licies that China is to be civilized.
I believe that the immortal truths of the Declaration of Independence
came from the same source with the Golden Rule and the Sermon
on the Mount. We can trust Him who promulgated these laws
to keep the country safe that obeys them. The laws of the
universe have their own sanction. They will not fail. The
power that causes the compass to point to the north, that
dismisses the star on its pathway through the skies, promising
that in a thousand years it shall return again true to its
hour and keeps His word, will vindicate His own moral law.
As surely as the path on which our fathers entered a hundred
years ago led to safety, to strength, to glory, so surely
will the path on which we now propose to enter bring us to
shame, to weakness, and to peril."

The Statute then enacted, expired by its own limitations
twenty years afterward. Meantime the prejudice against Chinese
labor had modified somewhat. The public had become somewhat
more considerate of their rights and, at any rate, there was
a desire to maintain some show of decency in legislating the
matter. So a more moderate Statute was enacted in 1902. I
was the only person who voted against it in either House.
It was, of course, clear that resistance was useless. It
was not worth while, it seemed to me, to undertake to express
my objections at length. I contented myself with the following
brief remonstrance:

"Mr. President, I think this bill and this debate indicate
a great progress in sentiment. The sentiment of the country
has passed, certainly so far as it is represented by a majority
of the Senate, the stage, if it ever was in it, of a reckless
seeking to accomplish the result of Chinese exclusion without
regard to constitutional restraints, treaty obligations, or
moral duties. There was in some quarters, as it seemed to
me, in olden times, a disregard of all these restraints, certainly
in the press, certainly in the harangues which were made to
excited crowds in various parts of the country. Among others
I can remember a visit of the apostle of Chinese exclusion
to Boston Common which indicated that spirit.

"Now, that has gone largely, and the Senate has discussed
this question with a temperate desire on the part of all classes
and all Senators, whatever ways of thinking they have, to
do what seemed to them for the benefit of labor, the quality
of the citizenship of this country, in a moderate and constituti