but nevertheless the cooly will comply strictly with all its terms, a copy of which in Chinese characters is always in his possession, and this he will do because his purchaser holds his household lares in the land to which he always hopes and expects to return, in pledge for the faithful performance of his bonds. The central idea of a Chinaman's religion, if he has any religion at all, is that of the worship of the tombs of his ancestors. The superstitions of Fung-Shusy dominate him wherever he may be in the world. The subtile mysticisms of China so strangely govern all its people in their social, political, and quasi religious life, are as a hook in his nose, by which his purchaser controls him at all times and in all places; and thus this relation of master and quasi slave, no matter how many miles apart, is welded by the mystical links of religious superstitions, family ties, and rights of ancestral tombs, which control and regulate the reciprocal duties of trader and coolie in the home land. The means of obtaining coolies are as various as the ingenuity of man can devise, and are as corrupt as the incentive to large gains can stimulate and invent. Men and boys are decoyed by all sorts of tricks, opiates, and illusory promises, into the haunts of the traders. Once in the clutches of these men-dealers, by a system of treachery and terrorism, connived at by the local Chinese authorities, whose chief business in life is to "squeeze" the people, the stupefied cooly is overawed into making a contract under such Chinese influences and surroundings as give it a sacredness of character nowhere else known in the world. From that moment he is the mere tool of the rich dealer wherever he may go. It is difficult for persons accustomed to western civilization to understand the depth and extent of this relationship, but Chinese civilization is unique, perhaps opaque, and cannot be measured by that of any other. The above is a mere outline of the system, and is the general rule that controls Chinese emigration. Contact with American ideas and the spirit of American law has, in some measure, modified the rule as applied to Chinese emigrants going to the United States, so that there is in reality free and voluntary emigration; but it is so surrounded, mixed up, and tainted with the virus of the coolie trade, as to require the utmost vigilance and scrutiny to separate the legitimate from the illegitimate emigration. I am charged under the law with the duty of giving to every American vessel leaving this port with Chinese emigrants, a permit or certif icate, setting forth the fact that each person is a free and voluntary emigrant, but that the same shall not be given until I am first personally satisfied, by evidence produced, of the truth of the facts therein contained. I find among my consular duties, prescribed by the consular regulations of 1868, that I am "To repress and discourage, by all proper means, the traffic in laborers, usually called the cooly trade." It is fully expected that they (consular officers) will carefully see that its provisions (act of February 19, 1862) are strictly observed. The Secretary of State, in his circular of January 17, 1867, says: “You are consequently directed to make use of all the authority, power, and influence at your command, towards preventing and discouraging the carrying on of the traffic referred to in any way." In the consular regulations of 1870, concerning the act of February 19, 1862, I find the following instructions: Consuls will be rigid in exacting a compliance with these provisions. I have made the above recapitulation to show the Secretary of State the stand-point from which I am viewing the subject, and the lights that are guiding me in the course I am pursuing; and to ask, if I am taking too serious a view of the matter, for such further instructions as the better judgment of the Secretary may think proper and advisable. In consideration of the foregoing the first question that arises is, how shall I perform the duties devolving upon me in this matter? The number of emigrants is so large as to make it impossible for me to examine each person, and in addition attend to the various and arduous duties of this consulate. I must, therefore, either abandon the execution of the law as an idle form, or I must appoint a corps of assistants, sufficient in number, in integrity and sagacity, to make the examination a rigid and faithful compliance with the letter and spirit of the law. Heretofore, I am free to say, from all I have been able to learn, the whole proceeding in this regard has been a complete farce. I have not the means to pay for these assistants, for my salary is hardly sufficient to support ine in the plainest and most economical manner possible for me to adopt. Therefore I must allow these assistants to charge a fee such as will make reasonable compensation for their services, labor, and expenses in and about the