330

THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE

annual  export  of  Tls.10,000,000  in  the  ten  years  previous  ”
to  1839  ;  and  this  instance,  and  the  drain  of  silver  deducible
from  it,  have  been  generally  accepted  in  the  histories.
This  drain  of  silver  is  not  proved  by  facts.  The  sum  is
first  to  be  discounted  as  being  a  fine-sounding  round  figure
useful  to  support  a  prohibitory  edict  ;  and,  being  in  a
Chinese  official  document,  the  statement  must  be  interpreted ­
  strictly,  and  not  taken  to  imply  more  than  it  says.
It  may  be  true  that  in  ten  years  shipments  of  treasure
amounted  to  upwards  of  Tls.10,000,000  annually,  but  it
does  not  follow  that,  on  balancing  exports  against  imports,
the  net  export  was  as  much.  Several  foreign  writers  of  the
time  refer  to  the  permits  specially  required  for  the  shipment
of  treasure,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  any  reported
export  of  treasure  was  derived  from  the  records  of  such
permits  without  any  offset  or  the  introduction  of  alien
matters.  It  was  before  the  day  of  banks  ;  and  while  it  is
almost  true  that  at  that  time  each  ship  had  to  square  with
hard  cash  its  accounts  for  imports  and  exports,  it  is  absolutely ­
  true  of  each  merchant,  whether  in  a  season  he  had
one  ship  or  several.  India  supplied  the  opium,  but  took
no  tea  and  no  considerable  quantity  of  silk,  and  shipment
of  treasure  to  India  was  inevitable.  In  the  present  day
that  country  sends  to  China  commodities  to  the  average
annual  value  of  over  Tls.80,000,000,  and  receives  in  return
commodities  not  exceeding  Tls.10,000,000  in  value  ;  to-day
the  difference  is  adjusted  by  bank  bills,  but  then  the
opium  from  India  could  not  be  paid  for  by  tea  shipped
to  England  or  America,  but  must  be  paid  for  in  cash  and
the  specie  shipped,  except  in  so  far  as  it  might  be  taken
over  by  the  East  India  Company  against  its  bills  on  Calcutta»
to  provide  funds  with  which  to  buy  tea.  Except  for  the
opium  of  India  and  the  spices  of  the  Southern  Isles,  the
rest  of  the  world  could  provide  little  that  China  wanted.
England  could  send  a  few  pieces  of  camlet,  probably  not
a  hundredth  of  what  was  needed  to  buy  a  cargo  of  tea
and  from  the  English,  American,  Dutch,  Portuguese,  and
other  trade,  poured  in  a  stream  of  silver  in  the  shape  of