Mr. President. what effect the sending back of that treaty with that amendment on it may have had upon the Chinese Government I do not know. but it made delay. it gave them time to reconsider this question. perhaps. as to whether they had not conceded too much to the Government of these United States. and if I may take a suggestion floating in the newspapers that would perhaps answer. not authoritatively it is true. but answer the question of the Senator from Oregon sufficiently for my purpose. it is this: That since the framing of this treaty and its being signed by the President of the United States and the Emperor of China a shipload of Chinese have been sent back from Australia to China. and the attention of the Chinese Government has been called by the Government of Great Britain to the fact that they. in their colonies of Australia and others in the Pacific Ocean. are unprotected against Chinese immigration. and they have demanded I suppose some such protection as is given to the United States by this treaty. And the Chinese Government if I may conjecturewhich is all I can domay very properly say. "If we are to have all countries coming down upon us and demanding the same thing. we are not willing to place ourselves in a condition of degradation before the whole world. to exclude our inhahitants and prohibit them from putting foot on any land except their own. and therefore the United States not having seen fit to promptly ratify this treaty that we have made securing absolute prohibition so far as they are concerned. we will take the opportunity they give us and withdraw our assent." That is a mere conjecture. but not without plausibility and not without probability. and is the substance of what I see floating in the newspaper press of Friday and Saturdaylast. Therefore it was a dangerous thing in the view of those who had this matter at heart. as I have it at heart. to have made any delay at all in ratifying this treaty that for the first time by the treatymaking power secured absolute exclusion of the Chinese.
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immigration