Three retained copies of letters by Benjamin Bowen Carter a Rhode Islander who studied Chinese in Canton and Europe and promoted the study of Chinese in America. Carter is said to be the first American to learn to read, speak and write Chinese. Carter is also, according to some scholars, America’s first Sinologist. Carter also employed his linguistic skills in aid of American diplomacy in China at the time. Carter wrote these letters while engaged as a doctor and supercargo aboard the Ann & Hope, a China Trade vessel owned by his brother-in-law Nicholas Brown’s firm Brown and Ives. Carter undertook a series of five voyages to China for Brown and Ives, the letters offered here were written on Carter’s and the Ann & Hope’s second voyage to China which lasted from August 1799 to August 1800. Carter kept a series of four logbooks aboard the Ann & Hope between 1798 and 1800, all of which are currently held at the Rhode Island Historical Society along with most of Carter’s surviving manuscripts. https://www.rihs.org/mssinv/Mss336.htm

       The letters are frank and revealing about Carter’s character and views written both aboard the ship Ann & Hope and also while in China, covering the voyage, the international scene in Canton, the citizens of Providence, and more. Carter criticizes and disparages his hometown of Providence and especially its inhabitants. Carter praises the international and cosmopolitan nature of life in Canton where he seems to have been very happy.

      Benjamin Bowen Carter was the son of John Carter, printer and journalist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1745. After an apprenticeship with Benjamin Franklin, Carter moved in 1767 to Providence, Rhode Island and began work with the Providence Gazette, the weekly newspaper operated by William Goddard with his sister Mary Katherine Goddard, and their mother, Sarah Goddard. When William Goddard moved to Philadelphia in 1768, Carter purchased the Gazette, producing the paper until near his death in 1814. From 1773 to 1779, Carter partnered with William Wilkinson, and the press operated under the name Carter and Wilkinson. From 1772 until 1792 Carter served as the first Postmaster of Providence Commissioned by his former employer, Benjamin Franklin, who was Postmaster-General). During the Revolutionary War, he served on the Committee of Correspondence. In 1769, John Carter married Amey Crawford (1744-1806), daughter of Captain John Crawford of Providence. They had twelve children, nine of whom survived into adulthood. Ann Carter, their eldest daughter, married Nicholas Brown of Providence (they were the parents of John Carter Brown). Their eldest son, Benjamin Bowen Carter, studied medicine under Dr. Benjamin Rush and practiced medicine for a short time in Connecticut. He spent most of his career as a doctor and supercargo for the Brown family on many China trade voyages, on the ship Ann & Hope. Carter was the first American to learn to read, write and speak Chinese which he learned while in Canton.

       Carter was born in Providence on December 16 1771 and proved himself to be an excellent student as a boy. He entered Rhode Island College in 1782 at the age of just eleven, was instructed in languages and in the arts and sciences, and received a bachelor’s degree in 1786. He remained at Rhode Island College where he obtained his master’s degree in 1789.  

      Carter then studied medicine at Rhode Island College for two years (1789-1791) and then enrolled at the Medical College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania Medical School) and Pennsylvania Hospital, where he completed his medical education under the supervision of Dr. Benjamin Rush (1746-1813). He practiced medicine in Woodstock, Connecticut, Charles, South Carolina, and Savanna, Georgia between 1792 and early 1796, before returning to Providence sometime prior to February 1796. The frequency of Carter’s moves suggests that he was dissatisfied with his career. Between 1796 and 1798 he was appointed by Providence’s school committee to open a school, the Providence Academy, for the local youth.

       The year 1798 constituted a turning point in Carter’s life. In mid-January he decided to serve as ship’s surgeon aboard the Ann and Hope, which had recently been built by Brown & Ives for the China trade. Carter obtained a privilege of one ton, enabling him to become a trader in his own right. This privileges was increased to two tons on his second voyage. + He was aware that participation in the Canton trade had the potential to be highly remunerative. The great economic benefits brought to America by the Canton trade were prominently recounted in newspapers. For example, his father’s paper, the Providence Gazette carried timely reports on the voyages of the Empress of China in 1784-85, and the General Washington in 1788-89. Aside from the considerations of career and wealth Carter likely viewed it as something of an adventure. His brothers Crawford (1782-1868) and William (1785-1821) also engaged in the Canton trade. After voyages taking him to China, Australia, and the Netherlands, he retired from the sea in 1807, then lived in London and Paris where he continued his studies of Chinese linguistics. He eventually returned to New York City, where he died in 1831.

