CHINA

BYDEMETRIUS CHARLES BOULGER

WITH A SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER OF RECENT EVENTSBY MAYO W. HAZELTINE

[Illustration: THE EMPEROR RECEIVING THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS_China Frontispiece_]

I DEDICATE THIS SHORTHISTORY OF CHINATOSIR HALLIDAY MACARTNEY, K. C. M. G. AS A SLIGHT TRIBUTE OF PERSONAL RESPECT AND ADMIRATION FOR ONE WHOHAS MAINTAINED THE RIGHT OF CHINA TO BE TREATED BY THEGOVERNMENTS OF EUROPE WITH THE DIGNITY ANDCONSIDERATION THAT BECOME AGREAT EMPIRE. 

IF TO LORD MACARTNEY WE OWE THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO OBTAINAUDIENCE OF THE EMPEROR OF CHINA ON THE SAME CONDITIONSAS THOSE ON WHICH FOREIGN AMBASSADORSARE RECEIVED AT EUROPEAN COURTS, TOSIR HALLIDAY MACARTNEYA SCION OF THE SAME FAMILYCHINAOWES MUCH OF THE SUCCESS THAT HAS ATTENDED HER DIPLOMACYIN FOREIGN COUNTRIES

CONTENTS

CHAP. 

I. THE EARLY AGES

II. THE FIRST NATIONAL DYNASTY

III. A LONG PERIOD OF DISUNION

IV. THE SUNGS AND THE KINS

V. THE MONGOL CONQUEST OF CHINA

VI. KUBLAI AND THE MONGOL DYNASTY

VII. THE MING DYNASTY

VIII. THE DECLINE OF THE MINGS

IX. THE MANCHU CONQUEST OF CHINA

X. THE FIRST MANCHU RULER

XI. THE EMPEROR KANGHI

XII. A SHORT REIGN AND THE BEGINNING OF A LONG ONE

XIII. KEEN LUNG'S WARS AND CONQUESTS

XIV. THE COMMENCEMENT OF EUROPEAN INTERCOURSE

XV. THE DECLINE OF THE MANCHUS

XVI. THE EMPEROR TAOUKWANG

XVII. THE FIRST FOREIGN WAR

XVIII. TAOUKWANG AND HIS SUCCESSOR

XIX. THE SECOND FOREIGN WAR

XX. THE TAEPING REBELLION

XXI. THE REGENCY

XXII. THE REIGN OF KWANGSU

THE WAR WITH JAPAN AND SUBSEQUENT EVENTS

THE FUTURE OF CHINA

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

_Frontispiece_--The Emperor Receiving the Diplomatic CorpsHong KongCanton--The Flower PagodaKang, the Reformer

PREFACE

As China has now fairly taken her place in the family of nations, it isunnecessary to elaborate an argument in support of even the humblestattempt to elucidate her history. It is a subject to which we can nolonger remain indifferent, because circumstances are bringing every daymore clearly into view the important part China must play in the changesthat have become imminent in Asia, and that will affect the security ofour position and empire in that continent. A good understanding with Chinashould be the first article of our Eastern policy, for not only in CentralAsia, but also in Indo-China, where French ambition threatens to create afresh Egypt, her interests coincide with ours and furnish the sound basisof a fruitful alliance. 

This book, which I may be pardoned for saying is not an abridgment of myoriginal work, but entirely rewritten and rearranged with the view ofgiving prominence to the modern history of the Chinese Empire, may appeal, although they generally treat Asiatic subjects with regrettableindifference, to that wider circle of English readers on whose opinion andefforts the development of our political and commercial relations with thegreatest of Oriental States will mainly depend. 

D. C. BOULGER, April 28, 1893. 

CHAPTER I

THE EARLY AGES

The Chinese are unquestionably the oldest nation in the world, and theirhistory goes back to a period to which no prudent historian will attemptto give a precise date. They speak the language and observe the samesocial and political customs that they did several thousand years beforethe Christian era, and they are the only living representatives to-day ofa people and government which were contemporary with the Egyptians, theAssyrians, and the Jews. So far as our knowledge enables us to speak, theChinese of the present age are in all essential points identical withthose of the time of Confucius, and there is no reason to doubt thatbefore his time the Chinese national character had been thoroughly formedin its present mold. The limits of the empire have varied from time totime under circumstances of triumph or disunion, but the Middle Kingdom, or China Proper, of the eighteen provinces has always possessed more orless of its existing proportions. Another striking and peculiar featureabout China is the small amount of influence that the rest of the worldhas exercised upon it. In fact, it is only during the present century thatthat influence can be said to have existed at all. Up to that point Chinahad pursued a course of her own, carrying on her own struggles within adefinite limit, and completely indifferent to, and ignorant of, theceaseless competition and contests of mankind outside her orbit, whichmake up the history of the rest of the Old World. The long struggles forsupremacy in Western Asia between Assyrian, Babylonian and Persian, thetriumphs of the Greek, followed by the absorption of what remained of theMacedonian conquests in the Empire of Rome, even the appearance of Islamand the Mohammedan conquerors, who changed the face of Southern Asia fromthe Ganges to the Levant, and long threatened to overrun Europe, had nosignificance for the people of China, and reacted as little on theirdestiny as if they had happened in another planet. Whatever advantages theChinese may have derived from this isolation, it has entailed the penaltythat the early history of their country is devoid of interest for the lestof the world, and it is only when the long independent courses of Chinaand Europe are brought into proximity by the Mongol conquests, the effortsof the medieval travelers, the development of commerce, and the warscarried on for the purpose of obtaining a secure position for foreignersin China--four distinct phases covering the last seven centuries--that anyconfidence can be felt in successfully attracting notice to the affairs ofChina. Yet, as a curiosity in human existence, the earlier history of thatcountry may justly receive some notice. Even though the details are notrecited, the recollection of the antiquity of China's institutions must beever present with the student, as affording an indispensable clew to thecharacter of the Chinese people and the composition of their government. 

The first Chinese are supposed to have been a nomad tribe in the provinceof Shensi, which lies in the northwest of China, and among them at lastappeared a ruler, Fohi, whose name at least has been preserved. His deedsand his person are mythical, but he is credited with having given hiscountry its first regular institutions. One of his successors was Hwangti(which means Heavenly Emperor), who was the first to employ the imperialstyle of Emperor, the earlier rulers having been content with the inferiortitle of Wang, or prince. He adopted the convenient decimal division inhis administration as well as his coinage. His dominions were divided intoten provinces, each of these into ten departments, these again into tendistricts, each of which held ten towns. He regulated the calendar, originating the Chinese cycle of sixty years, and he encouraged commerce. He seems to have been a wise prince and to have been the first of thegreat emperors. His grandson, who was also emperor, continued his goodwork and earned the reputation of being "the restorer or even founder oftrue astronomy. "

But the most famous of Hwangti's successors was his great-grandson Yao whois still one of the most revered of all Chinese rulers. He was "diligent, enlightened, polished and prudent, " and if his words reflected his actionshe must have been most solicitous of the welfare of his people. He isspecially remarkable for his anxiety to discover the best man to succeedhim in the government, and during the last twenty-eight years of his reignhe associated the minister Chun with him for that purpose. On his death heleft the crown to him, and Chun, after some hesitation, accepted thecharge; but he in turn hastened to secure the co-operation of anotherminister named Yu in the work of administration, just as he had beenassociated with Yao. The period covered by the rule of this triumvirate isconsidered one of the most brilliant and perfect in Chinese history, andit bears a resemblance to the age of the Antonines. These rulers seem tohave passed their leisure from practical work in framing moral axioms, andin carrying out a model scheme of government based on the purest ethics. They considered that "a prince intrusted with the charge of a State has aheavy task. The happiness of his subjects absolutely depends upon him. Toprovide for everything is his duty; his ministers are only put in officeto assist him, " and also that "a prince who wishes to fulfill hisobligations, and to long preserve his people in the ways of peace, oughtto watch without ceasing that the laws are observed with exactitude. " Theywere stanch upholders of temperance, and they banished the unluckydiscoverer of the fact that an intoxicating drink could be obtained fromrice. They also held fast to the theory that all government must be basedon the popular will. In fact, the reigns of Yao, Chun and Yu are the idealperiod of Chinese history, when all questions were decided by moral rightand justice, and even now Chinese philosophers are said to test theirmaxims of morality by the degree of agreement they may have with theconduct of those rulers. 

With them passed away the practice of letting the most capable andexperienced minister rule the State. Such an impartial and reasonable modeof selecting the head of a community can never be perpetuated. The rulersthemselves may see its advantages and may endeavor as honestly as thesethree Chinese princes to carry out the arrangement, but the day must comewhen the family of the able ruler will assert its rights to thesuccession, and take advantage of its opportunities from its closeconnection with the government to carry out its ends. The Emperor Yu, trueto the practice of his predecessors, nominated the president of thecouncil as his successor, but his son Tiki seized the throne, and becamethe founder of the first Chinese dynasty, which was called the Hia, fromthe name of the province first ruled by his father. This event is supposedto have taken place in the year 2197 B. C. , and the Hia dynasty, of whichthere were seventeen emperors, ruled down to the year 1776 B. C. These Hiaprinces present no features of interest, and the last of them, named Kia, was deposed by one of his principal nobles, Ching Tang, Prince of Chang. 

This prince was the founder of the second dynasty, known as Chang, whichheld possession of the throne for 654 years, or down to 1122 B. C. With theexception of the founder, who seems to have been an able man, this dynastyof twenty-eight emperors did nothing very noteworthy. The public moralitydeteriorated very much under this family, and it is said that when one ofthe emperors wanted an honest man as minister he could only find one inthe person of a common laborer. At last, in the twelfth century before ourera, the enormities of the Chang rulers reached a climax in the person ofChousin, who was deposed by a popular rising headed by Wou Wang, Prince ofChow. 

This successful soldier, whose name signifies the Warrior King, foundedthe third Chinese dynasty of Chow, which governed the empire for the longspace of 867 years down to 266 B. C. During that protracted period therewere necessarily good and bad emperors, and the Chow dynasty was renderedspecially illustrious by the appearance of the great social and religiousreformers, Laoutse, Confucius and Mencius, during the existence of itspower. The founder of the dynasty instituted the necessary reforms toprove that he was a national benefactor, and one of his successors, knownas the Magnificent King, extended the authority of his family over some ofthe States of Turkestan. But, on the whole, the rulers of the Chow dynastywere not particularly distinguished, and one of them in the eighth centuryB. C. Was weak enough to resign a portion of his sovereign rights to apowerful vassal, Siangkong, the Prince of Tsin, in consideration of hisundertaking the defense of the frontier against the Tartars. At thisperiod the authority of the central government passed under a cloud. Theemperor's prerogative became the shadow of a name, and the last threecenturies of the rule of this family would not call for notice but for thegenius of Laoutse and Confucius, who were both great moral teachers andreligious reformers. 

Laoutse, the founder of Taouism, was the first in point of time, and insome respects he was the greatest of these reformers. He found hiscountrymen sunk in a low state of moral indifference and religiousinfidelity which corresponded with the corruption of the times and thedisunion in the kingdom. He at once set himself to work with energy anddevotion to repair the evils of his day, and to raise before hiscountrymen a higher ideal of duty. He has been called the ChinesePythagoras, the most erudite of sinologues have pronounced his textobscure, and the mysterious Taouism which he founded holds the smallest orthe least assignable part in what passes for the religion of the Chinese. As a philosopher and minister Laoutse will always attract attention andexcite speculation, but as a practical reformer and politician he was farsurpassed by his younger and less theoretical contemporary Confucius. 

Confucius was an official in the service of one of the great princes whodivided the governing power of China among themselves during the whole ofthe seventh century before our era, which beheld the appearance of both ofthese religious teachers and leaders. He was a trained administrator withlong experience when he urged upon his prince the necessity of reform, andadvocated a policy of union throughout the States. His exhortations werein vain, and so far ill-timed that he was obliged to resign the service ofone prince after another. In his day the authority of the Chow emperor hadbeen reduced to the lowest point. Each prince was unto himself the supremeauthority. Yet one cardinal point of the policy of Confucius wassubmission to the emperor, as implicit obedience to the head of the Statethroughout the country as was paid to the father of every Chinesehousehold. Although he failed to find a prince after his own heart, hisexample and precepts were not thrown away, for in a later generation hisreforms were executed, and down to the present day the best points inChinese government are based on his recommendations. If "no intelligentmonarch arose" in his time, the greatest emperors have since sought toconform with his usages and to rule after the ideal of the greatphilosopher. His name and his teachings were perpetuated by a band ofdevoted disciples, and the book which contained the moral andphilosophical axioms of Confucius passed into the classic literature ofthe country and stood in the place of a Bible for the Chinese. The list ofthe great Chinese reformers is completed by the name of Mencius, who, coming two centuries later, carried on with better opportunities thereforming work of Confucius, and left behind him in his Sheking the mostpopular book of Chinese poetry and a crowning tribute to the great Master. 

From teachers we must again pass to the chronicle of kings, although fewof the later Chow emperors deserve their names to be rescued fromoblivion. One emperor suffered a severe defeat while attempting toestablish his authority over the troublesome tribes beyond the frontier;of another it was written that "his good qualities merited a happier day, "and the general character of the age may be inferred from its beingdesignated by the native chroniclers "The warlike period. " At last, afterwhat seemed an interminable old age, marked by weakness and vice, the Chowdynasty came to an end in the person of Nan Wang, who, although he reignedfor nearly sixty years, was deposed in ignominious fashion by one of hisgreat vassals, and reduced to a humble position. His conqueror became thefounder of the fourth Chinese dynasty. 

During the period of internal strife which marked the last four centuriesof the Chow dynasty, one family had steadily waxed stronger and strongeramong the princes of China: the princes of Tsin, by a combination ofprudence and daring, gradually made themselves supreme among theirfellows. It was said of one of them that "like a wolf or a tiger he wishedto draw all the other princes into his claws, so that he might devourthem. " Several of the later Tsin princes, and particularly one named ChowSiang Wang, showed great capacity, and carried out a systematic policy fortheir own aggrandizement. When Nan Wang was approaching the end of hiscareer, the Tsin princes had obtained everything of the supreme powershort of the name and the right to wear the imperial yellow robes. ChingWang, or, to give him his later name as emperor, Tsin Chi Hwangti, was thereputed great-grandson of Chow Siang Wang, and under him the fame andpower of the Tsins reached their culminating point. This prince alsoproved himself one of the greatest rulers who ever sat on the Dragonthrone of China. 

The country had been so long distracted by internal strife, and theauthority of the emperor had been reduced to such a shadow, that peace waswelcomed under any ruler, and the hope was indulged that the Tsin princes, who had succeeded in making themselves the most powerful feudatories ofthe empire, might be able to restore to the central government somethingof its ancient power and splendor. Nor was the expectation unreasonable orungratified. The Tsins had fairly earned by their ability the confidenceof the Chinese nation, and their principal representative showed nodiminution of energy on attaining the throne, and exhibited in a higherpost, and on a wider field, the martial and statesmanlike qualities hisancestors had displayed when building up the fabric of their power asprinces of the empire. Their supremacy was not acquiesced in by the othergreat feudatories without a struggle, and more than one campaign wasfought before all rivals were removed from their path, and their authoritypassed unchallenged as occupants of the Imperial office. 

It was in the middle of this final struggle, and when the result mightstill be held doubtful, that Tsin Chi Hwangti began his eventful reign. When he began to rule he was only thirteen years of age, but he quicklyshowed that he possessed the instinct of a statesman, and the courage of aborn commander of armies. On the one hand he sowed dissension between themost formidable of his opponents, and brought about by a stratagem thedisgrace of the ablest general in their service, and on the other heincreased his army in numbers and efficiency, until it becameunquestionably the most formidable fighting force in China. While heendeavored thus to attain internal peace, he was also studious inproviding for the general security of the empire, and with this object hebegan the construction of a fortified wall across the northern frontier toserve as a defense against the troublesome Hiongnou tribes, who areidentified with the Huns of Attila. This wall, which he began in the firstyears of his reign, was finished before his death, and still exists as theGreat Wall of China, which has been considered one of the wonders of theworld. He was careful in his many wars with the tribes of Mongolia not toallow himself to be drawn far from his own border, and at the close of acampaign he always withdrew his troops behind the Great Wall. TowardCentral Asia he was more enterprising, and one of his best generals, Moungtien, crossed what is now the Gobi Desert, and made Hami the frontierfortress of the empire. 

In his civil administration Hwangti was aided by the minister Lisseh, whoseems to have been a man of rare ability, and to have entered heartilyinto all his master's schemes for uniting the empire. While Hwangti sat onthe throne with a naked sword in his hand, as the emblem of his authority, dispensing justice, arranging the details of his many campaigns, andsuperintending the innumerable affairs of his government, his minister wasequally active in reorganizing the administration and in supporting hissovereign in his bitter struggle with the literary classes who advocatedarchaic principles, and whose animosity to the ruler was inflamed by thecontempt, not unmixed with ferocity, with which he treated them. Theempire was divided into thirty-six provinces, and he impressed upon thegovernors the importance of improving communications within theirjurisdiction. Not content with this general precept, he issued a specialdecree ordering that "roads shall be made in all directions throughout theempire, " and the origin of the main routes in China may be found with asmuch certainty in his reign as that of the roads of Europe in the days ofImperial Rome. When advised to assign some portion of his power to hisrelatives and high officials in the provinces he refused to repeat theblunders of his predecessors, and laid down the permanent truth that "goodgovernment is impossible under a multiplicity of masters. " He centralizedthe power in his own hands, and he drew up an organization for the civilservice of the State which virtually exists at the present day. The twosalient features in that organization are the indisputable supremacy ofthe emperor and the non-employment of the officials in their nativeprovinces, and the experience of two thousand years has proved theirpractical value. 

When he conquered his internal enemies he resolved to complete thepacification of his country by effecting a general disarmament, and heordered that all weapons should be sent in to his capital at Hienyang. This "skillful disarming of the provinces added daily to the wealth andprosperity of the capital, " which he proceeded to embellish. He built onepalace within the walls, and the Hall of Audience was ornamented withtwelve statues, each of which weighed twelve thousand pounds. But hisprincipal residence named the Palace of Delight, was without the walls, and there he laid out magnificent gardens, and added building to building. In one of the courts of this latter palace, it is said he could have drawnup 10, 000 soldiers. This eye to military requirements in even the buildingof his residence showed the temper of his mind, and, in his efforts toform a regular army, he had recourse to "those classes in the communitywho were without any fixed profession, and who were possessed ofexceptional physical strength. " He was thus the earliest possessor inChina of what might be called a regular standing army. With this force hesucceeded in establishing his power on a firm basis, and he may have hopedalso to insure permanence for his dynasty; but, alas! for the fallacy ofhuman expectations, the structure he erected fell with him. 

Great as an administrator, and successful as a soldier, Hwangti wasunfortunate in one struggle that he provoked. At an early period of hiscareer, when success seemed uncertain, he found that his bitterestopponents were men of letters, and that the literary class as a body washostile to his interests and person. Instead of ignoring this oppositionor seeking to overcome it by the same agency, Hwangti expressed his hatredand contempt, not only of the literary class, but of literature itself, and resorted to extreme measures of coercion. The writers took up the gageof battle thrown down by the emperor, and Hwangti became the object of thewit and abuse of every literate who could use a pencil. His birth wasaspersed. It was said that he was not a Tsin at all, that his origin wasof the humblest, and that he was a substituted child foisted on the lastof the Tsin princes. These personal attacks were accompanied byunfavorable criticism of all his measures, and by censure where he feltthat he deserved praise. It would have been more prudent if he had showngreater indifference and patience, for although he had the satisfaction oftriumphing by brute force over those who jeered at him, the triumph wasaccomplished by an act of Vandalism, with which his name will be quite asclosely associated in history as any of the wise measures or great worksthat he carried out. His vanquished opponents left behind them a legacy ofhostility and revenge of the whole literary class of China, which hasfound expression in all the national histories. 

The struggle, which had been in progress for some years, reached itsculminating point in the year 213 B. C. , when a Grand Council of the empirewas summoned at Hienyang. At this council were present not only theemperor's chief military and civil officers from the different provinces, but also the large literary class, composed of aspirants to office and themembers of the academies and College of Censors. The opposing forces inChina were thus drawn up face to face, and it would have been surprisingif a collision had not occurred. On the one side were the supporters ofthe man who had made China again an empire, believers in his person andsharers in his glory; on the other were those who had no admiration forthis ruler, who detested his works, proclaimed his successes dangerousinnovations, and questioned his right to bear the royal name. The purposeof the emperor may be detected when he called upon speakers in thisassembly of his friends and foes to express their opinions of hisadministration, and when a member of his household rose to extol his workand to declare that he had "surpassed the very greatest of hispredecessors. " This courtier-like declaration, which would have beenexcusable even if it had had a less basis of truth than it unquestionablypossessed in the case of Hwangti, was received with murmurs and marks ofdissent by the literati. One of them rose and denounced the speaker as "avile flatterer, " and proceeded to expatiate on the superior merit ofseveral of the earlier rulers. Not content with this unseasonable eulogy, he advocated the restoration of the empire to its old form ofprincipalities, and the consequent undoing of all that Hwangti hadaccomplished. Hwangti interrupted this speaker and called upon hisfavorite minister Lisseh to reply to him and explain his policy. Lissehbegan by stating what has often been said since, and in other countries, that "men of letters are, as a rule, very little acquainted with whatconcerns the government of a country, not that government of purespeculation which is nothing more than a phantom, vanishing the nearer weapproached to it, but the practical government which consists in keepingmen within the sphere of their proper duties. " He then proceeded todenounce the literary class as being hostile to the State, and torecommend the destruction of their works, declaring that "now is the timeor never to close the mouths of these secret enemies and to place a curbon their audacity. " The emperor at once from his throne ratified thepolicy and ordered that no time should be lost in executing the necessarymeasures. All books were proscribed, and orders were issued to burn everywork except those relating to medicine, agriculture, and such science asthen existed. The destruction of the national literature was carried outwith terrible completeness, and such works as were preserved are not freefrom the suspicion of being garbled or incomplete versions of theiroriginal text. The burning of the books was accompanied by the executionof five hundred of the literati, and by the banishment of many thousands. By this sweeping measure, to which no parallel is to be found in thehistory of other countries, Hwangti silenced during the last few years ofhis life the criticisms of his chief enemies, but in revenge his memoryhas had to bear for two thousand years the sully of an inexcusable act oftyranny and narrow-mindedness. The price will be pronounced too heavy forwhat was a momentary gratification. 

The reign of Hwangti was not prolonged many years after the burning of thebooks. In 210 B. C. He was seized with a serious illness, to which hesuccumbed, partly because he took no precautions, and partly, no doubt, through the incompetence of his physicians. His funeral was magnificent, and, like the Huns, his grave was dug in the bed of a river, and with himwere buried his wives and his treasure. This great ruler left behind himan example of vigor such as is seldom found in the list of Chinese kingsof effete physique and apathetic life. He is the only Chinese emperor ofwhom it is said that his favorite exercise was walking, and his vigor wasapparent in every department of State. On one occasion when he placed alarge army of, it is said, 600, 000 men at the disposal of one of hisgenerals, the commander expressed some fear as to how this huge force wasto be fed. Hwangti at once replied, "Leave it to me. I will provide foreverything. There shall be want rather in my palace than in your camp. " Hedoes not seem to have been a great general himself, but he knew how toselect the best commanders, and he was also so quick in discovering themerits of the generals opposed to him, that some of his most notablevictories were obtained by his skill in detaching them from their serviceor by ruining their reputation by some intrigue more astute thanhonorable. Yet, all deductions made, Tsin Chi Hwangti stands forth as agreat ruler and remarkable man. 

The Tsin dynasty only survived its founder a few years. Hwangti's sonEulchi became emperor, but he reigned no more than three years. He wasfoolish enough to get rid of the general Moungtien, who might have beenthe buttress of his throne; and the minister Lisseh was poisoned, eitherwith or without his connivance. Eulchi himself shared the same fate, andhis successor, Ing Wang, reigned only six weeks, committing suicide afterlosing a battle, and with him the Tsin dynasty came to an end. Its chief, nay its only claim to distinction, arises from its having produced thegreat ruler Hwangti, and its destiny was Napoleonic in its brilliance andevanescence. 

Looking back at the long period which connects the mythical age with whatmay be considered the distinctly historical epoch of the Tsins, we findthat by the close of the third century before the Christian era Chinapossessed settled institutions, the most remarkable portion of its stillexisting literature, and mighty rulers. It is hardly open to doubt thatthe Chinese annalist finds in these remote ages as much interest andinstruction as we should in the record of more recent times, and proof ofthis may be discovered in the fact that the history of the first fourdynasties, which we must dismiss in these few pages, occupies as muchspace in the national history as the chronicle of events from Tsin ChiHwangti to the end of the Ming dynasty in 1644, at which date the officialhistory of China stops, because the history of the Manchu dynasty, whichhas occupied the throne ever since, will only be given to the world afterit has ceased to rule. We must not be surprised at this discursiveness, because the teachings of human experience are as clearly marked in thoseearly times as they have been since, and Chinese historians aim as much atestablishing moral and philosophical truths as at giving a complete recordof events. The consequences of human folly and incompetence are as patentand conspicuous in those days as they are now. The ruling power is lost byone family and transferred to another because the prince neglects hisbusiness, gives himself over to the indulgence of pleasure, or fails tosee the signs of the times. Cowardice and corruption receive their due andinevitable punishment. The founders of the dynasties are all brave andsuccessful warriors, who are superior to the cant of a hypercivilizedstate of society, which covers declining vigor and marks the first phaseof effeteness, and who see that as long as there are human passions theymay be molded by genius to make the many serve the few and to build up anautocracy. Nor are the lessons to be learned from history applicable onlyto individuals. The faults of an emperor are felt in every household ofthe community, and injure the State. Indifference and obtuseness at thecapital entailed weakness on the frontier and in the provincial capitals. The barbarians grew defiant and aggressive, and defeated the imperialforces. The provincial governors asserted their independence, and foundedruling families. The empire became attenuated by external attack andinternal division. But, to use tho phrase of the Chinese historians, "after long abiding disunion, union revived. " The strong and capable manalways appears in one form or another, and the Chinese people, impressedwith a belief in both the divine mission of their emperor and also in thevalue of union, welcome with acclaim the advent of the prince who willrestore their favorite and ideal system of one-man government. The time isstill hidden in a far-distant and undiscoverable future when it will beotherwise, and when the Chinese will be drawn away from their consistentand ancient practice to pursue the ignis fatuus of European politics thatseeks to combine human equality with good practical government andnational security. The Chinese have another and more attainable ideal, noris there any likelihood of their changing it. The fall of dynasties may, needs must, continue in the ordinary course of nature, but in China itwill not pave the way to a republic. The imperial authority will risetriumphant after every struggle above the storm. 

CHAPTER II

THE FIRST NATIONAL DYNASTY

As the Chinese are still proud to call themselves the sons of Han, it willbe understood that the period covered by the Han rulers must be animportant epoch in their history, and in more than one respect they werethe first national dynasty, When the successors of Tsin Chi Hwangti provedunable to keep the throne, the victorious general who profited by theirdiscomfiture was named Liu Pang. He had been a trusted official of theEmperor Hwangti, but on finding that his descendants could not bear theburden of government, he resolved to take his own measures, and he lost notime in collecting troops and in making a bid for popularity byendeavoring to save all the books that had not been burned. His careerbears some resemblance to that of Macbeth, for a soothsayer meeting him onthe road predicted, "by the expression of his features, that he wasdestined to become emperor. " He began his struggle for the throne bydefeating another general named Pawang, who was also disposed to make abid for supreme power. After this success Liu Pang was proclaimed emperoras Kao Hwangti, meaning Lofty and August Emperor, which has been shortenedinto Kaotsou. He named his dynasty the Han, after the small state in whichhe was born. 

Kaotsou began his reign by a public proclamation in favor of peace, anddeploring the evils which follow in the train of war. He called upon hissubjects to aid his efforts for their welfare by assisting in theexecution of many works of public utility, among which roads and bridgesoccupied the foremost place. He removed his capital from Loyang in Honanto Singanfoo in Shensi, and as Singan was difficult of access in thosedays, he constructed a great highroad from the center of China to thissomewhat remote spot on the western frontier. This road still exists, andhas been described by several travelers in our time. It was constructed bythe labor of one hundred thousand men through the most difficult country, crossing great mountain chains and broad rivers. The Chinese engineersemployed on the making of this road, which has excited the admiration ofall who have traversed it, first discovered and carried into execution thesuspension bridge, which in Europe is quite a modern invention. One ofthese "flying bridges, " as the Chinese called them, is one hundred andfifty yards across a valley five hundred feet below, and is still in use. At regular intervals along this road Kaotsou constructed rest-houses fortravelers, and postal-stations for his couriers. No Chinese ruler has doneanything more useful or remarkable than this admirable road from Loyang toSinganfoo. He embellished his new capital with many fine buildings, amongwhich was a large palace, the grandeur of which was intended to correspondwith the extent of his power. 

The reign of Kaotsou was, however, far from being one of uncheckeredprosperity. Among his own subjects his popularity was great because hepromoted commerce and improved the administration of justice. He alsoencouraged literature, and was the first ruler to recognize the claims ofConfucius, at whose tomb he performed an elaborate ceremony. He thusacquired a reputation which induced the King of Nanhai--a state composedof the southern provinces of China, with its capital at or near the modernCanton--to tender his allegiance. But he was destined to receive manyslights and injuries at the hands of a foreign enemy, who at this timebegan a course of active aggression that entailed serious consequences forboth China and Europe. 

Reference has been made to the Hiongnou or Hun tribes, against whom TsinHwangti built the Great Wall. In the interval between the death of thatruler and the consolidation of the power of Kaotsou, a remarkable chiefnamed Meha, or Meta, had established his supremacy among the disunitedclans of the Mongolian Desert, and had succeeded in combining for purposesof war the whole fighting force of what had been a disjointed andbarbarous confederacy. The Chinese rulers had succeeded in keeping backthis threatening torrent from overflowing the fertile plains of theircountry, as much by sowing dissension among these clans and by bribing onechief to fight another, as by superior arms. But Meha's success renderedthis system of defense no longer possible, and the desert chieftain, realizing the opportunity of spoil and conquest, determined to make hisposition secure by invading China. If the enterprise had failed, therewould have been an end to the paramounce of Meha, but his rapid successconvinced the Huns that their proper and most profitable policy was tocarry on implacable war with their weak and wealthy neighbors. Meha'ssuccess was so great that in a single campaign he recovered all thedistricts taken from the Tartars by the general Moungtien. He turned thewestern angle of the Great Wall, and brought down his frontier to theriver Hoangho. His light cavalry raided past the Chinese capital into theprovince of Szchuen, and returned laden with the spoil of countlesscities. These successes were crowned by a signal victory over the emperorin person. Kaotsou was drawn into an ambuscade in which his troops had nochance with their more active adversaries, and, to save himself fromcapture, Kaotsou had no alternative but to take refuge in the town ofPingching, where he was closely beleaguered. It was impossible to defendthe town for any length of time, and the capture of Kaotsou seemedinevitable, when recourse was had to a stratagem. The most beautifulChinese maiden was sent as a present to propitiate the conqueror, andMeha, either mollified by the compliment, or deeming that nothing was tobe gained by driving the Chinese to desperation, acquiesced in aconvention which, while it sealed the ignominious defeat of the Chinese, rescued their sovereign from his predicament. 

This disaster, and his narrow personal escape, seem to have unnervedKaotsou, for when the Huns resumed their incursions in the very yearfollowing the Pingching convention, he took no steps to oppose them, andcontented himself with denouncing in his palace Meha as "a wicked andfaithless man, who had risen to power by the murder of his father, and onewith whom oaths and treaties carried no weight. " Notwithstanding thisopinion, Kaotsou proceeded to negotiate with Meha as an equal, and gavethis barbarian prince his own daughter in marriage as the price of hisabstaining from further attacks on the empire. Never, wrote a historian, "was so great a shame inflicted on the Middle Kingdom, which then lost itsdignity and honor. " Meha observed this peace during the life of Kaotsou, who found that his reputation was much diminished by his coming to termswith his uncivilized opponent, but although several of his generalsrebelled, until it was said that "the very name of revolt inspired Kaotsouwith apprehension, " he succeeded in overcoming them all without seriousdifficulty. His troubles probably shortened his life, for he died when hewas only fifty-three, leaving the crown to his son, Hoeiti, andinjunctions to his widow, Liuchi, as to the conduct of the administration. 

The brief reign of Hoeiti is only remarkable for the rigor and terribleacts of his mother, the Empress Liuchi, who is the first woman mentionedin Chinese history as taking a supreme part in public affairs. Another ofKaotsou's widows aspired to the throne for her son, and the chiefdirection for herself. Liuchi nipped their plotting in the bud bypoisoning both of them. She marked out those who differed from her, or whoresented her taking the most prominent part in public ceremonies, as herenemies, to be removed from her path by any means. At a banquet sheendeavored to poison one of the greatest princes of the empire, but herplot was detected and baffled by her son. It is perhaps not surprisingthat Hoeiti did not live long after this episode, and then Liuchi ruled inher own name, and without filling up the vacancy on the throne, until thepublic dissatisfaction warned her that she was going too far. She thenadopted a supposititious child as her grandson and governed as regent inhis name. The mother of this youth seems to have made inconvenient demandson the empress, who promptly put her out of the way, and when the sonshowed a disposition to resent this action, she caused him to be poisoned. She again ruled without a puppet emperor, hoping to retain power byplacing her relatives in the principal offices; but the dissatisfactionhad now reached an acute point, and threatened to destroy her. It may bedoubted whether she would have surmounted these difficulties and dangers, when death suddenly cut short her adventurous career. The popular legendis that this Chinese Lucretia Borgia died of fright at seeing theapparitions of her many victims, and there can be no doubt that her crimesdid not conduce to make woman government more popular in China. 

