J.P. Braga and “The Rights of Aliens”

Here’s an updated article on Jose’ Pedro Braga, a prominent advocate of worker rights in colonial Hong Kong, who wrote a groundbreaking pamphlet that was published in several newspapers in 1895.  It was the first attempt by second generation Macanese born in Hong Kong to assert their rights as British subjects.  Only twenty-four at the time, Braga later became the first member of the community to sit on the Legislative Council in 1929 and was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1935.

Hong Kong’s early division of labor depended on many first generation Macanese workers carrying out tasks under the direction of English department heads and executives, and at times in supervisory positions over a large number of Chinese compradors, shroffs, and laborers, with little contact permitted directly from the top to the bottom layers. The Macanese also traditionally functioned as a buffer between the two communities, providing an extra level of “distance” to British elites from the lower levels of colonial society. While these conditions were tolerated and accepted by the majority of workers, lower level English-born employees often feared being displaced by Macanese who rose to positions of authority before 1900. In some cases, critics not only questioned Macanese abilities and loyalties because of their racial origins,but their right to work in government and other sensitive areas.

These attitudes were reinforced by segregated policies protecting British residential areas, clubs,churches, and recreational facilities that excluded other groups. Clearly, not all English-born residents condoned policies of exclusivity, nor harbored discriminatory attitudes. The prevailing ideology of maintaining social isolation from other groups, however, remained unquestioned until several decades after Hong Kong was founded. The first documented response from the Macanese community occurred in 1895 with the advocacy of “alien rights” by Jose’ Pedro Braga, a young journalist who led public debates among readers both inside and outside Hong Kong.

The Advocate

J.P. Braga, as he was known professionally, was a community advocate and writer,who later became a prominent businessman and historian among the second generation of Macanese.[1]Born in 1871 in central Hong Kong into a family of early settlers, Braga spent his working career in the colony and died in Macau as a refugee in 1944. He rose to become the managing editor of the Hongkong Daily Telegraph from 1902 to 1909, often as a critic of government policies, and served as a correspondent for both the Associated Press and Reuter’s news service from 1906 to 1939. In politics, due in large part to his advocacy, Braga was appointed to a number of positions, including as a Justice of the Peace in 1919, a member of the Sanitary Board in 1927, and in 1929 as the first Portuguese non-voting member of the Legislative Council, Hong Kong’s ruling body. His public life culminated in awards from both Portugal in 1929 and the British government in 1935.[2]

Braga’s personal life had an important bearing on his career. He was the estranged son of Vicente Emilio Braga, who was an unsuccessful real estate investor and the owner of a failed soda water company. Following those ventures, the elder Braga found work as a clerk at the British Oriental Bank in the accounting department. In 1867 he was employed by the newly created Hong Kong Royal Mint under Thomas William Kinder. After the mint went bankrupt in 1870, Kinder was hired away by the Japanese government to establish a new mint in Osaka. Upon his recommendation, Braga was recruited as the mint’s chief accountant in 1871. He later served the Ministry of Finance as head instructor of bookkeeping in Japan’s Mejii government.Through the 1880s, Vicente Braga helped train a generation of Japanese bookkeepers, and introduced western accounting practices that allowed Meiji era businesses to compete in the new global marketplace.

In order to accept the initial position, however, Vicente left his wife and seven children a few days after his youngest son Jose’ was born, to live alone in Osaka. There is no record of him returning to Hong Kong.[3] He retired to Shanghai in 1897 to live with his oldest daughter and her family, and died there in 1911. Vicente’s acceptance of the new position, after much debate and turmoil, understandably created a rift in his close knit family. Braga was married to the eldest daughter of Delfino Noronha and had been living in his household for several years. In his father’s absence, the youngest Braga and his siblings was raised by Noronha, the owner of a successful printing business, who cut off all ties to his son-in-law.[4]

As Jose’s earliest mentor, Delfino Noronha was very much a self-made man. Arriving in Hong Kong in 1844, he founded a printing company at the age of nineteen. By 1849 Noronha was producing the Hong Kong Government Gazette, the official record of the administration’s affairs, and was soon the largest employer of Portuguese in the colony. His belief in Hong Kong’s success was such that in 1883 he petitioned for British citizenship, and was one of the first Macanese to be granted the privilege. Noronha’s influence over his grandson also was shared by a growing circle of like-minded elders, which included Leonardo d’Almada e Castro, Chief Clerk of the Colonial Superintendent of Trade, and Januario de Carvalho, the Chief Clerk of the Colonial Treasurer and the young Braga’s uncle. Together, they guided Jose Braga’s intellectual growth and social outlook.

