The Sun.
London, England, 1839-09-12 00:00:00

AMERICAN INSTITUTE•

The near approach of the " twelfth annual fair of
the American Institute," as it is termed, which
falls this year on the 7th of October next, and is
held in New York, appears to be exciting much
interest in the United States. In its chief features
this institution resembles the periodical exhibitions
of national industry and ingenuity held in Paris,
of which one has so lately been witnessed, with the
differenee that in America it is an annual affair and
unconnected with the Government, Whilst in
France it is A State instead of an associate or in-
dividual undertaking,. The American exhibition,
too, embraces a wider scope, and is proportion-
ably on a larger scale of action, than that of the
French, for although in its main characteris-
tics it is clearly an imitation, yet the imitation has
been carried out and extended into those more gi-
gantic proportions into which enterprise, of what-
ever description, seems naturally to gross!, it may be
said, and is alone understood, on the other side of
the Atlantic. Thus, whilst the French exposition
is restricted to the products of manufactnring and
mechanical skill and invention in all departments,
to scientific improvements and discoveries, and
generally to show the progress of all branches
of the arts, the American exhibition more am-
bitiously includes and invites the products of
the soil and even the choicer specimens of the
various breeds of stock. In the preliminary out-
line of proceedings and objects it is observed that
" the consideration that agriculture lies at the foun-
dation of all production, has induced the Institute
to resolve on another cattle exhibition and sale. Ac-
commodations will be provided for pure blood
cattle, horses, and extraordinary breeds of sheep,
swine, &c., contiguous to the garden. Certificates
of pedigree should be provided. Much the greatest
proportion of manual labour applied in pro-
duction is applied in agriculture. Here, then,
is presented the widest field for the in-
troduction of labour-saving machines." Accord-
ingly it is announced that among other improved
agricultural machinery a "sub plough," promising
great utility, will be presented, and, what must be an
object of greater curiosity still, a " steam-plough,"
which had already been sent for trial and use to the
" western prairies." From these inventions and
improvements a great saving in horse labour is
anticipated, for, it is remarked that many of the
ploughs in common use require from 25 to 33 per
cent. more team to work them than those of the
best construction. " Even in Great Britain, with
all their boasted culture, it is estimated that
more than 1,000,000 horses are employed in
husbandry, and to a great extent the ploughs
in use require 33 per cent. more team than those
of the best formation." Millions of horses, it is
argued, might be saved every year in the United
States by the substitution of more perfect agri-
cultural machinery. For some time past an
immense excitement has prevailed in the United
States in favour of the cultivation of the growth of
silk, for which the climate, in many parts of the
Union, is said to be found excellently well adapted.
For months past there has scarcely been one Ame-
rican Paper which was not full of the subject, and
with details of the successful progress of this new
branch of industry wherever attempted. The im-
mense sum annually paid for silks imported is ear-
nestly dwelt upon. The conductors of thiplnstitute
remark, that whilst the " wholesexported products of
the United States from all our boasted fisheries, with
all the exports from our forests of skins and furs,
lumber, masts, and all our manufactures of wood ;
our naval stores, tar, pitch, turpentine, pot and
pearl-ashes, &c. ; and also from our almost innu-
merable farms ; all our exported beef, tallow, hides,
and cattle, butter, cheese, pork, bacon, horses,
mules, sheep. &c. ; with our entire exports of wheat,
corn, and flour superadded," did not in 1836 equal
12,000,000 dollars ; the " imports of silks the same
year exceeded 20,000,000 dollars, and, by including
silk and worsted goods, of which silk constituted
an important part, they amounted to over
23,500,000 dollars." This, indeed, is somewhat
absurdly qualified as an " alarming" statement ;
whereas it ought rather to be accepted as evi-
dence of national prosperity, provided the per
contra account of native produce raised
and shipped in return to the country whence
the silks were imported, or to other countries
whence the accruing balance might be liquidated,
remained equal and progressive, or in excess in
