^ ^^^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) h /. A4% 1 4" II 1.1 11.25 128 lu lii ; — 2.0 III u 1.4 i 1.6 6" Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) •72-4503 % •"« •« trop grand pour itra reproduit en un seui ciich*. il eat fi!m« i oartir et de haut m baa. 9n prenant la nombra d imagea n^caaaaira. Las diagrammas suivants illuatrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 4 5 6 s ^'•?, REPORT S TO THE CITIZENS OF MONTREAL, or TBG Committee appointed at the Public Meeting of the I3th instant, under the Resolutions then adopted, calling for tKe Establishment of an IMMIGRANT STATION Belotx) tl)e Citg of lUonlreal. The undersigned, appointed a Committee to carry into eft'ect certain resolutions relative to the location of a permanent Immigrant Sta- tion below the city of Montreal, which were adopted at a public meeting of 'he citiz-^ns The Com nittee, on the day following the public meeting, (the 14th instant) solicited and obtained from His Excellency the Gov- ernor General, an audience, at which they handed to him a Memorial, founded on the Montreal, held on Tuesday, the 13th instant, resolutions ado i ted at the publio meeting, at the B nsecours Market Hall, conceivejwhich His Excellency graciously promised ittheir duty to explain to their fellow citizenslto take into his cerious considerauon. His the steps which they have adopted in pursu- Excellency expressed his derp sympathy ance of the charge i .posed on them. It will be fresh in the memory of every one, that the m eting ab ve referred to was convened by his Worship the Mayor, in with ihecitizensof Mont eal, and his anxious desire to ado|.t every remedial miasuie in is power, n< t only to ward oflf the danger to which they were subjected, but to allay the order that a decidt l expression of opinion apprehensions under which they laboured. might tw obtained irom the . itizens of Mon treal, as to the expediency of the erection of additional Irnmigrai t Sheds, above the < ity, in direct oppof 1 to their as- surance that the^e was no ground for the ap- prehensions of the citizens, the Committee, with a view to ascertain how far these appre- hensions were founded in fact, consuhed such members of the faculty, not being members of the Joint Emiiirattt Commission, as it was in their power to see during the short time The gentlemen so applif d to, almost withoot excepli(>ii, expressed their entire concurrence of opinion with the Committee ; and to the number of nineteen, signed certificates strongly recommendine the change prayed for by the Memorial of the citizens. The Joint Iininigrani Conunisisioii liavingloollencv for the remhvfll nf ih^ r«««.- . eover asaerted that the removal ot i^^x^Z^JllTJ^T^Vi^l ^ ffi^ eover asserted "that the removal of the . Tmrniffrant Station below Montreal would be CCj^jf^ ^^^ sellirth in the extreme," inasmuch aaft would deprive the unfortunate Immi- S rants— whose condition none more deeply epioro than the Committee -of the valuable services of those .VJinisters of their respective churches, and of those religims ladies, who have so heroically endancfered, and too many of whom have sacrificed, their lives in the noble office of administering^ both spiritual and temporal aid to the sufferers; the Commit- tee applied to the proper sources, and at once received from the Clergy of every denomin- ation an assurance of what indeed they never iloubted,— that those faithfnl and devoted fol- lowers of « Him who went about doing »ood," so far from shrinking from the per- formance of their sacred duty in consequence Station to some place below Montreal. "Mr. Moffatt, m strona; terms, urged, tn the pres- ence of several of the members of the Com- rmttee, upon the Hon. Messrs. Cayley and Sherwood, mdividually, the prayer of t&e Memorial, and expressed his entire disap- probation of the localities which had been selected for the new sheds. At the desire, however, of the Honorable Mr. Sher- wood, he engaged to defer his motion nil the return of the Honorable Mr. Camer- on from Grosse Isle; immediately afte^ which time the Committee w^-re also promised by Mr. Sherwootl that they should receive a (telinitive answer to their prayer. The Com- mittee, m the course of their interviews, ex- hibited to Mr. MofEitt and Mr. Sherwood the certificates of the medical practitioners and ot the clergy, already adverted to, and which :;fa77;uch=p^^^^ praved for, woukf continue to perform them Or/hriXSnt .h« rH r P""*r u Witt the same alacrity which^thev have Court of Quar^rSesSo^ fn'fc^l^f "^r"X,'"*"'^''''«^' an/would, ment, whTrdiT hey set fo^^^^^ in fact, prefer, for this purpose, the proposed quiescence in the views of XMSJIn e Committee received, through His Worship the Mayor, the letter from the Secretary of the Province, which, hy order of the Com- mittee, has been published in the