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“...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....”
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“...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....”
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“...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....”
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“...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....”
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“...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....”
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“...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.”...”
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“...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...”
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“...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...”
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“...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...”
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“...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 ...”
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“...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 ...”
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