Daily national Democrat., 1859-01-15
The Chinese Passenger Act.

| were entertained as to the cOnstitutiOnality
of the Act of the Legislature of 1858, pro
hibiting the landing of the Chinese passen
gers upon our shores. The following are the
principal sections in the Act
SECTION !. On and after the 1st day of Octo-
Der, 1855, any person or persons of the Chinese
or Mongolian races shall not be permitted to en-
ter this State or land therein, or i'm any port or
part thereof; and it shall be unlawful for any man
or person, whether captain or commander or 9TH
er person in charge OF, or interested in, or EN-
| poyed ON board of, or passenger upon, any yes-
sci or vessels, of any nature or description what.
| ever, to knowingly allow or permit any Chinese
or Mongolan, on aud after such time, to enter
any of the ports this State, to land therein. or
at any place or places within the borders of this
State; any person or persons violating any of the
provisions Of this Act shall be held and deemed
guilty of misdemeanor, and upon conviction
thereof shall be subject to a fine in any sum, not
less than four hundred dollars nor more than six
hundred dollars, for each and every offcnse, or
Imprisonment in the county jail of the county IN
which the said oflense was committed, for pe-
rod of not less than three months nor more than
one year. or by both such fine and imprisonment
SEC. 2. The landi e of each and every Chi
nese or Mongolan person, or persons, shall be
deemed and held as distinct and separate Of
Tense, and punished accordingly.
The question of the validity of this Act
came up on a writ of ha6eas corpus, sued out
upon the arrest of one Hossack who had
landed number of Chinese from his ship at
San Francisco. Upon hearing, the Court
caused the following order to be entered:
In the n'dtter Of the petition Of Joseph Hossack,
on Hdbeds C0rpuS.-The defendent claims his dis
charge from Imprisonment upon the ground that
the Act of the Legislature of April Goth, 1858,
entitled "An Act to prevent the further immigra-
ton of Chinese or Mongolans ~ so far as concerns
the first and second sections thereof is unc9nsti.
tional. He is in custody for an alleged violation
of those sections. Upon the authority of the
cases of How, 392, and CAL, I69 we hold
that the prisoner is entitled to his discharge The
pressure OF other business, prior in time and OBJ
legation, forbids our giving in full the reasons
which have determined our action; but we pro-
pose to do so, as the question is of interest and
Importance, as soon we can consistently with
more pressing business.
The prisoner is discharged. BALDWIN, ].
| concur: FIELD. j.
The probability is that the Court will give
as its reasons for the prisoners discharge,
that the sections above named are unconsti.
tutional
1t appears, then, that there is no remedy
for the prevention of the influx of this race
upon our shores. within the power of our
Legislature, except the imposition upon them
of very onerous tax for the privilege of
mining. The Act of April 22d, 1855, impos
ing per capita tax of $50 on each Chinese
passenger arriving in our ports, embraced
the only method of direct prevention, other
than the prohibition contained in the Act of
1853. Both methods have failed, and the
only remedy left is the power of taxing the
Chinese as foreign miners. Should this pow
er be used to such an extent MS virtually to
exclude the Chinese from the mines, it might
give rise to a question as to whether it was
not piece of State legislation conflicting
with the existing treaty between the United
States and China, treaties being the supreme
Jaw of the land. We have not that treaty
before us, but it is our impression that the
advantages of commercial and other inter
course on the part Of our citizens with China
are reciprocal; that is to say, that Chinese
subjects coming into the United States are
entitled to the same treatment that Ameri-
cans are to receive in China.
This question of Chinese immigration we
foresee is to become one of vast Importance
to the interests of this section of the Confed-
eracy. Every effort to erect a barrier against
the incoming flood, on the part of the State
Legislature, has been met and overthrown
by the interposition of the Supreme Court,
and should there be international treaty
to interfere with the last power
that is left to the State 10y her courts, to wit,
the power Of imposing so heavy tax upon
this class of people for the privilege Of min
ing or pursuing other business occupations,
as to drive them from the country,
California is left perfectly helpless in the
presence of an evil which many persons look
upon as one of almost inconceivable magni-
tudei As the case now stands, millions of
Chinese may pour into our limits without
pause or interruption. The danger that they
may do so is one very disagreeabe to con-
template, but whether they will do so is a
question. The statistics on the subject do
not indicate that they will, inasmuch as the
present Chinese population in this State does
not number much more than it did as far
back as 1852, when the policy of legislation
upon the subject was first considered with
any great degree of seriousness
There is one thing to be observed in this
connection, and that is, that it Is TO the inter.
est of certain large portion of our own
population that Chinese immigration should
go on. Merchants at the Bay, we should
suppose, and agriculturists on a large scale,
would be directly benefited. The latter in
particular would find the Chinese cooley
valuable possession upon the reclaimed
swamp lands of the State, which will one
day be turned into extensive rice fields.
The subject is one of great moment, and
this particular branch of it particularly wor
thy Of consideration. but we shall not pursue
it farther at present
S. F. AND NJ r. Rive extract the follow.
ing conclusion to a well written article in
reference to the San Francisco and Marysyille
Railroad from tba 9 Il TaIaOrar, oF N ,,u. H.