Up To The Year 1834 Trade With China Had, By The
Royal Charter, Remained The Monopoly Of The East India
Company; but when
the charter was renewed in that year for a further period of twenty years,
it was shorn
Of the last of its commercial privileges, and an immediate
change became perceptible in the situation at Canton, which was the
principal seat of the foreign trade. The withdrawal of the monopoly was
dictated solely by English, and not Chinese, considerations. Far from
facilitating trade with the Chinese, it tended to hinder and prevent its
developing; for the Chinese officials had no objection to foreigners
coming to Canton, and buying or selling articles of commerce, so long as
they derived personal profit from the trade, and so long as the laws of
the empire were not disputed or violated. The servants of the East India
Company were content to adapt themselves to this view, and they might have
carried on relations with the Hong merchants for an indefinite period, and
without any more serious collision than occasional interruptions. Had the
monopoly been renewed things would have been left in precisely the same
position as when intercourse was first established, and trade might have
continued within its old restricted limits. But the abolition of the
monopoly and the opening of the trade created quite a new situation, and
by intensifying the opposition of the Chinese government, paved the way to
the only practicable solution of the question of foreign intercourse with
China, which was that, however reluctantly she should consent to take her
place in the family of nations.
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Page 348 of 704
Words from 94364 to 94631
of 191255
