Page:American Diplomacy in the Orient - Foster (1903).djvu/90

 and therefore opium is most rigorously prohibited by law."

The profits on the sale of the article were so large that, notwithstanding the interdiction, the importation continued to grow. The supply came exclusively from India and every chest bore upon it the stamp of the East India Company, as its sale in India was a government monopoly. The trade was encouraged by that company, regardless of the fact that it had been made unlawful by imperial edict, and British ships were mainly used in its transportation, although those of other nationalities were to a limited extent engaged in it. Between 1820 and 1830 the importation to China had risen to 17,000 chests, and the smuggling was conducted along the coast from Tientsin to Hainan. Such a large and extended trade could not be carried on without the complicity or connivance of the local authorities, and it was apparent that the customs officials and even others higher in power were reaping private gain from the smuggling.

The ineffectual efforts of the government to suppress the importation of opium led many intelligent Chinese to advocate its legalization under strict regulations as to its domestic sale, and memorials to that effect were sent to the emperor; but the court at Peking was so thoroughly satisfied that the use was a national evil of alarming proportions that it refused to listen to suggestions for a license system. While many mandarins at the ports were compromised in the illicit traffic, there is no doubt that the moral power of the empire