 Lord Palmerston, the British Foreign Secretary who personified gunboat diplomacy, decided to wage war on China mainly on the "suggestions" of Jardine Matheson.In mid-1840, a large fleet of warships appeared on the China coast, and with the first cannon fire aimed at a British ship, the "Royal Saxon", the British started the First Opium War.The Imperial Government, forced to surrender, gave in to the demands of the British.