Page 194 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

180.

expansion of the American China trade to Europe occurred in

1
the early 1820 s. Spurred by a faster recovery in Europe after
the Panic of 1819, the development of this trade was also aided

by the decline of Portugese and Dutch merchants in the China

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trade. In effect, the Americans replaced the Dutch in
supplying teas and silks to Continental Europe. American

merchants did not attribute their success merely to chance,

although the fact that they competed successfully after 1815

with the Portugese and Dutch contributed to a swifter decline
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in the latters trade at Canton.
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Until the late 1820 s, when trade between Canton and

the United States improved, the trade in teas and silks to

Europe constituted a major share of profits for American mer­

chants at Canton. Although these men worried that the depres­

sion would seriously impede their ventures to Northern Europe,
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they discovered that most of their cargoes sold successfully.

51
Letter, Perkins & Co. to J. & T.H. Perkins, Feb. 25, 1820;
Letter, Perkins & Co. to J.B. Gossler & Co., May 1, 1820, Perkins
& Co. MSS.
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cushing claimed that the "Teas which they l_the Portuges�/
take are of such infamous quality that they will not interfere
with those which are of prime quality." Letter, Perkins & Co. to
J. & T.H. Perkins, Jan. 24, 1821, Perkins & Co. MSS. Letter,
Parish & Co. to S. Russell & Co., Nov. 6, 1821, Russell & Co. MSS.

53 . .
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t.
E -, .
d 1
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p re dic ions o:- aire resu ts an c --iange o opinion con-
f
cerning European markets were voiced both by Perkins & Co. and
S. Russell & Co. Letters, Perkins & Co. to S. Williams, Nov. 9,
1821; Perkins & Co. to :J. & T.H. Perkins, Apr. 3 & Oct. 10, 1822,
Perkins & Co. MSS. Letters, E. Carrington & Co. to S. Russell &
Co., Jun. 6, 1821; Parish & Co. to S. Russell & Co., Mar. 28, 1821;
J.B. Gossler & Co. to S. Russell & Co., Jun. 14, 1821. Before 1826
there were only two American houses at Canton, Perkins & Co. and
S Russell & Co.