THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1888.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9161, 17 September 1888, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1888.

"It is regarded as certain that China will reject any further parleying on the Chinese-American Treaty." Such is our cable message from Pekin, and it entirely bears out the impressions that are reasonably formed in the mind cf anyone carefully noting events. China has no particular interest in cultivating friendly relations with America which are not reciprocal, and an invidious distinction such as that made by the United States between the Chinese and all other nationalities, pre-supposed an admission of inferiority on the part of the Chinese Court, very unlikely indeed to be conceded. But not content with the implication of the inferior standing of the Chinese Empire contained in the treaty, and while that treaty was waiting for ratification at Pekin, the American Congress have been pleased to follow it up with a Bill, which, if not in direct violation of the terms of the treaty still unratified, entirely surpassed them in the virulence of the insult addressed to China. In \ that Bill, which was based on the assumption that no dilliculty would occur in the ratification of the treaty, it has been enacted that "from and ' after the date of the exchange of ratifications of the pending treaty between the United States of America and His Imperial .Majesty the Emperor of China, signed the 12th day of March, ISSB, it shall be unlawful for any Chinese person, whether a subject of China or of any other Power, to enter the United States except as in this Bill provided :: After such a procedure, no one need be surprised that "China will reject any further parleying on the Chinese-American Treaty." Neither should anyone be surprised if refusing to further parley is not the last we shall hear of the question raised by the exclusion of Chinese from the United States. Indeed, the most natural outcome of the situation would be that so soon as any more Chinese are excluded from entrance into the States, the Court of Pekin should promptly order the exclusion of all citizens of the United States from the Empire of China. Such a course will, as we have said, not mean war, for the United States are not in a position to force their will on China in the face of the naval strength of that Empire, while the moral position maintained by China in simply doing as she has been clone by will be unassailable in the eyes of all civilised nations.

Our interest in these strained relations between America and China arises from the fact that it was on the ratification of the Chinese-American Treaty that the most moderate of our colonial Chinese exclusionists had based their hopes of a satisfactory solution of the Australian-Chinese difficulty. It was hoped that as China was presumed to have agreed to restrictions being imposed on the introduction of the labouring classes of Chinamen into the States a similar treaty could be obtained by the British Government in relation to Chinese labourers coming to the colonies. This, we say, was the idea cherished by the moderate party in the colonies, though it fell far short of the hoodlum declarations and legislation of the extremists, who were prepared to listen to no temperate proposals or negotiations, but were disposed to place both England and China at defiance. We need hardly say that that hope has nowvanished, and that the American treaty having been peremptorily rejected, there is not the smallest likelihood of the British Government, even if it were so disposed, succeeding in effecting negotiations with China on the same lines. We are, therefore, now brought face to face with the position aggravated by the illegal, insulting, and defiant course which has been taken by certain of the colonies, a course calculated not only to prejudice the Court of China against the colonies, but to alienate the sympathies of the English people and the English Government. From the latest files of the London Times, we observe that the violence of language and conduct of the New South Wales legislature in relation to this matter lias been brought up in the House of Commons.

Sir G. Campbell asked the Under-Secretary for the Colonies whether he could say whether a pamphlet purporting to contain the speech of Sir 11. i'arkes, Premier of New South Welles, in moving the second reading of the Chinese Restriction Bill, and a preface by that gentleman, was genuine ; whether he hail noticed that Sir H. Parkes used the following words in his speech, and set them forth again in his preface : —"* Neither for Her Majesty's ships (if war, nor for Her Majesty's representative on the snot, nor for the Secretary of State for the Colonies, do we intend to turn aside from our purpose, which is to terminate the lauding of Chinese on these shores for ever, except under the restrictions imposed by the Bill, winch will amount, and are intended to amount, to practical prohibition?-' also, that Sir H. Parkes distinctly avowed that " the Government had been acting illegally in refusing to allow the Chinese to land;'' whether the Bill so proposed was passed, and contained an indemnity for the illegal acts committed by the New South ales Government; whether the Act so passed had been assented to by the Governor, acting for Her Majesty, not being reserved for Her Majesty's pleasure; and whether the Secretary of .state satisfied himself that the refusal to allow the Chinese to land in New South Wales, ami the provisions of the Bill are in accordance with Her Majesty's treaties with the Emperor of China, and with our amicable relations with that Power, before he allowed the Governor to give the Queen's assent to the Act

To this question the Under-Secre-tary. Sir J. Gorst, replied :

The Secretary of State has no reason, to doubt the authenticity of the pamphlet referred to; and he has seen the two statements quoted, which are explained in the preface. The Bill has passed, and is understood to contain a clause preserving to any person who feels aggrieved the right oi redress tor losses in courts of law, but indemnifying the members of the Ministry personally. The Bill has 'oeen assented to, hut without prejudice to Her Majesty's power of disallowance should its provisions be found inadmissible. The Act has not yet been received, but its provisions will be carefully considered.

