7
SUPPLEMENT
ND OF
No. 55, OF THE FRIEND OF CHINA, 6TH APRIL, 1943.
PRESENT CLOSE OF THE WAR WITH CHINA OUR views respecting the origin of the war with China, are upon record, in the volumes of the Colonial Gazette for 1839-40,
0, as well as of the modes in which a better understanding might have been brought about; and it were now bootless to recur to an irremediable past. No success, how- ever dazzling, can hide the original inherent guilt to be brought to a close, "Said to be for though there is little doubt that the Emperor's fears will confpel him to ratify the treaty, and though any renewal of hostilities may be called a new war, it is impossible to look upon that treaty as "the be-all and the end-all" of our aggressions in China. It makes us proprietors of an island an the river of Canton; it gives our tra- ders free access to five Chinese ports; and it con- cedes the appointment of consuls at those ports by the British Government to protect its subjects. The power and privileges of the consuls the man- ner in which they are to transact business with the Chinese authoities-the tariff of duties upon
goods exported and imported, and the rates of in- land transit-all these important details remain to to be settled by after negotiation and until they be distinctly settled, the treaty little more than a dead
on
matadegotiation must be carried newly opened market, and of the raw matenal-
those vital necessaries which our o n immediata territory is too narrow to afford in full,
Colonial Gazette.
...
one,
Chinese,
may prove deadlier than the harvest of the bayonet and to an indefinite period, those moral and physical ben must necessarily accrue to the three hundred milliona from, a fair and free intercourse with the British Nedon. The mub.
little to do with the matter; a wise Government, and the in and negociation upon equal terms. stance of our demands upon the Chinese is a treaty of commercs,
The opium question has very fluence of public opinion at home, will compel a settlement of addicted to trade and commerce, in spite of uje tyrannous re that question, when the other demands are conceded, We have no quarrel with the Chinese people, who, indeed, are peculiarly
terests of the human race and he cannot longer set at nought strictions of their government; but the haughty exclusiveness of the social compact which binds the great nations of this world by the Emperor and his administration, in inimical to the true in- the links of free intercourse and reciprocal benefits. cess crowns our efforts, we shall all view the question in #similar light and of that success there can be no rational doubt. Pro se well as the Chinese ports, will be crowded with British mer- bably, before the expiration of one year, the waters of the Indus, chantmen. The Tarter of Central Asia will trim he beard with Sheffield scissors, and every spinster in Pekin must have a Coventry ribbon:
To tie up her bonny black ham"--
**
When suc
that if the constitution of the Chinese empire re- ing the treaty into effect be satisfactorily settled- main unenfeebled-if the arrangement for carry- if the ransom be duly paid, the Chinese territory evacuated by the British troops, and an understand-
THE REV. JOHN Locks of rпe OPIUM QUKSTION. Western nations test satisfied with confining their use of baneful drug but the question is ing come to about the opium-trade--and if the Murares, doubtless; have been committed in the Chinese af. fairs. I would not be the apologist for war, or for promoting the relations with China to a legitimate commercial mighty Interests are involved on either side. If the Billah gov rived from the opening of the four new ports, ton of our commercial marine rots upon the waven intercourse-much substantial benefit inay be de-ernment suddenly prohibits the cultivation of the poppy, famine. goy. But here is a fearful array of if to qualify our
sweeps the plains of Malwa and the Gangos, and avant propor anticipations of future benefit. The views and abroad, is positively disgusting. Some do not conside
religious sentimentallem, the aguenh philanthropy, which is
sudo
opinion in France and England are the reverse of the temper expressed by the organs of public mely peace, and inglorious resignation of international rights, that un
encouraging; and to all of us the mind and mo- rals of China are an utter terra incognita we possible course its Government may steer. Add have no facts whence to infer the probable or even to this, that there are grounds for apprehension in ginning to speak out in the City and elsewhere, the over-sanguine spirit of speculation, which is be.
