National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1881-01-19
The Chinese Treaty.

The Chinese commissioners, IN DIS
patch to the State Department dated No
vember II, 1880, review the treaty with
China which had that day been signed.
As some people have fallen into the error
of suppesingt that the conversations which
led'up to the fnality of the negotiations
are to govern and vary the expressed
| stipulations of the treaty, it may be well
to quote both from the treaty and the
commissioners explanation and review
thereof so much as bears on this point.
Article explicitly comedies the right
of the United States to regulate, limit, or
suspend immigration from China.
Article II provides who may come.
ArticeIV is as follows:
The high contracting powers having agreed
upon the foregoing articles, whenever the Govern
ment of the United States shall adopt legislative
measures in accordance Herewith such measures
will be communicated to the government of
China. If the measures as enacted are found TO
work hardship upon the subjects of China, the
Chinese Minister at Washington may bring the
matter to the notice of the Secretary Of State of the
United States, who will consider the subject with
him; and the Chinese Foreign Office may also
bring the matter TO the notice of the United States
Minister at Pekin and consider the subject with
him, to the end that mutual and unqualified bene-
fit may result
This stipulation has been represented
as making the consent of China necessary
to legislation by the United States. Its
terms are clear. But if there should be
a doubt in any mind, the following state
ment by the commissioners in their dis
patch already referred to ought to re-
move it:
At this point in the discussion we deemed
it best to say that while the details of the
treaty and its language were matters in which We
would gladly consult the preferences of the Chinese
government we could not consent to any settle
ment which did not recognize the entire discre-
ton of the United States in dealing with this sub
ject We thought that any regulations to be mat
ter of joint arrangement would only raise new
questions and that the administration of any such
joint regulations would in practice prove unsatis
factory. Besides which they could only prove
of force i'll Chinese ports, and would
be useless in regard either to Hong
Kong or Singapore We thought that
the simplest the directest, and the only efficient
plan was to give the control of the subject to the
Government of the United States. We therefore
COMMISSIONERS Llldt
would consent to strike out the word prohibit"
provided they would accept the words regulate,
limit or suspend" being satisfied that these words
covered the power to devise and enforce all neces-
sary and proper legislation. Upon their acceptance
of this proposition we consented to such variation
of the phraseoiogy of the articles they desired.
You will observe that this language imposes no
conditions upon the discretion of the United States
There is no ambiguity either in the
treaty or in the explanation of those who
so ably negotiated it. An effort is made to
show that the use of the word "laborers" :"
in the treaty leaves the door open to
all others from China. In regard to this
the commissioners say:
But the Chinese government was very unwilling
to be more precise than the absolute necessity
called for and they claimed that in Article II they
did, by exclusion, provide that nobody should be
entitled to claim the benefit of the Burlingame
treaty but those who went to the United States
for purposes of teaching, study mercantile trans
actions, travel, or curiosity. We have no doubt
that an act of Congress excluding all but these
classes, using the words of the treaty, would be
fully warranted by its provisions and, as this was
clear and sufficient modification of the sixth
tice of the Burlingame treaty, we did not feel
thOrized to risk such a concession by insisting
upon language which would really mean no more
and which was entirely unacceptable to the
Chinese commissioners.
The treaty reserves to the United States
all necessary and desirable power over
the subject of immigration, and there is
not the least basis for the assumption that
under it the Chinese government must be
consulted and give its assent before legis-
lation can become valid. With an amend
ment conformingto that made by the Sen
ate t4 tAG BlBlipqfas ttFebbtr ebr rpttd & ptSfSt tHfs
treaty will be speedily ratified. OF course
none who do not favor the naturalization
of Chinese can vote to ratify it until so
amended.