386 



CHINA-CHINCHILLA. 



will product-, at the price previously fixed; and if 

 he tails to deliver the estimated <iuuiitity, and the 

 <-..lWt or has reason to suspect him of embezzle- 

 nuMit, he is empowered by law to prosecute the 

 ryot in the civil court for damages. The quantity 

 i>t opium thus grown, under the sum-turn of the 

 India Company, and imported into China ln>m 

 the year 18 Hi to 1836, is given by the Rev. W. 

 I!. Medhnrst, in his work on the state and pros- 

 pects of China, in the following tabular form : 



1890 



is*; 



- -J7.H I - 



3,057,000 dollar*. 

 ^(*) 

 JH5 



- 12,900,031 

 IS,338,1< 



- 17,U04,248 



In a note Mr Medhurstadds, that during the year 

 ending in the spring of 1837, 34,000 chests were 

 imported, and the deliveries during the month of 

 .Inly, of the same year, amounted to 4,000 chests. 

 This quantity of opium, thus grown in India, 

 and annually imported into China, appears large, 

 but, what is surprising in reference to it is, that 

 every one of these chests are smuggled into the 

 celestial empire. As early as the year 1796 the 

 evils resulting from the practice of smoking opium 

 had awakened the attention of the Chinese go- 

 vernment, and the practice was accordingly forbid- 

 den under penalties which have been continually 

 increasing in severity. In 1821 the Hong mer- 

 chants of Canton were called upon to give securi- 

 ties that no opium was contained in any of those 

 vessels which were permitted to enter the harbour 

 of Canton, and discharge their cargoes there. Nay, 

 so fully were the East India Company convinced of 

 the importance of carrying on their regular trade 

 with China with clean hands, that any one of their 

 regular captains, or officers, who had brought with 

 him to Canton a single chest of opium, wo.,ld have 

 been instantly and for ever dismissed from the Com- 

 pany's service. All the opium, therefore, which is 

 now, or which has been for the last forty-three 

 years, introduced into China by us, has been 

 smuggled into the country in defiance of the laws 

 and regulations of the Chinese government. 



A few extracts from some authentic documents 

 will serve to show the light in which the people of 

 this country are viewed as engaged in this traffic, 

 as also the desire of the government of China to 

 effect its suppression. The following is from the 

 memorial of Heu Naetse, an officer of the local 

 courts of Pekin, addressed to the emperor: "In 

 the first year of Keaking, 1796, those found guilty 

 of smoking opium were subject only to the pillory 

 and bamboo. Now they have, in the course of 

 time, become liable to the severest penalties 

 transportation in various degrees, and death after 

 the ordinary continuance in prison. Yet the 

 smokers of the drug have increased in number, and 

 the practice has spread almost throughout the 

 whole empire. In the year of Keaking there 

 arrived, it may be, some hundreds of chests 

 annually. The number has now increased to up- 

 wards of 20,000 chests, containing each an hun- 

 dred catties. The total quantity sold during the 

 year, amounted in value to ten and some odd 

 millions of dollars; so that, in reckoning the dollar 

 at seven mace standard weight of silver, the annual 

 waste of money somewhat exceeds ten millions ol 

 taels. Formerly the barbarian merchants brought 

 foreign money to China, which, being paid in ex- 

 change for goods, was a source of pecuniary advan- 



tage to the people ol nil the s;>:i-l)o:itd provinces; 

 !)ut latterly the barbarian men-hunts have clandes- 

 tinely sold opium for money, which has rendered it 

 necessary for them to export foreign silver. Thus 

 foreign money has been going out of the country 

 while none comes into it." This memorial \v;is 

 presented on the 2d of July, 1836, and an imperial 

 edict was issued for inquiry into the subject. The 

 great object, it will be seen, which Heu Naeste 

 had in view was to prevent the opium from being 

 clandestinely brought in, and the money of the 

 country by that means from being drained off. 



Choo-Tsun, member of the council of the hoard 

 of rites, in a memorial addressed to the emperor 

 about the same time, took another view of the mat- 

 ter, and prayed for the suppression of this iniquit- 

 ous traffic as a great injury to the army and to the 

 people at large. " To sum up the matter," lu; 

 says, "the wide-spreading and baneful influence of 

 opium, when regarded simply as injurious to 

 property, is of inferior importance; but when re- 

 garded as hurtful to the people, it demands most 

 anxious consideration; for in the people lie the 

 very foundation of the empire. Property, it is 

 true, is that on which the subsistence of the people 

 depends, yet a deficiency of it may be supplied, and 

 an impoverished people improved ; whereas it is be- 

 yond the power of any artificial means to save u 

 people enervated by luxury. In the history of 

 Formosa we find the following passage: 'Opium 

 was first produced in Kaoutsinne, which by some 

 is said to be the same as Kalapa of Batavia. The 

 natives of this place were at first sprightly and 

 active, and, being good soldiers, were always suc- 

 cessful in battle; but the people called Hung-maou 

 (red-haired) came hither, and having manufactured 

 opium, seduced some of the inhabitants into the 

 habit of smoking it. From these the mania for it 

 rapidly spread throughout the whole nation, so 

 that, in process of time, the natives became feeble 

 and enervated, submitted to the foreign rule, and 

 were ultimately subjugated.' Now, the English 

 are of the race of foreigners called Hung-maou. 

 In introducing opium into this country their pur- 

 pose has been to weaken and enfeeble the celestial 

 empire. If not early aroused to a sense of our 

 danger, we shall find ourselves ere long on the last 

 step towards ruin." 



Many memorials of a similar kind were addressed 

 to the head of the celestial empire on this subject, 

 and early in the year 1839 the most active mea- 

 sures were taken for the suppression of the trade, 

 by the Chinese government seizing the opium at 

 Canton, and imprisoning many British merchants. 

 That the government of China has a right to seize 

 any article of traffic which may be smuggled into 

 the empire, in defiance of express edicts, is un- 

 doubted; but what steps Britain may take regard- 

 ing the imprisonment of her subjects, most of 

 whom, it is said, had no connection with the opium 

 trade, remain to he seen. 



CHINCHILLA; a species of field-rat, in great 

 estimation for the extreme fineness of its wool, if 

 a rich fur, as delicate as the silken webs of the 

 garden-spiders, may be so termed. It- is of an ash 

 gray, and sufficiently long for spinning. The little 

 animal which produces it is six inches long from 

 nose to the root of the tail, with small pointed 

 ears, a short muzzle, teeth like the house-rat, and 

 a tail of moderate length, clothed with a delicate 

 i fur. It lives in burrows underground in the open 

 country, in the northern provinces of Chili, and is 



