The Second Battle of Canton was fought between British and Chinese forces in Canton, Guangdong province, China, in May 1841 during the First Opium War. Canton was the only port in China open to foreign countries European, for trade under the Canton System. In the early stages of this commerce the demand in foreign countries for commodities including tea and porcelain outweighed Chinese needs for foreign products, thus a significant trade imbalance developed; this unequal situation ended in the late 18th century when opium was shipped into China from plantations in India owned by the British East India Company. The number of people using the drug in China grew to the point that the trade imbalance shifted in the foreign countries' favor. In 1839 matters came to a head when Chinese official Lin Zexu tried to end the opium trade altogether by destroying a large amount of opium in Canton, thereby triggering the First Opium War. In response to Zexu's actions, in January 1841 the Royal Navy bombarded Chinese positions near Canton and landed troops ashore in several locations.

Local officials signed peace treaties with the British. When they brought these peace treaties to Beijing they were punished for their failures; the Qing Dynasty government refused to acknowledge the treaties, nor did they acknowledge any Chinese territory had been lost. Instead, they sent in more troops to drive back the British. On May 21 Chinese forces attempted a night ambush on British positions in the hills to the north of Canton but were repelled. By 2:00 am on the 24th a contingent of naval and land units under Maj. Gen. Hugh Gough assembled, ready to attack the city; the right column, towed by the steamer Atlanta, comprised around 330 men of the 26th Cameronian, Madras Artillery and an officer of the Engineers. They were to attack and hold the factories with support from the men-of-war anchored on the Canton River; the left column towed by Nemesis consisted of more than 700 troops drawn from regiments that included the 49th Foot, 27th Madras Infantry and Bengal Volunteers along with 380 Royal Marines.

The right column reached its objective by 5:00 pm under Maj. Pratt of the 26th Cameronians, who held his men ready for defensive or offensive action; the large number of troop-carrying vessels under tow by Nemesis slowed her progress and she did not reach the bank next to the village of Tsing-Hae, some five miles up river, until dusk. Gough landed with the 49th Foot and carried out reconnaissance while other troops unloaded artillery from the ships. In his official report he noted, "The heights to the north of Canton were crowned by four strong forts and the city walls, which run over the southern extremity of these heights, appeared to be about three miles and a half distant." At 3:00 and under bombardment from the two Western forts, British troops set up a rocket battery, two 5½ mortars, two 12-pounder howitzers and two nine-pounder guns returned fire. Under cover of the artillery, Lt. Col. Morris and the 49th, supported by the 37th Madras Native Infantry and Bengal Volunteers, had orders to advance up a hill to his left towards the nearest eastern fort.

Meanwhile, the 18th Royal Irish under Maj. Gen. Burrell, with the Royal Marines in support, were to move forward to protect Morris' flank. At the same time Gough ordered the brigade of seamen to attack the two western forts but the sudden approach of a large body of enemy troops from the right forced him to detach the marines under Capt. Ellis to cover the right and rear. Together with an artillery brigade under the command of Capt. Knowles, Royal Artillery and the crews and troops of the attached naval squadrons, Gough had a total of around 6,000 men under his command; when the advance sounded, the troops attacked, captured the four forts with comparatively small losses, within a half-hour "British troops looked down on Canton within 100 paces of its walls. To the northeast, a force of about 4,000 enemy troops—by Gough's reckoning—advanced across the open paddy fields and made a number of attacks on the British, they were repelled by the 49th at 3:00 pm on the 25th the "Tatar General" Yang Fang arrived and rallied the Chinese.

Gough ordered the 18th, with a company of marines, to reinforce the 49th and put Maj. Gen. Burrell in charge of repelling the predicted attack; the British routed the enemy, burned down their encampment and blew up several magazines. Although ready to take the city on the morning of May 26th, a white flag appeared on the city walls at 10:00 am. Gough sent interpreter Peter Perring Thoms, on secondment from British Plenipotentiary and Superintendent of Trade Charles Elliot, to find out what it meant; when a Mandarin explained that the Chinese wanted peace, Gough notes in his official report: "I had it explained that, as General commanding the British, I would treat with none but the General commanding the Chinese troops, that we came before Canton much against the wishes of the British nation, but that repeated insults and breaches of faith had compelled us to make the present movement, that I would cease from hostilities for two hours to enable their General to meet me and Sir Le Fleming Senhouse."

When no general appeared, the next day British forces prepared once more for the attack on Canton. This time, a message arrived from Charles Elliot announcing that he had come to an agreement with the Governor-general of Canton, Yu Baochen according to the following key points: A $6-million indemnity payable by the Chinese within one week. Chinese troops to withdraw to at least 60 miles from Canton. British forces to withdraw down the Pearl River to The Bogue; the issue of the cessation of Hong Kong deferred pending further negotiations. Prisoners-of-war to be exchanged. Gough was to hold his p

In astrodynamics, the characteristic energy is a measure of the excess specific energy over that required to just escape from a massive body. The units are length2 time−2, i.e. velocity squared or twice the energy per mass. Every object in a 2-body ballistic trajectory has a constant specific orbital energy ϵ equal to the sum of its specific kinetic and specific potential energy: ϵ = 1 2 v 2 − μ r = constant = 1 2 C 3, where μ = G M is the standard gravitational parameter of the massive body with mass M, r is the radial distance from its center; as an object in an escape trajectory moves outward, its kinetic energy decreases as its potential energy increases, maintaining a constant sum. Note that C3 is twice the specific orbital energy ϵ of the escaping object. A spacecraft with insufficient energy to escape will remain in a closed orbit, with C 3 = − μ a < 0 where μ = G M is the standard gravitational parameter, a is the semi-major axis of the orbit's ellipse. If the orbit is circular, of radius r C 3 = − μ r A spacecraft leaving the central body on a parabolic trajectory has the energy needed to escape and no more: C 3 = 0 A spacecraft, leaving the central body on a hyperbolic trajectory has more than enough energy to escape: C 3 = μ | a | > 0 where μ = G M is the standard gravitational parameter, a is the semi-major axis of the orbit's hyperbola.

