A Journal of the First French Embassy to China, 1698-1700

This 1859 translation of a reworked journal of the first French ambassadorial party to China seeks to use the precedents found in primary evidence to positively inform contemporary attitudes to the Chinese during the Opium Wars. The lucid and engaging translation makes this an accessible source on nineteenth-century Anglo-Chinese relations.

It was not until the early twentieth century that the previously unpublished source of this 1859 work was identified as being itself a reworking of François Froger's Relation du premier voyage, fait en 1698, 1699 et 1700, a journal of his experiences as a young engineer while sailing with the first French ambassadorial party to China. This translation by Saxe Bannister (1790–1877) supplements the original official account with anecdotes and notes: the work is therefore based on composite primary evidence. This does not detract, however, from the worth of this book, in which Bannister uses a lengthy introduction and appendices of further primary evidence to apply what can be learned from earlier works to the contemporary context of the Opium Wars, aiming to promote a more peaceful and balanced attitude towards China. It is a useful example of scholarly propaganda in the history of nineteenth-century Anglo-Chinese relations.