China: Forcing free trade
China had sealed itself off from the world, permitting only limited trade through Canton. It allowed no diplomatic contact. Palmerston saw this as an affront to his free trade principles, and demanded reform, sending Lord Napier to negotiate in 1834. China refused, and harassed the British traders bringing in opium from India. The upshot was the First Opium War, 1839–42, which ended in the conquest of Chusan by Henry Pottinger. It was later exchanged for the island of Hong Kong. In the Treaty of Nanjing, China paid an indemnity and opened five treaty ports to world trade. Palmerston thus achieved his main goal of opening China to trade, although his critics focused on the immorality of opium.[33][34]
In all these actions Palmerston brought to bear a great deal of patriotic vigour and energy. This made him very popular among the ordinary people of Britain, but his passion, propensity to act through personal animosity, and imperious language made him seem dangerous and destabilising in the eyes of the Queen and his more conservative colleagues in government.