[Editor: This is a chapter from the novel The Coloured Conquest (1904) by “Rata” (Thomas Richard Roydhouse).]
Chapter XV.
I tour the word, and survey the results of the Coloured Conquest. — My last view of Mabel.
I left Sydney soon after being made acquainted with the fate of Mabel.
The blow was so sudden that it prostrated me for a time.
I had thought her safe at Bathurst, and so she was until the day before Taksuma broke the news to me.
But the orders of the Court of Selection, or Beauty Committee, were always sudden, and carried out without a moment’s delay.
I learned all about that afterwards.
Reports were received as to the fitness for the Fair Lily Colonies of girls at, say, Bathurst, Orange, Cooma, Grafton, or anywhere in the State, including Sydney. If the reports were definite telegrams were despatched at once ordering the girls to be removed from their homes.
There was no time for preparations.
A Corporal and two men, accompanied by two Japanese Red Cross women, visited the house and removed the girl just as she was.
There was no roughness.
The work was carried out expeditiously and smoothly.
Struggles were unavailing, and tears were ignored.
It was fortunate, I had to confess, that Mabel was married to so good a man as Lieutenant Thomas, R.N. Married is the term I prefer to use, though from what has already been written it is clear that it is inaccurate. But ——
Let me not, however, dive into that well of bitterness more frequently than I can help. There will be only one more brief reference to it in this disjointed, but all too true history, which is now drawing to a close.
* * *
The reader has learned that I had a staff appointment. They could have done without me. Indeed, I was quite satisfied that the position was only further evidence of Taksuma’s friendship. The cousin of the Admiral-Governor, and also of the Marquis Ito, was a power to be reckoned with, and me he regarded as a brother.
I did not, however, appreciate all that had been done for me at his instigation.
I would have preferred to die, but remained man enough not to take my own life.
When I left Sydney it was in company with Taksuma, who was attached to the staff of the Admiral in command of a flying squadron detailed to voyage round the world to note the completeness of the Coloured Conquest. I was also attached to the Admiral’s staff, principally, I think, that he might chat to me.
I could not complain of lack of courtesy or consideration at the hands of the Japanese.
And just as the prisoner, on leaving his cell for the gallows, sometimes thanks the officers of the gaol and the sheriff for their kindness to him, so do I here acknowledge the kindness of the Conquerors towards my humble self.
* * *
I do not propose to enter into minute description of what had happened in other parts of the world.
We called at all the principal ports, and everywhere there were Coloured faces to greet us.
There were White people there, too, but they were all working.
The Coloured people were the trading or leisured classes.
The Whites were portering on the wharves, driving the trams, erecting the buildings, sweeping the streets, working as bootblacks on the street corners, and labouring in the fields and factories and down in the mines.
I saw several haughty Russian nobles thus engaged. They were gleefully pointed out to me.
And the faces of some of the Whites were dreadful to look upon.
There was no light whatever on their countenances.
A smile was unknown there.
All hope was dead.
The future held nothing for them save death. And they wanted that to come as soon as possible.
Everywhere it was the same.
The Whites were all parted from their women, except those who were in the Fair Lily Colonies.
This system obtained all over the world.
It had been arranged at Tokio at a conference of representatives of the Coloured Races held before the war with Russia commenced.
The object was threefold. First, it was a terrible revenge on the Whites for their affectation of superiority extending over centuries; secondly, it meant the eventual extermination of the White colour; and thirdly, it gave the superior Coloured people the most beautiful supernumerary wives — to put it that way — history held any account of.
Viewed from this standpoint, the scheme had everything to recommend it.
The White men could only curse, and, in some instances, seek to blot the dreadful picture out of their minds by throwing themselves on the Japanese guards and meeting death.
The Coloured people did not kill the Whites for the mere sake of killing.
When the fighting was over they were satisfied to have the Whites work for them.
* * *
In the United States there was fighting for over a year after the navy was smashed up. And it was a costly job to smash it. But the Japanese and the Chinese could afford the price.
The latter really provided the money, or most of it, though I later learned that many a secret hoard of an Indian Prince — almost fabulous wealth — went into the building of warships to carry the Japanese flag, and ships to carry Chinese, Indians, and other Coloured immigrants to America.
Two millions of Chinese and three millions of Indians were landed in America during the first eighteen months after the Japanese had effected a landing.
Many of these were trained to arms.
