of our
citizens in China. Under our treaty with that power American citizens
are withdrawn from the jurisdiction, whether civil or criminal, of the
Chinese Government and placed under that of our public functionaries in
that country. By these alone can our citizens be tried and punished for
the commission of any crime; by these alone can questions be decided
between them involving the rights of persons and property, and by these
alone can contracts be enforced into which they may have entered with
the citizens or subjects of foreign powers. The merchant vessels of the
United States lying in the waters of the five ports of China open to
foreign commerce are under the exclusive jurisdiction of officers of
their own Government. Until Congress shall establish competent tribunals
to try and punish crimes and to exercise jurisdiction in civil cases in
China, American citizens there are subject to no law whatever. Crimes
may be committed with impunity and debts may be contracted without any
means to enforce their payment. Inconveniences have already resulted
from the omission of Congress to legislate upon the subject, and still
greater are apprehended. The British authorities in China have already
complained that this Government has not provided for the punishment of
crimes or the enforcement of contracts against American citizens in that
country, whilst their Government has established tribunals by which an
American citizen can recover debts due from British subjects.

Accustomed, as the Chinese are, to summary justice, they could not be
made to comprehend why criminals who are citizens of the United States
should escape with impunity, in violation of treaty obligations, whilst
the punishment of a Chinese who had committed any crime against an
American citizen would be rigorously exacted. Indeed, the consequences
might be fatal to American citizens in China should a flagrant crime be
committed by any one of them upon a Chinese, and should trial and
punishment not follow according to the requisitions of the treaty. This
might disturb, if not destroy, our friendly relations with that Empire
and cause an interruption of our valuable commerce.

Our treaties with the Sublime Porte, Tripoli, Tunis, Morocco, and Muscat
also require the legislation of Congress to carry them into execution,
though the necessity for immediate action may not be so urgent as in
regard to China.

The Secretary of State has submitted an estimate to defr