The Macartney Embassy, also called the Macartney Mission, was a British embassy to China in 1793. The Mission ran from 1792–94 .[1] It is named for the first envoy of Great Britain to China, George Macartney, who led the endeavour. The goal of the embassy was to convince Emperor Qianlong of China to ease restrictions on trade between Great Britain and China by allowing Great Britain to have a permanent embassy in Beijing, possession of "a small unfortified island near Chusan for the residence of British traders, storage of goods, and outfitting of ships", and reduced tariffs on traders in Guangzhou.
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The Canton commercial system of trade had been in place informally since the 17th century. Essentially, the guidelines restricted formal trade to being conducted through a handful of merchants selected by the government. These were commonly called Hong merchants. As trade intensified, disputes broke out between the British traders and the Hong merchants. This forced local authorities to issue edicts formalizing the system of trade and its restrictions.
By the late 18th century, the British traders were feeling confined by the restrictive system. In an attempt to gain greater trade rights, they lobbied for an Embassy to go before the Emperor and make requests. The first Embassy, the Cathcart Embassy of 1788, was called off with the sudden death of Cathcart before his arrival in China. Another Embassy was quickly organized, with Lord Macartney as its head.
The Manchu Qing Empire had considered all other states to be tributary to itself. However, the Macartney Embassy was given special notice for two reasons. First, it was sent by Britain on the pretext of commemorating the Emperor's 80th birthday. Second, the Embassy had traveled a great distance, and had not previously come before the Emperor's Court. The matter was complicated somewhat by the Embassy's insistence on meeting with the Emperor without previous announcement, and Macartney's refusal to observe Court traditions. Nonetheless, the Emperor instructed his officials to lead the Embassy to him with the utmost civility.
Macartney's ambassadorial instructions were signed by Secretary of State Henry Dundas on 8 September 1792, and included letters of credence to the Emperor of Japan, to be executed after completing his mission to China. His instructions stated:
It is possible that you may find it either necessary or expedient to touch upon the Coast of Japan. That Country produces Tea as good as, and probably cheaper than, that of China. The difficulties of trading there, which have so long deterred other nations from attempting it, are now said to be almost ceased.[2]
These instructions confirmed suggestions made by Macartney himself in a memorandum to Dundas dated 4 January 1792.[3] Macartney had been shown a memorandum written by an East India Company officer in Calcutta proposing that the projected British embassy to China also be sent to Japan:
…where I understand there is every reason to apprehend he will be well received from the Japanese Administration being perfectly relieved from the Apprehensions of the Christian Religion being again imposed or renewed by granting a free Commerce to the other European Nations as the Dutch who reside in Japan are no longer under the restraints imposed upon them about the beginning of this Century specified in Kempfer's relation, but at present enjoy the most liberal Encouragement and enlargement from their former fetters. This information I have from Mr. Titching [Isaac Titsingh] the present Governor of Chinsurah [near Calcutta] who resided there many years.[4]
The importation of tea from Japan would have obliged the Chinese suppliers at Canton to lower their prices. Macartney's letters of credence from George III to the Emperor of Japan stated that he had been sent "for the purpose of cultivating a mutual intercourse and friendship, and for the purpose of entering upon treaties of commerce mutually agreable to our peoples".[5]
Attempts were made to find a Japanese interpreter, which included Secretary of State William Grenville writing to the British Ambassador to St. Petersburg, Charles Whitworth, about a Japanese castaway who was reported to be in Russian hands: this was the shipwrecked merchant, Daikokuya Kodaiyu 大黑屋光太夫, who had been met in Nizhni Kamchatsk by Barthélemy de Lesseps, the interpreter with the Lapérouse expedition, who was conveying the journal of Lapérouse from Petropavlovsk to Paris.[6] The Russians prevented any access to Daikokuya by the British when he was brought to St. Petersburg, and used him themselves as an interpreter in 1792 during the expedition to Japan led by Adam Laxman, as reported by Lloyd's Evening-Post of 25–26 April 1794:
A new channel of commerce has been proposed between the Japanese and the Russians, by a person from Japan who was shipwrecked on the Russian coast some years since, but returned home with the son of the Professor Lakman [sic]. He is now charged with a kind of treaty to the Japanese, promising to send a ship to Russia every year; but the want of ship-timber in Kamschatka is supposed to be a drawback upon this undertaking.
