On June 3, local governments in free China burned confiscated narcotics and related materials to mark the drastic measures taken 130 years ago by Lin Tse-hsu, the Ch'ing government's high commissioner to Canton, to terminate the opium trade.
Opium, a drug that produces hullucinations and feelings of drowsiness, was introduced to China by Arabians at the end of the 8th century during the T'ang dynasty. It was used as a medicine for nearly a millennium and then as a substitute for tobacco in the early years of the 17th century, when the Ming government prohibited 'smoking of the New World weed.
Aware of the drug's harmful effects, Emperor Yung Cheng of the Ch'ing forbade the smoking of opium in 1729. Imports in that year totaled some 200 chests of 100 catties each. After the British East India: Company monopolized .the trade in 1773, imports. soared. The count reached 4,000 chests in 1789."
In 1796, the Emperor Chia Ch'ing prohibited; opium imports and renewed the ban in 1800. British) merchants ignored the orders. They bribed local officials and continued shipment of opium. From 1829, to 1835, the annual average was 17,000 smuggled chests. The figure for 1836 was 30,202. Smokers included officials, scholars, soldiers and merchants, even monks and nuns.
Because the smuggling drained a huge amount of the nation's silver coinage and the government could devise no effective measures to stop it, some officials suggested to the emperor that the trade be legalized on these conditions: (1) that the silver paid for opium be used to buy tea and other goods, (2) that only civilians be permitted to smoke and (3) that the poppy be grown in China so the trade could not be monopolized by the ''1barbarians''. The opposition claimed (1) that the Celetial Empire would lose face if the government openly approved smoking of such a harmful drug, (2) that the number of civilians being far greater than that in public service, it was not reasonable to permit civilians to smoke, and (3) that once poppies were grown in China, farmers would be reluctant to cultivate less profitable crops.
The following memorial in favor of legalization was submitted to Emperor Tao Kuang in June of 1836:
"Heu Naetse (Hsu Nai-chi in Mandarin), vice president of the Sacrificial Court, presents the following memorial, in regard to opium, to show that the more severe the interdicts against it, the more widely do the evils arising therefrom spread; and that it is right urgently to request that a change be made in the arrangements respecting it; to which end he earnestly entreats His Sacred Majesty to cast a glance hereon and to issue secret orders for a faithful investigation of the subject.
"I would humbly represent that opium was originally ranked among medicines; its qualities are stimulant; it also checks excessive Secretions and prevents the evil effects of noxious vapors. In the Materia Medica of Le Shechin of the Ming dynasty, it is called Afooyung. When anyone is long habituated to inhaling it, it becomes necessary to resort to it at regular intervals, and the habit of using it, being inveterate, is destructive of time, injurious to property and yet dear to one even as life. Of those who use it to great excess, the breath becomes feeble, the body wasted, the face sallow, the teeth black: the individuals themselves clearly see the evil effects of it, yet cannot refrain from it. It is, indeed, indispensably necessary to enact severe prohibitions in order to eradicate so vile a practice.
"On inquiry, I find that there are three kinds of opium. One is called Company's; the outer covering of it is black and hence it is called 'black earth'; it comes from Bengal. A second kind is called 'white skin' and comes from Bombay. The third kind is called 'red skin' and comes from Madras. These are places which belong to England.
"In Keenlung's reign (Ch'ien Lung, 1736-95), as well as previously, opium was inserted in the tariff of Canton as a medicine subject to a duty of three taels per hundred catties plus an additional charge of two taels, four mace and five candareens as a charge per package. After this it was prohibited. In the first year of Keaking (Chia Ch'ing, 1796), those found guilty of smoking opium were subject only to the punishment of the pillory and bamboo. Now they have, in the course of time, become liable to the severest penalties, transportation in various degrees and death after the ordinary continuance in prison. Yet the smokers of the drug have increased in number and the practice has spread almost throughout the whole empire. In Keenlung's and previous reigns, when opium passed through the customhouse and paid a duty, it was given into the hands of the hong (house of foreign trade) merchants in exchange for tea and other goods. But at the present time, the prohibitions of government being most strict against it, none dare openly to exchange goods for it; all secretly purchase it with money. In the reign of Keaking, there arrived some hundred chests annually. The number has now increased to upward of 20,000 chests, containing each a hundred catties. The 'black earth', which is the best, sells for about 800 dollars, foreign money, per chest; the 'white skin', which is next in quality, for about 600 dollars; and the last, or 'red skin', for about 400 dollars. The total quantity sold during the year amounts in value to ten and some odd millions of dollars. In reckoning the dollar at seven mace at the standard weight of silver, the annual waste of money somewhat exceeds ten millions of taels. Formerly the barbarian merchants brought foreign money to China. This was paid in exchange for goods and became a source of pecuniary advantage to the people of all the seaboard provinces. But lately, the barbarian merchants have clandestinely sold opium for money; this has rendered it unnecessary for them to import foreign silver. Thus foreign money has been going out of the country while none comes in.
