2. Hongkong being conterminous with the Canton Province and in constant intercommunication with the inland districts, nearly forty years have now elapsed since the opening of the Colony, which has become an emporium of trade, and since the last few years many Chinese have brought their property, wives and families to the place, supposing that they would be able to live here in peace and to rejoice in their property. The reason for this movement was a belief in the equitable administration of the criminal law on the part of the English Courts of Law, and the absence of vexatiousness on the part of the Executive. Native residents have, therefore, lately expressed a wish for naturalisation, and native merchants felt a desire to settle down in this trading place for good. Moreover, at the first opening of the Colony, His Excellency Governor ELLIOT issued a proclamation inviting an increase of settlers by the promise that Chinese, coming to reside in Hongkong, would be in every respect governed in accordance with their native customs, and from the time of the publication of this proclamation to the present day people always depended upon it. Chinese residents of Hongkong have, therefore, been in the habit of following all native customs which were not a contravention of Chinese Statute Law. It is said that the whole increase and prosperity of the Colony, from its first foundation to the present day, is all based on the strength of that invitation, which Sir JOHN ELLIOT gave to intending settlers, and that this present intention of applying, all of a sudden, the repressive force of the law to both the practices of buying and selling boys or girls, for purposes of adoption or for domestic servitude, is not only a violation of the rule of Sir JOHN ELLIOT, but moreover will, it is to be feared, not fail to trouble the people.
3. One of the common but evil practices, in vogue in China, is the practice of infanticide in the case of female children, and this practice is most especially followed in the Canton Province. Poor and indigent people, scarcely able to provide food and clothes for themselves, finding themselves additionally burdened with the anxieties and troubles which children involve, will frequently, if unable to find any body willing to take over and rear them, proceed to drown them the moment they are born. This practice has lately abated to a certain extent, as compared with former times. But although the practice of infanticide, a cruel and unnatural proceeding, is of course unanimously abhorred by every body, yet, being really caused by the pressure of poverty and distress, it must be classed with evils which are almost unavoidable. Now, if the buying of adoptive children and of servant girls is to be uniformly abolished, it is to be feared that henceforth the practice of infanticide will extremely increase beyond what it ever was. The heinousness of the violation of the great Creator's benevolence, which constitutes infanticide, is beyond comparison with the indulgence granted to the system of buying and selling children to prolong their existence. Moreover, the families which are able to purchase children have an abundance of clothes and food, which certain offers an advantage beyond anything those children had in their own families, as they are placed beyond all care of providing against hunger and cold. The foregoing considerations are calculated to make people rather rejoice over the fact that these children change hands.
4. When parents are willing to sell their sons and daughters to others, the reason invariably is, that their troubles are innumerable, their plans exhausted, their means squandered, and it is only when they find there is no better way out of their difficulty, that they resign themselves to this resort. As regards the sellers, their own intention is to find some one willing to buy, so that the matter is entirely voluntary, and there is not the least compulsion in it. As regards the buyers, they look upon themselves as affording relief to distressed people, and consider the matter as an act akin to charity, especially as the boys or girls they buy, being of tender age, have, as a general rule, to be clothed, fed, nursed, taught, and if they are sick, a doctor has to be engaged to attend to them, and when they are grown up, the boys have to be provided with a wife and a house, and to be set up in a separate family dwelling, and in the case of girls, a good husband has to be picked out for them to make them happy for life. The love and care devoted to them is often greater than that bestowed on one's own offspring. In view of all this, it is impossible to class this system as identical with lifelong slavery and deprivation of liberty.
