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PRECONVENTIONAL PERIOD
acts to be men of violent methods, the English made no attempt to renew commercial relations with China until 1664, when, after an interval of twenty-seven years, the East India Company sent some ships to Macao. But though on this occasion there was no breach of the peace, the Portuguese again succeeded in prejudicing the Chinese so greatly against the new-comers that they could not accomplish anything. In Formosa, a few years later (1670), a better result was attained by means of a treaty with the ex-pirate "Koxinga,"—a Japanese on his mother's side,—the "King" of the island. This, the first commercial convention concluded by an European Power with a Chinese potentate, is specially interesting because of its explicit provisions on the subject of jurisdiction. The extraterritorial principle received clear recognition, the "King" undertaking to punish all wrongs or injuries done by his subjects to the British, and the latter undertaking a similar duty of redress in the case of Formosans. Favourable tariff conditions also were obtained—three per cent duty on imports and no duty on exports—and freedom of tradal intercourse was guaranteed. But Formosa proved an unfruitful field, as was not unnatural under the circumstances, and at Amoy—which, being in effect the mainland mart of Formosa, was included at the same time in the field of English operations—the commerce, though lucrative at the outset, gradually began to suffer from restrictions imposed by the
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