ce more the
country is ablaze with indignation. Once more mass meetings of
protest are being held throughout the provinces; telegrams from
governors and officials are pouring in; the contract is denounced and
repudiated by Parliament; but all to no purpose. This infamous
contract holds and cannot be broken. China must pay out twenty
millions of dollars for this drug, which she has made a superhuman
struggle to get rid of. And as twenty millions is a sum far in
excess of the real value of these three thousand chests, the papers
are freely hinting that Baron Feng was bribed.

[Illustration: Courtesy of Far Eastern Bureau

Vice-President Feng Kuo-Chang]

[Illustration: View of Peking, looking north, towards Forbidden and
Imperial Cities]

Feng's excuse is that he was obliged to conclude this deal for
"diplomatic reasons." You can draw your own conclusions as to what that
implies. He also says that it was better for China to buy these chests
outright than to have them smuggled in later. Also he says the Chinese
Government can now sell this opium at discretion, in small amounts, for
"medical purposes." Legitimately to dispose of three thousand chests of
opium for medical purposes, would require about five hundred years.

By reason of this infamous deal China is now faced with the probable
resumption of the opium traffic. The Chinese Government has become, like
the British Government, a dealer in opium. It must dispose of this opium
either for "medical purposes" or for smoking purposes. This will
undoubtedly mean that poppy cultivation will again be resumed. It is
not inconceivable that the same sinister pressure which was brought
to bear upon the Vice-president may also be brought to bear upon
planters in the interior provinces, should they be unwilling, which
is unlikely, to raise once more these profitable crops. And if China
goes back to poppy cultivation, Great Britain may feel at liberty to
import opium again. If that happens, the whole vicious circle will be
complete. All barriers will be down, and this whole long, ten-years'
struggle will have been in vain.

The whole country is shocked, appalled, dismayed. No one sees any way
out of this _impasse_. One suggestion is made that this opium be
destroyed, a bonfire made of it. It would be a costly proceeding, for
this almost bankrupt nation cannot afford to destroy twenty million
dollars with a wave of the hand. We can only wait and see what the
outcome will be. O