Page 225 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era
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imate commodity in its China trade, although under Chinese
law the drug was contraband. As early as 1729 the Imperial
government had promulgated numerous edicts prohibiting the
importation of opium, but local officials had been notoriously
lax in enforcing the edicts. In 1800 the Chia-Ch'ing Emperor
forbade both the importation of opium and its domestic culti
vation. The Emperor's vigorous enforcement of these restric
tions prompted the East India Company to examine its role in
the opium traffic. Fearing reprisals against its legitimate
trade, the Company decided to stop importing opium into China.
Subsequently, Company ships were barred from carrying the
drug. However, the East India Co. did not completely sever
its connections with opium. Actually, its actions fostered
an expansion of the opium trade. The investments and profits
involved in its monopoly of producing the drug in India con
vinced Company Directors of the economic inadvisability in
giving up this enterprise. Consequently, the Company retained
its interest in Indian opium and permitted private English mer
chants to ship it to Canton. The Company sold its Patna and
Benares at auction in Calcutta to private traders who then
transported it to China in ships licensed by the Company. To
ensure its monopoly, the Court of Directors restricted the
4
private merchants to trading only in Company opium.
Despite Imperial interdiction, the opium trade in China
thrived because of the connivance of local authorities. These
4
Greenberg, British Trade and the Opening of China,
p. 109.