of profit which characterized the period when the It reminds one of the baseless and grasping dreams || markets of South America where first thrown open to British enterprise. Already we hear of an advance in the price of goods intended for the of a rise in freightage and indeed of a general stir in all branches of trade directly or indirectly interested; the news has imparted an entire dif- ferent tone to the commercial reports. This is no healthy spirit of enterprise, springing from a know- ledge of what the Chinese want and can give in return it is the sickly longing to throw off a Dr M'PHERSON ON THE EFFECTS OF OPIUM-SMOKING. plethora of goods into the first apparent opening, D without stopping to inquire whether they are fit for the market, or whether the dealers can afford to pay for them. What have the Chinese to give us, but their teas, their silks, their cottons, and their porcelains the two last of which we now manu- facture in larger quantities, better, and cheaper, than they can do. Any permanent beneficial trade bet-This ween this country and China must be a round about one-goods exported from England to China, and goods exported from China to third markets in order to balance our transactions in them, or an and experience will be requisite to find out what inversion of this order of the transaction. Time
markets they can be turned to best accounts. If articles of traffic China can afford, and in what there were in this country no over-accumulation of capital and excessive supply of labour, deranging all the calculations of trade, and creating a wild impatience of human suffering, the opening now
usual allowance, he describes his feelings as if rats were gnawing his shoulders and spine, and worms devouring the calves of his nted to us might be rendered available deli-legs, with an indescribable craving at the stomach, relieved only erately and safely. But the blind yearning for
by having recourse to his pipe, now his only solace,[Colonial relief, the necessary
Gazette.] consequence of our actual is more likely to plunge us into rash and speculations, that must, in many cases, the evil. The tragi-comedy of the time
of seven or eight hundred miles from the central seat of Government for no pro- vision has been made for permission to a British agent (temporary or permanent) to transact busi- ness directly with the Imperial Ministers in the capital. It must be carried on while the payment of the twenty-one millions of dollars, spread over a period of three years, is yet uncompleted, and the pawned islands of Chusan and Kolangsoo are still occupied by British troops; a state of affairs which will necessarily keep alive angry and dis- trustful feelings on both sides. Lastly, whatever may be thought of the reports of disaffection in the Southern provinces, hitherto so hastily credited, the weakness of the Imperial Government in con- senting to buy a peace will create disaffection even where it did not exist before. The mere presence of a British force on the frontiers will encourage the governors of distant provinces to assume a deportment verging upon independence towards the Court at Pekin. The spirit of subordination in China is unsettled by that treaty; and the de- sire of our consuls and merchants to stand well with the local authorities at the ports which they are allowed to trade, the misunderstandings ari- sing from the reluctance of the Chinese to pay the ransom, and their anxiety to see their territory evacuated, will be constantly involving the British residents in the political intrigues of China. Add to all these sources of anxiety for the future, that the relations between this country and Chine, out of which the war arose, are as unsettled as evera No arrangement has been made as to the footing on which the opium-trade is to stand. It is a traf fic prohibited by the Chinese Government, and in which the British Indian Government has a large pecuniary stake. The great but the sole advantage of the armistice with (China, (for it is in truth, no» thing more is that it gives us an opportunit shaping our course anew and acting more wisely and honestly in time to come,
These considerations show that the position in which the treaty places this country is one demands the utmost caution and the beration, instead of being ground for triumph. The difficulties with which our course is likely to
mcreased by the comp
tions with the French and beginning ters. Those
15 their right)
on as favou
they will be
al intrigues of China
of the past teaches us that
governments hav bles of foreign some of their
as from any
tists of each
inter
or
the
credit bur
ike mush
goods littered the wharfs of Rio Jane heap as to be deemed not worth the expense housing, and when men went mad about mines of South America, may be acted over there may be a feverish hopefulness, lavish
banks, and joint-stock.com
dreams of an spreading over the land.
any Increased
pros do not create
om the
Eldo bankruptcy, desolation, and
Not that there is at this cause for despondency as to pects. The terms of the ar ere difficulties they only res
comme
[Bombay Times.]
thus, to a certain extent, guard the system against discuse,
THE Chinese themselves affirm that the use of the drug acts as a preventive against disease: and-in this opinion, when smoked in moderation, I am inclined in past to agree with them. The the langs which carry the impressions they receive to the heart, particles, by their direct and topical influence on the nerves of brain, and spinal cord, and, through them to all parts of the body,
opinion gains strength, when we call to mind that a peculiar and, by their tonie influence, strengthen the several organs. active principle in opium, the narcotic, has of late been employed It may also be mentioned, that at the time fevers prevalled so ex- with considerable success in Bengal as a substitute for quinine. tensively among our troops at Hongkong, but comparatively few of the Chinese suffered, though exposed throughout to the same exciting causeS.
These facts would certainly, on the whole, rather tend to show that the habitual use of opium is not so injurious as is commonly supposed; its effects, certainly, are not so disgusting to the be holder as that of the sottish, slavering drunkard. Trus, like all duce effects injurious to the constitution; and the unhappy ir other powerful stimulants and narcotics, it must ultimately pro. dividual who makes himself a slave to the drug shuns society, and is indifferent to all around him ; and, when deprived of his
THE Timer uses a vast deal of the most transparent. cant about the "demoralising influences of the opium trade The consumption of the poppy cannet be stop ped by prohibitory enactments. It serves the purpose in China which ardent spirits do in Europe. The only and temperance amongst the masses. way to stop its use is to encourage habits of religion vocates for crusading missions to enforce the tenets of We are no ad- Christianity in China, but we are confident that the light of revealed religion, following the footsteps of peace with China and England, is more likely to ex- tirpate the vice of opium-eating than any "proscrip- tive" measures that the most sanguinary penal code could devise. Some of the most enlightened states- men of China have laid their sentiments before the Emperor advising him to legalise the opium traffic, 30 88 11,2nKke it a source of rever and place it un der the protection of the laws, satisfied that no pu nishment, however severe, could put un end to the smuggling. The use
optum 18,
the
v other
and last
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