treaties might be taken off. The mere proposal on our part to substitute another article regulating or limiting the free emigration from China to America in place of this Article V would be humiliating, and a moment's thought will show how useless the substitution would be if it could be arranged.

This emigration is the result of wider intercourse between the two countries. Here an overflowing population has found out that a demand exists there for labor, and its employment in our fields and shops will certainly benefit our industry. The struggle in China is rather between the machine-factured goods of western lands and the manufactured goods of native make, and the former seem to be gradually winning. The struggle in the Pacific States just now seems to be between Christian, civilized labor, with its higher and better demands for the soul and body, and pagan unskilled labor, nurtured in a lower grade and content with less. The natural tendency would be to elevate the latter, as the results have already proven to some extent, for the immigrants soon seek higher knowledge and have more wants. The fear that they may injure the industry of the State seems, too, judging by the past experience, to be based a good deal on the complaints of those now out of work in this time of general depres sion, and those who can make themselves heard in public meetings and the newspapers, which the Chinese cannot do very easily. They wish to find a reason why the demand for their labor has ceased, and take this immigration as the excuse and the cause. It will cease as soon as it finds no field, and the Chinese will stay at home or go elsewhere; for in California they begin to feel that there is a social ban upon them, a disfavor like that with which the official and educated class in their own country look upon foreigners. There is nothing to be said in behalf of such a sentiment on either side, but the American has the least excuse for it, and happily is doing much to remove it by teaching his visitors and diffusing truth among their countrymen at home. Our whole country can easily give employment to a few myriads of industrious Chinese, and if those who came over had landed at half a dozen ports instead of all coming in at one, their presence would probably cause little remark, and they would quietly scatter over the land.

The effect of this immigration on the morals of the Americans among whom it comes, depends almost wholly upon what they themselves do to prevent the bad results which may ensue. If the higher civilization and Christian energy of the American people in California cannot devise means to remove the ignorance, abate the prejudices, and enlighten the paganism of those thus brought to their doors, it is weak indeed. But the highest efforts of benevolence cannot do everything; law and force must aid them. For instance, I may refer to the crowding of so many people into lodgings quite insufficient for their accommodation; and if no means are taken by the authorities of the State or city to prevent or remedy the evils arising from their herding together in houses where neither air, light, nor cleanliness exist to make them fit for human habitations, I do not decide which is most to blame, or which is likely to suffer the most. The Chinese are quite ignorant of the laws of hygiene, and in their own land they sicken and die from neglecting them, and must do so until they learn and follow a better way. How much more they are likely to live regardless of consequences in other lands, where they have no power usually to better themselves in these respects, but are compelled to live as their landlords make them. The morals of a community suffer when its members live in confined or badly ventilated houses, and it is certainly within the functions of the local authorities and boards of health to compel the Chinese to live so as not to endan ger the lives, health, and best interests of themselves or their neighbors.

One means of preventing injury in these respects-and its benefits would extend much wider than the improvement of houses-is, to educate a number of Americans in the Chinese language for official interpreters and translators. One cannot blame the immigrants for their misfortune in not knowing how to speak English on their arrival: and it is prudent to meet the difficulty arising from this fact by having men prepared to meet them and help them understand their new relations. These interpreters would be the medium through which the Chinese can reach the authorities directly, either to state their grievances, or learn what are the laws; they would act generally as government agents in making known its orders. Their existence would encourage well-disposed Chinese to go directly to the rulers and state their matters, feeling that they were not shut up to use one of their own countrymen who knew our language. Laws could be promulgated in Chinese, written and oral evidence taken in courts, when there was reason to fear it was altered or misunderstood; and that direct oversight by responsible officers maintained over this alien population which it is the duty of a government to do. In such a case prevention of evil is good government; and it seems to me that one of the most likely means to diminish the injury to morals, is to train competent American interpreters, giving them permanent positions in the local government. Such men are found to be necessary in Hong-Kong, Macao, Singapore, Batavia, and other places where Chinese are under foreign sway. They are as much, if not more, needed in California; and it is my belief that no satisfactory or intelligent relations can be established with the mass of Chinese immigrants until they are brought into direct contact with their rulers. The fact that hundreds of them read

and write English well, does not obviate the necessity of having our own people as well acquainted with their language.