       Immediately after its maiden voyage, the Ann and Hope sailed again from Providence on August 9th, 1799, as Carter notes in one of these letters. Carter again served as surgeon under Master Christopher Bentley. The three letters offered here, only one of which is dated, were composed over the course of this second voyage. Two are addressed to a brother and sister back home in Providence and to one Richard Folwell, a Philadelphia doctor and author (and former Providence resident). They mainly discuss the voyage, the scene in Canton, his brother’s welfare and future, and Carter’s take on the state of Providence. The Ann and Hope reached China on January 23rd, 1800—167 days after leaving Providence—by way of Brazil, the Cape of Good Hope, and the Tasman Sea. In his letter to his brother, written “At sea” in the fall of 1799, Carter counsels him to not become a sailor, describing the treachery and psychology of sailors (“a lowlife group with bad habits”). Instead, he urges him to “endeavor to get into some good business on shore.” He spends much time chiding his brother for his tendency to oversleep (“[it is] injurious to your mental and bodily faculties”) and recommends that he “dedicate more of [his] time to reading good books.” The considerable extent to which Carter advises his brother reflects his worry about both his brother’s development and also the degree to which he thinks Providence a bad influence.

     Carter also offers in this letter a glimpse of life in Canton, where many nationalities, races, and religions live in harmony and his tendencies to Cosmopolitanism seem to have been encouraged:

      “Here we dwell with and converse on the most intimate footing with people of all nations and languages with chieftains, Mahometans, Pageants & Jews, with Americans, English, Dutch, & Swedes with the swarthy inhabitants of Bengal the Malabar and Coromandel coast, with Tartars, Moors, Saracens, Armenians, Persians, Arabians, Turks & Grecians, and all the oriental tribes of religious manners and customs differing widely from each other, yet all in the greatest harmony, each one making allowances for national peculiarities and living together with the greatest good humor and pleasantry, whereas the surly people of Providence can hardly be restrained from cutting each others throats.”

             In the letter to his sister, which is undated, Carter notes passing “the western shore of New Holland [Australia],” which the Ann and Hope is known to have passed during the 1799–1800 voyage. Touching on his recent visit to China, Carter describes “the belles of Canton with their small feet…the absurd practice of crippling the feet destroys the ease and gracefulness of walking, and accordingly their gate is awkward in the extreme, though they have black eyes and pretty faces.” Alluding to the ever-present dangers of life at sea, he comments that he is glad his sister “did not ship in the Ann & Hope as you talked,” as the crew has “been twice called to quarters expecting an engagement with the enemy, and if our force had been equal to theirs we would have hazarded a battle rather than have been taken.” In his letter to Falwell (also undated), Carter notes leaving Providence on August 9th, 1799, and mentions a tense moment the very next day when the Ann and Hope was boarded by two British frigates, Boston and Cleopatra, and eventually allowed to proceed. In his letters to both his brother and Folwell, Carter goes to great lengths to speak his mind regarding his native city (“Were it not for a very few friends I have in Providence, I would never desire to see that place again”) and its inhabitants (“Providence brutes…”), including the city’s religious men (“Our clergy are perhaps the most unprincipled men in existence”). He spills much ink charting what he takes to be the city’s decline and sometimes quotes poetry as well as lines of Latin by Horace and others.

      Sample Quotes:

“At Sea, Lat. 41, 57’, S. Long, 108, 35’ East”; 31 October 1799

           “Dear Brother,

             I have no doubt but that this is the first letter you ever received from the Antipodes…To maintain the existence of the Antipodes in the dark ages of ecclesiastical bigotry would have been deemed treasonable. When Gasendi and Gallileo made this assertion his holiness the Pope fulminated his bull of excommunication against them…If you can get your living on shore never…think of becoming a sailor. It is one of the most arduous occupations a person can undertake. You must go before the mast a number of years and suffer every thing before you get promoted, and even after you have mastered the business and become capable, promotion is very uncertain…the most worthless fellows always supplant their betters.”

             “[It is] sometimes scorching under the Equitorial line, and sometimes freezing on the coast of New Holland…if you cannot obtain your living on shore it is preferable to submit to these [?] evils, rather than to live in poverty and dependence which is the true reason why so many go to sea. Many sailors are generally though not always men of desperate fortunes or addicted to some vices which prevent their living on shore or banished from their native country for crimes, or men whose education has been neglected for crimes, or men whose education has been neglected in their youth and being by this reason disqualified from making a figure on the land they embrace this life as their ultima ratio. But you have nothing to compel you to the seas, and therefore ought not to go in my opinion if you regard your life or future prospects in the world.”

