Asia-Pacific in the Making of the Americas: Toward a Global History

Carter Urges Study of Chinese for All China Traders

Through this incident, Carter realized the importance of translators in the Sino-American trade and the official communication between the two nations. He thought that if the American government had translators to produce a Chinese version of Carrington’s letter of protest, which included information on corruption in the Canton trade, it would be possible for the U.S. to save a million dollars of unnecessary expenses a year.[18[ In February 1811, Carter wrote a letter to Jonathan Russell (1771-1832) who was then appointed to the Diplomatic Service in France, urging him to exert his influence on the Secretary of State and prompt the American government to create a translator post in Canton. Carter even volunteered to take up the post. His effort was of no avail.[19] In a reply letter to Carrington in July 1828, Carter still stressed the importance of mastering the Chinese language in safeguarding American interests in China. He even expressed his willingness to help young people heading to Canton with studying the Chinese language before their departure. Actually Carrington discussed with Carter his potential succession to the U.S. consul, but unfortunately the latter passed away soon afterwards.[20]
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[18] Widmer, “From the Nixon Visit to China; Looking Backward,” p. 22.
[19] Three letters from Carter to Russell, dated Feb. 12th 1811, May 27th 1811 and Sept. 15th 1812 respectively, are discovered in Box 2 of the “Jonathan Russell papers, 1795-1832” deposited at the John Hay Library, Brown University. Russell’s reply to Carter’s first letter, dated Apr. 10th, 1811, is kept in Box 7. 
[20] Chinese Collections at Brown University, p. 3, http://blogs.brown.edu/libnews/files/2012/06/YearOfChina_spreads_draft16c-1.pdf

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