ΝΟΤΕ.
22
1A==
Hong Kong has a convenient deep water anchorage
off the mouth of the Canton River, which had been
occasionally utilised by trading vessels of the East India
Company ever since the first recorded visit of an English
ship in 1689. On the opposite (western) exit of the Canton
River is Macao, rather insecurely held by the Portuguese
since 1557.
Attempts to establish official relations with
China had been periodically made without much success
during the 18th and early 19th centuries.
During this
period British trade with the China coast was a monopoly of
the East India Company until 1831.
The Company's ships
had strenuous competition with the Dutch and the French and
with private British traders, and when in 1800 a Chinese
Imperial edict prohibited the trade in opium from India no
more was carried in the Company's ships but "private"
traders acquired a considerable fillip with this traffic
remitted into their hands. In 1831, after the expiration
of the East India Company's monopoly and in place of the
supervision hitherto exercised by the Company's
representative, the British Government itself, at the request
of the Chinese authorities appointed a Chief Superintendent
of Trade and a Court of Criminal and Admiralty Jurisdiction
for