Early Relations betzveen the United States and China. 71 



but before 1844, a number of swift boats of comparatively .light 

 tonnage were built for carrying opium. They were owned by 

 J. M. Forbes and Russell and Company and soon controlled the 

 opium trade. So, although clipper ships did not attain their 

 supremacy until after 1844, their lines first began to be worked 

 out in the thirties. 87 



The period between 1815 and 1839 was marked by changes in - 

 imports and exports to and from China no less noticeable than /, 

 those in the commercial organization. No generalization can 

 safely be made: one must rather take up the principal articles 

 individually. 



Of the American imports to China the most important was 

 specie. 88 Until bills of exchange began to take its place, it 

 formed half and even three-fourths of the total, amounting in 

 one instance to nearly seven and one-half millions of dollars. 89 

 The drain was heavy but necessary. American merchants found 

 it profitable to import teas, even when paying for them with so 

 expensive a commodity. In some years it was in such demand 

 that a premium had to be offered in the United States to obtain 

 enough for a cargo. 90 Most of it was in the form of Spanish 

 milled dollars obtained from the Spanish West Indies, JSouth 

 America, Portugal, 91 and Gibraltar. 92 So accustomed to these 

 dollars did the Chinese merchants become that when those of the 

 new South American states began to come in, they were received 

 only at an excessive discount. 93 About 1827 bills of exchange, 

 on England began to take the place of specie. 94 The large 



87 A. H. Clark. The Clipper Ship Era, New York and London. 1911. 

 pp. 58-60. jj| 



88 For tables see footnote 3 on page&amp;gt;^. 



88 In 1819 the imports of specie to Canton amounted to $7,414,000. 

 Pitkin, Stat. View, ed. 1835, p. 303. 



90 The Columbian Centinel, Boston, on Feb. 13, 1802, and Oct. 20, 1802, 

 contained advertisements offering a premium on Spanish dollars for 

 ships about to sail to Canton. 



91 Weeden, Early Oriental Commerce of Providence, pp. 274-276. 



92 Letters and Recollections of J. M. Forbes, i : 70. 



93 It required a special edict of the Hoppo to reduce this discount to a 

 just one. The Canton Register, Canton, 1827 et sqq. Vol. 8:91835. 

 No. 10. .M 



94 See tables footnote 3, page 469. 