newspa- Ers, conveying the information that a Mem- r of tho Government had been despatched to Grosse Isle for the purpose of causing the adoption of more stringent measures of pre- caution at that station, but communicating no light as to the intentions of the Govarn- ment on the other most important matters alluded to in the Memorial. Those matters, as that letter stated, were under the consider ation of the Council ; and the result of their deliberations, it promised, should be com- municated at the earliest possible moment. The Committee, deeming the prayer of the Memorial of a pressing character, and thai every moment lost added to the public danger, and aware, moreover, that whilst the Govern, ment remained in a state of apparent inac- tion, the sheds, of which the citizena so loudly and energetically complained, were in process of erection under the ordera of the Jomt Immigrant Commission, — determined, upon the receipt of this letter, to take imme- diate steps to have the whole matter brought before the Legislature of the Province, now in Session. They, accordingly, on the same evening, waited on the Han. G. Moffatt. one ui iiio Representatives of the city, who' had previously stated his entire agreement with the views of the citizens, and who con sented to bring forward in the House of As SAfnnlv. a mntinn fnr nn A.l.l.^~- .. ti!. t:i «mb.„ a ™&„ for.a Ai7,rHus:i;is:ihra;"jr%tei«i^T.t^^ .s~s«« .w ic^uiiiiiiciiu u sironer- ly to the favourable notice of the Executive. On the 19th instant, the Common Council, at a special meeting, adopted, with two dissentient voices only, a petition to the three branches of the Legislature, embodying the suggestions contained in the resolutions of the Public Meeting of the 13th. On the sane evening, Mr. Moffatt made nis promised motion for an address to His Ex- cellency for the removal of the Immigrant 5»hed8 to some place below the city ; but after certain explanations from the Provincial Ministry, expressed his desire to withdraw It. This, however, the House of Assembly would not permit ; and on a division ensuiiiff, that Honourable House, by a majority of 25 to 18, adopted the Address. To the Memorial which the Committee had the honour to present to His Excellency, and to their repeated verbal communications with various Members of the Assembly, no (tehnitive reply has been vouchsafed. This, perhaps, is not to be wondered at, since the Address of the Representatives of the people has remained till this day unanswered, and is thiP day answered, contrary to all precedent, as the Committee understand, in the ne.'a- Uve. Under these circumstances, the one duty remaining for the Committee has be- COmn that nf rannt4inr» tn.tU^:^ c^i\ --.- - - ---J ---5 -.--» tiiczi :~!;uiv~i:iliZGnS the measures they have taken, in the hope that they may at least be absolved from all charge of having neglected the important in- lerests confided to them. They tleeply de- } Immigrant itreal. Mr. tn the pres- f the Com- Cayley and lyer of the ntire disap- h had been t the desire, Mr. Sher- his motion Vf r. Camer- ately after BO protniaed d receive a TheCom- rviews, ex- erwood the ioners and and which ! prints, fury of the ir Present- entire ac~ citizens of 'ing it, ex- I represent I it slrong- Bxecutive. n Council, with two > the three •dying the ions of the Bbtt made o His Ex- m migrant city; but Provincial wiilidraw Assembly ensuing, y of 25 to omraittee cellenoy, liiications mbly, no !• This, ilnce the le people d, and is recedent, he neita- the one has be- -ehizBXlS he hope from all rtant in- eply de- ouse the ' } i, Crovernmeiit to a proper sense of what they consider to have been its duty in this mat ter; and they must throw on that Govern ment, however reluctantly, the entire respon- sibility of having jeopardized the health and lives of the inhabitants of this populous city, to sustain certain pre-conceived views of a few gentlemen, who seem to have made it a point of honor to stand out against, and if pos- sible defeat, those of the community, at whatever hazard or sacrifice. With this simple statement of facts, the Committee might perhaps terminate their la- bours ; but a sense of what is due to them- selves, and to the numerous and highly re- spectable body whom they on this occcasion represent, compels them to place before the public eye a brief statement of the actual con- dition of the public health within the city, and of the utter inefficiency of the measuroH which the public authorities have adopted, or are understood to be about to adopt, on the occasion. Official Returns show the mortality in the eity, for ihe last six weeks to have been as follows : — Residents. Immig. in town. Week ending 19th June.. 46. 86ih " ..47. 3rd July.... 53. 10th " ....133.. 