The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-08-12
THE COoLIE TRADE.

Several American presses persist in repre-
senting the English sbolitionsts as justifying
the trade in Chinese Coolies, yhie they are
bitterly opposed to the African slave trade.
This is doing the grossest injustice to the
Anti.SlAvery people of England. As well might
the same journals charge that French alb
solutists support the Regis movement in
France.
The Bishop of Oxford is a we'll known Eng.
lish abolitionist. Not long since, he delivered
a speech, in the course of which he called upon
the Government for information concerning
the actual operations of the Coolie system, as
carried on between the Chinese Empire and
the British West Indies, as well as other parts
of the world. He said that no guilt could be
greater than that which would be incurred by
England, if, after standing up before mankind
as the annihilater of Slavery and the slave
trade, she should, by any careessness, suffer
her own people, in her distant dependencies, to
be once more drawn into that abominable traf
fic. He was afraid, however, that in the neigh
borhood of Natal they were in some danger of
being involved in this snare. He was afraid
that the beers in that locality were gradually
re-establishing the institution of Slavery, and
that Englishmen were in great degree guilty
in that matter. Great Britain refused to allow
the African people to be supplied with gun
powder and the means of defence, whereas she
allowed the beers to supply themselves at will
with the means of aggression. England, he
went on to say, had gone to China as Chris
tian people, and as protested advocates Of the
freedom of man. Their lordships
had recently heard an eloquent denuneiation
of practices which were carried on under the
flag of neighboring nation. But surely
they ought not to enable France to turn round
upon them and say, See what your own peo.
pie are doing at Hong KongI' England, said
the Bishop, ought to be above suspicion. She
ought to be doubly cautious that under no pos
sible conjuncture of circumstances 80 great a
ain as the slave trade should again be brought
upon her. She ought to be able to show the
world that no gain, no advantage, no colonial
convenience, should ever prevent her from pro-
claiming, with plain, clear, and unmistakable
voice, that she would neither directly nor in
directly suffer this grievous crime of kidnap.
ping'and making slaves to be palmed off upon
the British nation"
The Colonial Secretary, in his reply, stated
some interesting facts, which, while they do not
reconcile US to the Coolie trade, yet do conclu.
sively show that it is something entirely diff.
terent from the slave trade, or the French
trade. He said, among other things, that " be-
tween the years 1924 and 1926, no fewer than
10000 Coolies had been conveyed to the
Mauritius; and in 1856, no fewer than "a 900
remained. Their wages were from l3s. to It's.
per month /; and during their FIVE years service
they could accumulate 926, which vas, of
course, quite a competence for them. In Brit
ish Guiana, 236 Coolies were employed, at
wages averaging about a dellar day; in
1856, there was in the savings bank about
FAC, COO belonging to them, and $4,000 had
been transmitted home. In Trinidad, there
we're about $50 Coolies who had deposited
1920 with the authorities for the same EUR
pose. The Chinese, it should be said, proved
to be the best emigrants and the best laborers"
With these Coolies, who had been taken to
other countries, the case had been worse. In the
years l852-'54, the number of Chinese convey.
ed on board British ships to British possessions
was 2,340, of whom there had died on the pas.
sage $50, or 10 per cent. certainly a very
large per centage. But in the ten years
l847-'67, $500 persons were conveyed on board
Sc British ships to Cuba and of these, 1891
died, or nearly l49 per cent. He was sorry to
say that the British ships were almost at the
bottom of the list in point of mortality, the
American per centage being st, the Dutch II,
The French l23, and the Spanish lit. The
evidence as to the causes of this excessive NOR
ality did not seem to be very satisfactory. 1t
appeared, however, to have been to some ex.
'ent owing to want of ventilation, bad water,
aud the like, but it also appeared that the EN-. |
grants were not always selected from the
classes best able to stand the voyage. 1t must
be remembered that these were ships which
lad not only been sent from Hong Kong, but
which appeared to have complied with the re.
luisite regulations.
Notwithstanding the expenditures of the
secretary, the Bishop of Oxford, Lord Brsugh
I'm, and others, expressed themselves in the
strongest terms against the Coolie traffic, or any
'ther in human flesh, considering it impossible
ander the present conditions TO guard against
,utrages and cruelty.