THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
INIQUITIES 
 
 OPIUM TRADE WITH CHINA. 
 
THE 
 
 INIQUITIES 
 
 OPIUM TRADE WITH CHINA; 
 
 BRING A 
 
 DEVELOPEMENT OF THE MAIN CAUSES 
 
 WHICH EXCLUDE 
 
 THE MERCHANTS OF GREAT BRITAIN 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 ADVANTAGES OF AN UNRESTRICTED COMMERCIAL 
 INTERCOURSE WITH THAT VAST EMPIRE. 
 
 WITH EXTRACTS FROM AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. 
 
 jrA 
 
 By the Rev. A: S. THELWALL, M.A., 
 
 OK TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDCI 
 
 Drawn up at the request of several Gentlemen connected with the 
 East- India Trade. 
 
 LONDON: 
 Wm. H. ALLEN and CO., 
 
 I.KADKNHALJ, STRKKT. 
 
 1839. 
 
LONDON: 
 
 Printed by J. L. Cox and Sons, 75, Great Queen Street, 
 
 Lincoln's-Inn Fields. 
 

 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 To the Reader ix 
 
 Part I. The Facts of the Case 1 
 
 1 . Effects of Opium when used as a stimu- 
 lant 3 
 
 Extracts from " London Encyclopae- 
 dia" 5 
 
 from Madden' s Travels in 
 
 Turkey 7 
 
 from Pouqueville's Travels in 
 
 the Morea ib. 
 
 from Macnish's Anatomy of 
 Drunkenness 9 
 
 : from Davis's " The Chinese" 11 
 
 from Medhurst's " China" ... ib. 
 
 from a Chinese Memorial ... 15 
 
 Account of some Paintings by a Chi- 
 nese artist " The Progress of an 
 Opium Smoker" 16 
 
 M375104 
 
M CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 Extracts from the Chinese Repository, 
 
 " Remarks on the Opium Trade 
 
 with China" 21 
 
 2. The Extent to which Opium is introduced 
 
 into China by our Countrymen 24 
 
 Extracts On the " Cultivation of the 
 Poppy," from the Chin. Rep 25 
 
 " On the Preparation of 
 
 Opium for the Chinese Market," 
 Ibid 31 
 
 from Montgomery Martin's 
 
 Statistics of the Colonies, a " State- 
 ment of the Sales of Opium by the 
 E.I.C." 32 
 
 from Medhurst's " China" 
 
 on the Quantity of Opium intro- 
 duced into China 33 
 
 from the Chinese Repository, 
 
 " Remarks on the Opium Trade" 36, 41 
 
 3. The Manner in which this Opium is intro- 
 
 duced into China 42 
 
 Memorial of Heu Naetse, Vice-Presi- 
 dent of the Sacrificial Court 45. 
 
 Imperial Edict, in answer , 55 
 
 Extract from the Report of the Go- 
 vernor of Kwangtung and Kwangse, 
 &c 57 
 
CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 Page 
 / 4. The light in which the Government of 
 China look upon this traffic, and upon 
 
 us as a people engaged in it 62 
 
 Memorial of Choo Tsun, member of 
 
 the Council, &c 65 
 
 Extracts from the Memorial of Heu 
 Kew, sub-censor over the Military- 
 Department 82 
 
 Edicts of the Governor of Kwang- 
 tung and Kwangse, &c. No. 1 ... 91 
 
 No. 2 94 
 
 Letter to the Editor of the Canton 
 
 Register 102 
 
 Extracts from "British Intercourse 
 
 with Eastern Asia" 108 
 
 from the Chinese Repository, 
 
 v by "Another Reader" 110 
 
 from " The History of Java," 
 
 by Sir Stamford Raffles 116 
 
 from Medhurst's " China" ... 120 
 
 Summary of Facts 129 
 
 Pa rt II . Remark and Practical Appeals 134 
 
 Letter from a Gentleman who had 
 long resided in India 162 
 
 Returns to be moved for in Parlia- 
 ment 170 
 
 Conclusion 173 
 
TO THE READER. 
 
 In introducing the following pages to your 
 notice, it is only needful to observe, that three 
 or four months ago, a number of documents on 
 the subject of the Opium Trade with China 
 were put into the hands of the Author, by seve- 
 ral gentlemen connected with the India trade, 
 who were also deeply interested in the cause of 
 humanity: and he was requested to digest the 
 information thus supplied into a little volume ; 
 which is now presented to your consideration. 
 The Author has used his best endeavours to 
 arrange and condense his information, and to 
 put the subject in a clear point of view. Beyond 
 this, the responsibility of this publication rests 
 
TO THE READER. 
 
 with the gentlemen at whose request he has 
 laboured : and much that, as an individual and 
 a clergyman (taking views and holding opinions 
 which he has never shrunk from maintaining on 
 all proper occasions), he might have been dis- 
 posed, and even expected to urge, in connexion 
 with a question so important, he has entirely 
 suppressed, in order that the present work might 
 appear rather as a kind of official statement of 
 facts from a collective body, than as a declara- 
 tion of individual feelings and opinions. 
 
 It should, perhaps, be added, that several of 
 the extracts from different works which are in- 
 troduced, were found in the pages of the Chi- 
 nese Repository, in which the question has been 
 investigated very much at large : but the author 
 has taken pains to verify and correct them. 
 
PART I. 
 
 THE FACTS OF THE CASE. 
 

* /*?s- 
 
 the 
 
 INIQUITIES 
 
 OPIUM TRADE WITH CHINA, 
 
 PART I. 
 
 " The Iniquities of the Opium Trade with 
 China?" methinks I hear some one exclaim, 
 on reading the title of my book : " I never 
 heard before that we carried on any such traffic; 
 much less that any iniquities were connected 
 therewith." This ignorance ought not to sur- 
 prise me : for I was, till very recently, equally 
 ignorant myself. But some weeks ago my 
 attention was called to the circumstances con- 
 nected with the traffic in opium, which is con- 
 
 J 
 
 B 
 
2 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 tinually carried on between the possessions of 
 the East-India Company and that vast empire. 
 The subject was then entirely new to me. But 
 as it was represented as a matter of very 
 grave importance as a traffic which brought 
 the greatest dishonour upon the British flag 
 and as some documents were put into my 
 hands, which (I was assured) would enable me 
 to judge for myself, I was induced to examine, 
 and to consider the question. The result was, 
 that it appeared to me a subject of such mo- 
 ment, that the attention of all ranks and orders 
 ought to be called to it without delay. The 
 honour and welfare of this Country, and the 
 interests of Religion and humanity, seemed all 
 to be most seriously concerned. 
 
 I shall perhaps deal most fairly, both with 
 the subject and with my readers, by proceeding 
 at once to state the facts of the case, as they 
 appear from the testimony and documents 
 before me. These facts will call for some 
 remarks, and furnish ground for a practical 
 appeal to various classes who are, or ought to 
 be, interested in the subject. 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 3 
 
 I. In stating the facts of the case it will 
 be necessary 1st. Briefly to point out tfie 
 effects of opium, when used as a stimulant or 
 intoxicating drug ; 2d, to show the vast extent 
 to which opium is introduced into China ; 3d, to 
 direct attention to the manner in which it is 
 introduced ; and, 4th, to show in what light tfie 
 Chinese government and people look upon this 
 traffic, and upon us, as a people engaged in it 
 
 1. With regard to the first point, the use 
 and potency of opium, as a medicine, are well 
 known. It is, in skilful hands, one of the great- 
 est alleviations of bodily suffering and anguish 
 that a merciful Providence has vouchsafed us. 
 Yet every physician knows that it needs to be 
 used with skill and caution. In some painful 
 diseases, which might seem at first sight to 
 demand its use, the effects would be highly 
 injurious, or even fatal; and there are many 
 constitutions to which a very moderate dose of 
 opium, even under the circumstances which 
 would commonly call for its exhibition, would 
 be fearfully deleterious. Perhaps there are few 
 persons, who (looking round among the range 
 b2 
 
4 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 of their acquaintance) cannot find one or two 
 who know, by experience, that they must not 
 venture upon the use of opium at all : the most 
 moderate dose would cause them severe suf- 
 fering. 
 
 What then must be said to the use of this 
 potent drug as a mere luxury, at the will and 
 pleasure of the ignorant individual who takes 
 a fancy to indulge in it ? I put the question 
 plainly to one of the most eminent physicians 
 in London, and his unhesitating answer was, 
 that no one could thus use it without shortening 
 his life. 
 
 Yet as a mere stimulant or luxury, it is used 
 in various countries to a vast extent. Some 
 swallow a certain dose of it raw, to produce the 
 desired excitement; others smoke a prepara- 
 tion of it, to produce the same effect. In which- 
 ever way it is used, the first indulgence pre- 
 pares the way Tor a second ; the second for a 
 third ; and so on till it becomes habitual. There 
 is something peculiarly ensnaring in the use of 
 opium ; not only on account of the high ex- 
 citement of the imagination which is the im- 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 5 
 
 mediate result of the stimulus, but more espe- 
 cially because that high excitement is soon 
 followed by a correspondent lassitude and in- 
 tolerable depression, which scarcely anything 
 but a repetition of the dose can relieve. Thus 
 the habit grows upon the wretched victim, till 
 he becomes entirely enslaved to it ; and so 
 strong is the necessity of having recourse to 
 the stimulus at the regular hour, that it has 
 even been affirmed, that fatal consequences 
 might result from sudden and total abstinence. 
 A few extracts from authors of credit and 
 works of authority, will best illustrate and 
 confirm these statements. 
 
 The use of opium for the purpose of exhilarating 
 the spirits has long been known in Turkey, Syria, 
 and China, and of late years it has been, unfortu- 
 nately, adopted by many, particularly females, in 
 this country. Russell says that, in Syria, when 
 combined with spices and aromatics, he has known 
 it taken to the amount of three drachms in twenty- 
 four hours. Its habitual use cannot be too much 
 reprobated. It impairs the digestive organs, conse- 
 quently the vigour of the whole body, and destroys also 
 gradually the mental energies. The effects of opium 
 on those addicted to its use, says Russell, are at 
 
6 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 first obstinate costiveness, succeeded by diarrhoea 
 and flatulence, with the loss of appetite and a sottish 
 appearance. The memories of those who take it 
 soon fail, they become prematurely old, and then 
 sink into the grave, objects of scorn and pity. 
 Mustapha Shatoor, an opium-eater in Smyrna, took 
 daily three drachms of crude opium. The visible 
 effects at the time were the sparkling of his eyes, 
 and great exhilaration of spirits. He found the 
 desire of increasing his dose growing upon him. He 
 seemed twenty years older than he really was ; his 
 complexion was very sallow; his legs small; his 
 gums eaten away, and his teeth laid bare to the 
 sockets. He could not rise without first swallowing 
 half-a-drachm of opium. (See Phil. Trans., xix., 288- 
 290.) 
 
 In moderate doses, opium increases the fullness, 
 the force, and the frequency of the pulse, augments 
 the heat of the body, quickens respiration, and invi- 
 gorates both the corporeal and mental functions, ex- 
 hilarating even to intoxication ; but by degrees 
 these effects are succeeded by languor, lassitude, and 
 sleep ; and, in many instances, headache, sickness, 
 thirst, tremors, and other symptoms of debility, such 
 as follow the excessive use of ardent spirits, super- 
 vene. In very large doses the primary excitement is 
 scarcely apparent, but the pulse seems to be at once 
 diminished, drowsiness and stupor immediately come 
 on, and are followed by delirium, sighing, deep and 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 7 
 
 stertorous breathing, cold sweats, convulsions, apo- 
 plexy, and death. The appearances on dissection are 
 those which indicate the previous existence of vio- 
 lent inflammation of the stomach and bowels ; but 
 notwithstanding the symptoms of apoplexy which an 
 overdose, when it proves fatal, occasions, no parti- 
 cular appearance of an inflammatory state or fullness 
 of the brain is perceived. London Encyclopaedia, 
 p. 461. 
 
 Their gestures were frightful; those who were 
 completely under the influence of the opium talked 
 incoherently, their features were flushed, their eyes 
 had an unnatural brilliancy, and the general expres- 
 sion of their countenances was horribly wild. The 
 effect is usually produced in two hours, and lasts 
 four or five : the dose varies from three grains to a 
 drachm. * * * The debility, both moral and physical, 
 attendant on its excitement is terrible ; the appetite 
 is soon destroyed, every fibre in the body trembles, 
 the nerves of the neck become affected, and the 
 muscles get rigid : several of these I have seen, in 
 this place, at various times who^had wry necks and 
 contracted fingers ; but still they cannot abandon the 
 custom: they are miserable till the hour arrives for 
 taking their daily dose. Madden s Travels in Turkey, 
 &c. vol. i., pp. 24-25. 
 
 There is another set of people, however, who live 
 in a still cheaper way than the dervises ; strangers 
 to the pleasures of the table, an opium pill supports, 
 intoxicates them, throws them into ecstacies, the de- 
 
8 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 lights of which they extol very highly. These men, 
 known under the name of theriakis, are mentioned 
 by Monsieur de Tott and others, as being looked 
 upon even in a more despicable light than the drunk- 
 ards, though I know not that the practice betrays 
 more dissoluteness of morals. They begin with tak- 
 ing only half a grain at a dose, but increase it as 
 soon as they perceive the effect to be less powerful 
 than at first. They are careful not to drink water, 
 which would bring on violent colics. He who begins 
 taking opium habitually at twenty, must scarcely ex- 
 pect to live longer than to the age of thirty, or from 
 that age to thwty-six ; the latter is the utmost age 
 that, for the most part, they attain. After some 
 years they get to take doses of a drachm each : then 
 comes on a frightful pallidness of countenance, and 
 the victim wastes away in a kind of marasmus that 
 can be compared to nothing but itself : alopecia and 
 a total loss of memory, with rickets, are the never- 
 failing consequences of this deplorable habit. But 
 no consideration, neither the certainty of premature 
 death nor of the infirmities by which it must be 
 preceded, can correct a theriaki ; he answers madly 
 to any one who would warn him of his danger, that 
 his happiness is inconceivable when he has taken his 
 opium pill. If he be asked to define this superna- 
 tural happiness, he answers, that it is impossible to 
 account for it : that pleasure cannot be defined. Al- 
 ways beside themselves, the theriakis are incapable of 
 work, they seem no more to belong to society. Toward 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 9 
 
 the end of their career they, however, e xp e rien ce vio- 
 lent pains, and are devoured by constant hunger; nor 
 can their paregoric in any way relieve their suffer- 
 ings ; become hideous to behold, deprived of their 
 teeth, their eyes sunk in their heads, in a constant 
 tremor, they cease to live, long be/ore they cease to 
 exist. Pouijuevilles Travels in the Morea, p. 297. 
 
 Opium retains, at all times, its power of exciting 
 the imagination, provided sufficient doses are taken. 
 But when it has been continued so long as to bring 
 disease upon the constitution, the pleasurable feel- 
 ings wear away, and are succeeded by others of a 
 very different kind. Instead of disposing the mind 
 to be happy, it now acts upon it like the spell of a 
 demon, and calls up phantoms of horror and disgust. 
 The fancy is still as powerful as ever, but it is turn- 
 ed in another direction. Formerly it clothed all 
 objects with the light of heaven ; now it invests them 
 with the attributes of hell. Goblins, spectres, and 
 every kind of distempered vision, haunt the mind, 
 peopling it with dreary and revolting imagery. The 
 sleep is no longer cheered with its former sights of 
 happiness. Frightful dreams usurp their place, till, 
 at last, the person becomes the victim of an almost 
 perpetual misery. Nor is this confined to the mind 
 alone, for the body suffers in an equal degree. 
 Emaciation, loss of appetite, sickness, vomiting, and 
 a total disorganization of the digestive functions, as 
 well as of the mental powers, are sure to ensue, and 
 b3 
 
10 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 never fail to terminate in death, if the evil habit which 
 brings them on is continued. Macnish's Anatomy of 
 Drunkenness, p. 51. 
 
 The foregoing extracts refer to the dreadful 
 consequences of the habit of eating opium, 
 which is the mode of taking this poisonous 
 drug adopted in Turkey, and in some other 
 countries in which the use of opium as a sti- 
 mulant prevails. The mode of using it which is 
 more commonly adopted in China is different, 
 though it would seem that there also it is some- 
 times used in much the same way as it is in 
 Turkey. 
 
 The method of preparation is as follows : It 
 is imported in chests, which contain a number 
 of packages of crude opium that has attained a 
 certain degree of consistency. This is first dis- 
 solved in hot water, and the extract thus ob- 
 tained is dried and smoked through a pipe. But 
 the effects of opium when smoked are much 
 the same as when swallowed in the crude state. 
 This will appear from the following statements. 
 The first is from "The Chinese," by John 
 Francis Davis, Esq., vol. ii. p. 454. 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 11 
 
 A late memorial to the Emperor from one of the 
 Censors laid open the evil in all its deformity, and 
 stowed its prevalence among the officers of govern- 
 ment. " I have learned," says he, " that those who 
 smoke opium, and eventually become its victims, 
 have a periodical longing for it. which can only be 
 assuaged by the application of the drug at the regular 
 time. If they cannot obtain it when that daily period 
 arrives, their limbs become debilitated, a discharge of 
 rheum takes place from the eyes and nose, and they 
 are altogether unequal to any exertion ; but, with a 
 few whiffs, their spirits and strength are immediately 
 restored in a surprising manner. Thus opium becomes 
 to opium-smokers, their very life ; and, when they are 
 seized and brought before magistrates, they will 
 sooner suffer a severe chastisement than inform 
 against those who sell it." (See also the whole ac- 
 count, pp. 453-458.) 
 
 The following extract from Medhurst's 
 " China/' (London, 1838), pp. 56, 57, speaks 
 yet more strongly and plainly : 
 
 Those who have not seen the effects of opium 
 smoking in the eastern world, can hardly form any 
 conception of its injurious results on the health, ener- 
 gies, and lives of those who indulge in it. The de- 
 bilitating of the constitution, and the shortening of 
 life, are sure to follow, in a few years after the prac- 
 tice has been commenced ; as soon, and as certainly, 
 
12 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 if not much more so, than is seen to be the case with 
 those unhappy persons who are addicted to the use of 
 ardent spirits. The dealers in opium are little aware 
 how much harm they are the instruments of doing, by 
 carrying on this demoralizing and destructive traffic ; 
 but, the difference between the increase of the Chinese 
 people, before and after the introduction of opium, 
 ought to open their eyes, and lead them to ask them- 
 selves whether they are not accountable for the dis- 
 eases and deaths of all those who have suffered by its 
 introduction. And if it be true that the Chinese in- 
 creased at the rate of three per cent, per annum, be- 
 fore the commencement of the traffic, and at the rate 
 of one per cent, per annum since, it would be well 
 for them to consider whether the deficiency is not to 
 be attributed, in some degree, to opium, and the 
 guilt to be laid at the door of those who are instru- 
 mental in introducing it. 
 
 Again, in pp. 83-85, I find the following 
 remarks : 
 
 Those who grow and sell the drug, while they 
 profit by the speculation, would do well to follow 
 the consumer into the haunts of vice, and mark the 
 wretchedness, poverty, disease, and death, which 
 follow the indulgence; for did they but know the 
 thousandth part of the evils resulting from it, they 
 would not, they could not, continue to engage in the 
 transaction. Previous to the year 1796 opium was 
 admitted into China on the payment of a duty, when 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 13 
 
 few hundred chests annually were imported. Since 
 that time the drug has been openly interdicted, and 
 yet clandestinely introduced at the rate of 20,000 
 chests annually, which cost the Chinese four million- 
 of pounds sterling every year. This quantity, at 
 twenty grains per day for each individual, would be 
 sufficient to demoralize nearly three millions of jx r- 
 sons. When the habit is once formed it grows till 
 it becomes inveterate ; discontinuance is more and 
 more difficult, until at length the sudden deprivation 
 of the accustomed indulgence produces certain death. 
 In proportion as the wretched victim comes under 
 the power of the infatuating drug, so is his ability to 
 resist temptation less strong ; and debilitated in body 
 as well as mind, he is unable to earn his usual 
 pittance, and not unfrequently sinks under the crav- 
 ings of an appetite which he is unable to gratify. 
 Thus they may be seen hanging their heads by the 
 doors of the opium shops, which the hard-hearted 
 keepers, having fleeced them of their all, will not per- 
 mit them to enter ; and shut out of their owti dwell- 
 ings, either by angry relatives or ruthless creditors, 
 they die in the streets unpitied and despised. It 
 would be well if the rich opium merchant were some* 
 times present to witness such scenes as these, that 
 he might be aware how his wretched customers ter- 
 minate their course, and see where his speculations, 
 in thousands of instances, end. When the issue of 
 this pernicious habit is not fatal, its tendencies are to 
 
14 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 weaken the strength, and to undermine the constitu- 
 tion; while the time and property spent in this voluptu- 
 ous indulgence constitute so much detracted from the 
 wealth and industry of the country, and tend to 
 plunge into deeper distress those weak and dependent 
 members of society, who are already scarcely able to 
 subsist at all. In fact, every opium- smoker may 
 calculate upon shortening his life ten years from the 
 time when he commences the practice ; one half of 
 his physical energies are soon gone ; one third of his 
 scanty earnings are absorbed ; and feeling strength 
 and income both diminishing, while the demands 
 upon his resources are increased, he seeks to obtain 
 by duplicity what he cannot earn by labour, and thus 
 his moral sense becomes blunted and his heart har- 
 dened, while he plunges into the vortex of ruin, 
 dragging with him his dependent relatives, and all 
 within the sphere of his influence. Calculating, 
 therefore, the shortened lives, the frequent diseases, 
 and the actual starvation, which are the result of 
 opium- smoking in China, we may venture to assert 
 that this pernicious drug annually destroys myriads of 
 individuals. No man of feeling can contemplate this 
 fearful amount of misery and mortality, as resulting 
 from the opium trade, without an instinctive shudder. 
 But the most appalling fact of all is, that the trade 
 is constantly increasing. 
 
 A native of China in a high official situation 
 
 gives the following statements in a memorial 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 15 
 
 addressed to the Emperor, which we shall have 
 to consider more at large hereafter. 
 
 When any one is long habituated to inhaling 
 opium, it becomes necessary to resort to it at regu- 
 lar intervals, and the habit of using it, being invete- 
 rate, is destructive of time, injurious to property, 
 and yet dear to one even as life. Of those who use 
 it to great excess the breath becomes feeble, the body 
 wasted, the face sallow, and the teeth black : the in- 
 dividuals themselves clearly see the evil effects of it, 
 yet cannot refrain from it. * * * 
 
 It will be found on examination, that the smokers 
 of opium are idle, lazy vagrants, having no useful 
 purpose before them. * * * And though there 
 are smokers to be found who have overstepped the 
 threshold of age, yet they do not attain to the long 
 life of other men. 
 
 The plainest proofs, however, of the baneful 
 effects of opium-smoking in China are, perhaps, 
 to be drawn from the fact, that the subject en- 
 gages the most serious attention of the Chinese 
 government ; and persons of the highest rank, 
 and in the most responsible situations, see and 
 feel the increase of this habit among the people 
 to be an evil of such vast and fearful impor- 
 tance, that all their faculties are tasked to de- 
 
16 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 vise a remedy, or the means of effectually put- 
 ting a stop to its progress. I shall have to call 
 attention more particularly to the different 
 plans which have been recommended to the 
 supreme government, and which concur in the 
 view which they present of the magnitude of the 
 evil. In the mean time the subject may be illus- 
 trated in a different way. The Chinese Repo- 
 sitory for April 1837 (published at Canton), as 
 a kind of appendix to a valuable article on the 
 Opium Trade, gives a curious and interesting 
 account of 
 
 Some paintings by a native artist in China-street, 
 (Canton) named Sunqua. They are on rice-paper, 
 six in number, forming a series, designed to exhibit 
 the progress of the opium -smoker, from health and 
 prosperity to misery and degradation : in fact, they 
 are a counter-part to Hogarth's famous Rake's Pro- 
 gress.' So far as we can ascertain, the idea was 
 original with the painter ; and, regarded as mere 
 works of art, the pictures are by no means unworthy 
 of notice. The figures and attitudes are well con- 
 ceived and drawn, and the story clearly and strongly 
 carried through. We were surprised to see how 
 exactly some; of the pictures " hit off" the character 
 of the opium-smoker, as described by the writers in 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 17 
 
 the preceding appendix ; and we will not fail to 
 make further inquiries respecting them, and the cir- 
 cumstances which led the painter to form his design. 
 
 The account of these pictures by the native 
 artist so aptly illustrates the fearful conse- 
 quences which result from smoking opium, that 
 I cannot do better than transcribe from the 
 above-mentioned periodical, the explanations 
 which accompany the pictures. 
 
 The son of a gentleman of fortune, his father 
 dying while he was yet but a youth, comes into pos- 
 session of the whole family estate. The young man 
 having no inclination for either business or books, 
 gives himself up to smoking opium and profligacy. 
 In a little time his whole patrimony is squandered, 
 and he becomes entirely dependent on the labour of 
 his wife and child for his daily food. Their poverty 
 and misery are extreme. 
 
 No. 1. This picture represents the young man at 
 home, richly attired, in perfect health and vigour of 
 youth. An elegant foreign clock stands on a marble 
 table behind. On his right is a chest of treasure, 
 gold and silver ; and on the left, close by his side, is 
 his personal servant, and, at a little distance, a man 
 whom he keeps constantly in his employ, preparing 
 the drug for use from the crude article, purchased 
 and brought to the house. 
 
18 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 No. 2. In this he is reclining on a superb sofa 
 with a pipe in his mouth, surrounded by courtesans, 
 two of whom are young, in the character of musi- 
 cians. His money now goes without any regard to 
 its amount. 
 
 No. 3. After no very long period of indulgence, 
 his appetite for the drug is insatiable, and his coun- 
 tenance sallow and haggard. Emaciated, shoulders 
 high, teeth naked, face black, dozing from morn- 
 ing to night, he becomes utterly inactive. In this 
 state he sits moping, on a very ordinary couch, with 
 his pipe and other apparatus for smoking lying by 
 his side. At this moment, his wives or a wife and 
 a concubine come in ; the first finding the chest 
 emptied of its treasure, stands frowning with asto- 
 nishment, while the second gazes with wonder at 
 what she sees spread upon the couch. 
 
 No. 4. His lands and his houses are now all gone ; 
 his couch exchanged for some rough boards and a 
 ragged mattress ; his shoes are off his feet, and his 
 face half awry, as he sits bending forwards, breath- 
 ing with great difficulty. His wife and child stand 
 before him, poverty stricken, suffering with hunger ; 
 the one in anger, having dashed on the floor all his 
 apparatus for smoking, while the little son, uncon- 
 scious of any harm, is clapping his hands and laugh- 
 ing at the sport ! But he heeds not either the one 
 or the other. 
 
