US Presidency
1888

By a note from the charge ' d'affaires ad interim of China to the Secretary of State, received on the evening of the 25th ultimo ( a copy of which is herewith transmitted, together with the reply thereto ), a third amendment is proposed, whereby the certificate under which any departing Chinese laborer alleging the possession of property in the United States would be enabled to return to this country should be granted by the Chinese consul instead of the United States collector, as had been provided in the treaty. The obvious and necessary effect of this last proposition would be practically to place the execution of the treaty beyond the control of the United States. Article I of the treaty proposed to be so materially altered had in the course of the negotiations been settled in acquiescence with the request of the Chinese plenipotentiary and to his expressed satisfaction.