SAMUEL SHAW

Polygamy is allowed among the Chinese, and a man is pleased with his favorite wife and with his Maker in proportion to the number of sons she bears him; no account is made of daughters.

The day of our arrival at Canton, August 30th, and the two following days, we were visited by the Chinese merchants … and treated by them in all respects as citizens of a free and independent nation. As such, during our stay, we were universally considered. The Chinese themselves were very indulgent towards us, though, ours being the first American ship that had ever visited China, it was some time before they could fully comprehend the distinction between us and Englishmen. They styled us the New People; and when by the map we conveyed to them an idea of the extent of our country, with its present and increasing population, they were highly pleased at the prospect of so considerable a market for the productions of their own empire.

It is happy for America that she has a patriot army, and equally so that a Washington is its leader. I rejoice in the opportunities I have had of seeing this great man in a variety of situations; — calm and intrepid where the battle raged, patient and persevering under the pressure of misfortune, moderate and possessing himself in the full career of victory. Great as these qualifications deservedly render him, he never appeared to me more truly so, than at the assembly we have been speaking of. On other occasions he has been supported by the exertions of an army and the countenance of his friends; but in this he stood single and alone.

The commerce of the Europeans with China appears to be as simple, perhaps, as any in the known world. The Danes, Spaniards, Imperialists, Swedes, French, English, and Dutch, have regular establishments at Canton, and trade by companies. The Portuguese, although they are in possession of Macao, do not, in the manner of the other nations, keep a public establishment, but carry on their trade by agents sent from Europe who also return in the ships.

The accumulated hardships under which the army had so long labored made their situation intolerable, and called aloud for immediate redress. An application to the supreme authority of America was thought a salutary measure, and the improbability of obtaining relief from the States individually, after the treatment the Massachusetts line had experienced from their State, rendered it absolutely indispensable.

The people of America seem to have lost sight entirely of the noble principle which animated them at the commencement of it. That patriotic ardor which then inspired each breast, — that glorious, I had almost said godlike, enthusiasm, — has given place to avarice, and every rascally practice which tends to the gratification of that sordid and most disgraceful passion. I don't know as it would be too bold an assertion to say, that its depreciation is equal to that of the currency, — thirty for one.

The accumulated hardships under which the army had so long labored made their situation intolerable, and called aloud for immediate redress. An application to the supreme authority of America was thought a salutary measure, and the improbability of obtaining relief from the States individually, after the treatment the Massachusetts line had experienced from their State, rendered it absolutely indispensable.

It is happy for America that she has a patriot army, and equally so that a Washington is its leader. I rejoice in the opportunities I have had of seeing this great man in a variety of situations; — calm and intrepid where the battle raged, patient and persevering under the pressure of misfortune, moderate and possessing himself in the full career of victory. Great as these qualifications deservedly render him, he never appeared to me more truly so, than at the assembly we have been speaking of. On other occasions he has been supported by the exertions of an army and the countenance of his friends; but in this he stood single and alone.

The people of America seem to have lost sight entirely of the noble principle which animated them at the commencement of it. That patriotic ardor which then inspired each breast, — that glorious, I had almost said godlike, enthusiasm, — has given place to avarice, and every rascally practice which tends to the gratification of that sordid and most disgraceful passion. I don't know as it would be too bold an assertion to say, that its depreciation is equal to that of the currency, — thirty for one.

Polygamy is allowed among the Chinese, and a man is pleased with his favorite wife and with his Maker in proportion to the number of sons she bears him; no account is made of daughters.

The commerce of the Europeans with China appears to be as simple, perhaps, as any in the known world. The Danes, Spaniards, Imperialists, Swedes, French, English, and Dutch, have regular establishments at Canton, and trade by companies. The Portuguese, although they are in possession of Macao, do not, in the manner of the other nations, keep a public establishment, but carry on their trade by agents sent from Europe who also return in the ships.

The day of our arrival at Canton, August 30th, and the two following days, we were visited by the Chinese merchants … and treated by them in all respects as citizens of a free and independent nation. As such, during our stay, we were universally considered. The Chinese themselves were very indulgent towards us, though, ours being the first American ship that had ever visited China, it was some time before they could fully comprehend the distinction between us and Englishmen. They styled us the New People; and when by the map we conveyed to them an idea of the extent of our country, with its present and increasing population, they were highly pleased at the prospect of so considerable a market for the productions of their own empire.