Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-05-30


into Lima and CaIIRO by Cooley
ships.
From the San Francisco Times.
In times gone by q great deal
was said and done to put down the
vile slave trade that so long dis,
graced the civilized nations of the
old and new world. In still later
times the coolie trade attracted nc
little attention, and it has been al
ternately decried, and then again
justified. But, however honorable
may be the intentions of q few who
profess to import these foreign Ia
borers in order to better their con-
dition, the mass of evidence shows
that, with but few exceptions, such
professions amount to little more
than the pretenses of benevolence
by which the slave trade was form
erly justified for the same reasons.
A letter from Lima, in Peru, of
the 18th of March last, forming
part of a private correspondence,
is published in the Courier de San
Francisco Of April 80, from which
we translate certain details of facts,
showing the terribly outrageous
character Of the treatment received
by the poor coolies The horrors
narrated forcibly remind one of
the infamous middle passage" so
notorious in the history of the slave
trade. The writer's language is as
follows:
L know no sadder spectacle than
that offered by the hold Of a ship
loaded with Chinese coolies. The
poor immigrants are heaped upon
one another in such way that they
cannot lie down to sleep, but re-
main seated, leaning back upon
each other in the dark, sinking
hold, and die in great numbers
from fever and scurvey, covered
with ulcers and vermin. The
healthiest amongst them are so
eager to get the place Of the sick
that the poor sufferers are seized
hold Of before the breath is out of
their bodies in order to be thrown
into the sea, while the survivors
appear full of joy at gaining little
more room to stretch their swol-
len limbs.
The food given the coolies is well
adapted TO produce fevers of the
most fatal type. Twice a day they
receive q pint of rice, so mouldy
and full Of worms that one would
scarcely dare give it to herd Of
hogs. These ratiOns are quite in.
sufficient, 50 that the wretched
coolies are seen licking the bottom
sides, and even the ontside and
handles ofthe tin cups in which the
rice is distributed to them. They
look like hungry dogs gnawing
fieshless bones. 1t is q burning
shame for the civilized countries
which authorize such atrocities.
/ have witnessed the transfers o.
these coolies from one ship to an
other. l have seen the unhappy
creatures laboring under fevers OIL
scurvy taken on board and dragged
by the ears or by the feet, anC
thrown down to the bottom of tn,
hold Just az the bodies Of animal
are thrown into a wagon to b.
hauled 10 the slaughter house
When | asked what was done will
the coolies who were too weak o
too i'll to be removed, the answe
was that they were thrown over
board as soon as they were dead
But j assure you that | have seeI
them cast into the sea while thei
lips were still moving.
One remarkable fact is, that tn,
physicians of Lima and Callao ar,
of the opinion that the yellow fever
which has been decimating thes
cities for some months past, ha
been introduced by the coolie ships
They protest against the admission
of these vessels, to the great alarm
of the sugar, rice and coffee plant
Srs.
In view Of such horrible facts a
those stated above, and which seen
inseparable from the system c
I transportation of coolies, it is a mat
ter OF rejoicing that one civilize,
government has had the courage t
take decided steps to put an end t
10 this Internal traffic. Portuga
has prohibited the expectation G
coolies from Macao and Timor t
Peru. This prohibition has bee
caused by the atrocities committe
on the'coolie ships, and the cruel
ties puacticed on the coolies afte
their landing in Peru.
The Governor Of Macao and II
NOR, who has begun the good wor
of prohibition, refers to the faC
made known to him by the Portr
guese Consul at Callao that III
Chinese cmigrants were brande
with 4 red hot iron, Just like Afr
can slaves formerly, and that man
of them were mutilated, and the
abandoned by their masters as uni
for labor, and left TO beg their brea
in the streets of that city. Hethe
publishes the ordinance whereb
ihe licenses for expectation are suI
plessed, and the proper officers a
charged 10 cease examining al
registering contracts for such e.
portation of Chinese emigrants
Callao and Lima. This ordinan
is ISSUED subject TO the approval
The King Of Portugal; but 1t go
into effect at once, and 1t will N