The plan was suggested by Colonel Watson to a council of representatives of the East India Company, held at Calcutta in the year 1767. Well might that body of representatives be startled at the idea; well might they recoil from sanctioning such an inhuman traffic. What thoughts passed in the minds of these representatives when sitting in consultation on a question so momentous, we cannot now tell. Perhaps they were not able to perceive the real character of the trade they were about to open-to conceive the magnitude of the evils they were about to heap on a great nation, whose subjects numbered a third of the human race. Perhaps they did not suppose that it would ever become a trade of such magnitude, or be followed by consequences so terrible. We cannot believe that this body of representatives, though corrupt to its center, and thirsting to be rich, looked forward for a moment and contemplated the poverty, the wretchedness, the wars, the revolutions, the desolations, and the deaths, for which they were about to prepare the certain cause, and yet, in the face of these consequences, deliberately chose to give birth to an evil that would spread misery and death among millions of human beings, with the certainty and rapidity of a fatal epidemic. The guilt of deliberately choosing to foster, encourage, and protect the traffic, under a full consciousness of the enormous evils which attend it, was reserved for the refined cruelty of the nineteenth century, and for the wiser heads and tenderer hearts of the crown and parliament of Great Britain. Still a consciousness of guilt must have rested upon those representatives; the enormity of the crime they were about to commit must have arisen before them; perhaps even the dim shadows of the future evils to which their action was about to give birth, fell upon them. But, be this as it may, they are chargeable with a heavy amount of guilt, and the action of that day should stamp with infamy the name of every representative, who, against every emotion of humanity, yielded to his guilty avarice, and gave his sanction to this nefarious trade, and the obloquy of all good men must settle upon that company that adopted, and that government which still sustains the traffic. Mr. Wheeler, an influential officer and member of the company, advocated the plan, and after being favorably entertained, it was adopted as a happy expedient for raising a revenue for the support of government. At what time the Chinese commenced the practice of smoking opium, we cannot now tell. It is, however, a practice of recent origin among them. It is certain, that two centuries ago there must have been but little if any of it used, as no mention of it is made in the writings of the Romish missionaries, even down to the beginning of the nineteenth century. Previously to the time of the above action of the East India Company, the trade rarely exceeded two hundred chests per year, and in 1767, the year in which the company determined to enter into the trade, the importation reached only one thousand chests, and even continued at that rate for some years, being principally carried on by some Portuguese merchants, who brought their opium from Turkey. From 1767 to 1794, the East India Company made several adventures in opium, which were not very successful and which yielded but little profit. But notwithstanding the discouragements met in their first attempts, the servants of the company, convinced that the Chinese had acquired a taste for the fatal drug, which would lead them on to a more extensive consumption of it, and that the vast population and wealth of the country presented an almost boundless field for the traffic, continued their efforts with a perseverance worthy of a better cause. In 1780 they succeeded in stationing two small vessels in Lark's Bay, south of Macao. In 1781, the company freighted a vessel to Canton, but were obliged to sell the lot, which consisted of one thousand six hundred chests, at $200 per chest, to one of the Hong merchants, named Sinqua, who, being unable to dispose of it, reshipped it for the Archipelago, where the consumption of opium was more prevalent. Ten years later than this, the trade was still of an unpromising character, and the opium was imported under the head of medicine at a duty of $7 per cwt., including charges, and sold for about $370 per chest. In 1794, the owners of the two ships in Lark's Bay, after having suffered much annoyance from the pirates and revenue cutters, loaded the opium on board a single vessel and brought her to Whampoa, where she lay unmolested for more the Chinese coast, from Macao to Chusan, had become the constant cruising ground of twenty opium ships, while the waters of Canton were converted into a grand rendezvous for more than thirty boats engaged in the seductive traffic. than a year, selling out her cargo. This the trade, led to the speedy establishment unpromising method of introducing opium of the system of delivering opium at differinto China continued for about twenty-ent cities along the coast, so that in 1838 five years, until 1820, when the Governor General and Collector of Customs at Canton issued an edict forbidding any vessel to enter the port in which opium was stored, and making the pilots and Hong merchants responsible for its being on board. The Portuguese were at the same time forbidden to introduce it into Macao, and every officer in the Chinese Custom House at that place was made responsible for pre- | venting its introduction, under the heaviest penalties. Twenty years before that time the importation of the pernicious drug had been interdicted by the emperor, under the severest penalties, as a growing evil which was wasting the