Again there has been a debate in Parliament on the opium traffic:[1] again
has the same weary series of platitudes and misrepresentations been
repeated, and no one has taken the trouble to defend the policy of England
as it should and can be defended. But it is high time that the falsities
and the fallacies of the statements of the Anti-opium Society should be
exposed, and that everyone to the best of his ability should enlighten the
people of England on a subject which so nearly concerns the honour of our
country. Isolated voices have indeed been raised to protest against the
views disseminated by the Society for the Abolition of the Opium Trade;
but these efforts have been too few and far between to reach the mass of
the nation. At present the agitators have it all their own way. The
majority of people, having heard nothing but what the agitators have told
them, denounce the iniquitous traffic with a fervour that varies
proportionately with their ignorance. In contemplating the success of this
misdirected enthusiasm we are irresistibly reminded of a very "judicious"
remark of Hooker's, who says: "Because such as openly reprove supposed
disorders of State are taken for principal friends to the common benefit
of all, and for men that carry singular freedom of mind; under this fair
and plausible colour whatsoever they utter passeth for good and current."
For more than forty years the opium trade between India and China has been
a subject for keen discussion and hostile comment in England. Being as it
was the _immediate_ cause of our first war with China in 1840, the opium
traffic could not fail, in Parliament and elsewhere, to be brought
prominently before the notice of the people of England, and of course
there were not wanting public men to denounce the policy pursued by this
country towards China in that matter. This denunciation, at first of a
vague and desultory character, took a definite shape in the memorial
presented to Her Majesty's Government in the Earl of Shaftesbury's name,
and backed by all his great personal authority. The specific charges
contained in this document will be noticed hereafter, when we come to
sketch the present position of the "Society." Suffice it here to say that
it teemed with misstatements and exaggerations of the grossest and most
palpable kind, which, having been exposed and refuted again and again,
need not detain us now. But so far were those random statements from
furthering the cause which the memorialists had at heart, that they only
served to steel the minds of unprejudiced people against further
representations, however just, from the same quarter.
Since then, however, the agitation has taken a more organized form, and
there is now a society for the suppression of the trade, numbering its
hundreds of supporters, and linked with the names of such men as Lord
Shaftesbury, Cardinal Manning, Sir J. W. Pease, and Sir Wilfrid Lawson.
Nearly the whole of the clergy from the Archbishops downwards, and
ministers of every denomination, have declared for the same side. Add to
this that the Society has a large income, derived from voluntary
subscriptions, which is assiduously employed in the dissemination of its
peculiar doctrines. The country is flooded with tracts, pamphlets, reports
of addresses, speeches, and petitions, all inculcating the same extreme
opinions.
Under these conditions it is not surprising that the anti-opiumists have
succeeded in enlisting popular sympathy to a certain extent on their side.
But, with the single exception of missionaries, they have against them the
vast majority of those who, from personal knowledge and experience, are
competent to form an opinion on the subject. Sir Rutherford Alcock, for
twenty years Her Majesty's Minister in China, who has had opportunities
for forming a correct judgment on the subject such as have fallen to the
lot of few, and who can have no bias[2] or prejudice in the matter, has
recently before the Society of Arts, in a paper of singular ability and
fairness, vindicated the policy of the British Government. Mr. Brereton,
for fifteen years resident in Hongkong, has challenged and, on the
authority of his own experience, denied _every_ assertion of the
Anti-opiumists. As to the missionaries, from whom the majority of the
arguments against the trade are drawn, no one doubts their good faith, and
everyone gives them credit for the best of motives; but, for reasons to be
afterwards given, their evidence is likely to be biassed, and in any case
cannot be considered worthy to be set against that of all the other
residents in China.
But what are the enormities of which England has been guilty? Here is the
indictment, stated with all the energy of conviction: That England, and
England only, is responsible for the introduction into China of a highly
deleterious, if not wholly poisonous, drug, for which, till India took
upon herself to supply it, there was in China no demand whatever; that she
is responsible, further, for forcing this opium _vi et armis_ upon the
Chinese, contrary to all obligations of international morality, and in
the face of the sincere and determined opposition of the Chinese people;
that, in fine, Christian England, with a single eye to gain, is wilfully
and deliberately compassing the ruin of heathen China. Such is the
indictment brought against England by her own sons; and the tribunal which
they would arraign her before is the public opinion of their own
countrymen and of Europe.
The original habitat of the poppy plant, which is now extensively
cultivated in Asia Minor, Persia, Egypt, India, China, and even in Africa,
was probably Central Asia. It must have made its way very early into
India, as it is mentioned in the _Laws of Manu_. But it was not till the
tenth century that the Hindoos learnt from the Mohammedans the narcotic
qualities of the plant.
In China there can be no doubt that opium has been known from the
_earliest_[3] times; even if the poppy be not indigenous to that country,
as we might be led to suppose from its mention in a Chinese[4] herbal
compiled more than two centuries ago. In the _General History of South
Yuennan_, published in 1736, opium is noted as a common product of
Yung-chang-foo; and it is remarked by Mr. Hobson, Commissioner of Customs
at Hankow,[5] that, "if 134 years ago so much opium was produced as to
deserve notice in such a work, the production could have been no novelty
to the Chinese population at the beginning of the present century, when we
began to import it in small quantities." Moreover, it is well known that
the seeds of the poppy have been used from time immemorial in the
preparation of cakes and confections. Two Court officials were even
appointed specially to superintend the making of these for the Emperors'
use.[6] Dr. Edkins, in a recent pamphlet on the subject of opium-smoking
in China, quotes an edict against the habit published as early as A.D.
1728, and consequently some forty years before the British took any part
in the trade. Dr. Wells Williams is of opinion that opium may have been
introduced into China from Assam, where it has been used time out of mind.
However that may be, the Chinese may be credited with having improved upon
their use of it by smoking instead of swallowing it; though this, too, is
attributed to the Assamese by Don Sinibaldo de Mas, Spanish Consul in
China.[7]
It may, then, be taken for granted that opium-smoking was known to the
Chinese long before European nations took to importing opium into China.
But at the same time no one will deny that the habit has become enormously
more prevalent than it used to be.
The foreign trade in opium is of comparatively recent growth. The
Portuguese were the first European nation to import it into China. For
some years previous to 1767 they imported from Goa some 200 chests of
Turkey opium to Macao. This they would scarcely have done had there been
no demand for the drug. It was not till 1773 that the East India Company
appeared upon the scene as exporters of opium in very small quantities.
In that year the Company assumed the monopoly of the opium culture in
India, and, according to the existing Mongol practice, farmed it out for
an annual payment in advance. In 1781 a cargo of 1,600 chests was found
unsaleable, and re-exported. By 1790, however, the importation into China
amounted to 4,054 chests yearly, at which number it remained nearly
stationary for thirty years. It was in 1793 first that the ships engaged
in the traffic began to be molested, chiefly by pirates, but partly also
through the hostility of the Chinese officials. One ship was then sent to
Whampoa, an island twelve miles from Canton, where she lay for fifteen
months entirely unmolested.
In 1796, however, the first year of Keaking's reign, the importation of
opium was prohibited by the Government at Pekin, under heavy penalties,
for the alleged reason "that it wasted the time and property of the people
of the Inner Land, leading them to exchange their silver and commodities
for the vile dirt of the foreigner."
