Massacre of Chinese by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 17, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 36.

Massacre of Chinese.

By Editor

THE United States stands disgraced before the world by the recent barbarities visited upon the Chinese at Rock Springs coal mines in Wyoming Territory. Perhaps it will be said that the United States should not be largely blamed for the action of a lawless band in one of her Territories. But that is not the manner in which we would determine the standing of such an outrage in another country. If a colony or company of quiet, inoffensive Americans in China were set upon without any provocation and ruthlessly murdered, shot down like wild beasts, and their property and dwellings burned, we would hold China—not the perpetrators of the outrage—responsible for the lives of our citizens. Not all of the present generation have forgotten the case of Greytown, where our Government took summary vengeance upon a town for a crime against the rights of American citizenship, not one-hundredth part as great as this barbarity in Wyoming.

There are other and special reasons why the United States will be held responsible before the whole world for this act. The Chinese came to this country under treaty rights, and in violation of these rights they have been subjected to every species of indignity and abuse. Special laws have at different times been enacted against them, which have only failed of execution by the fact that they were unconstitutional. They have been denied the privilege of becoming citizens, and their children have been shut out of the public schools, and then they have been cursed because they did not assimilate to our institutions! What changes might have been wrought in the lives and characters of the Chinese resident here if they had been treated as we have treated immigrants from other countries, we cannot say. We have every reason to believe the effect would have been great and beneficial. At all events, it would have been an honor to our boasted civilization, not to speak of our boasted Christianity, had we made the experiment.

The Chinese have also been blamed for sending their money back to China, when they have been shut out from every opportunity of safely investing it here. We have often seen commendatory notices in the newspapers of some Irish men or women who prudently saved up their earnings and sent them home to relieve the wants of their parents or kindred in Ireland. But the Irish have political influence, and the Chinese have not; therefore that is a virtue in the Irish which is an offense in the Chinese. Again, it is a fact, unfortunate to the Irish themselves, that a great many of them spend a considerable portion of their earnings for whisky, and the Chinese do not; therefore the Chinese have the influence of the liquor interest against them, which is the controlling influence in American politics. Look at it as we will, they are placed at a disadvantage both socially and politically.

A very evident reason why our country will be held responsible for this Wyoming massacre is found in the fact that party leaders, and even those holding important offices, have, week after week, made public speeches to excited mobs, urging them to drive out the Chinese from our midst, even to the extent of murdering them and burning their property. When people of other countries learn that Denis Kearney was the leader of a large political party—so large that it controlled the State election one year, to a great extent—they naturally regard his utterances as the sentiments of this people and this nation. And when the voters of our principal city elect to office such a man as "Dr." O'Donnell, a man of less principle and a more dangerous demagogue than Denis Kearney, they make themselves responsible in the eyes of the whole world, for his public efforts to incite the basest elements of our population to riot, to arson, and to murder. We may boast as we will of the freedom of speech in this land. It is well, to a certain extent. But when freedom of speech is used to incite to wholesale criminality, and it bears its legitimate fruit, we must begin to consider how other peoples and other nations regard our boasted freedom. And when this criminality vents itself upon the peaceful citizens of other lands, with which we stand related by treaty, then it becomes a matter of national importance, and we can no longer, if we would, shut our eyes to the errors which we have committed, and are committing, against the rights of treaties and of citizenship.

We are not now pleading the cause of the Chinese any further than a regard for public interest and public duty demands. We are giving no opinion of them, as laborers or as residents among us. We may do that at another time. But we feel that it is our duty to the public and to the nation, and to the cause of God in Christianity, to denounce this outrage, and to warn against the influence of those whose efforts are directed to inciting to just such outrages.

One thing may be safely said of the Chinese: They are not ignorant in a worldly sense of the word. In diplomacy their public men are well skilled. Our people have misused them for years. If they do not use the advantage which this circumstance places in their hands, we shall be greatly surprised. And if the United States is taught a lesson to regard her treaty obligations as she has compelled others to regard theirs, we shall not regret it, for it will be no detriment to our honor or our public welfare.