**3. The dealers' strategies: moral convenience**

Not long after the first Chinese coolies arrived in Cuba, the information concerning the bribe, sabotage, and violence started to leak. The media coverage of engagement practices in Cuba came to the essential political circles. Very soon, statements about inhuman conditions in the displacement from China to Cuba occupied the interest of public opinion. Many of those brave opponents claimed an expedited solution, preferably the definitive halt of this "new slavery." No matter what, Chinese coolies became a great business with considerable profit for the investors. That would last at least three decades until the governments of Cuba and China displayed strong policies against indenture service.

It is worth saying that there is comprehensive historiography about the complexity of the engagement system; however, it is crucial studying the historical problem of the consequences of interpreting freedom in this context. The organizational structure of hiring the first Chinese coolies was possible because of the leading role of the Zuleta Family, owner of "The London Branch of Zuleta Company." Worried about the economic situation, they pursued an agreement with the company "Menchacatorre" from Manila. Both expressed interest in hiring Chinese coolies to supply farm labor. However, under new legal conditions framed by the liberal wing of the British parliament and Luis Napoleon's labor rights policies, explicit consent was necessary for a contract (**Figure 1**).

It is mandatory to explore technical documentation. First, the project of those Chinese coolies indentured was sprouted initially by the Cuban saccharocracy. They also use a legal document to trick the system that recently unsaturated freedom as a civil right. It seems paradoxical here that the system acknowledges it was a trick victim. The first evidence of an abnormality in the shipping of Chinese coolies arrived after an uprising in the traditional route between Xiamen and San Francisco.16 The Robert Bowne's cruise, under the command of Capital Bryson, experienced a significant revolt in reaction to unfair treatment by the crew.

*That said ship sailed from Amoy about March 20, with a crew of 19 men including all hands, and about 410 Chinese passengers bound for San Francisco.17*

Like sitting on a powder keg, Chinese coolies' resistance expanded promptly in ships and the barracks.18 Considering the time between embarking and arriving in Cuba, approx. Four months, it is possible to deduce the rapid expansion of rumor, gossip, and sabotage in the barracks. News about the cruelty and lousy treatment came from Cuba and other regions. In addition, the discredited hiring responds to personal strategies designed by the dealers, which pursued to fulfill their mission and increase personal revenue.

<sup>16</sup> "that said ship sailed from Amoy about March 20, with a crew of 19 men including all hands, and about 410 Chinese passengers bound for San Francisco" The Daily News. July, 27, 1852.

<sup>17</sup> *The Daily News.* July 27, 1852.

<sup>18</sup> Notions of resistance following: Cf. Norbert and Scotson [17]; Scott [18].

#### **Figure 1.**

*First hiring of Chinese coolies. Havana, July 26, 1847. ANC (Yo fulano natural del pueblo de .. provincias… en China de edad … de oficio labrador declaro que é conbenido con el agente de los Sres Matia Menchacatorre y C(al) de Manila en que me embarcaré en el barco inglés Duke of Argyl con objeto de trasladarme a la Habana en la isla de Cuba [ofreciendome] desde mi llegada a dedicarme a ella a las ordenes de aquella junta de fomento […] y a egecutar los trabajos espresados por cuatro pesos de salario al mes, la mantención de ocho onzas de carne salada, una y media libra de platanos —de otras raices alimenticias, asistencia de medico y enfermero, dos mudas de ropa y una frazada anuales y una camisa de lana […] Cumplido el cual quedaré en libertad de obrar como mejor me parezca. Mi pasage y manutención a bordo del expresado buque será de cuenta de los señores Matia, Menchacatorre y C(a) de Manila, [...] Y en fe de que cumpliré puntualmente con las obligaciones que quedan espresadas firmo en Amoy a ocho de marzo de mil ochocientos cuarenta y siete.).*

*Letters from Amoy of the 3d instant mention a serious disturbance there, originating in some irregularities in conducting the emigration of coolies or labourers by the Chinese brokers and their agents employed.19*

The Chinese coolie indenture system shows significant shortcomings in less than a decade. John Bowring, governor in Hong Kong and consul of New Grenadian affairs in China, reported irregularities in the indenture system. The main focus of his denounces is based on the tactics and strategies delivered by the dealers and their goals of capturing Chinese coolies.

