| Title: | P. Mulligan, Liverpool to Rev. James Birmingham. |
|---|---|
| ID | 1921 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Mulligan, P/38 |
| Year | 1852 |
| Sender | Mulligan, P |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | unknown |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Liverpool, England |
| Destination | Ireland? |
| Recipient | Rev. James Birmingham |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | prob. not acquainted |
| Source | The Nation (Dublin), 15 May 1852 |
| Archive | The Central Library, Belfast |
| Doc. No. | 201126 |
| Date | 15/05/1852 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | LET |
| Log | Document added by LT, Td by Peter Best, 07:01:02.c |
| Word Count | 904 |
| Genre | |
| Note | (writes about emigration) |
| Transcript | THE IRISH IN AMERICA. We wish this letter could reach our whole people. It ought to be posted in all our seaport towns by the League as a warning to emigrants whither they are rushing. It ought to be heard of on every hustings as an incitement to electors to settle the Land question, and maintain a hold on the country. The Rev. gentleman to whom it is addressed and who has sent it to us for publication, is a surety for the writers good faith; his facts, being facts, speak for themselves. 70 Devon-street, Liverpool, May 4, 1852. Rev. Sir - Having seen a paragraph in one of this town's newspapers, in which it was stated that you had cautioned your parishioners against emigrating to America, and that emigration to that (or any other country, I presume,) led to heresy and atheism, I beg leave to obtrude upon your notice the following, which may, perhaps, should you make use of it, deter some of your flock from crossing the Atlantic. I have been in America, and have only lately returned from it, (last March) and from what I have seen of the country I must say, so far as I am capable to give an opinion, that your caution was just. I have been in the cities of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Washinton, Pittsburg, Harrisburgh, Jersey City, Cleveland, Charleston, and several other places, in every one of which I have witnessed as much misery and want as I have seen in any part of Ireland. There are tens of thousands in that country who would gladly return if they could but raise the required funds. About seaport towns in particular, there are swarms of idle persons who cannot get employment, and who resort to any and every scheme for obtaining a livelihood - murder and robbery, even in the open streets and in broad daylight. Of course, thousands, on the contrary, find employment in America, particularly at farming, upon railroads, and in the loading and unloading of the vessels of all nations. But if some are successful, there are many who are not, and who wander about, from state to state, without bettering their condition. On the railways they have their parties of Corkonians and far-downs, who, instead of pulling on peaceably together, leave their work and commence regular faction fights, using every sort of weapon they can lay hands upon. On the shipping wharves one must be strong, active, and powerful, and capable of enduring every sort of abuse and ill usage, before he has a chance of making a dollar. In the farming you have to learn all from Jonathan; he is the "schoolmaster abroad," and knows everything, whereas you know nothing - not alone in farming, but upon any and every other subject. In the case of the emigrant, suppose he lands in America possessed of some money, and that he should go "out west," purchase a farm and cultivate it, what is his position? In the state of Ohio, for instance, he buys, say one hundred acres of land at the government price of 2s. 6d. per acre, all wood. In the space of four or five years he clears half of it, lays it under cultivation, raises a crop then gathers it, then - yes, what then? - he is perhaps, 500 miles from a market; he has neither boats to run down the river (if one be near him) with his produce, nor horses and cars with which to convey it to the nearest market around him; he is obliged to consume it himself, or barter for implements, clothing, &c., at a great loss, as those things cost him three times as much as he could have them for ready money. He toils on year after year, under a burning sun in the summer, and an intense cold winter, to earn a miserable subsistence, and is not so happy in his position as he would be in his own country with a single acre to raise potatoes for himself and family. Many parties in America send money to their friends in Ireland to assist them at home, and others send it to carry their friends out. Now, a great portion of that money is the hard earnings of those parties, and more of it is got very easily. Wages are good in America; and when those parties get employed they live cheap - a week's provisions and lodging not costing many of them one dollar - and lay up as much as they can to send home. Others resort to raffling goods of every description to raise money, which they send home, accompanied with lying letters as to their prosperity. Numerous are the stratagems to which recourse is had to raise a few dollars to induce people to join their friends in America; but when arrived out they find a different scale of things to what they expected. I would advise the Irish people to stay at home, for truly miserable must be there condition if it be not as good as what it would be in America. Some twenty years ago, and perhaps later, there was an opening for industy in America; but its sea-board - nay, three or four hundred miles inside it is now satisfied with labour. There is food, but not work, for all in America. As to the Irish becoming heretics and atheists when they inhabit another land than there own, I have nothing to say. I only know that they imbibe new ideas, both political and religous, when they mix with the people of other countries. Perhaps you can find a reason for there apostacy. It may be that your New York correspondent was right. My excuse for writing this is that I am an Irishman, and that I wish all my countrymen well, and hoping, if you should make use of it, they might be induced to stay at home. I therefore finish it by writing myself. P. MULLIGAN. Rev. James Birmingham Transcribed by Peter Best |
