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obtainable along the China coast. Also he was to find out what facilities, if any, would be available to British merchants along the coast of China for buying and lading teas, silks and other products of China. He took with him as interpreter the well-qualified explorer-missionary, the Rev. Charles Gutzlaff. Lindsay left Canton at the beginning of March, sailing to Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo and Shanghai as well as Korea and the Liuchiu islands, returning at the beginning of September 1832. (Morse, Chronicles, Vol. IV, pp. 332-3). For further details see Papers relating to the Ship Amherst, printed by order of the House of Commons, June 1833; Report of Proceedings on a Voyage to the Northern Ports of China in the Ship Lord Amherst, London, 1834.
These incidents involving the Lindsays, father and son, were by no means unique. Other supercargoes such as James Flint in 1759, Sir George Thomas Staunton on several occasions, and others, as well as several ship's commanders, went to protest to the Chinese authorities on behalf of their colleagues. In fact the chapter titles in the five volumes of Morse's Chronicles carry the words "Dispute with Chinese Authorities" or "Dispute between Committee and Authorities" more than any other chapter headings. The impression is of a continual struggle between the Chinese and East India Company officials carried out by orders, protests, threats and bluff. In the end it comes as a pleasant surprise to read a different chapter heading such as "Improved Relations with Officials" (1827) or "Burning of the Foreign Factories, 1822". It was a tedious business for the Chinese officials in Canton having to deal with the unpredictable barbarians from the Western Ocean, but it was also a lucrative one. The same can be said, mutatis mutandis, of the East India Company's representatives trading at Canton.
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obtainable along the China coast. Also he was to find out what facilities, if any, would be available to British merchants along the coast of China for buying and lading teas, silks and other products of China. He took with him as interpreter the well quali- fied explorer-missionary, the Rev. Charles Gutzlaff. Lindsay left Canton at the beginning of March, sailing to Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo and Shanghai as well as Korea and the Liuchiu islands, returning at the beginning of September 1832. (Morse, Chronicles, Vol. IV, pp. 332-3). For further details see Papers relating to the Ship Amherst, printed by order of the House of Commons, June 1833; Report of Proceedings on a Voyage to the Northern Ports of China in the Ship Lord Amherst, London, 1834.
These incidents involving the Lindsays, father and son, were by no means unique. Other supercargoes such as James Flint in 1759, Sir George Thomas Staunton on several occasions, and others, as well as several ship's commanders, went to protest to the Chinese authorities on behalf of their colleagues. In fact the chapter titles in the five volumes of Morse's Chronicles carry the words "Dispute with Chinese Authorities" or "Dispute between Committee and Authorities" more than any other chapter headings. The impres- sion is of a continual struggle between the Chinese and East India Company officials carried out by orders, protests, threats and bluff. In the end it comes as a pleasant surprise to read a different chapter heading such as "Improved Relations with Officials" (1827) or "Burning of the Foreign Factories, 1822". It was a tedious business for the Chinese officials in Canton having to deal with the unpre- dictable barbarians from the Western Ocean, but it was also a lucrative one. The same can be said, mutatis mutandis, of the East India Company's representatives trading at Canton.
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