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master and supercargo of the vessel on a charge of felony, and afterwards in the Vice-Admiralty Court, to obtain the condemnation of the vessel. In both cases, the prosecution failed, apparently from the want of evidence to show that the islanders had been embarked as slaves, or were intended to be dealt with as slaves in violation of the Act. In the Water Police Court the proceedings seem to have ended in June or early in July, 1869. In the Vice-Admiralty Court they occupied a longer time; but, on the 24th of September, Sir Alfred Stephen, the judge, after having heard counsel on both sides, decided that the charge had not been proved. His formal judgment was not delivered until his return from circuit on the 12th of November following, when he stated at length the grounds for his decision, and granted to Commander Palmer a certificate that he had probable cause for the seizure and prosecution of the vessel. In other words, he decreed the release of the vessel, but without costs or damages against the captors; and the Daphne was subsequently sold by her own ers to meet the expenses incurred by the seizure.

The English Government had all along felt very doubtful about the system. Lord Clarendon, in writing to Sir Edward Thornton, used very strong language respecting it; and in the beginning of 1869, he sent out Mr. March as consul to Fiji, with strict injunctions to do all he could to keep it under control. For a while, like his predecessor, Mr. March succeeded in checking ill usage on the estates, but soon the demand for laborers became so great, that no reserve was maintained, all scruples were flung aside, and the only cry among the owners of petty vessels was, "Get natives; honestly if you can; but anyhow, get natives."

It has been stated in many quarters, and has been allowed in a measure by the Imperial Government, that throughout these transactions the Queensland authorities have acted in good faith, have sincerely desired to secure the liberty of the immigrants, and have provided sound regulations both for their good treatment on the estates, and for the proper conduct of the importing system abroad. In our judgment, the case is far otherwise. In the interests of this traffic they deliberately allowed their own regulations to be broken through.

Ross Lewin, who had become notorious in connection with the system, first brought the Daphne with emigrants to Brisbane, Nov. 15, 1868. He had no license, and ought to have been prosecuted. No prosecution was instituted. Under the Act, the immigrants ought not to have been landed, but to have been sent back. They were landed "on statutory declaration," and were divided among the planters. (468, p. 3.) A fine of £20 ought to have been paid on every immigrant so introduced. Not a single fine was enforced!

Not less extraordinary is the boldness. with which the authorities grapple with objections, and deny that in Queensland any native immigrant had ever been illtreated, or that any complaints had ever been made! Reporting on April 6, 1861, Mr. Gray, the agent, says: "Up to the present time about 4150 islanders have been introduced into Queensland, and not a single complaint has ever yet been made by one of them, that he has been brought to the colony against his will, or that he has been ill treated on the voyage. They are, as a rule, treated most kindly by their employers; and not one instance has ever come under my notice where an islander has ever been returned to his home without receiving full payment of his wages."

All Queenslanders are not guilty of this folly, or think they can impose upon the world. Even their own Parliament, by special committee, recommended three years ago the improvement of the Immigration Act upon three vital questions. The Brisbane people have again and again petitioned and remonstrated. Residents, like the "University man," who published his adventures in the colony, openly speak of the system as one of slavery. And two well-known planters, Messrs. Brookes and Davidson, boldly declare that the authorities break their own regulations, and that an immense amount of evil is being done.

During the last few months the Queensland Government has taken great credit to itself for having appointed agents to accompany the recruiting vessels, in order to see that no improper practices are resorted to. But for three years they refused to adopt this measure, though it was often pressed upon them, and though. Lord Granville had offered to select the agents. But what is the actual working

even of the agent system; what check does it place on the whole crime?

In October last, one of the slavers brought forty-four immigrants to one of the Queensland ports. The captain had obtained them with great difficulty from the Solomon Islands, and his cruise had taken him six months. He had four sailors wounded with poisoned arrows. The Government agent, described as a drunken fellow, the man who had been appoint ed to see that all natives were properly shipped, openly declared to people at the port on his return, that he had shot twenty islanders himself, and the captain many more !

A still stranger statement comes from a man who volunteered to join one of the recruiting vessels as agent, because he wished to see the South Sea Islands, and was interested in their people. Mr. Meiklejohn, unhappily for himself, was appointed to the Jason, a vessel notorious in the trade; and the trip from Maryborough to the New-Hebrides and back occupied four months, from April to July, 1871. He thus describes his first experiences, in a letter to the Colonial Secretary of Queensland, dated Sept. 16, 1871:

"I may be permitted to say that my undertaking the office of Government Agent on board the Jason was owing to my being wishful to see the South Sea Islands, and to my having always felt an interest in the islanders. What I have witnessed of the Queensland Polynesian trade has convinced me that it is abominably and incurably immoral.

