Enel. I in No. 17
40
CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO
100 to 110; from April to October, 120 to 130 days; which is probably a very full allowance of time.
►
11. Little remains to be said on the question of emigration generally to the West Indies. All the important points will be found embraced in the answers to the preceding queries. The final success of any scheme of enigration on a large scale to the West Indies will mainly depend upon the following conditions:-
1. The confidence the Chinese can repose on the shipping agent, or party entering into contracts with them here, and the facilities he may be authorized to guarantee, for the payment of assigned portions of wages to the families for the return of the emigrants within a given time,-say three years, and for the transport of their wives and families, if, after the arrival of their husbands, the latter should desire to have them.
2. The treatment they receive at the place of their destination. Without some knowledge of the limits of thought and action, the character, and customs of the Chinese, as a people, on the part of some one having a voice in the arrangements for their final location in the West Indies, it will be very difficult to prevent misunder- standings and dissatisfaction on both sides; the consequence of which will certainly be the failure of the seheme. On the other hand, with kind and judicious manage- ment, there is probably no race of people more orderly, tractable, and easily satisfied than the Chinese of these northern provinces. They are little prone to attach them- selves to foreigners, and yet they will serve well, and often more faithfully than Europeans, who may be supposed susceptible of personal regard for their masters; but, on the other hand, they require a great deal more of tact, temper, and discretion in their management, or good service is not to be got out of them."
Ilence I should deem it essential, among other arrangements, that wherever they are located in any numbers, they should be allowed to open one or more tea shops, and all reasonable facilities afforded them to spend some of their leisure time there, as a place of resort for Chinese. And it would also seem very essential, if Her Majesty's Government desired to contribute effectively to the promotion of a large and systematic emigration, that some agent on their behalf slamkd be entrusted with the control and superintendence of the arrangements made at the Chinese port, for the selection of the men, the conditions of their contracts, and the providing of good ships, accommodation, and provisions. Several ships freighted with coolies have been lost, by the latter rising upon the officers and crew, and, in some instances at least, there has been good reason to believe the calamity had been provoked by want of judgment in the maingement of the passengers, and of proper care in providing for their accommodation and good treatment. The Chinese will often bear a great deal for a time, and unrepiningly; but when roused at last to impatience or resistance, they know no restraint, and have no value for human life. In other cases again, there has been great mortality among the coolies, from bad provisions and want of room. These are things, therefore, that should be looked to by some agent responsible to the Government, and whose sole duty it should be to secure the success of any large seleme of emigration. Experience has shown that this duty cannot be left to the commission agents and mercantile houses in China, who have other and larger interests to occupy their time and attention, interests too, not always to be reconciled with the requirements of such au emigration.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
Enclosure 2 in No. 16.
RUTHERFORD ALCOCK.
EXTRACT of a DESPATCH from Dr. BoWRING to Lord MALMESBURY, dated Hong Kong, September 13, 1852.
"There is at present no passion for emigration to Australia, but should the Chinamen who have gone thither report favourably as to the prospects for settlers, there will be no want of a supply of voluntary emigrants able and willing to pay for their passage; and they would of course be of a very superior class to those collected together by crimping agents careless of all consideration except their own pecuniary profits."
No. 17.
COPY of a LETTER from II. U. ADDINGTON Esq. to HERMAN MERIVALE Esq. SIR,
Foreign Office, December 27, 1852.
WITH reference to my Letter of the 4th instant, I am directed by the Earl of Malmesbury to transmit to you herewith, to be laid before Secretary Sir John Pakington, copies of further Despatches from Dr. Bowring respecting
EMIGRATION OF CHINESE COOLIES.
41
the emigration of Chinese coolies; and also a letter, under flying seal, from Dr. Bowring to the Governor of British Guiana, on the same subject.
H. Merivale, Esq.
&c. &c.
MY LORD,
I have, &c., (Signed) II. U. ADDINGTON.
Enclosure 1 in No. 17.
