The Bruce Brothers

choi

(continued from my posting of yesterday)
A New Book on Taiping Rebellion
http://www.yilubbs.com/thread-15825-1-1.html

Regarding the Bruce Brothers.

(1) JL Cranmer-Byng, The Old British Legation at Peking, 1860-1959. Journal of the Hong Kong branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 3: 60-87 (1963)
http://burlingame.wikispaces.com ... ation+in+Peking.pdf
("Based on a lecture delivered on 20 August, 1962")

Page 60:

"On the afternoon of March 26th, 1861 Frederick Bruce, the first British minister to China to reside in Peking, entered the grounds of the former palace of Duke I-liangg 奕樑, and the history of the old British Legation had begun. The desire of Great Britain to have a minister resident in the capital was of long standing, and had its origins in the eighteenth century. From at least 1760 some English merchants in Canton had been arguing that only when an ambassador from England resided at Peking would their grievances be properly represented to the Emperor of China and their position improve. Eventually this point of view was strong enough to influence the Government of England. Indeed one of the prime objects of the embassy of Lord Macartney to the Court of the Emperor Ch'ien-lung in 1793 was to secure for England just such permanent representation at Peking. However, there was not the slightest chance that such a request would be granted. All foreign embassies to China were regarded as tributary missions of a temporary nature, and all foreign countries as inferior. Even the first Anglo-Chinese War of 1839-1842, and the subsequent Treaty of Nanking failed to obtain this object.

Note:
(a) Journal of the Hong Kong branch of the Royal Asiatic Society
http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkjo/issue.jsp?book=44
(b) United States Ambassador to China
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Ambassador_to_China
("The United States has sent diplomatic representatives to China since 1844, when Caleb Cushing, as Commissioner, negotiated the Treaty of Wanghia 望廈條約. Commissioners represented the United States in China from 1844 to 1857. Until 1898, the Qing Empire did not have a system in place for the Emperor to accept the Letters of Credence of foreign representatives. From 1858 to 1935, the U.S. representative in China was formally Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to China. The American legation in Nanjing was upgraded to an Embassy in 1935 and the Envoy was promoted to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary")
(c) List of Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to China
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lis ... ed_Kingdom_to_China
(James Bruce: 1857-1860; Frederick [Wright-]Bruce: 1860-1864; table: Frederick Wright-Bruce[,] First Ambassador to Imperial China)


(2) Joshua Thomas Marr, Religion Beyond the Empire; British religious politics in China, 1842-1866. Department of History, Louisiana State University, 2007 (MA thesis)
http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/availabl ... cted/marrthesis.pdf
(pages 27-28, and footnote 38--about the Bruce brothers)