time and consuming the property of the subjects of his realm, and draining the country of its wealth to pay for the "vile dirt" of outside countries. The Hong merchants were required to give bonds, in 1809, that no ship which discharged her cargo at Whampoa should have opium on board. The issuing of these stringent prohibitions by the government, and the necessity the local authorities began to feel of inflicting the penalties of the violated laws, at whose violation they themselves had connived, forced the opium merchants to withdraw from Macao and Whampoa, and to station their ships under shelter of Linton Island, in the bay at the entrance of Canton River, beyond the jurisdiction of the provincial governors. At this place the merchants established a depot of receiving ships, and henceforth Linton became the seat of an extensive trade. Here large and well-armed vessels might be seen reposing at anchor throughout the year, except in summer, when the ships moved to safer anchorages off the river, to avoid the severity of the typhoons. Their business was to receive the large quantities of opium brought by other vessels from India, and to deal it out in chests and cases to the Chinese junks, peculiar vessels called "fast-crabs" and "scrambling dragons," from which it was retailed at various points on shore. This continued to be the great but not the only depot for opium until 1839. In 1821 the Merope, an English vessel, made an experimental voyage along the coast of China, which proved unexpectedly successful, and giving a strong impetus to The exclusive commercial privileges of the East India Company ceased at the time of the renewal of their charter in 1834, and from that time the company was no longer directly connected with the opium trade in China. But they still continued the cultivation of the poppy on a greatly increased scale, and thus supplied nearly the whole quantity of the drug involved in the traffic, and derived from it, as we shall see immediately, an annually increasing revenue, exceeding in amount the revenue derived from any other single source, except only the land revenues, and the income from the salt trade, which, like that of opium, is a governmental monopoly. While this change in the operations of the company only served the purpose of withdrawing the transactions of that body in opium from the coasts of China, and of concentrating the efforts in the cultivation of the poppy in India, and, therefore, in no respect diminished their actual connection with the trade, or relieved the British Government from any of its responsibility for allowing and fostering the production of opium in its Indian possessions, this movement itself involved the government of Great Britain more directly and extensively in the traffic as carried on in China, and produced the beginning of those circumstances which led on by inevitable steps to the war of 1840, which can only be viewed as an opium war. But before we follow the history of the opium trade in China, and develop the connection of the British Government with that traffic in the territories of another sovereign, we must study more fully the relations of India and the East India Company with the production of opium, and thus be enabled to indicate more plainly the connection of the government of Great Britain with this trade through her own territorial possessions. We need not consume time and space with noticing the method of cultivating the poppy, and of preparing the opium for market; nor need we here dwell upon the arbitrary and compulsory system under which the natives of India are compelled to cultivate the poppy and produce the opium, and to deliver every portion of the drug to the company's servants, with whom the whole trade is a complete monopoly. A small portion of the opium produced under the supervision of the company is sold in the interior provinces of India, for native consumption; but the greater part of the whole product is gathered into two great factories, and sent down the river Ganges to Calcutta. Here it is publicly sold at auction, on regular market days, to merchants, who immediately export the most of it to China. The cost to the government of each chest of opium prepared for the market, is found to be about 300 rupees, or about $136. The price at which it is sold varies somewhat with the quantity in market and the demand abroad, but it generally is disposed of at 1200 or 1300 rupees per chest; an average of more than four times its original cost. As the price of the drug varies with the season and demand, the market days in Calcutta are times of great life and excitement, and the sales frequently afford opportunities for great speculation among the merchants. In 1846, 21,649 chests were thus disposed of, making a net profit to the government of over £2,000,000 sterling; and in 1847 the sales were increased by 10,000 chests, at which time over 31,000 chests of opium were sold at Calcutta, realizing to the company a net revenue of £3,000,000. The government thus receives annually an immense income from this source-an income which nearly all the politicians of India and Great Britain deem indispensable to the revenues of the British East India possessions. And yet this includes a part only, perhaps twothirds, of the opium raised in India, and by no means the whole of the revenue derived from this unrighteous source. In the fiscal year of 1833-34, the time at which the commercial privileges of the company ceased, the opium sales at Calcutta amounted to 12,815,145 rupees; being an advance on the sales of the previous year of more than 1,000,000 of rupees, and amounting to nearly one-fourth of the revenue derived from the onerous and tyrannical system of land taxation which prevails in the Bengal presidency, and nearly to the income derived from the great salt monopoly. In 1837-38, so rapid was the increase of this traffic, that the sales amounted to 22,429,041 rupees : exceeding the income from the salt monopoly by more than 5,000,000 rupees, and equaling two-thirds of the sum of the great land revenue itself. Omitting the land and salt revenues, this immense income from opium surpassed the sum of the revenue derived from all other sources in the Bengal presidency together; it amounted, in fact, to nearly one-fourth of the total gross revenues of the presidency of Bengal! But the growth of this enormous trade has been steadily onward during the past twenty-five years. In 1848-49, the sales at Calcutta amounted to 34,930,275 rupees, or $15,893,275. The able editor of the "Friend in India," in contemplating the rapid growth of this enormous trade, makes use of the following language: "Sixty years ago, when Burke drew up his well-known report on the state of Bengal, the entire product of the opium did not exceed three millions of rupees; but by the increasing demand of this article among the Chinese, and the good husbandry of the Board of Customs, the importance of this branch of our resources has been increased to such an extent that it exceeds the entire revenue derived from the land, when Warren Hastings quitted the government with so much triumph." But this is not the whole of the East Indian trade in opium. An additional revenue is derived through the Bombay presidency, in the form of transit duties charged by the company for the transportation through their territories, of the large quantities of opium produced in the province of Malwa. Since the settlement of the long-continued difficulties of Central India, the trade in Malwa opium has increased very rapidly, and its production is still a flourishing and growing branch of agriculture. In 1821 the total exports of that variety of the drug did not amount to 3,000 chests, while as early as 1839 they amounted to 21,000 chests, worth about £2,000,000. Previously to 1830 the Bombay government endeavored to obtain a monopoly of the sale of opium, such as exists at Calcutta; but with little success, as up to that time two-thirds of the produce of Malwa were carried to the Portuguese settlement of Damaun, (a small settlement to the north of Bombay,) where But we cannot better exhibit the importance, extent and growth of the East Indian trade in opium, than by summing up the transactions of the company in this article during a period of twenty years, from 1830 to 1850. We have ascertained from official reports, that the sales of opium at Calcutta, during that period, amounted to 399,914 chests, containing about 51,988,820 pounds of opium, from which was derived to the government a gross revenue of $173,767,439, or a net income to the treasury of $115,224,024. The transactions in the Bombay presidency, during the same period, involve 283,342 chests, or about 39,667,880 pounds of Malwa opium; realizing to the com it was exported. Up to that time the greater part of the trade was carried on beyond the territories of Bombay, and of course beyond the control of the British government. But the Anglo-Indian government, already deeply implicated in the traffic, looked with envy on this large branch of the trade which was not in their hands, and in 1830 abandoned the attempted monopoly, and invited the passage of the Malwa opium through their territories, by laying on it a transit-duty, similar to that which was imposed in other states through which the opium passed. Soon after this the great territories of Scinde came into the possession of the English by the right of conquest, after which all the opium of Malwa was brought to Bom-pany a gross income of $24,593,334, or a bay, subject to a heavy tax for its transit through the company's territories. This tax or pass-duty during the past twentyfive years has ranged from 175 to 400 rupees per chest. Under this arrangement, the trade, in 1832, yielded to the British government a revenue of £200,000; in the year 184849, the net revenue from this source amounted to over £600,000 sterling. The income from the transit of opium at Bombay, as early as 1835-36, amounted to nearly one-tenth of the whole revenue of the Bombay presidency. About 7,000 or 8,000 chests of the opium produced in Malwa, are annually consumed in that and the adjacent provinces. The surplus of the production which was transported to Bombay in 1846 amounted to 25,000 chests. At Bombay it is purchased by the merchants and exported to China. Opium and raw cotton are the principal articles of export from Bombay to China, and in 1836-37 there were exported of the former 20,882 chests, and of the latter 44,464,364 lbs., the whole value amounting to 32,675,047 rupees, or nearly three times the amount of exports to Great Britain, and constituting more than one-half the whole export trade of the Bombay presidency. These exports to China are more than twice the value of the products of China imported into Bombay, and for several years past the surplus has been returned in bullion, and to a large extent by bills on London, drawn by the merchants, and in bills on the Indian government, drawn by the agents of the company, thus constituting a perpetual drain on the moneyed resources of China. net revenue of $22,359,587. The aggregate of the company's receipts, during these twenty years, amounts to the enormous sum of $198,360,773, or a net revenue from the trade in opium of $137,583,611. For this great income the company has sent forth, principally to China, 683,256 chests, or 91,656,700 pounds of opium! The magnitude of this fearful trade