Bent County register., 1888-08-18
Chinese Cleveland.

veland and Secretary Bayard than
Colonel Aosby, who was for over
six years U. S. Consul at Hongkong.
Col. Mosby was appointed to this
important consulate by General
Grant, and also held that position
during the administration of Hayes.
When asked if he would care to
tell what he knew of Cleveland's Is
partiality for the Chinese, be replied
that he would be only too glad to
furnish any information that he was
possessed of on this subject.
WELL" said the Colonel, "if any
body knows anything about this |
fiatter myself that | know as much
about it as any man. You know
that was consul for over six years
at Hongkong, and also that / was
kicked out of office by Cleveland on
the ground that | was insubordinate.
| will explain TO you the whole mat
ter, and will show you that my in
sdboriinatiou was this: | did not
care 20 violate the law, and | did
not care to father Cieveland's policy
of swarning this country with Chi
namen. After | have explained this
matter, you will see that had l fol-
loved the Presidents instructions |
could have sent to this coast hun
drcds of thousands of Cinnamon,
and at the same time could have
made for myself an enormous fortune
tell you that had | obeyed the
Presidents orders | would have had
an appointment which was more
Lucrative than being the sole pro-
-pgietor of the Comstock. This may
seem like & romance, but In plain
words Cieyeland's position to me
was, Ship all the Cinnamon you
want to the United States, on the
ground that they belong to the
exempt class, and charge them what
you like for that privilege There
was no dishonesty about my charg-
ing; was enphatically authorized
by the President of the United States
to do so. 1t meant this, that was
to evada the law and enter into the
Chinese business. Suppose now, l
had chosen to be dishonest and had
entered into this business, could not
| have made 100000 by this time?
Way, no sum is incredible. Suppose
a merchant wanted to go to the
United States, and came to me for a
consular certificate, could not | have
withheld one from him until he had
paid me whatever sum | had chosen
to ask? Why, in some cases, ! G hi
uese merchant would only have been
too glad to have given me $1,000 for
the privilege of coming to Califor-
mia,
THOSE CONSULAR CERTIFICATES.
Now, l will explain to you the
whole thing. just few months be-
fore the close of Arthur's admins
tration, Secretary Mccullough issued
an order to collectors of customs
directing them to permit Chinese to
land in the United States on the
certificate of the Consul at the port
of departure, stating that the China
men desiring a landing belonged to
the exempt class. This made the
Consul the sole and exclusive judge
of the right of a Chinaman to come
into the United States. As nearly
all the Chinese come to California on
the HongKong steamers, the order
simply turned over the whole busi-
ness to the United States Consul at
Hongkoug. The amount of the fee
that the Consul could charge for
his certificate was left to his discre-
ton, and under the regulations this
would have been his own personal
perouisite. This business would
have been n perfect bonanza, and all
the coolies in China could have been
sent on such certificates to Califor-
MIA Gel. Bee, the Consul for China
at San Francisco. wrote me letter,
inclosing copy of the circular and
requesting me to go into the busi-
ness.
KICKED OUT OF OFFICE.
comnared the circular with the