Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. Our First Ambassador to China
  • Cited by 2
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
November 2011
Print publication year:
2011
First published in:
1908
Online ISBN:
9780511793660
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511793660
Subjects:
Social and Population History, East Asian History, Area Studies, British History after 1450, Regional and World History: General Interest, Asian Studies, History
Series:
Cambridge Library Collection - British & Irish History, 17th & 18th Centuries
Information

Book description

George Macartney (1737–1806) was a British statesman, diplomat and administrator who held a succession of important appointments. In 1764 he was sent as envoy extraordinary to Russia, but described the Russian nobility as 'vain, petulant, inconsequent, indiscreet, and changeable'. After several years as Chief Secretary for Ireland (1767–1772) and a governorship in the West Indies, he served as Governor of Madras in the early 1780s, a difficult role surrounded by controversy and intrigue. In 1792–1794 he travelled to China on behalf of the government and the East India Company on a mission to negotiate a trade agreement, but was unsuccessful. He ended his career as Governor of the Cape Colony. This 1908 biography, which includes extracts from previously unpublished letters by Macartney and other newly-researched archival material, complements the two-volume 1807 account of Macartney's life by Sir John Barrow, also reissued in this series.

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

Contents

Contents

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 0
Total number of PDF views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

Book summary page views

Total views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.