The Sun.
London, England, 1840-04-25 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 2:), 1840.

crime of the Emperor of China. Why should such a
state of things as that form a good ground of war ?
( Hear, hear.) The people of that country would never
sanction a war set on foot upon such grounds.—( Cheers. )
With respect to the effects of opium upon the human
frame it was not perhaps generally known that those who
flew to opium for refuge from care or for pleasurable ex-
citement, committed themselves to the insidious influence
which destroyed their physical powers, prostrated the
powers of their nature, induced sufferings indescribable,
leaving them no refuge but despair and death.—( Hear,
ho it..) That was what the Emperor of China was anxious
to prevent his countrymen and subjects suffering under. It
was that pestilence, that moral plague, lie wished to put
down. In the course of time it would have depopulated
his vast empire, and even if the progress of depopula-
tion had been slow, the progress of demoralization would
have been rapid in the extreme. The nineteenth century
had been called the age of intellect, and they heard much
of its science, its intelligence, and its civilization. Why,
then, in such enlightened times as the present should
t they unsheathe the sword against the Emperor of China ?
I Was it because like another Caner or Napoleon he wished
to carry war and desolation throughout the world.—(" No,
no.") No the Emperor of China was content with his
paternal dominions ; he wished to see the fair garden over
which he presided fair and flourishing, and he had been
heard to declare that if he did not put down the opium
trade, when he left that world for the next, he would be
ashamed to meet the shades of his ancestors.—(Cheers.)
It was absurd to suppose that the object of the present
eting was to interfere with the commerce of that country
its the legitimate sense of the word. Nothing could be a
greater sophism than that. Legitimate commerce was the
daughter of peace, and the promoter of the humanizing
arts of civilization. It traversed vast seas to link different
nations in social intercourse, and like a floating world it
carried on its bosom the fruits of peaceful industry to all
mankind. In the course of the debate in the Commons
it was stated that they sent Bibles and Missionaries to
China, and that the opium war might be made the means
of facilitating the introduction of Christianity.—(Oh.) A
more monstrous propositions he never heat d of—instead of
missionaries and Bibles they were to be the bearers to the
Chinese of opium and blood.—(Shame.) It was the very
mockery of Christianity itself. He admitted that in the
dark ages war had been undertaken for the propagation of
Christianity ; but there was something of chivalry in these
wars, and they had fanatical ignorance for their excuse.
The present, however, was a case of sordid and selfish base-
ness unrelieved by a single generous impulse for the service
of humanity. It was not upon the altar of Christianity,
but the altar of Mammon, that the torch was lighted to
spread the conflagration of war through the dominions of
China.—( Hear, hear.) Let it not be said that England
abused the gifts of a beneficent Providence for the promo-
tion of so unholy a traffic, but let them rather call to mind
the sublime maxim which was engraved on an ancient
Egyptian monument—" Know all you who exercise power
that God hates injustice."—(Loud cheers.) Mr. Taylor
concluded by moving the first resolution as follows :
" That this meeting, whilst it most distinctly disavows
any party or political objects, and deprecates most strongly
any sueh construction being put upon its efforts, deeply
laments that the moral and religious feeling of the country
should be outraged,lthe character of Christianity disgraced
in the eyes of the world, and this Kingdom involved in a
war with upwards of three hundred and fifty millions of
people, in consequence of British subjects introducing
opium into China in direct and known violation of the
laws of that empire."

Rev. C. STOVEL seconded the resolution, although he
confessed there were some parts of the question with
which he was not so well acquainted. Those who were to
address them on either side would not, however, he felt sa-
tisfied, leave them without ample information on every
point. He did not think that much argument was neces-
sary to support the present resolution. War was repug-
nant to humanity, and ought to be repulsive to all. If it
were not so certainly they were not much the better for
their Christianity.—(Hear.) It had been said by Sir
George Staunton that commercial transactions of
such a nature with China stood upon such
very uncertain and undefined grounds that it became
matter of great difficulty to conduct their affairs with that
empire. It had been said that the Emperor of China
would not admit in proper form, and treat with proper re-
spect, a Consul from our Government, or receive such an
officer from us. No doubt there were many difficulties in
such a state of things, but he would submit whether the
settling of such a question was not an outrage upon the
Christian feeling of the country, and called for the most
solemn protest of such a meeting.—( Hear, and cheers.)
Some time ago a province of considerable extent separated
itself from France—had thrown off the chains of slavery,
proclaimed themselves free, and showed to the whole
world the glorious spectacle of the negro race, in the face
of smiling heaven, enjoying the blessings of liberty in a
just and subdued spirit. For many years that State had
remained unrecognised—we refused to receive their Con-
sul, nor did we send one there, but it was made a pretext
for war. Was it thought a just cause for war, for the
people of that country coming over to burn London, to plun-
der the Bank, or slaughter the people of this country ?
(Cheers.) No ; that was not a matter which ought to be
settled by the sword by a Christian State; it was a proper
one for negotiation—not a question to be settled by war.
