In 1802 (the seventh year of Jiaqing), war was about to break out between Britain and Portugal, France and Spain. In order to protect Britain's commercial interests in India and China and prevent the serious consequences of the possible seizure of Macau by the French army, British Secretary of the Navy Nebon decided to send warships to Macau as soon as possible.
On 18 March, the British royal warship The Grand Admiral, commanded by Captain Osborne, escorted three armed merchant ships from Calcutta to Lingling Island, each carrying troops and cannons, and armed enough to transform merchant ships into warships. The small warships Using Orpheus and the brig Fox, commanded by Robert Hamilton, also joined the fleet. Osborne, as the commander of the operation, lacked an understanding of Chinese politics, and as soon as he arrived near Lingling Island in China, he wrote to Dorin Wen, chairman of the Special Election Committee of the company's Taiban in Guangzhou, asking for guidance to complete this task.
After a long and roundabout voyage to China, the army ran out of fresh food, lacked fresh water, and scurvy was prevalent, and Commander Osborne, fearing that China would know about it, did not dare to communicate with the Chinese coast. He was not confident enough to accomplish the task, arguing that "the Chinese and Portuguese might firmly reject the British proposal to strengthen the defense of Macau with the help of the British army, in which case the army should be sent away immediately, so as not to offend the Chinese government and thus damage China's trade."
The East India Company squad believed that the Chinese government would not agree to the British army helping to defend Macau, and even if it was allowed, it would take two or three months for the Guangdong authorities to ask Beijing for instructions to be sure, so they suggested that Osborne and the army commander visit the governor of Macau together to try their best to obtain his consent. In Macau, Portuguese residents have generally expressed dissatisfaction with the United Kingdom, and in order to obtain cooperation from the Macau side, they can hint to Macau residents that their future trade with Bangladesh will be entirely subject to the result of this problem, with all necessary letters and documents attached.
The British tried to sneak troops into Macau through private talks with the Governor of Macau, hiding from the Chinese authorities in Guangdong, but feared that Portugal would ask the Chinese government for approval and leak the news. Sure enough, the Portuguese were very suspicious of the true intention of the British to send troops to Macau, and they had not received an order from their superior, the Governor of Goa, India, to allow british troops to enter Macau, so they thought that the British had ambitions for Macau, so they went to the Governor of Liangguang, Ji Qing, and asked for protection.
In August, the Portuguese Soder Chao and Tang Shixuan, who were serving in the capital City of Qintianjian, received a letter from the family of Li Duo, the consul of their country in Macao, and Su Leng'e, minister of internal affairs and a servant of the Ministry of Works, submitted his tribute to the Jiaqing Emperor on August 2 (August 29). The main point in the ceremony is some historical facts, and the key is the fifth article:
"Everyone in Macau is in danger, and Chinese officials have little intention of martial law."
5. The ferocity of England, known to everyone in the West, yiqian and xiaoxiyang fake trade as a reason, has tried to destroy a big country named Mengqier, (that is, Bangladesh, English as Bengol), at first borrowed a small land to save, and then gradually many ships, in the third year of Jiaqing (1798) actually swallowed this country, this is the neighboring place of Tibet, China can know it. There are more than one side of them who have gained this in other places, and if they allow this generation to be in trouble, it is not a long-term strategy. "It is requested that in the future, the governors of Macao who are important to coastal defense be ordered to have a direct message to the Governor of Liangguang, and that there is no need to be transferred by others, so that they will make a mistake."
Suo Dechao (1728-1805), the author of the post, was then the beijing Qin Tianjian supervisor, Qianlong came to Beijing for twenty-four years, not only proficient in astronomy, but also had a deep study of medicine, and at the same time won Qianlong's love and trust, not only served as the Qing court's Qin Tianjian supervisor, but also served as Qianlong's favorite minister and Personal Physician. He inflicted a severe blow on The English in this prayer;
Tang Shixuan (1751-1808) was the deputy superintendent of Qin Tianjian. Qin Tianjian is the institution in charge of observing the celestial signs and calculating the solar terms calendar, from Shunzhi to Qianlong and Jiaqing, using European missionaries, Suo and Tang are both Portuguese missionaries, and they are on duty in Qin Tianjian, and Qin Tianjian is managed by the Minister of Internal Affairs, so the tribute is transferred from the Minister of Internal Affairs, Su Leng, to the Jiaqing Emperor.
