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Treaties and Documents Concerning Opium 1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2017

Wm. B. Reed
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American Journal of International Law , Volume 3 , Issue S3: Supplement Official Documents , July 1909 , pp. 253 - 275
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1909

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Footnotes

1

See article by Dr. Hamilton Wright, this Journa1, p. 648, who also furnished this supplementary matter, and the notes thereto.

References

2 The United States takes rank under the name “ America ” in international conferences. Cf. The Hague conferences.

3 Our first treaty with China was that of 1844.

4 This article bearing on the opium traffic was superseded by the treaty of 1858.

5 It was recognized on both sides that this article could not be made effective without Congressional action. An effective act was passed February 23, 1887. (Chapter 210, 24th Statutes at Large, 409):

“An Act to provide for the Execution of the Provisions of Article Two of the Treaty concluded between the United States of America and the Emperor of China on the Seventeenth day of November, Eighteen Hundred and Eighty, and Proclaimed by the President of the United States on the Fifth day of October, Eighteen Hundred and Eighty-one.

“Sec. 1. (Importation of opium by Chinese prohibited). That the importation of opium into any of the ports of the United States by any subject of the Emperor of China is hereby prohibited. Every person guilty of a violation of the preceding provision shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars nor less than fifty dollars, or by imprisonment for a period of not more than six months nor less than thirty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.

“Sec. 2. (Forfeiture). That every package containing opium, either in whole or in part imported into the United States by any subject of the Emperor of China, shall be deemed forfeited to the United States; and proceedings for the declaration and consequences of such forfeiture may be instituted in the courts of the United States as in other cases of the violation of the laws relating to other illegal importations.

“ Sec. 3. (Citizens of United States prohibited from traffic in opium in China — punishment — jurisdiction — forfeiture). That no citizen of the United States shall import opium into any of the open ports of China, nor transport the same from one open port to any other open port, or buy or sell opium in any of such open ports of China, nor shall any vessel owned by citizens of the United States, or any vessel, whether foreign or otherwise, employed by any citizen of the United States, or owned by any citizen of the United States, either in whole or in part, and employed by persons not citizens of the United States, take or carry opium into any of such open ports of China, or transport the same from one open port to any other open port, or be engaged in any traffic therein between or in such open ports or any of them. Citizens of the United States offending against the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars nor less than fifty dollars, or by both such punishments, in the discretion of the court. Consular courts of the United States in China, concurrently with any district court of the United States in the district in which any offender may be found, shall have jurisdiction to hear, try, and determine all cases arising under the foregoing provisions of this section, subject to the general regulations provided by law. Every package of opium or package containing opium, either in whole or in part, brought, taken, or transported, trafficked, or dealt in contrary to the provisions of this section, shall be forfeited to the United States, for the benefit of the Emperor of China; and such forfeiture, and the declaration and consequences thereof, shall be made, had, determined, and executed by the proper authorities of the United States exercising judicial powers within the Empire of China.”

Article II of the Treaty of 1880 and the Statutes passed in conformity with it, still remain in force.

6 This is the last of American treaties with China, in which opium or its derivatives is mentioned.

7 All powers have adhered to the morphia clause in this “ Commercial Treaty,” and it went into effect January 1st of the current year.

8 In one of our first treaties with Japan we agreed to a restriction on the traffic in opium.

9 So far as I can learn, the first treaty ever negotiated which limited the trade in opium was this one of 1833 with Siam.

10 It will be seen by this article that opium was treated as contraband, and the right to import it into Siam was forbidden to American citizens.

11 This was modified in the following additional convention.

12 On July, 19, 1908, the export of Indo-Chinese .opium, prepared for smoking, to Hongkong, was prohibited, and by arrêté of September 26, 1908, the sale of Yunnan opium has been forbidden in Cochin-China and Cambodia.

13 By article 5 of the “ Commercial Regulations ” of the German treaty of Tientsin (1861) the opium trade was legalized.

14 In the Provisional Customs Regulations required by the above agreement for the German territory of Kiaochow, there occur the following provisiona:

  1. “1.

    “1. (a) The import of Foreign and Chinese goods and produce into German territory is free, with the exception of Opium, Arms, and Explosives and the materials used in the manufacture thereof, which are subject to special regulations.

  2. “ 2.

    “ 2. Opium can only be imported in original chests, and must on arrival be reported to the customs. * * * Upon payment of duty and likins, opium may be exported under custom's seal and control from German into Chinese territory.”

15 In an “ Ordinance regulating procedure in customs matters in Kiaochow territory,” published December 2, 1905, it is provided that: “Opium can only be imported by vessels in original chests. The importation of smaller quantities than one chest is forbidden. All opium on board of ships, including that intended for consumption during the journey, must, on arrival of the ship, be reported without delay to the customs, who will supervise the transportation to the customs godown of so much as is to be landed. * * * Opium from the German territory to China or from China to the German territory can only be conveyed by rail, on special Bill of Lading and as ‘ Eilgut.’ It is forbidden to carry it as passenger’s luggage. All Bills of Lading, etc., for arriving opium are handed by the railway to the Customs in the German territory, who will notify the addressees." Although these regulations are German municipal regulations, nevertheless they depend upon the foregoing agreements between Germany and China and control the traffic in opium between German and Chinese territory.

16 This treaty in no way legalized the opium trade between India and China, but the article quoted undoubtedly is the justification for calling the war which preceded the signing of the treaty, “ The Opium War,” for, by compelling the Chinese Government to pay for contraband opium which had been destroyed by the Chinese Commissioner Lin, it was an official recognition on the part of the British Government that opium might be trafficked in, and, in the event of seizure and destruction, China would have to make compensation. The opium trade was legalized between India and China by the following treaty.

17 The arrangement in regard to the importation of opium in this Chefoo Agreement was modified in the treaty which follows.

18 The basis of cooperation was arrived at by China and Portugal in the above treaty and Convention. On the 1st of December, 1887, an agreement was arrived at to fix rules for the treatment of Chinese junks trading with Macao. The agreement follows the treaty above.

19 China Correspondence, 1859.

20 Of Tientsin, 1868.

21 Shanghai

22 Of Nanking.

23 China Correspondence, 1859.

24 Mr. Lay, Times, October 22, 1880.

25 Times, October 25, 1886.