After several embassies failed to persuade the Chinese to expand legal trade the solution turned out to be smuggled Indian opium .
Legal trade is a refusal traditionally credited to Macartney and others ' refusal to kowtow or observe other niceties of Chinese protocol .
After several embassies failed to persuade the Chinese to expand legal trade , a refusal traditionally credited to Macartney and others ' refusal to kowtow or observe other niceties of Chinese protocol , the solution turned out to be smuggled Indian opium .