The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-07-10
TIE LABOR QUESTION DISCUSSED BIZ THE
w LONDON TINES
TFrOm The London Times, June a4.I


got out all the ore 1t may. perhaps, be pious fial
duty to dig and deye in the old spot but the opportu
mty Tor great results is gone So also the few remaining
companions OF William Wiiberforce have worked them
selves out OF work The which was once the sus
tenance and glory Of their lives has passed from an OBJ
ject into an Institution. They sometimes almost mo
chemically recall the eryd phrases of their youth but il
as only as veteran may humble in his sleep the shout
with which 90 years before he marched TO victory
Tho speeches of Wlberforce and Carlsson and Henry
bfougha are i'll adapted to all present use as the
rusty caymoro that served Flodden-feld or the Pc
trone that did execution at the battle of the Boyne
Stories Of the horrors of the middle passage and the
crack OF the planter whip fall heavily upon no English
mans conscience. When e3tnguished the English
slave trade, when ransomed and manuintted all
slaves, when made il felony for any British sub
ject To buy or sell human creature, purgcd our
selves of this great offence We did all that as ma
ion we could absolutely do We may hope by persua-
sion and example to influence Others but this is only
OF thousand secondary dutieswe ourselves are clear
and gultess.
We can afford therefore, to look black man steadily
in the face and to tell him that he like u.s. is creature
born to live by labor The resemblance of gna paint
ed on the spectaccs OF elderly gentleman will look
larger in his eyes than distant elephant The Bishop of
Oxford and Lord Brougham go about the town looking
upon the world through specaces that havea black
on either glass 1t Is tradition TO the latter and fam
lily faith to the former that they should the world
Their heads are full of fossil facts They the expo
nents OF our national remorse for the bad deeds of
grandfathe aud they act to their role when they fall
Into bt&lc Oh exaggerated at the
of black skin We accept them actors necessary to
the progress of the DRAMA and allow them say things
that would DO open to much criticism in the mouths of
other men.
When the Bishop of Oxford Is indignant that we do
not supply the Africans with powder and ball to enable
them to page the Beers, do not laugh, because it
is Wberforcc who says this. When he tells u.s. of
shameful thing, that sonahi'g rery nearly approaching 10
SKINS check e sng response recoiet how useless
,coud be to tell ]Vberorce that slavery consists coupM
sorry worh, all iaboros something very nearly oproacy 10
Slaves that Grazing stomach, sieiy child, and ping rife
compel men 10 do things 10 rich masters wod force
them When Lord Brotghan calls upon s'absolaely and
Instantly 10 prohibit The carrying Of coored from mart
Of labor 10 another hold peace, for recoeot hata is
Lord Bougham rciindliy that old historic indignation rhieh
once had an object. 't
We are not dealing now with the French and Spanish
and American kidnappers of Swallow With respect to
these our right il plain and duty is evident We
must allow British ship and British subject take
part in these atrocities SO far know that duty has
been performed Many months ago Lord Clarendon is
sued instructions upon this subject to all cosus and
procamation published threatening proceedings in
every At this moment we believe there is not an
English vessel engaged in the traffic The trade is car
ried almost exclusively at Swallow, port which
British ship enter without becoming liable to cons
cation. But, entirely apart from this i've and Illegal
traffic, there Is wholesome transport rade with which
man would knowingly interfere who not enemy
to his kind The shores Of India and the coasts Of China
crowded with congestion of population In China
the eastern seaboard is like ill managed stewpond
crowded with starved, lean, unhappy under sized fish
1t is fight for mere existence.
They become pirates along the coast, robbers on the
inland waters, and thieves upon the land and still they
sarve. They emigrae to California, they emigate to
Australia, they emigrae to Singapore and Penang and
Borneo; they emigate to West India islands and
when opportunities for these places do not offer, they
listen to the tempting voices of the knappers, and go
forth to Cuba and to the French possessions. From
these latter places they return but from Caor
mia and Australia there is constant stream of China
men who back to buy farms and send their sons
to the Examination Halls The West India islands
not popular, because they further off and the
turns not large but they also have their adven
turers. When Gen. Straubcnzee made reconnaissance
among the suburbs of Canton he suddenly arrested
by fat Chinaman, who asked him in good sterling
nacular, and not Canton English 'what the devil he
wanted there !" The General, being the pink of
tesy, stopped to parley and the Chnaman being inter-
roated said that he had resided several years in Aus
tralia that he had come back with fortune and had
bought houses in thatsubub and that he should hold the
General responsible at law in the Queen courts he did
any damage to his property. The travelling Chnanan
little wrong in his English law, but that happens
to the best Of us. He, however, was of class and
not small class in CHINA class which is gradually
eevatng the of the people China above that
Of their rulersa class which it is very much interest
to increase TO Gen. StIaubenzee Chinese acquaintance
Melbourne what Calcutta has been to thousands Of
middle classes He had shaken the pagoda tree in
Australia, and probably had many neighbors who had
been successful in San Francisco and in Demeraa 1t
true that the annual transport OF Chinese to West
India Islands has not hitherto much exceeded 900 men,
but that Is not the fault of the Chinese The kidnapping
trade is profitable, and the legitimate traffic is
clogged with unnecessary official forms. Any one who
reads the Chinese passenger act will that the object
of the trainers of the statute must have been to put down
the trade; the forms and inefficient The
single and sufficient provision would have been to
have government emigration agent board every
ship, to make him report all the circumstances of the
voyage and to hold him responsible for the facts of his
report The transport trade is gainful and would we'll
afford the expense Of such official We have heard the
heads of great mercantile houses say that it is only under
such guarantee against misrepresentation that they
would trust their characters to this branch of business
Bphanrists Of past age must not be aiotoed bring their
eighteenth century notions 70 bear upon these poor Cinnamon and
Indians and shut them Her country sarU fear
they should not hare first rate accommodations board ship
We ought to apologize perhaps for suggesting that the
interests of pale face should receive any consider
alton but must still take leave to Observe that the
Indian and Chinese coolies destitute Of honest employment
he planters Of West India possessions destitute of labor
While the highest aspirations of Chinaman or Hndoo
are, in his country to gain two shilngs a week.
the planters in possessions contend for his labor at
waited lands running back to jungle for want of labor
epidemic disorders sweeping Free idle and an
improvident There is starving population
on one shore and the most fruitful islands Of the
world negotiating to waste upon another; yet that
not be crossed Stringent British laws keep
watch over both shores. The British ship which
carries 900 soldiers shall only carry 800 lvny aborers