An interesting report came out about how the British diplomats in China hated the telegraph because it constrained their independence. Also, the Chinese hated it as it was supposed to violate their sovereignty. Quite a curious and interesting factoid, dont you think?
So do we still need Ambassadors in the Court of Saint James? Or would just the internet connection and phone and video camera suffice?
All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!
British Diplomacy and the Telegraph in Nineteenth-Century China
Author: Ariane Knuesel
DOI: 10.1080/09592290701540249
Publication Frequency: 4 issues per year
Published in: journal Diplomacy & Statecraft, Volume 18, Issue 3 September 2007 , pages 517 - 537
Abstract
Until the 1870s British officials in China often acted without the Foreign Office's official consent because they could only communicate with London via mail. In the 1870s telegraph lines connected China to Europe. The Chinese government initially opposed foreign telegraph lines arguing that they undermined Chinese authority. British diplomats in China were also wary of the telegraph because it allowed the Foreign Office to intervene more quickly. From the 1880s the telegraph was increasingly used as an instrument of imperialism in China. The Boxer Rebellion in 1900 showed how important the telegraph had become as means of communication.
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