amount. The progress already made in the growth
of the raw product, and in its subsequent conversion
afterwards into goods, will be evidenced by the full
display to be expected at the " fair " of American
silks in all forms, from the cocoon to the finished
fabric. Every variety of the mulberry-tree which
has been found best adapted to different soils and
climates, according to district, is to be col-
lected, with such facts in detail respect-
ing each as may assist in promoting their
extended cultivation. It is remarked with
sanguine anticipation, that should " the enthu-
siasm for its propagation continue, America will
soon afford more sustenance for the silkworm than
the whole globe besides." She would, in fact, be-
come for the silk what she is for the cotton manu-
facture. The effect upon the labour market at
home would, it is calculated, be an absorption of
all that portion now positively or comparatively
unproductive ; that is, full employment would be
found for all the " women, children, and in-
firm persons" scattered through the immense ter-
ritory of the Union, without other means of
occupation than such as to the female part of
proper age consisted in the performance of do-
mestic duties, necessarily of no very arduous na-
ture, excepting in the more immediate vicinity
of manufacturing towns or isolated manufacturing
establishments, in which an inconsiderable number
of young women were able to procure engagments.
The sort of work in which this otherwise not only
dead weight," but drawback upon productive
labour, in the case of the poor and infirm naturally
entitled to support, and receiving it more particu-
larly, would be, too, of the most wholesome and
grateful kind—that is, it would be of the nature of
household work as practised in the infancy of all
manufactures, and as even now constituting one
branch of household employment in countries wholly
agricultural, or even, as here, in countries far ad-
vanced in, and largely devoted to, manufacturing
pursuits. There are many people yet living in
this country who remember in their earliest years
that the winding of cotton yarn, when spun
upon the rudest jennies into cops for twist, and
from the twist cops upon warping-mills for warp in
preparation for the loom, was a common occupa-
tion in every farm-house for the females and
younger branches of every family, and at over-
hours or on days when the labours of the field
or the farm-yard permitted, the yarns thus pre-
pared, were woven into cloth by the male part of
the family. This was, in respect of health and
morals, and still is by many, regarded as by far
the most favourable era in the cotton and woollen
manufacturing industry. In the same light the
adaptation of silk to the purposes of household in-
dustry would seem to be regarded by the American
Institute, and accordingly the construction or im-
provement of a machine suitable for the elementary
processes has engaged its attention, and forms an
object of its encouragement. It is observed that
•‘ the reel ought first to engage our attention. For
ostlinary household use it should be cheap and
simple in its construction, and its merits should be
made public. For this purpose a gold medal will
be awarded at the coming fair" for the reel which
will best answer the above description.
It is estimated thus that before the lapse of many
years, the 20,000,000 dollars now annually paid
for supplies of Foreign silks imported will be
entirely saved, that is produced at home, by hands
now unoccupied or otherwise considered unavailable.
The exhibition of manufactured articles from cot-
ton and wool at the latter fairs held is alluded to in
terms
of
warm
approbation, and it is confidently
anticipated that this year the show will manifest the
rapid
attained "New
to perfection in all descriptions of
plain and fancy fabrics to which the manufacturers
have
:: New machinery," it is slated, "for
the spinning of flax, has been constructed." " Speci-
mens of they,rnroduced, witbdetails of the mode
of preparation, and p
of the workine and cost of the
machinery, would, it was hoped, be forwarded to the
exhibition. Flax, it is observed, was once one of the
principal staples of the country, but for the last 50
years it had been on the decline ; but it would again
be extensively cultivated when once machinery was
perfected, by which a demand would be created. The
progress already made in the manufacture of hard-
ware "
is referred to with satisfaction. Domestic
hardware," it is remarked, " was scarcely known
in the New York market 25 years ago." In 1836
ii t is asserted to have been ascertained that more than

