Wason DS740^ GTASp ASIA \b57 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION ON CHINA AND THE CHINESE Cornell University Library DS 740.5.G7A3 1857a Papers relatlna to the opium trade in Ch 3 1924 023 184 819 ..>,.... DATE DUE -fr*^ !r5S M.^ J^'l^l — \\M ^B^\- oan or us* in Lii »rary Buildi no Onlv -6EF-:j"u lyw tTOT WM^MW^PPP Interltbra V Loan GAYLORD PRINTEDINU.S.A. ^/ 'M Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023184819 G--% ^yV, J^f^^y^ c^(J^>C Canton, November 6, 1855. I HAVE received the letter of your Secretary, Mr. Woodgate, dated October 29, desiring me to forward to your Excellency some practical informa- tion on the effects of opium-smoking upon the Chinese, and to furnish any suggestions for the removal of the evils which are consequent on the present state of things. In accordance with the wishes expressed, I shall now endeavour, as briefly as possible, to reply to the points named in Mr. Woodgate's letter. I must first premise that I place alcohol (the bane of Great Britain), and opium (the bane of China), in the same category and on the same level, as to the general injurious influence upon society; what may be said against the latter may be said with equal truth against the former. I shall have oppor- tunities, as I proceed with my letter, to remark the analogies and differences that subsist between them. It has been my painful experience to have been brought much in contact witli individuals indulging in both these unnatural stimulants. In 1837 I wrote an essay, which was read before a medical society m London, on the use and abuse of alcoholic drinks ; and in the .luly number of the "Chinese Repository" for 1840, there is inserted a paper of mine, on opium and alcohol, considered in their effects on the human system when used merely as a luxury ; and in the same volume (Eo. 9), there is also an analysis of the work " The Confessions of an Opium Eater," with remarks thereupon If your Excellency has time to do so, please look over them, for I see nothing materially to alter, after a farther experience of fifteen years. You will see from those observations that I do not, and cannot, regard the 43 use of opium by the Chinese as a matter of little consequence. I must pronounce it a great and growing evil, the alleviation or removal of which every true philanthropist must desire and rejoice to see. But as an act of justice to my country, to the East India Company, and British merchants, who have been so much abused at different times by the public press, both in England and America, 1 do not hesitate to affirm that many things said against the opium trade as " facts," are merely assertion and problematical theory. To illustrate what I mean, I vi^ill just refer to the recent memorial sent to the Earl of Claren- don, and forwarded to your Excellency by the last mail, copies of which have been in circulation at Hong Kong and Canton. In that " Memorial" there are the following expressions stated as supposed proven facts : — " Attended with more appalling mortaUty than was ever the case in the Slave Trade. " Little to choose between it and piracy. " Twenty millions of opium-smokers necessary to consume 75,000 chests of opium imported into China, one-tenth (or 2,000,000) of whom die annually from using it ; or, assuming one-half, we have the appalling fact that 1,000,000 of human beings are annually sacrificed to enrich a few individuals. " Paralyses the efforts of missionaries, &c." There are other points touching its injurious character on trade ; a violation of Treaty stipulations ; other nations evading the prohibitory laws by using the British flag ; its hostility to increased intercourse with the Chinese ; all of which will, no doubt, receive the due attention that they deserve from your Excellency, and other persons that you may consult. 1 . With regard to the number of opium-smokers in China. I remark on this head that it is quite impossible for any one, either European or native, to furnish a certain estimate. It cannot be questioned that opium is greatly on the increase. Its entrance into China is comparatively of recent date. I have been informed that it was first spoken about in the twentieth year of Keen-lung, about ninety years ago. Statistics will show the rapid augmentation of opium imported during the last twenty years, and I can vouch, on personal experience and on general report, that the use of opium as a luxury has become far more general than it was even ten years ago, and if its progress shall be equally rapid in forthcoming years, it would not be unsafe to hazard the opinion that its use would be everywhere as common (through the eighteen provinces of China) as dram-drinking has been in England and America. There are, how- ever, probably limits to the growth of the poppy in India and China, and sutfi- cient preservative moral principle left to check its universal adoption by all classes of Chinese. The {ad libitum) use of opium, I have found greatly corre- sponds with its price or dearness in the market. The falUng off" or increase of opium-smoking, and opium-smokers, greatly depend on this circumstance ; so that, cceieris paribus, any plan that could be adopted to enhance the price of opium would prove a most valuable auxiliary to alleviate or prevent the evils arising from the present state of things. I shall refer at the close to this point again. I have often put the inquiry to the Chinese, what is the proportion per 100 of opium-smokers (excluding women and young persons, who are generally exempt from this vice) ? The answer given differs so widely that there is httle dependence to be placed upon it. They agree, however, in this fact, that there is a much smaller proportion of opium consumers in the country towns and villages than in the great cities on or near the sea-coast, where the drug is mpst abundant and cheap. There are, unhappily, no statistical tables or data existing in China on any subject. Hence with regard to population, number of marriages and deaths, &c., there is nothing hke the certainty which exists on these points now so fully and accurately detailed in England. I give the following, therefore, as merely the opinion (the best informed and most trust- worthy that I can get) of the proportion who are addicted to opium-smoking in Canton, viz., 3 per cent, who habitually smoke, and 1 per cent, who take it occasionally (playing with it, as it is termed), altogether 4 per cent. On making the inquiry why the other ninety-six did not indulge in it, the reply received was, " Many are too poor to buy it ; others are strictly forbidden by their masters, parents, or elder brothers, whom they feel it is their interest and duty to obey ; 44 and others again abstain from its use because they are convinced it is injurious to health, and frequently leads to poverty and ruin ; and a few refrain from finding the smell and taste of opium sickening and repulsive." There are now no laws in force against opium, and from its being fashionable and less expensive than formerly, there is no hindrance (but moral restraint and self-respect) to keep multitudes from indulging in this luxury if they felt disposed. The average quantity smoked by one individual a-day seems to be li mace (1 mace is equal to 58 grains). Many take less, but others again consume 2, 4, 6, and even 8 mace a-day (this latter quantity being equal to 300 grains of the purest opium). Take 1 mace a-day as a general average, which is presumed to be the quantity on which the calculation of the recent " memorial " is based, then, instead of 20,000,000 of persons that would be required to consume 75,000 chests imported, there would be, at the extreme, but 4,000,000. Three individuals agree in the following results : the calculation being based on the fact that the number of chests imported have not exceeded 68,000, and also on the fact that the Chinese in preparing the opium for smoking, reduce it, by boiling, one half, so that a ball 1 catty in weight is reduced to half-a-catty, and 68,000* chests to what is equal to 34,000. At this rate (a chest weighing 154f lbs., 1 mace equal to 58 grains troy) — 68,000 chests will require . . 1,728,877 consumers at 1 mace per diem. 68,000 „ „ .. 1,153,638 „ „ H „ 75,000 „ „ .. 1,906,850 „ „ 1 „ 75,000 „ „ .. 1,272,395 „ „ U „ 75,000 „ (without reduction) 3,813,700 „ „ 1 „ As a portion of the opium, say one-fourth, is re- smoked by a second and poorer class consumers, the actual number of opium-smokers, allowing for 6very loss on 68,000 chests, at 1 mace a-day, will not exceed 2,500,000. Native opium, obtained principally from the province of Yun-nam in the south of China (which, to make it acceptable to the palate of the connoisseur, is mixed with foreign opium) is also used (but to what extent cannot be ascer- tained), and must add to the 2,500,000 named above. But this is not alluded to in the memorial. 2. The mortality arising from its use. This again has been greatly over- rated* My deliberate opinion is that it is not nearly so fatal to life as spirit-drinking is with us. Contrary to my expectations, I have found the habitual use of opium even compatible with longevity. And, to the extent of my observation and inquiry, I have come to the conclusion that opium, though its tendency is to undermine the constitution, and only supports the system by a false and dangerous stimulus, yet, if it can be taken regularly and of good quality, it does not abridge the duration of life to the extent that might reasonably be expected that it should do. The Chinese themselves do not regard it as a cause of frequent mortality, and it is doubtless less injurious in being smoked, than if the whole quantity was taken internally in the shape of tincture or pills. I do not know of any mortal disease from opium corres- ponding to delirium tremens from alcohol. I have never been called to attend to any accidents resulting from opium, similar to those occurring so frequently from habits of intoxication from liquor. The opium-smoker, when under the full influence of his deUcious drug, brawls and swaggers not in the public streets hke a drunkard, to the annoyance of bystanders, but reposes quietly on his couch without molesting those around him. It is very common to hear Chinese acknowledge that they have smoked opium ten, twenty, or even thirty years. I have seen a few who have taken it forty years ; and I have heard of one (probably an extreme case) who began taking opium when he was nineteen, and took it regularly for fifty-one years ; he died lately at the advanced age of seventy years. In writing the above, I wish only to place the case before us in the true * There seems to be some difficulty in arriving at the exact truth. A public paper has given 68,000 as the ultimatum. A mercantile gentleman says, " I have gathered the following from the best source in the colony :— In the year 1846 there were 41,300 chests imported from India; in 1850, 46,400; in 1854, 66,700." But admitting, including Indian and Turkey opium, the whole amounts to 75,000 chests, this, reduced by boiling to one-half, makes the number of opium-snlokets under 2,500,000, allowing for those who re-sihoke the refuse. 45 light. I wish not to defend or extenuate the evils of opium. I would not smoke it on any account myself, and I do not fail to strongly advise the Chinese not to do it, both on moral and physical grounds : moral, because its tendency is to debase the mind, blunt the conscience, leads to bad habits, late and irregular hours, tricking in business, and a prodigal expenditure of time and money, which often occasions much poverty to himself and friends ; physical, becausei the tendency of opium, like every other unnatural stimulant and narcotic, is to weaken the powers of Ufe, disorder the stomach and bowels, unduly excite and subsequently enervate the brain and nervous system, now unequal to their functions except by a continual supply of a false stimulus which takes the place of wholesome food and drink. If the opium-smoker takes regularly his two meals of opium a-day, then he is equal for a long time to the duties he has to perform, and his service is not refused on the score of indulging in opium, provided he is clever and attentive to business. Opium is a very seductive luxury, and when once its votary has become a victim to its dailj'^ use, its grasp is fearfully tenacious; and yet, strong as the habit is, it may still be abandoned. I have known several who have recovered them- selves in the same way (through less rapidly) that De Ouincy, the English opium- eater, did. I have also aided many in doing the same, by supporting the system during the period of cure, by quinine, ammonia, camphor, and small doses of morphia. And many native doctors in Canton have attained to much celebrity by curing inveterate opium-smokers. I have also been informed on good authority, that during Commissioner Lin's short, but strict, administration, nearly every one, from fear of losing his head, gave up opium. Much suffering resulted from being so suddenly deprived of an accustomed stimulus, but deaths were not frequent. No sooner, however, were restrictions relaxed, than, like the dog to his vomit, and the sow to her mire, these same men returned with fresh avidity to their coveted pleasure. The habit in some men has been destroyed for months (L knew two who were cured, and voyaged to Europe and back), yet so strong is the propensity, that they have taken to it again, and been worse than before. But 1 feel satisfied that even a confirmed opium sot is not wholly irreclaimable, and great numbers, not so deep in the mire, could restore themselves without much difficulty, if they firmly resolved to do so. I therefore draw the inference, from what I have seen and heard : — 1. That the mortalitv from opium is not so great as is generally supposed, and certainly not at the enormous rate of 1,000,000 a-^ear, even supposing that 20,000,000 took it. I cannot give the proportion of deaths, because there are no data or statistics on which to make the calculation. 2. That opium is probably more seductive and tenacious in its grasp than alcohol ; and I should certainly affirm that it was not so frequently fatal to life, nor so fruitful of disease and crime, as is the case with intoxicating drinks in Great Britain. . 3. That the enormities of the Slave Trade, and its mortality and sin, ought not to be brought into comparison with the opium traffic, looked at even in its worst hghts since there is this great difference between them— the poor slave is sold against his will ; the Chinese, of his own free choice, buys, prepares, and smokes the opium. And if native vessels dared ventured across the ocean, they would go to India for it. They cannot, therefore, justly be said to be plundered and murdered in a wholesale manner, to enrich our Indian Government and a few foreign merchants. A third point is, whether the opium traffic paralyses the eflx)rts of missionaries. . . , • . .i j.- Opium-smoking, like every other vice, is a serious barrier to the propagation of the Gospel, but I cannot pronounce it the greatest barrier— much less that it paralyses the eflforts of missionaries. Intemperance is a great bariier ,to the Christian minister at home ; but these vices are but leaves and branches compared with the great trunk of corruption .which is found in every human heart, and which Divine power alone can eradicate. It is true that our opponents do of en throw this in our teeth, '' Why do you bnng us opium? Bu , the obiection is easily answered by a counter-inquiry, - Why do you smoke it?^ or by remarks such as these, « I don't justify foreigners brmgmg so much opium, 46 but it is your demand for it that creates the supply. Foreign merchants, if it is a profitable speculation, will bring you arsenic, or nux vomica ; but this desire to make gain does not excuse your conduct in encouraging the use of them. If you wiU refrain from smoking opium, opium will cease to be brought to your shores. Instead, then, of blaming us, you ought really to blame yourselves much more." At Shanghae, Ningpo, and other places where opium is equally prevalent as here, missionaries and others go freely into the country, and are not impeded to do what they list in teaching Christianity far and near. Our chief barrier here is the unfriendly character of the people. 4. Can any plans be suggested to alleviate or remove the evils of the opium trade ? The opinion that I believe your Excellency entertains, that legalizing it, with a moderate duty, would be the best thing that could be done to lessen the evil, is not one that commends itself to my humble judgment. It would certainly convert a contraband trade into a legal one, which would be desirable for the honour of our country's flag, and would probably prove advantageous to trade. And if the Government of China approved of admitting it into the tariflf, as ours has done to prevent the smuggling in of foreign brandy, tobacco, &c., every difficulty would be removed. But this is not the case. So far as 1 understand the point, the question stands thus : — Several leading statesmen in China are favourable to its legalization, with a fixed duty of about 5 dollars on every 100 catties (133 lbs.), by which they say the public finances would be improved, and the drain of silver paid, at present, for this commodity, would be reduced. Others again, equally influential, advise the continuance of the prohibition : they say it is a safeguard to the country, and nothing really would be saved ; for what would be gained in payment of duties would be more than balanced by the great increase of the native and foreign opium through the Empire ; and the name and reign of a Prince who sanctioned such a law would be disgraced for ever in the annals of histoi-y. The question is beset with difficulties, and much may be said on both sides with truth ; but, after all, it is not for foreign Governments to decide, but the Chinese themselves; and there is reason to believe it would not be more favourably received now than it was on the signing the Treaty at Nankin. Prohibitions therefore continue, though not in force, owing to the corruption and weakness of Government, and its acknowledged inabihty to do more than check the progress of the vice among her people. But the laws against opium smokmg may be revived at any time : remove them, and a great moral restraint and check are removed at the same time. There is reason, therefore in behevmg that among a sensual people like the Chinese, the legal right to 'use opmm ad libitum would lead to an universal practice. The country would be deluged with it, both of native and of foreign growth. I mention this, however with diffidence. Your Excellency's superior judgment and knowledge of commercial affairs will enable you to off"er a more decided opinion than I can on this point ; but it does appear to me highly probable that legalisation would fail in even lessening the evils of the opium trade. I would say, let the restrictions continue, and any plan that would raise and keep the opium high, ouo-ht to be encouraged. A heavy duty would do it; but a weak Government like this could not enforce it, and therefore it would prove injurious. The only hope and remedy in our hands, as it seems to me, is to discourage the growth of onium in the British dominions in India. Probably 24,000 chests will reach China less this year than the year before; 12.000 chests, it is said, having been condemned, and 2,000 chests less ordered to be grown, because of its sale proving unprofitable. A ^^I'^}" '!''