Page:American Diplomacy in the Orient - Foster (1903).djvu/301

 but at the end of the term, for alleged debt, crime, or other fictitious charge they were continued in service. During this period they were treated as slaves, branded, lashed, and tortured, and their condition was so wretched that many sought relief in death. It is estimated that more than one hundred thousand Chinese coolies were taken to Peru and about one hundred and fifty thousand to Cuba.

The inefficiency or indifference of the Chinese government is shown in the fact that its subjects in such large numbers could be carried away from its dominions and so cruelly maltreated without any serious effort to put an end to the evil. The local authorities in a feeble way sought to repress kidnapping and the imposition practiced on the people, but to little purpose, as for many years the traffic flourished. Among the documents on the subject sent to Washington by Minister Parker, who was the most vigorous champion in the crusade against the traffic, there is found a proclamation issued by the gentry of Amoy, warning their countrymen against the kidnappers and the seducers of the lower classes by false promises, and bemoaning the sad fate of those sold into slavery. "They might," it says, "implore Heaven, and their tears may wet the earth, but their complaints are uttered in vain. When carried to the barbarian regions, day and night they are impelled to labor, without intervals even for sleep. Death is their sole relief. . . . Alas! those who living were denizens of the central flowery country, dead, their ghosts wander in strange lands. O, azure Heaven above! in this way are destroyed our righteous people."