19. In 1858 the first phase of the Second Opium War was closed by the Treaties of Tientsin
Four separate treaties between the Qing government and the United States, Russia, France, and Great Britain were negotiated and agreed to in the summer of 1858. The four powers were allowed to open legations in the formerly closed city of Beijing. Ten additional treaty ports were opened to western trade. The Qing government was forced to accept the payment of reparations to both France and Great Britain and bear the cost of being invaded by them. Christian missionaries were allowed across China, and the opium trade was legalized. Trade by the foreign powers within the areas under the control of the Taiping Rebellion was forbidden.
The opium trade was not addressed specifically, but clauses that prevented China from creating and exploiting monopolies in any trade goods within their own country were interpreted by British merchant interests as allowing them to trade. As soon as the treaties were ratified the forts at Taku which protected the approaches to Beijing were returned to the Qing government, and the French and British troops were withdrawn. The Qing government troops reoccupied the forts and began strengthening them to deny the promised free access to the Yangtze. The Qing government also continued to act to suppress the opium trade, enforcing the death penalty on opium dealers, and resisted enforcing the terms of the treaty.