Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1886-08-20
THE CHI NESE
AND THE
CHIN A QUESTION

AMI the
CHINA QUESTION
American Share in the Opium Trade-The
Doctrine of Ex-Terri,"riality -Amsrican
| Aggressi,ns on China Results Of Our
| Interference with Chinese Affair." Chi
| nese in California-E, II Results Of Chi
nese Competition with American l. ,bor.
The motive which induced Great
Britain to force the opium trade upon
China, still exists; for the Indian Gov
ernment derives at this present time
each year a profit Of eight million
pounds sterling, or forty millions of
dpllars, from its Opium monopoly, and
without this the British power from
Cape COmorin to Lahore would in
twenty years vanish into air. 1t is not
without interest, in this connection,
that we trace the cry of protection to
American commerce in the Chinese
seas in part to the participation of
Americans in this iniquitous traffic.
1t was certified by the United States
Legation at Canton in 1858, that the
most active opium business in any
single ship was carried on in steamer
built in New York, and floating the
American flag" At that time, up
wards of one-quarter of the opium was
carried in American vessels. Had
there been no opium war between
Great Britain and China and no at
tempt on the part of our people to
share in the advantages of the trade,
there would have been no Chinese
question on the Pacific coast of the
United States; for in the political as
in the organic world foul seeds spread
rapidly their noisome growths to dis
tant places, and bear their rank and
bitter fruit under circumstances the
least foreseen. With the success of
the English in securing trade with
China, came the desire of other coun-
tries to profit by traffic with this re-
motest East. The French soon Joined
with the British. The Dutch, who un-
der severe restriction had long traded
with China, were quick to assert their
claims. Then came Germans and
Americans, and all together united to
force upon China a policy repugnant
to her national ideas, and contrary to
her traditional usages in commerce
and industries. In all these aggres-
sions the interests of the United States
were of the slightest account, and the
profits from her ill-advised interfer-
ence have been less than the price of
the birthright of Esau; for in return
for our little gains We have had cast
upon us one of the weiehtest problems
known to historic times. We can
only appreciate the relations with
China of the United States, and of the
western powers, by an analysis of their
demands urged by diplomacy, and en-
forced by cannon-shot.
In doing this, VIZ should remember
that China was II Ii, nality indepen-
dent and established one that dated
from the remotest ages; one possessed
of distinctive civilization; and one
which had for its leading political idea
non-intcrvention in the affairs of the
nations whose people came from the
distant seas. Her institutions were
the outgrowth of four thousand years
of slow but permanent progress; her
social customs had been handed down
from generation to generation for
forty centuries. These usages and
customs were hallowed by antiquity
and were the object of idolatrous rev.
erence on the part of the entire people.
Yet for their own benefit, and not for
hers, the distant nations have tenn
porarily succeeded in subjecting this
great country to indignities 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 an
armed vessel sent out by the Govern
ment at Bengal. 1t was continued by
private armed cruisers, fitted out to
resist the Chinese Government vessels
in their efforts to prevent the intro
duction of the drug, and which acted
as receiving-ships at convenient places
along the coast. This continued until
the war with Great Britain resulted in
opening the ports of Shanghai and
Canton to the sale of the article.
Thus, by force of arms, China was
compelled to permit a traffic which in
the course of twenty-five years reduced
the normal increase of her population
from three per cent annually, to one
per cent. But this was but the enter.
ing wedge to foreign demands.
The next step in aggression was
the doctrine Of exterritoriality, which
exempts foreigners from the operation
OF Chinese laws, and which has been,
and still is, insisted upon and enforced
by all the foreign powers. Less than
ten years ago, our representative at
Pekin formally reasserted the inten-
tion of the Government Of the United
States to claim for all its citizens en-
tire exemption from the operation OF
Chinese law" and this is the policy OF
the United States to-day. No Chinese
can arraign any foreigner in Chinese
court, for any offence or any crime.
1t is not known that any foreigner has