Series 4 > William Melrose in China, 1845-1855

INTRODUCTION
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occupied by the English East India Company. The factory was
located between the Spanish and Chow Chow factories, all of which
were fronted by an open square leading to the river, known as the
English and American Garden. The Old English Factory, which
measured about 400 feet in depth with a frontage of about 85 feet,
consisted of six rows of buildings running from front to back.
The only access to the houses was through a passage on the ground
floor. Number 3 had as its neighbour on one side a house occupied
by Rathbone Worthington and Silva, and on the other one occupied
by William Le Geyt and T. C. Piccope of Mac Vicar and Company.
By all accounts, the houses, especially those in the middle, were
poorly ventilated and tended to be hot and stuffy.1
Life in Canton had changed very little over the years; if anything
it was a little worse than pre-treaty days. The foreigners were still
confined to the quarters set aside by the Chinese authorities, a small
area measuring about 1,100 feet in length and about 700 feet in depth.
It lay southwest of the old city walls of Canton, entry to which was
still forbidden, and was bounded on the south by the Pearl River
swarming with boats of all kinds. The only unbuilt area measured
about 500 by 300 feet. During the days of the East India Company,
the supercargoes could enjoy a quiet stroll by the river and even
a little bowling. Now it was crowded with Chinese vending carts,
goods loading and unloading, and people shouting and milling in
a medley of sights, sounds and smells.2
The foreign community consisted almost entirely of men and
was truly international. Besides the British and Americans who vastly
oumumbered all others, there were Arabs, Dutch, French, Germans,
1 CR, xiv (1845), 347-51; William C. Hunter, The ‘Fan Kwae’ at Canton before
Treaty Days, 1825-1844 (London, 1882), esp. chart of factories facing 24; H. B. Morse,
The International Relations of the Chinese Empire (3 vols., New York, 1910), i, 71.
a For pictorial views of the city, see Auguste Borget, Sketches of China and the Chinese,
from Drawings ... (London, 1842), esp. plates xviii, xxiii, xxx of 1838-9; G. N.
Wright and Thomas Allom, China, in a series of Views ... (4 vols. London, 1843),
ii, 62-63; iv, 33-34 whose drawings are unfortunately over-westernized; Orange,
Chater Collection, contains many reproductions of George Chinnery’s drawings. For
verbal descriptions, see esp. Henry Charles Sirr, China and the Chinese (2 vols. London
i849), i, 67-105; Hunter, The ‘Fan Kwae’ and Bits of Old China (London, 1885).