Canton/ 111 the service. The ir -measures are determined by' a
— majority of the meeting, rwith regular minutes *Qf; ,the
grounds*far their proceedings. T h e y areybred inhhe
habits of'method, candour-, and - punctuality, the^hara c-
teristics o|tan “honourable. merchant, without being led
ifito a n y l t e t t ie selfish '^dces, or low propensities-/-of
which the practice must tend-to degradfe so useful a profession.
T h o the exports of Canton consist of-many* articles,
their compaK^tive importance is- almost absorbed -in that
o f tea. Tfra^gents o f other European nation! takensco®-*-
lectively, purchased much greater quantities o f that commodity
formerly than hhe E c^ ish . It did-nbt,ttow^H^
escape the obserVation o f several of the D irectoH1-of?thp
E n g i r t Company , that much the greatest proportion o f
the teas so brought to Europe on* foreign bottoms, Jwas
afterwards smuggled into England, in consequence Sef
the temptatfSh afforded b y thehigh duties imposid upoaa3
that artichpfey The British Parliament. Teas were'found
not only to constitute the principal article-that -whs’
smuggled into the kingdom, but it occasioned and facilitated
the like clandestine importation o f other goods.
This practice o f smuggling arose fo such a height that, in
a report made to the House of Commons, b y a very able
member of it, now a peer, he concluded b y saying, that
“ the illicit practices used in defrauding ihe revenue,
“ had increased-in a most alarming degree; that ’those
V practices- w;ere carried on. upon th.®Sf)astS’i a-ndtin other Canton.
‘Apa'rts of-ith©;kingdost1, with a j^@lem-ce-; and with out-
“ rages/ whibhi^ot/oniyrihreatened the? destruction of
“ thelrevs©^^,‘ but. weih h ighl||f&njuriou regular
“ .commerce and fair trade, ve^y, p er nieipus, fcoK he man-
‘ Vners and morals of. tb f people, and an« interruption to
“ albgbdl«gbyernment. £ ’
'-'At- fhe^same time, b y the a b i li ty aM^Pdrustry. o f a
g©nt}emari,uiow ^ccomptant office 'East IndiadSompany,
a statementyof facts ^and/estimates,<»wMthr■ printed in
the. Appendix JO this Iwork^tdgether. with fpplan, were
brought forw^ditfor qb.tainingjfor Great Britain, the ad--
vantages fand profitslof importing all theftp^siconsumed
b y i^Sfjsn^eets in thatvkingdomj,^ndi its dependencies-}.
fed&upQhyh<^ei.was founded gjkeTaw, general!ƒ•’. known
b y th en am e io f the Commutation Ait|/iwhieh p u b a^ n d
to many of thes^ils pointedqui in theVreport just quoted
; and gave- employment- to mhbnsiderable number o f
ships ;and--sailors, in fetching torEurope, knEnglish bot- ‘
toms, thfe additional qu-an ti|ies->©f--teas,tfwhich the cessa-i
tion of smuggling that* article.from othemparts. of Europe-,
rendered it necessary for the agents of the Epglish Company
to purchase^ in tGanton, Tables;-of thereon sequent
annual increase of teasipur^hasedy an.4 British manufactures
sold at Canton, will h&rfoMftd al&o&in the Appen-
di^VS Beside the- usuallshf^rCargoes-and ^ i|fers belong,1*
ing to the factory, three Commissioners5, t h i s time,