Read the following and answer the question. Our celestial empire (China) rules over ten thousand kingdoms! Most surely do we possess a measure of godlike majesty which ye
cannot fathom! Still we cannot bear to slay or exterminate without previous warning, and it is for this reason that we now clearly make
known to you the fixed laws of our land. If the foreign merchants of your said honorable nation desire to continue their commercial
intercourse, they then must tremblingly obey our recorded statutes, they must cut off for ever the source from which the opium flows,
and on no account make an experiment of our laws in their own persons! Let then your highness [Queen Victoria] punish those of your
subjects who may be criminal, do not endeavor to screen or conceal them, and thus you will secure peace and quietness to your
possessions, thus will you more than ever display a proper sense of respect and obedience, and thus may we unitedly enjoy the
common blessings of peace and happiness. What greater joy! What more complete felicity [harmony] than this!...
- Chinese High Commissioner Lin Zexu's letter to Queen Victoria
Which event is most directly related to the 19th century situation described in this passage?