Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1856-05-22
NO.. 21.
THE WHITE SLAVE TRADE.

A horrible system Of stealing men and
women from their homes in China, and con-
veying them to the West Indies, Peru, &c.,
has grown up of late, in lieu of the African
slave trade; and as might be expected like
the old slave trade, it is carried on chiefly
by English and American vessels, the lat
ter hailing in all cases, so far as We are
aware, from the non-slave States, and large
portion of them from New England and
New York. Very likely some of the same
men are engaged in this nefarious business,
who are loud in denouncing the Southern
man for not turning large part Of his fam
lily out of doors, or sending them to the
SHOWS of Canada. The following extract of
letter which has been handed to US for
publication, shows how the materials Of the
modern slave trade-the Chinese Coolies
are obtained. To ell out the picture We re.
quire narrative of the horrors of the mid
die passage, which is often fatal to large
numbers-and then to see the poor wretch
es getting out guano at the Chinchia Islands
which soon destroys the remainder. We are
credibly informed that a person who lay
some days near those islands, saw eleven
Eve think it was) of the poor creatures
jumping into the sea, preferring death by
drowning, to the slow torture to which their
employment subjected them. If white
man were as good as a negro in the estima-
tion of the noisy pretended philanthropists
of this day,-or rather if their humanity
was not a sham, they would utter some
voice of remonstrance against the abomina-
Bile system to which we have alluded, and
which is carried on in part by their own
neighbors and from their own ports.
Extract of letter dated
SwoTow, (China,) Dec. 10, 1855.
We have now bent our sails, and expect
to sail for Callao in few days. We have
now on board 700 COLES, and expect to take
200 more. suppose, if God preserves our
lives, we will arrive in about IS days.
will try to explain what our cargo consists of,
viz: men-Chinamen, of course, who are
called Cinnamon Coolies. As you have been
to Russia, you had ample,-the same as
serfs, or our Southern negroes; but poor
things, they are torn from their parents and
friends and sent on board our ship and man
y other ships of our own country, as we'll as
English. They kidnap them and take them
to the junk, as we call it, and stay there one
or two weeks, till the captain thinks proper
to take them on board our ship. They are
bought for fifteen and twenty dollars per
man, and when the captain is ready to 60
on board the junk, the mate sings out, clay
aft here" calling the boys by name, and
they have to keep the boat away from the
Junk for fear of some of the Coolies friends
coming and taking them away. We have
one Cooley who has run away from five diff
ferent ships. The kidnappers bring out the
Coolies the same as at the slave market at
Mobile, for inspection. They are then made
to 90 through several exercises, jumping,
kicking, &C., and then inspected by the doc
tor. After this they are given new clothes,
and then sent aboard the ship, and We have
to keep sentry. We have twenty men armed
on sentry, night and day. The Coolies have
several times tried hard to rise; and if it had
not been for two or three Coolies, who made
it known, they would have taken the ship.
We have plenty of ammunition on board, and
three guns which are lashed so as to bear on
the slaves, if they should rise. A ship took
some from here, and sold them for 26O dol.
lars each. This ship expects to remain out
here about two years.