of the Portuguese government for him to reside at Macao. As stated, all foreigners were prohibited from remaining at Canton, none could reside at Macao without the express permission of the Portuguese government, and it was necessary that it should be secured for the consul upon the application of the Secretary of State. It does not appear that the permit was ever received, but he continued his residence on sufferance.1

Edward Carrington was consular agent in 1804, and for several years his chief occupation seems to have been to put forth ineffectual efforts to obtain the release of sailors taken from American ships in the ports of Macao and Canton by British warships and impressed into the naval service, a state of affairs, he remarks, "so humiliating to every friend of his country." It appears that the far-away waters of China were no more exempt than those of the Atlantic from the high-handed violence and disregard of maritime rights by Great Britain which brought on the war of 1812.2 And the effects of this war were likewise felt on the coast of China. The American trade was nearly suspended, only an average of six vessels arriving annually during the war. The consul reports the exchange of prisoners in the port of Macao between an American "private armed vessel" and a British warship, and at another time of the release by the commander of the Doris, and the receipt given by the consul, of the

11 U. S. Statutes at Large, chap. 2, p. 25; Annals of Congress, 1791–3, pp. 427, 431; Consular Archives, Department of State, 1802-3.

2 Consular Archives, 1804-6; H. Ex. Doc. 71, p. 4, 26th Cong. 2d Sess.; Delano's Voyages, 530.

passengers and crew of a Boston vessel, "altho," he writes the department, "I did not consider them prisoners of war, they having been taken under the Chinese flag and in neutral waters."

This action of the Doris, in cruising off the port of Canton and seizing American ships in Chinese waters, gave great offense to the local authorities, who ordered the man-of-war to leave, saying that if the English and Americans "had any petty squabbles," they must settle them between themselves and not bring them to China. Upon a refusal of the Doris to depart, all trade with the British merchants was temporarily suspended. The American consul not only complained of the bad conduct of the commander of the Doris, but he reports that it was "equaled by the pusillanimous conduct of the governor of Macao," who allowed that port to be made a base of operations for the British to prey upon American commerce.1

After the war was over the commerce soon revived, and nothing occurred to disturb it until the event in 1821 known as the "Terranova affair," which attracted general attention on the part of foreigners. An Italian sailor of the crew of an American vessel anchored in the river dropped or threw an earthen jar overboard, by which a Chinese woman in a boat was killed. It was contended that the deed was accidental. The authori ties demanded his surrender for trial. The captain of the vessel stoutly refused to deliver him, but agreed to his trial by the authorities on the ship, in order to insure

1 1 The Chinese, Davis, 93; Williams's Hist. China, 105; Consular Archives, 1812-15.

a fair decision. The ship was invaded and surrounded by Chinese forces, and there was no alternative but his surrender. It was followed by the mockery of a trial, he was executed, and his body was returned to the ship. While the dispute was pending the American trade was suspended. After the execution, the viceroy of Canton issued an edict, saying that as the Americans had "behaved submissively, it is proper to open their trade in order to manifest our compassion. The Celestial Empire's kindness and favor to the weak is rich in an infinite degree; but the nation's dignity sternly commands respect, and cannot, because people are foreigners, extend clemency. Now it is written in the law when persons outside the pale of Chinese civilization shall commit crimes they too shall be punished according to law. I, therefore, ordered them to take the said foreigner and, according to law, strangle him, to display luminously the laws of the Empire. In every similar case foreigners ought to give up murderers, and thus they will act becoming the tenderness and gracious kindness with which the Celestial Empire treats them." The government of the United States was severely criticised for taking no action in the matter.1

After this event American affairs at Canton passed on without occurrences of moment, the trade being maintained with satisfactory results. In the course of time the Chinese relaxed somewhat the strictness of the regulations. In the narratives between 1830 and 1840 we find that foreign merchants had been permitted to

1 1 The Chinese, Davis, 105; Williams's Hist. China, 108; 2 Hist. China, Gutzlaff, 267; H. Ex. Doc. 71, pp. 9-52, 26th Cong. 2d Sess.

establish themselves on the bank of the river just outside of the walls of Canton, and occupied substantial and commodious establishments of brick or granite, and the settlement was assuming a permanent foreign character, with churches, newspapers and other adjuncts. In 1832, when the port was visited by Mr. Roberts, the American envoy en route to negotiate treaties with Siam and Muscat, he reports, besides the East India Company's establishment, nine British mercantile houses, seven American, one French, and one Dutch; and one British and one American hotel. The style of living was quite luxurious, with an abundance of servants, but there was said to be lacking one essential element to make domestic enjoyment complete the Chinese forbade the sence of foreign women. This prohibition, however, was removed soon after that date. The Chinese plenipotentiaries who negotiated the first treaty with Great Britain gave the emperor the following reason for this concession: "The barbarians are influenced by their women, and governed by natural affection. The presence of females at the ports would therefore soften their natures, and give us less anxiety as to outbreaks. If they are settled at our ports with all that is dear to them, and with storehouses full of goods, they will be in our power and prove more manageable."1

pre

Notwithstanding the somewhat improved condition of the trade just indicated, the Americans, in common with all foreigners, labored under many embarrassments.

1 Embassy to Eastern Courts, by Edmund Roberts, New York, 1837, p. 130; 5 Chinese Repository, 426; 1 China during the War, etc., by Sir John F. Davis, London, 1852, p. 300; Delano's Voyages, 540.

Bribery and smuggling were conducted with the connivance of the authorities. No direct means were afforded the foreigners to communicate directly with the local or imperial authorities for redress of their grievances, as all intercourse with them was conducted through the hong merchants. The consuls were not recognized in any way by the authorities, nor were they even allowed to communicate with them. They affected to despise trade as unworthy of their exalted station. The consuls were looked upon as the mere chiefs of the mercantile houses, and possessed no power or jurisdiction over their citizens or subjects frequenting the ports other than such as the latter chose to concede to them. As late as 1839 the consul at Canton, in writing to the Secretary of State, called attention to some humiliating demands of the authorities sought to be required of him in the form of his correspondence, and says: "These trifles seem to show their determination never to permit a foreign nation to presume on an equality with their own." The arbitrary course frequently taken by the authorities of Canton against foreign shipping and merchants is explained by the fundamental maxims of Chinese intercourse with foreigners, some of which are as follows: "The barbarians are like beasts, and not to be ruled on the same principles as natives. Were any one to attempt controlling them by the great maxims of reason, it would tend to nothing but confusion. The ancient kings well understood this, and accordingly ruled barbarians with misrule." The term "barbarian was the usual epithet applied to all foreigners, much in the same