transmitted by Mr. Wade and forwarded here in four Lordship's despatch Secret of the 15th October 1871. They consist
Mem!
of a Memo: by the Ven
The Vice Roy of the
Two Quang provinces
ces to Shung the Hoppo or Head of the Chinese
Customs at Canton. The Vice Roy's
letter is dated 24th February, 1871, - a date accidentally omitted in the copy forwarded to Your Lordship's Office - The Vice Roy incloses to the Hoppo the Memorial
of Prince Yike
and the Chinese Foreign Office. That
Memorial
gives directions
on
for
The part
of the Chinese Government
the Opium
immediate collection of the
duties (called the Regular duties) -
do
It appears from the latter document that the Vice Roy of Canton questioned the fact of much smuggled Opium being introduced into the Quang Provinces, and all through had doubts as to the policy of the
proposed
grave
measure. On the other hand
Mr. Hart, the European Head of the Chinese Customs, is shown by Prince Yike, and the Foreign Office to have computed the amount of Opium smuggled from Hongkong at some 30,000 chests out of 88,000, imported in 1869.
And
that
calculation I observe
many inferences of Her Majesty's Diplomatic Servants in China have for several years been based, e.g. Mr. Wade in his long Memo: of December, 1868, computed the loss to the Chinese