British Travel Writing from China, 1798-1901, Volume 1

Elizabeth H Chang

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781000558678
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

In 1793, Lord Macartney led the first British diplomatic mission to China in over one hundred years. This five-volume reset edition draws together British travel writings about China throughout the next century. The collection ends with the Boxer Uprising which marked the beginning of the end of informal British empire on the Chinese mainland.

III. SIR GEORGE THOMAS STAUNTON

DOI: 10.4324/9781003113263-3

G. T. Staunton, Notes of Proceedings and Occurrences during the British Embassy to Peking in 1816 ([Havant]: H. Skelton, 1824), pp. 26-374.

George Thomas Staunton (1781-1859), more than any author in these volumes, can be said to be destined from birth to write about China. Staunton, second baronet, received a peculiarly intense and isolating education as a child before being brought along, at the age of eleven, on the 1792-4 Macartney embassy to the court of the Qing Emperor. On that journey he studied Chinese with the mission’s interpreters, making him the only member of the embassy fluent enough to converse in Chinese with Qing officials. Aided by his knowledge of the Chinese language, an ability in which he asserts ‘... at that time, I stood absolutely alone, without a rival!’¹ Staunton continued his work in China as he entered adulthood, making his way up the ranks of the East India Company to become chief of the Canton factory in 1816. At the same time, he carried on a number of significant works of translation; providing a Chinese edition of George Pearson’s treatise on vaccination in 1805 as well as giving the first English rendering of the Chinese legal code in 1810.

As a government agent with significant experience of China in general and embassies to the Qing court in particular he was a logical choice to join Lord Amherst’s 1816-17 mission to the court of the Jiaqing emperor. Though Staunton and other EIC officials disapproved of the timing of the embassy, judging it ‘injudicious in its plan and superfluous as to its object’, he nevertheless felt deeply invested in promoting the Embassy’s success and, in particular, ‘not rece[ding] from that high and honourable position which our commercial representatives had taken at Canton, as well as our former diplomatic representative, Lord Macartney, had taken at Pekin’.² The topic of how best to conform to Chinese ritual requests was the subject of much anxiety and discussion among all members of the mission. For Staunton more than any other, however, the occasion of the Amherst embassy was an opportunity to relive a personally and nationally disappointing episode in Sino-British relations. This sense of retrospection is evident throughout the privately printed Notes. His description of the journey up to Beijing and back down the Grand Canal to the Yangzi river is first and foremost shadowed by the major texts of the Macartney mission: not only his own father’s Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China (1797), but John Barrow’s greatly successful narrative Travels in China (1804).

Most of all, Staunton was haunted by the previous embassy’s disagreements over the proper place of the ritual abasement known as the kowtow. Lord Amherst’s willingness to defer to Staunton’s strong personal feelings against this ceremony meant that the entire 1816 embassy was affected - and perhaps doomed to failure - by the individual predispositions of a single member. For certainly the mission was not successful: after travelling through the night to arrive in Beijing, the Embassy members were summoned weary and dishevelled to the Emperor’s court within hours of their arrival and dismissed peremptorily and entirely when they demanded more time to prepare for the audience. The knowledge that the Dutch embassy of 1795 had met with welcome in China, apparently due to the willingness of its members to participate in the kowtow ritual, rankles throughout Staunton’s text. Rhetorically prepared by the main narratives of the Macartney mission, the Amherst narratives focus even more attentively on the need to assert British sovereignty in such ritual encounters. Henry Ellis, third in command on the mission and author of its official chronicle, describes the ‘indignation’ of the members of the embassy when ‘they saw the brutal rudeness and insulting demeanour with which the representative of their sovereign was treated; and there could have been but one feeling, a hope that hereditary rank and official dignity might never again be placed at the mercy of the caprice of a despot, exasperated by resistance’.³ Even the material results of the mission proved disappointing; Clarke Abel, charged by Sir Joseph Banks with gathering much-desired specimens of Chinese horticulture, lost his entire collection when the Alceste sank in the Java Sea on the return voyage to England. Staunton himself never returned to China and remained steadfastly convinced of the propriety of his actions, writing in his memoirs:

... although this mission has often been stigmatized as a failure, it was practically, perhaps, the most successful of any that had ever been sent to Pekin by any European power; for it was followed by a longer interval of commercial tranquility, and of freedom from annoyance, than had ever been experienced before.⁴

The excerpt of Staunton’s lengthy text included here followed the Amherst embassy from Canton to the emperor’s court in Beijing, where the mission foundered in a disagreement over ritual etiquette, and partway along the mission's return journey to Canton through the month of November. Omitted are the brief initial mention of preparations made to receive Lord Amherst in China as well as later descriptions of the events of December that occured on the river, the mission’s arrival at Guangzhou on 1 January 1817 and subsequent sailing for China on 20 January 1818.

August the 8th.

An inferior officer, wearing a gold button, came off this morning from the shore, with a card of compliments for Lord Amherst, and a verbal message from the legate, conveying a pressing invitation to land as soon as possible. - He stated that a communication had been received from his imperial majesty, expressing his impatience to have the pleasure of seeing his lordship and suite: he added that his Majesty having heard that the son of the Ambassador was on board, had made many enquiries respecting him, and had expressed his intention of entertaining him with plays and other amusements on his arrival at Pekin. A note was in consequence written by Mr. Morrison¹ in Lord Amherst’s name to the legate, acknowledging the receipt of the message, and expressing that it was equally his excellency’s wish to land, and proceed to pay his respects at the imperial court, as early as possible; and that if a sufficient number of boats were sent off immediately to convey on shore the remainder of our baggage, he should certainly hold himself in readiness to land, together with the whole of his suite tomorrow.

Having a few days ago requested Capt. Ross to state to me in writing his ideas respecting the most advantageous employment of the Hon. Company’s cruizers on their return towards Macao, I have since received a letter from him on the subject, which I have submitted this morning to the consideration of Lord Amherst and Mr. Ellis.² In this letter Capt. Ross suggests the expediency of the operations of the survey being carried on as heretofore, independently of any interference from his Majesty’s navy, and in this opinion I fully concur; but previous to any instructions being given to Capt. Ross, on this head, it seemed necessary to ascertain how far the Ambassador and commissioners approved of any survey at all being attempted in these seas, while the Embassy remained in China; and also, whether they and Capt. Maxwell were of opinion that the time was yet arrived, when the two cruizers could, without inconvenience, or loss to the service of his majesty and of the Embassy, be released from their attendance on the Alceste. - In a separate conversation on the subject which Lord Amherst and I have had with Capt. Maxwell, we found that Capt. Maxwell had no wish whatever to interfere in the operations of the survey, which had been so long and so ably conducted by Capt. Ross; and that he was also of opinion, that after the squadron had proceeded as far south as the latitude of the NE. point of Shantung, the services and attendance of the cruizers would be no longer necessary. - He wished that the whole of the squadron should continue subject to his orders up to that period, as their separation, and pursuit of independant objects within the gulf of Pe-che-lee, might attract too much notice, and possibly give umbrage to the Chinese government. In this opinion the Ambassador and commissioners fully agreed, and I have therefore, in my capacity of president of the Select Committee, given, agreeably to their desire, corresponding orders to Capt. Ross and Lieut. Crawford. I felt a considerable delicacy in thus appearing to assume an authority separately from the Select Committee, and independently of his Majesty’s other commissioners; but as Lord Amherst positively declined to assume to himself, or accept from me, the authority of giving these instructions in his own name, there seemed to me to be no other legitimate course to pursue, than that which I have adopted, of giving the instructions myself, under the sanction of the approbation of the Ambassador and commissioners.

In the course of this voyage up the Yellow Sea, a great deal of anxious conversation, as may naturally be supposed, has taken place between Lord Amherst, Mr. Ellis, and myself, on the subject of the mission in which we are engaged: it has been our endeavour to view the subject in all its bearings, and to contemplate all the possible contingencies by which its success may be either retarded or promoted, in order that our system of operations and proceedings may be shaped as far as possible on a deliberate consideration of the whole case, so as to provide against being taken by surprise or off our guard; at least with respect to all the probable points of discussion - Among these, from the first, there was none which appeared more important, or more likely to be brought into early and serious discussion, than the question of compliance with the Chinese ceremony emony of prostration. The introduction of this subject into conversation by the mandarines who visited Lord Amherst on the 4th inst. has now converted this probability into a certainty; and therefore, in view to the proposed landing of the Embassy to morrow, the Ambassador and commissioners have this day availed themselves, of what may possibly be, the last opportunity of discussing, free and uncommitted, this most important question. On the first perusal of his lordship’s instructions from our government, it seemed to me natural to conclude, that it had not been intended to leave this point at all open to discussion; for the Ambassador is expressly directed ‘to acquaint the Chinese government, that he is commanded by his Royal Highness the Prince Regent to be guided in this respect by the precedent of Lord Macartney:’ but herein I have been undeceived, by the production of a letter to his lordship from the President of the Board of Control, of a subsequent date, explanatory of those instructions; in which it is stated that the Ambassador is, notwithstanding, to consider himself at liberty to perform the ceremony of prostration, if he shall deem it expedient, and conducive to the attainment of the objects of the Embassy. - It seemed at first somewhat difficult to reconcile the tenor of these two communications; but I think I am warranted in inferring from them, that the spirit of our instructions is this: that, although the feeling of the British government is adverse to a compliance with the ceremony in question, it is willing, in the event of a strong case of expediency having in his lordship’s opinion been made out, to sanction such compliance for the sake of the interests in the China trade, of the East India Company and the British nation It was not, I conceive, with any view to the comparatively trifling consideration of the mere reception of the Embassy; but to the possible contingency of the performance of the ceremony proving the certain means, and the only means, of the attainment of some of the chief objects of the embassy, that the Ambassador’s eventual compliance therewith, in contradiction to the apparent tendency of his instructions, has been thus sanctioned by his majesty’s government. The interpretation however, of the instructions of his majesty’s government, is more immediately in his excellency’s province than mine; but, as one of his majesty’s commissioners, it has been my duty to give it a deliberate consideration. It has rather been the wish of his excellency, that we should take the subject of compliance with the ceremony into our consideration, unshackled by any reference to the instructions in question; and view it as a mere question of expediency, with regard to its influence more especially on the commercial interests of the East-India Company at Canton. As a servant of the East-India Company, and as associated in this Embassy with an express view to those important interests, the above is the view of the subject, in which I must naturally feel most ready and anxious to consider it. It is the one also, upon which, from my local experience, and from habits of long and deep reflection upon it, I ought to be fully prepared to offer a well-grounded opinion; and my opinion, whatever it may be, I certainly shall not, by any apprehensions of responsibility, be deterred from giving to his lordship in the most unreserved manner. The opinion which I have long entertained on this subject, and which I have seen no recent occasion to alter, is this: that, even leaving out of consideration the primary objections to the ceremony; to recede at present from the precedent of Lord Macartney’s embassy, by a compliance unaccompanied by any condition similar to that for which Lord Macartney had stipulated, would be a sacrifice of national credit and character; and as such would operate injuriously to the trade and interests of the East-India Company at Canton; that such compliance (judging from my general knowledge and experience of the Chinese character, and more especially from the result of the Dutch embassy³ in 1795,) would not be likely to promote the attainment of any one of the objects we have in view, or in any way to benefit our national and commercial interests. This opinion, to prevent any mistakes on so important a point, I have given to Lord Amherst this day in writing, by the following letter:

