Early Relations between the United States and China. 103 



American, and an Englishman, Dr. Benjamin Hobson, were 

 accepted by the society in the same year. 10{ 



One more society needs to be noted, the Seaman s Friend 

 Association in China. Like the others, it was formed by the 

 coterie of British and American merchants and missionaries 

 who lived at Canton. It was organized January 3, 1839, for the 

 promotion of the welfare of all foreign seamen in Chinese 

 waters. 110 For a time it did good work, making an examination 

 of the conditions of the crews on board American and British 

 ships, and holding some religious services. 111 The approach of 

 war, however, seems to have interrupted its operations and we 

 hear no more of it. 



The second great branch of early Protestant missions to the 

 Chinese, was, as we have noted, that outside the Empire. Three 

 purposes actuated missionary work there. The large numbers 

 of Chinese were an extensive field in themselves. Then there 

 was the hope that some might be reached who would carry back 

 to China the Christian message. And there was the opportunity 

 for the study of the language and the establishment of presses 

 and schools until the time when the Empire should be opened. 



In the main, three large groups of Chinese colonists were easily 

 accessible to missionaries. There was one in Java, centering 

 at Batavia, where for the time being the Dutch government was 

 tolerant, j In the Straits Settlements, Malacca and Singapore, 

 there was another, also under European control. At Bangkok 

 there was still a third, under native rule it is true, but open to 

 foreign commerce and residence. There were other groups in 

 Borneo, in the Philippines, and in Indo-China, but they were all 

 for one reason or another either almost or entirely inaccessible. 



At the beginning of American missionary effort, these facts 

 were not clearly recognized. The conditions of the Far Eastern 

 Islands and Southern Asia from a missionary standpoint were 

 not fully known, and it was felt advisable to send some one to 



109 Ch. Rep., 10 : 448-453- William Lockhart, The Medical Missionary 

 in China, A Narrative of Twenty Years Experience, London, 1861, p. 127. 



110 Ch. Rep., 7:477-484. 



111 Quarterly Report of Seaman s Friend Assn. in China, July, 1839, 

 Ch. Rep., 8: 120-121. 



