04-11-2007, 09:45 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Heroin, opium and slave trade... made Britain wealthy!
by Vijaya Perera
Around two centuries ago Britain became the world's wealthiest nation, mainly on its income from the slave trade and the opium trade.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is reported to be holding services to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade, mainly due to the activities of William Wilberforce. The BBC news bulletin which announced this casually mentioned that the Anglican church became rich on its income from the slave trade.
My concern in this paper is to speak of Britain's other source of wealth, namely the opium trade.
The UK Attorney General recently complained that 90% of the heroin consumed in Britain came from Afghanistan. The Attorney General disapproves of trafficking in opium. It was Britain that started the dirty business and battened on it.
Opium was a huge source of income for Britain and it actually had an Opium Service in India for career officers, just like the Civil Service and the Police Service. Eric Blair (whom we know as George Orwell) set sail from Liverpool in October 1922 to start a career in British India, in the footsteps of his father who had, after a long spell of working in the Bengali Opium Service, attained the rank of Sub-Opium Agent Class 1. Eric Blair worked for 5 years in the
Imperial Police Service before he left in disgust to return to an uncertain future in England much to the dismay of his parents.
At the beginning of the 19th century the British started forcibly to sell opium to the Chinese people and built up such a lucrative trade that the British government set up an official Opium Service in India. It was considered a quite respectable occupation for a middle class English gentleman to seek a career in. The purpose of the Service was to forcibly sell opium to Chinese , creating thousands of addicts and drawing in millions of pounds in profits.
When things got out of control, the weak Chinese government tried to stop the trade and confiscated all the opium warehoused at Canton by British merchants. Around this time some drunken British sailors killed a Chinese villager. The British government refused to hand over the sailors to the Chinese courts for trial. This led to a war which went on for three years but the Chinese were badly defeated.
There was in 1842 the Treaty of Nanking, followed by the British Supplementary Treaty of the Bogue in 1843. Devastating, humiliating, crushing terms were imposed by the British on the Chinese. China was compelled to pay a huge sum of money (which was called an 'indemnity') to the British as well as cede five Chinese ports for British trade and residence. China had also to agree that British citizens committing offences in China would not be tried by Chinese courts. Soon other western countries demanded and were given similar privileges.
In 1856, the British found an excuse to revive hostilities when some Chinese officials boarded the British ship 'Arrow' and lowered the British flag. France saw an opportunity to get in on the act, alleging that a French missionary had been killed somewhere in the interior of China. The joint British-French armies began military operations in late 1857 and by 1858 forced the Chinese to sign the Treaties of Tientsin which provided residence in Peking for foreign envoys, the opening of several new ports to western trade and residence, the right of foreigners to travel in the interior of China, and freedom of movement for Christian missionaries. The importation of opium into China was legalized.
The Chinese however refused to ratify the treaties and the allies recommenced their hostilities. They captured Peking and burned the emperor's summer palace. In 1860 the Chinese were compelled to sign the Peking Convention which agreed to observe the Treaties of Tientsin.
British military might have kept China crushed, humiliated and exploited well into the 20th century, and it took two world wars to reduce Britain to a has-been military bully, giving China a chance to get back on its feet as a communist power.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/manitham/message/2457
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by Vijaya Perera
Around two centuries ago Britain became the world's wealthiest nation, mainly on its income from the slave trade and the opium trade.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is reported to be holding services to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade, mainly due to the activities of William Wilberforce. The BBC news bulletin which announced this casually mentioned that the Anglican church became rich on its income from the slave trade.
My concern in this paper is to speak of Britain's other source of wealth, namely the opium trade.
The UK Attorney General recently complained that 90% of the heroin consumed in Britain came from Afghanistan. The Attorney General disapproves of trafficking in opium. It was Britain that started the dirty business and battened on it.
Opium was a huge source of income for Britain and it actually had an Opium Service in India for career officers, just like the Civil Service and the Police Service. Eric Blair (whom we know as George Orwell) set sail from Liverpool in October 1922 to start a career in British India, in the footsteps of his father who had, after a long spell of working in the Bengali Opium Service, attained the rank of Sub-Opium Agent Class 1. Eric Blair worked for 5 years in the
Imperial Police Service before he left in disgust to return to an uncertain future in England much to the dismay of his parents.
At the beginning of the 19th century the British started forcibly to sell opium to the Chinese people and built up such a lucrative trade that the British government set up an official Opium Service in India. It was considered a quite respectable occupation for a middle class English gentleman to seek a career in. The purpose of the Service was to forcibly sell opium to Chinese , creating thousands of addicts and drawing in millions of pounds in profits.
When things got out of control, the weak Chinese government tried to stop the trade and confiscated all the opium warehoused at Canton by British merchants. Around this time some drunken British sailors killed a Chinese villager. The British government refused to hand over the sailors to the Chinese courts for trial. This led to a war which went on for three years but the Chinese were badly defeated.
There was in 1842 the Treaty of Nanking, followed by the British Supplementary Treaty of the Bogue in 1843. Devastating, humiliating, crushing terms were imposed by the British on the Chinese. China was compelled to pay a huge sum of money (which was called an 'indemnity') to the British as well as cede five Chinese ports for British trade and residence. China had also to agree that British citizens committing offences in China would not be tried by Chinese courts. Soon other western countries demanded and were given similar privileges.
In 1856, the British found an excuse to revive hostilities when some Chinese officials boarded the British ship 'Arrow' and lowered the British flag. France saw an opportunity to get in on the act, alleging that a French missionary had been killed somewhere in the interior of China. The joint British-French armies began military operations in late 1857 and by 1858 forced the Chinese to sign the Treaties of Tientsin which provided residence in Peking for foreign envoys, the opening of several new ports to western trade and residence, the right of foreigners to travel in the interior of China, and freedom of movement for Christian missionaries. The importation of opium into China was legalized.
The Chinese however refused to ratify the treaties and the allies recommenced their hostilities. They captured Peking and burned the emperor's summer palace. In 1860 the Chinese were compelled to sign the Peking Convention which agreed to observe the Treaties of Tientsin.
British military might have kept China crushed, humiliated and exploited well into the 20th century, and it took two world wars to reduce Britain to a has-been military bully, giving China a chance to get back on its feet as a communist power.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/manitham/message/2457
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