Speech #510170878

I will suppose a case with reference to the people in his own State and asic him to give me a candid and frank answer. The population of Oregon amounts to 31"2.000 people. Suppose Congress had never passed a law prohibiting the immigration of Chinese into this country. Suppose that about a million and a half of Chinamen had immigrated into the State of Oregon. Suppose that Congress had passed a law giving the right of citizenship and naturalization to those Chinamen. which has been advocated on this floor. Suppose that those million and a half of Chinamen had banded themselves together and by the. exercise of the rights conferred upon them by the law and the Constitution had established in Oregon a Chinese State government.. as they would have had a perfect right to do according to the logic of the argument of the Senator from Oregon. Suppose that the white people of Oregon. not believing that a Chinese government is exactly the kind of government that they ought to live under. had overthrown that Chinese government. and that the white people of the State of Oregon had established their political supremacy in the State of Oregon.