed. Fifth. That it has brought upon the country a large juvenile vagrant population, now growing up to prey upon society, whicli is fearfully on the increase, and almost entirely of foreign origin. Sixth. That it is the source of ignorance, the mother of crime, till- ing our country with a people whose vicious propensities predominate over both the moral and intellectual faculties, and avIio, urged on by ungoverned appetites and passions, with fancied or superstitious objects in view, constitute a population from which the country has nothing to expect but evil to its free institutions. Seventh. That it has brought into the country a large body of men who arc inimical to our free institutions and our social organization, and who are devoted to dogmas and creeds, which experience as well as all past history have shown to be not only incompatible with republican institutions, or a well regulated constitutional liberty, but antagonistic to the welfare and happiness of mankind; and which, if carried out here, would make this country a pandemonium on earth. Eighth. That it has flooded our countr}^ with irreligion, immorality, and licentiousness, and is the source from whence infidelity comes. State legislation can reach many of these evils, and it behooves the State legislatures to institute the necessary measures of reform on the subject. Among those which commend themselves as most likely to be effective are : First. The adoption of a State policy which will discountenance the esprit du corps, now so studiously cultivated among foreigners in our large cities, which is calculated, if not designed, to keep them for- eigners in feelings, sentiments, and habits, though they enjoy the benefits of our institutions and owe allegiance to our laws. Let their separate and distinctive civil and military organizations, wherever they exist, be frowned down, and a policy be pursued which will break up and destroy those foreign organizations, and oblige those belonging to them to identify themselves with the country of their adoption, and to be naught else than what they ought to be — Ameri- cans, and only Americans. Second. The rigid enforcement of all license laws authorizing the sale of liquor^ promptly punishing those who violate them, and the adoption of a jjrovision in all those laws, like that passed by the re- cent legislature of Pennsylvania, prohibiting a license to be granted for the sale of liq^uor to any other than a citizen of the United States. Experience demonstrates that most of the grog shops in cities are kept by unnaturalized foreigners, who will thus be excluded from pursuing a business fraught with misery and crime. Third. The adoption of measures, as far as is practicable, to indem- nify the State in case those landed upon its shores shall become pau- pers, and to compel those maintained by the public to earn their support, if possessed of sufiicient health and strength to do so, and thus present to them tlie alternative of honest industry or starvation. A rigid enforcement of such a policy would soon rid the public of the 28 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. body of mendicants who^ too indolent to work, though abundantly able to do so, now crowd our thoroughfares and till our jioor-houses. Fourth. The more'prompt conviction and more certain punishment of all offenders, and the abandonment of that mistaken zeal of philan- thropy which now steps in so often between the outraged laws and their violators. Fifth. The establishment of institutions so as to take charge and provide for all that class of juveniles known as delinquents or vagrants. Though our common schools are in a more advanced state than those in any other part of the world, our reformatory efforts to save neg- lected and forsaken children have not kept pace with our progress of common school education, and hence our country is now cursed with so large a juvenile population growing up in vice and crime. This is an alarming evil, and demands prompt legislative attention. In a government like ours, where all power is derived from the people, they should be wise, virtuous, and enlightened, lest they abuse it. How can we expect the next generation to be so, if a large portion of it is permitted to grow up in sottish ignorance and brutal sensuality, and sure of becoming adepts in crime long before arriving at man- hood? Xot only have we been remiss in establishing and maintaining a sufficient number of these iuvenile reformatorv institutions, but, good as our common schools are, much too is yet required of us in re- gard to them. Thousands of children, especially those of foreigners, do not enjoy their benefits, though open to them. Thus far no legal measures have been taken to ensure all the advantages of a common school education. Is it not a grave question, whether the time is not at hand when the gross neglect of parents to send their children to schools should receive some attention, and steps be taken to guard the public from the evil resulting therefrom? Sixth. Lastly, and most important of all at the present juncture, is the adoption and enforcement of a truly American policy on all sub- jects — one which will tend to cultivate and develop an undying attach- ment to our country, its history, and its institutions, and to inspire a profound veneration and respect for the examples of our patriotic rev- olutionary ancestors. One of the first acts of the Continental Congress was to order an edition of God's Holy Book; and it is not too much to say, perhaps, that beyond all other causes combined which enabled our forefathers to achieve independence, was the deep and universal acquaintance with that Holy Book, scattered among the children of a former generation, and the training of mind and heart and spirit which they received. Nor is it more than the truth, perhaps, to say now that is the remnant of that spirit which has maintained our re- public up to the present time. Is it not then of the first and highest importance, now that the land is flooded with foreign infidels, who, taught at home to repudiate everything to be revered in human insti- tutions, have already here raised the black standard of atheism, and declared a war of extermination against the faith which supported our ancestors in establishing the republic, and the hope which animates us for the future — is it not, in view of all this, the sacred duty of all Americans Avho love their country, and mean to perpetuate its institu- tions, to imitate the illustrious example of their sires, and to insist FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 29 upon having their chihlren taught in our schools the lessons of wis- dom to be found only in the Bible, and thus liave that Holy Book as one of the text books of our public schools ? Let a policy like this be adopted by the States, and let Congress ex- ercise the powers conferred upon it to arrest the evils so justly com- plained of, and the public good, the peace and prosperity of the country, and the welfare and happiness of the people, will be thereby promoted . TO ALL TRUE REPUBLICANS IN THE UNION. The free (;ierraans of the Union have found it necessary to organize themselves for the purpose of being able to exercise a political activity proportionable to their number and adapted to their principles. There is a lair prospect for success for such an organization, and in this hope the free Germans of Louisville, Kentucky, have proceeded to lay down the following platform, which they unanimously agreed upon in a mass meeting, and make it known to the public at large as the stand- ard ot their political course. The free Germans furthermore indulge in the hope that it will be l)0ssible to form a powerful reform party, embracing all who want that liberty now so much endangered, and the progress and happi- ness of this our common republic to be secured on principles lasting, truly republican and democratic. They wish, after having completed their organization, to establish — with the aid of their liberal-minded fellow-citizens — such a power of votes as to be able^ in 1856, to decide the victory in favor of a party of true reformers. The editors of public papercj who will enter into a discussion of the platform — which we invite them to do, sine ira et studio , that is, before all, without narrow-minded nativism and blind party spirit — are politely requested to favor us with a copy of the number or numbers containing their arguments. Address Charles Heinsen, editor of the Pioneer, Louisville, Kentucky^ letter box 1,157. BURGELER, L. WITTIG, STEIN, B. DOMSCHKE, C. HEINSEN, Committee. LouisviLLH, Ky., March, 1854. PLATFORM OF THE FREE GERMANS. 1. Slauerjj Question. — Notwithstanding that we consider slavery to be a ])olitical and moral cancer, that Avill by and by undermine all republicanism, we deem its sudden abolition neither possible nor advisable. But we, as republicans and men, demand that the further extension of slavery be not constantly urged, whilst not a single step is taken for its extermination. We demand that at length real proofs be given of the good-will so often boasted of to remove the evil; that in particular slavery be excluded from all new territories indiscrimi- 30 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. nately and forever, which measure Congress is completely entitled to pass according to the Constitution; we demand this the morC;, as a repuhlican constitution is guaranteed to every new State, and slavery, in truth, cannot be considered a republican element or requisite. We further demand that all and every one of the laws indirectly transport- ing the iU'inciple and the influence of slavery in and upon free States, namely, the fugitive slave law, shall be repealed, as demoralizing and degrading, and as contrary to human rights and to the Constitution ; we tinally demand that, in all national affairs, the principle of liberty shall be strictly maintained, and even in the several States it be more and more realized 15y gradual extermination of slavery. 2. Religious Questions. — We consider the right of free expression of religious conscience untouchable,, as we do the right of free expression of opinion in general ; we therefore accord to the believer the same liberty to make known his convictions as we do the non-believer, as long as the rights of others are not violated thereby. But from this very principle of liberty of conscience we are decidedly opposed to all compulsion inflicted to dissenting persuasions by laws unconstitution- ally restricting the liberty of expression. Religion is a private matter ; it has nothing to do with policy; hence it is despotism to compel citizens by political means to religious manifestations or omissions contrary to their private persuasions. We therefore hold the sabbath laws, thanksgiving days, prayers in Congress and legislatures, the oaths upon the Bible, the introduction of the Bible into the free schools, the exclusion of "atheists" from legal acts, etc., as an open violation of human riglits as well as of the Constitution, and demand their removal. 3. Measures for the welfare of the people. — As the foremost of such measures — we consider the free cession of public lands to all settlers ; to occupy nature, the soil as exclusive property, this no individual has a right to do ; it is, for the time, the common principal fund of that population v/hich inhabits it, and anybody willing to cultivate it has an equal right to appropriate a share of the soil^, as far as it is not disposed of^ for purposes of common interest. It is high time that the ruinous traffic with the public lands should be abolished, that the wasting of them by speculation should cease, and that the indigent ])eople enter upon their rightful possession. But if this end shall be fully attained, it will bo required to aid poor colonists, at their first settlement, Avith national means, lest said measures prove useless for these very persons who most need it. In the closest connexion with the land reform question stands that of immigration, which by its general importance should be raised to the rank of a national affair, and for whicli a special office of colonization and immigration should be created as a particular department of the United States government. Such a board would have to provide for the various interests of immigrants, who are now helplessly exposed to so many sufierings and wrongs and abuses from the place of embark- ation in Europe to the place of their settlement in America. North America is neglecting herself when neglecting the immigration, for immigration is the mother of this republic. FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 31 The admission of citizenship must be rendered as easy as possible to the immigrants. The welfare of a nation cannot be generally and permanently secured unless its laboring classes be made independent of the oppression of the capitalist Labor has an incontestible claim to the value of its products. Where it is prevented, by the want of the necessary capital, to secure this claim, it is, of course, referred to an alliance with capital of others. But if no just agreement can be obtained by this association with the capitalist, tlicn tlie State, as the arbitrator of all contending interests, has to interfere. This must either aid the associations of working men by credit banks, or mediate between the claims of the laborer and the capitalist, by fixing a minimum of wages equally the value of the labor, and a maximum of labor answering the demands of humanity. The time of labor shall not exceed ten hours per day. In letting out State contracts, the preference should be given, if it can be done without running a risk, to associations of workmen, rather than to single contractors. But when given to single contractors, tlie latter ought to give security for proper wages to the workmen employed by them. In order to enjoy ''life, liberty and happiness," all indiscriminately must have the use of free schools for all branches of education, in which, wherever a sufficient number of Germans live, a German teacher should be employed. In order that the attainment of justice may no longer remain a privilege for the possession of money_, justice must be dispensed with- out fees. 4. Constitutional Questions. — Considering, as we do, the American Constitution as the best now in existence, we yet think it neither per- fect nor unimprovable. In particular we hold the following amend- ments and additions, likewise acceptable for tlie State constitution, as timely and proper means to check the prevailing corruption, to wit: 1. All elections, without any exception, should issue directly from the people. 2. Any eligible citizen of any State may be elected as member of Congress by the citizens of any other State, and likewise may any eligible denizen of any county be elected by the citizens of any other county for a member of the State legislature. 3. Any representative and officer may at any time be recalled by the majority of his constituents and replaced by another. 5. Free Trade. — We decidedly profess the principle of free trade, and will support it in all cases where it may be carried through with- out disadvantage to the people, and where reciprocity is accorded by the other side. 6. Foreign Policy. — The policy of neutrality must cease to be an article of our creed and ought to be abandoned soon, as contrary to the interests of North America. The rights of American citizens and immigrants having declared their intention to become citizens, must the more energetically be protected in foreign countries, since every American appears to monarchical and despotical governments as a representative of revolution against despotism_, and this republic ought to honor this point of view as the only one worthy and legitimate. 32 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 7. Bights of Woman. — The Declaration of Independence says, that "all men are born ec|ual, and endowed with inalienable rights, and to these belong life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." We repeat- edly ac\ppt this principle, and are of the opinion that woman, too, are among "all men." 8. Iil(/hfs of Free Persons. — In the free States, the color of the skin cannot justify a difference of legal rights. There are not born two men of e(|ual color, but still less two men of unequal rights. 9. Penal Laws. — It is our opinion, that all penal laws can only have the purpose of correction, but never the absurd puriK)se of expiation. We therefore consider the i)cnalty of death, which excludes the pos- sibility of correction, to be as irrational as barbarous. No. 1. JOHN DAVIS' SPEECH. ''It is well knuwn that pauperism in Europe has become a great and oppressive burden. In England, especially, it has become so power- ful in numbers and physical power as to be, in some districts, almost uncontrollable. The number had not, to his knowledge, been accu- rately ascertained ; but the means were at hand to prove that the aggregate and power were great and oppressive. It appeared^ from Parliamentary documen.s, that, in 1818, the sums expended by the parishes, in England and Wales alone, where these corporations pro- vide for the poor, amounted to about thirty-eight millions of dollars, a sum greater than the whole revenue of this country for public pur- poses. The burdens, as Avell as other evils, were so severely felt, that public attention had been drawn to the subject, with a ho})e of obtain- ing relief. Much had been written and much said, but no efficient action had taken place up to 1833, when the king appointed a com- mission, with large powers, to collect evidence and report to the Parlia- ment. The commissioners appointed a large number of sub-commis- sioners, assigning to each a district, and authorizing them to collect evidence and report to the general board. They proceeded in the execu- tion of their duty, and their reports, with the evidence, went with the report of the general board into Parliament, when they were published, and fill a large number of closely printed folio volumes, which are in the possession of the United States. These volumes shed light upon this subject, which may well fill the mind with astonishment. "This (said Mr. D.) brings me to a point were I will show the interest which the American people have in this matter. In the course of the inquiries made by the commissioners, they discovered that some of the parishes had, of their own accord, and without any authority in law, as it seems, adopted the plan of ridding themselves of the evil by persuading the paupers to immigrate to this side of the Atlantic. And whom, Mr. President, did they send ? The most idle and vicious ; furnishing them with money, besides paying their passage, and then leaving them on this continent, either to reform or to rely on the peo- FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 33 pie here for support. The commissioners, forcibly impressed with the efficiency of this plan, as a complete remedy, strongly recommended to Parliament to adopt it, and to authorize the parishesjto raise money by taxes for this purpose. They proposed, too, that the most idle, debauched, and corrupt — the incurable portion — should be selected for this purjiose, while tlie better portion should be left, to be reclaimed when detached from the force of eyil counsel and evil example. They do not, it is true, propose to send them to the United States ; this would be too bold a proposition, but it seems they have no objection to their finding their way hither. True to their own sentiments and unconquerable idleness, these paupers no sooner reach here than they cast themselyes upon the public for support. Those acknowledging themselves to be pauper immigrants have been repeatedly found in the House of Industry in Boston, with the very money received from the parish concealed about them, and in some instances, to prevent detection, sewed in their clothes. Out of 866 persons received into that place during the last year^ 516 were foreigners; not all, by any means, of this class, nor is it possible to ascertain liow many. In this way, Massachusetts disburses from her public treasury over fifty thou- sand dollars annually to relieve foreign paupers, and this but imper- fectly meets the expense. She has attempted to modify the evil by countervailing legislation, by requiring bonds from the masters of vessels bringing foreign passengers, conditioned that for a given period they shall not become chargeable to the public. This, however, proves inadequate ; for while her laws on this subject are more humane than some of her adjoining States, the immigrants will find their way into the commonwealth. Many, doubtless, are sent out to the neighboring provinces, and thence come to us coastwise; others, perhaps, have or will enter by the Canada frontier, and penetrate to places where they can find the best provision for them. They have been detected in New York as well as in Massachusetts. "Now, sir, is it just? Is it morally right for Great Britain to at- temi)t to throw upon us this oppressive burden of sustaining her poor? Shall she be permitted to legislate them out of the kingdom, and to impose on us a tax for their support, without an eftort on our part to countervail such a policy? AVould it not be wronging our own virtuous poor to divide their bread with those who have no just or natural claims upon us? And above all, sir, shall we fold our arms and see this moral pestilence sent among us to poison the public mind and do irremediable mischief?- Sir, I hope this country will always afford an asylum to the worthy and the oppressed of all classes and con- ditions : but humanity makes no appeal to us to receive and cherish those who have no respect for virtue, morality, or themselves; those who are forced among us because they are too corrupt, debauched, and indolent to be tolerated in a country not over-scrupulous in its morals." H. Rep. 359 3 34 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. No. 2. United States Consulate, Bremen, Sepfemher 5, 1836. Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your esteemed circiihar of the 7th July, 1830, requesting information respecting de- portation of panpers from Great Britain and other jdaces, &c. I am sorry that the information desired is not to he procured from authentic sources ; for, properly speaking, it cannot he said that ])aupers are deported from Germany, though it may sometimes (but very rarely) he the case that families, almoners, and civil authorities, in order to get rid of a burdensome fellow or troublesome subject, pay what is necessary for such a person to cross the Atlantic. But, among the German emigrants, a great number of whom annually embark at this port, and who'nearly all go to the United States, there are many per- sons and families who, when they have paid for the passage, have little or no money left, and probably many of them, on arriving in the United States, are quite destitute of all. I have, sir, the honor to remain, with the greatest respect, your most obedient servant. H. W. BOHME, For JOSHUA DODGE. Hon. Levi Woodbury^, Secretary of the Treasury, Washington. No. 3. Consulate of the United States of America, Hesse Cassel, September 8, 1836. Honorable Sir: 1 beg leave to report, in conformity to your honor's circular of the 7th July last^ that, as far as I have been able to ascer- tain, none of the German governments have caused, or even indirectly sanctioned, any deportation of their paupers; on the contrary, their laws and finances forbid such operation. The only forced deportation which has come to my knowledge is from the free Hanseatic town of Hamburg, the government of which deports from time to time those criminals who have been either condemned for life or a long period ; they give them the choice either to endure their time or to emigrate ; in which case the government pays their passage. A number of them have been sent to New York, and thi^ year to Brazil . The great number of German paupers in the United States arises from the low rate of passage-money which of late has existed. Steer- age passengers were taken last spring from Bremen, and found with good ]n-ovisions, at $16 each grown person. This price the Bremen ship-owners could only afford by carrying always a large number, to obtain which they had their agents all over in the interior of Germany, and induced the lower class, which live in a very impoverished state, FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 35 to emigrate, by malving them "believe that labor Avas so much demanded in the United States that any able-bodied man could earn, as soon as landed, $2 a day. Young and old, healthy and sickly, thought now of nothing but to emigrate. Every sacrifice was made ; even their clothes were sold, and if this did not suffice, the balance begged ; and all those who could scrape together enough 4o pay their passage went to the United States, where the majority landed penniless, and a great num- ber of them, consisting of old people, women, and children, unable to work^ as the German governments do not allow their young men to emigrate until tliey have fulfilled their military obligation. This traffic on the part of the Bremen ship-owners will continue as long as the laws of the United States do not make their masters liable for the support of the passengers which they bring to the United States, and our shores will be filled so long with paupers of all kinds. I have the honor to be the honorable Secretary's most obedient servant, CHARLES GRAEBE. Hon. Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the Treasury. No. 4. Consulate United States of America^ Dublin, September ], 1836. Sir : Your letter contains a copy of the resolution to which it refers^ and, having carefully perused the same, I beg leave to state, in reply, that if the word ''pauper" is intended to refer to that description of persons so termed in England as being entitled to relief from the parish, having no poor laws in this country, we are, of course, without any such ])ersons in Ireland. Our poor, in this country, are very poor indeed — so poor as to be altogether without the means of support, even lor a few days, and, consequently, totally unable to provide the cost of transport to a foreign country. The i)0[)ulation of Ireland l)eing very great, and rapidly increasing, and the wages of labor being very low, emigration has prevailed to a riiuch greater extent than in England or Scotland. After having made strict inquiry on the subject, 1 cannot ascertain that any fund has l)een established by government, or any public body, or body of individuals, for the deportation of emigrants, and I am of opinion that none such exists; but it is by no means an uncom- mon occurrence for individuals possessed of large landed ]iroperties in this country, being desirious to thin or lessen the population on their estates, and to increase the size of their farms by throwing several small holdings into one, to agree with such tenants to pay the ex- pense of their passage to Amei'ica. The number so deported, however, is not considerable, and has not, at this port, exceeded five or six hundred in the last five or six years ; and they have been pro- 36 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. vided, I understand, with a few pounds eacli, witli a view to their support until they could procure labor after their arrival. I have the honor to be; sir, your obedient humble servant, THOMAS WILSON. Levi Woodbury, Esq., Secretary of the Treasurif, Washington. No. K 3. Consulate of the LTnited States, Belfast, Septemler 1, 1836. '^IR : In reply to your ^'circular to certain consuls," &c., under date of 7th of July, respecting the deportation of paupers, I beg to state that there are no paupers deported by the public authorities from within mv consular district. I however mav remark, that a conside- rable number of the emigrants who leave here for the United States, Canada, &"c. , are supposed to do so with little or no property beyond their sea-stock, and consequently land abroad nearly or wholly desti- tute. Of the number of these, or the amount of their provision or property, if they have any, there are no means of gaining any correct information or estimate, from the circumstance of their emigrating as private individuals, on their own resources. I am, sir, verv respectfuUv, vour obedient servant, THOMAS W. GILPIN. The honorable the Secretary of the Treasury. No. 6. United States Consulate, Rotterdam, September 13, 1836. Sir : In reply, I beg to state that no deportation of paupers has taken place from this country. The passengers from hence to the United States are chiefly Germans, who emigrate voluntarily, and at their own expense ; although many of them have but just the means to defray the expenses of the voyage, and are destitute on their arrival in the United States. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, sir, vour obedient servant, J. WAMBERSIE, United States Consul. Hon. Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the Treasury, Washington. FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 37 No. 7. Consulate of the United States of America, Londo7ider7'y , (Ireland,) Septemher 19, 1836. Sir : There has been for many years pa,st, and still continues, a large emigration fiom this port to different parts of the United States, and also to the British settlements in North America ; and from my know- ledge on the subject, I have no hesitation in stating that the descrip- tion of persons who generally embark for the United States from this port are of good character, in comfortable circumstances, and certainly many degrees removed from paupers. On the contrary, the greater number of the persons who embark for the British settlements, on account of the cheap conveyance, are the evil and ill-disposed, who will not do well in their own country ; and the landed proprietors are glad to get rid of them, which they do by paying their passages, and laying in sufficient provisions for the voy- age, totally regardless of how they are to make out life on their arrival. The reason why North America is preferred, is on account of the cheapness of the passage. They are, therefore, principally all paupers. I have the honor to be. sir, your most obedient servant, JAMES COPuSCADEN. Levi Woodbury, Esq., Secretary of the Treasury U. S., Washington. No. 8. Consulate of the United States of America, Leith, August 23, 1836. Sir : On the 8th instant, I was honored by the receipt of your cir- cular dated the Vth ultimo, calling my attention to a resolution adopted by the Senate of the United States on the 4th of July last, and in reply, I have the honor to acquaint you that there are not any paupers trans- ported from this or the neighboring ports, either to the United States or any other country, with the exception of a few children (six boys and five girls) sent last year from the charity work-house in Edinburgh to the British settlements in Upper Canada, and they were apprenticed to persons who were ascertained to be of respectable character and in good circumstances. I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient servant, ROBERT GRIEVE. Hon. Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the I'reasury. 38 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. No 9. Consulate of the United States, Liverpool, Sei^temher 15, 1836. Sir : I lind it has been the practice Avith many parishes, for some years past, to send abroad such of their superabundant population as would consent to go ; and although there has never been a restriction as to the place, they liaye invariably preferred the United States, and ninety out of a hundred New York. Regular contracts are made by the diifereut parishes with passenger-brokers at this place to ship them ; the extent of this deportation, however, always limited in com- parison with the general emigration, has recently been much dimin- ished, in consequence, probably, of the increased demand for labor, and the general prosperity of the couutr}'. Tlie following facts are ob- tained from authentic sources, and maybe relied on. In all instances the emigration is voluntary, and the parish is not relieved by it from its obligation of support, should the individual ever return. Convicts are never sent, nor the inmates of work-houses, nor those who, from age or decrepitude, are unable to support themselves. Not one per- son out of fifty is over fifty years old ; they are generally young people who have made improvident marriages, and without ostensible means of support, with increasing families, are likely to become chargeable to their parish. Reputed poachers are a class of people frequently sent from agricultural districts ; and out of at least a thousand, of various descriptions, shipped ofl" by one of my informants^ he is quite sure, not more than twenty have ever returned. Some provision is always made for their immediate support on landing at their place of destination. From five to ten pounds is paid by the shipping agent to each individual on the vessel's leaving port, besides their passages being paid for, and their provisions found for the voyage. In the year 1830, the emigration from this port to the United States is estimated at sixteen thousand ; out of which about six hundred were sent from different parishes. In 1832, there were about five hundred sent at parish expense ; since when, not more than three hundred have gone in a similar way in any one year ; and during the last, although the general emigration was greater than at any former period, out of twenty-four or twenty-five thousand there were but about one hundred and fifty paupers. I have the lionor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant, FRANCIS B. OODEN. Hon. Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the Treasury. No. 10. Consulate of the United States, District of Kingston-upon-HuU, Leeds, August 30, 1836. Sir : The officers of the customs are well aAvare that paupers do proceed both to the United States and Canada, and it has been ad- mitted by the owners of several vessels sailing there that their pas- FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 39 sages are paid by the overseers of" the parishes to which they belong. The mode of doing this varies according to the trustworthiness of the pauper ; if good, he is trusted to make his own bargain, and generally has a trifle of money advanced to him for use, when he quits the vessel, to enable liim to get up the country. If the man is a bad character, he is generally tlic best off, as the overseers pay his passage money, and procure for him the necessaries for his voyage. The man then turns restive, and oftentimes refuses to go unless more money is given him — generally £5 or £10 more than was first agreed on. So that the worse the character, the better able the pauper is to make his way when he quits the vessel. One ship-owner whose vessel sailed this year to the United States from Hull, and who has had several previously, says he believes that nearly all the j)assengers go to the back settlements to their friends, who had jireviously gone there, and had written for them ; and that it very rarely happened that any family went out on a roving expedition, not having an object. It aj)- pears that the greatest emigration from Hull is to Canada, to whence the passage money is reduced ; and many instances have been dis- covered where the overseers have agreed with the paupers, and paid them the passage money to the United States ; but the paupers have adopted the plan of getting tliere through Canada, on account of the moderate charge for the passage, by which means they have taken more money with tliem into the country. With great respect. I am, sir, vour obedient servant, ALBERT i)AVY, Consul, v. S. A., Kingston-upon-HuU. Hon. Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the Treasury. Ko. 11. Custom-house, Bostox, September 2T, 1836. Sir: I received in due course of mail your letter of July 7, enclo- sing a copy of a resolution adopted by the Senate of the United States respecting the deportation of paupers from Great Britain and other places. There are comparatively few emigrants from Great Britain to this port. The principal emigration is of the Irish population, by the way of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Eastport, in Maine. I have not been able to learn, after diligent inquiry, that any paupers have been sent out here from Europe. In making inquiries on this sub- ject, I received the following statement from Godfrey McCrae^ now master of the Rover, of St. Andrew's, N. B. In June, 1835, said McCrae was mate of the British sliip Robert Watt, from London to New York, on board of which were many emigrants. McCrae was informed, during the voyage, that about six families of those emi- grants were paupers, sent out by and at the expense of their respec- tive parishes. He does not recollect the names of the paupers, or the parishes whence they came. Respectfully, &c. DAVID HENSHAW, Collector. Hon. Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the Treasury. 40 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. No. 12. Collector's Office, Philadelphia, November 29, 1836. Sir: I am at length enabled to forward yon, enclosed, the report from the board of gnardians of the poor, on the deportation of foreign paupers. I am, sir, very respectfully, &c. J. N. BARKER, Collector. Hon. Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the Treasury. The committee to whom were referred the communication and docu- ments received from James N. Barker, esq., collector of the port of Philadelphia, in relation to the deportation of paupers from Great Britain, report: That, after having caused an examination to be made of the foreign paupers in the house, they have not been able to ascertain that any of them had been sent to this country, or to the British provinces, by overseers of the poor in England, or elsewhere, or had received aid from any parish to enable them to emigrate. The only information having any relation to the subject of inquiry derived from their examination, is, that the practice of sending away persons chargeable to parishes by parochial aid is quite general in England, and that hundreds have been in this way sent. This prac- tice, however, as far as they profess to be informed, is confined to emi- gration to the British settlements. Your committee would here remark, that there is great difficulty in procuring from a pauper any information which might affect himself; and that, should there be in the house any person who had been sent either to this countr}^ or to the British settlements by parochial aid, the apprehension that he would be discharged from the house upon the fact being known would induce him to conceal it. The reports of the poor-law commissioners of England furnish some information as to the deportation of paupers from that country. In the instructions of these commissioners to their agents in ditierent dis- tricts, the attention of those agents is particularly directed to emigra- tion, as one mode of relieving the parishes from their superabundant poor population, and thereby reducing the poor rates. They speak of emigration generally, and do not confine it to the British settlements. So, in some of the reports made by those agents to the commissioners, deportation of paupers by means of parish aid is mentioned as having taken place, without naming the country to which they had been sent. In some reports the British provinces in North America are mentioned as their places of destination ; and from one report it appears that four families had been sent by the parish of Rye to New York. These reports comprise but few of the parishes in England and Wales — not more than two hundred parishes out of near fifteen thousand ; and, FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 41 therefore, while they establish the fact that paupers have been sent from England to the United States, as well as to the British settle- ments, they do not show to wliat extent this practice has prevailed in that kingdom. It may be inferred from these reports, that the great majority of persons thus sent by the jiarishes haj^e been taken to the British set- tlements. Inasmuch, however, as these persons, when landed, have great difficulty in procuring employment, (a fact which is mentioned in the reports,) and as a large proportion of the inmates of the house who Avere born in England and Ireland came to this country from the provinces where they first arrived, it is more than probable that, of the persons thus sent to the British settlements by parishes in Eng- land, great numbers eventually come into the United States. The only additional information on this subject has been obtained from Mr. Brown, a gentleman of this city, who arrived at New York in the ship Sir Edward Hamilton, in August, 1833, having sailed from Hull. He states that, on board of that vessel, came as passengers a family consisting of a man, his wife, and three children^ whose passages had been paid for by a parish in the western part of Yorkshire; also, an old man, whose passage had been paid for by the parish of Preston, in Yorkshire; that on board of the same vessel were several other persons whose passages, he believed, had been paid for in the same manner, although he did not know it with certainty. The resolution of the Senate directs the Secretary of the Treasury to collect information as to the provision, if any, made for the future support of the paupers thus deported. On this branch of the inquiry your committee report, that, from all the information they have been able to obtain, they are of oj)inion there is no uniform rule observed as to the j)rovision made for their future supports There is no law regulating the mode in which paujiers may be sent. Each parish, in sending out its paupers, makes its ov^n agreements, which it may be presumed are as favorable to itself as the pauper is willing to accept. Therefore, whether the pauper is to receive, upon his landing, any support, and, if any, its extent, depends upon his agreement with the parish that sent him. The reports of the poor-law commissioners, already referred to, are silent on this subject. From the examination made of the inmates of tHe house, the committee have ascertained that one guinea was paid to each of the paupers brought by one ves- sel to Quebec, upon their landing at tliat place ; that, in some in- stances, one hundred acres of land in Canada were offered to each of the paupers upon their landing, which offer, by many, if not the greater number of them, was declined ; and that, in other instances, as far as your committee are informed, no provision whatever was made for their future support. Among the paupers in the house, there are several persons who have been pensioners of the government of Great Britain, and their being in this country is attributable partly to the agency of that government. Nine of these pensioners were examined, and from their examination it is evident — 1st. That, in the year 1831, and since, the government of Great 42 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. Britain invited all persons who had served in its armies and received pensions to commute their pensions. 