The conclusion of the first European treaty with Siam was largely the work of Parkes, who, as secretary to the mission, had to conduct the preliminary negotiations for the reception of the envoy, and to educate the Siamese in the rudimentary principles of international obligations, consular jurisdiction, and the very alphabet of a commercial treaty. The difficulty of the task was aggravated by the prejudices of the Siamese ministers; but every obstacle was overcome, mainly by Parkes's firm and resourceful diplomacy. The treaty was signed on 18 April 1855, and Parkes in due course carried it home for ratification. On 9 July he was received by the queen, and explained the results of the mission. After six months in England, during which he was continually employed by the foreign office on Chinese and Siamese questions, he married (1 Jan. 1856) Fanny, fifth daughter of Thomas Plumer, son of Sir Thomas Plumer [q. v.], late master of the rolls, and eight days afterwards the newly married pair sailed for Bangkok, where the ratified treaties were duly exchanged, with much curious pomp, on 5 April; and a supplementary agreement, drawn up by Parkes himself, dealing with various details essential to the execution of the treaty, was signed on 13 May, after considerable and harassing negotiations. The treaty and supplement gained him no little credit in diplomatic circles.
In June 1856 Parkes took up the post of acting-consul at Canton, and four months later the seizure by the Chinese of the lorcha Arrow, on 8 Oct. 1856, coming on the top of a long series of insults, brought the question of Canton hostility, intolerance, and exclusiveness to a crisis (Lane-Poole, Life of Parkes, i. 216–40). The seizure of the Arrow and imprisonment of the crew were unquestionably an affront to the British flag; but Parkes, so far from exaggerating its importance, gave the Chinese commissioner Yeh every opportunity for withdrawing from an untenable position without apology, indemnity, or humiliation. The kernel of the difficulty was the long-standing refusal to admit Europeans, according to treaty, within the walls of Canton. Had Parkes been allowed to argue the matter face to face with Yeh, it is probable that there would have been no war. As it was, the Chinese commissioner treated the affair and the consul's remonstrances with contempt; and Sir John Bowring, the plenipotentiary, after vainly demanding an apology and restitution, placed the quarrel in the hands of Admiral Sir Michael Seymour [q. v.], the naval commander-in-chief on the station, who first tried the effect of small reprisals, and at last, when Yeh continued obstinate and set a reward on British heads, gave orders for the storming of Canton, which was followed by the admiral's forcible entrance into the city, accompanied by Parkes, on 29 Oct. Although Parkes's position was actually subordinate, and he received daily instructions from Hongkong, he thoroughly agreed in Bowring's policy, and doubtless his opinion had considerable weight with his chief; while by the Chinese he alone was credited with the whole initiative. ‘Consul Parkes has opened fire,’ was Yeh's message to the American consulate. A heavy reward was offered for his head; but he held his position in the consulate, with shells flying over it; at the risk of his life he went among the people distributing amnesties and warning them of their danger; and he was injured by an explosion in the attack on one of the forts, when he, as usual, accompanied the admiral with a daring fearlessness to which Sir Michael Seymour bore official testimony.
After the temporary entrance into Canton and the destruction of the river forts, the admiral found his force too weak to hold the city, and had to await reinforcements from England. The Arrow dispute and its consequences were severely handled by the peace party in the House of Commons, and after an adverse vote there, Palmerston appealed to the country; but he did not wait for its verdict (which proved decisively in his favour) before ordering out an expedition to China, and instructing Lord Elgin to proceed to the seat of war to arrange terms of settlement. The expedition was delayed by the outbreak of the Indian mutiny, and no decisive steps were taken in China until the close of 1857. Meanwhile Parkes and his staff were transferred to Hongkong, after the burning of the consulate and factories at Canton, and the year passed with him in practical inactivity. When at last Lord Elgin, in conjunction with the French ambassador, Baron Gros (who also had a grievance to settle on behalf of his own nation), opened negotiations with Commissioner Yeh, and, failing to obtain satisfactory replies, ordered the bombardment of Canton on 28 Dec., Parkes was attached to the admiral's staff, and was not only the first to enter the city after the capture of the walls, but succeeded in tracking and arresting Commissioner Yeh himself, who was transported to Calcutta.
On 9 Jan. 1858 a European commission was appointed to control the government of Canton, and Parkes was one of the three commissioners. His knowledge of the language and people gave him the pre-eminence among