17th 34th Immig. ID aheda. Total increase. The totals for the six weeks raniw, 151, 218, 273, 285, 240, 282 : a result in which (more especially coupled as it is with the fact of this increased and increasing rate of Immigrant mortality in town) the Commit- tee find no matter of congratulation. Another and even more alarming consi- deration is the contrast exhibited in respect of the mortality among the Resident Popula- tion of the City. Till the last three weeks, it was rather below that of last year ; but for these last three weeks it has augmented three-fold. With the intercourse between the resident and immigrant populations kept up, as it is, by the refusal to remove the Immi- grant Station, and with a consequently in- creasing amount of Immigrant sickness and death within the city, how soon is it presum- able that it will diminish ? 31. 45. 48. 35.. •• ....163 76. •' ....155 80. 120. 173., 995.. 250.. 164.. 809.. . 197 , 265 , 326 418 403 437 TotalB...597 315 1134 8046 For the corresponding weeks of last year, they show the following result : — Reaidenta. Immig. Total. Week ending 90th June.. 53 1 54 •• 27th " .. 69 69 " 4ih July.. 51 3 54 11th •* .. 41. ^ 3 44 18th " .. 44 44 " 95th " .. 60 60 The Committee have felt it their duty to examine the Returns carefully, to ascertain the number of deaths by /every among the resident population of the City during the above six weeks ; and they find them to stand thus : — Week ending 19th June, 1847 3 " 86th " 4 3rd July, 1847 18 —19 " 10th •• •• 17th " " 94th ,55 58 73 —185 (I Totals 318 7 325 Upon these figures, independently of the almost steady increase of the total numl^rts of this year, and the appalling contrast which they present to the total numbers of last year, the Committee must make two remarks. In the first place, they show no such en- couraging falling off in the mortality among deaths at the Sheds have led many to sup- pose has lately takfln place. At the Sheds, mdeed, for the last ' ^ight, they show some, though by no meai,, -eat, reduction. But m Town — and it is in n where such mor- tality is most dangerous to the citizens— ttxc*re h«c been a corresponding and almost equal 304 Week ending 90th June, 1846 9 " a7th •• 9 4th July, 1846 15 ,,33 '• 11th " 5 " 18ih " 5 •• 95th " 5 —15 48 So that, while for the first three weeks the contrast is again strikingly favorable to th* present year, as regards the prevalence of fever, the last thtee weeks show it (as com- pared with the corresponding three weeks of last year) to have actually increased twdvt' fotdf and to be still, to all seeming, on the increase. That the Committee draw no unfair inftt- ence in thus comparing the last six weeks with the corresponding period of last year, is easily shown. For the months of January, February, ^Jaroh and April, the contrast of the two years is the following : — 1847. 1846. ^ ' - ■' ""\ /' - Total, Oi Fever. Total. January 191 18 271. February. ...104 9 2(»3.. Muroh 143 10 180.. April 109 9 154.. ^ «, or Fever. 45 49 33 31 Totala 476 53 808 158 Fiom the Ist of May to the commence^ ment of the six weeksin qiiesfion, a pe;fcct!y exact comparative statement cannot be made ; because the number of interments at the Sheds this year (probably fsmalj) during this period is not given in the Returnu ; but with tliis defect, the compatison stands thus : — 1847. 1846. Total. Of Fever. May and to I9ihorl3ih of June,— Reaiiienu 198 14 liuinigraiitfl 10 (or more 7)..., Total. Of Fever .256. . 1. 49 It is thus apparent, that for the whole of this year, till the crowding in of the Immi grants upon the city, the mortality of the Re sident Population was greatly below that of last year ; and that fever, in particular, was decidedly the reverse of prevalent. The ,»„„.., „.„.o « cicar.^, u me siaiemenis oi deaths from fever iri five months and a half the New York Report are noi most untrue. three per cent.f that is to sajr, one in thirty- three ; that in the unhealthiest parts of Lon- don, on an average of many years, it is less than one in twenty-five ; that in the whole of London it is not one in thirly.five ; that in Glasgow it is little more than one in thirty- nine, in Berlin hardly more than one in thir- ty-seven, and in some European Cities oT considerable size, Geneva for example, les* than one in forty-six. Much stress has been laid by parties op- posed to the views of the citizens of Montreal, upon a Report lately made by certain medical r^entlemen of the New York Academy of Medi- cine, which has been said to demonstrate, sa- tisfactorily, the groundlessness of all alarm as t.i the spread of the fever introduced by the Immigrants. Whatever may be the merits of this Report for the localit> for which it was written,— and it was eviJently written to al- lay a strong feeling on this subject, existing at the time among the citizens of New York, — the Committee cannot regard it as in any way applicable to the circumstances