2d. That one condition of this commutation was, that the pensioners should proceed to the British settlements in North America, or else- where. 3d. That the arrangements for the emigration of the pensioners and their lamilies were generally made hy the agents of the government. 4th. That, in some instances, the pensioners were sent to New York ; and that in New York they received from Mr. Buchanan, the British* consul, a part of the money for which they had commuted their pen- .sions. 5th. That one person thus sent to New York is now a pauper in this house. 6th. That all pensioners who were willing to commute were per- mitted ; that no difference Avas made whether the pensioner was old and infirm, or strong and healthy; that many of them were aged and infirm^ unable to work, and unable to endure the climate of Canada ; in one instance the pensioner was totally blind, and that hundreds of them, many of whom have families, have come into the United States. 7th. That of these pensioners, thus sent to the British settlements, there are at this time nine, with the families of some of them, making in all twelve persons, in this house. 8th. That, in the year 1833, and ever since, there have been many of these late pensioners with their families in this house. Some of them now in the house say that there are fewer at this period than there have been heretofore. Accompanying herewith is a statement of the admissions of paupers into the house during the year ending the 24th day of November^ 1836, together with their places of nativity ; from which statement it appears that^ of the whole number of admissions, viz: 2^781, there were admitted natives of the British dominions - 1,082 Natives of other foreign countries - - - 184 Total number of foreign paupers 1,266 Total number of American paupers 1,515 All of which is respectfullv submitted. • aEORGE W. JONES, President. No. 13. Consulate of tue United States, London, Odohcr 19, 1836. Sir : From the poor-law commissioners I obtained all the facts and information which it was in their power to communicate on this subject. They arise out of their proceedings by virtue of the 62d section of the poor-law amendment act, passed the 4th of August, 1834. Acting under that section, the poor-law commissioners have frequently au- FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 43 thorized parishes to raise money on the security of tlieir rates for the purpose of defraying tlie expenses of the emigration of poor persons having settlements in such jjarishes ; and they have in such cases issued orders in accordance with the form Avhioli I have the honor to enclose. In this form is a condition that the emigrants shall go to some British colony ; and it will he ohserved tliat a provision is made that, on the arrival at the place to which the parties are contracted to he conveyed, the sum of two pounds at least shall he paid to eacli head of a family emigrating, and one pound at least to each single man or single woman not being part of a family. The commissioners have not felt it to he within tlieir j^rovince to make any further provision for the support of emigrants after they shall have arrived at their des- tination. They have, however, waived the condition "that parties emigrating shall go to some British colony," in a few instances; in most of which the parties desiring to emigrate had already friends in the United States. The total number of emigrants who have thus gone out to the United States, under the provisions of the poor-law amend- ment act, during the past year, from July, 1835, to July, 1836, is 191 out of 5,141; the remainder of whom have emigrated to British colo- nial settlements. The agents of this consulate have furnished me with lists of emi- grants from their respective ports, most of Avhom are supposed to be paupers. These lists are embodied on a paper which I have the honor to enclose. The list of emigrants from Eye, in Sussex, extends as far back as the year 1829. The pauper emigration from that port has been greater than from any other in the district of London. The class of individuals who leave this country by way of the metropolis is very much improved of late years, having, in general, competent means of their own, THOS. ASPINWALL. Hon. Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the Treasury. 44 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. No. 14. Official return of emigrants from the port of Rye, in Sussex, from 182d to May, 1836, both inclusive; three-fourths of uhom are sup- posed to he paupers. Date. Ship. 1829. March 23 31 ] April 7 • May 5 i 23 j Dec. 27 1830. ' March 10 10 26 27 7 ; 8 j 7 ! 24 I 12 : 12 April May June July August 10 gept. 28 1831. March 9 April 29 1832. April 5 26 May 9 30 1833. April 4 8 June 10 1834. April 9 1835. March 31 1836. April 16 May 25 Master. Samuel Vedler J. Crowhurst . . John Frost.. . . Where bound. William Fame .. Emma.. William Sliand ' William Boswell ] do . . Newton James Melvin Quebec New York . . .do ...do William Shand ' William Boswell New York Emma \ John Frost .do. Fame J. Crowhurst '. . . .do. Newton ; J. Melvin Columbia J. Delano Robert and Ann George Richmond William Samuel Vedler . . . Sussex W. Cranstown . . . Cambria J. Moore United States ! J. Knight Rapid ! H. Shoop^ Robert Edwards ' J. Sherberg Corinthian ' R. Shadwick Hudson INIorgan... Alfred T. Gravet .do. .do. .do. .do. .do, .do. .do. .do. .do. .do. .do. .do. Ami M. Miller do. Newton ' J. Bell I do. Alfred I T. Gravet ! do. William S. Vedler ' ... .do. Emma John Frost Newton Jolin Bell Ami Matthew Miller .do. .do. .do. Emma John Frost '....do. Alfred ..i Thomas Gravet ;. . , .do. Alfred I Thomas Gravet '. . . .do. Socrates R. Metcalf |. . . .do. No. of passengers. 47 35 99 142 25 90 88 37 102 158 129 26 92 17 83 57 27 40 18 62 92 96* 76 15 50 30 50 80 72 70 It could not be ascertained what provision was made for tlie support of these emigrants from Eve after landing. The sum generally al- lowed was twenty or thirty shillings for each, according to the agree- ment they might make with their respective parishes. This was either paid to them on their going on board, or given to the master of the vessel, to be paid them on their lancling. The master also received four shillings and sixpence, or one dollar, for each, to be paid by him to the proper authorities in New York, as required by the law there. ^39 was paid to 26 paupers in the ship Newton. FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 45 Emigration of poor persons from Deal, in Kent. 1880, 1 family, 6 in number, to "Western Australia, assisted by the parish with fifteen pounds. 1833, 1 do. 5 in number, to New York, assisted by the parish with twenty-one pounds. 1834^ 2 do. 4 in each, to New York, furnished with provisions for the voyage. From Holden, in Kent. 1832, 1 laborer to New York, assisted by the parish with ten pounds; returned within twelve months. From North Bourn, in Kent. 1833, 11 persons to United States, expense to the parish one hundred and seventeen pounds. Three of these persons died in the United States, the others returned home in about two years. 1834, 6 persons to New York, assisted by the parish to the amount of twenty-two pounds. From Mongsliam, in Kent. 1830, 2 families, 13 number, to New York ; cost the parish one hun- dred and eighteen pounds. From St. Lawrence, in Kent. Forty-six paupers have been sent within the last three years, thirty-six of whom went in the ships "John Stamp" and "Gratitude' ' from Ramsgate to New York. The remaining ten went from London, but by what vessel or to what place is unknown. Whether any pro- vision was made for them after landing cannot be ascertained. From Yarmouth, in Norfolk. The first deportation of paupers from this jjort was in 1829. From that year to the end of 1835 the annual average number of vessels Avith paupers was four. During the year 1836 fourteen vessels have sailed for Quebec with passengers, the average number of which was about eighty adults in each A'essel, a small proportion of whom was landed at Prince Edward's island. Two-thirds of the whole are supposed to be paupers. The pro- vision made for their support after landing was about twenty shillings for each. No vessel has sailed from Yarmouth with passengers for any port in the United States. 46 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. No. 15. Mayor's Office, Baltimore, July 5, 183T. Sir : I have the honor to hand you, under a Wank cover, a German newspaper, and I now enclose you a translation of that part Avhich relates to the United States. A highly respectable German gentle- man handed me the newspaper, and added tliat he had reason to believe that certain German governments mean to disburden them- selves of bad characters by sending tliem to tl)e United States. I have thought that Congress may be disposed to take some order on the subject. Heretofore they have confined themselves to ])aupers ; they now seem disposed to make a Botany Bay of the United States. I have the honor to be vour obedient servant. S. SMITH, Mayor. M. Van Burex, President of the United States. The paragraph alluded to states that a letter lias been received from a friend in Germany giving information that a transport of inmates from the house* of correction had sailed to America, naming Baltimore as the place of destination, and that these passengers had received passports representing them as mechanics, to secure their landing. It further states that another vessel, about the same time, with a number of passengers of a similar character, had sailed, and caution- ing to beware against a Mr. ^'I'osr," probably an undertaker. The contents of this letter are strengthened by a paragraph from a public paper i-rinted in the city of Frankfort, Avhere the same fact is mentioned. The above paragraph, on which tb.e editor makes some severe strictures, is grounded on another ])aragraph, dated TJorringen, April 10, which says: '^' A transport of inmates from the house of correction in Gotha will sail from hence to Bremen, under the escort of a police officer, and from thence to America, either to Xew York or Baltimore." This information might be doubted, says tlie editor, if it did not come from so correct a source, and therefore expresses a hope that our autliorities vrill take the necessary steps to prevent tliose persons from being thrown on our shores. Mayor's Office, Baltimore, Aiujust 12, 1837. Sir : I did myself the honor some time past to send you a German newspaper, with a translation of a i)art, informing that the Germans were sending their convicts to New York and this citv. I caused two Bremen ships wliich had arrived with passengers to be examined ; there were no convicts among them. Two other ships have arrived since, on board of one of which, as I have been informed, there came fourteen convicts, who were landed with the other passengers. They had been embarked in irons, which were not struck otf until near the fort. It appears to me that Congress ought to adopt some efficient act to prevent our country being made a Botany Bay for Germany. I have the honor to be your most obedient servant, S. SMITH, 3Iayor of Baltimore. Martin Van Buren, Prc^'dent of the United States. FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 47 No. 10. Mayor's Office, New York, June 5, 1837. Gentlemen of the Common Council: The laws of tliis State require that the captain of every ship or vessel landing passengers in this city from a foreign country, ov/rom another State, shall report the name, last legal settlement, place of birth, and occupation of such passenger, to the mayor of the city, within twenty- four hours after arrival, under a penalty of $t5 for each passenger so neglected to he reported ; and that every person not being a citizen of the United States, coming to this city with the intention to reside, shall report himself to the mayor within twenty-four hours after arrival, under a penalty of $100 for neglecting to do so. * * * The opinion is entertained that there is a settled arrangement in some parts of Europe to send their famishing hordes to our city. The operations of certain com2:)anies have been noticed. But contractors are becoming so covetous that they afflict this country with a pauper population in consideration of receiving from steerage passengers miore than $2 per head extra, for agreeing to land thetn in New York ; instead of which these traders in foreign paupers secretly clear their vessels for Araboy, in New Jersey, there to land the said passengers, and thereafter send them to New York by other conveyance, or leave them to provide for themselves. Our city is generally the place to which they contract to be carried on leaving Liverpool. This business is likely to be fiercely driven throughout the ensuing year. Hundreds of thousands of the population of portions of Europe are in a state of poverty, excitement, and wretchedness — the prospect before them very discouraging. The old country has more people than it is convenient to support. And although many of them feel no particular anxiety to leave their native land, tliey see others depart — ' they read the mixture of truth and fiction, j)ublished by those em- ployed to obtain passengers — they are assured they can easily return if they are not suited Avith the country — that certain employment, enormously high wages, and almost sure v.ealth awaits them. The times being more unpromising in other countries than in our own, they imagine they cannot change for the W(n-se, and hither they come. They cannot fail to be an intolerable burden to us. As soon as they arrive Avithin our limits,- many of them begin to suffer and to beg. ►Some of those by the " Lockwoods" commenced as mendicants on the first day they saw our city, and some of them, on the first night there- after, sought the watch-house for a shelter ; others solicited aid at the commissioner's office, and not a few at the mayor's residence. Nearly 2,000 arrive each week, and it is fiot likely that many months will elapse before the number per week will be 3,000. In the Boreas, which came in on Saturday, there were about 150 steerage passengers. They were landed from a lighter, near the foot of Rector street, at 10 a. m., on Sunday. Some of them declared they had not means to obtain one day's storage for a chest. Our streets are filled with the wandering crowds of these passengers 48 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. — clustering in our city — unacquainted witli our climate — without money — without employment — without friends — many not speaking our language — and without any dependence for food, or raiment, or fireside — certain of nothing but hardship and a grave ; and to be viewed, of course, with no very ardent sympathy by those native citi- zens whose immediate ancestors were the saviours of the country in its greatest peril. Besides, many of them scorn to hold opinions in liar- mony Avith the true spirit of our government. They drive our native workmen into exile, where they must war again with the savage of the wilderness — encounter again the tomahawk and scalping knife — and meet death beyond the regions of civilization and of home. It is apprehended they will bring disease among us ; and if they have it not with them on arrival, tliey may generate a plague by collecting in crowds within small tenements and foul hovels. What is to become of them ? is a question of serious import. Our whole alms-house de- partment is so full that no more can be received there without mani- fest hazard to the health of every inmate. Petitions signed by hun- dreds, asking for work, are presented in vain. Private associations for relief are almost wholly without funds. Tliousands must there- fore wander to and fro on the face of the earth — filling every part of our once happy land with squalid poverty and with profligacy. * * * By chapter 5G, section 16, of the laws and ordinances of the city of New York, it is enacted, that in all cases where the mayor shall deem it expedient to commute for alien passengers arriving at this port, instead of requiring indemnity bonds, he is authorized to receive such sum, in lieu of such bonds, as he shall deem adequate, not less than one dollar and not more than ten dollars, for each passenger. I deem it my duty to inform the common council, that it is my intention, hereafter, in all cases where it would not be unreasonable, to require and demand ten dollars for such commutation, from each alien pas- senger. And on advising with the commissioners of the alms-house as to this intention, I am authorized to say that they approve and nnite with me in it ; and I am bound to believe that it will receive the sanction of the public. Our city should not, whenever it can be avoided, receive more persons likely to become chargeable. It will be a herculean task to employ and take care of those who are already within our jurisdiction. Our funds appropriated for charitable pur- poses promise no overplus. Provisions, fuel, and clothing for the alms-liouse, are still very expensive. Laborers are not sought after, and while Ave pity the griefs and sor- rows of all our fellow-creatures, we cannot deny that a preference, in the distribution of charities, as well as place and employment, is due to the descendants of the soldiers of the revolution, and to the heroes and sufferers of the second war of independence. It was asked by the fathers of American liberty. It has been promised to their sons. It cannot be conceded to aliens Avithout great indignity to our native and adopted citizens ; and if foreign paupers and A'agrants come here for political purposes, it is proof irresistible " that our naturalization laws ought to be immediately revised," and tlie term of residence greatly extended to qualify them to vote or hold office. Many are, I admit, orderly, Avell-disposed men — but many of them are of the FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 49 opposite character. It is believed the action of the common council in the premises is particularly desirable. Our citizens had no serious turn-outs — no riotous parades — no conspiracies against the business and families of quiet, industrious and honest American operatives, until after officious interference by mischievous strangers, and it is melancholy to observe, that, in the mad career of some of these foreign- ers to destroy our happy system, they have lately recommended to a large meeting of our citizens that they should carry with them deadly weapons, of various kinds, to all our future public assemblages. These wild strangers should learn that to do so, is not "peaceably" to assemble, as provided by the Constitution. Indeed, a reason for taking proper measures to diminish the number of ariivals is drawn from the fact, that, in addition to the great and grievous expense they would add to the city, should they continue to be numerously thrown upon us, the common council will be called upon to provide an armed and a mounted police for both day and night time. Peace cannot be otherwise expected. Many of them come from places where nothing less secures tranquilitv. AAROX CLARK. This message was referred to the appropriate committee, which some time afterwards made the following report : The committee on laws, to whom was referred the message of his honor the mayor^ relative to the quarantine laws and alien passengers, beg leave to report in part — That its members have felt a deep interest in the very important matters which the mayor has so promptly, in the discharge of his official functions, brought before the notice of this board ; that upon a proper and discreet settlement of the interesting questions submitted in the communication, depend the peace, pros- perity, and good order of this city. The immense numbers of persons arriving at this port, fleeing from the poverty, starvation, and oppression of Europe, is calculated, cer- tainly, not only to excite our sympathy for these unfortunate beings, but to create a well-founded alarm as to the results upon our munici- pal prosperity, as well as the character and morality of our population. The greater number of these immigrants (for there are those who, devoted to agricultural pursuits and bringing with them some little property and a good reputation, are calculated to add to the resources of the commonwealth) are absolutely penniless and reeking with the accumulated filth, which long confinement on shipboard and an habit- ual want of cleanliness produce ; they almost immediately on their arrival roam the streets, a band of houseless mendicants, or apply to your almshouses for succor. Crime succeeds destitution. Your prisons are filled ; your hospitals are crowded with them, and your public treasure is spent upon those who never contributed a cent to the gen- eral welfare. It is just, it is in accordance with the best feelings of the human heart to commiserate the sufferings of humanity, however degraded ; but, in the opinion of your committee, this city owes a paramount duty to itself and the country of which it is the general emporium. She" is bound bv wise and efficient laws to prevent the jails and work- H. Rep.' 359 4 50 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. houses of Europe from pouring out on our shores their felons and paupers ; to prohibit lier from introducing here those whom she is bound by every consideration of justice to support ; to prohibit her from disgorging on our people a population with principles calculated to loAver the tone of morals and disorganize the frame of our repub- lican institutions. During the last year GO, 541 passengers arrived at this port. The number has greatly increased this season, the average being very nearly 2,000 a week. The alms-house is full, containing at this mo- ment 3,074, of which three-fourths are foreigners. In fact, ou7' pn.hUc cliarities are 2Jrincipally for the henefit of these foreigners ; for, of 1 ,209 persons admitted into the hospital at Bellevue, 982 were aliens. The expense of the alms-house establishment and its dependencies, last year, amounted to $205,506 63. Your committee therefore recommend the passage of the following resolutions : Resolved, That it is the 0]3inion of this board that the mayor may be requested to enter into a correspondence with the executives of the States of NcAv York and New Jersey, and such other persons as to him may seem proper, touching the enforcement of the health laws and passenger act. Ersolved, That this board approve the decision of his honor the mayor in raising the amount of commutation money heretofore paid bv foreign passengers. M. C. PATTERSON, Chdirman. D. PtANDELL. No. 17. Extract from a letter of Mr. Livingston to Mr. Van Buren, dated August 1, 1831. A letter from Mr. Harrison, a copy of which is annexed, informs the department that some law (local it must be presumed) in the island of Jamaica obliges all foreign vessels, under a heavy penalty, to carry from the island a number of paupers in proportion to their tonnage ; and that this is daily enforced against the American shipping. It is not believed that this abuse can be countenanced. But you will make the proper representations, and procure an order for the discontinu- ance of the practice, and compensation to those who have suffered by it. Mr. Harrison to Mr. Livingston. — {Extracts.) Consulate of the United States, Kingston, Jamaica, June 28, 1831. Sir : I do myself the honor to inform you that I was called upon yesterday by most of the masters and supercargoes of American vessels FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 61 now in this port, who complained of a law which obliges all foreign vessels under one hundred tons to take a.'pauper (or such other person that it may be desirable to get rid of) on board, and carry him or them oflf the island ; and those above that size, one for every hundred tons burden^ at the rate of $10 each, under a penalty of £100 currency, or |300. * * * * ^K'jf: if: sis It appears, when a pauper wishes to leave the island, it is only ne- cessary to select the vessel he is desirous to go in ; he then accompa- nies the officer charged with the execution of the law in question to the consignee, to whom the $10 is tendered for the man's passage, and, if refused, the fine is then inflicted. You are aware that many of our vessels trading to this island are so very small that masters and crew live together in the cabin, and, if they are not all related, are the sons of neighbors and friends. It must therefore be very disagreeable to have a stranger forced among them, and whom, for aught they know, a very dangerous character ; whereby not only the safety of the vessel and property may be endangered, but their lives also. From the circumstance of the States of the Union having laws which prohibit the landing of paupers, &c., masters who have been compelled to receive such persons on board their vessels at this place, have entered them on the shipping articles as seamen. I have reproached some who liave done it and are about to do it again ; but they plead necessity, saying if they reported them as passengers it would give them difficulty, and to avoid which they are compelled to use de- ception. I have no means, while I remain unauthorized to act in an official character, to ascertain the number of persons who have been thus clandestinely introduced into the United States, but I am informed that there are now about one hundred in the hospital of Kingston alone ^ and as there are scarcely any other foreigners trading to the colony but Americans, the greater part of these people will find their way to the United States in the manner already described to you. It is true that English vessels are also bound to take away these unfortunate persons ; but as they were compelled to leave England for want, or improper conduct, it is not likely they will volunteer to return ; and I am tlierefore not wrong in saying they Avill all go to the United States. ROBERT 3I0NR0E HARRISON. Hon. Edward Livingston Secretary of State, Washington. No. 18. Lord Palmersfon to Mr. Van Buren. Foreign Office December 21, 1831. The undersigned, his Majesty's princi])al secretary of state for foreign affairs, has the honor to ackyowledge the receipt of the note 52 FOREIGN CRLMINALS AND PAUPERS. of Mr. Van Biireii, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary from the United States of America to this court, dated the 16th in- stant, on the subject of an act in operation at Kingston, in Jamaica, hy which the masters of vessels sailing from that port are compelled, under certain penalties and conditions, to receive paupers on hoard, and to convey them to the port whither the vessel may be bound. The undersigned hastens to inform Mr. Van Buren that the subject of his representation had already been brought under the notice of his Majesty's government, through liis Majesty's charge d'affaires at "Washington ; and that the undersigned has had the satisfaction of being enabled to inform the government of the United States, by the last packet, that the act of the legislature of Jamaica, of which the American government complain, will expire the 31st December of the present year, and that instructions will be transmitted to the gover- nor of Jamaica to withhold his assent from any other act which may be passed containing the same or any similar provision. The undersigned has the honor to renew to Mr. Van Buren the as- surances of his distinguished consideration. O" PALMERSTON. No. 19. Mr. BanhUead to Mr. Livingston. Washington, October 1, 1831. The undersigned, his Britannic Majesty's charge d'affaires, has the honor to transmit to Mr. Livingston, Secretary of State of the United States, the copy of part of an act of the assembly of Jamaica, passed in February last, obliging masters of vessels sailing from that island to receive on board, upon specified terms, inmates of the Kingston public hospital avIio may be desirous of leaving his Majesty's pos- sessions. The undersigned lost no time in submitting to his Majesty's gover- nor of Jamaica Mr. Livingston's note of the 26th of July upon this subject ; and he trusts that the document which he now begs leave to enclose will do away with any unfavorable impression which may have existed as to the nature of the law which the legislature of Jamaica have thought it expedient to enact. The undersigned has the honor to renew to Mr. Livingston the assurances of his distinguished consideration. CHARLES BANKHEAD. Copy of the 2dtJi clause of cm act passed hy the legislature of Jamaica on the 2-^th February, 1831, entitled '■^ An act for raising a tax by the poll, and on trades, supercargoes and masters of vessels, and on houses, and on certain icheel- carriages and applying the same to several uses, and for other inirposes." • XXIX. And whereas the public hospital at Kingston is supported at great expense, and affords relief to transient poor persons and ves- sels of all countries trading to t^is island, by receiving as many men FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 53 from tliem as are sick and sent to it, as well as persons who are left destitute on shore, many of whom remain a much longer time a bur- den on the public than is necessary for their health, in consequence of masters and owners of vessels demanding excessive or unreasonable sums of money for their passages : for remedy whereof. Be it enacted hy the authority aforesaid, That whenever any inmate or inmates of the Kingston public hospital shall be desirous of leaving the island, and are to be provided with a passage to any country at the public expense, notice shall be given to the master and consignee or con- signees of any vessel about to sail for the port or place to which such inmate or inmates are willing to go, that one or more of the said in- mates Avill be put on board such vessel, but not to exceed one for every vessel under one hundred tons, nor to exceed one for every one hundred tons burden of larger vessels ; and the master shall receive such inmates on board his vessel, and take care of and support and protect them, and carry them to the port of her destination, unless good cause to the contrary shall be forthwith shown to the satisfaction of the sitting magistrates of Kingston ; and the said master shall receive, for the passage and support of each inmate put on board his vessel as aforesaid, at the rate of three shillings and fourpence per day, computing the length of the passage fifty days to Europe, thirty days to the British provinces in North America, twenty days to Ber- muda and the United States of America north of Saint Augustine and all places to the eastward of St. Domingo, twelve days to New Orleans, ten days to all other foreign places to the southward of Pen- sacola, and five days to any place in this island ; and if the master of any vessel, to whom notice has been given as aforesaid, shall refuse to receive on board his vessel any inmates from the public hospital, or shall not carry them to the port of her destination, he and the con- signee or consignees of his vessel shall be liable to a fine of fifty pounds for each inmate so left behind, which shall be recovered in a summary manner before any two justices of the peace. Vera copia : W. G. STEWART, Secretary and Notary Public. No. 20. Extract of a letter from Mr. Livingston to Mr. BanJchead, dated October 4, 1831. Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 1st instant, by which you transmit to me the copy of a part of an act of the assembly of Jamaica, passed in February last, obliging, under heavy penalties, the masters of vessels about to sail from the island to take on board and convey to the ports of their destination all such paupers as are willing to leave the island, and are to be provided with a passage at the public expense. This act is so obviously injurious in its operation upon the United 54 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. States, by forcing their ships to convey to tins country any pauper who chooses to burden it with his support, that it is believed the as- sembly of Jamaica will^ on a proper representation, repeal a law which is intended to disgorge all the inhabitants of its hospitals and poor- houses upon foreign countries, who may not be willing to receive them. It also imposes an individual hardship on the master or owner of the vessel, who is obliged by the State laws, in most or all our ports, to find security that the passengers he brings shall not become charge- able to the parish. While I hope that your rei)resentation may induce the assembly to rej)eal so unjust a law, I must, in the meantime, send a copy of the act to our minister at the court of his Britannic Majesty, with instructions to ask the interference of his Majesty's government in the case. 3L\ Banhliead to Mr. Livingston. Washington, February 15, 1832. The undersigned, his Britannic Majesty's charge d'affaires, has the honor to acquaint the Secretary of State .of the United States, in refer- ence to the correspondence which has taken place upon the subject, that instructions have been transmitted by the department of the col- onies to his Majesty's governor of Jamaica to withhold his assent from the renewal of any act proposed by the legislature of that island, of the nature of that which expired on the 31st of December last, com- pelling masters of merchant vessels to receive on board paupers of the Kingston public hospital, and to carry them to the port to which the vessel may be bound. The undersigned has the honor to renew to Mr. Livingston the as- surance of his most distinguished consideration. CHAKLES BANKHEAD. 3[r. Bankhead to Mr. Livingston. Washington, October 3, 1832. The undersigned, his Britannic Majesty's charge d'affaires, has the honor to refer the Secretary of State of the United States to the cor- respondence which has taken place respecting the clause inserted in a law of the legislature of Jamaica, compelling the masters of vessels trading to that island from the United States to receive paupers on board, and to convey them to the ports to which the vessels might be bound. The undersigned has received instructions from his Majesty's gov- ernment to acquaint the Secretary of State that the clause in question was not intended to produce the effect of which the government of the FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAfPERS. 65 United States complained ; and that, in consequence of the proceedings which have been instituted by the governor of Jamaica, it has now ceased to be a hiw. The undersigned has the honor to renew to Mr. Livingston the assu- rances of his most distinguished consideration. CHARLES BANDHEAD. Hon. E. Livingston, cf-c. Xo. 2L Consulate of the United States of America, Leipsic, March 8, 1837. Sir : On your circular letter of July T, 1836, I have made inquiries in respect to the transport of paupers from this country to the United States ; but state affairs being in this country not so openly conducted as might be desired, I have not been successful, until of late, when, by confidential communications, I have learned things which will re- quire energetic measures upon the part of the United States to be counteracted. Not only pauj^ers, but even criminals, are transported from the in- terior of this country to the seaports, in order to be embarked there for the L^nited States. A Mr. De Stein, formerly an officer in the service of the Duke of Saxe Gotha, has lately made propositions to the smaller States of Saxony for transj^orting their criminals to the port of Bremen, and embarking them there for the L^nited States, at $75 a head ; which offer has been accepted by several of them. The first transport of criminals, who, for the greater part, have been condemned to hard labor for life, (among them two notorious robbers, Pfeifer, and Al- brecht,) will leave Gotha on the 15th of this month ; and it is in- tended to empty, by and by, all the workhouses and jails of that country in this manner. There is little doubt that several other states will imitate that nefarious practice. In order to stop it, I have sent an article into the General Gazette of Augsburg, Avherein I have attempted to demonstrate that this behavior was contrary to all laws of nations, and that it was a shameful behavior towards a country which oflers the best market to German manufactures. It has of late also become a general practice in the towns and bo- roughs of Germany to get rid of their paupers and vicious members, by collecting means for effectuating their passage to the United States among the inhabitants, and by supporting them from the public funds. This practice is highly injurious to the United States, as it burdens them with a host of paupers and criminals, and also deters the better and wealthier class of the inhabitants of this country from immigrat- ing to the United States. The property the latter class has of late exported annually to the United States has been calculated at a sum of from two to four millions of dollars, and it is to be expected that this very profitable immigration would increase from year to year, in 56 rOREICtN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. case the honest people of this country would not have to fear to be as- sociated in the new country with the worst class of their countrymen. This, indeed, seems to be the secret motive of the above-mentioned measures. It is intended to stigmatize thereby that country which the wealthier class of the farmers and mechanics commence to consider as the land of promise. To remedy that evil, I would propose the following measures: 1. That all persons intending to immigrate to the United States, would have to produce to the consul of the United States, in the sea- port, a testimonial from the magistrate of their residence, purporting that they have not been punished for a crime, (political punishments excepted) for the last three years ; that they are able to maintain themselves by their labor or capital. 2. That the consul of the United States, in the sea-port, should have to certify these testimo- nials ; and that the masters of ships, who Avould take a passenger without such a testimonial, should have to pay a considerable fine on landing him in the United States. 3. That the consul of the United States, in the sea-port, should have power to refuse his certificate to all those immigrants who, in his opinion, would become a burden to the community on their arrival in the United States. I am, sir, with high consideration, your most obedient and humble servant, F. LIST. Hon. Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the Treasury. No. 22. Consulate of the United States, District of Kingston-upon-Hull, Leeds, August 30, 1836. Sir: * * * * * * Theofiicersof the customs are well aware that paupers do proceed both to the United States and Canada, and it has been admitted by the owners of several vessels sailing there that their passages are paid by the overseers of the parishes to which they belong. The mode of doing this varies ac- cording to the trustworthiness of the pauper. If good, he is trusted to make his own bargain, and generally has a trifle of money advanced to him for use when he quits the vessel to enable him to get up the country. If the man is a bad character, he is generally the best off", as the overseers pay his passage mone)', and procure for him the necessaries for his voyage ; the man thus turns restive, and oftentimes refuses to go unless more money is given him, generally £5 or £10 more than was first agreed on ; so that the worse the character, the better able the pauper is to make his way when he quits the vessel. One ship-owner, Avhose vessel sailed this year to the United States from Hull, and who has had several previously, says he believes that nearly all the passengers go to the back settlements to their friends, who had previously gone there, and had written for them, and that it very rarely happened that any family went out on a roving expedition FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 57 not having an object. It appears that the greatest emigration from Hull is to Canada, whither passage money is reduced. And many instances have been discovered where the overseers have agreed with the paupers, and paid their passage money for the United States ; hut the paupers have adopted the plan of getting there through Canada, on account of the moderate charge of tlie passage; by which means they have taken more money with them into the country. It is the general oi)inion of the owners of vessels that during the last two years the number of paupers immigrating to the United States and Canada has been very much diminished. Very few have gone there from this large county, (Yorkshire,) as labor has been easily obtained, and wages have improved. A merchant who had a vessel sailed from the port of Hull this year with several families states that all but three appeared able to bear their own expenses, and some, though in appearance poor, loere known to have in their possession considerable property. Another counter- acting effect of the immigration of paupers is the return of several within the last year or two to their parishes, which are bound to re- ceive them, and the knowledge of such proceedings deters other over- seers from being so ready to assist as they were some years ago. Liverpool being the principal port from whence immigration takes place, I beg to enclose you herewith a statement (A) that has been published of the number Avho have sailed from the 1st January to the 5th July last, designating the countries to which they have gone^ and the number for the years 1833, 1834, and 1835. A society was formed some time since for the purpose of sending young females out to New South Wales, but, as will be perceived by the enclosed resolution (B) passed by them, they now decline recom- mending any further immigration there, owing to the excessive im- morality stated to prevail there. With great respect, I am, sir, your most obedient servant, ALBERT DAVY, Consul TJ. S. A., King ston-upon- Hull. Hon. Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the Treasury, Washington. 68 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. No. 23. FOREiaN PAUPERS AND NATURALIZATION LAWS. [To accompaiiT Bills 11. R. 873 and 874.] July 2, 1838. Mr. Russell, from tlie select committee api)oiiited on the subject, made the following report : The select committee to whicJi loere referred the memorial of the mayor, aldermen, and commoncdty of the city of New York, the memorials of the inhcdntants of the counties of Washington, Kings, and several others in the State of New York, that of the municipal government in the city of Boston, that of citizens of Sutton, that of citizens of 3Iilbnry, in the State of 3Iassacliusetts, and thcd of the ''Ncdive American Associa- tion," in the city of Washington, in the District of Columhia, and severed others from different States, jyvaying a repeal of the natural- ization laios of the United States, or such an alteration thereof as shall extend the time of residence in the United States of foreigners, previous to their being admitted to the exercise of p)olitical rights, beyond the period which is required by the existing laics; and also p>raying the ptassage of a law which ivill eff^ectually prevent the introduction of p>aic- p>ers and convicts from foreign countries into the United Stcdes; also, the remonstrance of a number of German citizens, living in the southern- part of the State of Missouri, against granting the ptayer of the memo- rialists, respectfully report : The memorialists allege that the number of emigrants from foreign countries into the United States is increasing with such rapidity as to jeopardize the peace and tranquillity of our citizens, if not the perma- nency of the civil, religious, and political institutions of the United State'^s. [That many of "them are the outcasts of foreign countries ; 2^ciu- pers, vagrants, and malefactors, from the poor-houses and penitentia- ries of Europe, sent hither at the expense of foreign governments, to relieve them from the burden of their maintenance. That, from the destitute condition of this class when they arrive in this country, they immediately become burdensome to our citizens, exhausting the accu- mulated funds which had been raised, and were being disbursed, by the various charitable institutions in our country, for the use of our own unfortunate and destitute citizens. Among those who have been sent hither, are many laboring under the infirmaties of old age, whose days of usefulness and vigor have been spent in England or upon the continent of Europe : and, when they can be no longer use- ful in their native country, are sent among us, entirely destitute, to linger out a friendless and burdensome existence in a strange land. Others, equally helpless and burdensome from natual infirmities, bearing unquestionable indications of their having been paupers in FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 59 their native land. Others, and not a few, hihoring under mental aberration, evidently of long standing and incurable. Others, idiots; and there is hardly anj^ degree of mental infirmity which affects man- kind, and which is as various as the shades of human character, inter- mediate, mere eccentricity and absolute phrensy, which may not be found among these thus cast upon our country. Others, Avhose resi- dence among us is still more objectionable, are convicts from the European States, condemned to imprisonment in their native country for aggravated offences against their laws, and released from impri- sonment only on condition of taking up their residence in this western hemisphere. It is the concentration of these classes of foreigners in the United States, from various foreign countries, which has drawn forth these simultaneous appeals to Congress, from the different sec- tions of the Union, to save our country and our citizens from the blighting influence of such a population, and more especially the laboring class. An American laborer is among the most useful of our citizens ; and the primeval principle which was proclaimed to man^ that he should ^'earn his bread by the sweat of his brow," he ac- knowledges as a rule of duty, prescribing a reasonable service, from which neither habit nor inclination prompts him to depart ; his pride and ambition are stimulated by a desire to attain independence, and to maintain his family with the fruits of his own labor, and, in the vigor of manhood, to accumulate a treasure which will smooth the pathway of his declining years, and alleviate the sorrows incident to old age. Whatever causes may conspire in the European States to produce pauperism, few exist here ; and it is believed to be not only unreasonable, but unjust, to permit foreign governments to relieve themselves from the maintenance of their own poor, which is caused principally by their forms of government, their policy, and their laws, at the expense of the citizens of the United States. Their collision •with our citizens in the various pursuits of private life, their disregard of those social, moral, and political obligations which control the ac- tion of the American people, and attach them to the homes of their fathers, render them obnoxious to suspicion and distrust, and unwel- come associates in their daily toil. It is estimated that there are about one hundred and forty-six thousand foreigners who annually arrive in the United States ; many of them entirely destitute of the necessaries of life, and depending for daily subsistence upon public or private charity. There is probably a pauper population in the United States of about 105,000 who are^supported at public expense ; and it is estimated that more than one-half the number (and these the most helpless and ex- pensive) are foreigners. On the 12th of June, 1837, there were in the almshouse, in the city of New York, 3,074, of which number three- fourths were foreigners; and of 1,200 admitted into the almshouse at Bellevue, 982 were aliens ; and during the year preceding the 29th March, 1837, there had been supported or relieved at these establish- ments, 6,874 foreigners. On the 1st of May, 1837, there were in Bellevue almshouse 690 men and 747 women ; and by the report of the resident physician of the hospital, it appears that of 1,209 which were admitted into his department during the year ending the 1st of 60 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. January, 1837;, 502 were received into the maniac department; and that of the whole number only 206 were born in America. In 1836, there were in the almshouse at Boston, Massachusetts, 596 Americans and 673 foreigners; and in that of Philadelphia, 1,505 Americans and 1,266 foreigners. The average expense of supporting a pauper in the United States is estimated at about $42 a year. If the estimate of numbers and the expense of their maintenance be correct, it will^t be seen that the citizens of the United States are paying annually, for the support of their pauper population, $4,400,000, one-half of which, at least, is paid to support foreign paupers; or, in other words, the citizens of the United States are contributing annually $2,200,000 to relieve foreign governments from the supjiort of their own poor. In a communication to the common council of the city of New York, the late mayor, in relation to this foreign population, remarks that "our streets are filled with these wandering crowds, clustering in our city, unaccustomed to our climate, without money, without employ- ment, without friends, many not speaking our language, and without any dependence for food, or raiment, or fireside. What is to become of them? is a question of serious import: our whole almshouse depart- ment is so full that no more can be received without manifest hazard to the health of the inmates; petitions signed by hundreds, asking for work, are presented in vain; private associations for relief are almost wholly without funds; thousands must therefore wander to and fro, filling every part of our hapj)y land with squalid poverty and profli- gacy." The tax for the support of paupers in that city has more than doubled in seven years ; and this remarkable coincidence will be found, that, in the same jjeriod of time, the foreign population of the city will have a fraction more than doubled. From this it is evident that, in pro- portion to emigration from foreign countries, pauperism is increased in nearly an equal degree with population from abroad. The population in the city of Washington, in the District of Co- lumbia is 22,000. During the five preceding years there were 975 paupers admitted into the infirmary in the city of Washington, and 1,385 committed for disorderly conduct. The average number of paupers per year is 195, and the average number of vagrants for the same period is 277, making an aggregate of paupers and vagrants of 472, or one pauper and vagrant to every 46 inhabitants. The number of resident papers for the last ten years was 2,125, and of foreign alien paupers 1,120, and paupers from diflerent States 934, constituting an aggregate for ten years of 4,179. 0*it of 168 paupers admitted to the poor-house proper, in the city of Washington, in 1837, 70 Avere foreigners. From May, 1837, to February, 1838, 118 were admitted; and of the white males admitted, about two-thirds were foreigners. In 1832, the expenditure for the support of the poor, in- firm, and lunatics in the city was $3,775; and the committee have the most authentic information that more than one-ninth of the re- ceipts for taxes on real and personal property in this city has been im- posed for the support of paupers. From these facts it appears that the inhabitants of the city are paying, on an average, for the support of paupers and vagrants from abroad, $2^245 annually. This result. FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 61 however, is produced upon the hypothesis that only one-half are for- eigners, when the prohability is that a much greater proportion are from ahroad. In a memorial recently presented to the mayor and aldermen of the city of New York, it is stated that during the last seven years 296,259 foreigners arrived at the port of New York. In 1835, the whole ' population in the city of New York Avas 270,089. Thus, it will be seen that, in the short period of seven years, the number of foreign- ers who congregated in the city of Ncav York was 26,170 more tlian the whole population which that city contained in 1835. In the memorial it is also stated that "on the 1st of January, 1837, 982 foreigners and 227 native American citizens had been admitted to the hospital at Bellevue the preceding year. On the 1st of jilay last, there were in the almshouse 1,437 paupers. Allowing the same proportion of foreigners as in the hospital, and there would be 1,068 foreigners and 369 native citizens in the almshouse, "It appears from tlie report of a committee monthly appointed by the board of aldermen of this city, that there were, at the date of that report, 3,070 paupers in the almshouse, more than three-fourths of whom are foreigners. How many more of this class live upon pri- vate charities, let the swarm of mendicants Avho daily and nightly infest our streets attest." At a recent date, it appears that the number of convicts confined at Sing Sing, New York, was 800, of whom 603 were foreigners. In the year ending in August, 1836, there were received into the Boston House of Refuge 8(jb paupers, 516 of whom were foreigners. From the 1st of January to the 25th of April, 1837, there were 264 paupers admitted to the same House of Eefuge, 160 of whom were aliens. " It must be born in mind [says this report] that those for- eigners only who arrive in vessels of forty tons burden and upwards are registered and taken into the account above stated. There are hundreds, nay thousands, who come in vessels of less size, and by the way of the Canadas. It is confidently believed that the whole num- ber of foreign emigrants who have arrived in this city since 1830^ amounts to more than 500,000." In 1807, the foreign population in the United States bore a propor- tion to the native of about one to forty ; now the proportion is about one to nineteen. This unnatural increase of population, combining in social inter- course strangers possessing different habits, speaking different lan- guages, many of them unable to either read or write, not capable of duly appreciating their own rights, or their obligations to the muni- cipal regulations of the country which protects them, with habits established for duplicity, idleness, and crime, would naturally, if not necessarily, produce interruption to that unity and peaceful inter- change of kind offices which so peculiarly characterize the American people. In an address recently presented to the mayor of the city of New York, it is stated, ' ' The extent of the influx of foreigners of the lower classes seems not to be fully understood. There are at least, from England and Ireland alone, more than a hundred and twenty-thousand emi- grants who yearly reach our shores by direct or indirect courses 62 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. Sixtv-five thousand emigrants came directly to New York and its neigliborhood last year ; and as many reached the States north of the Potomac, in the same space of time, in some way or another. -This is a moderate calculation. The Encyclopedia Americana, a translation and enlargement, of the German Conversations Lexicon, edited by a foreigner, states, that from thirty-five thousand to five hundred thou- sand emigrants arrive in this country (meaning the Canadas and the United States) every year. But few of tliem, it is Avell known, stay in Canada; they prefer our government to the colonial. This state- ment is corroborated by the London Encyclopedia, which urges the British government to send out a million of emigrants a year, until a proper depletion is made of the swollen body of their population, and reckons up the cost, making it over five pounds sterling a head, which is double the amount they pay for landing the inmates of their almshouses and jails at the present time. They now pay about jfive dollars a head for passage money, and their provisions costs about ten dollars each." The consequence of such an amalgamation must be dissatisfaction, if not violence, and extensive violation of personal rights ; these pro- duce litigation, criminal prosecutions, and consequently large dis- bursements of the public money. An examination (especially in the towns where this foreign population assemble) of the calendar of crim- inal prosecutions, will show the alarming extent of this evil. If, in a time of peace and tranquility, such consequences flow from ming- lino- in our communitv such discordant materials, what securitv can there be in a state of war, when concert and co-operation become es- sential to national security? The mayor of the city of New York communicated his annual mes- sasre to the common council of that citv on the 14th of Mav, 1838, from which the following extracts are taken : " Your early and most serious examination of our entire paujjer system, including the con- templated removal of the almshouse to Blaekwell's island or to Ran- dall's island, and the establishment of a workhouse, is daily becoming necessary. It is believed that, by a laborious investigation, and upon consequent new arrangements of the various departments, the enor- mous expenses may be diminished, or at least prevented from being increased, except in a few absolutely unavoidable cases. If the addition of numbers and cost of maintenance, are to go on progressively, as may be learned from the following particulars has thus far been the case, many years Avill not elapse before they will become a burden greater than the tax-payers will submit to. By a report from tlie commissioners, it appears that the number of inmates in the almshouse, including the hospitals and Long Island iarms, on the 8th of September, 1837, was - - ' - - 2,548 Number in the bridewell _ _ _ _ 132 Number in the penitentiary - _ _ - 052 Making a total of - - - 3,332 Foreig^ners _ - _ _ _ 2.045 Native Americans - - _ - 1,287 3.332 - 1,833 91 403 2,327 1,158 1,169 2,327 - 3,332 2,327 - 1,005 887 118 1 OO'^ FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 63 A similar statement of lOtli September, 1836, is added, in order to exhibit the increase for one year, and to show that eigldy-eiglit per cent, of that increase are foreigners. Number of inmates in almshouses, &c. Number of inmates in bridewell Number of inmates in penitentiary Of these there were foreigners native Americans Total number 8th September, 1837, as above Total number 10th September, 1836 Increase in one year Of this number, there are foreigners And native Americans _ _ _ In giving these items, the commissioners subjoin the following : '■ This exhibit, it is believed, justifies the demand for increased commutation fees_, and points to the necessity of enforcing all laws touching the emigration of foreign emigrants. It is noticed also that a considerable portion of the children classed as natives, are born of foreign parents shortly after their arrival here." On the 8th of May instant the number of persons in the almshouse alone was 1,342; of these 719 were foreigners; in the hospital, also, 135 persons, of whom 105 were foreigners ; in the lunatic hall, 179, of whom 110 were foreigners; of the 713 children on the Long Island farms, 273 are of foreign birth; the number in bridewell 134, and 73 of them foreigners ; in the penitentiary, 621 })ersons, of which number 326 are foreigners — making a total of 3,367: foreigners, 1,606. And it must not be forgotten that large amounts of fuel, provisions, and money are distributed annually by the commissioners to the poor and the needy who remain at their homes. And were it not for the pov- erty of the times we should feel much surprised that the almshouse. should contain so many inmates when we recollect that our humane and benevolent inhabitants also collect and distribute very large amounts within the abodes of poverty and suifering ; that there are, moreover, an extensive city hospital, lunatic asylum, a seamen's re- treat_, sailor's snug harbor, and nearly twenty other institutions for the cure of the sick, and for the relief of the j)oor, the aged, the blind, the deaf, the orphan, tlie juvenile delinquent, and for the ameliora- tion of suffering and misfortune of every denomination. The arrivals into the city of New York of foreign emigrants in the eight years preceding 1837 have been fourfold. Those from Cork alone in 1836 were 4,993; and from the returns of the State Department, under the law of 2d March, 1819, it appears that from the 1st Jan- uary to the 27th July, 1837, the increase at the port of New York of 64 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. foreigners over that of the preceding year was in the ratio of four to one. The amount expended in the State of New York in the year 1836 for support of the j)oor is stated to have been $396,100 05 ; and during the same period the State received for tolls on the Cham2)lain canal, which is the most productive in the State except one, the sum of about $132,000, If one-half of tlie expense of sui)porting the poor in that year was paid for the support of foreign poor, of which the committee entertain no doubt, it will be seen that the receipts^from the Cham- plain canal for one year and a half have been insufficient to maintain the foreign poor in that State for a single year; or, in other words, we are giving the entire avails of that splendid improvement, and, in addition thereto, sixty-six thousand dollars a year^ to relieve foreign governments from the maintenance of their own poor. The evidence of the wisdom of the American people, if not their jiride, is to be found in their naval armament, which costs them an- nually something over tive millions of dollars, and we are paying within half a million of that amount for the support of our poor, and one-half of them at least foreigners. In 1837 there were taught in the common schools in the State of Pennsylvania 139,604 scholars, exclusive of 11,234 taught in Phila- delphia, at an expense of $132,000 in both places. It is estimated that there are in the city of Philadelphia above 1,515 foreign paupers, which, at the average expense at that place per annum of $50 each, will amount to $75,750 annually. Thus it will be seen that the city of Philadelphia pays for the support of foreign paupers more than one-half as much as the State pays for the common school education of the children of their own citizens throughout the entire State of Pennsylvania. And in the city of Philadelphia there is paid seven times as much for the support of the poor of foreign countries as that city pays to instruct her own children in the elements of an ordinary education. It ajipears from a report made to the legislature in the State of New York by the secretary of State, who is ex ojficio commissioner of common schools, that, in the year 1835, 532,167 children in that State received the benefits of a common school education, at an expense of |1, 235,256 02; of this sum $313,376 91 are stated to have been " de- frayed from the public money." And it will be found that for the same year the city of New York alone paid $205,506 63 for the sup- port of their pauper population; or, in other words, the city of New York alone paid for the support of foreign paupers an amount equal to one-third the sum paid by the whole State for the education of her own children. It is stated that in one day more than 07ie thousand three hundred j^aiqjcrs from Ireland applied to the commissioners of the almshouse in the city of New York for relief. In 1825 the whole number of aliens in the State of New York was 40,430. By the late census, taken in 1835, it appears that the Avliole population in that State was 2,174, 517; of which number it is sup- posed there were at least 163,337 aliens, or about one alien to every 13 native and naturalked citizens in the State; from which it appears FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 65 that the increase of aliens within the ten years preceding 1835 in that State lias been at the rate of three hundred per centum. The following table Avill show not only the alien increase of pau- perism in our Atlantic towns, but also the consequences which our citizens are subjected to by the policy adopted by foreign governments for their own relief, by transporting at their own expense to America this vagrant population : In N. York, 1830, the number relieved was 15,506 at cost of |246,752 90 1831^ do. do. 15,564 do. 245,433 21 1833, do. do. 35,774 do. 295,239 13 1834, do. do. 32,798 do. 304,913 21 1835, do. do. 38,362 do. 323,741 12 1836, do. do. 37,959 do. 396,100 05 It is said that in New Hampshire in the year 1800 there was only one pauper to every 333 inhabitants ; that in 1820 there was one pau- per to every 100 of the inhabitants ; and that the expense of maintain- ing their paupers had increased from $17,000, in the former year, to $80,000 in the latter. AVhen the contiguity of this State to that of a foreign government, and its peculiarly exposed situation to the in- gress of mendicants from abroad, are taken into consideration, few will hesitate to account for this extraordinary increase of pauperism in that State. In the State of Massachusetts it is said that the number of paupers about doubled in the ten years preceding 1832. In the district of Southwark and the Northern Liberties alone, in Philadelphia, there were in the year 1810, 1,390, and in the year 1820 there were 2,500; their number having nearly doubled in ten years. While the late war continued with Great Britain there was no emi- gration from that country to the United States ; and for several years after the termination of hostilities between the two countries the num- ber of emigrants hither was quite limited. And the fact is not un- worthy of notice that in proportion as the number of emigrants in- creases or diminishes is the increase or diminution of paupers and convicts in the penitentiaries and j)oor-houses in that and the other Atlantic cities. And at the time when the emigration from Europe was interrupted the number of poor in the city of Philadelphia was reduced down to fourteen hundred; and in 1822, when the policy of some of the European States was in successful operation of relieving themselves from the burden of maintaining their own poor, by trans- porting them to America, the number in the almshouse in that city was increased to 3,090. It is said that, within the last 25 years, $3,000,000 have been ex- pended in the city and county of Philadelphia for the support of the poor ; and while the population there has increased in a ratio of 67 per cent., the poor rates have increased nearly at the rate of 87. In the absence of particular accounts in many of the States of the number of their paujjcrs, in others of the amount ])aid for their sup- port, their numbers cannot be ascertained with absolute precision; yet, upon the hypotheses assumed in the annexed answer of the Native American Association of the city of Washington, to the interrogato- H. Kep. 359 5 66 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. ries propounded to that association, it is believed the results arrived at may be confidently relied on. The fact is unquestionable that large numbers of foreigners are annu- ally brought to our country by the authority, and at the expense of foreign governments, and landed upon our shores in a state of absolute destitution and dependence ; many of them of the most idle and vicious class; in their personal appearance the most offensive and loathsome; and their numbers increasing with such rapidity by emigration, as to become burdensome to the American people ; our own citizens being obliged to contribute largely from their own earnings to support them in idleness. It is within the recollection of all, that within the last few years large supplies of breadstufts from Europe have been im- ported into the United States, and not only paid for by the earnings of our citizens, but applied to the maintenance of the pauper popula- tion of the very country from which these breadstuffs have been ob- tained. And it is for protection and defence against evils of this description, that the American citizens have implored the interposi- tion of Congress. The necessity for importing provisions from abroad has arisen, in some degree, from the increase of population in the United States, much greater than tlie natural increment of the Ameri- can people, with a population of 12,806,000, the natural increase of which would be 146,325 less than what it now is, taking into account the natural increase of births over deaths. If tliis estimate is correct, it shows that our population is increased annually 146,325 from other than natural causes ; and whence this increase but by emigration from abroad ? And when it is borne in mind that this foreign pauper popu- lation produce little, if anything, from their own labor, but are sup- plied principally, if not entirely, from the labor of our own citizens, the reason for importing breadstuffs from abroad will be measurably ac- counted for. The committee have estimated the number of emigrants who arrive in this country from abroad at 150,000 annually ; and the confidence in the correctness of that estimate will be strengthened by the fact, that the annual increase of population in the United States is greater, by 146,325 than the natural increase of population would amount to annually. On ihe 4th of July, 1836, a resolution was adopted in the Senate of the United States, directing the Secretary of the Treasury to cause to be collected and laid before the Senate, at its then next session, all such facts and information as could be obtained respecting the deporta- tion of paupers from Great Britain and other places ; ascertaining as nearl}' as possible to what countries such persons were sent ; where landed ; and what provision, if any, was made for their future support. In answer to this resolution, the correspondence and documents con- tained in the appendix to this report, and marked A, were submitted to the Senate. On the 19th of March last, the House of Representatives of the United States adopted a resolution directing the Secretary of State of the United States to report to them a statement of the number of emi- grants from foreign countries who have arrived in the United States annually, during the last ten years; the places at which they arrived^ FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 67 the countries from which they came ; the expense of their transporta- tion hither ; by whom defrayed ; and their circumstances and con- dition generally ; with such other information relating to the intro- duction into the United States of foreign paupers, by the authority of foreign governments, as he might possess. In answer to this resolu- tion, the Secretary of State reported, among other things, that there was a correspondence in the State Department on the subject of the introduction into the United States of foreign paupers ; but that this correspondence was with a foreign government, and could not be com- municated without the direction of the President of the United States ; whereupon^ the House adopted a resolution requesting the President of the United States to communicate to the House copies of all cor- respondence and communications which have passed between this and any foreign government, and the officers or agents thereof, relating to the introduction of foreign paupers into the United States ; in answer to which, the House received the correspondence contained in the appendix to this report, in document marked B. The committee have been furnished with letters from Mr. Symonds, keeper of the house of industry at South Boston, and another from Mr. Pollard, late city mar- shal of Boston. Massachusetts, which are contained in said appendix, and marked C. The committee apprehend that few Americans, if any, will doubt the propriety of interposing legislative restrictions upon the deporta- tion from Europe of foreign paupers and convicts to the United States. The Avell known philanthropy of the American citizens, and the libe- rality with which the suffering poor and afflicted in the United States are supplied with all the necessaries of life, and the freedom with which the hand of friendship, and even charity has been extended to the sojourner among us from all quarters of the globe, have been abused to purposes not to be commended. Notwithstanding the friendly re- lations which exist between the government of the United States and that of Great Britain, and the reciprocal professions of a desire to maintain equal and exact justice towards each other, the committee have observed with regret that a system of legislation has been adopted in that country, which has for its object the deportation of their im- mense pauper population to America, and the tendency of which is to cast them upon the United States, regardless alike of the eifect upon the paupers themselves, and the interests and expectations of this govern- ment. This policy has prevailed to an extent highly prejudicial to the tranquility and interests of ouf citizens, and threatens with vio- lence all our peaceful relations. Anxious to provide a remedy for present and accumulating evils, and to secure, if practicable, the ob- servance of good faith on the part of foreign governments to the United States the committee recommend the passage of a bill, which they respectfully ask leave, herewith to introduce, to prevent the deporta- tion of paupers and convicts from foreign countries into the United States. But the deportarion of foreign paupers into this country is not the only subject of complaint by the memorialists : the indiscriminate in- troduction of all classes of foreigners, from all countries, into the United States, and the celerity with which they are converted into 68 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. American citizens, without regard to the character or qualifications which they possess to sustain the important relations of such a citizen, is complained of as a present evil, and from which consequences more- prejudicial to the social condition of our citizens and the permanency of our institutions are apprehended than yet have been exhibited. At an early period of our history, and before the adoption of the federal Constitution, the power of conferring upon foreigners, wlio emigrated to the United States, the exercise of political rights, was deemed by many of questionable propriety; yet, under the old confederation, it was granted to and exercised by the several States. The want of uni- formity in the exercise of that power became so manifest and prejudi- cial, that, upon the adoption of the federal Constitution, the exclusive rigid of exercising the power was vested in Congress ; and on the 26th of March, 1790, Congress passed a law establishing a uniform rule of naturalization ; and from that time hitherto the power has been exer- cised in conformity with the provisions of the federal Constitution. In the brief period oifive years from the time of landing in the United States, a foreigner, from what country soever he may have come, and whatever his character may have been previous to his arrival, under our present naturalization laws, may become a citizen, aud entitled to most of the privileges and immunities of native-born citizens, by a process peculiarly American. As soon as they have passed the ordeal of naturalization, they are eligible to places of honor, confidence, power, and profit, in a manner and to an extent at present unknown in any other civilized country. While the memorialists claim for all who sojourn with us, or become domiciled here, the protection of our laws and the hospitality of our citizens, they doubt not that the gov- ernment would be administered as well at least, and with much greater security, by native American citizens than by foreigners, and more in accordance with that devotion to civil liberty which characterized the founders of our institutions. When the people of the United States were driven to the necessity of asserting their independence, every effort which power could exercise or ingenuity devise, was brought into requisition to prevent the organization of a republican govern- ment ; and though the efforts made against the patriots of the revolu- tion then failed, they should serve to remind us that vigilance is the price which their posterity must pay for the enjoyment of that liberty which was then achieved ; and whether prejudice exists or designs are entertained hostile to our liberties or not, the movements of foreign governments and that of foreigners themselves, which may have an influence on the prosperity of our citizens or the permanency of our institutions, should be regarded with deliberation and vigilance, if not distrust. When the original declaration of American indepen- dence was proclaimed, and, indeed, before that era burst upon man- kind, which }u-oniulgated the important truth that man was capable of governing his race by equal and just laws, the American i)eople were awakened to a just sense of their own rights ; they discovered that the despotic governments of the old world were in hostility to the principles which they deemed essential to incorporate into the institu- tions of the new. The principle that the right of sovereignty was inherent in i\iQ people, and could be exercised by them, was, to those FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 69 governments, a political heresy, which they repudiated, and even at this day they regret ; and, although, to promote ulterior objects, they may have yielded to the temporary supremacy of republican principles in conterminous countries, yet^ their hostility to the fundamental doc- trines of free institutions is too deep-rootdl to be eradicated. Foreign- ers, indeed, may change their domicil, but their principles in regard to the institutions of civil government are identified with those of the country Avhich gave them birth. Man is as incapable of disregarding these impulses as he is wanting in disposition to do so ; his pride is gratified with the prosperity of his native country, and the gloom of melancholy which broods upon his countenance in her adversity, indi- cates the desire which he would sometimes willingly conceal. The principle, that an individual OAves an allegiance to the country of his nativity, is sustained by most writers on international law ; and that this allegiance is not oxAj i^erpetual, but intrinsic, and which cannot be divested by any act of his own, is regarded by many as a funda- mental principle. It is also the doctrine of the common law, that an individual owes a natural and perpetual allegiance to the government of the country in which he was born ; and this, too, is the doctrine of the European governments, and that of England especially, which insists that a subject born in England, and emigrating from that to a foreign country, and taking a commission from a foreign prince, and engaged in a war against England, is guilty of treason, and liable to be prosecuted to condemnation and punishment for that offence. The right to recall the subjects of Great Britain from a foreign country, or from foreign service, wherever they may be, or wherever they may have departed, is not only claimed, but exercised, by the British gov- ernment. In October, 180*7, the King of England issued his procla- mation reclaiming from foreign service all seamen and seafaring men, who were natural-born subjects, wherever they might be, upon pain of being proceeded against for their omission to obey the call. In 1814, the Senate of the IJnited States called upon the President, by resolu- tion, to inform them what had been the practice of Grreat Britain con- cerning her native subjects naturalized in other countries, and taken in arms against her ; and, in answer to that resolution, it was stated that the British government arrest as traitors, and menace with death, persons supposed to be native British subjects, for having fought under our standard against the British forces, although they had voluntarily entered into our army, after having emigrated to the United States, and incorporated themselves into the American society. And it has become an historical fact, that during the late war with England, many native-born subjects of the King of Great Britain, who had been naturalized in America, and were taken prisoners on the northwest- ern frontier, were transported to England to be tried for treason against their king. Without deciding upon the validity of such claim, Avould it be ad- visable, within the short period of Jive years from the day of their landing upon our shoreS;, to cast indiscriminately upon these emigrants all the political rights and privileges of native-born citizens ? — with the natural propensity which mankind universally possess to sustain the institutions of the country which gave them birth ; with the claim "70 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. of natural allegiance which that country has upon them ; with the liability of being recalled by their native sovereign, and in case of neglect to obey such call, and of being taken in arras against their native sovereign, to be subject to condemnation and the punishment of death for treason. These are appalling circumstances in view of such a practice ; and under such embarrassments of the individual, can it be desirable to add to the embarrassments of our country also, by conferring the most important political rights which a native-born citizen can enjoy, prematurely on this vast number? On their arrival in the United States they must be ill (jualiiied to exercise the political rights of a republican citizen; rights which, in their native country, they could never enjoy or appreciate, and possessing habits Avhich, in ours, disqualify them from mingling Avith our citizens, or even ap- preciating or enjoying here the free institutions of our country ; many of them not informed even of the theory of our government ; and of its political benefits to mankind, they are equally ignorant; and though they may possess capacity, which, with time and assiduity may enable them to become useful citizens, yet it must be evident to all, thatj in their present uncultivated state^ tliey would not be safe depositaries of our country's honor. Many of them can neither read nor write, and believe that liberty in a republican government con- sists in the unconstrained exercise of individual desire^ and that he is the best republican who can bring into conflict the greatest extent of physical power. Such oj)inions are to be overcome only by improve- ments in the knowledge of our institutions, and the