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an population towards him.
This hostility surfaced publicly in the convening of a meeting in 1878 to pass resolutions regarding the increase of crime. It was this meeting that provided an opportunity for Ho A-mei to place himself before the public through a letter he sent to the newspaper setting forth the Chinese side of the events which took place at the meeting.
In due time, we shall discuss this, but first as a general background for all A-mei's public activities, we might refer further to the letter of "Chinese" we previously quoted. The writer possibly might have been Ho A-mei himself, though his practice seems to have been to sign his own name to public letters. He was not the kind of person to hide his opinions behind a pen-name.
"Chinese" maintained that the situation at the time he was writing (1878) was not quite as bad as he had described. There had been some changes of late years, for "we are not handled so roughly as before."
He thought the changes were brought about by discussion in the press of the place of the Chinese in the Hongkong community and a growing sense of justice and fairplay displayed by government officials in their treatment of the Chinese.
Suddenly, however, Chinese hopes for more improvements were given a dash of cold water by the remarks of Mr. Lowcock, an Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council.
During a debate on the appointment of a Chinese as interpreter to the Governor and Colonial Secretary, he had said that “it would be almost dangerous for a Chinese to hold a confidential position." The "Chinese" writing the letter interpreted this to mean: "We Chinese, without one exception, are all treacherous and dangerous.”
There was for him, however, one bright feature. Governor Hennessy had defended Chinese integrity. His Excellency observed: "I should be very sorry, if because he is a Chinaman, a
:
236
CARL SMITH
an population towards him.
This hostility surfaced publicly in the convening of a meeting in 1878 to pass resolutions regarding the increase of crime. It was this meeting that provided an opportunity for Ho A-mei to place him- self before the public through a letter he sent to the newspaper setting forth the Chinese side of the events which took place at the meeting.
In due time, we shall discuss this, but first as a general back- ground for all A-mei's public activities, we might refer further to the letter of "Chinese" we previously quoted. The writer possibly might have been Ho A-mei himself, though his practice seems to have been to sign his own name to public letters. He was not the kind of person to hide his opinions behind a pen-name.
"Chinese" maintained that the situation at the time he was writing (1878) was not quite as bad as he had described. There had been some changes of late years, for "we are not handled so rough- ly as before."
He thought the chances were brought about by discussion in the press of the place of the Chinese in the Hongkong community and a growing sense of justice and fairplay displayed by government officials in their treatment of the Chinese.
Suddenly, however, Chinese hopes for more improvements were given a dash of cold water by the remarks of Mr. Lowcock, an Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council.
During a debate on the appointment of a Chinese as interpreter to the Governor and Colonial Secretary, he had said that “it would be almost dangerous for a Chinese to hold a confidential position." The "Chinese" writing the letter interpreted this 10 mean: "We Chinese, without one exception, are all treacherous and dangerous.”
There was for him, however, one bright feature. Governor Hennessy had defended Chinese integrity. His Excellency ob- served: "I should be very sorry, if because he is a Chinaman, a
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