US' Ids' (Qacnell Hmoetaitg ICibcatg CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1876 1918 Digitized by Microsoft® DATE DUE ^ ■■ g*''*»" Mkm 3 |. I GAYLORD PRINTED IN U S.A ^^ 25 Digitized by Micro Cornell University Library DS 740 .5 .U5L3S 3 1924 021 444 090 This book was digitized by Microsoft Corporation in cooperation witli Cornell University Libraries, 2007. You may use and print this copy in limited quantity for your personal purposes, but may not distribute or provide access to it (or modified or partial versions of it) for revenue-generating or other commercial purposes. Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® TRANSACTIONS OF THE CONNECTICUT ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES INCOEPORATBD A. D. 1799 VOLUME 22, PAGES 1-209 G AUGUST, 1917 The History of Early Relations between The United States and China 1784—1844 BY KENNETH SCOTT LATOURETTE /^^ YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT 1917 Digitized by IVIicrosoM JU^! I I I WKtYlTK^n Y N^ 3-9-'\'l THE TUTTLE, MOREHOUSE & TAYLOR COMPANY Y D^Wf j9«f px NI{grosoft® Y5^Ar 1'. I, J CONTENTS. PAGE Foreword S Introduction 7 Chapter I. The Period of Beginnings, 1784-1790 . . 10 Chapter II. The Period of Expansion and of War, 1791- 1814 • . .27 Chapter III. From the Close of the War of 1812 to the Outbreak of the Opium Troubles, 1815-1834 . . 53 Chapter IV. From the Close of the War of 1812 to the Outbreak of the Opium Troubles, 1815-1838 (continued) . The Beginnings of American Missions to the Chinese . 85 Chapter V. The Period of the Opium Troubles and of the First British-Chinese War, culminating in the Treaties of Nanking and Whanghia, 1839-1844 . .110 Bibliography ........ 145-200 1. Bibliographies 145 2. Official Documents and Reports of Societies . . 146 3. Manuscripts, Logs, Ship Accounts, Bills of Lading, and kindred documents . . . . .154 4. Journals, Diaries, Contemporary Descriptions, Cor- respondence, and Narratives of Voyages . . 160 5. Contemporary Pamphlets, Sermons, Lectures, Dis- cussions, and Treaties 175 6. Newspapers and Periodicals . . . . -179 7. Secondary Authorities 183 Index 201 Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® FOREWORD The author wishes to make grateful acknowledgment of the courtesy of the many individuals and institutions whose helpful- ness and courtesy have made this study possible. Especially is he under obligations to Professor Clive Day of Yale University, the Connecticut Academy, the Yale Library, the John Carter Brown Library, the Essex Institute, the Salem and New York Customs Houses, the Lenox Library and the great collection of which it now forms a part, the New York Public Library, the New Haven Colony Historical Society, the Rhode Island His- torical Society, the New York Historical Society, the Boston Athenaeum and the Boston Public Library, the Harvard Library, the Library of Congress and the State Department, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and the Ameri- can Baptist Missionary Union, now the Baptist Missionary Society. Above all the author wishes to record his indebtedness to Professor Frederick Wells Williams of Yale University, under whose direction the study was originally made, in whose ample library much of the work was done, and to whose constant interest and kindly criticism are due much of whatever value these pages may have. Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® INTRODUCTION The intercourse of western nations with China falls into two periods, the dividing line between which is the discovery of the sea route to India in the fifteenth century. In the first period come the vaguely known trade with the Roman Empire, the burst of commerce and papal missions made possible by the Mongol conquests of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the slight revival of indirect communication under Tamerlane and his successors.^ The second period begins with the coming of the Portuguese in the early sixteenth century.^ In the first period intercourse was largely by the overland route across the high table land of Central Asia. In the second, except in the case of Russia, it has been almost entirely by sea. / The second period is in turn separated into two natural divi- ^ysions by the first British-Chinese war and the treaties of 1842-4. Before these years all Westerners were regarded by the Chinese as troublesome barbarians. They were looked upon as tributary peoples, uncivilized, not to be considered as equals. They were confined to limited quarters in the suburbs of one port. Canton, and to Macao, which Portugal had leased from the Empire. They were ruled by the most stringent of regulations, but were viewed with such contempt that officials would deal with them only .through a non-official commercial monopoly, the co-hong. In spite of handicaps, however, the commerce and missions of two countries, the United States and England, steadily grew, and when Chinese isolation and self-satisfaction finally became unbearable, the first British-Chinese war broke out and resulted in treaties which granted revolutionary concessions. With these treaties, China entered the family of nations, and theoretically at least, recognized western countries as her equals. Foreigners were allowed residence in five ports, were released from the old ' Henry Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither, being a collection of Medieval notices of China translated and edited by Colonel Henry Yule, with a preliminary essay on the intercourse between China and the Western Nations previous to the discovery of the Cape Route. London, 1866. This is the best single work on the period. ^ S. Wells Williams, A History of China. New York, 1901. pp. 75-110. Digitized by Microsoft® 8 Kenneth S. Latourette, cumbersome regulations, and were placed under their own laws and a more equitable system of port rules and duties. China still had a long road to travel before reaching a full appreciation of odier powers and entering fully into modei» life. Wars, rebelUons, and outbreaks were to mark the mile posts. But in 1842-1844 she put her feet in the way, and the years since that date are rightly thought of as being spent in advancing toward the goal then first dimly seen. It is the purpose of the following chapters to trace the part of the United States in the first division of the second period, i. e., the years before 1844. This will lead us to show how trade with China began, to trace its expansion, its changes, and its influence, to find the beginnings of American missionary effort for the Chinese and to see its early growth, and finally to con- sider the immediate effects of the first British-Chinese war and the British treaty on both commerce and missions, and to give the story of the first American treaty with the empire. As we proceed we shall find that there are well marked chronological divisions in our subject. The first includes the opening of the trade and its first few years. The second begins with the sudden expansion of commerce caused by the European wars and the discovery of new sources of furs, sandal wood, and heche de mer, and closes with the commercial stagnation of the Second War with Great Britain. The 'third begins with the conclusion of peace in 1814, and ends with the beginning of the opium troubles. The fourth and last begins with the opium troubles of 1839, includes the first British-Chinese war, and ends with the treaty of Whanghia, in 1844. Practically all the known available material on the subject has been examined. Manuscript correspondence of persons intimately connected with the events narrated, especially that of the consuls at Canton, preserved in the State Department in Wash- ington, and that of the missionaries of the American Board and the Baptist Board, preserved in the archives of these two societies, forms a considerable and important source of information. Manuscript logs, largely those preserved in the Essex Institute and belonging to Salem ships, and those of the firm of Brown and Ives of Providence, deposited in the John Carter Brown Library of American History, are also important. Published journals, correspondence, and especially narratives of voyages are also Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. g indispensable. A surprising number of these, most of them long out of print, are to be found in nearly all of our large libraries. A few periodicals are very useful. One especially, the Chinese Repository, is an invaluable source. There are numerous biog- raphies and memoirs, largely of missionaries, which cover this period, and a number of secondary authorities can be found which add useful information. Congressional documents and other government papers are of use, especially in tracing tlie negotiations which resulted in the Treaty of Whanghia. Digitized by Microsoft® CHAPTER I. The Period of Beginnings, 1784-1790. American commerce with China was the result of influences reaching back over an extensive period. At the very discovery of the New World a connection had existed with the Celestial Empire, for it was to find Cathay and the Indies that Columbus sailed westward, and it was partly the belief in a Northwest Passage through the continent to the same countries which led the European explorers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to nose their way along the eastern coast of North America. Still later the English colonists became acquainted with China through the East India Company. Their tea came in the Com- pany's ships from Canton by way of Great Britain. Since 1718, ginseng, the drug which formed a large part of the cargoes of the first China ships, had been known to be native to North America,^ and it is probable that the East India Company had shipped some of it to Canton.^ The Company may, too, have had some of its Indiamen built in the colonies.' 'A Jesuit, Joseph Francis Lafitare, in 1718 published his "Memoire presente a S. A. R. Mgr. le due d'Orleans, regent du royaume de France, concernant la precieuse plante du ginseng, decouverte en Canada." Paris, 1718. Reuben G. Thwaites, "Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents," Cleveland, c. 1900, 66:333 (Notes); 71:347. See also Justin Winsor, "Narrative and Critical History of America." Boston and New York, c. 1886. 4 : 289, 2g8. ^William Speer, The Oldest and the Newest Empire, China and the United States, Hartford, 1870, p. 410, says that the East India Company used it as a return cargo to save exports of specie, and speaks of "Agents sent to New England, who induced Indians to search for this medicinal root by rewards of money, whiskey, trinkets, and tobacco." Hamilton, in his Itinerarium of 1744 (Hamilton's Itinerarium, Albert Bushnell Hart, ed., St. Louis, 1907, p. 4), speaks of having a "curiosity to see a thing [ginseng] which had been so famous." David MacPherson, Annals of Commerce, London, 180S, 3 : 572 gives among the articles exported in 1770 from the American colonies — which he regards as including Newfound- land, Bahama, and Bermuda — 74,604 lbs. of ginseng valued at £1243.83. "One was built in Danvers, Mass., in 1755, but was never used. J. W. Hanson, History of the Town of Danvers, from its early settlement to the year 1848. Danvers, 1848. George Henry Preble, Notes on Early Ship-building in Massachusetts, communicated to the New England His- torical and Genealogical Register, 1871, p. 17. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. ii Another influence leading to American commerce with China was the development of shipping in the colonies. The West Indian trade, the fisheries, and a commerce with Portugal and the Mediterranean,* had been important means of support to the Northern Colonies, and had raised up a hardy race of sailors and small merchant firms. ^ The spirit of adventure needed in the initiation of long voyages to China had received cultivation from piracy. For instance, in the last years of the seventeenth century the waters north of Madagascar were infested with a band of marauders who fitted out their ships, obtained their sup- plies, and often spent their ill-gotten gains in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, and the Carolinas." A letter of 1696^ said of them, "All the ships that are now out are from New England, except Tew from New York, and Want from Caro- lina."* The privateering of the Revolution had an even greater influence. Craft bearing letters of marque from the colonies swarmed the seas. Large fortunes were accumulated, a surplus shipping, too large for the coasting trade, was built, a knowledge of distant seas was acquired, and an adventurous spirit was * Charles E. Trow, Old Shipmasters of Salem, New York and London, 1905. p. 48. ° Log books in the Essex Institute, Salem, for this period, show some- thing of the extent of the trade. See also G. F. Chever, Some Remarks on the Commerce of Salem, from 1626 to 1740, with a sketch of Philip English, a merchant in Salem from about 1670 to about 1733-1734. Hist. Cols, of Essex Instit. i : 67. ° Gertrude Selwyn Kimball, The East India Trade of Providence, Providence, 1896, p. 3, quotes the Governor of New York from the N. Y. Col. Docs. Vol. 4, p. 306, to the effect, that "I find that those Pirates that have given the greatest disturbance in the East Indies and the Red Sea, have either been fitted from New York or Rhode Island, and manned from New York." See also Paullin, Diplomatic Negotiations of American Naval Officers. Baltimore, 1912, pp. 154-156. ' T. South to the Lord Justices of Ireland, from Dublin, Aug. 15, 1696. Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies. May IS, i6g6 — Oct.' 31, 1697. J. W. Fortescue, ed., London, 1904. *A letter to the East India Company from Bombay, Ibid. 1697-8, p. 363, says of the same band, "There is a nest of rogues in the Isle of St. Mary's [near Madagascar] .... where they are frequently supplied .... by ships from New York, New England, and the West Indies.'' Digitized by Microsoft® 12 Kenneth S. Latourette, stimulated in sailors and merchants.' With the end of the war these were forced to seek other outlets. Still another influence was the loss of the trade with the British West Indies. Before the Revolution the colonies ha# of course, been included in the British colonial system. They had sent their provisions and lumber to the West Indies, had received in payment credit on England, and with this credit had secured the necessary old-world manufactures and supplies. Independence, by placing them outside the colonial system, made it necessary for them to look elsewhere for the investment of their commercial capital, and for the means of paying the bills owed by them to British merchants and manufacturers. As Phineas Bond wrote at the time^°: "In the restricted state of American trade it is natural for men of enterprise to engage in such speculations as are open to them, and which afford a prospect of profit." But independence and withdrawal from the colonial system, while shutting the door of the West Indies, had opened that to Asia and the East Indies. For nearly a century the East India Company had held a monopoly on the British trade in the entire hemisphere from the Cape of Good Hope eastward to the Straits of Magellan.^^ After the treaty of peace, this, of course, ceased to be binding on the new nation, and it would have been strange ° Trow, Old Shipmasters of Salem, pp. xx-xxiv. Charles S. Osgood and H. M. B^tchelder, Historical Sketch of Salem, 1626-1879, Salem, 1879, p. 137. H. W. S. Cleveland, Voyages of a Merchant Navigator of the Days that are past. Compiled from the Journals and Letters of the Late Richard J. Cleveland, New York, 1886, p. 6. Horace S. Lyman, History of Oregon: The Growth of an American State, 4v, New York, 1903, 2 : 87, says that Captain John Kendrick of the "Columbia" had commanded a privateer. The log books of some of the privateers exist in the Essex Institute in Salem. '"Letter to Lord Carmarthen, July 2, 1787. Letters of Phineas Bond, British Consul at Philadelphia, to the Foreign Office of Great Britain, 1787, 1788, 1789. Edited by the Historical Manuscripts Committee of the American Historical Association. In Annual ,Rep. of Am. Hist. Ass'n. for 1896. Vol. I, pp. 513-659- P- 540. " Great Britain, The Statutes at Large, London, 1763 et seq. 3 738 ; 9 and 10 Wil. Ill (1698) c. 44, sec. 81, give this grant, and place as a penalty, forfeiture of ship and cargo. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 13 indeed if advantage had not been taken of tiie opportunity tlius given.^^ In. the light of these causes we are not surprised to find in the United States widespread movements in 1783 and the years imme- diately following to take advantage of the China trade. In 1783 Salem and Boston began to agitate the matter/' and Boston merchants had already planned a voyage. In 1784 such a venture seems to have been planned in Connecticut, and was defeated only because the amount of state aid asked was larger than the sturdy yeomen would grant.^* In 1784 a Boston vessel got as far as the Cape of Good Hope, and returned with a cargo of fresh teas purchased there from the British.^' It was in this same year, 1784, that an American ship first reached China. In the latter part of November, 1783, Robert Morris wrote to Jay, "I am sending some ships to China in order to encourage others in the adventurous pursuits of commerce."^" This probably referred to the "Empress of China," John Green, Master.^' Robert Morris and Daniel Parker and Company of New York joined in fitting her out,^^ and engaged as supercargo '^ Fitzsimmons, in a speech on the tariff, Apr. 16, 1789, describes the situation quite exactly. Thomas Hart Benton, Abridgment of the Debates of Congress from 1769 to 1856, 1857-1861. New York. 1842. "Joseph B. Felt, Annals of Salem. 2 v. Salem. 1845-9. 2:285, 291. "William B. Weeden, Economic and Social History of New England, 1620-1789. 2 V. Boston and New York. i8go. 2:821. He quotes from the Connecticut Archives, a manuscript collection at Hartford. ^° This was advertised for sale in July, 1784. Hamilton Andrews Hill, The Trade and Commerce of Boston, 1630 to 1890, in Justin Winsor, Memorial History of Boston, Boston. 1881. 4:203. " Nov. 27, 1783. The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, edited by Henry P. Johnston. New York and London. 1891. 3 : 97. See also Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer, Robert Morris, Patriot and Financier, 1903, p. 222, and William Graham Sumner, The Financier and Finances of the American Revolution. 2 v. New York. 1892. 2 : 162. " This seems to have been universally believed at the time, and no one has ever questioned it. There seems to be no evidence which would lead one to doubt it. ^ The Journals of Major Samuel Shaw, the first American Consul at Canton, edited, with a life of the author, by Josiah Quincy, Boston, 1847, give a full account of this voyage, and are reliable, since the author was the supercargo of the ship and wrote from his journals kept on the trip. The account of the voyage, unless otherwise indicated, is taken from him. Digitized by Microsoft® 14 Kenneth S. Latourette, Samuel Shaw, a man of some education, who had seen honorable service as an officer in the Continental army.^" The main part of the cargo was ginseng. The ship sailed February 22, 1784, protected by a sea letter granted by Congress.^" ^She stopped at the Cape Verde Islands for water and repairs, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and then steered a straight course for the Straits of Sunda.^^ Here she met a French ship and in com- pany with her proceeded to China, anchoring at Whampoa, the harbor of Canton, August 28th. The Chinese after a Uttle trouble learned to distinguish . the Americans from the English, calling them "the New People."^'' The representatives of the various European nations welcomed them, and even the English were friendly and seemed anxious to forget the recent war. With the assistance of more experienced traders, specially the French, the Americans threaded their way safely through the unaccus- tomed maze of the Canton trade regulations, disposed of their ginseng and merchandise to advantage, and purchased a cargo of teas and China goods of various kinds. Returning, "The "He was successively adjutant, captain, brigade major of artillery, and, finally, aide de camp to General Knox. Quincy's life of Shaw is good. Delano says of Shaw, "He was a man of fine talents and con- siderable cultivation.'' Amasa Delano, Narrative of Voyages and Travels in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Boston, 1818. p. 21. ^ The Journals of the United States in Congress assembled [Confedera- tion], Philadelphia, . . . 10:47. Similar letters were frequently granted later. For instance, to the "Canton," March 22, 1785 (10:97) and Jan. 2, 1786 (11:14); to the "Hope," Jan. 26, 1786 (11:17); to the "Columbia" and "Lady Washington," Sept. 24, 1787 (12:144, 145); and to the "General Washington,'' Oct. 25, 1787 (12:217). "' Most accounts of the voyage are taken from Shaw's Journal, but garbled ones are given in Robert Wain, Jr., Life of Robert Morris, in John Sanderson, Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, Philadelphia, 1823, p. 368, which is quoted by Sumner, Financier and Finances of the American Revolution, 2 : 162. It calls the ship "The Empress" and says that it was the first attempt to make an out of season passage to China by going around the south cape of New Holland. A cursory examination of Shaw's Journals will show that Wain was correct only in the year of the voyage, both the name of the ship and the course being wrong. He may have confused it with the voyage of the "Alliance." "^For the first year, to avoid extra presents demanded of nations opening trade, the Americans were reported to the Hoppo, or customs collector, as English. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 15 Empress of China" sailed in company with some Dutch ships for a distance, touched at the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived safely in New York May loth, 1785. The final profit of the voyage was estimated at $30,727, or about twenty-five per cent. on the capital invested.^^ The news of this successful voyage created much interest and added incentive to the plans which were already projected. Shaw reported the result of the voyage to Jay, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and received soon afterward by order of Congress a reply telling of that body's "peculiar satisfaction in the successful issue of this first effort of the citizens of America to establish a direct trade with China."^* Long accounts of the voyage were published in the New York papers and copied in the different commercial cities. ^^ In Boston, plans were soon under way for building and fitting out a ship for the East India trade^^ in which "any citizen who wished to become interested" might purchase a share for $300. Robert Morris, satisfied with the result of his first venture, continued his investments.^^ He bought from Shaw and Randall a cargo of teas which they had shipped home in the "Pallas," and talked of engaging the two for another voyage.^^ ^Another brief summary of the voyage is in John Austin Stevens, Progress of New York in a Century, 1776-1876. New York, 1876. p. 45. , "Shaw's Journals, Appendix, p. 337, gives Shaw's letter (May 19, 1785) and Jay's reply (June 23, 1785). The report of the committee is in the Continental Congress Reports of Committees (Ms. in Library of Con- gress). It was read June 9, 1785. It is also mentioned in the Journal labeled Reports of Coms. (Ms. in Library of Congress). '"'A column and a quarter was given to it in the Providence Gazette, May 28, 1785. " Hill, Trade and Commerce of Boston, p. 81, quotes from the Indepen- dent Chronicle for June 23, 1785, to that effect. '' Robert Morris to Jay, May 19, 1785. Jay's Corres. and Public Papers, 3 : 143- '^ Shaw's Journals, p. 218. Morris may have sent the "Empress" a second time. A letter to which there is no author nor name of person addressed, but with the date New York, Nov. 3, 1786, in Letters Written to the British Government by agents from America, labeled America and England, 1783-1791, Ms. transcripts in Lenox Library, mentions the "Empress of China" as having arrived June 6, 1786, from Canton after a voyage of thirteen months. This leaves such a short time for her to onload, load, and clear from New York after her first voyage that it seems more likely that the date is wrong. It should probably be 1785. Digitized by Microsoft® 1 6 Kenneth S. Latourette, In 1787 he helped to send out the "AlHance," Thomas Raid, master, on a voyage which attracted much attention at the time, both because of the size of the ship and because of the course followed.^" An old frigate, she was much largerufhan the ordi- nary American Indiaman. She left Philadelphia June, 1787, and returned September 19, 1788, with a cargo said to have been worth half a million dollars. She has been popularly reported to have sailed with no chart but a map of the world, without letting go her anchor ropes from the time she left Philadelphia until she reached Canton, and to have been the first American ship to go to China by way of the south cape of Australia!^" Her return temporarily saved Robert Morris from bankruptcy.^ ^ Still other voyages were undertaken. Stewart Deane, an old privateersman, after consulting with Captain Green of the "Empress of China," sailed for Canton in the latter part of December, 1785, in a sloop of eighty-four tons. So small was the vessel that when it reached China it was mistaken for a tender to a larger ship.'^ Shaw went out again from New York in February, 1786, as supercargo of the ship "Hope," James Magee, master, and carried with him a commission from Con- gress as Consul at Canton. This office was rather an empty honor; the occupant was not "entitled to receive any salary, fees, or emoluments," but merely hoisted a flag, did a little routine business, and was looked upon by the Chinese as a head ^For accounts and mention of this voyage see Letters of Phineas Bond, Oct. 2, 1788, p. S78. Wain, Life of Robert Morris in Sanderson, Biog- raphy of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Philadelphia, 1823, 5:368. (He was copied with slight changes by Oberholtzer, Robert Morris, p. 224.) Parliamentary Papers, 1821, 7:122; C. Dixon, Voyage Round the World. More particularly to the Northwest Coast of America. London, 1789. p. 298; Freeman Hunt, The Library of Commerce, Prac- tical, Historical, and Theoretical. New York, 1845. 1:118; Abraham Ritter, Philadelphia and her Merchants as constituted Fifty to Seventy years ago. Philadelphia, i860. " Her course is certain. " Sumner, Financier and Finances of the Am. Rev., 2 : 227. He quotes for his authority a letter of one of the English agents in the United States to Lord Dorchester, 1788, given in Canadian Archives, 1890. 104. °' Timothy Pitkin, A Statistical View of the Commerce of the United States of America. New Haven, 1835. p. 245. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations hetzveen the United States and China. 17 merchant. It was the first American Consulate beyond the Cape of Good Hope, however, and was the only one in China until after 1844.'^ On the return passage of her first voyage the "Empress of China" had found the "Grand Turk'' of Salem at the Cape of Good Hope, evidence that the enterprising merchants of the witch town were already looking toward the East. It was this same vessel which Elias H. Derby, a merchant who had made a large fortune in privateering during the Revolution, sent to Canton a few months later, the first Salem ship to visit that port.'* Providence, too, was caught by the China fever. Her merchants, cut off from the West Indies, had been looking for fresh fields for investment, and the news of the profits to be made in the Canton trade soon roused them. John Brown, a West Indies merchant, and the senior partner of Brown and Francis, was the first to make the venture. His ship, the "General Wash- ington," Captain Dennison, sailed December 27, 1787, stopping first at Pondicherry and Madras,^^ and going thence to Canton.'" Returning she reached America July 4, 1789. Although the venture was not as profitable as had been hoped, it was the "' Shaw's Journals, pp. 218-222. Shaw held the office until 1794. His successors were Samuel Snow (Quincy's Life of Shaw, p. 125), Edward Carrington, B. C. Wilcocks, Richard R. Thompson, John H. Grosvenor, P. W. Snow, Paul S. Forbes (Consular letters, Canton). There were frequent gaps, often of years, when the office was occupied by a vice consul or a consular agent. "* She sailed from Salem January 3, 1786. Robert S. Rantoul, the Port of Salem, in Hist'l Cols, of the Essex Instit., 10 : 55. PauUin, Diplomatic Negotiations of American Naval Officers, p. 161. "' This course was probably taken because of the influence of an Eng- lishman who had spent seven years in India and who went along on the voyage. He is mentioned in a letter of John Brown to his brother, August, 1787. Moses Brown Papers, 6: 11, quoted in Miss Kimball's notes. ™ The log book of the "General Washington'" is in the Brown and Ives Papers, in the John Carter Brown Library of American History in Providence, and is above the average manuscript log for fullness of detail. William B. Weeden, Early Oriental Commerce in Providence, in Mass. Hist'l Soc. Proceedings, 3d Series, 1 1236-278, Boston, 1908, pp. 236-240, tells of it, and Gertrude Selwyn Kimball, The East India Trade of Provi- dence, Providence, 1896, p. 4, gives an account of it. Shaw's Journals, p. 318, tells of the return voyage. Trans, Conn. Acad., Vol. XXII 2 1917 Digitized by Microsoft® 1 8 Kenneth S. Latourette, beginning of a series of voyages from Providence which con- tinued for many years. The Canton trade thus started had become firmly established by the year 1790. Merely running over such nam^ of the ships engaged in it as have come down to us gives us some idea of its extent. There were the "Asia," Captain Barry, and the "Canton," Captain Truxton, whose voyages were not very suc- cessful," the "Jenny," Captain Thompson,'* and the brig "Eleonora," Captain Metcalf,'" both of New York, at Canton in 1788; the "Massachusetts" of Boston, a large Indiaman built for Samuel Shaw in 1789, said to have been the largest ship built up to that time in America, sold to the Danish East India Company at Canton on its first voyage*"; and the "Astrea" of Salem, James Magee, master, and Thomas H. Perkins, super- cargo.*^ The American trade with China was from the first compelled to fit into the Canton commercial system. This latter was so peculiar, and yet so vital in all early relations with China that a somewhat detailed description of it is essential to a full appre- ciation of the succeeding sixty years of American intercourse with the Middle Kingdom. What first impressed the traveller in Canton was that com- merce was carried on "under circumstances peculiar to itself ; it [was] secured by no commercial treaties, [and] regulated by no stipulated rules. "*^ Freed from all treaty restrictions and diplomatic interference, the organization formed was the result of a curious combination of Chinese contempt for foreigners, of fear of their naval prowess, of desire for their trade, and of official greed and corruption. Until modern times the Middle Kingdom had- been largely shut off from the rest of the world by the vast mountain system on her west and by the sea on her " Shaw's Journals, pp. 295-296. "« Ibid. '= Ibid., p. 297. * Delano, Voyages, pp. 21-25. " Journal of Brig "Astrea" to China. Ms. in Essex Institute, Salem. " Edmund Roberts, Embassy to the Eastern Courts of Cochin-China, Siam, and Muscat, in the U. S. Sloop of War Peacock .... during the years 1832, 3, 4. New York, 1837, p. 126. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 19 east. Her people had not come into intimate contact with their equals in civilization until the nineteenth century. Their foreign relations had been almost exclusively with tribes of inferior cul- ture, a culture which at its best was a crude copy of a Chinese original. Although conquered at times, the sons of Han had always assimilated their victors. The entire course of their history had bred a profound contempt for all foreigners, and had led them to apply to the latter the term "barbarian." It is not surprising, therefore, that early modern relations with the Occident were hampered by the conviction that foreigners were mercenary, inter- ested only in trade, and beneath the contempt of the Chinese gentry and literati ; that the China trade was necessary to their very existence^' ; that they did not have the ability to learn to read or to speak Chinese; and that all embassies sent to Peking came merely to bear tribute.** This contempt was mingled with an undercurrent of annoyance. The Manchus were not a naval power ; they were, in fact, utterly impotent on the sea,*^ and after the piratical acts of many of the early European adventurers, especially of the Portuguese, they felt it wise to limit western merchants to as few ports as possible and to police them care- fully while there, "lest they come and make trouble." Only the strong commercial interests of the Chinese prevented the entire prohibition of trade. The Chinese officials were lovers of money, and where trade was once permitted their greed led to the imposition of as many duties and exactions as possible, and to a venality so great that by judicious bribery these same duties could be evaded and many port regulations disregarded with impunity. ^'An anonymous memorial to the Emperor said: "Inquiries have served to show that the foreigners, if deprived for several days of the tea and rhubarb of China, are afflicted with dimness of sight and constipation of the bowels, to such a degree that life is endangered." The Chinese Repository, Canton, 1822-1851. 7:311. " E. J. Eitel, Europe in China, The History of Hongkong from the beginning to the year 1882, London and Hongkong, 189s, p. 12, gives a good summary of the feeling as a whole. See too Chinese Repository, passim, for official edicts on the China trade. *'This their trouble with Koxinga in Formosa had shown them long before. Digitized by Microsoft® 20 Kenneth S. Latourette, When the "Empress of China" had reached Canton, trade had been strictly confined to that port for nearly a generation. The Portuguese colony at Macao, at the mouth of the Pearl River, and the factories at Canton were the 01% spots where residence was permitted.*" The existing regulations had some of them been in force since 1720, some since 1760.*'' The central institution was the "co-hong," through which all trading was done, and through which the government communicated with the foreigners. This body dated from an imperial edict of 1720 which substituted it for a single "Emperor's Merchant."** It had been dissolved in 1771 only to be reinstated in 1782, and was in full working order when the first American arrived. This Hong Sheung or Yeung Hong Sheung ("Foreign Associated Merchants") known more commonly by the pidgin-English cor- ruption, "Co-hong,"*^ was a loose monopoly established by the imperial government expressly for the control of the foreign trade at Canton. It was composed of a varying number of "hong merchants." Theoretically thirteen in number, they were usually fewer, and sometimes dwindled to six.^" Far from being a stock company, each merchant did business independently of the others, enjoyed his own profits, and, legally at least, bore his own losses. They acted together merely for the control of foreigners and the enforcement of trade regulations. There later grew up a mutual responsibility for debts, but this seems not to have been an integral part of the system, and was sanctioned only by special arrangement after each new failure.^^ With true " There had been a little trade at Ningpo in 1755 but soon after that an imperial edict restricted all foreign commerce to Canton. Williams, History of China, p. 96. "William C. Hunter, The Fan Kwae in Canton before Treaty Days, 1825-1844, pp. 28, 34. Eitel, Eur. in China, p. 5. '^ Hunter, Fan Kwae in Canton, pp. 28, 34 ; Eitel, Eur. in China, p. 8. *° Samuel Wells Williams, Establishment of American trade at Canton, in China Review, 5 : 152-164, p. 155. "" Memorial to Emperor, Sept., 1837, Ch. Rep., 6 : 292-296. John Francis Davis, China, 2 v., London, 1857, i :98. "C. Toogood Downing, The Stranger in China, or the Fan Qui's visit to the Celestial Empire in 1836-7. 2 v., Philadelphia, 1838, 2 : 123-133. In 1830 an attempt was made to abolish it entirely which succeeded for at least a few years. Responsibility was renewed in 1838 in a special case. Davis, China, i : 127-128. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 2 1 Chinese astuteness, however, these debts of bankrupt hongs when guaranteed were paid by a special tax on the trade. ^^ The theory of the hong organization was that although the barbarians were not worthy of. direct communication with gov- ernment officials they were a troublesome set, and needed close attention and restraint. To the co-hong, then, was given the complete control of all foreigners, their persons, their property, their servants, and their trade, and in return it was held respon- sible for their actions. The monopoly relaxed as time went on, and a large body of "outside merchants" grew up, each of whom, although legally allowed to furnish only those things needed for the personal use of the foreigners, paid some hong merchant for the privilege of unrestricted trade. °^ A position on the co-hong was purchased from the government, frequently at a high price ; but the place was not in every respect an enviable one. The unfortunate merchant was subject to heavy assess- ments and official "squeezes" and at any time might be held responsible to the extent of his life for chance disorders among foreigners. He could not retire from his position without spe- cial permission, a favor Which at least must be purchased and might be entirely refused.^* The commercial character of mem- bers of the co-hong seems, on the whole, to have been high, and although bankruptcies were fairly frequent, testimonies from Americans and others to the honesty of the body are quite numerous. Howqua, for example, the most famous of those engaged in the American trade, bore an unimpeachable name for honesty and philanthropy. The system was in general an effective, way of handling the trade as long as it was limited to Canton and before government relations began. °^ When ^he treaties "' Chinese Rep., 6 : 292-296. " Hunter, Fan Kwae in Canton, p. 35. Also evidence of Abel Coffin, Mar. 20, 1830, quoted in John Phipps. A Practical Treatise on the China and Eastern Trade. Calcutta, 1835, p. 310. "Hunter, Fan Kwae in Canton, p. 36. Downing, The Stranger in China, 2: 123-133. " "I never saw in this country such a high average of fair dealing as there." Letters and Recollections of John Murray Forbes. Boston and New York, 1899, i : 86. Hunter, Fan Kwae at Canton, p. 97, pays a high tribute to the system and to the honesty of the merchants. Digitized by Microsoft® 2 2 Kenneth S. Latourette, which followed the first British-Chinese war were signed, it had outlived its usefulness and rightly came to an end. The co-hong was the central point in the commercial organiza- tion, but there were, in addition, many regulations which grew up as custom or which were formally enacted from time to time. When a ship arrived at the mouth of the Pearl River, a pilot took it in charge and brought it to Macao. Here an official permit was secured which permitted it to go to Whampoa, and a licensed pilot was taken on board. This latter, with the aid of the assistant pilot, brought the ship past the Bocca Tigris, or mouth of the river, and the first and second bars, and up to Whampoa. This anchorage, twelve miles below Canton, was as far as foreign ships could go, and here they were unloaded and loaded.®' Before trade could be opened, however, the ship had to be secured by one of the hong merchants, who guaranteed its good behavior and the payment of its duties, and through whom in return most of its sales and purchases were usually made. It had also to obtain a comprador to furnish it supplies, and a linguist who for a percentage of the duties, transacted all , the business with the custom house and with the various gov- ernment officials. Then the vessel had to be measured by the deputies of the Hoppo, or superintendent of customs, the ship's extra tackle, overhall rigging, stores, and repair casks, must be put in a building or banksall on the shore," a declaration made that no opium was on board, and a permit (chop) obtained for unloading the cargo. During the unloading and the loading, which was done by means of chop, or licensed boats running °°John Robert Morrison, A Chinese Commercial Guide, Consisting of a Collection of Details respecting Foreign Trade in China, Canton, 1834. Captain Benjamin Hodges in 1789 paid $15 for the pilot to Macao, $40 for the pilot from Whampoa through the mouth of the river. Journal and Log of the Brig William and Henry from Salem, Mass., to Canton, Isle of France, and Salem. 1788-1790. Benjamin Hodges, Master. MS. The pilot expenses of the "Ann and Hope" in 1801 were ; expenses at Macao, $9.25, for pilot inwards, $44, for boat at Macao, $4, for boats to tow ships over the second bar and boats stationed there, $14, for pilot outward, $56, for the attendance of six boats at the second bar, $6, for cumshaw (fee) to pilot outward, $2. Disbursements [of "Ann and Hope"] while on their voyage to London and Canton, Christopher Bentley, Master. MS. "' This custom fell into disuse in later years. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 23 between Canton and Whampoa, the ship was watched by customs officials to prevent smuggling. Just before she sailed, a grand chop, or permission to leave, had to be obtained from the Hoppo.°* The duties and port charges were often heavy, and were for the most part uncertain and determined by custom. No table can be given, for no definite one was ever established, or at least, made known to foreigners.^' There were both import and export duties, the former paid by the foreigner, the latter by the native merchant. In addition there were measurement duties, varying with the size of the ship,*" a cumshaw tax, which was originally the sum of a number of extra-legal fees and percentages given to different officials, and was later transformed into a regular sum paid to the imperial custom house,*^ and pilots', linguists', amd compradors' fees.*^ The last four were the same for all ships, and in 1832-3 amounted to $2,573 per ship.'^ The measurement and cumshaw taxes were remitted on ships import- ing rice.** Various restrictions were placed on trade. No ships were admitted without a cargo of soriie sort aside from specie.*^ The importation of opium, the exportation of bullion except by spe- cial permit, and of large amounts of rice,** and any exportation of sycee, or of metallic manufactures, were forbidden. Salt peter could be imported only for the government.*' No vessels of war could pass beyond the Bocca Tigris, nor could they. even anchor off the coast, unless they came as convoys. Smuggling, ■* The facts in this paragraph are to- be found in W. W. Wood, Sketches of China with Illustrations from Original Drawings, Philadelphia, 1830, pp. 213-217, Morrison, Chinese Commercial guide, pp. 9-18, Roberts, Embassy to Eastern Courts, p. 126, Shaw, Journals, pp. 173-178, Hunter, Fan Kwae at Canton, p. Si> and the East India Trader's Complete Guide, London, 1825, p. 453. William Milburn, Oriental Commerce. ™ Consular Letters, Canton, III. *" In 1832-3 it was $650 to $3000. Roberts, Embassy to En. Courts, p. 126. " Morrison, Chinese Commercial Guide, p. 18. '" Ibid. "' Roberts, Embassy to Eastern Courts, p. 126. " Ibid., p. 126, and Evidence of Abel Coffin, Pari. Papers, 1830, 5 : 122. °° Snow to Secretary of State, Jan. 24, 1801, Consular Letters, Canton, I. "■ Morrison, Chinese Com'l Guide, p. 18. " Morrison, Chinese Com'l Guide, p. 18. Digitized by Microsoft® 24 Kenneth S. Latourette, of course, was prohibited, and to prevent it, vessels were ordered to come immediately to Whampoa and not to linger around the coast.** In addition to the regulations which had to do ^imarily with shipping, another series concerned the foreign residents of China. Here the Chinese attitude towards the barbarians was even more clearly manifested. They were to be held at arms' length, to be segregated and closely watched, and to be tolerated only as long as was necessary. Unsupported and unprotected by their home governments or by treaty rights, the foreigners depended for safety and justice entirely on the self-interest of the Chinese. No foreigner was allowed within the city wall of Canton, but was compelled to confine his ramblings to the suburbs, and his residence to the little plot of ground assigned to the foreign factories, or hongs. These buildings were rented from the hong merchants, and were situated on a plot of ground in the suburbs which extended a quarter of a mile along the north bank of the river."' Before them was a square, fenced off from the streets until the fire of 1822. The factories were thirteen in number, and were described by Cleveland'"' in 1798 as "hand- some houses built in the European style, on the margin of the river. . . . They were generally of two stories, the lower being used as warehouses. They were whitewashed, and with their . respective national flags displayed on a high staff above them, made a very pretty appearance." Between the factories °* Hunter, Fan Kwae in Canton, p. 28. °° Jacob Abbot, China and the English, New York, 1835, pp. 64-94, gives a vivid, although not very accurate, description, claiming to be that of an eye witness. Fitch W. Taylor, Flag Ship, or a Voyage Around the World in the U. S. Frigate Columbia, 2 v.. New York, 1840, 2:170; W. S. W. Ruschenberger, A Voyage Around the World, Philadelphia, 1838, pp. 94 ff. ; Richard J. Cleveland, A Narrative of Voyages and Commercial Enterprises, 2 v., Cambridge, Mass., 1842, i : 46, 47 ; J. W. Reynolds, Voyage of the United States Frigate Potomac, during the circumnaviga- tion of the Globe in the years 1831, 1832, 1833, and 1834, New York, 1835, p. 336 et sqq. ; Shaw's Journals, pp. 178-184, 345; Hunter, Bits of Old China, pp. 12-15 > all contain descriptions of the factories by eye witnesses. Ch. Rep. 14 : 347, has a map, but the best are in Hunter, Fan Kwae in Canton, p. 25, and Morse, Internat. Rel. of Chin. Empire, p. 70. ™ Cleveland, Voyages, i : 46, 47. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 25 ran the narrow lanes known as Old China Street, New China Street, and Hog Lane, and behind them. Thirteen Factory Street, where were situated native shops to entice sailors when off duty. Originally the foreigner was allowed to use even the limited area on which the factories were situated only during the trading season, and was required to spend the other months in the Portuguese jjoIotv at Macao. ''^ No women were allowed in the "factories, and any attempt to bring them there was the signal for trouble. ^^ The number of servants was limited. All communica- tions with the officials were required to be in the form of "respectful petitions," and to be made, not directly, but through the hong merchants. Riding on the river for pleasure was for- bidden, and no one could visit the neighboring suburbs except on special days of the month. Linguists and compradors were employed as for the ships, and each foreigner had his good behavior "secured" to the magistrates by some hong merchant. In short, the "barbarians" were there by permission, a permission granted only by the "infinite compassion of the Son of Heaven." As strict as these regulations seem, however, most of them were seldom enforced. Official corruption was well known, and tact and judicious bribery could secure immunity from all but the form of most of the rules. In time many others fell into disuse. In later years smuggling became extensive. Vessels anchored at Lintin outside the Bocca Tigris, loaded and unloaded by means of small boats and receiving ships, and avoided not only the port charges, but often some of the duties.'^ The foreigners stayed in the factories throughout the year ; they could walk about the suburbs with impunity, and present petitions directly to the magistrates. The missionaries experienced but little serious interference in the study of the language, both written and spoken.'* There were occasional spasms of reform " Hunter, Fan Kwae at Canton, p. 80, speaks of the rule as still partly in force after 1830. It was broken as early as 1804 by Snow. Williams, Estab. of Am. Trade at Canton, p. 155. See also Shaw, Journals, pp. 173-175- " Gideon Nye, The Morning of My Life in China, Canton, 1873, p. 9 ; Eitel, Eur. in China, p. 19; and Delano, Voyages, p. 540, tell of futile attempts to avoid the rule. "William C. Hunter, Bits of Old China, London, 1885, pp. i, 2. " Ibid., pp. I, 2, and Hunter, Fan Kwae at Canton, p. 60. Digitized by Microsoft® 26 Kenneth S. Latourette, and renewed strictness it is true, as, for example, in 1834, when an edict of the governor placed new limitations on the number of servants,''^ and in 1839, when some new regulations were enacted.'"' But always the lapse of a few monthaBsaw the reins again loosened and business pursuing its former easy way. ' Nye, Morning of My Life in China, p. 73. ' Ch. Rep., 8 77-82. Digitized by Microsoft® CHAPTER II. The Period of Expansion and of War, 1791-1814. In the first flush of success Americans had felt that their trade with Canton was destined to expand indefinitely. It soon became apparent, however, that a limit would speedily be reached. The chief article of importation from China was tea, and its con- sumption in America was limited. Restrictions placed on its importation to Europe and the West Indies were practically prohibitive, and any extensive attempts to evade them were not to be thought of.^ Moreover, there was great difficulty in getting commodities with which to purchase cargoes in Canton. Through the cen- turies, Europeans had gone to China as to the rest of the East in quest of its teas and silks, while but few Western products could be found for which there was a return demand. The balance of trade had been met by heavy shipments of specie, a drain which had long been a cause of concern. Not until after 1825 or 1832 when China had cultivated her appetite for opium was the current of silver stemmed. From the very first the Americans had faced this difficulty. For a time they had hoped that in ginseng they had found a product which would supply the need,^ but before. long it became apparent that the demand for the root was limited, and that specie must be exported extensively to make up the deficit.^ ' Letters of Phineas Bond, p. 545, September 2, 1787. ' Shaw's Journals, pp. 229-236, 301, sqq. 'The following table, taken from Pitkin, Stat. View (1835 ed.) p. 303, and taken by him from the Register of the Treas., Washington (except for 1826-1832 which are from a Canton paper) show the proportion of specie exported to Canton from 1805 on. BILLS ON YEAR SPECIE MDSE. YEAR SPECIE ENGLAND MDSE. 180S $2,902,000 $2,653,818 1819 $7,414,000 $ 200,000 $2,603,151 1806 4,176,000 1,150,358 1820 6,297,000 1,888,000 1807 2,895,000 982,362 1821 2,995,000 2,397>79S 1808 3,032,000 908,090 1822 5,125,000 3,067,79s 1809 70,000 409,850 1823 6,292,840 2,046,549 181O 4,723,000 1,020,600 1824 4,096,000 2,364,000 Digitized by Microsoft® 2 8 Kenneth S. Latourette, Now, specie was of all commodities the one which the United States could least spare at that time. They had no silver or gold mines of importance. What coin came into the country was largely smuggled in from the Spanish colonies an^was greatly needed to pay European bills. Specie was consequently hard to obtain for such luxuries as China goods, and when secured, much popular irritation was felt at its use for such a purpose.* Unless these conditions could be changed, American trade with Canton would be extremely limited. Indeed, by 1790, it had already been overdone and had ceased to be as profitable as at the beginning.^ At about this time, however, two widely separated groups of events partially removed both of these hindrances and gave Chinese-American commerce an impetus which resulted in its rapid expansion. One, the European wars following the French Revolution, was still a few years off, the other, the opening of new sources of supply of goods for the China market, had Just begun. BILLS ON YEAR SPECIE MDSE. YEAR SPECIE ENGLAND MDSE. 181I $2,330,000 $ 568,800 1825 $6,524,500 $2,437,525 1812 1,875,000 1,257,810 1826 5,725,200 2,056,101 1813 616,000 837,000 1827 1,841,168 $ 400,000 2,032,449 1814- IS 451,000 1828 2,640,300 300,000 2,454,617 1816 1,922,000 605,000 1829 740,900 657,000 2,667,770 1817 4,545,000 1,055,600 1830 1,123,644 423,656 2,793,982 1818 S,6oi,ooo 1,475,828 , 183I 183,65s 1,168,500 2,871,321 1832 2,480,871 667,252 2,383,684 1833 682,519 4,772,516 2,907,936 * The continued existence of this feeling is shown by a clipping from a Providence paper. In its issue of September 14, 1793, the United States Chronicle of that city attempted to mollify public opinion by telling of "fifty or sixty thousand dollars in specie," part of the proceeds of the "President Washington" and her cargo which had been sold at Calcutta in 1792, being deposited in the bank by Brown and Francis, "this sum being more specie than they had ever shipped to the Indies, although for six years past considerably engaged in the trade. It is expected it will operate in the minds of thinking people to do away with a prejudice against the trade, and convince them that it is our duty to encourage it, as being much more advantageous, than for us to continue retailers of India goods for European merchants." ° Osgood and Batchelde'r, Salem, p. 138, say that the Salem-China trade seems to have been abandoned from 1790 to 1798. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 29 The effect of the first of these on American commerce is too well known to require detailed treatment here. The United States were made the common carriers of Europe. The care- fully erected trade barriers which had threatened to crush their commercial life were obliterated almost in a day. Large por- tions of the Continent and of the West Indies were thrown open to their goods. The result on the trade with China was to give a wider market for tea, and to provide specie and other com- modities needed for cargoes to Canton. Between 1801 and 181 1 from a fourth to a half of each year's imports of tea were re-ex- ported from the United States. The embargo year of 1808 fell much below this average, but the following year made up for the deficit, since by drawing on the accumulated stocks Americans actually exported more tea than they imported.^ In addition they took many cargoes directly from China to Europe without re-exportation. The second group of events was of far less immediate impor- tance in dollars and cents,^ but in picturesqueness, in geo- graphical and political results, and in territorial extent, it is of great interest. Moreover, it belonged so peculiarly to the China trade and had such important results that it demands a somewhat detailed treatment. The dearth of specie impelled American merchants to seek some acceptable but less expensive substitute for the Canton market. Ginseng was wanted in only limited amounts, and the United States seemed for a time to have no other native product which would attract the Chinese fancy. Within a few years, however, there was found a demand for furs, for sandal wood, and for various products of the South Seas, and with this demand came the discovery and development of fresh sources of supply of these articles. The search for these classes of merchandise gave rise to important branches of the Canton trade which we must now describe. The fur trade rose to meet a longstanding demand. Chinese houses were unheated, and warm dress was required to counter- " Pitkin, Stat. View, ed. 1835, pp. 246-247. ' The importation of furs to Canton, for instance, was never more than fifteen per cent of our total imports into that port. Digitized by Microsoft® 30 Kenneth S. Latourette, act the cold of winter. Woolens were scarcely ever used, and to provide the needed warmth the poor resorted to heavily padded clothes and the better classes to garments lined with fur.' When the "Empress of China" first reached Canton, soij|p furs came through the Russians, and some from Europe and America through European traders.