New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1858-07-31
1rEEm oooE.EEa 80.


II Mr.. Reed, our Commissioner to China, has
really done nothing to carry out the objects Of his
mission, it cannot be alleged that he has not inter-
fared eaaselessly and npertiuently in matters with
which he had no business, and in which the Gov
eminent he represents hos no concern. In our
Northern exchanges we find the following account Of
some Of his extra-lnnisteral proceedings;
Mr. Reed, Minister in China, has forwarded com
nsunieAtion to the State Department, and has adj
dressed circular to our Gonsuls in China against
Tie trade stating that In his belief it was illegal and
certainly against the instincts OF humanity He has
also addressed the Spanish Consul to the same effect
The British are engaged extensively in the trade
Mr. R, attaches statistical table TO the communica-
ton to the Department, from the Hong Kong Gov
eminent Gazette, giving return of emlgrant ships
to which certificates had been granted by the Emf
grafton Officer during the year 1867, by which it ap-
pears there were shipped
To Guchen Bay, Sydney and Melbourne. ~
II, eina '89S
The only fsmaes shipped were 10 sa1 Francisco 5i5
Total Is g52
The coolie trade is but another Tor the slave
trade The coolies are bought like slaves, treated as
slaves, and the only difference between the cooie and
the African slave trade is rather in the name imam ln
fact Every visitor to Cuba sees and knows this and
that any mitigating circumstances are exceptions 70
the general rule, just as there may be some mltgaG
ing circumstances in the taking OF slaves from AFRICA
1 to Cuba.
We all ought to be profoundly grateful to Mr.. Feed
for this expose. True, the matter did not concern
him, and be had no business to NEEDLE with IT,
True our Government has no excuse for interfering
either through its agents or otherwise. True, the
parties mainly interested are spaniards, Engshmen
aud Chinese who, it is fair to presume, know what
they are about and are as little likely to engage in
traffic obnoxious to the instincts Of humanity as
the pharisaical crew Of pseudo phianthropiss repre-
scented by the aforesaid Mr.. Reed True if he should
be snubhed by his fellow diplomats we would have
no good reason to complain. But what of that
Has he not given as the statistics Of the cooe trade
from single port of China, showing by comparison,
that the trade is remarkably brisk aud lively, and
ought we not to be deeply grateful? Certainly we
ought. And, if he now can only point his nose with
sufficient degree of skill, and ascertain to nicely
the domestic arrangements Of the Court of Pekn, he
will lay the whole civilized world under a debt Of
gratitude it will be difficult to repay Go on, Mr..
Reed, you have made most promising beginning,
Ii you make an utter and ridiculous failure in your
mission, you may succeed perhaps, in convincing
the male and female grannies of the North that you
know better how to attend to other peoples affairs
than you do to your own
But, seriously, this impertinent intermeddng may
be productive of grave consequences What would
say, if England, Spain, etc. through their Minis
tiers at Washington, should deliberately assert that
the slave traffic between the Southern States was CON
rary to all "the instincts of humanity.n We would
raise precious row about it, and would condemn
the audacious medders unsparingly. Yet we would
have no more right to complain than the countries
named have to complain of the conduct of Mr.. Com.
missioner Reed What if the commerce in coolies be
essentially the slave trade, if it be sanctioned by
| China, and conducted in pursuance of contract by
England, Spain and France, how can it be represent,
ed as violation of law This difficult question must
be satisfactorily answered before argument is under.
| taken in the premises.
/ 1t may be that the "coolie trade is but another
name for the slave trade" We shall not dispute it.
But, the world is slave mart ercept name. There
are slaves, except in name, in the city of New
York than there negro slaves in the State Of Louis
lana. There more slaves, except in name, in Eng
land than there negro slaves in tue whole South
| ern States. The man who questions this questions
the trutha truth that is exemplifed and illustrated
in every civilized country under the canopy of heaven
| The name is the thing-not the reality. And the
worst Of the matter Is that the slaves in the free coun
tries which clamor loudest against slavery, are not
onefourth well cared for as Southern slaves, and
are much harder worked, besides being ground into
the dust under the pressure of the free labor sys.
/ tenn,
Well, so wags the world, The plain truth and lite
raj matters fact have little to do with the ordering
of events in this fast age.