ABSTRACT
While the cruise of the Cuddalore had been designed to investigate the prospects for British trade in the East Indies, it had also served to impress upon Dalrymple the unsatisfactory conditions prevailing at Canton. For months he had been a close observer of the scene, and had himself been at cross-purposes with Chinese and Portuguese officials. The situation was worse than he had anticipated, which made him consider his Sulu enterprise in a new light. Any British settlement in the Sulu Seas, apart from its other merits, would have to prove capable of solving the problems of the China trade.
