Without this man, the Opium War could have been avoided, and the Chinese treated him well, but he became a white-eyed wolf
In April 1840, the British House of Commons was engaged in an important debate on the subject of "whether or not to send an expeditionary force to China from the British mainland. "
During the lengthy debate, young Stanton stood out, and his speeches drew attention. Whenever it was his turn to speak, the others made a point of being quiet just so that they could hear what he was expressing, and everyone listened with particular attention. Stanton Jr. said very decisively, "This war is inevitable, and only by conquering China can the rulers get what they want."
Small Stanton's statement went like this, "Before we started this battle, we all hoped that China would sit down and negotiate a peaceful solution to this problem. However, based on what I know about the character of the Chinese people and the character of the feudal rulers, they will not give in easily unless we use force to suppress it. Only suppression by force can get the result we want." Therefore, he believed that the battle to conquer China was inevitable.
Then Stanton Jr. went on to say, "If we cannot gain a foothold in China, then India will also ostracize us and disrespect us, and this situation will spread to the whole world, and then there will be no place for us. Therefore, what we are preparing for is a world war, and the outcome of the war will certainly have a great impact. And, the victory or defeat of the war is irrelevant to the impact; if we lose this war, there is no need for us to participate; if we want to win this war, we cannot choose to give up."
Stanton Jr.'s speech influenced the legislators' views on the matter, and the floor erupted in applause when he finished. After the debate, the vote was taken, with 271 MPs in favor of the war and 262 against it, a difference of just nine votes. If, however, it had not been for little Stanton's speech, the main peace faction would certainly have had a majority, i.e., the Opium War would not have broken out.
At the time, many members of the House trusted Stanton Jr. After all, he had visited China at the age of thirteen, and was not only received by Emperor Qianlong in a cordial manner, but also received special attention from the Emperor, and he was very familiar with the rulers of the Qing Dynasty.
So why did young Stanton visit China at such a young age? Because, he was the son of Stanton, the deputy envoy of Margolny's mission, and his father took him with him when he traveled to China. When Margolese visited China, young Stanton was kept with him as a trainee boy. In the 58th year of the Qianlong reign, the Qianlong emperor received the foreign ambassador Margolny, and young Stanton, who was in charge of carrying the back edge of the ambassador's cloak, also met him.
During his time in China, young Stanton had no specific tasks to perform, and with nothing to do all day, he began to learn Chinese. Because, children are much better learners than adults, he quickly mastered the Chinese language and learned a lot about daily communication. When Margolny introduced little Stanton to the emperor, he also made a point of bringing up the fact that this child could speak Chinese.
So naturally, the Qianlong Emperor looked at little Stanton in a different light. Afterwards, the original boring and serious process of the audience was broken, the Qianlong Emperor asked the little Stanton to come closer and asked him to open his mouth to speak Chinese. Little Stanton spoke Chinese fluently and praised the Qianlong Emperor from time to time, which made the Qianlong Emperor amused. Afterwards, Emperor Qianlong found a purse from his own body and gave it to Little Stanton.
Maybe in the eyes of the British, the Emperor's gift of a purse was not expensive, but in the eyes of the Chinese, it was a great gift. The act of being rewarded by the emperor himself is surely a special kind of favor. For, in the eyes of the Chinese, every article on the Emperor's person was of great value. Little Stanton, knowing how the Chinese think, also felt that this was a great reward, and kept the purse for all time.
However, back in his homeland, Little Stanton did not forget his knowledge of Chinese, and perhaps the trip to China inspired him to work even harder to learn Chinese, as if he could anticipate going back to China in the future. As a result of his knowledge of Chinese, Stanton's career changed dramatically, and in 1798 he was hired by the East India Company as a branch clerk and permanently stationed in Guangzhou.
It wasn't long before he was promoted to Commissioner-General and continued to stay in China for eighteen years. In 1817 he returned to England as a member of the House of Commons. Young Stanton's experiences in China had left him with an unbreakable bond with China, and he was very fond of Chinese things.
Later, he built a Chinese-style pavilion in the city, which he named "Guting Laiyuan", and the most distinctive building was the Chinese lighthouse-shaped pavilion.
In addition, Stanton Jr. spent ten years translating the Qing Laws, the first English translation of a Chinese text. In addition to this, his writings include "A Chronicle of the British Mission to Beijing in 1816" and "A Commercial Examination of Britain and China", in which he compiled all his knowledge of China into books for the British to learn from.In 1823, Stanton Jr. founded the Royal Asiatic Society along with Henry, and he went on to become a famous sinologist in history.
Such a person who has a deep emotion to China, naturally, has the most right to say about China. Only, the China plot cultivated in his childhood did not stop him from choosing to interfere in Chinese diplomacy by force, even if the Qianlong Emperor's purse was not an option. In fact, the China experience humiliated him so much that he was constantly reminded of the need to take a tough approach to China. Because, in his eyes, only stupid people would think of solving problems through peaceful means.