The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-11-16

bHkkCA.
Mr.. Seward has been our minister to China
for SOM time-too long for the interests OF
our country. He was lately superseded by a
new minister, and in his parting address de-
livered to the Chinese secretary OF state in
dulged in an exhibition of ignorance and
duplicity that is truly disgusting. Instead OF
paving the way for the accomplishment OF the
work of the commission that was sent there
to modify the Burlingame treaty or to make
a new one, the irate gentleman did all he
could to raise a barrier against il. He char
a~cterized the new minister as an ignoramus,
and the commission as composed or VISION
aries and one idea men. He told the grand
secretary to stand firm and no change IN the
treaty would be made, and that none was
needed. His assertion, that the Chinese had
been stoned and murdered by the thousands.
and robbed of thirteen millions Of dollars,
and that our government had taken no notice
of these acts, and that justice could not be
obtained by Cinnamon in this country, is cal
culated to place the United States in an un-
6lNldDlC pOSltlou bttolS bhO "oiiNs "hN'> "o
home it stamps Mr.. Seward as a deliberate
~falsiler.
We do not refer to the vaporings OF this
disappointed federal official for the purpose
of using space to disprove his defamation OF
the American people, but to protest against
the custom Of our government i'll sending
fifth-rate politicians or semi-idiots to represent
it at foreign courts. Mr.. Seward is the son OF
the late VIM. II. Seward. He bears the name
of a deceased statesman, and that is all. The |
resemblance ceases with his patronymic. He
is only another instance of q well-known but
an unaccountable physiological fact that
highly intellectual men generally succeed in
begetting fools only. He may have succeed
ed in obtaining the mission to China, not on
his OWL, but on the works of a dead father.
This was probably his only recommendation
of fitness for the position. His pedigree and
not his brains must have been the lever that
him to office. Considerations of this
have and do still influence the gov
in the disposition of its patronage.
and not mental capacity appears 10
pc the measure generally used to determine a |
qualifications for responsible trusts.
We think we are justified in this belief on
other evidence than That in Stewards case. IT
be not the length of the pedigrees of som
of our federal officials that constitutes their
main recommendation to sfice, we confess to
an ignorance of any ether. 1t would certain +
ly puzzle the most astute professor of physi-
ology to point out the mental qualifications
would recommend some OF them for the
positions which they hold.
If Seward is a fair representative of the
feeling entertained by our government on the
Chinese question, we should build no hopes
upon the favorable issue of any action that
the commission to China may take in causing
a modification of or the abrogation Of the
B~urlingame treaty. There is nc question
that his representation to the grand secretary
country will be implicitly believed not only
by that fu~nctionary and his people, but by a
large portion of eastern people whose prac-
teal knowledge of the Chinese question is as
limited as their sympathy for the heather is
gushing. Therefore any action taken by the
commission to restrict the influx of Chinese
to this country may be successfully cembatted
by the Chinese authorities and will be depre-
Gated in the United States by that class of
people who permit their own poor to suffer
while they are knitting socks and sending
warming pans to the Hottentots.
Mr.. Stewards speech should be denounced
by every man in the United States who claims
to possess an intelligent idea on the Chinese
question. We feel assured that the press of
the country will give the gentleman but little
aid and comfort when he returns and seeks at
Its hands an endorsement Of his conduct
abroad. We would advise the ex-minister
to restrain his curiosity to fathom the mys-
teries of the sand lot proceedings and give
that unsavory locality a wide berth when he
reaches San Francisco on his way to his an
cestral hills.
BOARD OFTRADE-