The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-07-08

duce us to unite in the demand that this inn |
migration be stopped, though our present
leaning is adverse to this. Bot whatever may
should be done as to future soiourners
from the Flowery Land, there are certain in
termedate propositions which no republican
or true democrat, no American of Revolution
ary faith or stock, and above all, no Chris
tian, can possibly demur to- They are as
fOllows:-- tII.f I. |
J. The Chinese already in our country we're |
fully authorized to come among us. Our laws, !
our customs, the genius of our institutions,
assured them welcome and the fullest pro-
lection for their persons and property For
every case of robbery, abuse, or maltreatment
of a Cbinaman in this country, our Govern
ment owes full reparation and cannot with
out gross perfdy, refuse to respond favorably
to any demand for indemnity which China
may see fit to make.
ii. Since it is notorious that the Chinese
are habitually abused, maltreated robbed
and every way wronged by our countrymen,
while the laws of the States wherein they are
mainly found conspire against them by re-
fusing them opportunity to testify in courts
of justice, it would be idle to set up that these
wrongs are the forbidden acts of few bad
men. California, as a body polite, makes
herself the accomplice and shield of the
wrong-doers.
Ill The pretense that the Chinese on our
Pacific coast are slaves is false. Having no
money at home, and accustomed to work there
for 50 per month, they are solicited by capt.
talists or spectators who tell them, ''We will
pay your passage to America, and allow you
to work it out for 81 per month; that done,
you can sell your labor to whomsoever you
will for 800 to $50 per month'-which they
do. This contract may be usurious, but the
poor fellows close with the best terms offered
them, and are no more slaves than is any one
who, being in debt, contracts to work it out.
~ Most of us profess to be Christians
after some sort, and expect the conversion of
China to Christianity. But every Chinese
who spends few years in America, and then
returns to his native land Gas nearly all who
survive do, becomes inevitably an obstacle
to the conversion of his country. He says to
them, ''Never believe what these missiona-
ries tell you about Christians and Christianity.
have tried them thoroughly and know by
sad experience that they are rufhans, robbers,
and cruel tyrants, abusing the weak and help
less stranger as no true disciple of Confucius
ever did or will do. Beware of them !" Five
thousand pious missionaries may wear out
their lives commencing Christianity to
the Chinese without counteracting all the
evils that the Californians have already done.
V. While we do not finally decide that Chi
nese immigration is a good thing, we are
strongly moved to do so by some of
| Thus, Hon. Eugene Casserly, Democratic
United States Senator, in his recent speech at
| San Francisco, says:-
SIT is the duty of every class Of men to unite to
prevent the Introduction of the Chinese If they
come in contact only with the common laborers to-
mason, the brcklayer, the carpenter, and the ma
chnist for they are the most frugal Industrious and
| the splendid granite building occupied by Wells,
| Fargo Co., the stone of which was cut in China,
an1x hnil nv Man nxyhn nn q1nb
work for less than half the price paid white mechan
| with any party that would energetic means to
keep them out of the country. There was only one
party that could be depended upon for that purpose
| and that was the true old Democracy"
If this be sound, logical craftsmanship,
| then the Chinese have only to become idle,
| dissolute, clumsy, and rapacious, to render
them valuable acquisitions to a rising State.
Let them combine to ask more for their work
than others do, or to do less for the money
they receive, and they will be welcomed to
our soil and to Democratic fellowship.
Mr.. Casserly boasts that his party is the
only dependence for energetic means to
keep them out of the party" That is too
probable. But, as that country is every way
out of power, cannot pass an act of Congress,
nor expound one, nor execute it, the 'ener-
getic means" at its command are restricted to
the bludgeon, the brickbat, the slung-shot,
the revolver, and such little amenities of as
sault, robbery, and arson, to which the
Chinese have hitherto been subjected in Cali
fornia. What the Democracy of that State
can do in the way of legislation is mainly of
negative kind; that is, the State can pass laws
to screen her Caucasian ruffians from the
righteous penalties of their misdeeds, when
the victims are nothing but Chinese. This
she has done; this, so long as she has Demo
cratic rulers, she will probably continue to
do But still the Chinese flock hither; so.the
Democratic ''means," though clearly ''ener-
getic," seem nowise effectual.
What then?