,600,606 dollars wofth of the hottie-Made wares
had actually been disposed of in that city.
With respect to the manufactures of leather, hats,
glass, and wood, particularly household furni.
ture, " useful and ornamental," it is asserted that
foreign competition is so little to be feared, that not
only is the home market almost entirely supplied,
but a considerable export trade in them carried on
upon advantageous terms to markets where they
successfully oppose the same industrial products
from other countries. The specimens of iron cast-
ings, and varied products from malleable iron,
shown at the last fair, are spoken of as reflecting
the highest credit on the manufacturers and iron-
masters.

The American Institute has had a charter con-
ferred upon it by the State of New York, in terms
so liberal as to include in whatever advantages may
be derived from it all the other States of the Union.
It is held in Niblo's garden, in the City of New
York, and this year the accommodations have been
greatly extended. Among other improvements,
two rooms, each 110 by 25 feet, have been added.
Such has been the favour with which it has been
received already, that more than 150,000 per-
sons attended the last exhibition, of whom a
large proportion were ladies, whose " delicate
and tasteful" contributions are adverted to with
warm commendation. There were about 1,800 per-
sons offering as exhibitors, from whom contributions
were selected, however, only to the extent of 1,500,
as being those deemed most worthy attention. At
the four last fairs 120 gold medals, 600 silver me-
dals, and about 1,500 diplomas were distributed.
Models and specimens of all kinds are received free
from charge, both for contributors and visitors, and
those most ingenious and deserving returned to the
owners free of charge.
These labours for the improvement of national
industry are highly creditable to those more intel-
ligent citizens of the United States, a class not
few in number, by whom more particularly un-
dertaken, as well as to the State of New York
itself. It is thus that " the development of the
resources" of the Union may be most beneficially
and legitimately promoted, without the interven-
tion of loans, by which the States are burdened
with enormous debts for the accomplishment
of projects, of which, however advantageous in
the long run to the people, in the shape of railroads,
canals, &c., or much more questionably so in that of
the endowment of State banks, few are likely ever to
reimburse the State itself, in its capacity as such, for
the immense outlay incurred. The case, indeed,
might have been different, had those charges been
incurred and defrayed in the foundation of the slower,
but safer process, of the annual savings of a surplus
revenue out of ordinary expenditure. With the un-
bounded elements of national industry and wealth
arising out of the possession of territory so vast in
extent, so various in its productions, and yet in pro-
portion so scantily peopled, it is a source of satis-
faction to perceive that there are those by whom the
only true interests of the country are so well under-
stood and so actively promoted. Their patriotic
labours may be advantageously contrasted with those
of that endless swarm of schemers by whom, in the
Legislatures and out, the different States have
been plunged into debt for the attainment of
objects of which the utility cannot be commensu-
rate with the objects upon which the monies so
easily borrowed have been more easily and lavishly
expended ; by whom also the creation of banks and
the indefinite multiplication of paper money have
been delusively held forth as the signs of national
progress and wealth, instead of what they are and
have been, the sources of national embarrassment
and commercial distress.

It were to be wished that a similar spirit, of en-
terprise were found prevalent throughout the British
Colonies, and among those in this country connected
with colonial interests. There seems no sufficient
reason why the cultivation of silks in particular might
not be undertaken with prospects as promising in
the various West India Colonies as in the United
States, and as being a less laborious and exposed
employment than field work under the heat of a
tropical sun, in the cultivation of sugar and coffee,
it would doubtless be found more acceptable among
the Negro population. At a time when the manu-
facture of sugar from bect7root is making such rapid
strides everywhere, for even in the United States it
has already been largely followed with extraordinary
success, it seems time for the planters to bestir
themselves, and, like their neighbours, to betake
them to new and more profitable kinds of industry,
now that the old channels to wealth are being
dried up.

“THE FRIENDS” AND THE POOR-

LAW.

TO THE POOR-LAW COMMISSIONERS.

The following Memorial, on behalf of the Reli-
gious Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers,
is respectfully presented :

Whilst we acknowledge the full opportunity
afforded, by the courtesy of the Commissioners to a
deputation from our body, of verbally representing
the difficulties which have been felt, in regard to
the operation of some parts of the new Poor-law,
as hitherto administered, the nature and importance
of these difficulties render it-desirable, in our view,
that a written statement of them should be laid
before the Board.

The Christian Society of Friends has now existed
nearly two centuries as a distinct religious body.
From their rise to the present day they have felt
themselves required, on conscientious grounds, to
refuse the payment of tithes and all other demands
of an ecclesiastical character. Political considera-
tions have had no part in this refusal ; its sole
ground has been the conviction that such imposts
are repugnant to the doctrines of the New Testa-
ment, and to the whole scope and design of the
religion of Jesus Christ. The open yet patient
and peaceable maintenance of this refusal is felt, as
it ever has been, to be a matter of conscience with
us, as a testimony to the freedom and purity of the
ministry of the Gospel, and to the spirituality of
the reign of the Messiah.

