But this is no subject to trifle about; day by day the poor are becoming poorer, and the middle-classes and the rich also. The leaders of the coming democracy seem unwilling to recognise that fact, and are angry when I tell them it is better to emigrate than to agitate in the old country for the ruin of the capitalist, the destruction of our trade, the abolition of the landlord, the advent of the working man’s candidate, and the rights of man. Are they the friends of the poor who bid him stay where he is to cheapen the labour market, already overstocked; to crowd the cities with an unwholesome pauperism; to see his sons ripen into thieves, and his daughters cast on the streets; and to look forward to the workhouse as the refuge of his old age? Even if we had a revolution as complete as that of France, what then? Over-population will breed sorrow and sickness and want and despair all the same. In Canada, the man who cares to work is sure of his reward; he has a future before him and his.
I am glad to find, since the above was written, there has been formed by the Congregational Union a special emigration scheme, of which the Rev. Andrew Mearns, of the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, is Secretary, and that they have already sent out over a hundred qualified emigrants. The outfit and passage money of each man costs £7, and it is proposed to give each £2 when he arrives in Canada. The men to be selected are drawn from the ranks of the unemployed who are brought together at the various Mission Halls. The case of each applicant is fully examined, and the men themselves are thoroughly tested as to their honest desire and ability to work. The men having been approved and their record found satisfactory, they are sent to the emigration agent of the colony, who also examines into the cases of the various applicants. This acceptance having been notified, the next and, perhaps, the greatest difficulty is to provide a temporary home for them in the colony to which they are to be sent. As the result of much labour, each man will be sent to the care of some gentleman in the colony, who will see that he is properly provided for, and started in a fair way to obtain work. They are thus going to various towns in the Dominion, such as Kingston, Ontario, Ottawa, Hamilton, London, Toronto, St. Thomas’s, Bellville, and Guelph. Among those to whom introduction has been given are directors of railways, officers of Christian Associations, gardeners, farmers, merchants, and various ministers of influence. It is almost unnecessary to add that the spiritual needs of the men have not been forgotten, and in the kit of each one have been packed a Bible, supplied by the kindness of the Bible Society—who have intimated their willingness to make a similar presentation to every man the Union sends out—and an assortment of suitable and practical religious literature.
Thus far have I told the story of my Canadian experiences. Those who wish to fully pursue the subject will do well to get ‘Picturesque Canada,’ now being published by Messrs. Cassell and Co.
the end.
billing and sons, printers, guildford, surrey.