"With reference to the duties devolving upon me as Government Agent, I found a few days after sailing that I was regarded and treated as a spy, and that any remarks I made about the way islanders were obtained or treated afterwards were met with sneers."

Stronger measures were soon resorted to, and the agent found himself in irons among the kidnapped islanders.

"On the 12th of June the captain asked me in the afternoon to take some wine with him, to show him I bore him no animosity. I told him I would do so, but that I would still do my duty, and that he must not be deceived. He said, 'If I thought you would report me, you would never see Maryborough, as it could be very easy to put you out of the way,' and that I surely would not be so cruel, as it

would completely ruin him and his family. I had taken about a wine-glassful of wine out of a tumbler, standing at the time in the cabin in front of the captain's berth. I do not recollect leaving the place where I was standing. I seem to recollect being seized and dragged on deck.

"When the Jason returned to Maryborough, on the 13th of July, I was in an extremely feeble state, and totally unable to attend to business, having been confined to the ship's hold amongst the islanders, handcuffed, and chained to a ring-bolt for more than three weeks without bedding. This treatment I received by the orders of the captain, who said I was insane and dangerous. I was delirious for some time, but I attribute my being so to the captain having drugged me in a glass of wine, on the 12th of June.

"The shirts provided were of cotton, and not of flannel or wool, as required by the Act. The blankets supplied were of thin, poor quality. The islanders were kept naked until within two or three days' sail of Fairway Buoy, Hervey's Bay, and they suffered much from cold, as it was winter. I believe that nearly every one of them had a cold or a cough when they landed, and that this want of suitable warm clothing was to some degree connected with the great mortality amongst the islanders since their arrival. Out of twenty-four taken by the Maryborough Sugar Company, seven died within seven weeks."

According to a census recently taken of the inhabitants of Queensland, 500 native immigrants were returned to the islands during last year: and it is computed that 2235 (of whom only fifteen were females) remained in the colony at the end of the year. It is for this miserable addition to their labor resources that all this crime is carried on! It is to increase the gains of some fifty planters, by lowering the wages. of their field-hands, that the people and parliament of Queensland have set in motion the piratical crews of a dozen English vessels, to kidnap, steal, or murder the poor heathen inhabitants of savage islands! It is for this contemptible gain, at the cost of such atrocities and crimes, that they have brought the immigration of English settlers into this colony to an end, and have made its name a byword and a reproach throughout the civilized world!

By May, 1870, the system was in full force in Fiji. Vessels importing immi

grants were frequent; many of them of small tonnage, and owned by persons in Fiji. There was a large demand; prices began to rise, and the cruel traffic was greatly stimulated. It is thus described in the most business-like way by the Fiji correspondent of the Aukland Weekly News, in his letter dated:

"LEVUKA, JUNE 1, 1870.-THE LABOR MARKET.-Labor is still the cry, and the demand is greater than ever. This year between 300 and 400 men have completed their time, and will be returned to the islands from which they came. Many are already on the way, and others continually leaving. To convey them, and to obtain more, fourteen vessels of different sizes are now out. The Sea Witch, Magellan, and Mary Ann Christina, from Sydney, are to leave in a week for the same purpose. The barque Harriet Armitage is also chartered to go for labor. If successful, these vessels will bring about 1000 men; not half enough to supply the present demand, without taking into account the wants of the numerous settlers just commencing plantations. £8 to 10 is now paid willingly for the passage of these men. Three years ago 4 was considered enormously high, and the general rate was from 50s. to 6os."-(Returns, c. 399, p. 161.)

Mr. Consul March, writing about the same date, informs Lord Clarendon that the evils he had apprehended are kept in check; that many of the immigrants are well treated, that they have earned good wages, and are anxious to return with the results to their friends. But he feels that the system is becoming unmanageable, and says:

"The importation of these natives is increasing from day to day, and will continue doing so in proportion to the extending cotton cultivation and the highly renumerative results with which it is attended. Ninety-five new settlers have landed at Ovalau during the last month, who will, no doubt, soon commence bringing laborers.

"Under these circumstances, and the probability that in this large and scattered group of islands unscrupulous persons have facilities for evading my attention, I would respectfully submit that, could ships of war visit these waters with more frequency, much would be done towards the suppression of illegal enterprises."-(Returns, c. 399, P. 144.)