Young Jose’ was apparently one of Delfino Noronha’s favorites, and soon excelled at his studies under French Lasallian Brothers at St. Joseph’s College in Hong Kong.He was later sent by his family to Calcutta to train as a barrister, eventually winning an award at Albert Memorial College in 1889. A smallpox epidemic in Hong Kong that year, however, took three of his brothers, resulting in his mother’s pleas to return home to work in his grandfather’s printing business.

Among Braga’s early projects was the publication of an important pamphlet, “The Rights of Aliens in Hongkong”, which addressed racially charged criticism against Macanese government workers in the English press, as it artfully highlighted the contributions of all non-British workers in the economic and political life of the colony. The positive reaction from local and international readers was probably a surprise to the twenty-four year old Braga. The many themes touched upon, however, especially an acceptance of subordinate but autonomous status, and a clear pronouncement of cultural identity, each bore indications of Noronha’s influence. A closer examination of Braga’s early work will illustrate some of the conditions facing the Macanese community at the time and a model that Braga initially proposed to addressed them.

First Steps on the World Stage

In the fall of 1895, the “China Mail”, Hong Kong’s largest daily, published the Postmaster General’s annual report, which noted that a Portuguese postal clerk had been dismissed for stealing 50 registered letters, many containing currency and script. The incident had been preceded by thefts a few months earlier involving two other Portuguese clerks in the same office, who were convicted of their crimes. In the latest case, the Postmaster announced that no prosecution was conducted because the clerk’s father had paid restitution. Ten days later a controversy grew over the right of all Portuguese to work in government, with several accusations against the community printed in local dailies. Over the next nine days a debate quickly evolved into questioning the rights of all “Non-British” workers in Hong Kong. It was later revealed that only five Portuguese workers among the forty employees at the Post Office were on staff during the incident.

In response, Jose’ Braga, then working in his grandfather’s printing business, published a lengthy essay questioning the criticisms. The response was written in collaboration with five newspapers: three English language papers: the Hongkong Telegraph, China Mail, the Daily Press, and two Portuguese language dailies in Macao: O Extremo Oriente and Echo Macaense. Through the support of the Telegraph’s editor, Chesney Duncan, who was sympathetic to the criticism, Braga was able to print and publish the 125 page supplement for distribution to about 5,000 English speakers in Hong Kong.[5] The wide circulation among the colony’s most influential dailies, in two languages, suggests the importance each placed on the issue of “British only” employment in government, and the larger issue of racial discrimination in the colony.

Braga began the essay by conceding that the daily press was an invaluable record of social issues in Hong Kong, but argued that minority opinions could easily be lost, particularly on questions of class and racial prejudice, unless an even handed discussion could be aired in public. His reliance on a “free press”, even within a colonial setting, was the principal reason he chose a newspaper supplement to address the issue.

To those who might object to his arguments, Braga wrote that the question of whether the children of non-British parents have a right to work in government, or anywhere else in the colony, contradicted long held English principles of “fair dealing and fair play”. This alone, he argued, should have exposed the controversy as “offensive”, and as an “unwarrantable intrusion” on human rights. While Braga was not advocating the substitution of Portuguese workers for “true-born Britons”, he asserted that when “reason is blinded by prejudice” it was his duty to come to the defense of alien workers, even when their position in society was weaker. Writing in language that seems to blend Rousseau with a unique perspective on British rule, Braga boldly stated:

“The good old days when mightwas right have happily passed away, never, it is to be hoped, to return, andjustice is, especially throughout the length and breath of the British Empire,dispensed with due regard to the common rights of all mankind, and with theimportant fact ever in view that ‘the labourer is worthy of his hire’ be healien, native, or true-born Briton.[6]

Beyond the moral argument, Braga also pointed out that the rights of children of foreign born subjects had been decided by the Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1862. Using language that suggests no reservations as to their status, Henry Pelham-Clinton, the 5^th Duke of Newcastle, had written: “There is little doubt that the children of foreigners born in the British dominions are entitled to the character, rights, and privileges of British subjects,” Since then, all governors of Hong Kong had reiterated the opinion.[7]

In spite of the long standing policy, both Braga’s critics and his defenders wrote anonymous letters to argue their positions, some of the former suggesting that English-born workers should be hired first, while others questioned the loyalty of the Portuguese in times of crisis. The fear of recrimination probably played a part in the attempts to hide their identities. The choice of names, however, was probably not lost on Braga and his supporters. From our vantage point more than a century later,each provides clues to the tenor of the controversy.

