In 1816, the British Prince Regent (Future King George IV) Seeks to Establish Formal Ties with China and Its Qing Dynasty

During this journey, he traveled within China and visited Korea; on the way home, he stopped to met Napoleon on St. Helena and met the exiled Napoleon

The Jiaqing Emperor, also known as Emperor Renzong of Qing, was the sixth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and the fifth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, from 1796 to 1820.

In 1816 he was sent Lord William Pitt Amherst as ambassador extraordinary to his court, with a view to establishing more satisfactory commercial relations between China and Great Britain.

The Amherst embassy to China departed England on February 8, 1816, aboard H.M.S. Alceste commanded Captain Maxwell, and H.M. Brig Lyra commanded by Captain Basil Hall. The embassy arrived in China in early August.

Lord Amherst traveled inland arriving at Yuen-Ming-Yuen (Pekin) on August 29, 1816 for an audience with the Emperor. To his consternation, the Emperor demanded to see him immediately on his arrival. Lord Amherst declined based upon ill health and the desire to recover from the overland journey. The British believed that the Emperor wanted to see Amherst privately to insist that he perform the “ko-tou” ceremony of prostration during the public reception of the embassy. The Emperor immediately ordered the embassy to depart and this was done the next day. Amherst never did see the Emperor to request the redress of grievances, the main objective of the mission. After the fact, it appears the Emperor planned on making Lord Amherst perform an elaborate series prostrations during the official reception.

Despite being dismissed by the Emperor, Amherst traveled extensively throughout China and did not depart until January of 1817. He dispatched H.M.S. Alceste and H.M Brig Lyra on surveying expeditions commanded by Captain Maxwell to Korea and Okinawa (Loochoo) in late August of 1816.

On his return, his ship, the Alceste, after a cruise along the coast of Korea and to the Ryukyu Islands, was totally wrecked on a submerged rock in Gaspar Strait. Amherst and part of his shipwrecked companions escaped in the ship’s boats to Batavia, whence relief was sent to the rest. The ship in which he returned to England in 1817 touched at St Helena and, as a consequence, he had several interviews with the emperor Napoleon.

Document signed, by the Prince Regent (later George IV) and Lord Castlereagh, January 19, 1816, confirming William Pitt Amherst’s appointment and granting him “full power” as “His Majesty’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to our good brother and cousin the Emperor of China, authorizing and empowering him to treat, discuss, and conclude on his Majesty’s behalf, with such Ministers of his Imperial and Royal Majesty the Emperor of China… all matters and Affairs connected with, and relating to the mutual interests and prosperity of both Empires.” Included his the three page authorization and instructions.