French Private Trade at Canton, 1698–1833

Private trade played a legitimate and important role in Sino-French trade at the very start, as members of the private sector to whom the Compagnie des Indes (French East India Company) leased its monopoly on a limited basis were responsible for carrying out the first two decades of France’s trade with China (1698-1719). Leasing ceased under the second Compagnie (1719-1769); during this era, private trade took the form of the port-permis (‘privilege trade’) and non-Europe (‘country’) trade.When the second Compagnie’s monopoly was suspended in 1769, a period of wholly private trade followed, marking the first time that a nation possessing an East India company abolished that company’s monopoly and opened commerce with China and elsewhere to the private sector. The large number of merchant voyages from France to Canton during this fifteen-year period (1770–1785) shows that private traders were well capable of taking advantage of the new opportunities that were offered. Although a third Compagnie was created in 1785, its abolition eight years later (1793) opened the door for all subsequent Sino-French trade to be conducted by persons in the private sector. Profiles of François and Edmond Rothe, Mr. Thimothée, Gilles Sebire, Julien Bourgogne, François Terrien, and Charles de Constant provide examples of the varied experiences of private traders; three of these individuals earlier served as Compagnie employees.