Embassy to the Eastern Courts of Cochin-China, Siam, and Muscat. Edmund Roberts
detailing the neglected state of our commerce with certain eastern princes, and showing that the difference between the duties paid on English and American commerce, in their dominions, constituted of itself a very important item in profit, in favour of the former.
Subsequently to this period, Mr. Woodbury was appointed to the secretaryship of the Navy, and consequently became more deeply interested in the success of our floating commerce.
Scarcely had his appointment been confirmed before the melancholy news arrived, that the ship Friendship, of Salem, Mass., had been plundered, and a great portion of her crew murdered, by the natives of Qualah Battu.
As an important branch of our commerce to the pepper ports on the western coast of Sumatra was endangered, by the successful and hostile act of these barbarians, it was deemed necessary that the piratical outrage should be promptly noticed by a national demand for the surrender and punishment of the aggressors.
About this period, the U. S. ship-of-war Potomac was nearly ready to proceed to her station on the western coast of South America, by way of Cape Horn, but her destination was immediately changed for the western coast of Sumatra, accompanied by instructions to carry into effect the measures of government against the inhabitants of Qualah Battu.
As our government was anxious to guard against any casualty which might befall the Potomac in fulfilling her directions, it resolved to despatch the United States’ sloop-of-war Peacock and schooner Boxer, to carry into effect, if necessary, the orders of the first-named vessel, and also to convey to the courts of Cochin-China, Siam and Muscat, a mission charged to effect, if practicable, treaties with those respective powers which would place American commerce on a surer basis, and on an equality with that of the most favoured nations trading to those kingdoms.
A special or confidential agent being necessary to carry into effect the new measures of government, I had the honour to be selected for that duty, at the particular recommendation of the secretary of the Navy.
The summary chastisement of the inhabitants of Qualah Battu, and the complete success of Com. Downes, in the performance of the duties assigned by government, rendered a visit from the Peacock to that place unnecessary, and thus left the objects of the mission more fully open to a complete and minute investigation. How far they have been faithfully accomplished, I leave to the candid and impartial judgment of those who peruse the details of the Embassy, in the following pages.
At the period of my visit to the courts of Siam and Muscat, American commerce was placed on a most precarious footing, subject to every species of imposition which avarice might think proper to inflict, as the price of an uncertain protection.
Nor was it to pecuniary extortions alone that the uncontrolled hand of power extended. The person of the American citizen, in common with that of other foreigners, was subject to the penalties of a law which gave the creditor an absolute power over the life, equally with the property, of the debtor, at the court of Siam. As an American, I could not fail to be deeply impressed with the barbarity of this legal enactment, and its abrogation, in relation to my own countrymen, detailed in the Embassy, I consider as not the least among the benefits resulting from the mission.
With the courts of Siam and Muscat, it will be seen, I was enabled to effect the most friendly relation, and to place our commerce on a basis in which the excessive export and import duties, previously demanded, were reduced fifteen per cent.
If in the attainment of these benefits some sacrifice of personal feeling was at times made for the advantage of American commerce, the dignity of my country was never lost sight of, nor her honour jeoparded by humiliating and degrading concessions to eastern etiquette.
The insulting formalities required as preliminaries to the treaty, by the ministers from the capital of Cochin-China, left me no alternative, save that of terminating a protracted correspondence, singularly marked from its commencement to its termination by duplicity and prevarication in the official servants of the emperor. The detail of the various conversations, admissions and denials, on the part of these eastern ministers, in the pages of the Embassy, exhibits their diplomatic character in true, but not favourable colours.
The unprotected state of our trade from the Cape of Good Hope to the eastern coast of Japan, including our valuable whale-fishery, was painfully impressed on my attention in the course of the Embassy. Not a single vessel-of-war is to be seen waving the national flag over our extensive commerce from the west of Africa to the east of Japan: our merchantmen, trading to Java, Sumatra and the Philippine islands, are totally unprotected. The extent of this commerce may be estimated from the fact that there arrived in two ports in Java during one year, one hundred and one ships, the united tonnage of which, amounted to thirty-eight thousand, eight hundred and seventy-seven tons. To this may be added the whale-fishery on the Japanese coast, which likewise calls loudly for succour, and protection from the government. The hardy whaler—the fearless adventurer on the deep—yielding an immense revenue to his country, amid sufferings and privations of no common order, certainly claims at the hand of that country, protection from the savage pirate of the Pacific. Among this class of citizens too, we may look for those bold and determined spirits who would form the bulwark of our national navy. The protection of this important and prolific branch of commerce is, in every point of view, a political and moral advantage. I indulge the hope that it will become the object of special legislation, and that the hardy sons of the ocean, while filling the coffers of their country, may enjoy the protection of her flag.
The various tables relative to exports, imports, currencies, weights and measures, in the various places visited by the Embassy, will, I trust, be found greatly beneficial to the commercial enterprise which, yearly, extends from the Cape of Good Hope to the China sea. They have been compiled in some instances from direct observation, and in others, from the best authority which could be obtained. While it has been my special object to render the pages of the Embassy a guide to the best interests of commerce, I have not been unmindful of the claims which the general reader may have on a work embracing a view of that interesting quarter of the world, the eastern and southern portion of the eastern hemisphere; its natural scenery, productions, language, manners, ceremonies, and internal political regulations, will be found in the Embassy. The picture may not be at all times of a pleasing character; it has rather been my object to give the original impression, than to decorate it with any factitious colouring. When visible demonstration could be obtained, I have always resorted to it, in drawing my conclusions; and in those cases in which this best auxiliary was denied me, I have given the testimony of travellers from other countries, who preceded me in visiting the courts touched at by the Embassy, and whose details have received the sanction of the world.
The abject condition of morals among the inhabitants of the Indian ocean, will naturally interest the philanthropist: while rejoicing in the high moral tone of society which distinguishes his own happy land, he will look with an eye of compassion on those regions where the worship of the Supreme Being gives place to the mysterious idolatry of Budha, or the external ceremonies of Confucius.
The searcher after literary information will find in the account of the literary institutions of China much interesting and useful matter for observation and reflection. In relation to the strictness of her collegiate examinations, and the high grade of learning necessary to secure their honours, some useful hints may be derived to our own collegiate institutions.
In the appendix will be found a curious literary document in relation to the aborigines of the Malay peninsula, particularly of the negroes called Semang, accompanied by specimens of the Semang language in two dialects, for which due credit has been given in the Embassy.
The philologist will doubtless receive this accession to the common stock of inquiries into the origin of language, with considerable gratification. A philosophical investigation of the relationship existing between the varied families of the earth, and their common origin, may perhaps yet be based on the analogy existing between their language and dialects.
The phraseology of the epistolary document from the Sultan of Muscat to the President of the United States, with that contained in the letter from Tumbah Tuah to Captain Geisinger, at Bencoolen, furnishes specimens of that figurative and high-wrought diction, for which the Oriental nations are