CO885(1-2) — Page 345

No.

Encl. in No. 10.

Colonial Office,

August 30 to September 7.

From October 20.

22

CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO

Enclosure in No. 10.

SIR,

Foreign Office, October 20, 1852. I HAVE to state to you, that the Legislative Assemblies of some of Her Majesty's colonial possessions having passed laws and provided funds for promoting the immigration of Chinese labourers into the respective colonies, Her Majesty's Government have had under their consideration the different modes suggested for effecting the object thus contemplated

Of these the one which has seemed to Her Majesty's Government the least open to inconvenience and objection has been the appointment of a Government agent, whose duty it should be to superintend the proposed emigration, with a view at once to ensure the best selection of labourers, the proper treatment of the Chinese emigrants during their voyage outwards, and the fairness and legality of the contracts to be entered into between the colonists and the Chinese immigrants.

The correspondence which has passed on this subject between the Colonial Office and this department, and of which I enclose copies for your information, will place you in full

possession of the views of Her Majesty's Government on this matter, and you will perceive that Mr. White has been selected as agent for this service.

Mr. White left this country on his way to China by the mail of August last, and the instructions given to that gentleman by Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonial Department, copies of which you will find in the letter from that department of the 20th instant, will explain to you the nature of the duties which Mr. White is called upon to perform.

There is, however, a serious question which may not improbably arise out of this appointment, to which I consider it necessary to direct your particular attention, namely, the light in which it may be viewed by the Chinese authorities.

Her Majesty's Government cannot but be conscious that the emigration of Chinese subjects from the territories of China is prohibited by Chinese law. At the same time, however, Her Majesty's Government are aware that a very extensive emigration has for some time past been taking place from China, and they have no grounds for supposing that the Chinese Government have taken any steps to enforce the laws by which such emigration is prohibited, or to interfere with the emigration which is actually taking place.

Her Majesty's Government would in no wise desire, in the case of China, to depart from the principles by which their conduct would be regulated towards the Governments of other countries with which Great Britain has entered into treaties of friendship, and acting on those principles, the Government of this country could not with propriety appoint an agent whose special duty it should be to organize within the territory of a friendly state a system of any kind in opposition to the laws of that state.

But there are points connected with the question of emigration from China which seem to Her Majesty's Government to make it an exception to the general rule thus laid down; for first, if, as Her Majesty's Government have reason to know, the Chinese Government have not taken, or do not at present take, any measures to carry into effect the law, whether written or unwritten, by which the emigration of its subjects is forbidden, and if that emigration is daily and openly taking place, Her Majesty's Government can scarcely be expected to recognize the existence of a rule which the Chinese Government itself allows to remain dormant, or to the violation of which it gives a tacit consent.

Again, as the system actually does exist, and as the interests of Her Majesty's subjects, as well as those of the Chinese Empire, have become largely concerned therein, it is plainly the duty of Her Majesty's Government to take such measures as may seem best fitted to place the system on a healthy footing, by directing the stream of emigration into the most useful channel, and by doing their utmost to protect the interests of the emigrants themselves.

So long, therefore, as no measures are taken by the Chinese Government to check the emigration of its subjects, Her Majesty's Government can scarcely apprehend that the Chinese authorities can consider themselves justified in raising objections to a measure which is evidently for the advantage of the Chinese emigrants, and which it is hoped may tend to prevent the recurrence of the lamentable events on board emigrant vessels, to which public attention has been called on several late occasions.

If, however, the Chinese Government should resolve to adopt a new course, and to carry into effectual operation the now dormant prohibition against emigration, Her Majesty's Governinent would clearly not be justified in authorizing a British Government agent to engage within the Chinese territories in the superintendence and management of a system which the Chinese authorities should have taken measures to stop.

