All about opium / edited by Hartmann Henry Sultzberger.

Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: All about opium / edited by Hartmann Henry Sultzberger. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ourselves on the success with which that object has been attained. I should like, in addition to all the condemning facts that exist as to this opium traffic, to make record that in 1831 a special committee of the House of Commons delivered its judgment that the demoralising effects of the opium traffic were “ incontestable and inseparable from its exist- ence.” I doubt whether a nation ever recorded a similar judgment against itself in more simple and comprehensive language. I am quite satisfied, however, that, unless Ave put forth all the powers which we possess, this evil, denounced by the House of Commons in 1831, will go on, and the immorality which they then denounced be perpetrated for another fourteen years. I have been instructed to mention, that a proposal has been made to raise a sum of £25,000—£5,000 per annum —to be devoted to arousing the conscience of this nation. I am happy to believe that in the churches of the country, led off as they have been to-day by the Archbishop of Canterbury and Cardinal Manning, we have a vast moral power, which only wants to be evoked to be almost overwhelming in its effect upon any Government. But on a question touching the finances of the country, and the taxation which descends amongst the people, it is needful that the people themselves be aroused, and become parties to any change in the taxation of the country. And this demands large and various efforts, and no small expenditure. If I may revert for a moment to the resolution which has just been passed, I think that, from the fact that the present Prime Minister has said that the Avar in China entailed a permanent disgrace upon this country, we may appeal to him to wipe off this also, which has been going on ever since, adding to the original disgrace. I would like, also on this occasion, to recall the fact that a free-thinking Presi- dent of America once said, “ If God is just, I tremble for my country.” Well, we all know that the people of the United States including its churches and divines disregarded that Avarning voice, which was true prophecy ; and what was the penalty that they paid ? rPhe penalty of a thousand millions of treasure, and perhaps, nearly a thousand millions of human lives. The judgment was summed up in the thrilling language of President Lincoln, when he said, “ What if every drop of blood wrung by the lash shall have to be repaid by one drawn by the sword, and if all the treasure arising from the toil of the slaves be wasted away in the processes of their emancipation ? Who shall say God is but just ?” Now, the moral that I Avould wish to draw from that lesson is, that if this country does not arouse itself as to this great iniquity, we have much indeed to fear from the castigation which Cardinal Manning so powerfully placed before us. I believe that one reason Avhy I have been put up to speak upon this Guarantee Fund is, that it received its first practical start in Birmingham ; and we have not only started it, but we have made so much progress that I am able to say that Birmingham will do its quota in the shape of £3,000. But that £3,000 I consider will be comparatively wasted if it is not backed by about four times that amount from the City of London ; and as our popu- lation stands at 400,000, and you profess in this metropolitan district to be nearly four millions, I put it to you whether my demand from the City of London for four times what Birmingham produces is not a very fair one. I have felt Amry strongly upon this subject, and knowing the great difficulty that there always is in getting funds C 2