ABSTRACT
Charles Elliot's inability to follow simple instructions was extremely unfortunate for Lord Palmerston and the Melbourne ministry because of simultaneous crises that developed in Britain and China. When the British Foreign Office failed to heed the Superintendent's warnings about the increasing risks the opium trade posed to legitimate British commerce, Captain Elliot decided to act on his own authority to protect British interest. Elliot had warned his superior that the situation was degenerating, but Palmerston failed to take heed. The Chinese authorities in Canton decided to call upon Elliot to stop the prohibited trade. Frightened by recent rebellions in Southeastern China and the military's inability to put down the rebellions, the Tao-kuang emperor sanctioned his new Grand Councillor's changes. The emperor attributed the military's failure to opium use and a great debate ensued about how best to control the importation of an article that both sides acknowledged as a destructive toxin.
