"Account of Macao"

Account of Macao - The only European Settlement in China

Macao, a town on an island of the same name at the entrance of the river of Canton, is the only settlement wich Europeans possess within the dominions of the Emperor of China, it was founded by the Portuguese, and still continues in their hands; but since other nations have participated in the commerce of the Indies, Macao has fallen somewhat into decay. In 1725, the Chinese restricted the shipping to twenty-five vessels and it has since fallen to about one half that number. 

For nearly a century the Portuguese monopolized the trade of the East. De to fund, the discoverer of the passage by the Cape of Good Hope, landed on the coast of Malabar in 1408; in lull the Portuguese had begun to explore the Indian Archipelago; in 1525 they made themselves masters of Malacca, and soon afterwards achieved the conquest of the Moluccas. Their first attempt to open a trade Vi'ilh in Chinese was not successful; but with a pertinacity and resolution not to be overcome by ordinary obstacles, they persevered in their object, and were finally successful. About the year 1537 the Chinese only allowed them a temporary shelter upon the island of Macao; by bribery and solicitation they next on and leave to erect sheds for drying goods; and about the middle of the century they began to be recognised as having some title to occupation; but it was only gradually that they were permitted to build stone houses, and to form a considerable town. 

In 1542 the Portuguese had succeeded in establishing a commercial intercourse with Japan, which continued until Macao was the centre of the trade with China, Japan, and the eastern Mantis, and the cause of its importance at the above period is therefore easily traced. 

The Chinese are too cautious and jealous a people to concede valuable privileges without reserving the right of reclaiming them. The Portuguese, therefore, are not entire in possession of the sovereignty of Macao, but pay an annual ground rent, and their forts are periodically inspected by military mandarins. A civil mandarin also resides in the town as the representative of the Emperor of China, and the Chinese population is entirely under his government. The only rights which the Portuguese of Macao really possess are those of

a municipal character. Indeed, they are occasionally made to feel that neither nominally or actually are they masters. 

Milburn states, in his "Oriental Commerce" that "the Chinese treat the Portuguese very cavalierly on many occasions, exacting duties sometimes it the port, and punishing individual for crimes committed against the natives; and whenever resistance is attempted against such proceedings, the mandarin who commands the Chinese at the guard house immediately stops the supply of provisions from their market until they quietly submit." 

This means of a coercion may very easily be put into execution, for Macao is built on a low sandy promontory, connected with the remainder of the island by a long narrow neck of land and as a place where the width of the latter is about a hundred yards, a wall has been built, which stretches across and projects at each end into the water. In the centre of the wall there is a gateway, and close to it, the guard for the Chinese soldiers. 

This was erected in 1573 and in circumscribes the space to which the Portuguese are confined to a spot about three miles long by one side. Beyond this boundary they are not often allowed to pass; and this imprisonment is but little more on durable than that to which the inmates of the European factories at Canton are compelled to submit. 

The Portuguese population of Macao, including slaves, does not exceed 5000, while the Chinese are estimated at 30,000. The town in defended by several strong forts, mounted with heavy cannon, and garrisoned by a small number of Portuguese soldiers seldom exceeding 260, who are under the command of the Portuguese governor. 

The Portuguese have a custom house; and the English and other European nations have factories at Macao. As an outpost of the most singular empire in the world, Macao is at present of more value than as a commercial emporium.

in The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 25.3.1841