By the end of January, 1871, the European population in Fiji had increased to 3000 persons, of whom 300 were Americans; no less than 700 having landed in six months between April and September, 1870. Many of them brought capital with them, land was purchased from the natives, and new plantations were commenced. Mr. March, under date October 14, 1870, writes to Commodore Stirling, that upwards of 1700 native immigrants have been registered in the Consulate between January and October, thus increasing the number of imported natives to nearly 4000, and adds:

"Once these untutored people leave the consulate, I have no means of ascertaining how they are treated; and until the time arrives for returning them to their homes, they remain entirely in the hands of their employers. I have reason to believe that there are numbers of these natives whose period of service has expired, who are yet retained in Fiji; and the irregularity can only be detected by a visit to the plantations where they are working. . . . I fear from what I have seen at Levuka that flogging is the general mode of punishment adopted by the planters."-(Returns, c. 199, pp. 192, 193.)

As the trade was pursued with fresh earnestness, the kidnapping, decoying, and forcible seizure of the heathen islanders were resorted to without scruple. In exhibiting these atrocities, it is of the last importance that the facts should be described, as far as possible, in the words of the authorities by whom they have been supplied.

The Presbyterian Mission in the NewHebrides group is in the very midst of the recruiting ground. Naturally the letters of the missionaries became more numerous, and their complaints more indignant. Writing from Aniwa, near the large island of Tanna, under date December 19, 1870, the Rev. J. G. Paton thus describes what he had seen at Fil Harbor, in the island of Vate, (often called Sandwich Island,) during the visit of their missionary schooner, the Dayspring:

"The Wild Duck, Captain Martin, came to anchor near us in Fil Harbor. When the Dayspring's boat went alongside the Wild Duck, three Santo lads instantly leapt from the deck into the boat and implored to be set at liberty, as they did not want to go away in the vessel; but Captain

Martin had them dragged into his vessel again with great difficulty. One of those lads had been the Rev. John Goodwill's servant in Santo, so I accompanied him on board to see why his lads were being taken away against their will. The captain refused to let them go, as he said they came voluntarily on board his vessel, and now he claimed' them as his. There were about thirty natives on board, nearly all boys. The stoutest of the native men were in irons under the hatch, as he said that they had been resisting and dangerous to his men. He said also that the friends of most of the others had been 'paid for them.' 'Some got blankets, some got knives, and one got an axe.' About ten o'clock that evening one of the Santo lads (Mr. Goodwill's servant) leaped overboard; they leveled a musket at him, threatening to shoot him, but he swam on, and got on shore, took a Faté canoe unobserved, got on board our vessel, imploring protection, and soon after stowed himself away till we were again out at sea. If they had come or sent for him, we had agreed to let them take him, but they did not."-(Returns, c. 199, pp. 197, 198.)

The following incident excited great attention in the Colonies; Captain Winship having ventured to defend his conduct, and Mr. Travis, a Queensland planter, who got possession of the boys that were sold, having joined him in that defense. The story is given by Mr. Paton in the same letter; and Dr. Geddie and Mr. Paton are too well known to have doubt thrown upon their testimony:

"The Lyttona, (so famous already in Queensland,) Captain Winship, came next to anchor near us in Fil Harbor. At daylight next morning an elder of the Church at Pago, named Lor, came to the Dayspring and made the following complaint: 'The captain of the Lyttona, on his way north, bought three boys belonging to Pago, Ariss, and Kalsa, from their father, Tapina, for a musket; and Akow, an orphan boy from Nopopon, for a piece of calico. Now, the boys cry too much, and want to go ashore again. Yesterday all men Pago take calico he give for one boy, and musket he gave for two boys on board to him, and say, 'Very good, you take him all back again, and let the three boys come on shore again. He no want any pay belonging to you.' But the captain no let him go. Can you help us?"

"Having heard this statement from this intelligent Christian native, after consultation, we agreed to write to the captain.

"In the evening Captain Winship came off to the Dayspring, and said: 'I don't see what right I have to give up these boys. It would neither pay me nor my employers to do so.' We reasoned the matter with him, and informed him that the natives had brought the piece of calico and old musket to us, and that if he did not give them up, in the interests of the natives and of our work among them, we would be necessitated to report the case. He said that what he had done was common now in the trade, and he resolved to keep them, whatever the consequences might be."

Of the extent to which the system is pursued, and the mode in which it is carried out, Mr. Paton and his colleagues speak in strong terms:

"On this single trip, at Aneiteum one vessel passed the Dayspring with natives. At Santo we saw two natives seeking natives: at Nguna other two; at Fil Harbor, Faté, three vessels laden with natives came to anchor near us; at Tanna one vessel passed us; and another was at anchor in the same trade; and for the last two months one of our missionaries has seen on an average ten vessels weekly passing his island in this trade.