practical benefit which they universally confer ; and to accomplish these great objects, time and observation are required^ as well as a patient endurance of the toil and research so essential to the acquisition of such knowledge. Our institutions originated in an expanded view of the rights and duties of mankind in a social state, and are only to be preserved by constant vigilance on the part of the people, and by confiding them to the safe-keeping of such as possess wisdom, knowledge, and virtue. If it be true that sovereignity is the inherent right of the people, it is no less true that the sovereign power should be exercised with delibera- tion and intelligence; and the question recurs, can that be done by those hereinbefore referred to, with the limited information which they usually acquire in the brief period of five years? And is it reasonable to conclude that, in that time, their propensities for their native coun- try can be overcome, and just conceptions of tlie principles of ours aquired? The past experience of the world has shown that no influence is more dangerous to the government of any country, than that which is exercised from abroad ; and there is certainly none more to be appre- hended by the government of the United States than that of the monarchies of the old world : they have no just concejition of the benefits which our institutions confer upon our citizens, and upon mankind in a civilized and social state ; and, if they had, the hitherto unexampled prosperity which has accompanied us both in peace and war, would not fail to call forth additional proofs of their hostility. The deep interest they have in sustaining their own government, and of destroying ours, and the means of accomplishing objects so desirable FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 71 to them, but attended with such fatal consequences to us and the world of mankind, of infusing into our population a spirit of insubordination and a resistance to the constituted authorities of our government, present considerations which should not be disregarded. At the early period of our history we possessed an extended public domain, entirely uncultivated, with numerous savage tribes skirting our frontier ; with a limited population, worn out by the fatigues, deprivations, and sufferings, endured in a long and sanguinary war ; these considerations induced a call for numbers from any and every quarter. The policy of admitting foreigners to participate with us upon an equality with our own citizens in the benefits of our institutions was, even at that day, and under such circumstances, doubted by many who Avere no less distinguished for their philanthropy than their patriotism; even the distinguished author of the Declaration of American Independence, that pab'iarch of republicanism and apostle of civil liberty, Thomas Jefferson, expressed strong reluctance to the rapid increase of our population by the introduction of foreign emi- grants. In speaking of the reasons urged by the friends of the system, he says: ''Here I will beg leave to propose a doubt. The present desire of America is, to produce rapid population by as great importa- tion of foreigners as possible ; but is this founded in good policy? The advantage proposed is the multiplication of numbers. Now let us suppose (for example only) that in this State (Virginia) we could double our numbers in one year, by the importation of foreigners ; (and this is a greater accession than the most sanguine advocate for emi- gration has a right to expect:) then, I say, beginning with a double stock, we shall attain any given degree of population only twenty-seven years and three months sooner than if we proceed on our single stock. But, are there no inconveniences to be thrown into the scale against the advantage expected from a multiplication of numbers by the im- portation of foreigners? It is for the happiness of those united in society to harmonize as much as possible in matters which they must of necessity transact together. Civil government being the sole object of forming societies, its administration must be conducted bv common consent. Every species of government has its specific principles ; ours, perhaps, are more peculiar than those of any other in the universe. It is a composition of the purest principles of the English constitution, with others, derived from natural right and natural reason. To these nothing can be more opposed than the maxims of absolute monarchies ; yet from such we are to expect the greatest number of emigrants. They will bring with them the principles of the governments they have imbibed in their early youth ; or, if able to throw them ofi", it will be in exchange for an unbounded licentiousness, passing, as is usual, from one extreme to another. It would be a miracle were they to stop pre- cisely at the point of temperate liberty. These principles, with their language, they will transmit to their children. In proportion to their numbers they will share with us the legislation ; they will infuse into it their spirit, Avarp and bias its direction, and render it a heterogeneous, incoherent, distracted mass. I may appeal to experience during tJie present contest for a verification of these conjectures ; but, if they be not certain in event, are they not possible, are tliey not probable? Is 72 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. it not safer to wait with, patience the twenty-seven years and three months longer for the attainment of any degree of population desired or expected? May not our government be more homogeneous, more peaceable, more durable?" These doubts wer^thrown out by Mr. Jefferson in 1781 and 1782, and are full of instruction to the present generation ; and many of the embarrassments Avhicli he then saw, as through a glass, dimly^ have since become a portion of the recorded liistory of our country. It requires noiu no prophetic vision to penetrate the veil which has con- cealed forthcoming events ; they have already cast their shadows before, and the evils predicted are now in daily fulfilment. The practical operation of natural causes upon mankind, or the benefits of experience upon theories of human invention, should not be disregarded in a vain efibrt to sustain the speculations of visionary theorists. In the affairs of civil government, the admonitions of experience are rarely disregarded with impunity. Let him who is in pursuit of permanent benefits regard the landmarks which a successful predecessor has created for his observation^ and his labors will be not only diminished, but the perils of the original enterprize avoided. The republics of olden times were not less auspicious in their origin, nor had in prospect less hope for the amelioration of the condition of mankind, or to stimulate the patriot or the philanthropist, than that of America — and now, where are they? And what, but an insidious foreign influence^ which a sickly, time-serving sympathy had indulged until it obtained the entire ascendancy, has produced their destruction ? And will not our republic, upon which rests the last hope of man for republican institutions, regard the beacon-lights which past^ experi- ence has erected for our safety? The idea that foreigners arriving in the United States are, upon tlieir arrival in our country, entitled to all the rights of citizenship, is not well founded. Howfer they should be permitted ta enjoy the privileges of native citizens is a question of policy, and rests entirely with the American people ; and that which, in this country, with a population of four millions, having in view a common object, w«)uld have been discreet and proper ; with a mixed population of thirteen millions, with diversified objects, speaking different languages, with no common incentive to sustain a republican form of government, might be dangerous in the extreme. Those who mingled with our fathers m their struggle for liberty, as well as those who have taken refuge from the agitations of convulsed Europe and undergone the scrutinizing process of naturalization in our country, are strongly recommended to our confidence^ and have acquired rights not to be violated. Among them may be numbered many who are conspicious for their virtue, intelligence, and patriotism, and are ornaments to the country which has inscribed their names upon the roll of her citizens. If all who emigrated hither were of this descrip- tion, the evils apprehended would not be as appalling as they now appear: then, indeed, might we safely welcome them to this asylum for the oppressed of all nations, and allow them to participate with us in the enjoyment of political rights. But as no rule of discrimination can be adopted without creating invidious distinctions, the committee have adopted the conclusion that the term of probation should be ex- FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 73 tended from five to — years for all wlio shall be naturalized. The power of passing laws regulating the naturalization of foreigners, is vested in Congress exclusively ; and to preserve uniformity in their execution, it should be confided to the courts of the United States, or the supreme court in the several States. If all foreigners who emi- grate to the United States, and seek the protection of our laws, were equally well informed, tlie necessity for extending the time of their probation might not exist: thousands are ignorant of the first rudi- ments of education who seek our country, and time must be afibrded them for improvement in the various pursuits which control their habits and regulate their intercourse with our citizens, before they can be qualified to perform the duties or appreciate the privileges of American citizens. The fundamental principles of the European governments, and that of the United States^ difier in every essential particular; there, no regard is had to the diffusion of knowledge among the lower class of the people ; here, one of the first duties of the government is to communicate intelligence to the young through a system of common-school education ; the most humble are educated, and all fitted for usefulness when they arrive at mature age. With improved judgments, with minds cultivated, with their moral, socia,l and physical condition regulated and enlarged by education, they at once enter upon the various duties of life, qualified to become useful citizens ; and v^ithout these essential requisites, in some degree, the privilege of citizenship must be exercised in an imperfect manner. Great complaint is also made that frauds are practiced in the courts of inferior jurisdiction, in procuring certificates of naturalization ; this may, in some degree, be avoided by submitting the excution of the law to the United States courts^ or the supreme courts of the several States. It is also thought advisable to require a previous declaration, in all cases to be made of record, of the intentions of the applicant to become a citizen, to entitle him to obtain a certificate of naturalization. To carry out the views herein expressed, the committee respectfully ask leave, herewith, to report a bill for the revision of the laws regu- lating the naturalization of foreigners. No. 24. Mr. Symonds' letter to James Boyd, Esq. House of Industry, South Boston, 3Iarch 9, 1835. Dear Sir : Your note of this date, asking for information relating to foreign paupers, and the mode of their introduction into this State, is received, and deserves a better reply than I shall be able to give. It will not be possible for me to state many facts of the precise nature you require. Proof positive that Europeans who are paupers here were paupers at home is not easily obtained. But few will give any *74 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. account of themselves that can be relied on with much confidence. In some instances it is said that circumstantial evidence is the best. From the appearance, ignorance, and conduct of at least two-thirds of the foreigners who become inmates of this establishment, I have no doubt they were paupers, beggars, vagrants, or rogues in their own countries, which "they have left for their countries' good." Some are idiotic, or too inefficient for self-direction ; others are insane, and have doubtless been so for a long time ; some are aged and quite infirm ; some have chronic incurable diseases ; many are idle impos- tors, who well know how to excite sympathy by feigning all the "ills that flesh is heir to ;" many are mothers with numerous chil- dren, who have been or pretend to have been, abandoned by their hus- bands ; and not a few are females who arrive enciente without any hus- bands, but the imaginary ones they tell us of as having abandoned them at Halifax or St. John's, soon after their arrival. Perhaps half of the foreign poor that come into Boston state that they came by land from the British provinces and from New York. They may tell this story when they came by water, and give a wrong name ; it is nearly impossible to ascertain how they did, in fact, make their ingress. They often pretend to have come in vessels of names that were never enrolled in the marine lists. I have no doubt many are reported and bonded by wrong names ; others cannot spell their names, and mistakes are honestly made. The directors have a list of over one hundred who have been inmates during the last year, who are known or believed to be chargeable to vessels and their owners under the law of 1830 or 1831. Several bills have been paid, and thirteen persons have been re- shipped to the ports from whence they came, in Maine and the pro- vinces. Many other bills will doubtless be collected ; but in other cases the collection is doubtful, either from the absence of the vessel or want of positive testimony. I will state several ficts that will serve to illustrate some of the preceding remarks. A paupQr family arrived in Boston, last spring, from St. John's. The idiotic father has been supported in this house most of the time since, and an insane daughter was here a short time, and afterwards placed in the insane hospital at Charlestown, at three dollars per week, at the expense of this city. As the family were evidently poor, I asked the mother, who came here to visit her husband and daughter, how their expenses were paid from St. John's to Boston ? She replied, "by the mayor of St. John's." A woman Avas here several weeks last fall, with four sickly children, just arrived from the same port ; she declared that " their passage was paid by the British Society in St. John's." An English woman and her six children have been supported here for several months. The husband and father, an inefficient man, who is somewhere in the vicinity, has told me that his family received parish aid in England ; that the parish paid their passage to Phila- delphia, and that they came into this State by land. An old man, incapable of labor, from Kent, England, has lately been seeking cliarity in this city. He applied to Rev. Dr. Tucker- FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 75 man and others. He stated that he was one of fifty paupers sent out "by his own and adjoining parishes. They were landed at Quebec, when each received a sovereign, and were then turned adrift to seek their broad where they could find it. An old man from England was lately committed to this house by the police court, as '' an idle person going about begging." He said he had just arrived in Boston in the ship War's End, (no such ves- sel ever visited Boston,) and that he was over eighty years old. He appeared so sickly that no one thought of giving him work ; but he found means to escape over the high stockade fence, and is doubtless living on charity somewhere else. Among these poor emigrants are some who are highly deserving of pity and relief; others are impostors of the worst stamp. I verily believe that some aggravate their sores and sicknesses solely to get charity, or gain admission into almshouses and infirmaries. I also believe that many who manage to live on public or private charity during the winter, or in seasons of temporary embarrassment and sickness, have savings deposited in bank, or in their priests' hands ; but they are generally too cunning to be found out. Not long since a man and his wife gained admittance here, appa- rently from stern necessity ; but we found between forty and fifty dol- lars concealed in their rags. Of course they were discharged. A woman who came out last year from Ireland, via Halifax, died in this houSe to-day. Three soverings were found sewed up in her clothing. Impositions are practiced in obtaining permits for admission by such characters ; but we turn them out when convinced of it. Some time since I saw a vagabond apply at the office in the city for a permit, the very picture of misery — lame, ragged, and dirty. Humanity seemed to require his immediate admittance. But after my return to the house, he arrived there with a firm step, well clothed, and of quite decent appearance. He lost his intended winter quarters. It is not to be expected that overseers, however shrewd and experienced, can always detect imposters. One a Frenchman, was here several months, pretending to be deaf and dumb. He went out on liberty, returned drunk, and as loquacious as any man. Another pauper pretended to be so lame that he could not walk without crutches. He was at last discovered to be an impostor, his crutches were taken from him, and he ran away without them. I have cited these circumstances_, though not called for in your in- quiry, principally to show the character of foreign poor, and the extreme difficulty of obtaining from them any account of their former situation and mode of ingress. I can think of no way that Massachusetts can keep out the paupers of other countries and other States, so long as the idea is common that good provision is here made for them, and so long as the general government take no steps on the subject. It may be well to do what may be to prevent their coming by water from foreign ports and coast- wise. In New York the following is substantially the mode of proceeding : Masters of all vessels, coasters as well as others, must report all 76 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. unnaturalized passengers, within twenty-four hours after arrival, under penalty of $75 each for making a partial report, $500 for each short reported. An agent, on the arrival of a vessel with passengers, goes on board and examines the condition of each one, and determines the amount of commutation ; which may be from one to ten dollars per head, according to circumstances. It is optional with the merchant to commute, or give bonds to indemnify the city. The bonds are recorded in the city, and sent to the almshouse. Passengers are generally commuted. The city receives about thirty thousand dollars annually from this source. The commutation money, five dollars, as fixed by law in this State, is now too high, I think; masters of vessels prefer giving bonds, and then it is exceedingly difiicnlt to trace out passengers after they have become paupers. I can think of no way to manage this business well, without an agent expressly to attend to it during the emigration season. I think, too, that when alien passengers are bonded, it should be for seven or ten years, instead of three, as at present. In my estimation, our whole system of pauper policy is out of joint. Too much is done to relieve, and too little to iwevent poverty. I do not believe that public sentiment and public intelligence on this sub- ject are ripe for important innovations. I think facts and information must be collected, and spread out to the public before any great im- provement can be efiected. , Excuse this hasty communication. With great respect, j'^our obedient servant, AETEMAS SYMONDS. B. Pollard, esq., city marshal, to James Boyd. City Marshal's Office, 3Iarch 10, 1835. Dear Sir : The questions you have proposed to me in behalf of a committee of the House of Representatives on the subject of foreign pauperism, I am not able to answer so distinctly and precisel)^ as they should be, without access to better means of information than I pos- sess ; for more authentic details, as to the introduction of actual pau- pers/rom abroad, u'ho may have become chargeable to the commonwealtli, soon after their landing in Boston, I must refer you to the directors of the house of industry, or to the superintendent of that establishment. Such information as I possess, however, is at your command. On the files of the mayor and aldermen we have numerous lists of pas- sengers from foreign ports and places, part of whom are bonded, and part not. Masters of vessels, on their arrival, report their passengers to the city clerk. If they are not likely to become chargeable, no bond or head money is required. If they are so liable, he causes the master or owner to give bonds under the law to save the commonwealth from all charges for the support of said passengers during the space of three years after their arrival. Very few masters are willing to pay five dollars a head for each passenger landed. They prefer to charge FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 77 something beyond the usual price of a passage for every foreigner, and then to^'ive bonds to the commonwealth, thereby taking the risk of future results. Should any of them become a burden, the master pays for their support, or removes them to the place where he brought them. Many persons prevent this sort of reaction from being very general; the principal one is, the difficulty of ascertaining correctly the names of Irish and other passengers, and afterwards the greater difficulty of establishing tlieir identity. The number of vessels which brought passengers into this j)ort from other States and foreign places, who were not bonded, or who paid head money, (and these were very few,) or were not likely to* become chargeable, was as follows, namely : in the year 1833, 120 vessels; in the year 1834, 133 vessels. The number of passengers who were bonded during that period, was twenty-three hundred and fifty-six, as will ap})ear by the return annexed, which also states the places whence they came. I am pefectly convinced that a small tax of a dollar, or at most two dollars, on each passenger landed within the commonwealth, without requiring bonds to be given, would be the most effective way of crea- ting a fund for the support of foreign paupers, and reimbursing the commonwealth for their expenditures. Leaving the option of a bond or a tax to the master, he will prefer the former in all cases, except the tax be very small. Perhaps, however, the principle of commuta- tion ma}' be necessar}' in the law, in order to give it constitutional validity. I conceive that $5,000 a year, at leasts might be obtained from the price of one dollar a head for all foreign passengers landed. In such case a suitable officer should be appointed by the common- wealth to see to the execution of the law. The embarrassment attending the subject of foreign pauperism, I am disposed to think^ does not arise so much IVom the introduction of poor persons into the State — which it is wholly impossible to prevent — as from a non-execution of the existing pauper law after the paupers have become chargeable to the commonwealth. I imagine the policy of this statute respecting persons who have no legal settlement therein, and who have become a State charge, has of late years become neg- lected, even if it were well understood. All the provision that I am acquainted with, touching this subject, is to be found in the thirteenth section of the statute passed February, 1794. The intention of this law I conceive to be perfectly plain. The general court did not wish to refuse giving any support ivhatever to the infirm or incapable poor not having a settlement, but they made a pro- vision coupled with certain conditions : they agreed to support poor persons of this description, provided they have no relations chargeable by law for their maintenance. But such persons, when supported by government, were made liable to be proceeded against in case they were able-bodied and capable of doing something. What is this pro- ceeding? The overseers of the poor may make complaint to a magis- trate, who will issue his warrant, and " cause such paupers to be sent and conveyed by land or water to any other State, or to any place be- yond sea, where they belong, if they may be conveniently removed at the expense of the commonwealth ; but if they cannot be so removed^ 78 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. they may be sent to and relieved and employed in the house of correc- tion or workhouse, at the public expense. " • Js it not obvious that the execution of this law^ either by removing a number of paupers to St. John's, Eastport, or other places, from our house of iudustry_, under the authority of a magistrate's precept, or by employing them in workhouses or houses of correction, would soon lessen the expense of the commonwealth ? In the first place, there would be an actual reduction of charge from the number who might be removed ; and in the next, an indirect reduction would result from those who would run away, or be deterred from going to the poor-h(fLise for fear of the consequences, namely, transportation or the house of correction. It would be necessary to provide, under a penalty, for the execution of the law by proper officers. Before making any new provisions on the subject, I sincerely hope that an experiment of the present laio may be tried. It is absurd to suppose we want a new law, until it is ascertained that those we have are good for nothing. I am. &c., vour obedient servant, BENJ. POLLAKD, Marshal. Mr. Symonds to Mr. Fletcher. Boston, June 8, 1838. Sir : Please accept my thanks for your favor of the 24th ultimo, the accompanying statistical public documents, and the reports of the Secretaries of State and of the Treasurv, on the introduction of foreign paupers. For some years I have had something to do with the jmuper management in this city, but am not sure that I can "^ communicate •any information" of importance on this subject, not already before the public. « That the introduction of paupers, vagrants, and criminals, from Europe, is an evil, will not, it is presumed, be denied by any intelli- gent and unprejudiced observer. Of the extent of this evil we have ■no precise and full information. It is to be regretted that the statistics of pauperism, imported, as well as of native origin, have never been collected in the United S:ates. The periodical reports of a few poor- officers, and public charitable institutions in the large cities, and occa- sional legislative reports, are nearly all that have been published. In Massachusetts and New York the overseers of the poor make annual full returns to the secretaries of State, and abstracts are published. I am not aware that the same is done in any other States. If a full account of native and foreign paupers in all the States could be ob- tained, national and State legislation might be attempted more under- ;3tandingly. Puring the year 1837, there were 1,443 persons supported for longer or shorter periods of time (some for the whole year, others for only a few days) in the Boston house of industry, or alms-house. Of that number G89 were foreigners, besides 1-51 children of unnaturalized foreign parents. Oue hundred and one of the 689 came into the State less than a year before their admission to the house. During the same period out-door relief was afforded to 612 foreigners, of whom at least FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 79 84 had been less than a j-'ear in the State. But the returns of th legal overseers of the poor do not show the full burden borne by this community for the support of foreign poor. Private. and associated charity, as you are Avell aware, is liberally extended in this city, and it is absorbed to a great extent by foreigners. Great efforts are made to prevent demoralizing street-beggary, but foreign beggars are by no means rare. From the 1st of January to the 1st of May, 1838, the admissions to the house of industry have been — Americans ___---_ loi Foreigners, 107; children and unnaturalized foreigners, 54 = 161 Total ------- 262 The annual report of the directors of the house of industry to the city council, presented last month, says: ''As usual, the great major- ity of persons who claim entire support in the almshouse are foreigners and their children. Many of them have been but a short time in the country. The law of the commonwealth, (in relation to alien pas- sengers,) passed the last year, enforced as it has been by the vigilant and judicious services of the alien inspector, has doubtless prevented a large accession to the pauper rolls of this city. Foreign paupers, however, continue to find their way into Massachusetts from the Brit- ish provinces and New York, and we can look only to the general government for an effectual remedy to this evil." The effect of the alien inspection law is, to make owners and mas- ters of vessels cautious in bringing pauper passengers. Of the almost overwhelming pauperism of Great Britain, of the corrupt and corrupting administration of the poor-laws prior to 1834, of the degraded character of the paupers of Britain, and of the famous poor-law amendment act of 1833, 1 presume you are informed. A much more rigid system of granting relief has been adopted, and strong efforts are made to reduce the pauperism of the kingdom. One pro- vision of the new law should be observed by Americans, namely _, the authority given to parishes to raise money by loans to deport their set- tled parish paiqjers. Nominally, these deported parish paupers may be sent to Canada, but it must be recollected no public provision is made in British America for the support of the poor. Hence it must be expected that the indigent, who have habitually received "parish pay" in Europe, will look for it in America, and will soon pass from Canada into the United States, where there are poor-laws, fashioned too after the old English model. Some are deported direct to the United States: there is proof of this in official British documents. In the first annual report of the poor-law commissioners, (1835,) page 41, is a table showing the deportation of some three hundred paupers, fifty of whom were "to the United States." I have not seen the reports of 1836 and 1837 ; probably they contain similar evidence, I have conversed with hundreds of Europeans who are or have been receiving or asking public charity. In general they do not admit that they have ever been paupers in their own countries, although their character, appearance, and disabilities afford strong ground to suppose 80 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. them to have heen burdensome to some community. Some, however, declare that they were paupers '^at home," and that their passage money was paid by parish overseers, their clergy, Landlords, and rela- tives. Some time since, an English woman and her six children were supported for several months in the Boston almshouse. The husband and father visited them, and was urged to provide for his family; he would scarcely admit that it was his duty to do so ; he had received '■^ parish pay" in England, according to the number of his family, and seemed to think he had a right to claim their support from the public. He stated that the parish to which he belonged defrayed the expense of emigration to the United States. I have known a considerable number claiming public support here who have been British soldiers, and afterwards life pensioners on ac- count of disability. They have sold out their pension rights to gov- ernment for four years' pay and one hundred acres of land, engaging to leave England. After spending their commutation money, they have become hopeless paupers in this country. By far the greater part of foreign paupers in New England are from Great Britain. Some, however, are from other parts of Europe. A few months since, a vessel arrived here with forty German passengers ; apj)lication was immediately made for the admission oi Jifteen of them into the almshouse. Many emigrants com])lain bitterly that false statements were made to them by shipping agents and others, to induce them to qovhq to this country. Multitudes have doubtless been deceived in regard to the prices of labor and the means of living in this country. Many are anxious to return to Europe, but have not the means. A considerable number have returned from Boston during the last year, assisted, to do so by the subscription of the wealthy and benevolent. Whether Congress can do anything to prevent the introduction of foreign paupers and criminals, is an important question : one that I am incompetent to discuss. It is clear that State legislation is not to be relied on to correct the evil, so long as in some States there may be no obstacles interposed to the landing of aliens of all descriptions. Uniformity of State laws can scarcely be expected. Perhaps the greatest obstacle that exists to national legislation on this subject, is the tact that the discussion of it, in the public papers at least, is mixed with the spirit of party. Misre]iresentation, and appeals to the worst passions, have appeared on both sides. Whole- sale assertions that emigrants generally are vicious, squalid paupers, and criminals, are as far from the truth on one hand, as the declara- tion that emigration is "almost an nniaixed hlcssing" to the United States is on the other. If we can by any fair means prevent the intro- duction into this country of the thousands of ignorant, dependent paupers, of felons, and radical disturbers, (such as keep up the mis- chief on the Canada frontier,) it is certainly desirable to do so. If a stop could be jmt to the false re})resentations put forth in England and Ireland about the want of laborers, and the prices of labor in this country, immigration would be less. Please excuse this hasty letter. With great respect, your obedient servant. APtTEMAS SYMONDS. Hon. RicHAKD Fletcher. FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 81 D. From the Native American Association of the United States, in Wash- ington city, April 11, 1838. Sir : The president of this association, to whom your inquiries were addressed, has directed me to furnish, in reply to them, all the infor- mation that could be collected from the materials in our possession. The great increase of crime and pauperism is to be mainly attributed to the unusual advance of our population beyond its natural progress ; the judicial expenses of the country generally, and the municipal €harges in towns, have heretofore kept pace with this increase, until the burden has in populous districts become fixed upon the property holders as a direct tax. Besides this weight upon us in a pecuniary way, we feel the pressure of this strange tide upon our social and do- mestic system, whose unity is impaired by throwing into it the discor- dant materials of every variety of language, custom, nationality, and prejudice. The present generation of natives are, therefore, so segre- gated by these interpolations that even for the general welfare of the country there could be no perfect co-operation, and, as regards tlie new comers, there could, in the hour of peril to our institutions, be no confidence. We have endeavored in our course to avoid any action that would wound tlie sensibilities of those who have pressed their consciences to throw off the allegiance which nature and duty imposed to their own land when they promised faithfulness to this. We knew it was but a vain formula ; but as the law had tolerated it, and a long period of peace, in which there could be no test of its fallacy, had given it the sanction of a seeming truth, we were willing to confine ourselves to prospective dangers, and count upon all who were citizens, whether naturalized or native, as interested with us in the same common cause. This desire, however, was not appreciated ; and the temper of the alien, though covered with the protection of the laws, the enjoyment of ofiice, the rewards of party, and the places of our own people, manifested its affinities and sympathies for their own countrymen, thougli in their distant home, and raised all their foreign banners to suppress our efforts. The pride of our people is daily mortified by such doings ; we are men, if not awed, at least threatened in our land. Our places of profit and of honor have been given to the countrymen of our enemy. Men but a few months in the land have been preferred to exemplary citizens. The archives of your public dep-irtinents are in the custody of those whom we should fear to trust with arms in war. Our poor's house in this city is often tenanted by men who have made long journeys to solicit pensions for past services to the nation, while at the same moment the dei)artments of the government are a great lazar-liouse to receive and support the alien. We invite you to look around you, in your own committee-rooms, at your public buildings, the very walks of your Capitol, at every ramification of public service where profit is to follow, and behold the incumbent for- H. Rep. 359 6 82 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. eigners, and then turn to the rejected native, and ask whether it is not time that your countrymen should petition for redress. These things are adverted to, not for the purpose of raising an argument, hut as facts which your own investigation can soon prove. "Without enLirging upon these eviLs, I proceed now to answer your inquiry as to the support of the poor in Washington city. The population of the city proper is about 22,000. The average number of paupers per annum, during a period of five years, is 195, or one pauper out of every 112 inhabitants. Number admitted into the Infirmaiy. Commited for disorderly conduct In 1833 - - 197 - - 310 1834 - - 239 - - 306 1835 - - 201 - - 243 1836 - - 170 - - 274 1837 - - 168 - 252 975 1,385 If you add the number admitted to that department of the poor's house approj)riated as a place of penitence or punishment for vagrants or persons committed for disorderly conducts, to the number committed as mere paupers, then the average number of admissions annually dur- ing a period of five years, would be - - 195 paupers. 277 vagrants. 472, or one pau- per and vagrant to every 46 inhabitants. The average number of resident paupers during ten years was 2,125 Of foreign alien paupers during that time - - 1,120 From different States - - - - - 934 2,054 Total number for ten years - - - 4,179 For the last five months admitted - _ _ _ 158 Non-residents ______ 44 202 Of these, there were 53 persons " seeking pensions." The average number yearly under medical treatment for the last five years appears to have been thirty. The least average number of persons daily in the poor's house throughout the year is 79, which Avould make the cost of keeping $1 07 per week. Out of those 168 admitted in 1837 to the poor-house proper, 70 were foreigners. The number admitted from May, 1837, to February, 1838. nine months, was 118 ; of whom 77 were males and 41 females — 40 foreign- ers. Of the white males admitted, about two-thirds were foreigners. FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 83 The number of persons licensed to retail spirituous liquors is 200, of whom 90 are foreigners; Of billiard-tables there are five licensed^, two of which are kept by natives, and tlirce by foreigners. The annual expense of the poor's house is - - $4,490 00 The amount of taxes in 1832 upon real and personal property for corporation purposes, was - - - 35,195 13 The receipt for tavern licenses _ _ _ 3,792 00 The expenditures for the same year, for the support of the poor, infirm, and lunatics - - - 3,775 00 From this it will be seen that there is a natural relationship be- tween the profits derived from the tavern licenses and the burden of the poor, the sums received for the one having been exhausted in the same period of time for the support of the latter. So, too, more than one-tenth of the receipts for taxes on real and personal property has been imposed for the maintenance of the pauper. Instead of taking the last returns of those in the infirmary as a rule in relation to the number of foreigners sustained by our citizens^ and which shows that two-thirds of the whole number were of that class, let us throw that aside, because it comprises only a few months, in which by possibility there may have been more than upon the aver- age of a long period, and take the lowest number reported at any time. • This, then, would be one-fourth; and, supposing that proportion of * the whole number to have been foreigners, it will appear that we have had as a burden upon us, out of 474 committals, 148 foreigners, which, at a cost of $4,490 for the whole poor and vagrants, would be $1,122 50 in one year for them ; which would more than pay the members of both boards of the city council for the same time. Supposing that two-thirds of the poor and vagrants are foreigners, then they are a tax upon every individual, man, woman, and child, black and white, bond and free, estimating the population at 22,000^ of 13 cents. Supposing them one-half, they are a tax to each of 10 cents ; one- fourth, a tax to each inhabitant of 5 cents. And the paupers and vagrants, generally, are a charge upon every inhabitant of 20 cents. It is sujiposed there are with us 1,400 voters, though that number has never been polled. And there are 1,G00 tax-payers, residents and non-residents ; of these, about 1,000 are proprietors of real estate, and 600 of personal property only. At this rate, the voters, after deducting one-eighth for absent ones, pay for supporting paupers, yearly, each $2 81 ; and they pay for foreign paupers, deducting one-eighth for non-resident tax-payers, 70 cents, supposing they are only one-fourth of the whole number of paupers. The owners of real estate, from whom three-fourths of all the taxes come, pay, per annum, for paupers generally each $3 38; and they pay for the foreign paupers eaph $1 08, supposing them to be one-half of the whole number, and 84 cents each, supposing them to be only one-fourth. Besides this, there is a fixed population of aliens and naturalized citizens, dispersed in the various occupations of life, but principally 84 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. confined to the public offices and such other contingent pursuits. The number of foreign mechanics or persons in settled occupations of physical industry is small, but there is a migratory species of laborers who, by some system in vogue with the directors of the i)ublic build- ings, who are also foreigners, are brought from a distant place to work, and then return home to spend their earnings. This course, which seems to have been countenanced by others in authority, has produced great heart-burnings. The American mechanics are daily complaining of preferences to these aliens, and, if " coming events cast their shadows before," the banners displayed by your countrymen upon tlie public buildings now in progress here, with the motto "we strike for our country," may indicate how wise it will be for legislators to appease the wrath by speedily removing the cause. The number of passengers who arrived in New York in 183G was 80,952, of whom only 4,013 were born in the United States. The increase of immigrants into that city alone in eight years has been fourfold. In 1829, there were - - _ _ _ _ 15,064 In 1836 ------- 60,541 Tlie arrivals from one port, namely, from Cork, in 1836, were 4,993 ; and the quarterly returns from 1st January to 27th July, •1837; show that the increase at that port over the last year was in the ratio of four to^ne ; the number within the first quarter having been 34,554. The poor in the alms-houses in 1836 were — In Boston 596 Americans, 673 foreigners. In Phihidel[)hia 1,505 Americans, 1,266 foreigners. Tlie report of the board of aldermen of the city of New York, of 12th June, 1837, states that the paupers in the almshouse were 3,074, of whom three-fourths were foreigners. That out of 1,200 persons admitted into the almshouse at Bellevue, 982 were aliens. The an- nual report, dated 29th March, 1837, shows that 6,874 foreigners were supported or relieved there during the past year. The mayor of New York, in a communication to the common council, states that " nearly 2,000 (emigrants) arrive each week, and it is not likely many months will elapse before the number per week will be 3,000. Our streets are filled with the wandering crowds of these passengers, clus- tering in our city, unaccustomed to our climate, without money, with- out employment, without friends, (many not speaking our language,) and without any dependence for food, raiment, or fireside. What is to become of them ? is a question of serious import. Our whole alms- house department is so full that no more can be received there without manifest hazard to the health of every inmate. Petitions, signed by hundreds, asking for v.