inese Government are these imports and
exports allowed and countenanced, until even good men of their own kind
have called out in their midst--_proh pudor_!

"Have not the colonists a right to import a drug, which is legally an
article of import, allowed by the crown?" No! not for the avowed purpose
of distributing it amongst a people, whose government protests against
its introduction; for no opium dealer will pretend to assert that it is
for consumption by the inhabitants of Hong-Kong, or foreign residents of
Canton, but must admit that it is brought expressly for transhipment to
the coasts of China, at no port of which would it be admitted upon the
payment of any duty; in fact, it is contraband! As good a right has the
Frenchman to land his Bordeaux brandy upon a part of the English coast,
to evade the customs. Aye! if you come to that, a better right; for upon
the payment of a duty its admission is not denied; but this article is
considered so baneful to China, that no premium is thought equivalent to
the injury sustained by its introduction.

The argument advanced by interested persons, that supposing they did not
prosecute the trade, others would reap its advantages, bears its fallacy
upon its face. For it is not permitted to us to profit by doing evil,
for the reason that the possibility of performing the wicked act is in
the hands of others.

The first opium known in China was grown in small quantities in one of
its own provinces, that of Yunnam, which was used medicinally. It
belonged to the East India Company first to introduce it into the empire
as a luxury; for we have an account of the importation of a number of
chests in one of its vessels from Bengal in 1773. Shortly after other
English merchants entered in the trade, and two vessels were stationed
as receiving ships, near Macao. By degrees these opium depots were
extended to Whampoa, Lintin, Cap-sing-Moon, and other suitable places,
until its consumption began to attract the notice of the Chinese
government; and in the year 1800 its importation was prohibited by a
special Imperial edict, and measures were taken to prevent its use
throughout the provinces. But the habit had become too strong to be
controlled, and its consumption increased, despite the severest
penalties. Death, transportation, confiscation of property, could not
deter those upon whom the sight of its daily operations had no effect;
and the immense profits realized in the sale caused tho