Year: 1879

part. By the same bands with
which we bound those parties let


us seek to unloose them. Let us go


to the Emperor of China and say,


experience has convinced us of our


error and We desire to make a cor


rection. Suppose it was treaty


with Great Britain, France, Ger


many or any fighting power; sup


pose it was treaty with Chris


tan nation and not with Pagans,


would it be consistent with inter-


national law or our own self respect


to approach them in any other way


than by the peaceful way of AMIGA


BILE negotiations He did not


question the constitutional power


OF Congress to pass the law. AT


the late session of Congress u reso-


luton was adopted requesting the


President to open negotiations for


notifications Of the treaty with


China to remedy the evils which


had sprung UP under it. For aught


the Senate knew, these negotia-


tions might now be in progress.


Senator Booth said: Mr.. Presi-


dent:-However We may differ on


the merits of this question, there


can be but one opinion as to its i'm


portance. We spend days and


weeks in the discussion of princi-


Piles which ale suppeeed to define


the differences between political


parties. Most Of our time is occu-


pied in the consideration of ques.


tions of policy. AT rare intervals


there arises one which touches the


life of the Republic, when our coun-
sells may be overruled by events as


though we stood in the very pres
ence of fate. This question con-
Germs the structural condition of
that society which makes the ex-
istence of the Republic possible. 1t
is question which to-day is under
our control. The time may come
when it will control us. How cas-
lily the institution of slavery might
have been prevented. What heca-
tombs of lives were offered up at its
destruction. The meeting of two
civilizations, antagonistic in every
form and feature, in u struggle for
existence in the same country, can
not be other than an event of mo-
mentous historical Importance. 1
certainly do not eXaggerate the pot-
sition. Suppose, in the hundred
gears of our Independent existence,
an influx of population had come
to us from Asia in the same vol
ume it has from Europe. Can we
Imagine the change it would have
wrought in the conditions of soci.
ETY. that underlie and are of far
more consequence than the form
of government We have crossed
the continent. We front Asia on
the west as we do Europe on the
east. Practically, communication
with Asia is easier than it was
with Europe forty years ago. A
new problem Is presented to us, the
greatest, in my judgment, we have
met. A people counted by hun
dreds of millions, alien in race, of q
civilization older than ours, so old
that it regards ours with contempt,
so old that it has reached q fixed |
type, unchanging, unohangeable,is is |
moving towards us. 1t has
already taken possession of half
the active labor of California. 1t
will not stop on the Pacific. 1t
will follow the law of emigration
hunger. 1t is time to consider its
ultimate effect on the American
people and their government. 1t
is easy to say that we have no fear
that our race and civilization can
not withstand any collision. 1t |
gratiiies our intellectual pride to |
believe so. doubt not the Egyp-
tians of old had the same pride and |
feeling of security. The peoples
and races who have perished and |
left no written memorial, doubtless
felt the same arrogance of power.
1t is easy to say that il our race |
and civilization cannot survive |
collision with any other it ought to
go down. 1t is easy to say that
from these cushioned chairs-from
these seats of honor-with our own
social positions and our country's
future reasonably assured for the
period of our lives-those who feel
and utter this sentiment do it in a
spirit of defiance. 1t is the vaunt
of anticipated triumph, not of phi
losophical resignation or the cour-
age of endurance, which accepts
possible defeat. They have no
fear, no thought, that the blood of
our race will suffer defeat in any
confiict-physical or intellectual,
moral or industrial. 1t may bo
that they are right; but the vaunt
comedies that the conflict may
come. Is it the part of statesman
ship to invite it? May it not prove
a conflict in which victory will be
only less sad than defeat? When
and where have races -assimi-
lative, with diversities of character
irreconcilable, been brought to.
gether under one government
without the subordination of one
to the other or n conflict destruc.
tive to one and Injurious to the
other? We want no subordination
of races on this continent, We
want no other conflict of races.


We want ne people who are not in
sympathy with Dur institutions and |
willing and prepared to bear the |
burdens of American citizenship in |
pcaCe anu III WaT. Inc uOCCrlne OF |
the survival of the fittest does not
mean the survival of the best or
strongest, but of that best fitted to
its surroundings. In war the
strong conquer. In the sharp COM
petitions Of peace, in the struggle


for daily bread, those whose wants


are reduced to a minimum survive.
The survival of the fittest in time


of dearth means those who can
survive famine. II a steam engine
were invented which would fur


nish equal power with less con-


sumption of fuel, itwould supplant


every other. A class of laborers


whose wants, natural and artificial,


are least, will, if its volume be


large, take the place of every other