To obtain such a result, I have toiled for eleven years, and reaped the fruit of past labors.
I have renewed intimacy with Mongol Princes who exercise a great influence in the North of China, and entered into direct communication with several Mandarines of the South.
I'll talk plainly. I wished not only for wealth, but also for political influence, and I calculated thus:
1. The growth of the poppy is limited, and opinion is expensive, in spite of its adulterations, which increase from year to year. Yet the Chinese Market would absorb twenty times the quantity produced at present day, if the article was as costly as it is when it reaches the Consumer, that is to say, if it did not pass through so many hands before it reached the Consumer.
2. The tea and silks of China have become articles of absolute necessity in England, both for the population and for the Exchequer. "But the import of British goods into China is relatively quite insignificant; and the equilibrium of the exchanges is maintained only with the help of the Opium of India.
3. Should the Indian Opium not find a ready sale in China any longer, the Commerce of Great Britain would receive a severe blow; for the China trade...