The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1857-04-29
The Opium Trade and British East 1no'a
Company.

About one fifth of the vast revenues OF the
East India Company are derived from the SAFE
of opium, The poppy is cultivated with great
system and energy, under a system prescribed oy
the company, and in the best part of the lnoia
Empire. 1t Is only since the year l766, that the
cultivation of this plant has received attention In
India with . view to raising sufficient quan.
tity for the opium market. The abundant sup
niles which benifcent Nature has provided for
med;cnal purposes would not suffice for its use as
an Intoxicating drug, and therefore it is cuItiva
tad with great care and assiduous watchfulness to
nrepare 1t for its baleful mission. The great Gus
toner is China, from whose people the East India
Compsnv derives every year about five millions
of pounds sterling in silver, what is equivalent,
tea and silks. The national finances of the Chi.
pese Cove rnment as we'll as the physical conssitu-
t,on of its subj ects is becoming seriously derapg
ed by the drain which every year is made upon
its resources by the traffic in this detestable drug
In vain the most stringent measures are employ.
ad bv the Chinese authorities to prevent a prac.
tice. which is more prolific of misery and ruin
than the most poisonous compounds of whiskey,
IN our own low deus of vice and crime There Is
hope for the inebriate by strong drink cases Of
complete reformation of old drunkards are not of
uufrequent occurrence, but there Ia DO instance on
record where q confirmed opium smoker and eat
er was ever reclaimed.
The poverty and suffering which China suffers
from this scourge are enough to harrow the tough
est sersibiltes. The horrors of the African slave
trade become BRIGHT and cheerful when compared
with the degradation and agony which opium smo.
king produces In China Ridiculous as are the Chi
nese Imperial proclamatious and well calculated to
bring the Emperor into contempt there is something
90 digned and noble in the persistent though hope
less efforts of the Imperial power to prevent the
sale and of opium, even at the sacrifice of the
large revenues which it might derive from the
traffic, that we cannot but regard iss position e.
more truly elevated and honorable, as well "a
ust, than that of the powerful and enlightened
empire which compelled 1t TO receive opium at the
point Of the bayouet.
The revenues of the East India company from
opium are next in value to those which it derives
from the land tax which is the most productive ouu
tain of its vast wealth, the annual income from
that alone being s75 900 OO0 1t is to support the
overgrown fortunes of this powerful COMPANY that
Great Britain sustains traffic more Infamous and
wicked than the slave trade. This is not the Ian
gusge of exaggeration. Take the slave trade
at Its worst, 1t bat destroys the bodies of some
who perish on the passage 1t elevates the
moral and social condition of those who SURVIVE
At any rate, none of them are parties to the pro.
duction of their own misery. The opium trade
kills millions, body and soul, making them parti.
cipants In their own destruction, and these mil.
lions are heather, whom Great Britain invites to
take poison from one hand and to receive the Cos
pei from the other!
We are aware that the clergy OF the English
Church. and even the officers of its navy, have
raised their voices in stern remonstranee against
this Ubiquitous traffic. The Bishop of Hong Kong
pointedy reminds his government that 1t is per-
feetly useless to preach Christianity to the Chs
nese whilst the British flag introduces and pro-
tec.s the opium trade. Capt. Elliott of the British
Navy, remarked in one of his official dispatches:
No man entertains deeper detestation of the
disgrace and sin Of this forced traffic than the
humble individual who signs this dispatch. / see
little TO choose between 1t and piracy; and 1t IL
rapidly staining the British character with the
deepest disgrace."
Nevertheless, there is no symptom of relaxation
10 'th ruinous trade. With what face can Great
Britain reprove America for the wicksdness OF
naveholding, whilst she sweiis her Golfers BY
franc In opium ten thousand times more demorsL
tHlg ana anhnman than slavery In its most on
Ptsseiye ana hlde0ue form9