Page 279 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

265.

& the bustle & business which once characterized them are
gone." Commissioner Lin had opened all legitimate trade on

June 9 but Elliot retorted on June 21 that the British would

refuse to trade. He ordered all British vessels to remain

outside the Pearl River. Most of them were at Macao, although

some anchored at Hong Kong. American vessels, which had been

waiting outside, immediately sailed up to Whampoa. To trade,

American residents had to settle the bond issue. Even though

they had emphatically rejected signing the bond first pro­

posed in March, they now acceded to the Chinese demand. The

bond which they signed in July differed considerably from the

earlier version. Signers merely swore that they would "not

dare to oppose or violate" the prohibition against the impor­

tation of opium. Written in both Chinese and English, the

83
th·
b t punis en
b d sai no ing a ou · hm t .
·d
on
All through the summer American residents busily un­
loaded and reloaded vessels. Before August they began to
acquire business that formerly belonged to British merchants.

Bennet Forbes n d:ed that "the Americans are reaping a rich

harvest out of the English." He added that he hoped "their

ships will be kept out of Port a good while--" The English

merchants had first tried to send their vessels up the Whampoa

under other European flags, but they discovered the safer and

easier method of employing American residents as commission

83 . .
II
C hinese Repository, V I, 2 (June 1839), 83. A copy
of the bond signed by the Americans is in Consular Despatches:
Canton,P.W. Snow, Jul. 13, 1839.