Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-03-03


the Territorial officers are in that degree
those OF the United States in national
capacity, not those OF a distinct sovereignty In
this you approximately state a broad PROPOSE
ton. but do not accurately give il a specific
application. By lis enabling and organic law
the Territory OF Wyoming enjoys local self
government. with a full equipment of officials
In every branch known to our republican FORMS
who are invested with full authority to main
tain law and order, and administer justice 10 all
its Inhabitants. This Territorial Government
contains the usual framework of the other re-
publies which combine to form this Union. 1t
comprises an executive, legislative and judicial
branch. In the centers OF population this gov
istratiye obligations as is the government of any
of the States, and is responsible in the same
way. The recent occurrences at Seattle, in
the Territory of Washington, show this
Blood has been shed there lately under
the authority OF the Territorial officials
in a successful defense and the assertion of the
right Of certain of your cOuntryinen To a peace
able and law-observanl residence The scene
of the lamentable occurrences at Rock Springs
was, however, remote from any center of popu-
lation, ana was marked by all the customary
features of the newly and scaltily-setted local
ity. Ii consisted Of scattered assemblage of
dwellings near Il railway station, and in the
vicinity of some coal mines. The population
was made up of men of all races, migratory III
their habits. There were little or no attempts
at organized police. 1t was, in short, the
commencement OF community on the
outposts OF civilization, and like all such be-
ginnings largely dependent for stability and
order on the congruily of the elements.of which
it was composed. To this remote and unpro-
tected regiou your countrymen voluntarily re-
sorted in large numbers. The attack upon
them, as your nGte truly states, was made sud
denly by Il lawless band OF about $50 armed
men, who had given no previous iatimation of
their criminal intent. These men were discon
tented mining laborers. who had previously
sought TO induce the Chinese TO join
them in a concerted strike for higher
wages, and their overtures being rejected,
they became annoyed on that account
This, ! believe, is the only motive for
the assault discernible and alleged in the re
ported evidence. On neither side, among the
assailants or assailed, was there represents
tive OF the Government of China or of the
United States. or of the Territory of Wyoming
There was, therefore, no official insult or wrong
Whatever occurred was between private iudf-
viduals wholly devoid of an official character II
was, moreover, absolutely without national
character. The domestic element OF an ordin-
ary civil disturbance was wanting. The assail-
ants equally with the assailed, were strangers
in our land. In strict TRUTH the hospitality of
friendly country, no less than the rights of
peaceable soiourners there, can be said to have
been outraged by body OF aliens, who, being
permitted by the generosity of our laws to enter
our borders. and roam unchecked and at
will throughout its jurisdiction, freely and
profitably selectingi their places of abode,
and finding occupation therein, have
abused the privileges thus accorded
to them, and committed gross breaches of the
public peace suddenly, and doubtless with the
knowledge that nowhere within summons
could any police organization be found in suf-
ticient force to stay their criminal hands. As
you are aware, in State of the Union and
also in organized Territories and in the District
of Columbia, where the Government of the ma
tion has its Federal seat, the conservatism of
the public peace is committed TO the local
authorities and crimes of violence, involving
the lives and safety of the property of individu-
ais are held to be in violation of the peace and
in derogation OF the local laws and jurisdiction.
This violation constitutes a criminality which
the nOlipp of the community seeks n pOt
by all rational precautions and which the law
is intended to punish The conventional stipu-
lations between the United States and China, to
which you have reierred, are, as you state, and
appears from their face in no wise reciprocal.
Under the respective system and nature of the
two Governments, they could not have been
made reciprocal. nor were they intended 10 be
SO. The frankness which animates your note
will, think, lead YOU to agree with me, after
considering the very different organic lions
and policies of the government of our expect
i've countries, which find frequent recognition
in the terms of sundry treaties between them
that the privileges and immunities of Chinese
subjects now within the Jurisdiction of the
United States are vastly greater than were or
are extended to American citizens who are al
lowed to reside and transact business in China.
The several treaties of 1911, 1854, 1868 and 1880
are Sets in pdri mdterid, and no subsequent one
of them abrogates those which are priorin date.
