CO885(1-2) — Page 365

No.

Encl. 1 in No. 21.

60

CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO

No. 21.

COPY of a LETTER from H. U. ADDINGTON Esq. to H. MERIVALE Esq. SIR,

Foreign Office, March 9, 1858. WITH reference to my letter of the 1st instant, I am directed by the Earl of Clarendon to transmit to you, for the information of the Duke of New- castle, copies of two further Despatches and of their enclosures, received from Dr. Bowring, on the subject of coolie emigration.

H. Merivale, Esq.

&c.

&c.

MY LORD,

I &c., (Signed)

am,

H. U. ADDINGTON.

Enclosure 1 in No. 21.

Superintendency of Trade, Hong Kong, December 20, 1852.

I HAVE to acknowledge your Lordship's Despatch No. 67, dated Foreign Office. October 20, on the abject of the immigration of Chinese labourers into the colonies of Great Britain, and to express my great satisfaction that Her Majesty's Government have seen fit to appoint en emigration agent, especially charged to secure a proper selection of emigrants, to provide for them kind and becoming treatment on board the vessels that transport them, and to ascertain the fairness and legality of the contracts entered into between them and the colonists. I enclose copy of the circular I have addressed to the consuls, embodying, I hope, your Lordship's views as conveyed in the communication under acknowledgment.

As many of the abuses which exist in the manner of collecting, contracting for, shipping, and conveying the emigrants do, notwithstanding their multiplicity and their magnitude, escape all official cognizance and control, and the authority possessed or exercised by the consuls has been wholly inoperative to check such abuses, I cannot but hope that Mr. White's presence will serve to prevent much of the crime and misery, which have un- doubtedly received a great impulse from the sudden and competing demand arriving at the same time from many quarters of the globe for supplies of labour from China. There can be little doubt that too many of the Chinese officials have been sharers in and profiters by the abominations which unhappily have been so rife; and as of late the public tran- quillity has been so seriously compromised at Amoy, in consequence of the misdoings of parties connected with coolie emigration, it is by no means impossible, should accounts reach Peking of what has taken place, that the whole subject may change its position and its character. It is true that the Chinese Government, the local authorities, and the peaceful people, may be willing and desirous to get rid of a miserable, suffering, surplus population, but nothing is so likely to alarm the Government. Nothing could be more fatal to our interests and prospects in China than that the shipment of emigrants should be connected with breaches of the public tranquillity, that it should make foreigners odious to the Chinese people, and interfere with that growing disposition to friendly intercourse which was so remarkable at Amoy and its neighbourhood, and was producing such an extension of our commercial relations, until interrupted by the irregularities which have had their origin in the cupidity of the collectors and shippers of coolies.

In another Despatch your Lordship will receive such particulars as I have been able to collect with respect to the riots and bloodshedding at Amoy. I hold myself excused from observing in some paragraphs of the correspondence enclosed in your Lordship's Despatch, attributable to the imperfect knowledge possessed by the colonies of the real state of måt ters in China, not doubting that Mr. White, with whom I have had the advantage of much intercourse, not only here but in India, will convey all requisite and useful information to the departments concerned. I concur in the opinion that Hong Kong may be made, under judicious arrangementa, a position where the most desirable portion of voluntary candi- dates for emigration can be collected; and that when it is known among the Chinese that in Hong Kong efficient measures are taken to prevent those emigrating from being the victims of misrepresentation, fraud, and force, Hong Kong may become the resort of such labourers as would be most acceptable to the colonies; but I doubt if any amount of superintendence here would, looking at the instruments which must be employed in China, remove the desirableness of a thorough investigation as to the circumstances of every indi- vidual case of emigration, when the emigration ship arrives at its destination.

I have, &c., (Signed) JOHN BOWRING.

The Earl of Malmesbury,

&c.

&c. &c.

SIR,

EMIGRATION OF CHINESE COOLIES.

