ABSTRACT
During the last two months there has been a very great increase of pauper emigration into Lancashire, from Ireland. On particular days the roads leading from Liverpool to Manchester, and other parts of the county, are covered with Irish families consisting of men, women, and children, of all ages, from the grandsire to the infant in arms. We have counted as many as half a dozen families, in half an hour’s walk on the Liverpool and Manchester road; and last week one of the county police officers, who lives by the roadside, between Manchester and Eccles, informed us, as a piece of news, that there were as many as ten times as many Irish passing along the road towards Manchester as there usually are from all parts of Ireland. Some of them are from the most distant counties, such as Sligo and Roscommon. They all say that they cannot get a living of any sort in Ireland, and that they are coming over to England to see if they can find work for their children in the factories, and for themselves in any other way. Many of these poor people are most decent and respectable in their manners and language. From the greatly increasing numbers in which these poor creatures are now arriving, there is reason to fear that they will before long produce a considerable effect both on wages and poor rates in the country. The facilities for getting across to England and Scotland are now so great, that emigrants of this class are likely to come in increasing numbers, as the pressure of distress increases in Ireland.
