Palmerston's biographer, Jasper Ridley, outlines the government's position: Conflict between China and Britain was inevitable. On the one side was a corrupt, decadent and caste-ridden despotism, with no desire or ability to wage war, which relied on custom much more than force for the enforcement of extreme privilege and discrimination, and which was blinded by a deep-rooted superiority complex into believing that they could assert their supremacy over Europeans without possessing military power. On the other side was the most economically advanced nation in the world, a nation of pushing, bustling traders, of self-help, free trade, and the pugnacious qualities of John Bull.Jasper Ridley, Lord Palmerston (1970) p. 249.
palmerston's biographer jasper ridley outlines the government's position conflict between china and britain was inevitable on the one side was a corrupt decadent and caste-ridden despotism with no desire or ability to wage war which relied on custom much more than force for the enforcement of extreme privilege and discrimination and which was blinded by a deep-rooted superiority complex into believing that they could assert their supremacy over europeans without possessing military power on the other side was the most economically advanced nation in the world a nation of pushing bustling traders of self-help free trade and the pugnacious qualities of john bulljasper ridley lord palmerston (1970) p 249