CO129-123 - Sir MacDonnell - 1867 [7] — Page 32

CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案 All AI Reviewed

2. I beg of your Excellency to accept my acknowledgment for your prompt courtesy in releasing the above-named man on my representation, irrespective of the supposed merits of the particular case. I notice, however, that Your Excellency is under the impression that the regulations of the Macau Government are such as to enable any immigrants unwilling to proceed to their destination to state so, and to obtain their release.

It is stated that the contract which each Emigrant is supposed to sign is transferable on his arrival at his destination and, as Your Excellency must be aware, a sum of several hundred dollars is often paid for such transfer. Hence, it is very difficult to distinguish such Emigration from African Slave Trade, which probably explains the general impression which undoubtedly prevails that many of the supposed Emigrants are really kidnapped by persons employed for that purpose. When these waters are visited by stating that they have been kidnapped, it is a useless plea.

Nevertheless, I cannot see why they should not be permitted to state the truth plainly. I also invite attention to the fact that the contract which each crimp is looking out for victims. On the 17th ultimo, a Junk which had a clearance from Macau dated the 17th December last, but which had left that port according to the Master's statement so late as the

Page 30

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2. I beg of your Excellency to accept my acknowledgment for your prompt courtesy in releasing the above-named man on my representation, irrespective of the supposed merits of the particular case. I notice, however, that Your Excellency is under the impression that the regulations of the Macau Government are such as to enable any immigrants unwilling to proceed to their destination to state so, and to obtain their release. It is stated that the contract which each Emigrant is supposed to sign is transferable on his arrival at his destination and, as Your Excellency must be aware, a sum of several hundred dollars is often paid for such transfer. Hence, it is very difficult to distinguish such Emigration from African Slave Trade, which probably explains the general impression which undoubtedly prevails that many of the supposed Emigrants are really kidnapped by persons employed for that purpose. When these waters are visited by stating that they have been kidnapped, it is a useless plea. Nevertheless, I cannot see why they should not be permitted to state the truth plainly. I also invite attention to the fact that the contract which each crimp is looking out for victims. On the 17th ultimo, a Junk which had a clearance from Macau dated the 17th December last, but which had left that port according to the Master's statement so late as the Page 30 has been kept as it was originally presented in the OCR output, assuming it was part of the original scan delineating page metadata. The text has been formatted into paragraphs, and minor corrections have been made to improve readability while adhering to the given rules. Spacing issues have been addressed, and words have been reordered or added where necessary to form complete sentences with minimal alteration to the original text. Markdown formatting has not been directly applied as per the output instruction to use HTML.
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1 30 2. I beg of your Excellency to accept of my acknowledgmento for your prompt Courtesy in in releasing H man the above named on ^ my representation, irrespective of the supposed merits 3. J of the particular case. notice however that Your Excellency is under the impression that the regulations of the Macas Government are such as CH- enable any lomigrants unwilling to proceed to their destination to state so, and to therefore that obtain their release. and therefore their obstinate persistence in s Emigrant is supposed to sign is transferable on his arrival at his destination and, as Your Excellency must be aware a bum of several hundred dollars is often paid for such transfer. Hence it is very difficult to distinguish such Emigration from African Slave Trade, which probably explains the general impression which indoubtedly prevails that many of the supposed Emigrants are really Ridnapped by persons employed for that hurpose. Loven these waters are visited by stating that stating H. useless is a they have been Ridnapped plea. Nevertheless I cannot see why they should not be permitted to state the truth plainly I also invite attention to the fact that the contract which each c crimps looking out 1th ultimo פֿין ! а far victims. On the which had a clearance Junk which had from Macus dated the 17th December last- but which had left that port according to the Master's statement so late as the
2026-05-19 18:38:51 · Baseline
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1

30

2. I beg of your Excellency to accept of my acknowledgmento for your prompt

Courtesy in

in releasing

H

man

the above named on

^

my representation, irrespective of the supposed

merits

3.

J

of

the

particular case. notice however that Your Excellency

is under the impression that the regulations

of the Macas Government

are

such as

CH-

enable

any lomigrants unwilling to proceed

to their destination to state so, and to

therefore that

obtain their release. and therefore

their obstinate persistence in s

Emigrant is supposed to sign is transferable

on his arrival at his destination and, as

Your Excellency

must be

aware

a bum

of several hundred dollars is often paid

for such transfer. Hence it is

very

difficult to distinguish such Emigration from African Slave Trade, which probably explains the general impression which

indoubtedly prevails that many of the supposed Emigrants are really Ridnapped

by persons employed for that hurpose. Loven these waters are visited by

stating that stating

H.

useless

is a

they have been Ridnapped plea. Nevertheless I cannot see

why they

should not be permitted to state the

truth

plainly

I also invite attention to

the fact that the contract which each c

crimps looking out

1th ultimo

פֿין !

а

far

victims. On the

which had a clearance

Junk which had

from Macus dated the 17th December last- but which had left that port according

to the Master's statement so late as the

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