The Letter to Queen Victoria, also known as the Letter of advice to Queen Victoria or Moral advice to Queen Victoria, was a formal letter written in 1839 by Lin Zexu, the Imperial Commissioner of the Qing Dynasty, to the British monarch, specifically Queen Victoria. Lin wrote the letter on behalf of the Qing Dynasty as a diplomatic appeal to urge the British Empire to stop illegally importing opium into the Qing Dynasty through British merchants. It is considered one of the most famous open letters in history, and one of the most influential letters prior to the eventual outbreak of the First Opium War.
Background By the 1830s, Opium addiction had become a widespread issue in China, especially due to illegal imports and smuggling from British merchants. Opium addiction as a problem in China came about during the era of the Yongzheng Emperor, when he banned the use of opium in a 1729 proclamation. However, the ban had minimal effects on the use of the drug, since under the rule of Qianlong Emperor, opium became the common source of entertainment and recreation among Qing scholars and officials. By the era of the Daoguang Emperor, its use had become widespread in urban areas, leading to an annual import of over 40,000 chests of opium, or more than 5,600,000 pounds per year into the Qing dynasty by the early 1830s."Opium," says one recent scholar, became "leisurely, urban, cultured and a status symbol" as an evidence of wealth, leisure, and culture. () To deal with the issue, the Daoguang Emperor appointed Lin Zexu as the first Qing Imperial Commissioner and sent him to Guangzhou, where almost all of the opium trade was happening between British merchants and Cantonese merchants, to suppress smuggling rates.
Lin arrived in Guangzhou on 10 March 1839 and started his work by arresting approximately 1,700 Chinese opium dealers and smugglers. Subsequently, Lin targeted opium dens and arrested many more opium dealers, after which he and his entourage seized and burned over 70,000 opium pipes, and began investigations regarding officials who were speculated to be users of the drug. Though some progress had been made, Lin realized that in order to eliminate the opium trade, he needed to locate the main suppliers of it, which he and his entourage knew were the British merchants. His plan was to exert maximum pressure on these merchants, demonstrating such by stating, "As long as opium remains in circulation, so shall I remain; I vow to see things through and will not back down halfway." As expected, however, the British merchants did not surrender the opium to Lin despite his threats, and Lin consequently closed the Thirteen Factories of Guangzhou, which was the main area where most of the trading occurred. After then placing 350 British merchants under house arrest, Lin began writing the letter to Queen Victoria.
Content Two primary versions of the letter exist in historical records, with one being the full version meant to be read by Queen Victoria and the other being the version published to the public, with the letter's content being best summarised as a masterful blend of Confucian moral persuasion, legal reasoning, and veiled threat. The letter was joint-issued by Lin and Deng Tingzhen, the Viceroy of Liangguang. The shortened, second version is written below:
His Majesty the Emperor comforts and cherishes foreigners as well as Chinese: he loves all the people in the world without discrimination. Whenever profit is found, he wishes to share it with all men; whenever harm appears, he likewise will eliminate it on behalf of all of mankind. His heart is in fact the heart of the whole universe.
Generally speaking, the succeeding rulers of your honorable country have been respectful and obedient. Time and again they have sent petitions to China, saying: "We are grateful to His Majesty the Emperor for the impartial and favorable treatment he has granted to the citizens of my country who have come to China to trade," etc. I am pleased to learn that you, as the ruler of your honorable country, are thoroughly familiar with the principle of righteousness and are grateful for the favor that His Majesty the Emperor has bestowed upon your subjects. Because of this fact, the Celestial Empire, following its traditional policy of treating foreigners with kindness, has been doubly considerate towards the people from England. You have traded in China for almost 200 years, and as a result, your country has become wealthy and prosperous.
As this trade has lasted for a long time, there are bound to be unscrupulous as well as honest traders. Among the unscrupulous are those who bring opium to China to harm the Chinese; they succeed so well that this poison has spread far and wide in all the provinces. You, I hope, will certainly agree that people who pursue material gains to the great detriment of the welfare of others can be neither tolerated by Heaven nor endured by men. . . .
Your country is more than 60,000 li from China. The purpose of your ships in coming to China is to realize a large profit. Since this profit is realized in China and is in fact taken away from the Chinese people, how can foreigners return injury for the benefit they have received by sending this poison to harm their benefactors? They may not intend to harm others on purpose, but the fact remains that they are so obsessed with material gain that they have no concern whatever for the harm they can cause to others. Have they no conscience? I have heard that you strictly prohibit opium in your own country, indicating unmistakably that you know how harmful opium is. You do not wish opium to harm your own country, but you choose to bring that harm to other countries such as China. Why?
