Exclusive of the country ships returning to India, there sailed last year from Canton and Macao forty-five ships for Europe, sixteen of which were English. The present season the numbers were as follows (Dec. 27):— English, 9-French, 4-Dutch, 5-Danish, 3-Portuguese, 4. American,.. English country ships, 8,.. Danish snow, 1,. In all,...... 25 for Europe. 1 for America. The amount of tea annually consumed by Great Britain and her dependencies at that time, is here stated to have been 14,000,000 pounds. Major Shaw's stay was marked by the occurrence of what was called "the Canton war," and by the honorable part which he took upon the occasion. We quote his narration of the circumstances from a letter written by him, after his return, to John Jay, who was then Minister of the United States for Foreign Affairs : "On the 25th of November, an English ship, in saluting some company that had dined on board, killed a Chinese and wounded two others in the mandarin's boat alongside. It is a maxim of the Chinese law that blood must answer for blood, in pursuance of which, they demanded the unfortunate gunner. To give up this poor man was to consign him to certain death. Humanity pleaded powerfully against the measure. After repeated conferences between the English and the Chinese, the latter declared themselves satisfied, and the affair was supposed to be entirely settled. Notwithstanding this, on the morning after the last conference, (the 27th,) the supercargo of the ship was seized, while attending his business, thrown into a sedan-chair, hurried into the city, and committed to prison. Such an outrage upon personal liberty spread a general alarm, and the Europeans unanimously agreed to send for their boats with armed men from the shipping, for the security of themselves and their property, until the matter should be brought to a conclusion. The boats accordingly came, and ours among the number; one of which was fired on, and a man wounded. All trade was stopped, and the Chinese men-of-war were drawn up opposite the factories. The Europeans demanded the restoration of the supercargo, Mr. Smith, which the Chinese refused, until the gunner should be given up. In the meanwhile, the troops of the province were collecting in the neighborhood of Canton; the Chinese servants were ordered by the magistrates to leave the factories; the gates of the suburbs were shut-all intercourse was at an end-the naval force was increased many troops were embarked in boats ready for landing, and everything wore the appearance of war. To what extremities matters might have been carried, had not a negotiation taken place, no one can say. The Chinese asked a conference with all the nations except the English. A deputation, in which I was included, for America, met the Fuen, who is the head magistrate of Canton, with the principal officers of the province. After setting forth, by an interpreter, the power of the emperor, and his own determination to support the laws, he demanded that the gunner should be given up within three days; declaring that he should have an impartial examination before their tribunal, and if it appeared that the affair was accidental, he should be released unhurt. In the meantime, he gave permission for the trade, excepting that of the English, to go on as usual, and dismissed us with a present of two pieces of silk each, as a mark of his friendly disposition. The other nations, one after another, sent away their boats, under protection of a Chinese flag, and pursued their business as before. The English were obliged to submit, the gunner was given up, Mr. Smith was released, and the English, after being forced to ask pardon of the magistracy of Canton, in presence of the other nations, had their commerce restored. On this occasion, I am happy to remark that we were the last who sent off our boat, which was not disgraced with a Chinese flag; nor did she go till the English themselves thanked us for our concurrence with them, and advised to the sending of her away. After peace was restored, the English chief and four other gentlemen visited the several nations, among whom we were included, and thanked them for their assistance during the troubles. The gunner remained with the Chinese, his fate undetermined." The unfortunate gunner was executed by the Chinese a few months afterwards. The bankrupt system of the Chinese is peculiar. All payments are required to be made before the close of their calendar year. If, on the last night of the old year, a debtor has left an account unsettled, he is visited at his house by his creditor, who seats himself, and, in unbroken silence, "watches the old year out and the new year in." When midnight is past the creditor rises, congratulates his debtor on the new year, and retires. The insolvent has then "lost his face." There is no credit for him afterwards. On the 26th of December, 1784, the business of the voyage being completed, the Empress of China set sail for home. Captain Green deemed it prudent to profit by the sailing of a Dutch ship, and to keep her company through the Chinese seas. The Dutchman, being a dull sailer by right of nationality, this confidence was repaid by a delay of several days and the loss of an anchor. During the sixty years that have elapsed since these occurrences, our ships have learned to go alone. The Empress stopped at North Island for wood. There Major Shaw met a young man who had left Europe with the intention of spending his days at Pekin. On reaching Canton, however, the impossibility of ever returning, if he should once enter the capital, appalled him, and he refused to proceed. The mandarins were in trouble, for they had mentioned his intention in their despatches to the court. He gave, as his excuse, that his father had died during his absence from home, and that his mother had written to him conjuring him to return and provide for her support. The mandarins admitted the piety of this excuse; but, deeming