any expectation that I had formed; although I did expect that it would be considerable."[1]
The British historian, Justin McCarthy, says: "Reduced to plain words, the principle for which we fought in the China War was the right of Great Britain to force a peculiar trade upon a foreign people in spite of the protestations of the government and all such public opinion as there was of the nation." He proceeds to say that during the controversy, on some questions the British government was in the right, and on them had the issue been joined war might have been justified. "But no considerations of this kind can now hide from our eyes the fact that in the beginning and the very origin of the quarrel we were distinctly in the wrong. We asserted, or at least acted on the assertion of, a claim so unreasonable and even monstrous that it never could have been made upon any nation strong enough to render its assertion a matter of serious responsibility."[2]
The government of the United States was not unmindful of the interests of its citizens during the contest, and it kept a naval squadron continuously in Chinese waters until some months after the conclusion of peace. The commanding officer, Commodore Kearny, exhibited both firmness and skill in his intercourse with the authorities, and induced the governor
