Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1886-08-13
WHOLE NUMBER 1889.


sideration of Chinese immigration,
as it affects and is likely to affect the
interests of our own country, it may
throw some light upon our relations
with China if we consider how those
relations began, and how they have
been evolved to their present degree
of intricacy and importance. We
shall find that our course has been
tributary to European interests, det-
rimental to our own, and counter, in
! many instances, to the plan dictates
of international justice.
The inception OF the Chinese ques-
ton of to-day lay in the action of
Great Britain in forcing the opium
trade upon China fifty years ago.
For without this there would have
been no material breaking down of
the twin principles of Chinese policy
the exclusion of foreigners, and the
retention of her people within her own
borders. British aggression was based
upon the necessity of finding market
for the opium grown in India, and this
market could only be obtained in
China. The Chinese, possessed of
little conception of any other than
sensorious enjoyment, had long found
in opium source of pleasure at little
pecuniary cost, although at fearful ex-
pense of health. But so severe were the
repressive measures of the Govern
ment that the habit was held in check
to an extent never elsewhere accom-
plished with any form of dissipation.
The importation of the drug was
strictly forbidden under penalty of
death. Though the vigilance of the
officials the quantity introduced by
smuggling was extremely limited, and
the cultivation of the poppy for opium
producing purposes was restricted to
one or two small localities. Opium,
however, was the one great staple pro-
duct for export in the Indian posses
sions of Great Britain, and the finan-
cial condition of those dependencies
rendered the sale of this article abroad
a matter of vital import. Without a
market for opium, and the prosperity
of trade resulting therefrom, British
power in India would have been
shaken to its foundations. This
market was opened by the sword, and
a peaceful nation, striving to shield
its people from one of the greatest
scourges that ever afflicted humanity,
was assailed by armed squadrons; its
fortified cities stormed; its people
slaughtered, and its Government
brought, against its will, into direct
relations with other countries, and
compelled to witness the debasement
of millions of its people by the use of
drug that destroys physical and
mental health, which renders man
hood miserable, and old age degraded.
The import of opium into China
amounts to upwards of seventy mil
lions of dollars annually, so that
seventy-ive per cent. of all the exports
of tea and silk are paid for by the in
fernal drug; and the quantity con-
sumed, including the native growth, is
more than twenty-one million pounds,
or ten thousand five hundred tons.
The extent to which the consumption
of this drug has debased the energies
of the people and induced profligacy
and poverty, cannot be measured.
Nor does the mischief end with this,
for, the industrial capacity of the peo-
pie being diminished, the taxes are
lessened, the difficulty of collecting
them enhanced and the administration
of the Government retarded.
To be continued.