It says much for the excellence of Kaotsou's work, and for the hold theHan family had obtained on the Chinese people, that when it becamenecessary to select an emperor after the death of Liuchi the choice shouldhave fallen unanimously on the Prince of Tai, who was the illegitimate sonof Kaotsou. On mounting the throne, he took the name of Wenti. He beganhis reign by remitting taxes and by appointing able and honest governorsand judges. He ordered that all old men should be provided with corn, meatand wine, besides silk and cotton for their garments. At the suggestion ofhis ministers, who were alive to the dangers of a disputed succession, heproclaimed his eldest son heir to the throne. He purified theadministration of justice by declaring that prince and peasant must beequally subject to the law; he abolished the too common punishment ofmutilation, and had the satisfaction of seeing crime reduced to such lowproportions in the empire that the jails contained only four hundredprisoners. Wenti was a strong advocate of peace, which was, indeed, necessary to China, as it had not recovered from the effects of the lastHun invasion. He succeeded by diplomacy in inducing the Prince at Canton, who had shown a disposition to assert his independence, to recognize hisauthority, and thus averted a civil war. In his relations with the Huns, among whom the authority of Meha had passed to his son, Lao Chang, hestrove to preserve the peace, giving that chief one of his daughters inmarriage, and showing moderation in face of much provocation. When war wasforced upon him by their raids he did everything he could to mitigate itsterrors, but the ill success of his troops in their encounters with theTartars broke his confidence, and he died prematurely after a reign oftwenty-three years, which was remarkable as witnessing the consolidationof the Hans. The good work of Wenti was continued during the peacefulreign of sixteen years of his son Kingti. 

The next emperor was Vouti, a younger son of Kingti, and one of hisearliest conquests was to add the difficult and inaccessible province ofFuhkien to the empire. He also endeavored to propitiate the Huns by givingtheir chief one of the princesses of his family as a wife, but the opinionwas gaining ground that it would be better to engage in a war for theoverthrow of the national enemy than to purchase a hollow peace. Wang Kua, a general who had commanded on the frontier, and who knew the Hun mode ofwarfare, represented that success would be certain, and at last gained theemperor's ear. Vouti decided on war, and raised a large army for thepurpose. But the result was not auspicious. Wang Kua failed to bring theHuns to an engagement, and the campaign which was to produce such greatresults ended ingloriously. The unlucky general who had promised so muchanticipated his master's displeasure by committing suicide. Unfortunatelyfor himself, his idea of engaging in a mortal struggle with the Tartarsgained ground, and became in time the fixed policy of China. Notwithstanding this check, the authority of Vouti continued to expand. Heannexed Szchuen, a province exceeding in size and population most Europeanstates, and he received from the ruler of Manchuria a formal tender ofsubmission. In the last years of his reign the irrepressible Hun questionagain came up for discussion, and the episode of the flight of the Yuchifrom Kansuh affords a break in the monotony of the struggle, and is thefirst instance of that western movement which brought the tribes of theGobi Desert into Europe. The Yuchi are believed to have been allied withthe Jats of India, and there is little or no doubt that the Sacae, orScythians, were their descendants. They occupied a strip of territory inKansuh from Shachow to Lanchefoo, and after suffering much at the hands ofthe Huns under Meha, they resolved to seek a fresh home in the unknownregions of Western Asia. The Emperor Vouti wished to bring them back, andhe sent an envoy named Chang Keen to induce them to return. That officerdiscovered them in the Oxus region, but all his arguments failed toincline them to leave a quarter in which they had recovered power andprosperity. Powerless against the Huns, they had more than held their ownagainst the Parthians and the Greek kingdom of Bactria. They retainedtheir predominant position in what is now Bokhara and Balkh, until theywere gathered up by the Huns in their western march, and hurled, inconjunction with them, on the borders of the Roman Empire. Meantime, thewar with the Huns themselves entered upon a new phase. A general named WeiTsing obtained a signal victory over them, capturing 15, 000 prisoners andthe spoil of the Tartar camp. This success restored long-lost confidenceto the Chinese troops, and it was followed by several other victories. OneChinese expedition, composed entirely of cavalry, marched through the Huncountry to Soponomo on the Tian Shan, carrying everything before it andreturning laden with spoil, including some of the golden images of the Hunreligion. Encouraged by these successes, Vouti at last took the field inperson, and sent a formal summons to the Tartar king to make hissubmission to China. His reply was to imprison the bearer of the message, and to defy the emperor to do his worst. This boldness had the effect ofdeterring the emperor from his enterprise. He employed his troops inconquering Yunnan and Leaoutung instead of in waging another war with theHuns. But he had only postponed, not abandoned, his intention ofoverthrowing, once and for all, this most troublesome and formidablenational enemy. He raised an enormous force for the campaign, which mighthave proved successful but for the mistake of intrusting the command to anincompetent general. In an ill-advised moment, he gave his brother-in-law, Li Kwangli, the supreme direction of the war. His incompetence entailed asuccession of disasters, and the only redeeming point amid them was thatLi Kwangli was taken prisoner and rendered incapable of further mischief. Liling, the grandson of this general, was intrusted with a fresh army toretrieve the fortunes of the war; but, although successful at first, hewas outmaneuvered, and reduced to the unpleasant pass of surrendering tothe enemy. Both Li Kwangli and Liling adapted themselves to circumstances, and took service under the Tartar chief. As this conduct obtained theapproval of the historian Ssematsien, it is clear that our views of such aproceeding would not be in harmony with the opinion in China of that day. The long war which Vouti waged with the Huns for half a century, and whichwas certainly carried on in a more honorable and successful manner thanany previous portion of that historic struggle, closed with discomfitureand defeat, which dashed to the ground the emperor's hopes of a completetriumph over the most formidable national enemy. 

After a reign of fifty-four years, which must be pronounced glorious, Vouti died, amid greater troubles and anxieties than any that had besethim during his long reign. He was unquestionably a great ruler. He addedseveral provinces to his empire, and the success he met with over the Hunswas far from being inconsiderable. He was a Nimrod among the Chinese, andhis principal enjoyment was to chase the wildest animals without anyattendants. Like many other Chinese princes, Vouti was prone to believe inthe possibility of prolonging human life, or, as the Chinese put it, inthe draught of immortality. In connection with this weakness an anecdoteis preserved that will bear telling. A magician offered the emperor aglass containing the pretended elixir of eternal life, and Vouti was aboutto drink it when a courtier snatched it from his hand and drained thegoblet. The enraged monarch ordered him to prepare for instant death, butthe ready courtier at once replied, "How can I be executed, since I havedrunk the draught of immortality?" To so convincing an argument no replywas possible, and Vouti lived to a considerable age without the aid ofmagicians or quack medicines. Of him also it may be said that he added tothe stability of the Han dynasty, and he left the throne to Chaoti, theyoungest of his sons, a child of eight, for whom he appointed his two mostexperienced ministers to act as governors. As these ministers were true totheir duty, the interregnum did not affect the fortunes of the Stateadversely, and several claimants to the throne paid for their ambitionwith their lives. The reign of Chaoti was prosperous and successful, but, unfortunately, he died at the early age of thirty-one, and without leavingan heir. 

After some hesitation, Chaoti's uncle Liucho was proclaimed emperor, buthe proved to be a boor with low tastes, whose sole idea of power was thelicense to indulge in coarse amusements. The chief minister, Ho Kwang, took upon himself the responsibility of deposing him, and also of placingon the throne Siuenti, who was the great-grandson, or, according toanother account, the grandson, of Vouti. The choice was a fortunate one, and "Ho Kwang gave all his care to perfecting the new emperor in thescience of government. " As a knowledge of his connection with the Imperialfamily had been carefully kept from him, Siuenti was brought from a veryhumble sphere to direct the destinies of the Chinese, and his greaterenergy and more practical disposition were probably due to his not havingbeen bred in the enervating atmosphere of a palace. He, too, was broughtat an early stage of his career face to face with the Tartar question, andhe had what may be pronounced a unique experience in his wars with them. He sent several armies under commanders of reputation to wage war on them, and the generals duly returned, reporting decisive and easily obtainedvictories. The truth soon leaked out. The victories were quite imaginary. The generals had never ventured to face the Tartars, and they were givenno option by their enraged and disappointed master but to poisonthemselves. Other generals were appointed, and the Tartars were induced tosue for peace, partly from fear of the Chinese, and partly because theywere disunited among themselves. Such was the reputation of Siuenti forjustice that several of the Tartar chiefs carried their grievances to thefoot of his throne, and his army became known as "the troops of justice. "It is said that all the tribes and countries of Central Asia as far westas the Caspian sent him tribute, and to celebrate the event he built akilin or pavilion, in which he placed statues of all the generals who hadcontributed toward his triumph. Only one incident marred the tranquillityof Siuenti's reign. The great statesman, Ho Kwang, had sunk quietly intoprivate life as soon as he found the emperor capable of governing forhimself; but his wife Hohien was more ambitious and less satisfied withher position, although she had effected a marriage between her daughterand Siuenti. This lady was only one of the queens of the ruler, and notthe empress. Hohien, to further her ends, determined to poison theempress, and succeeded only too well. Her guilt would have been divulgedby the doctor she employed, but that Ho Kwang, by an exercise of hisauthority, prevented the application of torture to him when thrown intoprison. This narrow escape from detection did not keep Hohien from crime. She had the satisfaction of seeing her daughter proclaimed empress, buther gratification was diminished by the son of the murdered Hiuchi beingselected as heir to the throne. Hohien resolved to poison this prince, buther design was discovered, and she and all the members of her family wereordered to take poison. The minister, Ho Kwang, had taken no part in theseplots, which, however, injured his reputation, and his statue in theImperial pavilion was left without a name. 

Siuenti did not long survive these events, and Yuenti, the son of Hiuchi, became emperor. His reign of sixteen years presents no features ofinterest beyond the signal overthrow of the Tartar chief, Chichi, whosehead was sent by the victorious general to be hung on the walls of Singan. Yuenti was succeeded by his son Chingti, who reigned twenty-six years, andwho gained the reputation of a Chinese Vitellius. His nephew Gaiti, whowas the next emperor, showed himself an able and well-intentioned prince, but his reign of six years was too brief to allow of any permanent workbeing accomplished. One measure of his was not without its influence onthe fate of his successors. He had disgraced and dismissed from theservice an official named Wang Mang, who had attained great power andinfluence under Chingti. The ambition of this individual proved fatal tothe dynasty. On Gaiti's death he emerged from his retirement, and, inconjunction with that prince's mother, seized the government. They placeda child, grandson of Yuenti, on the throne, and gave him the name ofPingti, or the Peaceful Emperor, but he never governed. Before Pingti wasfourteen, Wang Mang resolved to get rid of him, and he gave him thepoisoned cup with his own hands. This was not the only, or perhaps theworst, crime that Wang Mang perpetrated to gain the throne. Pressed formoney to pay his troops, he committed the sacrilege of stripping thegraves of the princes of the Han family of the jewels deposited in them. One more puppet prince was placed on the throne, but he was soon got ridof, and Wang Mang proclaimed himself emperor. He also decreed that the Handynasty was extinct, and that his family should be known as the Sin. 

Wang Mang the usurper was certainly a capable administrator, but inseizing the throne he had attempted a task to which he was unequal. Aslong as he was minister or regent, respect and regard for the Han familyprevented many from revolting against his tyranny, but when he seized thethrone he became the mark of popular indignation and official jealousy. The Huns resumed their incursions, and, curiously enough, put forward aproclamation demanding the restoration of the Hans. Internal enemiessprang up on every side, and Wang Mang's attempt to terrify them byseverity and wholesale executions only aggravated the situation. It becameclear that the struggle was to be one to the death, but this fact did notassist Wang Mang, who saw his resources gradually reduced and his enemiesmore confident as the contest continued. After twelve years' fighting, Wang Mang was besieged at Singan. The city was soon carried by storm, andWang Mang retired to the palace to put an end to his existence. But hisheart failed him, and he was cut down by the foe. His last exclamation andthe dirge of his short-lived dynasty, which is denied a place in Chinesehistory, was, "If Heaven had given me courage, what could the family ofthe Hans have done?"

The eldest of the surviving Han princes, Liu Hiuen, was placed on thethrone, and the capital was removed from Singan to Loyang, or Honan. Nothing could have been more popular among the Chinese people than therestoration of the Hans. It is said that the old men cried for joy whenthey saw the banner of the Hans again waving over the palace and in thefield. But Liu Hiuen was not a good ruler, and there might have beenreason to regret the change if he had not wisely left the conduct ofaffairs to his able cousin, Liu Sieou. At last the army declared that LiuSieou should be emperor, and when Liu Hiuen attempted to form a faction ofhis own he was murdered by Fanchong, the leader of a confederacy known asthe Crimson Eyebrows, on whose co-operation he counted. The CrimsonEyebrows were so called from the distinguishing mark which they hadadopted when first organized as a protest against the tyranny of WangMang. At first they were patriots, but they soon became brigands. Aftermurdering the emperor, Fanchong, their leader, threw off all disguise, andseizing Singan, gave it over to his followers to plunder. Liu Sieou, onbecoming emperor, took the style of Kwang Vouti, and his first task was tooverthrow the Crimson Eyebrows, who had become a public enemy. Heintrusted the command of the army he raised for this purpose to Fongy, whojustified his reputation as the most skillful Chinese general of his dayby gaining several victories over a more numerous adversary. Within twoyears Kwang Vouti had the satisfaction of breaking up the formidablefaction known as the Crimson Eyebrows, and of holding its leader Fanchongas a prisoner in his capital. 

Kwang Vouti was engaged for many more years in subduing the numerouspotentates who had repudiated the imperial authority. His efforts wereinvariably crowned with success, but he acquired so great a distaste forwar that it is said when his son asked him to explain how an army was setin battle array he refused to reply. But the love of peace will not avertwar when a State has turbulent or ambitious neighbors who are resolved toappeal to arms, and so Kwang Vouti was engaged in almost constanthostilities to the end of his days. Chingtse, the Queen of Kaochi, whichmay be identified with the modern Annam, defied the Chinese, and defeatedthe first army sent to bring her to reason. This reverse necessitated astill greater effort on the part of the Chinese ruler to bring hisneighbor to her senses. The occupant of the Dragon throne could not sitdown tamely under a defeat inflicted by a woman, and an experiencedgeneral named Mayuen was sent to punish the Queen of Kaochi. The Boadiceaof Annam made a valiant defense, but she was overthrown, and glad topurchase peace by making the humblest submission. The same general morethan held his own on the northern and northwest frontiers. When KwangVouti died, in A. D. 57, after a brilliant reign of thirty-three years, hehad firmly established the Han dynasty, and he left behind him thereputation of being both a brave and a just prince. 

His son and successor, Mingti, was not unworthy of his father. His actswere characterized by wisdom and clemency, and the country enjoyed a largemeasure of peace through the policy of Mingti and his father. A generalnamed Panchow, who was perhaps the greatest military commander China everproduced, began his long and remarkable career in this reign, and, withoutthe semblance of an effort, kept the Huns in order, and maintained theimperial authority over them. Among other great and important works, Mingti constructed a dike, thirty miles long, for the relief of theHoangho, and the French missionary and writer, Du Halde, states that solong as this was kept in repair there were no floods. The most remarkableevent of Mingti's reign was undoubtedly the official introduction ofBuddhism into China. Some knowledge of the great Indian religion and ofthe teacher Sakya Muni seems to have reached China through either Tibet, or, more probably, Burma, but it was not until Mingti, in consequence of adream, sent envoys to India to study Buddhism, that its doctrine becameknown in China. Under the direct patronage of the emperor it made rapidprogress, and although never unreservedly popular, it has held its groundever since its introduction in the first century of our era, and is nowinextricably intertwined with the religion of the Chinese state andpeople. Mingti died after a successful reign of eighteen years in 75 A. D. His son, Changti, with the aid of his mother, Machi, the daughter of thegeneral Mayuen, enjoyed a peaceful reign of thirteen years, and died at anearly age lamented by his sorrowing people. 

After Changti came his son, Hoti, who was only ten at the time of hisaccession, and who reigned for seventeen years. He was a virtuous andwell-intentioned prince, who instituted many internal reforms, and duringhis reign a new writing paper was invented, which is supposed to have beenidentical with the papyrus of Egypt. But the reign of Hoti is renderedillustrious by the remarkable military achievements of Panchow. Thesuccess of that general in his operations with the Huns has already beenreferred to, and he at last formed a deliberate plan for driving them awayfrom the Chinese frontier. Although he enjoyed the confidence of hissuccessive sovereigns, the imperial sanction was long withheld from thisvast scheme, but during the life of Changti he began to put in operationmeasures for the realization of this project that were only matured underHoti. He raised and trained a special army for frontier war. He enlistedtribes who had never served the emperor before, and who were speciallyqualified for desert warfare. He formed an alliance with the Sienpi tribesof Manchuria, who were probably the ancestors of the present Manchus, andthus arranged for a flank attack on the Huns. This systematic attack wascrowned with success. The pressure brought against them compelled theHiongnou to give way, and as they were ousted from their possessions, toseek fresh homes further west. In this they were, no doubt, stimulated bythe example of their old opponents, the Yuchi, but Panchow's energysupplied a still more convincing argument. He pursued them wherever theywent, across the Gobi Desert and beyond the Tian Shan range, taking up astrong position at modern Kuldja and Kashgar, sending his expeditions onto the Pamir, and preparing to complete his triumph by the invasion of thecountries of the Oxus and Jaxartes. When Hoti was still a youth, hecompleted this programme by overrunning the region as far as the Caspian, which was probably at that time connected with the Aral, and it may besupposed that Khiva marked the limit of the Chinese general's triumphantprogress. It is affirmed with more or less show of truth that he came intocontact with the Roman empire or the great Thsin, as the Chinese calledit, and that he wished to establish commercial relations with it. Buthowever uncertain this may be, there can be no doubt that he inflicted amost material injury on Rome, for before his legions fled the Huns, who, less than four centuries later, debased the majesty of the imperial city, and whose leader, Attila, may have been a descendant of that Meha at whosehands the Chinese suffered so severely. 

After this brilliant and memorable war, Panchow returned to China, wherehe died at the great age of eighty. With him disappeared the good fortuneof the Han dynasty, and misfortunes fell rapidly on the family that hadgoverned China so long and so well. Hoti's infant son lived only a fewmonths, and then his brother, Ganti, became emperor. The real power restedin the hands of the widow of Hoti, who was elevated to the post of regent. Ganti was succeeded in A. D. 124 by his son, Chunti, in whose time severalrebellions occurred, threatening the extinction of the dynasty. Severalchildren were then elevated to the throne, and at last an ambitious noblenamed Leangki, whose sister was one of the empresses, acquired the supremedirection of affairs. He gave a great deal of trouble, but at last, finding that his ambitious schemes did not prosper, he took poison, thusanticipating a decree passed for his execution. Hwanti, the emperor whohad the courage to punish this powerful noble, was the last able ruler ofthe Hans. His reign was, on the whole, a brilliant one, and the Sienpitribes, who had taken the place of the Hiongnou, were, after one arduouscampaign, defeated in a pitched battle. The Chinese were on the verge ofdefeat when their general, Twan Kang, rushed to the front, exclaiming:"Recall to your minds how often before you have beaten these sameopponents, and teach them again to-day that in you they have theirmasters. "

After Hwanti's death the decline of the Hans was rapid. They produced noother ruler worthy of the throne. In the palace the eunuchs, alwaysnumerous at the Chinese court, obtained the upper hand, and appointedtheir own creatures to the great governing posts. Fortunately thisdissension at the capital was not attended by weakness on the frontier, and the Sienpi were again defeated. The battle is chiefly memorablebecause the Sienpi endeavored to frighten the Chinese general bythreatening to kill his mother, who was a prisoner in their hands, if heattacked. Not deterred by this menace, Chow Pow attacked the enemy, andgained a decisive victory, but at the cost of his mother's life, which soaffected him that he died of grief shortly afterward. After some timedissensions rose in the Han family, and two half-brothers claimed thethrone. Pienti became emperor by the skillful support of his uncle, General Hotsin, while his rival, Hienti, enjoyed the support of theeunuchs. A deadly feud ensued between the two parties, which wasaggravated by the murder of Hotsin, who rashly entered the palace withoutan escort. His soldiers avenged his death, carrying the palace by stormand putting ten thousand eunuchs to the sword. After this the lastemperors possessed only the name of emperor. The practical authority wasdisputed among several generals, of whom Tsow Tsow was the mostdistinguished and successful; and he and his son Tsowpi founded a dynasty, of which more will be heard hereafter. In A. D. 220 Hienti, the last Hanruler, retired into private life, thus bringing to an end the famous Handynasty, which had governed China for four hundred and fifty years. 

Among the families that have reigned in China none has obtained as high aplace in popular esteem as the Hans. They rendered excellent work inconsolidating the empire and in carrying out what may be called theimperial mission of China. Yunnan and Leaoutung were made provinces forthe first time. Cochin China became a vassal state. The writ of theemperor ran as far as the Pamir. The wealth and trade of the countryincreased with the progress of its armies. Some of the greatest publicworks, in the shape of roads, bridges, canals, and aqueducts, wereconstructed during this period, and still remain to testify to the gloryof the Hans. As has been seen, the Hans produced several great rulers. Their fame was not the creation of one man alone, and as a consequence thedynasty enjoyed a lengthened existence equaled by few of its predecessorsor successors. No ruling family was ever more popular with the Chinesethan this, and it managed to retain the throne when less favored rulerswould have expiated their mistakes and shortcomings by the loss of theempire. With the strong support of the people, the Hans overcameinnumerable difficulties, and even the natural process of decay; and whenthey made their final exit from history it was in a graceful manner, andwithout the execration of the masses. That this feeling retains its forceis shown in the pride with which the Chinese still proclaim themselves tobe the sons of Han. 

CHAPTER III

A LONG PERIOD OF DISUNION

The ignominious failure of the usurper Wang Mang to found a dynasty wastoo recent to encourage any one to take upon himself the heavy charge ofadministering the whole of the Han empire, and so the state was split upinto three principalities, and the period is known from this fact as theSankoue. One prince, a member of the late ruling family, held possessionof Szchuen, which was called the principality of Chow. The southernprovinces were governed by a general named Sunkiuen, and called Ou. Thecentral and northern provinces, containing the greatest population andresources, formed the principality of Wei, subject to Tsowpi, the son ofTsow Tsow. A struggle for supremacy very soon began between these princes, and the balance of success gradually declared itself in favor of Wei. Itwould serve no useful purpose to enumerate the battles which marked thisstruggle, yet one deed of heroism deserves mention, the defense ofSinching by Changte, an officer of the Prince of Wei. The strength of theplace was insignificant, and, after a siege of ninety days, severalbreaches had been made in the walls. In this strait Changte sent a messageto the besieging general that he would surrender on the hundredth day if acessation of hostilities were granted, "as it was a law among the princesof Wei that the governor of a place which held out for a hundred days andthen surrendered, with no prospect of relief visible, should not beconsidered as guilty. " The respite was short and it was granted. But thedisappointment of the besieger, already counting on success, was greatwhen a few days later he saw that the breaches had been repaired, thatfresh defenses had been improvised, and that Sinching was in bettercondition than ever to withstand a siege. On sending to inquire themeaning of these preparations, Changte gave the following reply: "I ampreparing my tomb and to bury myself in the ruins of Sinching. " Of suchgallantry and resource the internecine strife of the Sankoue periodpresents few instances, but the progress of the struggle steadily pointedin the direction of the triumph of Wei. 

The Chow dynasty of the Later Hans was the first to succumb to the princesof Wei, and the combined resources of the two states were then directedagainst the southern principality of Ou. The supreme authority in Wei hadbefore this passed from the family of Tsowpi to his best general, Ssemachow, who had the satisfaction of beginning his reign with theoverthrow of the Chow dynasty. If he had earned out the wishes of his owncommander, Tengai, by attacking Ou at once, and in the flush of histriumph over Chow, he might have completed his work at a stroke, for asTengai wrote, "An army which has the reputation of victory flies from onesuccess to another. " But Ssemachow preferred a slower and surer mode ofaction, with the result that the conquest of Ou was put off for twentyyears. Ssemachow died in A. D. 265, and his son Ssemachu founded the newdynasty of the Later Tsins under the name of Vouti, or the warrior prince. 

The main object with Vouti was to add the Ou principality to hisdominions, and the descendants of Sunkiuen thought it best to bend beforethe storm. They sent humble embassies to Loyang, expressing their loyaltyand submission, but at the same time they made strenuous preparations todefend their independence. This double policy precipitated the collisionit was intended to avert. Vouti paid more heed to the acts than thepromises of his neighbor, and he ordered the invasion of his territoryfrom two sides. He placed a large fleet of war junks on the Yangtsekiangto attack his opponent on the Tunting Lake. The campaign that ensued wasdecided before it began. The success of Vouti was morally certain from thebeginning, and after his army had suffered several reverses Sunhow threwup the struggle and surrendered to his opponent. Thus was China againreunited for a short time under the dynasty of the Later Tsins. Havingaccomplished his main task, Vouti gave himself up to the pursuit ofpleasure, and impaired the reputation he had gained among his somewhatsevere fellow-countrymen by entertaining a theatrical company of fivethousand female comedians, and by allowing himself to be driven in a cardrawn by sheep through the palace grounds. Vouti lived about ten yearsafter the unity of the empire was restored, and his son, Ssemachong, orHweiti, became emperor on his death in A. D. 290. One of the great works ofhis reign was the bridging of the Hoangho at Mongtsin, at a point muchlower down its course than is bridged at the present time. 

The reign of Hweiti was marred by the ambitious vindictiveness of hiswife, Kiachi, who murdered the principal minister and imprisoned the widowof the Emperor Vouti. The only good service she rendered the state was todiscern in one of the palace eunuchs named Mongkwan a great general, andhis achievements bear a strong resemblance to those of Narses, who was theonly other great commander of that unfortunate class mentioned in history. Wherever Mongkwan commanded in person victory attended his efforts, butthe defeats of the other generals of the Tsins neutralized his success. Atthis moment there was a recrudescence of Tartar activity which proved morefatal to the Chinese ruler than his many domestic enemies. Some of theHiongnou tribes had retired in an easterly direction toward Manchuria whenPanchow drove the main body westward, and among them, at the time of whichwe are speaking, a family named Lin had gained the foremost place. Theypossessed all the advantages of Chinese education, and had married severaltimes into the Han family. Seeing the weakness of Hweiti these Lin chiefstook the title of Kings of Han, and wished to pose as the liberators ofthe country. Hweiti bent before the storm, and would have made anignominious surrender but that death saved him the trouble. 

His brother and successor, Hwaiti, fared somewhat better at first, butnotwithstanding some flashes of success the Lin Tartars marched furtherand further into the country, capturing cities, defeating the bestofficers of the Tsins, and threatening the capital. In A. D. 310 Linsong, the Han chief, invaded China in force and with the full intention ofending the war at a blow. He succeeded in capturing Loyang, and carryingoff Hwaiti as his prisoner. The capital was pillaged and the Prince Royalexecuted. Hwaiti is considered the first Chinese emperor to have falleninto the hands of a foreign conqueror. Two years after his capture, Hwaitiwas compelled to wait on his conqueror at a public banquet, and when itwas over he was led out to execution. This foul murder illustrates thecharacter of the new race and men who aspired to rule over China. TheTartar successes did not end here, for a few years later they made a freshraid into China, capturing Hwaiti's brother and successor, Mingti, who wasexecuted, twelve months after his capture, at Pingyang, the capital of theTartar Hans. 

After these reverses the enfeebled Tsin rulers removed their capital toNankin, but this step alone would not have sufficed to prolong theirexistence had not the Lin princes themselves suffered from the evils ofdisunion and been compelled to remove their capital from Pingyang toSingan. Here they changed their name from Han to Chow, but the work ofdisintegration once begun proceeded rapidly, and in the course of a fewyears the Lin power crumbled completely away. Released from their mostpressing danger by the fall of this family, the Tsin dynasty took a newlease of life, but it was unable to derive any permanent advantage fromthis fact. The last emperors of this family were weak and incompetentprinces, whose names need not be given outside a chronological table. There would be nothing to say about them but that a humble individualnamed Linyu, who owed everything to himself, found in the weakness of thegovernment and the confusion in the country the opportunity ofdistinction. He proved himself a good soldier and able leader against thesuccessors of the Lin family on one side, and a formidable pirate namedSunghen on the other. Dissatisfied with his position, Linyu murdered oneemperor and placed another on the throne, and in two years he compelledhis puppet, the last of the Later Tsins, to make a formal abdication inhis favor. For a considerable portion of their rule they governed thewhole of China, and it is absolutely true to say that they were the leastworthy family ever intrusted with so great a charge. Of the fifteenemperors who ruled for one hundred and fifty-five years there is not morethan the founder whose name calls for preservation on his own merits. 

Although Linyu's success was complete as far as it went, his dynasty, towhich he gave the name of Song, never possessed exclusive power among theChinese. It was only one administration among many others, and during hisbrief reign of three years he could do nothing toward extending his powerover his neighbors, although he may have established his own the morefirmly by poisoning the miserable Tsin emperor whom he deposed. His sonand successor, Chowti, was deposed and murdered after a brief reign of oneyear. His brother Wenti succeeded him, and he was soon drawn into astruggle for power, if not existence, with his northern neighbor the Kingof Wei, who was one of the most powerful potentates in the empire. Theprincipal and immediate bone of contention between them was the greatprovince of Honan, which had been overrun by the Wei ruler, but whichWenti was resolved to recover. As the Hoangho divides this province intotwo parts, it was extremely difficult for the Wei ruler to defend theportion south of it, and when Wenti sent him his declaration of war, hereplied, "Even if your master succeeds in seizing this province I shallknow how to retake it as soon as the waters of the Hoangho are frozen. "Wenti succeeded in recovering Honan, but after a protracted campaign, during which the Wei troops crossed the river on the ice, his armies wereagain expelled from it, and the exhausted combatants found themselves atthe close of the struggle in almost the same position they had held at thecommencement. For a time both rulers devoted their attention to peacefulmatters, although Topatao, king of Wei, varied them by a persecution ofthe Buddhists, and then the latter concentrated all his forces with theview of overwhelming the Song emperor. When success seemed certain, victory was denied him, and the Wei forces suffered severely during theirretreat to their own territory. This check to his triumphant careerinjured his reputation and encouraged his enemies. A short time after thiscampaign, Topatao was murdered by some discontented officers. 

Nor was the Song ruler, Wenti, any more fortunate, as he was murdered byhis son. The parricide was killed in turn by a brother who became theEmperor Vouti. This ruler was fond of the chase and a great eater, but, onthe whole, he did no harm. The next two emperors were cruel andbloodthirsty princes, and during their reigns the executioner wasconstantly employed. Two more princes, who were, however, not members ofthe Song family, but only adopted by the last ruler of that house, occupied the throne, but this weakness and unpopularity--for the Chinese, unlike the people of India, scout the idea of adoption and believe only inthe rights of birth--administered the finishing stroke to the Songs, whonow give place to the Tsi dynasty, which was founded by a general namedSiaotaoching, who took the imperial name of Kaoti. The change did notbring any improvement in the conditions of China, and it was publicly saidthat the Tsi family had attained its pride of place not by merit, but byforce. The Tsi dynasty, after a brief and ignominious career, came to anend in the person of a youthful prince named Hoti. After his deposition, in A. D. 502, his successful enemies ironically sent him in prison apresent of gold. He exclaimed, "What need have I of gold after my death? afew glasses of wine would be more valuable. " They complied with his wish, and while he was drunk they strangled him with his own silken girdle. 

After the Tsi came the Leang dynasty, another of those insignificant andunworthy families which occupy the stage of Chinese history during thislong period of disunion. The new Emperor Vouti was soon brought intocollision with the state of Wei, which during these years had regained allits power, and had felt strong enough to transfer its capital from thenorthern city of Pingching to Honan, while the Leang capital remained atNankin. The progress of this contest was marked by the consistent successof Wei, and the prince of that kingdom seems to have been as superior inthe capacity of his generals as in the resources of his state. Oneincident will be sufficient to show the devotion which he was able toinspire in his officers. During the absence of its governor, Voutiattempted to capture the town of Ginching, and he would certainly havesucceeded in his object had not Mongchi, the wife of that officer, anticipating by many centuries the conduct of the Countess of Montfort andof the Countess of Derby, thrown herself into the breach, harangued thesmall garrison, and inspired it with her own indomitable spirit. Vouti wascompelled to make an ignominious retreat from before Ginching, and histroops became so disheartened that they refused to engage the enemy, notwithstanding their taunts and their marching round the imperial campwith the head of a dead person decked out in a widow's cap and singing adoggerel ballad to the effect that none of Vouti's generals was to befeared. In the next campaign Vouti was able to restore his decliningfortunes by the timely discovery of a skillful general in the person ofWeijoui, who, taking advantage of the division of the Wei army into twoparts by a river, gained a decisive victory over each of them in turn. IfVouti had listened to his general's advice, and followed up this success, he might have achieved great and permanent results, but instead hepreferred to rest content with his laurels, with the result that the Weiprince recovered his military power and confidence. The naturalconsequences of this was that the two neighbors once more resorted to atrial of strength, and, notwithstanding the valiant and successful defenseof a fortress by another lady named Liuchi, the fortune of war declared inthe main for Vouti. This may be considered one of the most remarkableperiods for the display of female capacity in China, as the great state ofWei was governed by a queen named Houchi; but the general condition of thecountry does not support an argument in favor of female government. 

The tenure of power by Houchi was summarily cut short by the revolt of theWei commander-in-chief, Erchu Jong, who got rid of his mistress by tyingher up in a sack and throwing her into the Hoangho. He then collected twothousand of her chief advisers in a plain outside the capital, and thereordered his cavalry to cut them down. Erchu Jong then formed an ambitiousproject for reuniting the empire, proclaiming to his followers hisintention in this speech: "Wait a little while, and we shall assemble allthe braves from out our western borders. We will then go and bring toreason the six departments of the north, and the following year we willcross the great Kiang, and place in chains Siaoyen, who calls himselfemperor. " This scheme was nipped in the bud by the assassination of ErchuJong. Although the death of its great general signified much loss to theWei state, the Emperor Vouti experienced bitter disappointment and a rudeawakening when he attempted to turn the event to his own advantage. Hisarmy was defeated in every battle, his authority was reduced to a shadow, and a mutinous officer completed in his palace the overthrow begun by hishereditary enemy. Vouti was now eighty years of age, and ill able to standso rude a shock. On being deposed he exclaimed: "It was I who raised myfamily, and it was I who have destroyed it. I have no reason to complain";and he died a few days later, from, it is said, a pain in his throat whichhis jailers refused to alleviate with some honey. On the whole, Vouti wasa creditable ruler, although the Chinese annalists blame him for hissuperstition and denounce his partiality for Buddhism. 

