[21] Mr. Lay, in a memorandum dated April 1844, gave it as his opinion that the difficulty of admitting opium rested only in the thought that it would be a violation of decorum for His Imperial Majesty to legalize a thing once so strongly condemned. He therefore advocated a change of name.
[22] Sir G. Bonham, April 10, 1851.
[23] Tael = 6s. 8d.
[24] The French took part in the expedition in order to obtain satisfaction for the murder of a missionary in 1856, so that in their case it was strictly a missionary war.
[25] New Kwang, Tangchow, Taiwan (Formosa), Swatow, and Kungchow (Hainan).
[26] Mr. Lay, secretary to Lord Elgin’s mission.
[27] Lord Elgin had been instructed by Lord Clarendon to ascertain whether the Chinese Government would revoke its prohibitions on opium. “Whether,” says Lord Clarendon, “the legalization would tend to augment the trade may be doubtful, as it seems now to be carried to the full extent of the demand in China with the sanction and connivance of the local authorities.”
[28] It was currently reported in North China that this officer received 2,000 taels from English merchants for memorializing the Emperor. The edict did benefit the foreign trade at first.
[29] Sir Rutherford Alcock, Nineteenth Century, Dec. 1881, p. 861.
[30] From sixteen taels at Chinkiang to eighty-four taels at Foochow and Amoy.