USA. Tariff Commissioner, was delivered on Saturday evening last at the Foreign Young Men's Christian Association on Treaty Makiag in China.
The Rev. C. E. Darwent, M.A., was in the chair, and contributed to the discussion of the evening some humorous comparisons and facts involved in Treaty making in China.
Gen. Sharretts said Ladies and Gentlemen:—When I was requested by one of the leading members of your flourishing and most useful Association to address you, I consented gladly, knowing that I would have the pleasure of meeting a body of earnest and intelligent residents, many of whom are my fellow-citizens. In meeting those, there is always a subtle connection established between ourselves and that beloved home of which we are all so fond, but never more so than when our heartstrings ere stretched by the great distance which separates us from those who are nearest and dearest to us. This meeting also carries our inmost thought back to the country of which we are so proud, and to the people and the institutions of that Great Republic, which has taken the high rank to which it is entitled. When I say, therefore, ladies and gentlemen, I am glad to seo you, there is more in the expression than the conventional meaning.
'The spontaneous acceptance of his request, seemed to please your representative, and when he suggested as the' subject of my discourse "Treaty Making," I agreed, somewhat thought lessly "perhaps, but from the sincere desire to accommodate a fellow-citizen. Upon thinking, however, over the subject, I was somewhat perplexed, considering that my experience as a Maker of Treaties is exceedingly limited. But then I recollected that we Americans have no diplomatic schools, and that our foreign intercourse since the birth of the Republic may be summed up concisely as follows:—To demand nothing but our right, and to insist upon it if the demand is combated and next, to avoid if possible getting mixed up in the broils and quarrels of other nations. These two rules reduce the Making of Treaties to a single, straight-forward—business proposition, Hence every American is also a diplomat of the true American school. Small, indeed, is the number of our citizens that would hesitate to solve a plain business question.
In the history of Treaty Making we may have made mistakes. Probably we have, if the aim and end of diplomacy is "to do the other fellow, for fear he will do you." But if, as we think, the intercourse between nations should be on the same principle as thay between indivi duals, I do believe that we have done fairly well. Wo may lack the—polish that comes from constant intercourse with minds, to whom culture and outward appearance are the essentials (of life; but we make up for the deficiency by our honest, straightforward manners, and especially by tuo principle, now acknowledged by all vations, that our word is our bond.
But for unforeseen circumstances I might have appeared before you as a Treaty Maker. It was in that capacity that I crossed the Ocean which separates the oldest civilization extant from the country where modern progress culminates. Unfortunately, I took an involuntary bath. I had heard it said that the people here have antipathy for this sort of tefreshment. Be this as it may the presid ing river god evidently resented my, intrusion, and, in addition to my ducking hurt me so severely that I was laid up for a considerable time. Thinking that this accident might possibly interfere with the duties of Treaty Maker, I begged to be excused, and the authorities at Washington considerately granted my request.
You will readily understand, ladies and gentlemen, that both on my journey to China and in my leisure moments, I did not fail to familiarize myself with the conditions prevailing here, and also with the Treaties heretofore entered into with the Chinese Government. It is especially of these Treaties that I wish to occu your attention, the more so as it is a ssu ject of live interest, since at this very time a new Treaty is under consideration.
The first treaty with China wes imposed upon this country by force of arms, after the conclusion of the war which is, I regret to state, still designated as the Opium War. History has long since vindicated the motives of Great Britain, and admits that the real cause was to make an end to unbearable conditions. From.an occidental point of view, England's cause just. It is, however, only fair to ad-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.