St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-03-07


cause, so as to produce an estrangement
between them, and if any other nation
should act unjustly or oppFessively, the
United States will exert tI'eir good Of
fees on being Informed of the case to
bring about an amicable arrangement
of the question, thus showing their
friendly feeling"
At the date of the negotiation of this
treaty our Pacific possessions had at
tracted considerable Chinese immigra-
ton, and the advantages and the incon-
veniences felt or feared therefrom had
become more or less manifest, but they
dictated no stipulatiOns on the subject
to be incorporated in the treaty. The
year 1868 was marked by the striking
event of a spontaneous embassy from
the Chinese empire, headed by an
American citizen, Arson Burlingame,
who had relinqpished his diplomatic
representation of his own country in
China to assume that of the Chinese
empire to the United States and the
European nations. By this time, the
facts of the Chinese immigration and
its nature and influence, present and
prospective, had become more nOticea-
BILE, and were more observed by the
population Immediately affected and by
this government. The principal feature
of the Burliugame treaty was its treat
ment of Chinese immigration and the
Chinese as forming, or as they should
form, a part of our population. UP to
this time our uucOvenanted hospitality
to immigration, our fearless liberty of
citizenship, our equal and cOmprehen-
sive Justice to all inhabitants, whether
they abjured their foreign nationality
or not, our civil freedom and our reli
giOus liberation had made all corners
welcome, and under these projections
the Chinese in considerable numbers
had made. their Judgment upon our
soil.
The Burlingame treaty undertakes TO
deal with this situation, and its 5th and
9th articles embrace its most important
provisions in this regard and the main
stipulations in which the Chinese gov
eminent has secured an obligatory pro
lection of its subjects within our terri
tory. They read as follows =
Article - The United States of
America and the emperor of China cor
daily recognize the inherent and inal
ienable right of man to change his home
and allegiance, and also the mutual adj
vantage of the free migration and i'm
migration of their citizens and subjects
respectively from the one country to
the other for purposes of curiosity, of
trade OF us to permanent residents. The
high contracting parties, therefore, join
in reprObating any other than an en-
tirely voluntary emigration for these
purposes. They consequently agree to
pass laws making it Il penal Otfense for
IL citizen of the United States, or Chi
nese subjects, to take Chinese subjects
either to the United States or to any
other foreign country, or for a Chinese
subject or citizen of the United States
to China or to any other foreign coun-
try, without their free and voluntary
consent respectively.
Article Citizens of the United
States visiting or residing in China shall
enjoy the same privileges, immunity or
exemptions i'll respect to travel or resi-
dence as may there be enjoyed 10y citi-
Zens or subjects of the most favored IA
ton, and, reciprOcally, Chinese subjects
visiting or residing in the United States
shall enjoy the same privileges, immu
mites and exemptions in respect to
travel or residence rs may there toe en-
joyed by the citizens or subjects of the
most favored nation bat nothing here
in contained shall be held to confer
naturalization upon citizens of the Uni
ted States in China nor upon the sub
iects of China in the United States.
An examination of these two articles
in the light of the experience, then in
tiuential i'll suggesting their necessity"
will show that the fifth article was
framed i'll hostility to what seemed the
mischiefto be guarded against,
to wit, the Introduction of Chinese la
borerS by methods which should have
the character of forced and servile
importation, and not of voluntary
of free men seeking our
shores, upon motives and in a manner
consistent with the system of our inSti-
tutlons and approved by the experience
of the nation. Unquestionably the adj
heSion of the government of China to
these liberal principles of freedom in
with which we were so IA
mIliar, and with which we were so well
satisfied, WAS IL great advance toward
opening that empire to our civilization
and religion, and gave promise in the
future of greater practical results in the
diffusion throughout that great popula-
ton of our arts and industries. our
manufactures, our national improve
ments and the sentiments of government
and religion which seem to us so i'm
portant to the welfare of mankind. The
first clause of this article secures this
acceptance by China of the American
doctrines of free migration to and fro
among the people and races of the earth.
he SnpnnI rlDnsn hnNunN-nr in
probation of "any other than an entire
ly voluntary emigration by both the
high contracting parties, and in the re-
ciprOcal obligations whereby we secured
the solemn and unqualified engagement
on the part OF the government of China
ito pass laws making it penal offense
Tor IL citizen of the United States, or
Chinese subjects, to take Chinese sub
Jects either to the United States or to
any other foreign country without their
free and voluntary CONSENT constitutes
the great force and value of this article. |
Its Importance, both in principle and in
Its practical service toward our protec-
ton against servile importation in the |
gulse of immigration, cannot be over
estimated. 1t commits the Chinese gov
eminent to active and efficient measures
to suppress this iniquitious system,
where those measures are most neces-
sary, and can be most effectual. 1t gives
to this government the footing of IA |
treaty right to such measures, and op-
portunities of insisting upon their adop-
ton and of complaint and resentment
at their neglect. The fifth Article, there
fore, if it fall short of what the latter
experience of our Pacific states NAV
urge upon the attention of this govern
ment as essential to the public welfare.
seems to be in the right direction and
to contain imnOrtant advantameS Which