Even had they broken our laws, or wrongfully imprisoned
our merchants, still that would not have been a case
for war. There were precedents for negotiation—nego-
tiations with the same Power had been resorted to
on former occasions, and upon all such occasions ample
redress had been offered.--(Cheers.) Upon this occasion,
had there been any appeal to the Emperor ? No ; that
course, the proper one, had not been taken. It was to be
remembered that there were mutual advantages in our in-
tercourse with China. We had our cup of tea, and a
great comfort it was ; but the Chinese, who cultivated that
plant, depended upon its sale for his bread—it was like our
cotton manufacture, which gave the bread of life to thou-
sands. Now, if there were any just grounds for negotia-
tion, there was every motive on their part to give redress
for any wrong.—(Cheers.) But when we had broken
their laws, when we had poisoned their people, and de-
graded their population—nay, more, when we had degraded
ourselves, by desending from the throne of Christianity to
become the poisoners of thousands—surely that was not a
time when the sword of England ought to be drawn for
war, her thunder heard, or the blood of Englishmen be
shed.—(Cheers.) One peculiar feature of the case arose
from the great difference which existed between the two
Governments. The Chinese Government was purely Patri-
archal. It was the purest remnant of that Patriarchal state
shown in Genesis, and other books. The name of the
Emperor was the Royal Father of the whole of the people
of China. He had, therefore, to look to the welfare of
the whole people, as a father of his own family. He
would suppose the gentleman who had interrupted the
proceedings to be the father of five or six children. Let
him place himself in the midst of them, and suppose a
person was to come and offer them the sweet balls pre-
pared for children, each containing some destructive spirit.
Let hint see them one day trembling with the excitement
of drunkenness ; the next, languishing with trembling
nerves and exhausted frame, he would see them prepared
for every vice, and nothing that was good. Let him
watch the death-bed of one or two of them, and re-
turn to see the rest going the same way. He
would ask, would he embrace the man or monster
who had been the cause of the evil?—( Loud cheers.)
He knew he was speaking to generous hearts,
and he would rather die than despair of ever seeing them
in the breasts 01 Englishmen.—(Cheers.) He would ask
whether any one under such circumstances as he had de-
picted, after he had bolted and barred his door, he saw a
battery built up in the distance—(Cheers)—when he found
his door forced in order tint the poison might be given to
the rest of his family—would any one think that just ?
(Cheers. ) Then, when that would be unjust in any one
person, how could any one defend the coolness of a Go-
vernment in rushing into such a war? He trusted that
there was no one present who would defend such a state
of things by disturbing the proceedings of the meeting.
Suppose we were to sweep the whole of the Chinese from
the face of the earth, still the disgrace that
would attach to England must be everlasting.—( Hear.)
It had been said by the Chairman that the poison of our
chalice would be returned to our own lips. It had been
so already. The trade in opium had been particularly
transferred to these shores ; it was spreading among our
population, and England would cease to be England if it
were not stopped.—( Hear, hear.) Every pillar, every
wall, ornament, and article that made up a large edifice,
rested on the foundation on which it stood ; so the whole
fabric of our empire leaned and rested on the health and
morality of its population.—(Cheers.) There was one
point on which he felt more deeply interested than any
other, although he wished to be modest in every thing
he related. He would submit to the meeting whether
the interests of our religion ought not to be
seriously considered in connection with the Chinese
empire.—( Hear, hear, hear.) Was it a matter of
no moment to this country when a sovereignty was to be
gained or lost, or a cargo hazarded on the deep, whether
those men should lift up their eyes in torments ; for it was
calculated that four milliens of them were passing every
thirty years into eternity ; and while our merchants were
acquiring a large fortune, was it not to be asked what
was the price of all that ?—( Hear, hear.) lie would not
like to acquire a fortune from the miseries of his fellow-
men, but he was sorry to say that he had oft-times
seen men otherwise highly reputable its this world,
and even in the Church, who had not been very
careful in considering from what source they
.acquired
their immense incomes.—( Hear, hear.) But before this
country drew the sword, he would implore every Christian
man to consider what would be the result as regarded the
Bible. Might we not be smothered in a war with the ad-
jacent nations—(Hear, hear,)—and even if we succeeded
in ever conqueringlthat empire, how would the Chinese re-
ceive the Bible? Why, they would receive it from men
who were dishonoured in having broke every one of its
precepts. —(Cheers.) But he would take a higher ground
and say, that however just England's claims might be, they
had no right to go to war %Oh China at all.—( Hear.)
Ere the rules of our holy religion were complied
with, we should have to beat our swords into ploughshares,
and our spears into pruning-hooks, and men would hear of
war no more—we should have to change the roar of the
cannon's mouth into the voice of love—to change the
manufacture of muskets into the forming of implements
for the promotion of agriculture and the cultivation of the
arts of peace—making the mountains fruitful, and not
barren—making cities populous, and not desolate ; and,
under the blessings of their Heavenly Father, the arts of
peace would teach them to draw a healthy livelihood from
a populous world, and not an unhealthy livelihood
from a depopulated one; and then it would be found
that men could live happier among cultivated fields than
among desolated towns. He cordially seconded the reso-
lution.--( Loud cheers.)
After the resolution had been put, a gentleman who
had frequently interrupted the
,proceedings, said he
wished to move an amendment, and upon his ascending
the platform, amid cheers and hisses, the Noble Chairman
entreated the meeting to give all persons a patient hear-
ing, and the speakers to abstain from introducing all
party politics, ar,d confine themselves strictly to the subject
of the resolution.