Part 2

The Choo, or Pearl River, commonly called the Canton River, presented a vastly different appearance on the 21st February, 1825, from what it did twenty years later. It was then crowded with native vessels, including those immense coasting junks which have now almost entirely disappeared. They then made voyages to the northern and southern ports of China, to the Celebes, Borneo and Java, and to Singapore, as well as to Manila. Long tiers of salt junks lined the shore of the island of Honam; these brought cargoes from Teenpak and places on the coast south-westward of Macao. They were owned by a corporation of salt merchants, who enjoyed a monopoly of the trade, and, to prevent smuggling, a special fleet of cruisers was organised by the local government. The penalties against a clandestine introduction of salt were as severe and more rigorously carried out than even against opium. The merchants were an influential body, as much considered as the Hong merchants, whom they rivalled in wealth. The number of cargo boats from the interior, of passenger boats, floating residences and up-country craft, with Government cruisers and flower boats, was prodigious. To these must be added sampans,[6] ferry boats plying to and from Honam, and quantities of barbers' boats, vendors of every description of food, of clothes, of toys, and what would be called household requirements if in shops on shore; besides boats of fortune-tellers and of theatrical performers--in short, imagine a city afloat, and it conveys a very correct idea of the incessant movement, the subdued noises, the life and gaiety of the river.

But now, an additional interest was added to this floating scene, from its being the first days of the Chinese new year. The noise of gongs, as a compliment to the meeting of mutual acquaintances or when one boat or junk arrived or set sail, was startling; and finally, the red and gilt patches of paper, on which words or sentences were written in large black characters, appropriate to the opening of the new year, formed another conspicuous feature on every kind of craft. Ships' boats were usually furnished with paddles, which were always brought into use from below the Dutch Folly to the landing place in front of the factories. The oars of our boat being therefore replaced by them, with skill and patience, after two hours from Whampoa, we landed at 'Jackass Point,' so memorable in the days of old Canton. Crossing the Square, under the guidance of Captain Keen, we entered the Suy-Hong, and met with the kindest reception from Mr. Jacob Covert and Oliver H. Gordon, the special agents of Mr. Smith, and from the two younger members of the office, John H. Grosvenor and Thomas Bloodgood.

Having been sent by Mr. Smith to Canton expressly to study the Chinese language preparatory to entering his office there, as the difficulties to be overcome in providing a teacher for me proved insuperable, Mr. Covert decided to send me at once to Singapore, where a college had been commenced in which foreign students could be received, and which might be ready for the purpose. I went, therefore, to the Straits in the Bombay ship 'Good Success,' Captain Poynton, and arrived at my destination in the month of April, after seventeen days' passage. I took letters to the Resident, Mr. Crawford, and others, and was consigned to Messrs. A. L. Johnston and Co. The college, however, had not only not been finished, but there was no prospect of its being. My friends, therefore, after taking information from Malacca, where the Anglo-Chinese College was in full operation, sent me there in a small native brig. We arrived after four days' passage from Singapore. During the two months that I passed at Singapore I was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Read in their bungalow on the ascent of Government Hill. I shall never forget the parental care of my host and hostess. They soon caused me to forget that I was the youngest of strangers in, to me, a most strange land. To this day I recall their quiet and unaffected efforts to make me at home, and the drives they took me in their palkee gharrie. The novelty of everything interested me; it was as if I had landed on another planet. At that time the site occupied by the present town of Singapore was being cleared of its primitive jungle.

The Anglo-Chinese College was in every way adapted for instruction, and I continued in it as a student of Chinese until the end of December 1826. I then left in the ship 'Bengal Merchant' for Canton. She was loaded with cotton and opium, and not a fast sailer. Captain Brown was a most pleasant and agreeable gentleman, full of jokes and amusing stories with which to while away the time. We anchored at Singapore, which gave me an opportunity to see my old friends the Reads, Mr. A. L. Johnston, and to run up to Government House to make my salaam to Governor and Mrs. Crawford and their nieces, being received everywhere with a kindly welcome and the exclamation, 'How you have grown!' Continuing on our voyage, we passed through the Caramatta Passage, the Java Sea, Straits of Salayer, and into the Pacific by Dampier's Straits again. Between the Pelews and the Bashees we fell in with a typhoon _au grand complet_. At night the sea was as white as snow and of portentous height, coming upon us with the full uninterrupted sweep of the Pacific. We anchored at Lintin after a passage of sixty days.

