Gottlieb Mittelberger

“ Toward the end we were compelled to eat the ship's biscuit which had been spoiled long ago; though in a whole biscuit there was scarcely a piece the size of a dollar that had not been full of red worms and spiders' nests. Great hunger and thirst force us to eat and drink everything; but many a one does so at the risk of his life. The sea-water cannot be drunk, because it is salt and bitter as gall. If this were not so, such a voyage could be made with less expense and without so many hardships. ”

“ If he has so much money, it will slip out of his hands; if he has it not, he must work his debt off as a slave and poor serf. Therefore let every one stay in his own country and support himself and his family honestly. Besides I say that those who suffer themselves to be persuaded and enticed away by the man-thieves, are very foolish if they believe that roasted pigeons will fly into their mouths in America or Pennsylvania without their working for them. ”

“ Many a one who has a good friend or acquaintance, or a relative in Pennsylvania, to whose helping care he has trusted, finds himself thus grievously disappointed in consequence of such infamous deception, being separated from friends whom he will never see again either in this or in that country. Thus emigrants are compelled in Holland to submit to the wind and to the captain's will, because they cannot know at sea where the ship is steered to. But all this is the fault of the newlanders and of some unscrupulous dealers in human flesh in Holland. ”

“ When in such a gale the sea rages and surges, so that the waves rise often like high mountains one above the other, and often tumble over the ship, so that one fears to go down with the ship; when the ship is constantly tossed from side to side by the storm and waves, so that no one can either walk, or sit, or lie, and the closely packed people in the berths are thereby tumbled over each other, both the sick and the well--it will be readily understood that many of these people, none of whom had been prepared for hardships, suffer so terribly from them that they do not survive it. ”

“ Our Europeans, who are purchased, must always work hard, for new fields are constantly laid out; and so they learn that stumps of oak-trees are in America certainly as hard as in Germany. In this hot land they fully experience in their own persons what God has imposed on man for his sin and disobedience; for in Genesis we read the words: In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread. Who therefore wishes to earn his bread in a Christian and honest way, and cannot earn it in his fatherland otherwise than by the work of his hands, let him do so in his own country, and not in America ”

“ Many parents must sell and trade away their children like so many head of cattle; for if their children take the debt upon themselves, the parents can leave the ship free and unrestrained; but as the parents often do not know where and to what people their children are going, it often happens that such parents and children, after leaving the ship, do not see each other again for many years, perhaps no more in all their lives. ”

“ Many do not even believe that there is a true God and devil, a heaven and a hell, salvation and damnation, a resurrection of the dead, a judgment and an eternal life; they believe that all one can see is natural. For in Pennsylvania every one may not only believe what he will, but he may even say it freely and openly. ”

“ Many people who go to Philadelphia entrust their money, which they have brought with them from home, to these newlanders. But these thieves often remain in Holland with the money, or sail from there with another ship to another English colony, so that the poor defrauded people, when they reach the country, have no other choice but to serve or to sell their children, if they have any, only to get away from the ship. ”

“ If any one had escaped the gallows, and had the rope still dangling around his neck, or if he had left both his ears in Europe, nothing would be put in his way in Pennsylvania. But if he is again caught in wrong-doing, he is hopelessly lost. For gallows' birds and wheel candidates, Pennsylvania is, therefore a desirable land. ”

“ When a husband or wife has died at sea, when the ship has made more than half of her trip, the survivor must pay or serve not only for himself or herself, but also for the deceased.
When both parents have died over half-way at sea, their children, especially when they are young and have nothing to pawn or to pay, must stand for their own and their parents' passage, and serve till they are 21 years old. When one has served his or her term, he or she is entitled to a new suit of clothes at parting; and if it has been so stipulated, a man gets in addition a horse, a woman, a cow. ”

“ The sick always fare the worst, for the healthy are naturally preferred and purchased first; and so the sick and wretched must often remain on board in front of the city for 2 or 3 weeks, and frequently die, whereas many a one, if he could pay his debt and were permitted to leave the ship immediately, might recover and remain alive.
Before I describe how this traffic in human flesh is conducted, I must mention how much the journey to Philadelphia or Pennsylvania costs.
A person over 10 years pays for the passage from Rotterdam to Philadelphia 10 pounds, or 60 florins. ”

“ When such a newlander has collected a "transport," and if it does not suit him to accompany them to America, he stays behind, passes the winter in Holland or elsewhere; in the spring he obtains again money in advance for emigrants from his merchants, goes to Germany again, pretending that he had come from Pennsylvania with the intention of purchasing all sorts of merchandise which he was going to take there. ”

“ The water which is served out on the ships is often very black, thick and full of worms, so that one cannot drink it without loathing, even with the greatest thirst. O surely, one would often give much money at sea for a piece of good bread, or a drink of good water, not to say a drink of good wine, if it were only to be had. ”

“ But the worst is that such people, who are not accustomed to work, are treated to blows and cuffs, like cattle, till they have learned the hard work. Many a one, on finding himself thus shamefully deceived by the newlanders, has shortened his own life, or has given way to despair, so that he could not be helped, or has run away, only to fare worse afterwards than before. ”

“ A voyage is sometimes dangerous to people, who bring money or goods away with them from home, because much is spoiled at sea by entering sea-water; sometimes they are even robbed on board the ship by dishonest people; so that such formerly opulent persons find themselves in a most deplorable condition.
A sad example of a Würtemberger shall be mentioned here. In the autumn of A. D. 1753 a certain Daser of Nagold arrived with his wife and 8 children in a wretched and unfortunate situation at Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. ”

