London and Cloisterham as an Imperial ‘Heart of Darkness’ in Dickens’s The Mystery of Edwin Drood

The article examines Dickens’s last novel in the context of British imperialism, contraband opium trade in nineteenth-century China under the armed protection of the British government, and the Opium Wars (1839–1842 and 1856–1860). Although Dickens has often been discussed as one of the authors who approved of his country’s imperial domination, his last novel foregrounds a critique of colonial practices. The atavistic character of imperialism takes its moral and psychological toll not merely somewhere in the dominions, colonies, protectorates, and other territories but also ‘at home’ on the domestic ground. In The Mystery of Edwin Drood London has the face of a dingy and dark opium den or the ominous headquarters of the Heaven of Philanthropy with the professing philanthropists in suits of black. Moreover, the article seeks to discuss deep-rooted evil and darkness associated in the novel with an ecclesiastical town in connection with Protestant missionaries’ close collaboration with opium traders in the Celestial Empire. Portraying John Jasper’s moral degradation enhanced by the drug and the corruption of the ecclesiastical town, Dickens gothicises opium, and by implication, opium trade pointing to its double-edged sword effect: sullying and debasing both the addict and the trafficker. The symbolic darkness of the opium den and the churchly Cloisterham reflects the inherent evil latent in any unbridled colonial expansion and Dickens’s anti-colonial purpose.

The Opium Trade

For more than a hundred years, from the end of the 18th century to the eve of the First World War, opium was the main commodity exported from India to China. During most of this period, it was the second largest source of revenue, after land revenue, for the British Indian Empire. The article was sold for narcotic use in the Chinese market. Opium was produced in Gangetic eastern and northern India, and the central Indian plateau region of Malwa. The produce of the former zone was a monopoly of the colonial state. The production, processing, and sale of the drug was directly controlled by the government. Malwa was entirely under princely rule. Princely states were administered indirectly, had a measure of autonomy, and were subject to the overall authority of the British. Indirect rule made it difficult for the colonial government to regulate the opium trade of central and western India effectively. It pursued a different policy with regard to the opium produce of Malwa, permitting transit of the commodity for export from Bombay on the payment of a duty. The worldwide campaign against the opium trade that gathered momentum in the late 19th century contributed to the decline of the trade. Between the first decade of the 20th century and the end of the First World War, the British withdrew from the trade. International agreements for drug control led to rigorous imposition of restrictions on production and sale, terminating official involvement in the export of opium other than that for medical use. This brought to an end the career of Indian opium as a major colonial commodity.

PEREDARAN OPIUM DI MINANGKABAU ABAD KE-19

This article discusses the history of Minangkabau in the 19th century AD. One of the themes of 19th century Minangkabau history is the Islamic reform movement promoted by religious groups commonly called the Padri movement. One of the central issues of the Padri movement was eradicating the habit of drinking alcoholism that occurred in Minangkabau society. The habit of smoking the drug that comes from boiling opium certainly indicates the existence of the drug on a large scale. Therefore, this article will present a picture of the opium trade in Minangkabau in the 19th century from upstream (providers) to downstream (dealers). It is hoped that this article will be useful as an explanation for the habit of smoking made in the Minangkabau community at that time.

Keterlibatan Amerika Serikat di Kawasan Golden Crescent: Analisis Geopolitik terhadap Kejahatan Transnasional

This article analyzes the phenomenon of transnational organized crimein the Golden Crescent, one of the biggest producers of opium globally,and the United States’ involvement in the region. The author discussesthe production base for opium in the Golden Crescent by focusing onone country, namely Afghanistan. There are two main findings in thisstudy, namely the Golden Crescent region as a significant producer anddistributor of the global opium trade; and the business and politicalinterests that the United States brought in its invasion of Afghanistan. Oneof them is his interest in drug trafficking, which is considered to be highlyprofitable. This research concludes that the United States has politicaland economic advantage motives in its invasion of Afghanistan and itsinvolvement in the Golden Crescent.

Ellen La Motte and Mary Borden

Ellen La Motte and Mary Borden worked together at the same field hospital during the war, an experience that prompted them to write their best-known works, The Backwash of War and The Forbidden Zone. La Motte and Borden have often been compared, and even described as collaborators. This chapter, however, contrasts their approaches to war writing and demonstrates that, moreover, the works for which they are commonly associated with the war do not typify their literary reaction to it. La Motte moved away from fiction-writing to concentrate on the opium trade. Borden, meanwhile, broached the war in a variety of novels throughout her prolific career—in works that eschew the fragmented aesthetics of The Forbidden Zone and focus on the nuances of interpersonal relations that are all but absent in her most noted work.

‘Better Fifty Years of Europe than a Cycle of Cathay’

The classical universe allows Tennyson perspective on China. While ‘Locksley Hall’ appears to endorse British progress and deride China, the metre distances the poet from modernity: Tennyson’s line has probably Persian or ancient Greek origins. Tennyson’s patriotism celebrates ancient values but is suspicious of Victorian progress. ‘Recollections of the Arabian Nights’ considers the paradox that Britain deems Asia both accomplished and stagnant. Britain was culpable for hindering China as the East India Company became increasingly reliant on the illegal opium-trade. In the ‘Lotos-Eaters’ Tennyson responds to the opium crisis in China as well as addiction in his family. Sara Coleridge wrote her own version of the ‘Lotos-Eaters’, intensifying the Chinese analogues by reference to her father’s ‘Kubla Khan’. In ‘The Ancient Sage’ Tennyson finds an alternative to Victorian progress in Laozi’s Dao De Jing, as translated by John Chalmers, although Tennyson interprets the philosopher in Augustinian terms.

Gandhi, De Quincey and Hali: The pleasures and pains of opium

This essay explores Gandhi’s representations of opium as indicative of the addictive nature of the colonial relationship in India. It also shows how the opium trade had an impact on Gandhi’s redefinition of food. Some submissions to the 1893–94 Royal Commission on Opium in India refer to De Quincey and reading De Quincey’s Confessions alongside Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj and Guide to Health reveals how both authors grappled with questions of dependency and selfhood in relation to modernity. I also discuss Gandhi’s representations of pleasure and opium alongside Altaf Hussain Hali’s (1837–1914), whom Gandhi admired as a reformist Urdu poet. Opium and intoxicants were a site on which colonial and postcolonial agency were both imagined and compromised in Gandhi, De Quincey and Hali.

Pelaksanaan Opiumpacht: Monopoli Perdagangan Opium Melalui Perantara Bandar di Keresidenan Kediri, 1833-1900

The opium trade in Kediri Residency was monopolized by Dutch East Indies government. The problem discussed in this study regarding opium trade monopoly at Kediri Residency through bookie intermediary (opiumpachter) in 1833-1900. The methods used in this research is historical methods which includes heuristics, criticism, interpretation and historiography. The result showed that the opium trade monopoly through bookie intermediary (opiumpachter) in Kediri Residency included auction and distribution processions also the sale of raw opium to opium dealers. Generally, the opium trade in Kediri Residency was controlled by Chinese. They become intermediary traders who sell government opium to people in Kediri Residency. The high tax offer at opium auction in Kediri Residency gave high profits to the country. On the contrary, that puts a great deal of pressure on the opium port. The crisis which occurred at the end of the 19th century, caused a setback in the opium trade monopoly through bookie intermediary (opiumpachter) in Kediri Residency.