"During two centuries, the Government has maintained peace and by fostering the people, has greatly promoted the increase of wealth and opulence among them. With joy we witness the economical rule of our august Sovereign, an example to the whole empire. Right it is that the yellow gold should be common as dust.
"Always in times past, a tael of pure silver was exchanged for about 1,000 cash. But of late years the same sum has borne the value of 1,200 or 1,300 cash: thus the price of silver rises but does not fall. In the salt agency, the price of salt is paid in cash, while the duties are paid in silver; now the salt merchants have all become involved and the existing state of the salt trade in every province is abject in the extreme. How is this occasioned but by the unnoticed oozing out of silver? If the easily exhaustible stores of the central spring go to fill up the wide and fathomless gulf of the outer seas, gradually pouring themselves out from day to day and from month to month, we shall shortly be reduced to a state of which I cannot bear to speak.
"It is proposed to cut off the foreign trade entirely and thus to remove the root, to dam up the source of the evil. The Celestial Dynasty would not, indeed, hesitate to relinquish the few millions of duties arising therefrom. But all the nations of the West have had a general market open to ,their ships for upward of a thousand years, while the dealers in opium are the English alone. It would be wrong, for the sake of cutting off the English trade, to cut off that of all the other nations. Besides, the hundreds of thousands of people living on the seacoast depend wholly on trade for their livelihood and how are they to be disposed of? Moreover, the barbarian ships, being on the high seas, can repair to any island that may be selected as an. entrepot, and the native seagoing vessels can meet them there; it is then impossible to cut off the trade. Of late years, the foreign vessels have visited all the ports of Fuhkeen (Fukien), Chekeang (Chekiang), Keangnan (south of the Yangtze River), Shantung, even to Teentsin (Tientsin) and Mantchouria (Manchuria) for the purpose of selling opium. And although at once expelled by the local authorities, yet it is reported that the quantity sold by them was not small. Thus it appears that, though the commerce of Canton should be cut off, yet it will not be possible to prevent the clandestine introduction of merchandise.
"It is said the daily increase of opium is owing to the negligence of officers in enforcing the interdicts! The laws and enactments are the means which extortionate underlings and worthless vagrants employ to benefit themselves. The more complete the laws are, the greater and more numerous are the bribes paid to the extortionate underlings and the more subtle are schemes of such worthIess vagrants. In the first year of Taoukwang (Tao Kuang, 1821), the governor of Kwangtung and Kwangse (Kwangsi), Yuen Yuen (Juan Yuan), proceeded with all rigor of the law against Ye Hangshoo, head of the opium establishment then at Macao. The consequence was that foreigners, having no one with whom to place their opium, proceeded to Lintin to sell it. This place is within the precincts of the provincial government, and has a free communication by water on all sides. Here are constantly anchored seven or eight large ships in which the opium is kept and which are therefore called 'receiving ships'. At Canton there are brokers of the drug who are called 'melters'. These pay the price of the drug into the hands of the resident foreigners, who give them orders for the delivery of the opium from the receiving ships. There are carrying boats plying up and down the river; and these are vulgarly called 'fast crabs' and 'scrambling dragons'. They are well armed with guns and other weapons and are manned with some scores of desperadoes who ply their oars as if they were wings to fly with. All the customhouses and military posts which they pass are largely bribed. If they happen to encounter any of the armed cruising boats, they are so audacious as to resist and slaughter and carnage ensue. The late Governor Loa (Lu Kun of Kwangtung and Kwangsi) on one occasion directed Commodore Tsin Yuchang to cooperate with Teen Poo, the district magistrate of Heangshan (Hsiangshan in Mandarin, a county of Kwangtung). They captured Leang Heennee with a boat containing opium to the amount of 14,000 catties. The number of men killed and taken prisoners amounted to several scores. He likewise inflicted the penalty of the law on the criminals Yaoukow and Owkwan (both of them being brokers), and confiscated their property. This shows that faithfulness in the enforcement of the laws 'is not wanting; and yet the practice cannot be checked. The dread of the laws is not so great on the part of the common people as is the anxious desire of gain, which incites them to all manner of crafty devices; so that sometimes, indeed, the law is rendered wholly ineffective.
