Lot 1734

The Report of East India Committee The East India Committee was a parliamentary or quasi-parliamentary body that emerged out of the Board of Control and East India Company (“EIC”) oversight system after the Regulating Acts (1773–1833). It typically consisted of British MPs, EIC & related merchants, and officials with vested interests in British activities in Asia, particularly in India and China. This EIC oversight committee still maintained influence over foreign and colonial affairs. While the Committee’s condemnation of the Treaty of Nanking and the Opium War may seem paradoxical, the Committee sought to differentiate legitimate commerce from piratical or contraband trade (opium). They feared China’s resentment might harm long-term access to markets. In addition, from the perspective of “institutional rivalries”, this was also a rebuke of the Cabinet (Foreign Office under Lord Palmerston), blaming it for irresponsible war-making. Many EIC affiliates wanted to distance themselves from the war’s illegality.This Report from East India Committee is a valuable history documentation, illustrating a divide within Britain—between imperial realpolitik (Cabinet/Government) and reformist moralism (merchants, Parliamentarians, reform societies). The EIC Committee considered the war morally indefensible and legally fraudulent, despite being a product of British national interest. Merchants wanted long-term commercial relationships in the context of China trade, not a war that could jeopardize stability.This Report is indeed quite insightful and realistic particularly when we look at it by mirroring from today’s chaotic geopolitical environment. More so, the Report was signed by the Earl of Elgin in 1857. The Earl of Elgin was the High Commissioner and Plenipotentiary in China and the Far East to assist in the process of opening up China and Japan to Western trade. In 1860, during the Second Opium War in China, he ordered the destruction of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing. Recorded Signature of The Earl of Elgin, The High Commissioner and Plenipotentiary in China in the Second Opium War

《東印度公司評估英國就第一次鴉片戰爭對中國採取軍事行動的重要報告》 英國東印度公司內部機密文獻（The British East India Company Confidential Report） 清咸豐七年（1857）原稿，額爾金伯爵（The Earl of Elgin）金色鴨毛筆親筆簽名本 尺寸：20.1 × 13.2 cm 本拍品為東印度公司就第一次鴉片戰爭期間英國對華採取軍事行動的高度機密內部評論報告，極為罕見。報告反映當時英國政商界對發動戰爭的重大分歧，特別指出東印度公司強烈反對因鴉片貿易而犧牲與中國正常通商關係的長遠利益，具重要史料價值。英國東印度公司（British East India Company，簡稱 EIC）為一特許公司，由英格蘭女王伊莉莎白一世於 1600 年 12 月 31 日頒授皇家特許狀成立。作為當時英國政商界的重要支柱，東印度公司不僅掌握對印度的貿易壟斷權兩個世紀之久，亦逐步演變為實際主宰印度的統治者，至 1858 年前尚具備行政與軍事指揮職能。 此文獻於清咸豐七年（1857）由東印度公司正式轉呈駐華高級專員額爾金伯爵（The Earl of Elgin，1811–1863），並由其本人以金色鴨毛筆親筆簽名。額爾金伯爵其後於第二次鴉片戰爭（1860）中擔任英法聯軍首領，下令焚毀圓明園，歷史定位極具爭議。此簽名文件為研究英中關係、帝國政策與鴉片戰爭外交博弈的重要實物資料，首次出現於香港拍賣市場，保存良好，殊為珍貴。