[VOL I] THE EUROPEAN FACTORIES, CANTON

THE EUROPEAN FACTORIES, CANTON

Cover Image: The European Factories, Canton / GuangZhou GuangDong China / Drawn by Unknown Engraved by J.Tingle – ALAMY Image ID:2X3H90M

*This illustration depicts European factories established in Guangzhou.

Mother of wealth, and enterprise, and arts,
Her golden empire marries distant parts;
She knits the league, she sheaths the blade of war,
Of earth, and sea, and man the conqueror.
Dread agent or for boundless good or ill,
God speaks the word, and Commerce works his will.

C. J. C.

THE foreign commerce of China, with which the history of the European factories at Canton is associated, may be said to have been first established in the year 1517, when Fernando Perez d’Andrada arrived at Canton with a fleet of eight ships, and, in the name of his master, the King of Portugal, asked permission to trade. For upwards of a century the Portuguese exclusively enjoyed this important advantage; but about this period, the Dutch, who had also found the way to the Oriental seas, not contented with a trade conducted through secondary agency, resolved upon proceeding up to Canton, and opening a direct mercantile correspondence with the Chinese people; and accident ultimately led to the accomplishment of an object, which courage, enterprise, and ability had attempted in vain. The Portuguese having repulsed the Dutch intruders from their settlement of Macao, and secured the rejection of their mission to Canton by the most deliberate calumnies, the latter withdrew first to the islet of Pehou, and subsequently to Formosa; there resolving to establish such a character of integrity and industry as would completely refute the slander of their rivals, and prove themselves eminently deserving of Chinese alliance. The apathy, or rather aversion, of Chinese to foreigners, would have left no opportunity for the formation of friendship between the resolute Hollanders and the Imperialists, had it not been for the occurrence of an event which menaced the peace, the independence of the empire itself. This was the rebellion of Kosinga, a native of Fokien, Quang-tung, and Quang-si under his command—the others having acknowledged the Tartar emperor—but also made himself master of Formosa. Kosinga resisted the power of a throne with better fortune, and most probably with truer principles of patriotism, than either Rienzi, or Mazzinello, to whom he may be compared by historians; and when he fell, it was in the arms of victory, who took up the fallen diadem of Formosa, and placed it upon the head of his son. Their treachery to the brave patriot rendering a residence on his island no longer safe, and the aid given to the emperor entitling them to consideration, the Dutch were permitted to remove to the suburbs of Canton, and there erect a factory for the better conduct of their trade. This migration took place in the year 1762.

Encouraged by the example of commercial rivals, more especially of Spain and Portugal, the English endeavoured to extend their trade in the Indian Ocean. For this enterprising purpose, Sir Robert Dudley fitted out three ships, and procuring a letter from Queen Elizabeth to the ruler of China, directed Benjamin Wood, the commander of this little expedition, “to pierce as far as Cathay.” It does not appear that Dudley’s fleet ever reached the shores of China, nor can anything that has been heard of it from the Spaniards, by whom it is suspected the crews were inhumanly murdered, be relied on. This misfortune only added to the animosity previously engendered between the English and the chief commercial countries of Europe; and the scenes of treachery and carnage between them, the Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch, that now ensued, very naturally led the emperor to repudiate the advances of all Europeans, and gave a much stronger hold, a still deeper root, to those prejudices which had so long excluded the “barbarian” from this ancient country.

In 1637 a resolute movement for the opening of a direct trade with China, was again made by the English, who despatched four ships, the Dragon, Sun, Catherine, and Anne, besides a pinnace, the whole under the command of Captain Weddel, to Macao, then settled by the Portuguese. Their reception there being accompanied by vexatious exactions, and circumstances of suspicion, the captain resolved on proceeding in the pinnace to Canton, and learning, if possible, the truth of the Portuguese statements, as well as the real sentiments of the Chinese government toward his countrymen generally. Interrupted in their approach to Canton by deputies, and envoys, and commisssioners and mandarins, they were induced to place confidence in the repeated promises and assertions of these artful functionaries, and all length agreed to a truce for four days. During this interval, the Chinese secretly conveyed several pieces of ordnance to a position commanding the anchorage of the four English vessels, which had followed; and, at a moment when they supposed them to be completely off their guard, treacherously fired upon the little fleet. To a people less civilized, less brave, or less generous to their enemies, this violation of faith would have been deemed a signal for the resumption of hostilities; but in the heart of an Englishman, it excited only the strongest and most lasting contempt and indignation. The Chinese fire, ill-directed, did but little mischief; but not so, the cool, steady, but rapid broadsides of the English ships, which answered; and which soon silenced the battery, drove the cowards from their guns, and taught them respect for the flag of England. This spirited conduct obtained an immediate recognition of the British, who were for a time permitted to barter their cargoes with the native merchants.

Again, however, Portuguese duplicity came into operation, and augmented that hatred towards the British which fear of their power, and chagrin at the chastisement received from them, had created. Without any provocation, the English were declared to be “enemies of China”; they were designated by the insulting soubriquet of “devils”; and all Chinamen who should dare to trade with these barbarians, were pronounced to be guilty of treason.