 No. 5. His poverty and distress are now extreme, 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 19 
 
 though his appetite grows stronger than ever ; he is 
 as a dead man. In this plight, he scrapes together 
 a few copper cash, and hurries away to one of the 
 smoking-houses, to buy a little of the scrapings from 
 the pipe of another smoker, to allay his insatiable 
 cravings. 
 
 No. 6. Here his character is fixed ; a sot. Seated 
 on a bamboo chair, he is continually swallowing the 
 fceces of the drug, so foul, that tea is required to 
 wash them down his throat. His wife and child are 
 seated near him, with skeins of silk stretched on 
 bamboo reels, from which they are winding it off 
 into balls ; thus earning a mere pittance for his and 
 their own support, and dragging out from day to day 
 a miserable existence. 
 
 These pictures, be it remembered, are en- 
 tirely the work of a Chinese artist. The expla- 
 nations also are his, translated from the original 
 Chinese. They give, therefore, the impression 
 of the baneful effects of opium-smoking which 
 facts and observation have made, not upon 
 an individual alone, but upon multitudes of 
 the Chinese: for such pictures are commonly 
 the result, not of a singular notion in the mind 
 of an isolated individual, but of a feeling that 
 widely prevails. They are indications of the 
 
20 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 general sense of a class at least of the commu- 
 nity. 
 
 One fact, in addition, needs to be mentioned. 
 It appears that the opium may be smoked a 
 second time. Thus, after having satisfied the 
 more luxurious appetite of the wealthy con- 
 sumer, the refuse may serve to feed the same 
 depraved appetite in a lower class of victims, 
 and thus double the mischief. This appears from 
 the account of the 5th picture of the series, 
 and also is abundantly confirmed from other 
 sources. 
 
 I cannot better conclude this part of my 
 statement than by quoting the following pas- 
 sage from the Chinese Repository for Novem- 
 ber 1836. It is extracted from a pamphlet en- 
 titled " Remarks on the Opium Trade with 
 China," published at Calcutta, with a Preface 
 by Archdeacon Dealtry, not long before, and 
 reprinted in that periodical, which informs us 
 (p. 406) that it was written (as they are assured 
 on good authority) in China, by a British mer- 
 chant, who must therefore be considered as an 
 eye-witness of the deplorable effects of opium 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 2l 
 
 smoking which he describes. The comparison 
 between the effects of ardent spirits and those 
 of opium is peculiarly important. 
 
 The intoxicating property, or rather properties, of 
 opium, differ in their nature from the intoxicating 
 property of alcohol. In some respects the effects of 
 the intoxication are also different. They both agree, 
 however, in this, that they both stimulate the nervous 
 system to an unnatural degree, and are only fit for 
 use when such a state of bodily illness already exists 
 as to make a stimulus of this nature subservient to 
 the restoration of other vital functions disordered. 
 They both agree in this, that the pleasurable sense of 
 excitement attending their indulgence is followed by 
 a relaxation of the system, and an undue depression 
 of both the bodily and mental powers, when the ex- 
 citement is over. They both agree in this, as a con- 
 sequence, that the oftener they are indulged in for the 
 sake of this pleasurable sense of excitement, the 
 greater must be the quantity used, in order to keep 
 up that same degree of excitement ; so that, if once 
 the appetite is formed, constantly increasing indulgence 
 is necessary and almost inevitable, and not only so, 
 but is yielded to unconsciously of this increase. The 
 craving of the appetite is insensibly the man's stand- 
 ard for estimating what he can (as he supposes) 
 safely indulge in. They both agree in this, that 
 they disorder the digestive organs, predispose to 
 
22 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 most other diseases, and materially shorten the term 
 of life. They both agree in this, that they stupify 
 and derange the intellectual powers, and that habitu- 
 ally ; for the seasons of depression are quite as far 
 below healthy mental vigor, as those of alternate ex- 
 citement are beyond. And over the final stages of 
 mental suffering to which they both lead, one is fain 
 to draw the veil : fiction can paint nothing of horror 
 half so horrible. They both agree in this, that they 
 utterly corrupt the moral sense ; give to gross appetite 
 the reins of reason ; deprave and brutalize the heart ; 
 shut up all the avenues to conscience ; and make their 
 victim the easy prey to every temptation that presents 
 itself 
 
 There is but one point of difference between the 
 intoxication of ardent spirits and that of opium de- 
 serving of particular attention here ; and that is, 
 the tenfold force with which every argument against 
 the former applies to the latter. There is no slavery on 
 earth to namewith the bondage into which opium casts its 
 victim. There is scarcely one known instance of escape 
 from its toils, when once they have fairly enveloped 
 a man. We need not appeal to the highly- wrought 
 narratives of personal experience on the subject, 
 which have of late years come before the public : they 
 rather invite distrust than otherwise, by the ex- 
 aggeration of their poetical style. But the fact is far 
 too notorious to be questioned for one moment, that 
 there is in opium, once indulged in, a fatal fascination, 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 23 
 
 which ?iceds almost superhuman powers of s< It-denial 
 and also capacity for the endurance of pain, to overcome. 
 
 The operation of opium is, on this account, more 
 deadly, by many degrees, than its less tyrannous 
 rival. In other respects, above mentioned, there is 
 generally a more rapid, and more permanent, in- 
 fluence exerted by opium than by ardent spirits ; an 
 influence so directly inimical to all human happiness 
 whatever, that, if the fact were not before our eyes, 
 we might well doubt the cunning of the arch-fiend 
 himself, to recommend to one son of Adam the use 
 of such an instrument of self-destruction. 
 
 If this sketch be at all correct, it may almost seem 
 unnecessary to ask, as proposed, " How far a man 
 in health is justified in using opium as a stimulant ?" 
 ***** 
 
 He who shuns not the temptation, invites the 
 crime ; the crime is theft ; and the law of God says, 
 " Thou shalt not steal." Does not the opium- 
 smoker permit his depraved appetite to steal away 
 his reason, his health, his peace of mind, his bodily 
 rest, his time, his money, all hope for this life or the 
 next ? The crime is murder ; and the law of God 
 says, " Thou shalt not kill." But the opium-smoker 
 is the most determined of suicides, for he pursues his 
 self-destruction (in spite of himself, I may say, but 
 that only proves the fatal desperation of his case 
 more strongly) perhaps for some years together. 
 Ordinary suicides effect their object more speedily ; 
 
24 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 but the opium- smoker equally succeeds in cutting 
 short his days in the land of the living. I might go 
 on, but I purposely abstain. I hope I have suggested 
 enough at least to prove that it is very far from cer- 
 tain that opium- smoking is consistent with morality. 
 I hope it may be seriously doubted whether it can 
 harmlessly be indulged in, even in the slightest pos- 
 sible degree. I hope a suspicion may be awakened 
 that all use of opium, except under medical prescrip- 
 tion, is an abuse of it ; that utter abstinence from it is 
 the only moderation, and the smallest indulgence 
 whatever intemperance. If such doubts be once 
 awakened, a conscientious man will not smoke opium 
 till they are allayed. He will examine the question 
 as one in morals ; and he will not rest until he has 
 applied to the case before him, all those precepts 
 of temperance, sobriety, self-denial, spiritual-minded- 
 ness, love to God, and a regard for his glory "in all 
 things," patience, meekness, industry, charity, which 
 the Bible contains, and which, under God's blessing, 
 cannot fail to convince him that he is, as an opium- 
 smoker, guilty of disobedience to them all. 
 
 2. The 'next point to be considered is ^e 
 extent to which this pernicious drug is introduced 
 into China by our countrymen in the East-Indies. 
 
 The poppy is cultivated to a vast extent in 
 the possessions of the East-India Company, 
 and more particularly in Bengal, where the 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 25 
 
 circumstances of its cultivation demand parti- 
 cular attention. The following account is taken 
 from an article on the M Cultivation of the 
 Poppy," in the Chinese Repository for Febru- 
 ary 1837, pp. 473-475. 
 
 In India, the extent of territory occupied with the 
 poppy* and the amount of population and capital 
 engaged in its cultivation and in the preparation 
 of opium, are far greater than in any other part of 
 the world. Malwa, Benares, and Behar (Patna), 
 are the chief localities ; and nearly every chest of 
 the drug exported from India bears one of their 
 names, according to the part of the country in which 
 it was produced. About one-half of the whole pro- 
 duct of India is obtained from Malwa. Though the 
 chiefs of Malwa are under British protection, the 
 management of the soil is entirely beyond the Com- 
 pany's authority, and both the cultivation of the 
 poppy and the production of opium are free. The 
 traffic in the drug is also free, excepting " transit 
 duties," which are levied upon it when passing 
 through the British territories, as most of it does on 
 its way to Bombay, from whence it is exported to 
 China. But in Benares, Behar, and throughout all 
 the territories within the Company's jurisdiction, the 
 cultivation of the poppy, the preparation of the drug, 
 and the traffic in it, until it is brought to Calcutta, 
 and sold by auction for exportation, are under a 
 C 
 
26 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 strict monopoly. Should an individual undertake 
 the cultivation, without having " entered into en- 
 gagements with the government to deliver the pro- 
 duce at the fixed rate," his property would be imme- 
 diately attached, and the ryot* compelled either to 
 destroy his poppies, or give securities for the faithful 
 delivery of the product. Nay, according to a late 
 writer, " the growing of opium is compulsory on the 
 part of the ryot." Advances are made by Govern- 
 ment, through its native servants, and if a ryot re- 
 fuses the advance, " the simple plan of throwing the 
 rupees into his house is adopted ; should he attempt 
 to abscond, the peons seize him, tie the advance up 
 in his clothes, and push him into his house. The 
 business being now settled, and there being no re- 
 medy, he applies himself, as he may, to the fulfilment 
 of his contract." 
 
 Vast tracts of land, formerly occupied with other 
 articles, are now covered with poppies, which require 
 a very superior soil in order to produce opium in per- 
 fection. Hence, its cultivation has not extended over 
 waste and barren lands, but into those districts and 
 villages best fitted for agricultural purposes, where 
 other plants, " grown from time immemorial," have 
 been driven out before it. But though poppies are 
 now spread over a wide extent of territory, the cul- 
 tivation is still, as it has long been, rapidly on the 
 increase. In 1821, in the single district of Sarun, 
 
 * The ryot is the immediate cultivator of the soil. 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 27 
 
 belonging to the province of Behar, there were, ac- 
 cording to the testimony of Mr. Kennedy (many 
 years collector of land revenue and deputy opium 
 agent in that district), between 15,000 and 20,000 
 bigahs of land (about one- third of an acre per bigah), 
 then under cultivation. In 1829, the amount teas 
 nearly or quite doubled, and the produce, in the mean- 
 time, had increased in a still greater degree. * * * 
 The mode of cultivation pursued in the " Patna 
 district" may afford a good idea of that which ob- 
 tains in other places. The ryot, having selected a 
 piece of ground, always preferring (cateris paribusj 
 that which is nearest his house, encloses it with a 
 fence. He then, by repeated ploughings, makes it 
 completely fine, and removes all the weeds and grass. 
 Next, he divides the field into two or more divisions, 
 by small dikes of mould, running lengthways and 
 crossways, according to the slope and nature of the 
 ground. He afterwards divides the field into smaller 
 squares, by other dikes leading from the principal 
 ones. A pit, or sort of well, is dug about ten feet 
 deep at one end of the field, from which, by a leathern 
 bucket, water is raised into one of the principal 
 dikes, and in this way it is carried into every part of 
 the field, as required. This irrigation is necessary, 
 because the cultivation is carried on in the dry wea- 
 ther. The seed is sown in November, and the juice 
 is collected in February and March, during a period 
 usually of about six weeks. Throughout the whole 
 c2 
 
28 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 process the ryot is assisted by his family and ser- 
 vants, both women and children. As soon as the 
 plants spring up, the weeding and watering com- 
 mence and are continued till the poppies come to 
 maturity. Perpendicular cuts or scratches are then 
 made in the rind of the bulbous heads, with a mus- 
 cle-shell, found in all the tanks of the country. From 
 these cuts the juice exudes, and is daily collected 
 and delivered to the local officers. This is a very- 
 tedious process, requiring constant attention. When 
 the poppies are exhausted, their colour changes from 
 green to white. The seeds contain no opium, and the 
 labours of the season are now closed. The cultivator 
 receives about three and a-half rupees (Sp. Dls. 1. 65) 
 for each seer* of the poppy juice, which is required 
 to be of a specified consistency. This must be such 
 that a gomastah can take it out of the vessel in which 
 it is brought for delivery by the ryot, and turn it 
 over without its dropping off his hand ; if it is not 
 sufficiently dry to admit of this, it is either returned 
 to the ryot for further evaporation, or an additional 
 quantity must be delivered, to make up the de- 
 ficiency. 
 
 The lands under cultivation are measured every 
 year, and their boundaries fixed, in order to prevent 
 collision among those to whom they are assigned. 
 The government annually enters into an engage- 
 ment with the cultivators, through an intermediate 
 * The seer = lib. 13 oz. 13*866 dr. avoirdupois. 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 29 
 
 ;ncy, constructed in the following manner : There 
 1st a collector, who is a European ; 2ndly, there 
 are gomastahs, a superior class of men, both in edu- 
 cation and caste ; 3rdly, sudder mattus, a respectable 
 class of landholders ; 4thly, village mattus, the prin- 
 cipal villagers, a little superior to the ryots ; and 
 othly, the ryots, the chief labourers in the cultivation 
 of poppies. The " engagement" entered into with 
 the government is this : When the poppy is ripe, 
 and immediately before the period of extracting the 
 juice, the gomastah and his establishment make a 
 circuit of the country, and form, " by guess," a pro- 
 bable estimate of the produce of each field. He then 
 makes the ryot enter into an engagement with him to 
 deliver the quantity thus estimated, and as much more 
 as the field will yield, at the price previously fixed; 
 if he fails to deliver the estimated quantity, and the 
 collector has reason to suppose he has embezzled the 
 deficiency, he is empowered by law to prosecute the 
 ryot in the civil court for damages. 
 
 The product in India, for the last year, it is said, 
 amounts to about 35,000 chests. The Malwa ave- 
 rages about 134 lbs. per chest; the other 116 lbs. 
 The weight of a chest, however, varies, and is some- 
 times 140 lbs. In Turkey, the product may be 2,000 
 or more chests, annually. In regard to China, we 
 have only the testimony of the counsellor Choo Tsun, 
 respecting his native province, Yunnaw. The poppy, 
 he says, is cultivated all over the hills and open cam- 
 
30 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 paign, and the quantity of opium annually produced 
 there cannot be less than several thousand chests. 
 
 From the foregoing statements, derived chiefly 
 from official documents, the reader will be abie to 
 form some opinion, as to the extent of territory, and 
 the amount of population and capital, now devoted 
 to the production of opium. Taking into account 
 the whole of Turkey, China, and India, it will be 
 seen that many thousands of acres, ivith millions of 
 the inhabitants, are employed in the cultivation of 
 poppies* 
 
 The purpose for which the poppy is culti- 
 vated and opium prepared to this vast extent 
 in our Indian possessions, is plainly and une- 
 quivocally declared in the following extract 
 from an article " On the Preparation of Opium 
 for the Chinese Market : written in March 
 1835, and then communicated to the Benares 
 and Behar Agencies; by D. Butter, M.D., 
 Surgeon 63d B.N. I., late Opium Examiner of 
 the BenaresAgency." It was published in the 
 
 * The facts which are stated in the above article are 
 supported by references to a great number of works : 
 among- which may be mentioned Thornton's State and 
 Prospects of British India; the Singapore Free Press; 
 Mr. Fleming's Papers on Revenue; and, more especially, 
 Kennedy and Stark in Evidence on East-Tndia Affairs. 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 31 
 
 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, No. 
 51, March 1836. 
 
 The great object of the Bengal opium agencies is 
 to furnish an article suitable to the peculiar tastes of 
 the population of China, who value any sample of 
 opium in direct proportion to the quantity of hot- 
 drawn watery extract obtainable from it, and to the 
 purity and strength of the flavour of that extract when 
 dried and smoked through a pipe. The aim, there- 
 fore, of the agencies should be to prepare their opium 
 so that it may retain as much as possible its native 
 sensible qualities, and its solubility in hot water. 
 Upon these points depends the virtually higher price 
 that Benares opium brings in the China market, and 
 the lower prices of Behar, Malwa, and Turkey opium. 
 Of the last of these, equal (Chinese) values contain 
 larger quantities of the narcotic principles of opium, 
 but are, from their greater spissitude, and the less 
 careful preparation of the Behar and Malwa, incapa- 
 ble of yielding extract in equal quantity and perfec- 
 tion of flavour with the Benares. 
 
 It therefore becomes a question, howthe whole 
 process of the production of opium, from the sowing 
 of the seed to the packing of the chests for sale, 
 should be conducted, so as to preserve, with the 
 least injury, its native flavour and its solubility. 
 Chinese Repository, March 1837, p. 495. 
 
 It may easily be supposed that, from this mo- 
 
32 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 nopoly of the opium trade, the Indian govern- 
 ment must derive a very considerable revenue. 
 I have before me that portion of Mr. Montgo- 
 mery Martin's elaborate and most valuable work, 
 entitled " Statistics of the Colonies of the Bri- 
 tish Empire," which relates to Hindostan, and 
 there I find (book iv. p. 360) a " Statement of 
 the Sales of Opium by the East-India Company 
 at Calcutta, from 1798-99 to 1836-37," from 
 which it appears that 
 
 In the season Chests. Sicca Rupees, 
 
 ending 1800 they sold 4,054 for 3,142,591 
 
 1810 4,561 8,070,955 
 
 1820 4,006 8,255,603 
 
 1830 8,778 11,255,767 
 
 1835 12,977 13,215,464 
 
 1837 16,916 25,395,300 
 
 The value of the sicca rupee varies; it is 
 about 46-100ths of a dollar, or 2s. sterling. 
 Sometimes it amounts to 2s. 2d. At the lower 
 rate, the value of the opium sold in 1837 would 
 amount to 2,539,530 sterling. 
 
 There follows a table in p. 361, containing a 
 " Statement of the Opium exported from Cal- 
 cutta to China, to the Ports in the Indian 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 33 
 
 Archipelago, and to Europe, from 1795 to 
 
 1835;" whence it appears that 
 
 in 1795-6, 1 ,070 chests were exported to China, 
 in 1834-5, 10,207 (nearly ten times as much !) 
 
 besides which, from Bombay and Damaun 
 
 there were, of Malwa Opium, exported to 
 
 China 
 
 in 1821, 2,278 chests, 
 in 1835, 12,933 
 
 whence it appears that, in fifteen years, the 
 quantity increased nearly six-fold ! 
 
 At the same time, it is acknowledged, that 
 " this estimate does not show the exact quan- 
 tity brought to China, the table being very 
 incomplete." 
 
 On turning to another work (already quoted) 
 entitled, " China : its State and Prospects, 
 with especial reference to the Spread of the 
 Gospel," by W. H. Medhurst, of the London 
 Missionary Society, I find, p. 85, 
 
 " The following statement exhibits the consump- 
 tion of opium during the last twenty years : 
 
 1816 chests 3,210 value 3,657,000 dollars. 
 
 1820 4,770 8,400,800 
 
 1825 9,621 7,608,205 
 
 c3 
 
34 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 1830 chests 18,760 valued 12,900,031 dollars 
 
 1832 23,670 15,338,160 
 
 1836 27,111 17,904,248 
 
 And in a note, it is added, 
 
 The quantity introduced up to (during) the 
 year ending in the spring of 1837, was 34,000 chests, 
 and the deliveries during the month of July of the 
 same year amounted to 4,000 chests. 
 
 Thus, in twenty-one years, the quantity im- 
 ported has increased more than ten-fold ! 
 
 Such, then, is the information I have been 
 enabled to collect with regard to the quantity 
 of opium which is imported by the English 
 into China. What must we suppose to be the 
 mischief resulting from the consumption of 
 such an amazing quantity ? 
 
 The " Remarks on the Opium Trade with 
 China," to which I have already referred, hav- 
 ing been reprinted in the Chinese Repository 
 for Nov. 1836, A Reader" attempted to 
 reply to them in the following month, and 
 made a calculation, from which it appears that 
 34,000 chests of opium annually imported, 
 would yield 33,320,000 taels of the smokeable 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 35 
 
 extract, and this, divided by 365, would give 
 912,000* regular victims to this pernicious 
 habit, allowing to each one tael per day. And 
 as this amounts to only 1 -326th of the whole 
 population of China, and a considerable de- 
 duction (he supposes) must be made, for those 
 who only occasionally indulge in this " sociable 
 article of luxury and hospitality," (who might, 
 in the vast extent of the empire, be supposed 
 to consume a large portion of the opium im- 
 ported), " A Reader " seems to think that no 
 man's conscience need be at all disturbed on 
 account of the evil effects of the opium trade 
 with China. 
 
 What sort of conscience " A Reader" must 
 have, who can so calmly contemplate the case 
 of one-half, or one-third, of "91, 200 "victimized 
 smokers" of opium, I leave to my English 
 readers to determine. But (( Another Reader,' 1 
 in the number for Jan. 1837, makes the follow- 
 
 * There is a mistake in these figures, arising (as ap- 
 pears elsewhere) from a misprint, which runs through 
 he Refutation also. I have therefore built nothing- upon 
 this calculation, but have made another, which is alto- 
 gether independent of it. 
 
36 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 ing observations in reply; in introducing which 
 I would merely remark, by the way, that even 
 his calculations do not reach to the real amount 
 of the evil : for the opium-eater and the opium- 
 smoker begin with a very small dose, which is 
 gradually increased till it comes to that quan- 
 tity which marks the man as an irreclaimable 
 victim to the habit. The number of opium- 
 smokers who have entered on this sure and 
 certain road to ruin, may, therefore, be fairly 
 estimated at nearly double the number which 
 a calculation would give, made on the assump- 
 tion that each person consumes as much as the 
 writer supposes, that is, a mace per day. 
 
 I have seen such a parade of figures now more 
 than once ; and though it is barely worth the trouble, 
 yet it may be as well to expose the fallacy which it 
 involves. It is assuming that in China there are 
 300,000,000 people, and that 33,320,000 taels of 
 the smokeable extract are imported yearly, making 
 of " victimized smokers," as " A Reader" truly calls 
 them, 912,000, at the rate of 365 taels each, or 30| 
 pounds-weight per annum, 2^ pounds per month, 
 of an ounce per day, or 1^ ounce per head for each 
 and all of the immense population of China, from the 
 remotest part of Tartary and Bokhara to the sea ; 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 87 
 
 besides the native poison grown in lbs country, 
 which is supposed to be not inconsiderable. Of the 
 300,000,000 in China, &c, more than one-half may 
 be safely put down as children and youth : of the 
 remainder, one-half may be women ; leaving proba- 
 bly, not (much) more than fifty millions of men ; 
 thus supposing that all the men in China could, and 
 would use the drug, the number of the victimized, 1 
 in 912, is brought to 1 in 150 ; and from this an 
 enormous deduction must be made for the aged, sick, 
 and poor, and for those too far removed from the 
 head quarters of the importers and sea-board to be 
 able to obtain it at even enormous prices. It is, in 
 fact, unlikely that it can as yet penetrate in large 
 quantities much beyond the maritime provinces : and 
 if only their population is taken, it will be seen that 
 the ratio of " victimized smokers" will be prodigious ; 
 though even allowing the validity of the argument, 
 I can scarcely admire a defence resting solely on the 
 fact that only a share has been contaminated, and 
 not all ! This is much on the same principle as that 
 of the girl who, being reproved for enriching the 
 parish with a child, excused herself on the ground of 
 its being " a very small one." The morality or im- 
 morality of the practice is unaffected by the extent 
 to which it is carried ; it is just or indefensible per se 
 whether it spreads over one village or ten, and not, 
 as an arithmetical question, as to the number within 
 whose reach the drug is put. 
 
38 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 And in a note he adds : 
 
 I am told, au fait, as to this, by Chinese, that it 
 is but rarely that a man can be found who can con- 
 sume a tael weight* of prepared opium in twenty- 
 four hours ; and that, in any case, no one could 
 long continue to do so. His death would prevent 
 it. A macef weight is, it is said, a tolerably good 
 allowance ; and twice or thrice that quantity en- 
 titles one to the rank of a confirmed opium-smoker, 
 " a hard goer," in fact. One mace will fill twelve 
 pipes. This would bring down " A Reader's" esti- 
 mate, say to 1 in 25 or 30. This amount of " ex- 
 citement " to so sober a people as the Chinese are 
 admitted to be, appears to me terrific, especially if its 
 use is nearly confined to only parts of the country. 
 As to the effects of this drug on the Chinese, I would 
 recommend " A Reader" to look at GutzlafFs account 
 of it in his junk voyage along the coast of China. 
 He may there " sup full of its horrors." Or, if 
 he has not been in a public den of opium- smokers, 
 let him see a picture of a madhouse, as shown in 
 one, before he apologises for it as a harmless or ele- 
 gant diversion. The awful picture in "Anastasius " 
 of one of these dens in Turkey, is a correct one, also 
 
 * The tael = 10 drachms very nearly (apothecary's 
 weight), or, more accurately, 593*4 grains troy. 
 
 t That is to say, 59-34 grains, or very nearly one 
 drachm. 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 39 
 
 of those which I have seen in this part of the world. 
 Chin. Uq>. pp. 407-410. 
 
 If this estimate be correct ; if a mace 
 weight would fill twelve pipes (which may 
 be allowed to be " a tolerably good allowance" 
 for each day), and if it be further observed 
 that (according to some accounts) the mace 
 weight which has served a luxurious smoker 
 to-day will supply the pipe of a more wretch- 
 ed slave to this habit to-morrow; then will 
 34,000 chests (the amount imported during 
 the last year to which my information extends) 
 be abundantly sufficient to ruin the health and 
 shorten the days of no less than 2,980,000 
 individuals. And, if he who begins to use 
 this baneful drug at twenty years of age can 
 never expect to reach his fortieth year, then 
 what must be the average number per annum, 
 of those who are cut off prematurely by the 
 use of opium. The ordinary calculation is, 
 unless my memory fails me, that of sixty per- 
 sons living and in health at the age of twenty, 
 one may be expected to die every year. That is 
 to say, the above-mentioned 2,980,000 persons 
 
40 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 who are living and in health at the age of 
 twenty, would not, in the ordinary course of 
 nature, be all dead in less than sixty years. If, 
 on the contrary, in consequence of the use of 
 opium, they all die in twenty years, the rate of 
 mortality is tripled ! and thus within the space 
 of twenty years, not less than 1,996,000 are 
 murdered by the use of this pernicious drug; 
 or 99.300 # every year ! I confine myself, in 
 this calculation, to the effects of imported 
 opium. At whose hands will the blood of all 
 these victims to opium-smoking be required ? 
 
