ROSS BROWNE, United States Minister to China to George Wilkes, June 16, 1868

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 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,