CIRCULAR.
No. 17.
Sir: The attention of this department having been recently called to the abuses to which emigrants are subjected in the countries from which they proceed, and on their arrival at certain seaports in the United States, it has been deemed advisable to bring the subject to your notice. I accordingly herewith transmit, in a printed form, a copy of a communication addressed to this department, on the 23d instant, by the President of the Board of Commissioners of Emigration at New York, in which a mode of correcting the existing evils is suggested.
You are instructed to bring this subject, which is fully set forth in the annexed letter of Mr. Verplanck and its accompaniment, to the notice of the Government to which you are accredited, or of the authorities of the place where you reside, and to ask for the adoption of such measures on their part as may be considered necessary for the protection of those intending to emigrate to this country. A step in this direction would no doubt be of service in correcting the evils complained of, and a regard for the interests of humanity demands that it should be taken.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
