CHINA. 





f'TOfTW C 



"***: fr>>m Maara*. Bombay, I 

 ' of Sunda and Malacca ; - 



'. ' 



i tec. are curried 

 ; rit 

 . Irom 



one part of India to another, which enables the I' 

 Last India Company to maintain 10 brink and Ku r.ui-.c 



commerce with China. Tbrir factory at Canton, 

 which it the mot expensive establishment uf the kind, 

 comttti of twelve supercargoes and eight writers. Tin- 

 latter have only a small annual allowance and a free table ; 

 but sneered to the former by rotation. The former have 

 also a in? table at the expence of the Eat India Com- 

 pany, and divide annually among themselves, in shares 

 proportioned to their seniority, a turn seldom lese than 

 ifTO.OOO, anting from a per cenlage on the value of import 

 and export cargoes, producing to the chief of the factory 

 from * 10.000 to * 12,000 per annum ; and to the others 

 from jt?1300to .8000. Sir G. Staunton, junior, also 

 WM recently appointed Chinese interpreter and secretary 

 to the factory, with a salary of 500 per annum. 



The establishment of an East India Company in 

 France, first projected by Henry IV. in 1601', and af- 

 terwards canvassed under .Louis XIII. in Kill, was at 

 length effected in 1615, by a few merchants at Rouen. 

 But their association failing in success, nothing effectual 

 WM done, notwithstanding all the exertions of Cardinal 

 Richelieu, till Colbert issued letters patent for the crea- 

 tion of a new company in 1661. One association had 

 been formed in 1660, a second in 1698, a third in IT IS, 

 i last was incorporated in 171!) into an East India 

 Company. But this also having been abolished in 1796, 

 the trade of France V.H'H China was carried on by a few 

 private partnerships, till the year 178.5, when a new com- 

 pany was created, which is said to hare been badly or- 

 ganized from its foundation, and 'which was abrogated 

 by a decree of the National Assembly in 1790, which 

 pronounced the commerce of India beyond the Cape of 

 Good Hope to be free to all the subjects of France. 

 The French had, upon their first voyages to China, en- 



jyed the privilege, with other nations, of maintaining a 

 factory at Canton ; but, during the successive failures 

 of their East India Companies, having been absent for a 

 long period from the Chinese coasts, they were not per- 

 mitted at their return to remain there as formerly ; and 

 it was not till the year 1728, that M-. Duvelaer obtained 

 permission to reside at Canton, from which, however, he 

 wasobligcd, aboutthreeyears after, to withdraw. In 1745, 

 the French procured the privilege of landing on the 

 .land of Wampoc, upon paying 100 taels for each ves- 



nd their commerce never requires more than two 



cc ships from 700 to 800 tors each. The articles, 



. they used to carry out to China, were chiefly money, 



-cloth, looking glasses, azure, gold-wire,and ebony ; 



.how, which they brought back, were tea, raw-silk, 



:tufTj, nankeens, rhubarb, anise, and porcelain. Tea 



.> >sed the third of the whole cargo, of which it is 



affirmed, that France itself did not consume above 300,000 



pounds weight per annum, and that the remainder was 



ce exported to other countries. * 

 In 161?, Christian IV. of Denmark issued a patent 

 for the establishment of an East India Company in his 

 dominions; but it wat not till the year 1616 that any 

 shipment* were made for India. It appears, that the 

 coBimi-rcr of the Danes was very considerable about the 

 year 1643, when the Dutch, who had then acquired the 

 superiority in India, excluded them from several branches 

 cf traffic, while the wars in which their nation was involved 





in Europe at that period conttihuted no \<t powerfully 

 to the diminution of their commercial undertakings. It 

 was not till the year 17-S, that their mercantile si 



revived under the powerful exertions of Christian V.; ' 



and it is from this period, that the intercourse of the 

 Danes with China continued without interruption, till the 

 late association of the Continental powers against Great 

 Britain. They commonly titled out two vessels annually 

 for the port of Canton, where they used to maintain th- 

 residents, besides a supercargo, who went out and return- 

 ed with each ship. But since the year 1793, they ceased 

 to support a factory- in China, on account of the great 

 expence with which it is attended, and their comm. 

 was conducted by persons annually sent out with their 

 cargoes. These consisted principally of money, lead, am- 

 ber, woollen stuffs, azure, and several articles of India 

 merchandise taken on board at Tranquebar by one of 

 the two vessels, while their principal article received in 

 exchange was tea, which they afterwards ti unspotted to 

 the north of Germany. 



In 1626, Gustavus Adolphus issued an edict for the Swedes, 

 encouragement of commerce with India ; but the wars 

 which then raged in Germany prevented the execution 

 of his plan. His successor, Queen Christina, was equally 

 desirous to promote the same object ; but the Dutch 

 contrived to supplant the Swedes in all their measures t 

 attain the end in view. Charles XI. and Charles XII. 

 were so successively engaged in war, as to have no leisure 

 for attending to mercantile interests, and by the loss 

 of some of their best commercial provinces, they placed 

 their subjects in a still more unfavourable situation for 

 maritime enterprise. But at length, after the destruc- 

 tion of the Ostcnd India Company, in 1717, a Swedish 

 merchant, named Koning, formed the plan of an East 

 India Company in his own country, and obtained an 

 edict for its establishment in 1731. From that pericd, 

 the Swedes have traded with China ; and generally lit 

 out two vessels annually, laden with money, copper, lead, 

 steel, and azure, receiving in return a cargo consisting- 

 chiefly of tea, which, like the Dane.:, they sell to the 

 people in the north of Europe. They maintain three 

 residents at Canton, besides a supercargo, who goes out 

 and returns with each ship. , 



In 1698, Charles II. of Spain, as sovereign of the Low McrchanM 

 Countries, established an East India Company at Ostend j of Otteud. 

 but in consequence of the wars which then began to dis- 

 tract the adjacent kingdoms, nothing was attempted till 

 the year 1717, when a few private individuals fitted out 

 commercial expeditions. By the hostile measures, and 

 political intrigues of the Dutch, the operations of this 

 company were continually impeded ; and though in 17'-'3 

 they procured new letters patent from the court of Vi- 

 enna, they were compelled, by the jealousy of their neigh- 

 bours, to desist from the undertaking, and were finally 

 dissolved in 1727. The same association was afterwards 

 renewed in 1780, under the name of the Ccmpauy of 

 Trieste ; but after a few voyages, they again deserted the 

 Indian trade. 



In 1751, the Prussians established at Einbden an East Prussians. 

 India company, which merely sends a ship occasionally to 

 China, with a cargo, consisting generally of money, gin- 

 seng, lead, and rice. 



The Spaniards have frequented the ports of China Spaniards, 

 since their settlement at Ma:. ilia ; but this tradi was car- 

 ried on merely by individual merchants, till 1733, when 

 Philip V. made an unsuccessful attempt to form an East 



Sinee thf jrtar 1793, not a tingle French ship has appeared in China, except or two mail vwl during the short j*ae* ef 

 AJoiro* in 1802. 