of this city. No precise statemenr is made in it of the ex- tent of the mortality among the Immigrants arriving at New York ; but it is sufficiently apparent that it has been materially less than in Canada. And, as regards the mortality and spread of fever among the resident popu- lation, there is clearly, if tlie statements of had not been one-third as many as during the same five months and a half of the year be- fore. What proportion they bear now, the current returns establish but too sadly. Of the cause of the change, fraught as it is wi.h disaster to the City, there can be but one opinion no semblance of analogy between the two cases. It is emphatically stated that in New York no person living near any of the Hospitals has been attacked ; that none have suffered bnt those constantly in attendance on the sick ; that the fever is confined almost entirely to the Hospitals ; and that the cases occurring out Assummg the Resident Population of the of Hospital are so few as to afford no ground City to be, in round numbers, 50,000,— ami whatever for apprehension. No one pretends It must be tolerably apparent that it does not to say that such is the case here. On the at the present moment reach that figure, from contrary, persons have been found bold enough the unusual numbers who have left town,— to argue, that the measure of precaution de- the mortality above exhibited (leaving, it manded by the Citizens has become useless, will be remembered, wholly out of view that 6«:ausc, as is asserted on the alleged authority of the Immigrant portion of the community) of certain of the Medical Immigrant Com- has been for the last six weeks at the rate of missioners, there is no street in the city that About ten and one-third per cent, per annum, has not its five cases of fever already. or more than one in ten of the whole popiila- Those, however, who quote this Report *i?° ' i°Ji *^® !f*^ '*''®® weeks, it has been with such approval, might profit from one about //ifcen and aAaZ/, and for the last fort- sentence of it which informs the shizens of mght nearly sixteen and a half per cent., or New York, that slight as is the danger with nearly one in six of the population. which it states hem to be threatened, « ara- To show the frightful significance of these pie provision has now Ijeen made by the figures, it is enough to ^ay that for ttie cor- Commissioners of Emigration, to provide for responding six weeks of last year, the rate the accommodation of stck emisrants bevond O'Aen a very high rate) was but about ^rearuTt he city precincts." The city precincts of oAa(/'pcr c«nt. per annum, or not quite one in New York extend some miles beyond the eighteen; that for the year 1846, it was limits covered by its population. The Com- Marcelyover/oMrpcrceni., or one in twenty missioners of that city, small as the evil i« fire i that for the five months and more pre- there in comparison, have not dared venture TiouB to the last lix weeks it was only about there up UoA A^^iA^A .,~.~^ .U- * u • i it has since clung with such pertinacity ; a third, not many hours before he was named a m in Its favour ; and a fourth is a genlloman immed upon the Commission originally, ai> the first Magistrate of the city, and tiiat he might there watch over its interests and re- culty of procuriiiff for the sick at such isolat. ed position, mecfical assistance, nurses and other appliances necessary in their unfortu- nate condition. For what reason it should Pje^nt its views, who ha^-sii;;;' t^ico;.:!;: anvSr^o m^JlC^uy t an sided at public meotn.«s of the citizens wfiere I«lan J a little way below the Citv than on those views have been emphaticallvexDmH«.th« h«nk, nf .»,. VT„i^."'! ..1' "*■*".?" those Views have been emphatically express- ed, whose signature, as Mayor of the city, has certihed to His Excellency and the Lejrisla ture that the citizens in public meeting as- sembled and the Common Council of the city pointedly condemn the course which he has urged as a Commissioner, and who has yet persisted in making every possible e (fort to cause the w. hes of the city (which by every rule of usage and right ought to have been ni8 own also) to be treated with contempt. . The Committee disclaim all idea of creat ing any unnecessary alarm in the city. The staustics of public health above recited, must suffice to relieve them from all such impu- tation. Pending their efforts to urge the views ot the citizens upon the authorities, tney have most sedulously abstained from all agitation of the public mind : and they now submit their present statement only to acquit themselves of a painful duty, by a last effort to make the true state of the case fairly and fully known. The measure which they have hitherto urged, they honestly believe to be imperatively called for, in order to stay the progrsBs of the impending evil. It may