The Brits had a trade deficit with China and was being bled of silver, so in order to make up the trade deficit, they started slanging opium.
Opium Wars - Wikipedia
The
First Opium War broke out in 1839 between
China and
Britain and was fought over trading rights (including the right of
free trade) and Britain's diplomatic status among Chinese officials. In the eighteenth century, China enjoyed a trade surplus with Europe, trading
porcelain,
silk, and
tea in exchange for
silver. By the late 17th century, the
British East India Company (EIC) expanded the cultivation of
opium in the
Bengal Presidency, selling it to private merchants who transported it to China and covertly sold it on to Chinese smugglers.
[4] By 1797, the EIC was selling 4,000 chests of opium (each weighing 77 kg) to private merchants
per annum.
[5]
In earlier centuries, opium was utilised as a medicine with
anesthetic qualities, but new Chinese practices of smoking opium recreationally increased demand tremendously and often led to smokers developing addictions. Successive
Chinese emperors issued edicts making opium illegal in 1729, 1799, 1814, and 1831, but imports grew as smugglers and colluding officials in China sought profit.
[6] Some American merchants entered the trade by smuggling opium from Turkey into China, including
Warren Delano Jr., the grandfather of twentieth-century President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, and
Francis Blackwell Forbes; in
American historiography this is sometimes referred to as the
Old China Trade.
[7] By 1833, the Chinese opium trade soared to 30,000 chests.
[5] British and American merchants sent opium to warehouses in the free-trade port of
Canton, and sold it to Chinese smugglers.
[6][8]
In 1834, the EIC's monopoly on British trade with China ceased, and the opium trade burgeoned. Partly concerned with moral issues over the consumption of opium and partly with the outflow of silver, the
Daoguang Emperor charged Governor General
Lin Zexu with ending the trade. In 1839, Lin published in Canton an
open letter to Queen Victoria requesting her cooperation in halting the opium trade. The letter never reached the Queen.
[9] It was later published in
The Times as a direct appeal to the British public for their cooperation.
[10] An edict from the Daoguang Emperor followed on 18 March,
[11] emphasising the serious penalties for opium smuggling that would now apply henceforth. Lin ordered the seizure of all opium in Canton, including that held by foreign governments and trading companies (called factories),
[12] and the companies prepared to hand over a token amount to placate him.
[13][
page needed]
Charles Elliot, Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China, arrived 3 days after the expiry of Lin's deadline, as Chinese troops enforced a shutdown and blockade of the factories. The standoff ended after Elliot paid for all the opium on credit from the
British government (despite lacking official authority to make the purchase) and handed the 20,000 chests (1,300 metric tons) over to Lin, who had them
destroyed at Humen.