The products that originate from China are all useful items. They are good for food and other purposes and are easy to sell. Has China produced one item that is harmful to foreign countries? For instance, tea and rhubarb are so important to foreigners' livelihood that they have to consume them every day. Were China to concern herself only with her own advantage without showing any regard for other people's welfare, how could foreigners continue to live? Foreign products like woolen cloth and beiges rely on Chinese raw materials such as silk for their manufacturing. Had China sought only her own advantage, where would the foreigners' profit come from? The products that foreign countries need and have to import from China are too numerous to enumerate: from food products such as molasses, ginger, and cassia to useful necessities such as silk and porcelain. The imported goods from foreign countries, on the other hand, are merely playthings which can be easily dispensed with without causing any ill effect. Since we do not need these things really, what harm would come if we should decide to stop foreign trade altogether? The reason why we unhesitantly allow foreigners to ship out such Chinese products as tea and silk is that we feel that wherever there is an advantage, it should be shared by all the people in the world. . . .
I have heard that you are a kind, compassionate monarch. I am sure that you will not do to others what you yourself do not desire. I have also heard that you have instructed every British ship that sails for Canton not to bring any prohibited goods to China. It seems that your policy is as enlightened as it is proper. The fact that British ships have continued to bring opium to China results perhaps from the impossibility of making a thorough inspection of all of them owing to their large numbers. I am sending you this letter to reiterate the seriousness with which we enforce the law of the Celestial Empire and to make sure that merchants from your honorable country will not attempt to violate it again.
I have heard that the areas under your direct jurisdiction such as London, Scotland, and Ireland do not produce opium; it is produced instead in your Indian possessions such as Bengal, Madras, Bombay, Patna, and Malwa. In these possessions the English people not only plant opium poppies that stretch from one mountain to another but also open factories to manufacture this terrible drug. As months accumulate and years pass by, the poison they have produced increases in its wicked intensity, and its repugnant odor reaches as high as the sky. Heaven is furious with anger, and all the gods are moaning with pain! It is hereby suggested that you destroy and plow under all of these opium plants and grow food crops instead, while issuing an order to punish severely anyone who dares to plant opium poppies again. If you adopt this policy of love so as to produce good and exterminate evil, Heaven will protect you, and gods will bring you good fortune. Moreover, you will enjoy a long life and be rewarded with a multitude of children and grandchildren! In short, by taking this one measure, you can bring great happiness to others as well as yourself. Why do you not do it?
The right of foreigners to reside in China is a special favor granted by the Celestial Empire, and the profits they have made are those realized in China. As time passes by, some of them stay in China for a longer period than they do in their own country. For every government, past or present, one of its primary functions is to educate all the people living within its jurisdiction, foreigners as well as its own citizens, about the law and to punish them if they choose to violate it. Since a foreigner who goes to England to trade has to obey the English law, how can an Englishman not obey the Chinese law when he is physically within China? The present law calls for the imposition of the death sentence on any Chinese who has peddled or smoked opium. Since a Chinese could not peddle or smoke opium if foreigners had not brought it to China, it is clear that the true culprits of a Chinese's death as a result of an opium conviction are the opium traders from foreign countries. Being the cause of other people's death, why should they themselves be spared from capital punishment? A murderer of one person is subject to the death sentence; just imagine how many people opium has killed! This is the rationale behind the new law which says that any foreigner who brings opium to China will be sentenced to death by hanging or beheading. Our purpose is to eliminate this poison once and for all and to the benefit of all mankind. . . .
Our Celestial Empire towers over all other countries in virtue and possesses a power great and awesome enough to carry out its wishes. But we will not prosecute a person without warning him in advance; that is why we have made our law explicit and clear. If the merchants of your honorable country wish to enjoy trade with us on a permanent basis, they must fearfully observe our law by cutting off, once and for all, the supply of opium. Under no circumstance should they test our intention to enforce the law by deliberately violating it. You, as the ruler of your honorable country, should do your part to uncover the hidden and unmask the wicked. It is hoped that you will continue to enjoy your country and become more and more respectful and obeisant. How wonderful it is that we can all enjoy the blessing of peace!
The longer version only for Queen Victoria is written below: