Thornhill, Jan. 18, 1833.
As to emigration I feel at a loss what to write. There is in fact hardly
a man living but in some way or other may succeed in this fine country,
and yet there is scarcely a man who may not fail and suffer
disappointment, so that I dread recommending; but were I in the condition
of nineteen out of twenty, I would make every effort to come out. Most
have to rough it for about a year; few need do this much longer; that is,
if thoughtful, prudent, and moral: their wilderness soon begins to smile,
and comforts one after another crowd around them. I must turn to my
log-book for something to say on this score.
“Of all settlers the medical profession seems to have least
encouragement; they are worse off than even ministers; for in this
country the population is so scattered, and the roads so
impracticable, that they slave and toil beyond all endurance for a
scanty pittance, and finding so small a remuneration, they are
obliged to merge their professional engagements into those of the
largely cultivated farm. Should they speculate on more extensive
practice and larger returns in some of the towns there, so many have
anticipated them, that they half starve before they can get into
practice, and, after paying dear for their rashness, are compelled to
return to the country, and to rough it like others in employments for
which their previous habits have but little qualified them. Another
evil is that all the three branches are here united, there not being
a sufficient call to admit of a division; and then, again, we are all
so healthy, excepting, indeed, the whiskey drinkers, who die by
inches, but who have no peculiar _penchant_ for bitter drugs; so that
had it not been for the cholera, which so extensively visited us, I
fear the medical gentlemen must have had no great cause to
congratulate themselves on their speculations. The best description
of settlers are young persons with or without families, married or
single, who can command about £1000 in cash, and have about £80 or
£100 per annum, on which they can regularly calculate. These can
purchase a fair quantity of land in cultivated districts, where there
is good society and English comforts; can build their house ample,
commodious, and well-looking; and can realize from their farm what
will enable them to live as gentlemen. I know two or three families
of this description, in this neighbourhood, who have freely exhibited
their finances before me, and they are just what I have noticed
above. And if these do well, much more those whose income is larger.
Such are the settlers we most need, for improvements follow so fast
in their train. Capital and taste are in their case combined, and
their respective neighbourhoods start into notice and comfort.”
As to young men of the more respectable order, they must be willing to go
into trade, and in this they have abundant encouragement, not so much in
specific trade as in the keeping of stores, both wholesale and retail,
and to such they give a salary for five or six years, and then either
take them into partnership, or else set them up in some country store,
furnishing them with goods on easy terms to begin with. Farming will not
do for young men of this description, till they are of age to farm for
themselves, and then they may begin, if they have a small capital to
purchase land and stock it. They want very little of any previous
training; the advice of some friend or neighbour on the spot is quite
adequate, if he be of any tolerable capacity. As to settlers I can say
little beyond what I have intimated before. With £10 or £12 a head, they
need not hesitate a moment. The principal thing is raising sufficient
money to bring them far enough into the country, and without this it is
almost cruelty to say a word to induce them to leave England.
* * * * *
To finish these remarks on emigration, from one who knew what it was from
his own experience, I shall add one other short extract from a letter
dated Feb. 21, 1835, addressed to Mrs. D. Whitmore:—
But with all this improvement in society and literature, the matter of
emigration puzzles me more than ever. Produce is sadly falling; my wheat
I sold last year for 4s. 3d. a bushel; the same sample would now fetch
only 2s. 6d., and all other farming produce of course in the same ratio.
Farmers, therefore, are crying out that they shall now be ruined. Stores
also abound so greatly, that a very small profit can be obtained, where
competition is so great. Fortunes, therefore, are not, as they once
were, so easily procured; and most classes of emigrants are sadly
disappointed. Those who come out with ample means will easily succeed;
for living is so cheap, and capital wanted, and amply remunerating
interest in various ways obtained. But then, again, those who already
have fortunes, or ample means, will mostly prefer the good old country,
and well they may.