The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1855-10-30 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

CHINESE LABOURERS.  A ship arrived, and landed on the Isthmus some eight hundred, after a fair voyage from Hong Kong where these poor devils of the Flowery Kingdom had unwittingly sold themselves to the service of the railroad, perfectly ignorant of the country whither they were going, and of the trials which awaited them. The voyage was tolerably prosperous, and the Chinese bore its fatigues and sufferings with great patience, cheered by the prospects of reaching the foreign land, whither they had been tempted by the glowing descriptions of those traffickers in human life, who had so liberally promised them wealth and happiness. Sixteen died on the passage, and were thrown into the sea. No sooner had the eight hundred survivors landed, than thirty-two of the number were struck down prostrate by sickness; and in less than a week afterwards, eighty more laid by their side. The interpreters who accompanied them attributed this rapid prostration to the want of their habitual opium. This drug was then distributed among them, and with the good effect of so far stimulating their energies, that two-thirds of the sick arose again from their beds, and began to labour. A Maine opium law, however, was soon promulgated on the score of the immorali tyof itie administeringhopedto thet e xpn osopernicious ach, habit, and however,without. was regard, no inconsiderable item, since the daily quota of each Chinese amounted to fifteen grains, at the cost of at least fifteen cents. Whether it was owing to the deprivation of their habitual stimulus, or the malignant effects of the climate, or home-sickness, or disappointment, in a few 'weeks there was hardly one out of the eight handred Chinese who was not prostrate and unfit to labour. The poor sufferers let the pick and the shovel fall from their hands, and yielded themselves up to the agony of despair. They now gladly welcomed death, and impatiently awaited their turn in the ranks which were falling before the pestilence. The havoc of disease went on, and would have done its work in time ; but as it was sometimes merciful, and spared a life, and was deliberate, though deadly, the despairing Chinese could wait no longer : he hastily seized the hands of death, and voluntarily sought destruction in its grasp. Hundreds destroyed themselves, and showed, in their various modes of suicide, the characteristic Chinese ingenuity. Some deliberately lighted their pipes, and sat themselves down upon the shore of the sea, and awaited the rising of the tide—grimly resolved to die-and sat and sat, silent and unmoved as a storm-beaten rock, as wave arose above wave, until they sank into the depths of eternity. Some bargained with their companions for death—giving their all to the friendly hand which, with a kindly touch of the trigger, would scatter their brains, and hasten their doom. Some hung themselves to the tall trees by their hair, and some twisted their queues about their necks, with a deliberate coil after coil, until their faces blackened, their eye-balls started out, their , tongues protruded, and death relieved their agony. Some cut ugly, crutch-shaped sticks, sharpened the ends to a point, and thrust their necks upon them until they were pierced through and through, and thus mangled, yielded up life in a torrent of blood. Some took great stones into their hands, and leaped into the depths of the nearest river, and clung, with resolute hold, to the weight which sunk them, gurgling in the agonies of drowning, to the bottom, until death loosened their grasp, and floated them to the surface, lifeless bodies. Some starved themselves to death —refusing either to eat or drink. Some impaled themselves upon their instruments of labour —and thus, in a few weeks after their arrival, there were but scarce two hundred Chinese left of the whole number. This miserable remnant of poor, heart-sick exiles, prostrate from the effects of the climate, and bent on death, being useless for labour, were sent to Jamaica, where they have ever since lingered out a miserable beggar's life.