Vouti's prediction that his family was destroyed proved correct. He wassucceeded in turn by three members of his family, but all of these died aviolent death. A general named Chinpasien founded a fresh dynasty known asthe Chin, but he died before he had enjoyed power many years. At thisperiod also disappeared the Wei state, which was dissolved by the death ofErchu Jong, and now merged itself into that of Chow. The growth of thisnew power proved very rapid, and speedily extinguished that of theunfortunate Chins. The Chow ruler took the name of Kaotsou Wenti, andruled over a great portion of China. He changed the name of his dynasty tothe Soui, which, although it did not hold possession of the throne forlong, vindicated its claim to supremacy by successful wars and admirablepublic works. This prince showed himself a very capable administrator, andhis acts were marked by rare generosity and breadth of view. His son andsuccessor, Yangti, although he reached the throne by the murder of abrother, proved himself an intelligent ruler and a benefactor of hispeople. He transferred his capital from Nankin to Honan, which he resolvedto make the most magnificent city in the world. It is declared that heemployed two million men in embellishing it, and that he caused fiftythousand merchants to take up their residence there. But of all his worksnone will compare with the great system of canals which he constructed, and in connection with which his name will live forever in history. Although he reigned no more than thirteen years, he completed nearly fivethousand miles of canals. Some of these, such as the Grand Canal, from theHoangho to the Yangtsekiang, are splendid specimens of human labor, andcould be made as useful today as they were when first constructed. Thecanal named is forty yards wide and is lined with solid stone. The banksare bordered with elms and willows. These works were constructed by ageneral corvee or levy en masse, each family being required to provide oneable-bodied man, and the whole of the army was also employed on thispublic undertaking. It is in connection with it that Yangti's name will bepreserved, as his wars, especially one with Corea, were not successful, and an ignominious end was put to his existence by a fanatic. His son andsuccessor was also murdered, when the Soui dynasty came to an end, andwith it the magnificent and costly palace erected at Loyang, which wasdenounced as only calculated "to soften the heart of a prince and tofoment his cupidity. "

There now ensues a break in the long period of disunion which hadprevailed in China, and for a time the supreme authority of the emperorrecovered the general respect and vigor which by right belonged to it. Thedeposer of the Souis was Liyuen, who some years before had been given thetitle of Prince of Tang. In the year A. D. 617 he proclaimed himselfemperor under the style of Kaotsou, and he began his reign in anauspicious manner by proclaiming an amnesty and by stating his "desire tofound his empire only on justice and humanity. " While he devoted hisattention to the reorganization of the administration at Singan, which hechose for his capital, his second son, Lichimin, was intrusted with thecommand of the army in the field, to which was assigned the task ofsubjecting all the provinces. Lichimin proved himself a great commander, and his success was both rapid and unqualified. He was equally victoriousover Chinese rebels and foreign enemies. His energy and skill were notmore conspicuous than his courage. At the head of his chosen regiment ofcuirassiers, carrying black tiger skins, he was to be found in the frontof every battle, and victory was due as often to his personal intrepidityas to his tactical skill. Within a few years the task of Lichimin wasbrought to a glorious completion, and on his return to Singan he was ableto assure his father that the empire was pacified in a sense that had notbeen true for many centuries. His entry into Singan at the head of hisvictorious troops reminds the reader of a Roman triumph. Surrounded by hischosen bodyguard, and followed by forty thousand cavalry, Lichimin, wearing a breastplate of gold and accompanied by the most important of hiscaptives, rode through the streets to make public offering of thanks forvictory achieved, at the Temple of his ancestors. His success was enhancedby his moderation, for he granted his prisoners their lives, and hisreputation was not dimmed by any acts of cruelty or bloodshed. 

The magnitude of Lichimin's success and his consequent popularity arousedthe envy and hostility of his elder brother, who aspired to the throne. The intrigues against him were so far successful that he fell intodisgrace with the emperor, and for a time withdrew from the court. But hisbrother was not content with anything short of taking his life, and formeda conspiracy with his other brothers and some prominent officials tomurder him. The plot was discovered, and recoiled upon its authors, whowere promptly arrested and executed. Then Lichimin was formally proclaimedheir to the throne; but the event sinks into comparative insignificancebeside the abdication of the throne by Kaotsou in the same year. The realcause of this step was probably not disconnected with the plot againstLichimin, but the official statement was that Kaotsou felt the weight ofyears, and that he wished to enjoy rest and the absence of responsibilityduring his last days. Kaotsou must be classed among the capable rulers ofChina, but his fame has been overshadowed by and merged in the greatersplendor of his son. He survived his abdication nine years, dying in A. D. 635 at the age of seventy-one. 

On ascending the throne, Lichimin took the name of Taitsong, and he is oneof the few Chinese rulers to whom the epithet of Great may be givenwithout fear of its being challenged. The noble task to which he at onceset himself was to prove that the Chinese were one people, that theinterests of all the provinces, as of all classes of the community, werethe same, and that the pressing need of the hour was to revive the spiritof national unity and patriotism. Before he became ruler in his own namehe had accomplished something toward this end by the successful campaignshe had conducted to insure the recognition of his father's authority. ButTaitsong saw that much more remained to be done, and the best way to do itseemed to him to be the prosecution of what might be called a national waragainst those enemies beyond the northern frontier, who were alwaystroublesome, and who had occasionally founded governments within thelimits of China like the Topa family of Wei. In order to achieve any greator lasting success in this enterprise, Taitsong saw that it was essentialthat he should possess a large and well-trained standing army, on which hecould rely for efficient service beyond the frontier as well as in Chinaitself. Before his time Chinese armies had been little better than a rudemilitia, and the military knowledge of the officers could only bedescribed as contemptible. The soldiers were, for the most part, peasants, who knew nothing of discipline, and into whose hands weapons were put forthe first time on the eve of a war. They were not of a martialtemperament, and they went unwillingly to a campaign; and against suchactive opponents as the Tartars they would only engage when superiority ofnumbers promised success. They were easily seized with a panic, and thecelerity and dash of Chinese troops only became perceptible when theirbacks were turned to the foe. So evident had these faults become that morethan one emperor had endeavored to recruit from among the Tartar tribes, and to oppose the national enemy with troops not less brave or active thanthemselves. But the employment of mercenaries is always only a halfremedy, and not free from the risk of aggravating the evil it is intendedto cure. But Taitsong did not attempt any such palliation; he went to theroot of the question, and determined to have a trained and efficient armyof his own. He raised a standing army of nine hundred thousand men, whichhe divided into three equal classes of regiments, one containing onethousand two hundred men, another one thousand, and the third eighthundred. The total number of regiments was eight hundred and ninety-five, of which six hundred and thirty-four were recruited for home service andtwo hundred and sixty-one for foreign. By this plan he obtained theassured services of more than a quarter of a million of trained troops foroperations beyond the frontier. Taitsong also improved the weapons andarmament of his soldiers. He lengthened the pike and supplied a strongerbow. Many of his troops wore armor; and he relied on the co-operation ofhis cavalry, a branch of military power which has generally been muchneglected in China. He took special pains to train a large body ofofficers, and he instituted a Tribunal of War, to which the supremedirection of military matters was intrusted. As these measures greatlyshocked the civil mandarins, who regarded the emperor's taking part inreviews and the physical exercises of the soldiers as "an impropriety, " itwill be allowed that Taitsong showed great moral courage and surmountedsome peculiar difficulties in carrying out his scheme for forming aregular army. He overcame all obstacles, and gathered under his banner anarmy formidable by reason of its efficiency and equipment, as well as forits numerical strength. 

Having acquired what he deemed the means to settle it, Taitsong resolvedto grapple boldly with the ever-recurring danger from the Tartars, Underdifferent names, but ever with the same object, the tribes of the vastregion from Corea to Koko Nor had been a trouble to the Chineseagriculturist and government from time immemorial. Their sole ambition andobject in life had been to harry the lands of the Chinese, and to bearback to their camps the spoils of cities. The Huns had disappeared, but intheir place had sprung up the great power of the Toukinei or Turks, whowere probably the ancestors of the Ottomans. With these turbulentneighbors, and with others of different race but of the same dispositionon the southern frontier, Taitsong was engaged in a bitter and arduousstruggle during the whole of his life; and there can be little or no doubtthat he owed his success to the care he bestowed on his army. The GreatWall of Tsin Hwangti had been one barrier in the path of these enemies, but, held by a weak and cowardly garrison, it had proved inadequate forits purpose. Taitsong supplied another and a better defense in aconsistent and energetic policy, and in the provision of a formidable andconfident army. 

The necessity for this military reform was clearly shown by the experienceof his first campaign with these implacable enemies, when, in the year ofhis accession and before his organization had been completed, a horde ofthese barbarians broke into the empire and carried all before them, almostto the gates of the capital. On this occasion Taitsong resorted todiplomacy and remonstrance. He rode almost unattended to the Tartar camp, and reproached their chiefs with their breach of faith, reminding themthat on his sending one of his sisters to be the bride of their chief theyhad sworn by a solemn oath to keep the peace. He asked: "Are theseproceedings worthy, I will not say of princes, but of men possessing theleast spark of honor? If they forget the benefits they have received fromme, at the least they ought to be mindful of their oaths. I had sworn apeace with them; they are now violating it, and by that they place thejustice of the question on my side. " The Chinese chroniclers declare thatthe Tartars were so impressed by Taitsong's majestic air and remonstrancesthat they agreed to retire, and fresh vows of friendship and peace weresworn over the body of a white horse at a convention concluded on thePienkiao bridge across the Weichoui River. The only safe deduction fromthis figurative narrative is that there was a Tartar incursion, and thatthe Chinese army did not drive back the invaders. Their retreat wasprobably purchased, but it was the first and last occasion on whichTaitsong stooped to such a measure. 

The peace of Pienkiao was soon broken. The tribes again drew their forcesto a head for the purpose of invading China, but before their plans werecomplete Taitsong anticipated them by marching into their territory at thehead of a large army. Taken by surprise, the Tartars offered but a feebleresistance. Several of their khans surrendered, and at a general assemblyTaitsong proclaimed his intention to govern them as Khan of their khans, or by the title of Tien Khan, which means Celestial Ruler. This was thefirst occasion on which a Chinese ruler formally took over the task ofgoverning the nomad tribes and of treating their chiefs as hislieutenants. Down to the present day the Chinese emperor continues togovern the Mongol and other nomadic tribes under this very title, whichthe Russians have rendered as Bogdo Khan. The success of this policy wascomplete, for not only did it give tranquillity to the Chinese borders, but it greatly extended Chinese authority. Kashgaria was then, for thefirst time, formed into a province under the name of Lonugsi, andLichitsi, one of the emperor's best generals, was appointed Warden of theWestern Marches. Some of the most influential of Taitsong's advisersdisapproved of this advanced policy, and attempted to thwart it, but invain. Carried out with the vigor and consistency of Taitsong there cannotbe two opinions about its wisdom and efficacy. 

During this reign the relations between China and two of its neighbors, Tibet and Corea, were greatly developed, and the increased intercourse waslargely brought about by the instrumentality of war. The first envoys fromTibet, or, as it was then called, Toufan or Toupo, are reported to havereached the Chinese capital in the year 634. At that time the people ofTibet were rude and unlettered, and their chiefs were little better thansavages. Buddhism had not taken that firm hold on the popular mind whichit at present possesses, and the power of the lamas had not arisen in whatis now the most priest-ridden country in the world. A chief, named theSanpou--which means the brave lord--had, about the time of which we arespeaking, made himself supreme throughout the country, and it was saidthat he had crossed the Himalaya and carried his victorious arms intoCentral India. Curiosity, or the desire to wed a Chinese princess, andthus to be placed on what may be termed a favored footing, induced theSanpou to send his embassy to Singan; but although the envoys returnedladen with presents, Taitsong declined to trust a princess of his familyin a strange country and among an unknown people. The Sanpou chose tointerpret this refusal as an insult to his dignity, and he declared warwith China. But success did not attend his enterprise, for he was defeatedin the only battle of the war, and glad to purchase peace by paying fivethousand ounces of gold and acknowledging himself a Chinese vassal. TheSanpou also agreed to accept Chinese education, and as his reward Taitsonggave him one of his daughters as a wife. It is stated that one of hisfirst reforms was to abolish the national practice of painting the face, and he also built a walled city to proclaim his glory as the son-in-law ofthe Emperor of China. During Taitsong's life there was no further troubleon the side of Tibet. 

Taitsong was not so fortunate in his relations with Corea, where astubborn people and an inaccessible country imposed a bar to his ambition. Attempts had been made at earlier periods to bring Corea under theinfluence of the Chinese ruler, and to treat it as a tributary state. Acertain measure of success had occasionaly attended these attempts, but onthe whole Corea had preserved its independence. When Taitsong in theplenitude of his power called upon the King of Corea to pay tribute, andto return to his subordinate position, he received a defiant reply, andthe Coreans began to encroach on Sinlo, a small state which threw itselfon the protection of China. The name of Corea at this time was Kaoli, andthe supreme direction of affairs at this period was held by a noble namedChuen Gaisoowun, who had murdered his own sovereign. Taitsong, irritatedby his defiance, sent a large army to the frontier, and when Gaisoowun, alarmed by the storm he had raised, made a humble submission and sent theproper tribute, the emperor gave expression to his displeasure anddisapproval of the regicide's acts by rejecting his gifts and announcinghis resolve to prosecute the war. It is never prudent to drive an opponentto desperation, and Gaisoowun, who might have been a good neighbor ifTaitsong had accepted his offer, proved a bitter and determinedantagonist. The first campaign was marked by the expected success of theChinese army. The Coreans were defeated in several battles, severalimportant towns were captured, but Taitsong had to admit that thesesuccesses were purchased at the heavy loss of twenty-five thousand of hisbest troops. The second campaign resolved itself into the siege anddefense of Anshu, an important town near the Yaloo River. Gaisoowun raisedan enormous force with the view of effecting its relief, and he attemptedto overwhelm the Chinese by superior numbers. But the better disciplineand tactics of the Chinese turned the day, and the Corean army was drivenin rout from the field. But this signal success did not entail thesurrender of Anshu, which was gallantly defended. The scarcity of suppliesand the approach of winter compelled the Chinese emperor to raise thesiege after he had remained before the place for several months, and it isstated that as the Chinese broke up their camp the commandant appeared onthe walls and wished them "a pleasant journey. " After this rebuff Taitsongdid not renew his attempt to annex Corea, although to the end of his lifehe refused to hold any relations with Gaisoowun. 

During the first portion of his reign Taitsong was greatly helped by thelabors of his wife, the Empress Changsun-chi, who was a woman of raregoodness and ability, and set a shining example to the whole of her court. She said many wise things, among which the most quotable was that "thepractice of virtue conferred honor upon men, especially on princes, andnot the splendor of their appointments. " She was a patron of letters, andan Imperial Library and College in the capital owed their origin to her. She was probably the best and most trustworthy adviser the emperor had, and after her death the energy and good fortune of Taitsong seemed todecline. She no doubt contributed to the remarkable treatise on the art ofgovernment, called the "Golden Mirror, " which bears the name of Taitsongas its author. Taitsong was an ardent admirer of Confucius, whom heexalted to the skies as the great sage of the world, declaringemphatically that "Confucius was for the Chinese what the water is for thefishes. " The Chinese annalists tell many stories of Taitsong's personalcourage. He was a great hunter, and in the pursuit of big game henecessarily had some narrow escapes, special mention being made of hisslaying single-handed a savage boar. Another instance was his strugglewith a Tartar attendant who attempted to murder him, and whom he killed inthe encounter. He had a still narrower escape at the hands of his eldestson, who formed a plot to assassinate him which very nearly succeeded. Theexcessive anxiety of Prince Lichingkien to reach the crown cost him thesuccession, for on the discovery of his plot he was deposed from theposition of heir-apparent and disappeared from the scene. 

After a reign of twenty-three years, during which he accomplished a greatdeal more than other rulers had done in twice the time, Taitsong died inA. D. 649, leaving the undisturbed possession of the throne to his son, known as the Emperor Kaotsong. There need be no hesitation in callingTaitsong one of the greatest rulers who ever sat on the Dragon Throne, andhis death was received with extraordinary demonstrations of grief by thepeople he had ruled so well. Several of his generals wished to commitsuicide on his bier, the representatives of the tributary nations at hiscapital cut off their hair or sprinkled his grave with their blood, andthroughout the length and breadth of the land there was mourning andlamentation for a prince who had realized the ideal character of a Chineseemperor. Nor does his claim to admiration and respect seem less after thelapse of so many centuries. His figure still stands out boldly as one ofthe ablest and most humane of all Chinese rulers. He not only reunitedChina, but he proved that union was for his country the only sure basis ofprosperity and power. 

Under Kaotsong the power of the Tangs showed for thirty years nodiminution, and he triumphed in directions where his father had onlypointed the way to victory. He began his reign with a somewhat risky actby marrying one of his father's widows, who then became the Empress Won. She was perhaps the most remarkable woman in the whole range of Chinesehistory, acquiring such an ascendency over her husband that shepractically ruled the state, and retained this power after his death. Inorder to succeed in so exceptional a task she had to show no excessivedelicacy or scrupulousness, and she began by getting rid of the otherwives, including the lawful empress of Kaotsong, in a summary fashion. Itis stated that she cast them into a vase filled with wine, havingpreviously cut off their hands and feet to prevent their extricatingthemselves. But on the whole her influence was exerted to promote thegreat schemes of her husband. 

The Tibetan question was revived by the warlike proclivities of the newSanpou, who, notwithstanding his blood relationship with the Chineseemperor, sought to extend his dominion at his expense toward the north andthe east. A desultory war ensued, in which the Chinese got the worst ofit, and Kaotsong admitted that Tibet remained "a thorn in his side foryears. " A satisfactory termination was given to the struggle by the earlydeath of the Sanpou, whose warlike character had been the main cause ofthe dispute. Strangely enough the arms of Kaotsong were more triumphant inthe direction of Corea, where his father had failed. From A. D. 658 to 670China was engaged in a bitter war on land and sea with the Coreans andtheir allies, the Japanese, who thus intervened for the first time in theaffairs of the continent. Owing to the energy of the Empress Wou victoryrested with the Chinese, and the Japanese navy of four hundred junks wascompletely destroyed. The kingdom of Sinlo was made a Chinese province, and for sixty years the Coreans paid tribute and caused no trouble. InCentral Asia also the Chinese power was maintained intact, and the extentof China's authority and reputation may be inferred from the King ofPersia begging the emperor's governor in Kashgar to come to his aidagainst the Arabs, who were then in the act of overrunning Western Asia inthe name of the Prophet. Kaotsong could not send aid to such a distancefrom his borders, but he granted shelter to several Persian princes, andon receiving an embassy from the Arabs, he impressed upon them the wisdomand magnanimity of being lenient to the conquered. Kaotsong died in 683, and the Empress Wou retained power until the year 704, when, at the age ofeighty, she was compelled to abdicate. Her independent rule was marked byas much vigor and success as during the life of Kaotsong. She vanquishedthe Tibetans and a new Tartar race known as the Khitans, who appeared onthe northern borders of Shensi. She placed her son in confinement and worethe robes assigned for an emperor. The extent of her power may be inferredfrom her venturing to shock Chinese sentiment by offering the annualimperial sacrifice to heaven, and by her erecting temples to herancestors. Yet it was not until she was broken down by age and illnessthat any of her foes were bold enough to encounter her. She survived herdeposition one year, and her banished son Chongtsong was restored to thethrone. 

Chongtsong did not reign long, being poisoned by his wife, who did notreap the advantage of her crime. Several emperors succeeded without doinganything to attract notice, and then Mingti brought both his own familyand the Chinese empire to the verge of ruin. Like other rulers, he beganwell, quoting the maxims of the "Golden Mirror" and proclaiming ConfuciusKing of Literature. But defeats at the hands of the Khitans and Tibetansimbittered his life and diminished his authority. A soldier of fortunenamed Ganlochan revolted and met with a rapid and unexpected success owingto "the people being unaccustomed, from the long peace, to the use ofarms. " He subdued all the northern provinces, established his capital atLoyang, and compelled Mingti to seek safety in Szchuen, when he abdicatedin favor of his son. The misfortunes of Mingti, whose most memorable actwas the founding of the celebrated Hanlin College and the institution ofthe "Pekin Gazette, " the oldest periodical in the world, both of whichexist at the present day, foretold the disruption of the empire at noremote date. His son and successor Soutsong did something to retrieve thefortunes of his family, and he recovered Singan from Ganlochan. The empirewas then divided between the two rivals, and war continued unceasinglybetween them. The successful defense of Taiyuen, where artillery is saidto have been used for the first time, A. D. 757, by a lieutenant of theEmperor Soutsong, consolidated his power, which was further increased bythe murder of Ganlochan shortly afterward. The struggle continued withvarying fortune between the northern and southern powers during the restof the reign of Soutsong, and also during that of his successor, Taitsongthe Second. This ruler showed himself unworthy of his name, abandoning hiscapital with great pusillanimity when a small Tibetan army advanced uponit. The census returns threw an expressive light on the condition of theempire during this period. Under Mingti the population was given at fifty-two million; in the time of the second Taitsong it had sunk to seventeenmillion. A great general named Kwo Tsey, who had driven back the Tibetaninvaders, enabled Tetsong, the son and successor of Taitsong, to make agood start in the government of his dominion, which was sadly reduced inextent and prosperity. This great statesman induced Tetsong to issue anedict reproving the superstitions of the times, and the prevalent fashionof drawing auguries from dreams and accidents. The edict ran thus: "Peaceand the general contentment of the people, the abundance of the harvest, skill and wisdom shown in the administration, these are prognostics whichI hear of with pleasure; but 'extraordinary clouds, ' 'rare animals, ''plants before unknown, ' 'monsters, ' and other astonishing productions ofnature, what good can any of these do men as auguries of the future? Iforbid such things to be brought to my notice. " The early death of KwoTsey deprived the youthful ruler of his best adviser and the mainstay ofhis power. He was a man of magnificent capacity and devotion to duty, andwhen it was suggested to him that he should not be content with any butthe supreme place, he proudly replied that he was "a general of theTangs. " It seems from the inscription on the stone found at Singan that hewas a patron of the Nestorian Christians, and his character and careerhave suggested a comparison with Belisarius. 

Tetsong lived twenty-four years after the death of his champion, and theseyears can only be characterized as unfortunate. The great governorsclaimed and exacted the privilege that their dignities should be madehereditary, and this surrender of the imperial prerogative entailed theusual deterioration of the central power which preceded a change ofdynasty. Unpopularity was incurred by the imposition of taxes on theprincipal articles of production and consumption, such as tea, and, worstsymptom of all, the eunuchs again became supreme in the palace. Althoughthe dynasty survived for another century, it was clear that its knell wassounded before Tetsong died. Under his grandson Hientsong the mischiefthat had been done became more clearly apparent. Although he enjoyed somemilitary successes, his reign on the whole was unfortunate, and he waspoisoned by the chief of the eunuchs. His son and successor, Moutsong, from his indifference may be suspected of having been privy to theoccurrence. At any rate, he only enjoyed power for a few years before hewas got rid of in the same summary fashion. Several other nonentities cameto the throne, until at last one ruler named Wentsong, whose intentions atleast were stronger than those of his predecessors, attempted to grapplewith the eunuchs and formed a plot for their extermination. His couragefailed him and the plot miscarried. The eunuchs exacted a terrible revengeon their opponents, of whom they killed nearly three thousand, andWentsong passed the last year of his life as a miserable puppet in theirhands. He was not allowed even to name his successor. The eunuchs ignoredhis two sons, and placed his brother Voutsong on the throne. 

The evils of the day became specially revealed during the reign of Ytsong, who was scarcely seated on the throne before his troops suffered severaldefeats at the hands of a rebel prince in Yunnan, who completely wrestedthat province from the empire. He was as pronounced a patron of Buddhismas some of his predecessors had been oppressors, and he sent, at enormousexpense, to India a mission to procure a bone of Buddha's body, and on itsarrival he received the relic on bended knees before his whole court. Hisextravagance of living landed the Chinese government in freshdifficulties, and he brought the exchequer to the verge of bankruptcy. Norwas he a humane ruler. On one occasion he executed twenty doctors becausethey were unable to cure a favorite daughter of his. His son Hitsong cameto the throne when he was a mere boy, and at once experienced the depth ofmisfortune to which his family had sunk. He was driven out of his capitalby a rebel named Hwang Chao, and if he had not found an unexpected ally inthe Turk chief Likeyong, there would then have been an end to the Tangdynasty. This chief of the Chato immigrants--a race supposed to be theancestors of the Mohammedan Tungani of more recent times--at the head offorty thousand men of his own race, who, from the color of their uniform, were named "The Black Crows, " marched against Hwang Chao, and signallydefeated him. The condition of the country at this time is painted indeplorable colors. The emperor did not possess a palace, and all the greattowns of Central China were in ruins. Likeyong took in the situation at aglance, when he said, "The ruin of the Tangs is not far distant. "Likeyong, who was created Prince of Tsin, did his best to support theemperor, but his power was inadequate for coping with another generalnamed Chuwen, prince of Leang, in whose hands the emperor became a merepuppet. At the safe moment Chuwen murdered his sovereign, and added tothis crime a massacre of all the Tang princes upon whom he could lay hishands. Chao Siuenti, the last of the Tangs, abdicated, and a few monthslater Chuwen, to make assurance doubly sure, assassinated him. Thusdisappeared, after two hundred and eighty-nine years and after givingtwenty rulers to the state, the great Tang dynasty which had restored theunity and the fame of China. It forms a separate chapter in the longperiod of disunion from the fall of the Hans to the rise of the Sungs. 

After the Tangs came five ephemeral and insignificant dynasties, with thefate of which we need not long detain the reader. In less than sixty yearsthey all vanished from the page of history. The struggle for power betweenChuwen, the founder of the so-called Later Leang dynasty, and Likeyong wassuccessfully continued by the latter's son, Litsunhiu, who proved himselfa good soldier. He won a decisive victory at Houlieoupi, and extinguishedthe Leang dynasty by the capture of its capital and of Chuwen's son, whocommitted suicide. Litsunhiu ruled for a short time as emperor of theLater Leangs, but he was killed during a mutiny of his turbulent soldiers. This dynasty had a very brief existence; the last ruler of the line, finding the game was up, retired with his family to a tower in his palace, which he set on fire, and perished, with his wives and children, in theflames. Then came the Later Tsins, who only held their authority on thesufferance of the powerful Khitan king, who reigned over Leaoutung andManchuria. The fourth and fifth of these dynasties, named the Later Hansand Chows, ran their course in less than ten years; and when the last ofthese petty rulers was deposed by his prime minister a termination was atlast reached to the long period of internal division and weakness whichprevailed for more than seven hundred and fifty years. The student reachesat this point firmer ground in the history of China as an empire, and hisinterest in the subject must assume a more definite form on coming to thebeginning of that period of united government and settled authority whichhas been established for nearly one thousand years, during which no morethan four separate families have held possession of the throne. 

CHAPTER IV

THE SUNGS AND THE KINS

One fact will have been noticed during the latter portion of the periodthat has now closed, and that is the increasing interest and participationin Chinese affairs of the races neighboring to, but still outside, theempire. A large number of the successful generals, and several of theprincely families which attained independence, were of Tartar or Turkorigin; but the founder of the new dynasty, which restored the unity ofthe empire, was of pure Chinese race, although a native of the mostnorthern province of the country. Chow Kwang Yu was born in Pechihli, atthe small town of Yeoutou, on the site of which now stands the moderncapital of Pekin. His family had provided the governor of this place forseveral generations, and Chow himself had seen a good deal of militaryservice during the wars of the period. He is described as a man ofpowerful physique and majestic appearance, to whose courage and presenceof mind the result of more than one great battle was due, and who hadbecome in consequence the idol of the soldiery. The ingenuity of laterhistorians, rather than the credulity of his contemporaries, may havediscovered the signs and portents which indicated that he was the chosenof Heaven; but his army had a simple and convincing method of deciding thedestiny of the empire. Like the legionaries of Rome, they exclaimed, "Theempire is without a master, and we wish to give it one. Who is more worthyof it than our general?" Thus did Chow Kwang Yu become the Emperor Taitsouand the founder of the Sung dynasty. 

Taitsou began his reign by proclaiming a general amnesty, and he sent theproclamation of his pardon into provinces where he had not a shred ofauthority. The step was a politic one, for it informed the Chinese peoplethat they again had an emperor. At the same time he ordered that the gatesand doors of his palace should always be left open, so that the humblestof his subjects might have access to him at any time. His own words werethat "his house should resemble his heart, which was open to all hissubjects. " He also devoted his attention to the improvement of his army, and particularly to the training of his officers, who were called upon topass an examination in professional subjects as well as physicalexercises. A French writer said, forty years ago, that "The laws ofmilitary promotion in the states of Europe are far from being as rationaland equitable as those introduced by this Chinese ruler. " His solicitudefor the welfare of his soldiers was evinced during a campaign when thewinter was exceedingly severe. He took off his own fur coat, and sent itto the general in command, with a letter stating that he was sorry that hehad not one to send to every soldier in the camp. A soldier himself, heknew how to win a soldier's heart, and the affection and devotion of hisarmy never wavered nor declined. He had many opportunities of testing it. His first war was with the Prince of Han, aided by the King of Leaoutung, whom he speedily vanquished, and whose capacity for aggression was muchcurtailed by the loss of the frontier fortress of Loochow. His nextcontest was with an old comrade-in-arms named Li Chougsin, whom he hadtreated very well, but who was seized with a foolish desire to be greaterthan his ability or power warranted. The struggle was brief, and LiChougsin felt he had no alternative save to commit suicide. 

The tranquillity gained by these successes enabled Taitsou to institute agreat reform in the civil administration of the empire, and one whichstruck at the root of the evil arising from the excessive power andirresponsibility of the provincial governors. Up to this date thegovernors had possessed the power of life and death without reference tothe capital. It had enabled them to become tyrants, and had simplifiedtheir path to complete independence. Taitsou resolved to deprive them ofthis prerogative and to retain it in his own hands, for, he said, "As lifeis the dearest thing men possess, should it be placed at the disposal ofan official who is often unjust or wicked?" This radical reform greatlystrengthened the emperor's position, and weakened that of the provincialviceroys; and Taitsou thus inaugurated a rule which has prevailed in Chinadown to the present day, where the life of no citizen can be taken withoutthe express authority and order of the emperor. Taitsou then devoted hisattention to the subjugation of those governors who had either disregardedhis administration or given it a grudging obedience. The first to feel theweight of his hand was the viceroy of Honan; but his measures were so welltaken, and the military force he employed so overwhelming, that hesucceeded in dispossessing him and in appointing his own lieutenantwithout the loss of a single man. The governor of Szchuen, believing hispower to be greater than it was, or trusting to the remoteness of hisprovince, publicly defied Taitsou, and prepared to invade his dominions. The emperor was too quick for him, and before his army was in the fieldsixty thousand imperial troops had crossed the frontier and had occupiedthe province. By these triumphs Taitsou acquired possession of some of therichest provinces and forty millions of Chinese subjects. 

Having composed these internal troubles with enemies of Chinese race, Taitsou resumed his military operations against his old opponents inLeaoutung. Both sides had been making preparations for a renewal of thestruggle, and the fortress of Taiyuen, which had been specially equippedto withstand a long siege, was the object of the emperor's first attack. The place was valiantly defended by a brave governor and a large garrison, and although Taitsou defeated two armies sent to relieve it, he wascompelled to give up the hope of capturing Taiyuen on this occasion. Someconsolation for this repulse was afforded by the capture of Canton and thedistricts dependent on that city. He next proceeded against the governorof Kiangnan, the dual province of Anhui and Kiangsu, who had taken thetitle of Prince of Tang, and striven to propitiate the emperor at the sametime that he retained his own independence. The two things were, however, incompatible. Taitsou refused to receive the envoys of the Prince of Tang, and he ordered him to attend in person at the capital. With this the Tangprince would not comply, and an army was at once sent to invade andconquer Kiangnan. The campaign lasted one year, by which time the Tangpower was shattered, and his territory resumed its old form as a provinceof China. With this considerable success Taitsou's career may be said tohave terminated, for although he succeeded in detaching the Leaoutungruler from the side of the Prince of Han, and was hastening at the head ofhis forces to crush his old enemy at Taiyuen, death cut short his careerin a manner closely resembling that of Edward the First of England. Taitsou died in his camp, in the midst of his soldiers; and, acting on theadvice of his mother, given on her death-bed a few years before, "that heshould leave the throne to a relation of mature age, " he appointed hisbrother his successor, and as his last exhortation to him said, "Bearyourself as becomes a brave prince, and govern well. " Many pages might befilled with the recitation of Taitsou's great deeds and wise sayings; buthis work in uniting China and in giving the larger part of his countrytranquillity speaks for itself. His character as a ruler may be gatheredfrom the following selection, taken from among his many speeches: "Do youthink, " he said, "that it is so easy for a sovereign to perform hisduties? He does nothing that is without consequence. This morning thethought occurs to me that yesterday I decided a case in a wrong manner, and this memory robs me of all my joy. "

The new emperor took the style of Taitsong, and during his reign oftwenty-three years the Sung dynasty may be fairly considered to have grownconsolidated. One of his first measures was to restore the privileges ofthe descendant of Confucius, which included a hereditary title andexemption from taxation, and which are enjoyed to the present day. Afterthree years' deliberation Taitsong determined to renew his brother'senterprise against Taiyuen, and as he had not assured the neutrality ofthe King of Leaoutung, his task was the more difficult. On the advance ofthe Chinese army, that ruler sent to demand the reason of the attack onhis friend the Prince of Han, to which the only reply Taitsong gave was asfollows: "The country of the Hans was one of the provinces of the empire, and the prince having refused to obey my orders I am determined to punishhim. If your prince stands aside, and does not meddle in this quarrel, Iam willing to continue to live at peace with him; if he does not care todo this we will fight him. " On this the Leaou king declared war, but histroops were repulsed by the covering army sent forward by Taitsong, whilehe prosecuted the siege of Taiyuen in person. The fortress was welldefended, but its doom was never in doubt. Taitsong, moved by a feeling ofhumanity, offered the Prince of Han generous terms before delivering anassault which was, practically speaking, certain to succeed, and he hadthe good sense to accept them. The subjugation of Han completed thepacification of the empire and the triumph of Taitsong; but when thatruler thought to add to this success the speedy overthrow of the Khitanpower in Leaoutung he was destined to a rude awakening. His action wascertainly precipitate, and marked by overconfidence, for the army ofLeaoutung was composed of soldiers of a warlike race accustomed tovictory. He advanced against it as if it were an army which would fly atthe sight of his standard, but instead of this he discovered that it wassuperior to his own forces on the banks of the Kaoleang River, where hesuffered a serious defeat. Taitsong was fortunate enough to retain hisconquests over the southern Han states and to find in his new subjects inthat quarter faithful and valiant soldiers. The success of the Leaou armywas also largely due to the tactical skill of its general, Yeliu Hiuco, who took a prominent part in the history of this period. When Taitsongendeavored, some years later, to recover what he had lost by the aid ofthe Coreans, who, however, neglected to fulfill their part of thecontract, he only invited fresh misfortunes. Yeliu Hiuco defeated his armyin several pitched battles with immense loss; on one occasion it was saidthat the corpses of the slain checked the course of a river. The captureof Yangyeh, the old Han defender of Taiyuen, who died of his wounds, completed the triumph of the Leaou general, for it was said, "If Yangyehcannot resist the Tartars they must be invincible. " Taitsong's reignclosed under the cloud of these reverses; but, on the whole, it wassuccessful and creditable, marking an improvement in the condition of thecountry and the people, and the triumph of the Sungs over at least one oftheir natural enemies. 

