Document 1: Letter to Queen Victoria

By what right do they then in return use the poisonous drug to injure the Chinese people? 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 - how much less to China! ^[1]

Portions of a letter from Lin Tse-hsu to Queen Victoria of Great Britain

 

---

Page Notes:

^[1] Source: http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/texts/com-lin.html.

Close Window