Newsgroup: it.scienza.ambiente
Titolo: Re: How about a new lingustic forum?

however, I must say that, custom
    or no custom, the practice of this profession is prohibited by
    statute, and it is my duty to meet its exercise by punishment."
The prisoner was sentenced to two years' penal servitude. The Chief
Justice concluded his remarks on that occasion by replying to the
statements made in the Chinese petition.
He called attention to the Chinese resting their claim on the
temporary promise of Governor Elliott in 1841; of the fact that
they ignored the proclamation of the Queen in 1845. He said that
infanticide was also a Chinese custom in the same sense that slavery
was, on the words of the petition:
    "Amongst the Chinese there has hitherto been the custom of
    drowning their daughters. The Chinese threaten the increase of
    this 'custom' of drowning children if their sale is put down....
    I can only say that in case father, mother, or relative were
    convicted of infanticide, Chinese custom would be no protection,
    and, unless I am grievously mistaken, the presiding judge would
    have no alternative but to sentence the perpetrator to death ...
    the one custom is tolerated just as the other custom is tolerated,
    and both alike or neither must be claimed as sanctioned by
    Governor Elliott's proclamation. All remedies which ever existed
    by common law or by statute in England up to 1845 against
    ownership of human beings, against every form of slavery, extend
    by their own proper force and authority to Hong Kong; and, if
    that were not enough, all English laws applicable to Hong Kong,
    including those against ownership in human beings, were by express
    Ordinances 6 of 1845, and 12 of 1873, embodied into the laws
    of Hong Kong, whilst the worst forms of slavery are especially
    punished by Ordinance 4 of 1865, and 2 of 1875. I am bound by
    my most solemn obligations to enforce all these laws. I must,
    therefore, w

from State-protected brothel
slavery to State-tolerated domestic slavery and "adoption" of boys.
Now we turn to Singapore, to find that all these forms of slavery
exist there under the British flag, with the addition of a
coolie-traffic dangerously like slavery, also, and they are all
under the management of the Registrar General, or "Protector of the
Chinese," as he is always called at the Straits. For the general
description of conditions in the Straits Settlements, more especially
at Singapore, we give in full a paper read by an Englishman, a
resident of Singapore for many years, at the Annual Conference of
American Methodist Missionaries, held in Singapore in 1894,--a paper
which was endorsed by that body:
    It has come to be almost universally acknowledged that Singapore
    is indebted as much to Chinese as to British enterprise for its
    present commercial prosperity, and therefore the subject of
    Chinese labour which is vexing America and Australia, assumes a
    very different aspect in the Straits Settlements, and the fact
    that Chinese immigration has increased 50 per cent in the last ten
    years is looked upon as an unmitigated blessing. The magnitude of
    the Singapore labour trade will be understood when it is known
    that the number of Chinese who came to this port last year, either
    as genuine immigrants or for transshipment to other ports, was
    122,029, which is actually more than the entire Chinese population
    of the town. In connection with the immigration of this multitude
    of men and women, speaking many dialects of a language which is
    wholly unknown to the officials of the British Government in the
    Straits, with the exception of perhaps half a dozen persons, it
    cannot be wondered at that many abuses arise, and the suspicion
    has gained ground and is frequently given expression to, in the
    public press and elsewhere, that many of the immigrants do not
    come to Singapore of their free will.

Government
departments had connived at, though it was a practice most hateful to
the respectable Chinese." The Governor then asked them for their views
in writing, and they sent them to him in the form of a memorial,
containing the following words:
    "Your petitioners are informed that his Lordship, the Chief
    Justice, after the trial of a case of purchasing free persons for
    prostitution, said, in the course of his judgment, that buying
    and selling of girls for domestic servitude was an indictable
    offense;--which put all native residents of Hong Kong in a state
    of extreme terror; all great merchants and wealthy residents in
    the first instance being afraid lest they might incur the risk of
    being found guilty of a statutory offence, whilst the poor and low
    class people, in the second instance, feared being deprived of a
    means to preserve their lives (by selling children to be domestic
    servants)."
These petitioners claimed:
    That the buying of boys for "adoption" and of girls for domestic
    servitude, "widely differs from the above-mentioned wicked
    practices" of kidnaping and buying and selling of girls into
    brothels.
    That the domestic slaves "are allowed to take their ease and have
    no hard work to perform," and when they grow up, "they have to be
    given in marriage."
    That all former Governors had let them alone in the exercise of
    their "social customs."
    That Governor Elliott had promised them freedom in the exercise of
    their native customs.
    That infant

affray as follows: "This
girl's possession was one of the points in dispute between the two
tongs, and it was this that was settled at yesterday's conference." It
is interesting to note that other newspapers gave the information
that police officials attended the conference of these tongs, to help
settle the dispute. The report continues: "Lee Bock Dong's widow
demands the return of the girl as security for the money, or the
payment of the $2,000. This the Bing Gongs (one of the tongs) finally
agreed to, and it was for them to determine the course they would
pursue. The police say that this step is only preliminary to a
settlement of the whole affair ... that peace will be declared, the
complaint against the alleged murderers withdrawn, and the case
dismissed ... it is now expected that within a few days the extra
police force, which has been maintained in Chinatown ever since the
night of the shooting affray, will be withdrawn and peace reign once
more." This article is headed: "Warring Tongs Hold a Conference, and
it is Agreed Chinese Maiden is to be Returned, or Equivalent in Cash."
The _Enquirer_ of March 9th reported that the "Chinese tong men have
been dismissed."
"Equivalent in cash" for a Chinese maiden! Can it be possible that
this is the United States of America, and the twentieth century! One
actual murder, and two murderous assaults on the public streets, all
dismissed by an understanding entered into with the police that they
could now withdraw their extra force, since the Chinese girl had been
passed over as security for a debt, until the "equivalent in cash"
is paid! Have we spent hundreds of millions of dollars, and shed the
blood of thousands of young men, and widowed and orphaned tens of
of thousands besides, in a civil war to put down African slavery,
introduced from the Atlantic Coast, merely to turn about and welcome
Chinese slavery from the Pacific Coast?
"Behold this is a people robbed and sp