His son and successor, Chintsong, must be pronounced fortunate in that thefirst year of his reign witnessed the death of Yeliu Hiuco. The directconsequence of his death was that the Chinese were, for the first time, successful in their campaign against the Leaous. But this satisfactorystate of things did not long continue, and the Leaous became so aggressiveand successful that there was almost a panic among the Chinese, and theremoval of the capital to a place of greater security was suggested. Thefirm counsel and the courageous demeanor of the minister Kaochun preventedthis course being adopted. He figuratively described the evil consequencesof retreat by saying, "Your majesty can, without serious consequences, advance a foot further than is absolutely necessary, but you cannotretire, even to the extent of an inch, without doing yourself much harm. "Chintsong, fortunately for himself and his state, adopted this course; andthe Tartars thought it best to come to terms, especially as the Chineseemperor was willing to pay annually an allowance in silk and money as thereward of their respecting his frontier. The arrangement could not havebeen a bad one, as it gave the empire eighteen years of peace, Thecountry, no doubt, increased greatly in prosperity during this period; butthe reputation of Chintsong steadily declined. He seems to have beennaturally superstitious, and he gave himself up to fortune tellers andsoothsayers during the last years of his reign; and when he died, in A. D. 1022, he had impaired the position and power of the imperial office. Yet, so far as can be judged, the people were contented, and the populationrose to over one hundred million. 

Chintsong was succeeded by his sixth son, Jintsong, a boy of thirteen, forwhom the government was carried on by his mother, a woman of capacity andgood sense. She took off objectionable taxes on tea and salt--primenecessaries of life in China--and she instituted surer measures againstthe spiritualists and magicians who had flourished under her husband andacquired many administrative offices under his patronage. After ruling forten peaceful years she died and Jintsong assumed the personal direction ofaffairs. During the tranquillity that had now prevailed for more than ageneration a new power had arisen on the Chinese frontier in theprincipality of Tangut or Hia. This state occupied the modern province ofKansuh, with some of the adjacent districts of Koko Nor and the GobiDesert. Chao Yuen, the prince of this territory, was an ambitious warrior, who had drawn round his standard a force of one hundred and fifty thousandfighting men. With this he waged successful war upon the Tibetans, andbegan a course of encroachments on Chinese territory which was not to bedistinguished from open hostility. Chao Yuen was not content with theappellation of prince, and "because he came of a family several of whosemembers had in times past borne the imperial dignity, " he adopted thetitle of emperor. Having taken this step, Chao Yuen wrote to Jintsongexpressing "the hope that there would be a constant and solid peacebetween the two empires. " The reply of the Chinese ruler to this insult, as he termed it, was to declare war and to offer a reward for the head ofChao Yuen. 

It was soon made evident that Chao Yuen possessed the military power tosupport an imperial dignity. He defeated the emperor's army in two pitchedbattles at Sanchuen and Yang Moulong, and many years elapsed before theSung rulers can be held to have recovered from the loss of their bestarmies. The Khitans of Leaoutung took advantage of these misfortunes toencroach, and as Jintsong had no army with which to oppose them, theycaptured ten cities with little or no resistance. The Chinese governmentwas compelled to purchase them back by increasing the annual allowance itpaid of gold and silk. A similar policy was resorted to in the case ofChao Yuen, who consented to a peace on receiving every year one hundredthousand pieces of silk and thirty thousand pounds of tea. Not contentwith this payment, Chao Yuen subsequently exacted the right to buildfortresses along the Chinese frontier. Soon after this Chao Yuen wasmurdered by one of his sons, whose betrothed he had taken from him. IfJintsong was not fortunate in his wars he did much to promote educationand to encourage literature. He restored the colleges founded by theTangs, he built a school or academy in every town, he directed the publicexaminations to be held impartially and frequently, and he gave specialprizes as a reward for elocution. Some of the greatest historians Chinahas produced lived in his reign, and wrote their works under hispatronage; of these Szemakwang was the most famous. His history of theTangs is a masterpiece, and his "Garden of Szemakwang" an idyll. He wasremarkable for his sound judgment as well as the elegance of his style, and during the short time he held the post of prime minister hisadministration was marked by ability and good sense. The character ofJintsong was, it will be seen, not without its good points, which gainedfor him the affection of his subjects despite his bad fortune against thenational enemies, and his reign of thirty years was, generally speaking, prosperous and satisfactory. After the brief reign of his nephew, Yngtsong, that prince's son, Chintsong the Second, became emperor. 

The career of Wanganchi, an eccentric and socialistic statesman, whowished to pose as a great national reformer, and who long possessed theear and favor of his sovereign, lends an interest to the reign of thesecond Chintsong. Wanganchi did not possess the confidence or theadmiration of his brother officials, and subsequent writers have generallytermed him an impostor and a charlatan. But he may only have been amisguided enthusiast when he declared that "the State should take theentire management of commerce, industry, and agriculture into its ownhands, with the view of succoring the working classes, and preventingtheir being ground to the dust by the rich. " The advocacy of such a schemeis calculated to earn popularity, as few of those who are to benefit by itstop to examine its feasibility, and Wanganchi might have been rememberedas an enlightened thinker and enthusiastic advocate of the rights of themasses if he had not been called upon to carry out his theories. But theproof of experience, like the touch of Ithuriel's spear, revealed thepractical value of his suggestions, and dissolved the attractive visionraised by his perfervid eloquence and elevated enthusiasm. His honesty ofpurpose cannot, however, be disputed. On being appointed to the post ofchief minister he took in hand the application of his own project. Heexempted the poor from all taxation. He allotted lands, and he suppliedthe cultivators with seeds and implements. He also appointed local boardsto superintend the efforts of the agricultural classes, and to give themassistance and advice. But this paternal government, this system of makingthe state do what the individual ought to do for himself, did not work asit was expected. Those who counted on the agricultural laborer workingwith as much intelligence and energy for himself as he had done under thedirection of a master were doomed to disappointment. Want of skill, thefitfulness of the small holder, aggravated perhaps by national calamities, drought, flood, and pestilence, being felt more severely by laborers thanby capitalists, led to a gradual shrinkage in the area of cultivated land, and at last to the suffering of the classes who were to specially benefitfrom the scheme of Wanganchi. The failure of his scheme, which, to use hisown words, aimed at preventing there being any poor or over-rich personsin the state, entailed his disgrace and fall from power. But his work andhis name have continued to excite interest and speculation among hiscountrymen down to the present day. His memory has been aspersed by thewriters of China, who have generally denounced him as a free-thinker and anihilist, and although, twenty years after his death, a tablet bearing hisname was placed in the Hall of Confucius as the greatest Chinese thinkersince Mencius, it was removed after a brief period, and since then boththe name and the works of Wanganchi have been consigned to an oblivionfrom which only the curiosity of European writers has rescued them. 

Chintsong's reign was peaceful, but he seems to have only avoided war byyielding to all the demands of the Tartars, who encroached on the frontierand seized several Chinese cities. His son Chetsong was only ten when hebecame emperor, and the administration was carried on by his mother, theEmpress Tefei, another of the capable women of Chinese history. Her earlydeath left Chetsong to rule as he listed, and his first acts ofindependent authority were not of happy augury for the future. He had notbeen on the throne many months before he divorced his principal wifewithout any apparent justification, and when remonstrated with he merelyreplied that he was imitating several of his predecessors. The censor'sretort was, "You would do better to imitate their virtues, and not theirfaults. " Chetsong did not have any long opportunity of doing either, forhe died of grief at the loss of his favorite son, and it is recorded that, as "he did not expect to die so soon, " he omitted the precaution ofselecting an heir. Fortunately the mischief of a disputed successor wasavoided by the unanimous selection of his brother Hoeitsong as the newemperor. He proved himself a vain and superstitious ruler, placing hismain faith in fortune tellers, and expecting his subjects to yieldimplicit obedience to his opinions as "the master of the law and theprince of doctrine. " Among other fallacies, Hoeitsong cherished the beliefthat he was a great soldier, and he aspired to rank as the conqueror ofthe old successful enemy of China, the Khitans of Leaoutung. He had noarmy worthy of the name, and the southern Chinese who formed the mass ofhis subjects were averse to war, yet his personal vanity impelled him torush into hostilities which promised to be the more serious because a newand formidable power had arisen on the northern frontier. 

The Niuche or Chorcha Tartars, who had assumed a distinct name and placein the vicinity of the modern Kalgan, about the year 1000 A. D. , had becomesubservient to the great Khitan chief Apaoki, and their seven hordes hadremained faithful allies of his family and kingdom for many years afterhis death. But some of the clan had preferred independence to themaintenance of friendly relations with their greatest neighbor, and theyhad withdrawn northward into Manchuria. For some unknown reason the Niuchebecame dissatisfied with their Khitan allies, and about the year 1100 A. D. They had all drawn their forces together as an independent confederacyunder the leadership of a great chief named Akouta. The Niuche could onlyhope to establish their independence by offering a successful resistanceto the King of Leaoutung, who naturally resented the defection of a tribewhich had been his humble dependents. They succeeded in this task beyondall expectation, as Akouta inflicted a succession of defeats on thehitherto invincible army of Leaoutung. Then the Niuche conqueror resolvedto pose as one of the arbiters of the empire's destiny, and to found adynasty of his own. He collected his troops, and he addressed them in aspeech reciting their deeds and his pretensions. "The Khitans, " he said, "had in the earlier days of their success taken the name of Pintiei, meaning the iron of Pinchow, but although that iron may be excellent, itis liable to rust and can be eaten away. There is nothing save gold whichis unchangeable and which does not destroy itself. Moreover, the family ofWangyen, with which I am connected through the chief Hanpou, had always agreat fancy for glittering colors such as that of gold, and I am nowresolved to take this name as that of my imperial family. I therefore giveit the name of Kin, which signifies gold. " This speech was made in theyear 1115, and it was the historical introduction of the Kin dynasty, which so long rivaled the Sung, and which, although it attained only abrief lease of power on the occasion referred to, was remarkable as beingthe first appearance of the ancestors of the present reigning Manchus. 

Like other conquerors who had appeared in the same quarter, the Kins, aswe must now call them, owed their rise to their military qualificationsand to their high spirit. Their tactics, although of a simpler kind, wereas superior to those of the Leaous as the latter's were to the Chinese. Their army consisted exclusively of cavalry, and victory was generallyobtained by its furious attacks delivered from several sidessimultaneously. The following description, taken from Mailla's translationof the Chinese official history, gives the best account of their army andmode of fighting:

"At first the Niuche had only cavalry. For their sole distinction theymade use of a small piece of braid on which they marked certain signs, andthey attached this to both man and horse. Their companies were usuallycomposed of only fifty men each, twenty of whom, clothed in strongcuirasses, and armed with swords and short pikes, were placed in thefront, and behind those came the remaining thirty in less weighty armor, and with bows and arrows or javelins for weapons. When they encountered anenemy, two men from each company advanced as scouts, and then arrangingtheir troops so as to attack from four sides, they approached the foe at agentle trot until within a hundred yards of his line. Thereupon chargingat full speed, they discharged their arrows and javelins, again retiringwith the same celerity. This maneuver they repeated several times untilthey threw the ranks into confusion, when they fell upon them with swordand pike so impetuously that they generally gained the victory. "

The novelty, as well as the impetuosity, of their attack supplied the wantof numbers and of weapons, and when the Khitans raised what seemed anoverwhelming force to crush the new power that ventured to play the rivalto theirs in Northern China, Akouta, confident in himself and in hispeople, was not dismayed, and accepted the offer of battle. In twosanguinary battles he vanquished the Khitan armies, and threatened withearly extinction the once famous dynasty of Leaoutung. When the Sungemperor heard of the defeats of his old opponents, he at once rushed tothe conclusion that the appearance of this new power on the flank ofLeaoutung must redound to his advantage, and, although warned by the Kingof Corea that "the Kins were worse than wolves and tigers, " he sent anembassy to Akouta proposing a joint alliance against the Khitans. Thenegotiations were not at first successful. Akouta concluded a truce withLeaoutung, but took offense at the style of the emperor's letter. Thepeace was soon broken by either the Kins or the Khitans, and Hoeitsongconsented to address Akouta as the Great Emperor of the Kins. Then Akoutaengaged to attack Leaoutung from the north, while the Chinese assailed iton the south, and a war began which promised a speedy termination. But thetardiness and inefficiency of the Chinese army prolonged the struggle, andcovered the reputation of Hoeitsong and his troops with ignominy. It wascompelled to beat a hasty and disastrous retreat, and the peasants ofLeaoutung sang ballads about its cowardice and insufficiency. 

But if it fared badly with the Chinese, the armies of Akouta continued tobe victorious, and the Khitans fled not less precipitately before him thanthe Chinese did before them. Their best generals were unable to make theleast stand against the Kin forces. Their capital was occupied by theconqueror, and the last descendant of the great Apaoki fled westward toseek an asylum with the Prince of Hia or Tangut. He does not appear tohave received the protection he claimed, for after a brief stay at thecourt of Hia, he made his way to the desert, where, after undergoingincredible hardships, he fell into the hands of his Kin pursuers. With hisdeath soon afterward the Khitan dynasty came to an end, after enjoying itspower for two hundred years, but some members of this race escaped acrossthe Gobi Desert, and founded the brief-lived dynasty of the Kara Khitay inTurkestan. Akouta died shortly before the final overthrow of the Leaoutungpower, and his brother Oukimai ruled in his place. 

The ill-success of Hoeitsong's army in its joint campaign againstLeaoutung cost the emperor his share in the spoil. The Kins retained thewhole of the conquered territory, and the Sung prince was the worse off, because he had a more powerful and aggressive neighbor. The ease of theirconquest, and the evident weakness of the Chinese, raised the confidenceof the Kins to such a high point that they declared that the Sungs mustsurrender to them the whole of the territory north of the Hoangho, andthey prepared to secure what they demanded by force of arms. The Chinesewould neither acquiesce in the transfer of this region to the Kins nortake steps to defend it. They were driven out of that portion of theempire like sheep, and they even failed to make any stand at the passageof the Hoangho, where the Kin general declared that "there could not be aman left in China, for if two thousand men had defended the passage ofthis river we should never have succeeded in crossing it. " Hoeitsongquitted his capital Kaifong to seek shelter at Nankin, where he hoped toenjoy greater safety, and shortly afterward he abdicated in favor of hisson Kintsong. The siege of Kaifong which followed ended in a conventionbinding the Chinese to pay the Kins an enormous sum--ten millions of smallgold nuggets, twenty millions of small silver nuggets, and ten millionpieces of silk; but the Tartar soldiers soon realized that there was nolikelihood of their ever receiving this fabulous spoil, and in theirindignation they seized both Hoeitsong and Kintsong, as well as any othermembers of the royal family on whom they could lay their hands, andcarried them off to Tartary, where both the unfortunate Sung princes diedas prisoners of the Kins. 

Although the Kins wished to sweep the Sungs from the throne, and theirgeneral Walipou went so far as to proclaim the emperor of a new dynasty, whose name is forgotten, another of the sons of Hoeitsong, Prince KangWang, had no difficulty in establishing his own power and in preservingthe Sung dynasty. He even succeeded in imparting a new vigor to it, for onthe advice of his mother, who pointed out to him that "for nearly twohundred years the nation appears to have forgotten the art of war, " hedevoted all his attention to the improvement of his army and theorganization of his military resources. Prince Kang Wang, on becomingemperor, took the name of Kaotsong, and finally removed the southerncapital to Nankin. He was also driven by his financial necessities tolargely increase the issue of paper money, which had been introduced underthe Tangs. As both the Kins and the Mongols had recourse to the sameexpedient, it is not surprising that the Sungs should also have adoptedthe simplest mode of compensating for a depleted treasury. Considering theunexpected difficulties with which he had to cope, and the low ebb towhich the fortunes of China had fallen, much might be forgiven toKaotsong, who found a courageous counselor in the Empress Mongchi, who isreported to have addressed him as follows: "Although the whole of youraugust family has been led captive into the countries of the north, nonethe less does China, which knows your wisdom and fine qualities, preservetoward the Sungs the same affection, fidelity, and zeal as in the past. She hopes and expects that you will prove for her what Kwang Vouti was forthe Hans. " If Kaotsong did not attain the height of this success, he atleast showed himself a far more capable prince than any of his immediatepredecessors. 

The successful employment of cavalry by the Kins naturally led the Chineseto think of employing the same arm against them, although the inhabitantsof the eighteen provinces have never been good horsemen. Kaotsong alsodevoted his attention especially to the formation of a corps ofcharioteers. The chariots, four-wheeled, carried twenty-four combatants, and these vehicles drawn up in battle array not only presented a veryformidable appearance, but afforded a very material shelter for the restof the army. Kaotsong seems to have been better in imagining reforms thanin the task of carrying them out. After he had originated much good workhe allowed it to languish for want of definite support, and he quarreledwith and disgraced the minister chiefly responsible for these reforms. Ashort time after this the Kins again advanced southward, but thanks to theimprovement effected in the Chinese army, and to the skill and valor ofTsongtse, one of Kaotsong's lieutenants, they did not succeed in gainingany material advantage. Their efforts to capture Kaifong failed, and theirgeneral Niyamoho, recognizing the improvement in the Chinese army, wascontent to withdraw his army with such spoil as it had been able tocollect. Tsongtse followed up this good service against the enemy bybringing to their senses several rebellious officials who thought they sawa good opportunity of shaking off the Sung authority. At this stage of thewar Tsongtse exhorted Kaotsong, who had quitted Nankin for Yangchow, toreturn to Kaifong to encourage his troops with his presence, especially asthere never was such a favorable opportunity of delivering his augustfamily out of the hands of the Kins. Tsongtse is reported to have sent asmany as twenty formal petitions to his sovereign to do this, but Kaotsongwas deaf to them all, and it is said that his obtuseness and want of nervecaused Tsongtse so much pain that he died of chagrin. 

The death of Tsongtse induced the Kins to make a more strenuous effort tohumiliate the Sungs, and a large army under the joint command of Akouta'sson, Olito, and the general Niyamoho, advanced on the capital and capturedYangchow. Kaotsong, who saved his life by precipitate flight, then agreedto sign any treaty drawn up by his conqueror. In his letter to Niyamoho hesaid, "Why fatigue your troops with long and arduous marches when I willgrant you of my own will whatever you demand?" But the Kins wereinexorable, and refused to grant any terms short of the unconditionalsurrender of Kaotsong, who fled to Canton, pursued both on land and sea. The Kin conquerors soon found that they had advanced too far, and theChinese rallying their forces gained some advantage during their retreat. Some return of confidence followed this turn in the fortune of the war, and two Chinese generals, serving in the hard school of adversity, acquired a military knowledge and skill which made them formidable to eventhe best of the Kin commanders. The campaigns carried on between 1131 and1134 differed from any that had preceded them in that the Kin forcessteadily retired before Oukiai and Changtsiun, and victory, which had solong remained constant in their favor, finally deserted their arms. Thedeath of the Kin emperor, Oukimai, who had upheld with no decline ofluster the dignity of his father Akouta, completed the discomfiture of theKins, and contributed to the revival of Chinese power under the lastemperor of the Sung dynasty. The reign of Oukimai marks the pinnacle ofKin power, which under his cousin and successor Hola began steadily todecline. 

The possession of Honan formed the principal bone of contention betweenthe Kins and Sungs, but after considerable negotiation and some fighting, Kaotsong agreed to leave it in the hands of the Kins, and also to pay thema large annual subsidy in silk and money. He also agreed to hold theremainder of his states as a gift at the hands of his northern neighbor. Thus, notwithstanding the very considerable successes gained by several ofthe Sung generals, Kaotsong had to undergo the mortification of signing ahumiliating peace and retaining his authority only on sufferance. Fortunately for the independence of the Sungs, Hola was murdered byTicounai, a grandson of Akouta, whose ferocious character and ill-formedprojects for the subjugation of the whole of China furnished the EmperorKaotsong with the opportunity of shaking off the control asserted over hisactions and recovering his dignity. The extensive preparations of the Kingovernment for war warned the Sungs to lose no time in placing every manthey could in the field, and when Ticounai rushed into the war, which wasall of his own making, he found that the Sungs were quite ready to receivehim and offer a strenuous resistance to his attack. A peace of twentyyears' duration had allowed of their organizing their forces andrecovering from an unreasoning terror of the Kins. Moreover, there was avery general feeling among the inhabitants of both the north and the souththat the war was an unjust one, and that Ticounai had embarked upon acourse of lawless aggression which his tyrannical and cruel proceedingstoward his own subjects served to inflame. 

The war began in 1161 A. D. , with an ominous defeat of the Kin navy, andwhen Kaotsong nerved himself for the crisis in his life and placed himselfat the head of his troops, Ticounai must have felt less sanguine of theresult than his confident declaration that he would end the war in asingle campaign indicated. Before the two armies came into collisionTicounai learned that a rebellion had broken out in his rear, and that hiscousin Oulo challenged both his legitimacy and his authority. He believed, and perhaps wisely, that the only way to deal with this new danger was topress on, and by gaining a signal victory over the Sungs annihilate allhis enemies at a blow. But the victory had to be gained, and he seems tohave underestimated his opponent. He reached the Yangtsekiang, and theSungs retired behind it. Ticounai had no means of crossing it, as hisfleet had been destroyed and the Sung navy stood in his path. Such riverjunks as he possessed were annihilated in another encounter on the river. He offered sacrifices to heaven in order to obtain a safe passage, but thepowers above were deaf to his prayers. Discontent and disorder broke outin his camp. The army that was to have carried all before it was stoppedby a mere river, and Ticounai's reputation as a general was ruined beforehe had crossed swords with the enemy. In this dilemma his crueltyincreased, and after he had sentenced many of his officers and soldiers todeath he was murdered by those who found that they would have to share thesame fate. After this tragic ending of a bad career, the Kin armyretreated. They concluded a friendly convention with the Sungs, andKaotsong, deeming his work done by the repulse of this grave peril, abdicated the throne, which had proved to him no bed of roses, in favor ofhis adopted heir Hiaotsong. Kaotsong ruled during the long period ofthirty-six years, and when we consider the troubled time through which hepassed, and the many vicissitudes of fortune he underwent, he probablyrejoiced at being able to spend the last twenty-five years of his lifewithout the responsibility of governing the empire and free from the caresof sovereignty. 

The new Kin ruler Oulo wished for peace, but a section of his turbulentsubjects clamored for a renewal of the expeditions into China, and he wascompelled to bend to the storm. The Kin army, however, had no cause torejoice in its bellicoseness, for the Chinese general, Changtsiun, defeated it in a battle the like of which had not been seen for ten years. After this a peace was concluded which proved fairly durable, and theremainder of the reigns of both Oulo and Hiaotsong were peaceful andprosperous for northern and southern China. Both of these princes showedan aversion to war and an appreciation of peace which was rare in theirday. The Kin ruler is stated to have made this noble retort when he wassolicited by a traitor from a neighboring state to seize it: "You deceiveyourself if you believe me to be capable of approving an act of treasonwhatever the presumed advantage it might procure me. I love all peoples ofwhatever nation they may be, and I wish to see them at peace with oneanother. " It is not surprising to learn that a prince who was sothoroughly imbued with the spirit of civilization should have caused theChinese classics to be translated into the Kin language. Of all the Kinrulers he was the most intellectual and the most anxious to elevate thestandard of his people, who were far ruder than the inhabitants ofsouthern China. 

Hiaotsong was succeeded by his son Kwangtsong, and Oulo by his grandsonMadacou, both of whom continued the policy of their predecessors. Kwangtsong was saved the trouble of ruling by his wife, the Empress Lichi, and after a very short space he resigned the empty title of emperor, whichbrought him neither satisfaction nor pleasure. Ningtsong, the son andsuccessor of Kwangtsong, ventured on one war with the Kins in which he wasworsted. This the last of the Kin successes, for Madacou died soonafterward, just on the eve of the advent of the Mongol peril, whichthreatened to sweep all before it, and which eventually buried both Kinand Sung in a common ruin. The long competition and the bitter contestbetween the Kins and Sungs had not resulted in the decisive success ofeither side. The Kins had been strong enough to found an administration inthe north but not to conquer China. The Sungs very naturally represent inChinese history the national dynasty, and their misfortunes rather thantheir successes appeal to the sentiment of the reader. They showedthemselves greater in adversity than in prosperity, and when the Mongoltempest broke over China they proved the more doughty opponent, and thepossessor of greater powers of resistance than their uniformly successfuladversary the Kin or Golden Dynasty. 

CHAPTER V

THE MONGOL CONQUEST OF CHINA

While the Kins were absorbed in their contest with the Southern Chinese, they were oblivious of the growth of a new and formidable power on theirown borders. The strength of the Mongols had acquired serious dimensionsbefore the Kins realized that they would have to fight, not only forsupremacy, but for their very existence. Before describing the long warsthat resulted in the subjection of China by this northern race, we mustconsider the origin and the growth of the power of the Mongols, who werecertainly the most remarkable race of conquerors Asia, or perhaps thewhole world, ever produced. 

The home of the Mongols, whose name signifies "brave men, " was in thestrip of territory between the Onon and Kerulon rivers, which are bothtributaries or upper courses of the Amour. They first appeared as aseparate clan or tribe in the ninth century, when they attracted specialattention for their physical strength and courage during one of China'smany wars with the children of the desert, and it was on that occasionthey gained the appellation under which they became famous. The earlierhistory of the Mongol tribe is obscure, and baffles investigation, butthere seems no reason to doubt their affinity to the Hiongnou, with whoseroyal house Genghis himself claimed blood relationship. If this claim beadmitted, Genghis and Attila, who were the two specially typical Scourgesof God, must be considered members of the same race, and the probabilityis certainly strengthened by the close resemblance in their methods ofcarrying on war. Budantsar is the first chief of the House of Genghiswhose person and achievements are more than mythical. He selected as theabode of his race the territory between the Onon and the Kerulon, a regionfertile in itself, and well protected by those rivers against attack. Itwas also so well placed as to be beyond the extreme limit of anytriumphant progress of the armies of the Chinese emperor. If Budantsar hadaccomplished nothing more than this, he would still have done much tojustify his memory being preserved among a free and independent people. But he seems to have incited his followers to pursue an active andtemperate life, to remain warriors rather than to become rich and lazycitizens. He wrapped up this counsel in the exhortation, "What is the useof embarrassing ourselves with wealth? Is not the fate of man decreed byheaven?" He sowed the seed of future Mongol greatness, and the headship ofhis clan remained vested in his family. 

In due order of succession the chief ship passed to Kabul Khan, who in theyear 1135 began to encroach on the dominion of Hola, the Kin emperor. Heseems to have been induced to commit this act of hostility by a prophecy, to the effect that his children should be emperors, and also bydiscourteous treatment received on the occasion of his visit to the courtof Oukimai. Whatever the cause of umbrage, Kabul Khan made the Kins paydearly for their arrogance or short-sighted policy. Hola sent an armyunder one of his best generals, Hushahu, to bring the Mongol chief toreason, but the inaccessibility of his home stood him in good stead. TheKin army suffered greatly in its futile attempt to cross the desert, andduring its retreat it was harassed by the pursuing Mongols. When the Kinarmy endeavored to make a stand against its pursuers, it suffered acrushing overthrow in a battle at Hailing, and on the Kins sending alarger force against the Mongols in 1139, it had no better fortune. KabulKhan, after this second success, caused himself to be proclaimed GreatEmperor of the Mongols. His success in war, and his ambition, which restedsatisfied with no secondary position, indicated the path on which theMongols proceeded to the acquisition of supreme power and a paramountmilitary influence whithersoever they carried their name and standards. The work begun by Kabul was well continued by his son Kutula, or Kublai. He, too, was a great warrior, whose deeds of prowess aroused as muchenthusiasm among the Mongols as those of Coeur de Lion evoked in the daysof the Plantagenets. The struggle with the Kins was rendered more bitterby the execution of several Mongols of importance, who happened to fallinto the hands of the Kins. When Kutula died the chiefship passed to hisnephew, Yissugei, who greatly extended the influence and power of hisfamily among the tribes neighboring to the Mongol home. Many of these, andeven some Chinese, joined the military organization of the dominant tribe, so that what was originally a small force of strictly limited numbersbecame a vast and ever-increasing confederacy of the most warlike andaggressive races of the Chinese northern frontier. Important as Yissugei'swork in the development of Mongol power undoubtedly was, his chiefhistorical interest is derived from the fact that he was the father ofGenghis Khan. 

There are several interesting fables in connection with the birth ofGenghis, which event may be safely assigned to the year 1162. One of thesereads as follows: "One day Yissugei was hunting in company with hisbrothers, and was following the tracks of a white hare in the snow. Theystruck upon the track of a wagon, and following it up came to a spot wherea woman's yart was pitched. Then said Yissugei, 'This woman will bear avaliant son. ' He discovered that she was the damsel Ogelen Eke (i. E. , themother of nations), and that she was the wife of Yeke Yilatu, chief of aTartar tribe. Yissugei carried her off and made her his wife. " Immediatelyafter his overthrow of Temujin, chief of one of the principal Tartartribes, Yissugei learned that the promised "valiant son" was about to beborn, and in honor of his victory he gave him the name of Temujin, whichwas the proper name of the great Genghis. The village or encampment inwhich the future conqueror first saw the light of day still bears the oldMongol name, Dilun Boldak, on the banks of the Onon. When Yissugei died, Temujin, or Genghis, was only thirteen, and his clan of forty thousandfamilies refused to recognize him as their leader. At a meeting of thetribe Genghis entreated them with tears in his eyes to stand by the son oftheir former chief, but the majority of them mocked at him, exclaiming, "The deepest wells are sometimes dry, and the hardest stone is sometimesbroken, why should we cling to thee?" Genghis owed to the heroic attitudeof his mother, who flung abroad the cow-tailed banner of his race, theacceptance of his authority by about half the warriors who had obeyed hisfather. The great advantage of this step was that it gave Genghis time togrow up to be a warrior as famous as any of his predecessors, and itcertainly averted what might have easily become the irretrievabledisintegration of the Mongol alliance. 

The youth of Genghis was passed in one ceaseless struggle to regain thewhole of his birthright. His most formidable enemy was Chamuka, chief ofthe Juriats, and for a long time he had all the worst of the struggle, being taken prisoner on one occasion, and undergoing the indignity of thecangue. On making his escape he rallied his remaining followers round himfor a final effort, and on the advice of his mother, Ogelen Eke, who washis principal adviser and stanchest supporter, he divided his forces intothirteen regiments of one thousand men each, and confined his attention tothe defense of his own territory. Chamuka, led away by what he deemed theweakness of his adversary, attacked him on the Onon with as he consideredthe overwhelming force of thirty thousand men; but the result dispelledhis hopes of conquest, for Genghis gained a decisive victory. Then wasfurnished a striking instance of the truth of the saying that "nothingsucceeds like success. " The despised Temujin, who was thought to beunworthy of the post of ruling the Mongols, was lauded to the skies, andthe tribes declared with one voice, "Temujin alone is generous and worthyof ruling a great people. " At this time also he began to show thequalities of a statesman and diplomatist. He formed in 1194 a temporaryalliance with the Kin emperor, Madacou, and the richness of his rewardseems to have excited his cupidity, while his experience of the Kin armywent to prove that they were not so formidable as had been imagined. Thediscomfiture of Chamuka has been referred to, but he had not abandoned thehope of success, and when he succeeded in detaching the Kerait chief, WangKhan, from the Mongols, to whom he was bound by ties of gratitude, hefancied that he again held victory in his grasp. But the intrigue did notrealize his expectations. Wang Khan deserted Genghis while engaged in ajoint campaign against the Naimans, but he was the principal sufferer byhis treachery, for the enemy pursued his force, and inflicted a heavydefeat upon it. In fact, he was only rescued from destruction by thetimely aid of the man he had betrayed. 

But far from inspiring gratitude, this incident inflamed the resentment ofWang Khan, who, throwing off the cloak of simulated friendship, declaredpublicly that either the Kerait or the Mongol must be supreme on the greatsteppe, as there was not room for both. Such was the superiority innumbers of the Kerait, that in the first battle of this long and keenly-contested struggle, Wang Khan defeated Temujin near Ourga, where themounds that cover the slain are still shown to the curious or skepticalvisitor. After this serious, and in some degree unexpected reverse, thefortunes of Genghis sank to the lowest ebb. He was reduced to terriblestraits, and had to move his camp rapidly from one spot to another. Asmall section of his followers, mindful of his past success and prowess, still clung to him, and by a sudden and daring coup he changed the wholeaspect of the contest. He surprised Wang Khan in his camp at night, andoverwhelmed him and his forces. Wang Khan escaped to his old foes, theNaimans, who, disregarding the laws of hospitality, put him to death. Thedeath of Wang Khan signified nothing less than the wholesale defection ofthe Kerait tribe, which joined Genghis to the last man. Then Genghisturned westward to settle the question of supremacy with the Naimans, whowere both hostile and defiant. The Naiman chief shared the opinion of WangKhan, that there could not be two masters on the Tian Shan, and with thatvigorous illustration which has never been wanting to these illiteratetribes, he wrote, "There cannot be two suns in the sky, two swords in onesheath, two eyes in one eyepit, or two kings in one empire. " Both sidesmade strenuous efforts for the fray, and brought every fighting man theycould into the field. The decisive battle of the war was fought in theheart of Jungaria, and the star of Genghis rose in the ascendant. TheNaimans fought long and well, but they were borne down by the heavierarmed Mongols, and their desperate resistance only added to their loss. Their chief died of his wounds, and the triumph of Genghis was renderedcomplete by the capture of his old enemy, Chamuka. As Genghis had swornthe oath of friendship with Chamuka, he would not slay him, but he handedhim over to a relative, who promptly exacted the rough revenge his pasthostility and treachery seemed to call for. On his way back from thiscampaign the Mongol chief attacked the Prince of Hia, who reigned overKansuh and Tangut, and thus began the third war he waged for the extensionof his power. Before this assumed serious proportions he summoned a GrandCouncil or Kuriltai, at his camp on the Onon, and then erected outside histent the royal Mongol banner of the nine white yak-tails. It was on thisoccasion that Temujin took, and was proclaimed among the Mongol chiefs by, the highly exalted name of Genghis Khan, which means Very Mighty Khan. TheChinese character for the name signifies "Perfect Warrior, " and theearlier European writers affirm that it is supposed to represent the soundof "the bird of heaven. " At this assemblage, which was the first of a longsuccession of Mongol councils summoned at the same place on criticaloccasions, it was proposed and agreed that the war should be carried onwith the richer and less warlike races of the south. Among soldiers it isnecessary to preserve the spirit of pre-eminence and warlike zeal bygranting rewards and decorations. Genghis realized the importance of thismatter, and instituted the order of Baturu or Bahadur, meaning warrior. Healso made his two leading generals Muhula and Porshu princes, one to siton his right hand and the other on his left. He addressed them before thecouncil in the following words: "It is to you that I owe my empire. Youare and have been to me as the shafts of a carriage or the arms to a man'sbody. " Seals of office were also granted to all the officials, so thattheir authority might be the more evident and the more honored. 

