1 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 University of California. 
 
 Class 
 
 
 
 
 
:-? 
 
J 
 
BRITISH OPIUM POLICY 
 
 AND ITS BE8ULTS TO 
 
 INDIA AND CHINA 
 
 F. S. TURNER, B.A. 
 
 FORMEELT OP THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY; 
 
 SECRETAKY OF THE ANGLO-OEIENTAL SOCIETY FOE THE SUPPEESSION 
 
 OP THE OPIUM TEADE. 
 
 EonHon : 
 
 SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEA RLE, & RIVINGTON, 
 
 CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET. 
 
 1S76, 
 
,5 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 GILBEET AND EIVINGTON, PKi:STEIlS, 
 
 ST. JOHN'S SQUAliE. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 These chapters were written in the earlier months of 
 1874, in response to an advertisement inserted in 
 several newspapers inviting competitive essays upon 
 *' British Opium Policy, and its Results to India and 
 China." Th© author did not see the advertisement 
 until some time after its appearance, and the brief 
 interval allowed for the composition of the book was 
 for him abbreviated by the necessity of simultaneously 
 carrying on other labours. Marks of haste were 
 inevitable ; these have been, as far as possible, 
 removed in the process of revision for the press; 
 but he fears that the following pages still bear some 
 traces of the circumstances of their production. 
 
 Several months after the book was completed a 
 society, of which the author had the honour to be 
 appointed secretary, was formed to diffuse infor- 
 mation upon the subject, and to appeal to the 
 conscience of our Government and people against 
 the trade. This society now publishes the present 
 work, hoping that it will do service by promoting a 
 
 A 2 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 discussion of tlie real merits of the question. The 
 particular statements and opinions herein contained, 
 however, are put forth on the author's sole respon- 
 sibility; and the society he has the honour to serve 
 must not be held accountable for more than a general 
 approval of the design of the book. 
 
 Nearly two years have elapsed since the book was 
 written, during which time the opium question has 
 been debated in Parliament and the press. The 
 author has taken advantage of the process of revision 
 to alter statistics to the latest dates, to add a few 
 foot-notes and introduce some new matter into the 
 appendix, and to excise or qualify a few hasty 
 expressions. But the substance of the book remains 
 the same, and the chief result of two years' farther 
 study of the subject, and of interchange of thought 
 with many minds upon it, has been to intensify the 
 writer's conviction that England is verily guilty in 
 this matter. If only the nation could be aroused to feel 
 the absolute necessity of some change for the better, 
 the writer's chief end will be gained ; and he would 
 not repine though the spirit of reformation should 
 work in other modes than he has indicated. In the 
 meantime he has seen no cause to alter his opinion 
 that the right course would be to abandon the opium 
 monopoly, and to relieve China from the treaty 
 obligation to admit opium, promismg her, in lieu 
 thereof, our honest and hearty aid in every effort put 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 forth by the Chinese authorities to prohibit the trade 
 on their own coasts. 
 
 A word or two may be permitted here in explana- 
 tion of the author's dishke to the opium monopoly. 
 An able writer in the Contemporary Review (Feb., 
 1 876) urges that the wickedness lies, not in raising 
 money from opium by monopoly rather than by tax, 
 but in encouraging the production of opium, and in 
 compelling the Chinese to admit the opium thus pro- 
 duced. The author admits that the monopoly powers 
 now possessed by the Indian Government might 
 conceivably be used for exactly the contrary purpose 
 to that for which they have been and are used, viz. 
 to prevent, instead of to provide for export to China. 
 It is also possible, on the other hand, that the Indian 
 Government, if dispossessed of the monopoly, might 
 encourage the production of opium by private indi- 
 viduals for the sake of revenue. Therefore, if such 
 a change should ever be proposed by the Govern- 
 ment, it will be needful to watch the process, for 
 the purpose of preventing the public being deceived 
 by a sham reform. Nor will it be wise to expect 
 from any such change a substantial and permanent 
 relief of the Chinese. The Chinese themselves must 
 put down the opium trade in China. Our business 
 is to remove the obstacles we have placed in the way 
 of their doing so, and to encourage and assist them in 
 contending against the vice to the best of our ability. 
 
VI PEEFACE. 
 
 While so far agreeing with the Gonteinporary, the 
 author nevertheless cannot recant his profession of 
 political faith. To his mind, promotion of an evil and 
 permission of an evil are not the same thing, either in 
 the case of an individual or of that collection of 
 individuals called a Government. There are evils 
 which we cannot wisely interfere with, but which it 
 would be shame for us to encourage. Besides this 
 theoretical objection, there is a very grave practical 
 objection to the monopoly. As the Marquis of 
 Salisbury pointed out to the deputation the other 
 day, by means of the monopoly the Government 
 secures for itself the merchants' profit as well as the 
 tax. The trade never having been in private hands 
 from time immemorial, there is no class of persons 
 deprived of an advantage which they miss through 
 the prohibition of private trade. Hence it has 
 happened that the Government of India has been 
 able to extract millions from China without their 
 own subjects feeling the pressure at all. The temp- 
 tation has been irresistible, and the writer fears it 
 will be irresistible unto the end. So long as that 
 monopoly endures the Indian Government will 
 work it, as they have hitherto worked it, to enrich 
 their treasury, regardless of the consequences to 
 China. 
 
 The author, therefore, cannot withdraw his 
 protest against the Indian Government's direct 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 participation in the opium trade. Nevertheless, 
 as this book will show, he always regarded the 
 iniquity of forcing the drug into China as incom- 
 parably greater than that of having a Governmental 
 connexion with it in India. If insisting upon the 
 removal of the lesser evil has diverted attention 
 from the more serious one, nobody more sincerely 
 regrets the error in policy than himself. A new 
 session of Parliament is before us, and events have 
 drawn the public attention to China. It is to be 
 hoped that we shall prove we have learned wisdom 
 by experience, and shall not fail to make good use of 
 future opportunities. 
 
 Canada Building, King Street, Westminster, 
 24th February, 1876. 
 
X 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Question stated. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Opium, a medicine; a'stimulant; used chiefly in China — 
 Relations of England, India, and China to opium — 
 Question stated — Origin of the difficulty — East India 
 Company — Grand Mogul — Increase of the Revenue — 
 Dependence upon it — Who is responsible ? — Guilt not 
 to be taken for granted ...... 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Opium as a Stimulant, morally considered. 
 
 The use of Stimulants in general — Opium must be con- 
 sidered by itself — Opium not better than Alcohol — 
 Jardine, Matheson, and Co's. opinion — Two arguments 
 in support of it — Missionary testimony and its value — 
 Sir R. Alcock — Sir Thomas Wade — Heu Naetse's 
 testimony — An old Chinese Scholar — Opium in Assam 
 — Opium in Burma — Opium in China — Opium com- 
 pared with drink — Moderate Opium-smoking? — Rev.G. 
 John's opinion — Consul AVinchester's opinion — Some 
 smokers moderate — The majority immoderate — An 
 argument from human nature — Chinese opinion — Con- 
 clusions from foregoing survey — (1) Opium not used for 
 diet — (2) Seductive power of Opium — (3) Difference 
 between opium-smoking and drinking — (4) The former 
 harder to give up — No statistical information as to 
 number of smokers — Missionary hospitals, and ex- 
 perience of travellers — Sir R. Alcock does not believe 
 in moderation — National opinion in China . . .10 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The East India Company's Opium Policy. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Repression and Revenue — Principles of taxation — Repres- 
 sion in India — Mr. C.W. Bell's evidence — H. St. George 
 Tucker's do. — Despatch of the Directors — Prohibition 
 of the poppy in Bombay — Result of the Policy as 
 affecting India — Patna and Malwa — The Monopoly — 
 Abuse of the system of advances — An Argument in 
 favour of the Monopoly — Another argument against it 
 — Opium for export — Revenue fostered — Its increase — 
 Rivalry of Malwa opium — Monopoly in Malwa ex- 
 changed for a duty — The Company's chief customer — 
 Proportion sent to China — James Mill's opinion — Taxes 
 on foreigners — Our duty to China — A parable — The 
 Company's indifference and hypocrisy ... 40 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Opium Policy of the British Government. 
 
 Responsibility of Britain for the East India Company — 
 Parliamentary Committee of 1832 — British policy de- 
 scribed — Opening of the China Trade — Lord Napier's 
 mission — Chinese exclusiveness and arrogance — 
 Embassies of Lord Macartney and Lord Amherst — 
 Instructions to Lord Napier — Connivance at the 
 smuggling trade — Sir J. F. Davis at Lintin — Sir 
 G. B. Robinson — Native smuggling put down — The 
 foreigners persist in the contraband trade — Difficult 
 position of Captain Elliot — Applies for ships of war — 
 Surrender of the opium — Impolicy of the seizure — Its 
 substantial justice — War resolved on — The "Opium" 
 war — Debate in Parliament — Character of the war — 
 Indemnity exacted — The Trade not legalized — Sir H. 
 Pottinger's proclamation — Order in Council — Com- 
 plaint of the Chinese — Legalization of the traffic — 
 Lord Elgin's hesitation — The United States minister — 
 Interview with Chinese statesmen — The legalization 
 granted to force — Importance of the opium revenue — 
 
CONTENTS. • XI 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Opposition in the House of Commons — Lord Ashley — 
 Sir George Staunton — Legal opinion asked for in the 
 House of Lords — Sir W. Lawson's motion — Mr. Mark 
 Stewart's motion 65 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Chinese Anti-opium Policy. 
 
 Chinese Government paternal — Homiletic style of its edicts 
 — Repression of vice — Opposition to opium sincere — 
 Edicts against opium-smoking — Weakness of the 
 Government, and corruption of the officials — Choo 
 Tsun's reply — Results of the edicts — Warnings to the 
 foreigners — Heu Naetse's proposal to legalize the trade 
 — Government inquiries — Power of public opinion in 
 China — Repressive measures — Foreign merchants to 
 be expelled — Mr. Jardine's apology — Decision of the 
 Emperor — Obstinacy of the smugglers — Pressure put 
 on the Hong merchants — Attempted execution in the 
 foreign factories — Commissioner Lin — His effort a 
 failure — Cause of the failure — The Emperor's con- 
 sistency — Opium-smoking still illegal — Punishments in 
 Peking — Wen Seang's appeal to Sir R. Alcock— Sir 
 R. Alcock's comment thereon — Memorandum by Mr. 
 Wade — The trade still forced on the Chinese Govern- 
 ment 101 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 On Opium Cultivation in China. 
 
 Origin of opium-smoking and date of introduction of the 
 poppy into China unknown — Opinions of T. T. Cooper, 
 Dr. Wilson — Shanghai Delegates — Progress of the 
 poppy from the west eastwards — Shaou Chinghwuh — 
 Choo Tsun — R. C. Missionaries — Robinson Crusoe — 
 Chinese literature — Our responsibility for opium- 
 smoking in China — Chinese opium threatens our 
 revenue — Different opinions — Chinese Customs' Re- 
 ports, 1869 — Deduction therefrom — Consular Reports 
 for 1872 — Comparison of these Consular and Customs' 
 
Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Reports, and of both with report for 1863 — Memo, of 
 the Indian Government in 1871 — Progress in Eastern 
 China in 1873 — Present state of the Case — A possible 
 competition which would be fatal to China's prosperity 131 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Results of the British Opium Policy. 
 
 Extension of poppy cultivation — Trade laws of demand and 
 supply cannot defend it — Interference with supply of 
 grain — Famines in India — Danger of China — Yew 
 Pehchwan's statement — Results of the Policy to India 
 — Increase of consumption — Loss of reputation — 
 Dependence upon the revenue — Nemesis — Growth of 
 the revenue — Our abject dependence upon it — Results 
 to China — Victims of the pipe — Impoverishment of the 
 Country — Wars— Weakening of the Chinese Govern- 
 ment — Hostility to foreigners — Danger of war — 
 Obstruction of trade and improvements — Barrier to the 
 spread of Christianity — Blight upon Great Britain's 
 national reputation — Injury to Britain's moral character. 1 52 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Propositions for an Amended Opium Policy. 
 
 Preliminary requisite — Difficulty of touching the Revenue 
 — Repemtance and its fruits — India must pay her own 
 expenses — Indian finance — Retrenchment — Readjust- 
 ment — Mr. Fawcett's speech — England's help required 
 — First plan, extirpation of the poppy — Recommended 
 hesitatingly — Fallacious arguments against the real 
 objection — Oriental notions of Government — English 
 aversion to legislate for such ends — Sir William Muir's 
 scheme — Arguments against, commented on — Sir R. 
 Temple and Mr. Maine — Insufficiency of Sir W. Muir's 
 plan — Requirements of justice — Immediate and total 
 withdrawal from the trade — Removal of coercion from 
 the Chinese — Prevention of smuggling — Probable 
 results — Conclusions 176 
 
CONTENTS. Xlll 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Testimonies as to the Effects of Opium-eating and 
 Opium-smoking 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. William Lockbart, F.R.C.S., F.R.G.S. . . 219 
 
 11. J. Dudgeon, M.D., CM 224 
 
 III. W. H. Medhurst, H.M. Consul, Shanghai . . 230 
 
 IV. T. T. Cooper 231 
 
 V. Assistant- Surgeon Impey, Opium Examiner . 232 
 
 VI. Dr. Eatwell, Opium Examiner . . . .233 
 
 VII. Pareira's Materia Medica 235 
 
 VIII. Sir R. N. C. Hamilton 236 
 
 IX. Sir Benjamin C. Brodie 237 
 
 X. Dr. J. Carnegie 237 
 
 XI. De Quincey 237 
 
 XII. Sir D. F. McLeod 239 
 
 XIII. Lieut.-Col. James Todd 240 
 
 XIV. Dr. Oppenheim 240 
 
 XV. Rev. John Griffith 241 
 
 XVI. Dr. J. H. Bridges 242 
 
 XVII. Mr. Fortune . 243 
 
 XVIIL Abbe Hue 243 
 
 XIX. Dr. Medhurst . . . . . . .243 
 
 XX. Mr. A. Wylie 244 
 
 XXI. Dr. Johnston 244 
 
 XXII. Dr. Anstie 244 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 On the Probable Number of Opium-smokers in China. 
 
 Dr. Lockhart 248 
 
 Dr. Dudgeon 249 
 
 Mr. T. T. Cooper 251 
 
 Choo Tsun 252 
 
 Rev. Joseph Edkins 253 
 
XIV 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 Action of the Indian Government in Increasing the 
 Supply of Opium for the Foreign Trade. 
 
 Introductory Remarks 
 
 Mr. St. George Tucker 
 
 Sir Cecil Beadon 
 
 Sir William Muir 
 
 Honourable J. Strachey 
 
 Honourable W. Grey 
 
 Sir R. Temple 
 
 R. B. Chapman, Esq. 
 
 Sir Rutherford Alcock in Calcutta 
 
 PAGE 
 
 254 
 254 
 256 
 256 
 257 
 258 
 259 
 259 
 261 
 
 APPENDIX D. 
 Historical. 
 
 Extracts from " Correspondence relating to China," 1840 . 234 
 
 Letter to the Queen of England from the Imperial Com- 
 missioner Lin 279 
 
 Legal Opinion as to the East India Company's manufacture 
 
 and sale of Opium ....... 283 
 
 Correspondence relating to the Earl of Elgin's Special 
 
 Mission 288 
 
 APPENDIX E. 
 Opium in British Burma 
 
 290 
 
 APPENDIX F. 
 Progress of Poppy Cultivation in China. 
 
 Quarterly Review 293 
 
 Rev. G. John 293 
 
 Mr. Nusserwanjee 294 
 
CONTENTS. • 
 
 XV 
 
 Memorial of Yew Peli-Cb'waa 
 Consul Siuciair 
 Consul Medhurst 
 
 PAGE 
 
 295 
 296 
 297 
 
 APPENDIX G. 
 
 Statistical. 
 
 Import of opium into China, from Consular Report . . 302 
 
 ,, „ ,, from Customs' Report . . 303 
 
 Quarterly Review's Statement of the Indian Revenue and 
 
 Expenditure • , • • • • • • • 304 
 
 . 305 
 
 . 306 
 
 . 307 
 
 . 308 
 
 Export of Indian Opium to China 
 Net Opium Revenue from 1834-35 . 
 Cultivation and Manufacture in India 
 Table of Averages . . . . 
 
FOE THE SUPPEESSION OF THE OPIUM TEADE. 
 
 Vice='\pxtsitstnt9i, 
 
 THE RIGHT REV. THE LORD BISHOP OP RIPON. 
 
 THE RIGHT HON. RUSSELL GURNEY, M.P.. P.O., Q.C. 
 
 MR. ALDERMAN W. McARTHUR, M.P. 
 
 (fRcnnal CTounciI. 
 
 Francis N. Maltby, Esq. 
 
 .A. 
 
 Staffoed Allen, Esq. 
 
 Wm. S. Allen, Esq., M.P. 
 
 Professor Sheldon Amos, '. 
 
 Edwaed Raines, Esq. 
 
 Rev. G. S. Baeeett. 
 
 J. GuENET Baeclat, Esq. 
 
 Dr. T. J. Baenaedo. 
 
 Rev. W. Beaden. 
 
 Rev. GoEDON Caltheop, M.A. 
 
 W. T. Chaelet, Esq., D.C.L., M.P. 
 
 Lord Alfeed Ciiuechill. 
 
 J. J. Colman, Esq., M.P. 
 
 Sir Aethue Cotton. 
 
 James Cowan, Esq., M.P. 
 
 Rev. C. C. Fenn, M.A. 
 
 Sir H. M. Havelock, Bart., M.P. 
 
 Alfeed Howell, Esq. 
 
 Thomas Hughes, Esq., Q.C, F.S.A. 
 
 VValtee H. James, Esq., M.P. 
 
 Sir J. H. Kennaway, Bart., M.P. 
 
 A. Lang, Esq. 
 
 Peofessoe Leone Levi, F.S.A., F.S.S. 
 
 Rev. Canon Liddon, D.D., D.C.L. 
 
 Aethue Albeigut, Esq. 
 
 General R. Alexandee. 
 
 RoBEET Baxtee, Esq. 
 
 F. W. Chesson, Esq. 
 
 P. C. Clayton, Esq. 
 
 R. N. FOWLEE, Esq. 
 
 Rev. H. Geattan Guinness. 
 
 Samuel Gueney, Esq., F.R.G.S., 
 
 F.L.S. 
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 treasurer— R. N. Fowlee, Esq. 
 
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 A. McAethue, Esq., M.P. 
 
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 Rev. Canon Millee, D.D. 
 
 Rev. H. C. Milwaed. 
 
 Hon. Capt. Moeeton. 
 
 Rev. J. Mullens, D.D. 
 
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 Rev. G. T. Peeks, M.A. 
 
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 Rev. C. H. Spuegeon. 
 
 Rev. R. Tabeaham. 
 
 J. Thomson, Esq., F.R.G.S. 
 
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 Rev. C. J. Vaughan, D.D. 
 
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 &c., &c., &c. 
 CFxccuti&c Committee. 
 
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BRITISH OPIUM POLICY 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE QUESTION STATED. 
 
 Opium is the milky juice which exudes from the 
 seed-pods of the pajpm-er somniferum, the somniferous 
 or white ' poppy. The name, derived from otto?, 
 vegetable juice which flows naturally from a plant, 
 or is drawn off by incision, indicates the high repute 
 of the drug in antiquity. Opium still maintains 
 its pre-eminence. In Pareira's great work on 
 medicines the virtues of this precious drug are 
 thus described : " Opium is undoubtedly the most 
 important and valuable remedy of the whole Materia 
 Medica. For other medicines we have one or more 
 substitutes, but for opium, none, — at least in the 
 large majority of cases in which its peculiar and 
 beneficial influence is required. Its good effects are 
 not, as is the case with some valuable medicines, 
 
 ^ " The petals vary from white to red or violet, with usually a 
 dark purplish spot at the base of each." — P hamiacograpkia, hy 
 Fliickiger and Hanbury. 
 
 1 ;' B 
 
2 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 remote and contingent; but they are immediate, 
 direct, and obvious ; and its operation is not attended 
 with pain or discomfort. Furthermore, it is appHed, 
 and with the greatest success, to the relief of 
 maladies of every day's occurrence, some of which 
 are attended with acute human suffering." Indige- 
 nous in Asia, the first abode of the human species, 
 the poppy has long been cultivated in Egypt, Turkey, 
 Persia, India, and recently in China and Manchuria. 
 It is well known in our gardens, grows wild in 
 some parts of England, and is cultivated in Surrey 
 for the supply of poppy-heads to the London 
 market. From the time of Hippocrates to the 
 present day it has been the physician's invalu- 
 able ally in his struggles against disease and 
 death. 
 
 But man's greatest baneS are next door to his 
 chief blessings. The knowledge of good and evil 
 have always grown on the same tree. This bene- 
 ficent medical agent opium has been perverted from 
 its rightful use into a means of vicious, because 
 highly injurious, sensual pleasure. When and where 
 this perversion first took place we cannot even 
 conjecture. It is not until comparatively modern 
 times that this secondary use of opium has pushed 
 itself into world-wide notoriety. One medical writer 
 attributes the growth of the practice to the progress 
 of Mohammedanism, which operated as a check to the 
 consumption of intoxicating liquors, and thus cleared 
 the way for the insidious advances of this gentler 
 but more enslaving stimulant. The drug is not 
 
THE QUESTION STATED. 3 
 
 equally acceptable to all races and all constitutions. 
 In Turkey and Persia it lias had numerous votaries. 
 In India, tlie great source of supply, it is, in com- 
 parison with the population, but sparsely consumed. 
 It is in China that the habit of using opium as a 
 luxury has made the mightiest strides, and has pro- 
 duced those grave consequences which make " the 
 opium question " one of the most serious questions 
 of the day. More opium is consumed in China than 
 in all the rest of the world, and nearly the whole of 
 the opium imported into China is shipped from 
 Calcutta and Bombay. The East and the West, 
 England, India, and China, act and react upon each 
 other through the medium of poppy-juice. Simple 
 mention of the relations which these three great 
 countries bear to the drug is enough to show j 
 that a very grave question is involved in the trade : 
 England is the grower, manufacturer, and seller; 
 India furnishes the farm and the factory; China V 
 is buyer and consumer. The question which ob- 
 viously arises is this, is it morally justifiable and 
 politically expedient for the English nation to con- 
 tinue the production and sale of a drug so dele- 
 terious to its consumers ? Before, however, we enter 
 upon a consideration of this question, we must ex- 
 plain how it has come to pass that the British nation 
 has got into this unseemly position. Otherwise the 
 fact that the British Government is actually impli- 
 cated in such a trade may well appear incredible. 
 
 If, for instance, any minister could be shameless 
 enough to suggest that England should embark on 
 
 B 2 
 
4 BRITISH OPIUM POLIOY. 
 
 a vast scale into the business of distillers, and with 
 national funds, by servants of Government, under 
 inspection and control of Parliament, produce and 
 export annually ten or twenty millions' worth of 
 gin and whiskey to intoxicate the populous tribes 
 of Central Africa, he would be greeted by a general 
 outcry of indignation. Yet the very thing which we 
 scout as an imagination, we consent to as a reality. 
 We are maintaining our Indian Empire by our profits 
 as wholesale dealers in an article which, to say the 
 best of it, is as bad as gin ! The predicament is so 
 humiliating, that the reader will be inclined to resent 
 having it thrust upon his attention. By whose 
 blunder, by what strange combination of affairs has 
 it come to pass that Great Britain has got into this 
 miserable position? We find a certain measure 
 of relief in casting the responsibility upon the East 
 India Company. That Company was at first simply 
 a trading association, and it seems not incongruous 
 that it should have mixed up government and com- 
 merce in this undesirable fashion. 
 
 It is again a relief to learn that the Directors of 
 the East India Company did not primarily institute 
 the opium monopoly. The historian of British 
 India, James Mill, tells us, and we find his state- 
 [ ment confirmed by evidence presented to the House 
 of Commons in 1830, that the " Mogul government 
 uniformly sold the opium monopoly, and the East 
 India Company followed their example." At the 
 same time the East India Company inherited from 
 the oriental despotism which it overthew another 
 
THE QUESTION STATED. 5 
 
 monopoly repugnant to our western ideas, that of 
 salt. This, however, must be noted to their credit, 
 that the directors refused to allow these monopolies 
 of opium and salt to be carried to the accounts of 
 the shareholders of their stock. From the first, the 
 proceeds were carried to the Government account, 
 and applied to state purposes. As we shall see when 
 we come to treat of their pohcy, the Committee in 
 Leadenhall Street were fully aware of the evil effects 
 of opium-eating ; and we may suppose them to have 
 continued the customary monopoly as much in order 
 to restrict the consumption as to add to their 
 
 revenues. But the export to China, which had been 
 up to 1767 only some two hundred chests a year, a 
 supply which legitimate medical use could account 
 for, gradually increased, until the hundreds had 
 become thousands, and the thousands tens of 
 thousands. The Company sedulously fostered this 
 export trade which poured lacs of rupees in a 
 steadily increasing stream into their treasury. As 
 the revenue derived therefrom swelled in amount, 
 the trade became more and more the object of their 
 solicitude. Long before the Directors resigned 
 their functions to the British Parliament, the 
 millions of profits had become indispensable to the 
 solvency, and therefore to the stability of their 
 Government. Since India came directly under im- 
 perial rule the opium revenue, and with it the 
 dependence of our Indian Empire upon the profits 
 of the trade, have increased to still more formidable 
 dimensions. In one year nearly eight millions 
 
b BRITISH oriCFM POLICY. 
 
 sterling accrued from opium, about two-thirds of 
 whicli consisted of direct profits from the sales of 
 the opium produced by Government. During recent 
 years between a sixth and a seventh of the annual 
 income of our East Indian estate has been derived 
 from this source. There is, therefore, no exaggera- 
 tion in saying that we are maintaining our splendid 
 sovereignty in Asia, and thus the integrity and glory 
 of the British Empire, by the profits of our drug- 
 selling speculations. Should the trade be suddenly 
 closed — a catastrophe by no means beyond the 
 range of possibility — then bankruptcy and ruin 
 would stare our Indian Government in the face. 
 
 Whether this dependence upon opium profits is 
 politically expedient is a question not unworthy the 
 consideration of those who love their country. But 
 a much more profound and solemn question is this, 
 whether it can be morally justifiable for a nation to 
 uphold its sway by profits derived from the en- 
 couragement of the vices of mankind ? We invite 
 the reader to a candid consideration of these grave 
 questions. We shall state facts and arguments that 
 make against the conclusion we have arrived at, as 
 well as those preponderating considerations which 
 appear to us to establish it, and shall make no 
 attempt to locate the criminality of the trade in this 
 quarter or that. To anathematize the wickedness of 
 corporations and to fulminate reproaches against the 
 dead would be waste of breath. We continue the 
 deeds of our fathers, and must bear our own respon- 
 sibility. Nor can we get rid of the burden by shifting 
 
THE QUESTION STATED. 7 
 
 it on to the shoulders of the British or the Indian 
 Government. The responsibility rests upon the 
 whole people. No minister, no Parliament could 
 touch a matter so vital to the maintenance of our 
 empire without the constraining influence of a 
 mighty expression of public opinion to support them. 
 Every British citizen therefore, who, directly or in- 
 directly, has the smallest share in determining the 
 course of the Government of his country, is in that 
 measure responsible for our opium policy. If we 
 in our hearts prefer to let a bad system alone, 
 because it would be troublesome and expensive to 
 interfere with it; because perchance the wrong 
 could not be righted without our having to con- 
 tribute an infinitesimal fraction of the cost out of 
 our own pocket; then, though we may verbally 
 condemn, we in fact endorse the system, and make 
 the guilt our own. 
 
 But is there guilt ? Many persons will shrink from 
 admitting this. Deriving a revenue in this way has, 
 they admit, an ugly look; but they are loth to. 
 grant that it is necessarily immoral. Do we not in ^ 
 England derive an immense proportion of our 
 national revenue from the taxes on intoxicating/ 
 drinks ? Is the consumption of opium any worse 
 than that of alcohol ? Is it quite so bad ? What- 
 ever makes a deleterious article more costly must so 
 far lessen its use, and limit vicious indulgence. 
 These extenuations and defences must receive a 
 candid consideration. De Quincey,^ — author of the 
 ^ See Note, De Quincey, in Appendix (A). 
 
8 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 English classic of opium, those " confessions " which 
 are not confessions, but an apologia pro vita sua, an 
 elaborate essay to whitewash his reputation, and 
 varnish over the smirching blot of a self-indulgent 
 habit by the glitter of a fascinating literary style, — 
 De Quincey boldly anticipates assaults upon his 
 beloved narcotic, and tries to forestall adverse judg- 
 ments against his lifelong bondage to it, by a 
 passage which might be supposed to be expressly 
 aimed against the present writer. " I say," he 
 writes in his preface, " that opium, or any agent of 
 equal power, is entitled to assume that it was 
 revealed to man for some higher object than that it 
 should furnish a target for moral denunciations, 
 ignorant where they are not hypocritical, childish 
 where not dishonest; that it should be set up as a 
 theatrical scarecrow for superstitious terrors, of 
 which the result is oftentimes to defraud human 
 suffering of its readiest alleviation, and of which the 
 purpose is ' Ut pueris placeant et declamatio fiant.^ " 
 This quotation he is pleased to translate: 'Hhat 
 they may win the applause of school-boys and 
 furnish matter for a prize essay. '^ Unmoved by the 
 ingenious device of the brilliant opium-eater to 
 cast contempt upon our subject, and insinuate 
 suspicion of our impartiality, we shall proceed now 
 in the next chapter to consider the moral standing 
 of the use of opium as a pleasurable stimulant. 
 That it was revealed for some higher object than to 
 minister to the voluptuous reveries of a De Quincey 
 has already been sufficiently established by the 
 
THE QUESTION STATED. 9 
 
 medical authority of Pareira. Its use by persons in 
 health as a means of procuring sensuous gratifica- 
 tion, no one " is entitled to assume " to be innocent 
 and lawful. Nor on the other hand would it be fair 
 to assume a priori that a practice to which some 
 millions of our race are addicted is a vice, and a 
 worse vice than any we have a leaning to. Let us 
 try to weigh it in the scales of justice and truth, and 
 decide according to the facts. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 OPIUM AS A STIMULANT MOEALLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 The subject of this essay can be discussed without 
 requiring writer or reader to commit himself to an 
 extreme opinion upon stimulants in general. The 
 use of stimulants is well-nigh universal. It would 
 be difficult to point out the nation or tribe, almost 
 the individual, altogether independent of them. As 
 tea, coffee, chicory, coca, chocolate, tobacco, betel- 
 nut, wine, beer, spirits, haschisch, opium, &c., they 
 enter into the daily diet of nearly all mankind. 
 Most of these stimulants are liable to serious abuse, 
 and hardly the most innocent of them has escaped 
 vehement condemnation. Coffee was much opposed 
 on its first introduction. The wise and good John 
 Wesley earnestly deprecated the practice of drinking 
 tea. The blast which King James blew against 
 tobacco still has its echoes. Mr. William Hoyle 
 tells us, "All the maltsters, brewers, distillers, 
 publicans, &c., are persons who are not only unpro- 
 ductively, but destructively employed. They take 
 the good grain and produce, which a bountiful 
 Providence has given us for food, and destroy it by 
 
OPIUM AS A STIMULANT MOEALLY CONSIDERED. 11 
 
 manufacturing from it a maddening and poisonous 
 drink, whicli is distributed broadcast over the 
 country, to the destruction both of the health, 
 morals, and material weal of the people." Opium 
 has been inveighed against as " a vile poison," " an 
 infernal drug," which has " annually slain its hun- 
 dred thousand victims;" the seller of which is "a 
 murderer," and the consumer " a suicide." Our 
 inquiry, however, need not be cumbered by irrelevant 
 issues. The question before us relates to opium 
 alone. We have nothing to do here with tea, to- 
 bacco, or alcohol, except as they may be used for 
 illustrations. We have to consider whether opium- 
 smoTcing is an innocent enjoyment or a vicious indul- 
 gence, and we must rigidly confine ourselves to the 
 question before us. In order to discuss it fairly, we 
 need to guard ourselves both against the prejudice 
 which may unconsciously result from the similarity 
 of this question to other questions about which we 
 may already have formed strong opinions, and also 
 against the natural tendency of the mind to react 
 against excited, perhaps exaggerated, language. 
 
 Now in considering this grave and dijficult 
 question, we must deal with it as a practical ques- 
 tion, to be determined by the facts, so far as they 
 are ascertainable. All theories about stimulants 
 notwithstanding, the practical sense of mankind has 
 already passed different judgments upon particular 
 stimulants. The " cup which cheers but not in- 
 ebriates " is blessed alike by rich and poor. Tobacco 
 has its ardent advocates and its determined foes. 
 
12 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 When we come to alcohol we are touching one of 
 the burning questions of the day. Though the 
 Bible can be quoted in praise of the juice of the 
 grape, though poets of all nations have sung its 
 joys, though it can plead immemorial antiquity, 
 world-wide custom, and an unquestionable moderate 
 use in its favour, yet the evils of intemperance 
 among our own Anglo-Saxon race are so flagrant, 
 that no one with a heart in his breast can fail to be 
 staggered by the contemplation of them. Would it 
 then, be the right thing to lay alcohol under a ban, 
 to set our breweries and distilleries in a blaze, to 
 pour the contents of the wine and brandy vaults 
 of our docks into the Thames, to prohibit absolutely 
 the most innocent use of the intoxicating beverages, 
 in order to save our country from the unquestionably 
 fearful consequences of their abuse ? There are true 
 philanthropists and Christians who shrink from 
 such a measure as impracticable, unwise, not the 
 true, Divine method of fighting against vice ; but 
 while not prepared for such decisive action, they 
 will readily acknowledge that the evils produced by 
 drink in this Christian England of ours are of such 
 appalling magnitude as to give the advocates of total 
 suppression a good prima facie case, for an opinion 
 which is, if an error, at least an error leaning to 
 virtue's side. 
 
 If such be the state of the case as regards alcohol, 
 a careful perusal of the evidence we are about to 
 present in this chapter, and of that in our Appendix 
 (A), will convince the impartial reader, that opium 
 
OPIUM AS A STIMULANT MORALLY CONSIDEEED. 13 
 
 cannot pretend to a more favourable judgment than 
 alcohol : the only question being whether it must 
 not receive a worse condemnation. " Few," to 
 quote the Quarterly Bevieiu,^ " few will be found to 
 believe the assertion of the great opium dealers 
 Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Co., that opium is 
 eminently beneficial to the Chinese, and that they 
 themselves are, mere commercial considerations 
 apart, philanthropic benefactors of the human race." 
 It is true that arguments have been adduced in sup- 
 port of this amazing assertion : but these arguments 
 will avail most where least is known of China and 
 the Chinese. These curious arguments are two. 
 First, that the universal predilection of the Chinese 
 for opium is owing to the malarious character of the 
 country. Secondly, that the use of opium is a 
 wholesome corrective to the unwholesome, even 
 putrid, food which the Chinese consume. The 
 reply to the first is that the country over which 
 opium is smoked is, in area, about the size of 
 Europe, and includes perhaps an equal variety of 
 sites, soils, and cUmates ; great plains level as 
 our Fen district, and mountainous regions like the 
 highlands of Scotland. " Ague is almost unknown 
 in many of the provinces."^ Yet everywhere, in all 
 climates, on all soils, under every variety of con- 
 dition and circumstance throughout that vast empire, 
 the Chinese smoke opium. But nowhere do they all 
 smoke. The smokers are but a percentage, greater 
 
 ' Volume 130, p. 101. 
 
 ' Vide Dr. Dudgeon's Peking Hospital Report, 1873, p. 15. 
 
14 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 or smaller, in any place. If eighty or ninety out of 
 a hundred persons enjoy good health in a certain 
 district without the use of opium; those who do 
 take it cannot expect the necessity of their doing so 
 to be taken for granted. The second argument is 
 likely to tell among untravelled Englishmen who 
 imagine that the celestials dine upon puppy and sup 
 upon rat. The Chinese are on the whole clean 
 feeders. Their universal food, rice and vegetables, 
 fish and pork, is as far as possible from " putrid and 
 unwholesome." They will eat some things that we 
 will not: for instance, eggs which are decidedly 
 rotten. But they strongly object to certain kinds of 
 food which delight the European epicure : such as 
 high-flavoured game, and cheese with insect life 
 visible in it. These are matters of taste; but the 
 assertion that the nature of the Chinese food requires 
 opium as a corrective, is as true as the Chinese 
 notion that Englishmen cannot digest their food and 
 perform natural functions without the regular con- 
 sumption of Chinese rhubarb ! Keither of these 
 arguments is known to the Chinese as an excuse for 
 indulgence in opium : both were invented for their 
 effect on this side of the water. Possibly there are 
 physiological peculiarities which determine the pre- 
 dilection of races for particular stimulants ; but if so, 
 these are at present undiscovered. 
 
 Among the testimonies collected in the Appendix 
 we especially call attention to the statements of 
 Dr. Lockhart, not only because they proceed from a 
 medical man, whose long residence in China, and 
 
OPIUM AS A STIMULANT MORALLY CONSIDERED. 15 
 
 frequent personal intercourse with opium-smokers, 
 and careful study of the subject give him a strong 
 claim to most respectful hearing ; but because of the 
 evident effort to set aside prejudice, and present 
 nothing beyond the plain facts. 
 
 Those who set aside all missionary testimony as 
 inevitably coloured by prejudice would do well to 
 consider that there is prejudice and prejudice. The 
 bias of the missionary who has no object but the 
 glory of Grod and the salvation of mankind is a very 
 different thing from the bias of the merchant who 
 every year adds to his profits by the questionable 
 traffic. How gladly the missionary would explain away 
 the inconsistency between the opium trade and the 
 Christian name, if he could ! Is it a pleasure to him to 
 be compelled to confess before a Chinese crowd, that 
 he can make no apology for his countrymen in this 
 matter ? There is no one who would be reheved of 
 a heavier incubus if this trade could be cleared from 
 the stigma attaching to it. Sneers at " Exeter Hall 
 philanthropy " are cheap, and in some quarters tell- 
 ing. But the philosophical student of human nature 
 will acknowledge that though nearly all men are 
 prejudiced in respect to every matter they take deep 
 interest in, there are some prejudices which, from 
 their very nature, dispose a man to see the truth, 
 and others which tend to blind his eyes to the most 
 obvious facts. Clarkson and Wilberforce, Lloyd 
 Garrison, Wendel Phihps, and Mrs. Beecher Stowe, 
 were undoubtedly steeped in prejudice up to the 
 eyes against slavery, while slave-holding planters 
 
16 
 
 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 were immersed over-head in prejudice in its favour. 
 But now tliat we look back upon the controversy, 
 the judgment of mankind hesitates not to say which 
 party was right. There is a prejudice the spirit of 
 which is, " We can do nothing against the truth, 
 but for the truth." We are not careful, therefore, 
 to clear missionaries from all imputation of pre- 
 judice. Let the reader weigh their evidence as 
 scrutinizingly as he pleases. In matters of opinion 
 he may find it necessary to allow some deduction on 
 this account. In matters of fact we are persuaded 
 that their testimony will abide scrutiny. 
 
 That, on the most lenient view, the consumption of 
 opium produces physical and moral evils, fully com- 
 mensurate with those produced by intoxicating 
 drinks, is a proposition which can be established 
 apart from missionary testimony. Pareira, in " Ma- 
 teria Medica," and Dr. Anstie, author of a standard 
 work on Stimulants, are decisive upon this point. 
 Drs. Eatwell and Impey, opium examiners under 
 the Bengal Government, venture no more in defence 
 of the manufacture, than to suggest that the use of 
 opium is not a more serious evil than the use of 
 alcohol amongst ourselves. Mr. Cooper, the traveller 
 — extracts from whose evidence will be found in the 
 Appendix — uses stronger language as to the terrible 
 results of opium smoking to China generally, than I 
 have found in the writings of any missionary. A 
 quotation here of a witness, whose high position and 
 intimate connexion with the subject combine to 
 render his testimony of prime importance, and who 
 
OPIUM AS A STIMULANT MORALLY CONSIDERED. 17 
 
 is free from suspicion of any leaning to the mis- 
 sionary side, ought to be sufficient alone to set this 
 question at rest. Sir Rutherford Alcock, K.C.B., 
 her Majesty's Minister in China, examined before 
 the Committee of the House of Commons, June 6, 
 1871, gave his evidence thus:' — 
 
 " 5738. ' Can the evils, physical, moral, com- 
 mercial, and political, as respects individuals, 
 families, and the nation at large, of indulgence 
 in this vice be exaggerated ? ' — (Sir R. Alcock.) 
 *I have no doubt that, where there is a great 
 amount of evil, there is always a certain danger 
 of exaggeration ; but looking to the universality 
 of the behef among the Chinese, that whenever 
 a man takes to smoking opium, it will probably 
 be the impoverishment and ruin of his family — a 
 popular feehng which is universal both amongst 
 those who are addicted to it, who always consider 
 themselves as moral criminals, and amongst those 
 who abstain from it, and are merely endeavour- 
 ing to prevent its consumption — it is difficult not 
 to conclude that what we hear of it is essentially 
 true, and that it is a source of impoverishment and 
 ruin to families.' " 
 
 The evident care employed here to express as 
 moderate an opinion as possible should give these 
 sentences great weight. Note particularly the 
 important statement about the " universal belief of 
 the Chinese." To the testimony of our late repre- 
 
 ' Vide Report, East India Finance, 1871. (363.) Page 275. 
 
 C 
 
18 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 sentative at the Court of Peking we can add that of 
 Sir Thomas Wade, who now occupies that important 
 post. He says,* — 
 
 " I cannot endorse the opinion of Messrs. Jardine, 
 Matheson, and Co., that * the use of opium is not a 
 curse, but a comfort and a benefit, to the hard- 
 working Chinese.' As in all cases of sweeping 
 criticism, those who condemn the opium trade may 
 have been guilty of exaggeration. They have been 
 especially mistaken in representing the British 
 Government and people as responsible for the intro- 
 duction of opium to the knowledge of the Chinese ; 
 the Chinese knew it long before we brought them 
 opium from India. But it is impossible to deny 
 that we bring them that quality which — in the south, 
 at all events — tempts them the most, and for which 
 they pay dearest. It is to me vain to think other- 
 wise of the use of the drug in China than as of a 
 habit many times more pernicious, nationally speak- 
 ing, than the gin and whiskey drinking which we 
 deplore at home. It takes possession more insi- 
 diously, and keeps its hold to the full as tenaciously. 
 I know no case of radical cure. It has insured, in 
 every case within my knowledge, the steady descent, 
 moral and physical, of the smoker, and it is, so far, 
 a greater mischief than drink, that it does not, by 
 external evidence of its effect, expose its victim to 
 the loss of repute which is the penalty of habitual 
 drunkenness. There is reason to fear that a higher 
 
 * China. No. 5, (1871). Correspondence respecting the Re- 
 vision of the Treaty of Tientsin, page 432. 
 
OPIUM AS A STIMULANT MORALLY CONSIDERED. 19 
 
 class than used to smoke in Commissioner Lin's day- 
 are now taking to the practice." 
 
 For Chinese testimony we cannot quote more 
 satisfactory evidence than that of the Mandarin 
 Heu Naetse, who in 1836 memorialized the Emperor 
 Taou Kwang to legalize the importation of opium, 
 and therefore is not to be suspected of going out of 
 his way to magnify its evils : ^ — 
 
 " I would humbly represent that opium was 
 originally ranked among medicines ; its qualities are 
 stimulant; it also checks excessive secretions, and 
 prevents the evil effects of noxious vapours. In the 
 'Materia Medica' of Le Shechin of the Ming 
 dynasty it is called Afoo-yung. 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 
 Hfe. 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 will be found, on examination, 
 
 that the smokers of opium are idle, lazy vagrants, 
 having no useful purpose before them, and are 
 unworthy of regard, or even contempt." 
 
 Not only a long series of official documents, of 
 
 which the above is a specimen, but numerous 
 
 pamphlets, ballads, pictures, and illustrated sheets, 
 
 proclaim the Chinese popular conviction that opium 
 
 ' Correspondence relating to China, 1840, page 156. 
 
 c 2 
 
20 BEITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 is a terrible curse to their land. An old Chinese 
 scholar thus summarized the evils of opium : — 
 "1st. It destroys and shortens life ; 2nd, it unfits 
 for the discharge of all duties ; 3rd, it squanders 
 substance, houses, lands, money, and sometimes, it 
 is reported, wives and children are sold to obtain it; 
 and 4th, it injures population. The children of 
 confirmed opium-smokers are said to be childless in 
 the third generation. More than half of such 
 smokers are themselves childless, and the other half 
 have fewer children than those of other countries, 
 and their offspring seldom live to become old 
 
 men." 
 
 As abundant evidence of Chinese antagonism to 
 opium will be found in subsequent chapters, let us 
 now turn to other countries, and see what reputation 
 the drug has acquired for itself there. 
 
 In the Eeport of the Select Committee already 
 adduced, we have the evidence of Sir Cecil Beadon, 
 Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, respecting Assam : — 
 
 " 3523. 'Now I will ask you just to turn your eye 
 in the direction of Assam. Is it not the fact that the 
 population of Assam is almost entirely demoralized 
 by the quantity of opium which is produced and 
 used there?' — (Sir C. Beadon.) 'It was.' 
 
 "3524. 'There has been a change lately, has 
 there?' — 'Some ten years ago the Government 
 prohibited the manufacture of opium in Assam ; up 
 to that time it had been free.' 
 
 "8525. ' And during that time the population was 
 immensely demoraHzed ? ' — ' Very much demoralized. 
 
OPIUM AS A STIMULANT MORALLY CONSIDERED. 21 
 
 The reason that was assigned for it was, that it was 
 eaten by the women and children ; the children from 
 their earliest years were accustomed to suck rags 
 saturated with opium.' " 
 
 This evidence of Sir C. Beadon is illustrated by 
 the following extract from Mr. Bruce' s tea report, 
 date 1839 :— 
 
 " This vile drug has kept, and does now keep, 
 down the population ; the women have fewer 
 children compared with those of other countries, 
 and these children seldom live to be old men, but in 
 general die at manhood — very few old men being 
 seen in this country in comparison with others. 
 Few but those who have resided long in this 
 unhappy land know the dreadful and immoral 
 effects which the use of opium produces on the 
 native. He will steal, sell his property, his children, 
 the mother of his children, and finally commit 
 murder to obtain it." 
 
 Passing from Assam to Burma, the same Parlia- 
 mentary Keport gives us, in the words of Dr. George 
 Smith, a fearful account of the ravages of the opium 
 vice in British territory : — 
 
 " 5097. *Does the Excise department promote the 
 consumption of opium in India as zealously as that of 
 alcohol ? ' — * In the Indo-Chinese districts of British 
 Burma, the action of the departments in promoting 
 the sale of opium has long been a public scandal. 
 The evil has been officially reported to the Govern- 
 ment of India by the late Chief Commissioner, Sir 
 Arthur Phayre; and in a published official report 
 
v*^ 
 
 22 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 by Mr. Wheeler, Secretary to the present Chief 
 Commissioner, the evil is again described for the 
 information of Government in the following lan- 
 guage : — " Mr. Hind, Assistant Commissioner, came 
 on board. This gentleman appears to have a large 
 local experience of Aracan, dating back from 1835. 
 The principal object of his conversation was to 
 impress me with the demoralizing effects of the 
 Bengal akbari laws upon the impulsive, pleasure- 
 loving people of Burma ; and certainly he furnished 
 sufficient data to prove the utter fallacy of the 
 general conclusion, that what is good for India is 
 good for Burma._\ Prior to the introduction of 
 - British rule into Aracan, the punishment for using 
 opium was death. The people were hard-working, 
 sober, and simple-minded. Unfortunately, one of 
 the earliest measures of our administration was the 
 introduction of the akbari rules by the Bengal Board 
 of Revenue. Mr. Hind, who had passed the greater 
 part of his long life amongst the people of Aracan, 
 described the progress of demoralization. Organized 
 efforts were made by Bengal agents to introduce the 
 use of the drug, and to create a taste for it amongst 
 the rising generation. The general plan was to 
 open a shop with a few cakes of opium, and to invite 
 the young men and distribute it gratuitously. Then, 
 when the taste was established, the opium was sold 
 at a low rate. Finally, as it spread throughout the 
 neighbourhood, the price was raised, and large 
 profits ensued. Sir Arthur Phayre's account of the 
 demoralization of Aracan by the Bengal akbari rules 
 
OPIUM AS A STIMULANT MOEALLY CONSIDEBED. 23 
 
 is very graphic ; but Mr. Hind's statements were 
 more striking, as he entered more into detail. He 
 saw a fine healthy generation of strong men suc- 
 ceeded by a rising generation of haggard opium- 
 smokers and eaters, who indulged to such an extent 
 that their mental and physical powers were alike 
 wasted. Then followed a fearful increase in gam- 
 bling and dacoity." ' " ^ 
 
 As in Assam and Burmah, so in China, opium is 
 accused of ruining the moral character of its votaries. 
 The Rev. Griffith John writes : — 
 
 " The moral effects of opium- smoking are of the 
 most pernicious kind. It seems to paralyze the 
 moral nature. It bedims the moral vision, blunts 
 the moral instincts, and extinguishes every virtue. 
 Strong drink may upset the balance of the mind for 
 the time, but opium seems to absorb all its virtues, 
 and leave it a dead, emotionless thing. The Chinese 
 say that an opium-smoker is always devising some 
 mischief, and that not the slightest confidence can 
 be safely reposed in him. Whilst in affluent circum- 
 stances, the danger is not so great ; but the moment 
 penury sets in, he becomes an object of suspicion 
 and aversion to aU around him. There is nothing 
 too mean or too corrupt for him to attempt in order 
 to aUay the insufferable craving for the drug. He 
 will ruin his parents, and even sell his wife and 
 children to procure the necessary supply." ' 
 
 After reading this combination of testimony, few 
 
 * Report, East India Finance, 1871, page 235. 
 ^ Nonconformist, 1870. 
 
24 KBITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 will dispute that opium must be reckoned as at least 
 on a par with alcohol as to its evil influence on 
 health, wealth, and morals. We have no data to 
 enable us to make a statistical comparison of the 
 effects of the two stimulants. Rhetoric might have 
 put down the deaths from opium in China at half a 
 milUon instead of one hundred thousand, and yet fall 
 short of the death-rate ascribed to drink in this 
 country. And the money value of all the opium 
 consumed in China in twelve months perhaps would 
 not exceed one-fifth of the 131,601,490/. which, 
 according to Mr. Hoyle, was expended upon intoxi- 
 cating liquors in the United Kingdom during the 
 year 1872. But then it must be remembered that 
 China is a very poor country compared with Great 
 Britain, and also that opium-smoking is quite a new 
 vice in the Middle Kingdom. It dates, in any 
 serious dimensions, no farther back than the present 
 century. Give it time, and it bids fair to outdo 
 alcohol in the race of destruction, and carry off" the 
 palm as most fatal of all the stimulants to the weal 
 of the human race. 
 
 " But these lamentable consequences result from 
 the abuse of opium and alcohol, not from their 
 moderate use." Undoubtedly. We cordially concede 
 to the opium merchant, and the defender of the East 
 India monopoly, that it must be the abuse of the good 
 gifts of God which turns them into awful plagues. 
 This brings us to the inquiry whether or not the use 
 of opium as an article of luxury and enjoyment is not 
 much less defensible than is the use of alcohol. Is 
 
OPIUM AS A STIMULANT MOEALLY CONSIDERED. 25 
 
 there any " moderate " opium- smoking or opium- 
 eating at all analogous to the moderate use of 
 wines, beer, and spirits? This is a question difficult 
 to answer, important as it is in this controversy. 
 Assertion can be pitted against assertion. The Rev. 
 Griffith John says : — " I would observe that it is a 
 great mistake to refer opium to the same category as 
 tobacco and spirits. On this point there is a won- 
 derful unanimity of opinion among those who are 
 capable of forming an opinion on the matter. 
 Tobacco, beer, and wine, may be taken in moderation, 
 and are generally believed to be harmless, if so used ; 
 but even the moderate use of opium is baneful, and, 
 what is worse, it is impossible to take it in modera- 
 tion. The smoker is never satisfied with less than 
 the intoxicating effects of the drug. He smokes 
 with the view of making himself drunk, and his 
 cravings are never appeased until he gets drunk. If 
 time and means permit, he lives in a state of ecstatic 
 trance or intoxication, from which he desires never 
 to be waked up. Opium- smoking cannot be com- 
 pared with moderate drinking, but with drunken- 
 ness itself. The habit is more insidious in its 
 approach than that of drinking, and holds its victim 
 with a far more tenacious grasp. " For the sake of 
 a speedy end to the controversy, we could wish that 
 we had found that " wonderful unanimity " of opinion 
 which Mr. John encountered. If this point were 
 once plainly established, that there is, there can be, 
 no moderate opium-smoking, there would be an end 
 
 of all debate. The dealers in opium, the upholders 
 
26 BEITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 of the monopoly, would simply be aiders and abet- 
 tors of self-murder. British merchants, and the 
 British Government itself, could not escape the 
 charge of wholesale poisoning on a gigantic scale. 
 The vast scale of the opium-poisoning operations, 
 involving the death of unknown numbers of Chinese, 
 the enrichment of merchant princes, the maintenance 
 of one of the largest Empires of the world, and the 
 slow ruin of another Empire still larger, would not 
 elevate the opium trade beyond the reach of the 
 fatal accusation that it is making gain out of the 
 very life-blood of mankind. But it would be pre- 
 mature to press this charge, because all defenders 
 of the traffic assert that opium may be used in 
 moderation, and that, thus used, it is no more in- 
 jurious than ardent spirits. Mr. "Winchester, for- 
 merly H.M. Consul at Shanghae, is an instance to 
 our hand. We quote again from the Parliamentary 
 Eeport : — 
 
 "5935. 'I think you said that you were a medical 
 man?' — (Mr. Winchester.) ' I studied medicine, but 
 I have not been practising.' 
 
 ** 5936. ' Would you recommend persons who lived 
 in close rooms, without much air, to smoke opium ?' — 
 * I believe that I would not recommend any man to 
 smoke opium under any circumstances.' 
 
 " 5937. Mr. E. Fowler : ' You have had experience 
 of the effects of opium on the Chinese who take it, 
 I presume ? ' — ' I have observed the effects ; I have 
 never smoked it myself.' 
 
 " 5938. ' But it would be your opinion that it has a 
 
OPIUM AS A STIMULANT MORALLY CONSIDERED. 27 
 
 very prejudicial effect on the health of the people ?' — 
 *0n the whole, I should say yes. But there are two 
 conditions of opium- smoking ; there is what you 
 might call the moderate opium-smoking, and there 
 is that stage which I would call opiamismus, as being 
 equivalent to what may be called alcohoUsmus. I think 
 you must view these two conditions as entirely 
 separate in considering the effect of opium upon 
 individuals.' 
 
 "5939. ' Sir Rutherford Alcock expressed a doubt 
 whether people ever remained moderate smokers. 
 What would be your opinion on that point?' — *My 
 opinion is rather more in favour of the opinion that 
 they do ; and it is derived from my observations 
 upon the general activity and energy of the Chinese, 
 both in the neighbourhood of the ports, and in the 
 straits, and in California, from their being, on the 
 whole, a useful people, and a laborious, diligent popu- 
 lation.' 
 
 " 5940. ' Then it is your opinion that a man may 
 continue to use opium as we use wine and the lower 
 classes use beer in this country, without ever being 
 inclined to use it to excess ? ' — ' Yes, I feel sure of it. 
 I have known men who told me that they had 
 smoked opium all their lives, and who were perfectly 
 competent to the duties of their position.' 
 
 '* 5941. * And who were elderly people ?' — 'People 
 of forty or fifty.' 
 
 " 5942. ' Any of seventy or eighty?' — ' Men of the 
 usual ages in private life.' " 
 
 The last is an amusingly ambiguous answer. Nor 
 
28 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 will the argument founded on tlie generality of the 
 Chinese being laborious and diligent count for much. 
 If opium-smoking were the rule among them, and 
 non- smoking the exception as teetotalism in England, 
 it would hold good : but this is far from a correct 
 representation of the case. But Mr. Winchester's 
 assertion, that " opium has a beneficial use and an 
 injurious use," may be set-off against Mr. Grifl&th 
 John's. Dr. Batwell, who passed three years in 
 China, upholds the same view as Consul Winchester: 
 and, in general, all apologists for the traffic assert 
 that opium may be used in moderation, and, so used, 
 is no more injurious than alcohol ; while all assailants 
 of the traffic support, more or less categorically, the 
 opposite view. What shall we make of this con- 
 flicting evidence ? When, in the famous Tichborne 
 trial, hundreds of witnesses had sworn that the 
 Claimant was Sir E. Tichborne, and their oaths had 
 been neutralized by those of other hundreds who 
 swore that he was not, the Lord Chief Justice com- 
 menced his summing-up by intimating that in his 
 opinion these opposing testimonies proved that the 
 defendant was, if not Sir Roger, at least, in personal 
 appearance, something like the Baronet. I think a 
 fair summing-up of the evidence in our present con- 
 troversy will necessitate a verdict that the use of 
 opium as a stimulant is something like that of alcohol, 
 if not identical with it. I think we cannot deny 
 that some opium-smokers are *' moderate ^'for a time: 
 that, while they are moderate, their indulgence does 
 them no visible harm, and that in some cases they are 
 
OPIUM AS A STIMULANT MORALLY CONSIDERED. 29 
 
 able to keep to this moderation even to old age. So 
 much the evidence in favour of opium seems to 
 require. But as the judge found the defendant to 
 be Orton and not Tichborne, despite of the resem- 
 blances, so, in the end, it may be found that opium 
 is not as alcohol, although there is a measure of 
 resemblance between the two. I say " it may be 
 found in the end," because I believe that the matter 
 must at present be regarded as suh judice. We have 
 no reliable statistics as to the number of opium- 
 smokers in China. We have no statistics at all as 
 to the amount smoked by each, and the average 
 length of life of smokers. In the meantime, all one 
 can do is to estimate with care that amount of evi- 
 dence we have, and form an interim opinion. For 
 my own part, before looking closely at the case, I 
 inclined rather to the view that there is a moderate 
 use of opium — and for this reason : it appeared to 
 me that, if the habit of opium-smoking were certainly, 
 or well-nigh certainly, fatal within a few years to all 
 smokers, then the practice could not maintain itself 
 and spread. In spite of an absurd delusion to the 
 contrary met with in England, the Chinese value 
 their lives quite as much as we do. Human nature 
 is pretty much the same all the world over. Men 
 will run a certain amount of danger in the practice 
 of "pleasant vices, but they would not long continue 
 to indulge these vices if the punishment were in all 
 cases certain and never long delayed. If there were 
 no moderate drinking, there would be no drunken- 
 ness, the teetotallers say; and they are right. If 
 
30 - BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 sexual indulgence were sure to bring painful 
 disease and an early grave, few would have the 
 hardihood to gratify their propensities at such an 
 expense. Reasoning in a similar way, it seemed to 
 me that if every smoker of opium passed, by a swift 
 and inevitable process, from pleasant dallying with 
 the pipe to a state of chronic disease and torture, 
 ending in a premature death, the vice of opium- 
 smoking would soon cure itself. It would hardly 
 require a second generation of victims to warn all 
 society against the fatal indulgence. 
 
 This reasoning is, I think, valid, and it is corro- 
 borated by the evidence of Consul Winchester and 
 others. We can hardly doubt that there are some 
 Chinese to whom the opium-pipe is no more harmful 
 than the moderate use of wine and spirits is to many 
 persons in Europe. But we must be on our guard 
 against hasty analogies. I have already repudiated 
 the notion that stimulants can be reasoned upon as a 
 class. Their action is very imperfectly understood 
 as yet, according to the acknowledgment of one of 
 the latest medical authorities. Dr. Anstie assures 
 us that instances of indulgence in tea and coffee to 
 an injurious extent are by no means so rare as some 
 persons imagine. Yet neither he nor any one else 
 would for a moment dream of comparing the effects 
 of tea and coffee with those of beer and gin. Every 
 stimulant must be examined by itself, and sentence 
 passed upon it according to its own merits. Now 
 as regards alcohol, the moderate use of it is well 
 known. In the case of opium, the moderate use is 
 
OPIUM AS A STIMULANT MORALLY CONSIDERED. 31 
 
 little better than hypothetical. In England there 
 are, perhaps, ninety-nine moderate drinkers for every 
 drunkard. In China there is no class of moderate 
 opium- smokers which can be appealed to, who openly 
 avow and defend their practice. Individuals there 
 may be, like those Mr. Winchester adduces, but they 
 are few and far between. The evidence goes to 
 show, and the essayist's own personal knowledge 
 confirms it, that the Chinese regard opium-smoking 
 as a vice, and a pre-eminently seductive and dan- 
 gerous vice. If all the opium imported into China and 
 grown in the country were equally consumed by the 
 whole population, the amount falling to each smoker 
 would be so small as to be innocuous. But, on the 
 other hand, if all the smokers consumed as much as 
 one Chinese ounce per day, they would all be opium- 
 slaves. We do not know the exact number of 
 smokers who divide the total amount of the drug 
 between them ; but the evidence before us certainly 
 tends to lead to the opinion that the smokers are 
 comparatively few in number to the whole popu- 
 lation, and that the majority, or at least a very large 
 proportion of them, are immoderate in their con- 
 sumption. Without exact computation our con- 
 clusion must necessarily be conjectural. But there 
 are certain evident considerations which ought not 
 to be overlooked. 
 