Whereupon Sir G. Campbell gave notice that he will call attention to the

subject on the second reading of the Imperial Defences Bill.

Now, there are two courses which may seem necessarily to arise from this position of affairs ; either the Imperial Government will advise Her Majesty to disallow the Bill, in which case the colony will be left to try conclusions with "Her Majesty's ships of war, Her Majesty's representative on the spot, and the Secretary of State for the Colonies," with the dim shadow of the fleets of China in the background • or Her Majesty's Government will advis* the approval of the Queen to the drastic measure, in which case of course England will be bound to stand by the colony and "terminate the landing 0 Chinese on these shores for ever;' win all the contingencies arising therefrom in the relations of England with the Emperor of China. We have no hesitation in saying that neither will HeMajesty's Government accept the "rave responsibility of compelling China to abide by the terms of this drastic piece of legislation, nor will the Australian colonies attempt to force compliance by their own strength. It is asserted that the Australian colonies have a constitutional right to exclude any forei'mei" from their borders ; but a constitutional right without the strength to enforce it will not go for much, and if England declines to be a party to any "such drastic procedure, as in the face of such a blustering and defiant attitude she is most likely to do, it goes without saying that all this hectoring bravado will go for nothing, and New South Wales, as well as the other more rational colonies, will quiescent!v accent what the fates decree. And as, after the failure of the American treaty England is likely to decline attempting to further negotiate with China on similar lines, and as China, herself j ? now in the spirit for peremptorily rejecting any proposals that are not strictly reciprocal, there is no doubt; that this question of the exclusion of Chinese from the colonies has assumed a very grave and difficult aspect. The time for approaching it in a swashbucklering attitude is passed, and these colonies are now confronted with the probability that they will not be allowed to impose any restrictions whatever on the introduction of Chinese which , are not applied equally to all foreign nationalities.

In these circumstances we cannot but revert to the proposal made by Mr. J. 0. Firth at the beginning of this trouble, which appeared first in detail in these columns, and which was addressed by him to the Premiers of the various colonies, and to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in London. It was, as will be recollected, that there should ho a proportion in number between the citizens of the Flowery Land admitted from year to year and domiciled in

British colonies, and those subjects of Her Majesty who are interned in the various districts of China. It does not necessarily follow that the proportions should be equal, nor would it seriously affect the colonies if ten times the number of Chinamen were permitted residence in the British Empire, as compared with the number of British subjects resident in China ; nor would it, as we take it, aliecfc the principle of Mr. Firths most equitable proposal. Such a scheme as that would save the amour pro/m the Court of China, for it would have the aspect of placing the two nations on an equality, and of preserving towards one another perfectly reciprocal relations ;

while it would give to British and colonial traders a latitude in pushing their commerce into China answering all possible requirements for generations to come, without in the least risking these colonies being inundated with a Chinese immigration that could affect our social well-being in the smallest degree. It is indeed greatly to be regretted that it was not accepted and acted on at the beginning of this trouble ; for the danger is that the national spirit of China having been stung, and that Empire having realised not only the strength of its position, but the importance that it is to England, and to these colonies even more so, to preserve a cordial understanding with the greatest military and naval power in the East, it may be disposed now to be somewhat dictatorial, and unwillling to listen to overtures of any kind for restricting its spread in the Pacific. Of course at the beginning of this anti - Chinese movement, Ministers and Governments were on 'the high horse," and in the mood for resenting what was amusingly called'"Chinese cheek,'' and a temperate and rational proposal such as this of Mr. Firth's was quite out of place with men who "would stand no nonsense from nobody.'' The gravity ot the position into which we have drifted is now becoming realised in the colonies, as it certainly is in governing circles in England, and in the prospect which we now have of the colonies being utterly powerless to carry out any restriction of an inundation of Chinese, if it pleases them to come, Ave have not the lease hesitation in saying that Mr. Firths proposal is still the only feasible way of escape.