A.—l.

description aforesaid prove to be false, the right of return thereunder, or of continued residence after return, shall in each case be forfeited. And such right of return to the United States shall be exercised within one year from the date of leaving the United States, but such right of return to the United States may be extended for an additional period, not to exceed one year, in cases where, by reason of sickness or other cause of disability beyond his control, such Chinese labourer shall be rendered unable sooner to return, which facts shall be fully reported to the Chinese Consul at the port of departure, and by him certified to the satisfaction of the Collector of the port at which such Chinese subject shall land in the United States. Exemption of certain Chinese Subjects. Article 111. The provisions of this convention shall not affect the right at present enjoyed of Chinese subjects, being officials, teachers, students, merchants, or travellers for curiosity or pleasure, but not labourers, of coming to the United States and residing therein. To entitle such Chinese subjects as are above described to admission into the United States they may produce a certificate from their Government, or the Government where they last resided, vised, by the diplomatic or consular representative of the United States in the country or port whence they depart. It is also agreed that Chinese labourers shall continue to enjoy the privilege of transit across the territory of the United States in the course of their journey to or from other countries, subject to such regulations by the Government of the United States as may be necessary to prevent said privilege of transit from being abused. Article IV. In pursuance of Article 111. of the immigration treaty between the United States and China, signed at Pekin on the 17th day of November, 1880, it is hereby understood and agreed that Chinese labourers, or Chinese of any other class, either permanently or temporarily residing in the United States, shall have for the protection of their person and property all rights that are given by the laws of the United States to citizens of the most favoured nation, excepting the right to become naturalised citizens ; and the Government of the United States reaffirms its obligation, as stated in the said Article 111., to exert all its power to secure protection to the persons and property of all Chinese subjects in the United States. Indemnity for Injuries to Chinamen. Article V. Whereas Chinese subjects, being in remote and unsettled regions of the United States, have been the victims of injuries in their persons and property at the hands of wicked and lawless men, which unexpected events the Chinese Government regrets, and for which it has claimed an indemnity, the legal obligation of which the Government of the United States denies: And whereas the Government of the United States, humanely considering these injuries, and bearing in mind the [? friendship subsisting between] the Government of the United States and China, which the high contracting parties wish to cement, is desirous of alleviating the exceptional and deplorable sufferings and losses to which the aforesaid Chinese have been subjected : Therefore the United States, without reference to the question of liability (which, as a legal obligation, it denies), agrees to pay on or before the Ist day of March, 1889, the sum of $276,619 75c. to the Chinese Minister at this Capitol, who shall accept the same, on behalf of his Government, as full indemnity for all losses and injuries sustained by Chinese subjects as aforesaid, and shall distribute the said money among the said sufferers and their relatives. Article VI. This convention shall remain in force for a period of twenty years, beginning with the date of the exchange of the ratifications; and if, six months before the expiration of the said period of twenty years, neither Government shall formally have given notice of its termination to the other, it shall remain in full force for another like period of twenty years. A Short Letter from the President. The following letter of the President accompanies the treaty: "To the Senate.—l have the honour to transmit herewith, and recommend for your constitutional approval, a convention signed and concluded in this city on the 12th instant, under my direction, between the United States and China, for the exclusion hereafter of Chinese labourers from coming into this country. This treaty is accompanied by a letter from the Secretary of State in recital of its provisions and explanatory of the reasons for its negotiation, and with it are transmitted sundry documents giving the history of events connected with the presence and treatment of Chinese subjects in the United States. In view of the public interest which has for a long time been manifested in relation to the question of Chinese immigration, it would seem advisable that the full text of the treaty should be made public, and I respectfully recommend that an order to that effect be made by your honourable body.— Grover Cleveland. —Executive Mansion, Washington, 16th March, 1888." Secretary Bayard's Explanation. The following is Secretary Bayard's explanation of the features of the treaty : To the President, — I have now the honour to transmit herewith, with a view of its being communicated to the Senate for its advice and consent, a convention providing for the absolute prohibition of the coming of Chinese labourers into the United States, which was concluded in this city on the 12th instant by me, under your instructions and authority, and by the Chinese Minister at this Capitol under the Imperial authority of China. Shortly after the advent of your Administration it was considered advisable, in view of the manifest popular discontent in the States bordering upon the Pacific growing out of the presence there of Ghinese labourers and their obvious lack of assimilation with the sympathies, habits, and interests of our own citizens, and the demonstrated inefficiency of the statutes intended to restrict their coming among us, that an effort should be made to procure the desired relief by obtaining the consent and co-operative action of China by means of an amended treaty, and thus avoid the necessity of a resort to special legislation, which without the co-operative

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