matter. I can procure men of small capacity and less integrity to undertake the task for a mere trifle; but this would make an expense without any good in return, for such an examination would be neither thorough nor reliable. The only safe rule is to put the matter in charge of first-class men, and allow them to collect such fees as shall be reasonable compensation for their services. Even this plan, which seems to me at present to be the best, is not satisfactory to my mind, for the reason that it will necessarily involve an expense that may be the subject of irritation; but I do not know what better to do than to try it, and by carefully watching reduce it, as experience may suggest, to the lowest possible cost. While the law, my instructions, and the condition of affairs here are as at present, I deem this examination by assistants as indispensable, and the necessary expense must follow it, unless the law and the facts are to be ignored and investigation abandoned. Perhaps it will oocur to the mind of the Secretary that a thorough investigation here as to the character of the emigrants going to the United States, and a check to prevent the now world-famed atrocities at Macao being practiced or winked at here, will largely negative the clamor of a growing public opinion in the United States hostile to the introduction of Chinese or servile labor, to compete with the great free-labor interests of our own country. Chinese emigration to the United States brings the opposite civilizations of the East and the West face to face, and it occurs to me that Congress is wise in throwing all the safeguards possible. around the introduction of heathen labor, to prevent its bringing harm to our institutions. I am convinced that China is on the verge of a great cataclysm of some kind, and I believe it will result in sending immense numbers of Chinese, with the good and bad that is in them, to the United States. The facilities of ships and steamers will do it easily and cheaply, and they will go to escape unbearable evils here; whether to introduce unbearable evils there remains to be seen. I have said that this traffic in laborers is exceedingly profitable; therefore I cannot expect that anything that will hamper it, by investigation or otherwise, will be popular with the men-dealers or with the great interests interlocked with it. It prostitutes everybody here, and thus far has prostrated every one who has stood up against it. It will be asserted that I am putting obstacles in the way of commerce. I will endeavor to do my duty, let the consequences care for themselves. Well, so far as concerns that commerce which has for its object the buying and selling of men, I propose to put obstacles in its way. Legitimate emigration and legitimate commerce shall have my active co-operation and encouragement in every possible lawful way; but if commerce demands at my hands assistance in a new mode of enslaving men, dif fering from the African slave-trade "in little else than the employment of fraud instead of force to make its victims captive," I will not lend my aid to build up its nefarious traffic, nor bow to the behests of the great houses that are interested in forcing this great wrong. I have the honor, &c., No. 44. D. H. BAILEY. No. 36.] Mr. Bailey to Mr. Davis. UNITED STATES CONSULATE, Hong Kong, May 12, 1871. (Received June 20.) SIR: I transmit herewith a copy of correspondence between myself and the colonial governor of Macao, concerning the cooly-ship Dolores Ugarte. I also inclose a circular containing an account of her passage last year from Macao to Callao with coolies, reciting the horrors of that voyage. It is now my painful duty to state that, notwithstanding my earnest protest against her being permitted to reload with coolies at Macao, the governor of that colony, contrary to the spirit of his letter to me of April 24, allowed the ship to resort to the subterfuge of changing her name to that of the Don Juan, and her flag to that of Peru, and thereupon to load 665 coolies for Callao. She sailed from the Roads of Macao with her cargo of human beings on the 4th instant. But a dreadful catastrophe awaited her. Providence seems to have set her apart to shock the nations with a new horror that shall startle them to their duty in suppressing this infamous slave trade. On Saturday, the 6th, the ship was discovered to be on fire in the hold, where the coolies were kept. The captain states "that, with a view to save his own and his crews' lives, he battened down the hatches on the passengers, and took to the boats." The ship was burned to the water's edge, and with it over 600 victims of this atrocious traffic in men. I inclose the reports of the daily press here up to closing of the mail. There is a conflict of evidence as to whether the ship was set on fire, or whether it was accidental. I express no positive opinion now on that point, but incline to the belief that the coolies