“ And the saddest of all this is that parents must generally give away their minor children without receiving a compensation for them; inasmuch as such children never see or meet their fathers, mothers, brothers or sisters again, and as many of them are not raised in my Christian faith by the people to whom they are given.
For there are many doctrines of faith and sects in Pennsylvania which cannot all be enumerated, because many a one will not confess to what faith he belongs. Besides, there are many hundreds of adult persons who have not been and do not even wish to be baptized. ”

“ And so I vowed to the great God, and promised those people, to reveal to the people of Germany the pure truth about it, to the best of my knowledge and ability. I hope, therefore, that my beloved countrymen and all Germany will care no less to obtain accurate information as to how far it is to Pennsylvania, how long it takes to get there; what the journey costs, and besides, what hardships and dangers one has to pass through; what takes place when the people arrive well or ill in the country ”

“ It often happens that the merchants in Holland make a secret contract with their captains and the newlanders, to the effect that the latter must take the ships with their human freight to another place in America, and not to Pennsylvania where these people want to go, if they think that they can elsewhere find a better market for them. ”

“ As soon as the ships that bring passengers from Europe have cast their anchors in the port of Philadelphia, all male persons of 15 years and upward are placed on the following morning into a boat and led two by two to the court-house or town-hall of the city. There they must take the oath of allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain. This being done, they are taken in the same manner back to the ships. Then the traffic in human souls begins, as related above. I only add that in purchasing these people no one asks for references as to good character or an honorable discharge. ”

“ Add to this want of provisions, hunger, thirst, frost, heat, dampness, anxiety, want, afflictions and lamentations, together with other trouble, as c. v. the lice abound so frightfully, especially on sick people, that they can be scraped off the body. The misery reaches the climax when a gale rages for 2 or 3 nights and days, so that every one believes that the ship will go to the bottom with all human beings on board. In such a visitation the people cry and pray most piteously. ”

“ Thus they have seduced many away who said that if such and such relatives of theirs went to America, they would risk it too. These men-thieves resort to various tricks, never forgetting to display their money before the poor people, but which is nothing else but a bait from Holland and accursed blood-money. ”

“ Work and labor in this new and wild land are very hard and manifold, and many a one who came there in his old age must work very hard to his end for his bread. I will not speak of young people. Work mostly consists in cutting wood, felling oak-trees, rooting out, or as they say there, clearing large tracts of forest. ”

“ Among the healthy, impatience sometimes grows so great and cruel that one curses the other, or himself and the day of his birth, and sometimes come near killing each other. Misery and malice join each other, so that they cheat and rob one another. One always reproaches the other with having persuaded him to undertake the journey. Frequently children cry out against their parents, husbands against their wives and wives against their husbands, brothers and sisters, friends and acquaintances against each other. ”

“ When a serf has an opportunity to marry in this country, he or she must pay for each year which he or she would have yet to serve, 5 to 6 pounds. But many a one who has thus purchased and paid for his bride, has subsequently repented his bargain, so that he would gladly have returned his exorbitantly dear ware, and lost the money besides. ”

“ These men-thieves inveigle people of every rank and profession, among them many soldiers, scholars, artists and mechanics. They rob the princes and lords of their subjects and take them to Rotterdam or Amsterdam to be sold there. They receive there from their merchants for every person of 10 years and over, 3 florins or a ducat; whereas the merchants get in Philadelphia 60, 70 or 80 florins for such a person, in proportion as said person has incurred more or less debts during the voyage. ”

“ However hard he may be compelled to work in his fatherland, he will surely find it quite as hard, if not harder, in the new country. Besides, there is not only the long and arduous journey lasting half a year, during which he has to suffer, more than with the hardest work; he has also spent about 200 florins which no one will refund to him. ”

“ If such a runaway has been away from his master one day, he must serve for it as a punishment a week, for a week a month, and for a month half a year. But if the master will not keep the runaway after he has got him back, he may sell him for so many years as he would have to serve him yet. ”

“ From the best hewn wood, fences are made around the new fields; for there all meadows, orchards and fruit fields, are surrounded and fenced in with planks made of thickly-split wood, laid one above the other, as in zigzag lines, and within such enclosures, horses, cattle, and sheep, are permitted to graze. ”

“ They can imitate all characters, marks and tokens so admirably that even he whose handwriting they have imitated must acknowledge it to be his own. By means of such practices they deceive even people who are not credulous, thus playing their nefarious tricks in a covert manner. ”

“ Consequently, when young persons, not yet grounded in religion, come to serve for many years with such free-thinkers and infidels, and are not sent to any church or school by such people, especially when they live far from any school or church. ”

“ That most of the people get sick is not surprising, because, in addition to all other trials and hardships, warm food is served only three times a week, the rations being very poor and very little. Such meals can hardly be eaten, on account of being so unclean. ”

“ And when they are released at last from the ship, they must serve their lords and masters, by whom they have been bought, like common day-laborers. Their rank, skill and learning avails them nothing, for here none but laborers and mechanics are wanted. ”

“ If some one in this country runs away from his master, who has treated him harshly, he cannot get far. Good provision has been made for such cases, so that a runaway is soon recovered. He who detains or returns a deserter receives a good reward. ”