and twelve months later Canton was taken by assault by a force under Sir Charles Straubenzee, which had been sent out from England for the purpose. From this time until October 1861 the city was occupied by an English and French garrison, and the administration of affairs was entrusted to an allied commission, consisting of two English officers and one French officer, acting under the English general. Since the withdrawal of this garrison, the city of Canton has been freely open to foreigners of all nationalities, and the English consul has his residence in the Yamun formerly occupied by the allied commissioners, within the city walls.
On the conclusion of peace it became necessary to provide a foreign settlement for the merchants whose “factories” had been destroyed, and after some consultation it was determined to fill in and appropriate as the British settlement an extensive mud flat lying to the westward of the old factory site, and known as Sha-mien or “The Sand Flats.” This site having been leased, it was converted into an artificial island by building a massive embankment of granite in an irregular oval form. Between the northern face of the site and the Chinese suburb a canal of 100 ft. in width was constructed, thus forming an island of about 2850 ft. in length and 950 ft. in greatest breadth. The expense of making this settlement was 325,000 Mexican dollars, four-fifths of which were defrayed by the British government and one-fifth by the French government. The British portion of the new settlement was laid out in eighty-two lots; and so bright appeared the prospect of trade at the time of their sale that 9000 dollars and upwards was paid in more than one instance for a lot with a river frontage, measuring 12,645 sq. ft. The depression in trade, however, which soon followed acted as a bar to building, and it was not until the British consulate was erected in 1865 that the merchants began to occupy the settlement in any numbers. The British consulate occupies six lots, with an area of 75,870 sq. ft. in the centre of the site, overlooking the river, and is enclosed with a substantial wall. A ground-rent of 15,000 cash (about £3) per mow (a third of an acre) is annually paid by the owners of lots to the Chinese government.
The Sha-mien settlement possesses many advantages. It is close to the western suburb of Canton, where reside all the wholesale dealers as well as the principal merchants and brokers; it faces the broad channel known as the Macao Passage, up which the cool breezes in summer are wafted almost uninterruptedly, and the river opposite to it affords a safe and commodious anchorage for steamers up to 1000 tons burden. Steamers only are allowed to come up to Canton, sailing vessels being restricted to the anchorage at Whampoa. There is daily communication by steamer with Hong-Kong, and with the Portuguese colony of Macao which lies near the mouth of the river. Inland communication by steam is now open by the west river route to the cities of Wuchow and Nanking. The opening of these inland towns to foreign trade, which has been effected, cannot but add considerably to the volume of Canton traffic. The native population is variously estimated at from 1,500,000 to 2,000,000, the former being probably nearer the truth. The foreign residents number about 400. Canton is the headquarters of the provincial government of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, generally termed the two Kwang, at the head of which is a governor-general or viceroy, an office which next to that of Nanking is the most important in the empire. It possesses a mint built in 1889 by the then viceroy Chang Chih-tung, and equipped with a very complete plant supplied from England. It turns out silver subsidiary coinage and copper cash. Contracts have been entered into to connect Canton by railway with Hong-Kong (Kowlun), and by a grand trunk line with Hankow on the Yangtsze. It is connected by telegraph with all parts. The value of the trade of Canton for the year 1904 was £13,749,582, £7,555,090 of which represented imports and £6,194,490 exports. (R. K. D.)
CANTON, a city of Fulton county, Illinois, U.S.A., in the W. part of the state, 12 m. N. of the Illinois river, and 28 m. S.W. of Peoria. Pop. (1890) 5604; (1900) 6564 (424 foreign-born); (1910) 10,453. Canton is served by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the Toledo, Peoria & Western, and the Illinois Central Electric Interurban railways. About 1 m. from the centre of the city are the Canton Chautauqua grounds. The city has a public library. Canton is situated in a rich agricultural region, for which it is a supply point, and there are large coal-mines in the vicinity. Among the manufactures are agricultural implements (particularly ploughs), machine-shop and foundry products (particularly mining-cars and equipment), flour, cigars, cigar-boxes, brooms, and bricks and tile. The municipal water-works are supplied from a deep artesian well. Canton was laid out in 1825; it was incorporated as a town in 1837 and as a village in 1849, and was chartered as a city in 1854.
CANTON, a village and the county-seat of St Lawrence county, New York, U.S.A., 17 m. S.E. of Ogdensburg, on the Grasse river. Pop. (1890) 2580; (1900) 2757; (1905) 3083; (1910) 2701. The village is served by the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg division of the New York Central & Hudson River railway. Canton is the seat of St Lawrence University (co-educational; chartered in 1856; at first Universalist, afterwards unsectarian), having a college of letters and science, which developed from an academy, opened in 1859; a theological school (Universalist), opened in 1858; a law school, established in 1869, discontinued in 1872 and re-established in Brooklyn, New York, in 1903 as the Brooklyn Law School of St Lawrence University; and a state school of agriculture, established in 1906 by the state legislature and opened in 1907. In 1907–1908 the university had 52 instructors, 168 students in the college of letters and science, 14 students in the theological school, 287 in the law school and 13 in the agricultural school. The Clinton Liberal Institute (Universalist, 1832), which was removed in 1879 from Clinton to Fort Plain, New York, was established in Canton in 1901. The Grasse river furnishes water-power, and the village has saw-, planing- and flour-mills, and plant for the building of small boats and launches. The village corporation owns a fine water-supply system. Canton was first settled in 1800 by Daniel Harrington of Connecticut and was incorporated in 1845. It was for many years the home of Silas Wright, who was buried here.
CANTON, a city and the county-seat of Stark county, Ohio, U.S.A., on Nimisillen Creek, 60 m. S. by E. of Cleveland. Pop. (1890) 26,189; (1900) 30,667, of whom 4018 were foreign-born; and (1910) 50,217. It is served by the Pennsylvania, the Baltimore & Ohio, and the Wheeling & Lake Erie railways, and is connected by an interurban electric system with all the important cities and towns within a radius of 50 m. It lies at an elevation of about 1030 ft. above sea-level, in a wheat-growing region, in which bituminous coal, limestone, and brick and potter’s clay abound. Meyer’s Lake in the vicinity is a summer attraction. The principal buildings are the post-office, court-house, city hall, an auditorium with a seating capacity of 5000, a Masonic building, an Oddfellows’ temple, a Y.M.C.A. building and several handsome churches. On Monument Hill, in West Lawn Cemetery, in a park of 26 acres—a site which President McKinley had suggested for a monument to the soldiers and sailors of Stark county—there is a beautiful monument to the memory of McKinley, who lived in Canton. This memorial is built principally of Milford (Mass.) granite, with a bronze statue of the president, and with sarcophagi containing the bodies of the president and Mrs McKinley, and has a total height, from the first step of the approaches to its top, of 163 ft. 6 in., the mausoleum itself being 98 ft. 6 in. high and 78 ft. 9 in. in diameter; it was dedicated on the 30th of September 1907, when an address was delivered by President Roosevelt. Another monument commemorates the American soldiers of the Spanish-American War. Among the city’s manufactures are agricultural implements, iron bridges and other structural iron work, watches and watch-cases, steel, engines, safes, locks, cutlery, hardware, wagons, carriages, paving-bricks, furniture, dental and surgical chairs, paint and varnish, clay-working machinery and saw-mill machinery. The value of the factory product in 1905 was $10,591,143, being 10.6% more than the product value of 1900. Canton was laid out as a town in 1805, became the county-seat
