PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
C.O.
Reference :-
885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO
where the comforts of Asiatic emigrants are concerned, to the consciences. of European officers.
A few words may be said here on the propriety of interfering to regulate an emigration forbidden by the laws of a quasi friendly country. The circumstances of this case are altogether exceptional, and render it the duty of our Government, either to prohibit the engagement of British vessels, or to enforce the principles of humanity which it has applied for the benefit of its own subjects in the Passengers Act. Because the officers of the Chinese Government dare not perform their duty, is n Christian flag relieved from the responsibility by which all who sail under it are entitled to humane treatment? Slight political inconvenience may perhaps be the result, inasmuch as we could not then pre- tend to ignore the matter altogether; but any very complicated or serious difliculty is not to be apprehended. The opium trade, and the recent abandonment by the English consular authorities of all superintendence over the collection of the tariff customs, have fully accustomed the Chinese mandarins to the existence of silence on regulations which they are unable or unwilling to enforce; and when we reflect, that at a certain definite time our own duty to the Chinese emigrant commences,-namely, the moment he em- barks, it is surely to be regretted that the character of the English nation should be allowed to suffer under the imputations which the awful mortality on board some vessels has cast upon it. It appears that the best way of effecting these objects would be an extension, by Act of Parliament, of the power allowed the Governors of colonies by the Passengers Act to the Superintendent of Trade quoad the ports open to foreign trade, or the dominions of the Emperor of China generally. A local ordinance valid within 100 miles of the Chinese coast would only granit protection to the emigrant for a minute portion of his stay under our flag, and provide for the punishment of the offender no where else except in China. By the Passengers Act he would be liable to the superin- tendence of the English consul, if bound to a foreign colony ;-in an English colony he would be amenable to the usual colonial courts for infringement of the law.
SIR,
British Consulate, Shanghae, September 1, 1852.
I HAVE the honour to submit the following answers to the set of questions enclosed in Despatch No. 62, on. the 5th instant, on the subject of emigration from China, together with such suggestions as have occurred to me in connexion with the important objects contemplated by the Earl of Malmesbury.
1. The only emigration from Shanghae which has taken place since the opening of the port has been of a very partial kind. In 1549, some 200 coolies were shipped by the "Amazon," for California. The vessel "Regina" took some 20 or 30 to Australia last year, and more recently a few Chinese have taken passages for California on their own account, I believe, tempted by the accounts received of the golden harvest; many of these were servants in the employment of foreigners, and this has been the only instance of a strictly voluntary or spontaneous emigration.
2. Connived at and undisturbed emigration, even upon a large scale, would probably attract neither notice nor interference from the authorities, unless a question arose as to the maintenance of a large number of families left behind destitute. This, however, might be prevented by provision being made for the payment to them of a portion of the wages of the emigrants monthly.
3. Yes, fairly so. The summer at Shanghae is not very long, but quite tropical, the thermometer varying from 90 to 100° in the shade, and the people bear the heat well, though pretty constantly working in the fields. Of Asiatic origin, they seem constitu- tionally adapted to a warm climate, and their ordinary food consisting chiefly of rice, vegetables, and fruit, is the food of nearly all inhabitants of tropical climes, and of course easy to be obtained in the West Indies. The labourers here are chiefly employed in the cultivation of rice, cotton, and whent; those from the ports of Fokien and Quangtung would be more familiar with the culture of the sugar cane.
4. The field labourer in the villages receive 100 cash per diem, and find themselves; that is two dollars per month, which at 58. per dollar, would be 4. per day. Their usual wages are 75 or 80 cents a month, with food, or three halfpence a day; that is five eights less in money. Chair coolies, or other outdoor work, when employed by foreigners, and finding themselves, get 3,000 copper cash per month, equal to 3'33 dollar, or 168. S.; and carpenters and plasterers also get from 150 to 180 cash a day, say 6d. tu 7., without fool
5. They are fairly industrious, and can get through a good day's work, not equal to European labourers in temperate climates, but much more than the latter could accomplish under a tropical sun; they do not, however, bear being kept very closely to it, or to be driven forward at a faster pace than is habitual to them. Being an agricultural people, field work finds more favour in their eyes than any other; but a Chinaman does not bear worrying, and would rather give up the best place in the world than be subjected to a continual fret. In their own country they require both patience and management in their employers, whether native or foreign, to be well looked after, and firmly, but kindly dealt with. They have many good points. They are good-humoured upon the whole;
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EMIGRATION OF CHINESE COOLIES.
