modify any difficulties which may actually lie in the way of acclimatizing (so to speak) the Chinese upon a foreign soil with advantage to themselves and to those amongst whom they settle. It will be presumed, as a matter of course, that the Chinaman has as much right to emigrate, and claim for his motto the maxim "Live and let live," as any other denizen of this earth's surface. Any one thinking otherwise must seek elsewhere than in this paper for a refutation of his dog-in-the-manger doctrine.
In dealing with the charges brought against the Chinese immigrant it would seem only necessary to give attention to the more material ones of vagrancy, immorality and insubordination. As regards those other traits which derive their importance from association rather than, from any inherently objectionable features, it will suffice if their influence be not lost sight of when the question of remedial measures comes to be considered. If clannishness, patriotism, persistence in the habits and ideas to which one has been brought up, frugality, the desire to acquire money in order to lay it out at home, and a settled determination to lay one's bones on native soil, can be characterized as crimes or objectionable traits, then many are the Englishmen, Scotchmen, Irishmen, and Americans, who cannot afford to throw stones at the "heathen Chinee."
First, as regards the character of vagrancy ascribed to the Chinese immigrants as a class. This is to a certain extent merited, and it is a difficulty which, for some time to come at any rate, must beset the question more or less, seeing that it is of necessity chiefly the poor and wretched, who, finding existence at home impossible or intolerable, seek to better themselves by going abroad. But it is by no means the fact that it is solely the scum of the Chinese population who emigrate. It depends much upon the part of country from which they may hail. The chief, indeed the only, provinces whose populations have thus far shown a tendency to overflow seaward, are those of Canton, Fukien, and Chekeang, and the principal points of embarkation are (commencing from the west and going northward and eastward) Haenan, Canton and Macao, Swatow and Chaochow, Amoy, Chinchew, and, to a limited extent, Wenchow and Ningpo. The Haenan people make their way principally to the Straits of Malacca and that neighborhood, where they find ready and useful occupation as domestic servants. The province of Canton and some of its conterminous districts are drained through Canton and Macao, whence a vast number of mechanics and petty tradesmen yearly go southwards to the straits and Australia, and eastwards to California; and these ports have been the chief centres of the abominable traffic in coolies, which, fed as it has been by the refuse of a redundant population, has given to Chinese emigration the low character which is now universally attached to it. Swatow, Amoy, and Chinchew, although likewise outlets of late for coolies, were points of escape for the adventurous Chinaman long before the country was opened up by treaties, or coolie emigration was rendered practicable by the complicity of the foreigner; and it was from these districts principally that in those early times junks carried away the tradesmen, mechanics, agriculturists, fishermen, sailors, and hucksters who had already formed large and thriving communities in Java, Singapore, Malacca, Penang, and a hundred other places in the eastern seas, when English guns first woke up the echoes upon the Chinese coast. Thus tradition and association have alike helped to maintain the character of the emigrants who hailed from these particular districts, and to this day they constitute the most respectable type of the migrating class, and are perhaps as little open to the charge of being the scum of the population as any emigrants in the world. From this it will be seen that whilst the refuse of the Chinese population does to a great extent foul the stream of emigration going on from the Chinese shores, there is nevertheless in it a vast, if not preponderating, element of that class who form the backbone of trade, and have as much interest in leading a quiet, well-ordered life as any colonist who leaves the shores of Great Britain for the purpose of bettering his prospects.
The notable immorality ascribed to the Chinese immigrant comes next to be considered. That the Chinese are without the vices common to mankind, no one can for a moment pretend to maintain; but the question is, are they so specially and hopelessly addicted to the grosser forms of immorality as to render it inexpedient to encourage their introduction amongst Christian peoples? This query may safely be answered in the negative. Morality, although, properly speaking, a virtue hedged about with unmistakable limits, is practically and taking the world as it goes, at best but an elastic term. There is not a single nation, be it ever so Christian