That we may not unduly extend the present
memorial by a fuller development of our views on
this subject, we herewith present a few copies of a
document explanatory of them, issued by the
Society some years ago.
We feel that the appointment of chaplains of
the Established Church to act as the ministers of
the Union houses, and the imposing upon us the
payment of their stipends, however small in amount,
out of the poor-rates, are fresh violations of these
religious scruples. 'We consider the appointment as
a new addition to the Establishment, and the pay-
ment of the stipend out of the poor-rates as a serious
infringement of the rights of conscience.
We consider, further, that the regulations and
provisions under the new Poor-law, in regard to
religious care and instruction in the Union houses,
are calculated (so far as we have seen the working
of them) to favour an exclusive system, alike unfair
to the inmates of these houses, and inimical to
those great principles of religious liberty, to which
it is our firm persuasion that the prosperity of our
beloved country is, under Divine Providence,
greatly indebted.

And in reference to this part of the subject we
would respectfully express our regret that other
teachers than those of the Established Chinch
are, by some recent regulations, in danger of being
wholly excluded from giving instruction in the Union
house=, except to the inmates of their own reli-
gious persuasion individually, and to them only
when such inmates request it. It is in our view
highly objectionable thus extensively to collect a
portion of the community in one building, and
there to restrict the religious instruction of them
collectively to a particular class, and refuse an
admittance to all other Christians, who in love to
their Lord and Saviour, and to the souls of their
fellow-countrymen, may feel it their duty to address
them on the solemn truths of the Gospel and their
eternal interests.

Far indeed be it from us to object to the exercise
of religious care over the inmates of these houses.
But such is the sacred nature of the truths to be
conveyed, and such ought to be the religious
feelings of the instructor, that we think it dero-
gatory to this high duty to fix that it shall be per-
formed for money. And we further believe that
if the instruction be freely conveyed, if it be im-
parted purely from Christian love to the souls of
the hearers, and wholly unconnected with pecu-
niary emolument, it would be more beneficial in
its character, more likely to be blessed in its fruits.
We would further submit that whilst the Board
of Guardians are invested with a controlling power
to determine what religiously concerned individuals
shall be admitted to the Union houses, and under
what regulations, no practical inconvenience is
likely to result from the liberty for which we plead.

THE SUN, LONDON, TiatntsDAir, SE:PTEMBER 12, 1839.

Many of the members of our 'religious Society
have been appointed Guardians under the new Act/
and have cheerfully rendered their aid. We feel a
lively interest in the temporal and spiYitual comforts
of the poor. We readily pay the rates for t1;;',!!
relief, and we are not indifferent to any measure
which promotes the moral improvement of the com-
munity. We love out cotiritry and it is our warm
desire, our earnest prayer, that pure and genuine
Christianity may, under the power and authority of
the blessed Head of the Church, be more and more
taught, and felt, anti practised amongst
We thus present our case to the Cot iiiissiotierss
earnestly entreating them to provide an ettectual
remedy for the gtieyances to which we have ad-
verted ; and we ash this ill the conviction, that by
so doing, they will best promote the real welfare of
the objects of their charge, and most advance the
common weal of the country.
Signed in and on behalf of a Meeting, represent-
ing the Society of Friends in the intervals of
the Yearly Meeting, and held in London, the
second day of the eleventh month, 1838.
PETER BEDFORD, Clerk.

