239
Chinese should have a more consultative role in government, class legislation should be abolished and Chinese leadership should be encouraged.
The Chinese feared the public meeting would be manipulated to openly condemn Sir John and thus impede the implementation of his policy. The anti-Hennessy group feared the Chinese would vote en bloc to frustrate their intended objective for the meeting.
In this atmosphere of mutual distrust it was inevitable the meeting would encounter difficulties unless handled in a fair and diplomatic manner. This did not happen, and the meeting deepened the mistrust between the two sides.
The affair aroused a great amount of newspaper comment. Ho A-mei presented the Chinese version in an attempt to balance that given by the colonialists. As an early presentation of the Chinese side of an issue appearing in the English language press it is worth quoting in full. It was published in the October 16, 1878 issue of the Daily Press.
Ho A-mei wrote: "I would like to say a few words on the treatment I and the large number of Chinese received who were present at the public meeting on October 7.
"I wish also to point out that the Chinese who were there were not, as some people have said, ‘shop coolies’ and the like, but that nearly all of them belonged to the better classes and those who have large stakes in the welfare of the colony.
"On Europeans finding the City Hall nearly filled with Chinese, some of them called out ‘d...d Chinaman, turn them out’. I then heard some say, ‘Let us have the meeting elsewhere to prevent the Chinese coming’. After being formally opened, it moved to open air. There was a general struggle to get to the cricket ground and when we (Chinese) arrived there, we found a ring already formed of foreigners.
"Some of us attempted to get into the ring, but were roughly handled and pushed back. The promoters of the meeting were
239
Chinese should have a more consultative role in government, class legislation should be abolished and Chinese leadership should be encouraged.
The Chinese feared the public meeting would be manipulated to openly condemn Sir John and thus impede the implementation of his policy. The anti-Hennessy group feared the Chinese would vote en bloc to frustrate their intended objective for the meeting.
In this atmosphere of mutual distrust it was inevitable the meeting would encounter difficulties unless handled in a fair and diplomatic manner. This did not happen, and the meeting deep- ened the mistrust between the two sides.
The affair aroused a great amount of newspaper comment. Ho A-mei presented the Chinese version in an attempt to balance that given by the colonialists. As an early presentation of the Chi- nese side of an issue appearing in the English language press it is worth quoting in full. It was published in the October 16, 1878 issue of the Daily Press.
Ho A-mei wrote: "I would like to say a few words on the treat- ment I and the large number of Chinese received who were present at the public meeting on October 7.
"I wish also to point out that the Chinese who were there were not as some people have said ‘shop coolies' and the like, but that nearly all of them belonged to the better classes and those who have large stakes in the welfare of the colony.
"On Europeans finding the City Hall nearly filled with Chinese, some of them called out ‘d. ...d Chinaman, turn them out'. I then heard some say, 'Let us have the meeting elsewhere to prevent the Chinese coming”. After (being) formally opened, (it) moved to open air. There was a general struggle to get to the cricket ground and when we (Chinese) arrived there, we found a ring already formed of foreigners.
"Some of us attempted to get into the ring, but were roughly handled and pushed back. The promoters of the meeting were
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