Some time ago,
after haven gained a more proper understanding of religion and human nature, I decided
to dive into many other topics, which included the quest to understand how the
world really worked. So, I went looking. I had no idea that I would end up
where I am today. While I am of opinion that there is no such person that is
without bias, I wanted to as much as possible take an unbiased approach in my
quest. I found that history is far too great a tool, while boring at times, to not
utilize while embarking upon this journey.
Many often get
caught up in the differences of opinions and approaches to religion, politics,
etc. I wondered, though, whether or not there was more too it than the topics
that we often pigeon-hole ourselves within for whatever reason or did many even
come to the conclusions that we came to by our own choosing or was our position(s) handed to us?
I began to look outside
of the government. I began to look at those that seem to live by a different
set of standards. Perhaps in a different world alongside the one that many
common folk, like me, live within. Where standards of justice and morality did not seem to
apply too. Like Edward L. Bernays showed us in his Propaganda and the words
and writings of King C. Gillette in works of his like World Corporation.
I would even see these set of circumstances within the work of people like
David Rockefeller, Memoirs, the youngest of six children fathered by John J. Rockefeller
Jr., obviously the grandson of John J. Rockefeller Sr. It would seem to me that
these and many others before, alongside, and after them operated according to a
different set of rules.
So, I went back further
and found myself right in the middle of the world of banking and commerce. I
would look into two of the earliest chartered corporations the British East
India Company (1600) and later the Dutch East
India Company (1602). This would also point me
to Jardine Matheson & Company (1832) and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking
Corporation (1865). Welcome to some of the major players during good ole
British Imperialism. Oh, and today …
In this writing,
we will deal to a degree with Jardine Matheson & Company founded in 1832,
where William Jardine and James Matheson, both Scotsmen, once worked for the
British East India Company, and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. (Cassan, 2005). At the time when
they worked for the British East India Company the company was a monopoly. They
were later broken up by the British Parliament in 1833. Thirteen (13) years earlier,
William Jardine decided to go into business for himself and had moved to
Canton. In 1828 Jardine and James Matheson began to work together to trade in
China. They were British opium merchants that worked within the same trade as
the British East India Company. In 1832 after they joined together, they began
trading opium in Canton. They became the largest importers of opium in China.
Jardine’s influence was immense in that he would later influence some of the
language and enforcement that would be placed within the Treaty of Nanking
(1842) which was completed after the First Opium War. Jardine was so powerful
and had enough connections to ignore an order from the governor of Canton concerning
drug trafficking charges. Nothing happened to him. Jardine utilized key people
in government, and the press to spread propaganda that favored him in the
justification for the push for the First Opium war with the Chinese.
The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation
Company (P&O) (1837) had an employee by the name of Thomas Sutherland who
was a clerk to begin with. (contributors, Thomas Sutherland
(banker), 2020)
After the First Opium War, there was a second that began in 1856 that pushed
the envelope further for the British Empire. Later he, Thomas Sutherland, was promoted to superintendent and assigned to
British Hong Kong. He was elevated to the first chairman of the Hong Kong
Whampoa Dock (1863) and later assisted in the creation of the Hong Kong and
Shanghai Banking Corporation (1865) in order to facilitate the opium trade. (contributors, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking
Corporation, 2021)
Notice how the powerful merchant Jardine utilized the
government and the press to start a war for Matheson’s and his own benefit.
Notice how a bank was established to facilitate the trade that benefited
Jardine Matheson & Company and in turn the bank itself. Are you seeing the
links?
We will deal with this further in time.
https://intelpub.podbean.com/e/jardine-matheson-and-hsbc/
References
Britannica, T. E. (2020, December 6). Encyclopædia
Britannica. Retrieved January 12, 2021, from East India Company:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/East-India-Company
Britannica, T. E. (2020, May 20). Encyclopædia
Britannica. Retrieved January 12, 2021, from Dutch East India Company:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dutch-East-India-Company
Cassan, B. (2005). William Jardine: Architect of
the First Opium War (Vol. 14). Charleston, Illinois: Eastern Illinois
University Department of History. Retrieved January 12, 2021, from
http://www.eiu.edu/historia/Cassan.pdf
contributors, W. (2020, December 28). Thomas
Sutherland (banker). Retrieved January 12, 2021, from Wikipedia, The Free
Encyclopedia.:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thomas_Sutherland_(banker)&oldid=996797197
contributors, W. (2021, January 21). The Hongkong
and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Retrieved January 21, 2021, from
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Hongkong_and_Shanghai_Banking_Corporation&oldid=999831414
Some of the stipulations included in the treaty were the cession
of the island of Hong Kong to the British, the opening of several ports for
foreign trade, (including Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, and Shanghai: the exact ports
Jardine had suggested to Palmerston) and finally the payment to the British
government for the cost of fighting the war, and the price of seized opium. (Cassan, 2005, p. 115)
