There were fourteen States each of which had an Irish-born population of less than 10,000 souls—to wit, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and Virginia; nineteen States each of which had an Irish-born population of less than 100,000—to wit, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin; while Illinois had 120,000, Massachusetts 216,000, Pennsylvania 235,000, and New York 528,000 Irish-born citizens. Eighteen States had each a German-born population of less than 10,000—namely, Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia. Thirteen States had each a German-born population of less than 100,000—namely, California, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Texas; while Missouri had 113,618, Pennsylvania 160,146, Wisconsin 162,314, Ohio 182,889, Illinois 203,750, and New York 316,882. The following table will show the exact number of persons of Austrian, German, French, and Irish birth residing in each State in 1870:

States.Austrian.French.German.Irish.
Alabama995872,4793,893
Arkansas412361,5621,428
California1,0788,06329,69954,421
Connecticut1548201,24370,630
Delaware81271,1415,007
Florida17126595737
Georgia343082,7605,093
Illinois2,09910,908203,750120,162
Indiana4436,36278,05628,698
Iowa2,6913,13066,16040,124
Kansas4481,27412,77410,040
Kentucky1462,05230,31821,642
Louisiana43312,28818,91217,068
Maine1013650815,745
Maryland26664047,04523 630
Massachusetts2551,62713,070216,120
Michigan7953,12064,14342,013
Minnesota2,6471,74341,36421,746
Mississippi856212,9543,359
Missouri1,4936,291113,61854,983
Nebraska29934010,9544,999
Nevada1574142,1815,135
New Hampshire95943612,190
New Jersey6863,12853,99986,784
New York3,92822,273316,882528,806
North Carolina1353904677
Ohio3,69912,778182,88982,674
Oregon533081,8751,967
Pennsylvania1,5568,682160,146235,798
Rhode Island191671,20031,534
South Carolina101432,7423,262
Tennessee1125624,5258,048
Texas1,7482,22623,9764,031
Vermont29337014,080
Virginia563684,0505,191
West Virginia592236,2316,832
Wisconsin4,4862,704162,31448,479
30,104116,2401,690,4101,855,827

These four nationalities, then, account for 3,692,581 of the foreign-born population in 1870; and the remaining 1,874,648 had their birth in the other thirty-five different countries named in one of our preceding tables. A glance over the table just given will show still more plainly within what limits the great bulk of the Irish and German born population is found; and the reader will remember that we have shown that all but 1,373,258 of the entire foreign-born population were residing in the ten States of California, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. In twenty of the States the persons of Irish birth exceeded those of German birth; in the remaining seventeen States the latter outnumbered the former. The excess of persons of Irish birth over those of German birth, however, was only 165,417. This was seven years ago. During these seven years the emigration from Germany has almost equalled that from Ireland, and for the thirty years last past, taken as a whole, the arrivals from Germany have exceeded those from Ireland by 119,293 souls. We shall probably not be far out of the way if we assume that the entire foreign-born population of the United States is at present about seven millions, of whom two and a half millions are of German, and nearly an equal number of Irish, birth. Let us, however, continue to confine ourselves for the present to the official facts in our possession, and proceed to follow up the 5,567,229 persons of foreign birth whom we know were among us in 1870.

One of the remarks most frequently made concerning the foreign-born population of this country is that it has a general disposition to congregate in our large cities, from which have come consequences highly prejudicial both to itself and to the community at large. These two assertions have been made so persistently and in such good faith; they have seemed to be so susceptible of proof and so apparently true; and they have chimed in so well with the sometimes latent and sometimes active prejudice against “foreigners” which is so often found in the breasts of the natives of every country, that they have passed current almost without challenge and have come to be regarded as axioms. Nay, not a few of our foreign-born citizens themselves, and even of the Catholic bishops and clergy, have often accepted these two assertions as true, and have not ceased to deplore the crowding of the foreign population into the large cities, regarding it as an almost unmixed evil, and pointing to it as the source of direful woe. No doubt they have had some reason on their side. A large proportion of the crime and misery of our cities is perpetrated and suffered by foreign-born citizens or by their children in the first generation. Had these citizens not been gathered together in the cities, but scattered at remote distances throughout the country, they might have been criminal and miserable, but their crime and misery would not have been so obtrusive and apparent to every observer. But, leaving this point for a moment to return to it in the light of the facts we are about to adduce, let us see what amount of truth there is in these two assertions. We may remark, in passing, that the truth of the first does not necessarily imply the truth of the second: it may be true that the foreign-born population has congregated to an apparently undue and unwise extent in our cities, but it may not be true that this has been by any means an unmixed evil either to the foreigners themselves or to the native-born.

