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the well-known character of the Chinese, it is probable that such an effect would be produced to a greater extent by the introduction of the same number of immigrants of that than of any other nation.
Entertaining these opinions, and deeply anxious for the success of the West India Colonies under a system of freedom, Lord Stanley has directed his unceasing attention to the general removal of restrictions upon the introduction of labour into those colonies; and being well aware of the intensity of the demand, he is the less disposed to complain of the urgency of the remonstrances which have been addressed to him on the part of those directly interested, as well on other occasions as at the late interview at which you were present; or to express any surprise that the facilities which have been already afforded should be more lightly appreciated than the difficulties which oppose themselves to a further advance in the same direction.
For practical purposes, as regards the removal of such restrictions, Lord Stanley considers it obviously unnecessary to advert to any except the cases of Africans, of Indians, and of Chinese.
As regards the first of these, Lord Stanley cannot but regret that persons having at command the means of information which he thinks must be possessed by those who have addressed him, should appear so little impressed with the difficulties which the social system prevalent in all the independent countries on the coast of Africa must oppose to any supply of labourers not in the condition of slaves; or with the consideration that if slaves in their own country, they can only be obtained by purchase from, or agreement with, their Chiefs or Headmen; and that such transactions, if permitted, would necessarily lead, if not to the actual evils of slave trading, at least to no unreasonable jealousy and suspicion on the part of foreign states, against the proceedings of whose subjects, in attempts to obtain negroes, this country has directed, and still directs, the most stringent and forcible measures.
In opposition to this jealousy, it is necessary that Her Majesty's Government should be able, not only to rely upon the great argument that in landing in a British colony negroes arrive in a place where slavery is impossible, but that they should also be able to state that in those cases in which they do permit their exportation, such precautions have been enforced by them as are sufficient to prevent the possibility of abuse in the mode in which they have been obtained.
Lord Stanley does not think that the present would be a convenient opportunity for reopening the discussion of the details of the plan which has been recently adopted in pursuance of this object to which, as yet, so short a trial has been allowed.
The case of emigration from Her Majesty's East India possessions, it is true, stands on different grounds. On this head, however, I am directed by Lord Stanley to repeat that, adverting to the difficulties which arose in connexion with the system when previously in operation, he considers it absolutely necessary, in the interest of the West Indies themselves, carefully to watch the experiment, now in progress, of emigration to the nearer colony of Mauritius.
The abuses which have to be guarded against, it will be remembered, are not merely those which may exist on the passage or in the colony, but those complained of in India itself. The difficulty of preventing these, under any circumstances, has been strongly urged by those whose local knowledge gives peculiar weight to their opinions; and the test of experience is wanting to prove that their apprehensions may be removed by increased vigilance and new precautions.
The case of the Chinese, however, on which you particularly address him, is fortunately free from some of the difficulties which exist in the cases of the other two classes of labourers, especially if their places of embarkation be limited to British possessions not on the coast of China—a limitation which, for other (political) causes, at present at all events, Lord Stanley would deem it necessary to impose. Their intelligence, their willingness to work for wages, and their frugal and industrious habits, as well as their capability of supporting the labour of sugar cultivation, combine to point them out as a valuable class of immigrants; while the very circumstance of their having found their way in search of employment by means of a passage, averaging three weeks, to Singapore and other adjacent settlements, would be a guarantee at once of their knowing the nature of the proposals made to them—a question so much disputed in the case of the Coolies—and probably of their ability to endure the effects of the voyage.
The main objection applicable to this class of emigrants is their being unaccompanied by women; and this has been, to Lord Stanley's mind, a very serious obstacle to sanctioning a bounty upon their introduction into the British colonies.
The same consideration, however, which prevailed with him in the case of Kroomen, viz., that their habits are to leave their country in search of temporary employment, has alone induced him not to consider this objection as insuperable; and I am therefore directed by him to state that he will not refuse to grant, to a limited extent, the permission asked for to introduce them into the West India colonies, according to the scheme which it will be my duty to explain. Before doing so, however, I should observe that, in stating it, I have assumed the alterations to have been made in the laws of the different colonies which will be necessary to allow it to come into operation; and I may also remark that the state of the law in the Crown Colonies and Legislative Colonies respectively will render necessary a different mode of proceeding in the two cases.
Lord Stanley might have been disposed to have made the same provision in the case of Chinese labourers as in that of natives of Africa, had he considered such provisions to be necessary for their protection against fraud, or even as not calculated to create objections and suspicions in their minds. But from the information he has been able to obtain he is led to believe, first, that the Chinese who may be found at the British settlements in the eastern seas, are fully competent to stipulate for what would be most for their own advantage; and also that from their peculiar habits they will not be induced to emigrate at all except under such previous stipulations as shall ensure them employment and remuneration according to a certain scale. The only mischief, therefore, against which it appears to Lord Stanley essential to guard is that which was found to operate so prejudicially in the case of the Coolies, namely, the discovery on the part of the labourer after his arrival in the colony that he might have obtained better terms for his labour than those on which he had contracted to give it.