I think that the effects of Chinese immigration upon commerce and industry are on the whole highly beneficial. In respect to morals it will probably be detrimental unless measures are taken to remove the ignorance of these strangers, restrain their vices, and treat them justly. If we, who live in China, had been treated as they have been in the United States, I think a war would have ensued to defend us in the possession of our treaty rights, or we should have had to leave the country. The murders, the robberies, and the cruelties practiced upon the Chinese in California up to March, 1862, as set forth in a memorial from them to the legislature, have been unknown in this land. The contrast is not to our credit.

To prevent the extension of opium-smoking among them; to learn thoroughly the working of their companies and guilds; to encourage them to bring their families; to inform them upon whatever will help them become better-all these duties need to be fulfilled to prevent them from injuring the "social condition of the State," as the legislative resolution appointing this committee expresses it. In the providence of God they have been brought into the midst of a Christian community, and their condition imposes some new duties upon that community, which, if not fulfilled, will entail bad results.

Sixteenth. Is there any superstition or rule of religions faith among the Chinese inculcating the return to China of the bones of their dead dying in other countries, and would legislation in the United States prohibiting the removal of such remains materially affect Chinese immigration?

In their own country the Chinese take pains, and go to much expense, to have their dead buried in the family tomb. It arises from a desire, common in all lands and ages, to be gathered, after death, to one's fathers in the ancestral sepulchre ; but is perhaps stronger among this people than elsewhere in consequence of the prevalence of ancestral worship. The practice of removing the bodies of those who die in other provinces to their paternal vaults depends, however, more upon the means of the parties than on any tenet of religious faith. Thousands do carry it out, but the thousands who have not the money content themselves with depositing the coffin in houses erected for this purpose in every large city, there to remain till the family has the means and opportunity to remove it, which usually is never.

If the legislature should pass a law prohibiting coffins containing dead bodies to be exported, it would not probably have the least effect to dissuade men from starting for the gold-hills. None of the intending emigrants would expect to come under its operation; and those living in the State, wishing to send away such coffins, would quietly submit to it, wondering, meanwhile, why such a thing was forbidden to Chinese in the United States, when Americans in China were free to do it. I can hardly suppose such a prohibition is intended. So far as I know, emigrants to Siam and the Indian Archipelago do not send the bodies of their dead back to China, but the majority of them marry and settle where they find employment, which adequately explains the different usage. I suppose that the extent to which the repatriation of the dead from California is carried, has been partly owing to the existence of societies organized for the purpose; and that the societies arose from the condition of most of the immigrants, whose unsettled life led them to subscribe regular sums to defray the expense in case of their death. In many instances they had left families behind them, and were disinclined to be buried in a foreign country where no son or relative would ever worship at their tomb. The society was pledged to send home the coffins of its deceased members, if it took in subscriptions; and to do so was comparatively easy between San Francisco and Hong-Kong. I do not know whether the practice exists among the emigrants to Australia.

The above are the direct answers to the sixteen inquiries sent me in your letter, and contain the information which I am able to give on the subjects referred to, or the opinions I have formed. I must state, however, that on some of the points, my information is probably imperfect, and consequently my opinion must be taken for what it is worth. This remark applies to the answers relating to the Chinese in California rather than to those connected with them in their own land.

In view of the whole subject, it is proper to add a few observations upon two features of this immigration which distinguish it from that arriving in the Atlantic States, and make it objectionable in comparison-perhaps lie at the basis of the dislike felt toward the Chinese by those who have no interest in the labor question. This I suppose is the point which more than all others excites the strong prejudice against them; and yet, so far as I can learn, they have given few grounds of complaint by infractions of the laws.

