Morning journal and courier., 1884-03-01


 so shorn of personality that they will submit
 to this arrogant domination I cannot under stand. It is even forbidden to talk of the
 war on the streets, and the people are so
 fearful that detective may be around, that | they take great precautions not to lisp syl- liable of war-taIk except under the most | guarded circumstances. Not only do the ig- norant masses seem to take comfort in these printed lies, but even those who coHcoct
 them appear to thoroughly enjoy the illu | sion The fertility of the Chinese intellect
 in inventing these lies has no limitation and | the more impossible the state of things pred 1 icated, the higher the order of the lie is held
 to be. During the days of and immediately 1 after the Shameen riot, these Hong Kong na-
 tive papers made the most vilainously in l dammable comment upon the whole affair. After all, the dexterity with which the Chi l nese manage to get along in their narrow 1 streets is amazing. Our coolies only relaxed ! l their speed when about to turn some sharp
 corner, where the width of the street would l scarcely admit of the chairs going, or when
 we met some other chair by the way, and | had to prs ss up against the wall so that the l two could pass each other. Arrived at the door of the mansion where I had been told
 that this official lived in great pomp, found
 it to be a sombre one-story dungeon of dirty blue brick, opening upon narrow and unsa vory street We entered the vestibule of the ] establishment and then sent in our cards l Presently were ushered into the reception | room, cheerless, three-sided, rectangular | apartment furnished with square unoomfort- 1 able furniture, a hanging lamp and quite 8 pretentious mirror. The fourth side con | tained no partition, for the reason that the | Chinese are not susceptible to the cold. To- | day has been about as cold weather as is l ordinarily experienced here, the thermometer | dropping down to forty-seyen degrees, which l is within five degrees of the lowest point 1 reached during the last two years. Soon hls ! honor, the expectant magistrate whom We had come to call upon, entered the room and | advanced to us, clasping his hands together | and raising them to his forehead repeatedly Studying this gesture, I sought to duplicate | it with Occidental variations and embellish ! ments but am afraid made sorry work of \ it. When we had at last got the abominable \ salutations of our hands and were seated, | remarked to the interpreter, Pay my com plimenes to his honor and introduce me as l an American Bohem-newsRaper writer, l | should say-who respectfully solicits the | courtesy of an interview with him" That was pretty good, I thought, coming from an | American sovereign to a man who wore an | ignominious pig-tail but that heathen fairly | outdid me, as I freely confess Said he in substance: Uniform the glorious gentleman \ that am unspeakably gratiied at this stu I pendous honor, and will lie speeches. ln the ! dust awaiting his most honorable and illus trious pleasure" That took all the wind out of my sails and I got right down to business. It is not the part of wisdom to enter an etl- quette tournament with heather Chinee. tie will surely carry the day. l withdrew from the lists at once rather than prolong the agony, and, to change the subject, re-
 marked: ''Is his worship the sole authority \ in the matter of issuing certificates to Chi nese who are about to go to America ?" ''Under the Hoppo, yes, sir," was the reply. ''When the viceroy was notified that the Re- I striction act was to go into force, he deslgna- ted the Hoppo to attend to the passport lkI.. -o11 k41 k@a
 on the work, owing to the multiplicity of cares which beset him. My office is at the village of Whampoa, eleven miles south of 1 here, where Mr- Fan Cheung Ling as my deputy conducts the business ''
 ttDoes the business have your supervision in any sense ?'' 70 yes, sir; superintend 1 the issuance of every passport personally. Nc passport can be given out unless it has my own signature and my seal l do not afix my signature unless have good reason to believe that the man is straight who ap- plies for the passport. Neither do l atfix my signature to any passport before they are filled out" ''What is the form observed by Chinaman in securing passport ?" ''I will give the method first which prevailed up to two months ago. Two or three days before the man desires to have the paper he would file with my office at Whampoa petition setting 1 forth his residence, pedigree, name, &c, and | containing the name of some reputable firm | that is willing to go as security for the man. 1 Then the applicant goes away and our con stables begin the work of investigation. They | call upon the firm that is willing to sign the | bond and ask for evidences that the man is | what he represents himself to be- If they | are satisfied with this evidence the passport | is made out, but we are very careful to guard | against fraud, and always make the guaran | teeing firm sfix their endorsement upon both l the passport and the copy, which we keep | filed away in our own office for future l reference. By becoming security for man, | firm becomes liable for all expenses incurred | either by the man or by either government | in behalf of the man, in case the man proves l to be fraud' |
 ''You say there has been change during | the last two months ?" s'Yes. Early in | October last I received instructions from our | minister at Washington not to issue any |
 more certificates at all, as another plan had l been hit upon. Hereafter any Chinamsn who desires to visit America must first write there and get some American resident Chinaman of established reputation to write to Washington endorsing the applicant, and setting forth the legitimate nature of his business in going abroad, which must be within the provisions of the Restriction act. Then the Washington authorities notify me whether to issue the passport or not But this operation takes several months, of course, and as the arrangement only went into force two months ago, there have been no passports whatever issued during these two months. '
 'sPrior to the change, how many certificates had been issued from your office? ?" t'Just 1,17I during my whole administration. I took charge of the office in February of last year, according to your calendar; so that this number represents the result of eleven months As these passports have all been numbered, fraud can easily be found out Any passport numbered higher than 1,171 is branded on it's face as a forgery"
 ''Could not passport be easily forged ?" 'tNo, sir it would bs very clever counter feiter indeed who could initiate my signature, and as for the seals, you can see that they are very complicated"
 At this point MT Chik Pow Shu showed me some fac similes of the genuine certificate, such as you are doubtless familiar with. The | description of the bearer was as detailed as the description of Chinamen can well be- and | there was even his photograph attached to the document; but the similarity of Chinese countenanees makes frail the chances of detection In case of fraud. There were several passports which had been filled out for applicants, but retained for more conclusive evidence as to character, in view of suspicious entertained by the constables who had looked into the case. There were also copies of petitions which had been filed by applicants, having the bond of well-known local houses affixed in red ink. I saw no number above 1,171. Then I examined the book in which the records of the office are kept. As this was partially in English, was able to get general idea of the pleas under which papers were usually issued Here was 8 grocer about to return to his store in San Francisco here tailor who wanted to ply his trade in the same city here 8 drug e1st wanted to establish 8 store in the city of Sacramento; here a student desired to visit California for the purpose of learning the English language It is quite curious, this anxiety of the Chinese to visit America to learn a thing which they notoriously despiss I suppose the English spoken at Hong Kong and Canton is not elegant enough for them, SO they come 1000 miles to our shores, which we should certainly regard as com pliment. A great many of the passports read "for Havana, Cuba, via the United States
 "How much do you get for these certif- oates ?" I inquired. Not one farthing, sir. If did I would be in danger of losing my head and rest assured I do not care for money enough to put my seal willingly to an undeserved passport when that is the penal ty There are bulletins posted up ali over -:A- e-s,, H.. kI,oG