Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Third Session of the Fortieth Congress
Mr. Browne to Mr. Seward
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of a letter from Mr. George Wilkes, director of the Lower California Company, in relation to the proposed colonization, by Chinese, of the company’s grants in Sonora and Lower California.
A copy of my reply is also inclosed.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
Mr. Wilkes to Mr. Browne
Sir: The Lower California Company holding, as you are aware, a grant from the Mexican government which entitles them to take up and to colonize the lands of Lower California, and operating under a charter from the State of New York for the establishment of steamer lines, &c., have recently made arrangements for the carrying out of the purposes of said grant by colonizing Chinese upon the coasts and within the interior of Lower California, and upon tracts of land in Sonora, the title to which has also been acquired by the company.
[Page 529]The grant held by the company is, as you will perceive by the copy herewith sent, of a most liberal character. It covers the whole bulk of the peninsula, (or 46,800 square miles;) it confers quasi governmental powers similar to those enjoyed by the Hudson Bay and East India Companies; and it guarantees to all the company’s colonists, without regard to race or color, all the political and religious rights inuring to Mexican citizens, as soon as such colonists shall establish themselves upon Mexican soil, under the authority of the company.
By the 9th section of the grant you will observe that the liberty of religious worship is especially guaranteed to the colonists. By the 10th section, they are empowered to establish municipalities, elect their own authorities, levy local taxes, and perform all other acts pertaining to such political organization upon simply giving information of their intentions to the political chief of the territory, and by subscribing to his general authority. By the 12th section, all wearing apparel, iron tools, provisions, and things necessary to preserve life, are exempted from duty for ten years. By the 13th section, the colonists are in like manner exempted from all classes of imports and taxes “except the municipal contributions” which they may themselves establish; and by the 14th section, they are exempted from service in the national army for five years.
These franchises were all that were desired by the company to enable them to establish such colonies as would develop the fishing, mining, and agricultural resources of Lower California to their utmost. And here it is not out of place to say that, in addition to these franchises and guarantees from the Mexican general government, we have recently received the cordial written assurances of the political chief of Lower California that he will be happy to promote and to assist in carrying out the liberal purposes of the company. Thus fully empowered and assured, the company have on their part empowered, by letters patent, bearing the seal of the company, the Hon. Charles D. Poston, commissioner of agriculture from the United States to China, to contract in the name of the company with any persons or public officers in China, and if need be with the government of China, for 10,000 or more of Chinese colonists, to be landed upon the coast of Lower California, and to convey to said colonists such lands as they may require to be conveyed to them in alternate plots or sections anywhere in said territory they may select, or upon any of the company’s lands in Sonora, all of said land to be conferred upon said colonists at the same rate (with but a fraction added, to cover the expenses incident upon location) as is paid by the company for the same to Mexico.
The company for their guarantee, in addition to this virtual gift of the land on their part, all the fishing, mining, and agricultural privileges, including the privilege of the pearl fishery, and all the political and religions rights which inure under their grant and charter to their most favored colonists.
The honorable commissioner of agriculture aforesaid will soon sail for China, and the company having thus empowered him, feel it to be due to your excellency’s position to lay their purposes before you, in order that you may be fully apprised of their intentions in case their transactions in China should be brought under your official cognizance, or their character and purposes, as a company of American citizens, be brought under like observation.
In this connection, the undersigned begs leave to add that he has laid the grant and character of the company, and likewise the purposes of the company in regard to Chinese colonization, before the honorable Anson Burlingame, minister plenipotentiary and extraordinary from the Emperor of China, and has the gratification to state that Mr. Burlingame, recognizing the programme of the company as broad and liberal, and as one that will not only knock the detestable Coolie system in the head, but give to the Chinese people their first opportunity to compete with the European races in the problem of self-government, upon equal terms, expressed for the programme of the company his cordial approbation.
Hoping that you also may perceive in the proposed colonization of industrious and intelligent Asiatics upon the American Pacific coast an equal advantage to the United States, the creation of new and contiguous markets for our products,
I have the honor to be, and remain very respectfully, your obedient servant,
His Excellency J. Ross Browne, Minister, &c., &c., &c.
Mr. Browne to Mr. Wilkes
Sir: On the eve of my departure from New York I had the honor to receive your letter of the 7th instant, informing me of the intention of your company to send an agent to China for the purpose of encouraging the colonization by Chinese immigrants [Page 530] of certain lands granted to you on the peninsula of Lower California, by the Mexican government.
There can be no doubt as, to the adaptability of the Chinese to colonization. Experience in California and the adjacent States and Territories shows that they are orderly, industrious, and self-reliant. It is evident, from their ingenuity and habits of economy, and the success with which they have worked abandoned mines and lands, that they are capable of maintaining themselves in countries unfitted for settlement by Americans or Europeans. Nor can there be any question as to the beneficial results to be derived from a liberal policy in opening unoccupied and hitherto unproductive tracts of country to cultivation and development by a thrifty Pand orderly population, of whatsoever race, provided their social and religious systems are not inimical to the well-being of the nations or peoples by whom they may be surrounded.
The experiment, at all events, would not be altogether novel, since the experience we have had of the Chinese in California. Whilst there are antagonistic views as to the introduction of Chinese labor on the Pacific coast, none can deny that this class of population has proved itself worthy of respect and consideration.
I am deeply impressed with the importance of the questions presented in your letter, and will avail myself of the earliest opportunity to give them the consideration to which they are entitled. At present I can only say in general terms, that I have always advocated a liberal course toward the Chinese who have already immigrated to that portion of the Pacific coast embraced within our own domain.
What special duties may be imposed upon me by my official position I cannot now of course foresee. Should the questions discussed in your letter be brought before me while in China, for official action, I shall endeavor to meet them in such manner as to promote the best interests of our country.
Thanking you for the information with which you have furnished me, I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
George Wilkes, Esq., Director of the Lower California Company.