Excerpt from Anglo-Chinese Commerce and Diplomacy: Mainly in the Nineteenth Century

This book received its earliest impulse from a few lectures delivered some years ago in Manchester; it has been put together gradually, in the intervals allowed by teaching work in London. It is an attempt to view our relations with China solely in their bearing on the interests of commerce. The details of political changes and military operations are neglected, since commerce is concerned only with the broad results; while the social and religious life of the Chinese can safely be left in the hands of the lifelong resident in China or the casual tourist with journalistic bent.

The original historical introduction, as not infre quently happens, has expanded into a volume, and the ultimate aim of the history - the analysis and explanation of the commercial conditions of the present - is necessarily postponed. British relations with China are no longer the controlling factor in the economic development of the Far East. The method of treatment which can be applied use fully to the greater part of the nineteenth century is inadequate to deal with the problems to which the new forces are giving shape. The conclusions of today may be upset to-morrow; it is hardly possible to estimate the trend of a revolution in being with the mental detachment of the historian, still less to make the attempt in the concluding chapters of a historical volume. It will suffice if the present work provides a basis for those who would analyse the present, but have not the time or inclination to extend their investigations into the past.

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