Other features of the convention have proved satisfactory, and have
tended to the cultivation of mutually beneficial commercial intercourse
and friendly relations between the two countries. I hope that
negotiations which have been invited will result in the celebration
of another treaty which may tend to the interests of both countries.
Our relations with China continue to be friendly. During the past year
the fear of hostilities between China and Japan, growing out of the
landing of an armed force upon the island of Formosa by the latter,
has occasioned uneasiness. It is earnestly hoped, however, that the
difficulties arising from this cause will be adjusted, and that the
advance of civilization in these Empires may not be retarded by a state
of war. In consequence of the part taken by certain citizens of the
United States in this expedition, our representatives in those countries
have been instructed to impress upon the Governments of China and Japan
the firm intention of this country to maintain strict neutrality in the
event of hostilities, and to carefully prevent any infraction of law on
the part of our citizens.
In connection with this subject I call the attention of Congress to
a generally conceded fact--that the great proportion of the Chinese
immigrants who come to our shores do not come voluntarily, to make their
homes with us and their labor productive of general prosperity, but come
under contracts with headmen, who own them almost absolutely.
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