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Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Consul Playfair to Sir J. Jordan.
(No. 37.) Sir,
Foochow, November 11, 1909. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Confidential despatch of the 19th October with reference to a letter from a missionary lady, having regard to the interference with the sale of foreign opium at Ku-cheng (Ku-t'ien), which had been communicated to Mr. McKinnon Wood, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
In reply I venture to submit that the letter from Miss Church gives an account of the state of affairs which is from several points of view inaccurate. Miss Church asserts that I requested that--
1. The proclamation put up in the city ordering the closing of the opium shops should be taken down.
What I actually demanded was that the proclamation which had been posted should have the wording altered so that it might be evident that foreign opium was not affected.
2. The opium shops might be reopened.
The reopening was to be restricted to such shops as sold foreign opium.
3. Licences might be given to opium shops.
I merely asked the Foreign Board to order the Ku-t'ien magistrate not to interfere with the trade of the hongs dealing in foreign opium.
" is the
Miss Church's statement that "the people in Ku-cheng are very angry conversion of a particular into a general proposition. Miss Church's personal experience probably did not extend far beyond the circle of her mission's converts and the partisans of the Anti-Opium Society.
Her assertion that "the magistrate has written a reply saying that he thinks the foreign merchants in Foochow have no right to interfere with trade up-country" does not agree with the version communicated to me by the Foreign Board: this was that his proclamation referred to native opium only, and that therefore there was no reason for altering it.
I would add that within three weeks of the closing of the opium shops, such as dealt in native opium reopened, whether in defiance of the magistrate or with his connivance I am unable to say. Shops retailing foreign opium are still closed.
I iuclose copy of my last letter to the Viceroy, to which an answer has just been received. His Excellency refuses to comply with my demand, giving as a reason that the Anti-Opium Society is opposed to his compliance.
In deference to the instructions contained in your Confidential despatch under acknowledgment, I shall make no further protest against the action of the Chinese authorities in the Ku-t'ien district.
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outside the legitimate sphere of the Fuhkien Anti-Opium Society. It is true there is an Imperial decree which forbids the use of opium, but Imperial treaties override Imperial decrees, and the latter are powerless to make the former waste paper.
I must, therefore, beg your Excellency to direct the Ka-tien magistrate to with- draw the aforesaid proclamation at once, and to desist in future from interfering with the sale of foreign opium as authorised by treaty.
I have, &c.
G. M. H. PLAYFAIR.
I have, &c.
G. M. H. PLAYFAIR.
Inclosure 3 in No. 1.
!
Your Excellency,
Consul Playfar to Viceroy.
October 21, 1909.
THE British firm, Jardine, Matheson, and Co., having complained that the Ku-t'ien magistrate had issued a proclamation interfering with the disposal of foreign opium, I requested the Foreign Board to direct the magistrate to withdraw the proclamation objected to. The board's reply was that the Anti-Opium Society did not approve of the withdrawal of the proclamation, and that I should direct the British firm to be guided by the decision of the Anti-Opium Society.
In consequence of this reply the British firm has requested me to move your Excellency to issue rigorous orders to the Ku-t'ien magistrate that the objectionable proclamation is to be withdrawn so that the sellers of opium may be assured the livelihood to which by treaty they are entitled. I hear that the Ku-t'ien magistrate has not yet withdrawn this proclamation which has such an injurious effect on the sale of foreign opinm. From this I infer that the Foreign Board and the Anti-Opium Society are determined to prevent the importation of the Indian drug. Such action is
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