The Queen having been pleased to appoint you to be Her Majesty’s Plenipotentiary and Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China, it is my duty to furnish you with such information as to the views of Her Majesty’s Government with regard to China, as may serve to guide you in the execution of the duties which you are called upon to discharGE.

        If we have not as yet reaped all the advantages which were anticipated at the conclusion of our Treaties with China, from the extended intercourse with that Country for which it was the object of those Treaties to provide, it is nevertheless unquestionable that the Commerce of Her Majesty’s Subjects in that Quarter has made rapid progress under the protection of those Treaties, and there is therefore good reason to expect that by prudent management commerce may be still further developed, and our intercourse with the Chinese Authorities and People set free from those obstacles which have hitherto beset it. So far indeed from its being a matter of surprise that more has not been done, it is a subject for congratulation that such results have already been secured notwithstanding the difficulties of no ordinary character with which we have had to contend. It is not to be expected that the notions of superiority over other Governments, which the isolated position in which the Government of China had so long entrenched itself had served to foster, should at once give way to a conviction that its claims in that respect were unfounded; or that the arrogance of the Authorities and the prejudices of the people should be altogether exchanged for feelings of cordiality and goodwill towards those who by force of arms had acquired a right to be treated with consideration and respect.

        Neither was it to be expected that Trade should immediately receive the full development of which, judging from the vast population of the Country and from the productiveness of the soil and industry of the inhabitants, it might be supposed susceptible. There were habits of long-standing to be overcome, prejudices deeply rooted to be softened down, new Mans for Trade to be established, new arrangements to be made for meeting the increased demands of the Foreign Merchants for the produce of the soil. And it cannot be doubted that much of the disappointment which has been felt at the limited expansion of our intercourse with China since the conclusion of the Treaties, has originated in a disregard of these considerations.

        We have now however arrived at a stage in our intercourse with China in which we may hope to turn to account the experience which during the last few years we have acquired. On the 29th of August of this year the period will have arrived at which, in confonnity with the stipulations contained in the French and American Treaties with China, admitted by Keying (in his note of the 13th of January 1845, inclosed in Sir John Davis’s despatch No. 5 of the 7th of February of that year) to be applicable to ourselves in virtue of the eighth article of the Supplementary Treaty of Humanchai [The Bogue], we are entitled to claim a revision of the British Treaties with China. It will accordingly be advisable at an early period after you enter upon the active exercise of your duties, to apprize the Chinese Authorities of your being instructed to require such a revision at the appointed time. I should observe however that there is a difference between the stipulations of the French and American Treaties on this point, the period of twelve years dating by the former from the exchange of ratifications, by the latter from the date of the Convention.

        The Chinese Authorities may perhaps with some degree of plausibility object that the circumstances of the time are unsuitable for the commencement of so important a work; that the Imperial Government, harassed by the insurrection which convulses so many of the provinces.’ cannot be expected to give its immediate attention to the subject. You will best be able to judge of the validity of this excuse; but you will under any circumstances obtain a recognition of our right to claim the revision on the 29th of August next, and a formal admission that if out of consideration for the embarrassments of the Imperial Government we are willing not to insist immediately upon our right, we are not to be precluded by our forbearance from urging our claim at a later period.

        Some advantage may indeed arise from the postponement of the revision for a moderate time. In the first place, we shall have better means of judging of the probable result of the insurrection and be enabled to shape our negotiations accordingly.

        It is impossible moreover that the barriers which have hitherto opposed the extension of foreign intercourse can be maintained under the state of anarchy which now prevails in some of the provinces; and we cannot fail, as a consequence of the civil war, to obtain greater insight into the character of the Authorities and the people of China, and in regard to the points to which our commercial energies may be directed with greater prospect of success; while on the other hand, the Chinese Authorities themselves will be induced to take a more correct view of foreign nations by the conviction which has been forced upon them, and of which they have given proof in the anxiety shown at Shanghai to enlist them in the Imperial cause, that their own boasted superiority has no real existence.

