The British and Chinese Treaty

An editorial essay by Marx reviewing the signing of the Treaty of Tientsin between China and Britain during the Second Opium War. Written on September 28, 1858. Published in the New-York Daily Tribune, No. 5455, October 15, 1858.

In June 1858, with the support of the United States and Russia, the British and French aggressors forced the Qing government to sign the Treaty of Tientsin by force. According to this treaty, the ban on opium trade in China was lifted, and China had to pay indemnity to Britain and France and open trade ports. Russia, for its part, seized this opportunity to occupy a large part of China’s territory.

In The British and Chinese Treaty Marx clearly pointed out that the unequal treaties signed after the Opium War would legalize the opium trade in China, and that the Qing government was no longer able to prohibit smoking to save the situation, and would “try a method, viz: legalize the cultivation of the poppy in China, and lay duties on the foreign opium imported.” For the Qing government, this approach was undoubtedly a poison to quench thirst, which would aggravate the national disaster in China. Marx condemned the British government for forcing China to pay indemnity, “for expenses incurred by piracy on her own part,” and that “the first tidings of the 15 or 20 millions of British pounds to be paid by the Celestials proved a quieter to the most scrupulous British conscience”. The anxiety of the British invaders that the war would affect the Sino-British tea trade was not gratuitous and illustrated by the example of the Sino-Russian tea trade. The costs still to be incurred by the British in distraining Kwangtung were sure so to swell the wrong side of the balance that this second China war will hardly be self-paying. Before the Opium War, the Chinese authorities styled themselves “Celestials” and called the foreigners “barbarians”. Marx pointed out that Article 51 of the Treaty of Tientsin, which provided for the abolition of the term “barbarians”, was “another great success of the English invasion”. Before the First Opium War, British commercial activities were confined to Guangzhou. After the war, although Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai were opened as five new ports, instead of creating five new emporiums of commerce, trade had “gradually transferred trade from Canton to Shanghai”. Marx cited the turnover of British import and export trade to Canton and Shanghai from 1844–1856 as published by Parliament and listed them in charts, and supported them with comparisons through detailed figures and data. In addition, to this Marx also unmasked the fact that Tsarist Russia took advantage of the two Opium Wars to have the right to navigate the Heilongjiang River, to do business freely in the areas bordering the two countries, to cede a large amount of Chinese territory, and to gain much greater benefits than Britain, thus becoming the biggest robber and profiteer during the Opium Wars.

The British and Chinese Treaty comprehensively analyzed the impact of the signing of the Treaty on the both sides, China and Britain, exposed the greed of British colonists, and unmasked the expansionist ambitions and the banditry of Tsarist Russia.