アヘン戦争前の英国茶貿易

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  • 具体的数値と銀流出相殺政策の動機

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This paper made clear, first, the weight of the import value of tea in the British economy and the social position of tea in Britain before the Opium Wars using concrete statistical figures. Secondly, on the driving force of the opium policy, which was vigorously implemented starting from the 4th quarter of the 18th century, we enumerated some factors which seemed to have brought about the policy and examined them carefully. The outflow of silver to the East resulting from imports of tea etc., produced appreciation in the price of silver, which could have brought about three problems. The most important of the three was the disturbance in the circulation of silver coins. But after examination, we concluded that the desire to correct the disturbance in circulation was not so strong enough to adopt the opium policy. Nor were the remaining two (a plausible exchange loss and the rise of cost of silverware) powerful enough to act as the driving force of the opium policy. In the final analysis, we came to the conclusion that the primary factor was Britain’s (the East India Company’s) urge to pull out the frozen purchasing power embodied in the silver (obtained from sales of tea) that China retained within her own land. We should say this urge was amplified and realized by the existence of the East India Company, a chartered monopolistic body whose trading territory was restricted to Asia. Lastly, adding to the problem of the silver outflow above, we should note that, though the import of tea contributed to the establishment of the world’s earliest gold standard (around 1750) by Britain, the degree of contribution was not particularly outstanding, as tea was only a moderate item in terms of import value among Oriental products until around 1750.

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