        A moderate delay in the revision of the British Treaties may not also be without advantage by causing that operation to be effected more closely in point of time with that of the French and American Treaties, for it may be expected that the combined endeavours of the British, French and Amencan Negotiators will be more likely to carry weight with the Chinese Government, than any exertions which may be made by either of those Powers singly to effect an improvement in the present state of things. But whether acting singly or in conjunction with one or both of your colleagues, you will never fail to bear in mind that Her Majesty’s Government have no exclusive or selfish views as regards China. They desire that all the nations of the civilized world should share equally with them in whatever benefits, commercial or political, circumstances may enable them to secure for the British Nation in the Chinese Empire. They have nothing to conceal as regards their policy, and therefore you will be at liberty to communicate to your colleagues with the most unreserved freedom all matters to which in the course of your negotiations with the Chinese Authorities your attention may be directed. And in the full assurance that the feelings of Her Majesty’s Government in this respect are shared by the Governments of France and the United States, I shall not hesitate to direct Her Majesty’s Representatives in those countries to communicate to the respective Governments the Instructions contained in this dispatch.

        In all your dealings with the Chinese Government you will alwayi bear in mind that nothing is likely to be more fatal to our influence in China than the adoption of an authoritative tone in advancing points or urging concessions on which we are not prepared to insist. Such a course of proceeding would infallibly have the effect of encouraging resistance even to our best founded demands, and we might find ourselves on very inadequate grounds, and at a very inopportune moment reduced to the necessity of choosing between one of two alternatives, either of retracting our pretensions with loss of consideration and dignity, or of insisting on them at the risk of interruption of our commerce, and even of resort to force in support of our demands. There are unquestionably points which it would be desirable to secure, and to which we have even a right by Treaty; and among those I would mention free and unrestricted intercourse with the Chinese Authorities, and free admission into some of the cities of China, especially Canton. The treatment of these questions however requires much caution; for if we should press them in menacing language, and yet fail in carrying them, our national honour would require us to have recourse to force; and in order to obtain results the practical advantage of which is not clearly demonstrable, we might place in peril the vast commercial interests which have already grown up in China, and which with good and temperate management will daily acquire greater extension.

        But whenever we negotiate for the revision of our Treaties we may make proposals and recede from them without dishonour, if found unpalatable to the Chinese Government; and I do not therefore feel any hesitation in pointing out to you several matters which Her Majesty’s Government conceive may very properly be urged on the Chinese Government.

        The points are stated at length in a despatch which I addressed to Sir George Bonham on the 7th of May last, and as you will have the means of referring to that despatch, it is unnecessary for me to do more than enumerate them. They are:

        Much advantage would probably result from the negotiation for the revision of the Treaty being carried on at Peking, and you will accordingly propose to repair to that capital for the purpose. But as in the case of the pennission given in 1850 to your predecessor to proceed to Peking for the purpose of having personal communication with the proper officers of the Imperial Government on matters of complaint which we had at that time against the Authorities at Canton, you will in the event of your going to the Chinese Capital for the negotiation of the new Treaty be careful not to give to your visit the character of a Mission to the Emperor involving questions of etiquette.

        I need scarcely caution you against taking any part in the Civil contest which now rages in China. Justice    and good policy equally prescribe to us the observance of the strictest neutrality between the contending parties. But you will at the same time take care that no injury is done to British Subjects by either party, as long as they keep aloof from the contest. If any ill-judging Individuals should be tempted by prospects of gain to favour the cause of either party, notwithstanding the declared determination of their Government to remain neutral, they will forfeit all claim to your protection, whatever prejudice they may suffer either in their persons or in their property from their wanton disregard of their obvious duty.

        But as regards the rest of Her Majesty’s subjects it will be your duty in communication with Her Majesty’s Naval Authorities to afford them the most ample protection on all occasions and at all places where they stand if need of it.

        I have only to add in conclusion that, in cultivating the most friendly relations with the Representatives of others Powers in China, you will act in the manner most consistent with the wishes of Her Majesty’s Government.