ns of America as make one believe it
to contain nothing but Elysian fields, bearing seed of themselves,
without toil and labor, mountains full of solid gold and silver, and
wells pouring forth nothing but milk and honey, etc. Who goes as a
servant, becomes a lord; who goes as a maid, becomes a milady; a peasant
becomes a nobleman; a citizen and artisan, a baron!" Deceived and
allured by such stories, Muhlenberg continues, "The families break up,
sell what little they have, pay their debts, turn over what may be left
to the Newlanders for safe-keeping, and finally start on their journey.
Already the trip on the Rhine is put to their account. In Holland they
are not always able to depart immediately, and frequently they get a
small amount of money, advanced by the traders, on their account. The
expensive freight from Holland to America is added, also the head-money.
Before they leave Holland, they must sign a contract in the English
language. The Newlanders persuade and reassure the people [who, not
understanding the English, knew not what they were signing] that they,
as impartial friends, would see to it that, in the contract, no wrong
was done their countrymen. The more freight in persons a merchant and
captain can bring in a ship, the more profitable it is, provided that
they do not die _en route_, for then it may be disadvantageous. For this
reason the ships are kept clean, and every means is employed to deliver
healthy ware to the market. For a year or so they may not have been as
careful, suffering to die what could not live. When parents die on the
ships and leave children, the captains and the most intelligent of the
Newlanders, acting as guardians and orphan-fathers, take the chests and
inheritance in their safe-keeping, and the orphans, arriving on the
land, are sold for their own freight and the freight of their deceased
parents; the real little ones are given away, and the inheritance of
their parents just about pays for the manifold troubles caused to the
guardians. This crying deceit moved some well-disposed German
inhabitants of Pennsylvania, especially in and about Philadelphia, to
organize a society, which, as much as possible, would see to it that, at
the arrival of the poor emigrants, they were dealt with according to
justice and equity." When a ship of emigrants has arrived in the harbor
of Philadelphia, Muhlenberg proceeds, "the newcomers are led in
procession to the court-house, in order to take the o