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printed by order of the Congress of the United States with respect to the Chinese who had Hongkong to San Francisco. There I find the evidence of the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, a gentleman apparently of large business transactions. He speaks of having transactions amounting to millions of dollars with the Chinese. But what he says is, in effect, this,—“I find I can have these business transactions with the Chinese in San Francisco with perfect safety. I take no bond or security from them. Large sums of money and goods to a considerable amount pass. If it were a countryman of my own or any other foreigner, I would have to adopt a different system.” In short, he says, “I attribute the commercial prosperity of the Chinese in San Francisco to their great commercial probity.” Another leading American merchant of San Francisco, in his evidence, says, “The Chinese pay their debts ten times more promptly than our white men; they are clear-headed, shrewd, intelligent, and capable of managing business on a large scale; this is especially true of the hong merchants of Hongkong.”
National characteristics such as these make China a safely progressive country, and make it the duty and interest of a trading Colony like this, and a commercial Empire like England, to be at peace with China. I would push this principle of peace to the extent of not worrying them with advice. They will understand, in course of time, that there is something to be learned, especially in physical science from Western nations. But, above all, we should avoid, either in dealing with the Queen's subjects in this Colony, or in our relations with the Empire near us, any attempt to force on the Chinese institutions which are unsuited to them, and some of which we, in course of time, may, perhaps, discover are unsuited to ourselves. Those are the principles by which I have endeavoured to guide my four years' administration of this Colony, and now, in submitting to you these returns, which correspond with the period of that administration, I can only express the hope, and I do it with every confidence, that, when the next census is taken, all classes in this Colony will be as prosperous as they are to-day.
gone from
printed by order of the Congress of the United States with respect to the Chinese who had Hongkong to San Francisco. There I find the evidence of the Chairman of the Chamber of Com- merce, a gentleman apparently of large business transactions. He speaks of having transactions amounting to millions of dollars with the Chinese. But what he says is, in effect, this,—“I find I can have these business transactions with the Chinese in San Francisco with perfect safety. I take no "bond or security from them. Large sums of money and goods to a considerable amount pass. If "it were a countryman of my own or any other foreigner, I would have to adopt a different system." In short, he says, "I attribute the commercial prosperity of the Chinese in San Francisco to their great commercial probity." Another leading American merchant of San Francisco, in his evidence, says, "The Chinese pay their debts ten times more promptly than our white men; they are clear-headed, ! "shrewd, intelligent, and capable of managing business on a large scale; this is especially true of the
"hong merchants of Hongkong."
National characteristics such as these make China a safely progressive country, and make it the duty and interest of a trading Colony like this, and a commercial Empire like England, to be at peace with China. I would push this principle of peace to the extent of not worrying them with advice. They will understand, in course of time, that there is something to be learned, especially in physical science from Western nations. But, above all, we should avoid, either in dealing with the Queen's subjects in this Colony, or in our relations with the Empire near us, any attempt to force on the Chinese institu- tions which are unsuited to them, and some of which we, in course of time, may, perhaps, discover are unsuited to ourselves. Those are the principles by which I have endeavoured to guide my four years' administration of this Colony, and now, in submitting to you these returns, which correspond with the period of that administration, I can only express the hope, and I do it with every confidence, that, when the next census is taken, all classes in this Colony will be as prosperous as they are to-day.
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