鸦片战争前的鸦片论议新探

On the Opinions about Banning Opium before the Opium War

鸦片战争前 ,鸦片论议中的例禁论不是严禁论。严禁论中存在着“重治吸食”和“严惩兴贩”的分歧。以“重治吸食”、罪以死论禁烟 ,不应受到肯定 ;“严惩兴贩”、罪以死论才是合理合情的主张。以封关绝市杜绝鸦片来源的思想和决策是不合时宜的 ;而弛种土烟与弛禁论则同是想发毒品财。禁鸦片的关键在于打击鸦片贩卖 ,而不在于断绝对外开放通商。相反 ,大力发展对外贸易通商才是杜漏银。

Before the Opium War the banning of opium s moking and trade was not st rict. There were two different viewpoints in the strict banning. One was to puni sh the smokers severely, and the other was to punish the traders severely. It is clear that to sentence the traders to death was surely more reasonable than to sentence the smokes to death. It was not proper to try to ban opium trade by sto pping border trade. To loosen the ban and permit peasants to grow opium in China was aimed at reaping unfair profits. The key to opium banning was to forbid opi um trade, instead of banning foreign trade as a whole. To promote foreign trade was the best way to enrich the country.