POPULATION, NATIVE AND FOREIGN, OF THE LARGE CITIES, 1870.

CITIES.Scotch.French.Austrian.Belgian.
New York7,5598,2402,737325
Philadelphia4,1752,471519116
Brooklyn4,0981,892321142
St. Louis1,2022,788751254
Chicago4,1951,417704392
Baltimore52542821529
Boston1,79461512431
Cincinnati7872,09055446
New Orleans5688,806253134
San Francisco1,6873,543470139
Buffalo9962,33213537
Washington298191268
Newark87071026145
Louisville2988566931
Cleveland6683392,15516
Pittsburgh5843481179
Jersey City1,1752766943
Detroit1,637760161233
Milwaukee42318957479
Albany4271493617
Providence5757251
Rochester428475394
Allegheny5706191096
Richmond146144295
New Haven347133546
Charleston11597394
Indianapolis258237145
Troy46288147
Syracuse138276471
Worcester18729121
Lowell4692833
Memphis1192071410
Cambridge29810091
Hartford35992206
Scranton366644—
Reading3577362
Paterson8792374821
Kansas City180110441
Mobile1663113311
Toledo11920693—
Portland1722321
Columbus13323820—
Wilmington11764—2
Dayton90242282
Lawrence691492
Utica198287252
Charlestown892912
Savannah72995—
Lynn7251—
Fall River382342
Totals43,05542,43011,2182,232
CITIES.Native.Irish.German.English.Brit. Amer.
New York523,198201,999151,20324,4084,372
Philadelphia490,39896,69850,74622,0341,453
Brooklyn251,38173,98536,76918,8322,779
St. Louis198,61532,23959,0405,3661,986
Chicago154,42039,98852,31610,0269,528
Baltimore210,87015,22335,2762,138292
Boston162,54056,9005,6065,96813,548
Cincinnati136,62718,62449,4463,5241,175
New Orleans142,94314,69315,2242,005384
San Francisco75,75425,86413,6025,1662,237
Buffalo71,47711,26422,2493,5584,113
Washington95,4426,9484,1311,231211
Newark69,17512,48115,8734,040296
Louisville75,0857,62614,380930311
Cleveland54,0149,96415,8554,5302,599
Pittsburgh58,25413,1198,7032,838282
Jersey City50,71117,6657,1514,005556
Detroit44,1966,97012,6473,2827,398
Milwaukee37,6673,78422,5991,395792
Albany47,21513,2765,1681,572843
Providence51,72712,0855922,4261,038
Rochester41,2026,0787,7302,5302,619
Allegheny City37,8724,0347,6651,112152
Richmond47,2601,2391,62128942
New Haven36,4829,6012,4231,087336
Charleston44,0642,1801,82623432
Indianapolis37,5873,3215,286697297
Troy30,24610,8771,1741,5751,697
Syracuse29,0615,1725,0621,3451,167
Worcester29,1598,3893258931,960
Lowell26,4939,103341,6973,034
Memphis33,4462,9871,768589225
Cambridge27,5797,1804821,0432,518
Hartford26,3637,4381,438787396
Scranton19,2056,4913,0561,444125
Reading30,0595472,64830526
Paterson20,7115,1241,4293,347128
Kansas City24,5812,8691,884709821
Mobile27,7952,00084338655
Toledo20,4853,0325,341694984
Portland24,4013,900825572,017
Columbus23,6631,8453,982504190
Wilmington25,6893,50368461347
Dayton23,0501,3264,962394131
Lawrence16,2047,4574672,4561,563
Utica18,9553,4962,8221,352261
Charlestown21,3994,8032164881,119
Savannah24,5642,19778725163
Lynn23,2983,232173301,133
Fall River15,2885,572374,0421,324
Totals3,808,770826,398564,967165,02480,728

In fifty of the largest cities of the United States there was in 1870 a total native population of 3,808,770 souls; 826,398 persons of Irish birth; 564,967 of German birth; 165,024 of English birth; 80,728 natives of British America; 43,055 natives of Scotland; 42,430 natives of France; 11,218 natives of Austria; and 2,232 natives of Belgium—in all, 1,736,052 persons born in foreign countries.

The foregoing tables give the native population of each of these fifty cities, with the foreign population belonging to each of these eight nationalities.

The persons of foreign birth of other nationalities in the above cities would raise the whole number to about 1,800,000 souls.