In the preface to my first edition I expressed a hope that these lectures,
however imperfect, would prove in some degree instrumental towards
breaking up the Anti-Opium confederacy, and I have the satisfaction of
knowing that my anticipations have not been altogether disappointed. The
lectures were well received by the public and the press, and struck the
Anti-Opium Society and its versatile Secretary, the Rev. Mr. Storrs
Turner, with such consternation that, in the language of people in
difficulties, "business was discontinued until further notice." Mr. Storrs
Turner,--the motive power which kept the Anti-Opium machine working,--who
had hitherto been so active, aggressive, and demonstrative--a very
Mercutio in volubility and fertility of resource,--became suddenly silent,
mute as the harp on Tara's walls. He who once was resonant as the lion,
like Bottom the Weaver, moderated his tone, and roared from thenceforth
"gently as any sucking dove." Until the delivery of my lectures, no lark
at early morn was half so lively or jubilant. Letters to the newspapers,
articles in magazines, improvised lectures and speeches, flew from him
like chaff from the winnowing-machine. Heaven help the unlucky individual
who had the temerity to differ from him on the opium question, for Mr.
Storrs Turner would, as the phrase goes, "come down upon him sharp."
This kind of light skirmishing suited him exactly; it kept alive public
interest in the Anti-Opium delusion, and no doubt brought grist to the
mill, without committing him to anything in particular, or calling for any
extraordinary draft upon his imagination or resources. He had only to
reiterate loud enough the cuckoo cry that his deluded followers had so
long recognised as the pæan of victory. But when my lectures were
delivered, and it was announced that they would be published, "a change
came o'er the spirit of his dream." Having for so many years had
practically all the field to himself, it had never occurred to him that
another and more competent witness from China, where all these imaginary
evils from opium smoking were alleged to be taking place,--who had had
better opportunities of learning the truth about opium than he could
possibly have had, and who had turned those opportunities to good
account,--should appear and refute his fallacies. This was a _dénouement_
that neither he nor his Society was prepared for, and dismay and silence
prevailed in consequence in the enemy's camp.
And the tents were all silent,--the banners unflown,--
The lances unlifted,--the trumpet unblown.
My lectures were delivered in February, 1882. The Rev. Mr. Storrs Turner
attended them and corresponded with me upon the subject. In those lectures
I criticized his book and pointed out its misleading features and
inaccuracies; but, recognizing the force of Sir John Falstaff's maxim,
that "the better part of valour is discretion," he never attempted to
controvert my case, nor justify himself or the Anti-Opium Society, who for
so many years had made such noise in the world. It was only in October,
1882,--eight months after my lectures had been delivered,--after an
article appeared in the _London and China Telegraph_, commenting on the
collapse of the Anti-Opium Society,--that Mr. Storrs Turner, like
Munchausen's remarkable hunting-horn, gave utterance to a few feeble
notes, to the effect that his Society was still alive; for he well knew
that all that I had stated in those lectures I could prove to the
hilt,--aye, ten times over.
But if Mr. Storrs Turner has declined the contest, an acolyte of his, Mr.
B. Broomhall,--who appears to be the Secretary of the Inland China
Mission, and one of the "Executive Committee" of the Anti-Opium
Society,--comes upon the scene like King Hamlet's ghost, declaring that he
"could a tale unfold, whose lightest breath would harrow up your souls,
freeze the hot blood, and make each particular hair to stand on end."
Plagiarising, if not pirating, my title, with a colourable addition of the
word "Smoking," he produces, in November 1882, a compilation entitled "The
Truth about Opium-_Smoking_," rather a thick pamphlet, made up of excerpts
from all the writings and speeches, good, bad, and indifferent, that have
been published and delivered within the last thirty years on the
Anti-Opium side of the question, with some critical matter of his own,
from all of which it appears most conclusively that he, Mr. B. Broomhall,
is perfectly innocent of the subject he undertakes to enlighten the world
upon. I think I see through this gentleman and his objects pretty well.
With respect to the authors of these writings and speeches, I may say at
once that I hold them in as much respect as Mr. B. Broomhall does himself.