"When the Dayspring was at Nguna last trip, the boats of the vessels Jason and Spunkie, from Queensland, came in where the Revs. Messrs. Watt, Milne, Goodwill, and Captain Fraser were assisting to put up a new mission-house, and purchased from a chief four boys for one musket. The Jason's boat took the boys away.

"When once in the hands of their captors, the natives have no possibility of escape except by death, which some have preferred to slavery. An armed guard is always kept over them when on board such vessels, and all hands are generally kept ready for any emergency, with knives and loaded revolvers in their belts.

"Lastly, natives taken to Fiji in the Flirt, when brought before the British Consul, refused to sign any agreement, because they had been deceived and stolen from their own islands as reported. The Consul said he has no means of compelling them to be taken back to their own islands, though it was a clear case of man-stealing. He gave them and their captors twelve

hours to reconsider what was to be done. During this interval every possible means was brought to bear upon them, so that when brought up again the Consul got them passed."

A most striking portion of the evidence accumulated on this subject is supplied by individuals who have in one way or other become involved in the trade. Many respectable seamen, with characters to lose, have found themselves unexpectedly engaged in vessels, chartered at Fiji to get immigrants; and have against their will been compelled to witness and perhaps share in the violence and the piracy with which it is carried on. Numbers of these men have quitted their vessels at the conclusion of the voyage, vowing they would never have any thing to do with the trade again. Mr. Alfred Davison, a well-known planter in Queensland, says on this subject:

"In Brisbane I have been indirectly in communication with white sailors who have sailed in these traders, but who refuse, for their own sakes, to go again. They will not give public evidence, but admit the badness of the thing, and that I am quite right to oppose it. They say, 'Well, we were paid.'

So well is this known, that in many vessels, notoriously on Ross Lewin's ships, native crews are employed, some of whom are as violent, reckless, and cruel as the most abandoned pirate among the whites. Several white men have furnished evidence on the subject; though others were too timid to speak against a system upheld by such strong influences. Mr. Paton, in his letters, says of a man well known to the missionaries in the New-Hebrides:

"Tom, an intelligent white man, living at Port Resolution, Tanna, reported a case of a vessel running down a large canoe at sea, with some eighteen or twenty-four natives in it, and taking all of them prisoners. Another vessel that saw what took place came up and threatened to fight if they did not share in the prize. For the sake of peace they were divided between them. I forget the names of these vessels."

In November, 1870, Mr. J. C. Williams, the English Consul in the Navigators' Islands, received from Miguel Casal, a Spaniard who had lived in the Gilbert Islands, the following statement, which he embodied in an affidavit and forwarded to the Foreign Office:

"I, Michael Casal, of Spain, temporarily residing at Lavü, being duly sworn, do depose and say that, about sixteen months ago I left this port in the schooner Samoa, for the purpose of trading for Theodore Weber, Esquire, on the islands under the line; and that I was stationed at Samana, or Rotebis Island, trading; that during my residence there several vessels came to the islands for the purpose of obtaining laborers; that a barque, said to come from Tahiti, (she had no flag set) sent four boats on shore at a time, manned by eighteen men, all armed with swords, pistols, and rifles; that as soon as the boats reached near the reefs they commenced firing on the natives, and continued the firing till they landed on the beach; they shot several of the natives, but none killed to my knowledge. The natives went into the big house, when the people in the boats would fire at them while seated in the house; the natives would then make a rush and run out of the house, when some of the boats' crews would run after them and seize and carry them to the boat; they caught three men that day, to my knowledge, and took them off to the ship. This barque has been three times to the island while I was there, and tried to entice natives on board by offering them tobacco; when the natives went alongside they would fire into the canoe and sink it, then a boat would be lowered and pick up the people who were swimming in the sea, and take them on board.

"The natives told me that 133 natives had been stolen off this island; they made me understand the number by counting stones to the number of 133. This barque was a regular slaver.”—(Returns, p. 191.) One of the most terrible pictures that has been drawn of the system is given by a seaman, James Harper, who was in the employ of the Jason, one of the most notorious vessels in the trade. Harper held a certificate of ability and good conduct from the master of the Jason, which he left at the conclusion of the voyage; and he swore his declaration before Mr. W. Brookes, one of the magistrates of Brisbane, on March 16, 1871. The captain of the Jason was convicted of piracy in December last in Sydney, and was sentenced to five years' imprisonment.

"James Harper, able seaman-Was in Jason last trip. The Jason sailed from Maryborough and arrived at Fotuna; from

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