26
The kidnappers were daring in their raids. By early 1859 Chinese from all walks of life were increasingly being carried off by Chinese gangs working for foreign coolie agents. The Chinese community was so alarmed that it simultaneously petitioned the allied authorities to stop the kidnappings as well as taking matters into its own hands. In April local merchants petitioned the British to take action. That same month local Chinese, having captured several kidnappers, murdered them." Consul Alcock described the situation:
The acts of violence and fraud connected with the coolie trade at this port... have already reached such a pitch of atrocity that a general feeling of alarm spread through the population accompanied by a degree of excitement and popular indignation which rendered it no longer possible or safe for any authority interested in the peace of the place to remain inactive.5"
5
Alcock's last sentence provides the principal clue to the allied commissioners' dilemma. Somewhere around 60,000 to 70,000 people had been carried off in recent years, but until recently that had principally been a Chinese concern. But since January of the previous year, Canton had been under allied administration and now any agitation caused by the kidnappers would necessarily impact negatively on the European ability to continue the occupation. In short, it was now their problem. And if simple insecurity was not enough to get them to move against the kidnappers, class concerns added an additional incentive, for it was understood that the randomly selected victims were often from the Chinese upper classes, which the British found more “civilized” than many other groups.
60
If it was imperative that the illegal kidnapping stop, nevertheless, it was true as well that, with the ever-increasing demand for labour in the New World, the Europeans were committed to finding a more acceptable means of recruiting Chinese contract labour. The next months would thus see a two-part effort; on the one hand to suppress the kidnapping while on the other hand to regularize coolie emigration in a fashion that was acceptable to the local Chinese yet which did not compromise the outflow of Chinese labourers.
26
The kidnappers were daring in their raids. By early 1859 Chinese from all walks of life were increasingly being carried off by Chinese gangs working for foreign coolie agents. The Chinese community was so alarmed that it simultaneously petitioned the allied authorities to stop the kidnappings as well as taking matters into its own hands. In April local merchants petitioned the British to take action. That same month local Chinese, having captured several kidnappers, murdered them." Consul Alcock described the situation:
The acts of violence and fraud connected with the coolic trade at this port... have already reached such a pitch of atrocity that a general feeling of alarm spread through the population accompanied by a degree of excitement and popular indignation which rendered it no longer possible or safe for any authority interested in the peace of the place to remain inactive.5"
5#
Alcock's last sentence provides the principal clue to the allied commissioners' dilemma. Somewhere around 60.000 to 70,000 people had been carried off in recent years, but until recently that had principally been a Chinese concern. But since January of the previous year, Canton had been under allied administration and now any agitation caused by the kidnappers would necessarily impact negatively on the European ability to continue the occupation. In short, it was now their problem. And if simple insecurity was not enough to get them to move against the kidnappers, class concerns added an additional incentive, for it was understood that the randomly selected victims were often from the Chinese upper classes, which the British found more “civilized” than many other groups.
60
If it was imperative that the illegal kidnapping stop, nevertheless, it was true as well that, with the ever-increasing demand for labour in the New World, the Europeans were committed to finding a more acceptable means of recruiting Chinese contract labour. The next months would thus see a two-part effort; on the one hand to suppress the kidnapping while on the other hand to regularize coolie emigration in a fashion that was accceptable to the local Chinese yet which did not compromise the outflow of Chinese labourers.
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