There have been successive notifications, ex-
tensions or substitutons, as to special subjects
but always in express revival and renewal of the
pre-exsting treaties and unless abrogated in ex-
press terms or repealed, they all remain in force
Upon these premises, and passing all personal
and residential stipulations i'll review, we find
restrictions expressly recognized throughout all
the treaties, which prove the inability to pro-
vide reciprocity by reason of the totally varient
basis of which the administrative functions and
powers of the two countries are conducted
Until 1868 no right OF emigration of Chinese
subjects to the United States WAS ever formally
/ extended. None was perhaps needed, for under
our free popular Government, and in the alb
sence of any restrictive legislation our territory
is equally open to all aliens. 1t was altogether
different in China. That country was closed to
alien residence as by wall A specific right
had to be conventionally created before this ex-
clusion could be modified. TO certain classes of
citizens of the United States the treaty of 1854
granted carefully restricted rights of visit and
soiourn in China, but in every one
of the articles which treats of a transient or
permanent right of residence appears the
qualification that it is for the purposes of trade
Article l applies to our citizens resorting to
China for the purpose of commerce; Article 8
permits Americans to frequent specified ports
and to reside with their families and trade
there; Article relates to citizens of the United
States doing business at said ports; Article re-
fers to citizens of the United States lawfully en-
gagged in commerce. The important article 90,
in regard TO protection, speaks OF citizens of
the United States in China peaceaby attending
to their aft iTs, and by their affairs we may re-
gard the lawful commerce elsewhere spoken of
i'll the treaty as having been uppermost in the
minds of the negotiators. Not merely was the
purpose of their sojourn restricted, but citizens
of the United States could not, under Article 7
lawfully transgress certain resid, ntial limits
Even within these limits they were not
free to select the sites for their houses and
places of business, and also hospital, churches
ard cemeteries The merchants" of the
United States were not TO unreasonahlV insist
on particular spots for their objects. The resi-
dence was expressly conditioned on its being
agreeable TO the native inlahita Is. The treaty
says and l assure will recognize the force of
the provision, that the local authorities of the
two Governments shall select in concert the sites
for the foregoing objects, having due regard for
the feelings of the people in the locality thereof
and of that found at the close of the same Alti-
Gle XNII., and in order to the preservation of the
public peace the local officers of the Govern
ment at each of the FIVE ports shall. in concert
with their Consuls. define the limits beyond
which it shall not be lawful for citizens of the
United States to go The impracticabity of
maintaining efficient police protection in many
portions of every widely extended domain was
recognized by the Chinese Government, when
they expressly guarded against liability in
the closing paragraph of Article XXlV. of
the treaty of 1871, as follows: But if,
numerous population of China. it should
in any case happen that the robbers
cannot be apprehended or the property only in
part recovered, then the law will take its
Chinese Government will not make indemnity
for the goods lost" To sum up, as the treaties
stand, American citizens not of diplomatic or
consular Office may resort to China for trade,
for curiosity or as teachers. and then only
TO certain carefully limited localities, haviug
due regard for the feelings of the people in the
location thereof. If the citizens or subject
of any other power should be granted other or
greater privileges than citizens of the United
States they win have equal treatment. On the
other hand, Chinese subjects were at all tin O.
free between 1874 and 1865, to come to the
United States to travel or sojourn therein pur-
suing whatever lawful occupation they might
see tit to engage in, without need of a treaty
guarantee. The sixth article of the Burlingame
treaty granted no privilege i'll their behalf
it simply recorded an existing fact, for the
Chinese were then as free to visit and soiourn
in the United States as any other aliens were
and no law of regulation or inhabitaticn was
upon our statute books. There was therefore
in all these years. no ciprocity OF treatment
of citizens or subjects of one country within
the jurisdiction of the other There could not
be- for the Chinese Government so restricted
and hedged about its conceded and carefully
limited privileges as to make reciprocity imp5s-
sible ON the part of the United States, unless
taking the form of retaliation, which our svs-
TEN of laws made impracticable. The treaty OF
1880 is absolutely unilateral. 1t CONVEYS no
hint of reciprocity. Its second article gives 20
Chinese teachers, students, merchants and
those actuated by motives of cllriosity and
also 10 Chinese laborers then (lSSo) in the United
States, the right to go and come of their own
free will and accord, and in addition TO this
the same treatment as citizens or subjects