 (1) Multitudes partake of wine, beer, and spirits, 
 as regularly as they do of beef and mutton. These 
 beverages are a part of daily food. The use of them 
 is general, open, and reputable. It is not so with 
 
32 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 opium-smoking. The opium pipe is not regarded 
 as forming a part of regular diet. Smokers and 
 non-smokers agree in regarding it as a vicious 
 indulgence; as a consequence, smokers almost 
 invariably hide their addiction to the pipe, if pos- 
 sible. I have caught a man smoking who had only 
 half an hour before denied to me that he was a 
 smoker, and condemned the habit. Opium-smoking 
 is classed by the universal popular opinion of China 
 with gambling and debauchery. There is no reason 
 why this should be so, except the practical expe- 
 rience the Chinese have had of its fearful conse- 
 quences. A special pleader might argue that opium- 
 smoking is regarded as a vice, because the Chinese 
 Government made it a crime. I unhesitatingly 
 believe that the Chinese Government made it a crime 
 because it was unmistakeably a ruinous vice. We 
 shall hear more about this in the chapter on the 
 Chinese history of opium, to which I refer the 
 reader. There may be moderate smokers, but this 
 state of things points to an immense prevalence of 
 immoderate smoking. 
 
 (2) The mass of evidence, Chinese and foreign, 
 points to a fascinating, enthralling power in opium, 
 which renders it more enslaving than alcohol. 
 It is well known that alcohol by no means neces- 
 sarily imposes any constant increase upon those who 
 use it. A man may drink his quantum at seventy 
 years of age and be perfectly satisfied therewith, 
 although it is exactly what he used to take at twenty 
 years of age. But if the reader carefully weighs the 
 
OPIUM AS A STIMULANT MOEALLY CONSIDERED. 33 
 
 evidence about opium he will hardly avoid con- 
 cluding that, very generally if not always, the use 
 of this stimulant imposes the necessity of continual 
 increase. If the smoker could always keep to 
 what sufficed him during the first year or two 
 it might be as innocent a stimulant as tobacco. 
 But he cannot. There is a fatal charm about 
 the drug — he must go on to more and more. 
 English readers are familiar with this quality of 
 opium from De Q^iincey's fascinating but horrible 
 narration. The experience of the Chinese tallies 
 with that of the brilliant English writer, except that 
 he by almost superhuman efforts broke off the habit, 
 while in China this is so rare as to be regarded as 
 impossible. 
 
 (3) Even between drunkenness and opium-smoking 
 there are perceptible distinctions. We must allow 
 that opium-smoking is a much more pacific and 
 polite vice. The opium sot does not quarrel with 
 his mate, nor kick his wife to death. He is quiet 
 and harmless enough while the spirit of the drug 
 possesses him. But against this one must set off 
 the more terrible slavery in which the opium-smoker 
 is held fast. Many drunkards only give way to their 
 propensity by fits and starts. Others are drunk 
 perhaps regularly once a week, when pay-day puts 
 them in funds. But the victim of opium must have 
 his allowance every day. There is no pause, no 
 intermission for him. 
 
 (4) This brings us to the difficulty of giving up 
 the two vices. It may be nearly impossible to break 
 
34 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 off drinking habits. It is quite impossible to give 
 up opium once a certain stage has passed. The 
 drunkard may have to pass through a terrible 
 struggle for recovery. The confirmed opium- smoker 
 gives up his pipe only to die. There is universal 
 unanimity of evidence upon this point, that after the 
 smoker has gone on for a certain time, and got to 
 use daily a certain amount, it is physically impossible 
 for him, without the help of medicines, to pause in 
 his career and retrace his steps. 
 
 It avails little, therefore, to argue that there may 
 be, that there actually is, a moderate use of opium, 
 just as there is of alcohol. Each must be studied 
 by itself, and verdict pronounced according to the 
 facts. We do know there is a moderate use of 
 alcohol, so extensive that even the great prevalence 
 of intemperance in our land does not generally con- 
 vince men that they ought to banish alcohol from 
 society altogether. We do not know that there is 
 any such use of opium. Some moderate smoking 
 no doubt there must be. But the question is what 
 is its amount compared with the whole amount of 
 smoking. We have no figures to go upon. The 
 evidence we have is vague and indefinite. Who then 
 shall decide ? Surely none ought to know, none can 
 know, so well as the Chinese people themselves. 
 And what do they say ? From the Emperor through 
 all grades of society down to the lowest classes, one 
 and all, without dissentient voice, they condemn the 
 practice as fatally insidious and destructive. They 
 are well acquainted with other stimulants. Tea, 
 
OPIUM AS A STIMULANT MORALLY CONSIDERED. 35 
 
 tobacco, betel-iiut, spirits, they are familiar with 
 them all. Drunkenness is known and condemned 
 as a vice among them as among us, though it is not 
 so prevalent there. But for opium alone they 
 reserve a condemnation altogether unanimous, alto- 
 gether unparalleled. 
 
 In Appendix (B) such information about the pro- 
 bable amount of opium smoked by the Chinese as we 
 have been able to obtain is recorded. But the 
 absence of any accurate estimate of the amount of 
 poppy cultivation within the eighteen provinces of 
 China renders the best attempts at calculation un- 
 satisfactory. Even if we possessed returns of the 
 whole quantity of opium annually consumed in 
 China, that alone would shed no light upon the 
 moral aspects of the question ; for it is not the total 
 amount, but its distribution, which would determine 
 the matter. The same quantity which would be 
 harmless if divided equally among sixty millions, 
 would be ruin of body and soul if consumed by two 
 or three millions. The estimates by such authorities 
 as Sir R. Alcock and Dr. Lockhart indicate three 
 or four millions of smokers. Mr. Cooper and Dr. 
 Dudgeon vastly increase the number. The discre- 
 pancy may be perhaps explained by supposing that 
 the larger number includes all those who at one time 
 or another take an occasional pipe, but never use the 
 drug regularly. In this, however, there is a general 
 consensus of testimony that the habit once formed 
 can hardly ever be renounced, and that in the 
 majority of cases it compels its votaries to increase 
 
 D 2 
 
36 BRITISH OPIUM rOLICY. 
 
 their dose, until it reaches a highly-injurious 
 quantity. 
 
 Statistics fail us, but this we know, that the mis- 
 sionary hospitals from Peking to Canton are every- 
 where visited by large numbers of opium victims 
 praying for aid to release them from bondage to the 
 pipe ; that everywhere travellers receive numerous 
 applications for '' anti-opium pills " for the same 
 purpose ; that opium beggars are frequent spectacles 
 in all large places ; and deaths of impoverished 
 smokers occur, in what numbers we know not, but 
 certainly they are anything but rare. For all this 
 we cannot justly say that it is ^proved that opium as 
 a stimulant is essentially worse than alcohol ; but 
 we can most assuredly say that the assertion that 
 the two stand morally on exactly the same footing 
 is also not proved ; that, on the contrary, very grave 
 doubt is cast upon it ; that the evidence points to a 
 jpeculiarly enthralling power in opium, which marks 
 it a more dangerous stimulant than alcohol. Opium 
 lacks any clear, positive evidence of a generally- 
 diifused moderate use. In fine. Sir Rutherford 
 Alcock has very fairly represented the general 
 opinion of foreign observers in China; and the 
 natives would corroborate his view in stronger 
 terms. To quote the Report once more : — 
 
 " 5756. You say, if I rightly understand you, 
 that you never in China met with a moderate opium- 
 smoker, that is to say, one who you think would not 
 have been better without even the amount that he 
 did consume ?: — As a rule, that may be so ; but for 
 
OPIUM AS A STIMULANT MORALLY CONSIDEEED. 37 
 
 instance, all our domestic servants smoke, and 
 they do not smoke in excess, or we should not keep 
 them. 
 
 ''5757. What do you mean by excess ? — To such 
 a degree that if deprived of their opium, or delayed, 
 they would collapse like the prisoner I have men- 
 tioned. 
 
 '' 5758. But they all go on steadily to that stage, 
 as I gather from you ? — That is my impression ; I 
 am obliged to spe^k vaguely, however, because we 
 have not the data or statistics on which we could 
 dogmatize at all about it." 
 
 This then is the conclusion of one who has had very 
 great opportunities for forming an opinion, and whose 
 position and responsibilities could not but incline 
 him to judge as leniently as possible of the practice. 
 Sir R. Alcock thinks that moderate opium-smoking 
 lasts only for a time, and that " they all go steadily 
 on " to that stage which is self-destructive. If this 
 be the fact, it will harmonize the conflicting evidence. 
 
 Travellers like the botanist Mr. Fortune testify 
 that they have seen opium-smokers who seemed no 
 whit the worse for the practice. Missionaries and 
 others say the habit is enslaving, and ruins its vic- 
 tims. Mr. Fortune might possibly have come round 
 to this latter opinion, had he again seen those very 
 persons he describes after they had used the opium- 
 pipe for ten years longer. Even, however, if we 
 admit that some proportion of the smokers are able 
 to preserve their moderation to the last, it is im- 
 portant to notice that the impression of the Chinese 
 
38 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 Government, and of the Chinese people, is altogether 
 opposed to that of those who class opium among 
 harmless or only occasionally harmful stimulants. 
 
 Where we cannot procure the scientific evidence 
 of carefully-collected statistics, the evidence of 
 national opinion, not that of governments only, but 
 popular opinion, must be received as of great weight. 
 It is the result of a general experience much wider 
 than that which is at the foundation of the indi- 
 vidual opinions of this or that traveller or resident. 
 Tt is, therefore, most noteworthy that China, Siam, 
 Burma, and Japan have all distinctly declared 
 against opium. In 1839, if not before, opium was 
 absolutely prohibited in Siam by royal edict.* Our 
 first treaty with Japan contained a clause expressly 
 excluding opium, and the newspapers tell us that 
 within the last few months the Japanese oflQcials 
 have been enforcing -their laws against the Chinese 
 smokers, on account of their great dread lest the 
 practice should establish itself among them. The 
 long-sustained and intense opposition of the Chinese 
 to opium will have to be separately treated of. 
 
 In conclusion, we cannot say that it is absolutely 
 proved that opium-smoking is a more pernicious 
 habit than dram -drinking; but there is reason to 
 think that the drug exercises a peculiar enslaving 
 power, which renders it more universally fatal to its 
 votaries. For the purposes of this essay, however, 
 it is not necessary to bring absolute proof that 
 opium is always pernicious. It is enough that the 
 ^ " China Repository,*' vol. viii. p. 125. 
 
OPIUM AS A STIMULANT MORALLY CONSIDERED. 39 
 
 Chinese, who know a great deal more about it than 
 we can know, are, one may say, unanimously agreed 
 in regarding it as a fearful curse to their land. 
 "British Opium Policy" has to do with a system 
 by which we are the producers of the drug, the 
 Chinese the users of it. It is for them to say 
 whether they think it a harmless luxury or a 
 national poison. Hesitation of judgment, contra- 
 riety of opinion, may characterize the testimonies of 
 English witnesses, but nothing of the kind can be 
 observed in China ; those persons who are the 
 actual slaves of the opium-pipe being the loudest in 
 its condemnation. Granting, then, that we are 
 doubtful about the exact measure of its evils, 
 nothing can justify us for forcing it upon an un- 
 willing people. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 The East India Company's opium policy may be 
 expressed in two words, r epressio n and revenue : 
 at home repression, revenue from abroad. The 
 Directors of that Company, being sovereign 
 masters of a hundred miUions of their fellow-crea- 
 tures, were by no means careless of the physical 
 and moral welfare of their subjects. Unhappily 
 their sense of responsibility found its limit here, 
 and no qualms of conscience interfered to prevent 
 their pandering to the vicious tastes of a distant 
 population beyond the seas. 
 
 No decent government can welcome the replenish- 
 ing of its finances by the vices of mankind. Were 
 governments unscrupulous, the moral sense of the 
 masses would compel them to profess to deplore the 
 fruitfulness of such sources of revenue. Never- 
 theless, it so happens, as matter of fact, that 
 governments do continually receive large revenues^ 
 from the vicious excesses of their citizens. In our 
 own country the taxes upon strong drink bring in 
 over thirty millions a year, a large proportion of 
 
THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S OPIUM POLICY. 41 
 
 which is contributed by drunkenness. As this fact 
 is pleaded in defence of our opium revenue, it may 
 be well to consider the principles which ought to 
 determine government action in such cases. 
 
 All luxuries obviously are exposed to taxation 
 in preference to necessaries. It is better to tax tea 
 than bread ; better to tax spirits than tea. When 
 the article of luxury is frequently injurious to its 
 consumers, and its consumption cannot be pre- 
 vented, it is thereby plainly marked out for taxation, 
 because taxation checks consumption by making 
 the article more expensive. On this ground opium 
 presents itself as a positive claimant for taxation, and 
 every argument for taxes upon alcohol supports the 
 justice of deriving revenue from the poppy. If 
 absolute prohibition of the use of opium be assumed 
 to be impossible, or beyond the proper functions of 
 Government, then the institution of a tax upon it 
 becomes positively commendable. But here we 
 must lay down another principle which inheres 
 in all wise policy in respect to such taxation. 
 The Government only accepts revenue from this 
 source under the compulsion of circumstances, 
 admitting it in order to diminish evils which Govern- 
 ment cannot altogether prevent. Statesmen of all 
 parties would abhor the suggestion that they should 
 encourage drunkenness in order to swell a surplus. 
 Even that consumption of intoxicating drinks which 
 can only be characterized as improvident is not 
 atoned for because it contributes largely to the 
 revenue. This terrible waste of national resources 
 
42 BEITISH OPIUM POLIOr. 
 
 " kills the goose which lays the golden eggs," 
 cripples the power of the people to support the 
 demands which Government must make upon them. 
 We may lay it down as a guiding principle that 
 taxation of articles liable to abuse, such as alcohol 
 and opium, can only be justified because of its effect 
 in restricting their consumption. The acquisition 
 of revenue must not be the primary object. 
 
 The East India Company's Directors proved 
 both by professions and acts that, so far as their 
 own subjects were concerned, they were animated by 
 wise and benevolent views. From an early date they 
 distinctly deprecated the consumption of opium by 
 Hindoos, and aimed at its repressx... Mr. C. W. Bell, 
 of the Revenue Department of Bombay, said to the 
 Committee of the House of Commons : ^ " I find it 
 frequently stated in the Government records, that 
 they endeavour not so much to look for an increase 
 of revenue as for a diminution of the consumption 
 of spirits and the prevention of drunkenness." In 
 respect to opium, this honourable policy is attested 
 by Mr. H. St. George Tucker, the eminent finance 
 minister, who wrote in 1829 : '' It is scarcely 
 necessary for me to speak of the policy which had 
 been pursued by the East India Company, sys- 
 tematically for a long course of years, with relation 
 to the monopoly of opium in Bengal. The leading 
 feature of that policy was, to limit the manufacture 
 to a moderate quantity, seldom exceeding 4500 chests 
 — to confine the cultivation of the poppy to those 
 ^ Report, East India Finance, 1871, p. 206. 
 
THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S OPIUM POLICY. 43 
 
 districts in whicli the drug could be produced of the 
 best quahty and at the lowest cost — and to prevent 
 as far as possible the sale and use of it in our terri- 
 tory, except for medicinal purposes. In prosecuting 
 this policy we went so far as to prohibit the culti- 
 vation of the poppy in the districts of Bangulpore 
 and Eungpore, where it had long been grown ex- 
 tensively, and where the produce had been hereto- 
 fore appropriated to the purposes of the monopoly ; 
 and at a period not very remote, on information 
 being obtained that the cultivation in Eungpore had 
 been clandestinely renewed, the Government did not 
 hesitate to order the plant to be eradicated, in the 
 most peremptory and arbitrary manner. In short 
 the very essence of all our arrangements had been to 
 draw the largest revenue from the smallest quantity 
 of the article." ^ To this unexceptionable testimony 
 we can add the explicit avowal of the Court of 
 Directors. In their despatch to the Governor in 
 Council in Bengal, under date 24th October, 1817, 
 they say : ^ " The sentiments expressed in our despatch 
 of 18th September, 1816, will have prepared you to 
 expect our approbation of the measures adopted by 
 you for the purpose of supplying from the Government 
 stores a quantity of opium for the internal consump- 
 tion of the country. "We wish it at the same time 
 to be clearly understood, that our sanction is given 
 to these measures, not ivith a vieiv to the revenue 
 
 ' Kaye's " Memorials of Indian Government," p. 149. 
 ^ Appendix to Report on the Affairs of the East India Com- 
 pany, 1831, p. U. In British Museum, vol. vi. of 1831, p. 359. 
 
44 BEITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 which they may yield, hut in the hope that they will 
 tend to restrain the use of this pernicious drug, and 
 that the regulations for the internal sale of it will be 
 so framed as to prevent its introduction into districts 
 where it is not used, and to limit its consumption in 
 other places as nearly as possible to what may be 
 absolutely necessary. Were it possible to prevent 
 
 THE USE OF THE DRUG ALTOGETHER, EXCEPT FOR THE 
 PURPOSES OF MEDICINE, WK WOULD GLADLY DO IT IN 
 
 COMPASSION TO MANKIND." Noblo Sentiments these, 
 which would have covered the Directors with im- 
 mortal honour had they been consistently carried 
 out. 
 
 In accordance with their deliberate policy of 
 " employing taxation less as an instrument of raising 
 a revenue than as a preservative of the health and 
 morals of the community," the Directors abso- 
 lutely prohibited cultivation of the poppy in certain 
 districts,'^ restricted it within limits in others, kept 
 
 * Government Letter, No, 1359, to the Revenue Commis- 
 sioners, dated 18th June, 1835. "In reply. I am instructed to 
 observe, that as this Government has been directed by the Supreme 
 Government (and in their directions the Court of Directors have 
 concurred) to afford no encouragement whatever to the growth of opium 
 in the territories under this presidency (Bombay), and to prevent, as 
 far as possible, the extension of the cultivation ; and as the growth 
 of the drug is new to the Poona district, the Right Honourable 
 the Governor in Council considers it incumbent on this Govern- 
 ment, however disinterested it may he to the interests of individuals, 
 to discourage it hy all means in its power'' 
 
 Government Resolution, No. 479, of 21st January, 1854. — 
 " The Government will neither purchase the opium produced nor 
 forego the duty thereon ; and that in the event of the duty not 
 being paid, the collector will be required to enforce the pro- 
 
THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S OPIUM POLICY. 45 
 
 vigilant control of the sale of opium, and made their 
 charge for it as high as possible without making the 
 temptation to illicit dealings too powerful. The 
 result of this policy appears satisfactory/ Through- 
 out their wide dominions, and during a long course 
 of years, it is not surprising if sometimes good 
 intentions were imperfectly executed. Critics aver 
 that the excise system tended to introduce, and pro- 
 mote a taste for, the excisable articles. But if these 
 criticisms can be, substantiated, they amount to no 
 more than convictions of errors in judgment. iSVhether 
 owing to the Company's regulations, or to the tem- 
 perance of the people, the consumption of opium in 
 British India has been very moderate. The value of 
 the opium sold from Government stores in 1868-9 
 was only 300,000L, and of this sum 200,000/. was 
 clear Government profit. The cost of production 
 being about 30/. per chest, this sum represents 
 about 3400 chests of Government opium consumed 
 in India. Comparing this quantity with the 50,000 
 chests sent to China, it is clear at a glance that the 
 Company's own territories are insignificant con- 
 tributors to the opium revenue; and we have no 
 difficulty in giving the Directors and their agents full 
 
 visions of the existing law, it being the earnest desire of Govern- 
 ment to discourage the production of the drug in their own terri- 
 tories'' Papers relating to the Opium Question, 1870, p. 7. 
 
 ^ When this was written the author had not seen the 
 Official Reports about the progress of the opium vice in British 
 Burma. The reader can refer to the extracts in the Appendix 
 and judge for himself whether or not the British Government 
 is directly responsible for the introduction and propagation of the 
 vice in that portion of our territory. 
 
46 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 credit for sincerity in carrying out tlieir repressive 
 policy to the best of their ability. This small con- 
 sumption in Bengal is the more striking in contrast 
 to the immense amount consumed in the native 
 states of Central and Western India, the internal 
 government of which is in the hands of native princes. 
 Mr. W. JSFeville Sturt, in his Report to Parliament,® 
 estimates the consumption in Rajpootana and Central 
 India at 20,000 chests. The Rajpoots and the 
 Sikhs are almost universally addicted to opium - 
 eating. 
 
 A few words in explanation of the East India 
 Government's connection with opium may be useful. 
 Popular language constantly speaks of *' our Indian 
 Empire" as if it were a homogeneous unity; and 
 probably multitudes of Englishmen have the im- 
 pression that all the vast peninsula, from the Hima- 
 layas to the eastern and western oceans, belongs 
 directly to the British crown. This is not the case. 
 Speaking roughly, about two-thirds belongs to 
 Britain, and one- third is still under the rule of 
 Indian sovereigns, Maharajahs, Rajahs, Nawabs, 
 Begums, and other Hindoo designations of thrones, 
 principalities, and powers. The independence of 
 these native states is fettered by the presence of 
 British residents at their courts, who hold varying 
 degrees of influence, but as far as opium is concerned 
 they are now practically independent. This im- 
 portant difference between British territory and 
 
 ' East India (Progress and Condition) during the year 1870-71, 
 p. 78. 
 
THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S OPIUM POLICY. 47 
 
 native territory divided the opium concerns of tlie 
 Company into two quite dissimilar sections. Patna 
 and Malwa conveniently designate these sections. 
 Patna opium is produced on British territory ; 
 Malwa opium is grown in the native states. 
 
 Patna opium alone is the subject of the "mo- , 
 nopoly." It is important to remember that when\ '^^^ 
 we speak of " the opium monopoly " this does not 
 cover the whole of the opium which is produced in 
 India, and sent to^ China. The monopoly only exists 
 for the British territory, and as in British territory 
 the poppy is only allowed to be cultivated in two 
 districts, Behar and Benares,^ of which Benares is 
 the larger, the monopoly opium is commonly called 
 Benares opium, or from the chief station in Benares, 
 Patna opium. This Patna opium is in amount con- 
 siderably more than the Malwa, and contributes say 
 two-thirds — rather over two -thirds — of the revenue. 
 For this, and for this only, the monopoly is respon- 
 sible ; the Company's connexion with Malwa, which 
 was less direct, must be set forth separately. This 
 monopoly system was very simple. The Company 
 reserved to itself the sole right of cultivating the 
 poppy and of selling the opium. Any infringement 
 of this jealously-guarded right was promptly and 
 inexorably punished by confiscation, fine, imprison- 
 
 ^ And in the Panjab, where it is grown for local consumption. 
 Hitherto, however, there has been some uncertainty about the law 
 in the Panjab and the Madras and Bombay Presidencies. To 
 remove this, and place the whole of British India undfer the pro- 
 visions of the Bengal Opium Act, Sir William Muir introduced 
 a Bill into the Council of the Governor- General last year. 
 
48 BlilTISlI OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 meiit. All Government officials, police, native 
 watchmen, and even the native landowners were 
 obliged to assist in protecting the monopoly. The 
 Company did not, however, engage directly in the 
 cultivation. This was left to the ryots, or farmers. 
 The Company's portion of the actual business con- 
 sisted in inspecting the land offered for poppy culti- 
 vation, making advances of money to the ryot, to 
 whom a licence for cultivating so much land was 
 granted; receiving and examining, packing and 
 storing, the opium brought in ; retailing it to the 
 licensed vendors in Bengal, selling it wholesale for 
 exportation at Calcutta. Not an acre of land could 
 be sowed with poppy seed, without licence from the 
 Company's agenfc. Not a pound of opium in all 
 Bengal but must be delivered to the Company's 
 depot before it could become an article of merchan- 
 dise. The Company, therefore, were gigantic capi- 
 talists, doing business wholesale and retail on an im- 
 mense scale, without any rivals, and engrossing the 
 whole of the production and sale. The price for home 
 consumption was about three times the cost of pro- 
 duction. The opium for export, the great bulk of 
 the trade, was sold by auction in Calcutta, realizing 
 enerally about four times the cost of production. 
 We describe the monopoly here in the past tense, 
 because we are treating of the extinct East India 
 Company's affairs, but as the monopoly was in the 
 Company's days so it is to-day. The transference 
 of power from Leadenhall Street to St. Stephen's 
 produced no change whatever in the system. 
 
 I the 
 
THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S OPIUM POLICY. 49 
 
 The monopoly has been attacked on side issues, 
 which we shall simply allude to here. One is that 
 this system of advances may be and has been abused. 
 When we find the C9mpany advancing two-thirds 
 or nearly the whole value of the opium before it is 
 brought to their factory, one-third before a hoe has 
 touched the field, it is plain that it is not a policy 
 of restriction which is at work here. And when 
 too we hear of the amount of cultivation suddenly 
 expanding in obedience to the declard wish of 
 the great capitalist, who is at the same time sove- 
 reign of the poor peasants who work for him, it is 
 difficult to believe that the action of the Government 
 is always so clean as defenders of the system assert.^ 
 
 * That this natural suspicion is justified by facts appears 
 from the testimony of Sir William Muir, in his Minute of 22n(l 
 February, 1868. — "A few years ago, when the Government of 
 Bengal was straining every nerve to extend the cultivation of 
 the poppy, I was witness to the discontent of the agricultural 
 population in certain districts west of the Jumna, from which the 
 crop was for the first time being raised. Where the system of 
 advances has long been in vogue, and the mode of preparing the 
 drug well understood, no doubt the poppy is a popular crop ; 
 though even there the system of Government monopoly gives to 
 Government officers a power of interference over those who have 
 once taken their advances which must be liable to abuse. But 
 the case to which I allude was that of new districts, where the 
 poppy had not hitherto been grown, and into which the Bengal 
 Board were endeavouring to extend the cultivation by the bait of 
 large advances among an unwilling peasantry, and at the risk of 
 inoculating them with a taste for a deleterious drug, and all this 
 with the sole view of securing a wider area of poppy cultivation, and 
 thus a firmer grasp of the China market. Witnessing this when on 
 circuit in 1864, the impropriety of the position was to my mind so 
 painful that, as the Governor-General may perhaps recollect, I ven- 
 tured at the time to address his Excellency directly on the subject." 
 
 E 
 
50 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 Of course there ought to be no compulsion, of course 
 no ryot need receive the advances unless he pleases, 
 of course it would appear more to the advantage of 
 the Company to secure willing service by liberal 
 payment than to make discontented serfs of its sub- 
 jects. Whether or not the charges brought against 
 •the Company by adverse critics, and stoutly denied by 
 its own officials, be true or not, or only true ex- 
 ceptionally, we cannot well ascertain, nor need we 
 particularly care to inquire. If the monopoly can 
 be defended on its general merits, this is a mere 
 matter of detail which may be subsequently and 
 separately dealt with, and we may safely leave it to 
 public opinion and the public press in India. 
 
 A second charge is that the cultivation of the 
 poppy has withdrawn a large proportion of the best 
 land from the production of food. This charge will 
 be considered in a subsequent chapter. On the 
 whole, so far as its operation upon India is concerned, 
 the monopoly is but a peculiar method of taxation. 
 It is foreign to the thoughts and customs of England; 
 it is open to the serious objection of presenting the 
 supreme Government before the minds of its subjects 
 in the humiliating guise of a dealer in noxious drugs; 
 it is a cumbrous device for accomplishing what 
 might be much more simply effected by a direct tax, 
 and it will always be liable to the suspicion of abuse 
 through unfair dealing by some of the numberless 
 petty officials who must be employed to carry it out. 
 But there is this powerful argument in its favour 
 which, in the minds of many Indian statesmen. 
 
THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S OPIUM POLICY. 51 
 
 counterbalances a host of objections ; it is an old, 
 established custom. " The people of India will bear 
 a great deal so long as they are used to it. They 
 are very intolerant to change. They do not under- 
 stand it. They are timid and suspicious. Benevo- 
 lence and wisdom may go hand in hand in our 
 measures, but the people are not easily persuaded 
 that what we are doing is for their good."^ Pro- 
 bably if our Government were now to begin, we 
 should not establish any monopoly. But the East 
 India Company inherited the monopolies of opium 
 and of salt from their predecessors in sovereignty. 
 The British Government has taken them over from 
 the East India Company. Open as they both are to 
 practical and moral objections, if nothing worse can 
 be alleged against them than has appeared from our 
 investigation into the working of the opium monopoly 
 in India, we might be content to leave them both to 
 be dealt with by experts in Indian affairs. On 
 Indian soil the monopoly takes the place of a tax ; 
 it is a maximum charge upon the consumption : and, 
 total abolition of poppy growth excepted, probably no 
 change of name or method would do more to accom- 
 plish that repression of the use of the drug which 
 was the avowed object of the Company's legislation. 
 One thing, however, must be written against the 
 monopoly as affecting India, and this is properly 
 not a result of legislation for the inhabitants of 
 India, but belongs to that cultivation for revenue of 
 which we are now to speak. The habit of opium- 
 ' Kaye's *' Administration of the East India Company." 
 E 2 
 
52 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 eating is naturally formed and spreads round the 
 villages where it is grown. If the Government 
 restricted the cultivation within such limits as would 
 supply the Indian demand, it would also restrict the 
 area throughout which the cultivation itself would 
 breed the habit of use. Inasmuch as the Company 
 extended the cultivation vastly beyond the supply 
 needed for their own dominions, so they greatly 
 extended the inj3.uence of the cultivation in spread- 
 ing a taste for the drug through the villages. It is 
 impossible to say how large a proportion of this 
 Indian consumption of 3400 chests must be attri- 
 buted to this origin. But certainly the Company 
 did. not manufacture an immense supply for foreign 
 use, without inoculating numbers of their own people 
 with a liking for the indulgence. This was the 
 inevitable penalty of their indifference to the moral 
 welfare of strangers. The publican may sternly 
 coerce his children to sign the pledge, or earnestly 
 point out to them the evils of intemperance, but if 
 he sedulously builds up a fortune by the sale of 
 intoxicating drinks, it will be strange indeed if his 
 children should altogether escape the influence of 
 the traffic. This unhappy result of the monopoly is 
 directly dependent upon the cultivation for the sake 
 of revenue, which we discern to have been the East 
 India Company's policy from the first. Repression 
 at home : revenue from outside. 
 
 We have quoted above the distinct avowal of the 
 intention of the Directors to repress the use of opium 
 
THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S OPIUM POLICY. 53 
 
 in India ; a parallel frank avowal of their purpose to 
 encourage the use abroad, we do not find in their 
 records. But we do find that from so far back as 
 last century the Company admitted the proceeds of 
 sale for exportation into their books, without inquiry 
 and without hesitation : and that from that day to 
 this the monopoly has been conducted so as to derive 
 as great a revenue from this source as possible, and 
 without the slightest regard to the destination of the 
 opium and its efiects upon the welfare of humanity. 
 At first the export trade was small, and may easily 
 have escaped the attention of the Directors. A 
 Parliamentary report of 1810 tells us that the opium 
 sales produced 250,000Z. in 1793, and in 1808-9 had 
 mounted up to 594,9 78Z. These returns appear to 
 include both the home sale and the export : and 
 whether they are gross or net receipts we do not 
 know. But from these small beginnings the profits 
 of the manufacture gradually rose, until in 1830 the 
 revenue nearly reached a million sterling ; in 1843 it 
 was about two millions ; in 1853 it was three millions 
 and a half, and in 1873 six millions and a half. Such 
 an expansion as this did not grow in the dark. There 
 is abundant evidence, and it is exphcitly acknow- 
 ledged by the highest representatives of the Indian 
 Government, that the Company managed the mono- 
 poly with the express purpose of supplying the 
 China trade. Their opium factories were worked to 
 prepare an article saleable in the Chinese market. 
 Inquiries were instituted and experiments made to 
 discover how the drug could be prepared to suit the 
 
\fT 
 
 54 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 Chinese palate. The profits of the China trade were 
 the one object of the monopoly. The inconsiderable 
 quantity consumed in their own territories was of 
 no account for the great end of the monopoly, the 
 acquisition of revenue. Every ball of opium filled 
 in the Government factories was intended to transfer 
 a certain amount of solid silver from the pockets of 
 citizens of China into the Indian treasury. The very 
 form of preparation marked out-dts destination. 
 Opium intended for home use was not done up in 
 balls, so that when the drug left the factories the 
 shape it had assumed proclaimed the use it was 
 meant for. Moreover Indian finance ministers 
 watched with anxiety the fluctuations of the Chinese 
 market, kept the merchants' keen glance steadily 
 directed to quarters from which any interference or 
 competition with the trade was apprehended. This 
 lively concern to preserve intact the proceeds of so 
 lucrative a trade is notably manifested in the action 
 of the Company with regard to Malwa opium, which 
 we must now proceed to explain. 
 
 From Bombay to Canton is only a slightly longer 
 voyage than from Calcutta to that port. It may 
 appear at first sight rather strange that a monopoly 
 of the opium trade from the eastern port could be 
 of immense value, when there were opium-producing 
 districts in states not under the Company's rule, 
 which could send out unlimited quantities of the 
 article from the western port. If these native states 
 had been really independent, and had possessed ready 
 access to the sea, the monopoly would soon have 
 
THE EAST INDIA COMPANY S OPIUM POLICY. 55 
 
 been despoiled of its bloom. But immediately 
 competition threatened, the all-powerful Company- 
 stepped in and protected its precious traffic by 
 energetic measures. Mr. James Mill states that " so 
 long as the country between Malwa and the coast 
 was in the hands of the Mahrattas, and the transport 
 of valuable commodities was insecure, only a small 
 quantity reached the coast. When the country came 
 into our possesion, and carriage was safe, it was 
 seen that a large, supply might go to the China 
 market, and lower the price. To obviate this evil 
 we entered into treaties with the chieftains in whose 
 territories the opium is grown, and obtained their 
 consent to limit the quantity grown in their terri- 
 tories, and to sell the whole of it to us." In plain 
 terms the Company compelled these nominally 
 independent states to give to it the same monopoly 
 which it enjoyed in Bengal. Pecuniary grants were 
 made to the native princes, Holkar, Scindia, and 
 others : but the dissatisfaction of all parties was so 
 great, that the Company's agents repeatedly and 
 emphatically urged the abandonment of the treaties, 
 even at the cost of giving up all the gains of the 
 Bengal monopoly. This Malwa monopoly endured 
 from 1818 to 1831, an agent of the Company residing 
 at Indore to purchase the opium, which was then 
 sold by auction in Bombay. The blue-books give 
 us glimpses of discontented princes, oppressed 
 cultivators, desperate smuggling affrays, dissatisfied 
 merchants; but it would be waste of labour to 
 reproduce the picture, because the Malwa monopoly 
 
56 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 is a thing of the past. It is only worth while to 
 refer to it now, as a proof of the determined zeal 
 with which the Directors protected their old Eastern 
 monopoly at all hazards. In 1831 the Company 
 annulled the treaties, and gave up the Malwa mono- 
 poly. How was it that they could afford to do this ? 
 They had now obtained command of the whole coast 
 from which the opium could be shipped, except the 
 port of Damaun, to which the route from the opium 
 districts is long and exceedingly difficult. They 
 took advantage of their geographical position to 
 impose a duty on each chest, varying at different 
 times from 125 to 700 rupees ^ by which means they 
 raised a considerable revenue from the Malwa trade, 
 and prevented it from underselling their Patna opium 
 in the China market. This duty, fixed for several 
 years past at 600 rupees per chest, is payable in the 
 native states before the journey to the coast begins. 
 The Malwa monopoly while it existed, and the sub- 
 sequent exaction of transit duty upon Malwa opium, 
 
 1 The following is from the Minute of Sir William Muir : — 
 " It will be useful to note the various rates which have ruled 
 from time to time the export duty from Western India. They 
 are as follows : — 
 
 Period. Pass Duty per No. of Chests exported. 
 
 Chest, 
 
 Rs. 175Y 
 
 125 I From 8000 to 16,000 an- 
 
 200 ( nually. 
 
 300 J 
 
 400 f Grradually increased to 
 
 Prior to 1835 
 1835 to 1842 
 1843 to 1845 
 1845 to 1847 
 
 1848 to 1858 
 
 1859 
 1860 
 1861 
 
 500 
 600 
 
 about 34,000 annually. 
 Annual average about 
 
 700 r 3*5,000 chests, includ- 
 
 1862 and subsequently 600 J ^^^ Ahmedabad 
 
THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S OPIUM POLICY. 57 
 
 differed from the Bengal monopoly in this, that in 
 the native states the Company made no pretences of 
 morality, interfered in no way with the drug except 
 for the sake of revenue, restricted the cultivation 
 solely to obtain increased profits. On the one hand 
 they escaped in Malwa the opprobrium of being the 
 actual producers of the drug ; and on the other they 
 did nothing to check the fearful prevalence of opium- 
 eating in Malwa and Rajpootana. Their action on 
 that side was animated by pure and undissembled 
 desire for revenue. 
 
 Such was the opium policy of the East India 
 Company — to discourage opium-eating among its 
 own subjects, and at the same time to acquire the 
 maximum of revenue by the exportation of opium, 
 whether of the Company's own manufacture, or pro- 
 duced in the territories of the native chiefs. The 
 next point to consider is who were the customers 
 patronizing the Company's opium shop. Was India 
 the source of supply for all the world, and did ships 
 of every flag resort to her ports to purchase this 
 valuable medicine ? Had it been so, the morality of 
 the traffic might have been the same, but its cha- 
 racter would not have been so apparent. India 
 might have plausibly pleaded ignorance. " How can 
 I know where all this opium goes to, and what use 
 is made of it ? All nations apply to me for a drug 
 which is advantageously produced on my estate, and 
 which the general consent of humanity proves it to 
 be advantageous for other nations to buy of me. 
 Let those nations answer for themselves as to the 
 
 f^^i 
 
58 BRITISH OPIDM POLICY. 
 
 use they make of their purchase. Free trade and 
 no questions asked is my motto." But the Com- 
 pany could not conceal the character of their com- 
 merce in opium by profession of ignorance of its 
 destination, India had but one customer, one well- 
 known customer, for whose special use every chest 
 of her opium was packed ; that customer, a neigh- 
 bour, with whom she had had friendly dealings for a 
 hundred years, the Chinese empire. The fact was 
 notorious, because record was kept in Government 
 offices of the destination of every cargo which was 
 exported. It is not Hterally exact to say that China 
 was the only customer : but if for China we sub- 
 stitute China and Chinese emigrants in the Malay 
 archipelago, we attain to an almost exact expression 
 for the consumers of Indian exported opium. It 
 appears from the returns that a small fraction, about 
 one-eleventh, of the whole export, was taken up by 
 Penang, Singapore, Java, and other places, where it 
 is well known that the resident Chinese are the chief 
 consumers. This fraction, however, is so small that 
 for all practical purposes we may reason upon the ex- 
 portation to China itself. If that can be defended, 
 all can be defended ; if that must be condemned, the 
 whole fcrade is condemned. In the Appendix will 
 be found tables transcribed from official returns, which 
 show the numbers of chests exported to China and 
 to other ports. According to these tables in seven 
 years, from 1849-50 to 1855-56, there were sent 
 from Calcutta to China 234,986 chests ; from Bom- 
 bay to China 166,446 chests, making a total in seven 
 
THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S OPIUM POLICY. 59 
 
 years of 401,402 chests. During this same seven 
 years 38,647 chests were sent to Singapore, Penang, 
 &c. Possibly some Malwa opium was sent to the 
 straits, though no mention is made of it in these 
 returns. But allowing a margin for this omission, 
 the returns show that nine-tenths of the export from 
 India went to the dominions of the Emperor of 
 China, and therefore nine-tenths of the Company's 
 revenue was paid by the people of an alien realm. 
 
 The Christian religion teaches us that we should 
 love our neighbours as ourselves, and refuses to 
 recognize distinctions between Jew, Greek, and 
 Scythian. Even the heathen sage Confucius is re- 
 ported to have said, "All in the world are brethren." 
 It is painful to observe that such a man as James 
 Mill seems to have regarded it as the recommendation 
 of the monopoly, that it poured into the Indian 
 treasury a large income derived from foreigners. 
 But surely Mr. Mill would not have thought it 
 desirable, if it were possible, to extract ten millions 
 a year out of French pockets to pay for the army, 
 the police, the poor-rate of England. Such a sug- 
 gestion would have suited the age of ancient Greece 
 and Rome, when the state was everything, and 
 humanity was not yet discovered ; but it is an 
 anachronism in this nineteenth Christian century. 
 One can understand the argument of those who 
 maintain that the monopoly is simply equivalent to 
 the imposition of a heavy tax upon the " pernicious 
 drug," and that the Company were thereby actually 
 doing what they could to restrain the consumption 
 
60 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 abroad as well as at home, altliough that argument 
 by no means tallies with the facts of the case ; but 
 that people should find a positive ground of satis- 
 faction in the vast consumption of a deleterious article 
 in China, because it enriches India, and only injures 
 Chinese, is so abhorrent to our feelings of justice 
 and humanity that it is difficult to meet such views 
 with a calm and courteous reply. Why, then, should 
 Englishmen, who, by a wonderful series of events, 
 find themselves lords of two hundred millions of 
 Asiatics in India, be bound by every tie of human 
 and Christian obligation to be careful of the physical 
 and moral weal of these Hindoos, and yet be released 
 from all obligation toward four hundred millions of 
 Asiatics who dwell farther east ? By what principle 
 of political morality were these rulers of India per- 
 mitted to be utterly indifferent to the corruption and 
 ruin of China ? Must we first wage war upon a 
 people, deprive it of its independence, usurp the 
 throne of its native princes, subjugate it to an alien 
 and unwelcome sway, before we come under an 
 obligation not to undermine its prosperity, de- 
 moralize its population, and ruin myriads of its 
 citizens ? 
 
 Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones were extensive sheep- 
 farmers in Australia, their estates being divided only 
 by a river. Both gentlemen had large families and 
 employed many hands. Mr. Smith was himself a 
 strong advocate of temperance, and used his in- 
 fluence to induce his sons and servants to be water- 
 drinkers, but if any of them declined to adopt his 
 
THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S OPIUir POLICY. 61 
 
 advice, he took care that they should have no oppor- 
 tunity of giving way to excess, by strictly limiting 
 the supply of intoxicating drinks upon his estate. 
 Across the water Mr. Jones might or might not 
 share his sentiments, but for himself he was resolved 
 he would have no drunkenness upon his farm. It 
 happened one night that a canoe came over from the 
 opposite side, and a stranger asked to purchase a 
 bottle of brandy. There was no town near, no 
 other source from, which the man could supply him- 
 self, and Mr. Smith, who saw his opportunity, asked 
 and received three or four hundred per cent, profit 
 upon the brandy. The traffic thus begun, gradually 
 increased. Mr. Smith found that brandy was always 
 saleable over the way, and soon disposed of all his 
 stock, but as soon replenished it from the nearest 
 town. Something perhaps whispered that this con- 
 duct was inconsistent, but then the profits were so 
 great, and sheep -farming was not altogether so suc- 
 cessful as he could have wished. It was Mr. Jones's 
 business to look after his own dependents. Did not 
 he, Mr. Smith, stringently repress any inclination 
 to excessive indulgence among his own people ? Let 
 Mr. Jones maintain discipline among his sons and 
 shepherds ; that was his affair. By and by rumours 
 reach him that Mr. Jones is much distressed at this 
 increase of drunkenness on his estate, that he takes 
 it as very unneighbourly that Mr. Smith should pro- 
 vide the means which sustain it, and indeed that Mr. 
 Jones has positively prohibited any person on his 
 estate from purchasing liquor from the opposite 
 
62 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 shore. Mr. Smith's position now became awkward. 
 He had always regarded himself as an honourable 
 and conscientious man ; and disliked the business in 
 which he was engaged; but then the profits were 
 really of consequence to him. His expenses were so 
 great that he could not afi'ord to lose them. How- 
 ever, something must be done to preserve his repu- 
 tation. So he summoned his boys and his servants 
 together, and strictly enjoined them not to carry a 
 bottle across the river. Meantime he has a hundred 
 dozen of Hennessy's and Martell's brands in his 
 store-room. Must all that prove a dead loss ? He 
 was saved from his dilemma by the offer of a third 
 party to relieve him of his stock. The purchaser to 
 his knowledge conveyed it across the water. From 
 this time Mr. Smith never failed to keep up a good 
 supply of spirits. Sounds of drunken riot came 
 across the river : it was reported that one man had 
 died of delirium tremens, and another had robbed his 
 master's desk, and another had been discharged, and 
 wandered about begging. Mr. Jones was old and 
 infirm ; and his overseer connived at the introduction 
 of liquor against his master's orders. Mr. Smith 
 defended himself by saying that owners of large 
 estates ought not to be old and infirm, and ought: 
 not to employ dishonest overseers. He did not send 
 the brandy across : he put a stop to that at once, 
 directly he heard that Mr. Jones objected to it ; it 
 was too much to expect him to keep watch over Mr. 
 Jones's servants as well as his own. So Mr. Smith 
 kept up the brandy supply, and found the money 
 
THE EAST IXDIA COMPANY'S OPIUM POLICY. 63 
 
 very useful on his farm. He read the Liturgy regu- 
 larly every Sunday to his family and dependents, 
 watched carefully over their morals, and would have 
 been angry if any one had challenged his right to 
 be esteemed an honourable. Christian gentleman. 
 
 Our little apologue will explain itself, but to 
 depict the Company's policy in its real character, the 
 imaginary sketch is all too feeble. There is but 
 one justification attempted for this opium-trade, and 
 that a poor one, bijt such as it is, it is this : that it 
 was not the Company's affair to inquire for what 
 use China demanded such a vast quantity of opium; 
 for all that the Directors could tell, there might be 
 something in the Chinese climate or constitution 
 which made opium beneficial there ; but it was for 
 the Chinese themselves to judge of that. __jrhe^rj 
 V-Chinese did judge of that. Before this century * I 
 began, when the Company's shipments had increased 
 the import into China from a hundred or two, to 
 thousands of chests, the attention of the Chinese 
 Emperor and mandarins was drawn to the increasing / \^ 
 consumption of the drug; and they judged it deci- 
 sively, once for all, and from that day to this they* 
 have never faltered in their decision. And what was 
 their judgment ? One may put it in the Company's 
 own words. They judged that opium was a per- 
 nicious drug, that it demoralized the people, and that 
 they must out of compassion to their subjects pre- 
 vent its use altogether. They did not say, as the 
 Company did, " were it possible :" they believed it 
 possible, and determined to do it. They absolutely 
 
64 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 forbade the introduction and use of the drug. They 
 enacted severe and yet severer laws against it. The 
 Company were well aware of all this. They, and 
 they only, had the right of trading with China, and 
 the superintendents of their factories kept them 
 constantly informed of all these proceedings of 
 the Chinese Government. What course did these 
 Directors pursue, who would so gladly " out of com- 
 passion to mankind," have " preyented the use of the 
 , pernicious drug altogether " ? They straitly charged 
 their own servants not to introduce the drug into 
 their ships or factories, and continued regularly to 
 manufacture every year a large quantity of opium ex- 
 pressly for the China market, knowing, one may say 
 meaning, it to be smuggled into China, This they did 
 without intermission or hesitation, concealment, or 
 apology, for more than fifty years. It is difl&cult to 
 speak of the morality, or rather the degree of immo- 
 rality, of such a proceeding as this. 
 
 The particular nature of this smuggling trade we 
 shall have to notice in portraying the Chinese 
 policy. At present it is enough to remark that the 
 East India Company's pohcy was to provide the 
 materials of a well-known smuggling trade. They, 
 the Governors of a mighty nation, systematically 
 encouraged the infraction of the laws of another 
 great nation for the sake of gain to their own 
 treasury. Though that phase of the opium-trade is 
 a thing of the past, it is impossible to think of it 
 even now without a deep sense of shame. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OPIUM POLICY OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 In 1858 the magnificent dominion of the East India 
 Company was placed under the direct rule of the 
 British crown. From that year our national respon- 
 sibility for the opium trade became clear and imme- 
 diate. 
 
 But it would be an error to suppose that the 
 British Parliament and people can plead irresponsi- 
 bility previous to 1858. At no time was the East 
 India Company an independent authority. It was 
 always part and parcel of the English nation, and 
 under the control of the national Government. Its 
 authority was not self -created, but an emanation from 
 the supreme authority of the nation. Its charters 
 were repeatedly revised and renewed, and at length 
 extinguished by that authority. Again and again 
 parliamentary committees sat for months and years, 
 submitting all the concerns of the Company to 
 minute inspection. In these detailed examinations 
 of the Company's transactions, their opium policy 
 did not escape criticism. Once and again the mono- 
 poly appeared to tremble in the balance. It main- 
 
66 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 tained its ground, and that it did so, sufficiently 
 proves tlie concurrence of the British Government. 
 In 1810 and 1812 the opium concerns of the Com- 
 pany, and its commercial relations with China, were 
 the subjects of investigation. In 1832 we find a 
 distinct ratification of the Bengal monopoly, which is 
 especially to be noted because in the Report of the 
 Committee of Parliament which investigated Indian 
 affairs in 1831, the opposition of the Chinese Govern- 
 ment to the introduction of opium was emphatically 
 brought to the notice of the committee, by letters 
 laid before it from the select committee of the East 
 India Company at Canton, expressly drawing the 
 attention of the Directors to the severe measures 
 threatened by the Chinese against this illegal traffic 
 in opium, and intimating their fear that the local 
 Government was determined to suppress the illicit 
 commerce.^ It was with these letters before them, and 
 with the full knowledge that the trade was a smug- 
 gling trade, and that the Company had recognized 
 its true character by forbidding their own ships and 
 servants to be engaged in it, that the Committee of 
 the House of Commons deliberately approved and 
 adopted the opium policy of the East India Directors 
 as their own. The Report says : — 
 
 " The monopoly of opium in Bengal supplies the 
 Government with a revenue amounting in sterling 
 money to 981,293L, per annum; and the duty which 
 is thus imposed amounts to 301 1 per cent, on the 
 
 * Appendix II. to Report on AiFairs of East India Company, 
 1831, pp. 134—136. 
 
OPIUM POLICY OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 67 
 
 cost of the article. In the present state of the revenue 
 of India, it does not appear advisable to abandon so 
 important a source of revenue, a duty upon opium 
 being a tax wliicli falls principally upon the foreign 
 consumer, and which appears upon the whole less 
 liable to objection than any other which could be 
 substituted." ^ 
 
 From this time forth the British Parliament be- 
 came distinctly the upholder of the East India Com- 
 pany's action in th§ matter. The Report goes on to 
 speak of the precariousness of this revenue, and the 
 probability that at no distant time it may be desir- 
 able to substitute for monopoly an export duty ; but 
 all reference to the morality of the traffic is discreetly 
 avoided. The key-note of the British opium policy 
 was struck, and henceforth was never changed. That 
 key-note was, and is, the revenue is too great to he 
 abandoned. Parliament in effect said, " We cannot 
 afford to examine into the righteousness of the 
 thing. Are we to throw away a million sterling on 
 account of fine-drawn scruples ? Smuggling trade, 
 is it ? We know that : but we cannot give up so 
 flourishing a revenue. The Chinese Emperor objects ? 
 Then let him stop the trade, if he can. He does not 
 complain to us, and while we can ignore his objec- 
 tions, we will." In this spirit our rulers clutched at 
 the profits of a scandalous commerce ; and to this 
 day there has been no national repentance. 
 
 In 1833 the East India Company's exclusive 
 
 ' Reports from Committees, 1831-2. East India Company^s 
 Affairs, III. Revenue, p. 10. 
 
68 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 privileges of trade with China were withdrawn, 
 and the trade thrown open. From this time our 
 Government was drawn into closer relations with 
 the Chinese authorities. Previously the factory at 
 Canton had been in charge of a superintendent 
 appointed by the Company, to which he made his 
 reports, so that the English Government had no 
 direct communication with that of China. In the 
 new circumstances it was considered necessary to 
 appoint some responsible ofl&cer to represent Great 
 Britain in China ; accordingly Lord JSTapier was sent 
 out in 1834 as Chief Superintendent of Trade, with 
 vague powers, which failed to give him sufficient 
 authority to exercise practical control over his 
 countrymen ; the power which the East India 
 Company's officers had possessed, of excluding a 
 refractory merchant from the trade, being withheld. 
 His brief tenure of office is memorable only for the 
 determined resistance which the Chinese provincial 
 Government offered to his attempts to enter into 
 direct communications with them. During the 
 Company's time the mandarins had sent and 
 received communications through the medium of a 
 native guild of thirteen firms, styled in our books 
 the Hong merchants or Co-hong, who were made 
 responsible by their Government for the good 
 behaviour of the foreigners. The Chinese officials 
 haughtily refused to dispense with this means of 
 intercourse. They would recognize the foreigners 
 as private traders only, for whom sureties must bo 
 found amongst the Chinese before privilege of trade 
 
OPIUM POLICr OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 69 
 
 could be granted ; and were resolved to ignore the 
 existence of tlie foreign Governments. When Lord 
 Napier arrived, and pressed upon them his creden- 
 tials as representative of the British crown, they 
 rudely flung them back in his face. The issue of 
 the struggle was that Lord Napier was compelled to 
 retreat to Macao, where, worn out by vexations and 
 insults, he succumbed to the fatal effects of the 
 climate, and died just three months after his landing 
 in China. 
 
 This essay is strictly devoted to a consideration 
 of the opium question, and it therefore becomes the 
 writer's painful duty to expose the faults of his own 
 country. But it would be altogether a mistake to 
 suppose that he is blind to the faults of China. In 
 his opinion it would not be too much to say that 
 the Chinese Government brought upon itself all the 
 evils of the opium trade, and the consequent wars, 
 by its arrogant refusal to enter into intercourse 
 with foreigners. In review of the insulting lan- 
 guage and behaviour of the high officials of Canton, 
 one might fairly have addressed their successors 
 thus : — " In your haughty conceit you beheved or 
 pretended to belieye that western barbarians did not 
 possess the same human nature as your own. You 
 spurned their approaches with contempt, though 
 they came with every appearance of respect and 
 friendship. You determined to regard them as 
 savage beasts ; what right have you now to com- 
 plain if they are wearied out by your refusal to 
 reason with them, and employ brute force to attain 
 
70 BEITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 their end?" This fatal defect in the Chinese 
 character was not local nor temporary, but has been 
 displayed throughout all their intercourse with 
 foreigners. 
 
 Earl Macartney's embassy in 1792, and Lord 
 Amherst's in 1816, were conceived in a most con- 
 ciliatory spirit, and had the Chinese Government 
 received them with frank cordiality, all the mischief 
 and disgrace of the succeeding complications might 
 have been avoided. The opium trade might have 
 been made the subject of earnest expostulations, 
 which the English Government neither could nor 
 would have evaded. But in their absurd pretension 
 to universal supremacy, the Chinese despised the 
 golden opportunit)^. Lord Macartney was treated 
 civilly, but only as bearer of tribute from a distant 
 region bowing to the world-sovereignty of the Son 
 of Heaven. Lord Amherst was required to perform 
 the nine prostrations before the Emperor, and, upon 
 his declining, was unceremoniously dismissed with- 
 out an audience. China, by her overweening pride, 
 invited, almost necessitated, the long string of cala- 
 mities which succeeded. Yet faults on the other side 
 I do not atone for our own. The fatuous pride of a 
 • pagan nation, for which one may see much excuse in 
 ! its venerable antiquity, its ancient supremacy over the 
 ' neighbouring countries, its long isolation from, and 
 therefore inevitable ignorance of, the rest of the world, 
 cannot palliate the unrighteous policy of an enlight- 
 
 I \ ened Christian nation. 
 
 * That our own Government was not, in theory, at 
 
OPIUM POLICY OP THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 71 
 
 least, insensible to its duties, appears from the 
 instructions given to Lord Napier under the Royal 
 sign manual, upon his entering on his difficult and 
 delicate commission :^ — 
 
 " And we do require you constantly to bear in 
 mind, and to impress as occasion may offer, upon 
 our subjects resident in, or resorting to China, the 
 duty of conforming to the laws and usages of the 
 Chinese Empire, so long as such laws shall be 
 administered towards you and them with justice and 
 good faith." 
 
 These were the words with which his sovereign 
 started Lord Napier on his way to China. Yet the 
 smuggling trade was at that time being carried on 
 in open violation of the laws and usages of the 
 Chinese Empire. But then " it does not appear 
 advisable to abandon so important a source of 
 revenue." Nearly a million sterling annually, and 
 and all from Chinese pockets ! Therefore while the 
 principle was distinctly announced that our Govern- 
 ment ivoiild not jproted British subjects in any diffi- 
 culties or disasters that might come upon them in 
 consequence of their violation of Chinese law, not a 
 word was said of restraining them from violating the 
 law. On the contrary, the propositions of the 
 superintendents, or their hints in that direction, 
 were met with a significant silence. The policy was 
 mean, but the revenue was large — 1,000,000Z. per 
 annum — and Parliament had decided that it must 
 not be abandoned. To touch the smugglers was to 
 ' Correspondence relating to China, 1840, p. 3. 
 
72 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 extinguisli the revenue. Their illicit agency was an 
 indispensable link in the collection of that revenue. 
 The smugglers did their work quite gratuitously 
 and independently ; and could be disavowed when- 
 ever their illegalities should threaten to compromise 
 the Government. So it seemed; but this policy 
 was too base to work well. At the first pressure of 
 real interference by the Chinese, our Government 
 found that it could not separate itself from those 
 who had done its work so long and so profitably. 
 It was obliged to wage war on behalf of these 
 opium smugglers, and the British tax-payer must 
 pay the cost. Against the millions per annum of 
 revenue we must set off millions that our Chinese 
 wars have cost us, and millions more that our British 
 manufacturers have lost through the check upon 
 their legitimate commerce by this opium trade ; and 
 taking all into account, we easily come to the con- 
 clusion, that for nations as well as for individuals, 
 " honesty is the best policy " after all. 
 
 Lord Napier's successor, Mr., afterwards Sir 
 John F. Davis, within the first three months of his 
 occupation of the vacated post, forwarded to Lord 
 Palmerston a copy of a very stringent Imperial 
 edict against the opium trade, which required of 
 the Canton Government that the opium store-ships 
 should be expelled, that cruisers should be appointed 
 to guard against ingress of the contraband article, 
 and that oflB.cials accepting bribes should be severely 
 punished.^ As usual, the Hong merchants were 
 * China Correspondence, 1840, p. 76. 
 
OPIUM POLICY OP THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 73 
 
 employed to notify the Imperial will and pleasure to 
 the unmanageable foreigners, and the injunction 
 urging these Hong merchants to greater zeal, con- 
 tains an Imperial estimate of the character of these 
 foreign visitors, anything but complimentary, but 
 alas ! too exactly verified by the facts. His Chinese 
 Majesty observes : — " By nature the barbarians have 
 no other object but gain, and their clandestine trade 
 having existed so long, they certainly will not con- 
 tentedly relinquish it." Shrewd Chinese Majesty; 
 you have not studied human and barbarian nature 
 in vain ! Mr. Davis read this edict, but issued no 
 injunction to his countrymen to abstain from their 
 illegal and now perilous practices. He interpreted! 
 his instructions under the Royal sign manual, with! 
 due recollection that the revenue of India must be 
 taken care of. So he contented himself with for- 
 warding it to Viscount Palmerston. He attempted 
 no denial of the malpractices of the English 
 merchants, he had not a word in defence of his 
 countrymen's honour and honesty. But he has just 
 one word of consolation for his official chief, lest his 
 lordship should be seriously troubled by anxiety for 
 the threatened revenue. '*^I,t is almost needless to 
 observe," he says, in his covering despatch to Lord 
 Palmerston, *' that previous documents of this 
 nature have proved entirely nugatory, and that the 
 opium trade has continued in spite of them." "VYe 
 do not know what was Lord Palmerston' s reply; 
 but we know that he sent out no orders to restrain 
 the opium trade. The thunder-cloud which was 
 
74 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 gathering on the horizon did not burst that year 
 nor next, and no doubt Lord Palmerston hoped, 
 and tried to expect, that it would never burst 
 at all. Why should not this add one more to 
 the long list of " entirely nugatory " edicts, and 
 the opium-trade " continue in spite of them " to 
 swell the East Indian revenue as before ? 
 
