192 



DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE OF 

 THE UNITED STATES. Very few subjects 

 of importance are embraced in the correspond- 

 ence of the State Department during 1882. 

 The passage of the act to restrain the immigra- 

 tion of Chinese led to an investigation of its 

 provisions. It seemed to prohibit the transit 

 of Chinese laborers across the territory of the 

 United States, and" an inquiry on the part of 

 the Chinese embassy was answered by the 

 following letter in explanation : 



DEPABTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, ) 

 January 6, 1883. ) 

 Mr. CHENG TSAO Ju, ETC., ETC., ETC. 



SIR: On June 28, t 1882, the charge d'qfaires ad 

 interim of your legation, Mr. Tsu Shau Pang, wrote 

 to me touching the question arising under the act of 

 May 6, 1882, relative to the transit across the territory 

 of the United States of Chinese laborers proceeding 

 to or returning from Cuba and other foreign countries. 



I am happy to inform you that this Government has 

 reached the conclusion that the transit through the 

 United States of Chinese subjects, proceeding to or 

 from a third country, is permissible under the act in 

 questionj with certain precautions against abuses. 



An opinion which I fiave received from the Attor- 

 ney-General sets forth the grounds on which this con- 

 clusion is reached, which, briefly recapitulated, are as 

 follows : 



" The preamble of the act itself reads : ' Whereas, in 

 the opinion of the Government of the United States, 

 the coming of Chinese laborers to this country en- 

 dangers the good order of certain localities within the 

 territory thereof,' and it is thereupon enacted that 

 the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States 

 be ... suspended, and, during such suspension, it 

 shall not be lawful for any Chinese laborer to come, 

 or having so come ... to remain within the United 

 States." 



The act is based upon the treaty of November 17, 

 1880, the provisions whereof it is designated to exe- 

 cute. In that treaty it is premised that " a modifica- 

 tion of existing treaties " has become necessary in 

 consequence of the increasing immigration of Chinese 

 laborers and the embarrassments caused by such im- 

 migration, and thereupon the Government of China 

 agrees that whenever, in the opinion of this Govern- 

 ment, injurious effects are threatened or caused by 

 "the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States 

 or their residence therein," such coming or residence 

 may be regulated, limited, or suspended, but may not 

 be absolutely prohibited. The treaty adds : " The 

 limitation or suspension shall be reasonable, and shall 

 apply only to Chinese who may gjo to the United 

 States as laborers, other classes not being included in 

 the limitations. Legislation taken in regard to Chi- 

 nese laborers will be of such a character only as is 

 necessary to enforce the regulation, limitation, or sus- 

 pension of immigration, and immigrants shall not be 

 subject to personal maltreatment or abuse." 



In the views of the Attorney- General, the act of 6th 

 of May, 1880, being intended to carry into effect the 

 stipulations of the treaty, is to be construed in the 

 light thereof, and has reference only to the Chinese 

 who come here to stay as laborers. It is only with 

 immigrants and with those who come as laborers that 

 the treaty and the statute deal. Looking, therefore, 

 at the mischief and the remedy, and to the treaty and 

 the act taken together, this Government, adopting the 

 conclusion of the Attorney- General, does " not think 

 that a Chinese laborer coming to this country merely 

 to pass through it can be considered as within the 

 prohibition of the law, he being neither an immigrant 

 nor a laborer coming here as a laborer." 



With regard to the necessity of Chinese laborers in 

 transit^ being provided with evidence that they are 

 not Chinese coming here as immigrants or as laborers, 

 the Attorney-General says : " As the prohibition of 



the act applies to Chinese laborers coming into the 

 country to stay as laborers, and as the regulations 

 touching certificates of identification prescribed by the 

 fourth and sixth sections are auxiliary to that end, 

 and intended to prevent frauds upon the act, and 

 therefore applicable only to Chinese coming here for 

 permanent or temporarv residence, I am of opinion 

 that Chinese passing through this country to other 

 countries are not required, before crossing our borders, 

 to produce the specified certificates of identification, 

 provided they competently prove hi some other man- 

 ner their status as mere transient passengers ; of course 

 the certificate would dispense with other proof." 

 The character of such proof may very properly be 

 regulated by the Secretary of the Treasury. I have 

 brought the matter in this shape to the attention of 

 the Secretary of the Treasury, and requested that he 

 will frame such regulations as may be necessary to 

 permit the transit of Chinese laborers. As soon as 

 the action of my colleague shall be made known to 

 me 1 will communicate it to you. Accept, sir, a re- 

 newed assurance of my high consideration. 



FKEDEKICK T. FKELINGHUYSEN. 



In the " Annual Cyclopedia" for 1881, the 

 correspondence between the United States and 

 Chili and Peru is very fully presented. The 

 change which took place in the administration 

 of the Government by the death of President 

 Garfield, has been followed by a suspension 

 of the measures designed by his Administration. 

 The objects contemplated by him, and the po- 

 litical and commercial relations with the South 

 American states, which it was his aim to es- 

 tablish, have been explained by Mr. Elaine, the 

 Secretary of State at that period, and issued 

 in a periodical published in Chicago. The fol- 

 lowing are extracts : 



The foreign policy of President Garfield' s Admin- 

 istration had two principal objects in view : 1. To 

 bring about peace and prevent future wars in North 

 and South America. 2. To cultivate such friendly 

 commercial relations with all American countries as 

 would lead to a large increase in the export trade of 

 the United States, by supplying those fabrics in which 

 we are abundantly able to compete with the manu- 

 facturing nations of Europe. To attain the second ob- 

 ject the first must be accomplished. It would be idle 

 to attempt the development and enlargement of our 

 trade with the countries of North and South America 

 if that trade were liable at any unforeseen moment to 

 be violently interrupted by such wars as that which 

 for three years has engrossed and almost engulfed 

 Chili, Peru, and Bolivia ; as that which was barely 

 averted by the friendly offices of the United States 

 between Chili and the Argentine Kepublic ; as that 

 which has been postponed by the same good offices, 

 but not decisively abandoned, between Mexico ana 

 Guatemala ; as that which is threatened between Bra- 

 zil and Uruguay ; as that which is even now foreshad- 

 owed between Brazil and the Argentine states. Peace 

 is essential to commerce, is the very life of honest 

 trade, is the solid basis of international prosperity ; 

 and yet there is no part of the world where a resort 

 to arms is so prompt as in the Spanish- American re- 

 publics. Those republics have grown out of the old 

 colonial divisions, formed from capricious grants to 

 favorites by royal charter, and their boundaries are, 

 in many cases, not clearly defined, and consequently 

 afford the bases of continual disputes, breaking forth 

 too often in open war. To induce the Spanish- Ameri- 

 can states to adopt some peaceful mode of adjusting 

 their frequently recurring contentions was regarded 

 by the late President as one of the most honorable 

 and useful ends to which the diplomacy of the United 

 States could contribute useful especially to those 

 states by securing permanent peace within all their 



