Page images
PDF
EPUB

With regard to this table there is only to be remarked, that under the title "Direct by way of Canada," are included one or two emigrant vessels which sailed to Montreal, as also the direct passage in the last few years to Chicago, by the ship Sleipner, from Bergen.

For the years 1851-'64 we have also statements of the number of emigrants who have sailed from the different Norwegian ports. For these statements we are mostly indebted to the before-mentioned work entitled Copies of Despatches relative to Emigration, &c., in which one correction only has been here made-for the year 1858, an emigrant vessel having been included as sailing from Drammen instead of Christiania.

[blocks in formation]

Bergen, Christiania, Drammen, Porsgrund, and Stavanger, are then the ports from which the greatest number of emigrants embark. Of late Bergen especially has taken the lead in this respect, 1,500 emigrants having, on the average, sailed yearly from that town. The greatest number of emigrants who, in any one year, have sailed from a Norwegian port was 2,450, who embarked in 1857 from Bergen. Then comes the same town again in 1861, with 2,200, and then Christiania in 1853 with 2,100 emigrants.

The choice of the ports in the different parts of the kingdom for embarcation by the emigrants is determined by the geographical position of the same. It is worthy of observation, however, that some of the emigrants from Valders, and from a small part of Hedemarken and Hadeland, have gone by way of Drammen and Holmestrand. A few Numedal people have emigrated from the Skien Fjord; from Hardanger, some have embarked from Stavanger; while some from Throndhjem and Tromsoe provinces have sailed from Bergen.

The ports selected for the great European emigration are principally the following, according to Legoyt's "L'Emigration Europeenne:

[blocks in formation]

Liverpool is consequently the most important seaport for the European emigration. The great mass of Irish emigrants embark almost exclusively from that city; and likewise no small numbers from Germany, from which country some go by way of Havre.

[blocks in formation]

A voyage across the Atlantic is a long and tedious affair. With the exception of a few who go by steamer from Liverpool, the great mass of Norwegian emigrants make the passage in sailing vessels, built originally for the timber trade, but fitted up for the occasion as passenger vessels. It generally takes 48 days from Norway to Quebec, the time varying, however, with different ships, and in different years. In 1853 the Norwegian emigrant vessels made the passage on the average in 55 days; from 1857-'62, respectively, in 41, 50, 47, 39, 50, and 50 days. A steamer would go the same distance in 15 days; this being the average time required by the steamers which have of late years sailed from Hamburg to New York.

The length of the passage has a great effect on the health of the passengers. The rate of mortality on board emigrant vessels, on account of the unfavorable sanitary condition, is far higher than on land, and increases progressively with the length of the voyage.

Of still greater importance in this respect is the observance of certain sanitary measures, which to emigrant ships are of vital consequence, so large a number of people being there confined in too small a space. The disastrous results which have arisen from the overcrowding of emigrant ships have attracted the attention of the government, and laws have been passed to reform this abuse, even in countries where they do not care to meddle with private undertakings. Norway too has at last its law of emigration, which passed in 1862, the matter having been discussed in the Storthing (Congress) as early as 1845. During the years when emigration was uncontrolled many lives were lost; the rate of mortality amongst Norwegian emigrants having been considerably higher than on board other emigrant vessels. The following comparison of the rate of mortality amongst the emigrants sailing from Liverpool and those sailing from Norway is partly taken from the above-mentioned work of Legoyt, and partly, as regards Norway, from "Čopies of Despatches relative to Emigration," &c., &c.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

The table shows on the one hand, as regards the English emigration, the steady improvement in health in consequence of a judicious control, while almost the reverse has been the case on board the Norwegian emigrant vessels. As regards the higher rate of mortality amongst the Norwegian emigrants, it must be taken into consideration that the passage from Norway is longer than from Liverpool; not so much so, however, as to account satisfactorily for the difference. Besides, it must not be forgotten that the Norwegian emigrants belong to a much more healthy race than the poverty-stricken Irish who embark from Liverpool. In the reports from Quebec it has been emphatically stated that the rate of mortality amongst the emigrants from Norway has been higher than amongst those from any other country; although the Germans have an equally long way to go. As an instance, (according to the debates in the Storthing of 1862) may be adduced, that of 11,313 emigrants who sailed to Quebec in 1861 from other countries than Norway, there died only 57, while of 8,855 Norwegians and Swedes there were no less than 186 deaths.

53

We have tables for the rate of mortality of 42,689 Norwegian emigrants who sailed from Norway to Quebec during the years 1852-'55 and 1857-'62; of these there died on the passage and in quarantine 655, or 15% per cent. As these deaths occur in the space of ✈ of a year, this is equivalent to an annual rate of mortality of 10 per cent., or, in other words, the rate of mortality amongst the emigrants has been more than six times as great as amongst the population at home.

