Speech #470030221

Cam we make a solemin reqmtest of China. through the pomp of an extraordinary embassy and the ceremonial of diplomatic negotiation. and with prudent dispatch exchange ratifications of the treaty ganting onr request. and within less than half a year after such exchange is made cast aside the concession and. with childish irresolution. ignore the whole proceeding? Can we afford to make such a confession of American imbecility to any oriental power f The adoption of this or some such measure becomes necessary. it seems to me. to the intelligent and consistent execution of a policy adopted by this Government under the sanction of a treaty with another great nation. If the executive department. the Senate. and the House of Representatives have all understood and appreciated their own action in respect of this measure. if in the negotiation and ratification of the new treaty with China the Executive and the Senate did not act without thought. in blind. inconsiderate recklessnessand we know they did not. if the Congress of the United States in the passage of the fifteenpassenger bill had abe faintest conception of what it was doingand we know it hadthen the policy of this Government in respect of socalled Chinese immigration has been authoritatively settled. This proposition is submitted with the greater confidence because the action I have described was in obedience to and in harmony with a public sentiment which seems to have permeated tire whole counitry. For the evidence of the existence of such a sentiment. it is only necessary to produce the declarations upon this subject of the two great historical parties of the country. deliberately made by their national conventions of 1880. One of these (the Democratic convention) declared that there shall beNo more C htueseimmigration except for travel. education. and foreign commerce. alnd therein carefully guarded. The other (the Republican) convention declared thatSince the authority to regulate ieimiaration and intercourse between the United Staies and foreign nations rests with Congress. or with tie United States and its treatymaking power. the Republican party. regarding the unrestricted immigratiion of the Chinese as an evil of great magnitude. invokes the exercise of the .0 porwers to restrain and limit the immigration by the enactment of such just. heinane. and reasonable provisions as will produce that result. These are the declarations of the two great political parties. in whose ranks are enrolled nearly all the voters of the United States. and whoever voted at the last Presidential election voted for the adoption of the principles and policy expressed by these declarations. whether lie voted with the one or the other of the two great parties. Both candidates for the Presidency were pledged to the adoption and execution of tile policy of restriction thus declared by their respective parties. and the candidate who was successful at the polls. in his letter of acceptance. not only gave expression to the sentiment of his party and the country. but. with a clearness and conciseness which distinguished all his utterances upon great public questions. gave the reasons for that public sentiment. He said : T he recent movement of the Chinese to our Pacific coast partakes but little of the qnatities of an immigration. either in its purposes or results. It is too much like an importation to be welcomed without restriction. too much like an invasion to be looked upon without solicitude. We cannot consent to allow any form of servile labor to be introduced among us under the guise of immigration. Further on. in speaking of the probable results of the labors of the commnission then in China. he said: Shold these efforts fail it will be the duty of Congress to mitigate the evils already felt. and prevent their increase by such restrictions as. witiont violence or injustice. will place on a sure foundation the peace of our communities and the freedom and dignity of labor. With these words James A.