72 Kenneth S. Latoiirette, 



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-seventh 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 : 332-33;}, 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, 5 : 122, 

 Evidence of Abel Coffin. In 1833-4 this was $311,315 (Alurray, Hist, and 

 Desc. Acct. of China 3:74), but two years before it was only $21,342. 

 Phipps, China and Eastern Trade, p. 313. 



