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humble opinion that the injury done by opium is twice as great as that which results from gambling; therefore the offence of smoking it should not be more lightly punished than the other. Now the law provides that gamblers shall declare where they obtained their gaming utensils, and unless they inform against the sellers they shall be considered as accomplices, and punished with a hundred blows and three years' transportation. Every convicted gambler must be punished, under any circumstances, with eighty blows, and, if he be an official person, his punishment shall be increased one degree. But the opiumsmoker, who will not inform against the seller, is simply pilloried and beaten for his own crime. I have therefore. to propose the enactment, that all convicted opiumsmokers who declare that they do not know the names of the sellers shall be considered as accomplices with them; and that, if the offenders be mandarins, or their dependents, they shall be punished one degree more severely. Thus may the severity of the law deter from the practice; the habitual smokers will not dare to persevere, and others will not venture to imitate their example.

"It seems that opium is almost entirely imported from abroad worthless subordinates in offices, and nefarious traders, first introduced the abuse; young persons of family, wealthy citizens, and merchants adopted the custom; until at last it reached the common people. I have learned on inquiry, from scholars and official persons, that opium-smokers exist in all the provinces, but the larger proportion of these are to be found in the government offices; and that it would be a fallacy to suppose that there are not smokers among all ranks of civil and military officers below the station of provincial governors and their deputies. The magistrates of districts issue proclamations interdicting the clandestine

public offices, become the secret purchasers of opium, instead of labouring for its suppression; and thus all interdicts and regulations become vain." And they became so utterly vain as to end in the uncontrolled freedom of

sale of opium, at the same time that their kindred, and clerks, and servants smoke it as before. Then the nefarious traders make a pretext of the interdict for raising the price. The police, influenced by the people in the

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both trade and consumption that now has existed for some years since the war.

The censor then recommended the following regulation to be passed, which, having been considered and approved by the Criminal Board, was confirmed by the emperor, and published in 1833 as the amended law upon the subject:

"Let the buyers and smokers of opium be punished with one hundred blows, and pilloried for two months. Then let them declare the seller's name, that he may be seized and punished; and in default of this declaration, let the smoker be punished, as an accomplice of the seller, with a hundred blows and three years' banishment. Let mandarins and their dependents, who buy and smoke opium, be punished one degree more severely than others; and let governors and lieutenant-governors of provinces, as well as the magistrates of subordinate districts, be required to give security that there are no opium-smokers in their respective departments. Let a joint memorial be sent in, at the close of every year, representing the conduct of those officers who have connived at the practice. The Criminal Board will communicate this decision to the Boards of Civil Appointments and Military Affairs; and a general order will be sent to the governors of all the provinces, that they may yield obedience and act accordingly." It was now to be seen whether the increased severity of the law would operate in restraining or abolishing a habit whose prevalence had rendered opium the only article of commerce that could be carried with success to the prohibited ports on the coast of China. The result was, that the law became a dead letter, and opium was at length conveyed openly about the streets. The following statement shows that opium, about the end of the Company's charter, formed one-half of the total

value of British imports at Canton and Lintin, and that tea constituted something less than the same proportion of our exports:—

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The amount of the opium imported by us was thus greater than that of the tea exported. The narcotic drug sold to the Chinese exceeded in market-value the refreshing leaf purchased from them; and the balance of the trade was paid to us in silver. In the fourth chapter it has been already shown that the free trade which commenced in 1834 had the immediate effect of giving an impetus to all kinds of smuggling, at the expense of the fair trade. The Company had always effectually prevented the introduction of opium within the river; but notwithstanding the wish of the king's authority at Canton (grounded on his conviction of its danger) to stop this desperate traffic, his control over British subjects proved altogether inadequate to the purpose. Opium continued to be run up in British boats to Whampoa, and even to Canton. The government was at length roused,—a Chinese smuggler was executed before the factories, and Commissioner Lin immediately afterwards commenced that course of violence which has before been detailed,* and which ultimately led through the war to the abolition of the Hong monopoly, of the exactions at Canton, and all the other benefits secured by our treaty in 1842.

As tea has always held so principal a place in our intercourse with China, it requires some particular consideration as an article of commerce. We have seen

*See Chap. IV.

before that the fineness and dearness of tea* are determined by the tenderness and smallness of the leaf when picked. The various descriptions of the black diminish in quality and value as they are gathered later in the season, until they reach the lowest kind, called by us Bohea, and by the Chinese Ta-cha, "large tea," on account of the maturity and size of the leaves. The early leaf-buds in spring, being covered with a white silky down, are gathered to make Pekoe, which is a corruption of the Canton name, Pak-ho, "white down." A few days' longer growth produces what is here styled "blackleaved pekoe." The more fleshy and matured leaves constitute Souchong; as they grow larger and coarser they form Congou; and the last and latest picking is Bohea. The tea-farmers, who are small proprietors or cultivators, give the tea a rough preparation, and then take it to the contractors, whose business it is to adapt its farther preparation to the existing nature of the demand. The different kinds of tea may be considered in the ascending scale of their value.

1. Bohea, which in England is the name of a quality, has been already stated to be, in China, the name of a district where various kinds of black tea are produced. The coarse leaf brought under that name to this country is distinguished by containing a larger proportion of the woody fibre than other teas; its infusion is of a darker colour, and, as it has been more subjected to the action of fire, it keeps a longer time without becoming musty than the finer sorts. Two kinds of Bohea are brought from China: the lowest of these is manufactured on the spot, and therefore called "Canton Bohea," being a mixture of refuse Congou with a coarse tea called Woping, the growth of the province. The better kind of Bohea *See Chap. XXI.

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