Page 225 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era
P. 225

211.

                   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.
   220   221   222   223   224   225   226   227   228   229   230