^ The Americans were not long in learning of the demand,^" and within a few years had opened up three sources of supply: the Northwest Coast of America, where various pelts, chiefly those from the sea otter, were obtained by barter from the Indians; the Falkland Islands, the islands off the West coast of South America, and the South Seas, where the fur seal was found ; and the interior of North America, where the great fur-trading companies collected the pelts and shipped them from eastern ports, principally New York. Of these sources, the first to acquire importance was the Northwest Coast of America. The pioneers were Russians, but for some reason they were slow to take advantage of their knowledge, and the secret did not penetrate to the rest of Europe.^^ A generation or so later. Captain Cook's sailors picked up some sea otter skins while on the Northwest Coast and on reaching Canton were surprised to have them sell for a sum which seemed fabulous. John Ledyard, an American who had been with the expedition, returned to the United States fired with the idea of taking advantage of the discovery. He approached Robert Morris and merchants in Boston, in New London, and in New York, but he failed to attain his object. ' Chinese Rep., 3 : 557. ° Ibid., and Speer, Oldest and Newest Empire, p. 412. " George Bancroft said in describing the fur trade on the Northwest Coast: "At the time when the people of New England were the most ready to devote themselves to navigation, the prohibitory laws of many .... nations of Europe fettered commerce so much that they found the whole earth not too large for their activity." Letter to C. C. Perkins, Jan. 4, 1879, in C. C. Perkins, Memoir of James Perkins. In Proceedings of the Mass. Hist'l Society, i : 353-368, p. 359. " In 1742 Bering's shipwrecked men killed the sea otter for food, carried about a thousand skins to Asia, and were given a large sum for them by Chinese merchants. A. C. Laut, Vikings of the Pacific. New York, 1905, p. 62. Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of the North- west Coast, 2 v., San Francisco, 1884, i : 345. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 31 He turned to Europe, and at Paris tried to enlist John Paul Jones, but failed when just on the point of success. He tried to cross Russia, perhaps intending to reach the Northwest Coast by that route, but failed again, and after returning lost his life in an expedition up the Nile.^^ What John Ledyard had known, but by his too optimistic spirit had failed to induce people to believe, came unmistakably to the world in 1784 with the publication of Cook's Journals. The immediate effect of these was a great interest in the prospective trade. As Irving put it, "It was as if a new gold coast had been discovered. Individuals from various countries dashed into this lucrative traffic. "^^ The first voyage was by the English, in April, 1785. The following year they and the Austrians and French were engaged in the trade.^* The first voyage from the United States was not made until 1787. A company in Boston,^^ said to have originated in the house of Charles Bulfinch, in Bowdoin Square,^* from discussions of Captain Cook's voyages, "^Jared Sparks, Travels and Adventures of John Ledyard, London, 1834, p. 17s et sqq. Milet Murrans. A Voyage Round the World in the years 1785, 1786, 1787, 1788, by J. F. G. de La Perouse, 3 v., London, 1798. 2 : 287. There are other secondary accounts in Hill, Trade and Commerce of Boston, p. 82, and James Morton Callahan, American Relations in the Pacific and the Far East, 1784-1900, Baltimore, 1901. There seem to be no contemporary sources for this information, but the facts seem fairly well established. " Washington Irving, Astoria, or Anecdotes of our Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains. 2 v., Philadelphia, 1836. 1 : 32. "G. Dixon, Voyage Round the World. More Particularly to the Northwest Coast of America. London, 1789, pp. xvii-xix, 315. John Meares, Voyages Made in the Years 1788 and 1789 from China to the Northwest Coast of America. London, 1791, passim. Edward S. Meaney, Vancouver's Discovery of Puget Sound. New York, 1907, p. 26. ^"Joseph Barrell, Samuel Brown, Charles Bulfinch, John Derby, Crowel Hatch, and John M. Pintard. Letter of Charles Bulfinch to William Gushing, December i, 1816. In Bureau of Rolls and Library, Department of State, Washington. " Bulfinch, Oreg. and Eldorado, p. i. He should know, as he was related to the Charles Bulfinch of the company. Bancroft, Hist, of N. W. Coast, 1 1 i8s, thinks there . is no evidence of their having any knowledge of the operations of the English traders and that they got their ideas from Cook and Ledyard. Robert Greenhow, A History of Oregon Digitized by Microsoft® 32 Kenneth S. Latourette, sent out two vessels, the "Columbia," Captain Kendrick, and the "Lady Washington," Captain Gray. They were instructed to stay on the coast two seasons, or longer if they thought best, and to send the sloop to Canton at the end of each SM^on with part of the skins collected." The "Lady Washington ' reached the Northwest Coast in the summer of 1788 after touching at various points on the coast, and at Nootka found the English Captains Meares and Douglas. Here on September twenty-second the "Columbia" joined her, and here the two ships passed the winter. The spring and summer of 1789 were spent in trading along the coast, and at the close of the season all the furs were put on board the "Columbia," which then proceeded under Gray to Canton, sold its skins, took on a cargo of China goods, and returned to Boston by way of the Cape of Good Hope, arriving August, 1790, the first American vessel to circumnavigate the globe. ^^ The adventurers were received with great ovations,'^' and although the profits did not come up to expectations,^" the "Columbia" was again sent out. On this second voyage she made the discovery of the river that bears her name,^^ an event the full significance of which did not become apparent until the rise of the Oregon question in the next century. Captain Kendrick had meanwhile made two trips to China, in 1789^^ and in 1791 or and California and the other Territories on the Northwest Coast of North America, Boston, 1844, p. 179, seems to think there was some causal connection between this and the earlier King George's Sound Company of London (the one which sent out Portlock and Dixon), but presents no evidence to substantiate it. "Letter of Instruction of Joseph Barrell to the expedition, MS. in the Bureau of Rolls and Library, Department of State. It ended with the admonition, "We depend you will suffer insult and injury from none without showing that spirit which ever becomes a free and independent American.'' *^ Bancroft, Hist, of N. W. Coast, i : 185-209, gives an account of the voyage. Up to June 14, 1789, he follows the diary of Robert Haswell, the best source for the voyage that he was able to find. (p. 186.) " Meany, Vancouver's Discovery of Puget Sound, p. 34. " Letter of Charles Bulfinch to William Cushing, Dec. i, 1816. ''' This was in May, 1792. Bancroft, Hist, of N. W. Coast, -i : 260. He cites her manuscript log for this date. '' Ibid., 1 : 209. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 33 1792.^'' His was a visionary disposition as was shown in his purchase of lands from the Indians.^* His career was ended some time later on the Hawaiian Islands by accidental death. ^^ About a month after the first return of the "Columbia" to America, Joseph Ingraham, her former mate,^° left Boston as master of the brigantine "Hope."^^ He was partly financed by the young Thomas H. Perkins, who had learned of the trade from the "Columbia" while at Canton in January of that year.^* On his way out he touched at the Marquesas Islands, and a few days later sighted five islands which he did not find on his charts, "* A letter from him dated Macao, March 28, 1792, Consular Letters, Canton, I, shows that he was there at that date, and he probably arrived in the latter part of 1791, or very early in 1792. "Bancroft, N. W. Coast, 1:253. He cites Hall J. Kelley, Disc, of N. W. Coast, where the deeds are copied. ^ Delano, Voyages, pp. 399, 400, says that he was killed accidentally by a salute fired in his honor by an English commander. Foster, American Diplomacy in the Orient, Boston and New York, 1904, p. 99, says that he died in 1793, possibly copying from Robert Greenhow, A History of Oregon and California and the other Territories on the Northwest Coast of America, Boston, 1844, p. 228, where the same statement is made. Bancroft shows that this date is probably false (Hist, of N. W. Coast, 1:297) placing it in 1796, a conjecture given color by the fact that Van- couver found the "Washington" at Nootka Sept. 2, 1794. (George Vancouver. A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the World. 3 vols. London, 1798. 3:300.) His death was probably late in 1795 or very early in 1796, as on May 28, 1796, John Howell wrote from Manila in regard to settling up his estate. (MS. letter in State Dept., Washington.) This letter, which shows his estate $I7>7I7 in debt to Howell, and his own report of March, 1792, which shows him $10,000 in debt, bear out what has been said about his visionary nature. "Joseph Ingraham, Journal of the Voyage of the Brigantine Hope, from Boston to the North West Coast of America. 1790-1792. MS. in Library of Congress. Bancroft, Hist, of N. W. Coast, i : 252, says that he was mate of the "Lady Washington." Either Bancroft is in error, or Ingraham was mate on the latter vessel at an earlier date. " He sailed Sept. 16, 1790. Ingraham, Voyage of Hope, Greenhow, pp. 226-228, and Callahan^ p. 18 ; the last two of whom take their accounts from the manuscript journal, are where the accounts for the voyage are found. The first is to be preferred as a source. '"Cary (son-in-law of Perkins) in N. Eng. Hist, and Gen. Reg., 10: 201-21 1. Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. XXII 3 1917 Digitized by Microsoft® 34 Kenneth S. Latourette, and which he named and claimed for the United States.^' He traded along the Northwest Coast during the summer, and sailed for Canton in the fall, arriving in November, 1791, during a temporary prohibition which the Chinese had laid^n American ships.^" In the spring of 1792, after some trouble over an attempted evasion of the prohibition, he returned to the North- west Coast, and in the autumn, went to the Hawaiian Islands, where in November the journal of his voyage ends. The years following 1789 showed great growth in the Ameri- can Northwest Coast trade. In October, 1790, there arrived in China the brig "Eleonora," Captain Metcalf, and the schooner "Polly," Captain Douglas., from the Northwest Coast, both American,^^ but of these we know little. In October, 1791, the "Margaret" left Boston with James Magee, a part owner of the "Hope,"^^ as master. On her arrival on the coast (in the spring of 1792) she found twenty-eight other ships there, of which six were American. For ten years, the number of American ships engaged in the trade continued to increase, until in 1801, the banner year, there were at least fourteen on the coast.^^ The ^ Ibid., and Ingraham, Disc, of some Ids. in S. Pacific, Mass. Hist. See Cols., 2:20-24. Some of these same islands were renamed and new ones were discovered by Joseph Roberts in the ship "Jefferson" early in 1793. Disc, and Desc. of Marquesas, Mass. Hist. Soc. Cols., 4 : 241. " C. P. Claret Fleurier, Voyage Autour du Monde pendant les Annees 1790, 1791 et 1792, Paris, 6 vols., an. vi., 2:368, mentions the same suspension of the fur trade. "Providence Gazette, Jan. 11, 1791, which cites Allen's New London Marine List, June 8, 1791. "^Ingraham, Voyage of Hope. The facts of the voyage are from the log of the "Margaret." MS. copy in Essex Institute, Salem. The inspira- tion of the voyage came from the "Columbia," which he had found at Canton in 1789 or 90. N. Eng. Hist, and Gen. Reg., 10:201-211. ^^ William Tufts, Account of Vessels in the Sea Otter Fur Trade on the Northwest Coast (which seems to be correct as far as it goes). With the addition of all such omissions as have been detected this shows two vessels on the Coast in 1788, one in 1789, two in 1790, five in 1791, seven in 1792, four in 1793, two in 1796, four in 1797, eight in 1799, six in 1800, fourteen in 1801, nine in 1802, seven in 1803, five in 1804, six in 1805, five in 1806, five in 1807, three in 1808. The list is probably very incomplete, for in 1816 William Sturgis wrote that he had been on the Coast with seventeen American ships. He does not say in what year he was there. Letter to Charles Morris, Aug. 22, 1816. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 35 normal voyage was to leave the United States in the summer or early fall, and to arrive on the Northwest Coast in the spring. The vessels would then trade with the Indians from inlet to inlet along the fjord-broken coast, getting skins, preferably those of the rare sea-otter, in exchange for trinkets, knives, fire arms, blankets, cotton and woolen cloths, and other similar wares.^* In the fall they would go to Canton, or if they had not yet obtained a cargo they would winter at the Hawaiian Islands and trade a second and even a third season on the Coast before going to China. Once there they would exchange their cargoes for teas and other goods, and return to the United States by way of the Cape of Good Hope. The voyages were, as a rule, very lucrative. The original outlay for the cargo was small, the furs for which it was exchanged sold at Canton at a large gain, and the teas and goods which the proceeds purchased brought another gain in the United States or Europe, thus giving three chances for profit. The voyages were full of risk and required experience, and the trade fell into the hands of a few large firms, the Perkins, the Lambs, Dorr and Sons, the Cooledges, the Lymans, the Sturgis family, all of Boston, D'Wolf of Bristol, and a few others. The merchants of Philadelphia, New York, and Providence, were for the most part not engaged in it.'^ Small traders occasionally ventured out but the dangers from shipwreck, and especially from the natives, were great, and only a firm with several ships could survive the losses incident to such accidents.' '* " Bill of lading of the "Louisa" to the N. W. Coast, Oct. 5, 1826. "" Tufts' account of" vessels in the sea otter trade gives the names of these firms. William Sturgis, The Northwest Fur Trade, in Hunt's Merchant Magazine, 14:532-537, gives the facts about the other ports. He was himself connected with the trade. " Numerous examples of these accidents can be cited. The "Columbia" suffered the loss of three men from the Indians in 1791 (Extracts from the log of the ship "Margaret," commanded by Captain James Magee. Voyage to the North West Coast, 1791-1792. Copy MS. in Essex Insti- tute. This may be the incident of which Fleurier heard when in Canton in November, 1791. Voyage Autour du Monde. 2:377). Vancouver found in Hawaii a survivor of the "Fair American," an American schooner manned by the younger Metcalf, that had been captured and had had its crew murdered by the natives in retaliation for punishment inflicted by the elder Metcalf for the murder of some of his men (Van- Digitized by Microsoft® 36 Kenneth S. Latourette, About 1802 the trade to the Northwest Coast took on a new- phase, trading and sealing voyages along the California coast. This was due partly to the increasing difficulty of obtaining skins by barter with the northern Indians, and partly to ijfwly dis- covered sources of furs. In 1802 the "Leha Byrd," Cleveland, master, coasted along California, trading for furs with the Spanish settlements." In 1803 the "Alexander," Brown, master, and in 1804 the "Hazard"^^ and the "Lelia Byrd" under Shaler, Cleveland's partner,^' did the same. It was largely illegal trade and ships engaged in it were in danger of capture and confisca- tion." In 1803 the "O'Cain" of New York obtained Indian hunters from the Russians at Sitka and went south, hunting on shares." In 1805 John D'Wolf, master of the "June," finding barter unsuccessful, determined to go to California, but sold his ship to the Russians before carrying out his plan.*^ In 1806 couver, Voyage, 2:135). In 1803 the ship "Boston," John Salter, Master, was attacked by the natives at Nootka Sound in revenge for a fancied insult, his vessel was captured, and all but two of the crew were murdered. (The Adventures of John Jewett, only survivor of the crew of the ship Boston, during a captivity of nearly three years among the Indians of Nootka Sound in Vancouver Island. Ed. by Robert Brown. London, 1896. Secondary accounts are in Bancroft, Hist, of N. W. Coast, 1 : 312, and in Meany, Vancouver's Discovery of Puget Sound, pp. 39-43.) In 1803 and 1804 the "Atahualpa"' of Boston, Adams master, lost some men by an Indian attack (page 171 of Shaler [?] Journal of a Voyage Between China and the Northwestern Coast of America, made in 1804. In the American Register or General Repository, vol. 3 (1808) pp. 137-175)- " Cleveland, Voyages of a Merchant Navigator, and Cleveland, Voyages, 1 : 155-249. "'Herbert Howe Bancroft, History of California, 7 v., San Francisco, 1884-1890. 2:15. '" Shaler, Voyage between China and the Northwest Coast. " "The Mercury" was captured and condemned in 1813, Bancroft, Hist, of Calif., 2 : 268. He quotes Mercury, Expediente de investigacion sabre Captura de la fragata American "Mercurio" 1813, MS. Several other ships were similarly treated in 1816. Ibid., 2 : 275. " Bancroft, Hist, of N. W. Coast, i : 319. He quotes Boston on the N. W. Coast, MS., pp. ir-12. ■^John D'Wolf, A Voyage to the North Pacific and a Journey through Siberia more than half a century ago, Cambridge, 1861 ; and Patterson, Narrative of Adventures and Sufferings, are accounts of the same voyage by two men who were on it. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 37 the "O'Cain" returned, again obtained Indians from the Rus- sians, and left for the CaUfornia coast.*^ In 1810 and 181 1 at least four vessels were there on the same mission** under Russian contract. The relations between the Americans and Russians on the Northwest Coast were not confined to the California sealing voyages. In 1807 the Russians chartered an American vessel, the "Eclipse," to carry supplies from China to their settlements in Kamchatka and the Northwest Coast, a step made necessary by the Chinese rule which forbade the Czar's ships to come to Canton.*'' Part of the extensive plan of Astor was to supply the American settlements of the Czar with goods in exchange for furs.*" More important, however, were the diplomatic troubles which arose. In 1808 Count Romanzoff, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs and of Commerce, complained to the American charge d'affaires that American ships on the Northwest Coast, instead of trading with the Russian settlements, were carrying on a clandestine barter in fire arms with the natives to the danger of his majesty's subjects. Beyond a formal acknowledgment the Americans seem to have paid no attention to the note*" and the matter was dropped for a time. In January, 1810, Daschkoff, the Russian charge in Washington, took up the question again and proposed that the United States should order its citizens to con- fine their trade to the Russian factories and prohibit their carry- ing on any barter with the natives. The American Government, •^Ibid. D'Wolf calls it "Okain" and Patterson calls it "Ocain," but there is no reasonable doubt of its identity. "Bancroft, Hist, of Calif., 2:93. He cites Albatross, Log Book of Voyage to N. W. Coast in 1809-1812, kept by William Gale, as authority. Some of the vessels were under the Winships. "Archibald Campbell, A Voyage Round the World from 1806 to 1812. New York, 1817. The ship mentioned in Erasmus Doolittle, Sketches by a Traveller, Boston, 1830, in about 1809 or 1810 traded provisions to the Russians for skins. " Am. Fur Trade, Hunt's Merc. Mag., 3 : 197-8. It is interesting to note that much the same thing was done for several years after 1815 for the British Northwest Fur Company by J. and T. H. Perkins of Boston to evade the monopoly of the East India Company. Reports of Committees, No. 43, 2 Sess., 24 Cong. "American State Papers, Foreign Relations, Washington, 1858. S : 4SS- Digitized by Microsoft® 38 Kenneth S. Latourette, however, evaded the question by asking the Russians to specify a definite line of demarcation, a step which the latter were not prepared to take.*^ On May Sth, the Secretary of State, in a note to Daschkoff, expressed his unwillingness t« come to an agreement unless such a line were agreed upon. Even then a prohibition by the United States, said he, would be needless, for if the Indian tribes were under Russian jurisdiction the United States would surrender her merchants to the "penalties incurred by those who carry on a contraband trade in a foreign jurisdiction," and if they were independent, Russia could not prevent foreign trade with them unless it were in time of war and in contraband articles." The negotiations thus closed at Washington, were reopened by Romanzoflf at St. Petersburg, August 28th. He proposed to John Quincy Adams, the United States minister, that American ships be given the privilege of carrying furs from Russian posts on the Northwest Coast, and that in return the United States should agree not to furnish fire arms to the natives. When Adams asked for the boundaries which the Russians claimed, Romanzoflf said that their charts showed that the entire coast as far south as the mouth of the Columbia River belonged to them. Adams seemed to feel that behind the plea for humanity there was an attempt to win an acknowledgment of the Russian claim for territory and courte- ously declined the offer. He reminded the minister that there was no real reciprocity in the proposed arrangement, as the Americans already had free access to the proflfered trade, and that a prohibition could not be enforced on a coast which pos- sessed neither ports nor custom houses. °° After this reply, made early in October, 1810, the matter was dropped for eleven years. Closely allied to thq Northwest Coast trade were the fur-seal- ing voyages. They owed their origin to the same motives, the obtaining of pelts for the China market. They were quite dis- tinct, however, being undertaken by different firms, and different towns. They went out from New London, New Haven, Stoning- " Note of April 24, 1810. Ibid. " Am. State Papers, Foreign Relations, 5 : 455. °°Am. State Papers, For. Rel., 5:455. Adams, Diary, 2:151, 178. See a secondary account in Winsor, Narrative and Crit. Hist., 7 : 510. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 39 ton, New York, Philadelphia, Salem, and occasionally from Boston. They had for their object seal skins, not sea otter skins: they obtained them not by barter but by killing the seals them- selves : and they were mostly in the Southern, not the Northern Hemisphere. The usual plan of the voyages was to spend one or two seasons seahng at the Falklands, Massafuero, or at some of the islands where seals were plentiful; then to proceed to Canton, to exchange their furs for China goods and then to return home by way of the Cape of Good Hope. One vessel often made several voyages, leaving part of its crew on the seal islands to collect skins until it should return. These voyages had their origin almost simultaneously with those of the Northwest Coast. About 1785 or 1786 the ship "States," owned by Lady Hadley, was sent out on an experi- mental voyage. Thirteen thousand skins were taken, brought to New York, and shipped to Calcutta and Canton in the brig "Eleonora," about the time that Kendrick and Gray first left Boston.''^ In 1790, acting on the information obtained from this voyage, Elijah Austin of New Haven fitted out two vessels and sent them to the Falklands and South Georgia. One of these proceeded to Canton with its skins and returned by way of the Cape of Good Hope after a three years' absence."^ In 1792, Magee obtained eleven thousand seal skins at St. Ambrose, and found sealing well established on the Falkland Islands. In March, 1793, Delano met at Canton the "Eliza," of New York, William R. Stewart, Master. She had come from Massa- fuero and had a cargo of thirty-eight thousand skins.^^ In February, 1793, the Macartney Mission found on the Island of Amsterdam a number of men who had been left there to collect skins while their vessel, a ship fitted out at the Isle of France and owned by Americans and French, should go to the North- "The Diary of Mr. Ebenezer Townsend, Jr., the supercargo of the sealing ship "Neptune" on her voyage to the South Pacific and Canton; in papers of New Haven Colony Hist'l Society, vol. 4, New Haven, 1888. pp. 1-115. p. 3. Shaw, Journals, pp. 295-6, mentions her as in Macao early in 1788. "^Townsend, Diary, p. 3, et sqq. °° These sold for only $16,000, a very low price. Digitized by Microsoft® 40 Kenneth S. Latourette, west Coast of America.'** By 1804 the American sealers were causing trouble to the British in Australia, three having been there within a year.^^ These rather disconnected instances show the early origin and the broad scope of the sealing vojBiges. The sealing industry, like the trade to the Northwest Coast, had a rapid growth and decline. Morrell estimated that from the Island of Massafuero alone three and a half million fur seals were taken and sold at Canton between 1793 and 1807.^" Delano, writing after the commerce had declined, said that he had been at that same island when fourteen ships were sealing there. ^' The culmination of the industry was reached shortly after 1800. It was self-destructive. No attempt could be made to protect the seals, and a few years saw their almost complete destruc- tion on islands where they had formerly been the most numer- ous. ^^ To hasten the decline, competition had overstocked the Canton market and had brought the price below the profit point. By the opening of the War of 1812, the trade had nearly run its course. ^° "George Staunton, An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China. 2 v. London, 1798. 1 : 207. It is interesting to note that in 1802 some men were left for the same purpose by one of Perkins' ships on St. Paul, a neighboring island. Journal of Voyage from Salem to Sumatra and Manila in the ship "Active,"' George Nichols, master. 1801-1802. MS. in Essex Inst. " Louis Becke and Walter Jeffery, The Americans in the South Seas. London, 1901, p. 237. Governor King of New South Wales wrote that "this is the third American vessel that has within the last twelve months been in the Straits and among the islands, procuring- seal skins and oils for the China market." ■^ Benjamin Morrell, A Narrative of Four Voyages tp the South Seas, etc., from the j'ear 1822-1831. New York, 1832. p. 130. " Delano, Voyages, p. 306. ■^Doolittle, Sketches, p. 13. About 1809 or 1810 he found seals almost extinct on Massafuero. Charles W. Barnard, A Narrative of the Suffer- ings and Adventures of Captain Charles W. Barnard in a Voyage round the World during the years 1812, 1813, 1814, 1815, and 1816, New York, 1829, pp. 198-201. No seals were there in 1814, and the island was deserted. Barnard, however, had found some at the Falkland Islands some two years before. Ibid., p. 12. ™The last sealing voyage from New Haven, October 25th, 1813, et seq., was a failure. Thomas Rutherford Trowbridge, History of the Ancient Maritime Interests of New Haven, New Haven, 1882, p. 78. In 1828 we find as one reason urged for the sending out of an exploring Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 41 The third branch of the fur trade, that with its source in the interior of North America, cannot be as fully described as can the other two. Accurate statistics are wanting as to what pro- expedition to the South Seas the discovery of new sources of supply for a trade that had formerly been so profitable. J. N. Reynolds, Address on the Subject of a Surveying and Exploring Expedition to the Pacific Ocean and the South Seas, New York, 1836. The sealing voyages differed from those to the Northwest Coast in not being in the hands of a few large firms and in not sailing from a single port. They were sent out from Salem, Boston, Stonington, Hartford, New London, New Haven, New York, and Philadelphia, and as a rule were financed by quite a number of persons, each of whom invested a relatively small sum. New Haven entered the trade in 1790, but the best-known voyage from the port was that of the "Neptune" in 1796 to 1799, a venture owned by a number of persons in New Haven and Hartford. It brought to its owners what in those days was a large profit (Townsend, Diary. Another account in Trowbridge, Hist, of Ancient Maritime Interests of New Haven, says that Townsend, the chief owner, made $100,000 and his son, the supercargo, $50,000), and its success led to quite a number of other voyages in which persons "from Hartford, Wethersfield, Middletown, East Haddam, Farmington, Derby, Litchfield, Milford, Branford, Stratford, Providence, and New London, were interested. (Trowbridge, Ancient Maritime Interests of New Haven, p. 76.) What was true of New Haven was probably true of the source of the capital for many other voyages. ' Rough experiences and dangers were common in the trade. The rival ships' companies on the sealing islands must often have quarreled. (In 1802 there were 200 men on Massafuero, about 170 of whom belonged to no ship. A Concise Extract from the Sea Journal of William Moulton written on board the Onico, in a voyage from the Port of New London in Connecticut to Staten Land in the South Seas, etc. Utica, 1804, p. 98.) There were dangers, too, from the Spanish authorities, for sealing on His Catholic Majesty's islands was contraband; and vessels sometimes even tried smuggling into South American ports. (A journal of a Voyage from Salem to Massafuero ... to Canton and back to Salem on board the ship "Concord," Obed Myer, master, 1799-1802, MS. in Essex Institute, tells how the Spanish carried off to Valparaiso some of the men who were on the island. In 1803 Root was imprisoned for a term at Conception. Some time later a Spanish frigate ordered all sealers to leave the island in four months or be treated as prisoners of war. Pp. 156, 164 of Joel Root. Narrative of a Sealing and Trading Voyage in the Ship Huron from New Haven around the World. 1802-1806. In New Haven Hist'l Soc. Papers, Vol. 5, pp. 149-171- In November, i8ps, Delano took on board five Americans belonging to Root who had been imprisoned by the Spanish for living on Spanish territory. Delano, Digitized by Microsoft® 42 Kenneth S. Latourette, portion of the skins obtained through it were used at home, what sent to Europe, and what to Canton. UnUke the other two, it did not have its origin in the desire to supply the China market, and the Canton trade had but a minor part in it.»At times, however, it was important, and it probably had fewer fluctuations than either of the other two branches. The treaty of 1795 with England by allowing for the first time direct shipment of furs from Canada to the United States is said to have increased our consignments of inland furs to Canton.'" It is probable that John Jacob Astor laid part of the foundation of his fortune by shipping his furs to China."^ It is certain that his Astoria scheme had the China trade as its central point. The object of this famous project was to estab- lish a depot on the Northwest Coast to which furs could be taken overland from inland trading posts, and from which trading voyages could be sent along the coast. Annual vessels were to be sent around Cape Horn to bring supplies to the depot, to collect the furs gathered there, take them to Canton, and to return around Africa with a cargo of teas, silks, and other China, goods. °^ The enterprise was a total failure. The depot was founded, but the "Tonquin," the first supply ship sent out, came to grief with the natives'' ; Astor's partners sold out to the Voyages, p. 509.) There was danger from shipwreck and danger from lawless mutineers and still more from lawless natives. (As in the case of the "Nautilus"' which attempted to go to the Northwest Coast about 1797. The ship was driven back, refitted in Kamchatka, w'ent to the Sand- wich Islands, thence to Otaheite with the hope of going to Massafuero, but was driven back again by storms and finally had to go to New South Wales. William Smith, Journal of a Voyage in the Missionary Ship Duff .... 1796-1802. New York, 1813, pp. 1 10-124.) " Bancroft, Hist, of N. W. Coast, i : 521. "'Ibid., and Walter Barrett, The Old Merchants of New York City, New York, 1870, i : 417, seem to imply this, and James Parton, Life of John Jacob Astor, New York, 1865, p. 49, distinctly says this, stating that he sent his first ship there about 1800. "' Letter of J. J. Astor to J. Q. Adams, Jan. 4, 1823, in Greenhow, Hist, of Oreg. and Calif., p. 439. See also on this Astoria project, Irving, Astoria, Bancroft, Hist, of N. W. Coast, i : 512 ff., and 2: 136 ff., and Am. Fur Trade, in Hunt's Merc. Mag., 3 : 197-198. °' Edmund Fanning, Voyages to the South Seas, Indian and Pacific Oceans, etc., etc.. New York, 1838, pp. 137-151. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 43 British Northwest Fur Company, the fort was captured by the British, the "Beaver," sent out next after the "Tonquin," was forced to He idle in Canton through the War of 1812, and the whole magnificent project went to pieces with great loss to its originator. The development of fresh sources of furs was only one of the attempts to find a substitute for specie which were made in the years following 1790. Identical in motive with the fur trade was a long series of voyages to the South Seas which had as their object the securing of sandal wood, beche de mer and various other products of those regions."* The first of these articles to play a part in the American-China commerce was sandal wood. Just how and when the trade in it started is uncertain. There is a story unsupported by other evi- dence, and almost certainly unauthentic, that one of Astor's early ships found it on the Hawaiian Islands, took it aboard for firewood, and on reaching Canton was surprised to learn its value. ^° Delano says that as early as 1790 some of it was brought to Canton from the Sandwich Islands, but that not being the valuable variety it was sold at a loss."* The first certain date is March 10, 1792, when Vancouver found on one of the Hawaiian Islands some men whom Kendrick had left °* Beche de mer, a kind of sea slug found on the shallow reefs in tropical seas, when cleaned and cured is much esteemed by the Chinese as food. (Descriptions of it are in William G. Dix, Wreck of the Glide, with recollections of the Fijis and of Wallis Island. New York and London. 1848. pp. 1-30.) Sandal wood is an aromatic wood from a small tree which grows in the tropics and sub-tropics, and is used exten- sively in China for cabinet work and for incense. (Chinese Rep., 2:469.) Other articles from the South Seas were brought in minor quantities, such as tortoise shell, edible birds' nests, mother of pearl, and sharks' fins. (Fanning, Voyages to the S. Seas, p. 155. Ruschenberger, Voyage round the World, p. 242.) °' Barrett, Old Merchants in New York City, i : 421. He says that the trade was kept secret for seventeen years, while we have evidence of others being engaged in it as early as 1792. °° Delano, Voyages, 399. This statement was made in 1801 and he says that he saw it brought there, so that the story seems authentic. He may refer to Kendrick's venture, but in this case he would be off a year in his reckoning. Digitized by Microsoft® 44 Kenneth S. Latourette, to gather the wood. Kendrick was to return in 1793 and take the cargo to Canton." From these various accounts it seems certain that the first American vessels to bring sandal wood to Canton were those engaged in the fur trade, and #iat it was discovered by them while stopping, as was their custom, at the Hawaiian Islands. After the discovery of the wood on the Hawaiian Group, trade in it quickly developed. William H. Davis and Jonathan Winship of Boston began shipping it about 1793;*^ and later obtained exclusive privileges in it."" As the knowledge of its value spread, it was discovered on the Fiji Islands and various groups in the South Seas. As in the Hawaiian Islands, it was intimately connected with the fur trade and was taken to Canton by ships sent out primarily for sealing. In 1804 the brig "Union" of New York, failing to obtain a cargo of skins, went under Eng- lish contract to the Fijis'"' for sandal wood, and although the captain and some of the men were murdered by the natives,''^ the ship seems to have completed its cargo and gone to Canton." In 1806 those interested in the "Union" sent out a second ship, the "Hope," Captain Reuben Brumley, this time especially for the wood. On the vessel's arrival at the Fijis a contract was made with a chief for the collection of a cargo; the natives brought the wood down from the mountains and piled it on the beach ready for loading, and receiving in return trinkets of various kinds. When the "Hope" left, the chief promised to collect a second cargo to be ready in eighteen months, and the agreement was given the force of a monopoly by placing a taboo on the sale of wood to other ships in the meantime. ^^ The "Ton- "' Vancouver, Voyages, 1 : 172, 173. Another account is in Greenhow, Hist, of Oreg. and Calif., p. 228. "' Delano, Voyages, p. 399. °° Niles, Weekly Register, Baltimore, 1811 et sqq. Americans at Sea, 18:418. ™ Edmund Fanning, Voyages Round the World, p. 314. " Smith, Journal of Missy. Ship Duff, p. 151. '^ Four years before this the American ship "Duke," Captain Melon, had been captured by the natives and the crew murdered, but no record is given as to why she was there and we can only guess that it may have been for sandal wood. Ibid., p. 149. '"The journal of the first voyage is given in Fanning, Voyages to the South Seas, pp. 12-69. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 45 quin" sailed from New York under the same captain June 15, 1808, having obtained special exemption from the embargo then existing in the United States, and found that the contract made with the "Hope" had been scrupulously observed. Earlier in the same year another American ship had been at the islands on the same mission and had been wrecked, for one of the sur- vivors was picked up by the "Tonquin" and taken to Canton.'* In May, 1810, the brig "Active" sailed from Salem for the Fiji Islands,''' the first of a long series of similar voyages from that port.'" The most prosperous years of the South Sea trade were after the War of 1812. It was then that beche de mer began to form a part of the cargoes, and the supply of sandal wood was not badly depleted before 1820. The two decades after 1790, however, saw its beginning and the marking out of the main lines for its development. In addition to trips to the Northwest Coast of America and to the South Seas, the Canton ships took other roundabout routes, many of them opened by the European wars. A map of their voyages would make a network over most of the known globe. The customary route from America was to touch at the Cape Verde Islands, to round the Cape of Good Hope, and then either to keep east until just south of the Straits of Sunda, or to go north to Mauritius, which the French were making a great entrepot for Oriental shipping, and thence to the Straits of Sunda and Canton." But this customary route was varied in many ways. The ships often touched at Bombay and Calcutta, at Batavia, at Manila, or went round "New Holland," stopping at times at Botany Bay. Again, some vessels would stop at Amsterdam, at Hamburg, at St. Petersburg, or at Leghorn, either carrying freight there on their return voyage, or touching " The survivor was Patterson. He gives a narrative of it in A Narra- tive of Adventures and Suflerings of Samuel Patterson, Experienced in the Pacific Ocean, etc., Palmer, 1817, pp. 80 et seq. '° William Leavitt, Materials for the Hist, of Ship Bldg. in Salem, Hist. Cols, of Essex Instit, 7:211, also Osgood and Batchelder, Salem, pp. 169 et seq. '» Ibid. "Delano, Voyages, pp. 200-211, and passim. Cleveland, Voyages of a Merchant Navigator, p. 34. Digitized by Microsoft® 46 Kenneth S. Latourette, on their way home to unload cargoes of teas and to take on freight for America.''^ The opportunities afforded by the European wars and by the fur and sandal wood trades would. never have bee% fully seized had it not been for the efficiency and daring of the American merchant marine. When at Canton shortly after 1800," Krusen- stern remarked in wonder that the American vessels were "so admirably constructed that they sail better than many ships of war, . . . [and] .... the captains of some of them at Canton .... have made the voyage from thence to America and back again in ten months." The ships were small, few being of five hundred tons burden. The "Eliza," in which Sturgis first went to the Northwest Coast, was one hundred thirty-six tons,^" and some of Cleveland's voyages were made in vessels of less than fifty tons.*^ The efficiency of the ships lay largely in the ability of the men who manned them. The American crews were smaller than ™ Typical examples of these are as follows : The "John Jay" of Providence, 1794-S, touched at Bombay to try to get a cargo of cotton for Canton. Kimball, E. India Trade of Providence, pp. 14-17. In 1797-8 the same ship touched at Batavia on its way out, and at Ham- burg and St. Petersburg and Lisbon on its way back; and in 1800 it was instructed to round New Holland and touch at Botany Bay. Weeden, Early Oriental Commerce in Providence, pp. 242-253. There are manu- script logs preserved of the voyage of the ship "Perseverance" of Salem, Nathaniel Hawthorne (father of the author) master, to Batavia, Manila, Canton, and return in 1796-8; of the ship "Ann and Hope" of Provi- dence, Benjamin Page, master, which rounded New Holland in 1799- 1800; of the "Indus" to Canton in 1802-3, touching at Batavia on the way back; of the ship "Derby" of Salem, Dudley S. Pickman, master, in 1804-S, to Leghorn and Canton and return; of the ship "Eliza" of Salem, William Richardson, master, in 1805-7, to the Isle of France, Port Jackson (New Holland), Norfolk Island, New Zealand, Canton, and return ; of the "Hunter" of Salem, 1809-10, to Sumatra and Canton. In Weeden, Early Oriental Commerce in Providence, pp. 261-266, men- tion is made of the voyage of the ship "Arthur" of Providence, Septem- ber 26, 1807, to June 3, 1809, to Rio Janeiro, Cape Town, Isle of France, Canton and Providence. "Krusenstern, Voyage round the. World, 2:332, 331. *' Loring, Memoir of Wm. Sturgis, in Proc. of Mass. Hist. Soc, 7 : 420-433. " Cleveland's Voyages. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 47 those on English or European vessels, but were more orderly and intelligent.^^ They were for the most part American born and from good New England stock.*' Boys from the best families would go to sea, and at a very early age would become commanders of ships. William Sturgis, for example, began his sailor's career at the age of sixteen. At seventeen he was chief mate, and at twenty he was master of a ship in the Northwest Coast Trade. The attraction was not the wages, for those were not high,*^ but was partly the chance for a career, for before the days of New England factories no greater opportunities were open to the young men of business ambition than the sea and commerce, and partly the privilege granted to the crews of many of the ships, especially those to the Northwest Coast, of trading on their private accounts. ^^ The China trade is an illustration of what the American genius, to-day spending itself in manu- factures and internal transportation and development, can accomplish when diverted to the sea. *■ Evidence of J. Drummond, Pari. Papers, 1821, 7 : 210. Evidence of Joshua Bates, Pari. Papers, 1830, 6 : 365-380. *" There were some exceptions to this rule. Log Book of the "Ann and Hope," beginning Sept. 22, 1825, MS. in John Carter Brown Library. In 1825 she got some seamen at Amsterdam, nine of whom had foreign names. Journal of a voyage in the ship Herald from Salem to Rotter- dam, Canton, and return, in 1804-180S, MS. in Essex Institute, says that some foreigners had to be shipped. On the "Margaret" in 1791-2 on the Northwest Coast, all but five of the twenty-four were Americans. Log of "Margaret," 1791-2. MS. ** The account of the ship "John Jay" in 1798, MS. in John Carter Brown Library, shows that the wages of a seaman were $15 a month, of the steward and cabin cook $16, of the cook $15, of the boatswain $24-, of the cabin boy $6, of the carpenter $23, of the third officer $16, of the second officer $25, of the first officer $30, of the master $16 a month and four tons trading privilege. Forbes, Personal Reminiscences, p. 91, gives one captain's salary as $50 a month. '"Pari. Papers, 1821, p. 210,, vol. 7, evidence of Drummond. A letter of George Bancroft to C. C. Perkins, Jan. 4, 1879, says, "Young men came from the best families in near and even remote country towns, and entered the service before the mast with a prospect of promotion. The permission given the sailor to take out a little venture of his own was usually rewarded with more lucrative results." C. C. Perkins, Memoir of James Perkins, p. 359. See also Pari. Papers, 1821, 7 : 217, evidence of Roberts. Thomas R. Digitized by Microsoft® 48 Kenneth S. Latourette, The result of the European wars and the opening of new avenues of trade and an efficient merchant marine, was a phenomenal growth in American commerce with China. In 1789 Shaw mentions four American vessels at Canton*^ ; #1 the season of 1804-S there were thirty-four, in that of 1805-6 there were forty-two, and in that of 1809-10 there were thirty-seven. The imports to Canton in these last three seasons were $3,555.8i8, $5,127,000, and $5,715,000 respectively." Although the total commerce of the United States had more than quadrupled in a decade and a half,** that with China had nearly kept pace with it, averaging each year four and five per cent of the whole.*' This great prosperity, however, was not unmixed with dan- gers. The China seas were very stormy, and although no cases of actual shipwreck are on record, occasional typhoons wrought havoc, especially as the Americans, unlike the earlier Euro- peans, persisted in coming at all seasons of the year."" Greater were the dangers from men. Since Europeans have known them, the Far Eastern waters have been periodically infested with pirates, and in the decade from 1800 to 1810 an unusually power- ful band preyed along the shores of Kwantung Province, and centered around the Bocca Tigris. They were under one head, and in 1810, when finally reduced by the imperial authorities, they were said to have six hundred junks of from eighty to three hundred tons burden each."^ At first not daring to molest European ships,"^ in the later years of their power they became Trowbridge, Grandfather's Voyage around the World in the Ship Betsey, 1799-1801, New Haven, 1895, tells of a lad eighteen years old having such a venture. *° Shaw's Journals, p. 297. "Sen. Docs. No. 31, 19th Cong., I'Sess. ^American State Papers, Commerce and Navigation, Washington, 1832. 1 : 927, 928. Exports from the United States, 1791-92, $20,753,098 ; 1806-7, the banner year, $108,343,150. ""This was true at least from 1805 to iSio. "Finning, Voyages to South Seas, p. 93, tells of such a storm in 1807 or 1808. " John Francis Davis, China. 2 v., London, 1857, 1 : 68-71. ■"Jas. Gilchrist, Journal of a Voyage from Cape Verde Islands to Canton, said, in July, 1808, that the pirates were growing in numbers and would attack a foreign ship if it were in shoal water. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 49 bolder, so much so that vessels found it safe to go from Macao to Whampoa only in fleets of four or five."^ Several attacks by them are recorded. An entry of a ship's journal, Macao, Sep- tember 17, 1809,"* says that an American brig had been captured a short time before and that several others had been attacked. In the same year the "Atahualpa" of Boston was attacked twice, first"^ in Macao Roads and then"^ while going up the river with four other American ships.'' More dangerous than the ladrones, however, were the French and British privateers and men of war. In 1794, an American ship sailed from Canton under the protection of the returning Macartney embassy from fear of French privateers in the Straits of Sunda.'^ In 1800 Samuel Snow, the consul at Canton, officially warned American ships of danger from them in the same local- ity.'° In the same year -the ship "Ann and Hope" of Provi- dence was attacked by a Frenchman and drove him off only after a three quarters of an hour's fight.^"" The French, however, gave less trouble than the English. Here as elsewhere in these years, British claims to the right of search were annoying American commerce. Canton was visited by more American ships than any other port in the Orient, and was hence a convenient place to search them for "deserters." The United States could send no ship of war to interfere,^"^ and °° Journal of the "Hunter" from Salem to Canton and Return, 1808-9, September 17, 1809. ■" Ibid. " Hunter, Bits of Old China, p. 157. "" Charles G. Loring, Memoir of Wm. Sturgis, in Proc. of Mass. Hist. Soc., 1863-1864, Boston, 1864, 7 : 420-433. "'As late as 1817 there is the record of an attack by pirates on the ship "Wabash" of Baltimore, although the worst nest must have been rooted out some time before. Wilcocks to Secy, of State, Sept. 22, 1817. Consular Letters, Canton, I. "'The journal of Mr. Samuel Holmes .... during his attend- ance . . on Lord Macartney's Embassy to China and Tartary, 1792-3. London, 1798. p. 198. " Weeden, Early Or. Trade of Prov., p. 253. "" George C. Mason, Reminiscences of Newport, Newport, 1884, p. 152, Aug. 17, 1800. ^" The "Essex"' came out in 1800 to ward oflf French privateers, but got only as far as the Straits of Sunda. Preble, First Cruise of the Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. XXn 4 1917 Digitized by Microsoft® 50 Kenneth S. Latourette, Carrington, the consul, could only remonstrate with the British officers and protest to the Chinese authorities. In December, 1804, his demand on the commander of the "Caroline" for the release of some seamen was met with a cool requesj: that it be made through the lords of the admiralty.^"^ In October, 1805, he and the other American merchants attempted to petition the provincial governor to stop the impressments, claiming that they were violations of neutrality.^"^ Carrington felt sure, however, that the petition would be of no avail,^"* and so it proved, for the hong merchants, knowing that they would be held responsible for the correction of the evils, refused to transmit the com- plaint.^"^ Cut off from any assistance from home and from any hope of interference by the Chinese, Carrington again turned to the British commanders, and attempted to accomplish by corre- spondence what he had no power to attain by force. In 1806 he carried on an exchange of notes with the commander of the "Phaeton," in the course of which the latter announced his inten- tion of preventing any American ship from sailing without first overhauling it, and finally threatened to prohibit them all from setting to sea.^"' The patience of the Americans became strained to>the breaking point by this and similar incidents, and the consul wrote the Secretary of State in April, 1807: "If these outrages are continued, I am extremely apprehensive they will be attended with serious consequences, as it is the determination of the' cap- tains of the American vessels to repel by force any attempt in the future to impress their seamen when within this empire."^"' The clash came in August, 1807. On the third the American schooner "Topaz" of Baltimore, WilHam Nicol, master, anchored in Macao Roads after a voyage of contraband trade U. S. Frigate Essex, 1799-1800. Histl. Cols, of Essex Instit., Vol. 10, part 3, pp.' 34 et sqq. ^"^ Letter of Carrington to Sec. of State, Consular Letters, Canton, I. ™ Consular Letters, Canton, L "' Ibid., and Carrington to Madison, Nov. 25, 1805. Ex. Doc. 71, 2 Sess. 26 Cong., p. 3. '"Ibid., p. 4, and Carrington to Sec. of State, Nov., 1806, Consular Letters, Canton, I. '"Consular Letters, Canton, I, and Delano, Voyages, p. 530. "' Ex. Doc. 71, 2 Sess., 26 Cong., p. 5. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 51 along the western coast of South America.^"* Captain Kempton of H. M. S. "Diana" examined her papers and searched her for deserters. While he was doing so, some disaffected members of the crew told him that the "Topaz" was a pirate. Captain Nicol feared trouble and obtained permission from the governor of Macao to anchor his vessel under the guns of the Portuguese fort and to put his treasure on land for safe keeping. While the schooner was under way moving to her new position, the English approached again, but were refused permission to come aboard imtil the vessel should come to anchor. They answered by boarding her by force. In the ensuing fight Captain Nicol was killed, eight of his men were wounded, and the vessel itself was captured and sent to Calcutta. This act aroused the Ameri- can shipmasters at Canton, and for a time a local war seemed imminent. Commodore Pellew of the English squadron was reported to have threatened to come to Whampoa and capture every American ship there. The American ships, eleven in num- ber, organized themselves into a fleet, appointed a commodore and vice-commodore, and prepared for war. The trouble dragged on into November, when Captain Fanning, if we can believe his story, brought the parties together through his personal acquaint- ance with the British commodore, and averted further blood- shed.^°° In 1809, however, the "Phaeton" was again impressing American seamen in Canton and was attempting to search American merchantmen.^^" The War of 1812 was a distinct break in the trade between the United States and China. Here, as' in other branches of com- merce, fear of capture by the British kept American ships at home. The total commerce of the three seasons from 1812 to 1815 was barely half of that of the year before the war, and "'Felix Renouard de Sainte Croix, Voyage Commercial et Politique aux Indes Orientales .... a la chine . . . pendant les annees 1803-1807, 3 V. Paris, 1810, 3 : 130, in a letter written from China, Nov. 17, 1807, tells of this aflfair, and his story receives corroboration and additions from Fanning, Voyages to S. Seas, 99-1 13- Both are by men who were either in China at the time or a few months later. ^ Fanning, Voyages to S. Seas, pp. 99-1 13- "° J. B. Fames, The English in China. London^ 1909. p. 136- Digitized by Microsoft® 52 Kenneth S. Latourette, less than a third of that for the season of 1809-10."^ In the Canton factories the merchants of the two nations lived together amicably enough/" but at the mouth of the river conflicts fre- quently took place. In 1814 H. M. S. "Doris" blatkaded the American shipping, made several captures, and on one occasion chased a vessel up to Whampoa and captured her in defiance of Chinese neutrality. The Americans at Whampoa armed their boats and captured her, and the Chinese, aroused at last, took measures to punish the aggressors,^^^ saying that if the two nations had any "petty qaurrels" they should "go to their own country to settle them."^^* The struggle was not all one-sided, however. American privateers cruised off the mouth of the river, taking prizes and bringing them in for condemnation,^^^ although they did not equal in number those taken by the British.^^' American ships, moreover, occasionally avoided the dangers and brought home cargoes which sold at war prices and netted their owners large profits. ^^' From December 20, i8i2, to May, 1813, fifteen American ships were brought to Canton and condemned.