In 1207 Genghis began his war with the state of Hia, which he haddetermined to crush as the preliminary to an invasion of China. In thatyear he contented himself with the capture of Wuhlahai, one of the borderfortresses of that principality, and in the following year he establishedhis control over the tribes of the desert more fully, thus gaining manyKirghiz and Naiman auxiliaries. In 1209 he resumed the war with Hia in adetermined spirit, and placed himself in person at the head of all hisforces. Although the Hia ruler prepared as well as he could for thestruggle, he was really unnerved by the magnitude of the danger he had toface. His army was overthrown, his best generals were taken prisoners, andhe himself had no resource left but to throw himself on the considerationof Genghis. For good reasons the Mongol conqueror was lenient. He marriedone of the daughters of the king, and he took him into subsidiary alliancewith himself. Thus did Genghis absorb the Hia power, which was veryconsiderable, and prepared to enroll it with all his own resources againstthe Kin empire. If the causes of Mongol success on this occasion andafterward are inquired for, I cannot do better than repeat what Ipreviously wrote on this subject: "The Mongols owed their military successto their admirable discipline and to their close study of the art of war. Their military supremacy arose from their superiority in all essentials asa fighting power to their neighbors. Much of their knowledge was borrowedfrom China, where the art of disciplining a large army and maneuvering itin the field had been brought to a high state of perfection many centuriesbefore the time of Genghis. But the Mongols carried the teaching of thepast to a further point than any of the former or contemporary Chinesecommanders, indeed, than any in the whole world, had done; and therevolution which they effected in tactics was not less remarkable initself, and did not leave a smaller impression upon the age, than theimprovements made in military science by Frederick the Great and Napoleonin their day. The Mongol played in a large way in Asia the part which theNormans on a smaller scale played in Europe. Although the landmarks oftheir triumph have now almost wholly vanished, they were for two centuriesthe dominant caste in most of the states of Asia. "

Having thus prepared the way for the larger enterprise, it only remainedto find a plausible pretext for attacking the Kins. With or without apretext Genghis would no doubt have made war, but even the ruthless Mongolsometimes showed a regard for appearances. Many years before the Kins hadsent as envoy to the Mongul encampment Chonghei, a member of their rulinghouse, and his mission had been not only unsuccessful, but had led to apersonal antipathy between the two men. In the course of time Chongheisucceeded Madacou as emperor of the Kins, and when a Kin messenger broughtintelligence of this event to Genghis, the Mongol ruler turned toward thesouth, spat upon the ground, and said, "I thought that your sovereignswere of the race of the gods, but do you suppose that I am going to dohomage to such an imbecile as that?" The affront rankled in the mind ofChonghei, and while Genghis was engaged with Hia, he sent troops to attackthe Mongol outposts. Chonghei thus placed himself in the wrong, and gaveGenghis justification for declaring that the Kins and not he began thewar. The reputation of the Golden dynasty, although not as great as itonce was, still stood sufficiently high to make the most adventurous ofdesert chiefs wary in attacking it. Genghis had already secured the co-operation of the ruler of Hia in his enterprise, and he next concluded analliance with Yeliu Liuko, chief of the Khitans, who were againmanifesting discontent with the Kins. Genghis finally circulated aproclamation among all the desert tribes, calling upon them to join him inhis attack on the common enemy. This appeal was heartily and generallyresponded to, and it was at the head of an enormous force that Genghis setout in March, 1211, to effect the conquest of China. The Mongol army wasled by Genghis in person, and under him his four sons and his most famousgeneral, Chepe Noyan, held commands. 

The plan of campaign of the Mongol ruler was as simple as it was bold. From his camp at Karakoram, on the Kerulon, he marched in a straight linethrough Kuku Khoten and the Ongut country to Taitong, securing anunopposed passage through the Great Wall by the defection of the Onguttribe. The Kins were unprepared for this sudden and vigorous assaultdirected on their weakest spot, and successfully executed before theirarmy could reach the scene. During the two years that the forces ofGenghis kept the field on this occasion, they devastated the greaterportion of the three northern provinces of Shensi, Shansi, and Pechihli. But the border fortress of Taitong and the Kin capital, Tungking, successfully resisted all the assaults of the Mongols, and when Genghisreceived a serious wound at the former place, he reluctantly ordered theretreat of his army, laden with an immense quantity of spoil, but stilllittle advanced in its main task of conquering China. The success of theKhitan Yeliu Liuko had not been less considerable, and he was proclaimedKing of Leaou as a vassal of the Mongols. The planting of this ally on thevery threshold of Chinese power facilitated the subsequent enterprises ofthe Mongols against the Kins, and represented the most important result ofthis war. 

In 1213 Genghis again invaded the Kin dominions, but his success was notvery striking, and in several engagements of no very great importance theKin arms met with some success. The most important events of the yearwere, however, the deposition and murder of Chonghei, the murder of a Kingeneral, Hushahu, who had won a battle against the Mongols, and theproclamation of Utubu as emperor. The change of sovereign brought nochange of fortune to the unlucky Kins. Utubu was only able to find safetybehind the walls of his capital, and he was delighted when Genghis wrotehim the following letter: "Seeing your wretched condition and my exaltedfortune, what may your opinion be now of the will of heaven with regard tomyself? At this moment I am desirous to return to Tartary, but could youallow my soldiers to take their departure without appeasing their angerwith presents?" In reply Utubu sent Genghis a princess of his family as awife, and also "five hundred youths, the same number of girls, threethousand horses, and a vast quantity of precious articles. " Then Genghisretired once more to Karakoram, but on his march he stained his reputationby massacring all his prisoners--the first gross act of inhumanity hecommitted during his Chinese wars. 

When Utubu saw the Mongols retreating, he thought to provide against themost serious consequences of their return by removing his capital to agreater distance from the frontier, and with this object he transferredhis residence to Kaifong. The majority of his advisers were against thischange, as a retirement could not but shake public confidence. It hadanother consequence, which they may not have contemplated, and that wasits providing Genghis with an excuse for renewing his attack on China. TheMongol at once complained that the action of the Kin emperor implied anunwarrantable suspicion of his intentions, and he sent his army across thefrontier to recommence his humiliation. On this occasion a Kin generaldeserted to them, and thenceforward large bodies of the Chinese of thenorth attached themselves to the Mongols, who were steadily acquiring aunique reputation for power as well as military prowess. The great eventof this war was the siege of Yenking--on the site of which now stands thecapital Pekin--the defense of which had been intrusted to the PrinceImperial; but Utubu, more anxious for his son's safety than the interestsof the state, ordered him to return to Kaifong. The governor of Yenkingoffered a stout resistance to the Mongols, and when he found that he couldnot hold out, he retired to the temple of the city and poisoned himself. His last act was to write a letter to Utubu begging him to listen no moreto the pernicious advice of the man who had induced him to murder Hushahu. 

The capture of Yenking, where Genghis obtained a large supply of warmaterials, as well as vast booty, opened the road to Central China. TheMongols advanced as far as the celebrated Tunkwan Pass, which connectsShensi and Honan, but when their general, Samuka, saw how formidable itwas, and how strong were the Kin defenses and garrison, he declined toattack it, and, making a detour through very difficult country, he marchedon Kaifong, where Utubu little expected him. The Mongols had to make theirown road, and they crossed several ravines by improvised "bridges made ofspears and the branches of trees bound together by strong chains. " But theMongol force was too small to accomplish any great result, and theimpetuosity of Samuka nearly led to his destruction. A prompt retreat, andthe fact that the Hoangho was frozen over, enabled him to extricate hisarmy, after much fatigue and reduced in numbers, from its awkwardposition. The retreat of the Mongols inspired Utubu with sufficientconfidence to induce him to attack Yeliu Liuko in Leaoutung, and thesuccess of this enterprise imparted a gleam of sunshine and credit to theexpiring cause of the Kins. Yeliu Liuko was driven from his newly-createdkingdom, but Genghis hastened to the assistance of his ally by sendingMuhula, the greatest of all his generals, at the head of a large army torecover Leaoutung. His success was rapid and remarkable. The Kins werespeedily overthrown, Yeliu Liuko was restored to his authority, and theneighboring King of Corea, impressed by the magnitude of the Mongolsuccess, hastened to acknowledge himself the vassal of Genghis. The mostimportant result of this campaign was that Genghis intrusted to Muhula thecontrol of all military arrangements for the conquest of China. He isreported to have said to his lieutenant: "North of the Taihing Mountains Iam supreme, but all the regions to the south I commend to the care ofMuhula, " and he "also presented him with a chariot and a banner with ninescalops. As he handed him this last emblem of authority, he spoke to hisgenerals, saying, 'Let this banner be an emblem of sovereignty, and letthe orders issued from under it be obeyed as my own. '" The principalreason for intrusting the conquest of China to a special force andcommander was that Genghis wished to devote the whole of his personalattention to the prosecution of his new war with the King of Khwaresm andthe other great rulers of Western Asia. 

Muhula more than justified the selection and confidence of his sovereign. In the year 1218-19 he invaded Honan, defeated the best of the Kincommanders, and not merely overran, but retained possession of the placeshe occupied in the Kin dominions. The difficulties of Utubu wereaggravated by an attack from Ningtsong, the Sung emperor, who refused anylonger to pay tribute to the Kins, as they were evidently unable toenforce the claim, and the Kin armies were as equally unfortunate againsttheir southern opponents as their northern. Then Utubu endeavored tonegotiate terms with Muhula for the retreat of his army, but the onlyconditions the Mongol general would accept were the surrender of the Kinruler and his resignation of the imperial title in exchange for theprincipality of Honan. Utubu, low as he had sunk, declined to abasehimself further and to purchase life at the loss of his dignity. Thesudden death of Muhula gained a brief respite for the distressed Chinesepotentate, but the advantage was not of any permanent significance; firstof all because the Kins were too exhausted by their long struggle, and, secondly, because Genghis hastened to place himself at the head of hisarmy. The news of the death of Muhula reached him when he was encamped onthe frontier of India and preparing to add the conquest of that country tohis many other triumphs in Central and Western Asia. He at once came tothe conclusion that he must return to set his house in order at home, andto prevent all the results of Muhula's remarkable triumphs being lost. What was a disadvantage for China proved a benefit for India, and possiblyfor Europe, as there is no saying how much further the Mongol encroachmentmight have extended westward, if the direction of Genghis had not beenwithdrawn. While Genghis was hastening from the Cabul River to theKerulon, across the Hindoo Koosh and Tian Shan ranges, Utubu died andNinkiassu reigned in his stead. 

One of the first consequences of the death of Muhula was that the youngking of Hia, believing that the fortunes of the Mongols would then wane, and that he might obtain a position of greater power and independence, threw off his allegiance, and adopted hostile measures against them. Theprompt return of Genghis nipped this plan in the bud, but it was madequite evident that the conquest of Hia was essential to the success of anypermanent annexation of Chinese territory, and as its prince could disposeof an army which he boasted numbered half a million of men, it is notsurprising to find that he took a whole year in perfecting hisarrangements for so grave a contest. The war began in 1225 and continuedfor two years. The success of the Mongol army was decisive andunqualified. The Hias were defeated in several battles, and in one of themfought upon the frozen waters of the Hoangho. Genghis broke the ice bymeans of his engines, and the Hia army was almost annihilated. The kingLeseen was deposed, and Hia became a Mongol province. 

[Illustration: HONG KONG_China_]

It was immediately after this successful war that Genghis was seized withhis fatal illness. Signs had been seen in the heavens which the Mongolastrologers said indicated the near approach of his death. The fiveplanets had appeared together in the southwest, and so much impressed wasGenghis by this phenomenon that on his death-bed he expressed "the earnestdesire that henceforth the lives of our enemies shall not be unnecessarilysacrificed. " The expression of this wish undoubtedly tended to mitigatethe terrors of war as carried on by the Mongols. The immediate successorsof Genghis conducted their campaigns after a more humane fashion, and itwas not until Timour revived the early Mongol massacres that theiropponents felt there was no chance in appealing to the humanity of theMongols. Various accounts have been published of the cause of his death;some authorities ascribing it to violence, either by an arrow, lightning, or drowning, and others to natural causes. The event seems to haveunquestionably happened in his camp on the borders of Shansi, August 27, 1227, when he was about sixty-five years of age, during more than fifty ofwhich he had enjoyed supreme command of his own tribe. 

The area of the undertakings conducted under his eye was more vast andincluded a greater number of countries than was the case with any otherconqueror. Not a country from the Euxine to the China Sea escaped thetramp of the Mongol horsemen, and if we include the achievements of hisimmediate successors, the conquest of Russia, Poland, and Hungary, theplundering of Bulgaria, Roumania, and Bosnia, the final subjection ofChina and its southern tributaries must be added to complete the tale ofMongol triumph. The sphere of Mongol influence extended beyond this largeportion of the earth's surface, just as the consequence of an explosioncannot be restricted to the immediate scene of the disaster. If we mayinclude the remarkable achievements of his descendant Baber, and of thatprince's grandson Akbar, in India three centuries later, not a country inAsia enjoyed immunity from the effect of their successes. Perhaps the mostimportant result of their great outpouring into Western Asia--whichcertainly was the arrest of the Mohammedan career in Central Asia, and thediversion of the current of the fanatical propagators of the Prophet'screed against Europe--is not yet as fully recognized as it should be. Thedoubt has been already expressed whether the Mongols would ever have risento higher rank than that of a nomad tribe but for the appearance ofGenghis. Leaving that supposition in the category of other interesting butproblematical conjectures, it may be asserted that Genghis represented intheir highest forms all the qualities which entitled his race to exercisegoverning authority. He was, moreover, a military genius of the very firstorder, and it may be questioned whether either Caesar or Napoleon can ascommanders be placed on a par with him. Even the Chinese said that he ledhis armies like a god. The manner in which he moved large bodies of menover vast distances without an apparent effort, the judgment he showed inthe conduct of several wars in countries far apart from each other, hisstrategy in unknown regions, always on the alert, yet never allowinghesitation or overcaution to interfere with his enterprise, the siegeswhich he brought to a successful termination, his brilliant victories, asuccession of "suns of Austerlitz, " all combined make up the picture of acareer to which Europe can offer nothing that will surpass, if indeed shehas anything to bear comparison with it. After the lapse of centuries, andin spite of the indifference with which the great figures of Asiatichistory have been treated, the name of Genghis preserves its magic spell. It is still a name to conjure with when recording the great revolutions ofa period which beheld the death of the old system in China, and the adventin that country of a newer and more vigorous government which, slowlyacquiring shape in the hands of Kublai and a more national form under theMings, has attained the pinnacle of its utility and strength under theinfluence of the great emperors of the Manchu dynasty. But great as is thereputation Genghis has acquired it is probably short of his merits. He isremembered as a relentless and irresistible conqueror, a human scourge;but he was much more. He was one of the greatest instruments of destiny, one of the most remarkable molders of the fate of nations to be met within the history of the world. His name still overshadows Asia with itsfame, and the tribute of our admiration cannot be denied. 

The death of Genghis did not seriously retard the progress of the waragainst the Kins. He expressed the wish that war should be carried on in amore humane and less vindictive manner, but he did not advocate therebeing no war or the abandonment of any of his enterprises. His son andsuccessor Ogotai was indeed specially charged to bring the conquest ofChina to a speedy and victorious conclusion. The weakness of the Mongolconfederacy was the delay connected with the proclamation of a new Khanand the necessity of summoning to a Grand Council all the princes andgenerals of the race, although it entailed the suspension and often theabandonment of great enterprises. The death of Genghis saved India but notChina. Almost his last instructions were to draw up the plan for attackingand turning the great fortress of Tunkwan, which had provided such anefficient defense for Honan on the north, and in 1230, Ogotai, who hadalready partitioned the territory taken from the Kins into tendepartments, took the field in person, giving a joint command to hisbrother Tuli, under whom served the experienced generals Yeliu Chutsia, Antchar, and Subutai. At first the Mongols met with no great success, andthe Kins, encouraged by a momentary gleam of victory, ventured to rejectthe terms offered by Ogotai and to insult his envoy. The only importantfighting during the years 1230-31 occurred round Fongsian, which after along siege surrendered to Antchar, and when the campaign closed the Kinspresented a bold front to the Mongols and still hoped to retain theirpower and dominions. 

In 1232 the Mongols increased their armies in the field, and attacked theKins from two sides. Ogotai led the main force against Honan, while Tuli, marching through Shensi into Szchuen, assailed them on their westernflank. The difficulties encountered by Tuli on this march, when he had tomake his own roads, were such that he entered the Kin territories with amuch reduced and exhausted army. The Kin forces gained some advantage overit, but by either a feigned or a forced retreat, Tuli succeeded inbaffling their pursuit, and in effecting a junction with his brotherOgotai, who had met with better fortune. Tuli destroyed everything alonghis line of march, and his massacres and sacks revived the worsttraditions of Mongol ferocity. In these straits the Kins endeavored toflood the country round their capital, to which the Mongols had nowadvanced, but the Mongols fell upon the workmen while engaged in the task, and slew ten thousand of them. When the main Kin army accepted battlebefore the town of Yuchow, it was signally defeated, with the loss ofthree of its principal generals, and Ninkiassu fled from Kaifong to aplace more removed from the scene of war. The garrison and townspeople ofKaifong--an immense city with walls thirty-six miles in circumference, anda population during the siege, it is said, of one million four hundredthousand families, or nearly seven million people--offered a stubbornresistance to the Mongols, who intrusted the conduct of the attack toSubutai, the most daring of all their commanders. The Mongols employedtheir most formidable engines, catapults hurling immense stones, andmortars ejecting explosives and combustibles, but twelve months elapsedbefore the walls were shattered and the courage and provisions of thedefenders exhausted. Then Kaifong surrendered at discretion, and Subutaiwished to massacre the whole of the population. But fortunately for theChinese, Yeliu Chutsai was a more humane and a more influential general, and under his advice Ogotai rejected the cruel proposal. 

At this moment, when it seemed impossible for fate to have any worseexperience in store for the unfortunate Kins, their old enemies, theSungs, wishing to give them the _coup de grace_, declared war uponthem, and placed a large army in the field under their best general, Mongkong, of whom more will be heard. The relics of the Kin army, undertheir sovereign Ninkiassu, took shelter in Tsaichau, where they wereclosely besieged by the Mongols on one side and the Sungs on the other. Driven thus into a corner, the Kins fought with the courage of despair andlong held out against the combined efforts of their enemies. At lastNinkiassu saw that the struggle could not be prolonged, and he preparedhimself to end his life and career in a manner worthy of the race fromwhich he sprang. When the enemy broke into the city, and he heard thestormers at the gate of his palace, he retired to an upper chamber and setfire to the building. Many of his generals, and even of his soldiers, followed his example, preferring to end their existence rather than to addto the triumph of their Mongol and Sung opponents. Thus came to an end in1234 the famous dynasty of the Kins, who under nine emperors had ruledNorthern China for one hundred and eighteen years, and whose power andmilitary capacity may best be gauged by the fact that without a singleally they held out against the all-powerful Mongols for more than aquarter of a century. Ninkiassu, the last of their rulers, was not able tosustain the burden of their authority, but he at least showed himselfequal to ending it in a worthy and appropriately dramatic manner. 

The folly of the Sungs had completed the discomfiture of the Kins, and hadbrought to their own borders the terrible peril which had beset everyother state in Asia, and which had in almost every case entaileddestruction. How could the Sungs expect to avoid the same fate, or topropitiate the most implacable and insatiable of conquering races? Theyhad done this to a large extent with their eyes open. More than once inthe early stages of the struggle the Kin rulers had sent envoys to begtheir alliance, and to warn them that if they did not help in keeping outthe Mongols, their time would come to be assailed and to share in thecommon ruin. But Ningtsong did not pay heed to the warning, and scarcelyconcealed his gratification at the misfortunes of his old opponents. Thenearer the Mongols came, and the worse the plight to which the Kins werereduced, the more did he rejoice. He forgave Tuli the violation of Sungterritory, necessary for his flank attack on Honan, and when the knell ofthe Kins sounded at the fall of Kaifong, he hastened to help in strikingthe final blow at them, and to participate, as he hoped, in thedistribution of the plunder. By this time Litsong had succeeded his cousinNingtsong as ruler of the Sungs, and it is said that he received fromTsaichau the armor and personal spoils of Ninkiassu, which he had thesatisfaction of offering up in the temple of his ancestors. But when herequested the Mongols to comply with the more important part of theconvention, by which the Sung forces had joined the Mongols beforeTsaichau, and to evacuate the province of Honan, he experienced a rudeawakening from his dream that the overthrow of the Kins would redound tohis advantage, and he soon realized what value the Mongols attached to hisalliance. The military capacity of Mongkong inspired the Sung ruler withconfidence, and he called upon the Mongols to execute their promises, orto prepare for war. The Mongol garrisons made no movement of retreat, andthe utmost that Litsong was offered was a portion of Honan, if it could bepractically divided. The proposition was probably meant ironically, but atall events Litsong rejected it, and sent Mongkong to take by forcepossession of the disputed province. The Mongol forces on the spot werefewer than the Chinese, and they met with some reverses. But the hope ofthe Sungs that the fortune of war would declare in their favor was soondestroyed by the vast preparations of the Mongols, who, at a specialkuriltai, held at Karakoram, declared that the conquest of China was to becompleted. Then Litsong's confidence left him, and he sent an appeal forpeace to the Mongols, giving up all claim to Honan, and only asking to beleft in undisturbed possession of his original dominions. It was too late. The Mongols had passed their decree that the Sungs were to be treated likethe Kins, and that the last Chinese government was to be destroyed. 

In 1235, the year following the immolation of Ninkiassu, the Mongolsplaced half a million men in the field for the purpose of destroying theSung power, and Ogotai divided them into three armies, which were toattack Litsong's kingdom from as many sides. The Mongol ruler intrustedthe most difficult task to his son Kutan, who invaded the inaccessible andvast province of Szchuen, at the head of one of these armies. Notwithstanding its natural capacity for offering an advantageous defense, the Chinese turned their opportunities to poor account, and the Mongolssucceeded in capturing all its frontier fortresses, with little or noresistance. The shortcomings of the defense can be inferred from thecircumstances of the Chinese annalists making special mention of onegovernor having had the courage to die at his post. For some reason notclearly stated the Mongols did not attempt to retain possession of Szchuenon this occasion. They withdrew when they were in successful occupation ofthe northern half of the province, and when it seemed as if the other layat their mercy. In the two dual provinces of Kiangnan and Houkwang, theother Mongol armies met with considerable success, which was dimmed, however, by the death of Kuchu, the son and proclaimed heir of Ogotai. This event, entailing no inconsiderable doubt and long-continued disputesas to the succession, was followed by the withdrawal of the Mongol forcesfrom Sung territory, and during the last six years of his life Ogotaiabstained from war, and gave himself up to the indulgence of his gluttony. He built a great palace at Karakoram, where his ancestors had been contentto live in a tent, and he intrusted the government of the old Kindominions to Yeliu Chutsai, who acquired great popularity among theChinese for his clemency and regard for their customs. Yeliu Chutsaiadopted the Chinese mode of taxation, and when Ogotai's widow, Turakina, who acted as regent after her husband's death, ordered him to alter hissystem and to farm out the revenues, he sent in his resignation, and, itis said, died of grief shortly afterward. Ogotai was one of the mosthumane and amiable of all the Mongol rulers, and Yeliu Chutsai imitatedhis master. Of the latter the Chinese contemporary writers said "he wasdistinguished by a rare disinterestedness. Of a very broad intellect, hewas able, without injustice and without wronging a single person, to amassvast treasures (D'Ohsson says only of books, maps, and pictures), and toenrich his family, but all his care and labors had for their sole objectthe advantage and glory of his masters. Wise and calculating in his plans, he did little of which he had any reason to repent. "

During the five years following the death of Ogotai, the Mongols wereabsorbed in the question who should be their next Great Khan, and it wasonly after a warm and protracted discussion, which threatened to entailthe disruption of Mongol power, and the revelation of many rivalries amongthe descendants of Genghis, that Kuyuk, the eldest son of Ogotai, wasproclaimed emperor. At the kuriltai held for this purpose, all the greatMongol leaders were present, including Batu, the conqueror of Hungary, andafter the Mongol chiefs had agreed as to their chief, the captive kings, Yaroslaf of Russia and David of Georgia, paid homage to their conqueror. We owe to the monk Carpino, who was sent by the Pope to convert theMongol, a graphic account of one of the most brilliant ceremonies to bemet with in the whole course of Mongol history. The delay in selectingKuyuk, whose principal act of sovereignty was to issue a seal having thisinscription: "God in Heaven and Kuyuk on earth; by the power of God theruler of all men, " had given the Sungs one respite, and his early deathprocured them another. Kuyuk died in 1248, and his cousin, Mangu, the sonof Tuli, was appointed his successor. By this time the Mongol chiefs ofthe family of Genghis in Western Asia were practically independent of thenominal Great Khan, and governed their states in complete sovereignty, andwaged war without reference to Karakoram. This change left the Mongols intheir original home of the Amour absolutely free to devote all theirattention to the final overthrow of the Sungs, and Mangu declared that hewould know no rest until he had finally subjected the last of the Chineseruling families. In this resolution Mangu received the hearty support ofhis younger but more able brother, Kublai, to whom was intrusted thedirection in the field of the armies sent to complete the conquest ofChina. 

Kublai received this charge in 1251, so that the Sungs had enjoyed, firstthrough the pacific disposition of Ogotai, and, secondly, from the familydisputes following his death, peace for more than fifteen years. Theadvantage of this tranquillity was almost nullified by the death ofMongkong, a general whose reputation may have been easily gained, but whocertainly enjoyed the confidence of his soldiers, and who was thought byhis countrymen to be the best commander of his day. When the Chineseemperor, Litsong, saw the storm again approaching his northern frontier, he found that he had lost the main support of his power, and that hismilitary resources were inferior to those of his enemy. He had allowedhimself to be lulled into a false sense of security by the long inactionof the Mongols, and although he seems to have been an amiable prince, anda typical Chinese ruler, honoring the descendants of Confucius with thehereditary title of duke, which still remains in that family, and is theonly title of its kind in China, and encouraging the literary classes ofhis country, he was a bad sovereign to be intrusted with the task ofdefending his realm and people against a bold and determined enemy. 

Kublai prepared the way for his campaigns in Southern China by following avery wise and moderate policy in Northern China similar to that begun byMuhula, and carried out with greater effect by Yeliu Chutsai. He hadenjoyed the advantage of a Chinese education, imparted by an able tutornamed Yaochu, who became the prince's private secretary and mentor in allChinese matters. At his instigation, or, at least, with his co-operation, Kublai took in hand the restoration of the southern portion of Honan, which had been devastated during the wars, and he succeeded in bringingback its population and prosperity to that great province of CentralChina. He thus secured a base for his operations close to the Sungfrontier, while he attached to his person a large section of the Chinesenation. There never was any concealment that this patronage of Chineseofficials, and these measures for the amelioration of many millions ofChinese subjects, were the well calculated preliminaries to the invasionof Southern China and the extinction of the Sung dynasty. 

If Kublai had succeeded in obtaining a wise adviser in Yaochu, he was notless fortunate in procuring a great general in the person of Uriangkadai, the son of Subutai, and his remarkable and unvarying successes werelargely due to the efforts of those two men in the cabinet and the field. The plan of campaign, drawn up with great care and forethought by theprince and his lieutenant, had the double merit of being both bold andoriginal. Its main purpose was not one that the Sung generals would belikely to divine. It was determined to make a flank march round the Sungdominions, and to occupy what is now the province of Yunnan; and, byplacing an army in the rear of their kingdom, to attack them eventuallyfrom two sides. At this time Yunnan formed an independent state, and itsruler, from his position behind the Sung territory, must have fanciedhimself secure against any attack by the Mongols. He was destined to arude awakening. Kublai and Uriangkadai, marching across Szchuen andcrossing the Kinchakiang, or "river of golden sand, " which forms the uppercourse of the Great River, on rafts, burst into Yunnan, speedilyvanquished the frontier garrisons, and laid siege to the capital, Talifoo. That town did not hold out long, and soon Kublai was in a position toreturn to his own state, leaving Uriangkadai with a considerable garrisonin charge of Yunnan. That general, believing that his position would beimproved by his resorting to an active offensive, carried the standard ofhis race against the many turbulent tribes in his neighborhood, andinvaded Burma whose king, after one campaign, was glad to recognize thesupremacy of the Mongols. The success and the boldness, which may havebeen considered temerity, of this campaign, raised up enemies to Kublai atthe court of Karakoram, and the mind of his brother Mangu was poisonedagainst him by many who declared that Kublai aspired to completeindependence. These designs so far succeeded, that in 1257 Mangu finallydeprived Kublai of all his commands, and ordered him to proceed toKarakoram. At this harsh and unmerited treatment Kublai showed himselfinclined to rebel and dispute his brother's authority. If he had donethis, although the provocation was great, he would have confirmed thecharges of his accusers, and a war would have broken out among the Mongolswhich would probably have rent their power in twain in Eastern Asia. Butfortunately Yaochu was at hand to give prudent advice, and after muchhesitation Kublai yielded to the impressive exhortations of hisexperienced and sagacious minister. He is reported to have addressedKublai in the following terms: "Prince! You are the brother of theemperor, but you are not the less his subject. You cannot, withoutcommitting a crime, question his decisions, and, moreover, if you were todo so, it would only result in placing you in a more dangerouspredicament, out of which you could hardly succeed in extricatingyourself, as you are so far distant from the capital where your enemiesseek to injure you. My advice is that you should send your family toMangu, and by this step you will justify yourself and remove anysuspicions there may be. "

Kublai adopted this wise course, and proceeded in person to Karakoram, where he succeeded in proving his innocence and in discomfiting hisenemies. It is said that Mangu was so affected at the mere sight of hisbrother that he at once forgave him without waiting for an explanation andreinstated him in all his offices. To ratify this reconciliation Manguproclaimed that he would take the field in person, and that Kublai shouldhold joint command with himself. When he formed this resolution to proceedto China in person, he appointed his next brother, Arikbuka, to act as hislieutenant in Mongolia. It is necessary to recollect this arrangement, asMangu died during the campaign, and it led to the separation of theChinese empire and the Mongolian, which were divided after that eventbetween Kublai and Arikbuka. 

Mangu did not come to his resolution to prosecute the war with the Sungsany too soon, for Uriangkadai was beginning to find his isolated positionnot free from danger. Large as the army of that general was, andskillfully as he had endeavored to improve his position by strengtheningthe fortresses and recruiting from the warlike tribes of Yunnan, Uriangkadai found himself threatened by the collected armies of the Sungs, who occupied Szchuen with a large garrison and menaced the daring Mongolgeneral with the whole of their power. There seems every reason to believethat if the Sungs had acted with only ordinary promptitude they might havedestroyed this Mongol army long before any aid could have reached it fromthe north. Once Mangu had formed his resolution the rapidity of hismovements left the Sungs little or no chance of attacking Uriangkadai. This campaign began in the winter of 1257, when the troops were able tocross the frozen waters of the Hoangho, and the immense Mongol army wasdivided into three bodies, while Uriangkadai was ordered to march northand effect a junction with his old chief Kublai in Szchuen. The principalfighting of the first year occurred in this part of China, and Manguhastened there with another of his armies. The Sung garrison was large, and showed great courage and fortitude. The difficulty of the country andthe strength of several of their fortresses seconded their efforts, andafter two years' fighting the Mongols felt so doubtful of success thatthey held a council of war to decide whether they should retreat orcontinue to prosecute the struggle. It has been said that councils of wardo not come to bold resolutions, but this must have been an exception, asit decided not to retreat, and to make one more determined effort toovercome the Chinese. The campaign of 1259 began with the siege of Hochau, a strong fortress, held by a valiant garrison and commander, and to whoseaid a Chinese army under Luwenti was hastening. The governor, Wangkien, offered a stout resistance, and Luwenti succeeded in harassing thebesiegers; but the fall of the fortress appeared assured, when a new andmore formidable defender arrived in the form of dysentery. The Mongol campwas ravaged by this foe, Mangu himself died of the disease, and those ofthe Mongols who escaped beat a hasty and disorderly retreat back to thenorth. Once more the Sungs obtained a brief respite. 

The death of Mangu threatened fresh disputes and strife among the Mongolroyal family. Kublai was his brother's lawful heir, but Arikbuka, theyoungest of the brothers was in possession of Karakoram, and supremethroughout Mongolia. He was hostile to Kublai, and disposed to assert allhis rights and to make the most of his opportunities. No Great Khan couldbe proclaimed anywhere save at Karakoram, and Arikbuka would not allow hisbrother to gain that place, the cradle of their race and dynasty, unlesshe could do so by force of arms. Kublai attempted to solve the difficultyby holding a grand council near his favorite city of Cambaluc, the modernPekin, and he sent forth his proclamation to the Mongols as their Khan. But they refused to recognize one who was not elected in the orthodoxfashion at Karakoram; and Arikbuka not merely defied Kublai, but summonedhis own kuriltai at Karakoram, where he was proclaimed Khakhan in the mostformal manner and with all the accustomed ceremonies. Arikbuka wasundoubtedly popular among the Mongols, while Kublai, who was regarded ashalf a Chinese on account of his education, had a far greater reputationsouth of the wall than north of it. Kublai could not tolerate the opendefiance of his authority, and the contempt shown for what was hisbirthright, by Arikbuka; and in 1261 he advanced upon Karakoram at thehead of a large army. A single battle sufficed to dispose of Arikbuka'spretensions, and that prince was glad to find a place of refuge among theKirghiz. Kublai proved himself a generous enemy. He sent Arikbuka his fullpardon, he reinstated him in his rank of prince, and he left him virtuallysupreme among the Mongol tribes. He retraced his steps to Pekin, fullyresolved to become Chinese emperor in reality, but prepared to waive hisrights as Mongol Khan. Mangu Khan was the last of the Mongol rulers whoseauthority was recognized in both the east and the west, and his successor, Kublai, seeing that its old significance had departed, was fain toestablish his on a new basis in the fertile, ancient and wide-stretchingdominions of China. 