61

Superintendency of Trade, Hong Kong, Dec. 16, 1852. THE subject of Chinese coolie emigration, for the supply of labour to the British colonies, has, as you are aware, lately occupied the attention of Her Majesty's Govern- ment; and after due consideration of the various suggestions as to the means of securing the best selection of labourers, their proper treatment on board during their outward voyage, and the fairness and the legality of the contracts to be entered into between the colonists and the emigrants, it has been determined to appoint a Government emigration agent, and Mr. White has been selected for the service, under instructions from the Colonial Department.

Her Majesty's Government, while desirous to encourage the voluntary enigration of Chinese labourers to the British colonies, is quite alive to the possible difficulties of the question in reference to our position in China; for while, on the one hand, the expatriation of Chinese subjects is not authorized by the laws of the country, on the other a most extensive emigration has been taking place from certain districts in China without the slightest attempt on the part of the authorities to interfere with or prevent such emigration. There is even reason to believe that the removal of a surplus and often suf- fering population has been looked upon with complacency alike by the Mandarins and the people.

At the same time Her Majesty's Government, applying the same general principles to our relations with China which would direct its conduct towards the Governments of other countries with which Great Britain has entered into treaties of friendship, could not consent that any agent of the Government of Great Britain should, within the ter- ritories of a friendly state, be engaged in the organization of any system opposed to the laws of the land or in opposition to the lawful authorities.

The state of things in China appears however, in the question of emigration, to justify an exception to the general rule; for whatever may be the written or unwritten law of China as to emigration, the emigration of the subjects of China is daily and repeatedly taking place, without any interference on the part of the authorities to prevent or dis- courage it. The law is dormant, or a tacit consent is given to its fiolation,

The emigration, therefore, being an established fact unprohibited and unchecked by Chinese authority, and the interests of British as well as Chinese subjects being deeply concerned therein, Her Majesty's Government feels it is a duty imposed upon it to place, as much as possible, the system on a healthy footing, by directing the stream of emigra- tion into the most useful channels, and doing the utmost to protect the interests of the emigrants themselves.

Such objects being evidently to the advantage of the emigrants, and intended to prevent the recurrence of those lamentable events on board emigrant vessels to which public attention has so frequently of Inte been called, cannot be made a fair subject of complaint from the Chinese authoritica while the enigration of Chinese labourers is unchecked by official interference. You will clearly understand, that Her Majesty's Government would not authorize the emigration agent to engage labourers within the Chinese territories should the Chinese Government alter its policy of non-interference and give effect to the dormant prohibitions against the emigration of its subjects. In such case the action of the emigration agent must be confined to the colony of Hong Kong, where undoubtedly the securities which his presence would afford for the protection and comfort of Chinese labourers disposed to emigrate might induce them to resort, as a central station, to the spot where such securities are provided.

In fine, should the Chinese Government object or offer impediments to the emigration of Chinese subjects to British colonies, you are required to act in strict conformity to treaty, and not, directly or indirectly, to ail or abet the shipment of Chinese emigrants to the colonies of Great Britain. But if Chinese subjects, of their own free will, should prefer 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 do- minions, you are not bound to prevent, or even to be ostensibly cognisant of such acts; for it is the duty of the Chinese Government to enforce its own laws. To Her Majesty's Consuls in China.

MY LORD,

Enclosure 2 in No. 21.

I have, &c. (Signed)

JOHN BOWRING.

Superintendency of Trade, Hong Kong, Dec. 21, 1852. I HAVE the honour to enclose to your Lordship copy of Mr. Acting Consul Back- house's Despatch No. 50, dated 20/30 November, giving some particulars of the shipments of coolies from the Port of Amoy.

Your Lordship will observe in this Despatch a reference to a subject of extreme gravity, namely, the shipment of coolies in large quantities from ports and places (principally the opium stations) where, by treaty, we are prohibited from trading.

H 3

Encl. 2 in No. 21.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference -

TLC.O. 885

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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