Ir is said that copies of the Report of.the Commissioners sent by the Chinese Government in 1874, to ascertain the condition of the Chinese coolies in Cuba, are being widely distributed to the various officials throughout the Empire; and in so far as it might persuade the latter to hinder possible emigrants to that island, the proceeding is a perfectly natural and proper one. The conclusions drawn by the Commissioners were, that the Chinese are held there in a state of slavery. The evidence is a continuous tale of hardship, wrong, and cruelty. Too generally kidnapped in the first instance, overworked and maltreated while they are held in bondage, the men frequently commit suicide in despair; and their return home under the system pursued seems practically almost impossible. In 80 far, therefore, as the circulation of the Report may induce honest Magistrates to hinder voluntary emigrants, or to convince the dishonest who have too often connived at abduction, of the iniquity of the proceeding, the circu. Jation of the Report can do nothing but good. Unless, however, it is accompanied by a proper explanation of its origin, it may do great harm by engendering a belief that foreigners generally are guilty, towards Chinese abroad, of the cruelties which they have suffered at the hands of their taskmasters in Cuba. We know how little the Chinese distinguish between nation and nation, So far, perhaps, as the country-people think at all, they have ' prevailing impression that most people who are not Chinese are English; people living at the treaty ports or in their immediate neighbourhood have a clearer perception of differences; but to the mass of people in the interior, " foreigner is simply a foreigner, audit they Lear that Chinamen are treated abroad in the manner disclosed in this report, all foreigners will come in for the odium, The civility enjoined by the recent proclamation will be contrasted with the cruelties narrated by the Commissioners, and the people will be more irritated against foreigners than ever.
What should be done, in all fairness, is to circulate, with the Report, a memorandum explaining to how very small a place its disclosures refer, and that the Government were actually advised to send out the Commission by the Ministers of other nations, who were revolted at the system pursued and the tales in circulation, of cruelties practised upon the unhappy "emigrants." As a matter of fact, the system of kidnapping under which the ranks of the coolies were recruited was practised under the eyes of the Canton officials, without an effort to suppress it, And the Central Government was really goaded into action by the representations of the foreign Ministers, and of the Press, who were persistent in denouncing the inhuman traffic. It is the influence of the English, far more than of the Chinese, Government which emptied the barracoons of Macao; and similarly it was foreign influence, and not an innate horror at the wrongs suffered by its people, which impelled the Chinese Government to send forth the Commission which has disclosed the sufferings of the Chinese coolies in Cuba. Collectively as well as severally, as a Government as well as individually, Chinese officials are ready enough to assert in rounded platitudes the doctrines of right and justice; but their actions are far from corresponding with their words. So far as they were themselves concerned, their efforts to stop the traffic or to relieve their countrymen would not have extended, at most, beyond a well-worded memorial or a hortative proclamation. It will, therefore, be doubly irritating if the circulation of the Report on Cuba should lead to misconception, which a few accompanying words of honest explanation would easily remov
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.