Editing First Opium War (section)

==== Cabinet Decision and Palmerston letters ====
Under strong pressure and lobbying from various trade and manufacturer associations, the [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig]] cabinet under Prime Minister [[William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne|Melbourne]] decided on 1 October 1839 to send an expedition to China.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rebecca Berens Matzke |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xkZeKCdl0f0C&pg=PA112 |title=Deterrence Through Strength: British Naval Power and Foreign Policy Under Pax Britannica |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0803235144 |pages=108–112}}</ref> War preparations then began.

In early November 1839, Palmerston instructed Auckland, Governor General of India, to prepare military forces for deployment in China. On 20 February 1840 Palmerston (who remained unaware of the First Battle of Chuenpi in November 1839) drafted two letters detailing the British response to the situation in China. One letter was addressed to the Elliots, the other to the Daoguang Emperor and the Qing government. The letter to the emperor informed China that Great Britain had sent a military expeditionary force to the Chinese coast.<ref name="PalmerstonA">{{Cite web |title=Palmerston to Emperor – Feb, 1840 {{!}} China's external relations – a history |url=http://www.chinaforeignrelations.net/node/247 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801031638/http://www.chinaforeignrelations.net/node/247 |archive-date=1 August 2017 |access-date=20 July 2017 |website=www.chinaforeignrelations.net |language=en}}</ref> In the letter, Palmerston stated that,

<blockquote>These measures of hostility on the part of Great Britain against China are not only justified, but even rendered absolutely necessary, by the outrages which have been committed by the Chinese Authorities against British officers and Subjects, and these hostilities will not cease, until a satisfactory arrangement shall have been made by the Chinese Government.<ref name="PalmerstonA" />{{dead link|date=September 2021}}</blockquote>

In his letter to the Elliots, Palmerston instructed the commanders to set up a blockade of the Pearl River and forward to a Chinese official the letter from Palmerston addressing the Chinese emperor. They were to then capture the Zhoushan Islands, blockade the mouth of the Yangtze River, start negotiations with Qing officials, and finally sail the fleet into the [[Bohai Sea]], where they would send another copy of the aforementioned letter to Beijing.<ref name="PalmerstonB">{{Cite web |title=Palmerston to Elliots – Feb, 1840 {{!}} China's external relations – a history |url=http://www.chinaforeignrelations.net/node/248 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809035901/http://www.chinaforeignrelations.net/node/248 |archive-date=9 August 2017 |access-date=20 July 2017 |website=www.chinaforeignrelations.net |language=en}}</ref>  Palmerston also issued a list of objectives that the British government wanted accomplished, with said objectives being:{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}
* Demand to be treated with the respect due to a royal envoy by the Qing authorities.
* Secure the right of the British superintendent to administer justice to British subjects in China.
* Seek recompense for destroyed British property.
* Gain most favoured trading status with the Chinese government.
* Request the right for foreigners to safely inhabit and own private property in China.
* Ensure that, if contraband is seized in accordance with Chinese law, no harm comes to the person(s) of British subjects carrying illicit goods in China.
* End the system by which British merchants are restricted to trading solely in Guangzhou.
* Ask that the cities of Guangzhou, Amoy, Shanghai, Ningbo, and the province of northern Formosa be freely opened to trade from all foreign powers.
* Secure islands along the Chinese coast that can be easily defended and provisioned, or exchange captured islands for favourable trading terms.
Lord Palmerston left it to Superintendent Elliot's discretion as to how these objectives would be fulfilled, but noted that while negotiation would be a preferable outcome, he did not trust that diplomacy would succeed, writing;

<blockquote>To sum up in a few words the result of this Instruction, you will see, from what I have stated, that the British Government demands from that of China satisfaction for the past and security for the future; and does not choose to trust to negotiation for obtaining either of these things; but has sent out a Naval and Military Force with orders to begin at once to take the Measures necessary for attaining the object in view.<ref name="PalmerstonB" />{{Dead link|date=September 2021}}</blockquote>