| Title: | R. Gumbleton Daunt, Brazil, to the Editor of The Nation. |
|---|---|
| ID | 1282 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Gumbleton, Richard/46 |
| Year | 1848 |
| Sender | Gumbleton Daunt, Richard |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | unknown |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Campinas, province os San Paulo, Brazil |
| Destination | unknown |
| Recipient | Editor of The Natin |
| Recipient Gender | unknown |
| Relationship | letter to a newspaper editor |
| Source | The Nation, Dublin, Saturday, January 22, 1848. |
| Archive | The Linenhall Library, Belfast. |
| Doc. No. | 9601080 |
| Date | 22/01/1848 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 05:01:96. |
| Word Count | 1354 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | IRISH EMIGRATION TO SOUTH AMERICA. TO THE EDITOR OF THE NATION. "Si au'em pro otioso verbo reddimus rationem, videamus, ne reddamus pro otioso silentio." S. AMBROSE, liber e Officiis. Sir - So long as the question of Irish emigration could be treated speculatively I abstained from obtruding any opinions of my own upon it before the public. From the account contained in the last number of THE NATION here received it is evident, however, that an emigration of a large portion of the Irish people must be considered in the order of the faits accomplis, and all which can now be done is to so guide and administer it as to obtain from it the greatest amount of benefit to the emigrants and to the whole Irish nation, and to make it on the other hand in the least possible degree a means of strengthening the colonial empire of our arch enemy. I think that these joint objects may be better attained than by the indiscriminate current of emigration now flowing towards the United States and the North American Colonies. In the former the demand for labour, skilled or unskilled, is so limited as to leave the majority of our emigrating countrymen a burden on the industry of their new home; and in the latter the preponderence of the Saxon element is such as to threaten the absorption of the distinctive qualities of the Celtic nationality. There are two countries to which I now wish to direct the attention of my emigrant countrymen, and these are the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, which embraces the whole southern extremity of Africa, and the empire of Brazil, at least as to the provinces of San Paulo, St. [Saint?] Catherina,and S. [San?] Pedro do Rio Grande do Sul. The former is, it is true, an English possession, but the English and Scotch are a small minority, the population being a mixed race, composed of the descendants of adventurers from all the countries of Europe, and who, under Dutch rule, settled down into a thrifty, justice-loving, frugal, industrious, and virtuous people, retaining, at the same time, so acute a sense of wrong and love of independence as to have repeatedly caused the greatest annoyance to their English rulers, who would, perhaps, ere this have received warning to retire from their cares, were it not that by a fiendishly subtle policy the English government has contrived to keep up on the frontiers a continual state of irritation between the colonists and the Kafir tribes, which, when so to its wisdom appears good, it stimulates into a war, in which the colonists are the only sufferers; and when peace is made it is such a one as permits the Kafir to remain a ready instrument in the hands of the English government to clip the wings of colonial spirit of independence and desire for self-government, when these become presumptuously strong. However, this colony is very slightly Anglicised, save in some districts, and even in these the demand for labourers is so great that Irishmen would find themselves in a position to defy the hate and scorn of the few who would find their presence inconvenient. I have travelled through the whole of this colony, and can with truth qualify it as being the finest emigration field I know, and as possessing a most salubrious climate. When I visited South Africa provisions of all sorts were abundant and cheap, and wages high, I myself paying house servants at the rate of thirty pounds per annum, with food and lodging; and up to the present time house servants of both sexes, grooms, gardeners, and all who have any useful capital-producing calling continue to be in great demand, while a good number of agricultural labourers could also be annually absorbed. The most promising field for the Irish emigrants en masse is, I think, to be found in the southern provinces of Brazil and the Terra or mountain land of the province of Rio de Janeiro. Here the Irish emigrants would breathe an air free from the taint of the Saxons' breath, and would find himself in the midst of a Catholic population, in a country where privileged classes are unknown, except in the fact of the existence of that much misunderstood institution - Negro slavery. The Brazilian government has latterly shown the greatest desire to further the introduction of free labour, and has, at great trouble and cost, obtained an immigration of some thousands of German emigrants, whom it has located in various spots eligible for European husbandry, as well as for the tropical, should the newly arrived European prefer the former to the latter. About a month ago five hundred German immigrants passed through Campinos, on their way to the Senator Vergneiro's estate of Ibicaba, where they are now located. They are provided with provisions by him until they shall have the produce of their own labour, and the contract is such that a few years of patient toil will elevate these European proletarians, who are transported at the public expense to this distant spot, into independent small proprietors. The majority of these Germans are Protestants, and here we see a wonderful contrast - for this body of five hundred colonists, of whom four hundred are of Protestant belief, the Catholic government of Brazil obliges the contractor, the Senator Vergneiro to provide, for a certain time, a Protestant German religious teacher!!! To me it is a source of endless regret, that the Irish peasant emigrant, if he must become one, has no means of transport to Brazil, where he might have an equality of advantage with the Geramn or Swiss, who, though differing in race, and generally in creed from the present white population of Brazil, are now reaping all the advantages whichits richly fertile, but uncultivated interior offers to the strong arm and resolute perseverance of the European peasant. The climate of Southern Brazil is, I affirm, much more healthy than that of the greater part of Europe; and the disease which does appear, is very tractable. That terrible scourge of God, the typhus fever, is here unknown, as indeed it is in the rest of the world, save in two countries which have many other things, - ancient glories and present miseries in common - Ireland and Hungary. The system of colonisation now followed in Brazil, is to allot a certain portion of territory to a given number of families, to each a separate allotment being marked out. Government assistance is, for a given time, afforded to the settlement, which has a provisional directory to guide and instruct the colonists in their new circumstances; and, in a short time, they become independent proprietors. Those, however, who choose, may form such agreement as they think advantageous to themselves with any private individual. The most desirable means of securing these advantages would be the formation of an Irish Company, which should obtain a grant of eligible land, to be allotted to the colonists, and to be retained by the company until the expenses incurred were reimbursed, and then transferred in full property to the cultivators. Than the sucess of such ameasure, nothing could be more facile, in the present disposition of the Brazilian government; and the negotiations need occupy but a short time, Under such auspices the Irish emigrants, accompanied and guided by their clergy, would very shortly become emancipated in spirit; and, by their enjoyment of free instutions, and a perfect social equality, disenvolve those lofty virtues natural to their race, and fit themselves to aid their mother country in her struggles for liberty. Should the idea of the formation of such a company be entertained, I will be ever ready to do my utmost to facilitate its negotiations here; and doubt not that such proposals would find even more ready support than those coming from persons interested in favor of Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland. In the meantime I trust that what I have said may induce some of my distressed countrymen to turn their steps towards South Africa, proceeding either to Cape Town, Algoa Bay, or Port Natal, where they may confidently reckon on employment and remuneration, and live till a better future dawns on their country. I have the honor to be, sir, Your obedient servant, RICHARD GUMBLETON DAUNT, M.D. Campinas, province of San Paulo, Brazil, August, 1847. |
