Morning journal and courier., 1883-07-24

Minister of Portugal, (the government then
 being at Rio de Janeiro, procured the eml-
 grafton of several hundred colonlsts rom China. Let me say that these emlgrants were not from the population or the sea coast cities, but from the interior or the Ce- lestial Empire-from the tea growing proVln-
 ces, persons thoroughly acquainted with the planting of the tea shrub and with preparing tea for the market. There are dim traditions of Chinese junks being stranded upon the coasts of California and Mexico in the prehis- toric ages, and of communities growing up from this forced emigration but one thing is sure-that is, the first Chinese colony in historic times on the western continent was formed i1 Brazil. For some. reason, although the tea-plant f1ourishes south of the Tropic of Capricorn in the Brazilian provinces, yet the Chinese colony did not flourish, and in 30 years very few of them were to be found in the country. Slave labor was doubtless cheaper than that obtained by the "heathen Chinee; hence there was no motive to keep up the supply of John Chinaman for the time being Rut when the slave trade was put down by law iu 1850, then great hue ! and cry was raised in regard to the future of Brazil, for the labor of cultivetlng coffee, 1 sugar, cotton, tobacco, &c., was all performed ' by slaves, and they having the right to pur- chase their freedom, and there be1ng no let or hindrance" to man of African descent to | rise, if he had brains, the planters looked | Il ~ more slaves Then it was that the govern
 | ment aided individuals by grants of money
 and IardHto- bring immigrants of ali nations. Large numbers were induced to come from l Germany and Italy, and there were contracts | for bringing Chinamen. An emigration which | Is not spontaneous, above all an emigration ! which rather appeals to the pocket of con- ! tractors than to the benefit of the emlgrants, results in i'll, for such contractors engage ! numbers to get the head money and have no l care to look for character in the emigrant. I Therefore the Brazilian plan failed and re- suited in much misery so far as the European I emigrents were concerned. The Chlnamen, \ on the contrary, did not prove profitable be- 1 cause the slave-owners found that these men 1 were not slaves and were not to be as bar barians brought from Africa, who had neither | knowledge attachments to kinsman, nor to | country. The Chinaman had ideas of rights, 1 he had ancestors and parents whom he re- vered, and a country in which his fondest | hopes centred for life, and, if he died, he was to be buried in it's sacred soil. Moreover, he was business man :; he intended to | amass his little ''pile" and return with it to | the fatherland. All such ideas and expecta- tions would not permit John Chlnanian and his fellows to be s'like dumb driven cattle" He had no intention to ''be a hero in the strife but he would rot be slave. Hence he did not prove profitable as field hand on l a coffee or sugar plantation, and in time be drifted away to the towns and cities and be- came cook, laundryman, or any other kind of laboring man, so that he could have his independence and earn money. In 1852 saw at Rio several Chinese who were cooks, fish peddlers, &c. do not remember ever seeing them engaged upon plantation but in 1862 when on visit to the Island of AIaraio. in the mouth of tho Amazon. saw a fine looking ''six-footer' Chinaman engaged in making tiles.
 What will be the result of this new impor- tation of Chinamen know not but 1t Is probable that, since the emancipation laws, | and the consequent decrease of slaves, the | increased respect for the rights of man may bring about different treatment for the 1 20, GOO of our Mongolian brethren, if they choose to work on Q plantation. But, ten to one, John will gravitate toward the seaports and fill the important functions of cook laundryman, and chamber maid"
 Some one will ask if the tea plant succeed ed in Brazil? It did, even after the Chinese left, and for several years there were flour ishing tea plantations in the province of San Paulo, and it was thought at one time that tea-raising would be profitable, but the de- mand for coffee in the world being greater than the supply, and the production thereof being comparatively small, while China (not adapted to coffee) and India have plenty of l producers of tea, and the supply of that article being greater than the demand, we can easily seo why tea-culture amounts to nothing in Brazil. Coffee, however, can be produced there in unlimited supplies if labor 1 CTS there be only forthcoming. This is the l gre at problem for the only monarthicai gov ernment in the western world.