I HAVE now the honour to enclose Mr. Officiating Consul Backhouse's answers to
Hong Kong, October 1, 1852. the questions respecting coolie emigration, conveyed to me by your Lordship's Despatch, No. 15, dated 12th June last; Mr. Backlouse's Despatch conveys also a memorandum from Mr. Acting Interpreter Perider, on the same subject, which I likewise forward.
Mr. Backhouse's replies to the inquiries are somewhat meagre an unsatisfactory, con- sidering that Amoy is the port from whence the great supply of coolies has been antici- pated. The report which I sent to your Lordship last mail from Dr. Charles Winchester, (in my Despatch No. 127, dated 25th September), will, however, supply many of the deficiencies of Mr. Backhouse's communication respecting coolies from Amoy. I have also to enclose Mr. Vice-Consul Hague's replies, as regards Ningpo, to the same list of queries. The return to the district of Amoy of a great number of coolies who have escaped from the "Robert Browne" and other vessels, and who have reported to their countrymen the ill-usage and cruelties to which they and their companious were sub- jected, will, I have no doubt, greatly augment the difficulties of obtaining a supply of Inbourers, and not less deteriorate the quality of those who will be now disposed to leave China.
I have been somewhat surprised stating that their correspondents in London have contracted with Her Majesty's an application from the house of Turner and Co., Government for the supply of 1,000 coolies for Trinidad, to be shipped from Amoy before the end of the present year. Messrs Turner and Co. say they are unable to supply them from Anoy, where there are more contracts for coolies for the island of Cuba alone that ean he furnished for sixteen months to come; anal inquire whether, in case of their shipping these coolies from Whampoa, Macao, or Cumsingmoon, I will consent to furnish a small guard to sail with any ships they may load." The coolies which would be shipped at the places mentioned would he probably the veriest dregs of the Caston population, and would very probably require a guard" to preserve subordination; but as I have no knowledge whatever of any contract for coolies to which Her Majesty's Government has been a party, and should exceedingly deprecate the shipment to any British colonies of that class of men, who at the present moment would be possibly the only candidates for emigration from this neighbourhood. I have given no sort of encouragement to the application of Messrs. Turner and Co., who inform me they expect “to have considerable orders for shipment of agricultural labourers to all the West Indian islands, and should be glad if some plan could be arranged to ensure the safety of ships and their crews from any outbreak." agricultural labourers can be now properly selected twhich I doubt), the protection I venture to assure your Lordship, that if fitting required will not be against their outbreak, but against the cupidity and ill-usage of those who are concerned in their shipment and conveyance to the places of their destination. But the misconduct of many of the captains and adventurers engaged in the coolie trade, and the changed feelings of the Chinese population on the subject of hireal emigration generally, have altogether altered the position of things in this country. The pressure of want, such as would be created by famine and inundations, may again produce a supply of necessitous emigrants; but mismanagement and rascality in inany shapes, both in China and out of it, have produced, and are producing, their natural effects upon the minis even of the Chinese peasantry, who are much band together by clanship, and who emmunicate very freely on all that concerns the community.
I have, &c., (Signed) JOHN BOWRING.
Lord Malmesbury,
&c. &c.
1539
Query -Has any emigration taken place within the last few years from the port f Amoy ? If so, to what extent ?
Answer. In 1817, 632 coolies went to Cuba; in 1848, 120 to Sydney; in 1849, 280 to Sydney; in 1851, 1,438 to Sydney, and 200 to Honolulu, 404 to Peru, 465 to Demerara, and 300 to Cuba; making a total of 4,840 coolies,
Query 2.—Is the emigration from Amoy sanctioned or connived at by the local autho rities? Are any obstacles thrown in the way of intending emigrants?
Answer-Tacitly sanctioned.
Query 3.-Are the inhabitants of the districts adjoining to Amy, in your opinion, well fitted for labour in a tropical climate, like that of the West Indies?-
Answer-Yes.
ין
En. 2 in No. 16,
N. 17.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TILLIC.O.
885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-—NOT TO