April 27, 1857.] AND THE EAST COAST OF CHINA. 339 



middle of the seventeenth century that the use of tea was known to Europeans. 

 The first tea introduced into England was a packet of 2 lbs. 2 ozs., sent as a 

 present to Charles II. by the East India Company in 1664. It was not 

 obtained in China, but at Bantam ; it was what is now called junk tea, and 

 execrable stuff it must have been. Forty-six years afterwards we consumed 

 about 1,000,000 lbs. of tea. In the first year of the next century our con- 

 sumption of tea, notwithstanding monopoly, taxes, and duties, had risen to 

 20,000,000 lbs. In 1833, before the monopoly of the China trade was over- 

 thrown, it was 30,000,000 lbs., and last year our consumption was 63,000,000 

 lbs. We paid for this tea about 5,000,000?., exclusive of the duty, and the 

 duty amounted to about the same sum ; so that our tea cost us 10,000,000?. 

 prime cost, exclusive of retail profit. He had no doubt the consumption would 

 continue to increase. A few words respecting the raw silk. Down to the 

 years 1833 and 1834, the East India Company asserted that it was impossible 

 to extend the production of raw silk. The monopoly was overthrown, and the 

 importation of raw silk from China had risen from 2000 bales in that year to 

 20,000 bales in the year before last. This year, owing to the failure of the silk 

 crop in France and Italy, the importation of Chinese silk will be 70,000 bales. 

 Having thus spoken of the commerce of China, he would say a word about the 

 war. The only point on which he begged to differ from Sir John Davis was 

 with respect to the mode of carrying it on. Sir John Davis seemed to think 

 that the attack and capture of Canton would be all-sufficient. He did not 

 think so. It was not found to be so in the previous war. 



Sir John Davis. — We never captured it. 



Mr. Crawfurd. — We did pretty much the same ; we inflicted a heavy fine. 

 Being 1200 miles from the seat of the Chinese government, the capture of 

 Canton would not be sufficient. He thought we must do what we did before — 

 cut off the communication between the northern provinces, containing the 

 capital, and the southern, the chief sources of the supply of food and revenue. 



Mr. Ed. Divett, m.p., f.r.g.s., wished to ask a question respecting a 

 subject of great interest. Sir John Davis had spoken of the piracy which 

 existed in the Chinese waters. He should be very glad to know whether 

 the same sort of piracy was practised on the other parts of the Chinese sea- 

 board? 



Sir John Davis. — The piracy which prevailed on the coast of Canton, and 

 of the neighbouring province, Fokien, was very much the result of the physical 

 configuration of the coast, which was that of an archipelago of small islands, 

 abounding in harbours and indentations, affording lurking-places for predatory 

 vessels. The very extensive system of fishing which j^revailed on such a coast 

 created those maritime habits so favourable to the life and profession of a 

 pirate. They were, in fact, fishermen to-day and pirates to-morrow. The 

 evil did not extend beyond the province of Fokien, to the same degree at least. 

 It was absolutely necessary for the safety of our commerce, and for that of the 

 Chinese themselves, that it should be put down in the most summary manner 

 possible, and there could be little scruple in acting thus against those who 

 wefe in fact the enemies of the human race, and the worst obstacles to com- 

 merce. With the possession of the light draft gunboats which we were about to 

 send out, there never was such an opportunity for getting rid of them— -dis- 

 arming all, without exception, if not destroying them. He would now advert 

 to the observation of Mr. Crawfurd on the subject of resorting to the mouth of 

 the Grand Canal and the neighbourhood of Nanking. He should be the last 

 man to say a word against it, because before the last war he had recommended 

 in distinct terms to the Duke of Wellington himself the adoption of the plan, which 

 plan was adopted with complete success. But at the present time the ground was 

 pre-occupied by the insurgents. They had, by possessing Nanking and the canal, 

 cut off the commimication with Peking that way, as well as we could, and by 