For more than a half of the 42,689 emigrants we have reports as to how this mortality affected grown-up people and children. Of 23,938 persons who embarked from Norway in the years 1852-'57 and 1859-'61, there were 1,339 infants under twelve; at this age there 'died 125, or a little more than 9 per cent. Of children between 1 and 14 there were 7, 115, of which number there died 161, or about 2 per cent. Of 15,507 grown-up persons there died 61, or 0.4 per cent. It will be seen from this that the high rate of mortality is principally accounted for by the large number of deaths among infants. Under an average rate of

mortality on land of 1,365 infants under 12 months of age, there would have died in seven weeks not more than 25-30, but in the emigrant vessels the deaths were increased by 100. Overcrowding has evidently been the cause of this high rate of mortality among the Norwegian emigrants, as will be seen by a close examination of the years during which it was highest. This was the case in 1862, when it reached the enormous height of 4 per cent.; in 1861, 2 per cent.; and in 1857, 1 per cent. The emigration in these years was, respectively, 5,100, 8,850, and 6,560 individuals, or many times more extensive than in the preceding years. When emigration increases so suddenly it is not to be wondered at that there is less ship accommodation than in other years. As regards the year 1861, it becomes painfully evident that the overcrowding of the ships has had too much to do with increasing the rate of mortality. There were eight Norwegian vessels that brought a greater number of passengers than the Canadian governinent permits. Of the 3,140 emigrants who embarked in these vessels, 103 died, or 3 per cent.; of the remainder of the emigrants, 5,710, only 83 died, or 1 per cent. The high rate of mortality in 1861 and 1862 can, perhaps, be accounted for in another manner. Experience has shown that the rate of mortality. is much greater among the poorer class of emigrants, and especially if they have had to suffer much previous to leaving their native land. Legoyt gives a distressing instance of this from the Irish emigration after the famine of 1846. Of 89,738 emigrants who left British ports in 1847 for Canada, 5,293 died on the passage, and a few days after landing 10,037 more. Of the surviving 74,408, there were 30,265 who, for a longer or shorter period, required medical assistance. Such misery and distress is happily without a parallel in the Norwegian emigration; but it is by no means improbable that the destitution in the mountain districts, after 1860, and in certain districts-Thelemarken, for instance-after 1861, was one of the causes of the high rate of mortality among the emigrants in 1861 and 1862.

Typhus is the disease which commits the greatest ravages on board emigrant vessels. One can imagine the misery which results when this fearful epidemic breaks out in a passenger vessel, where often 200 300, and sometimes even 400 persons are obliged to live together for weeks. Neither has the Norwegian emigration been free from terrible instances of this kind. In 1843 typhus proved fatal in 30 cases on board an emigrant vessel; in 1861 the disease carried away 35 in one ship, 28 in another, and 21 in a third. The year 1862 can show parallel instances, the average rate of mortality being higher than in 1861.

It is, however, to be hoped that now, since the law of 1862 to control passenger traffic has been passed, such cases will be prevented for the future. The experience of other countries shows how much judicious management can do in this respect. In the years 1854-'56 no less than 666,136 officers, privates, women, and children were taken in transports to the Crimea, without a single death occurring on the passage.

[ocr errors]

Each of these

A full account of emigration must include information concerning the social position of the emigrants, and should also specify their sex, age, and pecuniary resources. data helps to explain the character of the emigration, its causes, and effects. As regards their age and sex, the following information is contained in " Despatches," &c., for 26,474 Norwegian emigrants, who left their country in 1853, and from 1857-'61:

'Copies of

[blocks in formation]

This table tallies with the following extracted from the passport journal of Drammen for 1837-'56, and from several registries of names of the emigrants who embarked from Drammen in the years 1857-'62, for access to which latter, thanks are due to private gentlemen.

[blocks in formation]

We thus find every age represented in the emigration from infancy to old age. The eldest of the 7,831 emigrants whose ages are given was a woman in her 86th year. What a voyage for a person so near the brink of the grave!

If the emigrants be compared with the population to which they belonged, we get the following facts: The number of males who emigrate is greater than that of females. Of the population of Norway in 1855, there were 510 females to 490 males, but the emigrants have been respectively 465 to 535. The excess of males is shown especially in the ages of 15 to 50, at which periods of life there were 127 men for every 100 women, though at home the number of women at these ages is slightly in excess of that of the men. The periods of life which furnish the greatest number for emigration are 30 and 40, both for males and females. Amongst 100 emigrants there are rather more children than amongst 100 of the home population; this excess increases up to a certain time, but afterwards decreases until the number of children is the same as amongst an equal number of the home population. Compared with the general European emigration, the Norwegian is characterized by the excess of males being less than is the case with emigrants from most other countries. Austria, Bavaria, and Belgium are the only exceptions, but the emigrants from the last-named country do not go so much to America as to the neighboring states, so that the comparison can hardly be made.

