36./
Thus the supreme pessimist of 1844:
to
"There does not appear to be the slightest probability, that under any circumstance Hongkong will ever become a place of trade. The overland 'Friend of China', of February 27, 1846, adverts to the 'retrograding and ruin of the colony, the 'merchants and others who were led to invest money in building, by hopes that have never been realized,' and that it is not a matter of astonishment, that Europeans and Chinese are alike desirous to realize, and abandon the island. The island produces nothing whatever; its geographical position as regards the Chinese coast generally, or Canton in particular, is bad. For the trade to the coast of China it is too far to the southward of a territory which extends upwards of 2,000 miles, and if it were practicable to remove the foreign trade of Canton, the removal would be either to some of the open ports to the northward, in the neighbourhood of the tea districts, or to some island or place in the Canton river. Among other delusions that have been promulgated, is that allegation that Hongkong is a protection to the British commerce at Canton, and especially the tea trade. With reference to the latter it should be remembered, that the Chinese are as eager to sell us tea, as we are to buy it; that the cessation of the trade would be a greater injury to them than to the British nation; that there was no difficulty in procuring tea during the war; that nothing would prevent the Chinese supplying our annual demand for tea, and of course receiving in return English manufactures.
"The tea trade is in fact as independent of Hongkong as it would be of our occupation of the Sandwich Islands. Canton, however, has no intrinsic advantages to make it the seat of foreign commerce: so long as the Emperor restricted all foreigners to the most distant southerly port in the empire, tea, silk, or any other exportable produce was obliged to be conveyed thither, however distant the place of production or manufacture; but the case is now totally different, when the northern ports in the vicinity of the tea and silk provinces are equally with Canton open to British commerce. Several vessels have already laden with tea for England, in the northern ports; this may be increased, and the trade of Canton would then be proportionally diminished, thus rendering Hongkong (admitting for the sake of argument its reputed value as a protection to the trade of Canton), every year less and less useful to British interests in China."
Mr. Martin continues in like terms to 'prove' that a more northern Colony on the China coast would be an advantage: his further arguments must be reserved for a subsequent instalment.
:
Yesterday there was published a portion of the report and comments by Mr. R.M. Martin, in his book 'China' on Old Hongkong. We have seen that Mr. Martin, writing first in 1844, considered it time the British Government realised that this Colony would never be of any use, the position of the island making its value as a trade entrepot negligible. He predicted the loss of the tea trade, and mentioned the gradual abandonment of Hongkong by the early commercial
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