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 c|uickly 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 hcche dc 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. TJiey 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. 