 Mr. Davis was soon succeeded by Sir George B. 
 Robinson. The new chief-superintendent, instead 
 
 I of discountenancing the opium trade, took up his 
 abode at Lintin, and actually applied to his Govern- 
 
 l ment to purchase a vessel for his permanent residence 
 there. ^ What was there significant in Lintin ? Up 
 to 1821 the ships used to bring opium to Whampoa, 
 (the port of Canton), and to Macao. In that year 
 there was a flagrant exposure of the corruption of 
 the Chinese officials, who were bribed to admit 
 opium, in consequence of which the opium ships 
 were driven from Whampoa, and the Portuguese 
 dared not admit them to Macao. So these "entirely 
 nugatory " decrees were not without some practical 
 effect. Expelled from the ports, the opium merchants 
 
 ^established a depot of receiving or store-ships at 
 
 ! Lintin, an island off one of the mouths of the Canton 
 river, where was their regular harbourage until 1839. 
 Whampoa, the port of Canton, was the only place at 
 which trade was permitted by the Chinese Govern- 
 ment; Lintin was the opium-smuggling station, 
 where the illegal traffic was carried on in defiance of 
 
 I the Chinese Government. Yet Lintin was the place 
 * China Correspondence, 1841, p. llo. 
 
OPIUM POLICY OP THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 75 
 
 this British representative selected for his permanent 
 abode, in the very midst of the opium ships. From 
 this place he dated his despatch of Feb. 5th, 1836 ^ 
 to Lord Palmerston, in which he palliates the 
 iniquity, and speculates as to the risks of the traffic. 
 It appears from this letter that a struggle between 
 smugglers and coast-guards was going on all along 
 the coast, and that serious conflicts sometimes took 
 place. But the superintendent congratulates him- 
 self that no European was personally engaged in 
 any affray. And then, as if compelled by the terrible 
 irony of the situation, he continues ; " whenever his 
 Majesty's Government directs us to prevent British 
 vessels engaging in the traffic, we can enforce any 
 order to that effect, but a more certain method 
 would be to prohibit the growth of the poppy, and 
 the manufacture of opium in British India ; and if 
 British ships are in the habit of committing irre- 
 gularities and crimes, it seems doubly necessary to 
 exercise a salutary control over them by the presence 
 of an authority at Lintin." This despatch shows 
 that Sir George Robinson was well aware of the 
 " irregularities and crimes " of the smuggling trade; (/ 
 and he took care that Lord Palmerston should know 
 also. The baronet waits only for a word, and he 
 will at once put a stop, or a least a partial check, to 
 these excesses. If he could not hinder the trade 
 altogether, he could prevent British ships from taking 
 part in it. Let Lord Palmerston only write three—/ {^y 
 ines of direction, and it shall be done. But his 
 ' Vide Aj^pendix. 
 
76 BRITISH onmi policy. 
 
 '^ lordsliip speaks no word, writes no line. It was 
 impossible to interdict smuggling into China without 
 injuring the revenue of India, therefore his lordship 
 preferred, to use an expressive Americanism, to " let 
 things slide." 
 
 And sliding they were, going down hill at a rapid 
 rate. Up to this time the opium-merchants did not 
 need to do more thaa bring the drug to China, and 
 take the silver in exchange for it. But as the 
 opposition of the Chinese Government grew more 
 determined, a change came over the scene. Chinese 
 smugglers could not now be found to elude the 
 vigilance of the custom-houses ; the customs-officers 
 no longer dared to take their bribes and let the drug 
 through as before. The thunder- cloud was no 
 longer on the horizon, it now frowned portentously 
 right over head, and now and again ominous flashes 
 leaped forth, harbingers of the coming tempest. On 
 land opium-smokers were seized, beaten, imprisoned, 
 beheaded. On the water, boats were destroyed, 
 smugglers arrested and tortured. The natives were 
 thoroughly cowed, and withdrew altogether from 
 their old practice of fetching the drug, and running 
 it inland. Now at last, the opium-merchants, those 
 honourable merchant princes, the Jardines and 
 Dents, whose wealth has won for them historical 
 fame in the history of British relations with China, 
 now at last they will surely for very shame pause in 
 their career. Now at length, though too tardily, 
 the British representative will send such missives 
 home, as will wring the word of command from his 
 
OPIUM POLICY OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 77 
 
 reluctant chief. Now, in spite of the interests of 
 the Indian revenue, that chief must surely speak the 
 word which will saye his country's flag from infamy. 
 But no. The Chinese emperor had taken the measure 
 of British merchants correctly. Honourable excep- 
 tions there w^ere, a few upright men, w^ho never had 
 and never would enrich themselves by crime. But 
 the opium-dealers were determined to carry on their 
 lucrative traffic at all risks. And Lord Palmerston? 
 The crisis was a grave one. Perhaps his lordship 
 took the question to a cabinet council. If so 
 the result was that her Majesty's Government did 
 not see their way clear to act. No. Things must 
 slide. And they did slide. When the natives 
 declined to carry the drug in, the foreign merchants 
 carried it in themselves in their own armed schooners 
 manned by lascars. Fighting ships were fitted out 
 in Calcutta, armed to the teeth, and commanded 
 by buccaneering captains, who openly boasted 
 they would sink anything and everything which 
 attempted to interfere with their sale of the drug 
 on the Chinese coast. The East India Company 
 continued the steady production of the opium, sold 
 it to the China opium-clippers, and entered it in 
 their books as exported to China, noticing the 
 character of the trade only as it made them feel 
 some anxiety about the precariousness of the 
 revenue. 
 
 Captain EUiot was superintendent of trade from 
 1837 to the war. His despatches to Lord Palmerston, 
 from which we have given extracts in the Appendix, 
 
78 BRITISH OPIUAf POLIO V. 
 
 present a graphic picture of those eventful years. 
 It would occupy too much space here to attempt 
 a detailed account of that exciting- time ; especially 
 as we must go over the same ground from the 
 Chinese point of view, in another chapter. It 
 \ will be seen, then, that the magnitude of the evil 
 daunted some Chinese statesmen into hopelessness 
 of remedy, and led them, to turn their minds toward 
 the legalization of the traffic, as a lesser evil. The 
 Imperial Court appeared to hesitate for a brief space, 
 but soon recovered its spirit and urged on repressive 
 measures more vehemently than ever before. Captain 
 Elliot's letters reflect varied shades of hope and 
 fear. The prospect of legalization was eagerly 
 welcomed by him. He requested frequent visits of 
 H.M. ships of war, as " calculated either to carry 
 the provincial Government back to the system which 
 has hitherto prevailed, or to hasten on the legalization 
 measure from the Court." He thought that ''the 
 legalization of the trade in opium would afford his 
 Majesty's Government great satisfaction," and added, 
 " it cannot be good that the conduct of a great trade 
 should be so dependent upon the steady continuance 
 of a vast prohibited traffic in an article of vicious 
 luxury, high in price, and liable to frequent and 
 prodigious fluctuation." But soon the clouds 
 gathered thickly again, and the glimmer of hope 
 was extinguished. He sends despatch after despatch, 
 enclosing edicts of the Chinese authorities denouncing 
 and forbidding the opium-trade in the sternest terms, 
 and requiring of him, as responsible for the foreign 
 
OPIUM POLICY OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 79 
 
 merchants, to send away the opium-ships stationed 
 
 at Lintin. To the Chinese authorities he makes the 
 
 lame excuse " that he sees only the papers of the 
 
 _British ships which arrive within the port, and he 
 
 is therefore without any public means of knowing 
 
 which of the ships resorting to those anchorages 
 
 are British, what is the nature of their pursuit, 
 
 whence they come, or whither they go." But to 
 
 Lord Palmerston he writes a faithful account of the 
 
 urgent position of affairs, describes in vivid terms 
 
 the high-handed way in which the opium dealers 
 
 were forcing the drug into the river in their own 
 
 armed boats, and advises that a special commissioner 
 
 i should be sent with ships of war — for what ? That 
 
 j the representative of the British crown might not 
 
 : appear clothed with only the mock show of authority, 
 
 made responsible in the eyes of the Chinese for 
 
 disorders he was powerless to prevent ? That he 
 
 might clear the river of the desperadoes who were 
 
 fast precipitating England into war ? Alas ! no. 
 
 But '' to explain that it was impossible for her 
 
 Majesty to prevent the exportation of opium, and to 
 
 urge the legalization of the trade." Captain Elliot 
 
 seems to have been an honourable and a brave man, 
 
 and to have acted with considerable caution and 
 
 firmness in a very difficult situation. But the Indian 
 
 revenue hung round his neck like a mill-stone. He 
 
 could not be thoroughly honest in speech or action, 
 
 __because he knew that an honest policy was not 
 
 expected of him by his superiors. He was there to 
 
 keep things quiet, if possible, but not to interfere 
 
80 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 w with that illegal trade wliicli ministered to the Indian 
 revenue. As matters drew near to a crisis, he was 
 driven to act, with or without authority, in any case 
 I without power. His predecessor, as we have seen, 
 considered himself competent to stop the whole 
 smuggling trade so far as British ships were con- 
 cerned in it ; Captain Elliot now proved the empti- 
 ness of the boast. The smuggling depot at Lintin 
 he did not venture to assail, but made an attempt to 
 stop the smuggling by armed European boats within 
 the Bogue, only to find himself powerless. The 
 opium dealers defied his injunction, and England's 
 representative, superintendent of trade under Royal 
 sign manual, officer of a power which was soon to 
 devastate the Chinese empire with fire and sword 
 I / from Canton to Nanking, was compelled to acknow- 
 
 I ledge to the governor of Canton his impotence to 
 restrain the wretched riff-raff into whose hands the 
 actual carrying of the smuggling trade in Canton 
 waters had fallen. Was not this British policy too ? 
 In after-times, the consul in each treaty port was 
 armed with full power to deal with law-breakers in 
 summary fashion, and the British fleet was there to 
 support him. Similar power might and ought to 
 have been given to the superintendents of trade, 
 when the East India Company's control ceased; 
 and it is noteworthy that by the China Trade Act of 
 1833 very large powers were conferred on her 
 Majesty in Council to enable her to give the 
 requisite authority to her representatives in China. ^ 
 Hansard," third series, vol liii., p. 675. 
 
 f 
 
OPIUM POLICY OF TBE BEITISH GOVERNMENT. 81 
 
 But at this period it would never have done to 
 invest a superintendent of trade with any actual 
 physical power. .^Possibly an honest man might_ 
 
 [use_ it, and then what would become of the 
 opium revenue ? Obviously it was not possible for 
 the British Government formally to sanction and 
 exempt from interference an illegal trajBfic. It was 
 equally clear that occasions might arise when the 
 superintendents might deem it indispensable to 
 check the opium trade, for the honour of their 
 country, and the safety of the lawful commerce ; as 
 no doubt Captain Elliot would have checked it at 
 
 ^ this time if he could. This appointment of super- 
 intendent with full power to give good advice and 
 no power to enforce it, wears too much the appear- 
 ance of design to be taken as altogether an oversight. 
 In 1839 the crash came. The Chinese Imperial 
 Commissioner, Lin, compelled the surrender to his 
 Government of 20,291 chests of opium, worth 
 over two millions sterling, all India-grown opium. 
 This opium was entirely destroyed. Captain ElHot 
 directed the surrender, " constrained by paramount 
 motives affecting the safety of the lives and liberty 
 of all the foreigners here present in Canton." ^ot 
 
 _ a hair on the head of any European was injured; 
 not a finger was laid upon any individual. Lin 
 
 ) simply drew a cordon round the foreign factories, 
 
 withdrew the Chinese servants, stopped the supplies 
 
 of food and water, and said, '' I want that opium, 
 
 V/\\and must have it." He might have tried wiser 
 
 measures to get it ; it would have been much wiser 
 
 M 
 
^ 
 
 82 LRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 not to get it at all, for its destruction was tlie 
 kindest thing he could do for the East India Com- 
 pany and the trade. The Company had already 
 received their revenue. The trade, already all but 
 extinguished for four months, received an immense 
 impulse after the incubus of this vast stock was 
 removed. It was a blundering method of procedure, 
 worthy of the arrogant agent of an Oriental despot. 
 And yet, regarding it as an honestly meant effort to 
 extinguish a terrible vice at any cost and risk, was 
 not the destruction of that opium, after all, the 
 grandest act in the whole history of British and 
 Chinese intercourse ; an act worthy of record in 
 the same page with Britain's payment of twenty 
 millions for the extinction of slavery ? There can 
 be no question that Commissioner Lin was morally 
 within his right in seizing that opium, though his 
 method of doing so is open to objection. Every 
 ounce of that opium was contraband, and was forfeit 
 to the Emperor of China the moment it entered 
 Chinese waters. Lin might have taken it by the 
 strong hand, indeed, did take it by the strong 
 hand, in a way which no doubt recommended it to 
 himself for its effectual simplicity. There was no 
 fighting, no bloodshed ; it does not appear that even 
 one Englishman went without his dinner for a single 
 day. To the Oriental mind, the fact that some 
 innocent persons suffered a little temporary incon- 
 venience along with the guilty would appear too 
 trivial a matter to be noticed in the accomplishment 
 of a grand act of justice. When we take into con- 
 
OPIUM POLICY OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 83 
 
 sideration that the British Superintendent had con- 
 fessed himself impotent to secure the execution of 
 his own mandates, that the violation of Chinese law 
 had endured for a long course of years, and during 
 the recent years in defiance of repeated expos- 
 tulations, that ample warning had been given of the 
 determination of China to bear the opium trade no 
 longer, we cannot for very shame lay much stress 
 upon the informality and arbitrariness of the Chinese 
 method of procedure. 
 
 The very ship that took Captain Elliot's despatch 
 to England, announcing these events, returned with 
 the news that the British Government had resolved 
 to appeal to arms. 
 
 The war which ensued is known in history as 
 " the opium war." It was a war of such a character, 
 that it is equally difficult either to express or repress 
 our feelings of indignation and sorrow. In place of 
 any expression of our own, take the sentence pro- 
 nounced upon this war by Mr. _Glad^tone in his 
 place in Parliament in 1840 : — " They gave you 
 notice to abandon your contraband trade. When 
 they found that you would not, they had a right to 
 drive you from their coasts, on account of your 
 obstinacy in persisting in this infamous and atro-. 
 cious traffic. You allowed your agent to aid and 
 abet those who were concerned in carrying on that 
 trade ; and I do not know how it can be urged as a 
 crime against the Chinese that they refused pro- 
 visions to those who refused obedience to their laws 
 whilst residing within their territories. A war more 
 
 G 2 
 
84 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 unjust in its origin, a war more calculated to cover 
 this country with permanent disgrace, I do not 
 know, and I have not read of. The right hon. gen- 
 tleman opposite spoke of the British flag waving in 
 glory at Canton. That flag is hoisted to protect an 
 infamous contraband traffic; and if it never were 
 hoisted, except as it is now hoisted on the coast of 
 China, we should recoil from its sight with horror. 
 Although the Chinese were undoubtedly guilty of 
 much absurd phraseology, of no little ostentatious 
 pride, and of some excess, justice, in my opinion, is 
 
 \with them; and whilst they, the Pagans, the semi- 
 civilized barbarians, have it on their side, we, the 
 enlightened and civilized Christians, are pursuing 
 objects at variance both with justice and with 
 
 •religion."^ 
 
 Some persons protest against the phrase "the 
 opium war." They allege that there were other 
 causes of war, and that war must have occurred 
 sooner or later had there been no opium trade. 
 This may be granted. But after a review of the 
 events narrated above, it is clear that the war which 
 actually occurred took its rise and received its moral 
 character from the opium trade. In the words of 
 Lord John Eussell, the war was set afoot " to obtain 
 reparation for insults and injuries ofi*ered to her 
 Majesty's Superintendent and subjects; to obtain 
 indemnification for the losses the merchants had 
 sustained under threats of violence ; and, lastly, to 
 get security that persons and property trading with 
 
 V r ' FiV/c '* Hansard," third series, vol. liii., p. 818. 
 
OPIUM POLICY OF THE BE1T[SH GOVEENMENT. 85 
 
 China should in future be protected from insult or in- 
 jury." ^ What were the " insults and injuries " com- 
 plained of ? Those that occurred in Lin*s high-handed 
 'seizure of the opium. For what was the indemnity 
 demanded? Principally for the opium destroyed. 
 Nothing more is wanted than Lord John Russell's 
 own description to brand the war as one caused by, 
 and on behalf of opium ; though the use of the word 
 is carefally avoided. The British statesman would 
 naturally have preferred to regard the drug, as some 
 unknown article of commerce, an algebraic a?, and to 
 fix the cause of dispute upon Lin's summary pro- 
 ceedings. The historian cannot ignore facts in this 
 way. Whatever we had to complain of in Commis- 
 sioner Lin's behaviour, opium was the root of the 
 whole matter. 
 
 It will be instructive to quote here Williams' ' 
 resume of the debate in Parliament upon the ques- 
 tion of peace or war, — "It turned almost wholly 
 upon the opium trade, and whether the hostilities 
 had not proceeded from the want of foresight and 
 precaution on the part of her Majesty's ministers. 
 The speakers all showed ignorance of both prin- 
 ciples and facts. Sir James Graham asserted that 
 the Governors of Canton had sanctioned the trade ; 
 and Sir G. Staunton that it would not be safe for 
 British power in India, if these insults were not 
 checked, and that the Chinese had far exceeded, in 
 
 ' Ibid., vol. lii., p. 1223. 
 
 ' "The Middle Kingdom," by S. Wells Williams. Vol. ii., 
 p. 526. 
 
I i 
 
 86 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 their recent efforts, the previous acknowledged laws 
 of the land ! Dr. Lushington maintained that the 
 connivance of the local rulers acquitted the smug- 
 glers ; while Sir John Hobhouse truly stated the 
 reason why the Government had done nothing to 
 stop the opium trade was that it was profitable; 
 and Lord Melbourne, with still more fairness said, 
 ' We possess immense territories peculiarly fitted for 
 raising opium, and though he would wish that the 
 Government were not so directly concerned in the 
 traffic, he was not prepared to pledge himself to 
 relinquish it.' The Duke of Wellington thought 
 the Chinese Government was insincere in its efforts, 
 and deserved little sympathy; and Lord Ellen- 
 borough spoke of the million and a half sterling 
 revenue * derived from foreigners,' which, if the 
 opium monopoly was given up, and its cultivation 
 abandoned, they must seek elsewhere. No one 
 advocated the war on the ground that the opium 
 had been seized, but the majority were in favour of 
 letting it go on because it was begun. The debate 
 was, in fact, a remarkable instance of the wav in 
 which a moral question is blinked, even by the most 
 conscientious persons, when politics or interest comes 
 athwart its course." 
 
 A detailed account of the military and naval 
 operations would be out of place here, and we are 
 glad to be spared the distressing narrative. Hor- 
 rible as war is in any circumstances, there is never- 
 theless a terrible fascination in the account of a 
 great struggle between two mighty peoples, like 
 
OPIUM POLICY OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 87 
 
 France and Germany, in which the hostile armies 
 are not far from equally matched in discipline and 
 arms. But it gives one a sickening sensation to 
 read of the slaughter of mobs of Asiatics, armed 
 with gingalls, and carrying bows and arrows, by the 
 disciplined forces of Great Britain. During fourteen 
 tedious months the contest moved slowly over 
 fifteen hundred miles of sea-coast and inland river. 
 Forts were bombarded, ships destroyed, cities cap- 
 tured, and looted pr held to ransom, thousands of 
 Chinese soldiers were slain, and necessarily a vast 
 amount of suffering was inflicted upon non-com- 
 batants. And, regarding the war as a fact by itself, 
 apart from its causes, the most painful thought 
 is, that this immense display of destructive energy 
 was mostly wasted, as we have learnt since, and 
 might have learnt long before. The same amount 
 of force steadily du'ected against the capital would 
 have attained the desired end, with the minimum of 
 bloodshed. As it was, an incalculable amount of 
 suffering was inflicted upon innocent people, who 
 had no more responsibility for the grievances com-, 
 plained of, no more power to atone for them, than 
 had the buffaloes which drew their ploughs ; and a 
 second war had to be waged within twenty years to 
 repair the mistakes of the first. 
 
 In the subsequent treaty, the treaty " which 
 opened China," no mention of opium was made^ 
 except the exaction of six millions of dollars in- 
 demnity for the 20,000 chests destroyed by Lin. 
 The English Ambassador endeavoured to induce the 
 
88 BRITISH OPIUM rOLICY. 
 
 Chinese officials to legalize the opium traffic ;^ but no 
 
 ' — their Emperor would not hear of it — his ministers 
 did not dare to name the subject. Sir H. Pottinger 
 was therefore compelled to abandon the proposal. 
 After all the expenditure of blood and treasure, it was 
 provoking to be obliged to leave the opium trade an 
 acknowledged illicit traffic. But at once to do this, 
 and in the same breath to compel the Chinese 
 Government to pay for the destruction of confiscated 
 contraband property, seems almost to surpass the 
 reach of British inconsistency. We pride our- 
 selves upon being a practical people, upon not being 
 governed by ideas ; and certainly an amazing amount 
 both of self-complacency and indifference to logic 
 are needed to Sustain a shock like this. Either we 
 were in the right or in the wrong about opium. If 
 in the right, we ought to have insisted upon the 
 legalization. If in the wrong, how had we the 
 face to make the Chinese pay for those 20,000 
 -chests ? ^ But people's notions of morality seem to_ 
 ' ' / have got bewildered by the drug. After the treaty 
 was signed, the opium merchants actually proposed 
 I to send opium ships into the open ports, and to 
 I demand that the drug should be admitted on a five 
 ', per cent. duty. It seems incredible, and yet no 
 doubt it must have also been almost beyond the 
 powers of comprehension of the opium merchants, 
 that her Majesty's Government had fought for them, 
 exacted indemnity for them, and then left them 
 
 ^ Papers relating to the Opium Trade in China, 1842-56, 
 pp. 1 — 3. Middle Kingdom, vol. ii., p. 569. 
 
OPIUM POLICY OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 89 
 
 smugglers as before. And so Sir Henry Pottinger 
 liad to issue the following proclamation : ' — • 
 
 " It having been brought to my notice, that such 
 a step has been contemplated as sending vessels 
 with opium on board, into the ports of China to be 
 opened by treaty to foreign trade, and demanding 
 that the said opium shall be admitted to importation, 
 in virtue of the concluding clause of the new 
 tariff, which provides for all articles not actually 
 enumerated in that tariff passing at an ad valorem 
 duty of five per cent., I think it expedient, by this 
 proclamation, to point out to all whom it may 
 concern, that opium being an article, the traffic in 
 which is well known to be declared illegal and con- 
 traband by the laws and Imperial edicts of China, 
 any person who may take such a step will do so at 
 his own risk, and will, if a British subject, meet 
 with no support or protection from her Majesty's 
 Consuls, or other officers. 
 
 " This proclamation will be translated and pub- 
 lished in Chinese, so that no one may plead ignorance 
 of it. 
 
 " God save the Queen I 
 
 "Dated at the Government House, at Victoria, 
 this 1st day of August, 1843. 
 
 (Signed) "Henry PoniNGER." 
 
 Still the old policy. You, British merchants, 
 
 performing for our Government the useful office of 
 
 collecting the East Indian revenue from Chinese 
 
 pockets, remember we cannot protect nor support 
 
 ' China Repository for August, 1843, vol. xii., p. 446. 
 
90 BRITISH OriUxM POLICY. 
 
 you : for what you do is distinctly illegal. But we 
 know that you will do it, and do not intend to prevent 
 you. That is the business of the Chinese Emperor. 
 Another illustration of this policy is seen in 
 the publication of an Order in Council, dated 
 24th February, 1843,* forbidding British ships 
 to violate the treaty by going to trade outside the 
 treaty ports; but when Captain Hope, of her 
 Majesty's ship " Thalia," stopped two or three 
 opium-ships proceeding above Shanghai, he was 
 recalled from his station, and ordered to India, where 
 he could not " interfere in such a manner with the 
 undertakings of British subjects."^ The Chinese 
 Government desisted from the struggle against 
 opium, when the war had convinced them that 
 England was resolved to force it at all costs. That 
 this was their conviction (and after what had 
 occurred, how could it be otherwise ?) we know 
 from their letter to Sir Henry Pottinger, making 
 overtures for peace : " Our nations have been united 
 by a friendly commercial intercourse for 200 years. 
 How, then, at this time, are our old relations so 
 suddenly changed, so as to be the cause of national 
 quarrel ? It arises most assuredly from the spread- 
 ing opium poison. Opium is neither pulse nor 
 grain, and yet multitudes of our Chinese subjects 
 consume it, wasting their property, and destroying 
 their lives, and the calamities arising therefrom are 
 unutterable ! How is it possible for us to refrain 
 from forbidding our people to use it ?" This touch- 
 
 * China Repository, vol. xii., p. 446. 
 
 * Williams' Middle Kingdom, vol. ii., p. oH2. 
 
OPIUM POLICY OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 91 
 
 ing appeal must be regarded as the last free utter- 
 ance of China as to opium. England ought then to 
 have replied, disavowing in distinct terms any wish 
 to force opium into China, ought to have engaged to 
 do her part to prevent her subjects from any further 
 illegal practices, ought to have renounced the re- 
 venue derived from these practices. England did 
 none of these things, and China, down-trodden and 
 bleeding, with the foot of the conqueror on her 
 neck, could only think that, bad as the opium trade 
 was, it was an evil which England was resolved to 
 thrust upon her, and therefore to be tolerated as a 
 lesser evil than an unequal war. 
 I One step had yet to be taken to make our British 
 |,,--^ium policy complete, viz. to secure the legali- 
 zation of the traffic. This was achieved by Lord 
 Elgin in the negotiations for a treaty of peace after 
 the second Chinese war, commonly known as the 
 
 J'Lorcha" or "Arrow War," of 1857. That this 
 legalization was not the spontaneous act of the 
 Chinese is plain from the Blue-book; though, as 
 we have only the views of our own side depicted 
 there, it is impossible to discover from that source 
 the degree of repugnance the Chinese statesmen felt, 
 and the measure of opposition they offered. The 
 Earl of Elgin sailed from England, bearing with him 
 instructions from the Earl of Clarendon ''to ascer- 
 
 1 tion whether the Government of China would revoke 
 its prohibition of the opium trade." ^ The treaty, 
 which was signed on the 26th June of the next year, 
 
 ® Correspondence relating to the Earl of Elgin's Special 
 Mission to China and Japan, 1857 — 1859, p. 5. 
 
92 BRITISH OPIUM POLICr. 
 
 contained no reference to opiuna, apparently because 
 j^the Earl was ashamed to propose the subject/ Twd^ 
 months later Lord Elgin concluded the first treaty 
 between England and Japan, in which he put his 
 signature to a clause expressly prohibiting the im- 
 1/ portation of opium. ^ 
 
 In the month of September the plenipotentiary of 
 the United States, Mr. W. B. Reed, addressed a 
 long letter to Lord Elgin, arguing that the existing 
 condition of things was the worst possible, that the 
 local authorities of Shanghai had virtually legalized 
 the trade by exacting a duty from it, and that the 
 British Government ought either to abandon the 
 trade or to procure its recognition by China. We 
 can judge from the following paragraph which Mr. 
 Eeed believed to be the right course : — 
 
 " But two courses are open for us to suggest and 
 sustain — that of urging upon the Chinese authorities 
 the active and thorough suppression of the trade by 
 seizure and confiscation, with assurances that no 
 assistance, direct or indirect, shall be given to 
 parties, English or American, seeking to evade or 
 resist the process ; adding to this what, if your 
 Excellency agrees with me as to the expediency of 
 
 ^ " I have more than once understood your Excellency to say 
 that you had a strong, if not invincible, repugnance, involved as 
 Great Britain already was in hostilities at Canton, and having 
 been compelled in the north to resort to the influence of threatened 
 coercion, to introduce the subject of opium to the Chinese 
 authorities." — Letter of the U. S. Minister, Mr. Reed, to Lord 
 Elgin. Ibid., p. 396. 
 
 « IhifL, p. 379. 
 
OPIUM POLICY OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 93 
 
 measures of repression, I am sure will be consonant 
 with your personal conviction of what is right — the 
 assurance of the disposition of your Grovernment to 
 put a stop to the growth and export of opium from 
 India. I may be permitted to suggest that perhaps 
 no more propitious moment for so decisive and 
 philanthropic a measure could be found than now, 
 when the privileges of the East India Company, 
 and what may be termed its active responsibilities, 
 including the receipt and administration of the 
 opium revenue, are about to be transferred to the 
 Crown. I am confident my Government would do 
 ready justice to the high motives which would lead 
 to such a course, and rejoice at the result." ^ 
 
 Being unable to take notice of this suggestion. 
 Lord Elgin was shut up to the second of the two 
 courses put before him by Mr. Eeed, viz. to urge 
 the Chinese to admit the drug into the tariff. This 
 duty was discharged by Lord Elgin's delegates, 
 Messrs. Oliphant and Wade, and their report ^ of the 
 discussion with the Chinese delegates appointed to 
 meet them makes it sufficiently clear that to the 
 Chinese no real option was left. The proposition to 
 legahze opium came from the English side, and the 
 nearest approach to. the appearance of voluntary 
 consent on the part of the two Chinese delegates, 
 which Messrs. Oliphant and Wade could put upon 
 record, was, that Treasurer Wang admitted the 
 necessity of a change ; i. e. some change. The 
 Chinese feeling appears plainly enough in the fol- 
 • Ibid., p. 396. ' Ibid., p. 400. 
 
i 
 
 94 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 lowing passage of the report which records their 
 view, a report given ns, we must remember, by the 
 opposite partj : — " China still retains her objection 
 to the use of the drug on moral grounds, but the 
 present generation of smokers, at all events, must 
 and will have opium. To deter the uninitiated from 
 becoming smokers, China would propose a very high 
 duty ; but as opposition was naturally to be expected 
 from us in that case, it should be made as moderate 
 as possible "(!) Accordingly they proposed a duty of 
 sixty taels a chest ; but the English delegates would 
 agree to no higher than thirty; at which figure, 
 therefore, opium was inserted in the tariff. In 
 1869, during the negotiations for revision of the 
 treaty. Sir Kutherford Alcock and the Chinese 
 statesmen agreed that the duty should be raised 
 from thirty to fifty taels; but her Majesty's Govern- 
 ment refused to ratify the revised treaty, and the 
 riginal treaty of Tientsin is still in force. 
 At last, then, the long-coveted right was won. 
 Henceforth the opium-merchant could openly intro- 
 duce " the pernicious drug " through the Chinese 
 custom-houses, which about this time were re- 
 organized and placed under the control of an 
 Englishman ! The scandal of the illicit traflB.c is a 
 thing of the past, and now surely the British and 
 the Indian Governments may be allowed to share in 
 the blessings of the blood-bought peace, and give 
 thanks to heaven that they could extract their 
 !|jannual millions of revenue from the Chinese with a 
 1 i quiet conscience! But conscience is a troublesome 
 
 
OPIUM POLICY OP THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. Uo 
 
 tiling ; before it can be satisfied we have to confront 
 the allegation thab ive forced China to legalize the 
 \ trade. The strong man knocks down the weak one, 
 \ ] sets his foot upon his chest, and demands, " Will you 
 give me the liberty to knock at your front door and 
 supply your children with poison ad libitum V* The 
 weak man gasps out from under the crushing 
 pressure, "I will; I will; anything you please/* 
 And the strong man goes home rejoicing that he is 
 no longer under the unpleasant necessity of carrying 
 on a surreptitious back-door trade. That the Chinese 
 Government yielded only to physical force it will be 
 our business to prove in the next chapter. Indeed, 
 this has been suflSciently proved already, if to the 
 preceding history we add the fact that as soon as 
 the Chinese Government began to regain a little 
 strength it renewed its protest against the opium. 
 But this is anticipating. 
 
 The history of British opium policy up to the 
 present day is written. In 1832 a committee of 
 the House of Commons deliberately stamped its 
 character by resolving that " In the present state of 
 the Indian revenue it does not appear advisable to 
 abandon so important a source of revenue ; a duty 
 upon opium being a tax which falls principally upon 
 the foreign consumer.'' From the principle then laid 
 down the British Government has never swerved. 
 In 1832 the income from opium was less than a 
 
 (million sterling out of a gross revenue of eighteen 
 millions; in 1872 the net revenue from opium was 
 \more than seven millions and a half out of a gross 
 
96 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 revenue of fifty millions. If the opium profits could 
 not be dispensed with when they amounted to less 
 than one- eighteenth of the total income, still less 
 can they be spared when they are more than a 
 seventh of the whole. A Government which deter- 
 mines to perpetuate a lucrative iniquity until it . is 
 perfectly convenient to put an end to it, resolves in 
 effect to uphold the iniquity until the day of judg- 
 ment. 
 
 A brief record of the attempts made in Parliament 
 to overthrow this iniquity will fitly close this chapter. 
 In 1843 Lord Ashley (the present Earl of Shaftes- 
 bury) raised a vigorous protest in the House o£ 
 Commons by moving the resolution : — 
 
 *' That it is the opinion of this House that the 
 continuance of the trade in opium, and the monopoly 
 of its growth in the territories of British India, is 
 destructive of all relations of amity between England 
 and China, injurious to the manufacturing interests 
 of the country by the very serious diminution of 
 legitimate commerce, and utterly inconsistent with 
 the honour and duties of a Christian kingdom, and 
 that steps be taken as soon as possible, with due 
 regard to the rights of Government and individuals, 
 to abolish the evil." - 
 
 This resolution his lordship supported by an 
 
 eloquence and an array of evidence which one would 
 
 have thought irresistible. Among his supporters 
 
 was Sir George Staunton, whose long official resi- 
 
 = ** Hansard," third series, vol. Ixviii., 4tli April, 1843. 
 
OPIUM POLICY OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 97 
 
 dence in Canton, and acquaintance, then almost 
 unique, with the Chinese language and literature, 
 gave him an authority which was not diminished by 
 the fact that Sir George was not generally opposed 
 to our Government in favour of Chica. He said on 
 this occasion, "I never denied the fact that if there 
 had been no opium- smuggling there would have 
 
 been no war. Even if the opium traffic had been 
 permitted to run its natural course, if it had not 
 received an extraordinary impulse from the measures 
 taken by the East India Company to promote its 
 growth, which almost suddenly quadrupled the 
 supply, I believe it never would have created that 
 extraordinary alarm in the Chinese authorities, 
 which betrayed them into the adoption of a sort of 
 coup-d'etat for its suppression." And in reply to 
 Mr. Baring, who contended that legalization was 
 the only remedy, and announced the expectation of 
 Government that the very next mail would bring 
 news that the Emperor of China had consented to it. 
 Sir George said: " In point of fact it is well known that 
 the Chinese authorities could and did stop the traffic 
 effectually for four months previous to the seizure of 
 the opium ; that there was not a single chest sold 
 for the whole of that period ... I believe the fact to 
 be that this traffic neither has been nor ever will be 
 legalized in China." Sir Robert Peel, however, had 
 more faith in Sir Henry Pottinger's bringing nego- 
 tiations for legalization to a successful issue. We 
 know the result; but at the time no doubt these 
 confident expectations had great weight with the 
 
 H 
 
98 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 House. Sir Robert Peel deprecated hasty action, 
 promised that her Majesty's ministers would take 
 the subject into their cautious consideration, and 
 asked the House to entrust the subject to them. 
 Lord Ashley thereupon withdrew his motion. 
 
 Fourteen years after this debate, and a few weeks 
 previous to Lord Elgin's departure for the East, 
 with special instructions to get the trade legalized, 
 the Earl of Shaftesbury renewed the attack in the 
 House of Lords, by moving that two important 
 questions be submitted for the opinion of her 
 Majesty's Judges. These were (1), whether it be 
 lawful for the East India Company to derive a 
 revenue from the cultivation of opium? and (2), 
 whether it be lawful for the Company to prepare 
 opium for the purpose of being smuggled into 
 China ? The motion was withdrawn, but the Go- 
 vernment itself undertook the task. The questions 
 were submitted by the President of the Board of 
 Control to four high legal authorities — the Queen's 
 Advocate, the Attorney and Solicitor General, and 
 the Company's standing counsel. And what were 
 the answers ? In brief, yes, to the first question ; 
 no, to the second : i. e. there was nothing in contra- 
 vention of English law in the bare fact that the 
 Company sold opium, but, to quote the ipsissima 
 verba of this important opinion, "We think now 
 that opium is made contraband by the law of China, 
 and that its importation into China is made by 
 Chinese law a capital crime, the continuance of the 
 Company's practice of manufacturing and selling 
 
OPIUM POLICY OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 99 
 
 this opium in a form specially adapted to the 
 Chinese contraband trade, though not an actual and 
 direct infringement of the treaty, is yet at variance 
 with its spirit and intention, and with the conduct 
 due to the Chinese Government by that of Great 
 Britain as a friendly power, bound by a treaty which 
 implies that all smuggling into China will be dis- 
 countenanced by Great Britain."^ These four emi- 
 nent legal authorities, including the Company's own 
 standing counsel among them, found that the East 
 India Company were accomplices of smugglers ; and 
 as such, were guilty of conduct tending to provoke 
 breach of the peace between England and China. 
 Indeed the facts were confessed, and the equity of 
 the case is plain. The law condemns the receiver of 
 stolen goods as well as the thief, the manufacturer 
 of spurious coin as well as the utterer, and it must 
 condemn the accomplice of smugglers as well as the 
 smugglers themselves. If China had possessed the 
 physical force of the United States, and could have 
 got her grievances submitted to a Grand Court of 
 Arbitration at Geneva or elsewhere in any year 
 between 1842 and 1858, she might have recovered 
 damages, compared with which the Alabama com- 
 pensation would have looked small. But China 
 was weak and ignorant, and the Earl of Shaftes- 
 bury's motion for legal inquiry ended in the con- 
 
 \ jiemnation of England and India by their own 
 [I [ ^self^^hosen judges, without the slightest step being 
 
 ,n_taken to restrain them in their course of injustice. 
 ' Parliamentary Return, 24th August, 1857, vide Appendix. 
 
 H 2 
 
100 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 This arraignment of the Company before a legal 
 tribunal came rather late, for next year their sceptre 
 departed from them, and the legal offence ceased 
 by Lord Elgin's introduction of opium into the 
 tariff. Nothing remained but to assail the trade on 
 a direct moral issue. This course was adopted by 
 Sir Wilfred Lawson, who moved in the House of 
 Commons in 1870, the resolution — 
 
 " That this House condemns the system by which a 
 large portion of the Indian revenue is raised by opium." 
 
 Again there was a gallant debate, with a formid- 
 able array of arguments and evidence in support of 
 the resolution. On the opposite side, though the 
 abihty of Mr. Grant Duff and the high authority 
 and splendid powers of Mr. Gladstone were dis- 
 played in defence of the revenue, we find nothing 
 essentially new. Opium was classed with alcohol, 
 and our taxation of the latter was urged in defence 
 of the direct production of the former. But, as 
 before, the importance of the revenue was the 
 backbone of the resistance to Sir Wilfred Lawson. 
 The House divided : forty-seven members followed 
 Sir Wilfred Lawson, while one hundred and fifty- 
 one voted with the Government."^ 
 
 * To complete the history up to the date of publication, we may- 
 record here the latest debate in Parliament, raised last year (1875) 
 by Mr. Mark J. Stewart's motion : — " That this House is of 
 opinion that the Imperial policy regulating the opium traffic 
 between India and China should be carefully considered by her 
 Majesty's Government, with a view to the gradual withdrawal of 
 the Government of India from the cultivation and manufacture of 
 opium : " — in which the Government manifested the same deter- 
 mination not to yield ajot of the old traditional policy. The votes 
 were — for the Government ninety-four,for the resolution fifty-seven. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 CHINESE ANTI-OPItJM POLICY. 
 
 • 
 
 From the commencement of the century to the 
 present day the Chinese Imperial Government has 
 persisted in prohibiting the practice of opium- 
 smoking. Among ourselves, it is commonly held 
 that the Government should restrict its functions as 
 much as possible to the protection of life and pro- 
 perty, and interfere as little as possible with the 
 moral and religious concerns of the people. China, 
 on the contrary, from time immemorial, has been 
 accustomed to the idea of paternal government. 
 Government has been looked upon as the most 
 sacred and all-embracing of all human duties. 
 The sovereign, and under him, his ministers are 
 personally responsible for the temporal and moral 
 welfare of all under their sway. The most ancient 
 of the Chinese books attest this conviction, as when 
 the Conqueror T'ang, founder of the Shang dynasty 
 (B.C. 1766), declared in a proclamation " when 
 guilt is found anywhere in you who occupy the 
 myriad regions it must rest on me." ^ 
 
 ^ "Legge'p Chinese Classics," vol. iii., p. 189. 
 
102 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 It is a result of this idea of the duties of Govern- 
 ment that Chinese imperial and provincial decrees 
 are composed in a homiletic style. They are 
 sermons as well as laws, and indeed are expected 
 to operate by the power of moral suasion, before the 
 material penalties denounced are put in force. To 
 an English reader unaccustomed to this hortatory 
 style in the utterances of secular authority, these 
 wordy exhortations will scarcely escape seeming 
 ludicrous. But the Chinese expect this good advice 
 from the ruling powers. Both governors and 
 governed hold that the people must be instructed in 
 their duties before legal penalties are inflicted. 
 It is involved in this Chinese idea of a paternal 
 rule, that the Government must always denounce 
 and repress vice of all kinds with ceaseless rebukes 
 and uncompromising penalties. The Duke of Chow's 
 manifesto against drunkenness (b.c. 1115) is the 
 most ancient extant of an innumerable succession 
 of edicts against prostitution, gambling, opium- 
 smoking, and immoralities of every description. We 
 smile at their pedagogical tone, and despise the 
 executive inefficiency which made so many of these 
 fulminations nothing better than firing blank 
 cartridges ; nevertheless they effectually dispose of 
 the accusation of hypocrisy frequently brought 
 against the Chinese Government by defenders of the 
 opium-trade, who have represented Chinese an- 
 tagonism to opium- smoking as if it were an isolated 
 and unprecedented fact in their history. 
 
 The first imperial edict against opium-smoking, of 
 
CHINESE ANTI-OPIUM POLICY. 103 
 
 which we find record, was issued by the Emperor 
 Kia K^ing in the first year of this century. Opium- 
 . smoking is a modern vice, and' its rise and progress^ 
 /synchronize with the increase of the trade under 
 I the patronage of the East India Company. Chinese 
 "^^medical works, of 300 years back, mention the drug 
 as a remedy in eases of diarrhoea, dysentery, and 
 other diseases. Where and when and by whom 
 smoking as a luxury was commenced is hidden in 
 obscurity. "Before the year 1767 the import of: 
 the Indian drug into China rarely exceeded 200 ; 
 chests; that year it amounted to 1000, at which 
 rate it continued for many years." ^ It would not 
 be an unreasonable conjecture that it was about 
 that date that the practice of smoking originated. 
 \ "In 1773 the British East India Company made a 
 small adventure of opium from Bengal to China." ^ 
 ' In 1798-9^ the import exceeded 4000 chests. The 
 I Report of the Governor of the two Kwang provinces 
 in 1836 states : " 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 im- 
 ported during a long course of years. In the reigns 
 of Yung Ching and K'ien Lung (a.d. 1723—1795) it 
 was included in the tariff of maritime duties, under 
 the head of medicinal drugs, and there was then no 
 regulation against purchasing it or inhaling it." In 
 ,^1779 the then Governor of Kwang Tung presented 
 a memorial to Kia K'ing, the fifth ancestor of the 
 
 « Phipps, " China and Eastern Trade," p. 208. 
 ' Chinese Repository, vol. v., p. 553. 
 
104 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 reigning Emperor, which, produced the imperial 
 decree referred to above. In 1800 the importation 
 of opium was prohibited, and smokers were threat- 
 ened with punishment. Successive decrees in- 
 creased this punishment to transportation and 
 strangling. Now since the importation did not 
 reach so high as 5000 chests in any year before 1820, 
 it is plain that up to that time the Chinese Govern- 
 ment could only have been actuated by a sincere 
 concern for the moral welfare of its subjects. The 
 drain of silver which caused alarm to the financialists 
 when the import was near 50,000 chests could 
 hardly have been subject of anxiety when it did not 
 reach to a tenth of that amount. 
 
 The moral weight of the Chinese Government's 
 [antagonism to opium-smoking was undoubtedly 
 weakened by the ease and regularity with which the 
 import was effected during a long course of years 
 by means of an established and well-understood 
 system of bribery. It was not until 1837 that 
 really vigorous efforts were put forth to extinguish 
 the practice, and not until 1838 that the foreign 
 importers of the opium were directly attacked. The 
 immunity of nearly forty years bred a sense ot 
 security in the minds of the opium-smugglers. 
 Nay, so quiet and regular was the trade for long 
 periods (though not without some serious interrup- 
 tions), and so uniform the scale of fees for bribing 
 the officials, that they chose to ignore altogether 
 the fact that they were smugglers, and felt them- 
 selves seriously aggrieved when at last the long- 
 
CHINESE ANTI-OPIUM POLICY. l05 
 
 slumbering authorities awoke to action. Looking 
 at the subject with English eyes, it is impossible 
 to refrain from grave censure of the Chinese official 
 imbecility and corruption. But the student who 
 looks at the matter not with the eyes of a Euro- 
 pean but as surveyed from the interior, witli 
 Chinese eyes as it were, will not argue from this 
 [remissness of the executive that the Government 
 was insincere in its opposition. A " paternal " 
 Government, which takes the morals of 300,000,000 
 subjects under its care, must wink at a good many 
 irregularities. In such a numerous family, it is not 
 to be expected that all the children will be good 
 boys and girls. The edicts against vice are often 
 held in abeyance, kept suspended in tenvrem over 
 the heads of transgressors, bat not at all times put 
 into execution with equal vigour. The difficulty of 
 securing honest administrators of the laws is well 
 known, and this defect of their political system 
 compels the central authority to shut its eyes to 
 many evasions of the law. But this does not do 
 away with the law, nor argue any want of sincerity 
 in its promulgation. The memorial of Choo Tsun,* 
 represents the feelings of the Chinese very fairly 
 when it says : "It has been represented, that 
 advantage is taken of the laws against opium by 
 extortionate underhngs and worthless vagrants, to 
 benefit themselves. Is it not known then, that 
 
 * Choo Tsun was Cabinet Minister in the reign of Taou-Kwaug. 
 The memorial is translated in the Chinese Correspondence of 
 1840, p. 168. 
 
106 BEITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 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 cease eating 
 because of disease 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 instance is dis- 
 covered, punishment is inflicted. But none surely 
 would contend that the law, because in such 
 instances rendered ineffectual, should therefore bo 
 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 
 ruin and all- destroying overflow !" 
 
 Choo Tsun was right; to the Chinaman, the law 
 as a protest of the Government is, to a certain 
 extent, a practical barrier against vice. When 
 temporarily inoperative it does not grow obsolete, 
 but retains its vitality as a witness against evil. 
 
 The habit of opium- smoking was held in check 
 from 1800 to 1837, by statutes which seemed 
 inoperative to foreign eyes. Kor is it true that 
 this period did pass by without enforcement of the 
 
CHINESE ANTI-OPIUM POLICY. 107 
 
 law against native offenders, some instances of 
 which produced temporary consternation among 
 the foreign dealers/ We have seen already that 
 as regards the foreigners they were compelled 
 to remove their stocks of opium outside the 
 limits within which the recognized trade was 
 carried on. Still we cannot deny that the 
 facility and security of the illicit trade during 
 a long course of years was calculated to deceive 
 foreigners as to the real sentiments of the Chinese 
 Government. Whatever spasmodic attempts were 
 made to deter the native from buying and using 
 opium, the foreign merchants were not molested. 
 Their great wealth, and the power the lucrative- 
 ness of the trade gave them of bribing to any 
 extent required, will of itself account for this. 
 Besides, it is plain enough that, for all their 
 grandiloquent boasting and affected contempt for 
 this handful of barbarians, the mandarins stood in 
 awe of the unknown but formidable resources of the 
 nations of Europe. They postponed laying a finger 
 upon them to the last possible moment. When at 
 last imperative orders from Peking compelled them 
 to attack the source of the smuggling trade, our 
 virtuous and honourable British merchants took 
 the interference in extreme dudgeon, affected to 
 believe that non-molestation for over thirty years 
 
 * Phipps recounts several instances between 1831 and 1834, 
 one, " a very extensive seizure of ninety-six chests of Patna and 
 Benares opium in sight of the shipping at Lintin." See " China 
 and Eastern Trade," pp, 212—215. 
 
108 BRITISH OPIU*[ POLICY. 
 
 actually gave them a right to break the law ; and 
 complained of its enforcement as an intolerable 
 grievance ! 
 
 It was not true, however, that the determined 
 attack on the trade, which led to the opium war of 
 1840, burst upon the merchants without warning. 
 So far previously as the beginning of 1832 an edict 
 was issued to the Hong merchants, giving a graphic 
 and faithful description of the illicit trade, and 
 exhorting the foreigners to discontinue their evil 
 practices. It cannot be pretended that the mer- 
 chants did not receive this communication, for a 
 translation of it was published that same year, in 
 an English newspaper, printed in Canton. It is a 
 fair specimen of the Chinese style of thought and 
 expression in such documents : — 
 
 *' Opium is a spreading poison, inexhaustible ; its 
 injurious effects are extreme. Often has it been 
 severely interdicted, as appears on record. But of 
 late, the various ships of barbarians which bring 
 opium all anchor about at Lintin in the outer 
 ocean, and, exclusive of cargo ships, there are 
 appointed barbarian ships, in which opium is de- 
 posited and accumulated, and there it is sold by 
 stealth. That place is in the midst of the great 
 ocean, and it is accessible from every quarter. Not 
 only do traitorous banditti of this province go 
 thither, and in boats make clandestine purchases, 
 but from many places in various provinces vessels 
 come by sea, under pretence of trading to Lintin ; 
 and in the dark buy opium dirt, which they set 
 
CHINESE ANTI-OPIUM POLICY. 109 
 
 sail with, and carry off ; as for example, from Amoy, 
 Ningpo, Tientsin, &c. 
 
 " At present some one in the capital has repre- 
 sented the affair to the Emperor, and strict orders 
 have been respectfully received from his Majesty to 
 investigate, consult, and exterminate by cutting off 
 the sources of the evil. I, the Cabinet Minister 
 and Governor, have met and consulted with the 
 Lieutenant-Governor, &c 
 
 " An order is hereby issued to the Hong merchants, 
 that they may forthwith obey accordingly. They 
 are commanded to expostulate with earnestness, and 
 persuade the barbarians of the several nations, 
 telling them that hereafter, when coming to Canton 
 to trade, they must not on any account bring opium 
 concealed in the ships' holds, nor appoint vessels to 
 be opium depots at Lintin in the outside ocean, hoping 
 to sell it by stealth. If they dare intentionally to 
 disobey, the moment it is discovered, positively shall 
 the said barbarian ships have their hatches sealed, 
 their selling and buying put a stop to, and an 
 expulsion inflicted, driving them away to their own 
 country ; and for ever after they shall be disallowed 
 to come to trade, that thereby punishment may be 
 manifested. On this affair a strict interdict has 
 been respectfully received from Imperial authority, 
 and the Hong merchants must honestly exert their 
 utmost efforts to persuade to a total cutting off of 
 the clandestine introduction of opium dirt. Let 
 there not be the least trifling or carelessness, for if 
 opium be again allowed to enter the interior it will 
 
110 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 involve them in serious criminality. Oppose not ! 
 These are commands." 
 
 Of course it seemed absurd to the Jardines and 
 Dents of that day that the Chinese mandarins should 
 expect them to abandon a trade by which they were 
 making princely fortunes simply in response to 
 moral suasion. Of course they affected to regard it 
 as a proclamation put out to hoodwink the Imperial 
 authority, but not meant to have any practical 
 result. All the more astonished were they when at 
 a later time a Chinese mandarin dealt with the 
 opium question au grand serieux, and they had to 
 give up their opium to save their lives. But even 
 in this year, 1832, seven years before the catas- 
 trophe, they could not deny they were fairly warned, 
 that the illegal and dishonourable character of their 
 proceedings was pointed out in plain terms. 
 
 To avoid the semblance of an undue leaning to 
 the Chinese side, it may be necessary again to 
 remind the reader that a defence of the Imperial 
 anti-opium policy by no means implies an admira- 
 tion of the whole of the Chinese treatment of 
 foreigners and foreign trade. A student of Chinese 
 history and literature will make many excuses for 
 their unreasonable and provoking manner of dealing 
 with the strangers from the far west visiting their 
 shores. It would be unreasonable on our part to 
 demand that the prejudices of 4000 years should be 
 laid aside in a day upon the first appearance of a 
 new piece of bunting on the verge of the horizon. 
 The Chinese literati, the governing class, were 
 
CHINESE ANTI-OPIUM POLICY. Ill 
 
 pedantic, conceited, arrogant, and vexatious. In 
 some matters they were palpably unjust. But fchey 
 were only wliat we might have expected to find 
 them; and they did not invite us, we forced our- 
 selves upon them. This essay, however, has nothing 
 to do with the general intercourse of Chinese and 
 Europeans, nor is it concerned to deny that through- 
 out the century preceding the opium struggle there 
 were good grounds for serious complaints against 
 the Chinese officials. Our business is with opium, 
 and in this matter, although the Chinese Go- 
 vernment committed some diplomatic blunders, we 
 cannot but acknowledge and admire the spirit of 
 wise and philanthropic antagonism to a ruinous 
 vice which animated the sovereign and his advisers ; 
 a spirit of altogether a higher order than the selfish 
 worldly wisdom of their mighty but unscrupulous 
 opponents. 
 
 The splendid though unsuccessful effort of the 
 Chinese Government to extinguish the opium traffic 
 must now be briefly recounted from the Chinese 
 side. In 1836 Heu Naetse, who had held official ^i^ ? f) 
 positions in Canton, addressed a lengthy memorial 
 to the Emperor,^ describing the opium-smugghng . 
 trade after the style of the edict above quoted, and 
 dwelling upon the impossibility of coping with it. 
 He therefore recommended that the trade should be 
 legalized, opium being admitted as a medicinal drug 
 imder duty, as in K*ien Lung's time. Not that he 
 thought the smoking a harmless practice, for he 
 • China Correspondence, 1840, p. 156. 
 
112 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 recommended that all officials, scholars, and soldiers 
 should be prohibited from indulging in the habit; 
 but simply because the smuggling trade was carried 
 on entirely by exchange of silver for the drug, in 
 consequence of which China was being drained of 
 its bullion. This memorial was sent down by the 
 Council of State to the officials at Canton for 
 them to consider and report upon. The provincial 
 mandarins reported in favour of legislation. But 
 meantime Choo Tsun "^ and a censor, Hii Kiu,^ 
 strongly opposed the temporizing policy. The 
 memorial of the latter mentioned the names of 
 several merchants, English, Parsee, and American, 
 who were well known as engaged in the unlawful 
 traffic. These memorials occupied the attention of 
 the Government for more than a year. Though 
 China has no representative government, no public 
 debates, no newspapers, it would be a grand error 
 to imagine that public opinion has no weight there. 
 Probably no country in the world has recognized 
 more distinctly that the satisfaction of the people is 
 the only complete justification of a policy, the 
 only sure support of a government. China is a 
 despotism, but not a military despotism. It is a 
 despotism by sufferance of the people. The reigning 
 dynasty stands, while it governs sufficiently well to 
 be tolerable to the country. It falls, and expects to 
 fall, when it ceases to possess the moral support of 
 the masses. Vox jpojpuli, vox Dei, has its Chinese 
 
 ' Ibid,, p. 168. • Ihid., p. 173. 
 
CHINESE ANTI-OPIUM POLICY. 113 
 
 equivalent in the classic saying, " Heaven sees as 
 the people see, hears as the people hear." To 
 suppose that the Emperor Taou Kwang's opposition 
 to opium was the benevolent craze of a well-meaning 
 but ill-informed autocrat, legislating against, or 
 without taking account of, the popular wish, would 
 be a tremendous blunder. Taou Kwang and his 
 ministers took, in Chinese fashion, the sense of the 
 Empire on the opium question. The chief autho- 
 rities of the provinces had the proposition to legalize 
 opium laid before them, and were commanded to 
 send reports on it to Peking. In the capital those 
 remarkable functionaries, the Censors, privileged to 
 criticize and exhort the Son of Heaven himself, 
 and bound to give impartial statements on all 
 important subjects, contributed their evidence as to 
 the state of pubhc opinion. The official class in 
 China takes its tone of political thought and feeHng 
 from the educated gentry. The opinion of the 
 educated gentry is the public opinion of the country, 
 for the masses are not independent enough to do 
 other than reflect the opinion of their superiors. 
 Hence the issue of these inquiries instituted by the 
 Court fairly represented the national mind. If China 
 were polled to-day there is no doubt that the great 
 mass of the people would be found to approve the 
 anti-opium pohcy ; and among the votaries of the 
 pipe, who best know its fascinations and its curse, a 
 large number would join in the wish that the drug 
 had been effectually excluded. We question whether 
 the history of the world has ever seen an Imperial 
 
 1 
 
114 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 policy more truly a national policy than this Chinese 
 interdiction of opium. 
 
 Before the Imperial Council came to a final 
 decision the Canton Government was directed in the 
 meantime to enforce the existing edicts. Conse- 
 quently the opium ships were again ordered to 
 depart from the coast. Nine foreigners, English, 
 Parsees, and Americans, residing at Canton, noto- 
 riously engaged in the opium traffic, who were 
 mentioned by name in three edicts, were peremp- 
 torily ordered to leave the country. These nine 
 persons treated the order with contempt. This is 
 not surprising. The Chinese Government did not 
 yet use force ; and when did smugglers bow to any 
 other argument ? But it is surprising that Captain 
 Elliot could write to Lord Palmerston that if the 
 Chinese attempted to enforce this decree of expul- 
 sion, his interference on behalf of the British 
 merchants would become indispensable on account of 
 the great injury they and their constituents would 
 suffer ! It shows how long habit, uninterrupted 
 success, and great wealth had blinded the eyes of 
 the British community in Canton to the criminal 
 character of their pursuit. We have seen that one 
 superintendent wrote home that it was absurd to 
 call the opium trade smuggling, because the Chinese 
 authorities connived at it. Now another superin- 
 tendent writes that he must employ his influence 
 as representative of Great Britain to protect the 
 smugglers, because the Chinese authorities no longer 
 connive a-t their doings ! We find a clue to this 
 
CHIXESE ANTI-OPIUM POLICY. 115 
 
 confused sense of right and wrong in the evidence 
 which Mr. Jardine afterwards gave before a Com- 
 mittee of the House of Commons. Being asked 
 whether he was ever troubled with doubts about the 
 morality of the trade, he replied that " when the 
 East India Company were growing and selling it, 
 and there was a declaration of the Houses of Lords 
 and Commons, with all the bench of bishops at 
 their back, that it was inexpedient to do it away, 
 think our moral • scruples need not have been 
 so very great." ^ The British Government threw 
 the responsibility upon the Government of India; 
 the Indian Government cast it upon the opium 
 merchants; the opium merchants shoved it back 
 upon both the preceding. All parties quieted 
 their consciences by pointing to the connivance of 
 the Chinese officials ; the marvel is that when this 
 connivance ceased and active opposition took its 
 place, Captain Elliot and the merchants should 
 have clung so persistently to their old notions, and 
 have resolved to set China at defiance ! 
 
 After full inquiry according to the accustomed 
 methods, the Imperial Council resolved to reject Heu 
 Naetse's advice, and to extinguish the opium trade 
 altogether. Foreigners raised a cry that the Chinese 
 Government was hypocritical in pretending to care 
 for the weal of the people, and that its only real ob- 
 jection was to the exportation of bullion in exchange 
 for the drug. From that day to this defenders of the 
 trade have never been weary of exclaiming against 
 * Report, Select Committee on China Trade, 1840, p. 100. 
 
 I 2 
 
116 * BEITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 the insincerity of the Chinese. But the charge on the 
 face of it is absurd. If the loss of silver had been 
 the only or chief objection to the trade, the Chinese 
 would have adopted Hen's plan, proposed to meet 
 that very diflEiculty. There is no reason for denying 
 that the Chinese statesmen were alarmed to see the 
 I precious metals flowing out of the country ; but this 
 \ consideration was almost lost sight of by them in the 
 overwhelming moral objections to the traffic. 
 
