Early Relations between the United States and China. 115 



trade was for the most part stagnant. Some was still carried 

 on, for the British agreed to make reprisals on none but Chinese 

 vessels, unless caught ih attempting to run the blockade,^*' but 

 many of the merchants had left China, and by the fall of 1840 

 imports of Chinese goods to the United States had fallen off 

 over one half.^^ 



\Mien the Chinese authorities took stringent measures to 

 abolish the opium traffic, missionaries as well as merchants suf- 

 fered. They were detained in the factories along with the 

 others* their Chinese teachers left them, the distribution of books 

 ceased,^- and Parker's hospital was closed.^^ To add to their 

 troubles, the American financial stringency of 1837 and 1839 

 seemed for a time to make retrenchments necessary."'* But the 

 work did not entirely cease. As Americans the missionaries 

 were looked upon favorably by the Chinese, and .were allowed 

 to remain in Canton and Macao after the English had been com- 

 pelled to leave.^^ Lin, the Chinese commissioner, was favorable 

 to the medical work,"^ and patients continued to come to Parker 

 unmolested by the government. An assistant to Parker, Dr. 

 William B. Diver was sent out in May, 1839,^' and arrived 

 September 2;^, 1839. Williams continued his studies in Chinese 

 and Japanese, and his printing, and Bridgman with his assistance 



^^ Lord Palmerston to Stevenson, June 25, 1840. Ex. Doc, 34, 2 Sess., 

 26 Cong. 



^^ Exports from the U. S. to China. Imports from China to the U. S. 

 for the year ending Sept. 30. 



1839 $1,533,601 $3,678,509 



1840 1,009,966 6,640,829 



1841 i,2oo,8i6 3,095,388 



1842 1,444,397 4,934,645 



1843 2,418,858 4,385,566 



J. Smith Homans, An Historical and Statistical Account of the Foreign 

 Commerce of the United States, New York, 1857, p. 181. 



^- Missny. Herald, 35 : 463, letter from Williams, May 17, 1839. 



'^ Ibid., 36:81, letter from China Mission, July 14, 1839. 



^^ Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., Foreign, 2 : 263, Anderson to the China 

 Mission, Nov. 16, 1839. 



'^Missny. Herald, 36:107, letter of Parker, Sept. 6, 1839. 



^"Missny. Herald, 36:74, letter of Parker, July 24, 1839, and 36:81, 

 letter of mission, July 14, 1839. 



^ Ibid., 35 : 365. Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., Foreign, Vol. 2, p. 43, 

 Anderson to China Mission, Feb. 15, 1839, and p. 92, same to same. 



