Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN) — The British emissary to Hong Kong who seriously misread the situation got recalled to London by fast clipper and reposted as consul-general to Texas.
Charles Elliot became unstuck because, as Queen Victoria put it, "all we wanted might have been obtained if it had not been for the unaccountably strange conduct of Charles Elliot. He tried to obtain the lowest terms from the Chinese."