Page:China- Its State and Prospects.djvu/47

Rh foreign trade. Hence European colonies in the east have begun to forbid the introduction of Chinese emigrants, some levying a heavy fine on all new comers, which amounts to an actual prohibition, and others sending whole cargoes away, bidding them seek another home.

To the merchant and manufacturer, this subject is not devoid of interest; particularly at a period when by the invention of machinery, goods are manufactured more than doubly sufficient for all the civilized tribes of Europe and America; when even our East Indian possessions are overstocked with the productions of art; and when a new market for our manufactures becomes a matter of serious concern to those who have already exceeded the necessities of neighbouring nations, and who are compelled to look out for purchasers in new and untried fields of commerce. But if China really contain so large a population as is assigned to it, in a climate where warm clothing is annually required, how large a field is thus opened to the speculations of capitalists and the energies of operatives, which for years and ages they would not be able fully to exhaust. Say not, the Chinese are poor and cannot pay for our goods; they already pay four millions of pounds sterling for our opium, which only injures and destroys them; and how is it that they cannot afford to purchase useful and necessary commodities, the wearing of which will as much promote their interests, as the sale will ours. It is true, their system is exclusive, and commerce with them is carried on under numerous restrictions; yet if such a vast mass of people exist and must be clothed; and if our merchants and manufacturers can furnish them with the