George Harrington to the above, February 15, 1866

Mr. Harrington’s reply to the above.

Gentlemen: I have received your communication informing me of the formation of a Swiss society of emigration, having for its object “to enter into direct connection with the government of the United States, or with the office appointed by the same for immigration matters, in order to receive from this authentic source every possible information concerning the advantages which the government is disposed to confer upon immigrants, either by grants of land or in any other shape.”

You further state that it is the desire of the society “to bestow upon the New World only such elements as will be a real gain to the same, being fully able not only to earn their livelihood, but even to elevate themselves gradually into comparative wealth by their labor and industry.”

And, finally, you submit to me the direct question: “Whether, and under what conditions, the government of the United States would consent to repay, to such persons or families as would be specially recommended for that purpose by the Swiss Society of Emigration, a part of their passage money on their landing, or to assist in some other way those who are entirely destitute, either by a grant of land or by supplying them with some requisites for their settlement.”

The high character of the officers of your association is a sufficient guarantee that the persons who may emigrate to the United States under the auspices of the society will be of a class capable of fulfilling all that is asserted in their behalf; and to all such the United States not only extends a cordial welcome, but permits them, on their compliance with the requirements of law in relation thereto, simple in form and inexpensive, to enjoy, within a limited period, the full rights of citizenship.

As a further encouragement to the emigration of the surplus worthy labor of the Old World, (paupers, as such, and criminals not being received,) the government of the United States, by authority of the national Congress, offers free homesteads, from its unoccupied and unappropriated public domain, under such liberal conditions as to place them within reach of all.

The beneficence of the government meets the emigrant immediately upon his arrival within the United States, an officer of the Bureau of Immigration holding himself in readiness at all times to furnish such information and facilities as will protect him from fraud and enable him to proceed in the cheapest and most expeditious manner to his place of destination. This protection and information is provided free of cost to the emigrant, but the law presupposes that he will have been already supplied with the means for his support and transportation, inasmuch as the government assumes no expenses whatever upon his account. And as a reply to your direct question, I will add that the government of the United States, being emphatically a government of law, is dependent upon the action of the law-making power, i.e., the national Congress, in all that appertains to the levying, collection and disbursement of the public moneys, and cannot withdraw one dollar from the public treasury without the previously enacted authority of the Congress; and, as no appropriation of moneys for the purpose indicated by you has been made by Congress, it necessarily follows that the government has none applicable thereto.

Immigration must be voluntary, and if immediate and direct assistance is required, such must come through the medium of private societies and private parties, and not from the government.

Assuming that private enterprise would seek the skilled labor of Europe, our laws declare that any contracts made by emigrants prior to their arrival in the United States, whereby such emigrants may have pledged their wages of labor to repay the expenses’ of their immigration, advanced by or in behalf of the party making the contract, shall be held to be valid in law, and may be enforced in the courts of the United States, provided such contracts shall be in conformity to regulations that may be established by the commissioners of immigration.

In relation to these regulations I am unable at this time to inform you, but will address myself to the proper officer of my government for such information in relation thereto, and upon the subject generally, as he may think proper to communicate. On receipt of which it will be my pleasure again to address you.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully,