Washington was a sort of triumphal progress and everywhere the Chinese
mission was received with acclaim. The treaty drawn by Secretary
Seward was ratified on July 28, 1868, and was hailed even on the
Pacific coast as the beginning of more fortunate relations between the
two countries. The treaty acknowledged the "inherent and inalienable
right of man to change his home and allegiance, and also the mutual
advantage of the free migration and emigration of their citizens and
subjects respectively, from the one country to the other, for purposes
of curiosity, of trade or as permanent residents." It stated
positively that "citizens of the United States visiting or residing in
China shall enjoy the same privileges, immunities, and exemptions in
respect to travel and residence as may be enjoyed by the citizens of
the most favored nation. And, reciprocally, Chinese subjects visiting
or residing in the United States shall enjoy the same privileges,
immunities, and exemptions in respect to travel or residence." The
right to naturalization was by express statement not conferred by the
treaty upon the subjects of either nation dwelling in the territory of
the other. But it was not in any way prohibited.

The applause which greeted this international agreement had hardly
subsided before the anti-Chinese agitators discovered that the treaty
was in their way and they thereupon demanded its modification or
abrogation. They now raised the cry that the Chinese were a threat to
the morals and health of the country, that the majority of Chinese
immigrants were either coolies under contract, criminals, diseased
persons, or prostitutes. As a result, in 1879 a representative from
Nevada, one of the States particularly interested, introduced in
Congress a bill limiting to fifteen the Chinese passengers that any
ship might bring to the United States on a single voyage, and
requiring the captains of such vessels to register at the port of