The North-Carolina standard., 1850-05-08

THE OPIUM Trade. An Interesting pamphlet on
the Opium trade, carried on at the present time,
in India and China, has jest been published in
this City, BY John p. Jewett g. Co. It is from the
pen of Nathan Allen, NJ. D., and presents clear
and comprehensive survey of subject which is Of
much greater moment than is generally supposed.
The rapid Peopling of the Pacific shores--the fact
that many of the immigrants into California are from
China and other parts of Asia-are circumstances
winch invest with added interest the extraordinary
details here given. gg.ss. :
How much does the reader suppose that China ex-
Pends annually for the single article of opium 1t
will be onnd from the statistics here presented, that
sue expends more money than the whole amount of
the revenue of the United States from all sources
whatever, and larger sum than any one nation on
the globe pays to another for a single raw material
with the exception of what Great Britain pays to
this country for cotton. -l,-
Compared with ardent spirits, opium is said to be
far more perncious in its effects and there is no sla
very on earth to be compared to the bondage into
which 1t casts its victim. Its operation is dead
ly, by many degrees, than its less tyranncal rival
A Chinaman once remarked /" 1t is not the man who
eats opium, but opium that eats the man, The Chi
nese use opium principally in the form of smoking.
The manner of smoking it differs materially from that
OF tobacco The process consists in taking very long
whs, thereby expanding their lungs to their utmost
capacity, and communicating the influence of the in
toxicang drug to all the air cells, and at the same
possible.
in Persia, Turkey, and other countries, where the
vice Of opium eating has existed for long time. do
not represent the evils be as great as those of
opium-smoking in China.
Repeated efforts have been made by the Chinese
government to arrest the traffic in this demorazino
drug. How they were baf1ed recently by the Eng
ish, must be fresh in the recollection of our readers
"Fhe opium war;" says an Independent English wri-
ter twill stand out in history as the blackest stain
on the character of Britain, being outrage JUS
f100 hySn i'll
rights of nations :" That the Chinese government
has always been earnest sincere in resisting the intro
duction of opium, DR.. Allen thinks there can be no
doubt. For forty years its opposition to the evil
has been steady and Strong. 1t does not permit the
cultivation of the poppy in China, although the soil
and climate OF the country admirably adapted 70
the cultivation. The emperor when urged to legal
ze the opium trade and establish duties on it's mpor-
taton, replied in these memorable words: 1t is true
cannot prevent the introduction of the flowing poi
son; gain-seeking and corrupt men will, for profit
and sensuality defeat my wishes but nothing ,ci tn
dce me to deriue from the nice and misery
Of my people," Christian England, ponder these
words and blush!
The conclusion at which DR.. Allen arrives, is that
the opium war; resulting in the treaty, by which the
island of Hong Kong was ceded to the British, and
five Of the principal cities thrown open to the
British trade, has afforded increased facilities for
prosecuting this pernicous and nnchristian traffic. 1t
was never in a more vigorous and fourishing state
tldn dI the present lime. more than nifty thousand
chests annually shipped to China, taking off in
return thirty-fve millions of dollars. According to
the most recent intelligence, the sale will reach sixty
thousand chests the present year. Since the war with
England, the severe laws of China against all who
used dealt in opium, have been made dead letter
her statute book The article is landed all along
the coast, and smoked publicly in the chief Cities In
the lecture before the Boston Mercantile Library As
sociaton, Mr.. William Sturgs recently stated, that
in 1918, millions of dollars in specie were car
ried from the United States China to pay for our
importa:ions from that country but most of
purchases are paid by bills of exchange on England
from. the proceeds Of the opium trade!
Not only does this opium produce the most dread
ful physical and moral evils in China, but it's intro
duction by Christians leads the intelligent Chinese
to distrust and reject Christianity. Dr.. Medhurst
says that almost the first word uttered by Chinese
when any thing is said concerning the excellence of
Christianity is, " Why do Christians bring us opium
in defiance of our laws ?'' The same ships tha,
bring the missionary bring the most fatal obstacle
to his success. How long,, asks the author of this
timely and wellw1itten pamphlet, IS will an enlight-
ened and Christian nation continue to farm and grow
means of vice, with the proceeds of which, even
when in her possession, benighted and pagan ma
tion disdans to repenish her treasury being drawn
from the ruin and misery of her people. What must
be the verdict of future generations as they peruse
the history of these wrongs and oqtrages g.
Boston Transcript