In such a case the operations of the agent now appointed must be restricted to Her Majesty's territory of Hong Kong. Within that territory Her Majesty's Government have an undoubted right to appoint, without question or restriction, an agent to superin- tend the emigration of any persons whatever to Her Majesty's other colonies; and when it once becomes notorious that such an agent is established at Hong Kong, and that he is charged to superintend the emigration of Chinese or others who may choose to apply to him at Hong Kong, both with a view to the welfare of the emigrants and of the colony to which they propose to emigrate, it is highly probable that Hong Kong may in the case

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EMIGRATION OF CHINESE COOLIES.

23

supposed become an important and central station, from which the emigration may be successfully conducted, and to which Chinese as well as others proposing to omigrate may find it for their advantage to resort. If, therefore, either the Chinese Government should enforce its now inoperative law against Chinese emigration from the ports to which we have access by treaty, or if the Chinese authorities at any of those ports should object or oppose impediments to the emigration of Chinese subjects from such port to the British colony, the British consul at such port is bound to act in strict conforinity to treaty, and not in any way to aid or abet, directly or indirectly, the shipment of Chinese subjects destined for British colonies.

But if, on the other hand, Chinese subjects should of their own free will think proper to risk the penalty attached to the transgression of the law, and to embark without the aid of the consul or of the Government agent for any place within Her Majesty's dominions, Her Majesty's consuls are not bound either to prevent, or even to be ostensibly cognizant of such Act. It is for the Chinese Government to enforce its own laws.

You will furnish Her Majesty's consuls at the several ports with instructions for their guidance in the sense of this Despatch.

I have, &c, (Signed)

J. Bowring, Esq., &c &c.

No. 11.

MALMESBURY.

Copy of a LETTER from T. F. ELLIOT Esq. to the COLONIAL LAND AND EMIGRATION COMMISSIONERS. GENTLEMEN,

Downing Street, October 20, 1852.

I AM directed by Secretary Sir John Pakington to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 9th instant submitting a draft of the instructions which you propose to address to Mr. White, whom it is intended to appoint emigration agent for the West Indies and China.

And I am to convey to you Sir John Pakington's approval of their instructions, subject to the addition of the following at the conclusion of paragraph 1 :—

"You will be pleased to understand that the service to which you are thus appointed being of very doubtful duration, the appointment is not of a permanent nature, or such as to give rise to a claim to compensation for loss of office."

I have, &c., The Colonial Land and Emigration (Signed) T. F. ELLIOT,

Commissioners.

No. 12.

COPT of a LETTER from II. U. ADDINGTON Esq. to HERMAN MERIVALE Esq. SIR,

Foreign Office, October 2, 1852, WITH reference to the correspondence which has passed between this office and the Colonial Office on the subject of the emigration of coolies from China, I am directed by the Earl of Malmesbury to transmit to you, for the information of Secretary Sir John Pakington, copies of two Despatches from Dr. Bowring as to emigration from China. Herman Merivale, Esq.,

&c.

MY LORD,

&c.

I am, &c., (Signed) II. U. ADDINGTON.

Enclosure 1 in No. 12.

Superintendency of Trade, Hong Kong, July 1, 1852. I HAVE received from Mr. Cousul Alcock a Despatch, No. 59, dated 16th June, stating that sundry Chinese coolies in the employ of an American merchant had been punished, in consequence of being engaged in a supposed smuggling transaction. The Despatch conveys the opinion of the American vice-consul, that these coolies were entitled to foreign protection, and could only be reached with the consent and through the instrumentality of the consular authorities; and the American vice-consul proposes to retain duties, and to ask for the presence of a ship of war in order to maintain his position.

My answer to Mr. Alcock I have the honour to enclose; and having had an opportunity of discussing the matter with Dr. Parker, the United States chargé d'affaires, he informs me that he does not by any means concur with the vice-consul's opinion in the matter, and will not sanction his proceedings.

C 4

No. 12.

No. 6fr. Nu. 76.

Encl. I in No. 12.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TTC.O. 885

سائنس

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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