             “One argument against your being a sailor which weighs stronger in my mind than many others is that there is served out on board most ships a daily allowance of rum. Thus a foundation is laid for one of the worst habits a person can be addicted to. This habit sailors carry on shore with them and thinking because they have suffered much, they have a right to enjoy themselves, they run into the greatest excesses…avoid the sea and the company of sailors…The sea is covered with enemies (for they deserve to be so named) and your life and property if you become a sailor are at their disposal.”

             “When a young man is about entering life, his conduct is narrowly watched especially by his enemies. All his faults are noted down and he is charged with many imaginary ones which he is not guilty of. These malicious people who are entirely destitute of merit and wish to make others similar to themselves will hurt him like an evil genius and propogate reports to his injury…They will appear sociable and complacent the better to throw you off your guard and then basely sacrifice your reputation to build up their own or that of their friends.”

              “At least I hope you will be more upon your guard against the artifice and villainy of mankind and that you will profit by those lessons you receive daily in Providence where you may see mankind in the most deformed light. In that town roguery seems arrived at its acme and a long practice in the arts of deception has given our people a second nature, whence such numbers of them seek their livelihood by begging, robing, stealing, cheating…flattering…forswearing, forging, gaming, lying, fawning, hectoring…scribbling, stargazing…whoring, canting, libelling, freethinking, and the like occupations.”

            “Some philosophers I know deny that water can be heated beyond the ordinary boiling point. I do not question however but that some happy genius may yet discover a method of increasing the heat which would be a valuable discovery as the throats of our Providence people like their consciences are [?] hardened and so callous that boiling water will prove a sufficient stimulus. One would be apt to think that the throats of our Providence folks as well as their faces were sheathed with brass or sole leather…I intend shortly to publish a treatise wherein I shall endeavor to prove the beneficial effects of tea on the human constitution.”

           “Yesterday I dined in company with some of the first people of Canton by whom I am much noticed. Though I am considered as an obscene fellow by your low ill bred Providence wretches and am hardly noticed as I pass the streets there yet I always find myself caressed by people of the first distinction abroad. We live very agreeably at the factories in Canton in a circle of [?] company in the place whose ideas are as much exalted above the instinct of your Providence brutes.”

               “The house of God which in Christian countries is usually consecrated to religious purposes alone in Providence seems to have forgotten its original institution, there our clergy…let loose the dogs of war, there the pulpit which ought to be an oracle of peace according to the doctrine of our Savior breathes forth war & slaughter, rouses the irritable passions of mankind to a thirst for blood or [?] over their detestible crimes. How often in Providence have I see the sacred temples of the most high wantonly prophaned by the lowest buffoonery…So deeply are we immersed in wickedness that it will require the labours of another Hercules to cleanse this Augean Stable of its impurities.”

      [Canton, China; ca. January 1800] “To Mr. Rd. Folwell

               You will no doubt be surprised at receiving a letter from this remote region but however unexpected my intrusion may be yet I cannot forebear by the present opportunity of returning My thanks for sending me your history of the yellow fever, which raged in Philadelphia last year. Mr. Dukey brought the books as far as Newport, but being mislaid in the sloop I did not receive them until within a few days of our sailing for Canton…it is the most rational and candid account of the fever which I have read free from that Bigoted prejudice to theoretical systems which deforms the writings of modern Physicians and thins the ranks of their patients. The repeated attacks which not only Philadelphia but all our populous cities have sustained from pestilential fevers will I apprehend prove an obstacle to commerce, it will ween the Americans from crowding together into cities and attach them more strongly to a country life. …

          I will however inform you that the Ann & Hope C. Bentley master sailed from Providence August 9, 1799 in which ship I embarked in my former capacity. The next day after putting to sea we were boarded by the Cleopatra and the Boston, two British frigates of thirty two guns each who after overhauling permitted us to proceed…Going round New Holland [Australia] and thence round all the Eastern Islands…ran down to Macao…Notwithstanding the length and weariness of the voyage, the rough weather and tempests we encountered and the fatigues and dangers of a seafaring life; yet we passed our time agreeably enough. … How earnestly I desire to see the day when I shall be independent, when I can call my time my own and shall no longer be subject to the whim and caprice of mortals or the futile Goddess of fortune who has hitherto delighted to keep me at the bottom of the wheel making herself merry at my mean condition and whose unaccountable freaks and humours have hitherto pursued me with mishaps through life. I should be glad to put it out of the power of the old Jade to play me any more pranks…