Up to this time, though opium was being imported for the space of more
than forty years, not a word had been said against it, and now, when
exception _was_ taken to it, it was on the ground of the worthless, not
the poisonous, nature of the drug, for which so much sycee silver was
bartered. This law, like sumptuary laws in general, proved wholly
inoperative as far as the Chinese were concerned. The East India Company,
however, did so far regard it as to forbid their own ships from engaging
in the trade, and their mandate was obeyed. Nevertheless, the trade went
on in private ships, and from Whampoa, the headquarters of the trade, the
smuggling (if what went on under the very eyes of the custom-house
officials can be called smuggling) continued uninterruptedly along the
coast, being carried on openly and in the light of day. For though the
Government might fulminate against it from Pekin, the officials on the
spot, by their undisguised connivance,[8] caused the trade to be
established on something like a regular footing. Under which conditions
the trade continued for the next twenty years or so with little
variation.
In 1816 the Bengal drug first began to suffer from competition with Malwa
and Turkey opium, the latter brought from Madeira in American as well as
British ships. In 1821 the exportation of Bengal opium had sunk to 2,320
chests, when the Chinese commenced vigorous proceedings against smugglers,
and drove the contraband trade to Lintin, an island forty miles from
Canton.[9] This seems to have given a fresh impetus to the trade, for the
export rose at once to 6,428 chests, and by 1831 to more than 20,000: at
which number it remained till Lin's raid in 1839, when 20,291 chests were
delivered up and destroyed in the Canton waters.
This violent action of Lin was the outcome of the ascendancy[10] of the
Protective party in China; for there can be no doubt that even in
Conservative China there was at this time a reform party, headed by the
young and accomplished Empress, who advocated enlarged intercourse with
foreign states, and, as a step towards this, a less protective policy in
trade, including a legalization of the importation of opium. A memorial
was even drawn up and presented to the Emperor by Heu Naetze,
Vice-President of the Sacrificial Board, in 1829, advocating the
legalization of opium. But even the influence of the Empress could not
prevail against the prejudices of the Court, and the memorials of Choo
Tsun[11] and Heu Kew, who, like Cleon of old, argued for the dignity of
the Empire and the danger of instability in maintaining the laws, carried
the day. It is not quite clear what grounds of objection to the traffic
were held by the Chinese Government, but the _moral_ ground, now made so
much of, was certainly not one. Between 1836 and 1839 several Imperial
edicts were published prohibiting the importation of opium, in which
"there is little if any reference to the evils of opium, but very clear
language as to the export of bullion."[12] This drain of silver was no
doubt the great reason for the Chinese hostility to the traffic. As late
as 1829 the balance of trade had been in favour of China, and silver had
accumulated; but this state of things had now been reversed, and the
increased export of silver--for opium was a very expensive article and had
to be paid for clandestinely in hard silver--had begun to cause a great
depreciation of cash,[13] the only copper coin of the realm, and to
occasion serious alarm at Pekin. Accordingly the Emperor, in pursuance of
several memorials on the subject, forbad the export of sycee, at the same
time that he took more energetic measures to put a stop to the traffic
which was chiefly responsible for this loss of bullion. In 1836 opium
ships were prohibited from entering the inner waters of Kunsing-moon,
while all foreign ships were detained at Lintin; and the local revenue
officers began to show more vigilance in putting down smuggling. In the
following year an edict was published prohibiting the continuance of
receiving ships in the outer waters, to which Captain Elliott, our
Superintendent of Trade, paid little attention, seeing that the Chinese
themselves openly disregarded it; and it is even stated that the trade was
carried on by four boats under the Viceroy's flag, which paid regular
fees to the custom-house and military stations.[14]
In 1834 the East India Company's monopoly of trade to China came to an
end, and the trade was taken up by Her Majesty's Government, who sent out
a commission with Lord Napier at its head to apprise the Chinese
Government of the change. It had been usual up to this period for all
communications to be addressed to the Viceroy of Canton through the
thirteen "Hong"[15] merchants, in the form of a humble petition. This Lord
Napier naturally refused to do, and the Chinese Viceroy resented what he
considered the insolent presumption of the "outside barbarians." He
declined to receive the Envoy, and ordered a blockade of all the
factories. Lord Napier was forced to surrender at discretion, and was
escorted back to Macao by an insulting guard of Chinese soldiers, where he
died soon after. After this, though the trade was graciously allowed to
proceed in its existing unsatisfactory condition, an open rupture between
the two Governments was clearly only a question of time. It was evident
that the claims of the Chinese to suzerainty over all outside barbarians
could not fail to cause one of two things: either a total cessation of
intercourse between them and other nations, or a war which should bring
them to their senses. Peaceable means to conciliate the Chinese had been
tried more than once and had failed. In 1796 Lord Macartney, and in 1816
Lord Amherst, had been sent on missions to effect a peaceable arrangement
with regard to trade. Both attempts failed in their object, but served to
show the overweening pretensions of the Chinese and their thorough
contempt for foreigners.[16] "In both cases," says Sir Rutherford Alcock,
"the British mission was paraded before the Chinese population, _en route_
from the coast, as tribute-bearers." Lord Amherst was even subjected to
personal indignity and insult for refusing to perform the kotow or
prostration before the Emperor. Meanwhile, as the power of the Empress and
the reform party declined, edicts against opium followed one another in
quick succession, but were completely ineffectual in checking the
corruption and connivance of the Canton officials, until Lin was appointed
Viceroy of Canton, for the avowed purpose of coercing his countrymen and
humiliating the foreigner. It was a congenial task, and accordingly we
find that immediately upon his arrival in February 1839 he executed a
native smuggler opposite the British factories as a menace to his own
people and an insult to the barbarians. Early in the following March he
issued an edict marked with the "vermilion pencil," forbidding, in the
most uncompromising terms, the long-established traffic. With this was
coupled a demand for all the opium in the Canton waters. Captain Elliott,
who had arrived from Macao in the midst of this crisis, at first refused
compliance with this demand, but was starved out, and, like Lord Napier,
compelled to surrender at discretion. Lin's victory was complete, and on
the whole he used it well. All the opium, to the amount of 20,290 chests
was, in the sight of all, sunk in the muddy waters of the estuary. All
foreigners were now graciously permitted to depart in peace. But it was
evident that the matter could not rest here; for Elliott had guaranteed
compensation from the State to those traders who had voluntarily
surrendered their opium (which was otherwise quite beyond Lin's reach) in
order to release from durance vile the European residents whom Lin had
unjustifiably seized. War was now inevitable; but its formal declaration
was preceded by one or two collisions between the Chinese and foreign
ships. One encounter in the Bay of Coalloon led to the total destruction
of a fleet of Chinese junks by the English frigates _Hyacinth_ and
_Volage_. This was the first experience the Chinese had of our shot and
shell, and it should have warned them of what they might have to expect.