oe almost too late. But, propagated as the disease is and must be by all communication icept up between the sick Immigrants, and tlie he ilthy resident population, it must be obvious that no measures can be adequate to the emergency, which do not to the utmost possible extent cut off that communication, and effectually isolate the masses of sick Immigrants who crowd the country, (wher- ever they are found— and one of those places mwtdwaysbe in the neighbourhood of this city) from the population around them. What are the reasons assigned or assigna- ble against the provision of such a station for immigrants below Montreal as alone can secure this necessary isolation ? Firet, it is said, the expense. Why a sta- tion below the city and away from it, should cost more than one above and close to it, the )ut, for argu- the banks of the Canal close above it, the Committee cannot imagine. No such diffi- culty is ever complained of, as a reason against the est I blishment of the Quarantine at a far greater distance below Quebec. And surely, the surveUlance over an estiblishment so situated, would be far more advantageoua- \y confided to a medical staff to be appointed for the express purpose, and held responsible for the performance of their duties, than to a number of medical men actively engaged in practice within the City, and whose visits to the Sheds can only be made at such intervals as they can snatch from their more important and more profitable avocations. As to the nurses and other attendants, there can be no doubt whatever, that their efficiency would be greatly increased by placing them in a position where they would find it difficult or impossible to procure those stimulants which in Ihe present Immigrant Sheds it is found ■mpossible to keep from them. And thirdhr, it has been said that there would be difficulty in procuring for the Immi- grants religious aid and consolation. To thin objection, the Clergy have made the best and only answer, by distinctly contradicting it. In a word, every one of these objections at- taches as strongly, nay, more so, to the Quar- antine below Quebec. Yet no one gives them such an application. That Quarantine, in- ethciently as it has been maintained this year from the necessity of the case, has pre- served Quebec from the evils now threateninir such injury to Montreal. The Government has wisely done all it could to prevent the landing of the Immigrants at Quebec ; but its Agents have unwisely and obstinately per- sisted m landing them all close to Montreal, in converting a part of one of its Suburbs into a second Grosse Isle, and in covering the city through its whole length and breadth with the fever, against which it should have been their duty, most carefully, to guard it.— What is rightly done for Quebec, requires, for precisely the same reasons, to be also done for Montreal. And whatever may be the obsti- Conunittee cannot perceive. Bi m -nt's sake, admitting the expanse to'bel'""""T' : '^"'i wnaiever may be the obsti- far greater than the largest estitSlte whirfK*°^ °^*^°-*® '''?°^?V''/Pr®*®"^ has%een made of it, thiy still c^nnotlllowt,^^ ^I ^""mph "^ defeating the reasonable it to be a sufficient consideration tXptacedr",'*"**" 'i' th'sbehalf of the citizens of Mon- in the balance ""sins* the liv ' ''• - ^:-* ! ' — "^"^ whatever for the present ma" hft zens: nor can tl^v hftliova »K«T t^^^ri;!..™''^® results of that triumph,— the Committee zens; nor can they believe that the Govern mem, whatever stress they mey have laid on this topic, can have seriously intended to set off toe one against the other. Secondly, it has been argued,— the diffi- cannot entertain a doubt but that, after (if not before) a full experience of them, the views whicsh the citizens of Montreal have express- ed so strongly on this occasion, will be uni- versally acknowledged to have been right. 1 in- J •nd will receive the lardy ju»ttoo of being ut ]a*t acted up to. JOHN FISHER, rhairinan. JAMESIFEUKIKK. JOHN YOIIN(i. PIERRE DEAUBIEN, M. D. I* T. DRUMMOND, M. I». 1'. ARCHD. HALL. M. D. A. LAFRAMB0I8E. A. GUGY. J. BETHUNE. D. D. WM. WORKMAN. OHRISni. DUNKIN. J. G. BIBAUD, M. D. WM. BRISTOW. R. U. INNES. JOHN SINCLAIR. JOHN OSTELL. JEAN LOUIS BEAUDRY. J. EMERY CODERRE. BENJ. HOLMES. II. MULHOLLLAND. JOSEPH ERASER. F. GLACKMEYER. J. BOULANGET. Montreal, 26th July, 1817. spread of tho disease into the city, thin meeting, composed chiefly of individuals con- nected with the Montreal Board of Health and Emigrant Committee, after a personal jinspection of Bouchorville Island, recom- mend thut the sume bo selected as a site for Kmigrant Sheds, Hospitals, &,c. &o., for tho Port of Montreal, if a better cannot be found ; and appoint Mr. Wm. Workman, Dr. Hall and Mr. John Dougall, a Com- mittee to draw up an Address to the pro- per authorities, setting forth the reasons for this recommendation. APPENDIX. (From the Montreal Herald of the MJidy.) Retolntioni adopted at the PuUio Meeting held oti Saturday, the lOth instant, in the Bontecours Market Hall; His Worsh^ the Mayor in tht> Chair; W. Bristow, Esq., Secretary. 