By Chapter 56, Section 16, of the laws and ordinances of the city of New York, it is enacted, that in all cases where the Mayor shall deem it expedient to commute for alien passengers arriving at this port, instead of requiring indemnity bonds, he is authorized to receive such sum, in lieu of such bonds, as he shall deem adequate, not less than one dollar and not more than ten dollars, for each passenger. I deem it my duty to inform the Common Council, that it is my intention, hereafter, in all cases where it would not be unreasonable, to require and demand- ten dollars for such commutation, from each alien passenger. And on advising with the Commissioners of the almshouse as to this intention, I am authorized to say that they approve and unite with me in it; and I am bound to believe that it will receive the sanction of the public. Our city should not, whenever it can be avoided, receive more persons likely to become chargeable. It will be a herculean task to employ and take care of those who are already within our jurisdiction. Our funds appropriated for charitable purposes promise no overplus. Provisions, fuel, and clothing for the alms-house, are still very expensive.

Laborers are not sought after, and while we pity the griefs and sorrows of all our fellow-creatures, we cannot deny that a preference, in the distribution of charities, as well as place and employment, is due to the descendants of the soldiers of the Revolu tion, and to the heroes and sufferers of the second war of independence. It was asked by the fathers of American liberty. It has been promised to their sons. It cannot be conceded to aliens without great indignity to our native and adopted citizens; and if foreign paupers and vagrants come here for political purposes, it is proof irresistible "that our naturalization laws ought to be immediately revised," and the term of residence greatly extended to qualify them to vote or hold office. Many are, I admit, orderly, well-disposed men-but many of them are of the opposite character. It is believed the action of the Common Council in the premises is particularly desirable. Our citizens had no serious turn-outs-no riotous parades-no conspiracies against the business and families of quiet, industrious and honest American operatives, until after officious interference by mischievous strangers, and it is melancholy to observe, that, in the mad career of some of these foreigners to destroy our happy system, they have lately recommended to a large meeting of our citizens that they should carry with them deadly weapons, of various kinds, to all our future public assemblages. These wild strangers should learn that to do so, is not "peaceably" to assemble, as provided by the Constitution. Indeed, a reason for taking proper measures to diminish the number of arrivals, is drawn from the fact, that, in addition to the great and grievous expense they would add to the city, should they continue to be numerously thrown upon us, the Common Council will be called upon to provide an armed and a mounted police for both day and night time. Peace cannot be otherwise expected. Many of them come from places where nothing less secures tranquillity.

AARON CLARK.

This message was referred to the appropriate committee, which some time afterwards made the following report:

The committee on laws, to whom was referred the message of his honor the Mayor, relative to the Quarantine laws and alien passengers, beg leave to report in part-That its members have felt a deep interest in the very important matters which the Mayor has so promptly, in the discharge of his official functions, brought before the notice of this board; that upon a proper and discreet settlement of the interesting questions submitted in the communication, depend the peace, prosperity, and good order of this city.

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The immense numbers of persons arriving at this port, fleeing from the poverty, starvation and oppression of Europe, is calculated, certainly, not only to excite our sympathy for these unfortunate beings, but to create a well-founded alarm as to the results upon our municipal prosperity, as well as the character and morality of our population. The greater number of these immigrants (for there are those who, devoted to agricultural pursuits, and bringing with them some little property and a good reputation, are calculated to add to the resources of the commonwealth,) are absolutely penniless and reeking with the accumulated filth, which long confinement on shipboard and an habitual want of cleanliness produce; they almost immediately on their arrival, roam the streets, a band of houseless mendicants, or apply to your alms-houses for succor. Crime succeeds destitution. Your prisons are filled-your hospitals are crowded with them, and your public treasure is spent upon those who never contributed a cent to the general welfare.

It is just--it is in accordance with the best feelings of the human heart to commisserate the sufferings of humanity, however degraded; but in the opinion of your committee, this city owes a paramount duty to itself and the country of which it is the general emporium. She is bound by wise and efficient laws to prevent the jails and work-houses of Europe, from pouring out on our shores their felons and paupers; to prohibit her from introducing here those whom she is bound by every consideration of justice to support; to prohibit her from disgorging on our people, a population with principles calculated to lower the tone of morals and disorganize the frame of our republican institutions.

During the last year 60,541 passengers arrived at this port. The number has greatly increased this season, the average being very nearly 2,000 a week. The alms-house is full, containing at this moment 3,074, of which three-fourths are foreigners. In fact, our public charities are principally for the benefit of these foreigners; for of 1,209 persons admitted into the hospital at Bellevue, 982 were aliens. The expense of the alms-house establishment and its dependencies, last year, amounted to $205,506 63-100. Your committee, therefore, recommend the passage of the following resolutions:

Resolved, That it is the opinion of this board, that the Mayor may be requested to enter into a correspondence with the Executives of the States of New York and New Jersey, and such other persons as to him may seem proper, touching the enforcement of the health laws and passenger act.