to a certain church and there baptised by the
Cura /

The settlers of Texas are of British origin—
speaking the English language, and under the
influence of English common law, The advances
they have already made show them to he worthy a= .
occupying one of the most beautiful and productive
countries on the face of the globe. Towns are
rising up as if by magic, steam-boats are plying on
the waters, newspapers are published wherever
readers tan be found, corporations are in successful
operation—railroads projected—shipments of cotton
made direct to Liverpool—and society rapidly
assuming the orderly and enlivening aspect which it
wears in ancient and flourishing communities.
An Englishman Who has formed a commer-
cial establishment at Matagorda, in Texas,
informed me that, " in a commercial point
of tiewi it would be for the advantage of
Great lAritaiii to acknowledge the independence of
this young and thriving Republic without delay, as
it would, in a few years, be of more importance to
England than the United States." Not only would
it supply our market with cotton of the best qua-
lity, and take our manufactures in return, but it
would, by abolishing all import duties, and esta-
blishing complete freedom of trade—as the leading
citizens desire and design to do—effect a revolution
in the Commercial systems of the neighbouring na-
tions. The political advantages that would result
from the establishment of an independent power
friendly to Great Britain, on the Southern flank of
the United States, will not be overlooked by those
who are capable of estimating the great and growing
resources and restless energy of that Republic.
If reason be substituted for wild and passionate
declamation, it will appear that the scheme pro-
pounded by Mr. O'Connell is both unjust and im-
practicable—unjust, because we have no right to in-
termeddle in the internal affairs of other States ;
and utterly impracticable, because if Texas were un-
able to resist the meditated interference, it would
never be permitted by the United States, by whom
any such plan of colonizing would be regarded as
a blow directed against themselves. I would refer
those who may be disposed to question the latter
assertion to the debates on the subject of slavery
during the last Session of Congress.
The adoption of Mr. O'Connell's views would
not benefit the Negroes, but would render more
remote the period of their emancipation ; it would
alienate a people favourable to England and her
interests--it would promote the designs of France,
which casts a covetous eye towards Mexico—and
it would retard the progress of civilization in coun-
tries blessed by nature, but cursed by a system of
rule founded on the cast-off superstitions and tyran-
nies of Europe. And whether the British Govern-
ment recognize the independence of Texas now or
hereafter, the interests of our commerce will ere long
render it necessary to adopt that step, to delay which
is to deprive the act of its grace, and ourselves of
much of the advantage that would accrue from it.
Texas will in a few years abound in all the elements
of power, and were it driven to extremity while
comparatively weak, it might perhaps be added to
the United States, but under Mexican or European
snay it will never fall. If it were added to the
States, a war with England would probably be fol.
lowed by the conquest of Mexico and British North
America, and England would repent, when too
late, of a policy which had furnished new arms to
that gigantic democracy whose colossal growth is
already contemplated with alarm by the most saga-
cious cabinets of Europe.
It cannot be too strongly impressed upon the
minds of those who labour for the freedom and
elevation of the Negro, that the Anglo-Saxon re-
publicans of America may be influenced by per-
suasive argument, but will yield nothing whatever
to violence and threats. The cause of emancipa-
tion has retrogaded in the United States, owing to
the intemperate zeal of the Northern abolitionists.
In many respects, the situation of the slave-holding
planters is too unhappy to justify-the odium usually
attached to those who are so unfortunate as to have
a right of property in their fellow-creatures. if pro-
perly addressed, they readily admit that slavery is a
grievous evil, but they dread emancipation as pregnant
with evils yet more formidable. In my opinion, then,
the true course for English philanthropy to pursue
is to work out, steadily and vigorously, the experi-
ment in process of trial in the West India Islands.
Let us act upon the Americans by precept and
example, and not disturb their peace and awaken
their animosity by ill-digested plans of propagan-
dism, contrary to the usages of nations, which
might be retaliated with interest upon ourselves.
Let us prove by our administration of the West
India colonies that the African race has been slan-
dered by those who pronounce the Negro incapable
of reaching the average standard of civilization.
Whenever sound morals, education, and well-ap-
plied industry are found to characterise the commu-
nities of the people of colour in the West India
Islands, slavery on the American Continent will
die a natural death. In the meantime, its ex-
tinction will not be promoted by preaching a cru-
sade against Texas. Instead of Mr. O'Connell's
black colony, which never can be created, I would
recommend that British emigration be directed
towards the young Republic. In my opinion, the
salubrity of the climate renders slave labour unnec-
cessary to the cultivation of the land, and the
superior cheapness of free labour, where there is an
adequate supply, would induce a preference, apart
from all other considerations. In Texas—a small
country compared to the United States—the lands
will speedily be in the hands of individual pro-
prietors ; consequently, the farmer and planter will
be enabled to retain their labourers, who, induced
by high wages, abundance of food, aid the cheap-
ness of imported articles, will remain there, instead
of purchasing lands for themselves in the adjacent
countries.