Mr. D. W. C. Olyphant had arrived in 1826 as the successor of Mr. Covert; Mr. Gordon had entered the office of Messrs. Russell and Co., No. 2 Suy-Hong. The American Factory had been entirely built anew since 1825, and to it I betook myself. In addition to Mr. Olyphant were Charles N. Talbot and Charles W. King. Mr. Talbot was filling the office of U.S. Consul, and the flag was daily hoisted in the Square in front of the house. No. 1 Suy-Hong was occupied by James P. Sturgis, No. 3 by John R. Latimer, and No. 4 by John P. Cushing, T. T. Forbes, and John Hart. With Mr. Olyphant I called on, and made the acquaintance of, the Rev. Dr. Morrison, who had recently returned from England. Soon after I underwent a searching examination by him of the progress I had made in my Chinese studies at the Malacca College, and he pronounced it to be 'good.' There was no intention, however, that they should be discontinued, and in a few days I was placed under the tutorship of Le Seen-Sang. The tea season was over; all but one or two 'out of season' ships had sailed, but of those remaining was my old home and 'first cradle of the deep,' the 'Citizen,' and it was not long before Captain Keen and I again on board at Whampoa 'fought over the battles' of our voyage out together.

* * * * *

The year 1827 was a dull one so far as business was concerned, and I read Chinese with my teacher 'Le.' At length the tea season commenced in October. When the ships began to arrive, unpleasant news came also. My brother, of the office of Thomas H. Smith and Son (as it had become), wrote me that 'difficulties' existed in the affairs of the house. Finally it stopped payment and went into liquidation, but from causes not attributable to its China business. The Canton agency had therefore to be closed. Consulting with Mr. Olyphant in regard to myself, he advised me to return to New York, where only my position could be arranged. As usual at the time of which I write, certain indentures between employers and _employés_ were usually drawn up. They existed between Mr. Smith and myself. In them, he engaged to send me to China for the purpose of acquiring the Chinese language, and then to be employed in his Factory at Canton, as clerk or Factor, and I was to render him service until I should have reached the age of twenty-one. It was a long time for me to look forward to in 1827. Several ships of the New York house were loading which had arrived in regular course before insurmountable difficulties had occurred. Amongst them was the 'Mary Lord,' Captain Rosseter. I left in her and arrived in a good run of 120 days. My fellow-passenger was Mr. Daniel Stansbury, whose name has become identified with the American trade at Canton from his having been the inventor of a measuring rod, by which cargoes were ever after measured. It proved to be an instrument of wonderful accuracy and rapidity, simple in the extreme, as well as the most convenient that can be imagined. 'Stansbury's measuring rod,' now proverbial, dates from our last war with Great Britain, 1812, when the inventor, being at Canton, and business with the United States suspended for some time, in his days of forced idleness he conceived the actual mode of measuring cargoes, which up to that time had been measured with the foot rule!

My interviews with Mr. George W. Bruen, the partner of Mr. Smith, led to no other result than the cancelling of the indentures, without indemnity. Not long after Mr. D. W. C. Olyphant himself returned to New York, leaving Messrs. Talbot and King at Canton, with the view of establishing a house there of his own. His first purchase was a very fine ship named the 'Roman,' Captain Lavender, of about 500 tons. He offered me a passage out in her, for the _chance_ of being employed in the new house, which afterwards occupied for a great many years so distinguished a position in the commercial community in China. I accepted the _chance_ and sailed in the 'Roman' in October. We were in all six passengers. The father and brother of Mr. Charles N. Talbot going out for the trip; Mr. Talbot, senior, had already been to Canton in 1802 or 1803. Two of the others were the Rev. E. C. Bridgman and the Rev. David Abeel. They were the first American missionaries to the Chinese. The former became one of the most accomplished Sinalogues of the day (which I _do not_ attribute to my having given to both these gentlemen daily lessons on the passage out!), while Mr. Abeel was the _first_ United States Consul appointed at _any_ port north of Canton, being commissioned to Amoy.

* * * * *

We sailed in October, and anchored at Lintin in February, _viâ_ Dampier's Straits, in 134 days. I was received by Mr. Talbot, who, from the yet uncertain advices from New York as regarded future business, could hold out no encouragement for me of office work; but, failing any other house, I was always welcome to a return passage in the 'Roman.' There were very few American houses then in Canton, and they were Agencies; moreover, they seemed provided with youngsters, and I accordingly prepared to leave again for New York. Meanwhile, however, Mr. Talbot busied himself on my behalf, but the stay of the 'Roman' was short and she was soon to be despatched. There appeared absolutely nothing to be done. A few days before the ship sailed, while in my room, occupied with my luggage, one of the Chinese servants came to me, and said, 'Mr. Talbot chin-chin you come down.' I went accordingly, and was introduced to Mr. Samuel Russell, the chief of the house of Russell & Co. He had heard, he said, from Mr. Talbot, of my probable return home in the 'Roman,' and had come to invite me to his office. I accepted the offer, and in the evening I was duly installed at No. 2 Suy-Hong. This was on March 24, 1829, and it became my uninterrupted home until December 31, 1842.