Resolved, That this board approve the decision of his honor the Mayor, in raising the amount of commutation money heretofore paid by foreign passengers.

M. C. PATTERSON, Chairman.
D. RANDELL.

On the 30th of April, 1838, Mr. Russell, of New York, submitted the following in the House of Representatives of the United States, which was adopted :

Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to communicate to this House copies of all correspondence and communications which have passed between this and any foreign governments, and the officers and agents thereof, relating to the introduction of foreign paupers into the United States; also, what steps, if any, have been taken, to prevent the introduction of such paupers into the United States; provided such communication is not incompatible with the interests of the United States.

In reply to this request, President Van Buren forwarded the following among a number of other documents, to Congress. See Niles' Register vol. lv. p. 44:

MR. HARRISON TO MR. LIVINGSTON. (EXTRACTS.)

Consulate of the United States, Kingston, Jamaica, June 28th, 1831. SIR: I do myself the honor to inform you that I was called upon yesterday by most of the masters and supercargoes of American vessels now in this port, who complained of a law which obliges all foreign vessels under one hundred tons to take a pauper (or such other person that it may be desirable to get rid of) on board, and carry him or them off the island; and those above that size, one for every hundred tons burden, at the rate of $10 each, under a penalty of £100 currency or $300.

It appears when a pauper wishes to leave the island, it is only necessary to select the vessel he is desirous to go in; he then accompanies the officer charged with the execution of the law in question to the consignee, to whom the $10 is tendered for the men's passage, and, if refused, the fine is then inflicted. I have no means, while

I remain unauthorized to act in an official character, to ascertain the number of persons who have been thus clandestinely introduced into the United States; but I am informed that there are now about one hundred in the hospital at Kingston alone, and as there are scarcely any other foreigners trading to the colony but Americans, the greater part of those people will find their way to the United States in the manner already described to you

Consulate of the United States, District of Kingston-upon-Hull-Teeds, Aug 30, 1836. SIR-I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your circular of the 7th of July, requesting information as to the deportation of paupers from Great Britain, &c.

I have in consequence been making particular inquiries on the subject throughout my consular district. I find that no list that can be relied on of passengers sailing from Hull, is kept at the custom house, which distinguishes the paupers from those of a better class. Regular muster rolls are kept, but the parties are merely described by their names, ages, and from whence they come, and occupation.

The officers of the customs are well aware that paupers do proceed both to the United States and Canada; and it has been admitted by the owners of several vessels sailing there, that their passengers are paid by the overseers of the parishes to which they belong. The mode of doing this varies according to the trustworthiness of the pauper: if good, he is trusted to make his own bargain, and generally has a trifle of money advanced to him for use when he quits the vessel, to enable him to get up the country. If the man is a bad character, he is generally the best off, as the overseers pay his passage money and procure for him the necessaries for his voyage; the man then turns restive, and oftentimes refuses to go, unless more money is given him, generally £5 or £10 more than was first agreed on. So that the worse the character, the better able the pauper is to make his way when he quits the vessel. One ship-owner, whose vessel sailed this year to the United States from Hull, and who has had several previously, says he believes that nearly all the passengers go to the back settlements, to their friends who had previously gone there, and had written for them; and that it very rarely happened that any family went out on a roving expedition, not having an object. It appears that the greatest immigration from Hull is to Canada, whither passage money is reduced, and many instances have been discovered where the overseers have agreed with the

paupers, and paid their passage money for the United States; but the paupers have adopted the plan of getting there through Canada, on account of the moderate charge of the passage; by which means they have taken more money with them into the country.

It is the general opinion of the owners of vessels, that during the last two years the number of paupers immigrating to United States and Canada has been very much diminished. Very few have gone there from this large county (Yorkshire), as labor has been easily obtained and wages have improved.

A merchant who had a vessel sailed from the port of Hull this year, with several families, states that all but three appeared able to bear their own expenses, and some, though in appearance poor, were known to have in their possession considerable property. Another counteracting effect of the immigration of paupers, is the return of several within the last year or two, to their parishes, which are bound to receive them, and the knowledge of such proceedings deters other overseers from being so ready to assist as they were some years ago. Liverpool being the principal port from whence immigration takes place, I beg to enclose you herewith a statement (A) that has been published of the number who have sailed from the 1st January to the 5th July last, designating the countries to which they have gone and the number for the years 1833-34 and '35.

