New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-02-18

of this sort. The emigrants to those countries
understand where they are going, what they are
to gain by going, and the terms on which they 60.
The wages they receive are their own; they spend
them. hoard them, send them 10 their friends, dis
pose of them, in any way according to their own
free will and pleasure. If they choose they re-
turn to their own country; if they prefer, they
remain the denizens or citizens of their new home.
But the coole trade to Cuba is not of this charac
ter. II is nothing more nor less than an Aslatlc
slaye-trade, differing from the African rather in
method than in character. All that our cor
respondent says of the advantages of emigration,
of the readiness with which the Chinese accept the
opportunty to change their country, of their cheer
funess on the voyage, of their hopefuness OF the
future. all is true as regards their going anywhere
EXCEPT 10 Cuba, to the Chincha Islands, and the
French Colonies, OF these it is not true, aud
is no more true 10. day than in the "olden
time" to which he refers. They go to neither
place voluntarily. If they 60 at all, they are
kidnapped, or else embark deceived BY
promise to 90 somewhere else. Nor is the fact
difficult Of explanation. The emigration OF these
Chinese laborers began about a dozen years
since. From Siam, from Australia, from Cali
forna, the friends whom they left behind have
heard of their prosperity, have received
substantial tokens of the change in their condition,
have often welcomed back again to their native vii
lagos the thrifty citizens rotund with prosperity
whom they had seen 20 forth as halfssarved peas
ants They listen eagerly to the stories of the re-
turned emigants they receive and deyour with
avidty the letters of those who have not returned;
they are eager to follow them; they are willing,
nay, glad, to make temporary sacrifices for the sake
of reaching the land of promise, of escaping from
the res augusta dOm, the poverty and wretchedness
of the Flowery Kingdom for the fairness and the
freedom of the country Of the "outsde barbarans,"
who are to be delivered unto them as spoil. But
Cuba? To Cuba, not less than hundred thou
sand of these same people have gone within dozen
years, under an eghtyears' contract. But from
them, alas! there is little or no return They send
back to friends no surplus wages; no glowing let
tiers, rich with tropical aroma, sparkling with the
dust of gold, flashing with the dawn of the new
light of the young Civilization of the West, break
ing in upon the thick darkness of the Oriental
mind which has known no new thing since the
Christian Era-no letters of this sort come back to
startle the quiet villagers into wild excitement such
as Europe once felt at the gorgeous tales OF The
Far Kathay" But instead, out of that hundred
thousand there have struggled aud struggled back,
through difficulty and danger, perhaps fourscore
men. few and sad witnesses to the bondage that
has swallowed up their companions in the sugar
plantations Of Cuba, and the guano-digglngS OF the
Chincha Islands. There are now few Cinnamon
30 ignorant or SO degraded as to become
volunteer emgrants to those distant lands which
they only know as the grave of their countrymen.
They 90, unquestionaby, by thousands yearly; but
they are inveieled on shipboard under false pre-
lenses, or are kidnapped by force. The trade
is winked at by the Portuguese authorities
at Macao q Portuguese colony, who make
it a source Of revenue, and the barracoons
at that place are mere slave-factories from
which the poor wretches, on whom their doors
have once closed, have small chance of release
To entice them thther, various pretexts are used
The Chinese "brokers," or kidnappers, go into
the villages, and by promises of work at Macao at
whampoa, or at Canton, by offers of q passage to
California or Australia under contract for labor
induce the men, and even girls, to follow them, and
then hand them over to their associates in the bar
racoons at Macao, or Swatow, or deliver them on
board some American or Dutch ship waiting for a
cargo. SO well is this understood in China that
not merely in "old times" but now, and not
merely one proclamation, but many proclama
tons. have been Issued, and are often posted
in public places by the native authorities, warn
ing the people against the acts of the "pig |
stealers," as the kidnappers are called; and
the Diplomatic and Consular Agents, both Of Great
Britain and America, have again aud again |
warned their countFymen against engaging in a
trade prohibited by the laws of their respective
Governments though in spite of this, it is charged
that the slave.shps have no difficulty in getting
clearances from the United States Consuls. A few
months since, the pOpulace at Shanghai, exaspers-
ted at tie kidnapping of hundreds of people 10 |
load the French ship Gertrude for Havana rose |
upon the foreign residents, several of whom were
killed before tho disturbance queled. Still
more recently, as we learn by a late mail from |
China two "pig- brokers" have been beheaded at |
Shanghai, for kidnapping their countrymen for sale
TO the foreigners and their heads were placed
one of the city gates The American clipper-shp |
Flora Temple sailed from Macao only on the 9Th of
October last, for Havana with cargo of $50 |
coolies. Undoubtedly all these were kidnapped or |
nvegled on board by false pretensiOns as to their
destination for she Aad been only tao days at sea
when revolt occurred, in which the Chinese at !
tempted to dispatch the officers and crew, and take
possession of the ship -Four days later the ship |