散商与英国东印度公司及其大班委员会的关系——以广州口岸为视角

The Relationship between Bulk Merchants and the Supercargoes Commission of British East India Company: From the perspective of Guangzhou Port

明清时期来到广州口岸贸易的英国东印度公司大班,对散商存在着既利用又提防的复杂关系。公司及大班委员会即利用他们的印中贸易和货款来为公司的利益服务,又不愿散商破坏他们的垄断,成为公司在中英贸易间的对手。但公司越依赖散商,散商在印中贸易中发展越来越壮大,对公司的英华贸易垄断冲击也越来越大。最终,在英国工商业资本家支持下,散商与美商联手起来对抗公司的贸易垄断,对公司中英贸易垄断的瓦解起了重要的作用。

The British East India Company supercargoes that came to Guangzhou trading port in early Qing Dynasty had a complicated relationship with bulk merchants. On one hand,the Company and supercargo commission were using the India-China trading and loan for the benefits of the Company,but on the other hand,they prevented the bulk merchants from damaging their monopoly and becoming the opposite of the Company in Britain-China trading. However,the more dependent the Company is on bulk merchants,the more well-developed the India-China trading is for bulk merchants. It also had a growingly more impact on the monopoly of Britain-China trade. Eventually,bulk merchants supported by capitalists of British industry and commerce collaborated with American merchants and damaged the monopoly of the Company,which was important for the collapse of Britain-China trading monopoly of the Company.