477 CHINA. 



leading articles. Raw materials meet with a much readier sale ; of 

 these raw cotton is by far the most important, the value of the 

 cotton imported exceeding half the value of the tea exported ; but 

 the substance for which the demand has far outstripped that of all 

 others is opium. For this drug all ranks and classes appear to have 

 an en^rofsing and unappeasable desire, and its supply, notwithstand- 

 ing the most determined efforts of the government to suppress its 

 use, has become of the first commercial importance. The value of 

 the opium imported into China by the English, exceeds that of the 

 tea exported from the empire. It is to pay for the opium imported 

 that the large amount of bullion is annually sent out of China. In 

 1852 treasure to the amount of 1,265,592^. was remitted through Hong 

 Kong to India by the Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamers 

 alone, to pay for opium brought from India, and sold to the Chinese 

 along the coast. The import of opium, as already intimated, was 

 until lately strictly prohibited, and it was in endeavouring to enforce 

 the prohibition that the disastrous war with England was brought 

 about. Since that war the importation has gone on steadily increas- 

 ing, and the import was legalised by the emperor of China, for the 

 purpose of revenue, on the 6th of January, 1853. 



Large as is the foreign commerce of China, it is of very inferior 

 importance to its internal trade. Even in tea, the great foreign staple, 

 the home consumption is, if recent estimates are at all to be depended 

 upon, upwards of twenty times that of the foreign market. But the 

 real home staple commodities are rice and salt. Rice is in universal 

 use among the vast population, and its culture, transit, and sale 

 afford the means of support to an immense number of persons. Salt 

 is a government monopoly ; its production is on an enormous scale. 

 The kinds used are rock-salt, that obtained from salt-springs, and that 

 prepan d in large square fields or salterns in marshes adjacent to the 

 gea. Mr. Barrow counted in the vicinity of Tie'n-tsing 222 stacks or 

 hills of salt, which he computed to contain 600 millions of pounds, 

 besides which there were numerous other hills incomplete. 



In manufactures, while adhering tenaciously to their old methods, 

 the Chinese disphy remarkable skill and ingenuity. The superiority 

 of their porcelain, a Chinese invention, was maintained for many 

 centuries, and even now it can scarcely be said to be surpassed though 

 it may be equalled in quality, however it may be in design and 

 artistic embellishment, by that of Europe. Paper is another article 

 of Chinese invention, and the fine silky Chinese paper is still preferred 

 for some purposes of art to any European imitations of it. In 

 metal the Chinese are also skilful workmen. Their silks and other 

 textile manufactures are of excellent quality, though unable to com- 

 pete in the market with the machine-made goods of Europe. In 

 preparing lackered goods, ivory carvings, and other minutely finished 

 fancy articles for the eastern market, they display the most admirable 

 patience and ingenuity, however grotesque their productions often 

 an as work* of art. For almost all the ordinary domestic utensils, 

 agricultural and mechanical implements, articles of wearing apparel, 

 household furniture, and the various matters requisite for comfort or 

 luxury, the Chinese are at present independent of foreign manufac- 

 turers. As European goods become better known they will doubtless 

 become more generally adopted ; at the same time it is highly pro- 

 bable that the Chinese mechanics, from their remarkable imitative 

 talent and the readiness with which they acquire an insight into 

 new methods of working, will soon be able to produce similar goods 

 at such prices a* will enable them to maintain their standing in the 

 home market. 



The weights, measure*, and money of China are noticed under 

 CASTOR. 



The history of the intercourse with England belongs essentially 

 to the commerce of China, and not to its general history. We there- 

 fore give it here. 



The first attempt of the English to open a trade with China was 

 in 1596, when three ships, bearing letters from Queen Elizabeth, 

 were freighted for that purpose, but they were lost on the voyage 

 out; and no further attempt appears to have been made till 1637, 

 when four merchant-ship* from England arrived in Macao Roads. In 

 a few day* they sailed up to the Bocca Tigris, which is considered 

 the mouth of the Canton River ; but in the meantime the Portuguese, 

 already established at Macao and trading with the Chinese, had 

 misrepresented the purposes of the English, who, having communi- 

 cated with the mandarin*, were directed to wait, and told that their 

 wishes should be attended to. A few days afterwards they were, 

 without warning, fired upon from the fort. Incensed by this act of 

 treachery, they sailed up the river as far as Canton, stormed the 

 castle, and carried off the guns. A further communication then 

 took place with the mandarins, who laid the blame on the Portuguese. 

 Cargoes were supplied by the Chinese, and the guns were restored, 

 and the English ship* sailed quietly away. Little or no commercial 

 intercourse took place for some years afterwards. The East India 

 Company established by degree* small commercial agencies at Amoy, 

 at Ning-po, and on the island* of Chusan and Formosa; but the 

 trade, owing to the exaction* of the mandarins, proved so trouble- 

 some and unprofitable, that the Company deemed it expedient to 

 withdraw their agents from those places, and managed to establish a 

 trade at Canton, which continued to advance but slowly and with 

 many interruption* in consequence of the high dutie* and the 



CHINA. 473 



exactions to which it was subjected. Only one ship was sent to 

 Canton in 1734, and during the whole of 1736 the total number of 

 European ships which took in cargoes at Canton was only ten, of 

 which four were English, two French, two Dutch, one Swedish, and 

 one Danish. 



