3
445.
This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
9.0
CHINA TRADE.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[43413]
No. 1,
217
[December 12.)
SECTION 2 JAN 09
Sir,
Society for the Suppression of the Opium Trade to Sir Edward Grey.—-(Received December 12.)
Bridge House, 181, Queen Victoria Street, London, December 8, 1908.
HEREWITH I have the honour to inclose a Circular letter, addressed to you on behalf of the above Society, relating to the forthcoming International Commission on the opium question, together with an English translation of the same. A similar letter, addressed to the Foreign Minister of each of the other Powers taking part in the Commission, is being sent to the Ambassador or Minister of that Power in London, together with copies of the White Papers "China No. 1 (1908)” and “China No. 2 (1908)," with a request that they may be transmitted in due course.
Commending this letter (which has been prepared with the approval and assistance of the Representative Board of British Anti-Opium Societies) to your favourable consideration, I am, &c.
(Signed) JOSEPH G ALEXANDER.
Inclosure in No. 1.
The International Opium Commission to be opened at Shanghai, February 1909.
The letter of which the following is a translation has been sent to the Foreign Minister of each country taking part in the above Commission, viz., Germany, China, the United States, France, Great Britain, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Turkey, Persia, and Siam.]
M. le Ministre,
181, Queen Victoria Street, London, November 1908.
ON behalf of the Society for the Suppression of the Opium Trade, and with the approval of the Representative Board of British Anti-Opium Societies, I have the honour to submit to you the following observations with regard to the International Commission which is to meet at Shanghai early next year, on the initiative of the United States' Government, to study the opium question:
1. This Society, established in 1874 under the presidency of the illustrious philanthropist, the late Earl of Shaftesbury, has since then constantly laboured to bring to an end the trade in opium between British India and China.* Other organizations with the same object have since been formed. In 1891 the Society had the satisfaction of seeing the House of Commons approve, by a majority of thirty, a condemnation of the traffic. But this decision remained almost without any practical effect. On the 30th May, 1906, the House unanimously adopted the following Resolution:—
"That this House reaffirms its conviction that the Indo-Chinese opium trade is morally indefensible, and requests His Majesty's Government to take such steps as may be necessary for bringing it to a speedy close."
2. Opium being recognized by science as a poison as well as a medicine, the sale of this drug is regulated in all the civilized countries of the West by laws which restrict the sale to druggists alone, and subject it to more or less strict conditions intended to protect the life and health of the community. Thanks to these precautions, the abuse of opium is not very widely spread in Western lands. Nevertheless, in certain districts and in some great cities, especially in the south of France and on the
*It is clearly understood that the suppression of the opium trade promoted by the Society in no way implies the prohibition of the trade in opium for medical use. This was distinctly stated in the Resolution approved by the House of Commons in 1891.
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