?'"' '!.'?t".''^ ''°' *^^ '^"^^ quantity be diminished every year and the fertile plains of Hindostan grown with cotton and other useful products ' Opium IS now dearer than it has been for a long time, and its disuse will be proportionate. If the quantity imported was diminished annually, the price of opmm would increase with it ; and if our Indian Government coild be induced to give up gradually the revenue derived from this branch of commerce I cannot but think that it would prove the most effectual plan to alleviate and remove the present state of things. Opium would probably be grown in dstrSts 47 over which our Government has no control ; but surely it would not amount to the present figure. But supposing opium did flow in from other quarters, Her Britannic Majesty's Government and public opinion could be brought to bear to its discouragement, which cannot so well be done whilst our Government, for the sake of a certain amount of revenue, sanctions and fosters the growth of the poppy. Native opium might possibly be grown to a greater extent to. make up the loss ; but I have been informed that the poppy does not thrive in China as it does in India, and the extract is of a harsher taste, so that, though cheaper than the imported drug, it will not sell unless mixed up with the Indian opium. But its growth, together with opium-smoking, would surely be discouraged with renewed vigour by the Chinese Government when it learnt that the British Government was checking the growth of opium in India. I hope the above suggestion will not be thought crude or impracticable : if it could be adopted, it would reflect honour upon our Christian country (though it would only be the fulfilment of duty). The Indian revenue, though always insufficient, might not suffer any material loss by ceasing to grow opium (witness the loss upon it last year), and by gradually withdrawing from it, our shipping and mercantile interests would have opportunity of making up their loss. A legal trade would be pushed to its utmost, and in the end we should all reap advantage by this new order of things. I have endeavoured, my dear Sir John, to treat the subject dispassionately, and, so far as I know, truthfully and justly. I have no ends to gain either way. I sincerely wish our commerce to prosper, but I also intensely long to see it conducted according to the great principle, " Do unto others as you wish them to do unto you." Now growing opium and bringing it to China is one of those things we should not like done unto us; and also as we find the Chinese Government (I do not say the people or corrupt Custom-house officers) really averse to the opium traffic, but powerless in putting it down, then I think it is our duty, as a Christian Government, to do what we can to help it, and certainly the first step seems to be to discourage, as much as possible, the growth and sales of opium in India. I have, &c. (Signed) BENJAMIN HOBSON. PS. — With this I inclose a translation of a Chinese tract against opium, of which there are several published from time to time. It shows how some feel on the subject, especially on so much money leaving the country to obtain a useless luxury. B. H. Inclosure 2 in No, 26. Chinese Tract entitled " A Discourse to awaken a Stupified Age to Life.'" {Translation.) THE Yik-king says, " Live by rule, do not waste your property, nor injure the people " Undoubtedly every one ought to have a due regard to the mterests of the person and property of our neighbour. Even among the most ignorant, there is not one who does not understand the principle of self-love and selt- preservation. If the skin or flesh is broken, or any other part of the body maltreated, is there not an immediate resentment ? This is self-love Ur it money is stolen, or property is encroached upon, is there not instant and violent wrangling? This is self-preservation. What then is opium taken for .' It comes from Mang-mae (Madras), Mang-ga-ta (Bombay), Na-kan-ta (Calcutta). A pernicious article exchanged for what is most useful. Let an opium-smoker reckon up the several tens of dollars he spends in one year, and what is paid away at the diff-erent ports, the annual expenditure uiU amount altogether to several miUions of dollars. And as the buying and smoking of opium is m- Seaing the sale of it is proportionate. This silver is daily diminishing, com- Stietare falling in price, and the husbandman, mechanic and merchant a^ aU Offering pecuniary loss ; near us (we behold; the family rumed , afar off mkery spreading through the empire. If the error is not guarded agamst, the injury will be indescribable. ^ 48 To the best of my ability I will now carefully specify some of its evil effects, humbly hoping that right-minded men will extensively make them known. Happy shall I be if those who are conscious of the evil will condescend to listen to what I have to say. 1 , You will find that the properties of opium are detrimental to human life (here follows a long description of its effects upon the gate of life, the four viscera, the five elements, &c.,) showing that its habitual use takes away appetite for food, prevents nutrition, occasions debihty, emaciation, and numerous diseases. An opium-smoker cannot perform much labour, cannot bear cold or heat, and when the habit becomes thoroughly confirmed it destroys hfe, offspring, and patrimony. Opium is in the highest degree a wide-spreading poison. Is it not most painful to reflect upon it ? The new laws require the opium-smoker to be instantly strangled. To come to a bitter death, and thus injure the body we have derived from our parents, is the height of folly. How then can you take your precious person and hand it over to capital punishment ? 2. Opium injures our wealth. Examine into the state of trade during the last few years : copper cash is at a premium, goods cheap, trade stagnant, opium in great demand. What is the cause of this ? It all arises from the native silver being exchanged for opium, and rapidly diminishing in quantity and rising in value. Now opium -comes annually from other countries to more than 50,000 chests, which is, generally speaking, exchanged for money to the amount of 20,000,000 of dollars ; reckon up several tens of years, and there will be exchanged away of native silver several hundreds of millions of dollars ; and this money all goes to one country, and does not return to us : the consequence is, that in the legitimate trade, there is a scarcity of money, and the price of goods must then necessarily fall in price. ; Formerly both the inner and outer countries trading, together exchanged their goods with mutual profit. England, America, France, and other countries, brought their broad-cloths, camlets, clocks, watches, long-ells, piece goods, cotton, and cotton yarn, &c. ; China giving her tea, silks, satins, gauze, rhubarb, and other articles in exchange, which increased our national wealth and pros- perity, and foreigners obtaining our productions, derived benefit from them. This legitimate trade is in every way advantageous ; the duties also are sufficient, and the various branches of trade are in a prosperous state. But how is the increasing poverty of the people, and the lowering price of goods, to be explained ? It must be attributable to the extensive sale of opium. It is evident, therefore, that native silver is draining away, and there being nothing to exchange for our commodities and copper cash, these are daily diminishing in value ; and since these are so cheap, the branches of export and import trade, merchants and tradesmen, all alike suffer loss. But it is not only merchants who suffer ; many articles of merchandize and provisions are produced by the husbandman and mechanic ; the prices of these things being too low, agriculture and manufactures are also unprofitable. Thus the disastrous consequences are of unlimited extent; and if opium-smokers do not themselves give up the habit, trade in opium will not cease, the wealth of the country will be efiectually exhausted, and all the branches of trade embarrassed ; Imperial duties also will be deficient, officers of Government will be involved, rents and debts will be in arrear, clothes and houses cannot be purchased, expenses of marriage, funeral, and sacrificial rites cannot be defrayed, nor money distributed in times of rejoicing, mourning, visiting, or purchasing of presents ; moreover, if the calamity of fire, drought, or, typhoons, should befall us, or we suffer from cold, heat, or cont0.gious diseases, there is no way by which we can obtain deliverance. Alas! who could have supposed the opium which was originally taken to pass away an idle hour, should have brought us to this condition; first, ruining private families, secondly, impoverishing the whole Empire. It is in the highest degree a terrible calamity. One may fear, that if the evil be not speedily averted, there wiU be no end to our misery, I would ask the opium-smoker, do you desire to bring , your own family to beggary, and your country to ruin ; your posterity to suffer hunger and cold, and to lose the principles of truth and justice ? Men originally have a conscience, and in the silence of night, while reflecting, should repent of the past, reform and lead a virtuous life. You who trade in opium, and seduce others to trade, trade no longer. You who have not taken opium, do not by any means smoke it. You who have already taken it, guard against it ; form a strong resolution 49 not to indulge in it ; diminish its use, little by little ; take the prepared medi- cines to obviate its effects ; and in less than two months the habit will be broken. When this is done, destroy your opium apparatus ; turn round and advise others to guard against it, and prevent the evil flowing down to after generations ; and if it be possible, let us bring back the present age to the principles of reason, and the people to a proper regard to their true interests. I sincerely hope that benevolent and virtuous men will everywhere caution and exhort their fellows, fathers their children, elder brothers their juniors, relations and friends mutually and strenuously advising one another. We must help all to come out of this stream of stupefaction, and with us to return to the way of life. By this means we shall secure the safety of our families, enjoy a prosperous trade, have everjrthing in abundance, possess undis- turbed tranquillity, the age will be fortunate, and our country happy. Written in the 2nd month of the 29th year of Taou-kwang, by Mr. Ug, of the district of Shun-tak, near Canton. Inclosure 3 in No. 26. Dr. Lockhart to Sir J. Bowring. Sir, Shanghae, November 12, 1855. IN answer to a letter of October 27, from the Superintendency of Trade, Hong Kong, addressed to me, I beg to send to your Excellency the inclosed sheets, just printed, containing remarks on the opium trade by the Rev. _Dr. Medhurst, and embodying observations on the physical effects of opium-smoking, as noticed by me during my residence in China. Much care has been taken in the drawing up of this paper. I beheve its statements are correct, and think it is the best answer I can send to the queries on the subject of the foreign opium trade; I shall be glad if your Excellency will bring it under the notice of the Earl of Clarendon. I am, &c. (Signed) WM. LOCKH H2 50 Inclosure 4 in No. 26. Tabular View of the Quantity of Qpium exported from Bengal and Bombay, with the Profits derived'therefrom by the East India Company, Yenjs. Receipts. Disburse- ments. Profits. Chests of Malwa Receipts. Prime Cosi Profits Kealised. Total No. of Chests. Total; Profits. Sicca Euneea Sicca Rupee . Bombay Ru] . Bombay Rui . Rupees. 1798-9 ■ 4,172 1,731,161 \ ... 4,173 ... 1709-O . . 4,054 3,142,591 4,064 1800-1 . 4,670 3,143,035 ... 4,670 ... 1801-3 3,947 3,719,718 ... 3,947 ... 1803-3 . 3,293 ■).,565,728 3,293 1803-4. .. 3,840 S,9-14,596 3,840 180« 3,159 6,203,805 ... 3,169 ..'. 1805-G 3,836 6,894,919 ... 3,836 1806-7 .. 4,136 ^ 4,077,948 4,136 1807-8 4,638 0,854,167 ... 4,638 1808-9 4,208 5,106,760 4.308 ... 1809-0 4,561 8,070,965 4,661 ... 1810-1 4,968 8,088,330 4,968 1811-3 4i891 7,996,870 Cost of pro 4,891 1813-3 4,966 6,276,706 auction of ... 4,966 1813-1 4,769 8,871,475 145,124 ... 4.769 1814-5 .. 3,672 8,914,290 } cliests, at 360 rupees 185,424,119 3,672 1815-6 4,330 9,093,980 per chest, is 4,330 1816-7 .. 4,618 9,079,972 60,793,400 ... 4,618 ... 1817-8 3,692 8,043,197 ... 3,692 1818-9 .. 3,562 6,343,265 ... 3,652 ■•. 1819-0 ... 4,006 8,265,603 ... ... 4,006 ... 1830-1 4,344 10,663,891 ... ... '-^ 4,244 ... 1831-3 8,298 13,176,313 ... 2,278 4,610,072 ... 5,676 ... 1833-3 ' ... 3,918 10,829,496 3,856 7,736,985 Total for ... 7.773 1833-4 ... 3,360 6,508,610 6,.536 9,763,740 nine years 8,896 ... ISS-W 6,900 7,401,663 ... 6,003 7,809,146 79,318,158, ... 12,023 ... 1825-6 ... 3,810 8,880,226 6,503 6,401,673 deduct nine- >•• 9,373 ... 1826-7 ... 6,570 8,330,025 6,606 10,520,686 tenths for 13.176 1827-8 ... 6,660 11,238,416 4,604 6,229,233 the prime 11,164 1838-9 ... 7.709 10,635,134 7,709 13,606,386 cost, leaves >•• 16,418 1829-0 ... 8,778 11,255,767 , 8,099 13,639,740 Revenue Collected. net profit Cost of Collection. 7,913,810 16.877 193,337.935 1830-1 ... 11,836 13,467,817 3,428,660 10,029,161 6,631 983,675 983,675 17.456 11,012.826 1331-2 ... 11,610 13,087,883 2,077,863 11,410,020 10,628 1,869,926 1,859,925 23,138 13,269,945 1833-3 ... 10,864 12,353,662 4,119,111 8,334,461 8,619 1,608,336 1,608,336 19,483 9,742,686 1833-1. ... 12,006 13,653,246 4,239,165 9,413,091 11,896 2,081,858 384,664 1,697,394 23,902 11,110,385 1834-5 10,995 11,575,774 6,348,880 6,326,894 10,016 1,762,803 311,092 1,441,711 21,011 7,768,605 1836-6 14,861 18,051,438 4,8.19,815 13,201,613 16,361 1,918,833 200,367 1,718,455 30,202 14,920,068 1836-7 ... 12,606 18,950,449 6,616,481 13,340,968 21, 127 3,078,407 069,767 2,008,710 34,033 15,349,678 1837-8 19,600 33,498,041 8,061,803 11,307,238 11,773 1,840,068 394,466 1,497,203 34,373 15,864,440 1838-9 18,213 13,710,360 6,722,870 6,987,990 21,988 3,7J8,605 206,347 2,643,318 40,200 9,531,308 1839-0 ... 18,906 7,683,703 1,422,0.1.3 3,360,701 1,65 1 190,811 79,797 117,014 20,619 3,377,775 1 810-1 17,868 12,025,177 6,528,863 6,490,324 16,773 2,246,452 34,631 8,7.t3,776 1841-2 18,827 13,826,480 5,787,811 8,038,669 ll.,081 ... 2,1.18,989 33,508 10,187,668 1843-3 18,362 18,310,504 6,083,008 13,23,3,436 24,337 2,697,009 64,637 3,542,382 42,699 16,776.818 1843-4 ... 16,101. 22,846,060 6,080,684 16,759,.1S3 13,563 ■ 3,559,870 71,090 .3,488,780 28,667 20,248,263 1844-6 ... 18,350 21,78.|.,ra.|, 0,700,600 18,083,464 30,060 3,791,404 61,973 3,729,431 39,010 21,813,885 1846-8 .. 31,437 29,010,600 6,817,273 22,077,203 12,636 6,180,163 233,910 6,956,243 84,072 28,033,506 1846-7 ... 21,648 30,702,994 7,900,607 32,793,387 18,002 [6,108,418 39,790 6,068,028 40,260 ■ 38,863,015 1847-8 ... 30,616 23,636,163 10,709,867 12,915,296 16,486 4,140,800 73,670 4,067,330 46,000 16,982,626 1848-9 ... 36,566 34,930,375 15,347,713 19,682,662 16,609 ... 8,875,066 63,075 28,467,628 1849-0 .. 34,863 33,139,341 Coatof pro- ... 18,062 ... 7,294,886 52,926 7,294,885 1860-1 33,601 37,246,136 duction of 22,000 65,661 1851-2 ... 36,000 38,430,000 246,127 cliests, at ... 23,000 69,600 1853-3 ... 39,463 38,348,033 360 rupees 27,111 -Average for five yeai-3 . 49.089,332 G6,674 186,834,925 1853-4 ... 48,319 30,727,634 per chest, is 26,204 74,623 1864-5 ... 63,331 40,000,000 86,114,450 137,745,693 26,033 78,364 ^ 31,302 816,733,164 S 56,296,268 669,731,761 «5,839 ... 