000 copies of religious books, thus wisely and
pleasantly combining salvation with business. If a Chinese missionary
were to come disseminating his eternal truths among us, we would laugh
at him first and bombard him with cabbages afterward. We would do this
because we are civilized and enlightened. We would make him understand
that he couldn't peddle his eternal truths in this market. China is one
of the few countries where perfect religious freedom prevails. It is one
of the few countries where no disabilities are inflicted on a man for
his religion's sake, in the matter of holding office and embezzling the
public funds. A Jesuit priest was formerly the Vice-President of the
Board of Public Works, an exceedingly high position, and the present
Viceroy of two important provinces is a Mohammedan. There are a
great many Mohammedans in China. The last clause of article 4 was not
absolutely necessary, perhaps. Still, it was well enough to have it
in. When the lower classes in California learn that they are forever
debarred from mutilating living Chinamen, their first impulse will
naturally be to "take it out" of the dead ones. But disappointment shall
be their portion. A Chinaman's "tail" is protected by law in California;
for if he lost his queue he would be a dishonored Chinaman forever, and
would forever be an exile. He could not think of returning to his native
land to offer his countrymen the absurd spectacle of a man without a
tail to his head. The Chinese regard their dead with a reverence which
amounts to worship. All Chinamen who die in foreign lands are shipped
home to China for permanent burial. Even the contracts which consign
the wretched Coolies to slavery at $5 a month salary and two suits of
clothes a year stipulate that if he dies in Cuba, the Sandwich Islands,
or any other foreign land, his body must be sent home. There are vast
vaults in San Francisco where hundreds of dead Chinamen have been
salted away by gentle hands for shipment. The heads of the great Chinese
Companies keep a record of the names of their thousands of members, and
every individual is strictly accounted for to the home office. Every now
and then a vessel is chartered and sent to China freighted with corpses.

ART 5. The United States of America and the Emperor of China
cordially recognize the inherent and inalienable right of
man to change his home and his allegiance, and also the
mutual advantages of the free migrat