But it did not. Lin retaliated by a proclamation, addressed to the Queen
of England, giving out that for the future "principals in the opium
business would be decapitated and accessaries strangled." War followed,
and the Chinese were soon brought to their knees. The terms of peace
signed at Nankin were the cession of Hongkong, the opening of the ports
Canton, Amoy, Foochowfoo, Ningpo, Shanghae, to trade, with consular
officers at each place, and an indemnity of six million dollars as the
value of opium seized in 1839. The old exclusive trading with "Hong"
merchants was abolished, and a fair and regular tariff of import and
export customs and other dues was established at the open ports. In this
tariff opium was not even mentioned.[17] The author of the _Opium Question
Solved_ says: "The negotiators dared not mention it; the Emperor would not
legalize the hated source of all his humiliations." So the same system of
organized smuggling, only carried on now even more openly than before,
went on. This smuggling of opium had been the _immediate_[18] cause of the
late war; and it was evident that a cordial understanding between the two
nations could not be established while this apple of discord remained in
their midst. Yet the English Government was very reluctant even to seem
to force opium upon the Chinese against their will. Lord Palmerston's
instructions to Admiral and Captain Elliott in 1841 on this matter are
very precise. This despatch, indicating as it does our policy in this
question both at that time and subsequently with unmistakable clearness,
may excusably be quoted here.
"In bringing this matter of the trade," he says, "before the Chinese
plenipotentiaries, you will state that the admission of opium is _not_ one
of _demands_ you have been instructed to make upon the Chinese Government,
and you will not enter upon it in such a way as to lead the Chinese
plenipotentiaries to think that it is the intention of Her Majesty's
Government to use any compulsion in regard to this matter. But you will
point out that it is scarcely possible that a permanent good understanding
can be maintained between the two Governments if the opium trade be
allowed to remain upon its present footing. It is evident that no
exertions of the Chinese authorities can put down the trade on the Chinese
coast. It is equally clear that it is wholly out of the power of the
British Government to prevent opium from being carried to China. It would
seem, therefore, that much additional stability would be given to the
friendly relations between the two countries if the Government of China
would make up its mind to legalize the importation of opium upon payment
of a duty sufficiently moderate to take away from the smuggler the
temptation to introduce the commodity without payment of duty. By this
means also it is evident that a considerable increase of revenue might be
obtained by the Chinese Government, because the sums which are now paid as
bribes to the Custom-house officers, would enter the public coffers in the
shape of duty."
In accordance with these instructions, Sir H. Pottinger used every
argument to persuade the Chinese Commissioners to have the trade
legalized. They, while admitting that the suppression of the trade
depended upon the Government of China being able to stop the use of the
drug, said that they could not yet approach the throne on the subject; but
that the Custom-house officers "would not trouble to inquire whether our
ships brought opium or not." They even went so far as to say[19] that "on
the subject of opium the British and Chinese Governments should adopt
their own rules with reference to their own subjects." Sir H. Pottinger
intimated his readiness to prohibit our ships from carrying opium into the
inner waters of the empire, but the Chinese, he added, must enforce the
prohibition. But this was the difficulty; for what could be expected from
our measures while the imperial servants winked at the breach of the
imperial edicts. The Commissioner, Keying, then suggested that the Emperor
might consent to the legalization of the traffic if a large revenue[20]
were _guaranteed_ to him. The answer of the British Commissioner was that
the British Government did not wish to foster or encourage the trade, but
to place it on a less objectionable footing; and, therefore, that Keying's
proposal could not be considered. In commenting on these negotiations, Sir
H. Pottinger said that the principal _public_ reason (bribery and
corruption being the private ones) why the truth was disguised, or said to
be disguised, from the Emperor, was the inability of the Chinese to
prevent opium from entering the rivers and harbours of the empire, or from
being consumed by their subjects. The Chinese Commissioner tried to throw
the blame on the British Government, asserting that _they_ should enforce
the prohibition and prevent their subjects from engaging in the trade, a
position tenable on no principle of international obligations.[21] The
Chinese, then, were unable to stop the traffic and unwilling to legalize
it. The mandarins were driven to all kinds of desperate shifts to cloak
their imbecility; and Sir H. Pottinger, in one of his last despatches,
says: "The mandarins openly give out that they dare not stop the traffic,
else it would lead to the cultivation of the poppy in China to so great an
extent as to cause a scarcity of food, if not a famine." A truly
surprising reason!
However, the arguments of successive British Commissioners seem to have
gradually had their effect, and there were not wanting signs that the
Chinese authorities were coming round. They were beginning to see that the
only way to arrest the haemorrhage of silver, so alarming to them, which in
fifty-four years had amounted to 12,000 tons, was to legalize the traffic
in opium, so that the drug might be exchanged for other commodities,
instead of, as now, being paid for clandestinely in sterling silver. As a
proof that the Chinese were not now in earnest against the traffic, it may
be mentioned that not a single proclamation was issued against it since
the negotiations between Keying and the English Envoy began. Moreover, as
Sir J. Davis wrote to the Earl of Aberdeen, the Chinese did not wish to
abolish the traffic, as the impoverished state of the finances of the
country did not admit of the servants of the Government being adequately
paid in a legitimate manner. So recognized, indeed, had the traffic
become, that legal duties even were often paid in opium.[22] But that the
smuggling and piracy caused by opium being technically a contraband
article were a "womb of evil," was evident to the Chinese themselves, and
also that they might any moment be made the excuse for a raid against the
foreign community (and there was even a report that Seu, the Imperial
Commissioner, was contemplating this), which could only result in a fresh
war. So we find that, in spite of their protestations to the contrary, the
Chinese Commissioners did refer the matter to the Emperor several times,
and on one occasion a decree legalizing the importation was drawn up by
his ministers for the Emperor's approval. When, however, the imperial
pleasure was finally taken, Taou Kwang forbad any further reference to the
proposal, saying that he could not "change face." So the matter rested for
the present. But the advice pressed upon the Emperor that he should
legalize the trade did not come from the British Envoys only; for in the
_Pekin Gazette_ for January 4th, 1853, there appeared a memorial from a
Censor, Wootingpoo, who, while admitting that the complete abolition of
opium, if that were only possible, would be far the best, points out in
forcible terms that as a help to rendering the national advantages fairly
and openly available for all, and to removing differences with the
barbarians, no measure can compare with that of levying a duty on opium.
Alluding to the mine of wealth which lies unworked by China in the opium
trade, he defends the policy of making it contribute to pay the expenses
of the State, on the principle that of two evils it is always well to
choose the least; and he proceeds to enforce his views by showing the
impossibility of preventing indulgence in such tastes, which no doubt,
when excessive, is pernicious. His estimate of the consumption was L66,666
daily; and he suggested a duty of 11 per cent., which should bring in a
revenue of seven million taels[23] a year, whereby the foundations of
England's greatness would be sapped. Further, he adds, the increase of
native growth will eventually drive out the foreign drug. But this
expression of native opinion was disregarded no less than the friendly
counsels of our Envoys, and matters went on in the old underhand way till
the outbreak of the second war.
On October 8th, 1856, the Chinese officials, in a war-boat, boarded the
lorcha _Arrow_ as it lay, flying the English flag, in the Canton river,
for the alleged reason that it had on board a pirate who was "wanted" by
the Chinese authorities. Of the merits of this question it will not be
necessary to speak here. It is enough to say that, in all probability, the
Chinese were strictly within their right; but, however that may be, it is
quite clear that the dispute had nothing whatever to do with opium. Yeh, a
man of similar character with Lin and Seu, was Viceroy of Canton, and he
promised satisfaction, but withheld it. Admiral Seymour accordingly
proceeded to enforce the British claims, and the second war broke out.
Owing to the Indian Mutiny, vigorous proceedings against China were
deferred till 1858; but when hostilities were resumed Canton was soon
captured, and Yeh made prisoner and banished to India, where he shortly
died.