118,796,773 1,197,041 678,618,634 51 Inclosure 5 in No. 26. Remarks on the Opium Trade, based on the preceding View. THE sources from which information has been derived in constructing the precedmg table are the following : the returns for the first thirty years have been drawn from Phipps' work on the commerce of China and the Eastern Islands. That author has merely given the number of chests of Patna and Benares opmm sold at Calcutta from 1799 to 1829, with the prices realised. He has not, however, stated the cost of production, nor shown the clear gain to the Company ansrag from the transaction during that period. It has been said that the opmm costs the Company from 250 to 300 rupees per chest. By a comparison, however, of their receipts and disbursements for the succeeding twenty years, it will appear that the disbursements sometimes amounted to one- half of the receipts; and taking the average of the twenty vears, 350 rupees per chest seems to have been expended in the production of the article. This proportion has therefore been allowed for the thirty years included in Phipps' Returns. Phipps has given a very meagre account of the Malwa which was exported from Bombay during the period over which his account reaches. Previous to the year 1821 no reference is made to the Malwa opium. From that time to 1830 it was entirely in the hands of the East India Company, who purchased what was brought down fromijthe interior, and exported it at their own cost. Phipps has given the quantity exported during the nine years referred to, with the prices per chest in Bombay rupees ; from this have been gathered the quantity of Malwa opium sold by the Company, and the sums realised by the sale. But no clue is given whereby it could be possible to arrive at the prime risk. It is only known that in 1830 the Company forbore to buy and sell the drug in Bombay, and contented themselves with levying a duty of 175 rupees per chest on the transport. As the Company were not likely to relinquish a profitable source of revenue for one less lucrative, it is to be inferred that they made as much, or perhaps more, by taxing the transfer than they did by dealing in the article. If this inference be just, and if Phipps' tables are to be relied on, then the Company could not have made more than 10 per cent, by their mercantile speculation in Malwa. In this way the probable revenue realised by them on that drug previous to 1829 has been arrived at. With regard to the returns since 1829 more satisfaction has been expe- rienced. Those from 1829 to 1849 have been taken principally from "Kaye's History of the Administration of the East India Company," combined with the "Friend of India" and the "Colonial Almanac for 1855." Kaye derived his information from statistics relative to India, prepared at the India House ; the editor of the " Friend" obtained his at the Government Secretariat in Calcutta. These respectable sources of information, agreeing as they do substantially, afford the greatest confidence to those who are seeking for reliable information. The authorities in question, however, only give the revenue collected for the Malwa opium, but not the number of chests : this want has been supplied by dividing the sums collected at the custom-house by the amount of duties levied per chest from time to time. From 1830 to 1835 said duties were 175 rupees per chest ; from L835 to 1843 the duty fell to 125 rupees, which seems to have given a sort of impetus to the trade ; from 1843 to 1845, the duty was raised to 200 rupees ; from 1845 to 1846 it was again raised to 300 ; after that it was raised to 400 rupees, at which it has stood ever since. The cost of collection has varied from 40,000 to 670,000 ; sometimes it is not given at all. So that it is impossible here to furnish a complete report ; sufiicient, however, is given to show how much the gains of the Company on the Malwa opium have been. From 1850 to the present time, our chief authority has been the " China Mail;" this paper, however, is very bare of information on the subject of the Malwa opium, the supphes of which for three or four years are merely given by compa- rison with the years before and after. The compiler has taken great pains to secure accuracy in the tabular view above given, and would be exceedingly obliged to any one who would point out any error in the returns stated. It must be borne in mind that the returns above given are for opium exported from Calcutta and Bombay. This affords no exact clue to the amovjnt imported into China : 5,000 or 6,000 chests go to Netherlands India ; 2,000 or 52 3,000 are consumed in and about the Straits. Siam, Camboja, and Cochin- . China take a few thousand more. But it is impossible for us to say exactly. In the "China Mail" for January of the present year the total deliveries in China are stated to be 40,000 chests from Bengal, and 27,000 from Bombay. In a subsequent number of the same journal, we find, as given in the preceding table, 53,000 chests exported from Bengal, leaving 13,000 chests from that port to be accounted for as consumed somewhere out of China. Perhaps we should not be far wrong in coming to the conclusion that 12,000 or 13,000 chests have been for several years past taken up by the ultra-Gangetic nations exclusive of China : and from 5,000 to 8,000 annually for the twenty years preceding 1850, It is always best to take a fair view of every case — there is nothing got by exaggeration. As to the probable number of smokers we have only approximate calcu- lations. Innes, writing on the subject in December 1836, 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 3 candareens, or 1 7i 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 Shanghae, 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 2, 3, and 5 mace a-day, in order to keep up the stimulus once excited by a single mace. Let not any suppose that the common people and the labouring classes could not alFord to use so much of so valuable a drug. It is horribly cheap. The last quotation in the Shanghae "Price Current" was for Patna and Benares 360 dollars, and for Malwa 420 dollars. Taking the average at 400 dollars the chest, as each chest contains 70 catties of smokable extract, the price for a mace or dram would only be. 64 cash. It is actually sold in the retail opium shops at 90 cash per mace. This is only half the wages of a labouring man, which he might easily expend in the way above described, and leave enough for food and clothing. Thus it is not beyond the means of the daily labourer to procure and consume a mace a- day. The mercantile and literary classes can afford and do consume much more, and some even gratify themselves with a tael. These do not generally go to the retail shops, but buy the opium by the ball, and prepare it themselves, in which case it does not cost them more than 70 cash per mace. An objection may be brought by some that such a quantity of the narcotic would kill them at once, and therefore they could not take it ; to which it will be sufficient to reply that it does not. A medical man, who has had much to do with opium-smokers, and is well acquainted with the quantity each consumes, and the effect produced upon his system, says, that if a man uses only a dram a-day, it does his general health little injury. Confirmed, inveterate pale- skinned smokers, use 2, 3, 4, and even 6 or 8 mace a-day. Persons only acquainted with the effects of opium in Europe, would still stand aghast at the statement that a Chinaman will consume half-an-ounce a-day without kiUing him. But it must be remembered that the Chinese only smoke it, they do not swallow it. One mace mixed up with ardent spirits and taken into the stomach, would be sufiicient to poison a man at once, and many da poison themselves in this way. But passing as it does, by means of the pipe, through the lungs, its poisonous qualities are greatly diminished. The smoking extract, above spoken of, does not amount to one-half of the bulk of the opium. From a careful experiment made, it appears that 1 catty, or 16 taels, yields of extract 7 taels 8 mace 8 candareens, being a reduction of 51 per cent. A chest of Patna, therefore, weighing 140 lbs. gives only 70 lbs. of extract. This is a very extravagant mode of using the opium, but it is the method the Chinese have adopted, and its awful cheapness enables them to throw away more than half the narcotic power of the drug, and to use the other in such a way that the results upon the system are only one-tenth of what it would be if taken inwardly, as the people in Turkey, and, unhappily, some in Europe, do. Assuming the proportion of a mace a-day as the average amount of daily consumption of each person to be correct, we 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 contams 70 catties of smokable extract, allowing to each smoker 1 mace per 53 day, we have little more than 2,000,000 smokers for the whole empire. Some * contend that a large quantity of opium is grown in China : Mr. Fortune saw the poppy growing for the purpose of obtaining the inspissated juice. ISTeither he, however, nor any other man, can tell how much is actually grown. Supposing. it even to be one-half of the amount imported, it would then raise the amount of smokers to somewhere about 3,000,000, about 1 per cent, of the population. For this addition, however, the Chinese themselves are responsible. Foreigners have nothing to do with it, except in as far as they gave them the appetite for the drug, and led them to supply their own wants at a cheaper or more convenient rate than they could do by procuring it from abroad. It may be worth while, before leaving the statistical table above given, to say a few words regarding the East India Company, with reference to the production of this article. Previous to the year 1767 the amount of opium sent to China, principally by the Portuguese, did not exceed 200 chests. In that year it reached 1,000. In 1733 a small adventure in opium was undertaken by the East India Company. In 1780 a depot for it was formed in Lark's Bay. In 1781, 2,800 chests were sent by the Company to Canton, and bought by one of the hong merchants there. He was obliged, however, to export the principal part, not being able to find a market for it in China. From 1798 to the present time, the share taken by the Company in opium has been large, and the profits considerable. The rise and fall of prices depending on demand and supply is. very remarkable. At the first commencement of the trade in 1799, the opium seems to have realised no more than 415 rupees per chest. The Company reduced the supply a little in 1800, and the price rose to nearly double that sura. They reduced the supply still more in 1802, and the price ran up to nearly 1,000 rupees. They went on reducing the quantity, and the price rose again in 1803 to 1,300, and in 1805 reached to nearly 2,000 rupees. They increased the supply, and the price fell in 1808 to 1,500 rupees. They, kept it then nearly steady, and the prices remained at 2,000 for several years. In 1822 they decreased the supply, and the price rose to 4,000 rupees. From this time till 1830 it kept steady at from 1,500 to 2,000 rupees. Since 1830 the supply of opium from Bengal rapidly increased, but the prices it reaHsed very little exceeded 1,000 rupees. During the last five years they have brought the supply of Patna and Benares up to 50,000 chests annually, but the price obtained for it is not more than 750 rupees. In this may be seen how cupidity sometimes defeats its own ends. The object seems to have been to raise a larger revenue from the opiuni ; in order to this the Company laid out ten times the quantity of valuable land in the cultivation of the drug, and expended a capital twelve times the former amount, but reahsed a profit only four times as much as they formerly obtained. Thus the more they expended on the cultivation the less comparatively they got for it. It is true the gross amount of their gains in the last twenty years is four times that of the preceding thirty ; but the capital and territory employed in obtaining it vastly preponderates in the latter period as compared with the former. Perhaps some men may consider this a good speculation ; others may, however, question it. If a man has to exert ten or twelve times the amount of strength, and succeeds in raising a weight only four times as great as before, he will conclude that the beneficial result of such expenditure is m inverse propor- tion to the given exertion, and that he had better husband his strength, or apply it in some other way, than lavish it so profusely to so httle increased advantage If a loss of power is discovered in the working of the machine, the machinist will examine as to whether it arise from friction or from the escape of steam and try to remedy the defect, but certainly will not continue to work on in the same direction without inquiry. The chances are, that if the same scheme is carried on by the Company to a much larger extent, it will defeat itself When the opium was at 2,000 and 3,000 rupees a chest the cost of production was 300 or 400 rapees ; now the price is reduced to 750 rupees, the same sum must be laid out in raising it. Let the Company "^^^ Mf J""^^^ "^ treble its supplv, and they will bring down the price so low that it will be no longer profitable to produce it at all ; and then their ^^P^^'^^^^^^'^Z'lTh: houses, apparatus, and machinery for mcreasmg the supply, «f o?^?i f^^^/J^ rendered useless, and the large population previous y engaged m it Will be thrown out of employ. Viewed merely as a means for raising a large revenue, the plan the Company are now pursuing is self-destructive. But there is another hght m 64 * which the scheme ought to be viewed, and that is the effect it has had, and is hkely to have, upon others. To benefit one's own finances at the pecuniary expense of our neighbours may be all very well according to the code of this world's morality, but when the profit accruing to self is small in proportion to the loss that falls upon another, and when that loss is not merely of a pecuniary kind, but affects moral considerations, it becomes then the bounden duty of the speculator to reflect upon his conduct and pause in his proceedings. Mr. St. George Tucker is no mean authority in manners of finance. He managed the important firm of Palmer and Co., in Calcutta, at a time when they were doing their largest business ; and after having, at the earnest solicitation of the Government, taken upon himself the management of the Indian finances, he rescued them from a condition of extreme jeopardy, and left them upon a respectable basis; subsequently he became a Director of the East India Company, and twice filled the important oflice of Chairman of the Direction. The opinion of such a man is worth listening to ; and earnest attention is called to a note handed in by him 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 encouragement 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 Rajpoot 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 ofiicers 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 pohcy of Lord Comwallis, Lord Teign- mouth. Lord Wellesley, and Lord Minto, 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 fi-om this wise and humane pohcy ! Is there any man still so bUnd 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 promoting the general use of the drug, and by placing it withm the reach of the lower classes of the people, no fiscal consideration can justify our inflicting upon the Malays and Chinese so grievous an evil." It is doubtless an evil, and an evil that has grown in magnitude since the days of Tucker. The head and fi:ont of this offending rests with the East India Company. They, as Tucker says, " introduced the article into their own districts, where it had not been cultivated before, or where the cultivation had been abandoned ; and they gave their revenue officers an interest in extending the cultivation, in preference to other produce much more valuable and deserving of encouragement." There can be no doubt that the East India Company has supreme authority over their own provinces, and are directly responsible for measures originating with themselves in those provinces. All the Patna and Benares opium is grown, prepared, packed, and sold by them at the Government sales in Calcutta. This is at least one-half, and has latterly amounted to two- thirds, of the whole export from India. It has been suggested, however, that they have nothing to do with the Malwa opium, and that if they were to stop the growth of the drug in Bengal, it would be carried on in the Rajpoot States. That statement is more than questionable. Mr. Tucker, as already quoted, has told us that the Company " contracted burdensome Treaties with the Rajpoot States to introduce and extend the cultivation of the poppy." Mr. Tucker was not the man to indulge in vapid declamation. What he said he meant. He spoke not without book. The greatly -extended cultivation of the opium in Malwa is the result of the direct interference of the Company. But some mav say, the Company derived httle benefit from such extension ; the Rajpoot States reaped the harvest. The figures we have given in our tabular view prove the contrary. Previous to the year 1830, the Company dealt directly in that article • but in that year they changed their policy, and allowed the natives to trade in it' while they contented themselves with levying a duty on its transport. For the first five years this duty was fixed at 175 rupees per chest : it was then reduced to J 25 rupees, probably with the view of attracting the trade to their own terri 55 tories ; for the Company's ports were not the only outlets by means of which the Malwa opium could reach the sea ; the Portuguese have two seaports on the west coast of India north of Bombay, called Damaun and Diu. Had the duties been too heavy, the natives would have availed themselves of these last-named ports ,^ and the route through the Company's territories could not have been established. But it was no sooner established than, in 1843, they raised the rate to 200 rupees ; two years afterwards it came up to 300 rupees, and in 1846 it rose to 400 rupees per chest, at which it has since remained. Some persons may be curious to know the reason of such apparently unwise policy — unwise as tending to checlv the transport, and drive away the traders from the Company's ports to those of their neighbours. The reason suggested has been the annexa- tion of Scinde by Sir Charles Napier, which took place in 1 845 ; a use to which the acquisition of Scinde has been applied, not often adverted to even by those who condemn that measure. Previous to that event the carriers of the drug could export it by a circuitous route to Damaun. When Scinde with its dependencies became annexed to the Company's territories, this route was stopped ; the upper part of the Province of Guzerat and Candeish being likewise under the same dominion, the carriers of the drug from Malwa had no resource but to bring it direct to Bombay, and pay the duties ; otherwise they would have had to take it northward, through Rajpootana, across the Indus, and completely round Scinde, in order to reach the sea ; by which means, in addition to the length of the journey, they would have exposed themselves to the chance of robbery and murder by the way ; they therefore preferred to export it vid Bombay. The Company, seeing this, found that they could safely increase the duty, and they raised it to 400 rupees the chest. By this means they make as much by every chest of Malwa, as they do by Bengal opium. The latter realizes only 750 rupees, from which 300 or 400 rupees have to be deducted for the cost of the production ; while the former pays them 400 rupees, without any outlay of capital or employment of otherwise productive land. After all this, to be told that the Company have nothing to do with the Malwa is preposterous. The same power which enabled them to levy 400 rupees per chest would avail to levy 4,000 rupees, or prohibit it altogether. If, therefore, they do not prohibit the transport, but raise as much revenue as they can out of it, for their own benefit, they are equally responsible for the introduction of Malwa into the market as they are for the Bengal drug. ' To understand the extent of this responsibility it is necessary to ascertain, if possible, the nature and amount of the evil inflicted. This, of course, cannot be done completely, but some attempt may be made to point it out to a certain extent. In so doing it is above all things necessary to avoid exaggeration. Exaggeration, in addition to its being contrary to truth, is calculated rather to increase and perpetuate the evil than remedy it. We hope to be able to avoid it, and should be much obliged to any one who would point out to us, in a