Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
In 1834 the British East India Company was disbanded, and private
traders made their moves to get in on the lucrative opium trade.
Knowing that a multiplication of private British traders would require
greater governmental facilitation, the British government sent Lord
William John Napier to China as superintendent of trade, an official
government position. Napier, a pompous and overbearing man from
a family line that served British imperialist interests, was overly anx-
ious to extend the dignity of the British crown and his own office to
the Chinese. In presenting himself to the Chinese authorities in Canton
he violated just about every Chinese sensibility and regulation imagi-
nable, and when they were taken aback by his brusque demeanor he
blustered that Britain was quite ready for war with China. He called
in British warships and announced that he would “hand his name
down to posterity as the man who had thrown open the wide field of
the Chinese Empire to the British Spirit and Industry” (Hs¨ 1990,
175). The spirited captains of British industry and commerce were con-
siderably less enthusiastic about his saber rattling and the disruption
of trade it produced, and they refused to support him. Napier eventu-
ally backed off and returned in September to Macao, where he died the
next month. After the Napier incident, the British government
appointed Captain Charles Elliot superintendent of trade in 1836 and
instructed him to be less confrontational in dealing with the Chinese.
Elliot eventually engaged in open military conflict with China over
opium.
By the late 1830s the Qing government decided, after a brief flirta-
tion with the idea of legalizing the opium trade, to interdict opium.
A fiery and energetic Chinese official named Lin Zexu was appointed
imperial commissioner and sent to Canton as the emperor's personal
representative to rid China of the opium problem once and for all.
Commissioner Lin arrived in Canton in March 1839 and gave the
foreigners (mainly the British) a deadline for surrendering all their
stockpiles of opium. When his deadline passed with no action, Lin
blockaded the foreign factory area in Canton, trapping several foreigners
inside, including Charles Elliot himself. After several weeks passed, a
crisis atmosphere emerged as foreigners in the surrounded factories
began running out of food and supplies. Then a remarkable idea
dawned on Elliot: he would simply give Commissioner Lin exactly what
he wanted. In his official capacity, Elliot issued a proclamation making
all of the opium in Canton the property of the British crown, and no
longer the property of the private traders. His motive was simple: if
Commissioner Lin trifled with Crown property, it would be sheer
