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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![SUMMARY OF CONTENTS, INTRODUCTION. Page Reasons for undertaking the present Examination:— 1. Some statements of the Commissioners as to the character of the evidence from China prove to be absolutely untrue - - - - - - 1 2. The Eeport of the Commissioners stigmatised by a member of the Commission as an elaborate defence of the opium trade - - - - - - 2 This charge justified by the facts adduced in this book - - . _ 2 Charges so serious as those here made will certainly elicit a reply, if reply is possible 3 THE CHINA REPORT OF THE COMMISSION. Places in the Blue Books where it will be found - - - - - 4 The Commissioners propose to treat the question :— (1.) In its moral aspects - - - - - - - 4 (2.) In its political and financial aspects . . - - _ .4 (3.) As a question to be judged of by the facts of evidence - - - - 4 First Extkact from Report. The Question of Prohibition:— (i.) Moral aspects of the question. The question formulated. Special emphasis laid by the Commissioners on the moral objections to the Indian export trade in opium - - - - - - - 4,5 Commissioners' examination of [two] moral objections, stated by themselves - 4,5 Criticism of the above Extract:— The Commissioners throw the whole responsibility for the consumption of Indian opium in the Far Bast on the Chinese G-overnment - - - - - 6 Some of this opium is, however, consumed by Chinese and Malays living under British rule - - - - - - - - 6 The Commissioners admit the evil consequences of opium consumption in the case of the Malays, but suggest no remedy - - - - - - 6,7 Wise interference of the Secretary of State for the Colonies for protection of the Malays 7 The gravest moral objection of all against the trade is ignored by the Commissioners, though repeatedly pressed on them by witnesses - - - - - > (ii.) Political aspects of the question. Readers referred to articles in the Friend of China - - - 8 (iii.) Facts of evidence. First statement quoted from the Report shown to be entirely opposed to the evidence - - - - - - - 8, 10 Names of witnesses and quotations from their evidence - - - - 8, 10 Second Extract from Report :— The Commissioners' decision to call for evidence from China - - - - 10 List of ]irinted questions sent out to China - - - - - 11 Criticism of the above Extract:— (a.) The questions contain no inquiries as to the status of witnesses, their qualifications to give trustworthy evidence, or their disinterestedness - - - II (b.) The questions are so carelessly worded that they are taken by different witnesses in entirely different senses, and hence much confusion arises in the answers. Examples - - ' - - - - - 11-13 Third Extract from Report :— The quantity of opium exported to China and the Far East, and the quantity consumed in India - - - - - - - - 14 The former as twelve to one compared with the latter - - - - - 14 Criticism of the above Extract:— The Commissioners ignore the moral bearings of the facts they here state - - ] .5 Mr. H. J. Wilson, M.P., alone faces them and deals with the question on moral grounds 15 Five-sixths of the whole inquiry into the Indian opium trade devoted to one-thirteenth of the question; one-sixth of it devoted to the remaining twelve-thirteenths](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2439810x_0005.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
