354 



COMMERCE. 



The British East lndies ) and the Malay Peninsula. 

 For the long period of 4000 years, the products of 

 India, so important in commerce, have remained the 

 same ; for all the commodities and treasures of In- 

 dia, mentioned by the ancients, are, to this day, those 

 for which the nations of the other quarters of the 

 world resort thither, viz., rice, indigo, cochineal, and 

 other dye-stuffs, opium, cotton, silk, drugs, cinna- 

 mon, cassia, cocoa-nuts, &c. The East India trade 

 is mostly in the liands of the British, under the 

 management of the East India company. Next to 

 the British, the United States are most extensively 

 engaged in the East India trade. Denmark carries 

 on hut an inconsiderable trade with the East Indies, 

 and that once carried on by Sweden is now almost 

 annihilated, although, prior to the late great changes 

 in the government of that country, the Swedish Ka>t 

 India company was, of all the commercial societies 

 of Europe, the best regulated, and the most success- 

 ful in its operations, next to the British. The trade 

 of Portugal with the British possessions in the East 

 Indies is of importance ; that of Spain, on the other 

 liand, inconsiderable. Calcutta is the most important 

 commercial city of the East Indies. Besides it, 

 Benares, Guzerat, Oude, and Moultan are worthy of 

 note, among the commercial towns of northern India ; 

 Madras and Pondicherry, on the eastern coast ; Bom- 

 bay, Surat, and Cochin, on the western ; Goa, &c. 

 From Queda, on the peninsula of Malacca, are ob- 

 tained tin, rice, wax, fish maws, and sharks' fins ; at 

 Salengore, Pahang, and Trangano, cloves, nutmegs, 

 pepper, camphor, betel, ivory, gold dust, tortoise 

 shell, tin, &c. Gold dust is exported chiefly from 

 Malacca. Since 1819, the British government in 

 Calcutta, through Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, has 

 founded, according to his plan, a new commercial 

 town on the fertile, well-wooded island of Sincapore 

 (q. v.), on tlie south extremity of the peninsula of 

 Malacca, on the straits of this name, which is of ex- 

 treme importance to the British trade with China, 

 and must destroy the China trade of the Dutch. If 

 Sincapore is made a free port, England will be able 

 to supply from thence all of Further India with the 

 productions of its industry. 



China. The trade which China carries on with 

 Europe, British India, the United States of America, 

 Coch n-China and Siam, with Japan and the other 

 Asiatic islands, is very considerable. The British 

 imports into China are partly shipped by the East 

 India company, partly by private merchants. From 

 1781 to 1791, the company sent thitherto the amount 

 of 3,471,521 in goods, and .3,588,264 in bullion 

 from 1792 to 1809, 16,502,338 worth of goods, 

 and 2,466,946 in bullion. One of the chief ar- 

 ticles of import is opium, which, although pro- 

 hibited, is now used in China in great quantities. 

 The exports which the company made to Britain 

 amounted, from 1793 to 1810, including duties, 

 freights, &c., to 41,203,422, and they were sold for 

 57,896,274, leaving the company a net profit of 

 16,692,852. As the British East India company 

 trades more extensively with the Chinese than any 

 other body, we shall subjoin the following official 

 statement of its exports of tea and raw silk from the 

 port of Canton, for each of the following ten years, 

 as given in the appendix to the report of the com- 

 mittee of the house of lords, printed in 1821. 



Years. Ten, pounds. Silk, pounds. 



1810 11 19,710737 81,828 



1811 It 20,164,221 87,074 



181213 28,207,413 145,889 



1I3 14 24,727,430 140.129 



181415 26,195144 209.073 



181518 33,013,387 37,042 



1816-17 29,353,973 67,518 



181718 20,151,597 55,597 



18:819 2i,08580 48,007 



Aterage of 1825, 6, 7, 3;, 000,898 



Tea exported. 

