Macartney Embassy

Although the mission failed to achieve its official objectives, it was later noted for the extensive cultural, political, and geographical observations its participants recorded in China and brought back to Europe.

By the 18th century, Guangzhou, known as Canton to British merchants at the time, had become the most active port in the China trade, thanks partly to its convenient access to the Pearl River Delta.

[2]: 50–53 By the late 18th century, British traders felt confined by the Canton System and, in an attempt to gain greater trade rights, they lobbied for an embassy to go before the emperor and request changes to the current arrangements.

The need for an embassy was partly due to the growing trade imbalance between China and Great Britain, driven largely by the British demand for tea, as well as other Chinese products like porcelain and silk.

[3] Macartney, who had served in India as Governor of Madras (present-day Chennai), was ambivalent about selling the drug to the Chinese, preferring to substitute "rice or any better production in its place".

[2]: 8–9  An official embassy would provide an opportunity to introduce new British products to the Chinese market, which the East India Company had been criticised for failing to do.

[4] In 1787, Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger and East India Company official Henry Dundas dispatched Colonel Charles Cathcart to serve as Britain's first ambassador to China.

Chinese who taught foreigners their language risked death, as was the case with the teacher of James Flint, a merchant who broke protocol by complaining directly to Qianlong about corrupt officials in Canton.

[14] Dundas and Macartney prioritised national interests over those of the company, which feared the loss of its monopoly position, and the possibility that the embassy would strain diplomatic relations instead of improving them.

[14][16] Macartney intended the display of technical prowess to reflect Britain's "national character", one of ingenuity, exploration, and curiosity about the natural world.

[19] Representatives of the East India Company met with the military governor of Guangdong ahead of Macartney's arrival, in order to request permission for the embassy to land at Tianjin instead of Guangzhou.

The mission arrived at the mouth of the Hai River (known as the Pei Ho in European sources of the time) on 25 July, and dropped anchor, finding the muddy water impassable for the larger vessels.

He also informed Macartney that the meeting with the emperor was to take place at the Chengde Mountain Resort in Rehe (Jehol), rather than in the capital (Beijing) as the British delegation had expected.

Macartney and Staunton attended a banquet with viceroy Liang and the Manchu legate Zhengrui, who stipulated that all gifts were to be brought to Rehe and laid at the emperor's feet in accordance with protocol.

Wanting to be closer to China's political centre, Macartney received permission from Zhengrui to move to a different residence in Beijing, which had been intended to house the embassy after the meeting with the emperor.

[2]: 126–141 On 24 August, legate Zhengrui brought a letter to Macartney from Sir Erasmus Gower, who reported that the ships of the embassy had reached Zhoushan as ordered.

Calling Zhengrui "contemptible and ridiculous", Qianlong ordered him to send Macartney's letter to the viceroy of Zhejiang so the British vessels could leave Zhoushan.

[2]: 151–152 Having left behind the planetarium and other gifts at the Old Summer Palace, about seventy members of the mission, among them forty soldiers, departed Beijing on 2 September, heading north towards Jehol, where the Qianlong Emperor awaited.

Guard posts punctuated the route at roughly five mile intervals, and Macartney observed a large number of troops working to repair the road in preparation for the emperor's return to Beijing later in the year.

Under Macartney's orders, Lieutenant Henry William Parish of the Royal Artillery made a survey of the Great Wall's fortifications with his men, thereby contributing to the intelligence-gathering aspect of the mission, though at the expense of arousing suspicion among their Chinese hosts.

While Portuguese and Dutch merchants in Canton (now Guangzhou) had acquiesced to the ritual, British subjects, who regarded the act as slavish and humiliating,[28] generally avoided kowtowing to the emperor's edicts by leaving the room when such messages were received.

In one message to legate Zhengrui and viceroy Liang Kentang during Macartney's stay in Tianjin, Heshen had instructed the two men to inform Britain's representative that he would be regarded as a "boor" and a "laughingstock" if he did not perform the ritual when the time came.

[2]: 87–89 Qianlong's compromise on the issue, stated in an edict dated 8 September (the day of the embassy's arrival in Chengde), was that Macartney could perform a single prostration in lieu of the nine typically called for.

There is therefore no need to import the manufactures of outside barbarians in exchange for our own produce.Despite this dismissal, Qianlong had noted the military superiority implied by several gifts: six brass cannon, a flintlock with an advanced firing mechanism and a model of HMS Royal Sovereign.

Although ultimately unsuccessful in its primary objectives, the circumstances surrounding the mission provided ample opportunity for both British and Chinese parties to feel totally satisfied about the compromises and concessions they had made.

After the conclusion of the embassy, Qianlong sent a letter to King George III, explaining in greater depth the reasons for his refusal to grant the several requests presented to the Chinese emperor by Macartney.

However, Qianlong's letter's continuing reference to all Europeans as "barbarians", his assumption of all nations of the earth as being subordinate to China, and his final words commanding King George III to "...Tremblingly obey and show no negligence!

While to a modern sensibility it marked a missed opportunity by both sides to explore and understand each other's cultures, customs, diplomatic styles, and ambitions, it also prefigured increasing British pressure on China to accommodate its expanding trading and imperial network.

The mutual lack of knowledge and understanding on both sides would continue to plague the Qing dynasty as it encountered increasing foreign pressure and internal unrest during the 19th century.

Although the Macartney Embassy returned to London without obtaining any concession from China, the mission could be termed a success in that it brought back detailed observations of a great empire.