338 DAVIS ON CANTON AND HONGKONG, [April 27, 1857. 



cipal settlements ; they were shipowners, and tliey traded far and wide — to 

 the Cape of Good Hope, to the Mauritius, and to every port in India. There 

 were many wealthy people among them, and he was certain a people in their 

 condition would not be disposed to insurrection ; they knew, moreover, that 

 they were better off under our government than any other. Our trade with 

 China was a most important subject. The exports and imports, including the 

 trade between India and China, could not be less than 15,000,000Z. each, which 

 approached the largest branch of our foreign commerce — the trade with the 

 United States. Complaints had been made of the quantity of silver sent out 

 of this country to the East. The cause was obvious enough. We received an 

 immense supply of productions from China, and, of course, were obliged to 

 pay for it in silver. With resjiect to the opium trade, he approved of it 

 entirely. He thought the use of opium as innocuous as the use of any descrip- 

 tion of wine, and a good deal more so than that of brandy or other ardent 

 spirit. He had the authority of Sir Benjamin Brodie for this. That eminent 

 medical authority said that opium soothed the nervous system, while brandy 

 and all alcoholic spirits irritated it exceedingly. Both were, of course, liable to 

 abuse ; but he conscientiously believed that opium was much more rarely 

 abused than ardent spirits. Some people fancied that the Malays took opium 

 for the express purpose of running a-muck. Now, when the Malays and 

 Chinese took opium, they smoked it in the form of a little ball, not much 

 larger than a swan-shot ; half a dozen whiffs sent them fast asleep, and when 

 asleep, they dreamed they were in a Mahommedan paradise making love to 

 houris. That was surely not the condition for a man to run a-muck in. The 

 Indian government received about 3,000,000Z. a-year from the opium trade — 

 about one-seventh of their entire revenue. It was not our business to put a 

 stop to the trade. So long as the traffic was x^rohibited by the Chinese, smug- 

 gling must take place ; and that could only be put a stop to by the Chinese 

 legahsing the traffic and imposing a moderate duty upon the article. It was 

 argued that it was the duty of the Indian government to suppress the growth 

 of the poppy, in order to favour an absurd and ridiculous prejudice on the part 

 of the Chinese. The ' Edinburgh Review,' in its last number, proposed that 

 we should enter into a treaty with the Chinese, and bind ourselves to put an 

 end " progressively " to the growth of the poppy in India for the production 

 of opium for exportation. We could not do that without " progressively " 

 putting an end at the same time to our Indian empire ; for, without the 

 3,000,000?. revenue derived from opium, it would be impossible to carry on 

 the Indian government. There were other articles of import into China of 

 some importance. The raw cotton of India was sent in considerable quantities 

 to China ; and that was one reason why (the gentlemen of Manchester should 

 understand) it did not come to England. The cotton- wool imported into China 

 was of the value of 500,000Z. sterling, whereas the opium taken annually was 

 of the value of 5,000,000?. To ask us to put a stop to the growth of the 

 poppy, would be just as reasonable as to ask the French to put an end to 

 the growth of the vine, because spirits and wine were sometimes productive 

 of drunkenness in this country. Among other imports into China were the 

 swallows' nests, a gelatinous substance, almost tasteless, but in much repute 

 for making soup. There was another article of commerce, the sea-cucumber, 

 of which specimens might be seen in the Gardens of the Zoological Society. 

 Several thousand tons were imported into China annually. The Malays pro- 

 ceeded as far as the Gulf of Carpentaria in search of this article, and there 

 Captain Flinders found them fifty years ago. Another article of import he 

 might mention, was camphor, not the common camphor, but concrete camphor, 

 obtained from a certain tree ; it was valued for its supposed restorative pro- 

 perties, as are the other articles just named. With respect to the exports of 

 €hina, he would only touch ujxDn two — tea and raw silk. It was not until the 



