CHINA. 



299 



Trade. prevailing prejudices of the people, as well as the uni- 

 ^"Y"*' form policy of the government, are adverse to its increase. 

 The Chinese consider their own country as so superior 

 to all others, that they are very reluctant to leave it, 

 even in the prospect of gain ; and they have so thorough 

 a contempt for all other nations, that they regard as in- 

 famous characters, all those who go to make a fortune 

 among foreigners and barbarians. Those, who do ven- 

 ture abroad for purposes of traffic, are bound to return 

 in a limited time. Those, who remain in foreign coun- 

 tries, are looked upon as outcasts from the empire ; and 

 should they suffer any injury or calamity, the government 

 pays no attention to their case. Those, who embark in 

 European vessels upon mercantile speculations, must do 

 o with the utmost secrecy, and also guard against a dis- 

 covery upon their return, as they would then be pillaged 

 by the mandarins and soldiers, as lawful spoil, without 

 the possibility of procuring any redress. 



Their principal foreign trade by land is carried on 

 with the Tartars and Russians. The former branch of 

 traffic is limited chiefly to an exchange of considerable 

 quantities of coarse tea, for horses, to supply the defi- 

 ciencies which occur in the ranks of the cavalry. The 

 latter is more extensive ; but has been subjected to va- 

 rious alternations and interruptions in its progress. It 

 commenced about the period of the invasion of China by 

 the Mantchoo Tartars ; and was first attempted by a 



fovernor of Tobolsk, who sent persons of confidence to 

 ekin, in aid of his commercial plans. In consequence 

 of the opening which was thus effected, a number of 

 Russian and Siberian traders united in 1670 in forming 

 a caravan for Pekin, which succeeded so well as to f n- 

 courage new companies, and to attract numbers of ad- 

 venturers. The Chinese government soon became alarm- 

 td by these advances of a powerful neighbour, and erect- 

 ed a chain of forts along their northern frontiers, which 

 gave rise to a succession of slight hostilities between the 

 two nations. At ler.gth, in 1689, by the mediation of 

 Father* Gerbillon and Prreira, acting by the authority 

 of the Chinese Emperor Kang-hee, the two courts en- 

 tered into a treaty of peace and perpetual alliance, which 

 was signed at Nertschinsk, and engraved on two pillars 

 at their respective frontiers. A free commerce was thus 

 permitted to all the subjects of these two extensive em- 

 pires, who were furnished with passports from their re- 

 spective governments ; for which privilege, Russia made 

 several important concessions, especially the liberty of 

 navigating the river Amour, as far as the Eastern Sea. 

 In 1692, Peter the Great commissioned Isbrand Ives, a 

 Dutchman in his service, to request from the court of 

 Pekin the same privileges for caravans, which the late 

 treaty granted to individuals. This embassy proved suc- 

 cessful in procuring the consent of the Chinese govern- 

 ment ; and as the court of Petersburgh reserved to itself 

 the right of sending these caravans, the whole profit of 

 the trade was turned from the private subjects to the 

 public treasury of Russia. The journey of these cara- 

 vans occupied a period of three years. Caravanseras 

 were appointed at Pekin for the exchange of the com- 

 modities, and for the residence of the Russian merchants, 

 whose expences, during their stay in the capital, were 

 defrayed by the Chinese emperor. Independent, howe- 

 ver, of those caravans, a secret commerce was carried on 

 by individuals, through the agency of the Mogul Tar- 

 tars. In consequence of the drunkenness and miscon- 

 duct of some Russians, in the midst of the Chinese capi- 

 tal, a misunderstanding originated between the two coun- 

 tries, which had nearly annihilated this commercial inter- 

 course ; but the Chinese were pacified by the embassy of 



IsmailofT, a captain in the Czar's life guards ; and Lau- 

 rent Lange remained at Pekin, under the denomination of 

 agent to the Russian caravans, with a view to prevent 

 the recurrence of similar disorders. Upon the subse- 

 quent departure, however, of this resident, the Russians 

 renewed their turbulent behaviour ; and, by the refusal 

 of the court of Petersburgh to deliver up some Tartar 

 hordes, who had become tributary to the Czar, the Chi- 

 nese government was so much offended, that every Rus- 

 sian was ordered to leave the empire, and all further 

 communication was prohibited. In 1727, Count Ra- 

 gouzinskoi, an ambassador on the part of Russia to the 

 successor of Kang-hee, succeeded in once more establish- 

 ing a commercial intercourse between the two nations ; 

 and, at the same time, executed a new treaty, fixing de- 

 finitively the boundaries of the two empires, and subject- 

 ing the traders to such regulations as appeared calcula- 

 ted to prevent the recurrence of discontents on either 

 side. The court of Petersburgh was thus permitted to 

 send a caravan to Pekin once in three years ; and the 

 number of merchants composing it, was limited to 200. 

 It was farther stipulated, that, upon their arrival on the 

 frontiers of China, they should inform the emperor of 

 their approach, that a Chinese officer might be appoint- 

 ed to escort them to the metropolis ; but that no private 

 individual, unconnected with the caravan, should attempt 

 to enter the Chinese dominions, or to trade within the 

 territories of the Moguls. For the intercourse of pri- 

 vate traders, however, two places were assigned on the 

 confines of Siberia, where their merchandise should be 

 deposited, viz. Kiakhta and Zurukhaire, or as the Rus- 

 sians call it Naimatschinn, upon the left bank of the Ar- 

 goun. Notwithstanding all those solemn agreements and 

 stipulations, continual impediments were excited by the 

 violent passions or dishonest practices of the parties con- 

 cerned in this commercial intercourse ; and, in the space 

 of 26 years, only six caravans were fitted out from Rus- 

 sia to China. Many grievances also were alleged by the 

 court of Pekin against that of Petersburgh, especially in 

 protecting the Kalmuck Tartars and Tongusians in their 

 emigrations towards the Russian territories, and evading 

 all the demands and remonstrances of the Chinese go- 

 vernment on the subject. Upon the accession of Cathe- 

 rine II. to the throne of Russia, these disputes were ami- 

 cably terminated ; and the public monopoly of- the Chi- 

 nese trade was renounced, in favour of her subjects in 

 general. Notwithstanding occasional interruptions, by 

 the fickleness of the Tongusians, in withdrawing from 

 the protection of the Russians to their former sovereign, 

 the emperor of China, the merchants of the two coun- 

 trits gradually fell into a closer intercourse, and trade 

 became remarkably brisk and active. Russian factories 

 multiplied at Kiakhta, which became a large and forti- 

 fied place ; and Chinese traders resorted, in considerable 

 numbers, to Zurukhaire. Commissaries on each side 

 presided at the exchange of the commodities ; and the 

 Mogul language was employed in the contracts made by- 

 interpreters. In these bargains, the Chinese are said to 

 have had a decided advantage, to have traded more in a 

 body, and with a greater degree of circumspection, and 

 to have found means to discover the real value of the 

 Russian articles, while they had the art to sell their own, 

 at the price which they chose to fix at first. Tea par- 

 ticularly is sold, at these trading stations, at so high a 

 price, that the purchasers frequently are unable to sell 

 it again so low as the merchants of Petersburgh, who 

 procure it from England or Holland, and who can send 

 it to be sold at Okotsk at 16 rubles per pound. To in- 

 demnify themselves in this traffic, the Russians uie all 



Trade. 



