No not Paul, another one. John Adams was not alone in recognizing the value of developing trade route with the [font=Times]East Indies[/font] (1785). I’ve been reading a mission directive written in 1792 by a certain Sir Henry Dundas, president of the board of the British East India Company and [font=Times]Great Britain[/font]’s home minister, to a Lord George Macartney, the first appointed “Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China”. In a nutshell, Lord Macartney was charged with the task of meeting with the Emperor to secure favorable trading conditions with the Chinese. [font=Times]Britain[/font] was already well established with colonial possessions in [font=Times]India[/font] and very prominent with shipping and trading throughout in [font=Times]Indian Ocean[/font] and the Pacific. [font=Times]Britain[/font] did recognize in [font=Times]China[/font] a huge potential for profitable commerce: importation of tea was increasing and the need for a “vent” to unload manufactured goods (and opium, already a factor). Essentially, Macartney was to obtain secure passage for British traders in the region and if possible a new location to have a territorial outpost from which to operate. Mention was made of inviting the Emperor to consider sending his own ambassador to [font=Times]England[/font] to improve commercial relations.
Unfortunately, after meeting with the British ambassadorial deputation, the Emperor Qianlong was to reject all of His Majesty’s requests. He apparently did not believe that dealing with a minor maritime power from thousands of “lis” away was all that necessary. His Chinese empire was vast enough, self-contained, and had no real need of anything from the outside. Precious gifts having been exchanged, the British mission was allowed to go home.
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