establish themselves on the bank of the river just outside of the walls of Canton, and occupied substantial and commodious establishments of brick or granite, and the settlement was assuming a permanent foreign character, with churches, newspapers and other adjuncts. In 1832, when the port was visited by Mr. Roberts, the American envoy en route to negotiate treaties with Siam and Muscat, he reports, besides the East India Company's establishment, nine British mercantile houses, seven American, one French, and one Dutch; and one British and one American hotel. The style of living was quite luxurious, with an abundance of servants, but there was said to be lacking one essential element to make domestic enjoyment complete—the Chinese forbade the presence of foreign women. This prohibition, however, was removed soon after that date. The Chinese plenipotentiaries who negotiated the first treaty with Great Britain gave the emperor the following reason for this concession: "The barbarians are influenced by their women, and governed by natural affection. The presence of females at the ports would therefore soften their natures, and give us less anxiety as to outbreaks. If they are settled at our ports with all that is dear to them, and with storehouses full of goods, they will be in our power and prove more manageable."[1]
Notwithstanding the somewhat improved condition of the trade just indicated, the Americans, in common with all foreigners, labored under many embarrassments.
- ↑ Embassy to Eastern Courts, by Edmund Roberts, New York, 1837, p. 130; 5 Chinese Repository, 426; 1 China during the War, etc., by Sir John F. Davis, London, 1852, p. 300; Delano's Voyages, 540.
