Page 157 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

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John For b es on h. is oose practices in ex en ing ere i .
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By 1838 Green was ready to retire, having accumulated
a profit of three-hundred-thousand dollars. In 1837 the
Chinese had decided to crack down on the opium trade. This

action bore ominous predictions of at least a financial crisis.

Green, himself a major trader in opium, fortunately had earlier

decided that Russell & Co. would no longer accept consignments

of the drug. When the crisis did arise in 1839, now with

political overtones as well as financial, Russell & Co. was

untarnished in Chinese eyes. During the Opium War the house,

with Robert Bennet Forbes and Warren Delano its successive chiefs,

did an enormous trade. The house's profits netted about two­

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hundred-thousand dollars,a year in commissions. Due to its

financial posi�ion during this period, Russell & Co. exercised
a tacit leadership over the American community at Canton. In

effect its actions constituted American policy since no other

house disputed its power. No house was in any position to do

so. Traditionally, the merchants dictated to the American
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Consul, himself a merchant, what he should do. In the 1830 s

they naturally turned toward Russell & Co. for leadership.

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Letter, J.M. Forbes to A. Heard, Aug. 29. 1835, Heard
MSS, and Letter, J.M. Forbes to J. Bates, Nov. 25, 1835, Forbes
MSS. Green chided Forbes in Letter, Russel & Co. to J .11. Forbes,
Nov. 26, 1836, Forbes MSS. See also S. Russell to A. Heard,
Nov. 22, 1835 Heard MSS.
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Letter, R.B. Forbes to R.S. Forbes, Sep. 1839, Forbes
Family MSS. J.M. Forbes retired from the house with $160,000
in profits. R.B. Forbes by autumn 1839, having been with the
house for one year, had made $65,000 in profits.