Speech #470040993

That distant empire. California. a country acquired as ai indemnity by our war with Mexico. not peopled. difficult to defend. fabulous. almost romantic in its history. untold millions supposed to be on the very surface of the earth. no communicationwith it except by a long voyage by the Horn impossible to defend. it excited our interest and anxiety.. a great country like England. angry and jealous and resentful that we had acquired it. watching our every step. a British fleet sent to the Gulf of Mexico and to San Juan. in Nicaragna. hoisting the British flag at San Juan. placing on a miserable throne a halffed and halfclothed Indian and proclaiming him to be the Mosquito king. harassing usin Texas with the British minister opposing annexation. menacing us in every quarter of the globe with hostility naturally stimulated our anxiety. and excited the country to look 1or and encourage any population for the Pacific coast. Under those circumstances. for the first time in the history of our diplomacy. you will find instructions from the State Department to negotiate for Chinese immigration. What rights had we in China then? Permission to land at five points on the coast. and to have residences where the Chinese Government chose to give us residences. and they gave the residences outside of their cities. permission to anchor our ships at the months of their rivers and send up in junks and flatboats the produce and merchandise we had to sell. and receive in return the teas and silks and stuffs they had to send back. we receiving millions from them for the thousands we send to them. we paying for all we took from China by bills on England. no reciprocity in trade. no reciprocity in immigration. our people not admitted within the walls of a Chinese city. our public ministers received in warehouses outside of the cities if received at all. and most generally not received at all. A distinguished citizen from the State of my honorable friend before me. HumphreyMarshall. of Keutucky. was sent to China by Mr.