sectarians proving equal devotion to their particular faith. A fond hope for betterment of their earthly condition rose in their hearts with the good reports from the American colonists under English' rule, a hope made more vivid by the eloquence of serious men such as William Penn, a hope that suddenly seemed capable of realization, when what appeared to the Palatines as a direct invitation from Queen Anne of England came for them to settle in her transatlantic colonies. The wretchedness of their present condition, the impossibility of future improvement seeming never so evident as now, turned sentiment into resolution, and what might be likened to a tidal wave of immigration formed quickly and swept from the Rhine to the shores of England, thence to turn impulsively and with compelling force toward the promised land. The story of this first great exodus, the Palatine immigration to the colony of New York, will be the subject of the succeeding chapter. The principal causes of the great German immigration in the eighteenth century were found to have been religious persecutions, the tyranny of autocrats, destructive wars, failure of crops and famine, economic bankruptcy. The flames of immigration once having a good start, a gale soon arose, which fanned them into a conflagration beyond control. There were then as there are now, in our own day, various artificial aids operating toward the increase or steady continuance of immigration. Such were, firstly, more frequent opportunities of transportation, prepared by profit-seeking ship-owners or ship-companies, and secondly, more abundant information or communication supplied gratuitously by the selfish interests of ad

1 On the Continent Prussia, since the time of the Great Elector, had stood for religious tolerance, and had invited the persecuted sectarians to settle in her territory.

vertising agents and land speculators. The perils of the immigrant by land and sea furnish a theme that cannot be exhausted within the limits of the present chapter, but a brief survey may fittingly precede the historical outline of the German settlements in the eighteenth century, may serve to increase our admiration of the courage and heroism of the early immigrants, and remind us also that neither cleverness nor gullibility was born within our own generation.

The immigrant agents were either employed by ship companies in Holland or England, or in many cases acted on their own initiative. They were commonly called "newlanders” (Neuländer), and frequently had been failures as colonists in America, or at all events found immigranthunting a more profitable occupation. "They receive," says Mittelberger, "from their merchants in Rotterdam or Amsterdam for every person of ten years and over, three florins or a ducat; whereas the merchants in Philadelphia, sixty, seventy, or eighty florins for such a person, in proportion as said person has incurred more or less debts during the voyage." The newlanders not only obtained a commission from the so-called merchants or shipowners, but had many opportunities of extracting money from the immigrants, whom they pretended to serve as friends or patrons. In their dress they affected the appearance of wealth begotten in America, wearing pocket watches with heavy gold chains as a sample of the gold to

1 Gottlieb Mittelberger's Journey to Pennsylvania in the year 1750 and return to Germany in 1754, showing not only a description of the country according to its present condition, but also a detailed account of the sad and unfortunate circumstances of most of the Germans that have immigrated or are immigrating to that country. Translated from the German by C. T. Eben, Philadelphia, 1898. See p. 38. The German original was published in Stuttgart, 1756.

be found lying in the streets of the new country. Stories of rapid advancement in wealth or station constantly issued from their mouths, "The maid had become a lady, the peasant a nobleman, the artisan a baron, the officers of the government held their places by the will of the people." The newlanders carried about with them letters from acquaintances, perhaps from some one of the same village, now settled in America, prosperous and anxious that his friends should share his happiness. Such letters were often forged by the skillful hand of the newlander who could "imitate all characters, marks and tokens so admirably that even he whose handwriting they had imitated, must acknowledge it to be their own. By means of such practices they deceived even people who are not credulous.”1 Quantities of descriptive pamphlets and advertisements were circulated, revealing brilliant prospects for settlers in Pennsylvania, Carolina, and elsewhere, some of them of so seductive a nature that governments found it necessary on their part to circulate literature with a view to counteracting the dangerous influence. An instance of a prohibition against newlanders was that reported by Christoph Sauer in his newspaper in 1751: "The Elector Palatine has issued a command that no newlanders are to be tolerated in the whole of the Palatinate; that if captured they should be thrown into prison." In spite of s such mandates the newlanders succeeded in accomplishing their purposes by the most effective of their methods,

