Diplomatic function of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Beijing during the First Opium War

Abstract

The First Opium War was one of the most important events of the 19th century, during which the European nations used military force to change the balance of power in the Far East. In spite of this, there is evidence that Sino-Russian relations were amicable when the war started, and it is not clear how the subsequent development of the conflict affected this relationship. This article explores the development of these bilateral relations during the war. In 1840, when British naval forces approached Tianjin, the members of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Beijing were invited to the Qing court to translate the famous letter of the British Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston (1784–1865). We present the abridged Russian translation of this letter, reported by N.I. Lyubimov (1808–1875), a pristav (official in the Russian Empire with duties of escorting and executing the state orders) of the mission, which differs significantly from the original text presented to the court. Based on this, we argue that the Russian translators did not transmit the intended meaning of the letter, which was based on Western interests, and, as a result, friendly relationship with Russia was a possible course of action for the Chinese government to take.

Keywords

• russia
• asia
• great britain
• china
• diplomatic relations
• the 19th century
• humanitarian relations
• translation
• western european ideas
• the russian ecclesiastical mission in beijing
• opium war
• ciphered reports
• lord palmerston
• nikolay ivanovich lyubimov
• veniamin (morachevich)
• avvakum (chestnoy).