Upon reaching Tientsin in July 1793, Macartney gave instructions to Captain Sir Erasmus Gower, commanding the Lion, which carried the embassy, for a reconnoitring voyage to Japan. Gower was to proceed to Edo, where he was to deliver a letter to the "Cubo, or Temporal Sovereign of that Country" (公方i.e. the Shogun). Nautical observations were to be made and the opportunity taken of observing how far Japanese needs might lead them to purchase any British manufactures and whether in that case the country afforded any primary products (apart from copper) which might profitably be imported into England. Gower would soon be able to ascertain whether the Japanese entertained that marked aversion to all foreigners which had been attributed to them formerly by persons "who might indeed have been influenced in their accounts by a desire of deterring us". The failure to find in Europe a Japanese interpreter for the language would make it difficult for Gower to conduct specific negotiations with that Court, but for the purpose of this preliminary encounter three individuals were being sent who spoke Chinese and Malay. As soon as a reply was received from the Japanese Sovereign, or if no reply had come after a fortnight, Gower was to sail for Manila, where he might find some individuals who had been to Japan and had learned the language. If the services of such a person could be secured Macartney was ready to pay him handsomely: he would be "a vast acquisition in the event of my going to execute my commission of Embassador to the Emperor of Japan". In conclusion, Macartney said: "It will give me additional satisfaction, if it should so happen that you could see and gain information also as to .... the eastern part of the island of Formosa ... the several smaller islands to the eastward of Formosa, and the Lukay Islands to the Southward of Corea."[7]
In the event, Gower's crew were too sick to undertake the voyage to Japan and the Philippines before Macartney rejoined the ships at Canton on 19 December 1793. During his journey from Peking, Macartney had encountered two young men who had been sent by the King of Ryukyu to China on an official mission. The meeting prompted Macartney to record in his journal: "If circumstances will permit, I think it may be worth while to explore these Lieu-kieu islands."[8] From Canton, he wrote to Dundas on 23 December expressing his continuing belief in the desirability of a mission to Japan:
Japan appears the only place capable of supplying Tea to any considerable amount in case of failure in the quantity or exorbitancy in the price of that article from China, until we can have plantations of it in Bengal. In the meantime the expediency of attempting an intercourse with the Japanese subsists in its full force. Tho from the conversations I had at Batavia with a Dutch Gentleman of a very liberal disposition who was several years resident in Japan [Isaac Titsingh], I collected nothing that could induce me to depend on a favorable reception there, I learned nothing to deter me from the trial. The risk would, at least, be personal, as we have hitherto there no trade to lose. And no moment, if any, could be so propitious for opening up a new trade with them , as when, from the present general confusion of affairs of the Dutch East India Company, their connexion with the Japanese is greatly on the decline.[9]
The embassy was ultimately not successful in its primary objectives, although the circumstances surrounding it provided ample opportunity for both British and Chinese parties not to feel totally disgruntled about the compromises and concessions they had made. The failure of the primary objectives was not due to Macartney's refusal to kowtow in the presence of the Qianlong Emperor, as is sometimes believed. It was also not a result of the Chinese reliance on tradition in dictating foreign policy, but rather a result of competing world views which were uncomprehending and to some extent incompatible. 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. The requests had included a call for the relaxation of the restrictions on trade between Britain and China, the acquisition by Britain of "a small unfortified island near Chusan for the residence of British traders, storage of goods, and outfitting of ships"; and the establishment of a permanent British embassy in Beijing.[10] However, Emperor Qianlong's letter's continuing reference to all Europeans as "Barbarians", his assumption of all nations of the earth as being tributary to China, and his final words commanding King George III to "...Tremblingly obey and show no negligence!"[10] can be interpreted as a challenge or as a imperious dismissal.
The Macartney Embassy is historically significant because it marked a missed opportunity by the Chinese to move toward some kind of accommodation with the West. This failure would continue to plague the Qing Dynasty as it encountered increasing foreign pressures and internal unrest during the 19th century.
The painter William Alexander accompanied the embassy, and published numerous valuable paintings. He is sometimes described as the first image reporter of all times.[11]
Although the Macartney Embassy returned to London without obtaining any concession from China, the mission could have been termed a success because it brought back detailed observations. Sir George Staunton was charged with producing the official account of the expedition after their return. This multi-volume work was taken chiefly from the papers of Lord Macartney and from the papers of Sir Erasmus Gower, who was Commander of the expedition. Sir Joseph Banks was responsible for selecting and arranging engraving of the illustrations in this official record.[12]