Those who possess a moderate share of the comforts of life at home, with a fair prospect of retaining them, should never think of emigration. They have not been sufficiently disciplined in the school of adversity, to estimate properly the common comforts of life, and I sincerely advise no one to expect any thing beyond this standard.
Having described the order of persons who ought not to emigrate, together with the causes that have conspired to blight the prospects of the unfortunate, I proceed to notice those to whom emigration may be beneficial, and to point out the qualities required to ensure success.
The thousands and tens of thousands in various parts of our own country, who find the greatest difficulty in obtaining a sufficiency of employment, and are reduced to the necessity of disposing of their time and labour for a mere shadow of remuneration, though they are the very persons that would reap the greatest advantage from emigration, yet the want of the means, sorrowful thought! is with them an insurmountable obstacle. There is however hope for the class immediately above them. The small but industrious tradesman, the artificer, and a numerous order of persons, who are not exactly so poor as to be absolutely incapable of raising the means for removing, and yet from competition, and various other causes, are kept in a perpetual state of thraldom through fear of poverty. These and all others who are extremely anxious to bring up their families in credit and respect, and yet in spite of the most strenuous exertions, united to privations the most humiliating, find themselves incapable of accomplishing their wishes. Such may peruse this chapter with interest—let them do so with circumspection.
From all I can learn, there is no country under heaven where manual labour, attention, and personal exertion of every kind, meet with a richer and more certain reward than in the United States.
I have had the advantage of becoming acquainted with the experience of great numbers: some who have won their way to affluence, and others to the enjoyment of comparative independence, and, however they may differ in particulars, one general line of conduct seems to have been pursued by them all. They were steady, frugal, and industrious; and when subordinates, they never relinquished one post till they had secured a better.
It is a debated point, whether married pairs with families, or young people are most eligible for emigration. Doubtless the experiment may be made by the latter with far less risk of personal comfort or pecuniary sacrifice, in the event of disappointment. But still the numerous facilities that a new country affords, for the bringing up of children, for their useful employment as they grow up, and the unbounded field for exertion, and easy means of support that lies open for all when arrived at mature years, inclines me to pronounce the chance of success in favour of the former—provided the parents be not too far advanced in life; for elderly people do not transplant well.
The amount of property necessary to start with, depends greatly upon the line of life the party is desirous of following. It is of little consequence what a young man takes over for he is almost sure to lose it; and it were better to leave him to become the architect of his own fortunes; but a few scores or hundreds might probably be well disposed of in securing many advantages for a married man. To these and all others who bring over property, I would repeat the advice which I heard the British consul once deliver on a similar occasion. Pass one entire year in the country before you part with a single dollar in any important investment. This sentence deserves to be written in letters of gold, as those can tell who have pursued an opposite course.
But it may be asked, What would you have a man do who has only a few scores or hundreds—it may perhaps be spent before he has attained the knowledge required to dispose of it profitably? To such a one I would say—take good care of your money. For the sake of your own peace and the preservation of your property, give no one reason to suppose you possess any thing worth having. Seek employment as soon as you land, and if you cannot obtain exactly what you wish, take for the present, what you can get. While you remain in your first place, which it is presumed, will be in the city, you will have an opportunity of gaining for nothing, information, the value of which you can form no adequate idea. It is possible that at first you may obtain a place that you consider degrading; but be assured nothing is thought dishonourable in America but what is immoral or useless; and an undesirable post is easily relinquished when you have secured a better.
If you are desirous of locating yourself on a farm, it will be best first to hire yourself to a farmer. Here you will acquire information respecting the value of land, which is more fluctuating than any other description of property.
It is generally admitted that the intelligence which is procured on the spot is the most accurate; for the value of every species of property is subject to variations so sudden, and in such extremes, that a list of particulars deserves no dependence.