HEMP DRUGS.
Like the poppy which is cultivated for opium, the hemp plant, _cannabis
sativa_, is grown for _ganja_, _bhang_, and _churrus_, all highly
intoxicating drugs; and for its bast fibre which makes such excellent
rope.
The history of the plant is interesting, but no more than a very brief
allusion to it is necessary here. The first mention of hemp occurs in
Chinese literature, about the twenty-eighth century, B.C., when the
hemp-seed is mentioned as one of the five or nine kinds of grain. It
is mentioned merely as a “sacred grass” in the _Athavaveda_ about 1400
B.C. But the narcotic properties of the plant, with which we are chiefly
concerned, do not seem to have been known until the beginning of the
fourteenth century A.D. In a Hindu play written about the sixteenth
century A.D., Siva brings down the _bhang_ plant from the Himalaya, and
gives it to the worshippers of himself. Of more recent evidence, we have
the statement of the Emperor Baber, who tells in his _Memoirs_ (1519
A.D.) of the number of times he had taken _Maajun_. John Lindsay, in his
_Journal of Captivity in Mysore_ (1781), relates how his soldiers were
made to eat _Majum_; and lastly, De Quincey, in his _Confessions of an
English Opium-Eater_, speaks of _Madjoon_, which he inaccurately states
is a Turkish name for opium.
The hemp plant belongs to the diœcious order of plants, of which the Hop
is another member. That is to say, the flowers, male and female, are
borne on separate shrubs. The male hemp plants die early, or are removed
by hand, an operation which requires expert knowledge of the two plants;
but the female is tended and looked after until the flowering tops are
developed. These are then collected and dried, and are called _ganja_.
The leaves, stalks and trash are collected, and this is called _bhang_;
while the resin (which is collected by hand, like opium, or sometimes,
made to adhere to the clothes, or special leather garments, or even the
skins of men who walk up and down among the growing plants and is then
scraped off and worked up into a mass by rolling and pressing) is called
_churrus_. This is really the active principle of the hemp. Its presence
in the flowering tops, leaves and stalks giving _ganja_ and _bhang_
their narcotic properties; and _churrus_ is therefore more potent in its
intoxicating effects than either _ganja_ or _bhang_.
_Ganja_ is a greenish-brown conglomeration of what looks like half-dried,
tightly pressed grass; _bhang_ is somewhat similar in appearance, but
looser in form; and _churrus_, the resin itself, is a greenish-brown,
moist mass. When it has been kept some time, it becomes hard, friable,
and of a brownish-grey colour. When it assumes this condition and
colour, it is inert. All have a characteristic, faintly pungent, odour,
and but slight taste. It is interesting to note that the word _churrus_
means a “bag” or “skin.” It is believed that the name was applied to the
drug from the skins or bags in which it used to be imported in olden
times, from Central Asia.
Indulgence in hemp in India is as common as betel-chewing and tobacco
smoking. It is, in one or other of its forms, either smoked, or eaten.
(The sweetmeat _Majum_, is compounded from _bhang_, honey, sugar, and
spices. Sometimes it is infused in cold water to which butter is added.
The butter in time takes up the active principle of the drug, and is
eaten.) And it is computed that the votaries of hemp, in one or other
of its many forms, number three millions! There is great diversity of
opinion as to whether hemp is gravely harmful to its consumers, or
whether it is merely an undesirable form of indulgence without any evil
permanent effects. The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, which examined the
whole question in detail, was of opinion that it was harmless if indulged
in moderately, but that the gravest results must follow upon intemperance
in its use. As regards its being a fruitful cause of insanity, the
evidence of alienists was taken, and the statistics of all the large
asylums for the insane in India were examined; but “only 7·3 per cent. of
lunatics admitted to asylums were those in which hemp could reasonably
be regarded as having been a factor of importance. Moreover, the form
of insanity produced yields readily to treatment,” and as hemp has not
got the same hold that opium has upon individuals, its discontinuance is
easily effected and immediate restoration of the mental faculties comes
about.
The moderate use of _ganja_ increases the appetite, and produces a
condition of cheerfulness. In excess, hallucinations, and a sort of
delirium is excited, and it is in this aggravated state that a man may
“run amok.” This is the outstanding evil of the drug: to temporarily
madden a man. But, for the fatal consequences which often ensue from
running amok, people are apt to put the whole blame on the drug. May
it not, however, be that a man whose desire it is to become reckless
purposely resorts to the drug to hearten himself? I think it is very
likely. It is often discovered, after a man has run amok, that he has
for some time been broody or sulky, and suffering under some real or
imagined wrong. That he should get desperate, and take in excess what he
well knows to be is an excitant infinitely more powerful than alcohol, in
order to carry through what he has been longing for some time to do, is
not altogether unreasonable.