 * This calculation may seem extreme, or even exag- 
 gerated : nor is it easy to make any calculation, in cases 
 of this nature, which can be depended upon. If the de- 
 struction of life by means of opium-smoking- amounts to 
 only one-tenth of this number, it is sufficiently awful. 
 But, sad to say, if we may judge at all from a compari- 
 son of the rate at which the Chinese population increased 
 before the ^traffic in opium began, with the much dimi- 
 nished Trate at which it has been increasing since, we 
 should be led to fear that even the calculation in the text 
 does not by any means reach the real extent of the waste 
 of life that has resulted from this baneful traffic. Per- 
 haps many who have actually died of famine, by murder, 
 or by the increased virulence of various diseases, might 
 be set down"as indirectly the victims of opium. 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 41 
 
 On this head I need only add the following 
 extract from the * Remarks on the Opium 
 Trade with China/' which I have already no- 
 ticed, as I find them reprinted in the Chinese 
 Repository for Nov. 1836, pp. 304, 305. 
 
 \\V have no such access to China as enables us to 
 render a full statistical account of the desolation 
 spread there by opium. It would be of comparatively- 
 little use if we had ; for at the rate at which the 
 trade is now advancing, statistics are utterly dis- 
 tanced long before they could be properly compiled. 
 The importation of opium into China is increasing in 
 a ratio which doubles it in nearly four years ! It 
 amounted in value last year to not much less than 
 four crores of rupees ! (About Sp.Dls. 19,230,769.) 
 Notwithstanding the rapid progress in the increasing 
 supply, the demand more than keeps pace with it ; 
 and there is every probability, unless some direct in- 
 terference of Providence mercifully thwart the natural 
 course of events, that both will go on increasing in 
 an increasing ratio until " ruin stand aghast" at its 
 own awful doings. Our sin in growing and en- 
 couraging the trade in opium is, indeed, one of the 
 darkest that ever invoked the wrath of the most high 
 God upon a people. Where are the preachers of the 
 gospel ? where is the spirit of common humanity 
 fled, that this sin should till this moment exist unre- 
 buked ? Oh ! what a wail of misery would awaken 
 
42 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 your remorse and compassion, could the dying agonies 
 of one poor opium-victim reach your soul ? Think 
 then of the millions who have already thus perished, 
 and then ask yourself how long is this to continue, 
 and no man in a Christian land to regard it. 
 
 3. That under any circumstances, that in 
 any way, such a vast quantity of this poisonous 
 drug should be introduced into China, to spread 
 its baneful influence among the population of 
 that country, and to ruin such multitudes both 
 in mind and body, is surely a fact to be most 
 deeply deplored, and such as cannot fail to 
 affect with painful emotions every man who 
 is not utterly lost to every feeling of humanity. 
 But this is not the whole of the evil. It is ne- 
 cessary to call attention to the manner in which 
 this opium is introduced into that country. 
 
 It was, in the first instance, considered sim- 
 ply as a medicine, which, under certain cir- 
 cumstances, might properly be administered, 
 and tend greatly to alleviate human suffering. 
 It was, therefore, inserted in the tariff of Can- 
 ton as such, and subject to a regular duty. But, 
 as early as the year 1796, the evils resulting 
 from the practice of opium-smoking had awak- 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 43 
 
 ened the attention of the Chinese government. 
 The practice was accordingly forbidden, under 
 penalties which have been continually increas- 
 ing in severity ; the importation was also 
 strictly forbidden, and (in 1821) the Hong 
 merchants of Canton were called upon to give 
 securities that no opium was contained in any 
 of those vessels which were permitted to enter 
 the harbour of Canton and to discharge their 
 cargoes there. Nay, so fully were the East- 
 India Company convinced of the absolute ne- 
 cessity of carrying on their regular trade with 
 China with clean hands, and free from all ap- 
 pearance of in any way aiding or abetting the 
 introduction of opium, that any one of their 
 regular captains or officers, who had brought 
 with him to Canton in his ship a single chest of 
 opium, would have been instantly and for ever 
 dismissed from the Company y s service. 
 
 All the opium therefore which is now, and has 
 been for the last forty-three years, introduced 
 into China by us, has been smuggled into the 
 country in defiance of the Laws and Regulations 
 of the Chinese government. 
 
44 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 It will be proper to illustrate and confirm 
 this statement by extracts from authentic do- 
 cuments, which have been presented to the 
 Chinese government on the subject. 
 
 The first of these, from which I shall quote, 
 is a memorial addressed to the Emperor by Heu 
 Naetse, an officer of one of the local courts of 
 Peking, who had been for some time commis- 
 sioner of the salt agency in Canton, and for a 
 short time (in 1834) acting judicial commis- 
 sioner; in both which offices, as he himself 
 states, he had made it his special duty to en- 
 quire particularly into every thing of import- 
 ance respecting the province. It will appear 
 from the document itself, that he had contrived 
 to gain most accurate information respecting 
 the facts of the case : the whole process of the 
 iniquity of the opium trade is therefore per- 
 fectly well known to the Chinese government. 
 With regard to the view he takes and the 
 measures he advises, the character of Heu 
 Naetse, whether as a man or a politician, will 
 not, I conceive, appear to my readers in so 
 favourable a light as that of another memorial- 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 45 
 
 ist whom I must presently introduce to their 
 notice. There seems to be in him a cool, reck- 
 less apathy to the sufferings and ruin of the 
 common people ; if only he can preserve the 
 officers of the government, the scholars, and the 
 military, from the ruinous effects of opium- 
 smoking. His testimony, however, to the facts 
 of the case and the nature of the trade, is highly 
 important : on these points, therefore, let him 
 speak for himself. To the memorial (which I 
 think it best to insert at full length) I subjoin 
 the imperial edict, which acknowledges the 
 receipt of it, and gives directions thereupon. 
 
 Heu Naetse, Vice-President of the Sacrificial 
 Court, presents the following memorial in regard to 
 opium, to show that the more severe the edicts 
 against it are made, the more widely do the evils 
 arising therefrom spread ; and that it is right ur- 
 gently to request, that a change be made in the 
 arrangements respecting it ; to which end he ear- 
 nestly entreats his Sacred Majesty to cast a glance 
 thereon, and to issue strict orders for a faithful in- 
 vestigation of the subject. 
 
 I would humbly represent that opium was origi- 
 ginally ranked among medicines; its qualities are 
 stimulant ; it also checks excessive secretions, and 
 
46 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 prevents the evil effects of noxious vapours. In the 
 materia medica of Lc Shechin, of the Ming dynasty, it 
 is called afooyung. When any one is long habituated to 
 inhaling it, it becomes necessary to resort to it at regular 
 intervals, and the habit of using it, being inveterate, is 
 destructive of time, injurious to property, and yet dear 
 to one even as life. Of those who use it to great excess, 
 the breath becomes feeble, the body wasted, the face 
 sallow, the teeth black ; the individuals themselves 
 clearly see the evil effects of it, yet cannot refrain from 
 it. It is indeed indispensjfbly necessary to enact 
 severe prohibitions in order to eradicate so vile a 
 practice. 
 
 On inquiry, I find that there are three kinds of 
 opium : one is called Company's ; the outer covering 
 of it is black, and hence it is also called ' black 
 earth,' it comes from Bengal ; a second kind is called 
 white skin,' and comes from Bombay ; the third 
 kind is called ' red- skin,' and comes from Madras. 
 These are places which belong to England. 
 
 In Keenlung's reign, as well as previously, opium 
 was inserted in the tariff of Canton as a medicine, 
 subject to a duty of three taels per hundred catties, 
 with an additional charge of two taels, four mace and 
 five candareens, under the name of charge per pack- 
 age. After this, it was prohibited. In the first 
 year of Keaking, fl796J, those found guilty of smok- 
 ing opium were subject only to the punishment of the 
 pillory and bamboo. Now they have, in the course of 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 47 
 
 tunc, become liable to the severest penalties, trans- 
 portation in various degrees, and death after the ordi- 
 nary continuance in prison. Yet the smokers of the 
 drug have increased in number, and the practice hmt 
 spread throughout almost the whole empire. In Keen- 
 lung's and the previous reigns, when opium passed 
 through the custom-house and paid a duty, it was 
 given into the hands of the Hong merchants, in 
 exchange for tea and other goods. But at the pre- 
 sent time, the prohibitions of government being most 
 strict against it, none dare openly to exchange goods 
 for it : all secretly purchase it with money. In the 
 reign of Keaking there arrived, it may be, some hun- 
 dred chests annually. The number has now increased 
 to upwards of 20,000 chests, containing each a hun- 
 dred catties. The black earth,' which is the best, 
 sells for about 800 dollars, foreign money, per chest ; 
 the ' white-skin,' which is next in quality, for about 
 600 dollars ; and the last, or ' red-skin,' for about 
 400 dollars. The total quantity sold during the 
 year amounts in value to ten and some odd millions of 
 dollars ; so that, in reckoning the dollar at seven mace 
 standard weight of silver, the annual waste of money 
 somewhat exceeds ten millions of taels. Formerly, 
 the barbarian merchants brought foreign money to 
 China, which, being paid in exchange for goods, was 
 a source of pecuniary advantage to the people of all 
 the sea-board provinces. But latterly, the barbarian 
 merchants have clandestinely sold opium for money, 
 
48 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 which has rendered it necessary for them to export 
 foreign silver. Thus foreign money has been going 
 out of the country, while none comes into it. 
 
 During two centuries, the government has now 
 maintained peace, and by fostering the people, has 
 greatly promoted the increase of wealth and opulence 
 among them. With joy we witness the economical 
 rule of our august Sovereign, an example to the 
 whole empire. Right it is that yellow gold be com- 
 mon as the dust. 
 
 Always in times past, a tael* of pure silver ex- 
 changed for nearly about 1,000 coined cash, but of 
 late years the same sum has borne the value of 1,200 
 or 1,300 cash ; thus the price of silver rises but does 
 not fall. In the salt agency, the price of salt is paid 
 in cash, while the duties are paid in silver : now the 
 salt merchants have all become involved, and the ex- 
 isting state of the salt trade in every province is ab- 
 ject in the extreme. How is this occasioned, but by 
 the unnoticed oozing out of pure silver ? If the 
 easily exhaustible stores of the central spring go to 
 fill up the wide and fathomless gulph of the outer 
 seas, gradually pouring themselves out from day to 
 day, and from month to month, we shall shortly be 
 reduced to a state of which I cannot bear to speak. 
 
 * For properly 1 tael =10 mace ; 1 mace = 10 can- 
 dareens ; and 1 candareen = 10 cash : and 7 mace 2 can- 
 dareens = 1 Spanish dollar = 4s. 6d. sterling. The tael, 
 therefore = 6s. 10 d. English. 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 49 
 
 Is it proposed entirely to cut off the foreign trade, 
 and thus to remove the root, to dam up the source of 
 the evil ? The Celestial Dynasty would not, indeed, 
 hesitate to relinquish the few millions of duties arising 
 therefrom. But all the nations of the West have had 
 a general market open to their ships for upwards of 
 a thousand years, while the dealers in opium are the 
 English alone ; it would be wrong, for the sake of 
 cutting off the English trade, to cut off that of all 
 the other nations. Besides, the hundreds of thou- 
 sands of people living on the sea-coast depend wholly 
 on trade for their livelihood ; and how are they to 
 be disposed of? Moreover, the barbarian ships, 
 being on the high seas, can repair to any island that 
 may be selected as an entrepot and the native sea- 
 going vessels can meet them there ; it is then impos- 
 sible to cut off the trade. Of late years, the foreign 
 vessels have visited all the ports of Fuhkeen, ChS- 
 keiing, Keiingnan, Shan-tung, even to Teentsin, and 
 Mantchouria, for the purpose of selling opium. And 
 although at once expelled by the local authorities, 
 yet it is reported that the quantity sold by them 
 was not small. Thus it appears that, though the 
 commerce of Canton should be cut off, yet it will 
 not be possible to prevent the clandestine introduction 
 of merchandise. 
 
 Is it said the daily increase of opium is owing to 
 the negligence of officers in enforcing the interdicts ? 
 The laws and enactments are the means which extor- 
 D 
 
50 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 tionate underlings and worthless vagrants employ to 
 benefit themselves; and the more complete the laws 
 are, the greater and more numerous are the bribes paid 
 to the extortionate underlings, and the more subtile are 
 the schemes of such worthless vagrants. In the first 
 year of Taoukwang, the governor of Kwantung and 
 Kwangse, Yuen Yuen proceeded with all the rigour 
 of the law against Ye Hangshoo, head of the opium 
 establishment then at Macao. The consequence was 
 that foreigners, having no one with whom to place 
 their opium, proceeded to Lintin to sell it. This 
 place is within the precincts of the provincial govern- 
 ment, and has a free communication by water on all 
 sides. Here are constantly anchored seven or eight 
 large ships, in which the opium is kept, and which are 
 therefore called 'receiving ships.' At Canton there 
 are brokers of the drug, who are called ' melters.' 
 These pay the price of the drug into the hands of the 
 resident foreigners, who give them orders for ' the de- 
 livery of the opium from the receiving ships. There 
 are carrying boats plying up and down the river, and 
 these are vulgarly called ' fast crabs' and ' scrambling 
 dragons.' They are well armed with guns and other 
 weapons, and are manned with some scores of despera- 
 does, who ply their oars as if they were wings to fly 
 with. All the custom-houses and military posts which 
 they pass are largely bribed. If they happen to en- 
 counter any of the armed cruising boats, they are so 
 audacious as to resist, and slaughter and carnage 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 51 
 
 nam. The late governor Loo, on one occasion, hav- 
 ing directed the commodore Tsin Yuchang to co- 
 operate with Teen Poo, the district magistrate of 
 Heiingshan, they captured Leiing Heennee, with a 
 boat containing opium to the amount of 14,000 
 catties. The number of men killed and taken prisoners 
 amounted to several scores. He likewise inflicted the 
 penalty of the laws on the criminals Yaoukow and 
 Owkwan (both of them being brokers,) and confis- 
 cated their property. This shows that faithfulness 
 in the enforcement of the laws is not wanting ; and 
 yet the practice cannot be checked. The dread of 
 the laws is not so great on the part of the common 
 people, as is the anxious desire of gain, which incites 
 them to all manner of crafty devices, so that some- 
 times, indeed, the law is rendered wholly ineffective. 
 There are also, both on the rivers and at sea, ban- 
 ditti, who, with pretence of acting under the orders of 
 government, and of being sent to search after and pre- 
 vent the smuggling of opium, seek opportunities for 
 plundering. When I was lately placed in the sendee 
 of your Majesty as acting Judicial Commissioner at ' 
 Canton, circumstances of this nature were very fre- 
 quently reported. Out of these arose a still greater 
 number of cases, in which money was extorted for 
 the ransom of plundered property. Thus a countless 
 number of innocent people were involved in suffering. 
 All these wide-spread evils have arisen since the in- 
 terdicts against opium were published. 
 d2 
 
52 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 It will be found, on examination, that the smokers 
 of opium are idle, lazy vagrants, having no useful pur- 
 pose before them, and are unworthy of regard or even 
 of contempt. And though there are smokers to he 
 found who have over- stepped the threshold of age, 
 yet they do not attain to the long life of other men. 
 But new births are daily increasing the population of 
 the empire, and there is no cause to apprehend a 
 diminution therein : while, on the other hand, we 
 cannot adopt too great, or too early, precautions 
 against the annual waste which is taking place of 
 the resources, the very substance of China. Now, 
 to close our ports against [all trade] will not answer; 
 and as the laws issued against opium are quite in- 
 operative, the only method left is to resort to the 
 former system, and to permit the barbarian merchants 
 to import opium, paying duty thereon as a medicine, 
 and to require that, after having passed the custom- 
 house, it shall be delivered to the Hong merchants 
 only in exchange for merchandise, and no money be 
 paid for it. The barbarians, finding that the amount 
 of duties to be paid on it is less than what is now 
 spent in bribes, will also gladly comply therein. 
 Foreign money should be placed on the same footing 
 with sycee silver, and the exportation of it should 
 be equally prohibited. Offenders when caught should 
 be punished by the entire destruction of the opium 
 they may have, and the confiscation of the money 
 that may be found with them. 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 53 
 
 With regard to officers, civil and military, and to 
 the scholars and common soldiers, the first are called 
 on to fulfil the duties of their rank and attend to the 
 public good ; the others, to cultivate their talents and 
 become fit for public usefulness. None of these, 
 therefore, must be permitted to contract a practice 
 so bad, or to walk in a path which will lead only to 
 the utter waste of their time and destruction of their 
 property. If, however, the laws enacted against the 
 practice be made too severe, the result will be mutual 
 connivance. It becomes my duty, then, to request 
 that it be enacted, that any officer, scholar, or soldier 
 found guilty of secretly smoking opium, shall be im- 
 mediately dismissed from public employ, without be- 
 ing made liable to any other penalty. In this way, 
 lenity will become, in fact, severity towards them. 
 And further, that, if any superior or general officer 
 be found guilty of knowingly and wilfully conniving 
 at the practice among his subordinates, such officer 
 shall be subjected to a court of inquiry. Lastly, that 
 no regard shall be paid to the purchase and use of 
 opium on the part of the people generally. 
 
 Does any suggest a doubt, that to remove the ex- 
 isting prohibitions will detract from the dignity of 
 Government ? I would ask, if he is ignorant that 
 the pleasures of the table and of the nuptial couch 
 may also be indulged in to the injury of health ? 
 Nor are the invigorating drugs footsze and wootow 
 devoid of poisonous qualities : yet it has never been 
 
54 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 heard that any one of these has been interdicted. 
 Besides, the removal of the prohibitions refers only 
 to the vulgar and common people, those who have 
 no official duties to perform. So long as the officers 
 of government, the scholars, and the military are not 
 included, I see no detriment to the dignity of govern- 
 ment : and by allowing the importation and exchange 
 of the drug for other commodities, more than ten 
 millions of money will annually be prevented from 
 flowing out of the central land. On which side 
 then is the gain, on which the loss ? It is evident 
 at a glance. But if we still idly look back, and 
 delay to retrace our steps, foolishly paying regard to 
 a matter of mere empty dignity, I humbly apprehend 
 that when eventually it is proved impossible to stop 
 the importation of opium, it will then be found that 
 we have waited too long, that the people are im- 
 poverished, and their wealth departed. Should we 
 then begin to turn round, we shall find that reform 
 comes too late. 
 
 Though but a servant of no value, I have by your 
 Majesty's condescending favour been raised from a 
 subordinate censorship to various official stations, 
 both at court and in the provinces ; and filled, on one 
 occasion, the chief judicial office in the region south 
 of the great mountains (Kwangtung). Ten years 
 spent in endeavours to make some return have 
 produced no fruit ; and I find myself overwhelmed 
 with shame and remorse. But with regard to the 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 55 
 
 great advantages, or great evils, of any place when 
 I have been, I have never failed to make particular 
 inquiries. Seeing that the prohibitions now in force 
 against opium serve but to increase the prevalence of 
 the evil, and that there is none found to represent 
 the facts directly to your Majesty, and feeling assured 
 that I am myself thoroughly acquainted with the 
 real state of things, I dare no longer forbear to let 
 them reach your Majesty's ear. Prostrate I beg my 
 august Sovereign to give secret directions to the 
 Governor and Lieutenant-Governor of Kwangtung, 
 together with the Superintendant of maritime cus- 
 toms, that they faithfully investigate the character 
 of the above statements ; and that, if they find them 
 really correct, they speedily prepare a list of regula- 
 tions adapted to a change in the system, and present 
 the same for your Majesty's final decision. Per- 
 chance this may be found adequate to stop further 
 oozing out of money, and to replenish the national 
 resources. With inexpressible awe and trembling 
 fear I reverently present this memorial, and await 
 your Majesty's commands.* 
 
 The following document was received on the 2nd 
 of July, from the Grand Council of Ministers at 
 Peking, addressed " to the Governor of Leiing Kwang, 
 Tang, and the Lieutenant-Governor of Kwangtung, 
 Ke, by whom it is to be enjoined also on the Hoppo 
 Wan ;" 
 
 * Manifest errors of the press have been corrected in 
 this and other extracts from the Chinese Repository. 
 
56 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 On the 29th of the 4th month (12th June 
 1836,) the following Imperial Edict was given to us : 
 
 Hew Naetse, Vice-President of the Sacrificial 
 Court, has presented a memorial in regard to opium, 
 representing that the more severe the interdicts 
 against it are made, so much the more widely do the 
 evils arising from it spread ; and that of late years, 
 the barbarians, not daring openly to give it in 
 barter for other commodities, have been in the habit 
 of selling it clandestinely for money, thus occasion- 
 ing an annual loss to the country, estimated at above 
 ten millions of taels. He, therefore, requests that a 
 change be made in regard to it, again permitting it 
 to be introduced and given in exchange for other 
 commodities. Let Tang Tingching deliberate with 
 his colleagues on the subject, and then report to us. 
 Let a copy of the original memorial be sent with this 
 edict to Tang Tingching and Ke Kung, who are to 
 enjoin it also upon Wan. Respect this. 
 
 In obedience hereto, we, the Ministers of the 
 Grand Council, transmit the enclosed. Chinese Re- 
 pository for July 1836, pp. 139-144. 
 
 The above document is at once so curious 
 and so important, that, though some parts of it 
 scarcely seem relevant to the question before 
 us, I have deemed it best not to mutilate it, but 
 to give it to my readers as I find it. I have 
 only taken the liberty of printing in italics 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 57 
 
 those passages or expressions, to which it seems 
 peculiarly important to direct the attention of 
 the English reader ; who will perceive that, 
 while it incidentally confirms the statements of 
 the pernicious effects of opium which have been 
 already made, it more particularly sets forth the 
 evils of the system by which it is smuggled into 
 China : and affords the clearest proof, that the 
 iniquities of which our countrymen are guilty 
 herein are fully known to the Emperor of 
 China and to his ministers at Peking. If con- 
 firmation be needed, this is abundantly con- 
 firmed by the following extract from the " Re- 
 port of the Governor of Kwangtung* and 
 Kwangse, and the Lieut.-governor of Kwang- 
 tung," &c (to whom the above memorial was 
 referred), "in reference to the proposal to sanc- 
 tion the importation of opium." 
 
 Now, in regard to opium, it is an article brought 
 into the central empire from the lands of the far- 
 distant barbarians, and has been imported during a 
 long course of years. In the reigns of Yungching 
 
 * Kwangtung is Canton, or, rather, the province of 
 which Canton is the capital. 
 
 d3 
 
58 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 and Keenlung, it was included in the tariff of mari- 
 time duties, under the head of medicinal drugs, and 
 there was then no regulation against purchasing it, 
 or inhaling it. But in the 4th year of Keaking (1799), 
 the then governor of this province, Keihking, of the 
 imperial kindred, regarding it as a subject of deep re- 
 gret, that the vile dirt of foreign countries should be 
 received in exchange for the commodities and the 
 money of the empire, and fearing lest the practice of 
 smoking opium should spread among all the people 
 of the inner land, to the waste of their time and the 
 destruction of their property, presented a memorial 
 requesting that the sale of the drug should be pro- 
 hibited, and that offenders should be made amenable 
 to punishment. This. punishment has been gradually 
 increased to transportation and death by strangling. 
 The law is by no means deficient in severity ; but 
 the people arejiot so much influenced by the fear of the 
 laws as by the desire of gain. Hence, from the time 
 that the prohibition was passed, the crafty schemes 
 and devices of evil men have daily multiplied. On 
 the one hand, receiving ships are. anchored in the en- 
 trances from the outer seas. On the other hand, 
 brokers, called melters, are everywhere established in 
 the inner land. Then again, 'fast crabs' and 'scram- 
 bling dragons' as the boats are called are fitted 
 out for clandestine commerce ; and lastly, vagabonds, 
 pretending authority to search, have under this pretext 
 indulged their own unruly desires. Thus, what was 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 59 
 
 at first a common article, of no esteem in the market, 
 either for smoking or eating, and also of a moderate 
 price, has, with the increase in the severity of the re- 
 gulations, increased in demand, and been clandes- 
 tinely and largely imported, annually drawing away 
 from the pecuniary resources of the inner land, while 
 it has done nothing to enrich it. 
 
 We, your Majesty's Ministers, having examined 
 the original memorial, and considered the details 
 therein contained respecting the evils to be removed, 
 regard the whole as true and accurate. Chinese Re- 
 pository for Oct. 1836, pp. 260-261. 
 
 The same facts which are mentioned in these 
 Chinese documents have been detailed to me 
 by one who, from long personal acquaintance 
 with India and the trade with China, and from 
 long employment in the service of the East- 
 India Company, was qualified to speak as an eye 
 and ear-witness to the facts. Vessels have been 
 built and equipped for this traffic in the various 
 ports of India ; and (sad to think, in connexion 
 with the traffic in which they are engaged !) 
 they are among the finest vessels that anywhere 
 float upon the mighty waters : so built, so 
 equipped, and so manned, that they seem to 
 achieve impossibilities. The receiving ships, 
 
60 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 which serve as warehouses, are anchored at 
 Lintin. There are English agents at Canton, 
 who transact the necessary business with the 
 Chinese dealers in opium, who receive the 
 money from them in payment, and give them 
 orders for such quantities of the drug as they 
 require upon the receivers at Lintin. And 
 from the receiving ships, the opium is conveyed 
 up the country by native boats, manned by 
 desperadoes of the worst and lowest class. All 
 the iniquities of bribery, fraud, duplicity, per- 
 jury, and violence, which are inseparably con- 
 nected with smuggling, are continually going 
 on ! And (as is specially mentioned in the 
 above memorial) occasional bloody collisions 
 with the Native Authorities are sometimes the 
 inevitable consequences ; if indeed, at other 
 times, they are not a part of the system of 
 iniquity and fraud, got up (at the expence of 
 many lives) when a long course of connivance, 
 purchased by bribery, has given occasion for 
 suspicions, which must be lulled to sleep by a 
 great display of vigilance and activity. 
 
 Is it needful, in this enlightened age, to en- 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 61 
 
 large upon the evils which are inseparably con- 
 nected with such a system of smuggling? or 
 to point out to the inhabitants of any civilised 
 country, the direful demoralization that must 
 be the inevitable result, with all those who are 
 directly or indirectly involved in it? Do we 
 not know, that, if we needed to look out for 
 ready instruments for the perpetration of all 
 imaginable atrocities, we need only go into the 
 haunts of smugglers to find them ? 
 
 I know not what those who consider them- 
 selves as enlightened Britons will think or say 
 upon this subject. I know not what judg- 
 ment they will pronounce upon the practice of 
 opium-smoking, or the system of determined smug- 
 gling, by means of which this poisonous drug 
 is introduced in such quantities into China. 
 This little book, from first to last, is but an 
 appeal to my Countrymen on the question. 
 We shall see, in due time, what kind of res- 
 ponse it meets with. But this I know, that the 
 Chinese Government and people, absurd, un- 
 enlightened, prejudiced, ignorant, and semi- 
 barbarous, as perhaps we imagine them to be, 
 
62 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 have formed their judgment, deliberately and 
 decidedly, both with regard to the practice of 
 opium-smoking, and with regard to the con- 
 duct and character of those who are engaged 
 in smuggling opium into China. 
 
