126 Kenneth S. Latourette, 



China and the opportunities it would offer. While deploring the 

 means, Americans exulted in the end.^° 



Throughout tlie war the government kept in close touch with 

 the situation, alive to the opportunities it might 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 Maj' 6, 1842. Mss. in State Department, Washington. 



"" Ibid. 



