Cuar. XII.] REMARKS ON THE OPIUM TRADE. 235 
on the coast, where no other trade is carried on ; 
at other places the foreign merchants often find it 
advantageous to barter the opium in exchange for 
raw silks and teas, which are the two chief exports 
of the country. 
The statements which have been frequently 
made in England, both as regards the smuggling 
and the smoking of opium are very much ex- 
aggerated. When I first went to China, I ex- 
pected to find those merchants who were engaged 
in this trade little else than armed buccaneers, 
indeed, if I do not mistake, they have been re- 
presented as characters of this kind on the English 
stage. Instead of this, the trade is conducted by 
men of the highest respectability, possessed of 
immense capital, and who are known and esteemed 
as merchants of the first class in every part of the 
civilised world. The trade in opium, although 
contraband, is so unlike what is generally called 
smuggling, that people at a distance are deceived 
by the term. It may be quite true that its in- 
troduction and use are prohibited by the Chinese 
government, but that prohibition is merely an 
empty sound, which, in fact, means nothing. The 
whole, or at least the greater part, of the man- 
darins use it, and it is not at all unlikely that his 
Celestial Majesty himself makes one of the number 
of its devotees. The truth is, the Chinese govern- 
ment, whatever it may say, has no wish to put a 
stop to its introduction. It is necessary, however, 
to publish every now and then strong threatening 
