The report of the Royal Commission on opium compared with the evidence from China that was submitted to the Commission. : An examination and an appeal. / by Arnold Foster... with preface by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and others.
- Great Britain. Royal Commission on Opium
- Date:
- 1898
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The report of the Royal Commission on opium compared with the evidence from China that was submitted to the Commission. : An examination and an appeal. / by Arnold Foster... with preface by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and others. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
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![Dr. Dudgeon as he would wish to be quoted 11. At present it would be without any effect, the smokers would smoke more of the native, but it was not always so. The time has not yet come for forming a decision in regard to what action the Chinese Government or high officials would take in the event of the Indian supply being cut olf. We know what it would have been previous to the culti- vation of the native, and before the habit became so extensively prevalent. Judging from the general corruption and the analogy of other matters, it is to to be feared that no action will bo taken. (Vol. V., p. 230.) 18. If the native growth in China and that in India are to be stopped, and the common people of both empires saved from misery and iinal extinction, the two Grovernments must come to an agreement for mutual prohibition. Heathen China never has said and never will say what India says. I cannot do without the revenue. (Vol. V., p. 231.) Dr. Atterbury, as quoted by the Commissioners : The stoppage of the Indian supply would lead to increased use of the native article. Dr. Atterbury as he would wish to be quoted : 11. The Indian supply is the strongest. Its stoppage would lead to increased use of the native article to make np for loss in quality and quantity. 17. Opium has come to China to stay. The revenue its use creates for a Government which cares but little for the moral condition of its people seemingly precludes all possibility of its being prohibited. The responsi- bility for its use and cultivation should, however, rest with the Chinese Government, and no Christian Government by special trade regulations should even seemingly seek to increase its use and demoralising effects. Vol. V. p. 232. The Rev. Dr. Griffith John as quoted by the Commissioners : The opium consumers in that case would resort to the Chinese-grown opium, that is, unless the growth of the native article were effectually stopped by the Chinese Government. The Rev. Dr. Griffith John as he would wish to be quoted: To the foregoing add this :— 16-19. I would only observe that it is very difficult to i^ay what the Chinese Government or people might do in the event of the prohibition of the export of Indian opium. Much would depend on the action of tiie Government. As long as the Indian trade in opium esists, the hands of the Chinese (govern- ment are tied und paralysed. They can simply do nothing but allow things to go on from bad to worse, Their best efforts, liowever sincere and energetic, would prove abortive. If the Indian trade in the drug were abandoned, the Government might make an honest effort to stop the native growth, and the attempt might eventuate in a diminution of the evil, if not in its complete suppression. On this point, however, I have my serious doubts. . . . . The evil is now one of enormous magni- tude, and the venality of the officials is as deep-rooted as over; and I therefore fear that no legislative measures on the part of the Central Government, how- ever honestly adopted, would put an end to opium- smoking, and consequently to opium-growing in China itself. This, however, is only my opinion : others think differently, and they may be right. But whether the Chinese Government would and could put down the native gro wtli or not, the path of England as a great Christian nation, seems to me to be perfectly clear. It is for us to wash our hands clean of a trade which is unworthv of ourselves and hurtful to the people of China. Vol. V. p. 265. The Rev. J. Macintyre as quoted by the Commissioners : We are already independent of Indian opium in Manchuria. The Chinese article has run out the foreio-n. . . . ISTow that the Chinese Government has legalised the growth of the native opium, the quantity cultivated is already more than suffices for local consumption. Tbe Rev. J. Macintyre as he would wish to be quoted : To the foregoing add this : I should like to be allowed to add, without offence, that it would pay the British Government to back out of the opium trade in China. The great mass of the people would really believe us if we put it as a moral question. If we put it as a matter of friendship with China, it would make us an immense force in Chinese politics. I am satisfied we are even now the favoured nation. But with this opium question in the air, we give a truculent party a chance of alienating the more friendly disposed. And, as a fact, we are forcing the hand of the Chinese Government, and compelling them to grow opium in order to kick out the trade if it will not go peacefully. Vol. V., p. 273. AN APPEAL. In the foregoing pages I have spoken very strongly. The interests of truth have compelled me to do so. The Chinese people have suffered a huge wrong at our hands, and v;-ii] continue to suffer it as long as we have any share in upholdins; the opium trade, which is rapidly working China's ruin. It is no answer to say that her rulers are now perfectly willing that we should continue to perpetuate this^ wrong,— nay, that they are even willing to co-operate with us in perpetuating it, we, in *'the interests of Indian finance, they, in the interests of Chinese finance. The](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2439810x_0045.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
