Le fonds de commerce de jardine, matheson & co : aspects de la civilisation commerciale a canton : 1829-1839
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Abstract EN:
In 1832, the year of its official foundation, jardine, matheson & co. Was one of the few scottish independent agency houses operating in canton. Like its competitors, it plied its different lines of business in the wake of the official trade conducted by the british east india company. Its business was made up of trades for which there was international demand -- principally opium, as well as other oriental products; financial instruments; and bullion. The family firm, however, which had remained very small up to the early eighteen thirties, was the only one among its competitors to sail through the extremely stormy waters of the ten years immediately preceding the first opium war with no apparent harm. But there is considerable difference between the legend of an easy success, and the reality of this hard-won commercial success, which was reached only through a constant fight against repeated misfortunes and human errors. A stable commercial foundation, political alliances developed with flair and assiduity by the founders, and ever increasing profits from the opium trade, were among the main reasons which combined to ensure that the firm survived, grew and prospered into the eighteen forties when others faltered and disappeared. This unusual longevity for a canton firm of the period is best explained by the special characteristics of its constituency, as it was developed by two founders endowed with complementary talents, william jardine and james matheson. The current work, which is essentially based on an analysis of the archives of the firm for the relevant period -- both its accounts and its correspondence -- highlights the characteristics of the firm's constituency at that stage of its development, and the founders' skill at organising, and sometimes at improvising, repair-work against the repeated onslaught of international bankruptcies and of the most important commercial deregulation of the time -- the vote by the british parliament to abolish the monopoly of the east india company for china-tea imports.
Abstract FR:
En 1832, date de sa fondation officielle, jardine, matheson & co. Etait, a canton, l'une des rares maisons de commerce anglo-ecossaises independantes. Comme ses concurrentes, elle exercercait ses divers metiers dans le sillage du commerce officiel de la compagnie des indes orientales britannique : commerce international des denrees -- principalement de l'opium, mais aussi des autres produits orientaux; commerce des instruments financiers; et commerce de l'argent-metal. Neanmoins, cette firme familiale de taille encore tres modeste au debut des annees 1830, fut la seule parmi toutes ses concurrentes a passer sans encombre apparent le cap de la decennie extremement difficile qui preceda immediatement la premiere guerre de l'opium. Mais entre la legende d'un succes facile, et la realite d'un succes commercial authentique, quoique aprement dispute aux deboires et aux erreurs, la difference est considerable. Ce fut seulement grace a son assise commerciale solide, a des appuis politiques habilement recherches puis entretenus par les fondateurs, et a des benefices toujours accrus dans le commerce de l'opium, que la firme reussit a assurer sa perennite et sa croissance jusqu'a l'oree de la cinquieme decennie du xixe siecle. Cette longevite, inhabituelle parmi les firmes cantonaises exercant leur activite a cette epoque, trouve sa principale explication dans les caracteristiques particulieres du fonds de commerce de la firme, tel que le developperent deux fondateurs aux talents complementaires, william jardine et james matheson. Le present travail, essentiellement fonde sur une analyse des archives comptables et discursives de la firme pendant la periode consideree, met en lumiere les caracteristiques du fonds de commerce de la firme a cette etape de son developpement, et l'habilete des fondateurs a reparer les breches repetees qu'y entamerent tour a tour les retentissantes faillites internationales, de meme que la plus grande dereglementation commerciale de l'epoque -- l'abolition par le parlement britannique du monopole de la compagnie des indes orientales pour l'importation du the de chine.