hat the
first ninety words of Article 6 work a miracle which shames the most
dazzling achievements of him of the wonderful lamp. I am speaking as if
I believed the Chinamen would hasten to take out naturalization papers
under this treaty and become citizens. I do believe it. They are shrewd
and smart, and quick to see an advantage; that is one argument. If they
have any scruples about becoming citizens, the politicians who need
their votes will soon change their opinions. Article 6 does not confer
citizenship upon Chinamen--we have other laws which regulate that
matter. It simply gives them the privileges and immunities pertaining to
"residence," in the same degree as they are enjoyed by the "subjects
of the most favored nation." One of the chief privileges pertaining
to "residence" among us is that of taking the oath and becoming full
citizens after that residence has been extended to the legal and
customary period. Mr. Cushing says the Chinamen had a right to become
citizens before Article 6 was framed. They certainly have it now.
Prominent senators refused to touch the treaty or have anything to
do with it unless it threw the doors of citizenship open as freely to
Chinamen as to other foreigners. The entire Senate knew the broadest
meaning of Article 6--and voted for it. The closing sentence of it
was added to please a certain Senator, and then he was satisfied and
supported the treaty with all his might. It was a gratification to him
to have that sentence added; and inasmuch as the sentence could do
no harm, since it don't mean anything whatever under the sun, it was
gratefully and cheerfully added. It could not have been added to please
a worthier man. It sets off the treaty, too, because it is so gracefully
worded and is so essentially and particularly ornamental. It embellishes
and supports the grand edifice of the Chinese treaty, even as a wealth
of stucco embellishes and supports a stately temple. It would hardly be
worth while for a treaty to confer naturalization in the last clause
of an article wherein it had already provided for the acquirement
of naturalization by the proper and usual course. The idea of making
negroes citizens of the United States was startling and disagreeable to
me, but I have become reconciled to it; and being reconciled to it, and
the ice being broken and the principle established, I am now ready for
all comers. The idea of seeing a Chinaman a citizen of the United States
would have be