The British Presence in Macau, 1635–1793

8. British relations and conflicts with the Portuguese and Chinese authorities in the second half of the eighteenth century

87 From the second half of the eighteenth century on, Lisbon tightened its control over Macau, and, in the context of the EIC’s project for expansion in the East, conflicts heightened between the supercargoes—whose economic power became ever more visible in the enclave—and the Portuguese and Chinese authorities. In 1749, in the face of the development of British interests in China, Goa banned foreign trade in Macau, an order which was never enforced by the Senate, notably with regard to the trafficking of opium; this was acknowledged in 1795 by the governor of India, Francisco António da Veiga Cabral, when he affirmed that this drug was entering Canton freely and that trading in it might revive the enclave’s economy.1 However, between 1764 and 1788 the governor of the Portuguese Estado da Índia reiterated the ban on foreigners’ living in Macau, the latter being allowed to remain there only to repair their vessels and avoid shipwreck and attacks.2 In the spring of 1754, the president of the EIC’s Select Committee in China, Frederick Pigou, returned to Britain and proposed to the directors that the Company send an embassy to Beijing, suggesting that the emperor be petitioned for freedom of movement in Canton and especially between this city and Macau, as British trade was growing at such a pace that in 1750 of the eighteen vessels reaching Canton, half were British.3 In 1757, a year of transition as regards the European presence in Macau, foreign trade in China was completely restricted to Canton,4 and the Luso-Chinese enclave saw the enacting of several laws against the presence and trading activity of foreigners, which were revoked that very same year as per the request addressed by the Senate to the viceroy of India. With respect to the British presence in Asia, in June of that year General 8 British relations and conflicts with the Portuguese and Chinese authorities in the second half of the eighteenth century The British Presence in Macau, 1635–1793 88 Robert Clive’s victory at Plassey paved the way for British supremacy in India. The fact that up to that time British living arrangements in Macau had not been official for the Portuguese central authorities justifies the relative lack of references to EIC early business in Macau in Portuguese sources. This is especially so if we bear in mind the larger number of documents dating from after this year and which relate mostly to (non-) compliance with Portuguese law on the part of both the foreigners and of the city’s residents, notably on the matters of the (banned) purchase of ships from Portuguese nationals, attacks on Portuguese vessels, and the illegal opium smuggling. In January 1757 the governor, Pereira Coutinho, banned the city’s residents from letting houses to foreigners so as to annul the “masking” of the latter, who declared they were only going to rest or re-energise themselves in Macau between the Canton trading seasons. With a view to evading EIC control and “enjoy[ing] the privileges of the natives” of the enclave, several British traders5 and doctors petitioned the Portuguese king for Portuguese nationality, as was the case of Jacob Francisco Vandermond in 1733,6 with the granting of such requests surely being facilitated by the services rendered by these doctors to the Macau population. Some British became Portuguese subjects in Goa, thus being able to settle in the enclave, as was the case of Captain Robert Jackson in 1772, who married in Macau and rented a house there with the authorisation of the city authorities.7 In 1773 the viceroy of India once again banned the letting of houses to foreigners in Macau, a measure which, to a certain extent, pleased the Senate, which wished to protect local trade. An imperial edict decreed eight regulations for Chinese trade with the “barbarians”, which became fully effective in the 1760 trading season, with the British still being forced to return to Europe or continue living in Macau after the trading periods.8 To avoid frictions in the Chinese ports, the emperor determined that only the port of Canton would remain open to Europeans, that all vessels had to remove their weapons before entering the city—where foreigners were not allowed to take up permanent residence—and that trade, always effected through the co-hong, had to be finalised and debts paid before the end of the trading season. In Canton, the supercargoes were restricted to...