But the trouble was not at an end yet; for as the English and French
ambassadors,[24] with an escorting squadron, were on their way to Pekin to
ratify the treaty which had been drawn up, they were attacked and
repulsed before the Taku forts. This brought about a renewal of the war,
and Pekin was taken October 1860, and the Treaty of Tientsin was ratified.
Five new ports[25] were opened. A British ambassador was to be established
at Pekin and a Chinese ambassador in London. Consuls were to be stationed
at all the open ports. Not a word was mentioned about opium in the treaty
itself, but, in pursuance of Article 26, an agreement was entered into
five months later concerning the tariff regulations, wherein "the Chinese
Government admitted opium as a legal article of import, not under
constraint, but _of their own free will deliberately_."[26] To a similar
effect is the testimony of Mr. Oliphant, another secretary to the mission,
whose evidence on this point will readily be considered conclusive. He
affirms that he informed the Chinese Commissioner "that he had received
instructions from Lord Elgin[27] not to insist on the insertion of the
drug in the tariff, should the Chinese Government wish to omit it." But
the Commissioner _declined to omit it_. An increase of duty was then
proposed, but this was objected to by the Chinese themselves as affording
a temptation to smugglers.
It is clear, then, that no force came into play at all, except it were the
force of circumstances, and opium--like all other articles except
munitions of war and salt, which remained contraband--was admitted under a
fixed tariff. This in the case of opium was fixed at thirty taels per
picul (133-1/3 lbs.), and it was further agreed that opium should only be
sold at the port; that the likin or transit dues should be regulated as
the Chinese Government thought fit. The terms of this tariff were to be
revisable after the lapse of ten years.
Leaving for a moment the question of the foreign import as thus settled,
let us turn to the Chinese policy towards their own native growth. The
exact date of the introduction of the culture of the poppy into China is
unknown; but there can be little doubt that the cultivation has existed
for a considerable period. Edicts and proclamations against the
cultivation, some of them published last century, are sufficient evidence
of this. Mr. Watters, Consul at Ichang on the upper Yangtze, speaks of
opium-smoking as having existed _for centuries_ in Western China, where,
as we know, Indian opium never finds its way. The policy of the Government
with regard to this native growth has all along been of a piece with that
pursued towards the foreign import. While prohibited by the Government it
has been connived at and sanctioned by the local authorities. The reason
of this conflict between the local and imperial authorities is clearly
pointed out in the recent Parliamentary paper on opium, where a statement
of the Consul at Chefoo is quoted to the effect that "the authorities at
Pekin have always been hostile to the cultivation of native opium, on the
ground of its interfering with the revenue derived from the import of the
foreign drug. On the other hand, the local authorities steadily connive at
the growth, both from indolence and from the fact that they find it very
lucrative themselves, the growers being able and willing to pay largely
for the privilege of evading the prohibitions." Under these circumstances
it is not surprising that the sanction of the local officials has in most
cases prevailed over the prohibition of the Imperial Court; and it is
certain that the cultivation had attained considerable proportions by the
middle of the present century, for Wootingpoo, in the memorial quoted
above, speaks of "gangs of smugglers of _native_ opium, numbering hundreds
and even thousands, entering walled cities in the west and setting the
local governments at defiance." He would have had the prohibition against
the native growth withdrawn, as well as that against the foreign import.
He answered the chief objection to the native culture, that it took the
place of food crops, by pointing out that the poppy was grown in the
winter months, and rice in the summer on the same ground. But his
representations were of no effect, and the prohibition continued, and was
even enforced by a fresh edict, at the instigation of Sheu-kueo-feu,[28]
in 1865. How far this edict was effectual it is impossible to say;
certain it is that it was flagrantly set at nought by the highest
officials. Li Hung Chang, who has lately taken a high moral tone in his
correspondence with the Anti-Opium League, actively busied himself in
promoting the cultivation of the poppy in the provinces over which he was
appointed, alleging, in a memorial to the throne, the importance of the
native growth as a source of revenue and as a check on the importation of
foreign opium.[29] A fresh edict prohibiting the cultivation was, however,
published in the _Pekin Gazette_, January 29, 1869, in answer to a fresh
memorial by the Censor Yu Po Chuan; and to this day this prohibition
remains unrepealed but obsolete, like the law against infanticide. The
poppy is now grown in every province of the Chinese Empire, but the
cultivation is far more extensive in the western than the eastern
provinces. The two provinces of Yuennan and Szechuen produce by far the
largest portion of the drug. Two-thirds of the available land of those two
provinces may be said to be under poppy cultivation. The amount of native
opium thus produced may be taken to be at least four times as much as the
whole amount imported, and the native growth is even encouraged by the
duty levied upon it being 50 per cent. less than that levied upon the
foreign drug. Such being the case, it is quite impossible to believe that
the authorities were ever unanimous or really earnest in their wish to
prohibit either the foreign import or the native growth. While the Emperor
denounced the foreign traffic from Pekin, and sent Lin to make an example
of offenders, the Governor of Canton dealt in opium, and the Emperor's own
son was an opium-smoker. Whilst edict followed edict forbidding the growth
of the poppy, the Governor-General of a large province openly fostered the
cultivation, and the poppy plant flaunted itself in red and white over the
half of China. It is useless to assert, as is so often asserted, that the
legalization of the foreign trade tied the hands of the Government with
regard to the home production. The native growth was well established
long before the legalization was effected, and the admission of Indian
opium never affected the western provinces of the Empire. Had the
Government been in earnest they could have suppressed the cultivation,
just as the Taeping rebels did in 1860 in Yuennan.
But to return to the history of the foreign trade. As was mentioned above,
the Chinese Commissioners of their own accord fixed the tariff duty upon
opium at thirty taels. But, though bound, as they were by their own act,
to admit opium at this rate, as soon as it passed into native hands they
had power to tax it as they pleased, and they did not fail to profit by
their power, though this likin tax varied considerably at the different
ports[30] in accordance with the necessities of the provincial
governments. It is difficult to estimate the revenue obtained by China
from the foreign opium trade, but it is probably close upon two millions
sterling. That the Chinese Government were not satisfied with this amount,
compared with the profits gained by India, is quite clear; and we find
accordingly that various efforts were made by them, subsequent to 1869,
to have the tariff agreed upon in the Treaty of Tientsin revised. But it
was not till 1876 that any definite agreement was come to between the two
Governments. In September of that year Sir Thomas Wade, Secretary Li, and
Prince Kung concluded a convention, by which China opened four new
ports[31] and six places of call on the great river, while Sir Thomas Wade
agreed to recommend to his own Government, and through it to all the
Treaty Powers, the limitation of the area, within which imports should be
exempt from likin, to the actual space occupied by the foreign
settlements. As the treaty regulations then stood, imports, except opium,
after paying their regular import duty, were not liable to likin or
transit dues till they reached a certain barrier at some distance inland.
Opium could be taxed as soon as it left the importer's hands. But this
right, which applied to opium only, had been used by the Chinese against
all imports, a clear infraction of treaty which the German Consul, among
others, had protested against. But as some doubt existed as to where the
first inland barrier really stood, Sir Thomas Wade proposed to make the
circuit of the foreign settlement the limit of exemption from duty. But
foreseeing that, if the likin Collectorate were banished from the
port-areas, opium would evade paying the likin tax, he proposed also to
recommend that the likin, as well as the import duty, on opium should be
collected by the foreign Inspectorate, and that for this purpose the opium
should be bonded in a warehouse or receiving hulk till such time as the
importer had paid the import due and the purchaser had paid the likin. He
further proposed as a fair likin tax forty taels per picul (though certain
that the Chinese did not get more than 30) on all Indian opium, that
brought to Hongkong included. Thus the whole duty (import and likin) on
opium would be seventy taels a picul, which would yield 6,117,930 taels,
or a million more than under the old system. But the Chinese Commissioner,
Prince Kung, objected to a uniform duty of forty taels, as too low, and
suggested sixty taels a picul, or an adherence to the different rates
prevailing in different ports. Sir Thomas Wade, though averse to the
higher uniform rate, was willing to consider the other alternative,
provided that he were informed of the exact position of the next inland
Collectorate, and the amount of rates levied. Further, the Chinese
Government must guarantee that no second Collectorate should be
established between the port Collectorate and the first of the present
inland Collectorates. It was agreed by the Chefoo Convention[32] that this
collection of the dues on opium by the foreign customs under these
conditions should be tried for five years at Shanghae.
Neither the Indian nor the English Government have raised any serious
objection to this convention, and the only reason why it is not ratified
yet is that the other Treaty Powers will not join in the Shanghae
agreement, unless China consents to abolish likin on goods other than
opium. Until these other Powers do give in their adhesion, our
arrangements must necessarily be inoperative, as opium will be imported
under the flag of Powers not parties to it. Pending the ratification of
this convention, Sir Thomas Wade offered to give up the concessions
granted by the Chinese, and have the ports recently opened closed again;
but this the Chinese would not agree to. There now seems every reason to
suppose that the difficulties with the other Powers will be got over, and
the Chefoo Convention finally ratified.
Before closing this historical survey, we may record the words of the
Chinese Commissioner in 1881 to Sir Thomas Wade, when the latter suggested
a yearly diminution of the opium sale, that the Chinese _would_ have the
drug, and that any serious attempt to check the trade must originate with
the people themselves. With this sentiment we shall all agree.
It will be necessary now briefly to describe the nature of opium, and its
use among, and effect upon, different races.
As a powerful medicine, then, opium, or its principal ingredient morphia,
has been known in all ages of the world to all civilized nations, and it
may confidently be stated that in the whole range of the Pharmacopoeia
there is no remedy so unique in its effects, and so indispensable to the
efficiency of the healing art as this "much abused drug." As a
febrifuge[33] it is invaluable; and, indeed, till the discovery of
quinine, stood alone in that respect; while it is of incalculable service
in relieving cholera and dysentery[34], and other diseases incidental to a
hot climate. It has also a wonderful power of checking consumption, and
mitigating its more distressing symptoms.[35] Its efficacy in this
respect, though recently denied by Dr. Shearer, is surely beyond all
reasonable doubt.
The three chief alkaloid constituents of opium are morphine, narcotine,
thebaine, of which the first is the principle peculiar to the poppy, and
gives it its stupefying power. The second, narcotine, which in spite of
its name has nothing narcotic in it, is a febrifuge and stimulant like
quinine; the third, thebaine, affects the nervous system, and is credited
by the Chinese with having certain aphrodisiac qualities. Needless to say,
however, it is not as a medicine that the opponents of opium find fault
with its use, but as a luxury that ensnares the appetite, and enfeebles
the mind and body of its hapless votaries. We shall have occasion to show
that in the case of the Chinese at least there is an intimate relation
between its use as a luxury and as a medicine.
There are three ways in which opium may be consumed: it may be eaten in
the shape of pills, drunk as a solution, or smoked as a
highly-concentrated extract. And it may here be remarked at once that
opium smoked is a quite different thing from opium swallowed, so that
arguments proving the pernicious effects of the latter will not of
necessity apply to the former at all; while, on the other hand, arguments
tending to show the harmlessness of opium eaten or drunk will _a fortiori_
prove the innocuousness of opium smoked. The opponents of opium have
disregarded this important distinction. Hence much of their evidence
against opium-smoking is wholly irrelevant. Sir George Birdwood,[36]
relying on the authority of Sir Robert Christison, and on the knowledge
derived from personal experience, asserts that opium-smoking _must_ be
absolutely harmless, as the active principles contained in opium are not
volatizable. Theoretically this may be sound enough, but its practical
effect upon Asiatics at least can scarcely be reconciled with this
supposition. However this may be, opium-smoking is probably not much worse
than tobacco-smoking, and far less injurious than dram-drinking; while
opium smoked, whatever be its effect upon the system, certainly has not
one-tenth part the potency of opium swallowed. And it is obvious that this
must be so, for, when swallowed, all the various constituents of opium
are admitted into, and retained by, the stomach; whereas, when smoked,
only the narcotizing agent, which is volatizable, finds its way into the
system, and that merely momentarily. No doubt opium smoked produces its
effect _sooner_ than opium swallowed, for it is brought at once into
contact with the blood in the lungs, and thus quickly permeates the whole
system. The Chinese are generally credited with being the first people to
smoke the drug, and the practice is almost confined to them now.
Before, however, speaking of the introduction and spread of the habit in
China, we will briefly notice those countries where some form of
opium-consumption is prevalent, and endeavour to point out the general
effects observable therefrom. And we are in a position to form a correct
judgment in this matter, for there is a considerable consumption of opium
in British India, so to speak, under our own eyes. The districts in which
this consumption is most prevalent are Rajpootana, parts of the Punjaub,
Orissa, Assam, and Burmah. In Rajpootana, among the Sikhs, the drinking of
"umal pawnee," a solution of opium, is a common custom extending to women
and even children as well as men. They take their glass of laudanum as we
take our glass of wine. And though this habit is of long standing, and
indulged in by at least 12 per cent. of the inhabitants of the country, no
such wholesale ruin and demoralization has been caused as the declamations
of the anti-opiumists would lead us to expect.[37] Indeed, the Sikhs are
physically the finest race in India,[38] and show as yet no signs of
degeneration. Dr. Moore, for some time Superintendent-General of
Dispensaries in Rajpootana, assures us that he has known individuals who
had consumed opium all their lives, and at forty, fifty, sixty, and even
older, were as hale and hearty as any of their fellows. Opium, then, even
when swallowed, cannot, as it appears, do the Rajpoots much harm. In some
cases it is undoubtedly highly beneficial. "When taken," says Dr.
Moore,[39] "by the camel-feeders in the sandy deserts of Western
Rajpootana, it is used to enable the men, far away from towns or even from
desert villages, to subsist on scanty food, and to bear without injury the
excessive cold of the desert winter night, and the scorching rays of the
desert sun. When used by the impoverished ryot, it occupies the void
resulting from insufficient food or from food deficient in nourishment;
and it not only affords the ill-nourished cultivator, unable to procure or
store liquor, a taste of that exhilaration of spirits which arises from
good wine, but also enables him to undergo his daily fatigue with far less
waste of tissue than would otherwise occur. To the 'kossid,' or
runner,[40] obliged to travel a long distance, it is invaluable." It may
be added that opium _smoking_ is almost entirely unknown in Rajpootana.
