When Corporations and Governments Mix

 

Some may believe that government and corporations are completely separate entities. That is not the case. There were and are still times when they have a symbiotic relationship. So symbiotic that they even become one and the same. While Russell & Company is focused upon let us pear into their history yet again. From a document presented from Sibing He to the “A Tale of Ten Cities: Sino-American Exchange in the Treaty Port Era, 1840-1950-An Interdisciplinary Colloquium,” Honk Kong University, 23-24 May 2011.

 

“The majority of the resident Americans were merchants. Russell & Co. played an active role in this mercantile community, representing U.S. interests in foreign settlements in Shanghai. From 1849-1869, seven members of the Russell firm were elected to the municipal councils of foreign settlements. No other firm, British or American, had more representatives serving in the municipal councils than Russell & Co. during this period.29 John N. Alsop Griswold, partner of Russell & Co. and U.S. vice-consul at Shanghai, was elected to the municipal council of the British Settlement in 1849. In 1852 he was succeeded by Edward Cunningham who was also a Russell partner and the succeeding U.S. vice-consul at Shanghai. When the Shanghai Municipal Council of the International Settlement was created on 17 July 1854, Cunningham became one of the seven board members and served on the Taxation and Finance Committee. In May 1868 he was elected chairman of the SMC board. By the end of the 1860s, seven merchants in Russell and Company had served as councilors of the municipal councils …” (He, 2011, p. 10)

 

Not one other British nor American firm had more representatives within the settlements of Shanghai. This gives us an idea of how powerful Russell & Company actually was. A company similar to Jardine Matheson & Co. that traded in opium which was illegal in China but due to Great Britain’s power and connections at that time was still widely traded. Why did it happen that the trade was still allowed? How about,

 

“Once off-loaded in the Canton area, opium was stored in receiving ships. With the active connivance of Chinese officials, it was then carried to ports along the coast by shallow-draft Western ships known as coasters and by Chinese smugglers in small boats variously known from the number of their oars as centipedes, scrambling dragons or fast crabs.” (Janin, 1999, p. 28)

 

One might ask how was this all made possible. It’s not hard at all to understand once you look into the British East India Company. During the time that Great Britain desired, instead, to trade than conquer in India, India was not a unified nation in the early seventeenth century. With that political fragmentation up until 1947 when they obtained their independence, Great Britain was able to capitalize on using that fragmentation to their benefit through the British East India Company which largely traded in opium. They were even called at that time the Honourable Company and John Company. Janin observes,

 

“For years it was also the de facto government of India and was explicitly responsible for carrying out the politics of the British Crown, such as growing opium for export to China.” (Janin, 1999, pp. 35-36)

 

This is quite interesting especially when you carry this understanding into our more recent and even current times. More on all of this later …

 

References

He, S. (2011). Russell and Company in Shanghai, 1843-1891: U.S. Trade and Diplomacy in Treaty Port China. Hong Kong University. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University. Retrieved February 22, 2021, from https://amstudy.hku.hk/news/treatyports2011/files/sibinghe.pdf

Janin, H. (1999). The India-China Opium Trade in the Nineteenth Century. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers.