| OCR Text |
Show BRITAIN YIELDS ON OPIUM. Wo notod recently the contention between be-tween Great Britain and China over tho disposal of 24,000 chests of opium stored in Shanghai. This opium was brought in from India, not, to be sure, in I'onfravcntion of the opium treaty negotiated some Hvc years ago between Great Britain and China, jmd which has yet Jive- years to run, but still in opposition to tho wishes of China, The governments of China, both the old Manchu Imperial regime and the new Republican regime, have been in deadly earnest in tho suppression of the growing grow-ing of tho opium poppy in China, and in the suppression of the opium trade. They have gono on in a much, more rapid pace in the suppression of the domestic opium production and trade in China than tho treaty contemplatod, and China has been anxious to havo Great Britain keep pace with herself in limiting the shipments of opium from India to Chkieso ports, in ad-vanco ad-vanco of treaty requirements, while Great Britain has hcretoforo refused to proceed more Tapidly with tho curtailment cur-tailment than tho treaty required. It will be remembered that the Chinese Chi-nese Anti-Opium League sent General Hsing to London to endeavor to secure concessions on this point. Ho utterly failed. But then the English Anti-Opium Anti-Opium League took up tho question, and brought such pressure to bear upon the British government, that now Groat Britain agrees not to enforce tho sale of this 24,000 chests of opium. It was indeed a shocking spectacle lo tho Christian world to soo a pagan peoplo undertaking to relievo thcmsolvos of this opium traflie and being stopped in their effort toward reform by tho great Christian nation of Great Britain. And so Great Britain yields the point that tho opium must be sold in China, insisting in-sisting only that the terms of the treat' allowing of the import of Indian opium at the rate specified therein shall not be violated. It is stated in this connection that tho British opium dealers havo found a new field for their nefarious trade in Mongolia, and that the Russians will interpose no objections to the exploitation exploita-tion of tho Mongolian peoplo for opium trade purposes. Tho British opium dealers are reported to havo offered tho Mongolian government, which is completely under Russian domination, a bribe of half a million dollars to permit per-mit the introduction of opium into tiie province, and tho Mongolian rnling powers arc looking with favor upon that bribe. It is a curious turn, for matters to take, to see that the Christians are promoting pro-moting this vile opium trade in violation vio-lation of the wishes of the heathen population of China and probably also against tho wishes of the Mongolians, aud that Christian traders arc trying to break down this Mongolian opposition oppo-sition by bribing the governmental authorities au-thorities to allow them to exploit tho country in tho interest of opium. But it hus often boon stated that trade hns no religion, but is defiant of all religions, and that is a saying that is being full' proved in this contontion for tho opening open-ing of markets for tho disposition of the opium grown in India, a trade which is in British hands. |
