Chinese Opium Smoker -Twelve Illustrations Showing the Ruin which our Opium Trade with China is bringing upon that Country

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1		digital image 1 “...THE CHINESE OPIUM-SMOKER. TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS Showing the Ruin which our Opium Trade with China is bringing upon that Country. LONDON: S \V. l'-'.p.'X'ridge & Co., 9, Paternoster Row. PRICE SIXPENCE....”

2		digital image 3 “...THE CHINESE OPIUM-SMOKER. TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS Showing the Ruin which our Opium Trade with China is bringing upon that Country. 4 LONDON: S. W. Partridge & Co., 9, Paternoster Row. PRICE SIXPENCE....”

3		digital image 4 “...The following engravings, intended to depict the course of hun- dreds and thousands of opium-smokers in China, were originally published in the form of cartoons by the Canton Anti-Opium Association—a purely native institution. The explanations following are for the most part taken from “ China’s Millions,” the monthly publication of the China Inland Mission....”

4		digital image 5 “...CONTENTS. I. The Chinese Opium-Smoker. Twelve Illustrations. II. Opium-Smoking in China compared with the Drinking Habits of England. III. The Extent of the Evil. IV. England’s Responsibility in regard to the Opium- Smoker. V. England’s Duty in regard to Him....”

5		digital image 6 “...THE CHINESE OPIUM-SMOKER. No. i. The incipient opium-smoker is reclining (as is usual) on a couch in his mansion, while his companion is indulging in tobacco through the water-pipe common in China....”

6		digital image 30 “...II. OPIUM-SMOKING IN CHINA COMPARED WITH THE DRINKING HABITS OF ENGLAND. On this point the evidence of Mr. (now Sir Thomas) Wade, K.C.B., Her Majesty’s minister at the Court of Peking, given in Government Blue Book, No. 5 (1871), p. 432, is so decisive, that it precludes the necessity of further testimony. He says :— “ It is to me vain to think otherwise of the use of the drug in China, than as of a habit many times more per- nicious, nationally speaking, than the gin and whisky drinking which we deplore at home. It takes posses- sion more insidiously, and keeps its hold to the full as tenaciously. I know no case of radical cure. It has insured in every case within my knowledge the steady descent, moral and physical, of the smoker, and it is so far a greater mischief than drink, that it does not,by external evidence of its effect, expose its victim to the loss of repute which is the penalty of habitual drunkenness.”...”

7		digital image 31 “...III. THE EXTENT OF OPIUM-SMOKING IN CHINA. In the absence of an official census, we can only select the most reliable evidence to be had on the subject. J. Dudgeon, Esq., M.D., C.M., of the Peking Mission Hospital, estimates that of the male population in China generally, probably 30 to 40 per cent, smoke opium; of the general city population, 40 to 60 per cent. The former of these statements is perhaps rather excessive, seeing that the same authority gives the number of agriculturists and field labourers as averaging only 4 to 6 per cent. Of the city population we have from various quarters more minute estimates to guide us. Taking three important cities from various parts of the country, we find that the number of opium-smokers does in each case exceed the estimate given by Dr. Dudgeon. 1.—Suchow, the capital of the province of Kiang Su. The Rev^C. H. Du Bose, a resident missionary, writes :—. “ As a minimum estimate, seven-tenths of the adult males smoke opium. To this fact all of the...”

8		digital image 32 “...The Extent of Opium-Smoking in China.— Continued. 2. —Ningpo, a city of 400,000 inhabitants in the province of Chekiang. “ It contains 2,700 opium-shops, or a shop for every 148 inhabitants, or every thirty men.” (v. Mander's “ Our Opium Trade with. China” p. 8. J 3. —Tai Yuen, the capital of the province of Shansi. A resident missionary writes:— “ It is estimated that six or seven out of every ten men you meet are addicted to the habit of opium- smoking, and a larger proportion of women than I have seen in any other city. There are about 400 retail opium- shops, and seventy or eighty wholesale dealers.” It is probable that these cities exceed the average number of opium-smokers throughout the city population in China; indeed, had not the number been extraordinary, the estimate would probably not have been made, but if the number be reduced by one-half, we have still 30 per cent, of the city population throughout China—in other words, some tens of millions— who are the slaves of the opium-pipe...”

9		digital image 33 “...IV. ENGLAND’S RESPONSIBILITY IN REGARD TO THE CHINESE OPIUM-SMOKER. Summary of facts bearing upon the relation of Great Britain to the Chinese opium-trade:— 1. —When China, as a nation, knew nothing of the vice of opium-smoking, British merchants introduced the drug, enriching the treasury of the East India Company to the demoralisation of the Chinese nation. 2. —When the Chinese Government vigorously re- monstrated and strenuously opposed, England carried the legalisation of the trade at the point of the sword. 3. —When the Chinese, discomfited in the field, ap- pealed to the generosity and humanity of the British Government for the suppression of the trade, the British Government continued and upheld the policy they had inaugurated by force of arms. 4. —When the subject is brought before the Houses of Parliament, the trade is acknowledged to be unjustifiable, yet, because of the revenue it brings to the Indian em- pire, and the difficulties surrounding Indian finance, it is upheld by...”

10		digital image 34 “...V. ENGLAND’S DUTY IN REGARD TO THE CHINESE OPIUM-SMOKER. As a nation, our duty before God is plainly the abandonment of the Government opium monopoly in India, and the rendering our aid and influence to the Chinese Government towards the execution of all just measures for the suppression of the vice in China. For the accomplishment of this, the following suggestions may be specified ;— 1. —A fearless vote on the part of the members of both Houses of Parliament in support of the above measures, and a careful consideration of the best means that can be devised to meet the difficulties of Indian finance. 2. —A conscientious inquiry on the part of the electors of the various constituencies throughout Great Britain, at the parliamentary elections, as to the views of their representatives in the House of Commons on this sub- ject, and the registering their votes only for those candi- dates who are determined to support the abandonment of the Government opium monopoly in India. 3. —A willing ...”

11		“...V. ENGLAND’S DUTY IN REGARD TO THE CHINESE OPIUM-SMOKER. As a nation, our duty before God is plainly the abandonment of the Government opium monopoly in India, and the rendering our aid and influence to the Chinese Government towards the execution of all just measures for the suppression of the vice in China. For the accomplishment of this, the following suggestions may be specified ;— 1. —A fearless vote on the part of the members of both Houses of Parliament in support of the above measures, and a careful consideration of the best means that can be devised to meet the difficulties of Indian finance. 2. —A conscientious inquiry on the part of the electors of the various constituencies throughout Great Britain, at the parliamentary elections, as to the views of their representatives in the House of Commons on this sub- ject, and the registering their votes only for those candi- dates who are determined to support the abandonment of the Government opium monopoly in India. 3. —A willing ...”