^^* "' Sen. Doc. 31, i Sess., 19 Cong. Total exports and imports from the United States to Canton, 1812-3, 1813-4, 1814-5 $3,096,500, for 1811-2, $S>903,8io, for 1809-10, $11,459,600. "^ Doolittle, Sketches, p. 41, says, "They lived together as brothers." He himself was there during the war. '"" Davis, China, i : 78-80. "*Auber, China, pp. 242 ff., Wheeler, The Foreigner in China, p. 68. It is interesting to note that the differences between the Chinese and the English arising as a result of this incident, led to important concessions by the former, and ultimately to the sending of the Amherst Embassy by the latter. Williams, History of China, pp. 105, 106. '" The "Rambler," Captain George Lapham, in 1814, the "Jacob Jones" of Boston in 1815, are two American privateers mentioned by the American consul. Consular Letters, Canton, I. "° Ibid. "' Niles Register, 7 : 128, Oct. 29, 1814, tells of a New York vessel which had arrived at Newport from Canton with a cargo worth nearly half a million dollars. Parton, Life of Astor, p. 58, says that during the War of 1812 all of John J. Astor's ships from Canton arrived safely when tea had nearly doubled in price. This statement, however, is not strictly reliable. "' Consular Letters, Canton, I. Digitized by Microsoft® CHAPTER III. From the Close of the War of 1812 to the Outbreak of the Opium Troubles, 1815-1838. The effect of the Treaty of Ghent on American commerce with China was quickly felt. The high prices of tea and silk caused by the war stimulated the natural increase due to the resumption of trade, and for the first few years many new firms went into the business, and both the United States and the Continent were flooded with teas, nankeens, and silks. The first season showed a decided increase, the second nearly equaled the largest one before the war, and the three succeeding ones all greatly sur- passed it.^ A new era had dawned on the Canton-American commerce. From about 1790 to the outbreak of the war, the /controlling factors had been the European wars and the fur and the South Sea trade. These, as we saw in the last chapter, had been largely responsible for the phenomenal expansion of those years. The beginning of 181 5 found the first of these factors a thing of the past, and the others disappearing. The Napoleonic wars had ceased, and the United States was no longer the neutral carrier of the world. The fur trade had nearly reached its end. The sandal wood trade was past its zenith, and only in one minor phase, the beche de mer trade, was there any future to those extensive Pacific voyages which had played such an important part before the war. There were new conditions, how- ever, which led to the rapid growth of the Canton, trade. In the old-world struggle, trade barriers had been broken down and teas carried in American bottoms still had a market in Europe. The Americans were, too, a more numerous people than in 1790, and wealthier, and there was a growing home market for China goods. They had more commercial capital, and more specie, ' Sen. Ex. Doc. 31, i Sess., 19 Cong. In 1815-16, imports from Canton were $2,527,500, and exports to Canton were $4,220,000; in 1816-17, they were $5,609,600, and $5,703,000 respectively; in 1817-18, $7,076,828 and $6,777,000 respectively; in 1818-19, $9,867,208 and $9,057,000, respec- tively; in 1819-20, $8,185,800 and $8,173,107 respectively. The largest year before the war was 1809-10 when the corresponding figures were $5,744,- 600 and $5,715,000. Digitized by Microsoft® 54 Kenneth S. Latourette, and did not stand in such need of furs and sandal wood as a substitute for silver as in 1790. Hence, in spite of the removal of the principal causes of previous prosperity, the years between 1814 and 1834 were, on the whole, successful ones f o^^the Canton trade. For the most part they were quiet and lacked the fever and the romance of the two decades before 1812. Several events are important enough, however, to be chronicled in some detail — the end of the fur and the South Sea trade, the Terranova affair, a change in the American organization of the trade resulting in its concentration in a few large ports and in the hands of a few large firms, changes in the composition of exports and imports, the effect of American trade on the British East India Company, the full development of the community life at Canton, the grow- ing interest of the United States Government in the China com- merce, and the beginnings of American Christian missions to the Chinese. The banner years of the Northwest fur trade had been those immediately before 1808. After this date, in spite of the newer field opened in California, a decline began.^ The fundamental weakness was not the trouble with England, although the trade did not recover from the blow given it by the War of 1812, but the difficulty of obtaining skins. This was due partly to Russian competition and aggression, partly to the growing difficulty of barter with the Indians, and partly, possibly, to the approaching extinction of the sea otter. In 1816, William Sturgis, a man who had been intimately connected with the trade, said: "The settlements of the Russians and English (particularly the former) ' The best index of this decline is the importation of sea otter and seal skins, the principal pelts, to Canton. Seal skins came mostly from another branch of the fur trade. Year 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 i8ie Sea Otter Skins 11,003 i7i44S 14.251 16,647 7>944 11,803 Seal Skins 183,000 140,297 261,000 100,000 34,000 Year 1811 1812 1813 1814-15 1816 1817 Sea Otter Skins 9,200 11, 593 8,222 6,200 4,300 3,650 Seal Skins 45,ooo 173,000 109,000 59,000 109,000 27,880 Year 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 Sea Otter Skins .... 4,177 4,714 2,488 3,575 3,507 Seal Skins 47>290 91.S00 24,726 13,887 111,924 Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 55 have proved highly injurious to the American trade."^ A little over a year later, Thomas H. Perkins, one of the principal China merchants wrote: .... "The Northwest Coast trade .... is nearly extinct. ... As the Russians employed the Kodiack Indians to take the sea otter, the cost of them is very little, as the hunters have very little more than a miserable support for their labor in the chase — we cannot therefore compete with such opponents. . . . The Indians who formerly visited the sea shores to trade with our ships have no longer any inducement to come to the coast, their former occupation being taken away by the enterprise of the Russians and those employed under their direction."* Mr. Perkins had made the picture a little too dark, but in the main he was right. Although there were three or four vessels on the coast when he wrote,'' and although as late as 1826 we find a trading ship starting for the coast," the trade had passed its palmiest days, and had ceased to be an important factor in the commerce with Canton.^ Although the Northwest Coast fur trade had practically ceased, its most important diplomatic and political results came after 1820. Negotiations with Russia had, as we have seen, been dropped for a time in 1810. In September, 1821, the emperor astonished the world by issuing a ukase declaring the North Pacific from Behring's Straits to latitude fifty-one degrees north, a mare clausum to all whaling, sealing, and fishing. Adams strenuously objected and negotiations followed. The result of ' William Sturgis to Charles Morris, Aug. 22, 1816, MS. *T. H. Perkins to Charles Bulfinch, Boston, Dec. 21, 1817, MS. See too on this same subject, Cleveland, Voyages, i : iv, where much the same view is held. ' Perkins to Bulfinch, Dec. 21, 1817. MS. ' Journal of the Voyage of the ship "Louisa" from Boston to the North- west Coast of America, Canton and Boston, William Martin, Master, 1826-9. MS. in Essex Institute. ' Furs from inland America continued to be shipped to Canton, how- ever, long after the war. Those of the British Northwest Fur Company we»e often sent to the Canton market by way of New York and Phila- delphia (Reports of Corns., p. 43, 2 Sess., 24 Cong.), and some continued to be taken directly from the United States to China. (Cong. Globe, i Sess., 28 Cong., App., p. 226, gives a table showing the fur trade from 1821 to 1840. The direct trade varied from $142,399 in 1821 to $561 in 1840, and $2,368 in 1840, averaging about $60,000 a year.) Digitized by Microsoft® 56 Kenneth S. Latourette, these was an agreement signed April 17th, 1824, which fixed the southern boundary of Russian possessions at the parallel 54° 40' north, and which forbade to Americans the sale of firearms, but allowed them rights of fishing in bays and coast*not occupied by Russian establishments.' A futile attempt of the Baron de Tuyl to reopen the question the following summer ended the incident, and American vessels continued to come to Sitka at the rate of from two to four a year.° The Americans had lost for a time all title to the territory north of 54" 40', but the question of the ownership of the Oregon country was not yet settled, and in its settlement the Northwest Coast fur trade played an important part. It was through this trade that Americans had first come to know the region, and such claims as the discovery of the Columbia River and the settlement at Astoria arose directly through it. Moreover, one of the chief reasons urged for the occupation of Oregon was the acquisition of a Pacific port as a base for the China trade. Floyd, the early champion of the Oregon question, in his report of 1821 to the House, urged that "the Columbia [is] in a com- mercial point of view, a position of the utmost importance. The fisheries on the coast, its open sea, and its position in regard to China, which offers the best market for the vast quantity of furs taken in these regions, . . . seems to demand immediate attention."" In the debate of December 17th, 1822, his relative emphasis upon the China trade was still stronger. "The settle- ment of Oregon .... is to open a mine of wealth to the shipping interests .... surpassing the hopes even of avarice itself. It consists principally of things which will pur- chase the manufactures and products of China at a better profit than gold and silver; and if that attention is bestowed upon the country to which its value and position entitle it, it will yield a profit, producing more wealth to the nation than all the ship- ° Eugene Schuyler, American Diplomacy and the Furtherance of Com- merce, New York, 1886, pp. 292-299. " Frederic Lutke, Voyage autour du Monde, execute par ordre de sa Majeste L'Empereur Nicolas .... dans les annees 1826, 1827, 1828, et 1829 par Frederic Lutke, etc., Traduit par F. Boye. 2 v. Paris, 1835. 1 : 131. " Reports of Coms. 45, 2 Sess., 16 Cong. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 57 ments which have ever in any one year been made to Canton from the United States. . . . Were this trade cherished .... we could purchase the whole supplies of the United States in the Canton market without carrying one dollar out of the coun- try."^^ He went on to describe the value of the trade, and argued that the grain fields of the Columbia valley could ultimately supply the market of China. The importance of Oregon in the Canton trade was, too, the argument used by the other supporters of Oregon occupation. Baylies and Tucker used it.^^ Colden of New York prophesied that within twenty or fifty years the nearest route to further Asia would be by way of rivers, canals, and portages to Oregon, and thence across the Pacific. ^^ In December, 1824, Floyd was again agitating the question, backing his cause by the same arguments.^* His bill passed the House, only to be tabled in the Senate, but four years later he renewed the struggle, urging the old reasons.^^ He was defeated and the question was dropped in Congress for ten years. When at last it came up again the advantages of Oregon in the Canton market, although still used incidentally,^" were no longer the prominent arguments. It can safely be said, however, that the Oregon Country was preserved to the United States because of the importance it was felt to have in the Canton commerce, and because of the claims to it which the early fur trade had established. The sandal wood trade did not decline as early as the fur trade or the sealing voyages. In 1817 Kotzebue found it still in full progress on the Hawaiian Islands.^' The native government "Floyd of Va., Speech, Dec. 17, 1822. Annals of Congress, 17 Cong., 2 Sess., p. 398. '' Annals of Cong., 17 Cong., 2 Sess., Dec. 18, 1822, pp. 418, 423. '= Ibid., pp. 583-586. Jan. 13, 1823. "Register of Debates, i : 18-22. " Ibid., 5 : 149- '° Woodbury of New Hampshire urged these advantages. Congressional Globe, 3 Sess., 27 Cong., App., p. 93. Hunt foresaw the time when Oregon would command the China trade and a railroad join the Northwest Coast to New York. Hunt's Merc. Mag., 12 : 80. " Otto von Kotzebue, Voyage of Discovery in the South Seas, and to Behring's Straits in Search of a Northwest Passage .... in the years 1815, 1816, 1817, 1818, etc., London, 1821, i : 189-192. Digitized by Microsoft® 58 Kenneth S. Latourette, had obtained control of the sources of the wood and payment was made by the Americans in goods, specie, and in one instance, a ship. In 1825 or 1826, Kotzebue estimated the annual export of sandal wood at $300,000 a year.^^ but this is e«:essive, as the largest single year's (1822) importation to Canton on American ships was $268,220.^" The trade, however, was a wasteful one, and consequently short lived. Sandal wood had disappeared from the Hawaiian Islands by about 1830. On the Fijis it was exhausted by about the same time.^" Discovered on the Marquesas Group in 1810, it was practically all exported in seven years.^^ The importa- tions to Canton which in 1822 had amounted to 26,822 peculs^" worth $268,220, had by 1833 declined to the sum of $8,935. As sandal wood disappeared, a new product, beche de mer, was discovered in many of the same localities, and the voyages to the South Seas continued for a number of years longer. They came to be largely in the hands of Salem sea captains^^ and year after year ships went out from the old witch town, hired natives to gather the animal, built huts for cleaning and curing it, sold it at Manila^* to Chinese epicures at from ten to twenty cents a pound,^^ and brought home cargoes from the Philippines or " Otto von Kotzebue, A New Voyage round the World, in the years 1823,1824,1823,1826. 2 V. London. 1830. 2:191-192. " Pitkin, Stat. View, ed. 1835, p. 304. ''° Charles Wilkes, in Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedi- tion during the years 1838-1842, s v., Philadelphia, 1845, 3:202, writing of it in 1840 says, "It has for many years past been exhausted." Dix, Wreck of Glide, pp. 30-36, in 1820 said, "Its scarcity hardly repays the labor of searching for it." '^ M. Camille de Roquef euil, A Voyage round the World between the years 1816-1819. London, 1823, p. 3. He visited the islands in 1817 and makes this statement. '^ Pari. Papers, 1830, No. i, App. 4, pp. 722-723. ^ Thomas Williams and James Calvert, missionaries to the Fijis, in a work published in London, 1856, said that the traffic on the island in sandal wood, tortoise shell, and beche de mer "has been and- still is chiefly in the hands of Americans from the port of Salem." Osgood and Batchelder, Salem, p. 170. ^'This was to avoid the port charges in China. Journal of the Ship "Emerald." '"$15 to $25 a pecul (1335^ lbs.). Wilkes, U. S. Exploring Expedition, Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China.- 59 China. In 1837 the "Clay," William Driver, master, made a voyage, selling her cargo in Manila.^^ She was wrecked on her trip back to the Islands." Records of voyages are extant for the "Peru," 1830-1833,^= for the "Emerald," 1833-1836,=" for the "Charles Daggett," 1832,3° for the "Pallas," 1832-1834, for the "Eliza," 1833-1835," and for the "Mermaid," 1836- 1839.^^ In 1834 the East India Marine Society of Salem said that fourteen ships from that port had been or were engaged in the trade.^^ Thus for ten years or more (1827 to 1837) there was an extensive South Sea trade from the little New England town. The South Sea trade was a dangerous one, as the stories of frequent shipwrecks and of troubles with the natives, show. It appealed as a rule to men of adventurous disposition, and not to large firms. Benjamin Morrell of New York, who was typical of his class, made at least four trips to the South Seas, dis- covering new islands, alternately trading and fighting with the natives, and returning each time to Manila with his cargo of heche de mer, tortoise shell, and pearls.^* Such names on the 3:218-222. This also gives a long description of the way in which it was cured. ^"Journal of the ship "Clay" in a Voyage from Salem to the Fiji Islands and Manila .... 1827-1829. MS. in Essex Institute. ^ Dix, Wreck of the Glide, also Journal of a Voyage of the ship Glide to the South Pacific Ocean, Henry Archer, Jr., master, 1829-1830. MS. in Essex Institute. ''^ Journal of a Voyage on Board the Barque Peru from Lintin to the Fijis, etc., MS. in Essex Institute. ^Voyage of the ship "Emerald" to the, Fijis, Tahiti, and Manila, 1833-1836. MS. in Essex Institute. ^"Felt, Annals of. Salem, 2:559. Charles Erskine, Twenty Years before the Mast, Boston, 1890, p. 153. °^ MS. Journals of the "Pallas'" and the "Eliza" in Essex Institute. "''Journal of a Voyage from Salem to New Zealand, the Society, Fegee, Friendly, and other Islands in the Pacific, and home by way of Manila and China, in the Brig "Mermaid," .... 1836-1839. MS. in Essex Institute. "' Memorial of E. India Marine Society in Reynolds, Address, pp. 167-170. " The accounts of these voyages are by participants. Morrell, Voyages. Abby Jane Morrell, Narrative of a Voyage to the Ethiopic and South Atlantic Ocean, Chinese Sea, North and South Pacific Ocean, in the years Digitized by Microsoft® 6o Kenneth S. Latourette, map as Fanning's Island and Sandal Wood Bay bear witness to the existence and pioneer nature of the early American trade in those far away regions. After the second war with Great Britain the Hf||of the Ameri- cans at Canton was without unusual excitement until the Terra- nova affair, in September and October, 1821. This gave rise to the only cessation of American trade previous to the opium troubles, and illustrates well the position of the foreigner in China prior to the treaties of 1842-4. Three fundamental facts explain it: the complete lack of diplomatic intercourse and treaties between foreign nations and China, and hence of a mutually recognized means of adjusting international difficulties; the firm conviction of the natives that foreigners were of an inferior barbarous race which must be governed with a firm hand; and the policy of western governments, especially of the United States, of keeping entirely aloof from the Chinese gov- ernment and of granting no powers other than commercial to the consul. These three conditions made all intercourse uncertain. The system was admirable as long as all was harmonious, but the moment that difficulties arose it broke down. The Terra- nova trouble began in the latter part of September, 1821. While near the "Emily," Captain Cowpland, of Baltimore, a woman fell from a boat and was drowned. It is probable that her death was accidental, but the Chinese authorities at once accused Terranova, an Italian sailor on the ship, of having killed her by dropping a fruit jar on her head,'^ and demanded his surrender. Cowpland, although putting Terranova in irons, refused to sur- render him. The Americans organized a committee of five resi- 1829, 1830, 1831, etc., New York, 1833, and Thomas Jefferson Jacobs, Scenes, Incidents, and Adventures in the Pacific Ocean .... during the Cruise of the clipper "Margaret Oakley'' under Captain Benjamin Morrell, New York, 1844. The first voyage was in 1828, the second in 1829, the third in 1830, and the fourth in 1834. The records of the last are given by Jacobs. ''' George Thomas Staunton, in Miscellaneous Notices Relating to China, etc., London, 1822-1850, pp. 409-432, denies that there was a Chinese law requiring a life for a life in case of accident, and says that even in case of punishment, a death penalty was not necessarily inflicted. He assigns the Chinese severity in the Terranova affair to the desire to "inspire foreigners with awe.'' Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 6i dent merchants, five supercargoes, and five masters of ships to conduct the case, and Cowpland placed himself under their direction.^" Wilcocks, the American consul, felt that his authority did not permit him either to try the case himself, or to deliver the prisoner to the native authorities, and so confined himself to cooperation with the committee. The latter met the hong merchants and after some discussion it was agreed to hold the trial in the American factory with Morrison, the English mis- sionary, as interpreter, and Wilcocks present to take notes. The viceroy, however, wished the place changed to the "Emily," and this was done. There next broke out a sharp discussion over the form of the trial. The officials objected to Morrison being present'' and refused to give Wilcocks a seat. Both finally were absent. On October 6th, the trial took place on board the "Emily" in the presence of a Chinese magistrate and the hong meirchants. From the American standpoint it was mere mockery. The magistrate came convinced of the Italian's guilt; he cut off the latter's attempt at explanation, refused to consider any evidence but that which was against the prisoner, and finally demanded that the prisoner be given up. This the Americans refused to do, although they said that they would offer no resistance if the authorities were to take him off by force. Resistance, indeed, was useless, as all firearms had been taken away and the ship surrounded by a throng of Chinese. The magistrate, however, was unwilling to take the prisoner in this way, and after some discussion withdrew. The day following the trial every pressure was brought to bear to obtain Terranova's surrender. An embargo was laid on all American trade. The "Emily's" linguist and fiador were imprisoned, and threatened with death in case of armed resist- ance by the Americans. The committee, however, refused to give up the prisoner, although still promising to make no " The facts of the Terranova case here given, unless otherwise stated, are procured from the lengthy reports of the proceedings sent to the Secretary of State by the Consul, Wilcocks, contained in Consular Letters, Canton, I. " Execution of an American at Canton ; North American Review, 40:58:68. It says that the objection to Morrison was on the ground that he was British, and the officials did not wish to get into trouble with more than one nation. Digitized by Microsoft® 62 Kenneth S. Latourette, resistance should the Chinese come and take him by force, "placing a firm reliance in the Government of the United States for a redress of our grievances upon proper presentation of the facts." After repeated conferences between^he committee and the cohong, and after repeated assurances that the Americans would oiler no resistance,'^ on October aad.^" the hong merchants went to the "Emily" in force and took off Terranova as a prisoner of state. The Italian once in their hands, the Chinese acted promptly. October 26th he was tried before local magis- trates behind closed doors, all foreigners being carefully excluded. He was quickly condemned and strangled, and his body was returned to the "Emily." American trade was at once reopened, since, said the viceroy in his edict, "the said chief [Wilcocks] has on the whole behaved respectfully and sub- missively." The edict closed in a grandiloquent way which illustrates the Chinese attitude throughout the entire proceedings : "The Celestial Empire's kindness and favor and tenderness to the weak are rich in an infinite degree. But the nation's aspect sternly commands respect, and cannot because people are foreign sailors, extend clemency to them. Let the Hong merchants explain luminously this official mandate, and persuade and induce the said foreigners, all of them, to know it, and to be thereby filled with reverence, and awe; that each may insure the safety of his own person and family, and not bring himself into sorrow."'"' The Americans have been criticised for making no further resistance, and the United States Government for taking no action to obtain satisfaction. The merchants and sea captains at Canton could not have assumed a firmer attitude, however, without grave danger to themselves, the certainty of bloodshed, and the possibility of war, and the consul could not have done more without exceeding his authority. It may be said further, both '^ The cohong knew that further bloodshed would mean more trouble for them. ™ The account in the North American Review says Oct. 2Sth, but Wilcocks' date is to be preferred. * Consular Letters, Canton, I. Other accounts of the affair may be found in Staunton, Notices Relating to China, pp. 409-432, Davis, China, 1 : 90, 91, and in Foster, Am. Dipl. in the Orient, pp. 40, 41. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 63 for the United States Government and for the American mer- chants, that until a treaty should specify otherwise, those who traded in China were under obHgation to hold themselves amen- able to its laws. It is to be regretted, however, that the inevitable issue between the Middle Kingdom and the Occident, free inter- course between the two on a basis of mutual equality, could not have been forced by the United States at this time, and over a test case of this nature, rather than by England nineteen years later over the opium traffic. The years following the War of 1812, were, as we have seen, marked by the rapid recovery and growth of the Canton-Ameri- can commerce. A reaction, however, was inevitable. Over- optimistic merchants imported too largely on credit, too many inexperienced men were drawn into the trade,*^ the market became overstocked, and commercial failures followed.*^ There was a slight increase in trade immediately after 1819,*' perhaps because of the general depression, but the real crisis came in 1826. After that year, in sharp contrast to the previous pros- perity, there was a sudden cessation in the importations of Chinese goods to Providence, apparently attended with serious losses.** Thomas H. Smith, one of the most prominent tea merchants of New York, became insolvent, carrying many smaller firms with him,*^ and Thompson, a prominent merchant of Philadelphia, who was associated with Smith, went into a dis- graceful bankruptcy, owing the government a large sum for duties.*" Imports and exports to and from China fell off a third, and did not recover until 1833. " Testimony of Joshua Bates of Baring Bros., before the Select Com. on the E. India Co., Pari. Papers 1630, 5 : 218. He had been connected with the American trade with China for twenty years. *= Ibid., 6 : 365-380. '"The figures are in Pitkin Stat. View (ed. 1835), p. 303, and in first report of the Com. on E. India Co. Affairs, Pari. Papers, 1830, s : 20. " The losses fell especially on Edward Carrington and Co., and the smaller dealers associated with them. None entered again as extensively into the trade. May 18, 1827, is the last entry of a China ship until July s, 1831. Providence Custom House, Impost Book, 1827, and Ibid., "D," p. 16. Mss. in Rhode Island Historical Society. " Barrett, Old Merchants of N. Y. City, p. 87. " Ibid. Digitized by Microsoft® 64 Kenneth S. Latourette, The most marked permanent effect of this crisis was to hasten the change which was taking place in the United States in the commercial machinery of the Canton commerce. Up to the War of 1812 the commerce had been in the hand^f a compara- tively large number of firms and individual investors, small for the most part, and scattered among nearly all the seaports of the North Atlantic states. Beginning about the time of the war, trade began to decline in the smaller ports, New Haven, Stoning- ton and Norwich, and later Providence and Salem, and to be confined to the larger cities. New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, where it was concentrated in the hands of large firms. The change can be best seen by sketching the history of the participa- tion of each of these ports in the China trade, taking them in their geographical order. Salem, the northernmost port of importance, began its con- nection with China in January, 1786, when the "Grand Turk," belonging to Elias Hasket Derby, sailed for Canton.*^ In 1790 four ships were entered from Canton.*^ The trade then seems to have been abandoned for several years, and we do not find that another China ship arrived until 1798.** For several years after this the trade was on the increase. It suffered somewhat in the troublous times preceding and during the War of 1812, and shared the rapid growth after the war. After 1820, however, it fell off permanently and was thereafter continued only inter- mittently. In all, from 1790 on, thirty-five cargoes are entered in the Salem custom house as being from Canton, and five more which are entered from other ports on the Canton trade route contained tea.^" After all that has been popularly reported about the importance of Salem in the China trade these figures "Rantoul, The Port of Salem, Histl. Cols, of the Essex Instit, 10:55. " Digest of Duties of the Salem Custom House, 1789-1852. MS. in Salem Custom House. " Ibid. "" By years the figures are as follows from the opening of the United States Custom House in Salem: 1790, 4; 1798, i; 1800, i; 1802, 2; 1803, I ; 1804, I ; 1807, I ; 1808, i ; 1810, 2 ; 1812, i ; 1817, 1 ; 1818, 3 ; 1819, 3 ; 1820, 2 ; 1825, 2 ; 1826, i ; 1829, 2 ; 1830, i ; 1831, i ; 1832, i ; 1834, I ; 1836, I ; 1841, I. Total, 35. All but two of the voyages from 1829 on were made by one ship, the "Sumatra." Digest of Duties, Salem Custom House. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 65 are surprisingly small, especially when we remember that there were often entered in one year at Canton more than forty American ships.^^ The first great Salem merchant in the China trade was Elias Hasket Derby. He made a fortune in privateering during the Revolution'*^ and entered the Far Eastern trade soon after the treaty of peace. Most of the Salem ships at Canton before 1800 were his.°^ The most prominent merchant of Salem after the second war with Great Britain was Joseph Peabody. He began his career in one of Derby's privateers during the Revolution,^* and retired from the sea in 1791 to become a merchant trader. His vessels made seventeen voyages to Canton.^* With possibly one exception all the Salem-China voyages after 1826 were under him.^' The origin of the Boston-China commerce was closely con- nected with that of Salem. Thomas Handasyd Perkins went out as a supercargo in the "Astrea," one of Derby's ships, in 1789 and 1790.^° While at Canton he met the "Columbia," just " Sen. Docs., No. 31, i Sess., igth Cong. "^ George Atkinson Ward, Joseph Peabody, in Freeman Hunt's Lives of American Merchants, New York, 1856, p. 372. °' Trow, Old Shipmasters of Salem, p. 45. Trow says that at the time of his death Derby was the richest man in the United States. See also on Derby, Cleveland, Voyages, i : i, Weeden, Ec. and Soc. Hist, of N.JEng., p. 822. "Ward, Joseph Peabody, in Hunt's Lives of Am. Merchants, p. 380. ^^ Digest of Duties, Salem Custom House, 1789-1851. Impost Book No. 8, Salem Custom House. The first gives the list of voyages, the second shows that in the "Leander" in 1826, and the "Sumatra," 1830, the principal part of the duties was paid by Peabody, and as all voyages but one, that made by the "Eclipse" in 1832, were made by these two ships, the inference that Joseph Peabody was the principal investor seems a fair one. On Peabody see also Osgood and Batchelder, Salem, p. 134, and Trow, Old Shipmasters of Salem, p. 45. William Gray, later of Boston, was in the Salem-China trade for a time. Edward Gray, William Gray of Salem, Merchant, Boston and New York, 1914. "^ Abbreviations of a Journal of the ship "Astrea," MS. in Essex Institute, and Thomas G. Gary, Memoir of Thos. H. Perkins, in Hunt's Lives of Am. Merchants, pp. 33-101. See also N. Eng. Hist'l and Genl. Register, lO : 201-21 1, for a review of it. Gary was a son-in-law of Perkins, and this memoir should be authoritative. Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. XXII 5 1917 Digitized by Microsoft® 66 Kenneth S. Latourette, arrived from its first voyage to the Northwest Coast, arid learned of the great possibihties of the fur trade. On his return he sent out the "Hope," Ingraham, master, and later, the "Margaret" under James Magee, a former captain of the ^Astrea." In 1792 he formed with his brother the partnership of James and Thomas H. Perkins, which in 1838, when dissolved, was the most prominent of the American-Chinese firms. At first they were engaged only in the Northwest Coast fur trade, but in 1798 they began sending ships directly to Canton, and finally entirely confined themselves to this." A branch house was established at Canton and another at Manila.^* More or less closely allied with James and Thomas Perkins by blood or business relations were Samuel Cabot, the Lambs, John P. Cushing, Thomas T., John M., and Robert B. Forbes, James P. Sturgis,^' and the firm of Bryant and Sturgis,"" part of whom were in China and part in the United States. Into the hands of these houses went most of Boston's share in the China trade, and they furnish the best example of the semi-monopoly which characterized the China trade during this period. The nephews and cousins of the memr bers of the firm were trained in counting houses or on the ships to take up the business as the older men laid it down. Other Boston firms there were, such as the Lymans — great rivals of the Perkins"^ — Dorr and Sons, J. Coolidge, Bass, J. Gray, Thomas Parish, and Hoy and Thorn, "^ but unfortunately there exist no easily accessible materials for their history. The destruction of the early papers of the Boston Custom House, too, prevents a sketch of the port's trade as a whole. From what little survives of the original records, it can be safely asserted that with the years, the relative importance of Boston in the China trade increased, and that the Perkins family and its allied " Letter of Perkins to Bulfinch, Dec. 21, 1817. Ms. °* Robert B. Forbes, Personal Reminiscences, Boston, 1878, p. 88. See also on the history of Perkins and Co., in addition to the authorities mentioned thus far, C. C. Perkins, Memoir of James Perkins, and Letters and Recollections of J. M. Forbes. °° Forbes, Personal Reminiscences, pp. 39-64, and passim. °° Ibid., p. 131. °'T. L. V. Wilson, Aristocracy of Boston, Boston, 1848, p. 26. " Tufts' Acct. of Vessels in Sea Otter and N. W. Trade. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 67 firms became more and more prominent. The troublous times of 1826, while wrecking other houses, seem to have affected them but little. Of the Rhode Island cities only one can boast of a large trade. At least two voyages seem to have been made from Newport to China,''^ and a few were fitted out by the D'Wolfs of Bristol for the Northwest Coast trade,"* but Providence had the Uon's share. Beginning with the "General Washington" in 1789,"^ sixty-eight voyages from Canton terminated there, nearly twice as many as at Salem.''^ The number increased to 1803, and then with the • exception of 1810 gradually decreased to 1812. After the war there was a sudden increase again, with a decline in 1820, a second rise in 1822, and an entire break from 1827 to 1831 caused by the failures of 1826. From this break the trade never fully recovered. A few more voyages were undertaken by a single firm, but even these came to an end in 1841, and as in the case of Salem the China trade passed into the hands of larger ports and larger firms. "^ " By the "Semiramis,'' Mason, Reminiscences of Newport, pp. 149, 153. °* Tufts' Acct. of Vessels in the Sea Otter and N. W. Trade. '"' Log book of the "General Washington,'' 1787-1790. MS. in John Carter Brown Library. She went out in 1787. "They are as follows by years: 1789, i; 1791, i; 1793, 3; 1795, 2; 1796, i; 1797, i; 1798, 2; 1799, i; 1800, 3; 1801, i; 1802, 2; 1803, 6; 1806, 2; 1808, i; 1809, i; 1810, 4; 1811, i; 1812, i; 1818, 2; 1819, 5; 1820, i; 1822, 3; 1823, 3; 1824, i; 1827, I ; 1831, I ; 1832, I ; 1833, I ; 183s, I ; 1838, i ; The years not mentioned had no voyages. Providence Custom House Impost Books. °' The main Providence firms were Brown and Ives, organized in 1795 (Weeden, Early Oriental Trade of Providence, p. 240), and its prede- cessors, Brown, Benson, and Ives, and Brown and Francis. It was Brown and Francis who sent out the "General Washington" on its first voyage; Brown and Ives sent ships intermittently through the years, imported the largest single cargoes which came to the port from Canton; appeared among the consignees in nearly half of the voyages, and had a part in the ship "Hanover," in 1838, the next to the last of the Providence-Canton voyages. (Providence Custom House Impost Books, passim.) The other firms in the trade, mostly dating from before 1800, were John Corlis, Clark and Nightingale, John I. Clark, Edward K. Thompson, Benjamin Hoppin and Son (or T. C. Hoppin), and Edward Carrington and Com- pany. Of these, Edward Carrington and Company was the most impor- 1804, 2; 180S, 3; I8I6, 2; 1817, 2; 1825, I ; 1826, 2; 1841, I ; Total, 68. Digitized by Microsoft® 68 Kenneth S. Latourette, In the little ports along the Connecticut coast there were no large firms, but only a short-lived activity in sealing. Stoning- ton, Hartford, New London, and New Haven, each had their small share. The activity was large for a time, b«t it was only in sealing, an adventurous, self-destructive trade, and was neces- sarily of relatively short duration. It had practically ceased before the War of 1812. It was from New York that the American trade with China was first begun, and that city continued to be one of the three chief ports interested. To a certain point the course of trade seems to have been much the same as in Salem and Providence — an increase to about 1805 and 1806, a decrease to the war, and an increase immediately after it. Unlike Salem and Providence, however, an increase rather than a decrease followed the depres- sion of 1826."* As in Boston, we find a few prominent firms, but unlike Boston, no single one predominated through the entire period. John Jacob Astor was early in the trade, and kept it up after the war.°' A story which unfortunately is not well authenticated ascribes the foundation of his great fortune to his early success in the trade. ^° Oliver Wolcott and Company and tant. It almost monopolized the trade for a few years after the war, but suffered heavily from the depression in 1826, and only entered again after some years, and then as a minor investor. (For further information on the part of Providence in the China trade, see Weeden, Early Oriental Trade of Providence, Kimball, East India Trade of Providence, and the files of the Providence newspapers, especially the Providence Gazette. The Brown and Ives papers are in the custody of the John Carter Brown Library in Providence, and contain a great mass of manuscript material, of which the log books are the most easily accessible.) ■* See Letters and Clearance Books of the New York Custom House, Mss. in New York Custom House, passim. These are incomplete, but for the years they cover, they show the following numbers of vessels clearing : 1799, 4; 1800, 7; 1801, 2; 1802, 7; 1805, 8; 1806, 9; 1807, 2; 1809, 7; 1818,3; 1819,3; 1829,5; 1830,5; 1831,4; 1832, none; 1836,5; 1844,11; Total for sixteen years, 82. ■^ Ibid. '"Barrett, Old Mercs, of N. Y. City, 1:417-421. Astor is there said to have told the story as that of the beginning of his fortune, but I find no corroborative evidence. James Parton, Life of John Jacob Astor, New York, 1865, p. 49, says that he sent out his first ship about 1800, and that he continued the commerce for twenty-seven years, "gen- erally with profit and occasionally with splendid and bewildering success." Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 69 H. Fanning also engaged in it in these early years. '^ But it was not until after the war that great firms began to dominate the trade. Of these Thomas H. Smith had the most meteoric course. Entering in the period of expansion which followed the treaty of peace, he was soon exporting on a large scale. '^^ He went into tlie business too extensively, however, and failed in 1827, owing the custom house three million dollars.'^ Another firm, more stable, noted for its non-importation of opium and its friendliness to missionaries, was Olyphant and Company. D. W. C. Olyphant, its head, had gone out to Canton in 1820^* and again in 1826 as the agent of Thomas H. Smith, and when in 1827 the latter failed, he returned to New York and organized the firm which bore his name.'^ Turning to Philadelphia, we come to the southernmost of the three ports which controlled the China trade in these later years. Robert Morris had had a share in the "Empress of China" and had later sent out several vessels of his own, including the famous "Alliance." In 1806 thirteen ships arrived from Canton,'" and in 1839 and 1840, seven diflferent vessels were employed in the trade.''' Some of the principal firms were Eyre and Massey (1803-1845), one of whose ships made eight round trips to China,'^ Charles Wharton,'^ Jones and Clark,*" John Clement The first manuscript mention I find is of the ship "Severn" which he sent out in Jan., 1802, joining some other merchants in the investment. See Letter Books, N. Y. Custom House. " See Letter Books of N. Y. Custom House, and Store Book of Oliver Wolcott and Co., Ms. in New York Historical Society's Library, -pp. 162, 167, 83, 84, 24, 59, 32. "$1,311,057.22 in 1824 and nearly $1,740,000 in 1825. Sen. Doc. 31, i Sess., 19 Cong. He had seven ships regularly employed. Hunter, Fan Kwae at Canton, p. i. He went out on one of these ships in the employ of Smith. " Barrett, Old Mercs, of N. Y. City, p. 33. "Mrs. Robert Morrison, Memoirs of the Life and Lubors of Robert Morrison, 2 v., London, 1839, 2 : 86. " Hunter, Fan Kwae at Canton, p. 15. '"Adam Seybert, Statistical Annals, Philadelphia, 1818, p. 55, from the Custom House Records. " Consular Letters, Canton, HI. The figures for other cities were, Providence, i. New York, 10, Boston, 12, Salem, 4, Baltimore, 2. '^Abraham Ritter, Philadelphia and Her Merchants, as Constituted Digitized by Microsoft® 70 Kenneth S. Latourette, Stacker," Archer, Jones, Oakford and Company,*^ and John McCrea, who was even more of a speculator than Thomas H. Smith,^^ and Stephen Girard who in 1791 built several ships for the China trade.^* The China trade of the cilf successfully- survived the depression of 1826. Baltimore was never as actively engaged in the trade as were the more northern ports, and although she began early, the first ship from Canton arriving August 9, 1785, her commerce with China did not flourish as did that of her more advantageously situated rivals.*^ No other southern port seems to have entered the trade with any earnestness.^* From this brief and necessarily incomplete review of the participation of each of these ports in the commerce with China, the general tendency to centralization is apparent and a more minute study would show it more clearly. The crisis of 1826 only hastened a process which had begun several years before and which continued until about 1840. The years between 1815 and 1839 saw a development in the art of ship-building. The famous "clippers" were born in the trade with China. The "Ann McKinn" of Baltimore was built in 1832 for the China trade. The "Akbar" was built in 1839 for John M. Forbes and made the trip from New York to Canton in the record time of one hundred and nine days. After 1839, Fifty to Se-frenty Years Ago. Philadelphia, i860, p. 60. This statement is made on the authority of Charles Massey of that firm. "Ibid., p. 181. " Ibid., p. 195. "Ibid., p. 199. °^ Sen. Doc. 31, i Sess., 19 Cong. ^Barrett, Old Mercs, of N. Y. City, pp. 45 and 97. Unfortunately there is not enough information to give a more connected sketch of Philadelphia's trade with China. " PauUin, Diplom. Neg. of Am. Nav. Officers, p. 165. *=B. Mayer, Histl. Sketch of Baltimore in F. A. Richardson and W. A. Bennett,' Baltimore Past and Present, with Biographical Sketches of its Representative Men. Baltimore, 1871, pp. S3, 63. "' One ship seems to have been sent from Charleston to the East Indies, but it is not certain that it touched at Canton. David Ramsay, The history of South Carolina from its first settlement in 1670 to the year 1808. 2 V. Charleston, 1809, 2 : 239. One ship went from Norfolk, Va., in 1786. PauUin, Diplom. Neg. of Am. Nav. Officers, p. 162. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. , 71 but before 1844, a number of swift boats of comparatively light tonnage were built for carrying opium. They were owned by J. M. Forbes and Russell and Company and soon controlled the opium trade. So, although clipper ships did not attain their supremacy until after 1844, their lines first began to be worked out in the thirties.*^ The period between 181 5 and 1839 was marked by changes in imports and exports to and from China no less noticeable than those in the commercial organization. No generalization can safely be made: one must rather take up the principal articles individually. Of the American imports to China the most important was specie.'* Until bills of exchange began to take its place, it formed half and even three-fourths of the total, amounting in one instance to nearly seven and one-half millions of dollars.*" The drain was heavy but necessary. American merchants found it profitable to import teas, even when paying for them with so expensive a commodity. In some years it was in such demand that a premium had to be offered in the United States to obtain enough for a cargo."" Most of it was in the form of Spanish milled dollars obtained from the Spanish West Indies, South America, Portugal,"^ and Gibraltar."^ So accustomed to these dollars did the Chinese merchants become that when those of the new South American states began to come in, they were received only at an excessive discount."^ About 1827 bills of exchange on England began to take the place of specie."* The large °'A. H. Clark. The Clipper Ship Era, New York and London. 1911. pp. 58-60. ^' For tables see footnote 3 on page 469. °° In 1819 the imports of specie to Canton amounted to $7,414,000. Pitkin, Stat. View, ed. 1835, p. 303. °° The Columbian Centinel, Boston, on Feb. 13, 1802, and Oct. 20, 1802, contained advertisements offering a premium on Spanish dollars for ships about to sail to Canton. " Weeden, Early Oriental Commerce of Providence, pp. 274-276. °' Letters and Recollections of J. M. Forbes, i : 70. " It required a special edict of the Hoppo to reduce this discount to a just one. The Canton Register, Canton, 1827 et sqq. Vol. 8:91835. No. 10. °* See tables footnote 3, page 469. Digitized by Microsoft® 72 Kenneth S. Latourette, importation of opium by the British turned the balance of trade against China and made it cheaper to buy exchange than to ship silver, and the days of the latter's prominence as an export were at. an end.'^ In 1833 specie amounted to only one-*venth of the sum of the bills on England, and merchandise to less than two-thirds. Another article of importation to China, new in this period, was cotton. It is true that America purchased nankeens at Canton, but later the increased quality and cheapness of the coarser cottons of the Occident won for them a market in the East. About half of that imported in American ships was from the United States, the rest being from England."* For American raw cotton there was little demand, since the Indian product was cheaper."'' Some imports to China need only the briefest mention. Quick- silver began to be brought in about 1816. It varied greatly in amount, running in value all the way from $747,600 in 1819 to $17,971 in 1833.°* Rice was imported from Batavia and Manila during these years in increasing quantities"" because the cumshaw tax was not charged by the Chinese on vessels which brought it.^"° Copper was brought from South America, some years to °' This is the reason given by Mr. Sturgis, a famous China merchant, in a lecture reported in Niles Register, 68 : 343, Aug. 2, 1845. See also A. J. Sargent, Anglo-Chinese Commerce and Diplomacy (Mainly in the Nineteenth Century). Oxford, 1907, p. 56. Hosea Ballou Morse, The Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire, New York, etc., 1908, p. 330, takes a somewhat different view. " Ex. Doc. 35, 3 Sess., 27 Cong. " Niles Register, Jan. 20, 1844, 65 : 332-333. quotes from the New Orleans Bee to that effect. Tables in Chinese Rep. 16:47, show no imports of raw cotton before 1843. The first cargo seems to have been brought from New Orleans in the "Delhi" in 1843. Journal of a Voyage in the ship Delhi from New York to New Orleans, New Orleans to Canton, etc., in 1843-4. MS. in Essex Institute. ™ Pitkin, Stat. View, ed. 1835, pp. 300, 304. See, too, Phipps, China and European Trade, p. 313, and Sen. Doc. 31, i Sess., 19 Cong., "G." ™ The value was $866,367 in 1836-7. Ch. Rep., 6 : 284-286. "" Reports of Select. Com. on E. India Co., Pari. Papers, 1830, s : 122, Evidence of Abel Coffin. In 1833-4 this was $311,315 (Murray, Hist, and Desc. Acct. of China 3:74), but two years before it was only $21,342. Phipps, China and Eastern Trade, p. 313. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 73 ■the value of more than $300,000. Lead was brought in ingots from Gibraltar and elsewhere to the value of about half that of copper.^"^ A very little steel was brought in from England and Sweden.^"^ The importation of opium by Americans was always much less than that by the English, and most of it was the inferior kind obtained in Turkey. Figures are difficult to obtain for it, since it was a contraband article, but it seems to have been first regularly imported about 1816. One year, 1831-2, it was brought in to the value of more than two million dollars^"^ but this seems to have been its high-water mark. In few years did it approach that amount. Ginseng still continued to be shipped from America, but rarely to the value of $200,000.^°* Rattans, pepper, nutmegs, tin — from the Straits Settlements — cochineal, cloves, and coral, are all articles which appear with more or less regularity in the list of minor imports, ^"^ but none of them were of great importance. It is hard to tell just when their importa- tion began. One last group of American imports to China, British manu- factures, needs more than passing mention, partly because of its value,^"* partly because it illustrates American enterprise, but ™ Ch. Rep., 2 : 463. Letters and Recollections of J. M. Forbes, i : 70. "^ Chinese Repos., 2 : 471. ™ Phipps, China and Eastern Trade, p. 313. "• Pitkin, Stat. View., ed. 1835, p. 49. "° Phipps, China and Eastern Trade, p. 313, and Chinese Rep. 6 : 284-286. "" Pari. Papers, 1820, 5 : 183. Testimony of Charles Everett, an Ameri- can Commission Merchant. He gave as the amounts shipped in this way through him, for 1818, 1,809 Ihs. sterling, for 1819, 26,448 lbs. sterling, for 1820, 139,639 lbs. sterling, 1821, 190,190 lbs. sterling, 1822, 28,468 lbs. sterling, 1823, 67,048 lbs. sterling, 1824, 125,681 lbs. sterling, 1825, 7,408 lbs. sterling, 1826, 168,354 lbs. sterling, 1827, 45,696 lbs. sterling, 1828, 51,481 lbs. sterling. Joshua Bates, Ibid., 6 : 365, testified that one firm (probably Perkins and Company) had exported in 1826, 120,000 lbs. sterling, in 1827, 82,000 lbs. sterling, in 1828, 98,000 lbs. sterling, in 1829, 147,000 lbs. sterling. The East India Company estimated the amount for 1823 as 107,531 lbs. sterling, of which 32,614 lbs. sterling were in cottons, and 73,083 lbs. sterling were woolens. Ibid., pp. 724-727. Pari. Papers, 1833, E. India Co. Papers relating to trade with India and China, from S. Cabell, Accountant General of E. India Co., give the figure for 1829-30 as $11,122,066, for 1830-1 as $781,429, for 1831-2 as $637,822, and of the E. India Co. for these years, as $2,675,371, $2,818,766, and $2,556,209 respectively. Digitized by Microsoft® 74 Kenneth S. Latourette, chiefly because of its effect upon the East India Company. The importation of these goods began shortly after the War of 1812, possibly in 1818.^°' An absence of discriminating port charges and duties, except a small one of two per cent iff London/"^ the fact that the American merchant while charging the same price in China bought in England a quality of goods slightly inferior to those of the East India Company, and the exclusion of all English free traders from the market gave a rapid growth to the trade. This was very disquieting for the English. They had long watched American trade with China with growing uneasiness and at its very beginning Phineas Bond and the other British agents in the United States had kept the ministry informed of its progress. At first the attitude of English observers was one of security or indifference. Lord Sheffield, in his "Observations on the Commerce of the American States," published first in 1783, entirely ignored the possibility of a direct trade with China, and a London paper of March 16, 1785, said that the Americans had "given up all thought of China trade. "^'"' By 1813, however, English opponents of the East India Company were beginning to point to the rapid growth of the American-Canton commerce, to contrast it with the slow increase of the British trade under the monopoly, and to use it as an argument for making the English commerce with Canton free.^^° In 1819, Assey pointed out in a pamphlet "the insecurity of the present trade . from Great Britain and British India to China if timely measures of precaution be not taken to meet the progress of the Americans in China."^^^ So strong was the outcry on this score by the opponents of the monopoly^^^ that a ^" Charles Everett says that he was the first to ship English manu- factures in this way, and that he began in 1818. Ibid., Papers, 1830, 6 : 361. "'Testimony of Joshua Bates, Ibid., 6:365-380. Lindsey, History of Merchant Shipping and Ancient Commerce. London, 1876, pp. 105, 106. "" Hill, Trade and Commerce of Boston, p. 81. "° "Additional Considerations upon the China Trade," written in 1813, in defense of the East India Company, tries to answer this argument. Staunton, Notices Relating to China, p. 178. "' Charles Assey, on the Trade to China and the Indian Archipelago, etc., in the Pamphleteer, Vol. 4, London, 1819, p. 516. "^Staunton, Notices Relating to China, p. 299, publishing part of a letter Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 75 large proportion of the time of the House of Lords' Committee on the Foreign Trade which in 1820 and 1821 investigated the East India Company was spent in gathering information on American commerce with China. The evidence showed the Americans to be so successful with unrestricted trade that the committee reported favorably on a similar plan for Great Britain. ^^^ In 1829 and 1830 the discussion again came up in Parliament, and again the American trade was the chief argu- ment. By this time the growth of American shipments of British woolens had long been noticeable. It galled British pride to see the Yankees come to England and carry British manufactures to Canton. The East India Company tried in vain to prevent it/^* and the independent merchant raged at being compelled to see Americans accumulate fortunes from profits which he felt belonged to him. In public meetings,^^'' in the press/^° and on the floor of Parliament/^' American trade was answering a memorial of British ship-owners which had instanced the American commerce with China in favor of free trade. "' Pari. Papers, 1821, 7 : 5. "*Wood, Sketches of China, p. 64, says (in 1827-8), "The extensive importation of British goods in American vessels had been materially detrimental to the Company's trade in China, and as they found it impracticable to prevent the exportation from England by Americans, they resolved to thwart them by using their influence to affect their sales in Canton." "° Proceedings of a Public Meeting of the India and China Trade, Liverpool, 1829. The meeting was a protest against the East India Company's monopoly of the China trade, and frequent mention was made of the American trade. "'An article in the Edinburgh Review, Jan., 1831, 52:281-322, against the East India Company's monopoly attracted much attention. It cited the success of the American trade as an argument; an argument which John Slade, Notices on the British Trade to the Port of Canton, etc., London, 1830, p. 32, and British Relations with the Chinese Empire, ca. 1832, both attempt to refute. "'Huskisson, in speeches May 12 and 14, 1829 (Hansard's Debates, 2 Series, Vol. 21, pp. 1296 and 1365), and Whitmore, May 14, 1829 (Ibid., p. 1349). The latter said, "The Americans find no diflficulty in carrying on their free trade with China, supplying not only the United States, but all the world except Great Britain with Chinese produce, and importing even British manufactures into Canton." Digitized by Microsoft® 76 Kenneth S. Latourette, cited as a reason for ending the monopoly. The result was the defeat of the company."