Page 192 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

178.

British. The latter, rivals of the Dutch, hoped to obtain

possession of the East Indies. From their nearby colony at

Singapore, the British repeatedly supported native uprisings
49
in Java. American trade at Batavia never amounted to the

volume or value as that at Manila. But both were important,

as was the trade to South America, in' enabling American trade

to China in the 1820's and 1830's to survive and expand.

American merchants nevertheless left no potential market un­

touched. The last and most important links of the cha:in of

ports in the expanding American China trade in this period

were the markets of Europe, both on the Continent and in

England.

III

During the Napoleonic Wars, American shipmasters stop­

ped at various ports in Europe as part of the China trade. In

the early 1800's these vessels ventured to Europe in search

for cargoes to carry to East India or Canton. Although European

metals and quicksilver proved most salable, just as often

Americans sold exports (especially provisions such as flour)

in Europe in return for specie. Before the War of 1812, Europ­

ean ports provided the major source of specie inasmuch as

Spanish galleons still transported much of the gold and silver

49
consular Despatches: Batavia, J. Shillaber, Apr. 6, 1826
and OJ.�. Roberts, Dec. 1836. American trade at Singapore which only
began in 1834 when the British removed restrictions, before 1844
never ranked with that at Batavia and Manila. English private
traders instead employed Singapore for rice in the same way Amer­
icans used Manila. They also transshipped cargoes there to bypass
the monopoly of the East India Company. Greenberg, British Trade
and the Opening of China, pp. 97-98.