Page:The opium revenue.djvu/29

 No answer was sent to this communication, and Sir Rutherford Alcock was inclined to drop the negotiation. But Her Majesty's Government was anxious to secure the concessions that had been obtained, and so negotiations were resumed, Sir Rutherford Alcock urging the Chinese Government to come to some conclusion before he should depart.

Eventually, it was agreed that no alteration should be made in the export duty on tea, but that a small export duty should be imposed upon silk, and that the import duty on opium should be raised from thirty to fifty Taels. There was no time to consult the Indian Government. The concessions to be obtained were very important to trade, and it was Sir Rutherford Alcock's conviction that if some indication were not given of a willingness on the part of the British Government to consider the wishes of the Chinese Government in the matter of opium, there was every probability of a systematic attempt being made by the Chinese Government to drive out Indian opium by competition from indigenous production, according to their threat.

Upon the whole, he was satisfied that, even in the interests of the Indian opium revenue, the steps taken were the best open to him. Some hope (in the most general terms however) was held out to the Chinese Government that if they would be content with this concession for the present, their representations would receive further favourable attention with a view to some arrangement being made in respect to the opium question satisfactory to both parties; and it was upon this understanding that the Chinese Government were satisfied with the measure.

Sir Rutherford Alcock then read portions of the report of the delegates of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, of the reports of the several Consuls, and of Mr. Gubbay, and of an article from the Evening Courier (all of which are among the records of the Financial Department ) to show the extent to which the cultivation of opium has recently spread in China.

In answer to questions put by His Excellency the Viceroy and others. Sir Rutherford Alcock said that he had no doubt that the abhorrence expressed by the Government and people of China for opium, as destructive to the Chinese nation, is genuine and deep-seated; and that he was also quite convinced that the Chinese Government could, if it pleased, carry out its threat of developing cultivation to any extent. On the other hand, he believed that so strong was the popular feeling on the subject, that if Britain would give up the opium revenue and suppress the cultivation in India, the Chinese Government would have no difficulty in suppressing it in China, except in the Province of Yunnan, where its authority is in abeyance.

He then read extracts from his despatch (copy is in the office ) to Lord Clarendon upon the question, and he dwelt upon the fact