National Republican., 1876-05-20

prlnCipdl pOIt Ou tne Sninooe Soass HUE
which this nefarious traffic Is car
ried on, Hong Kong, is under the
control of Great Britain, and it
seems to us that the same rigid
restrictions which are now i'm
posed by her Britannia Majesty's Govern
ment regulating Chinese immigration to
colonies of the British Crown, and which
hereafter are to be most rigidly enforced,
is as much as we could ask or require by
treaty at the hands of the Chinese Govern
ment in the matter of prohibiting such
emigration to our borders from the remain.
ing treaty ports. And, if these measures do
not entirely abate the evil, they will un-
questionably check it, leaving its ultimate
extirpation to ourselves in the stricter en-
forcement of statutes that now prove abor-
tive. 1t appears also to US conclusive that
the empire of China is powerless to enforce
any decree prohibiting Chinese immigra.
ton so long as its subjects have Hong
Kong and the treaty ports open to them
as outlets; and any treaty, however COM
prehensive, with China would prove as
Intellectual as our own existing laws in d.
verting this stream of pollution from our
midst, which does not irrevocably close
those ports to the coolie, his contractor
and his European carrier. 1t behooves us,
then, in addition to supplementing the
present treaty with China relating to emf
grafton, to lay the subject promptly before
the Treaty Powers, referring to remon-
strances from their own colonists against
the continuance of the evil in Justification
of our urgent claims for immediate and
combined action.
However, it is not now, when local riots
disturb the peace of the comparatively
sparsely settled districts of the Pacific, that
really great danger from Chinese immigra-
ton is to be apprehended, for we believe
that with the destruction of the system Of
enslavement that brings the coolie here,
the means of reaching Americ, will also
be taken away; but in the future, probably
not very distant, when the tide begins to
flow. as it surely will, from the class we
have first described. When this class, the
better and really intelligent body, of the
Chinese population, which has but few of
the vices and all of the virtues of the one
now among us. throngs into the States of
the Pacific, silently but steadily possess
ing itself of all avenues Of industry, and
effectually thrusting aside the more expen-
sive European laborer, then will there be
cause for general and serious alarm.
Crossing the Rocky mountains, this pros
pective exodus will pour down in countless
hosts upon the fields of the West and plan
tations of the South, and penetrating the
East will crowd out by its astonishing
frugallty, steadiness and energy its Csu-
casian antagonist in the factory and work
shop, and eventually revolutionize every
branch of mechanical and agricultural in
dustry throughout the land.
1t is, then, In the advent of this element
from Asia that real peril lies, and one that
will summon all the wisdom of the politi-
cal economist to avert, or possibly the sa-
gacity of the statesman 10 remould into an
appreciated component of the American
State. We do not recommend course ab-
solutely selfish or exclusive as between the
United States and China, but we desire
to urge that a policy, regulated by our own
true interest as far as strict justice to our
citizens and national integrity will permit,
ought to distinguish the conduct of the
statesmen of this great nation in dealing
with most perplexing problem; ever re-
membering, as Mr.. Hamilton has wisely
laid down, that 'the rules of ethics are
.
Individuals" and that the duty of ma
tion in making its own welfare the guide
of its action is always paramount when
questions of international interest are to be
considered.