 The edicts requiring the opium ships, and the 
 chief opium dealers to depart the country, being 
 utterly disregarded by the foreigners; and they 
 persisting in the smuggling trade, now no longer 
 carried on in native but in foreign craft, what could 
 the Chinese do ? They had made the Hong 
 merchants securities for the foreign traders, but 
 these Chinese merchants were palpably unable to 
 control their foreign friends. In 1838, seizures of 
 opium from foreign boats were made once and again, 
 in one case right under the foreign factories. The 
 Hong merchants waited upon the foreigners and 
 entreated them to stop the trade, but, of course, in 
 vain. At last, in December, twelve boxes of opium 
 were seized in broad daylight while being landed in 
 front of the factories. The Governor now urged 
 the Hong merchants to the utmost verge. He 
 required the immediate expulsion of the ship from 
 which this opium came, though it seems he was 
 wrongly informed as to its name. He demanded 
 the expulsion of the man, a British merchant named 
 Innes, a man who, on another occasion, actually 
 
OHTNESE ANTI-OPrn^[ POLICY. 1 1 7 
 
 proposed to levy private war upon the Chinese 
 Government to avenge some real or fancied injustice, 
 and had to be reminded by Lord Palmerston that 
 if he did, he would be liable to be dealt with as a 
 pirate. The ship was the wrong ship. The man 
 was the right man. It made no difference, however. 
 Neither man nor ship would move. The Hong 
 merchants used all their influence with the foreign 
 merchants ; but the Canton Chamber of Commerce 
 replied they had np power to expel individuals nor 
 
 , to check the smuggling trade. The Hong merchants, 
 
 in despair, threatened to close the trade, no longer 
 to rent their houses to foreigners, and to pull Mr. 
 Tnnes' house about his ears, if he did not go. The 
 Chamber of Commerce replied in effect that an 
 Englishman's house is his castle, and that the Hong 
 merchants must on no account dare to infringe the 
 sacred principle. One of the Hong merchants was 
 publicly exposed wearing the cangue, or as we should 
 say, in the pillory. The Governor might have pro- 
 ceeded to severer punishments, but the inability of 
 these unfortunate men to control the stubborn 
 foreigners was too evident. 
 
 Next the Governor resolved to give the foreigners 
 an ocular proof of the consequences of their trade. 
 The penalty of dealing in opium was death. One 
 Ho Laoukin lay under sentence. The Governor 
 ordered that he should be executed in front of the 
 foreign factories. An officer, followed by a few 
 lictors, brought the criminal to the appointed spot, 
 and began to erect the wooden stage against which 
 
118 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 he was to be strangled. The foreigners hurried out 
 upon hearing what was intended, and drove him off 
 the ground. The oflficer submitted, and performed 
 the execution elsewhere. But the mob poured in, 
 took possession of the square, and for a few hours 
 there seemed likelihood of a horrible massacre. The 
 mob had begun pulling down a house, when the 
 district magistrate arrived upon the scene, attended 
 ^by a handful of soldiers, and quelled the riot. 
 Captain Elliot wrote to Lord Palmerston in indig- 
 nant terms about this shameful attempt to make the 
 foreign factories an execution-ground ; but his lord- 
 ship failed to see what right the merchants had to 
 interfere with the Chinese Government in the execu- 
 tion of its own laws, on its own soil. Had the 
 Chinese Government persisted in this plan, it would 
 have been a novel way of fighting the opium traffic. 
 How long could the wholesale dealers in the smuggled 
 drug have endured to see their Chinese brethren of 
 the retail trade strangled before their eyes daily ! 
 Such horrid spectacles frequently repeated under 
 their windows might have taken away their appetite 
 for their meals, and so have starved them into sub- 
 mission, as effectually as Lin did. Subsequently 
 the Chinese carried out another execution on the 
 very spot. But this satisfied the Government for 
 the time. 
 
 In the spring of 1839 the Imperial Special Com- 
 missioner, Lin, formerly Governor of Hu Kwang, 
 came to Canton armed with dictatorial power to put 
 a final end to the iniquitous traffic. A few days 
 
CHINESE ANTI-OPIUM POLICY. 119 
 
 after his arrival he issued a peremptory demand for 
 the surrender of all the opium at Lintin and the 
 other anchorages. The merchants offered a thou- 
 sand chests, as a sop to pacify him. But he must 
 have the whole. Troops were collected, the river 
 was blockaded. Everything showed a spirit of 
 determination such as the illicit dealers never 
 expected to see in the despised Chinese authorities. 
 Captain Elliot and the merchants professed to fear 
 for their lives, though the worst they actually 
 suffered was the inconvenience of losing their 
 servants. The 20,000 chests were delivered up and 
 destroyed. No doubt the seizure would not have 
 held good in courts where John Doe and Richard 
 Roe appear upon the pleadings ; but the scene was 
 China, not England. Lin was acting by what we 
 may call martial law. Those opium dealers had no 
 legal rights in China, they had for a long course of 
 years inflicted illegal wrongs. Lin made a great 
 mistake in his method of proceeding, because of his 
 entire ignorance of foreign nations ; but he acted 
 according to the best of his judgment. He dealt 
 what was meant to be, and what ought to have been, 
 an annihilating blow to the' traffic. When that 
 immense amount of valuable property was poured 
 into the sea, China delivered her loudest protest 
 against the guilty trade, and did the utmost that 
 lay in her power to extinguish it for ever. 
 
 The great effort was a failure. One cannot but 
 regret that the Chinese ignorance of diplomacy 
 prevented the statesmen who had given such signal 
 
w 
 
 120 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 proofs of their hostility to opium from continuing 
 the struggle in ways more likely to have been 
 successful. Lin published among his own people 
 two long letters to the Queen of England, which, if 
 duly forwarded through the proper official channel, 
 could not have failed to produce a practical result.^ 
 This indeed was the fatal fault of the Chinese policy. 
 Their Government obstinately declined all official 
 communication with the nations of the West, until 
 forced upon them at the sword's point. We have 
 seen how the British Government resolutely ignored 
 the opium smuggling for thirty years. The British 
 Government will not protect illicit traffic, was the 
 consistent utterance of all that period. We have 
 seen how the high legal advisers of the Crown and 
 the East India Company, condemned their prepara- 
 tion of opium for the smuggling-trade as illegal. 
 One can hardly doubt that if China had tried peace- 
 ful and direct negotiation with the British Govern- 
 ment, instead of persisting in shutting her eyes to all 
 the outside world, and scolding the Hong merchants, 
 the issue would have been greatly different. 
 
 But at least the Chinese have been consistent. 
 Humbled and vanquished, the Emperor Tao Kwang 
 is reported to have made this reply to the proposi- 
 tion for legalizing the traffic, made by Sir H. 
 Pottinger. '' It is true, I cannot prevent the intro- 
 duction of the flowing poison; gainseeking and 
 corrupt men will for profit and sensuality defeat my 
 wishes; but nothing will induce me to derive a 
 ^ Vide Appendix. 
 
CHINESE ANTI-OPIUM POLICY. 121 
 
 revenue from the vice and misery of my people." 
 Thus, though victors in the physical contest, we 
 were morally defeated. The noble inflexibility of 
 the heathen Monarch made it palpably evident, that 
 in the whole preceding struggle England was in the 
 wrong. 
 
 Has the Chinese anti-opium policy undergone a 
 change? This is a most important question. "We 
 have heard the indignant condemnation which Mr. 
 Gladstone pronoujiced upon the opium war; and 
 
 yet, in 1870, Mr. Gladstone condescended to 
 
 apologize for the existing opium trade. Doubtless 
 he did so under the impression that the character 
 of the trade had changed. In this, however, he 
 was entirely mistaken. Its form has changed, for 
 it is a legalized, instead of a contraband traffic. Its 
 moral character is unchanged, because the Chinese 
 objection to the traffic is unchanged, and the legality 
 given to the trade was granted under influence of 
 fear. We must now produce evidence for this. 
 
 The first proof that legalization of the traffic does 
 not indicate any change in the policy of the Govern- 
 ment consists in the fact that the old edicts against 
 the use of the drug are not repealed, though allowed 
 to sleep for awhile. But this sleep is not so pro- 
 found, but that even recently there have been active 
 attempts to resist the vice. Dr. Dudgeon, in his 
 report of the Peking Hospital for 1869, says, — 
 
 '' In the capital, stringent regulations are now 
 and again put in force against opium-smoking; as 
 for example, when some great crime or calamity. 
 
122 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 ] an atrocious murder, or a great conflagration takes 
 place, or on the accession of new officials to office. 
 The sale of the drug in the Tartar city, at the end 
 of last year, after the death of the lieutenant- 
 governor and installation of his successor, has 
 been strictly prohibited. Many sellers, and a few 
 smokers, had their goods distrained, and they 
 themselves cast into prison for two months. To 
 the reigning family it seems of paramount import- 
 ance to keep the Manchus from this vice ; but 
 notwithstanding all their exertions and vigilance, 
 the vice is growing and extending among these 
 lazy pensioners and soldiers. 
 
 But it is in the despatches and evidence of Sir 
 
 R. Alcock, recently her Majesty's representative at 
 
 Peking, that we have the most striking testimony 
 
 to China's unchanged hostility to the opium trade. 
 
 Under date, Peking, May 20, 1869,^ the ambassador 
 
 addressed the Earl of Clarendon, giving a lengthy 
 
 1 report of an interview between himself and three 
 
 ■ ministers of the Foreign Board of Peking. In the 
 
 } course of the discussion. Sir Eutherford had accused 
 
 ; the Chinese literati of being actuated by a hostile 
 
 animus towards foreigners. The Chinese ministers 
 
 at first disputed the fact, but, — " In the end, 
 
 Wen-Seang shifted his ground; and asked how 
 
 could it be otherwise ? They had often seen 
 
 foreigners making war on the country ; and then, 
 
 ^ again, how irreparable and continuous was the injury 
 
 ^ Con-espondence respecting the revision of the Treaty of 
 Tientsin, p. 396. 
 
CHINESE ANTI-OPIUM POLICY. 123 
 
 ivMch they saw inflicted upon the whole Empire by the 
 foreign importation of opium ! If England would 
 consent to interdict this — cease either to grow it in 
 India, or to allow their ships to bring it to China — 
 there might be some hope of more friendly feelings. 
 No doubt there was a very strong feehng enter- 
 tained by all the literati and gentry, as to the 
 frightful evils attending the smoking of opium, its 
 thoroughly demoralizing effects, and the utter ruin 
 brought upon all .who once gave way to the vice. 
 They beheved the extension of this pernicious habit 
 was mainly due to the alacrity with which foreigners 
 supplied the poison for their own profit, perfectly 
 regardless of the irreparable injury inflicted, and 
 naturally they felt hostile to all concerned in such 
 a traffic .... If England ceased to protect 
 the trade, it could then be effectually prohibited by 
 the Emperor; and it would eventually cease to 
 trouble them, while a great cause of hostility and 
 distrust in the minds of the people would be 
 removed." 
 
 The interview here reported was succeeded by a 
 formal note from the Chinese Government which 
 amounts to a distinct application to the British 
 Government to give up the legalized importation 
 and permit China to return to the former system. 
 This document is of such immense importance to the 
 present condition of the question, that we must 
 print it entire.* 
 
 " From Tsungh Yamen to Sir R. Alcock, July, 
 ' Report, East India Finance, 1871, p. 268. 
 
124 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 1869. The writers have on several occasions, when 
 conversing with his Excellency, the British Minister, 
 referred to the opium trade as being prejudicial to 
 the general interests of commerce. 
 
 *' The object of the treaties between our respective 
 countries was to secure perpetual peace; but, if 
 effective steps cannot be taken to remove an 
 accumulating sense of injury from the minds of 
 men, it is to be feared that no policy can obviate 
 sources of future trouble. Day and night the 
 writers are considering the question, with a view to 
 its solution, and the more they reflect upon it, the 
 greater does their anxiety become, and hereon 
 they cannot avoid addressing his Excellency very 
 earnestly on the subject. 
 
 " That opium is like a deadly poison, that it is 
 most injurious to mankind, and a most serious pro- 
 vocative of ill-feeling is, the writers think, perfectly 
 well known to his Excellency, and it is, therefore, 
 needless for them to enlarge farther upon these 
 points. The Prince and his colleagues are quite 
 aware that the opium trade has long been con- 
 demned by England as a nation, and that the 
 right-minded merchant scorns to have to do with 
 it. But the officials and people of this Empire, 
 who cannot be so completely informed on this 
 subject, all say that England trades in opium 
 because she desires to work China's ruin, for (say 
 they) if the friendly feelings of England are genuine, 
 since it is open to her to produce and trade in 
 everything else, would she still insist on spreading 
 
CHINESE ANTI-OPIUM POLICY. 125 
 
 the poison of this hurtful thing through the 
 Empire ? 
 
 " There are those who say, stop the trade by en- 
 forcing a vigorous prohibition against the use of 
 the drug. China has the right to do so, doubtless, 
 and might be able to effect it ; but a strict en- 
 forcement of the prohibition would necessitate the 
 taking of many lives. Now, although the criminals' 
 punishment would be of their own seeking, 
 bystanders would- not fail to say that it was the 
 foreign merchant seduced them to their ruin by 
 bringing the drug, and it would be hard to prevent 
 general and deep-seated indignation ; such a course 
 indeed, would tend to arouse popular anger against 
 the foreigner. 
 
 " There are others again who suggest the removal 
 of the prohibitions against the growth of the poppy. 
 They argue that as there is no means of stopping 
 the foreign (opium) trade, there can be no harm, as 
 a temporary measure, in withdrawing the prohibition 
 on its growth. We should thus not only deprive 
 the foreign merchant of a main source of his profits, 
 but should increase our revenue to boot. The sove- 
 reign rights of China are indeed competent to this ; 
 such a course would be practicable, and indeed the 
 writers cannot say that, as a last resource, it will 
 not come to this ; but they are most unwilHng that 
 such prohibition should be removed, holding, as they 
 do, that a right system of government should appre- 
 ciate the beneficence of Heaven, and (seek to) 
 remove any grievance which afflicts its people, while 
 
126 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 to allow them to go on to destruction, although an 
 1 increase of revenue may result, will provoke the 
 judgment of Heaven, and the condemnation of 
 men. 
 
 " Neither of the above plans are indeed satisfactory. 
 
 If it be desired to remove the very root, and to stop 
 
 the evil at its source, nothing will be effective but a 
 
 prohibition, to be enforced alike by both parties. 
 
 1 " Again, the Chinese merchant supphes your coun- 
 
 : '. j try with his goodly tea and silk, conferring thereby 
 
 ■ ! j a benefit upon her ; but the English merchant em- 
 
 • poisons China with pestilent opium. Such conduct 
 
 ^ is unrighteous. Who can justify it ? What wonder 
 
 if officials and people say that England is wilfully 
 
 working out China's ruin, and has no real friendly 
 
 feeling for her ? 
 
 " The wealth and generosity of England are spoken 
 of by all ; she is anxious to prevent and anticipate 
 all injury to her commercial interest ; how is it, then, 
 that she can hesitate to remove an acknowledged evil? 
 Indeed it cannot be that England still holds to this evil 
 business, earning the hatred of the officials and people 
 of China, and making herself a reproach among the 
 'nations because she would lose a little revenue, were 
 she to forfeit the cultivation of the poppy. 
 
 " The writers hope that H. E. will memorialize his 
 Government to give orders in India and elsewhere 
 to substitute the cultivation of cereals or cotton. 
 Were both nations to rigorously prohibit the growth 
 of the poppy, both the traffic in and the consump- 
 tion of opium might alike be put an end to. To do 
 
CHINESE ANTI-OPIUM POLICY. 127 
 
 away with so great an evil would be a great virtue on 
 England's part ; she would strengthen friendly rela- 
 tions, and make herself illustrious. How delightful 
 to have so great an act transmitted to after-ages ! 
 
 " This matter is injurious to commercial interests, 
 in no ordinary degree. If H. E., the British Minis- 
 ter, cannot, before it is too late, arrange a plan for 
 a joint prohibition (of the traffic), then no matter 
 with what devotedness the writers may plead, they 
 may be unable to .cause the people to put aside ill- 
 feeling, and so strengthen friendly relations as to 
 place them for ever beyond fear of disturbance. Day 
 and night therefore, the vrriters give to this matter 
 most earnest thought, and overpowering is the dis- 
 tress and anxiety it occasions them. 
 
 " Having thus presumed to unbosom themselves, 
 they would be honoured by his Excellency's reply." 
 
 We do not envy the mental condition of that 
 Englishman who can read through the above letter 
 without shame and sorrow, to think that we should 
 have put it into the power of Chinese statesmen to 
 address us thus. That document alone ought to 
 ^ttle the opium question. Can a Christian Govern- 
 ment, a Christian nation, refuse to respond to such 
 an appeal as this ? Would that that document 
 were placarded at every railway-station, published 
 in every newspaper in Great Britain, until the 
 aroused conscience of the people demanded to be 
 relieved from the reproach now justly resting upon 
 us ! Would that the Chinese Government would 
 
128 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 repeat its protests every year and every month ; 
 concluding every communication to our ambassador 
 with the expression of their desire to have the 
 opium-trade abolished ! 
 
 That the Chinese Foreign Office is thoroughly 
 sincere in this appeal to England's justice and charity, 
 may be regarded as set at rest by our late ambassador's 
 emphatic assurance before the Select Committee of 
 the House of Commons.* 
 
 "^I have estimated the absolute interest of the 
 Chinese Government in the Indian trade (in opium), 
 at about a million and a half sterling ; and in refer- 
 ence to this I may mention that not only in the con- 
 ference that took place with the minister of the 
 Tsungli Yamen, but also at different times, officially 
 or privately, they have shown the greatest readiness 
 to give up the whole revenue if they could only 
 induce the British Government to co-operate with 
 them in any way to put it down. My own convic- 
 tion is firm, that whatever degree of honesty may be 
 attributed to the officials and the Central Govern- 
 ment, there is that in their words that they would 
 not hesitate one moment, to-morrow if they could, 
 to enter into any arrangement with the British 
 Government, and say, " Let our revenue go, we care 
 nothing about it. What we want is to stop the 
 consumption of opium, which we conceive is impo- 
 verishing the country, and demoralizing and brutal- 
 izing our people." 
 
 In confirmation of Sir Eutherford Alcock's testi- 
 * Report, East India Finance, 1871, p. 273. 
 
CHINESE ANTI-OPIUM POLICY. 129 
 
 mony, we have that of Mr. (now Sir Thomas) Wade, 
 at present our ambassador at Peking, who wrote in 
 1868 :^— 
 
 " We are generally prone to forget that the foot- 
 ing we have in China has been obtained by force, 
 and by force alone, and that, unwarlike and unener- 
 getic as we hold the Chinese to be, it is in reality to 
 the fear of force alone, that we are indebted for the 
 safety we enjoy at certain points accessible to our 
 force. . . . Yet nothing that has been gained, it 
 must be remembered, was received from the free-will 
 of the Chinese ; more, the concessions made to us 
 from time to time have been, from first to last, 
 extorted against the conscience of the nation; in 
 defiance, that is to say, of the moral convictions of 
 its educated men ; not merely of the office-holders, 
 whom we call mandarins, and who are numerically 
 but a small proportion of the educated class, but of 
 of the millions who are saturated with a knowledge 
 of the history and philosophy of their country. To 
 these, as a rule, the very extension of our trade must 
 appear politically, or what is in China the same 
 thing, morally wrong; and the story of foreign 
 intercourse during the last thirty years can have 
 had no effect but to confirm them in their opinion." 
 The assertion we made above, that the Chinese policy 
 of absolute interdiction of opium has never changed, 
 is established beyond controversy by this unimpeach- 
 able evidence. For a time, China outwardly con- 
 
 ° Correspondence respecting revision of the Treaty of Tientsin, 
 p. 432. 
 
 K 
 
 I I I 
 
130 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 formed to our demand for legalization ; but it was 
 through compulsion, and only by compulsion is the 
 legalization maintained. The moral character of the 
 trade, therefore, is no better than it was in the old 
 smuggling days. The scandal is simply shifted from 
 the shoulders of a few private individuals to that of 
 the nation as a whole. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ON OPI0M CULTIVATION IN CHINA. 
 
 f 
 
 The origin of the practice of smoking opium in 
 China is wrapt in obscurity. By some Great 
 Britain has been made responsible for the intro- 
 duction and sole maintenance of the habit. Others 
 again have tried to relieve our country from odium 
 by asserting that the practice was known and 
 widely spread in China before the first chest of 
 Indian drug was landed in the country. A brief 
 review of the scanty allusions to opium in China 
 before the present century will eaable us to judge 
 of the merits of these conflicting opinions. 
 
 Mr. T. T. Cooper says that the habit of smoking 
 opium has existed on the western borders of China 
 for ''a great many years, probably a couple of 
 centuries;"^ but adduces no evidence in support of 
 this assertion. Mr. Hobson, Commissioner of Cus- 
 toms at Hankow, made particular inquiries upon 
 this point, and informs us that^ " The popular story 
 in Szechuen is that 100 years ago opium was intro- 
 
 ' Report, East India Finance, 1871, p. 258. 
 ' Ihid., p. 282. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 duced into Szecliuen, Shensi, Yunnan, and Kwei- 
 chau, from India and Thibet. At the time of its 
 introduction it was esteemed for its medicinal pro- 
 perties only; but during Kienlung s reign (1736-9B) 
 it was discovered to be smokable, and the Szechuen 
 people were among the earliest indulgers." He also 
 states that in the " General History of Yunnan," 
 revised and republished in the first year of Kien- 
 lung' s reign, opium is noted as a common product 
 of Yung Changfoo. Dr. J. Wilson, celebrated for 
 his attainments in Hindoo literature, thinks that 
 opium was not generally known in India until about 
 a century ago,^ because he has not found it men- 
 tioned in native books. It was introduced, he says, 
 from Turkey and Arabia into India by the Moham- 
 medan conquerors, and was familiar to the rulers long- 
 before the people got acquainted with it. If this be 
 correct, since the progress of opium cultivation 
 probably moved eastwards, beginning perhaps in 
 Egypt, and passing by way of Turkey, Persia, India, 
 Assam, Burma, into Yunnan, the south-western 
 province of China, it seems extremely unlikely that 
 while the poppy was rare in India a hundred years 
 back, it can have been well-known, as Mr. Cooper 
 supposes, in western China a century earlier. The 
 Calcutta Blue book on opium contains a memo- 
 randum from the Delegates of the Shanghai Chamber 
 of Commerce appointed to investigate the origin and 
 extent of the cultivation of the poppy in China, in 
 which they report that " the opium pipe is believed 
 ' Report, East India Finance, 1871, p. 346. 
 
UN OPIUM CULTIVATION IN flHIXA. 188 
 
 by the Szechuen people to have been a Canton in- 
 vention, dating from the tenth year of Taoukvrang 
 (1830)."* This belief is evidently erroneous as to 
 the date, but as an example of the unreliability of 
 native accounts, it may be taken as a set-off against 
 those upon which Mr. Cooper's opinion was based. 
 It may have some weight as indicating the locality 
 of the origin of opium smoking, but cannot be im- 
 plicitly trusted in this respect. 
 
 In 1830 a censoj*, Shaou Chinghwuh, of Chekiang, 
 a sea-board province, speaks, in a memorial, of the 
 cultivation having spread within the previous ten 
 years over a large part of the province, and says 
 it is reported to be grown in Fohkien, Kwang 
 Tung, and Yunnan.^ Major Burney wrote from 
 Ava, under date March 9, 1831, " Opium is 
 imported by the caravans from China to Ava. 
 The Chinese said that the poppy plant had been 
 cultivated for the last eight or ten years at a 
 place called Medoo, two days' journey from TaU, 
 but that the cultivation is limited and carried on 
 secretly, for, if the Government at Peking became 
 aware of it the cultivators would lose their lives. 
 The quantity imported by these caravans is insig- 
 nificant."^ Choo Tsun's memorial (1836) states that 
 in Yunnan the poppy is cultivated " all over the 
 hills and the open champaign," and the annual 
 
 * Papers relating to the Opium Question. Calcutta, 1870. 
 p. 260. 
 
 ^ Chinese Repository, vol. v. p. 472. 
 
 " Phipps, China and Eastern Trade, p. 231. 
 
134 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 produce " cannot be less than several thousand 
 chests."' The Chinese are reckless in these vague 
 numerical estimates ; but nevertheless the produc- 
 tion at that date must have been considerable, and 
 would indicate a long acquaintance with the plant. 
 The Roman Catholic missionaries who entertained 
 Mr. Cooper in Szechuen informed him that the 
 poppy was not introduced into that province when 
 they entered it thirty years previously.^ 
 
 These are the data upon which we have to form 
 our opinion as to the origin of opium smoking and 
 the date of the commencement of poppy cultivation 
 in China. No definite conclusion can be drawn. 
 As to the origin of the habit of smoking the drug, it 
 is quite possible that, in a country of such vast area, 
 consisting of provinces but loosely bound together, 
 the vice has radiated from two centres. Mr. 
 Cooper's statement that China may be roughly 
 divided into halves, the line passing from north to 
 south through Hankow, of which the eastern half 
 consumes Indian, and the western native opium, 
 may give some support to this hypothesis.^ If this 
 seems unlikely then the balance of evidence rather 
 inclines to the conclusion that opium smoking began 
 in Canton. It is worthy of remark, that the first 
 memorial against opium, at least the first of which 
 we have information, proceeded from Keihking, 
 Governor of Canton Province in 1799, and that this 
 
 " Correspondence relating to China, 1840, p. 170. 
 
 • Pioneer of Commerce, p. 130. 
 
 ' Report. East India Finance, 1871, p. 253. 
 
ON OPIUM CULTIVATION IN CHINA. 135 
 
 stigmatizes the drug as "the vile dirt of foreign 
 countries'." 
 
 Whether the native cultivation preceded or suc- 
 ceeded the importation by sea we cannot positively 
 determine. "Before the year 1767 the import of 
 this drug into China rarely exceeded 200 chests, in 
 that year it amounted to 1000." Now the Portu- 
 guese, who carried opium to China before 1767, had 
 possessed commercial settlements in China since 
 1537. Defoe, in " Robinson Crusoe," pubhshed in 
 1719, makes his famous hero take opium from the 
 Straits to China, but does not allude to the practice 
 of opium smoking.^ On the Chinese side we have 
 the Yunnan history, written before 1736, which 
 mentions the growth in that province. These dates 
 approximate, and we may fairly infer that the drug, 
 so valuable as a medicine, was introduced into China 
 from the east, by sea, and the west by -land, at no 
 very distant dates, and that in the west the plant 
 followed the drug at no long interval. However 
 this may be, the first distinct reference on record to 
 smoking as a common practice is in that memorial 
 of 1799 already referred to ; and we may reasonably 
 conclude that the vice did not attain to serious 
 dimensions long before that time, though its early 
 beginnings may go back a good way into the century. 
 It is a plausible conjecture that the sudden increase 
 
 ^ A famous Chinese novel of the last century, the Hung Lau 
 Mung^ is said to refer to opium-smoking as a strange newly 
 invented indulgence : but I have not been able to verify the 
 reference. 
 
136 BRITISH OPIUM POfilCY. 
 
 of the import noted in 1767, from 200 to 1000 
 chests, may denote the recent discovery of the sen- 
 sual indulgence. 
 
 A negative but conclusive argument remains. 
 The silence of Chinese literature is decisive against 
 the opinion that opium smoking prevailed long ago. 
 China does not only possess a few old books, but 
 has an immense and constantly increasing literature, 
 including archaeological, historical, geographical, and 
 medical works ; besides dramas, poems, and novels 
 innumerable, which give minute descriptions of the 
 habits of the people from a distant antiquity to the 
 present time. It is impossible that such a practice 
 as that of smoking opium could have established 
 itself among such a people for long, without imprint- 
 ing its mark on their literature. The very street 
 ballads of modern days refer continually to opium 
 smoking, and if the vice dated far back, we should 
 surely find it alluded to in the songs and romances 
 of the people, just as we find that wine-bibbing is. 
 Medical works of 300 years ago describe the drug 
 and its uses in medicine ; and the absence of allusion 
 to opium smoking sufficiently demonstrates its non- 
 existence until a recent date. Though it is clear, 
 from the above review, that the whole accountability 
 does not fall upon our shoulders, it is also clear that 
 the facts will not permit us to represent ourselves as 
 merely having supplied the materials for the gratifi- 
 cation of a vicious habit, already confirmed and wide- 
 spread before the introduction of Indian opium into 
 the Chinese market. The habit has grown and 
 
ON OPIUM CULTIVATION IN CHINA. 137 
 
 spread along with tlie increase of our supply; we 
 have fed the eastern half of the empire with the drug 
 almost exclusively ; and there is much reason to fear 
 that the introduction and propagation of the native 
 cultivation in certain districts, was directly stimu- 
 lated by the foreign supply. 
 
 The native growth of the poppy must now be con- 
 sidered as a present fact, having a most important 
 bearing on the future prospects of the monopoly. 
 ^^ \ ^ Prince Kung and Jiis colleagues in that biting note 
 to Sir R. Alcock, showed themselves well informed 
 at last as to the motive of the British Government in 
 upholding the trade, and openly threatened to strike 
 at the roots of our revenue, by permitting the free 
 cultivation in their own territory. The threat is 
 new, but the fear on our side is an old fear. Even 
 in the Company's days, it was known that the poppy 
 was spreading in China, and since then, almost every 
 year, the finance ministers responsible for the Indian 
 budget, have pointed out the risk of our losing our 
 revenue from this cause. It is a sword of Damocles, 
 always hanging over our heads, and rendering a 
 secure enjoyment of the monopoly revenue impossi- 
 ble ; but will it ever fall ? As usual, in dealing with 
 Chinese affairs, it is impossible from lack of definite 
 statistical data, to do more than conjecture. Such 
 conjectures are almost always influenced by our 
 wishes or our fears. One says that the consumption 
 in China increases at so rapid a rate, that its use will 
 absorb all our supply, and all the native production 
 too. Another, that the quality of the native 
 
138 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 drug is so inferior, that those who can afford the 
 imported will always use it. Against this it is 
 alleged that the home manufacture has improved 
 and is improving, and that the natives are beginning 
 to prefer their own opium, because milder in its in- 
 fluence, and therefore not exercising so fatal a 
 tyranny over its votaries. Instead of adding one 
 more to these various prognostications of the future, 
 we will collect here what information we have been 
 able to gather about the present state of the case ; 
 referring to the Appendix for the expressions of 
 opinion gathered from different quarters. 
 
 The Trades Reports put forth by the Chinese 
 Imperial Maritime Customs, which are all under 
 foreign superintendence, give much information 
 upon this topic. The Reports we quote from are 
 for 1869. 
 
 Hanlcow. — " The importation of (foreign) opium 
 is considerably short for the last two seasons, but 
 this is not to be wondered at now that each opium 
 shopkeeper in this and the surrounding districts, 
 advertizes native drug for sale. 
 
 " The general estimate of the opium merchants 
 is: — 
 
 Province of Szechuen, Annual Yield 6000 peculs. 
 „ „ Kweichow „ „ 15,000 „ 
 
 „ „ Yunnan „ „ 20,000 „ 
 
 Total yield 41 ,000 peculs." 
 
 Thus these three provinces alone were calculated 
 
ON OPIUM CULTIVATION IN CHINA. 139 
 
 to yield annually about 40,000 chests, and this at a 
 time when the cultivation was prohibited. It is 
 necessary to state for those who do not know China, 
 that the Government prohibition is not, as many 
 persons assert, absolutely inefficacious. No doubt 
 when one hears of half a province being white with 
 poppy flowers, at the very time when proclamations 
 against its cultivation are hanging at the yamen 
 doors, EngHsh readers naturally conclude that the 
 prohibitory edicts are equivalent to obsolete laws of 
 the reign of the Stuarts in our statute-book, which 
 are known only to antiquarians, and dragged to 
 light occasionally by magazine-writers for public 
 amusement or instruction. This, however, is not 
 the case. Prohibition in China has two results ; 
 irregular taxation, and a degree of risk, and there- 
 fore operates to diminish, while it does not prevent 
 the cultivation. These edicts may be dead letters 
 one year, and be instinct with hfe and activity the 
 next. The Chinese know this, and of course this 
 knowledge has a deterrent effect of a certain amount. 
 That these edicts are not regarded as absolutely 
 valueless by Chinese themselves is apparent from a 
 paragraph of this very report : — 
 
 "At the time of my visit, proclamations were 
 already posted at Chung-King, Leang-shan, Yen- 
 Keang, and the adjacent towns, prohibiting the 
 cultivation of the poppy, and exhorting that more 
 attention be paid to cereal crops. The only 
 apparent result was, that opium smokers feeling 
 unable to break themselves of the pernicious habit, 
 
no BRITISH OPimi POLICY. 
 
 were actually buying up and storing opium, for fear 
 supplies should be cut short." 
 
 Though the reporter prefaces this sentence by the 
 remark, " there is little ho]f)e that the production of 
 opium will ever be successfully put a stop to," it is 
 plain there was much fear in the minds of those 
 keenly interested in the matter. 
 
 Chinhiang. — The report here is, " though the 
 importation of Szechuen opium during the year has 
 been peculs 25*86 over the preceding year; the 
 quantity is too small to affect the market to any 
 extent ; and as it is reported that stringent measures 
 are being adopted to prevent the cultivation of the 
 poppy, it is likely that the trade in native drug will 
 remain stationary or gradually decrease." 
 
 The Baron de Meritens reports from Foochoiv that 
 " the opium produced in three districts of that 
 province is so inferior, possesses so disagreeable a 
 smell that the Chinese cannot smoke it except as a 
 mixture in the proportions of fths of Malwa to fths 
 of native opium ; but one must remember that it is 
 probable that the Chinese will soon learn that a very 
 simple chemical preparation will remove that un- 
 pleasant smell." 
 
 From Tientsin we hear that " the import of opium 
 reached its maximum in 1866. There were two 
 causes to account for the large import at that time, 
 since which the quantity has decreased till the past 
 year. It would appear from Mr. Dick's report for 
 1866 " that in the first place the then recently issued 
 edict as to the cultivation of the poppy in China, 
 
ON OPIUM CULTIVATION IN CHINA. 141 
 
 though not carried out to the extent of completely 
 stopping its production, had nevertheless tended to 
 bring much of the land then so employed under 
 different cultivation.'* The other cause was a 
 temporary rise in price. 
 
 Kiukiang. The Customs Agent here states that 
 "the Kiang-si grown opium is produced in three 
 prefectures, in small patches off the main line of 
 travel, and brought to the towns and sold. The 
 poppy is not yet boldly raised in extensive fields as 
 in Szechuen and Shensi, but no decided efforts are 
 made by the authorities to check the cultivation, 
 and native opium is purchaseable in small quantities 
 for personal consumption in most of the large towns 
 along the banks of the river Kan." 
 
 Mr. Dick says " the high price Indian opium has 
 commanded, has been the result of two causes — the 
 superiority of the article, and the prejudice of the 
 Chinese against raising it themselves. Although 
 the latter cause has never prevented home produc- 
 tion, it has certainly made the extension of it slow. 
 But the decay of the prejudice and the increase of 
 the production in China are making India amenable 
 to the laws of political economy in respect to this 
 branch of trade." Careful consideration of the 
 above reports will show that there is at present a 
 considerable practical check upon the production of 
 native opium, and that China possesses the poten- 
 tiality of increasing her native supply to an indefinite 
 extent, as well as of improving its manufacture. 
 
 From the Commercial Reports of her Majesty's 
 
142 BRITISH OPIDM POLICY. 
 
 consuls in China for 1872 we glean the fol- 
 lowing : ^ — 
 
 Chef 00, " Malwa is the only kind that finds a 
 ready market. Patna and Benares are imported, 
 but only in very small quantities, but Persian finds 
 no market at all. Native opium appears to be 
 gradually making its way in the market. The 
 poppy is cultivated to no small extent in this 
 province (Shantung) though not in the immediate 
 neighbourhood of the port." 
 
 In FohJden province ^ " the quantity produced was 
 small, perhaps not exceeding 100 pounds. In the 
 adjoining province of Chekiang there was also a 
 falling off* in the • total yield. The unusually cold 
 weather at Chinese New year is thought to be the 
 cause." * 
 
 Consul Hughes of Hanhoiv makes a statement of 
 much importance. " Opium. A glance at this 
 Table shows a remarkable decrease in the amount 
 of opium imported. This is attributed to the growing 
 tendency of the Chinese to use the native article, their 
 preference for which is not exclusively due to its cheap- 
 ness. It is said that the mildness of the native 
 is the principal cause of the growing preference 
 for its use. The Chinese say that it is much 
 easier to give up temporarily, or abandon altogether, 
 the habit of smoking native than that of smoking 
 foreign opium. The habit of smoking foreign opium 
 affects the system to such a degree that the sudden 
 
 ' China, No. 3 (1873), Commercial Reports, p. 31. 
 • Ibid., p. 43. * Ibid., p. 54. 
 
ON OPlUxVI CULTIVATION IN CHINA. 148 
 
 abandonment of the use of so powerftil a drug would 
 to a certainty impair the health, whereas the smoker 
 of native opium is by no means so seriously affected 
 by the want of his favourite narcotic. 
 
 " As far as could be ascertained the net value of 
 all the opium grown in the province of Szechuen 
 would reach about 85,000,000 of taels sycee [at the 
 price given, 860 taels a chest, 97,000 chests !], but 
 this cipher is anything but certain. A late imperial 
 decree is said to have abolished the likin (war-tax) 
 on native opium, the growth of which was to be 
 strictly prohibited, but this decree may perhaps 
 only concern the province of Kweichow, where the 
 poppy is so extensively cultivated as io leave no space 
 for the production of cereals J^ 
 
 From NewcJiwang^ in Manchuria, the consul 
 writes, "the price of native drug has risen, ia 
 consequence of the exertions of the authorities, both 
 here and in the adjoining provinces, to carry into 
 execution the Imperial proclamation prohibiting its 
 growth. A smaller quantity therefore has been 
 produced, and the price is now nearly equal to that 
 of foreign opium." 
 
 From Tientsin ^ Consul Mongan reports : — 
 
 " There can be little doubt that last year's deficit 
 in this case was due principally to the excessive 
 likin taxes of this province, and to the competition 
 of native opium. 
 
 " The second great cause of the falling off in the 
 importation of 1872 was, no doubt, the competition 
 ' Ibid., p. 80. • Ibid.,^. 111. 
 
144 BRITISH OPIOM POLICY. 
 
 of native opium, the increased consumption of which 
 here was indicated last year by the re-exportation, 
 not only of all the Persian opium which had been 
 imported in 1872 (amounting only to twenty-seven 
 piculs), but also by the re-exportation of twenty-six 
 piculs of the same kind of drug which had remained 
 on hand from 1871. The price of Persian opium 
 generally follows that of Malwa, and is from fifty to 
 sixty taels cheaper. Thus, in point of cheapness, 
 Persian competes much more than either that of 
 Malwa or Bengal with native opium, and its dis- 
 appearance from the Tientsin market in 1872 was 
 most likely due to the fact that ib did not pay 
 shippers to import it at all, owing to the cheap 
 rates ruhng for its native rival. These rates again 
 showed that there was a large supply of the latter 
 in the market, a supply sufficient to drive the 
 comparatively cheap Persian out of the field, and to 
 limit the sale of the more expensive Indian. 
 
 "Although the prohibition of poppy-culture by 
 Imperial edicts has in former years been practically 
 inoperative, still there are some grounds for antici- 
 pating that the Rescript of 17th December, 1872, 
 will prove more efficacious, for the orders given are 
 more explicit, and in October last Mr. Taintor, 
 Acting Commissioner of Customs at Newchwang, 
 reported that a similar edict, directing the destruc- 
 tion of the poppy-crop in the province in which 
 the port is situated, and the adjacent districts of 
 Mongolia had in many places been carried into 
 execution." 
 
ox OPIUM CULTIVATION IN CHINA. 145 
 
 Shanghai, Eeport by Consul Medhurst ' — 
 
 '* The increase in the cultivation of the poppy has 
 had a most injurious eJBTect on the consumption of 
 the foreign drug, the import of which during the last 
 jive years remained perfectly stationary^ this year indeed 
 shoiving a decrease, whilst the production of the 
 native drug during the same time has more than 
 quadrupled. 
 
 " Exact statistics of the growth of the poppy 
 cannot be obtained; but there is no doubt, as far as 
 can be ascertained from the Chinese themselves and 
 from the reports of foreign travellers, it is year by 
 year increasing largely. Dr. Legge, the well-known 
 sinologue and missionary, lately made the overland 
 journey from Peking to Chinkiang, and he reports 
 that the country between the Yellow River and the 
 Yangtzse is covered with poppy fields. The temp- 
 tations to its cultivation are at present very great, 
 as on the lowest estimate of the peasants themselves 
 it is twice as profitable as growing wheat, some 
 saying even six times. The spread of poppy 
 cultivation all over China, has again attracted the 
 attention of the Imperial Government, and lately a 
 decree appeared forbidding it. This, of course, will 
 not have the slightest effect, as it would be against 
 the interests of all the officials to put down such a 
 useful contributor to their exchequer, both public 
 and private. 
 
 " Under these circumstances I cannot but express 
 my opinion, and I am borne out in it by the principal 
 ' China, No. 3 (1873), Part II. p. 140. 
 
 li 
 
146 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 opium merchants of Shanghai, that we may look 
 forward to a gradual falling off in the demand for 
 the foreign drug, and if the cultivation of the poppy 
 continues to spread, as it is now doing, to the virtual 
 extinction of the trade in Indian opium." 
 
 Mr. Malet ^ in his general review of the Chinese 
 trade, in a report to Mr. Wade, expresses himself 
 thus : " The kind of danger to the Indian revenue 
 arising from the increasing use of native opium may 
 be likened to the danger to which our excise revenue 
 would be exposed if the taste for light wine in prefer- 
 ence to spirits were to become general in England." 
 
 He shows that the danger is not imaginary by a 
 table [see Appendix] which gives only 8,261, 381 L 
 as the total net value of opium imported in 1872, 
 against 8,695,592Z. in 1871. 
 
 Now, if any one will take the trouble to compare 
 the above two reports, that of the Customs for 
 ]869, with that of the Consuls for 1872, he will 
 see signs of a steady progress of opium-cultivation 
 in China. But, if instead of comparing 1872, with 
 1869, we comiDare it with 1863, the contrast is 
 startling. Mr. Hart, the Inspector- General of 
 Chinese Maritime Customs, collected in 1864, from 
 all the offices under his superintendence, replies to 
 the question : " Has native opium been in use at 
 the port in 1863?" To this question Newchwang, 
 Chinkiang, Kiukiang, Ningpo, Foochow, Swatow, 
 returned the brief reply ,^ " No." Chefoo replied, 
 
 « Ibid., p. 223. 
 
 " Papers relating to Opium. Calcutta, 1870, p. 208. 
 
L^ 
 
 ON OPIUM CULTIVATION IN CHINA. 147 
 
 "consumption so small that it may be stated as 
 niW In Canton, " some native opium had been 
 used." Hankow reported an import of native 
 opium from Szechuen of 500 peculs weight. Shang- 
 hai and Amoy also report imports of 500 peculs in 
 each port. Thus in 186S, native opium hardly 
 existed side by side with the Indian drug, whereas 
 in 1872, it seriously threatens to oust it from the_^ 
 market ! 
 
 The memorandum of the Financial Department of ' 
 the Indian Government, dated 23rd of February, 
 1871, sums up the results of wide inquiry, in terms iUo^KA 
 which fully support our views ; particularly stating | / 
 (1) that up to 1817, native opium was produced 
 only in Yunnan ; (2) that between 1817 and 1840, jj/M/. 
 the cultivation was introduced into Szechuen, 
 Kwangsi, and Kweichow ; (3) that up to 1848, the 
 Imperial Government strenuously opposed the culti- 
 vation, so that in some places, even bribes to the 
 mandarins failed to secure the fields, and in other 
 places the poppy was destroyed by an enraged 
 populace ; (4) that after 1848, a great increase of 
 the poppy took place, so that in fifteen years from 
 1848 to 1864, the whole of Western China became 
 an opium-producing region. 
 
 But information of a later date than that em- 
 bodied in the memorandum shows a marvellous 
 spread of the poppy within the last few years in 
 Eastern China also, in Manchuria, in Shantung, 
 Kiangpeh, Chekiang, Foh-kien. These provinces 
 have all been referred to in the Customs and Con- 
 
 L 2 
 
 II 
 
148 BEITISH OPIT)M POLICY. 
 
 sular reports above, but we may add here an 
 extract from a leader in the North China Herald of 
 7th of June, 1873. " Most unexpected was the 
 account given by the two travellers (Dr. Legge and 
 Mr. Edkins) of the eoormous extent of the cultiva- 
 tion of opium in Shantung and Kiangpeh, and the 
 equally starthng fact that the wide introduction of 
 the cultivation of the poppy only dates some two 
 years back.^^ 
 
 The case then stands thus. There is now an 
 immense production of opium in China. In 1869 
 
 I we have seen it estimated at 40,000 chests in three 
 
 provinces. In 1872 nearly 100,000 chests in 
 
 Szechuen only. It is probable that in the last 
 
 I \ case Szechuen is used rather as the designation 
 
 1 of all western opium, than for that of one single 
 
 province ; and even so, it may be an exaggeration. 
 
 Nevertheless it is clear that the native production 
 
 is already vast, and that it increases with rapid 
 
 development. There are signs, also, that the 
 
 quality of the native drug is improving, and more 
 
 than that, that the taste for it, in preference to the 
 
 stronger foreign article, is growing. The prices of 
 
 the two may be compared in Shanghai in 1872, in 
 
 t\ I Consul Medhurst's report. Indian ranged from 
 
 425 taels to 510 taels ; native from 250 to 300 
 
 ^ t taels. These East-coast prices would gradually rise 
 
 for foreign, and fall for native opium, as one went 
 
 from the coast towards the west. This very serious 
 
 \ rivalry has sprung up whilst the cultivation of the 
 
 ] '■ P^PPy is ^^^^^ illegal in China. While some foreign 
 
ON OPIU^[ CULTIVATION IN CHINA. 149 
 
 witnesses declare that in most localities the illegality 
 is no practical hindrance to the cultivation, there 
 are indications that the present state of the law has 
 a restraining influence, though, perhaps, not to a 
 great extent. In this state of affairs. Prince Kung 
 and his colleagues seriously debate the question 
 "whether it would not be well to revoke all edicts 
 "Against the cultivation, on purpose to undersell and" 
 drive out of the country the opium imported from 
 abroad. We hear, 'too, of one of the most influential 
 of the great satraps of China, Li Hung Chang, posi- 
 tively encouraging the growth all through his juris- 
 ^diction. 
 
 If we do not seize time by the forelock our 
 Indian opium revenue may die a natural death 
 within a few years, and we may have to bear the 
 inevitable loss, as well as to carry the stain upon 
 our escutcheon to the end of time. 
 
 One method of countermining the Chinese and 
 saving the revenue for India, at least in part, 
 is patent enough to every one who regards the 
 state of affairs with the eyes of a merchant or 
 political economist prepared to ignore all con- 
 siderations of morality and philanthropy; but the 
 suggestion is so frightful, that no right-minded 
 person will hear it stated without pain. We might 
 deliberately set to work to double or treble our 
 Indian production, and swamp the Chinese market 
 by an inundation of cheap opium, which should 
 render the native drug unsaleable. Our Indian 
 monopoly profits leave a terrible margin to work 
 
150 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 upon. In 1871-2 the Bengal opium cost about— 
 
 Rs. 360 per chest, and sold in Calcutta for Rs. 1387 
 
 per chest : more than 1000 Rs. per chest clear 
 
 profit. In that year 49,695 chests were sold for 
 
 export. Now it is evident that if the export were 
 
 increased from under 50,000 chests to 100,000 
 
 or 200,000 chests, a profit of little more than one 
 
 half, or one quarter, of the present profit would bring 
 
 in the same revenue, allowing for some increase in 
 
 cost of production. Rs. 360 equal about 108 taels. 
 
 With native opium fetching from 250 to 300 taels 
 
 in Shanghai, India might easily undersell the 
 
 Chinese opium and yet obtain more than double the 
 
 cost price of her opium. But it is fearful to think 
 
 of such a competition. The Chinese price includes 
 
 already irregular fees of various kinds to a large 
 
 amount, probably much over fifty taels per chest. 
 
 The grower's profit is stated as sometimes six times 
 
 as much as he would get from a grain crop. The 
 
 Chinese therefore could lower their prices to a 
 
 large extent, and every year's production must 
 
 accustom new hands to the manufacture, and make 
 
 production cheaper. The sure result of such a 
 
 strife between the two countries would be the 
 
 cheapening of the drug to an alarming point, and 
 
 the consequent great increase of its consumption. 
 
 That is almost the only sure result, for the increase 
 
 of production in India could not be attained in one 
 
 year, or in ten : and there is no reason, so far as 
 
 we can see, why in the end the Chinese should not 
 
 be able to produce quite as cheaply as India. But 
 
ON OPIUM CULTIVTION IN CHINA. 151 
 
 whatever the final issue, the process could not take 
 place without a fearful acceleration of China's ruin. 
 Although the national conscience seems almost 
 insensible to the present evils of the opium trade 
 we cannot believe that Britain would ever know- 
 ingly consent to enter upon such a fatal extension 
 of the traffic. 
 
CHAPTER YII. 
 
 RESULTS OF THE BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 The immediate result of the opium policy initiated 
 by the East India Company, and continued by the 
 British Government, has been a great extension of 
 poppy cultivation in India and China. The monopoly 
 is responsible for this directly in the case of Bengal, 
 partly directly and partly indirectly in the case of 
 Central India, and indirectly in the case of China. 
 For the proof of these assertions we refer to the 
 historical facts already narrated at length in previous 
 chapters. Defenders of the policy vainly strive to 
 shelter it behind the ordinary operation of the trade 
 laws of demand and supply. The operation of these 
 economic laws does not divest of responsibility those 
 who set them in motion at either end ; for though it 
 would be absurd to speak of supply as alone creative 
 of demand, there is no question but that an abundant 
 and constantly sustained supply increases demand, 
 whenever the article is not one of absolute necessity. 
 When silk came by caravans across Central Asia, 
 and a single robe was worth its weight in gold in 
 Europe, the shining fabric was reserved for emperors 
 
RESULTS OF THE BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 153 
 
 and nobles, and no demand could be said to exist 
 for it among common people; whereas now the 
 abundant supply creates a demand among all classes 
 but the very poorest. The maid-servant who covets 
 a silk dress may be literally said to have had 
 the demand created in her case, by the ample 
 supply of the material which places it constantly 
 before her eyes, and renders it not impossible for 
 her to obtain it. Only a few years ago there was no 
 demand for newspapers amongst multitudes who are 
 now daily or weekly purchasers of them. In this 
 case the supply of penny and halfpenny journals 
 , may be fairly said to have almost alone created the 
 ' demand. Such illustrations might be indefinitely 
 multiplied, and no reasonable man can refuse to 
 acknowledge that the demand for opium in China 
 did not increase from a few hundred chests in 1766 
 to perhaps 200,000 chests in 1872 without the im- 
 mense supply from India contributing to foster and 
 develope the ever-increasing demand. Compliance 
 with the ordinary operation of this natural law of 
 trade is of course innocent, if the article dealt in he 
 innocent. But what shall we say of it if the article 
 be known to he noxious ? And how shall we explain 
 the conduct of the East India Company in at the 
 same time fighting against the ordinary economic law 
 in its own territories, and yielding itself volun- 
 tarily to be carried along with the current when it 
 set towards China? Can the same fountain at 
 once send forth sweet water and bitter ? 
 
 But it is a glaring contradiction of the well- 
 
154 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 known facts to justify tlie Indian exportation of 
 opium as a simple compliance with the laws of 
 supply and demand. The monopoly interfered 
 with the ordinary processes of trade, both inter- 
 nally and externally, both in production and in sale. 
 The influence of Government, the machinery of 
 Government, the capital of Government, have all 
 been employed in stimulating production,^ while 
 British bayonets and cannon insured the con- 
 
 * The Calcutta Blue Book contains abundant evidence of this. 
 See Minute by the Hon. J. Strachey, Simla, 10th April, 1869, on 
 p. 86, in which he says : " There seems to me to have been for 
 some time past a constant and most wise desire on the part of the 
 Government of Bengal, to increase the production of opium." 
 .... The Benares Opium Agent has been urged by the Lieu- 
 tenant Governor to extend the cultivation as much as can be 
 
 judiciously done It seems to me, therefore, that immediate 
 
 measures of the most energetic character ought to be taken with 
 
 the object of increasing the production of opium I think 
 
 that special inquiry should be made as to the possibility of profit- 
 ably extending the cultivation of opium in the districts of the 
 North- Western Provinces, in which canal irrigation is available.'' 
 
 Letter from the Hon. W. Grey, Lieutenant Governor of Bengal 
 dated Barrackpore, 22nd April, 1869 (p. 88), says to Mr. Camp- 
 bell : — I have a telegraphic message from Simla, urging " that 
 every possible expedient that you (I) approve should be used even 
 now to extend the opium cultivation next season to the utmost 
 practicable extent." Minute by Sir R. Temple, dated 27th April^ 
 1869, (same page): "lam clear for extending the cultivation, and 
 for insuring a plentiful supply. If we do not do this, the Chinese 
 will do it for themselves. They had better have our good opium 
 than their own indifferent opium. There really is no moral 
 objection to our conduct in this respect." Add to these the state- 
 ment in Sir W. Muir's Minute (1868): "A few years ago the 
 Government of Bengal was straining every nerve to extend the 
 cultivation of the poppy." 
 
 Other proofs are given in the Appendix. 
 
RESULTS OF THE BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 155 
 
 tinuance of the sale. When a Government advances 
 milhons to cultivators to secure a crop, when it 
 sends an agent to Indore with millions more to buy, 
 how can it pretend to leave the laws of trade to 
 fulfil themselves ? When it first connives at 
 smuggling, and then fights for smugglers, how 
 can it plead a wise obedience to the teachings of 
 political economy? We must therefore conclude 
 that the Government is directly responsible for 
 extension of poppy cultivation in Bengal, also 
 responsible, formerly by direct intervention, latterly 
 and always by its support of the trade, in Malwa ; 
 and responsible also for the cultivation in China, 
 in so far as that cultivation has sprung out of 
 rivalry to the introduction of foreign opium. 
 
 Before considering the results of the opium policy 
 to India and China separately, it is desirable that 
 we should look at this extension of cultivation in its 
 relation to the food supply, a bearing of the question 
 important to both countries. Now we cannot say 
 that opium is to be condemned simply because it 
 occupies the soil which might otherwise grow grain. 
 That argument would require the condemnation 
 of indigo, tobacco, and every article which takes up 
 ground and labour that might be bestowed upon 
 edible products. The question of importance here //; 
 is how much land is taken up by opium ? If opium - ' ' 
 were a harmless luxury, it is still certain that men 
 and women would starve if all the land were planted 
 with the poppy. The degree, therefore, in which 
 this substance, useless for the nourishment of life. 
 
15G BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 takes the place of cereals, is a question of great 
 importance. 
 
 The proportion of land and labour which may be 
 given to the poppy without detriment to the food- 
 supply depends upon the existing means of inter- 
 communication between the poppy district and other 
 grain districts. The poppy-grower may make by his 
 opium twice or five times the money that wheat or 
 rice would bring him : but if there is no grain to be 
 bought by his silver, he cannot live upon the metal 
 nor upon the drug. Now even in India, under 
 British government, with its roads and railways, 
 canals and steamers, we know that the means of 
 transport in the country are far from adequate to all 
 emergencies. The shocking memory of the Orissa 
 famine,^ in 1865-7, in which the total deaths were 
 estimated at a million and a quarter, about one- 
 fourth of the population, in which parents ate their 
 own children, and horrors we cannot bear to 
 transcribe were witnessed,^ has been almost oblite- 
 rated from the public mind by the heroic efforts of 
 the Government to meet the necessities of the recent 
 terrible famine in Bengal. Upwards of 500,000 
 acres of the richest land in the very districts in 
 which this last famine was most severely felt, and 
 this land largely enjoying the benefit of artificial 
 irrigation, was devoted to the poppy. The lavish 
 expenditure of Government having averted the worst 
 results of the famine, we are not likely to hear how 
 far the opium cultivation was detrimental to the 
 hr ' Vide Fraser's Magazine, September, 1867, p. 373. 
 
RESULTS 0¥ THE BRITISH OPIUM POLICY". 157 
 
 food supply. But these two recent famines are only 
 the latest of a long series. Dr. Wilson, giving evi- 
 dence ^ before the Select Committee of the House of 
 Commons, said that the poppy cultivation in Malwa 
 cut off from Rajpootana its natural source of supply 
 in time of famine, and that "lately, according to 
 Government accounts, if I have read them correctly, 
 1,200,000 people died of famine, and the diseases 
 induced by it." This proves that the danger of opium 
 production leading .to the starvation of the people is 
 not merely hypothetical, even in India. 
 
 Turn now to China. If the relations between the 
 number of mouths, the food supply, and the means of 
 transport are such in India that a single season's 
 drought over a limited area produces such serious 
 results, think how momentous this matter becomes 
 to China, destitute of railways, of good roads, with 
 very few steamers upon her inland waters : in a word, 
 with means of transport inadequate to a degree 
 almost inconceivable to our western ideas. Famines 
 recur periodically, though at irregular periods, in the 
 vast, mountain-divided provinces of China. Chinese 
 history abounds in records of most awful seasons of 
 dearth. Even within the last ten years, dwellers on 
 the coast have been repeating to one another the 
 horrible rumour that, while they were enjoying cheap 
 rice, in Kansuh human flesh was being sold for food ! 
 It is clear that in such a land the spread of poppy 
 cultivation becomes, or may become, a question of 
 life or death to multitudes. 
 
 ' Report, East India Finance, 1871, p. 340. 
 
158 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 Putting together tlie information of the Customs 
 Report, and that given by Mr. Edkins in the North 
 China Herald, we arrive at these conclusions. One 
 moio"^ of land will produce about eight catties of 
 opium annually. A regular opium smoker, con- 
 suming his tael ^ a day, will require 22f catties in a 
 year — that is, nearly the produce of three moio, 
 i Three mow of land, it is calculated, will produce grain- 
 stuff sufficient for one person for one year. But the 
 poppy only occupies the soil for half the year, and 
 another crop may be taken off the ground as well ; 
 therefore it only absorbs one-half of the food-pro- 
 ducing power of the land. Every two smokers, who 
 consume each a tael a day, do therefore deprive the 
 country of food for one person, or thereabouts. Sir 
 E. Alcock reports, in 1869, that " about two-thirds 
 of the province of Szechuen, and one-third of 
 Yunnan," are devoted to opium. ^ Szechuen is the 
 larger province : but say one-half of the land in these 
 two provinces together is laid down in opium. This 
 will deprive the people of an annual amount of grain 
 ^ j equal to one quarter of the whole possible pro- 
 I I duction ! Allowing for exaggeration in the figures 
 — allowing that the poppy may partly displace 
 sugar, cotton, tobacco, and other products not 
 ' cereals — the statement, after every deduction, is 
 , formidable, and it is not surprising that Chinese 
 
 * About three-fifths of an acre. 
 
 ' The tael, or Chinese ounce = 580 grains troy. This is pro- 
 bably much above the average usually consumed. 
 « Calcutta Blue Book, p. 235. 
 
RESULTS OF THE BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 159 
 
 statesmen view tlie progress of the poppy witli alarm. 
 The memorial of Yau Pehchwan/ which led to the 
 last edict against the cultivation, sajs that "the 
 poppy deprives hundreds of thousands of people of 
 grain-food, and that many have committed suicide 
 under pressure of starvation, with money in their 
 hands to buy food when none was to be had." If 
 smoking were to become universal in China, putting 
 together the enormous increase of poppy growth and 
 consequent decrease of grain supply, with the effect 
 of opium in diminishing physical power for labour, 
 and in producing sterility, one might speculate as to 
 the number of generations which would succeed 
 before the entire extermination of the Chinese people. 
 Happily, smoking cannot become universal, because 
 such considerations put a natural check upon it, 
 besides the moral check. Yet while such an ex- 
 tremity of evil is not to be apprehended, the amount 
 of poppy cultivation in Szechuen and Yunnan alone 
 is already great enough to render the prospects of 
 those provinces truly pitiable in the event of a time 
 of scarcity. 
 
 The results of the British Opium Policy in respect 
 to India itself are two : injury to our national 
 reputation, and the imperilling of our Indian finances. 
 Wherever there is wide increase of cultivation, there 
 can hardly fail to be also an increase of consumption. 
 It would appear, then, that we ought to place this 
 increase of consumption in the forefront of the evils 
 ' Ibid.j p. 222, and Appendix. 
 
