ABSTRACT
The court was dubious but receptive to I-li-pu's proposal to extend the benefits of the Treaty of Nanking to other countries on a most-favored-nation basis. I-li-pu, old and tired, had formulated China's policy of extending most-favored-nation treatment to all the Western countries indiscriminately. The reasoning that it would be difficult to distinguish between English, American, French, and other national ships is borne out by a memorial of Liu Yun-k'o. He reports that two barbarian ships anchored before Shih-p'u, on the Chekiang seaboard. Trained in the court and aware of its prejudices, he was able to present the unpleasant facts of humiliation and defeat at the hands of the barbarians, in the least offensive way, not to deceive the court but to get approval for what he regarded as an essential program. The English barbarians thereupon took the lead in causing troubles which have reached the present extremity.