Their strange language and profound ignorance of our customs, government, religion, and speech, is the first of the two features, and tends to alienate them from the body of our citizens. Many of the points which a new comer wishes to learn about can only be explained by one of his countrymen, whose opportunities have been probably few to learn their nature and bearing, and his ignorance tends to perpetuate and

strengthen that of his querist. The latter therefore enters upon his new life under some disadvantages, though the action of the companies and further intercourse with his comrades gradually remove some of the difficulties of his position. Yet the Chinese language tends to prevent those who talk it from assimilating with the people of otherlands, who are repelled by its uncouth sounds, and seldom have the time or the incli nation to study and learn its intricate characters. Such has been the case among the Siamese and Malays, few of whom have learned Chinese; while the Chinese get a smattering of their languages, and then pride themselves on their superiority in being able to read and write their own tongue. This tends to keep up a clannish spirit among the immigrants; and to this day they remain distinct throughout the whole Indian Archipelago, Malacca, and Siam, and take special pains to keep so. It is perhaps true that unless they had combined in some way, and had some bond of union to resist the injustice of native rajabs and employers in those regions, they would have found life a slavery, and their industry a temptation to further oppression. Besides they are the superior race over the native laborers, even in Java and Luçonia.

This language is so curious in its construction that it affords almost no help in learning another, and thus the sounds and sense of our alphabetic languages are alike sealed up to them until they can get the aid of the living voice to convey the one and explain the other. All the English learned at first must be viva roce, and this disability tends to prevent most of the immigrants ever learning more than a few words. This is bad for them; and it prevents those who wish to teach and help them from attempting to master Chinese. They often feel their isolation and weakness, and doubtless feel sore sometimes from receiving unjust treatment because they could not explain matters. I do not know how the difficulty is to be got over, for they must remain distinct from other people as long as they know no other language, and are compelled to come more or less under the control of their countrymen who do. I know that thousands are learning to read and talk English through the benevolent labors of Christians, and thereby the evil is lessened; yet this is a drawback to Chinese immigration that lies beyond the reach of laws to remedy.

The arrival on our shores of so many men, none of whom bring their families, and few of whom are married, is the second objectionable feature of this immigration. It throws them together in denser communities than is desirable, strengthening their worse peculiarities by preventing them from coming in contact with those who would make them better. They naturally cluster in small communities because they are so help les as individuals, at least until they have been long enough in the country to explain their wants. This, combined with their low ideas of morality, tends to neutralize the meliorating and elevating influences which would by degrees affect them if they were settlers with their families. As a whole, there is no prospect of their getting wives in the United States, and this adds a certain force to their longing to return home. In their own land they are remarkably domestic, and their regard for parents, wives, and children forms a pleasing trait in the national character. In California those who would like to keep house are, as it were, unable to do so.

How to obviate this objection attending this immigration needs an intimate acquaintance with the Chinese on the spot, and I venture no suggestion. I have heard two modes mentioned, one a discriminating poll-tax against those who remain unmarried after a certain number of years, the other to grant certain privileges to those who brought their families; but both are probably impracticable. Few persons probably wish to pass any regulations looking to the Chinese coming to or remaining in our country. Yet they are likely to come, and it is the boast of our nation that we offer a place for the people of every clime, and the boast is a just one. The evils hitherto attending their presence have been less than the benefits, and indirectly we have rather aggravated the evils by not doing something to segregate them, and to some degree prevent overcrowding. This end is one of general importance, though municipal and sanitary regulations for effecting it demand constant oversight to see them carried out, and strict measures to repress or remove the evil. The habits of the Chinese at home lead them to live closer than is good for health; but there the climate allows them to sleep and live out of doors much of the year, and this tendency is increased in our country by economical motives, and still more, probably, by necessity, as most of them have little or no choice in most cases where they shall lodge. Their employers probably take little thought, too, in general, how laborers hired for a job or a season get along in this respect, if they seem to be satisfied and do their work.

