54-0 THE CHINESE VERSUS OPIUM. 



" ' Often have imperial edicts been received coinmaoding a search to be 

 made ; and it is absolutely impossible to suffer your people to bring it, in a 

 smuggling manner, and disperse it by sale. 



" ' Hereafter, when your ships arrive at Macao, they must all and each be 

 searched and examined. If one ship bring opium, whatever other cargo the 

 said vessel may contain, all will be rejected, and alt commercial transactions 

 with her will be disallowed. If every vessel bring opium, then the whole 

 cargo of every vessel will be rejected, and none of the ships be permitted to 

 trade ; and the ships, in the state they come, will be driven out and sent back 

 to their own country. 



" ' As to you people who live in Macao, since you occupy the teri'itory of the 

 celestial empire, you therefore ought to obey the laws and regulations of the 

 celestial empire. 



" ' If you presume, without public authority, to act and frame rules for your- 

 selves, and cherish schemes of approaching near to grasp illicit gains, the laws 

 are prepared to punish ; and just as in the case of those who in China clan- 

 destinely promulge the (Teen-choo-keaou), religion" of Heaven's Lord,* they 

 will assuredly severely punish your crimes, and will not show any indulgence. 



" ' In this manner (says the Emperor) let an explicit and pointed proclama- 

 tion be published to the said foreigners, and no doubt they will, every one of 

 them, be afraid, and yield implicit obedience, and not dare to oppose the pro- 

 hibition and to sell opium. And hereafter let a true and faithful search be 

 made as before ; and so the source from which the evil springs will be cut oft". 

 Respect this.' 



" Former proclamations were published, and stand on record ; and since 

 that time four or five years have elapsed, and it is feared that remissness may 

 have crept in by length of time. 



" It is probable, though not certain, that when the Portuguese ships anchor 

 in Macao harbour, there may be avaricious vagabonds who smuggle opium 

 into the port, and therefore the Macao Wei-yuen has been ordered to search 

 very strictly and faithfully. 



" "With respect to "Whampoa, it is the anchorage of all the foreign ships, 

 and although I, the "Viceroy, appoint to each ship an attending officer, and I, 

 the Hoppo, also appoint tidewaiters, who watch the ship on each side and 

 make due search, which seems as strict a guard as can be kept, still the sea- 

 men are not all good men : it is impossible to be surety that they never con- 

 nect themselves with native vagabonds, and seize opportunities of smuggling. 



" Therefore strict orders are given to all the local military stations, to the 

 deputed officer from the custom-house, and to the armed police at "Whampoa, 

 to be very strict in searching ; and further confidential soldiers are sent in all 

 directions to search and seize. 



"Besides these precautions, the Hong merchants are required to promul- 

 gate to all foreign factory chiefs, resident at Macao or Canton, our com- 

 mands to them to yield implicit obedience to former imperial edicts, which 

 disallow the clandestine introduction of opium, and which require the source* 

 from which it comes to be cut off^. 



" If they dare to disobey this order, as soon as a discovery is made, the ship 

 concerned will be expelled and not permitted to trade, and the security mer- 

 chant will be seized and punished for the crime ; if he dares to connive he will 

 most assuredly be broken, and prosecuted to the utmost, and without mercy. 



" Be careful, and do not view this document as mere matter of form, and 

 so tread within the net of the law ; for you will find your escape as impracti- 

 cable as it is for a man to bite his own navel. 



" Report the manner in which you execute these orders ; and at the same 



* The Rninan Catholic relision. 