"There are also, both on the rivers and at sea, banditti, who, with pretense of acting under orders of the government and of being sent to search after and prevent the smuggling of opium, seek opportunities for plundering. When I was lately placed in the service of Your Majesty as Acting Judicial Commissioner at Canton, cases of this nature were very frequently reported. Out of these arose a still greater number of cases in which money was extorted for the ransom of plundered property. Thus a countless number of innocent people were involved in suffering. All these widespread evils have arisen since the interdicts against opium were published.
"It will be found, on examination, that the smokers of opium are idle, lazy vagrants, having no useful purpose before them, and are unworthy of regard or even of contempt. And though there are smokers to be found who have overstepped the threshold of age, yet they do not attain to ·the long life of other men. But new births are daily increasing the population of the empire; and there is no cause to apprehend a diminution therein; while, on the other hand, we cannot adopt too great, or too early, precautions against the annual waste which is taking place in the resources, the very substance of China.
"Since then, it will not answer to close our ports against (all trade), and since the laws issued against opium are quite inoperative, the only method left is to revert to the former system, to permit the barbarian merchants to import opium paying duty thereon as a medicine, and to require that, after having passed the customhouse, it shall be delivered to the hong merchants only in exchange for merchandise and that no money be paid for it. The barbarians, finding that the amount of dues to be paid on it is less than what ,is now spent in bribes, will also gladly comply therein. Foreign money should be placed on the same footing with sycee silver and the exportation of it should be equally prohibited. Offenders, when caught, should be punished by the entire destruction of the opium they may have, and the confiscation of the money that may be found with them ...
"It becomes my duty, then, to request that it be enacted, that any officer, scholar or soldier found guilty of secretly smoking opium, shall be immediately dismissed from public employ without being made liable to any other penalty ... Lastly, that no regard be paid to the purchase and use of opium on the part of the people generally.
"Does any suggest a doubt that to remove the existing prohibitions will derogate from the dignity of the Government? I would ask, if he is ignorant, that the pleasures of the table of the nuptial couch may also be indulged in to the injury of health? Nor are the invigorating drugs footsze and woolow devoid of poisonous qualities: yet it has never been heard that any one of these has been interdicted. Besides, the removal of the prohibitions refers only to the vulgar and common people, those who have no official duties to perform. So long as the officers of the Government, the scholars and the military are not included, I see no detriment to the dignity of the Government. And by allowing the proposed importation and exchange of the drug for other commodities, more than ten millions of money will annually,. be prevented from flowing out of the Central Land. On which side then is the gain-on which the loss? ... Perchance this may be found adequate to stop further oozing out of money and to replenish the national resources. With inexpressible awe and trembling fear, I reverently present this memorial and await Your Majesty's commands."
The Emperor Tao Kuang agreed to Heu's suggestions. However, they were not carried out because of strong opposition from other officials. In October of the same year (1836), Choo Tsun, president of the Board of Rites, submitted an anti-opium memorial: Choo and his party shortly gained the emperor's ear. As a result, Heu was dismissed from the public service and three princes were deprived of their honors and punished for opium smoking.
"Choo Tsun, member of the Council and of the Board of Rites, kneeling, presents the following memorial, wherein he suggests the propriety of increasing the severity of certain prohibitory enactments with a view to maintaining the dignity of the laws and to removing a great evil from among the people. To this end he respectfully states his views on the subject and earnestly entreats His Sacred Majesty to cast a glance thereon.
"I would humbly point out that wherever an evil exists, it should be at once removed and that the laws should never be suffered to fall into desuetude. Our Government having received from heaven the gift of peace has transmitted it for two centuries: this has afforded opportunity for the removal of evils from among the people ... In regard to opium, special enactments were passed for the prohibition of its use in the first year of Keaking; and since then, memorials presented at various successive periods have given rise to additional prohibitions ... The laws ... are not wanting in severity; but there are those in office who, for want of energy, fail to carry them into execution.
