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 contagion has spread, and its flowing poison has daily increased. In China, of those who are thus involved, a great many are wealthy persons, but there are also among the foolish masses some who cannot resist a whiff, and so injure their lives; in all such cases the penalty is self-inflicted, and there is really no room for pity. But ever since the great Ch'ing dynasty united the empire, its aim has been to regulate manners and customs with the view of rectifying the heart of man; how then can our House allow those who live within the girdle of the Seas to poison themselves at their own sweet will? Therefore, all who trade in or smoke opium in the Inner Land will be most severely punished, and the introduction and circulation of the drug will be for ever prohibited.

In view of the dominion exercised by our divine House over Chinese and barbarian alike, nothing would be easier than to put the guilty to death; but in respectful sympathy with the sacred intelligence and great leniency of our Emperor it is only fitting that orders should be issued beforehand. Hitherto, it has not been customary to send written communications to the princes of your honourable nation; and now, if suddenly there came this stringent