“And if,” continued Grenits, “you add that confession to the scenes which we have just witnessed, then put the question seriously to yourselves: is there any truth in the assertion made by van Rheijn and backed up by van Beneden, that the abuse of opium can in any way be compared to the abuse of alcohol, or put on the same level with it? No, no, in my opinion, it is infinitely more deplorable!”
“Such is my opinion also,” assented Verstork; “every attempt made to put down or to limit the extent of opium-smoking and to check its abuse, must be looked upon as an act of much greater philanthropy than the efforts made by the friends of temperance or the preachers of total abstinence. But—”
“Yes—but what?” cried another.
“But,” continued he, “every such attempt is a direct blow aimed at the revenue at home.”
“Aye, aye, there you have it,” said Grenits; “and whenever you raise such a question as that, our good friends at the Hague are uncommonly hard of hearing.”
“Well, I don’t blame them,” interrupted van Rheijn, “they cannot afford to sacrifice the millions which the opium trade pours into the treasury.”
“God help us!” cried Grenits, “did ever man hear such an argument as that? What would you say to a thief who would try to excuse his theft by saying that he was in need of the stolen money to go and fuddle himself in a beershop; or to a murderer who would try and justify his crime by stating that he poisoned his uncle only because he wanted the inheritance to—to—well, say to keep his mistress?”
“Oh, oh, oh!” cried several voices, “what a comparison!”
“Yes,” said Verstork, “the comparison is certainly not flattering; but it has the advantage of being a perfectly just one. So long as our country indulges in the costly luxury of an administration such as ours; and so long as it maintains the opium trade in its present state to furnish funds for that costly administration: such proceeding may very justly be compared to the action of a thief who steals a banknote in order to go and spend it in a gin-palace.”
“Or rather,” cried Grenits, “to that of a man who poisons his uncle so that he may have the handling of his money. I consider the latter comparison to be a still more just one; because it cannot be denied that though Holland has always treated her Indian possessions as a milch-cow, the present system of scraping and squeezing is beginning to exceed all reasonable bounds and limits.”