 7,2I5,2!M) 

 8,934.100 

 9 022. 1 30 



lOiivvd; 

 2.735,ii!io 

 13,314 Hit 



Since the year IS24-5, the East India company have 

 exported nothing from China except tea. The whole 

 exports of tea to Britain and the North American 

 colonies, in 1828-29, amounted to 2!),847,2:>4 ll>s. 

 For further details, see East India Company, ami 

 Tea Trade. 



Next to the British, the people of the United States 



have the most trade with China. In the following 



years, their imports into, and exports of tea from, 



Canton, were as stated below, the value of the im- 



ports being given in dollars, the amount of tea -x 



ported being stated in pounds. 



y'nirx. li!i]'iifl.t. 



181516 dollar*, 2.527 ,.100 



181017 ,000 



181718 7.070.828 



181819 10,017,151 



Average exports to 1800, 



011824-55, 



having increased 387 per cent, in 25 years. The im- 

 ports of the nations on the continent of Europe into 

 China consist chiefly of gold bullion, for which tea is 

 received ; but these imports are small, since most of 

 them obtain their tea from the British and Ameri- 

 cans. With Siam, Cambodia, Cochin-China, the 

 Asiatic islands, and Japan, China lias a very active 

 intercourse, and, of late, with Russia also, both by 

 land through Kiachta to Irkutsk, &c., and by water. 

 The Dutch, British, and Americans have factories 

 at Canton, the French an agent there or at Macao, 

 the Spaniards an agent at Macao, where the Portu- 

 guese have a colony. 



From Siam and Tonquin are exported tin, ivory, 

 diamonds, and other precious stones, gold dust, cop- 

 per, salt, betel, pepper, wax, silk, timber and lack- 

 ered wares, and the commerce of these two countries 

 is mostly in the hands of the Chinese and Portu- 

 guese. The trade of Cochin-China is mostly in the 

 hands of the Chinese. The exports are sugar, silk, 

 gold, betel-nuts, ebony, Japan-wood, buffaloes' horns, 

 dried fish, and fish skins. The Chinese empire is so 

 vast, and the variety of the products of the different 

 provinces so great, that the inland commerce of this 

 world within itself has withdrawn the attention of 

 the people from the foreign trade, which oppressive 

 regulations have injured. Formerly, however, Chi- 

 nese vessels went to Arabia, and even to Egypt. 



Japan. Since the expulsion of the Portuguese 

 from Japan, the commerce of this country has been 

 almost wholly domestic. The only foreigners, with 

 whom the Japanese still have any trade, are the 

 Chinese and the Dutch, and these are limited to the 

 single port of Nangasaki. The Chinese supply the 

 Japanese with rice, common porcelain, sugar, gin- 

 seng, ivory, silks, nankeen, lead, tin plates, alum, 

 &c. ; and, in return, receive copper, camphor, 

 lackered wares, pearls, coals, and a metallic compo- 

 sition called sowas, consisting of copper and a small 

 quantity of gold. The Dutch obtain chiefly copper, 

 camphor, lacker, and lackered wares. Only two 

 Dutch and twelve Chinese vessels are allowed to 

 enter the harbour of Nangasaki annually. After the 

 arrival of a vessel, and the performance of the preli- 

 minary ceremonies, the goods are sent on shore. 

 Then come the imperial officers (for the trade with 

 foreign countries is the monopoly of the emperor), 

 who examine the quality and the quantity of the 

 goods, deliberate together, and fix the price of the 

 native commodities that are demanded in return. 

 Foreigners must submit to these conditions, or keep 

 the goods which they have brought. The Japanese 

 mercliants can obtain foreign goods only by purchas- 

 ing them of the emperor. In the manufacture of 

 silks and woollens, porcelain and lackered wares, the 

 Japanese are hi no degree inferior to the Europeans. 

 In the manufacture of hardware, they have also at- 

 tained great skill. The Japanese sabres and daggers 