in desperation fired the ship. I will forward at the earliest moment such other correspondence as I may have with the Governor de Souza on the subject. I have the honor, &c., D. H. BAILEY. No. 18. UNITED STATES CONSULATE, SIR: I have not the honor of an acquaintance with your excellency, but knowing the high character you bear as a lover of fair dealing and a defender of the right, I make free to address you upon a subject that must obtain considerable notoriety, and concerning which your excellency has very great authority. I allude to the fact that the Dolores Ugarte, now notorious throughout the civilized world for her atrocities in the coolie-trade, is reputed to be at this moment on the roads of Macao, preparing to load with coolies for Callao. May I be so bold as to ask that your excellency will permit me to officially inform my government that you will interpose your authority to prevent that infamous ship having an opportunity to repeat the horrors of her last passage to Callao, and again flout her crimes in the face of the world, to the scandal of Christian civilization. I am charged by my government with surveillance of the coolie-trade, and there being no United States consul at Macao, I have taken the liberty to address you in this grave matter, which will not be hid from public gaze nor shut out from the high tribunal of the nations. But I have no doubt that your excellency has already taken the necessary steps to prevent a recurrence of the terrible scenes on that ship. My apology for this hasty note is that I write it in the interest of humanity, a cause I know your excellency will protect. With sentiments of high regard and consideration, I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient servant, DAVID H. BAILEY, United States Consul. Governor of Macao. His Excellency ANTONIO SERGIO DE SOUZA, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF THE GOVERNOR OF MACOA, April 24, 1871. MOST ILLUSTRIOUS SIR: I am directed by his excellency the governor to acknowledge the receipt of your official letter No. 18 of 21st instant, and to state that notwithstanding you have not an exequatur to represent you to the government of this colony, yet, taking into most serious consideration the object mentioned in your correspondence, his excellency has forwarded to the competent authority a copy of your official letter and the certificates of the Portuguese consul in Peru in reference to the last voyages of the ship Dolores Ugarte, for the purpose of an inquiry to ascertain the veracity of the fact you allude to, so as to proceed as it should be. Although it is not now permitted, according to orders of this government, from this port to ship emigrants in vessels under the republican flag of San Salvador, or of other nations that have no treaty with China, or not being countries to which coolies emigrate, it would be very desirable if you will be so good as to furnish me with any document or declaration that may serve as a legal basis to warrant an inquiry which his excellency has ordered to be instituted, the result of which may enable preventive measures to be taken with respect to the late captain of the aforesaid ship. It is the rigorous duty of his excellency, according to orders from the government of Portugal, to avoid as much as possible the abuses which are committed upon the Chinese emigrants at this port. His excellency thinks he has done all that has been possible, as far as the authority of this government extends, to put down the abuses in such a trade, complying in this way not only with the orders of his faithful Majesty's government, but also with the obligations imposed by civilization and humanity. The manner in which this Chinese emigration is conducted in this city is not generally appreciated, and his excellency would have much pleasure if you in your private character, or any other gentleman of respectability in Hong-Kong, would come and verify with your own eyes how the acts of emigration take place. You would certainly be convinced that in no part of China is this proceeded with more exemplary and so much regularity in objects of such high human interest. God guard you, sir. No. 23. HENRIQUE DE CASTRO, UNITED STATES CONSULATE, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 24th ultimo, in reference to the Dolores Ugarte. I should have responded to it immediately, but serious indisposition entirely prevented my doing so. You will please convey my thanks to his excellency the governor for accepting my letter No. 18 as official, notwithstanding I have not an exequatur to the colonial government of Macao and Timor. I had anticipated this courtesy, considering the cordial relations happily subsisting between Portugal and the United States. You inform me that his excellency has been pleased to call a syndicancia to make inquiry as to the facts charged against the Dolores Ugarte, and you ask me to furnish you with "documents or