Speech #500108620

The Tientsin treaty. of 1858. by Reed. was one that we obtained by cooperating with other powers that were harshly pressing China. and was extorted from a prostrated nation at the close of a disastrous war. When Mr. Burlingame. our own countryman. came back here in 1868 as a representative of China to offer us a liberal treaty of intercourse. with freedom of immigration. it was a great and signal event in the history of nations. There had already been a large influx of Chinese labor into Califbrnia. more than a hundred thousand Chinese had arrived since 1851. but there was an enthusiastic welcome to Burlingame and his proposed treaty everywhere by all parties. in California and hero. It was only by the forethought of Mr. Conness. then a Republican Senator from the State of California. that the Senate was induced to add tothetreaty a provision which prevented the naturalization of Chinamen in this country. The treaty itself seemed to contemplate with favor the coming of Chinese if they came freely and voluntarily. its restrictions were aimed only at the coolie trade. involuntary emigration from China. When the TrescottAngell treaty was made in 1880 we had already discovered the deplorable effects of the incoming of Chinese labor into California. and our commissioners pressed hard upon China to obtain as broad terms as possible to check this evil flood. They did secure the right to regulate. limit. or suspend the entry of Chinese laborers into California.