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In 1797 the EIC further tightened its grip on the opium trade by enforcing direct trade between opium farmers and the British, and ending the role of Bengali purchasing agents. British exports of opium to China grew from an estimated 15 long tons (15,000 kg) in 1730 to 75 long tons (76,000 kg) in 1773 shipped in over two thousand chests. [18]
As a member of Parliament, Gladstone called it "most infamous and atrocious" referring to the opium trade between China and British India in particular. [228] Gladstone was fiercely against both of the Opium Wars Britain waged in China: the First Opium War initiated in 1840 and the Second Opium War initiated in 1857.
The number of people using the drug in China grew rapidly, to the point that the trade imbalance shifted in the foreign countries' favor. In 1839 matters came to a head when Chinese official Lin Zexu tried to end the opium trade altogether by destroying a large amount of opium in Canton, thereby triggering the First Opium War.
In 'Smoke and Ashes,' Amitav Ghosh draws comparisons between America's modern opioid crisis and the West's flooding of China with opium in the 18th century.
Trade with China, especially in the illegal opium, grew, and so did the firm of Jardine, Matheson & Co., which was already known as the Princely Hong for being the largest British trading firm in East Asia. By 1841, Jardine had 19 intercontinental clipper ships, compared to close rival Dent and Company with 13.
But by that time it specialised in trading Indian cotton yarn and opium from Bombay to China. The latter was promoted by the First Opium War and the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 between the United Kingdom and the Chinese Qing dynasty. [2] For the fast transport of the opium David Sassoon & Co. ran its own so called ″opium clippers". [3]
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.
Soon after his arrival in Guangdong in the middle of 1839, Lin wrote a memorial to the "Ruler of England" in the form of an open letter published in Canton, urging England to end the opium trade. [5] He argued that China was providing Britain with valuable commodities such as tea, porcelain, spices and silk, with Britain sending only "poison ...