384 
*> VOYAGE OF THE POTOMAC. 
[May, 
ment has not the power, if it have the inclination, to put down this 
trade. SmuggUng vessels have been up the coast as far as Kingpo, 
and disposed of their cargoes for the " precious metals." Much 
has been smuggled into the ports of Chingchoo, in the province 
of Fokien, and the traders were " well entreated" by the inhab- 
itants. The northern districts will, ere long, offer a fine market ; 
long ells, fine broadcloth, blankets, and camlets, are among the 
articles in demand. 
Speckled along the whole coast of China lie not less than one 
thousand islands, many of them possessing all the requisites for 
trading stations ; and whether situated near to, or at some dis- 
tance from the main, they are all beyond the influence and con- 
trol of the emperor, with all his affectation of power ! What shall 
prevent one of the Ladrone Islands from being used as a market- 
place for the trade of all nations ? All grounds for dispute be- 
tween the Chinese and foreigners would thus be happily removed. 
Other stations further north should be selected, so as to embrace 
the business of the northern provinces, and thus may ultimately 
be opened one of the most extensive trades in the world. 
Our grand competitors,* the English, are looking out for every 
* American merchants feel superior to the competition of other nations. But in^ 
the now open trade with the east, who is it they are to compete with 1 They will 
find one of their competitors to be the house of Barings Brothers, & Co., the active' 
partner in which great establishment is an American, whose command of capital at 
low rates of interest is unlimited, and whose ships, built on the latest American 
model, are already east of the Cape, navigated with small and selected crews, under" 
TKMPERANOE REGULATIONS. Nor is this all. The eastern voyages out and home 
are one operation, and an advantage on one part is a superiority on the whole. Be- 
yond a perfect equality, as equally able, merchants, in English competitors, have a 
great superiority given in some respects by the blunders in our tarUf law. For in- 
stance, in the great Chinese staple, silk, second only to teas in value. We cannot 
import on fair terms of competition, either the raw material or the manufacture. 
The raw silk is taxed 12^ per cent., while the same material is carried free to England, 
and thence imported, manufactured, and free also. Take, again, a great article in 
silk goods, the white goods for printing ; these are manufactured low in China. But 
if imported direct for printing at home they pay the 10 per cent, duty, while the same 
goods are carried to England, entered in bond, printed, and exported to America, to 
come in duty free, and without the possibility of being verified as a Chinese manu- 
facture. Such legislation prostrates two great interests ; that of the honest importer, 
who will not, though his government tempt him, import his Chinese silks as English^ 
and that of the American proprietor of print-works. We would add a third, the 
silk- weaver, but such regulations will never permit him to come into existence. 