To digress from the subject immediately under discussion; it is common
in discussing crime and its connection with drink, to hear the view
expressed that drink is the cause of crime _primâ facie_; whereas it
often happens that a person intent on revenge cannot bring himself to
do his neighbour a mischief in cold blood and requires a little “Dutch
courage” to tune himself up to the pitch of not caring for consequences.
Too often the crime committed is the result of impetuosity; impetuosity
exacerbated by drink. We never hear of offences against property being
attributed to drunkenness; and yet, from the moral standpoint, the
deliberate commission of theft or robbery is evidential of greater
obliquity than the passionate striking of one’s enemy with whatever comes
to hand at the moment.
Medical Jurisprudence is crowded with instances in which hemp has been
employed in the commission of crimes. A single instance, which came
within the writer’s personal experience, will however suffice. The Civil
Surgeon of ... had gone out on tour leaving behind his wife and family
of three small boys. The bedroom occupied by Mrs. Blank adjoined that
usually occupied by the doctor, which contained a large, heavy iron
safe in which was Mrs. Blank’s jewellery and a large sum of money. That
night, Mrs. Blank and the children retired to bed at the usual hour;
but upon waking in the morning, she felt unrefreshed and languid. The
children complained of a like feeling. Going into her husband’s room,
Mrs. Blank was shocked to find that the safe had disappeared, one of its
heavy massive handles lay wrenched off upon the floor, and a twisted gun
barrel near by had too apparently been used ineffectually as a lever. An
alarm was raised, and the police called in. Mrs. Blank averred that the
safe was too large and heavy for fewer than six powerful men to carry
down stairs. That she had been drugged there could be no doubt; she had
slept and the children had slept through the night undisturbed, and it
was impossible to conceive how they could otherwise have done so, with
evidences of such noisy activities abundant in the next room. The safe
was never found, and the culprits were never brought to book; but the
discovery of a small patch of cultivated hemp, on some land belonging to
a man servant who was in the Civil Surgeon’s employ at the time of the
burglary, made the case clear, and the servant’s complicity morally, if
not judicially, certain.
L’ENVOI.
A PERSIAN ALLEGORY.
Three men, one under the effects of alcohol, one under the effects of
opium, and the last under the effects of hemp, arrived one night at the
closed gates of a city. “Let us break down the gates,” said the alcohol
drinker in a fury of rage, “I can do it with my sword!” “Nay,” said the
opium eater, “We can rest here outside in comfort till the morning, when
the gates will be opened, and we may enter.” “Why all this foolish talk?”
whined the one under the effects of hemp. “Let us creep in through the
key-hole. We can make ourselves small enough!”
APPENDIX.
AN HISTORICAL NOTE ON OPIUM IN INDIA AND BURMA.
It is doubtful whether there is a more valuable drug in the Materia
Medica than opium. Fundamentally, it is the dried juice of the _Papaver
Somniferum_ or white poppy, and although all varieties of poppy are
capable of producing opium, the best comes from the white, and it is this
variety that is systematically cultivated for the world’s supply of opium.
Opium has been the cause of at least one war, namely, the war between
England and China, and a perusal of the accounts of piracy in the eastern
seas during the sixteenth century affords numerous instances of pitched
battles between traders and pirates whose one object seems to have been
to get possession of valuable cargoes of opium.
The cultivation of the poppy, as a garden flower at any rate, was
certainly practised as far back as eight hundred years before Christ.
Homer, who lived between 800 B.C. and 700 B.C.[6] mentions it in his
Iliad.[7] Cornelius Nepos also mentions the poppy in Italy; when Tarquin
indicated to the envoy sent to him by his son Sextus Tarquinius, what he
wanted done to the chief inhabitants of Etruria, by striking down all the
tallest poppies in his garden.[8]
Hippocrates, who lived in the fifth century before Christ, and who is
famous as the founder of Greek medical literature, is the first to
mention poppy juice, and the virtues of the poppy were undoubtedly known
to him; but the physical effects of opium were not definitely mentioned
until the first century before Christ, when Vergil, who lived from 70
B.C. to 19 B.C., writes of the “Poppy pervaded with Lethean sleep,”[9]
and the “Sleep-giving poppy.”[10] It may be mentioned in passing, that in
Greek mythology Lethe is a river that flows through the regions of the
dead, the waters of which, if drunk by anyone, cause oblivion in regard
to their past existence.