*"The men are kidnapped and carried off by force, without any prudence of a contract or wages…"; "Premiums are paid in China for such Coolies as are induced or forced to emigrate, by persons who contract to procure Chinese labourers, or by captains of the ships chartered to conveyed them"; "We have received some dreadful revelations as to the trade in coolies. It appears that there is now organized in the southern parts of* 

<sup>19</sup> *Evening Mail.* Feb 11, 1853.

*The Dilemma of Freedom: A Chinese Story in the Coolie Diaspora to Cuba (1847–1853) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110738*

*China system of kidnapping to the full as bad as ever practiced by the native chiefs of Africa in the worst days of the slave trade"; "The Chinese agents decoy or force their victims on board their boats, and torture them until they wring from them a consent to become 'free emigrants"; "Native Chinese are employed to entice from their homes such as may be persuaded, from hope to profit, to leave their friends."20*

Among those tactics stood out the use of Chinese natives, which had the mission of visiting the nearest poor areas, where they must capture men engaged in gambling, opium, and liquor. After the kidnapping, the dealers took the Chinese coolies to the barracks on stand-by of the highest bidder.21 Simultaneously, the dealers implemented new tactics of technical resistance, such as distraction, geared toward the policies of halting the indenture system. In this scene, judges found it impossible to designate the punishment and the crimes to dealers and ship captains, which allow the indenture system to survive.

*"On Monday Captain Seymour, the master of the ship Duke of Portland, appeared before Mr. Selfe to answer a demand made upon him by a seaman named Smith, who claimed a balance of 40L"; "Mr Almera stated in his evidence that he had engaged with a man named Aho to supply him with 432 Coolies for the Gulnare"; "It appears that two American vessels, the Ann and Staghound, have been most conspicuous in procuring coolies, and the cruelties narrated are principally in connection with them."22*

In any event, dealers continued supplying the transoceanic ships with thousands of men, overcoming the amount permitted by international authorities. In 1855 regulation to contract Chinese coolies gained more conditions, based on the Chinese Passengers Act agreement. Its enactment expresses the deep social crisis related to the Chinese exactions, who for more than a lustrum immigrated under severe abuses. Thus, the most common demand consisted of health and safety on board the transoceanic vessels, although it was an aspect deliberately overlooked.

*while the emigration officer at Hong Kong had refused to grant a certificate for more than 81 Chinese coolies being taken to sea by the John Calvin, bound for Havana, that vessel carried away 297 such passengers, of whom 110 perished on the voyage by suicide and disease, and 23 more in quarantine and hospital at Havana.23*

*For instance, a woman with a child on her back caused the child's bonnet to fall as she passed two men; on their picking it up she expressed her thanks and offered them some cakes for their civility; these were eaten, and being drugged, the men sat down* 

<sup>20</sup> *The courant*, Jun 5, 1856; *The Sentinel*, Jan. 10, 1857; *The Liverpool Mercury*. Apr, 1860; *The Globe*, Apr 5, 1860; *The Bristol Daily Post*, May 7, 1860.

<sup>21</sup> Even with the challenges regarding the scarce documentation proper of the Chinese, Elliot Young introduce the testimony from Hsein Tso-Pang. About the strategies of the dominated "pig-dealing" Ver: Jung [19]; Young [20].

<sup>22</sup> *The Berkshire Chronicle*, Jan 10, 1857; *Lloys's Weekly Newspaper*, may 31, 1857, *The Morning Chronicle*, May 14, 1860.

<sup>23</sup> *The Morning Chronicle*, May, 15, 1857; *Surrey and Kentish Mercury and Home Counties Advertiser*, May 16, 1857.

*stupefied; the woman's confederates then came up, offered to carry the two men home, but lodged them in a receiving-ship instead.24*

On the contrary, the hiring of Chinese coolies continued to increase, most likely following the experience of the African trade. At the same time, the dealers developed better collaboration strategies with the conveyors, excited about the rising income.25 But unfortunately, kidnapping, extortion, and violence in acquiring Chinese coolies tend to rise, despite all the efforts to control the traffic.

