A. D. 1780. 655 



commercial treaty with Portugal, his nation could have no juft caufe of 

 complaint. 



Soon after the Europeans began to trade to China, the emperor 

 eflabliflied a co-hong, or company of merchants, confiding often hongs, 

 or mercantile houles, and inverted them with an exclufive privilege of 

 tranfacling all bufmcfs with the Europeans, who were not permitted to 

 deal with any other Chinefe merchants, unlefs with their confent. The 

 co-hong were made conjundly refponfible to the government and to the 

 foreign merchants. They fixed the prices of all goods, imported or to 

 be exported, and regulated the terms of all trade with foreigners: and 

 it is faid, they were never known to abufe fo extraordinary a power. In 

 the beginning of the year 1771 the co-hong was difix)lved : but the 

 officers of government at Canton declared, that no foreigner ihould do 

 any bufinefs but with the ten houfes formerly incorporated in the co- 

 hong, or fuch perfons as fhould be recommended by one of them, or by- 

 one of the three principal linguifls ; and that if they dealt with any other 

 perfons, the government fhould not be anfwerable for any lofles they 

 might fufiain by trufi;ing Chinefe traders. 



The ten hongs now firove to fupplant each-other in the favour of the 

 officers of government : and the property of Britifh fubjecls was laviihed 

 in bribes (called prefents) to thofe officers, who confequently protected 

 their favourite hongs againfl the complaints of the Europeans. As thofe 

 complaints v,-ere very freqtient, the hong merchants procured a declara- 

 tion from the officers of government at Canton, that they would in ^ 

 future receive no memorial or petition from any European, but luch 

 as fhould be prefented by a hong merchant. The Britifh merchants at 

 Canton, finding themfelves thus fhut out from all pollibility of obtain- 

 ing redrcis there, tranfiiiitted rcprefentations of the large amount of 

 Britifh property, thus circumflanced in China, to their creditors in 

 London and INIadras. The creditors in London applied to the directors 

 of the Eafl-India company, who thought that the debt due to the Britifh 

 fubjeds in Canton ought, on account of its great amount *, to be con- 

 fidered as an obje(5l of national concern. On the application of the 

 creditors in Madras, the commander of the Britiih tLet in the Indian 

 feas, lent a frigate to Canton two years fuccellivcly to demand jufticc 

 for the Britifh fubjedts in the name of his Britannic majelly. This 

 reiterated demand procured a curious mode of fettling the affair. The 

 debts due by two of the hong merchants being adjuflcd, with intereft to the 

 end of the feafon 1779-80, were found to amount to about /,'40o,cod. 

 One half of that large flim was entirely lopped olTj and payment of the 

 remainder was ordered to be made in ten years by annual mflallments, 



• A letter from Canton, dated 15" January ihc creditors in 1778 ftateJ it at ^i,300,coo : anH 

 1780. Hatid the amount of tlie debts to be Mi. Smith's account of (lie dcLt3 railed the to' a! 

 3,8o8,C75 dollar* : the memorial for the ageuts of to jf j.oijj^Cj (lerling. 



