Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-05-26
TIL E G H | N E Sc
AND THE
CHINA QUESTION
The Doctrine OF Extraordinarily

The Doctrine OF Ex-Territoriaiity
| American Aggressipns On China
! The motive which induced Great
Britain To force the uriuln trade upOn
Chiua, still tXiS's; for the Indian
Government derives at this present
time each year Il profit of eight mil
lion pounds S erIinr, or forty mil
lions of dollars, from its opium mon
opOlv, and without tins the British
power from Clre Comolin To Lahme
would in twenty wears vanish INTO
air. 1t is not without interest, in
this cOnnec ion, that we trace the
cry of protection to American com
merce in the Chinese seas in pan; to
the participation of Americans in
this iniquitous traffic.
1t WAS certified hv the United
States Legation ut Ctntnn IN 1888,
that ''the most active opium brsi-
ness in any single chip WAS carrie
on in Il steamer built in New York
and floating the American flag"
At that time, upwards of one quar-
ter of the opium was carried in Amer
lean vos'r'S Il; J tt. nc"n ::u
opium war between Great Britain
and China and no attempt on TIE
part of our People to share IN the
advantages of the tr.;ie, mere would
have been no Chinese question on
the Pacific coast of the United States;
for in the political as in tine organic
word foul seeds spread rapidly iheir
noisome grow hs to disan places,
ana be II thnir rink AM b ter fruit
under Circumstance the least fore
seen. With the success of the Eng
lish i'll securing trade with China,
came the desire of other countrie. to
profit 10y traffic with this remotcst
EIst. The French soou joined with
the British. The Dutch, who under
severe restriction had long traded
with China, were quick to assei I
their claims. Then came Germans
and Americans, and all together
united to force upon China policy
repugnant to her national ideas, and
contrary to her traditional usages in
commerce and industries. In all
these aggressions the interests of the
United States were of the slightest
account, and the profi's from her
ill-advlsed interference have been
less than the price of the bii .hright
of Esau; for in return for our little
gains we have had cast upon us one
of the weightiest problems known to
historic times. We can only appre-
ciate the relations with China of the
United States, and of the western
powers, by an analysis of their de-
mands urged by diplomacy, and tn
forced by cannon-shot.
In doing this, we should remem-
Der that China was II nationality in,
dependent aud established; one that
dated from the retnOtest ages; one
possessed of a distinctive civiliz ,,ion
and one which had for its leading
political idea non-intervention ia the
affairs of The nations whose people
came from the distant seas. Her
institutions were the out9rowth OF
four thousand years of slow but per
manent progress; her social customs
htd been handed down from genera
ton to generation for forty cen
turies. These usages and customs
were hallowed by antiquity and were
the object of idoIatrous reverence on
the part Of the entire people Ye,
for their own benefit, and not for
hers. the distant nations have TEN.
porarily succeeded In suhjecting this
great country to inCignities that they
would not have dared to propose to
each other, and to which not one OF
them would have submitted for an
hour.
The opium trade began with az
armed vessel sent out by the Gov
eminent ut Bengal. 1t was con
,inued by private armed cruisers
fitted out to resist the Chinese gov
) eminent vessels in their efforts tt
: prevent the introduction of the drug
) and which acted as receiving ships a
convenient places along the coast
This continued until the war with
Great Britain resulted in opening
the ports of Shanghai and Canton tt
the sale of the article. Thus, b,
force of arms. China was compelled tt
permit traffic which in the course O
twenty five years reduced the norma
increase of her population from three
per cent. annually to one per cent.
But this was but the enterir wedg,
to foreign deman Is.
The next step in aggression wa.
the doctrine of exterritoriality, whict
exempts foreigners from the opera
ton of Chinese laws, and which ha,
been, and still is, insisted upon and
enforced by all the foreign powers
Less than ten years ago, our represn
tative at Pekin formally reasserted
the intention of the Government
of the United States to claim for all
its citizens entire exemption from
the operation of Chinese law" and
) this is the policy of the United States
to-day. No Chinese can arraign any
l foreigner in a Chinese court, for an,
offence or any crime. 1t is moi
known that any foreigner has evel
yet been executed for the murder OF
a Chinaman, except, possibly, al
IL ing Kong and Macao. L; is part
, of the system 70 the members of the
f diplomatic corps in China to make
common cause with each other, in
order that what is demanded by one
may, if obtained, be shared by the
others; and the favored nation
, clause forms part and parcel OF