160 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 resulting to India. But we will not insist upon 
 this : for, on the one hand, the intention and actual 
 effect of the monopoly, as we have seen in our chap- 
 ter on the policy of the Company, was to restrict the 
 consumption in India; and, on the other hand, 
 although several witnesses attest the fact that the 
 cultivators of the poppy do themselves consume part 
 of their produce, we have no definite information 
 upon this head. The Bengalees do not appear to be 
 generally inclined to the vice of opium-eating. In 
 the native states of Rajpootana and Central India, 
 the habit of opium-eating is said to be almost uni- 
 versal ; but though the stimulus which the Company 
 gave to opium production there, by opening the 
 China market to those states, very probably had a 
 considerable influence in stimulating the home con- 
 sumption, here again we lack such clear information 
 as would justify us in charging the Company with 
 the extension of the practice among the Rajpoots and 
 Sikhs. We confine ourselves, therefore, to the two 
 articles specified below. 
 
 (1) The injury to the good repute of the British 
 Government and people among the natives of India 
 which has resulted from our Opium Policy. 
 
 Dr. Wilson testifies to this before the Parlia- 
 mentary Committee : being asked, " What opinion 
 do you think the natives generally hold regarding 
 the Government connexion with the opium traffic ?" 
 he replied,^ " I have frequently heard the natives 
 referring to it as indicating that the Government had 
 ' Report, East India Finance, 1871, p. 344. 
 
IJESULTS OF THE BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 161 
 
 not proper regard to the well-being of the different 
 oriental nations ; that it was accessory to the injury 
 of China, and to the injury of India by what it did in 
 favour of opium. I am in the way of hearing them 
 bring forward objections to Government, but gene- 
 rally I must say that in those districts with which I 
 am acquainted, loitli the exception of the opium matter, 
 they are very much inclined to speak well of the 
 Government." Again, Mr. Geddes^ delivers this 
 pointed opinion : "^o rajah under a purely native 
 system could administer the opium revenue as we do. 
 The Brahmins would very soon starve him out." 
 That is, the moral sense of heathens would be strong 
 enough to compel the cessation of a system which 
 the moral sense of Christians permits ! This can easily 
 be credited by those who have had personal ac- 
 quaintance with Asiatics. The Christian has a much 
 stronger sense of individual accountability than the 
 heathen, but, as respects the action of government, 
 his views are apt to be more lax. Political ex- 
 pediency is allowed to condone for moral obliquity. 
 The known inability of government to secure 
 virtuous conduct by legislation brings with it an 
 impression that government and virtue have two 
 independent spheres. To the oriental, government 
 is a very simple idea : despotic authority on one side, 
 absolute obedience on the other. Hence the Asiatic 
 admits no considerations of expediency to interfere, 
 but visits the Government with the same moral 
 judgments he would pass upon an individual. This 
 
 » Ihid., p. 454. 
 
 M 
 
162 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 opium monopoly business is of ill odour among 
 Englislimen : English statesmen, adverting to it in 
 tlie House of Commons, treat it as an unhappy 
 necessity, a puddle which we cannot clean out, and, 
 therefore, should not stir up. We may be sure that 
 through the length and breadth of India, as education 
 advances, as the native press spreads wider and 
 wider, so the conduct of the British Government will 
 be more and more the subject of popular criticism. 
 To some persons it may seem a matter of small 
 import what our black-skinned subjects think of 
 their masters. But every thoughtful man who 
 ponders the future prospects of British sovereignty 
 in India will see that the opinion the natives have of 
 us is of the very gravest importance to the stability 
 of our Government : and the philanthropist, who 
 regards our rule in India as of far less import for the 
 share it contributes to our national glory than as a 
 means of benefiting and elevating the native races, 
 will deem it no small matter that the confidence of 
 the natives should be weakened, and their respect 
 for us impaired, by witnessing a line of policy they 
 cannot but condemn as unjust. 
 
 (2) The dependence of our Indian Empire upon 
 this precarious opium revenue is so startling a result 
 of the policy under which it has gradually swelled to 
 its present dimensions, that one almost hears the 
 silent footfall of Nemesis approaching to strike us 
 down with the very weapon we have forged our- 
 selves. Already the anxieties of those statesmen 
 who have been compelled to face the question have 
 
RESULTS OF THE BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 163 
 
 been a foreboding of calamity. Thirty-two years 
 ago the House of Commons Committee declared, 
 when the revenue was under 1,000,000Z., that "it 
 would be highly imprudent to rely upon the opium 
 monopoly as a permanent source of revenue." But 
 the " high imprudence " being profitable for the 
 moment, they put off the day of reverting to sounder 
 principles of finance ; and it has been put off from 
 that day to this, until the revenue has increased to 
 such a vast sum that now it appears impossible to 
 make any change. Our British Government has 
 run a course parallel with that of the Chinese 
 opium-smoker. He begins with a few whiffs, 
 very pleasant, very refreshing, suggesting no thought 
 of peril. Presently he is consuming his three 
 or four pipes every day, and then a sudden qualm 
 seizes him. He reflects "it would be highly im- 
 prudent to get to depend entirely upon opium for 
 health, happiness, even life itself." But he post- 
 pones the day when he must abandon his favourite 
 indulgence. A few years more, and now he takes 
 his daily ounce as an absolute necessity. There is 
 no longer a thought of relinquishing it. The only 
 anxiety now is to get a constant supply. At last 
 the day arrives when his supply fails, and he 
 perishes miserably. Our Government has got to 
 the stage of confirmed opium-revenue consumer. It 
 has long ago passed the stage when the income of a 
 few hundred thousands from the poppy might have 
 been regarded as a luxury of revenue; now it 
 clings with desperate tenacity to its millions of 
 
 M 2 
 
164 BEITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 profit from the poppy as a necessity. And now, 
 when our dependence upon it seems a matter of life 
 and death to our Indian Empire, the supply threatens 
 to dry up. Is the opium-smoker's end to be that of 
 the British Indian Empire also ? 
 
 The opium revenue, which was under one million 
 when the House of Commons sanctioned it in 1832, 
 had grown to about a million and a half when the 
 House, by rejecting Lord Ashley's attack on the 
 system, again undertook full responsibility for it in 
 1843. It had grown to five millions by 1862. 
 When Sir Wilfrid Lawson again in 1870 led a 
 gallant assault upon it in the House, the revenue 
 had swelled to 6,733,215/. In 1871-72, the latest 
 year of which we have printed parliamentary returns, 
 the opium income was 7,657,213Z. ! ^ 
 
 In 1871-72 the total revenue of India was 
 50,] 10,215/.; expenditure, 48,614,512/.; leaving a 
 surplus of 1,495,703/. 
 
 What do these figures import ? That out of our 
 Indian revenue of fifty millions, seven millions and 
 a half, nearly one- sixth of the whole revenue, accrue 
 from opium. That if this source of revenue had 
 not existed, the surplus of one and a half million 
 would have been changed into a deficit of six 
 millions ! 
 
 The year 1871-72, however, is an exceptionably 
 favourable specimen of Indian finance. During a 
 
 ^ Since then the revenue has been less: the latest returns 
 
 are,— 1872-73 6,870,423/. 
 
 1873-74 6,333,599/. 
 
RESULTS OF THE BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 165 
 
 long series of years Indian finance ministers have 
 had to face a succession of deficits. In 1869 Sir 
 Richard Temple, in his speech on the Income Tax 
 Bill,^ said, — " Sir Charles Trevelyan, speaking in 
 1863, expressed a fervent hope, not yet realized, that 
 the deficit of 1861-62 would prove to be ' the last of 
 a long series of Indian deficits.' . . . , But now for 
 two years past the deficits have reappeared, and 
 for the current year I shall have to tell the old tale 
 of deficit." In the game speech he informs us that 
 in eight years, from 1860 onward, three only were 
 years of surplus, while five were years of deficit. A 
 writer in the Quarterly Review in 1871 represents 
 the Indian financial condition as one of normal 
 deficit : the expenditure being about three milUons 
 more than the income.^ Difficult of comprehension 
 as this subject is to those not experts in Indian 
 affairs, the discussions about the Income Tax in 
 India have made some thoughts pretty familiar to 
 the English mind. One is the expensiveness of the 
 British government of India — an expensiveness which 
 seems steadily increasing. Another thought is the 
 very slight elasticity of Indian resources. In what 
 might be called the romantic age of our connexion 
 with India, our mighty dependency, mysterious by 
 its distance, vastness, antiquity, and by the wide 
 gulf which divides the Oriental mind from the 
 English, was regarded as an El Dorado of wealth, a 
 land to which Englishmen went out poor and 
 
 ' Vide East India Finance, 1871, Appendix No. 3. 
 ' Vide Appendix. 
 
166 BEITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 returned nabobs, a land able to supply inexhaustible 
 spoils to conquering Olives, and practically illimitable 
 revenues to courts of directors. But tbe age of 
 romance has passed, and is succeeded by an age of 
 prosaic reality, when the purse-strings are in our 
 own keeping, and we have to balance the income 
 and expenditure ourselves. The hard facts of 
 actual experience have taught us that a population 
 of 200,000,000, of whom the vast majority live in a 
 condition of poverty hardly understood in England, 
 getting little more than a bare subsistence of rice 
 and vegetables from the soil they till, cannot, in 
 spite of their immense numbers, supply revenues 
 equal to the requirements of our expensive system 
 of government, without difficulty, and in some cases 
 even distress. When we are informed that we 
 cannot govern India without exacting from the very 
 poorest of the people a tax of 700, in some places 
 600,'^ per cent, on such a necessary of life as salt, 
 we can hardly help wondering whether, after all, 
 British government can really be on the whole so 
 great a boon to India, whether perhaps the natives 
 do not pay a price for the boon which takes all the 
 gloss off it. This at least is certain, that so far 
 from being able at will to change the nature of our 
 taxation, every authority on Indian finance agrees 
 that we are living in a dependence upon the opium 
 revenue, which may be described as abject. It 
 is about as difficult to suggest any other object or 
 direction of taxation which could take the place 
 * Report, East India Finance, 1871, pp. 183 and 453. 
 
EESULTS OF THE BRITISn OPIUM POLICY. 167 
 
 of these seven millions, as to indicate any method 
 of economizing expenditure which would save the 
 seven millions. Even with the seven millions we 
 are embarrassed by a deficit which may almost be 
 called chronic, and are at our wit's end to keep 
 things going. As to giving up the opium revenue, 
 Indian financialists would think it equivalent to pro- 
 posing political suicide. To this pass has our opium 
 policy brought us ! Forty, and again thirty years ago, 
 we deliberately elected to serve mammon rather than 
 God, and now we find ourselves the chained bond- 
 slaves of the evil one, absolutely compelled to per- 
 sist in a course from which extrication seems hope- 
 less. No wonder that advocates of the status quo 
 close their eyes desperately to the facts of the case, 
 deny resolutely that there is any immorality in the 
 opium revenue at all, take refuge in such miserable 
 shifts as that, if we did not poison the Chinese, 
 some one else would. British opium policy has 
 brought us to this, that we cannot afibrd to keep a 
 conscience. 
 
 What will be the issue of it all? God alone 
 knows. Optimists flatter themselves that, as the 
 opium revenue has grown for three quarters of a 
 century, so it may last on for an indefinite time ; or, 
 if it decrease, the decrease will be gradual, and 
 therefore easily borne. Pessimists foretell a fatal 
 derangement of our Indian finances. All we know 
 for certain is that this opium policy has brought us 
 to a shameful and dangerous position, and we can 
 see no way of escape from it. A way there is 
 
168 BEITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 indeed, as we shall try to show in the next chapter ; 
 but it seems almost as unlikely that the British 
 nation should take that way, as it is unlikely that 
 the confirmed opium- smoker should renounce his 
 pipe and regain his original state of freedom. 
 
 We now turn our eyes to China. What have 
 been the results of the British opium policy there ? 
 (1) The physical and moral deterioration of an 
 
 i unknown, but certainly large number of victims of 
 
 I the opium-pipe. 
 
 We have no wish to exaggerate the case against 
 ourselves. Of course no man becomes an opium 
 sot without having to blame himself more than any 
 other person or institution. If he blames those 
 who brought the temptation to his door, he must 
 first of all inveigh against his own people, the opium 
 dealers, who buy and distribute the drug all over 
 the country; the native smugglers, who used to 
 introduce it in defiance of the laws, and the venal 
 officials who connived at their misdeeds. We know 
 that native cultivation has for a long time shared 
 with foreign commerce the odium of the supply of 
 the drug. British policy is not solely responsible 
 for the demoralization of the people by opium ; but 
 neither can we clear our country of a grave share of 
 the responsibility. We have been accomplices in 
 the injury of the people. We cannot get rid of that 
 fact. The particular manner and measure of our 
 responsibility for all the evil opium has wrought in 
 China, the reader may deduce for himself from the 
 
RESULTS OF THE BRITISH OPIUM FOLIC T. 169 
 
 record presented in the earlier portion of our work 
 of the actual facts of that policy. But to repudiate 
 responsibility altogether, because the Chinese need 
 not have bought opium unless they chose, or because 
 they at last consented to its introduction under a 
 duty, reminds us of Pilate's washing his hands. 
 
 (2) The same remarks as to England's share in 
 the matter apply also to the impoverishment of the 
 country through the use of opium. This indictment 
 is something over -and above the direct noxiousness 
 of the drug. Even were it a harmless luxury, China 
 cmdd not afford the land, the labour, the time, the 
 money which indulgence in it costs her. We need 
 no Puritanical aversion to enjoyment in order to be 
 convinced of this. On the contrary, we may con- 
 tend that every innocent gratification is of itself a 
 clear gain to the human race, and to be encouraged 
 and supported by the philanthropist. But no one 
 will dispute that necessaries must be placed before 
 luxuries. Flowers are beautiful and fragrant, but 
 we cannot afford to attend to floriculture until the 
 food supply is secured. China is a poor country, 
 densely populated, the people closely pressing upon 
 the means of subsistence. The nation cannot spend 
 its annual millions upon opium without multitudes 
 being deprived of food and clothing. This, which is 
 true in the general, is visible in innumerable par- 
 ticular cases. Opium-smoking prevails among the 
 poor as well as the rich, and the poor supply the 
 pipe at the expense of their backs and their bellies ; 
 and not their own only, but those of their wives and 
 
I!r6 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 children. In round numbers, a pound weight of 
 foreign opium costs China a pound sterling in money. 
 In 1872 the importation was 8,039,246 lbs., for 
 which China paid 8,261,381/.^ Even this does but 
 represent a fraction of the loss to the country ; for 
 there must be added to it all the loss of vigour and 
 inclination for useful labour which are the con- 
 sequences of smoking. 
 
 (8) The " opium " war directly, and our subse- 
 quent wars indirectly, must be attributed to our 
 British opium policy. There were other causes of 
 irritation between the two Governments, and we 
 cannot acquit the Chinese of blame for unreasonable 
 and unjust behaviour in their dealings with foreigners. 
 
 I But throughout all our intercourse with them this 
 baneful trade has been one of the chief causes of 
 
 11 animosity. The damage, immediate and indirect, 
 caused by these wars to the Chinese Government and 
 people cannot be calculated. 
 
 (4) As a consequence, the influence of the Chinese 
 Government has been greatly weakened, and its 
 power to preserve order and avert anarchy greatly 
 lessened. After our " opium " war came the terrible 
 ravages of the Taepings, which laid waste a large 
 portion of the land and destroyed millions of lives. 
 The prestige of the existing dynasty is shattered. 
 An impression widely prevails that its years are 
 numbered. People anticipate a change, and yet 
 know not from what quarter to look for it. Past 
 history teaches that revolutions in China are not 
 » China, No. 3 (1873), Part II., Commercial Reports, p. 222. 
 
EESULTS OF THE BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 171 
 
 the affair of a few months or a year or two, but 
 that generally a long period of anarchy and distress 
 has marked the downfall of one dynasty and rise of 
 its successor. For recent political troubles in China 
 foreign influence is in great part accountable, and of ' 
 that influence no item has been so mighty, so bane- j 
 ful as opium. 
 
 (5) Lastly, the British opium policy has sup- 
 plied an unanswerable argument for hostility to 
 foreigners. 
 
 No one can estimate the degree to which this 
 hostility is prejudicial to the welfare of China itself, 
 and also to foreign intercourse with China. Among 
 the records of intercourse between the civilized 
 nations of Europe and the semi-civilized kingdoms 
 of the East there is nothing to compare with the 
 wonderful adoption by Japan of western ideas, 
 western science, education, manufactures, industries, 
 and all within the space of a few years. China 
 perhaps would not have been as Japan, had there 
 been no opium in the case. It might have taken 
 decades or generations to accomplish in vast China 
 what was effected in little Japan in a few years. 
 But the same process, though differing in rate of 
 progress, might have taken place in China, if from 
 the first the intercourse of foreign nations had been ' i j 
 conducted on the liberal and enligbtened principles Lr 
 wbich have characterized our relations with Japani y^ 
 Notwithstanding all obstacles, some measure of'^^ 
 progress has taken place in China through her 
 intercourse with Europe. But the hindrances have 
 
172 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 been great, and the greatest has been, and still is, 
 opium. The literati, the leading governing classes, 
 fear ns and hate ns, and one of the chief causes 
 of their hatred and their fear is opium. This ani- 
 mosity is a constant hindrance to progress, a con- 
 stant source of danger. 
 
 In the first place it is an absolute barrier to a 
 truly peaceful intercourse. "We are not at war 
 with China only because China does not think the 
 time ripe for war with us. But at the back of all 
 our intercourse with the Chinese lies the " inevitable 
 gunboat.'' Opium and Manchester goods go in, 
 tea and silk go out; the traders bargain, the 
 missionaries preach, — and the gunboat renders all 
 possible. Meantime the Chinese devote the in- 
 creased resources they acquire through foreign trade 
 to building arsenals, casting cannon, laying up 
 stores of shot and shell. English residents in China, 
 and those who have friends in the country, receive 
 the news of every trifling local disturbance with 
 anxiety — for Europeans there are living on the edge 
 of a volcano, and no one can tell when the next 
 eruption may break out. 
 
 This animosity is a barrier to the progress of 
 trade and introduction of improvements. Our mer- 
 chants ask for increased facilities of trade and they 
 are refused. They propose to place steamers on the 
 inland waters and meet with a rebuff. Railways, 
 telegraphs, coal-mining, gold-mining — everything 
 is persistently opposed. A line of railway is 
 offered as a gift to the Emperor and is refused. 
 
r i 
 
 RESULTS OF THE BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 173 
 
 This unreasonable antagonism to all introduction 
 of foreign methods and appliances for the develop- 
 ment of the resources of China is an injury to 
 us, but it is a thousandfold injury to China itself. 
 The civilization of the country, the increased 
 knowledge, comfort, happiness, of three hundred 
 millions of the human race are retarded, and many 
 generations to come may be defrauded of them — and 
 why ? The proximate cause is Chinese hostihty to 
 us; but what is. the cause of that hostility ? Let 
 any one read Williamson's " Travels in North China,'' 
 and he will gain some notion of the magnificent 
 natural capabilities of the country, of its inex- 
 haustible mineral resources. The loss to China, the 
 loss to the world, through the neglect of these is 
 beyond all power of estimating. Our coal supply in 
 England threatens to come to an end : yet we ship 
 cargo after cargo every year to the far East, em- 
 ploying our vessels and our sailors in carrying more 
 than half round the world the mineral which exists 
 already stored up there in the soil. And this is but 
 one small item in the altogether incalculable total 
 loss which results from an animosity we have done 
 our best to deserve. 
 
 Finally, this anti-foreign animus of the Chinese is 
 an almost insuperable barrier to their reception of 
 the Gospel. Some measure of opposition to Chris- 
 tianity for its own sake was only to be expected. 
 Old faiths, old prejudices, wiU not submit to be 
 overthrown and swept away without a struggle. If 
 the Chinese followers of Confucius cannot bear to 
 
174 BRJTISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 hear his supremacy assailed by a strange name un- 
 known to their fathers, without impatience and 
 wrath, this is only analogous to the course of human 
 nature in general. But, besides all this, opium has 
 created an immense obstacle to the patient hearing 
 of the claims of Christianity. '* By their fruits ye 
 shall know them," the heathen cry : and the better- 
 educated class, those who take a more intelligent 
 interest in national affairs, stop their ears against 
 the sound of the Gospel, and, as far as their authority 
 extends, prevent every one else from hearing it.^ 
 
 Such are the results of British opium policy. Our 
 pitiful dependence upon a dishonourable traffic for 
 the support of our empire, and the encouragement 
 of a destructive vice among the Chinese, alone con- 
 demn the policy past all defence. But to the 
 thoughtful mind contemplating the great world- 
 drama of Humanity, slowly enacting through the 
 ages, perhaps the ulterior consequences will seem 
 altogether to surpass in magnitude of evil these 
 direct visible results. Great Britain, by its sove- 
 reignty of India and pre-eminent influence in China, 
 wields a mighty influence over the destinies of more 
 than half the human race. For a little while (who 
 
 ® In 1869 Dr. Scherewescky, of the American Episcopal 
 Mission, visited Kaifengfu, the capital of Honan, to inquire into 
 the condition of the remnant of the Jews residing there. A mob, 
 collected by the literati, drove him from the city, shouting after 
 him, *' You killed our Emperor ; you destroyed our summer 
 palace; you bring poison here to ruin us ; and now you come to 
 teach us virtue ! " This was a forcible expression of objections 
 familiar to every missionary. 
 
KESULTS OF THE BEITISH OPIUM POLICY. 175 
 
 can say for how long ?) tlie hegemony of the world is 
 ours. For the time being we are peaceful, rich, and 
 powerful — better fitted than any other people to 
 meet the demands of this vast empire and influence 
 upon our resources. Never since mankind began 
 has any nation had so splendid an opportunity as 
 that which is now put into our hands. We are 
 summoned to pour the new life-blood of our religion, 
 our liberty, our commerce, our science, our educa- 
 tion, into the stagnant veins of the dying East. A 
 right and noble discharge of our national duty now | 
 would go far towards regenerating the world, and 
 bringing in the golden age. What then can be com- 
 parable in importance to this, that Great Britain 
 should have a clear conscience and an unselfish 
 aim ? We have the material resources, we have the 
 physical force : what we want is the moral character, 
 that we may use our unexampled opportunity for 
 the welfare of mankind. But what avails our pro- 
 fession of desire to wield our sceptre in the highest 
 interests of humanity, whilst this opium-scandal 
 remains ? While British supremacy rests upon the 
 opium revenue, our national glory is rotten at its 
 foundation ; our national character is a hindrance to 
 the progress of truth, righteousness, and peace 
 among the vast nations of the East, and our national 
 bad repute fearfully counteracts the efi*orts of private 
 individuals amongst us to do good to our oriental 
 fellow-creatures. Perhaps the worst result of our 
 opium revenue is, that it chains us to the low stan- 
 dard of political morality which suffered its growth. 
 
CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 PROPOSITIONS FOR AN AMENDED OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 If any clear lesson is derivable from our retrospect 
 of British opium policy, it is this, that we have been 
 led astray by the golden lure of an abundant and 
 easily-gotten revenue. We must demand, therefore, 
 both as proof of repentance, and as indispensable 
 basis for a new line of policy that the revenue must 
 be abandoned, so far as it interferes with our doing 
 justice to our own people and to China. We say 
 so far as justice demands, because free trade in 
 opium would be a worse evil than the present state ^ 
 of things, and unless the cultivation of the poppy be 
 absolutely interdicted throughout our empire, taxa- 
 tion, in some form, would be a simple necessity. In 
 a previous chapter we contended that the true prin- 
 ciple on which such articles should be made subjects 
 of taxation is that taxation limits consumption, and 
 so tends to check the abuses consequent upon it. 
 According to this principle, the aim of Government 
 is to diminish, not to multiply consumption, and the 
 income accruing from taxation is not its primary 
 object. If, then, we would rectify the errors of our 
 
PROPOSITIONS FOR AN AMENDED OPIU^il POLICY. 177 
 
 opiuTTi policy, we must be prepared to sacrifice a 
 portion, if not the -whole, of our present gains from 
 it. Unless we start with this honest determination, it 
 is vain to seek expedients for improvement. While 
 the crj is, " We cannot do without the revenue," 
 no proposal of change will get an impartial hearing, 
 or every attempted reform will be but a change of 
 form, not a substantial remedy. We must come to 
 the firm resolve that we will consent no longer to 
 maintain our Indian empire by a revenue derived 
 from the vices of mankind, and upheld by our phy- 
 sical force against the claims of justice. Let us do 
 right, and let the revenue go. When this is our 
 sincere language ; when we are prepared to abolish 
 an unrighteous trade, and to bear the loss ; then we 
 may, without hypocrisy, take in hand to consider 
 what is actually required of us, and how we may 
 best set our house in order. 
 
 It would be folly to disguise the fact that this 
 sacrifice would iuvolve serious difficulty. This is 
 not an essay on Indian finance, nor is the writer an 
 expert on that subject. But the Parliamentary 
 Eeports make it quite clear that to do away with, or 
 only to cripple, the opium revenue would be cutting 
 off the right arm of Indian resources. Seven mil- 
 lions out of a revenue of 50,000,0007. ; the boldest 
 financier will hesitate before he lightly tampers with 
 such a sum as that. A source of income of such 
 magnitude would be treated with the greatest 
 solicitude even in an English budget ; in India, it 
 seems like proposing self-destruction to suggest 
 
 N 
 
178 BKITISII OriUM FOLIC Y. 
 
 interference with it. And now, at tins point of our 
 discussion, we find that the old recommendation of 
 the opium revenue, " that it is drawn from 
 foreigners," cuts our own fiugers. If we were 
 advocating the abandonment of our excise revenue 
 in England, by some measure that contemplated the 
 extinction of the drinking customs of the country, 
 the immediate loss to the revenue would be immense, 
 but the saving to the country by the cessation of 
 wasteful and injurious expenditure would be so 
 much vaster, that it could easily bear some new 
 form of taxation to replace the abandoned excise. 
 Not so in this case ; for the opium, which produces 
 all but a mere fraction of the revenue, is consnmed 
 out of India. The loss would fall upon the Indian 
 treasury ; the material and moral gain would be 
 enjoyed by the Chinese. The inhabitants of India 
 are not responsible for the opium policy, although 
 they have enjo^^ed its proceeds. To distress India 
 in order to relieve China, would be to inflict unde- 
 served hardship. Thus we are placed in a grave 
 dilemma. 
 
 The present writer frankly confesses that he has 
 for long regarded England's connexion with opium 
 with a feeling of hopelessness. JSTations, like indi- 
 viduals, may bring upon themselves evil conse- 
 quences of their follies and crimes, from which even 
 repentance seems to hold out no way of escape. 
 Strenuous exertion may break the chain of evil habit, 
 and yet its consequences linger on long after it is 
 broken. England paid twenty millions to clear her^ 
 
PROPOSITIONS FOR AN AMENDED OPIUM POLICY. 179 
 
 self from the blood-guilbiness of Negro slavery ; but 
 we are not clear of its consequences to-day. It seems 
 but a little wliile since the savage outbreak of the 
 negroes in Jamaica, and the deplprable excesses of 
 our own officers, demonstrated that the melancholy 
 legacy of slavery is not yet paid up in full. Do we, 
 then, think that our noble effort to atone for the 
 wrong was in vain ? 
 
 For answer, look at the United States. Contem- 
 plate the fearful penalty they had to pay for obsti- 
 nate adherence to the wicked system. Agonies of a 
 gigantic civil war, the blood of her best and bravest 
 poured out like water, treasure that would have 
 purchased the liberty of every slave in the Union 
 squandered in devastating its provinces and slaugh- 
 tering its citizens ; and after all was over, dis- 
 organization and distress, internal anarchy in the 
 conquered states, and smouldering embers of fierce 
 hatred which even now send up their flashes of 
 wrath and bloodshed. Truly to do right, however 
 late, at whatever cost, is always safest, wisest, best. 
 Let us face our difficulty manfully ; let us shake off 
 the palsying influence of despair, and endeavour to 
 see what is the right course to take, prepared to 
 endure whatever sacrifice may be required of us, 
 assured that to do right is always and in every 
 sense the only right thing to do. 
 
 It seems to be accepted as an axiom by our 
 Government that India must bear her own burdens, 
 must pay for all the expenses of her own administra- 
 tion. The wisdom and justice of this axiom cannot 
 
 N 2 
 
180 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 be disputed. During the recent famine in Bengal 
 some voices pleaded for a grant of British money 
 as a befitting exhibition of Christian philanthropy 
 towards our perishing fellow-subjects. Our legis- 
 lature, supported by a large share, if not the una- 
 nimous concurrence, of public opinion, was deaf 
 to this plea, as unnecessary, and not in the true 
 interests of India. How much more unreasonable 
 it would be to propose that any of the ordinary 
 / burdens of the Indian Government should be 
 defrayed by the British tax-payer. We govern 
 India for the good of India, and whatever were the 
 faults of our fathers in the acquisition of that 
 country, whatever the blemishes and imperfections j (j 
 of our administration now, there is no doubt that 
 not only do we desire that British rule should be a 
 benefit to India, but that it actually is so, and that 
 to an extent not easily calculable. As an ordinary I rj^ 
 rule, therefore, every principle of righteousness and 
 fair-dealing demands that India should support the 
 expenses of her own Government, and that they 
 should not fall upon the already heavily-burdened 
 inhabitants of the British Isles. 
 
 Is this tantamount to saying that the opium 
 revenue must on no account be disturbed, at the 
 peril of Indian national bankruptcy ? At first 
 sight it would seem so, but a closer scrutiny gives 
 us a gleam of hope. Since the failure of the Indian 
 income-tax, no new tax remains to be proposed in 
 India. ^ But if the loss of the opium revenue cannot 
 * Since the above was written, the Spectator has suggested that 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 a 
 
PROPOSITIONS FOR AN AMENDED OPIUM POLICY. 181 
 
 be replaced bj additional taxes, there is no such 
 absolute impossibility of diminution of expenditure. 
 The English mind is getting familiar with the sus- 
 picion that our Indian Government, though very 
 good for the country, is expensive ; too expensive 
 for its resources. This is not the place to enter 
 upon a minute inquiry into Indian expenditure ; but 
 if the opium revenue is to be touched, it will neces- 
 sitate a thorough, searching scrutiny of every item 
 of the accounts, which of itself would be a great 
 boon to India, and perhaps in the long-run more 
 than indemnify her for the loss of opium profits. 
 There is an old saying which says, ''Necessity is 
 the mother of invention." While these annual 
 millions of opium revenue continue on the books, 
 reduction of expenditure may appear impossible; 
 but let the opium revenue be boldly struck out 
 of the account, and we may indulge a sanguine 
 expectation that retrenchment may go a long way 
 towards meeting the deficiency. Besides retrench- 
 ment, it is possible that a Committee of the House 
 of Commons instructed to discover ways and means 
 to deal with Indian finance minus the opium revenue, 
 might light upon certain payments now saddled 
 upon India, which properly ought to come out of 
 our Exchequer. India ought to bear her own 
 burdens ; but are we sure that she is not now 
 bearing part of ours ? An extract from a speech by 
 
 if the opium reveniia had to be abanJoneJ, a tax upon tobacco 
 might supply the deficiency, though at the liik of great uiipopu- 
 luiity. 
 
182 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 Mr. Fawcetfc, at the Mansion House, on 14th April, 
 1874, will explain what we mean. Mr. Fawxett 
 was speaking about the proposal to assist India to 
 bear the heavy burdens of this present famine by 
 assistance from the English Government and objecting 
 to a grant of our public money, or a guarantee ; he 
 remarked, "But there is a pecuniary assistance which 
 at the present time — and not only at the present 
 time, but in all succeeding years — the English 
 Government can render to the Indian people. If 
 Lord Salisbury, one of the most influential members 
 of a powerful Government, will insist that the pecu- 
 niary relations between England and India should 
 be revised, if he will utilize the interest which is 
 now felt in India, by insisting that India should 
 bear no charge improperly — that no burden should 
 be cast upon her improperly by the British Govern- 
 ment — then, without any of the disadvantages of a 
 grant of public money or the guarantee of a loan, he 
 will render a signal and permanent service to India ; 
 he will alleviate the pressure on her finances, he will 
 provide her with funds which will prevent the recur- 
 rence of these unfortunate famines. He will do 
 something more ; he will knit the two countries 
 more closely together, because he will make the 
 Indian people feel that our government over them is 
 henceforward to be placed upon a more just and 
 equitable basis. The present would scarcely be the 
 occasion to enter into any detailed description of 
 charges which are improperly thrown upon India by 
 the English Government. J^o fact, however, w^as 
 
PROPOSITIONS FOR AN AMENDED OPIUM POLICY. 183 
 
 more clearly brought out in the evidence given 
 before the Indian Finance Committee, which sat for 
 three years. I am now going to quote to you the 
 opinions — two very remarkable opinions. I could 
 multiply them indefinitely. The language is strong, 
 but it is not my language ; it is the language of men 
 speaking with official experience. One who held one 
 of the highest official positions in India has declared 
 that Indian finance is constantly being sacrificed to 
 the wishes of the Horse Guards and the exig^encies of 
 English estimates. Another official, with thirty-five 
 years' experience of Indian office, has declared that he 
 never knew a single instance where the pecuniary 
 interests of England and India came into contact, 
 in which India had the slightest chance of obtainingj 
 fair play. Let this now be done ; let the GovernA 
 ment and the House of Commons carefully go 
 through all the financial relations between England 
 and India ; let th^ English Government understand 
 that it is the wish of the English people, that 
 because India is weak, unrepresented, and power- 
 less, she should not bear a single charge which we 
 would not venture to cast upon our colonies, 
 and then I am as confident as I can be of anything 
 that India would derive a pecuniary assistance, 
 which would be of the utmost importance to her in 
 this time of severe financial pressure." ^ 
 
 " Compare with these statemeuts of Mr. Fawcett, the Report of 
 the East India Finance Committee, 28th July, 1874. This 
 Report deals with the military expenditure alone, and with respect 
 to this states, " Your Committee have received an impression that 
 
184 BRITISH OPIUM POiJCr. 
 
 The report of this meeting states that loud 
 applause frequently interrupted Mr. Fawcett's 
 remarks, and that at the close of his speech loud 
 and continued applause attested that he had touched 
 the right chord, in appealing to every Englishman's 
 desire to do justice to India. May we take that 
 influential gathering at the Mansion House, in the 
 heart of the City of London, to represent the true 
 feeling of Britain on this matter ? Mark well what 
 Mr. Fawcett meant. He meant that now at this 
 time we are doing injustice to India, in plain terms 
 robbing India, by imposing upon her charges which 
 ought fairly to be borne by England. He meant 
 that henceforth certain charges, not a small sum, a 
 sum great enough to be of the utmost importance 
 to a country whose revenue is fifty millions, should 
 be transferred from the Indian account to our own 
 account. Is England prepared to do right in this 
 matter at the expense of her own pocket ? If so, 
 then there is hope that even so serious a difficulty 
 as the loss of the opium revenue may be encountered 
 and overcome. 
 
 For if once our country's sense of justice is fairly 
 awakened, determined to do right by India, we may 
 be sure that it will not stop at a bare readjustment 
 of burdens. If we once for all adopted a firm reso- 
 tion to get rid of the opium scandal at any cost, and to 
 plant our Indian Empire on the secure basis of justice 
 
 charges have, in some instances, been imposed upon India, which 
 ought to have been borne by England." The report indicates 
 that our financial relations with India require re-examination. 
 
PROPOSITIONS FOR AN AMENDED OPIUM POLICY. 185 
 
 to all, we should then remember that India is encum- 
 bered with this huge opium difficulty through the 
 fault of another, and not through her own. Granted 
 that it is a just and sound principle that India should 
 pay her own Government expenses, this opium re- 
 venue occupies an exceptional position. British 
 policy made it what it is, and brought India to be 
 dependent upon it. If the conscience of Britain cannot 
 abide the opium revenue any longer, and demands 
 its abrogation, the'n it seems only just and reasonable 
 that Britain should come to the help of India if any 
 temporary embarrassment should befall her, in con- 
 sequence of interference with this source of income. 
 After all, it must be remembered that however much 
 to the advantage of India our Government of that 
 country may be, we were not invited to assume that 
 Government. "We did not consult the will of India, 
 but possessed ourselves of the sovereignty by right 
 of conquest. We are bound therefore to govern the \ 
 country within its means. If we cannot rule India 
 without availing ourselves of a revenue condemned | 
 by the first principles of morality, or except by the i 
 imposition of burdens which would be more injurious \ 
 to the people than anything they might have to 
 suffer under native rule or misrule, then we had 
 better retire from India altogether. There is, 
 however, no reason to apprehend that we shall find 
 ourselves pushed to that humiliating extremity. 
 Economy and readjustment will meet all the demands 
 of the case. India can afford to pay for all the 
 Government she really needs, and we must learn to 
 
186 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 restrict the macliinery and operations of Government 
 within the limits that she can afford to pay for. 
 But it is quite probable that the loss of the opium 
 millions might bring on a temporary state of insol- 
 vency, when the help of her rich and powerful 
 sovereign might be needed for awhile to sustain 
 her credit, and bear her safely through the crisis. 
 This we must be prepared to give. Until this is 
 laid down as settled, it is waste of time to discuss 
 any plans for amending our opium policy. But 
 if it be granted that we are prepared to give up the 
 revenue, so far as necessary, and to undertake the 
 consequences, we may go on to consider the plans 
 which have been proposed to relieve us from our 
 dependence upon opium. 
 
 The first plan, and the simplest, is the short and 
 sharp method of entirely interdicting all cult i vation 
 of the poppy withiaJBriti gh Indi a, and stopping all 
 exportation from the native states by the refusal of 
 a passage for the drug through our territory to the 
 coast. Dr. Lockhart says, " The far better plan 
 would be for the Government directly to prohibit 
 the growth of opium in all its territory, except for 
 direct medical use, and also not to allow it even to 
 pass through its territory from the independent 
 states. Whether this could be carried out as a 
 political measure cannot be discussed here." Several 
 years later, in the pages of the Nonconformist, the 
 E-ev. Griffith John, of Hankow, reiterated the same 
 demand, '' But what is wanted is absolute prohibition. 
 
rROPOSITIONS FOR AN AMENDED OPIUM TOLICY. 187 
 
 England should not allow this poisonous plant to be 
 grown in or pass through any part of her territories, 
 save for medicinal purposes. Whether this can be 
 done consistently with our constitutional laws I 
 must leave others to discuss. I only maintain that 
 the laws of justice, honour, and fairness demand that 
 England should wash her hands clean of this foul 
 trade as soon as possible. She owes this to herself, 
 and she owes this to China." 
 
 This missionary demand for total prohibition is 
 natural enough, because it is the Chinese demand. 
 We have heard Prince Kung and Wen Seang urge 
 it upon Sir Rutherford Alcock, and, through the 
 ambassador, upon the British Government and the 
 British public. The Chinese demand it because 
 they are used to treat such matters in this way. 
 Whenever anything appears to be injurious to the 
 health, welfare, or morals of the people, the Chinese 
 Government at once attacks it by direct prohibition. 
 So thoroughly accustomed are they to this mode of 
 thought and action that the Chinese Government 
 and people cannot easily conceive that any other 
 Government could see any objections, except selfish 
 ones, to this course. But it is noticeable that Dr. 
 Lockhart and Mr. John urge adoption of their root- 
 and-branch remedy under an expressed doubt as to its 
 practicability : though they do not indicate wherein 
 the impracticability may be supposed to lie. ISTow 
 to suggest a remedy which is either impossible, or 
 contrary to our constitutional laws, is equivalent to 
 suggesting no remedy at all. But let us consider it 
 
188 BEmsa OPICTM POLtCY. 
 
 for ourselves, and see if we can detect the practical 
 difficulty. 
 
 One may dispose at once of the counter argument 
 that to prohibit the poppy in India would be utterly 
 useless, because if we do not supply the Chinese 
 with opium, others will. They will get it from 
 Turkey, from Persia, they will grow it themselves. 
 They must and will have opium, and therefore we 
 may as well have the profit of supplying them. To 
 this we reply in a word, that we are not now plan- 
 ning to save China, but to save England ; we are 
 not consulting how the Chinese may be cured of an 
 enslaving vice ; but how we may extricate our- 
 selves from an unjust and dishonourable policy. If 
 the missionaries have shown us the right course to 
 take, let us take it, in God's name, even though 
 never a single Chinese should smoke a single ounce 
 of opium the less. But, besides this, the argument 
 is unsoimd. It is true that if the Indian supply 
 were abolished next year, it would not annihilate 
 the opium-snioking]of China. But it would certainly 
 deal the vice a grievous blow. Nearly the whole 
 foreign supply is from India. If this were suddenly 
 cut off, the remaining supply from outside would be 
 insignificant, and years must elapse before it could 
 swell to the dimensions of our Indian export. The 
 effect on China would bo electrical. The native 
 opium would remain ; and that would meet the 
 difficulty urged by Mr. Cooper and others, that, if 
 the Chinese were suddenly deprived of opium, mul- 
 titudes of them would die. No doubt an utter lack 
 
PEOPOSITIONS FOR AN AMENDED OPIUM POLICW 180 
 
 of opium would kill off a portion of the confirmed 
 smokers. Far be any thought of cruelty from us, 
 but we cannot but think that if the nation could be 
 delivered finally, once for all, from the vice of 
 opium-smoking, through the somewhat earlier death 
 of a proportion of the more besotted smokers who 
 are killing themselves already, the price paid for 
 emancipation would not be too high. But there 
 would not be a total lack. The native opium is 
 there, and the Turkish opium would be siill in the 
 market. The price would be enhanced, of course, 
 and the very poor smokers would die, because they 
 could not afford to buy it. They do die now, how- 
 ever, and this is a very serious reason for objecting 
 to the opium trade altogether. It is strange to 
 notice how the defenders of the monopoly contend 
 in the same breath, that it would be cruelty to the 
 Chinese to deprive them of our Indian opium, and 
 that if we give up the trade, others will soon fill 
 up the gap. If, however, the Indian Government 
 were to abandon the trade, the Chinese proposition 
 made to Sir R. Alcock, that both countries might 
 simultaneously limit the cultivation, and abolish 
 it gradually, deserves serious consideration. De- 
 termined supporters of the monopoly will ridicule 
 the notion of the Chinese being actuated by good 
 faith, or, if so, having the slightest power to 
 carry their part of the compact into execution. 
 But those who look at the case impartially will see 
 no reason to doubt the sincerity of the Chinese 
 Government, and though their confidence in the 
 
190 BRITISH OnUM rOLICY. 
 
 administrative capacity of that Government may not 
 be without misgivings, it will at least be sufficient 
 to make them willing to give it a fair trial. The 
 objection, therefore, that the utter extirpation of 
 the poppy in India would not extinguish opium^ 
 smoking in China, goes for nothing. It would do 
 all that we could do towards attaining that desired 
 result ; it would certainly have an immense effect, 
 and probably would lead to a very great per- 
 manent diminution of the vice, if not to its actual 
 extinction . 
 
 Another objection, that to prohibit the poppy 
 cultivation would be unjust and oppressive to our 
 own subjects, and to those of the native princes 
 of India, may also be easily disposed of. As to our 
 own province of Bengal, the monopoly has been at 
 the absolute disposal of the Government from the 
 beginning of the century. Not a single private 
 individual has been allowed to cultivate an acre of 
 poppy at his own will and pleasure, nor have the 
 ryots enjoyed the profits where they did cultivate it. 
 The Government has bought the opium at its own 
 fixed price, calculated so as to allow them a fair 
 return for their labour, sufficient to make the toil 
 popular generally, though not, it would seem, always. 
 But the Government has always reserved the profits 
 of the monopoly for itself, and injustice would be done 
 to no individual by its relinquishing and prohibiting 
 the trade altogether. The case of Malwa opium is 
 more difficult. There the cultivation has been in 
 private hands, and the native princes have obtained 
 
PROPOSITIONS FOR AN AMENDED OPIUM POLICY. 101 
 
 certain advantages from it. But our Government 
 lias always had and exercised the riglit to impose 
 what duty it pleased on the opium passing through 
 its territory to the sea, and if a prohibitory duty 
 were imposed, no one could question the legal right. 
 It might seem hard to the native that he could no 
 longer enrich himself at the expense of the Chinese ; 
 but he would soon see that it would be unreasonable 
 to expect the British Governmem to allow him to 
 continue the trade after it had been stopped in 
 Bengal. And, as in Calcutta, so in the west, our 
 Government has all along taken the lion's share of 
 the profit by the enormous duty, and would itself be 
 the chief loser. A short notice given would satisfy 
 all vested interests, and, after a little while, no one 
 in India would be the worse. What, then, hinders 
 the adoption of this simple and effectual way of 
 ridding ourselves once for all of the opium difficulty? 
 What is it that made the missionaries doubtful about 
 their project ? Simply, we believe, the practical 
 impossibility of getting the mass of the English 
 nation to see that this is the right course to pursue. 
 We say the practical impossibility of getting 
 Englishmen to see that it is their duty. We do not 
 say that it is not the duty of our Government, but 
 that it is hopeless to convince our people of it. It 
 may seem strange that we hesitate to give a decided 
 negative to the question whether it is our duty; 
 that we regard it as quite possible that it may be 
 the right thing, and yet despair of getting our 
 countrymen to see it. Are Englishmen, then, so 
 
192 BEITISn OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 obtuse, or so biassed by self-interest, tliat the right 
 has no chance of gaining the day among them ? An 
 immense amount of obtuseness of perception, and of 
 reluctance to sacrifice personal interest, would 
 undoubtedly have to be encountered by advocates of 
 extirpation; but it is not that which daunts us. 
 The right and the true have triumphed in England 
 over all such antagonism often and often before, nor 
 should we fear to attempt the struggle again. But 
 the difficulty here inheres in the nature of the case. 
 Without trying to define what is the limit of Govern- 
 ment action, all will agree that it will be consider- 
 ably modified by the wishes and expectations of the 
 governed. A law which would be arbitrary and 
 unjust if enforced upon a reluctant people, may bo 
 righteous and good, if the sentiments of the governed 
 approve or even demand it. In England, for the 
 Government to say, you shall not make malt, you 
 shall not distil spirits, would be regarded by the 
 majority of the people as an oppressive interference 
 with the liberty of the citizen. Englishmen, there- 
 fore, naturally suppose that a similar legislation 
 about opium in India would be oppressive to the 
 people there. But would it ? We think not. In 
 India, as in China, the people believe in arbitrary 
 government ; they expect their rulers to support 
 morality by legal enactments ; they not only would 
 not murmur at restrictions upon their freedom of 
 action which Englishmen would not bear, but they 
 positively regard it as the duty, as the raison-d'' etre 
 of Government to enforce such restrictions. With 
 
PROPOSITIONS FOR AN AMENDED OPIUM POLICY. 193 
 
 regard to CHna, we have no doubt that it is the 
 clear duty of the Emperor to prohibit the cultivation 
 of the poppy, not only because opium is a terrible 
 blight to the physical and moral welfare of his 
 subjects, but because the moral sense of the people 
 demands this prohibition. The Chinese believe 
 in arbitrary government and paternal legislation. 
 " The Emperor," they think, " is placed over us by 
 Heaven, is Heaven's visible vicegerent, to carry 
 out Heaven's laws*. It is his duty, his province, to 
 prevent our injuring ourselves with opium, just as 
 in every family the father ought to prevent his 
 children from injuring themselves with it. As the 
 father is clothed with authority to compel his 
 children for their good, so has the Emperor a divine 
 right and duty to compel us all in such matters." 
 In China, therefore, the edicts ordering extirpation 
 of the poppy no more offend the moral sense of 
 the people, than do the edicts intended to repress 
 brigandage. 
 
 What is the difference between India and China 
 in this respect ? We doubt if there is any. Let 
 any one read the evidence given by persons well 
 acquainted with India to the Select Committee, and 
 ho will see abundant reason to conclude that the 
 arbitrary paternal idea of Government is much more 
 natural to the Hindoo mind than our English notion 
 of representative Government, and non-interference 
 with individual liberty. A Maine Liquor Law would 
 probably be highly popular in India, and if we could 
 see the Hindoo or the Mussulman's mental interior, 
 
 
 
194 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 we should most likely discover tliat he believes the 
 British Government does not pass such a law, not 
 from any respect for individual liberty, but because 
 the Sahib himself likes his brandy-pawnee too well ; 
 and because the excise is profitable to the treasury. 
 Extirpation of opium might be very unpopular, for 
 a brief time, among a very small minority who now 
 make profit out of it, but probably would receive the 
 emphatic approval of the millions. Now this con- 
 currence of the people is a most essential element 
 in considering the duty of a Government : if our 
 Government could confer a great moral benefit 
 upon the people committed to their charge, and 
 check or annihilate a vicious practice, and if the 
 people themselves would give their moral support to 
 legislation towards such ends, it seems difficult to 
 assign reasons why it is not the duty of Government 
 to do so. 
 
 But the moment we pass out of the oriental 
 atmosphere of despotism into the free air of English 
 individual liberty and responsibility, one perceives 
 the practical impossibility of convincing John Bull 
 of this. It is not now a Board of Directors meeting 
 in Leadenhall Street which we have to convince, nor 
 is it her Majesty's ministers for the time being, nor 
 even the two Houses of Parliament. If the opium 
 monopoly were a mere matter of detail in Indian 
 administration, if it involved only a few hundreds of 
 thousands which India would hardly miss out of her 
 fifty millions, all we should have to do would be to 
 convince those leading Indian officials whose counsel 
 
PROPOSITIONS FOE AN AMENDED OPIUM POLICY. 195 
 
 in sucli matters tlie British Government would be 
 sure to respect and adopt. But tlie question is far 
 too important to be settled by any cabinet council, 
 or even by a momentary expression of opinion in the 
 House of Commons. No Government could venture 
 to touch it, unless assured that popular opinion in 
 England demanded the change, and would support 
 the Government in tlie searching investigations, the 
 great financial reforms, and the possible transfer of 
 a portion of the In'dian burdens to English shoulders 
 which would be required to carry out a legislative 
 prohibition of the poppy. 'We believe that the 
 heart of England is sound, and that the nation 
 would support a just and right policy towards India 
 and China, even at the cost of personal sacrifice. 
 But then the nation will demand to have it clearly, 
 overwhelmingly, proved that this is the right course 
 to take, before it will consent to reconstruct the 
 whole system of Indian finance, and take upon 
 itself pecuniary burdens from which it is now free. 
 Who is there that entertains the faintest hope of 
 convincing the great majority of the English people 
 that we ought absolutely to prohibit poppy-cultiva- 
 tion in India ? We cannot prove that opium is a 
 greater curse abroad than alcohol is at home. 
 Englishmen pride themselves upon logical con- 
 sistency, and they think that if they allow them- 
 selves the liberty of dealing in, and intoxicating 
 themselves by ardent spirits, then logical consistency 
 requires them to allow Asiatics full licence to 
 narcotize themselves with opium if they please. 
 
 2 
 
]96 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 Then there is the real difficulty of defining what arc 
 the proper limits of Government interference in such 
 matters. The majority of Englishmen do not believe 
 in the attempt to create virtue by Act of Parliament. 
 If we say that as regards India, we, the British 
 nation, exercise despotic sovereignty, occupying to 
 them a position analogous to that which the 
 Emperor of China holds towards his subjects, we 
 shall be met with the reply, that as we do not 
 believe in despotic Government in morals and 
 religion, it is not reasonable to expect us to apply it 
 to India, that it is rather our desire to train tho 
 Indian people up to our standard of self-govern- 
 ment, than to descend to their lower political level : 
 moreover, objectors will point to the failure of the 
 paternal despotism in China in its eifort to put 
 down this very vice. In fine, the proposal to 
 extirpate the poppy for the preservation of morality 
 in and outside of our own territory, is but a par- 
 ticular instance of a general principle which is 
 strenuously advocated by a number of excellent 
 men, but at present has found comparatively small 
 favour with the nation at large. When we are 
 generally agreed that it is within the province and 
 duty of Government to guard the people from 
 temptation by the absolute removal of exciting 
 causes, then we may expect that opium will be 
 included among the articles prohibited as noxious to 
 public virtue. At present, however, we have not 
 got so far as to concur in the advisability of passing 
 the Permissive Bill, and no one ventures so much as 
 
PKOPOSITIOXS FOR AN AMENDED OPIUM POLICY. 197 
 
 to suggest a Maine Liquor Law for Great Britain. 
 Until some sucli measure as at least the milder of 
 these two has attained the support of a majority of 
 the British nation, it would be hopeless to expect 
 the nation to legislate for the extirpation of the 
 poppy ill India. Such a proposition, therefore, 
 can only be regarded as a protest against an evil, 
 not as a step towards practical remedy. 
 
 The proposition- we must next consider comes to 
 us with the recommendation of the great name of 
 Lord Lawrence, than which higher authority on 
 Indian affairs could hardly be adduced. Not having 
 succeeded in procuring his original letter, we quote 
 Dr. Lockhart. " Sir John Lawrence has given 
 advice which, if adopted, would at least relieve the 
 Government from the odium of being an opium 
 merchant. Let it withhold the advances to the 
 cultivation, break up its opium godowns, have no 
 part in the monopoly; and instead of the profit 
 arising from trading in the drug, charge it with a 
 h(3avy export duty as it passes through Calcutta, 
 doing in Bengal what is done in Bombay in this 
 particular. The Government would thus be freed 
 from the anomalous position which it now occupies 
 before the world, and the entire responsibility rest 
 on the opium merchants, and others who engage in 
 the opium traflGic.'* 
 
 Sir William Muir, in a Minute ^ dated 22nd Feb- 
 ruary, 1868, advocates an inquiry into the desirability 
 » Calcutta Blue Book, 1870, p. 1. 
 
198 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 of giving up the monopoly for the Malwa ppss- 
 sjstem, on these grounds : — 
 
 " Prima facie the change proposed would remove 
 a blemish from the Administration without imperil- 
 ling the finances. That cannot be an edifying 
 position for the Government to occupy, in which it 
 has to determine year by year the quantity of opium 
 which it will bring to sale, in which there is a 
 constant inducement for it to trim the market, and 
 in which its haste to secure wider harvests and 
 larger returns has repeatedly recoiled upon the 
 trade, stimulated baneful speculation and gambling 
 in Central and Western India, and ended in much 
 misery. I do not speak of the undignified aspect of 
 the British Government growing, manufacturing, 
 and selling the drug — performing, in fact, all the 
 functions of producer and speculator. I will merely 
 ask what the impression is upon the mind when we 
 see Holkar performing the functions of opium trader, 
 which are now discharged by the Government of 
 Bengal. 
 
 " The change would relieve the British Govern- 
 ment from the odious imputation of pandering to 
 the vice of China by over-stimulating production, 
 over-stocking the market, and flooding China with 
 the drug, in order to raise a wider and more secure 
 revenue to itself — an imputation, of which at least 
 on one occasion, I fear that we are not wholly guilt- 
 less. A few years ago, when the Government of 
 Bengal was straining every nerve to extend- the 
 cultivation of the poppy, I was witness to the 
 
PROPOSITIONS FOR AN AMENDED OPIUM POLICY. 199 
 
 discontent of the agricultural population in certain 
 districts west of the Jumma, from which the crop 
 was for the first time being raised. Where the 
 system of advances has long been in vogue, and the 
 mode of preparing the drug well understood, no 
 doubt the poppy is a popular crop ; though even 
 there the system of Government monopoly gives to 
 Government ofiicers a power of interference over 
 those who have once taken their advances, which 
 must be liable to* abuse. But the case to which I 
 allude was that of new districts where the poppy 
 had not hitherto been grown, and into which the 
 Bengal Board were endeavouring to extend the 
 cultivation by the bait of large advances among an 
 unwilling peasantry, and at the risk of inoculating 
 them with a taste for a deleterious drug, and all 
 this with the sole view of securing a wider area of 
 poppy cultivation, and thus a firmer grasp of the 
 China market. "Witnessing this when on circuit in 
 1864, the impropriety of the position was to my 
 mind so painful that, as the Governor-General may 
 perhaps recollect, I ventured at the time to address 
 his Excellency directly on the subject. 
 
 '* By retiring from the monopoly the Government 
 of India will avoid these and all other unseemly 
 imputations. China wants opium : our traders and 
 merchants are ready to supply it. The licence duty 
 will support the revenue, and thus the action of 
 Government will be that of check, and no longer of 
 stimulus. The fluctuations in the demands of China 
 will be met, in the ordinary course of trade, by 
 
200 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 corresponding variations in the supply from India. 
 The area of cultivation will be adjusted by the direct 
 action of the Chinese themselves, upon speculators 
 and producers, and will no longer depend upon the 
 arbitrary will of the Government." 
 
 Sir William Muir's recommendation is that the 
 Government should retire gradually from its opium 
 business, giving facilities to private capitalists to 
 purchase the buildings and stock, so that no sudden 
 shock would affect the trade. He calculates that a 
 tax of Es. 700 per chest, both on Bengal and 
 Bombay opium, would bring in a revenue of six 
 millions, half a million more than the average of the 
 five years preceding his Minute. The Government 
 would not throw the trade entirely open, but still 
 retain a restrictive power by permitting manufacture 
 only under a system of licences, and he also suggests 
 a licence fee of three or five rupees per acre for 
 cultivation. 
 
 Nothing could more palpably exhibit the impossi- 
 bility of any proposition whatever receiving a fair 
 and impartial consideration from bigoted supporters 
 of the monopoly, than the various replies to this 
 temperate and well-considered proposal which are 
 on record in the Calcutta Blue-books. It is curious 
 that while " the Governor of Bombay in council can 
 only see that the reasons advanced for the change 
 appear to be of the greatest weight :" ^ and Mr. L. 
 Reid, Commissioner of Customs in Bombay, writes, 
 " the disadvantages of the Government monopoly 
 * Calcutta Blue Book, 1870, p. 13. 
 
PROPOSITIONS FOE AN AMENDED OPIUM POLICY. 201 
 
 are so clearly pointed out that its further retention 
 will surelj find no advocacy, and its death-knell 
 may well be sounded :'* ^ the officials on the Bengal 
 side can see nothing whatever but misapprehension 
 and absurdity in all the objections brought against 
 the monopoly. Arguments have been brought for- 
 ward by Bengal civilians in defence of the monopoly 
 which, to ordinary minds, would tell powerfully 
 against it. One is that if the Government cease 
 to make advances, " a very large portion of the 
 hereditary cultivators will abandon the cultivation 
 of the poppy plant, and take to other remunerative 
 crops ; and after the cultivation of the poppy has 
 been once abandoned, it will be most difficult to re- 
 establish it." ^ And the very people who advance 
 this argument, in the very same paper, are astonished 
 at Sir W. Muir and others for proposing to abolish 
 the monopoly, because then the poppy "will be grown 
 in small patches for local consumption in almost 
 every village and hamlet in Bengal," and the whole 
 population of India will be exposed to the evil of an 
 unrestricted supply of the drug. But when we find 
 persons gravely arguing that '' the drug, which in 
 its pure state is not pernicious, if not used to excess, 
 will be rendered so by adulteration with all sorts of 
 deleterious ingredients," we can only marvel at the 
 pitch of fanatic admiration of their profitable system 
 to which these gentlemen have arrived. It i3 
 quite intelligible that opium merchants like Messrs. 
 
 ' Ibid., same page. 
 ' Report East ludia Finance, 1871, Appendix, p. o2o. 
 
202 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 Jardine, Matheson, and Co., should regard their be- 
 loved drug as heaven's chief blessing to China; but 
 it is almost past belief that any men not biassed by 
 direct pecuniary considerations should put forth such 
 arguments as these. 
 
 Most surprising of all is the apparent inability to 
 see the immorality of the monopoly. Its advocates 
 are too blind to be called wilfully blind ; they must 
 have become actually blind. Sir R. Temple, *' does 
 not see the moral objections to the monopoly, and, 
 if there be such, the change proposed would not set 
 them right." Mr. H. S. Maine expresses himself 
 more forcibly still : '' the true moral wrong, if wrong 
 there be, consists in selling opium to the Chinese, 
 and the only way of abating it would be absolutely 
 to prohibit the cultivation of the poppy in British 
 India, and to prevent the exportation of opium from 
 the Native States. The British Government is suffi- 
 ciently despotic to effect this ; and, for moral pur- 
 poses, there is no distinction heticeen ivliat a despotic 
 Government does itself, and what it permits its subjects 
 to doJ^ ^ It really is a fine psychological study, to 
 hear such men produce such arguments, and 
 evidently in perfect good faith. It proves what we 
 said before, that while the revenue is allowed to 
 remain, it is vain to expect clear moral vision about 
 opium. A mighty shower of gold is continually 
 falling around these otherwise able and keen-sighted 
 men, and it blinds them as completely as ever snow- 
 storm blinded bewildered traveller. Nothing wil 
 ^ Calcutta Blue Book, 1870, p. 9. 
 
