Before it will be accepted by the Chinese and the world at large that} Great Britain is one of China's best] friends, this old stumbling-block must be removed. To say that the statement that Great Britain forced] opium on China is an unmiti is not enough. Facts are asked for}—and facts should be given. We! English are accused of being a rude race. Perhaps we are—but that because we deal in facts and nev mince matters: and, as Kipling it is only when we get polite that fare to be feared. So let us be rude and have facts.
The history of the commencement] of Anglo-Chinese relations shows an outside trading people seeking to} pen commercial intercourse the Chinese Empire then under th rule of the Manchus, There is doubt that the peaceful British] traders and Chinese merchants could, have got along together splendidly to their own mutual advantage Dut the greed and arrogance Manchu officialdom, which included, Chinese, could not "allow peaceful, trading of this nature to go on, and ea they placed all sorts of restrictions and regulations upon the foreign! traders, made all kinds of exactions, demanded all kinds of squeeze, and} when these were objected to, heaped unheard-of indignities upon the unfortunate representatives of foreign firms who had been sent to Canton land other places to open up trai relations.
Tt happened that one of the many commodities of trade was Indian opium. It may be pointed out that these British traders could not have ences and negotiations that are to decide the future relationships of Chinese and foreigners in China. dealt in opium if the Chinese people had not been willing to buy, und the fact that they were willing shows. that they had already acquired the] habit of opium consumption. Indeed, taking into consideration the huge] areas of China that it is known were though it may take a bit o" swal lowing.' Have a at that time under opium cultivar Yunnan, Kueichow,. Szechuan, Kaneu and large parts of the Central and Southern provinces—it has been estimated that at no time did Yobiko, a small Prefecture, to swim across Tsushima Strai distance of 120 miles. The entire village turned out and gave him a rousing send off, while hundreds of children lined the shore. Mr. Adachi, firet Secretary the opium introduced from—In by the British reach more than 2 per cent. of the total quantity consumed in China, China, as it happened, was actually self-supporting in the matter of her opium suppl The Indian opium, however, slightly cheaper and had certain! other points in its favour, hence the demand for it.
Oficial Encouragement of the Prefecture, set out to a company Mr. Iwata in a launch far a3 the Iki Islands. The swimmer reached a point,12 nautical miles off Yobuko at about noon, when he was picked up by the escort boat as he had been followed by large sharks for some time. In view of the danger from sharks, Thus, although Imperial Edicts prohibiting the use of opium were from time to time issued, the Manchu} jand Chinese officials derived such handsome revenues from the taxes they levied on opium coming. from India—which taxes, not being sanctioned by.the throne, need not _be Mr. Iwata has abandoned the idea Femitted to Peking—that they not} swimming seress Morea his] tion of the drag. "Rrove time the his only. allowed but encouraged impor'
Canton Customs Commissioner, a high Manchu official, actually built {four large boats himself und exrried fon the opium trade with his staff Meanwhile, they continued to heap {indignities upon British subjects, and in every way made life unbearable and trade difficult, British chants were treated ike dogs, and British officials, specially commi ioned to seek interviews and intercourse with the Chinese (Manchu) Government, were not only not received but were insulted as well. Out rages of many kinds were committed by the Chinese without any redress being given. Finally things came to a head when the Emperor Tao Kuang, ignorant of the state of fairs, and how the opium trade had been permitted and encouraged by the Canton officials, sent his presentative named Lin to Canton to put a stop to the trade, Lin adopted a very high-handed Tine of action, kept the British traders in close confinement, threutened them with execution, and confi seated all stocks of opium (amount {ng to £2,000,000 worth) and destroy~ ed them. Chinese war junks attacked British men-of-war, and British officials were insulted and flouted.
In the end Great Britain wes forced to go to war with China, int words of Lord Russell, uttered the English Parliament, "to obtain reparation for insults and. injuries offered to His Majesty's Superintendent and subjects, to obtain Gemnification for the losses the sustained under ce, and, lastly, to get security that persons and property trading with China should. be protected from insult and injury, and trade maintained on a proper foot-
This is history. All this can be verified by reference to archives and ind w clearer statement to war with China could not be asked for,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.