10 CHINESE SECRET SOCIETIES. 



for my benefit, it really describes the way in which most 

 of the Societies in Singapore manage their affairs, and cer- 

 tainly quarrels nowadays, only arrive at any magnitude when 

 the Head-men are helpless and incompetent. 



The majority of the principal office-bearers of the Sing- 

 apore Societies, honestly desire to keep their men in order, 

 and themselves out of trouble, and the quarrels which occa- 

 sionally grow into small riots, would, amongst such a heter- 

 ogenous Chinese population as that of this Colony, continu- 

 ally occur, were there no Secret Societies in existence. 

 There is this difference however ; — under Ords. XIX of 1869, 

 and V of 1877 we are able to exercise a wholesome control 

 of the Chiefs of Hoeys, while if the Secret Societies were 

 abolished, we should have no check at all on the thousands 

 of the disorderly class of Chinese. 



In my opinion, it would be impossible to rule China by 

 British law ; much more so, the three or four hundred thou- 

 sand Chinese in our Colony, who, (except a small proportion) 

 the scum of the Empire, and coming from different Pro- 

 vinces, Prefectures, and Districts, of their native land, 

 speak dialects and sub-dialects unintelligible to each other ; 

 while all are ignorant of the language and motives of the 

 governing nation. 



Our freedom, — the germs of which were brought into Bri- 

 tain by our English forefathers, — (in deference to Mr. Free- 

 man I do not use the word Anglo-Saxon) has been gradually 

 developed during more than a thousand years, at the expense 

 of many of the noblest of our race, who have given up their 

 lives for the good cause, in the field, and on the scaffold. 



The Chinese, on the contrary, is accustomed from infancy 

 to lean upon, or to dread, some superior and ever present 

 power, either in the shape of his Government, his clan, or 

 the village elders. I do not think any persons will say 

 that they find anything of the sort in our complicated, and 

 to the Chinaman, (who comes here at a mature age with his 

 prejudices and habits confirmed) inexplicable course of Law. 



If some such system as those in force in the Dutch, 

 French, or Spanish Colonies, is incompatible with our consti- 

 tution and laws, I can see no other way of ruling Chinese, 

 than by recognising the secret Societies, and by immedi- 

 ately commencing the training of a competent staff of 

 officials, conversant with the Chinese language, and mode 

 of thought, to supervise and control them. 



I am aware that these views are almost diametrically 

 opposed to those 1 advanced in, Jjrasers Magazine, some 