* * * * *

The word 'Factory' was an importation from India, where the commercial establishments of the 'East India Company' were so designated, and synonymous with 'agency.' It is well to explain this, as it is now being confounded with 'manufactory.'

The space occupied by the foreign community at Canton was about 300 feet from the banks of the Pearl River, eighty miles from Macao, sixty miles from Lintin, forty miles from the Bogue Forts, and ten miles from the Whampoa anchorage. In breadth from east to west it was about 1,000 feet. On it stood the Factories, which comprised the dwellings and places of business of each nation originally under one roof. The line of frontage was uniform, all looking due south. The distinction of _new_ given to _one_ of the two buildings occupied by the 'Company' applied to that one which was rebuilt after the great fire of 1822, which destroyed all the others, with a few exceptions, as well as, according to official accounts, '12,000 Chinese houses, shops, and temples in the western suburb.' Each Factory consisted of a succession of buildings, behind one another, separated by narrow spaces or courts, and running north. The front ones were numbered 1, those back of them, nearly all of three stories, No. 2, 3, and so on. The least numerous Factories were then in the American Hong, the greatest number were in the Danish and Dutch Hongs, which contained seven and eight respectively.

The Chinese word 'Hong' was applied to any place of business, but was more particularly used to designate the Hongs of the 'Security Merchants' whence Hong Merchants or any foreign Factory in its entirety. It signifies a row of buildings. By the Chinese, the places of business of foreigners were known as 'Foreign Hongs;' those of the Security Merchants as 'Foreign Hong Merchants.'

Beginning at the west, stood the Danish Factory; adjoining it were Chinese shops in its whole length, forming New China Street, which here intervened, separating it from the Spanish. Next the French, and by its side in its whole length, that of the Hong Merchant Chungqua; Old China Street here came in, and against it was the American, then the Imperial, by its side the Paou-shun, next in order the Swedish, the old English, and then the Chow-Chow.[7] Now came a small narrow lane, the renowned Hog Lane, most appropriately named. The high walls of the new English Factory bordered the lane, having as next neighbour eastward the Dutch, and next to this stood the Creek Factory. The latter took its name from a small creek, which, running down along the walls of the city, here emptied into the river. Originally this creek formed the ditch of the west side of the city.

The entire number of buildings, therefore, was thirteen. Immediately in their rear, and running east and west, was a long, narrow, but important street, named 'Thirteen Factory Street.'

From the front of the new English a long broad terrace projected towards the river, its columns supporting an entablature, whose pediment bore the arms of England with the substitute of 'Pro Regis et Senatus Angliæ' for 'Honi soit qui mal y pense.' The Dutch company ('Maatschappay') possessed a similar terrace, with the national arms and motto 'Je maintiendrai.' These two, the English and Dutch Companies, were the direct successors of those founded on December 31, 1600, and in 1602 respectively. The English Jack, the Dutch, the United States, and the Spanish flags, were daily, in 1825, hoisted before those respective Factories, and were visible from a great distance. The Spanish flag represented the Philippine Company. The French flag was hoisted on December 13, 1832, after an interval of thirty years; it denoted simply the Canton residence of the Consul, as the trade of that country was insignificant, while the Swedish, Danish, and Imperial (Austrian) direct commerce had ceased, and no other Western nation traded directly with Canton. Portugal was confined in her commercial relations to her own colony of Macao; Russia to Kiachkta. From the port of Cha-po, on the east coast of China, two junks sailed annually to Nagasaki. Siamese vessels would occasionally be seen at Whampoa, when conveying tribute bearers on their way to Pekin, and not far from the Factories was the residence of the Ambassadors.

At the northern extremity of Old China Street, and facing it, stood an extensive and handsomely built series of buildings, in the Chinese style, called the 'Consoo' House, or 'Council Hall of the Foreign Factories.' It contained numerous suites of rooms for receptions and business, with open courtyards, and was always kept in excellent order and cleanliness by the Chinese in charge. It was the property of the Hong merchants collectively, and was maintained by funds appropriated by them for the purpose. When any event bearing upon the foreign trade required it, such as new regulations, or confirming old ones, or a revision of duties, the 'Tai pans' or _Chiefs of Houses_ would be invited to meet the Hong merchants and discuss the subject. Any foreigner went if inclined, and would occasionally learn of many official acts, having a bearing upon business, and even upon his daily walks or boat-pulling on the river, which may have come under the notice of the authorities, who would have suggested shorter journeys or the exercise of care from collisions. It was also in the Consoo House that the Hong merchants met, or a committee of them, in the rare cases of bankruptcy or pecuniary difficulties of one of their number, and it was the depository of books of accounts relative thereto, as well as of records of meetings. The entrance to it was by a flight of broad granite steps, through large heavy folding doors of a highly polished and valuable wood.[8] Being a handsome specimen of this style of Chinese architecture, foreign visitors to Canton were taken to see it as one of the sights.