friendly manner, wherein we appear to verge towards too high a colouring of the evils complained of. ^2 • i i, ■ t The evils arising from the opium traffic are of three kmds, financial, physical, and moral. On the first of these we are disposed to lay little stress. That the financial evils fall, in some measure, on the producer, the preceding figures and reasoning will show. In addition to what has been already stated, it may be observed, that the monopoly of Bengal opium is far from being such a productive source of revenue, as has been supposed, from the simple fact of its being a Government monopoly, and therefore greatly deficient in the economy of produc- tion : besides which it is insecure, the Indian Government having no control whatever over the consumption, and by a sudden accident, as in 1839, its finances may become deranged bv the trade being stopped, and the whole supply of opium •thrown upon their hands. But still it is said that the ^o^n Govemmen d^^ derive a considerable revenue from the drug, equal to about 3 000,000Z. sterlmg. When appealed to on the subject their answer has been, "We would gladly, m compaslon to mankind, put a total end to the consumption of opmm if we could, but in the present state of the revenue of India, it does not appear advisable tolSandon so i^mportant a source of revenue, ^T'^^^'tZlXyTlotZt opium falls principally upon the foreign consumer." Our people have not got topavforit other countries pay the price, and ours enjoys the benefit Said ■priceCpaid bythe others,\mounting to 5,000,000L sterhng. The Chinese GTvernmen have complained of this most lustily ; and are continually talking 56 about " the silver leaking out of the country." Formerly, no doubt, a large quantity of bullion was exported from China to Bengal to pay for the opium ; of late, however, owing to the disturbed state of the country, the native merchants have been unable to take the usual amount of foreign produce, and thus the money paid by them for opium has been used by the foreign misrchant for the purchase of tea and silk. For this end it has proved insufficient, and large quantities of silver have been, for several years past, imported into China. But what of that ? BuUion is an article of commerce ; it goes and comes, without of itself benefiting or injuring the traffickers. It is trade that benefits, and silver kept still does no good. The Chinese have a fancy for various other things, such as birds' nests, sharks' fins, tripang, &c. These are little esteemed by foreigners, but the natives of this country like them, and are willing to pay for them, some at a very high price. No one ever talks about the " silver leaking out of the country " for these things, no more than the English would complain of their country being impoverished by so much money being sent over to the continent to purchase such articles of diet and dessert as they prefer. It is against the article itself, and not against the money paid for it, that the outcry should be made. If the article be harmless, and the Chinese like it, let them enjoy their hobby. But if it can be proved to be injurious, then the larger the supply the greater the evil, and the heavier the responsibility i-esting on those who produce and import it. Regarding the physical evils of opium much has been said — ^to the purpose, in some instances, and beyond the mark in others. The writer is obUged to a medical Mend for the few remarks which follow : — " The preparation of the drug may be briefly noticed, as consisting in several decoctions of the raw material, which are strained, and the clear liquor evaporated, until the resulting extract is of a proper spissitude, about that of thick treacle. " The person who is about to smoke reclines on a couch, resting his head on a pillow ; with one hand he holds the pipe, taking the mouth-piece between his hps ; with the other hand he takes up a small portion of the extract, and applies it to the little nozzle on the pipe's head, with a pointed steel wire or long needle, at the same holding the nozzle directly over the flame of a lamp, making a deep inspiration, so that the fumes of the drug pass into the lungs. This is said to be unpleasant to those who first use the pipe, but they soon get over it. The fumes after being retained for a short time, are allowed to pass away by the mouth and nostrils. Another application of the extract is then made as before, which is continued for a longer or shorter time, according to the effect wished to be produced. " When a smoker first commences the use of opium, as has been noticed above, it is a pleasant and refreshing stimulant ; an artificial vigour and tone are given to the system, followed by a corresponding relaxation and hstlessness ; after which an eflfort 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 off; 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 dependence on his much-loved indulgence. By-and-bye 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 drug called for being from time to time greater aud- its use more frequent. ' " Among the symptoms that present themselves are griping pains in the bowels, pain in the hmbs, loss of appetite, 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 eyehds, and altogether a haggard countenance. There is a peculiar appearance of the face of a smoker, not noticed in any other condition • the skm assumes a pale waxy appearance, and as if all the fat were removed &om beneath the skm. The hollows of the countenance, the eyelids root of the 57 ala nasi, fissure and corners of lips, depression at the angle of the jaw, temples, &c,, take on a peculiar dark appearance, not like that resulting from various chronic diseases, but as if some dark matter were deposited beneath the skin. There is also a fulness and protrusion of the lips, arising, perhaps, from the continued use of the large mouth-piece peculiar to the opium pipe. 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. " Day by day, and year by year, the practice of opium- smoking prevails more and more among this people, and by-and-bye it will, doubtless, have a powerful effect on the destinies of the country. It is said that the late Emperor used the drug ; it is certain that most of the Government officers do, and their innumerable attendants are in the same category. Opium is used as a luxury by all classes, and to a great extent ; indeed, so great that it cannot fail to exhibit its effects speedily upon the mass of the inhabitants. " In rich families, even if the head of the house does not use the drug, the sons soon learn to use it, and almost all are exposed to the temptation of employing it, as many of their friends and acquaintances are in the habit of smoking, and it is considered a mark of politeness to offer the pipe to a fiiend or visitor. Many persons fly to the use of the pipe when they get into trouble, and when they are afflicted with chronic or painful diseases, sleeplessness, &c. Several persons who have been attended for maligaant tumours were made victims of the drug, by the use of it to appease the pain and distress they had to endure. The beggars are to a great extent under its influence, but they use the dregs and scrapings only of the half-consumed drug, which is removed from the pipe- head when it is cleaned. " But the most common cause of the Chinese resorting to the use of the opium-pipe is their not knowing hovvr to employ their leisure hours. When the business of the day is over, there is no periodical hterature to engage their attention; their families do not present sufficient attractions to keep them at home ; and sauntering about of an evening, with nothing to employ the mind, they are easily tempted into the opium shops, where one acquaintance or another is sure to be found who invites to the use of the drug. "As the use of the pipe grows upon a person, a great change is effected in its relation to the smoker ; he originally took it to produce pleasure, he has now to take it to give freedom from pain, and soothe the series of evils consequent on the habit he has acquired. Till he has had his pipe in the morning, he is hstless and uncomfortable, cares not for eating, nor indeed for his ordinary business or occupation, and feels unlike himself till he has had his smoke. " There is, perhaps, no form of intemperance more seducing than the use of opium, nor is there any more difficult 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 enioyment. 2ndly. As to the effects produced by the drug when it is emnloved 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 j in this condition the individual soon becomes a martyr to his tormer vices, and bitterly repents of his having submitted to the temptation. "When the pipe is first taken, during the incipient stage, a few grains are sufficient to produce the full effect. This small quantity requires to be gradually increased to produce a given result; the times of using it must become more freauent until the victim is soon compelled to use one dram, or sixty grams, m the^ourse 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, and even five drams are daily consumed. This may be denominated the second stage. _ Some are said to use ten drams daily, but these are only the superior classes who have no need to attend to any business or occupation, and can sneiS almost their whole time iu intoxicating themselves wih the use of the dmg or rrecovering from its effects. The life of such persons is not prolonged and the many complSnts arising from the excessive indulgence soon put an end '° ''tSelTSstS' death arising from the excessive use of opium among the higher classes, who can afford to gorge themselves with their stimulant till 58 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 get inured to the habit, the ener- vating 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. Among the lower classes, those who indulge in the use of opium are reduced to abject poverty sooner than the preceding. Having no property, furniture, or clothes to dispose of, then- 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, as above stated, on the scrapings of other men's pipes ; and as soon as they are unable by begging to obtain the necessaries of life, together with the half-burnt opium on which their very life depends, they droop and die by the roadside, 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 finished 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 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 impos- sible to give them bread and opium too, and they subsequently died one after the other, 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. It is impossible to say what is the number of such victims, either among the higher or lower classes. An American missionary who lately visited England is reported to have stated that " the smokers of the contraband article have increased from eight to fifteen miUions, yielding an annual death harvest of more than a million." Such statements do great harm ; they produce a fictitious and groundless excitement in the mind of the religious and philanthropic public at home, while they steel, against all reasonable and moderate representations, the minds of the political and mercantile body abroad. The estimate given has not even the semblance of truth ; it is an outrageous exaggeration. The writer has ventured an opinion on the number of smokers, but he would not even hazard a conjecture as to the " annual death harvest." Every man must judge for himself in this matter. 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 sensiblities' and acquamtance with religious truth, was tempted to prevaricate and deceive in order to conceal his indulgence in the habit, and to elude the vigilance of those who were engaged in watching him. How much more, then, may we expect a 5ymg nation hke 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 Chmese opmm-smokers to deny their having any connection 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 rehgious 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 admitting him into connection with the Church. Not only is the moral 59 sense weakened in opium smokers, but the habits they have acquired naturally and necessarily lead them into associations where they are directly tempted to the most profligate vices, A 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 rake's 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. But it is unnecessary to pursue the theme further. All the evils usually springing from drunkenness by means of alcohol, are to be met with among opium-smokers, except the uproariousness common to those in a state of liquor. Such then is the evil : now with regard to the responsibility. We have already shown that the East India Company stands at the head and front of this offending. The Government of India contains in it many inteUigent and honourable men : men in whom the best feelings of human nature predominate, sanctified in some instances by Divine grace. It is difficult, therefore, to account for their silence while such evils prevail through their instrumentality. It must be because " the duty falls principally on the foreign consumer," and because the evils arising from the system are far removed from their observation, that they permit them to continue without any attempts at remedy or remon- strance. Should what is here penned ever meet the eye of the great men in Calcutta and Leadenhall-street, it is hoped they will seriously lay it to heart, and search more deeply into the subject, so as to ascertain the real extent of the evil, and suggest some method of cure. But the "honourable and approved good masters" of the East India Company have masters over them. The Board of Control constantly, and the British Parliament occasionally, interfere with, and have a right to interfere with, the management of the Court of Directors. The British Parliament is the representative of the British people, and with them ultimately rests the responsi- bility of wrong doings throughout all the ramifications of the State, both at home and abroad. They could and they should raise their voice against every national evil, and if, when a case of improper dealing is laid before them, they remain silent, they are to blame. But let the British people have a care, when they set about the removal of abuses abroad, that they with equal ardour seek to correct abuses at home. It would be the height of inconsistency to cry out against the East India Company for deriving a revenue from the tax on opium when the Home Government derives a revenue fi-om the tax on ardent spirits. ^J'he two articles are mischievous, not perhaps in a similar way, nor to an equal degree, but they are both mischievous, and the same arguments which would lead to the abohtion of the one, would bear equally on the abrogation of the other. It is true there is one slight difference. The people of England may say, when we levy a tax on ardent spirits, we tax ourselves, and proceed upon the principle of making the luxurious and self-indulgent bear more of the State burthens than the abstemious and self-denying ; while, according to their own showing, the Company tax foreigners, and make the Chinese contribute to the support of India. There may be some difference between the Ego and the Alter in the case ; but still the revenue derived from a tax on stimulants is the same in principle', and a blow cannot be inflicted on the one, without its recoiling with httle diminished force against the other. The connection of the East India Company with the opium ceases in Calcutta and Bombay. When the drug is sold in the one case, and pays the transit duty in the other, they have nothing more to do with it. It is bought and exported by others. The Chinese do not attend the opium sales, nor convey the drug to their shores. Those intermediately engaged in this business, therefore must be content to bear some share in the responsibihty. Here, however 'we meet an objection : "You should not mix up the horrors of the opium dens with the simple selling of cargoes of opium, which is a mere mercantile transaction, requiring neither inhumamty nor immorality on the part of those engaged in it. On the contrary, they may be humane men anxious to alleviate the evil, and disclaiming for themselves all blame in the matter, 60 Whilst fuUy admitting all that is said with regard to the humanity and good feeling of the parties alluded to, we cannot see how they can exonerate them- selves from all responsibility in the matter. If the opium traffic be an evil, and if its results are at all injurious to any of the human race, then those engaged m it, in whatever way, cannot divest themselves from blame in the view of the common sense of mankind. There is a chain, reaching from the Government House in Calcutta to the opium dens in China, and every link in that chain contributes to keep up the connection ; the electric fluid if applied to the one terminus would inevitably reach the other, and every individual link would feel the shock. Admitting to its fullest extent that the parties are humane and honourable men, there must be a certain dullness of perception attaching to them in this one particular, if they are prevented from seeing that the connection must to a certain extent affect themselves. Of the extent to which it affects ieach one, every individual must and will judge for himself, according to the principles by which he is animated. The man who is merely actuated by worldly motives will of course rate it at a very low figure ; the Christian whose heart has been renewed by the Spirit of God will take a much higher view of it. It will be well, however, for both to remember, that, besides the bar of their own consciences, there is a public sentiment which now forms an estimate of their conduct, and a day coming, in which every matter will be viewed in its proper light, and receive its just award. A few words relative to the remedy which may be applied in order to check or repress the evil complained of, and we have done. In the first place, all exaggerated and one-sided statements should be avoided. The American missionary, whose late speech we have already alluded to, is reported to have said, " This traffic is staining the British name in China with the deepest disgrace, as some of the subjects of Great Britain continue to carry on an armed contraband trade in a destructive poison, enriching themselves by merchandising that which impoverishes and murders the poor infatuated and besotted Chinese.'' Now that missionary knew, or ought to have known, that American citizens are fully as much impHcated in this affair, in China, as