“That’s the style!” exclaimed Grenits, “I wish such a thing as that would happen regularly, year by year, in all the districts, then some means would speedily be found to put an end to the opium traffic altogether.”
“And what became of the two coast districts, which the company Hok Bie had taken?” asked van Rheijn, very anxious to get to the bottom of the story.
“What could the company make of them? they could be worked only at a loss, and, as soon as the object it had in view was obtained, it made over the contract to some other company—no doubt at considerable loss. At least Hok Bie would have no more to do with them.”
“And the moral of the story is?” asked Leendert Grashuis.
“Why, simply this,” said Theodoor Grenits, “that from whatever point of view you look at the opium-farming system, you are sure to catch sight of something particularly loathsome and disgusting.”
“And that such a rotten system should form one of the principal sources of the Netherlands’ colonial revenue!”
“Yes,” assented van Beneden. “In these latter days it has indeed been raised to that dignity by men in office, into whose hands the indifference of our Dutch nation has placed unlimited power.”