The exactions and insulting assumption of superiority on the part 

 of the Chinese authorities, as well as disputes with the French and 

 Portuguese, led occasionally to outrage and tumult; but the trade 

 at Canton continued to advance, till at length the attention of the 

 British government was drawn to its growing importance, and in 

 1788 Lord Cathcart was appointed ambassador to China; he died 

 however on his passage out, and the frigate in which he had sailed 

 returned to England. In 1792 Lord Macartney sailed from England 

 in a 64-gun ship as ambassador to the Chinese emperor at Peking, 

 accompanied by Dr. Stauuton, afterwards Sir George Staunton, ay 

 secretary of legation, chiefly in order to obtain leave to trade at 

 Ning-po, Tien-tsing, Chusan, and other places besides Canton. The 

 embassy was unsuccessful, and the emperor, in his communication 

 to the king of England, stated that British commerce was to be 

 limited to the port of Canton. 



After the mission of Lord Macartney the general condition of the 

 English at Canton was considerably improved ; the conduct of the 

 mandarins became less imperious ; the exactions fewer and less 

 annoying ; and though some of the heaviest burdens on the trail. . 

 still continued, the commercial progress of the English was tolerably 

 quiet and rarely interrupted. 



Interruptions however of some importance occurred in 1808, and 

 again in 1814. In 1816 Lord Amherst was sent on an embassy, and 

 though his mission was unsuccessful, it was followed by a longer interval 

 of freedom from Chinese annoyance than had ever before been expe- 

 rienced. From 1816 to 1829 only a single stoppage of British trsdi: 

 took place, except a short interruption in 1822, arising out of an 

 unprovoked attack by the Chinese on some of the crew of the Topaice 

 frigate, who were taking in water at the island of Lintin. 



The exclusive trade of the East India Company with Chiu:i 

 terminated in April 1834, and several private ships soon afterwards 

 quitted Canton with cargoes of tea for the British Islands. The new 

 Act empowered the British government to appoint three superin- 

 tendents, with certain powers over the private traders, to reside at 

 Canton, but the Chinese refused to receive them as the official 

 notification did not assume the form of a petition, and Lord Napier, 

 the chief superintendent, was ordered to withdraw from Canton to 

 Macao. The order was not complied with ; and in September the 

 British trade was entirely suspended by direction of the viceroy, the 

 residence of Lord Napier surrounded by soldiers, and his supplies of 

 provisions cut off. His lordship then applied for the assistance oi 

 two British ships, the Imogene and Andromache, which sailed 

 through the Bocca Tigris, silencing the batteries as they passed, ami 

 anchored at Whampoa. Negotiations were then entered into, but in 

 vain ; and in order no longer to interrupt the trade of the port, Lord 

 Napier withdrew to Macao, where, on October 11 of the same year 

 he died. 



With the exception of a few disputes arising out of the smuggling 

 transactions in opium, and the constantly-recurring requiry that all 

 applications to the Chinese officials should assume the character of 

 a petition, matters went on much as usual till 1838, when fresh 

 disturbances broke out in consequence of the smuggling of opium. 

 Preparations were made on December 12th to strangle a Chinese 

 opium-smuggler in the square immediately in front of the factories 

 at Canton, which the Europeans resisted, and a riot and contest with 

 the Chinese ensued. Captain Elliot, who had returned to Canton an 

 superintendent, on the 18th published a notice, requiring all Briticli- 

 owned vessels trading in opium to leave the river within three days. 

 The Chinese authorities however were not conciliated ; on Feb. 26, 

 1839, a Chinese opium-smuggler was strangled in front of thu 

 factories, in spite of the opposition of the Europeans ; in consequence 

 of which all the foreign flags were struck, and remonstrances sent 

 to the viceroy, to which no answer was returned. 



On March 10, Lin Tsih Sew arrived at Canton as high commissioner 

 from the Imperial court, and immediately commenced a series of 

 measures which rendered a war between China and Great Britain 

 unavoidable. In consequence of Captain Elliot's order (which in 

 fact he had no authority to make nor any power to enforce) the 

 opium-vessels had left the river, but this was not enough for Com- 

 missioner Lin, who issued an order commanding all opium in British 

 ships, whether in the Canton River or on \he coast of China, to be 

 given up to his officers that it might be destroyed. On the 19th the 

 foreign residents were forbidden to leave China. Captain Elliot 

 joined his countrymen in the factories, which were now surrounded 

 by Chinese soldiers, and from which the means of subsistence were 

 dm off : passports were refused ; and the surrender of all the opium 

 ?n board the ships was demanded of him. Untler these circumstances 

 of intimidation 20,283 chests were delivered to the officers of Com- 

 missioner Lin, and the Burning and destruction commenced on June 3, 

 and occupied 20 days. In July Captain Elliot having applied for a naval 

 force, gave notice to the British merchants that all trade was to be 

 suspended, and that tea, the produce of China, would not be admitted 

 into the ports of Great Britain or India. In August the Volage 