A society was formed some time since for the purpose of sending young females out to New South Wales, but, as will be perceived by the enclosed resolution (B) passed by them, they now decline recommending any further immigration there, owing to the excessive immorality stated to prevail there.

With great respect, I am, sir, your most obedient servant,

ALBERT DAVY, Consul U. S. A. Kingston-upon-Hull.

Hon. LEVI WOODBURY, Secretary of the Treasury, Washington.

United States Consulate, Bremen, Sept. 5, 1836. SIR-I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your esteemed circular of the 7th of July, 1836, requesting information respecting deportation of paupers from Great Britain, and other places, &c. I am sorry that the information is not to be procured from authentic sources, for, properly speaking, it cannot be said that paupers are deported from Germany, though it may sometimes (but very rarely) be the case that families, almoners, and civil authorities, in order to get rid of a burdensome fellow or troublesome subject, pay what is necessary for such a person to cross the Atlantic-but among the German immigrants, a great number of whom annually embark at this port, and who nearly all go to the United States, there are many persons and families who, when they have paid for the passage, have little or no money left, and probably many of them, on arriving in the United States, are quite destitute of all. The different governments of Germany are in general not much pleased with the spirit of immigration, several years since predominant in Germany, and, as is said, try by all means to keep their subjects at home. The immigrants very often loudly and bitterly complain that the said governments, before they give the people the permission to depart, put as many obstacles as possible in the way of the persons who intend to immigrate. Such immigrants, as I hear, must usually prove to their governments that they have money enough to pay their travelling expenses and for their passage, the said governments being afraid that the immigrants may, by travelling, uselessly spend their little fortune, and then return, and come on the charge of the community, and the immigrants are therefore obliged to renounce and give up all their rights as natives of the country. After the

immigrants have got the permission to immigrate and set out, then their former gov. ernments do not further care for them.

The letters or circulars addressed to the United States Consuls at Hamburg, Munich, Leipsic, and Cassel, which were sent to me with the said circular of the 7th of July last, enclosed, have immediately been put in the post-office.

I have the honor to remain, with the greatest respect, your most obedient servant, For JOSHUA DODGE,

H. W. BOHME.

To the Hon. LEVI WOODBURY, Secretary of the Treasury, at Washington.

Consulate of the U. States of America, Leipsic, March 8th, 1837. SIR-On receipt of your circular letter of July 7th, 1836, I made inquiries in respect to the transport of paupers from this country to the United States; but state affairs being conducted not so openly as may be desired, I have not been sucsessful until of late, when, by confidential communications, I have learned things which will require energetic measures upon the part of the United States to be counteracted.

Not only paupers, but even criminals, are transported from the interior of this country to the sea-ports, in order to be embarked there for the United States.

A Mr. De Stein, formerly an officer in the service of the Duke of Saxe Gotha, has lately made propositions to the smaller States of Saxony for transporting their criminals to the port of Bremen, and embarking them there for the United States, at $75 per head, which offer has been accepted by several of them. The first transport of criminals, who, for the greater part, have been condemned to hard labor for life, (among them two notorious robbers, Pfeifer and Albrecht,) will leave Gotha on the 15th of this month; and it is intended to empty, by-and-by, all the work-houses and jails of that country in this manner. There is not a doubt that several other States will imitate this nefarious practice. In order to stop it, I have sent an article into the General Gazette of Augsburg, wherein I have attempted to demonstrate that this behavior was contrary to all laws of nations, and that it was a shameful behavior towards a country which offers the best market to German manufactures.

It has of late, also, become a general practice in the towns and boroughs of Germany, to get rid of their paupers and vicious members, by collecting means for effectuating their passage to the United States among the inhabitants, and by supporting them from the public funds.

This practice is highly injurious to the United States, as it burdens them with a host of paupers and criminals, and also deters the better and wealthier class of the inhabitants of this country from immigrating to the United States. The property the latter class has of late exported annually to the United States, has been calculated at a sum of from two to four millions of dollars, and it is to be expected that this very profitable immigration would increase from year to year, in case the honest people of this country would not have to fear to be associated in the new country with the worst class of their countrymen. This, indeed, seems to be the secret motive of the above-mentioned measures. It is intended to stigmatize thereby that country which the wealthier class of the farmers and mechanics commence to consider as the land of promise.

1. That all persons

To remedy that evil, I would propose the following measures. intending to immigrate to the United States, would have to produce to the Consul of the United States, in the sea-port, a testimonial from the magistrate of their residence, purporting that they have not been punished for a crime (political punishments ex