Humphrey Marshall, US commissioner to the Qing empire (1852-1853): the struggle to revise the treaty of Wanghia and neutrality towards Taiping rebellion

This article analyzes the activities of Humphrey Marshall, an American diplomatic representative in the Qing Empire, aimed at implementation of the new initiatives of the United States in China in the early 1850s. These tasks were not resolved because of the lack of the opportunity to put pressure on Beijing and England’s unwillingness to start a new war with China, the fruits of which could be used by the US, as it was during the First Opium War. American diplomat and the US government came to the conclusion that only force can push China to further concessions.