1. — Moved by Benjamin Holmes, Esq., se- conded by the Rev. Mr. Wilkes, and carried unanimously : That in the opinion of this meeting, Uie health of the inliabitants of this ))opulous city is most seriously endangered by the vast influx of immigrants recently arrived in a state of destitution, and suffering'from maligaant fevers ; that from tho continued -'••""'"••'•«;/•/ maiiguani lovers; tnat rrom tho continued Emigration — On Tuesday last, tho 6th^"^"^ o^ those immigrants, the danger to inst., the following gentlemen visited the[th<' city is hourly increasing, and that it Island of Boucherville, with the,*object of ^*^o*"®* o^ vital importance that measures judging of its capabilities as a sort of qua- o/ * ™ore eflicient character than those hi- rantine depot for the sick and indigent emi grants daily arriving at c^ i)ort. The Hon A. Ferrie, President Ltifgrant Com- mittee ; the Hon James Ferrier, Hon. Col. Bruce, as a guest and a visitor ; George Molson, John Molson, J. R. Qrr, Wm. Workman, John Redpath, M. Valois, J. Court, W. D. Gibb, Benjamin Brewster, Charles Lindsay, J. Dougall, Benj. Lyman, C. H. Castle, G. H. Frothingham, Esqrs. ; Drs. Beaubien and Hall ; Col. Gugy, On their return to the city, on board the steamer, the Hon J. Ferrier was called to the chair, and a very interestmg discussion took place on the subject of the mission to Knii/>listronff-roa!, do horubv convono « M *: and spread, and that no an.oliorution can] nirv r mt, . ' *-'"-'- ' JOHN E. MILLS, Mayor, take plooe. '■-^if^ .J ^;"s;:::'tT^.:si^"""™'- ''•' ^"'^- «"• unatiimuiisly : That tho iiilmbitants of this city hav ThcnndorsJcrnod.theCMnmittoonppoint- •'d hy the Public Meeting held „.. SuVurday iCveniMg Just, to reuionstrnte ngiiinst the learned with alarm tho contunjplated ar-, , j rangements for additional shoals at Whul-'r*"""*^. "*'^' V' reuionstrnte against the mill Point, a measure, in the ophuon of tIns'^r''?wl.-''''^V"" °'". " l"'''"nn^'nt Immi- meeting, calculated to increase rather thani 71 "' " T*" ^''^ *''*^' '" '''»^ ^'«'n'ty diminish the danger to which the dtv is ex I , ^'■'''''"' ^""'"ff'-ant Sheds, and to posed, and therefore, recommend that on Jvll'^!;'' ^'i '"^V'^ ^^l^'^'^^on, by Go- of tho Bonehervillo Islands be immediati-lvlK' '"** ""^ "" .¥'"'^ '*^''"^^' ti'e city for "'--' »'««>"t«'}this purpose; finding that new Sheds aro selected, and suitable accomodation thert provided for the instant removal of the immigrants— a situation, in the opinion of this meeting, sufficiently remote from thi- city, where pure air and wholesome water are inexhaustibly supplied, and within th." reach of the immigrants, and where ade- quate 8i>ace exists for the separating of the healthy from the diseased. 5.— Movetl by John Young, Esq., seconded by E. E. Colburn, Esq., and passed unanimously : That Messrs. Ferrior, Workman, Holmes, Kodier, Dr. Beaubien, Osteil, and J. Fisher, be a Committee to deliver the Re- solutions just adopted, and to confer with the Mayor, as Chairman of the Commission in process of construction on the site ob- :,|«'cted to, and having received from tho Chairman of the Immigrant Connnissioners the subjoined communication, showing tho intbntion of making j>ormanont establish- •nonts, as well for tho sick as for tho healthy Imn.igrnnts, above the city, to the exclusion ot the site proposed below the city, and considering that it is important there should be a further expression of public means of giving them effect. 6.--Moved by J. Osteil, Esq., seconded by P. Mulholland, Esq., and carried unani- mously : ^^at tlie foregoing Resolutions be pub- lished m all the newspapers of this city, and that a copy be transmitted to His Excel- Jl^pcy the Governor General, through the Civil Secretary. Bepty of the Chairman of the Joint Immi opinion on this subject, as well as on that ot the other precautions requiring to bo taken, with a view to tho general health of the city, request His Worship the Mayor ot Montreal to convene a Public Meeting ot the citizens of Montreal, to bo held in the Bonsecours Market Hall, to-morrow .;•' rj "-' ,^'""' ""♦""•"'« v^ommission "'« "onsecours iviarket Hall, to-morrnw appointed by the Executive, upon the best evening, the 13th instant, at siven o'clock means of giving them effect. ^''' J. Ferrier, Chairman. Benj. Holmes. John Fisiiet?. Pre. Beaubien, M.D. William Workman. JoHM Ostell. C. E. RODIEB. Montreal, July 12, 1847. To the Hon. James Ferrier, Dr. Beaubien and others, appointed a Committee to -/-•y V '"" v»«t#/rta» Of me jotnt immt- »"" omers, appointed a Committee to ffrant Commmion to the Committee namcd| communicate the resolutions passed at a ■fei., after their arrival in citizens of Montreal, recommending the Montreal, evince symptoms of divase »oliH3tion of Boueherv.lle Island as a .ite whieh, at the time *thev left the Island' for the Imnngrant Shells and iiospitaU,w«s latent in their sv«ten.s, and that tho and havr the honor to reply- Un,« ncK-essity would Vxi^t as at prenent for I hat they have mo.Ht att.'ntively con- ho^pitaln for tluur aeeonnnodation in tho sidcred tlu. van.»us plans propositi for theineighl)orhoiMl of the »it\— vvi(h this ad
