sale of the Indian drug. Let those who believe in the
"child-like simplicity"[134] of the Chinese pin their faith to such
assertions as that of Li Hung Chang quoted above, that the only aim of the
Chinese Government in taxing opium is to limit the import, and that their
only object in allowing and even encouraging the native growth is to drive
out the foreign drug, and, when they have in this way obtained the command
of the market, to suppress the cultivation altogether. This air of injured
innocence is remarkably effective with some people; but the exquisite
plausibility and adroitness of these and other similar pleas must not
blind us to their inherent falsity. Li Hung Chang can no more prevent the
Chinese from consuming opium than we can prevent our countrymen from
drinking wine and spirits and smoking tobacco by mere legislative
enactments, and it would be considered a remarkable method for attaining
this desirable end if the distillation of spirits were made as free and
unrestrained as the brewing of beer.

Lastly--and this would have the advantage of satisfying the only just plea
urged by the "Society,"--we might proclaim to China in unmistakeable
terms that she was free to carry out her own fiscal policy as suited her
best, with regard to opium as well as all other imports. Not that we are
disposed to allow that this is an international _duty_, unless it be an
international duty also to free China from _all_ the conditions we have
forced upon her: unless we are ready, for example, to cede Hongkong, to
let the Chinese close their ports if they feel inclined, to give up our
missionaries to the tender mercies of Chinese fanaticism, or forbid them
to set foot within the Celestial Empire.

The ratification of the Chefoo Convention would be a step in this
direction, and may well be tried as a temporary measure, though it is
manifestly unfair to say that we are guilty of any breach of faith in
regard to this convention.[135]

We have now to consider what would be the result of such a policy to
India. China would no doubt take advantage of her freedom, and tax Indian
opium as heavily as it would bear, and in this way transfer to herself
some of the profits which now go to India; but, on the other hand, she
would be unwilling to place a prohibitive tariff upon it, knowing, as she
well does, that none the less would it enter China by being smuggled in,
and the revenue which should go into the imperial coffers would be pa