             Since you resided in Providence our people have been growing worse & worse, the good inhabitants mostly removing to other countries and leaving the dregs and refuse of the town behind. These have been largely reinforced by hordes of emigrants the scum & sweepings of the neighboring states, the most hardened ruffians who being out lawed at home and compelled to fly to save their necks from the halter and being attracted by a chemical affinity have settled in Providence where they openly practice the most abominable frauds and grow rich. We have increased in numbers it is true since you left our town but such a motley unprincipled crew were perhaps never huddled together before. Indeed the bulk of our Providence people seem to be so entirely destitute of any principle of honor or honesty that I scruple not to pronounce them the worst people on earth, so little regard is paid by them to truth or religion. In that place the words merit, honour and honesty are banished from the language and consummate baseness, villainy and fraud substituted in their room, and Foreign gentlemen who have resided among us denominate us a heterogenous crew of ignorant ruffians, who are destitute of any other knowledge except a despicable knack of defrauding each other and a species of low chicanery. In these arts I must confess we are adepts our faith and Ignorance being proverbial abroad like the Carthagenian. In Providence a set of pimping priests of the most abandoned character reign uncontrolled with lawless sway, they dictate the political as well as religious principles of the times  and lead our poor hen pecked animals by the nose at pleasure. The people of Providence have not the courage to adopt any other Ideas or Sentiments but what receive the sanction of the clergy from whose decision they dare not swerve.  Our clergy are perhaps the most unprincipaled men in existence…Our priest are the grossest idolaters…worshipping gold and silver…

             Yesterday I dined in company with some of the first people of Canton by whom I am much noticed. Though I am considered as an obscure fellow by your low ill bred Providence wretches and am hardly noticed as I pass the streets there yet I always find myself caressed by people of the first distinction abroad. We live very agreeably at the factories in Canton in a circle of the first company in the place whose Ideas are as much exalted above the instinct of your Providence brutes as you can imagine. Here we dwell with and converse on the most intimate footing with people of all nations and languages with Christians, Mahometans, Pagans & Jews, with Americans, English Dutch & Swedes, with the Swarthy inhabitants of Bengal the Malabar and Coromandel coast, with Tartars Moors, Saracens, Armenians, Persians, Arabians, Turks & Grecians and all the oriental tribes of religious manners and customs differing widely from each other yet all in the greatest harmony, each one making allowances for national peculiarities and living together with the greatest good humor and pleasantry, whereas the surly people of Providence can hardly be restrained from cutting each others throats or what is worse tearing each others characters to pieces or trampling upon order and government…

             Overpursuaded to return home on a visit, I unfortunately consented. Hinc prima mali labes, hence the origin of my misfortunes. The inhabitants of Providence thinking I had returned to dwell permanently among them entered into a conspiring with the priests against me and but too well effectuated their diabolical purpose. I had supposed myself too mean a mark for them to level their poisoned arrows against…but in this I was deceived, their malice being unbounded and their aim sure.”

       “New Holland”; ca. February 1800

       “Dear Sister

          …My friends have frequently complained that I do not write them letters when I am abroad…You would be extremely diverted to see the belles of Canton hobbling along on their small feet…their gate is awkward in the extreme, though they have black eyes and pretty faces…Is the old Sail lane thronged with the gossips of Providence yet?…Methinks I see you doing penance for your sins confined to a tea table and swallowing large draughts of liquid fire…I was glad that you did not ship in the Ann & Hope as you talked since we have been twice called to quarters expecting an engagement with the enemy, and if our force had been equal to theirs we would have hazarded a battle rather than have been taken…PS We are nearly up with the Western shore of New Holland [Australia].”

      References:

Bayles, Richard M., editor. History of Providence County, Rhode Island, Volume 1 (New York: W. W. Preston & Co., 1891), pp. 265–266

Dunhabin, Thomas. “First Australian in Rhode Island,” Rhode Island History Vol. 15, No. 2 (1956), p. 44

Kenny, R. W. “The Maiden Voyage of the Ann and Hope,” American Neptune Vol. 18 (1958), pp. 134–136; Ward, Gerard R. “The First Chart of Southwest Fiji, 1799.” The Journal of Pacific History Vol. 42, No. 1 (2007), pp. 99–106; “Carter, Benjamin Bowen (1771-1831)” at Brown University online; “James Warner Papers” at Rhode Island Historical Society online.

Yeung Man Shun, An American Pioneer of Chinese Studies in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Bennjamin Bowen Carter as an Agent of Global Knowledge. (Leiden: Brill, 2021)