Before Kublai composed the difficulty with Arikbuka he had resumed hisoperations against the Sungs, and even before Mangu's death he hadsucceeded in establishing some posts south of the Yangtsekiang, in theimpassability of which the Chinese fondly believed. During the year 1260he laid siege to Wochow, the modern Wouchang, but he failed to make anyimpression on the fortress on this occasion, and he agreed to the trucewhich Litsong proposed. By the terms of this agreement Litsongacknowledged himself a Mongol vassal, just as his ancestors had subjectedthemselves to the Kins, paid a large tribute, and forbade his generalsanywhere to attack the Mongols. The last stipulation was partly broken byan attack on the rear of Uriangkadai's corps, but no serious resultsfollowed, for Kublai was well satisfied with the manner in which thecampaign terminated, as there is no doubt that his advance across theYangtsekiang had been precipitate, and he may have thought himself luckyto escape with the appearance of success and the conclusion of agratifying treaty. It was with the reputation gained by this nominalsuccess, and by having made the Sungs his tributaries, that Kublaihastened northward to settle his rivalry with Arikbuka. Havingaccomplished that object with complete success, he decided to put an endto the Sung dynasty. The Chinese emperor, acting with strange fatuity, hadgiven fresh cause of umbrage, and had provoked a war by many petty acts ofdiscourtesy, culminating in the murder of the envoys of Kublai, sent tonotify him of his proclamation as Great Khan of the Mongols. Probably theSung ruler could not have averted war if he had shown the greatestforbearance and humility, but this cruel and inexcusable act precipitatedthe crisis and the extinction of his attenuated authority. If there wasany delay in the movements of Kublai for the purpose of exactingreparation for this outrage, it was due to his first having to arrange adifficulty that had arisen in his relations with the King of Corea. Thatpotentate had long preserved the peace with his Mongol neighbors, andperhaps he would have remained a friend without any interruption, had notthe Mongols done something which was construed as an infraction of Coreanliberty. The Corean love of independence took fire at the threateneddiminution of their rights, they rose en masse in defense of theircountry, and even the king, Wangtien, who had been, well disposed to theMongol rulers, declared that he could not continue the alliance, andplaced himself at the head of his people. Seeing himself thus menaced witha costly war in a difficult country on the eve of a more necessary andhopeful contest, Kublai resorted to diplomacy. He addressed Wangtien incomplimentary terms and disclaimed all intention of injuring the Coreans, with whom he wished to maintain friendly relations, but at the same timehe pointed out the magnitude of his power and dilated on the extent of theMongol conquests. Half by flattery and half by menace Kublai brought theCorean court to reason, and Wangtien again entered into bonds of alliancewith Cambaluc and renewed his old oaths of friendship. 

At this point of the long struggle with the Sungs it will be appropriateto consider what was the exact position of Kublai with regard to his ownChinese subjects, who now formed the backbone of his power. By this timeKublai had become to all practical intents and purposes a Chinese emperor. He had accepted all the traditional functions of the typical Hwangti, andthe etiquette and splendor of his court rivaled that of the Sungs. He hadnot merely adopted the Chinese system of taxation and the form ofadministration to which the larger portion of his officials, being ofChinese race, had been accustomed, but he declared himself the patron oflearning and of Buddhism, which had gained a hold on the minds of theMongols that it has not lost to the present day. One of the most popularof his early measures had been the order to liberate all the literateclass among his Chinese prisoners, and they had formed the nucleus of thecivil service Kublai attached to his interests and utilized as his empireexpanded. In his relations with Buddhism Kublai showed not lessastuteness, and in realizing that to attain durable success he must appealto the religious side of human character, he showed that he had the trueinstincts of a statesman. 

At this time two facts were clearly apparent. The Chinese were sunk in alow state of religious disbelief, and the Sung rulers were not disposed toplay the part of regenerators of their country. The second fact was thatthe only vigorous religion in China, or, indeed, in Eastern Asia, wasBuddhism, which, since the establishment of Brahmanism in India, had takenup its headquarters in Tibet, where, however, the supreme authority wasstill secular--that is to say, it was invested in the hands of a prince orking, and not in those of a priest or Grand Lama. It so happened thatthere was resident at Kublai's court a Tibetan priest, of the family whichhad always supplied the Sanpou with his minister, who gained the ear ofKublai, and convinced him how politic and advantageous to him personallyit would be if he were to secure the co-operation and sympathy of hispriestly order. Kublai fell in with his plans, and proclaimed his friendPakba Lama, and sent him back to Tibet, there to establish theecclesiastical authority, which still exists in that country, in intimatealliance and sympathy with the Chinese rulers. By this and other similarproceedings Kublai gained over to his side several influential classesamong the Chinese people, and many reflecting persons thought they saw inhim a true regenerator of the empire, and a worthy successor of theirgreatest rulers. It was, therefore, with a thoroughly pacified country, and to a great extent a contented people, that Kublai began his last warwith the rulers of Southern China. 

In 1263 Kublai issued his proclamation of war, calling on his generals "toassemble their troops, to sharpen their swords and their pikes, and toprepare their bows and arrows, " for he intended to attack the Sungs byland and sea. The treason of a Chinese general in his service named Litanserved to delay the opening of the campaign for a few weeks, but thisincident was of no importance, as Litan was soon overthrown and executed. Brief as was the interval, it was marked by one striking and importantevent--the death of Litsong, who was succeeded by his nephew, Chowki, called the Emperor Toutsong. Litsong was not a wise ruler, but, comparedwith many of his successors, he might be more accurately styledunfortunate than incompetent. Toutsong, and his weak and arrogantminister, Kiassetao, hastened to show that there were greater heights offolly than any to which he had attained. Acting on the advice of arenegade Sung general, well acquainted with the defenses of SouthernChina, Kublai altered his proposed attack, and prepared for crossing theYangtsekiang by first making himself supreme on its tributary, the HanRiver. His earlier attack on Wouchang has been described, and hiscompulsory retirement from that place had taught him the evil of making apremature attack. His object remained the same, but instead of marchingdirect to it across the Yangtsekiang he took the advice of the Sunggeneral, arid attacked the fortress of Sianyang on the Han River, with theobject of making himself supreme on that stream, and wresting from theSungs the last first-class fortress they possessed in the northwest. Bythe time all these preliminaries were completed and the Mongol army hadfairly taken the field it was 1268, and Kublai sent sixty thousand of hisbest troops, with a large number of auxiliaries, to lay siege to Sianyang, which was held by a large garrison and a resolute governor. The Mongollines were drawn up round the town, and also its neighbor of Fanching, situated on the opposite bank of the river, with which communication wasmaintained by several bridges, and the Mongols built a large fleet offifty war junks, with which they closed the Han River and effectuallyprevented any aid being sent up it from Hankow or Wouchang. Liuwen Hoan, the commandant of Sianyang, was a brave man, and he commanded a numerousgarrison and possessed supplies, as he said, to stand a ten years' siege. He repulsed all the assaults of the enemy, and, undaunted by hisisolation, replied to the threats of the Mongols, to give him no quarterif he persisted in holding out, by boasting that he would hang theirtraitor general in chains before his sovereign. The threats and vaunts ofthe combatants did not bring the siege any nearer to an end. The utmostthat the Mongols could achieve was to prevent any provisions or re-enforcements being thrown into the town. But on the fortress itself theymade no impression. Things had gone on like this for three years, and theinterest in the siege had begun to languish, when Kublai determined tomake a supreme effort to carry the place, and at the same moment the Sungminister came to the conclusion to relieve it at all hazards. 

The campaign of 1270 began with a heroic episode--the successful dispatchof provisions into the besieged town, under the direction of two Chineseofficers named Changkoua and Changchun, whose names deserve to be longremembered for their heroism. The flotilla was divided into two bodies, one composed of the fighting, the other of the store-ships. The Mongolshad made every preparation to blockade the river, but the suddenness andvigor of the Chinese attack surprised them, and, at first, the Chinese hadthe best of the day. But soon the Mongols recovered, and from theirsuperior position threatened to overwhelm the assailing Chinese squadron. In this perilous moment Changchun, devoting himself to death in theinterest of his country collected all his war-junks, and making adesperate attack on the Mongols, succeeded in obtaining sufficient time toenable the storeships under Changkoua to pass safely up to Sianyang. Thelife of so great a hero as Changchun was, however, a heavy price to payfor the temporary relief of Sianyang, which was more closely besieged thanever after the arrival of Kublai in person. 

After this affair the Mongols pushed the siege with greater vigor, andinstead of concentrating their efforts on Sianyang they attacked both thatfortress and Fanching from all sides. The Mongol commander, Alihaya, sentto Persia, where the Mongols were also supreme, for engineers trained inthe working of mangonels or catapults, engines capable of throwing stonesof 160-pounds' weight with precision for a considerable distance. By theiraid the bridges across the river were first destroyed, and then the wallsof Sianyang were so severely damaged that an assault appeared to befeasible. But Fanching had suffered still more from the Mongolbombardment, and Alihaya therefore attacked it first. The garrison offereda determined resistance, and the fighting was continued in the streets. Not a man of the garrison escaped, and when the slaughter was over theMongols found that they had only acquired possession of a mass of ruins. But they had obtained the key to Sianyang, the weakest flank of which hadbeen protected by Fanching, and the Chinese garrison was so discouragedthat Liuwen Hoan, despairing of relief, agreed to accept the terms offeredby Kublai. Those terms were expressed in the following noble letter fromthe Mongol emperor: "The generous defense you have made during five yearscovers you with glory. It is the duty of every faithful subject to servehis prince at the expense of his life, but in the straits to which you arereduced, your strength exhausted, deprived of succor and without hope ofreceiving any, would it be reasonable to sacrifice the lives of so manybrave men out of sheer obstinacy? Submit in good faith to us and no harmshall come to you. We promise you still more; and that is to provide eachand all of you with honorable employment. You shall have no grounds ofdiscontent, for that we pledge you our imperial word. "

It will not excite surprise that Liuwen Hoan, who had been, practicallyspeaking, deserted by his own sovereign, should have accepted themagnanimous terms of his conqueror, and become as loyal a lieutenant ofKublai as he had shown himself to be of the Sung Toutsong. The death ofthat ruler followed soon afterward, but as the real power had been in thehands of the Minister Kiassetao, no change took place in the policy orfortunes of the Sung kingdom. At this moment Kublai succeeded in obtainingthe services of Bay an, a Mongol general who had acquired a greatreputation under Khulagu in Persia. Bayan, whose name signifies the nobleor the brave, and who was popularly known as Bayan of the Hundred Eyes, because he was supposed to see everything, was one of the greatestmilitary leaders of his age and race. He was intrusted with the command ofthe main army, and under him served, it is interesting to state, LiuwenHoan. Several towns were captured after more or less resistance, and Bayanbore down with all his force on the triple cities of Hankow, Wouchang, andHanyang. Bayan concentrated all his efforts on the capture of Hanyang, while the Mongol navy under Artchu compelled the Chinese fleet to takerefuge under the walls of Wouchang. None of these towns offered a verystubborn resistance, and Bayan had the satisfaction of receiving theirsurrender one after another. Leaving Alihaya with 40, 000 men to guardthese places, Bayan marched with the rest of his forces on the Sungcapital, Lingan or Hangchow, the celebrated Kincsay of medieval travelers. The retreating fleet and army of the Sungs carried with them fear of theMongols, and the ever-increasing representation of their extraordinarypower and irresistible arms. In this juncture public opinion compelledKiassetao to take the lead, and he called upon all the subjects of theSung to contribute arms and money for the purpose of national defense. Buthis own incompetence in directing this national movement deprived it ofhalf its force and of its natural chances of success. Bayan's advance wasrapid. Many towns opened their gates in terror or admiration of his name, and Liuwen Hoan was frequently present to assure them that Kublai was themost generous of masters, and that there was no wiser course than tosurrender to his generals. 

The Mongol forces at last reached the neighborhood of the Sung capital, where Kiassetao had succeeded in collecting an army of 130, 000 men; butmany of them were ill-trained, and the splendor of the camp provided apoor equivalent for the want of arms and discipline among the men. Kiassetao seems to have been ignorant of the danger of his position, forhe sent an arrogant summons to the Mongols to retire, stating also that hewould grant a peace based on the Yangtsekiang as a boundary. Bayan'ssimple reply to this notice was, "If you had really aimed at peace youwould have made this proposition before we crossed the Kiang. Now that weare the masters of it, it is a little too late. Still if you sincerelydesire it, come and see me in person, and we will discuss the necessaryconditions. " Very few of the Sung lieutenants offered a protractedresistance, and even the isolated cases of devotion were confined to theofficial class, who were more loyal than the mass of the people. ChaoMaofa and his wife Yongchi put an end to their existence sooner than giveup their charge at Chichow, but the garrison accepted the terms of theMongols without compunction, and without thinking of their duty. Kiassetaoattempted to resist the Mongol advance at Kien Kang, the modern Nankin, but after an engagement on land and water the Sungs were driven back, andtheir fleet only escaped destruction by retiring precipitately to the sea. After this success Nankin, surrendered without resistance, although itsgovernor was a valiant and apparently a capable man. He committed suicidesooner than surrender, and among his papers was found a plan of campaign, after perusing which Bay an exclaimed, "Is it possible that the Sungspossessed a man capable of giving such prudent counsel? If they had paidheed to it, should we ever have reached this spot?" After this successBayan pressed on with increased rather than diminished energy, and theSung emperor and his court fled from the capital. Kublai showed aninclination to temporize and to negotiate, but Bayan would not brook anydelay. "To relax your grip even for a moment on an enemy whom you haveheld by the throat for a hundred years would only be to give him time torecover his breath, to restore his forces, and in the end to cause us aninfinity of trouble. "

The Sung fortunes showed some slight symptoms of improving when Kiassetaowas disgraced, and a more competent general was found in the person ofChang Chikia. But the Mongols never abated the vigor of their attack orrelaxed in their efforts to cut off all possibility of succor from theSung capital. When Chang Chikia hoped to improve the position of his sideby resuming the offensive he was destined to rude disappointment. Makingan attack on the strong position of the Mongols at Nankin he was repulsedwith heavy loss. The Sung fleet was almost annihilated and 700 war-junkswere taken by the victors. After this the Chinese never dared to face theMongols again on the water. This victory was due to the courage andcapacity of Artchu. Bayan now returned from a campaign in Mongolia toresume the chief conduct of the war, and he signalized his return by thecapture of Changchow. At this town he is said to have sanctioned amassacre of the Chinese troops, but the facts are enwrapped inuncertainty; and Marco Polo declares that this was only done after theChinese had treacherously cut up the Mongol garrison. Alarmed by the fallof Changchow, the Sung ministers again sued for peace, sending animploring letter to this effect: "Our ruler is young and cannot be heldresponsible for the differences that have arisen between the peoples. Kiassetao the guilty one has been punished; give us peace and we shall bebetter friends in the future. " Bayan's reply was severe anduncompromising. "The age of your prince has nothing to do with thequestion between us. The war must go on to its legitimate end. Furtherargument is useless. " The defenses of the Sung capital were by this timeremoved, and the unfortunate upholders of that dynasty had no option saveto come to terms with the Mongols. Marco Polo describes Kincsay as themost opulent city of the world, but it was in no position to stand asiege. The empress-regent, acting for her son, sent in her submission toBayan, and agreed to proceed to the court of the conqueror. She abdicatedfor herself and family all the pretensions of their rank, and she acceptedthe favors of the Mongol with due humility, saying, "The Son of Heaven(thus giving Kublai the correct imperial style) grants you the favor ofsparing your life; it is just to thank him for it and to pay him homage. "Bayan made a triumphal entry into the city, while the Emperor Kongtsongwas sent off to Pekin. The majority of the Sung courtiers and soldierscame to terms with Bayan, but a few of the more desperate or faithfulendeavored to uphold the Sung cause in Southern China under the general, Chang Chikia. Two of the Sung princes were supported by this commander, and one was proclaimed by the empty title of emperor. Capricious fortunerallied to their side for a brief space, and some of the Mongoldetachments which had advanced too far or with undue precipitancy were cutup and destroyed. 

The Mongols seem to have thought that the war was over, and the success ofChang Chikia's efforts may have been due to their negligence rather thanto his vigor. As soon as they realized that there remained a flickeringflame of opposition among the supporters of the Sungs they sent twoarmies, one into Kwantung and the other into Fuhkien, and their fleetagainst Chang Chikia. Desperate as was his position, that officer stillexclaimed, "If heaven has not resolved to overthrow the Sungs, do youthink that even now it cannot restore their ruined throne?" but his hopeswere dashed to the ground by the capture of Canton, and the expulsion ofall his forces from the mainland. One puppet emperor died, and then Changproclaimed another as Tiping. The last supporters of the cause took refugeon the island of Tai in the Canton estuary, where they hoped to maintaintheir position. The position was strong and the garrison was numerous; butthe Mongols were not to be frightened by appearances. Their fleet boredown on the last Sung stronghold with absolute confidence, and, althoughthe Chinese resisted for three days and showed great gallantry, they wereoverwhelmed by the superior engines as well as the numbers of the Mongols. Chang Chikia with a few ships succeeded in escaping from the fray, but theemperor's vessel was less fortunate, and finding that escape wasimpossible, Lousionfoo, one of the last Sung ministers, seized the emperorin his arms and jumped overboard with him. Thus died Tiping, the lastChinese emperor of the Sungs, and with him expired that ill-fated dynasty. Chang Chikia renewed the struggle with aid received from Tonquin, but whenhe was leading a forlorn hope against Canton he was caught in a typhoonand he and his ships were wrecked. His invocation to heaven, "I have doneeverything I could to sustain on the throne the Sung dynasty. When oneprince died I caused another to be proclaimed emperor. He also hasperished, and I still live! Oh, heaven, shall I be acting against thydesires if I sought to place a new prince of this family on the throne?"sounded the dirge of the race he had served so well. 

Thus was the conquest of China by the Mongols completed. After half acentury of warfare the kingdom of the Sungs shared the same fate as itsold rival the Kin, and Kublai had the personal satisfaction of completingthe work begun by his grandfather Genghis seventy years before. Of all theMongol triumphs it was the longest in being attained. The Chinese of thenorth and of the south resisted with extraordinary powers of endurance thewhole force of the greatest conquering race Asia had ever seen. They werenot skilled in war and their generals were generally incompetent, but theyheld out with desperate courage and obstinacy long after other races wouldhave given in. The student of history will not fail to see in these factsstriking testimony of the extraordinary resources of China, and of thecapacity of resistance to even a vigorous conqueror possessed by its inertmasses. Even the Mongols did not conquer until they had obtained the aidof a large section of the Chinese nation, or before Kublai had shown thathe intended to prove himself a worthy Emperor of China and not merely agreat Khan of the Mongol Hordes. 

CHAPTER VI

KUBLAI AND THE MONGOL DYNASTY

While Bayan was winning victories for his master and driving the Chinesearmies from the field, Kublai was engaged at Pekin in the difficult andnecessary task of consolidating his authority. In 1271 he gave his dynastythe name of Yuen or Original, and he took for himself the Chinese title ofChitsou, although it will never supersede his Mongol name of Kublai. Summoning to his court the most experienced Chinese ministers, and aidedby many foreigners, he succeeded in founding a government which wasimposing by reason of its many-sidedness as well as its inherent strength. It satisfied the Chinese and it was gratifying to the Mongols, becausethey formed the buttress of one of the most imposing administrations inthe world. All this was the distinct work of Kublai, who had enjoyed thespecial favor of Genghis, who had predicted of him that "one day he willsit in my seat and bring you good fortune such as you have had in mytime. " He resolved to make his court the most splendid in the world. Hiscapital Cambaluc or Khanbalig--"the city of the Khan"--stood on or nearthe present site of Pekin, and was made for the first time capital ofChina by the Mongols. There were, according to Marco Polo, twelve gates, at each of which was stationed a guard of 1, 000 men, and the streets wereso straight and wide that you could see from one end to the other, or fromgate to gate. The extent given of the walls varies: according to thehighest estimate they were twenty-seven miles round, according to thelowest eighteen. The khan's palace at Chandu or Kaipingfoo, north ofPekin, where he built a magnificent summer palace, kept his stud ofhorses, and carried out his love of the chase in the immense park andpreserves attached, may be considered the Windsor of this Chinese monarch. The position of Pekin had, and still has, much to recommend it as the siteof a capital. The Mings, after proclaiming Nankin the capital, madescarcely less use of it, and Chuntche, the first of the Manchus, adoptedit as his. It has since remained the sole metropolis of the empire. 

When Kublai permanently established himself at Pekin he drew up consistentlines of policy on all the great questions with which it was likely hewould have to deal, and he always endeavored to act upon these setprinciples. In framing this system of government he was greatly assistedby his old friend and tutor Yaochu, as well as by other Chinese ministers. He was thus able to deal wisely and also vigorously with a society withwhich he was only imperfectly acquainted; and the impartiality and insightinto human character, which were his main characteristics, greatlysimplified the difficult task before him. His impartiality was shown mostclearly in his attitude on the question of religion; but it partook verylargely of a hard materialism which concealed itself under a nominalindifference. At first he treated with equal consideration Buddhism, Mohammedanism, Christianity, and even Judaism, and he said that he treatedthem all with equal consideration because he hoped that the greatest amongthem would help him in heaven. If some doubt may be felt as to thesincerity of this statement, there can be none as to Kublai's effort toturn all religions to a political use, and to make them serve his turn. Some persons have thought he showed a predilection for Christianity, buthis measures in support of Buddhism, and of his friend the Pakba Lama, area truer indication of his feelings. But none were admitted into hisprivate confidence, and his acts evinced a politic tolerance toward allcreeds. But his religious tolerance or indifference did not extend topersonal matters. He insisted on the proper prayers being offered tohimself and the extreme reverence of the kow-tow. Priests were appointedand specially enjoined to offer up prayers on his behalf before thepeople, who were required to attend these services and to join in theresponses. Images of himself were also sent to all the provincial townsfor reverence to be offered. He also followed the Chinese custom oferecting a temple to his ancestors, and the coins that passed current borehis effigy. Thus did Kublai more and more identify himself with hisChinese subjects, and as he found his measures crowned with success hebecame himself more wedded to Chinese views, less tolerant of adverseopinions, and more disposed to assert his sovereign majesty. 

Having embellished his capital, it is not surprising to find that he drewup a strict court ceremonial, and that he proscribed gorgeous dresses forthose who were to be allowed to approach him. His banquets were of themost sumptuous description. Strangers from foreign states were admitted tothe presence, and dined at a table set apart for travelers, while thegreat king himself feasted in the full gaze of his people. His courtiers, guard, and ministers attended by a host of servitors, and protected fromenemies by 20, 000 guards, the flower of the Mongol army; the countlesswealth seized in the capitals of numerous kingdoms; the brilliance ofintellect among his chief adherents and supporters; the martial characterof the race that lent itself almost as well to the pageantry of a court asto the stern reality of battle; and finally the majesty of the great kinghimself--all combined to make Kublai's court and capital the mostsplendid, at that time, in the world. Although Kublai's instincts weremartial, he gave up all idea of accompanying his armies in the field afterhis war with Arikbuka. As he was only forty-four when he formed thisdecision, it must be assumed that he came to it mainly because he had somany other matters to attend to, and also, no doubt, because he felt thathe possessed in Bayan a worthy substitute. 

The most fortunate and successful monarch rarely escapes without somemisfortune, and Kublai was not destined to be an exception to the rule. The successes of the Mongol navy undoubtedly led Kublai to believe thathis arms might be carried beyond the sea, and he formed the definite planof subjecting Japan to his power. The ruling family in that kingdom was ofChinese descent, tracing back its origin to Taipe, a fugitive Chineseprince of the twelfth century before our era. The Chinese in their usualway had asserted the superior position of a Suzerain, and the Japanese hadas consistently refused to recognize the claim, and had maintained theirindependence. As a rule the Japanese abstained from all interference inthe affairs of the continent, and the only occasion on which they departedfrom this rule was when they aided Corea against China. In 1266 Kublaisent two embassadors by way of Corea to Japan with a letter from himselfcomplaining that the Japanese court had taken no notice of his accessionto power, and treated him with indifference. The mission never had achance of success, for the Coreans succeeded in frightening the Mongolenvoys with the terrors of the sea, and by withholding their assistanceprevented them reaching their destination. The envoys returned withouthaving been able to deliver their letter. Kublai decided that the Japanesewere hostile to him, and he resolved to humble them. He called upon theKing of Corea to raise an auxiliary force, and that prince promised tosupply 1, 000 ships and 10, 000 men. In 1274 he sent a small force of 300ships and 15, 000 men to begin operations in the direction of Japan; butthe Japanese navy came out to meet it, and attacking it off the island ofTsiusima, inflicted a crushing defeat. As this expedition was largelycomposed of the Corean contingent Kublai easily persuaded himself thatthis defeat did not indicate what would happen when he employed his ownMongol troops. He also succeeded in sending several envoys to Japan afterhis first abortive attempt, and they brought back consistent reports as tothe hostility and defiance of the Japanese, who at last, to leave nofurther doubt on the subject, executed his envoy in 1280. For this outragethe haughty monarch swore he would exact a terrible revenge, and in1280-81, when the last of his campaigns with the Sungs had been broughtto a triumphant conclusion, he collected all his forces in the easternpart of the kingdom, and prepared to attack Japan with all his power. 

For the purposes of this war he raised an army of over 100, 000 men, ofwhom about one-third were Mongols; and a fleet large enough to carry thishost and its supplies was gathered together with great difficulty in theharbors of Chekiang and Fuhkien. It would have been wiser if theexpedition had started from Corea, as the sea voyage would have beengreatly reduced; but the difficulty of getting his army to that country, and the greater difficulty of feeding it when it got there, induced him tomake his own maritime possessions the base of his operations. From thebeginning misfortunes fell thick upon it, and the Japanese, not less thanthe English when assailed by the Spanish armada and Boulogne invasions, owed much to the alliance of the sea. Kublai had felt bound to appoint aChinese generalissimo as well as a Mongol to this host, but it did notwork well. One general fell ill and was superseded, another was lost in astorm, and there was a general want of harmony in the Mongol camp andfleet. Still the fleet set sail, but the elements declared themselvesagainst Kublai. His shattered fleet was compelled to take refuge off theislets to the north of Japan, where it attempted to refit, but theJapanese granted no respite, and assailed them both by land and sea. Afterprotracted but unequal fighting the Mongol commander had no choice leftbut to surrender. The conquerors spared the Chinese and Coreans amongtheir prisoners, but they put every Mongol to the sword. Only a stray junkor two escaped to tell Kublai the tale of the greatest defeat the Mongolshad ever experienced. Thirty thousand of their best troops wereslaughtered, and their newly-created fleet, on which they were foundingsuch great expectations, was annihilated, while 70, 000 Chinese and Coreansremained as prisoners in the hands of the victor. Kublai executed two ofhis generals who escaped, but it is clear no one was to blame. The Mongolswere vanquished because they undertook a task beyond their power, and onewith which their military experience did not fit them to cope. The mostformidable portion of their army was cavalry, and they had no knowledge ofthe sea. Nor could their Chinese auxiliaries supply this deficiency; for, strange as it may appear, the Chinese, although many of them are goodfishermen and sailors, have never been a powerful nation at sea. On theother hand, the Japanese have always been a bold and capable race ofmariners. They have frequently proved that the sea is their naturalelement, and all the power and resources of Kublai availed not against theskill and courage of these hardy islanders. Kublai was reluctant toacquiesce in his defeat, and he endeavored to form another expedition, butthe Chinese sailors mutinied and refused to embark. They were supported byall the Chinese ministers at Pekin, and Kublai felt himself compelled toyield and abandon all designs of conquest beyond the sea. 

The old success of the Mongols did not desert them on land, and Kublaireceived some consolation for his rude repulse by the Japanese in thetriumph of his arms in Burmah. The momentary submission of the King ofBurmah, or Mien, as it was, and is still, called by the Chinese, had beenfollowed by a fit of truculence and open hostility. This monarch hadcrossed over into Indian territory, and had assumed the title of King ofBengala in addition to his own. Emboldened by his success, he did notconceal his hostility to the Mongols, sent a defiant reply to all theirrepresentations, and even assumed the offensive with his frontiergarrisons. He then declared open war. The Mongol general, Nasiuddin, collected all the forces he could, and when the Burmese ruler crossed thefrontier at the head of an immense host of horse, foot, and elephants, hefound the Mongol army drawn up on the plain of Yungchang. The Mongolsnumbered only 12, 000 select troops, whereas the Burmese exceeded 80, 000men with a corps of elephants, estimated between 800 and 2, 000, and anartillery force of sixteen guns. Notwithstanding this numericaldisadvantage the Mongols were in no way dismayed by their opponents'manifest superiority; but seldom has the struggle between disciplined andbrute force proved closer or more keenly contested. At first the charge ofthe Burmese cavalry, aided by the elephants and artillery, carried allbefore it. But Nasiuddin had provided for this contingency. He haddismounted all his cavalry, and had ordered them to fire their arrowsexclusively against the elephant corps; and as the Mongols were then notonly the best archers in the world, but used the strongest bows, thedestruction they wrought was considerable, and soon threw the elephantsinto hopeless confusion. The crowd of elephants turned tail before thisdischarge of arrows, as did the elephants of Pyrrhus, and threw the wholeBurmese army into confusion. The Mongols then mounting their horses, charged and completed the discomfiture of the Burmese, who were drivenfrom the field with heavy loss and tarnished reputation. On this occasionthe Mongols did not pursue the Burmese very far, and the King of Burmahlost little or no part of his dominions, but Nasiuddin reported to Pekinthat it would be an easy matter to add the kingdom of Mien to the Mongolempire. Kublai did not act on this advice until six years later, when hesent his kinsman Singtur with a large force to subdue Burmah. The kingtook shelter in Pegu, leaving his capital Amien at the mercy of theconqueror. The Mongol conquests were thus brought down to the very borderof Assam. In Tonquin and Annam the arms of Kublai were not so successful. Kublai's son Togan made an abortive campaign in these regions. Whenever anopen force had to be overcome, the Mongol army was successful, but whenthe Mongols encountered the difficulties of a damp and inclement climate, of the absence of roads, and other disadvantages, they were disheartened, and suffered heavily in men and morale. With the loss of his two generals, and the main portion of his army, Togan was lucky in himself escaping toChina. Kublai wished to make another effort to subdue these inhospitableregions and their savage inhabitants, but Chinese public opinion provedtoo strong, and he had to yield to the representations of his ministers. 

Kublai was the more compelled to sacrifice his feelings on this point, because there were not wanting indications that if he did not do so hewould find a Chinese rebellion on his hands. Notwithstanding his manysuccesses, and his evident desire to stand well with his Chinese subjects, it was already clear that they bore their new leader little love. Severalof the principal provinces were in a state of veiled rebellion, showingthat the first opportunity would be taken to shake off the Mongol yoke, and that Kublai's authority really rested on a quicksand. The predictionsof a fanatic were sufficient to shake the emperor on his throne, and suchwas Kublai's apprehension that he banished all the remaining Sungprisoners to Mongolia, and executed their last faithful minister, who wentto the scaffold with a smile on his face, exclaiming, "I am content; mywishes are about to be realized. " It must not be supposed from this thatKublai's authority had vanished or become effete. It was absolutelysupreme over all declared enemies, but below the surface was seething anamount of popular hostility and discontent ominous to the longevity of theMongol dynasty. The restless ambition of Kublai would not be satisfiedwith anything short of recognition, in some form or other, of his power byhis neighbors, and he consequently sent envoys to ail the kingdoms ofSouthern Asia to obtain, by lavish presents or persuasive language, thatrecognition of his authority on which he had set his heart. In most caseshe was gratified, for there was not a power in Eastern Asia to comparewith that of the Mongol prince seated on the Dragon Throne of China, andall were flattered to be brought into connection with it on any terms. 

These successful and gratifying embassies had only one untoward result:they induced Kublai to revert to his idea of repairing the overthrow ofhis son Togan in Annam, and of finally subjugating that troublesomecountry. The intention was not wise, and it was rendered more imprudent byits execution being intrusted to Togan again. Another commander might havefared better, but great as was his initial success, he could not hope topermanently succeed. Togan began as he formerly commenced by carrying allbefore him. He won seventeen separate engagements, but the further headvanced into the country the more evident did it appear that he onlycontrolled the ground on which he stood. The King of Annam was a fugitive;his capital was in the hands of the Mongols, and apparently nothing moreremained to be done. Apachi, the most experienced of the Mongolcommanders, then counseled a prompt retreat. Unfortunately the Mongolprince Togan would not take his advice, and the Annamites, gathering freshforces on all sides, attacked the exhausted Mongols, and compelled them tobeat a precipitate retreat from their country. All the fruits of earlyvictory were lost, and Togan's disgrace was a poor consolation for theculminating discomfiture of Kublai's reign. The people of Annam then madegood their independence, and they still enjoy it, so far as China isconcerned; though Annam is now a dependency of the French republic. 

We cannot doubt that the failure of the emperor's endeavor to popularizehis rule was as largely due to the tyrannical acts and oppressive measuresof some of his principal ministers as to unpopular and unsuccessfulexpeditions. Notwithstanding the popular dislike of the system, andKublai's efforts to put it down, the Mongols resorted to the old plan offarming the revenue, and the extortion of those who purchased the rightdrove the Chinese to the verge of rebellion, and made the whole Mongolregime hateful. Several tax farmers were removed from their posts, andpunished with death, but their successors carried on the same system. Thedeclining years of Kublai's reign were therefore marred by the growingdiscontent of his Chinese subjects, and by his inability or unwillingnessto put down official extortion and mismanagement. But he had to cope witha still greater danger in the hostility of some members of his own family. The rivalry between himself and his brother Arikbuka formed one incidentof his earlier career, the hostility of his cousin Kaidu proved a moreserious peril when Kublai was stricken in years, and approaching the endof his long reign. 

