After the first war with Great Britain， the trade in opium hadbeen declared illegal. In the American Treaty of Wanghsia， 1844 ， asMr. Cushing pointed out， it was expressly stipulated that “In regardto opium， which is not directly mentioned in the English treaties，it is provided by the Treaty of Wanghsia， that citizens of the UnitedStates engaged in this or any other contraband trade shall receive noprotection from the American Government， nor shall the flag of theUnited States be abusively employed by other nations as a cover for theviolation of the laws of China.“The attempt to keep out opium resulted in a disastrous failure，and 1ed to smuggling on an extensive scale， in which American shipsplayed no small part.
At Shanghai， but moored at Woosung， were a large number ofreceiving ships. Up to 1854 there were ten; four for opium consignedto British firms， four to Jewish or Parsee firms， and two to Americanfirms. In 1854 the two American ships were withdrawn from service.
Swift and well-armed clipper schooners carried the opium frompoint to point along the coast. The arming of these ships and of thereceiving ships was not for the purpose of forcing the noxious drugon the people， as some hostile critics have stated， but for the purposeof guarding against pirates. The drug was in great demand and foundready purchasers， who obtained it from the receiving ships. The officialsconnived at the illegal traffic， inasmuch as they could obtain a largerevenue by taxing the smugglers.
The following figure show the rapid in this illegal traffic inShanghai. In 1847 ， 16， 500 chests were disposed of and in 1857 ，31，907 chests.
The Chinese Government， having become convinced that it wasimpossible to prohibit the importation of opium， and that the attemptresulted in lawless smuggling， adopted a change of policy.
In the negotiations carried on for drawing up the Treaty ofTientsin， Lord Elgin proposed the legalization of the opium trade tothe Chinese deputies. To this they agreed on the following terms：“Opium was to pay Tls. 30 per picul import duty. The importerwas to sell it only at the port. It was to be carried into the interior byChinese only， and only on Chinese property; the foreign trader wouldnot be allowed to accompany it. The passport and transit dues werenot to be extended to it， and the transit dues were to be arranged asthe Chinese Government saw fit; and tariff revision was not to apply toopium.“The opium traffic， whether carried on legally or illegally， resultedin great harm to China， and we have arrived now at a time whenspecious arguments are no longer used to defend it. Condemned，both on moral and physical grounds， the great problem confronts thenations as to the best way of limiting the drug to its legitimate usesin all countries. China has never been able to deal with the problemeffectively. Prohibition led to smuggling. Legalization of the trade ledto the more rapid spread of the habit throughout the country， and tothe planting of the poppy in China itself.
The agreement on the part of the British Government in 1908
to restriction of the importation of Indian opium into China， and toultimate prohibition led for a time to a crusade for the suppressionof the planting of the poppy. Recent years， however， have brought arecrudescence of its cultivation， and although for many years GreatBritain has prohibited the export of Indian opium to China， opiumstill remains one of the great curses of the country.
For Shanghai the legalization of the trade meant the appearanceof the opium hulks moored along The Bund. Old sailing ships wereconverted into receiving stations for opium， which was stored on themuntil it could obtain a market. These unsightly monsters disfigured TheBund for many years， and the last of them did not disappear until afterMorse： International Relations of the Chinese Empire， Vol. I， p. 535.
the cessation of the importation of opium from India in 1917.
The Defence of ShanghaiReturning to the Taiping Rebellion， the question uppermost ineveryone"s mind was how Shanghai could be defended in the case of anattack by the Taipings.
The Chinese officials were anxious to get foreign assistance tokeep the rebels out of Shanghai and the Taotai actually proposed thatthe foreign forces gathered at Shanghai for the expedition against theGovernment in the North， should be employed to fight against theTaipings. The inconsistency of warfare between China and the foreignforces in the North， and an alliance between China and the foreignforces in the South was not appreciated. This is indicative of the lack ofthe spirit of nationalism at that period.
Measures of Defence
As a first step in taking measures for defence， the Volunteer Corps，which had practically ceased to exist， was in 1860 reorganized.
Both the French Minister， M. de Bourboulon， and the BritishMinister， the Hon. Mr. （afterwards Sir） Frederick Bruce， acceded toWu Taotai"s appeal to join in the defence of Shanghai， but the Britishpolicy at first was confined to defensive measures and was opposed toaggressive action against the rebels.
Chung Wang announced in a letter to the foreign ministers thathe was about to attack the city of Shanghai， but that if the foreignersobserved neutrality the Settlements had nothing to fear.
The Attack on the City August 18th， 1860
On August 17th，186 0， the approach of the rebels was heraldedby a dense cloud of smoke in the west， due to the burning ofvillages. Chung Wang seized the Mission premises at Siccawei for hisheadquarters， and on the next day launched an attack on the city ofShanghai. The Taipings found to their surprise British and French flagsflying on the walls of the native city， which were manned by the Alliedtroops; the British under Captain Budd of the Royal Marines， and theFrench under Captain Faure.