An Historical Sketch of Commerce and Navigation

"An Historical Sketch of Commerce and Navigation, from the Birth of the Saviour Down to the Present Date (1860) With Remarks on Their Beneficial Results to Christianity and Civilization" é um livro da autoria de George Coggeshall (1784-1861) publicado em Nova Iorque em 1860.

O autor foram comandante de navios ao longo de 60 anos e, já na reforma, decidiu escrever uma história do comércio marítimo.

Na referência a Macau aborda a viagem do comodoro Perry (EUA) ao Japão (1852-1854) com uma longa estadia em Macau.

Excerto:

Macao once so famed for its extensive and profitable commerce and for its wealth now appears to be sustained only by a small coasting trade the expenditures of a limited garrison and those of the families of English and American merchants who make it a summer resort and having abundance of money freely disburse it.

The Portuguese jurisdiction is confined within very narrow limits. The Chinese seem to be constantly on the increase and will soon constitute the greatest part of the population. They perform most of the menial duties in the domestic establishments of the Portuguese and other foreigners they are also the shop keepers mechanics and the market people what the native Portuguese have to do it would be difficult to conjecture.

They are with some exceptions very poor and too proud to work some few however are employed as clerks in the various foreign mercantile houses but the greater portion spend their time in idleness living upon the remnants of the once princely fortunes of their ancestors and occupying in beggarly poverty the stately mansions erected in the olden time of Macao's splendid prosperity.

Guarnição militar

There is still a show of military possession on the part of the Portuguese who hold the surrounding hills covering the city with fortified works constructed in the fashion of the seventeenth century. These seem quite sufficient to keep the Chinese in due awe who if they had the least energy could easily dislodge the Portuguese for whom they have no great affection and might drive them altogether from the country.

The garrison consists of about two hundred soldiers and as many local militia all of whom are under excellent discipline and a better dressed more orderly set of men is seldom seen. It will perhaps be recollected that the English East India Company before the abolition of its charter made Macao a sort of entrepôt for its China trade and that some of the finest residences were erected by that munificent corporation and by the ostentatious Portuguese in their days of wealth and prosperity.

Jardim e Gruta de Camões

One of these magnificent dwellings with a garden more than an acre in extent tastefully laid out and kept in order at considerable cost could be hired at the time of the Commodore's visit for the small sum of five hundred dollars a year. It had the additional advantage of the romantic association with the name of the poet Camoens it having been his favorite resort and the spot upon which a monument to his memory has been erected. 

Tempos áureos de comércio

It was from Macao in the days of its opulence that many of the commercial expeditions of the Portuguese were despatched to Japan. At Macao too the Church of Rome had one of its most powerful ecclesiastical establish ments sustained by the dread power of the Inquisition which in former times exercised in the East the full force of its dark and cruel discipline. Now however the enterprise of the merchants is gone and the awful do minion of the haughty ecclesiastics and their bloody tribunal has passed into the hands of a few impoverished priests who meckly appeal to the pity and barely live upon the bounty of the reduced Portuguese population. 

Estadia do Comodoro Perry

The Commodore found Macao an exceedingly agreeable place of residence as the picturesque beauties of the country were full of interest and the town with its pleasant foreign society presented many attractions. During his stay there he made the acquaintance of many of the residents among whom were the families of several Canton merchants having summer resorts at Macao to which they are accustomed to retire during the hot months and where they exercise the kindest and most liberal hospitality. Monsieur de Bourbolon the French minister to Canton had his residence at Macao and with his wife an American lady whom he had married while Secretary of Legation at Washington contributed much to heighten the charms of social intercourse. The French Commodore Monsieur de Montravel came with his squadron and anchored in the outer roads so that Commodore Perry had an opportunity of forming his acquaintance and interchanging with him as well as with Monsieur de Bourbolon and indeed with all the principal residents of Macao those acts of hospitality and kindness which are invariably allied to a just appreciation of mutual courtesy.

With Governor Guimaraes, an officer of the Portuguese Navy whom the Commodore had met before on the coast of Africa, there existed the most friendly and intimate relations as also with Capt. Loureiro, of the same service. It is due to both these officers to acknowledge their courteous deportment in the course of all official transactions with them. The utmost good feeling prevailed in the intercourse with Sir George Bonham, the British Superintendent of Affairs in China and Governor of Hong Kong and with the military and naval Commanders in chief as well as with the mandarins and local authorities of the country.