Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1892-07-21
AslA.s oPlun TRADE.
Tho Horrible Traffic for Which Ens;and
l. Responsible.


l. Responsible
It is not Hudson Taylor of the Chinese
inland mission alone that IS authority
Tor the statement that more than io0,-
100000 of China are, directly on indi-
rectly, sufferers from the use of opium. =
The writer of the article on opium in
the last edition OF the '.Encyclope-
lila Britannica" states the number of
those who use it To be l00.000.O00 or
lbs, 00O,00O, as the population may be
300 900, 00O or 400. 001.O0o.
And now the british government in
India, to increase lis revonne. has au-
thorized the licensing OF shops through
out India and Burmah for the free sale
of opium. These licenses are issued in
very unusual form. Those who take
the license come under obligation to
sell stipulated amount or to pay for
felt. Thus the government almost corr
pels the holders of the license to stimu-
late its subjects to consume deadly
poison! The door is thrown wide open
for all the Inhabitants of India to take
that which destroys at once the body
and the soul.
! The unrestricted sale of opium is per-
mitted in Java, with its 20,000 600 of
! population. II is also permitted in the
French possessions in southeastern
4 Asia, with population of 5000, 200 or
1 10000 900. The vice is also carried by
the Chinese immigrants into Siam and
all the islands of the Eastern Archipel-
ago. If the populations of the various
f,.ta Aefu s,.l,4 Ia
of opium is permitted are added to-
gether the aggregate number is more
than 600, 100000. In Europe and Amer
lea the sale is restricted to medicinal
use, by the direction of physicians. and
the walls and boxes containing it, when
thus given out by druggists, are care
fully labeled: Poison
So the laws of China once prohibited
the sale and use of opium. the violation
of which was punished by death. SO
earnest were the Chinese to prevent its
introduction into the country that the
government became involved in cost
~ war with England about it, at the
close of which treaty was made in
which England recognized Chinas |
right TO prohibit the Introduction of I
opium, but left it with China 10 seize |
the vessels that Struggled it in and con-
tiscate the vessel and cargo. But as |
the smugglers were Englishmen and
ships English ships the Chinese were
afraid to execute the law, and so opium
was brought in English bottoms from 1
India to China from 1892 to 1850.
After thus fighting the traffic for
sixty years the Chinese government,
finding il could not stop the smuggling /
of opium into the country by British
vessels, finally gave up the contest and
submitted to legalize the horrible traffic
which it could not destroy. And, once
admitting it into the country. it could
not enforce the laws against its sale
and use, and shops were opened ia
every city and town and village in the
empire. The next step was. as they
could not keep out the opium from
India, to begin the cultivation Of the
poppy in China itself Now, the opium
made from the native grown poppy is
said to be three times as much in guam !
tity as that imported from India
In the districts where it is thus grown
the price of the native opium IS very
cheap and its consumption has spread
among men. women and children So
that some resident missionaries in these
districts say that 80 and 20 out of every
100 Of the people are more or less opium Z
eaters. When | went To China in is44
il was supposed that 1000, 900 used It.
Before left China estimated that the
y n1n nm he'd -, A 7
Hudson Taylor now puts the number Of ,
those who use it directly or indirectly 4
at 100 900 900.
Now let us sum up the enormous ex- 9
tent of this curse. The population Of 4
India and Burmah according to the CEN z
sus taken last year is 2s5, 900, 600; that i
Of China is $50, 900, O0O-some make it
OO,OO0,OOO. The island of Java counts
Is 10000, 900, to which the French pos
sessions in southeastern Asia add at I
east l00000C0 more The Eastern
has. say, 5000 900. making
altogether a total of 67O 600 600 The y
;urse of Asia has been saddled upon
hat continent by Christian Europe. I
For this terrible blight cast upon the !,
greatest of the four quarters of the
globe the British government is chiefly +
'esponsible. A hundred years ago the I
East India Company commenced to mo- :
iopolize the production of opium for !
ale in China, and the government at Y
home gave to the company the protec- I
ion of the British flag Since 1855 the e
British government has had monopo- !
Y of the production and sale of opium. 2
treat Britain is thus directly responsible .
or the prevalence of the opium plague L
Imong the 60 900, 900 people in Asia
\. Y Evangelist