S. WELLS WILLIAMS, Legation of the United States to China.

PEKING, June 30, 1876.

No. 106.]

No. 45.

Mr. Seward to Mr. Fish.

UNITED STATES LEGATION,

Peking, July 10, 1876. (Received September 5.)

SIR: The Woosung Railway was opened on the 30th ultimo, between Shanghai and Kungwang, the half-way station.

The exercises were not imposing, but it seems worth while to transmit to you the newspaper account of them, so that it may be on record.

On the 1st instant trains were run, upon which Chinese were given free passages. A second newspaper slip inclosed will show you how they availed themselves of the opportunity.

The government does not appear disposed to take any further notice of the enterprise.

I have, &c.,

[Inclosure.]

GEO. F. SEWARD.

OPENING OF THE WOOSUNG RAILWAY TO KUNGWANG.

[From the North China Daily News, Shanghai.]

Yesterday was consummated, in comparative quietness and with little ceremonial an event that is likely to be the forerunner of the greatest political and social revolution that has marked either the past or modern history of China, an event that will do more, if properly followed up, to bring the people of this great empire within the fellowship of nations than almost anything else that could be devised. It is the thin end of a wedge, powerful enough to break the toughest obstacle to which its force can be applied. So familiar have foreigners become with the mighty changes wrought among western nations by steam-locomotion, that to attempt to enlarge upon them would be to indulge in what would seem to be the merest platitudes. The facts and their corresponding benefits are so well known to us that novelty has given place to enstom and familiarity, and the history of the old coach-road, with its dashing four-inhand, is now only to be found recorded by pen or pencil, or in the spasmodic efforts in a few favored resorts of the old country to revive, as a source of pleasure, that mode of transit which, till within a very few years, was the only means of business-locomotion. But the four-in-hand clubs will never be able to do more than effect a similitude of the old glories of the road, for it is impossible to retrograde. Steam has conquered, and will go on conquering, even in China. Here there are no old coach-interests to set aside, no roads to render next to useless; all is fresh and novel as regards the introduction of steam on land, and the widest possible expanse is presented to the skill and energy of the modern engineer. The only interest to be overset is the self-interest of a class, large, it is true, of itself, but small in comparison with the immense population to be benefited. In the early days of railways in England, the strongest opposition was offered to their introduction, even by the so-called enlightened classes. Noblemen and gentlemen objected to the trigging out of a line near their country-seats, and even the inhabitants of inland and sea-coast watering-places petitioned against their towns being annoyed by their introduction. In fact, to such an extent was this opposition carried that Parliament was obliged to step in and enact the compulsory-powers bill, (as it was familiarly called,) which, by enabling the promoters of railways to secure land at a somewhat reasonable price, gave such an impetus to the construction of the iron ways that in a few years they spread in all directions, the sinews of wealth and prosperity. The benefits derived were soon seen to be so great that all opposition ceased, and the sound of the railway-whistle was everywhere welcomed. And given a fair start, so will it be in China. Steamboats were quickly adopted; opposition ceasing, railways will as quickly follow.

The little line, the opening of four miles and a quarter of which, between Shanghai and the village of Kungwang, we have now to record, will soon, it is to be hoped, prove to be the parent of the system foreshadowed in the map of Sir Macdonald Stephenson in 1864, when even the Woosung Railway was not thought of, and when the mere mention of the future introduction of steam-locomotion was treated as a myth.