"The late Governor Loo, having on one occasion sent the Commodore Tsin Yuchang to cooperate with Teen Poo, the magistrade of Heanshang, these officers seized a vessel belonging to Leang Heennee, which was carrying opium, and out of her they took 14,000 catties of the drug . .. Hence it is 'apparent that if the great officers in charge of the provinces do in truth show an example to their civil and military subordinates and if these do in sincerity search for the drug and faithfully seize it when found, apprehending the most criminal and inflicting upon them severe punishment, it is not impossible to attain the desired end. And if the officers are indeed active and strenuous in their exertions, and make a point of inflicting punishment on offenders, will the people, however perverse and obstinate they may be, really continue fearless of the laws? No. The thing to be lamented is, instability in maintaining the laws-the vigorous execution thereof being often and suddenly exchanged for indolent laxity.
"It has been represented that advantage is taken of the laws against opium by extortionate underlings and worthless vagrants who seek to benefit themselves... When have not prostitution, gambling, treason, robbery and such infractions' of the laws afforded occasions for extortionate underlings and worthless contend that the law, because in such instances render-bribery to amass wealth? ... But none surely would contend that the law, because in such instances rendered ineffectual, should therefore be abrogated! ... Yet the provincials, when discussing the subject of opium, being perplexed and bewildered by it, think that a prohibition which does not utterly prohibit is better than one which does not effectually prevent the importation of the drug. Day and night I have meditated on this and can in truth see no wisdom in the opium.
"It is said that the opium should be admitted,subject to a duty, the importers being required to give it into the hands of the hong merchants, in barter only for merchandise, without being allowed to sell it for money. And this is proposed as a means of preventing money secretly oozing out of the country. But the English, by whom opium is sold, were driven out to Lintin as long ago as the first year of Tauoukwang, when the then Governor of Kwangtung and Kwangse discovered and punished the warehouses of opium. Nor have they since imported it into Macao. Having once suppressed the traders and driven them away, shall we now call upon them and invite them to return? This would be, indeed, a derogation of the true dignity of Government. As to the proposition to give tea in exchange, and entirely to prohibit the exportation of even foreign silver, I apprehend that, if the tea should not be found ,sufficient, money would still be given in exchange for the drug. Besides, if it in our power to prevent the exportation of dollars, why not also prevent the importation of opium? And if we can but prevent the importation of opium, the exportation of dollars will then cease of itself, and the two offenses will both at once be stopped. Morever, is it not better, by continuing the old enactments, to find even a partial remedy for the evil, than by a change of the laws to increase the importation still further? As to levying a duty on opium, the thing sounds so awkward and reads so unbeseemingly that such a duty ought surely not be levied.
"Again, it is said that the prohibitions against the planting of the poppy by the natives should be relaxed; and that the direct consequences will be daily diminution of the profits of foreigners, and in course of time, the entire cessation of the trade without the aid of prohibitions ... Of any of those provinces (Fuhkeen, Chekeang, Kwangtung, Shantung, Yunnan and Kweichow), except Yunnan, I do not presume to speak; but of that portion of the country of which I have it the power to speak the poppy is cultivated all over the hills and in the open country. The quantity of opium annually produced cannot be less than several thousand chests. And yet we do not see any diminution in the quantity of silver exported as compared with any previous period; on the other hand, the lack of the metal in Yunnan is double what it formerly was. To what cause is this to be ascribed? To what but that the consumers of the drug are very many, and that those who are choice and dainty with regard to its quality prefer always the foreign article.
"If all the rich and fertile ground be used for planting the poppy, and if the people, hoping for a large profit therefrom, madly engage in its cultivation, where will flax and the mulberry tree be cultivated, or wheat and rye be planted? ... And shall the fine fields of Kwangtung, that produce their three crops every year, be given up for the cultivation of this noxious weed - those fields in comparison with which the unequal soil of all other parts of the Empire is not even to be mentioned?
"To sum up the matter, the widespread and baneful influence of opium, when regarded simply as injurious to property, is of inferior importance; but when regarded as hurtful to the people, it demands most anxious consideration: for in the people lies the very foundation of the empire. Property, it is true, is that on which the subsistence of the people depends. Yet a deficiency of it may be supplied, and an impoverished people improved; whereas it is beyond !the power of any artificial means to save a people enervated by luxury ... Now the English are of the race of foreigners called Hungmaou (Red Hair). In introducing opium into this country, their purpose has been to weaken and enfeeble the Central Empire. If not early aroused to a sense of our danger, we shall ,find ourselves, ere long, on the last step toward ruin ...