* Contrary to English expectations, however, this shipment in American vessels did not cease with the end of the monopoly, but continued to 183^ at least"' and possibly longer. From a consideration of the imports to China in American ships we naturally turn to the exports. Of these tea was pre- eminent. Choosing representative years, in 1822, 6,639,434 lbs. were imported into the United States, in 1828, 7,707,427 1135.^120,121 jj^ j322, 9,906,606 lbs., in 1837, 16,581,467 lbs., in 1840, 19,333,597 Ibs.^^^ In value the proportion of tea to the total American imports from China during these years was for 1822, 36%, for 1828, 4Sfo, for 1832, 52%, for 1837, 65^0, for 1840, 81%.^^^ It can readily be seen from these figures that in the years following 1814 the relative proportion of teas to other Chinese imports constantly increased.^^* During these later years, in fact, our Canton commerce was mostly for the purpose of obtaining them. The teas thus imported came from nearly all of the southeastern provinces and from some of the central provinces of China.^^^ The many bewildering grades known to trade were all subdivisions of the two main kinds, black and green, grown on different varieties of the same species of shrub.'^^' Black teas, the cheapest, included such grades as Souchong, "' Hugh Murray, et alii, An Historical and Descriptive Account of China. 3 v., Edinburgh, 1836. 3 ; 50. "° Peter N. Snow, American Consul at Canton, wrote Feb. 15, 1836, that it still continued. Consular Letters, Canton, II. The statistics for 1836-7 in the Chinese Repository, 6 : 284-6, also show it to have been still in progress. '^ The figures before 1816 were, for 1790, 3,047,252 lbs., for 1794, 2,460,914 lbs., for 1800, 3,797,634 lbs., for 1805, 5,119,441 lbs., for 1810, 7,839,457 lbs. Pitkin, Stat. View, ed. 1835, pp. 246, 247. "^^ Pitkin, Stat. View of U. S., ed. 1835, pp. 246, 247,- 301. "^ Chinese Repos., 9 : 191. ''° Ex. Doc. 35, 27 Cong., 3 Sess., p. 10. ^'This proportional increase was largely due to the decline in the importation of silks and cottons. Commerce of the U. S. with China, Hunt's Merc. Mag., 11 : 55. ™ These were Fuhkien, Nganhui, Kiangsu, Kwantung, Hunan, Hupeh, Honan, and Szechuen. Ch. Rep., 8: 135-148. '=" Ibid. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China.' 77 Orange, Bohea, Congo, Campoi, and Pekoe. Of these Bohea and Souchong were the main ones purchased by Americans. Of the green teas. Hyson, Hyson-skin, Young Hyson, and Gun- powder were the main kinds."' In the years immediately after 1784, Bohea, the cheapest grade, was chief in American cargoes. Later, Souchong, a better black tea, began to predominate, and after 1800 the proportion of the still higher grades, green teas, especially Hyson, Young Hyson, and Hyson Skin, began to increase, until by 1810 green and black teas were imported in nearly equal amounts."^ By 1837 the greeji teas were four- fifths or more of the total amount."' This steadily increasing demand in the United States for better grades of teas clearly indicates a growing discrimination of taste and an increasing ability to buy. The exportation of teas from China in American ships, how- ever, was not to supply the home market alone. There was a large shipment of teas to other countries, both directly from China and by reexportation from the United States. During the European Wars the proportion reexported had been large, usually a third of the year's imports.^^" After the War of 1812 the pro- portion declined to a fourth or even a tenth, largely because such teas as were taken to foreign countries in American ships could more easily be brought directly from China.^^^ Some were taken to Russia,'^'^ some to France,'^^^ some to Gibraltar,^^* some to Brazil,^"^ but more to Holland and to the German ports, prin- cipally Hamburg.^^^ The American tea trade in Holland fell off ^" Murray, Histl. and Descriptive Acct. of China, 3 : 52. ^^' Consular Letters, Canton, I (estimates by the American Consul), and Impost Books of the Providence Custom House, passim, are the best authorities. The amounts are also shown by the tables in Pitkin, Stat. View, ed. 1816, p. 209. '^ Ch. Rep., 9 : 191. ''° Pitkin, Stat. View, ed. 1836, pp. 246-247. ^=' Ibid. "' Pitkin, Stat. View, ed. 1816, p. 195. ""Pari. Papers, 1821, 7:381-382. Table prepared by Trumbull Bros, and Co., of imports to Marseilles. See British Relations with Chinese Empire, p. 28, for French Atlantic Ports. "'* British Relations with Chinese Empire, p. 28. "' Ibid. ""The amounts in 1826, rather a banner year, were, Holland, 230,137 Digitized by Microsoft® 78 Kenneth S. Latourette, in later years, as the Netherlands finally began te import for themselves. ^^' Canada got her teas largely from the United States, in spite of the higher import duties in the latter country,^'^ ■ m Spanish dollars, Gibraltar, 235,474, Hanse Towns and Germany, 337,331, France on the Atlantic, 209,252, the Brazils, 180,164, all others, 216,336. Ibid. The "Brookline" came to Hamburgh with teas in 1834. Ms. log of "Brookline." Pari. Papers, 1821, 7 : 84, Evidence of Robert Richards. '"Report of Select Com. on E. India Co., Pari. Papers, 1830, S:xix-xx. '^^ This is perhaps a good place to sketch in a footnote the history of the United States tariff on China goods to 1844. Various individual states had levied a tariff on tea before the adoption of the Constitution (South Carolina's tariff is given in the Providence Gazette, May 29, 1784. Penn- sylvania's tariff is mentioned by Fitzsimmons in a speech on the tariff, Apr. 18, 1789, Benton's Abridg., i : 42) and in 1789 in the first tariff passed by Congress, it was one of the luxuries which had had an impost duty put on it, a duty, however, which discriminated sharply in favor of American ships and of voyages made directly from China. (The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, i : 25. The debates are in Benton, Abridgement, i : 42, 41.) There was some opposi- tion to the heavy discrimination, and in the tariff of 1790 this was made less pronounced, duties on teas brought in American ships being raised to be more nearly equal to those brought in foreign vessels. (U. S. Statutes at Large, i : 180.) The reduced protection led to a larger influx of teas from Europe and to much dissatisfaction among the merchants engaged in the China trade. (Report of Hamilton on trade with India and China, Feb. 10, 1791, American State Papers, Finance, I : 107. Petition of Philadelphia merchants, Feb. 24, 1792, Annals of Congress, 2d Cong., p. 427. Petition of Boston Merchants, June 7, 1797, Annals of Cong., 5th Cong., Vol. i, p. 251.) The next year, 1791, the policy was adopted of allowing the payment of duties on teas to be postponed by a bonding process, a plan which thirty-five years later was to prove so disastrous in the case of Thomas H. Smith and others. (U. S. Stat, at Large, i : 219, i : 627-704, 168.) No other general schedule was adopted until 1816, but in the meantime a few changes had been made. January 29th, 1795, a specific rate was made for gunpowder, imperial, and gomee teas. (U. S. Stat, at Large.) March 3d, 1797, an additional duty was levied to pay the foreign debt (U. S. Stat, at Large, i :503) ; March 24th, 1804, an additional duty of two and a half per cent ad valorem was imposed to help defray the expenses of the war against Tripoli and the Barbary powers (Ibid., 2:291), an act which was continued from time to time until 1813 (Ibid., 2:391, 456, 511, 555, 614, 675); and a slight change was made, also in 1804, on duties on cassia, gunpowder, mace, and nutmegs. (Ibid., 2:299.) In 1812, as a war measure to raise revenue, all duties were increased one hundred per cent with an additional Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 79 and continued to do so until 1825, when the East India Com- pany was permitted to ship tea directly to the Dominion. ^^^ Tea was the most important American export from Canton, but there were others which were prominent for many years. Chinese silk was always exported, generally in a manufactured form. In the fifteen years after 1820 it was of great importance, several times amounting to more than one-third of the total imports to the United States from China.^*" Later, however, ten per cent on goods not imported in vessels belonging to citizens of the United States, the increase to cease with the conclusion of peace. (Ibid., 2:768.) The tariff of 1816, the first general one since 1790, raised the duties on China goods over those of the earlier year from twenty to forty per cent, still preserving a discrimination in favor of those brought in American bottoms directly from Canton. The protective tariff wave affected the duties on these goods, and in 1824, for the first time, an import tax of twenty-five per cent ad valorem was placed on cotton and silk manufactures from beyond the Cape of Good Hope. Two excep- tions, however, were made in favor of the China merchants ; the pro- visions of the law were not to apply until January ist, 1825, and nankeens were not included in the rule which considered the minimum cost as thirty cents a yard. (Ibid., 4:25.) The "Tariff of Abominations" (May 19, 1826) affected the China trade merely in the one item of an addi- tional five per cent ad valorem on all silks from beyond the Cape of Good Hope. (U. S. Statutes at Large, 4:270.) In 1830 the .duties on teas were reduced materially (Ibid., 4:404), and the tariff of 1832 for the first time entirely exempted from duty teas brought in American vessels directly from East Asia, and reduced the duty on most of the other China goods. At the same time the law permitting the deposit of teas under bond was repealed, bringing to an end a system which had been begun forty years before. (Ibid., 4:583.) The tariff of 1841 still exempted from duty tea brought by American ships from China, although levying one on other China goods (Ibid., 5:463), but with a brief revival of higher tariff legislation in the act of 1842, a thirty per cent ad valorem duty was placed on China ware, a specific duty on cassia, mace, and ginger, and a twenty per cent ad valorem duty on all unenumerated goods, an increase which must have included teas and silks. A ten per cent addi- tional duty was placed on all goods imported from the East. (Ibid., 5 : 548.) The tendency of the long discrimination in favor of American ships was to keep the China trade in the hands of American shippers, a protection, however, which was scarcely needed, so efficient was the merchant marine. ™ Report of Select Com. on E. India Co., Pari. Papers, 1830, 5 : xix-xx, and Sen. Doc., i Sess., 19 Cong., No. 31. '" Tables in Pitkin, Stat. View, 1835, p. 301. Ex. Doc. 35, 3 Sess., 37 Cong., p. 10. Digitized by Microsoft® 8o Kenneth S. Latourette, owing possibly to changing fashions, it declined, until in 1841 it was scarcely eight per cent of the whole.^*^ Somewhat similar were the cotton cloths or nankeens. Although bearing the name of Nanking, they were manufactured in many^ther parts of China. They were white, blue, or brown, and "in point of strength, durability, and essential cheapness" were not surpassed by any of the cotton fabrics of Europe or England.^*^ In point of value they never exceeded fourteen per cent of the total American imports from Canton, and for the most part were much less. Like silk, they suffered a great decline before 1839, sinking from $452,873 in 1829^*^ to $2,363 in 1840.^** Other articles of importance were cassia, a substitute for cinnamon, which seldom amounted to more than $100,000 a year in value,^** china ware, used often as ballast, but in later years driven out of the American market by European porcelain,^^' a little sugar, principally in the form of sugar candy,^*° and numbers of minor articles such as fire screens, firecrackers, camphor, rhubarb, and fans. Like teas, these other articles were brought in American ships not only to the United States, but also to many other parts of the world. Silks, said to have been manufactured by the Chinese in imitation of French goods, were exported to South Americar^*^ Nankeens were also taken there, and quite an extensive trade was carried on with that continent, contraband during the earlier years, legal after the independence of the South American republics.^** Various other China goods were, ^"Ex. Doc. 35, 3 Sess., 17 Cong., p. 10, and Lecture of Sturgis, Niles Register, 68:343. '"Murray, Histl. and Desc. Acct. of China, 3:56. Ch. Rep., 2:465. '" Pitkin, Stat. View, ed. 1835, p. 301. "* Ex. Doc. 35, 27 Cong., 3 Sess., p. 10. '* Ibid., and Hunt's Merc. Mag., 3 : 469, Ch. Rep., 2 : 455-456. "°Ch. Rep., 2:471. '"Voyage autour du Monde, Execute pendant les annees 1836 et 1837 sur la Corvette La Bonite. Relation du Voyage par A. De La Salle. 3 v., Paris, 1852. 3 : 238. '"Weeden, Oriental Trade of Providence, p. 263, mentions the "Arthur" as attempting to take nankeens to Montevideo and Rio Janeiro in 1809^ Forbes, Personal Reminiscences, pp. 98-1 11, mentions smuggling on the west coast of South America in 1825, and runniiig the blockade into Buenos Ayres in 1827. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 8i of course, taken to the countries where tea was imported, although not to so large an extent.^*' During the years following the War of 1812 the peculiar com- munity life which grew up at Canton under Chinese regulations took on its completed form. Americans had long since won their place among the foreign merchants and were second in influence and importance only to the English. The American factory was one of the best in the thirteen,^^" but business had outgrown it and had overflowed into other hongs. The American firms were mostly commission houses, often closely allied to firms in the United States, but organized separately and under different names. Of the one hundred and thirty-three foreign residents at Can- ton, Macao, and Lintin, in 1832, twenty were Americans,^^^ and by 1841 the number had increased to thirty-seven.^''^ Of these American firms, the earliest was Shaw and Randall, and the most famous were Milner and Bull, Talbot, Olyphant and Company,^^^ Samuel Russell and Company (1818-1823) — which was suc- ceeded by Russell and Company (1823-1824)^^* — Russell, Sturgis, and Company ( ? -December 31, 1839),"=* P. W. "° Pari. Papers, 1821, 7 : 381, 382, give an account of nankeens brought into Marseilles in 1817 and 1818, and Pari. Papers, 1833, E. India Co. Papers, relating to trade with India and China, p. 14, give the exports from Canton in American vessels destined for other places than the United States. "° In 1838 the chaplain of the frigate "Columbia" described it as "an extensive building, three stories high, fronting the grounds on the river, and extending back for some three or four hundred feet, with an open passage way or narrow court running through its center from the front to the back walls. The building is divided into three compartments. . . . Within this range of walls are the store rooms, and rooms occupied by the comprador, coolies, and other servants attached to the hong, com- prising the . . . ground floor, and the second story affording fine drawing rooms and chambers, both spacious and airy, two requisites for comfort in this climate. The top of the building is crowned by a turret .... from which an extensive view is had." Taylor, Flagship, 2:170. See as well a description in Paullin, Diplomatic Negotiations of American Naval Officers, pp. 171-173. '"Roberts, Embassy to Em. Courts., p. 130. ^"' Chinese Rep., 10 : 58-60. "^Griffis, America in the East, p. 71. '"Hunter, Fan Kwae in Canton, pp. 156, 157. '" Canton Press, Jan. 25, 1840. Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. XXII 6 T917 Digitized by Microsoft® 82 Kenneth S. Lafourette, Snow/^' J. P. Sturgis/" and Wetmore and Company."^ The names of these firms remained the same from year to year but their composition changed."' As a rule they were made up of speciahsts, men who had come out to China in^arly hfe and had learned the business from the bottom up."" Although the American trade was not a government monopoly, it became almost a natural one, for the experience required made it difficult for a new firm to succeed unless closely allied to some older one. As was natural in such a compact group of foreigners there was much community life. In 1836 the Canton General Chamber of Commerce was formed to secure united action in protecting the interests of foreign trade."^ Various missionary and philanthropic associations were organized. Newspapers were started; the "Canton Register" was begun in 1827 by some Englishmen, with Mr. Wood, a young Philadelphian, as editor; "The Chinese Courier and Canton Gazette," an American enter- prise, published its first number July 28, 1831, but created opposi- tion by its independent position on British questions and did not live long; and "The Canton Press" was started in 1835.^'^ Social activities, too, were not neglected. In 1837 the "Canton Regatta Club" was formed, much to the mystification of the practical-minded hong merchants.^'^^ There is occasional men- tion of formal dinners in which national lines were forgotten.^'* Most of the social life, however, was at Macao. There the ^"Chinese Rep., 5:43i- ^^' He arrived in 1809 and was in business in China for twenty-five years. Bits of Old China, Hunter, pp. 157-161. ^ Chinese Repository, 5 : 431. ""Hunter, Fan Kwae at Canton, pp. 156, 157, gives the history of Russell and Company, which shows this statement to be true. Also see Canton Press, Jan. 25, 1840, and Canton Register, Jan. 3, 1831. ^" See as an example, sketch by Hunter of his own life there from 1824 to 1842 in his Fan Kwae at Canton, p. i. "'Anglo-Chinese Kalendar for 1838, Canton, 1838. Eitel, Eur. in China, p. 67, and Chinese Rep., 6 : 44-47. The Chamber of Commerce comprised representatives from all foreign nationalities doing business in Canton. "" See Bibliography. ^"^ Hunter, Bits of Old China, p. 276. "* Nye, Morning of My Life in China, p. 55, mentions a farewell dinner in 1838 to Mr. Jardine, at which one hundred British and American merchants were present. Ch. Rep., 11 : i, mentions a somewhat similar dinner in 1832. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 83 Chinese restrictions were somewhat relaxed, and the greater leisure of out-of-season months gave more time for recreation. The little peninsula was a bit of the West, a Portuguese colony, and during the winter months it would have been difficult to discover a gayer society anywhere short of Europe.^"^ On the part of the United States Government the years fol- lowing the War of 1812 were ones of gradually increasing inter- est in China. We have seen that it was one of the factors of the Oregon agitation in Congress. In addition to this, in March, 1822, the House committee on commerce took occasion in its report to notice the importance of the American trade in China: "It is inferior to that of no nation, Great Britain excepted. "^°^ In November, 1819, the frigate "Congress," the first of the United States navy to visit the port, anchored off Lintin. She was tolerated by the Chinese as a convoy to merchant ships, but was ordered "not to linger about on the coast" after the mer- chantmen had sailed.^^'^ She stayed on, however, with two absences of some months, until early in 1821. The Chinese after some protest allowed her to take on supplies. ^°^ In 1830 the "Vincennes," the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe, called at Macao. Early in 1832 the frigate "Potomac" visited Canton after having punished the natives at Quallah Battoo in Sumatra for the plunder of the ship "Friendship" of Salem the year before. The consul was ordered to "compel her to set sail and to return to her own country."^"' In 1832 the expedition of Edmund Roberts, composed of the ship "Peacock" "° Occasional references to this society occur in various narratives, arid the journal of a Salem girl who spent four years there (1823-1833) gives us an intimate picture of this gay Occidental life in its Oriental setting: My Mother's Journal, A Young Lady's Diary of Five Years Spent in Manila, Macao, and the Cape of Good Hope, from 1829-1834, Katherine Hillard, editor, Boston, 1900. See also on Macao, Letters and Recollec- tions of J. M. Forbes, i : 82, and for a description of the place. Missionary Herald (article by S. W. Williams), 35:52-55, Milburn, Oriental Com- merce, p. 451, Shaw's Journals, pp. 236-241, La Perouse, Voyages, 2 : 280-285. ™ Am. State Papers, Commerce and Navigation, 2 : 637. "' Niles, Register, 19 : 74. Paullin, Diplomatic Negotiations of American Naval Officers, pp. 168-181. '°* Reynolds, Voyage of the Potomac, pp. 343-344, Ch. Rep., 11 : 9, 10. Digitized by Microsoft® 84 Kenneth S. Latourette, and the schooner "Boxer," was sent out by the United States to secure treaties with eastern powers, and to protect the interests of American seamen. Its immediate cause was the "Friendship" aifair, but it visited Manila, Canton, Cochin C\%tia, Siam, and Muscat, and secured treaties with the last two. It touched at Canton in November, 1832, but of course could not get into communication with the government, and was ordered to leave at the earliest possible moment.^"" Four years later Roberts returned to the Far East in the "Peacock" to exchange ratifica- tions. Again the expedition touched at Macao. It was watched closely by cruisers and was ordered to leave as soon as its sick were well.^^° In the interval between Roberts' two visits the "Vincennes" had again been there and had met with the usual peremptory order to leave.^'^ The Roberts embassy was a sign of an awakening interest on the part of the government. Jack- son himself mentioned the China and East India trade in his annual message of December, 1831.^'^ Under the same vigorous administration an exploring expedition was sent out to the South Seas under Commodore Wilkes, with , the revival of the beche de mer, sandal wood, and sealing voyages prominent among its objects.^'' '""Roberts, Embassy to Eastern Courts, passim, Ch. Rep., 11 : 11 ; Jan- uary, 1842. Secondary accounts are in Foster, Am. Dip. in the Orient, PP- 45-55. and Callahan, Am. Relations in the Pacific, 11:48. "° Ruschenberger, Voyage Round the World, p. 374. Ch. Rep., 5:228. Sept., 1836. "'Canton Register, 9:9. (1836.) The Hoppo's order was dated Jan. 9, 1836. "'James D. Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 1789-1897, Washington, igoo. 2 : 551. ™It was first planned for 1827 and 1828 (Fanning, Voyages to the South Seas, p. 172), but it was given up by the new administration, and was not authorized until 1836. (Fanning sent in memorials to Congress in the latter part of 1833. Fanning, Voyages to the South Seas, pp.°iS2- 167. Reynolds, Address.) It sailed in 1838 after more delay, and was gone until 1842. (Wilkes, Narrative of U. S. Exploring Exped. during the years 1838-1842, gives the account. Callahan is in error in saying that it was from 1839 to 1841. Callahan, Am. Relations in the Pacific, p. II.) Digitized by Microsoft® CHAPTER IV. From the Close of the War of 1812 to the Outbreak of the Opium Troubles, 1815-1838 (Continued). THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN MISSIONS TO THE CHINESE. In their origin American missions were singularly distinct from American commerce. In Portuguese, in Spanish, and in French intercourse with non-Christian lands the trader and the missionary have usually gone together. The same has been true in British and in Dutch enterprises, although to a more limited extent. Christian missions have either begun simultaneously with commerce, conquest, or exploration, or have been directed to those countries to which these had pointed the way, as in the Americas, in India, in the Philippines, and in the Dutch Indies. In the early decades of missions from the United States, how- ever, no such relationship obtained. Americans had abundant commerce with non-Christian lands, but their earliest foreign missions were not directed to those peoples with whom they had the largest trade. This anomalous situation was due to the causes which brought about the American foreign missionary enterprise. One is impressed with the fact that in the United States missions arose largely because of the stimulus of Great Britain's example. The last decade of the eighteenth century saw in England a great awakening of missionary interest. The English Baptist Mis- sionary Society was formed in 1792, the London Missionary Society in 1795, the Scotch Missionary Society in 1796, and the Church Missionary Society in 1800.^ The effect of this move- ment was quickly felt in America. Worcester says : "After the London Missionary Society was formed in 1795, the appeals of Christians in England had an electrical effect upon our churches. Missionary publications awakened an interest which in our present circumstances it is difficult to appreciate."^ When in 1797 the General Association of Connecticut talked of organiz- ' The Christian Observer, 40 : 309. ' S. M. Worcester, Origin of American Foreign Missions, p. 8, in H. W. Pierson, American Missionary Memorial, New York, 1853. Digitized by Microsoft® 86 Kenneth S. Lafourette, ing a missionary society^ it said in its public appeal: "Among the numerous inducements to attempt this important object .... we mention the imcommon success God has been graciously pleased to grant to late undertakings of thisTcind in Great Britain and the United States." The formation of the Philadel- phia Bible Society in 1808 was due to its founders "contem- plating with unfeigned pleasure the extensive good doing by such a society in Great Britain."* The American Bible Society was so closely allied with the British and Foreign Bible Society that the latter's annual reports included for a time accounts of the work of the former. The first American missionary societies did their work on the frontiers and among the Indians, and although foreign work was among the objects of one of them, the Massachusetts Missionary Society,^ it was not undertaken until the formation of the Ameri- can Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in 1810. This organization, it is true, was the direct outgrowth of the missionary purpose of a little band of students which existed first in Williams College and later in Andover Theological Seminary, and whose request to be sent out to the foreign field led to the formation of a society for that purpose*; but here again British example prepared the way. Missionary papers had been full of the work of the English societies,' and English mis- sionaries had corresponded with American church leaders.' The ° Address of the General Association of Connecticut to the District Association on the subject of a Missionary Society, etc., Norwich, 1797. *The Panoplist and Missionary Magazine, Boston, 1809-1817. N. S., 1:377 (1809). (For 1818, 1819, and 1820 this paper was called The Panoplist and Missionary Herald; beginning with 1820 it was called the Missionary Herald.) ° This society was formed in 1799, and had at once come into fellow- ship with the London Missionary Society. Worcester, Origin of Am. For. Missions, p. 9. "Worcester, Origin of Am. For. Missions, pp. 15-22. Panoplist, and Missny. Mag., N. S., S : 228. 'Annual Report of the Director of the N. Y. Missny. Soc, 1804, speaks of the work of the London Missionary Society. In the Panoplist, N. S., 2 : 568-571. May, 1810, some letters from William Carey from India were published, and in the same, 3:277, some news from Otaheite were given. 'Letters from William Carey to Rev. Miller, N. Y., Nov. 30, 1809. Panoplist and Missny. Mag., 2 : 568-571. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 87 first plan of the American Board was to work in conjunction with the London Missionary Society, and in 181 1 Adoniram Judson was sent to England to see if the latter organization would give financial support, to arrange the relations between the societies, and to obtain information about prospective fields and missionary preparation and administration. The English Society was cordial, but felt that mutual independence was pref- erable, and the Americans later came to the same conclusion. ° The American Board's first missionaries, Rice, Nott, Hall, Jud- son, and Newell, were drawn closely to their English brethren in India, and its first large stations were there. The American Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, formed in 1814, and the Episcopal and the Methodist societies, formed in 1820, were influenced by the example of the earlier organization, and if not daughters were at least granddaughters of the English societies.^" In view of this early relationship between English and Ameri- can missionary enterprises it was but natural that the first American missionary efforts among the Chinese should be largely a result of British influence, and only incidentally of American commercial relations. The first Protestant worker resident in China, Robert Morrison, was a representative of the London Missionary Society. He arrived in Canton in September, 1807.^^ In 1812 he was joined by Rev. William Milne of the same society, who later settled at Malacca and was instrumental in founding ° Original letters and a nearly contemporary account are in the Panoplist and Missny. Mag., N. S., 4: 178-185. " It must not be thought, however, that British example was the only cause of American missions. It was the immediate one, but it found a ground ready for its seed. Much the same forces acted as in England. Americans had ceased to turn their eyes inward and had begun to have a world view. Trade had an indirect effect by bringing a knowledge of the peoples of distant lands, and the quickened religious life produced by the Wesleyan and kindred movements of the eighteenth century had prepared the churches for action. '' Memoir of Morrison, i : 91 et sqq. Samuel Wells Williams, The Middle Kingdom, New York, 1904, 2:316-322. See too Carl Friedrich August Giitzlaff, Geschichte des Chinesischen Reiches, von den altesten Zeiten bis auf den Frieden von Nanking, Karl Friedrich Newmann. editor, p. 785. Digitized by Microsoft® 88 Kenneth S. Latourette, the Anglo-Chinese College in that place." By 1828 he had finished his translation of the Old and New Testaments^' and had made his first convert, Leang Afa. Rev. W. H. Medhurst and Samuel Dyer had joined him, the former workii^ in Batavia" and the latter at the Straits Settlements. From the very start Morrison wras closely connected with the United States. Because of the unfriendliness of the East India Company he sailed from New York on an American ship, and was given a letter of introduction by Madison, then Secretary of State, to Carrington, the United States Consul at Canton.^^ On his arrival in China he lived for a year in the American hong with the New York firm of Milner and Bull." Frequent news of Morrison and other workers among the Chinese appeared in the American missionary publications^^ and American contribu- tions helped to publish the Serampore translation of the Bible.^* In 1824 the American Tract Society called attention in its report to Milne's need of tracts for distribution among the Chinese." In 1820, Morrison was elected, "by ballot to be corresponding member" of the American Board,^" and in 1821 the American Bible Society presented him with a Bible in admiration of his services.^^ As time went on, Morrison and Milne became eager to have the American churches join in the enterpriser^ and to have either America or England send out a chaplain for the seamen at Whamjwa.^^ These views became known in the United States and found a ready response. The Missionary '- Robert Philip, The Life and Opinions of the Rev. William Milne, D.D., Missionary to China, Philadelphia, 1840. Williams, Mid. King., 2 : 318-322. " The New Testament was completed in 1813 and the Old Testament in 1819. Philip, Life and Opinions of Milne. Foster, Christian Progress in China, pp. 40-45. " William Dean, The China Mission, New York, 1859, p. 85. '° Morrison, Memoir, i : 91, 129, 131. '° Ibid., p. 153. Williams, Mid. King., 2: 318-322. "Panoplist, 3:381, 421, N. S., 3:372; n : 37, 549; 17 = 265; 19:158; 20 : 56 ; 21 : 56. ^ Panoplist and Missny. Mag., N. S., 5 : 168. " Proceedings of the first Ten Years of the American Tract Society, Boston, 1824, p. 143. ™ Memoirs of Morrison, 2 : 83. ''^Memoirs of Morrison, 2:116. '" Philip, Life and Opinions of Milne, p. 128. ^ Extract from Milne's Retrospect of the first ten years of the Protestant Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 89 Herald in October, J828, in speaking of Morrison said: "No sufficient reason exists why he should not be strengthened by other laborers or why the churches of this country should not send them."^* The American Seaman's Friend Society, in its report of 1829 called attention to "the three thousand American and English seamen who annually visit the port of Canton, China," and "determined to occupy Canton as soon as a suitable person presents himself for the service. "^^ The initial step was taken by D. W. C. Olyphant, an American Canton merchant, who had become acquainted with Morrison some years before,^^ and who was so deeply interested in missionary projects that his rooms in Canton had come to be known as "Zion's Corner."^' He offered to give free passage and a year's residence to any missionary whom the American Board should send.^^ As a result both the American Seaman's Friend Society and the Ameri- can Board bestirred themselves and each succeeded in finding a man. The two. Rev. David Abeel and Rev. Elijah C. Bridg- man, were sent out in October, 1829, and arrived at Canton in February, 1830.^' The former, a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, was to serve one year as chaplain of the American Sea- man's Friend Society, and was then to enter the service of the American Board and to examine the Eastern waters for the best localities for missionary work. Bridgman went out directly under the American Board, and was to devote his time to Can- ton.^" This dual plan had been suggested two years before by several Americans in Canton^^ and was now carried out. Mission to China, in Missny. Herald, 17 : 265. Abeel and Bridgman were sent out as a direct result of Morrison's wish. 2d Annual Report (1830) of American Seaman's Friend Society, New York. =' Missny. Herald, 24:330 (Oct., 1828). ''"First Annual Rep. (1829) Am. Seaman's Friend Soc, p. 17. ^° Memoirs of Morrison, 2 : 86. " Hunter, Bits of Old China, p. 166. ^° Abeel, Journal, pp. 31-32. Foster, Am. Dipl. in Orient, p. 137, foot- note, is in error in saying: "Upon his [Olyphant's] invitation the first Protestant missionary, Robert Morrison, of England was brought to China,'' but he is fairly correct in his other points. "" Abeel, Journal, pp. 31-33. Bridgman, Life of Bridgman, pp. 1-37. Williamson, Memoir of Abeel, pp. 49-67. "" Ibid. " First Annual Report of American Seaman's Friend Soc, May, 1830, p. 36. Digitized by Microsoft® po Kenneth S. Latourette, In the work thus begun by the American churches there were two factors which determined the line of approach and the method of work. In the first place, the Chinese Empire was practically closed to all but the most limited mi^onary work. The Roman Catholics held their own, but with the greatest diffi- culty, chiefly because they had gained a foothold in China in more favorable days. The Protestants were confined to Macao and to the little spot in Canton accessible to foreigners. Even here imperial edicts threatened with strangulation any one who should attempt to propagate Christianity, and the work had to be carried on with more or less secrecy.^^ Work was largely con- fined to language study and to translation. A few years later it was found possible to distribute printed matter along the coast to some extent, but even by this means no large numbers could be effectively reached until China should be opened. A second factor was the presence outside the Empire of large numbers of Chinese colonists. In Siam, in the Malay Peninsula, and in the Archipelago, large settlements of Chinese existed which were easily accessible to missionary influence. Here was an opportunity to learn the language, to print books, to found schools, and to do preliminary work until the Empire might be opened, and here also was the chance to do an extensive work among a Chinese population both for their own sakes and in the hope that some of them might be converted and return to China to spread the faith. These two factors early divided American Protestant missions tt) the Chinese into two branches, those in Canton and those to colonists outside the empire. The first branch must again be subdivided into missions inaugurated from America and those started by foreign residents of Canton. We have already seen the beginning of the missions inaugurated from America and centering at Canton, and it remains to trace them down to the outbreak of the opium troubles. Bridgman and Abeel arrived in China in February, 1830. They took up their residence, according to Mr. Olyphant's agreement, with Talbot, his repre- sentative.^^ Morrison, who had done so much to bring about °" Chinese Repository, 6 : 53, gives the new edict of 1821 against Christians. •" Talbot was also American Consul. David Abeel, Journal of a Resi- Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 91 their coming, gave them every assistance. Abeel took up his duties as chaplain both to the American residents and the foreign seamen, in Canton, and was kept too busy for language study or for work among the natives.^* He preached in the large room of the factory where he resided, and when occasion offered, on the ships in the harbor at Whampoa.'^ In December he closed his year's work and left for Batavia on a tour of investigation for the American Board. Bridgman spent the year mostly in language study, but he found time for teaching a few boys, and for preaching and correspondence. By the end of the year he had also prepared some Scripture lessons in Chinese. ^° Most of 1831 passed without event. Bridgman and his little school spent the summer at Macao. ^'^ A press was sent out in the latter part of the year by Olyphant's church in New York,^^ and on its arrival and at the suggestion of Morrison and others, Bridgman determined to start a periodical. ^° This, the Chinese Repository, was as its title suggests, begun for the spread among foreigners of information concerning China, its laws, customs, dence in China and the Neighboring Countries, New York, 1836, pp. 61-74. Correspondence of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Mss. in their Library in Boston. Letter of Bridgman to Jer'h Evarts, Mar. S, 1830. The date on the letter is Feb. S) but other docu- ments prove this to have been a slip of the pen. ^* Abeel, Residence in China, p. 105. ^ Ibid., pp. 105-106, and 3d Annual R,ep. of Am. Seaman's Friend Soc, p. 3. ^ Correspondence of the A. B. C. F. M., in China, Nos. 21, 35, 37, 41. (Letters and Journal of Bridgman.) Abeel, Residence in China, p. 131. The Life and Labors of Elijah Coleman Bridgman, edited by Eliza J. Gillett Bridgman with an introductory note by Asa D. Smith. New York, 1864, pp. 43-57. ''Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., China, 1831-7, No. 44. Bridgman to Evarts, June 13, 1831. ^ Morrison had wished a press sent out with the American mission in the first place. Letter from him in Missny. Herald, 26 : 366. Frederick Wells Williams, The Life and Letters of Samuel Wells Williams, LL.D., Missionary, Diplomatist, Sinologue, New York, 1889. Letter of Wil- liams, p. 78. The press arrived in December, 1831, and the type came months later. Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., China, Nos. 53, 60, letters of Bridgman, Dec. 30, 1831, and Apr. 18, 1832. " Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., China, No. 60, and Bridgman, Life and Letters of Bridgman, p. 74. Digitized by Microsoft® 92 Kenneth S. Latourette, history, and current events, and concerning missions to the Chinese. It was put in a form designed to make it o£ interest to the reader not primarily concerned with religious matters.*" It was begun in May, 1832,*^ and for the first yett or two was the source of much anxiety to Bridgman. He feared that the American Board would not approve of it*^ and that it would not be a financial success. It was undertaken for the first year by the Christian Union of Canton, a local organization, but Bridg- man wrote in April, 1833, that it could not "be carried forward without considerable expense and against many difficulties."*^ Later, probably in January or February, 1834, Olyphant came to the rescue, guaranteeing the expense and furnishing a building which housed the magazine for over forty years.** The same year in which the Repository was begun saw the arrival at Canton of a successor to Abeel, Rev. Edwin Stevens.*^ He reached China in June, the first of those Yale graduates who were later to have so large a part in missions to China. He con- tinued his work for four and a half years, the last nine months being in the service of the American Board. He died January 5, 1837, while on a trip to Borneo.*^ The chaplaincy to the sea- *° It continued to be published long after 1844, and is one of the best sources for the history of the foreign relations of China throughout this period. Bridgraan remained its editor until 1851. Bridgman, Life and Letters of Bridgman, p. 74. " Ibid. " Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., China, 1831-7, Bridgman to Anderson, Jan. 19, 1833, "I am very anxious to know what you think of the Repository. Shall it go on?" *■ Ibid., No. 73. " Corres. A. B. C. F. M., China, 1831-7, No. 89, Bridgman to Anderson, Feb. 4, 1838. The letter told of Olyphant's offer, and concluded: "The expense of the first volume will be something to him, — ^perhaps and per- haps not, — but for the second we hope there will be no charge, for a little extra work we intend that the office shall pay for itself." S. W. Wil- liams was not quite exact when he wrote that "when the Chinese Reposi- tory was commenced he [Olyphant] offered to bear the loss of its pub- lication, if it proved a failure." (Williams, Life and Letters of S. Wells Williams, p. 78.) The guarantee, although including the first volume in its scope, was not made until later. " Ch. Rep., 1 : 243- " Alexander Wylie, Memorials of Protestant Missionaries to the Chinese, Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 93 men left vacant by him was never filled. Rev. J. W. Newton accepted the place, but seems not to have taken up the work,*^ and the American Seaman's Friend Society, which had joined in beginning the American Mission to China, disappeared from the field.« In 1833, perhaps partly in response to an appeal which Morri- son and Bridgman had made in 1832,*" two more men arrived, Samuel Wells Williams, and Rev. Ira Tracy. Williams came to take charge of the press, and Tracy as an additional missionary. They sailed from the United States in 1833 on one of Olyphant's ships, the "Morrison,'' and arrived in China in October.^" Tracy left Canton soon afterward to be stationed at Singapore. In 1834 the growing mission at Canton received a serious check. Leang-Afa, the first Chinese convert, together with a fellow disciple, had been distributing many Christian books in and around Canton. ^'^ In that year Lord Napier, the first British superintendent of trade, reached Canton, and trouble arose which resulted in the Chinese stopping the English trade. Napier, failing to make an impression on the governor, issued a printed proclamation to the Chinese people — an indiscreet act for a diplomatist — in which he stated his case. This angered the authorities and search was made for the natives who had helped to pubHsh the appeal. The mission's printing office was raided, Leang-Afa and several other Chinese were seized, and although released later, felt it best to leave the city for a time.^^ The dis- orders had already frightened away Bridgman's Chinese teacher and pupils,''^ and this added trouble, together with the death of Giving a list of their Publications and Obituary notices of the Deceased. Shanghai, 1867, p. 84, and Ch. Rep., s : 513. "9th Annual Rep., Am. Seaman's Friend Soc. '^ Up to 1844, as their annual reports show, they had obtained no successor to Stevens who actually reached the field. *' Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., China, 1831-7, Sept. 4, 1832. "Williams, Life and Letters of S. W. Williams, p. 49, Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., China, 1831-7, No. 78, Bridgman to Anderson, Oct. 22, 1833. ''^ Missny. Herald, 30 : 192 ; 31 : 70. '^Williams, Mid. King., 2:328, and Joseph Tracy, History of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Worcester, 1840, p. 246. '^' Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., China, 1831-7, No. 10, Bridgman to Ander- son, Aug. 12, 1834. Digitized by Microsoft® 94 Kenneth S. Latourette, Morrison, cast a gloom over the scanty force and retarded its work.''* While the after swells of this squall were dying down, there arrived still another reenforcement, Peter Pa^er, the first medical missionary to China. Bridgman had felt the lack of such a man for some time.== Morrison and T. R. Cooledge had each begun dispensing medicines in 1827,^° but something more was needed, and to supply it, the American Board sent out Parker." He sailed June 3^* in one of Olyphant's ships and reached Canton October 26th.=' It was early decided that he should go to Singapore to learn the language, and after a year there he returned to Canton. Here, November 4, 1835, he opened an Ophthalmic Hospital.^" The suspicions of the Chinese were soon disarmed, and after the first year, Howqua, the chief hong merchant, gave him a building rent free.^^ Five days before this hospital was opened, Stevens returned from a remarkable voyage with Medhurst along the coast of China. In the closed condition of the Chinese Empire it was possible to do little more than to distribute printed matter and to trust to it for the work of evangeUzation. From June, 1831, to May, 1832, Gutzlaff, a German missionary, had made three " Ibid., No. 102, Oct. 31, 1834, Bridgman to Anderson. "■ Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., China, 1831-7, No. 83, Bridgman to Ander- son, Dec. 26, 1833. He desires that Tracy's place at Canton be occupied immediately by an able physician. ". . . . all of us are anxious that such a man should be here." ™ Williams, Mid. King., 2 : 333. " Stevens, Life of Parker, pp. 5-99. "' Parker was a New Englander by birth, and had been educated at Amherst and Yale, taking his A.B. at the latter institution in 1831, and later completing a medical and theological course there. While a senior in college he had decided to enter the mission field and had become a warm friend of Stevens. . In 1834 he was ordained. Wylie, Memorial of Prot. Missionaries. ='' Ibid, and Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., China, 1831-7, No. 173. Parker to Anderson, Oct. 30, 1834. °° George B. Stevens, The Life, Letters, and Journals of the Rev. and Hon. Peter Parker, M.D., etc., Boston and Chicago, 1896, pp. 106-119. A. P. Stokes, in Memorials of Eminent Yale Men. New Haven, 1914. " Williams, Mid. King., 2 : 333-7. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 95 voyages along the coast, selling and distributing religious and scientific works. ^^ Much criticism, however, was raised in some quarters by the fact that at least one of these voyages had been in connection with the opium traffic."' Still there was felt to be a larger opportunity here, and the missionary world was stirred to action by the German's reports. In the summer of 1835, Medhurst, who had been working among the Chinese in Batavia, came to Canton at the request of Morrison (through the London Missionary Society) to undertake a similar voyage. Through the agency of Olyphant and Company, he succeeded in obtaining the American brig "Huron," Thomas Winsor, master,"* and took Edwin Stevens with him. They left August 26th, and by October 31st had visited the provinces of Shantung and Fuhkien, whose dialects Medhurst could speak, and the port of Shanghai. In Shantung they were able to travel overland some distance, meeting with only occasional resistance; but at Shanghai they were rudely received and were followed down the coast by war junks. "^ The effect of the voyage was to show that settled mission work was still impossible in the Empire, but an increased knowledge of the natives was gained, and some indi- cations were found that the opening of China would not be long deferred. The year 1836 was a quiet one for the missionaries of the American Board. Bridgman was busy assisting Medhurst and J. R. Morrison in a revision of Morrison's translation of the °° Williams, Mid. King., 2 : 328-329. Carl Friedrich August Giitzlaff, The Journal of Two Voyages along the coast of China in 1831 and 1832, etc., New York, 1833. The fact that these were published in Eng- lish and in New York shows the interest with which they were followed in the United States. °° Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., China, 1831-7, No. 205, Stevens to Anderson, Mar. 6, 1834. " W. H. Medhurst, China : Its State and Prospects with especial Reference to the Spread of the Gospel, etc., London, 1838, pp. 365-367, and Ch. Rep., 4:308-335. This publishes part of the journal kept by Stevens during the voyage. °^ Ch. Rep., 4 : 308-335. See other accounts, not, however, with the value of this one, in Williams, Mid. King., 2 : 329-330, and Foster, Christian Progress in China, p. 139. Digitized by Microsoft® 96 Kenneth S. Latourette, Bible.^^ The chapel formerly occupied by the factory of the East India Company was obtained and the congregations increased somewhat."' Williams, whom they feared would be transferred to Singapore, still stayed on, busy v^h his press.** Language study and printing were quietly pursued, but no dis- turbances or new enterprises marked the year. The year was made noteworthy, however, by the entrance of the American Baptist Board upon the Canton work. The pos- sibilities of missions for the Chinese were becoming increasingly attractive to American churches. The Presbyterian and Dutch Reformed bodies, which had thus far acted with the American Board, were beginning to talk of independent action.*' In April and May, 1836, the Missionary Lyceum of Wesleyan University, at Middletown, Connecticut, brought strongly to the attention of the Methodist Missionary Society the needs of China, and pre- liminary steps were taken to raise money for a mission there.'" The first organization to take definite action, however, to join the American Board in its work was the Baptist Society. This had sent out its first missionary to the Chinese, Rev. William Dean, in 1834,'^ but he had settled in Bangkok. Its first mis- sionaries to China proper. Rev. J. Lewis Shuck and his wife, Henrietta Hall Shuck, arrived there September, 1836.'^ Mr. and Mrs. Shuck were Virginians and introduced a new element into the rather conservative northern missionary body at Canton. They left Boston, September azd, 1835,'^ stopped for a time at °° Bridgman, Life of Bridgman, p. 100. °' Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., China, 1831-7, No. 123, Bridgman to Ander- son, Jan. 29, 1836. °'Ibid., No. II, April 3, 1835, Williams and Bridgman to Anderson, and No. 13, Sept. 8, 1836, the Mission to Anderson. ^ Ibid., Letter of Abeel to Anderson, July 23, 1835, told of the difficulties on this score. " Missions and Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, by J. M. Reid, revised and extended by J. T. Gracey. 3 v., New York, c. 1895. 1:411; 412. The project for a mission to China rested until after 1844. " Dean, China Mission, p. 95. "J. B. Jeter, Memoir of Mrs. Henrietta Shuck, The First American Female Missionary to China, Boston, 1846, p. 221. " Ibid., p. 40. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 97 Singapore/* and settled at Macao, where they began their work. Shuck baptized his first convert, Ah Loo, February i, 1837, numerically, a larger showing than Bridgman had had in the first five years of his missionary career, but the step proved hasty, as the fellow apostatized within eighteen months.'"' Life in China proved to be rather trying to Mr. and Mrs. Shuck. Rela- tions with the other missions were not always cordial, the older workers being inclined to look upon these younger ones as unduly insistent on denominational differences, and perhaps superficial in their methods'"; living expenses were high and salaries inadequate — $750 for the married missionary as contrasted with the $1,000 which the American Board found it necessary to pay its unmarried men. The restless Shuck attempted to get to Hainan by native boat to see if it could be opened to missionary enterprise only to be forced to return without having reached the island.'^ As an independent worker affiliated with this Baptist mission, there arrived in 1837, Rev. Issacher J. Roberts, a man of great religious zeal, but of unbalanced optimism. He was born in Tennessee in 1802'^ and obtained an imperfect education in the Furman Theological Institution of South Carolina. He began his preaching career in 1825, and worked in the South as pastor and as agent of the American Colonization Society and of the Sunday School Union."" He thought for a time of going to Liberia as a missionary. A year or two later he organized the " Baptist Missny. Mag., 17 : 174, Extracts from Shuck's Journal. "Jeter, Memoir of Mrs. Shuck, pp. 103, 121. '°In Corres. of the A. B. C. F. M., Foreign Vol., p. 37, is a letter of Anderson to the China Mission, Mar. 13, 1838, in reply to a letter of Parker, who was somewhat irritated, trying to smooth things over. In the correspondence of the American Baptist Missionary Union, Mss., in their rooms in Boston, there is a letter from Shuck, Jan. 14, 1842, telling how he had immersed an American ship-master, T. Rogers, a former Presbj^erian, and of the consequent displeasure of the "pedo-baptists." "Letter of Shuck to Secy. Peck, Feb. 21, 1837, in Corres. of A. B. M. U. ™Wylie, Memorials of Prot. Missionaries, p. 94. Hei^^ey, The Story of Baptist Missions, p. 512. " Corres. of A. B. M. U., Roberts to BoUes, July s, 1834. Wylie says that he was ordained in 1833, but he may have been licensed before this year. Wylie, Mem. of Prot. Missionaries, p. 93. Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. XXII 7 1917 Digitized by Microsoft® 98 Kenneth S. Latourette, "Roberts Fund and China Mission Society" and turned over to it his property, his hope being that it would attract additional aid as the years went by.*" Under this society he sailed from honie, in 1837,*^ and on his arrival at Macao took u^ his residence with Shuck. He worked in Macao for several years, preaching for a time to a colony of lepers.*^ In addition to the arrival of Roberts the year 1837 was marked by one other incident of importance, the visit of the "Morrison" to Japan. This voyage, significant in history as one of the early attempts to open that empire, was an American undertaking from Canton, entirely pacific and largely philan- thropic in its motive. Its primary purpose was to return to their homes seven shipwrecked Japanese. Three of these had been driven across the Pacific, wrecked on the Northwest Coast of America and sent by the Hudson Bay Company via London to Canton; and the other four were rescued from a wreck near Manila.*^ In July, 1837, Olyphant and Company, who had taken care of them for some time, dispatched the "Morrison" to return them to Japan. With the ship went C. W. King, Parker, Williams, and Giitzlaff.