🚀 go-pugleaf

large extent the comfort or
misery of the chattel, but the forbidding that one human being should
be allowed to deal with another _as a chattel_ at all.

This attitude of the Chinese merchants who allied themselves with the
British officials for the Protection of Women and Children gave no
omen of good from the very first. Yet from that day to the present
these men have had a large share in the government of the native
women of Hong Kong and Singapore, rendering it very difficult ever
to elevate the standard of womanhood, or to educate Chinese women in
principles that should be the common inheritance of all who live in a
so called free country.

The statement continues:

    "Since the last few years many Chinese have brought their
    property, wives and families to the place, supposing they would
    be able to live here in peace, and to rejoice in their property.
    ...Chinese residents of Hong Kong have, therefore, been in
    the habit of following all native customs which were not a
    contravention of Chinese statute law [but it seems _this sort_ of
    buying and selling of human beings is contrary to Chinese law.
    This is a misrepresentation]. It is said that the whole increase
    and prosperity of the Colony from its first foundation to the
    present day is all based on the strength of that invitation which
    Sir Charles Elliott gave to intending settlers, and that this
    present intention of applying, all of a sudden, the repressive
    force of the law to both the practice of buying or selling boys or
    girls for purposes of adoption or for domestic servitude is not
    only a violation of the rule of Sir Charles Elliott, but moreover
    will, it is to be feared, not fail to trouble the people."

They speak of infanticide as an evil that

    "must