In the first century after Christ, opium was known as a medicine.
Opium is mentioned by this name by Pliny[11] and by Dioscorides[12]
both of whom lived in this century and its soporific effect was well
known. The poppy was cultivated for opium on the eastern shores of the
Mediterranean, and as the bulk of the trade between Europe and the Indies
passed through these countries, it is certain that this drug, whose value
was known, must have formed a part of the trade, though not, perhaps, to
such a great extent as to attract attention.
Early in the seventh century after Christ, the religion of Islam was
established in Arabia. By the commandments of this new religion the
use of alcohol was absolutely forbidden, and it is supposed that those
who had been used to alcohol began to use opium and hemp drugs as
substitutes, the fact that these two drugs were not explicitly mentioned
being sufficient sanction, apparently, for their use. It seems certain
that with the spread of Islamism, the use of opium as a stimulant became
more widely diffused. The Arabs were at that time, to all intents and
purposes, masters of the eastern seas. They made long voyages, and
carried on a trade with India and China, and from contemporary literature
it has been definitely established that it was the Arabs that introduced
the poppy, and a knowledge of its properties, into China. It is probable
that opium was used as a stimulant in India also, at this time, but
nothing is definitely known about this, and the history of the production
and use of the drug before the sixteenth century is obscure. There are
many indications, however, that the opium habit came into India in the
eighth century, when the Arabs invaded and conquered Sind; and as the
habit spread with the wanderings of the Arabs, there is much in the
surmise. From this time, up to the end of the eleventh century, the
Mahomedan invaders brought the greater part of India under their rule
or influence, and in Portuguese Chronicles, written in the sixteenth
century, the cultivation of the poppy, the opium habit, the production of
opium, and its export are talked of as established things. Authorities
on India conclude, from the inherent reluctance of the Indian to rapidly
adopt new habits or crops, that the opium habit, and the cultivation of
the poppy for opium, must have taken at least three hundred years or so
to develop over such large areas.
The Portuguese discovered the Cape route to India in 1488, but it was
not till ten years later that they first crossed the Indian Ocean and
appeared on the west coast of India. They visited all important places
on the coasts, and the great Islands of the Malay Archipelago, and
established themselves in many places. They were not welcome, however,
and were treated as intruders by Oriental traders. Many and fierce were
the encounters between the Moors, and Arabs, and the intruders, who were,
in the greater number, buccaneers and pirates rather than merchants.
Numerous references to opium occur in the literature of those times.
Vespucci mentions “opium, aloes, and many other drugs too numerous to
detail” in a list of the cargo carried by Cabral’s fleet from India to
Lisbon in 1501. In 1511 Giovanni da Empoli mentions the capture of
eight Gujarat ships laden with opium and other merchandize; and in a
letter written in 1513 by Albuquerque to the King of Portugal, he says
“I also send you a man of Aden who knows how to work afyam (opium) and
the manner of collecting it. If Your Highness would believe me, I would
order poppies of the Açores to be sown in all the fields of Portugal and
command afyam to be made, which is the best merchandize that obtains in
these places, and by which much money is made; owing to the thrashing
which we gave Aden no afyam has come to India, and where it once was
worth 12 pardoes a faracolla, there is none to be had at 80. Afyam is
nothing else, Senhor, but the milk of the poppy; from Cayro (_sic_)
whence it used to come, none comes now from Aden; therefore, Senhor, I
would have you order them to be sown and cultivated, because a shipload
would be used yearly in India, and the labourers would gain much also,
and the people of India are lost without it, if they do not eat it;
and set this fact in order, for I do not write to Your Highness an
insignificant thing.”
Duarte Barbosa[13] (1516) makes several references to opium:—
Duy (Diu): “They load at this port of the return voyage cotton
... and opium, both that which comes from Aden, and that which
is made in the kingdom of Cambay, which is not so fine as that
of Aden.”
Peigu (Burma): “Many Moorish ships assemble at these ports of
Peigu, and bring thither much cloth of Cambay and Palecate,
coloured cottons and silks, which the Indians call patola,
which are worth a great deal here; they also bring opium,
copper ... and a few drugs from Cambay.”
