The EARL of ENNISKILLENwished to put a question to the noble Lord at the head of the Colonial Department, on the subject of the Irish emigrants to Canada. In an Irish newspaper which he had received that day he found an account of their lamentable condition in a letter written by the Bishop of Quebec, who stated that, after landing, these unfortunate emigrants had endured the greatest hardships. He had been in hopes, from the clear and satisfactory statement made by the noble Lord (Earl Grey) about six weeks ago, that, after the sufferings of the voyage were over, the emigrants would have been taken care of, and, with Government assistance, would have been enabled to get into the interior and become distributed. However, from the tenor of the letter to which he had adverted, he was disposed to apprehend that the Governor of Canada had, to a certain extent, been taken by surprise by the influx of emigrants. [The noble Earl here read a passage from the letter in question, descriptive of the sufferings of the emigrants on landing.] He was quite sure that the noble Lord deeply sympathized with the condition of these emigrants; but the subject was of the utmost importance, not only to Ireland, but to England. Let them recollect the different social state of the two countries. He believed that, according to the best statistical information, the average wages of an able bodied labourer in England were 25l. a year, while the average in Ireland was but 5l. Consequently, unless vigorous measures were taken, the able bodied labourers of Ireland, not the paupers, would come over to this country in large numbers, 181 and enter into ruinous competition with the English labourers, deteriorating their condition, and spreading amongst them, from density of population, the ravages of fever. He trusted that the Parliament and the Government would adopt measures to ward off this evil. He wished to know whether the Government had recently received any communication from Canada on the subject to which he had alluded?
§ EARL GREYgrieved to say that it was too true that the Government had received accounts of most deplorable sufferings endured by the emigrants. He had anticipated that this would be the case, and his anticipation had unfortunately turned out to be too correct. A large number of the emigrants having endured during the previous winter extreme suffering, the consequence was that, though the ships carrying them out were quite as well provided as emigrant ships usually were, the mere change of life, combined with their weakened state, had been productive of fever. Accordingly, on arriving in the St. Lawrence, it was found necessary that they should be detained in a quarantine station. Lord Elgin lost not a moment in adopting the most prompt and energetic measures to meet the evil, having been already warned by him (Earl Grey) that evils of this kind were likely to arise. Application was made by Lord Elgin to the Ordnance Department, and tents for the use of 10,000 persons were got ready, and measures were taken to erect sheds for their accommodation. A large number of additional medical officers were also engaged to render assistance. In short, all that human skill or art could effect for the relief of these unhappy persons was put in requisition. Measures of precaution had likewise been taken in advance, the usual vote for assisting emigrants having been greatly increased; and Lord Elgin had been instructed, in full confidence that Parliament would, under the circumstances, acquiesce in the arrangement, to take all the measures best calculated to mitigate the sufferings of the emigrants, by providing increased medical attendance and greater accommodation, even if, for that purpose, it was necessary to exceed the amount of the vote granted by Parliament for that attendance. With a view to permanent emigration being carried on hereafter upon the scale on which he considered it ought to be conducted, it would, he thought, have been most injudicious and unadvisable had 182 they attempted to seek a remedy for the immediate sufferings of Ireland by any measure calculated to give an extraordinary stimulus to emigration during the present year. He thought that, without any such interference on the part of Parliament or of the Government, the emigration of the present year would be as large as the condition of the North American provinces would enable them, at this time, to receive. All the accounts which had reached him entirely confirmed that impression. He only hoped that too large a number of emigrants might not have gone out in the present year; but he trusted that the advice which had been given by the rev. Prelate to whose letter the noble Lord had referred, might not have the effect of discouraging and checking emigration in future years, because the sufferings to which emigrants had recently been subjected, were, undoubtedly, to be traced entirely to the consequences of the distress which had prevailed in Ireland. The people, at the time of their embarkation, had in many cases been in such a state of health, that a sudden change from the diet to which they had been accustomed, to a better description of food, had caused the fever to break out. He firmly believed that the sufferings of the emigrants arose entirely from the distress which had existed in Ireland, and that nothing had occurred during the present year which need tend to check or discourage emigrants from proceeding to Canada in future years. He (Earl Grey) wished to add that the most earnest attention of the Government and of the colonial authorities had been directed to this subject, and that every possible measure that could be devised to mitigate the calamities to which the noble Earl opposite had referred would be adopted.
§ LORD MONTEAGLEthanked the noble Karl (Earl Grey) for the statement he had just made, and was desirous to take this opportunity of expressing his conviction that no portion of the distress which had prevailed among the emigrants was attributable to neglect either on the part of the Government, or of the officers who wore employed as emigration agents. Indeed, it was impossible that any persons could have been more assiduous in the discharge of their duties, or more solicitous to promote the comfort of the unfortunate persons who had been referred to, than the emigration agents.
§ House adjourned.