The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1879-02-20

is no other remedy, none to be obtained |
by and through negotiation and treaty !
stipulation with them, then, sir, and then !
only, for the first time will it be in order |
in the parliament of morals to commence |
the consideration of such a proposition |
as this.
Then if l believed to be true every
word of description as to the evil from
which the body polite is suffering or
likely to suffer from the immigration Of
Chinese passengers into this country,
which is represented by gentlemen who
| admit have far moro personal knowl-
edge on the subject than |, nevertheless
this treaty, this binding and solemn COM
pact, this covenant and oath into which
we have entered with them, would to my
mind present at the outset an insupera-
bic barrier to the attempt to remedy the
evil in the mode proposed.
But it is said that there is an emergen-
cy that justifes exceptional and extraor-
binary measures, that is so great that the
national interests which we are bound to
observe and protect cannot afford to wait
the ordinary course of negotiations. How
long has this emergency existed How
severe and great has been this peril p
The Senator from California Mr.. Sar-
gent says that he lifted up his voice
against it, l know not how many years
ago, ten or twelve, or it may be more.
But where is it that we SUE :, aad how,
and is it possible that the imag ned dan
ger is so imminent and deadly that we
cannot wait the few months longer that
may be needed to solve the preliminary
but essential question? For my part l
am not convinced by the statements
and the arguments which | have heard
that the peril is SO great as that would
require.
We are told that these people are all
lens to us, aliens in thought, aliens in
religion, aliens in language, aliens in
dress, aliens in race, aliens in every cir
cumstance of civilization, and that their
| presence is a fatal poison in our body
polite. All, Mr.. President, l thought
American civilization was robuster child
than that. l thought from the desorip
tions which from boyhood l have read
and heard in reference to the vigor of
our character as a people and the adapta-
ton to all possible human circumstances
of our admirable and perfect institutions
| of freedom, that this was a land and
country which could safely welcome to
its shores the outcasts of every other
cline, that its powers of digestion and of
| assimilation were such that the very evils
which afflicted mankind elsewhere would
be taken up into the blood and circula-
ton of this people and convey nutriment
and health and strength to every limb
and part of our economy. 1t is the boast,
perhaps my friend the Senator from Cal
ifornia who sits nearest to me Mr..
Booth may sarcastically say, of Fourth
of July orators. All Mr.. President, has
the oratory that is peculiar to the Fourth
of July come to be kissing and by
word, a scorn and a reproach, and our
flag "a Haunting lie" in this day and gen
Grafton when we supposed that we had
practically vindicated every abstract and
elemental truth in the Declaration of our
! Independence Is it enough to smother
opposition and put down argument, to
say that that is merely the sentimental
ty of a Fourth of July oratory, and not
| the words of soberness and truth Then
by what token is it that we vaunt the
superiority of our civilization and of our
government and of our institutions over
those of the effete monarchies and despo-
tisms of the Old World ? Is it or is it
not true that the young democracy of this
continent is still lusty giant able to
throttle all the serpents that attack him
even in his cradle, and to outlive all the
ordinary contingencies and vicisstudes
which have sapped and undermined the
| foundations of other governments be-
cause they were not founded on the doc
trines of human equality and human
rights
Is our religion so exotic, SO merely
professional, SO merely sentimental that
the joss in the temple of 1.-The heather
Chinese" is likely to supplant in our af
fections and veneration the great Il Am"
who called into being him as we'll as US,
and made Himself the Father of US all I?
Or is it not great conquering, over
whelming, and triumphant propaganda
which going forth from its original seat
in the land of Judea, known to US as the
Holy Land, preached as the gospel "to
every creature and made the welcome
tidings of peace on earth and good will
to men" without respect to color of their
skin or any other of the accidents of race
or birth Are we compelled by voting
for this bill not only to admit that our
democracy is piece of hypocrisy, but
that our religion is a sham and a super
stition? Is there indeed God above or
righteousness on earth or any tru tn or
reality in the unseen things which we are
told are eternal when the seen things
shall have passed away like scroll ?
And yet, if l understand the argument
it is because the freedom of our institu
tions and the purity of our religion are
endangered by the budding together of
forty thousand Chinese in the city of
San Francisco And we are warned by
the history Of the ages and the expe-
rience of the world and our own 'observa
tion that we should be very careful how
we endanger the peace and security of
our age by counting the essential conflict
of antagonist races The same cry made
the Jew an exile for hundreds of years
and crowded him into the Ghetto at We
nice because he was an alien in race and
had crucified our Saviour. The same
thing made chattel slave of the poor
African that had been torn from his
! home and brought here against his will.
And we are reminded of the dire and
bloody conflicts which his presence in
spired and carried on until our own land
saw them expire in the blood of hund
reds of thousands of patriotic men. All
Mr.. President, was it the presence of the
black man on this continent that brought
in upon us all this woe, or was it his
presence here as slave? Was it not
rather the presence, of that invisible spec
ter, the injustice with which we treated
him, which came upon US with the retri
button of a just Heaven and inflicted up
on us the punishment for our joint and
common sin ?
Conflict of races? Sir, is the globe not
big enough for US all? Who made it and
those that dwell upon its face and made
them all of one blood with one immor
tality and the same destiny Is there any
gentleman here that thinks he is compe-
tent to improve upon the work of crea-
ton and make it better than it was made
by Him that doeth all things we'll? If
we can live upon the surface of the same
earth, what hinders US from living to-
gether on the same continent? Are we
to have no communication with them, no |
intercourse commercial political, per-
sonal? Why, Mr. President, the civiliza-
ton of Europe thundered on the Asiatic |