Ava: “The merchants bring here for sale quicksilver, vermilion,
coral, copper ... opium, scarlet cloth and many other things
from the kingdom of Cambay.” D’Orta described Cambay opium
as yellowish, while the Aden variety was black and hard, and
apparently the better liked kind.[14]
A Dutchman named Linschoten,[15] in an account of his travels and
voyages, in 1596, gives an exaggerated account of the effects of opium.
He says: “Amfion, so called by the Portingales, is by the Arabians, Mores
(Moors) and Indians called affion, in Latin, opio or opium. It cometh out
of Cairo in Egypt, and out of Aden upon the coast of Arabia, which is the
point of the land entering into the Red Sea, sometimes belonging to the
Portingales, but most part out of Cambaia, and from Deccan; that of Cairo
is whitish and is called Mecerii; that of Aden and the places bordering
upon the mouth of the Red Sea is blackish and hard; that which come from
Cambaia and Deccan is softer and reddish. Amfion is made of sleepeballs,
or poppie, and is the gumme which cometh forth of the same, to ye
which end it is cut up and opened. The Indians use much to eat Amfion,
specially the Malabares, and thither it is brought by those of Cambaia
and other places in great abundance. He that useth to eate it must eate
it daylie, otherwise he dieth and consumeth himself. When they begin to
eate it, and are used unto it, they eate at the least twenty or thirty
grains in weight everie day, sometimes more; but if for four or five days
he chanceth to leave it, he dieth without fail. Likewise he that hath
never eaten it, and will venture at the first to eate as much as those
that daylie use it, it will surely kill him, for I certainly believe it
is a kind of poyson. Such as use it goe alwaise as if they were half
asleepe. They eate much of it because they would not feel any great
labour or unquietness when they are at work, but they use it most for
lecherie ... although such as eate much thereof, are in time altogether
unable to company with a woman and whollie dried up, for it drieth and
whollie cooleth man’s nature that use it, as the Indians themselves do
witness. Wherefore it is not much used by the nobilitie, but only for the
cause aforesaid.”
Cæsar Fredericke,[16] a Venetian merchant, who travelled extensively in
the East, writes, about 1581, an account of his voyages and some of his
ventures: “And for because that at my departure from Pegu opium was in
great request, I went then to Cambay, to employ a good round summe of
money in opium, and there I bought sixty parcels of opium which cost me
2,000 and 100 duckets, every ducket at 4 shillings 2 pence....” It is
interesting to note that one Ralph Fitch,[17] who travelled in the East
from 1583 to 1591, visited Burma, or Pegu as it was called by voyagers
then, writes that opium from Cambay and Mecca was in great demand. These
references, and a great many more could be given, go to show that by the
sixteenth Century opium was not only well known, but formed an important
item of maritime trade in the East.
By 1612, the English and Dutch East India Companies had been formed.
The Dutch had established a trading post or factory at Surat, from
which they were afterwards expelled by the English Company, and both
Companies had factories on the Hughli in Bengal. They were not friends,
and often fought, but they combined against the Portuguese and Spaniards
who had appeared on the scene a hundred years before, and who looked
upon all trade from India round the Cape as their monopoly. By the
beginning of the seventeenth century the Portuguese had lost almost all
their possessions in India to the Dutch, and their trade had weakened
and diminished to a point which rendered them almost negligible as
competitors in trade. At this time, several European nations granted
monopolies of trade to the Indies, and the French and the Danes now came
on the scene. It was found impossible, however, to keep out private
individuals who sought to set up trading factories on their own account,
despite monopolies, and swarms of these adventurers came in to trade
in all the valuable articles of merchandize, including opium. They
looked upon force as their only law, and their depredations on the seas
perpetrated against the Indian sailors brought about the speedy decay of
the old native sea-trade.
Although the English Company established a predominance over the Dutch
in general trade, the latter maintained a lead in the trade in opium.
They exported it to Ceylon, Malacca and the Straits, and it has been
ascertained from contemporary chronicles that the Dutch had attempted to
arrange with Indian Princes to monopolize the export trade of opium to
China. In this, however, they failed, for the Portuguese, who had always
had a monopoly of the export of Malwa opium, still held possession of
their ports on the Cambay Gulf, and so were in a favourable situation for
this trade.