A letter written by “Another Victim”, for example, questioned why “foreign” Portuguese clerks were allowed to work in government or other positions of authority. These views seemed to represent working class Britons without formal educations, who came to Hong Kong seeking better paying employment within colonial institutions. Another letter by “Nepenthe” likely represented an educated group in the Portuguese community who argued that their sacrifices and contributions to Hong Kong’s success gave them the right to equal treatment. The use of “Nepenthe”,referring to a potion given to Helen to quell her sorrow over the death of Paris, may indicate a belief that tolerance of racial prejudice may have been the price for economic stability and good jobs. It also suggests that there were regrets associated with early Macanese settlement, when many families suffered from discrimination and unequal treatment. Ironically, it was an English correspondent for the Singapore Free Press who suggested the crux of the Macanese condition.

We (British) take advantage of their poverty, of their need of employment, of the limited area within which they can alone hope to obtain work. … We pit them one against the other in the race for work, and we give a preference to him who asks least.[8]

Ever the diplomat, Braga acknowledged those sacrifices and systemic faults, but also mentions the advantages enjoyed by many coming to Hong Kong, “as well as the benefits derived by their employers …” Braga then notes that most Britons came for economic reasons, the majority staying no longer than a few years seeking to make their fortunes. The Portuguese, by comparison, arrived at the request of the British government, who employed many in Macau from the 1820’s. Braga argued that his generation, most of whom were born in Hong Kong, could claim a stronger tie to the colony. But tempering his remarks in recognition of a more powerful adversary, Braga, the shrewd colonial, added some youthful sarcasm:

Far be it from me to under-rate the importance of the higher stratum of our population. Its superior intellect, better culture and enormous influence wielded by virtue of exalted position and wealth, command, and must ever continue to retain, our profound respect and sincerest admiration.[9]

Nevertheless Brag concludes, justice and fair play should be conceded in the spirit of Hong Kong’s “grand Free Trade policy”, the same principles on which the British Empire and the Colonial Administration had been so successfully based.

Braga’s visibility as a community leader was no doubt enhanced by his new celebrity on behalf of those who, up to then, had little voice in Hong Kong’s affairs. Another supporter, Robert Ho Tung, a prominent Chinese businessman and leader of his community, applauded Braga’s views and became a lifelong friend.[10] Braga’s grasp of cultural history also suggested that the “Portuguese”, whom he identified as “Macaense” from Macau rather than Portugal, had a rich and important history that had not been acknowledged in Hong Kong society, or in some cases, by the Macanese themselves.

Braga’s arguments raised another theme that would resonate in his later writings. He mentioned that many Macanese who were born in Hong Kong occupied a certain “place” and rank in relation to the British and the Chinese. In this regard, J.P. Braga could be seen as a man of his times. By emphasizing a common sentiment that the Macanese had always been supportive of, but remained subordinate to British rule, he represented a new generation who accepted their class positions but remained actively invested in Hong Kong’s future. In Braga’s view, all Hong Kong residents, regardless of racial or ethnic origin, should have the same rights as all British subjects, and expect livable wages, equal opportunities, and other privileges because of their contributions to the colony’s success.

A New Perspective

In this light, how we might understand “The Rights of Aliens in Hong Kong” reveals the  significance of J.P.Braga’s efforts. Primarily, Braga’s essay suggests he was well aware of walking a fine line between several competing themes in the debate and, in his case, an emerging point of view. These include the extreme position of a “British only” workforce, which was unrealistic given the needs of Hong Kong’s growing economy. Indeed, as the British editor of the Siam Free Press pointed out: “We need not dwell upon the fact that Hongkong owes much of its present wealth and prosperity to aliens. … the question is, can Hongkong do without the aliens.” [11]

There was another view, similar to the present day, that public criticism of government was a sign of disloyalty, or at the very least, ingratitude, both ideas shared by some British and first-generation Macanese. Many in the latter group also accepted without question that the “Portuguese”, an identification they preferred, and the great majority of Chinese in Hong Kong should always occupy a subordinate position. Braga, on the other hand, was proposing an alternative view that calls his British critics to task based on the government’s own well-publicized principles of free enterprise, open trade, and unfettered competition, which the rhetoric of exclusion and racial discrimination seemed to contradict.