Some of them are very eminent men, who, apart from this opium delusion,
are ornaments to their country, and all, I have no doubt, are men of
spotless honour and integrity; but what, after all, does that prove? Why,
simply the _bona fides_ of these gentlemen, which no one ever questioned,
and nothing more;--that in writing those pamphlets and articles they
honestly believed they were giving utterance to facts and recording
circumstances which were true, and which it was for the good of society
should be widely known. The good and just man is as liable to be deceived
as he who is less perfect,--indeed, more so, for his very amiability and
guilelessness of heart allay suspicion and make him an easier prey to the
designing and unscrupulous. Not one of those gentlemen, save Sir
Rutherford Alcock, and one or two others, whose opinions are coincident,
in fact, with my own, have had any actual personal knowledge of the facts
they write about, and such a statement as the following might well be
printed in the front of each of their books or writings, viz.: "I have
read certain books and articles in newspapers, and heard speeches upon the
opium question, which I believe to be true, and on such assumption the
following pages are my views upon the subject." To prove to my readers the
utterly unreliable and deceptive character of Mr. Broomhall's compilation,
it is only necessary to refer to one passage, which will be found at page
122, where it is gravely put forward THAT THE INDIAN MUTINY WAS BROUGHT
ABOUT BY THE INDO-CHINA OPIUM TRADE! After that, Tenterden Steeple and the
Goodwin Sands will hardly seem so disconnected as has been hitherto
commonly supposed. But then the book is illustrated; there are the
pictures copied from the _Graphic_. There is the poppy, and there is the
opium pipe. Of course Mr. B. Broomhall knows all about opium smoking,--or
the illustrations would not be there. Mr. Crummles, with his "splendid tub
and real pump," could not have done better.
As to Mr. B. Broomhall's remarks respecting my book I have very little to
say; there is nothing in them. Like Mr. Storrs Turner, he has found it a
poser, and has said very little respecting it. When your opponent gets the
worst of an argument, if he does not honestly acknowledge his
discomfiture, he generally follows one of two courses--either he loses his
temper and takes to scolding, or he suddenly discovers something
wonderfully funny in your arguments which no one else was able to detect.
Mr. B. Broomhall eschews the former, but adopts the latter course. He
selects a paragraph or two, and says, "That is ludicrous," but he never
condescends to enlighten his readers as to where the fun lies, or in what
the drollery consists.
But, although Mr. B. Broomhall makes light of my book, he has thought
proper to imitate its title. He evidently thought there was nothing
ludicrous in _that_. This was very "smart," but smartness is a quality not
much appreciated on this side of the Atlantic. As my book had dealt a
heavy blow to the Anti-Opium Society, and a cheap edition might prove
still more damaging, an opposition book, with a similar title, might so
confuse the public as to be mistaken for mine. Imitation has been said to
be the sincerest flattery, but I dislike adulation even when administered
by the Anti-Opium Society. This gentleman and his compilation bring very
forcibly to my mind the profound Mr. Pott, of the _Eatanswill Gazette_,
who, having written a series of recondite articles on _Chinese
Metaphysics_, brought his lucubrations to the notice of his friend, Mr.
Pickwick. That gentleman ventured to remark that the subject seemed an
abstruse one. "Very true," returned Mr. Pott, with a smile of intellectual
superiority, "but I crammed for it--I read up the subject in the
_Encyclopædia Britannica_. I looked for metaphysics under the letter M,
and for China under the letter C, and combined the information." This
seems to be the sort of process by which Mr. B. Broomhall has arrived at
his knowledge on the opium question, and with similar results. I do not
wish to be too hard upon this gentleman, who, after all, may have been
only a cat's-paw in the matter--for it must not be forgotten that there is
Mr. Storrs Turner in the background; but he himself, on reflection, must,
I think, admit that it was going a little too far to introduce into his
compilation a parody--which some might call a vulgar parody--on one of the
verses of Bishop Heber's very beautiful and world-renowned Missionary
Hymn. I will not give my readers the "elegant extract," but they can find
it for themselves at page 117.
I have in this edition amplified the matter and given extracts from the
Reports of Mr. William Donald Spence, Her Majesty's Consul at Ichang, and
Mr. E. Colborne Baber's _Travels and Researches in Western China_, which
throw a flood of light upon the opium question. I have also quoted from a
very valuable work of Don Sinibaldo de Mas, an accomplished Chinese
scholar, formerly Spanish Minister to the Court of Peking, published in
Paris in 1858, which in itself is a complete vindication of the opium
policy of Her Majesty's Government in India and China, and an able
refutation of the unfounded views of the Anti-Opium Society; and I believe
this edition of _The Truth about Opium_ will be found a very complete
defence of the Indo-China opium trade.
_30th January 1883._