But the Qing government did not allow reasonable time for it to fade away nor did they put forth enough effort to enforce the new law. The result was that opium traders were caught off guard but not scared enough to obey the law. The enforcement of the law, although weak, gave the British traders little hope of the legalization of opium in China. However, opium became more wide spread. In that same year, the Qing court sent Lin Zexu to strictly enforce the Opium law. Lin Zexu quickly ordered the surrender of all Opium from the British traders. These actions were deemed necessary by Lin Zexu to deter any further opium trading activities.
The British government felt it was their responsibility to compensate the British traders because it was they who encouraged the British traders to grow opium and sell it in China. The British administration's budget was hopelessly in deficit and there was no way that the parliament was going to issue compensation to the British traders. Also the news of the isolation of the British community in China stirred anger among the British people; they felt humiliated. The Chinese government banned opium for no other reason than it being a dangerous drug. Britain on the other hand, infuriated by the ban on opium and containment of its citizens, started an armed conflict with China to continue to sell drugs in China. This is hardly a justification for starting the war, but Britain's economic trouble forced the British to start the war. The First Opium War was more like a gamble, the British were betting on military superiority over the Chinese military. The British won the gamble and solved their economic and opium trade problem, but exposed the Qing's weakness and led to further exploitations and misery of the Chinese people. .
The objective of the war for the British was to gain compensation for the losses the British traders incurred and further strengthen its interests in China.