Among Norwegian emigrants there are more children than among emigrants from other countries. Thus, for instance, among the emigrants from Great Britain and Ireland there was only 19 per cent. of children under 12 years of age, and from Norway no less than 32 per cent. These two circumstances would seem to show that the Norwegians emigrate more in families; but among emigrants from other countries there is a great proportion of single Several reports of the emigration from Drammen in the years 1857-62 seem to give support to this opinion, for of 3,284 emigrants there were only 249 single persons, whereas 1,321 belonged to families consisting of from two to five members, and 1,714 belonged to families consisting of from six up to 13 members.

men.

With regard to the emigrants' social position and pecuniary circumstances but little is known. By far the greater number were peasants. Of the 36,000 who emigrated from 1851 to 1860, there were only 1,400 to 1,500 from the towns. Most of those from the coun

try districts were day laborers or belonged to the smallest class of farmers, yet there were not a few landed proprietors. In the quinquennial report from North Bergenhuus amt for 1846 to 1850, we read that "only these families who, judged by the pecuniary standard of these four districts, might be called well off, were in possession of the necessary means to pay their passage and establish themselves in a small way in their adopted country." In the next report from the same amt, poverty and distress are given as the principal causes of emigration, and so much is certain, that the great mass of emigrants belonged to the poorer classes of the population, though not a few among them were, comparatively speaking, in comfortable circumstances. It not unfrequently happens that emigrants borrow money from their fellow passengers in order to get over, giving an acknowledgment for it, with a promise to liquidate the debt by their labor. In the first period of emigration, there was often great poverty among the emigrants. It was reported from Havre, in 1843, that many emigrants, on their arrival at that port, were not in possession of the necessary means to go any further. Of 841 emigrants 28 had to be sent home at the expense of the Norwegian government, and 200 received assistance from their compatriots to the extent of 5,000 francs. The "Amtmand," chief magistrate of the " amt," puts the amount of capital taken with them by the emigrants, exclusive of the passage money, at spd. 50 for each person. The passage money, which was spd. 20 for grown-up persons and spd. 10 for children, when the trade to Quebec was first opened, has, of late years, gone down to spd. 13 for grown-up people and spd. 7 for children above one year of age, or on the average spd. 10 for each person, the passengers taking with them their own provisions. As a low calculation, emigration would thus have drained the country of 5,000,000 spd. The worth of the labor taken from the country is, however, of far greater consequence. The emigrants have generally been sturdy, well-grown people, some newspapers calling them even the flower of the population." In America the Norwegians are considered the best, most industrious, and most steady of all emigrants. In one sense the emigrants may be truly termed the "flower of the population," for most of them were from the innermost mountain districts, where the Norwegian national character has been least subjected to extraneous influence. Nothing Danish has penetrated so far; they were true sons of the old Norwegian race, who left Norway to seek another fatherland.

THE CAUSES OF EMIGRATION.

Emigration is a phenomenon by no means peculiar to a particular people or confined to a particular age. In every nation and at all times it has appeared in a greater or less degree. From the spot where the cradle of the human race was laid, it has gradually spread itself over the whole earth. A mighty stream flowed toward the east, and populated the inner and eastern part of Asia. They were the descendants of Shem. The children of Ham went towards the southwest and populated Africa. The third principal stream has gradually spread itself over the western part of Asia, and over Europe and America.

The universality of emigration plainly shows that it does not arise from accidental circumstances. The causes are deeply rooted in the conditions of man's existence. The chief motive to emigration is the general desire of improving our lot. The imperfection which is necessarily inseparable from everything human, in conjunction with man's innate desire to rule over creation, urges him continually to new undertakings. He cannot remain stationary, but must be ever in a state of development.

But numerous impediments are constantly in the way of this development. The soil he cultivates is often sterile; his own powers are finite; he is often to struggle with disease, with inclement seasons, with enemies of his own race who throw the greatest difficulties in his way. In all these respects, however, there reigns the widest difference in the various parts of the world, and in the different classes of society; and when men know, or believe they know, of a country where the conditions of existence are more favorable, it is quite as natural for them to wander thither as for water to seek its own level.

But, on the other hand, it must not be overlooked that there is much which tends to prevent us leaving our native land-love of country, of friends and relations, attachment to what we are accustomed, and the pecuniary difficulties which often hinder us in changing our mode of life. All these are difficulties in the way of emigration, and, although not able to stop it entirely, they yet decrease its extent considerably.

What has been here remarked has reference to emigration generally. On a closer inspection we shall find a great difference in different ages and with different nations.

In ancient times and far on in the middle ages emigration took the form of a general exodus; whole races and people left their homes for other countries, which they generally put themselves in possession of by force of arms. At such times the emigration of single individuals was a rare event.

In modern times, however, įthe last-mentioned kind of emigration alone takes place, whereas the emigration of a people en masse has for ages been unknown.

The cause of this difference is evident. The emigration of a whole people can alone take place amongst nomads; as soon as agriculture and civilization have made their way amongst a people, it becomes more and more attached to the soil it cultivates. With regard to the members of one community emigrating to another, this was accompanied in ancient times with great difficulties. The different nations regarded one another as enemies, and

« PreviousContinue »