-ork, are presented in vain. Private associa- tion.s for relief are almost wholly without funds. Thousands must therefore wander to and fro, filling every part of our once happy land with squallid poverty and profligacy. The tax lor the relief of ]'an])ers in New York has increased fifty per C3nt. in six years, as in 1830 the total expense was $246,752 90^ FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 85 while, in ISoG, it had augmented to $396,100 05. But if you take the general amount of support it will he found to have more than doubled itself in seven years. The revenue of the Champlain canal^ which is 64 miles long, and the next largest in the State, is annually about $132,000 ; so that it would take the gross receipts of the tolls of this canal for three years to support the poor of the State for one year. The amount expended in New York and Pennsylvania for one year for the poor^ would pay one half of the yearly charge of the whole legislative, executive, and judiciary departments of the general gov- ernment of the United States, besides the costs of the territorial gov- ernments, the officers of the mint, and public surveyors. The annual outlay for paupers in the United States Avould have jjaid the appropri- ations made by Congress in 1833 for all diplomatic purposes and for- eign intercourse three times over ; and it would, witliin half a million, have sustained the whole charges of the navy, including the gradual improvements, buildings, and rebuilding of frigates, subsistence, and all other items for that year. It would, within a fraction, have satisfied all the revolutionary pen- sions under the act of June, 1832 ; and it would have paid the pensions granted to widows- and orphans under the military establishment up to 1833, for Jive hundred years. The public contributions by tax throughout the different States would sustain the entire charges of the civil list of the United ptates, and leave a balance for a sinking fund, which, in ten years, would pay a national debt of fifteen millions of dollars. In contrasting the expense oi foreign paupers already among us as an interminable burden, with the expense of public schools, it will be found that the former very considerably exceeds that of the latter. In Pennsylvania, the new law of 1836 authorizes each county to de- termine by its votes " whether it will entitle itself to the aid of the public fund, by assuming a certain portion of the expense." And the scholars alread}" taught in the common schools under that system in the State was, in 1837, 139,604, and in the Philadelphia schools 11,234. The whole cost was $132,000, while the charge for foreign paupers in the city of Philadelphia alone, supposing that 1,515, as re- ported, was the full number, would be, at $50 per annum each, $75,*750, or more than half as much as the whole cost of public in- struction throughout the entire State. But if you contrast the actual cost of the foreign paupers in Philadelphia, as supplied by the regular institutions, to say nothing of hundreds who subsist upon the contin- gent bounty of individuals, with the expense of the 11,234 scholars taught at the common Schools in that city, it will appear that the former impose a regular tax per annum of |75,V50, while the poor scholars are instructed for $11,000 ; or, in other words, that the city of Philadelphia pays seven times more as a regular tax to support the idle and profligate of other countries, than she does to instruct her own sons in the elements of an ordinary education. The great influence of aliens in that State, who look with jealousy upon the school fund as so much taken from the general stock which would otherwise be used for their comfort, has already manifested 8Q FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. itself in immediate connexion with this subject ; and although it would scarcely be believed that in this age of " improvement" there could be any so badly bold or so rudely ignorant as to wish to silence the tutor, or see the young mind run to wild maturity in ignorance and depravity, still it is in proof that in the very heart of our country, in the key-stone State of the Union, there is a horde of Vandals that would consummate this curse upon us, and link it to our posterity. The following rejjort to the legislature of that State, in relation to this act, and its reception by the people, was made by Mr. Kerr, of Allegany, on the ITth March, 1835. You will be able to judge from this, as to what land of liberty and instruction, or of bondage, political and mental, these actors belonged. " The committee appointed to rej)ort to the House the number of petitioners in each county of the commonwealth praying for the re- peal, and the number i)raying for a modification of the school law, and the number remonstrating against said repeal ; and^ also, how many of said petitioners signed by making their mark, and how many names to the petitions were written by other hands than the petition- ers', report: " That although the number who have petitioned for the repeal is deplorably large, yet it is but a small minority of the whole number of voters in the commonwealth, to wit, about 32,000. Those who ask for a modification are only 2,084 ; those Avho have deemed it necessary to remonstrate against the repeal, 2,575. The committee were pained to find ardong those who deem a general system of education unneces- sary and ask for its reiieal, sixty-six who are unable to write their own names, and who attached their signatures by making their marks ; and, according to the best conclusion to which the committee could arrive, more than ten out of every hundred of the petitioners' names ap2)ear to be written by other hands than their own. Whether this arose from inability to write their own names, the committee do not feel themselves called to determine. The committee would further re- mark, that in most of the petitions not more than ^five names out of every luindred are written in English ; and the great mass of them are so illegibly written as to afibrd the strongest evidence of the deplorable disregard so long paid by the legislature to the constitutional injunc- tion to establish a general system of education." In New York, 532,167 children were instructed at a cost per annum of $1,235,256 02, of which only $313,376 91, or about one-fourth, was defrayed from tlie public money ; while for the same year the maintenance of her paupers in the city alone was $205,506 63, or two- thirds of the whole expense of public education throughout the State. If you take, however, the amount of costs ^or schools, l^aid by public tax, for the year 1837, which was - $313,376 91 And deduct it from the cost of paupers that year, which was ------ - 396,100 05 It will be seen that pauperism costs more than educa- tion by _.-._- 82,723 14 The population of the State of New York in 1835 was 2,174,516, out of which there were 82,319 raale aliens. The act for taking the FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 87 census omitted the female aliens, and hence they were not enumerated. The number of the latter class was estimated in that year at 80,018 ; making the total aliens 1G2,337, or about one alien to every thirteen native and naturalized citizens in the State. The total of aliens there in 1825 was 40,430 ; increase since that period three hundred ])er cent. It is said by political economists that idleness and pauperism always increase. in proportion to the means of their ready maintenance ; and this seems to be borne out by the history of mendicity. In the reign of Elizabeth the support of the poor was so precarious from the public purse, that justices of the peace were authorized to levy whatever assessment they might think necessary for the relief of the poor. The delegation of this legislative power to the discretion of subordi- nate magistrates augmented not only the public burden but the number of the poor to such an extent that the weekly allowance to a pauper '^frequently exceeded the ordinary earnings of a laborer in good times." This administration of the laws, says a writer, ''has had such a tendency to debase the character of the common people of Eng- land, that in some parishes every fourth man receives relief." The poor laws of every country tend to produce alienation between the rich and the poor, rendering the poor thankless and the rich hard- hearted ; and are productive of such mischiefs in separating the social ties, that Bishop Burnet declares they ought to be entirely abolished. Such had been the effect of the levies for supporting the poor under the power given to magistrates in the reign of Elizabeth, that in the time of William and Mary an appeal was made to the moral sensi- bilities and pride of the beggar, in the form of laws, imposing badges of shame upon their vocation. Nothing has, however, stopped their increase, or even kept the number within reasonable bounds. The i^oor-rates in the time of James I were £665,362 ; in a century (1800) they were increased to four millions of pounds sterling ; and in ffteen years more had doubled themselves, being then £8,000,000. Various plans of relief have been proposed in Parliament, from that of work-houses and schools of industry, by Mr. Pitt, to the nobler one of moral education and scliolastic instruction, by which the lower classes might so improve their habits and emulation as to be above the degradation of charitable dependence. But the}'^ all failed, and the parochial taxes have gone on continually increasing until the burden in England has become, both as to this species of population and the extent of means for its support, so great, as to be second only in im- portance to the great national debt. The experience of our country shows that we have followed at a rapid pace in the footsteps of that older nation, for our paupers have increased so fast as to more than double themselves in six years in many places. Thus, in New York- — In 1830 tl) ,e number : l■elie^ 'ed was 15,506, at a cost of $246,752 90 1831 i i 15,564 245,433 21 1833 a 35,774 295,239 13 1834 i( 32,798 304,913 21 1835 a 38,362 323,741 12 1836 cc 37,959 396,100 05 88 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. In New Hampshire, in 1800, the amount expended was only $17,000 on a ])Oi)nlation of 183,858, of which one in every 333 was a pauper. But in 1820, with a poimlation of 244,161, of which one in every 100 was a i^auper,- $80,000 was expended ; "so that, in the course of twenty years, the actual expense was nearly quintupled, and the pro- portion which the paupers hore to the whole population had heen in- creased in the ratio of more than three to one." In Massachusetts the increase since 1821, from 1.34 per cent., has been, up to 1832, 2.55 per cent., or nearly doubled in ten years. In the district of Southwark and the Northern Liberties alone, in Philadelphia, there were, in 1810, 1,3^0, and in 1820, 2,500, or within a Traction of an increase of 100 per cent, in 10 years. During the war, when immigration was stopped for a time, that city began to recover from her burden, and the number fell down to 1,400. Soon after the termination of hostilities with England, it be- gan to increase again as the population flowed in from the almshouses of other countries, until, in 1822, it amounted to 3,090. The popu- lation had increased in a ratio of 67 per cent. , while the poor-rates had risen nearly 87 per cent. In Philadelphia and the county alone, it is said that three millions of dollars have been expended in the shape of a poor tax within 25 years. It is not possible to ascertain with precision the number of paupers in the country, as in some of the States there is no tax for their sup- port, and in many of those that have an assessment for that purpose there is no return of the cost or the number. The average cost for maintaining them varies in different years in the different States, according to the value of provisions. Thus in Philadelphia, in 1821, the average weekly charge was 70.9 cents, while in 1832 it was 102 cents. In Massachusetts the annual cost is $50, or 96.1 cents per week. In Virginia, where, in the greater number of the counties, the poor are boarded out at a rate agreed upon between the overseer and the house-keepers, or where the pauper receives his yearly allowance, and makes his OAvn bargain for subsistence, the annual cost is from $40 to |100, or $1 30.30 per week. In New York, the average per year, in 1830, was $37 03, or 71.11 cents per week. In the same State, in 1836, it was $32 53, or 62.26 cents per week. In order to arrive at a tolerably accurate view of the number and charge of maintenance throughout the United States, it has been thought best to make a calculation for those States from which we have no returns, by comparing the extent of their population under the census of 1830, with the number in those States which have given returns ; and the result is as follows : Maine vvitli a population, in 18.30, of 399,955, shows by her official statement in 1835 - - 2,480 paupers, at a cost of $66,188 00 New Hampshire, population 269,328 - - 1,674 do do 75,330 00 Vermont, returns not given in ; there should be about . - - - - 1,800 do But the report of the cost is put at only - 100,000 00 Alassachusetts, only two-thirds of the towns heard from in 1835, there were - - - - 5,580 do do 150,345 46 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 89 607 paupers, at a cost of $27,315 00 1,840 do 37,959 do do 396,100 05 - 1,989 do do 89,505 00 - 8,127 do do 365,715 00 4U7 do do 18,315 00 - 2,510 do do 112,950 00 - 2,222 do do 100,000 00 - 4,575 do do 205,875 00 - 1,800 do do 81,000 00 - 3,240 do do 145,800 00 - 3,603 do do 162,135 00 - 4,227 do do 190,215 00 - 4,265 do do 191,925 00 - 5,814 do do 261,670 00 - 1,337 do do 60,165 00 - 847 do do 38,115 00 - 1,919 do do 86,355 00 - 2,126 do do 95,670 00 - 976 do do 43,920 00 - 870 do do 39,150 00 188 do do 8,460 00 196 do do do do 8,820 00 103,178 3,121,038 51 Of these 1,192 were foreisrners. Rhode Island, population 97,19!) Connecticut, population 297,663 New York, number actually relieved in 1P35 Though her proportion would be only 11,145 New Jersey, population 320,623 Pennsylvania .... Delaware, population 76,748 Maryland, population 447,040 Virginia, at J45 each . - . North Carolina - . . . Vermont ..... Georgia ..... South Carolina - . - - Tennessee ..... Kentucky ..... Ohio ..... Louisiana ..... Mississippi ..... Alabama ..... Indiana ..... Illinois ..... Missouri ..... Arkansas ..... Michjffan ..... This calculation is, of course, only hypothetical, because in some of the States there are no returns, and in others no poor-houses, but it is nevertheless correct as an aggregate; for, although Ohio may not have, as the table gives her, 5,814 paupers, because she is an agricul- tural State^ with an industrious northern people, and no slavery, still the dilFerence is made up in Louisiana_, which though a richer State, with nominally no poor-houses, and is put down in this scale of quotas as having only 1,337, nevertheless supports, as appears by actual statements, 9,000 persons in the charity hospital of one city, (New Orleans.) So, too, in Vermont: the number of paupers is not given, but the annual charges are, amounting to $100,000 ; and this, sup- posing $45 to be the sum required for the support of each, would show that she has 2,222 paupers, while the table of proportions gives her only 1,800, or 422 less than she really supports. New York, with a population, in 1830, of 1,918,608, ought to have only 11,145 paupers; but her public accounts exhibit more than three- fold the number, supplied at an exj^ense of more than one-third of a million of dollars annually. Take the table, therefore, in the general, and it gives the fair num- ber throughout the United States. In 1828, the number of ])ersons committed upon criminal charges in England and Wales, was In 1829 - In 1830 - In 1831 - In 1832 - In 1833 - In 1834 - 16,564 18,675 18,107 19,647 20,829 20,072 22,451 ^0 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. The average number condemned to death in England and Wales, for seven years, was about - _ _ _ 1,192 In Ireland, taking as a criterion the minimum number, which was, in 1834 - - - - - 197 In all ----- - 1,389 While in the United States there were — In Maine, in 15 years ----- 2 In Vermont, in 41 years - _ _ _ 3 In Ehode Island, in 44 years - _ _ _ 5 In Massachusetts, in 40 years - - - - 40 In Pennsylvania, in 41 years - - - - 41 or two per annum out of the five States, (of which 14 were for piracies or murders on the high seas,) and then allow one in each State per annum for the remaining 19 States, or say one per annum for the whole 24 States, (at the time, 1834,) which is a high allowance, and beyond the fact, but made for the purpose of keeping even numbers^ and then the whole number executed with us would be 24 per annum ; so that the proportion of crimes deserving of death, committed in Great Britain, is 59 times greater than in the United States. If 200,000 emigrants come to this country annually, and only 150,000 from Grreat Britain, one-third of whom are respectable, and among the rest are included only one half of her yearly floating criminals, and the balance paupers, then we shall have added to our own stock of citizens yearly - - - - 73,106 paupers, 50,000 respectable, and 26,894 offenders, besides a corresponding proportion from other countries. No one can doubt, therefore, that the United States are looked to as a nearer and cheaper prison-house than New South Wales. It has long since been foreseen in England that the United States would furnish not only the best asylum, according to the notions of that people as regards our fitness for such associations, but the cheapest mode by which that government could free themselves from the burden of mendicity. Accordinglv, in 1832, instructions were framed bv the central board of poor-law commissioners, and directed to all assistants; which con- tain a special article upon this point. Article V. EMIGRATION. ''The assistant commissioner will, therefore, pay particular atten- tion to emigration. He will endeavor to ascertain all the facts con- nected with every case in which an emigration has been efiected, and its influence on the rates of the parish, and on the wages and charac- ter of the remaining laborers. He will inquire what sort of persons were sent out, and hoAV many, and of what character, and witliin what period, have returned. Where no such attempt has been made, he will ascertain whether the omission is to be attributed to the absence of a redundant population, (and if so, how that absence is to be ac- FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 91 counted for,) or to any, and what difficulties or objections on the part of the rate-jiayers or of the laborers. And he will collect facts and opinions as to the propriety of an enactment enabling any and what majority, in number and value, of the rate-payers, with or without the concurrence of any and what majority, in number and value, of the proprietors, to raise money for emigration, in what, if any definite proportion to the rental or rates, and as to the period within which such money should be repaid, and the portion, if any, which should be paid by the proprietors." The report from one of the towns, acting in accordance with the directions of this particular section, uses this language : "Emigration. — Many vessels sail from this port to New York with emigrants, and some American vessels have put in for the same pur- pose ; four families have been sent out by the imrish, and are domg well; the expense was paid at once out of the rates, and the cost of one large family was saved in two years." This return corroborates the suggestion before made, that the whole cost of transjiortation of all the poor of England_, as compared with the cost of maintenance, might be saved in two years. No one who looks at the multiplication of this evil in our country since 1790 can suppose that Eurojie is idle in this matter. And no one who is disposed to do justice to the natural industry of our own people can suppose that the paupers could have increased from 29,166 in 1815, to 103,178 in 1830, without grtat aid from foreign countries. The people of the United States cannot imagine the degraded state of paupers, their ignorance, and immediate connexion with crime in Europe, or else they would pronounce them not merely persons not contemplated by our laws as worthy of citizenship, but as lepers, whose presence would contaminate society, and whose deeds spread terror among the good. Pauperism in Europe is not, as with us, mere pov- erty, which the disabled or the imprudent, or even the unfortunate may feel ; but it is looked upon as a species of property which indi- viduals have in the funds of the rich, and which is a transmissible or inheritable right that descends from age to posterity, until in whole families, the very history of any otlier occupation is lost. It is not a state of society founded upon the axiom that a community is bound to support those whom Providence has disabled from adding to the gen- eral stock; but it is an artificial system, which has grown up from mistaken benevolence, and has at length become licentious by its strength, and irrisistible by the ease with which it has continued to enforce its demands upon a willing public. Mr. Chadwick, in his report on this subject, says: "There is no hope of dispauperizing any of them with the present generation." We have cases of three generations of paupers. Formerly the system was so encouraged that there seems to have been no other plan left in the wisdom of the rich, than to make a new rule in ethics by almost inviting crime — to be punished by small pen- alties in a distant land, (Botany Bay,) where the support of the con- vict should be better than that of the pauper at home. In this way thousands have been induced to change condition; and there is, by 92 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. this mistaken legislation, a continual temptation kept up between the pride and wants of the poor laborer to forego the scanty supply of his indei)endent toil, to live better in the degraded condition of a pauper, or still better when stigmatized as a felon. The graduated scale of supply, collected from official returns, shows this state: The independent laborer is enabled to get of solid food per week only 122 ounces. The soldier, by law, 168 ounces. The able-bodied pauper is furnished with 151 ounces. The suspected thief receives from government 181 to 203 ounces. The convicted thief, 239 ounces. The transported thief, 330 ounces. The whole history of pauperism in England shows that there is so immediate a connexion between that and crime, that the most chari- table can only make a shade of discrimination. The Eev. Mr. Bishop, in his report from the city of Oxford, says that, "'upon investigation, in seven cases out of ten of paupers, they are idle or drunken, abusive or thieving." If such is the fact, (and the various examinations of committees, reverend clergy, and overseers proclaim it,) then it is easy for us to put a proper estimate upon those who are landed among us in the Atlantic cities, day after day, to practice their old vices with fresh vigor, and in wider fields of profit, while they indoctrinate the youth of our country with their own corruptions ; and in fastening upon us the burden as well as the cur* of a permanent and national pauperism, acquire the same political rights that the most exemplary, the most virtuous, and the most patriotic of our own countrymen enjoy. That you may judge how systematically pauperism is conducted in England by the individual to suit his own idleness and profligacy, and may likewise say whether family habits, prejudices, and ideas of rela- tive rights acquired by such a people can be changed, or are suited to the condition of American citizens when the professors of them remove to this country, I extract the following. It is a statement from actual observation, by the Rev. Mr. Stone, of Christ Church, Spitalfields, as exemplified in his own parish. " A young weaver of twenty-two marries a servant girl of nineteen, and the consequence is, the prospect of a family. We should presume, under ordinary circumstances, that they would regard such a prospect with some anxiety ; that they would calculate upon the expenses of an accouchment, and prepare for them in the interval by strict economy and unremitting industry. No such thing. It is the good fortune of our couple to live in the district of Spitalfields, and it is impossible to live there without witnessing the exertions of many charitable associa- tions. To these, therefore, they naturally look for assistance on every occasion. " They are visited periodically by a member of the 'District Visit- ing Society.' It is the object of this society to inquire into the condi- tion of the poor, to give them religious advice, and occasional temporal relief, and to j^ut them in the ivay of obtaining the assistance of other charitable institutions. To the visitor of this institution the wife makes known her situation, and states her inability to meet the expense of FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 93 an accoucheur. The consequence is, that from Jwn, through Ids recom- mendation, or under Ms directions, she obtains a ticket either for the Lying-in Hospital or for the Itoyal Maternity Society. By the former of these charities she is provided with gratuitous board, lodging, medical attendance, churching, registry of her child's baj^tism, &c.. By tlie latter, she is accommodated with the gratuitous services of a midwife to deliver her at her own home. " Delivered of her child at the cost of the ^ Royal Maternity Society,' she is left by the midwife ; but then she requires a nurse, and for a nurse, of course, she is unable to pay herself. A little exertion, how- ever, gets over this difficulty ; she sends to the district visitor, to the minister, or to some other charitahlc parishioner, and by their interest with the parish queers, she has, at last, a nurse sent to her from the tvorkhouse. But still she has many wants, and these, too, she is un- able to supi)ly at her own expense. She requires blankets, bed and body linen for herself, and baby linen for her infant. With these she is furnished by another chai'itable institution. Soon after her marriage she had heard one of her neighbors say that she had been favored in no less than^^ye successive confinements with the loan of the ' box of linen' for herself, and during her confinement she receives occasional visits and pecuniary relief from a female visitor of the charity. By her she is kindly attended to, and through her, or the district visitor, she is provided, in case of fever or other illness, with the gratuitous services of the parish apothecary, or of some other charitable medical p)ractitioner in the district. " At the end of the month she goes, ptro forma, to be churched, and though, perhaps, the best dressed female of the party, she claims ex- emption from any pecuniary offering, by virtue of a printed ticket to that effect, put into her hands by the midwife of the ' Koyal Maternity Society.' '' The child thus introduced into the world is not worse provided for than his parents. Of course he requires vaccination, or, in case of neglect, he takes the 'small-pox.' In either case he is sent to the ' Hospital for the Casual Small-pox and for Vaccination,' and by this means costs his parents nothing. '•He has the 'measles,' the 'whooping-cough,' and other morbid aftections peculiar to childhood. In all these instances he has the benefit of the ' City Institution for Diseases of Children.' " Indeed, from his birth to his death, he may command any medi- cal treatment. If his father is a Welshman, he applies to the ' Welsh Dispensary;' if not, or he prefers another, he has the .'Tower Ham- lets Universal Dispensary,' the 'London Dispensary,' and the ' City of London Dispensary.' In case of fever, he is sent to the 'Fever Hospital.' For a broken limb, or any sudden or acute disorder, he is admitted into the 'London' or other 'public hospital.' For a rash, or any specific disease of the skin or ear, he is cured at the ' London Dispensary;' and, for all morbid affections of the eye, he goes either to the same charity or to the 'London Ophthalmic Infirmary.' In case of rupture, he his a ticket for the 'Rupture Society,' or for the •^ City of London Truss Society.' For a pulmonary complaint, he at- tends the ' Infirmary for Asthma, Consumption, and other Diseases of 94 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. the Lungs ;' and for scrofula, or any other disease which may require sea-bathing, he is sent to the ' Royal Sea-bathing Infirmary,' at Mar- gate. In some of these medical institutions, too, he has the extra advantage of board, lodging, and other accommodations. " By the time the child is eighteen months or two years old, it be- comes convenient to his mother to 'get him out of the way." for this purpose he is sent to the ''infant school,' and in this seminary enters upon another wide field of eleemosynary immunities. "^By the age of six he quits the ' infant school,' and has before him an ample choice of schools of a higher class. He may attend the ' Lan- casterian school' for two pence a week, and the ' National ' for one penny, or for nothing. His parents naturally enough prefer the latter school; it maybe less liberal in principle, but it is lower in price. In some instances, too, it is connected Avith a cheap clothing society; in others, ' it provides clothing' itself to a limited number of children ; and in others, again, it recommends its scholars to the governors of a more richly endowed ' clothing charity school.' To be sure these are only collateral advantages. But it is, perhaps, excusable in a parent, delivered by the 'Royal Maternity Society,' to value these above any of the more obvious and legitimate benefits to be derived from a sys- tem of education. " A j)arent of this kind, however, has hardly done justice to herself or to her child till she has succeeded in getting him admitted into a school where he will be immediately and permanently clothed. This advantage is to be found in the 'Protestant Dissenters,' in the 'Paro- chial," or in the 'Ward Charity School;' and she secures him a pre- sentation to one of these, either by a recommendation from the ' National school,' by the spontaneous offer of her husband's employer, or bvher own importunate applications at the door of some other sub- scriber. It is true, some few industrious and careful parents in the neighborhood object to putting their children into these charity schools. With more independence than wisdom, they revolt at the idea of seeing their children Avalk the streets for several years in a livery which degrades them, by marking them out, like the 'parish paupers' of former days, as the objects of common charity. But the parent in question has no such scruple ; she has tasted the sweets, and therefore never feels the degradation of charity. She is saved the expense of clothing her own child herself, and she observes that almost all her poor neighbors, like the dog in the fable, have come to think what is really disreputable to be a badge of distinction. She knows, too, that most of the ' gentlefolks' who support these charities, openly proclaim (oh monstrous absurdity !) that they were more especially designed for an ' aristocracy among the poor,' " It is possible that she may not succeed in getting her child into a ' clothing charity school ;' it is more than possible, too, that she may find a more profitable employment for him than attendance at the ' National;' she may keep him at homo all the Aveek to help her nurse her fourth and fifth l)abies, or she may earn a few pence by sending him out as an errand-boy. Yet, even under these circumstances, she does not necessarilv forego the means ot^ srettiner him an education or a suit of clothes for nothing; even then she can send him to one of the innu- FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 95 meraLle ' Sunday schools' in the neighborhood, and for clothing she can apply to the ' Educational Clothing Society.' The object of this society is the lending of clothing to enable distressed children to attend Sunday schools. Only^ then, let her child be a distressed one, and he is provided by the ' Educational Clothing Society ' with a suit of clothes, which he wears all the Sundays of one year, and in case of past regular attendance at school, all the week-days of the next. The Sundays of the second year he begins Avith a new suit of clothes as before. '' The probability, however, is that by the time the boy is eight or nine years old his mother does succeed in procuring his admission into the ' Clothing Charity School,' and there is the same probability that she Avill continue him in it. She has strong reasons for so doing; for she knows that he will not only be clothed and educated at the expense • of the chco-ifj/, but that when he is fourteen — that is, when he has re- mained five or six years in the school — he will be apprenticed by it to some tradesman, with co fee, varying in the different schools from £2 to £5. • " At fourteen, accordingly, the boy is put apprentice by the charity to a weaver, and at the expiration of the usual term he begins work as a journeyman. He has hardl}" done so before he proposes to marry a girl about his own age. He is aware, indeed^ that there are difh- cuities in the way of their union, and that, even on the most favorable supposition, their prospects in life cannot be considered flattering. He has saved no money himself, and his intended is equally unpre- pared for the expenses of an establishment. He knows that, working early and late^ he can earn no more than 10s. a week ; that in case of sickness, or the failure of employment, he may frequently be deprived even of these ; and that his own father, with a wife and seven children, was in this very predicament but the winter before. Nevertheless, ' nature intended every one to marry,' and, in the case of himself and his beloved, ^it is their lot to come together .' On these unansioerahle grounds he takes a room at 2.5. a week, and thus utterly unprepared, as he appears, either for the ordinary or contingent expenses of a fam- ily, he marries. " We may suspect, however, from the result that he is not so rash and improvident in this conduct as, upon an ordinary calculation, he must appear to be. " Within a few months she has the prospect of a child, and a child brings with it many expenses. But no matter ; he need not pay them, for in his neighborhood he may fairly calculate upon having them paid by charity. Charity never failed his mother in her difficulties, and why, in precisely the same di(ficulties, should it be withheld from him ? In the case of his wife, therefore, as in that of his mother, the '■Lying-in Hospital,' or the '■Lying-in Dispensary,' or the ^ Royal Maternity Society,' provides the midwifery, &c., the workhouse the nurse, the ' Benevolent Society' the blankets, linen, pecuniary relief, &c. The ^parish doctor,' the ^dispensary doctor,' or some other ' charitable doctor,' extra drugs and medical attendance. By a little management he may avail himself at the same time of severed obstetric charities, and be visited successively by Ciiurchmen, Quakers, Inde- 96 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. pendents, Wesleyan Methodists, Calvinistic Methodists, Hunting- donians — in fact, by tlie cliorltohle associations connected with every churcli and chapel in tlie neighborhood. " He now finds that his earnings are precarious, and that, even at their utmost amount, they are inadequate to the support of his in- creasing ftimily. But his father's family was for years in the same circumstances, and was always saved by charity. To charity^ then, he again has recourse. " He hears that twice a year there is a 'parish gift of bread.' From some vestryman, or from some other respectable parishioner, he ob- tains a ticket for a quartern loaf at midsummer and at Christmas. There is also a 'parish gift of coals.' By the same means he every Christmas gets a sack of coals. Indeed, by importuning several parish- ioners, and by giving to each of them a diiferent address, or the same address with different names, he is so fortunate as to secure three sacks instead of one. On these j^eriodical distributions he can confidently deioend, for most of the parishioners dispose of their annual tickets to the same poor persons from year to year, as a matter of coiM'se; and others, Avho are more discriminate, invariably find, upon renewed in- quiry, that their petitioners are in the same state of apparent indi- gence or destitution. Under these circumstances, our applicant soon comes to look. upon his share of the ' parochial bounty' as a legitimate and certain item in his yearly receipts. " But this is only a slight periodical relief. He wants more loaves and more coals, and he has the means of obtaining them. If the weather is severe, the ' Spitalfield Association ' is at work, and for months together distributes ' bread, coal, and potatoes.' The ' Soup Society' also is in operation, and provides him regularly with several quarts of excellent meat soup at a penny, or sometimes even a half- penny, a quart. At all times several ' benevolent societies' and 'pen- sion societies' are acting in the district, and from these he receives food or pecuniary relief. He may apply, too, during the temporary 'Cessation of any of these charities,, to the charitable associations of the •different religious denominations; to the ' District Visiting Society;' to the Independents Visiting Society;' to the ' Friend in Need So- ciety;' to the 'Stranger's Friend Society;' to 'Zion's Good Will So- ciety.' He may be even lucky enough to get something from all of them. " If his bedding is bad, he gets the loan of a blanket from the ' Be- nevolent Society,' or from the 'Blanket Association,' or he gets a Idanket, a rug, and a pair of sheets from the ' Spitalfields Association.' The last of these charities supplies him with a flannel waistcoat for himself and a Jiannel petticoat for his wife. In one instance, it fur- nishes his wife and children with shoes and stockings. " Thus lie proceeds from year to year with a charity to meet every exigency of health and sickness. The time at length arrives when, cither from the number of cliildren born to him under the kind super- intendence of the ' Lying-in tlie ' Roycd Maternity, or the ' Benevolent Society,' or from a desire to add a legal and permanent provision to the more precarious su]>))lies of voluntary charity, he solicits j^f^^^i-^^ ■reliffj he begs an extract from the parish register, proves his settle- FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 97 ment by the charity school indenture of apprenticesMp, and quarters his family on the parish, with an aUowance of five shillings a week. In this uniform alternation