in response to a suggestion that his government should send consuls abroad to look after the interests of the emperor's subjects settled in foreign lands, said: "When the emperor rules over so many millions, what does he care for the few waifs that have drifted away to a foreign land?" It was stated that some of those in the United States were growing rich from the gold mines, and that they might be worth looking after on that account. "The emperor's wealth," he replied, "is beyond computation; why should he care for those of his subjects who have left their home, or for the sands they have scooped together?"
But in addition to the grievances of the coolies in Peru, a little later similar complaints of ill treatment of the Chinese in Cuba were brought to the attention of the Chinese government, and upon the advice of the American and British ministers a commission was sent to that island to inquire into their condition. The report of that commission, made in 1875, developed a state of affairs of the worst possible character. It showed that almost all the Chinese in Cuba had been kidnapped by force or inveigled by falsehood. They had been confined and treated like prisoners in the barracoons at Macao, intimidated or deceived into signing unjust contracts, shipped like slaves, and cruelly treated on the voyage. Among the kidnapped were some persons of literary and official rank, who were held to unwilling labor. Many jumped overboard on the voyage, wild at the fraud practiced upon them, or crazed with the sufferings which they endured from overcrowding, filth, and insufficient food. One in ten
