Only a few years ago the following evidence was adduced before the Select Committee of the House of Commons, on our commercial relations with China, by Mr. Montgomery Martin, who was Her Majesty's treasurer in India:—
"I inquired of the Taou-tae of Shanghae what would be the best means of increasing our commerce with China, and his first answer, in the presence of Captain Balfour, was:—'Cease to send us so much opium, and we shall be able to take your manufactures.'... The true remedy for our deficient trade with China is not to be found in the reduction of £1,000,000 to £2,000,000 sterling of tea duties, but in perfect freedom of intercourse with China; in facilities of access to the interior of that vast country; and in the abolition of the pernicious opium traffic, which absorbs £4,000,000 per annum, which would be devoted to the purchase of British manufactures."
Proofs of the immense injury the opium traffic inflicts upon British export trade to China might be multiplied ad infinitum. The drug not only destroys the moral and physical principles of those who connect themselves with it in any way, but it has been the direct cause of every war England has had with China. The following statement by Mr. Martin is so identical with what I would say myself that I cannot do better than quote it with the appreciation it so well deserves. It was adduced before the Committee of the House of Commons already referred to:—
"Minute 3491. In what respect do you think the trade injurious to us in our relations with China?
"3492. Politically, with reference to our position with the Government of China, had France, or America, or Russia, granted us an island on their coast as a commercial station,[27] had they prohibited the use of opium, believing it to be injurious, we dare not, in that case, have made it a smoking-shop for the empire; and I would not act to the Chinese Government in a different manner than I would act to a Government in Europe. Then, socially speaking, I believe it is the duty of this Government to uphold moral principles and to disseminate religious truth, and she cannot do that with one hand, while on the other she is introducing into China an amount of opium which furnishes 17 grains a day to each of 3,000,000 of people, and which, in the language of Mr. Lay, Her Majesty's late consul at Amoy, 'is ham-stringing the nation.' I think it is desolating China, corrupting its Government, and bringing the fabric of that extraordinary empire to a state of rapid dissolution. Commercially speaking, it is injurious to us, because it prevents the extension of our manufactures in China. Four or five mercantile houses are engaged in the traffic, and derive a large amount of revenue from it; but the trade of England is materially cramped by the extension of its consumption in China to the extent of at least four million sterling a year."
Now, this truthful statement was made in the year 1857, since when the evils mentioned have increased to more than double their extent at that period. We will also examine the opinion of the Chinese themselves with regard to the introduction of opium into their country. Kinshan, one of the most celebrated of the literati of China, has written on the subject, and how correctly all can affirm who know anything of opium-smoking in that empire. The following is his statement:—
London. Published March 15th 1866 by Day & Son, Limited
Lithogrs Gate Str. Lincoln's Inn Fields.
Day & Son, Limited, Lith.
INTERIOR OF AN OPIUM SMOKING SALOON.
"Opium is a poisonous drug brought from foreign countries. At first the smokers of it merely strive to follow the fashion of the day, but in the sequel the poison takes effect, and the habit becomes fixed. The sleeping smokers are like corpses—lean and haggard as demons; such are the injuries it does to life; it throws whole families into ruin, dissipates every kind of property, and destroys man himself. There cannot be a greater evil than this. 1st. It exhausts the animal spirits; hence the youth who smoke will hasten the termination of their years. 2nd. It wastes the flesh and blood; the faces of the weak who smoke become black and cadaverous. 3rd. It dissipates every kind of property. 4th. It renders the person ill-favoured—mucus flows from his nostrils, and tears from his eyes. 5th. It promotes obscenity. 6th. It discovers secrets. 7th. It violates laws. 8th. It attacks the vitals. 9th. It destroys life. When the smoker has pawned everything in his possession, he will pawn his wife and sell his daughters; such are the inevitable consequences."
To every word of the above statement, from my own personal experience, I can give the most unqualified assent. The following extract from a manifesto addressed by the distinguished Imperial Commissioner Lin to the Queen of England, with regard to the forcible introduction of opium by British subjects, places the wrongly despised Chinaman in pleasing contrast with the opium trafficking European. Commissioner Lin said:—