New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-02-04

NEGRO SLAVES and CHINESE coOiiES.
The English people ana Government are deci
iealy opposed to the African slave trade, as well
81 tho achievement Of the African natives. AT
frightful cost to the general Taxpayers, and
farther expense in the ruin Of one of their richest
colonies, they manunaitted the negroes on the
island Of jamaica Since then, at an expenditure
of millions of pounds annually, they have nam.
tanned strong squadron to gnard the coast q
Africa, and the diplomacy of the nation has ever
been exerted to crush out the traffic n African
slaves and the Institution Of African slavery. Abo-
ition societies and associations have ever been ae
tisc III England and tho South has suffered not
little from the attacks, ISLANDERS and exaggera-
lions OF these bodies
As the English were foreign people, We could
not do more than protest against the injustice they
did rs: They had right 81 70 control their own
aaairs as to them appeared best. And though we
might feel certain they were falling into grave er-
rors BY the policy they had adopted, we were CON
tent mildly to tell them SO, and leave the affair IN
their own hands. # they chose to destroy the
peace and prosperity Of Jamaica to please the
whimsical notions of crazy enthusiasts, so much
| the worse for them. We felt sure that time would
reveal to the wise the folly of their action And
we have quietly waited the decision Of the great
arbiter.
That decision is coming at last. Indeed we may
say, although the masses Of the English people DO
not realize it, that it has already come. Slavery
/ was abolished in Jamaica on the hypothesis that
the island could be cultivated BY white labor Of
! by voluntary black labor Ample time has been
allowed to test the truth of this hypothesisand It
has been shown utterly and entirely erroneous
erf
i Of the west Indies; and the enfranchised negroes
1 would not. il consequence, the rich fields that
j before had produced their millions of dollars in
sugar and tobacco, went to waste And the Eng
lish people, instead OF receiving their supplies of
/ those necessary commodities from their own col
iony, had I'd 10 abroad for them. And this while
they possessed an island adapted to their growth
unsurpassed in the world
What we're tile English to do, under the circnm-
stancesa Go back to slavery, by importing fresh
/ supply Of Africans? This would undoubtedly have
been the bcst-and some of the honestest and frank
est of the English statesmen recommended it. But
| the masses Of the English people were not pre-
pared for the doctrine. The preachings of Wilber-
force and his colabcrers had sunk too deep in their
i minds, and they had been too often moved at the
horrors of the slave trade as detailed with poeti-
4 cal embellishments to look with favor upon Afri-
i can slavery The English politicians were then
forced to adopt subterfuge. They went back to
tie essential features Of slavery, but gave it new
name and applied it to different people. Instead
4 of importing African slaues, they brought ship
4 loads Of Chinese Coolies, apprentices and with
Il this new species of degraded and compulsory Ia
Dor. hone to reiuvenate the neglected fields Of
Jamaica, And strange as it may appear, neither
the English press nor the people, seem to see any
q thing Objectionable iii such procedure.
To cover up the badness of the thing, it is pre-
Il tended that contract is entered into with the
s.coolie'' for So many years laborzat such price,
the Clinaman to be free at the end of the term In
n theory this sounds very we'll, but in practice it is
4 well known TO be nothing but an illusion and a
q blind. Accounts from China tell US that the ma
tives are shamelessly kidnapped and crowded on
board foreign ships, without ever having been
II asked for their consent. There are men who fol-
Il low tile business of catching coolies as regular
trade, and get so much per head for them. late
Il .tChina Malt contains letter from Canton, com
planning of these outrages, and detailing the man
ner of their preparation Here is one instance
4 given:
/ A Young man named Ch'au Apo, from tile town
of Ta-Po HE, in the District Of Tsang Shing,
4 employed hy marof Wong Is'un, q village near
ming of the 10th OF the Sth month September l6t)
he was invited to visit theater in neighboring
\ village and while the way was seized and sold
4 as a Goolie, his eaptors receiving S26 for him.
i From Whampoa he was sent to Macao, where he
4 was imprisoned in barraco0n on the Praya Man
duco. He was traced ont, but the Portuguese
Coolie-brokef refused to release him until paid $50
i as ransom money. His brother and friend hay-
i ing ransomed him, the three left for Canton in q
i Chinese passage-boat. When they arrived at
Whampoa the boat suddenly stopped, the man at
i the helm gave a note to a Sampan, and in a few
i minutes the boat was surrounded by Sampans,
4 containing Portuguese and Chinese kidnappers.
i More than dozen Portuguese and forty or fifty
4 Chinese came on board. They attempted to seize
i a Young man from Hok Shan district, but he being
j very strong and being assisted by some armed
braves who were fellow passengers, succeeded in
4 escaping from their clutches with few wounds and
i bruises. In the naelee, several men disappeared,
i who had been passengers from Macao. My inform
ant who is a Christian, and most reliable man,
i thinks they were carried of, but was near the Hok
Shan man, and did not see what became Of the
others. The passage-boat, which is named 'Shing-
4 XII of course had an agreement with the Coolie-
4 brokers.
This is only single case. There are thousands
d occurring daily, if we are to believe the Chinese
y prints Had not the relatives Of Apo been ready
q with ransom, he would at this time be working
Il as an apprentice on West India sugar plantation,
e under the coercion Of an oYerseers lash. The law
81 allowing the importation of coolies requires that
. they shall sign d contract. The Canton letter
writer explains how this formality is complied
with. He says:
Z But some may say, sD Do not these men impress
their sgn manual on the contracts2 ~ Yes just as
. Apo did His hand was forcibly taken, the finger
Y dipped in the ink, and the sign made. He say
that the greater part of The men in the barraeeor
where he was were unwilling to go, and that they
formed some plan of forcing their way out Of theil
prison, but that guns were pointed at them from
. the door whenever the keepers had any suspicious
With regard to the manner in which these coo
lies are transported from China to the West Indies
we have ample proof that the ancient horrors o
the African slavers are duplicated. The recen
deserton of ship loaded with coolies by her Off
GERS and crew, leaving six..hundred miserable Chi
!, nese to go to the bottom unpitied, shows how
utterly their lives are disregarded And yet Eng
lish and French ships are riyaling each other ii
! pursuing this traffic, and the Government of thu
United States is the only one that has formally dis
c0untenaneed it.
I, TALK ON CHANGE.