334  THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE
This  contraband  traffic  went  on  uninterruptedly  until  the
end  of  1838.  In  1830  the  annual  import  had  increased  to
16,877  chests,  and  in  1838  to  20,619  chests.  The  appointment ­
  of  Lord  Napier  in  1834  as  Ambassador  of  His  Britannic
Majesty,  brought  to  the  fore  a  different  aspect  of  China  s
foreign  relations,  the  right  of  foreign  envoys  to  treat  directly
with  the  representatives  of  the  Empire,  and,  connected  with
it,  the  position  of  monopoly  inherent  in  the  Co-Hong,  with
which  alone  envoy  and  merchant  were  to  have  any  dealings  ;
but  opium  was  no  more  in  question  from  1834  to  1838,  during
the  time  of  Lord  Napier  and  Captain  Elliot,  than  it  had
been  before.  At  Peking,  however,  there  was  renewed  discussion ­
  of  the  evils  arising  from  opium  smoking,  and  of
the  still  greater  demoralisation  from  smuggling  an  article
declared  contraband  by  law  ;  and  there  was  even  serious
consideration  of  a  proposal  to  legalise  the  traffic  in  order
to  bring  the  evil  under  better  control.  The  proposal  was
negatived,  and  the  Emperor  decided  to  enforce  the  edict
issued  by  his  father  in  1800,  and  found  a  willing  agent  for
the  purpose  in  Lin  Tze-sü.  In  this  decision  the  Emperor
may  have  been  mistaken,  he  may  have  attempted  to  sweep
back  the  tides  of  the  ocean  with  a  broom,  but  he  was  undoubtedly ­
  honest  and  intended  that  his  will  should  he
carried  out.  Lin  was  appointed  Imperial  Commissioner,
and  sent  to  Canton  to  carry  out  the  will  of  his  master,
superseding  ad  hoc  both  Viceroy  and  Hoppo.  Had  it  been
only  a  question  of  opium,  his  mission  was  hopeless  ;  it  W&amp;^
as  if  a  Prohibition  Government  at  Washington  had  sent  Neu
Dow  to  carry  out  a  Maine  Liquor  Law  in  the  state  of  Ken'
tucky.  But  both  he  and  his  master  had  misjudged  the
situation  ;  when  they  said  “  opium,"  the  English  envoy,
backed  by  the  English  admiral,  answered  “  equality,"  and
equality  it  was,  and  not  opium,  which  was  settled  by  the
treaty  of  Nanking.  This  treaty  decided  the  equal  status  of
officials  of  the  two  powers,  the  abolition  of  the  monopoly  0
the  Co-Hong,  and  the  adoption  of  uniform  dues  and  duties,
but  it  left  the  Chinese  Government  free  to  adopt  its  own
measures  for  the  regulation  of  the  opium  traffic.  The  Eng'