has not Portugal, has not France, so declared over and over again, and is it not therefore in reference to these flags internationally piracy? The Macao cooly slave-trade.-This brings me to the Macao cooly slave-trade. It was so designated by the Right Hou. E. W. Forster, speaking from the opposition benches, and deplored as such by the present Lord Derby, as the then foreign minister, speaking from the ministerial benches in the House of Commons, on the 26th of June, 1868, as I read in the Times' report of the following day now before me. These authorities, the utterances by eminently representative men, justify the same designation everywhere by every man under the British crown. I was in hopes from assurances I received at Macao in 1863 that these "atrocities" were at an end, and laboring under the gravest mistake, I in our colonial legislature congratulated this colony on the 30th day of March, 1870, on the event. But this "atrocious" trade has increased of late, and coolies are now taken off just as the coolies on board the Nouvelle Penelope, to an estimated average number of 1,000 a month, and are in like manner banished from China, to miserable lingering deaths, chiefly in Peru, where by recent news 2,000 coolies have gone off into the mountains armed, in open revolt. It has been argued before me that because some forms of examination are said to have been gone into in Macao, said to be according to the law of Macao, that such forms said to be created by law in Macao so satisfied some exception to the general prior Portuguese law (the abrogation of which, being contrary to express treaty obligations, would be a casus belli against her) as to justify the treating these poor fellows and the holding them piratically as slaves; but at least the general law of Portugal remains applicable unless the terms of the legal, if there be any, exception, is proved, to be and if any such be compatible with treaty and general law. It must also be proved that all the conditions of Macao exemption have been complied with in each particular case. Failure in proof of compliance with any requisite to the exception vitiates the exception, (see Jean Bareaut's case, 1 Phill. Inter. Law, 341,) and as regards the slaves on board this ship, no Macao law has been proved. Further, suppose it be proved that all these conditions have been properly complied with, that omina rite agi so as that the contract of slavery was effectual throughout Portuguese territory, would such exception be of any avail outside that territory, or be of any avail in a vessel on the high seas under a French or any flag other than that of Portugal? Can any Macao law prevail and exempt a French or other foreign ship from her own laws, or from national or treaty obligations? My answer is in the negative. The French law prevails-a slave puts his foot on French territory on the deck of a French ship, and he is free, notwithstanding any possible Macao law to the contrary. The declaration between states that the slave-trade is piracy, is a matter very different from a grant of a right of search to discover and punish extra-territorially the acts so declared piracy. The latter is conceded even by the United States with the greatest difficulty, and only within limited latitudes, even where the former is explicitly made. I draw this distinction because the attorney general cited cases as to right of search in reference to slaves which do not touch, as it appears to me, the question of piracy or no piracy. I am assured that the cooly slave-trade at Macao is carried on to the great distress of the much-respected governor there, whose efforts have been borne down in this matter possibly by the force of laws existing there, the repeal of which he cannot carry in the Macao council. This is not the only case in which a gigantic evil has been too strong for a governor, but I trust that he will persevere, and gaining strength from the increased greatness of the evil he has to contend with, assisted as I am sure he will be from Portugal, and as I know he will be by the Catholic priesthood, and especially by the Jesuit Fathers in Macao, he will ultimately put down this grievous evil. Fearful retribution in cooly slave-ships.—But it seems to me that if canse and effect have their full operation, this abominable traffic will find for itself a terrible and appalling end. I have endeavored to make up a list of ships in which there have been cooly risings and destruction of the ship, and the voyages have failed. That list is not complete, but I believe that within a short period some six or seven ships, carrying about 3,000 coolies, have been burnt or otherwise destroyed, with an immense loss of life, including captains and a relatively large proportion of the crews of these slavers. Will men who believe that there is a Providence-will men who hold that storm or tempest, a Nero or a Cataline, mars not Heaven's design, not see a Nemesis in these events? Origin of claim of rendition of this prisoner.