f
56
REPORT ON
but when the accounts of the East India Company, and of the War Office, Navy, and Victualling Department, are rendered; when the deductions of six million dollars for the forced surrender of a quantity of opium is made; and various other deductions for Hong merchants' debts, and alleged losses are added, it will be seen that no surplus of the twenty-one million dollars will ever enter the British exchequer. Even if there were a surplus, our present annual expen- diture of half a million sterling on this coast for Hong Kong, &c., would soon absorb it; while almost every dollar now spent by us here returns to China and will soon reimburse the Chinese for the indem- nity money*.
In both our Treaty and Supplemental Treaty we have bound and fettered ourselves in a manner never before seen in the regulations between two independent nations; instead of obtaining unrestricted freedom of trade and intercourse, whereby we might become better known and assimilated with the Chinese, and thus laid the foundation of a lasting peace on the basis of mutual interest, we have voluntarily fettered ourselves; almost shut the door which we had been so long anxious to open; made ourselves the police and custom-house officers, and even spies of the Emperor of China (see Supplementary Treaty and Consular Regulations), and adopted a tone of policy which must ultimately end in a serious infraction of the Treaty, attended probably by disastrous results, and the inevitable sequel-another war, in which the Tartars (who are now purchasing largely of arms and ammunition) may be better prepared than we found them in 1841-42.
In conformity with what appears to me an erroneous Anglo-Chinese policy, British ships and British subjects are prohibited going beyond the 32nd degree of north latitude. This is exactly the part of the coast of China, and that portion of the Chinese people, with which we ought to become better acquainted, and where there is a probability of the woollen cloths being sold, which are now lying at Shanghai and Ningpo, or are being returned to Canton unsaleablet. Why should
Dr. Gutzlaff says that the whole revenue of the Chinese empire, as stated in their official books, is as follows:-
Land tax, in money
Ditto, in kind, valued at
Salt tax
Tea duties
+
Duties on merchandize
Ditto on foreign ditto at Canton
Sundries
Duties on marketable articles
Ditto on shops and pawnbrokers
Ginseng
Coinage
Total, Taels
Taels.
113,398,057
53,730,218
7,486,380
204,530
4,535,459
3,000,000
1,052,706
1,174,932
5,000,000
1,000,000
1,000,000
191,804,139
Exclusive of small items and stamp duties. Calculating the tael at 70d. sterling, this sum would annually yield 55,942,8737. 17s. 6d. sterling. The indemnity paid us of 21,000,000 dollars, equal to 4,375,000l., is therefore not equal to the revenue of one month of the imperial revenues.
+ The following recent circular from the highly respected firm of Hayter and Howell, of Mark Lane, London, January 8, 1846, is in confirmation of the remark
CHUSAN.
57
English merchants be prohibited by their own Government from coast- ing the Shangtung promontory, the mouth of the Peiho, the Corean
made in my report,-"that we want the northern coast of China fully opened for the benefit of our woollen trade in particular.
"Upon this date, in 1844, we had the pleasure of waiting upon you, with a statistical account of the woollens shipped to China to that period, from the cessa- tion of the Company's trade. We have now to hand you particulars of the exports since that period, which are as follows :~-~~
In the year 1844*
1845
33
Of which had arrived in China at the date of the last accounts of the shipments of 1845.
The average of the years 1844
and 1845 was..
The average of the previous nine
years was
The average of the years from 1935 to 1838, being prior to the
war.
Pieces Pieces Long Ells. Camletst.
Pieces Cloth.
Pieces Stuffs.
Pieces Value at Inferior present Woollens. Rates.
£
109,954 21,763 50,403
8,143 13,395 535,552
93,510
15,253 58,515 7,525 10,294 509,316
52,580
11,150 36,220
5,167 6,876 318,953
101,732
18,508 54.409
7,834
11,839 522,694
08.986 7,350 37,173 6,289
3,879 357,209
109,793
11,604 45,409 11,609
3,634 458,621
The average of the years 1839 to 1843, being years of war or dis- turbance
72,342
5,945 30,585 2,035 4,075 285,582
Company's average
148,034
23,049 42,297
526,144
I
"From these accounts the following deductions may be made.-1st. That the annual exports of woollens by the East India Company exceeded those made since the opening of the trade, notwithstanding the great reduction in the cost and pre- paration of the goods.
“2nd. That the shipments since the termination of the war with China have not auguented as was expected; for upon a comparison of the average of the last two years with that of the four years prior to the war, the increased quantity has been only about one-eighth, notwithstanding that the exports of the last two years have been made at a reduction of cost, probably not less than 15 per cent.
493
"These results differ so materially from the effect of the opening of the China markets on the cotton trade, that the circumstance will doubtless excite the atteu- tion and anxiety of those interested in the woollen trade, so long a staple branch of our manufacturing industry,
"In our former communication we intimated our opinion, that although great advantages might be anticipated from the opening of the China markets, still such advantages could not be realized without some delay. Whether the impediments to this extension are to be found in the competition of the Russians, who, posses- sing a monopoly of the return market, are enabled to sell their outward invest-
* "The excessive shipments made in 1844 reduced a good market to one of heavy loss, for the rates quoted are below the cost of the goods in England.”
"Including those of Dutch manufacture which have been shipped from this country."