Page 221 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

207.

& was not fortunate in his advisors Li.e. Jardine and his part­
1
ners/--He order d his vessels of war to cormnit certain outrages

with the expectations of thereby intimidating our Governrnt but

was at last compelled to yield every point.

After the affair ended, John Forbes stated in another

letter to Bates that the British had better do like the Arneri-

cans and other merchants, that is, appoint a consul to nego­

11
tiate as the other consuls have done for so long with the
Hong merchants. 11 He postulated that the only alternative was
99
11 to force" the Chinese to sign a commercial treaty. The Eng-

lish private traders had reached the same conclusion about the

necessity of a commercial treaty�. Unlike Forbes though, they

were willing to use force to get it. Led by William Jardine,

11
Thomas Dent and James Innes, the "Scotch faction in December
1834 addressed a petition to the King of England. These mer­

chants asked that a Minister Plenipotentiary escorted by ships,
guns and men be sent out to Canton to negotiate a commercial

treaty. The private merchants were anxious 11 to maintain the
honor our country 11 and "a safe and uninterrupted cormnerce with

,.100
Ch. 1na.

98
Letter, J.M. Forbes to J. Bates, Sep. 30, 1834, Forbes
MSS. Letter, Houqua to J.P. Cushing (written by A. Heard), Oct. 10,
1834, Forbes MSS. A sad ending to this affair was the death of
Lord Napier. Ill with fever when he left Canton, he was forced
by the Chinese to return to Macao through the Inner Passage.
This route was significantly longer and when he reached Macao p
he was near death.
99
Letter, J.M. Forbes to J. Bates, Sep. 30, 1834, Forbes V�S.
100
Letter, J.M. Forbes to J.P. Cusing, Dec. 22, 1834, Forbes
MSS. The petition is in Chinese Repository, III, 8 (December 1834),
352.