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.^- 



\Miat 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. 175 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 

 Paciiic 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 Bej'ond 

 the Rocky Mountains. 2 v., Philadelphia, 1836. i : 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. Aleaney, 

 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, I : 185, 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 