"It is said, indeed, that when repealing the prohibitions, the people only are to be allowed to deal in and smoke the drug; and that none of the officers, the scholars, and the military are to be allowed this liberty. But this is bad casuistry. It is equal to the popular proverb, 'shut a woman's ears before you steal her earrings'-an absurdity. The officers, with all the scholars and the military, do not amount in number to more than one-tenth of the whole population .of the empire; and the other nine-tenths are all the common people . . . Besides. if the people be at liberty to smoke opium, how shall the officers, the scholars and the military be prevented? Of the officers, the scholars and the military, are there any that are born in civil or military situations or that are born scholars and soldiers? All certainly are raised up from the level of the common people ... At the present moment, throughout the empire, the minds of men are in imminent danger: the more foolish, being seduced by teachers of false doctrines, are sunk in vain superstitions and cannot be aroused; and the more intelligent, being intoxicated by opium, are carried away as by a whirlpool, and are beyond recovery ... But the proposal to alter the law on this subject having been made and discussed in the provinces, the instant effect has been, that crafty thieves and villains have' on all hands begun to raise their heads and open their eyes, gazing about, and pointing the finger, under the notion that, when once these prohibitions are repealed, thenceforth and forever they may regard themselves free from every restraint, and from every cause of fear ...
"I feel it my duty to request that Your Majesty's commands may be proclaimed to the governors and lieutenant governors of all the provinces, requiring them to direct the local officers to redouble their efforts for the enforcement of the existing prohibition (against opium); and to impress on everyone, in the plainest and strictest manner, that all who are already contaminated by the vile habit must become and return new men - that if any continue to walk in their former courses, strangers to repentance and to reformation, they shall assuredly be subjected to the full penalty of the law, and shall not meet with the least indulgence - and that on any found guilty of storing up or selling opium to the amount of 1,000 catties or upward, the most severe punishment shall be inflicted. Thus happily the minds of men may be impressed with fear, and the report thereof, spreading over the seas (among foreigners), may even there produce reformation. Submitting to my Sovereign my feeble and obscure views. I prostrate myself and implore Your Sacred Majesty to cast a glance on this my respectful memorial."
Two years later, Huang Chueh-tzu, chief of the Protocol Board, urged that opium smokers be put to death. Among 20 supporters of this memorial, the most ardent was Lin Tse-hsu, governor of Hu-Kwang (Hunan, Hupeh, Kwangtung and Kwangsi). At the end of 1838, Lin was appointed High Commissioner to Canton to "investigate and act".
Lin arrived at Canton on March 10 of the following year. Eight days later, he issued two orders. One was to the hong merchants warning them of the error of their role in the opium trade; the other to foreigners of all nations, as follows:
"Lin, high imperial commissioner of the Celestial Court, a director of the Board of War and governor of Hookwang (Hu-Kwang), issues his commands to the foreigners, requiring of all full acquaintance with the tenor thereof.
"It is known that the foreign vessels which come for a reciprocal trade to Kwangtung have derived from that trade very large profits ... It is because our great emperors, in their universal benevolence, have granted you commercial privileges that you have been favored with these advantages. Let our ports once closed against you and for what profits can your feral nations any longer look? …
"I, the high commissioner, having my home in maritime province of Fuhkeen and consequently having early had intimate acquaintance with all the arts and shifts of the outer foreigners, have for this reason been honored by the great emperor with the full powers and privileges of 'a high imperial commissioner, who, having repeatedly performed meritorious services, is sent to settle the affairs of the outer frontier' ...
"I find that on board the warehousing vessels which you now have lying at anchor in the Lintin and other offings there are stored up several times ten thousand chests of opium, which it is your purpose and desire illicitly to dispose of by sale …
"I proceed to issue my commands. When these commands reach the said foreign merchants, let them with all haste pay obedience thereto. Let them deliver up to government every article of the opium on board their store-ships. Let it be ascertained by the hong merchants, who are the parties so delivering it up, what number of chests is delivered up under each name and what is the total quantity in catties and taels. Let these particulars be brought together in a clear tabular form and be presented to government in order that the opium may all be received in plain conformity thereto, that it may be burnt and destroyed, and that thus the evil may be entirely extirpated. There must not be the smallest atom concealed or withheld
"At the same time let these foreigners give a bond, written jointly in the foreign and Chinese languages, making a declaration to this effect: That their vessels, which shall hereafter resort hither, will never again dare to bring opium with them: and that should any be brought, as soon as discovery shall be made of it, the goods shall be forfeited to government and the parties shall suffer the extreme penalties of the law: and that such punishment will be willingly submitted to' …
"After this, you will continue to enjoy the advantages of commercial intercourse; and, as you will not lose the character of being 'good foreigners', and will be enabled to acquire profits and get wealth by an honest trade, will you not indeed stand in a most honorable position?