of voluntary and compulsory relief he draws towards the close of his mendicant existence. "Before leaving the world, he might, perhaps, return thanks to the public. He has been born \for nothing j' he has been ^nursed for nothing,' he has been 'clothed for nothing,' he has been 'educated for nothing,' he has been 'put out in the ivorld for nothing,' he has had 'medicine and medical attendance for nothing,' and he has had his children also 'horn, nursed, clothed, fed, educated, estaUished, and physicked for nothing.' "There is but one good office more for which he can stand indebted to society, and that is his burial. He dies a parish pauper, and at the expense of the parish he is provided with shroud, coffin, pall, and burial ground; a party of paupers from the work-house bear his body to the grave, and a party of paupers are his mourners. "I wish it to be particularly understood, that, in thus describing the operation of charity in my district, I have been giving an ordinary, and not an extraordinary instance. I might have included many other details, some of them of a far more aggravated and offensive nature. I have contented myself, however, with describing the state of the district as regards charitable relief, and the extent to which that relief may he, and actually is, made to minister to improvidence and dep)endence." That we have already begun to feel the fast hold of a settled scheme of a similar kind in the United States, is very apparent, by not merely looking at the dispersed and greatly augmented numbers of poor through the States, but in the stand already made by them in our principal cities, where they practice the same demands upon the municipal funds, and settle themselves under the same pretensions, thfct they assume in England against the parishes. As long ago as 1820, the cost of wine, brandy, gin, rum, whiskey, and other liquors expended in the almshouses in Philadelphia, was $3,001 62 for one year; while the drugs and medicines for the same paupers cost only $1,972 34, and the barley $22 40. With all the emendations in this practice since the influence of temperance societies, the amount expended in 1832 was, for liquors, $1,560 83; while the medicines came to $2^289 26, and the barley-water to but $7 33. The vice of the old countries has come with its population and its poor ; and this is exemplified in every institution in the Union where the subject has been inquired into or written upon. The following is from a report of a committee on the poor-laws which convened in Philadelphia in 1825 : "Upon the whole, your committee are convinced that the effect of a compulsory provision for the poor is to increase the number of pau- pers, to entail an oppressive burden on the country, to promote idle- ness and licentiousness among the laboring classes, and to aftbrd relief to the profligate and abandoned, which ought to be bestowed on the virtuous and industrious alone ; that the poor-laws have done away with the necessity of private charity; that they have been onerous to the community, and every way injurious to the morals, comfort, and H. Rep. 359 7 98 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. independence of that class for whose benefit they were intended ; that no permanent alleviation of the evils of the system can rationally he expected from the erection of poor-houses, or from any other similar expedient, and that the only hoj^e of effectual relief is the speedy and total abolition of the system itself. In this country, wliere there are no privileged orders, where all classes of society have equal, rights, and where our population is far from being so dense as to press upon the means of subsistence, it is indeed alarming to find the increase of pauperism progressing with such rapidity. We are fast treading in the footsteps of England." So, too, in the fourth report of the Boston Prison Discipline Society,, we find the proof that pauperism and crime go, as they do in Europe, and no doubt as they travelled to this country from Europe, hand in hand. ''This is a subject, too, which we have introduced in this part of our report, because we have become acquainted with the evils of it in consequence of what we have seen in Massachusetts. The State of Massachusetts appropriates, and has done it for many years, about $50,000 annually, as a State, besides what is done in the towns, for the support of paupers. In some of the larger towns, the places where they are kept are so constructed and managed that the poor-houses are most corrupt and corrupting. They are nearly as injurious in their influence as the old penitentiaries — not in the arts of mischief, but in the low and corrupting vices. There is, sometimes^ not even a separation of the sexes. We might specify large and extensive establishments, Avhich are now what the old almshouse in Boston was a few years ago. And we could give a detail of facts, which have been ascertained from careful examination of witnesses, to which we can only allude in this place, on account of the character of these facts. Suffice it to say, that they are such as to demand immediate attention from the towns and the State. The people of the towns would not countenance such things if they were known, and the State would not appropriate its thousands annually for the support of estab- lishments which are nuisances as much as the old State prison. They are nurseries of vice; they are sometimes introductory to, and some- times receptacles from, the prison; there is often an alternation from almshouse to prison and from prison to almshouse. We have not stated the facts in detail which are known to us, nor shall we do it in this place and at this time ; but, if the character of the establishments is not altered, from which these facts are gathered, they will be ex- posed in their naked depravity. Publicity will correct the evils, if other means fail." Our desire is not to impair any of the existing rights of strangers who are among us; neither is it founded in party or political views, except so far as politics imply the establishment of laws for the general welfare. The Constitution secures the first, and, as regards the latter, we are composed of men of all creeds and sides. Our exclusive object is to produce a national character and strength by a unity of feeling, and a guaranty that hereafter the honor and safety of the country shall be entirely and only intrusted to those whom nature has vouch- FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 99 safed shall be true to her rights, by the ties of birth and the bond of fellowship. We have seen for many years the undue influence of the foreigners in our public elections; we have witnessed, time after time, the good intent of our best men frustrated by the votes of citizens not a day old, led on by demagogues to do as they might be directed, and not as they knew was right. We have seen a preponderance of one party over another, in which the w^eightiest in number was made so by men unpracticed in the princijjles of our instutions, ignorant of our laws and licentious in their doctrines. Some'ofiis have seen our own party triumph under the banner of republicanism, while the strength of the victory came by aliens, who knew nothing of the cause but its name. So, too, have some of us been defeated by the same men, while the administration of our government, as compared with the wishes of her own people, has been put into hands obnoxious to the country. To some extent w^e must still submit to this evil ; but as it must pass away with the present generation of the foreigner now in the land, and entitled, under the law, to nearly all the franchises of the native, we are willing to endure that penalty so long, under the consolation that our children and posterity will be saved from a further continuance of the curse. The motive which led to the passage of the iirst law of naturaliza- tion has been greatly misconceived. Many popular harangues have been delivered in aid of party, when the politician, too weak to be sustained by his own countrymen, has invoked the aid of the poor wanderer, ignorant of everything save the charity of his new breth- ren, by taxing his gratitude and appealing to the philanthropy of our laws, which, it was alleged, spread a welcome, a home, and equality to all the world. Such was not the true intent of the framers of our Constitution ; on the contrary, it was to diminish the number who were daily pouring in, acquiring rights which, under the greater latitude, was tolerated by the laws of the old colonies. Some of the provinces allowed natur- alization or right of suffrage in one year, an 1 some in longer or shorter periods. There was, therefore, great inequality in the nature of the citizenship, according to the colony where the emigrant resided ; and it was to prevent this inequality, and to restrict the facilities of citi- zenship, that the Constitution gave Congress the "power to pass uniform laws of naturalization." These laws have been modified from time to time — not, in truth, because your own people thought it wise, expedient, or honest, but because the national legislature, act- ing upon the suggestions of party, has endeavored to perpetuate its power by an artificial increase of its numbers. When the times which gave occasion for these measures have passed away, and even the prominent actors have looked back upon the evils which a misguided policy or a mistaken benevolence had produced, and was continuing, they have exclaimed with the patriot Gerrj^, "I wish there were an ocean of fire between this and the old world." Even before the adop- tion of the Constitution, General Washington, in a letter to Mr. Mor- ris, dated 24th July, 1778, calls his attention, as the head of the then republican party, to what he terms "a subject of very great import- 100 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. ance to the -well-being of these States" — '-the appointment of for- eigners to offices of rank and trust in our service." In that letter he saySj "The officers on whom you must depend for the defence of this cause, and who, from length of service, their connexions, property, and, in behalf of many, I may add, military merit, will not submit much, if any^ longer to the unnatural promotion of men over them •who have nothing more than a little plausibility, unbounded pride_, .•and ambition." The first law of naturalization had not been in practice seven years when Jefferson, in a letter of the 13tli May, 1797, speaking of the people of the continent and of England, declares "^that even the factorage of their affairs here is kept to themselves by factitious citizenships; that these /o?'e/(/?i and false citizens now consti- tute the great body of what are called our merchants, fill our seaports, are planted in every little town and district of the interor country, sway every thing in the former places by their own votes and those of their dependents, in the latter by their insinuations and the influence of their ledgers; that they are advancing fast to a monopoly of our banks and j)ublic funds, and thereby placing our public finances un- der their control; that they have, in their alliance, the most influen- tial characters in and out of office; where they have shown by all these bearings on the different branches of the government they can force it to proceed in whatever direction they dictate, and bend the interests of this country entirely to the will of another. When all this, I say, is attended to, it is impossible for us to say Ave stand on independent ground." Mr. Jefferson's language in 1781 was prophetic of the evils and cor- ruptions upon our country and its institutions, of which we are now complaining by the increase of foreign population. He then said: "The present desire of America is to produce rapid population by as great importation of foreigners as possible. But is this founded in policy? Are there no inconveniences to be thrown into the scale against the advantages expected from a multiplication of numbers by the importation of foreigners? It is for the happiness of those united in society to harmonize as much as possible in matters which they must of necessity transact together. " Civil government being the sole object of forming societies, its administration must be conducted by common consent. " Every species of government has its specific principles — ours, per- haps, are more peculiar than those of any in the universe. It is a composition of the first principles of the English constitution, with others derived from natural rights and natural reason. To these nothing can be more opposed than the maxims of absolute mon- archies. Yet from such we are to expect the greatest number of emigrants. "They will bring with them the principles of government they have imbibed in their early youth, or, if able to throw them oft', it will be in exchange for an unbridled licentiousness, passing, as is usual, from one extreme to another. It would be a miracle were they to stop precisely at the point of temperate liberty. " In proportion to their numbers, they will share with us the legis- lation ; they will infuse into it their spirit, warp and bias its direc- FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND TAUPERS. 101 tions, and render it a heterogeneous, incoherent, distracted mass. I may appeal to experience for a verification of these conjectures. But if they are not certain in event, are they not possible ? Are they not probable? Is it not safer to wait with patience for the attainment of any degree of population desired or expected ? May not our govern- ment be more homogeneous, more j)eaceable, more durable? What would be the condition of France, if twenty millions of Americans were suddenly imported into that kingdom? If it would be more tur- bulent, less happy, less strong, we may believe that the addition of half a million of foreigners would produce a similar effect here." The southern and southwestern States are deeply interested in the consequences of the great increase of population from foreign shores. It is not merely that the prejudices of a strange people are infused into the minds of their citizens, upon invidious comparisons between the things of this country and those of the old world ; nor yet the more important fact that the republican spirit of our own people is impaired by the corruptions of the monarchists, or the licentiousness of the renegade — all of which are severe and material evils upon our people and laws, which, in themselves, demand a speedy remedy ; but it is, that every foreigner who sets his foot within the limits of those States, is another natural enemy to their social peace, and swells the band of future revolutionists which already exist in embrj'o against either the s^Dccial institutions and properties of some of the States, or against the fixed doctrines of the government. The peculiar construction of our national system, which is made up of confederated sovereignties, many of them dissimilar in their consti- tutions and laws, and yet all entitled to a zealous protection by each other, makes it not only a duty, but absolutely necessary that we should not tolerate any population, whether native or alien, which tends to promote the factions against the established order or rights of any portion of those States. The early education and subsequent habits of foreigners make them, as soon as they land here, partisans against certain features in the do- mestic policy of the south, without their understanding the subject in any of its bearings, and without pausing to reflect that the system was imposed upon us by the avarice and cupidity of their own country- men and ancestors. There is no one who has looked calmly into this matter, who has not acknowledged the evil of the law that admitted aliens to the rights of the native ; and there is no one who has marked the temper of recent times, who can fail to foresee that its repeal will be demanded, not merely asked lor as a boon, to suit the self-love of the few, but as a right, to give confidence to the people. Such has been the influence of separate classes of foreigners, that they have been appealed to as a body by politicians to carry out elec- tions supposed to be congenial with their views ; and such is the ar- rogance of another caste of emigrants that they have lately adopted resolutions appointing men to note the course of the natives and the action of Congress on their petitions. The following, from a convention of the Dutch, at Cape Girardeau, in Missouri, in February last, shows their designs : 102 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. '' Resolved, That a committee of vigilance and concspondence, con- sisting of twelve persons, be appointed, whose duty it shall he to enter into correspondence Avitli our German brethren residing at distant places, to watch the proceedings and movements of the native Ameri- cans and of Congress upon the above subject, and to call another meeting whenever desirable or necessary. The chairman shall be president of this committee. " Resolved, That we herewith call upon all Germans residing in the United States, and admonish them most earnestly to join us in taking measures calculated to oppose propositions holding in derision all reason and higher considerations of civilized nations, and to pre- vent such calamit}' to our countrymen and all emigrants, as must ne- cessarily arise from the accomplishment of the above-mentioned designs. We request them in particular to call meetings, and petition Congress that the prayer of the Native American Association be not granted." From all these doings it will be seen that the emigrants are not satisfied with the enjoyment of the rights provided for, and secured to them by the laws, but they are agitating the extension of these rights to the unborn of their respective nations ; so that hereafter, and. in the course of no very distant time, the native may be a stranger in his own land, and outnumbered by the foreigners. This is only in keeping with their kindred feelings for one another, for people of the same land and of the same blood ; and in itself is not to be denounced, because it is natural. The emigrant colonists (if we may so term them) would no doubt think it not only an addition to their own security to cover the whole land with their own people, but give a new honor to their name, to redeem a country so great and wide from men whom they think too careless to appreciate, and too supine to defend its value. Though it is wise in these men to carry out their plans, whether it be that of establishing a national character by their own numbers and their own agency, regardless of us, or that of accomplishing the designs of their ancient rulers or countrymen at home, and erect a ncAv form of government upon the spoils of this; it is well for us to inquire whether we are doing justice to the institutions for which our ancestors struggled, and of Avhich we boast, to stand with folded arms and see those institutions and our natural rights transfer- red, while our judgments are deluded and our energies suppressed by insidious appeals to our humanity and our present security. We be- lieve the powers of thrones are at work against us ; that while paupers and the dregs of life are sent to us under a rule of policy in England, and assassins come to us in the national vessels of France, there are thou- sands who are taught to look forward to the day when the old colonies which the former lost shall be brought back to the folds of monarchy by her own settlers, who are temporary citizens of these United States, but still better subjects of their own kings. There were^ even in this city, persons who^ during the last war, claimed exemption from service, and at the same time the protection of the law, by removal to the interior — a protection intended for the government, but which the foreigner turned to his own personal ad- vantage, whilst the country lost his services and the enemy a foe. FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 103 A distinguished statesman, in discussing the admission of Michigan into the Union, after adverting to the proof that the British govern- ment was transporting her profligate and poor to this country, used the following language : '* If it is so desirable foD that government to disencumber itself of such a number of paupers at such an expense, is the danger apprehended there by those who hare a knowledge of the character and condition of that population to be disregarded by the American people ? AVe are now, sir, a virtuous, prosperous, and a happy people ; our yeomanry, the ])\\\^\Qd\ p)Ower of the nation, and its most secure defence, are un- disturbed in their jjeaceful avocations by these turbulent, vicious, and idle vaji'rants from abroad, and are not emulous to mins-le v\'ith them in their devotion to the free institutions of our country. And, sir, is it not desirable to continue this tranquillity ? And can you indulge a hope of accomplishing such an object, if you throw open the ballot- box to the indiscriminate approach of this alien population ? I will not affirm that the aliens in Michigan compose any part of this vagrant population ; but, sir, it is a Avell authenticated fact, that witliin the last five years many thousands of that description have been trans- ported direct from the poor-houses of Europe to the continent of America, at an expense of several millions of dollars to the British government. ''Sir, while I indulge no morbid apprehension for the future, yet, if you adopt the principles of this bill, I cannot but anticipate the most disastrous consequences to our country. Sir, from the appalling dis- closures which each day develops, it remains for this people to deter- mine whether it will be wise, just, or even safe, to open this floodgate of vice and corruption, of indolence and crime, which, in its demoral- izing effects, may corrupt the common fountain from which flow the multiplied blessings which our country now enjoys. "This class of persons, sir, while they labor under the disqualifica- tion of alienism, are subject to few civil duties, (if they had the ca- pacity to discharge them,) and, by international laws, as expounded by the British government, they cannot expatriate themselves, nor can you compel them to the performance of military service ; and if, in a war between this and their native country, they are found in arms against it, they are liable to condemnation, and to the punishment < death as traitors to their native land. Sir, to show the sense of the British government on this subject, and the rigid as claimed by them to require the return to their native country of this population, and all others, in times of peril, the king of England, on the 16tli day of October_, 1807, issued his proclamation, reclaiming from for- eign service his native subjects, in which he declared ' that the king- dom was menaced and in danger,' and he recalled from foreign service all seamen and seafaring men, who were natural-born subjects, and ordered them to withdraw themselves and return home, on pain of being proceeded against, &c. Here, sir, you have a recognition of the power and the exercise of the right of the king to call home his na- tive-born subjects, wherever they may be, and wherever they may have departed. And now, sir, you are solicited by this bill to give to aliens, who are liable to be recalled at the pleasure of their king, the 104 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. important jtiivilege of voting for all the officers of your government. Sir, if these aliens shall act in concert, as they hitlierto have done, and I have no doubt will continue to do, will they not control the whole civil and military operations of the American people within a very limited period ? Their habits of life disqualify them from min- gling with our citizens, or appreciating or enjoy ingi the free institu- tions of our country ; and by conferring on them prematurely, privi- leges to which they have not been accustomed, and the benefits of which they do not appreciate, will you not at least hazard the perma- nency of our government ? Sir, in the past experience of the world, has it ever been known that an intelligent people, emerging from a state of dependency, in forming for themselves and their posterity a constitution and form of government which should control, in all fu- ture time, their legislative action, have called to their aid foreigners, aliens, persons owing allegiance to other, and perhaps rival nations ? Sir, this new principle which we are now called upon to establis^i is no less dangerous than novel. At this particular crisis, it is known to all, that, in some of the European states there is a redundant popu- lation, particularly in England and Ireland, which disturb the tran- quillity and threaten with violence the sacred rights of peaceful sub- jects ; and the relief there deemed most effectual is transportation to America. With a view to an object so desirable to them, but -vThicb is becoming so burdensome to us, thousands are transported to America each year, at the expense of the British government, and here cast upon the charity of our people. In 1831, '33, '35, there were upwards of one hundred and tJiuiij-nine thoiisand foreigners landed in the city of New York, many of whom were of the most ignorant, vicious, and degraded class, depending upon charity alone for their daily subsist- ence. And, sir, during four successive days in May last, one ilionsand nine hundred and seventy-three foreign emigrants arrived in the same city, and in the month of May last, there were ''fifteen thousand eight hundred and twentij-five' arrived at the New York quarantine ground. Now, sir, carry out the provisions of this bill, by similar provisions in all the State constitutions, and upon their arrival extend to these aliens, indiscriminately, the right of sufirage, and who is so dull of vision as not to foresee the fatal effects of such a measure upon our civil and religious institutions ? Upon this subject, sir, we are not left to conjecture alone ; the design has been openly avowed, as will appear from the following handbill, w^hich was liberally circulated in the city of New York, at the late charter election. It is in these words : " 'Irishmen, to your posts, or you will lose America ! By perse- verance you may become its rulers ; by negligence you will become its slaves. Your own country was lost by submitting to ambitious men. This beautiful country you may gain by being firm and united. Vote the ticket, Alexander Stewart, alderman ; Edward Flanagan for assessor — both true Irishmen.' "Here, sir, you have the objects avowed — the suhversion of your government, and a revolution contemplated. Mark the language of this appeal, and remember that it is made to Irishmen in the city of New York, at an election for officers of the city government, within which there are probably more than one hundred thousand foreigners." FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 105 From the earliest to the present times, therefore, the law of natur- alization has been looked upon as an evil. It has been altered at various periods, to suit rather the interests of prevailing parties, than with a view to the great national consideration of a homogeneous population and a unity of character. Now, however, when the evils of immigration, in every form that poverty, numbers, and profligacy can assume, are universally acknowledged among us ; when the feder- alists, republicans, and democrats, and men of every faith unite in the prayer to redeem the land from this moral and physical scourge, our legislators can assume and execute that duty with a calmness due to the cause, and productive of a result worthy the will of the people. With all that Congress can do, there will still be something left for the people of the States to perform in this behalf. The passage of any law by the national legislature, though it might, for the future, keep out all emigrants, or, at any rate, impose civil disabilities, or take away the right of naturalization, would, nevertheless^ leave an immense number of aliens in the country, who^ under the State regu- lations, would be entitled to vote for members of the most numerous branch of the legislatures ; and, therefore, though not citizens, and even intending and declaring their intention never to become citizens of the United States, would, notwithstanding, under the constitution whieh produces this singular anomaly, have the same right to vote for members of Congress, and indirectly for electors of President and Vice President, that the natives have. Thus, by the constitution of New York in 1777, inhabitants of full age, with property qualification, who had resided there for six months, upon taking the oath of allegiance to the State, would be qualified "electors." The different States should, therefore, change their constitutions or laws, and provide that those only who are citizens of the United States, as well as residents of the respective States, shall be entitled to vote. But the fact that there will always be an itinerant population of aliens, who, with the reversionary intent towards their own land and laws, and with no desire to become citizens of the Union, will, never- theless, enjoy the same political rights and powers that we do, is a powerful reason why Congress should hasten to prevent a spread of that evil, by diminishing the inducements to immigration, and by guarding the country through every possible precaution from the overflow of the mighty tide of vagrants, and all the rest of that re- dundant multitude which individual feeling and the policy of foreign governments are wafting to our shores. Your committee will, no doubt, have devised many and better plans to remedy all this than we can suggest : but as your inquiries call our attention to this particular point, I am directed to say, that we believe the first great step to restore a confidence of the people in themselves, as the future exclusive agents in all that regards the maintenance of their institutions and the establishment of a national character, is the entire repeal of the naturalization laws. The next is the passage of laws sufficiently penal, but not so much so as to prevent their faithful enforcement, upon all ship and stage 106 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. owners, masters and agents, who shall convey or give passage, or aid in giving passage, to any pauper, convict, or fugitive from justice ; and requiring the collectors of the different ports to take bond and security before the clearing or entering of any vessel, to observe that law. Thirdly, the jirohibition of the appointment of any unnatural- ized citizen to any office of honor or profit under the United States. And, lastly, to reorganize the consular establishments of the United States in foreign countries, including Canada and the various colonies, giving those officers appropriate salaries for their present, and the contemplated additional duties, and requiring — First. That every person not a native or naturalized citizen of the United States, before embarking or taking passage for this country, shall provide himself with a passport from the American consul at the place of debarcation, certifying the proof of his being not a pauper or suspected person ; and not likely to become a charge to the county of any one of the States. Second. Besides requiring bonds from consuls for the faithful per- formance of their duties, enacting penal laws to a proper extent for any violation of them, and future disqualification from office upon conviction. Third. Imposing a tax of twenty dollars upon each such passenger, to be paid to the consul on receipt of the passport ; which fees shall be accounted for monthly to the treasury, and thus constitute a fund for the support of the consular system. Fourth. Imposing a penalty upon all proprietors, conductors, mas- ters, and agents of vessels and vehicles, receiving or aiding in trans- porting passengers without such passport. If these or similar provisions are enacted by Congress, we believe that all the accessory steps necessary lor the accomplishment of this national object will soon follow in the States ; and your country will be then, and not until then, entitled to say they are a people " who govern themselves, independent of foreign nations." I have the honor to be, very respectfully, T. D. JONES, Becording Secretary of the Native American Association of the United States, Washington, D. C. Hon. David Russell. Mr Chapin to 3Ir. liussell. Dear Sir : In reply to the interrogatories which you communicated to me some time since, in reference to the number of emigrants who have arrived at this and other ports of the United States during the past ten years ; the number of paupers : their character ; from whence they came ; together with other jmrticulars relative to the violation of the naturalization law, &c., I proceed to state the facts within my knowledge. It is proper that I should premise, however, by saying that my public duties, in connexion with the difficulties of obtaining FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 107 many material facts which I have been desirous to secure, and which are not even jet at hand, have delayed my reply to an unexpected, and perhaps an unreasonable, time. Some questions, indeed, it will be impossible for me to answer, inasmuch as the sources of informa- tion are at so great a distance as to preclude the possibility, under present circumstances, of securing such data as would justify positive conclusions upon these particular subjects. Still, I trust you will have obtained tlie information desired, in reply to the duplicate in- terrogatories, which, as you inform me, have been transmitted to the place referred to. From the sources to which you have applied here, it is not probable you will receive much information at present. Mr. Morse has been, for sometime jjast^ in Europe ; and^the arduous official duties of our mayor prevent the requisite attention to the subject in question ; he has, accordingly, desired me to reply with the few par- ticulars at my command. I would add, also, that upon some subjects embraced in the inquires, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to obtain that minute information which is so desirable, when the effects are so obvious and alarming. Local causes and political in- terests unfortunately oppose serious obstacles in the way of acquiring many important and useful facts. This circumstance, among others, renders the information which should be afforded from those quarters still more necessary and interesting. But such is the devotion to party with very many otherwise unexceptionable citizens, and such the i")olitical objects to be secured by withholding many par- ticular causes of our just apprehensions, that little success usually attends efforts to get possession of records which should yield us satis- factory details. It cannot be otherwise than ])ainful to the really patriotic citizen to notice this fact ; still, it is calculated to illustrate one of the prin- cipal causes of our fears, and to awaken our native fellow-countrymen to a sense of the importance of securing our privileges and liberties in such a manner as that they cannot be so frequently and recklessly endangered. It is well known that the influence of foreigners gives, or has here- tofore given, predominancy to that party into which its weight has been thrown. Ordinarily we poll from 35,000 to 38^000 votes, about 15,000 of which are, it is computed, those of foreigners or adopted citizens. Hence the influence wliich they exercise over our destinies, and lience, also, the efforts and sacrifices made by politicians and selfish and ambitious men to secure the votes and partizan zeal of the thousands of our poor and ignorant foreign population at our city elections. The objects, likewise, in withholding or obscuring facts relative to these foreigners, and which, if generally known, would increase the fears of many of our citzens^ are, from this circumstance, equally apparent. That this great balancing power may be seriously pernicious, or fatally destructive, to our institutions, I need not re- mind you ; and thatit has already been so is known to us all. I wouldnot wish to be understood that there are not very many among our adopted citizens who are highly respectable, intellectual, moral, and patriotic ; but, of the gross numbers who flock to our shores, such will not be thought to constitute a very large proportion. The time required to give to foreigners the majority of votes at all important city elections, 108 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. can he easily conceived from the above particulars, in connexion Avith the increasing numbers added to our population and to our natural- ized citizens ; certainly, when it is know that froin one to huo thou- sand are manufactured on and for the occasion of each election. At the election of last fall, more than two thousand were naturalized ; report says twenty-seven hundred ; and at that of this spring, more than eleven hundred. These estimates may fall far short of the actual numbers ; but, they being ascertained, we are justified in the supposition that they may be even greater, from circumstances con- nected with the exposition of the records of the court, as will hereafter appear. This fact should be noticed, in passing, as showing the importance of restricting the power to grant certificates of naturali- zation to the United States courts, to the supreme courts, or to the legislatures of the several States^, or, perhaps, to Congress itself. But, as I propose to refer again to this and previous particulars, I will here subjoin some few statistical facts in answer to so much of your first interrogatory as is included in the following quotation, viz : "What number of foreigners have arrived at New York in each year, and have done for the last ten'years?" In 1827, 20,824 In 1831, 31,739 In 1835, 35,308 1828, 19,958 1832, 48,589 1836, 60,541 1829, 15,036 1833, 41,752 1837, 52,806 1830, 30,224 1834, 48,111 Making a total since 1827, and for ten years, of alien passengers who have arrived at the port of New York alone, of 384,064. But, in the language of a recent report on this subject, and which is un- doubtedly near the truth, "it is confidently believed that the whole num- ber of foreign immigrants who have arrived in this city since 1830, amounts to more than 500,000." Previous to the year 1830, the estimates included all the passengers ; and consequently, some citizens of the United States. Since that date, alien passengers alone are enumerated. It is proper to remark, how- ever, that the numbers for 1827, '28, and '29, being taken from the cus- tom-house, and those since from the mayor's office of this city, ex- hibit a discrepancy of several thousand. It may be assumed, as will hereafter appear, that an annual difference of 8,000 exists between the two departments ; and hence, that to the above number should be added 16,000 passengers, making the total 390,064. In 1831, this difierence was 16,918, and in 1832, it was 9,774. It is not impossible but that this discrepancy originated through the interest felt for the result by some ofiicers connected with the returns to the custom-house, as it is well known that very many of them are themselves foreigners, and their own political influence and resources may, possibly, have been instrumental in some way. It is, nevertheless, true that the re- turns from the mayor's office are correct, as far as they go; though even these, in point of fact, fall short of the actual number of pas- sengers by vessels of, and less than 40 tons burden ; and they are not taken into this account. I am assured by the mayor, that the law requiring all alien passengers to report themselves at his office within forty-eight hours after being landed within the city, is very often FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 109 violated. The numbers before quoted are derived from a compliance with this law ; but thousands make their way into this city, without the least knowledge of, or disposition to comply with it. Indeed, it might be fatal to the objects of great numbers coming to this country, particularly felons and refugees from justice, to make such a report of themselves ; and it is well known that many act from a knowledge of this fact. The landing, also, of whole ship loads of aliens in a neigh- boring State bordering upon our bay is notorious, and in direct con- travention of this law. All such secretly mingle with the mass of our floating population, and are no more thought of until arraigned before our police or criminal courts, or until forced upon our charities. According to the reports of the custom-house, there were 1,256 pas- sengers who arrived at this port from first of January to the first of April, last past. Taking this estimate as it is given, and the character of the passengers as reported, for the purj^ose of an example, and for the deductions which follow, we are enabled to arrive at the relative proportion of those who are provided with means to support them- selves or families, or who possibly may not be a tax and burden upon our citizens. Of the above number, then, for the first quarter of this year, it is stated that there were 267 citizens of the United States, 658 aliens from Great Britain, Ireland, and Scotland, 1*76 from Germany, and 155 from various other countries ; 217 of these were merchants, 91 mechanics, 128 farmers, 34 laborers, 55 mariners, artists, milliners, seamstresses, &c. ; leaving the balance of 729, or nearly two-thirds of the ivhole, without any occupation, or even the pretence of one. Now it is by no means probable that more than one-half of those pretending to have the above occupations come to this country without the means for the prosecution of their vocation. The destiny of a large part of such thus unprovided for, and of the 729 who made no pretence to a busi- ness of any kind, is too clearly shown by the continually rapid increase and extent of our public and private charities,, and by the alarming numbers, and varied character of criminal offences in this city and county. But of the 217 merchants who should be excluded from the overwhelming proportion of those liable to become a tax and a burden, from their having no jirofessional business during times of general distress, and when our own native and established mechanics were out of employ, it is quite certain the greater part were American merchants, mainly from this city, and probably possessed of considerable wealth. Again, the laborers are to be classed with those having no particular professional trade or business. Deducting, therefore, but one-half from the number of reputed merchants, one-half from those of the various reported occupations, and the 34 laborers, and you have but 129 out of the 1,256, as certain to have had the requisite means for successful competition in business, and a permanent support for them- selves and families. Another fact to be still more particularly noticed is, that, among the farmers, mechanics, and all the other enumerated occupations, are included the ivife and all the children ; so that if each male head of the family had, beside his wife, but two children, it will be seen that three-fourths of the before mentioned number are to be deducted therefrom ; and hence, that the supposed 229 independent 110 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. alien passengers during tliis time is, indeed, but 76 ! and if we sup- pose the 267 citizens of the United States to be justly excluded, and as having means for returning to their established vocations, and apply the facts to the 989 alien passengers, we shall have bnt ffty-four indi- viduals out of the whole number, or owe only in every eighteen alien passengers who luere of the 2W exceptionable character above mentioned. Now, this may be considered just data for both previous and subse- quent time ; and though these particulars are introduced in this place, they will be seen to be illustrated in answer to other interrogatories, and to have more immediate reference thereto. But, in order to render these still more plain and satisfactory, I will add farther particulars from the year 1836, which will likewise show in a striking manner the nature of our foreign population^ and the professional character of those who come to obtain a livelihood among us, together with the numbers of aliens from different parts of the world. During the three first quarters of 1836, there were reported to have been among the passengers 1,029 merchants, 65 clergymen, 95 physi- cians, 5,667 mechanics, 37 artists, 48 milliners, 3,807 farmers, 103 dressmakers, 93 mariners, and 3 seamstresses. Total 10,947. Of these, there were citizens of the United states - - 1,361 Aliens from Great Britain, Ireland, and Scotland - - 26,698 France ------ 2,352 Germany - - - - - 9,889 Switzerland - - - - - 337 Prussia - - - - - -319 Denmark ----- 296 Nova Scotia . . _ - _ 239 Spain ------ 108 West Indies ----- 87 Italy ------ 40 New Brunswick ----- 32 Turkey - - - - - 2 From various countries - - - - 7,244 Total ------- 49,004 Of the 2,188 wlio arrived during the first quarter, 1,419 had no occupation; of the 26/J24 during the second quarter, 16,530 had no occupation; and of the 19,892 during the third quarter, 14,485 had no occupation; making no less than 38,057 aliens cast upon the citizens of New York alone in nine months, or 47,571 Avithin the year, without occupations of any kind whatever ; or, in other words, luere paupers ! Deducting the 1,361 citizens, and within the above brief period, we had 47,643 added to our foreign population. The total of 49,004 for nine months, it should be borne in mind, does not include those who arrived in vessels of less than forty tons, the great numbers making their way from the Canadas, nor those con- tinually coming from other places. Now, if we apply the same crite- rion as that applied to the first quarter of the present year, after deducting the 1^,361 passengers, who were citizens, and generally mer- chants of the United States, (which conclusively shows the facts in the FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. Ill case,) we shall have had hut 1,198 who were furnished with means for the support of themselves and those depending upon them. Among the artists are included "hand-organ grinders," &c.; and among the others, estimated as having some kind of professional busi- ness, there were those equally precarious and useless, to say nothing of the utter impossibility of by far the larger portion of those actually having a good business, or even of tliose skilled in business, finding employment, wdiile so many thousands of our native mechanics are thrown out of employ. Thus, then, out of 47,643 aliens arriving in this city in nine months, 46,445, or one in every tldrty-seven, possessed no adequate means to establish themselves in business or to ensure success and support. It will be seen that of the above number of alien passengers, 26,698 Avere from Ireland, Great Britain, and Scotland, which exceeds one- half of the whole by 5,753. The number of passengers from foreign countries who arrived in the United States during the same year, viz: 1836, according to the reports of the custom-houses, was 80^952. Males --_.