the subjects of Great Britain. There are individual exceptions among the merchants of both nations, but on the whole, both Enghsh and American houses in China trade in the drug each to the full extent of their means. The speaker ought also to have known, that the arming of the vessels engaged in the opiiam traffic is simply for their own protection, and all little enough to defend themselves against the rapacious west-country pirates, who have of late years infested this coast. As it is told in England, it leads to the conclusion, that the opium vessels are armed for the purpose of resisting the revenue officers of China, than which no idea could be more erroneous. But the missionary may ask, are we to do nothing to stop this growing evil ? Yes, there are a variety of things which missionaries may do. They may pray to God to avert this, as well as every other calamity which afflicts the human race. Nobody will find fault with a missionary for praying, and " the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." They may likewise exhort the Chinese not to smoke it, and they will find sympathising hearts among the crowds who hsten to them, whenever they inveigh against opium They may further insist on the utter abandonment of the practice in the case of all those Chinese who wish to be admitted to rehgious fellowship ; and no one will complain of a missionary keeping his communion as pure as possible. We live in hopes of seeing the Gospel universally prevalent m China, and if every missionary were to make it a sine qud non, in admitting members, to reject all those who clung to the drug, then in proportion as Christianity spreads would the evils of opium diminish, until the time came for China to be thoroughly evangelised, and then they would cease altogether. In addition to all this, missionaries could collect and diffuse information on the subject. No persons are in a better position to obtain information relative to the effects of opium in its social and religious aspects. Let this be carefully collected, and temperatelv set forth, and good must be the result. Religious and benevolent persons at home may do much towards diffusine this information, and keeping the public mind alive to the subject. Care should be taken, however, lest the parties be misinformed, and deal out their blows in a wrong direction. Abuse also must be rigidly avoided, and the imputation of wrong motives to merchants or the Government be repressed. Thus with 61 discretion and perseverance something might be done, but patience is above all things requisite, lest discouragement prevail when the eftbrts employed do not result in attaining all the success desired. The opium traffic has now grown from a little rill to a mighty river, and the attempt to check it is like rolling back the flowing tide. But the effect of increased light on the human inteUi- gence, and influential motives brought to bear upon the human conscience, pa,y in time be successful in removing prejudice, and overcoming self-interest, so as to lead men to " do to others as they would be done by." The writer cannot close without a few words of exhortation to those who deal in the drug in China. The principal 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 you that you are not to benefit yourselves to the injury of others. Granting that a large quantity of the opium you 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, you must admit that the use leads to the abuse, by a natural and necessary process, and that if you or others did not import the drug, neither the use nor abuse of it could possibly take place. We do not say that all the opium you import does harm, but much of it you must admit does, and if every chest but killed its man, or shortened the life and happiness of a single individual, you cannot deny that it does harm. And can you sit down contented with the thought that the gains you are acquiring are obtained at the expense of th^ diminished comfort or shortened existence of others ; while the wives and children of the deluded victims are bitterly bewailing the hour when the head of the family ever came in contact with opium ? Surely if you knew all the results of the traffic, your humanity would lead you to recoil from any participation in it. Mind, we do not stigmatise you with hard names, as some have done, but we dp think you are not sufficiently considerate of the well-being of your feUow-meni You are, as it were, mixed up with a thousand others, who are driving along the battering-ram which is beating down the best interests of China, and because you do not just see where the ram's head strikes, or the effect it produces, you thoughtlessly conclude that you are doing no harm. Bystanders, however, see it, and you might see it, if you would but open your eyes ; could you but see it, we are sure you would not inflict it — you would not " needlessly set foot upon a worm" — and how can you blindly persevere in doing that which will interfere with the best interests of your fellow-men ? Missionaries, in endeavouring to reform the vices of the Chinese, have frequently to point out their evil deeds ; when they do so, they are met with the objection, that their own countrymen bring opium to the country, which makes them worse than ever they were before. The foreign teacher endeavours to to obviate the objection, by telling his hearers to abstain from the use of the drug : adding that it is their employment of it which creates the demand, and that the demand leads to the supply. "That is true,*' they say, " we are so fa,r deluded as to use the indulgence when it is put in our way ; but which of the two appears in the most unfavourable Hght, the man who presents the tempta- tion, or the man who falls under it. The one is weak, the other wicked." Missionaries would like to be supplied with an answer to this objection, and th^ best reply would be, if they were able to say it, " Our countrymen have some of them seen the evil of the system and abandoned it. The number of these is increasing daily, and we hope there will soon be few remaining upon whom you can cast the imputation." To the Indian community who traffic largely in opium, we would address a few words, which we hope will be read and understood by them. The Parsee§ have always been noted for their charity ; no case of distress is ever presented before them but they contribute liberally to its relief. Princely donations haye been presented by them on the altar of benevolence, which are enough to make Christians blush. The feelings which prompted such deeds are deserving of all admiration. But will not the same feeUngs induce thein to lend a listening e^r to the tale of misery which is told about the wretched victims of opium, and the distressed condition of the famihes of ihe smokers, which have been thereby reduced to want and beggary; and if they find such tales to be true, or that even the half has not been told them, will not their charity lead them to pause 62 in a course which is productive of so much evil, and not go on enriching themselves at the expense of the tears of others? The Israelites are blessed with a revelation from which we also derive Divine lessons of instruction. They profess to look up to the Almighty for his blessing on all they do. Can they consistently expect his blessing here? and when the children of Zion pass by, and see them thus engaged, can they say, " Bircath adonai aleichem : bayrachnoo ethchem be-shaim adonai ?" (Signed) W. H. MEDHURST. Shanghae, October 27, 1855. Inclosure 6 in No. 26. Extract from the "North China Herald" of December 6, 1855, Ningpo, November 2, 1855. To the Editor of the " North China Herald." My dear Sir, WILL you allow me to trouble you and your readers with a few remarks in reference to a subject which has been referred to once or twice in your paper ? I refer to the Ningpo missionaries versus the opium trade. I do not intend to enter into a discussion of the opium question either in its political or moral aspects. My only object is to correct a misapprehension which seems to exist, and to explain a circumstance which this correction will necessarily bring to view. It has been stated that " the missionaries at Ningpo have memorialized their Governments to do away the opium trade." This statement, though I suppose unintentionally, is tacitly acknowledged in some "Remarks" made upon it by "A Missionary at Ningpo." Now it is true that a part, and I believe the greater part, of the missionaries here have signed memorials to this effect, but it is not true of them all. How many did not sign such memorials I am not able to state, though I have heard the names of three mentioned. Yet if there were but one who did not sign them, as he receives none of the honour, so he deserves none of the obloquy, of those who did. These persons, I have no doubt, were influenced by the best of motives. Surrounded by the unnumbered and heart-rending evils which result from opium-smoking and opium-eating, and seeing no other way so likely to effect their removal, they felt it to be their duty to petition their respective Governments to exert their power to suppress the trade, so far as it is carried on by their fellow-citizens, and under the protection of their national flags. Whether it would be right or expedient for these Governments to grant their petition might perhaps admit of a doubt; but certainly there can be no reasonable doubt as to the right of these citizens in presenting it. In doing it I cannot see that they violated any law of morality or of courtesy. They did, in fact, only what all persons claim that they have a right to do — a right which, under some form or other, everybody is constantly exercising. And if they have violated no law of morality or of courtesy, they cannot reasonably be made the subjects of censure. But I have stated that all did not sign these memorials. Why did they not? I cannot say that the reasons which influenced me are those which influenced the rest ; and so I will answer for myself alone. It was not because I did not as deeply as any deplore the evils entailed upon this people by the use of opium, and should not rejoice as heartily as any in the adoption of any just and equitable measures by which these evils would be removed or lessened. It was not because I thought the course proposed was in itself unlawful, or was calculated to give to any person any just occasion for offence. Nor yet was it because I was unwilling to bear the odium that I might incur in the perform- ance of all I felt to be my duty. I love, I confess, the good opinion of mv fellow-creatures, and I should be glad if 1 could always secure it ; but, as much as I love it, and as much as I regard it essential to my usefulness as a Christian minister, I would seek it only in the way that I think is right. But my reasons were as follows : 63 In the first place, I was not satisfied that these Governments had the right to grant what these memorials asked; and if they had the right, I was, too, doubtful as to whether they would regard it expedient. These, however, have been, and still are, matters rather of doubt than of conviction ; and I mention them only as considerations which had some influence upon me, though in regard to them, upon further examination and reflection, Tmight be led to entertain very different views. The science of government and the laws of nations are not usually so much the study of the Christian minister as of the merchant and the magistrate ; and a degree of ignorance in these matters might perhaps be more excusable in him than in them. These, however, were not the only nor the main considerations by which I was influenced. Of them I will briefly mention one or two. It did not seem to me that this was the kind of labour required of the Christian missionary. His work is to preach the Gospel, not to make laws, noi- to instruct others how to make them ; at least not farther than is done in the promulgation of the truth, and the cultivation of an enlightened moral sentiment. We are told that the early missionaries "went everywhere preaching the word." When brought before magistrates and councils, they defended themselves and the cause in which they were engaged. But we hear nothing of their petitioning rulers to remove the evils which they everywhere met, and by which they were hindered in their work. They might have done so if they had chosen to do it ; for their being ministers or missionaries deprived them of none of their rights as citizens. While they were aware of this, and while they maintained and exercised these rights, whenever they found it necessary, they were evidently impressed with the idea that their work was to be accompMshed by moral means. And this idea is well expressed in the language of the Apostle : " For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the puUing down of strongholds." Some of the Apostles were so scrupulous upon this subject, that they could not couvsent to devote a portion of their time in attending to the secular wants of their poor converts. " It is not reason," they said, "that we should leave the word of God and serve tables." If a Christian missionary attends faithfully to his appropriate work of preaching the Gospel, I think he may reasonably be excused from meddling with questions of law and politics, especially when they involve so many difficulties as the one here referred to. Again : it did not seem to me that this is the kind of labour expected of missionaries by their brethren at home, under whose auspices they are sent forth, and by whose liberality they are sustained. Some, it is possible, might not object to it; but I am sure there are many who would; and I beheve the majority of those whom I have known and loved, and to whom I should soonest look for counsel and sympathy, would be grieved to know that their missionaries were meddling with difficulties of this kind. It may be said that we are not accountable to these persons. But I think we are in a measure accountable to them. We have entered with them into a solemn covenant — they to support us, and we to devote ourselves exclusively to the work implied in our sacred office. But again, supposing that this kind of labour involved no other objection, it seemed to me of doubtful utiUty. I thought little would be gained ; much might be lost. Some may regard it a light thing to lose the good opinion and favour of their fellow-men, especially those of worldly aims and worldly hopes. But neither Christ nor his Apostles have taught this doctrine. We have, indeed, been taught not to seek to please men, when this Hes in the way of our pleasing God. But when it does not do this, so far from our being allowed to disregard the views and feeHngs of others, we are required to respect them. Our Lord has pronounced a blessing upon the peacemaker. But no one can be called a peacemaker who does not himself strive as much as possible to live peaceably with all men. The precept of the Apostle, " Let not your good be evil spoken of" though given with special reference to another case, is still applicable to this. The Christian, and especially the Christian minister, should be a man of peace. This Lord is the Prince of Peace. The gospel which he is sent to preach is the gospel of peace. His life and his labours, therefore, should be in the way of peace—" Peace on earth, goodwill towards men ! But finally ■ I have been taught to beheve that the great and all-sufficient remedy for moral evils is found in the Gospel of Christ. If opmm-smoking is sinful, then it is clear to my mind that those who understand and obey the 64 Gospel, will forsake it. And so, if the opium-trade be immoral, then those who embrace the gospel will abandon it. If, therefore, we behave that opium-using and opium-deahng are great moral evils, we may attack them ; but let us do it with the weapons our warfare which are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. But some may say, " We shall never succeed in overthrowing those evils by preaching the Gospel." But suppose we do not, we shall succeed in doing our duty, which I think is far better. " Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice ; and to hearken than the fat of rams ! " These are the reasons which influenced me in dechning to join in memo- riahzing my Government in reference to this subject. I do not judge, much less censure, those who did. They thought they did right in not doing it And I hope that, if these lines fall under the eyes of any of them, they will not think that I have written them for them, but solely for myself. With many apologies for thus troubling you and your readers, I am very sincerely yours, (Signed) E. C. LORD. Inclosure 7 in No. 26. Dr. Dempster to Mr. Mercer. Sir, Hong Kong, December 11, 1855. IN reply to your letter calling upon me to report on the character of the diseases engendered by the use of opium amoug the Chinese in this Golgny, I beg to state that diseases of the brain, dropsical swellings, paralysis, and dysentery, are induced, the latter disease particularly, when, from whatever cause, the supply of the narcotic is withdrawn. Several cases of the immoderate use of the drug admitted into the Government Civil Hospital were marked by stertorous breathing, suspension of deglutition, &c., and finally by convulsions and death. The opium-smoker or eater is easily known : his appearance makes an impression not easily erased. He is pale, emaciated, and feeble, apparently in a profound stupor, very fretful, and easily irritated. The moderate use of the drug is certainly " aphrodisiacal ;" and its effects can be witnessed in the brothels frequented by the Chinese .