The Jardine Paper was the proposal sent by
Dr. William Jardine to
Lord Palmerston
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865), known as Lord Palmerston, was a British statesman and politician who served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1855 to 1858 and from 1859 to 1865. A m ...
to guide the British government in its plans to wage war with China which eventually was called the
First Opium War
The First Opium War ( zh, t=第一次鴉片戰爭, p=Dìyīcì yāpiàn zhànzhēng), also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, was a series of military engagements fought between the British Empire and the Chinese Qing dynasty between 1839 and 1 ...
.
The actual strategy of Britain in the First Opium War very much mirrored the details of the Jardine Paper.
No copy of the Jardine Paper is currently available{{According to whom, date=September 2013 but a letter from William Jardine to James Matheson dated December 19, 1839 is almost exactly the same as the Jardine Paper:
:"My advice is to send a naval force to blockade the coast of China from the
Tartar Wall to Tienpack or from
40 to
20 degrees north; the force to consist of two ships of the line, two frigates and two flat-bottomed steamers for river service, with a sufficient number of transports to carry…six or seven thousand men. The force to proceed to the vicinity of
Pekin, and apply directly to the Emperor for an apology for the insult…payment for the opium given up, an equitable commercial treaty, and liberty to trade with northern ports...say,
Amoy
Xiamen,), also known as Amoy ( ; from the Zhangzhou Hokkien pronunciation, zh, c=, s=, t=, p=, poj=Ē͘-mûi, historically romanized as Amoy, is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Stra ...
,
Foochow
Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian, China. The city lies between the Min River estuary to the south and the city of Ningde to the north. Together, Fuzhou and Ningde make up the Mindong linguistic and cultural region.
Fuzhou's population was 8, ...
,
Ningpo,
Shanghai
Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
and also
Kiaochow, if we can get it.
:The two first demands would readily be granted, but the third and fourth may be refused, and then we must proceed to take possession of three or four islands, say
Formosa
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The island of Taiwan, formerly known to Westerners as Formosa, has an area of and makes up 99% of the land under ROC control. It lies about across the Taiwan Strait f ...
,
Quemoy
Kinmen, alternatively known as Quemoy, is a group of islands governed as a county by the Republic of China (Taiwan), only east from the city of Xiamen in Fujian, located at the southeastern coast of the People's Republic of China, from which ...
, and Amoy (or at least two…and intercept the trade from Formosa). We should also take the great
Chusan Island, which being near Peking would be source of great annoyance to the Emperor. Having these islands in our possession, the Chinese would most likely grant all our demands on condition of our giving them up. I observe you are for Formosa, but it is too large, unless the inhabitants are well disposed towards us, How this advice will be received we know not as we have not yet sent it to Lord Palmerston.."
1839 documents