** The party stopped at the Lew Chew Islands, where they were well received, and instead of going to Nagasaki, the only Japanese port where any foreign trade was allowed, sailed directly for Yedo Bay. Here they anchored for three days, holding some communication with the Japanese, but were fired on at the end of that time and withdrew. They went next to Kagoshima Bay, and were at first fairly well received, but later they were again fired on, and left without landing their refugees. They reached China, August 29th, their primary aim unattained. Through these same refugees, how- ever, some acquaintance with the language of their country was obtained by Williams, who later (in 1853 and 1854) acted as "Corres. of A. B. M. U., Circular letter of Roberts to the Society, Feb. 18, 1841. See also, Wylie, Memorials, etc., p. 94, Hervey, Baptist Miss., p. 512. "' Corres. of A. B. M. U., Roberts to Bolles, Jan. 25, 1837. "'Hervey, The Story of Baptist Missions, p. 513. ^ Ch. Rep., 6 : 209-229, 333-380, narrative of S. W. Williams. ''They took with them an assortment of articles of trade for use in case it should be found possible to open commercial relations. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 99 interpreter tp the Perry expedition, and some foreign books were translated into Japanese and printed.*' The year intervening between this expedition and the outbreak of the opium troubles was one of quiet growth. The Ophthalmic Hospital continued its work with increasing success.*" Bridg- man had seen the completion of the revision of the Scriptures in 1836*' and was working on various pieces of translation and composition, among them a Chinese history of the United States, a Chrestomathy and Tonic Dictionary, and the ever-present Chinese Repository.** Preaching services were conducted for foreigners, distribution of books and tracts went on among the Chinese, and small schools for boys were still continuing.*" Abeel was back for part of the time, and in 1839 Mr. and Mrs. S. R. Brown came out as reenforcements. Closely connected with the work of the missionaries sent from the United States and Great Britain were a number of societies organized in China by the foreign residents. Under the stimulus of the compact community life and of the missionaries and a few earnestly religious merchants the decade preceding the opium troubles saw a number of these begun. Although formed and carried on partly by the British and partly by the Ameri- cans, they obtained most of their men from the United States. The first society was the "Christian Union at Canton.'' It was organized in the latter part of 1830 by Robert and John Morrison, Abeel, King (a nephew of Olyphant), a Moravian surgeon on an East India Company's ship, a young British midshipman, and Bridgman."" As the latter wrote : it "was forrhed to give more ^ Four accounts of this voyage by men who shared in it are by C. W. King, in the first volume of the Claims of Japan and Malaysia upon Christendom, Exhibited in Notes of Voyages made in 1837, 2 v., New York, 1839,, by S. Wells Williams in the Chinese Rep., 6 : 209-229, in a letter by him to Anderson in Williams, Life and Letters of S. W. Wil- liams, pp. 94-98, and in Stevens, Life of Parker, p. 141 et sqq. Among the other accounts are brief ones in Callahan, Am. Rel. in the Pacific, p. 74, and Foster, Am. Dip. in Orient, pp. 137-140. *■ See reports in Ch. Rep., 4 : 461-473 and passim. ^ Williams, Mid. King., 2 : 363-364. ^Missny. Herald, 34: 17, 339, 349. ™ Ibid., 35 : 212-214. " Corres. of the A. B. C. F. M., China, 1831-7, No. 37, Bridgman to Evarts, Jan. 27, 1831. Digitized by Microsoft® loo Kenneth S. Latourette, wisdom and strength to our eiforts and better security to our friends abroad. It will not interfere with individual and private conduct ; while it will give counsel and support to all, and have general supervision of the several objects of Christian benevo- lence which may come within its reach. It has commenced a depository and library. ... It has or will soon open a corre- spondence with the several missionary stations between the capes."'^ It pubHshed "Chinese Scripture Lessons for Schools"'^ and guaranteed the expenses of the Chinese Repository for the first year.»^ After the Repository was guaranteed by Olyphant the Christian Union seems to have ended its specific usefulness, and to have lost itself in the societies formed later for more specialized activities. A second organization was that for the "Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China," formed in December, 1834. Its purpose was "to prepare and publish, in a cheap form, plain and easy treatises in the Chinese language on such branches of useful knowledge as are suited to the existing state and condition of the Chinese Empire."'* In four years it had issued almanacs, and a "collection of elementary and useful information used by the young and by men of imperfect education," which included some modified Aesop's Fables, a universal history, and a history of England. A description of the United States and a history of the Jews were about to come out, and other works were in preparation."^ It was a larger organization than the Christian Union, but as in time its work came to be done by other agencies it was allowed to lapse. "Corres. of the A. B. C. F. M., China, 1831-7, No. 37, Bridgman to Evarts, Jan. 27, 1831. See also, Tracy, History of the Am. Bd., p. 201. '^ Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., China, 1831-7. " See Bridgman to Anderson, April 5, 1833, Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., China, 1831-7, No. 73. Tracy says that if the work had been unsuccess- ful, but a fourth part of the expense would have fallen on the American Board, which implies that the Christian Union guaranteed only three- fourths of the expenses (Hist, of Am. Bd., p. 224), but he does not quote his authority. I am inclined to think that Tracy may be right, and that Bridgman's statement was merely a general one. " Williams, Mid. King., 2 : 340. "^ Fourth Annual Report of the Society, Nov. 21, 1838, Ch. Rep., 7 : 399-410. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. loi Next in order of age was the Morrison Education Society. Robert Morrison's life had made a deep impression upon the foreigners in Canton, and they felt that some permanent memorial should be raised to him. In January, 1835, a paper suggesting the formation of a society was circulated and by February 24th, twenty-two signatures of English and Americans and $4,860 had been obtained. A provisional committee of six was then appointed, two of whom were Americans. The organization's object was to establish and support schools in China to teach the natives the English language, western learning, and Chris- tianity. Youths of either sex might be taken, the ages preferred being six, eight, and ten years ; pupils might be sent to Malacca, India, Europe, or America for a finishing course. It was to be directed by five trustees, resident in China, but tutors and teachers were to be obtained from Europe and the United States."" In the first two years of the society's existence, instruction was given to five or six boys, and some aid to Mrs. Giitzlaff, who had gathered a few children around her in Macao."^ Applica- tion was early made to the British and Foreign School Society for aid and counsel,"^ and attempts were made to get teachers in England and America. In the latter country Professors Silliman, Goodrich, and Gibbs, all of Yale — ^whose halls had already furnished China with Parker and Stevens — ^were appointed a committee to secure an appointee, and after two unsuccessful attempts,^' Rev. Samuel R. Brown, a Yale grad- uate of the class of 1832, was selected.^"" He reached China February 23, 1839, and at once took a few children into his home. With occasional interruptions caused by war and a trip " Proceedings relative to the Formation of the Morrison Education Society, Ch. Rep., 5 : 373. See too, Williams, Mid. King., 2 : 341-345. " First Annual Rep., Sept. 27, 1837. Ch. Rep., 6 : 229, and second annual report, October, 1838, Ch. Rep., 7 : 301-310. Yung Wing, My Life in China and America, New York, 1909. ■* Chinese Rep., 5 : 378. " Second Annual Report of Morrison Educ. Soc, Oct., 1838, Ch. Rep., 7:301-310. "" Third Annual Rep. of same, Sept. 29, 1841, Ch. Rep., 10 : 564-587. See too, Trumbull, Old Time Student Volunteers, p. 114, and Ch. Rep., 7 : sso. Griffis, A Maker of the New Orient, is a Biography of Brown. Digitized by Microsoft® 102 Kenneth S. Latourette, to Singapore, the school was held continuously for, a number of years. ^"^ A fourth society formed by the foreign residents in China had its origin in Parker's medical work. He reacheJ*China in 1834 and opened the Ophthalmic Hospital in 1835. In October, 1836, Parker, Cooledge (an English merchant), and Bridgman, feeling that the time had come for further action, issued a pamphlet suggesting that a society be formed to aid in the medical w'ork."^ Nearly a year and a half later, in February, 1838, the "Medical Missionary Society in China" was formed. Its object was to "encourage gentlemen of the medical profession to come and practice gratuitously among the Chinese, by affording the usual aid of hospitals, medicine, and attendants : but .... the sup- port or remuneration of such medical gentleman [was] .... not at present within its contemplation."^"^ The Ophthalmic Hospital was at once taken over,"* and thanks to the generosity of Howqua and the efforts of Olyphant, was put on a secure basis and in a permanent home.^"' Because of the impossibility of caring for all who would have applied, treatment was largely, although not exclusively, confined to eye diseases. Even with these limitations, the wards were crowded, and many patients had to be turned away.^"" In April, 1838, at the society's request, Parker opened a hospital at Macao. At first it met with much suspicion,^"' but this gradually disappeared and in 1839, Dr. Wil- liam Lockhart, of the London Missionary Society, was appointed to devote his entire time to it."^"^ Dr. William B. Diver, an "'Ch. Rep., 10:582; 11:337. ^"^ Proposition for the Formation of a Medical Missionary Society in China, Ch. Rep., S : 371. See too, Stevens, Life of Parker, p. 134. '™ Formation of the Medical Missionary Society in China, Feb. 21, 1838, Ch. Rep., 7 : 32-44- "* Ibid., and Williams, Mid. King., 2 : 333-337. Lockhart, Med. Missny. in China, p. 124. "' Lockhart, Med. Missny. in China, p. 174. See description of the hospital in Downing, The Stranger in China, 2: 11-14. '^ Report of Ophthalmic Hospital at Canton, Jan. i to June 30, 1838, showed 1,02s patients admitted during the six months. Ch. Rep., 7:92-95. ^" First Rep. of the Med. Missny. Soc.'s Hospital at Macao, July 5- Oct. I, 1838, Ch. Rep., 7:411-419. "= Ch. Rep., 7 : 551. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 103 American, and an Englishman, Dr. Benjamin Hobson, were accepted by the society in the same year.^"^ One more society needs to be noted, the Seaman's Friend Association in China. Like the others, it was formed by the coterie of British and American merchants and missionaries who Hved at Canton. It was organized January 3, 1839, for the promotion of the welfare of all foreign seamen in Chinese waters."" For a time it did good work, making an examination of the conditions of the crews on board American and British ships, and holding some religious services. ^^^ The approach of war, however, seems to have interrupted its operations and we hear no more of it. The second great branch of early Protestant missions to the Chinese, was, as we have noted, that outside the Empire. Three purposes actuated missionary work there. The large numbers of Chinese were an extensive field in themselves. Then there was the hope that some might be reached who would carry back to China the Christian message. And there was the opportunity for the study of the language and the establishment of presses and schools until the time when the Empire should be opened. In the main, three large groups of Chinese colonists were easily accessible to missionaries. There was one in Java, centering at Batavia, where for the time being the Dutch government was tolerant. In the Straits Settlements, Malacca and Singapore, there was another, also under European control. At Bangkok there was still a third, under native rule it is true, but open to foreign commerce and residence. There were other groups in Borneo, in the Philippines, and in Indo-China, but they were all for one reason or another either almost or entirely inaccessible. At the beginning of American missionary effort, these facts were not clearly recognized. The conditions of the Far Eastern Islands and Southern Asia from a missionary standpoint were not fully known, and it was felt advisable to send some one to ™ Ch. Rep., 10 : 448-453. William Lockhart, The Medical Missionary in China, A Narrative of Twenty Years' Experience, London, 1861, p. 127. "°Ch. Rep., 7:477-484. "' Quarterly Report of Seaman's Friend Assn. in China, July, 1839, Ch. Rep., 8: 120-121. Digitized by Microsoft® 104 Kenneth S. Latourette, gather first-hand knowledge of the situation. This was the work that Abeel took up for the American Board after his term of service at Canton as seaman's chaplain. He left China late in 1830 and visited Batavia, Singapore, and Bangkok In January, 1832, he returned to Singapore, and then made a second visit to Bangkok, distributing books and tracts among the Chinese junks. He returned to Singapore in November, 1832, and took the place of Burn, the English chaplain, only to be compelled by failing health to go to America.^" A few years later another voyage was undertaken, this time by Talbot, Olyphant and Company, and on a larger scale. In 1836 they had purchased the brig "Himaleh" for the purpose of aiding missionaries in distributing books along the China coast, but no one familiar with that- work could be obtained, and the vessel was sent instead to the Malay Archipelago, Stevens and an agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, G. Tradescant Lay, accompanying her. The venture was not very successful, as Stevens died on the trip and the burden of the work was thrown on Captain Frazer, a man poorly fitted to assume it.^^^ Before this last voyage had begun, permanent American mis- sions had been located at all three of the great centers of emigrant population. The earliest Protestant missionary effort for the Chinese of Singapore was in 1819, when an Englishman, Mr. Milton, founded the work.^^* The first American missionary stationed there was Rev. Ira Tracy. He left New York in June, 1833, with S. W. Williams, landing with him at Canton. In July, 1834, he removed to Singapore and worked there until his death, 1841.^^° Dr. Peter Parker, soon after his arrival in the East, spent several months in the same city in learning the language. Incidentally he conducted a dispensary there, and when in August, 1835, he returned to Canton, he left this and ^"^ Abeel, Journal, p. 318. Dean, China Mission, pp. 176-192; G. R. Williamson, Memoir of David Abeel, D.D., Late Missionary to China. New York, 1848, pp. loo-iig. ^■^ Notices .... of the Indian Arch., G. T. Lay, Ch. Rep., 6:305 et sqq. Williams, Mid. King., 2:330-331. G. T. Lay, the second volume of "The Claims of Japan and Malaysia on Christendom." "* Medhurst, China, p. 327. "' Wylie, Memorials of Prot. Missionaries, p. 79. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 105 two -schools to Tracy. In the following October the latter baptized the first Chinese convert made by the American Board. ^^'' Missionary supporters in America were at this time very strongly in favor of the distribution of Christian literature, and this sentiment was to be the controlling one in Chinese missions for the next few years.^^^ The missionaries fell in with the plan : a press was started by Tracy at Singapore, and Parker wrote home for money, equipment, and men.^^^ The American Board responded to the demand, and in May and June, 1833, wrote to Bridgman urging the early foundation of. a printing establish- ment somewhere in the south-east of Asia.^^^ In March, 1836, Bridgman was able to announce that a full printing establishment at Singapore had been purchased, consisted of two presses, of fonts of English, Arabic, Bugis, and Siamese type, arid of other necessary equipment.^^" From this press various works were issued in Chinese, as well as in these other languages. Additions came to the Singapore mission. In December, 1836, Matthew B. Hope, Rev. Joseph H. Travelli, and Stephen Tracy arrived^^^ ; in 1837 Rev. J. T. Dickinson^^^ ; and in 1838 Dr. Dyer Ball and Rev. George W. Wood, all of the American Board. "^ William J. Pohlman of the same society, who was first stationed in Borneo, came later. ^-'' In 1838 the Presbyterian Board sent out two men.^^^ By 1840 Singapore was the most important Protestant mission station among the Chinese. The second great accessible group of colonists from the Middle Kingdom, that in Siam, centered at Bangkok, a city whose popu- lation was half or two-thirds Chinese. ^^^ In 1829 or 1830'Tomlin "" Tracy, Hist, of Am. Bd., p. 258. "'Missny. Herald, 36:208. '•* Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., China, 1831-7, No. 190. Parker to Ander- son, Feb. 19, 1835. "' Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., China, 1831-7. "^ Ibid., No. 8, Bridgman to Board, Mar. i, 1836. '" Tracy, Hist, of the Am. Bd., pp. 270 et sqq. "^ Ch. Rep., 16 : 12-13. ^ Ibid., and Dean, The China Mission, p. 196, Wylie, Mem. of Prot. Missions, p. 107. "' Dean, The China Mission, p. 357. "=Ch. Rep., 16:12-13. "° Malcolm estimated the Chinese population at 60,000 and that of the city at 100,000. William Gammell, A History of American Baptist Digitized by Microsoft® io6 Kenneth S. Latourette, and Giitzlaff, neither of them Americans, visited Bangkok and called attention to its strategic position."^ In the summer of 183 1 Abeel and Tomlin spent several months there,^^^ and Abeel was there again in 1832.1^" The first resident mianonary was an American Baptist from Burmah, Rev. John Taylor Jones, who set out for Siam in 1831"" but was delayed at Singapore and did not reach Bangkok until March, 1833."^ He began work promptly and in the same year baptized four Chinese and opened a school for boys.^'^ In June, 1833, Rev. Stephen Johnson and Rev. Robinson left the United States under the American Board and reached Bangkok in 1834 after stopping for a time at Batavia and Singapore. The former spent his time among the Chinese, the latter among the Siamese."^ Rev. WiUiam Dean and his wife sailed from America in July, 1834, under the Baptist Board.^'* Dean was detained for a time at Singapore, where his wife died, and where he himself had a narrow escape from death at the hands of some Malay pirates.^'^ He reached Bangkok about the middle of 1835. Near this same time, Dr. Bradley of the American Board arrived in the city and began medical prac- tice among the Chinese and Siamese, principally the latter.^^^ The work of the American Board continued with Johnson in Missions in Asia, Europe, and North America. Boston, 1849, p. 188. Ruschenberger estimated the Chinese population at 400,000 ; Voyage Round the World, pp. 310-314. '" Missny. Herald, 26 : 216. ^°J. Tomlin, Missionary Journals and Letters Written during Eleven Years Residence and Travel Amongst the Chinese, Siamese, Javanese, Khassis, and other Eastern Nations. London, 1844, pp. 306 et sqq. '^"Williamson, Memoir of D. Abeel, p. 104-114. '°°H. Clay Trumbull, Old Time Student Volunteers, My Memories of Missionaries, New York, 1902, p. 85. "' Gammell, Hist, of Am. Bap. Missions, p. 187. "' Ibid. The month that he arrived, a treaty was signed between Siam and the United States which gave greater security to American residents in the country. I'^Wylie, Memorials of Prot. Missionaries, p. 80. '" Dean, China Mission, p. 233. Gammell, Hist, of Am. Bap. Missions, p. igo, says September, 1834, but Dean is, of course, to be preferred. "' Dean, China Mission, pp. 233, 97. "° He was molested somewhat by the government. Tracy, Hist, of Am. Bd., p. 257- Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 107 charge of the Chinese side of it, and with the assistance of Benham and Peet, who were sent out in 1839.^'' Emphasis was laid upon preaching, distribution of tracts, and education, with some assistance in medicine given by Bradley. ^^^ The Baptist Mission, in addition to Dean, had Rev. Alanson Reed, who reached the city in July, 1836, only to die of dysentery August 29th, 1837^'°; and Rev. Josiah Goddard, who arrived in Octo- ber, 1840.^^" In December, 1835, Dean baptized three converts and organized a church, probably the first Protestant church for Chinese. ^*^ In July, 1838, three members were added by bap- tism,^*^ and in October, 1839, another group of three."^ Some of the early converts fell away,^** but these last seem to have remained steadfast, and by 1841 the church had increased its Chinese membership to thirteen. ^*^ A dispensary was opened, of course,^*^ and that other useful accompaniment of a mission sta- tion, a school.^*^ It was the day of small things; in 1839 the school numbered only thirteen, and Sunday congregations averaged from but twenty to fifty.^*^ Those in charge were hopeful, however, and regarded their work merely as preparatory to a larger labor in China when that empire should be opened. The third accessible group of Chinese colonists, that center- ing around Batavia, had long been under the control of the Dutch and was in 1816 returned to their charge after the retro- cession of Java by England, but what missionary work the Dutch had done seems to have had no influence upon American efforts. As elsewhere, the English were the pioneers. In 181 7 Medhurst I "'Benham was drowned soon after his arrival. Dean, China Mis- sion, p. 94. ''^ Annual Rep. of the A. B. C. F. M., 1839, Missny. Herald, 35 : 10. "°Dean, China Mission, p. 359. ^" Ibid., p. 279, and Gammell, Hist, of Am. Bap. Missions, p. 193. "'Dean, China Missions, p. 115. '"Annual Rep. of Bap. Missny. Soc, June, 1839. The Baptist Mis- sionary Magazine, Boston, 1821 et sqq., 19 : 143-4. '" Ibid., June, 1840, Bap. Missny. Mag., 20 : 143. "^Journal of Dean, Bap. Missny. Mag., 18:30. '" Ibid, for June, 1841, Bap. Missny. Mag., 21 : 189. '"Dean's Journal, May 25, 183S, Bap. Missny. Mag., 16:45. '"Annual Rep. of Bap. General Convention, April, 1839. Bap. Missny. Mag., 19 : 143. '** Bapt. Missny. Mag., 19 : 143 ; 16 : 193. Digitized by Microsoft® io8 Kenneth S. Latourette, and Slater of the London Missionary Society began work. The former was there for many years, and his work and example greatly stimulated American interest. Abeel visited Batavia in 183 1 while making his survey for the America* Board."' He was welcomed by Medhurst, but his advances to the Dutch churches on behalf of the American Dutch Reformed Congre- gations did not meet with hearty response.^^" The first resident American missionaries were sent out in 1833 by the American Board. Here, as in Bangkok, there were two races to be reached, and of this first band of workers one, Rev. Samuel Munson, was directed to specialize on the Chinese, while the other. Rev. Henry Lyman, was to give his time to the Malays.^^^ They sailed June 10, 1833, with Johnson and Robinson, the men who were to open the mission of the American Board at Bangkok.^^^ They were instructed to make a short stay in Batavia, and were then to explore the neighboring archipelago for places open to Christian teachers.^^^ Their work lasted but a brief time, for while explor- ing in Sumatra they were both killed by the hostile Battaks.^^* Undiscouraged by the loss, the American Board sent out two additional men. Rev. Elihu Doty, a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, and Rev. Elbert Nevius, in 1836, and Rev. William J. Pohlman in 1837.^^^ About 1838 the Dutch govern- ment, heretofore indifferent, began a more exclusive policy, for- bidding missionary residence anywhere in its possessions except in Borneo. '^^^ The mission was forced to move there, but did not prosper in its new home, and when at last China was opened. Doty and Pohlman were glad to go to Amoy.^'^ "' Williamson, Memoir of Abeel, p. 84. '^ Francis Warriner, Cruise of the United States Frigate Potomoc Round the World during the Years 1831-1834. New York, 1835, pp. 145-147- ""Missny. Herald, 31:17, Jan., 1835. "°Wylie, Memorial of Prot. Missionaries, p. 80. ^'"William Thompson, Memoirs of the Rev. Samuel Munson and the Rev. Henry Lyman, etc., New York, 1839. '" Ibid. "" Wylie, Memorial, pp. 97, 99. ""Annual Reports of the A. B. C. F. M., Jan. 1839, and Jan. 1840, in Missny. Herald, 35: 11 and 36: 11. "' Ch. Rep., 16:12-13. In addition, there were in this Borneo Mission Jacob Ennis, William Youngblood, Frederick B. Thompson, and Miss Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 109 Another American missionary society, "The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States," estabhshed a station in Batavia. In May, 1834, it determined to begin work in China as soon as the proper man presented himself. In July, Rev. Henry Lockwood was appointed, and in March, 1835, Rev. Francis R. Hanson. The two sailed in a few months and arrived at Canton October 29th, 1835. Here they found the field of labor so limited that they soon removed to Singapore to learn the language, and after a few months spent there, they went to Batavia.^^^ Here they planned to learn the language, to prepare and distribute tracts, and to establish schools and a dispensary,^'' the usual missionary program of the time. Both, however, had but a short term of service. Hanson retired in 1837 because of poor health,^"" and Lockwood in 1838 for the same reason.^"^ The mission thus imperilled was saved by Rev. William Jones Boone, M.D., after- ward Bishop Boone. He arrived at Batavia in October, 1837, and worked there until 1840, seemingly escaping the restrictions of the Dutch government. In the latter year, however, when affairs in the Chinese Empire were approaching a crisis, he brought his work in Java to an end and went to Macao.^"^ A. C. Condit, but they do not seem to have been especially for the Chinese. Annual Report of the A. B. C. F. M., Jan., 1839, Missny. Herald, 35: 11. ^"'William Cutter, Missionary Efforts of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. In History of American Missions to the Heathen, Worcester, 1840, p. 590. Letter of Lockwood, Oct., 1836, in Spirit of Missions, 4:267 (Aug., 1839). Letter of Boone, Nov. 15, 1837, Spirit of Missions, 3 : 210. '°° Letter of Lockwood and Hanson, Oct., 1836, The Spirit of Missions, New York, 1837, 2 : 219, July, 1837. ^°° Spirit of Missions, 3 : 66. Wylie, Mem. of Prot. Miss., p. 88. "' Spirit of Missions, 4: 596, letter of Boone, Apr. 3, 1839. ^'^ Spirit of Missions, 7: 310. Digitized by Microsoft® CHAPTER V. The Period of the Opium Troubles and of the First British-Chinese War, Culminating in th* Treaties OF Nanking and Whanghia, 1839-1844. The last important set of incidents in the history of Ameri- can intercourse with China before 1845 cluster around the first British-Chinese war. With the close of the East India Com- pany's regime in Canton and the appointment of Lord Napier as superintendent of British trade, a series of conflicts began with the Chinese authorities which finally culminated in hostilities and in the treaties of 1842 and 1844. Although the struggle was between the British and Chinese alone, the interests of all Chris- tian peoples were deeply involved, and the events of the next few years must be recited in some detail wherever American rights were at stake. The beginning of the trouble dates back a few years before 1839. Lord Napier reached Macao July 15, 1834, to fill the office which at the close of the monopoly of the East India Com- pany had been created for the supervision of British trade. Almost immediately after his arrival he became involved in mis- understandings with the Chinese officials, and as a result the governor suspended the English trade, September 2, 1834.^ This practically stopped American commerce as welP; American merchants were detained at Whampoa^ and business was at a standstill. Lord Napier soon withdrew from Canton, however, and the restrictions were removed. The four succeeding years were ones of comparative quiet, but it was felt that a crisis was approaching, and that the Son of Heaven could no longer be permitted to hold himself aloof from Western intercourse. He must be brought to treat with fairness the stranger within his gates, and to hold direct intercourse with him. The inevitable conflict was precipitated by tiie opium question. The importation of this drug had been illegal since 1796,* but for fifty years it had been smuggled into the empire ' Williams, Hist, of China, p. 121. ''Davis, China, 1 : 119. ' Canton Register, September 23, 1834. 'Foster, Am. Dip. in Orient, pp. 64-73. The real effectiveness of the Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. m in ever increasing quantities.^ A large receiving station for it had grown up at Lintin, near Canton. It was smuggled in at various places along the coast, and a large traffic in it centered at Canton with the more or less open connivance of the Chinese officials. Most of tlie drug came from India, and through British channels, but there were few American firms at Canton who had not traded in it from time to time, and some had imported it extensively." As early as 1821 the American consul was served by the hong merchants with a request that all trade in opitim cease,' and the Terranova affair had been complicated by the fact that the "Emily" carried the drug. In the season of 1824-5, opium to the value of $133,000 was imported in American ships, ^ and in that of 1836-7, $275,921." Neither of these sums is large, however, compared with the total of American imports for these years — $6,567,969, and $3,678,696, respectively.^" It is of inter- est, moreover, that in Canton itself the chief foreign opponents of the traffic, aside from the missionaries, were to be found in the American firm of Olyphant and Company. They drew down on themselves a storm of criticism by taking a stand against it.^^ About 1836 the rapid growth of the trade began to con- prohibition dates from a second edict in 1800. Morse, Trade and Admin, of Chinese Empire, p. 329. " The amounts were : 4,000 chests, 1790 ; 17,000 chests, 1830 ; 35,000 chests, 1838. Foster, Am. Dip. in Orient, pp. 64-73. See too, Murray, Histl. and Descriptive Acct. of China, 3 : go. ° In 1830, one cargo, probably belonging to Thos. H. Perkins and Co., mostly opium, amounted to 160,000 pounds sterling. Testimony of Joshua Bates, Pari. Papers, 1830, 6 : 365. ' Hong Merchants to Wilcocks, Nov. 12, 1821. Consular Letters, Canton, I. * Sen. Doc. 31, i Sess., 19 Cong. "C." °Chin. Rep., 6:284-6. '"For the most part, the Americans imported the inferior Turkey opium. In 1836-7, they imported of Benares opium, s chests, valued at $3,415, and of Turkey opium, 446 peculs, valued at $272,506. Ch. Rep., 6 : 284-286. " They published a letter in the Canton Register, Aug. 21, 1838, against the traffic, and were severely scored editorially in the same paper as a result. Aug. 28, 1838. Four years later Commodore Kearney warned opium ships against using the American flag. Sen. Doc. 139, i Sess., 29 Cong., p. 14. Digitized by Microsoft® 112 Kenneth S. Latourette, cern deeply the imperial government, both because of the drain of specie it was causing and of the disastrous effect of the drug habit upon the Chinese people. Attempts to enforce the law became more frequent and finally resulted in detlrmined action. Early in December, 1836, some opium was seized while being landed and trade was suspended. The coolies who were handling the drug declared that it came from the American ship "Thomas Perkins," Talbot, consignee, and that they had been sent by Innes, a British merchant. The governor-general ordered the co-hong to expel Talbot and Innes. Talbot replied that the vessel had brought nothing but rice, and when Innes confirmed this state- ment, the case against the former was dropped, and the latter left the city. In the meantime the authorities determined to make an example of a convicted native opiiun dealer. They first attempted to execute him at the foot of the American flagstaff, but the foreigners forcibly interfered, and the punishment was carried out in another street. As a result of the incident, the American consul struck his flag,^^ and wrote to the Secretary of State : "I have on deliberation, resolved not to set ... . [it] .... again until the receipt of orders from you to that effect, or circumstances should make it proper to do so."^^ More important events were to follow. Late in 1838 the emperor appointed Lin Tse-sii special commissioner with the task of stamping out the entire opium traffic. Lin reached Canton March 10, 1839, and at once took drastic measures to carry out his instructions. His plan was nothing less than to destroy all the opium then in stock, and to induce the foreigners to give bonds to cease to import it. To compel the delivery of the opium, Lin caused all the foreign trade to be stopped (March 19), and the foreign merchants in Canton to be held in their factories as hostages, to be deprived of all servants, and to be shut off from all communication with their shipping and the outside world." The imprisonment lasted from March 24th to '^ Ch. Repos., 7 : 437-456 gives a full account of this trouble. " Consular Letters, Canton, 11. "W. C. Hunter, Journal of Occurrences during Cessation of Trade at Canton. Ms. in the Boston Athenaeum. Gideon Nye, Peking the Goal, Canton, 1873, p. 14. Letter of S. W. Williams, Apr. 3, 1839, Life and Letters of S. W. Williams, p. 114. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 113 May 5th, 1839, when the opium had been given up. Of the surrendered drug 1,540 chests belonged to Americans/^ but the American consul declared them to be merely held in charge for British subjects, and they were surrendered to Captain Elliot, the British superintendent of trade." While the foreigners were still confined to their hongs, Com- missioner Lin attempted (April 5th) to get them to give bond to introduce no more of the drug. The co-hong tried to induce the Anierican consul, Mr. Wetmore, and Mr. King, to sign such a paper on behalf of the United States. But the penalties were heavy- — death for all on board a ship bringing the drug, and personal responsibility of the guarantors for all smug- gling, the evidence of two coolies being sufficient to condemn — and the request was very naturally refused. Snow objected that it would call down on him the "severest censure and pun- ishment from his superiors,"^' but gladly agreed to the request that he solicit his government to allow no more opium ships to come.^' The controversy dragged on for several months. Finally on July third a number of American merchants and ship- masters signed the bond in a milder form.^" The English refused to give the bond, and on May 21st, Elliot warned all British subjects to leave Canton. They did so, going to Macao, and when the Chinese troubled them there, to Hong- kong. The Americans now carried on not only their own, but "Foster, Am. Dip. in Orient, pp. 64-73. " Consular Letters, Canton, II, Mar. 28, 1839, Snow to Lin. " Snow to Secy, of State, Apr. 19, 1839. Consular Letters, Canton, II. On April 27th, Commodore Read anchored off Macao with the United States frigate "Columbia,'' and May 21st, the "John Adams,'' the other member of the East India squadron, arrived. (J. Sidney Henshaw, Around the World, New York, 1840, 2 : 192, says the "Columbia" arrived Apr. 28, but William Meacham Murrell, Cruise of the Frigate Columbia around the World, etc., Boston, 1840, says April 27. This latter date is probably correct.) Their presence gave the Americans confidence (Snow to Sec. of State, May 13, 1839, Consular Letters, Canton, III), and they remained on the coast until August sixth, in spite of a protest from the Hoppo. (Murrell, p. 148. Henshaw, p. 294.) See also Paullin, Diplom. Negot. of Am. Nav. Officers, p. 188. ^ Snow to Sec. of State, Apr. 19, 1839, Consular Letters, Canton, II. "John Slade, Narrative of the Late Proceedings and Events in China. China, 1839, P- 124. Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. XXII 8 1917 Digitized by Microsoft® 114 K&nneth S. Latourette, the British trade, transhipping British goods from the anchorage at Hongkong and Tongku Bay in the Canton estuary. Exorbi- tant freights were often charged, and some ill will was naturally felt by the English, who had either to pay the^um asked or to abstain entirely from trade.^" The succeeding months were precarious ones for commerce. September nth the British declared a blockade, but withdrew it after five days.^^ A little later the Chinese became alarmed at the growing transhipments from the British "country ships" from India, the chief source of the drug, and October 14th an edict was issued threatening confiscation for all such acts.^^ October 26th another edict commanded the Americans to give a second bond to bring no opium,^^ an act precipitated by an Ameri- can purchase of some of the vessels formerly used as receiving ships for the drug. The consul protested vigorously against the edict since it ordered him to examine each American ship as it entered, and to certify that its products were not English. He suggested that in its place a bond be given by each captain that he had none of the forbidden drug on board.^* Such a bond was given in December of that year.^^ In the meantime hostilities were pending between Great Britain and China. The British commanders threatened a blockade. They ordered one in January, 1840, but it was not effective, owing perhaps to the protests of the American consuP' and to the ineffective British force. Although official notifica- tion of the blockade was not given by Great Britain to the United States until November ipth,^' commerce had become so dangerous by June that the American merchants had left C^n- ton.^* • Snow himself left in August, putting Warren Delano, Jr., in charge of his office.^' During actual hostilities American ''° Slade, Narrative of Late Proceedings and Events in China, p. 117. "' Niles Register, 57 : 418. ^ Consular Letters, Canton, IIL ^ Ch. Rep., 8 : 433. "* Comm'r and viceroy, order, Dec. 29, 1839, Consular Letters, Canton, IL "^ Ch. Rep., 8 : 453, 462, 463. Jan., 1840. '"' Snow to Smith, Jan. 13, 1840, Cons. Letters, Canton, III. " Lord Palmerston to Stevenson, Nov. 19, 1840. Ms. in State Dep. '^ Snow to Sec. of State, June 10, 1840, Cons. Letters, Canton, IIL ■■"Ch. Rep., 9:328. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 115 trade was for the most part stagnant. Some was still carried on, for the British agreed to make reprisals on none but Chinese vessels, unless caught in attempting to run the blockade,^" but many of the merchants had left China, and by the fall of 1840 imports of Chinese goods to the United States had fallen off over one half.^^ When the Chinese authorities took stringent measures to abolish the opium traffic, missionaries as well as merchants suf- fered. They were detained in the factories along with the others, their Chinese teachers left them, the distribution of books ceased,^^ and Parker's hospital was closed.^^ To add to their troubles, the American financial stringency of 1837 and 1839 seemed for a time to make retrenchments necessary.^* But the work did not entirely cease. As Americans the missionaries were looked upon favorably by the Chinese, and were allowed to remain in Canton and Macao after the English had been com- pelled to leave.^' Lin, the Chinese commissioner, was favorable to the medical work,^° and patients continued to come to Parker unmolested by the government. An assistant to Parker, Dr. William B. Diver was sent out in May, 1839,^' and arrived September 23, 1839. WiUiams continued his studies in Chinese and Japanese, and his printing, and Bridgman with his assistance " Lord Palmerston to Stevenson, June 25, 1840. Ex. Doc, 34, 2 Sess., 26 Cong. " Exports from the U. S. to China. Imports from China to the U. S. for the year ending Sept. 30. 1839 $i.S33,6oi $3,678,509 1840 1,009,966 6,640,829 1841 1,200,816 3.095.388 1842 1,444,397 4,934,645 1843 2,418,858 4,385,566 J. Smith Homans, An Historical and Statistical Account of the Foreign Commerce of the United States, New York, 1857, p. 181. '^ Missny. Herald, 35 : 463, letter from Williams, May 17, 1839. " Ibid., 36 : 81, letter from China Mission, July 14, 1839. '* Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., Foreign, 2 : 263, Anderson to the China Mission, Nov. 16, 1839. ''Missny. Herald, 36:107, letter of Parker, Sept. 6, 1839. ^ Missny. Herald, 36174, letter of Parker, July 24, ,1839, and 36:81, letter of mission, July 14, 1839. '^Ibid., 35:365. Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., Foreign, Vol. 2, p. 43, Anderson to China Mission, Feb. 15, 1839, and p. 92, same to same. Digitized by Microsoft® ii6 Kenneth S. Latourette, completed the Chrestomathy.^*- Mrs. Shuck opened a charity school in Macao which proved very poptolar^" and which even attracted the favorable comment of a critical observer.*" When actual hostilities began, however, work in Canton^ftopped. During the. two years of war American commerce and mis- sions were so interrupted as to be of little relative importance. In only two incidents, the attack on the boat of the "Morrison" and the visit of Commodore Kearney, is attention drawn to the Americans. The first of these took place May 226., 1841. The English had retaken the factories in March, a truce had been agreed upon, and trade had been reopened. But soon afterwcird the arrival of a new governor and the "rebel-quelling general" Yih Shan*^ seemed to presage trouble, and on May 21st Captain Elliot, the British superintendent, advised the foreigners to leave the city. Practically all did so at once, but a small party of American merchants, among them Mr. Cooledge, relying on an edict of the acting prefect of Canton which assured all neutral foreign merchants of safety, stayed over night.*^ The next morning, in attempting to get away, Cooledge was captured and taken before the magistrate. He found there the crew of a boat of the ship "Morrison," which, although it had had a chop or pass, had been fired on by the Chinese. One of the party, the boy Sherry, had been killed, some of the others had been wounded, and all were made prisoners. The entire party was kept in confinement for about two days, when the hong merchants released them and took them to the factories, where they left them to be rescued by the English.*^ In the spring of 1842, Commodore Kearney, of the U. S. East India squadron, arrived in China, and at once brought the matter to the attention of the native officials. He refused to treat through the hong merchcUits, as former American officers had been compelled to do, but sent his demands for indemnity directly to the provincial government. Quite: a correspondence followed, in which the governor explained ^ Ibid., and Missny. Herald, 36 : 81, letter from mission, July 14, 1839. ™ Corres. of A. B. M. U., letter of Mrs. Shuck to J. Peck, Mar. 14, 1839. " Henshaw, Around the World, 2 : 231. " Williams, Hist, of China, p. 169. " Ch. Rep., ID : 293-295, May, 1841. *° Letter of Cooledge and Account of Morss, Ch. Rep., 10 : 416-420, July, 1841. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 117 that the boat's crew had not hoisted the American flag, that it had been released as soon as the error was discovered,** that no mention had been made at the time of the death of Sherry, and that it had been impossible to give protection while hostilities were in progress. Kearney admitted the difficulty of finding the offenders at that late hour and waived his claims for punish- ment, but he demanded $7,800 for damages. This sum was promptly paid by the hong merchants, who offered to give Miller an additional $2,200 if he would acknowledge full satisfaction for his injuries. Olyphant and Company, who were the chief suf- ferers, were not entirely pleased with Kearney's arrangement. They took the money, however, and Kearney used their accept- ance of it to restrain them from further action. The affair, so far as the claims for damages was concerned, was closed August 19th of that year, when Miller gave a receipt in full for his injuries. This visit of the East India squadron under Commodore Kearney was a remarkable illustration of the change which the war had brought about in the attitude of Chinese officials towards foreigners. The squadron had come to protect the interests of American citizens and to obtain redress for any injuries they had suffered.*^ To do this more effectively the frigate "Con- stellation" went up the river to Whampoa, the first American ship of war to invade these inner waters. *° This intrusion, which four years before would not have been tolerated, met with only the mildest protest, and communications were opened, not through the hong merchants, as had always been the custom, but directly with the governor. Moreover, a Chinese admiral visited the "Constellation," a most unprecedented action, and inspected it carefully.*' Several other officers later followed his example.** Only one incident marred the visit. A boat's crew, while making soundings preliminary to moving the frigate upstream, was " The correspondence is all in Sen. Doc, 139, 29 Cong., i Sess. *' Kearney to Sec. of Navy, Apr. i, 1842. Sen. Doc. 139, 29 Cong., I Sess. *° Chinese Rep., 11:329-325. "Chinese Rep., 11:320-335. "Kearney to Sec. of Navy, May 19, 1842. Sen. Doc. 139, i Sess., 29 Cong. Digitized by Microsoft® ii8 Kenneth S. Latourette, fired on by the Chinese.*^ When Consul Delano, however;, asked for an explanation he was assured that no harm was meant, and that the shots had been fired only after the boat had been repeatedly warned off and when it was feared thpt it was there with some sinister purpose and under a borrowed flag.^" Kearney took a strong stand on the opium question, and soon after his arrival asked the vice consul at Canton to make known to the Americans and Chinese a letter of his, announcing that the United States would not sanction "the smuggling of opium on this coast under the American flag in violation of the laws of China."^^ With this and his other relations with the Chinese officials as a favorable preliminary he attempted to obtain for the Americans the advantages given to the British by the treaty of Nanking, and to prepare the way for a treaty between his nation and China. On October 8th, 1842, he wrote to Ke [Kiying] , the governor, saying that he had heard that an imperial commissioner was to arrive soon to arrange commercial matters with the English, and asking Ke to endeavor to obtain for Ameri- can merchants an equal footing with those of the most favored nation. A week later Ke replied that the Americans had "been better satisfied with their trade than any other nation .... [and] .... respectively observant of the laws, and that it should not be permitted that they. should come to have merely a dry stick."''^ While waiting for the imperial commissioners to arrive, Kearney went to Manila,^^ but in January, 1843, he was back again, and in March resumed the correspondence. The death of the imperial commissioner delayed matters and until a successor should arrive Kearney had to be content with treat- ing with the governor. Ke at first seemed to think that the entire question of the relations of -the United States and China could be settled by a simple agreement between the commodore and the commissioner, and wh.en Kearney told him that it was a treaty he wished, and that the United States would have to send a ^"Ch. Rep., 11:329-335. °° Sen. Doc. 139, 29 Cong., i Sess., p. 11. Niles Reg., 63:19 (Sept. 10, 1842) says on the authority of the Canton Register that ample apology was given to Kearney. "The letter is given in Ch. Rep., 11:239. April, 1842. ^' Sen. Doc. 139, 29 Cong., i Sess., p. 21. " Ibid., p. 24. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 119 special "high officer" to negotiate it, Ke tried to dissuade him. Had not the two nations always been at peace ? What need was there then of a formal compact? As to opening the other four ports to American commerce, he could not presume to decide that but must wait until the commissioner arrived. He felt cer- tain, however, that the new trade regulations for Canton would apply equally to all nations.^* With this answer Kearney had to be content. He had already arranged with the governor for the payment of losses sustained by the Americans in the Canton riots of December 7th, 1842,^" and after a parting warning to his countrymen not to ship from port to port in opium vessels,^" and after taking away the papers of the "Ariel" for trading in the drug under the American flag,^' he left the coast.'** In the meantime the war had ended. The English-Chinese treaty, which had been signed at Nanking in August, 1842, had made revolutionary changes in the intercourse between the two nations. A new era had dawned. The co-hong had been abol- ished, a regular tariff and port regulations had been established, and four new ports had been opened. The American treaty was not obtained until nearly two years later, but for all purposes of commerce and missions the privileges granted by that of Nanking were as open to the Americans and all other nations as to the British. It is a remarkable testimony to the efficiency of the old method of trade, however, in supplying to the full the demands of the United States for Chinese goods, that in spite of the greater freedom under the new order, American commerce with China took no sudden rise, but recovered and kept on in the natural growth it had had before the war.'*' No such revolu- " Ibid., p. 35. ^' Sen. Doc. 139, 29 Cong., i Sess., pp. 24-29. The correspondence lasted from January to March, 1843. "Ibid., p. 37. " Sen. Doc. 139, 29 Cong., i Sess., p. 38. '"' See too, Niles Register, 65 : 100, which contains a letter from Canton published in the Boston Advertiser, describing the last few months of Kearney's visit. See also Paullin, Diplom. Negot. of Am. Naval Officers, pp. 109-201. "" Exports from the U. S. to China. Exports from China to U. S. Year ending Sept. 30: 1840 $1,009,966 $6,640,829 1850 1,605,217 6,593,462 Digitized by Microsoft® I20 Kenneth S. Latourette, tionary effects were experienced in the amount of trade as were felt in the method of conducting it or in missionary operations and diplomatic relations. The effects of the treaty of Nanking on mission»were revolu- tionary. The interest aroused through the missionary world by the war had been far greater than that in the commercial world, and when the progress of events made it certain that some of the old restrictions would be withdrawn the greatest enthusiasm followed. Boone, of the Episcopal board, wrote in June, 1841 : "There is but one single barrier to the establishment of ... . missions among these millions .... [of] heathen and that barrier of a political nature, which may be removed in a day, and which will probably break down upon the demise of some monarch, perhaps of the present, if indeed the English do not throw open to our residence before the current year is past, cities whose inhabitants will outnumber all the inhabitants of our Atlantic cities put together.""" . Bridgman wrote three weeks later: "Full toleration [of Christianity] will come sooner or later."" With the expectation of an open China came the determination to throw in reenf orcements. Those who had worked among the Chinese colonists prepared to transfer their operations to the Empire. Missionaries followed hard on the heels of the British army and entered the ports almost as soon as they were captured. Boone and Abeel moved to Amoy in February, 1842."^ In February and March of that year Shuck and Roberts established a Baptist mission on the Island of Hongkong, began to build chapels, and organized a church."^ In 1841 Ball moved from Singapore to Macao, and in 1843 ^ Hongkong."* With the sign- ing of the treaty between China and Great Britain, August 29, 1842, the former enthusiasm was intensified. Shuck wrote his J. D. DeBow, Statistical View of the United States .... being a compendium of the seventh census. Washington, 1854, p. 188. °° Spirit of Missions, 6 : 366. "Missny. Herald, 38:101, letter of Bridgman, Macao, July i, 1841. See also letters of Parker and Bridgman in Ibid., 37 : 43. '"'Spirit of Missions, 7:310. Williams, Mid. King., 2:338. °° Baptist Missny. Mag., 23:21. Niles Register, 65:68, Sept. 30, 1843. "Dean, The China Mission, p. 196. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 121 board September 14, 1842'^ : "J am now permitted to convey to you the glorious intelligence that peace is declared between Great Britain and China, and this land of heathenized infidelity has at last been thrown open ! ! !" Parker, newly returned from America, wrote in November of that year of the less haughty attitude of the people, and that there was "abundant evidence that a new era" had arrived. °° In America also, where the events of the war had been fol- lowed with close attention, it was felt that the time had come for an advance movement. Parker spent the two years of hostilities in the United States, lecturing widely, and organizing branch associations in the principal cities to help in the medical work."' Other returned missionaries added inspiration; news in the secular and religious journals aroused interest; and the demands for reenforcements which came from the representatives on the field found a ready response. Roberts, who had become a regular missionary"' of the Baptist Board, Dean, and Shuck urged their board to send three additional missionary families"' and later increased their request to one for each of the treaty ports.'" The American Board missionaries asked for six men for Amoy, and four or five for the other ports. '^ In response to these and other calls, Walter M. Lowrie of the Presbyterian " Correspondence of the A. B. M. U. °°Missny. Herald, 39:257. " Stevens, Life of Parker, p. 188 et sqq. See too, Papers Relative to hospitals in China, Boston, 1841, which contain an appeal for Parker's work by a committee of the Boston Medical Association. *When the opening of the five ports seemed imminent, Roberts wrote to his society, urging that they either incorporate and plan to send out more missionaries, or else become auxiliary to the Baptist General Con- vention. (Corres. of A. B. M. U., Roberts to Roberts Fund Society, Feb. 18, 1841.) The latter plan was adopted, perhaps before his letter reached his constituents, and he became a regular missionary of the Baptist Board. (Ibid., Roberts to Baptist Board, April 19, 1841.) Later, in a period which does not here concern us, he played a rather questionable part in the T'ai Ping Rebellion, his sanguine temperament leading him for a time to put too high an estim*ate on the religious nature of the movement. "^ July 4, 1842, Corres. of A. B. M. U. " Missny. Mag., 23 : 315. " July 31, 1843, Missny. Herald, 40 : 32. Digitized by Microsoft® 122 Kenneth S. Latourette, Board and W. H. Cummings left America in 1842"; in 1843 Daniel J. Macgowan of the American Board came out; and in 1844 there were nine recruits," more than had come to China from all the Protestant world before 1824.'* Boqgit spent part of 1843 and 1844 in the United States rousing interest in the Episcopal churches, and in 1845 returned to China as missionary bishop, with three ordained men and three unmarried women/= The benevolent societies formed in Canton changed much with the altered conditions. Soon after the treaty of Nanking the Morrison Education Society moved its school to Hongkong. It prospered for a time, but in 1849 came to an end." The Medical Missionary Society in China had a more successful history. Immediately on the close of the war it opened a hospital in Chusan, reopened those in Macao and Canton, and assisted work in Shanghai and Amoy. It won the hearty favor of the Chinese, especially of the officials, and one branch of it still exists.'^'' The treaty between China and the United States had but little effect on the missionary enterprise. Toleration, although not included in the text, had been practically assured by the treaty of Nanking. The American and the French treaties each secured a few more rights, but the British document is the real dividing point between the old and the new eras, between an entirely closed empire and a partially open one, between hostility and partial toleration. During the occurrence of these events in China, the American people were developing a new interest in the Middle Kingdom. Their knowledge of it had been gradually increasing for the " Memoirs of the Rev. Walter M. Lowrie, Missionary to China, edited by his Father. New York, 1850. Cummings went out under no society, although he bore a letter of warm recommendation from the American Board to its missionaries. Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., Foreign, Vol. 4, p. 244. Anderson to China Mission, Dec. 22, 1841. " Ch. Rep., 16 : 12, 13. " Ibid. '° Spirit of Missions, 9: 334, 502; 10: 28. See too. Ibid., 8: 114, 142. "Annual report of Morrison Educ. Soc. for year ending Oct. i, 1843. Ch. Rep., 12 : 617-630. Williams, Mid. King., 2 : 341-345. "Reports of Med. Missny. Soc. in China for 1840-1, Ch. Rep., 10:448- 453, and for 1841-2. Ch. Rep., 12:191. Ch. Rep., 13:369-377. McLavol- Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 123 past fifty or sixty years, but at best was still imperfect. China was a separate world, and was regarded as the embodiment of all that was remote.'* Some few facts did sift in from time to time, and a general notion had gradually been obtained of the empire, its extent, its government, and its people. Books on it were occasionally published in the United States, as, for instance, an edition of Barrows, "Travels in China,"'^ and the work of Lay, another Englishman, on "The Chinese as They Are."'° De Ponceau had published a dissertation on the nature and char- acter of the Chinese system of writing,*^ and Niles Register contained from time to time items of news from the country. In addition to these printed sources of information, a few Chinese had come to the United States. In 1800 James Magee brought one over to learn the English language.*^ In 1845, Atit, a Cantonese who had resided in Boston for eight years, became a citizen of the United States. ^^ In 1819 another Chinese had lived in Boston for two or three years** and still another had been partially educated in this country.*^ Chinese were still so few and so much of a curiosity, however, that in 1834 a girl in native costume had been imported for purposes of exhibition,** and things Chinese were still so little known that a museum of lee, Voyage en Chine, Paris, 1853, p. 3S6. Lockhart, Med. Missny. in China, p. 144. '' Providence Gazette and Country Journal, Oct. 17, 1789, in comment- ing on the salaries of Congressional officers while Rhode Island was still outside the Union, said: "Till this state shall adopt their government [of the United States] as well may we cavil at the salary annexed to the office of the chief mandarin at Pekin." "John Barrows, Travels in China, Philadelphia, 1803. Van Bram, Voyage de I'embasade de la Compagnie de Indies Orientales vers I'empereur de la Chine dans les annees 1794 et 1795, etc., was first pub- lished in Philadelphia in 1797-98, 2 vols. The American Oriental Society was formed in 1842. Journ., i : 11. ,_ *■ G. Tradescent Lay, The Chinese as They Are, Albany, N. Y., 1843. '' Peter S. A. DuPonceau, Dissertation oh the Nature and Character of the Chinese System of Writing, in Trans, of the Histl. and Literary Com. of the Am. Phil. Soc, Philadelphia, 1838. ^ Providence Gazette, Aug. 2, 1800. "^ Niles Reg., 67 : 384, Feb. 15, 1845. "Panoplist and Missny. Mag., 15:448. Oct., 1819. ^Abeel, Residence in China, p. 106. " Niles Register, 47 : 134. Digitized by Microsoft® 124 Kenneth S. Latourette, curiosities brought from the empire as a business venture attracted wide attention.^^ During these years of gradually increasing knowledge, the opinion of China had been largely one of respect ftid admiration. This other world, with its ancient civilization, almost as remote from ordinary American life as the planet Mars, inspired some- thing of awe and even of envy. In the salutatory of the first vol- ume of the American Philosophical Society the hope had been expressed that America would in the fulness of time come to possess much likeness to China in wealth, industry, and resources, for "could we be so fortunate as to introduce the industry of the Chinese, their arts of living, and improvements in hus- bandry .... America might become in time as populous as China."^' Jefferson had held up her non-intercourse with foreign nations as ideal,*^ and as late as 1840, admiration for the nation had been expressed in a prominent magazine: "The industry and ingenuity of the Chinese in all that relates to the conveniences of life are remarkable: the origin among them of several arts of comparatively recent date in Europe, is lost in the night of time."'" With the Opium War, however, a sudden revulsion of feeling took place, and from being respected and admired, China's utter collapse before the British arms and her unwillingness to receive western intercourse and ideals led to a feeling of contempt. There was a failure to recognize the true import of her history and her real progress, and contrasting their old ideas of her greatness with their sudden discovery of her weakness, the impression spread through America and Europe, that China was decadent, dying, fallen greatly from her glorious past.»^ With the so-called Opium War there began in America a new *' Niles Reg., 55 : 391, Feb. 16, 1839, mentions it as being in Philadelphia, and Nathan Dunn, Descriptive Catalogue of the Chinese Collection at Philadelphia, Philadelphia, 1839, shows a fairly complete exhibit of the manners, dress, costumes, and life of the Chinese. •* Oberholtzer, Robert Morris, p. 223. °°Thos. Jefferson to Hogendorp, Oct. 13, 1785. Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Andrew A. Lipscomb, ed. in chief, Washington, 1904, S : 183. "'' Hunt's Merc. Mag., 2 : 82. ' •' Letters of Gushing in Sen. Doc. 58 and 67, 28 Cong., 2 Sess., passim. These are an illustration of this feeling of contempt. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 125 interest in the affairs of the Celestial Kingdom. The war would have attracted attention in any case, since it so deeply concerned American trade and missions, and bade fair to open the country more fully to both,°^ but the added moral question raised by the intimate relations of the opium trade to the struggle called forth much additional discussion. On the whole there was a strong feeling that an unjust attempt was being made to force a poison- ous drug on an unwilling nation. John Quincy Adams was clear— visioned enough to see that there was a deeper question, the right of China to deny commerce to other nations, and in November, 1841, expressed his views before the Massachusetts Historical Society. °^ The lecture aroused a storm of protest and was so unpopular that the North American Review refused to publish it. The thought of crowding the deadly opium on another nation, and even of forcing her to accept any trade she did not want, antagonized the independent American spirit. Hunt's Merchant^ Magazine'* came out strongly with the statement that "we can | imagine no more glaring violation of the law of nations than the successful attempt which has been made to cram down her [China's] throat by force, an article which she has deliberately refused to receive. Undoubtedly the bearing of the Chinese-i government was preposterous, and the aspect of Chinese insti- tutions, to a stranger, ludicrous in the extreme; but we cannot discover in what way the conceit and ignorance of the Chinese authorities can be considered sufficient to justify the summary remedies which have been adopted." John W. Edmonds, in a lec- ture delivered before the Newburgh Lyceum, asked indignantly, "To what code of either natural or national law are we to be referred for a principle that would justify the permanent intru- sion of a foreign agent upon our domicile, either national or indi- vidual, against our will, and in defiance to our repugnance to all intercourse ?"°^ Yet in this indignation there was mixed a curiously inconsistent enthusiasm over the prospect of an open ^ Niles Reg., Vol. 57 et sqq., passim, is an example of the way news of the war was published. ■^The paper is given in Ch. Rep., 11 :274-289. " Hunt's Merchant Mag., 8 : 205, Mar., 1843. "^ John W. Edmonds, Origin and Progress of the War Between England and China, New York, 1841. Digitized by Microsoft® 126 Kenneth S. Latourette, China and the opportunities it would offer. While deploring the means, Americans exulted in the end.°° Throughout the war the government kept in close touch with the situation, alive to the opportunities it mi^t afford to the United States. January 7, 1840, a set of resolutions passed the House requesting the President to communicate information respecting American trade and American citizens in China, espe- cially as affected by the threatened hostilities." The President sent in the required information February 25th.'* The resolu- tions were taken by some as an indication that the United States intended to join Great Britain in the war, but Cushing, who had originated them, and Pickens, chairman of the House committee on foreign affairs, both disclaimed any such intention.'" A sec- ond resolution in December of the same year secured further information about the war and the blockade of' Chinese ports.^°° The minister to England, Edward Everett, kept the government supplied with such news as he could collect. He did not share the popular expectation of a sudden expansion of trade as a result of the war, but believed that as then organized it amply supplied the demand."^ He felt sure, however, that whatever advantage accrued to England as a result of the treaty of Nanking must sooner or later be shared with the other powers.^"" With the progress of the war there came the conviction that the United States must put its trade with China' on a firmer basis, that she must have there a diplomatic representative as well as a consul, and obtain treaty recognition of her rights. It had long been felt that the consul should be given more authority and be made independent of private trade. Early in the history of the trade a petition had been sent in by some of the Canton merchants asking that a "more efficient consular establishment" be organized with a consul having a salary of three thousand °° The article in Hunt's Magazine quoted above admirably illustrates this contradiction. " Cong. Globe, i Sess., 26 Cong., p. 172. "Ex. Doc. 119, I Sess., 26 Cong., pp. 1-85. "° Cong. Globe, i Sess., 2d Cong., p. 275. . Mar. 16, 1840. "" Ex. Doc. 34, 2 Sess., 26 Cong. "' Edward Everett to D. Webster, Nov. 29, 1842. An earlier letter on the war was that of May 6, 1842. Mss. in State Department, Washington. "' Ibid. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 127 dollars a year, and an experienced physician and surgeon. ^°^ The weakness of the old system had been clearly shown during the Terranova affair, when the consul's powers proved so inadequate. During the troubles which followed the end of the East India Company's regime, it was felt that some action must soon be taken, especially since Grosvenor, the incumbent of the office, was absent so much of the time. An American merchant in Canton wrote the government in April, 1834, urging that a consul be on the ground with extensive powers, and that a naval force be sent to watch developments. In September he wrote again, predicting hostilities between China and Great Britain, and urg- ing more specifically that the United States send a representative to the East to deal directly with the authorities, to insure treat- ment as favorable as that accorded to England.^"* In June, 1837, the Chinese Repository published an article proposing a consular establishment for Eastern Asia with a consul-general at Canton, and men under him at various Eastern trade centers, all with adequate salaries. ^°^ After hostilities had begun the needs of the situation were seen to include more than a mere change in the consular establish- ment. It was felt by all persons acquainted with conditions that the United States must obtain for herself those underlying privileges for which the war was being waged — larger freedom of residence and of trade, greater security for the persons of foreigners, and a mutual agreement as to tariff and port regula- tions, all based on direct intercourse between officials of the two nations and on a treaty whose fundamental principle should be mutual equality. Pressure was brought to bear on the govern- ment from various sources, urging action to this end. Even before the war had begun, on April 23d, 1839, Gideon Nye memoralized Congress, submitting "the expediency of appointing a minister to the court of Peking, empowered to establish equit- able relations, whereby his right of residence at the seat of "' Consular Letters, Canton, I. It has no date, but its early nature is shown by the letters with which it is bound, and by the fact that it is signed by Perkins and Company, I. S. Wilcocks, Philip Ammidon, John Hart, Andrew Mather, William F. Magee, etc. "■■ Consular Letters, Canton, L April 20, 1834. Ibid., II, Sept. 23, 1834. "=Ch. Rep., 6:69-82. (June, 1837.) Digitized by Microsoft® 128 Kenneth S. Latourette, government would be secured as a preliminary."^"^ This, said he, was the only means of obtaining a final settlement of the question. In the same year, Henshaw, who was at Canton with Commodore Read, felt that the time was opportuft for a diplo- matic mission and large concessions,^"^ and about the same time Peter Parker, whose medical services had won him favor with the Chinese, memoralized Lin, the imperial commissioner, urging that a treaty was the only final solution of the difficulties with western powers.^""* In 1840 a number of American citizens at Canton asked Congress to act with Great Britain, France, and j Holland in putting matters on a safe basis. They suggested as a proper method a direct appeal to the emperor for permission for a minister to reside at Peking, and for a fixed tariff duty, a sys- tem of bonding warehouses with regulations for trans-shipment of goods, the liberty of trading at additional ports in China, com- pensation for losses in the legal trade during the recent troubles with a guarantee against their recurrence, and punishment ' of British and American offenders only on proved guilt and by no ^ greater penalty than in the home country.^"' In the same year a memorial from those merchants of Boston and Salem who were ' interested in the trade suggested that the time for sending an envoy -had not yet come, but that a naval force should be sent to China sufficient to protect American interests.^^" These various recommendations all agreed that the time was either present or near at hand when the United States would have to send out an envoy to treat directly with the imperial government and arrange for trade on a more secure and a more equitable basis. The government was naturally slow in yielding to this agita- "^ Nye, Peking the Goal, p. 80. '" Henshaw, Around the World, 2 : 294. "'"What then is the cause of the present evil between China and the other countries? Misapprehension of each other's designs and character on the part of these nations. What is the remedy? Two words express it, 'Honorable Treaty.' Such a treaty exists between all friendly nations." Stevens, Life of Parker, p. 170. ™ Ex. Doc. 40, 26 Cong., I Sess. The same is in Canton Press, June 13, 1840. (Vol. 5, No. 37.) "° Ex. Doc. 170, 26 Cong., I Sess. Presented April 9, 1840, and referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 129 tion, and felt that war with China must if possible be avoided, especially since the past friendliness of Americans, or as the proud Chinese would have put it, their obedience, had created such a favorable impression. On the other hand, when the administration came to understand the situation, it became con- vinced that when England should have finished the war America must do what she could to obtain by peaceful means a just share of its results. In December, 1840, John Quincy Adams proposed resolutions in Congress asking the President to com- mimicate information about the past and present relations of the United States and China, but the motion to adopt them was lost.^^^ The following month Peter Parker came to Washington and saw President Van Buren and Secretary of State Forsyth, but admin- istrations were just changing, and he was referred to Webster, the incoming Secretary of State, and to others of the new regime. Webster received him courteously and asked him to put his views in writing. Parker did so, urgfing the sending -of a "minister plenipotentiary direct and without delay to the court of Taou Kwang."^^^ In March, after the new administration had come in, Parker saw Adams and asked him whether he would under- take the mission if it were instituted. Hawes and Cushing of the Committee of Foreign Affairs had asked Adams the same ques- tion, but he had given an evasive answer. He records in his faithful diary that he thought the tiine for such an action had not yet arrived, and that considering the then existing relations between the United States and Great Britain, Parker's suggestion that the former offer her mediation was impracticable.^^' In September Parker saw the President and Webster and found that Tyler had as yet taken no action because he had been in "' Cong. Globe, 26 Cong., 2 Sess., p. 24, Dec. 15 and 16, 1840. "^ Stevens, Life of Parker, pp. 184-188. He urged it on the grounds that the war had unsettled American affairs, that an American minister might act as a mediator between the Chinese and the English, that there was a strong desire in China for foreign trade, that the Chinese merely wished for a pacification by which they would not "lose face,'' that if not soon attended to they might close up like Japan, and that the American nation was more acceptable to the Chinese than any other. "° Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, Comprising Portions of His Diary from 1795-1848, edited by Charles Francis Adams. Philadelphia, 1876. 10:444-445. Mar. 15, 1841. Tkans. Conn. Acad., Vol. XXH 9 1917 Digitized by Microsoft® 130 Kenneth S. Latourette, the Senate when an act was passed forbidding the President to do more than recommend a new mission, and because he feared the possible disgrace of having an ambassador rejected."* Opposition did not discourage the missionary, l^pwever, and in June, 1842, he again saw Adams and again asked him if he would accept the position of envoy if one should be appointed. Adams answered that he might consider it, but that he still believed it better to send a commissioner with full powers to act rather than an envoy.^^^ The news of the Treaty of Nanking roused the administration to decision. It felt that the time had at last come when the United States could begin negotiations in safety, and when it must do so if it were to obtain advantages equal to those of Great Britain. Consequently, December 31st, 1842, the President sent a message to Congress stating his views, . and advising that a commissioner be appointed to "reside in China to exercise a watchful care over the concern of American citizens, . . . empowered to hold intercourse with the local authorities, and ready, under instructions from his government, should such instructions become necessary .... to address himself to the high functionaries of the Empire, and through them to the Emperor himself." The message expressed the view which Adams had held, that an ambassador should not yet be appointed, since an official would have to be accredited to the sovereign and would very probably be rejected.^^" Webster seems to have been the moving spirit in the step, as it was he who wrote the message.^^^ The document was referred to the Committee on "■* Stevens, Life of Parker, p. 220. He quotes Parker's Journal for September 16, 1842. "'Adams, Diary, 11:166. June 2, 1842. At this point, Parker ceased his efforts and returned to China. Just how much influence his work had on the origin and conduct of the mission cannot be stated with certainty. However, he had married a relative of Webster, and had enjoyed quite a little popularity, and it seems probable that he was an influential factor in preparing the way for future action. "° Ex. Doc. 35, 27 Cong., 3 Sess. , "'The Works of Daniel Webster, Boston, 1856, 6:463. The message is given there with a footnote attributing it to him, and the work was compiled under his direction. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 131 Foreign Affairs, and by them to Adams.^^* The report of the committee was read January 24th, 1843, and recommended an appropriation of forty thousand dollars with which to open up diplomatic intercourse with China. It did not specify the exact way in which the sum should be used, except that it should be accounted for by the President in the manner prescribed by the Act of July 1st, 1790.^^° The amount proposed was a large one. It had been fixed at Webster's suggestion, his opinion being that it should be large enough to provide a salary equal to that of a minister to a European country.^^" There was much opposition to the size of the appropriation.^^^ It passed the House, however, February 21st, by a vote of 96 to 59 with a slight amendment suggested by Webster through Adams.^^^ The bill was reported favorably in the Senate without amendment, but some of the oppo- nents of the administration thought that they saw in it a deep laid plot to give too much power to the President. Benton especially was virulent in his opposition. To his mind it withdrew the accounting of money from the Secretary of the Treasury, appro- priated it for an unnecessary mission, and gave the President a chance to appoint some of his henchmen to a pleasant trip to the Orient without the consent of the Senate. Finally on March 3d, the last day of the session, the bill passed the upper house with amendments providing that no agent should be appointed under it without the consent of the Senate, and that no one person employed under, it should be- given more than $9,cxx) exclusive of "'Niles Register, 63:378, Feb. 11, 1863, gives the report. The Act of July I, 1790, is in Statutes at Large, i : 128. "° Adams, Diary, 1 1 : 290. '"■Webster to J. Q. Adams, Jan. 9, 1843, C. H. Van Tyne [editor], The Letters . of Daniel Webster, from documents owned principally by the New Hampshire Historical Society, New York, 1902, p. 285. Curiously Adams' diary seems to be in error here. An entry on the same day (Jan. 9), p. 290, says that he called on Webster to find the amount that the latter had wished, and that Webster told him that he thought $4,000 enough for the mission, and a consul salaried at $3,000. The error may be a typographical one, or due to forgetfulness on Adams' part. '"' Cong. Globe, 27 Cong., 3 Sess., pp. 323-325. '"^ Adams, Diary, 11:305, Jan. 31, 1843. Other amendments to substi- tute for the mission a commercial agency and an appropriation of $10,000, and to limit the salary of the commissioner to $6,000, that of the minister to Turkey, were rejected. Cong. Globe, 27 Cong., 3 Sess., p. 325. Digitized by Microsoft® 132 Kenneth S. Lafourette, outfit. The House concurred in the amendments and the bill was quickly signed by the President.^^' The mission was first offered to Edward Everett, who was then minister to Great Britain, his nomination having been hurried to the Senate the last hour of the session. Webster urged him to accept it. The newspaper report was that the Secretary of State wanted the London post for himself, as he was soon to resign from the cabinet, but he wrote to Everett mentioning the rumor and emphatically denying it, saying that in the present state of affairs he had not the slightest wish to go to England. Some have thought that the denial was only apparent, not real, and have cited as evidence Webster's pending resignation and the conversation with Adams in which he asked him to write Everett urging an acceptance.^^* Everett, however, refused the ^ Thomas Hart Benton, Thirty Years' View, or a History of the American Government for Thirty Years from 1820 to 1850. 2 v., New- York, 1856, 2 : 510-512. Benton was very much opposed to the act, and gives the impression that it was railroaded through. While adhering, except in one instance, to the facts as to dates, his account is misleading. The one error in date is where he says that the bill was taken up in the House ten days before the close of the session. It was passed there Feb. 21. Cong. Globe, 3 Sess., 27 Cong., pp. 323-325. The law as passed is in Statutes at Large, 5 : 624. ^'^ Those taking the position that Webster wished the English position are James Schouler, History of the United States of America under the Constitution, Vol. 4, 1831-1841, Washington, 1889, p. 436, Lyon G. Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, 2 v., Richmond, 1885, 2 : 263, who quotes Adams' Diary and the letter in Curtis, Life of Webster; and Foster, Am. Dip. in Orient, pp. 77-79, who quotes no one. George Ticknor Curtis, Life of Daniel Webster, New York, 1870, 2 : 178, takes the opposite position. The documents in the case are as follows : Webster to Everett, Mar. 10, 1843. ". . . . You see it said in the newspapers that the object in nominating you to China is to make way for your humble servant to go to London. I will tell you the whole truth about this without reserve. I believe the President thinks that there might be some advantage from an undertaking by me to settle remaining difficulties with England. I suppose this led him to entertain the idea, now abandoned (at least for the present) of an extra mission; but in this present state of things, I have no wish to go to England — not the slightest. To succeed you in England for the mere purpose of carrying for a year or two the general business of the mission is what I could not think of. I do not mean only Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 133 place and it was then offered to Caleb Gushing. Although not certainly proved by any document, it seems probable that this nomination was a partial reward to Gushing for his faithful service to Tyler, a service which had cost him his seat in Con- gress and the refusal of the Senate to confirm his appointment to a cabinet position.^^^ that I would not be the occasion of transferring you elsewhere for any- such purpose, but I mean that, if the place were vacant, I would not accept an appointment to fill it, unless I knew that something might be done beyond the ordinary routine or duties. At present I see little or no prospect of accomplishing any great object. Embarrassed as the administration is here, and difficult as are the questions with which it has to deal, I find my hopes of success faint. Besides, I do not know who is to fill this place (which I suppose I shall soon vacate) and therefore cannot anticipate the instructions which I might receive. The President is most anxious to signalize his adminis- tration by an adjustment of the remaining difficulties with England, and by the making of a beneficial commercial arrangement. If, for any purpose, a negotiation could be carried on here, I would give the Presi- dent all the aid in my power, whether in or out of office, in carrying it forward. But, without seeing clearly how I was to get through, and arrive at a satisfactory result, I could not consent to cross the water. I wish you, therefore, to feel that, as far as I am concerned, your appointment to China had not its origin in any degree in a desire that your present place should be vacated. If it were vacant now, or should be vacated by you, there is not one chance in a thousand that I should fill it." Curtis, Life of Webster, 2: 178. Adams, Diary, Mar. 13, 1843 (11:337), says that he (Adams) visited Webster. ". . . . I said I had been much gratified with the appoint- ment of Edward Everett as the Minister to China, deeming the mission of transcendent importance, and deeming him by his character and attain- ments peculiarly well suited for it. Mr. Webster seemed much delighted, and my remarks appeared to be quite unexpected. He immediately said he would be greatly obliged to me if I would write as much to Edward Everett himself ; which I said I would do with pleasure. He asked me to send the letter to him to-morrow, when the dispatches would be made up to go by the Great Western next Thursday." "^Williams, Life and Letters of Williams, p. 126, footnote, thinks this was true. The a priori evidence seems very strong. Benton, with his strongly partisan viewpoint, saw in the whole plan a conspiracy. Cushing had been on the committee which reported the bill, and in the House which passed it, and although his term as a member of Congress had expired, in Benton's eyes he was morally if not legally bound by the constitution not to accept the position. Moreover, he was a man whom Digitized by Microsoft® 134 Kenneth S. Latourette, Preparations for the expedition were at once made. It was determined to make as ample and impressive a showing as pos- sible. Gushing, the head, even if chosen for poHtical reasons, was a man of unquestioned ability, and as a relativ^ of the John Perkins Gushing who had been engaged in the Ganton trade^^' may have had a previous personal knowledge and interest in the empire. The congressional appropriation was ample and Webster promised more funds if needed.^^' A squadron composed of the frigate "Brandywine," the sloop-of-war "St. Louis," and the steam frigate "Missouri," under Gommodore Parker, was com- missioned to carry the party, and in addition to Gushing and to Fletcher Webster, the Secretary, a number of young men were encouraged to go at their own expense to add the dignity of numbers. ^^^ As was wise in a work of which the home govern- ment could know so little, Gushing was given the fullest of powers. He had two commissions, one appointing him commis- sioner, in which capacity he was authorized to treat with the governors of provinces and cities, or with other local attthorities of Ghina, and the other appointing him envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, which he was to use in case he reached the Emperor's court at Peking. He was given full power to sign a treaty, and in his letter of instructions he was directed to obtain the entry of American ships into the ports opened to Great Britain on the same terms as those enjoyed by that power. While assuring the Ghinese of the peaceful nature of the expedi- the Senate would probably have rejected, and as he was appointed after that body had adjourned, and sent off before they could meet to act on the nomination, Benton thought that the law had again been violated. The President had a right to appoint during an interim of the Senate only to a vacancy in an unexpired term. (Benton, Thirty Years' View, 2:514.) Benton, however, was prejudiced, too much so to be fair. The administration's first choice had undoubtedly been Everett, he had been confirmed by the Senate, and his refusal to accept left the office vacant. Technically, it was an unexpired term to be filled by appointment, and if the pressing opportunity were to be seized a man had to be secured, and the mission sail before Congress could meet again. "" They were third cousins. Lemuel Gushing, Genealogy of the Gushing Family. Montreal, 1877, PP- 46, 37. 7o, 74. 24. Rev. Galeb Gushing was the great-great-grandfather of them both. ""Webster to Everett, Mar. 10, 1834; Gurtis, Life of Webster, 2: 178. '"* Webster to Gushing, May 8, 1843, Sen. Doc. 138, 28 Gong., 2 Sess. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 135 tion, he was to preserve the dignity of the United States Gov- ernment, and to assert alwrays that he -wzs no tribute-bearer. If possible, he was to reach Peking. To that end he was given a letter from the President to the Emperor, which he was to deliver in person, or to send by a proper messenger if assurances were given of a friendly reply signed by the monarch himself. The question of kotow was left to his own judgment: "All pains should be taken to avoid the giving of offense, or the wounding of the nation's pride ; but at the same time you will be careful" — so the instructions ran — "to do nothing which may seem even to the Chinese themselves, to imply any inferiority on the part of your government . . . ." And last of all, he was to insist on the principle of the most favored nation treatment.^^" Botli the letter of instructions and that of the President to the Emperor were the work of Webster."" The former was a dignified, succinct statement, showing the best of judgment, if here and there an ignorance of China, but the latter reads much like a missive to some barbarian prince, and echoes that same feeling of superiority which later characterized Cushing's communica- tions."^ The mission was looked upon rather critically by many Ameri- cans as a Tyler undertaking, and some doubt was expressed as to its success. Benton, of course, had nothing good to say of j^_i32 Niles found fault with the display and pomp and preferred "such a demonstration of republican simplicity as our first of American ministers, Benjamin Franklin .... had the intrepidity to make at the most scrupulous court of aristocrats in Europe," in preference to the "unavailing mummery of ''° Sen. Doc. 138, 28 Cong., 2 Sess. Webster to Gushing, May 8, 1843. ^ Foster, Am. Dip. in Orient, p. 81, thinks that the letter of the President to the Emperor, because of its inferior quality, was written by Tyler or Webster's successor, Upshur, who countersigned it; but it is given in Webster's works, ed. 1856, 6:477; with a footnote attributing it to him. Webster had evidently made something of a study of the situation. He wrote to the merchants in the China trade, asking for suggestions in regard to the mission, April, 1843. Letters and Recollec- tions of J. M. Forbes, i : 115. "' Sen. Doc. 138, 28 Cong., 2 Sess., Tyler to Empr. of China, July 12, 1843. '"' Benton, Thirty Years' View, 2 : 515. Digitized by Microsoft® 136 Kenneth S. Latourette, courtly style."^^^ He later gave space to a letter from a merchant in Canton criticizing the objects of the mission.^^* The treasurer of the American Oriental Society was very sceptical as to its success in reaching Peking, and, seemingly, of tfle probabiHty of a treaty.^^'' Gushing left the United States in the summer of 1843, in the "Missouri." The plan was for him to go to Egypt, thence overland across the Isthmus of Suez, and by sea to Bombay, where he was to meet the squadron. At Gibraltar, however, the "Missouri" caught fire and burned, and Gushing went on by British conveyance to Bombay. Here he was taken on board the "Brandywine" and completed his voyage to Ganton.^^" In the meantime, on September 22d, 1843, Paul S. Forbes, recently appointed United States consul at Ganton, had reported his arrival to the Imperial Gommissioner, and in doing so, apprised the latter of Gushing's coming. He told of the special commission from the United States and asked the best route to pursue to Peking. Kiying replied advising against the proposed trip to the capital, saying with characteristic suavity that it was too long for a party which had already come so far and that their business could just as well be conducted at Ganton.^^^ Gushing arrived at Macao February 24th, 1844, and on the 27th sent a tactful letter to the acting viceroy of the provinces of Kwangtung and Kwangsi. He announced his mission, saying that he was on his way to Peking to deliver a letter to the Emperor, and had stopped for a few weeks at Macao until the "Brandy- wine" should have taken on provisions and prepared to continue to the mouth of the Peiho, and that he wished to take this oppor- tunity to inquire after the health of his majesty. Ghing, the acting viceroy, replied on March 19th, saying that the inquiry after the Emperor's health showed "respectful obedience and politeness exceeding to be praised," but strongly urged Gushing not to think of going to Peking, since the Emperor must first be "Niles Register, 64:308, July 15, 1843. '" Ibid., 67 : 36, Sept. 21, 1844. ''° Greenough, China, in Journ. of Am. Oriental Soc, i : 143-161, Boston, 1849. (Paper presented to the Society in 1844.) ""Benton, Thirty Years' View, 2:515, is very bitter against the entire expedition. ^^ Consular Letters, Canton, III. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 137 memorialized, and since even a merchant ship had never been there. Then, too, said the viceroy, there would be no interpreter at the capital, and no commissioner with power to make a treaty. The English had not carried on their negotiations at Peking, an imperial edict had already been issued /after Forbes' warning) ordering Gushing to be stopped, and after all, a treaty was not at all necessary.^^^ This began a correspondence between the two in which the American hastened the appointment of a com- missioner by threatening to go to Peking. March 23d, Gushing replied to Ghing's first letter, refusing to discuss the matter of a treaty with any but an imperial commissioner, and still insisting on going north, although expressing his willingness to go by land.^^' Ghing replied that the latter was impossible,^" and that a reply from Peking might be expected in about three months. ^*^ Some four days later Gushing again expressed his intention of going north, saying that if the court had wanted him to stay at Canton it would have forwarded the viceroy instructions for his reception, and reminding him that a refusal to receive embassies of friendly states was considered among western nations a just cause for war.^^^ This, and the proposal that the "Brandywine" come up the river to Whampoa and fire a salute, brought a reply from Ghing after the short interval of three days, still protesting that a treaty was unnecessary, since trade had been carried on so long and so successfully without one, and informing Gushing that the law of the land did not permit ships of war in the river, nor to fire salutes, "although it is all very peaceful and done with the best intentions."^*' Ghing com- plained, too, that Forbes had opened a letter sent by the former through him to Gushing. Two days later he sent another letter, explaining the non-appointment of an Imperial commissioner by the ignorance of the government as to when Gushing would arrive.^** Gushing in a reply explained that Forbes had opened ' Sen. Doc: 67, 28 Cong., 2 Sess., p. 2. ' Sen. Doc. 87, 28 Cong., 2 Sess., p. 5. 'Ibid., p. 7, April ist. ^Ibid., p. 10, April 4th. 'Ibid., p. 12. ' Sen. Doc. 67, 28 Cong., 2 Sess:, pp. 13, 16. ' Ibid., p. 20. Digitized by Microsoft® 138 Kenneth S. Latourette, the letter by mistake,"^ and that if the acting viceroy had sent it directly to his house the accident would not have happened. He then lectured Ching on the use of salutes. "China," said he, "will find it very difficult to remain at peace with an^ of the great states of the West, so long as her provincial governors are pro- hibited either to give or to receive manifestations of that peace in the exchange of ordinary courtesies of national intercourse." ■ On May 9th, Gushing wrote saying that he would wait a httle longer before going North, to allow ample time to hear from Peking, and reminded Ching that "foreign ambassadors repre- sent the sovereignty of their nation. Any disrespect shown to them is disrespect to their nation. . . . Causelessly to molest them is a national injury of the gravest manner." He also said that the delay would cause dissatisfaction in the United States.^*" However, the American was secretly not anxious to go to Peking. He preferred to negotiate at Canton rather than to jeopardize the success of his mission by going to Tien Tsin or Peking.^*' Cushing's insistence on going to the capital and his growing impatience finally had its desired effect. Kiying, the newly appointed viceroy of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, was made Imperial High Commissioner and was given full powers.^*' Cushing with a parting note to the acting viceroy expressing his satisfaction at Kiying's appointment, but reasserting his intention of ultimately going north, prepared to meet the commissioner. He later felt that the months of waiting had been well spent. His correspondence with Ching had settled the question of the necessity of a treaty, and had given him the chance to "say all the harsh things which needed to be said and to speak to the Chinese government with extreme .... frankness in a degree which would have been inconvenient .... in imme- diate correspondence with" the commissioner.^*^ Kiying made "' Ibid., p. 17, Apr. 22, 1844. "° While this discussion was going on, there was some minor disturbance over the weather vane on the new American flagstaff in Canton, which the Chinese thought brought ill-luck; but it was removed as soon as the objection was raised, and the trouble ceased. Ch. Rep., 13:227. "' Cushing to Upshur, May 27, 1844, and the same to Calhoun, July 15, 1844, Sen. Doc. 67, 28 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 31, 58. '*■ Ibid., p. 28. '"Cushing to Sec. of State, Ibid., p. 40. (July 9, 1844.) Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 139 his public entry May soth/^" and negotiations were at once opened. The relations between the two commissioners were on the whole very pleasant. The first two letters from the Chinese had in the address the name of the United States one line below that of the Chinese government, an expression of inferiority, but when Cushing returned them, tactfully considering the offense the "result of clerical inadvertance," they were promptly cor- rected."^ On July 17th, Kiying crossed the boundary to the Portuguese colony of Macao, and took up his residence in a temple in the village of Whanghia, or Wang Hiya. The next day he visited the fleet, and on the following day (June 19th), the Americans returned the call. That same evening three Chinese officers attending the commissioner met Webster, Bridg- man, and Peter Parker, Cushing's secretaries, and arranged the course of the negotiations. ^^^ On the 21st, Cushing- presented a projet for a treaty, basing it, as he said, on five principles'^' : that the United States were to treat with China on a basis of friend- ship and peace ; that they did not desire any perfect reciprocity, but since their ports were all open to the ships of all nations and there were no export duties, and since the Chinese had opened only five ports and had an export tariff, they would acquiesce in the view of the subject which it had pleased the Emperor to adopt; that any difference between the American projet and the British treaty was due to the fact that Great Britain had posses- sion of Hongkong, and the United States neither possessed nor desired such a concession; and that in drawing up the projet the interests of both sides had been borne in mind. The Chinese and American secretaries met for several days, sometimes in Cushing's house in Macao, sometimes at Whanghia, and discussed and modified this projet until both principals were satisfied. Within the first week after their meeting, Kiying told Cushing that if he insisted on going to Peking negotiations must be broken off. Cushing yielded with a show of reluctance, stipulating a ™ Chinese Rep., 13 : 335. "" Cushing to Sec. of State, Sen. Doc. 67, 28 Cong., 2 Sess., p. 34. (June 13, 1844.) '^'' Cushing to Sec. of State, July 8, 1844, Sen. Doc. 67, 28 Cong., 2 Sess., p. 38. "' Cushing to Kiying, June 21, 1844, Ibid., p. 41. Digitized by Microsoft® 140 Kenneth S. Latourette, condition which the other was most willing to grant, that if min- isters of western nations were thereafter received at the capital an American envoy would also be welcomed.^^* Gushing asked and obtained, however, permission to send thrd%h the Com- missioner the President's letter to the Emperor."^ Negotiations proceeded without further incident, and on July 3d the treaty was finished and signed. The next day Gushing issued a letter to the American merchants announcing the treaty and on July Sth Kiying returned to Ganton. The document so obtained was a credit to Gushing and remained the standard for settling difficulties between Chinese and foreigners until the treaties of 1860."" In general it pro- vided for the things stipulated by the English treaty."' Ameri- cans could reside for the purposes of commerce in the five ports of Ganton, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, and Shanghai; a definite tariff was to be promulgated and annexed to the treaty ; consuls were to be allowed to reside in the open cities and communicate with Chinese officials on equal terms ; the old co-hong was to be abolished; no prohibitions were to be placed on trade in these ports; and the most-favored-nation clause was inserted. The British treaty contained some clauses which the American docu- ment did not have ; the cession of Hongkong, indemnity of debts due British merchants by members of the co-hong, the release of prisoners of war, and the gradual evacuation of Chinese ports. On the other hand, the American treaty was a much longer and more carefully drawn instrument, and was superior to it in a num- ber of important points. Gushing enumerated sixteen of these in a letter to John Nelson, written on July Sth, 1844.^^* (i) The tariff was amended in favor of American articles, such as gin- seng, contraband articles, and matters of government monopoly, and could be changed only by mutual agreement: (2) By the "'Gushing to Sec. of State, July 8, 1844, Sen. Doc. 67, 28 Cong., 2 Sess., p. 38. "' The official reply to this letter was sent the following December in due form, approving the treaty. Niles Reg., 68 : 253. June 28, 1845. "° Williams, Middle Kingdom, 2 : 267. '" The English treaty is in Lewis Hertslet, A Complete Collection of the Treaties and Reciprocal Regulations at Present Subsisting between Great Britain and Foreign Powers, etc., London, 1845, 6 : 221-225. The Ameri- can Treaty is in U. S. Statutes at Large, 8 : 592-605. "' Sen. Doc. 67, 28 Cong., 2 Sess., p. 77. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 141 English treaty, the consuls were made responsible for the pay- ment of duties, but in the American treaty this was avoided by stipulating that these should be paid in cash. (3) A new pro- vision was made allowing goods to be shipped from one port to another without paying double duty. (4) To secure the dignity of consuls the privilege was given to them of complaining to the superior officers of any disrespectful treatment. (5) Duties were to be paid only as the cargo was landed, and a ship remain- ing for forty-eight hours without breaking bulk was free from tonnage and other duties. (6) Citizens of the United Statesi were to have accommodations in all five ports, and the privilege, of renting sites for houses and places of business, hospitals,! churches, and cemeteries.^^' (7) It was permitted to foreigners, ^ contrary to the former Chinese law, to hire persons to teach them the language, and to buy any kind of book. (8) A prin- / ciple of more than ordinary importance was that of exterri- | toriality, one of the distinct contributions of the treaty to the diplomacy of the Far East. In the letter to Calhoun, September 29th, 1844, Gushing traced the reasons which led him to introduce it.^"" He showed how to his mind, it had originated in the Italian settlements in the Levant, and had been the rule in semi-barbarous and Mohammedan states. The states of Christendom "acknowl- edge the authority of certain maxims and usages, received among them by common consent, and called the law of nations, . . . but which is in fact, only the international law of Christen- dom. . . . [They] have a common origin, a common religion, a common intellectuality," allowing free residence and travel in each other's domains to citizens of the other, "and they hold a regular and systematic intercourse as governments. . . . All these facts impart to the states of Christendom many of the qualities of one confederate republic." China, not because she was inferior in civilization, but because she was not of the family of Christendom, was neither recognized nor could be treated according to this law, and so the citizens of European powers should not be made subject to her laws. The Chinese had been partly prepared for the step by the Portuguese jurisdiction at '^° The last three >vere added as a special favor to Peter Parker. Stevens, Life of Parker, p. 234. '" In House Ex. Doc. 69, 28 Cong., 2 Sess., and in Sen. Doc. 58, 28 Cong., 2 Sess. Digitized by Microsoft® 142 ' Kenneth S. Latourette, Macao, and by the control of foreigners at Canton over their mutual relations, but whatever the precedents or whatever the argument by which Gushing got at it, he obtained the first formal recognition in China of the principle in the fori»in which it is now so important."^ (9) The citizens of the United States were placed under the protection of the Chinese government, and the latter agreed to defend them from insult and injury. (10) Ves- sels of the United States could go and come freely between the ports of China, with full respect for the neutrality of their flag, provided, of course, that the latter should not protect hostile troops, or be used fraudulently on the enemy's vessels. (11) Provision was made for the rehef of vessels and their crews when stranded or wrecked on the coast of China. (12) A somewhat more elaborate provision than that in the British treaty was made for communication on mutually equal terms between officers, and between officers and citizens of the United States and China. (13) No presents were to be demanded of either governor by the other. (14) Ships of war, contrary to the old usage, were to be courteously received in the ports of the Empire. (15) Provisions were made for communication between the United States and the court of China such as had been obtained by none before but Russia, it being stipulated that such should be made through certain specified Chinese officials."" (16) Finally, in sharp contrast to the British treaty, which did not so much as mention the opium question, the treaty of Whanghia provided that any American citizen engaging in the opium or other contraband trade, should be dealt with by the Chinese government without countenance or protection from the United States, and pledged the latter to take steps to keep her flag from being used by the subjects of other nations to cover illegal trade. "' This clause brought as its result the necessity for an adequate consular staff in China, a necessity which was to be met later. Sen. Doc. 58, 28 Cong., 2 Sess. Cushing to Calhoun, Oct. i, 1844. Also in House Ex. Doc. 69, 28 Cong., 2 Sess. A precedent for exterritoriality occurred as early as 1687 when a Chinese official suggested that an English sailor who had committed depredations on Chinese property, be punished by his fellow countrymen. Eames, The English in China, London, 1909, p. 40. ■"^ Sen. Doc. 67, 28 Cong., 2 Sess., p. 54, gives the further negotiations in regard to this on July 13th to 28th inclusive, in which Kiying vainly tried to get this point modified. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 143 In addition to these points enumerated by Gushing may be mentioned the privilege of hiring servants; the careful regula- tion of port charges; the provision for standard weights and measures ; the non-responsibility of either government for debts due by its subjects to those of the other; the careful provision against fraud; the apprehension and delivery of deserters and mutineers by the Chinese government ; and the provision for the revision of the treaty after twelve years. Most of the points of the treaty covered qviestions which had long been sources of dispute and irritation, and show the thoroughness with which Gushing had studied the situation. On the whole the treaty was a very creditable piece of work. As Gurtis said/°^ "The selection of Galeb Gushing as the first diplomatic representative of the country was most fortunate and wise. Looking over the correspondence conducted by him with the Ghinese officials in the light of after years of experience in dealing with those personages, one can not but feel impressed with the keen insight into their strange character and motives. . . . He was firm in maintaining the dignity and power of the United States." While negotiations were still in progress an occasion arose for testing the exterritoriality clause. On June 15th some Ameri- cans fired in self-defense on a Ghinese mob which was troubling the factories, and one of the assailants, Sue Anam, was killed. Ghing, the acting viceroy, asked the consul to deliver the man who had fired the shot, but Forbes refused and Gushing instructed him to stand by his position, insisting that American citizens in Ghina should be responsible only to their own government. There was a short correspondence between Kiying and Gushing, the former asking that the man be given up, and the latter refusing, reviving as a counter claim the death of Sherry. The matter was dropped for a time but late in July Kiying again took it up. Gushing still held that the shooting was in self-defense, for a committee of American residents in Ganton had so decided it, and the complaint was finally dropped. The outcome of the inci- dent was in sharp contrast to that of the Terranova affair, and was a fortunate precedent.^"* "* William Eleroy Curtis, The United States and Foreign Powers. Meadville, Pa., 1892, p. 256. "*The documents are all in Sen. Doc. 67, 28 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 63-67, 73, 95, 96. Digitized by Microsoft® 144 Kenneth S. Latourette, While in China, Gushing arranged some other matters; new regulations for the foreigners in Canton,"^ and the removal of a shipyard which some Americans had started near Hongkong contrary to the treaty."' He finally left in tjie U. S. Brig "Perry," going to San Bias, Mexico, and thence home. The treaty was approved by the Senate without opposition,^'^ and ratifications were exchanged at Canton with much solemnity December 31st, 1845, by Commodore Biddle."* With the signing of the Treaty of Whanghia American inter- course with China had fully entered a new era. The old life had passed away. The lordly co-hong, the factories with their peculiar rules of life, the strict supervision exercised over the "barbarians," Chinese jurisdiction over foreigners, and the restricted, almost furtive mi'ssionary work, had disappeared, and instead were treaty recognition, freedom of residence, of com- merce, and of missionary work, liberty from personal responsi- bility to Chinese courts, and direct official intercourse on the basis of equality. It is true that the struggle between China and the West had only just begun. Ignorance and the feeling of lofty superiority were still scarcely shaken. The spirit of con- tempt, fear, and greed which had created the old regime still existed with nearly all its old force, and no lasting change could be effected until it should disappear. The treaty of Whanghia, Y however, marks a transition, the end of the preparatory period, \ and the beginning of recognized official relations between the ^-United States and China. ^°= Ibid., p. 87. '" Ibid., p. 80. '" Message of President transmitting it to the Senate, Jan. 22, 1845, Sen. Doc. 58, 28 Cong., 2 Sess. The expenses of the mission had exceeded the appropriation by about $4,000. President's Message, Sen. Doc. 17, 29 Cong., I Sess. "'Cordier, Hist. Rel. Ch. avec Puis. Occid., p. 98. Ch. Rep., 14:590. Biddle had taken it in the stead of the special commissioner who had been appointed for that purpose. The latter's heahh had compelled his return before reaching China. Annual Message of Polk, Dec. 2, 1845, Richard- son, Mess, and Papers of the Pres., 4:401. Digitized by Microsoft® BIBLIOGRAPHY. In the bibliography given below the attempt has been made to give practically all the sources and secondary works important for the subject covered in the preceding pages. All the main libra- ries and accessible collections of New York, New Haven, Wash- ington, Providence, Boston, and Salem, and to a certain extent, Philadelphia, have been carefully examined. There may remain some manuscript collections in Philadelphia and Baltimore which would be of value, and there are undoubtedly valuable private collection of papers, such as the personal papers of Elias H. Derby, which for one reason or another have been inaccessible or unknown \o the author. It is not likely that any further dis- coveries of material will greatly alter the conclusions reached, however, except perhaps to expand the paragraphs on the history of the merchant houses of New York, Philadelphia, and Balti- more. In enumerating the sources and authorities used the attempt has been made in most cases to indicate briefly the contents of the book or document, as far as concerns the subject in hand, and in some cases to state as well as can be done in a sentence, its value and reliability. No elaborate critical notes have been attempted, as they would have made the bibliography too bulky. In all cases the present location of the manuscript is given, and in some cases, of the printed books. Most of the printed sources and authorities are in the Yale University Library, the Day (Missionary) Library of the Yale Divinity School, and Prof. Frederick Wells Williams' private collection. With a few exceptions it may be understood that unless the location of a book is given, it will be found in one of these places. I. BIBLIOGRAPHIES. There is no printed bibliography which is at all complete. The following contain very brief book lists for this period : CoRDiEE, Henri. Bibliotheca Sinica, Dictionaire Bibliographique des Ouvrages Relatifs a I'Empire Chinois. 