The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1852-06-09

up three or four hundred dollars a year. Like
all other nations, and as Is particularly TO be
pee ed Of them, many return home with their
money, there 10 remaln, buy rice fields, build
| houses, and devote themselves 10 the society Of
their own households and the increase of the
products Of their country, ofits exports and i'm
ports of its commerce and the general wealth
Of the world. BIT not Ill; otbers--fuIl AZ many
as OF other nations--invest their gains in mer-
chartize aud bring It into the country and sell
il at your markets. II is possible, sir, that you
may not be aware how great this trade il, and
how rapidly il is increasing, aud how many are
now returning 60 California as merchants who
came over originally aB miners We are not
able TO tell you how much has been paid by Chi
nese importers at the cusiom-house, but the sum
must be very large. In this city alone there are
twenty stores kept by Chinameu, who own the
lots and erected the buildings Themselves. In
these stores great deal of business is done all
kinds Of Chinese goods, rice, silks, sugar, tea,
etc, are sold in them, and also great quantity
OF American goods, especially boots, OF which
every Chinamau buys one more pairs imme
diately on landing. And then there are the
| American stores dealing in Chinese articles on
IA very large scale, aud some with the most re-
markable success.
! The emigration of the Goodies" as your
excellency rather mstakingly calls us, is attend.
ed with the opening of all this Chinese trade,
which il IT produces the same results here as
elsewhere, will yet be The pride and riches Of
| this city and State. One of the subscribers of
this letter is now employed clerk in an
| American store, because Of The services he can
render them rs broker in business with his
countymen; he has sometimes sold $4,000 "A
Day of Chinese goods. Chy Lung, who ar
| rfuaI f.u d,vs s;n wifi
in China goods, has sold out and returns for
another cargo on the Challenge. Fei Chaong,
who brought in a cargo about month ago, has
sold out, and also returns in the Challenge So
does the partner of Sam-wa of this city Tux
Shaong for the same purpose--for more than .
year he has been continually importing and
| selling cargoes. "A great many Others send for
goods by the Challenge, ard all the other ships
which you speak of as being expected, will
bring cargoes of Chinese goods as well as Chi
namen. Nor does this by any means give you
full idea of the trade of the Cinnamon. They
not only freight your ships, but they have
bought many of them, and will buy more; and
as to the freighting of ships, it may be worthy
of your attention to know. that such is our pre-
ference for your countryman, that we employ
your ships in preference to any Others even
when we could get them cheaper. When ship
arrives, every body sees how actively and profit
ably your drays, steamboats,, wagons, g.. are
employed by US. Some of us read in the papeis,
the othe day, that the government of the Uni.
ted States were going to send ships to Japan, to
open that country to American trade. That is
what we supposed your country wished with
China as well as other countries, but it cannot
all be on one side, and it is plain that the more
advantages I'VE get from your country, the
faster you will get the benefits of our trade.
| The gold we have been allowed to dig in your
mines is what has made China trade gro v up so
fast, like everything else in this country. If
| you want to check immigration from Asia, you
will have to do it by checking Asiatc CON-
merce, which we supposed from all that we
have ever known of your government, the Uni
ted States most desired to increase
Whit your excelency has said about passing
law TO prevent coolies shipped to California
under contracts from laboring in the mines, we
do not conceive concerns us, for there are none
such here from China, nor do we believe any are
coming except small number perhaps, who
work on shares, as we have before explained,
just people from all other countries some
times do. We will not believe it is your iuten.
ton to pass law treating us as coolies whether
we are so or not. You say there is no treaty
provision for the manner in which Chinese emf
grants shall be treated, and that the Chinese gov
eminent would have no right to complain of any
law excluding us from the country, by taxation
or otherwise. This may be true of the govern
ment, but it would certainly ALLEVIATE the present
remarkably friendly feelings Of the Chinese
people, and in many ways interfere with the full
enjoyments Of the commercial privileges guar.
anleed to the Americans by the treaty of Wan
ghiya.
! In what we here say we have most carefully
told your excellency the truth, but we fear you
will not believe US, because you have spoken in
your message of us "a Asiatics, "ignorant of the
solemn character of the oath or affrmati on in
the form prescribed in the Constitution and the
statutes," or " Indifferent to the solemn obiga
ton to speak the truth which an oath imposes"
1t ia truth, nevertheless, and we leave it to time
and the proof which our words carry in them TO
satisfy you of the fact. 1t has greved us that
You should publish so bad character of us,
and we wish that you could change your opinion
and speak well of us to the public. We do not
deny that many Cinnamon tell lies. and so do
many Americans, even in courts of justice But
| we have our courts, too, and our forms Of oaihs
which are as sacredy respected by our country
men other nations respect theirs. We do
not swear upon so many little questions as you
| do, and our forms will seem as ridiculous to you
| as yours do to us when we first see them
| You will smile when we tell you that on or
binary occasions an oath is attested by burning
a piece of yellow paper, and on the more mpor
tant ones by cutting off the head of cock !;
yet these are only forms, and cinnot be of
great importance, we would think. But in the
important matters we are good men; we honor
our parents; we take care Of our children; we
are industrious and peaceable; we trade much;
we are trusted with small and large sums we
pay our debts and are honest, and of course
must tell the truth. Good men cannot tell lies
and be ignorant of the difference between right
and wrong We do not think much about your
politics, but we believe you are mistaken in sup
posing no Chnaman has ever yet applied to be
naturalized, or has acquired a domcil in the
United States excepth here. The is Chnaman
now in San Francisco who is said to be uatu
rallied citizen, and to have free white Ameri
can wife. He wears the American dress, and is
considered man of responsibility. And there