Following Emperor Tao-kuang's decision to stop the opium trade at Canton, Lin was appointed Imperial Commissioner (i.e., 'drug czar') to effect this. Having concluded that opium smoking could be stopped only by preventing the illegal importation of the drug by the British traders at Canton, Lin instituted his "get tough" measures soon after his appointment and these included the forced impounding of some 1400 tons of opium which he promptly destroyed, thus inviting the intervention of the British government at this high-handed assault against the 'private property' of British merchants. In the course of this confrontation, Lin wrote a personal letter to Her Majesty Queen Victoria on the immoral nature of the opium traffic and with a request for her own action in stopping the illegal trade. Though we may agree with Lin's indictment of the traffic in opium, it is also evident that his superior tone and lack of diplomatic nicety was more likely to offend than convince, while his naiveté and ignorance of foreign countries could only induce merriment : note, for example, his opening reference to Britain's diplomatic correspondence with the Emperor as "tributary memorials"[i.e., communications from an inferior to a superior] and his comment on the Englishman's 'dependence' on rhubarb!. Relevant extracts from the letter follow:
. . .The kings of your honorable country by a tradition handed down from
generation to generation have always been noted for their politeness and
submissiveness.
We have read your successive tributary memorials saying: "In general our
countrymen
who go to trade in China have always received His Majesty the Emperor's
gracious
treatment and equal justice," and so on. Privately we are delighted with the way
in which
the honorable rulers of your country deeply understand the grand principles and
are
grateful for the Celestial grace. . . .
But after a long period of commercial intercourse, there appear among the
crowd
of barbarians [i.e., the private traders] both good persons and bad, unevenly.
Consequently there are those who smuggle opium to seduce the Chinese people and
so
cause the spread of the poison to all provinces. Such persons who only care to
profit
themselves, and disregard their harm to others, are not tolerated by the laws of
Heaven
and are unanimously hated by human beings. His Majesty the Emperor, upon hearing
of
this, is in a towering rage. He has especially sent me . . . to settle this
matter . . .
. . . Even though the barbarians may not necessarily intend to do us harm,
yet in
coveting profit to an extreme, they have no regard for injuring others. Let us
ask, where is
your conscience? I have heard that the smoking of opium is very strictly
forbidden by
your country; that is because the harm caused by opium is clearly understood.
Since it is
not permitted to do harm to your own country, then even less should you let it
be passed
on to the harm of other countries . . . Of all that China exports to foreign
countries, there
is not a single thing which is not beneficial when eaten, or of benefit when
used, or of
benefit when resold: all are beneficial. Is there a single article from China
which has done
any harm to foreign countries? Take tea and rhubarb, for example; the foreign
countries
cannot get along for a single day without them [ true, perhaps,
for the Englishman’s love
of a 'cuppa' but certainly not for those red stalks which the Chinese thought
essential for
the proper bowel movements of the 'barbarians']. If China cuts off these
benefits with no
sympathy for those who are to suffer, then what can the barbarians rely upon to
keep
themselves alive? Moreover the woolens . . . of foreign countries cannot be
woven unless
they obtain Chinese silk . . . As for other foodstuffs, beginning with candy,
ginger,
cinnamon, and so forth, and articles for use, beginning with silk, satin,
chinaware, and so
on, all the things that must be had by foreign countries are innumerable. On the
other
hand, articles coming from the outside to China can only be used as toys. We can
take
them or get along without them. Since they are not needed by China, what
difficulty
would there be if we closed the frontier and stopped the trade? Nevertheless our
Celestial
Court lets tea, silk, and other goods be shipped without limit and circulated
everywhere
without begrudging it in the slightest. This is for no other reason but to share
the benefit
with the people of the whole world.
. . . Only in several places of India under your control . . . has opium been planted from hill to hill . . . For months and years work is continued in order to accumulate the poison. The obnoxious odor ascends, irritating Heaven and frightening the spirits. Indeed you, O Sovereign, can eradicate the opium plant in these places, hoe over the fields entirely, and sow in its stead the five grains. Anyone who dares again attempt to plant and manufacture opium should be severely punished. This really will be a great, benevolent policy that will increase the common weal and get rid of evil. For this, Heaven must support you and the spirits must bring you good fortune, prolonging your old age and extending your descendants. All will depend on this act . . . .
Now we have set up regulations governing the Chinese people. He who sells opium shall receive the death penalty and he who smokes it also the death penalty. Now consider this: if the barbarians do not bring opium, then how can the Chinese people resell it, and how can they smoke it? The fact is that the wicked barbarians beguile the Chinese people into a death trap. How then can we grant life only to these barbarians? . . . Therefore in the new regulations, in regard to those barbarians who bring opium to China the penalty is fixed at decapitation or strangulation. This is what is called getting rid of a harmful thing on behalf of mankind.
Moreover we have found that [on Apr 9, 1839] Consul Elliot of your nation, because the opium prohibition law was very stern and severe, petitioned for an extension of the time limit . . . Now we . . have received the extraordinary Celestial grace of His Majesty the Emperor, who has redoubled his consideration and compassion. All those who within the period of the coming one year (from England) or six months (from India) bring opium to China by mistake, but who voluntarily confess and completely surrender their opium, shall be exempt from their punishment. After this limit of time, if there are still those who bring opium to China then they will plainly hve committed a willful violation and shall at once be executed according to law, with absolutely no clemency or pardon. This may be called the height of kindness and the perfection of justice.
Our Celestial Dynasty rules over and supervises the myriad states, and surely possesses unfathomable spiritual dignity. Yet the Emperor cannot bear to execute people without having first tried to reform themn by instruction. Therefore he especially promulgates these fixed regulations. The barbarian merchants of your country, if they wish to do business for a long period, are required to obey our statutes respectfully and to cut off permanently the source of opium. They must by no means try to test the effectiveness of the law with their lives. May you, O King, check your wicked and sift out your vicious people before they come to China, in order to guarantee the peace of your nation, to show further the sincerity of your politeness and submissiveness, and to let the two countries enjoy together the blessings of peace. . . After receiving this dispatch will you immediately give us a prompt reply regarding the details and circumstances of your cutting off the opium traffic. Be sure not to put this off . . . [Note: Apparently Lin decided against mailing the letter to London and, in the absence of any British ambassador who might deliver it personally, he opted to have it published in Canton, expecting that a returning ship's captain would manage to get it its contents to the authorities in London. This did not happen, however.]