George, Earl Macartney | Manuscript copy letters on China and library catalogue, 1813

George Macartney, 1^st Earl Macartney

A manuscript volume from his library, containing two items:

i) Copies of memoranda, letters, petitions and Imperial Mandates relating to the Canton Debts Crisis, Canton, 32 pages, 1777-1778

ii) Catalogue of the Book Room in Lissanoure Castle, 1813, 33 pages

Altogether 55 pages, plus blanks, folio (332 x 205mm), on a single paper stock (Britannia watermark with S[amuel] Lay countermark), contemporary vellum boards with ink frame and lettering on upper cover (“Catalogue of the Book Room in Lissanoure Castle, 1813"), upper hinge split, at least three leaves loose, some internal tears, two puncture holes to first 24 leaves, binding stained

George Macartney (1737-1806) had held a number of important posts, including Governor of Madras, before he was appointed Britain’s Ambassador to China in 1792 with orders to open trade with China beyond the Canton Factories. It seems likely that the letters and related documents copied here were transcribed for his use during the period of his embassy. The Canton Debts Crisis had emerged when Chinese Hong merchants had defaulted on debts to British traders. The East India Company was reluctant to intervene and the British merchants bribed officers in the Royal Navy to sail to Canton to enforce their rights before an Imperial Decree was issued from Beijing. In the early 1790s, when Macartney was involved in Chinese affairs, British merchants were still seeking to recover unpaid debts.

Macartney’s home was Lissanoure Castle, County Antrim, which included a sizeable library. The greatest prize in the library was the presentation manuscript of Hobbes’s Leviathan with autograph corrections, thought to have been presented to King Charles II (now British Library, Egerton MS 1910).