The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-11 00:00:00

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As for stopping the opium traffic, this, we are
assured, is impossible ; no measures, however
severe, can entirely succeed; thousands are ready
to risk their lives to procure the drug, and there
are thousands who, from long habit., would, if
deprived of it, prefer to be in their graves.
Here is a striking account of a Chinese opium
smoking:house :
• •. . • ,

" One of the objects that I had the curiosity to visit, was
the opium-smoker in his heaven ; and certainly it is a most
fearful sight, although perhaps not so degrading to the eye as
the drunkard from spirits, lowered to the level of the bru'e,
and wallowing in his filth. The idiot smile and death-like
stupor, however, of the opium debauchee has something far
more awful to the gaze than the bestiality of the latter. Pity,
if possible, takes the place of other feelings, as we watch the
faded cheek and haggard look of the being abandoned
to the power of the drug; while disgust is uppermost
at the sight of the human creature levelled to the beast by
intoxication. The rooms where the Chinese sit and smoke are
surrounded by wooden couches, with places for the head to
rest upon, and generally a side-room is devoted to gambling.
The pipe is a reed of about an inch in diameter, and the aper-
ture of the bowl for the a .mission of the opium is not larg e
than a pin's head. The drug is prepared with some kind of
conserve, and a very small portion is sufficient to charge it,
one or two whiffs being the utmost that can be inhaled from a
single pipe; and the smoke is taken into the lungs, as from
the hookah in, India. On a beginner one or two pipes will
have an effect, but an old stager will continue smoking for
hours. At the head of each couch is placed a small lamp, as
fire must be hold to the drug during the process of inhaling;
and from the difficulty of filling and properly lighting the pipe,
there is generally a perssn who waits upon the smoker, to per-
form the office. A few days of this fearful luxury, when taken
to excess, will give a pallid and haggard look to the face -;and a
few months, or even weeks, will change the strong and healthy
man into little better than an idiot skeleton. The pain they
suffer when deprived of the drug, after long habit, no language
can explain • and it is only when to a certain degree under its
influence, that their faculties are alive. In the houses devoted
to their ruin, these infatuated people may be seen at nine
o'clock in the evening in all the different stages. Some enter-
ing half- distracted, to feed the craving appetite they had been
obliged to subdue during the day ; others laughing and talking
wildly, under the effects of a first pipe ; while the couches
round are filled with their different occupants, who lie languid,
with an idiot smile on their countenance, too much under the
influence of the drug to care for passing events, and fast verg-
ing towards the wished-for consummation. The last scene in
this tragic play is generally a room in the rear of the building,
a species of dead-house, where lie stretched those who have
passed into that state of bliss the opium-eater madly seeks—an
emblem of the long sleep to which he is madly hurrying."
The above spirited sketch will remind the
reader of similar scenes described in " Anas-
tasius," and the- -" Autobiography of an English
Opium-eater," and also of 1)r. Madden's account
of the opium-smokers at Constantinople. Of
Singapore, where Lord Jocelyn made a short
halt, he tells us, that though the town has not
existed above twenty years, yet already the trade
is nearly equal to that of Bombay; and that a
chief feature, which shows its late origin from
the wilds, is the number of tigers that still roam
about the purlieus of the town, entering even
the gardens and compounds of the inhabitants,
as if loth to leave their ancient domains. Not
far from Singapore there exists, it seems, a
curious tribe, named Bennas, who infest the
jungles, and are supposed to be the aborigines of
the country. They seldom come down into the
snore civilised parts of the continent, unless
caught and forcibly detained. Their stature is
rarely above four feet four ; and when the chil-
dren reach the age of manhood, they destroy
their parents to make way for their own genera-
tion; and the skulls of their deceased parents
are the only tokens that they keep to remind
them of the authors of their being, and their
unnatural fate. We close our hasty notice with
an account of the capture of Chusan, shortly
after which event Lord Jocelyn quitted the ex-
pedition, and returned home :
During the whole of that night the shore presented a most
beautiful spectacle, the hills around and suburbs appearing a
moving mass of variegated light. In China no individual ever
moves out at night without these painted lanterns, carrying
them in their hands, or on short bamboos. By their help we
could perceive that crowds were busy throwing up some more
of their wretched embankments, and placing gingalls and fresh
guns in position. The merchant-junks were faintly seen,
through the shades of darkness, heaving up their heavy anchors,
and stealing silently through the fleet, laden half-way up their
masts with goods and merchandise, and crowded with women
and children : these were allowed to pass without molesta-
tion, although in their cargoes many a captain might have
made his fortune. None can deny that every leniency was
shown, and every endeavour made, compatible with his posi-
tion, by the Commodore commanding, to save an effusion of
the blood of these infatuated people. In the first place, as they
most justly observed, it seemed hard that they should be made
to suffer for the sins of the Canton -Government, and we had no
injuries to revenge personally upon them ; in the second place,
our force was numerically so much superior, that they would
lose nothing in their own eyes by being defeated, when victory
on their part was impossible ; thirdly, more was likely to be
gained at a spot which it was then hoped might prove at a fu-
ture day an eligible seat for our commerce, by conciliation, an
gentle endeavours, leaving no rankling reminiscences on th.:
minds of the people. If a blow became necessary, it would
have far more effect, if struck at some point where the Chi-
nese considered themselves most invulnerable, and where, there-
fore, it wou'd become more awakening to their vanity and self-
opinion. However, it happened otherwise ; and the morning
of the sth of July, 1840, was the day fated for her Majesty's
flag to wave over the most beautiful island appertaining to the
Celestial Empire, the first European banner that has floated as
conqueror over the " Flowery Land." The dawn of day
brought.rnuch.the same spectacle as the preceding, excepting
that a few guns were mounted en the Jos-house hill, and the
mandarins were seen actively employed ranning about along
the wharfs. Soon afterwards they were remarked to take
their different stands with the troops, one among them with
his party in the martello tower being particularly conspi-
cuous. The war-junks were drawn up and crowded with men.
