基督教道德与商业利益的较量——1830年代来华传教士与英商关于鸦片贸易的辩论

The Debate for Opium Trade between Christian Moral and Commercial Interest in 1830s

在1830年代,日益猖獗的英美对华鸦片贸易引起的灾难性后果,不仅迫使清政府采取严禁政策,而且使来华西人和英美社会中较有正义感的人士对这种贸易展开越来越严厉的批评与谴责。他们从基督教道德原则出发,就鸦片作为一种毒品所导致的严重的道德问题,吸食鸦片所带来的社会后果,鸦片走私的违法性等方面,对鸦片贸易和英美鸦片贩子展开了引人注目的舆论攻势。而来华鸦片贩子和鸦片利益集团则极力为其肮脏行为辩护,诡称鸦片泛滥的原因在于中国人的“嗜好”,鸦片本质上是“无害的药品”,而应对鸦片问题负责的是从鸦片贸易中获利的英印政府和清政府官员。除来华西人外,英国舆论界也就鸦片问题的是非展开了辩论。

In 1830s, the opium trade by British and American merchants that in rapid expansion led to catastrophic results in China. Some of the missionaries and merchants from western countries to China criticized and condemned the opium trade more and more seriously. Based on the principle of Christian moral, their main points were that, opium as a poison caused grievously moral and social problems in China, and opium smuggling traffic violated Chinese laws. Opium merchants and opium-interest groups, on the other hand, energetically advocated their notorious enterprises by the arguments that the opium problem was a result of Chinese special hobby, that opium was a kind of harmless drug instead of poison, and that it were the British-India government and the corruptive officials of the Qing Dynasty who should be responsible for the problem. Such a debate also took place in England.