188 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



NATS Messrs. Bayard, Boreman, Casserly, Cor- 

 bett, Cragin, Davis, Drake, Edmunds, Harlan, How- 

 ell, Johnston, McOreery, Morton, Stewart, Stockton, 

 Thurman, Tipton, Vickers, Warner, Willey, Wil- 

 liams, and Wilson 22. 



ABSENT Messrs. Abbott, Ames, Brownlow, Buck- 

 ingham, Cameron, Cattell, Chandler, Cole, Ferry, 

 Flanagan, Hamilton of Maryland, Hamilton of Texas, 

 Howard, Morrill of Maine, Norton, Nye, Osborn, 

 Pool, Bevels, Saulsbury, Sherman, Spencer, and 

 Yates 23. 



So the amendment was agreed to. 

 Mr. Williams: "I offer an amendment; to 

 insert : 



Provided, That nothing in this act shall be con- 

 strued to authorize the naturalization of persons born 

 in the Chinese empire." 



Mr. Stewart : " Now, what is the condition 

 of the Chinese? About twenty years ago, 

 after the discovery of gold in California, cer- 

 tain companies organized for the purpose of 

 importing Chinese to work in the mines. The 

 people of California imposed upon them for- 

 eign miners' licenses in a very oppressive man- 

 ner. That I always resisted. There were 

 other exactions imposed upon them. They 

 were a toiling community, the most harmless 

 in the world so far as that is concerned ; but 

 the great mass of them were bound to certain 

 obligations. 



"And here I wish to call the attention of the 

 Senate to the situation of the Chinese coolies 

 who were brought to this country. They were 

 brought here under the same system under 

 which they were taken to the West India isl- 

 ands; the same system that has made slaves 

 of them in the Spanish dominions. They were 

 brought here under precisely similar contracts 

 made in Asia. They were brought here under 

 contracts whereby they gave in security their 

 families to be sold into slavery if they violated 

 those contracts. They were brought here under 

 contracts to labor a certain number of years 

 and be returned to those families, dead or alive. 



" The poor coolies have kept those contracts, 

 have behaved themselves as well as any people 

 could; but still they are not free men. They 

 are brought here and held to service. I am 

 anxious that they shall be liberated. We have 

 taken from them the oppressive laws that State 

 and territorial legislation imposed upon them. 

 We have a bill pending to break up these coolie 

 contracts. 



" Sir, the Senate do not comprehend or un- 

 derstand this question. Suppose those con- 

 tracts should be sufficient to bind them to be- 

 come naturalized and to vote as their masters 

 prescribe, is that the kind of citizens you want 

 to invite here ? Do you want to extend natu- 

 ralization to men who are liable to be dictated 

 to by their masters who brought them here as 

 to how they shall vote? These contracts that 

 bind them to labor for a certain number of 

 years will bind them to any other kind of ser- 

 vice. They have contracted that their dead 

 bodies shall be returned to China. Is it a part 

 of the theory of our Government that the 



mockery of naturalization shall be entered up- 

 on with men who have contracted that their 

 dead bodies shall be taken from the country, 

 and who have pledged their families to be sold 

 into slavery as a security that they will com- 

 ply with their contracts and obey the behests 

 of their masters who have brought them here ? 

 Are they tit subjects for naturalization? 



" Is it not the duty of a humane Congress 

 first to see that no more coolies are imported 

 into this country under these contracts ? Let us 

 liberate them ; and then when a Chinaman is 

 naturalized, if that time should come, let him 

 be naturalized because he is a freeman, and 

 becauses he voluntarily chooses to become an 

 adopted citizen, because he becomes attached 

 to our form of government. 



" Why, sir, you have no means of adminis- 

 tering oaths to Chinamen. They do not un- 

 derstand the obligation of your oath. I am in 

 favor of allowing them to come into court and 

 tell their story, and leave to the jury to de- 

 cide as to the weight of their testimony. I am 

 in favor of allowing anybody who has been 

 injured or aggrieved to do that. But they 

 would understand as little of the oath that is 

 to be administered to them with regard to 

 naturalization as would the wild beasts of the 

 forest. To them it would be simply jargon. 

 But the oath that they took that they would 

 be true to their own allegiance; that they 

 would be true to their pagan faith ; that they 

 would be true to their pagan master ; that they 

 would redeem their families and not allow 

 them to be sold in slavery, they will keep. 



' Sir, they have not applied to become citi- 

 zens. Let us wait a while. Let this question 

 be examined and understood before we at- 

 tempt any such legislation as this. 



"Why, sir. I have seen a Chinaman commit 

 suicide because a piece of his cue was cut off 

 by a ruffian. I prosecuted the ruffian for that 

 offence. I have been the Chinaman's friend. 

 But look at the faith he has. That cue was a 

 badge of his religion, a badge of his loyalty to 

 his Government. It was only a little piece of 

 hair, but yet it was the badge of his loyalty to 

 his Government and of his faith, and because 

 the cutting it off made him an outcast among 

 his people he took his own life. Is a person 

 thus situated, thus bound to paganism, fit to 

 become an American citizen ? 



" The proposition of the Senator from Mas- 

 sachusetts (Mr. Sumner) is nothing more nor 

 less than this : to extend naturalization to Chi- 

 nese coolies, brought here under coolie con- 

 tracts, by which they can be controlled by 

 Chinese companies located in the city of Fan 

 Francisco. They cannot only be controlled 

 in their labor, but controlled in their applica- 

 tions to be naturalized, and they will be equally 

 controlled in their votes. They are pagans in 

 religion, monarchists in theory and practice, 

 and believe in their form of government, and 

 no other, and look with utter contempt upon 

 all modern forms as dangerous innovations ; 