 4. It is perhaps, to any one who is jealous 
 for the honour of his country, the most humi- 
 liating part of the enquiry, to ascertain in what 
 light the Government of China look upon this 
 traffic, and upon us as a people engaged in it, 
 and (herewith) engaged in deliberate and sys- 
 tematic evasion and violation of their laws; 
 and all this for the purpose of getting gain by 
 the sale of a drug, of which the effect, if not 
 the purpose, is, to ruin and poison a large pro- 
 portion of their population ! But facts must be 
 known. It will not do, in such an age as this, 
 to shut our eyes or our ears against them. 
 
 We are, perhaps, so much disposed to think 
 highly of ourselves, and to look down with 
 contempt upon other and distant nations, that 
 we can scarcely persuade ourselves that Chi- 
 nese statesmen are capable of investigating a 
 question of this nature, or of forming a distinct 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 63 
 
 and luminous opinion respecting the effects of 
 opium, or the nature and evils of that system 
 of smuggling by which it is introduced into 
 their country. We imagine, that they are 
 scarcely capable of anything beyond a blind 
 and bigoted attachment to the customs of 
 past ages. The preceding memorial of Heu 
 Naetse, however, (though not the most favour- 
 able specimen of a Chinese statesman), will serve 
 to show, that the officers of the Chinese go- 
 vernment are by no means such mere slaves of 
 prejudice : that they have sufficient energy and 
 independence of judgment to contemplate the 
 question of important changes in their system, 
 to enquire into facts, to penetrate the subtle 
 disguises under which a system of fraud is 
 carried on, to detect the whole process of fo- 
 reign iniquity, and to investigate the circum- 
 stances which call for new regulations. But 
 the following memorial, taking an opposite 
 view of the question (of legalizing the trade in 
 opium), will give a much fairer specimen of 
 the Chinese mind. It presents to us another 
 Chinese statesman, taking a calm and delibe- 
 
64 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 rate view of a question in which the welfare 
 of the Chinese empire and people is concerned; 
 reasoning thereon like a politician, a philoso- 
 pher, and a philanthropist ; defending, indeed, 
 the present system, and deprecating a change; 
 but doing this with a soundness of reasoning 
 and weight of argument, which might well put 
 to shame very many of our European states- 
 men. This memorial is the more important, 
 as it seems calculated to bring before us the 
 motives and principles by which the Chinese 
 government have hitherto been actuated, in 
 prohibiting the use and importation of opium : 
 while at the same time (though in the calmest 
 manner) it points out the evils connected, both 
 with the use of opium and with the manner in 
 which it is imported ; and shows that the minds 
 of the Chinese government are sufficiently 
 awake, to enable them to penetrate into the 
 deepest designs of Foreign governments, and 
 to foresee the remoter consequences of present 
 evils. If their suspicions go so far as to im- 
 pute to us designs which we never dreamed of, 
 it is only the more to be lamented that they 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 65 
 
 see our countrymen engaged in such a course 
 of systematic iniquity, as appears to warrant 
 them in imputing to us the very worst motives 
 of baseness and treachery that the mind of 
 man can conceive. 
 
 Let us now proceed to the memorial itself, 
 which I give as I find it in the Chinese Repo- 
 sitory for January 1837, pp. 390-398; only 
 printing (as before) the most striking and im- 
 portant passages and expressions in a different 
 type. 
 
 Choo Tsun, member of the Council and of the 
 Board of Rites, kneeling, presents the following me- 
 morial, wherein he suggests the propriety of increas- 
 ing the severity of certain prohibitory enactments, 
 with a view to maintain the dignity of the laws, and 
 to remove a great evil from among the people. To 
 this end he respectfully states his views on the sub- 
 ject, and earnestly entreats his Sacred Majesty to 
 cast a glance thereon. 
 
 I would humbly point out, that, wherever an evil 
 exists, it should be at once removed ; and that the 
 laws should never be suffered to fall into desuetude. 
 Our government, having received from Heaven the 
 gift of peace, has transmitted it for two centuries ; 
 this has afforded opportunity for the removal of evils 
 
66 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 from among the people. For governing the central 
 nation, and for holding in submission all the sur- 
 rounding barbarians, rules exist, perfect in their na- 
 ture, and well fitted to attain their end. And in re- 
 gard to opium, special enactments were passed for the 
 prohibition of its use in the first year of Keaking t 
 (1796); and, since then, memorials, presented at 
 various successive periods, have given rise to addi- 
 tional prohibitions, all which have been inserted in 
 the code and in the several tariffs. The laws, then, 
 relating thereto, are not wanting in severity ; but 
 there are those in office who, for want of energy, 
 fail to carry them into execution. Hence the peo- 
 ple's minds gradually become callous ; and base de- 
 sires springing up among them, increase day by. day, 
 and month by month, till their rank luxuriance has 
 spread over the whole empire. These noisome weeds 
 having been long neglected, it has become impossible 
 to eradicate ; and those to whom this duty is en- 
 trusted are, as if hand-bound, wholly at a loss what 
 to do. 
 
 When the foreign ships convey opium to the 
 coast, it is impossible for them to sell it by retail. 
 Hence there are at Canton, in the provincial city, 
 brokers named ' melters.' These engage money- 
 changers to arrange the price with the foreigners, 
 and to obtain orders for them ; with which orders 
 they proceed to the receiving ships, and there the vile 
 drug is delivered to them. This part of the tr ansae- 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 67 
 
 Hon is notorious, and the actors in it are easily dis- 
 coverable. The boats which cany the drug, and 
 which are called * fast crabs' and ' scrambling dra- 
 gons,' are all well furnished with guns and other wea- 
 pons, and ply their oars as swiftly as though they 
 were wings. Their crews have all the overbearing as- 
 sumption and audacity of pirates. Shall such men be 
 suffered to navigate the surrounding seas according 
 to their own will ? and shall such conduct be passed 
 over without investigation? 
 
 The late governor Loo having, on one occasion, 
 sent the commodore Tsin Yuchang to co-operate 
 with Teen Poo, the magistrate of Heangshan, those 
 officers seized a vessel belonging to Leang Heennee, 
 which was carrying opium, and out of her they took 
 14,000 catties of the drug. Punishment also was 
 inflicted on the criminals Yaoukew and Owkwan, 
 both of them opium-brokers. Hence it is apparent, 
 that, if the great officers in charge of the provinces 
 do in truth show an example to their civil and mili- 
 tary subordinates, and if these do in sincerity search 
 for the drug, and faithfully seize it when found, ap- 
 prehending the most criminal, and inflicting upon 
 them severe punishment, it is, in this case, not im- 
 possible to attain the desired end. And if the officers 
 are indeed active and strenuous in their exertions, and 
 make a point of inflicting punishment on offenders, 
 will the people, however perverse and obstinate they 
 may be, really continue fearless of the laws ? No. 
 
68 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 The thing to be lamented is, instability in maintain- 
 ing the laws the vigorous execution thereof being 
 often and suddenly exchanged for indolent laxity. 
 
 It has been represented that advantage is taken of 
 the laws against opium, by extortionate underlings and 
 worthless vagrants to benefit themselves. Is it not 
 known, then, that, where the government enacts a 
 law, there is necessarily an infraction of that law? 
 And though the law should sometimes be relaxed, 
 and become ineffectual, yet surely it should not on 
 that account be abolished, any more than we would 
 altogether cease to eat because of diseased stoppages of 
 the throat. When have not prostitution, gambling, 
 treason, robbery, and such like infractions of the 
 laws, afforded occasions for extortionate underlings 
 and worthless vagrants to benefit themselves, and by 
 falsehood and bribery to amass wealth ? Of these 
 there have been frequent instances, and, as any in- 
 stance is discovered, punishment is inflicted. But 
 none surely would contend that the law, because in 
 such instances rendered ineffectual, should therefore 
 be abrogated ! The laws that forbid the people to do 
 wrong may be likened to the dykes which prevent 
 the overflowing of water. If any one, then, urging, 
 that the dykes are very old, and therefore useless, 
 we should have them thrown down, what words 
 could express the consequences of the impetuous rush 
 and all- destroying overflow ! Yet the provincials, 
 when discussing the subject of opium, being per- 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 69 
 
 plexed and bewildered by it, think that a prohibition, 
 which does not utterly prohibit, is no better than one 
 which does not at all prevent the importation of the 
 drug. Day and night I have meditated on this, and 
 can in truth see no wisdom in the opinion. 
 
 It is said that the opium should be admitted, sub- 
 ject to a duty ; the importers being required to give 
 it into the hands of the Hong merchants, in barter 
 only for merchandise, without being allowed to sell 
 it for money. And this is proposed as a means of 
 preventing money from secretly oozing out of the 
 country. But the English, by whom opium is sold, 
 have been driven out to Lintin so long since as the first 
 year of Taoukwang (1821), when the then governor 
 of Kwangtung and Kwangse discovered and punished 
 the warehousers of opium ; so long have they been 
 expelled, nor have they ever since imported it into 
 Macao. Having once suppressed the trade and 
 driven them away, shall we now again call upon them 
 and invite them to return ? This would be, indeed, 
 a derogation from the true dignity of government. 
 As to the proposition to give tea in exchange, and 
 entirely to prohibit the exportation of even foreign 
 silver, I apprehend that if the tea should not be 
 found sufficient, money w T ill still be given in ex- 
 change for the drug. Besides, if it is in our power 
 to prevent the exportation of dollars, why not also 
 to prevent the importation of opium ? And, if we can 
 but prevent the importation of opium, the exportation 
 
70 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 of dollars will then cease of itself, and the two 
 offences will both at once be stopped. Moreover, is 
 it not better, by continuing the old enactments, to 
 find even a partial remedy for the evil, than by a 
 change of the laws to increase the importation still 
 further ? As to levying a duty on opium, the thing 
 sounds so awkwardly, and reads so unbeseemingiy, 
 that such a duty ought surely not to be levied. 
 
 Again, it is said that the prohibitions against the 
 planting of the poppy by the natives should be re- 
 laxed ; and that the direct consequences will be daily 
 diminution of the profits of foreigners, and, in course 
 of time, the entire cessation of the trade, without the 
 aid of prohibitions. Is it, then, forgotten, that it is 
 natural to the common people to prize things heard 
 of only by the ear and to undervalue those which 
 are before their eyes, to pass by those things which 
 are near at hand and to seek after those which are 
 afar off; and though they have a thing in their own 
 land, yet to esteem more highly such as come to 
 them from beyond the seas ? Thus in Keangsoo, 
 Chekeiing, Fuhkeen, and Kwangtung, they will not 
 quietly be guided by the laws of the empire, but 
 must needs make use of foreign money : and this 
 foreign money, though of an inferior standard, is 
 nevertheless exchanged by them at a higher rate 
 than the native sycee silver, which is pure. And, al- 
 though money is cast in China after exactly the same 
 pattern, under the names of Keangsoo pieces, Full- 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 71 
 
 keen pieces, and native or Canton pieces, yet this 
 money has not been able to gain currency among the 
 people. Thus also the silk and cotton goods of China 
 are not insufficient in quantity ; and yet the broad 
 cloths, and camlets, and cotton goods of the barbarians 
 from beyond the pale of the empire are in constant re- 
 quest. Taking men generally, the minds of all are 
 equally unenlightened in this respect, so that all men 
 prize what is strange, and undervalue what is in or- 
 dinary use. 
 
 FromFuhkeen, Kwangtung, Chekeang, Shantung, 
 Yunnan, and Kweichow, memorials have been pre- 
 sented by the censors and other officers, requesting 
 that prohibitions should be enacted against the cultiva- 
 tion of the poppy and against the preparation of opium ; 
 but, while nominally prohibited, the cultivation of it 
 has not been really stopped in those places. Of any 
 of those provinces, except Yunnan, I do not presume 
 to speak ; but of that portion of the country I have 
 it in my power to say, that the poppy is cultivated 
 all over the hills and the open campaign, and that 
 the quantity of opium annually produced there can- 
 not be less than several thousand chests. And yet 
 we do not see any diminution in the quantity of silver 
 exported, as compared with any previous period; 
 while, on the other hand, the lack of the metal in 
 Yunnan is double in degree to what it formerly was. 
 To what cause is this to be ascribed ? To what but 
 that the consumers of the drug are very many, and 
 
72 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 that those who are choice and dainty with regard to its 
 quality always prefer the foreign article P 
 
 Those of your Majesty's advisers who compare the 
 drug to the dried leaf of the tobacco-plant are in error. 
 The tobacco leaf does not destroy the human constitu- 
 tion. The profit, too, arising from the sale of tobacco, 
 is small, while that arising from opium is large. Be- 
 sides, tobacco may be cultivated on bare and barren 
 ground, while the poppy needs a rich and fertile soil. 
 If all the rich and fertile ground be used for planting 
 the poppy, and if the people, hoping for a large pr oft 
 therefrom, madly engage in its cultivation, where will 
 flax and the mulberry-tree be cultivated, or wheat 
 and rye be planted ? To draw off in this way the 
 waters of the great fountain, requisite for the produc- 
 tion of food and raiment, and to lavish them upon the 
 root whence calamity and disaster spring forth, is an 
 error which may be compared to that of a physician, 
 who, when treating a mere external disease, should 
 drive it inwards to the heart and centre of the body. 
 It may, in such a case, be found impossible even to 
 preserve life. And shall the fine fields of Kwangtung, 
 that produce their three crops every year, be given 
 up for the cultivation of this noxious weed those 
 fields, in comparison with which the unequal soil of all 
 other parts of the empire is not even to be mentioned? 
 
 To sum up the matter, the wide-spreading and 
 baneful influence of opium, when regarded simply as 
 injurious to property, is of inferior importance ; but 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 73 
 
 wlien regarded as hurtful to the people, it d< munds 
 most anxious consideration : for in the people lies the 
 very foundation of the empire. Property, it is true, is 
 that on which the subsistence of the people depend*. 
 Yet a deficiency of it may be supplied, and an im- 
 poverished people improved ; whereas it is beyond the 
 power of any artificial means to save a people enervated 
 by luxury . In the history of Formosa we find the 
 following passage : " Opium was first produced in 
 Kaoutsinne, which by some is said to be the same as 
 Kalapa (or Batavia). The natives of this place were 
 at the first sprightly and active, and, being good sol- 
 diers, were always successful in battle. But the people 
 called Hung-maou (Red-haired), came thither, and hav- 
 ing manufactured opium, seduced some of the natives 
 into the habit of smoking it. From these the mania 
 for it rapidly spread throughout the whole nation ; so 
 that, in process of time, the natives became feeble and 
 enervated, submitted to the foreign rule, and ultimately 
 were completely subjugated^' Now the English 
 
 ARE OF THE RACE OF FOREIGNERS CALLED HuNG- 
 MAOU. In INTRODUCING OPIUM INTO THIS COUNTRY, 
 THEIR PURPOSE HAS BEEN TO WEAKEN AND ENFEEBLE 
 
 the Central Empire. If not early aroused to a 
 sense of our danger, we shall find ourselves ere long 
 on the last step towards ruin. 
 
 The repeated instances, within a few years, of the 
 barbarians in question having assumed an attitude of 
 outrageous disobedience ; and the stealthy entrance of 
 E 
 
74 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 their ships into the provinces of Fuhkeen, Chekeang, 
 Keringnan, and Shantung, and even to Teentsin, to 
 what motives are these to be attributed ? I am truly 
 unable to answer the inquiry. But, reverently perus- 
 ing the sacred instructions of your Majesty's all-wise 
 progenitor, surnamed the Benevolent (Kanghe), I 
 find the following remark by him, dated the 10th 
 month of the 55th year of his reign (1717) : "There 
 is cause for apprehension, lest, in centuries or millen- 
 niums to come, China may be endangered by collision 
 with the various nations of the West, who come hither 
 from beyond the seas." I look upwards, and admir- 
 ingly contemplate the gracious consideration of that 
 all- wise progenitor, in taking thought for the con- 
 cerns of barbarians beyond the empire, and giving 
 the distant future a place in his divine and all-pervad- 
 ing foresight. And now, within a period of two cen- 
 turies, we actually see the commencement of that danger 
 which he apprehended. Though it is not practicable 
 to put a sudden and entire stop to their commercial 
 intercourse, yet the danger should be duly considered 
 and provided against ; the ports of the several pro- 
 vinces should be guarded with all strictness ; and 
 some chastisement should be administered, as a warn- 
 ing and foretaste of what may be anticipated. 
 
 Under date of the 23rd year of Keaking (1818), 
 your Majesty's benevolent predecessor, surnamed the 
 Profound, directing the Governor of Canton to adopt 
 measures to control and restrain the barbarians, ad- 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 75 
 
 dressed him in the following terms : " The empire, 
 in ruling and restraining the barbarians beyond its 
 boundaries, gives to them always fixed rules and re- 
 gulations. Upon those who are obedient, it lavishes 
 its rich favors ; but to the rebellious and disobedient, 
 it displays its terrors. Respecting the English trade 
 at Canton, and the anchorage grounds of their mer- 
 chant ships and of their naval convoys, regulations 
 have long since been made. If the people aforesaid 
 will not obey these regulations, and will persist in 
 opposition to the prohibitory enactments, the first 
 step to be taken is, to impress earnestly upon them 
 the plain commands of government, and to display 
 before them alike both the favours and the terrors of 
 the empire, in order to eradicate from their minds 
 all their covetous and ambitious schemes. If, notwith- 
 standing, they dare to continue in violent and out- 
 rageous opposition, and presume to pass over the al- 
 lotted bounds, forbearance must then cease, and a 
 thundering fire from our cannon must be opened upon 
 them, to make them quake before the terror of our 
 arms. In short, the principle on which the 'far- 
 travelled strangers are to be cherished ' is this : al- 
 ways, in the first instance, to employ reason as the 
 weapon whereby to conquer them, and on no account 
 to assume a violent and vehement deportment towards 
 them : but when ultimately it becomes necessary to 
 resort to military force, then, on the other hand, 
 never to employ it in a weak and indecisive manner, 
 e2 
 
76 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 lest those towards whom it is exercised should see 
 no cause for fear or dread." How clear and lumi- 
 nous are these admonitions, well fitted to become a 
 rule to all generations ! 
 
 Since your Majesty's accession to the throne, the 
 maxim of your illustrious house, that ' horsemanship 
 and archery are the foundations of its existence,' has 
 ever been carefully remembered. And hence the 
 Governors, the Lieut. -Governors, the Commanders of 
 the forces, and their subordinates, have again and 
 again been directed to pay the strictest attention to the 
 discipline and exercise of the troops and of the naval 
 forces ; and have been urged and required to create 
 by their exertions strong and powerful legions. 
 With admiration I contemplate my sacred Sovereign's 
 anxious care for imparting a military as well as a 
 civil education, prompted, as this anxiety is, by the 
 desire to establish on a firm basis the foundations of 
 the empire, and to hold in awe the barbarians on 
 every side. But, while the stream of importation of 
 opium is not turned aside, it is impossible to attain any 
 certainty that none within the camp do ever secretly in- 
 hale the drug. And, if the camp be once contaminated 
 by it, the baneful influence will work its way, and the 
 habit will be contracted beyond the power of reform. 
 When the periodical times of desire for it come round, 
 how can the victims (their legs tottering, their hands 
 trembling, their eyes flowing with child-like tears) be 
 able in any way to attend to their proper exercises : 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 77 
 
 Or how c<iii such men form strong and powerful legions ? 
 Ukder these circumstances, the military will become 
 alike unfit to advance to the fight, or in a retreat to 
 defend their posts. Of this there is clear proof in the 
 instance of the campaign against the Yaou rebels, 
 in the 12th year of our Sovereign's reign (1832). 
 /// the army sent to Leenchow on that occasion, great 
 n umbers of the soldiers were opium-smokers ; so that, 
 although their numerical force was large, there ivas 
 hardly any strength to be found among them. 
 
 It is said, indeed, that when repealing the prohibi- 
 tions, the people only are to be allowed to deal in and 
 smoke the drug ; and that none of the officers, the 
 scholars, and the military are to be allowed this li- 
 berty. But this is bad casuistry. It is equal to the 
 popular proverb, " shut a woman's ears before you steal 
 her ear- rings," an absurdity. The officers, with all 
 the scholars and the military, do not amount in num- 
 ber to more than one-tenth of the whole population of 
 the empire ; and the other nine -tenths are all the com- 
 mon people. The great majority of those who at pre- 
 sent smoke opium are the relatives and dependents of 
 the officers of Government, whose example has extended 
 the practice to the mercantile classes, and has gradually 
 contaminated the inferior officers, the military, and the 
 scholars. Those who do not smoke are the common 
 people of the villages and hamlets. If, then, the 
 officers, the scholars, and the military, alone be pro- 
 hibited smoking opium, while all the people are per- 
 
78 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 mitted to deal in and smoke it, this will be to give a 
 full license to those of the people who already in- 
 dulge in it, and to induce those who have never yet 
 indulged in the habit to do so. And, if it is even 
 now to be feared that some will continue smokers in 
 spite of all prohibitions, is it to be hoped that any 
 will refrain, when they are actually induced by the 
 Government to indulge in it ? 
 
 Besides, if the people be at liberty to smoke opium* 
 how shall the officers, the scholars, and the military 
 be prevented ? What ! of the officers, the scholars, 
 and the military, are there any that are born in civil 
 or military situations, or that are born scholars or 
 soldiers ? All certainly are raised up from the level 
 of the common people. To take an instance : let a 
 vacancy occur in a body of soldiers ; it must neces- 
 sarily be filled up by recruits from among the people. 
 But the great majority of recruits are men of no 
 character or respectability, and if, while they were 
 among the common people, they were smokers of 
 opium, by what bands of law shall they be restrained 
 when they become soldiers, after the habit has been 
 already contracted, and has so taken hold of them that 
 it is beyond their power to break it off ? Such a policy 
 was that referred to by Mencius, when he spoke 
 of "entrapping the people." And if the officers, 
 the scholars, and the military smoke the drug in the 
 quiet of their own families, by what means is this to 
 be discovered or prevented ? Should an officer be 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 79 
 
 unable to restrain himself, shall then his clerks, his 
 followers, his domestic servants, have it in their 
 power to make his failing their plaything, and by the 
 knowledge of his secret to hold his situation at their 
 disposal ? We dread falsehood and bribery, and yet 
 we would thus widen the door to admit them. We 
 are anxious to prevent the amassing of wealth by 
 unlawful means, and yet by this policy we would 
 ourselves increase the opportunities for doing so. 
 A father, in such a case, would no longer be able to 
 reprove his son, an elder brother to restrain his 
 junior, nor a master to rule his own household. Will 
 not this policy, then, be every way calculated to stir 
 up strife ? Or if, happily, the thing should not run 
 to this extreme, the consequences will yet be equally 
 bad : secret enticement and mutual connivance will 
 ensue, until the very commonness of the practice 
 shall render it no longer a subject of surprise. From 
 this I conclude, that to permit the people to deal in 
 the drug and smoke it, at the same time that the of- 
 ficers, the scholars, and the military are to be prohi- 
 bited the use of it, will be found to be fraught with 
 difficulties. 
 
 At the present moment, throughout the empire, the 
 minds of men are in imminent danger ; the more fool- 
 ish, being seduced by teachers of false doctrines, are 
 sunk in vain superstitions and cannot be aroused ; 
 and the more intelligent, being intoxicated by opium, 
 are carried away as by a whirlpool, and are beyond re- 
 
80 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 covery. Most thoughtfully have I sought for some 
 plan by which to arouse and awaken all, but in vain. 
 While, however, the Empire preserves and maintains 
 its laws, the plain and honest rustic will see what he 
 has to fear, and will be deterred from evil ; and the 
 man of intelligence and cultivated habits will learn 
 what is wrong in himself, and will refrain from it. 
 And thus, though the laws be declared by some to be 
 but w r aste paper, yet these their unseen effects will 
 be of no trifling nature. If, on the other hand, the 
 prohibitions be suddenly repealed, and the action 
 which was a crime be no longer counted such by the 
 Government, how shall the dull clown and the mean 
 among the people know that the action is still in 
 itself wrong ? In open day, and with unblushing 
 front, they will continue to use opium till they shall 
 become so accustomed to it, that eventually they will 
 find it as indispensable as their daily meat and drink, 
 and will inhale the noxious drug with perfect indif- 
 ference. When shame shall thus be entirely des- 
 troyed, and fear removed wholly out of the way, 
 the evil consequences that will result to morality and to 
 the minds of men will assuredly be neither few nor un- 
 important. As your Majesty's Minister, I know that 
 the laws of the Empire, being in their existing state 
 well fitted to effect their end, will not for any slight 
 cause be changed. But the proposal to alter the 
 law on this subject having been made and discussed 
 in the provinces, the instant effect has been, that 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 81 
 
 crafty thieves and villains have on all hands begun 
 to raise their heads and open their eyes, gazing 
 about and pointing the finger, under the notion that, 
 when once these prohibitions are repealed, thenceforth 
 and for ever they may regard themselves free from 
 every restraint and from every cause of fear. 
 
 Though possessing very poor abilities, I have ne- 
 vertheless had the happiness to enjoy the favour of 
 your sacred Majesty, and have, within a space 
 but of few years, been raised through the several 
 grades of the censorate, and the presidency of various 
 courts in the metropolis, to the high elevation of a 
 seat in the Inner Council. I have been copiously 
 embued with the rich dew of favours, yet have been 
 unable to offer the feeblest token of gratitude ; but 
 if there is aught within the compass of my know- 
 ledge, I dare not to pass it by unnoticed. I feel it my 
 duty to request, that your Majesty's commands may 
 be proclaimed to the Governors and Lieutenant-Go- 
 vernors of all the Provinces, requiring them to direct 
 the local officers to redouble their efforts for the en- 
 forcement of the existing prohibition (against opium) ; 
 and to impress on every one, in the plainest and 
 strictest manner, that all who are already contami- 
 nated by the vile habit must return and become new 
 men; that if any continue to walk in their former 
 courses, strangers to repentance and to reformation, 
 they shall assuredly be subjected to the full penalty 
 of the law, and shall not meet with the least indul- 
 e3 
 
82 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 gence, and that on any found guilty of storing up 
 or selling opium to the amount of 1,000 catties or 
 upwards, the most severe punishment shall be inflict- 
 ed. Thus happily the minds of men may be impressed 
 with fear, and the report thereof spreading over the 
 seas (among foreigners) , may even there produce refor- 
 mation. Submitting to my Sovereign my feeble and 
 obscure views, I prostrate implore your sacred Ma- 
 jesty to cast a glance on this my respectful memorial. 
 
 But Choo Tsun is not the only Chinese 
 statesman who takes this view, and urges it at 
 the present time. 
 
