Page 428 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era
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414.


                  might  cause  American  merchants  to  resent  the  Imperial  Court

                  could  result  in  American  support  for  the  English.  Primarily  the

                  Chinese  did  not  want  the  Americans  and  English  to  unite.  So  far

                  the  Americans  had  maintained  a  separate  identity  and  the  Chinese

                  encouraged  this  position.            After  I-li-pu's  death,  his  successor

                 Ch'i-ying  agreed  with  the  recommendation  against  discrimination.

                  In  July  the  Emperor  issued  an  edict  authorizing  the  Imperial

                 Commissioner  to  negotiate  with  the  Americans  and  grant  them

                  access  to  the  new  ports.          On  August  1  Ch'i-ying  officially  noti�
                                                                                               ·  ·     39
                                     .
                  f.  d  th  Am  erican  consu  ar-agen  o               e            '  d
                   ie
                            e
                                                               t  f  th  E  mperor  s  ec1s1on.
                                                   1
                             During  the  autumn  of  1843  both  foreign  and  Chinese  mer­
                  chants  attempted  to  adjust  their  commercial  enterprises  to  the
                  new  system.  Generally  all  trade  was  in  flux,  as  vestiges  of  the

                  "Canton  system"  did  not  immediately  disappear.  One  mercantile

                  house  reported  to  its  London  banker:              "A  fair  extent  of  business

                  has  been  done  at  Canton,  but  a  good  deal  of  inconvenience  is

                  occasioned  by  the  change  in  the  manner  of  carrying  it  on,  &  be­

                 sides  no  provision  has  yet  been  made  by  the  Mandarins  for  pay-

                 ment  of  the  expenses  of  collecting  the  Revenue,                      .there  is


                 consequently  a  good  deal  of  confusion  yet  under  the  new  System,
                                                                                           40
                  &  some  time  will  require  to  get  it  to  work  well."                  Although

                  Hong  merchants  were  equal  in  status  to  Outside  merchants  or  to

                  anyone  who  wished  to  trade,  the  foreign  houses  continued  to  con-


                             39
                                For  memorials  from  I-li-pu  and  Ch'i-ying  and  edicts  to
                 the  same  officials  concerning  extending  commercial  privileges  to
                 American  merchants  on  the  same  basis  as  granted  to  Englishmen,  see
                 I-wu-shih-mo:  Tao-kuang,  LXIII,  18;  LXIV,  3-37;  LXV,  27;  LXVII,  4-45;
                  LXVIII,  29;  and  Swisher,  Management  of  American  Barbarians,  pp.  103,
                 107 I  113,  121,  126.
                             40
                                Letter,  Wetmore  &  Co.  to  G.  Peabody,  Sep.  9,  1843,  George
                 Peabody  MSS.
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