- it causes for the time being renewed youth and perfect present enjoyment. Referring to the latter paragraph of your letter, I regret I am unable to give any authentic information ; but from inquiries made, I believe that every Chinaman possessing the necessary means indulges in the use of this favourite and seducing drug. I have, &c. (Signed) J. CARROLL DEMPSTER, M.D., Colonial Surgeon. Inclosure 8 in No. 26. Messrs. Jardine, Matheson 8f Co., to Mr. Woodgate. Sir, Hong Kong, December 12, 1855. WE have to apologize for allowing to remain so long without reply your letter of 29th October, inclosing by the direction of his Excellency Sir John Bowring, copy of a memorial addressed to the Earl of Clarendon by the Earl of Shaftesbury on the subject of the opium trade ; and in compliance with his Excellency's request we now proceed to make such observations on the aver- ments contained in the memorial in question as appear to us to be called for. The statement that the opium traffic on the coast of China is carried on, with scarcely an exception, by British subjects, and under English colours, is so manifestly incorrect that we are surprised that the Earl of Shaftesbury should have hazarded such a remark, as the shghtest inquiry would have shown him that this is not the case, vessels of almost every nation trading in China being engaged in 65 the traffic, while, with but very few exceptions, the whole of the mercantile firms in this country are interested in the trade. Lord Shaftesbury, on behalf of the Committee in whose name he writes, states that it is his solemn conviction that the opium trade is attended with a more appalling mortality than ever was the case in the Slave Trade, and in another part of the memorial gives it as a fact that a miUion of human beings are annually sacrificed by it to enrich a few people. It would have been well had his Lordship stated the evidence or the grounds upon which he has been led to such a conclusion. Considering the number of medical men prac- tising in the Straits Settlements, in Hong Kong, and other places of facile access, where opium is largely consumed, it can be no difficult matter for Her Majesty's Government to ascertain with tolerable accuracy the average mortality among opium-smokers, and we greatly doubt if on due inquiry this will be found materially to exceed the per-centage of deaths among the rest of the population. That opium if taken to excess will, like all stimulants, prove injurious in its effects, there can be no doubt ; but we believe that these are far less baneful than the use in many European countries, and especially in Great Britain, of spirits and other fermented Uquors, and in this opinion almost every medical man of respectability who has had any experience in the East, we think will concur. The vessels engaged in the traffic on the coast of China are armed, it is true ; but this is to enable them to repel the attacks of pirates who swarm in these waters, and not to resist the constituted authorities, from whom no inter- ference whatever has been experienced for many years past. Of the effect of the opium traffic on general trade, his Lordship, we appre- hend, is not in a position to form either a correct or sound opinion. So far as the experience of many years has shown us, we are decidedly of the belief that, instead of tending to restrict what is termed the legitimate trade, the traffic in opium has enormously extended the export of tea and silk from China to the British market, and enabled these articles to be supplied to the consumer at a lower price than could otherwise have been the case ; indeed, but for it they could not have been shipped, except to a limited extent, during the past two years, owing to the absolute want of the means to pay for them ; and it seems not improbable, from the rapidly-increasing consumption in Europe, America, and elsewhere, that at no distant period not only will opium, but all the silver bullion that these countries can conveniently spare, be required to carry on the trade. Being ourselves large importers of British manufacturers into China, nothing would afford us greater satisfaction than to see this branch of trade extended ; but the demand for such goods is dependent on other considerations, and is in no way affected by the opium trade, to the account of which every evil, real or imaginary, seems to be laid by certain prejudiced parties who pertinaciously make it the object of their attacks. The decline in the value of British cottons, which the Earl of Shaftesbury lays at the door of the opium trade, is attributable solely to the increased importations since the war, which have naturally brought about a fall in price ; but the statement that opium, on the other hand, has maintained its value, is only of a piece with the other misrepresentations put forth in the memorial, seeing that the average price for the five years preceding 1850, when the first material increase mthe production took place in India, was not less than 620 dollars, while since that time it has certainly not exceeded 475 dollars, and for last year alone not over 400 dollars We may further mention, for his Lordship's information, in case his advisers should have failed to make him aware of the fact, that previous to the period in question opium was largely produced in the more southern provinces of China, with the tacit concurrence, if not the sanction, of the mandarms ; but since the reduction in price of the foreign drug, this would appear to have been to some extent abandoned, so that it is even questionable if the consumption of the article is actually greater now than it was five or ten years ago. As regards the introduction of opium by the mail steamers, this is a matter on which it is scarcelv necessary to remark, as it is one of no interest to us, and should the Goveriiment disapprove of such a mode of conveyance, it can be readily guarded against by the introduction of a clause m their mail^ contracts. 66 This would, however,, merely be throwing the carriage of the drug into other hands, and would in no way affect its introduction into China. There are other points in his Lordship's memorial as to the conduct of officials, both British and Chinese, &c., on which we do not consider that it comes within our province to remark. We have, &c. (Signed) JARDINE, MATHESON & CO. Inclosure 9 in No. 26. Memorandum. THE subject of opium and the realization of a revenue from it, was noticed in the very first despatch addressed by Lord Stanley to Governor Davis, 8th February, 1844. On the 3rd July, 1844, at a meeting of the Legislative Council it was resolved, that " revenue could be derived from certain subjects of taxation " (of which opium was one) "without injuring the commerce of the colony." On the 20th November, 1844, an Ordinance for licensing the sale of salt and opium, &c., within the colony was read a first time. This Ordinance was read again and passed on the 26th November, 1844. It is No. 11 of 1844. On the day of its passing, Mr. Martin, Colonial Treasurer, presented to the Council a dissentient memorandum, on which Governor Davis recorded the following note : " The perfect understanding now established between the Imperial Commissioner Keying and his Excellency the Plenipotentiary, that on the subject of opium the British and Chinese Governments shall adopt their own rules and regulations respectively, with reference to their own subjects, leaves no scruple whatever as to taxing opium within Hong Kong, while the Chinese Government itself openly admits opium v;ithin the ports of trade. "With regard to the moral effects of opium, the Governor agrees in opinion with Sir H. Pottinger, and classes it with spirits and such other unnecessary stimulants. He therefore does not hesitate to adopt the recommendation of Her Majesty's Government previous to his departure, and to raise a tax from the consumption of opium within the colony." On the 7th July, 1845, this Ordinance was amended by No; 4 of 1845, but the opium license was not thereby affected. Up to this time the opium retail trade was a monopoly, but under the revised regulations of 19th July, 1847, the system was altered, licenses were granted to applicants, certified to be fit persons, and were divided into three classes : — 1 . To retail raw opium for 30 dollars a- month. 2. To retail prepared opium, 20 dollars a-month ; and 3. To keep an opium-smoking shop, 10 dollars a-month. These regulations were repealed by No. 4 of 1853, passed on the 22nd of December in that year. The change in the control of opium retaihng was not great. The fees charged were the same, but the Superintendent of Police relieved the chief magistrate of the duty of certifying the fitness of applicants, and the smoking shops were placed under stricter surveillance. Thus the system at present exists. (Signed) W. T. M., December 21, 1855. Colonial Secretary. 67 Inclosure 10 in No. 26. Imports of Treasure into China, 1854. Per Steamer Date of Arrival. Prom Value in' Dollars.' 1854 Dollars. Pottinger January 4 Bombay . . 22,42,224 Ganges 13 Ditto 17,66,835 Pekin 18 Calcutta . . 39,300 Cadiz 25 Bombay . . 12,88,000 Formosa February 7 Calcutta .. 46,500 Malta „ 13 Bombay 8,60,867 Noma 26 Ditto 6,40,000 Shanghae March 7 Calcutta 38,200 Pekin 11 Ditto 28,404 Singapore 12 Bombay 3,51,000 Ganges 27 Ditto 3,94,000 Formosa April 5 Calcutta . . 2,13,000 Cadiz 12 Bombay . . 3,02,450 Pottinger . « 27 Ditto 4,05,000 Shanghae May 9 Calcutta 65,000 Douro 10 Bombay 11,29,449 Malta 25 Ditto 6,07,382 Pekin June 2 Calcutta . . 30,533 Chusan 7 Ditto' 60,731 Singapore 11 Bombay 8,38,451 Cadiz 25 Ditto 4,14,815 Erin . July 8 Ditto 11,01,392 Formosa 9 Calcutta . . 26,000 Pottinger 25 Bombay ■ 12,60,504 Shanghae August 6 Calcutta 47,228 Singapore 8 Bombay 24,16,362 Ganges 23 Ditto 14,37,665 Canton 30 Calcutta . . 34,000 Chusan September 4 Ditto 11,819 NorAia 9 Bombay . . 14,85,381 Cadiz 19 Ditto 6,63,658 Formosa October 2 Calcutta . . • • • 19,432 Shanghae 8 Ditto 12,186 Erin . 12 Bombay 7,23,384 Malta 26 Ditto 6,09,657 Singapore November 12 Ditto 7,09,200 Ganges Cadiz December 8 9 Calcutta .. Bombay .. 23,000 30,000 21 Ditto 2,54,082 Chusan )> "" 27 Calcutta .. 83,127 Formosa » ' 227,10,618 (E. and C ).E.) (V,\cmed) ROB. S. WALKER, Superintendent, Peninsular ^ ^ ' and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. Hong Kong, December 27, 1855. 68 Exports of Treasure from China, 1854. Per Steamer Date of Departure. For Value in Dollars. 1854 Dollars. Pottinger January 1 1 Bombay 7.525 Pekin 24 Calcutta . . 28,105 Ganges 27 Bombay . . 1,875 Cadiz February , 1 1 Ditto 1,28,309 Formosa 15 Calcutta .. 2,63,190 Malta 25 Bombay 1,49,767 Noma March 11 Ditto 82,180 Shanghae 15 Calcutta 44,304 Singapore 27 Bombay 37,018 Pekin ; April 5 Calcutta . . 1,40Q Ganges 12 Bombay . . , . 7,350 Formosa 15 Calcutta [■. . Cadiz 22 Bombay . . 2,000 Pottinger May 6 Ditto , , Shanghae 18 Calcutta . . 4,575 Douro 22 Bombay .. 21,317 Pekin June 6 Ditto 42,375 Chusan 20 Calcutta '. . 8,600 Singapore 22 Bombay 3,727 Cadiz July 6 Ditto 14,000 Formosa 18 Calcutta ,. Erin . 22 Bombay .. Pottinger August 6 Ditto 5,200 Shanghae , . 17 Calcutta . . 11,365 Singapore 22 Bombay 84,800 Ganges September ] 1 Ditto 23,476 Noma 25 Singapore . 2,000 Chusan 27 Bombay .. 69,047 Cadiz October 11 Ditto 12,440 Formosa 14 Calcutta . . 15,950 Erin . 28 Bombay 1,06,733 Malta November 1 1 Ditto 1,92,312 Shanghae 14 Calcutta . . 72,02S Singapore . . „ . * 27 Bombay 1,68,301 Cadiz December 12 Ditto Lady Mary Wood 19 Calcutta . , 82,297 Churan „ 29 Ditto 95,617 17,89,183 (E. and 0. E.) ' ^ (Signed) ROB. S. WALKER, Superintendent, Peninsular . <^nd Oriental Steam Navigation Company. Hong Kong, December 27, 1855. 69 Imports of Treasure into China, 1855. Per Steamer Date of Arrival. From Value in Dollars. Pottinger 1855 January 1 Bombay Dollars. 8,99,731 Singapore 29 Ditto 6,10,695 Shanghae February 20 Calcutta 16,000 Cadiz Lady Mary Wood . March 2 12 Bombay Calcutta . . 16,89,321 6,000 Chusan 15 Ditto 7,500 Noma April 2 Bombay 8,49,452 Singapore 26 Ditto 8,92,944 Shanghae May 11 Calcutta .. 7,640 Cadiz 24 Bombay 6,91,494 Formosa June 6 Calcutta 4,000 Ganges 23 Bombay 4,37,437 Erin . July 14 Ditto 1,72,423 Singapore 26 Ditto 11,99,396 Chusan August 10 Calcutta 24,500 Pottinger 26 Bombay . . 13,13,270 Formosa September 10 Calcutta ., 12,530 Ganges 24 Bombay 10,38,758 Precursor October 17 Calcutta . . 78,967 Singapore 26 Bombay 12,98,898 Shanghae November 6 Calcutta 46,920 Noma December 2 Bombay 9,60,626 Chusan 18 Calcutta 32,700 1,22,91,202 Exports of Treasure from China, 1855. Per Steamer Date of Departure. For Value in Dollars. Pottinger Ganges Singapore Cadiz Shanghae Formosa Noma Singapore Chusan Cadiz Formosa Ganges Shanghae Singapore Chusan Pottinger Formosa Ganges Precursor Singapore Shanghae Noma Chusan 1855 January 15 22 February 15 March 15 20 28 April 15 May 10 24 June 10 16 July 10 18 August 10 September 3 15 19 October 15 November 3 15 23 December 15 29 Bombay Calcutta .. Bombay Ditto Calcutta . . Ditto Bombay Ditto Calcutta . . Bombay Calcutta Bombay . . , . . Calcutta .. ' .. Bombay Calcutta .. Bombay . . Calcutta .. Bombay Calcutta . . Bombay Calcutta .. Bombay . . Calcutta . . Dollars. 1,95,092 57,911 2,36,388 89,113 4,036 1,25,729 1,91,046 4,24,096 3.70,793 4,23,987 3,49,793 6,30,793 2,49,135 3,41,037 2,46,793 4,40,403 24,700 1,29,085 2,26,236 86,600 61,712 46,427 49,46,904 (E. and 0. E.) (Signed) KOB. S. WALKER, Superintendent, Peninsular and Oriental Steam Naviga,tion Company. Hong Kong, December 27, 1855. 70 Inclosure 1 1 in No. 26. Messrs. Dent 8f Co. to Sir J. Bowring. Sir, Hong Kong, December 28, 1855. WE have to acknowledge receipt of a copy of memorial addressed by Lord Shaftesbm-y (as Chairman of a Committee for relieving British intercourse with China from the baneful effects of a contraband trade in opium) to Lord Clarendon, and copy of his Lordship's reply. Your Excellency has requested that we would furnish you with such observations as the matter might seem to require, or such as might be suggested by the remarks and statements of the memorialists. But for your Excellency's request we should have hesitation in replying to a document bearing on the face of it such extraordinary charges, founded on assertions of the most peculiar nature, and exhibiting such a total want of conversance with commercial aifairs, and the position of the trade in question. The document before us asserts as facts numerous points of grave character, and assuming that the basis is correct, proceeds to argue therefrom, that the opium trade is a dishonour to God and an injury to man, a violation of good faith with a foreign nation, as well as of our Treaty with that nation ; a robbery of precious metals, and impoverisher of the people ; the bane of legitimate trade in imports, and enhancing the cost of exports ; compromising our national character and preventing extended intercourse with the Chinese ; paralyzing missionary efforts, and an incentive to piracy ; preventing the progress of Chris- tianity or civiUzation ; and, finally, the destroyer of 1,000,000, if not 2,000,000, human beings per annum. These assertions we will now examine somewhat, inquiring into the foundations on which they rest, and the arguments used in their support; It is almost unnecessary to state that the trade is one in which nearly all, if not all, the British merchants in China, and a great number in India, are parti- cipators, whilst many of the merchants of other countries trading to China ai'e equally and directly interested. It is true that the vessels plying between India and China (such as the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company's steamers) are principally under British colours, but that these colours are used with " scarce an exception " in the future transport of opium to the coast, is at variance with fact. Were this the case, however, it would only affect the question in one of its bearings, viz., the power of Great Britain to put an end to the traffic under British colours. This she might do, but the prevention of the trade we consider quite beyond her power. The memoriahsts assume the impoverishment of China by the export of bullion caused by the opium trade. At one time the balance of trade was undoubtedly against China ; but it is not so now, nor has it been for several years past. Had the memorialists inquired into statistical facts instead of making bare assertions, they would have found that while of late years the import of opium has increased 100 per cent., afar greater amount of bullion is imported than what is exported from China. How it becomes the bane of legitimate trade in imports, and enhances the cost of exports, we are unable to perceive. On the contrary, by presenting a ready means of laying down funds, it prevents, to a certain extent, an undue premium being placed on the precious metals, and obviates the drain from Great Britain and other foreign countries in the ratio of its value. Of late years, and more especially at the present crisis, such a drain would be severely felt at home, and we cannot see that England is called upon to replenish the Imperial coffers at Pekin at her own expense. The assertion that the consumers of opium would use British manufactures to a larger extent, commensurate with the relative values of the articles, were no opium imported, is totally unsupported, and requires a proof we are unable to find, and, until found, deny. As an incentive to piracy we are not aware that it forms a greater induce- ment than bullion, or any article of ready realization, and the same argument might be used against manufactures were they to take the place of opium, as the memorialists presume. That it is a breach of faith with China is a specious argument, but 71 unfounded on reality ; for it is well known that on the points of Treaty being drawn up, the opium question was, by mutual consent, allowed to remain on its former footing. And why ? Because the system of Chinese taxation is one of letting and sub-letting the customs of the country. The lessees had looked on the fees received for opium as part of their revenue, on which they based their rents, and had a direct tax been placed on the drug, an increased contribution would have been demanded by the Emperor, whose benign disposition towards his subjects on this point arises, no doubt, from the counsels of those most interested in maintaining the trade on its present footing, and who are not likely to enhghten their Sovereign as to its actual position. The assertion of its effect on human life is certainly of a most grave and important character, one which ought not to be hghtly made and should be accompanied by some tangible proofs, instead of a wide statement of the destruction of 1,000,000, if not 2,000,000, of human beings annually, a calculation which is open to an error of 100 per cent, by its own showing. From whence this information was derived we know not ; but in refutation we would point to the statement of the Rev. Dr. Medhurst, as published in the "North China Herald " of the 10th November last, as follows : " An American missionary who lately visited England is reported to have stated that the smokers of the contraband article have increased from 8,000,000 to 15,000,000, yielding an annual death harvest of more than 1,000,000. " Such statements do great harm : they produce a fictitious and groundless excitement in the mind of the religious and philanthropic public at home, while they steel against all reasonable and moderate representations the minds of the pohtical and mercantile body abroad. The estimate given has not even the semblance of truth — it is an outrageous exaggeration." The same gentleman (whose information is drawn from an intimacy with China and Chinese, of which few or none other Protestant missionaries can boast) states as an approximate, that the total number of persons using the imported drug may be 2,000,000, but while he opposes himself to the traffic, he abstains from all such statements as that in the memorial. Doubtless, excess in this, as in any other stimulant, or article of luxury, must have a baneful effect, but for one man enervated by opium here, there may be found great numbers at home enervated by ardent spirits. Deplorable as this may be, we doubt if the enactment of a " Maine Liquor Law " would effect a change for the better, or be supported even by the memoralists. In Hong Kong, where labour is abundant, wages high, and no restrictions placed on the sale or use of opium, we find a robust, hardworking, healthy population. Excess in this or other things leads to decay ; but we deny that it is the usual consequent of the use of opium. The doctrine advanced in the memorial that one country is bound to cease the cultivation of a plant to which the chmate is favourable, and from which it derives a large revenue, because another country ostensibly objects to its importation, while it eagerly seeks a supply, is one we cannot subscribe to, behoving it to be opposed to all the principles of commerce, and the wealth of nations. But were the culture of the poppy entirely checked in India, the use of opium in China would be but partially stopped, for the quantity produced by native growth is known to be very extensive, and it is stated, on good authority, that the culture of the plant is steadily increasing in the north-western provinces. It is impossible to ascertain its actual extent, but an mference may be drawn from the fact that the low price ruling for opium, at one time this season, was by the Chinese ascribed to the competition of the native growth in the mterior. That missionary efforts and the spread of Christianity are prevented by this traffic is an assertion based on others already refuted, and where the foundation is incorrect the superstructure is untenable. . ^ , i. The opium trade, like any other, is open to objections from those whose views of commerce are more theoretical than practical— views no doubt consci- entiously held and firmly believed by the possessors, but unsupported by facts, or by the opinion of those whose experience is greater and whose prmciples are ' ' "We have, &c. (Signed) DENT & CO. 72 Inclosure 12 in No. 26. Br. Dempster to Mr. Mercer. Sir, Hong Kong, January 5, 1856. WITH reference to my letter of the 11th ultimo, in reply to yours of the 4th of December, I have the honour to state, for the information of his Excel- lency the Governor, that in compliance with his Memorandum, I consulted with Dr. Harland and other medical practitioners, on the subject of deaths distinctly traceable to the use of opium, and regret that I can afford no satisfactory infor- mation. However, I beg to inclose reports furnished by several Tea-poas resident in this Colony, and from which it will be observed that the deaths occurring from the use of the narcotic are but few. I have, &c. (Signed) J. CARROLL DEMPSTER, Colonial Surgeon. Inclosure 13 in No. 26. Reports. BY the order have obeyed and ascertained the inhabitants of Chung-wan and Hah- wan (the Centre and Canton Bazaars.) In the Chung-wan (Centre Bazaar) there are a,bout .5,800 inhabitants. The number that smoke opium, merely because thev like it, are upwards of 2,600. The number that smoke opium are upwards of 300. In the Hah-wan (Canton Bazaar) there are upwards of 1,200 inhabitants. The number that smoke opium, merely because they hke it, are upwards of 600. The number that smoke opium are upwards of 100. The number that died for cause of smoking opium very few. Dated Yuet-man year, 11th month, 20th day. (December 29, 1855.) (Signed) Chung-wan and Hah-wan Teapoa's Report. The number of male residents at Sheong-wan are estimated as following : This year have ascertained the number of male residents are upwards of 13,000. ^ There are certain 3,000 opium-smokers : 300 smoke 8 mace each day ; 700 smoke 5 mace each day; 1,000 smoke 3 mace each day. The rest smoke 1 mace, more or less. The number that smoke opium merely because they like it, are upwards of 4,000. ^ The number that got sick for cause of opium-smoking went home, and did not die here. Dated December 29, 1855. (Signed) Tea-poa of Sheong-wan, Tong-Chew Report. By order have ascertained the number of inhabitants of Tai-ping-shan There are upwards of 5,300 men. The number that smoke opium because they Hke it are upwards of 1 ,200. The number that smoke opium are upwards of 600. The number that died ibr cause of smoking opium very few. Dated Yuet-man year, 1 1th month, 20th day. (December 29, 1 855.) (Signed) Tai-ping-shan Tea-poa's Report. 73 inhaw/nts*^^'^ ^^^^ ascertained that in Wan-tsai there are upwards of 1,600 Those that smoke opium merely because they like it, are upwards of 500 ill C? 11 • «- Those that smoke opium are upwards of 200 men. Those that died for cause of smoking opium, none. Dated Yuet-man year, 11th month, 20th day. (December 29, 1855.) (Signed) Wan-tsai Tea-poa's Report. ««« ^y °^^^^ ^^^^ ascertained that in Wang-nai-choon there are upwards of 200 men. ^ The number that smoke opium are upwards of 10 men. The number that smoke opium merely because they like it, are few only. The number that died for cause of smoking opium very few. Dated Yuet-man year, 1 1th month, 20th day. (December 29, 1855.) (Signed) Wang-nai-choon Tea-poa's Report. By order have ascertained the number of inhabitants of Ting-loong-chow (East point). There are upwards of 2,500 inhabitants. The number that smoke opium merely because they hke it, are upwards of 300. The number that smoke opium are upwards of 100. Dated Yuet-man year, 11th month, 20th day. (December 29, 1855.) (Signed) Ting -loon-chow Tea-poa's Report. Inclosure 14 in No. 26. Messrs. Lindsay Sf Co. to Sir J. Bowring. Sir, Hong Kong, January 7, 1856. WE have the honour of acknowledging the receipt of your despatch under date the 27th October, 1855, from the Superintendency of Trade, inclosing to us, at your Excellency's request, copy of a Memorial addressed to the Earl of Clarendon by the Chairman of the Committee for relieving British intercourse with China from the baneful effects of a contraband trade in opium, and also inclosing a copy of his Lordship's reply to that Memorial. In acceding to your Excellency's request, and in passing a few remarks on the Memorial in question, we feel bound to state that, while, from the import- ance of the subject, the party from which the representation proceeds, and the high grounds taken by the memorialists, we had every reason to expect other- wise, we find the question treated in a manner indicative, in our opinion, of a great want of knowledge of the ordinary rules of commerce. We find assertions of the most sweeping character, and statistics of the vastest inaccuracy, brought forward without hesitation, and, apparently, without previous examination. We find, also, those connected with the opium traffic stigmatised in the most unbounded terms, as carrying on a trade in little differing from piracy ; one " dishonouring to God and the character of our nation," and the cause of the annual destruction of millions of the human race ; a trade inducing armed resist- ance to the constituted authorities of China, robbing that country annually of a vast amount of its precious metals, and " placing a foul blot on our national honour and philanthropy." ■, . , ^^ The three points pre-eminently brought forward m the Memorial, and to which we would allude, are : — 1. The exclusively British character which the memoriaHsts attribute to the Li 2 74 whole trade, as well in its subsequent stages in China as in its origin in India. 2. The very erroneous ground taken by the memorialists when viewing the question from a commercial aspect. 3. The estimates of the number of opium-smokers, and of the deaths resulting from that habit : and this is so grave a matter that, if the charge be not clearly proved, the confidence with which the other charges, nearly equally grave, will be received and entertained, must be much shaken. It is hardly necessary to draw your Excellency's attention to the fact that the opium trade in China is by no means exclusively British in character ; on the contrary, that mercantile houses (American, and of other nations) have always been, and are still, very largely connected with it ; that vessels (American, and of other flags) have been constantly serving in the trade on the coast of China in the employ of others than British subjects ; that such steamers and vessels are at present so engaged, uninterfered with, and not even discounte- nanced, as the memorialists assert, by their own national authorities ; finally, it is a well-known fact by all resident in China that the direct importation of opium into the very port of Canton was not commenced, and is not systema- tically carried on^ by vessels under the British flag ; whilst, owing to the greater stringency of the British authorities compared with those of other nations, it is equally well known that vessels, on being sold, have been transferred to some other national flag, from the main object of thus being enabled to pursue the trade without risk from the British authorities. In considering the commercial view of the subject taken by the memoriaUsts, it would be sufficient merely to state, that they appear altogether to lose sight of the two all-important facts that supply and demand, limited as the latter must be by the small extent of our sphere of operations, must always regulate the prices paid for our manufactured goods, and that the export of treasure from China will be mainly influenced by the state of exchanges. The memorialists, whilst attributing the whole change to the increased trade in opium, compare the prices of long cloths in 1837 and 1854. Surely it should have occurred to them that they were instituting a comparison of a most unfair and unreasonable nature, if the deductions they drew from it were to form the grounds of condemnation of the opium trade ; it should have been remem- bered that, at the period (1837) to which they allude, the trade was just ceasing to be in the hands of a most powerful monopoly ; whilst, in 1854, not only is the cost of production of the same goods excessively diminished, the trade in China open to all, and one exhibiting the keenest competition, but the country, especially near the ports to which we have access, and in which these goods are offered for sale, has been ravaged by rebellion, and the scene of complete anarchy, a state of things from which the "thinking masses" of our mother- country were led to hope for the speedy regeneration of China, but the interme- diate effects of which upon our trade in manufactured goods they appear unable to realise. Waiving any comparison in the consumption of British manufactures for the special period which, by reason of the stoppage resulting from the rebeUion, would but lead to very erroneous conclusions, we obtain the following approxi- mate figures for the direct trade of China since 1852, a period since which the memorialists appear not to have regarded the general course of trade in China but solely the increase in the importation of opium : Importation of opium — Chests. In 1853, say . . . . . . . . 56,000 1854, „ .. .. .. _ 67,000 1855, „ . , . . . . . . 70,000 Importation of treasure per Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamers- Dollars. In 1854 . . . . . . . . 22,710,618 1855 .. .. .. .. 12,291,202 Export of treasure, per Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamers- Dollars. In 1854 1,789,183 1855 .. 5,128,183 75 Export of tea season — ,, "^Ns^ql! •• •• •• •• 69,500,000 854I5 81,000,000 °^^"^^ 85,500,000 Export of silk— t, , Inl852-53 .. ~^ 1853-54 .. 28,500 1854 55 ** ■• •• 61,000 trnrlp^w'^r"^"-'''" ^?''"^ "P'''!."' ^y *^^ ^bov« figures is not either that our hetiest il'nl? ' f'''' °^ annihilation," or that China, thanks to the imroveriS^^^^ "^ "P""^ ^'' ^"°^"' ^'' ^^^ - ^ ^'-'^ «f P-gressive _ We must here remark, that with returning quietude in the couutrv we are seemg a very extensive demand for manufactured goods again arising ^ , We may safely state that, had it not been for the funds supplied by opium importations, the trade of China with Great Britain during the last two years could not have been carried on without causing a drain of bullion, which, heavily felt as t has even now been, would have entailed the most serious inconvenience to the national resources, and derangement of the cash-balances of Great Britain. iHe argument of the memoriaHsts that were the opium trade stopped the Chinese would take the equivalent in British manufactures, needs, we thirik, but one remark— that the wish must have been father to the thought ; but that the expression ot it exhibits a curious amount of ignorance of the extent of the Uiinese deniand for British goods, and of the active competition arising from the cheapness of the native manufactures. Your Excellency mil, we hope, allow us to refer you, in refutation of the daring estimate of the memorialists as to the number of opium-smokers and aimual victims of that habit, to two letters lately inserted in the " North China Herald 'by the Rev. Dr. Medhurst. Certainly the reverend gentleman cannot but be regarded as a strong objector to the trade on general grounds ; but as posses- sing an experience of China and the Chinese such as few others, if anv, can claim, and as wishing to further the cause he adopts by moderation and truth, not by overstatements and exaggerations, he feels himself bound in candour and in honour to show, by the most practical tests, how wild and arbitrary are the statements of the memorialists, and how deeply calculated to injure the cause they are intended to assist. By these tests it is ascertained that the aggregate of smokers of imported opium must approximate to the very number which the memorialists represent as the annual victims of the trade. Great, we think, must be the responsibility of those who can without due examination adopt such unparalleled exaggerations; who can embody them into the most serious charges against their fellowmen, whom they represent to a public, relying upon their careful conscientious leading, as the objects of the most merited indignation and censure. In concluding our remarks, we would state our belief that the opium trade is a necessity, not only for the Chinese as consumers of the article, but for British trade as the means whereby a very large portion of the funds required for operations in produce to Great Britain is laid down ; that the British Government by interfering with its subjects in the conduct of this trade, while unable to put a stop to its proceeding under other auspices, would be but sacrificing the national trade for the benefit of other countries not so scrupulous as the memorialists suppose. We would further pronounce our firm conviction that the opium trade, though undoubtedly the cause of much suffering to the intemperate, is not on this account more open to censure than the trade in spirituous liquors openly sanctioned in our native land, and than many other trades in articles the bane of which is not in their use properly restricted, but in their abuse, and we would earnestly press upon your Excellency's consideration that the wisest and best course for Her Majesty's Government to pursue, is to urge strongly the legalization of the trade as the most effectual means of removing any objectionable appearances at present existing, and of establishing on an acknowledged footing, a trade which must exist. We strongly dissent from the view "that the hostility to allowing us 76 increased intercourse proceeds from the fear of our extending the use of opium," and would merely state our opinion that ii" Her Majesty's Government would obtain for its sijhjects free access to the various rivers, towns, and sea-ports of this vast Empire, a trade would be carried on which would prove the most effectual means of introducing civilization and Christianity, and of adding a farther most important stimulus to British manufacturing interests. We have, &c. (Signed) LINDSAY & CO. ( 77 ) Appendix. No. 1. Memorial. To the Right Hon. the Earl of Clarendon, K.G., &c., Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. YOUR Memorialists, under the most solemn conviction that the contraband traffic in opium on the coast of China, carried on, with scarce an exception, only under EngUsh colours and by British subjects, is attended with a more appaUing mortality than ever was the case in the Slave Trade, is so dishonouring to God and the character of our nation, and so prejudicial to the commercial interests of both countries, that we feel it to be our duty, especially at this time, respectfully to lay before your Lordship the following statements in justification of our opinions ; a . '^course we have felt urged upon us the more imperatively by a consideration of the frightfully aggravated result that must follow upon the great and somewhat recent extension of that traffic, together with the fact that Her Majesty's Plenipoten- tiary in China, only a short time since, induced the King of Siam to admit opium to be imported by British subjects into that country free of duty, ostensibly for the use of foreign residents, but which will certainly be smuggled into that country to the injury of the people and the prevention of legitimate trade^ 1. The Right Honourable Viscount Palmerston stated in a despatch to Captain ElUot, Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary in China, " no protection can be afforded to enable British subjects to violate the laws of the country to which they trade." Lord Broughton says, " Far be it from me to wish to say anything less than was deserved of the unfortunate results of that traffic or to paUiate them;" and Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary in China, in 1839, says, "After the most deliberate reconsideration, he would once more declare his own opinion that in its general effects, it was intensely mischievous to every branch of trade, and was rapidly staining the British character with deep disgrace ; I see httle to choose between it and piracy ;" and yet this traffic has increased, in some measure owing to the fact that opium is carried by the mail steamers, from 40,000 chests in 1843, tih it has now reached the frightful amount of 75,000 chests of 134 lbs, each, to effect the consumption of which, it has been estimated that 20,000,00Q of persons would be required,- and that upon an average one-tenth of these die from using it ; if it be assumed that only one-half that number fall victims annually, we have the appaUing fact that 1,000,000 of human beings are annually sacrificed to enrich a few people, arid to save the Indian Government from the trouble of finding a more legitimate means of obtaining a revenue. / 2. The British Government indirectly, and the Indian Government directly, by the growth of this poisonous drug, and by having it prepared especially for the contraband traffic in China, are guilty of a breach of good faith and of a complicity with smugglers ; which injustice is the more flagrant from the fact that we allow upwards of twenty vessels, bearing the EngUsh flag and armed to resist even the constituted authorities in the execution of the laws of thek country, as well as the stipulations of our Treaty, to he at various parts along the coast 78 for the sole purpose of smuggling, without notice or molestation, in contravention of an express Article of our Treaty ; the Xllth Article of the Supplement to which provides that "the British Plenipotentiary shall instruct the Consuls to carefully scrutinize the conduct of British suhjects trading under their superin- tendence, and in the event of any smuggling transactions coming to their knowledge, to apprise the Chinese authorities, who, as above stated, may proceed, in virtue of our Treaty with them, to seize and confiscate all goods, whatever their value or nature, that may have been so smuggled." 