The Japanese pushed on their occupation of the two Americas and Canada from twenty or more points simultaneously.
They disarmed district by district. They landed under their naval guns, and their field artillery being superior in range, and their shells more devilish in their destructiveness, it was only a matter of time when they smashed up every army arrayed against them.
They completed the occupation of Canada first, and used the Canadian-Pacific railway for all it was worth in the way of transport.
Coloured troops and Coloured immigrants were landed on both sides of the American Continent.
* * *
Russia and all Europe had been overrun by the wild hordes of the East directed by Japanese, and in St. Petersburg, Berlin, Paris, Vienna, Lisbon, Madrid, and Rome the Japanese flag was hoisted and honoured with Royal salutes.
The Japanese had made the success of the Coloured peoples possible, so everywhere Japanese authority was supreme.
The Japanese people, however, did not scatter all over the world. There were large colonies of them in Canada and the Americas, and their traders and people of fortune and fashion were everywhere.
But Old Japan was still their head centre, with Australia and New Zealand the great field for the development of their people.
They regarded Australia and New Zealand as the best parts of the world, capable of producing the best specimens of mankind. They anticipated that in 50 years 50,000,000 souls would be settled in these lands.
* * *
Huge canal works were commenced in the interior of Australia (from plans long prepared) immediately the Japanese occupation was a fact. And their experts got artesian water where ours never expected it.
They made “the desert blossom as the rose.”
And their people were rich and happy.
* * *
To revert to the other parts of the world, I found that the Sultan of Turkey ruled over Turkey, and was anything but a “sick man” now.
Africa from top to bottom was governed by its local heads — the Khedive of Egypt, Menelik of Abysynnia, and so on.
South of the Equator the various Coloured peoples had formed a confederation.
Over all these countries and peoples Japan exercised a suzerainty. No one was allowed to build warships, establish arsenals, or raise armies without the authority of Japan.
There was now no reason for so doing, although the Japanese kept their splendid fleet up to date, for the principal reason, they said, that “life on a man-o’-war made the best men.” That, they declared, was their experience, and they did not wish their people to degenerate merely because there was nothing else to conquer.
* * *
A cloud of coolies had quickly quadrupled the Manchurian railway when the first note of the Japanese advance towards the Coloured Conquest of the world was sounded. And as the Eastern hordes swept down on Europe quadruplication was carried with them.
Bridges spanning rivers were put up in a single night, so carefully had everything been pre-arranged.
This railway subsequently carried to European ports millions of the Eastern peoples intended for America.
India was tapped by another railway (built with wonderful rapidity), proceeding through Asia Minor to German ports, with a branch to the Mediterranean, and that also carried millions of Indians and Syrians the first stage of their journey to the Americas and Canada. The railways were constructed just as fast as the Eastern peoples pushed forward on their conquering course.
India was over-crowded; parts of China were over-crowded; in the New World there was room for all.
That was one of the cries in the East.
The negroes were allowed to hold dominance in America, as they had priority of claim as a Coloured people resident on the soil before the Conquest, but every Coloured person, half-caste, quarter-caste, or octoroon was permitted perfect freedom. The negroes had the administering of the laws — laws framed by Japan, for Japan was Lord over all.
* * *
More than three years elapsed before I returned from my world’s tour, for we had lengthy stays at many places.
Soon after getting back I was ordered to the Northern Rivers to report on some matter connected with the Fair Lily Colony system.
These Colonies were very beautiful — earthly paradises in fact; and the happy laughter and prattle of the unknowing little White children was as music to me.
The residences in the Colonies were bungalows of graceful design, one for each family. All had gardens, and they were set in the midst of another garden of great area, where streams flowed, fountains played, and birds sang.
In recreation halls there was every form of game and exercise, and varied entertainments were given every day.
Outside, shooting, cricket, golf, swimming, etc., were encouraged.
No effort was spared to secure the happiness and health of the occupants.
Everything was beautiful, but most of the women were sad-eyed, and the men suppressed volcanoes. That is, writing generally. There were some who did not care, who got reconciled to the life — some who actually loved it for itself.
* * *
I was leaving No. 3 Colony, on the Richmond River, one September afternoon, when I met by the gate — Yoko.
He smiled and bowed, and held out his hand. I ignored it.
“I have just witnessed a pleasant sight,” he said; “came all the way from Sydney to do so.”
I did not answer.
