Morning journal and courier., 1881-01-22
Saturday Morning, Jan. g, 1881. {
THE NEW TREATY WITH CHINA.

The new treaty with China is sharply eriti-
 cised, and many think that the willy Celestial
 got the better of .fthe Melican man'' in it's
 construction. Thus, it is the opinion of the
 Chicago Tribune that s.It would have been
 only ordinary farsightedness for our com
 missioners to have insisted that some special
 privileges should be granted to citizens of
 this country visiting or trading in China in
 exchange for the very valuable concessions
 freely made to subjects of the empire The
 treaty was good as far as it went, but it did
 not go nearly far enough for the interests of
 the United States. It confines Americans to
 treaty ports Why, then, should not Chi
 nese in America be limited to treaty ports ?
 It would have been easy, if the commission
 CTS had had the backbone for the business, to
 break down, in part at least, the official Chi
 nese wall of exclusiyeness, so far as Ameri-
 cans are concerned The Boston Adgertiser
 is much displeased with the treaty, especially
 with that part of it which prohibits citizens
 of the United States from taking part in the opium trade 'In 1871" says the Ad0ertt- ser, ''opium represented thirty millions in the total Chinese imports of seventy-thre millions. To carry such freight means some profits" To exclude American merchants from the opium trade in Chinese waters lis like excluding them from the tobacco trade in Baltimore, or from handling spirits in the
 West Indies, and claret in Bordeaux. The opium clause is ruinous, and 1t is either pre- sumptuousness or innocence on the part of the American government to conclude such treaty."
 A writer in the New York NGtioa also con- demns the treaty roundly. He says it begins by confession of rank eowardice on the part of nation of 50, 900, Ooe free people who inform the Chinese governpent, in sol emn phrase, that they are afraid to admit few thousand of their common laborers (of
 whom the Chinese govern millions with easel
 without restrictions, ''as they may endanger the good order of the said country" There
 upon the Chinese graciously allow the United
 States to regulate ''such coming" but not to
 supposing them to be engaged or wishing to
 engage in the opium trade, the writer points
 out that the article concerning this trade
 would be totally ineffective. It would
 simply oblige them to employ foreign clerks
 instead of American, and do the business in
 their name and through them. Where it is
 disastrous is in giving up the whole local car rying trade, coast and river, to En nglish and
 German shipping It subsidies the vessels money on opium, which is sufficient in the close competition of that trade to settle the question and drive the American flag from those waters. He thinks it necessary to re- mind the American reader of the true status of the opium subject, which he considers to be as follows That it is a trade recognized by the Chinese government, who levy and collect regular duties and allow transports tion freely under the Chinese flag, both in sailing and steam vessels; that it is freely dealt in everywhere by Chinese merchants that opium is produced in many prov inces in China, and more or less encouraged as an object of local taxation and, finally, that it is an article demanded by the Chinese nation, who, according to our idea, have right to determine what they will use and spend their money for, superior to any rights of their despotic governors Further, that there is 8 decided division l of opinion as to whether the drug as the 1 Chinese use it is a national harm or not. Of 1 course in extreme it does harm, as liquor does and as all transient visitors to China l are dragged or hurry of themselves to the l dram shops and see the worst effects, they come away with one opinion. But as the | bulk of it is used there is abundance of evi l dence, and many believe that the Chinese are | better with it than without it. As for their l government, all the pretended virtue and l horror of its use is put on for political effect. It is 8 traditional policy kept alive by hatred l of the English, who, they think, would be ruined by it's extinction, and they would go l far to ruin the English. At heart they like l the Americans no better, but as they fear | only the English and simply despise us as nation (whom their very coolies put in a nor tai fright), they are ready at all times to pre- tend friendship, hoping for some indefinite | advantage against their ''black beast
 Those citizens of the United States who are interested in the opium trade with China or want to be will like this kind of talk. The argument is The opium trade pays. There | fore we want the privilege of engaging in it. That it is a great curse to China is of no account so long as we make money out of it.