Braga thus seems to be writing as both a revisionist critic and a cultural Macanese that the logical extension to traditional British ideals, such as “justice and fair play”, is equal treatment in the workplace, and by extension, throughout society. In doing so, Braga must acknowledge the conditions of his colonial surroundings, accepting the reality that the Portuguese, despite their contributions to Hong Kong, are regarded as second class citizens, a “middle class” between the British and the Chinese. But Braga considers himself a British citizen by birth, and expects to be treated equally, then points to the discrepancies in workers’ rights and the racial attitudes of British colonials to make his case. While Braga only briefly mentions his own ethnicity, he skillfully identifies colonial opposition to his community’s right to work as blind “prejudice”. In this assertion, his arguments suggest a new identity for the community, not of Macau or Portugal, but one that is unique to the next generation of Macanese in Hong Kong.

And so, at the age of 24, Jose’ Pedro Braga took his place in history. In writing the pamphlet, Braga aptly demonstrated that racial attitudes and prejudice could  be questioned, and perhaps reconciled within the colonial context of Hong Kong, even while the fundamental right to work is asserted based on policies that had not been fully realized. Whether Braga’s arguments would have an impact remained to be seen. But by claiming rights as workers, even if they were the rights of “Aliens”, Braga spoke for a new generation that sought to have greater control over their own destinies.

The reality was that most English in Hong Kong held tight to the privileges they expected in light of colonial dynamics with the Chinese majority and other “aliens” in the colony. Despite Braga’s widely-read opinions to the contrary, many simply presumed notions of “privilege” and “tradition” that seemed to justify their positions of authority well into the 20th century. Given the importance placed on a “free” and “open” economy by the British administration, however, other Macanese adjusted to these prevailing attitudes in unusual and telling ways.

That will be a topic of a future article.

[1]This analysis of Braga work was drawn from his pamphlet, J.P. Braga, “The Rights of Aliens in Hongkong: Being a discussion carried on through the medium of the public press as to the employment of aliens in Hongkong”, Noronha &Co., Hongkong, 1895. Additional biographical information was obtained from Stuart Braga’s book, Making Impressions: A Portuguese Family in Macau and Hong Kong, 1700 – 1945, International Institute of Macau, Macau, 2015, and other supplemental sketches of his family available on-line at www.macanesefamilies.com,and  www.meiji-portraits.de/meiji_portraits_b.html#20090527093402531_1_2_3_107_1.

[2]According to Jorge Forjaz, Familias Macaense, International Institute of Macau, 1997, Braga was awarded the Military Order of Christ of Portugal in 1929,and the Order of the British Empire in 1935.

[3] Stuart Braga, Making Impressions, op. cit., 214

[4]Stuart Braga writes that Delfino Noronha’s influence was so great that both Noronha and his wife were godparents as well as grandparents, providing each of the eight siblings with the middle name “de Noronha”, and describes the family group as “a patriarchate as much as a household.” Braga, Making Impressions,op. cit., 209.

[5] We can only estimate Braga’s readership based on a later census. In 1897 there were 1,392 British residents, including administrators, civil servants, and employees of banks and trading houses, 2,263 Portuguese adults, and an estimated 1,500 English speakers in the Chinese, Malaysian, Indian, Japanese,Jewish, and Parsee communities. The total population of Hong Kong was 241,762, not including the uncounted Chinese boat population. See “Report on the Census of the Colony for 1897”, Hongkong, June 20, 1897.

[6] J.P. Braga, “The Rights of Aliens in Hongkong”, op. cit.Preface, xi.

[7]Circular, Downing Street, 25^th August, 1862, published by the Colonial Secretary’s Office, Hongkong, 28^th October, 1862. 

[8] J.P. Braga, “The Rights of Aliens in Hongkong”, op. cit., 84.

[9] J.P. Braga, “The Rights of Aliens in Hongkong”, op. cit.Preface, xxi.

[10]  As noted in a comment written by Stuart Braga in April 2013 to an earlier version of this article.

[11] J.P. Braga, “The Rights of Aliens in Hongkong”, op. cit., 77.