But it is time to notice the modest proceedings of yesterday. The line being so far

completed, it was deemed unadvisable to delay the opening any longer, and accordingly the managers issued invites to as many ladies and gentlemen of the settlements as the six carriages, which at present constitute the total passenger rolling-stock of the company, would comfortably accommodate. That number was 164, and we believe all accepted the invitation. Half past five was the time appointed for the start, from the goods-platform, at some distance down the line from where the Shanghai station is in course of erection, and almost to the minute, the guests having taken their places, Mr. Morrison, the engineer and traffic-manager, gave the word "Go," and the first "puffing billy," (appropriately named the Celestial Empire,) in China, drawing a regular passenger-train, gave its premonitory shriek and whistle, and quickly began to glide out of the station amid the cheers of those assembled on the platform. The open country was soon reached, and as the train went steadily along at about fifteen miles per hour, and with a remarkable absence of oscillation, the country people at work in the fields simply ceased from their labor for the little time occupied in passing by, and then quietly resumed their employment. They seemed immensely interested, but decidedly in the sense of enjoyment rather than hostility. Several bridges and crossings were passed, at each of which there was a group of lookers-on, but these probably had been so accustomed to the daily passing to and fro of the little engine Pioneer with the ballast-wagons, that the sight of the passenger-carriages with the larger engine was no great novelty. Kungwang was reached in seventeen minutes, and here, the company alighting, found a suitable little station, with passengers' waiting-room and offices; a siding being also provided to allow the passing of the up and down trains. In the waiting-room, which, by the way, is open on the side fronting the line, as at home, was provided an ample supply of champagne and cake. The popping of corks was soon heard, and bumpers were drank between friends of many different nationalities to the success of the first railway in China. These ebullitions of congratulation were, however, centralized soon afterward by Mr. Medhurst, who, mounting a table in response to repeated calls, and amid loud cheers, said:

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: You will all agree with me that this is one of the most eventful days that China has ever seen. It is that which witnesses the opening of the first railway; and we owe it almost entirely to the energy and perseverance of Mr. Morrison. I got up here to ask you to give three cheers for Mr. Morrison, and to join with me in wishing success to this magnificent undertaking."

Three loud cheers followed the speech; and a well-known resident shouting, "Three cheers for Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co.," these were given with like heartiness, and this was all the ceremonial observed on a day that certainly marks the commencement of a new era in the history of China.

Half an hour having been pleasantly spent in this way, the engine was once more attached to the train, the passengers resumed their seats, and the homeward journey began; fifteen minutes only being consumed in the run up to Shanghai, where the passengers separated, greatly pleased with the success of the little excursion.

Before closing our notice of this interesting event, a few particulars regarding the progress of the line itself may not be uninteresting. The line, which is merely an experimental one, constructed with a view to something better following, is of only 2 feet 6 inches gauge. All the earthwork is finished, and the station-houses at Woosung Creek and at the signal-station at Woosung, are built. Seven miles of rails are laid, and out of a total of thirteen bridges, twelve have been completed; and the thirteenth is in progress. The permanent station at Shanghai is in course of erection, and we understand it is to be of an ornamental character. It may also be of interest to know that the weight of the engines is 9 tons, in working order, and that each engine carries enough coal and water to run to Woosung and back. The carriages are well built and fitted, are 5 feet wide, and constructed to accommodate twenty passengers in the first class, and twenty-four in the second and third. The total length of the line is nine and a quarter miles. After the principal part of the earthwork had been executed, a contract was entered into with Mr. Dixon, of London, for the completion of the line, and the supply of all necessary materials and rolling-stock; this portion of the work having been executed under the direction of Mr. Morrison, the company's engineer. It is not likely that the line can be open to Woosung in time to be of much service during the hot weather of this summer. The delay arises from the whole enterprise being on such a small scale. A sufficient amount of plant, and the experienced staff requisite to carry out the railway work quickly and efficiently, would have cost as much as the whole line. In the case of any large works being carried out they could be executed very much more rapidly.

By an advertisement in another column, it will be seen that regular trains are to run each day; but we believe that to-day will be devoted to free trips to Chinese, many of whom showed a strong desire to accompany the foreigners on the trial trip. Indeed, a lot of Chinese made a rush for the train directly the foreigners were clear of the station, and were allowed to run back in it to Kungwan, to their immense gratification.

The news of the partial opening of the line was, we believe, flashed to England by wire immediately after the return to Shanghai.