East India Company. - Edinburgh Research Archive

319 Pages·2008·20.12 MB·English

401.'
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Cha 1t er Page
1. Introdiict ion 3.
A. The East Zndia Company. 1
B. Conditions in China. 2
C. Opium in India. S
2, History of the earlier stages of Abolition 1793..1813. 7
Charter of 1793 7
1. Nature of attacks on the Company. 7
2. Proposals and the Company's views on them. 14

Charter of 1813 21
1. Development of negotiations 21
2. The Bill as passed by the House of Commons 42
3. The Company and the effects of the Bill 46
3. The Canton Merchants
A. Introduction: China firms; Jardine,
Matheson and Co. SO
B. Methods of developing trade
55
C, Evasion of East India Company's Monopoly 69
D. Evasion of Chinese Laws 73
E. The Select and others 8i
F. Private trade views on abolition
98
G. Immediate results of the opening of the
China trade 3.04
4, The Company's Select Committee at Canton. 116
A. Stoppage of trade 116
B. Relations with Chinese authorities 128
C. Relations with Country ships 138
D. Relations with Private Traders 143
E. Relations with the Portuguese 149
F. Arrival of Napier and establishment of
the Trade Commission 152
G. Finance and the last days of the Company
at Canton
155
-ii.',
Chapt Pa e
5. Campaign of the outportg and industrial centres 162
A. General Survey of the development of
opposition 162
1. 1822.4828 162
2. 1829..1833 171
B. Varioue interests behind the movement 184
1. Manchester 185
2. Liverpool 188
3. Birmingham 191
4 Exeter
192
5. Sheffield 195
6. James Silk Buckingham 198
7. The Extra-ordinary Black Book 200
C. Attacks on Government Regulations after
1833, 201.
6. Charter Negotiations between the Court of Directors
and the Board of Control 208
1, The Main Question 210
2, Relations between the Company and the
Board of Control in the tuture 220
3. Remittance and the Guarantee Fund 227
4, Effect on the future trade with China 232
5. Effect on Indian interests 236
6. London and the Outports 241
7, Side issues: 242
a) Haileybury 243
b) Christianity and Slavery 244
c) Law Commission and the
Legal Member 247
7. The Bill and Parliament. 249
I Brief History of Parliament and the Charter 249
a) l820l829, Parliament and Free Trade 249
b) l8291833, Parliament and the Charter 255
II The Main Question 260
III Aspects at issue 268
l.'iii.I
çhaptei' Page
(7.) a) Annuity and the duration of the Charter 268
b) Control of trade at Canton 269
C) Indianisation of the Services 271
d) Colonization property and Law 272
e) The Governor-General, Councils and
Slavery 274
f) The Fourth Presidency 276
g) Salt and Opium monopolies 276
h) Religion 277
IV Clash between Grant and Wynn 279
V llenborough and the Tories 283
VI Decline of interest in the East India Company 286
VII rhe China Trade and the Tea Duties Bill 287

8. China and India after the passing of the Bill 289
A. China after the passing of the Bill
289
1) expectations and results 289
2) Opiwn after the end of the monopoly 294
B. India after the passing of the Bill 300
9. Conclusion, 304
-iv-.
MONEY, WEIGHTS ETC. USED IN CANTON.
(1 )
Spanish Dollar originally worth 4/2d; during
our period its value varied according to exchange
rates.
Transactions were reckoned in taels* a tael was a
hypothetical silver coin.
1 taol £ 1,38 6/8d
1 Rupee approx, 2/-.
1 Picul or Pecul 1,600 tael weight
1331/3 lbs,
Sycee silver silver ingots in the
shape of a shoe.
ABBREVIATIONS,