A correspondent of the Morning Chronicle at-
tributes Mr. O'Connell's Anti-Texan vehemence
to partiality for Catholic Mexico. The people of
the United States are certainly not friendly to Ca-
tholicism, which they conceive to exercise an influ-
ence over its professors inconsistent with Republi-
can institutions ; but the intolerant superstitions of
the Mexicans cannot surely be the mode of faith
which any rational Catholic of Great Britain would
identify with his own. " Whatever there may be
in other Roman Catholic countries," says Latrobe,
" m Mexico there would seem to be no medium
between the grossest and most debasing supersti-
tion and idolatry, and scepticism and infidelity."
I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
WILLIAM KENNEDY.
September 2, 1839.

THE OPIUM TRADE.

TO JOHN HORSLEY PALMER, ESQ.

We have, as yet, no very detailed accounts, but it is
sufficient for my object to know that, under forcible re-
straint, Captain Charles Elliot, the chief superintendent
of trade, and Consular representative of the British
nation, was compelled by the local Chinese authorities
to sign agreements to deliver up to them all the opium
belonging to British subjects, which was then in the
vessels at several anchorages off the mouth of the river
leading to the port of Canton. The quantity of British
property is stated at about 20,000 chests, which at 400
Spanish dollars per chest, and at the exchange of as.
per dollar, amounts in value to no less than 2,000,0001.
sterling.

Th; main features of the case are before you ; but
there is yet one—the act of the said superintendent—
which must cause considerable discussion in this country
as to its validity—namely, his promise of indemnifica-
tion to the holders of the said opium, on behalf of the
British Government.

I will now advert to the Opium trade, that being
put forward as the proximate cause of all the evils our
countrymen are enduring at Canton. Agitation has al-
ready commenced against it in England and America ;
publications have issued from the presses of both coun-
tries, loudly condemnatory of the traffic, and the use of
the drug, and prizes are offered for the best essays
against it. Until the close of the last century opium
was admitted into China, paying duties as a medicine. It
was then nominally prohibited by an Imperial Edict,
but still the Chinese authorities at Canton (with whom
alone foreigners have any intercourse) permitted the
warehousing ships to remain permanently at Whampoa,
about 12 miles below Canton, where all foreign vessels
discharge and receive their cargoes, About the
year 1820 or 1821, owing to the increased importa-
tion of opium, the warehousing ships were or-
dered out of port, but the trade was steadily
continued ; the ships anchoring at Lintin, Canton,
Cap-sing-moon, Cum-sing-moon, or other places conve-
nient for the Chinese purchasers. They having arranged
the scale of bribes payable on each chest to the Governor
of the province, commander of the troops, commander
of the fleet, and the chief officers of police, customs,
&c., especially the latter, resorted in well manned boats
to the British and other foreign ships having opium on
board, and having paid the cost, either on board or at
Canton, received the drug in quantities, varying from a
single chest to 150 at a time. When the said Govern-