  • ..♦ «* rj»« tnjrl and bi/ them laid be/ofe the said Meeting : TO THE HON. JAMES FERRIER, &c. &c. Gentlemex,— The Joint Emigrant Com- missioners deem it advisable, in order to tagion, and many of whom may have tho . — . 11* A .• ^ iinhAftlthv fjZT «r« r"*". ""^ F««'»ciuiuuanaHu consequences, and threatens re- unhealthy tide of Immigration past thdsults even more appalling for the future Quarantine Station will be arrested, and It h«, Wn fn„«^ Ti^.. ':R.,':_ _®.. _.*!''*• Quarantine Station will be arrested, and that for the future the introduction of Im migrants will be deprived of the melan accompanied it. I have the honor to be. Sir, Your most obedient servant, D. DALY, _ Secretary To His Worship ^ The Mayor of Montreal. Presentment of the Grand Jury of the Court of Quarter Settions. It has been found impossible to maintain a rigid enforcement of the Quarantine Laws below Quebec, because of the multitude of ti'irs-s"^"'' ** --ve h=„= ^^\rTj,\z7:st Grosse Isle, and their wretchedly destitute condition. Arrangements have been made,, and as this Grand Jury fuUy admit, in ac- cordance with humanity and sound policy, for carrying the great mass of the Immi- grants from Grosse Isle, past the city of Quebec, without stopping. But the neces- sity of trans-shipping them here, into bar- ges, which alone can convey them from hence westward, has caused a constant de- To His H Prevalent praet ce ring sneh de^ti^n^r/Xf fo„Td tt^TnTcXh'"" •"'""' '"^ '"'^'■'*« p., d;..t,y th./,h the eainSt^ 'thl t^ra^„StirU''irno' The present alarming state of thin^&'Tffnl^t" "'"''.T'"''''?''.''" ""■* "f" ana in that of their fellow citizens uni- tu^ n it, versally, of no other remedy. Wliatever •!? • ""'^ ^"*^® had under their effort may be made to increase tho ofRciencv f^"*'^^''''^t^°» t^^o important cases during of the Quarantine below Quebec thene-n present Session, against one James —'-" '■- -' ' - ' ^^ ^'^^ and Thomas Nowlan, for highway eessity for this still further change must still subsist, because no such eflfbrt can af- fect the number of the Immigrants arrivlncr bn our shores, or relieve their destitution, robbery and shooting at the person of Mr. hherift Coffin, with intent to commit felony These cases have been tried, and they are happy to find that the parties implicated br materially lessen their liability to fallir^^^u "" ^""^ *^'** *^^ P"^'«« ^P'^C' sick on their route. *"|have been convicted and sentenced to At present the Grand Jury must onL- ^P"!^'^^^ in the Provincial Peniten- their oaths, present to your Hours' therTi,''";^'"^ ^}\^^''^ °^ *^^»' "^t^'-al »^e. fact, that the greatest and must reasonableL Js ha^^hin •''5' ^"/""^> *° ^hese alarm prevades the public mind; thatcasesLf^ ', J " induced to do so to bear fn '^TrlT h '^^^""^ ~"^ praise m all parts of the city; that the mortality consequent on the prevailing fever is great, and among the unfortunate Immigrants fearful in the last degree ; that many of our best and most valued citizens have fal- len and are daily falling victims to their benevolent efforts to discharge the duties which humanity and religion call on them to pertorra in the behalf of these sufferers ; and that the commerce of the city is seriously injured in a variety of ways, from the in- terruptions to all business near the canal, the greatly lessened number of purchasers ot goods coming in from the country, the failure of the markets, caused by the alarm of the country people, the almost entire — ....J..-2,. vr ail. piuasuro craveiiiug, and the constant departure from the city of such famihes as are not under any necessity of remaim'ng here. ■ The immediate establishment, at a safe worthy conduct of His Honor Mr. Justice Day and Mr. Sheriff" Coffin, on the occa- sion of the commission of the offences in question, and especially to the latter gen- tleman, who, at the most imminent risk of his life, secured the culprits, and thus they have reason to believe that an organized band of robbers w is broken up ; for pre- vious to their apprehension, offences of a similar character were of frequent occur- rence, whilst none have since taken place; ^? .u tS'^"'^ -^"ry beg leave, in the name of the District, to tender their acknow- edgments to these two gentlemen for their laudable behaviour on the occasion