The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-06-04
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
SATURDAY,. JUNE 4.

I l4dELCA6 anu = van IL" u ASA
as hs speech will warrant us in saying, to make
a bitter personal attack upon His Ex. the Attor-
ncy General, because that gentleman had refused
to stultlly himself by supporting a law under
which a system Of bondage has developed. The
peculiar tactics Of Mr.. Harris were brought into
play in Il marked degree; there was the usual
misrepresentation Of facts, the suppression Of
truths Of which he has full cognizance; together
with the clap trap peculiar to lawyers of his
caIi5re. Names were dragged into his speech for
no other reason than to give an air of respect
ability to a disreputable effort.
\ careful perusal Of his speech fails TO discover
a single argument based upon the morality OF
the law which he defends not a line to combat
the charge of unconstitutionality so maniplly put
forward and supported by the Attorney General
not a word III answer to the crushing facts
brought forward by Messrs. Thompson and Lyons.
! The only reply to the contract presented by the
/ first named gentleman, proving that a man who
lad shipped or contracted for two months labor
in 1867. and who was still held under the con-
tract in May, 1870, and who bad been incarcerated
as q iclon. was Il miserable whine TO the effect
that these facts were sprung upon him, the speaker.
The only ground taken by Mr.. Harris was that
the cxigcncics Of the times and the necessities of
the planters demand this law-the vcritable ar
gument used ut the planters mecting-that the
condition Of the country was such that COM
pulsory labor was 4 necessity. His Exccllency
was pleased to bring forward statistics, and by
them proved that our export of sugars had in
creased iOur-fold under tins law, urging this as a
good and sufficient reason for its continuance.
in other words this enlightened statesman takes
for his rule of action the Jc%suitical texts that
wrong may be done that good may follow, and
that the end ~iustifcs the means. 10 his fancy
the scales of Justice should be held by some ap-
pointce of his, in full sympathy with his peculiar
IDEAS, yclcpcd 4 I" local Magistrate" and that
the scales should be filed ON the one hand with
sugar and InoIasses, on the other with flesh and
blood.
Mr.. Harris also said that the contracts were
definite and specific. So far he may be truth
full, but why should he stop here? Has he for
gotten his challenge to any and all persons to
produce a coolie who could not read and who had
not signed his contract to labor? Has he for
gotten so soon the answer to his challenge? Out
of ten coolies examined, but one could read and
write one could read and not write eight could
neither Nd nor write that not ono had signed
the contract, nor could the name of the party
held by the contract be found in the instrument.
Will any one be so bold as to say that these
Iaborers entered into the contract with Il full I'M
Outstanding of its force and effect? One tcstifes
that he was tod that he was to work at his trade
as a stone cutter, and upon his arrival was placed
in q cook house.
Again it will be remembered that His Majesty's
fmu mdchsrFeas rfe84h tn lAtipa for etAese -e92lles;
in China, the services of that eminently good man
the Rev. Mr.. Lobscheid, which was of itself a suf-
fcient warrant that the prOcural Of these coolies
was honOrably conducted The China Mail, of
March 29th, 1870, says, in abiding to the official
tickets of the Harbor Master of ~Ilongkong, they
: have been used as careIessly as were the Rev. Mr..
Lobschcid's celebrated letters of authority : These
latter documents were made directly subseryient
to n kidnapping practice"
The testimony of Mr.. Ahcong, the Chinese
coIportcur, is to the effect that he was grossly
deceived, and instances might be multiplied of
deceit and fraud. Our necessities. however,
warrant this peculiar policy!
We now have an insight into the method by
which they are secured and brought into this
country. Let us see how the law works after
their arrival. One hundred, moro or less, Of
these bonded laborcrs were assigned to r. C..
Wylie to be worked upon his sugar estate at
Hanalei, Kauai. In course of time Mr.. Wylic
died, and by this law his coolies were freed from
their contracts; but what was done? Let us
read from an advertisement which appeared in
our papers at that time:
by virtue Of an order issued out of the Supreme Court of
the Iiawaii9l Islands. will be sold at public auction, on Satur-
lIy. 9Th dgS0f September. 1861. in front Of the Court House
door" land then follows a description Of the property, compris-
CONTRACTS FOR LABOR, aud other PROPERTY"
Here are bonded laborers styled property and
offered ut auction. Some may say that the con-
only were offered. 10 set this bubble
aside, let us read on:
aThere are 100 COOLIES belonging to the plantation,
whose contracts for labor expire in October, 1870, their wages
Ding q pc. monih ahl iounu, Il NhIII cattle Houses
Islands, &c"
The order for their sale was obtained from the
Court by Charles Il. Bishop, James w.
Austin and Samuel n. Castle and the Chancellor
of the Kingdom, Elisha II. Allen, became the
purchaser of these bonded laborcrs. So much of
the law Of 9 Masters and Servants as operates
against the servant, is rigidly enforced this, and
more. This is not the only instance
where men or their contracts have been sold.
And after reading the above advertisement, can
any one honestly say that the coolie system has
no feature in common with slavery?
The poor creatures styled Manahikis and Buka-
bukas, obtained from islands to the southwark,
have also been deceived and held under contracts
that no court in France, England or the United
States could or would justify. Taken from their
homes in November last under fair promises of
Of diet. such as they were accustomed
10, and light labor, they are put upon a diet and
worked to that extent that out Of the thirty-nine
but tDenty are now alive. During
The week past we have seen six of these unfor-
inmates, who claim to have run from Mr.. Harris
,Kaneohe) Plantation, and they tell a story that
would excite the indignation of even "would be
While this naughty ministerial
: Master is answering those who have taken
Up the cause of the oppressed " Servant " these
human chattels are stalSing through our streets
lex and emaciated, knowing not where to lie
bofr boaHo !