26 aws Chapter 26 A Letter to Queen Victoria In 1839, the emperor of China sent commissioner Lin Tse-hsu to Canton with orders to stop the opium trade. Lin's action in destroying the opium at Canton helped to bring on war with Great Britain. Lin presented the Chinese view in an eloquent letter to Queen Victoria, which was probably never received by the monarch. Read the excerpt from Lin's letter below and answer the questions that follow. The Way of Heaven is fairness to all; it does not suffer us to harm others in order to benefit our- selves. Men are alike in this all the world over: that they cherish life and hate what endangers life.... Our Heavenly Court treats all within the Four Seas as one great family; the goodness of our great Emperor is like Heaven, that covers all things.... Ever since the port of Canton was first opened, trade has flourished. For some hundred and twen- ty or thirty years, the natives of the place have enjoyed peaceful and profitable relations with the ships that come from abroad. Rhubarb, tea, silk are all valuable products of ours, without which foreigners could not live. The Heavenly Court, extending its benevolence to all alike, allows these things to be sold and carried away across the sea, not grudging them even to remote domains. But there is a class of evil foreigner that makes opium and brings it for sale, tempting fools to destroy themselves, merely in order to reap profit.... Our great, unified Manchu Empire regards itself as responsible for the habits and morals of its subjects and cannot rest content to see any of them become victims to a deadly poi- son. For this reason we have decided to inflict very severe penalties on opium dealers and opium smokers, in order to put a stop forever to the propagation of this vice. It appears that this poisonous article is manufactured by certain dev- ilish persons in places subject to your rule.... I am told that in your own country opium smoking is forbidden under severe penalties. This means that you are aware of how harmful it is. But better than to forbid the smoking of it would be to forbid the sale of it and, better still, to for- bid the production of it, which is the only way of cleansing the contamination at its source. So long as you do not take it yourselves, but continue to make it and tempt the people of China to buy it, you will be showing yourselves careful of your own lives, but careless of the lives of other people.... Such conduct is repugnant to human feeling and at variance with the Way of Heaven.... What is forbidden to consume, your dependen- cies must be forbidden to manufacture, and what has already been manufactured Your Majesty must immediately search out and throw it to the bottom of the sea, and never allow such a poison to exist in Heaven or on Earth.... Both nations will enjoy the blessing of a peace- ful existence, yours on its side having made clear its sincerity by respectful obedience to our com- mands. You will be showing that you understand the principles of Heaven, and calamities will not be sent down on you from above; you will be act- ing in accordance with decent feeling, which may also well influence the course of nature in your favor.... Do not say you have not been warned in time. On receiving this, Your Majesty will be so good as to report to me immediately on the steps that have been taken at each of your ports. Adapted from The Opium War Through Chinese Eyes by Arthur Waley (Chester Springs, Penn.: Dufour Editions, Inc., 1966).

26 aws Chapter 26 A Letter to Queen Victoria In 1839, the emperor of China sent commissioner Lin Tse-hsu to Canton with orders to stop the opium trade. Lin's action in destroying the opium at Canton helped to bring on war with Great Britain. Lin presented the Chinese view in an eloquent letter to Queen Victoria, which was probably never received by the monarch. Read the excerpt from Lin's letter below and answer the questions that follow. The Way of Heaven is fairness to all; it does not suffer us to harm others in order to benefit our- selves. Men are alike in this all the world over: that they cherish life and hate what endangers life.... Our Heavenly Court treats all within the Four Seas as one great family; the goodness of our great Emperor is like Heaven, that covers all things.... Ever since the port of Canton was first opened, trade has flourished. For some hundred and twen- ty or thirty years, the natives of the place have enjoyed peaceful and profitable relations with the ships that come from abroad. Rhubarb, tea, silk are all valuable products of ours, without which foreigners could not live. The Heavenly Court, extending its benevolence to all alike, allows these things to be sold and carried away across the sea, not grudging them even to remote domains. But there is a class of evil foreigner that makes opium and brings it for sale, tempting fools to destroy themselves, merely in order to reap profit.... Our great, unified Manchu Empire regards itself as responsible for the habits and morals of its subjects and cannot rest content to see any of them become victims to a deadly poi- son. For this reason we have decided to inflict very severe penalties on opium dealers and opium smokers, in order to put a stop forever to the propagation of this vice. It appears that this poisonous article is manufactured by certain dev- ilish persons in places subject to your rule.... I am told that in your own country opium smoking is forbidden under severe penalties. This means that you are aware of how harmful it is. But better than to forbid the smoking of it would be to forbid the sale of it and, better still, to for- bid the production of it, which is the only way of cleansing the contamination at its source. So long as you do not take it yourselves, but continue to make it and tempt the people of China to buy it, you will be showing yourselves careful of your own lives, but careless of the lives of other people.... Such conduct is repugnant to human feeling and at variance with the Way of Heaven.... What is forbidden to consume, your dependen- cies must be forbidden to manufacture, and what has already been manufactured Your Majesty must immediately search out and throw it to the bottom of the sea, and never allow such a poison to exist in Heaven or on Earth.... Both nations will enjoy the blessing of a peace- ful existence, yours on its side having made clear its sincerity by respectful obedience to our com- mands. You will be showing that you understand the principles of Heaven, and calamities will not be sent down on you from above; you will be act- ing in accordance with decent feeling, which may also well influence the course of nature in your favor.... Do not say you have not been warned in time. On receiving this, Your Majesty will be so good as to report to me immediately on the steps that have been taken at each of your ports. Adapted from The Opium War Through Chinese Eyes by Arthur Waley (Chester Springs, Penn.: Dufour Editions, Inc., 1966).