--- 51,942 Females ------- 29,010 80,952 Of which were born in the United States - - - 4,013 Aliens ------- 76,939 80,952 There were natives of Great Britain and Ireland - - 47,792 British American colonies ----- 2,681 Germany ------- 20,142 France ------- 4,443 Prussia ------- 568 Switzerland _--__- 445 Denmark ------- 414 Holland - - - - - - - 297 Mexico ------- 797 Texas ------- 698 Cuba - - - - - - - 516 All other countries - _ - _ - 2,152 Total 76,939 Of these, were landed at — New York ------ 56,578 Baltimore ------ 6,058 New Orleans ------ 4,966 Boston ------- 2,690 Philadelphia - 2,147 Portland ------ 1^621 112 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. Passamaqiioddy ---.-- 1,471 All other ports ------ 1,408 Total 76,939 These data having been obtained througli the custom-liouses, they do not agree, as to the numbers who arrived into the port of Kew York during that year, with those shown in the mayor's ofl&ce, by a differ- ence of 3,963. The same discrepancy may, and undoubtedly does, exist in reference to all the places enumerated above. It will be seen, also, to correspond Avith the differences noticed in previous years. The above differs, indeed, from that now actually found at the custom- house, for the particulars are embodied in the Secretary of State's Department, although purporting to have been derived from the first- mentioned source. While the custom-house exhibits the number of passengers in 1836 at 58,000, the State Department presents it at 56,578, making the difference 2,019. It would appear, according to the Secretary's report, that there ar- rived into this port, in 1836, more than half of the whole who arrived into the United States, by a difference of 18,109, or more than two- thirds by 5,285 ; i. e., while 56,578 arrived at New York, but 20,361 -arrived at all other places within the country. According to the facts within the mayor's office, however, which are unquestionable evidence upon this point, and which give the number as having arrived here in that year at 60,541, and assuming the Secretary's report as to other places to be correct, there were within a fraction (542) of three-fourths of the ivhoJe who arrived at the port of New York. From this, it might appear that few other parts of our country are affected by the multitude of foreigners who are continually pouring into our city ; but it should be understood that from this city they are flooding the inte- rior towns and the far west. Were all to mingle permanently with our citizens, we should have had. sliue 1830, an annual addition of more than 50,000, or within seven years more than 700,000 souls, besides our natural increase, and the superaddition of our own coun- trymen. I think, with others, that the average number of foreigners who have arrived into the United States annually for the last few years may be ftiirly estimated at 100,000. Taking this estimate, then, for data, since 1830, and we have added to our population within that period 750,000 aliens — of a character, too, which will be hereafter noticed, though at all times understood. Assuming the same num- bers for the following two quarters as that taken for the first two of this year, and an increase of but one-fourth for the subsequent two years, (which cannot be considered an unreasonable estimate,) and we shall have had within ten years, from 1830 to 1840, or the brief period of one census, an addition oione million and ffty thousand foreigners! But the probability is, that the increase will be in a still greater and progressive ratio. Though I am not disposed to enter into the calcu- lation as to the numbers or character of such immense additions to our citizens, yet the consideration is calculated to awaken the attention of our fellow-countrymen to the probable results. Calculating the num- FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 113 bers and characters of the aliens wlio arrive in other ports of the United States by the same estimates as those applicable to this city for 1836, as before shown, and we find that 95,142 are to be classed as those dependent aliens we have mentioned. Increase or add to the total number of passengers, and the same alarming proportions exist. To one jealous of our native rights and ardently attached to our insti- tutions, these things are calculated to excite even more apprehension than heretofore exhibited ; nor have those who are equally advocates of religious freedom less reason to apprehend the result of this condi- tion of things, and the rapid increase of those devoted to principles and dogmas diametrically opposed to their opinions of religious liberty and the character of our republican government. In addition to this, the natural increase of such devotees will by no means diminish the causes of such fears, since the same sentiments are uniformly propa- gated from parents to their numerous offsprings. What, then, must be the reflections, and what the conclusions of every honest and intel- ligent patriot, in view of the present, in connexion with the prospects of the future ! The number of alien passengers will be seen to have doubled since 1830 ; that is, in 1830 there were 30,224, while in 1836 there were €0,541. May we not infer from this fact that they will likewise double during the succeeding ten years, so that we shall have tivo mil- lions for the following census? These, united as they ever have been, and as they probably ever will be, and acting in concert with the many millions already in the country, will be sufficiently powerful of them- selves to change the character of our national institutions ; but, when acting in behalf of one or more foreign potentates, and their legions, what reasonable hope could we entertain for the permanency of our liberties? The preceding statements answer, as j^articularlj' as time will per- mit me to do, the first three of your interrogatories, viz: "What number of emigrants arrive annually, and have done for the last ten years?" "From what countries have they emigrated?" "What proportion bring with them the means of supporting themselves and families?" For general purposes, it will be noticed, the particulars given for the year 1836 are deemed to be sufficiently accurate ; still they may be carried out to great advantage. To the questions : " How is the expense of the transportation hither of such as are poor, defrayed, and by whom ; and what proportion of foreign emigrants are paupers ?" it is not easy to give precise answers, though the latter question is partially answered, it will have been seen, by the data afforded by the results of 1836. Certain it is that great numbers who may not have been paupers in their own country become so in this, inasmuch as they come here without any provision for the future, without friends in this country, and without any ^^ros- pects beyond the moment. Laborers leave their employment, and mechanics tlieir business, and take passage for this country with barely means to defray their expenses hither. I am led to think that this is the case with by far the larger portion of emigrants, and particularly with the Irish. They, or a majority of them, have been induced to believe that they will find little or no difficulty in obtaining employ- H. Rep. 359 8 114 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. ment and high wages on arriving in this country. Chagrin and dis- appointment take the place of sanguine hopes and exalted anticipa- tions ; such oftentimes become desperate and wreckless and resort to theft or charitable institutions. These anticipations have been induced, in a great measure, no doubt, by the representations of friends in this- country, and by those who are interested in their transportation ; regardless, as most of them are, both of truth and of justice. Many of them, after disposing of their stock in trade, or their various imple- ments of business, have barely a sufficiency to defray their expenses to America, and consequently, no resources for the subsistence of their families. Pauperism, therefore, is the almost inevitable result from these things. For the last two years, while great numbers of those who have preceded them, and while, in fact, our own countrymen have been mostly unemployed, we could hardly suppose a diiferent result. Wretchedness and crime ensue, and hence our taxes and fears have become also great. Large numbers, it is true, have spread abroad into neighboring towns and States ; but there too are great numbers destined to wretchedness and want. A fruitful source of pauperism results from the practice of fathers of families leaving the city, in quest of employment, no doubt, and thereby compelling the public authorities to support the wife and children. Should such for- tunately succeed in finding work, it is very rare that they contribute much, if anything, towards the maintenance of their families ; and thus it is, in part, that our charitable institutions are filled. The children are sent wandering throughout the city, begging alms; in this the mother finds it advantageous to participate, and she often finds it a profitable business withal. It has been found that much the largest number of such poor and idle persons are from Ireland and Great Britain. There are also con- siderable numbers of such deported from Havre and ports of Germany ; but the Swiss, Scotch, and many others from interior towns and vil- lages on the continent, have at least the merit of being industrious, and some few bring with them the means of support. As before stated, it is quite impossible for us to ascertain exactly what number are actually forced or hired to leave their country, because they are influenced by causes generally operating secretly. It is but natural to supjiose, however, that great exertions are made by the municipal authorities to rid the towns and cities of vast numbers of paupers, and of the vicious and irreclaimable; and where else than to America can they send them? That is the settled policy of such authorities thus to throw oif their expensive poor, and to cast them upon our shores, is not only not denied, but publicly confessed. Tbeir own languaore is, "to sret rid of the most vicious and irreclaimable paupers, by sending them to America."' Large sums have been raised for this purpose. Private contributions, public disbursements and taxes, have alike contributed to this end; and foreign presses have announced this witli unblushing eftrontery. Parliament has been petitioned for this purpose, to sanction the raising of money to carry on the business more successfully, well satisfied, as the petitioners were, that the American })eople will very generously, nay, must, sup- port all such as it may suit their convenience to cast upon our shores. FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 11 There was raised at one time by a few towns £2^473 to defray the ex- penses of 320 paupers to this country. The superintendent of our almshouse states to me that he has seen one of these passenger s\n])s filed luifh paupers alone. Again, he says, " When entire cargoes have come out, it has been ascertained that the parishes had paid their expenses ; and we frequently hear the same thing from straggling pauper passengers. Indeed, they have no other mode of getting here. It is common for them to walk directly from the ship to the alms-house, and ask for admission!" It appears from printed facts, that, of the alien passengers who arrived here during one month of last year, more than one hundred applied to the commis- sioners of the alms-house immediately after their arrival; most of ivhom had their passages imid by the parishes from luhich they were sent. The report of the British commissioners for examining the poor-law system proves that the wretched ^nd depraved arc sent here per ad- vice, and as the most certain means of successfully ridding the British people of expense, trouble, and crime. Thus the charities which be- long to the unfortunate of our own country are absorbed in supporting worthless and miserable mendicants, criminals, and fugitives from abroad. The commissioners of our almshouse also state that ' ' In seven- tenths of the applicants for ' out-door' relief during the past winter, the husbands of the Irishwomen making the applications were out of the city. They were, however," he continues to remark, " very par- ticular to be here to vote at the spring election." It is stated, on authority said to be entitled to credit, that "the steerage passages of more than 30,000 persons have been paid in Ire- land, England, and Scotland, to enable them to leave there for Ame- rica ; most of whom have arrived at this port !" An English gentleman recently stated that he had seen the poor marched down in droves from the poor-houses to the ships which were to take them to this country, accompanied by the superintendents, who settled for their passages ! The commissioners still further state that there are not over onefourth of the emigrants who come to this country that possess means to afford a comfortable support for them- selves and families on arriving here. The great body of such come with the expectation that they shall find immediate employment ; and if not, that we shall provide for them by charitable means. From the report of the resident physician of the hospital last year, as imbodied in the annual message of the mayor of this city, it appears that of the whole number admitted to that institution for the year, viz : 1_,209, only 20G were native Americans ! This, it will be per- ceived, is in the proportion of one American to six foreigners ; or in the proportion of one to every forty-four of the latter in our city, and of twelve hundred and thirty-three of the former. During the year endin away; therefore, I am very well acquainted with the im2)ortation. The captain, the moment after fastening the vessel, tries to get rid of them, on account he knows what cargo he has in the vessel. But it would be against the German Society of Maryland, if they should not come, because the most of them, or a good many, are owners or con- signees of vessels. And more, also, last Thursday, the 23d instant, the Bremin ship Albert, Captain Klockgeter — owners, Brothers Kuhlenkamp, in Bremen, consigned to Messrs. A. Schumacher & Co., arrived here with 106 passengers, whereof 19 went to the west, and the others remained here, on account they had no money, and the German Society of Maryland has already given to the brothers Poolman, passengers of said vessel, $4. If you do not think they are paupers, I do not know wh(^are. In fact, here arrives no vessel with passengers where there are no paupers on ; and the German Society of Maryland are aware of that, but self-interest compels them to keep silence. They have sent, last year, circulars out to Germany, to recommend them to come with money ; l)ut they do not care if they are out of prison, or Avhero they come from. It is well known any of the German kingdoms are very willing to empty prisons, and give them five or ten dollars along, to get rid of them; and certainly, the Bremen merchants do not care how they load their vessels, if they only get paid for it, if they are murderers, burglars, or paupers. I have said enough on tliis subject, and believe your honorable body will find them satisfactory enough. On my part, I am, very respectfully, yours, ABRAHAM CUYK. FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 131 Moses Catzenstein handed in a statement, in writing, (in tlie Ger- man language,) of whicli the following is a translation, to which he was sworn on the five hooks of Moses, (the witness heing a Jew.) By re(iuest of tlie commissioners, appointed by the Committee on tlie Judiciary of tlie United States Senate, in regard to the importation of paujiers and criminals from foreign countries, 1 would respectfully state, that I embarked in Bremen, on board the Bremen ship Eepub- lic. Captain Tegeler, together with about 100 other passengers,, in the course of the summer of 1843. and arrived in Baltimore about the middle of December of the same year ; that among the above passen- gers were 28 criminals, sent out of the country by their respective governments, and accompanied by a police officer until the ship was fairly at sea, when each of these 28 persons were handed a certain sum of money by the police officer, and he then left the ship with the pilot, and the ship proceeded on her voyage — her port of destination being Baltimore, in Maryland, United States of America. Xearly all the persons alluded to are now in Baltimore. He knows a criminal, exclusive of those mentioned in his statement, who was transported to this countiy, from the neighborhood from which he (Catzenstein) came, for drunkenness and robbery ; and that said criminal is now in tliis city. The witness resided in the county of Lowenstein, in the kingdom of Hanover. The name of the criminal alluded to is August Munzell. Loring D. Chapman, of the city of New York, an editor, aged forty- six 3'ears, answered thus : The person who constructed the machine for destroying the life of Louis Philippe is now a resident of this city. I know of several other instances, by information ; some of these came of 1837. I have exam- ined the subject, and am possessed of information of frequent instances of this kind. The communications from the American consuls at Bremen and Leipsic, to Mr. Woodbury, contain the facts in reference to the deportation of foreign convicts. Samuel J. Bobbins testified as follows : "I believe that foreign convicts have been introduced into this country. This belief is founded upon inquiries made and papers read by me u[)on this subject, in the almshouse of this city and district ; in which establishment I have had means of acquiring information, beins and havino; been for the last four rears ' Secretarv of the Guar- dians of the Poor for the city of Philadeli)hia, district of Southwark, and the townshijts of the Northern Liberties and Penn;' but I cannot now specify the particular information or the particular documents on which my belief is founded. I recollect that one of the paupers in this almshouse acknowledged to me that he had been a convict abroad, and Ave sent him ])ack to Bremen, at his own request."' To the sixth interrogatory annexed to said commission, he answer- ing, says : In answer to this interrogatory, the deponent says : I have no other knowledge than such as may V)o contained in the following narration : The number of immigrants Avhich arrived at the port of Philadelphia above two years of age, for the year ending the 1st of January, 1845, was 4,478: of which number about 100 have been admitted as pau- 132 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. pers. The population of the almshouse, on the 11th of January, 1845, consisted as follows: Whites, persons born in foreign countries - - - - 926 Whites, persons born in the United States _ _ _ ^IS Blacks, persons born in forei,f!;n countries - - _ _ 12 Blacks, persons born in the United States - - - _ 200 Total population ---____ 1,851 George W. Smith, of Philadelphia, testified as follows : When I resided in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the years 1834, 1835, 1836, and 1837, I visited the poor-house of the West Kirk parish (which parish contains 71,000 inhabitants) in company wath Mr. Whigham, one of the directors. He showed me a number of boys, paupers, whom they intended to send out to Canada, via New York, in order to benefit them, and to save expense to the jiarish. These boys did not exceed a dozen in number, to the best of my recollection. I was informed that the practice was common. When I returned to the United States, 1 saw frequent notices in the New York journals of young vagrants or paupers from the poor- house being arrested in New York, where, it appeared, they had re- mained, instead of proceeding to Canada, as intended. Of these arrests I know nothing, but from those journals ; nor do I know that those boys were the very individuals I had seen and examined in Edinburgh; but from the description given of- them in said journals, I verily believe they were. The practice is, no doubt, beneficial to the Scotch parish, and would be to the boys, if a powder of coercion existed to compel them to proceed to Canad?.,^. (after their arrival in New York, ■where there is no control over them,) as the director informed me that places had been procured for them in that province. In European newspapers, when I was abroad, I repeatedly read ac- counts of the conviction of criminals, and that their sentences were commuted, on condition that they should leave the country and go to the United States of America. This was a frequent subject of conver- sation among Americans abroad, and, as a matter of course, excited an indignation. I read these accounts chieflv in extracts from the newspapers of Germany, introduced into the }»apers of France and England. George Henry Poulsen. aged fifty-two years, agent, residing in the city of New York, answered thus: I know of many instances where convicts have been pardoned and sent to this country at the expense of the government by which they were ])ardoned. Ten or twelve such cases have come to my knowledge, and I know a case where four on board of one vessel were sent from a house of correction in the dukedom of Brunswick. These I know^ of my own personal knowledge, having seen an endorsement on the passports, that the persons were convicts, transported by a guard from station to station to the frontier, where they are taken by an agent of the ship from the police ofiicer to the vessel in which they are embarked. The instances which came to my knowledge occurred within the last three years ; a large number of the Germans, arriving FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 133 here soon after, became chargeable for their support to the city or to their bondsmen. Such instances we have very frequently ; they call on me for aid immediately. There are also very numerous instances of foreign pau])ers, sometimes from the poor-houses, in other instances supported by the communes, being shipped to this port. This im- portation of paupers has increased very much during the last year ; they are sent here to save the expense of supporting them in Europe by the public authorities, at tlie public expense; some of these per- sons, frequently owing to their having been bonded, are not received in the almshouses, and, not being aided by their bondsmen, very often become street beggars. Dr. Charles Wittig deposed as follows: I am a native of Germany. I reside now in Philadelphia, and am a citizen of the United States. I have no personal knowledge of the importation of convicts into this country from Europe by order of any European government; but I have received a letter, addressed to me because I was a member of the German Immigrant Society, written by a gentleman who signs himself J. G. St. Lange, and who writes from Alleghany county, Indiana township, Pennsylvania, under date of 2d January, 1845. The letter was then produced, the substance of which, accurately rendered, is as follows ; ''I perceive in the Pittsburg Courier of the 25th December, 1844, copied from the pages of the Philadelphia Democrat, which paper had taken it from the American papers in the English language, that Frederick List, esq., consul at Wurtemberg, had written from Leipsic, that the German governments not only were designing to send off their paupers, but also their criminals, to the United States. That this has occurred for several years, I can testify and prove. This did not astonish me, but I rejoice that we are determined earnestly to oppose it, and I inform you of my knowledge on the subject. On the 30th of July, 1837, I travelled fiom my home, the dukedom of Schwartzburg Sondershausen. From another village, the magistracy desired to place under my care a person who had several times stolen, and who was a great burden to the community, and they were anx- ious to get rid of him. I refused the service, but the magistracy then took a trustworthy messenger, who conducted him to Bremen, with sixty-five Prussian dollars, and transferred him immediately to a captain of a vessel, wh-o was to pay the balance of the money, deduct- ing charges to him, on his arrival in America. This man had already sailed when I arrived at Bremen. I sailed with the ship Johannes, Captain Sengstake. The sailors of the ship told me that on their first voyage in that year no less than fourteen out of the Saxe Weimer prison had been sent over in their ship, and each one, on his arrival in Baltimore, received from Captain Sengstake ten dollars." Kecently I met a German from Sondershausen, who was teaching school in Alleghany town, and who had been formerly secretary of a court. I was much surprised at meeting him. He gave me many reasons why he had left Germany. Subsequently, another person from Sondershausen told me that he had been convicted of poaching. On this account he was deposed from his office, and sentenced to two 134 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND years imprisonment, during which time he begged to be permitted to come to America, and this was very cheerfully granted to him. This a letter to nie last spring confirms. He is not, however, permitted to return to Germany. It is my desire that the committee, as soon as possible, would discover means by which this evil could be prevented. Lawrence Herbert, of the city of Philadelphia, deposed as follows: I am myself a native of Bavaria; was born in the year 1811, and have resided in tlie United States nearly twelve years, and have been naturalized about eight. I am now, and have been for a year and a half, agent, appointed by the German Immigrant Society, to procure employment for destitute immigrants from Germany. It is my opinion and belief, founded ujion my observation, that for-- eign criminals have been introduced into the United States, from some of the States of Germany, by authority of governments or cities. When I have, on several occasions, visited vessels just arrived at this port, and have inquired, as is my duty, as to the character of different passengers, I have been told, on one occasion, by several immigrants, that men have been brought and shipped under the guard of armed police — this was a ship from Bremen ; this was last summer a year. On another occasion, whicli was the last, tliat of the ship Philadelphia, Captain Graves, from Bremen^ which arrived about six weeks ago, a young man was pointed out to me as having come from a house of correction at Brunswick; his name was Charles Papenberg. This is the same man who has, within a few days, been arrested in this city, and is now in custody on a very heinous charge of murder. Since his arrest I directed a man to go to the office of the mayor, by whom he was arrested, and examine his passport, which was found to be in complete order. But I do not attach importance to this ; for if the government abroad would send him here, it would^ of course, furnish him a passport. I have heard of many cases of convicts being here ; they have been pointed out to me. Generally, almost always, in these cases, where I have obtained employment for persons of this character, they have turned out badly. It is the general opinion of the i-espectable Germans of this city that foreign convicts are introduced into this country. They are very anxious to put a stop to such a practice, and have had several meet- ings on the subject ; and I am very glad to have had an opportunity of giving my testimony on the subject. It is a matter in which re- spectable naturalized citizens are much interested. Samuel Ellenger, being a Jew, was sworn on the five books of Moses, and answered: A person in the employment of the witness stated to witness, that a family had been sent from a penitentiary in German)^, the money to pay the passage liaving been furnished by the village in which they resided ; and has heard of many such cases, and knows some himself. Knows one case in Avhich a deranged man was sent to this country by his relations, who* were wealthy. Money was raised in Baltimore, and the deranged man sent back to his connexions. Zenon Cavelier, of New Orleans, deposed and said: That there is no doubt of the introduction into the United States of a large number of vagabonds and criminals, coming from foreign FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 135 countries; that Meiinier and Quenissit came to New Orleans after their condemnation for the crime of regicide, and after their punish- ment had been commuted to ] »erpctual banishment by the French king ; that he has been assured that the last named criminal obtained a cer- tificate of naturalization, and that he voted at the elections in the year 1844. Moreau Forrest, esq., United States marshal foi- the district of Maryland, made the following statement in writing, to which he was sworn : In the year 1833, I came passenger in a vessel from the city of Kingston, Island of Jamacia, bound for New Orleans, Louisiana. On board of said vessel there were fourteen or fifteen steerage passengers. One of them was a man of sixty years of age, who had, according to his own account, been in 'Bonaparte's army. He had a cross on one arm, and a bullet immediately under the skin, near the wrist of the other. So superficial was the bullet, that I was desirous of cutting it out. He refused to permit me, stating that, when he was with the Spaniards, the (+) cross always gave him bread and butter upon its exhibition, and the bullet the same whem he met with an old soldier or sailor. The captain, whose name was Edwards, told me that he had'received from the corporated authorities of Kingston one doub- loon for each of the steerage passengers. I confidently assert, and verily believe they were not only paupers, but of the worst dye. Henry Caton appeared, and was sworn on the five books of Moses, (he being a Jew,) and gave the following answers to interrogatories propounded to him : Has known persons in Bavaria sent by government to this country for state offences ; and has heard, whilst in Europe, that criminals have been sent to this country from Bavaria and Hanover, but has no knowledge of the fact himself. Has known a collection to be made to send a poor person to the United States. Samuel Cohen was sworn on the five books of Moses, (he being a Jew,) and gave the following answers to interrogatories proj)Ounded to him : It is a practice in Germany for the government to give passports to criminals and paupers, directing that they shall proceed direct to America, and. forbidding their remaining in Germany. During the last season, witness saw a person, who had just arrived in this city from Germany, who had a criminal's passport, such as has been men- tioned ; and the said person was afterwards arrested for crime com- mitted in this city. Miss Amelia Blogg was sworn on the five books of Moses, (she being a Jewess.) She gave the following answers to interrogatories pro- pounded to her : I arrived here from Bremen, as a passenger, on board the ship Re- public, on the 22d of December, 1843. There were about twenty-five persons on board, under the care of a police officer, but whether they were criminals or paupers I do not know. I have frequently heard that persons cliarged with crime have been sent to this country. One of the passengers (a man) on board the ship Republic^ stated that he had been put in prison for two years, charged with murder, when he 13G FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. was sent to this country. Another of the passengers on said ship stated that he had heen imprisoned for shooting; a man whilst hunt- ing ; and that he either broke out of prison and came to the country or was sent here, witness is not certain which. Tlie witness further states, that a man, his wife, two sons, and three or four daughters, were sent from the city of Hanover to New York, about four years since^ for having committed repeated robberies. The half of their ex- penses for coming over Avere paid by the government of Hanover, and the other half by a congregation in that city. No. 241 Town authorities and cantonal governments have been in the habit of sending their paupers to the United States, merely securing them a passage to New York, and not providing them with a cent to proceed inland after their arrival. Since the publication of this act, those that had been sent this spring had money sent after them, and others that are about being shipped, are now provided with sufficient means- to carry them to the west. They do it, not for the good of the indi- viduals or for the benefit of the country where they are going, but being fearful that, not provided with means to carry them into the interior, after arriving at New York, they might be refused a passage and returned to them by the American government. It is out of the question to put a stop to it entirely ; yet I think I have succeeded in relieving the city of New York from the offence of maintaining Swiss and German paupers for the future, as they will come prepared here- after to pay their way to the far west. Immigration this year will far exceed any previous years ; and I am convinced if I had not taken this measures your city would have again been overrun by these destitute paupers, who, when winter came, would have to be provided for in your almshouses and hospitals. With high regard, your lium- ble servant, G. H. GOUNDIE, United States Consul in ^loiizerland. No. 25. The following is a letter addressed by Mayor Wood, of New York, to the President, in reference to the shipment of foreign paupers and criminals to the port of New York : Mayor's Office, Neio Yorh, January 2, 1855. Dear Sir : There can be no doubt that, for many years, this port has been made a sort of penal colony for felons and paupers, by the local authorities of several of the continental European nations. The FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 137 desperate character of a portion of the people arriving here from those countt'ies, together with the increase of crime and misery among that class of our population, with otlier facts before us, prove conclusively that such is the case. It is unnecessary to refer to the gross wrong thus perpetrated upon this city. It requires from me no allusion to the jeopardy of our lives and property from tliis cause. Men who, by a long career of crime and destitution, have learned to recognize no laws, either civil or na- tural, cannot fail to produce feelings of terror at their approach. The inherent right of every community to protect itself from dangers arising from such immigration, cannot be questioned. New York has submitted to it long enough. The disease and pauperism arriving here almost daily, from abroad, is, of itself, a sufficient evil; but when to it is added crime, we must be permitted to remonstrate. We ask the interference of the general government. As it is its duty to pro- tect us from foreign aggression, with ball and cannon, so is it its duty to protect us against an enemy more insidious and destructive, though coming in another form. I call your attention to this subject, hoping it will receive from you that action which its very great importance to the whole country de- mands. I am very truly yours, &c.. His Excellency Franklin Pierce, President of the United Sates. FERNANDO WOOD, Mayor. No. 26. On the 23d of January, 1855, James Cooper, of Pennsylvania, submitted the following resolutions in the United States Senate, in presenting which he made an able speech, showing the extent of the importation of foreign criminals and paupers, and the evils resulting therefrom to our country and its institutions, but the Senate took no further action upon the subject : Resolved, That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, respectfully requested to cause the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury, respectively, to communicate to the Senate such information as may be contained in their several departments, relating to the transportation of convicts and paupers into the United States from foreign countries, and what agency the governmentsto which they belong have had in sending them hither. Also, such in- formation as they may possess relative to the voluntary immigration into the United States of the above classes, the numbers of each that have arrived here within the last two years, whether voluntary or through the compulsory agency of their respective governments. Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary be, and the same is hereby, instructed to inquire what legislation, if any, be necessary to prevent the governments of foreign countries from transporting into 138 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. the United States convicts and paupers. Also, whether any, and what, legisLition is necessary to prevent the voluntary immigration into the United States from foreign countries of either of the above classes of persons. The following are extracts from his speech, delivered on the occasion : I presume, Mr. President, Senators are aware that a policy, which scarcely seeks concealment, prevails amongst several of the States of continental Europe, in virtue of which, convicted and unconvicted criminals and paupers are transported to the United States, at the ex- pense, and by the direction of their governments. This policy, which is as unjust as it is unfriendly, should be put an end to by legislation, if it cannot be accomplished by negotiation. Nations in amity with us have no right to make of the United States a penal colony ; yet they are becoming so, by the toleration with which our government has regarded the practice of sending hither paupers and felons. There is scarcely an immigrant ship which arrives in our ports that is not, to some extent, freighted with this kind of cargo. This has long been an evil ; but latterly it has increased in magnitude, and to such an extent as to be justly regarded with alarm. But a month or two since, a single vessel landed in New York one hundred and fifty paupers, and fifteen or sixteen convicts, wearing, as the badges of their convic- tion and guilty chains upon their limbs. More recently, another ves- sel, freighted with a similar cargo, was v/recked on Sable Island, from whence the passengers were carried to Halifax, and from Halifax were brought to New York^ by the way of Boston. By an affidavit made by one of these passengers, it appears that they are natives of Swit- zerland, who, being unable to support themselves at home, were sent hither at the expense of the municipality to which they belonged. The following is the affidavit: ^^ City and county of New York, ss : We, the undersigned, being duly sworn, do depose and say out, that we and our families, whose number is correctly taken down opposite to our names, on the foot of this affidavit, are natives of Switzerland ; that they were poor in their own country and could not support themselves there any longer ; that, therefore, the mayor of their village has paid their passage-money di- rect to New York, and that therefore their passage-money has not been paid by these deponents ; that they embarked at Antwerp on board the ship Arcadia, which vessel was intended for New York, but wrecked at Sable Island ; that they sailed from Boston on board the passenger steamboat State of Maine, and arrived in the port of New York on board the said steamer, on the 2d day of January, 1855 ; that they are now quite destitute and without any means for support, except from commissioners of immigration ; and further they do not say. ^ [Here follow signatures.'] ''Sworn before me this 10th dav of Januarv, 1855. *" EDWARD CASSEELY, ' ' Commissioner of Deeds. FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS, 139 But this is not the only case of the kind. Lately (so lately that they have probably not yet arrived) the Sardinian government sent over, in a national vessel, (the Degennes, man-of-war,) 30 or 40 con- victs, men of desjicrate fortunes and lives : old convicts, who will here become schoolmasters of vice and learned professors of crime. The Tribune has the following paragraph in relation to the subject : " Information has been received here, from a private source worthy of the highest confidence, to the effect that the o4 i)ersons in question are not mere political offenders, but are convicted criminals of the most dangerous description, taken from the prisons of that country." Thus we see, Mr. President, that it is not only thriftless paupers who are sent liither to add to the burden of our ])oor-laws, and stand 'between native misfortune and the relief provided for it by charity. Felons, convicts, deep-dyed in crime, are sent to this country by their governments, to practice their infamous industry, and inoculate our people with the vices of the old world. It is a common practice amongst several of the states of continental Europe to auction ofi"to the lowest bidder their paupers, and, in some instances, the inmates of their prisons and penitentiaries. Agents of the great passenger lines of packet ships are maintained in the states for the purpose of making arrangements with the municipal author- ities of the various towns, for the removal of their paupers to Antwerp, Bremen, Havre, or other seaport towns, with a view to their trans- portation to the United States. Tu England, or rather Ireland, a similar practice is pursued : and Miss Dix, amiable, benevolent, and philanthropic as she has proved herself to be, by a life of devotion to the interests of suffering and unfortunate humanity, writes to her friends in this country from Ireland, where she is now sojourning, in terms of indignation, excited by witnessing the practices of the English government, in pouring upon our shores the polluted population of their hospitals, almshouses, and prisons. Mr. President, it is time that a stop should be put to these prac- tices on the part of the governments of Europe. If it cannot be effected by negotiation, surely we have the power to do it by legislation. The inherent right of every community to protect itself against the conta- gion of vice and crime, as well as of disease, will hardly be questioned. We have our quarantine laws to protect us against the introduction of small pox, cholera, and other kinds of pestilence ; and these laws we enforce even to the detriment of commerce. But hitherto we have neglected to guard ourselves against a more destructive pestilence than the small-pox or cholera. While our seaports and the gates of our * cities and towns have been closed against the contagion of disease, they have been opened wide to admit the more fatal contagion which is flowing upon us, in the shape of pauperism and crime, from the prisons and lazar-houses of Europe. We dread fever and the plague, and endeavor to exclude them, while "the pestilence which walketh in darkness and blighteth at mid-day,' " has been suffered to enter with- out let or hindrance. It is time we should open our eyes and look the evil in the face ; we should examine our prison and alms-house statistics, and provide a remedy, cost what it may. 140 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. An insult to our flag, by a failure to salute it with the required number of guns, a refusal to indemnify a citizen for a wrong committed on liis person or property, or the neglect of some point of national etiquette by a foreign government, is always fgllowed by a demand for explanation and apology ; and if explanation be denied, our na- tional pride takes fire, and war, ultima ratio regum, the last argument of kings, is immediatelj' threatened. But against emptying upon us the contents of hospitals, and houses of refuge, and prisons, we have nothing to object ; we are tamely acquiescent, for fear, probably, that opposition might be construed into hostility to other classes of immigrant foreigners, whose votes may be esteemed necessary to the success of this party or that. Operated on by motives so unworthy and unmanly, American statesmen and legislators have stood by, with folded arms, and permitted the fairest heritage that Heaven has ever* vouchsafed to a people, to be overrun by the inmates of foreign prisons, and the corrupted and impoverished hordes of foreign capitals. I am willing that this country should continue to be the asylum of the op- pressed of every land ; tliat out of its abundance the virtuous needy should be fed as heretofore ; that in its institutions they should find protection for person and property. But, Mr. President, the time has come when the door of admission should be closed forever against all settled and legalized paupers, and all persons convicted or sus- pected of crime, who shall be sent hither through the agency of their respective governments. If a stop be not speedily put to this kind of immigration, the fountains of public morality will be corrupted, and the public safety compromised. Can it be otherwise, when those who are brought here are the vicious, the turbulent, conspiritors against order, pickpockets, thieves, burglars, and murderers ? These people are of the stuff of which mobs are made ; thev are the class which in- vade the purity of the ballot-box, interfere Avitli the freedom of the elective franchise, and disturb public order. In the great cities of the republic, in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, St. Louis, and New Orleans, the evils wdiich have grown out of the admission of these classes of immigrants have be- come gigantic — frightful. Not only have the irresolute and timid become alarmed at the magnitude of the mischief which threatens the public peace and endangers the public morals, but firm-minded and far-sighted statesmen have seen and appreciated the imminence of the danger, and the necessity for prompt and energetic measures to ar- rest it. I am aware, Mr. President, that it is not fully within the constitu- tional competency of Congress or of the general government, to provide what might be regarded as an adequate remedy for the mischiefs but too likely to grow out of these organizations. The President of the United States has but a modified control over the volunteers and other militia of the several States. To the States, therefore, and the gov- ernors of the States, it belongs to remedy the present existing evil. But Congress, also, has a duty to perform in reference to this subject, byproviding, as far as possible, against the admission into thecountry of those dangerous and desperate men wlio come here from foreign work- FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. . 141 houses and prisons, by the compulsory agency of the governments to which they belong. If an adequscte security against the future trans- portation of this class of men into the country cannot be provided by negotiation, it should be done by legislation. Congress has the power to make such regulations as will measurably, at least, close the door against the admission of this class of immigrants ; and it will be re- creant to one of its highest duties, if it should fail to exercise it. Not only is the corruption of the public morals to be apprehended from the admission of these men, but the public peace and security are like- wise endangered by it. Private property, health, life, morals, repu- tation, everything dear to communities and individuals is endangered by receiving this class of men. Is it not time, Mr. President, in view of such facts as these, that the most vigorous measures should be adopted to prevent the country from becoming a mere jjenal colony of the governments of Eurojie? Hating our institutions, and jealous of the unexampled progress of tlie nation in wealth, power, and great- ness, yet afraid to assail us openly, does not their conduct, in this respect, almost look as if it were the result of a determination on their part to corrupt tlie fountains of our prosperity by sapping the morals of our people? For a far less offence than that which is continually being committed against us by the governments of continental Europe, war would be justifiable. But to this extremity we need not proceed. There are other remedial means less costly, and more effectual, if not to punish the offending governments, at least to prevent the recur- rence of the offence ; and to these we must have resort, if we would stay the flood of i)auperism and crime flowing in upon us from the old world. And who, Mr. President, permit me ask, will resist the attempt, or be offended at its success ? Will the honest foreigner — who comes bona fide to escape oppression at home, and enjoy liberty here — object because we refuse to permit the asylum which he has sought as a home for himself and his children, to become the refuge of thieves and mur- derers, or the thriftless inmates of European work-houses? Our advan- tage and the advantage of our children will be his advantage and the advantage of his children, from generation to generation. Him, there- fore we cannot offend by pursuing the course which the national safety demands. Who, then, will complain? It is easy to answer. Those who will complain are the unfeeling, but calculating despots who send hither, by compulsion, the wretched and miserable inmates of their almshouses and hospitals, reduced to poverty and want, and afflicted by disease through the burdens and hardships occasioned by unjust wars, waged for conquest or to gratify pride. They will complain, (but not openly,) because instead of fifty shillings paid per head for transporting paupers to this country, treble that sum will be required to maintain them at home. Another class may also object to the measures which we may take for our own security — I mean the convicts and felons, who will be left to expiate their crimes in the solitude of na- tive prisons, instead of pursuing a career of prosperous villany here, because their rulers Avill not dare to turn them loose at home, though willing to do it here. But, Mr. President, there is still another class that has a right to complain of the tardiness of the government in arresting this evil ; 142 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. and they do complain, and with justice of the composure with which the government looks on and sees the public burdens increased, morals endangered, and the peace and order of society menaced. They com- plain, also, and with reason, that, in consequence of the admission of a class of immigrants, who become a charge on the community from the moment of their landing, their labor is unduly taxed, and their earnings, intended for the support of their OAvn families, a})propriated to a purpose that would be unnecessary, if the government Avould per- form its duty properly. It is not only the American laborer that suffers from the causes to which I have referred. The foreigner, who has c(3me hither, volun- tarily to take advantage of the benefits of a free government, is equally a suiferer. His lal)or, as well as the labor of liis native neighbor is taxed, and the reward of his industry curtailed in the payment of poor rates, and otlier levies for the maintenance of almshouses and hos- pitals. No one, Mr. President, would object to contributions levied for the support of the unfortunate poor of their own community, or those afflicted by disease. But every community should support its own paupers, and provide for the comforts of its own indigent sick. In Grreat Britain, one parish is not bound to support tlie poor of another ; much less the poor of other countries. And such is tlie law in most of the States of the Union. But by the unfriendly and dishonest practices of foreign governments, the industry of our own citizens, natives, and naturalized, is taxed to support foreign paupers, sent hither in viola- tion alike of comity and justice. No. 27. Leipsic, June 4, 1855. It cannot be denied that for some time the governments of some States, and also the authorities of several commimities, have deemed it convenient to free themselves from their }>aupers by shipping them to the United States. It is also notorious that criminals, after having suffered ])unishnient, have in the same manner been transported to the United States, with the view to free tlie community of them for- ever. In consequence of this, a system of economy was adopted pro- ductive of unavoidable evils, as they (the immigrants) were supplied merely Avith money sufficient for the payment of their passages, and hence, on their arrival at distant ports, being destitute of all means of support, they were compelled immediately to apply for aid. and were, therefore, regarded as very unwelcome visitors. These ])ractices are certainly as inhuman as they aru imprudent, but the government of Saxony has not at any time had recourse to this system of economy. We have been thoroughly acquainted with the immigration affairs of Germany for the last' eight years, during which time not a single case which could implicate the kingdom of Saxony in such action has FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 143 ever come within our knowledge. On the contrary, it is a subject of regret to us that, with very few exceptions, the greater part of those who immigrate from Saxony are composed cliiefly of tlie wealthier class of our people and our best mechanics. We, therefore, instead of gaining, are put to a loss of millions of dollars, and of the best por- tion of our honest and most valuable citizens. As it appears the G-erman immigration to the United States is be- coming too powerful and troublesome, you may assure the American authorities tliat a speedy change in this respect is unavoidable. The decrease of immigration in general, and to North America in particu- lar, during the last year, has become so apparent that Ave are war- ranted in asserting that the immigration of this year will not be iialf so numerous as that of last year. The seaports present quite a deso- late appearance at the usual time of immigration, but the accounts which we receive from all the interior parts of Germany, of the great change in immigration, is still more remarkable. Hundreds <.)f thou- sands who intended to immigrate have entirely abandoned the notion. Most respectfully, A. SHULTZE. The Directors of the National Society of German Immigration. Leipsic, June 9, 1855. I beg leave to add a few remarks to the subject of our verbal con- versation. It cannot be denied that European governments and principalities have been in the practice of freeing themselves irom their paupers, and even of their more or less guilty criminals, by sending them to America and paying the cost of their voyage to the seaports and the passage from there to America, without making provision for the wants of this unhappy class of people to enable them to commence an honest trade. Without any means of support, they become a burden to the au- thorities abroad, and it is to be Avondered that measures have not, ere this, been taken to put a stop to tliis practice. But I am happy to state that our fatherland. Saxony, is free from such an imjiutation. The immigrants from here Avere all powerful, wealtliy, and industrious people, supidied Avith means, yes, even wealth, such as I could only see come here with a feeling of sadness, and such as America will receive Avith o})en arms. For myself, I have never taken part in the above mentioned ailairs, and would not give my sanction. Accept the assurance of mv highest esteem, from yours, GEORGE SCHREIDER, General Acjent for the German Immigration. 144 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PArPERS. No. 28. On the 14th of February, 1855, Mayor Wood addressed the follow- ing letter to the Belgian consul at New York, in relation to the Bel- gian paupers referred to by {Senator Cooper in his speech in the United States Senate, and also a communication on the same subject to the Commissioners of Immigration : — Mayor's Office, Neic York, February 14. Sir : After mature deliberation and an examination of the testimony taken before Justice Bogart, together with additional information from the American consul at Antwerp, just received, I am reluctantly forced to the conclusion that the persons now in the city prison, who came as immigrant passengers by the ship Rochambeau, from Ant- werp, are not of a character to be permitted to go at large in this city or in this country : and while we cannot set them at liberty, we can- not longer retain them in custody. Some measures must be adopted at once to relieve the city from the expense of providing for them, and at the same time to secure us from the danger of their presence abroad in the country. Therefore, as it is beyond question, from the evidence before me, and wliich is open to your examination, that they were embarked at Antwerp by the order and at the expense of the Belgian local authorities, I suggest that they be returned to their own country at the cost of the Belgian government, whose agent you are in this city. I see no other resource. Humanity and justice require that they should no longer be retained in prison in this city, where they have committed no otfence ; and self-preservation requires that we shall prevent them being set at liberty, Avith the belief that their presence would be dangerous to our property. From your high char- acter in this city, knowledge and appreciation of our institutions, I am confident you will comprehend the necessity which forces me to take tliis position, and promptly to respond to the request that these people be re-embarked for Antwerp without delay. I am, with great respect, vour obedient servant, FERNANDO WOOD, 3Iayor. P. S. Tiie ship Henry Reed, which arrived at this port from Ant- werp on the 10th instant, had on board six or eight of the same class of immigrants, sent by the Belgian authorities, under the same circumstances as tliose now referred to, per Rochambeau ; but my information of the fact, which is not official, did not reach me Tiutil the loth instant, wlien too late to take action, and they are now in our midst, to add to the crime and destitution which are surround- ing me on all sides. The Commissioners of Immigration thereupon adopted the follow- ing ])reamble and resolution : Whereas, lately, more ships bringing immigrant paupers, or other improper persons, to this city, have arrived from Antwerp than any other port, therefore. FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 145 Resolved, That Henry W. T. Mali, the Belgian consul at this port, be requested to inform his government — 1. Of the above fact. 2. That there are persons, known to this commission, doing business at Ant- werp, who are especially instrumental in forwarding all persons dan- gerous and injurious to society. 3. That the commissioners will hereafter investigate, especially, all passengers arriving in ships com- ing from Antwerp. No. 29. On the 28th of March, 1855, Mr. Redfield, collector of the port of New York, forwarded the following to Mayor V/ood, which he received from the United States consul, at Zurich, Switzerland. It speaks for itself: U. S. Consulate, Zurich, Switzerland, 3Iarch 3, 1855. Dear Sir: I have just been informed that the Commune of Nie- derwyl (Zofingen,) in the canton of Argovia, in Switzerland, have been forwarding 320 of their poorest people to the United States. They left a few days since for Havre, with the intention of sailing for New York. Enclosed is an extract from a paper wliich is published in the same canton, and which fully endorses it. It says : "A few days since the commune of Niederwyl, district Zofingen, in the canton of Argovia, sent 320 of their poorest people to the United States, in spite of all admonition." I wrote to our consul at Havre, giving him the information, and requesting him to ascertain the name or names of the vessels in which they were to sail, or had sailed, and to give you the information, so that you, or the city officials, could be on the lookout, and judge for your- selves. I am -told that in a short time another large company is to follow from a neighboring district, and that all are provided with legal pass- ports. I shall feel it my duty, whenever any thing of this kind comes to my notice, to give either the collector, or the mayor of the city, information of it. Very respectfuUv, vour obedient servant, G. H. GOUNDIE. No. 30. In addition to the multitude of facts already adduced, showing the extent of the immigration of foreign convicts and paupers, tlie follow- ing letter from the State Department at Washington, recently pub- lished in the New Orleans papers, shows the means resorted to by those engaged in transporting them hither to avoid detection: H. ilep. 359 10 146 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. Department of State, Washington, September ?,, 1855. Sir : I have the honor to transmit to you, for your information, the following extract from a dispatch dated August 4th ult., received at this department from Mr. A. D. Gall, United States consul at Bre- men: " The circular issued by the immigration agents in the interior of Germany, caution immigrants who are deformed, crippled, or maimed, &c., against taking passage to New York_, and advise them to go by way of Baltimore, New Orleans, or Quebec, where the laws prohibit- ing the landing of immigrants of the above classes do not apply." I am, sir, with higli respect, your obedient servant, W. HUNTER, Assistant Secretary, The Mayor of Neio Orlerms, Louisiana. No. 31. CIRCULAR. [No. 1,898.] Liege, Belgium, BlarcJi 14, 1854. Immigrants for the United States. Transportation. — Gentlemen: The transports for immigrants for the United States will take their departure from Antwerp. A large number of vessels are prepared already to leave at various i)eriods of this month. A certain number of liberated prisoners from Vilrorde, and from several poor-houses, (depot de mendicete,) are on the point of departing. The price of the passage, all expenses included, is 180 francs, which sum should be paid in advance at the bureau of the governor of the province. I beg of you to let me know as soon as possible if your district has any pas- sengers to be forwarded. Each individual should be sent to the jail (maison d'arret) of Antwerp, and have in his possession simply a cer- tificate on the following model : "The Inirgomaster of the district of , province of Leige, Belgium, certifies that (gi"^'e the age, place of birth, parentage,) is unmarked." The departure will take place during the year, every fortnight. The Commissary of the Arrondissement, TH. FLECHET. The Burgomaster and Council of . No. 32. JUDGE WILSON'S SPEECH.— Extract. " The gentleman says tliat it is unfortunate in another point of view ; it means to prohibit the introduction of white people from Europe, as this tax may deter tliem from coming among us. A little impartiality and attention will discover the care that the convention took in selecting their language. The words are — ' the migration or FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 147 importation of sucli persons, &c., shall not be prohibited by Congress prior to the year 1808, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation. ' It is observable here that the term migration is dropped, when a tax or duty is mentioned, so that Congress have power to im- pose the tax only on those imported.'"' — (See Elliott's Debates vol. 2., p. 453.) No. 33. JUDGE IREDELL'S SPEECH— Extract. "Mr. Chairman: The worthy gentleman, I believe, has misunder- stood this clause, which runs in the following words : 'The migra- tion or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year 1808, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such impor- tation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.' Now, sir, observe that the eastern States, who long ago have abolished slaves^ did not approve of the expression slaves ; they therefore used another that answered the same purpose. The committee will observe the distinc- tion between the two words migration and importation. The first part of the clause will extend to persons who come into this country as free people, or as slaves bought. But the last part extends towards slaves only. The word migration refers to free persons ; but the word importation refers to slaves, because free people cannot be said to be imported. The tax, therefore, is only to be laid on slaves who are imported, and not free persons who migrate." — (See Elliott's Debates, vol. 4., p. 101.) No. 34. ROBERT GOODLOE HARPER'S LETTER.— Extract. cc The design of this clause was to prevent the general governmenl from prohibiting the importation of slaves, but the same reasons which caused them to strike out the word ' national,' and not admit the word ' stamps,' influenced them here to guard against the word 'slaves.' They anxiously sought to avoid the admission of expressions which might be odious in tlie cars of Americans, although they were willing to admit into their system those things which the expressions signified ; and hence it is that the clause is so worded as really to authorize the general government to impose a duty often dollars on every foreigner who comes into a State to become a citizen, whether he comes absolutely free, or (|ualified so as a servant; although this is contrary to the design of the framers, and the duty was only meant to extend to the importation of slaves." — {See Elliott's Debates, vol. I., p. 372.) 148 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. No. 35. So in the cases oi Smith v. Tm-ner, and Norris v. City of Boston, in which the constitutionality of the passenger laws of New York and Massaclnisetts came under consideration, and were declared void. Justice McKinley delivered the following opinion : The first clause of the ninth section and first article of the Constitu- tion provides, " that the migration or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not he prohihited hy the Congress, prior to the year 1808, hut a tax or duty may he imposed on such importations, not exceeding $10 for each person." On the last argument of this clause no reference was made to this clause of the Constitution ; nor have I ever heard a full and satisfactory argument on the subject. Yet, on a full examination of this clause, connected with other provisions of the Constitution, it has had a controlling influence on my mind in the determination of the case before us. Some of ray brethren have insisted that the clause here quoted applies exclusively to the importation of slaves. If the phrase " the migration or importation of such persons" was intended by the convention to mean slaves only, why, in the assertion of the taxing power, did they, in the same clause, separate migration from importation, and use the following language? "But a tax or duty may be imposed on such persons, not exceeding $10 for each person." All will admit, that if the word migration were excluded from the clause, it would apply to slaves only. An unsuccessful attempt was made in the convention to amend this clause, by striking out the word migration, and thereby to make it apply to slaves exclusively. In the face of this fact, the debates in the convention, certain numbers of the Federalist, together with Mr. Madison's report to the legisla- ture of Virginia in 1799 — eleven years after the adoption of the Con- stitution — are relied on to prove that the words migration and impor- tation are synonymous, within the true intent and meaning of this clause. The acknowledged accuracy of language and clearness of dic- tion in the Constitution would seem to forbid the imputation of so gross an error to the distinguished authors of that instrument. I have been unable to find anything in the debates of the convention, in the Federalist, or the report of Mr. Madison, inconsistent with the con- struction here given. Were they, however, directly opposed to it, they could not, by any known rule of construction, control or modify the plain and unambiguous language of the clause in question. The conclusion, to my mind, is therefore irresistible that there are two separate and distinct classes of persons intended to be provided for by this clause. Although they are both subjects of commerce, the latter class only is the subject of trade and importation. The slaves are not immigrants, and had no exercise of volition in their transportation from Africa to the United States. The owner was bound to enter them at the custom-house, as any other article of commerce or impor- tation, and to pay the duty imposed by law ; whilst the persons of the first class, although subjects of commerce, had the free exercise of volition, snd could remove at pleasure from one place to another ; and FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. 149 when they determined to migrate or remove from any European gov- ernment to the United States, they voluntarily dissolved the bond of allegiance to their sovereign, with the intention to contract a tempo- rary or permanent allegiance to the government of the United States, and if transported in an American ship, that allegiance commenced the moment they got on board. They were subject to, protected by^ the laws of the United States to the end of their voyage. Having thus shown that there are two separate and distinct classes included in, and provided by, the clause of the Constitution referred to, the question arises, how far the persons of the first class are protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States from the operation of the statute of New York now under consideration ? The power was conferred on Congress to prohibit migration or importation of such persons into all the new States, from and after the time of their ad- mission into the Union, because the exemption from the prohibition of Cone:ress was confined exclusivelv to the States then existino;, and left the power to operate upon all the new States admitted into the Union prior to 1808. Four new States having been thus admitted within that time, it follows, beyond controversy, the power of Congress over the whole subject of migration and importation was comjilete throughout the United States after 1808, The power to prohibit the admission of " all such persons," includes necessarily, the power to admit them on such conditions as Congress may think proper to impose; and, therefore, as a condition, Congress has the unlimited power of taxing them. If this reasoning l)e correct, the whole power over the subject belongs exclusively to Congress, and connects itself indissolubly with the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations. How far, then, are these immigrants protected, upon their arrival in the United States, against the power of State statutes ? The ship, the cargo^ the master, the crew, and the passengers are all under the protection of the laws of the United States to the final ter- mination of the voyage ; and the passengers have a right to be landed and go on shore under the protection of and subject to these laws only, except so far as they may be subject to the quarantine laws of the place where the}' are landed ; which laws are not drawn in question in this controversy. The great question here is, where does the power of the United States over this subject end, and where does the State power begin? This is, perhaps, one of the most perplexing questions ever submitted to the consideration of this court. A similar question arose in the case oi Brown v. the State of Mary- land, (12 Wheat., 419,) in which the court carried out the power of Congress to regulate commerce with foreign nations, upon the subject then under consideration, to the line which separates it from the reserved powers of the States, and plainly established the power of the States over the same subject-matter beyond that line. The clause of the Constitution already referred to in this case, taken in connexion with the provision which confers on Congress the power to pass all laws necessary and proper for carrying into effect the enu- merated and all other powers granted by the Constitution, seem neces- sarily to include the whole power over this subject; and the Constitu- tion and laws of the United States being the supreme law of the land, 150 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. State power cannot be extended over the same subject. It therefore follows tliat passengers can never be subject to State laws until they become a portion of the population of the State, temporarily or per- manently ; and this view of the subject seems to be fully sustained by the case above referred to. Were it even admitted that the State of New York had power to pass the statute under consideration, in the absence of legislation by Congress on this subject, it would avail nothing in this case, because the whole ground had been occupied by Congress before that act was passed, as has been fully shown by the preceding opinion of my brother Catron. The laws referred to in that opinion show conclusively that the passengers, their moneys, their clothing, their baggage, their tools, their implements, &c., are per- mitted to land in the United States without tax, duty, or impost. I therefore concur in the opinion, that the judgment of the court below should be reversed. No. 3G. Justice McLean thus distinctly recognized the internal police power of the States: "The acknowledged police power of a State extends often to the destruction of property. A nuisance may be abated. Everything prejudicial to the health or morals of a city may be removed. Mer- chandise from a port where a contagious disease prevails, being liable to communicate the disease, may be excluded ; and, in extreme cases, it may be thrown into the sea. This comes in direct conflict with the regulations of commerce, and yet no one doubts the local power. It is a power essential to self-preservation, and exists, necessarily, in every organized community. It is, indeed, the law of nature, and is pos- sessed by man in his individual ca])acity. He may resist that which does harm him, whether he be assailed by an assassin, or approached by poison. And it is the settled construction of every regulation of commerce, that, under the sanction of its general laws, no person can introduce into a community malignant diseases, or anything which contaminates its morals, or endangers its safety. And this is an ac- knowledged principle applicable to all general regulations. Individ- uals, in the enjoyment of their own rights, must be careful not to injure the rights of others. "From the explosive nature of gunpowder, a city may exclude it. Now this is an article of commerce and is not known to carry infec- tious disease ; yet, to guard against a contingent injury, a city may prohibit its introduction. These exceptions are always implied in commercial regulations, where the general government is admitted to have the exclusive power. They are not regulations of commerce, but acts of self preservation. And although they affect commerce to some extent, yet such effect is the result of the exercise of an undoubted ■power in the State. FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. ' 151 "In all matters of government, and especially of police, a wide dis- cretion is necessary. It is not susceptible of an exact limitation, but must be exercised under the changing exigencies of society. In the progress of population, of wealth, and of civilization, new and vicious indulgences spring up^ which require restraints that can only be im- posed by the legislative power. When this i)ower shall be exerted, how far it shall be carried and where it shall cease, must mainly de- pend upon the evil to be remedied. Under the pretence of a police regulation, a State cannot counteract the commercial power of Con- gress. And yet, as has been shown, to guard the health, morals, and safety of the community, the laws of a State may prohibit an importer from landing his goods, and may sometimes authorize their destruc- tion. But this exception to the operation of the general commercial law is limited to the existing exigency. " The police power of a State and the foreign commercial power of Congress must stand together. Neither of them can be so exercised as materially to affect the other. The sources and objects of these powers are exclusive, distinct, and independent, and are essential to both governments." And Justice Grier, in the same case, said: It has been frequently decided by this court, "that the powers which relate to merely municipal regulations, or Avhat may more properly be called internal police, are not surrendered by the States, or re- strained by the Constitution of the United States ; and that conse- quently, in relation to these, the authority of a State is complete, unqualified and conclusive." Without attempting to define what are the ])eculiar subjects or limits of this power, it may safely be affirmed that every law for the restraint and punishment of crime, for the pre- servation of the public j^eace, health, and mnrals must come within this categorv. As subjects of legislation, they are, from t'leir very nature, of pri- mary importance ; they lie at the foundation of social existence ; they are for the protection of life and liberty, and necessarily compel all laws on subjects of secondary importance, which relate only to proj)- erty, convenience, or luxury, to recede, when they come in conflict or collision . ' ' Solus popidi suprema lex. ' ' If the right to control these subjects be " complete, unqualified and exclusive" in the State legislatures, no regulations of secondary im- portance can supersede or restrain their operations, on any ground of prerogative or supremacy. The exigencies of the social compact re- quire that such laws be executed before and above all others. It is for this reason that quarantine laws, which protect the public health, compel mere commercial regulations to submit to their control. They restrain the liberty of the passengers, they operate on the ship which is the instrument of commerce, and its officers and crew, the agents of navigation. They seize the infected cargo, and cast it overboard. The soldier and the sailor, though in the service of the government, are arrested, imprisoned, and punished for their ofiences against soci- ety. Paupers and convicts are refused admission into the country. 152 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS. All these things are done, not from any power which the States assume to re<2;ulate commerce or to interfere with the regulations of Congress, but because police laws for the ])reservation of health, prevention of crime, and protection of the public welfare, must of necessity have full and free operation, according to the exigency which requires their interference. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 325.1UN313F C001 FOREIGN CRIMINALS AND PAUPERS WASHINGTO 2 031771683