No. 45.
Mr. Bailey to Mr. Davis.
No. 43.]
United States Consulate,
Hong-Kong, June 10, 1871.
(Received July 24.)
Sir: Referring to my dispatch No. 36, I have the
honor to transmit herewith the closing correspondence between his excellency
the governor of Macao and myself touching the coolie-ship Dolores
Ugarte.
[Page 213]
I also inclose the statements taken in this colony, of some of the survivors,
coolies, and crew, concerning the catastrophe.
Notwithstanding the fact that the crew of the ship landed at Macao a few
hours after the disaster, and remained there for several days, nothing
whatever appears to have been done toward investigating the cause of the
burning of the vessel. This strange inertness concerning so terrible an
affair can be explained on the hypothesis that silence is a mantle best
fitted to hide a “barbarism” that, publicity might expose. Although a number
of the surviving coolies, and some of the crew, have come to this colony,
the officials here seem averse to take public action in the matter, though
singularly enough a secret investigation has been had before one of the
magistrates; for what purpose, and with what results, I am unable to
accurately state; I presume, however, with a view to ascertain whether the
facts would authorize the colonial government to order a public inquiry.
On learning that some of the crew had arrived here, and fearing that the
matter would be allowed to sink into oblivion, I at once secured their
attendance at my consulate to give evidence concerning the deplorable event.
You will find their evidence among the inclosures herewith, marked, Nos. 3½,
4, 5, 6 and 7.
You will observe by the statements, both of the coolies and crew, that
although they do not agree as to how the ship was fired, yet they do
remarkably concur in stating facts and conditions that leave no reasonable
doubt that this is verily the slave trade, and that the Dolores Ugarte was a
slave-ship engaged in carrying slaves in contravention and defiance of the
slave-trade treaties. One of the witnesses, Albert Herker, one of the crew,
sums the whole matter in a nut-shell, when he says, in substance, that the
captain had seven coolies on board that he had bought on
private speculation. This pregnant statement is confirmed by other
witnesses.
Having now stated the facts in this grave case, I submit the whole matter to
the Department, hoping that what I have done will meet the approval of the
President.
I have, &c.,
Inclosures.
Henrique de Castro’s letter translation to D. H. Bailey; Henrique de
Castro’s letter, in Portuguese, to D. H. Bailey; D.H. Bailey’s letter to
Henrique de Castro; statements Nos. 3½, 4, 5, 6 and 7, of coolies and
crew.
No. 43.]
Secretariat of the Government of Macao and
Timor.
Sir: Your official letter No. 23 of the 1st
instant has been laid before the governor, and I am directed to reply to
it as follows:
Whenever questions affecting the lofty interests of humanity, as does the
coolie emigration, are raised, you, or any other person, will find his
excellency the governor most sincerely desirous of giving ear to every
representation that may he made him, especially when such questions are
in themselves of a serious nature, as happens in the present case, and
therefore your letter demands the greatest attention.
His excellency is not ignorant of the fact that questions of an
international character are not generally dealt with as are the ordinary
proceedings in our tribunals, but it is no doubt that when such
questions turn upon questions of fact, upon which it is sought to raise
a distinct claim, it is not possible to get on without proofs clear and
conclusive.
[Page 214]
But that your excellency may be fully convinced of the scrupulous care of
his excellency in this matter of the emigration, it is sufficient to say
that he has by formal act prohibited emigration in ships of nations
which have no treaty with China, including in this prohibition the
republic of San Salvador, not only because that nation has no vessels of
war to watch over the doings of its mercantile marine, and has no treaty
with China, but also because of the facts which his excellency finds
narrated in the public prints relative to the Dolores Ugarte, although
in the certificates granted by the Portuguese consul in Peru nothing
appears with regard to the barbarous proceedings said to have taken
place on board the said ship on her last voyage, and his excellency, in
his official acts, ought not, in strictness, to act on allegations
contained in the public journals, however great his esteem for the noble
institution of the press.
His excellency’s request, therefore, to be furnished by your excellency
with some documents or proofs which might serve as a foundation for a
commission of inquiry, and throw light on the affair, was made with a
view to his being able to exercise his authority as governor in the only
way in which he can legally do so, by demanding the punishment of every
individual who should become guilty or accessory to like acts of
barbarity, when duly proved.
From the inquiries which his excellency has ordered to be made, he finds
himself fully informed that neither the captain, pilot, nor any
individual of the crew are now on board the Dolores Ugarte, and,
further, that the Captain Saul remained in Callao, and the crew was
entirely engaged at Hong-Kong, as your excellency can easily verify,
even if unwilling to give the proper degree of credit to the certificate
of the Peruvian consul in this city, and to the official reports of our
captain of the port; and this being so, and the vessel having changed
her flag, his excellency cannot, except by an act of the most
unqualified despotism, prohibit her sailing, without seeking to
attribute to the material vessel herself the acts which your excellency
asserts to have been practiced on board, which would be absurd.
