Horatio Nelson Lay and Sino-British Relations, 1854-1864
Jack J. Gerson
Harvard University Press, 1972
Horatio Nelson Lay, the aggressive creator of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, was employed by the Chinese government to assess the customs duties from China’s foreign trade. Jack Gerson elucidates Lay’s difficult position, delves into the so-called Lay-Osborn Flotilla project, and details the failure of this attempt to provide China with a fleet of gunboats.
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