In order to avoid this evil, there is obviously only one course open, namely, that of permitting the labourer, after his arrival in the colony, to rescind the contract into which he had entered out of it; and this is the course which Lord Stanley proposes to adopt. In doing so, however, it becomes necessary to guard the person at whose expense the labourer may have been introduced against the consequent loss, and on the principle on which immigration at the cost of the colonies has been sanctioned, Lord Stanley considers that such person is clearly entitled to be repaid by the colony in the event of an able-bodied labourer exercising his option on his arrival there of rescinding the contract under which he came.
In the case of such a labourer rescinding his contract immediately upon his arrival, the arrangement would be a simple one, the person bringing him thereby becoming entitled at once to the full rate of bounty, such rate to be settled in the manner to which I shall have subsequently to advert.
It is obvious, however, that labourers may be more likely to wish to abandon their contracts after some experience of the colony, than on the first moment of their arrival. Lord Stanley assumes, of course, that whoever brings such labourers will in the contract which he makes with them, engage to give them such a rate of wages only as, compared with the current rates of remuneration for labour in the colony, that in the event of their continuing to work for him for the whole term agreed upon, he will have saved, by the difference, whatever sum may be necessary to cover the expenses of their introduction; and should they have stipulated for a return passage, for the expense of that passage also. Lord Stanley would propose that the duration of contracts should not exceed five years; and as well in order to admit in the calculation the provision for a back passage, as also with a view to convenience as regards the obligation of the colony, he proposes that any person having imported a Chinese labourer under contract, if such labourer remain in his service for two years and a half, shall be considered to have been repaid the expense of his introduction by the benefits derived by him from the labourer under the contract of service.
In the case, therefore, of a labourer remaining in the service of the person who brings him for the space of two years and a half, even should he then rescind the contract, Lord Stanley proposes that no bounty should be payable by the colony.
This, however, still leaves unprovided for the case of a labourer who may not at once on his arrival quit the service of the person who brings him, but may do so before the expiration of two years and a half, this case Lord Stanley proposes to meet by assigning to the person who brought him, instead of the full rate of bounty,
2 L 2
CHINESE LABOURERS.
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CHINESE LABOURERS TO THE WEST INDIES.
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CHINESE LABOURERS.
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PAPERS RELATIVE TO EMIGRATION OF
the well-known character of the Chinese, it is probable that such an effect would be produced to a greater extent by the introduction of the same number of immi- grants of that than of any other nation.
Entertaining these opinions, and deeply anxious for the success of the West India Colonies under a system of freedom, Lord Stanley has directed his unceasing attention to the general removal of restrictions upon the introduction of labour into those colonies; and being well aware of the intensity of the demand, he is the less disposed to complain of the urgency of the remonstrances which have been addressed to him on the part of those directly interested, as well on other occa- sions as at the late interview at which you were present; or to express any sur- prise that the facilities which have been already afforded should be more lightly appreciated than the difficulties which oppose themselves to a further advance in the same direction,
For practical purposes, as regards the removal of such restrictions, Lord Stanley considers it obviously unnecessary to advert to any except the cases of Africans, of Indians, and of Chinese.
As regards the first of these, Lord Stanley cannot but regret that persons having at command the means of information which he thinks must be possessed by those who have addressed him, should appear so little impressed with the dif- ficulties which the social system prevalent in all the independent countries on the coast of Africa must oppose to any supply of labourers not in the condition of slaves; or with the consideration that if slaves in their own country, they can only be obtained by purchase from, or agreement with, their Chiefs or Headmen; and that such transactions, if permitted, would necessarily lead, if not to the actual evils of slave trading, at least to no unreasonable jealousy and suspicion on the part of foreign states, against the proceedings of whose subjects, in attempts to obtain negroes, this country has directed, and still directs, the most stringent and forcible
measures.
In opposition to this jealousy, it is necessary that Her Majesty's Government should be able, not only to rely upon the great argument that in landing in a British colony negroes arrive in a place where slavery is impossible, but that they should also be able to state that in those cases in which they do permit their exportation, such precautions have been enforced by them as are sufficient to pre- vent the possibility of abuse in the mode in which they have been obtained.
Lord Stanley does not think that the present would be a convenient opportunity for reopening the discussion of the details of the plan which has been recently adopted in pursuance of this object to which, as yet, so short a trial has been allowed.
The case of emigration from Her Majesty's East India possessions, it is true, stands on different grounds. On this head, however, I am directed by Lord Stanley to repeat that, adverting to the difficulties which arose in connexion with the system whien previously in operation, he considers it absolutely necessary, in the interest of the West Indies themselves, carefully to watch the experiment, now in progress, of emigration to the nearer colony of Mauritius.
