Page 416 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

402.

is not Am. but an Eng." He added that foreign residents at Can­

ton now referred to the U.S.S. "Constellation" as the "Consterna­

tion." As for his own opinion of the matter, Heard stated: "I

doubt if there is any U.S. law authorizing ships of war to en­

20
force Chinese laws.11
In reality, Kearny's seizure of the "Ariel" and his

notices to American merchants concerning the illegality of the

opium trade had no effect on American trade in the drug. The

merchants did not feel seriously threatened by his actions,
since he could not vigorously enforce his prohibitions because

of the limited size of his squadron. Moreover, the merchants were

correct that Kearny did not have the jurisdiction of any law rein­

forcing his seizure. Most importantly, the Commodore's policy

was ineffective, because "the Opium trade is permitted by the

Chinese government." Paul Sieman Forbes wrote this statement in

his journal after he had received his commission as American

consul at Canton. He noted further that "what is the most pe­

culiar about it iI.e. the opium trad_g/ is, that it is the Mandarin

boats which smuggle it, tho the very boats which are to prevent
' ,,21
l t • Forbes' comment characterized a situation parallel to

that of early 1839 when Lin Tse-hsu arrived at Canton with Imperial

orders to stop the opium trade. As long as local Chinese officials

condoned and even abetted the illegal trade, no Imperial prohibi­

tions could be effectively enforced. By the early 1840's the

20
Letter, A. Heard to J.P. Sturgis, May 28, 1843, Heard
MSS. Letter, A. Heard to J.S. Amory, Jun. 18, 1843, Heard MSS.
21
Journal of P.S. Forbes, Nov. 11, 1843, Forbes MSS.