 Heu Kew, sub- censor over the Military Depart- 
 ment, kneeling presents this memorial, to point out 
 the increasing craftiness of foreigners from beyond the 
 seas, in their pursuit of gain, and the daily diminution 
 of the resources of the empire. 
 
 This memorial is inserted at full length, 
 with only the omission of some names, in the 
 Chinese Repository for January 1837, pp. 
 398-404. It will only be necessary to trans- 
 cribe the following passages : 
 
 According to the information that I have obtained, 
 the sale of opium is the chief medium through which 
 money is drained off, and carried beyond the seas. 
 In the first year of Keaking (1796), the opium sold by 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 88 
 
 foreigners in Kwangtung did not exceed a few hundred 
 chests. The number has now increased to uptvards of 
 20,000 chests. These include three distinct kinds, the 
 "black-earth," the "white-skinned," and the " red- 
 skinned." The price of each chest is from 800 to 900 
 dollars for the best, and from 500 to 600 for the infc- 
 rior quality. This applies to what is sold in the province 
 of Kwangtung. With regard to the other provinces, 
 the vessels of which carry on illicit traffic with the 
 receiving ships at Lintin, it is difficult to obtain any 
 full and complete statement respecting them. 
 
 The amount annually lost to the country is about 
 ten and some odd millions of money. The money 
 thus lost was, at first, the foreign money wherewith 
 foreigners had previously purchased goods : now it is 
 entirely the fine silver of the inner land, cast into a 
 different form at Macao. Formerly the foreigners 
 imported money to purchase the merchandise of the 
 country, but now it has all been carried back. In 
 the first instance it was their practice to recast the 
 foreign money, fearing lest any discovery should be 
 made of their transactions, but now they openly 
 carry away sycee silver. The ships which, as they 
 bring commodities of all kinds, anchor at Whampoa, 
 used formerly to have opium concealed in their holds ; 
 but in the first year of Taoukwang (1821), owing 
 to a petition from one Ye Hangshoo, investigation 
 was made, and the Hong merchants have always since 
 then been required to sign bonds, that no foreign vessel 
 
84 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 which enters the port of Canton has any opium on 
 board: and, from that period, the opium-receiving 
 ships have all anchored at Lintin, only going in the 
 4th or 5th month of every year (May or June) to 
 the anchorage of Kapshwuy Moon, and in the 9th 
 month (October) returning to Lintin. In the 13th 
 year (1833), the foreigners discovered that the an- 
 chorage of Kumsing Moon affords more perfect se- 
 curity ; and since then they have removed their 
 anchorage from Kapshwuy Moon to Kumsing Moon. 
 The latter place is near to the villages Kepa and 
 TangkeJi, pertaining to the district of Heangshan ; 
 and the anchorage of the ships there, inexpedient as 
 it is for the people resident in those villages, is not 
 the less convenient for such traitorous natives as are 
 in combination with the Foreigners. * P * 
 
 It is since the suppression of the pirates in the 
 reign of Keaking, that opium has gradually blazed 
 up into notice. At first the annual sale of it did not 
 exceed in value a few millions, but of late it has risen 
 to nearly twenty millions ; and the increase and accu- 
 mulation of the amount, from day to day, and from 
 month to month, is more than can be told. How can 
 it be otherwise, than that the silver of China is les- 
 sened, and rendered insufficient even daily ? But that 
 it has gone to this length is altogether attributable to 
 the conduct of the great officers of the above-men- 
 tioned province in times past ; to their sloth and re- 
 missness, their fearfulness and timidity, their anxiety 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 85 
 
 to show themselves liberal and indulgent, by which 
 they have been led to neglect obedience to the prohi- 
 bitory enactments, and to fail in the strict enforce- 
 ment of the precautionary regulations. 
 
 ***** 
 
 Moreover if the sale of the drug be not prohibited, 
 neither can men be prevented from inhaling it. And 
 if only the officers of Government and the military 
 be prohibited, these being all taken from the scholars 
 and common people, what ground will be found for 
 any such partial prohibition to rest upon ? Be- 
 sides, having a clear conviction that the thing is highly 
 injurious to men, to permit it, notwithstanding, to per- 
 vade the Empire nay, even to lay on it a duty is 
 conduct quite incompatible ivith the yet uninjured dig- 
 nity of the great and illustrious Celestial Empire. In 
 my humble view of the case, the exportation of sycee 
 silver to foreign regions and the importation of 
 opium are both rightly interdicted. But local offi- 
 cers, having received the interdicts, have not stre- 
 nuously enforced them, and hence the one coming 
 in has produced the outgoing of the other. If, in 
 place of reprehending their failure strenuously to 
 enforce them, these prohibitions be even now repealed, 
 this will be indeed to encourage the vicious among 
 the people, and to remove all fault from the local 
 officers. But how, when once this prohibition of 
 opium is withdrawn, shall the interdict against the 
 exportation of sycee silver be rendered strict ? It 
 
86 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 cannot be so ; for we shall then ourselves have re- 
 moved the barriers. It were better that, instead of 
 altering and changing the laws and enactments, and 
 utterly breaking down the barrier raised by them, the 
 old established regulations should be diligently main- 
 tained, and correction be severely employed. 
 
 Now between the inner land and the outer seas a 
 wide separation exists. The traitorous natives who 
 sell the opium cannot alone, in person, carry on the 
 traffic with the foreign ships. To purchase wholesale, 
 there are brokers. To arrange all transactions, there 
 are the Hong merchants. To give orders to be car- 
 ried to the receiving ships, that from them the drug 
 may be obtained, there are resident barbarians. And 
 to ply to and fro for its conveyance, there are boats 
 called ' fast -crabs.' From the great Ladrone island, 
 at the entrance of the inner seas, to Kumsing Moon, 
 there are all along various naval stations ; and to 
 bring in foreign vessels there are pilots appointed ; 
 so that it cannot be a difficult thing to keep a con- 
 stant watch upon the ships. And, even though from 
 Fuhkeen and Chekeang, from the ports of Shanghae 
 and Teentsin, vessels should repair directly to the 
 receiving ships to trade with them ; yet, situated as 
 their anchorage is, in the inner seas, what is there 
 to prevent such vessels from being observed and 
 seized ? And yet, of late years, there has been only 
 a solitary instance, namely, during the late governor 
 Loo's administration, when Taen Poo, magistrate of 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 87 
 
 the district of Heiingshan, in conjunction with the 
 naval force, captured one single boat laden with opium. 
 With this exception, we have but little of seizures. 
 The reason is, that the men who are appointed to ob- 
 serve and watch for offenders receive presents to pass 
 over all things and observe nothing. 
 
 From times of old it has been a maxim, in refer- 
 ence to ruling barbarians, to deal closely with what 
 is within, but to deal in generals with that which is 
 without, first to govern one's self, and then only to 
 govern others. We must, then, in the first place, 
 establish regulations for the punishment of offences ; 
 and afterwards we may turn to the traitorous natives 
 who sell the drug, the Hong merchants who arrange 
 the transactions, the brokers who purchase wholesale, 
 the boat-people who convey the drug, and the naval 
 officers who receive bribes ; and having with the ut- 
 most strictness discovered and apprehended these 
 offenders, we must inflict on them the severest 
 punishments of the law. In this way the inhabi- 
 tants of the inner land may be awed and purified. 
 
 The resident barbarians dwell separately in the 
 foreign factories. In the * * * 
 
 * * * and besides these there are, I ap- 
 prehend, many others. The treatment of those 
 within having been rendered severe, we may next 
 turn to these resident foreigners, examine and ap- 
 prehend them, and keep them in arrest, then acquaint 
 them with the established regulations and compel 
 
88 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 them, within a limited period, to cause all the receiv- 
 ing ships anchored at Lintin to return to their 
 country. They should be required also to write a 
 letter to the King of their country, telling him that 
 opium is a poison which has pervaded the inner land, 
 to the material injury of the people ; that the Celes- 
 tial Empire has inflicted on all the traitorous natives 
 who sold it the severest penalties ; that with regard to 
 themselves, the resident foreigners, the Government, 
 taking it into consideration that they are barbarians 
 and aliens, forbears to pass sentence of death upon 
 them ; but that, if the opium receiving ships will desist 
 from coming to China, they shall be indulgently re- 
 leased, and permitted to continue their commercial 
 intercourse as usual ; whereas, if they will again build 
 receiving vessels, and bring them hither to entice the 
 natives, the commercial intercourse granted them in 
 teas, silks, fyc. shall assuredly be altogether inter- 
 dicted, and on the resident foreigners of the said nation 
 the laws shall be executed capitally. If commands be 
 issued of this plain and energetic character, in lan- 
 guage strong, and in sense becoming, though their na- 
 ture be the most abject that of a dog or a sheep, yet 
 having a care for their own lives, they will not fail 
 to seek the gain, and to flee the danger. 
 
 Some think this mode of proceeding too severe, 
 and fear lest it should give rise to a contest on our 
 frontiers. Again and again I have revolved this 
 subject in my mind, and reconsidered how that, while 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 89 
 
 in their own country no opium is smoked, tiik bar- 
 barians YET SEEK TO POISON THEREWITH THE PEO- 
 PLE OF THE CENTRAL 1-I.OWKRY LAND J and that while 
 
 they bring to us no foreign silver, they yet would 
 take away our native coin ; and / have, there/ore, 
 regarded them as undeserving that a single careful 
 or anxious thought should be entertained on their 
 behalf. Of late, the foreign vessels have presumed 
 to make their way into every place, and to cruise 
 about in the inner seas. Is it likely that in this 
 
 THEY HAVE NO EVIL DESIGN OF SPYING OUT OUR 
 
 real strength or weakness ? If now they be left 
 thus to go on from step to step, and their conduct 
 be wholly passed over, the wealth of the land must 
 daily waste away and be diminished. And if, when 
 our people are worn out, and our wealth rendered 
 insufficient, any difficulty should then, even by the 
 slightest chance, as one in ten thousand, turn up, 
 how, I would ask, shall it be warded off ? Rather 
 than to be utterly overthrown hereafter, it is better 
 to exercise consideration and forethought now, while 
 yet our possession of the right gives us such energy 
 and strength, that those barbarians will not dare to 
 slight and contemn our Government ; nor (it may be 
 hoped) have any longer the means of exercising their 
 petty arts and devices." 
 
 The following remarks on the subject are 
 taken from the " Imperial Edict, referring the 
 
90 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 Memorials of Choo Tsun and Heii Kew to 
 
 the chief provincial officers of Canton." 
 
 Opium, coming from the distant regions of bar- 
 barians, has pervaded the country with its baneful 
 influence, and has been made a subject of very severe 
 prohibitory enactments. But, of late, there has been 
 a diversity of opinion in regard to it, some requesting 
 a change in the policy hitherto adopted, and others 
 recommending the continuance of the severe prohibi- 
 tions. It is highly important to consider the sub- 
 ject carefully in all its bearings, surveying at once 
 the whole field of action, so that such measures may 
 be adopted as shall continue for ever in force, free 
 from all failure. 
 
 In addition to these memorials addressed to 
 the supreme government and the edicts which 
 refer to them, it is also desirable to call atten- 
 tion to the edicts of the provincial government 
 of Canton, which have been issued on the sub- 
 ject, in pursuance of the directions received 
 from the supreme government at Peking. Two 
 of these I transcribe, as I find them in the 
 Chinese Repository for February 1837, pp. 
 463-467. If such edicts should be carried into 
 rigorous execution, it is easy to perceive, that 
 not only the property, but the lives of our 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 91 
 
 fellow countrymen in Canton would be placed 
 in most imminent peril. As it is, their situa- 
 tion cannot but be considered as highly un- 
 comfortable and precarious. 
 
 No. 1. 
 
 Tang, Governor of Kwangtung and Kwangse, 
 Ke, Lieut. -Governor of Kwangtung, and Wan, Su- 
 perintendent of maritime customs, issue these com- 
 mands to the senior Hong merchants, requiring their 
 full acquaintance therewith. 
 
 We, the Governor, Lieut. -Governor, and Hoppo, 
 have, with deep humility, received an imperial decree, 
 commanding us, 
 
 " In reference to the memorial of the sub-censor, 
 Heu Kew, respecting the traitorous natives who deal 
 in opium, the Hong merchants loho arrange the tran- 
 sactions, the brokers who purchase wholesale, the boat- 
 people who carry the drug, and the marines, who, 
 being bribed, connive at their doing so to examine 
 closely, and strictly apprehend offenders in all these 
 points, to deliberate on the subject with full purpose 
 of heart, to endeavour strenously to dam up the 
 source of the evil, and to report on the whole subject 
 fully and faithfully. Respect this." 
 
 We also, at the same time, received a copy of the 
 Sub- censor Heu Kew's memorial, in which we find 
 the following passage : 
 
92 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 " The traitorous natives who sell the opium can- 
 not altogether carry on the traffic with the foreign 
 ships in their own persons. To purchase wholesale, 
 there are brokers. To arrange the transactions, there 
 are the Hong merchants. To take money and give 
 orders to be carried to the receiving ships, that from 
 them the drug may be obtained, there are resident 
 barbarians. The resident barbarians dwell severally 
 in the foreign factories. In the Creek factory is one 
 named * * , and who is nick-named the iron- 
 headed old rat, also one named * * ; in the 
 Paoushun factory is one named * * , also one 
 named * * , and one named * * * : in the 
 Fungtae factory is one named *''** in the 
 American factory is one named * * : in the Im- 
 perial factory is one named * * * : in the Spa- 
 nish factory is one named **'*-. and besides 
 these, I apprehend there are many others." 
 
 Opium, we observe, is an article respecting which 
 Imperial Decrees have been repeatedly received, 
 all commanding its prohibition, and directing that if 
 any foreign trading ship presume to come hither 
 with opium, such ship shall be immediately sent back, 
 and not suffered to have any traffic with Canton. And 
 Yuen, formerly governor of these provinces, having 
 taken up and investigated a case of four country 
 ships, Hat and others, in which opium had been 
 brought into the port, respectfully received the Im- 
 perial commands to inflict punishment. He also 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 93 
 
 p resen ted a memorial, suggesting that, on occasion 
 of any foreign ship entering the port, the senior 
 merchants should be required to examine and enter 
 into securities for her, each in succession ; and that, 
 in concert with the several other security merchants, 
 they should be required to examine each vessel, and 
 to sign a bond purporting that the foreigners on 
 board such vessel do not briny with them any opium. 
 These voluntary bonds, given by the security mer- 
 chants, are, according to the constant practice of the 
 said merchants continued for some time past, pre- 
 sented to the Hoppo, by whom they are transmitted 
 for preservation (in the governor's office). 
 
 While, however, the foreigners are thus prevented 
 from bringing opium into the port, the receiving ships 
 at Lintin bring the drug hither, and dispose of it 
 only the more contumeliously . But, were it not for the 
 crafty and artful devices of the said merchants, the 
 encouragements they hold out to bring it, their co- 
 operation and connivance, together with the arrange- 
 ments which they make in order that they may 
 divide the spoil, how could the foreigners have it in 
 their power to carry into execution their petty de- 
 signs ? It is surely our bounden duty to inquire into 
 this matter. 
 
 Forthwith, therefore, we issue these commands ; 
 on their reaching the said merchants, let them imme- 
 diately ascertain if the before-named foreigners, 
 3 J t: J t5 J c s^^ ^^ and do or do 
 
94 iniquities or 
 
 not severally reside in the Creek, Paushun, Fungtae, 
 American, Imperial, and Spanish factories ; of what 
 foreign nations they are ; in what manner they con- 
 tinue stationary in this place, and store up and sell 
 their opium ; from what year they date their stay at 
 Canton ; from what year they date the commencement 
 of their transactions in opium; what quantity of the 
 drug they annually store up and dispose of; and 
 whether they ordinarily insist on payment of the price 
 of it in sycee silver. Let them particularly inquire on 
 each of these points, and faithfully report to us, that 
 we may thoroughly investigate the subject. Should 
 the Hong merchants think practically to set aside the 
 laws, and afford aid and co-operation by disguising 
 the subject under false colours, they will find, we 
 apprehend, their criminality too heavy for them to 
 bear. Let them one and all maturely consider and 
 weiglvthis subject ; and, with trembling and earnest 
 diligence, let them obey these our special commands. 
 Taoukwang, 16th year, 9th month, 19th day 
 (28th Oct. 1836). 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 Tang, Governor of Kwangtung and Kwanse, Ke, 
 Lieutenant-Governor of Kwangtung, and Wan, Su- 
 perintendent of maritime customs, issue these com- 
 mands to the Hong merchants, requiring their full 
 acquaintance therewith. 
 
 We have received from the said Hong merchants 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 95 
 
 a paper, purporting to be, ' a report made for our 
 thorough investigation, in obedience to our com- 
 mands, requiring them to ascertain the reasons why 
 the foreign merchants, * * and others, 
 remain so long in Canton, instead of returning home 
 according to the regulations.' 
 
 Having received it, we have again taken this case 
 under our consideration. It is a case brought to our 
 attention by an Imperial Decree, which we have 
 respectfully received. The subject has been well 
 and accurately laid open, in the statement of the 
 original memorial : and how, in any way, can the 
 the fact of these foreign merchants, * * , and 
 the others, having made their quarters in Canton 
 for many years, be spoken of as without a cause ? 
 
 In this report it is represented, that the receiving 
 ships being anchored in the outer seas, much of the 
 smuggling carried on by traitorous dealers is con- 
 ducted by means of sea-going vessels, from vari- 
 ous parts, approaching the receiving ships and pur- 
 chasing from them. Truly, if, as here represented, 
 all such illegalities are committed without the port, 
 how comes it, then, that the instances that have 
 formerly occurred of seizures have continually been 
 within the precincts of the capital ? And, even as- 
 suming the truth of their present assertion, that the 
 seizures outside are numerous, those in the capital 
 but few, this only shows the rareness, not the entire 
 want of such seizures. There being then some 
 
96 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 instances, consequently there must be men by whom 
 the transactions are arranged, and individuals by whom 
 a mutual understanding is brought about. We, the 
 Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and Hoppo, in our 
 desire to preserve uninjured the property and 
 lives of the said merchants, will not withhold 
 maternal kindness, or spare any pains in advising and 
 guiding them. If they acknowledge their offences 
 themselves, their punishment shall be remitted. But, 
 if they continue to report in this irrelevant manner, 
 and turn thus away from the point, hereafter, when 
 once discovery is made of an offence on their part, 
 it will only remain for us to execute the laws and 
 severely inflict the penalties thereof. And if they 
 will not now care for the consequences, they will then 
 be utterly without cause for murmuring against us. 
 
 As to the foreign merchants, * * * , and 
 the others, it is wholly needless to question their 
 bare, proofless assertions, or at all to doubt, whether 
 their long residence in Canton does indeed arise 
 from the multitude of ships, the business of which 
 they have to transact, and from the circumstance that 
 not a month elapses without a trading ship coming 
 to Canton, or whether it is not rather owing to their 
 desire to wait and observe the prices in the market, in 
 order to make their purchases. 
 
 For, granting the first assertion to be perfectly 
 true, and that not a day passes in which trade is 
 interrupted, does it, therefore, follow that these fo- 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 97 
 
 reigners are free to remain, and are never to return 
 home ? Or can such a principle as this be admitted ? 
 Hear what a memorial, formerly sanctioned, says 
 upon this point : 
 
 " If any foreigner, in consequence of its being im- 
 practicable for him at once to dispose of his merchan- 
 dise, is unable to call in all his property, and has 
 therefore no option but to remain in China, then he 
 must, after the foreign ships have left the port, go 
 and reside at Macao, and place his commodities in 
 the hands of a Hong merchant to be sold for him : 
 which being done, the Hong merchant is to pay him 
 the whole price ; and, in the following year, he must 
 avail himself of one of the ships of his nation to 
 return home. If the Hong merchants and linguists 
 suffer foreign merchants by degrees to take up their 
 residence in Canton, they shall be severally subjected 
 to strict investigation." 
 
 There is, then, not only no permission for these 
 foreign merchants to reside in Canton, but not even 
 any law to permit their long continuance at Macao. 
 Do the Hong merchants represent, that the trade of 
 the foreigners needs the parties' own particular 
 attention ? For what purpose, then, are the several 
 Hongs for foreign trade established, and of what 
 use are the Hong merchants ? Are they, forsooth, 
 established, in order that the laws may be twisted to 
 serve their private interests ? It is, indeed, most 
 unreasonable, that these men should thus frame their 
 F 
 
98 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 mouths to make pretexts and work out excuses for 
 the foreigners. 
 
 The sum of the matter is this : These foreigners 
 are richly imbued with the cherishing and protecting 
 favours of the Celestial Empire ; they ought at once 
 to pay implicit obedience to its laws and statutes, 
 and in all their intercourse conform to its regula- 
 tions : thus only may they preserve to themselves the 
 path of commercial intercourse with this country. 
 
 At the present moment, the investigations ordered 
 by the Court are exceedingly strict. If then these 
 foreigners do not bestir themselves and quickly 
 return home, even though it be admitted that they 
 are not residing in the country to sell what is con- 
 traband, and though it be granted that the Hong 
 merchants do not combine with them and arrange 
 their transactions, yet how can these last reconcile it 
 even to their own minds, that they should suffer the 
 said foreigners to remain here, daily exciting fresh 
 suspicions. Moreover, we the Governor, Lieutenant- 
 Governor, and Hoppo, hold the direction of this 
 territory, and are bound to eradicate all that is evil, 
 and to bring back to reason the depraved. In chas- 
 tisements, we show no partiality or leniency ; and 
 having received with reverence the Imperial Com- 
 mands to investigate this matter, it the more behoves 
 us to take anxious precautions on every side, equally 
 towards those within and towards those from without 
 the Empire. Though it be said, in regard to what 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 9!> 
 
 is past, indulgence should be shown, yet how can \\v 
 neglect to pay prudent attention to the future con- 
 sequences ? We desire to impress it on the minds of 
 all, early to look to themselves, and to consider these 
 tilings long and seriously. 
 
 We now issue these commands. When they reacli 
 the said Hong merchants, let them immediately 
 enjoin the same on the foreign merchants, * *, 
 * *, * *, as also on those who have resided 
 but for a few years, or who have gone away and 
 returned again, namely, * * , * * , * * , 
 and * * , desiring them, in obedience hereto, to 
 settle with the utmost diligence their commercial 
 affairs. They are indulgently allowed a period of 
 half a month, in which to pack up their effects and 
 remove out of the provincial city, and either avail 
 themselves of some expected ships, or of some ves- 
 sels about to sail, to return to their country. They 
 cannot be allowed to remain any longer. Should any 
 of them be really unable to conclude their business 
 in half a month, then they must go within that time 
 to Macao ; but, even there, they may remain only for 
 a season : and all their goods and accounts they must 
 put into the hands of the Hong merchants, the one 
 to be disposed of, the other to be settled, in order 
 that they may speedily return home with all their 
 effects. Nor must they be allowed, by remaining 
 long at Macao, to disobey the fixed regulations. If 
 they dare to continue their stay, it will then be seen, 
 f2 
 
100 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 that the said foreigners will not listen to kind lan- 
 guage, that they are irreclaimably sunk in folly, and 
 that they are truly such as the Celestial Empire 
 will not tolerate. And when the effects of the law 
 are visited on them, then, though they have a coun- 
 try to return to, yet they may find it impossible to 
 escape thither. The factories in which they are 
 suffered to remain shall also, in such case, be closed ; 
 and the parties concerned in them shall be brought 
 to investigation. Be careful then, not to decide 
 carelessly. Let the said merchants present to us, 
 within three days, signed bonds, that the limited 
 period will be carefully observed, in order that we 
 may be enabled, after a thorough examination of the 
 subject, to report to his Majesty. Let none oppose 
 this, or delay obedience. A special order. 
 Taoukwang, 16th year, 10th Month, 15th day (23d 
 November 1836.) 
 
 It appears that on this occasion " the resi- 
 dent foreigners" so far prevailed, as to obtain 
 permission to remain at Canton for the pre- 
 sent. I need not transcribe the Edict to that 
 effect. The above are, sufficient to show that 
 the Chinese governments, both supreme and 
 provincial, are well acquainted with the facts; 
 that their suspicions are fully awakened ; 
 and that, though means may be found of put- 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 101 
 
 ting off the evil day and patching up a hollow 
 peace for a season, the position of our coun- 
 trymen in Canton is very uncomfortable and 
 precarious. This is abundantly confirmed by 
 the following letter which is the more impor- 
 tant, because it brings down our information on 
 the subject to a very recent date. Circum- 
 stances connected with the presentation of the 
 memorial of Heu Naetse, and the promulga- 
 tion of an Edict " for the purpose of strictly 
 forbidding vagabonds, under a pretext of 
 searching for and seizing opium," from " plun- 
 dering the people, and to tranquillize the fears 
 of peaceful traders," had led some to hope that 
 the importation of opium would soon be lega- 
 lized, under payment of a regular duty, and 
 others to imagine that an Edict to this effect 
 had already been drawn up, and that all would 
 henceforth be easy and peaceful. This letter, 
 however, extracted from the Canton Register 
 for Tuesday, August 21st, 1838, shows plainly 
 the apprehensions, difficulties, and dangers of 
 the foreign residents in that city. 
 
102 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE CANTON REGISTER. 
 
 Dear Sir, We have long and deeply felt, that 
 our interests as merchants, our liberty as residents, our 
 sympathies as men, and our highest and purest hopes 
 as Christian philanthropists, are crossed and violated 
 and frustrated by the opium trade. 
 
 Notwithstanding this conviction, we have been 
 well content these many years, with simply abstain- 
 ing from any participation in the traffic, and this nega- 
 tive position we should still prefer to preserve, did 
 we not see reason to think with you, and with others 
 around us, that the present is a favourable time to 
 lay open the condition and lighten the evils of the 
 trade. 
 
 In fact, the steadily increasing pressure of the offi- 
 cial measures aimed at the traffic in the drug, but 
 falling on the whole commerce of the port, must soon 
 compel us all, whether opium men or not, to a com~ 
 mon consultation, what part of our old ground we must 
 endeavour to preserve, and what we must give up ? 
 
 A short time ago, our ships, on their arrival in the 
 waters of China, took their choice of the outside 
 anchorages, but the opium trade came to centre there, 
 and they are now suspected places to the government, 
 and communication with them forbidden, and some- 
 times almost cut off. 
 
 On the arrival of ships at Whampo, we used to get 
 permits to discharge immediately; but the drug found 
 its way there too, and regulations have been revived, 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 103 
 
 which cost us in demurrage 500 Sp. dlrs. or more 
 per ship. 
 
 We had, a while ago, a frequent and convenient 
 intercourse with Macao, but the packet-boats became 
 opium-boats, and consequently fell under ban, so that 
 both the passage of the Bogue and the landing at 
 Macao have become difficult and unsafe. 
 
