Page 213 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

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their residence at Canton. Im�ediately they demanded that the

American ladies leave. The authorities further threatened
Russell & Co. with an embargo "if one Low did not immediately

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remove his family to Macao.11 This was an extremely effec­

tive ploy. As Harriet Low noted, although somewhat hyper­

bolically, "Had they stopped the American trade in general,

they would have had all the gallant youths fighting for us at

the city gates, but they only stopped that of our house."

The other American houses in this case were not about to be

sympathetic to the plight of Russell & Co.'s ladies. As in

all things, trade ranked above everything else, and the

Chinese were very aware of this fact. The Americans, further­

more, had no naval vessels or marines close-by to call upon

for help. (Recently the English had called up a hundred sold-

iers to guard their Factories.) Consequently, Harriet and her

Aunt Abigail returned to Macao to end "the woman pidgeon i_busi­

nes�.11 The young lady eruditely concluded in her diary: "The

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Chinese are very cunning and know well what they are about."
Concerning the Company's problems, the matter dragged

on through 1831. From disagreements over the Parsees, women

and sedan chairs, the argument gradually focused again on the
"Canton system" in general. The Company demanded that Chinese

restrictions on trade be relaxed, but by this time everyone at

Canton knew of the mounting pressure on Parliament not to renew

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rn Diary of H. Low, Nov. 15, 1830, Low Family MSS.
This entry was made at Canton, while later ones were made at
Macao after she returned from her escapade at Canton.
85
Diary of H. Low, Jan. 8, 1831, Low Family MSS.