TEA. 1. Early History of Tea Trade between the United States and China. The early history of tea in the West is intimately bound up with that of the foreign trade of China. In all probability Chinese tea first reached America from England.1 Since 1711 the British East India Company practically monopolized the tea trade between China and the United States, and it is said that the company reaped a handsome profit therefrom.2 Although it is impossible now to determine the exact quantity of tea imports into the American Colonies in those days, yet it is fairly certain that this article took a quite significant share of the total colonial imports. It is quite interesting to note the early American tea trade in connection with the American Revolution and the establishment of the United States. Although tea is an article which may be said to have connotations eminently peaceful, yet it has been the cause of several wars and a number of political problems. It was the three-penny tax on Chinese tea that led the English colonists to revolt against their mother country and to establish the United States. It was Chinese tea that was chosen above all others to emphasize the principles that "All men are born free and equal" and that "taxation without representation is tyranny." Who, in looking back over a long range of events in American history, can fail to have his attention attracted to what has been termed, with a characteristic touch of American humor, "The Boston Tea Party of 1773"? After the reestablishment of peace the first direct commercial transaction between the United States and China was 1 Walsh, J. M. Tea; Its History and Mystery, p. 23. Philadelphia, 1892. 2 'Day, Samuel Phillips; Tea, Its History and Mystery, p. 59. London, 1878. concerned with tea. In 1784 the American ship Empress of China was sent to China, and in the following year brought back a full cargo of the herb, reaping a handsome profit.* Since that time swift ships have been expressly built in the United States for the tea trade. They were the first of the class of vessels known as "clippers" in which speed was sought at the expense of carrying capacity, and by which the average passage was reduced twenty or thirty days for the round trip. During the last ten years of the eighteenth century, the American importation of tea averaged about 2,600,000 pounds each year, a small part of which-usually less than five per cent-was imported indirectly by way of England. Very little was re-exported because the quantity imported was just enough for home consumption. 4 As the American merchant marine became more developed and especially active in Chinese waters, tea trade accordingly increased in volume. From 1800 to 1810 the annual import was about 5,400,000 pounds, being more than double the figure of the preceding decade. The exportation of teas from China in American ships, however, was not to supply the home market alone. There were also large shipments of tea to other countries, both directly from China and by reexportation from the United States. During the Napoleonic wars the proportion of re-export was large, amounting usually to a third of the year's imports." The American war with England in 1812 caused a serious decline in the Chinese tea trade with America. But after the close of the war the recovery was rapid, and in a few years tea had almost become the sole important article of import from China. In value the proportion of tea to the total American imports from China during the early years is 'Walsh, J. M.; Tea; Its History and Mystery, p. 6. 'See Chapter I. 5 Pitkins: Statistic View of the Commerce of the United States, ed. 1836, pp. 246-247. shown quinquennially in Table 27. It can be readily seen that in the years following 1814 the relative proportion of tea to other Chinese imports constantly increased, until in 1840 it amounted to eighty-two per cent. of the total. After this year the ratio declined, though slowly, and in another score of years it became 65.5 per cent. TABLE 27 THE PROPORTION OF TEA IMPORTS TO THE TOTAL AMERICAN IMPORTS, FROM CHINA During this early period the absolute increase in the quantity of tea imported was fairly steady, from five million pounds in 1821, to nine millions in 1830, twenty millions in 1840, thirty millions in 1850, and twenty-six millions in 1860; but the per capita consumption in this country did not show any regular increase. After the beginning of the nineteenth century the American tea traders entered into very keen competition with the British East India Company. Not only was the monopoly in tea trade which the company had enjoyed throughout the eighteenth century ruined, but the very existence of the Company was threatened, because the English Parliament felt dissatisfaction over the company's defeat. This led R. M. Martin, a member of the English Parliament, to make an elaborate report to the legislature for the purpose of defending the company. This, however, had little effect, and 'Martin, R. Montgomery: The Past and Present State of the Tea Trade of England, and of the Continent of Europe and America. London, 1832. |