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Auction: 21042 - The Opium Wars Collection
Lot: 25

First Opium War
The Opium Trade
The Start of the Troubles
1839 (2 Jan.) river mail entire letter to Capt. William Graves, American Ship Thos Perkins, Whampoa and carried on the "Bufboat", written by William R Talbot in Canton. The letter opens, "The trade is again open for all those vessels that are secured and I have put in their chops for you to be alongside tomorrow morning ...". With detailed ink brush-stroke delivery characters on the flap; vertical filing fold.


The 'Thomas Perkins' had been expelled from Canton (to Whampoa) in a dispute with the Chinese over some opium smuggled onshore at Canton. According to the record, William R. Talbot was a member of Olyphant & Co which was one of the very few American firms which never had any dealings with opium. It is thought that confusion in the sound of names, the authorities had wrongly accused Talbot and the ship 'Thomas Perkins' involved in the complicity in the opium smuggling on 6th December (for which some coolies were executed on the spot) and they were incorrectly included in the expulsion order. An interesting item illustrating some of the tension at the prelude to the war

provenance:
Eddie Lawrence, September 2014


1839年1月2日廣州William R Talbot 以內河客船 "Beef Boat" 郵寄往泊於黄埔的美國船"Thomas Perkins 號" 上的Capt. William Graves 信函. 函面上以中文寫上"此信煩至黄埔交記獵時船主收入/ 省多羅拔付" 發信人William R Talbot 因之前被誤認為參予走私鴉片煙而被趕出至黄埔. 信中開頭寫道: 對於所有被固定的船隻, 交易再次開放, 我已經準備好讓你明天早上在旁邊......”. “Thomas Perkins” 號在與中國人因一些在廣州走私到陸上的鴉片而發生爭執時被驅逐出廣州到黃埔. 根據記錄William R. Talbot 是 Olyphant & Co 的成員, 該公司是極少數從未與鴉片打過交道的美國公司之一. 據稱, 由於姓名發音的混淆, 當局錯誤地指William R Talbot 和“Thomas Perkins ” 號輪船參與了 12 月 6 日的鴉片走私 (部分苦力被當場處決), 他們被錯誤地指控並包括在驅逐令中. 這封有趣的信函說明了戰爭前奏的一些緊張局勢.

Sold for
HK$3,500

Starting price
HK$3500