The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-06

legal point of view, they are slaves.
The only difference between their form
Of servitude and that which used to
prevail in the United States In that Ameri-
can negroes we're slaves for life, whereas
there Is a time limit to the servile con-
dition of the Chinese labOrers,
Mr.. CHAMBERLAIN had argued, it
seems, that the coolies in South Africa
were not slaves because they were not
i'll treated, az IL the essence of slavery
was i'll treatment, which is by no means
the case. Reminding the House that
the President OF the United States had
recently told Congress in a message that
the status of servility could never again
be tolerated on American soil, Major
SRELY insisted that a like averment
ought to be made by a British Liberal
Ministry touching the soil Of the British
Empire. The fact was recalled that
under the law Of the United Kingdom
a man cannot contract himself out OF
the right to hold property or out OF the
right to enjoy freedom of movement
in his spare hours, or to reside where
and how he pleases at the expiration OF
a given contract. The Chinese in South
Africa, on the other hand, have by con-
tract renowned every one of those rights.
The dark skinned subjects Of the Anglo
Indian Empire are not allowed to accept
contracts embodying such conditions.
What is thought bad for a brown man
should be deemed equally bad for a
yellow nan
1t was made. evident In the course Of
the debate that the Prime Minister and
some Of his colleagues do not look upon
Chinese labor as slavery, although many
Of their followers concur with Major
SERLY in regarding it as such, The
latter hold that az the Balfour Gov
eminent was responsible for allowing
the coolies to be brought to South Africa
the present Government is responsible
for allowing them to stay there a single
day, and ought not to shift response
bility upon a Transvaal Legislature
which does not now exist and may not
be called into being for months. The
Premier tried to conciliate the critics
on his own side of the House by prom
Using that until the people of the Trans
vaal had an opportunity of settling the
Chinese labor question for themselves
the Imperial Government would take
measures to provide that all Chinese
who wished to return to their own coun-
try should be repatriated at the public
cost and If they chose to remain in South
Africa temporarily they should not be
subjected to unusual punishment or pun
| ished at all without trial in the public
courts. The coolies were free, it is true,
to 20 back to China under the ordinance
Of 1905, but they had to go at their own
expense, which of course is a very
different thing from what the Prime
Minister now offers to do.
The coolie question is by no means
the only one with regard to which Sir
H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN will find it
extremely difficult to satisfy all sections
of his heterogeneous party. He has
promised that an education bill amending
the measure passed by the Unionist Gov
eminent shall be introduced immedi-
ately.~ -, It will be a triumph Of ingenuity
il it does not split the Liberals in twain.
As we have formerly pointed out, there
are more than 40 Nonconformists in the
House outside of the Catholic members,
How ia it possible to meet their wishes
without alternating the Premier's An
glican followers?
One thing seems already patent, and
that is that the first session of the present
Parliament will be a lively one.