1 Mittelberger, p. 42.

2 For attempts to get German settlers to New England, see Chapter IX, pp. 254 ff.

Cf. also Kapp, Die Deutschen im Staate New York (1867). Dokumentarischer Anhang, pp. 385–397. (5) “Kaiser Joseph's Auswanderungs-Verbot"; (6) "Formulär eines holländischen Seelen Verkäufers Lockzettels"; (7) "Dienstvertrag eines Auswanderers."

house to house visitation, performed in secret, under the disguise of fellow countrymen returning from America.1 Watchful for an opportunity to make a favorable impression, they would expatiate, in the appropriate local dialect, upon the glorious opportunities waiting in America, in comparison with the restrictions and abuses at home, and then, if possible, speedily arrange a plan of exit by way of the Rhine and the Netherlands.

A good example of the literature used to excite in the common people the desire for immigration is the little book written in the interests of South Carolina, and extensively circulated throughout Switzerland and the Palatinate, entitled: "Der Nunmehro in der neuen Welt vergnügt und ohne Heim-Wehe lebende Schweitzer. Oder: Kurtze und eigentliche Beschreibung Des gegenwärtigen Zustandes der königlichen Englischen Provinz Carolina, aus den neulich angekommenen Briefen der Alldorten sich befindenden Schweitzeren zusammen getragen, von J. K. L. Bern. Getruckt bey Johannes Bondeli," "1734. The booklet pretends to give the impressions recorded in letters of Swiss settlers located in South Carolina, notably those in Purysburg. The pleasures of house and home on large acreage are emphasized. The land literally flows with milk and honey the cows roaming about on perfect pasturage all the year round, and honey being found abundantly in hollow trees. Wild turkeys are found in flocks of five hundred, geese, that some of the farmers possess in flocks to the number of two hundred, furnish choice feather beds. As for game, the

1 Cf. H. A. Rattermann in Der deutsche Pionier, vols. xiv, xv, and xvi, in connection with his articles, "Geschichte des deutschen Elements im Staate Maine," where he furnishes a very full account of the work and wiles of several immigrant agents, with reprints of advertisements, etc.

bisons put their heads through the windows of the log cabins waiting to be shot; the wolves are by no means as large as the European, and can be tamed. The taste of venison in Carolina far surpasses anything in Europe, the bears are smaller and frequently seen herding with the swine. The alligator (Allegatter) has no terrors, it is diminutive in comparison with the crocodile of the Old World, and the Indians and negroes use its tail for food. The danger of overpopulation, which is the main cause for emigration in Switzerland, can never exist in Carolina, with its length of three hundred and seventy hours' and breadth of more than one thousand hours. An appendix follows, consisting of letters from Swiss colonists located inland, furnishing positive proof that the Switzer in Carolina is happy and lives without the dreaded homesickness, that preys upon the Swiss when in a foreign country.

The book seems to have been so seductive in its effect, that it called forth a reply, written perhaps under the auspices of the Town Council of Bern, who, on March 17, 1735, gave directions for the distribution of the following counterblast, entitled: "Neue Nachricht alter und neuer Merkwürdigkeiten, enthaltend ein vertrautes Gespräch und sichere Briefe von der Landschaft Carolina und übrigen Englischen Pflanzstädten in Amerika, zufinden zu Zürich, Bern, Basel, Schaffhausen, und St. Gallen in den Berichthäusern gegen Ende des Jahres Siebzehn hundert vier und dreissig." The latter also was calculated to reach the very heart of the immigrant. In the form of a dialogue between a likely young fellow of twenty-five and the schoolmaster, the whole subject of immigration to Carolina is discussed,

1 An hour is about three English miles. The distances as stated are of course overestimated; it was not known how far the land extended westward.