I.L.8. = India Letter Book,

P.L.B. = Private Letter' Book.
.ilii.
CHAPTER I.
I N T R 0 D U C T I 0 N.
A. E EAST II'DIA COMPANY.
The United Company of Merchants of England trading to
the East Indies, often referred to as the Honourable (English)
East India Company, consisted of stock holders or Proprietors, as
they were called, whose possession of East India Company's stock
entitled them to vote in the General Court of Proprietors. This
General Court met from time to time to give approval to or
criticize those whom it appointed to carry on the day to day
business of the Company. The General Court of Proprietors
elected a body of 24 Directors to manage the affairs of the
Company, and as time went on the power over the Company's affairs
passed from the Court of Proprietors to the Court of Directors.
Qualification for election to the Court of Directors depended
upon possession of a certain amount of Company's stock and the
support of a sufficient number of votes In the General Court.
Directors were elected for a terni of four years and then were
-2-
ineligible to serve for one year. In practice, by the Nineteenth
Century, the Court of Directors consisted of 30 Directors of whom
six were out of office for a year in turn. The Court of Directors
chose a Chairman and a Deputy Chairman often known as the "Chair"
and the "Deputy". It was usual for the Deputy to be the Chair for
the following year. The work of the Court of Directors was
usually divided between a number of Committees.
Through the years, as the Company became more and more
important as rulers of vast Indian Territories, they lost some of
their independence and had to accept a certain amount of Government
control. This was exercised by a inister of the Crown presiding
over a Board of Control for India exercising a measure of control
over the activities of the Court of Directors.
The Company had a vast organization in London controlled
from their headquarters, the India House in Leadenhall Street,
consisting of docks and warehouses. They possessed a large fleet
of specially built and equipped vessels known as East Indiamen and
they hired additional vessels as required. They traded to and
from India as long as their monopoly of the Indian trade continued;
and for an even longer period, until the end of their monopoly of
the China tea trade, they traded to and from China. They were
also the sovereigns of a very considerable portion of India, and
possessed their own army in that country.
B. CONDITIOnS II' CHINA.
The East India Company delegated the management of its
affairs in China to a Select Committee of its Super-.cargoes
-.3-.
stationed at Canton, who chose a President or Chief from their
number to be their representative in dealings with the Chinese.
During the shipping season the Company's $upercargoes resided in
their factory on the outskirts of Canton, withdrawing when the
business of the season was completed, as did all other foreigners,
to the settlement of Macao, Western traders at Canton were only
supposed to deal with certain Chinese merchants. These Chinese
firms or I-longs formed a Co-.Hong or closed corporation, almost
like a medieval gild. ]o ship could unload its cargo for sale or
take cargo on board until it had been "secured" by a Hong Merchant.
The Hong Merchant who became security for a ship was responsible
for its debts, business contacts and the conduct of its crew.
The City of Canton was governed by two officials; a Governor or
Fuyuen, and over him a Viceroy who also controlled the Governor
of the surrounding Province. The official who controlled the
Customs system was known as the lioppo, and he was the official
who most often came into contact with the Company's Supercargoes.
Tea, silk and certain other specified goods could only be bought
through the Hong Merchants; other minor articles could be bought
from outside merchants or shopmen. Mandarins were Chinese
officials of high rank. Each ship arriving at Canton took on
board a linguist or interpreter and a comprador who was a ship's
chandler or purveyor of supplies. A "chop" could be the official
permit allowing the departure of a ship from Canton, or a letter,
or a sample or consignment of goods, particularly of tea.
The Company were not the only Western merchants trading
at Canton. There were many other foreigners, Americans Dutch,
-.4-p
Portuguese, Spanish and many British who were not members of the
East India Company's establishment; these were known as the private
English. There were also many merchants of India and the Malay
Archipelago who were concerned in the coast trade between India
and China and which was known as the Country trade.
The China trade of the Company consisted of importing
Western manufactures to Canton where they were sold to the Hong
Merchants. There was no great demand for these goods so the cost
of the teas purchased by the Company from the Hong Merchants had
to be made up by payment in silver. At one time the Company had
imported dollars into Canton, but they soon found that the silver
could be acquired In other ways from the Country trade. Though
few Western goods were acceptable in China, the products of India
found a ready market there. These were imported in some small
part by the Company, but the bulk of Indian products were taken
to Canton by the Country traders who paid the silver they
obtained for the sale of their goods into the Company's Canton
treasury, receiving In exchange Company's bills which were payable
in India. Of the Indian products which met with the most success
in China was opium. The importation of opium was forbidden by
the Chinese Government. It was grown by the East India Company
in India and sold by auction to private traders, who smuggled It
into China. The profits of the opium trade were considerable, and
the takings which were in silver were paid into the Company's
Canton treasury and used to buy tea which was exported to England.
The profits of the tea trade were used by the East
India Company to help their Government in India to balance Its
budgets and this was used as one of their chief arguments for the
continuance of the China monopoly; if it was abolished they
claimed, then the Government of India would find great difficulty
in financing its governmental activities. The Company had always
found difficulty in securing remittances from India to England to
provide returns for the manufactured goods they were able to
dispose of in quantity to the natives of India. In its simplest
form the Company's trading system consisted of exporting British
goods to India; India could not find satisfactory remittances to
England; but instead she sent her own products to China through
the Country trade; the money which these products earned was
paid into the Company's Canton treasury in return for Company's
bills payable in India; the Company used the money in the Canton
treasury to buy teas which were sold at a profit in London,
thereby paying for the British goods sent to India.
OPIUM IN INDIA.
The Government had always controlled the cultivation
of opium in Bengal. Ryots wishing to cultivate the drug had
first to secure permission from the Government and to place all
their crop at the disposal of the authorities1. By such methods,
up to the first few years of the Nineteenth Century only a small
quantity of opium was produced, and this was sold at auction by
the East India Company to the private traders who smuggled it
into China. As long as the quantity cultivated was small the
-
1. Owen: "British Opium Policy- in China and India", page 47.