3. Apart from the violation of good faith and Treaty stipulations, our nation is involved in a sin of enormous turpitude, in sanctioning the growth of a poisonous drug that destroys the lives of milhons, subjects and dependents of the British Crown as well as foreigners, the only plea offered for which is, that a large revenue is derived by the Indian Government, large nearly in the direct ratio of the numbers destroyed. 4. It impoverishes the people of China by withdrawing the precious metals, and with them their means of developing the internal resources of the country, and at no distant period it may reasonably be expected that our trade with China will be reduced to a very limited amount ; and the present effect on legitimate articles of trade, such as tea, silk, sugar, &c., is to raise the price to the consumer, and to exclude, to a great extent, our home manufactures from the Chinese markets, which evil will increase; as the larger importations of opium will lower the price, so it will be taken in exchange for larger quantities of silks and tea, and will to that further extent exclude home manufactures. Under any circumstances, the price of all imports from China will be raised, and the remunerative prices of our exports reduced. 5. The authorities have manifested a steady hostility to this trade, both on moral and financial grounds : thus the late Emperor said, " I cannot prevent the introduction of the flowing poison : gain-seeking and corrupt men will, for profit and sensuality, defeat my wishes ; but nothing will induce me to derive a revenue from the vice and misery of my people;" and the present Emperor, after some months' consideration, determined to adhere to this decision of his father. The hostility of the insurgent Chinese is even more decided ; they have introduced their prohibition to its use into a note appended to their moral code : and therefore in winking at the trade, and fostering the growth of opium in India, we are compromising our national character and interests. There can be no reasonable doubt but that the hostiUty to allowing us to have increased intercourse arises fi"om the fear of our extending the use of opium amongst their people, and we cannot hope for that friendly and extended inter- course that is so necessary to the full development of China's resources, till we act more consistently with probity and good faith than we do at present on the subject of this trade. It is to be observed that other Western nations either prohibit the traffic, or so discountenance it, that their subjects seek a refuge for their practice under the use of our flag. The conduct of some of our merchants and public functionaries in respect of this trade paralyses the efforts of our missionaries, and the nations whose subjects do not embark in it obtain an influence most prejudicial to our national character and commercial interests. 6. According to the statement of the Canton Chamber of Commerce, the excess of value of the exports from China to England, over that of the imports from China to England, was in 1837 about 3,200,000Z. sterling, and this excess in respect of the United States for the same year was 860,000/., making together the sum of 4,060,000/., which continued about the same for each successive year till 1862, showing an annual balance on the legahsed commerce of 4,060, OOOL in favour of China, which might have enabled the Chinese to take, with profit to themselves, our manufactures to the enormous amount of 3,200,000/., had not opium been smuggled in to the value of nearly 7,000,000/., thus depriving them not only of this cash balance of 3,200,000/., but also of the money value of the opium in excess of this balance, amounting to nearly 4,000,000/. more, so that China has been annually " robbed" of 7,000,000/. for an article not only intrinsically valueless, but one producing the greatest evils, moral and com- mercial. Ninety millions having been abstracted from that country within the century, they are now unable to pay remunerating prices for our legitimate articles of trade. Long cloths quoted at 1/. in 1837 were quoted at from 7s. to 79 10s. in 1854, wliile opium reiained nearly its original price ; and the diminution of prices was even greater on other articles. The Lancaster and Yorkshire goods being sold below the price in England, the freight and other expenses must be charged on the teas and silks taken in exchange ; and thus the British pubhc is made to pay the Indian duty on opium, and merchants' profits on a trade which is destructive of legitimate commerce, a tax upon a prime necessary of life to all classes, and injurious to the imperial revenue. The Chinese Government have had astuteness enough to perceive that this traffic was destructive, both to moral and commercial prosperity of their people, and would eventually prove fatal to the Empire, but apprehended that any more decided steps to stop it would eventuate in another opium war with us, which would, in their estimation, be a more fatal result ; an apprehension which it is both our duty and our interest to reheve them from. 7. It is said that the Bast Indian Government derive a revenue of 3,000,000L ^ from this source ; but against this, even in a pecuniary point of view, a set-off must be made for the following : — (1.) The demorahzation and depopulation of whole districts in India; for a moral population is wealth. (2.) The interest of the large capital invested in it. (3.) The profits which would accrue from a legitimate trade and profits on the growth of useful products for the home market. Mr. Bruce, Superintendent of tea cultivation in Assam, says " that the effect of the use of opium in that country has been to depopulate it and turn it into a land of wild beasts, and to degenerate its people from a fine race to the most abject, servile, crafty, and demoralized race in India. In consequence of its use women have fewer children, and these few never live to be old'; the father will steal, sell his property, his children, the mother of his children, and, finally, even commit murder to obtain it." The " Friend of India," in an able article treating the subject on financial prin- ciples, questions the policy of the Indian Government in extending the cultiva- tion of opium ; and the impohcy of the measure on the same grounds, as applied to the whole wants of the Empire, is evident now that the demand for seeds, hemp, and food, for the mother country, is opening new markets for legitimate articles of trade, and afibrding an opportunity of getting rid of this foul blot on our national honour and philanthropy. 8. It leads to piracy. One of the recently recorded acts of this kind committed on a Hong Kong vessel was to obtain opium. The most lawless Chinese are engaged to smuggle it, and their vessels are armed for defence, but to which they do not confine themselves, and very many of the minor Government officials are debauched by bribes directly or indirectly given to induce them to wink at this unrighteous traffic. ,/' Your memoriahsts having shown the trade in opium to be dishonouring to God, and most cruel, that it prevents the progress of Christianity or civifization, and is most injurious to the commercial interests and honour of the nation, humbly pray that your Lordship will not recommend the ratification of that portion of the proposed Treaty with Siam which provides for the introduction of opium into that country. ... Your memoriaUsts^are assured that if any proposition is made to the Chinese Government to legahze the traffic, no amount of professions of amity wiU suffice to disabuse the Chinese mind of the idea that we have no wish to reciprocate advantages, or any desire except that of enriching our country, even though it might be bv the dismemberment of their Empire, and the destruction of their people ; on the other hand, the adoption of their language when describing the evils of the traffic, and its embodiment in a Treaty, together with stipulations to use all legitimate means to stop it, cannot fail of being so accept- able as to obtain us important commercial advantages. ,. . , . Your memorialists further pray that your Lordship will move Her Majesty s Government to take steps to ensure that the conduct all of Her Majesty s subjects, official and Others, maybe brought more into consonance with the stipulations of the Treaty with China, and with the enhghtened and humane feelings of the Government and thinking masses of that country on the subject, as weU as with those of all other nations trading there, by morally discounte- nancing that traffic, and by withholding all legal and official aid for the enforce- 80 ment of claims, money or other, arising out of opium sales, and by treating as pirates all opium smugglers who may have recourse to violence or bloodshed to prevent legal seizures of that drug. Your Lordship's very obedient servant, (Signed) SHAFTESBURY, Chairman of Committee for relieving British intercourse with China from the baneful effects of a Contraband Trade in Opium. No. 2. The Earl of Chichester to the Earl of Clarendon. — {Received September 28.) My Lord, Stanmore, September 24, 1855. I HAVE the honour to transmit the accompan5dng Memorial to Her Majesty from the missionaries residing at Ningpo, in China. The memorialists have entrusted me with the Memorial in consequence of my connection with the Church Missionary Society, to which three of them belong. Your Lordship is, I am sure, already aware of the dreadful evil to which the Memorial refers, and that, besides its demoralizing effects upon the Chinese population, their knowledge of the great profits derived from the opium trade by British merchants has the effect of counteracting the moral and. rehgious influ- ence which our countrymen would otherwise exercise over that intelligent and interesting people. I am, &c. (Signed) CHICHESTER. Inclosure in No. 2. Memorial. To the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, Victoria, by the grace of God, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. The Memorial of all your Majesty's faithful and loyal subjects resident as Missionaries at Ningpo, in China. May it please your Majesty, WE, your Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, residing at Ningpo, within the dominions of His Majesty the Emperor of China, having deeply reflected on the evils resulting from the opium traffic, feel constrained, by a sense of duty to God and man, to submit the following considerations in a Memorial to your Majesty, under the hope that your Majesty may be graciously pleased to adopt such measures as may tend to the suppression of a trade which tells with such demoralizing and destructive effects upon so large a portion of the human family : — 1 . Your memorialists believe the opium traffic, in its consequences, to be productive of an incalculable amount of evil to your Majesty's ally the Emperor of China, and to the countless multitudes of his subjects of all classes, by the annual drainage of enormous sums of money from the resources of the Empire, all irretrievably sunk in this one article of contraband trade, without the least reproductive good ; also by the immense sacrifice of human life annually brought about by the consumption of the poisonous drug itself, and by the constant impoverishment of miUions of famiUes through the indulgence of one or more of their members in the ruinous vice of opium-smoking ; with its many other fearfully-demoralizing effects on the people at large : all combining to produce 81 an amount of physical and moral evil, together with political and commercial stagnation, which most seriously affects the best interests of the Chinese nation. 2. Your memoriaUsts believe that, by reason of the real or supposed connec- tion of your Majesty's Government with this abominable traffic, the name and honour of your Majesty, as well as of your Majesty's loyal subjects, are tarnished m the eyes of the Chinese nation, who naturally feel (as some of your Majesty's attached and faithful subjects, both in China and at home, are also constrained to feel) that the perpetuation of this destructive and contraband traffic is imposed upon them by the direct or indirect sanction of your Majesty's Government, either in openly co-operating with those of your Majesty's subjects in China and elsewhere who are engaged in the trade ; or in quietly overlooking the matter as something beyond their province to interfere with ; or in refusing to comply with the stipulations of Treaty in the confiscation of opium traders, when the fact comes publicly before them that such vessels, flying your Majesty's flag, appear, without the least attempt at concealment, in the open ports of China, before the very eyes of your Majesty's Consuls, undisguisedly engaged in this contraband traffic ; circumstances which cannot be unknown even to his Excellency Sir John Bowring, your Majesty's Superintendent of Trade in China, as, on the occasion of his Excellency's late visit to Ningpo, in the autumn of the past year, his Excellency must have been aware that one of those opium vessels was then lying at anchor at this port, which vessel is still here, openly engaged in this execrable trade. 3. Your memoriahsts beheve that the interests of legitimate trade on the part of your Majesty's faithful and honourable subjects in China, in its present enlargement and fiiture development, as well as the interests of legitimate trade on the part .of the subjects of your Majesty's ally the Emperor of China, are seriously impeded and injured by this contraband traffic, both by diverting from their legitimate and remunerative avenues so large a proportion of the available resources of the Chinese nation, and turning them into this one polluted channel of illegitimate trade, so demoraUzing in its effects, so paralyzing to the vitality and energy of all profitable and legitimate commerce ; and also from its tendency to prevent the extension of international trade beyond its present limits, by rendering all patriotic Chinese naturally reluctant to throw open their country any further to the introduction of that poison whose devastating effects have already been so fearfully conspicuous. 4. But, above all, your memorialists believe that Christianity itself, which is the glory of your Majesty's realm, and the introduction of which into the Chinese Empire can alone form a sure and permanent foundation for the erection of true civilization, and the development of such international relations between your Majesty's country and that of your Majesty's ally the Emperor of China as shall prove conducive to the mutual advantage of both, is materially hindered and fearfully blasphemed by the continuance of this opium traffic, and the connection which the Chinese people universally suppose your Majesty's Government to have with the abomination. It is a subject of the deepest concern to your Majesty's faithful subjects, whose efforts and energies are devoted to the diffusion of the light of Christianity amongst this benighted people, and one which we feel will strike a chord of sympathy in the breast of your Majesty, as well as of your Majesty's Christian people at large, that all the efforts of your Majesty's faithful subjects in this direction are fearfully counteracted by the existence and continuance of this unchristian traffic ; " for," naturally say the Chinese people, " how can we be favourably impressed with your expressions of desire to enlighten our minds, or to benefit us in our temporal and eternal condition, when we see at the same time before our eyes such palpable proofs of your efforts to destroy us both in body and soul ?" Your memoriahsts, therefore, would humbly pray, and more especially now, on the prospective renewal of the Treaty between your Majesty and your Majesty's ally the Emperor of China, that it may please your Majesty graciously to take the above into your Majesty's most serious consideration, and that, in concert with your Majesty's advisers, you may be able to adopt such measures as may tend to the suppression of a trade so prejudicial alike to the interests of your Majesty's country and that of your Majesty's ally the Emperor of China; so calculated to tarnish, in the eyes of 300,000,000 of the human family, a name which elsewhere has ever stood forward so conspicuously and nobly on the side 82 of justice and the oppressed ; and, ^bove all, a trade which so outrages the principles and teachings of that Book' which has been, and must continue to be, the great support and stay of your Majesty's throne and.'country. And your Majesty's memorialists will ever pray, &c. Your Majesty's most devoted subjects and servants, (Signed) R. H. COBBOLD, M.A., Clerk. W. A. RUSSELL, B.A., Clerk. THOS. H. HUDSON, Baptist Missionary. FRED. R GOUGH, M.A., Clerk. MARY ANN ALDERSEY. June 5, 1855. M , a w to a ta o a o "A Ijl -R^ "tS Ef f' 2 i i'l (g to P 1 1 ^- P- P S cs. O a- §■• '^i^ o r o &h5 m O O fe CO CIS ^*a g' S •tj s 1 1 fc ^ CI 2 ■? s^ 00 g B *. " c<- g '■"' GO s ^ 00