In 1676, during the first period of the Tartar conquest, and before the southern provinces had submitted to the new dynasty, the English obtained a footing on the islands of Amoy and Quemoy, where the East India Company erected factories; but, upon the submission of these places also to the Mantechu conquerors in 1680, they were obliged to abandon these establishments. Four years afterwards, when internal peace was restored to the empire, the government of Formosa arranged, and the arts of industry resumed in the sea-port towns, the English were allowed to re-occupy the factory at Amoy; and they retained it until, by the edict which restricted all foreign commerce to Macao and Canton, retention became both illegal and unprofitable; upon which they removed their officers and establishment to Canton, where their trade with the Celestial Empire was prosperously conducted until the year 1833. At this last date, the Parliament of England, then engaged in reforming several departments of the government, remodelled the charter of the East India Company, throwing open the China trade, previously monopolized by that great body, to the merchants of Great Britain at large, and confining the care of the Directors, in future, to the military and civil departments.

Upon the extinction of the East India Company’s extraordinary mercantile monopoly with China, a superintendent of British trade with that empire was appointed, and Lord Napier was the first person chosen to discharge this duty. On his lordship’s arrival at Canton, however, the viceroy unexpectedly refused to acknowledge his credentials, alleging that this change in the mode of managing the British trade had not been officially communicated to the court of Pekin. This plea does not appear completely groundless; but so great is the perfidy of the Chinese character, that no reliance can be placed upon any assertion of pledge of its state-officers. Lord Napier for awhile resisted the obstruction, and even directed the occupation of the roadstead at Whampoa by two men-of-war; an order not performed without resistance, the forts of Bocca Tigris and Tiger Island having fired upon our vessels. Finding remonstrance vain, and perseverance attended with the most grievous injury and loss to the interests of the British, his lordship retired to Macao, resolving there to await the result of an application to the highest authority, but died almost immediately after his arrival at that port. Upon the death of Lord Napier, Mr. Davis undertook the protection of his countrymen’s property and trade at Canton, to which no impediment was opposed, until the occurrence of the memorable opium question, which was only decided by the entire submission of China to British arms in 1842.

Although permitted to establish commercial agents, and erect factories or stores for business, and residence, at Canton, all foreigners have hitherto been treated with the utmost illiberality by the Imperial government. Notwithstanding the warmth of the climate, and consequent insalubrity of a residence almost below the sea-level, and surrounded by stagnant water, the site appropriated to the foreign factories of all nations, a space not exceeding eight hundred feet in length or frontage, by four hundred in depth, was formerly a putrid marsh. Piles being driven to a great depth, a secure foundation was obtained, and on these “The Thirteen Hongs” have been erected. Flag-staffs in front of each are adorned with their respective national colours, and every factory is designated by some distinguishing or descriptive epithet, after the Chinese custom. The British factory is called “the Hong that ensures tranquility”; the American, “of the Many Fountains”; the Dutch, “of the Yellow Flag”; the Austrian, of “the Twin-Eagle”; the Swedish, Parsee, Danish, and French, are also similarly designated.

Not farther back than the year 1834, the floods that descended the Pearl river completely inundated the wharfs and ground-stories of the European Factories, so that communication was preserved, both between the houses in the foreign quarter and with those in the city, by means of boats; and the long continuance of this calamity occasioned great sickness and mortality amongst the merchants. But this affliction produced no happy effect upon the Chinese authorities, nor obtained for the foreigner the smallest relaxation of that rigid code by which his intercourse with this unfeeling and relentless nation is regulated. At the back of the Factories, is a narrow creek choked with all the impurities from the city-sewers; and in front are stairs or slips affording convenient places for the loading and discharge of cargoes. Two avenues, China Street, and Hog Lane, intersect the space occupied by the Factories and stores; the first is a broad and handsome opening, having many well-furnished shops, the fronts of which are inscribed with mottos, calculated to attract customers, but not adorned that fanciful and costly manner which prevails within the city-streets, from which, however, all foreigners are jealously excluded. Hog Lane possesses a totally different character—narrow, inconvenient, gloomy, occupied by the lowest classes, frequently visited by persons of equally equivocal reputation, and frequently the scene of tumult, theft, and even assassination. Europeans are officially forbidden to enter this quarter or suburb, which hardly exceeds a few square yards in superficies, and the greater portion generally enjoy the refreshing breeze on the house-tops, whenever an aquatic excursion, which has always been tolerated, is inconvenient. There is a promenade called “Respondentia Walk,” enclosed by railing, and forming an agreeable lounge, where merchants, commanders, and civil officers connected with the Factories, meet in the cool moments of evening; but, with the exception of this little terrace, there is no more space allowed to foreigners than is sufficient for the bonding or the standing of their goods, during the regular process of purchase, exchange, and shipping.

The two streets just mentioned divide the Hongs into three separate groups: the western, containing the French and Spanish Factories, along with the house of a Hanist or Chinese merchant who deals with foreigners;—the middle, the British, Danish, American, and Austrian;—the eastern, the Hong of the East India Company, the most graceful and architectural of all, being adorned with a portico and columns, and having a pleasure-ground railed round, and overlooking the river. Prohibition against entering the gates of the city, and strict confinement to the very limited and unhealthy space allotted to the foreigner, renders a lengthened residence there disagreeable to most persons, and intolerably humiliating to all, save the votaries of wealth and commerce. The late conquest therefore of the Chinese empire by Great Britain, which has ended in the opening of other ports, and the cession of Hong-Kong, will either remedy the inconvenience of a residence at Canton, or cause the total removal of its profitable trade to Amoy, Ning-po, Macao, or Queen-town, although the latter is only designed to be a place for bonding goods.

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