CHAP. XXXIV. THE CHINESE QUESTION. 1807 ernment has been the conviction of many of the leading bishops, elders, and other dignitaries of the Mormon Church for violation of the law. The Chinese Question is one of much greater extent than any mere local issue. It is this: whether this republic, which has always loudly proclaimed itself as the refuge for the poor and oppressed of all nationalities, shall, in violation of its own constitutional principles, and of the treaties which it has, as a sovereign power, entered into with a foreign nation, refuse the ordinary protection for life and property to a certain class of immigrants who, in frugality, industry, and patience, afford a striking contrast to the majority of those who advocate their exclusion. By the articles of the Burlingame treaty concluded between the United States and China in 1868, the Chinese were accorded the same privileges in regard to settling in this country and becoming naturalized as are enjoyed by those of any other nationality. In 1880, after violent agitations against their admission, fomented particularly by the working classes of the Pacific States, the treaty was modified. By the new terms this Government could regulate or suspend, but not prohibit, the immigration of the laboring classes, and in response to many demands for a stricter law, a bill was passed in 1882 prohibiting the importation of Chinese laborers for a term of ten years. The consideration of revising the tariff attracted such wide-spread and marked attention that the President appointed a commission to investigate the subject. Twenty-nine places were visited, and nearly three thousand pages of testimony taken. Most of this was of a conflicting nature, for, of course, in whatever industry men were engaged, the one, which in giving their evidence they represented, needed, in their opinion, strict protection; while, on the other hand, free admission was demanded for other articles ancillary to the business in which they were engaged. The committee finally presented its report. An average reduction of 20 per cent. was recommended; the changes on some articles being 40 per cent. or 50 per cent., while others were left untouched, while on some it was recommended that the duties be raised. After some discussion in both Houses of Congress, and the introduction of several radical changes, the bill was finally passed. President Arthur submitted for the consideration of Congress a copy of a circular invitation extended to all the independent countries of North and South America to participate in a general Peace Congress to be held at Washington. This was for the purpose of adjusting the differences existing between Chili and Peru, the Central American States and Mexico and Guatemala, but no action was taken by Congress. In this year full reports were heard of the ill-fated band who had sailed under De Long in the Jeannette. The vessel was during the September of 1879 caught in the ice and drifted helplessly to the Northwest, till on the 11th of May, 1881, the fields of ice which had, two days previously, temporarily parted, again came together with irresistible force and crushed the hapless intruder into the Arctic solitudes. Fortunately before she sank most of the provisions, the boats, and the sleds were saved. Then commenced the terrible retreat of the survivors. Where was the nearest land? Far distant was the nearest coast, the coast of Siberia; and six hundred miles of ice and water, with its fluctuations, more distressing even than solid ice-fields, separated them from that most northern portion of the habitable globe. They could make but a mile each day, and for a time the drift of the ice caused them to lose more than they gained. Finally reaching open water the sledges were left behind, and the members of the band-about thirty-were divided among the three boats. Two only reached the shore-that of Captain De Long and that of Lieutenant Danenhower. The latter met some fishermen on the bank of the Lena, and thence sent for assistance to the nearest Russian settlement. As the messengers sent by Lieutenant Danenhower were returning to give what aid they could procure, they met two of the band sent out by the ill-fated De Long. These latter had marched nearly a hundred and fifty miles, amidst the most appalling distresses, without food, except what they could, in their extremity, obtain from devouring the fur clothing in which they had commenced their perilous journey. But their devotion and intrepidity were all in vain. The natives whom Danenhower's men had induced to accompany them, refused to take the risk of attempting to rescue De Long, and he and the remainder of his companions perished from famine and exposure. De Long had kept a journal to the day of his death, but none was needed to bear testimony to the dreadful sufferings endured. Everything which could sustain life, had been consumed. The foreign relations of the country were not allowed to suffer in the hands of our Secretary of State, Mr. Frelinghuysen. He continued the correspondence with the English Government, which Mr. Blaine had commenced, respecting the validity of the Bulwer-Clayton Treaty. In reply to Lord Granville's allegation that the British Government had committed no act which could invalidate the treaty, he replied that the treaty in question was voidable because it referred solely to the Nicaragua Canal, and not, as the British Government maintained, to any passage of communication across the Isthmus. He also asserted that the treaty was broken by the holding of British Honduras. This was, he said, in opposition to the stipulations that neither the United States nor Great Britain should colonize or exercise dominion over any part of Central America. It is true that after the treaty had been ratified Mr. Clayton did exchange memoranda with Sir Henry CHAP. XXXIV. AMERICAN PORK. 1809 Bulwer, stating that the stipulation in Article I. should not apply to the settlements in British Honduras; but it is also true that Mr. Clayton declined to affirm or deny the British title in this settlement. Further correspondence ensued without any definite result being attained. An important question arose respecting the claims to American citizenship, so often brought forward. In this case, the question arose respecting the citizenship of a miscreant named O'Donnell, who had murdered Carey, the Irish informer, on board a British ship. He claimed citizenship, first, on the ground that his father had become naturalized while he himself was a minor; secondly, because he had served in the civil war; thirdly, because he had resided in the United States for three years prior to coming of age, and had remained thereafter till he had taken out naturalization papers. These statements were thoroughly investigated, and all found to be false As, however, he had a certificate of naturalization, he was deemed by Secre tary Frelinghuysen a citizen of this country. On this declaration followed a resolution of the House directing the attention of the Government to the trial of the murderer; but, as might have been expected, the British Government firmly but politely declined to interfere with the judicial sentence on a convicted murderer, even at the request of a Government anxious