In those days, as in these, Europeans did not come out to the East for
the sake of their health. They came out with only one object, and
that was to make money. Times have not changed since then. It was not
unnatural therefore that they should look about for as speedy a means
of amassing a fortune as possible, and found opium. Opium was to be got
cheap in exchange for the merchandize with which trading ships came laden
to the East. It was portable and durable, and as it was in great demand
in the countries east of India it constituted an excellent substitute for
money with which were purchased silks, tea, spices and pepper for which
there was a great demand in Europe. It is probable that this demand for
opium stimulated production and increased the output of opium in India,
specially since the entry of the Europeans into the field of commerce
in Eastern waters killed the native sea-trade which used to bring opium
from Turkey. This increase in the output of opium must not be held to
indicate an increase in consumption, as has been made out by some. On
the contrary, it may be inferred that a decrease was brought about by
the introduction of tobacco in the seventeenth century. When tobacco was
unknown and the use of alcohol prohibited to Mahomedans, and looked upon
as disgraceful by Hindoos, it is likely that the opium habit was more
widely prevalent.
There was little change in the condition of affairs during the greater
part of the eighteenth century, but a gradual increase in the demand from
China about the middle of this century came about from the substitution
of opium smoking for the smoking of tobacco.
The next stage in the history of the subject begins with the occupation
of Bengal by the British East Indies Company in 1758, but it is first
necessary to briefly outline how matters stood prior to it in connection
with the production and sale of opium under Moghul administration.
No restrictions were imposed upon the cultivation of the poppy, and
the agriculturist was as free to cultivate it as any other crop. He
could sell his opium to whom he pleased, though generally he sold it
to the money-lender who advanced him the money with which to begin
cultivation ... a practice which obtains to this day in places to which
the co-operative movement has not as yet spread. The opium produced was
made over to the money-lender at a fixed price, but the rate at which
the money-lender disposed of this opium was regulated only by the demand
by European traders, and high prices were obtained. It is very natural
that the native rulers of the day should have wished to participate to
some extent in the huge profits made by these private traders, and a
system was introduced by which a certain part of the profits on opium
was paid into the State treasuries. This was willingly paid, as the
burden was borne by the cultivator. As soon as the system came into
force, the money-lenders formed a ring, and regulated the price paid by
them for opium to cultivators, and took care to fix it at such a rate
that the State demand did not deplete their own purses too much. As time
went on, the confusion of the Moghul Empire, which began and ended, in
the quarrels of Suraj-ud-Dowlah, did away to some extent with these
rings, but custom and tradition are so strong in India, particularly
when supported by men of substance, that when we occupied Bihar, a ring
of wealthy opium dealers were found to be exercising an unauthorised
monopoly in Patna opium which we were in too insecure a position to break.
This is how matters stood. But for some time before, the general
confusion of the Moghul Empire, and its weakened authority, brought about
a state of turmoil and disorder which obliged European merchants to raise
troops, and convert their factories into garrisoned fortresses. Clive’s
victory over Suraj-ud-Dowlah at Plassey in 1757, however, brought things
to a head, and established the British Company as military masters in
Bengal. Suraj-ud-Dowlah was dethroned, and Mir Jaffer was set up in his
place, the administration being confided to him under the general control
of the Company. But this form of dual government resulted only in the
oppression of the people, and general maladministration. The servants of
the Company had always been allowed the privilege of private trade, and
in this state of affairs they had unique opportunities for trading with
the greatest advantage to themselves. Opium was, of course, exploited to
the full, and when, what was known as the Patna Council, a number of the
Company’s servants, whose business it was to look after the Company’s
interests in Patna, discovered the existence of the opium ring, they were
not long in appropriating its functions, and the very solid financial
advantages it possessed. It is, perhaps, as well to explain that all this
was done for the benefit of the several members of the Patna Council,
and not on behalf of their employer. But the Council found that to avoid
trouble it was necessary to admit the Dutch and French Company’s servants
who were naturally anxious to share in this unauthorized trade, and they
very wisely admitted them, but to a minor share only.
In 1773, Warren Hastings was made the first Governor-General, and one
of the first reforms he undertook was the suppression of private trade
among the Company’s servants, and of all irregular and unauthorised
monopolies. When the Patna opium monopoly came to be examined, it was
found to involve important considerations, and, after a full discussion
in Council, it was decided not to set it free, but to make it a source of
revenue to the State. It is to be expected that there were many against
this, and various arguments were offered against the measure, but these
were met satisfactorily; the Moghul monopolies had existed for years,
and there was nothing novel in the creation of one properly regulated.
