‘The 18th (Royal Irish) Regiment of Foot at the storming of the forts of Amoy, 26 August 1841’, by Michael Angelo Hayes (1820-1877). By the Treaty of Nanking in 1840, Amoy became one of the five ‘Treaty Ports’ which the Chinese Empire was required to open up, promising millions of new customers for Western merchants without comparable access to European markets for the bewildered Chinese. As ‘compensation’ for the opium destroyed by Lin Zexu, China’s anti-smuggling commissioner, Hong Kong was handed over to Britain: ironically the island subsequently threw off Victorian mercantilism to become a model of enlightened free market economics, whereas China collapsed into Communism in 1950.
Part 1 of 2
I AM not competent to judge how long this war may last, or how protracted may be its operations, but this I can say, that a war more unjust in its origin, a war more calculated in its progress to cover this country with permanent disgrace, I do not know, and I have not read of. The right hon. Gentleman opposite* spoke last night in eloquent terms of the British flag waving in glory at Canton, and of the animating effects produced on the minds of our sailors by the knowledge, that in no country under heaven was it permitted to be insulted.* We all know the animating effects which have been produced in the minds of British subjects on many critical occasions when that flag has been unfurled in the battle-field.
* Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859), Secretary-at-War, who as a member of the governing Whig Party sat across the floor of the House from the Conservative benches where Gladstone sat. ‘Right hon.’ is an abbreviation of Right Honourable, a courtesy title extended to all Members of Parliament. In accordance with convention, Gladstone addressed his remarks to the Speaker, not directly to Mr Macaulay.
* When the first clashes took place between Chinese and British troops near Canton, Royal Navy captain Charles Elliot (1801-1875), later Admiral Sir Charles Elliot, planted the Union Jack in full view of his men to stiffen their resolve. “It was natural” Macaulay had said on the previous day, April 7th, “that they should look with confidence on the victorious flag which was hoisted over them, which reminded them that they belonged to a country unaccustomed to defeat, to submission, or to shame.” It was to these words that Gladstone took exception.
Précis
During a heated Commons debate in 1840, Secretary-at-War Thomas Macaulay sought to whip up support for war on China by recounting how Royal Navy sailors had been inspired by the Union Jack to defend national pride. William Gladstone, who was firmly against the war, responded that he knew of no conflict in history that deserved such loyalty less. (57 / 60 words)
Part Two
‘British officers greeting Chinese mandarins’ at the signing of the Treaty of Nanking, painted in about 1843 by an unknown artist. Lord Stanley told Queen Victoria that it was ‘almost impossible to anticipate’ the Treaty’s advantages to Britain, but in China it was a humiliation which grew only more unconscionable as Britain, Russia, France and the United States exploited Peking’s weakness. In 1950 the Communists leveraged China’s shame to seize power, but used it only to vandalise a priceless heritage and impoverish and exterminate their countrymen by tens of millions in the Great Leap Forward (1958-1962) and Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Gladstone was one of the few to anticipate, however dimly, something of the harm that would attend a Treaty secured so dishonourably.
But how comes it to pass that the sight of that flag always raises the spirit of Englishmen? It is because it has always been associated with the cause of justice, with opposition to oppression, with respect for national rights, with honourable commercial enterprize, but now, under the auspices of the noble Lord,* that flag is hoisted to protect an infamous contraband traffic, and if it were never to be hoisted except as it is now hoisted on the coast of China, we should recoil from its sight with horror, and should never again feel our hearts thrill, as they now thrill with emotion, when it floats proudly and magnificently on the breeze. No, I am sure that her Majesty’s Government will never upon this motion, persuade the House to abet this unjust and iniquitous war.*
* Not Mr Macaulay (who would be raised to the peerage as Baron Macaulay in 1857) but the Prime Minister of the day, William Lamb (1779-1848), 2nd Viscount Melbourne, who held office in 1834 and 1835-1841.
* Sadly, Gladstone was wrong. Sir James Graham’s motion to censure the policy was defeated, albeit by a majority of just nine, and the war continued. See Jawaharlal Nehru’s justly censorious narrative of the conflict in The First Opium War. The Second Opium War in 1856-60 saw a renewal of hostilities and another trade deal signed under duress, the Treaty of Tientsin of 1858. In 1857, a further motion to censure the Government’s China policy was brought before the House of Commons, and this time succeeded. It was led by veteran free-trader Richard Cobden (1804-1865).
Précis
Gladstone recognised that the national flag had often inspired the British fighting man to heroism in a noble cause, but warned that if the Union Jack continued to symbolise bullying and injustice, as it had recently in China, it would quickly lose its power, and he urged the Commons not to let things come to this pass. (57 / 60 words)
