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To: Dayuhan who wrote (2597)	3/14/2002 9:00:07 AM
From: thames_sider	Respond to of 21057

The opium trade was particularly iniquitous - and did you know the rationale...? It wasn't just profit, but apparently the UK govt. was concerned about the amount of specie flowing out of the country (like a balance of trade but in precious metal) in exchange for Chinese tea, after the introduction of the clipper fleet... so the opium trade was chosen as a good way to get specie back... However by this time I think it was merchants rather than the aristos who profited - especially the trading houses of Hong Kong, Jardine Matheson being one survivor. Bertie Wooster's wealth goes much further back (to Norman times, allegedly)! I got into the 'holier-than-thou' mode over imperialism simply because those were the insults chosen by my opponents... it's not one I'm hugely comfortable on, for obvious reasons. We are being more sanctimonious and more generally arrogant than you are at the moment, but that is only because we have the capacity to do so. ROFL, exactly...