H.M.S. Alceste, 8th Aug. 1816.

My Lord,

Your lordship having done me the honor to desire my opinion relative to the expediency of a compliance with the Chinese ceremony of prostration, in reference to the effect it may have on the British character and interests at Canton, I beg to state that I feel strongly impressed with the idea that a compliance therewith will be unadvisable, even although the refusal should be attended with the hazard of the total rejection of the embassy.

I am fully sensible of the importance of the objects of the present mission; but I cannot bring myself to believe that their attainment would in the smallest degree be promoted by the compliance in question; and the mere reception, (it could hardly be termed honorable reception) of the Embassy, would, I think, be too dearly purchased by such a sacrifice.

There are some expedients by which the chief objections against the ceremony would be removed, but I am persuaded that the Chinese government is more likely to wave the ceremony, than to accede to any arrangement of that nature, that could be accepted as satisfactory.

I have the honor to be, with respect, your Lordship’s most obedient servant,
(signed) GEORGE THOMAS STAUNTON.

To his Excellency Lord Amherst, &c. &c. &c.

August the 9th.

At an early hour this morning the Chinese junks or boats arrived alongside, for the purpose of receiving and taking on shore the remainder of our baggage; and two of them were found to be fitted up with small state cabins upon deck, for the accommodation of the Ambassador and suite. - About eleven, all our arrangements being completed, I quitted the Alceste; and having embarked with Lord Amherst, Mr. Ellis, and other gentlemen, in the Alceste’s barge, we proceeded, accompanied by nine other ship’s boats, with their colors flying, in regular order towards the shore. - Each of the ships of the squadron manned their yards, and bred a salute of nineteen guns upon the occasion. After a time, we found it convenient to remove for about a couple of hours into the junks, but we returned to our places in the English boats on approaching the mouth of the river. The Alceste’s barge led the way, carrying the standard of England; the other boats formed into a double line, and followed with British ensigns. On entering the river, the fort on the left saluted us with three guns, and the soldiers, to the number of four or five hundred, were drawn up in line under the walls, with colors flying and music playing. About 4 P.M. we reached the village of Tong-koo, where we found the boats, which had been prepared for our accommodation on our progress up the river, collected. Our party, on arriving, assembled in the Ambassador’s boat, as there was no convenient accommodation provided on shore. The legate, who was likewise embarked in his boat, at a little distance, immediately sent to request to see Mr. Morrison, who accordingly went to him, and remained about half an hour. The conversation he informed us related chiefly to details respecting the terms to be employed in describing individuals in the suite, the arrangements for travelling, and a slight hint or two respecting the performance of the Chinese ceremony. - It was however finally settled between Mr. Morrison and the legate that the Ambassador should not be troubled with any business this evening. Shortly after Mr. Morrison’s return, a visit from the legate was announced, and he was received in form by Lord Amherst and the commissioners. - He was exceedingly courteous and affable in his manner, and expressed his regret that an ignorance of each other’s language, prevented a more intimate and familiar conversation, assuring us of his wish and desire to make the Ambassador and suite as welcome as possible, and that he doubted not of our disposition to do, on our part, what might be agreeable to his Imperial Majesty. He took particular notice of Mr. Amherst, and promised him some presents on our arrival at Tien-tsin; to which place, he said, we were immediately to proceed, in order to make some further arrangements with Soo-ta-zhin⁴ (who was waiting there) respecting our reception and entertainment. - And he alluded to plays, and an imperial feast being designed to be given there, in honor of the Embassy. - It seems that the report of the minister being appointed to meet us at Tien-tsin, is incorrect; an...