7 6 Kenneth S. Latourette, 



cited as a reason for ending the monopoly. The result was the 

 defeat of the company. 118 Contrary to English expectations, 

 however, this shipment in American vessels did not cease with 

 the end of the monopoly, but continued to 1837 at least 119 and 

 , possibly longer. 



From a consideration of the imports to China in American 

 ships we naturally turn to the exports. Of these tea was pre 

 eminent. Choosing representative years, in 1822, 6,639,434 Ibs. 

 were imported into the United States, in 1828, 7,707,427 

 lbs., 12( 121 in 1832, 9,906,606 Ibs., in 1837, 16,581,467 Ibs., in 

 1840, 19,333,597 Ibs. 1 - 2 In value the proportion of tea to the 

 total American imports from China during these years was for 

 1822, 36%, for 1828, 45%, for 1832, 52%, for 1837, 65%, for 

 1840, 8i%. 12; It can readily be seen from these figures that in 

 the years following 1814 the relative proportion of teas to other 

 Chinese imports constantly increased. 124 During these later 

 years, in fact, our Canton commerce was mostly for the purpose 

 of obtaining them. The teas thus imported came from nearly 

 all of the southeastern provinces and from some of the central 

 provinces of China. 125 The many bewildering grades known to 

 trade were all subdivisions of the two main kinds, black and 

 green, grown on different varieties of the same species of shrub. 126 

 Black teas, the cheapest, included such grades as Souchong, 



118 Hugh Murray, et alii, An Historical and Descriptive Account of 

 China. 3 v., Edinburgh, 1836. 3 : 50. 



119 Peter N. Snow, American Consul at Canton, wrote Feb. 15, 1836, 

 that it still continued. Consular Letters, Canton, II. The statistics for 

 1836-7 in the Chinese Repository, 6 : 284-6, also show it to have been still 

 in progress. 



20 The figures before 1816 were, for 1790, 3,047,252 Ibs., for 1794. 

 2,460,914 Ibs., for 1800, 3,797,634 Ibs., for 1805, 5,119,441 Ibs., for 1810, 

 7,839,457 Ibs. Pitkin, Stat. View, ed. 1835, pp. 246, 247. 



121 Pitkin, Stat. View of U. S., ed. 1835, pp. 246, 247, 301. 



122 Chinese Repos., 9:191. 



123 Ex. Doc. 35, 27 Cong., 3 Sess., p. 10. 



24 This proportional increase was largely due to the decline in the 

 importation of silks and cottons. Commerce of the U. S. with China, 

 Hunt s Merc. Mag., 11:55. 



25 These were Fuhkien, Nganhui, Kiangsu, Kwantung, Hunan, Hupeh, 

 Honan, and Szechuen. Ch. Rep., 8* 135-148 



126 Ibid. 