Besides, the cultivators would be better treated, and would be less at
the mercy of private traders and interlopers. The argument that if left
free, more opium would be produced, was answered by Warren Hastings
holding that increase was undesirable in the case of a pernicious luxury.
Strangely enough, a strong line of opposition was taken by Francis, who
was against all monopolies on general principles, and by the Board of
Directors of the British East India Company, on the score of its being a
form of oppression. They suggested leaving the trade free, subject to a
Customs duty. His non-compliance with these instructions was one of the
articles of Warren Hastings’ impeachment later: “That this monopoly was
a despotic interference with the liberty of the ryot, and that he should
have complied with the Directors’ suggestion.”
The working of this new monopoly did not differ in essentials from the
old form. The opium was collected from the cultivators by a contractor,
but instead of its being handed over to the Patna Council, it was taken
to Calcutta, where the bulk of it was sold by auction to the highest
bidder. The balance was divided between the Dutch, French, and the
commercial side of the British East Indies Companies at average auction
prices.
The revised conditions under which this new State monopoly worked ensured
the best opium coming into the Company’s hands. It also did away with
“middle-men,” and all the profits which would have gone to cultivators
if they had been allowed free trade. It is not unnatural, therefore,
that some one should conceive the idea of securing the profits made
by the sea-traders as well. In 1775, the revenue officers of Patna
estimated that if the Dutch and French were kept out of the trade, 33,000
chests of Bengal and Bihar opium would be available for export, and
suggested that the Company should export this to China, where it could
be sold at an immense profit. The letter was considered in Council,
but the suggestion was dropped by common consent without discussion.
Warren Hastings, however, suggested an alternative of direct official
agency, to the exclusion of the contractor, but this motion was lost by
a majority, and the matter was closed. But in 1781 a state of affairs
arose in which the Company found itself sadly short of money. We were
at war with the French, Dutch, and Spaniards, at sea, and with Hyder
Ali and the Maharattas on land. In consequence our ports were closed
to foreign trade, the seas were not safe for ships flying the British
flag, and all available merchant ships were employed in carrying grain
and other supplies to Madras. Opium was unsaleable at Calcutta. It was
under such conditions that it was decided to export opium to China,
and, accordingly, the ‘_Nonsuch_’ with 2,000 chests, was sent to the
supercargoes at Canton, and the ‘_Betsey_’ with 1,450 chests to the
Straits of Malacca. A loan of 10 lakhs of rupees was raised on the cargo
of the ‘_Betsey_,’ to be repaid by bills of exchange on the Company from
the Canton supercargoes. Another loan of 10 lakhs was raised from the
public on the cargo of the ‘_Nonsuch_’ on similar terms. The ‘_Betsey_,’
after disposing of part of her cargo to advantage, was captured by the
French and Dutch. The cargo of the ‘_Nonsuch_’ was disposed of at a
loss after much difficulty on account of the prohibition of the import
of opium by the Chinese, and on account of the “immense quantities” of
opium brought to Macao by Portuguese ships before the arrival of the
‘_Nonsuch_.’ The loss on this venture was 69,973 dollars.
The Board of Directors, on hearing of this venture, which was undoubtedly
an exception to the course of policy pursued by the East India Company
in regard to the trade, while holding that there was no objection to the
sale of opium in the Straits of Malacca, condemned the action of its
representatives in exporting opium to China, where the import of opium
was prohibited, as being beneath the dignity of the Company.
No more opium was exported to China, and the working of the monopoly
remained unchanged until it was reformed, and the system of direct
official agency was introduced by Lord Cornwallis. This system has
remained in force up to the present.
_Malwa Opium._—The first factory established by the British East Indies
Company on the West Coast of India was at Surat in 1613. The Portuguese
and Dutch had already established themselves here, and all of them
participated in the opium trade to some extent. The Dutch were eventually
expelled by the British who, as the Moghul power diminished, and the
Maharattas became the rulers, assumed a commanding political position.
But owing to their having a minor share in the territories along the
coast, the major portion belonging to native princes and the Portuguese,
although they could participate in the trade in Malwa opium, they were
unable to assume a monopoly.
By the end of the eighteenth century, the State monopoly in Bengal had
been firmly established, and good prices were being got for export opium.
