Daily Los Angeles herald., 1878-07-30
me ch,nsss K.nDa.sy.

What effect the Chinese Embas-
sy will have upon the great ques-
tIon which 80 seriously agitates
this State, it is impossible to say.
Nr. Seward, who accompanies it,
u Of the opinion that it would not
be well to urge any change or mod
il1cation OF the Burlingame treaty,
but to proceed to meet the evil by
Congressional legislation. If those
eminent Constitutional lawyers
who agree that treaty can be SUI
perceded by an act of Congress are
correct, this would doubtless be the
sasIest mode Of restricting the inn
migration, but as long as the treaty
specifically grants TO the Chinese
the.free right of domestication, the
question would remain unsettled,
and We might find, after having
Waived our objections to the treaty,
that the Supreme Court had taken
; different view Of the paramount
Importance of treaty obligations
over acts Of Congress. II Califor-
MIA cannot secure Immunity from
the Chinese inundation now, we
fear that the evil will beco ome SO
fixed hereafter that it will be i'm
possible to successfully oppose it.
Tbs people Of this coast are almost
. unit on the subject. Public sem
timent is fixed and pronounced,
and the united opinion OF the peo'
pie Of California will never be so
compact and earnest again as it is
now. We must force o solution of
the problem at the next Congress,
or give up hope o: any peaceabie
solution of 1t afterward. Commu-
mites, like indiyidua,s, wear out
In their efforts 10 keep up a strain
Of compact agitation on single
subject, aud should the time unfor-
tuuateIy come when our people will
cease to look for protection from
the Government from the inroads
Of the Chinese, we fear that peace.
ful agitation will give way to a
despair which may result in vio-
lenss aud bloodshed. For the sake
Of peace, Ii nothing else. We must
insist on speedy solution of the
question by the Government. We
must, despite The diplomatic wiles
OF the Embassy, continue to urgs
the Government to cut the GorJian
knot by modification of the ex-
listing treaty, and at tie samo time
require OF Congress to pass such
bills as will make it impossi
BILE for ship loads of coolies
to be landed upon our shores. This
question of unrestricted Imm;gra
tion, when 1t concerns peoples
whom our system of civilization
cannot digest, must be met sone
time, and 1t ought to be met now,
before the evil has goue beyond
our own coast-before it has -aLu.
rated, so to speak, the entire coun-
try and brought the same evils to
the Atlantic States 1t has brought
to those west Of the Rocky mou n
tsius. The United States Govern
ment can afford to take high
ground with the Embassy. 1t can
AGord t, draw line between the
free influx of aliens who arc assim-
ilAtiye with our own people and
those who woul always re main
an alien an distinctive element in
our milst. OUr government Is
based on a pol tical system which
finds alt its strength in the capaci-
ty of the psople TO take pa rt in
our ins become homo
geneous not only as citizens but in
= social sense. The Chinese can
become neither. A thousand
years hence they would be exactly
In the same'condition they are now.
We cannot afford to encourage the
Immigration of a race which can
not be grated Oh our own. We
cannot afford to Invite a people to
come to our shores when the prac-
tical effect OF their presence is to
drive out our own people, and to
supplant American civilization
with sto,;d and immovable civil.
izstion which should be kept |
where 1t belongs. Notwithstand-
lag the presence of the Chinese
Embassy in Washington, our pee
pie should not relax their efforts TO |
arouse the American Government |
to the full scope Of the danger in
volved III unrestricted Asiatic i'm.
migration, and to make 1t feel that |
The first law of nature, self-preser-
yation, should be appealed to in
Qualification of the abrogation of
that portion Of the Burlingame
treaty which gives the Asiatic race
free ingress into this county.
Gssia and Grant.