Therefore his excellency has confined himself within the limits of his
authority, in expressly prohibiting any vessel to load coolies on board
which shall be found, as captain or pilot, those who held the same posts
on the former voyage of the Dolores Ugarte, these persons being the
principals responsible for the acts said to have been done on board that
ship.
As to the right of this government to permit Chinese emigration from this
port, it appears to his excellency to be indisputable, as in the face of
treaties the contrary cannot be maintained, nor is there any special law
which so determines; and his excellency regrets deeply that your
excellency should have incidentally referred to the slave treaties, as
if seeking to connect with such the Chinese emigration from this
port.
From the Boletuns officials, which I have had the honor of sending you,
your excellency will perceive that the embarkation of coolies under the
San Salvadorian flag has been prohibited, and you will see equally the
proceedings of his excellency relative to the captain and pilot of the
ship Dolores Ugarte, if perchance the said individuals should return to
this port, but as against the (keel of the) said ship, now under another
flag, and having no person on board of the former crew, there is no law,
in virtue of which his excellency can, nor does he consider himself
authorized in any way to take proceedings. As to that part of the
correspondence which relates to the ship Nouvelle Penelope, in which
your excellency appears to give credit to what was put forward in the
courts at Hong-Kong, to the effect that the coolies had been kidnapped
by the captain, embarked by force, escorted by armed soldiers of the
military force of this colony, without having been examined in the
superintendence of emigration in conformity with the laws in force,
&c., &c., his excellency has no hesitation in formally, in his
official character, contradicting existence of such facts.
On conclusion, I am further directed to signify to your excellency how
much pleasure it will give his excellency, if at any time your
excellency will come and verify the official proceedings had in this
colony to secure the liberty of the emigrants, and be present at the
embarkation, and his excellency is sure that your excellency, with the
impartiality which characterizes you, will judge of this business
differently from what now you appear to think, and that your mistrust
will be entirely removed.
God guard your excellency.
HENRIQUE De CASTRO, Secretary
General.
Illustrious Sir, Consul of the United
States
at Hong-Kong.
No. 26.]
United States Consulate, Hong-Kong,
May 30, 1871.
Sir: On my return from Canton, after an absence
of several days, I find your letter of the 26th instant awaiting my
arrival.
I may confess in the beginning of this letter that I can scarcely write
with equanimity
[Page 215]
concerning the
subject of this correspondence, the Dolores Ugarte, and the terrible
termination to which she has come—an end I so earnestly besought his
excellency to guard against. I certainly cannot consent to gloze her
career by the subterfuges of changing her name and flag; and I
exceedingly regret that his excellency feels called upon to extenuate
her acts by the citation of these facts in her defense. She has sullied
the flags of three nations to her base purposes; with each exigency
changing her colors to hide her crimes. I assume that his excellency has
acted from the best of motives, but I must regard it as very unfortunate
that such shallow acts were allowed to cover her guilt and give her new
license to go forth and commit unparalleled horrors in the face of the
world.
In full view of what has happened, I doubt not his excellency deplores
the events connected with this great catastrophe. His excellency
expresses a regret that I should have referred to the slave trade
treaties as applicable to the coolie trade of Macao. I did so advisedly.
The treaties for the suppression of the slave trade are not merely for
the protection of the negro, but are for all mankind. Although I have
not examined the subject as fully as I would like, I cannot but agree
with the chief justice of this colony, that the dealing in coolies, as
was proved on the cross-examination of the witnesses on behalf of the
prosecution in the Kwok-a-sing case, and the published statements of the
survivors of the Dolores Ugarte, is as thorough a slave trade as was
ever known in the world.
You will observe that the evidence on which this opinion is founded,
which his excellency discredits, is the evidence of the seamen, as well
as of coolies giving testimony under coercion, in the case of the
Nouvelle Penelope, and that such evidence was intended to exhibit the
treatment of the coolies in the most favorable light; that the
statements in the case of the Dolores Ugarte have a singular agreement
as to kidnapping, fraud and force, used by the men-dealers in the
initiatory steps in the interior of the provinces, in the barracoons at
Macao, the embarkation on the vessel, the iron gratings closed over the
victims of the traffic on board the ship, and the cannon and arms to
keep them in subjection during the passage to Callao.
But further discussion is futile. The object of my communications with
the colonial government of Macao being to prevent the Dolores Ugarte
from loading coolies, and my remonstrance having failed, there is no
further necessity, on my part, for a correspondence on a subject that
has passed, by the logic of inexorable events, to a higher and more
potent forum. I have nothing left me to do but to submit the whole
matter to my Government for such action as it may think proper in the
premises.
It has now become a high international question; and that liberal
diplomacy which so signally distinguishes this age above all others will
doubtless settle it in the best interests of humanity.
With renewed sentiments of high consideration and regard, I have the
honor to be, sir, your most obedient servant,
DAVID A. BAILEY, United States
Consul.
Hon. Henrique de Castro, Colonial
Secretary, Macao.
