The Sun.
London, England, 1839-10-24 00:00:00

CHINA TRADE

To the Right Honourable Lord Viscount Palmer-
ston, her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs,
The Memorial cf the undersigned Merchants of
the City of Bristol,
Sheweth,--.That your Memorialists have been the
sole importers of teas into the City of Bristol since the
period that the trade to China was thrown open, in the
year 1834, and during that time they have not been in
any manner connected with :the opium trade : That
from that period to the present they have imported
cargoes in sixteen British ships, comprising a freight of
12,000 tons, and producing a revenue of about one
million pounds sterling.
That your Memorialists have heard with concern and
alarm the present unprecedented state of our commer-
cial position with China, and deeply regret the preca-
rious tenure of our trade with that country.
That since the abolition of the East India Company's
trade at Canton by the Act 3 and 4 Wm. 111., cap. 93,
there have been appointed Superintendants of the Bri-
tish trade with China, whose duties were to protect
and promote the trade, and to control the conduct of
British subjects in that distant empire.
That the cost to this country of maintaining the said
Superintendents, with their secretary, chaplain, sur-
geons, and interpreters, has during the existence of the
free trade been about one hundred thousand pounds,
whilst but little benefit has arisen from their presence
in China, from the fact of the said Superintendants not
being duly provided with the powers necessary to con-
trol British subjects, and from the more important
fact that the said Superintendants have been scarcely
recognised by the Chinese Government, and that they
have been treated with marked contempt and indignity
by two successive Viceroys of the province of Canton,
and recently by the High Commissioner sent down to
Canton by the Emperor of China, for the purpose of
suppressing the opium trade.
That since the opening of the trade, so long a
period as from the month of September 1834, until
February 1837, her Majesty's Superintendants were
not permitted to remain at Canton, and that the few
and feeble powers possessed by them were exercised at
Macao, or at Lintin, the place of rendezvous of the

opium ships.
That your Memorialists are, however, almost uncon-
scious of any power, rule, or authority by which her
Majesty's Superintendants have been guided, which
either the Act of his late Majesty, or the Orders in
Council ofthe dates of 9th December 1833, could confer.
That they are equally unconscious of any power
which the said Superintendants possessed, either
to restrain the unruly amongst her Majesty's subjects in
China, or to protect the injured from the aggressions of
their feilow•countrymen, or of the Chinese ; and they
know that her Majesty's Superintendants have never had
invested in them an authority equal to that of Police
Magistrates in England in cases of felony and misde-
meanor, whilst they have not possessed the means of
ensuring British subjects and British property from the
cruelty, arbitrary imposition, or plunder of the Chinese
Government.
That your Memorialists have heard that your Lord-
ship twice or thrice introduced a Bill into the Commons'
House of Parliament, to form Courts of Civil and Cri
minal Judicature and a Court of Admiralty in China ;
but six years have now nearly passed, during which
more than three thousand British subjects have an-
nually visited China, and have been living at Canton,
Whampoa, Lintin, and Macao, or have been engaged
in smuggling opium on the coast of China, unrestrained
, by the laws of their country, and daily and hourly in
' immediate contact with the most peculiarly jealous peo-
ple on earth.
That for many years past, the Tea Trade with
China (which has annually brought a revenue to this
country, by the heavy duties levied upon tea, to the
amount of 3,000,0001. sterling) has been continually
placed in immediate danger by the smuggling trade car-
ried on upon the coast, as well as by the pertinacious,
corrupt, and overbearing conduct of the Canton Local
Governmenr.
That the Tea Trade has been especially jeopardized
during the last three years by the numerous ships em-
ployed upon the coast of China in smnggling opium,
and more seriously injured by the intrusion of various
schooners and small craft into the Canton River, the
owners and crews of which vessels have too frequently
set all lay; s, obedience, and authority at defiance ; and it
is believed by your Memorialists that much violence and
bloodshed has taken place upon the said river.
That your Memorialists submit that the smuggling
opium into China has been sanctioned by the Legisla-
ture of Great Britain, inasmuch as the monopoly of the
sale of opium was granted to the East India Company,
upon their receiving a renewal of the Government of
India, and because the opium sent to China for the
purpose of being smuggled into that country has been
openly sold by the Indian Government at the Presi-
dency of Calcutta, at periodical public sale, whilst at
all the several Indian Presidencies of Calcutta, Madras,
and Bombay, it has been regularly entered for expor-
tation to China, and passed through the Custom-houses
there.