TROPOSITIONS FOR AN AMENDED OPIUM POLICY. 203 
 
 enlighten them ; but we may try the effect of an 
 illustration or two. The British Government is 
 sufficiently despotic in India to close a considerable 
 number, if not all the idol temples : therefore its 
 not doing so is exactly equivalent to its building 
 and endowing those temples. Here in England, 
 our Government is sufficiently despotic to put down 
 horse-races, therefore, until Parliament interferes 
 with the turf, our Government is in fact equally 
 responsible as if* it supported the races by grants of 
 public money and conducted them by Government 
 salaried jockeys. But why accumulate illustrations ? 
 The fallacy of these arguments is obvious. There is 
 a vast deal of difference between what a Government 
 does, and what it merely tolerates. AYhether it is 
 right to permit private individuals to grow opium 
 for sale to the Chinese is one question ; whether 
 our Indian Government ought itself to grow it is 
 quite another. There may be, in fact there is, 
 considerable difference of opinion about the first 
 question : there is none whatever about the second, 
 except among those suffering from gold-blindness. 
 
 "But," in effect, say Sir R. Temple and Mr. Maine, 
 " Sir William Muir promises us as good a revenue 
 under his system as we enjoy now with the monopoly. 
 It's as broad as it's long. India grows the opium ; 
 China smokes it : our Government gets the money.- 
 Where is the practical difference ?" This hits the 
 blemish of Sir W. Muir's scheme. It is permeated 
 by far too tender a concern for the revenue. Granted 
 that if such a scheme had been carried on from the 
 
204 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 first, our Indian Government would be free from the 
 shameful reproach under which it now labours ; we 
 must remember that the monopoly has been an 
 existing fact during the whole of this century, and 
 for the Government to place all the results of its 
 long years of application of capital and talent to the 
 drug-business at the disposal of private capitalists 
 is something more than mere permission of private 
 enterprise. One may confidently afiirm that if the 
 Indian Government had from the first left opium 
 alone, except as an object to be taxed as heavily as 
 it would bear, the opium revenue would never have 
 become what it is. To withdraw now in such a 
 cautious gradual manner, as to invite, even assist, 
 private capitalists to enter into all our business, and 
 secure to us an equal return, though in another form, 
 is not an honest and thorough abandonment of the 
 monopoly. It would be morally a slight improvement 
 of our position, and would demand some degree of 
 sacrifice for the sake of principle; because the 
 change could not be eff'ected without risk, and, once 
 effected, the Government's direct responsibility would 
 cease, and with it would cease its direct power to 
 raise a revenue from opium. However slowly and 
 cautiously the transfer of the trade from public to 
 private hands might be effected ; when once trans- 
 ferred, it might languish fi^r want of capital, from 
 dislike of the ryots to their new employers, from 
 other unforeseen reasons; and the Government would 
 then be unable to interfere, but would be left to the 
 risks of the market. But on the other hand, the 
 
PROPOSITIOXS I OR AN AMENDED OPIUM POLICY. 205 
 
 transfer of the trade to private speculators migJit be 
 attended with opposite results. In principle the 
 change would be admirable, but if in practice the 
 result should turn out to be an increase of the pro- 
 duction, it would be a calamity. The last state 
 would be worse than the first. We must scrutinize 
 the plan more narrowly. 
 
 Does Sir William Muir's proposition entirely satisfy 
 the demands of justice ? We think not. Are we 
 then shut up to 'Sir R. Temple's reductio ad ahsurdum 
 of total prohibition ? Again, we think not. Justice 
 and morality demand that Government should with- 
 draw altogether from encouragement to the opium 
 manufacture ; and, if it takes revenue at all, take 
 only that amount which accrues from taxation 
 honestly meant to have a restrictive force. The 
 interference of Government hitherto has been two- 
 fold, first in production, then in the sale of the 
 article produced. The Government has devoted 
 capita], tlie ser\^ce of its owm agents, and its in- 
 fluence among the people to produce opium, and it 
 has devoted its military and naval force and the 
 influence over China acquired thereby to sustain the 
 sale of opium. Both of these illegitimate inter- 
 ferences with the course of trade should bo at 
 once abandoned. What would be the result? In 
 India the withdrawal of Government capital, energy 
 and influence would, in all probability greatly 
 diminish the area of land devoted to the poppy, and 
 at once reduce the production. Having resolved 
 that our object is not to save the existing revenue, 
 
206 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 there is no reason for any gradual relinquisliment of 
 the business. When existing contracts are fulfilled, 
 the Government should at once divest itself of its 
 association with the manufacture, by summarily 
 disposing of the buildings and implements, careless 
 whether or not they be purchased by persons intend- 
 ing to use them for their former purpose. It can 
 hardly be doubted, that this withdrawal of the 
 Government from the opium trade would for a time 
 seriously lessen the producing power of the Bengal 
 poppy districts, and lead to a considerable extent 
 of the land being reclaimed from the poppy for the 
 production of other crops. This diminished pro- 
 duction in Bengal would of course raise the price 
 of Malwa opium. The Government has the power 
 of meeting this advanced price by an increase in the 
 duty, which would prevent the abandonment of the 
 monopoly being attended by an augmented pro- 
 duction in the native states. When the shock of 
 the transition had passed, the Government would 
 have nothing more to do with opium except to levy 
 the highest duty possible, compatible with the pre- 
 vention of smuggling. The Malwa opium is under 
 control already. In Bengal the taxation might take 
 the three forms, of a licence for cultivation at so 
 many rupees per beegah, a licence for manufacture, 
 which should bring the private factories under 
 Government inspection, and a pass-duty on each 
 chest, before it began its passage to the coast, or 
 was taken up for internal consumption. When all 
 these changes were fairly established, the Govern-, 
 
PEOPOSITIONS FOR AN Al^fENDED OPIUM POLICY. 207 
 
 ment would be free from its anomalous connexion 
 with tlie production and traflfic in a deleterious 
 article, not without a temporary loss of revenue, 
 possibly with a permanent diminution of it. 
 
 This would remedy one side of the Government's 
 opium error, but the other still remains, the sup- 
 port of the sale by undue influence upon the 
 Chinese Government. "We cannot pretend to make 
 amends for the past without restoring to China that 
 full autonomy in* respect to opium of which we have 
 deprived her. We must give to the Chinese Govern- 
 ment its natural right of imposing any amount of 
 import duty upon Indian opium, or of prohibiting its 
 introduction altogether. Not only must we withdraw 
 from the coercion hitherto put upon China, but 
 must take precautions in future that our subjects do 
 not infringe the Chinese laws as in times past. If 
 the introduction of opium is again made illegal, we 
 must no longer permit British ships and merchants 
 to violate Chinese laws with a high hand. 
 
 This last suggestion, reasonable as it is, will be 
 received with intense disgust by those who would 
 revive the old smuggling trade, if let alone. They 
 will visit the proposition with contempt, and accuse 
 him of Sinophobia who thinks that China ought to 
 be treated with real equity, and not cheated by the 
 mockery of a mere semblance of upright dealing, 
 who sincerely desires to act to an inferior power on 
 the principle "do as you would be done by," instead 
 of snatching at all the advantages which the mate- 
 rial and moral inferiority of China places within 
 
 fuNlVr-r 
 
208 BBITISH OPIQM TOLICY. 
 
 the reacli of a strong and unscrupulous nation. The 
 contempt which such people would express for our 
 intellect and patriotism, we can bear with equa- 
 nimity, regarding it indeed as an honour. To 
 disinterested and impartial judges it will be easy 
 to estabhsh the simple justice and indispensable 
 necessity of our proposal. Those who have 
 attentively perused the historical part of this essay, 
 cannot fail to have been struck with the strange 
 fact that English merchants and shipmasters on the 
 coast of China occupied a position from 1833 to 
 1842, which was practically independent of all law. 
 Previous to 1833 the East India Company had the 
 control of the trade, and their superintendent sta- 
 tioned at Canton had power to expel any trader 
 from the port who should infringe the regulations, 
 or so misconduct himself as to provoke a breach of 
 the peace between the nations. The Company acted 
 the part of King I^og, so far as smuggling was con- 
 cerned ; but they had the power if they liked to use 
 it. They withheld their own agents and ships from 
 engaging in the illicit traffic, and might also have 
 restrained all others who only enjoyed the privilege 
 of entrance into the trade by their permission. But 
 after the British Government succeeded to the Com- 
 pany's management of the commerce, even this 
 power of expelling unworthy traders was withdrawn 
 from the new superintendents. The Sovereign 
 under his own royal sign manual authorized his 
 representatives to give good advice in any amount 
 and of any kind he might think proper ; but carefully 
 
PKOPOSITIONS FOR AN AMENDED OPIUM POLICY. 209 
 
 abstained from clothing him with any power to 
 insure obedience to his instructions. The conse- 
 quence was that when the critical period arrived, 
 Captain Elliot occupied the undignified position of 
 a hen cackling to her brood of young ducklings who 
 will take to the water. When the power of a 
 simple police magistrate to arrest those who 
 threaten to provoke a breach of the peace, might 
 have saved England and China from a long, bloody, 
 and expensive war, disastrous to China's prosperity 
 and to England's reputation, H.M. Representative 
 found himself deserted by his own Government, and 
 compelled to solicit the Chinese officials to support 
 his orders, by their physical force. 
 
 After the Pottinger treaty, the opium smugglers 
 were practically more independent of law than before. 
 The Chinese now dared not touch them : the 
 English Government would not. If an indiscreet 
 ofl&cial thought that his country's honour required 
 that the treaty should be carried out on both sides 
 in good faith, he was removed to a distant station, 
 to " teach him not to interfere with the enterprises 
 of British subjects." Consuls and naval officers 
 quick to resent any Chinese infraction of the treaty 
 were applauded for their zeal ; but while British 
 subjects openly violated Chinese laws, they must 
 stand by with folded arms. All this of course was 
 necessary while the British Government manufac- 
 tured and sold the drug which these law-breakers 
 were introducing into China. And if we were going 
 to revive the miserable spectacle of those shameful 
 
 r 
 
210 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 years, it would be better to continue as we are ; a 
 legalized trade based upon armed force is hardly so 
 bad as an illegal trade winked at by our Govern- 
 ment, and enjoying its moral, more properly its im- 
 moral, support. An outcry would be raised against 
 the absurdity of the British Government's doing 
 custom-house duty for the Chinese. * Surely it is 
 their business to defend their own revenue, not 
 ours;' and so forth. Yet we have done internal 
 military duty for the Chinese, by lending them sub- 
 stantial aid towards putting down the Taeping 
 rebellion. We have done water-police duty for the 
 Chinese by despatching our gun-boats against 
 pirates. We have actually done custom-house 
 work for the Chinese by lending them the men for 
 an Imperial customs' service composed principally 
 of English subjects. All this we have done, and no 
 one saw any absurdity in it; but to prevent English- 
 men from continuing an open, notorious violation of 
 Chinese law would have been "absurd," while an 
 opium revenue had to he collected out of Chinese 
 pockets for India, But if only we are honestly 
 determined that that opium revenue is to be aban- 
 doned to its fate, if we are prepared to pay for the 
 loss of it, if need be, there will be no difficulty in 
 showing the essential rectitude of our coercing all 
 would-be smugglers of our own nation. 
 
 First, the obligation rests upon us in common 
 fairness, because we know the inability of the Chinese 
 Government in former times to cope with the wealth 
 and the daring of English opium-smugglers. The in- 
 
PROPOSITIONS FOR AN AMENDED OPIUM POLICY. 211 
 
 tercourse between Great Britain and China is not the 
 equal intercourse of two great nations which have at- 
 tained to the same degree of civiHzation. As between 
 England and France, or England and Germany, it is 
 fair enough to say to the other party, we will protect 
 our coasts and our customs, do you protect yours. 
 It would not be fair to China, because the weakness 
 of its Government and the venality of its officials 
 would make it mockery to leave her a helpless prey 
 to the practices of our illicit traders. The Chinese 
 Government did not invite us to China, does not 
 want us in China. We have forced our commerce 
 upon an unwilling people, and the least we can do 
 is to enforce upon our own citizens the observance 
 of the stipulations of those treaties which we 
 extorted from China on their behalf. It would be 
 more decent at once to demand an annual tribute of 
 seven millions sterling from the Chinese than to 
 force them to a commercial intercourse, and, while 
 pretending to recognize their rights, to exact the 
 annual millions through the medium of illicit trans- 
 actions connived at by our Government. 
 
 Not only common fairness would demand this re- 
 straint of our own people, but the obligation may be 
 logically deduced from the very text of our treaties.. 
 We have said there was a period of several years when 
 British subjects on the coast of China were practically 
 outside the pale of law, at least so far as opium was 
 concerned. But now we have treaty regulations by 
 which the British Government claims and exercises 
 exclusive jurisdiction over its own citizens through- 
 
 p 2 
 
212 BIlITISn OPIUM POLFCY. 
 
 out the remotest districts of the Chinese Empire. 
 These are what are popularly referred to as the 
 ex-territoriality clauses. By these all British sub- 
 jects, whether resident in the ports, or travelling in 
 the interior, are as independent of all Chinese laws 
 as if they were walking the pavement of Regent- 
 street. The one sole right allowed to the Chinese 
 Government, even to the Emperor himself, is that 
 of handing over the offender against Chinese law to 
 the nearest Consul for trial. This exemption from 
 Chinese jurisdiction entailed the necessity of clothing 
 British officials with authority over residents and 
 travellers in China, and considerable powers have 
 been given to the Consuls and the Judicial tribunal 
 at Shanghai for this purpose. The responsibility 
 for the good conduct of British subjects has there- 
 fore been openly assumed. True, Lord Elgin 
 inserted an article into the treaty,^ implying that 
 the Chinese Government would be left to take care 
 of itself so far as the revenue was concerned. But 
 this exception in favour of British smugglers, 
 necessary when the introduction of opium had not 
 yet been legalized, and our policy was to preserve 
 the opium revenue at any cost, ought surely now to 
 be treated as obsolete. If we honestly determine to 
 give up the opium revenue, there no longer exists 
 a reason for keeping in the treaty a clause so 
 utterly out of harmony with its spirit. Let the 
 clause be erased, and let Britain engage to do 
 
 " Article xlvi. Vide Correspondence relating to Lord Elgin's 
 Mission, p. 353. 
 
PROPOSITIONS FOR AN AMENDED OPIUM POLICY. 213 
 
 her utmost to control British subjects in Chinese 
 waters. 
 
 Without a distinct provision of this kind it would 
 be hypocrisy to pretend to allow China her natural 
 right to prohibit opium. The great wealth of the 
 trade, the enterprise and unscrupulousness of those 
 engaging in it, the corruption of a vast number of 
 the Chinese petty officials, the inefficiency of the 
 Chinese police, would render the renewal of smug- 
 gling on the most extensive scale probable. If 
 bribery failed, the traders could and would employ 
 armed steamers, the swiftness and armament of 
 which would set Chinese naval cruisers at defiance ; 
 unless, indeed, the employment of foreign appliances, 
 and the engagement of foreigners in their service, 
 should render the Chinese more of a match for the 
 smugglers than they used to be. 
 
 If the moral sense of the British nation does not 
 demand the absolute interdiction of the poppy in 
 India, it certainly would not support any proposal 
 to compel China to receive the drug against its will. 
 The Chinese Government, as a friendly Government 
 living in peaceful intercourse with us, is entitled to 
 expect our full, explicit assurance that henceforth 
 we will respect its natural right to legislate, ac- 
 cording to its conscience and political views, not 
 according to ours, in this matter. Our past con- 
 duct makes this necessary, although it carries with 
 it the painful necessity of self-condemnation. 
 Appeal has already been made to us, in the very 
 form we ourselves fixed. We made it our object for 
 
214 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 years to get a representative of the British crown 
 settled at Peking, in order that he might be the 
 means of communication between the Chinese 
 Government and our own. After our last war we 
 succeeded in obtaining the fulfilment of our long- 
 cherished aim. Our ambassador has lived in Peking, 
 and the Chinese Government made use of the oppor- 
 tunity of his presence, to bring this matter formally 
 before his notice. Not satisfied with personal con- 
 versation, they put their demand in writing. That 
 demand is not couched in ambiguous terms. It 
 plainly seeks the annulling of those regulations 
 which bind the Chinese to admit our opium under 
 duty. If we refuse the demand, we are actually 
 still forcing opium into China at the sword's point, 
 and perpetuating the grievous wrong of which we 
 were guilty in the Opium War. If we persist in our 
 present system, we are not only supporting our 
 Indian Empire by the proceeds of a dishonourable 
 traffic, but we are maintaining that traffic in plain 
 violation of the rights of nations. 
 
 Supposing that the Chinese Government should 
 enter upon a new crusade against opium, having the 
 hearty support, instead of the armed opposition of 
 the British Government, their struggle might have a 
 very different issue from the former one. If England 
 engaged to do what she could to repress smuggling 
 on the part of her own subjects, the other Treaty 
 powers, the United States, France, and Germany 
 would doubtless do the same. Everything leads to the 
 belief that if the Chinese Government were assured 
 
PROPOSITIONS FOB AN AMENDED OPIUM POLICY. 215 
 
 of the co-operation of the Treaty powers, it would 
 make a splendid attempt to eradicate the poppy and 
 extinguish opium- smoking from the Great Wall to the 
 Southern ocean, from the Pacific to the mountains of 
 Thibet. Having the moral support of its own people, 
 it might succeed. On the other hand, through the 
 venality of its own officials it might fail. The 
 result would not be our responsibility, and no 
 prognostication of the result can affect our duty. 
 
 Let us review the practical conclusions to which 
 we have arrived. 
 
 (1.) In any scheme for reform of our relations 
 with opium, the first requisite is a readiness to 
 relinquish, in whole or in part, as may be necessary, 
 the rp-vf^nn p HprivpH from the drug, and a deter- 
 mination to treat it henceforth on considerationo 
 independent of, even hostile to, the raising of 
 revenue from this source. At this point we part 
 company with our numerous well-wishers who 
 deplore the history of British connexion with opium, 
 who acknowledge that our present position is 
 indefensible on moral grounds, and assure us that if 
 we will only point out some other mode of raising 
 the revenue which shall not inconvenience anybody, 
 they will support us with all their might. There is 
 many a man getting his living by dishonest courses, 
 who would gladly abandon them at once, in exchange 
 for an equal income from an unexceptionable source, 
 if only he could make the exchange without risk or 
 inconvenience. But repentance is not to be had on 
 
Sl6 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 such cheap terms. Our argument against the 
 opium revenue is that as hitherto and now collected 
 and defended, it is morally wron g, and on this ground 
 we urge its relinquishment. To those who admit the 
 validity of the argument, the conclusion is imperative. 
 
 (2.) Having formed this righteous resolution, we 
 might easily jump to the conclusion that the only 
 consistent course is to suppress jt he culti vation and 
 exportation altogether. In favour of this course 
 powerful arguments may be alleged, but we can 
 not but admit a certain measure of doubtfulness 
 attending them. In the present condition of public 
 sentiment it appears extremely improbable that such 
 a course will commend itself to the judgment of the 
 nation. Another generation which has solved our 
 difficulties in connexion with alcohol, may be relieved 
 from our hesitation in respect to opium; but wc 
 cannot wait for another generation to abandon the 
 unrighteous treatment of China which our fathers 
 commenced and we are continuing. 
 
 (3.) Therefore we urge on India an instant return 
 to the principle of e mploying taxation nf ^ n, hnnn^f dp. 
 m ethod of repre ssion. In order to carry out this 
 change of policy, we urge the aba ndonment of the 
 mooapoly, not only to relieve the Government from 
 the appearance of having a direct interest in the pro- 
 motion of vice, but because in the present system the 
 Government has, in reality, a direct interest in the 
 promotion of vice, and because we have seen that 
 the moral instincts of Government have not been 
 proof against the temptation involved in this. 
 
PROPOSITIONS FOR AN AMENDED OPIUM POLICY. 217 
 
 (4.) Such a change, however, would by itself be 
 little more than formal, because the bulk of our 
 revenue comes from China. Our g reat demand is 
 ju stice for C hina. We urge that we must__cease 
 altogether fr om coercion of the Chin ese. "We must 
 leave them free to prohibit the entrance of our opium 
 altogether, or to tax it as high as they think fit, even 
 prohibitively. This alteration of behaviour towards 
 China could not be effected without acknowledg- 
 ment on our part of error in the past, and we should 
 not shrink from full and candid confession of our 
 fault. On the other hand, such acknowledgment 
 would afibrd a fair opportunity for pointing out the 
 share which the misconduct of China has had in 
 bringing about the evils of the past ; and our change 
 of policy at so great a cost would enable us to 
 urge upon China the importance of repressing the 
 growth of opium within her own borders. In this 
 way the progress of the vice of opium-smoking 
 would be at once arrested, and we have good reason 
 to hope that the Chinese Government could and 
 would reduce it to a minimum. At all events, we 
 should have done all that as a political power we 
 can do to retrace our steps, and make amends for 
 the past. 
 
 (5.) As such an alt ered poKc y could not be 
 carried out without great diminuti on, or total loss, 
 of the opiu m^ reve nue, and as the inhabitants of 
 India arc not responsible for the growth of 
 tliis revenue, it appears that justice requires 
 the English nation to guard the interests of the 
 
218 BRITISH OPIUM POLICY. 
 
 Indian Empire in effecting this reform. As a rule, 
 India is bound to pay Iter own charges ; but in this 
 case, the fault lying at our door, we are under obli- 
 gation to take care that our repentance does no 
 injury_ta-the innocent. 
 
 Such are the conclusions we arrive at. If we 
 lack the courage of our convictions ; what then ? 
 Possibly the opium revenue may slip away from us, 
 and fail us when we are in a worse position than we 
 are now. Possibly we may be forced again to fight 
 for it, and rebaptize our drug profits in Chinese 
 blood. In one way or another the inevitable Ne- 
 mesis will come. But it is our desire to accomplish 
 the aim of this essay by begetting convictions of 
 duty, not by appealing to motives of expediency. 
 If the British public resists the appeal to its sense 
 of right, it will hardly be moved by attempts to 
 frighten it. 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 TESTIMONIES AS TO THE EFFECTS OF OPIUM- 
 EATING AND OPIUM-SMOKING. 
 
 William Lockhart, F.R.C.S., F.E.G.S., of the London 
 Missionary Society. In the " Medical Missionary in China," 
 chap, xiv: — 
 
 " When a smoker first commences the use of opium it is a 
 pleasant and refreshing stimulant, an artificial vigour and 
 tone are given to the system, followed by a corresponding 
 relaxation and listlessness ; after which an efibrt is made to 
 remove the latter by a return to the pipe. This stage in the 
 smoker's progress may be prolonged for some years without 
 the health being interfered with; but he soon becomes a 
 victim to the habit thus formed, which cannot easily be 
 shaken ofi"; the strength, however, is not impaired, and 
 attention can be paid to business as usual ; indeed, the 
 stimulus of the drug enables him to enter with vivacity upon 
 any pursuit in which he may be engaged. At this time a 
 little decision would enable him to throw off the habit, but 
 this is seldom called for, and the smoker continues to use 
 his pipe, thus accustoming himself more and more to depen- 
 dence on his much-loved indulgence. By and by retribution 
 comes ; he cannot live comfortably without the stimulant ; 
 all the pleasure has gone, but he must obtain relief from the 
 pain of body and dissipation of mind which follow the absence 
 of the drug at any cost, the quantity of the drug called for 
 being from time to time greater, and its use more frequent. 
 
 "Among the symptoms which present themselves are 
 
220 APPENDIX. 
 
 griping pains in the bowels, pain in the limbs, loss of appe- 
 tite, so that the smoker can only eat dainty food ; disturbed 
 sleep and general emaciation. The outward appearances are 
 sallowness of the complexion, bloodless cheeks and lips, 
 sunken eye, with a dark circle round the eyelids, and alto- 
 gether a haggard countenance. ... In fine, a confirmed 
 opium-smoker presents a most melancholy appearance ; 
 haggard, dejected, with a lack-lustre eye, and a slovenly 
 weakly, and feeble gait.^^ 
 
 ******* 
 
 '^ There is, perhaps, no form of intemperance more seducing 
 than the use of opium, nor is there any more diflficult to be 
 delivered from. To acquire a full acquaintance with the 
 effects of the agent, the consequences of which are now 
 being discussed, it is necessary to view it under two forms : 
 1st, As to its incipient effects in the stage of exhilaration, 
 while the individual is in good health, and the powers of life 
 are in full vigour ; at this time the drug is a means of enjoy- 
 ment. 2ndly, As to the effects produced by the drug when it 
 is employed as a means of relief from the distress and pain 
 resulting from the long-continued use of such a stimulant. 
 This may be called the stage of depression ; in this condition 
 the individual soon becomes a martyr to his former vices, 
 and bitterly repents of his having submitted to the temp- 
 tation. 
 
 '' When the pipe is first taken, during the incipient stage, 
 a few grains are sufficient to produce the full efi'ect. This 
 small quantity requires to be gradually increased to produce 
 a given result; the times of using it must become more 
 frequent, until the victim is soon compelled to use one 
 drachm, or sixty grains, in the course of twenty-four hours. 
 This quantity per day will supply the smoker for some years, 
 but it has at last to be augmented till two, three, four, or even 
 five drachms are daily consumed. This may be denominated 
 the second stage. 
 
 " Some are said to use ten drachms daily, but these are only 
 the superior classes, who have no need to attend to any 
 
THE EFFECTS OF OPIUM. 221 
 
 business or occupation, and caa spend almost their whole 
 time in intoxicating themselves with the use of the drug, or 
 in recovering from its effects. The life of such persons is 
 not prolonged, and the many complaints arising from the 
 excessive indulgence soon put an end to their useless 
 existence. 
 
 " Besides the cases of death arising from the excessive use 
 of opium among the higher classes, who can afford to gorge 
 themselves with their stimulant till they die, there are 
 many more unhappy dissolutions arising from the inability 
 to procure the accustomed and to them necessary quantity. 
 In the case of those who are in middling circumstances, and 
 are inured to the habit, the enervating effects are such that 
 they become after a time unable to attend to their ordinary 
 avocations. They then lose their situations, or their business 
 fails, and they are reduced to necessity. Gradually they 
 part with their little property, furniture, clothes, &c., until 
 they come to the level of the labouring poor, without those 
 energetic habits which might otherwise form the ground of 
 support. Having no property, furniture, or clothes to 
 dispose of, their wives and children are sold to supply their 
 ever-increasing appetite for the drug, and when these are 
 gone, with greatly diminished strength for labour, they can 
 no longer earn sufficient for their own wants, and are obliged 
 to beg for their daily bread. As to the supply of opium, 
 they must depend on the scrapings of other men^s pipes ; 
 and as soon as they are unable to obtain by begging the 
 necessaries of life, together with the half -burnt opium on 
 which their very life depends, they droop and die by the 
 road-side, and are buried at the expense of the charitable. 
 
 " The writer once knew two respectable young men, the 
 sons of an officer of high rank, who died in this part of the 
 country. They were both well-informed men, had received 
 a good education, were evidently accustomed to good society, 
 and excited considerable interest in the minds of those with 
 whom they came in contact. But they were opium-smokers; 
 so inveterate was the habit, and so large the quantity 
 
222 APPENDIX. 
 
 necessary to keep up the stimulant, that their available 
 funds were exhausted during their stay in this city. Friends 
 assisted them to some extent, and relieved their necessities 
 again and again ; but it was impossible to give them bread 
 and opium too, and they subsequently died one after another, 
 in the most abject and destitute condition. 
 
 '^Whilst these notes were preparing, the writer had 
 occasion to go into the city, and just inside the north gate, 
 in front of a temple, he saw one of such destitute persons, 
 unable to procure either food or the drug, lying at the last 
 gasp ; there were two or three others with drooping heads 
 sitting near, who looked as if they would soon be prostrated 
 too. The next day the writer passed and found the first of 
 the group dead and stiff, with a coarse mat wound round 
 his body for a shroud. The rest were now lying down, 
 unable to rise. The third day another was dead, and the 
 remainder almost near it. Help was vain, and pity for their 
 wretched condition the only feeling that could be indulged. 
 
 '' As to the moral evils arising from indulgence in opium, 
 they are very patent. It blunts the moral sense, causes good 
 men to waver in virtue, and makes bad men worse. Even 
 Coleridge, with all his fine sensibilities and acquaintance 
 with religious truth, was tempted to prevaricate and deceive 
 in order to conceal his indulgence in the habit, and elude the 
 vigilance of those who were engaged in watching him. How 
 much more, then, may we expect a lying nation like the 
 Chinese to lie so much the more in their attempts to conceal 
 their vices from the eyes of observers. So invariably is it 
 the practice of Chinese opium-smokers to deny their having 
 any connexion with the drug, that it is never advisable to 
 ask them any questions about it, lest one should induce 
 them to tell unnecessary untruths. No confidence can be 
 placed in the religious profession of an opium-smoker, unless 
 he abandon the vice, and even then the missionary should 
 have very good evidence of his having done so before admit- 
 ting him into connexion with the Church. Not only is the 
 
THE EFFECTS OF OPIUM. 223 
 
 moral sense weakened in opium -smokers, but the habits they 
 have acquired naturally and necessarily lead them into asso- 
 ciations where they are directly tempted to the most profli- 
 gate vices. Aj man accustomed to the use of the drug, 
 therefore, soon becomes worse in other respects, and having 
 commenced the downward career, every step in the rakers 
 progress is more and more deteriorating. Opium-smoking 
 is thus the parent of numerous evils which are not originally 
 chargeable upon it. When unable to procure the drug by 
 honest means, such is the craving for it among its slaves, that 
 fraud, peculation, and theft are resorted to in order to obtain 
 it ; insomuch that the Chinese themselves are in the habit of 
 withdrawing their confidence from those addicted to the vile 
 habit, unless they have other methods of tying them down to 
 honesty. 
 
 * ****** 
 
 " The writer cannot .close without a few words of exhorta- 
 tion to those who deal in the drug in China. The principals 
 are professing Christians, and justly pride themselves on 
 being humane men. But Christianity and humanity both 
 inculcate principles which, if carried out, would lead them to 
 refrain from the traffic. Both of these would teach them 
 that they are not to benefit themselves to the injury of 
 others. Granting that a large quantity of the opium they 
 sell is used only as a ' harmless luxury,' and that in those 
 cases where harm ensues it is the abuse, and not the use, of 
 the article which causes it ; granting all this, they must admit 
 that the use leads to the abuse, by a natural and necessary 
 process, and that if they did not import the drug, neither the 
 use nor abuse of it could possibly take place. We do 
 not say that all the opium imported does harm, but much of 
 it assuredly does so ; and if every chest but killed its man, 
 or shortened the life and happiness of a single individual, it 
 cannot be denied that it does harm. And can any sit down 
 contented with the thought that the gains they are acquiring 
 are obtained at the expense of the diminished comfort or 
 shortened existence of others ; while the wives and children 
 
224 APPENDIX. 
 
 of the deluded victims arc bitterly bewailing the hour when 
 the head of the family ever came in contact with opium ? 
 Surely, if all the results of the traffic were known, humanity 
 would lead them to recoil from any participation in it.^' 
 
 Note. 
 
 The essayist wrote to Dr. Lockhart for farther explanation 
 of his opinion as to the possible moderate use of the drug, 
 and received the following reply, under date 27th January, 
 1874 :~ 
 
 ^^ Opium is used as spirituous liquors are used, as a stimu- 
 lant, and I have known many respectable Chinese who have 
 used the drug for many years without apparent injury to 
 their health ; but the fascinating effect of opium seduces the 
 larger number of smokers to use more and more of the drug, 
 which then tells powerfully and injuriously upon health; and 
 being once become slaves to this large need of the drug (one 
 to two drachms, that is, one-eighth to one-quarter of an 
 ounce), they cannot leave it off without great pain and 
 dysentery, but go on to a still increased quantity, and thus 
 they are dragged down to misery.'^ 
 
 II. 
 
 J. Dudgeon, M.D., CM., London Missionary Society, in 
 the third Annual Report of the Peking Hospital, under his 
 care, page 12 : — 
 
 " The opium patients are readily recognized by their emacia- 
 tion, debility, sallow complexion, livid lips, and langour of the 
 eye. The opium-smoking will, however, bear a favourable 
 comparison with the drinking customs at home. It does not 
 produce the intoxication of ardent spirits. The opium- 
 smoker is not such a nuisance to the community and his 
 family. Both are evils ending in loss of health, wealth, 
 physical and mental powers, influence, and shortening of life. 
 It leads to beggary, and is the cause of much crime. Thefts 
 and robberies are committed to procure the drug or pay the 
 opium bill.^' 
 
THE EFFECTS UE Ol'lUM, 225 
 
 This third report was the first issued by Dr. Dudgeon, the 
 hospital having been for two years under Dr. Lockhart's 
 care. In the fifth Report of the Hospital (1866), Dr. 
 Dudgeon speaks thus of opium-smoking : — 
 
 ^^It is a powerful habit, a second nature, stronger and 
 more insinuating than strong drink. I have had numerous 
 professions of cure, but I have learned to receive such with 
 great caution, and the more so the longer the period in which 
 the drug has been used. To give up the fascinations and 
 associations of the pipe, and to overcome and hold out against 
 the agonies, pains, discomforts, even with the aid of foreign 
 medicine, which are* induced by attempts at reformation, 
 require great strength of will. After abstinence for months, 
 perhaps, the victims relapse into their old habits. During 
 the last three years I have had four different applications 
 from the same person for medicine to effect a cure.'' 
 
 Dr. Dudgeon being now (February, 1876) in Scotland has 
 kindly written for me the folUowing statement of his opinion 
 as to the effects of opium-smoking. After some remarks as 
 to the probable number of smokers, which will be found in 
 Appendix B., the Dr. says: — 
 
 " Opium-smoking gives no immunity from disease, except, 
 perhaps, in the case of shock or severe operations. The 
 Chinese, smokers or non-smokers, are not subject to acute 
 or inflammatory diseases, and the characteristics which we 
 observe in many cases, and after surgical interference, are 
 common to all classes, and are doubtless owing to their 
 abstemious habits, and their well-known constitutional 
 peculiarities. I must here enter my strong dissent, however, 
 against the important but incorrect and misleading evidence 
 laid before the Committee on Indian Finance (1871) in regard 
 to the effect of opium on malaria, this being assigned by two of 
 the most influential witnesses as the cause of the prevalence 
 of the vice in China. Many of their diseases are rather aggra- 
 vated by being addicted to the habit, and others in their 
 initial stage, such as the various chest or pulmonary affec- 
 tions in the cold north, are benefited by the use, and life, if 
 
226 ' APPENDIX. 
 
 not in many cases lengthened, is at least made more comfort- 
 able and endurable. A large percentage of those who 
 acquire the habit, do so, it is said, from the absence of skilled 
 medical men for the cure of disease or the alleviation of 
 suffering. It is curious that, although their disease does 
 not go on improving as it did during the first two or three 
 weeks of treatment, nor show the slightest signs of giving 
 way in eighteen or twenty years, but is rather aggravated, and 
 has superinduced upon it a more serious disease, no Chinese 
 patient ever dreams of throwing his doctor (Dr. Poppy) 
 overboard. The treatment of such cases is rendered much 
 more difficult — our remedies which contain preparations of 
 opium, and depend upon this drug for their chief remedial or 
 palliative action, being quite inert. Some of the above 
 patients came for diarrhoea, dysentery, spermatorrhoea, im- 
 potence, want of posterity, and such-like complaints, but the 
 great bulk are for ordinary diseases, not depending upon the 
 opium as a producing cause. You know I established a shop 
 in the neighbourhood of the hospital for the sale of anti- 
 opium pills, and thither the distinctly opium patients go, 
 who come to be cured or relieved, or tided over difficulties. 
 By confirmed I mean long- continued cases, in which the 
 habit, appetite, or desire is so established that it has become, 
 as it were, a very part of his constitution, and without which, 
 or some equivalent, he could not exist. This looks as if it 
 were impossible to give up the habit when once acquired. 
 And generally speaking it is so. A very large number of 
 criminals die annually in the prisons of China from depriva- 
 tion of the drug. They are generally cut off by diarrhoea 
 and dysentery. These deadly affections — for they prove quite 
 intractable in the case of the opium-smoker; the Chinese 
 designate these diseases in such cases by the appellation 
 yen, or opium diarrhoea and dysentery — sometimes also attack 
 the confirmed smoker, and then his case is hopeless. Opium, 
 which is ordinarily a powerful remedy in these cases, seems to 
 be quite inert. I have known a goodly number, however, who 
 have given up the pipe : some had recourse to stimulants, and 
 
THE KITKC'-TS «>F OVIUM. 217 
 
 at each meal (twice daily) partook of a little samslioo ; 
 others made decoctions of Chinese tonic herbs, and added 
 certain quantities of crude opium which were calculated to 
 last a certain time, and in every subsequent decoction or 
 preparation of the prescription, introducing gradually less 
 and less opium until they got cured ; — some, of whom about a 
 dozen have been members of our church at Peking, gave up 
 the habit by means of medicines furnished by me, being a 
 combination of stimulants, sedatives, and tonics. These 
 cases have extended from one or two years to twelve and 
 and fourteen years. Spirits were not taken in their cases as 
 a quid pro quo, although of course occasionally indulged in 
 at meals, as is very common in N. China. And I have met 
 with three or four cases in my experience, where the patients, 
 by strength of will, or through intimidation from parents, 
 masters, or superior officers, have given up the habit without 
 any help whatever. I have been much struck with these 
 cases, the poor smokers having suffered considerably by the 
 great effort. I cannot recommend such a course. They 
 complamed of dyspepsia, derangement of the bowels, want 
 of energy, but chiefly, and this is always present, and is what 
 the smoker feels when the habit is not gratified at the proper 
 period, pain all through his bones. 
 
 " Speaking generally, then, it may be asserted that it is 
 next to impossible to give up the habit when once thoroughly 
 established . The next question is, when is this habit formed ; 
 or in other words, how long can a man smoke before the 
 habit becomes confirmed ; or in other words, are there any 
 ' moderate' smokers ? The man that smokes five candareens 
 or even one mace, will consider himself a ' moderate ' smoker 
 in comparison with other smokers who consume four or five 
 mace, or one tael daily. I have been told by well-to-do 
 patients that their yirij or habit, was not great, for they only 
 smoked five or six mace, or eight mace, or one tael two mace, 
 or in some cases more daily. I have often said in such 
 cases that I would consider one candareen a large dose, at 
 which they were always much astonished. If by moderate wo 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 APPENDIX. 
 
 mean that a man can take a gniall dose, or what he considers 
 a moderate quantity, and adhere to that without further 
 increase, then my conviction from twelve years' experience 
 is that this is indeed rare. I have known cases — the parties 
 asserted it at least — where a similar quantity has been in- 
 dulged in for years, without increase or diminution : the 
 quantity has been invariably increased from the time when 
 the smoker began, or when the habit got confirmed; to 
 obtain the same effect the dose must be from time to time 
 slightly increased. Time, money, and other circumstances 
 and conditions frequently modify it. I have seen vast 
 numbers of cases in which the quantity has been diminished 
 by a third or even a half. These cases have always been 
 confirmed smokers, and the reasons assigned have been want 
 of money chiefly, although a few have admitted self-interest, 
 or the preservation of their health. Those in the lower 
 and poorer ranks have taken to eating the ashes ; and those 
 in the middle class of smokers, with whom money is not 
 plentiful, half smoke and half eat the ashes. This, however, 
 is only an apparent diminution, for, as may readily be 
 imagined, a small and cheaper dose by the stomach will 
 produce the same effects as a larger dose by the lungs. I 
 ought to say that the eating is manifold more injurious than 
 smoking. 
 
 ''With these explanations, is there then in our sense any- 
 thing in China to correspond to our moderate drinking — 
 taking a little daily, and for years, without any effect upon his 
 constitution or life, nay, in some cases improving the one 
 and lengthening the other — letting it alone if desired without 
 feeling any the worse for it, and without any craving, 
 periodical or otherwise, for the beverage. In this sense I very 
 much doubt the existence of moderate opium-smoking. 
 Until the habit is formed, which may embrace a period of 
 from two to four months, the smoker may not find that 
 periodical imperious craving which demands satisfaction ; but 
 sooner or later he finds himself the slave to the appetite, and 
 then, whatever be the quantity, this man in this sense ceases 
 
THK EFFECTS OF OPIUif. 229 
 
 to be a moderate smoker. He must, sooner or later, iucreaso 
 his dose, and, sooner or later, the drug will breed its usual 
 train of symptoms, physical, moral, social, intellectual, and 
 commercial. I have met a few cases in which it was asserted 
 that opium was only now and again had recourse to on the 
 occasion of a feast, &c., but if the man has the means, and 
 his work or service does not preclude him indulging, he will 
 take to the pipe regularly, and soon feel that he cannot do 
 without it. If, however, there were much moral and religious 
 principle and a strong will, I believe it is possible to take a 
 small dose of opium every two or three days over a long 
 course of years without any appreciable habit being formed 
 or injury to the system being sustained. After my experi- 
 ence I am inclined to think that the physical evils have been 
 to some extent overrated, and that a very considerable dose, 
 say one, two, or even three mace regularly taken by a man 
 in good circumstances and with good living, will not 
 materially or to any great extent shorten life; nay, for a 
 short time, while the habit is forming, or once formed, 
 requiring increase, but before it has had time to destroy the 
 appetite for food, turning night into day, and causing various 
 functional derangements of the brain, stomach, bowels, &c., 
 the smoker may experience some benefit, just as a glass of 
 wine or beer before or at dinner, to the delicate constitution, 
 may give strength and appetite and power to digest, and 
 enable the patient to take what before never could be 
 taken, a hearty meal. It is not uncommon to hear smokers 
 assert that their indulgence in the vice has extended 
 over twenty, thirty, and even forty years. In this respect 
 it is therefore not unlike spirits and tobacco. In practice, 
 however, speaking generally, we do not find " moderate " 
 opium-smoking, without its concomitant results of increase 
 and injury. Some may say they could leave it alone, 
 but in practice they do not. Some, doubtless, assert this, 
 not wishing to acknowledge their slavery or their weak- 
 ness. When it is understood that a man^s moral 
 character goes, that he loses his place, is suspected by all - 
 
230 APPENDIX. 
 
 that no oiie can trust him — not only is the Chinese view of it 
 evident, but there is here a reason for not acknowledging its 
 power. It is unlike spirits in most particulars. In the 
 latter, the injury is, as it were, the exception ; whereas in the 
 former it is the rule. The reader will be able to form his 
 own idea of the moderate opium-smoker from these desultory 
 remarks.^' 
 
 III. 
 
 W. H. Medhurst, H.B.M. Consul, Shanghai, in " The 
 Foreigner in Far Cathay :'' — 
 
 " The effect upon the individual, when indulged in habitu- 
 ally and to excess, is certainly debasing, and there is, 
 perhaps, no vicious habit from which complete recovery is 
 more diflScult. At the same time I would caution the reader 
 against an unqualified acceptance of the tales of horror one 
 hears and reads of in connexion with opium-smoking in 
 China. How that, for instance, every fifth, or tenth, or 
 twentieth, or even fortieth man in the empire is a victim to 
 the habit ; how that the opium hells are as abundant as the 
 provision shops, and crowded day and night with hundreds 
 of infatuated wretches hurrying to their ruin ; how that 
 skeletons haunt the streets, and whole families, beggared by 
 drugged husbands and fathers, may be seen dying in the 
 highways and fields, and so on. There are opium-dens, no 
 doubt, and quite numerous enough to sadden the philan- 
 thropic observer, and the victims which the drug drags to 
 misery and death are also, alas ! beyond all counting. But 
 what is the vice, and where is the country of which the same 
 may not be said with equal or approximate truth ? Indeed, 
 were I asked to state candidly in which part of the- world I 
 thought the effects of vicious indulgence are more outwardly 
 observable, socially speaking, I certainly should not name 
 China. Statistics on the subject cannot be relied on. It is 
 known to a chest how much Indian drug is imported into 
 the country, but there is no means of estimating the quantity 
 
THE EFFECTS OF OPIUM. 231 
 
 of native-grown opium produced, and I do not believe tliat 
 there is any person sufficiently informed on the subject to 
 be able to state with any approach to accuracy, what pro- 
 portion the smokers of the drug bear to the general popula- 
 tion. The most that can be asserted with truth is that the 
 vice is a general one, more especially in districts near the 
 sea-coast and great commercial centres, that a considerable 
 proportion of its victims indulge to an excess ruinous to 
 health and prospects, and that it has been gaining ground 
 upon the people with rapid strides during the last few 
 years/' 
 
 IV. 
 
 Evidence of Mr. T. T. Cooper (the traveller, author of 
 " The Pioneer of Commerce,'^ &c.), before Select Committee 
 of the House of Commons, 1871 : — 
 
 ^^6522. Do you think from your own experience in travelling 
 over China, and investigating these matters, that the use of 
 opium there causes as much public injury as the consumption 
 of drink in England, as far as you can see ? — Yes. I think 
 that the effects of opium-smoking in China are worse than 
 the effects of drink in England, as far as my experience 
 goes. 
 
 " 5523. But it does not cause the amount of crime that we 
 suffer from in this country as the effect of drink ? — No. A 
 man when he commences to smoke lies down on his bed, 
 and does not get up till it is finished. It is very costly and 
 very dangerous in this way : that if a man has been in the 
 habit of smoking opium, and he has not money to supply 
 himself with opium, his constitution then receives such a 
 frightful shock that it shows very quickly ; but as long as 
 he takes his regular quantity of opium every day he does 
 not feel anything ; he must have it, but it does not destroy 
 his health, because he eats and he works ; but if he loses 
 his supply of opium on Monday morning, on Tuesday morn- 
 ing he will be ruined for work all the rest of the week; he 
 
232 APPENDIX. 
 
 will not pick up again, the system seems to fall so for want 
 of opium. 
 
 '^ 5524. And probably a man accustomed to it all bis life 
 would die ? — They do die in China from that cause. In the 
 more populous parts which I have gone through, generally 
 after starting on my journey early in the morning, through 
 the suburbs of the towns, before the watch have had time 
 to go round, it is a very common thing to see half-naked 
 men lying dead simply from want of opium. 
 
 '^ 5525. I understand you that you think the evils which 
 arise from the consumption of opium arise from the poverty 
 that it causes, and not from any crime — that it does not lead 
 to crime ? — It leads to crime in this way, that men will do 
 anything, they will sell their children, their wives, their 
 mothers, and their fathers, to get opium." 
 
 Note. — Mr. Cooper's evidence is throughout interesting 
 and important. See further quotations in Appendix B., 
 especially as to ^^ moderate'* smoking. 
 
 Assistant- Surgeon Impey, Government Examiner of Opium, 
 in " Malwa Opium," published in Bombay, 1848 : — 
 
 " Doubtless excessive indulgence in any propensity seldom 
 fails to produce all the worst results which can ensue 
 from a bad pursuit, and opium is not wanting in the most 
 pernicious consequences or the most attached votaries. 
 But it is hardly fair to condemn a practice from its evils. 
 .... The baneful effects of intemperance are unfortu- 
 nately but too well known, and few afflictions are exceeded 
 by delirium tremens in horror and severity, while no vice 
 is so ruinous to the constitution, mind, and morals, as 
 addiction to drink .... still we would not stigmatize 
 every one who indulges in these luxuries as drunkards. 
 .... Opium has no doubt votaries among the voluptuous 
 and the poor, though its price keeps it in some degree above 
 the reach of the latter, vet upon them it produces its most 
 
THE EFFECTS OF OPIUM. 238 
 
 calamitous effects; but, as with liquor, it would be rather 
 too much to assert that every opium-smoker was irretrievably 
 ruined in body and soul. The consumption of the quantity 
 given up to the Chinese in 1839, viz. 20,283 chests, would 
 amply and liberally satisfy thirty millions of smokers for 
 twelve months, and surely the majority of these must use it 
 in moderation, and more as a luxury than a vice. . . . 
 
 " The analogy which has been endeavoured to be drawn 
 between opium and spirits, though true and just in most 
 respects, is questionable, perhaps, in one important feature 
 — the greater aptitude of the former to turn into an invete- 
 rate habit, which it* is to be presumed proceeds from its very 
 seductive and pleasurable influence more than its stimulating 
 
 property Regarding the inveteracy of the habit, 
 
 it is unfortunately but too true that, once formed, correction 
 is next to an impossibility, and the commencement of the 
 practice maybe said to be synchronous with youth. Opium- 
 smoking is not now, however, a mere luxury, but an essential 
 to the very existence of the Chinese people, in whatever 
 rank of life — from the humblest mechanic to the highest 
 functionary and greatest dignitary ; it forms the chief part, 
 not only of their enjoyment, but their daily necessities. 
 .... Yet, notwithstanding this repeated application to the 
 pipe, and the apparent excess denoted thereby, it is in 
 reality comparatively innocuous, and its effects cannot but be 
 regarded as very ethereal, and its consequences much less 
 injurious than are imagined. No sort of difference can be 
 recognized, either in the personal appearance, gait, or 
 manner of the professional testers in Bombay, — men who 
 earn their livelihood by constant and repeated doses of it, as 
 it were.^' 
 
 VI. 
 
 Dr. Eat well. First Assistant and Opium Examiner in the 
 Bengal Monopoly Service : — 
 
 " Having passed three years in China, I may be allowed 
 
234^ APPENDIX. 
 
 to state the results of my observation, and I can affirm thus 
 far, that the effects of the abuse of the drug do not come 
 very frequently under observation, and that when cases do 
 occur, the habit is frequently found to have been induced by 
 the presence of some painful chronic disease, to escape from 
 the sufferings of which the patient has fled to this resource. 
 That this is not always the cause, however, I am perfectly 
 ready to admit, and there are doubtless many who indulge 
 in the habit to a pernicious extent, led by the same morbid 
 impulses which induce men to become drunkards in even the 
 most civilized countries, but these cases do not, at all events, 
 come before the public eye. It requires no laborious search 
 in civilized England to discover evidences of the pernicious 
 effects of the abuse of alcoholic liquors; our open and 
 thronged gin palaces, and our streets afford abundant 
 testimony on the subject, but in China this open evidence of 
 the evil effects of opium is at least wanting. As regards 
 the effects of the habitual use of the drug on the mass of the 
 people, I must affirm that no injurious results are visible. 
 The people generally are a muscular and well-formed race, 
 the labouring portion being capable of great and prolonged 
 exertion under a fierce sun, in an unhealthy climate. Their 
 disposition is cheerful and peaceable, and quarrels and brawls 
 are rarely heard amongst even the lower orders ; whilst in 
 general intelligence they rank deservedly high amongst 
 orientals. 
 
 "I will, therefore, conclude with observing that the proofs 
 are still wanting to show that the moderate use of opium 
 produces more pernicious effects upon the constitution than 
 does the moderate use of spirituous liquors ; whilst at the 
 same time it is certain that the consequences of the abuse of 
 the former are less appalling in their effect upon the victim, 
 and less disastrous to society at large, than are the conse- 
 quences of the abuse of the latter. 
 
 " Board of Customs, Salt, and Opium, 
 " Ist November, 1850." 
 
'HE EFFECTS OF OPIUM. 285 
 
 VII. 
 
 Pareira. Materia Medica : — 
 
 "Opium -smoking. — In the first edition of this work I stated 
 that although the immoderate practice of opium-smoking 
 must be highly detrimental to health, yet that I believed 
 the statements of Medhurst and others applied to cases in 
 which this practice was carried to excess ; and I observed 
 that an account of the effects of opium-smoking by an 
 unbiassed and professional witness was a desideratum. My 
 opinion was founded on the statements of Botto and Marsden. 
 The latter, a most accurate writer, observes that ' the Limun 
 and Batang Asset gold- traders, who are an active and 
 laborious class of men, but yet indulge as freely in opium as 
 any others whatever, are, notwithstanding, the most healthy 
 and vigorous people to be met with on the island.' This 
 desideratum has been supplied by Mr. Smith, surgeon, of 
 Pulo Penang, whose statements fully confirm my opinion. 
 For although the practice is most destructive to those who 
 live in poverty and distress, and who carry it to excess, yet 
 it does not appear that the Chinese in easy circumstances, 
 and who have the comforts of life about them, are materially 
 affected in respect to longevity, by the private addiction to 
 this vice. ' There are many persons,' observes Mr. Smith, 
 ' within my own observation who have attained the age of 
 sixty, seventy, or more, and who are well known as habitual 
 opium-smokers for more than thirty years past.' The first 
 effect of this drug on the Chinese smokers is to render them 
 more loquacious and animated. Gradually the conversation 
 drops, laughter is occasionally produced by the most trifling 
 causes, and to these effects succeed vacancy of countenance, 
 pallor, shrinking of the features, so that the smokers resemble 
 people convalescing from fever, followed by deep sleep for 
 half an hour to three or four hours. An inordinate quantity 
 causes head-ache, vertigo, and nausea. The Malays are 
 rendered outrageous and quarrelsome by the opium-pipe. 
 
 " It is extremely difficult to discontinue the vice of opium- 
 
2'^i) APPENDIX. 
 
 smokinvTr. yet there are many instances of its being done. 
 The continuance of this destructive practice deteriorates the 
 physical constitution and moral character of the individual, 
 especially among the lower classes. Its powerful effects on 
 the system are manifested by stupor, forgetfulness, deterio- 
 ration of the mental faculties, emaciation, debility, sallow 
 complexion, lividity of lips and eyelids, languor and lack- 
 lustre of the eye, appetite either destroyed or depraved, 
 sweetmeats or sugar-cane being the articles that are most 
 relished. ' In the morning these creatures have a most 
 wretched appearance, evincing no symptoms of being 
 refreshed or invigorated by sleep, however profound. There 
 is a remarkable dryness or burning in the throat, which 
 urges them to repeat the opium-smoking. If the dose be 
 not taken at the usual time, there is great prostration, vertigo, 
 torpor, discharge of water from the eyes, and in some an 
 involuntary discharge of semen, even when wide awake. If 
 the privation be complete, a still more formidable train of 
 phenomena takes place. Coldness is felt over the whole 
 body, with aching pains in all parts. Diarrhoea occurs ; the 
 most horrid feelings of wretchedness come on ; and if the 
 poison be withheld, death terminates the victim's existence.' 
 The offspring of opium-smokers are weak, stunted, and 
 decrepid.'' 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Evidence of Sir R. N. C. Hamilton, Agent in Central 
 India, before Special Committee, 1871 : — 
 
 ^^ 4986. It (opium) is not used by the population (of Mal- 
 wa) ? — A very small quantity is consumed in the country. 
 
 "4987. Then opium consumers are rare there ? — Yes. 
 
 "4988. Does it affect their health injuriously? — Certainl}'. 
 
 "4989. Whether it is either eaten or smoked, it generally 
 produces very serious effects on the health ? — Certainly : 
 opium-eaters are very soon unfit for any active pursuits. 
 
 " 4990. And it shortens their lives ?— Yes." 
 
THE EFFKCTS OF OPIUM. 237 
 
 IX. 
 
 Sir Benjamin C. Brodie : — 
 
 " However valuable opium may be wben employed as an 
 article of medicine, it is impossible for any one who is 
 acquainted with the subject to doubt that the habitual use of 
 it is productive of the most pernicious consequences, destroy- 
 ing the healthy action of the digestive organs, weakening 
 the powers of the mind as well as the body, and rendering 
 the individual who indulges himself in it a worse than useless 
 member of society. I cannot but regard those who promote 
 the use of opium as an article of luxury as inflicting a most 
 serious injury on the human race." 
 
 (Quoted in Nonconformist , 14th Dec, 1870.) 
 
 X. 
 
 Dr. J. Carnegie, formerly of Amoy : — 
 
 " Chesterfield, April 12th, 1874. 
 
 *' My views, I fear, would, in the eyes of Quakers, appear 
 heterodox. I have no hesitation in pronouncing opium a 
 great curse to the Chinese, as alcohol is to the English ; but 
 I am not prepared to say that the moderate use of the drug 
 is either impossible orinjurious, any more than the analogous 
 beverage in our own country. I have seen it used in 
 moderation with no apparent injury to mind, body, or estate, 
 and I have seen it used in excess to the utter ruin of all 
 three. Undoubtedly, the latter mode of using the drug 
 vastly preponderates." 
 
 XI. 
 
 De Quincey's " Confessions of an English Opium-eater:" — 
 
 [It being impossible to give a fair account of this author's 
 
 teaching about the effects of opium by a few brief quotations, 
 
 we have thrown our impressions in the form of a critique.] 
 
 This work is but of slight, if any, value in a scientific 
 
238 APPEXDTX. 
 
 point of view. The object of the brilliant litterateur i^5 
 evidently _, first of ^ all, artistic, as he himself avows. He 
 meant to write, and has written, an intensely interesting 
 composition which should live among the classics of our 
 language. Second, or co-equal with that, was his desire to 
 present his own conduct in as favourable a light as possible. 
 Whatever the public judgment shall be upon the practice of 
 opium-eating, he is determined that the public shall not visit 
 with severe moral censure Thomas De Quincey, the opium- 
 eater. Apart from these drawbacks, his work helps us but 
 little in forming a judgment, because it is careless in giving 
 dates, amounts, and collateral information. He tells us very 
 little about the effects of opium on his physical health, 
 nothing as to whether he succeeded in reducing his consump- 
 tion with or without medical aid. But these facts may be 
 gleaned from his case, if we can place faith in the state- 
 ments of an opium-eater : — 
 
 (1.) He resorted to opium for relief from physical torture 
 of the severest description. 
 
 (2.) He used it intermittently, " about once in three 
 weeks '' for eight years, before he became a daily opium- 
 eater. During this time he perceived no injurious result. 
 
 (3.) He reached at one time a daily ration of " eight, ten, 
 or twelve thousand drops of laudanum.^' According to his 
 calculation, 8000 drops = 320 grains of opium. His highest 
 consumption, therefore, viz., 480 grains, was less than that 
 •of many confirmed Chinese smokers, who use one tael and 
 more per day. One tael = 580 grains. But opium taken 
 into the stomach has a much more powerful effect than when 
 only the fumes of it enter into the lungs. 
 
 (4.) Under the influence of the larger quantities he suf- 
 fered indescribable mental agonies, and sank into mental 
 imbecility, which made him dread loss of reason, or of life. 
 ''^The Circean spells of opium ^^ brought on "intellectual 
 torpor.'' " But for misery and suffering I might, indeed, 
 be said to have existed in a dormant state." " Nothing 
 short of mortal anguish in a physical sense, it seemed^ to 
 
THE EFFECTS OF OPIUM. 280 
 
 wean myself from opium ; jet, on the other hand, death 
 through overwhelming terrors — death by brain-fever or 
 lunacy — seemed too certainly to besiege the alternative 
 course." 
 
 (5.) He succeeded more than once in greatly lowering his 
 consumption, to forty daily grains, and at last to five or six 
 grains daily. But the efibrt was terrible. 
 
 " I triumphed. But infer not, reader, from this word 
 tHumjphed a condition of joy or exultation. Think of me as 
 one, even when four months had passed, still agitated, 
 writhing, throbbing, palpitating, shattered, and much, 
 perhaps, in the situation of one who has been racked. 
 Meantime, I derived no benefit from any medicine whatever, 
 except ammoniated tincture of valerian. The moral of the 
 narrative is addressed to the opium-eater, and therefore, of 
 necessity, limited in its application. If he is taught to fear 
 and tremble, enough has been efiected. But he may say 
 that the issue of my case is at least a proof that opium, after 
 an eighteen years' use, and an eight years' abuse, of its 
 powers, may still be renounced." 
 
 De Quincey, malgre his purpose to defend himself and 
 opium-eating as a part of his existence, is constantly adduced 
 as condemning the habit. And no wonder. He used opium, 
 off and on, for more than fifty years, and therefore proved an 
 opium-eater need not be short-lived. He did his best, with 
 his enchanting style, to free opium from the stigma of 
 inducing mental stagnation. But no one can miss the moral 
 of his Confessions, viz. that opium is pre-eminently seductive 
 and dangerous. Few of his readers will be encouraged by 
 his example to adventure on such a slippery incline. 
 
 xii. 
 
 Sir. D. F. McLeod, Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjaub, 
 in evidence before Select Committee, 1871 : — 
 
 "4649. I understand that opium was extensively used by 
 the population of the Punjaub ? — By the Sikh population. 
 
2 -to APPENDIX. 
 
 They form a very small portion of the Puiijaub, but they use 
 it largely. 
 
 '' 4650. And what is the effect upon them ? — They some- 
 times become almost torpid for a time, and then seem to be 
 cheered by it. I have seen some of the small Sikh chiefs, 
 who have been in the habit of using it, when debarred from 
 it at the proper time, become almost imbecile and helpless 
 until they got their quantity of opium, and then they got 
 lively after a short time ; and I do not think in the end it 
 produced any very injurious effects. 
 