The Factories were the individual property of the Hong merchants, and were hired of them. By law, no women were permitted to enter them, nor were guns, muskets, powder, or military weapons allowed to be brought within the gates. Entrance to the rear Factories was by arched passages running through those in front. The lower floors were occupied by counting-rooms, go-downs, and store-rooms, by the rooms of the Compradore, his assistants, servants and coolies, as well as by a massively built treasury of granite, with iron doors, an essential feature, there being no banks in existence. In front of each treasury was a well-paved open space, with table for scales and weights, the indispensable adjuncts of all money transactions, as receipts and payments were made by weight only, except in some peculiar case. The second floor was devoted to dining and sitting rooms, the third to bedrooms. As almost all were provided with broad verandahs and the buildings put up with care, they were quite comfortable, although in every respect devoid of ornamental work. In front of the middle Factories between Old China Street and Hog Lane ran a broad stone pavement, and this bordered an open space running down to the banks of the river, a distance of about three hundred feet. On the east side it was bounded by the wall of the East India Company's landing place and enclosure, and on the west by the wall in front of the landing and enclosure of Chungqua's Hong. The Chinese were prohibited from loitering about this 'Square,' as it was called. On the corner of Old China Street and the American Hong stood a guard-house with ten or a dozen Chinese soldiers, acting as police to prevent disturbance or annoyance to the 'foreign devils.' On the edge of the river, facing the 'Pow Shun' and the Creek Hongs were 'Chop' houses,[9] or branches of the Hoppo's department, whose _duty_ it was to prevent smuggling, but whose _interest_ it was to aid and facilitate the shipping off of silks (or the landing of cloths) at a considerable reduction from the Imperial tariff. A few pleasant words, accompanied by a fee, would secure a permit for the boat of the 'Wandering Eagle' to be allowed to pass all revenue cruisers 'without molestation' on her way to Whampoa.

The words Factory and Hong were interchangeable, although not identical. The former, as will have been seen, consisted of dwellings and offices combined. The latter not only contained numerous offices for _employés_, cooks, messengers, weighmasters, &c., but were of vast extent, and capable of receiving an entire ship's cargo, as well as quantities of teas and silk. When speaking of their own residences, foreigners generally used the word 'Factories;' when of a Hong merchant's place of business, the word Hong. The Swedish Factory, however, seemed to enjoy the distinction of going by its Chinese appellation, viz. 'Suy-Hong.'[10]

I have been thus specific in the description of these world-renowned Factories, as they were subsequently razed to the ground consequent upon Sir Michael Seymour's bombardment of the city of Canton. When I last visited the site, nearly thirty-five years after I first took up my residence in them, it was literally unrecognisable. It presented a scene, the desolation of desolation; there remained not one stone upon another! For more than one hundred years they had formed the sole residence of foreigners within the limits of the vast Chinese Empire. The business transacted within their walls was incalculable, and I think I am safe in saying that from the novelty of the life, the social good feeling and unbounded hospitality always mutually existing; from the facility of all dealings with the Chinese who were assigned to transact business with us, together with their proverbial honesty, combined with a sense of perfect security to person and property, scarcely a resident of any lengthened time, in short, any 'Old Canton,' but finally left them with regret.

In no part of the world could the authorities have exercised a more vigilant care over the personal safety of strangers who of their own free will came to live in the midst of a population whose customs and prejudices were so opposed to everything foreign, and yet the Chinese Government was bound by no treaty obligations to _specially_ provide protection for them. They dwelt at Canton purely on sufferance. Neither Consul nor any other official representative from abroad was directly acknowledged as such, and yet the solicitude of the local government never flagged. In addition to the guards always posted at the corner of the American Hong and Old China Street, others were stationed in various directions in the suburbs frequented by foreigners, in order that any Chinese who might be troublesome could be driven off, or that they could escort back to the factories those who were uncertain of their whereabouts.

During the north-east monsoon fires were quite frequent in the densely populated suburbs lying north of the factories. When they threatened the foreign quarter the Hong merchants, acting in consonance with the known wishes of the Mandarins, would send gangs of armed coolies to assist in the removal to boats provided by them of books, papers, treasure, and personal effects. All strange Chinese would be ruthlessly driven from the Square, and an unobstructed passage to the boats secured. I have witnessed this repeatedly. Should a foreigner get into a disturbance in the street, and it was generally safe to say it was through his own fault, the Chinamen went to the wall. When a mob of many thousand ruffians invaded the Factory Square, as in November 1838, shortly preceding the opium surrender, and with stones and missiles of all sorts drove the foreigners inside their gates, which they were forced to barricade, a not unnatural anxiety prevailed amongst us as to what might be the result. Yet this attack was _caused by foreigners, who interfered with the Mandarins_ while attempting to carry out Government orders.