Page 419 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

405.

to have merely a dry stick, (that is, their interests shall be

attended to.)" He again praised American merchants, because

they "have been better satisfied with their trade than any other

nation; & that they have been respectfully observant of the laws,

is what the august Emperor has clearly recognized, & I . • . so

well know." Mindful of the friendly relations between Americans

and Chinese, the Governor-general promised that he would not

allow the English to appropriate special commercial rights and

24
privileges for themselves. But, not having the requisite power
to negotiate with foreigners, Ch'i Kung told Kearny that only the

25
Imperial Commissioner could arrange matters properly.

Satisfied by the Governor-general's communication that

American trade would not be prejudiced in any settlement between

English and Chinese negotiators, Kearny declared his intention

to leave. He sent Ch'i Kung's assurances to A.�erican Consul P.W.

Snow, who had recently returned to Canton. The Commodore informed

Snow that the task of overseeing American interests now belonged

to him. With the Governor-general's promise in writing and his

repeated display of friendship for Americans p Kearny believed the

consul would face no difficulties. But Snow pleaded that the

24
Kearny's correspondence with Ch'i Kung in October is in
"Squadron Letters," East India Squadron, Oct. 21, 1843.
25
ch'inq-cai-ch'ou-pan-i=wu-shih-mo (Complete Account of the
Management of Barbarian Affairs of the Ch'ing Dynasty) (130 vols.;
Peiping, 1930). Of these volumes, forty are devoted to the reign
of the Tao-kuang Emperor (1820-50). Earl Swisher, in China's
Management of the American Barbarians: A Study of Sino-American
Relations, 1841-61, with Documents (New Haven, 1951), has trans­
lated excerpts from the above Chinese documents which concern the
Imperial government's relations with Americans. For Ch'i Kung's
memorial, see I-wu-shih-mo: Tao-kuang, LXIII, 4-17, and Swisher,
Management of American Barbarians, pp. 102-03.