 " 4654. You think that opium does not shorten life ? — I 
 am not aware that it does. Probably it does when carried 
 on to a great extent. I have seen some very fine specimens 
 of Sikhs who have been all their lives taking opium.'' 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Lieutenant- Colonel James Todd, Political Resident at the 
 Court of the Rana of Oodipore : — 
 
 '^This pernicious plant (the poppy) has robbed the Rajpoot 
 of half his virtues ; and while it obscures these, it heightens 
 his vices, giving to his natural bravery a character of insane 
 ferocity, and to the countenance, which would otherwise 
 beam with intelligence, an air of imbecility. Like all stimu- 
 lants, its effects are magical for a time ; but the reaction is 
 not less certain, and the faded form, or amorphous bulk, too 
 often attest the debilitating influence of a drug which alike 
 debases mind and body.'' 
 
 Tucker's Memorials, page 154. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 " Opium-eating in Turkey and Persia." Dr. Oppenheim, 
 quoted in Pareira's Mat. Med. : — 
 
 " The habitual opium-eater is instantly recognized by his 
 appearance. A total attenuation of body, a withered, yellow 
 countenance, a lame gait, a bending of the spine, frequently 
 
THE EFFECTS OF OPIUM. 241 
 
 to such a degree as to assume a circular form, and glossy, 
 deep -sunken eyes, betray liim at the first glance. The 
 digestive organs are in the highest degree disturbed, the 
 sufierer eats scarcely anything, and has hardly one evacuation 
 a week ; his mental and bodily powers are destroyed — he is 
 impotent. By degrees, as the habit becomes more con- 
 firmed, his strength continues decreasing ; the craving for 
 the stimulus becomes even greater, and, to produce the 
 desired efiect, the dose must constantly be augmented. . . . 
 After long indulgence, the opium-eater becomes subject to 
 nervous or neuralgic pains, to which opium itself brings no 
 relief. These people* seldom attain the age of forty, if they 
 have begun to use opium at an early age. . . . When 
 this baneful habit has become confirmed, it is almost impos- 
 sible to break it off" ; the torments of the opium-eater, when 
 deprived of his stimulant, are as dreadful as his bliss is com- 
 plete when he has taken it ; to him night brings the torments 
 of hell, day the bliss of Paradise. ^^ 
 
 XV. 
 
 Eev. Griffith John, London Missionary Society, Hankow :— 
 " 1 would observe that it is a great mistake to refer opium 
 to the same category as tobacco and spirits. On this point 
 there is a wonderful unanimity of opinion among those who 
 are capable of forming an opinion on the matter. Tobacco, 
 beer, and wine may be taken in moderation, and are gene- 
 rally believed to be harmless if so used, but even the 
 moderate use of opium is baneful, and, what is worse, it is 
 impossible to take it in moderation. The smoker is never 
 satisfied with less than the intoxicating effects of the drug. 
 He smokes with the view of making himself drunk, and 
 his cravings are never appeased until he gets drunk. If 
 time and means permit, he lies in a state of ecstatic trance 
 or intoxication, from which he desires never to be waked up. 
 Opium-smoking cannot be compared with moderate drink- 
 ing, but with drunkenness itself. This habit is more 
 
 U 
 
242 APPENDIX. 
 
 insidious in its approach than that of drinking, and holds 
 its victim with a far more tenacious grasp." 
 
 {Nonconformist, 1870.) 
 " Opium-smoking affects the population by producing 
 sterility. The excessive use of the drug for three or four 
 years deprives the victim of the power liheros procreare/' 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Dr. J. H. Bridges, author of Essay on China in " Inter- 
 national Policy :" — 
 
 ^^ I say then, first, that every medical man in Europe knows 
 that whereas the use of beer or wine in small quantities is 
 in most cases not injurious, the constant use of even small 
 doses of opium, except in certain cases of disease, is injurious 
 exceedingly. Secondly, whereas beer or wine can easily be 
 taken in moderation, like tea or coffee, from year to year, 
 without increasing the quantity, opium cannot. It requires 
 constant increase to produce its pleasurable effects. This is 
 a practical distinction of the greatest moment. In large 
 manufacturing towns especially, where mothers of children 
 work in factories, the physician sees its baneful effects on 
 children to whom it is given by the tired nurse. The dose 
 must be constantly increased. Two drops of laudanum — 
 that is one -tenth of a grain of opium — are enough to kill an 
 infant of a month old. But under the sedulous ministrations 
 of the nurse, a dose of sixty drops, equal to three full doses 
 for an adult, is at last tolerated and demanded. In Bradford 
 the rate of mortality for all classes is high, 25 to 28 per 
 1000, as compared with the average in the community of 
 22. But the mortality of children under five years is out 
 of proportion even to that high standard, 230 per 1000, as 
 compared with the general English rate of 150. This I 
 know from personal experience to be largely due to opium. 
 But it would be entirely erroneous to measure the mis- 
 chievous effects of opium merely or mainly by its effects in 
 
THR EFFECTS OF OPIUM. 243 
 
 shortening life. Nor is it on the intellectual faculties that 
 its worst evils primarily and directly fall. It is the manhood, 
 the energy, the will, the concentration of purpose that in 
 the first place are attacked and undermined. The life-long 
 suicide of Coleridge and De Quincey is painful evidence of 
 this.^^ 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Mr. Fortune, botanist and traveller in China : — 
 " From my own e|:perience, I have no hesitation in saying 
 that the number of persons who use opium to excess has 
 
 been very much exaggerated I have often seen the 
 
 drug used, and I can assert that in the great majority of 
 cases it was not immoderately indulged in. At the same 
 time, I am aware that, like the use of ardent spirits in my 
 own country, it is frequently carried on to a most lamentable 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Abbe Hue : — " With the exception of some rare smokers, 
 all others advance rapidly towards death, after having passed 
 through successive stages of idleness, debauchery, poverty, 
 the ruin of their physical strength, and the complete pros- 
 tration of their intellectual and moral faculties. Nothing 
 can stop a smoker who has made much progress in the 
 habit." 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Dr. Medhurst, of the London Missionary Society : — 
 " Calculating 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." 
 
 E 2 
 
244 APPENDIX. 
 
 XX. 
 
 Mr. A. Wylie, agent of the Britisli and Foreign Bible 
 Society in China, says : — '' Any one who has lived for ten 
 years among the Chinese can scarcely have a doubt as to 
 the destructive effects of opium, physically, mentally, and 
 morally. Undoubtedly this is one of the greatest evils with 
 which China is affected, and unless some means be found 
 to check the practice, it bids fair to accomplish the utter 
 destruction, morally and physically, of that great empire.^' 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Dr. Johnston, of the Chinese Hospital at Shanghai, says : — 
 " It is believed by many that the evils resulting from opium- 
 smoking are much exaggerated. I do not think so. On 
 the contrary, I believe that very few people have the slightest 
 conception of the mischief done to the constitution by 
 opium-smoking. Unfortunately the principal sufferers are 
 the working classes. In their case rapid deterioration of 
 health, with loss of muscular power, soon follows the use of 
 the drug, and at no late date, disease, starvation, and 
 death.'' 
 
 {North China Herald^ June 7, 1873.) 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Dr. Anstie, in " Stimulants and Narcotics/' pp. 79 and 
 147, and 243 :— 
 
 '^ With regard to opium, there is difficulty in coming to a 
 decision, because the mental phenomena which are caused by 
 its use are less familiarly known. In the great majority of 
 European constitutions, opium produces nothing resembling 
 mental excitement; the effect on myself, for instance, of 
 a large dose, is mere depression and misery. But with most 
 Orientals, and with some Europeans, whose constitutions or 
 habits of life are peculiar a condition is produced by taking 
 
THE EFFECTS OF OPIUM. 245 
 
 a, large but not fatal dose, which is very remarkable, and 
 very difficult to analyze. These persons are able, sometimes 
 without any previous practice, to take large quantities of 
 opium, without suffering stupefaction ; on the contrary, they 
 appear much exhilarated in spirits, and their minds work 
 with much freedom ; in some cases muscular power and the 
 disposition for exertion seem to be increased, but more fre- 
 quently there is great indisposition to locomotion or hard 
 work of any kind. These effects last for a period varying 
 from eighteen to forty-eight hours ; they are succeeded in 
 some cases by a heavy, semi-comatose sleep of long duration, 
 in other cases no particular after-effects are noted/' 
 
 •fS 5|C 3|C 3|C 3jC SJC 3Js 
 
 *^'In the countries where opium is indigenous, it is an 
 article in daily use with the great majority of the population, 
 by whom it is employed for a very different purpose than 
 that of procuring sleep — in fact, as a powerful and rapidly 
 acting stimulant; and in those localities far larger quan- 
 tities can be taken without producing any other effect than 
 this, than in the countries of Europe, where the poppy is 
 only a transplanted growth. Taken in still larger quanti- 
 ties even, by the natives of Syria and the East, it proves as 
 decidedly and poisonously narcotic as would much smaller 
 doses taken by an Englishman ; and this kind of effect is, 
 doubtless, often seen as a consequence of the abuse of 
 opium by Orientals. But its use is an important and a 
 genuine one ; it acts as a powerful food-stimulant, enabling 
 the taker to undergo severe and continuous physical exer- 
 tion without the assistance of ordinary food, or on short 
 rations of the latter — a fact to which numerous Eastern 
 travellers testify. ... To a certain extent, and in certain 
 circumstances, the same remarks would apply to natives of 
 this country, although the doses taken are, as a rule, much 
 smaller than in the East. De Quincey mentions the fact 
 that many poor over- worked folk in towns like Manchester, 
 consume regularly a moderate quantity of opium ; not using 
 it as the means of a luxurious debauch, but simply to re- 
 
246 APPENDIX. 
 
 move the traces of fatigue and depression : and the expe- 
 rience of physicians who know the poor of London would 
 testify to the considerable prevalence of this custom among 
 that class. It has frequently happened to me to find out, 
 from the chance of a patient being brought under my 
 notice in the wards of a hospital, that such patient was a 
 regular consumer, perhaps of a drachm of laudanum, or 
 from that to two or three drachms per diem, the same dose 
 having been used for years, without any variation. And 
 I am assured that the practice is very extensively carried 
 out in many parts of this country by persons who would 
 never think of narcotizing themselves, any more than they 
 would of getting drunk ; but who simply desire relief from 
 the pains of fatigue endured by an ill-fed, ill-housed body, 
 and a harassed mind. These instances appear to me in- 
 explicable, except upon the supposition that they depend on 
 a kind of food-stimulant effect, similar to that which is 
 certainly experienced by the majority of Orientals in taking 
 opium ; and they must be carefully distinguished from that 
 kind of narcotic delirium which is sometimes 'sought for by 
 the literary dilettante, and of which so vivid an account has 
 been left us in the ' Confessions of an Opium Eater.^ '' 
 ******* 
 
 "By degrees the nervous centres, especially those on 
 which the particular narcotic used has the most powerful 
 influence, become degraded in structure ; this is not merely 
 from the direct repeated action of the poison, but also from 
 another cause, viz. the small amount of common nutriment 
 taken. This is, at least, the case as regards opium and 
 alcohol, towards which the digestive system seems to have a 
 tolerance, as yet not explained, in virtue of which large 
 quantities of them are at last easily accepted, and have the 
 effect of satisfying appetite without causing nausea or dis- 
 gust. The habitually immoderate opium-eater, or alcohol- 
 tippler, most commonly takes very little food; but life is 
 supported, in a considerable number of such cases, with 
 little apparent diminution of vigour. The result, however, 
 
THE EFFECTS OF OPIUM. 247 
 
 of this abnormal mode of nutrition is still further disastrous 
 to the nervous system. Deprived of the proper nutriment, 
 which it can only derive from an active supply of blood of 
 the richest and purest quality _, the nervous matter tends 
 more and more towards degeneration, and the results of 
 such degeneration are very varied. They may tend to 
 shorten life, or they may not so tend. The changes in- 
 duced in the nervous matter may be such as may lead to a 
 sudden catastrophe (such as rupture of brain fibres) which 
 may put an end to life at once j or they may consist merely 
 in the gradual shrinking of the brain or spinal cord, or both, 
 in bulk, and the d^eneration of a certain amount of their 
 vesicular matter ; and this is probably a more frequent issue 
 of chronic narcotism than any positive shortening of life by 
 a sudden overwhelming lesion of the nervous centres." 
 
 :|( 4: :{; 4: :)( :): :(: 
 
 " In all cases where degradation of the elements (espe- 
 cially the vesicular) of the nervous centres takes place, it is 
 easy to understand that narcotic effects could not so easily 
 be induced as before. A certain quantity of nervous tissue 
 has in fact ceased to fill the role of nervous tissue, and there 
 is less of impressible matter upon which the narcotic may 
 operate; and hence it is that the confirmed drunkard, 
 opium-eater, or coquero (coca-eater of Peru), requires more 
 and more of his accustomed narcotic to produce the intoxi- 
 cation which he delights in.'^ 
 
APPENDIX B. 
 
 ON THE PEOBABLE NUMBER OF OPIUM- 
 SMOKERS IN CHINA. 
 
 Dr. Lockhart (Medical Missionary, p. 386), says : — 
 
 " As to the probable number of smokers, we have only 
 approximate calculations. Innes^ writing on the subject in 
 December, 1 836^ supposed that a tael or an ounce a day is 
 the proper allowance for a confirmed opium-smoker. A 
 writer in the Repository for October, 1837, gives only 
 three candarens, or seventeen and a half grains a day for a 
 moderate smoker. Both estimates seem to be in error, the 
 one being excessive, and the other defective. On inquiry of 
 the Chinese in Shanghai, in the present day, the invariable 
 answer is a mace, or a dram, a day for moderate smokers, 
 adding that there are few who confine themselves to this 
 amount ; the most of them consuming two, three, and five 
 mace a day, in order to keep up the stimulus once excited by 
 a single mace. Assuming the proportion of a mace a day as 
 the average amount of daily consumption of each person to 
 be correct, wB can easily arrive at the number of smokers 
 throughout the empire. Proceeding upon the statement 
 of the China Mail that 67,000 chests were delivered in 
 China last year, and that each chest contained seventy 
 catties of smokeable extract, allowing to each smoker one 
 mace a day, we have little more than two million smokers 
 for the whole empire ! . . . . Supposing the native-grown opium 
 to be one half the amount of the imported, it would then 
 raise the amount of smokers to somewhere about three 
 millions, about one per cent, of the population.^^ 
 
 This was in 1854. A proportional calculation for 1874 
 would make the number under four millions. This tallies 
 
ON THE NUMBER OF OPIUM-SMOKERS. 
 
 249 
 
 with Sir R. Alcock's evidence before the Committee, as 
 
 follows : — 
 
 " My own opinion is that we very much exaggerate the 
 area of consumption, because we know very well what is 
 brought to China from abroad; and that it does not exceed 
 80,000 chests ; although we do not know equally certainly 
 what amount is now grown in the provinces. It is roughly- 
 estimated that about half that amount is grown. We know 
 also that the ordinary consumption of a Chinese, who can 
 aflford it, is from half a mace to a mace a day, and a great 
 many of them smoke more. Supposing that you have 
 120,000 chests of bpium, and that every man smokes, say, 
 his mace a day, you will see that you have not got above 
 three or four millions of people who can consume it at all.^^ 
 (Report, East India Finance, 1871, p. 275.) 
 
 Dr. Dudgeon, in his seventh Peking Hospital Report, 
 
 '' The following figures may be taken as approximately 
 true, drawn from a careful inquiry and comparison of the 
 statements submitted to me. 
 
 Class. 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 Among small officials 
 
 40 
 
 
 , Agriculturists and field labourers 
 
 4 to 6 
 
 
 , Ditto in drug-producing provinces 
 
 40 to 60 
 
 
 , Merchants in Peking, about 
 
 20 
 
 
 , Mercantile community at the ports 
 
 30 
 
 
 , Followers and servants of mandarins . " 
 
 70 to 80 
 
 
 , Female attendants .... 
 
 30 to 40 
 
 
 , Soldiers ...... 
 
 20 to 30 
 
 
 , The literary class .... 
 
 20 to 30 
 
 
 , Eunuchs of the palace 
 
 50 
 
 
 , Manchu bannermen .... 
 
 30 to 40 
 
 
 , Male population in China generally. 
 
 
 probably 
 
 30 to 40 
 
 „ The general city population 
 
 40 to 60 
 
 ^SE UBRAfi 
 
250 APPENDIX. 
 
 In this table it is estimated that the average among 
 agriculturists is four to six per cent., among the whole 
 population thirty to forty per cent. Now as the agriculturists 
 form the great bulk of the population, these two estimates 
 appear inconsistent, even though we allow for the increased 
 estimate among the labourers of the drug-growing provinces. 
 Such statements being, of course, mere conjectural estimates 
 by Chinese, and not based on any actual numeration, while 
 they are probably not far from the truth when they refer to 
 small and well-known classes, such as the mandarins, and to 
 particular localities, decrease in reliability when they cover 
 vast areas, of which individuals can have but slight personal 
 knowledge. Dr. Dudgeon adds in his letter, dated Feb- 
 ruary, 1876 : — 
 
 ^^I have nothing new to add to what I have already 
 published about the numbers of smokers. I don^t think 
 I have estimated the number too high. About ten per 
 cent, of all the male patients seen at our hospital are con- 
 firmed opium-smokers, recognized, by the foreign practised 
 eye and every Chinaman, at once, and without the least 
 difficulty, by their peculiar appearance, and without the 
 necessity of asking them a direct question.^ To this number, 
 however, must be added at least five per cent, more for 
 incipient cases. And even then it is a question how far the 
 above percentage of patients at a foreign hospital in China 
 would be a fair criterion from which to judge of the extent 
 of the vice. In this country, hospital and dispensary practice 
 would afford a better and safer index to our intemperate 
 habits. Such an estimate would be too high for the province, 
 and yet too small for the city. Generally speaking, and in 
 
 1 Opium smokers are easily recognized by their emaciated, consumptive 
 appearance — stooping gait, raised and bent shoulders, dark yellow-greyish 
 complexion, and blue lips, caused by imperfectly arterialized blood, contour 
 of the mouth, projecting and pouting, caused by the large opium pipe — the 
 sunken cheeks, greatly caused by the constant inhalation and inspiration of 
 the pipe ; the small contracted pupil ; the unnatural lustre and blackness 
 of the eye, and the dirty forefinger, caused by manipulating the drug over 
 the lamp. 
 
ON THE NUMBER OF OPIUM-SMOKERS. 251 
 
 the absence of other data^ it may be taken as a fair 
 average/' 
 
 Mr. T. T. Cooper's evidence as to the amount smoked per 
 day, agrees with what we have already adduced; but its 
 bearing upon the " moderate '' use should not be overlooked. 
 
 " 5460. Have you any idea what quantity an individual 
 who is ordinarily fond of opium consumes ? — About an 
 ounce of raw opium a day is a very good allowance ; that is 
 to say, between fifteen and twenty pipes of opium is a large 
 allowance for a man. The generality of men that I have 
 seen and smoked with, have not taken more than six to ten 
 pipes a day. 
 
 "5461. Is that carried on every day in the year ? — Yes. 
 If they once become habituated to the use of opium, that is, 
 if they smoke for a week or ten days a pipe of opium every 
 day, it becomes almost impossible to leave it ofi" without 
 some medical assistance. 
 
 "5462. But is there no intermediate stage between the 
 confirmed smokers that you have described, and the people 
 who use it slightly? — I have seen in the case of many 
 Chinese, and in fact have experienced it myself, that if you 
 smoke a single pipe of opium once or twice a week, it has 
 very little efi*ect on you ; but if you smoke for three or four 
 days steadily, a pipe or two a day, it begins to affect you so 
 seriously, that before you can rouse your energy sufficiently 
 to go about your daily work, you have to take your quantity 
 of opium, a pipe or two pipes. 
 
 " 5463. I want to understand from you what would be 
 about the consumption of a person who might be said to 
 smoke moderately and reasonably as compared with the con- 
 sumption of a confirmed smoker, such as I understand you 
 to describe ? — I should say that the average smoker smokes 
 from a half to three-quarters of an ounce of opium, and a 
 very great smoker would smoke from an ounce and a half to 
 two ounces and over. In fact there is scarcely any limit to 
 what the old men who have smoked all their lives will do. 
 
252 I /■'.■■'.'■ ' APPENDIX. 
 
 '^ 5544, I suppose that about three pipes of opium a day 
 would be rather beneficial than otherwise, if a man could 
 keep to that ? — No, I think not ; because if a man is in the 
 habit of smoking three pipes a day, and by any misfortune 
 he could not get his supply of opium, he would be very ill/' 
 (Report, East India Finance, 1871, p. 253.) 
 
 In respect to the number of smokers, Mr. Cooper has 
 what I cannot but look upon as an exaggerated notion. He 
 says, ^^ You would destroy one -third of the population of 
 China if they were deprived of opium/' and again, "I 
 should say that one-third of the adult population would die 
 for the want of opium.'' If so many as one-third of the 
 adults are opium-smokers, where does all the opium come 
 from ? Probably Mr. Cooper has judged of the whole popu- 
 lation by the chair-coolies who carried him, and the traders 
 he met with at inns. In Southern China the passengers on 
 board the steamers and native passage-boats indulge their 
 habit freely on board the vessels. If one might judge of the 
 proportion of smokers to the whole adult male population, 
 from what is commonly witnessed among these passengers, 
 it would probably fall short of one-tenth instead of reaching 
 to near one -third. In country districts, out of the track of 
 commerce, it might be found that opium-smoking is rare. 
 It is not equally distributed over the whole empire ; at least, 
 there is every reason to suppose the contrary. In the treaty- 
 ports and districts adjacent to them, and in the provinces 
 growing native opium, it will be found most frequent. 
 
 This view is supported by the memorial of Choo-Tsun to 
 the Emperor, in 1836, in opposition to the proposition to 
 legalize the trade, and only to prohibit the officers and mili- 
 tary to smoke. He says : — 
 
 ^^ It is said, indeed, that when repealing the prohibitions, 
 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 liberty. But this is bad 
 casuistry. It is equal to the popular proverb, ^^ Shut a 
 
ON THE NUMBER OF OPIUM-SMOKERS. 253 
 
 woman's ears before you steal her earrings/' The officers^ 
 with all the scholars and the military, do not amount to more 
 than one-tenth of the whole population, and the other nine- 
 tenths are all the common people. The great majority of 
 those who at present 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.'' 
 
 The Rev. Joseph Edkins, of the London Missionary Society, 
 Peking, says : — 
 
 "At Shanghai, fifty-five per cent, of men smoke. In Shan- 
 tung, fifteen per hundred in towns. None in many villages. 
 The practice is still spreading." 
 
APPENDIX C. 
 
 ACTION OF THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT IN 
 INCREASING THE SUPPLY OF OPIUM FOR 
 THE FOREIGN TRADE. 
 
 It is difficult to get the English public to realize the fact 
 that, as regards the production of opium for the foreign 
 trade, the British Government of India is a commercial firm, 
 animated by the spirit of trade. The Viceroy and his 
 Council in Calcutta, the Secretary of State for India and his 
 Council in Parliament- street, are, when they come to deal with 
 opium, in a position exactly similar to that of Messrs. Jardine, 
 Matheson, and Co., and Messrs. Sassoon and Co. There is 
 one difference, viz., that the private merchants put the profits 
 in their own pockets ; the public merchants trade for the 
 public treasury. But it is to be feared this difference is far 
 from guaranteeing in our statesmen-merchants that indif- 
 ference to the pecuniary result of their commerce which 
 would insure an impartial verdict on its moral character. 
 Moreover, the Secretaries of State and Viceroys are but 
 temporary chiefs of an enormous bureaucracy, the permanent 
 officials of which are the practical Government of India, and 
 their interests are directly as well as indirectly concerned in the 
 affluence of the Indian Treasury. If any one will only read 
 their own published documents, it will convince him that, 
 with a few honourable exceptions, Indian officialdom has 
 been as much biassed in favour of the opium trade as the 
 private opium-dealers have been, and by a similar cause — its 
 profitableness. 
 
 Our first witness is Mr. St. George Tucker, Finance 
 Minister in the Indian Government, and afterwards twice 
 
INDIA INCREASING THE SUPPLY. 255 
 
 Chairman of the Court of Directors. He wrote to Sir Kobert 
 Peel : ^— 
 
 *' When I was connected with the finances of India, the 
 policy pursued in the management of the monopoly was to 
 draw the largest revenue from the smallest quantity of the 
 drug ... But when the province of Malwa came under 
 our dominion, it occurred to some of our functionaries that 
 an opium revenue might be obtained at Bombay analogous 
 to that derived from the monopoly of the manufacture in 
 Bengal, and every possible stimulus was given to the culti- 
 vation of the poppy. . . . From this time an entire change 
 in our policy took place, and it became the object of the 
 Government to crush the competition from other quarters, 
 which high prices might engender, and to draw the same 
 revenue from a large quantity at lower rates. "^ 
 
 And in a similar strain to Mr. Marjoribanks :* — 
 
 " For the last twenty years we have been encouraging the 
 production by all possible means, and we now export to 
 China alone the enormous quantity of 27,000 chests. This 
 I have always considered an intolerable evil.^^ 
 
 He also addressed an earnest remonstrance to the Court of 
 Directors : — 
 
 '^ Ever since I had the honour of being a member of this 
 Court I have uniformly and steadily opposed the encourage- 
 ment given to the extension of the manufacture of opium ; 
 but of late years we have pushed it to the utmost height, 
 and disproportionate prices were given for the article in 
 Malwa. We contracted burdensome treaties with the Eajpoot 
 States to introduce and extend the cultivation of the poppy. 
 We introduced the article into our own districts, where it 
 had! not been cultivated before, or where the cultivation had 
 been abandoned, and we gave our revenue officers an interest 
 in extending the cultivation in preference to other produce 
 much more valuable and deserving of encouragement. 
 Finally, we established retail shops, which brought it to 
 every man's door. How different was the policy of Lord 
 1 Kaye's Administration. 2 Ibid. 
 
256 APPENDIX. 
 
 Cornwallis, Lord Teignmouth, Lord Wellesley, and Lord 
 MintOj who circumscribed the produce within the narrowest 
 limits, confining the cultivation of the poppy to two of our 
 provinces, and actually eradicating it from districts where it 
 had been previously cultivated ! How fatal have been the 
 consequences of a departure from this wise and humane 
 policy ! Is there any man still so blind as not to perceive 
 that it has had a most injurious effect upon our national 
 reputation ? If a revenue cannot be drawn from such an 
 article otherwise than by quadrupling the supply, by promot- 
 ing the general use of the drug, and by placing it within the 
 reach of the lower classes of the people, no fiscal considera- 
 tion can justify our inflicting upon the Malays and Chinese 
 so grievous an evil/' * 
 
 This appeal to the Company's nobler instincts fell on deaf 
 ears. They and their successors, the British Government, 
 deliberately resolved to make as much money by the trade as 
 they could, regardless of its consequences. Witness the 
 avowal of Sir Cecil Beadon, K.C.S.L, formerly Lieutenant- 
 Governor of Bengal, to the House of Commons Committee : * 
 
 " 3329. Mr. Fawcett.'] — I understand you to say that opium 
 is grown in India simply for purposes of revenue ; no moral 
 considerations at all influence the Government? — The Govern- 
 ment only regard opium as a means of obtaining revenue. 
 
 ^^'3330. That if, for instance, they thought they could 
 obtain more revenue by doubling the cultivation of opium in 
 India, they would do so, and would not be deterred from 
 adopting such a course by any considerations as to the 
 deleterious effect which opium might produce on the people 
 to whom it was sold?— Probably not.'' 
 
 Sir William Muir, in his Minute recommending the aban- 
 donment of the monopoly, indicates the commercial spirit of 
 the Government in these words : * — 
 
 3 Papers relating to the Opium Trade, 1842 — 1856, London, p. 54. 
 * Eeport, East India Finance, 1871, p. 161. 
 5 Calcutta Papers, 1870, p. 6. 
 
INDIA INCREASING THE SUPPLY. 257 
 
 " That cannot be an edifying position for the Government 
 to occupy, in which it has year by year to determine the 
 quantity of opium which it will bring to sale, in which there 
 is a constant inducement for it to trim the market^ and in 
 which its haste to secure wider harvests and larger returns 
 has repeatedly recoiled upon the trade, stimulated baneful 
 speculation and gambling in Central and Western India, and 
 ended in much misery." 
 
 The utterances of the Indian Government, through its 
 officials, contain abundant proofs of a systematic deter- 
 mination to treat opium simply and solely as a source of gain, 
 and to push the trade to the utmost. Take the following as 
 illustrations.* 
 
 Extract from Minute by the Honourable J. Strachey, 
 dated Simla, 20th A^pril, 1869. 
 
 " It seems to me, therefore, that immediate measures of 
 the most energetic character ought to be taken with the 
 object of increasing the production of opium. No doubt this 
 may lead to present expense, and it is possible -that, if we 
 take no extraordinary measure now, the fortunate recurrence 
 of two or three good seasons may relieve us from our 
 difficulties. But the risk that we are running seems to me 
 too serious a one to be accepted. I think that the very least 
 which we ought now to do is to endeavour with the least 
 possible delay to bring up the total area under opium culti- 
 vation to 790,500 beegahs, the extent declared by the 
 Lieutenant Governor of Bengal to be necessary for the pro- 
 duction of 54,500 chests. I beHeve myself .that we might, 
 with propriety, go much further, but anything less than this 
 will, I think, be certainly too little. I observe that in the 
 three years ending with 1861-62 opium cultivation was ex- 
 tended from 435,000 to 832,000 beegahs. The provision of 
 opium in 1860-61 was 29,358 chests; it was 39,656 in 
 1861-62 ; 49,727 in 1862-63 ; and 64,269 in 1863-64. If it 
 
 * Calcutta Papers, 1870, p. 85, et seq. 
 
25S APPRNDIX. 
 
 was possible a few years ago to make so immense an increase 
 of production in so stort a time, T should hope that it might 
 be found practicable to make the far smaller increase that is 
 now required in a much smaller space of time than now 
 appears to be contemplated. Whether yery much can be 
 done during the present year is unfortunately doubtful, for 
 the season is now far advanced. Still it may not be too late 
 to do something more than has been already proposed. I 
 recommend that the Lieutenant-Governor be immediately 
 addressed on this subject, and that he be requested to con- 
 sider whether measures might not still be taken with 
 advantage, which would increase the area of opium cultivation 
 in the season of 1869-70 to something like the full amount 
 necessary to give an average annual production of 54,500 
 chests. Even if it be too late now to accomplish this 
 altogether, any increase of cultivation which can be brought 
 about without excessive expenditure will be a clear gain. 
 
 '^626. I think that special inquiry should be made as to 
 the possibility of profitably extending the cultivation of 
 opium in the districts of the North-Western Provinces^ in 
 which canal irrigation is available. It seems not improbable 
 that we might thus diminish to some extent the precarious- 
 ness of production which now causes so much difficulty.^' 
 
 Demi-official, from the Honourable W. Grey, Lieutenant 
 Governor of Bengal, dated Barrackpore, 22nd April, 1869. 
 
 To C. H. Campbell, Esq. 
 
 " 639. I have a telegraphic message from Simla, urging 
 ' that every possible expedient that you (I) approve should 
 be used even now to extend the opium cultivation next 
 season to the utmost practicable extent.' 
 
 " 640. From all accounts it is not practicable to do anything 
 more in the Behar Agency. The figures you sent me the 
 other day show the area of cultivation to have been larger in 
 1867-68 than in any previous year, and Abercrombie seems 
 positive that it cannot be further stretched without taking 
 up altogether new fields of operation . 
 
INDIA INCREASING THE SUPPLY. 259 
 
 ^^641. But are you quite satisfied tliat the fullest possible 
 extension (that is, of course, under existing circumstances, 
 and without an increase of price) is being pushed in the 
 Benares Agency ? I see from the figures you sent me that 
 the cultivation of that agency was in 1863-64 358,000 
 beegahs, which gave the large yield of 51,542 maunds, an 
 average of 5-1 If per beegah. In 1867-68 the cultivation 
 was 265,572 beegahs. If Carnac should see his way to 
 doing anything more than he has done already to extend the 
 cultivation for next season, you need not hesitate to sanction 
 it at once.'' 
 
 Minute by Sir E. Temple, dated 27th Ajpril, 1869. 
 
 ''642. On the general question of the opium supply I do 
 not wish to controvert anything which Mr. Strachey has 
 written in his Minute of the 20th. 
 
 " 643. In the general principles on which his opinion is 
 based, I concur. 
 
 " 644. I am clear for extending the cultivation, and for 
 insuring a plentiful supply. If we do not do this, the 
 Chinese will do it for themselves. They had better have 
 our good opium than their own indifferent opium. There 
 really is no moral objection to our conduct in this respect. 
 
 " 645. I, therefore, quite agree with Mr. Strachey in the 
 general policy of increasing the cultivation. 
 
 ''646. But I think that even here caution is required. If 
 we suddenly increased it in every direction, and if after that 
 there ensued a ' bumper ' harvest, we might have more 
 opium on our hands than we could dispose of, and, inasmuch 
 as we must pay for all that is brought by our ryots, the 
 expenditure would be great.'' 
 
 [Extracts from) No. 533, dated 14th May, 1869. ' 
 From E. B. Chapmax, Esq., Offg. Secy, to the Govt, of India ^ 
 Financial Dept., 
 To the Secretary to the Government of Bengal. 
 " 687. I am directed in continuation of my letter No. 2069, 
 
260 APPENDIX. 
 
 dated 17tli ultimo, to address you on tlie subject of the 
 arrangements that are necessary for insuring an increased 
 supply of opium 
 
 " 695. (9.) It is impossible not to regard witli anxiety the 
 possibility that in consequence of the deficiency of supply, 
 the price next year will increase to such an extent as to 
 furnish, a dangerous stimulus to competition with the Indian 
 drug in the China market. If, unfortunately, the crop of 
 next season should be again deficient in quantity, the con- 
 sequences to our opium revenue might be permanently 
 disastrous. 
 
 '^696. (10.) It is true that a succession of favourable 
 seasons may extricate the Government from its present 
 difficulties, but his Excellency in Council considers the risk 
 of depending upon such a fortunate contingency too great to 
 be accepted. His Excellency in Council is therefore of 
 opinion that the most energetic measures should be taken 
 to increase the cultivation, with the least possible delay, to 
 not less than 790,500 beegahs, as estimated by the Lieutenant 
 Governor, or to 800,000 beegahs. 
 
 ^^697. (11.) The Governor-General in Council observes that 
 in the three years ending with 1861-62, the opium culti- 
 vation was extended from 435,000 to 832,000 beegahs. The 
 provision of opium was : — 
 
 In 1860-61 . 
 „ 1861-62 . 
 „ 1862-63 . 
 and ,. 1863-64 . 
 
 >f 
 
 . 29,358 chests. 
 . 39,656 „ 
 . 49,727 „ 
 . 64,269 „ 
 
 " If it was possible then to bring about so immense an 
 increase of cultivation and production in so short a time, his 
 Excellency in Council thinks that it may be found practicable 
 to efiect the far smaller increase that is now required in a 
 shorter time than now appears to be contemplated. It may 
 not be too late to do something more than has been proposed 
 even for the coming season. 
 
 "698. (12.) Any increase of cultivation that can be obtained 
 
INDIA INCREASING THE SUPPLY. 2()i 
 
 without excessive expenditure will apparently be a clear 
 gain. The Government of India thinks that special inquiry 
 should be made as to the possibility of profitably extending 
 the cultivation of the poppy in the districts of the North- 
 western Provinces in which canal irrigation is available. It 
 seems not impossible that in this way the precariousness of 
 production which causes so much difficulty might to some 
 extent be diminished." 
 
 These extracts make it abundantly evident that our 
 Indian Government does not hold the calm, indifferent 
 position of a superior 'authority laying a heavy tax upon an 
 injurious article, the consumption of which it cannot pre- 
 vent j but, on the contrary, that it enters into the trade 
 with the same eager desire for its increase that a private 
 capitalist would feel. Who does not blush to think that a 
 British Government should be engaged in the sordid pursuit 
 of profits raised from Chinese opium-smoking dens ? 
 
 But the most painful evidence is found in the result of 
 Sir Rutherford Alcock's visit to Calcutta, in 1870. Our 
 ambassador went from Peking to the capital of our Indian 
 empire with the revision of the Treaty of Tientsin in his 
 hands, in which revision he had agreed, to grant to the / nl 
 Chinese an increase of duty on opium of about two and 
 a half per cent., in return for certain privileges to be 
 granted to English commerce. Sir R. Alcock laid the 
 matter before the Indian Council, urging them not to 
 oppose this concession, and setting forth the strong moral 
 objections to the trade. The whole account of this inter- 
 view and its sequences may be read in the Calcutta Opium ; ; 
 Papers.' 
 
 "In answer to questions put by his Excellency the 
 Viceroy and others. Sir Rutherford Alcock said that he had 
 no doubt that the abhorrence expressed by the Government 
 and people of China for opium, as destructive to the Chinese 
 nation, is genuine and deep-seated ; and that he was also 1 j 
 
 " Papers relating, &c., 1870, Addendum to Appendix IV. ' 
 
Ill 
 
 , J 262 APPENDIX. 
 
 quite convinced tliat the Chinese Government could_, if it 
 pleased, cany out its threat of developing cultivation to any 
 extent. On the other hand, he believed that so strong was 
 the popular feeling on the subject, that if Britain would give 
 up the opium revenue and suppress the cultivation in India, 
 the Chinese Government would have no difficulty in sup- 
 pressing it in China, except in the province of Yunnan, 
 where its authority is in abeyance. 
 
 '^ He then read extracts from his despatch (copy is in the 
 office) to Lord Clarendon upon the question, and he dwelt 
 upon the fact that the additional import duty was largely 
 nominal, as the Chinese could impose what transit duties 
 they pleased upon opium, and did impose upon it very heavy 
 duties of this kind. 
 
 " Sir R. Temple inquired whether the Chinese Govern- 
 ment would be willing to enter into an agreement for 
 repressing the growth of the poppy in China, upon con- 
 dition that the Government of India would fix a limit to the 
 amount of opium to be sent to China; also, whether they 
 would have the power and the will to observe their side of 
 any such agreement. Sir Rutherford Alcock thought that 
 they would be ready to adopt any reasonable proposition, 
 and would be able to carry it out more or less efiectually. 
 
 '• He repeated that the Chinese Government did certainly 
 hope and desire that the British Government would agree to 
 some arrangement for giving efi'ect to the wish of China for 
 the discouragement of the consumption of opium by the 
 Chinese people.^' 
 
 The Viceroy and his Council discussed the matter, and 
 came to the conclusion that the Government could not pro- 
 test against the additional import duty ; but adopted the 
 following resolution : — 
 
 No. 2090, dated 25th March, 1870. 
 
 RESOLUTION. — By the Government of India Financial 
 Department. 
 
 " Resolution. — The Government of Bengal shall be in- 
 
INDIA INCREASING THE SUPPLY. 263 
 
 formed that the Supreme Government has resolved to 
 increase the annual provision of opium in Bengal for export 
 to China to 60,000 chests, gradually indeed, but still with as 
 much promptitude as may be conveniently practicable, and 
 will be prepared to sanction any expenditure that, on full 
 consideration, may appear necessary for this object. It is 
 not deemed needful at present to raise the price paid to the 
 cultivators to 5 Rs. a seer, but the Supreme Government 
 recognizes the probability that this concession must soon be 
 made, and will be prepared to consider favourably any re- 
 commendation made by the Government of Bengal for such 
 an increase if it be found by experience that effect cannot 
 otherwise be given to this Resolution. 
 
 '^ Ordered, that the foregoing Resolution be communicated 
 to the Government of Bengal for information and guidance.*' 
 
 After reading this, who will have the face to assert that 
 the Bengal monopoly is simply a mode of taxation ? 
 
APPENDIX D. 
 
 HISTORICAL. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM " CORRESPONDENCE RELATING 
 TO CHINA/^ 1840. 
 
 No. 61. 
 Sir G. B. Robinson to Viscount Palmerston. 
 
 " His Majesty's Cutter ' Louisa,' 
 " Lintin, Feb. 5, 1836. 
 
 " I SEE no grounds to apprehend the occurrence of any 
 fearful events on the north-east coast, nor can I leam what 
 new danger exists. I am assured from the best authority 
 that the scuffles between different parties of smugglers and 
 mandarins, ahke engaged and competing in the traffic, are 
 not more serious or frequent than in this province. In no 
 case have Europeans been engaged in any kind of conflict or 
 affray; and while this increasing and lucrative trade is in the 
 hands of the parties whose vital interests are so totally 
 dependent on its safety and continuance, and by whose 
 prudence and integrity it has been cherished and brought 
 into its present increasing and flourishing condition, I think 
 little apprehension may be entertained of dangers emanating 
 from imprudence on their part. Should any unfortunate 
 catastrophe take place, what would our position at Canton 
 entail upon us but responsibility and jeopardy ? from which 
 we are now free. 
 
 '' On the question of ^ smuggling opium ' I will not enter 
 in this place, though, indeed, smuggling carried on actually 
 in the mandarin boats can hardly be termed such. When- 
 
HISTORICAL. 205 
 
 ever his Majesty's Government direct ns to prevent British 
 ships engaging in the trafl&c, we can enforce any order to 
 that effect ; but a more certain method would be to prohibit 
 the growth of the poppy and manufacture of opium in 
 British India ; and if British ships are in the habit of com- 
 mitting irregularities and crimes^ it seems doubly necessary 
 to exercise a salutary control over them by the presence of 
 an authority at Lintin/' 
 
 No. 82. 
 Captain Elliot to the Fokeign Office. 
 
 " Macao, July 27, 1836. 
 '^ It has been a confusion of terms to call the opium trade 
 a smuggling trade ; it was a formally -prohibited trade, but 
 there was no part of the trade of this country which had the 
 more active support of the local authorities. It commenced 
 and has subsisted by the hearty connivance of the mandarins, 
 and it could have done neither the one nor the other without 
 their constant concur rence.^' 
 
 No. 110. 
 Captain Elliot to Yiscount Palmerston. 
 
 " Canton, Nor. 19, 1837. 
 
 " The native boats have been burned, and the native 
 smugglers scattered ; and the consequence is, as it was fore- 
 seen it would be, that a complete and very hazardous change 
 has been worked in the whole manner of conducting the 
 Canton portion of the trade. 
 
 " The opium is now carried on (and a great part of it 
 inwards to Whampoa) in European passage-boats belonging 
 to British owners, slenderly manned with Lascar seamen, 
 
266 APPENDIX. 
 
 and furnished with a scanty armament, which may be rather 
 said to provoke or to justify search, accompanied by violence, 
 than to furnish the means of effectual defence. 
 
 »(: :{c ){( ^ )|( :jc >ic 
 
 " In fact, my lord, looking around me, and weighing the 
 whole body of circumstances as carefully as I can, it seems 
 to me that the moment has arrived for such active interpo- 
 sition upon the part of her Majesty's Government as can 
 properly be afforded, and that it cannot be deferred without 
 great hazard to the safety of the whole trade, and of the 
 persons engaged in its pursuit." 
 
 No. 116. 
 Viscount Palmeeston to Captain Elliot. 
 
 "June 15th, 1838. 
 " With respect to the smuggling trade in opium, which 
 forms the subject of your despatches of the 18th and 19th 
 November, and 7th December, 1887, I have to state that 
 her Majesty's Government cannot interfere for the purpose 
 of enabling British subjects to violate the laws of the 
 country to which they trade. Any loss, therefore, which 
 such persons may suffer in consequence of the more 
 effectual execution of the Chinese laws on the subject, 
 must be borne by the parties who have brought that loss on 
 themselves by their own acts.'' 
 
 No. 137. 
 Captain Elliot to Yiscount Palmeeston. 
 
 "January 2nd, 1839. 
 " .... I have now to inform your lordship that Mr. Innes 
 applied to the provincial government for a passport, and left 
 
HISTORICAL. 267 
 
 this place for Macao on the 16th ultimo, having previously 
 forwarded a declaration to his Excellency, confessing that 
 the opium was his, that it came from his boat, and not from 
 the American ship, and absolving the two coolies from all 
 artful participation in the offence, upon the ground that 
 they were ignorant of the contents of the boxes. The diffi- 
 culty which remained to be removed before the trade could 
 be re-opened, was the illicit traffic in opium carried on in 
 small craft within the river, a considerable number of which 
 were stationary at Whampoa, receiving their supplies from 
 time to time in other vessels of a similar description, from 
 the opium ships at Lintin or Hong Kong. 
 
 '' The senior Hong merchants, on the evening of my 
 arrival in Canton (the 12th ult.), complained in bitter 
 terms that they should be exposed to the cruel and ruinous 
 consequences which were hourly arising out of the existence 
 of this forced trade, not merely at Whampoa, but at the 
 factories themselves, of which they were the proprietors, 
 and, therefore, under heavy responsibility to the Govern- 
 ment. And they insisted that they would not carry on the 
 lawful commerce (having the governor's sanction for their 
 conduct) till effectual steps were taken for the suppression 
 of this dangerous evil 
 
 " Carefully considering the critical posture of those 
 momentous interests confided to me, I resolved, as a pre- 
 liminary measure, upon an appeal to the whole community ; 
 not only with some hope that such a proceeding might have 
 the effect of clearing the river of these boats, but because 
 (if the case were otherwise) I felt it became me distinctly 
 to forewarn her Majesty's subjects concerned in these 
 practices of the course which it was my determination to 
 pursue. On the 17th ultimo, therefore, I convened a 
 general meeting of all the foreign residents at Canton in 
 this hall, and addressed them in the manner your lordship 
 will find reported in the accompanying note,^ taken at the 
 
 * Vids infra. 
 
268 APPENDIX. 
 
 moment by my secretary. On the 1 8tli I promulgated the 
 enclosed notice/ and having ascertained that the smuggling 
 boats were still at Whampoa on the 23rd (some of them 
 ^vearing British ensigns and pendants), I addressed the 
 accompanying note ^ to his Excellency the governor/' 
 ******* 
 
 '' Having now drawn the statement of these proceedings 
 to a close,, I may turn to a more particular explanation of 
 the motives and the manner of my interposition. It had 
 been clear to me, my lord, from the origin of this peculiar 
 branch of the opium traffic, that it must grow to be more 
 and more mischievous to every branch of the trade, and 
 certainly to ngne more than to that of opium itself. As the 
 danger and sname of its pursuit increased, it was obvious 
 that it would fall by rapid degrees into the hands of more 
 and more desperate men ; that it would stain the foreign 
 character with constantly aggravating disgrace in the sight 
 of the whole of the better portion of this people; and lastly, 
 that it would connect itself more and more intimately with 
 our lawful commercial intercourse, to the great peril of vast 
 public and private interests. 
 
 " Till the other day, my lord, I believe there was no part 
 of the world where the foreigner felt his life and property 
 more secure than here in Canton, but the grave events of 
 the 12th ultimo have left a different impression. For a 
 space of near two hours the foreign factories were within 
 the power of an immense and excited mob, the gate of one 
 of them was absolutely battered in, and a pistol was fired 
 out, probably without ball, or over the heads of the people, 
 for at least it is certain that nobody fell. If the case had 
 been otherwise, her Majesty's Government and the British 
 public would have had to learn that the trade and peaceful 
 intercourse with this Empire was indefinitely interrupted by 
 a terrible scene of bloodshed and ruin. And all these 
 desperate hazards have been incurred, my lord, for the 
 scrambling and, comparatively considered, insignificant 
 
 - Ihid. 
 
HISTORICAL. 2G9 
 
 gains of a few reckless individuals, unquestionably found- 
 ing their conduct upon the belief that they were exempt 
 from the operation of all law, British or Chinese." 
 
 ******* 
 
 " I should observe in this place that the remarkable 
 vigour, not merely of the local, but of the general Govern- 
 ment, for some months back, furnished additional causes to 
 apprehend some exceedingly serious dilemma. And regard- 
 ing the subject in every point of view, I could not but 
 perceive that a person in my station should lose no time in 
 taking such a position as would give weight to his repre- 
 sentations in any m'oment of emergency." 
 
 Inclosure 7 in No. 137. 
 
 Captain Elliotts Address at a General Meeting of all 
 Foreign Residents at Canton. 
 
 " 17th December, 1838. 
 " . . . . Seeking, however, for the immediate source of 
 this critical interruption of the usual course of events, lie 
 felt bound to say that he found it in the existence of an 
 extensive traffic in opium, conducted in small boats upon 
 the river. The present results of that traffic should be 
 shortly stated and considered ; the actual interruption of 
 the legal trade, the seizure and imminent jeopardy of inno- 
 cent men, the daily exposure of every native connected with 
 the foreigners to similar disastrous consequences, the life 
 and property of the whole foreign community at- the mercy 
 of an immense mob for the space of at least two hours, the 
 distressing degradation of the foreign character, the painful 
 fact that such courses exposed us more and more to the just 
 indignation of this Government and people, and diminished 
 the sympathies of our own; of its futurity it might safely be 
 predicted that it would fall into the hands of the reckless, 
 the refuse, and probably the convicted, of all the countries 
 
270 APPENDIX. 
 
 in our neighbourhood. Attentively considering all these 
 points, Captain Elliot felt that it became him to explain the 
 course which it was his purpose to pursue with the view to 
 the re-establishment of a safer and more creditable con- 
 dition of circumstances. He should forthwith serve a notice 
 upon the boats in the river to the effect that, if they were 
 British-owned, and were either actually or occasionally 
 engaged in the traffic, they must proceed outside within 
 three days, and cease to return with any similar pursuits ; 
 that failing their conformity with those injunctions, he 
 should place himself in communication with the provincial 
 Government, and frankly and fully express the views of his 
 own, upon the necessary and perfectly admissible treatment 
 of so serious an evil. He could not, however, help indulging 
 the hope that the general reprobation of the whole com- 
 munity would have the effect of relieving him from 
 the performance of a duty on many accounts extremely 
 painful to him.^^ 
 
 Inclosure 8 in No. 137. 
 Public Notice to her Majesty^s Subjects.* 
 
 " I, Charles Elliot, Chief Superintendent of the trade of 
 British subjects in China, moved by urgent considerations, 
 immediately affecting the safety of the lives and properties 
 of all her Majesty's subjects engaged in the trade at Canton, 
 do hereby formally give notice and require that all British- 
 owned schooners, cutters, or otherwise rigged small craft, 
 either habitually or occasionally engaged in the illicit opium 
 traffic within the Bocca Tigris, should proceed forth of the 
 same within the space of three days from the date of these 
 presents, and not return within the said Bocca Tigris being 
 engaged in the said illicit opium trade. 
 
 ''And I, the said Chief Superintendent, do further give 
 
 ' Correspondence, 1840, p. 334. 
 
HISTORICAL. 271 
 
 notice and warn all her Majesty's subjects^ engaged in the 
 aforesaid illicit opium traffic within the Bocca Tigris, in such 
 schooners, cutters, or otherwise rigged small craft, that if 
 any native of the Chinese empire shall come by his or her 
 death by any wound feloniously inflicted by any British sub- 
 ject or subjects, any such British subject or subjects, being 
 duly convicted thereof, are liable to capital punishment, as 
 if the crime had been committed within the jurisdiction of 
 her Majesty's courts at Westminster. 
 
 " And I, the said Chief Superintendent, do further give 
 notice and warn all British subjects being owners of 
 such schooners, cutters, or otherwise rigged small craft, 
 engaged in the said illicit opium traffic within the Bocca 
 Tigris, that her Majesty's Government will in no way inter- 
 pose if the Chinese Government shall think fit to seize and 
 confiscate the same. 
 
 " And I, the said Chief Superintendent, do further give 
 notice and warn all British subjects employed in the said 
 schooners, cutters, and otherwise rigged small craft, engaged 
 in the illicit opium traffic within the Bocca Tigris, that the 
 forcible resisting of the officers of the Chinese Government 
 in the duty of searching and seizing, is a lawless act, and 
 that they are liable to consequences and penalties in the same 
 manner as if the aforesaid forcible resistance were opposed 
 to the officers of their own or any other Government in their 
 own or any foreign country. 
 
 " Given under my hand and seal of office at Canton, this 
 eighteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one 
 thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight. 
 
 (Signed) "Charles Elliot, &c., kc." 
 
 Inclosure 14 in No. 137. 
 Official Notice to her Majesty's Subjects. 
 
 31st December, 1838. 
 ******* 
 
 " After the most deliberate reconsideration of this course 
 
272 APPENDIX. 
 
 of traffic (which he heartily hopes has ceased for ever), the 
 Chief Superintendent will once more declare his own opinion, 
 that in its general effects it was intensely mischievous to 
 every branch of the trade, that it was rapidly staining the 
 British character with deep disgrace, and, finally, that it 
 exposed the vast public and private interests involved in the 
 peaceful maintenance of our regular commercial intercourse 
 with this empire, in imminent jeopardy. 
 
 " Thus profoundly impressed (and after the failure of his 
 own public entreaties and injunctions), the Chief Superin- 
 tendent feels that he would have betrayed his duty to his 
 gracious sovereign and his country, if he had hesitated 
 beyond the period he had formerly fixed, efiectually to 
 separate her Majesty^s Government from any direct or 
 implied countenance of this dangerous irregularity/' .... 
 
 Inclosure 9 in No. 137. 
 Captain Elliot to the Governor of Canton. 
 
 December 23rd, 1838. 
 " . . . . Seeking for the immediate source of this dan- 
 gerous state of things, he finds it in the existence of an 
 extensive opium traffic, conducted in small craft within the 
 
 " The Government of the British nation will regard these 
 evil practices with no feelings of leniency, but, on the con- 
 trary, with severity and continual anxiety : in proof of this, 
 the undersigned has now to acquaint your Excellency that he 
 has already, on the 18th day of this month, formally required 
 all boats (owned by British subjects) engaged in this traffic, 
 to leave the river within three days. 
 
 " He cannot faithfully declare that these injunctions have 
 been fulfilled, and he has, therefore, now to request that 
 your Excellency will signify your pleasure through the 
 honourable officers, the Kwang Chowfoo and Kwanghee, so 
 
HISTOKICAL. 273 
 
 that all those concerned in tliese pursuits may know that ho 
 lias received your Excellency's authority for this notice. 
 
 '^ .... It is further to be desired that your Excellency 
 would command the honourable officers, who may be em- 
 ployed on this occasion, to proceed to the station of the 
 boats, with the undersigned, in order that the peaceful and 
 the well-disposed may not be involved in the same con- 
 sequences as the perverse. 
 
 (Signed) " Charles Elliot, &c., &c.'' 
 
 Inclosure 10 in No. 137. 
 
 The Prefect and Commandant, jointly, of Canton to 
 Captain Elliot. 
 
 He :{£ 4: :): :^ ^ 4: 
 
 " The said superintendent came, I find, to Canton in 
 obedience to commands received from his sovereign to 
 exercise control over the merchants and seamen, to repress 
 the depraved, and to extirpate evils. Having such com- 
 mands given him, he must needs also have powers. It is 
 very inexplicable, then, that these boats, having in violation 
 of the laws entered the river, he should now find it difficult 
 to send them out again, owing to his not having the 
 confidence of all.^^ 
 
 No. 141. 
 Captain Elliot to Viscount Palmeeston, 
 
 " 30th January, 1839. 
 
 " The stagnation of the opium trade at all points, however, 
 
 may be said to have been nearly complete for the last four 
 
 months. And it is now my duty to signify to your lordship 
 
 the expected arrival of a very high officer from the court, of 
 
 T 
 
274 APPENDIX. 
 
 equal rank with tlie Governor, and specially charged, as I 
 am this day informed by Howqua, with the general conduct 
 of the measures lately determined upon at Peking for the 
 suppression of the opium trade. It must also be stated that 
 the Emperor has recently been advised to command a total 
 interruption of the foreign trade and intercourse, till the 
 introduction of opium shall be effectually stopped, and an 
 edict of great moment, evidently founded upon that policy, 
 has been issued to the foreign merchants, but not yet to my- 
 self. It shall be transmitted to your lordship as soon as 
 Mr. Morrison has translated it. . . . There seems, my lord, 
 no longer any occasion to doubt that the court has firmly 
 determined to suppress, or more probably, most extensively 
 to check the opium trade. The immense, and it must be 
 said, most unfortunate increase of the supply during the last 
 four years, the rapid growth of the east coast trade, and the 
 continued drain of the silver have, no doubt, greatly alarmed 
 the Government : but the manner of the rash course of 
 traffic within the river has probably contributed most of all 
 to impress the urgent necessity of arresting the growing 
 audacity of the foreign smugglers, and preventing their 
 associating themselves with the desperate and lawless of 
 their own large cities.'^ 
 
 Inclosure 1 in No. 145. 
 
 Edict from the Imperial Commissionee, addressed to 
 Foreigners of all nations. 
 
 " Lin, High Imperial Commissioner of the Celestial Court, 
 a Director of the Board of War, and Governor of Hoo- 
 kwang, issues his commands to the foreigners of every nation, 
 requiring of all full acquaintance with the tenour thereof. 
 
 " It is known that the foreign vessels, which come for a 
 reciprocal trade to Kwangtung, have derived from that 
 trade very large profits. This is evidenced by the facts^ 
 
H1ST0E[CAL. . 275 
 
 that, whereas the vessels annually resorting hither were 
 formerly reckoned hardly by tens, their number has of late 
 years amounted to a hundred and several times ten, and 
 that whatever commodities they have brought, none have 
 ailed to find a full consumption ; whatever they may have 
 sought to purchase, never have they been unable readily to 
 do so. Let them but ask themselves whether, between 
 heaven and earth, any place affording so advantageous a 
 commercial mart is elsewhere to be found ? It is because 
 our great Emperors, in their universal benevolence, have 
 granted you commoi'cial privileges that you have been 
 favoured with these advantages. Let our ports once be 
 closed against you, and for what profits can your several 
 nations any longer look ? Yet more, — our tea and our 
 rhubarb — seeing that, should you foreigners be deprived of 
 them, you therein lose the means of preserving life — are 
 without stint or grudge granted to you for exportation, year 
 by year, beyond the seas. Favours never have been greater ! 
 
 " Are you grateful for these favours ? You must, then, fear 
 the laws, and in seeking profit for yourselves must not do 
 hurt to others. Why do you bring to our land the opium, 
 which in your lands is not made use of, by it defrauding 
 men of their property, and causing injury to their lives ? 
 I find that with this thing you have seduced and deluded 
 the people of China for tens of years past, and countless are 
 the unjust hoards that you have thus acquired. Such con- 
 duct rouses indignation in every human heart, and it is 
 utterly inexcusable in the eye of celestial reason. . . . 
 
 '' I proceed to issue my commands. When these commands 
 reach the said foreign merchants, let them with all haste pay 
 obedience thereto; let them deliver up to Government 
 every particle of the opium on board their store-ships. 
 Let it be ascertained by the Hong merchants who are th( 
 parties so delivering it up, and what number of chests, as 
 also what total quantity, in catties and taela, is delivered 
 up under each name. Let these particulars be brought 
 together in a clear tabular form, and be presented to Govem- 
 
 T 2 
 
27o APPENDIX. 
 
 ment, in order tliat the opuim may all be received in plain 
 conformity thereto, tliat it may be burnt and destroyed, and 
 that thus the evil may be entirely extirpated. There must 
 not be the smallest atom concealed or withheld. 
 
 '^ At the same time, let these foreigners give a bond, written 
 jointly in the foreign and Chinese languages, making a de- 
 claration to this effect : — ' That their vessels, which shall 
 hereafter resort hither, will never again dare to briog opium 
 with them ; and that should any be brought, as soon as dis- 
 covery shall be made of it, the goods shall be forfeited to 
 Government, and the parties shall suffer the extreme penal- 
 ties of the law, and that such punishment will be willingly 
 submitted to/ 
 
 " I have heard that you foreigners are used to attach great 
 importance to the word ^ good faith/ If then you will 
 really do as I, the High Commissioner, have commanded, — 
 will deliver up every particle of the opium that is already 
 here, and will stay altogether its future introduction, — as 
 this will prove, also, that you are capable of feeling contri- 
 tion for your offences, and of entertaining a salutary dread 
 of punishment, the past may yet be left unnoticed. I, the 
 High Commissioner, will, in that case, in conjunction with 
 the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, address the throne, 
 imploring the great Emperor to vouchsafe extraordinary 
 favour, and not alone to remit the punishment of your past 
 errors, but also, as we will further request, to devise some 
 mode of bestowing on you his imperial rewards, as an en- 
 couragement of the spirit of contrition and wholesome dread 
 thus manifested by you. After this you will continue to 
 enjoy the advantages of commercial intercourse, and as you 
 will not lose the character of being ^ good foreigners,^ and 
 will be enabled to acquire profits and gain wealth by an 
 honest trade, will you not stand in a most honourable 
 position ?''.... 
 
HISTOEICAL. 277 
 
 Inclosure 2 in No. 145. 
 
 Edict from the Imperial Commissioner to the Hong 
 Merchants. 
 