men t officers could not place confidence in their country-
men for the due payment of the fees, it was arranged
that a mandarin should, at fixed periods, go on 1o nl
the ships, when eeeli commander stated the month's de-
livekes, and the mandarin received the amount of dol-
lars agreed upon foe ;each chest. It is lamentable in-
jeed that such a stt;te of -trade should have existed,
but the Chinese local Government was the blameable
pariy.; Their ill-paid officers have made bribery and
evasion o the law ti►e rule—conformity the exception
of their conduct.
But, say the anti-opititu party, that traffic is pre-
eminently sinful, and all who aid in it ere involved in
the sin, as are all who use or abuse the drug, Ido not
intend to advocate the use of this or any other st;,:uu-
lent ; nevertheless, scarcely a nation exists which has
not one or more commonly taken by its people to ex-
hilarate or inebriate, as their desires may prompt.
Ardent spirits, of various sorts, in Europe and America;
crude opium in Turkey, India, and amongst the Malays ;
bang (a preparation of hemp-seed) in parts of India ; in
most countries, tobacco, wines, &c., are used, to the in-
jury, often, of the health and morals of millions. It
would be a blessing, indeed, could all men be induced
to forego such indulgences ; but since that is not to be
effected, I boldly assert, from the experience I have
had of Chinese habits, that I prefer, as a national
vice, the use of opium, prepared in the mode pre-
valent in China; to the use of any ardent spirit,
and a happy thing would it have been, since stimu-
lants we must have, had the British people adopted
the opium in lieu of gin, whisky, &c. The abuse of
either, no doubt, leads to disease and death, but a
moderate use is quite compatible with the enjoyment of
health and long life. The European spirit-drinking de-
bauchee is a violent, often a furious madman. Crimes
of all degrees of heinousness are committed by him, and
he ends his days, perchance, under the just sentence of
the law for those crimes. The Chinese opium debau-
chee is a dreaming, quiet, and useless member of society.
He, too, ends his days in a pitiable state ; but he does
not superadd those violent crimes so injurious to others,
which the former constantly does. Each dies beggared
and despised, but the former often causes the death or
destruction of the property of his nearest relations. I
have known many Chinese, who habitually used the
watery extract of opium (the only preparation of it in
their country) for smoking, without feeling the slightest
injury. They were moderate men, like our gentlemanly
wine drinkers. As well, then, might we denounce our
gentlemen, our wine and spirit merchants, for using or
selling their commodities, because many low-minded
creatures become drunken sots, as denounce the Chi-
nese smoker or opium dealer because many of his coun-
trymen took the drug in excess.
From the observation of Chinese customs, habits, and
general system of trade, I have long since come to the
conclusion, that our trading in opium (which is there as
great a national luxury as tea with us) is as little sinful
as the trading in any other stimulant with other nations ;
and, could the British Government induce the Chinese
to authorize its admission on payment of fixed duties
(as was proposed by many of the members of the Im-
perial Council in 1836), we should, in my opinion, have
no cause whatever for self-condemnation.

The opium trade has only by circumstances been
made to appear more one of defiance to the Chinese
laws than many other branches of trade which
have been very extensively carried on by the ves-
sels of every nation resorting to that empire. The
law there prohibits the exportation of silver and of
metals generally, and imposes such heavy duties on
many articles, as cassia, camlets, ginseng, pearls, precious
stones, cornelians, watches, mechanical curiosities, raw
and wrought silks, &c., that established prices for evad-
ing regular duties have been openly agreed to between
importers or exporters and the Chinese authorities to
allow of the possibility of any trade in them being con-
tinued. In former years, before spelter was so largely
sent from Europe to India, one of the chief returns for
Indian cotton was that metal called tutenague to a very
large annual value, and the whole was smuggled down to
the ships. It would seem, then, that setting aside
opium dealings, a considerable portion of the trade
of China is conducted by setting at naught what are
termed duties. The prohibitions and high arbitrary
exactions on many things preclude the possibility of
our merchants making returns for imports consigned
to them otherwise than by the local Chinese autho-
rities continually aiding in the shipment of Sycee, &c.
The Honourable East India Company even, during
the last few years of their trade with China, must
either have inundated great Britain with teas, or do as
other foreigners—ship Sycee as returns far their cotton,
&c. They did so extensively and profitably, receiv-
ing the Sycee silver from the opium ships at Lintin on
board of the Hon. Company's ships. Are we to scorn
those who bribe for the introduction of opium, camlets,
pearls, &c., and admire those who bribe for the carry-
ing off Sycee silver dollars, spelter, cassia, &c.? Why,
the very residence of any foreigner permanently in
China, at least in Canton, and the mainland gene-
rally, is against the laws of the empire. To learn its
language by the aid of natives, to employ them as ser-
vants, to build or possess houses, and many other
things, constantly and of necessity done, are breaches
of the law ! Shall we condemn every one who has
been by the peculiarly undefined state of international
commerce compelled to such breaches? Rather may
we cast blame on the natives of the world, who have so
long submitted to that undefined intercourse.