Passing on to the Punjaub, it appears from the recent report on the Excise
in that province, that, though a large part of the rural population have a
preference for opium above spirits, a preference derived from custom and
religious prejudice; yet they are compelled to take to the latter, and the
yet more deleterious "bhang,"[41] owing to a growing disinclination among
the cultivators to cultivate opium under such strict Government
supervision as is enforced, combined with a diminution in the amount
imported. This state of things is deplored by the Excise officers, who
recommend an increased importation to meet the demand which undoubtedly
exists. In this province opium is smoked to a considerable extent under
the name of kossumba.
In Orissa the consumption of the drug is very general, and has much
increased since the famine of 1866. According to Dr. Vincent Richards,[42]
who instituted a statistical inquiry for the purpose of eliciting
trustworthy information, from 8 to 10 per cent. of the adult population
of Balasore take opium, those living in unhealthy localities being much
more addicted to it than others. Moderation is the rule, but even
excessive doses of the drug are taken without any very serious
ill-effects, while its efficacy in cases of fever, elephantiasis, and
rheumatism, is undoubted.
In Assam, as might be expected from the unhealthy and malarious character
of its soil, opium is freely resorted to, and Assam has been singled out
by Dr. Christlieb--one of the most strenuous, and we may add misinformed,
supporters of the anti-opium league--as affording the most striking
evidence of the disastrous use of opium in India. Among other things that
pernicious drug is credited with producing barrenness; a result which, as
Dr. Moore has conclusively shown, is due entirely to the unhealthy nature
of the soil, and may even be counteracted by a moderate use of opium.
Residence in low, swampy districts creates a natural craving for opium, as
the statistics of our own islands will abundantly testify. Throughout the
British islands, the only districts where the consumption of opium can be
said to be at all common are in the fen country of Cambridgeshire,
Lincolnshire, and Norfolk.
Lastly, we come to British Burmah; and here undoubtedly the case against
opium _seems_, at first sight, overwhelming. But those who have only read
what the anti-opiumists have said about it, will have formed a very
one-sided notion of the facts of the case. Till 1870 a comparatively small
quantity of opium was imported into that country, but in the succeeding
decade the amount rose from 15,000 to 46,000 sears.[43] This was
apparently owing to the direct encouragement of the Government. The habit
of _eating_[44] or smoking opium (for--and this is an important
point--both are practised) spread with fearful rapidity even among the
population of the villages, especially among the rising generation. The
physical and mental deterioration in those who contracted the evil habit,
and the consequent increase of misery and crime brought about a strong
expression of native feeling against the practice. "To put away the
accursed thing entirely was the only advice that appeared to the native
elders of any value at all."[45] The Government, as a recent writer in the
_Times_[46] says, promptly took advantage of this feeling to close forty
out of the sixty-eight opium shops, and raise the price of opium 30 per
cent., at a loss to the provincial revenues of from. L50,000 to L70,000.
No one will question the wisdom of these measures; but there can be little
doubt that on the one hand the demoralization caused by the spread of the
vice was exaggerated,[47] while on the other the guilt of the Government
is not so flagrantly evident, for there never were more than sixty-eight
shops in 87,000 square miles of country. No one could lawfully possess
more than one ounce of opium outside a licensed shop, and the law, if
broken, was promptly vindicated. "The Government sales, when highest,
were only enough to satisfy 3 per cent. of the adult male population."[48]
We are tempted to ask what was the cause of this sudden increase in the
consumption of opium. Increased facilities for its purchase was
undoubtedly one cause, but Sir Charles Aitchison supplies us with another
important one. "The people,"[49] he says, "are becoming emancipated from
many restrictions of their old creed. The inevitable tendency of the
education we give, and of the new sense of personal liberty which our
Government creates among an Oriental people, is to weaken the sanctions of
religious belief, and break down the restraints of social customs."[50] So
far, and this is all that a perusal of anti-opium publications will tell
us, the contention that opium is wholly pernicious seems fully borne out.
But, as before pointed out, a proof of the injuriousness of opium-_eating_
is no proof that opium-smoking is injurious; and the zealous denouncers of
the drug have omitted to mention all in the Report which tells strongly
against their own case. At the very beginning of the memorandum the
Commissioner says: "The Chinese population in British Burmah, and to some
extent also the immigrants from India, especially Chittagonians and
Bengalese, habitually consume opium without any apparent ill-effects;
those of them who have acquired the habit do not regularly indulge to
excess. With the Burmese and other indigenous races the case is different.
The Burmese seem quite incapable of using the drug in moderation."[51] So
that if there were no other difference between the Chinese and Burmans in
their appetite for opium, there would be this, that the one habitually
smokes in moderation, the other habitually indulges to excess. Further,
one of the arguments brought forward by the Commissioner against the total
closing of all shops, a step clamoured for by the anti-opiumists, not to
mention the obvious difficulty of preventing smuggling, is that "the
_legitimate requirements_ of the 200,000 Chinese and natives of Bengal,
resident in British Burmah, must be considered and provided for. These,
to whom the drug is a _necessary of life_, constitute perhaps the most
thriving and industrious section of the population."[52] It will be seen,
then, that we cannot argue from the effect of opium on the Burmese to its
effect upon the Chinese.
The greater part of the opium consumed in India is supplied from the
Government stores under the name of "abkari," or excise opium.[53] Four
thousand chests are issued yearly for this purpose from the reserve stock
of Bengal opium; but this year it has been decided to allow Malwa opium,
for which the market is at present very slack, to supply this. Besides
this excise opium, which is never sold at a rate low enough to encourage
export, some little opium is imported from the Hill states, and a small
quantity is grown in Rajpootana, the Punjaub, and the Central Provinces,
under strict Government supervision and for local consumption only.
Besides in India opium is eaten in Turkey, where its virtues are so much
appreciated that the legend stamped on the opium lozenges is
"Mash-Allah," the "Gift of God"; and the habit is prevalent in Persia
also. Among the Malays and Siamese, and in Java and Sumatra and the
neighbouring islands, it is mostly smoked; and, of course, the Chinese
carry the habit with them wherever they go. Even America has caught the
infection, and the rapid progress of the habit, especially among the lower
orders, called forth vigorous coercive measures. It may be that these will
have the desired effect; but that will only be because the Americans have
no natural craving for the drug, and prefer their national taste for gin
and whiskey and rum. Some of the more violent opio-phobists, pointing to
the spread of this "horrid and infectious vice" among the Americans, hint
in almost triumphant tones that the secret use of opium in England is
already considerable, and still increasing, as though it were a Nemesis,
too long delayed, for her crimes.[54] If we may believe De Quincey,[55]
opium-eating was by no means an uncommon thing among the upper classes,
even in his day; and Dickens, in his description of an opium-den in
_Edwin Drood_, draws no doubt upon his stores of personal knowledge
acquired in his youthful rambles among the streets of London. However, we
cannot think there is any real danger of the English people deliberately
taking to opium. Tobacco answers every purpose. But it is an undoubted
fact that the mortality among children in large towns like Bradford and
Manchester is due, in a great measure, to their being unwittingly dosed
with opium, which enters largely into the composition of soothing syrups,
cordials, and elixirs of all kinds.[56] It has been estimated that 300,000
lbs. of opium are imported annually into the United Kingdom, only a part
of which can be used medicinally.[57]
Before speaking more particularly of the political agitation against our
policy with regard to opium, it will be necessary to state shortly what
that policy has been in the case of India. The opium from which India
derives her revenue is of two kinds, called respectively Bengal and Malwa
opium. The former is that grown by the Government agencies at Patna and
Benares; the latter, that grown by the native states of Scindia and
Holkar, which has to pay a heavy duty in passing through our territory.