5. China honours, above all others, the tenets of Confucianism, that is to say, the teachings of Confucius and Mencius. Mencius says, there are three forms of deficiency in filial duty, but the worst of them is to have no descendants. Consequently every childless person considers it obligatory to adopt a son, for the term "deficiency in filial duty" implies a sin of the most heinous hue. Supposing even, that there were a man showing no willingness (to adopt a son), his relations and friends would certainly do the utmost to exhort him to do so. Hence the number of people who are willing to buy boys for purposes of adoption. But it being once permissible to purchase boys in order to make them one's own sons, it follows that it is also permissible to buy girls in order to make them one's own daughters. This system is the most essentially important of all Chinese customs, and Your Petitioners therefore beg that this statement be condescendingly examined and tested.
6. In China there are fixed rules for the purchase of human beings, which rules bear absolutely no comparison whatever with the mode of purchasing ordinary commodities. For in buying ordinary articles of any kind, the buyer acquires unlimited power over them, and he is entirely at liberty to keep them or reject them. There is no such thing in the purchase of human beings.
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得以遂其生機之
四凡爲父母願將自已子女轉賣與人必係勢處萬難計
五中國尊崇儒教卽孔孟之道是也孟子日不 六中國於買人常
孝有三無後為大以故凡無子之人皆以立嗣 規與買各種物類
勝一籌决不到有
足比其背母家定
之家必係衣食豐
爲愈乎且凡買受
終身爲奴不由自主者相提並論哉 安其終身愛護之心多有過於己出者似此看待覺得與
窮力盡捨此別無善策然後始忍爲之在賣者初心乃求 之急頗類善端蓋所買之男女其幼時必也衣之食之 之教之或有疾病則延醫以調理之及其長也如係男子 則爲之置家立室以冀其成立若女子則爲之擇隹以
售於人定是情甘並無絲毫勉强在買者之自視乃濟人
爲切念因不孝二字罪名甚大也縱其人或有
迥然不同凡買各
物買主則有全權
饑寒之慮此所以
買人女爲已女矣此乃華人風俗之最要者 嗣如是之多也既可以買人子爲已子卽可以 不願而親友等亦必力瓶成之所以買人繼
棄取任便買人則
人樂於授受也
否蓋買女爲 其
children to prolong their existence. Moreover, the families which are able to purchase children have an abundance of clothes and food, which certain offers an advantage beyond anything those children had in their own families, as they are placed beyond all care of providing against hunger and cold. The foregoing considerations
calculated to make people rather rejoice over the fact that these children change hands.
4. When parents are willing to sell their sons and daughters to others, the reason invariably is, that their troubles are innumerable, their plans exhausted, their means squandered, and it is only when they find there is no better way out of their difficulty, that they resign themselves to this resort. As regards the sellers, their own intention is to find some one willing to buy, so that the matter is entirely voluntary, and there As regards the is not the least compulsion in it. buyers, they look upon themselves as affording relief to distressed people, and consider the matter as an act akin to charity, especially as the boys or girls they buy, being of tender age, have, as a general rule, to be clothed, fed, nursed, taught,
and if they are sick, a doctor has to be engaged to attend to them, and when they are grown up, the boys have to be provided with a wife and a in house- separate family dwelling, and to be set up keeping, and in the case of girls, a good husband
has to be picked out for them to make them happy for life. The love and care devoted to them is often greater than that bestowed on one's own offspring. In view of all this, it is impos- sible to class this system as identical with life- long slavery and deprivation of liberty.
5. China honours, above all others, the tenets of Confucianism, that is to say, the teachings of Confucius and Mencius. Mencius says, there are three forms of deficiency in filial duty, but the worst of them is to have no descendants. Conse-
quently every childless person considers it obli- gatory to adopt a son, for the term "deficiency in filial duty" implies a sin of the most heinous hue. Supposing even, that there were a man showing no willingness (to adopt a son), his relations and friends would certainly do the ut- most to exhort him to do so. Hence the number of people who are willing to buy boys for pur- poses of adoption. But it being once permissible to purchase boys in order to make them one's own sons, it follows that it is also permissible to buy girls in order to make them one's own daughters. This system is the most essentially important of all Chinese customs, and Your Petitioners therefore beg that this statement be condescendingly examined and tested.
