Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/524

 (December 31) Imperial Commissioner with plenipotentiary powers to examine the opium situation at Canton and put an end to the evil. Leaving Peking on January 8, 1839, he arrived at Canton on March 10 at a time when both Chinese and foreigners were anxiously speculating on what new measures would be put into effect.

The opium poppy seems to have been unknown in China prior to the T'ang dynasty, and for centuries thereafter opium was used only for medicinal purposes. The habit of smoking opium arose with the introduction of tobacco with which it was first mixed. The first edict against it was issued in 1729 when not more than 200 chests (each about 120 pounds) entered the country annually. By 1796 the annual importation increased to some 4,000 chests and in that year, and again in 1800, edicts were issued prohibiting it. Though opium was thereafter contraband and could not be kept at Canton, it was transhipped at Macao, at Whampoa, or at Lintin Island, and then entered the country with the connivance of those Chinese officials who profited by its sale. Prior to the dissolution of the East India Company's China branch (1834), which did not transport opium in its own ships, a certain measure of restraint was exercised, but thereafter the greatest confusion prevailed, and it is estimated that for several years-before Lin's arrival in Canton nearly 30,000 chests were imported annually. Nevertheless the abuse was of such long standing, and the measures taken to suppress it had been so abortive that the foreign community at Canton was not prepared to believe that drastic measures would be taken.

On March 18, 1839 Lin issued an order to the Hong merchants warning them of serious consequences if the traffic were not suppressed. On the same day he informed the merchants in the factories that within three days they must sign and submit to him a bond promising that no opium would thereafter be imported. An offer to relinquish 1,037 chests was made, but this did not satisfy the Commissioner. On the 22nd he demanded that Mr. Lancelot Dent, who was regarded as one of the principal importers, be delivered to him—but suspecting that Dent would be held as a hostage until all the opium was surrendered, the western merchants replied that Dent could go only on guarantee of safe conduct. The Hong merchants, too, pressed for the surrender of Dent, for they in the meantime had been deprived of their buttons of rank, and two of their number, Howqua (see under ) and Mowqua (Lu Wên-wei 盧文蔚, name as Hong-merchant Lu Chi-kuang 盧繼光), were made to appear with chains about their necks. When Captain Charles Elliot (義律, 1801–1875), Superintendent of Trade, arrived from Macao on the 24th he entered the factories with difficulty as the river was blockaded by cordons of boats and the streets to the factories were barricaded. Lin had ordered all servants and compradores in the factories to leave, so that between 200 and 300 Westerners were temporarily without help, without adequate supplies of fresh food and water, and without means of communication with Macao. On the 26th Lin issued another order for immediate delivery of the opium, and two days later Elliot found himself compelled to offer what was believed to be the full amount, or 20,283 chests. It turned out, however, that this estimate exceeded the number in hand, and 523 chests had to be imported later. It was agreed that the opium would be delivered in stages and that with each substantial delivery one or more of the restrictions on the factories would be relaxed. By April 19 most of the servants and compradores had been allowed to return; on May 4 the embargo on trade was removed; and on the following day the blockade of the river was lifted. Sixteen persons within the factories were not released, however, until they signed a bond never to return. On the 24th Elliot and all British subjects left Canton. Elliot refused to sign the bond for future nonimportation, believing that this was something he could not guarantee. The confiscated drug was deposited at the Bogue (虎門), and after being mixed with salt water and lime was allowed to flow into the sea. The destruction being completed on June 25, 1839, Lin reported that, with the exception of 8 chests sent to Peking as a sample, he had destroyed in all 19,179 chests and 2,119 bags of opium, totalling 2,376,254 chin or catties.

Lin Tsê-hsü was now at the zenith of his power, and the objective he set for himself, namely the destruction of the opium traffic, seemed to have been achieved. His purpose was laudable, and his long letter addressed to Queen Victoria on the subject (written in August 1839) is full of righteous indignation. But he showed little appreciation of the real grievances under which all trade had long been conducted. Moreover, there was involved in the question a conflict between Chinese and Western ideas of punishment which could not 512