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Auction: 21042 - The Opium Wars Collection
Lot: 84

First Opium War
The Eastern Expedition
Arrival of Reinforcements
1842 (27 Apr. - 10 May) a long letter from Turner & Co. in Macao to John Gladstone & Co., Liverpool, "via Marseilles", rated "2/8" and with "INDIA" in oval, the flap with "Recd at Bombay 4 July1842 by RS & Co" with London and Liverpool datestamps (4.9); usual vertical filing folds.


This letter is full of details including, "... the emperor has released the Mandarins at present from the task of rebuilding the Bogue Forts. We suspect they are merely waiting till Sir Henry move up north with the reinforcements ... We daily expect to hear of the capture on Hang-chow-foo. Indeed rumours of it have already reached Canton and it is added that losses on both sides are very heavy. Every man of the expected reinforcements will be required and there will be plenty of work for them if only conducted with adequate vigor. As to what may be the result of the campaign it would be vain and presumptuous. The reinforcements from India are now beginning to pour in, and those from England cannot now be far off. We may therefore expect that Sir Henry Pottinger will shortly return to the scene of action, and then we shall be better able to form a judgement on the real intentions of the Mandarins in this province. Everything will depend on the extent of the force left to protect Hong Kong. If it is large, everything will go on quietly, but if not, an outbreak will assuredly occur ... Nothing is yet known of the nature of the contemplated operations in the North, but now the extent of the naval and military force we apprehend it will embrace as well an attack on Nankin and other cities on the Yang-tze-keang as Pekin, and no improbably a blockade of the Great Canal."


1842年4月27日至5月10日澳門Turner & Co 經馬賽寄英國利物浦John Gladstone &Co 信函, 遞送費為2s 8d. 蓋㰐圓型 "INDIA" 戳, 封舌寫有 "recd at Bombay 4 July 1842 by R S & Co" 字樣, 及9月4日倫敦及利物浦日戳; 有摺痕. 信函中提及英軍為使大清帝國屈服, 使用了封鎖運河, 截斷漕運等軍事行動, 進而控制長江. 1842年5月7日開始, 英軍從淅東收縮兵力, 執行揚子江戰役計劃, 北上進攻江浙两省. 這是信函所述的背景.

Sold for
HK$5,500

Starting price
HK$3200