That your Memorialists beg leave to refer your Lord-
ship to the Minutes of Evidence taken before both
Houses of Parliament from the year 1829 to 1832 in-
clusive, in which the evils necessarily and unavoidably
attendant upon the Opium Trade were fully made known.
Your Memorialists also beg leave to submit to your
Lordship that during the last twenty years the smug-
gling of opium in China has been most undisguisedly
and openly connived at by the high Mandarins and Go-
vernment Officers of the Chinese Empire, and that the
present and past Viceroys have partaken largely in the
profits of the trade, with, it is believed, the secret per-
mission of the Imperial Cabinet at Pekin.
That, notwithstanding these most extraordinary facts,
a sudden and unexpected call was made in March last
by an Imperial Commissioner upon the British and Fo-
reign merchants resident in Canton to deliver up, on
pain of death, all the opium in their possession (whether
their own property or the property of others consigned
to them), and imprisonment and starvation were rigidly
enforced by the very Mandarins who had themselves re-
ceived large sums of money in bribery for connivance at
the trade, whilst a cargo of teas, shipped on board the
Ingleborough, and paid for on your Memorialists, ac-
count, was detained, and all other trade suspended.
That her Majesty's Superintendent, Captain Charles
Elliot, of the Royal Navy, notwithstanding his acknow-
ledged Naval and Civil Rank, was also imprisoned, and
his demand as an Officer of her Majesty to be liberated
was rejected, and he was also threatened with death by
public execution, in the event of property not being de-
livered up, which he could only demand in the name of
her Majesty the Queen.
That guards were placed around the residences of the
merchants without distinction, and all communication
between them and the shipping as well as the means of
sustenance were cut off at the pleasure of the Chinese

Government.
That sundry shipping sent out by your Memorialists
in the present year for the purpose of bringing home
the next annual supply of Teas, is thrown out of em-
ployment in China, and is compelled to seek freight
elsewhere, to the probable loss of the owners and the
great prejudice of your 'Memorialists.
That your Memorialists, desirous that the Tea Trade
with China may not be lost to Great Britain, do there-
fore humbly request that your Lordship will urge upon
her Majesty's Government most earnestly an imme-
diate consideration of their prayer for protection for the
continuance of their legitimate trade, and to their ship-
ping and property, as well as to the lives of their Agents
and other parties employed by them in China.
And your Memorialists will ever pray, &c.
ACRAMANS, BUSH, CASTLE, and CO.
Bristol, Oct. 10, 1839.

COPY OF REPLY.

Foreign Office, Oct. 14, 1839.

GENTLEMEN,—I am directed by Viscount Palmer-
ston to acknowledge the receipt of your Memorial dated
the 10th instant, on the subject of the transactions
which occurred at Canton in the spring of this year;
and I am to acquaint you in reply that the matters to
which you call his Lordship's attention are under the
serious attention of her Majesty's Government.
I am, Gentlemen,
'Your most obedient humble servant,
(Signed) J. BACKHOUSE.
Messrs. Acramans, Bush, Castle, and Co.

The Foreign Exchanges yesterday were again
quoted rather lower, and although a tolerable amount
of Indigo Bills were offered for sale, they were not suf-
ficient to satisfy the demands of remitters ; however,
the deficiency was supplied by Messrs, Rothschild and
by Messrs. Baring and Co., who drew to some extent.
It was remarked that the latter, who are understood to
be actin.- for account of the Bank of England, have
reduced the rates at which they are willing to supply
drafts, both on Paris and Hamburg, from which it
is supposed that the credit for two millions ster-
na?, opened by the Paris bankers in their favour some
time ago, is now nearly exhausted ; and it is naturally
asked, what will the Bank do next ? We hear from all
parts of Europe that this step, although it has un-
doubtedly prove a convenience, and, to some extent, a
safeguard to the Bank of England, has greatly lowered
the credit and reputation of that establishment in the
eyes of all foreigners, who are now inclined to estimate
the Bank of England upon a par with the speculative
American banks. This is much to be regretted, as it
exercises a prejudicial effect upon the national credit at
the same time. It is truly remarked in sonic of the
communications from the Paris Bourse, that since this
arrangement was concluded with the bankers there,
three months ago, the value of the French Three per
Centes has approximated fully four per cent. nearer to
that of the English ; and they anticipate that, at no dis-
tant period, they will be equal in value to our's.—Even-
iqg Paper.
A poor man dropped down dead at the head of
Green-street, Calton, this forenoon. He was apparently
in good health a few minutes before.—Ghsgow Chro-
nicle.