Page:American Diplomacy in the Orient - Foster (1903).djvu/67

 Bribery and smuggling were conducted with the connivance of the authorities. No direct means were afforded the foreigners to communicate directly with the local or imperial authorities for redress of their grievances, as all intercourse with them was conducted through the hong merchants. The consuls were not recognized in any way by the authorities, nor were they even allowed to communicate with them. They affected to despise trade as unworthy of their exalted station. The consuls were looked upon as the mere chiefs of the mercantile houses, and possessed no power or jurisdiction over their citizens or subjects frequenting the ports other than such as the latter chose to concede to them. As late as 1839 the consul at Canton, in writing to the Secretary of State, called attention to some humiliating demands of the authorities sought to be required of him in the form of his correspondence, and says: "These trifles seem to show their determination never to permit a foreign nation to presume on an equality with their own." The arbitrary course frequently taken by the authorities of Canton against foreign shipping and merchants is explained by the fundamental maxims of Chinese intercourse with foreigners, some of which are as follows: "The barbarians are like beasts, and not to be ruled on the same principles as natives. Were any one to attempt controlling them by the great maxims of reason, it would tend to nothing but confusion. The ancient kings well understood this, and accordingly ruled barbarians with misrule." The term "barbarian" was the usual epithet applied to all foreigners, much in the same