 Through these and other lesser evils, the vista 
 opens before us, upon Imperial censures, restrictions 
 on purchases and sales, stoppage of trade, capital 
 punishments, #c. Nor can any man among us say, that 
 the opium-trade may not cost him yet his liberty, his 
 fortune, or his life. The Imperial government, an 
 unlimited and despotic authority, is in open collision 
 with the foreign residents, and none can predict, with 
 any claim to confidence, what the contest will yet 
 involve, or where it will cease. 
 
 Without looking farther, therefore, to higher and 
 stronger grounds of public policy and Christian 
 morals, we see it to be extremely desirable that a 
 period should be put to this unhappy, expensive, and 
 threatening warfare, and on this account assent cor- 
 dially to the suggestion, made in your last number, 
 that the subject be noio taken up. 
 
 As to the mode of approaching it, we like that 
 which you propose : memorials to the Supreme Govern- 
 ment. But as it is not to be expected that those who 
 are, and those who from principle are not interested 
 in the traffic, can agree on anv one form of words 
 
04 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 (and none can be excluded from a question, whose 
 decision must seriously affect all), there must be 
 two statements, and they separate and distinct. The 
 advantages of this proceeding are further evident, 
 because the suggestions of the friends of the drug, 
 however wise, however well stated, must necessarily, 
 when coming alone, carry suspicion on their face. 
 " Timeo Danaos" is the reception which inevitably 
 awaits them, on account of the interested quarter 
 from which they emanate. But we may hope that a 
 calmer, less prejudiced attention will be given to the 
 accompanying statements of those, who can truly say, 
 " We have not, never have had, and never will have, 
 any participation in the growth, transportation, or 
 sale of the drug." The clearer motives of the one 
 party will reflect a disinterestedness on the measures 
 they unite together to suggest. 
 
 It would be premature now, Mr. Editor, to mark 
 out a course for the proposed explanations, as it would 
 be improper for any one house to seek to impose a 
 direction, in this matter, on the rest. As the things 
 most needed by the Chinese are a distinct understand- 
 ing, on the Western usage, sentiment, and mode of 
 dealing with popular means of excess, in short, the 
 offices assigned among us to law, and private prin- 
 ciple, and public opinion, there is room to hope and 
 reason to believe, that the whole subject can be 
 placed in a clear, full, and satisfactory light. 
 
 Nothing, however, should be done hastily, much 
 
THE' OriUM TRADE. 105 
 
 less harshly ; and therefore we propose that the meet- 
 ing for the persons unconnected with the drug be 
 appointed for the first Wednesday of November next, 
 leaving it to those who hold the opposite part, to 
 name the day, or take the course, they deem best. 
 
 A later circular may fix the place and hour, and 
 meantime we shall doubtless see more, and more 
 influential names than ours, subjoined to the " Opium 
 Pledge," proposed by a correspondent of the Canto?i 
 Press. 
 
 We are, yours, &c. 
 
 Olifhant and Co. 
 
 There appears to have been such a measure 
 of indecision and delay in carrying into effect 
 the edicts of the Imperial government against 
 the use and importation of opium, that some 
 perhaps would be disposed to suspect that 
 Government of insincerity in the whole matter. 
 It is not for an inhabitant of this distant coun- 
 try, who never visited any part of Asia, to*un- 
 dertake to explain the difficulties, which the 
 intrigues of " extortionate underlings," acces- 
 sible to bribery on the one hand, and (per- 
 haps) the nice balancing of opposing parties 
 and contending interests on the other, have 
 for so many years thrown in the way of the 
 f3 
 
106 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 efficient execution of the Imperial Decrees on 
 this subject. But this is clear from the pre- 
 ceding letter, and indeed from the whole 
 tenour of the communications on this subject 
 which I find in the Chinese Repository (edited 
 and printed in Canton) that residents in that 
 city have no doubt as to the sincere desire of 
 the Chinese government to prevent, if possible, 
 the importation of the drug. They feel the 
 inconveniences to which they are continually 
 subject already, in consequence of the constant 
 endeavours of the Chinese government to en- 
 force its laws and regulations against opium, 
 and the constant endeavours (hitherto but too 
 successful) of the dealers in that drug to evade 
 them. And they look forward with increasing 
 apprehensions to the future : for the Chinese 
 government, so long as our countrymen per- 
 sist in this traffic, will feel justified in looking 
 upon us as a nation of dealers in poison who, 
 for the sake of sordid gain, would readily poi- 
 son, demoralize, and ruin their whole popula- 
 tion. And must they not feel fully justified in 
 treating us accordingly ? 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 107 
 
 On this point also it should be observed, that 
 it is not merely a matter of serious consideration, 
 how the Chinese government regard us? but also, 
 how the Chinese people regard us ? It is no 
 light matter to be looked upon by the govern- 
 ment with mingled hatred, suspicion, and con- 
 tempt : but when to this is added the hatred, 
 suspicion, and contempt of the whole people, and 
 more especially of the intelligent and observ- 
 ing classes of the people how insecure and 
 precarious how undesirable and humiliating 
 must be the position which we hold ! how un- 
 favourable to any prospect of free and comfor- 
 table intercourse, either commercial or politi- 
 cal, with that government and people in future. 
 
 As I still prefer, in this part of my work, 
 to make use, as far as possible, of what 
 has been written in China, and by those who 
 have had opportunities of personal observa- 
 tion, I shall add some extracts from different 
 books, some of which have been already quoted, 
 which serve to illustrate the views and feelings 
 which the Chinese do, and needs must, enter- 
 tain towards us, as the people who are specially 
 
108 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 engaged in the opium trade. And, be it remem- 
 bered, we have already seen it stated in a pub- 
 lic and authentic document, that the places 
 from which opium is brought to China " all 
 belong to England" " the dealers in opium 
 are the English alone." 
 
 And first, from a pamphlet entitled " British 
 Intercourse with Eastern Asia ; By a Resident 
 in China. London, Edward Suter, 19, Cheap- 
 side, 1836." See pp. 30, 81. 
 
 As to this traffic it is not too much to say that the 
 Chinese Government derives stronger justification 
 from it, in its exclusion of foreigners, than from any 
 other source. It is this trade which throws such deep 
 discredit on our character, and such suspicion on our 
 intercourse. It is this lamentable traffic which gives 
 a colour of benevolence to the Chinese edicts, which 
 restrict and brand us. 
 
 Is it, then, unreasonable to express a hope, that 
 patriotism, benevolence, and desire of free communi- 
 cation, will put an end to a trade so injurious to the 
 character of the nation, so opposite to the spirit of 
 doing good, and so fatal to every expectation of a 
 better intercourse ? Whenever this sacrifice shall be 
 made, these facilities furnished, and the great asso- 
 ciations of this country for the diffusion of useful and 
 Christian knowledge come forward in the cause of 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 109 
 
 Eastern Asia, then will the prospect of amelioration 
 there be more cheering, than if Government had 
 pledged itself to the same purposes, and commissioned 
 a fleet and an army to redeem its word. May it not 
 be expected that all this will be done without delay ? 
 The merchant calls on government to make expensive 
 preparations, to expose valuable lives for the exten- 
 sion of trade. Will he, can he, then, refuse one sa- 
 crifice on his part, costly perhaps, but paying back 
 in honour all that it involves in point of cost ? Let 
 him also say to himself, " the age of monopoly has 
 passed away, shall the monopoly of Christian liberty 
 and happiness be maintained ?" Let the manufac- 
 turer, too, remember that the products of the mill 
 and the workshop are scattered throughout the east ; 
 and say to himself, the diffusion of our peculiar bless- 
 ings must not be any longer restrained. 
 
 The next extract which I will introduce is 
 from the Chinese Repository for January 1837, 
 pp. 407-410. It contains the substance of a 
 reply to " A Reader," who in the preceding 
 number had attempted to defend the traffic in 
 opium partly on the plea of the small propor- 
 tion of the Chinese that could be considered as 
 "victimized smokers" and partly on the 
 ground that the Chinese would have opium, 
 and therefore it was better that the trade should 
 
110 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 be carried on by great capitalists than by com- 
 mon smugglers and pirates. The nature of the 
 arguments used will, however, be sufficiently 
 obvious from the refutation given by " Another 
 Reader " in replying to them. 
 
 Were the trafficers in this poison, for such no 
 one in possession of his senses can deny it to be, to 
 state plainly that they deal in it merely as a matter 
 of gain ; and that, with them, this determination 
 supersedes every consideration of right or wrong, 
 then their premises could be at once seen, and oppo- 
 sition or reasoning would be vain, since all convic- 
 tion would be fruitless : but when, as now, the prac- 
 tice, evil in itself, and necessarily felt to be so, is up- 
 held by anxious sophistication, it is but right that it 
 be exposed. I have looked in vain throughout the 
 letter of your correspondent, " A Reader," for any 
 more cogent argument than that of the hired, bravo, 
 " I do not see that I am doing any harm ; if I did 
 not take the profit, some one else, not so thin- 
 skinned, would ;" which may be broadly pronounced 
 the most mischievous, false, and dangerous principle 
 to morality that has ever been invented. What ! 
 because some poor reprobate or outcast may be found 
 to embark in deeds of darkness, can that be quoted 
 as an excuse, an argument, for men, for gentlemen, 
 whose wealth, or means of obtaining it, remove them 
 from at least vulgar temptation ? Truly, a pretty 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. Ill 
 
 argument ! The main danger, from your Correspond- 
 ent's remarks, would appear to be, lest the supply of 
 China with this drug M should be thrown into the 
 hands of desperadoes, pirates, and marauders, instead 
 of a body of capitalists :" a highly logical and conclusive 
 argument no doubt, and one that should of course 
 satisfy the Chinese government of the purity and 
 kind care of the present purveyors ; though how and 
 why it could be worse were M the marauders," and so 
 forth, to be the carriers, it would puzzle all the 
 Chinese, and foreigners to boot, to determine. Were 
 not great capital, skill, and enterprise embarked in 
 this trade, it would never have arrived at its present 
 magnitude ; and this is, as far as I know, all the 
 difference that the management of the trade by 
 gentlemen has caused; and it may be questioned 
 whether the Chinese could so accurately distinguish 
 between these polite purveyors and the " desperadoes 
 and marauders," as "A Reader " does. In what 
 other light can they claim to appear ? Constantly, 
 avowedly, ?wtoriously, in the practice of a trade, 
 directly opposed to the laws of the empire ; not less 
 opposed to morality and propriety ; the purveyors of 
 a most powerful incentive to vice ; a fierce moral- 
 destroying agent ; on what has the opium merchant to 
 plume himself, beyond his brother smuggler and 
 law breaker, the contraband gin importer into Great 
 Britain ? Nay, on some points, his unenlightened 
 and despised collaborateur in the cause has the ad- 
 
112 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 vantage, at any rate in the estimation of those en- 
 gaged in these habits. The one risks his life the 
 other, shielding himself behind the corruption of the 
 local officers, or the weakness of the marine, carries 
 on deeds of unlawfulness without even the risk or ex- 
 citement of personal danger; and coolly comments 
 on the injustice of the Chinese government in refus- 
 ing the practice of international law and reciprocity 
 to countries, whose subjects it knows only as engaged 
 in constant and gross infractions of laws, the break- 
 ing of which affects the basis of all good government, 
 the morals of the country ! How can foreigners 
 presume to hope for a patient or fair hearing at Pek- 
 ing, so long as this charge can, with truth, be brought 
 against them ? Have they not themselves closed the 
 doors ; and yet now do they complain at the natural 
 consequences of their own acts ? It is well known 
 to foreigners, that there are at Peking, in immediate 
 communication with the Emperor, men of talent, to 
 whom the miserable intrigues and falsehoods of the 
 government at Canton can be as nothing men who 
 are patriots Chinese patriots that is, not men whose 
 knowledge is comprised in the routine of war and a 
 ready practice of its horrors, but men whose earnest 
 wish is, to make their native country as peaceful and 
 as happy as possible. 
 
 Contrast the opinion which such enlightened men 
 must form of our genteel opium-smugglers, with the 
 picture which would be drawn by themselves, and 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 113 
 
 let reason judge between the two. The Chinese 
 moralist or statesman, on one side, would look with 
 correct and merited indignation on the " gain- 
 seeking foreigner," resorting to his country with 
 a deadly drug, to poison the health and subvert the 
 morality of a nation, to which he arrogantly claimed 
 superiority. The foreigner, on the other side, 
 would look down on the philosopher ; tell him that 
 he was a Christian, and an educated gentleman ; 
 and, if this failed to convince, he might probably 
 bother him with a half- understood and ill-applied 
 quotation from Paley, about tobacco and fish. For 
 the time, he would forget the pure and perfect mora- 
 lity inculcated by the Teacher of his religion " Thou 
 shall not do evil that good may come ;" and " Do 
 unto others as you would wish that they should do 
 unto you ;" and would, from time to time, indulge in 
 tirades against the tyranny of the Chinese, and their 
 aversion to allow the Europeans a residence amongst 
 them ; call on his Government to interfere and sub- 
 vert such a state of things ; prudently shutting his 
 eyes to the degraded state in which foreigners must 
 appear to all sober-minded Chinese, as the panders 
 to one of the most vitiated, depraved, and dangerous 
 tastes in the world. 
 
 Reverse the picture. Suppose, by any chance that 
 Chinese junks were to import into England, as a 
 foreign and fashionable luxury, so harmless a thing 
 as arsenic or corrosive sublimate ; that, after a few 
 
114 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 years, it became a rage j that thousands that hun- 
 dreds of thousands used it and that its use was, in 
 consequence of its bad effects, prohibited. Suppose 
 that, in opposition to the prohibition, junks were 
 stationed in St. George's Channel, with a constant 
 supply, taking occasional trips to the Isle of Wight 
 and the mouth of the Thames, when the governmen- 
 tal officers were sufficiently attentive to their duty, at 
 the former station, to prevent its introduction there. 
 Suppose the consumption to increase annually, and to 
 arouse the attention of government, and of those 
 sound-thinking men who foresaw misery and destruc- 
 tion from the rapid spread of an insidious, unprofit- 
 able, and dangerous habit. Suppose, in fact, that 
 mutato nomine, all which has been " achieved here," 
 had been practised there. Suppose some conserva- 
 tors of the public morals to be roused at last, and to 
 remonstrate against its use and increase ; and that 
 among the nation sending forth this destroyer to 
 prey on private happiness and public virtue, one or 
 two pious and well-meaning bonzes were to remon- 
 strate with their countrymen, "a la archdeacon 
 Dealtry," on the enormity of their conduct; how 
 wonderfully consolatory to one party, and unanswer- 
 able to the other, must be the remark of the well- 
 dressed and well-educated Chinese merchant : " Hai 
 ya, my friend, do not you see my silk dress and the 
 crystal knob on my cap : do you not know that I 
 have read, and can quote, Confucius, Mencius, and all 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 115 
 
 the Five Books ; do you not see that the barbarians 
 are passionately fond of arsenic, and that they will 
 have it ; that they go so far as to pay for it : and can 
 you, for one moment, doubt that it would not be much 
 worse for them if, instead of my bringing it, it were 
 left to the chance, needy, and uncertain supply, which 
 low ' men of no capital' could afford to bring?" It 
 is possible, that the Chinese literati might not have 
 a translation of Paley ; but I will answer that he 
 could find some work to extract from, quite as little 
 to the purpose ; and, having thus bewildered his adver- 
 sary by comparison and argument, fairly knock him 
 down with a mass of figures, showing, that, by a cal- 
 culation, made in happy and most utter ignorance of 
 the premises, not more than one person in 279 could 
 manage to get hold of the beneficial and delightful 
 drug. 
 
 And a little further on, this writer very justly 
 observes, after refuting the calculation which 
 " A Reader " had made, with regard to the 
 proportion of those who suffered from smoking 
 opium in the vast population of China: 
 
 The morality or immorality of the practice is unaf- 
 fected by the extent to which it is carried it is just 
 or indefensible, per se, whether it spreads over one 
 village or ten ; and not, as an arithmetical question, 
 as to the number within whose reach the drug is put. 
 
116 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 Here also I beg to introduce a quotation 
 from " The History of Java," by Sir Stamford 
 Raffles, vol. i. pp. 102-105, though not directly 
 bearing upon the question of the opium trade 
 with China, It sets forth, however, in a striking 
 manner, the fearful effects of opium, and the 
 baneful consequences of the traffic in this poi- 
 sonous drug, with as much clearness of argu- 
 ment as any passage I have met with. The 
 quotation from the Report of the Dutch Com- 
 missioners on the subject is particularly de- 
 serving of attention. 
 
 The use of opium, it must be confessed and la- 
 mented, has struck deep into the habits, and extend- 
 ed its malignant influence to the morals of the peo- 
 ple, and is likely to perpetuate its power in degrading 
 their character, and enervating their energies, as 
 long as the European government, overlooking every 
 consideration of policy and humanity, shall allow a 
 paltry addition to their finances to outweigh all regard 
 to the ultimate happiness and prosperity of the country: 
 * * * The effects of this poison on the human frame 
 are so well described by the Dutch commissioners who 
 sat at the Hague in 1803, and who much to their honour 
 declared, " that no consideration of pecuniary advan- 
 tage ought to weigh with the European government 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 117 
 
 in allowing its use ;" that, together with the opinion 
 of Mr. Hogendorp, who concurred with them, I shall 
 insert their statement here. The wish to do justice 
 to authorities whose views were so creditable to 
 their country and their own character, and the im- 
 portance of their opinion to an extensive population 
 will plead an apology for the length of the extract 
 which I now present. 
 
 " The opium trade," observe the Commissioners, 
 requires likewise attention. The English in Bengal 
 have assumed an exclusive right to collect the same, 
 and they dispose of a considerable number of chests 
 containing that article annually at Calcutta by public 
 auction. It is much in demand on the Malay coast, 
 at Sumatra, Java, and all the islands towards the 
 east and north, and particularly in China, although 
 the use thereof is confined to the lower classes. The 
 effect which it produces on the constitution is differ- 
 ent, and depends on the quantity that is taken, or on 
 other circumstances. If used with moderation, it 
 causes a pleasant, yet always somewhat intoxicating 
 sensation, which absorbs all care and anxiety. If a 
 large quantity is taken, it produces a kind of mad- 
 ness, of which the effects are dreadful, especially 
 when the mind is troubled by jealousy, or inflamed 
 with a desire of vengeance, or other violent passions. 
 At all times it leaves a slow poison, which under- 
 mines the faculties of the soul, and the constitution 
 of the body, and renders a person unfit for all kinds of 
 
118 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 labour and an image of the brute creation. The use of 
 opium is so much more dangerous, because a person 
 who is once addicted to it can never leave it off. To 
 satisfy that inclination, he will sacrifice every thing, 
 his own welfare, the subsistence of his wife and 
 children, and neglect his work. Poverty is the natu- 
 ral consequence, and then it becomes indifferent to 
 him by what means he may content his insatiable 
 desire after opium; so that, at last, he no longer 
 respects either the property or life of his fellow- 
 creature. ****** 
 
 " Opium," says Mr. Hogendorp, "is a slow, though 
 certain poison, which the Company, in order to gain 
 money, sells to the poor Javans. Any one who is 
 once enslaved to it, cannot, it is true, give it up 
 without great difficulty ; and if its use were entirely 
 prohibited, some few persons would probably die for 
 want of it, who would otherwise languish on a little 
 longer : but how many would by that means be sav- 
 ed for the future. Most of the crimes, particularly 
 murders, that are now committed, may be imputed to 
 opium as the general cause. 
 
 Large sums of money are every year carried out of 
 the country in exchange for it, and enrich our com- 
 petitors, the English. Much of it is smuggled into 
 the interior, which adds to the evil. In short, the 
 trade in opium is one of the most injurious and most 
 shameful things which disgrace the present govern- 
 ment of India. It is therefore necessary at once, 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 119 
 
 and entirely, to abolish the trade and importation of 
 opium, and to prohibit the same, under the severest 
 penalties that the law permits, since it is a poison. 
 The smuggling of it will then become almost imprac- 
 ticable, and the health, and even the lives of thou- 
 sands will be preserved. The money alone which 
 will remain in the country in lieu of it, is more va- 
 luable as being in circulation, than the profit which 
 the Company now derives from the sale of it. 
 
 This means will excite no discontent among the 
 Javans, for the princes and regents, with very few 
 exceptions, do not consume any opium, but, as well as 
 the most respectable of their subjects, look upon it as 
 disgraceful. The use of opium is even adduced as an 
 accusation of bad conduct, and considered as suffi- 
 cient cause for the removal or banishment of a petty 
 chief." 
 
 With three extracts from Medhurst's " Chi- 
 na," I will conclude this collection of facts, 
 documents, and authorities, on the subject of 
 the opium trade with China. The firsts I in- 
 troduce, as confirming, from an independent 
 source, the statements I have already made 
 upon the subject. The second, as showing in a 
 clear and forcible manner, how our national 
 and Christian character is degraded in the eyes 
 of the people of China, and (what is most im- 
 
120 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 portant of all !) how the cause of the everlast- 
 ing Gospel is compromised, by our perseve- 
 rance in this baneful and abominable traffic. 
 The third answers an objection which the ene- 
 mies of the Gospel, and of all Missionary ex- 
 ertions, will ever be ready to bring forward, 
 in order to screen their own selfish wickedness, 
 by throwing the blame of the evil conse- 
 quences of their own evil deeds, upon the 
 disinterested endeavours of Christians to do 
 good : and which, in consequence of an Edict 
 that has recently been promulgated by the 
 court of Peking, they might imagine they had 
 a most favourable opportunity to make use of. 
 It is very important, under such circumstances, 
 to have a testimony so distinct and unequivo- 
 cal, from one who, from long residence in the 
 country, is so intimately acquainted with 
 China. 
 
 The Emperors of China have wisely and patrioti- 
 cally determined, from the very moment they spied 
 the onward march of the threatened evil, to denounce 
 and resist it; and instead of admitting it, on the 
 payment of a duty, have, as rulers, resolutely refused 
 to derive any profit from the vices of the people. In 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 121 
 
 the first year of the late Emperor Ke;*iking (1796), 
 the introduction of opium was interdicted by law ; 
 those who were found guilty of smoking it were pil- 
 loried and bambooed ; and the venders and smugglers 
 made liable to the severer penalties of banishment 
 and death: so late as the year 1833, the amended 
 law upon the subject was as follows : 
 
 "Let the buyers and s?nokers of opium be punished 
 with one hundred blows, and condemned to wear the 
 wooden collar for two months. Then, let them 
 declare the seller's name, that he may be seized and 
 punished ; and, in default of his discovering the vender, 
 let the smoker be again punished with one hundred 
 blows and three years' banishment, as being an accom- 
 plice. Let mandarins and their dependants who buy 
 and smoke opium be punished one degree more severely 
 than others ; and let governors of provinces be re- 
 quired to give security that there are no opium- 
 smokers under their jurisdiction ; and let a joint 
 memorial be sent in, representing the conduct of those 
 officers who have connived at the practice." 
 
 Thus, as far as law goes, the government of China 
 has, ostensibly, done everything in its power to check 
 the growing evil ; and one would imagine that these 
 regulations were sufficiently severe to ensure the 
 entire exclusion of the article from the empire. Yet, 
 in the year 1836, a Chinese officer, high in rank, 
 presented a memorial to the emperor, in which he 
 tells him : 
 
122 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 " That, recently, the number of chests imported has 
 exceeded twenty thousand, and that the sum paid, 
 annually, exceeds eleven millions of dollars. Within 
 the last few years," he adds, " foreign ships have 
 visited all the ports along the coast, from Canton 
 as far as Chinese Tartary, for the purpose of dis- 
 posing of their opium ; and though the local autho- 
 rities immediately expelled them, yet the quantity 
 clandestinely sold is by no means small. The 
 foreigners have, besides, a depot for opium at 
 Lintin, in the entrance of the Canton river, where 
 they have seven or eight large vessels called receiv- 
 ing ships anchored all the year round. In Canton, 
 the native brokers pay the price of the opium to the 
 foreign merchants, when they obtain orders for the 
 drug from the receiving ships. They have also con- 
 voys, plying up and down the river, which are called 
 fast-crabs and scrambling- dragons. These are well 
 armed with guns and pikes, and manned with despe- 
 rate fellows, who go as if they had wings. All the 
 custom houses and military stations which they pass 
 are literally stopped with bribes ; and if they chance 
 to meet any of the armed cruisers, the smugglers do 
 not scruple to come to an engagement, and bloodshed 
 and slaughter ensue. The governor of Canton lately 
 sent a naval officer, with a sufficient force, and cap- 
 tured a boat laden with opium, seized one hundred 
 and forty chests, and killed and took prisoners scores 
 of smugglers ; yet the traffic was not at all checked. 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 
 
 Multitudes of the people have but little dread of the 
 laws, while they use every device to escape punish- 
 ment, and are eager after gain ; indeed the laws are, 
 sometimes, utterly without effect." 
 
 Where a Chinese mandarin undertakes to nuffafe, 
 and the emperor consents to receive, such state- 
 ment as the above, we may conclude that t/tis, and 
 muck more, is true. In fact, opium is not only regu- 
 larly introduced, but openly sold in all parts of China. 
 Notwithstanding the prohibition, opium shops are as 
 plentiful in some towns of China as gin-shops are in 
 England. The sign of these receptacles is a bamboo 
 screen, hanging before the door, which is as certain 
 an intimation there, as the chequers are here, that the 
 slave of intemperance may be gratified. Into these 
 shops all classes of persons continually flock, from 
 the pampered oflicial to the abject menial. No one 
 makes a secret of the business or the practice, and 
 though the officers of government are loud in de- 
 nouncing the indulgence in public, they privately wink 
 at what is patronized by their own example, or sub- 
 servient to their own interests. It is a well-known 
 circumstance, that the government officers come 
 regularly on board the receiving ships at Lintin, and 
 demand so many dollars per chest for conniving at 
 smuggling ; while it is currently reported, that even 
 the viceroy of Canton receives a very respectable 
 consideration for winking at these illicit transactions. 
 The military and naval officers sometimes get up a 
 G2 
 
124 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 sham-fight, in order that they may have to report 
 their vigilance and strictness to Peking ; and when 
 the smugglers are remiss in paying the accustomed 
 bribes, they now and then seize a boat or two, to 
 keep them regular and submissive. Medhursfs 
 China, pp. 8588. 
 
