Speech #570044237

The Senator from Ohio made quite an elaborate ex:amination of our treaties with China for the purpose of establishing this proposition. and went back as far as the treaty of 1844. our first treaty. followed that up with an examination of the treaty of 1858. then of the treaty of 1868. then of the treaty of 1880. and finally of the treaty of 1894. This was the principal contention in his speech. to which he directed most of his argument. and on it he based the proposition that it was contrary to public policy and good morals for us to extend the restrictions beyond the classes named. because it would be a violation of our plighted faith with a friendly nation. I do not consider any of these treaties essential to a determination of the question raised by the Senator from Ohio. except the treaties of 1880 and 1894. because it is by those treaties alone that we have made provision for Chinese exclusion. Nor do I consider any treaty necessary to be examined to determine the question. except that of 1894. because each of the treaties following. from the first down to the last. that of 1894. were intended to be a little more and more restrictive than the former treaties. It is sufficient to determine this question. applying the ordinary principles of construction. to look at the language of the treaty of 1894.