INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE. 23 



tury, when the annual importations averaged 20,000 

 pounds. In 1703 orders were sent from England to 

 China for 85,000 pounds of Green Tea and 25,000 pounds 

 of Black, the average price at this period ranging from 

 1 6 to 20 shillings ($4 to $5) per pound. The Company's 

 official account of their trade did not commence before 

 1725, but according to Milburn's "Oriental Commerce" 

 the consumption in the year 1711 had increased to up- 

 wards of 142 million pounds, in 1711 to 121 millions, 

 and in 1720 to 238 million pounds. Since which time 

 there has been nothing in the history of commerce so 

 remarkable as the growth and development of the trade 

 in Tea, becoming, as it has, one of the most important 

 articles of foreign production consumed. 



For above a century and a half the sole object of the 

 English East India Company's trade with China was to 

 furnish Tea for consumption in England, the Company 

 during that period enjoying a monopoly of the Tea 

 trade to the exclusion of all other parties. They were 

 bound, however, " to send orders for Tea from time to 

 time, provide ships for its transportation, and always to 

 keep at least one year's supply in their warehouses," 

 being also compelled to " bring all Teas to London, and 

 there offer them at public sale quarterly, and to dispose 

 of them at one penny per pound advance on the gross 

 cost of importation, the price being determined by add- 

 ing their prime cost in China to the expenses of freight, 

 insurance, interest on capital invested, and other charges." 

 But in December, 1680, Thomas Eagle of the "King's 

 Head," a noted coffee-house in St. James, inserted in the 

 London Gazette the following advertisement, which shows 

 that Tea continued to be imported independently of the 

 East India Company : " These are to give notice to per- 

 sons of quality that a small parcel of most excellent 



