INVESTIGATION OF THE COOLIE TRAFFIC IN PERU
In the spring of 1873, I returned to China on a flying visit for the
sole purpose of introducing the Gatling gun--a comparatively new weapon
of warfare of a most destructive character. I had some difficulty in
persuading the Gatling Company to give me the sole agency of the gun in
China, because they did not know who I was, and were unacquainted with
my practical business experience. In fact, they did not know how
successfully I had carried on the Taiping Green Tea Expedition in
1860-1, in the face of dangers and privations which few men dared to
face. However, I prevailed on the president of the company, Dr. Gatling
himself, the inventor of the gun, to entrust me with the agency. Exactly
a month after my arrival in Tientsin, I cabled the company an order for
a battery of fifty guns, which amounted altogether to something over
$100,000, a pretty big order for a man who it was thought could not do
anything. This order was followed by subsequent orders. I was anxious
that China should have the latest modern guns as well as the latest
modern educated men. The Gatling Company was satisfied with my work and
had a different opinion of me afterwards.
While I was in Tientsin, attending to the gun business, the Viceroy told
me that the Peruvian commissioner was there waiting to make a treaty
with China regarding the further importation of coolie labor into Peru.
He wanted me to call on the commissioner and talk with him on the
subject, which I did. In his conversation, he pictured to me in rosy
colors how well the Chinese were treated in Peru; how they were
prospering and doing well there, and said that the Chinese government
ought to conclude a treaty with Peru to encourage the poorer class of
Chinese to emigrate to that country, which offered a fine chance for
them to better themselves. I told him that I knew something about the
coolie traffic as it was carried on in Macao; how the country people
were inveigled and kidnapped, put into barracoons and kept there by
force till they were shipped on board, where they were made to sign
labor contracts either for Cuba or Peru. On landing at their
destination, they were then sold to the highest bidder, and made to
sign another contract with their new masters, who took special care to
have the contract renewed at the end of every term, practically making
slaves of them for life. Then I told him something about the horrors of
the middle passage between Macao and Cuba or Peru; how whole cargoes of
them revolted in mid-ocean, and either committed wholesale suicide by
jumping into the ocean, or else overpowered the captain and the crew,
killed them and threw them overboard, and then took their chances in the
drifting of the vessel.
Such were some of the facts and horrors of the coolie traffic I pictured
to the Peruvian Commissioner. I told him plainly that he must not expect
me to help him in this diabolical business. On the contrary, I told him
I would dissuade the Viceroy from entering into a treaty with Peru to
carry on such inhuman traffic. How the Peruvian’s countenance changed
when he heard me deliver my mind on the subject! Disappointment,
displeasure and anger were visible in his countenance. I bade him good
morning, for I was myself somewhat excited as I narrated what I had seen
in Macao and what I had read in the papers about the coolie traffic.
Indeed, one of the first scenes I had seen on my arrival in Macao in
1855 was a string of poor Chinese coolies tied to each other by their
cues and led into one of the barracoons like abject slaves. Once, while
in Canton, I had succeeded in having two or three kidnappers arrested,
and had them put into wooden collars weighing forty pounds, which the
culprits had to carry night and day for a couple of months as a
punishment for their kidnapping.
Returning to the Viceroy, I told him I had made the call, and narrated
my interview. The Viceroy, to make my visit short, then said, “You have
come back just in time to save me from cabling you. I wish you to return
to Hartford as quickly as possible and make preparations to proceed to
Peru at once, to look into the condition of the Chinese coolies there.”
On my return to Hartford, I found that Chin Lan Pin had also been
instructed by the government to look after the condition of the Chinese
coolies in Cuba. These collateral or side missions were ordered at Li
Hung Chang’s suggestion. I started on my mission before Chin Lan Pin
did. My friend, the Rev. J. H. Twichell, and Dr. E. W. Kellogg, who
afterwards became my brother-in-law, accompanied me on my trip. I
finished my work inside of three months, and had my report completed
before Chin started on his journey to Cuba. On his return, both of our
reports were forwarded to Viceroy Li, who was in charge of all foreign
diplomatic affairs.
My report was accompanied with two dozen photographs of Chinese coolies,
showing how their backs had been lacerated and torn, scarred and
disfigured by the lash. I had these photographs taken in the night,
unknown to anyone except the victims themselves, who were, at my
request, collected and assembled together for the purpose. I knew that
these photographs would tell a tale of cruelty and inhumanity
perpetrated by the owners of haciendas, which would be beyond cavil and
dispute.
The Peruvian Commissioner, who was sent out to China to negotiate a
treaty with Viceroy Li Hung Chang to continue the coolie traffic to
Peru, was still in Tientsin waiting for the arrival of my report. A
friend of mine wrote me that he had the hardihood to deny the statements
in my report, and said that they could not be supported by facts. I had
written to the Viceroy beforehand that he should hold the photographs in
reserve, and keep them in the background till the Peruvian had exhausted
all his arguments, and then produce them. My correspondent wrote me
that the Viceroy followed my suggestion, and the photographs proved to
be so incontrovertible and palpable that the Peruvian was taken by
surprise and was dumbfounded. He retired completely crestfallen.
Since our reports on the actual conditions of Chinese coolies in Cuba
and Peru were made, no more coolies have been allowed to leave China for
those countries. The traffic had received its death blow.