 It has been told, and it shall be rung in the ears 
 of the British public, again and again, that opium is 
 demoralizing China, and becomes the greatest barrier 
 to the introduction of Christianity which can be con- 
 ceived of. Not only are the wretched victims of the 
 indulgence themselves impervious to remonstrance, 
 and callous to all feeling ; not only must we despair 
 of the conversion of an opium- smoker, almost as 
 much as if his doom were already sealed ; but the 
 difficulty of convincing others of the truth of Chris- 
 tianity, and of the sincere intentions of Christians, 
 is greater, in proportion to the extent of the opium 
 trade to China. Almost the first word uttered by a 
 native, when urged to believe in Christ, is, " Why do 
 Christians bring us opium, and bring it directly in 
 defiance of our own laws ? That vile drug has poisoned 
 my son has ruined my brothersand well nigh led me 
 to beggar my wife and children. Surely, those who 
 import such a deleterious substance, and injure me for 
 the sake of gain, cannot wish me well, or be in pos- 
 session of a religion that is better than my own. Go, 
 first, and persuade your own countrymen to relinquish 
 this nefarious traffic, and give me a prescription to 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 125 
 
 correct this vile habit, and then I will listen to 
 your exhortations on the subject of Christianity." 
 Alas ! they little know that the one is almost as 
 impossible as the other ; and that the work of per- 
 suading the growers and venders of opium to re- 
 linquish the source of their ill-gotten wealth, is as 
 difficult as the task of curing a confirmed opium- 
 smoker of his evil habits ; and that both are to be 
 effected, alone, by that Power which can cause the 
 Ethiopian to change his skin, and the leopard his 
 spots ; and make those who have been accustomed 
 to do evil, learn to do well. But, surely, when the 
 evil is known and its effects seen, the rulers of an 
 empire which professes to be governed by the prin- 
 ciples of mildness and equity, will never lend them- 
 selves to the promotion of a measure which demoralizes 
 a population in such a wholesale manner ; and, still 
 less, condescend to derive a profit from that which 
 ruins myriads. The East-India Company might, if 
 they would, greatly diminish the trade in opium. If 
 they were to discontinue the growth of it in their 
 own territories, and to bind down the native princes 
 in alliance with them, to do the same ; while they 
 forbad the transport of it through their dominions, 
 India would, then, be no longer what it now is, the 
 great source from whence the evil originates. Were 
 the supplies from India cut off, the inconsiderable 
 stock and inferior quality yielded by Turkey would 
 be far from supplying and satisfying the market, and 
 
126 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 the practice sink into desuetude, from the fewer 
 facilities afforded for its gratification. The lands now 
 employed in the cultivation of the poppy being 
 necessarily rich and fertile would, if laid out in the 
 raising of other productions, be equally valuable to 
 the possessors ; and, while the revenue was not dimi- 
 nished, the happiness, health, and industry of the 
 people, w r ould be increased ; in addition to which, 
 the Divine blessing would, doubtless, be doubly be- 
 stowed on those who renounced an apparent benefit 
 to themselves, in order to extend a real good to 
 others. ****** 
 
 The English have much to ask of the Chinese, and 
 are anxious to place the trade on a secure, respect- 
 able, and advantageous footing ; to have the rights of 
 British subjects recognised, and the security of Bri- 
 tish property acknowledged. When, however, the 
 representative of our government makes a demand 
 from the Chinese of increased privileges and advan- 
 tages, the first requisition made by them will be, that 
 we aid them in putting down the illicit traffic in 
 opium carried on by our own countrymen, who, in 
 defiance of Chinese laws, introduce an intoxicating 
 medium into the country, and seduce their subjects 
 into disobedience and voluptuousness. They will 
 not believe that, with all the power of Britain, and 
 while the drug is grown in our own territories, we 
 are unable to suppress the trade; and nothing will 
 dispossess them of the idea, that the British govern- 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 127 
 
 if accessary to the production and introduction 
 of the article. We must then tell them, that we will 
 or will not strive to put down the traffic in tpies- 
 tion, before we can venture to make any demands 
 from them in our own favour. If we refuse to curb 
 the evil, we give a public and official sanction to 
 ichat is, in their eyes, vexatious and abominable; 
 and cannot, with any grace, ask them to assist us. 
 If we consent, however, to do what we can to assist 
 the Chinese in excluding opium, we are bound, in 
 all honour and honesty, first, to discontinue the 
 growth of opium in our own colonies ; next, to pro- 
 hibit the transport of it through the Company's ter- 
 ritories ; and then to restrict British vessels from 
 trading with it along the coast of China. The mere 
 issuing of a decree of the Governor in Council at 
 Calcutta would effect the former, and a very small 
 force stationed on the coast of China would accom- 
 plish the latter. In putting down the slave trade, 
 it was not considered too much to maintain a naval 
 force on the coast of Africa ; and to abolish slavery 
 in the British dominions the sum of twenty millions 
 was willingly sacrificed ; yet slavery was not produc- 
 tive of more misery and death than the opium traffic, 
 nor were Britons more implicated in the former than 
 in the latter. In the case before us, however, no 
 compensation money could be demanded, and only a 
 few light armed vessels would be required ; while 
 the real compensation would be the turning of four 
 
128 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 millions annually into another" channel, to the benefit 
 of our raanufactures and the mother country. By 
 
 PAYING FOUR MILLIONS FOR OPIUM, THE ClIINESE 
 SHEW THAT THEY HAVE MONEY TO SPEND, AND IF WE 
 CAN BUT INDUCE THEM TO TAKE OUR COTTONS AND 
 WOOLLENS INSTEAD OF OUR OPIUM, WE SHALL BE 
 BLESSING THEM AND ENRICHING OURSELVES. The 
 
 money paid for opium is equal to what we give for 
 our teas ; thus the Chinese are parting with their 
 produce for what is worse than useless, while it 
 impoverishes their country and diminishes their po- 
 pulation. Medhurst's China, pp. 90-94. 
 
 Should the Chinese ever determine on stopping 
 the trade, it will he from a far different motive than 
 a wish to exclude the Gospel. The determined per- 
 severance and the audacious daring with which the 
 opium traffic is pushed forward, to the real injury of 
 his people as well as the defiance of his authority, ex- 
 asperates the emperor a great deal more than the dis- 
 tribution of tracts along the coast. Never was a 
 weak and pusillanimous government more violently 
 roused than the Chinese authorities appear to be, on 
 the subject of the illicit traffic in opium. The na- 
 tive dealers in the drug are obliged to fee into holes 
 and co rners ; the foreign opium-merchants have been 
 required to leave Canton ; the quiet anchorage of the 
 eceiving ships at Kap-sing-Moon has been broken up, 
 and the smugglers obliged to retreat to Hong-Kong 
 i ay. In addition to all this, the admiral of the port has 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 129 
 
 declared, that, if the opium-smugg/crs do not discon- 
 tinue their illicit transactions, he will bring down 
 thousands of war junks, which shall hem them in on 
 every side, like the men on a chess-board, so that 
 it will be impossible to escape. If the trade be stopped, 
 therefore, it will be in consequence of the progress of 
 evil, and not the efforts to do good, in China. Med- 
 hurst's China, pp. 506-507. 
 
 I have now laid before my readers the whole 
 of the evidence which has come before me upon 
 this subject, and endeavoured to put it in the 
 most intelligible form. It is not to my own 
 opinions and remarks, but to this evidence, 
 that I desire to call attention : and I put it to 
 their judgement and conscience, as if they 
 v/ere a jury appointed to try the question, and 
 to give a true verdict according to the evidence 
 laid before them, whether the documents 
 which I have produced do not distinctly prove 
 the following points? 
 
 That opium, used as a stimulant or luxury, 
 is a deleterious drug which ruins those who 
 indulge in it, in mind, body, and estate which 
 depraves and enervates them, physically, intel- 
 lectually, and morally, and finally brings them 
 g3 
 
130 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 to an untimely grave : that it is introduced into 
 China in such immense quantities, as to effect 
 the ruin of hundreds of thousands, if not mil- 
 lions, of the inhabitants : that thousands of 
 acres of the most rich and fertile land, which 
 might supply abundance of wholesome food for 
 the support of many thousands of our fellow- 
 creatures, in health and comfort, are worse than 
 wasted in the production of this poison, of 
 which the tendency and effect is to ruin and 
 destroy : that this baneful drug is smuggled into 
 China by our countrymen in the East-Indies, 
 in direct and systematic violation and defiance 
 of all laws both human and divine, and in a 
 manner calculated to justify the Chinese go- 
 vernment in excluding us from all the benefits 
 of comfortable and unrestricted commercial 
 intercourse with their immense population : 
 and, finally, that the baneful effects of opium- 
 smoking, and the whole system of iniquity by 
 which so much opium is smuggled into the 
 country, are perfectly laid open, and familiarly 
 know T n to the Chinese authorities, both pro- 
 vincial and supreme ; and the inevitable con- 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 131 
 
 sequence is, that both the government and the 
 people feel themselves justified in looking upon 
 us with mingled hatred, suspicion, and con- 
 tempt, in treating us with studied insolence 
 and indignity, and, therefore, in rejecting 
 even our best endeavours to do them good 
 (for how should they be able to imagine that 
 any real good or true kindness can come from 
 a nation and people whom they look upon as 
 smugglers and dealers in poison, for their ruin 
 and destruction ?) That they also feel them- 
 selves justified in increasing, instead of remov- 
 ing, the hindrances and difficulties which de- 
 prive both nations of the benefits, commercial, 
 intellectual, moral, and religious, that might 
 be expected, in the course of time and under 
 the blessing of the Almighty, from the recipro- 
 cations of free and friendly intercourse between 
 the two mightiest empires in the world ; 
 whereof one, professing and calling itself 
 Christian, and enlightened with wisdom from 
 on High, has benefits and blessings of incal- 
 culable value to bestow, and would itself be 
 doubly blest in bestowing them ; for with regard 
 
132 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 to the honour and blessing which accompanies 
 the communication of the knowledge of salva- 
 tion, must not a Christian people, with humble 
 thankfulness, " remember the words of the 
 Lord Jesus, how He said, it is more blessed to 
 give than to receive ?" (Acts, xx. 35.) 
 
 Thus far then, reader, my sole concern has 
 been to lay before you facts. If now you 
 choose to close the book, and make your own 
 reflections, and form your own judgement, 
 and decide for yourself, what common huma- 
 nity, what real concern for the honour and 
 welfare of your country, and what the fear of 
 God and Christian principle demand of you, 
 I am well content. To bring the facts of the 
 case fairly before you, has been my main object 
 in writing. But this I entreat you to remember, 
 that (these facts being once laid before you) 
 you are called upon both to think and to act. 
 You may, perhaps, truly say that, thus far, you 
 have been altogether innocent in this matter 
 that you have had no part in these iniquities : 
 that you never knew that you never suspec- 
 ed that such a traffic was carried on by your 
 
THE OFIUM TRADE. 133 
 
 fellow-countrymen, and urtder the British flag. 
 But this you can no longer say. The case is 
 altered now. From this time forth, if you do 
 not protest against these iniquities if you do 
 not endeavour, according to your ability, to 
 put them down you become, in your measure, 
 a partaker of them, and (by your careless con- 
 nivance) a tacit accomplice in the crimes of 
 your fellow-countrymen. He who stands by 
 unconcerned while murder is committed, and 
 (still more) he who shelters the murderer and 
 facilitates his escape, according to all law, 
 divine and human, is justly deemed an accom- 
 plice in the crime. What, then, shall be said of 
 you what will you in your conscience judge 
 concerning yourself if you (now knowing the 
 fact, that the opium trade is every year de- 
 stroying thousands and tens of thousands of the 
 people of China) shall go on unconcerned and 
 reckless, without lifting up either your voice or 
 your hand, to protest against or prevent such 
 wholesale murder ? 
 
PART II. 
 
 Remarkable, and most deeply most in- 
 tensely interesting, is the present position of 
 our country. Ruling an empire upon which 
 the sun never sets possessed of an extent of 
 dominion, such as Rome in her greatest glory 
 never saw and containing a population, with 
 which no empire upon earth but that of China 
 can compare, Great Britain, in regard to all 
 the elements of earthly glory, in regard to 
 power, dominion, and wealth, seems indeed 
 to be lifted up as an object of admiration and 
 envy to the whole world. And great in propor- 
 tion to the glory and exaltation of our country, 
 must be her responsibility in the sight of Him, 
 before whom all nations are counted as the drop 
 
ran okvm trade. 
 
 OQ the bucket, and as the small dust of the 
 balance. And the consideration of this respon- 
 sibility becomes the more solemn, when we con- 
 sider the vast multitudes of Heathen that are 
 subject to the British sceptre. It has been cal- 
 culated that the Heathen and Mohammedan 
 subjects of Queen Victoria are not less in 
 number than 130,000,000 ! and if to this num- 
 ber, directly under the dominion of Great Bri- 
 tain, should be added the population of the 
 allied and tributary states of India, which are 
 under British influence and protection, it seems 
 probable that 230,000,000 would be much 
 nearer the mark. 
 
 Then as if the mere extent of earthly glory 
 and dominion were not abundantly sufficient to 
 provoke the envy, and, with the envy, the 
 secret hatred of all other nations how much 
 has there been beside, arising out of various 
 circumstances of our past history, to excite 
 still deeper feelings of hostility ! Insomuch 
 that, be the causes what they may, is it not the 
 fact, that we have not now a true and trust- 
 worthy friend among all the nations of the 
 
136 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 earth? that there is not one people under 
 heaven, that would not, openly or secretly, 
 rejoice and triumph at the humiliation of 
 Great Britain ? Yet, if we compare the state 
 of our defences with the vast extent of our pos- 
 sessions the measureless line of coast and 
 frontier which is obvious to attacks that would 
 most seriously affect us was ever a great 
 nation in such a defenceless position ? Or do we 
 find, within our own narrow boundaries, that 
 union which is strength ? 
 
 But I will not pursue these enquiries. Let 
 everyone consider for himself the present posi- 
 tion and circumstances of our country; and 
 may I not fairly ask this solemn question : 
 
 What but the special help and blessing of 
 Almighty God can possibly uphold and pre- 
 serve us ? and, under this, that moral strength 
 which is founded on the deep respect, if not the 
 affectionate gratitude, of those with whom we 
 have to do ; and, more especially, of the nations 
 that are subjected to our sway, and dependent 
 on our protection ? 
 
 But has our conduct been in the generations 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 137 
 
 that are past, or is it now, such as is calculated 
 to secure either the blessing of the Most High, 
 or the deep respect and affectionate gratitude 
 of the people under our dominion, or those 
 with whom, in various ways, we are connected ? 
 
 In answer to this question, many most affect 
 ing, and many most awful circumstances and 
 considerations throng upon my mind. I will, 
 however, pass them by to return to the ques- 
 tion before us. 
 
 Let us look at the facts of the Opium Trade 
 with China; and then let each put home to 
 his own conscience the plain question, Is this 
 traffic calculated to bring upon us, as a nation, 
 the blessing of the Most High ? or to gain for 
 us the respect and affection of the inhabi- 
 tants of Eastern Asia, to whom those facts are 
 known ? 
 
 We have been wondering, perhaps, at the 
 hindrances which have so long impeded, and 
 which still impede, our intercourse with China. 
 Some, perhaps, even now more especially, mar- 
 vel and are disappointed, that the abolition of 
 the East-India Company's monopoly, and the 
 
138 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 removal of all obstructions, on the part of our 
 Government, to their trading with China, has 
 done so little to remove those hindrances. 
 Perhaps, indeed, not a few are indignant at 
 the insolence and absurdity of the Court of 
 Peking, which so long and so obstinately per- 
 severes in closing the ports of the Celestial 
 Empire against our free and unrestricted com- 
 merce, which brands us as barbarians, and 
 treats us with wanton insult and indignity as 
 if we were utterly unworthy of an habitation 
 within its boundaries. Nay one writer* 
 goes so far as to suggest, " a direct armed 
 interference, to demand redress for past inju- 
 ries, and security for the future." This is 
 going very far indeed : but it serves to show 
 how irksome, how intolerable to the minds 
 of many, is the position in which our mer- 
 chants and residents are placed by the Chinese 
 government. 
 
 * See a "Letter to the Rt. Hon. Viscount Palmerston, 
 on British Relations with China. By H. Hamilton Lind- 
 say (late of the Honourable East-India Company's Ser- 
 vice in China). London, 1836." 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 139 
 
 But has not that government more reason 
 and justice on its side, than we have hereto- 
 fore been apt to imagine ? If the facts regard- 
 ing the opium trade with China be as I have 
 stated ; and if upon these facts, which they 
 know, the Chinese government and people 
 found their judgement of us as a nation, have 
 they not much to plead in justification of all 
 the restrictions they have imposed ? Must we 
 not conceive it a very possible thing, yea, highly 
 probable, that Chinese statesmen and patriots 
 will say respecting us " Shall we open our 
 ports to wholesale smugglers, and to wholesale 
 dealers in poison ? Shall we put these foreign 
 smugglers and murderers upon an equal foot- 
 ing with our own peaceable and injured sub* 
 jects ? Shall we deal with them, or communicate 
 with them, as if they were honest men, or wor- 
 thy of any respect ? Have they not reason to 
 be well content, that we suffer them to live ? 
 and to marvel at our forbearance, that we have 
 not long since expelled them from our boun- 
 daries, never to return, or put them to death 
 without mercy ?" 
 
140 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 The very thought of their using such lan- 
 guage respecting us may be very humiliating 
 very galling to our national pride : but is it 
 not natural that they should use it? Let us 
 put ourselves in their place, and think with 
 ourselves, how we should judge concerning a 
 people, whose very name we could not disso- 
 ciate in our minds from the constant, deter- 
 mined practice of smuggling poison into our 
 country, that was ruining and destroying 
 thousands of our population every year ? 
 
 I desire I call for calm consideration of 
 the facts of the case. Nor do I wish any one 
 to take these facts upon my word. I have 
 never been in China, nor in the East-Indies ; 
 I therefore cannot speak as an eye and ear wit- 
 ness of these facts ; but I have fairly and 
 faithfully laid before you the whole of the 
 evidence that has reached me. I have sub- 
 mitted the statement to those who have been 
 in India and China, and they assure me that 
 my statement is correct. But we cannot form 
 any just notion of the importance of these facts, 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 141 
 
 while we look at them only through the m - 
 dium of those palliations and excuses, which 
 we shall ever be ready to offer on behalf of our- 
 selves and our fellow-countrymen. We must en- 
 deavour to look at them, as the Judge of all the 
 earth will judge them, or else as the natives of 
 India and of China must and will look at them. 
 And, if we will not, or dare not, consider 
 them in the light of that Word, which shall 
 judge us at the last day, let us consider them 
 in reference to the various relations in which we 
 stand towards Eastern Asia ; and in reference 
 to our national, our religious, and our com- 
 mercial intercourse with its numberless inhabi- 
 tants. 
 
 Is it self-evident, that we hold our Eastern 
 Empire by moral power, and not by physical 
 strength ? And do we acknowledge the vast 
 importance of that moral power, which is 
 greater than fleets and armies? - 
 
 Is it, indeed, one of the foremost elements of 
 national strength and greatness, and one of the 
 strongest bulwarks of national security ? If so, 
 
142 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 how stands our national character in the East, 
 with reference hereunto ? How is this af- 
 fected ? How must this be affected by the 
 fact, that, while we profess and call ourselves 
 Christians, in opposition to the poor idolatrous 
 Heathen, enlightened and civilized, in oppo- 
 sition to a dark and ignorant, and (at best) 
 semi-barbarous people, we are seen continu- 
 ally implicated in iniquities, which the natives 
 of India and of China have discernment enough 
 to look upon with detestation ? The heathen 
 government of China has long regarded 
 opium smoking, and the opium trade, with 
 such just and merited abhorence, that it ut- 
 terly refuses to grow rich ? and to increase its 
 resources, by the sanction of one or the other ! 
 Shall we, then, consent, as Christians and as 
 Britons, to lend ourselves to this traffic? to 
 amass wealth by dealing in poison? to be judged 
 in the eyes of half the population of the world 
 to have our national character estimated 
 among five hundred millions of our fellow- 
 creatures, mainly by the obvious, well-known 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 143 
 
 fact, that thus it is that we grow rich? and 
 that we have so little sense of the very first 
 principles of right and justice, that we coun- 
 tenance and abet our countrymen in this daring, 
 persevering, systematic violation of the laws 
 and regulations of a country, with which we 
 are at peace ? For this we do, so long as, 
 unhindered and unrebuked, we permit them to 
 go on (as they have done for more than forty 
 years) in smuggling Opium into China. And 
 (while we continue to set them such an ex- 
 ample) with what show of reason can we 
 expect the conquered nations of Hindostan, 
 who have too much cause to look upon us as 
 intruders and oppressors, to keep faith with us, 
 or to observe our laws, one moment longer 
 than it suits with their own convenience so to 
 do? for 
 
 In these cases 
 We still have judgement here : that we but teach 
 Treacherous instructions, which, being taught, return 
 To plague the inventor. This even-handed justice 
 Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice 
 To our own lips. 
 
144 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 So that, if we are only concerned for the pre- 
 servation of our Indian Empire, the sound, 
 deep thinking, and clear-sighted politician 
 will early discern, that our connivance at the 
 iniquities of the Opium Trade with China 
 materially affects the security of the tenure by 
 which we hold it : for it tends to weaken and 
 destroy that moral power, by which alone it is, 
 that one hundred thousand of our countrymen 
 in India, can think to hold in subjection more 
 than one hundred and thirty millions of the 
 natives. 
 
 But are we concerned for something more 
 for something better than mere temporal domi- 
 nion ? Are any of my readers interested in the 
 success of Christian Missions, and in the pro- 
 gress of the Gospel among the countless inha- 
 bitants of Eastern Asia ? I do not question, for 
 one moment, the absolute omnipotence of that 
 influence from on high, which alone can give 
 success to the preached Gospel ; but I know 
 that the Scriptures do not warrant us to expect 
 the blessing, when our iniquities have separated 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 145 
 
 between us and our God, and our sins I 
 hid His face from us, that He will not licit), 
 (Is. lix. 2) : nor to think that the Word of 
 God will have free course and bo glorified, 
 when the name of God and His Anointed 
 blasphemed among the heathen, on account of 
 the open, notorious vices of those who profess 
 and call themselves Christians. What kind of 
 attention do we give ourselves to the man, who 
 lifts up his voice like a trumpet to preach the 
 Gospel, but contradicts every word that he 
 utters by the more intelligible language of his 
 life? Deeds, not words, is a principle, which the 
 poorest slave in India, or in China, can readily 
 comprehend : and, while we connive at gross, 
 atrocious, systematic iniquity, can we, or dare 
 we, expect, that the cause of the Gospel should 
 prosper in our hands? If we should pray with all 
 earnestness for a blessing, might not He, who 
 hears and answers the prayer of the upright, 
 be expected to meet us with this terrible 
 rebuke, " When ye make many prayers, I will 
 not hear : your hands are full of blood. Wash 
 
 H 
 
146 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 you, make you clean ; put away the evil of your 
 doings from before mine eyes ; cease to do evil ; 
 learn to do well." (Is. i. 15 17.) And when 
 we preach to the heathen, may they not fitly 
 say, " Go, preach to your own countrymen. 
 Persuade them to cease from that traffic in poi- 
 son, by which they grow rich themselves, and 
 murder us." But why should I enlarge upon 
 this point ? Mr. Medhurst has told us, in the 
 extract already inserted, p. 124, what they do 
 say ; and has pointed out so plainly, what an 
 effectual hindrance this traffic is, and must be, 
 to the progress of the Gospel, that I need not 
 multiply suppositions. It is only needful to add, 
 that it is not in China alone, but throughout 
 the length and breadth of Eastern Asia, where- 
 soever the facts are known, that this traffic 
 brings disgrace and scandal on the Christian 
 name, and effectually hinders the progress of 
 the Christian Missions. 
 
 What an awful and effectual hindrance there 
 is, somewhere or other, is now at length begin- 
 ning to be known. Entirely independent tes- 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 147 
 
 timonies are multiplying on every side, which 
 serve to prove too clearly the painful and 
 deplorable fact, that all the labours of Chris- 
 tian Missionaries in Hindostan have hitherto 
 been but vain. Not only no tribe has been 
 converted no extensive impression on the 
 mass of heathenism and idolatry has been 
 made ; but even single instances of real and 
 decided conversion are scarcely to be met 
 with. How is this 1 The fact calls for humble 
 and careful investigation. What is the iniquity, 
 which separates between us and our God ? 
 which hides His face from us, that He will not 
 hear our prayers, but still withholds the bless- 
 ing ? May it not be is it not conceivable 
 that it is the foul iniquity of the Opium Trade, 
 which unrepented of unforsaken unde- 
 nounced is a continual provocation in the 
 eyes of the Holy One of Israel ? an iniquity 
 so far connived at by Christians,* that the 
 
 * A brief allusion to this important subject is all that 
 
 could be introduced in the text. This is not the place to 
 
 discuss the question at large. But what hindrances an 
 
 unknown, and even unsuspected, transgression may throw 
 
 h 2 in 
 
148 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 Lord will not hear us? (Ps. lxvi. 18.) Must 
 it not be, at least, confessed and denounced, 
 before His blessing can be expected to descend 
 on our Missionary labours in the East ? 
 
 Yet I would not be supposed to think, that 
 this is the only iniquity, which throws a stum- 
 bling-block in the way of the heathen popula- 
 tion of Eastern Asia on the one hand, or that 
 provokes the Lord to withhold His blessing on 
 the other. I, for one, cannot believe that this 
 iniquity stands alone. It is not in the nature 
 of things that it should do so. On the 
 contrary, the investigation of this subject 
 should lead us to investigate the whole of 
 our conduct towards the inhabitants of India 
 and of China ; and to denounce and renounce, 
 not this alone, but every iniquity, of which we 
 have so long been guilty among them, and 
 whereby we have given them such just occa- 
 
 in the way of God's people, and what effectual barriers 
 it may oppose to their progress and success, may be 
 learned, in some measure, by a due consideration of 
 Josh, vii., and 1 Sam. xiv. 36-46. 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 149 
 
 sion to look with suspicion and jealous fear 
 upon every effort that we make, and every in- 
 struction that we offer. For what I fear is this 
 that, when the shrewd observation of the Chi- 
 nese (and shrewd observers they are) is directed 
 to the conduct and character of that portion of 
 our countrymen, with whom, for between two 
 and three centuries, they have had opportuni- 
 ties of becoming acquainted, they find but too 
 much reason to take the Opium Trade as a 
 sample of our dealings, and to judge of what 
 we are by that, which (though it be the worst 
 part of our conduct) is still too much of a piece 
 with all the rest. 
 
 This is what I strongly suspect. And, if it 
 be so, does it not behove British merchants, 
 throughout the length and breadth of the land, 
 and all who are connected with British com- 
 merce, directly or indirectly, (even if they be 
 unwilling to look at, and incapable of consider- 
 ing, the question, in its reference to national 
 honour, and to the still more high and sacred 
 cause of religion,) to consider it in its bearings 
 
150 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 upon our commercial interests, and, as con- 
 nected therewith, our national prosperity, and 
 the sources of our wealth ? 
 
 China, though not the most extensive, ap- 
 pears to be, by far, the most populous empire 
 in the world ; comprising under its dominion 
 one-third of the human race if not consider- 
 ably more. Why is this immense market 
 closed, to such a degree as it is, against the 
 productions of British industry ? Is it because 
 the inhabitants have no money to spend ? By 
 no means. They could give us (as I find by 
 reference to a " Statement of Trade in British 
 Vessels at Canton," put forth by the " General 
 Chamber of Commerce," and dated Canton, 
 25th September 1838), in one year (ending 
 June30th, 1838), at Canton only, nearly eleven 
 millions of Spanish dollars in specie, for that 
 which they purchase as a mere luxury; and 
 which is, in effect, a deadly poison. They have, 
 therefore, money to spend in trading with us. 
 
