carrying its goods to that mart to exchange with those of the other. The profits arising therefrom are valuable to Russia; but, by a fundamental law of China, no nation can trade at two points, and Russia is in consequence excluded from the more valuable trade at Canton.

The intercourse of America with China has been strictly commercial; it commenced in 1784, and it has gradually increased, till it has acquired an importance second only to that of Great Britain.

It is in connexion with the trade of Great Britain that the nature of Chinese commerce, and the manner in which it is conducted, will be more fully unfolded.

The first attempt of the English to establish commercial intercourse with China was made in the days of Elizabeth. In 1596, Sir Robert Dudley was commissioned to sail thither; and he carried with him a letter to "The most high, serene, and powerful prince and ruler of the great kingdom of China, the greatest empire in the eastern parts of the world.". But Dudley never reached China, and never returned home, and his fate remains a mystery. The English were brought into actual contact with the Chinese, however, in the year 1605. Sir E. Michelbourne obtained a patent for trading to the eastern seas, and not finding the Chinese favourably disposed to commerce, he not only seized the ships of any nation he met with, but plundered several valuable Chinese junks. This was an untoward action, for it had the effect of prejudicing the minds of the Chinese against the English, which prejudice was fostered by the Portuguese. The English

were designated the enemies of China, trade with them was expressly prohibited, and they continued for many years the most abhorred of all the nations of Europe.

The enmity of the Chinese towards the English was made manifest in 1637, when another attempt was made to establish a commercial intercourse between the two countries. At that date, the British merchants sent four ships and a pinnace, under the command of Captain Weddel, to Macao, which was in the possession of the Portuguese. While here, the pinnace, with fifty men, and a ship's barge, were despatched to the river of Canton, and on reaching an anchorage they landed, and were hospitably entertained at a native village. In their subsequent progress up the river they met with a fleet of twenty junks, and were hospitably invited on board, and a Portuguese negro, who understood Chinese, interpreted between them and their hosts. All seemed to augur well, for the Chinese offered to conduct the officers to Canton, where they might present the petition for trade which they had with them to the viceroy, provided the pinnace would instantly return to Macao. This was agreed to, but before they had reached Canton, they were met by a boat from the viceroy, and informed that their petition should be granted if they would return to Macao.

Not wishing to give offence, the English officers returned to Macao; but, instead of the expected arrangements, they found only derision for their credulity. Thus incensed, the whole fleet sailed for Canton, and they had advanced as far as the Bocca Tigris, when they were met by some official personages, who, after some specious

explanations of their conduct, promised the officers that they should positively have an audience of the viceroy if they would remain at anchor for six days. Although justly suspicious of the good faith of the Chinese, the English consented to remain at anchor; but, on the fourth day, they were suddenly cannonaded from a neighbouring fortification. Their shot being ill-directed, however, did little harm, and before they could again discharge their unwieldy artillery, the English guns bore upon their batteries, and made fearful havoc. In two hours the fort was taken, the Chinese utterly dispersed, and the British flag waved for the first time in the air of China.

Still the English were unwilling to continue hostile towards the Chinese. They abandoned their advantages, and made another attempt to address the viceroy. But again they were deceived. Some officers were permitted to present their petition to the viceroy, and leave was granted to the English to take possession of some small island outside the river, which they might fortify, and make the centre of their commerce. Trade was already commenced, and every thing appeared to be going on prosperously; but, on a sudden, an attempt was made to destroy the English fleet at Macao by means of fire-ships, and the officers at Canton were confined in the house they occupied, while food and fire were denied them, and a guard placed at the door to prevent their escape. The attempt on the English fleet proved abortive; and the crew, enraged at the detention of their officers, laid waste plantations, destroyed villages, and sunk or disabled all the vessels they could meet with. This destruction

soon determined the Chinese to a more pacific line of conduct. The officers were released, and the English permitted to conclude their trade; but they had no sooner quitted the river, than an edict was issued, strictly prohibiting all trade with the English nation.

The terror of the English, which this event caused in China, was of long duration. Twenty years after, when the Dutch petitioned to be allowed to trade with the Chinese, they were informed that they must prove themselves not to be Englishmen before their petition was granted. The English, it was stated, had arrived in the river with ships of war, which had not only beaten their navy, but had battered their castles, taken their great men prisoners, fighting more like demons than men, whereby they had become the declared enemies of China.

Subsequent to this event, several attempts were made by the English to gain a footing in China, but they were unavailing. At length, however, from the assistance rendered by them to the Chinese in the southern provinces against the Tartars, who had subjugated the north to their sway, they procured a residence on the islands of Amoy and Quemoy. But the reduction of the whole empire by the Tartars soon afterwards deprived them of this advantage, and it was not till near the end of the century that they were allowed to partake of their commerce with other European nations.

The commercial intercourse of this country was first carried on through the medium of the East India Company, under whose management it flourished. The trade of the East India Company

with China, however, was brought to a close, according to the provisions of a new act, which rendered the trade free, in April, 1834, after having lasted just two centuries. Soon after this, several ships quitted Canton with cargoes of tea for the British islands, and the trade continued, with some interruptions, till 1839, when the Chinese required that all opium ships should be sent away, under the penalty of hostile measures. This requisition was disregarded, and a demand was then made that all the opium on board the ships should be delivered to the government for the purpose of being destroyed. It was further demanded, that a bond should be given in the Chinese and foreign languages; that the ships should hereafter never dare to bring opium; and that, should any be brought, the goods should be forfeited, and the parties suffer death.

These demands were made under a show of determined hostility, and from these circumstances Captain Elliot, then British superintendent of the trade at Canton, required the surrender of all the English opium on the coast of China, and 20,283 chests of that baneful drug were delivered to the commissioners appointed by the Chinese government, from the ships assembled for that purpose below the Bocca Tigris. At the same time, the British superintendent gave a bond to the owners as an indemnity. Still the Chinese government was not satisfied. Hostilities commenced, and war with China was the consequence, the events of which are doubtless fresh in the minds of the reader. The result of that war has, so far as commerce is concerned, proved favourable to the English nation. By it indemnification