Kaidu was one of the sons of Ogotai, and consequently first cousin toKublai. He held some high post in Mongolia, and he represented areactionary party among the Mongols, who wished the administration to beless Chinese, and who, perhaps, sighed for more worlds to conquer. But hehated Kublai, and was jealous of his pre-eminence, which was, perhaps, theonly cause of his revolt. The hostility of Kaidu might have remained apersonal grievance if he had not obtained the alliance of Nayan, a Mongolgeneral of experience and ability, who had long been jealous of thesuperior reputation of Bayan. He was long engaged in raising an army, withwhich he might hope to make a bid for empire, but at last his preparationsreached the ear of Kublai, who determined to crush him before his powerhad grown too great. Kublai marched against him at the head of 100, 000men, and all the troops Nayan could bring into the field were 40, 000, while Kaidu, although hastily gathering his forces, was too far off torender any timely aid. Kublai commanded in person, and arranged his orderof battle from a tower supported on the backs of four elephants chainedtogether. Both armies showed great heroism and ferocity, but numberscarried the day, and Nayan's army was almost destroyed, while he himselffell into the hands of the victor. It was contrary to the practice of theMongols to shed the blood of their own princes, so Kublai ordered Nayan tobe sewn up in a sack, and then beaten to death. The war with Kaidu draggedon for many years, and there is no doubt that Kublai did not desire topush matters to an extremity with his cousin. Having restored the fortunesof the war by assuming the command in person, Kublai returned in a shorttime to Pekin, leaving his opponent, as he hoped, the proverbial goldenbridge by which to retreat. But his lieutenant, Bayan, to whom heintrusted the conduct of the campaign, favored more vigorous action, andwas anxious to bring the struggle to a speedy and decisive termination. Hehad gained one remarkable victory under considerable disadvantage, whenKublai, either listening to his detractors or desirous of restraining hisactivity, dismissed him from his military posts and, summoning him toPekin, gave him the uncongenial office of a minister of State. Thishappened in 1293, and in the following year Kublai, who was nearly eighty, and who had occupied the throne of China for thirty-five years, sickenedand died, leaving behind him a great reputation which has survived thecriticism of six centuries in both Europe and China. 

Kublai's long reign marked the climax of the Mongol triumph which he hadall the personal satisfaction of extending to China. Where Genghis failed, or attained only partial success, he succeeded to the fullest extent, thusverifying the prophecy of his grandfather. But although he conquered theircountry, he never vanquished the prejudices of the Chinese, and theMongols, unlike the Manchus, failed completely to propitiate the good willof the historiographers of the Hanlin. Of Kublai they take somerecognition, as an enlightened and well-meaning prince, but for all theother emperors of the Yuen line they have nothing good to say. Even Kublaihimself could not assure the stability of his throne, and when he died itwas at once clear that the Mongols could not long retain the supremeposition in China. 

But Kublai's authority was sufficiently established for it to betransmitted, without popular disturbance or any insurrection on the partof the Chinese, to his legal heir, who was his grandson. Such risk aspresented itself to the succession arose from the dissensions among theMongol princes themselves, but the prompt measures of Bayan arrested anytrouble, and Prince Timour was proclaimed emperor under the Chinese styleof Chingtsong. A few months after this signal service to the rulingfamily, Bayan died, leaving behind him the reputation of being one of themost capable of all the Mongol commanders. Whether because he could findno general worthy to fill Bayan's place, or because his temperament wasnaturally pacific, Timour carried on no military operations, and thethirteen years of his reign were marked by almost unbroken peace. Butpeace did not bring prosperity in its train, for a considerable part ofChina suffered from the ravages of famine, and the cravings of hungerdrove many to become brigands. Timour's anxiety to alleviate the publicsuffering gained him some small measure of popularity, and he alsoendeavored to limit the opportunities of the Mongol governors to betyrannical by taking away from them the power of life and death. Timourwas compelled by the sustained hostility of Kaidu to continue the strugglewith that prince, but he confined himself to the defensive, and the deathof Kaidu, in 1301, deprived the contest of its extreme bitterness althoughit still continued. 

Timour was, however, unfortunate in the one foreign enterprise which heundertook. The ease with which Burmah had been vanquished and reduced to atributary state emboldened some of his officers on the southern frontierto attempt the conquest of Papesifu--a state which may be identified withthe modern Laos. The enterprise, commenced in a thoughtless and light-hearted manner, revealed unexpected peril and proved disastrous. A largepart of the Mongol army perished from the heat, and the survivors wereonly rescued from their perilous position, surrounded by the numerousenemies they had irritated, by a supreme effort on the part of Koko, theviceroy of Yunnan, who was also Timour's uncle. The insurrectionarymovement was not confined to the outlying districts of Annam and Burmah, but extended within the Chinese border, and several years elapsed beforetranquillity was restored to the frontier provinces. 

Timour died in 1306 without leaving a direct legitimate heir, and his twonephews Haichan and Aiyuli Palipata were held to possess an equal claim tothe throne. Haichan was absent in Mongolia when his uncle died, and afaction put forward the pretensions of Honanta, prince of Gansi, who seemsto have been Timour's natural son, but Aiyuli Palipata, acting with greatenergy, arrested the pretender and proclaimed Haichan as emperor. Haichanreigned five years, during which the chief reputation he gained was as aglutton. When he died, in 1311, his brother Palipata was proclaimedemperor, although Haichan left two sons. Palipata's reign of nine yearswas peaceful and uneventful, and his son Chutepala succeeded him. Chutepala was a young and inexperienced prince who owed such authority ashe enjoyed to the courage of Baiju, a brave soldier, who was speciallydistinguished as the lineal descendant of the great general, Muhula. Theplots and intrigues which compassed the ruin of the Yuen dynasty beganduring this reign, and both Chutepala and Baiju were murdered byconspirators. The next emperor, Yesun Timour, was fortunate in a peacefulreign, but on his death, in 1328, the troubles of the dynasty accumulated, and its end came clearly into view. In little more than a year, threeemperors were proclaimed and died. Tou Timour, one of the sons of Haichan, who ruled before Palipata, was so far fortunate in reigning for a longerperiod, but the most interesting episode in his barren reign was the visitof the Grand Lama of Tibet to Pekin, where he was received withexceptional honor; but when Tou Timour attempted to compel his courtiersto pay the representative of Buddhism special obeisance he encountered theopposition of both Chinese and Mongols. 

After Tou Timour's death the imperial title passed to Tohan Timour, who isbest known by his Chinese title of Chunti. He found a champion in Bayan, adescendant of the general of that name, who successfully defended thepalace against the attack of a band of conspirators. In 1337 the firstdistinct rebellion on the part of the Chinese took place in theneighborhood of Canton, and an order for the disarmament of the Chinesepopulation aggravated the situation because it could not be effectuallycarried out. Bayan, after his defense of the palace, became the mostpowerful personage in the state, and to his arrogance was largely due theaggravation of the Mongol difficulties and the imbittering of Chineseopinion. He murdered an empress, tyrannized over the Chinese, and outshonethe emperor in his apparel and equipages, as if he were a Wolsey or aBuckingham. For the last offense Chunti could not forgive him, and Bayanwas deposed and disgraced. While these dissensions were in progress atPekin the Chinese were growing more daring and confident in their effortsto liberate themselves from the foreign yoke. They had adopted red bonnetsas the mark of their patriotic league, and on the sea the piraticalconfederacy of Fangkue Chin vanquished and destroyed such navy as theMongols ever possessed. But in open and regular fighting on land thesupremacy of the Mongols was still incontestable, and a minister, namedToto, restored the sinking fortunes of Chunti until he fell the victim ofa court intrigue--being poisoned by a rival named Hamar. With Totodisappeared the last possible champion of the Mongols, and the only thingneeded to insure their overthrow was the advent of a capable leader whocould give coherence to the national cause, and such a leader was not longin making his appearance. 

The deliverer of the Chinese from the Mongols was an individual named ChooYuen Chang, who, being left an orphan, entered a monastery as the easiestway of gaining a livelihood. In the year 1345, when Chunti had been on thethrone twelve years, Choo quitted his retreat and joined one of the bandsof Chinese who had thrown off the authority of the Mongols. His physiqueand fine presence soon gained for him a place of authority, and when thechief of the band died he was chosen unanimously as his successor. He atonce showed himself superior to the other popular leaders by his humanity, and by his wise efforts to convince the Chinese people that he had onlytheir interests at heart. Other Chinese so-called patriots thought mainlyof plunder, and they were not less terrible to peaceful citizens than themost exacting Mongol commander or governor. But Choo strictly forbadeplundering, and any of his band caught robbing or ill-using the people metwith prompt and summary punishment. By this conduct he gained theconfidence of the Chinese, and his standard among all the national leadersbecame the most popular and attracted the largest number of recruits. In1356 he captured the city of Nankin, which thereupon became the base ofhis operations, as it was subsequently the capital of his dynasty. He thenissued a proclamation declaring that his sole object was to expel theforeigners and to restore the national form of government. In thisdocument he said, "It is the birthright of the Chinese to govern foreignpeoples and not of these latter to rule in China. It used to be said thatthe Yuen or Mongols, who came from the regions of the north, conquered ourempire not so much by their courage and skill as by the aid of Heaven. Andnow it is sufficiently plain that Heaven itself wishes to deprive them ofthat empire, as some punishment for their crimes, and for not having actedaccording to the teaching of their forefathers. The time has now come todrive these foreigners out of China. " While the Mongols were assailed inevery province of the empire by insurgents, Choo headed what was the onlyorganized movement for their expulsion, and his alliance with the pirate, Fangkue Chin, added the command of the sea to the control he had himselfacquired over some of the wealthiest and most populous provinces ofCentral China. The disunion among the Mongols contributed to theiroverthrow as much as the valor of the Chinese. The Emperor Chunti hadquite given himself up to pleasure, and his debaucheries were the scandalof the day. The two principal generals, Chahan Timour and Polo Timour, hated each other, and refused to co-operate. Another general, Alouhiya, raised the standard of revolt in Mongolia, and, while he declared that hisobject was to regenerate his race, he, undoubtedly, aggravated theembarrassment of Chunti. 

In 1366, Choo, having carefully made all the necessary preparations forwar on a large scale, dispatched from Fankin two large armies to conquerthe provinces north of the Yangtsekiang, which were all that remained inthe possession of the Mongols. A third army was intrusted with the task ofsubjecting the provinces dependent on Canton, and this task wasaccomplished with rapidity and without a check. Such Mongol garrisons aswere stationed in this quarter were annihilated. The main Chinese army of250, 000 men was intrusted to the command of Suta, Choo's principallieutenant and best general, and advanced direct upon Pekin. In 1367 Sutahad overcome all resistance south of the Hoangho, which river he crossedin the autumn of that year. The Mongols appeared demoralized, andattempted little or no resistance. Chunti fled from Pekin to Mongolia, where he died in 1370, and Suta carried the capital by storm from thesmall Mongol garrison which remained to defend it. Choo hastened to Pekinto receive the congratulations of his army, and to prove to the wholeChinese nation that the Yuen dynasty had ceased to rule. The resistanceoffered by the Mongols proved surprisingly slight, and, considering thevalue of the prize for which they were fighting, quite unworthy of theirancient renown. The real cause of their overthrow was that the Mongolsnever succeeded in propitiating the good opinion and moral support of theChinese, who regarded them to the end as barbarians, and it must also beadmitted that the main force of the Mongols had drifted to Western Asia, where the great Timour revived some of the traditions of Genghis. At theend of his career that mighty conqueror prepared to invade China, but hedied shortly after he had begun a march that boded ill to the peace andwelfare of China. Thus, with the flight of Chunti, the Mongol or Yuendynasty came to an end, and the Mongols only reappear in Chinese historyas the humble allies of the Manchus, when they undertook the conquest ofChina in the seventeenth century. 

CHAPTER VII

THE MING DYNASTY

Having expelled the Mongols, Choo assumed the style of Hongwou, and hegave his dynasty the name of Ming, which signifies "bright. " He thenrewarded his generals and officers with titles and pecuniary grants, andin 1369, the first year of his reign after the capture of Pekin, heerected a temple or hall in that city in honor of the generals who hadbeen slain, while vacant places were left for the statues of thosegenerals who still held command. But while he rewarded his army, Hongwouvery carefully avoided giving his government a military character, knowingthat the Chinese resent the superiority of military officials, and hedevoted his main efforts to placing the civil administration on its oldand national basis. In this he received the cordial support of the Chinesethemselves, who had been kept in the background by their late conquerors, whose administration was essentially military. Hongwou also patronizedliterature, and endowed the celebrated Hanlin College, which was neglectedafter the death of Kublai. He at once provided a literary task of greatmagnitude in the history of the Yuen dynasty, which was intrusted to acommission of eighteen writers. But a still greater literary work wasaccomplished in the codified Book of Laws, which is known as the Pandectsof Yunglo, and which not merely simplified the administration of the law, but also gave the people some idea of the laws under which they lived. Healso passed a great measure of gratuitous national education, and, inorder to carry out this reform in a thoroughly successful manner, heappointed all the masters himself. He also founded many public libraries, and he wished to establish one in every town, but this was beyond theextent of his power. Not content with providing for the minds of hissubjects, Hongwou did his utmost to supply the needs of the aged. He cutdown the court expenses and issued sumptuary laws, so that he might devotethe sums thus economized to the support of the aged and sick. His lastinstructions to the new officials, on proceeding to their posts, were to"take particular care of the aged and the orphan. " Thus did he show thatthe Chinese had found in him a ruler who would revive the ancient gloriesof the kingdom. 

The frugality and modesty of his court have already been referred to. Thelater Mongols were fond of a lavish display, and expended large sums onbanquets and amusements. At Pekin one of their emperors had erected in thegrounds of the palace a lofty tower of porcelain, at enormous expense, andhad arranged an ingenious contrivance at its base for denoting the time. Two statues sounded a bell and struck a drum at every hour. When Hongwousaw this edifice, he exclaimed, "How is it possible for men to neglect themost important affairs of life for the sole object of devoting theirattention to useless buildings? If the Mongols in place of amusingthemselves with these trifles had applied their energies to the task ofcontenting the people, would they not have preserved the scepter in theirfamily?" He then ordered that this building should be razed to the ground. Nor did this action stand alone. He reduced the size of the haremmaintained by all the Chinese as well as the Mongol rulers, and heinstituted a rigid economy in all matters of state ceremonial. Changtu, the Xanadu of Coleridge, the famous summer palace of Kublai, had beendestroyed during the campaigns with the Mongols, and Hongwousystematically discouraged any attempt to embellish the northern capital, Pekin, which, under the Kin and Yuen dynasties, had become identified withforeign rulers. Pekin, during the whole of the Ming dynasty, was only asecond-rate city, and all the attention of the Ming rulers was given tothe embellishment of Nankin, the truly national capital of China. 

The expulsion of the Mongols beyond the Great Wall and the death ofChunti, the last of the Yuen emperors, by no means ended the strugglebetween the Chinese and their late northern conquerors. The whole of thereign of Hongwou was taken up with a war for the supremacy of hisauthority and the security of his frontiers, in which he, indeed, tooklittle personal part, but which was carried on under his directions by hisgreat generals, Suta and Fuyuta. The former of these generals was engagedfor nearly twenty years, from 1368 to 1385, in constant war with theMongols. His first campaign, fought when the Chinese were in the fullflush of success, resulted in the brilliant and almost bloodless conquestof the province of Shansi. The neighboring province of Shensi, which isseparated from the other by the river Hoangho, was at the time held by asemi-independent Mongol governor named Lissechi, who believed that hecould hold his ground against the Mings. The principal fact upon whichthis hope was based was the breadth and assumed impassability of thatriver. Lissechi believed that this natural advantage would enable him tohold out indefinitely against the superior numbers of the Chinese armies. But his hope was vain if not unreasonable. The Chinese crossed the Hoanghoon a bridge of junks, and Tsinyuen, which Lissechi had made his capital, surrendered without a blow. Lissechi abandoned one fortress after anotheron the approach of Suta. Expelled from Shensi he hoped to find shelter andsafety in the adjoining province of Kansuh, where he took up his residenceat Lintao. For a moment the advance of the Chinese army was arrested whilea great council of war was held to decide the further course of thecampaign. The majority of the council favored the suggestion that did notinvolve immediate action, and wished Suta to abandon the pursuit ofLissechi and complete the conquest of Shensi, where several fortressesstill held out. But Suta was of a more resolute temper, and resolved toignore the decision of the council and to pursue Lissechi to Lintao. Thevigor of Suta's decision was matched by the rapidity of his march. BeforeLissechi had made any arrangements to stand a siege he found himselfsurrounded at Lintao by the Ming army. In this plight he was obliged tothrow himself on the mercy of the victor, who sent him to the capital, where Hongwou granted him his life and a small pension. 

The overthrow of Lissechi prepared the way for the more formidableenterprise against Ninghia, where the Mongols had drawn their remainingpower to a head. Ninghia, the old capital of Tangut, is situated in thenorth of Kansuh, on the western bank of the Hoangho, and the Great Wallpasses through it. Strongly fortified and admirably placed, the Mongols, so long as they possessed this town with its gates through the Great Wall, might hope to recover what they had lost, and to make a fresh bid forpower in Northern China. North and west of Ninghia stretched the desert, but while it continued in their possession the Mongols remained on thethreshold of China and held open a door through which their kinsmen fromthe Amour and Central Asia might yet re-enter to revive the feats ofGenghis and Bayan. Suta determined to gain this place as speedily aspossible. Midway between Lintao and Ninghia is the fortified town ofKingyang, which was held by a strong Mongol garrison. Suta laid closesiege to this town, the governor of which had only time to send off apressing appeal for aid to Kuku Timour, the governor at Ninghia, before hewas shut in on all sides by the Ming army. Kuku Timour apparently did hisbest to aid his compatriot, but his forces were not sufficient to opposethose of Suta in the open field, and Kingyang was at last reduced to suchstraits that the garrison is said to have been compelled to use the slainas food. At last the place made an unconditional surrender, and thecommandant was executed, not on account of his stubborn defense, butbecause at the beginning of the siege he had said he would surrender andhad not kept his word. After the fall of Kingyang the Chinese troops weregranted a well-earned rest, and Suta visited Nankin to describe thecampaign to Hongwou. 

The departure of Suta emboldened Kuku Timour so far as to lead him to takethe field, and he hastened to attack the town of Lanchefoo, the capital ofKansuh, where there was only a small garrison. Notwithstanding this theplace offered a stout resistance, but the Mongols gained a decisivesuccess over a body of troops sent to its relief. This force wasannihilated and its general taken prisoner. The Mongols thought to terrifythe garrison by parading this general, whose name should be preserved, Yukwang, before the walls, but he baffled their purpose by shouting out, "Be of good courage, Suta is coming to your rescue. " Yukwang was cut topieces, but his timely and courageous exclamation, like that of D'Assas, saved his countrymen. Soon after this incident Suta reached the scene ofaction, and on his approach Kuku Timour broke up his camp and retired toNinghia. The Chinese commander then hastened to occupy the towns ofSouchow and Kia-yu-kwan, important as being the southern extremity of theGreat Wall, and as isolating Ninghia on the west. Their loss was soserious that the Mongol chief felt compelled to risk a general engagement. The battle was keenly contested, and at one moment it seemed as if successwas going to declare itself in favor of the Mongols. But Suta had sent alarge part of his force to attack the Mongol rear, and when this movementwas completely executed, he assailed the Mongol position at the head ofall his troops. The struggle soon became a massacre, and it is said thatas many as 80, 000 Mongols were slain, while Kuku Timour, thinking Ninghiano longer safe, fled northward to the Amour. The success of Suta washeightened and rendered complete by the capture of a large number of theex-Mongol ruling family by Ly Wenchong, another of the principal generalsof Hongwou. Among the prisoners was the eldest grandson of Chunti, andseveral of the ministers advised that he should be put to death. ButHongwou instead conferred on him a minor title of nobility, and expressedhis policy in a speech equally creditable to his wisdom as a statesman andhis heart as a man:

"The last ruler of the Yuens took heed only of his pleasures. The great, profiting by his indolence, thought of nothing save of how to enrichthemselves; the public treasures being exhausted by their malpractices, itneeded only a few years of dearth to reduce the people to distress, andthe excessive tyranny of those who governed them led to the forming ofparties which disturbed the empire even to its foundations. Touched by themisfortunes with which I saw them oppressed, I took up arms, not so muchagainst the Yuens as against the rebels who were engaged in war with them. It was over the same foe that I gained my first successes. And if the Yuenprince had not departed from the rules of wise government in order to givehimself up to his pleasures, and had the magnates of his court performedtheir duty, would all honorable men have taken up arms as they did anddeclared against him? The misconduct of the race brought me a large numberof partisans who were convinced of the rectitude of my intentions, and itwas from their hands and not from those of the Yuens that I received theempire. If Heaven had not favored me should I have succeeded in destroyingwith such ease those who withdrew into the desert of Shamo? We read in theChiking that after the destruction of the Chang family there remained morethan ten thousand of their descendants who submitted themselves to theChow, because it was the will of Heaven. Cannot men respect its decrees?Let them put in the public treasure-house all the spoil brought back fromTartary, so that it may serve to alleviate the people's wants. And withregard to Maitilipala (Chunti's grandson), although former ages supplyexamples of similar sacrifice, did Wou Wang, I ask you, when exterminatingthe Chang family, resort to this barbarous policy? The Yuen princes werethe masters of this empire for nearly one hundred years, and myforefathers were their subjects, and even although it were the constantpractice to treat in this fashion the princes of a dynasty which hasceased to reign, yet could I not induce myself to adopt it. "

These noble sentiments, to which there is nothing contradictory in thewhole life of Hongwou, would alone place his reign high among the mostcivilizing and humanly interesting epochs in Chinese history. To hispeople he appeared as a real benefactor as well as a just prince. He wasever studious of their interests, knowing that their happiness depended onwhat might seem trivial matters, as well as in showy feats of arms andhigh policy. He simplified the transit of salt, that essential article oflife, to provinces where its production was scanty, and when dearth fellon the land he devoted all the resources of his treasury to itsmitigation. His thoughtfulness for his soldiers was shown by sending furcoats to all the soldiers in garrison at Ninghia where the winter wasexceptionally severe. A final instance of his justice and considerationmay be cited in his ordering certain Mongol colonies established inSouthern China, to whom the climate proved uncongenial, to be sent back athis expense to their northern homes, when his ministers exhorted him toproceed to extremities against them and to root them out by fire andsword. 

The pacification of the northern borders was followed by the dispatch oftroops into the southern provinces of Szchuen and Yunnan, where officialsappointed by the Mongols still exercised authority. One of these hadincurred the wrath of Hongwou by assuming a royal style and proclaiminghimself King of Hia. He was soon convinced of the folly of taking a titlewhich he had not the power to maintain, and the conquest of Szchuen was soeasily effected that it would not call for mention if it were not renderedinteresting as providing Hongwou's other great general Fuyuta with thefirst opportunity of displaying his skill as a commander. The self-createdKing of Hia presented himself laden with chains at the Chinese camp andbegged the favor of his life. The conquest of Szchuen was little more thancompleted when the attention of Hongwou was again directed to thenorthwest frontier, where Kuku Timour was making one more effort torecover the footing he had lost on the fringe of the Celestial Empire, andfor a time fortune favored his enterprise. Even when Suta arrived upon thescene and took the command of the Chinese forces in person, the Mongolsmore than held their own. Twice did Suta attack the strong position takenup by the Mongol chief in the desert, and twice was his assault repulsedwith heavy loss. A detachment under one of his lieutenants was surprisedin the desert and annihilated. Supplies were difficult to obtain, anddiscouraged by defeat and the scarcity of food the Chinese army was placedin an extremely dangerous position. Out of this dilemma it was rescued bythe heroic Fuyuta, who, on the news of the Mongol recrudescence, hadmarched northward at the head of the army with which he had conqueredSzchuen. He advanced boldly into the desert, operated on the flank and inthe rear of Kuku Timour, vanquished the Mongols in many engagements, andso monopolized their attention that Suta was able to retire in safety andwithout loss. The war terminated with the Chinese maintaining all theirposts on the frontier, and the retreat of the Mongols, who had sufferedtoo heavy a loss to feel elated at their repulse of Suta. At the same timeno solid peace had been obtained, and the Mongols continued to harass theborders, and to exact blackmail from all who traversed the desert. WhenHongwou endeavored to attain a settlement by a stroke of policy hisefforts were not more successful. His kind reception of the Mongol PrinceMaitilipala has been referred to, and about the year 1374 he sent him backto Mongolia, in the hope that he would prove a friendly neighbor on hisfather's death. The gratitude of Maitilipala seems to have beenunaffected; but, although he was the legitimate heir, the Mongols refusedto recognize him as Khan on the death of his father. Graduallytranquillity settled down on those borders. The Chinese officials werecontent to leave the Mongols alone, and the Mongols abandoned theircustomary raids into Chinese territory. The death of Kuku Timour wasfollowed by the abandonment of all ideas of reviving Mongol authority inChina. Not long after that event died the great general, Suta, of whom thenational historians give the following glowing description which meritspreservation: "Suta spoke little and was endowed with great penetration. He was always on good terms with the generals acting with him, sharing thegood and bad fortune alike of his soldiers, of whom there was not one who, touched by his kindness, would not have done his duty to the death. He wasnot less pronounced in his modesty. He had conquered a capital, threeprovinces, several hundred towns, and on the very day of his return tocourt from these triumphs he went without show and without retinue to hisown house, received there some learned professors and discussed varioussubjects with them. Throughout his life he was in the presence of theemperor respectful, and so reserved that one might have doubted hiscapacity to speak. " Hongwou was in the habit of speaking thus in hispraise: "My orders received, he forthwith departed; his task accomplished, he returned without pride and without boasting. He loves not women, hedoes not amass wealth. A man of strict integrity, without the slighteststain, as pure and clear as the sun and moon, there is none like my firstgeneral Suta. "

Hongwou had the satisfaction of restoring amicable relations with the Kingof Corea, a state in which the Chinese have always taken naturally enougha great interest from its proximity, as well as from an apprehension thatthe Japanese might make use of it as a vantage ground for the invasion ofthe continent. The King of Corea sent a formal embassy to Nankin, and whenhe died his son asked for and received investiture in his authority withthe royal yellow robes at the hands of the Ming ruler. During this periodit will be convenient here to note that the ruling power in Corea passedfrom the old royal family to the minister Li Chungwei, who was theancestor of the present king. The last military episode of the reign ofHongwou was the conquest of Yunnan, which had been left over after therecovery of Szchuen, in consequence of the fresh outbreak of the Mongolsin the north. This task was intrusted to Fuyuta, who at the head of anarmy of 100, 000 men, divided into two corps, invaded Yunnan. The prince ofthat state offered the utmost resistance he could, but in the one greatbattle of the war his army fighting bravely was overthrown, and he wascompelled to abandon his capital. The conquest of Yunnan completed thepacification of the empire, and the authority of Hongwou was unchallengedfrom the borders of Burmah to the Great Wall and the Corean frontier. Thepopulation of the empire thus restored did not much exceed sixty millions. The last ten years of the reign of Hongwou were passed in tranquillity, marred by only one unpleasant incident, the mutiny of a portion of hisarmy under an ambitious general. The plot was discovered in good time, butit is said that the emperor did not consider the exigencies of the case tobe met until he had executed twenty thousand of the mutineers. 

In 1398 Hongwou was attacked with the illness which ended his life. He wasthen in his seventy-first year, and had reigned more than thirty yearssince his proclamation of the Ming dynasty at Nankin. The Emperor KeenLung, in his history of the Mings, states that Hongwou possessed most ofthe virtues and few of the vices of mankind. He was brave, patient undersuffering, far-seeing, studious of his people's welfare, and generous andforbearing toward his enemies. It is not surprising that he succeeded inestablishing the Ming dynasty on a firm and popular basis, and that hisfamily have been better beloved in China than any dynasty with thepossible exception of the Hans. In his will, which is a remarkabledocument, he recites the principal events of his reign, how he had"pacified the empire and restored its ancient splendor. " With the view ofproviding for the stability of his empire, he chose as his successor hisgrandson Chuwen, because he had remarked in him much prudence, a gentledisposition, good intelligence, and a readiness to accept advice. He alsoselected him because he was the eldest son of his eldest son, and as hisother sons might be disposed to dispute their nephew's authority heordered them to remain at their posts, and not to come to the capital onhis death. They were also enjoined to show the new emperor all the respectand docility owed by subjects to their sovereign. Through these timelyprecautions Chuwen, who was only sixteen years of age, was proclaimedemperor without any opposition, and took the title of Kien Wenti. 

Hongwou had rightly divined that his sons might prove a thorn in the sideof his successor, and his policy of employing them in posts at a distancefrom the capital was only half successful in attaining its object. If itkept them at a distance it also strengthened their feeling ofindependence, and enabled them to collect their forces without attractingmuch attention. Wenti, as it is most convenient to call the new emperor, felt obliged to send formal invitations to his uncles to attend theobsequies of their father. Most of them had the tact to perceive that theinvitation was dictated by regard for decency, and not by a wish that itshould be accepted, and gave the simplest excuse for not attending thefuneral. But Ty, Prince of Yen, the most powerful and ambitious of themall, declared that he accepted the emperor's invitation. This decisionraised quite a flutter of excitement, almost amounting to consternation, at Nankin, where the Prince of Yen was regarded as a bitter and vindictiveenemy. The only way Wenti saw out of this dilemma was to send his uncle aspecial intimation that his presence at the capital would not bedesirable. Before he had been many weeks on the throne Wenti was thusbrought into open conflict with the most powerful and ambitious of all hisrelatives. He resolved, under the advice of his ministers, to treat allhis uncles as his enemies, and he sent his officers with armies at theirback to depose them, and bring them as prisoners to his court. Five of hisuncles were thus summarily dealt with, one committed suicide, and theother four were degraded to the rank of the people. But the Prince of Yenwas too formidable to be tackled in this fashion. Taking warning from thefate of his brothers, he collected all the troops he could, prepared todefend his position against the emperor, and issued a proclamation statingthat it was lawful for subjects to revolt for the purpose of removing thepernicious advisers of the sovereign. The last was, he announced, thecause of his taking up arms, and he disclaimed any motive of ambitiousturbulence for raising his standard. He said, "I am endeavoring to avertthe ruin of my family, and to maintain the emperor on a throne which isplaced in jeopardy by the acts of traitors. My cause ought, therefore, tobe that of all those who keep the blood of the great Hong-wou, now falselyaspersed, in affectionate remembrance. " A large number of the inhabitantsof the northern provinces joined his side, and proclaimed him as "ThePrince. " Wenti had recourse to arms to bring his uncle back to hisallegiance, and a civil war began, which was carried on, with exceptionalbitterness, during five years. The resources of the emperor, in men andmoney, were the superior, but he did not seem able to turn them to goodaccount; and the prince's troops were generally victorious, and his powergradually increased. In the year 1401 both sides concentrated all theirstrength for deciding the contest by a single trial of arms. The twoarmies numbered several hundred thousand men, and it is stated that theimperial force alone mustered 600, 000 strong. The battle--which was foughtat Techow in Shantung--considering the numbers engaged, it is notsurprising to learn, lasted several days, and its fortune alternated fromone side to the other. At last victory declared for the prince, and theimperial army was driven in rout from the field with the loss of 100, 000men. 

After this great victory the further progress of the prince was arrestedby a capable general named Chinyong, who succeeded in gaining one greatvictory. If Wenti had known how to profit by this success he might haveturned the course of the struggle permanently in his own favor. Butinstead of profiting by his good fortune, Wenti, believing that all dangerfrom the prince was at an end, resumed his old practices, and reinstatedtwo of the most obnoxious of his ministers, whom he had disgraced in a fitof apprehension. Undoubtedly this step raised against him a fresh storm ofunpopularity, and at the same time brought many supporters to his uncle, who, even after the serious disaster described, found himself strongerthan he had been before. The struggle must have shown little signs of adecisive issue, for in 1402 the prince made a voluntary offer of peace, with a view to putting an end to all strife and of giving the empirepeace; but Wenti could not make up his mind to forgive him. The success ofhis generals in the earlier part of the struggle seemed to warrant thebelief that there was no reason in prudence for coming to terms with hisrebellious uncle, and that he would succeed in establishing hisindisputable supremacy. The prince seemed reduced to such straits that hehad to give his army the option of retreat. Addressing his soldiers hesaid: "I know how to advance, but not to retreat"; but his army decided toreturn to their homes in the north, when the extraordinary and unexpectedretreat of the greater part of the army of Wenti revived their courage andinduced them to follow their leader through one more encounter. LikeFrederick the Great, the Prince of Yen was never greater than in defeat. He surprised the lately victorious army of Wenti, smashed it in pieces, and captured Tingan, the emperor's best general. The occupation of Nankinand the abdication of Wenti followed this victory in rapid succession. Afraid to trust himself to the mercy of his relative, he fled, disguisedas a priest, to Yunnan, where he passed his life ignominiously for fortyyears, and his identity was only discovered after that lapse of time byhis publishing, in his new character of a Buddhist priest, a poem recitingand lamenting the misfortunes of Wenti. Then he was removed to Pekin, where he died in honorable confinement. As a priest he seems to have beenmore fortunate than as a ruler, and history contains no more strikingexample of happiness being found in a private station when unattainable ona throne. 

After some hesitation the Prince of Yen allowed himself to be proclaimedemperor, and as such he is best known as Yonglo, a name signifying"Eternal Joy. " Considering his many declarations that his only ambitionwas to reform and not to destroy the administration of his nephew, hisfirst act obliterating the reign of Wenti from the records andconstituting himself the immediate successor of Hongwou was not calculatedto support his alleged indifference to power. He was scarcely seated onthe throne before he was involved in serious troubles on both his northernand his southern frontiers. In Mongolia he attempted to assert a formalsupremacy over the khans through the person of an adventurer namedKulitchi, but the agent was unable to fulfill his promises, and met with aspeedy overthrow. In Tonquin an ambitious minister named Likimao deposedhis master and established himself as ruler in his place. The emperor sentan army to bring him to his senses, and it met with such rapid successthat the Chinese were encouraged to annex Tonquin and convert it into aprovince of the empire. When Yonglo's plans failed on the steppe he wasdrawn into a struggle with the Mongols, which necessitated annualexpeditions until he died. During the last of these he advanced as far asthe Kerulon, and on his return march he died in his camp at the age ofsixty-five. Although he bore arms so long against the head of the statethere is no doubt that he greatly consolidated the power of the Mings, which he extended on one side to the Amour and on the other to theSongcoi. It was during his reign that Tamerlane contemplated thereconquest of China, and perhaps it was well for Yonglo that that greatcommander died when he had traversed only a few stages of his march to theGreat Wall. One of his sons succeeded Yonglo as emperor, but he onlyreigned under the style of Gintsong for a few months. 