The British men-of-war were lying in line, with their larboard
broad-sides towards the town, at the distance of two hundred
yards from the wharf and foot of the hill. They consisted of the
Wellesley, 74; Conway and Alligator, 28; Cruiser and Al-
gerine, 18 ; and ten gun-brigs. At eight o'clock the signal
was hoisted to prepare for action ; still, however, time was given
by the Commodore, hoping to the last they would repent, and
it was not until two o'clock that the troops left the transports
in the boats of the squadron, and took up their position in two
lines in rear of the men-of-war, to land under cover of the
fire. At half-past two the Wellesley fired a gun at the mar-
tello tower : this was immediately returned by the whole line
of junks, and the guns on the causeway and the hill ; then
the shipping opened their broadsides upon the town, and he
crashing of timber, falling houses, and groans of men, re-
sounded from the shore. The firing lasted on our side for
nine minutes, but even after it had ceased a few shots were
still heard from the unscathed junks. When the smoke cleared
away a mass of ruin presented itself to the eye, and on the
place lately alive with men, none but a few wounded were to
be seen; but crowds were visible in the distance, flying in all
directions. A few were distinguished carrying the wounded
from the junks into the town, and our friend the Chum in
was seen borne from his vessel by a faithful few, having lost
his leg in the action by a round shot. It is as well here to
mention that he was taken to Ningpo, a town en the opposite
island, and although honours were heaped upon him for his
gallant, but unavailing defence, he survived but a few days to
wear them. Before the last shot was fired tha General and
his staff left the Wellesley, the boats with the troops following
in their wake, cheering the men-of-war as they passed
through, the sailors returning the hurrahs through the ports.
We landed on a deserted beach; a few dead bodies, bows and
arrows, broken spears and guns, remaining the sole occupants
of the field. The men arriving from the boats formed along
the causeway in line, and the 18th advanced up the steps lead-
ing to the temple on the hill. On reaching the summit we
distinguished the inner town, which had not been visible from
the shipping : it was situated in a hollow in rear of the mount,
and the bird's-eye view was very picturesque. On the walls
were seen the banners of the Chinese soldiery, whilst the men
crowded along the ramparts, beating their tomtoms and gongs,
beckoning us with their hands to the attack as the troops be-
came visible to them on the hill. They opened their wretched
wall-pieces, which, from their construction, can neither tra-
verse nor be depressed, and which, being charged with a bad
description of powder, did no damage to the force.
In the course of two hours from the time of leaving the ships,
the Madras artillery had four guns in position, and fired a few
shells into the town; the advanced picquets were posted, and
the Chinese fired upon the reconnoitring parties fram the walls
wherever they became visible. The evening began to close in,
and the commanding officers were desired to seek covering for
the men, as Brig. -Gen. Burrell had determined not to attack
the town before the following morning. Until ten o'clock that
night the Chinese kept up a dropping fire, under cover of
which they afterwards appeared to have deserted the town.
During the evening the civil magistrate and some of his officers
were killed by our shells, and the Governor drowned himself
in a tank when accused of cowardice by his people. On the
following morning the desertion of the place became visible
from the heights ; and through the long vistas of the valleys
thousands were seen flying, carrying their goods and chattels
along with them. The bridge across the outer-ditch having
been demolished the previous evening, the troops were brought
to a momentary halt ; the great gate of the town, too, was
found to be barricadoed, and the wall which surrounded the
city to be of great strength. It was, however, soon scaled,
and in a few minutes the banner of England was floating over
the Chinese city of Tinghai ; the ramparts were found strewed
with pikes, matchlocks, and a species of fire-rocket, arrow-
headed ; and on the parapets, packets of quick-lime were
packed up, to blind the eyes of the barbarians, had they endea-
voured to mount the walls.