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patient and temperate as a class; yet often hasty in temper, and with strong feelings. If they do not like their work, or their employer, they leave their situation at once, however advantageous it may be in other respects. Living is cheap, and they never care therefore to serve in a place that does not suit them. If in circumstances where they cannot, or dare not leave, and they are dissatisfied with either their work or their treatment, they are apt to become sulky and very impracticable. They are fond of a sort of gossiping relaxation; and will often leave off for a few minutes in the middle of their work, however well disposed to do it fairly, while they smoke and chatter. Their own people, who may be supposed to know by practical experience how they may best a good day's work for their wages, do not attempt to prevent this, unless the licence is much abused, when a sense of justice among the workmen would not be wanting to give effect to the master's remonstrance or threat of applying a remedy. The Chinese labourers are fond of holidays, and muunge in their own country to make a good many. They spend much of their spare time in ten shops; and wherever they may be in any number, it would be essential, I conceive, to establish some, where they could resort, drink their national beverage, gossip away their leisure time, and get, if desired, their frugal meal of rice and vegetables. They have the great advantage of being a very temperate race, and upon the whole are very easily contentel, if well and discreetly treated, with some regard to their national habits and customs,
6. Yes, if due care were taken by competent persons on the spot to make the selection. Able-bodied workmen of the agricultural class night he readily obtained, and in con- siderable numbers, not of course, of the class of peasant proprietors (very numerous here), nor of those who found no difficulty in making a living, who would see little inducement in hard work abroad, even with higher wages than they could obtain at home among their own people. The fear is, that as they are very superior to the negro race, they would deteriorate by contact with these, if a large body of men without wives were to emigrate to the West Indies.
7. Not in the first instance, nor is it the usual course with Chinese emigrants. Their matrimonial ties are very slender. Those who go to the Straits and adjoining islands for the most part never return, but get wives, where they settle and remain. The great difficulty in the way of a permanent and improving emigration to the West Indies is not so much the grant distance, though that must be taken into account, but the impossibility of their finding fit wives in those islands. If they either marry or colubit with the inferior race of negroes, deterioration would follow; but even this option would scarcely exist, for the repugnance of Chinese to a negro is something unconquerablo. "Hil Quei tsze"-" a black devil," is the worst form of opprobrious abuse in a Chinaman's mouth, and there would be no little prejudice to be overcome in reconciling them to the prospect of living among, and working with, a black race. getting the wives and families of the Chinese emigrants to follow the levies might By proper means the difficulty of probably be overcome. Upon the success of such measures, however, would depend, in no snil degree, the issue of any attempt to promote emigration hence upon a large scale, and with a view to the permanent improvement of the labour market in the West Indies.
If the first Chinese emigrants were well treated and made contented, and some fair inducement were held out to them to settle permanently, they would no doubt engage their families to follow them. It would probably be necessary to offer facilities to two or three of the emigrants sent in the first and second ships to return after a few months sojourn, in order that they might remove all doubt or suspicion from the minds of the women whose husbands were absent, and report favourably of the locality and treatment they had received.
8. From Anoy, I understand, coolies have been shipped for the West Indies at 107. 58. 6d. a head, to be found in wood and water only; but it is difficult to estimate the expense by Cape Horn, as the voyage would be of doubtful length, and captains would charge more for the venture. It is a long way through the Pacific, and ships would find such variable winds, that the length of the voyage would be difficult to calculate. By the Cape of Good Hope, it would be about seventy-five dollars per head,
9. A contract of some kind would be necessary. The men themselves would require a pledge for the amount of wages, and the means, within a stated time, of returning These contracts should be made out both in Chinese and English. A stall deduction from their monthly wages specified in the contract, night provide the funds for their return, and perhaps tend to give them greater confidence. The parties to whom they were to be assigned might be left blank. Some well-known firm here, or the consular authority, would be required to guarantee the terms to the men, otherwise few would be found willing to embark. And the option of assigning A portion of their wages, the
paid by sucli agent here to the families, would in many instances be desired.
10. No good or accurate account, based upon experience, of a vessel's chance for wind between here and Cape Horn can be obtained, as it is almost an unknown route in this monsoon, when they must first run to the north and west. In the north-east monsoir, ships would probably go by that route, if desired, and charge no more. Good Hope it would be nearly as follows:-The clipper ships from November to March, By the Cape of 80 days; from April to October, 100. The good sailing vessels from November to March E 4