Whether The Mischiefs Of Emigration Were Immediately Perceived, May
Be Justly Questioned.
They who went first, were probably such as
could best be spared; but the accounts sent by the earliest
adventurers, whether true or false, inclined many to follow them;
and whole neighbourhoods formed parties for removal; so that
departure from their native country is no longer exile.
He that
goes thus accompanied, carries with him all that makes life
pleasant. He sits down in a better climate, surrounded by his
kindred and his friends: they carry with them their language,
their opinions, their popular songs, and hereditary merriment:
they change nothing but the place of their abode; and of that
change they perceive the benefit.
This is the real effect of emigration, if those that go away
together settle on the same spot, and preserve their ancient union.
But some relate that these adventurous visitants of unknown
regions, after a voyage passed in dreams of plenty and felicity,
are dispersed at last upon a Sylvan wilderness, where their first
years must be spent in toil, to clear the ground which is
afterwards to be tilled, and that the whole effect of their
undertakings is only more fatigue and equal scarcity.
Both accounts may be suspected. Those who are gone will endeavour
by every art to draw others after them; for as their numbers are
greater, they will provide better for themselves. When Nova Scotia
was first peopled, I remember a letter, published under the
character of a New Planter, who related how much the climate put
him in mind of Italy.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 122 of 212
Words from 32349 to 32611
of 56696