 Is it, then, that they know nothing and care 
 nothing about the products of British industry ? 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 151 
 
 This notion, if it should occur to any one, is 
 also refuted by the same "Statement;" in which 
 I find, that various articles (which are the 
 objects of legitimate commerce) do, to a certain 
 extent, find their way from this country into 
 China ; and therefore must, evidently, find a 
 market in that empire. That there is a desire 
 for British manufactures, is also plainly acknow- 
 ledged by some of the Chinese documents 
 which I have quoted. (See p. 70). 
 
 But though the people have money to spend, 
 and desire to obtain the products of our indus- 
 try ; and there is reason to believe, therefore, 
 that an open trade with China would, in 
 the course of a few years, afford an immense 
 and most important market to the British mer- 
 chant and to the British manufacturer ; can 
 this be hoped for, while the Opium traffic con- 
 tinuesf and while the Chinese government and 
 people must judge of us thereby ? or, in other 
 words, must feel themselves justified in consi- 
 dering us, and dealing with us, as wholesale 
 
152 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 smugglers and wholesale dealers in 'poison ? 
 Do not the facts which I have detailed (espe- 
 cially viewed in the light in which they must 
 appear to the Chinese), abundantly justify that 
 Government in its system of exclusion ? in 
 treating us with watchful suspicion and con- 
 stant jealousy ? in cherishing feelings towards 
 us of distance, reserve, and enmity ? 
 
 While we systematically, pertinaciously, 
 and " contumaciously," contravene their laws, 
 corrupt their officers, and poison their people, 
 can we (with any show of reason) expect them 
 to enter, upon equal and friendly terms, into 
 commercial treaties with us, or into the rela- 
 tions of national allianc e ? 
 
 While these things are so, must not our pre- 
 sent commerce necessarily stand upon a most 
 precarious and humiliating footing ? and must 
 not the door be effectually closed against more 
 extended commercial intercourse ? That is to 
 say, the most extensive market in the world 
 must be forbidden to open itself to the encou- 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. UKI 
 
 ragement of our national industry ! for, so long 
 as they judge of our character by the Opium 
 Trade, they ought to be exceedingly jealous of 
 any further intercourse, or closer connexion 
 with us. 
 
 But here let me pause one moment, to meet 
 an objection. It will probably be said, u that 
 it is unfair and unreasonable, to ascribe to the 
 iniquities of the Opium Trade, (however 
 black they may be) that system of exclusion, 
 which has characterized the policy of the 
 Chinese Government towards foreigners, even 
 from the period of our first acquaintance with 
 it. It is hard to lay the blame of our ex- 
 clusion from the benefits of a free trade with 
 China upon the Opium merchants, whose 
 traffic with China did not commence till about 
 fifty years ago : while the same jealousy of all 
 intercourse with foreigners has been manifested 
 by the Court of Peking, for more than two 
 hundred years." 
 
 I grant, in reference to such objections, 
 that a very great jealousy of intercourse with 
 h3 
 
154 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 foreign nations has been, all along, a marked 
 characteristic of Chinese policy. All that we 
 know of the history and government of that 
 country concurs to shew, that such jealousy 
 is in unison, both with the character of the 
 people, and with the peculiar system of go- 
 vernment adopted by its rulers, and very 
 pertinaciously adhered to. But two things 
 must be enquired into, before this character- 
 istic policy of the Chinese Government, (which 
 doubtless appears, to European judgement, 
 very narrow-minded, illiberal, and absurd), 
 ean be pleaded, as of any force to set aside my 
 argument, in the way in which I have stated 
 it, and with due reference to the documents 
 I have produced. 
 
 1. How is it that, in the space of two hun- 
 dred and forty years, we have done so little to 
 overcome this jealousy, and to establish our 
 intercourse with China, upon a comfortable 
 and honourable footing, if not upon a liberal 
 basis ? If the conduct of our fellow-country- 
 men, who traded with China whose charac- 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. Lfi 
 
 ter and proceedings were subjected to the 
 observation of that Government and people, 
 had been, all along, fair, open, honourable, and 
 generous, so that any thing contrary tin 
 must have been regarded as a mere occasional 
 exception, is it to be believed, that Chii 
 jealousy and exclusiveness, and Chinese pre- 
 judices, would not have been, in some consider- 
 able measure, softened down 1 insomuch that 
 (after so long an acquaintance) the Government 
 and people must have been constrained to 
 confess, that " this is a people, of whom we 
 need not be so rigidly jealous whom it is no 
 longer necessary so entirely to exclude ? We 
 have found them, and shall find them, honour- 
 able men incapable of abusing the friendship 
 with which we embrace them, and the trust 
 and confidence which we repose in them ? " 
 
 But if, on the contrary, th ey have seen in 
 us, all along, too much of that same disposition 
 to sacrifice everything to the lust of gain, which 
 is so awfully manifested in the iniquities of the 
 Opium Trade : if they have found us sordid, 
 
156 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 grasping, selfish ready to violate their laws 
 and regulations, wheresoever we could do it 
 with impunity, and to bribe their officers upon 
 every occasion; ready, on the other hand, to 
 cringe before them, with abject meanness, 
 whenever they began to threaten, and exert 
 themselves with vigour; and thus making it 
 manifest, that we cared for nothing but our 
 own base and selfish interests : then, I say, 
 my point is established ; and the iniquities of 
 the Opium Trade considered as a sample of 
 our conduct and character in dealing with the 
 Chinese do certainly afford an abundant, and 
 too satisfactory, explanation of the difficul- 
 ties and restrictions, under which our com- 
 mercial intercourse with China has been placed. 
 If the Opium Trade itself has not been, and 
 could not be, all along, the main hindrance, 
 yet (alas !) the conduct and character therein 
 exhibited have been, and must have been ! 
 
 2. But again : Is it not the fact, that the 
 difficulties and restrictions which impede our 
 intercourse with China, instead of diminishing, 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 157 
 
 as the Chinese have become better acquainted 
 with us, have increased, and still are increasing ? 
 Is it not the fact, that at one time (and not 
 more than a century back) many ports along 
 the coast of China, from Canton to Ning-Po, 
 and even Tang-Chow, were open to our com- 
 merce, which are now entirely closed ? So 
 that our restriction to the single port of 
 Canton is, comparatively, a recent thing ; and 
 may be considered as the just and natural 
 consequence of our own misdeeds ! And, if 
 such be the facts, how necessary is it, that the 
 whole of the conduct of our fellow-countrymen, 
 in their intercourse with China, should be 
 thoroughly investigated ! and that we should, 
 from this time forth, turn over a new leaf, 
 renouncing all the iniquities, not only of the 
 Opium Trade, but of every other part of our 
 conduct, which have so long and so justly 
 debarred us from honourable and unrestricted 
 trade with the various ports of China ! It is 
 plain, that we must no longer lay the blame 
 on the jealousies and prejudices of the Chinese; 
 
158 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 that we must not imagine their system of ex- 
 clusion to be wanton or absurd : but, rather, 
 that to which our conduct has, in some mea- 
 sure, forced them, and which (at any rate) it 
 has altogether justified. 
 
 Or will it be said, that the Chinese are 
 themselves a very immoral people insincere, 
 deceitful, covetous, and corrupt, accessible 
 to bribery in every form ? I confess that their 
 own documents go far to prove, that this (to 
 a vast extent at least) is but too true. But then, 
 I say, the more need was there that we, who 
 profess and call ourselves Christians, should 
 have set these poor depraved, and ignorant 
 heathens, a better and brighter example ! 
 
 Say not (and, if the thought of such defence 
 Should spring within thy bosom, drive it thence) 
 "What nation amongst all my foes is free 
 From crimes as base as any charg'd on me ? 
 Their measure fill'd, they too shall pay the debt, 
 Which God, though long forborne, will not forget. 
 But know that Wrath divine, when most severe 
 Makes Justice still the guide of his career, 
 And will not punish, in one mingled crowd, 
 Them without light, and thee without a cloud. 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. lo> 
 
 Can anything be more unchristian than to 
 plead the sins of others, and especially of blind 
 idolaters, as any excuse for our own ? " For 
 unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall 
 be much required : and to whom men have 
 committed much, of him they will ask the 
 more." (Lmke f Ta, 48). And therefore, though 
 the sins of the Chinese were as foul and black 
 as those of Sodom and Gomorrha, it will be 
 more tolerable for them in the day of judge- 
 ment, than for us : and now, in the day of 
 grace, we ought to be ready to accuse and 
 humble ourselves, instead of censuring and con- 
 demning them. 
 
 Suppose, then, (to return to our argument) 
 that the case were changed. Suppose that the 
 British Government, and, therewith, the body 
 of British merchants, who are, or might be, 
 concerned in the trade with China, should 
 come forward in an honest, manly, friendly, 
 Christian manner, at whatever present sacri- 
 fice, to pledge themselves to the Chinese au- 
 thorities, to work with them, hand and heart, 
 
160 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 for the entire suppression of this baneful traffic ; 
 and, therewith, of whatsoever else may give 
 them just ground of complaint : should we not 
 put ourselves in a position that would com- 
 mand respect and gratitude, both from the 
 Government and the people of that empire? 
 a position, in which it would scarcely be possi- 
 ble for them much longer to refuse diplomatic 
 relations and national treaties with us, upon 
 fair and equal terms ? Might we not hereby 
 reasonably hope to secure, in due time, any 
 honourable and really desirable terms of com- 
 mercial and political intercourse with them? 
 
 O ! my countrymen, depend upon it, that, 
 even in regard to worldly welfare and commer- 
 cial prosperity, " the fear of the Lord, that is 
 wisdom ; and to depart from evil is under- 
 standing." "The blessing of the Lord, it 
 maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with 
 it." (Job xxviii. 28. Prov. x. 22.) 
 
 And would it not be worthy of a great and 
 mighty nation ; would it not be lovely and of 
 good report among all the nations of the earth 
 
THE OtlVM i i:\DE. UN 
 
 beside if (so soon as the facts of the case \. 
 fairly laid before us) we should come forward 
 as one man, disregarding the lessons and 
 calculations of a base and money-getting ex- 
 pediency, to renounce and put down the evil, 
 which so long had been carried on unknown to 
 us ; and which had so deeply disgraced our 
 Christian character, and compromised our 
 national honour, in the eyes of the Eastern 
 world ? 
 
 But, alas ! I have not yet done, even with 
 the facts of the case. When the above was 
 all written ; and, indeed, already sent to the 
 press, I received from a gentleman who has long 
 resided in India, a communication to the follow- 
 ing effect, pointing out other evils connected 
 with the production of Opium in our Indian 
 possessions, and with the traffic in that drug. 
 The facts here detailed cannot fail, (especially 
 when taken in connexion with all that has 
 been already adduced) to be deeply injurious 
 to our national character, and decidedly de- 
 trimental to our permanent interests, and to 
 
162 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 the security and stability of our dominion, 
 throughout the whole extent of our Indian 
 empire. 
 
 "The evils which the cultivation of Opium 
 entails upon our fellow-subjects in India, arise 
 partly from the ryots in the Opium districts of 
 Patna and Benares being compelled to give 
 up fixed portions of their lands for the produc- 
 tion of the poppy. It is true, that the Honour- 
 able Company pay fairly for the lands and 
 labour thus wrested from the ryot (farmer) ; 
 and did the amount paid by the government 
 find its way honestly into the possession of 
 these people, there might not be so much 
 cause of complaint in . this matter ; but the 
 contrary is the case. These payments have 
 to pass through the hands of numerous em- 
 ployes of the Government ; and scarce twenty 
 per cent, of it ever reaches the legitimate owner. 
 The evils of the cultivation, however, do not 
 end here. In consequence of being obliged 
 forcibly to cultivate this highly-taxed drug, 
 the peasant is constantly exposed to a suspi- 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. \G.\ 
 
 cion of retaining some part of the produce for 
 private sale ; the surveillance of the police is, 
 therefore, especially directed to these unhapp\ 
 creatures ; and the oppressions which they are 
 subjected to in this way surpass belief. They 
 are exposed to every sort of annoyance, which 
 the ingenuity of the authorized plunderers (the 
 police and the Custom-house searchers) can 
 devise, in order to extort bribes. The privacy 
 of their miserable abodes the sanctity of their 
 females, is intruded upon by these harpies of 
 Government ; and no redress can be given by 
 the Government, unless they abolish the pro- 
 duction of this accursed drug. Were the 
 cultivation of it transferred to private indivi- 
 duals, the evil would (as far as the cultivation 
 is concerned) be greatly mitigated ; inasmuch 
 as the servants of private individuals would not 
 have power to oppress the natives to the extent 
 possessed by those of the Government, and 
 there would be a distant hope of redress to an 
 oppressed native in the Government courts. 
 But where the Government itself is virtually 
 
164 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 the defendant, an appeal to its justice is a 
 mockery ; and thus arises a moral aggravation 
 of the evil. 
 
 " The evils, arising from the Government's 
 trade in Opium, to the people of Bengal, Bahia, 
 and Benares, arise from the necessary protec- 
 tion against the smuggling of this article of 
 monopoly, and the right of search given to the 
 Custom-house officers, who are placed in 
 search-houses, or chokees, at short distances, 
 along the banks of that main artery of Indian 
 trade the Ganges, and allow no native boat 
 to pass, without bringing it to for search. 
 Before I proceed further in this branch of the 
 subject, I had better give some insight into 
 the character of the natives employed in these 
 search-houses. They consist of peons (pay, 
 ten shillings per month), ameens (twenty-four), 
 and writers (fourteen). The writer is generally 
 the more respectable personage of the three ; 
 he has charge of the rest; his pay is seven 
 rupees per month ; his qualification is a know- 
 ledge of the Persian language. He finds his 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 
 
 own stationary, which costs him two rupees 
 per month, leaving five rupees for himself. He 
 has to give security for good behaviour, to the 
 amount of five hundred rupees (50). The 
 five rupees, which remain of his salary, are not 
 sufficient to provide him with food. Yet these 
 men generally live expensively (that is to say, 
 for natives), and save money. Were there 
 nothing beyond the authorized emoluments of 
 the situation abovementioned, it is obvious 
 that it would be impossible to get any one to 
 accept such places. Yet large sums are paid, 
 as bribes, to those who are supposed to have 
 power with the European collector, in order 
 to procure them. The natural consequence is, 
 that feelings of honesty and morality are 
 thrown aside, as incompatible with employ- 
 ment in the Customs. In other departments, 
 in judicial offices, in the revenue, and even in 
 the police, honest native officers have been 
 found, notwithstanding the British Indian 
 system (which seems as if it were devised with 
 the view of offering temptation to natives in 
 
166 INIQUITIES OP 
 
 authority to be dishonest) ; but, in the Customs, 
 I never met an honest native. Those who are 
 employed enter it with the sole intention of 
 doing the best they can for themselves. There- 
 fore, the bribery and perjury, apparent and 
 acknowledged in the system, is most lamen- 
 table. 
 
 " I have already said, that the right of search 
 is entrusted to characters such as I have de- 
 scribed. Therefore all goods passing the main 
 artery of India the Ganges are exposed to 
 it. Now, this right is not in any way used to 
 protect the Government ; it is held out by the 
 Custom-house officers as a means of extorting 
 bribes. This tax upon goods is made in every 
 search-house established along the line they 
 have to travel. Nor are merchant-boats alone 
 subjected to these extortions. They fall hea- 
 vily upon mere travellers especially pilgrims, 
 and those who travel with their families. The 
 latter usually have a separate apartment for 
 their wives, sisters, and other females, which 
 the officers threaten to enter, under the pretext 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 167 
 
 of suspecting that Opium is concealed there ; 
 and we know that a respectable Hindoo would 
 sacrifice all he has in the world, rather than 
 expose his wives to insult from these mis- 
 creant searchers. 
 
 " The same system of extortion exists upon 
 goods and persons conveyed by land, when- 
 ever they come within the limits of inland 
 Custom-houses. 
 
 " To sum up the curse consequent on this right 
 of search, which springs from the Government 
 trade in Opium, I may say they are as follows : 
 The exactions and corruptions ; the grievous 
 delay ; the insolent exercise of low, ill-paid 
 authority ; the interruption of communication, 
 by shutting up ferries, roads, and routes ; 
 the distress and ruin resulting from false seizures 
 and confiscations (got up by the Custom-house 
 people to blind the Government) ; the diversion 
 of trade into channels less impeded ; the 
 advancement of price of all goods, by reason of 
 these checks and annoyances ; and, worst of 
 all, the demoralization of the habits of all par- 
 
168 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 ties connected with, or exposed to the influence 
 of, these oppressive and unjust measures. 
 And we must either submit to all these evils 
 and hindrances the happiness and pros- 
 pects, eternal as well as temporal, of the inha- 
 bitants of this large and wealthy tract of a 
 country, teeming with industry and fruitfulness ; 
 or annihilate the right of search, which, as it is 
 exercised, is replete with every curse that can 
 be inflicted on millions of our unoffending 
 fellow-creatures, whom, by the laws of God 
 and man, we are bound in every way to pro- 
 tect and comfort." 
 
 Having then considered the evidence and 
 documents produced in the former part of this 
 volume, and the bearing of the facts which 
 they establish on the security of our Eastern 
 empire on the progress of religion, and the 
 success of Christian Missions among the 
 countless multitudes of Eastern Asia, and 
 even on the commercial interests of the mer- 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. !<>!> 
 
 chants and Manufacturers of Great Britain, 
 may it not be safely affirmed, that regard to 
 national honour and national prosperity, as 
 well as the word of God and Christian princi- 
 ple, and regard to the far more important and 
 sacred interests of religion and humanity, all 
 combine to demand, on the part of the Legis- 
 lature and people of this country, these two 
 things : 
 
 1. A thorough investigation before Parlia- 
 ment of all the Facts connected with the 
 Opium Trade with China ? 
 
 2. A stedfast determination and the most 
 vigorous exertions, if these things be so, to 
 put down this abominable traffic ; and a most 
 friendly, cordial co-operation with the Chinese 
 Government and Local Authorities, in every 
 measure which can be devised for delivering 
 their country from this poisonous pest ? 
 
 The first of these is what I am mainly con- 
 cerned with now. I call for public investiga- 
 tion. I have examined myself, and laid before 
 my readers, the best evidence I could obtain ; 
 i 
 
170 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 but what can be done by a private and obscure 
 individual is not enough. It is for Parliament 
 to investigate a question, in which the honour 
 and welfare of Great Britain is concerned. I 
 would therefore suggest, that Government be 
 requested to lay before both Houses of Parlia- 
 ment, annual returns, for the last ten or fifteen 
 years, upon the following points : 
 
 1 . The quantity of Opium cleared at the Cus- 
 tom-houses of Calcutta, Bombay, and all other 
 places in the East India Company's dominions, for 
 China, or for Sincapore, or any other port, for the 
 purpose of being eventually conveyed to China. 
 
 2. The number of vessels under the British flag 
 which have been moored at Lintin, or immediately 
 in the vicinity of the ports of China, as depots for 
 Opium. 
 
 3. The number, tonnage, and particular cha- 
 racter of the vessels which have been, and are em- 
 ployed, in carrying Opium, from our different pre- 
 sidencies in India, to China. 
 
 4. The treaty of commerce between the East 
 India Company and the Chinese Government, or 
 the Chinese Authorities at Canton. 
 
 5. The orders of the East India Company to 
 their Commanders and Officers, prohibiting them 
 
THE OPIUM TRADE. 171 
 
 from conveying Opium in their ships, when the 
 East India Company had the monopoly of the trade 
 between England and China. 
 
 6. Copies of the decrees and manifestoes issued 
 by the Government of China, whether supreme or 
 provincial, for the prohibition of Opium, and the 
 suppression of the trade. 
 
 7. The quantity of land employed in the culti- 
 vation of the Poppy, within the territories of the 
 East India Company ; and the number of persons 
 engaged in that cultivation, and in the preparation 
 of Opium. 
 
 8. Copies of any other Chinese decrees or docu- 
 ments complaining of, or denouncing, any other 
 circumstances of the conduct and transactions of 
 British Merchants and Residents at Canton, 
 that all their grounds of complaint and reproach 
 against us may be fully known and investigated. 
 
 These are the points which require investi- 
 gation. And, when the facts have been duly 
 ascertained, and established by public and 
 authentic documents, it will then be for the 
 British Government and people to consider, 
 whether it be for the real welfare of this Nation, 
 whether it be for the honour of our Country and 
 i 2 
 
172 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 our Religion, that, while the heathen Govern- 
 ment of China is fully awake to the evils and 
 iniquities of this trade and practice, we should 
 shew ourselves utterly careless and uncon- 
 cerned on the subject? or that this heathen 
 Government should shew forth to all the world 
 a care and consideration for the welfare of 
 its subjects, physical and moral, which the 
 enlightened Government of this professedly 
 Christian country is so far from imitating, or 
 even estimating, that (with its eyes open, and 
 with full information on the subject) it will 
 stand by unconcerned, and countenance, in its 
 enlightened and professedly Christian subjects, 
 that system of smuggling, by which a poisonous 
 drug is introduced into China to the ruin and 
 destruction, moral and physical, of thousands 
 and tens of thousands of its inhabitants ? 
 
 " By their fruits ye shall know them," is a 
 plain scriptural rule ; and by our fruits, which 
 they have opportunity of beholding, will the 
 countless millions of Eastern Asia judge us. 
 Are we content that they should judge of our 
 
THE OPir.M TKADE. 17.* 
 
 Christian character and consistency, and of our 
 national honour and benevolence, by the facts 
 and circumstances of the Opium Trade with 
 China? As enlightened Britons not to say 
 as Christians, with our eyes open, and the 
 facts before us, do we consent to this I 
 
 In conclusion : I have called attention to facts 
 and documents : and documents and facts are 
 stubborn things. If these documents be authen- 
 tic, and if those facts be proved, I ask of every 
 considerate and reflecting man, Can it be doubted 
 but that the name and profession of Christianity 
 is grossly dishonoured by the fact (well known 
 throughout Eastern Asia), that those who pro- 
 fess and call themselves Christians are sys- 
 tematically and perseveringly engaged in this 
 iniquitous and poisonous traffic ? that our national 
 character is degraded, and covered with infamy 
 too well deserved, among the nations of the 
 East ? that, in connexion herewith, and as an 
 i 3 
 
174 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 inevitable consequence, the sinews of our strength 
 are enervated, and the very foundations of our 
 power in India perilled and endangered ? that 
 the greatest market in the world is compa- 
 ratively closed and that justly against the 
 productions of our national industry ? that we 
 are deservedly excluded from all honourable 
 and comfortable intercourse commercial or 
 diplomatic with the most populous Empire 
 upon earth ? that the cause of the glorious Gos- 
 pel of Christ itself is compromised, and the 
 progress of Christian missions among half the 
 population of the globe is effectually impeded ? 
 and that among three hundred, or rather five 
 hundred, millions of our fellow-men, we are 
 justly branded as wholesale corrupters and 
 murderers of an unoffending people ? And all 
 this for the sordid lust of gain ! ! 
 
 I call, observe, for solemn, public, thorough 
 investigation, in the first instance : for such 
 investigation as shall put the true state of the 
 question and the facts of the case beyond all 
 manner of doubt. In regard to details, and 
 
HIE OPIUM TRADE. 175 
 
 especially such details as can be reduced to 
 figures, I myself desire more full, more accurate, 
 more duly authenticated information, than 1 
 have been able to obtain. Let no one, there- 
 fore, triumph, or think that he has even touched 
 the grounds of my appeal, by detecting and 
 exposing some inaccuracies in the details of my 
 statement ; for all I could do was, to examine 
 the best evidence that came to hand, and to 
 lay the result fairly and faithfully before my 
 readers. Moreover, my concern with this ques- 
 tion is, first and mainly, as a matter of prin- 
 ciple ; to which the precise amount of the mis- 
 chief done is merely secondary and subordinate 
 even supposing that this amount could pos- 
 sibly be ascertained ; which (with regard to 
 some of the points of view in which I have con- 
 sidered the subject) is plainly out of the ques- 
 tion : for honour, morality, and religion are all 
 concerned ; and who shall pretend to esti- 
 mate their value '? But, in a case in which all 
 these are involved, I may and must call upon 
 all classes of the community upon all rank- 
 
176 INIQUITIES OF 
 
 and orders of men, from the highest to the 
 lowest to interpose and exert themselves. 
 
 I call upon Statesmen and Legislators upon 
 the Members of both Houses of Parliament, as 
 the proper and appointed guardians of both the 
 honour and the welfare of their country, to con- 
 sider how both are affected by the iniquities of 
 this traffic, which brings upon us shame and 
 reproach amongst one half of mankind, and 
 provokes against us the righteous judgments of 
 insulted Heaven. 
 
 I call upon the mercantile and manufacturing 
 classes to consider how their own welfare and 
 prosperity, and the comfort, if not (in some 
 cases) almost the subsistence of the labour- 
 ing classes of the community, are concerned 
 in this question ; and to ask themselves, whe- 
 ther this dishonourable traffic in a poisonous 
 drug shall be permitted, any longer, to deprive 
 every other class of merchants and manufac- 
 turers of those just gains of a lawful and laud- 
 able industry, which might be fairly expected 
 
HIE OPIUM TRADE. 177 
 
 from an open, unrestricted, honourable trade 
 with China? 
 
 Most of all, I call upon all British Christian* 
 to come forward as one man, in opposition to 
 this nefarious traffic, which brings such deep 
 disgrace upon the Christian name, and shuts 
 out effectually one-third of the human race 
 from even hearing the tidings of salvation. 
 If your zeal in the cause of Christian missions 
 has been sincere ; if your exertions in opposition 
 to Slavery and the Slave Trade had their foun- 
 dation in Christian principle and Christian phi- 
 lanthropy ; if you would not have it imagined, 
 that much of this has rather resulted from party 
 spirit ; then, I say, arouse and bestir your- 
 selves at the call of Christian humanity, to 
 labour still more earnestly, in opposition to a 
 yet more foul abominaiion more destructive in 
 its immediate effects and more pernicious in 
 its remoter consequences. Let it be seen by 
 all the world, that you are influenced by a truly 
 Christian abhorrence of that which is evil, in 
 
178 THE OPIUM TRADE. 
 
 whatsoever shape it may prevail ; and that you 
 can manifest Christian energy and perseverance, 
 in earnest and self-denying endeavours to put 
 down iniquity of whatever kind ; and wherever 
 and whenever it lifts up its head, to brave the 
 heavens, and bring down righteous vengeance 
 upon earth. 
 
 Printed by J. L. Cox and Sons, 75, Great Queen Street, 
 Lincoln's-Inn Fields. 
 
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