Destruction of opium at Humen
[2] Silver was the only currency the Chinese would accept in payment for their tea, and to redress the balance in 1793 the EIC acquired a monopoly on opium production in India from the British government.
Former Royal Navy officer Charles Elliot became Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China in 1838, by which time the number of Chinese opium addicts had grown to between four and twelve million.
[9] Although some officials argued that a tax on opium would yield a profit for the imperial treasury, the Daoguang Emperor instead decided to stop the trade altogether and severely punish those involved.
[12] The commissioner went on to call the Cohong "traitors" and accuse them of complicity in the illegal trade; they had three days to persuade the foreigners to forfeit their opium or two of them would be executed and their wealth and lands confiscated.
Dent was warned by his friends[15] that in 1774 an individual who had heeded such a summons ended up garroted[16] so he instead asked Howqua to tell Lin he would meet him provided he received a guarantee of safe conduct.
Charles Elliot then ordered all British ships in Canton to head for the safety of Hong Kong island before he himself arrived at the foreign factories on 24 March, 1839, three days after the expiry of Lin's deadline.
[18] Even though Lin believed that the British had surrendered all their supplies, the factories remained in a state of virtual siege as the commissioner demanded that the Americans, the French, the Indians and the Dutch hand over a further 20,000 chests in total.
Pleased with the outcome, Daogguang sent Lin a roebuck venison to symbolise an imminent promotion and a hand-written scroll inscribed with the Chinese characters for good luck and long life.
After encircling the site with a bamboo fence to prevent theft, three stone pits, lined with wood, were dug into which was poured the seized opium along with lime and salt.
[25] When the task was finished, the American missionary, Elijah Coleman Bridgman, who witnessed events, commented: "The degree of care and fidelity, with which the whole work was conducted, far exceeded our expectations ..."[26] Once the opium had been destroyed, Elliot promised the merchants compensation for their losses from the British government.
Jardine believed that open warfare was the only way to force compensation from the Qing authorities and in London he began a campaign to sway the British government,[27] meeting with Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston in October 1839.
The following March, in the face of strong opposition from, among others, the Chartists, the pro-war lobby eventually won 271 to 262 in a House of Commons debate on whether to despatch a naval force to China.
The honour of having started the campaign against narcotic drugs belongs - in the pre-League time - to the American Bishop Charles H. Brent of the Philippines who, in 1906, drew the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt to the deplorable opium situation in the Far East.
[29] It is observed annually on 26 Jun that Chinese government and media commemorate Lin Zexu's effort of dismantling the harmful opium trade in Humen, Guangdong, ending on 25 June 1839.
