Page 269 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

255.

Commerce. This association had organized in 1837 11as a purely

commercial body, wielding no power but that of concurrent

opinions. 11 The Chamber of Commerce brought together the for­

eign residents, especially English and American, to discuss

current problems. Although the American residents considered

their interests at Canton separate from those of the English,

they consulted more willingly with the English private traders
73
than they had with the Company. The residents still looked

to their government-appointed officers to represent them in

dealing with the Chinese Government. In this instance, the

Hong merchants called upon the Chamber of Commerce in lieu of

the absent Superintendent instead of the other nations• consuls.

Obviously the Chinese had to contend primarily with the British

merchants at Canton. Unless these men complied with Chinese

laws and regulations, the opium trade could not be effectively

suppressed.

To receive the Hong merchants, the Chamber of Commerce

delegated a committee of three Englishmen, one Parsee and two

Americans. The latter were John C. Green of Russell & Co. and

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The Chamber of Commerce obtained some minor changes
in commercial regulations, but in 1839 this was its only action,
as after March the merchants tended to separate into their
own national communities. From 1837 to 1839 the chairmanship
alternated between Englishmen .and Americans. In March 1839 W. S.
Wetmore had the position. Chinese Repository, VI, 1 (May 1837),
47. After 1834 relations between English and American merchants
improved through cooperation in the opium trade. The residents
also formed the Union Club, a social club, to foster better
relations by sponsoring dinners, sporting events, etc. Remi­
niscences of J.M. Forbes, ed. by Sarah Forbes Hughes (3 vols.;
Boston, 1902), I, 216-17. Downs, 11American Merchants and the
Opium Trade," p. 435.