re- I erred to. The whole is resrinpffnliw o,,v^. itt*^ - cu. Hy. Starnes, Foreman. (For all the Grand Jury.) Grand Jury-Room, ) Montreal, July 17, 1847. f of tax adequate and r Hospital, for the 'ever arising among tlie removal of the 'en yot, to the dis- ss, in the streets; 3 ass of steam ves- nd Quebec, for the f passengers other Migrants ; and the prevalent practce id the dead in the Tfimon use; are all uire notice at the y ; and they trust 'ities will lose no ? energetic and ef- ;he existing emer- had under their tant cases during :ainst one James dan, for highway the person of Mr. to commit felony, ied, and they are parties implicated id sentenced to rovincial Peniten- their natural life, alluding to these to do so to bear rgetic and praise- onor Mr. .Justice ffin, on the occa- )f the offences in o the latter gen- imminent risk of ts, and thus they at an organized ken up ; for pre- >n, offences of a ' frequent occur- ince taken place; save, in the name r their acknow- ntlemen for their he occasion re- f suomittsu. lUNES, Foreman, id Jury.) 17 Petition of th^ Common Counalof the C%|every diseased person from contact with oj Montreal, to the Three Branches of the the healthy, and effectually to prevent aU Legislature, adopted on the Idth of July, Alderman Tully and Councillor Lynch alone dissentient. The Petition of the Mayor, Aldermen and Citizens of the City of Montreal, Most respectfully represents, — That the insufficiency of all the exist- ing arrangements for the reception and classification of Immigrants is manifest; that the requisite care has net been taken of the sick ; that no cflectual distinction has been made between them and the healthy ; that airy, salubrious sites for the temporary abode of either class have not been selected ; that both classes have been, hitherto, huddled together in undue and even dangerous numbers on board of steam- ers and barges ; that no efficient means of preventing them from mixing with the rural or urban population have been adopted ; that the sheds within the boundaries of this City, in which thousands in every stage of disease and destitution have for some time ^een, and continue to be, crowded without due sanitary regulations, and even without ablutionary appliances, are causes not only of alarm, but of danger. That y< >ur Petitioners, moved not only by a desire to protect their fellow- citizens, but by motives of humanity towards their suffering fellow-subjects, pray that Your [Excellency] Honorable House will be pleased to make Legislative provision for evils of such magnit ude. Your Petitioners more especially piay that Your [Excellency] Honorable House will establish some insu- lar station opposite or below this City, as the point of landinsr or transshipment ; that the same may b , ,i^ovided with suf- ficient tenements for the healthy, with hospitals for the sick, with f .^esh food, with cooking apparatus, and with a large medi- cal staff, and amply supplied with nurses and attendants, as well as with the means for insuring ablution and cleanliness ; That adequate means may be adopted to exclude Immigrants from passing the limits with- out previous examination and permission. Lastly, your Petitioners pray, that the direction and management of the Station so formed be entrusted to a single resident officer, clothed with power to enforce order, and responsible for his conduct to Colonial authority. And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray. Address of the Legislative Assembly to Hit Excellency the Governor General, for the Removal of the Immigrant /Station, at prayed for by the Citizens. (Legislative Assembly, I Monday I'Jth July. Resolved, — That an humble A«ldres3 be presented to His Excellency the Governor General, rejucsenting to His Excellency the alainiing extent to which contagious fever unhapi)ily prevails at the Emigrant Sheds, erected at the mouth of the Lachine Canal, and among the Emigrants arriving from below and congregating there, — that the situation chosen for the said Sheds, and more especially Windmill Point, is, in the opinion of this House, unsuitable and in- convenient for the reception and proper treatment of the Emigrants, while the ex- istence of contagious disease in the imme- diate vicinity of the principal business tho- roughfare of the City, the daily and una- voidable resort of a large portion of the Inhabitants thereof, is attended with immi- nent danger to the Citizens at large, and is exciting great uneasiness and apprehension in the Community, — and praying that His Kxcellency will be pleased to cause mea- sures to be promptly taken in order to pro- vide a Station at some place below the City, more easy of access, and in other respects better suited than the locality in question, for the purposes of a Depot for Emigrants, and thereby allay the existing fear of con- tagion.