*The Chinese agents are usually outlaw… mandarins-men of no character—who speedily amass large fortunes. The brokers are the worst and most depraved of men. They obtain the coolies by various devices; they have agents everywhere who are on the lookout for men, and who kidnap and entrap as many as they can. Once in the power of the brokers, they never regain liberty.26*

*The police made a descent upon the vessel, and the men were brought on shore. From their statement, it appeared that they were from keeping Chi, and had been hired ostensibly to go to 'the betel plantations' in the neighborhood of Singapore. In reality they were being conveyed to the sugar plantations of Cuba. Of course, they were set at liberty…. What became of the majority of the 120 no one knows; but of the remains of the company, 45 in all, we have some more definite intelligence….27*

Once again, on the Caribbean beaches of Cuba, it is essential to emphasize the profound crisis of the Spanish government on the island, in addition to the adverse conjuncture of the slavery model that led to the American civil war (1861–1865). Contemporary notions of progress and freedom enounced with bravery in the republican wars against the Spanish domain returned to the still Spanish colony. Under those ideals, shared by the Cuban landowner, the dealers, and the abolitionist, the hiring of Chinese coolies fulfilled their expectations. Chinese indenture, on this logic, maintained distance from African slavery and contributed to the Cuban economic projects.

This kind of dilemma took part of the dealers working in the Chinese islands of Hong Kong and the region of Canton because they argued their commitment to the orders issued by the prestigious landowner in Cuba. The last ones also delivered a speech on liberty, progress, and morality, related to the Western principles of civilization. In fact, important dealers such as Ignacio Fernández de Castro and Nicolás Tanco Armero, dealing from Amoy and Hong Kong, conceived their achievements as part of the civilization project.28 On equal terms, the landowners in Cuba developed a punitive and paternalist manner of indoctrinating and educating the new Asian population on the Caribbean island, which even considered imparting baptism to the new people.

<sup>24</sup> *Evening Mail*, Aug. 3, 1860.

<sup>25</sup> "A consecuencia del proyecto de Villoldo Wardrope sobre introducir colonos asiáticos en la isla y habiendo hecho igual solicitud Don Manuel B Poveda, lo autorizo para introducir desde luego a 3000 de los colonos expresados" Habana, ANC, 23 de marzo de 1852.

<sup>26</sup> *The Stonehaven Journal*, April 7, 1859. / *The Leeds Times*, Apr 23, 1859.

<sup>27</sup> *The Daily News*, may 24, 1860.

<sup>28</sup> Cfr. Jung, ""Coolies": Race, Nation, and Empire in the Age of Emancipation", 692; Also, Klein, *The Atlantic Slave Trade*, 190.

*The Dilemma of Freedom: A Chinese Story in the Coolie Diaspora to Cuba (1847–1853) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110738*

*Contestese a este párroco que puede proceder a administrar el santo sacramento del bautismo conforme el ritual romano a los asiáticos adultos que lo deseen y se hallen con la debida instrucción, bien sea de la finca que indica o de otra cualquiera [aseptadolo] como blancos en los libros parroquiales… así en las presentes circunstancias de la epidemia reinante como en lo sucesivo: manifiestesele además que aprobamos los bautismos que… de negros de nacidos y criollos adultos.29*

*A very serious accusation, observes the Telegraph has appeared, in the columns of the London Times, March 18th, against the planters of Cuba, by a Mr. Thomas H. Gladstone. This gentleman has given a sad startling account of the brutal treatment inflicted on the Chinese emigrant by their cruel taskmasters, of which he says he was an eye witness… The philanthropic travellers horrified at such barbarity, is inclined to ask whether it is true that the same cruelty is practiced in the British possessions of the western Isles with regard to the Indian Coolies?30*

*At the same time it seems clear that where the coolies are taken, not to British but, to foreign colonies, they are often kidnapped for that purpose, ill-treated on the passage, and sink into the position of mere slaves on their arrival in the colony.31*