-There can be no doubt that the demand of the rendition of this prisoner originated, not with the Chinese mandarins at Canton, but with the French consul. I should have liked to have seen his original letter. It was referred to in the argument for the Crown as sustaining the Chinese demand, but was not produced. Judicially I must decide as if there were no such letter. Doubtless, the French consul was induced to interfere by listening too readily to the ex parte statements of the coolie slave-traders, who hoped by terrorism to establish firmly their abominable trade. Kidnapping is a crime especially detestable among the Chinese, occasionally atoned for among them by lynch law; mandarin justice usually decapitates or most severely punishes a kidnapper. No mandarin would ask for the rendition of a Chinaman for killing a foreign kidnapper beyond the limits of China, 4 1 i in order to punish him. National sympathy would rather reward him, but after the Tien-tsin massacre peaceful relations with a French consul would be thought to be cheaply bought by a peace-offering of a few poor and friendless coolies upon his demand. The execution of sixteen coolies in sight of Macao.-In a paper now before me, I see in the testimony of an eye-witness the narrative of an unparalleled scene. A China gunboat bringing from Canton sixteen poor Chinese coolies, who had escaped from out of the Nouvelle Penelope, (the crime was at least so assumed against them,) and landing them on a Chinese island within sight of the windows of houses in Macao; there these sixteen poor wretches were on the 7th of February last, with the pomp and circumstance of a grand ceremony as on a gala day, in the presence of hundreds of spectators, beheaded by Chinese headsmen, all being under the order of the French consul at Canton, who accompanied these men from Canton, and directed the proceedings as superintendent or sheriff. Men sickened at the scene. Rendition of the prisoner sought for like object.-The rendition of the prisoner now before me, Kwok-a-sing, has been asked doubtless in order that he may be added as one more, and so that one by one, and at length a great hecatomb of vengeance may be completed on China land-a lasting monument of the humanity, of the Christianity, of western civilization. Why did not France ask for this rendition ?—The alleged crime was committed on board a French ship; why did not the French consul ask for this man's rendition to French law? He knew that in the eye of French as of English law, this man was guilty of no crime, and he would not venture on such a demand. Hope for investigation in Europe.-I hope that this matter will be, as I believe it will certainly be, duly investigated in Europe, that we may all receive such light and instruction as we each require, and so that what is right may hereafter prevail. If I am wrong in the view I have taken of the matter, I shall bow respectfully to correction from competent authority, but until my decision is reversed, that decision is, and must be, law in this colony. No. 35.] No. 43. Mr. Bailey to Mr. Davis. UNITED STATES CONSULATE, Hong Kong, April 25, 1871. (Received June 20.) SIR: The subject of Chinese emigration from this port to the United States has claimed my careful thought and patient investigation for the last four months, with a view to get at the facts, and to understand it in its surroundings and bearings. The whole subject is an anomaly. Rules that will do elsewhere in the world, when applied in considering questions of immigration, have no application to Chinese immigration to the United States. Immigrants to America from other parts of the world go of their own volition, free and voluntary. Emigration from China to all parts of the world is an organized business or trade, in which men of large capital, and hongs of great wealth, engage as a regular traffic, by which men are bought and sold for so much per head, precisely as a piece of merchandise is handled, at its market value. The poor laborer of Europe applies his own scanty means to get to the land of promise, or is assisted by his friends, charitable societies, or benevolent institutions, to reach a place where he hopes to have his toil properly requited, where his labor will inure to his own benefit. The cooly of China is bought by the rich trader to serve his purchaser at low wages for a series of years in a foreign country, under contract for the faithful performance of which in many instances he gives a mortgage on his wife and children, with a stipulation that at the end of his term of service he is to be brought back to China by his purchaser. This contract is sold by the dealer through his agents in the United States and elsewhere at a large advance, and is a source of great profit to capitalists who have the means to buy and sell large numbers of men. This contract, in the United States, is no doubt null and void, 208 but nevertheless the cooly will comply strictly with all its terms, a copy of which in Chinese characters is always in his possession, and this be will do because his purchaser holds his household lares in the land to which he always hopes and expects to return, in pledge for the faithful performance of his bonds. The central idea of a Chinaman's religion, if he has any religion at all, is that of the worship of the tombs of his ancestors. The superstitions of Fung-Shusy dominate him wherever he may be in the world. The subtile