| Administrative history | 'In 1792 Staunton was appointed principal secretary to Lord Macartney's embassy to China (and provisionally minister-plenipotentiary in the event of his death). The embassy sought to improve commercial relations with China, through Canton (Guangzhou), and to establish regular diplomatic relations between the two countries. Though Macartney and Staunton had an audience with the emperor their proposals were rebuffed. Macartney kept a detailed journal of his embassy, while in 1797 Staunton published his own, well-known account of this unsuccessful mission, which was later translated into French and German'. (from the 'Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'). |