It was with a certain amount of apprehension therefore that they looked
upon the trade in Malwa opium from the West Coast, and in 1803, this
apprehension developing into something stronger, an order was issued
prohibiting the export of Malwa opium from the Bombay ports. In 1805,
the Bombay Government was asked to prohibit the cultivation of the poppy
within the territories, some of which were newly acquired; but this
order was demurred to, and the Directors concurred, holding that the
cultivation was for opium for local consumption only, and not for export,
and therefore unobjectionable.
At this time smuggling was rife. There were many routes, some very
circuitous, by which the opium could be got to the sea-coast without
trespassing upon the territories of the Company, but after 1818, when
the third Maharatta war resulted in our getting possession of the whole
of the Bombay sea-coast except Sind, how to get to the sea was a problem
which confronted smugglers with increased complexity. But even so, the
authorities were always faced with the danger of smuggled opium competing
with Bengal opium and lowering its price. Treaties were therefore entered
into with some of the States which had most reason to be grateful to us,
by which they undertook to prohibit the export of the opium produced in
their possessions, to check the cultivation of the poppy, and to sell
what opium was produced to the agents of the Company at a certain fixed
price. The arrangement did not differ materially from the system adopted
in Bengal. But there were other States, such as Scindia and Jeypore,
which refused to enter into alliances on these terms, and a time came
when those who had signed treaties began to look upon the conditions they
had agreed to as repressive. Merchants, who had been dispossessed of
their profits by this system, were greatly in its disfavour, and there
was no doubt about the disapproval of these measures by cultivators who
were deprived of all the advantages of a competitive trade. In 1829 it
was therefore decided to abandon this system in lieu of another, which
required that a certain transit duty be paid on all opium passing through
British territory to Bombay for export to China. This transit or pass
duty was fixed at Rs. 175 a chest, but it varied, rising as it did in
1892 to Rs. 600 a chest. This system still exists in regard to Malwa
opium.
All the details of legislation and regulation which concern this subject
certainly come within the scope of this note, but their sketchy
treatment is made necessary by considerations of space. A relation of
the Chinese aspect would fill a volume, and no attempt is made here to
describe it. But I feel that this note would not be complete without some
reference to Burma.
That the use of opium was known in Burma long before British rule was
introduced is evident from the records of Fitch and of Cæsar Fredricke,
who visited Burma in the latter half of the sixteenth century. From the
records of the Dutch East India Company also, Burma, it is seen, was
looked upon as a good market for opium. It is very probable, therefore,
that the luxury use of opium was practised by the Burmese people. The
Buddhist religion prohibits the use of all intoxicants, and the edicts,
issued by the State from time to time against their use, and later on,
against opium in particular, appear to have been inspired by the Buddhist
hierarchy. But it does not appear that the import of opium into Burma
was prohibited by any measure of State prior to its annexation by the
British. In the enquiry of 1891, Mr. Norton, Commissioner of Irrawaddy,
wrote that, before the annexation of Pegu in 1852, although capital
punishment was prescribed for Burmans found with opium, yet opium was
plentiful and easy to get at a cheaper rate than when he was writing.
Several respectable Burmese gentlemen who were consulted during 1878
admitted that opium was freely used always.
Arakan and Tenasserim were annexed in 1826 after the first Burmese
war and were attached to the Bengal Presidency for the purposes of
administration under the Deputy Governor of Bengal, and it was not until
1862 that they, along with Pegu, were formed into the province of British
Burma under the Chief Commissioner, Sir Arthur Phayre.
In 1826, the retail sale of opium in Bengal was conducted under the
farming system. By this system certain tracts were farmed out to selected
persons either by tender or by auction. These farmers were obliged to
purchase Excise opium from the Government opium factories at a fixed
price, which included the cost price and duty. This system was extended
to Arakan and Tenasserim. As time went on, this system of opium farms
was found to be bad and was replaced by the issue of free licenses
to respectable persons. As Arakan was in a favourable position for
smuggling, this system of free licenses was introduced there also, but
Tenasserim, which did not afford the same facilities for smuggling, was
allowed to retain the old system. That the system was unsatisfactory,
chiefly on account of its tendency to cheapen opium, is apparent from a
statement made by an old inhabitant of Akyab to Colonel Strover during
the inquiry of 1891 that he had seen Government opium hawked about for
sale in the streets during the early days of British rule. In 1864 Sir
Arthur Phayre strongly condemned this new system, and in 1865 he drew
up a set of rules which were brought into effect in 1866. The spirit
of these rules is observed up to the present day in regard to the limit
placed upon the quantity of opium which may be purchased by a licensee
during a year for sale at his shop.
