Foreign Mud

In the early days of the eighteenth century the British following venturesome Portuguese, Dutch, and Spanish had established a trading base at Canton where they soon outstripped in activity their European competitors. From the beginning trade was restricted by regulations devised by the Chinese to keep the foreigners at arm's length, yet permitting the Chinese to continue to export their teas and silks and to receive desired British goods. The export of Chinese commodities far exceeded the imports of British goods and this resulted in an adverse cash balance to the British traders. …