Page 318 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

304.

secular facets of mission work. Interestingly, such organiza­

tions appeared only in the 1830 s, after the arrival of Ameri­
1
can missionaries at Canton. The paucity of European missionaries

in China before 1830 very likely may have prevented the estab­

lishment of these groups. Moreover, the English East India

Company•s hegemony, which limited the number of private

English merchants at Canton, impeded much co-operation between

missionary and merchant. Although American missionaries did

not originate the theory of spreading Christianity through the

channels of trade, their arrival in China sparked the attempt

to galvanize the active assistance of foreign merchants. After

1834, as increasing numbers of private English mercantile

establishments arose at Canton to absorb the trade formerly

monopolized by the East India Company, the missionaries had a

much larger foreign community from which to recruit financial

support.

In 1830 the American missionaries, joined by Robert

Morrison and his son John Robert Morrison, organized the first

philanthropic society. Named the Christian Union at Canton, this

society primarily guaranteed the expenses of publishing the

Chinese Repository. The major, and perhaps the only, American

merchants who participated in the Christian Union were members

of the house of Olyphant & Co. D.W.C. Olyphant's previous aid

had enabled the American Board to despatch Bridgman to estab­

lish the China mission. He continued to assist Bridgman at

Canton by becoming the sole financier of the Repository.

Olyphant•s nephew, Charles W. King, one of the founders of the

Christian Union, began contributing articles regularly