it insuf ficient to satisfy the authorities, they ingeniously settled the matter by reporting him sick in their next despatches, and afterwards officially ap prising the court of his death. On the 10th of May, 1785, the Empress of China arrived in New York. Shortly after, Major Shaw addressed a letter to John Jay, relating the occurrences of the voyage. This letter was laid before Congress, who directed Jay to announce to Major Shaw, "that Congress feel a peculiar satisfaction in the successful issue of this first effort of the citizens of America to establish a direct trade with China, which does so much honor to its undertakers and conductors." The profits of this voyage were $30,000, upwards of 25 per cent on the capital employed. Major Shaw's share of this, however, after being divided with his friend Randall, proved to be but a poor remuneration for his time and services. A The period of Shaw's absence had been one of bereavement. His father, to whom he was devotedly attached, and whose declining years he had hoped to cheer with his presence and society, had died in 1784. few months afterwards his eldest brother died; and Shaw felt it to be his duty to relinquish, for the present, the mercantile plans he had formed, and to remain in America, that he might attend to the settlement of his father's estate. General Knox was eager to manifest his kindness. He offered Shaw the post of first Secretary in the War Department, a station whose labors were not inconsistent with the performance of the duties he had assumed. Major Shaw accepted the office; and, shortly afterwards, accompanied General Knox on a tour, to inspect the magazines in the Southern States. The success which had attended the voyage of the Empress of China had attracted the notice of merchants; and, towards the close of 1785, it was proposed to Major Shaw, by Isaac Sears, Esq., and other gentlemen in New York, that he should take part with them in another enterprise of the same kind, and, in conjunction with Mr. Sears, should superintend the business of the voyage. The offers were liberal, and Shaw was induced to leave his public station, and to return to a business which promised him much success. In February, 1786, he was honorably discharged from the War Department; and, about the same time, he was appointed by Congress Consul for the United States at Canton. On the 4th of February, 1786, he sailed from New York in the ship Hope, Captain James Magee; his friend, Captain Randall, who, he had arranged, should be concerned with him in this undertaking also, and Mr. Sears, being his companions. In August they arrived at Canton, where Mr. Sears died. Shaw returned to New York in July, 1789, having, during his absence, passed several months in Bengal. Nothing, probably, in the life of Major Shaw, will be more pleasing to the reader than an incident which occurred after his return from this voyage :— "His brother, Francis Shaw, had died in the year 1785, leaving, besides daughters, two sons, who were at this time about seven or eight years old. To the widow of this brother, then residing in Goldsborough, Major Shaw, immediately on his arrival in the United States, wrote: 'I beg you to put your two sons under my care, that I may be to them instead of a father. If you consent, let them accompany, at once, their uncle William to Boston.' The offer was gratefully accepted. They were sent, and from that time were regarded by Major Shaw as his children. One of them was Robert Gould Shaw, now one of the most eminent and prosperous merchants of Boston." At the time of the publication of the Memoir, this gentleman addressed to Mr. Quincy the following graceful letter: "I am, sir, the oldest of those fatherless boys, and I well remember how affectionately and kindly he received me. He told me, if I would be a good boy, that I should never want a friend. I will not undertake to describe the influence that his kindness had upon my mind. From that day to this, I have, as he promised, never wanted a friend in time of need, nor have I ever forgotten. I trust, those who in such times have been my friends; by whose aid, protected by kind Providence, I have been placed in a position to repay, in part, by kindness to others, the debt that is so justly due from me." And most amply has the debt been paid. That germ of human kindness, planted in the heart of the child, has borne rich and abundant fruit, in the large beneficence of the man. During Major Shaw's absence on this voyage he had ordered a ship to be built, on his own account, at Germantown, in Quincy. This ship was launched in September, 1789, and was named the Massachusetts. She was of 820 tons burthen-larger than any merchant vessel previously built in the United States; and her model was pronounced, by naval commanders abroad, 66 as perfect as the then state of the art would permit." In this ship, commanded by Captain Job Prince, Shaw sailed from Bos-ton in March, 1790, on his third voyage to Canton. Before his departure, his commission, as consul, was renewed by President Washington. On his outward passage he stopped at Batavia, to dispose of some merchandise which he had purchased for that market. He was there informed, that, on account of some supposed violations of the revenue laws by the Americans, all commerce with that people had been forbidden by the home government. Shaw immediately made a suitable representation, to the governor-general and council, of the injustice and the impolicy of the measure. What was the result of this step, we are not informed. It seems, however, that the prohibition was regarded with as little favor by the colonists as by the Americans. Major Shaw returned to this country early in 1792. He immediately procured a ship of his own, and prepared for another voyage. While he remained at home, he paid his addresses to Hannah, the daughter of William Phillips, Esq., "of a family distinguished for its virtues and its prosperity." They