4 v., 2d ed., Paris, 1904-1908. Pages 2510-2519. Relations des Etrangers avec les Chinois. X. Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. XXII 10 1917 Digitized by Microsoft® 146 Kenneth S. Latourette, Etats-Unis. This, although meager, is the fullest printed bibliog- raphy of the subject. Chinese Repository. Bibliography of Printed Books on China, mostlf in English and French. Chinese Rep., 18:402-444. This is old, contains no references to manuscript material, and covers our subject only incidentally. Hart, Albert Bushnell. Manual of American History, Diplomacy, and Government, for Class use. Cambridge, 1908. Page 139 contains a brief bibliography of the negotiations lead- ing to the treaty of Whanghia. Stevenson, William. Historical Sketch of the Progress of Discovery, Navigation, and Commerce from the Earliest Records to the beginning of the Nineteenth Century. Edinburgh and London, 1824. At the end are bibliographical notices of some of the voyages of the time. 2. OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS AND REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. Reports of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Boston, 1812-1845. There are in the preceding pages no footnote references to these reports, as their summary was printed each year in the Panoplist and Missionary Herald, and it is more convenient to refer to them there. Proceedings of the First Ten Years of the American Tract Society, Instituted in Boston, 1814. (Boston) 1824. Annual Reports of the American Tract Society. See those from 1833 to 1844 inclusive (published in Boston), for information about the part that this society had in missions to China. Benton, Thomas Hart. Abridgment of the Debates of Congress from 1789 to 1856. New York, 1857-1861. Benton, Thomas Hart. Thirty Years' View, or a History of the American Government for Thirty years from 1820 to 1850. 2 v., New York, 1856. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 147 This work, in 2:510-522, tells of the Chinese mission. It is highly colored by Benton's prejudices, which were strongly anti- Cushing. Great Britain. America and England, 1783-1791. (Back Title.) Two volumes of manuscript transcripts in the Lenox Library, with the catalogue title of "America and England." They were to furnish intelligence of the current events in America from 1783 to 1791, and were written to the British Government by P. Bond, Sir George Yonge, and others, showing the state of the country under the Confederation. The collection throws light on the beginning of American commerce with China. Great Britain. Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and the West Indies, preserved in the public record office. Oct. 27, 1697-Dec. 31, 1698, ed. by Hon. J. W. Fortescue. London, 1905. May 15, 1696-Oct. 31, 1697, ed. by Hon. J. W. Fortescue. London, 1904. These two volumes contain references to American pirates in eastern waters during these years. Great Britain. Parliamentary Papers, 1821. Vol. 7, pp. 1-421. Reports from Committees. Brought from the Lords' Report (Relative to the trade with the East Indies and China) from the Select Committee of the House of Lords, appointed to inquire into the means of extending and securing the Foreign Trade of the Country .... together with the Minutes of Evidence taken in Sessions 1820 and 1821, before the said committee. Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, May 7, 1821. This is of value because of the exhaustive evidence taken from persons well acquainted with the trade, and covering the American as well as the British commerce. Great Britain. Parliamentary Papers, 1830. Volumes 5 and 6. Reports of Committees, East India Company's Affairs. Ses- sion Feb. 5-July 23, 1830. This is of value for the same reasons as the preceding. In the Library of Congress. Digitized by Microsoft® 148 Kenneth S. Latourettej Great Britain. Parliamentary Papers, 1833. Relating to India and China, and the Finances of India. Return to an order of the Honourable House of Commons dated 3 April, 1833, for Coatinuation to the latest period to which they can be made up, of all accounts relating to the trade of India and China, etc. In the Boston Public Library. Great Britain. Parliamentary Papers, 1833. East India Charter Corre- spondence. Pages 13, 14, 15, give some statistics on American trade made up by Thomas S. Cabell, accountant general of the E. I. Co., probably from the Company's statistics. In the Boston Public Library. Great Britain. The Parliamentary Debates, forming a continuation of the work entitled "The Parliamentary History of England," pub- lished under the superintendence of T. C. Hansard. 2d Series, 1820 et sqq. 3d Series, 1830 et sqq. These contain the debates on the East India Company's Charter and so give much information concerning the impression which American trade with China made in Great Britain. Great Britain. The Statutes at Large. London, 1763 et sqq. The collection is used here for the charter of the East India Company. Hamilton, Alexander. Trade with India and China, Communicated to the House of Representatives, February 10, 1791. American State Papers, Finance, i : 107. Hertslet, Lewis. A complete collection of the Treaties and Reciprocal Regula- tions at Present Subsisting between Great Britain and Foreign Powers, etc. London, 1845. Vol. 6, pp. 221-225, contains the Treaty of Nanking, Aug., 1842. New York Custom House. Sea Letter Books of the New York Custom House. In the New York Custom House. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 149 After March 11, 1799, they gave the names of all vessels clearing for foreign ports. The dates covered by the books are June, 1798-Apr. 12, 1800; Apr. 12, 1800-Nov. 6, 1802; Oct. i, 1804-July 29, 1809; Jan. 2, i8i8-Oct. i, 1819; 1829-1831; 1832; 1836; Apr. I, 1844-Mar. 31, 1847. Proceedings of the Board of Missions of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Epis- copal Church in the U-nited States of America. See especially those published in New York, 1836-1841. The references to China, as a rule a summary of the year's operations there, are for 1836, p. 94; for 1838, pp. 76, 77; for 1839, pp. 83-86; for 1840, pp. 57-60; for 1841, pp. 58-59. Providence Custom House. Impost Books of the Providence Custom House. Books A, B, C, 1827, and D, are in the Rhode Island Historical Society. Copies of A and B are in the Custom House. It is possible through these, which cover all the years between 1790 and 1844, to determine the names, consignees, and the duties paid by all the ships which entered this port from China during this period. Salem Custom House. Impost Books of the Salem Custom House. In the Salem Cus- tom House. These give information concerning Salem's trade with China. Salem Custom House. Digest of the Duties of the Salem Custom House. In the Salem Custom House. Book I, 1789-1851, is a more convenient summary for our purpose than the impost books. Annual Reports of the Seaman's Friend Society. See especially the first sixteen of these, published annually. New York, 1829-1844. They give information about the chap- laincy for sailors at Canton. Thwaites, Reuben Gold. [Editor.] The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents. Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France, 1610- 1791. Cleveland, c. 1900. This is used here for notices regarding the discovery of ginseng in Canada by the Jesuits. Digitized by Microsoft® 15° Kenneth S. Latourette, United States. American State Papers. Foreign Relations. Washington, 1858. This is of use for the correspondence with Russia over the Northwest Coast, given on 5 : 456. • United States. American State Papers. Documents Legislative and Executive of the Congress of the United States. Commerce and Navigation, i : 599 ; 2 : 63. Washington, 1832. The quotations refer to trade statistics of the Chinese commerce. Consular Letters, Canton. Manuscript in the Bureau of Manuscripts and Archives, State Department, Washington, D. C. Vol. I, March, 1792, to August, 1834. Vol. II, Sept., 1834, to Apr., 1839. Vol. Ill, May, 1839 to 1849.. This collection of letters, chiefly reports of the consul at Canton to the State Departftient, is one of the most valuable manuscript sources for the entire subject of the early relations between the United States and China. United States. The Congressional Globe. Washington, 1833 to 1873. This contains the debates on the mission to China. See especially, 26 Cong., 2 Sess., p. 24; 26 Cong., i Sess., pp. 172, 275; 3d Sess., 27 Cong., pp. 323-325; app. p. 93; 28th Cong., I Sess., p. 226. United States. The Papers of the Continental Congress. Mss. in Manuscript Department of the Library of Congress. See the following on the beginning of American trade with Canton. Reports of Com- mittees, Vol. s, pp. 9, 43. List of Letters, (No. 185) from Nov. S, 1781, p. 127. United States. The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States with an Appendix Containing Important State Papers and Public Documents and all the Laws of Public Nature, with a Copious Index. Back Title, Annals of the Congress of the United States. Washington, 1855. This is useful for the debates on the Oregon question. It covers 1789- 1824. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 151 United States. Statistical View of the United States. . . . Being a Com- pendium of the Seventh Census, by J. D. DeBow. Washington, 1854. Page 188 gives a brief summary of the United States' trade with China from 1790 on. United States. Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States of America, from the Signing of the Definite Treaty of Peace, Sept. 10, 1783, to the Adoption of the Constitution, Mar. 4, 1789. Washington, 1834. This is used for the letters of Samuel Shaw contained in vol.^.ff 3 All of these letters are in the appendix of Shaw's Journals as well. United States. Executive Document No. 119, i Sess., 26 Cong. A message of the President, Feb. 25, 1840, in responee to resolutions of Feb. 7, 1840, transmitting information about the condition of American citizens in China. United States. Executive Document No. 34, 26th Congress, 2d Session. Documents giving information about the American Commerce - with China conveyed by the President's message of December 29, 1840, asked for by the Resolutions of December 23d, 1840. United States. Executive Document No. 71, 2 Sess., 26 Congfress. This contains papers relating to the Terranova Affair. United States. Executive Document No. 35, 3 Sess., 27 Cong. This is the message of the President, Dec. 30, 1842, about China and the Sandwich Islands. United States. Executive Document No. 40, i Sess., 26 Cong. This is a memorial of R. B. Forbes and others asking for a commercial agent for China with power to negotiate a commercial treaty with China, May 25, 1839. United States. Executive Document No. 170, i Sess., 26 Cong. This is a memorial of Thomas H. Perkins and others urging Digitized by Microsoft® 152 Kenneth S. Latourette, that an armed force be sent to the China seas to protect American interests there, and that an envoy be sent to China. April, 1840. United States. Executive Document No. 69, 2 Sess., 26 Cong.** This contains an abstract of the Treaty of Whanghia, and some of Cushing's correspondence. United States. Executive Document No. 57, i Sess., 26 Cong. This is a memorial of Edmund Fanning asking for an explor- ing expedition for the South Seas. United States. Executive Document No. 71, 2 Sess., 26 Cong. This is a document of 83 pages containing a summary of the dispatches from the consuls at Canton from Nov., 1805, to June 22, 1840. They seem for the most part to be extracts from the Consular Letters, Canton (see above).' United States. Journal of the United States in Congress Assembled. Phila- delphia, . These Journals of the Continental Congress throw light on early congressional action in regard to the China trade. United States. Reports of Committees, No. 43, 2 Sess., 24th Cong. United States! Reports of Committees, No. 45, 2d Session, i6th Congress. This is Floyd's report on the Oregon question. United States. Register of Debates in Congress. Washington, 1825 et sqq. 1(1824-1825) :ii-i2; 5(1828-1829) :i25-i53, 192-195, give the debates on the occupancy of the Columbia River, bringing in references to the China trade. United States. James D. Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 1789-1897. Washington, 1900. United States. Senate Document No. 138, 2d Session, 28th Congress. This gives copies of the instructions to the Commissioner to China (Cushing), and of the President's letter to the Emperor. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 153 United States. Senate Document No. 58, 2d Session, 28th Congress. This contains an abstract of the treaty between the United States and China and some of the correspondence of Cushing. United States. Senate Document No. 17, i Session, 29th Congress. This is a summary of the expenses of the Cushing expedition. United States. Senate Document No. 139, ist Session, 29th Congress. This contains all the correspondence between the commanders of the East India Squadron and foreign powers, and of the United States agents abroad, during the years 1842 and 1843, relating to trade and the other interests of the government, called for by the resolution of the Senate, Feb. 25, 1845. United States. Senate Document No. 67, 2d Session, 28th Congress. This contains the correspondence of Cushing in regard to the treaty with China, 1844. United States. John H. Haswell, Treaties and Conventions Concluded between the United States of America and other Powers since July 4, 1776. Washington, 1889. Senate Document No. 47, 2 Sess., 48 Cong. The text of the treaty of Whanghia is on pages 145-159. United States. Senate Document No. 31, ist Session, 19th Congress. This contains various statistics in regard to the Canton trade. Senate Document No. 306, 3d Session, 25th Congress. This is a General Statement of the goods, wares, and merchandise of Foreign Countries imported into the United States for the year ending September 30, 1838. United States. State Papers, 1823-4, Vol. 4, Number 73. Report of the Secretary of the Treasury of the Commerce and Navigation of the United States for the year ending September 30, 1823. Washington, 1824. United States. The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America. Digitized by Microsoft® 154 Kenneth S. Latourette, This is used for the copies it contains of the tariff and other laws in regard to China and the China trade, and contains as well the Treaty of Whanghia. m 3. MANUSCRIPT LOGS, SHIP ACCOUNTS, BILLS OF LADING, AND KINDRED DOCUMENTS. Active. (Ship.) Journal of a Voyage from Salem to Sumatra and Mahila, in' the Ship Active, George Nichols, Master, kept by George Nichols for the use of the East India Marine Society. 1801-1803. Ms. in Journals, Vol. 2, in Essex Institute, Salem, Mass., pp. 55-135. Ann and Hope. (Ship.) Log Book of the Ann and Hope, Benjamin Page, Master, 1798-1800. Ms. in Brown and Ives Papers, John Carter Brown Library, Providence. Ann and Hope. (Ship.) Log Book of the Ann and Plope, Wilber Kelley, Master, 1818, 1819. Ms. in ibid. Ann and Hope. (Ship.) Log Book of the Ann and Hope, James Edell, Master, begin- ning Sept. 22, 1825. Ms. in ibid. Ann and Hope. (Ship.) Log Book of the Ann and Hope, Wilber Kelley, Master, 1817- 1818. Ms. in ibid. Ann and Hope. (Ship.) Log Book of the Ship Ann and Hope, Martin Page, Master, May 30, 1823-June 28, 1824. Ms. in ibid. Ann and Hope. (Ship.) Disbursements while on three voyages to London and Canton, Christopher Bently, Master. (1801.) In the Brown and Ives Papers, in the John Carter Brown Library, Providence. The book itemizes the various expenses connected with a voyage to China. Arthur. (Ship.) Sales Book. In the Brown and Ives Papers, John Carter Brown Library, Providence. This shows the disposition of the goods imported in the ship Arthur from Canton, Apr. 19, 1804. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 155 Asia. (Ship.) Log Book of the Ship Asia, John Ormsbee, Master, July 25, 1816-circa Jiily I, 1818. Ms. in ibid. Asia. (Ship.) Log Book of the Ship Asia, John H. Ormsbee, Master, June 29, 1818-circa June 30, 1819. Ms. in ibid. ASTEEA. (Ship.) Abbreviations of a Journal of the Ship Astrea from China to Java Head on the Island of Java. One of the terminal dates is Jan. 24, 1790 (?). Ms. in the log book of the Brig Three Sisters, Benjamin Webb, Master, 1 788-1 789. In Essex Institute. Brookline. (Ship.) Log Book of the Ship Brookline, kept by C. H. Allen, first officer, 1833-1834. Ms. in Essex Institute. S. C. Phillips, Owner. Brookline. (Ship.) Journal of a Voyage of the Ship Brookline from Hamburgh to Batavia, Manila, China, Manila, and New York, in 1834-36. George Pierce, Master. Kept by Charles H. Allen, first officer. Ms. in Essex Institute. Caravan. (Brig.) Journal of a Voyage from the Cape Verde Islands to Canton in the Brig Caravan, James Gilchrist, Master, kept by James Gilchrist, 1807-1808. Ms. in East India Marine Society's Journals, 6 : 397-446. In Essex Institute. Clay. (Ship.) Journal of the Ship Clay, in a voyage from Salem to the Fiji Islands and Manila, Captain William R. Driver, 1827-1829. Ms. in Essex Institute. Columbia. (Ship.) Log Book of the Ship Columbia, Captain Ro. Gray, in her Voyage from Boston to the North West Coast of America, from Sept. 28, 1790, to Feb. 20, 1792. Ms. in Department of State, Washington, D. C. In the Bureau of Rolls and Library. Concord. (Ship.) A Journal of a Voyage from Salem to Massafuero in the Digitized by Microsoft® 156 Kenneth S. Latourette, South Pacific Ocean and from thence to Canton and back to Salem, on board the Ship Concord, Obed Wyer, Master, under- taken in the year 1799, and ending July 17, 1802. Kept by Nathaniel Appleton. Ms. in Essex Institute. * Consul. (Brig.) Journal of a Voyage from New York to the South Pacific in the Brig Consul, kept by I. N. Chapman, 1834-1835. A voyage for beche de mer, and other South Sea products. She went to Manila with her cargo instead of to Canton. Ms. in Essex Institute. Delhi. (Ship.) Journal of a Voyage in the Ship Delhi from New York to New Orleans, New Orleans to Canton, and Canton to New York, in 1843-1844. Ms. in Essex Institute. Derby. (Ship.) Journal of a Voyage from Leghorn to Canton and Back to Boston in the Ship Derby, Thomas West, Master. Kept by Dudley S. Pickman, 1804-1806. In East India Marine Society's Journals, 5 : 133-196. Ms. in Essex Institute. Eliza. (Ship.) Journal of a Voyage of the Ship Eliza from Salem to New Zealand, Caiiton, and return. William Richardson, Master, 1805- 1806. Ms. in Essex Institute. Eliza. (Ship.) Journal of a Voyage from Salem to New Zealand, Fijees, Manila, and return, in the Ship Eliza, Joseph Winn, Jr., Com- mander. May 28, 1833-May 5, 1834. Kept by John D. Winn. Ms. in Essex Institute. Emerald. (Ship.) Voyage of the Ship Emerald to the Feejees, Tahiti, and Manila, Nov. 4, 1833-March 25, 1836. Kept by George W. Cheever. Ms. in Essex Institute. Francis. (Ship.) Journal of a Voyage of the Ship Francis from Salem to Leg- horn, Batavia, Manila, China, and Salem. 1818-1820. Ms. in Essex Institute. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 157 Ganges. (Brig.) Account of Sales of Sundries per Brig Ganges, 1810. Bill of Lading for Brig Ganges, signed by Nathaniel Ingersoll, Salem, Sept. 2, 1809. Mss. in Essex Institute. General Washington. Log Book of the General Washington, December 27, 1787- October 5, 1790. Along with this is a fragmentary journal of the same voyage, covering May 8, 1788 to June 17, 1789. Both manuscripts are in the Brown and Ives Papers, in the John Carter Brown Library Glide. (Ship.) Journal of a Voyage of the Ship Glide to the South Pacific Ocean. Henry Archer Jr., Master. 1829-1830. Ms. in Essex Institute. Hamilton. (Ship.) Journal of a Voyage of the Ship Hamilton from Boston to the North West Coast of America and Canton, 1809-1811, 1815. Captain Lemuel Porter. The author was possibly William Martain. Ms. in Essex Institute. Herald. (Ship.) Journal of a Voyage in the Ship Herald from Salem to Rot- terdam, Canton, and Return, by Zachariah F. Silsbee (Master and Super-Cargo) in 1804-1805. Ms. in Essex Institute. Hunter. (Ship.) Journal of a Voyage from Salem to Sumatra and Canton and return, 1809-1810, in the Ship Hunter. Ms. in Essex Institute. Indus. (Ship.) Remarks on a Voyage from Boston to Canton by Charles Frederick Waldo, in the Ship Indus, 1802-1803. Ms. in Essex Institute. This is a private Journal kept by a common seaman. Indus. (Ship.) Bill of Lading and other papers of goods on board ship Indus, Richard Wheatland, Master, Boston, March 5, 1802. These are in the Dr. Henry Wheatland Manuscripts, in the Essex Institute, Salem, Vol. 5, p. 24. Digitized by Microsoft® 158 Kenneth S. Latourette, Indus. (Ship.) A Journal for the above voyage, incomplete. Kept by Captain Richard Wheatland. Ms. in Essex Institute. John Jay. (Ship.) • Account Book of the Ship John Jay in 1798. In the Brown and Ives Papers, in the John Carter Brown Library. It gives the wages of the crew. Louisa. ( Ship. ) Bill of Lading of Ship Louisa to Northwest Coast of America, dated Oct. 5, 1826. WiUiam Martain, Master, to William Mar- tain. In Essex Institute. (It is a loose leaf in the Log of the Louisa.) Louisa. (Ship.) Journal of a Voyage of the Ship Louisa from Boston to the North West Coast of America, Canton, and Boston, William Martain, Master, 1826-1829. Ms. in Essex Institute. Margaret. ( Ship. ) Extracts from the Log of the Ship Margaret, Commanded by Captain James Magee. Voyage to the North West Coast, 1791- 1792. Typewritten copy in Essex Institute. Original owned by R. H. Derby, New York. Mermaid. (Brig.) Journal of a Voyage from Salem to New Zealand, the Society, Fegee, Friendly, and other Islands in the Pacific, and home by way of Manilla, and China, in the Brig Mermaid, J. H. Eagleston, Master. Oct., 1836-Apr., 1839. With this is a journal of a cruise among the Fegee Islands in the Schooner Jane, in the employ of the Mermaid by G. N. Cheever, first officer of the brig. Unfinished. The second part was written many years after the first, and is probably less accurate. Mss. in Essex Institute. Midas. (Ship.) Journal of a Voyage from Salem to Canton and back, in the Ship Midas. She left Boston Sept. 13, 1818, and returning arrived in Boston Sept. 8, 1819. Ms. in Essex Institute. Monroe. (Brig.) Journal of a Voyage of the Brig Monroe from Boston to Africa Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 159 [Goree] to River Gambia, and to China, 1825. Samuel Vent, Commander. Kept by George W. Williams. Ms. in Essex Institute. Pallas. (Barque.) Journal of a Voyage of the Barque Pallas from Salem to the Pacific Ocean, 1832-1834. Ms. in Essex Institute. Perseverance. (Ship.) Log Book of the Ship Perseverance in a Voyage to Batavia, Manilla, and Canton, and return, in 1796-1797, Nathaniel Hathorne, Master. Ms. in Essex Institute. Peru. (Barque.) Journal of a Voyage on Board the Barque Peru from Lintin to the Fijee Islands, then to Manila, 1832-1833. J. H. Eagleston, Master. Ms. in Essex Institute. Sapphire. (Ship.) Journal of a Voyage of the Ship Sapphire from New York to Chili, Hawaii, China, Manila, and return. 1834-1835. Captain J. W. Chever. Ms. in Essex Institute. William. (Ship.) Two Bills of Lading, signed by N. Emery, Jr., Mar. 25, 1809, and an Invoice of Merchandise shipped by him and Augustine Heard on Board the ship William, Noah Emery, Jr., Master, Nov. 25, 1809. In the Dr. Henry Wheatland Papers, Vol. 5, pp. 9, 10, in the Essex Institute. William and Henry. (Brig.) Journal and Log of the Brig William and Henry from Salem, Mass., to Canton, Isle of France, and Salem, 1788-1790. Benja- min Hodges, Master. Ms. in Essex Institute. Williams, C. H. Journal of a Voyage from Boston to Batavia, Canton, Manila, Canton, Batavia, Saurarang, Batavia, Isle of France, and St. •Helena, and the United States, begun April 16, 1836, ended Dec. 17, 1837. Commanded and kept by Charles H. Williams. Ms. in Essex Institute. Oliver Wolcott and Co. Store Book of Oliver Wolcott and Company, Number I. For ca. 1805. In the New York Histl. Society's Library. They did some business with Canton for themselves and other New York investors. Digitized by Microsoft® i6o Kenneth S. Latourette, 4. JOURNALS, DIARIES, CONTEMPORARY DESCRIPTIONS, CORRESPONDENCE, AND NARRATIVES OF VOYAGES. Abeel, David. ^ Journal of a Residence in China and the Neighboring Coun- tries, with a PreUminary Essay on the Commencement and Progress of Missions in the World. New York, 1836. (ist Ed., New York, 1834.) This is the personal narrative, kept day by day, of the man who shares with Bridgman the honor of being the first American missionary to China. Adams, John Quincy. Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, Comprising Portions of His Diary from 1795 to 1848, edited by Charles Francis Adams. Philadelphia, 1876. This is a source for the negotiations with Russia over the Northwest Coast, and for the preliminaries of the Cushing mis- sion to China. The American Review. 4: 392 et sqq.. New York, Oct., 1846. This is of use here for the current impressions of China. Correspondence of the American Baptist Missionary Union. Mss. in their rooms in Boston. Special use has been made of the files containing the letters to and from Mrs. and Mr. Shuck, and I. J. Roberts. Correspondence of the American Board of Commissioners OF Foreign Missions. Mss. in their Library in Boston, Mass. See especially the files marked Foreign, vols, i, 2, and 3, which contain the letters of the Board and of its secretaries, to the missionaries, and the two volumes marked "Correspondence from the Field," "China, 1831-1837," and "China, 1838^1844." The letters are numbered according to their order in the files. Barnard, Charles. A Narrative of the Suiferings and Adventures of Captain Charles W. Barnard in a Voyage Round the World during the years, 1812, 1813, 1814, 1815, and 1816. New York, 1829. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. i6i This is first hand information of the fur-seahng industry at a time when it had nearly disappeared. Barrows, John. Travels in China. Philadelphia, 1805. This is given here to show that sufficient interest in China existed in America to justify an American edition of these travels. Beechey, F. W. Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific and Bering's Strait to cooperate with the Polar Expedition performed in His Majesty's Ship Blossom under the command of Captain F. W. Beechey, R. N., in the years 1825, 1826, 1827, 1828. 2 Vols. London, 183 1. Bond, Phineas. Letters of Phineas Bond, British Consul at Philadelphia, to the Foreign Office of Great Britain, 1787, 1788, 1789. Edited by the Historical Manuscripts Commission of the American His- torical Association. In Annual Report of the American Historical Association for 1896. Vol. I, pp. 513-659. These letters give some information about the beginnings of the American commerce with China, and show what opinions a well-informed British subject held in regard to it. Campbell, Archibald. Voyage Round the World from 1806 to 1812. New York, 1817. Cleveland, Richard J. A Narrative of Voyages and Commercial Enterprises. 2 v. Cambridge, Mass., 1842. 2d ed., with additions, Cambridge, 1844. Cleveland was a merchant adventurer who sailed in many seas. His voyages from Canton to the west coast of the Americas are of especial interest to us. Delano, Amasa. Narrative of Voyages and Travels, in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres : Comprising Three Voyages Round the World : together with a Voyage of Survey and Discovery, in the Pacific Ocean and Oriental Islands. Boston, 1818. Delano was largely concerned with various branches of the fur trade centering at Canton. The book is a compilation of journals kept on the voyages and is very detailed. Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. XXII 11 1917 Digitized by Microsoft® 1 62 Kenneth S. Latourette, D'WoLF, John. A Voyage to the North Pacific and a Journey through Siberia more than Half a Century Ago. Cambridge, Mass., 1861. The Narrative of a Voyage from Bristol to the Jiorthwest Coast for furs. D'Wolf, the captain, sold his vessel to the Russians, and part of the crew went to Canton. He himself went overland to European Russia. The book seems to have been written from, a journal kept on the voyage. It is to be found in the Public Library, New York City. < Dix, William G. Wreck of the Glide, with Recollections of the Fijis and of Wallis Island. New York and London, 1848. This deals with the South Sea trade. The Glide was owned by Peabody, and sailed from Salem, May 22, 1829. The book was begun by James Oliver, of whose adventures it is a narrative, and was written by him from memory in Hawaii in 1832, shortly after the events recorded, the dates being supplied partly from the Glide's log book, and partly from the manuscripts of his companions. After Oliver's death his brother made additions from the manuscripts of shipmates. Dixon, G. Voyage Round the World, More particularly to the North West Coast of America. London, 1789. This is the account of an early British voyage to the North- west Coast. DooLiTTLE, Erasmus. (?) Sketches by a Traveller. Boston, 1830. These are letters which originally appeared in the New Eng- land Galaxy and Boston Courier. They describe a voyage to the Northwest Coast of America made probably during the War of 1812. No author's name is given, but there are some similar sketches in the same volume written by Erasmus Doolittle, and it is quite possible that he is the author of the anonymous ones. The copy in the Essex Institute has Silas Pinckney Holbrook entered in pencil as author, but the authority is not given. Downing, C. Toogood. The Stranger in China, or the Fan Qui's Visit to the Celestial Empire in 1836-7. 2 Vols., Philadelphia, 1838. This is a description of Canton, Whampoa, and Macao, by an Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 163 eye-witness, an Englishman. It is also in Waldie's Select Circu- lating Library, Philadelphia, Part II., pp. 287-366. Elliot, (Captain) Robert. Views of the East, comprising India, Canton, and the Shores of the Red Sea, with Historical and Descriptive Illustrations. Lon- don, 1833. This is of interest for its drawings, about half a dozen of which are of Chinese scenes. They were made from life in 1822, 1823, and 1824. Erskine, Charles. Twenty Years Before the Mast, With the More Thrilling Scenes and Incidents while circumnavigating the Globe under the Command of the late Admiral Charles Wilkes, 1836-1842. Boston, 1890. These are the recollections of a man who had been on the voyage. They tell among other things of the massacre of the crew of the Charles Daggett of Salem on the Fiji Islands, (p. 153.) They are not very reliable. Everett, Edward. (U. S. Minister to Great Britain.) Letter to Daniel Webster, May 6, 1842. Same to Same, Nov. 29, 1842. Both are in manuscript in the Bureau of Indices and Archives, State Department, Washington, D. C. These are two letters bearing on the first Chino-British War. Fanning, Edmund. Voyages to the South Seas, Indian and Pacific Oceans, China Sea, North West Coast, Feejee Islands, South Shetlands, etc., etc. New York, 1838. This is a collection of voyages, largely taken from Fanning's own journals. It covers the years from John Paul Jones and the Serapis to 1837-8. It is largely of value here for three sketches of voyages to the South Seas for sandalwood, etc., and for its memorials to Congress. Fanning, Edmund. Voyages Round the World, with selected sketches of Voyages to the South Seas, North and South Pacific Oceans, China, etc., performed under the Command and Agency of the Author. Information Relating to Important Discoveries between the Years 1792-1832. New York, 1833. Digitized by Microsoft® 164 Kenneth S. Latourette, This is larger than the preceding, and contains a different set of material. It is a narrative of great value for the South Sea trade. Fleurieu, C. p. Claret. Voyage autour du Monde pendant les annees 1790, 1791, et 1792, par Etienne Marchand, precede d'une Introduction His- torique, auquel on a joint des recherches sur les terres australes de Drake et un examen critique du voyage de Rogeneen. Paris, an. vi, (of theRepubHc). 6 Vols. New Ed. 4 Vol. Paris, 1 841. This is compiled from the journals of Captain Chanal and those of a surgeon who attended the vessel. It was a French expedition to the Northwest Coast. Forbes, ■ . Personal Memoranda. In Massachusetts Historical Society, Proceedings, Vol. 7, p. 410. Forbes, John Murray. Letters and Recollections of John Murray Forbes. (Edited by his daughter Sarah Forbes Hughes.) Boston and New York, 1899. Volume I, chapters 3, 4, and 5, are a good collection of first- hand material concerning the Perkins firm in Canton. Forbes, Robert B[ennet]. Personal Reminiscences. Boston, 1878. These are by one who was engaged in the trade. Franchereu, Gabriel. Narrative of' a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America, in the Years 181 1, 1812, 1813, and 1814, or the First American Settlement on the Pacific. New York, 1854. The author was a young French Canadian who went out under Astor in the "Tonquin" in» 1811. There is an earlier French edition. Ip the Lenox Library, New York. GiJTZLAFF, Carl Feiedrich August. The Journal of Two Voyages Along the Coast of China in 1831 and 1832, the first in a Chinese Junk, the second in the British Ship Lord Amherst, etc. New York, 1833. This is an account by one of the members of the party. Hamilton, Alexander. Hamilton's Itinerarium, Being a Narrative of a Journey from Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 165 Annapolis, Maryland, through Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, from May to September, 1744. Ed. by Albert Bushnell Hart. St. Louis, 1907. This is used here for its mention of the value of ginseng in colonial times, pp. 4, 7. [Henshaw, J. Sidney.] Around the World, A Narrative of a Voyage in the East India Squadron under Commodore George C. Read. New York, 1840. This is by a participant. Vol. 2: 175-294, tells of the stay of the squadron in China. Holmes, Samuel. The Journal of Mr. Samuel Holmes .... during his attendance as one of the guard on Lord Macartney's Embassy to China and Tartary, i'792-3. London, 1798. This is useful here for its mention of an American ship which returned part way with the expedition for protection from French privateers. In Harvard Library. Hunter, W. C. Journal of Occurrences at Canton during the Cessation of Trade at Canton, 1839. Manuscript in the Boston Athenaeum. This is an interesting first-hand account of these trying days. Hunter, William C. Bits of Old China. London, 1885. This is a collection of descriptive sketches of Canton and of the factory life there, written in an entertaining way by one who knew conditions intimately. [Hunter, William C] The Fan Kwae at Canton before Treaty Days, 1825-1844. London, 1882. * This is descriptive, and is much like the preceding. Ingraham, Joseph. An Account of a recent discovery of Seven Islands, in the South Pacific Ocean by Joseph Ingraham, citizen of Boston, and Commander of the brigantine Hope, of 70 tons burthen ; and of and from this port, bound to the North West Coast of America, by permission of the owners, copied from the Journal of said Digitized by Microsoft® 1 66 Kenneth S. Latourette, Ingraham, and communicated to the Publick, by the Historical Society. In the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1793, 2 : 20-24. • Ingraham, Joseph. Journal of the Voyage of the Brigantine "Hope" from Boston to the North-West Coast of America, 1790- 1792. By Joseph Ingraham, Captain of the "Hope" and formerly mate of the "Columbia." In the department of Manuscripts of the Library of Congress. This is unfinished. It is a manuscript account of one of the early American voyages to the Northwest Coast. Jacobs, Thomas Jefferson. Scenes, Incidents, and Adventures in the Pacific Ocean or the Islands of the Australian Seas, during the Cruise of the clipper Margaret, Oakley under Captain Benjamin Morrell. New York, 1844. This is of use for the heche de mer trade. It was written from a journal kept on the trip, and is by a man of some education, with a better literary style than most narratives of its kind. Jay, John. The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, edited by Henry P. Johnson. (Putnams) New York and London, 1891. This shows Robert Morris' part in the voyage of the "Empress of China." See especially. Vol. 3, pp. 97, 143. Writings of Thomas Jefferson. Andrew A. Lipscomb, editor-in-chief. Washington, 1904. These give Jefferson's opinion of China on 5 : 183. Jewitt, John. The Adventures of John Jewitt, only survivor of the Crew of the Ship Boston, during a captivity of nearly three years among the Indians of Nootka Sound in Vancouver Island. Ed. by Robert Brown. London, 1896. Several earlier editions of this work came out. In the His- torical Magazine, 4:91, Timothy Dwight says that his uncle, Richard Alsop, wrote it for Jewitt from the latter's narrative. This was hard to use, as Jewitt was not very intelligent. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 167 Correspondence Concerning Captain Kendrick and the Settlement of His Estate. In the Bureau of Rolls and Library, Department of State, Washington. These also concern the Northwest Coast trade in general. Itemized, the most useful are: (i) John Howell to Joseph Barrell, Manila, May 28, 1796. (2) J. Barrell to John Kendrick, letter of instructions. No date. (3) John Howell to Joseph Barrell, Macao, Dec. 23, 1796. (4) William Sturgis to Charles Morris, Boston, Aug., 1816. (5) T. H. Perkins to Charles Bulfinch, Boston, Dec. 21, 1817. (6) Charles Bunfinch to W. Cushing, Dec. i, 1816. (A printed letter.) King, C. W., and Lay, G. T. The Claims of Japan and Malaysia upon Christendom Exhib- ited in Notes of Voyages Made in 1837 from Canton in the Ship Morrison and Brig Himmaleh under Direction of the Owners. 2 Vols., New York, 1839. Vol. I, the voyages of the Morrison, is by C. W. King, and Vol. 2, the voyage of the Himmaleh, is by G. Tradescent Lay. Both are men who participated in the events they describe. KoTZEBUE, Otto von. Voyage of discovery in the South Sea, and to Behring's Strciits, in Search of a North East Passage, Undertaken in the years 1815, 1816, 1817, 1818, in the Ship Rurick. London, 1821. In Phillips' New Voyages. This mentions the American Northwest Fur Trade. Kotzebue, Otto von. A New Voyage Round the World in the Years 1823, 1824, 1825, and 1826. 2 v., London, 1830. This mentions the American sandalwood trade in the Hawaiian Islands. Krusenstern, (Captain) A. J. von. Voyage Round the World in the Years 1803, 1804, 1805, 1806. By Order of His Imperial Majesty Alexander the First, on Board the Ships Nadeshda and Neva, under the command of Captain A. J. Krusenstern of the Imperial Navy. Translated froni the German by Richard Belgrave Hoppner. London, 1813. Digitized by Microsoft® 1 68 Kenneth S. Latourette, This is an account of a Russian expedition to the Northwest Coast of America, and throws light on the American trade there and at Canton. Laplace, M. * Voyage autour du Monde par les Mers de I'lnde et de Chine execute sur la corvette de I'etat La Favorite pendant les annees 1830, 1831, et 1832, sous les commandent de M. Laplace. 4 Vols. Paris, 1833. Vol. 2 contains references to the Anlerican trade in China. Lavollee, M. C. Voyage in Chine. Paris, 1853. This was written by a member of the party which obtained the first French treaty with China, and is used for its mention of Parker's work. Lesson, P. Voyage autour du Monde enterpris par ordre du Government sur la Corvette la Coquille, par P. Lesson. Bruxelles, 1839. This is used for the author's opinion of the work of the London Missionary Society. Lay, G. Tradescent. The Chinese as They Are. Albany, N. Y., 1843. The fact that there was an American edition of this English work is an illustration of the interest in China felt in the United States. Low (Miss). My Mother's Journal, a Young Lady's Diairy of Five Years Spent in Manila, Macao, and the Cape of Good Hope, from 1829-1834. Katherine Hillard, Editor. Boston, 1900. This diary by Miss Low gives a picture of the social life of the Americans and Europeans at Macao. In the Essex Institute. LowRiE, Walter M. Memoirs of the Rev. Walter M. Lowrie, Missionary to China. Edited by his Father. New York, 1850. Lowrie reached China so late that most of his work lies beyond our period. LuTKE, Frederic. Voyage autour du Monte execute par ordre de sa Majeste Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 169 L'Empereur Nicolas ler sur la Corvette Le Seuiavius dans les annees 1826, 1827, 1828, et 1829 par Frederic Lutke, captaine de vaisseau, aide-de-camp de s. m. I'empereur, commandant de I'expedition. Traduit par F. Boye. 2 v., Paris, 1835. Vol. I, Chap. 5, mentions the American fur trade on the Northwest Coast. In the Boston Athenaeum. Magee, Bernard. Observations on the Islands of Juan Fernandez, Massafuero, and St. Ambrose, in the South Pacific Ocean, and the Coast of Chile in South America. Extracted from the Journal of Mr. Bernard Magee, first officer of the Ship Jefferson, in her late voyage round the globe. In Collections of the Mass. Histl. Soc, 1795,4:247-260. Boston, 1795. This is useful because of the first-hand information it gives concerning the fur sealing trade. Magee, James (Captain). An Account of the Discovery of a Group of Islands in the North Pacific Ocean, by Captain James Magee, in the Ship Margaret, of Boston, in his run from Canton toward the North West Coast of America. Extracted from his log book. In collections of the Mass. Histl. Soc, 1795, 4 : 261-262. Bos- ton, 1795. This is a brief account of the discovery of what Magee named "Margaret's Islands." McLeod, John. Voyage of His Majesty's Ship Alceste to China, Corea, and the Island of Lewchew with an account of her Shipwreck. Lon- don, 1819. See especially the reference on p. 195 to the American consul at Canton. Malcolm, Howard. Travels in South Eastern Asia, embracing Hindustan, Malaya, Siam, and China, and notices of Numerous Missionary Stations and a full account of the Burman Empire. (Preface, 1853.) Philadelphia. These travels are too late to be of much use for our period. Meany, Edmond S. Vancouver's Discovery of Puget Sound. New York, 1907. Digitized by Microsoft® 170 Kenneth S. Latourette, This consists largely of Vancouver's Journal, with long critical and explanatory notes. It is chiefly valuable for these latter. Meaees, John. Voyages made in the Years 1788 and 1789 from China to the North West Coast of America with an introductory narrative of a voyage performed in 1786 from Bengal, etc. London, 1791. This shows the early British trade to the Northwest Coast. Only brief mention is made of the American trade there. MiLET-MuREAU, M. L. A. (Editor). A Voyage Round the World in the Years 1785, 1786, 1787, 1788, by J. F. G. de LaPerouse. 3 v. (Trans, from the French.) London, 1798. Some mention of American trade is to be found in these volumes. MoRRELL, Benjamin (Captain). A Narrative of Four Voyages to the South Seas, North and South Pacific Ocean, Chinese Sea, Ethiopic and Southern Atlantic Ocean, Indian and Antarctic Ocean. From the Year 1822-1831. New York, 1832. This was apparently compiled from a journal. It contains valuable accounts of the South Sea trade, especially that in beche de mer. MoRRELL, AbBY JaNE. Narrative of a Voyage to the Ethiopic and South Atlantic Ocean, Chinese Sea, North and South Pacific Ocean in the Years 1829, 1830, 1831. By Abby Jane Morrell who accompanied her husband, Capt. Benjamin Morrell, Jr., of the schooner Antarctic. New York, 1833. This is valuable as a side light on part of Morrell's narrative. MouLTON, William. A Concise Extract from the Sea Journal of William Moulton written on board the Onico, in a voyage from the Port of New London in Connecticut to Staten Land in the South Seas : . . . . in the years 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, 1804. Utica, 1804. This gives the common sailor's side of the fur sealing trade. MuRRELL, William Meacham. Cruise of the Frigate Columbia Around the World under the Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 171 Command of Commodore George C. Read in 1838, 1839, 1840. Boston, 1840. This is a narrative by one who was on the expedition, and is a readable description, but has no great literary merit. In the Astor Library. Nye, Gideon. The Morning of My Life in China, Comprising an outline of the History of Foreign Intercourse from the Last Year of the Regime of the Honourable East India Company, 1833, to the imprisonment of the Foreign Community in 1839. Canton, 1873. This is a lecture by an American before the Canton Community, Jan. 31, 1873. Patterson, Samuel. Narrative of the Adventures and Sufferings of Samuel Pat- terson, experienced in the Pacific Ocean, and many other parts of the world, with an Account of the Feegee and Sandwich Islands. Palmer, May i, 1817. This was compiled from Patterson's papers and verbal accounts, by Ezekiel Terry, as an act of charity. It gives a common sea- man's side of the sealing and fur trades. Renouaed de Sainte-Croix, Felix. Voyage commercial et Politique aux Indes Orientales, aux lies Philippines, a la Chine, avec des nations sur la Cochin Chine et le Tonquin, Pendant les annees 1803-1807. 3 v., Paris, 1810. The third volume gives an account of the affair of the Topaz and the Diana. In Harvard Library. Reynolds, J. N. Voyage of the United States Frigate Potomoc under the com- mand of Commodore John Downes during the Circumnavigation of the Globe in the years 1831, 1832, 1833, and 1834, etc. New York, 1835. This was compiled from the journals of R. Pinkham, S. Gordon, and Commodore Downes, who were on the cruise, and from verbal accounts of some of the crew. The author joined the expedition only twenty weeks before its close. Roberts, Edmund. Embassy to the Eastern Courts of Cochin-China, Siam, and Digitized by Microsoft® 172 Kenneth S. Latourette, Muscat, in the U. S. Sloop of War Peacock, David Geisenger, Commander, during the years 1832, 3, 4. New York, 1837. This expedition touched at Macao. Root, Joel. Narrative of a Sealing and Trading Voyage in the Ship Huron, from New Haven around the World, Sept., 1802, to Oct., 1806. Read by Thomas R. Trowbridge, Nov. 26, 1888. In New Haven Historical Society Papers, Vol. 5, pp. 149-171. This is an account of orje of the fur sealing voyages which centered at Canton, and is by a participant. ROQUEFEUIL, M. CaMILLE DE. A Voyage Round the World between the Years 1816-1819. London, 1823.' In Vol. 9 of Richard Phillips and Co., New Voyages and Travels. This is an account of a 'French voyage to the South Seas and the Northwest Coast, written by the commander of the expedi- tion. It throws some light on American trade. In the Astor Library. RUSCHENBERGER, W. S. W. A Voyage Round the World, including an Embassy to Muscat and Siam, in 1835, ^836, and 1837. Philadelphia, 1838. This is a narrative, rewritten from the author's own journals, of the expedition to exchange the ratification of the treaties with Siam and Muscat negotiated on Roberts' first voyage. La Salle, A. de. Voyage autour du Monde, Execute pendant les annees 1836 et 1837 sur la Corvette La Bonite. , Relation du Voyage, par A. de La Salle. 3 Vols. Paris, 1852. (Shaler.) Journal of a Voyage between China and the North Western Coast of America, made in 1804. In the American Register or General Repository of History, Pohtics, and Science, Vol. 3 (1808), pp. 137-175. Shaw, Samuel. The Journals of Major Samuel Shaw, the first American Con- sul at Canton. Boston, 1847. Edited, with a life of the author, by Joseph Quinc'y. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 173 This is the best source for the beginnings of American trade at Canton. . Slade, John. Narrative of the Late Proceedings and Events in China. China, 1839. This man, the editor of the Canton Register, is anti-Chinese and anti-American in his attitude. In this work he gives most of the official documents of all important foreign affairs in China from 1837 to the close of 1839. Smith, William. Journal of a Voyage in the Missionary Ship Duff, to the Pacific Ocean in the Years 1796, 7, 8, 9, 1800, i, 2, etc. Comprehending Authentic and Circumstantial Narratives of the disasters which attended the first effort of the London Missionary Society. New York, 1813. This is of use for its mention of American ships in the South Seas. Staunton, (Sir) George. An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China .... taken chiefly from the papers of his excellency the Earl of Macartney. 2 v., Lon- don, 1798. On 1 : 207, this account mentions some American sealers found on the Island of Amsterdam. Taylor, Fitch W. Flag Ship, or a Voyage Around the World, in the United States Frigate Columbia, Attended by Her Consort, the Sloop of War, John Adams. New York, 1840. This is by the chaplain of the squadron. TOMLIN, J. Missionary Journals and Letters Written during Eleven Years' Residence and Travels amongst the Chinese, Siamese, Javanese, Khassis, and Other Eastern Nations. London, 1844. This tells, among other things, of Tomlin's trip with Abeel to Bangkok in 1831. TOWNSEND, EbENEZEK. The Diary of Mr. Ebenezer Townsend, Jr., the Supercargo of the Sealing Ship "Neptune" on her voyage to the South Pacific and Canton, with a preface by Thomas R. Trowbridge. Digitized by Microsoft® 174 Kenneth S. Latourette, In the Papers of the New Haven Colony Historical Society, Vol. 4 (New Haven, 1888), pp. 1-115. This is a first-hand account of one of the fur-sealing voyages. Tyler, Lyon G. The Letters and Times of the Tylers. Richmond, 1885. This is of use here for Webster's part in securing Everett's appointment. The author beUeves that Webster wanted Everett's place. Vancouver, (Captain) George. A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the World, in which the Coast of North West America has been carefully examined and accurately surveyed, undertaken by His Majesty's Command, Principally with a view to Ascertain the existence of. any navigable communication between the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, and performed in the years 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, and 1795, in the Discovery sloop of war, and armed tender Chatham under the command of Captain George Vancouver. 3 vols. London, 1798. ' This was published after the death of Vancouver by his brother. It is valuable here for the information it gives concerning the early American trade to the North West Coast. Warriner, Francis. Cruise of the United States Frigate Potomoc Round the World during the years 1831-1834. New York, 1835. This is an account by one of the members of the crew. Webster, Daniel. The Works of Daniel Webster, Boston, 1856. These were probably compiled under the direction of Webster himself, and are especially useful in settling the authorship of certain messages and letters. Webster, Daniel. The Letters of Daniel Webster, from Documents owned prin- cipally by the New Hampshire Historical Society. New York, 1902. Edited by C. H. Van Tyne. Wilkes, Charles. Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition during the years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842. 5 Vols., Philadelphia, 1845. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 175 Some scattering mention of the earlier American South Sea trade which centered at Canton is to be found in this book. Wood, W. W. Sketches of China with Illustrations from Original Drawings. Philadelphia, 1830. This contains a description of Canton as it was about 1830, and some pictures of scenes in or around there, made at the time. Woodward, David. The Narrative of Captain David Woodward and Four Sea- men, who lost their ship while in a boat at sea and surrendered themselves up to the Malays in the Island of Celebes. 2d ed., London, 1805. This is in the nature of a JQurnal, written by Woodward, a native of Boston, Mass. Williams, Samuel Wells. Recollections of China Prior to 1840. In China Branch of Royal Asiatic Society's Journal, 8:2-21. (1874.) It was read before the society Jan. 13, 1873. 5. CONTEMPORARY PAMPHLETS, SERMONS. LECTURES, DISCUSSIONS AND TREATISES. An American Merchant. (Anonymous.) Remarks on British Relations and Intercourse with China. London, 1834. I have not examined the book, but have seen merely the review of it in the Chinese Repository, 3 : 406. Anonymous. British Relations with the Chinese Empire in 1832. Compara- tive statement of the English and American Trade with India and Canton. London, 1832. This is a pamphlet dedicated to the House of Lords, and is one of those issued at the time of the controversy over the East India Company's monopoly of the China trade. It is in favor of the Company, and so tries to minimize the success of the American-Chinese commerce. In the Library of the Essex Institute. Assey, Charles. On the Trade to China and the Indian Archipelago with Digitized by Microsoft® 176 Kenneth S. Latourette, observations on the insecurity of the British Interests in that Quarter. In Pamphleteer, Vol. 14, London, 1819, pp. 516-543. (In the Boston Athenaeum.) Assey had been secretary to the British Goveiiiment in Java, and this article shows the anxiety he had come to feel over the progress of American trade in the Far East. BooNE, William J. (M.D.). Address in Behalf of the China Mission by the Rev. William J. Boone, M.D., Missionary of the, Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America to China. New York, 1837. In Boston Public Library. (Dunn, Nathan, proprietor.) A Descriptive Catalogue of the Chinese Collection in Phila- delphia, with Miscellaneous Remarks upon the Manners, Customs, Trade, and Government of the Celestial Empire. Philadelphia, 1839. In the Lenox Library, N. Y. This shows the nature of this collection, brought to America for commercial purposes. DuPoNCEAU, Peter S. A. Dissertation on the Nature and Character of the Chinese Sys- tem of Writing. In the Transactions of the Historical and Literary Committee of the American Philosophical Society. Philadelphia, 1838. This helps to show the extent of American knowledge of China at the outbreak of the opium troubles. Edmonds, John W. Origin and Progress of the War between England and China. A lecture delivered before the Newburgh Lycetun, Dec. 11, 1841. This illustrates American sentiment on the first Chinese- British War. In Lenox Library. Forbes, R. B. Remarks on China and the China Trade. Boston, 1844. In the Essex Institute. Foster, Arnold. Christian Progress in China. Gleanings from the Writings and Speeches of Many Workers. London, 1889. This is largely a collection of documents, but the editing is Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 177 faulty, as Mr. Foster changed his material occasionally, omitting sentences, correcting grammatical blunders, etc. General Association of Connecticut. An Address of the General Association of Connecticut to the District Associations on the Subject of A Missionary Society, together with summaries and extracts from the late European publications on Missions to the Heathen. Norwich, 1797. This is useful in tracing the beginnings of missionary enter- prise in the United States. G[eeenough], W. W. China, Its Population, Trade, and the Prospect of a Treaty. In Journal of the American Oriental Society, i : 143-161. Bos- ton, 1849. Livingston, John H. A Sermon Delivered before the New York Missionary Society at their Annual Meeting, April 3, 1804 .... to which are added an appendix, the Annual Report of the Directors, and other papers relating to American Missions. New York, 1804. Used for the beginnings of American Foreign Missions. Medhurst, W. H. China: Its State and Prospects with especial Reference to the Spread of the Gospel, Containing Allusions to the Antiquity, Extent, Population, Civilization, Literature, and Religion of the Chinese. London, 1838. This is used for the first-hand experiences it narrates. Although by an Englishman, it contains mention of the Americans. Morrison, John Robert. A Chinese Commercial Guide, Consisting of a Collection of Details Respecting Foreign Trade in China. Canton, 1834. Nye, Gideon. The Rationale of the China Question. Macao, 1857. The chief interest of this for us is the reprint it contains of a letter of Mr. Nye to the New York Express, June 5, 1840, giving an account of what had happened prior to the first war with Great Britain. Nye, Gideon. Peking the Goal — The Sole Hope of Peace, Comprising an Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. XXII 12 1917 Digitized by Microsoft® 178 Kenneth S. Latourette, Inquiry into the Origin and the Pretension of Universal Supremacy by China, and into the Causes of the First War, with Incidents of the Imprisonment of the Foreign Community and of the First Campaign of Canton, 1841. Canted, 1873. This is by a participant, but was delivered as a lecture many years after the events narrated took place. In the Harvard Library. Parker, Edward Harper. Chinese Account of the Opium War. Shanghai, 1888. This is a translation and condensation of a work by Wei Yiian, and shows the Chinese attitude toward the Americans. In Essex Institute. Proceedings of the Public Meeting of the India and China Trade held in the Sessions Room, Liverpool, Eng- land, on the 29TH of January, 1829. The Worship- ful, the Mayor, in the Chair. Pamphlet, pp. 47. Liverpool, 1829. (?) This gives the speeches of those opposed to the East India Company's monopoly of the Canton trade, and shows how the American trade was cited as an instance of success under free trade. In the Harvard Library. Reynolds, J. N. Address on the Subject of a Surveying and Exploring Expe- dition to the Pacific Ocean and the South Seas Delivered in the Hall of Representatives on the Evening of April 3, 1836, by J. N. Reynolds, with Correspondence and Documents. New York, , 1836. Sheffield (Lord) [John Baker. Holroyd]. Observations on the Commerce of the American States. New Edition, London, 1784. This gives some facts about the importation into America from Great Britain of China goods just before the beginning of the trade between the United States and Canton. Slade, John. Notices on the British Trade to the Port of Canton, with some • translations of Chinese Official Papers relative to that trade. By John Slade, late of Canton. London, 1830. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 179 This argues for the monopoly of the East India Company, and hence tends to minimize the importance of the American trade. In Essex Institute. Staunton, (Sir) George Thomas. Miscellaneous Notices Relating to China, and our Commercial Intercourse with that Country, including a few translations from the Chinese Language. (2d ed., enlarged in 1822, and accom- panied in 1850 by observations on the events which have affected our Chinese Commerce during that interval.) London, 1822-50. This is favorable to the East India Company, and hence inclined to minimize the importance of American trade. Webster, Daniel. Speech on the Tariff in the House of Representatives April i and 2, 1824. In Taussig, State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff. New York, 1892. Wines, E. C. A Peep at China in Mr. Dunn's Chinese Collections with Miscellaneous Notices Relative to the Institutions and Customs of the Chinese and our Commercial Intercourse with Them. Philadelphia, 1839. In Harvard Library. This is largely a description of Dunn's Collection, and shows again the curiosity in the United States about China. Woods, Leonard. A Sermon delivered at the Tabernacle in Salem, Feb. 6, 1812, on occasion of the Ordination of the Rev. Messrs. Sa.muel Newell, A.M., Adoniram Judson, A.M., Samuel Nott, A.M., Gordon Hall, A.M., and Luther Rice, A.M., Missionaries to the Heathen in Asia, under the direction of the Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions .... to which is added the charge by Samuel Spring, D.D., and the Right Hand of Fellowship by Samuel Worcester, D.D. Stockbridge, 1812. 6. NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS. Anglo-Chinese Calendar for the Year of the Christian Aera 1835. Canton, China, 1834. In Harvard Library. Digitized by Microsoft® i8o Kenneth S. Latourette, Same for 1838. In Boston Public Library. These are useful for our purpose because of their list of the foreign residents in Canton, and some miscellan^us information. The Baptist Missionary Magazine. Boston, 1821, et sqq. These files contain such first-hand information as letters from the field, journals of missionaries, etc. The Canton Press. Canton, China, 1835 et sqq. In the Yale Library are volumes 2, 3, and 4, and in the Astor Library are volumes 5 and part of 6. A few scattering numbers are found in with the Consular Letters, Canton. Edited by Edmund Moller. Published in Macao after July I, 1839. This was British in its sympathies. It ceased issue in March, 1844. The Canton Register. Canton, China, 1827 et sqq. In the Yale Library are volumes 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, II, 12, and in the Astor Library is volume 4. There are a few numbers bound in with the Consular Letters, Canton. This ended its existence June 20, 1843, in Hongkong, with vol. 16 as "the Hongkong late Canton Register," which continued until 1859. Like the Press, it was British. Chinese Courier and Canton Gazette. This sheet was edited by an American, a son of the Philadelphia actor, Wm. B. Wood, and was opposed to the East India Com- pany's monopoly at Canton. It endured from July, 1831, to Sept., 1833. The numbers from July 28, 1831, to April 5, 1832, are in the Boston Athenaeum. The Chinese Repository. Volumes i to 20, May, 1832, to 1851. For the origin of this periodical see above p. 107. It is indispensable for the years which it covers. The Ch:ristian Observer. The Beginnings of Missions in Great Britain. 40: 309. The Columbian Centinel. Boston, Mass., 1791-1831. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. i8i This is of use for an occasional mention of the commerce between Boston and Canton. The Edinburgh Review. January, 1831, Vol. 52, pp. 281-322. Article I. Reports from the Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select Committee of the House of Lords and Commons, on the affairs of the East India Company, London, 1830. The article is a commentary on these reports, making much of the American trade, and is hostile to the Company. It created a stir. Hunt's Merchant Magazine. (11:54. New York, July, 1844.) Commerce of the United States with China. Hunt's Merchant Magazine. (3:465. New York, December, 1840.) Commerce of China. This was not written by a direct observer, but it was compiled from various sources which appear to have been reliable. Hunt's Merchant Magazine. 8: 205 et sqq. March, 1843. China and the Chinese Peace. This is a contemporary's view of the subject. Hunt's Merchant Magazine. (2:82.) Chinese Manufactures. Hunt's Merchant Magazine. (4:468.> First American Trade with China. Hunt's Merchant Magazine. (12:77.) Chronology of Events in China. This is an excellent chronology for 1831 et sqq. North American Review. (40:56-68. Jan., 1835.) Execution of an Italian at Canton. 1. London Quarterly Review for Jan., 1834, Art. vii, on Free Trade with China. 2. The Chinese Repository for Jan., 1834, Printed at Canton. In addition to these sources, the author of the article gets Digitized by Microsoft® \ 182 Kenneth S. Latourette, some information from a friend in Baltimore. This is a narrative of the Terranova affair. ■- NiLES Weekly Register. Baltimore, 181 1 at sqq. (to 1849). • This contains a large number of references to China and the China trade. ' • The Panoplist and Missionary Magazine. Boston. New Series, 1809-1817. For 1818, 1819, and 1820, it is called The Panoplist and Missionary Herald and beginning with 1820, it is called the Missionary Herald. This is the magazine of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and contains much first-hand information, such as letters from the field, summaries of annual reports, extracts from missionary journals, etc. The Providence Gazette and Country Journal. Complete files are in the Rhode Island Historical Society. There are occasional references to the China trade. The Southern Literary Messenger. 7:137. Richmond, 1841. China and the Chinese. This is a review of Davis's "The Empire of China and Its Inhabitants." The Spirit of Missions. Edited for the Board of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Burlington, N. J., 1836, New York, 1837 et sqq. See especially the volumes for the years 1836-1844. It is of value for the Episcopal Board missions in much the same way that the Missionary Herald is for those of the American Board. Sturgis, William. The Northwest Fur Trade. This was a lecture given before the Mercantile Library Asso- ciation of Boston, and is condensed from the original manuscript by Elliott Cowdin, in Hunt's Merchant Magazine, 14 : 532-539. Sturgis had been to the Northwest Coast on fur trading voyages. Williams, Samuel Wells. Establishment of American Trade at Canton. In China Review, 5: 152-164. This is mainly a review of the journals of Samuel Shaw. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 183 7. SECONDARY AUTHORITIES. Abbott, Jacob. China and the English, or the Character and Manners of the Chinese as Illustrated in the History of their Intercourse with Foreigners. New York, 1835. This is a popular work written for Abbott's Fireside Series. Its sources are the writings of Marshman, Morrison, Staunton, Barrow, Auber, Milne, and others, for the most part reliable authorities. (Anderson, Rufus.) Memorial Volumes of the First Fifty Years of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Boston, 1861. Auber, Peter. China. An Outline of Its Government, Laws, and Policy: and of the British and Foreign Embassies, to, and Intercourse with That Empire. London, 1834. This is by the Secretary of the Court of the Directors of the British East India Company, a man who had easy access to first- hand information. The work resembles a chronicle. Bancroft, Hubert Howe. History of California. 7 vols. San Francisco, 1884-1890. This is of value for the Northwest Coast fur trade, and espe- cially for its voluminous references to and quotations from rare sources. Bancroft, Hubert Howe. History of the Northwest Coast. 2 vols. San Francisco, 1884. This is useful for the same reasons as Bancroft's History of California. Barrett, Walter. The Old Merchants of New York City. New York, 1870. This was written by a man who had an intimate knowledge of much of the life which he depicted, and contains information which cannot be obtained elsewhere.. It is anecdotal, uncritical, and must be used with the most extreme care. In New York Historical' Society's Library. Becke, Louis, and Jeffery, Walter. The Americans in the South Seas. London, 1901. In the volume marked The Tapu of Banderah, pp. 245-258. Digitized by Microsoft® 184 Kenneth S. Latourette, This seems to be based on reliable sources, although it is written in a popular style. In Boston Athenaeum. Bridgman, Eliza J. Gillett. (Ed.) • The Life and Labors of Elijah Coleman Bridgman, edited by Eliza J. Gillett Bridgman with an introductory note by Asa D. Smith, D.D. New York, 1864. This is largely made up of extracts from Bridgman's private journal or diary and his correspondence, and so is very valuable. Brown, Arthur Judson. New Forces in Old China. New York (Revell and Co.), 1904. This is of use here because of its brief sketch of Christian missions to China before 1807. BuLFiNCH, Thomas. Oregon and Eldorado, or Romance of the Rivers. Boston, 1866. This gives some account of the Northwest Trade, and? as the author was closely related to the Bulfinch who helped to send out the Columbia and the Washington, it should be fairly reliable for these early years. Callahan, James Morton. American Relations in the Pacific and the Far East, 1784-1900. In Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science. Baltimore, 1901. This is disappointing, placing undue emphasis on certain minor incidents, and not at all exhausting the subject. The author is not always accurate. See above, last footnote on Chapter III. Cary, Thomas G. Sketch of Thomas H. Perkins. Vol. 10:201-210. In New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Boston. Chever, C. F. Some Remarks on the Commerce of Salem from 1726 to 1740, with a sketch of Philip English, a merchant in Salem from about 1670 to about 1733-1734- In Historical Collections of the Essex Institute, Vol. i, p. 67. This helps to show the pre-Revolutionary preparation of Salem for a distant commerce, such as that to China. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 185 Clark, Arthur H. The Clipper Ship Era .... 1843-1869. New York and London, 191 1. Cleveland, H. W. S. Voyages of a Merchant Navigator of the Days that are Past. Compiled from the Journals and Letters of the Late Richard J. Cleveland. New York, 1886. This is an interesting supplement to R. J. Cleveland's works. It was written by his son, who adds new material and makes the voyages more readable. As he made extensive use of his father's journals and other reliable sources, the book is quite trustworthy. In the Boston Athenaeum. Cooper, James Fenimore. The Crater; or Vulcan's Peak. A Tale of the Pacific. New York, 1856. This book, although fiction, shows a knowledge of the China trade. Some references, especially those on pp. 17, 19, 20, and 35, are true to the general historical facts of the trade. Cordier, Henri. Histoire des Relations de la Chine avec Les Puissances Occi- dentales, 1860-1890. 3 Vols. Paris, 1901. Only a very little space is devoted to the years discussed in this monograph. Curtis, George Ticknor. Life of Daniel Webster. New York, 1870. Pages 2: 172-180 give an account of Webster's share in the Cushing mission. Curtis believes that Webster was not trying to get the London mission by inducing Everett to accept the China Mission. Curtis, William Eleroy. The United States and Foreign Powers. Meadville, Pa., 1892. This is one of the volumes of the Chautauqua Reading Circle Literature. Pages 250-257 give an account of the treaty of Whanghia, but are of only mediocre value. Cushing, Lemuel. The Genealogy of the Cushing Family. Montreal, 1877. Digitized by Microsoft® 1 86 Kenneth S. Latourette, In the Harvard Library. This is used to show the relationship of Caleb Gushing to the Gushing engaged in the Ghina Trade, Gutter, William. Missionary Efforts of the Protestant Episcopal Shurch in the United States. In "History of American Missions to the Heathen," pp. 563 et sqq. Worcester, 1840. Davis, (Sir) John Francis. Ghina: A General Description of that Empire, and Its Inhabitants, with the History of Foreign Intercourse down to the Events which Produced the Dissolution of 1857. 2 vols. London, 1857. (New edition.) The first half of the first volume is given to an historical sketch, and occasional mention is made of the Americans. It was written by an Englishman who had a long, intimate knowledge of many of the events of which he spoke, and so becomes a valuable source for many events after 1816. Dean, William. The Ghina Mission, Embracing a History of the Various Mis- sions of all Denominations among the Ghinese. New York, 1859. This is of value chiefly for its large number of biographical sketches of missionaries, many of whom the author knew per- sonally. Fames, James Bromley. The English in Ghina .... from the Year 1600 to the Year 1843. London, 1909. ElTEL, E. J. Europe in Ghina. The History of Hongkong from the begin- ning to the year 1882. London and Hongkong, 1895. This is of use here chiefly for diplomacy and politics. Felt, Joseph B. Annals of Salem. 2 vols. Salem, 1845-1849. This is of service in determining Salem's part in the Canton trade. Foster, John W. American Diplomacy in the Orient. Boston and New York, 1904. This work deals mostly with diplomacy, and with the years after 1844. It is, however, a good summary of the commercial Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 187 history, and since it is carefully done and uses good sources, such as the Consular letters from Canton, it is quite reliable. It is probably the best work previously in print that covers our period. Its chief fault is its brevity. Gammell, William. A History of American Baptist Missions in Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. Boston, 1849. This was prepared at the request of the American Baptist Missionary Union. Gray, W. H. A History of Oregon, 1792-1849. Portland, San Francisco, and New York, 1870. This is not always reliable. It is of use for the Northwest Coast Fur Trade. Gray, Edward. William Gray of Salem, Merchant. A Biographical Sketch. Boston and New York, 1914. Greenhow, Robert. A History of Oregon and California and the Other Territories on the North West Coast of North America, Accompanied by a Geographical View and Map of Those Countries, and a Number of Documents as Proofs and Illustrations of the History. Bos- ton, 1844. This is used here for the Northwest Coast Fur Trade. Griffis, William Elliot. America in the East, A Glance at Our History, Prospects, Problems, and Duties in the Pacific Ocean. New York, 1890. This touches very briefly on the period before 1844, but it is fairly good. It lacks footnote references to the authorities used, however. Griffis, William Elliot. A Maker of the New Orient. Samuel R. Brown, Pioneer Educator in China, America, and Japan. The Story of His Life and Work. F. H. Revell, New York, etc., 1902. GiJTZLAFF, Karl Friedrich August. ■ Gtitzlaff's Geschichte des Chinesischen Reiches, von den altesten Zeite, bis auf den Frieden von Nanking. Stuttgart und Tiibingen, Karl Friedrich Neumann, Editor. Digitized by Microsoft® \. 1 88 Kenneth S. Latourette, There is an English translation of Gtitzlaff, published in two volumes in New York, 1834. Hanson, J. W. History of the Town of Danvers, from its Earlj^Settlement to the Year 1848. Danvers, 1848. Pp. 94, III, contain notices of a ship that was built there for the East India Company for the East India trade, in 1775. Hervey, (Rev.) G. Winfred. The Story of Baptist Missions in Foreign Lands from the Time of Carey to the Present Time, with an Introduction by Rev. A. H. Burlingame. St. Louis, 1885. This work is not very exact and must be used with care. Hill, Hamilton Andrews. The Trade and Commerce of Boston, 1630 to 1890. Boston, 1895. In State House Library, Boston. Hill's information about the China trade is apparently derived largely from contemporary newspapers. The book is useful for Boston's part in the trade with Canton. An article by the same man, containing much the same material, but more condensed, is in Justin Winsor's Memorial History of Boston, Boston, 1881. 4:194-234. Homans, J. Smith. An Historical and Statistical Account of the Foreign* Com- merce of the United States. New York, 1857. A few statistics of the Canton trade are on pp. 180, 181. In Boston Athenaeum. Papers Relative to Hospitals in China. Boston, 1 841. These are simply papers telling of the work there and making an appeal for support. In Boston Public Library. Hunt, Freeman. Lives of American Merchants. New York, 1856. The ones useful here are: Thomas Handasyd Perkins, by Thomas G. Cary, and Joseph Peabody, by George Atkinson Ward. Hunt, Freeman. The Library of Commerce, Practical, Theoretical, and His- Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 189 torical. New York, 1845. Vol. i, Article I. Sketch of the Commercial Intercourse of the World with China. Pp. 1 18-120 of this are a brief summary of the American trade with Canton, but are not very good. In Boston Public Library. Ireland, Alleyne. China and the Powers. Chapters in the History of Chinese Intercourse with Western Nations. Boston, 1902. Pages 40-45 give a brief resume of American relations before 1844, but nothing new is brought out. In Essex Institute. Irving, Washington. Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains. 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1836. This is the fullest and most widely known history of Astor's project. Jeter, J. B. Memoir of Mrs. Henrietta Shuck, the First American Female Missionary to China. Boston, 1846. This is more of a eulogy than a critical biography. Kimball, Gertrude Selwyn. The East India Trade of Providence. Providence, 1896. Number 6 in the Papers from the Historical Seminar of Brown University, edited by J. Franklin Jameson. Miss Kimball makes an extensive use of the newspapers of the times, and of various local manuscript sources. L., H. E. On the Trade of the United States of North America with China. In Analectic Magazine, Nov., 1819, pp. 359-366. This is a brief sketch, rather overdrawn, compiled from con- versations with various persons engaged in the trade. Lanman, James H. The American Fur Trade. In Hunt's Merchant Magazine,. Sept., 1840, 3: 185. This is a readable magazine sketch, but has no great historical value. Laut, a. C. Vikings of the Pacific. The Adventures of the Explorers who Digitized by Microsoft® I go Kenneth S. Latourette, Came from the West, Eastward. Behring the Dane ; the Outlaw Hunters of Russia; Benyowsky the Pohsh Pirate; Cook, and Vancouver, the English Navigators; Gray of Boston, the Dis- coverer of the Columbia; Drake; Ledyard, ana other Soldiers of Fortune on the West Coast of America. New York, 1905. Some good sources have been used quite extensively, and the results have been written up in an attractive style. Leavitt, William. Materials for the History of Ship-Building in Salem. In Historical Collections of the Essex Institute, 7 : 207. Lindsay, W. S. History of Merchant Shipping and Ancient Commerce. 4 v. London, 1876. LjUNGSTEDT, AnDREW. An Historical Sketch of the Portuguese Settlements in China, and -of the Roman Catholic Church and Mission in China. A Supplementary Chapter Descriptive of the City of Canton. Boston, 1836. The Supplementary Chapter is the one of use to us here. LocKHART, William. The Medical Missionary in China. A Narrative of Twenty Years' Experience. 2d ed. London, 1861. Lockhart gives some information about the history of medical missions before 1844, but devotes most of his space to a later period. LoRiNG, Charles G. Memoir of Hon. Wilham Sturgis. In Proceedings of the Mass. Historical Soc, 1863-1864. Boston, 1864. Pp. 420-473- This is a eulogy and a character sketch, and is not very valuable for our purpose. Lyman, Horace S. History of Oregon. The Growth of an American State. New York, 1903. 4 vols. This is useful for its bearing on the Northwest Coast fur trade. See especially Vol. 2, Chaps. 3, 4, 9, 10, 11. McCuLLOCH, J. R. A Dictionary, Practical, Theoretical, and Historical of Com- Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 191 merce and Commercial Navigation. Philadelphia, 1847. Edited by Henry Vethake. The section which deals with the China trade is Vol. I, pp. 293-311. It is largely a summary of other sources, and is mostly con- cerned with the British trade. MacGillivray, D. (Editor). A Century of Protestant Missions in China, 1807-1907. Being the Centenary Conference Historical Volume. Shanghai, 1907. This contains some little information on this period, but nothing new. MacPherson, David. Annals of Commerce. London, 1805. Mason, George; C. Reminiscences of Newport. Newport, 1884. This is a series of papers first published in the Providence Journal and the New York Evening Post. It contains one or two notices, probably culled from newspaper files, of Chifia ships which touched at the port. In Harvard Library. Massachusetts Historical Society. The Discovery and Description of the Islands Called the Marquesas in the South Pacific Ocean. With a further account of the seven adjacent islands, discovered first by Captain Joseph Ingraham, and since by Captain Josiah Roberts. Compiled from Dalrymple's Collection of Discoveries. Cooke's Second Voyage, and the Journals and Log Book of the Ship Jefferson of Boston. In Collections of the Mass. Hist'l Soc. for 1795. 4:238-246. Boston, 1795. No author is given, but the article is signed, "The Above Minutes are agreeable to my observations. Josiah Roberts, and to mine, Bernard Magee." Boston, Nov. 6, 1795. MiLBURN, William. Oriental Commerce, or the East India Trader's Complete Guide. London, 1825. This was originally compiled by William Milburn of the East India Company. A digest of his papers was made later and new material added by Thomas Thornton. Digitized by Microsoft® 19^2 Kenneth S. Latourette, For our purposes, see XXVII, China, pp. 4SO-Sii- Moore, John Bassett. A Digest of International Law. Washington, 1906. Section 797 (5:416-421) tells of the treaty of Whanghia. Morrison, Mrs. Robert. Memoirs of the Life and Labours of Robert Morrison, D.D, compiled by His Widow, with Critical notices of his Chines Works by Samuel Kidd. London, 1839. This is the standard hfe of Morrison. Morse, Hosea Ballou. The Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire. Nev York, Bombay, and Calcutta, 1908. A brief summary of American trade to 1844 is on p. 274. Thi general regulations of the trade at Canton before 1842 are wel summarized on pp. 275-284. The author seems to refer, how ever, to Cooper's "Crater" as history, whereas it is the pures fiction, (p. 283.) Morse, Hosea Ballou. The International Relations of the Chinese Empire. Th^ Period of Conflict, 1834-1860. London, 1910. The most exhaustive history of the beginnings of foreign trad and diplomatic intercourse with China that has been written. Murray, Hugh; Crawford, John; Gordon, Peter; Lynn (Captain) Thomas; Wallace, William; Burnett Gilbert. An Historical and Descriptive Account of China. 3 Vols. (2d ed.) Edinburgh, 1836. The part of this work of use to us is the chapter on commerce 3 : 49-96. No authorities are given for the statistics, but the; seem to be quite reliable. Nye, Gideon. The Opium Question and the Northern Campaigns . . . down to the Treaty of Nanking. Canton, 1875. Nye, Gideon. A Century of American Commerce with China. An Extract from the work is given in the Journal of the Chin Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 20:290-291, where it i referred to as a "forthcoming work." The book, however, doe not seem to have been published. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations betivem the United States and China, 193 Obeehqltzer, Ellis Paxson, Robert Morris, Patriot and Financier, New York, 1903, Reference is made on pp, 222-224 to Morris' part in the open- ing of tlie China trade, Osgood, Charles S,, and Batchelder, H, M, Historical Slcetch of Salem, 1626-1879. Salem, 1879. This is of value for Salem's part in the Canton trade. Much of it is from unpublished material, and hence is very viseful. Paine, Ralph D. Ships and Sailors of Old Salem. New York, 1909. Parton, James. Life of John Jacob Astor, to Which is Appended a Copy of his Last Will. New York, 1865. This contains a number of incidents concerning Aster's share in the Canton trade. It was written in a popular style and must be used with care. Paullin, Charles Oscar. Diplomatic Negotiations of American Naval Officers, 1778- 1883. Baltimore, 1912. Peck, Solomon. History of the Baptist General Convention, prepared under the superintendence of Solomon Peck, Foreign Secretary of the Board. Worcester, 1840. In the volume entitled "History of American Missions to the Heathen." Perkins, C. C. Memoir of James Perkins. In Proceedings of the Mass. Hist'l Society, i : 363-368. This is by a son, but for our purposes does not contain much that is new. Philip, Robert. The Life and Opinions of the Rev. William Milne, D.D., Mis- sionary to China. Philadelphia, 1840. This is compiled largely from letters, and original documents. It is the life of an English missionary, but gives some information on American missions to the Chinese. Piiipps, John. A Practical Treatise on the China and Eastern Trade, Com- Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. XXII 13 1917 Digitized by Microsoft® .194 .Kenneth. S. Latoure.tte, prising the Commerce of Great Britain and India, particularly Bengal and Singapore with. China and the Eastern Islands. Calcutta, 1835. Such information as this contains on the Amepcan trade with China is largely obtained from the evidences printed in the Parliamentary Papers. In Boston Public Library. PiERSON, H. W. (Editor). American Missionary Memorial, including Biographical and Historical Sketches. New York, -1853. The Sketches in this of use here are : Origin of American Foreign Missions, by Rev. S. M. Worcester, D.D. ; and David Abeel, by Rev. T. E. Vermilye. Pitkin, Timothy; Statistical View of the Commerce of the United States of America. Hartford, 1816. This is a very useful work, and as a rule eniploys excellent sources. See especially pp. 208-211, 166-207. In Boston Athenaeum. A later edition of this. New Haven, 1835, contains some more recent material. It omits, however, some statistics contained in the earlier edition. Both are of service. Preble, George Henry. Notes on Early Ship-Building in Massachusetts. Communicated to New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 1871. In Boston Public Library. This tells of the building of an East Indiaman in America in 1775- Preble, George Henry. The First Cruise of the United States Frigate Essex. In Historical Collections of the Essex Institute, 10 : 34 et sqq. Rantoul, Robert S. The Port of Salem. In Historical Collections of the Essex Institute, 10 : 52 et sqq. Reid, J. M. Missions and Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, by J. M. Reid, revised and extended by J. T. Gracey, D.D. 3 vols. New York, c. 1895. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 195 Richardson, F. A., and Bennett, W. A. Baltimore Past and Present, with Biographical Sketches of its Representative Men. Baltimore, 1871. This contains an Historical Sketch of the city by H. Mayer, a former president of the Maryland Historical Society, and it is this which is of use here. RiTTER, Abraham. Philadelphia and Her Merchants as Constituted Fifty to Seventy Years ago. Philadelphia, i860. This contains quite a mass of material useful for Philadel- phia's share in the China trade. It is drawn largely from the memory of the author and of his acquaintances, and must be used with care. In the Astor Library. Saltonstall, Leverett. Memoir of Robert Bennett Forbes. In Mass. Hist'l Society's Proceedings, 2d series, 6: 197-202. This seems to be drawn largely from Forbes' published works. Sargent, A. J. Anglo-Chinese Commerce and Diplomacy. (Mainly in the Nineteenth Century.) Oxford, 1907. This contains occasional mention of early American trade with China. See especially pp. 18, 19, 29, 30, 41. ScHOULER, James. History of the United States of America under the Constitu- tion. Volume IV, 1831-1841. Washington, 1889. This gives on pages 436, 437, an accoimt of Cushing's appoint- ment, unfavorable to Webster. Schuyler, Eugene. American Diplomacy and the Furtherance of Commerce. New York, 1886. There is a summary of the diplomacy over the Russian advances on the Northwest Coast on pages 292-305.- In the Boston Athenaeum. Seybert, Adam. Statistical Annals : Embracing Views of the Population, Com- merce, Navigation, Fisheries, Public Lands, Post Office Estab- lishment, Revenues, Mint of the United States of America, founded on Official Documents. Philadelphia, 1818. Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. XXII 14 1917 Digitized by Microsoft® 196 Kenneth S. Latourette, This covers March 4, 1789, to April 20, 1818, and contains some material which is not to be found in print elsewhere. [Sparks, Jared.] Travels and Adventures of John Ledyard.^Comprising his voyage with Captain Cook's third and last expedition, his journey on foot 1300 miles round the Gulf of Bothnia to St. Petersburg, his adventures and residence in Siberia, and his exploring mission to Africa. London, 1834. (EarHest ed., Cambridge, 1828.) This throws light on Ledyard's share in beginning the North- west Coast Fur Trade. Speer, William. The Oldest and the Newest Empire. China and the United States. Hartford, Conn., 1870. The author had been a missionary to China and to the Chinese in California. Pages 410-420 cover the period of this mono- graph. He seldom quotes authorities, although one cotild wish that he had done so, especially for his statement about the beginnings of American trade to Canton. In the Library of Columbia University. Stevens, George B. (Rev.), with the Cooperation of Rev. W. Fisher Markwick. The Life, Letters, and Journals of the Rev. and Hon. Peter Parker, M.D., Missionary, Physician, and Diplomatist, the Father of Medical Missions and Founder of the Ophthalmic Hospital in Canton. Boston and Chicago, c. 1896. This contains many quotations from Parker's letters and journals. Stevens, John Austin. Progress of New York in a Century, 1776-1876. An address delivered before the New York Historical Society, Dec. 7, 1875. New York, 1876. He only briefly mentions the China trade of New York. In New York Histolrical Society's Library. Sumner, William Graham. The Financier and the Finances of the American Revolution. 2 vols. New York, 1892. See references on 2 : 163, 277, for. Morris' connection with the Canton trade. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 197 Thomson, (Rev.) William. Memoirs of the Rev. Samuel Munson, and the Rev. Henry Lyman, Late Missionaries to the Indian Archipelago with the Journal of their Exploring Tour. New York, 1839. This is valuable chiefly for its use of good contemporary sources. Tracy, Joseph. History of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Worcester, 1840. In a volume, "History of American Missions to the Heathen," etc. He has used quite extensively a number of sources, which he quotes. Trow, Charles E. The Old Shipmasters of Salem. New York and London, 1905. This is used for Salem's share in the China Commerce. Trowbridge, Thomas Rutherford. History of the Ancient Maritime Interests of New Haven. New Haven, 1882. Chapter vii is on the maritime enterprise of New Haven in the South Seas. (This is also in New Haven Colony Hist'l Soc. Papers, Vol. 3:85-204.) Trowbridge, Thomas R. Grandfather's Voyage around the World in the Ship "Betsey." 1799-1801. New Haven, 1895. The author, says, "In 1853, four years after the death of my grandfather, my father carefully and patiently related the voyage to me. I wrote it down word for word in a book which I have carefully preserved." This book was made up from the account thus written. It was another of the fur sealing voyages. There is a summary of the same voyage in "The Trowbridge Family, or Descendants of Thomas Trowbridge," by F. W. Chapman. New Haven, 1872, pp. 69-72. Trumbull, H. Clay. Old Time Student Volunteers. My Memories of Missionaries New York, 1902. Digitized by Microsoft® 198 Kenneth S. Latourette, This is composed of brief biographies of early missionaries with occasional reminiscences. Tufts, William. Account of the Vessels Engaged in the Sea-otter Fur Trade on the Northwest Coast Prior to 1808. In James G. Swan, The Northwest Coast, or Three Years' Residence in Washington Territory. New York, 1857. Pp. 423-425- This was compiled from his own memoranda and from notes furnished by Captain Sturgis. It is valuable as a list, although an incomplete one, of the trading voyages to the Northwest Coast. Waeden, D. B. Description Statistique, Historique et Politique des Etats-Unis de I'Amerique Septentrionale depuis I'epoque des premiers etab- lishemens jusqu'a nos jours. Traduite sur celle d'angleterre. S vols. Paris, 1820. 5 ■ S95> 596, 597, gives a brief statement of the American tea trade with China. Weeden, William B. Economic and Social History of New England, 1620-1789. 2 vols. Boston and New York, 1890. 2 : 820-828, gives some information about the beginnings of the Canton Trade, much of it from very good sources, and some from rare manuscripts. Weeden, William B. Early Oriental Commerce in Providence. In Mass. Hist'l Soc. Proceedings, 3d Series, i : 236-278. Bos- ton, 1908. This is a rather ill-digested collection of notes from various sources, largely the Brown and Ives papers in the John Carter Brown Library. Wheeler, L. N. The Foreigner in China. With introduction by Prof. W. C. Sawyer. Chicago, 1881. This is written in a popular style, showing no great research, and has only one or two pages on the period covered by this monograph. Digitized by Microsoft® Early Relations between the United States and China. 199 Williams, Frederick Wells. The Life and Letters of Samuel Wells Williams, LL.D., Mis- sionary, Diplomatist, Sinologue. New York, 1889. This is written largely from letters and other good sources, and by a son. Williams, Samuel Wells and Frederick Wells. A History of China, being the Historical Chapters from the "Middle Kingdom." New York City, 1901. This is especially complete on European intercourse with China. Williams, Samuel Wells. The Middle Kingdom. A Survey of the Geography, Govern- ment, Literature, Social Life, Arts, and History of the Chinese Empire and Its Inhabitants. 2 vols. New York, 1883 (Reim- pression, 1904). Although rather old, this is still a standard reference book on China. It covers too broad a field to go much into detail, but what it gives is good, especially on missions, and on diplomatic history, much of which the author knew as a participant. Williamson, C. R. Memoir of Rev. David Abeel, D.D., Late Missionary to China. New York, 1848. This was written more for edification than history, but it is valuable because it contains large extracts from Abeel's journals of earlier and of later dates than those published under his own name. (Wilson, T. L. V.) ( ?) The Aristocracy of Boston, Who they are, and what they are, being a History of the Business and Business Men of Boston for the Last Forty Years. By One who knows Them. Boston, 1848. This is a collection of short reminiscent accounts. It must be used with care. WiNSOR, Justin, (Editor). Narrative and Critical History of America. Boston and New York, c. 1888. An article by James B. Angell gives on 7: 510 an account of the negotiations with Russia over the Northwest Coast. Digitized by Microsoft® 200 Kenneth S. Latourette, [Wylie, Alexander.] Memorials of Protestant Missionaries to the Chinese Giving a List of their Publications and Obituary Notices of the Deceased. Shanghai, 1867. • This contains fairly good brief biographies of most of the men. Yule, Henry. Cathay and the Way Thither, being a Collection of Medieval Notices of China, translated and edited by Colonel Henry Yule, with a preliminary essay on the intercourse between China and the Western Nations Previous to the discovery of the Cape Route. London, Hakluyt Society, 1866. This is the best single work on medieval intercourse between China and Europe. It is used here to give information for a brief sketch of Western intercourse with China prior to the coming of the Americans. Digitized by Microsoft® INDEX. Abeel, David, 8g, go, 92, 99, 104, 106, 108, 160, 173, 194, 199. "Active", 40, 45, IS4- Adams, John Quincy, 38, 55, 125, 129, 130, 131. Ah Loo, 97. "Akbar", 70. "Alceste", 169. "Alexander", 36. Allen, Charles H., 155. "Alliance", 14, 16. American Baptist Board of For- eign Missions, 87, 96, 106, 160, 187, 188, 193- American Bible Society, 86, 88. American Board of Commission- ers for Foreign Missions, 8, 86, 89, 92, 94, IDS, 106, 122, 146, 160, 182, 183, 197. American Oriental Society, 136. American Philosophical Society, 124. American Seaman's Friend Soci- ety, 89, 93, 149. American Tract Society, 88, 146. Amoy, 120, 140. Amsterdam, 45. Amsterdam, Island of, 39. Andover Theological Seminary, 86. Anglo-Chinese College at Ma- lacca, 88. "Ann and Hope", 22, 46, 47, 49, IS4- "Ann McKinn", 70. Appleton, Nathaniel, 156. Archer, Henry, Jr., 157. Archer, Jones, Oakford and Com- pany, 70. Ariel, 119. "Arthur", 46, 154. "Asia", 18, ISS. Astor, John Jacob, 37, 42, 43, 52, 68, 189, 193. Astoria, 42, 56. "Astrea", 18, 65, 155. "Atahualpa", 36. Austin, Elijah, 39. Australia, 14, 16, 40, 45, 46. Austrians, 31. Ball, Dyer, 105. Ball, J. D., 120. Baltimore, 50, 60, 70. Bangkok, 96, 103, 104, lOS, 106, 173- Banksall, 22. Baptist Missionary Society, 8. Barnard, Charles, 160. Barren, Joseph, 31, 167. Barry, Captain, 18. Bass, 66. Batavia, 45, 46, 72, 88, 91, 95, 103, 104, 107, 108, 156, 159. Battaks, 108. Baylies, 57. "Beaver", 43. beche de mer, 8, 43, 53, 58-60, 156. Beechey, F. W., 161. Benham, 107. Bentley, Christopher, 154. Benton, Thomas H., 131, 133, 146. Bering, 30. "Betsey", 197. Biddle, Commodore, 144. Bills of exchange, 71. Bird's nests, edible, 43. Blockade of Canton by British, II4-. "Blossom", 161. Bocca Tigris, 22, 23, 25, 48. Bombay, 45, 46. Bond, Phineas, 12, 74, 161. Boone, William J., 109, 120, 122, 176. Borneo, 92, 105. Boston, 13, 15, 18, 30, 31, 34, 5S, 41, 64, 156-158, 188. Digitized by Microsoft® Index. "Boston", 36, 166. Botany Bay, 45, 46. "Boxer", 84. Bradley, 106. "Brandywine", 134, 136. Brazil, 77. Bridgman, Elijah C, 89, 90, 91, 93, 99, 105, "S, 120, 139- Bristol, 35, 67. British and Foreign Bible Society, 86, 104. British Manufacturers, 73. British Northwest Fur Company, 37, 43- "Brookline", iSS. Brown, John, 17. Brown, Samuel, 31. Brown, Samuel R., 99, loi, 187. Brown and Francis, 17, 28. Brown and Ives, 8. Brumley, Reuben, 44. Bryant and Sturgis, 66. Bulfinch, Charles, 31. Cabot, Samuel, 66. Calcutta, 28, 39, 4S, Si. California, trading and sealing voyages to, 36. Campbell,' Archibald, 161. Canton, 10, 14, 18, 33-35, 39, 46, 66, 122, 140. "Canton", 14, 17, 18. Canton-American trade, decline in 1826, 63. Canton commercial system before 1842, 18, 26. Canton, community life in, 82. Canton General Chamber of Com- merce, 82. Canton, growth of trade with, 1789-1810, 48. "Canton Press", 82, 180. Canton Regatta Club, 82. "Canton Register", 82, 180. Cape of Good Hope, 13, 14, 17, 32, 35, 39, 45- Cape Verde Islands, 14, 45, 155. "Caravan", 155. Carey, William, 86. Carolinas, 11. "Caroline", 50. Carrington, Edward, 50, 88. Cary, Thomas &, 188. Cassia, 80. Celebes, 175. Chapman, I. N., 156. "Charles Daggett", 59, 163. Charleston, 70. Cheever, G. N., 158. Cheever, George W., 156. Cheever, J. W., 159. Chile, IS9, 169. China ware, 80. Chinese Courier and Canton Ga- zette, 180. Chinese in the United States, 123. Chinese Repository, 9, 91, 100, 127, 146, 180. Ching, 136, 137, 138. Chop, 22. Chrestomathy, 99, 116. Christian Union of Canton, 92, 99- Church Missionary Society, 85. Chusan, 122. Clark, John I., 67. Clark and Nightingale, 67. "Clay", 59, 155. Cleveland, Richard J., 24, 36, 46, 161, 185. Qipper ships, 70. Co-hong, 20, 62, 82, 119, 140. Colden, 57. "Columbia", 12, 14, 22, 23, 65, 155, 166, 173. Columbia River, 38, 56, 152. Columbus and China, 10. Comprador, 22. Conception, 41. "Concord", 155. "Congress", 83. Connecticut, 13. Connecticut, General Association of, 85, 177. "Constellation", 117. "Consul", 156. Digitized by Microsoft® Index. 203 Consulate at Canton, American, 16. Cook, Captain, 30, 31. Cooledge, T. R., 33, 94, 102, 116. Coolidge, J., 66. Copper, 72. "CoquiUe", 168. Corlis, John, 67. Cotton, 72, y6. Cowpland, 60. Cummings, W. H., 122. Cushing, Caleb, 126, 129, 133-144, 152, IS3- Cushing, John P., 66, 134. Daniel Parker and Company, 13. Danvers, 10. Daschkoff, 37, 38. Davis, William H., 44. Dean, William, 96, 106, 121. Deane, Stewart, 16. Delano, Amasa, 39, 40, 161, Delano, Warren, Jr., 114, 118. "Delhi", 72, 156. Dennison, Captain, 17. "Derby", 46, 156. Derby, Elias H., 17, 64, 65, 145. Derby, John, 31. D'Wolf, John, 35, 36, 67, 162. "Diana", 51. Dickinson, J. T., 105. Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China, Society, 100. Diver, W. B., 102, 115. Dix, W. G., 162. Dixon, G., 162. Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Epis- copal Church in the U. S. A., 87, 109, 149- Doolittle, Erasmus, 162. "Doris", 52. Dorr and Sons, 35, 66. Doty, Elihu, 108. Douglas, 32, 34. Downes, John, 171. Driver, William, 59, 155. "Duff", 173- "Duke", 44. Dunn, Nathan, 176, 179. Dutch Reformed Church, 89, 96. Duties, Chinese customs, 23. Dyer, Samuel, 88. Eagleston, J. H., 158, 159. East India Company, British, 10, 12, 54, 88, 96, no, 127, 147, 148, 171, 178, I79> 181 ; effect of American trade upon, 74-76. East India Company, Danish, 18. "Eclipse", 37, 65. Edell, James, 154. Edmonds, John W., 125. Edward Carrington and Company, 67. "Eleonora", 18, 34, 39. "Eliza", 39, 46, 59, 156. Elliot, Captain, 113, 116. "Emerald", 59, 156. Emery, N., Jr., 159. "Emily", 60, 61, in. Emperor's merchant, 20. "Empress of China", 13-17, 30, 69. England, 73. English, 14; trade with North- west Coast, 31. English Baptist Missionary Soci- ety, 85. English, Philip, 184. Episcopal Board. See Domestic and Foreign Missionary Soci- ety of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the U. S. A. Erskine, Charles, 163. "Essex", 194. Essex Institute, 8. Everett, Edward, 126, 132. Exterritoriality, 141. Eyre and Massey, 69. Factories at Canton, 20, 24. Factory, American, at Canton, 81. "Fair American", 35. Falkland Islands, 30, 39. Fanning, Edmund, Sij 152, 163. Fanning, H., 69. Digitized by Microsoft® 204 Index. Fanning's Island, 60. Fiji Islands, 44, 58, 155, 156, 158, 162, 163, 171. Floyd, 56, 152. Foochow, 140. Forbes, John M., 66, 70, 71, 164. Forbes, Paul S., 136, 137. Forbes, Robert B., 66, 164, 195. Forbes, Thomas T., 66. France, 14, yj. Franchereu, Gabriel, 164. "Francis", is6. Frazer, Captain, 104. Friendly Islands, 158. "Friendship", 83. Fuhkien, 95. Fur-sealing in the South Seas, 38-43. Fur trade, 8, 29-43, 53. Gambia River, 159. "Ganges", 157. "General Washington", 14, 17, 67, 157- Gibraltar, 71, 73, yy. Gilchrist, James, 155. Ginseng, 10, 14, 27, 29, 73. Girard, Stephen, 70. "Glide", 59, 157, 162. Goddard, Josiah, 107. Gordon, S., 171. "Grand Turk", 17, 64. Gray, J., 66. Gray, Robert, 155. Green, John, 13, 16. Grosvenor, consul at Canton, 127. Gutzlaff, K. F. A., 94, 98, 106, 164, 187. Gutzlaflf, Mrs., loi. Hadley, Lady, 39. Hainan, 97. Hall, 87. Hamburg, 45, 46, yy, 155. "Hamilton", 157. "Hanover", 67. Hanson, F. R., 109. Hartford, 41, 68. Hatch, Crowell, 31. Hathorne, Nathaniel, 46, 159. Hawaii, 34, 35, 42-44, 57, 151, 159, "Hazard", 36. * Heard, Augustine, 159. Henshaw, 128. "Herald", 157. "Himaleh", 104. Hobson, Benjamin, 103. Hodges, Benjamin, 22, 159. Holland, yy. Hong merchants. See co-hong. Hongkong, 113, 114, 120, 122, 139, 186. Hong Sheung. See co-hong. "Hope", 14, 16, 33, 44, 45, 66, 105, 166. Hoppin, Benjamin and Son, 67. Hoppo, 14, 22. Hovirell, John, 167. Howqua, 21, 102. Hoy and Thorn, 66. Hudson Bay Company, 98. "Hunter", 46, 157. Hunter, W. C, 165. Hunt's Merchant Magazine, 125. "Huron", 95, 172. Impressment of American sailors by British, 49-51. India, 7. "Indus", 46, 157. IngersoU, Nathaniel, 157. Ingraham, Joseph, 33, 66, 165, 191. Innes, 112. Irving, Washington, 31. Isle of France, 39, 45, 159. Jackson, Andrew, 84. "Jacob Jones", 52. Jacobs, T. J., 166. "Jane", 158. Japan and Japanese, 98, 115. Jardine, 82. Java, 155. Jay, John, 13, 15. "Jeflferson", 34, 169. Digitized by Microsoft® Index. 20S Jefferson, Thomas, 124. "Jenny", 18. Jewitt, John, 166. "John Adams", 173. John Carter Brown Library of American History, 8. "John Jay", 45, 46, 158. Johnson, Stephen, 106, 108. Jones and Clark, 69. Jones, John Paul, 31. Jones, John T., 106, Juan Fernandez, 169. Judson, Adoniram, 87. "June", 36. Kagoshima, 98. Kamchatka, 37, 42. Ke, 118, 119, 136-140, 143. Kearney, Commodore, 116, 117, 118. Kelley, Wilbur, 154. Kempton, Captain, 51. Kendrick, John, 12, 32, 43, 167. King, C. W., 98, 99, 113. King George's Sound Company, 32- Kiying. See Ke. Kodiack Indians, 55. Kotow, question of, 135. Kotzebue, 57. Krusenstern, A. J. von, 46, 167. "Lady Washington", 14, 32, 33. "La Favorite", 168. Lamb, 35, 66. Laplace, M., 168. Lay, G. T., 104. Lead, 73. , "Leander", 65. Leang Afa, 88, 93. Ledyard, John, 30, 190, 196. Leghorn, 45, 46, 156. "Lelia Byrd", 36. Lepers, 98. Lew Chew Islands, 98. Lin Tse-sii, 112, 113, 115, 128. Linguist, 22. Lintin, 25, 81, 83, 84, lii, IS9- Lisbon, 46. Livingston, John H., 177. Lockhart, William, 102. Lockwood, Henry, 109, London, 154. London Missionary Society, 85, 95, 102, 108, 173- "Lord Amherst", 164. "Louisa", 35, 158, Lowrie, Walter M., J2i. Lutke, F., 168. Lyman, Henry, 35, 108, 197. Lymans, 66. Macao, 7, 20, 22, 25, 49, 50, 81, 82, 91, 97, 98, loi, 113, 115, 122, 136, 168. Macartney Mission, 39, 165, 173. Macgowan, Daniel J., 122. McRea, John, 70. Madagascar, 11. Madras, 17. Magee, Bernard, 169. Magee, James, 16, 18, 34, 39, 66, 158, 169. Malacca, 87, loi. Malay Peninsula, 90. Manchus, 19. Manila, 45, 58, 59, 66, 72, 118, 154- 156, 159. 168. Marchand, Etienne, 164. "Margaret", 34, 47, 158, 169. "Margaret Oakley", 60, 166. Marquesas Islands, 33, 58, 191. Martain, William, 157, 158. "Massachusetts", 18. Massachusetts, 11. Massachusetts Missionary Soci- ety, 86. Massafuero, 39-42, 155. Mauritius. See Isle of France. Meares, John, 32, 170. Medhurst, W. H., 88, 94, 95, 107, 177- Medical Missionary Society in China, 102, 122. Mediterranean, 11. Melon, 44. "Mercury", 36. Digitized by Microsoft® 2o6 Index. "Mermaid", 59, 158. Metcalf, Captain, 18, 34, 35. Methodist Missionary Society, 87, 96. Miller, 117. Milne, William, 87, 88, 193- Milner and Bull, 81, 88. Missionary Herald, 88. Missions, origin of in America, 85. Missions, after first Chinese-Brit- ish war, 120. "Missouri", 134, 136. Mongol conquests, 7. "Monroe", 158. Morrell, Benjamin, 59, 166. Morris, Charles, 167. Morris, Robert, 13, IS. 16, 30, 69, 193- "Morrison", 93, 98, 116. Morrison, J. R., 95, 177. Morrison, Robert, 61, 87, 88, 90, 94, 95, 99. loi, 192. Morrison Education Society, loi, 122. Moulton, William, 170. Munson, Samuel, 108, 197. Nagasaki, 98. Nankeens, 53, 80. Nanking, treaty of, 119, 120, 126, 130. Napier, Lord, 93, no. "Nautilus", 42. "Neptune", 39, 41, I73- Nevius, Elbert, 108. Newell, 87. New China Street, 25. New Haven, 38, 39, 64, 68, 197. New London, 30, 38, 41, 68. New Orleans, 156. Newport, 67, 191. Newton, J. W., 93. New York, 11, 13, 15, 18, 30, 35, 39, 40, 41, 44, 64, 68, 1 55, 156. New York Custom House, 148. New York Missionary Society, 177- New Zealand, 46, 156, 158. Nichols, George, 40, I54- Nicol, William, 50. Niles Register^23, 135. Ningpo, 20, 14a Nootka Sound, 32, 33, 34. Norfolk Island, 46. Northwest Coast, 158, 164, 167, 172, 184. Northwest Coast fur trade, 29, 54, 55, 195, 198. Norwich, 64. Nott, 87. Nutmegs, 73. Nye, Gideon, 127. O'Cain, 36. Officials, Chinese, communication of foreigners with, 25. Old China Street, 25. Oliver Wolcott and Company, 68, 159- Olyphant, D. W. C, 69, 89, 90, 92, 95, 102. Olyphant and Company, 69, 81, 95, 98, 104, 117- Ophthalmic Hospital, 94, 99, 102. Opium, 23, 27, 72, 73, 95, 111-114, 118, 119, 192. Oregon, 32, 56, 57. 152. 187. Ormsbee, John, 155. "Outside merchants", 21. Page, Benjamin, 46, 154. Page, Martin, 154. "Pallas", 15. 59, 159- Panoplist and' Missionary Maga- zine, 182. Parish, Thomas, 66. Parker, Commodore, 134. Parker, Peter, 94, 97, 5^, 102, 104, IIS, 121, 128, 129, 139, 188, 196. Patterson, Samuel, 171. Peabody, Joseph, 65, 188. "Peacock", 83, 84. Pearl River, 20, 22. Pearls, 59. Peet, 107. Digitized by Microsoft® Index. 207 Peking, 136. Pellew, Commodore, 51. Pepper, 73. Perkins, James, 193. Perkins, James and Thomas H., 37. 66. Perkins, Thomas H., 18, 33, SS, 6s, 151, 184, 188. "Perseverance", 46, 159. "Peru", 59, 159. "Phaeton", so. Si- Philadelphia, 16, 35, 39, 41, 64, 86. Pickman, Dudley S., 46. Pilots' fees, 23. Pinkham, R., 171. Pintard, John M., 31. Pirates, 11, 48. Pohlman, W. J., 105, 108. "Polly", 34- Pondicherry, 17. Porter, Lemuel, IS7. Portugal, 7, II, 19, SI, 71, 85. "Potomac", 83, 171, 174. "President Washington", 28. Presb3rterian Board, 105, 121. Presbyterian Church, 96. Privateers, 11, 17, 49. Providence, 11, 17, 3S, 46, 64, 67, 198. Providence Custom House, 149. Quallah Battoo, 83. Quicksilver, 72. "Rambler", S2. Randall, is. Rattans, 73. Read, Commodore George C, 128, 165. Reed, Alanson, 107. Reid, Thomas, 16. Revolution, American, 12. Rhode Island, ii. Rice, 23, 72, 87. Richardson, William, 46, 156. Roberts, Edmund, 83, 84. Roberts Fund and China Mission Society, 98, Roberts, Issacher J., 97, 120, 121. Roberts, Joseph, 34. Roberts, Josiah, 191. Robinson, 106, 108. Rogers, T., 97. Roman Catholic Missions in China, 90, 190. Romanzoff, 37, 38. Root, Joel, 41, 172. Rotterdam, 157. Russell and Company, 71. Russell, Sturgis and Company, 81. Russia and Russians, 30, 36, 37, 54, 77- Russian-American Negotiations over Northwest Coast, 37, 38, 55, S6. St. Ambrose, 39, 169. St. Helena, 159. "St. Louis", 134. St. Paul Island, 40. St. Petersburg, 45, 46. Salem, 11, 13, 17. 39, 41, 46, 58, S9, 64, 65, 154-158, 184, 186, 190, 193, 194, 197- Salem Custom House, 149. Salt peter, 23. Salter, John, 36. Samuel Russell and Company, 81. Sandalwood, 8, 43, 53, 57, 58. Sandalwood Bay, 60. Sandwich Islands. See Hawaii. "Sapphire", 159. Saurarang, 159. Scotch Missionary Society, 85. Seaman's Friend Association of China, 103. Sea Otter, 30. "Semiramis", 67. Serampore, translation of the Bible, 88. Shaler, 36. Shanghai, 95, 140. Shantung, 95. Sharks' fins, 43. Shaw and Randall, 81. Shaw, Samuel, 14, 15, 16, 18, 151. Digitized by Microsoft® 2o8 Index. Sherry, ii6, 117, i43- Shuck, Henrietta Hall, 96, 116, 189. Shuck, J. Lewis, 96, 97, gS. Siam, 90, los, 106. Silk, 27, 53, 76, 79. Silsbee, Z. F., 157. Singapore, 94, 96, 97, 103, 104, 105. Sitka, 36. Slade, John, 173. Slater, 108. Smith, Thomas H., 63, 69. Smuggling into China, 23. Snow, P. W., 25, 81, 113, 114. Snow, Samuel, 49. Society Islands, 158. South America, 30, 71, 72. South Georgia, 39. South Seas, 30, 43-4S, 152, 178, 183. South Shetland Islands, 163. Specie, 23, 27, 28, 71. Spirit of Missions, 182. Stacker, John C, 70. "States", 39. Stevens, Edwin, 92, 94, 95, loi, 104. Stewart, William R., 39. Stonington, 38, 42, 64, 68. Sturgis, James P., 66, 82. Sturgis, William, 34, 47, 167, 182, 190. Sue Anam, 143. "Sumatra", 6$. Sumatra, 46, 108, 154, 157. Sunda, Straits of, 14, 45. Sweden, 73. Tahiti, 156. Talbot, 81, 90, 112. Tariff, United States on China goods, 78, 79. Tea, 13, 27, 29, S3, 76-79- Terranova Affair, 54, 60-63, iHj 127, 143, isi, 181. Thirteen Factory Street, 25. "Thomas Perkins", 112. Thompson, Captain, 18. Thompson of Philadelphia, 63. Thompson, Edward K., 67. "Three Sisters", 155. Tien Tsin, 138. Tin, 73. • Tomlin, 105. Tongku, 114. "Tonquin", 42, 43, 44, 45, 164. "Topaz", so, SI. Tortoise shell, 43, s8. Townsend, Ebenezer, Jr., 39, 173. Tracy, Ira, 93, 104, 105. Tracy, Stephen, 105. Travelli, J. H., 105. Truxton, Captain, 18. Tucker, 57. Tuyl, Baron de, S6. Tyler, President, I29, 130, 133, 134, 13s, 140. "Union", 44. United States, first ship from to China, 13. United States, growing knowl- edge of China, 122-127. United States, interest of govern- ment in China, 83. Upshur, 13s. VanBuren, Martin, 129. Vancouver, 43, 174. Vent, Samuel, 1S9. "Vincennes", 83. Wages, on ships, 47. Waldo, C. F., 157. Wallis Island, 162. War, first Chinese-British, 7, 8, 22, 1 1 0-120, 124-127, 130. War of 1812, 43, 4S, Si- War, opium. See War, first Chinese-British. War, second Chinese-British, 8. Warriner, Francis," 174. Wars, Napoleonic, 28, 29. "Washington", 33. Webb, Benjamin, ISS. Webster, Daniel, 129. 130-133, 135. Digitized by Microsoft® Index. 209 Webster, Fletcher, 134, 139. Wesleyan University, 96. West, Thomas, 156. West Indies and West Indian trade, 11, 12, 17, 29, 71. Wetmore, 113. Wetmore and Company, 82. Whampoa, 14, 22, 24, 49, 51, 52, 88, 91, no, 117, 137. Whanghia, treaty of, 8, 139-144, 152-154, 192. Wharton, Charles, 69. Wheatland, Richard, 157, 158. Wilcocks, 61. Wilkes, Charles, 84, 163, 174. "William", 159. "William and Henry", 22, 159. Williams, C. H., 159. Williams, F. W., 145. Williams, George W., 159. Williams, S. W., 93, 98, 104, 105, IIS, 175, 199- Winn, John D., 156. Winn, Joseph, Jr., 156. Winship, Jonathan, 44. Winsor, Thomas, 95. Wolcott. See Oliver Wolcott and Company. Wood, 82. Wood, G. W., 105. Woods, Leonard, 179. Woodward, David, 175. Wyer, Obed, 156. Yale, 92, loi. Yedo Bay, 98. Yih Shan, 116. Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft®