Chapter X: Part 10

Smuggling between this island and the mainland in goods other than opium scarcely exists, as an evasion of the low _ad valorem_ duty of five per cent. which is payable on entry at the treaty ports, and is probably the maximum similarly leviable at other ports, would not compensate for the heavy charges which must be incurred by transit over unusual routes even if the ubiquitous Customs officials could be avoided. Opium, owing to its portable character, the facility with which it can be hidden beneath water without serious deterioration, and the high duty imposed upon it, is more readily and profitably smuggled, but the returns which have been received through the Native Custom House at Canton make it nearly certain that the quantity which evades the payment of duty, either at the treaty ports or the ports and places not open to foreign trade, is not greater than 2,000 to 3,000 chests per annum. (See Parliamentary Papers--China No. 2, 1880.) And the quantity thus estimated to be smuggled is not conveyed, as alleged by Governor Hennessy, in junks heavily armed for the purpose, fighting their way to the mainland through the revenue cruisers, but is concealed, a few balls at a time, about the persons, and in the luggage of Chinese passengers by the steamers plying between this port and Canton, and other places on the coast, or in ordinary trading junks and fishing boats of unpretentious character, or fast pulling boats propelled by a number of rowers, or by various devices such as are practised by the persons who evade the duties on tobacco in the United Kingdom. That the revenue cruisers which surround this island keep up an effective blockade which prevents the smuggling of opium on a much larger scale than at present takes place, is probably true, and it is also true that Chinese junks and boats in the estuary of the Canton river, which do not promptly submit to be overhauled by the cruisers, are chased and brought to for examination, if necessary, by being fired upon. The propinquity, however, of this island to the mainland, so far from being a cause of injury to the Chinese Customs Revenue, operates most advantageously for the collection of fiscal levies upon the foreign trade of the southern coast of the Empire. Were the island situated at a greater distance from the mainland than it is, or did not exist in its present conditions as a free port under a foreign government, the difficulties which would be placed in the way of the Chinese authorities, when engaged in checking smuggling in opium, would be much greater than they now are. Opium in that case would probably be shipped in native vessels from more distant depôts, such as Singapore, Saigon or the French mediatized territory of Tonquin, to Chinese ports and places, and it would be impossible for the revenue cruisers to watch the entire line of their own coast as effectively as they are now able to blockade this island in which the trade is centred and controlled.

There is, therefore, no ground for Governor Hennessy's statement that this Colony is engaged in chronic war with the neighbouring mainland, or for his implied imputation that the course of its trade is injurious to the Chinese fiscal revenue. On the contrary, the facts of the case show that the physical conditions of the island of Hong Kong not only afford the ready means by which the Chinese Government is enabled to protect its legitimate revenue, but also unfortunately place it in the power of the authorities of the province of Quangtung to surcharge the trade in foreign goods, carried on in native vessels between Hong Kong and the southern ports of China, with additional taxation in excess of that authorized by the foreign treaties.

With the view to make a representation to H.M. Government in support of which it may hereafter be necessary to invite the good offices of your Committee, this Chamber is now engaged in an investigation into the facts, so far as they can be ascertained, relating to this alleged surcharge of duties upon the Colonial trade for the collection of which, as well as for the prevention of an illicit traffic in opium, there is reason to believe the blockade of this island by Chinese revenue cruisers is maintained.

So much as regards the general conditions of the trade of the Colony which evidence the grave misrepresentations contained in the Nottingham address, but in order to show conclusively, by official returns on matters of fact, the groundlessness of the specific accusation made by Sir John Pope Hennessy, your attention is invited to the annexed copies of correspondence, with its enclosures, between the Colonial Government and the Committee of this Chamber.

In response to the request of the Committee, the Acting Colonial Secretary under the direction of His Excellency the Administrator has furnished the Chamber with the following documents, viz.:--

1. Extracts from a Report by the Colonial Treasurer and Registrar
General upon the Opium Trade of the Colony.

2. Return from the Harbour Master, showing the character of the native
vessels engaged in Opium Smuggling and the number of cases of alleged
smuggling brought before the Marine Court since April 1877.

3. Return from the Captain Superintendent of Police, showing the total
number of attacks and seizures made by Customs Revenue Cruisers in the
neighbourhood of the Colony and reported to the Police since 1st
January 1877.

The Colonial Treasurer's Report on the Opium Trade for 1876, confirms the figures of the approximate estimate made by this Chamber from independent sources and given above, as to the probable quantity of opium smuggled into China from this Colony.

The Harbour Master's Return shows that there is no special class of vessels fitted out in the Colony and heavily armed for the purpose of opium smuggling, as alleged by Governor Hennessy, and in the five cases cited in the report which comprise the whole number brought before the Marine Court in the course of five years, it will be seen that the quantity of opium found in the vessels charged with being engaged in illicit trade was so inconsiderable, as to make it obvious that the concealment of opium took place in each case in an ordinary trading junk. It is also clear from this Return that nothing is known in the Harbour Master's Department of the armed organization for the purpose of opium smuggling which is stated by Governor Hennessy to carry on a chronic war with the Empire of China.

The return from the Captain Superintendent of Police dealing with the entire number of cases reported to the police authorities during the years 1878 to 1882 (inclusive) of seizures by Chinese Revenue cruisers and affrays between the cruisers and native vessels on the neighbouring China coast, is instructive.

The number of cases is 23, but of these only 6 are reported to be connected with the opium trade and the value of the opium seized varies from $3 in one case to the maximum amount in another of $800, showing, in confirmation of the Report by the Harbour Master to a similar effect, the comparatively unimportant character of the opium smuggling which prevails in these waters, and the absurdity of the allegation that there is a large contraband trade conducted in heavily armed junks fitted for the purpose in this harbour.

The remaining 17 cases of seizures by revenue cruisers during five years do not appear by the returns to have been connected with opium; 7 of them were salt junks, 1 sulphur and saltpetre, 3 general cargo, and 2 sugar. In 4 cases the particulars of cargoes are not stated.

The return shows the number of casualties with fatal results reported to the police as having occurred in affrays between native vessels and the revenue cruisers during the period of five years under review. Such casualties have been 8 in number, but not one of them appears to have had any connection with opium smuggling, or to have arisen out of any case of contraband trading with which this Colony was concerned.

In August 1878, a fisherman on the Hong Kong shore was accidentally killed by a shot fired by a revenue cruiser when pursuing a junk ultimately seized for some breach of Chinese regulations with general cargo on board.

In May 1879, three men of a revenue cruiser were killed in an affray with a junk carrying salt. As salt is not produced or prepared in this island, this affray was not generated in the Colony or within Colonial waters. The preparation of salt in China is conducted as a very strict monopoly by means of Government licenses, and trade in it other than by duly authorized persons is contraband. Serious affrays between salt smugglers and revenue officers are well known to be common throughout the Empire, they are frequently alluded to in the _Peking Gazette_, and in the case referred to in the Police Report, the junk must have been passing from one part of the territory of China to another part outside of British waters.

On 28th November 1881, a man was killed in a boat which was conveying two gentlemen of this Colony who were returning from a shooting expedition on the mainland. Passing by a Customs Station on the Chinese side of the channel the boat was ordered to heave to; not doing so promptly, musket shots were fired at it and one of the crew was most unfortunately killed. In this case there appears to have been no smuggling attempted.

In April this year a man was killed on board a rowing boat in the narrow channel separating Hong Kong from the mainland, and in June last two men were killed outside British waters in a trading junk carrying sulphur and saltpetre, which are contraband articles of trade in China. In neither case does it appear that opium was concerned.

With reference, therefore, to Sir John Pope Hennessy's allegations, which were to the following effect:--

_a._--That this island is the base of operations for a class of
desperate men who carry on a large contraband trade in opium with
China;

_b._--That for the purpose of carrying on that trade, junks heavily
armed with cannon are fitted out here and wage a chronic war with the
neighbouring Empire;

_c._--That these junks engage, within sight of the island, in naval
battles with the Chinese Revenue cruisers resulting in large loss of
life on both sides;

The facts are:--

_a._--There is no large contraband trade in opium carried on between
this Colony and the China coast. On the contrary, the opium smuggled,
considering the extent of the trade, is inconsiderable, and for the
most part is carried into China in small quantities, portable and
easily concealed, just as parcels of tobacco are smuggled into the
United Kingdom.

_b._--That within the knowledge of the Harbour Master and the Colonial
police authorities no armed junks have been fitted out in this harbour
during the last five years for the purpose of opium smuggling.
Smuggling of opium, when attempted at all otherwise than by passengers
in the various steamers trading to the coast of China, is carried on
in ordinary trading junks or in rowing boats dependent for success in
their illicit trade upon their swiftness and small size.

_c._--No such contests as those referred to in allegation _c_ have
taken place within the last five years, and no loss of life in
connection with opium smuggling during the same period has come under
the notice of the police. Any serious affrays attended with loss of
life which have occurred in the neighbourhood of this Colony between
native vessels and revenue cruisers, have been in connection with
contraband traffic in other articles on the adjacent China coast with
which, so far as is known, this Colony has had no concern. The only
instance reported by the police in which revenue officers have been
injured, was the case of the salt junk referred to above and shown to
be a purely Chinese affair.

It may be added that on goods other than opium there is very little, if any, illicit trade carried on between the Colony and the mainland, and that no allegation has ever been made that foreigners are engaged directly or indirectly in smuggling of any kind.

In conclusion, the Committee cannot refrain from expressing regret that Sir John Pope Hennessy having had the fullest opportunities, as Governor of this island for five years, of obtaining accurate information with regard to occurrences taking place and the state of affairs prevailing here during his term of office, should have been led to make statements, unfounded in fact and misleading in the inferences they are calculated to raise, which could not fail to damage the character of the Colony, the legitimate interests of which it might justly have been expected he would have been most anxious to defend.

Copies of this letter will be sent through His Excellency the Administrator to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, and to the various Chambers of Commerce in the United Kingdom.--I am, Sir, your most obedient Servant,

(Signed) F. BULKELEY JOHNSON,
_Chairman_.

Charles Magniac, Esq., M.P.,
President of the London Chamber of
Commerce, London.

LONDON:
PRINTED BY W. H. ALLEN AND CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] "British Opium Policy, and its Results to India and China."

[2] The loose control possessed by the Emperor over his officials was well described by one of the most trusted ministers of the great Emperor Keen Lung. He said to one of the Jesuit missionaries at Pekin, that "the Emperor himself cannot put a stop to the evils that exist in the service. To displace those officials who have misbehaved themselves, he may send others, but instead of removing the evil they generally commit greater exactions than their predecessors. The Emperor is assured that all is well, whilst affairs are at their worst and the people are oppressed."

[3] "China: a History of the Laws, Manners, and Customs of the People."

[4] "The Middle Kingdom." A Survey of the Geography, Government, Education, Social Life, Arts, Religion, &c., of the Chinese Empire, and its Inhabitants.

[5] As a matter of fact the skull of a Chinaman is fully double the thickness of that of a European.

[6] "The River of Golden Sand; the Narrative of a Journey through China and Eastern Thibet to Burmah," by Capt. William Gill, R.E.

[7] "The Principles and Practice of Medical Jurisprudence," by Alfred Swaine Taylor, M.D., F.R.S.

[8] I have a distant recollection of a syllogism with which schoolboys once used to exercise the minds of their juniors, which ran, I think, thus:--

Epimenides said all Cretans were liars,
Epimenides himself was a Cretan,
Therefore Epimenides was a liar,--therefore he was not a liar.

[9] "L'Angleterre, la Chine, et l'Inde." I am indebted for a transcript of the chapter in question to Mr. H. Henry Sultzberger, Merchant, of No. 10 Cannon Street, City, who has taken such an interest in the opium question that he had the chapter printed at his own expense; and also to M. d'Audlan, a teacher of modern languages, for a translation of it.

[10] "Annals of Chemical Medicine, including the Application of Chemistry to Physiology, Pathology, Therapeutics, Pharmacy, Toxicology and Hygiene."

[11] In those days about £100 sterling.--W. H. B.

[12] The unfounded charge of smuggling by British merchants and foreigners in Hong Kong has been completely refuted by the Honourable Francis Bulkeley Johnson, the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce of the Colony, in a very able letter to Charles Magniac, Esq., M.P., the President of the London Chamber of Commerce. This letter, which reached me just before going to press, will be found set out _in extenso_ by way of Appendix. It is full of valuable and interesting information on the Indo-China opium trade, and is well worthy of careful study.

[13] In a recent number of the _Temps_, England was flouted with playing a humanitarian, hypocritical part towards Tunis, whilst we oppressed the natives of China by forcing them to smoke opium, in order to augment the revenue of the Indian Government.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Truth about Opium, by William H. Brereton