With regard to the Government monopoly of Bengal opium, our policy has
been very vacillating in past time; and mainly to this cause may be
ascribed the fluctuations in the revenue derived from this source. The
opium revenue amounted in 1838 to L1,586,445 net, which by 1857 had risen
to L5,918,375. In 1871 the large total of L7,657,213 was reached, and this
has been still further increased in the last decade to eight and a half
millions. The constancy of increase noticeable in the revenue for the last
few years has been due in great measure to the adoption of a plan proposed
by Sir Cecil Beadon in 1867 that a reserve stock of opium should be formed
from the abundance of fruitful years to supply the deficiencies of lean
ones; so that a certain fixed amount of the drug might be brought into the
market every year. This reserve stock, which amounted in 1878 to 48,500
chests, by constant demands upon it has diminished to 12,000 chests. The
amount sold yearly has, in consequence, been lowered from 56,400 to
53,700 chests, and a further reduction to 50,000 chests is
contemplated.[58] The revenue, therefore, is not likely to be in excess of
the amount received 1881-2, which was eight and a half millions (net), of
which three and a half millions are due to the export duty on Malwa, the
other five millions to the direct profit on the Bengal drug.
The amount of land at present under opium cultivation in British India is
about 500,000 acres,[59] and this amount does not admit of any
considerable extension.
It was in 1826 first that the East India Company made an agreement with
Holkar and other native chiefs that the former should have the exclusive
right to purchase all opium grown in the table-land of Malwa.[60] But, in
spite of this agreement, opium grown in these estates found its way to the
Portuguese ports of Damaum and Diu on the Persian Gulf, for export to
China. Consequently, after an unsuccessful attempt to limit the
production in the native states, which almost occasioned a civil war, the
existing system was abandoned, and a tax upon opium exported through
Bombay substituted.
The number of chests annually exported out of India is about 45,000, which
gives the Indian Government a revenue of L3,150,000; whereas a similar
amount of Bengal would bring in five and a half millions sterling. It is
difficult to estimate the exact revenue that accrues to the native princes
from the culture of the poppy, but in any case it must form a main portion
of their whole income, amounting in some cases to as much as half, in
spite of the enormous duty we can lay upon its export. The cultivation is
very popular in the native states, and the people, we may be sure, have no
scruple in supplying China or any other nation that will buy their
produce. "No rajah," says Dr. Christlieb, "under a purely native system,
would administer the opium revenue as we do; the Brahmins would soon
starve him out." What this remark precisely means, it is difficult,
perhaps impossible, to discover; but the general meaning desired to be
conveyed, no doubt, is that a native ruler would not be allowed to engage
in so iniquitous a traffic by the superior sense of justice and morality
inherent in his Brahmin councillors. Credat Judaeus! Whether it would be
possible[61] or in accordance with justice, or consistent with the policy
hitherto pursued towards the native states, to prevent opium from being
grown by the native princes (if so be that the doctrines of the anti-opium
league find favour in the sight of Englishmen), is a question which will
be more fully dealt with when we come to discuss the remedial measures
proposed by the denouncers of our opium policy. We only know that our last
attempt at interference in this matter well-nigh caused a civil war.
Allowing, then, for all deductions on the score of "abkari" opium, and for
a certain amount which the French colony of Chandernagore have a right to
purchase at existing rates, we may say that about 95,000 chests of
provision opium are exported from India every year: 45,000 chests of Malwa
from Bombay, and 50,000 of Bengal opium from Calcutta. But it is a
mistake to suppose that all this goes directly to China proper. About
1,000 chests a month, or more than one-fifth part of the whole annual
amount sold at Calcutta, goes to supply the needs of the Chinese in the
Straits Settlements and thereabouts, in Cochin China and Cambogia, and of
the Siamese and Malays. Moreover, a considerable quantity is deflected at
Hongkong for the use of the Chinese in California[62] and in the
Philippine, Fiji, and other islands. The exact amount so deflected it is
impossible to estimate;[63] but we may feel pretty sure that not much more
than 80,000 chests of Indian opium are sold in China itself. The Bengal
opium finds a better sale than the Malwa, partly from its inherent
superiority and partly from the Government guarantee being affixed. Its
price is very high, being 460 taels per picul or chest,[64] while native
opium is only 350 taels, including transit dues.
The use of Indian opium is consequently restricted to the richer classes,
and the poorer classes have to put up with the native drug. At present
there is little fear that the native drug will drive out Indian opium, as
there seems to be some peculiarity of soil or preparation which makes
Bengal opium superior to all other kinds.
The present import tariff paid by Indian opium varies at the different
ports, but is about thirty taels in most; and this brings in to the
Chinese Government (including likin or transit dues),[65] about L2,000,000
a year. This they seek to increase by being allowed to levy a higher duty
on the imported article than they themselves suggested after the Treaty of
Tientsin. The negotiations on this subject have been already described, so
we need not dwell upon them here. The English Government are naturally
unwilling to agree to any large increase of duty, such as would afford a
temptation to smugglers and restore the former unsatisfactory condition of
things, while in all probability just as much Indian opium would find its
way into China, the duty being at the same time evaded. But it is a
mistake to say that the Chinese are powerless to tax opium, for they can
place any transit duty they please upon it as soon as it has left the
importer's hands, and they have not failed to avail themselves of this
privilege, thereby causing in their own borders much successful smuggling.
If the Chinese were allowed to double the import duty on Indian opium as
they proposed to Sir Thomas Wade, and if they were able, as they formerly
were distinctly unable, to prevent smuggling, our profits on the drug
would no doubt be diminished in proportion to the increase of duty, and
this rivalry would presumably lead to a compromise. But apart from this
contingency there are two ways in which the opium revenue might be lost
to India. On the one hand, by natural competition with other kinds of
opium the Indian drug might be driven from the field. This, for many
reasons, is unlikely. On the other hand, the political agitation against
the trade, if successful, would have the effect of putting a sudden and
complete stop to the traffic; and it behoves us to consider, in a calm and
dispassionate manner, how far such a consummation is desirable, and, if
desirable, how far it is practicable.
First, how far is it desirable? And here let us premise, with Major (now
Sir Evelyn) Baring,[66] "that facts cannot be altered or their
significance attenuated by any enunciation of abstract principles."
Violent denunciations from platform and pulpit, combined with a persistent
ignoring of the exigencies of the case, as though they were irrelevant
matters, are not likely to commend themselves to those responsible
ministers, either in England or India, who have to face the financial and
political problems connected inseparably with any attempt to abolish the
opium trade. It is really no answer to the financial difficulty to say, as
the Lord Mayor[67] said at a meeting held at the Mansion House, "that the
financial difficulty would be got over if the Government would only deal
with the question and do what is right." Nor is it easy to believe that
the English taxpayers will come forward with five millions a year as
compensation to India. Those who seem to advocate this step do not fail
to remind us of the L20,000,000 spent for the emancipation of slaves as a
"glorious precedent." But the difference between the two cases need not be
pointed out: they must be obvious to all. What the exact remedies proposed
by the opponents of the traffic are, it is difficult to define; for,
united as is their condemnation of the present policy with regard to the
trade, they are by no means as unanimous in suggesting a policy of their
own.
The various objections to the trade were first formulated in Lord
Shaftesbury's memorial to Lord Clarendon in 1855. The challenge thus
thrown down was at once taken up by Sir John Bowring, our Superintendent
of Trade in China, who, as might be expected, knew somewhat more about the
matter than the enthusiastic memorialists at home. He may be taken to have
disproved all the most important allegations contained in that document,
namely, that the trade was exclusively British; that the annual death-rate
from opium rose to the "appalling" figure of more than a million; that the
Chinese were really in earnest about prohibiting the traffic. Some of
these points have been abandoned; others are considered irrelevant to the
question really at issue, which is held to be whether any interference
with the fiscal policy of a foreign state be in itself justifiable--
whether, that is, we are warranted in keeping China to her
treaty-obligations to admit opium at a certain rate. It is quite natural
that they should wish to confine the discussion to this their strongest
point, but we are not disposed to allow that this is the real or only
point at issue; and we will therefore take the main charges levelled
against the opium trade separately, and endeavour to do them full justice.
These are: 1st. Opium is a poison, and _therefore_ opium-smoking as
practised by the Chinese is poisoning the people. 2nd. We are responsible
for the introduction of this habit into China. "We have held the poisoned
chalice," an eloquent Bishop has said, "to the lips of the Chinese and
forced them to drink it." 3rd. We have even forced it upon them, and are
still forcing it. 4th. We hold a monopoly in the manufacture of opium, but
a monopoly is always economically wrong, and the monopoly of a poison is
morally indefensible. 5. This traffic is an insurmountable barrier to the
labours of our missionaries. Let us take them in this order.
1. It is stated that opium in any form is a poison pure and simple, and
has been declared to be so by Act of Parliament: that, moreover, its
pleasures are so seductive that the habit of taking it, once established,
can never be forgone, so that the moderate smoker glides almost
imperceptibly, but no less certainly, into the excessive smoker: that this
immoderate indulgence impoverishes the fortunes, mars the morality, and
ruins the health of the victim himself, and plants the seeds of disease
and vice in his children. This count in the indictment will not be quite
complete unless we add, on the authority of the missionaries, that
opium-smoking is all but universal, and the annual mortality due to it one
million at least. As to the latter estimate, we may say with the late Dr.
Medhurst, himself a zealous and enlightened medical missionary, that it
"has not even the semblance of truth, but is an outrageous exaggeration."
What the exact number of deaths from this cause may be is by no means so
easy to discover;[68] for, apart from the fact that there is no register
of deaths to appeal to, it would be impossible to decide how many even of
the deaths caused by opium could be attributed to the habit of smoking
opium as a luxury, for many of them, as has been pointed out, might be due
to suicide,[69] for self-destruction by opium[70] seems as common a
practice with the Chinese as suicide by drowning is with us. But there is
another and more fertile element of error; for many, and probably the vast
majority of cases so pathetically described by missionaries, of
victims[71] to the vice in hospitals and dying by the roadside, are cases
of men afflicted with some painful or incurable disorder who have taken to
opium-smoking, as De Quincey did to opium-eating, as a relief and a
solace. To such, indeed, it is a priceless boon, and it may well be
doubted whether it is not oftener the means of prolonging life than of
shortening it.[72] Much has been made of the evidence of T. T. Cooper
before the Parliamentary Commission in 1871, where he says that he
frequently saw men dying by the roadside, _simply from want of opium_. Yet
it is difficult to see how he ascertained the cause of death in each case.
He seems rather to have jumped at a conclusion, as he certainly did in
another part of his evidence, where he gravely affirms that, in his
opinion, were the opium supply to be suddenly cut off, _one-third_ of the
adult population of China would die! Why, to begin with, one-third of the
adult population do not even now, after the lapse of ten years, in which
the spread of the habit has been unchecked, smoke opium; no, nor any
number approaching it. Secondly, it has been proved in the case of
prisoners, whose supply of opium is always stopped when they enter the
jail,[73] that a sudden deprivation of the drug does not cause death.
Again, opium is held accountable for pauperism, dishonesty, crime, and
depravity of all sorts. That indulgence of any kind is a sign of moral
weakness, and likely further to deprave the moral nature, is undeniable,
but (and here we have Dr. Myers with us) "though excessive opium may
hasten the effects of a general moral depravity, we are inclined to think
that it is much more often rather a sequence than a cause." "In China,"
says Mr. Lay, "the spendthrift, the man of lewd habits, the drunkard, and
a large assortment of bad characters slide into the opium-smoker: hence
the drug seems chargeable with all the vices of the country." There will
be no need to point out that opium is not the cause of all the pauperism
and vice that exists among the Chinese people; for a vast amount of
pauperism is common to all Eastern races, and dishonesty, untruthfulness,
cruelty, and vice of the most revolting kind, were characteristic of the
Chinese long before opium was so common as it now is.
What, then, are the effects of opium-smoking on the Chinese individually
and as a nation? Had they been anything like what the anti-opiumists
assert they must be, surely the effect would be visible after all these
years in an increased death-rate or a decreased birth-rate. Needless to
say, no such aggregate result is observable. Where opium is most smoked,
there the population is most thriving and industrious,[74] and increases
the fastest. "No China resident," says Dr. Ayres, colonial surgeon at
Hongkong, "believes in the terrible frequency of the dull, sodden-witted,
debilitated opium-smoker, met with in print." Mr. Gregory, H.M.'s Consul
at Swatow, says: "I have _never_ seen a single case of opium intoxication,
although living with and travelling for months and hundreds of miles with
opium-smokers."[75] Dr. Myers, after ten years' medical practice in
different parts of China, confesses that his "preconceived prejudices with
reference to the universally baneful effects of the drug had been severely
shaken." Again, it was estimated by the colonial surgeon at Hongkong, in
1855, that there were more deaths from drunkenness in Hongkong among the
600 Europeans than from opium among the 60,000 Chinamen. Similar testimony
is borne by a recent medical report of the Straits Settlements,[76]
wherein, under the head "poisons," it appears that there were from
alcoholic poisoning thirty-nine deaths, of which twenty-six were
Europeans, three Chinese, one Malay, nine Indians; while from opium only
five in all--a result all the more significant as there are at least
300,000 Chinese in the Straits Settlements,[77] and only about 4,000
Europeans, including the military. Dr. Hobson, another medical missionary,
and as such entirely averse to the trade, says: "Opium-smoking is not
nearly so fatal to life as spirit-drinking is with us; its use is even
compatible with longevity." It is very common to hear Chinese acknowledge
that they have smoked opium for ten, twenty, or thirty years. Dr. Hobson
mentions one case in which the smoker began at nineteen, and smoked for
fifty-one years.[78] Further evidence is surely unnecessary to prove that
opium-smoking is not necessarily, nor even commonly, destructive of life.
Even opium-eating, _a far worse vice_, for it "sets up an incessant and
cumulative craving, so that a rapid increase of dose is necessary"--not
even opium-eating is inevitably fatal, as the case of the Rajpoots proves.
De Quincey, as is well known, took 8,000 drops of laudanum a day for some
time, which is equivalent to thirty-two grains, and two grains of opium
swallowed are equal in effects to fifty-eight grains (one mace) smoked,
three mace being a smoker's usual allowance.[79]