Britain's 1840-42 war with China, and its aftermath /
Harry G. Gelber.
New York :
Palgrave Macmillan,
c 2004.
x, 252 pages ;
23 cm
Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-243) and index.
Mission to Canton -- Palmerston's England, the world and China -- It's more than trade, stupid! Canton 1835-38 -- The British and Commissioner Lin 1839 -- London debates 1839-40 -- Fighting and talking: Elliot 1840-41 -- The Yangzi campaign: Pottinger 1841-42 -- Almost a settlement -- Clashes continue: Britain and China after the war -- China: resentment congeals into nationalism -- Britain: evangelicals, humanitarians and guilt.
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"For political London, the 1840-42 war with China was not an 'Opium War' but merely a little local difficulty. England fought against the intolerable claims to superiority of a dilapidated and deeply corrupt China, to uphold the status of the crown, to protect the security of threatened British men and women, and to seek compensation for the seizure of property. No-one in London, and no commander involved in the war, thought opium was the issue; if the Chinese wanted to control their own borders and coasts, that was their business, not Britain's. Militarily, it was not a difficult war, but the aftermath was. Only decades later did a combination of evangelical and missionary opinion at home, together with sympathy for the growing resentments and miseries of China, persuade British and American opinion that Britain had, indeed, been wicked and even tried to force opium on the Chinese."--Jacket.
Britain's 1840-42 war with China and its aftermath