Page 9 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

American trade at Canton grew rapidly in its first

three decades. The China trade became part of a global for­

eign commerce, in which American merchants despatched their

vessels to ports in all hemispheres to acquire cargoes for

Canton, where they procured Chinese teas and silks. For

skillful merchants and adventurous masters, this trade offered

rich rewards. Interrupted by the War of 1812 and the subse­

quent P�nic of 1819, the American China trade changed in the
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1820 s and 1830 s. The financial reverses most merchants
suffered during the post-war depression forced them to reorg­

anize the methods of operation in their ventures to Canton.

Previously, shipmasters and supercargoes had made the specific

decisions regarding business transactions at the various ports.

Economic instability in the China trade after 1815 rendered

reliance on the itinerant masters ineffective. Seeking more

efficiency, American merchants sent their own agents to reside

in China, where they could constantly oversee commercial trans­

actions and report regularly on market conditions. As the

China trade acquired systematic and specialized functions, the

old daring seacaptains now merely carried cargoes to ports

designated by merchants and their agents. Gradually agents at

Canton established independent commission houses which profit­

ably competed against all other foreign merchants in the trade.

Business acumen certainly constituted a major component

of the Americans' success, but another equally important factor

was American attitudes toward the Chinese and the "Canton system."

Obedience to Imperial regulation earned Americans the benevolence

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