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subject, which have been repeated till at last they have obtained currency as admitted truths. I quite think with the Vice Roy of Canton,
who in reply to his Government enumerates the precautions adopted along the Chinese Coast, that "taking every thing into consideration there
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was not much scope left for "smuggling,"
13. I wished, however, when blaming vague assertions on the part of citizens, to place before Your Lordship some reasonable and tangible proof of my former and repeated statement, now made again, that there has been habitual and general exaggeration of the smuggling from here, and that it has greatly misled Her Majesty's Government in questions affecting this Colony. Therefore I thought it advisable to consult again, as I had often previously done, with those who ought to have the best information on the subject, namely those having the largest interest in the Opium trade, and whose main object must therefore be to obtain the most accurate details as to the disposal of every Chest of Opium shipped to China.
14. As the eminent and wealthy firm of the Sassoon's has a