Page 398 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

384.

as affected by the recent measures of the Chinese Government

for the suppression of the contraband or forcible introduction
of opium into China." The resolution also asked the President

for any information about British intentions in China, especially

concerning a blockade of Canton. Pickens offered a second

resolution that the Secretary of the Treasury transmit to the

House a statement of the commerce and navigation between the

United States and China, from 1821 to 1839 inclusive, "accom­

panied by statistics concerning the value and quantity of im-
77
ports and exports for each year." The obvious motivation

for such an inquiry by the House was the memorial sent to Rep.

Lawrence.

Two weeks after the House approved Pickens' resolutions,

the President complied with the request and despatched a group

of documents to Congress. The documents, immediately handed over

to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, consisted of Consul P.W.

Snow's despatches to the State Department during the period

March-September 1839 and Com. Read's despatches to the Navy

78
Department during the. summer of 1839. Four months later, on
July 1, the House received a set of documents concerning American

1 1
trade with China in the 1820 s and 1830 s. These, too, were sent
79
.
'tt ee o
o
t th C ommi f F oreign A airs. During the five months
ff ·
e
between Pickens' resolutions calling for information regarding
77
U.S., Congress, House, 26th Cong., 1st sess. Feb. 10,
1840, Congressional Globe, 172.

78
u.s., Congress, House, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Trade
with China, Feb. 10, 1840, H. Doc. 119, 26th Cong., 1st sess., 1839-40
79
u.s., Congress, House, Committee on Foreign Affairs, China
Trade, Jul. 1, 1840, H. Doc. 248, 26th Cong., 1st sess., 1839-40.