Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1858-07-17
nritish EEYpoerisY-.The ooolie Trade.

british IIyPOcrfsy--The COOlie Trade.
The recent controversy between this country and
Great Britain growing out of the claim Of the latter
Government Of right to search vessels suspected
Of being engaged in the slave trade has closed by
the entire abandonment Of the claim. The con-
tro7ersy has provoked a comparison Of African
slavery with the system of oooe seryitude practiced
BY Great Britain, not a. all favorable to the latter
system. In 1856, the Commissioners OF West India
emigration submitted to the British Government an
official report cOOe emigratiOnto the West Indies
from which report it appears that the traffic is
ried on under government auspices in national
vessels; that government agents are employed in
China and Hindoostan, for the purpose Of inducing
the natives TO ssemigrate to the British colonies
and that these agents receive for every strong able
bodied man, from eight to ten dollars. Promises
are made to the emigrans of lucrative employment,
and the fairest prospects are held out to them
Hand bills distributed representing to the igno
rant Asiatics the climate of the West Indies, as
shealthy and cOngenial" and the labor they are ez
pseted to perform "such as they are accustomed to
At home" They are promised ''essy and com
Portable voyage" and a prompt release and safe
return home at the expiration Of their contract.
But the resehery consists in this that Of the terms
Of this contract they kept in utter ignorance
until after their arrival at the colonies, when the
law compels them to submit 10 them, such as they
sre, nolea5 VoleHs From the Commissioners report;
above referred to- it appears also that according
the Especial contract" drawn up by the Colonial
Government, every eOOe is obliged "to work for ten
years from the date Of the arrival Of the ship either
in sowing or planting in the capacity Of a mental
servant, or in planting sugar, as shepherd or in
digging bitches, or grounds and foundations" in
short, to perform ''every description Of servile
lsbor" The length Of a working day as fixed
iu the "contraot is comprised between the
hours Of half after four, A. NJ and nine P. NJ"
The eoOlie is forbidden "tO do any work for any
other person" not his master except with the con-
sent Of the latter. The West Indian planter pays
from forty to fifty dollars Per cOolie which is the
government price. For the heavy labor imposed
upon him by werciless bargain, made not previous
to his embsrkatiOn but after he is in the power of
the West Indian cOlOnists he receives, according
TO the statement of the Earl of Carnavon ten cents
per day As he is obliged by the terms of the Shy
looks bargain to defray from his earnings the
expenses of the return passage to his native country
it is very evident, considering the OWrae of wages
and the expenses of living in the West Indies, that
there is no prospect for him ever to escape slavery
He is virtually slave for life. No instances are on
record of coolies having been returned to Asia after
the passage Of the Law ProlOnging the duration Of
ssrvtude from five to ten years, in 1858, and this,
in ell probability was the real object to be attained
by its enactment The Commissioners, in their
report, inform the Government, however, Of the
q, 600 Coolies imported from 1916 to lS4s, into
Trinidad and Jamaica, 5000 had really been sent
back OF the fate Of the remainder, 1900, they
pretend to be unable to give any positive account
but suppose that at the time they might possibly
have postponed their return passage in consid
Grafton of bounty fifty dollars for additional
i've years" At the same time however, they state
that the coolies are suffering from the effects Of
the climate" that "the mortality from this is
fearful and that an uninterrupted supply of
coolies is demanded BY the cOlonists on that &C.
count"
The difference between slavery for life and slav.
cry for ten years. consists in the infinitely greater
cruelty for the latter system. The holder of slaves
for certain number of years willmake the mostOt
his bargain His avaries is subject to no restraint
controlled by no interest in the welfare Of his slaves
beyond the stipulated term. The West India plan
ter neither wishes settlements of liberated coolies
to endanger his neghborhOOd, nor to return then
TO their country, for the accounts which they wOulC
give there Of their experience in the colonies
would undoubtedly prove fatal to the recruiting
department. The tendency of the British coolit
system is to work the slave to death before thu
expiration of his bondage, and this explains thu
fate Of the 1900 out Of % 900 coolies which coul
not be accounted for under the law Of years ser
vitude and the fact that after the operation Of h
law was extended to 10 years, no applications wer
made for return passage to Asia. The climate i
the only cause Of the 'fearful mortality complain
ed Of