THE EDITOR, Sir:
MANY THANKS to Melville Cooke for his piece in Gleaner of June 14, Page C10-11, "When the British were the drug smugglers." A timely reminder.The Opium wars and the matter that caused them and their results must rank as one of the most barbaric acts of all time. What Mr. Cooke did not mention is the fact that the British Colonial Secretary at the time, had significant family connections in the company which ran the trade of opium and tea between India and China; matter of fact, there is still today a brand of English tea that bears his name, to be found on supermarket shelves throughout the world including Jamaica.
It was he through whom the 'Good Queen' Victoria ordered the British troops into Hong Kong, a country thousands of miles away from England, a country which was minding its own business not interfering with any other, least of all Britain. So the Chinese were literally forced at gunpoint to buy English opium so Britain could have the money to pay for silk, porcelain and other luxuries from the East. In the same way the atrocities they committed in the Caribbean provided the sugar to sweeten the tea they forced out of India. Tea, silk, sugar, and opium made Britain wealthy at the expense of India, China, and Africa.
In addition to that and more far-reaching, opium put generations of China's best brains to sleep. Even now China struggles and spends much resources to rid itself of the scourge of opium addiction. In my own family at least two brilliant minds were so destroyed, and my father and those of his generation went to their graves with the hatred of Britain still alive in their battered hearts. And no wonder my father greeted the Independence of Jamaica in the 1960s with such great joy.
He no doubt must have rejoiced wherever he was when Hong Kong was returned to China a few years ago.
Now that we are all 'civilised' is not an apology in order? But the Chinese do not expect one as according to ancient writing, "Lacking moral scruples, the barbarian does not apologise, he does not know the meaning of the word."
I am, etc.,
EASTON LEE
12 Dulwich Drive
Kingston 8
