Britain's China Policy and the Opium Crisis
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A01=Glenn Melancon
Anglo-Chinese relations
Author_Glenn Melancon
Bedchamber Crisis
British Commercial Community
British Trade Commission
Category=JBFN2
Category=JPS
Category=JWLF
Category=NHD
Category=NHF
Chinese Government
Earlier Twentieth Century Historians
east
East India Company's Monopoly
Effective Interference
Elliot's Action
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
foreign relations history
Free Trade Imperialism
George III
Great Reform Act
Hong Merchants
Illegal Opium Trade
imperial policy analysis
india
Liberal Tories
Lord Auckland
Lord Palmerston
Melbourne Ministry
monopoly
Naval Force
nineteenth-century diplomacy
Opium Merchants
opium war parliamentary debates
Palmerston's Foreign Policy
Palmerston's Response
parliamentary decision-making
political honour in governance
Thomas Spring Rice
Unkiar Skelessi
Young Man
Product details
- ISBN 9780754607045
- Weight: 363g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 28 Jun 2003
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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The first Opium War (1840-42) was a defining moment in Anglo-Chinese relations, and since the 1840s the histories of its origins have tended to have been straightforward narratives, which suggest that the British Cabinet turned to its military to protect opium sales and to force open the China trade. Whilst the monetary aspects of the war cannot be ignored, this book argues that economic interests should not overshadow another important aspect of British foreign policy - honour and shame. The Palmerston's government recognised that failure to act with honour generated public outrage in the form of petitions to parliament and loss of votes, and as a result was at pains to take such considerations into account when making policy. Accordingly, British Cabinet officials worried less about the danger to economic interests than the threat to their honour and the possible loss of power in Parliament. The decision to wage a drug war, however, made the government vulnerable to charges of immorality, creating the need to justify the war by claiming it was acting to protect British national honour.
Glenn Melancon, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, USA