The Chinese Government, after encouraging by
various means an enormous foreign trade, in-
cluding that in opium, suddenly, with a view
to the annihilation of that branch of it, commits
unprecedented outrages on our Consul and merchants ;
by force compels them to yield up an immense value
of property ; causes the greatest derangement in the
operations of all concerned in the China trade, both in
India and Great Britain ; destroys a large item of the
revenues of India ; and wholly, without condescending
to make known its intention to foreign States, wages a
cowardly war upon their unprotected merchants and
their commerce. on the plea or a revival of morality
amongst the Chinese Ministers and people, and a dread
of the silver bullion of the empire being too largely ex-
ported as the balance of its general trade. The use of
opium, and with it the export of silver, have certainly
extended most widely since the great reduction of the
former in price, which the competition of growth be-
tween the East India Company's territories and the
free Malwa States has brought about ; but it is
erroneous to suppose that the abolition of the cul-
ture of the poppy in India would cause the disuse
of the drug in China, or that Sycee silver would
cease to be exported, should commerce with other na-
tions be continued, and the balance remain on the general
trade against China. Read what one of their great
officers of state, Censor, &c., says in his memorial. He
is named Choo Toon, and was the chief opponent of
the plan for legalizing the opium trade, when that ques-
tion was agitated in the Pekin councils. He admits
that in six provinces the poppy is extensively culti-
vated,and,speaking of Yun-nan province, he says, " The
poppy is cultivated all over the hills and open cham-
paigne, and that the opium annually produced there
cannot be less than several thousand chests." How is
it possible for any Government to destroy a confirmed
taste in its subjects for such a luxury ? Is not the con-
trary proven from the fact which he reports, that
" while nominally prohibited, the cultivation of it has
not really been stopped" in those six provinces? Would
not the cessation of the foreign import of opium merely
cause a general culture of the poppy in China ? We
may reply affirmatively, and adduce tobacco as an
example. It is not generally known that tobacco,
which was not indigenous in any part of the East,
was introduced into China and other parts by the early
navigators. It was, like opium, deemed a noxious drug
in China. Edicts were fulminated against its use, pro-
hibitions attempted against its introduction, and the
difficulties thus created caused the price to be from 300
dollars to 400 dollars per picul (1331 b.) No effort of
Government could restrain the people from its use ; it
was found to grow luxuriantly in many districts of the
empire, from seed imported by foreigners ; and now what
is the result? The edicts and prohibitions are forgot-
ten ; men, women, and children, use it universally ; and
the price is about one-hundredth part of the former pe-
riod, or 3 dollars to 4 dollars per picul.
I propose now to assign some causes for this unusua
step of the Chinese Government in seizing foreigners,
and their property, during a state of perfect quiet and
peaceable intercourse, which had existed for many years
without interruption.

It is evident that of late years the state censors
have brought before the Council at Pekin many argu-
ments respecting foreign intercourse. The free dis-
cussion of the opium question is proved by the pub-
lished memorials of Choo Tsun and Heu Naetse, the
one against the other, for its being made a legal import.
We have but slight means of knowing what passes at
Pekin, but natives, in connexion with high offices of
state, have at Canton asserted that in the Imperial
Council parties were divided on the question of ex-
and that it was not unfrequently
pelling all foreigners,
agitated, especially as regards the English nation.
We have heard much of Russian influence and in-
trigue against our power in the East. It has been
pretty clearly shown to exist in many parts of India,
Western Asia, Persia, Burmah, &c. ; and, although the
grounds for the belief of such intrigue may not be
always well substantiated, we may admit that the spirit
of her policy is to undermine the British supremacy
everywhere. It is reasonable, therefore, to infer that
at Pekin, where a Russian college is maintained, and
numerous functionaries, the same policy would be pur-
sued. What more effective mode could Russia adopt
to cripple our efforts in the north-west of India than
by annihilating
our trade and revenues in the
East India Company's territories, and thereby
causing discontent amongst the people under their do-
minion ? It is probable that from the influence of
Russia, China may have had her fears excited as to our
intentions, our acts in India having been quite adequate
to cause her great alarm. I allude to the large arms'•
ment and warlike preparations in all parts of our Indian
territories in 1837 and 1838, and the progress of our
army to the north-west of India, by the latest accounts
successfully as far as Candahar, and in progress towards
Cabul. It is quite overlooked in England that our
army rapidly approaches the western borders of the