J. Giles Powell

“ And after he has embarked his capital in this, his most sanguine speculation, and taken up his abode upon that spot where he flattered himself he should meet with no inconvenience to annoy —no impediment to retard, the rapid acquisition of wealth; he finds difficulties which he never expected, and obstacles which can only be surmounted by great labour and length of time. ”

“ In England the father cannot always insure the occupancy of the farm to the son, at least he can very rarely improve it with the certainty that he will not thereby entail an additional rent upon himself and the child who succeeds him; but the case is different abroad; there the settler is improving not his landlord's farm, but his own estate. And is there not something grand, is there not something encouraging to the settler in the reflection that his posterity will be benefited by this investment of his capital—this exertion of his industry. ”

“ I would then urge him to consider, in the first place, why does he wish to leave his native land?—If from discontent, or from being dissatisfied with his present condition, or from any particular disappointment, let me remind him that, with such feelings, he will be unhappy wherever he goes, and that there is no part of this world where man can be exempted from divers disappointments, or independent of circumstances over which he has no control. ”

“ They discover that they are strangers to the climate, and that the natural productions of England will not succeed because they are unnatural here; they find that corn will not grow without cultivation, and that markets are many miles off: that the hand must be hardened with toil, and the body devoted to labour before the self-exile can be supported, and the once sanguine but theoretical agriculturist grow rich. ”

“ Instances are not unfrequent in which an adventurer, on the spur of the moment, or from a flattering description of some particular country, will risk his all "upon the hazard of the die," and perhaps without enquiry, and certainly without impartial consideration, or the advice of disinterested experience, will abandon his native land for a country of which he knows little but the name. ”

“ And let not the reader be deterred from emigrating in consequence of his being under the necessity of employing active industry in whatever country he may choose to settle. Man was born to labour, and daily experience teaches, that neither wealth nor eminence can be acquired in business or in any profession without the sedulous employment of mind or body. No greater degree of labour or further attention to business is necessary for the settler abroad, than for the industrious farmer at home ”

“ Can he regulate the depth of a plough—or know where to place the heaviest weight in a waggon—if not, I tell him he will emigrate to his ruin. Let him reflect seriously, is he qualified to undertake the occupation of land who is ignorant of the mode of cultivating each particular soil—the quantity of seed which ought to be sown upon an acre—and the proper preparation of land for the seed, and the state when it is most fit to be reaped and gathered into the barn. ”

“ Let him take the plough, the spade, and the scythe into his own hands; the time may soon come, when he will save many shillings by his own labour:—or if his capital is so ample as to render this unnecessary, it is very desirable that he should be able to show his labourers how their work ought to be performed. ”

“ Instead of having a companion to cheer him on the way—a friend to console him in his disappointments, and to assist him in his difficulties, he will be unceasingly mortified with tears and reproaches. ”

“ And he who left home in the delightful anticipation of shooting where he pleased, without fear and without restraint, now finds that the pursuit of game affords him no gratification where nothing is preserved, and that the impossibility of committing trespass and stealing a march on a game-keeper, deprives his sport of its zest. ”

“ But on their arrival at the long wished-for region of bliss and liberty, they find that its happiness has been exaggerated—its disadvantages not foreseen—and the Utopian dream of happiness not realized. ”

“ If in his family there is one whose constitution is delicate; if himself and his wife are miserable if their carpets are soiled, or their dinner underdone; if she be a fine lady who can cut out watch papers, but cannot make a shirt, how can they bear the toil of a journey through the wilderness, or put up with the casual meal which the desert will provide? ”

“ In the number of those who are desirous to emigrate from this country, it is much to be feared there are but few whose habits and pursuits qualify them for the measure they wish to adopt, and fewer still who have obtained that information of the country and climate in which they are anxious to settle, which is so indispensably necessary for their future comfort and success. ”

“ To promote the success of such emigrants as do not intend to settle as agriculturists, but in some other line, I would earnestly recommend to them, whatever their hopes, whatever their capital, or experience in other matters may be, by all means to acquire some practical knowledge of farming before they take their departure from this country. ”

“ The stockholder who lives in lodgings, and indignantly exclaims against the assessed taxes, which he never is called upon to pay; the discontented citizen, who has no land of his own, but vehemently protests against the robbery of tithes, which he asserts are the property of the people, for he has no relation in the Church ”

“ Not many years have elapsed, since many hundred persons joyfully and enthusiastically accepted the proposal of Government to send emigrants to establish a colony in Africa. Toymen and milliners—comedians and hair-dressers—lawyers without clients, and half-pay officers—keepers of eating-houses and lace-manufacturers, sailed triumphantly from England to civilize the Caffres and drive the lions from their dens ”

“ Then letters are sent home to their friends, gloomy and desponding indeed, full of complaints against the country and against its government, because they were permitted to become occupiers of land, while they were ignorant of soils, or because they choose to build their houses, and sow their corn upon the overflowing banks of a river, rather than upon dry and upland ground. ”

“ Bread must be obtained before luxuries can be purchased, and he that is obliged to earn it by the sweat of his brow, has little opportunity, whatever may be his inclination, to patronize the man of science, or support the member of a liberal profession. But it is too often seen that, without taking these things into consideration, they who have suffered from disappointment, extravagance, or misfortune at home, seek consolation and prosperity abroad ”

“ If it be in consequence of living beyond his income, I would conjure him to live more moderately,—to endeavour, by economy, and a rigid denial of those luxuries which he cannot afford, to keep his expences within proper bounds ”

“ It may be that, on their arrival in the settlement of their choice, their hopes may be frustrated:—prior adventurers may have obtained the practice they hoped to engross, or have successfully commenced that line of business in which they expected to have been the very first to embark:— under such circumstances the capability of undertaking the management of a farm may mitigate their disappointments and rescue them from ruin, which otherwise would inevitably await them. ”

“ In those extensive wilds where the foot of an European hath scarcely trod, no cheerful inn is open for the weary emigrant in search of an allotment;—no attentive waiters hastening to supply his wants;—no downy pillow to invite him to repose ”

“ With facilities of watercarriage, fish in abundance, and fowl by the help of his gun, he may supply the necessaries of life; and while the partridge and wild pigeon gratify him with variety in food, he has also in store both recreation and amusement. ”

“ He will have to pacify her, who ought to soothe him, and while he is dragging the real necessaries of life to an encampment, she will be fretting at the damage done to the piano, and lamenting the loss of the children's toys. ”

“ It may, perhaps, savour of vanity, for a young man thus to volunteer his opinions to the public, especially as he cannot speak of foreign countries from personal observation; yet as he, from peculiar circumstances, has long cherish* d thoughts of emigrating, and has obtained every information in his power from disinterested and experienced writers, as well as from those persons who are well acquainted with the various countries to which it is usual to emigrate ”