Guns had been fired, lives had been lost, but full scale war wasn't a certainty yet.
The British set up a blockade. The Chinese were offering to let British captains dock,
so long as they signed a bond saying that they would never sell
opium in China and were willing to be subject to Chinese law. But the British
had already put out the order:
No British ship was to trade with the Chinese. Tensions are high;
something would have to give...
[intro music]
On the third of November, 1839, a British ship by the name of the Royal Saxon
approached Canton.
They were signalled to stop to turn back, but they made a run for it.
One of the British ships in the blockade fired a warning shot;
it skipped past their bow. The cannon shot was heard from the shore. The
Chinese admiral stationed at Canton made his decision.
He would send out his fleet to protect the Royal Saxon. Snd so a small host of
junks and fire ships began to pour out of the Canton harbor. the situation was
confused.
The commander of the ship that originally fired requested permission to
engage.
Captain Elliott, the superintendent of British trade and the man who convinced
the British merchants to hand over their opium in the first place
initially wavered, but the Chinese ships were bearing down hard.
Another request to engage was made. The Chinese ships were festooned with red
flags,
the color of War. The honor of his nation and his flag would not allow Elliot to
back down before such intimidation.
The order was given and the men engaged.
The first broadside roared over the water. British shells shredded one of the
fire rafts.
There was a cataclysmic explosion. A gout of flame and sea. One of the war junks
magazines had been hit.
All that was left of it were burning planks carried by the waves.
the ships turned to give another broadside, but the outmatched Chinese
junks began to retreat.
Only the proud admiral's flagship was left, standing defiantly, returning shot. But it
was hopelessly outclassed, and already damaged. Seeing the admiral standing
alone, Elliot told his captains to cease fire.
The point has been made, there was no need for meaningless slaughter.
And so, seeing the ceasefire, the flagship turned and limped back to port.
The first real battle of the Opium Wars had come and passed, with the British
bombarding the Chinese forces for defending a British ship which they
themselves had originally fired on. For some time after this, there was a lull.
Some in China even thought that the British were too far away to seriously
pursue a war. But the truth was the British were simply mustering their
forces. At that very moment,
marines and soldiers from India were being redeployed and transported to
China. The latest ships were dispatched from British naval yards to serve in the
fight.
Many in the British Admiralty saw this as an excellent opportunity to field
test the iron steam and sail ships that were just rolling off the lines. When the
forces arrived, though, the British descended on the island of Chusan. The
Chinese and British officials met, once on the Chinese flagship, once on the
British ship.
Each time, the British made their demands clear: surrender the island and no one
will be harmed.
And each time the Chinese responded in battle disbelief.
The Chinese officials told the British that, "Hey, we never did you any harm.
It's not right to punish us for the act of those in Canton!"
They implored the British to turn away, but the British had their duty, and as
the Chinese officials made clear on their way out,
so did they.
The next morning, the bombardment began. Soon, the Chinese forces retreated behind
the walls of their city, and the British Marines landed, unopposed.
They set up their guns, and then took the night to rest. By the next day, they found
the city nearly deserted. Chusan had been captured with little loss of life, and
the British had a jumping off point for their operations, should they decide to
threaten Shanghai. By this point, the Emperor had dismissed Lin Zexu, the
righteous minister who he had so celebrated a short while before, and
replaced him with an official named Qishan, who was empowered to treat with
the British. Qishan and Elliot began to discuss a settlement. They haggled over
reparation for the destroyed opium, and eventually came to a figure of six
million pounds. But Elliot was still supposed to get territory for the
British Empire that they could use for a port.
He offered to return Chusan in exchange for some other island, but
Qishan was not about to give away portions of sovereign China. And so, the
talks broke down. Then, as the New Year passed, at least for the English, an opium
runne, which had snuck its way into Canton, came back with the rumor that
the Emperor intended to resume the war and attack the British. Elliot decided to
preempt such an assault, though the wisdom of trusting unsubstantiated
rumors coming from opium runners is a bit questionable.
Really, it's unlikely that such an attack was ever actually in the works. But,
working with the information he had, Elliot commanded the British forces to
open fire on the Chinese fortifications at Chuenpee near Canton
on the morning of January 7th, 1841. The fighting lasted mere hours.
The British guns ripped through the fortifications and silenced any counter
batteries with haste. Then, Indian and British Marines landed and rapidly pushed
the Chinese ground forces back.
Tragically, a rumor had been circulating among the Chinese that the British
executed every prisoner they captured. And so, many hopelessly fought on to the
death until their battalions were in tatters and they're dead outnumber their
living. By 11:00 in the morning, the British flag flew over the Chinese
battlements. 600 Chinese lay dead; a meager 100 were captured.
Among the British, only 30 were wounded, and those not even from enemy fire, but
because of their pieces of artillery overheating and exploding.
Meanwhile, the Nemesis, the iron steam and sail ship that was being tested in
Chinese waters, demonstrated
the power of its guns and rockets, dispatching junks and chasing away the
Chinese fleet. Three further forts stood to be captured, but the next morning, a
Chinese physician came under flag of truce to ask on behalf of Qishan.
Despite the overwhelming desire of the troops to cut their way to Canton,
Elliot acquiesced. Horrified by the slaughter he had just witnessed,
he wrote to one of the British trades who was pushing the war that he hoped to
resolve it without further bloodshed, and that, if further conflict was necessary,
it was clear that they could take what they wanted. So, he agreed to meet. Soon
terms were hammered out. The Chinese would pay 6,000,000 in reparations. The
British would pay 6,000,000 to buy the island of Hong Kong. Ambassadors would be
exchanged, the Chinese agreed to not call the British tribute bearing barbarians
anymore, and the British would return all the forts and the territory that they
had taken during the war, and most importantly, trade would resume in a much
more free and open manner. So, problem solved!
The Chinese get just about the best terms they could conceivably hope for
under the circumstances, and the British get to fulfill their mission and open up
a whole new empire for trade!
There's been some bloodshed, but in the end everybody's happy, right?
Well, not exactly. Elliot's boss back in England, a fellow named Lord Palmerston,
who will undoubtedly crop up in other episodes down the line, was not happy.
the British Empire didn't get the massive sum of money he wanted as
reparations for the opium that was destroyed.
They didn't get to keep the territory that they conquered. They didn't get as
many open ports as he would like.
And, perhaps most of all, he was livid that Elliott, who had never really been
comfortable with the drug trade in the first place,
didn't even ask that opium be legalized in China. So, Elliot, for his swift and
nearly bloodless execution of the war was dismissed and sent packing. And Qishan!
The Emperor had to be ecstatic with these terms, right? I mean, the Chinese
were clearly outmatched, and, at the end of the day, all they had had to cede was
a barren rock in the middle of the ocean.
Pretty good deal, right? Well, the Emperor was not so happy.
In fact, he immediately recalled Qishan and ordered him executed for treason.
Apparently, he thought they could have gotten a better deal. Eh, don't worry, Qishan
lived, he's fine. But, needless to say neither party ever signed this treaty.
So join us next time as all the voices of reason are removed from the Opium War.