Editing William Jardine (merchant) (section)

==Jardine, Matheson & Co.==
[[File:Portrait of William Jardine by George Chinnery.jpg|thumb|left|[[George Chinnery]], ''William Jardine in his study'']]
James Matheson joined Magniac & Co. from the firm Yrissari & Co where he was partner. After Francis Xavier de Yrissari's death, Matheson wound up the firm's affairs and closed shop. Yrissari, leaving no heir, had willed all his shares in the firm to Matheson. This created the perfect opportunity for Matheson to join in commerce with Jardine. Matheson proved a perfect partner for Jardine. 

James Matheson and his nephew, Alexander Matheson, joined the firm Magniac and Co. in 1827, but their association was officially advertised on 1 January 1828. Jardine was known as the planner, the tough negotiator and strategist of the firm and Matheson was known as the organization man, who handled the firm's correspondence, and other complex articles including legal affairs. 

Matheson was known to be behind many of the company's innovative practices. And both men were a study in contrasts, Jardine being tall, lean and trim while Matheson was short and slightly portly. Matheson had the advantage of coming from a family with social and economic means, while Jardine came from a much more humble background. 

Jardine was tough, serious, detail-oriented and reserved while Matheson was creative, outspoken and jovial. Jardine was known to work long hours and was extremely business-minded, while Matheson enjoyed the arts and was very eloquent. 

William C. Hunter wrote about Jardine, "He was a gentleman of great strength of character and of unbounded generosity." Hunter's description of Matheson was, "He was a gentleman of great suavity of manner and the impersonation of benevolence." But there were similarities in both men. Both men were hardworking, driven and single-minded in their pursuit of wealth.

Both men were also known to have continuously sent money home to less fortunate family members in Scotland and to have helped nephews by providing them work within the firm. Upon the death of his older brother, David, Jardine set up a fund for his brother's widow and arranged schooling for his four sons. In a letter to Magniac, Jardine wrote,

<blockquote>
My only Brother has a very large family, three or four of them Boys, and as he has not the means of providing for them all, in the way I wish to see them provided for, I am desirous of having one of them here, to commence in the office, and work his way, by industry and application to business.
</blockquote>

All four of David's sons moved on to work with Jardine, Matheson & Co. in Hong Kong and South China, starting as clerks and eventually becoming partners, managing partners or senior executives of the firm, locally known as [[taipan]], a Chinese colloquial title meaning foreign-born senior manager.

But, it was their reputation for business probity, innovative management and strict fiscal policies that sustained their partnership's success in a period where businesses operated in a highly volatile and uncertain environment where the line between success and bankruptcy was extremely thin. Jardine was known for his legendary imperiousness and pride. 

He was nicknamed by the locals "The Iron-headed Old Rat"<ref>{{cite book|last=Palmer|first=Roundell, 1st Earl of Selborne|title=Statement of Claims of the British Subjects Interested in Opium Surrendered to Captain Elliot at Canton for the Public Service|publisher=Pelham, Richardson|place=Cornhill, London|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P2KU_oRQEeEC|date=1840|page=128, Memorial of Hew Kew, August 1836}}</ref> after being hit on the head by a club in Guangzhou. Jardine, after being hit, just shrugged off the injury with dour resilience. He had only one chair in his office in the "Creek Hong" in Canton,<ref name="TANDJ" /> and that was his own. Visitors were never allowed to sit, to impress upon them that Jardine was a very busy man. 

Jardine was also known as a crisis manager. In 1822, during his visit to the firm's Guangzhou office, he found the local office in management crisis, with employees in near mutiny against the firm's officers. Jardine then proceeded to take temporary control and succeeded in putting the office in order in just a matter of days. Also a shrewd judge of character, Jardine was even able to persuade the Rev. [[Karl Gützlaff|Charles Gutzlaff]], a [[Prussia]]n missionary, to interpret for their ship captains during coastal smuggling of opium, using the idea that the reverend would best gather more converts during these smuggling operations. Matheson claimed to own the only [[piano]] in Asia and was also an accomplished player. 

He was also responsible for removing one of the firm's ship captains for refusing to offload opium chests on the Sabbath, Matheson observed, "We have every respect for persons entertaining strict religious principles, but we fear that very godly people are not suited for the drug trade."


On 1 July 1832, [[Jardine Matheson|Jardine, Matheson & Co.]], a partnership between Jardine and Matheson as senior partners, and Magniac, Alexander Matheson, Jardine's nephew Andrew Johnstone, Matheson's nephew Hugh Matheson, John Abel Smith, and Henry Wright, as the first partners, was formed in China, taking the [[Chinese language|Chinese]] name 'Ewo' (怡和) pronounced "Yee-Wo" and meaning "Happy Harmony". 

The name was chosen as it had been used by the former [[Ewo (hong)|Ewo Hong]] run by Chinese merchant [[Howqua]], a business with an impeccable reputation.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cheong|first=W.E.|title=The Hong merchants of Canton: Chinese merchants in Sino-Western trade|year=1997|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0700703616}} p.122 [https://books.google.com/books?id=3BjCHpQk5J8C&pg=PA122 Online version at Google books]</ref> The firm's operations included smuggling opium into China from [[Malwa]], India, trading spices and sugar with the [[Philippines]], exporting Chinese tea and silk to England, factoring and insuring cargo, renting out dockyard facilities and warehouse space, trade financing and other numerous lines of business and trade. 

In 1834, Parliament ended the monopoly of the EIC on trade between Britain and China. Jardine, Matheson & Co. took this opportunity to fill the vacuum left by the East India Company. With its first voyage carrying raw silk, but ironically no tea, the ship {{ship||Sarah|1819 ship|2}} (now owned by Thomas Weeding, but previously owned in partnership by Weeding, Jardine and Cowasjee) left for [[England]], becoming the first free trader to arrive in England after the monopoly ceased. Jardine Matheson then began its transformation from a major commercial agent of the East India Company into the largest British trading hong (洋行), or firm, in Asia. William Jardine was now being referred to by the other traders as "taipan".

Jardine wanted the opium trafficking to expand in China. In 1834, working with the Chief Superintendent of Trade representing the British Empire, [[William Napier, 9th Lord Napier|William, Lord Napier]], tried unsuccessfully to negotiate with the Chinese officials in Canton. The Chinese Viceroy ordered the Canton offices where Napier was staying to be blockaded and the inhabitants including Napier to be held hostages. Lord Napier, a broken and humiliated man, was allowed to return to Macao by land and not by ship as requested. Suffering a fever, he died a few days later.

Jardine, who had good relations with Lord Napier, a Scottish peer, and his family, then took the initiative to use the debacle as an opportunity to convince the British government to use force to further open trade. In early 1835 he ordered James Matheson to leave for Britain to persuade the Government to take up strong action to further open up trade in China. 

Matheson accompanied Napier's widow to England using an eye-infection as an excuse to return home. Matheson in England then extensively travelled to meet with several parties, both for government and for trade, to gather support for a war with China. Initially unsuccessful in his forays in England, he was brushed aside by the "Iron Duke" ([[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Duke of Wellington]]), then the British [[Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs|Foreign Secretary]], and reported bitterly to Jardine of being insulted by an arrogant and stupid man. However, his activities and widespread lobbying in several forums including Parliament sowed seeds that would lead to war in a few years.