Book Reviews : Political Development in Pakistan. By KARL VON VORYS. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1965. Pp. xx, 341. $6.50.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591296601900447
• Author: Robert Y. Fluno
• Published date: 01 December 1966
• Date: 01 December 1966
• Subject Matter: Articles

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pugnacious American medical missionary, Peter Parker, were conscious of the fact
that it was in the best interests of the United States to prevent any single power
from exercising dominant control over China. This principle was eventually recog-
nized and accepted in Washington by 1857 during the administration of President
Franklin Pierce, when a semblance of an &dquo;American policy&dquo; for China was being
formulated.
Chinese policy in this period, in what Tong calls the &dquo;pre-modern era&dquo; of
China’s relations with the West, fluctuated in two cycles, each (1839-48 and
1850-60 respectively) having begun with a firm and uncompromising stand and
ending in appeasement. This pattern reveals the conflict between Chinese deter-
mination to &dquo;manage the barbarians&dquo; in the traditional manner and their realistic
appraisal of western power.
While American and Chinese diplomacy, the core of the study, are thoroughly
discussed, British policy is not given the substantial treatment it deserves. Since
Great Britain was the most important power dealing with China in this period,
and since American diplomacy became inextricably involved with that of the
British, greater attention is merited. As a result, the author here falls upon his
weakest point. Tong, for example, depicts British policy as forceful toward China,
rarely cooperative, and which ran a course contrary to the &dquo;Open Door.&dquo; British
policy, however, was more complex, and Tong does not consider the internal
struggle between the aggressive British mercantile community on the China coast
and the more cautious and responsible sentiment in the London government. It is
puzzling that the author did not utilize Nathan A. Pelcovits’ Old China Hands and
the Foreign Office. (New York: King’s Crown Press, 1948) which establishes the
beginning of Britain’s cooperative approach in 1852 with the &dquo;Mitchell Report.&dquo;
Beyond the inadequacy of considering British policy, Tong’s study provides...