Opium, Soldiers and Evangelicals

England's 1840-42 War with China and its Aftermath

H. Gelber

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2004
• Print ISBN:
  9781349510375
  9781403907004
• eBook ISBN:
  9780230000704
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Asian History
• Index: History

This book questions the universal belief that England's 1840-42 war with China was an 'Opium War'. What really worried London was 'insults to the crown', the claim of a dilapidated and corrupt China to be superior to everyone, threats to British men and women and seizure of British property, plus the wish to expand and free trade everywhere. It was only much later that general Chinese resentment and Evangelical opinion at home - and in America - persuaded everyone that Britain had indeed been wicked and fought for opium.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 Mission to Canton
• 2 Palmerston’s England, the World and China
• 3 It’s More Than Trade, Stupid! Canton 1835–38
• 4 The British and Commissioner Lin 1839
• 5 London Debates 1839–40
• 6 Fighting and Talking: Elliot 1840–41
• 7 The Yangzi Campaign: Pottinger 1841–42
• 8 Almost a Settlement
• 9 Clashes Continue: Britain and China after the War
• 10 China: Resentment Congeals into Nationalism
• 11 Britain: Evangelicals, Humanitarians and Guilt
• Notes
• Select Bibliography
• Index