Page 393 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

3 79.

by Chinese tactics aimed at ending the drug trade, complained:
1 1The measures of the Imperial Government should have been

directed first against its own officers, who have been en­

gaged and most active in the trade; but, taking advantage of

the unprotected state of the foreign corrIDunity at Canton, the

commissioner has proceeded in his high-handed measures, regard­

less alike of the respect due to the representatives of the

foreign powers resident in Canton, and of the laws or customs

and usages that have heretofore been observed and considered

the chief guaranties for the safety of the foreign trade."

Consequently, the signers of the memorial believed that the

United States government should express its disapproval of

Chinese actions at Canton. The memorial suggested to Congress

that the United States "act in concert with the Governments of

Great Britain, France, and Holland, or either of them, in their

endeavors to establish commercial relations with this empire

upon an honorable and safe footing. II

In this last statement, those Americans who signed the

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memorial appeared to have called for a policy of co-operation

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signers of this memorial included: Russell Sturgis,
Warren Delano, Gideon Nye, Robert Bennet Forbes, Abbot A. Low,
Edward King, S.B. Rawle and Jomes Ryan. These men represented a
minority of American merchants at Canton. Forbes, Low and King
were in Russell & Co. and Sturgis and Delano were in Russell,
Sturgis & Co. The others were single agents. These men signed
themselves as private citizens, not representatives of particular
houses. One assumes that Forbes composed the letter, since
Lawrence introduced it as "a memorial from R.B. Forbes and others,
11
He was probably the most influential American at Canton
during the opium crisis. But one cannot assume that the memorial
had the complete approval of all Americans at Canton. For ins­
tance, no member of Wetmore & Co. or Olyphant & Co. signed the
letter.