C 3 = v ∞ 2 where v ∞ is the asymptotic velocity at infinite distance. Spacecraft's velocity approaches v ∞. MAVEN, a Mars-bound spacecraft, was launched into a trajectory with a characteristic energy of 12.2 km2/s2 with respect to the Earth. When simplified to a two-body problem, this would mean the MAVEN escaped Earth on a hyperbolic trajectory decreasing its speed towards 12.2 km/s = 3.5 km/s. However, since the Sun's gravitational field is much stronger than Earth's, the two-body solution is insufficient; the characteristic energy with respect to Sun was negative, MAVEN – instead of heading to infinity – entered an elliptical orbit around the Sun. But the maximal velocity on the new orbit could be approximated to 33.5 km/s by assuming that it reached practical "infinity" at 3.5 km/s and that such Earth-bound "infinity" moves with Earth's orbital velocity of about 30 km/s. The InSight mission to Mars launched with a C3 of 8.19 km2/s2. The Parker Solar Probe plans a maximum C3 of 154 km2/s2.

C3 from earth to get to various planets: Mars 12, Jupiter 80, Saturn or Uranus 147. To Pluto needs about 160–164 km2/s2. Specific orbital energy Orbit Parabolic trajectory Hyperbolic trajectory Wie, Bong. "Orbital Dynamics". Space Vehicle Dynamics and Control. AIAA Education Series. Reston, Virginia: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. ISBN 1-56347-261-9

C. Allen Parker is an American business executive and attorney, he is the senior executive vice president and general counsel of Wells Fargo, having served as its interim CEO and president. Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Parker was a partner at New York law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, served as its fifteenth presiding partner. Parker was born in Jacksonville and spent his childhood years in Georgia, he is the son of Charles A. Parker, a college professor, Sara Parker, an elementary school teacher. Parker attended Duke University, where he received a B. A. magna cum laude, in political science and comparative area studies, in 1977. In 1980, he received an M. A. in political science from the University of Chicago, where his studies focused on South Asia and the Middle East. In 1983, Parker received a J. D. magna cum laude, from Columbia University School of Law, where he served as a Notes and Comments editor of the Columbia Law Review. From 1983 to 1984, Parker served as a law clerk to the Honorable Amalya L. Kearse of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Upon the completion of that clerkship, he became an associate in the corporate department of Cravath, Swaine & Moore. During his early years at Cravath, Parker was mentored by, among others, Cravath partner Robert Rosenman, a person Parker says taught him “the importance of being exhaustively prepared and treating everyone... with respect.” Parker became a partner in the corporate department at Cravath in June 1990, focused his practice on commercial bank financing, as well as a broad range of other matters in the areas of general corporate practice, securities offerings and acquisitions, derivative transactions. His practice experience included acquisition finance and other commercial banking transactions throughout the world, Parker was recognized as one of the country’s preeminent practitioners in banking and finance. During his time as a Cravath partner, Parker worked with JPMorgan vice chairman James B. Lee, who credited Parker for his help as JPMorgan built its investment banking business.”

Parker served from January 2001 to December 2004 as the managing partner of Cravath’s corporate department. From January 2007 to December 2013, he served as Cravath’s deputy presiding partner and, for two years during that period served as the head of Cravath’s corporate department. From January 2013 through December 2016, Parker served as Cravath’s fifteenth presiding partner. In March 2017, after what was described as a “successful turn as Cravath’s Presiding Partner” during which he made “principles and culture a focus of his tenure,” Parker left Cravath to become the General Counsel of Wells Fargo stating that he intended "to make the legal department of Wells Fargo a beacon for other departments in ethics.”In March 2019, upon the retirement of Wells Fargo CEO and president, Timothy J. Sloan, Parker was elected by the board of directors to serve as the chief executive officer and president, on an interim basis, while the board conducted a search for a permanent CEO, he was elected a member of the board of directors was reelected by shareholder vote, in April 2019.

During his years as a Cravath partner, Parker gained a reputation as a person who “has the skills of a ‘master negotiator’ in that he can navigate the intricacies and personalities of a deal to ensure both sides feel like they won,” and as having keen strategic and business abilities. Parker has been married since 1996, he and his wife have four children. Parker is a member of the board of directors of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, he has served as a member the Dean’s Council of the Columbia University School of Law, as a member of the board of visitors for Duke University School of Law, as a member of the board of trustees of the National Humanities Center and as a member of the board of directors of the New York Philharmonic. Parker received the inaugural Constitutional Medallion awarded by iCivics and the Constitutional Sources Project, in October 2018. Parker received the Leadership in Diversity Award from NJ LEEP in May 2019