Burke in Tacoma

BURKE IN TACOMA.

A Workingman who Speaks Out in Meeting.

During the Chinese excitement at Seattle, Thos. Burke, in answer to a gentleman who interceded for him with the audience, some of whom objected to his denunciation of certain parties, said:

Excuse me, Mr. Smith, but I can assure you I need no one to intercede with a Seattle audience for me. I know the people of Seattle. They will hear me if they hate me. They have no reason to hate me, for I have always been their friend. Why, gentlemen, injustice to a dog I would denounce. One year from to-night you will say I am right. In Tacoma they have gone farther, and actually notified lawful American citizens to go. ‘The American must go!’ That’s the word in Tacoma. I am a free man, and would rather live under the autocrat of all the Russias than live under the rule of a dozen or twenty lawless men—worse than tyrants. You may go outside the law, but you will be glad to get back. Mark the course of the French Republic; mark the course of our Nation. Look at the English; while they oppress they demand their liberty, because the greatest king of England cannot go outside of the law. I have never advised you wrongfully. Look at it! One year ago, while you were voting for the forfeiture of the unearned land grants held by grasping monopolies, the people of Tacoma stood almost to a man for monopoly. Now they go to the other extreme. I do not believe there is a city in the United States, presided over by an American, or a man with an American heart, where such outrages could or would be permitted. They say they did it peacefully. If a highwayman presents a pistol to my head, and takes my pocket-book from me; or comes into my house and holds a bludgeon over me and compels me to leave, he does not use force or violence. He would do it peacefully, but would it be lawful or right? To call such work peaceful is adding insult to injury. In the future the blackest page in the history of Washington Territory will be that on which it is recorded that two hundred human beings were driven out of Tacoma like dogs, and compelled to face a driving storm all night, during which two of their number died from exposure. Dumb animals are deserving of better treatment than that. The same God that made my heart beat made the Chinaman. He is not to blame for his condition or color. In the South, black men are persecuted; in Hungary, the Jews are maltreated and persecuted, and so it goes. I believe the people of Seattle would lay down their lives in defense of the law. It has not been twenty years since I carried water on the railroad, and less than that since I worked on the dump. My brothers are laborers, and why should I speak against the laboring man? I am a free man, and will preserve my liberty. This question is on the rapid road to solution, but in order to hasten it you cannot afford to violate the eternal laws of justice. The Chinese want to go, but don’t like to be robbed or murdered. They are going as fast as possible. Let the workmen of the queen city show to the world that the great principle of justice prevails here. Do not be unjust to a dog, or a horse, or anything else. The Chinamen are here under solemn treaty stipulation, but they are going. The workingmen will look around and see no Chinamen employed. It is our interest to see them go, but it is not to our interest, but just the opposite, to see one drop of innocent blood spilled or a single breach of the law. I knew you would listen to me. If I should say a thousand times as distasteful things you would listen to me. I thank you