6. In China there are fixed rules for the pur- chase of human beings, which rules bear abso- lutely no comparison whatever with the mode of purchasing ordinary commodities. For in buy- ing ordinary articles of any kind, the buyer acquires unlimited power over them, and he is entirely at liberty to keep them or reject them. There is no such thing in the purchase of human
賣男女爲嗣爲婢一事欲一旦按例懲辦不特有乖前督之諭更恐不免擾民耳 國王章者皆從而守之說者謂港自草創迄於繁盛皆植基於 伊督招徠之力今於買 港居處概從其風俗治理此示一出至今人皆仰之故華人在港凡内地風俗無犯於中 願爲之氓商者欲藏於市也且闢港之初 伊督憲示爺欲廣招徠謂此後華民在 有機資挈眷到此爲安居樂業計者此其故皆以 英憲訟獄持平無擾民之政故居者 二本港鄰近省道與内地接壤自開闢至今垂四十年經成懋遷都會近數年間華人多
轉甚於前與其溺殺有傷 造化主之仁孰若任人買賣 何耳今於買童買婢一事概行禁絕恐異日溺女之風必 人所共憤者然彼亦萬不獲己迫於貧困故付之無可如 行溺殺近日此風已比前畧減此乃忍心害理之所爲實 衣食不能自給叉加以兒女苦累每因無人承受甫產卽 三中國陋習素有溺女之風而廣東爲尤甚貧窮之家因
2. Hongkong being conterminous with the Canton Province and in constant intercommuni-
cation with the inland districts, nearly forty years have now elapsed since the opening of the Colony,
which has become an emporium of trade, and since the last few years many Chinese have brought
their property, wives and families to the place,
supposing that they would be able to live here in peace and to rejoice in their property. The
reason for this movement was a belief in the equitable administration of the criminal law on
the part of the English Courts of Law, and the absence of vexatiousness on the part of the Exc-
cutive. Native residents have, therefore, lately expressed a wish for naturalisation, and native
merchants felt a desire to settle down in this
trading place for good. Moreover, at the first
opening of the Colony, His Excellency Governor
ELLIOT issued a proclamation inviting an increase
of settlers by the promise that Chinese, coming
to reside in Hongkong, would be in every respect governed in accordance with their native customs,
and from the time of the publication of this pro-
clamation to the present day people always de pended upon it. Chinese residents of Hongkong
have, therefore, been in the habit of following all native customs which were not a contravention
of Chinese Statute Law. It is said that the whole increase and prosperity of the Colony,
from its first foundation to the present day, is all based on the strength of that invitation, which
Sir JOHN ELLIOT gave to intending settlers, and
that this present intention of applying, all of a sudden, the repressive force of the law to both the practices of buying and selling boys or girls, for purposes of adoption or for domestic servitude,
is not only a violation of the rule of Sir JoHN
ELLIOT, but moreover will, it is to be feared, not fail to trouble the people.
3. One of the common but evil practices, in vogue in China, is the practice of infanticide in the case of female children, and this practice is most especially followed in the Canton Province. Poor and indigent people, scarcely able to provide food and clothes for themselves, finding them- selves additionally burdened with the anxieties and troubles which children involve, will fre- quently, if unable to find any body willing to take over and rear them, proceed to drown them the moment they are born. This practice has lately abated to a certain extent, as compared with former times. But although the practice of infanticide, a cruel and unnatural proceeding, is of course un- animously abhorred by every body, yet, being really caused by the pressure of poverty and distress, it must be classed with evils which are almost un- avoidable. Now, if the buying ofadoptive children and of servant girls is to be uniformly abolished, it is to be feared that benceforth the practice of in- fanticide will extremely increase beyond what it ever was. The heinousness of the violation of the great Creator's benevolence, which constitutes infanticide, is beyond comparison with the indul- gence granted to the system of buying and selling
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