foreign goods, particularly the European, consumed
in China, and which do not find a market
in the two provinces of Quantang and Kiangsi,
the limited neighbourhood of Canton, the present
port of importation. It need hardly be insisted, that
the natural course of a free trade, were it permitted,
would bring the skilful and intrepid navigators
of Europe at once to the true emporia
of the tea trade. The irrevocable edicts of the
Chinese government, by confining our trade to a
single port, forbid, as is but too well known, this
freedom of intercourse. The cqst of conducting it
by a more circuitous and expensive channel is the tax
we pay for our restless ambition, an ambition which
has compelled a numerous and industrious people,
who once admitted us freely into all their ports,
to place us under limitations. It remains for us
only to submit to what we cannot change,—to
make the best of our situation,—and not aggravate
it by superadding shackles of our own making.
If a free trade were established between the ports
of China not now frequented by Europeans, and
the colonial establishments of Europeans in the
Indian Islands, as well as between the latter and
Europe, we should be, in some measure, compensated
for our exclusion from a free and direct intercourse
with the ports of China. The Chinese
merchants of Canton are of opinion that there is a
difference in the charge of bringing black teas by
land and sea carriage of from one-third to one-half.
It may, therefore, be asked, how it cofnes about
that, while there exists an extensive coasting trade
between the provinces of Fokien and Quantorig,
teas are not invariably conveyed by sea ? This is
accounted for. The great capitalists of Amoy and
Fu-chu-fu are not directly interested in the tea
trade to Canton. It is not their Capital, but that
of the merchants of the distant Fort of Canton
which sets it in motion ; and the latter, who make
their contracts with the cultivators of the mountains,
will not employ the former as intermediate
agents in a country where ail agents are notorious
for dishonesty. Besides this, tea is a cheap and
bulky commodity, and .the shipping which convey
it must come back half empty for want of return
cargos. The voyage to the Indian Islands is of a
very different character j a full return cargo being
always to be obtained, purchased at first hand, and
always bringing a great profit to the adventurers.
What is remarkable is, that it hardly exceeds it in
length, and is, perhaps even safer. The voyage
along the coast from Fu-chu-fu takes fifteen days;
that to Batavia is often performed in this time,
and steldom exceeds it beyond five or six days. Tt
niust be safer, fn as much as a voyage performed in
the open seas is safer than one performed along a
dangerous coast, and in as far as one, the greater part
of which is performed in the tranquil waters of the
Archipelago, must be safer than one, the whole of
which is performed in the tempestuous seas of China.
VOL. III. 1 l 1