mysticisms of China so strangely govern all its people in their social, political, and quasi religious life, are as a hook in his nose, by which his purchaser controls him at all times and in all places; and thus this relation of master and quasi slave, no matter how many miles apart, is welded by the mystical links of religious superstitions, family ties, and rights of ancestral tombs, which control and regulate the reciprocal duties of trader and coolie in the home land. The means of obtaining coolies are as various as the ingenuity of man can devise, and are as corrupt as the incentive to large gains can stimulate and invent. Men and boys are decoyed by all sorts of tricks, opiates, and illusory promises, into the haunts of the traders. Once in the clutches of these men-dealers, by a system of treachery and terrorism, connived at by the local Chinese authorities, whose chief business in life is to "squeeze" the people, the stupefied cooly is overawed into making a contract under such Chinese influences and surroundings as give it a sacredness of character nowhere else known in the world. From that moment he is the mere tool of the rich dealer wherever he may go. It is difficult for persons accustomed to western civilization to understand the depth and extent of this relationship, but Chinese civilization is unique, perhaps opaque, and cannot be measured by that of any other. The above is a mere outline of the system, and is the general rule that controls Chinese emigration. Contact with American ideas and the spirit of American law has, in some measure, modified the rule as applied to Chinese emigrants going to the United States, so that there is in reality free and voluntary emigration; but it is so surrounded, mixed up, and tainted with the virus of the coolie trade, as to require the utmost vigilance and scrutiny to separate the legitimate from the illegitimate emigration. I am charged under the law with the duty of giving to every American vessel leaving this port with Chinese emigrants, a permit or certificate, setting forth the fact that each person is a free and voluntary emigrant, but that the same shall not be given until I am first personally satisfied, by evidence produced, of the truth of the facts therein contained. I find among my consular duties, prescribed by the consular regulations of 1868, that I am "To repress and discourage, by all proper means, the traffic in laborers, usually called the cooly trade." It is fully expected that they (consular officers) will carefully see that its provisions (act of February 19, 1862) are strictly observed. The Seeretary of State, in his circular of January 17, 1867, says: "You are consequently directed to make use of all the authority, power, and influence at your command, towards preventing and discouraging the carrying on of the traffic referred to in any way." In the consular regulations of 1870, concerning the act of February 19, 1862, I find the following instructions: Consuls will be rigid in exacting a compliance with these provisions. I have made the above recapitulation to show the Secretary of State the stand-point from which I ain viewing the subject, and the lights that are guiding me in the course I am pursuing; and to ask, if I am tak ing too serious a view of the matter, for such further instructions as the better judgment of the Secretary may think proper and advisable. In consideration of the foregoing the first question that arises is, how shall I perform the duties devolving upon me in this matter? The number of emigrants is so large as to make it impossible for me to examine each person, and in addition attend to the various and arduous duties of this consulate. I must, therefore, either abandon the execution of the law as an idle form, or I must appoint a corps of assistants, sufficient in number, in integrity and sagacity, to make the examination a rigid and faithful compliance with the letter and spirit of the law. Heretofore, I am free to say, from all I have been able to learn, the whole proceeding in this regard has been a complete farce. I have not the means to pay for these assistants, for my salary is hardly sufficient to support me in the plainest and most economical manner possible for me to adopt. Therefore I must allow these assistants to charge a fee such as will make reasonable compensation for their services, labor, and expenses in and about the matter. I can procure men of small capacity and less integrity to undertake the task for a mere trifle; but this would make an expense without any good in return, for such an examination would be neither thorough nor reliable. The only safe rule is to put the matter in charge of first-class men, and allow them to collect such fees as shall be reasonable compensation for their services. Even this plan, which seems to me at present to be the best, is not satisfactory to my mind, for the reason that it will necessarily involve an expense that may be the subject of irritation; but I do not know what better to do than to try it, and by carefully watching reduce it, as experience may suggest, to the lowest possible cost. While the law, my instructions, and the condition of affairs here are as at present, I deem