項次 2003

1816 By William Amherst, “at anchor off the Island of Hong Kong” (12 Jul) to his wife, London. Entire letter with wax seal removed. The content mentioned that the anchorage was delayed and made him anxious “as the Canton Mandarins might lay hold of us”. On the other hand, the emperor “had arranged for three Mandarins to be dispatched to the province of Pe-Che-Lee and one to Tien-Sing on the White River to await our arrival and to conduct us with due to Pekin”. With English transcription. In 1816, William Amherst was sent as ambassador extraordinary to the court of China’s Qing dynasty, with a view of establishing more satisfactory commercial relations between China and Great Britain. On arriving at Pei Ho (Baihe, today’s Haihe), he was given to understand that he could only be admitted to the Jiaqing Emperor’s presence on condition of performing the kowtow. To this, Amherst refused to consent unless the admission was made that his sovereign was entitled to the same show of reverence from a mandarin of his rank. As a consequence of this, he was refused entry into Peking, and the object of his mission was frustrated. Extremely historical piece as the failure of Amherst’s mission foreshadowed the tension between Qing and Great Britain which finally led to the outbreak of Opium War. It is also probably the earliest mail from Hong Kong.

1816.7.12 由阿美士德勳爵於“香港島拋錨”寄倫敦的妻子。郵簡，背面火漆被移除。內容提及其船隻拋錨日期較晚，使其害怕廣州的官員會對他諸多留難。另外提到“皇帝已安排官員於天津等待其到來，以便安排進京。附英文謄寫抄本。 1816年，英國政府派阿美士德勳爵出使訪華，以圖與清廷商討中、英貿易事宜。然而阿美士德使團與清廷就三跪九叩禮問題出現分歧。阿美士德使團的任務最終失敗，沒法與清廷討論貿易問題，更使英商的走私活動在1820年代與日俱增，為鴉片戰爭埋下伏筆。 此封歷史意義超凡卓絕，更可能為出自香港之最早郵件。