Page 109 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

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to arrive. As vessels did not come regularly to Canton, long

periods of time passed without any news or correspondence from

the United States. At Canton the residents had no company but

each other. Until late in the pre-treaty period there was

apparently very little fraternization between Americans and

British or among merchants of competing American houses. The

primary unwritten rule among foreign merchants at Canton was

no discussion of business outside the Factory: "il_/f you talk

about business, harm may come from it, but, if you hold your

tongue, you are safel 11 Inside the Factory the residents

discussed nothing but their own business, the state of the tea
market or the ups and downs of life in the rice market." In
11

effect, a resident's life almost totally revolved around the

trade and his duties in the commercial transactions consigned
77
to him.

Most Americans therefore could not wait to leave Canton

and return home. They made someone's departure a major event,

partially as a good excuse to hold a party but also to soothe

feelings of envy and disappointment felt by everyone else.

Nevertheless, Americans still went to Canton and even returned

a second and third time, knowing what lay ahead. The solitary
78
reason was the profits to be garnered in the Canton trade.

77
Hughes, J.M. Forbes Reminiscences, I, 144-45, 155;
Letters and Recollections of J.M. Forbes, ed. by Sarah Forbes
Hughes (2 vols.; Boston, 1899), I, 30. Williams, "Recollections
of Canton," p. 1.
78
Letter, J.M. Forbes to S. Cabot, Mar. 13, 1836, Forbes
MSS. Letter, A. Heard to R.B. Forbes, Jun. 7, 1839, Heard MSS.
Diary of H. Low, Nov. 20, 1833, Low Family MSS.