this examination by assistants as indispensable, and the necessary expense must follow it, unless the law and the facts are to be ignored and investigation abandoned. Perhaps it will oocur to the mind of the Secretary that a thorough investigation here as to the character of the emigrants going to the United States, and a check to prevent the now world-famed atrocities at Macao being practiced or winked at here, will largely negative the clamor of a growing public opinion in the United States hostile to the introduction of Chinese or servile labor, to compete with the great free-labor interests of our own country. Chinese emigration to the United States brings the opposite civilizations of the East and the West face to face, and it occurs to me that Congress is wise in throwing all the safeguards possible around the introduction of heathen labor, to prevent its bringing harm to our institutions. I am convinced that China is on the verge of a great cataclysm of some kind, and I believe it will result in sending immense numbers of Chinese, with the good and bad that is in them, to the United States. The facilities of ships and steamers will do it easily and cheaply, and they will go to escape unbearable evils here; whether to introduce unbearable evils there remains to be seen. I have said that this traffic in laborers is exceedingly profitable; therefore I cannot expect that anything that will hamper it, by investigation or otherwise, will be popular with the men-dealers or with the great interests interlocked with it. It prostitutes everybody here, and thus far has prostrated every one who has stood up against it. It will be asserted that I am putting obstacles in the way of commerce. I will endeavor to do my duty, let the consequences care for themselves. Well, so far as concerns that commerce which has for its object the buying and selling of men, I propose to put obstacles in its way. Legitimate emigration and legitimate commerce shall have my active co-operation and encouragement in every possible lawful way; but if commerce demands at my hands assistance in a new mode of enslaving men, dif fering from the African slave-trade "in little else than the employment of fraud instead of force to make its victims captive," I will not lend my aid to build up its nefarious traffic, nor bow to the behests of the great houses that are interested in forcing this great wrong. I have the honor, &c., No. 44. D. H. BAILEY. No. 36.] Mr. Bailey to Mr. Davis. UNITED STATES CONSULATE, Hong Kong, May 12, 1871. (Received June 20.) SIR: I transmit herewith a copy of correspondence between myself and the colonial governor of Macao, concerning the cooly-ship Dolores Ugarte. I also inclose a circular containing an account of her passage last year from Macao to Callao with coolies, reciting the horrors of that voyage. It is now my painful duty to state that, notwithstanding my earnest protest against her being permitted to reload with coolies at Macao, the governor of that colony, contrary to the spirit of his letter to me of April 24, allowed the ship to resort to the subterfuge of changing her name to that of the Don Juan, and her flag to that of Peru, and thereupon to load 665 coolies for Callao. She sailed from the Roads of Macao with her cargo of human beings on the 4th instant. But a dreadful catastrophe awaited her. Providence seems to have set her apart to shock the nations with a new horror that shall startle them to their duty in suppressing this infamous slave trade. On Saturday, the 6th, the ship was discovered to be on fire in the hold, where the coolies were kept. The captain states "that, with a view to save his own and his crews' lives, he battened down the hatches on the passengers, and took to the boats." The ship was burned to the water's edge, and with it over 600 victims of this atrocious traffic in men. I inclose the reports of the daily press here up to closing of the mail. There is a conflict of evidence as to whether the ship was set on fire, or whether it was accidental. I express no positive opinion now on that point, but incline to the belief that the coolies in desperation fired the ship. I will forward at the earliest moment such other correspondence as I may have with the Governor de Souza on the subject. I have the honor, &c., D. H. BAILEY. No. 18. UNITED STATES CONSULATE, SIR: I have not the honor of an acquaintance with your excellency, but knowing the high character you bear as a lover of fair dealing and a defender of the right, I make free to address you upon a subject that must obtain considerable notoriety, and concerning which your excellency has very great authority. I allude to the fact that the Dolores Ugarte, now notorious throughout the civilized world for her atrocities in the coolie-trade, is reputed to be at this moment on the roads of Macao, preparing to load with coolies for Callao. May I be so bold as to ask that your excellency will permit me to officially inform my government that you will interpose your authority to prevent that infamous ship having an opportunity to repeat the horrors of her last passage to Callao, and again flout her crimes in the face of the world, to the scandal of Christian civilization. |