Mr. Wu to Mr. Hay.
Washington, September 12, 1899.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 4th instant and to thank you for inclosing for my information, in accordance with my request, a copy of the order of the American military commander of the Philippine Islands of September 26, 1898, applying the laws of the United States relative to the exclusion of Chinese laborers to those islands, and also a copy of his report of April 1, 1899, showing the manner in which said order is being enforced.
In your kind note transmitting this information you remark that “the circumstances you mention, that the existence of General Otis’s [Page 213] order of September 26, 1898, was first brought to your knowledge by Mr. Adee’s personal note of August 18 last, indicates that the military measure adopted by him had worked without friction or hardship, and this deduction is confirmed by the advices telegraphed by General Otis in the early part of last July, that past difficulties existing between Chinese consuls and different Chinese ports were being harmonized and that any change from existing methods was not recommended.”
With the utmost respect and with the highest regard for the courtesy and frankness which have always marked your intercourse with this legation, I desire to qualify in some respects the foregoing statement. As long ago as the latter part of last year rumors began to reach me from different sources that an attempt had already been made to enforce the Chinese exclusion laws in the Philippines. You will doubtless recall the fact that at that time I went to the State Department for more definite information, and I understood from the representations made to me then that the Department had no information that anything had been done in that direction. But the rumors continued to come to me from various sources, and, in view of them, I felt it my duty to send you my note of inquiry of February 3 last. Your response of the 6th of the same month was very welcome to me, for it left in my mind the impression that nothing up to that time had been done on the subject, and that it would not be solved by your Government until after the Philippine Commission had made its report. If in your note you had given me information of the order of General Otis of September 26, 1898, I would at that time have felt it my duty to enter the solemn protest which it is my unpleasant task to discharge in the present note. You can imagine my surprise when, after receiving a month ago a cablegram from the Chinese consul-general at Manila complaining of the enforcement of the United States exclusion laws and asking me to take steps to have them withdrawn, and after my call upon you for information at that time, I received Mr. Adee’s note of the 18th ultimo to the effect that the exclusion laws had been practically enforced in the Philippine Islands since September of last year.
I can not believe that you intend in your note of the 4th instant to convey the impression that the fact of the existence of General Otis’s order having been brought to my attention officially for the first time by Mr. Adee’s note of the 18th ultimo, notwithstanding my frequent previous inquiries on the subject, is an evidence that the military order had worked without friction or hardship. The communication to the Department of the rumors that had come to me and the anxiety which I had displayed must have convinced you that such orders could not be satisfactory to my Government nor to its subjects. Neither can I understand that this fact would justify the conclusion that such a sudden and severe order would not work hardship upon the Chinese in the Philippines, who for many generations had been a numerous people there and had maintained free and unrestricted intercourse with their own country and established large commercial relations with it.
And I regret to add that I can not agree with you in finding a confirmation of the deduction that the order has worked without friction or hardship in the advices telegraphed by General Otis in July last that past difficulties with the Chinese consuls were being harmonized. As I informed you in my visit on the 27th of July last, which was after the date of General Otis’s advices, the Chinese consul-general at [Page 214] Manila had cabled me protesting against the military order and urging that I obtain its withdrawal. The fact is that while I did not have official information of the order till it was communicated in Mr. Adee’s note, and upon its receipt was surprised at its date, at the same time my information led me to fear that the rights and interests of the Chinese subjects in the Philippines were being greatly interfered with by the military authorities, and I was doing all that was possible to obtain official information and to correct the friction and hardships.
Having been officially informed of the existence and enforcement of the military order of September 26, 1898, applying the Chinese exclusion laws of the United States to the Philippine Islands, I now present to you, and throngh you to the President and Congress of the United States, the most earnest and solemn protest of the Imperial Chinese Government against the existence and enforcement of the order as contrary to international law and comity, in violation of the spirit of existing treaties, and in utter disregard of the friendly relations which should exist between the two Governments.
I protest against it, first, because it is not warranted as a military measure. It has never been alleged and can not be established that the Chinese population in the Philippines have been inimical to the occupation of these islands by the Government of the United States. It can not be shown that their presence in the Islands has in any measure interferred with the progress of military movements. On the contrary, it is understood that they have welcomed the advent of American authority and have rendered valuable assistance in the military movements.
I protest against it, secondly, because it is a departure from the announced policy of the President, to leave the status of the newly acquired possessions unchanged (except as required as a measure of military necessity, which is not so in the present case) until Congress shall determine the relation they shall sustain to the United States. This is plainly indicated in the note which you kindly sent me on February 6 last. Such has been the course pursued as to Porto Rico, which maintains toward the United States no change, except as called for by the military situation.
I protest against it, finally, because it is a great injustice to a numerous body of Chinese subjects, and will disturb the friendly relations which should be maintained between the Governments of China and the United States. In my note of February 3 last, I explained to you the circumstances under which the Chinese residents in the Philippines had grown to be a numerous people; that for centuries they had maintained with those islands very intimate and important relations; that during this long period there had existed free emigration and unrestricted intercourse; that among them were innumerable artisans, farmers, traders, merchants, bankers, and persons of large wealth; that many of these were native born and intermingled by marriage with the Philippine races, yet maintaining extensive social and commercial relations and intercourse with the southern provinces and ports of China. I need not dwell upon the evil effects, the hardships and injustice which will be done by a sudden stoppage of this intercourse. In the same note I pointed out the fact that the reasons in the labor question which influenced the adoption of the exclusion laws for the United States do not exist in the Philippines, and that it is illogical to apply them to that territory.
[Page 215]It is hardly necessary for me to recall past history to show how friendly have been the relations of the two great countries which face each other on the Pacific Ocean, and the disposition which the Imperial Government has manifested at all times to maintain and increase these relations. When by the fortune of war the United States were brought into much nearer proximity, my Government has seen in this event an additional reason why these friendly relations should become more intimate and harmonious. It can not be that the President of the United States, with his exalted sense of justice and his earnest desire to promote good will among the nations, will allow a military commander to continue to enforce an unjust and cruel measure against so large a body of peaceful inhabitants, which can not fail to disturb the intercourse with a neighboring nation which desires to continue and enlarge their cordial relations with each other.
While it is my disagreeable duty, Mr. Secretary, to make this solemn protest against the order of General Otis, I appeal to you, and through you to the President of the United States, in the greatest confidence to cause this order to be withdrawn or suspended, at least until the Congress of the United States shall have determined the policy to be adopted for the new possessions.
Accept, etc.,