entually bad for China. China being a queer
country, we might expect queer things, and I believe if she did
go to war she would contract with Americans for the destruction
of French fleet, and she would let loose a horde of adventurers
with dynamite. This is essentially her style of action, and Li
Hung Chang would take it up, but do not say I think so."

In a further letter from Jaffa, dated 17th November 1883, he wrote
finally on this branch of the subject:--

"I fear I can write nothing of any import, so I will not attempt
it. To you I can remark that if I were the Government I would
consider the part that should be taken when the inevitable fall
of the Mantchou dynasty takes place, what steps they would take,
and how they would act in the break-up, which, however, will only
end in a fresh cohesion of China, for we, or no other Power,
could never for long hold the country. At Penang, Singapore,
etc., the Chinese will eventually oust us in another generation."

There was one other question about China upon which Gordon felt very
strongly, viz., the opium question, and as he expressed views which I
combated, I feel bound to end this chapter by quoting what he wrote on
this much-discussed topic. On one point he agrees with myself and his
other opponents in admitting that the main object with the Chinese
authorities was increased revenue, not morality. They have since
attained their object not only by an increased import duty, but also
in the far more extensive cultivation of the native drug, to which the
Emperor, by Imperial Edict, has given his formal sanction:--

"PORT LOUIS, _3rd February 1882_.

"About the opium article, I think your article--'History of the
Opium Traffic,' _Times_, 4th January 1884--reads well. But the
question is this. The Chinese _amour propre_ as a nation is hurt
by the enforced entry of the drug. This irritation is connected
with the remembrance of the wars which led to the Treaties about
opium. Had eggs or apples been the cause of the wars, _i.e._ had
the Chinese objected to the import of eggs, and we had insisted
on their being imported, and carried out such importation in
spite of the Chinese wish by force of war, it would be to my own
mind the same thing as opium now is to Chinese. We do not give
the Chinese credit for being so sensiti