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At Your Service
by Rob Fisher, Library and Archives Canada
Emigration from Great Britain and Ireland to the New World
exploded in the decades after 1815. Poverty at home and opportunity abroad persuaded
many to seek their fortunes in a new land. The British government watched this
development with mixed feelings. A large contingent of unemployed labourers at
home meant political unrest, particularly in Scotland and Ireland, and emigration
would reduce tensions at home. But emigration of British subjects to the United
States, with whom Britain had just been at war, threatened to increase the population
and strength of a powerful rival. To the Select Committee on Emigration, the answer
was to steer the great tide of emigrants towards British colonies, particularly
Canada. But how would they achieve this aim?
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