Narrative of the late proceedings and events in China |
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Common terms and phrases
allowed American amount anchorage anchored arrived barbarians Basel boats Bocca Tigris British subjects candareens Canton captain Elliot cargo catties Chamber of Commerce CHARLES ELLIOT Chefoo chests chief superintendent China Chinese government clandestine commands communication consequences consul custom-house dare declaration deliver demurrage Dent drug duty edict emperor empire English enter the port evil examination export foreign factories foreign merchants foreign ships forthwith give the bond governor high commissioner hong merchants hongmerchants hoppo Howqua immediately imperial commissioner important inner land intercourse issue Kwangtung laws Lintin Macao majesty majesty's government majesty's subjects Malwa measures meeting military month moon nation native obedience obey officers opium trade orders permitted present proclamation prohibitions provinces punishment receiving ships regulations reply request resident respectfully respecting sell sent smuggling store-ships surrender sycee silver taels Tang Taoukwang tion traffic traitorous transhipping vessels Wetmore Whampoa whole
Popular passages
Page 23 - There is cause for apprehension, lest, in centuries or millenniums to come. China may be endangered by collision with the various nations of the West, who come hither from beyond the seas.
Page 107 - ... should I search closely into the offences of these foreigners, in forcing for a number of years the sale of opium, they would be found already beyond the bounds of indulgence ; but, reflecting that they are men from distant lands, and that they have not before been aware, that the prohibition of opium is so severe...
Page 4 - The barbarians, finding that the amount of duties to be paid on it is less than what is now spent in bribes, will also gladly comply therein. Foreign money should be placed on the same footing with sycee silver, and the exportation of it should be equally prohibited. Offenders when caught should be punished by the entire destruction of the opium they may have, and the confiscation of the money that may be found with them.
Page 20 - Kwangse discovered and punished the warehousers of opium: so long have they been expelled, nor have they ever since imported it into Macao. Having once suppressed the trade and driven them away, shall we now again call upon them and invite them to return ? This would be, indeed, a derogation from the true dignity of Government. As to the proposition to give tea in exchange, and entirely to prohibit the exportation of even foreign silver, I apprehend that, if the tea should not be found sufficient,...
Page 11 - ... fearing lest the practice of smoking opium should spread among all the people of the inner land, to the waste of their time and the destruction of their property...
Page 178 - Heaven's influence scarce can penetrate: In life's low vale, the soil the virtues like, They please as beauties, here as wonders strike.
Page 12 - fast crabs ' and ' scrambling dragons' — as the boats are called — are fitted out for clandestine commerce : and lastly, vagabonds, pretending authority to search, have under this pretext indulged their own unruly desires. Thus, what was at first a common article, of no esteem in the market, either for smoking or eating, and also of a moderate price, has with the increase in the severity of the regulations increased in demand, and been clandestinely and largely imported, annually drawing away...
Page 4 - ... the duties of their rank and attend to the public good; the others, to cultivate their talents and become fit for public usefulness. None of these, therefore, must be permitted to contract a practice so bad, or to walk in a path which will lead only to the utter waste of their time and destruction of their property. If, however, the laws enacted against the practice be made too severe, the result will be mutual connivance. It becomes my duty, then, to request that it be enacted, that any officer,...
Page 123 - What will be the leelings of the most just prince of his illustrious dynasty, when it is made manifest to him by the command of her Britannic majesty, that the traffic in opium has been chiefly encouraged and protected by the highest officers in the empire, and that no portion of the foreign trade to China has paid its fees to the. officers with so much regularity as this of opium...
Page 21 - ... in those places. Of any of those provinces, except Yunnan, I do not presume to speak; but of that portion of the country I have it in my power to say, that the poppy is cultivated all over the hills and the open campaign, and that the quantity of opium annually produced there cannot be less than several thousand chests.