"If, however, you obstinately adhere to your folly and refuse to awake-if you think to make up a tale covering over your illicit dealings - or to set up as a pre-text that the opium is brought by foreign seamen and the foreign merchants have nothing to do with it ... it will be evident that you retain a spirit of contumancy and disobedience, that you uphold vice and will not reform. Then ... it will become requisite to comprehend you also in the severe course of punishment prescribed by the new law ... I swear that I will progress with this matter from its beginning to its ending and that not a thought of stopping halfway shall for a moment be indulged.
"Furthermore, observing the present condition of the popular mind, I find so universal a spirit of indignation aroused, that should you foreigners remain dead to a sense of contrition and amendment, and continue to make gain your sole object, there will not only be arrayed against you the martial terrors and powerful energies of our naval and military forces;it will be but necessary to call on the able bodied of the people, and these alone will be more than adequate to the placing all your lives within my power. Besides, either by the temporary stoppage of your trade, or by the permanent closing of the ports against you, what difficulty can there be in effectually cutting off your intercourse? Our central empire ... has no benefit to derive from the purchase of your foreign commodities and you may therefore well fear that from the moment such measures are taken, the livelihood of your several nations must come to an end ... It rests with yourselves alone to choose whether you will have weal or woe, honor or disgrace ... Do not indulge in idle expectations, or seek to postpone matters, deferring to repent until its lateness render it ineffectual. A special edict. "
On March 19, Lin issued an order forbidding foreigners to leave Canton. Six days later, Captain Charles Elliot, the chief superintendent of British trade, demanded passports for the English in the city. Lin promised the passports upon receipt of the opium. On March 27, Elliot issued the following papers calling upon British subjects to surrender their opium and promising Lin to obey his "commands":
"I, Charles Elliot, chief superintendent of the trade of British subjects in China, presently forcibly detained by the provincial government, together with all the merchants of my own and the other foreign nations settled here, without supplies of food, deprived of our servants, and out off from all intercourse with our respective countries, (notwithstanding my own official demand to be set at liberty so that I might act without restraint,) have now received the commands of the high commissioner, issued directly to me under the seals of the honorable officers, to deliver into his hand all the opium held by the people of my country. Now I, the said chief superintendent, thus constrained by paramount motives affecting the safety of the lives and liberty of all the foreigners here present in Canton, and by other very weighty causes, do hereby, in the name and on the behalf of Her Britannic Majesty's Government enjoin and require all Her Majesty's subjects now present in Canton forthwith to make a surrender to me for the service of Her said Majesty's Government, to be delivered over to the Government of China, of all the opium under their respective control: and to hold the British ships and vessels engaged in the trade of opium subject to my immediate direction: and to forward to me without delay a sealed list of all the British owned opium in their respective possession. And I, the said chief superintendent, do now, in the most full and unreserved manner, hold myself responsible for, and on the behalf of Her Britannic Majesty's Government, to all and each of Her Majesty's subjects surrendering the said British owned opium into my hands, to be delivered over to the Chinese Government. And I, the said superintendent, do further specially caution all Her Majesty's subjects here present in Canton, owners of or charged with the management of opium, the property of British subjects, that failing the surrender of the said opium into my hands at or before six o'clock this day, I the said chief superintendent, hereby declare Her Majesty's Government wholly free of all manner of responsibility in respect of the said British owned opium.
"And it is specially to be understood that proof of British property and value of all British opium surrendered to me agreeably to this notice shall be determined upon principles and in a manner hereafter to be defined by Her Majesty's Government."
The opium surrendered through Elliot totaled 20,283 chests. On June 3, Commissioner Lin burned the fruit of the poppy on the beach of Canton. Since the establishment of the Republic, June 3 has been observed as Anti-Opium Day in China.