How things stood in Upper Burma at this time can be inferred from a
report made to the Government of India by Sir Charles Crosthwaite under
date 20th March, 1888. “On our taking over the country, stringent rules
were enacted and somewhat rigorously enforced against the sale of
opium. Many Chinese were flogged and otherwise punished for engaging in
a traffic which, although it may have been nominally prohibited, was
allowed to go on under the Burmese Government.” From the statement of
an official of the Burmese Government it would appear that the Burmese
Government never openly recognized the opium traffic in Upper Burma;
those persons only were punished who sold opium to Burmans. The Burmese
Government admitted the existence of the traffic by levying customs dues
on all opium imported into Upper Burma. In 1872, the British Political
Agent reported that large quantities of Shan and Yünnan opium were being
imported into Upper Burma and also smuggled. A Mr. Adams, of the American
Baptist Mission, who was at Mandalay from 1874 to 1879, states that
the _pôngyis_ took great pains to suppress the consumption of opium by
Burmans, with the hearty support of King Mindon, who was a great zealot
in religion, much under the influence of the priesthood, and active in
supporting every endeavour to enforce the law of prohibition. But this
law was personal to the Burmans, and not a territorial law. Other races
were under no restrictions in the matter of opium or liquor, and when
our troops took Mandalay in 1885, enormous stores of opium were found
secreted in the houses of Chinese merchants who said that they sold it
regularly to Burmans. It is true that under King Thebaw’s rule most of
King Mindon’s edicts became dead letters, and even _pôngyis_ became
addicted to opium.
The opium question attracted much interest, both locally and in England.
The Anti-Opium Society took it up and much correspondence took place,
which resulted in the total prohibition of opium to Burmans in Upper
Burma and the rigid restriction of issues to them in Lower Burma. The
reason for this is concisely put by Sir A. Mackenzie, Chief Commissioner
of Burma, in a Minute: “I do not believe that opium in India or China
does any great harm to the majority of those who use it, _i.e._, to
moderate smokers and eaters. But here, in Burma, we are brought face to
face with the fact that the religion of the people specifically denounces
the use of the drug; that their native kings treated its use as a heinous
offence; that these ideas are so deeply rooted in the minds of the
people that every consumer feels himself to be, and is, regarded by his
neighbours as a sinner and a criminal; that the people are by temperament
pleasure-loving and idle and easily led away by vicious indulgences;
that they have little self-restraint and are always prone to rush into
extremes. When a Burman takes to drink or opium he wants to get drunk or
drugged as fast as he can, or as often as he can. All this seems to me to
point to the necessity of special treatment.”
FOOTNOTES
[1] For a full account of the history of opium, see the Appendix at the
end of the book.
[2] One tola is equivalent to 180 grains. Eighty tolas equal one _seer_.
[3] Government does not vend opium directly to the people. A selected
“licensee” undertakes this under the supervision of a Government officer,
usually an Excise Inspector.
[4] _Chandoo_, the Indian name for prepared or clarified opium used in
smoking. The Burmese name for it is _Beinsi_.
[5] Three tolas is 540 grains, or 1½ oz.
[6] Mahaffy, “History of Classical Greek Literature,” 1-81.
[7]
“Down sank his head, as in a garden sinks
A ripened poppy charg’d with vernal rains;
So sank his head beneath his helmet’s weight.”
Iliad. (Lord Derby’s translation, VIII.)
[8] “Huic, nuntio, quia, credo, dubiæ fidei videbatur, nihil voce
responsum est, Rex, velut deliberabundus, in hortum ædium transit,
sequente nuntio filii: ibi inambulans tacitus, sum apapaverum capita
dicitur baculo decussisse.” Livy i., 54.
[9] “Lethæo perfusa papavera somno.” Georg.: i, 78.
[10] “Soporiferumque papaver.” Aeneid: iv, 486.
[11] “Natural History.”
[12] “Materia Medica.”
[13] “The Coasts of East Africa and Malabar,” by Duarte Barbosa.
Translated from the Spanish and edited for the Haklvyt Society by the
Hon’ble H. E. J. Stanley in 1866.
[14] Paper by Dr da Cunha in the transactions of the Medical and Physical
Society of Bombay, 1882.
[15] “Discourse of voyages unto ye Easte and West Indies.”
[16] “Haklvyt’s voyages,” Volume IX, Asia, Part II.
[17] “Haklvyt’s voyages,” Volume X, Asia, Part III.