 " With regard, too, to foreiguers, such as Jardine and othern, 
 who have been in the habit of selling opium, — all of them 
 most artful and crafty men, — when the Imperial pleasure 
 was expressed two years ago, that their conduct should 
 be inquired into, and that they should be driven forth, 
 the said Hong merchants still strenuously defended them. 
 Such language as this was used : " That when it could 
 be discovered that 'there had been any concert in selling 
 opium, any money taken, or orders given, punishment would 
 then be willingly submitted to.'^ Such a bond is yet to 
 be found among the archives ! Let them ask themselves, 
 whether, according to this bond, punishment should or 
 should not be inflicted ? 
 
 " Again, the opium on board Innes^ vessel was seized within 
 the river, showing that the bonds given even for vessels that 
 have entered the port have been no less unworthy of con- 
 fidence.^' .... 
 
 No. 146. 
 Captain Eluot to Yiscount Palmerston. 
 
 " Canton, March 30, 1839. 
 
 " My Lord, — I have considered that I shall most perspicu- 
 ously perform my present duty to her Majesty^s Government, 
 by confining this despatch to a narrative of events, accom- 
 panied by the documents connected with them ; and, indeed, 
 my imprisoned and harassed condition is not suited to a de- 
 liberately comprehensive exposition of the motives which 
 have influenced some of the momentous proceedings involved 
 in this report 
 
 " I then assembled the whole foreign community in Canton, 
 and reading to them my circulars issued at Macao, enjoined 
 
278 ArPENDix. 
 
 them all to be moderate, firm, and united. I had the satis- 
 faction to dissolve the meeting in a calmer state of mind 
 than had subsisted for several days past. 
 
 '' The native servants were taken from us, and the supplie 
 cut off on the same night ; but it was declared by the mer- 
 chants that the orders had been issued in the course of the 
 morning, by reason of Mr. Dent^s opposition to the High 
 Commissioner's summons. 
 
 '^ An arc of connected boats was formed, filled with armed 
 men, the extremes of which touch the east and west points 
 of the bank of the river in the immediate front of the fac- 
 tories, cutting off a segment of the stream from the main 
 body ; the square and the rear of the factories are occupied 
 in considerable force, and before the gate of this hall the 
 whole body of Hong merchants and a large guard are posted 
 day and night, the latter with their swords constantly drawn. 
 In short, so close an imprisonment of the foreigners is not 
 recorded in the history of our previous intercourse with this 
 empire 
 
 ♦'Canton, April 2, 1839. 
 
 " The only incidents of interest affecting our general situa- 
 tion since I last wrote are the permission to purchase food, 
 and the entrance, from time to time, of Coolies under strict 
 surveillance, to remove the foul linen. In other respects, 
 the blockade is increasing in closeness. Scraps of intelli- 
 gence, however, have reached us, brought up by Chinese, in 
 cigars and in other adroit modes, from Whampoa, to the 
 31st ultimo, and from Macao to the 30th. All was tranquil 
 at either point when these tidings left, but the painful anxiety 
 of our families and countrymen will be conceivable to her 
 Majesty's Government.'' 
 
 Extract from Captain Ellioti''s Letter to the Earl of 
 Aberdeen. 
 
 " January 19, 1842. 
 
 " The condition of the opium market at that time was one 
 
HISTOETCAL. 279 
 
 of excessive glut. There were 20,000 chests on the coast 
 of China, upwards of 20,000 in Bengal, nearly 12,000 in 
 Bombay, making a total of upwards of 50,000 chests ready 
 for the market, and the crop of the current year would soon 
 have had to be added to this stock. The annual consumption 
 at its highest mark had never exceeded 24,000 chests, and 
 for the three months preceding delivery, it has already been 
 observed that there had been nearly a total stagnation of 
 the traffic. So far as the general opium trade and the Indian 
 revenue were concerned. Commissioner Lin's measure was 
 one of great relief/' 
 
 LETTER TO THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND FROM 
 THE IMPERIAL COMMISSIONER AND THE 
 PROVINCIAL AUTHORITIES REQUIRING THE 
 INTERDICTION OF OPIUM. 
 
 " [The paper of which a translation is here given — purport- 
 ing to be a letter addressed to the Queen of England — was 
 permitted to obtain circulation among the people, in the 
 same manner as many official documents commonly do, 
 about three months since, when the Commissioner and 
 Governor were about to leave Canton to receive the opium 
 surrendered in the name of the British Crown. Presumptive 
 evidence of its authenticity is afforded by the expression on 
 the part of the Commissioner of an anxious desire to know 
 how he should convey such a communication to the English 
 Sovereign]." — Chinese Repository, vol. viii. p. 9, May, 
 1839. 
 
 "LIN, high Imperial Commissioner, a director of the 
 Board of War, and Governor of the two Hoo; Tang, a 
 director of the Board of War, and Governor of the two 
 Kwang ; and E, a vice-director of the Board of War, and 
 Lieutenant-Governor of Kwangtung, conjointly address this 
 communication to the Sovereign of the English nation, for 
 the purpose of requiring the interdiction of opium. 
 
280 APPKNDIX. 
 
 " That in the ways of Heaven no partiality exists, and no 
 sanction is allowed to the injuring of others for the ad- 
 vanta^re of one's self, — that in men's natural desires there 
 is not any great diversity (for where is he who does not 
 abhor death and seek hfe ?) — these are universally acknow- 
 ledged principles. And your honourable nation, though 
 beyond the wide ocean, at a distance of twenty thousand 
 miles, acknowledges the same ways of heaven, the same 
 human nature, and has the like perceptions of the dis- 
 tinctions between life and death, benefit and injury. 
 
 '^ Our heavenly Court has for its family all that is within 
 the four seas : the Great Emperor's heaven-like benevolence, 
 — there is none whom it does not overshadow. Even regions 
 remote, desert, and disconnected, have a part in the general 
 care of life and of well-being. 
 
 " In Kwang-tung since the removal of the interdicts upon 
 maritime communication, there has been a constantly flow- 
 ing stream of commercial intercourse. The people of the 
 land, and those who come from abroad in foreign ships, 
 have reposed together in the enjoyment of its advantages, 
 for tens of years past, even until this time. And as regards 
 the rhubarb, teas, raw silk, and similar rich and valuable 
 products of China, should foreign nations be deprived of 
 these, they would be without the means of continuing life. 
 So that the Heavenly Court by granting, in the oneness of 
 its common benevolence, permission for the sale and ex- 
 portation thereof, — and that without stint or grudge — has 
 indeed extended its favours to the utmost circuit (of the 
 nations) making its heart one with the core of heaven and 
 earth. 
 
 '^ But there is a tribe of depraved and barbarous people, 
 who, having manufactured opium for smoking, bring it 
 hither for sale, and seduce and lead astray the simple folk, 
 to the destruction of their persons, and the draining of their 
 resources. Formerly the smokers thereof were few, but of 
 late, from each to other the practice has spread its con- 
 tagion, and daily do its baneful effects more deeply pervade 
 
X 
 niSTOBICAL. 
 
 the central source, its rich fruitful and flourishing popula- 
 tion. It is not to be denied that the simple folk, inasmuch 
 as thej indulge their appetite at the expense of their lives, 
 are indeed themselves the authors of their miseries : and why 
 then should they be pitied ? Yet in the universal Empire 
 under the sway of the great and pure dynasty, it is of 
 essential import, for the right direction of men's minds, 
 that their customs and manners should be formed to correct- 
 ness. How can it be borne that the living souls that dwell 
 within these seas, should be left wilfully to take a deadly 
 poison ! Hence it is that those who deal in opium, or who 
 inhale its fumes, witKin this land, are all now to be subjected 
 to severest punishment, and that a perpetual interdict is to 
 be placed on the practice so extensively prevailing. 
 
 ^'We have reflected that this poisonous article is the 
 clandestine manufacture of artful schemers, and depraved 
 people of various tribes under the dominion of your honour- 
 able nation. Doubtless you, the honourable Sovereign of 
 that nation have not commanded the manufacture and sale 
 of it. But amid the various nations there are a few only 
 that make this opium : it is by no means the case that all 
 the nations are herein alike. And we have heard that in 
 your honourable nation too, the people are not permitted to 
 inhale the drug, and that ofienders in this particular expose 
 themselves to sure punishment. It is clearly from a know- 
 ledge of its injurious effects on man, that you have directed 
 severe prohibitions against it. But what is the prohibition 
 of its use, in comparison with the prohibition of its being 
 sold — of its being manufactured, — as a means of thoroughly 
 purifying the source ? 
 
 "Though not making use of it oneself, to venture neverthe- 
 less on the manufacture and sale of it, and with it to seduce 
 the simple folk of this land, is to seek one's own livelihood 
 by the exposure of others to death, to seek one's own 
 advantage by other men's injury. And such acts are bitterly 
 abhorrent to the nature of man — are utterly opposed to the 
 ways of heaven. To the vigorous sway exercised by the 
 
282 APPENDIX. 
 
 Celestial Court over both the civilized and the barbarous, 
 what difficulty presents itself to hinder the immediate taking 
 of life ? But as we contemplate and give substantial being 
 to the fulness and vastness of the sacred intelligence it 
 befits us to adopt first the course of admonition. And not 
 having as yet sent any communication to your honourable 
 sovereignty, — should severest measures of interdiction be all 
 at once enforced, it might be said in excuse that no previous 
 knowledge thereof has been possessed. 
 
 ^' We would now then concert with your honourable 
 sovereignty means to bring to a perpetual end this opium, 
 so hurtful to mankind : we in this land forbidding the use 
 of it, — and you, in the nations under your dominion, 
 forbidding its manufacture. As regards what has been 
 already made, we would have your honourable nation issue 
 mandates for the collection thereof, that the whole may be 
 cast into the depths of the sea. We would thus prevent 
 the longer existence between these heavens and this earth 
 of any portion of the hurtful thing. Not only then will the 
 people of this land be relieved from its pernicious influence, 
 but the people of your honourable nation too (for as they 
 make, how know we that they do not also smoke it ?) will, 
 when the manufacture is indeed forbidden, be likewise 
 relieved from the danger of its use. Will not the result of 
 this be the enjoyment by each of a felicitous condition of 
 peace ? For your honourable nation's sense of duty being 
 thus devout, shows a clear apprehension of celestial prin- 
 ciples, and the supreme heavens will ward off from you all 
 calamities. It is also in perfect accordance with human 
 nature, and must surely need the approbation of sages. 
 
 Besides all this, the opium being so severely prohibited 
 in this land, that there will be none found to smoke it, 
 should your nation continue its manufacture, it will be 
 discovered after all that no place will afibrd opportunity for 
 selling it, that no profits will be attainable. Is it not far 
 better to turn and seek other occupation than vainly to 
 labour in the pursuit of a losing employment ? 
 
HISTORICAL. 283 
 
 And furthermore, whatever opium can be discovered in 
 this hind, is entirely committed to the flames and consumed. 
 If any be again introduced in foreign vessels, it too must be 
 subjected to a like process of destruction. It may well be 
 feared, lest other commodities imported in such vessels 
 should meet a common fate, — the gem and the pebble not 
 being distinguished. Under these circumstances gain being 
 no longer acquirable, and hurt having assumed a visible 
 form, such as desire the injury of others will find that they 
 themselves are the first to be injured. 
 
 The powerful instrumentality whereby the Celestial Court 
 holds in subjection -all nations is truly divine and awe- 
 inspiring beyond the power of computation. Let it not be 
 said that early warning of this has not been given. 
 
 When your Majesty receives this document, let us have 
 a speedy communication in reply, advertising us of the 
 measures you adopt for the entire cutting off of the opium 
 in every seaport. Do not by any means by false embellish- 
 ments evade or procrastinate. Earnestly reflect hereon. 
 Earnestly observe these things. 
 
 Taou Kwang, 19th year, 2nd month — day. 
 
 Communication sent to the Sovereign of the English 
 nation." 
 
 COPY OF THE LEGAL OPINION taken by the EAST 
 INDIA COMPANY, and dated the 5th of August, 
 1857, AS TO THE MANUFACTURE and SALE or 
 OPIUM. 
 
 Case for the East India Comjpamj, 
 
 On the 9th March, 1857, the Earl of Shaftesbury moved 
 in the House of Lords, that the following questions be 
 submitted for the opinion of her Majesty's judges : — 
 
 First. — Whether, having regard to the 4th section of an 
 Act passed in a session of Parliament holden in the third 
 and fourth years of the reign of his late Majesty King 
 
284 APPENDIX. 
 
 William the Fourth, intituled "An Act for effecting an 
 Arrangement with the East India Company and for the 
 better Government of his Majesty's Indian territories, till 
 the 30th day of April, 1854/' and other the laws bearing on 
 this question, it is lawful for the East India Company to 
 derive a revenue from opium by the following system, that 
 is to say, — by prohibiting and preventing the growth of the 
 poppy from which opium is made within their territories, 
 except as grown on their account, and under their licence 
 and superintendency, advances of money being annually 
 made by them to the cultivators of the poppy, by way of 
 prepayment of the price of all the juice of the poppy of a 
 specified consistence, to be produced from the land in respect 
 of which such advances are made, such price being estimated 
 according to a price fixed by the company for the district in 
 which the land happens to be situated, the cultivators 
 delivering to the Company as much of such juice as the 
 cultivators can produce, such juice being afterwards sent by 
 the Company to their factories, and there manufactured by 
 them into opium, afterwards sent by them from those 
 factories to Calcutta, and there sold by them by auction at 
 their sales, the excess of the sale prices over and above the 
 first cost constituting the revenue in question. 
 
 Second. — Whether, having regard also to the Supplemental 
 Treaty between her Majesty and the Emperor of China, 
 bearing date the eighth day of October, 1843, which contains 
 the following words, — " A fair and regular tariff of duties 
 and other dues having now been established, it is to be 
 hoped that the system of smuggling will entirely cease,'' it 
 is lawful for the East India Company to deal with such opium 
 in the manner stated in the first question, with the full 
 knowledge that it is so purchased at the above-mentioned 
 sales for the purpose of being smuggled into China, in 
 contravention of the laws of that empire, and so to cultivate 
 and manufacture the same with a view principally to the 
 China market, and to its being so purchased for such 
 purposes as aforesaid,, the Company with that view manufac- 
 
DISTOUICAL. 285 
 
 turing the opiam into the form which the Company consider 
 best adapted to facilitate and promote that contraband trade. 
 
 After some debate^ in the course of which the Lord 
 Chancellor used the following language, viz. : — '^ These 
 matters, however, having been called to their attention, ho 
 was prepared to say, on the part of the Government, that 
 when they shall have ascertained clearly and distinctly what 
 were the facts as to the manufacture of opium by the East 
 India Company, how it was done, who were concerned in it, 
 how it was disposed of, everything, in short, being distinctly 
 stated as matter of fact, the Government would have no 
 objection to submitting, though not in the terms in which 
 his noble friend had drawn them up, the question to the 
 highest legal authorities whom they could properly consult, 
 the law officers of the Crown ; and that with respect to the 
 second question, which related to the construction of the 
 treaty concluded with China in 1 8 1-3, he would say that they 
 would consult the law officers of the Crown, with the addition 
 of the Queen's Advocate, and their Opinion the Government 
 would communicate to their Lordships.'^ His lordship also 
 reminded the House that there was a well-known distinction 
 between a person dealing with the produce of his own land 
 and the ordinary transactions of commerce. The motion 
 was by leave withdrawn. 
 
 The President of the Board of Commissioners for the 
 affairs of India has now requested the Court of Directors of 
 the East India Company to obtain the opinion of the Queen's 
 Advocate and of the Attorney and Solicitor General and the 
 Company's standing counsel on the points raised in the 
 questions proposed by Lord Shaftesbury. 
 
 ******* 
 
 Your opinion is requested, — 
 
 1st. Whether the manufacture and sale of opium by the 
 East India Company, in the manner aforesaid, in the presi- 
 dency of Bengal, is or is not in contravention of the Act 
 3 & 4 W. lY. c. 85 ? 
 
 2nd. Whether the legality of the manufacture and sale of 
 
286 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 opium by the East India Company, in the manner aforesaid, 
 is in any way affected by the Supplemental Treaty entered 
 into by her Majesty with the Emperor of China, in October, 
 1843? 
 
 Opinion, 
 1st. The Stat. 3 & 4 W. IV. c. 85, s. 4, requires the East 
 India Company to close their commercial business and sell 
 the effects distinguished in their books as commercial assets, 
 and to discontinue and abstain from all commercial business 
 which shall not be incident to the closing of their actual 
 concerns, and to the conversion into money of the property 
 hereinbefore directed to be sold, ^' or ivhich shall not he 
 carried on for the purposes of the said Government/' thus 
 clearly implying that the East India Company were, after 
 and notwithstanding that statute, to be at liberty to carry 
 on commercial business for the "Purposes of the Govern- 
 ment;^^ and, as it appears by the accompanying " Supple- 
 mental Memorandum,''^ that from the year 1813 (when the 
 Stat. 53 Geo. III. c. 155, was passed) the Company^s accounts 
 have been kept (as therein directed) under three distinct 
 heads, territorial, political, and commercial, and that the 
 profits of the Company^s commercial business in opium have 
 always been placed to the account of the " territorial and 
 political^' branch, and never included in the "commercial^' 
 accounts, and that this was the state of affairs at the passing 
 of the Act 3 & 4 W. lY. c. 85. : We are of opinion that the 
 manufacture and sale of opium by the East India Company, 
 by which a revenue is acquired and expended for the purpose 
 of Government, is not in contravention of the Act of the 
 3 & 4 W. lY. c. 85, which statute (on the contrary) must be 
 taken to have intentionally permitted and sanctioned the 
 continuance of such manufacture and sale for this purpose. 
 
 2nd. We are also of opinion that the legality of the 
 manufacture and sale of opium by the East India Company 
 is not directly affected by the Supplemental Treaty entered 
 into by her Majesty with the Emperor of China in October, 
 ] 843. Opium is not mentioned in that treaty, and we are of 
 
HISTOEICA.L. 287 
 
 opinion that the East India Company may manufacture and 
 sell opium (the revenue of which is applied for the purposes of 
 Government) without infringing the treaty. 
 
 The true question appears to be^ whether the particular 
 manner in which the East India Company's opium is manufac- 
 tured is open to objection ; it appearing by the " Supplemental 
 Memorandum '^ that the opium in which the Company deals 
 in the province of Bengal is prepared by the East India Com- 
 pany, and before its sale to the dealers specifically for the 
 Chinese contraband trade, by being made up in balls and 
 packed in chests according to Chinese weights. It is true 
 that this practice is "in conformity with a course of trade 
 established (as we understand) long before any treaty with 
 China^and even before the importation of opium was prohibited 
 by Chinese law; still we think now that opium is made con- 
 traband by the law of China, and that its importation into 
 China is made by Chinese law a capital crime, the continuance 
 of the Company's practice of manufacturing and selling this 
 opium in a form specially adapted to the Chinese contraband 
 trade, though not an actual and direct infringement of the 
 treaty, is yet at variance with its spirit and intention, and 
 with the conduct due to the Chinese Government by that of 
 Great Britain as a friendly power, bound by a treaty which 
 implies that all smuggling into China will be discountenanced 
 by Great Britain ; and we think that if the practice in question 
 were to be made the subject of expostulation by the Chinese 
 Government, the British Government would be under an 
 obligation to alter or modify the mode adopted by the East 
 India Company of manufacturing opium, and to abstain from 
 so manufacturing or preparing it as to involve a peculiar 
 adaptation of the article to the Chinese contraband trade as 
 distinguished from other trades, and to adhere to this 
 modification so long as]opium is absolutely prohibited in China. 
 
 (Signed) J. D. Harding. 
 
 RiCHAED BeTHELL. 
 
 Henry S. Keating. 
 
 LOFTUS WiGEAM. 
 Poctors' Commons, August 5, 1857. 
 
288 APPENDIX. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO THE EARL OF 
 ELGIN^S MISSION. 
 
 No. 1. 
 
 The Earl of Clarendon to the Earl of Elgin, 
 
 " Foreign Office, April 20, 1857. 
 
 '*' It will be for your Excellency, when discussing com- 
 mercial arrangements with any Chinese plenipotentiaries, to 
 ascertain whether the Government of China would revoke 
 its prohibition of the opium trade, which the high officers of 
 the Chinese Government never practically enforce. Whether 
 the legalization of the trade would tend to augment that 
 trade may be doubtful, as it seems now to be carried on to 
 the full extent of the demand in China, with the sanction 
 and connivance of the local authorities. But there would bo 
 obvious advantages in placing the trade upon a legal footing 
 by the imposition of a duty, instead of its being carried on 
 in the present irregular manner.^^ 
 
 Inclosure in No. 213. 
 
 Report on the Revision of Tariff, &c. 
 
 . . . ^^ China still retains her objection to the use of a 
 drug on moral grounds; but the present generation of 
 smokers, at all events, must and will have opium. To deter 
 the uninitiated from becoming smokers, China would propose 
 a very high duty; but as opposition was naturally to be ex- 
 pected from us in that case, it should be made as moderate 
 as possible. He urged, however, that inasmuch as when the 
 treaty was signed, opium was not an article within its cogni- 
 zance, we should not seek to regulate the duty now to be 
 imposed upon it by the five per cent, ad valorem principle. 
 . . . They were informed that, according to the data 
 
HISTORICAL. 289 
 
 before Lord Elgin, a duty of from fifteen to twenty taels a 
 chest would be a fair rate on the ad valorem principle. This, 
 they repeated, could not apply to opium, which must be 
 treated in every way per se . . . At length, after naming, 
 apparently more in joke than in earnest, first sixty taels, and 
 then forty taels, a chest, they proposed thirty taels. The 
 British deputies pointed out the fact that twenty-four taels 
 was the duty now levied suh rosd by the authorities at 
 Shanghai, and they were therefore justified in assuming that 
 the Chinese Government would not have fixed upon that 
 sum had the trade been calculated to bear a higher. After 
 much discussion, chiefly upon the probable increase of 
 smuggling in the event of the imposition of too liigh a duty 
 — a contingency of which the Chinese deputies expressed 
 themselves in no apprehension — it was agreed to put down 
 thirty taels per chest on the duty to be levied/' 
 
 .n 
 
APPENDIX E. 
 
 OPIUM IN BRITISH BURMA. 
 
 Extracts from a Return ^puhUshed hy the Government of India: 
 ''Explanation of Causes of Increase or Decrease of amounts 
 on a Comparison of Bevenues and Charges of the Provinces 
 of British Burma J ' Ca Icutta, 1873. 
 
 1856-57. Begu. — '^ There is no poppy cultivation in Pegu. 
 Tlie import of opium by private individuals is strictly for- 
 bidden. Tbe only opium that comes into the province is 
 what is supplied^ by orders of the Revenue Board, Bengal, 
 to the Deputy Commissioner of districts, on their indenting 
 for it. It is retailed by the licensed opium farmers in the 
 large towns of the province. The use of this deleterious 
 drug, strictly 2)'>'ohihited in the Burman timej has been con- 
 siderably on the increase of late.^^ 
 
 1857-58. Pegu. — " In general it may be stated that 
 spirituous and other liquors are consumed by the European 
 and Indian inhabitants, and opium by the Chinese and 
 Burmese. Undoubtedly the consumption of both descrip- 
 tions of stimulants is increasing. As a practical question 
 for Pegu, the consumption of spirits and opium could only 
 be effectually checked by a liquor and drug law applicable 
 to all inhabitants alike, and as such a law is not likely to be 
 passed, it only remains, by the imposition of a high rate of 
 duty, to endeavour to diminish the quantity accessible to the 
 mass of the population to an amount consistent with the 
 enjoyment of health and the due exercise of the mental 
 faculties. ^^ 
 
OPIUM IN BRITISH BURMA. 291 
 
 1870-1871. — '^Opium-eating is not a Burman habit; it is 
 a new vice: and thougli unfortunately spreading fast, through 
 the evil influence of petty Chinese traders and pedlars, it has 
 not as yet taken such a hold upon the people that any great 
 hardship is involved by such a limit being placed on the 
 number of places to vend, as shall prevent the temptation of 
 opium-eating being thrown in the way of idle young men in 
 large towns and villages by too great facility of supply. 
 
 ^' Accordingly, at the outset, on the annexation of Pegu, 
 the sale of opium in that province was restricted to the 
 principal towns which contain Chinese and other foreigners 
 who consume opium Of Arakan the Chief Com- 
 missioner (Colonel Phayre) wrote in 1865: 'Last year a 
 majority of the respectable native Arakanese petitioned me. 
 asserting that their own children and most of the young 
 men of the country had become drunkards, and had acquired 
 within a few years a craving for spirits and opium. , . . 
 In the town of Akyab, which contains twenty thousand in- 
 habitants, there were over ninety shops for the sale of 
 intoxicating liquors and drugs of all sorts. To put an end 
 to this the sale of opium was restricted in 18G3-64 to four 
 towns; viz. Akyab, old Arakan, Kyouk Phyoo, and Sando- 
 way. In 1864-65 two farms only were allowed, namely, one 
 in the town of Akyab, and another on the Arakan side of 
 the Chittagong border, in what is known as the Noof dis- 
 trict;* sale in the latter being permitted in order to restrain 
 the importation of opium from Chittagong into the Arakan 
 district. In 1868-69, however, the two farms in Kyouk 
 Phyoo (Ramree district) and Sandoway ivere re-estahlished. 
 ******* 
 
 " The restriction of the sale of opium to particular towns 
 still continues, with a caution that ' the error should be 
 avoided of limiting sources of supply to such an extent as to 
 make smuggling a remunerative occupation/ .... 'A 
 clause has been inserted in the form, binding them to 
 account satisfactorily to the Deputy Commissioner, should 
 the qunntity of opium taken fall considerably short of what 
 
£92 APPENDIX. 
 
 miglit be expected from the experience of past years to be 
 tbe average sale/ At the same time, ^district officers 
 should use their utmost endeavours to prevent the spread of 
 the consumption of this narcotic, as no purely fiscal con- 
 siderations should be allowed to interfere with the arrange- 
 ments which may be thought best for the interests of the 
 people committed to their charge/ . . , . Owing, however, 
 to the farmer's supply of Government opium at Rs. 20 a 
 seer, being limited to a quantity less than he could sell, he 
 was able to exact a high price from consumers, which 
 encouraged the importation of opium from Chittagong. To 
 stop this, it was ordered in July, 1870, that the farmer 
 should he supplied with whatever quantity he might require, 
 and in 1871-72 the price charged to him was raised from 
 Rs. 20 to Rs. 23 for a seer, on the Chittagong prices.^' 
 
APPENDIX F. 
 
 PROGRESS OF POPPY CULTIVATION IN CHINA. 
 
 " It is now placed quite beyond doubt that tlie cultivation 
 of opium in China has been very greatly extended of late 
 years, and is at present carried on in the western provinces 
 on a very large scale. The only financial consolation has 
 been the belief that the appetite of the Chinese for the drug 
 was also extending so rapidly as to absorb both the native 
 and the Indian drug j but there was recently a heavy fall in 
 the price of the latter, and weighty opinions, both official and 
 non-official, suggest that the fall is caused by the indigenous 
 cultivation, and that this fall is not only permanent, but 
 warns us of the day, shortly approaching, when the imported 
 opium will no longer be able to bear a heavy duty in com- 
 petition with the native article, and our Indian revenue from 
 this source will be lost. There have been repeated alarms 
 on this subject, which have blown over; but the present 
 alarm seems more serious and better supported than those 
 which have gone before, and it must at least be felt that our 
 opium revenue is precarious in the future.'' 
 
 (The Quarterly Review, vol. 130, Jan., 1871 ; Article on 
 " The Revenues of India.'') 
 
 " The principal opium-producing provinces are Kan- Suh, 
 Yun-Nan, Si-Chwan, and Kwei-Chow. In the months of 
 April and May these provinces are white with the poppy 
 
294 APPENDIX. 
 
 flowers. The native article is very cheap in the provinces 
 in which it is grown, and the consumption is very general 
 among the labouring classes. Whilst the foreign article in 
 some parts of Si-Chwan is worth its weight in silver, the 
 price of the native is only tenpence per Chinese ounce. A 
 penny is sufficient to provide an ordinary smoker with enough 
 for a day's consumption. There every one seems to indulge 
 himself more or less in the pipe. The men and the women, 
 the old and the young, seemed to me to be all playing with 
 the insidious poison, and my impression was that it only 
 required a few years more for opium-smoking to become as 
 common as tobacco-smoking in Si-Chwan. I am within the 
 mark when I say that seven out of every ten of the men, and 
 three out of every ten of the women, of Si-Chwan are con- 
 firmed opium-smokers. . . . The two other great opium- 
 producing provinces present an aspect similar to that of 
 Si-Chwan.'^ 
 
 (Eev. G. John, in the Nonconformist, 7th Dec, 1870.) 
 
 Letter from Mr. N. Nusserwanjee to the Junior Secretary, 
 
 Board of Revenue. 
 
 " 19th January, 1869. 
 
 " Having just returned from China., I beg to submit the 
 following information, which I had collected during my stay 
 in that place. It is impossible to give an accurate account 
 of the produce of opium in China; different persons men- 
 tion different quantities, but I am led to suppose, after 
 inquiry, that not less than 40,000 pounds were produced last 
 year, at a cost of 206 to 250 taels per pecul, and the sales 
 were effected at Cantoji at about 350 dels, per pecul. 
 
 '^ The produce in former years was considerably less, owing 
 to the restriction on cultivation, and the cost then was about 
 450 taels per pecul, including charges of transit ; but that 
 restriction having been removed by the Chinese Government, 
 the produce is fast increasing, and the drug itself is becoming 
 
rOPPY CPLTIVATION IN CHINA. 295 
 
 better in quality and stronger in consistence, the immediate 
 effect of wliich has led to depress the China market; and the 
 demand of the consumers of both Bengal and Malwa opium 
 is gradually decreasing and their prices falling off. The 
 Chinese, by mixing their drug with the Bengal or Malwa 
 opium, have commenced to imbibe a taste for their own 
 opium. 
 
 " Some time ago the Bengal Government, in order to 
 defeat competition, sold 64,000 chests in one year for expor- 
 tation to China and the Straits, and the prices fell down so 
 much as to frighten the native cultivators, who discontinued 
 cultivating opium for some time through fear of suffering 
 loss. 
 
 " Under these circumstances, I beg to submit whether it 
 will not be desirable, both for the interests of Government 
 and the merchants and cultivators of India, to send in future 
 such increased quantities of opium to China, and at such low 
 prices as to prevent indigenous cultivation and competition.^^ 
 (Papers relating to the Opium Question; Calcutta, 1870, 
 
 page 218.) 
 
 Memorial of Yew Peh-ChVan. 
 
 "The memorial by the Censor, Yew-Peh-ChVan, is pub- 
 lished in extenso in the Gazette. In its preamble it asserts 
 (according to the fundamental maxim) that the 'people are 
 the foundation of the State, and food the heaven (or summum 
 hoiium) of the people,' and that no greater obstacle to the 
 production of food exists than the cultivation of the poppy. 
 Having spread into other provinces from Kan-suh, the 
 original seat of its growth, the plant is now found occupying 
 land to the extent of upwards of 10,000 mow (or about 
 1700 acres) in each district (Hien). According to the calcu- 
 lation that has been made, three mow (say half an acre) of 
 rich land will produce sufficient grain for one man's support; 
 
296 APPENDIX. 
 
 and applying this calculation to a single province^ where 
 more than one million mow of land are thus withdrawn from 
 productive cultivation, hundreds of thousands of persons are 
 found to be deprived in this way of the means of subsistence. 
 " The names of sundry districts are appended : in the pro- 
 vinces of Kiang-su^ Ho -nan, and Shan-tuug, where, accord- 
 ing to the memorialists^ information, the cultivation is 
 carried on upon a very large scale, almost equalling that of 
 the cereals themselves. The very children have a rhyming 
 proverb on the subject, which may be translated as follows : — 
 
 * Everywhere the jflower blows. 
 Sleep, or waking, still it grows ; 
 Eeap the profit while 'tis there — 
 For the future who shall care.* 
 
 " In their greed of gain the inferior classes lose all sight of 
 injurious consequences ; but unless radical measures be insti- 
 tuted to cut off the evil at its source, and pluck it up by 
 the roots, the people's food and livelihood cannot be duly 
 fostered. 
 
 "Keiteratingthe statement that the poppy is usurping lands 
 imperatively required for the production of food, to such an 
 extent that people have actually committed suicide under 
 pressure of starvation, with money in their hands ready to 
 buy food where none was to be had, owing to this cause, the 
 Censor continues with the remark that, as has been observed, 
 the evil caused by opium-smoking is worse than the destruc- 
 tion caused by floods or the ravages of wild beasts ; yet of 
 this the cultivation of the poppy is the very fountain and 
 origin. On these grounds he beseeches the Empress Regent 
 and the Emperor to proclaim stringent prohibition of the 
 growth of the poppy .''' 
 
 (Papers relating to the Opium Question ; Calcutta, 1870, 
 
 page 232.) 
 
 " Sales of Malwa compare favourably, as regards quan- 
 tity, with the previous year, but average selling prices were 
 
POPPY CULTIVATION IN CHINA. 297 
 
 at a slightly further decline. The chief feature to remark 
 upon is a falling off in the consumption of Patna, a reason 
 for which is gathered from native sources to be owing to 
 China-grown drug having been in more plentiful supply, 
 roughly estimated at about 1700 peculs against 1000 peculs 
 in the year 1872, as last spring was much milder that 1872, 
 and consequently more favourable for the cultivation of the 
 poppy. The cost is said to be about from 300 to 310 dols. 
 per pecul, but only very small quantities are taken at one 
 time, and probably thereby a le-kim tax is saved. The quality 
 of the drug is, however, rather too thin ; it is found necessary, 
 in order to meet the native taste, to mix fuUy one-half of 
 Indian growth to furnish sufficient pungency, Persian 
 appears to have been driven out of the field as far as this 
 port is concerned.^' 
 
 (China Consular Reports, 1873; Consul Sinclair at Foo- 
 chow.) 
 
 "The amount of native-grown opium is now so con- 
 siderable, and it competes so seriously with the imported 
 article, that any report on the subject would be manifestly 
 defective that did not take this competition into considera- 
 tion. Yet the difficulty of procuring any definite or reliable 
 statistics as regards the native industry and its results render 
 it impossible to do more than draw general inferences from 
 such information as may be derivable either from partial 
 observation or common report. These inferences would lead 
 to the conclusion that the native cultivation of the drug is 
 being developed at a rapid rate, and this is confirmed by the 
 fact that the consumption has of late largely increased, 
 whereas it is well known that the import of the Indian drug 
 has been stationary, or nearly so, for several years past. The 
 usual edicts deprecating the cultivation of such a pernicious 
 drug at the expense of cereals and other crops, and prohibit- 
 ing its culture under heavy penalties, have continued to 
 appear from time to time, and influential Chinese func- 
 
298 . APPENDIX. 
 
 tionaries have not failed, as heretofore, to urge the Crown to 
 take steps towards rescuing the country from the too certain 
 ruin which must be the consequence. But all to no purpose; 
 the drug is so highly prized as an alterative, and the desire 
 for it as a sedative is so general amongst all classes, whilst 
 the local executive are everywhere so easily bribed into con- 
 nivance, that the cultivation is persisted in, and it will, no 
 doubt, continue to extend until effects are produced which 
 must eventually exercise a vital influence upon the interests 
 of the country at large. The result as regards the rival 
 import from India cannot be doubted. The supply, as I 
 have remarked, has for some time past been limited to about 
 an equal rate year by year ; and as it is a maxim in commer- 
 cial economy that a trade which does not increase must, of 
 necessity, tend towards the opposite direction, it follows that 
 the only too probable event we have to look forward to is a 
 gradual decline and extinction of our share in the trade, 
 whenever the Chinese shall have learnt how to grow and 
 prepare their produce so as to bring it on a par with the 
 Indian staple. 
 
 " This is a question which merits serious consideration in 
 connexion with Indian finance. The subject has, I believe 
 and very properly, attracted more than usual attention of 
 late on the part of the Indian Government, and, as you are 
 aware, I have recently ventured to suggest the expediency 
 of at once appointing a commission of inquiry, composed 
 partly of officers conversant with the cultivation in India, 
 and partly of gentlemen in the consular service familiar with 
 the people and language of China, and who might be dele- 
 gated to make researches throughout the Chinese provinces 
 with a view to establishing the actual truth as regards the 
 extent of cultivation, and its probable effects relatively to the 
 Indian product. I still hope that such a commission may 
 eventually be instituted, and I believe it might further be 
 useful, not only in eliciting valuable information as to the 
 extent to which the drug is consumed in various parts of the 
 country, and its influences upon the people at large, but in 
 
POPPY CULTIVATION IN CniNA. 
 
 290 
 
 establishing a mass of facts with regard to the inland fiscal 
 system, as to the working of which we at present possess 
 but a very vague idea. . . . Intelligent Chinese ascribe tite 
 stagnation of foreign trade to the alarming progress which 
 opium cultivation is malting throughout the country. The ea^y 
 production of the drugj and the remunerative returns it gives, 
 they declare tend to engross the attention of agriculturists, and 
 to sap nearly every other industry, Iloohupon this suggestion 
 as important, and I cannot hut thinlc that it indicates, at any 
 rate, one source of the blight ivhich seems to be affecting 
 branches of tlie trade ivith China.'' 
 
 • (Ibid. ; Consul Medhurst, Shanghai.) 
 
 "The import of opium, after deducting 190 piculs re- 
 exported, was about 2861 piculs, against 2994 piculs in 1873, 
 showing a falling off of 133 piculs. The decrease is explained 
 by the increased consumption of native opium. The amount 
 reported for taxation at the native Le-kim Tax OflSce was as 
 foUows : — 
 
 
 1873. 
 
 1874. 
 
 Crude Opium 
 Prepared ditto 
 
 lbs. 
 
 84,632 
 996 
 
 lbs. 
 
 169,337 
 702 
 
 Total .... 
 
 85,628 
 
 170,089 
 
 The quantity upon which tax was collected in 1874 was 
 therefore double the amount taxed in 1873. There is also no 
 doubt that the smuggling of a commodity so easily concealed 
 continued to be carried on extensively. The crop of native 
 opium in Yunnan and Szechuan was large, and the demand 
 continues to keep pace with the supply. Native opium 
 seems, in fact, to be in rather more favour in this part of 
 
300 APPENDIX. 
 
 China than formerly. It is known to bo generally used by 
 the inhabitants of the localities where it is grown, and else- 
 where by those who cannot afford to buy the foreign drug. 
 But it is also stated that many ivcll-to-do Chinese , who had 
 been in the hahit of smohlng foreign opium, have given it up 
 ill whole or in part in favour of the native article , the use of 
 which is helieved to he less hurtful to the constitution, and 
 attended with less physical inconvenience. For instance, the 
 confirmed smolcer of Indian opium generally passes sleepless 
 nights, whereas smokers of native opium do not suffer to the 
 same extent in this respect. The Szechuan product contains 
 much less pure opium than is contained in Malwa, the 
 ^' touch ^' of the former being, according to the report of an 
 expert, forty-four, of the latter seventy-five. It is not 
 therefore surprising that, as remarlced by travellers, boatmen 
 and other labourers in Szechuan should be able to smoke native 
 opium tuitJiout beirig unfitted for worhj^ 
 
 (China Consular Reports, 1874; Hankow, Consul 
 Hughes.) 
 
 " There are signs that at no distant date an equalization 
 of the two will occur, and this event must be marked either 
 by the stoppage of the import of Indian opium, or by such a 
 reduction in its cost as will enable it to compete on more 
 equal terms with its Chinese rival. In Manchuria it seems 
 likely that native opium will in a short time take its place 
 as a regular export. As yet the increased production has 
 not had that effect, on either the amount or the price of 
 Indian opium, taken at Newchwang, which might have been 
 anticipated. This is to be attributed to the superior quality 
 of the foreign drug, or possibly to the fact that it still guides 
 the taste of the native consumer. It is probable that much 
 of the drug imported at Newchwang is made use of to 
 strengthen and correct the flavour of the native drug. In 
 such a case it may occur that an export of the native drug 
 
rOPPY CULTIVATION IN CHINA. 301 
 
 may for years to come bo coincident witli a considerable 
 import of the foreign article. It is very likely owing to this 
 cause that the import of Indian opium at Tien-tsin, as com- 
 pared with Newchwang, has been continually decreasing; 
 the Manchurian drug, flavoured with Indian opium, being 
 able to compete successfully with the latter in the state of 
 purity 
 
 " Although nominally the laws of China forbid the culti- 
 vation of opium, and although from time to time edicts are 
 issued repeating this prohibition, yet there are signs that 
 the cultivation of opium is likely to be formally legalized. 
 At present, though formally forbidden, it is actually encou- 
 raged by the high tariff placed on the foreign drug. At 
 Shanghai, Hankow, and Tien-tsin, again, notwithstanding 
 the formal prohibition of the growth of native opium, le-kin 
 taxes are regularly levied on it, and these taxes are fifty per 
 cent, lower than those charged on foreign opium, so that 
 the native growth is actually protected against the com- 
 petition of its foreign rival. 
 
 '^ Nor is there wanting amongst influential Chinese a strong 
 party who, acknowledging that opium is deleterious, yet 
 qualify this idea by the assertion that experience has proved it 
 necessary, and who urge on the Government the advisability 
 of making a source of revenue out of what it has proved its 
 inability to entirely restrain. Allied more or less with this 
 party is another, who, taking a mistaken view of political 
 economy, would exclude all imports as tending to draw away 
 wealth from the country. AYhy should foreigners, they plead, 
 derive all this profit from opium ? If we raise the le-kin 
 taxes, and throw obstacles in the way of internal carriage, so 
 that the import of the foreign drug may become unprofitable, 
 the growth of the native will be encouraged, and the wealth 
 which now goes to enrich the foreigner and foreign trade 
 generally will remain amongst our own people.^' 
 
 (Ibid. ; Shanghai, Consul Medhurst.) 
 
APPENDIX G. 
 
 STATISTICAL. 
 
 Amount op Opium imported into Chin«..' 
 
 
 1871. 
 
 1872. 
 
 Malwa . . 
 
 lbs. 
 4,684,393 
 
 £ 
 5,384,770 
 
 lbs. 
 
 4,847,584 
 
 £ 
 5,132,669 
 
 Patna . . 
 
 2,050,328 
 
 2,188,314 
 
 2,128,931 
 
 2,093,519 
 
 Benares . 
 
 1,011,864 
 
 1,035,713 
 
 982,072 
 
 951,434 
 
 Other kinds 
 
 170,772 
 
 169,656 
 
 117,439 
 
 118,379 
 
 Gross Total 
 
 7,917,357 
 
 8,778,453 
 
 8,076,026 
 
 8,296,002 
 
 Re-exports 
 
 75,741 
 
 82,861 
 
 36,780 
 
 34,621 
 
 Net Total. 
 
 7,841,616 
 
 8,695,592 
 
 8,039,216 
 
 8,261,381 
 
 » From Corameroial Reports from H. M. Consuls in China, 1872. Part IT. 
 page 222. 
 
STATISTICAL. 
 
 303 
 
 II. 
 
 Total Quantity of Opium imported into China during the 
 YEARS 1864-72. Compiled from published Returns of the 
 Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs. 
 
 Description. 
 
 QuaBtity. 
 
 Value. 
 
 Malwa ) 
 
 (•s 
 
 Patna f"^ . 
 Benares J , . 
 Persian . 
 Turkey . 
 
 Peculs.2 
 
 295,730 
 
 141,662 
 
 75,374 
 
 9,204 
 
 235 
 
 Catties. 
 97 
 
 52 
 
 24 
 
 23 
 
 -95 
 
 Haikwan Taels.' 
 
 127,164,317 
 
 56,665,008 
 
 30,149,696 
 
 3,773,734 
 
 89,661 
 
 Total 
 
 522,205 
 
 291 
 
 217,842,416 
 
 2 The Pecul = 100 catties = 133^ lbs. avoirdupois. 
 
 3 The Haikwan Tael = 6s. 8d. 
 
 N.B. — Out of a total of more than half a million pecnls' weight imported in 
 nine years, Persia and Turkey together only sent 9440 peculs ; i. e. not one- 
 fiftieth of the whole. 
 
304 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 [II 
 
 SUMMAEY OF THE OEDINARY InCOME AND EXPENDITURE OP 
 
 THE British-Indian Empire^ broadly and approximately 
 stated in millions sterling and quarter millions by the 
 Quarterly Review, vol. 130, p. 104. 
 
 Revenues. 
 
 Tributes . 
 Land Revenue . 
 Salt . . . . 
 Excise on Spirits and 
 
 -Drugs . 
 Customs . 
 Stamps . , . 
 Opium 
 
 Millions 
 sterling. 
 
 i 
 
 21 
 6 
 
 21- 
 2i 
 
 6i 
 
 Total 
 
 . 40 
 
 Expenditure. 
 
 Millions 
 sterling. 
 
 Charges of Collection 3 
 
 Treaty Allowances 
 
 Interest of Debt 
 
 Guaranteed Railways 
 
 Cost of Army . . ] 
 
 Marine . 
 
 Police 
 
 Civil Administration 
 
 Justice , 
 
 Education 
 
 Telegraph 
 
 Superannuation, &c. 
 
 Public Works . 
 
 Total . 
 
 Deficit . 
 
 6 
 
 -2 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 4 
 
 i 
 
 u 
 
 3 
 
 A-i 
 
STATISTICAL. 
 
 305 
 
 IV. 
 
 Number of chests of Bengal and Malwa Opium exported to 
 China and places beyond British India. Finance and 
 Revenue Accounts, No. 65. 
 
 
 Prom Bengal. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 From 
 Bombay 
 to China. 
 
 Total 
 
 Official Year. 
 
 
 
 
 Export. 
 
 
 To China. 
 
 Singapore, 
 Penang, &c. 
 
 Total. 
 
 
 
 
 Chests. 
 
 Cftests. 
 
 Chests. 
 
 Chests. 
 
 Chests. 
 
 1834^5 
 
 9,480 
 
 1,570 
 
 11,050 
 
 6,812 
 
 17,862 
 
 1835-36 
 
 13,021 
 
 1,786 
 
 14,807 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1836-37 
 
 10,493 
 
 2,241 
 
 12,734 
 
 20,882^ 
 
 33,6161 
 
 1837-38 
 
 16,112 
 
 3,195 
 
 19,307 
 
 10,372i^ 
 
 29,6794 
 
 1838-39 
 
 14,499 
 
 3,722 
 
 18,221 
 
 17,353 
 
 35,574 
 
 1839-40 
 
 3,755 
 
 14,755 
 
 18,510 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1840-41 
 
 5,817 
 
 11,593 
 
 17,410 
 
 12,0221 
 
 29,432^ 
 
 1841-42 
 
 10,752 
 
 8,987 
 
 19,739 
 
 14,473 
 
 34,212 
 
 ] 842^3 
 
 11,867 
 
 4,651 
 
 16,518 
 
 19,369 
 
 35,887 
 
 1843-44 
 
 13,067 
 
 4,792 
 
 17,859 
 
 16,944 
 
 34,803 
 
 1844r-45 
 
 14,709 
 
 4,083 
 
 18,792 
 
 18,1505 
 
 36,942^ 
 
 1845-46 
 
 16,265 
 
 4,288 
 
 20,553 
 
 17,770 
 
 38,323 
 
 1846-47 
 
 20,668 
 
 4,322 
 
 24,990 
 
 17,389i 
 
 42,379J 
 
 1847-48 
 
 19,434 
 
 4,443 
 
 23,877 
 
 19,391 
 
 43,268 
 
 1848-49 
 
 27,870 
 
 4,417 
 
 32,287 
 
 21,3921 
 
 53,679| 
 
 1849-50 
 
 30,996 
 
 4,097 
 
 35,093 
 
 16,513 
 
 51,606 
 
 1850-51 
 
 28,892 
 
 4,010 
 
 32,902 
 
 19,138 
 
 52,040 
 
 1851-52 
 
 27,921 
 
 4,385 
 
 32,306 
 
 28,168i 
 
 60,474^ 
 
 1852-53 
 
 31.433 
 
 4,745 
 
 36,178 
 
 24,9791 
 
 61,1571 
 
 1853-54 
 
 33,941 
 
 6,854 
 
 40,795 
 
 26,113^ 
 
 66,9081 
 
 1854^55 
 
 43,952 
 
 7,469 
 
 51,421 
 
 25,9581 
 
 77,379J 
 
 1855-56 
 
 37,851 
 
 7,087 
 
 44,938 
 
 25,576 
 
 70,514 
 
 1856-57 
 
 36,459 
 
 5,982 
 
 42,441 
 
 29,846§ 
 
 72,287§ 
 
 1857-58 
 
 31,878 
 
 6,735 
 
 38,613 
 
 36,125J 
 
 74,738i 
 
 1858-59 
 
 33,858 
 
 827 
 
 34,685 
 
 40,849 
 
 75,534 
 
 1859-60 
 
 22,329 
 
 3,621 
 
 25,950 
 
 32,534 
 
 58,484 
 
 1860-61 
 
 15,688 
 
 3,621 
 
 19,309 
 
 43,691 
 
 63,000 
 
 1861-62 
 
 21.332 
 
 5,210 
 
 26,572 
 
 38,680 
 
 65,252 
 
 1862-63 
 
 25,846 
 
 6,815 
 
 32,661 
 
 49,485 1 
 
 82,1461 
 
 1863-64 
 
 33,815 
 
 8,806 
 
 42,621 
 
 28,210J 
 
 70,8311 
 
 1864-65 
 
 41,719 
 
 8,484 
 
 50,203 
 
 34,213^ 
 
 84,416 i 
 
 1865-66 
 
 42,697 
 
 11,576 
 
 54,273 
 
 34,166i 
 
 88,4391 
 
 1866-67 
 
 37,279 
 
 4,478 
 
 41,757 
 
 33,081 
 
 74,838 
 
 1867-68 
 
 40,772 
 
 7,484 
 
 48,256 
 
 38,883 
 
 87,139 
 
 1868-69 
 
 37,985 
 
 6,281 
 
 44,266 
 
 30,683 
 
 74,949 
 
 1869-70 
 
 43,054 
 
 6,680 
 
 49,734 
 
 38,694 
 
 88,428 
 
 1870-71 
 
 40,669 
 
 8,054 
 
 48,723 
 
 36,436 
 
 85,159 
 
 1871-72 
 
 41,569 
 
 7,886 
 
 49,455 
 
 39,3341 
 
 88,789^ 
 
 1872-73 
 
 34,009 
 
 6.476 
 
 40,485 
 
 42,369 
 
 82,854 
 
 1873-74 
 
 34,820 
 
 8:517 
 
 43,337 
 
 45,301 
 
 88,638 
 
 X 
 
306 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Net Opium Revenue, compared with the Gross Revenues 
 OF India, from 1834-35."* 
 
 
 Net Opium Revenue. 
 
 
 Gross 
 
 
 
 
 
 Revenues 
 
 
 
 
 
 OF India 
 
 
 
 
 
 (less ret'uuds 
 
 Yeaes. 
 
 Bengal. 
 
 Bombay. 
 
 Total. 
 
 and drawbacks). 
 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 1834-35 
 
 694,279 
 
 144,171 
 
 838,450 
 
 26,856,647 
 
 1835-36 
 
 1,320,162 
 
 171,845 
 
 1,492,007 
 
 20,148,125 
 
 1836-37 
 
 1,334,097 
 
 200,871 
 
 1,534,968 
 
 22,359,967 
 
 1837-38 
 
 1,436,724 
 
 149,721 
 
 1,586,445 
 
 21,610,557 
 
 1838-39 
 
 698,799 
 
 254,331 
 
 953,130 
 
 21,632,680 
 
 1839-40 
 
 326,076 
 
 11,701 
 
 337,777 
 
 20,151,750 
 
 1840-41 
 
 649,632 
 
 224,645 
 
 874,277 
 
 20,851,351 
 
 1841-42 
 
 803,867 
 
 214,899 
 
 1,018,766 
 
 21,840,018 
 
 1842-43 
 
 1,322,343 
 
 254,238 
 
 1,576,581 
 
 22,616,487 
 
 1843-44 
 
 1,675,948 
 
 348,878 
 
 2,024,826 
 
 23,586,573 
 
 1844-45 
 
 1,808,345 
 
 372,943 
 
 2,181,288 
 
 23,666,246 
 
 1845-46 
 
 2,207,726 
 
 595,624 
 
 2,803,350 
 
 24,270,608 
 
 1846-47 
 
 2,279,339 
 
 606,863 
 
 2,886,202 
 
 26,084,681 
 
 1847-48 
 
 1,291,529 
 
 371,855 
 
 1,663,384 
 
 24,908,302 
 
 1848-49 
 
 1,958,256 
 
 887,507 
 
 2,845,763 
 
 25,396,386 
 
 1849-50 
 
 2,800,797 
 
 729,484 
 
 3,530,281 
 
 27,522,344 
 
 1850-51 
 
 2,055,827 
 
 694,521 
 
 2,750,348 
 
 27,625,360 
 
 1851-52 
 
 2,011,163 
 
 1,128,083 
 
 3,139,246 
 
 27,665,145 
 
 1852-53 
 
 2,601,043 
 
 1,116,889 
 
 3,717,932 
 
 28,429,275 
 
 1853-54 
 
 2,394,998 
 
 964,022 
 
 3,359,020 
 
 27,916,058 
 
 1854-55 
 
 2,232,411 
 
 1,101,191 
 
 3,333,602 
 
 28,959,822 
 
 1855-56 
 
 2,951,612 
 
 1,010,365 
 
 3,961,977 
 
 30,671,958 
 
 1856-57 
 
 2,700,712 
 
 1,159,677 
 
 3,860,389 
 
 31,415,559 
 
 1857-58 
 
 4,286,377 
 
 1,631,998 
 
 5,918,375 
 
 31,643,267 
 
 1858-59 
 
 3,898,114 
 
 1,448,277 
 
 5,346,391 
 
 35,965,018 
 
 1859-60 
 
 3,636,453 
 
 1,533,325 
 
 5,169,778 
 
 39,602,850 
 
 1860-61 
 
 3,316,613 
 
 2,441,679 
 
 5,758,292 
 
 42,728,601 
 
 1861-62 
 
 2,471,347 
 
 2,458,458 
 
 4,909,805 
 
 43,487,934 
 
 1862-63 
 
 2,959,789 
 
 3,239,409 
 
 6,199,198 
 
 44,801,686 
 
 1863-64 
 
 3,044,688 
 
 1,480,818 
 
 4,525,506 
 
 44,279,467 
 
 1864-65 
 
 2,883.542 
 
 2,100,882 
 
 4,984.424 
 
 45,395,384 
 
 1865-66 
 
 4,499,227 
 
 2,124,767 
 
 6,623,994 
 
 48,514,749 
 
 1866-67 
 
 3,873,754 
 
 1,851,263 
 
 5,725,017 
 
 41,590,736 
 
 1867-68 
 
 4,695,357 
 
 2,352,708 
 
 7,048,065 
 
 48,053.178 
 
 1868-69 
 
 4,927,150 
 
 1,804,180 
 
 6,731,330 
 
 48,531,763 
 
 1869-70 
 
 3,776,626 
 
 2,354,246 
 
 6,130,872 
 
 50,241,510 
 
 1870-71 
 
 3,632,325 
 
 2,398,709 
 
 6,031,034 
 
 50,879,058 
 
 1871-72 
 
 5,305,402 
 
 2.351,811 
 
 7,657,213 
 
 49,603,015 
 
 1872-73 
 
 4,259,162 
 
 2,611,261 
 
 6,870,423 
 
 49,673,189 
 
 1873-74 
 
 3,594,763 
 
 2,738,836 
 
 6,333,599 
 
 — — 
 
 * From the Calcutta Blue Book, Finance and Revenue Accounts, 1875. 
 Part III. Accounts No. 2 and No. 64. 
 
STATISTICAL. 
 
 307 
 
 VI. 
 
 Extent op Cultivation, total Produce, Quantity of Opium 
 produced, number of chests made for excise, number of 
 chests made for export. Net Eevenue per Qhest of Bengal 
 Opium, and Revenue per chest on Malwa Opium. Finance 
 and Revenue Accounts, No. 69 and No. 71. 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 J. 
 
 li 
 
 a 
 
 Year of 
 
 Quantity of Land 
 
 
 I'll 
 
 1° 
 
 la 
 
 II 
 
 Manufacture. 
 
 cultivated with Poppy. 
 
 • 
 
 
 O S e> 
 
 a os 
 
 fl'S g 
 
 r 
 
 II 
 
 
 September 
 to August. 
 
 Beegahs.-^ 
 
 Acres. 
 
 Mds.6 
 
 Chests. 
 
 Chests. 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 1848-49 
 
 388,044 
 
 242,527 
 
 62,994 
 
 398| 
 
 35,385 
 
 71 
 
 40 
 
 1849-50 
 
 373,616 
 
 233,510 
 
 60,935 
 
 898^ 
 
 34,419 
 
 64 
 
 40 
 
 1850-51 
 
 412,173 
 
 257,608 
 
 61,053 
 
 1,412^ 
 
 33,563 
 
 83 
 
 40 
 
 1851-52 
 
 460,322 
 
 287,701 
 
 70,598 
 
 867 
 
 39,465 
 
 69 
 
 40 
 
 1852-53 
 
 546,031 
 
 341,269 
 
 87,457 
 
 1,0434 
 
 48,322 
 
 48 
 
 40 
 
 1853-54 
 
 616,257 
 
 385,161 
 
 96,278 
 
 1,213§ 
 
 53,321 
 
 46 
 
 40 
 
 1854-55 
 
 595.711 
 
 372,319 
 
 78,796 
 
 1,432| 
 
 44.4411 
 
 61 
 
 4) 
 
 1855-56 
 
 582,848 
 
 364,280 
 
 78.895 
 
 l,S33|i 
 
 43.907 
 
 83 
 
 40 
 
 1856-57 
 
 543.897 
 
 339,936 
 
 5^,975 
 
 1,604^ 
 
 32,693 
 
 117 
 
 40 
 
 1857-58 
 
 4C0,733 
 
 250,458 
 
 54,8^7 
 
 3.353t^ 
 
 27,175i 
 
 136 
 
 40 
 
 1858-59 
 
 467,646 
 
 292,279 
 
 41,329 
 
 1,668^ 
 
 21,367 
 
 147 
 
 40 
 
 1859-60 
 
 434,508 
 
 271,567 
 
 41,230 
 
 2,182| 
 
 21,427 
 
 155 
 
 ("40 
 1 50 
 
 1860-61 
 
 435,337 
 
 272,086 
 
 58,168 
 
 3,1071 
 
 29,398 
 
 112 
 
 (50 
 1 60 
 
 1861-62 
 
 621,165 
 
 388,228 
 
 75,044 
 
 3,019§ 
 
 39,656 
 
 97. 
 
 ^60 
 (70 
 
 1862-63 
 
 748,693 
 
 467,933 
 
 93,583 
 
 3,190 
 
 49,727 
 
 61 
 
 (70 
 (60 
 
 1863-64 
 
 808,655 
 
 505,409 
 
 119,517 
 
 2.622 
 
 64269 
 
 56 
 
 60 
 
 1864-65 
 
 765,185 
 
 478.241 
 
 86,276 
 
 2,384 
 
 47,785 
 
 72 
 
 60 
 
 1865-66 
 
 637,830 
 
 398,644 
 
 81,327 
 
 4,157 
 
 40,901 
 
 116 
 
 60 
 
 1866-67 
 
 702,076 
 
 438.798 
 
 93.136 
 
 4.596 
 
 48,895 
 
 101 
 
 60 
 
 1867-68 
 
 727,247 
 
 454.529 
 
 83,750 
 
 5,277 
 
 43,610 
 
 96 
 
 60 
 
 1868-69 
 
 694,340 
 
 433,962 
 
 86,019 
 
 4,458 
 
 46,894§ 
 
 78 
 
 60 
 
 1869-70 
 
 778.331 
 
 486,457 
 
 99,124 
 
 2,579 
 
 54,072:^ 
 
 92 
 
 60 
 
 1870-71 
 
 834,035 
 
 521.272 
 
 76,739 
 
 3,114 
 
 40,9814 I 984 
 
 60 
 
 1871-72 
 
 863,272 
 
 539,545 
 
 81,431 
 
 3.680^ 
 
 42,975 
 
 sn 
 
 60 
 
 1872-73 
 
 828,222 
 
 517,639 
 
 88,104 
 
 4,2921 
 
 45.770 
 
 99 
 
 60 
 
 1873-74 
 
 830,593 
 
 519,121 
 
 99,308 
 
 — 
 
 54,716 
 
 — 
 
 
 5 The Opium Beegah = 27,225 square feet, or § of an acre. 
 
 6 Themaund = 82flbs. 
 
 ' Akbariy Opium is opium for consumption in India. 
 
 8 Provision Opium is opium provided for the Export trade. 
 
308 
 
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