Battle of Canton (1857)

Battle of Canton (1857)
Part of Second Opium War
The English army enters a yamun
Date December 28, 1857[1]－January 1, 1858[2] Location Canton, China. Result British & French victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom France	Qing Dynasty
Commanders and leaders
Michael Seymour Charles Thomas van Straubenzee Charles Rigault de Genouilly	Ye Mingchen
Strength
5,679[3] 900[4]	30,000[3]
Casualties and losses
115 killed, 113 wounded[5]	200 killed (est.)[6]

The Battle of Canton (December 28, 1857 - January 1,1858) was a battle of the Second Opium War. The French and British attacked the Chinese city of Canton. The city fell on January 1, 1858 and the Europeans took over.

The Second Opium War was a conflict between the United Kingdom and China. Other Western countries, including the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Second French Empire helped the English. The War began after an event called the "Arrow incident." The English used the incident as an excuse to start the war.^[7] The Second Opium War is sometimes called the "Arrow War."^[8]

The British had several goals in the war. Some of these were:

• making opium trading legal
• making bigger the coolie trade
• opening all of China to merchants
• ending taxes on goods such as tea and silk ^[9]

In 1856, the Qing Dynasty only let foreign merchants trade in certain cities. Goods like tea and silk had to be shipped to those trade cities, and were taxed on the way. The British did not want to pay the extra taxes for shipping things across China.^[10]

The Chinese had executed a French missionary named Father August Chapdelaine in Guangxi province. This made the French very angry. The French joined the English in fighting the Chinese.^[11][12][13]

On October 8, 1856, the Chinese arrested 12 crewmembers of a ship named Arrow. The Chinese authorities believed that the Arrow was smuggling salt. The Arrow was owned by Chinese people, but it was registered with the British. Harry Smith Parkes was the British Consul in Canton.^[14] He sent a letter to the Chinese Imperial Commissioner (governor), Ye Mingchen.^[15] Ye replied that the Arrow was a Chinese ship. He claimed that Parkes and the British had no jurisdiction (no right to interfere.)^[16] Ye offered to return the arrested sailors,^[17] but Parkes refused.^[18] Parkes demanded an apology for the insult.^[19] Ye replied there was no need for an apology because there was no insult.^[20][21] The British decided that the Supplementary Treaty of the Bogue had been broken.^[22] On October 27, 1856, the British Royal Navy attacked Canton.^[23]

The first battle of Canton started on October 23, 1856. Three British warships entered the Bocca Tigris, the waterway that leads to Canton. They captured the forts that were protecting the city. Ye saw the warships, but did not want to fight them. He moved his navy back away.^[24]

On October 25, the British navy surrounded the city. Ye ordered all trade with the British to stop.^[24]

Admiral Michael Seymour, the commander of the British navy, sent Ye a message on October 27. Seymour demanded that the British be allowed to enter Canton. Before this, foreigners could not enter the city itself. If they wanted to do business or trade they had to do so in the suburbs or harbor. Ye did not answer. Seymour ordered his ships to shoot at the government offices. Ye made a declaration that he would pay 30 pieces of silver for each British person killed.^[24]

Ye still had not answered on October 28. The Britlish artillery attacked and destroyed the Southern wall of Canton. Soldiers invaded Ye's office. The soldiers wanted to capture Ye, but they could not find him. They occupied Canton for a short while. They had to leave because they did not have enough soldiers or resources to keep control of the city.^[24]

When the news was sent to London, the British government had a big argument on whether to wage war against China. The parliament voted against the proposal. But the British prime minister Palmerston broke up the House of Commons and held an election. His party won the election, so the policy passed. He ordered Lord Elgin to be a new diplomat with China.^[25]

Just in time, the French government said their churchman were killed by the Chinese government. It joined the British government and sent armies. English and French armies entered into an alliance.^[25]

In October, 1857 the British army general had a plan to invade China. They decided to attack from the south of China, Canton. They would then proceed to attack along the North of China, and proceed to keep moving towards Peking.

Before they went, the Russian minister advised them that only occupying Canton would not make the Qing dynasty give up, and that the better way to make them give in would be by moving onward to Peking. However, the English-French armies still stuck with their first decision, which was to attack Canton. Lord Elgin talked with Seymour and the other generals about their plan. They were certain that they could take Canton.^[1]

In November. The English held down the Indian Revolution successfully. They had an army large enough to send to China. The alliance army prepared 10,000 soldiers. The British had 43 warships and the French army had 10.^[26]

On December 10, 1857. Canton was blocked. On December 12, the alliance army made their last warning to Ye and made several demands:^[26]

• The permission to enter the city of Canton.
• Financial compensation for the arrow incident and the murder of the French missionary.
• The Qing government should appoint a new diplomat to discuss a new treaty.

On December 14, Ye refused them. After 12 days, The English and French ministers responded by stating that their army are now free to do as they wish. At the same time, the English naval commander sent messages to Ye. This time, he demanded the Qing army should retreat 90 miles away from Canton within 2 days. Ye still refused. Over the course of those 2 days, they took no action.^[26]

On December 27, which was the day before the battle, Ye sent messages to the Xianfeng Emperor. He lied to the emperor about their circumstances. In the letter, he stated that the English had begun to beg for peace, and that they only wanted to trade with China, said Ye:^[27]

(in Chinese) 英夷現已求和，計日準可通商
Translation: The English Barbarian is now begging us for peace, trading should be allowed to resume soon.

In December 28, the war began. The alliance army had about 5,500 men, 700 French soldiers, and an additional 20 warships. They landed near Canton and approached the city. The alliance army opened fire at the governor's office (Yeh's workplace). The Qing army retreated, but Ye was still sitting in his office and reading the paper.^[28]

On December 29, the government office finally was destroyed by gunfire. The wall of Canton was also lost to the war. Around 2 p.m. in the afternoon., the battle ended. The English-French armies emerged victorious and occupied Canton, and 15 casualties were reported.^[2]

On January 5, after the occupation of Canton, Ye was unwilling to leave and was caught in Yamun by the English army.^[28] The English brought Ye on their ship to Kolkata, India.^[2]

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