The abuses which have to be guarded against, it will be remembered, are not merely those which may exist on the passage or in the colony, but those com- plained of in India itself. The difficulty of preventing these, under any circum- stances, has been strongly urged by those whose local knowledge gives peculiar weight to their opinions; and the test of experience is wanting to prove that their apprehensions may be removed by increased vigilance and new precautions.
The case of the Chinese, however, on which you particularly address him, is fortunately free from some of the difficulties which exist in the cases of the other two classes of labourers, especially if their places of embarkation be limited to British possessions not on the coast of China-a limitation which, for other (po- litical) causes, at present at all events, Lord Stanley would deem it necessary to impose. Their intelligence, their willingness to work for wages, and their frugal and industrious habits, as well as their capability of supporting the labour of sugar cultivation, combine to point them out as a valuable class of immigrants; while the very circumstance of their having found their way in search of employment by means of a passage, averaging three weeks, to Singapore and other adjacent set- tlements, would be a guarantee at once of their knowing the nature of the pro posals made to them-a question so much disputed in the case of the Coolies-and probably of their ability to endure the effects of the voyage.
The main objection applicable to this class of emigrants is their being unaccom- panied by women; and this has been, to Lord Stanley's mind, a very serious
CHINESE LABOURERS TO THE WEST INDIES.
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obstacle to sanctioning a bounty upon their introduction into the British colonies.
The same consideration, however, which prevailed with him in the case of Kroomen, viz., that their habits are to leave their country in search of temporary employment, has alone induced him not to consider this objection as insuperable; and I am therefore directed by him to state that he will not refuse to grant, to a limited extent, the permission asked for to introduce them into the West India colonies, according to the scheme which it will be my duty to explain. Before doing so, however, I should observe that, in stating it, I have assumed the altera- tions to have been made in the laws of the different colonies which will be neces- sary to allow it to come into operation; and I may also remark that the state of the law in the Crown Colonies and Legislative Colonies respectively will render necessary a different mode of proceeding in the two cases.
Lord Stanley might have been disposed to have made the same provision in the case of Chinese labourers as in that of natives of Africa, had he considered such provisions to be necessary for their protection against fraud, or even as not calculated to create objections and suspicions in their minds. But from the information he has been able to obtain he is led to believe, first, that the Chinese who may be found at the British settlements in the eastern seas, are fully competent to stipulate for what would be most for their own advantage; and also that from their peculiar habits they will not be induced to emigrate at all except under such previous sti- pulations as shall ensure them employment and remuneration according to a certain scale. The only mischief, therefore, against which it appears to Lord Stanley essential to guard is that which was found to operate so prejudicially in the case of the Coolies, namely, the discovery on the part of the labourer after his arrival in the colony that he might have obtained better terms for his labour than those on which he had contracted to give it.
In order to avoid this evil, there is obviously only one course open, namely, that of permitting the labourer, after his arrival in the colony, to rescind the contract into which he had entered out of it; and this is the course which Lord Stanley proposes to adopt. In doing so, however, it becomes necessary to guard the person at whose expense the labourer may have been introduced against the consequent loss, and on the principle on which immigration at the cost of the colonies has been sanctioned, Lord Stanley considers that such person is clearly entitled to be repaid by the colony in the event of an ablebodied labourer exercising his option on his arrival there of rescinding the contract under which he came.
In the case of such a labourer rescinding his contract immediately upon his arrival, the arrangement would be a simple one, the person bringing him thereby becoming entitled at once to the full rate of bounty, such rate to be settled in the manner to which I shall have subsequently to advert.
It is obvious, however, that labourers may be more likely to wish to abandon their contracts after some experience of the colony,than on the first moment of their arrival. Lord Stanley assumes, of course, that whoever brings such labourers will in the contract which he makes with them, engage to give them such a rate of wages only as, compared with the current rates of remuneration for labour in the colony, that in the event of their continuing to work for him for the whole term agreed upon, he will have saved, by the difference, whatever sum may be necessary to cover the expenses of their introduction; and should they have stipulated for a return passage, for the expense of that passage also. Lord Stanley would
propose that the duration of contracts should not exceed five years; and as well in order to admit in the calculation the provision for a back passage, as also with a view to convenience as regards the obligation of the colony, he proposes that any person
having imported a Chinese labourer under contract, if such labourer remain in his service for two years and a half, shall be considered to have been repaid the ex- pense of his introduction by the benefits derived by him from the labourer under the contract of service.
In the case, therefore, of a labourer remaining in the service of the person who brings him for the space of two years and a half, even should he then rescind the contract, Lord Stauley proposes that no bounty should be payable by the colony.
This, however, still leaves unprovided for the case of a labourer who may not at once on his arrival quit the service of the person who brings him, but may do so before the expiration of two years and a half, this case Lord Stanley proposes to meet by assigning to the person who brought him, instead of the full rate of bounty,
2 L 2
CHINESE LABOURERS.
226
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