Page 326 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

312.

Canton and most often were the taipans, or chief partners, of

those houses. Of the English merchants, James Matheson and

William Jardine of Jardine, Matheson & Co. plus Lancelot Dent

and Robert Inglis of Dent & Co. consistently served as presi­

dent or vice-president of every benevolent society at Canton.

Representing the major American houses. John C. Green of

Russell & Co., William S. Wetmore of Wetmore & Co. and D.W.C.

Olyphant and C.W. King of Olyphant & Co. joined their English

counterparts in the societies. The offices alternated from one

to another each year, although Green was the only American to
42
be elected president of a society. That the taipans of the

major houses at Canton filled the top positions in these

societies was not surprising, considering the social hierarchy

characteristic in the foreign community of merchants. Had

not these men, especially the English, showed their interest

in accepting the offices, the organizations would have failed

at the beginning. But, the rotation in office of a few men,

when added to the limited active membership in each society,

might also indicate a casual approval of philanthropy on the

part of the wealthiest foreigners at Canton. Such a conclusion

would denigrate the importance of the "principle of missionary­

43
merchant cooperation.11 The missionaries certainly depended

42
This conclusion is based on the annual lists of officers
for each society as published in the Chinese Repository for the
years 183 5-42. Green served as president for the Society for the
Diffusion of Knowl2dge in 1839. Other American merchants served
as vice-presidents in all three societies, although English
officers always outnumbered them.
43
This thes i s is very common among writers who discuss for­
eigners at Canton before 1844. The quote here is from Barnett,
"Americans as Humanitarians," pp.9-12. Although there were contacts
between merchants and missionaries, the theme of co-operation per­
haps �it 9 the.relationship between a few English m2rchants and
the missionaries.