National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1879-03-03

secures this acceptance by Chinaof the Amer.
lean doctrines of free migration to and fro
among the peoples and races OF the earth. The
second clause, however, in Its reprobation OF
| ANY other than an entirely voluntary emigra
ton" by both the high contracting parties,
and in the reciprocal obligations whereby VIC
secured the solemn aud unqualified engage
ment on the part of the government of China
TO pass laws making 1t q penal ohense for
citizen OF the United States or Chinese sub
liects 10 take Chinese subjects 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 prnc-
pie and in its practical service toward our
protection against servile importation In the
guise of immigration cannot be overcstimatod.
1t commits the Chinese government to active
and efficient measures to suppress this iniquit-
Gus system where those measures are most
necessary and can be most etlectual 1t gives
TO this Government the footing OF treaty
right to such measures and the means and OPP
portunity Of insisting upon their adoption and
of complaint aud resentment at their neglect.
The fifth Iarticle, therefore, If it fall short of
what the pressure of the later experience of our
Pacific states may urge upon the attention oil
this Government as essential to the public well
fare seems to be in the right direction, and TO
contain important advantages which, once re-
lnquished, cannot be easily recovered
PROTECTION TO AMERICANS AND CiItNEsE.
The second topic which interested the two
governments, under the actual condition of
things which prompted the Burlingame treaty,
was adequate protection under the solemn and
definite guarantees of n treaty of the Chinese
: already in this country and those who should
! seek our shores This was the object, and
forms the sixth article by whose reci iprocal en-
gagement the citizens and subjects Of the two
Z governments respectively visiting and rcsid
ing in the country of the other are secured the
lmmuniiips
, there enjoyed by the citizens or subjects Of the
, most favored nation. The treaty Of 1858, to
which these articles are made supplemental,
provides for n great amount Of privilege and
protection, both for person and property, for
American citizens in China; but it is upon
this sixth article that the main body of the
treaty rights and securities of the Chinese al
ready in this country depends. Its abrogatiOn
were the rest of the treaty left in force, would
c leave them to such treatment MS we should
voluntarily accord them by our laws
and customs any treaty obligation would be
, wanting to restrain our liberty of action to-
4 ward them or to measure or sustain the right
V of the Chinese government to complaint or re-
S dress in their behalf. The lapse of ten years
i since the negotiation of the Buringamc treaty
i has exhibited to the notice of the Chinese gov
= ernment, as well as TO our own people, the
o working of this experiment of i.nmi igration.in
great numbers of Chinese laborers to this
u country and their maintenance here of all the
II traits of race religion, manners aud customs,
e habitation, mode of life, segregation here, and
s the keeping up of the ties Of their original
s- home, which stamp them rs strangers and
II soiourners, and not as Incorporated elements
,f of our national life and growth. This expert
e ence may naturally suggest the reconsidera
i ton of the subject as dealt with by the Bur-
d lingame treaty, and may properly become the
occasion of more direct and crcumspect recog-
milton in renewed negotiations of the difficult
10 ties surrounding this political and social
L problem.
g 1t may well be that to the apprehension of the
l. Chinese government, no less than our own, the
Q simple provisions of the Burlingame treaty
e may need to be replaced by more careful meth
l. ods, securing the Chinese and ourselves against
y u larger and more rapid infusion of this foreign
l. race than our system of industry and society
is can take up and assimilate with ease and
= safety. This ancient Government, ruling pO-
o lite and sensitive people, distinguished by q
l. high sense Of national pridc, may properly de-
is sire an adjustment of their relations with us
r which would in all things confirm and in no
'i degree endanger the permanent peace and
&c amity and the growing commerce and prosper
ID ity which it has been the object and the effect
y of our existing treaties TO cherish and perpetu
ate.
J. DISSATISFACTION OF THE PACIFIC COAST.
IS l regard the very grave dscontents of the
d people of the Pacific States with the present
e working of the Chinese immigration and thcir
y still grlver apprehensions therefrom in the
y future as deserving the most serious attention
1t of the people of the whole country and a solic-
d itOus interest on the part of Congress hnd the
es Executive If this were not my own judg
ID ment, the passage of this bill by both Houses
T. of Congress would impress upon me the serious
ir ness of the situation when mniority of the
o. representatives of the people of the whole
ID country had thought it necessary to justify So
n, serious measure of relief.
Dr TREATY MAKING UNDER THE CONSTITUTION
n The authority Of Congress to terminate a
le treaty with foreign Power by expressing the
will of the nation to no longer adhere to it, Is
as free from controversy under our Consti
lg tuition as is the further proposition that the
IL power of making new treaties modifying
. existing treaties is not lodged by the Consti
is tuition in Congress, but in the President ty
~ and with the advice and consent of the Senate
re as shown by the concurrence of two-thirds o
IS. that body. A denunciaton of treaty by any
a government is confcssedy justifable only
I'd upon some reason, both of the highest justic,
I'd and of the highest necessity. The action o
G. Congress in the matter of the French treaties
ne in 1898, if it be regarded as an abrogation by
as this nation of subsisting treaty, strongly H.
IL lustrates the character and degree of justifca
g, tion which was then thought suitable to such
Il a proceeding. The preamble of the act recite
,s that the treaties concluded between the United
of States and France have been repeatedly violated
IS on the part of the French government, and the
ed just claims of the United States for reparatior
,e' of the injuries committed have been refused
Ill and their attempts to negotiate an amicable ad
ms justment Of all complaints between the TIVE
de nations have been repelled with indgnity,
ne and that 'under authority of the French gov
m, eminent there is yet pursued against thu
,st United States system of predatory violenc'
he nfracting the said treaties and hostile to th
NJ rights of free and independent nation" Th
of enactment, as a logical consequence of thes
rs rected facts, declares "that the United State
are of right freed aud exonerated from III
he stpulations of the treaties and of the con
snt sular convention heretofore concluded between
me the United States and France, and tina
,0s Us the same shall not hencefOrth be REGARDED
he as legally obligatory on the Government o
err citizens of the United States" The history O
les the Government shows no other instance of a
en- abrogation of d treaty by Congress. Instance
! - have sometimes occurred where the ordinar
or legislation of Congress has by its conflict wit
to some treaty obligations of the Government tO
,or ward foreign Power taken effect as an IN
@Gs YES fraction Of the treaty, and been judicially dc
nd clared TO be operative to that result. Blu
neither such legislation nor such judicial sane
or ton of the same has been regarded as an abrC
iesi CATION, even for moment, of tho treaty. o
,Vs the contrary, the treaty ia such case still sui