to conciliate, for its own purposes, the Irish vote. With Germany an extensive correspondence took place, not on such lofty subjects as the rights of American citizens or the obligations of treaties, but on the harmless, necessary animal, the American hog. In consequence of alleged discoveries of trichinæ in pork imported from the United States, the question was, in 1878, raised in Germany as to the advisability of allowing its consumption. The alarm spread over a great part of Europe; Italy was the first to take action, and on February 20, 1879, she prohibited all pork imports from the United States. Many of the other countries of Europe soon followed this example. France and Germany, as the largest receivers of our pork, took the alarm, and various restrictions on its importation were established. Of the loss thus caused some idea may be formed from the fact that in 1883 the exports to France amounted only to forty thousand pounds against five millions in 1881. In 1883 the German Government, then in considerable alarm respecting the depressed condition of agriculture, resolved to submit to the Legislature measures to totally exclude American pork; and our Government, with a view of obviating the immense damage to our interests which such a measure would inflict, announced that a commission of investigation was to be appointed, to which it invited the sending of German experts in trichiniasis. This invitation was declined by the German Government, and the House thereupon declared the sanitary reasons were but pretended. This opinion was strengthened by a letter from Mr. Sargent, the Minister to Germany, who set forth the protectionist motives which influenced Prince Bismarck, in a confidential letter to the State Department. Unfortunately this letter was published, with other documents of the State Department, and afterward with offensive comments reproduced in the North German Gazette, the organ of Bismarck. The violation of diplomatic courtesy involved in this publication by the State Department of a confidential dispatch, rendered Mr. Sargent's position as unpleasant officially as it had been socially, and the result was his resignation in the following spring on the occurrence of the Lasker incident. In utter violation of all international decorum the House of Representatives passed an extraordinary resolution of sympathy on the death of Dr. Lasker, a most distinguished member of the German Parliament, and an inveterate enemy of the Prince Chancellor's measures. No objection could have been taken at expression of sympathy at the death of an eminent politician; but when our House of Representatives further affirmed, what was entirely beyond its competence, that "his labors in opposing the Chancellor had been useful to Germany," no surprise need be entertained at the refusal of Prince Bismarck to transmit such resolutions to the Reichstag. Treaties negotiated by Secretary Frelinghuysen with Spain and Nicaragua were not ratified. The former created a kind of free trade between Cuba and the United States which would have injured two staple industries of the South, sugar and rice, and the latter involved responsibilities which, without further discussion, would have been dangerous to accept. In domestic as well as in foreign affairs Mr. Arthur's presidency was uneventful. If the saying is true that the country is happiest which has no history, his term must be included in the list of happy presidencies. The silver question still remains to vex the souls of political economists, financiers, and statesmen. The most authoritative utterance on this subject was that of the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. McCulloch, who succeeded the late Judge Folger in that high office. In his annual report he wrote: "I have been forced to the conclusion that unless both the coinage of silver dollars and the issue of silver certificates are suspended, there is danger that silver and not gold may become our metallic standard. This danger may not be imminent, but it is of so serious a character that there ought not to be delay in providing against it. Not only would the national credit be seriously impaired if the Government should be under the necessity of using silver dollars or certificates in payment of gold obligations, but business of all kinds would be greatly disturbed; not only so, but gold would at CHAP. XXXIV. FINANCIAL CRISIS. 1811 once cease to be a circulating medium, and severe contraction would be the result." In May, 1884, occurred a financial crisis. It was caused principally by the inflation which had begun in 1878 and ended during 1881. During that period, from speculation and other causes, stocks and bonds had been forced far above their real values; and when, from the failure of the crops in 1881, these commenced to shrink, many banking and commission houses found themselves burdened with unavailable securities. Speculators had lost heavily; the farmers, having also lost, had no money to invest, and for a time business seemed almost at a standstill. At this critical time disclosures were made regarding the loose management of the Marine, Second National, and Metropolitan Banks, and the crisis was precipitated, and numerous failures occurred in the speculative circles of Wall Street. The revelations of the manner in which the affairs of the Marine Bank were conducted gave a terrible shock to the moral sense of the nation; and as they involved the fortune, and what is more, the good name of General Grant, the public indignation against the reckless men who had caused the disaster was wide and deep. Two years before, one of the sons of General Grant had formed a partnership with a plausible young man named Ward, and General Grant had entered the firm as a special partner-a position which later on, when he embarked the rest of his property in the concern, he changed for that of general partner. Neither of the Grants seem to have given any attention to the practical details of the business, but to have, with inconceivable confidence, left everything to the management of Ferdinand Ward. The last named obtained, on usurious terms, large sums from many wealthy capitalists and the Marine Bank, on the allegation that they were to be employed in executing Government contracts, and it is suspected that he hinted that General Grant was the channel through which these lucrative contracts were obtained. The game was carried on successfully for some time, Ward borrowing from new victims the sums he handed over to his earlier allies. Then the crash came; the Marine Bank, of which Ward was a director, had to suspend payment, and the firm of Grant & Ward followed. No pity need be wasted on the chief actors in this affair, but it was a sad thing for every American to learn that the name of the great General, who had been twice President of the Republic, was mixed up in such discreditable transactions in the slightest degree. General Grant was ruined. He had parted with his houses, and even the swords of honor and other presents which had been bestowed on him by foreign powers, to save, if possible, the credit of the firm; even his wife's money had gone in the wreck. The shame and disgrace in which he was thus involved aggravated the disease from which he had |