declarations" to serve as a "legal basis" to warrant inquiry. His excellency is aware that acts of state, on international questions, are not conducted as proceedings in courts of judicature, but acting on the broader and simpler principle of common repute, one nation, through its agents, may notify another of a breach of international law without thereby assuming to produce evidence in detail to sustain its allegations. His excellency must well know that the crimes on board the Dolores Ugarte having come to light at Honolulu, I could not have "documents or declarations" in my possession at present, but if the man who was then captain of the ship will give competent bail to answer for his acts, I will forward his excellency's request to the State Department of my Government, and I doubt not that in the interest of humanity our consul at Honolulu will be directed to obtain and forward such evidence as may, at this distance of time, be procurable. If I am not misinformed, his excellency has received from Portugal a remonstrance on the cooly trade addressed to her by a power entitled to the highest consideration. I have reason to know that it was the atrocities on board the Dolores Ugarte, as discovered at Honolulu and detailed in the Advertiser, reprinted in the Overland China Mail, November 15, 1870, a copy of which I inclose, that occasioned that remonstrance. The purpose of my official No. 18 was not to ask for the legal trial, conviction, and judicial punishment of the criminals. My object was internationally to ask his excellency the governor and council, as the executive at Macao, as an act of state, to adhere to the spirit of treaties, and (not now insisting that the coolie traffic as conducted from every port in China is always in breach of treaties abolishing the slave trade) to submit that when coolies are taken from Macao, as elsewhere, under such circumstances as are judicially proved on behalf of the French consul in the Hong-Kong courts to have existed in the case of the Nouvelle Penelope, and also where such cruelties as were perpetrated on board the Dolores Ugarte are shown to exist by the only evidence immediately available, i. e., the newspaper reports, that then treaty obligations arise internationally, and that in such cases his excellency, in his own jurisdiction, unless on his own responsibility he denies the facts, is, under treaty stipulations, bound to prevent the possibility of the recurrence of the breach of treaty obligations on board such ships, unless he is restrained by positive law in force in Macao, obliging him to allow any and all ships to take in a cargo of coolies. The atrocities on board the Frederic gave rise to a law in Hong-Kong, giving the entire uncontrolled discretion to the governor, to allow or disallow coolic emigration on board every ship. This has been, as I understand, always the law at Macao, under which, as I learn, his excellency at one time prohibited all coolie emigration from that colony. In your letter you state that, under the orders of your government, ships under the San Salvador flag are prohibited from carrying coolies. If I rightly understand that letter, the Dolores Ugarte being under that flag, will not be permitted to carry coolies. You notice two other grounds for such prohibition, viz, that San Salvador has no treaty with China, and that she is not a country to which coolies emigrate. I shall feel obliged, therefore, by your informing me that his excellency has the power, by local law, to prohibit the Dolores Ugarte from loading coolies at Macao, and that, in fact, on the two other grounds she comes within the prohibition. Assuming that I hall receive such assurance, I will make no further remarks on this subject. Concerning the system of Chinese emigration as conducted at Macao, I am free to say the evidence given in the Nouvelle Penelope case compels me to regard it with very great distrust; but inasmuch as I am to make a report on Chinese coolie emigration to my Government, and having a desire only for the truth, I cordially accept the invitation of his excellency, and, in my private character, I will visit Macao and carefully inspect the proceedings. I purpose forwarding my official No. 18, together with your answer and this letter, to my Government by the American mail that will leave this port on the 12th instant. I shall be glad to forward at the same time such an assurance as I have herein asked for concerning the Dolores Ugarte. With sentiments of high regard and consideration, I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient servant, DAVID H. BAILEY, No. 45. United States Consul. No. 43.] Mr. Bailey to Mr. Davis. UNITED STATES CONSULATE, Hong-Kong, June 10, 1871. (Received July 24.) SIR: Referring to my dispatch No. 36, I have the honor to transmit herewith the closing correspondence between his excellency the governor of Macao and myself touching the coolie-ship Dolores Ugarte. |