In 1861 Anson Burlingame, a citizen of the United States and a resident of Massachusetts, was sent as Minister of the United States to China. He was a diplomatist of much skill, and he succeeded in making such a deep impression upon the Emperor of China that the latter, on his resignation as Minister of the United States to China in 1867, made him Envoy Extraordinary from China to the United States and the European states for the purpose of securing treaties of amity and commerce between China and the states of the civilized world. He came immediately to the United States and negotiated with Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State of the United States, the Treaty of July 28th, 1868, whereby freedom of emigration and immigration between China and the United States was established, upon the principle of the "inherent and inalienable right of man to change his home and allegiance" expressly subscribed to by the United States and China in the Treaty; the residence of Chinese consuls in the ports of the United States, with the same privileges and immunities as the British and Russian consuls enjoyed in said ports, was agreed to; and freedom of religion for citizens of {323} the United States in China, and Chinese converts to the Christian religion in China, and for Chinese subjects in the United States, was mutually pledged. This Treaty was heralded at the time as being an immense advance in bringing China into close sympathy with modern civilization. But very soon the "labor element," as it assumes to call itself, in the United States, began to find fault with the liberal provisions upon the subject of emigration and immigration, and has succeeded in forcing the Government of the United States back from its ideal position to the old ground of national exclusiveness. The example set by the United States has been accepted by the Chinese Government as a justification of its old methods, and as an excuse for dropping back into them in great measure. [Sidenote: The attempt to annex the Dominican Republic to the United States.] At the moment of General Grant's accession to the presidency there was civil commotion in the Dominican Republic. Buenaventura Baez was the legal President of the Republic, but he had lost the support of a very large proportion of the population, who were following a leader named Cabral. Cabral and his party were so strong that Baez feared the overthrow of his government, and sought to avert it by proposing annexation to the United States. [Sidenote: The Treaty.]