In the fifty-eighth year of Qianlong (1793), after the first British mission sent to China, the Magalni Mission, arrived in Beijing, through a French missionary Joseph Loramonde learned that Sodchao was known among foreigners in Beijing for being hostile to the British, and that the Qing government planned to send Sodchao to rehe to meet the Qianlong Emperor as an interpreter, and in order to prevent the Portuguese who was unfriendly to Britain from acting as an interpreter, Magalney deliberately tricked him.
On a public occasion with senior Qing court officials, Magalney deliberately did not speak in Latin, which was common in The European upper class at that time, but spoke in English and French to Sood chao, who was present as an interpreter, and Sod chao was publicly embarrassed because he could not translate in front of the Chinese officials, which made him angry and immediately scolded the Englishman in Latin to an Italian missionary next to him.
Afterwards, Magalney commissioned a French missionary to relay to Soderchao that he himself did not know Portuguese and had to refuse his service, which he deeply regretted.
However, Sodchao was deeply trusted by the Chinese emperor, Magalni's small calculation failed, and when Qianlong received Magalni at Rehe, Sodechao was appointed to be responsible for all the reception work. In the Qing court archives left later, it is also recorded that Soodchao's important position in the entire mission visit was also recorded. The archives of the Great Qing Military Aircraft Department record that the national letter submitted by Magalni was translated by Soderchao, and even qianlong's later holy will to the British king was translated by him. Not only that, but he is also responsible for checking the accuracy of the translation of other people's documents in the translation team.
However, Soderchao's bitter teeth against the British openly humiliating him for this "one-arrow vendetta" will be revenge and then quickly.
And Thomas also had a secret episode when the Magalhany mission came to China. When the delegation came to China, he was responsible for visiting the various instruments and performances brought by the British in order to report to the Qianlong Emperor in advance. After the incident, he quietly went to the British mission station alone and asked for help.
He admitted to the British that he and his colleagues could not predict solar or lunar eclipses at all, nor could they refer to the phases of the moon or the timing of sunrise and sunset, and that the court thought they were experts in astronomy. Prior to this, due to the "Astronomical Almanac" published in Paris, it was enough to convert it according to the longitude difference between Beijing and Paris, so it could be handled. Fortunately, the mathematician dr. Dingvitti of the British mission (because of his proficiency in adjusting scientific instruments and for installing the heaven and earth running instruments brought by the mission, so the members of the mission called it an "astronomer") gave him a set of nautical almanacs measured by the Greenwich Meridians and could be used until 1800, so that the "astronomer" who knew nothing about astronomy was fortunate to get through the difficulties.
The British believed that the first Jesuits who came to China were very learned French and Germans, "replaced by some unlearned Portuguese, who were lucky that Chinese incapable of discovering their mistakes." ”
Soder chao and Tang Shixuan, two Portuguese who were despised by the British, would spread unfavorable remarks to the Qing court at the first opportunity. This time, shangyu was obviously instructed by the Macau Councillor, Li Duo, to disclose to the Qing court the situation of the British threat to Macao and the resignation of the governor of Liangguang, hoping to attract the attention of the Jiaqing Emperor, strengthen the protection of Macao occupied by the Portuguese, and at the same time, by exposing the bad behavior of the British colonial overseas and trying to infect the British in Macao, leaving a bad impression on the Qing court of Britain's aggressive nature.
In the thirteenth year of Jiaqing (1808), the British invaded Macau for the same reason, and then withdrew under pressure from the Qing court. However, the Qing court still did not recognize the true face of Britain, and the understanding of the "Yiqing" in Europe was still a mess, until the advent of the Opium War, it still did not fully wake up.
References: [French] Alain Perefite, "The Stagnant Empire: The Collision of Two Worlds", "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty"