The Feliciana Democrat. (Clinton, La.) 1855-186?, 1857-03-07
From the Detroit Free Press.
FRITISH PHILANTHROPY AND
BRITISH GUILT

IHc DIltiSG TESS anu tnt DllbSi puoi'
have manifested good deal of concern during
the past few years about the institution OF sla-
very in the United States Exeter Hail. in
London, has been the scene of many an anti
American slavery meeting, where our Carr
sans, und Philipses, and Stoves have assem-
bled distinguished and numerous audiences,
and Mortified them with shocking details, in
their own peculiar style, of the bnrbnrsm of
slavery in the United States. Much Of the
money with which the antisluvery agitation
on this side of this water has been carried on
has flowed from British pockets. With regard
to no other thing in the wide world has Brit
ish philanthropy been SO mnch awake cd rs
the existing servitudc in our Southern States.
1t would seem rs if all evils in the British so.
cial system had been cured; that every class
OF the British population was rcv,ling in plrn-
ty; that there was nowhere in the British do
mnons either OPPRESSION or want, or distress,
or famine, or starvation; that charity had
been expended at home, and therefore sought
for objects of amclioration abroad We all
remember how Mrs. Stowe was frtcd and feast
ed and lionized all over England and how
even she dcparten from the great British me
tropols without having discovered any of those
which offend the eyes and the nostrils of the
ordinary traveller at every step, and how she
failed to observe any trace of that white Sla.
very in the manufacturing and mining districts
which is said to exceed IN barbnriSm any negro
slavery known in the civilized world. We all
remember these things and many other things
regarding British negro philanthropy; and
since we do thus remember there is no use Of
more particularly recalling attention to them
But there is something else bearing upon this
whole subject not sa familiar to the American
people, for few facts touching which we are
indebted to a contemporary
A public meeting was held in London on
the 18th nit, with reference to the monstrous
and constantly increasing evils inflicted upon
the Chinese population by the English traffic
in opium, in which meeting several members Of
Parliament and other prominent gentlemen
participated. The facts elected are Of painful
in crest, and the amount of testimony adduccd
renders their denial impossible Ii was justly
remarked by one of the speakers, in abiding
to the terrible effects of the drug upon the M
tiycs Of China. that mo question, not even the
sloyc trade, was 20 moncnouS as the qucS-
ton Of opium smuggling" Though atfordihg
traffic, it was clearly shown that those excel
lent English people who are 50 Mortified with
the peculiar institutions of their American
brethren, have but to look within the limits of
Their own proper jurisdiction to discover afro.
cities, sanctioned Wy government, with which
the United States affords no parallel "rhc
banciu influence OF the opium trade" says "a
paper placardcdin the streets of Canton,
''s,ems to threaten, little by little, to degrade
the whole of the population Of the Celestial
Empire to a level with reptiles, wild beasts,
dogs and swine In por'raying its origin
aud fearful progress. Hon. Il. Chambers, vi
p, made the following statement:
Opium, rs most people were aware grew
n india, whittier it was sent to China and the
mighty evils of the drug would be apparent as
he proceeded In 1867 the whole quantity Of
plum, sent from India to China, amounted too
200 chests, ard at that time it was grown,
sold and imported solely as n medical drug,
ANA dug equal to about lbs in English
money was imposed upon each chest. The
tade in opium continued in this free and lcgit.
innate state until the year 1900, when the i'm
portation had increased to 1000 chests, and
the rapid spread Of decentralization caused CON
siderable alarm to the Chinese government.
who, in order to arrest the vice, passed very
stringent laws. Still the importation increas-
ed, and in 1900 the East India Company
made the trade, which had previously been
free and unrestricted, IA monopoly, and from
that time to the present it had remained II
monopoly, and n monopoly which had pccll.
liar and terrible evils annexed to it, such as
had never before accompanied any monopoly.
Hear, hear. The first IF c, of the monopo.
y was smuggling, and Notwithstanding the
extraordinary means adopted 10y Che Chinese
government to prevent the delcicrus drug
from entering China, the East India Company
were equally active, and succeeded in import
ing it in great quantities, spreading misery and
decentralization wherever II went Tncy also
framed several attachments for protecting the
monopoly and Furnishing with much severity
any one who infrnged it. One of these en-
actmcnts contained no less than SO sectone,
6S of which imposed fines and other punish
meu'supon all persons who had anything what
ever to do with opium, either in its growth,
sale or amy other respect, so determined were
the company to maintain the monopoly"
A pamphlet recently published by Major
General Alexander says: $50 completely is
the production of opium in the hands Of the