Page 401 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

387.

Congress nevertheless did not impel the Executive to appoint

a diplomatic agent to China. By July the House Committee on

Foreign Affairs possessed all the requested documents. Yet

the Committee took no action. A new session of Congress con­

vened in December and another Representative again broached the

situation in China. On December 16, 1840 John Quincy Adams pro­

posed that the President transmit more documents to the House.

Adams, who averred that he "wished to know the exact footing on

which we stand" in relation to China, solicited information on the

position of past American consuls at Canton. He claimed to be

"actuated by no motive but a desire for information as to what

was passing between the United States and China at this time,

and whether any officer, representing the interests of this
83
country, had been recognized by that power." The President,

responding favorably at the end of January 1841, transmitted

selected consular despatches from the State Department and

Com. Read's despatches from the Navy Department. As usual the

House voted the documents over to the Committee on Foreign
84
1 t. ions.
Re a Congress took no further action.
Although Congress restricted itself to investigating

affairs in China, American interest in the situation at Canton

increased throughout 1840-41. Peter Parker, who returned to

83
Adams originally asked only for State Department docu­
ments. His resolution passed only after he accepted an amendment
from Caleb Cushing to include a request for documents from the
Navy Department. 26th Cong., 2nd sess., Dec. 16, 1840, Congress­
ional Globe, 28-29.
84
u.s., Congress� House, Committee of Foreign Affairs,
Political Relations between the United States and China, Jan.
25, 1841, H. Doc. 71, 26th Cong., 2nd sess., 1840-41.