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Mr. Baylis is a representative from the British corporation that Robin and his cohort represent in negotiations with the Chinese government when they travel to Canton, China. Mr. Baylis is outspokenly racist and in the negotiations, he clearly has no interest in trying to work with his Chinese counterparts. That leads Robin to tell Commissioner Lin, a representative of the Chinese government, that there is no point in negotiating with Mr. Baylis, or the corporation he represents, because they do not see Chinese people as fully human. Shortly after, Commissioner Lin burns the opium that the Chinese government seized from Mr. Baylis’s company.
Mr. Baylis Quotes in Babel
The Babel quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Baylis or refer to Mr. Baylis. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 20
Quotes
How had Jardine, Matheson, and Lovell known negotiations in Canton would break out in hostilities more than two years ago?
But that was obvious. They’d known because this was their intent all along. They wanted hostilities because they wanted silver, and without some miraculous change in the Qing Emperor’s mind, the only way to get that was to turn their guns on China. They’d planned on war before they had even set sail.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Babel LitChart as a printable PDF.
Mr. Baylis Quotes in Babel
The Babel quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Baylis or refer to Mr. Baylis. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 20
Quotes
How had Jardine, Matheson, and Lovell known negotiations in Canton would break out in hostilities more than two years ago?
But that was obvious. They’d known because this was their intent all along. They wanted hostilities because they wanted silver, and without some miraculous change in the Qing Emperor’s mind, the only way to get that was to turn their guns on China. They’d planned on war before they had even set sail.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