is truly startling, and when we allow our minds to dwell upon the incomparable evils which those ninety-one millions of pounds of a pernicious drug have wrought in China, it is truly appalling. Think of it, reader, that this company has sent forth to China, in the brief period of twenty years, nearly one hundred millions of pounds of opium! Think of this enormous quantity of a poisonous drug, smuggled into the Chinese empire in twenty years, against the most stringent edicts and protestations of the government; against the earnest remonstrances of the most faithful officers of the empire; against the wishes of the wisest and best, and the vast majority of the people; and even against such opposition of the nation as eventually led to the declaration of war. Think of the consumption of that enormous quantity of the drug by the deluded victims of this most seductive practice. Think of the enormous sum of nearly two hundred millions of dollars, drained from the resources of a single country, to which must be added a large percentage for the profits realized by the individual merchants engaged in the traffic in China; and all for a worthless drug that is working poverty, desolation, and death throughout the country. Look at it, men of England, whose greatest honor is the glory of your nation, and whose proudest boast is the justice, the equality, the beneficence of your government. Look at it. See the work of your countrymen; a trade allowed and protected by your government; an evil of unequaled magnitude, originated and perpetuated by the unfeeling avarice of Englishmen; and defended by the authority and arms of your government. Look at it, and see if it be not a wrong and injustice to a sister nation, sufficient to tarnish the boasted glory of your country. Look at it, Christians and philanthropists of the world, and see if it be not an evil of sufficient enormity to call for your attention and interference. [For the National Magazine.] TRIFLES! THERE ARE NONE. R. CUMMING DR It 66 There are no says: trifles in the biography of man. is drops that make up the sea; it is acorns that cover the earth with oaks, and the ocean with glorious navies. Sands make up the bar in the harbor's mouth, on which rich argosies are wrecked; and little things in youth accumulate into character in age, and destiny in eternity." Some one has said: "Whether an insect shall deposit her egg in the bark of a young oak, or in some other place, would seem an incident as unworthy the providence of God as anything conceivable. This deposit, however, after a few months becomes a worm, which corrodes the tree. This tree, when many years have brought it to maturity-the defect not having been noticed and duly estimated-is used as part of the timber of a large vessel. In this vessel, let it be supposed, are sent dispatches, which, if duly received, would prevent a national war, affecting the fortunes, lives, and morals of thousands. While employed in service, the defective timber gives way; the leak is not discovered until it is too late to prevent the loss either of the vessel or crew. An event, comprehending not only this loss, but a national-perhaps a national revolution-may therefore depend upon a circumstance the most casual and trifling." Major Andre was a brave officer; but fortunately for the present happy and prosperous condition of these United States, his bravery forsook him on the most im portant occasion of his life. He has been made the bearer of treasonable dispatches. Instead of presenting his passport, he asks a question which immediately excites suspicion in the minds of the sentinels. His person is subjected to a rigid examination. The boots and hose are pulled off, and the traitorous documents are discovered. Now, had the British officer acted in character-promptly shown his passportinstead of attempting to play the Yankee, by "asking a question," the probability is that he would have been allowed to proceed without further interruption. It is equally probable that West Point would have been delivered up, and to this day the independence of these States might not have been obtained. Sir Walter Scott tells the story of a parsimonious kinsman of his, who on being informed that a family vault in the churchyard was decaying, and likely to fall in, and that £10 would make the repairs, proffered only £5. It was not sufficient. Two years after he proffered the full sum. A report was now made that the breeches were now so much increased, that £20 would scarcely serve. He hesitated, hemmed and hawed for three years, then offered £20. The wind and rain had not awaited his decision, and less than £50 would not serve. A few years afterward he sent a check for £50, which was returned by post, with the intelligence that the aisle had fallen the preceding week. About two hundred and twenty years ago might have been seen perambulating the county of Shropshire, England, a pack-peddler. While in the little village of Rawton, he one day called at the humble domicile of a Mr. Baxter. Mr. Baxter lightened the traveling merchant's pack of one book. The contents of this bookDr. Sibbs'" Bruised Reed"-were greedily devoured by Mr. Baxter's son Richard, a lad, then about fifteen years of age. This book was God's chosen instrumentality in "turning the youth from darkness to light"-from "sin to holiness." Richard Baxter became so prodigious a writer, as to receive from the notorious Judge Jeffries-on one occasion of being arraigned before him-the following very flattering compliment: "Richard, thou hast written as many books as would load a wagon, and every one of them as full of treason as an egg is full of meat." Truly, Richard's books were" full of treason" against |