274 SHOOTING IN CHINA 



the United States is the first western nation 

 that negotiated a treaty with China in 

 which it was expressly stipulated that a 

 westerner, although residing in China, 

 should remain amenable only to the laws 

 of his own country. 



And this principle in the American treaty 

 was not extorted from China, although 

 China has of late years contended that she 

 was forced to yield the principle. The fact 

 is, China's whole history proves that she 

 has, at all times, acted upon the policy not 

 to interfere with the person or property of 

 foreigners, and adhering so blindly to this 

 policy she entered into the treaties referred 

 to without due consideration of the far- 

 reaching influence of the principle to which 

 she then so readily subscribed. 



But western nations would not have 

 allowed China jurisdiction over the lives 

 and property of their citizens or subjects. 

 In many respects the law of China was just, 

 but the way in which it was and is still 

 administered is neither just nor humane, and 

 the principle of extra-territoriality should 

 be maintained against China, until she 

 reforms her judicial system by the standard 

 of enlightened jurisprudence and humanity. 



