THE TRUTH ABOUT OPIUM
THE
TRUTH ABOUT OPIUM.
BEING A
REFUTATION OF THE FALLACIES
OF THE ANTI-OPIUM SOCIETY AND A DEFENCE
OF THE INDO-CHINA OPIUM TRADE.
BY
WILLIAM H. BRERETON,
LATE OF HONG KONG.
“Let truth and falsehood grapple; who ever knew truth put
to the worsein a free and open encounter?”—John Milton.
SECOND EDITION.
LONDON:
W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE.
PUBLISHERS TO THE INDIA OFFICE.
1883.
(All rights reserved.)
LONDON:
PRINTED BY W. H. ALLEN AND CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
In the preface to my first edition I expressed a hope that these lectures,however imperfect, would prove in some degree instrumental towardsbreaking up the Anti-Opium confederacy, and I have the satisfaction ofknowing that my anticipations have not been altogether disappointed. Thelectures were well received by the public and the press, and struck theAnti-Opium Society and its versatile Secretary, the Rev. Mr. StorrsTurner, with such consternation that, in the language of people indifficulties, “business was discontinued until further notice.” Mr. StorrsTurner,—the motive power which kept the Anti-Opium machine working,—whohad hitherto been so active, aggressive, and demonstrative—a veryMercutio in volubility and fertility of resource,—became suddenly silent,mute as the harp on Tara’s walls. He who once was resonant as the lion,like Bottom the Weaver, moderated his tone, and roared from thenceforth“gently as any sucking dove.” Until the delivery of my lectures, no larkat early morn was half so lively or jubilant. Letters to the newspapers,articles in magazines, improvised lectures and speeches, flew from himlike chaff from the winnowing-machine. Heaven help the unlucky individualwho had the temerity to differ from him on the opium question, for Mr.Storrs Turner would, as the phrase goes, “come down upon him sharp.”
This kind of light skirmishing suited him exactly; it kept[Pg iv] alive publicinterest in the Anti-Opium delusion, and no doubt brought grist to themill, without committing him to anything in particular, or calling for anyextraordinary draft upon his imagination or resources. He had only toreiterate loud enough the cuckoo cry that his deluded followers had solong recognised as the pæan of victory. But when my lectures weredelivered, and it was announced that they would be published, “a changecame o’er the spirit of his dream.” Having for so many years hadpractically all the field to himself, it had never occurred to him thatanother and more competent witness from China, where all these imaginaryevils from opium smoking were alleged to be taking place,—who had hadbetter opportunities of learning the truth about opium than he couldpossibly have had, and who had turned those opportunities to goodaccount,—should appear and refute his fallacies. This was a dénouementthat neither he nor his Society was prepared for, and dismay and silenceprevailed in consequence in t