were married on the 21st of August, 1792; but, auspicious as their union seemed, their happiness was doomed to be of short duration. In a few months they parted; the one, to be hurried to an early death; the other, to treasure up the memory of a few sunny hours through a long night of mourning-a night sad and lonely, yet not uncheered by the great rewards that active charity bestows upon the heart from which it springs, and by the glad contentment of a steadfast trust in God. In February, 1793, Shaw sailed for Bombay and Canton. At Bombay he contracted a disease of the liver, incident to the climate. He pursued his voyage to Canton; but, obtaining no relief there, he sailed for home. On the 30th of May, 1794, he died at sea. The intelligence of his sickness and of his death came to Mrs. Shaw at the same moment. Immediately after his marriage, Major Shaw had written this passage in his Bible: "Beneficent Parent of the universe! as in the years that are passed, so in those which are to come, may I rejoice in thy goodness, and, whether longer or shorter, may I be satisfied with life, and cheerfully submit myself to the dispensations of thy providence!" In this temper and spirit he died. Not long before his death," says his physician, "as I was standing by him, (we were alone,) he took hold of my hand and pressed it affectionately to his breast. He then sighed heavily, and, casting his eyes on the miniature of his wife, that hung at the foot of the berth, sighed again, and said, 'God's will be done.'" It was the close of a useful and an honorable life. Washington, who seldom erred in his judgment of men, gave him this commendation :— "From the testimony of the superior officers under whom Captain Shaw has served, as well as from my own observation, I am enabled to certify, that, throughout the whole of his service, he has greatly distinguished himself in everything which could entitle him to the character of an intelligent, active, and brave officer." Those qualities of heart and mind which formed the intelligence, the activity, and the courage of the soldier, were not less conspicuous in the sagacity, the enterprise, and the integrity of the merchant. The esteem in which he had been held during his life, and the impression produced by his death, are well told in an obituary notice published in the Columbian Centinel of the 20th of August, 1794, from which we take the following: -- "His fine natural talents, elegant erudition, and social benevolence, gained him the esteem of a numerous acquaintance, and fitted him for extensive usefulness to society. As an officer in the army, in which he served during the whole of the late war, his merit was conspicuous. Though possessed of much romantic ardor, he supported a dignity and consistency of character; was equally prudent and brave, and ever attentive to the duties of his station. "In his character of American consul for the port of Canton, he was called to act a part which required much discretion and firmness. On the occasion of ⚫ the Canton war,' as it was called, Mr. Shaw represented the American interest in such a manner as to throw a lustre on his commission, and give him great credit among the European merchants and other eminent characters abroad. At his return, his conduct met the approbation of the representatives of the United States in Congress. "He was considered as an ornament to his country, for his inflexible integrity, and a greatness of heart which he displayed on every occasion. The virtues which adorn the man, and which he manifested in his youth, became more splendid as he advanced in years, and engaged in public action. In the opinion of some persons, his spirit was too exalted to be successful in the common concerns of life. He did not love property for its own sake, but as the means of making his benevolence more extensive. He disdained many of those arts of traffic, which are daily practised, and deemed justifiable. His commercial dealings were regulated by the strictest honor, refined by the principles of philosophy and religion. "The engagements of commercial, and even of military life, did not seduce him from a love of science. Though he had not the advantage of an academical education, yet his classical merit was so conspicuous, that, in 1790, he was presented with the honorary degree of Master of Arts by the university of Cambridge. This was done in his absence, and without his knowledge, at the solicitation of several gentlemen of eminence in literature. About the same time he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. "Had he lived a few years longer, his country might have derived much benefit from his abilities, his information, and his virtues. His zeal to make others happy, would have endeared him still more to those who enjoyed his friendship, and made those hearts beat with new sensations of pleasure, which are now heavy with grief. The universal regret caused by his death is an evidence of the great esteem in which he was held. All who knew him lament him with expressions of sorrow equally lively and sincere." Gladly, as we close this imperfect sketch, would we pay our tribute of respect to him, who has given the hours of his well-earned leisure to these grateful labors. But it becomes us to be silent. It is not for us to apportion the measure of praise that is due to one who has borne, with new honor, so illustrious a name. Most pleasing will it be to those, his contemporaries, who saw his great abilities and his untiring industry, in the years when he held a lofty place in the councils of the state; most pleasing to the thousands, still on the threshold of active life, who have learned to love him in that near relation in which he was ever a watchful guide and a zealous friend; to behold him thus filling up the full circle of duty, and, to the many labors, in which he has done good service to the living, adding this merited offering to the memory of the dead. |