“It would make a beautiful picture; come and look.”
I hated the man, and would sooner strike him than speak to him; yet something made me follow him.
He went to a low stone parapet, and looked over into the main Colony pathway near the gate.
A mother and father were taking leave of their child.
It was two years old, a little girl.
She was just being led through the gate, and turned as her mother’s heart cry of woe went out to her. But the guard hurried her along, and the gate clanged behind her.
“Do you know them?” asked Yoko, pointing to the bereaved parents.
The woman was sobbing on her husband’s breast.
It was Mabel.
“They evidently love each other,” he sneered.
I said nothing, but my fingers twitched to get at his throat.
“I think I’ll make myself known to her,” he said. “She’ll like that. I’ll tell her you are watching her, too. She’ll like that still better. Ha, ha!”
He laughed a loud wicked laugh that stamped him for the devil he was.
Still I did not speak.
But I heard my teeth grate as my jaws clenched.
I sprang at him, spread my fingers round his throat, and squeezed it.
I held his throat with one hand, while his tongue protruded and his eyes bulged out, and forced him out of the Colony grounds through a side gate.
Then I released him, dropped my right arm, brought it up with a terrific swing, and landed my fist on his jaw.
He fell with a crash, and his head struck the kerb, spattering it with blood.
I turned on my heel.
That was the last I saw of Yoko — and of Mabel.
[The End.]
Source:
Rata, The Coloured Conquest, Sydney (NSW): N.S.W. Bookstall Co., 1904, pp. 117-126
Editor’s notes:
bungalow = a single-storey house or cottage (normally with rooms all on one level, although sometimes with an attic, or rooms built in the roof space); a small dwelling situated in the grounds of a house (typically in the backyard), sometimes self-contained (with its own bathroom and toilet facilities), also known as a “granny flat” (due to such a dwelling often being used to house a grandmother, usually related to the family inhabiting the main house)
See: 1) “Bungalow”, Wikipedia
2) “bungalow 1”, Macquarie Dictionary
gaol = an alternative spelling of “jail” (prison)
man-o’-war = man-o’-war = a sailing ship designed or outfitted for combat, a naval fighting ship equipped with cannons and powered by sails (also spelt: man-of-war)
negroes = plural of “negro”: a black person; someone of black African racial origin
New World = the Americas (North America and South America), distinct from the Old World (Africa, Asia, and Europe); North, Central, and South America, and the associated islands; the Western Hemisphere
See: “New World”, Wikipedia
obtained = prevailed, existed, was established, was generally recognised (e.g. the weather conditions which obtained in the northern areas, the unfavourable conditions which obtained in the last financial year); can also mean: to have acquired or procured something (e.g. obtained a new car, obtained a pay rise, obtained permission)
quadruplication = to quadruple, to multiply by four, to increase fourfold
R.N. = (abbreviation) Royal Navy (of the United Kingdom)
See: “Royal Navy”, Wikipedia
sick man = a reference to the Ottoman Empire (the Turkish Empire) as “the sick man of Europe”, regarding its economic difficulties in the 1850s; the origin of the phrase is attributed to Nicholas I (1796-1855), Emperor of the Russian Empire; the phrase “the sick man of Europe” has subsequently been applied to several other European countries which were undergoing economic difficulties
See: 1) “Why was the Ottoman Empire called “the sick man of Europe”?”, Encyclopædia Britannica
2) “Sick man of Europe”, Wikipedia
supernumerary = someone or something which is in addition to, beyond, or extra to the prescribed, standard, or usual amount or number; someone who participates or works in an association, group, or organisation without being part of the regular or core staff (the numerary), such as an assistant or substitute
suzerain = a country, empire, state, or power which politically controls or dominates a subservient foreign country or state (generally allowing the dependent, subservient, or vassal state to control its own internal affairs, but not its external affairs or foreign relations); an overlord or feudal lord to whom vassals owe fealty and obedience
suzerainty = dominionship, overlordship, protectorship; the right of a country, empire, state, or power to rule over a subservient foreign country or state; the authority, characteristics, position, or power of a suzerain; the area or domain subject to a suzerain; the relationship between a suzerain and a vassal state
Tokio = an archaic spelling of Tokyo (capital city of Japan)
[Editor: Changed “many a secret hoard of Indian Prince” to “many a secret hoard of an Indian Prince”.]
Leave a Reply