Page 391 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

377.

On August 6, 1839 the East India Squadron left Macao.

No American naval vessels appeared in China during the Opium

War. The Americans shuttled between Macao and Canton as the

War vacillated between stalemate and hostilities. They would

have preferred to have a naval vessel nearby to protect them.

Their attitude had changed from their earlier apathy towards

naval assistance. Indicative of such a change was Russell &

1
1
1
Co. s statement to the house s correspondents before Read s
departure: "We think the presence of the men of war have for
once been useful here, & we shall much regret our being left

without any protection. 11 70 Events during the spring and surruner

of 1839 had presaged fundamental changes in the "Canton

system" of trade and the basis of relations between foreigners

and Chinese. The Americans began to realize that the English

would not consent to trade with the Chinese under the old rules

and regulations. Chinese military incompetence in the Opium

War confirmed the end of the "Canton system." American mer­
chants concluded that, with circumstances in flux in China,

their interests required protection. Unlike their position
1
1
in the 1820 s and early 1830 s, they now wanted the Navy in
China. But, as they discovered with Com. Read, their change

in attitude could not be effected easily.

Operating under the handicaps of distance and poor com­

munication, naval corrunanders in Asia received vague and general

instructions. Read had complained to Bennet Forbes that he was

70
Letter, Russell & Co. to J.M. Forbes, Jul. 12, 1839,
Forbes MSS.