Then Suentsong, the son of Gintsong, occupied the throne, and during hisreign a vital question affecting the constitution of the civil service, and through it the whole administration of the country, was broughtforward, and fortunately settled without recourse to blows, as was at onetime feared would be the case. Before his reign the public examinationshad been open to candidates from all parts of the empire, and it hadbecome noticeable that all the honors were being carried off by studentsfrom the southern provinces, who were of quicker intelligence than thoseof the north. It seemed as if in the course of a short time all the postswould be held by them, and that the natives of the provinces north of theHoangho would be gradually driven out of the service. Naturally thismarked tendency led to much agitation in the north, and a very bitterfeeling was spreading when Suentsong and his minister took up the matterand proceeded to apply a sound practical remedy. After a commission ofinquiry had certified to the reality of the evil, Suentsong decreed thatall competitors for literary honors should be restricted to their nativedistricts, and that for the purpose of the competitive examinations Chinashould be divided into three separate divisions, one for the north, another for the center, and the third for the south. The firmness shown bythe Emperor Suentsong in this matter was equally conspicuous in hisdealings with an uncle, who showed some inclination to revolt. He took thefield in person, and before the country was generally aware of the revolt, Suentsong was conducting his relative to a state prison. The rest ofSuentsong's reign was peaceful and prosperous, and he left the crown tohis son, Yngtsong, a child eight years old. 

During his minority the governing authority was exercised by hisgrandmother, the Empress Changchi, the mother of the Emperor Suentsong. Atfirst it seemed as if there would be a struggle for power between her andthe eunuch Wangchin, who had gained the affections of the young emperor;but after she had denounced him before the court and called for hisexecution, from which fate he was only rescued by the tears andsupplications of the young sovereign, the feud was composed by Wangchingaining such an ascendency over the empress that she made him herassociate in the regency. Unfortunately Wangchin did not prove a wise orable administrator. He thought more of the sweets of office than of theduties of his lofty station. He appointed his relations and creatures tothe highest civil and military posts without regard to theirqualifications or ability. To his arrogance was directly due thecommencement of a disastrous war with Yesien, the most powerful of theMongol chiefs of the day. When that prince sent the usual presents to theChinese capital, and made the customary request for a Chinese princess aswife, Wangchin appropriated the gifts for himself and sent back a haughtyrefusal to Yesien's petition, although it was both customary and rarelyrefused. Such a reception was tantamount to a declaration of war, andYesien, who had already been tempted by the apparent weakness of theChinese frontier to resume the raids which were so popular with thenomadic tribes of the desert, gathered his fighting men together andinvaded China. Alarmed by the storm he had raised, Wangchin stillendeavored to meet it, and summoning all the garrisons in the north to hisaid, he placed himself at the head of an army computed to number half amillion of men. In the hope of inspiring his force with confidence he tookthe boy-emperor, Yngtsong, with him, but his own incompetence nullifiedthe value of numbers, and rendered the presence of the emperor the causeof additional ignominy instead of the inspiration of invincibleconfidence. The vast and unwieldy Chinese army took up a false position ata place named Toumon, and it is affirmed that the position was so bad thatYesien feared that it must cover a ruse. He accordingly sent some of hisofficers to propose an armistice, but really to inspect the Chinese lines. They returned to say that there was no concealment, and that if an attackwere made at once the Chinese army lay at his mercy. Yesien delayed not amoment in delivering his attack, and it was completely successful. Thevery numbers of the Chinese, in a confined position, added to theirdiscomfiture, and after a few hours' fighting the battle became a massacreand a rout. Wangchin, the cause of all this ruin, was killed by Fanchong, the commander of the imperial guards, and the youthful ruler, Yngtsong, was taken prisoner. There has rarely been a more disastrous day in thelong annals of the Chinese empire than the rout at Toumon. 

Then Yesien returned to his camp on the Toula, taking his prisoner withhim, and announcing that he would only restore him for a ransom of 100taels of gold, 200 taels of silver, and 200 pieces of the finest silk. Forsome unknown reason the Empress Changchi did not feel disposed to pay thiscomparatively low ransom, and instead of reclaiming Yngtsong from hisconqueror she placed his brother, Kingti, on the throne. The struggle withthe Mongols under Yesien continued, but his attention was distracted fromChina by his desire to become the great Khan of the Mongols, a title stillheld by his brother-in-law, Thotho Timour, of the House of Genghis. Yesien, suddenly releasing of his own accord Yngtsong--who returned toPekin--hastened to the Kerulon country, where he overthrew andassassinated Thotho Timour, and was in turn himself slain by anotherchieftain. While the Mongol was thus pursuing his own ambition, andreaching the violent death which forms so common a feature in the historyof his family, the unfortunate Yngtsong returned to China, where, on therefusal of his brother Kingti to resign the throne, he sank quietly intoprivate life. Kingti died seven years after his brother's return, andthen, failing a better or nearer prince, Yngtsong was brought from hisconfinement and restored to the throne. He reigned eight years after hisrestoration, but he never possessed any real power, his authority beingwielded by unscrupulous ministers, who stained his reign by the executionof Yukien, the most honest and capable general of the period. If his reignwas not remarkable for political or military vigor, some useful reformsappear to have been instituted. Among others may be named the formation ofstate farms on waste or confiscated lands, the establishment of militaryschools for teaching archery and horsemanship, and the completion of someuseful and elaborate educational works, of which a geography of China, inninety volumes, is the most famous. 

Yngtsong died in the year 1465, and was succeeded by his son, Hientsong, who began his reign with acts of filial devotion that attracted thesympathy of his subjects. He also rendered posthumous honors to the ill-used general, Yukien, and established his fame as a national benefactor. During the twenty-eight years that he occupied the throne he was engagedin a number of petty wars, none of which requires specific mention. Theonly unpopular measure associated with his name was the creation of aGrand Council of Eunuchs, to which was referred all questions of capitalpunishment, and this body soon acquired a power which made it resemble thetyrannical and irresponsible British Star Chamber. After five years thisinstitution became so unpopular and was so deeply execrated by the nationthat Hientsong, however reluctantly, had to abolish his own creation, andacquiesce in the execution of some of its most active members. 

During Hientsong's reign a systematic attempt was made to work the goldmines reputed to exist in Central China, but although half a million menwere employed upon them it is stated that the find did not exceed thirtyounces. More useful work was accomplished in the building of a canal fromPekin to the Peiho, which thus enabled grain junks to reach the northerncapital by the Euho and Shaho canals from the Yangtsekiang. Another usefulpublic work was the repairing of the Great Wall, effected along aconsiderable portion of its extent, by the efforts of 50, 000 soldiers, which gave the Chinese a sense of increased security. In connection withthis measure of defense, it may be stated that the Chinese advanced intoCentral Asia and occupied the town of Hami, which then and since hasserved them as a useful watch-tower in the direction of the west. Thedeath of Hientsong occurred in 1487, at a moment when the success andprosperity of the country under the Mings may be described as havingreached its height. 

During the reign of his son and successor, Hiaotsong, matters progressedpeacefully, for, although there was some fighting for the possession ofHami, which was coveted by several of the desert chiefs, but whichremained during the whole of this reign subject to China, the empire wasnot involved in any great war. An insurrection of the black aborigines ofthe island of Hainan was put down without any very serious difficulty. These events do not throw any very clear light on the character andpersonality of Hiaotsong, who died in 1505 at the early age of thirty-six;but his care for his people, and his desire to alleviate the misfortunesthat might befall his subjects, was shown by his ordering every districtcomposed of ten villages to send in annually to a State granary, aspecified quantity of grain, until 100, 000 bushels had been stored inevery such building throughout the country. The idea was an excellent one;but it is to be feared that a large portion of this grain was diverted tothe use of the peculating officials, whence arose the phrase, "The emperoris full of pity, but the Court of Finance is like the never-dying wormwhich devours the richest crops. " To Hiaotsong succeeded his son, Woutsong, during whose reign many misfortunes fell upon the land. Theemperor's uncles had designs on his authority, but these fell through andcame to naught, rather through Woutsong's good fortune than the excellenceof his arrangements. In Szchuen a peasant war threatened to assume thedimensions of a rebellion, and in Pechihli bands of mounted robbers, orHiangmas, raided the open country. He succeeded in suppressing theserevolts, but his indifference to the disturbed state of his realm wasshown by his passing most of his time in hunting expeditions beyond theGreat Wall. His successors were to reap the result of this neglect ofbusiness for the pursuit of pleasure; and when he died in 1519, withoutleaving an heir, the outlook was beginning to look serious for the Mingdynasty. One event, and perhaps the most important of Woutsong's reign, calls for special mention, and that is the arrival at Canton of the firstnative of Europe to reach China by sea. Of course it will be recollectedthat Marco Polo and others reached the Mongol court by land, although theVenetian sailed from China on his embassy to southern India. In 1511, Raphael Perestralo sailed from Malacca to China, and in 1517 thePortuguese officer, Don Fernand Perez D'Andrade, arrived in the CantonRiver with a squadron, and was favorably received by the mandarins. D'Andrade visited Pekin, where he resided for some time as embassador. Thecommencement of intercourse between Europeans and China was thus effectedmost auspiciously; and it might have continued so but that a secondPortuguese fleet appeared in Chinese waters, and committed there numerousoutrages and acts of piracy. Upon this D'Andrade was arrested by order ofWoutsong, and after undergoing imprisonment, was executed by his successorin 1523. It was a bad beginning for a connection which, after nearly fourhundred years, is neither as stable nor as general as the strivers afterperfection could desire. 

The death of Woutsong without children, or any recognized heir, threatenedto involve the realm in serious dangers; but the occasion was so criticalthat the members of the Ming family braced themselves to it, and under theauspices of the Empress Changchi, the widow of the late ruler, a secretcouncil was held, when the grandson of the Emperor Hientsong, a youth offourteen, was placed on the throne under the name of Chitsong. It is saidthat his mother gave him good advice on being raised from a privatestation to the lofty eminence of emperor, and that she told him that hewas about to accept a heavy burden; but experience showed that he wasunequal to it. Still, his shortcomings were preferable to a disputedsuccession. The earlier years of his reign were marked by some successesover the Tartars, and he received tribute from chiefs who had never paidit before. But Chitsong had little taste for the serious work ofadministration. He showed himself superstitious in matters of religion, and he cultivated poetry, and may even have persuaded himself that he wasa poet. But he did not pay any heed to the advice of those among hisministers who urged him to take a serious view of his position, and to actin a manner worthy of his dignity. It is clear that his influence on thelot of his people, and even on the course of his country's history, wassmall, and such reigns as his inspire the regret expressed at there beingno history of the Chinese people; but such a history is impossible. 

It might be more instructive to trace the growth of thought among themasses, or to indicate the progress of civil and political freedom; yet, not only do the materials not exist for such a task, but those we possessall tend to show that there has been no growth to describe, no progress tobe indicated, during these comparatively recent centuries. It is thepeculiar and distinguishing characteristic of Chinese history that thepeople and their institutions have remained practically unchanged and thesame from a very early period. Even the introduction of a foreign elementhas not tended to disturb the established order of things. The supremeruler possesses the same attributes and discharges the same functions; thegoverning classes are chosen in the same manner; the people are bound inthe same state of servitude, and enjoy the same practical liberty; all isnow as it was. Neither under the Tangs nor the Sungs, under the Yuens northe Mings, was there any change in national character or in politicalinstitutions to be noted or chronicled. The history of the empire hasalways been the fortunes of the dynasty, which has depended, in the firstplace, on the passive content of the subjects, and, in the second, on thesuccess or failure of its external and internal wars. This condition ofthings may be disappointing to those who pride themselves on tracing theorigin of a constitution and the growth of civil rights, and also wouldhave a history of China a history of the Chinese people; although the factis undoubted that there is no history of the Chinese people apart fromthat of their country to be recorded. The national institutions andcharacter were formed, and had attained in all essentials their presentstate, more than two thousand years ago, or before the destruction of alltrustworthy materials for the task by the burning of the ancientliterature and chronicles of China. Without them we must fain contentourselves with the history of the country and the empire. 

Chitsong was engaged in three serious operations beyond his frontier, onewith a Tartar chief named Yenta, another with the Japanese, and the thirdin Cochin China. Yenta was of Mongol extraction, and enjoyed supreme poweron the borders of Shansi. His brother was chief of the Ordus tribe, whichdwells within the Chinese frontier. Changtu, the old residence of Kublai, was one of his camps, and it was said that he could bring 100, 000 horsemeninto the field. The success of his raids carried alarm through theprovince of Shansi, and during one of them he laid siege to the capital, Taiyuen. Then the emperor placed a reward on his head and offered anofficial post to the person who would rid him of his enemy byassassination. The offer failed to bring forward either a murderer or apatriot, and Yenta's hostility was increased by the personal nature ofthis attack, and perhaps by the apprehension of a sinister fate. Heinvaded China on a larger scale than ever, and carried his ravages to thesouthern extremity of Shansi, and returned laden with the spoil of fortydistricts, and bearing with him 200, 000 prisoners to a northern captivity. After this success Yenta seems to have rested on his laurels, although heby no means gave up his raids, which, however, assumed more and more alocal character. The Chinese annalists state that never was the frontiermore disturbed, and even the establishment of horse fairs for the benefitof the Mongols failed to keep them quiet. In Cochin China the emperorgained some gratifying if not very important successes, and asserted hisright as suzerain over several disobedient princes. But a more serious andless satisfactory question had to be settled on the side of Japan. 

The Japanese had never forgiven the formidable and unprovoked invasion oftheir country by Kublai Khan. The Japanese are by nature a militarynation, and the Chinese writers themselves describe them as "intrepid, inured to fatigue, despising life, and knowing well how to face death;although inferior in number a hundred of them would blush to flee before athousand foreigners, and if they did they would not dare to return totheir country. Sentiments such as these, which are instilled into themfrom their earliest childhood, render them terrible in battle. " Emboldenedby their success over the formidable Mongols the Japanese treated theChinese with contempt, and fitted out piratical expeditions from time totime with the object of preying on the commerce and coasting towns ofChina. To guard against the descents of these enterprising islanders theChinese had erected towers of defense along the coast, and had called outa militia which was more or less inefficient. On the main they did not somuch as attempt to make a stand against their neighbors, whose war junksexercised undisputed authority on the Eastern Sea. While this strifecontinued a trade also sprang up between the two peoples, who share in anequal degree the commercial instinct; but as the Chinese government onlyadmitted Japanese goods when brought by the embassador, who was sent everyten years from Japan, this trade could only be carried on by smuggling. Aregular system was adopted to secure the greatest success and profit. TheJapanese landed their goods on some island off the coast, whence theChinese removed them at a safe and convenient moment to the mainland. Theaverage value of the cargo of one of the small junks which carried on thistrade is said to have been $20, 000, so that it may be inferred that theprofits were considerable. But the national antipathies would not berepressed by the profitable character of this trade, and the refusal of aChinese merchant to give a Japanese the goods for which he had paid litthe embers of a war which went on for half a century, and which materiallyweakened the Ming power. During the last years of Chitsong's long reign offorty-five years this trouble showed signs of getting worse, although theJapanese confined their efforts to irregular and unexpected attacks onplaces on the coast, and did not attempt to wage a regular war. In themidst of these troubles, and when it was hoped that the exhortation of hisministers would produce some effect, Chitsong died, leaving behind him awill or public proclamation to be issued after his death, and which readslike a long confession of fault. Mea culpa, exclaimed this Eastern rulerat the misfortunes of his people and the calamities of his realm, but hecould not propound a remedy for them. 

His third son succeeded him as the Emperor Moutsong, and the character andcapacity of this prince gave promise that his reign would be satisfactoryif not glorious. Unfortunately for his family, and perhaps for hiscountry, the public expectations were dispelled in his case by an earlydeath. The six years during which he reigned were rendered remarkable bythe conclusion of a stable peace with the Tartar Yenta, who accepted thetitle of a Prince of the Empire. Moutsong when he found that he was dyinggrew apprehensive lest the youth of his son might not stir up dissensionand provoke that internal strife which had so often proved the bane of theempire and involved the wreck of many of its dynasties. He exhorted hisministers to stand by his son who was only a boy, to give him the bestadvice in their power, and to render him worthy of the throne. That theapprehensions of Moutsong were not without reason was clearly shown by themishaps and calamities which occurred during the long reign of his son andsuccessor Wanleh. With the death of Moutsong the period ends when it waspossible to state that the majesty of the Mings remained undimmed, andthat this truly national dynasty wielded with power and full authority theimperial mandate. When they had driven out the Mongol the Mings seem tohave settled down into an ordinary and intensely national line of rulers. The successors of Hongwou did nothing great or noteworthy, but the Chineseacquiesced in their rule, and even showed that they possessed for it aspecial regard and affection. 

CHAPTER VIII

THE DECLINE OP THE MINGS

The reign of Wanleh covers the long and important epoch from 1573 to 1620, during which period occurred some very remarkable events in the history ofthe country, including the first movements of the Manchus with a view tothe conquest of the empire. The young prince was only six when he wasplaced on the throne, but he soon showed that he had been well-trained toplay the part of ruler. The best indication of the prosperity of the realmis furnished by the revenue, which steadily increased until it reached thegreat total, excluding the grain receipts, of seventy-five millions of ourmoney. But a large revenue becomes of diminished value unless it isassociated with sound finance. The public expenditure showed a steadyincrease; the emperor and his advisers were incapable of checking theoutlay, and extravagance, combined with improvidence, soon depleted theexchequer. Internal troubles occurred to further embarrass the executive, and the resources of the state were severely strained in coping with morethan one serious rebellion, among which the most formidable was the mutinyof a mercenary force under the command of a Turk officer named Popai, whoimagined that he was unjustly treated, and that the time was favorable tofound an administration of his own. His early successes encouraged him tobelieve that he would succeed in his object; but when he found that allthe disposable forces of the empire were sent against him, he abandonedthe field, and shut himself up in the fortress at Ninghia, where he hopedto hold out indefinitely. For many months he succeeded in baffling theattacks of Wanleh's general, and the siege might even have had to beraised if the latter had not conceived the idea of diverting the course ofthe river Hoangho, so that it might bear upon the walls of the fortress. Popai was unable to resist this form of attack, and when the Chinesestormers made their way through the breach thus caused, he attempted tocommit suicide by setting fire to his residence. This satisfaction wasdenied him, for a Chinese officer dragged him from the flames, slew him, and sent his head to the general Li Jusong, who conducted the siege, andof whom we shall hear a great deal more. 

The gratification caused by the overthrow of Popai had scarcely abatedwhen the attention of the Chinese government was drawn away from domesticenemies to a foreign assailant who threatened the most serious danger toChina. Reference was made in the last chapter to the relations between theChinese and the Japanese, and to the aggressions of the latter, increased, no doubt, by Chinese chicane and their own naval superiority andconfidence. But nothing serious might have come out of these unneighborlyrelations if they had not furnished an ambitious ruler with theopportunity of embarking on an enterprise which promised to increase hisempire and his glory. The old Japanese ruling family was descended, asalready described, from a Chinese exile; but the hero of the sixteenthcentury could claim no relationship with the royal house, and owed none ofhis success to the accident of a noble birth. Fashiba, called by someEnglish writers Hideyoshi; by the Chinese Pingsiuki; and by the Japanese, on his elevation to the dignity of Tycoon, Taiko Sama, was originally aslave; and it is said that he first attracted attention by refusing tomake the prescribed obeisance to one of the daimios or lords. He was onthe point of receiving condign punishment, when he pleaded his case withsuch ingenuity and courage that the daimio not only forgave him hisoffense, but gave him a post in his service. Having thus obtainedhonorable employment, Fashiba devoted all his energy and capacity topromoting the interests of his new master, knowing well that his positionand opportunities must increase equally with them. In a short time he madehis lord the most powerful daimio in the land, and on his death hestepped, naturally enough, into the position and power of his chief. Howlong he would have maintained himself thus in ordinary times may be matterof opinion, but he resolved to give stability to his position and agreater luster to his name by undertaking an enterprise which should bepopular with the people and profitable to the state. The Japanese had onlyattempted raids on the coast, and they had never thought of establishingthemselves on the mainland. But Fashiba proposed the conquest of China, and he hoped to effect his purpose through the instrumentality of Corea. With this view he wrote the king of that country the following letter: "Iwill assemble a mighty host, and, invading the country of the Great Ming, I will fill with hoar-frost from my sword the whole sky over the 400provinces. Should I carry out this purpose, I hope that Corea will be myvanguard. Let her not fail to do so, for my friendship to your honorablecountry depends solely on your conduct when I lead my army against China. "

Fashiba began with an act of aggression at Corea's expense, by seizing theimportant harbor of Fushan. Having thus secured a foothold on the mainlandand a gateway into the kingdom, Fashiba hastened to invade Corea at thehead of a large army. The capital was sacked and the tombs of Lipan'sancestors desecrated, while he himself fled to the Chinese court toimplore the assistance of Wanleh. An army was hastily assembled andmarched to arrest the progress of the Japanese invader, who had by thisreached Pingyang, a town 400 miles north of Fushan. An action was foughtoutside this town. The advantage rested with the Japanese, who succeededin destroying a Chinese regiment. After this a lull ensued in thecampaign, and both sides brought up fresh forces. Fashiba came over fromJapan with further supplies and troops to assist his general, Hingchang, while on the Chinese side, Li Jusong, the captor of Ninghia, was placed atthe head of the Chinese army. A second battle was fought in theneighborhood of Pingyang, and after some stubborn fighting the Japanesewere driven out of that town. 

The second campaign was opened by a brilliant feat on the part of LiJusong, who succeeded in surprising and destroying the granaries andstorehouses constructed by the Japanese, near Seoul. The loss of theirstores compelled the Japanese to retire on Fushan, but they did not withsuch boldness and confidence that the Chinese did not venture to attackthem. The ultimate result of the struggle was still doubtful when thesudden death of Fashiba completely altered the complexion of thesituation. The Japanese army then withdrew, taking with it a vast amountof booty and the ears of 10, 000 Coreans. The Chinese troops also retired, leaving the Corean king at liberty to restore his disputed authority, andhis kingdom once more sank into its primitive state of exclusion and semi-darkness. 

For the first time in Chinese history the relations between the MiddleKingdom and Europeans became of importance during the reign of Wanleh, which would alone give it a special distinction. The Portuguese led theway for European enterprise in China, and it was very unfortunate thatthey did so, for it was soon written of them that "the Portuguese have noother design than to come under the name of merchants to spy the country, that they may hereafter fall upon it with fire and sword. " As early as theyear 1560 they had obtained from the local officials the right to found asettlement and to erect sheds for their goods at a place which is nowknown as Macao. In a few years it became of so much importance that it wasthe annual restort of five or six hundred Portuguese merchants; and thePortuguese, by paying a yearly rent of 500 taels, secured the practicalmonopoly of the trade of the Canton River, which was then and longafterward the only vent for the external trade of China. No doubt thePortuguese had to supplement this nominal rent by judicious bribes to theleading mandarins. Next after the Portuguese came the Spaniards, who, instead of establishing themselves on the mainland, made theirheadquarters in a group of the Philippine Islands. 

The promotion of European interests in China owed little or nothing to theforbearance and moderation of either the Spaniards or Portuguese. Theytyrannized over the Chinese subject to their sway, and they employed alltheir resources in driving away other Europeans from what they chose toconsider their special commercial preserves. Thus the Dutch were expelledfrom the south by the Portuguese and compelled to take refuge in Formosa, while the English and French did not make their appearance, except byoccasional visits, until a much later period, although it should berecorded that the English Captain Weddell was the first to discover themouth of the Canton River, and to make his way up to that great city. 

One of the principal troubles of the Emperor Wanleh arose from his havingno legitimate heir, and his ministers impressed upon him, for many years, the disadvantage of this situation before he would undertake to select oneof his children by the inferior members of the harem as his successor. Andthen he made what may be termed a divided selection. He proclaimed hiseldest son heir-apparent, and declared the next brother to be in thedirect order of succession, and conferred on him the title of Prince FouWang. The latter was his real favorite, and, encouraged by his father'spreference, he formed a party to oust his elder brother and to gain theheritage before it was due. The intrigues in which he engaged longdisturbed the court and agitated the mind of the emperor. Supported by hismother, Prince Fou Wang threatened the position and even the life of theheir-apparent, Prince Chu Changlo, but the plot was discovered and FouWang's rank would not have saved him from the executioner if it had notbeen for the special intercession of his proposed victim, Chu Changlo. Inthe midst of these family troubles, as well as those of the state, theEmperor Wanleh died, after a long reign, in 1620. The last years of hislife were rendered unhappy and miserable by the reverses experienced atthe hands of the new and formidable opponent who had suddenly appearedupon the northern frontier of the empire. 

Some detailed account of the Manchu race and of the progress of their armsbefore the death of Wanleh will form a fitting prelude to the descriptionof the long wars which resulted in the conquest of China and in theplacing of the present ruling family on the Dragon Throne. 

The first chief of the Manchu clan was a mythical personage named AisinGioro, who flourished in the middle of the fourteenth century, whileHongwou, the founder of the Mings, was employed in the task of driving outthe Mongols. Aisin Gioro is said to mean Golden Family Stem, and thus theconnection with the Kin dynasty finds recognition at an early stage. Hisbirth is described in mythical terms--it is said that a magpie dropped ared fruit into the lap of a maiden of the Niuche, who straightway ate itand conceived a son. The skeptical have interpreted this as meaning thatAisin Gioro was a runaway Mongol, who was granted shelter by the Niuche ofHootooala. At all events he became lord of the valley, and fivegenerations later, in the reign of Wanleh, his descendant, Huen, was headof the Manchus. His grandson, the great Noorhachu, was born in the year1559, and his birth was attended by several miraculous circumstances. Heis said "to have been a thirteen-months' child, to have had the dragonface and the phenix eye, an enormous chest, large ears, and a voice likethe tone of the largest bell. "

A chief named Haida was the first to stir up the embers of internecinestrife among the Niuche clans. To gratify his own ambition or to avengesome blood feuds, he obtained the assistance of one of the principalChinese officers on the Leaoutung borders, and thus overran the territoryof his neighbors. Encouraged by his first successes, Haida proceeded toattack the chief of Goolo, who was married to a cousin of Noorhachu, andwho at once appealed to Hootooala for assistance. The whole Manchu clanmarched to his rescue, and it was on this occasion that Noorhachu had hisfirst experience of war on a large scale. The Manchus presented such abold front that there is every reason to believe that Haida and hisChinese allies would have failed to conquer Goolo by force, but theyresorted to fraud, which proved only too successful. Haida succeeded inenticing the old chief Huen and his son, the father of Noorhachu, into aconference, when he murdered them and many of their companions. Themomentary success gained by this breach of faith was heavily paid for bythe incentive it gave Noorhachu to exact revenge for the brutal andcowardly murder of his father and grandfather. Haida constructed afortified camp at Toolun, but he did not feel secure there against theopen attacks of Noorhachu or the private plots he formed to gainpossession of his person. Several times Haida fled from Toolun to Chineseterritory, where he hoped to enjoy greater safety, until at last theChinese became tired of giving him shelter and protecting one who couldnot support his own pretensions. Then, with strange inconstancy, theydelivered him over into the hands of Noorhachu, who straightway killedhim, thus carrying out the first portion of his vow to avenge the massacreat Goolo. 

Then Noorhachu turned all his attention and devoted all his energy to therealization of the project which Haida had conceived, the union of theNiuche clans; but whereas Haida had looked to Chinese support andpatronage for the attainment of his object, Noorhachu resolved to achievesuccess as an enemy of China and by means of his own Manchu followers. Hisfirst measure was to carefully select a site for his capital on a plainwell supplied with water, and then to fortify it by surrounding it withthree walls. He then drew up simple regulations for the government of hispeople, and military rules imposing a severe discipline on his small army. The Chinese appear to have treated him with indifference, and theycontinued to pay him the sums of money and the honorary gifts which hadbeen made to Haida. Several of the Niuche clans, won over by the successand reputation of Noorhachu, voluntarily associated themselves with him, and it was not until the year 1591 that the Manchu chief committed hisfirst act of open aggression by invading the district of Yalookiang. Thatterritory was soon overrun and annexed; but it roused such a fear amongthe other Niuche chiefs, lest their fate should be the same, that seven ofthem combined, under Boojai, to overthrow the upstart who aspired to playthe part of a dictator. They brought into the field a force of 30, 000 men, including, besides their own followers, a considerable contingent from theMongols; and as Noorhachu's army numbered only 4, 000 men, it seemed as ifhe must certainly be overwhelmed. But, small as was his force, it enjoyedthe incalculable advantage of discipline; and seldom has the superiorityof trained troops over raw levies been more conspicuously illustrated thanby this encounter between warriors of the same race. This battle wasfought at Goolo Hill, and resulted in the decisive victory of Noorhachu. Boojai and 4, 000 of his men were killed, a large number of his followerswere taken prisoners and enrolled in the ranks of the victor, and thespoil included many suits of mail and arms of offense which improved thestate of Noorhachu's arsenal. Several of the districts which had beensubject to these confederated princes passed into the hands of theconqueror, and he carried his authority northward up the Songari Riverover tribes who had never recognized any southern authority. Thesesuccesses paved the way to an attack on Yeho, the principality of Boojai, which was reputed to be the most powerful of all the Niuche states; and onthis occasion it vindicated its reputation by repelling the attack ofNoorhachu. Its success was not entirely due to its own strength, for theChinese governor of Leaoutung, roused at last to the danger fromNoorhachu, sent money and arms to assist the Yeho people in their defense. 

The significance of this repulse was diminished by other successeselsewhere, and Noorhachu devoted his main attention to disciplining thelarger force he had acquired by his later conquests, and by raising itsefficiency to the high point attained by the army with which he had gainedhis first triumphs. He also meditated a more daring and importantenterprise than any struggle with his kinsfolk; for he came to theconclusion that it was essential to destroy the Chinese power in Leaoutungbefore he should undertake any further enterprise in Manchuria. His armyhad now been raised to an effective strength of 40, 000 men, and the Manchubowman, with his formidable bow, and the Manchu man-at-arms, in his cottonmail, proof to the arrow or spear, were as formidable warriors as thenexisted in the world. Confident in his military power, and thinking, nodoubt, that a successful foreign enterprise was the best way to rally andconfirm the allegiance of his race, Noorhachu invaded Leaoutung, andpublished a proclamation against the Chinese, which became known as theSeven Hates. Instead of forwarding this document to the Chinese Court heburned it in the presence of his army, so that Heaven itself might judgethe justice of the cause between him and the Chinese. 

It was in the year 1618 that Noorhachu invaded Leaoutung, and so surprisedwere the Chinese at his audacity that they offered little or noresistance. The town of Fooshun was captured and made the headquarters ofthe Manchu prince. From this place he sent a list of his requirements tothe governor of Leaoutung, and it is said that he offered, on the Chinesecomplying with his terms, to withdraw and desist from hostilities. But theChinese did not appreciate the power of this new enemy. They treated hisgrievances with indifference and contempt, and they sent an army to drivehim out of Leaoutung. The Chinese troops soon had a taste of the qualityof the Manchu army. They were defeated in several encounters, and the bestChinese troops fled before the impetuous charge of the Manchu cavalry. Noorhachu then laid siege to the prefectural town of Tsingho, which hecaptured after a siege of some weeks, and where he massacred nearly 20, 000of the garrison and townspeople. He would have continued the campaign butthat his followers demanded to be led back, stating that they feared forthe safety of their homes at the hands of Yeho, still hostile andaggressive in their rear. The conquest of Leaoutung was thereforediscontinued for the purpose of closing accounts with the last of theNiuche principalities; but enough had been accomplished to whet theappetite of the Manchu leader for more, and to show him how easy it was tovanquish the Chinese. On his return to his capital, Hingking, he preparedto invade Yeho, but his plans were undoubtedly delayed by the necessity ofresting his troops and of allowing many of them to return to their homes. This delay, no doubt, induced the Chinese to make a supreme effort toavert the overthrow of Yeho, who had proved so useful an ally, andaccordingly the governor of Leaoutung advanced with 100, 000 men intoManchuria. He sacrificed the advantage of superior numbers by dividing hisarmy into four divisions, with very inadequate means of inter-communication. Noorhachu could only bring 60, 000 men into the field; but, apart from their high training, they represented a compact body subject tothe direction of Noorhachu alone. The Manchu leader at once perceived thefaulty disposition of the Chinese army, and he resolved to attack andoverwhelm each corps in detail before it could receive aid from theothers. The strongest Chinese corps was that operating most to the west, and marching from Fooshun on Hingking; and Noorhachu perceived that if hecould overthrow it the flank of the rest of the Chinese army would beexposed, and its line of retreat imperiled. The Chinese general in commandof this corps was impetuous and anxious to distinguish himself. Hiscourage might on another occasion have helped his country, but under thecircumstances his very ardor served the purpose of Noorhachu. Tousong, such was his name, marched more rapidly than any of his comrades, andreached the Hwunho--the Tiber of the Manchus--behind which Noorhachu had, at a little distance, drawn up his army. Without pausing to reconnoiter, or to discover with what force he had to deal, Tousong threw himselfacross the river, and intrenched himself on Sarhoo Hill. Hisoverconfidence was so extreme and fatuous that he weakened his army bysending a detachment to lay siege to the town of Jiefan. The Manchus had, however, well provided for the defense of that place, and while theChinese detachment sent against it was being destroyed, Noorhachu attackedTousong in his position on Sarhoo Hill with the whole of his army. TheChinese were overwhelmed, Tousong was slain, and the majority of those whoescaped the fray perished in the waters of the Hwunho, beneath the arrowsand javelins of the pursuing Manchus. 

Then Noorhachu hastened to attack the second of the Chinese divisionsunder a capable officer named Malin, who selected a strong position withgreat care, and wished to stand on the defensive. His wings rested on twohills which he fortified, and he strengthened his center in theintervening valley with a triple line of wagons. If he had only remainedin this position he might have succeeded in keeping Noorhachu at bay untilhe could have been joined by the two remaining Chinese corps; but theimpetuosity of his troops, or it may have been the artifice of the Manchuleader, drew him from his intrenchments. At first the Chinese seemed tohave the best of the battle, but in a short time victory turned to theside of the Manchus, and Malin fled with the relics of his force back toChinese territory. After these two successes Noorhachu proceeded to attackthe third Chinese corps under Liuyen, who had acquired a cheap reputationby his success over the Miaotze. He had no better fortune than any of hiscolleagues, and his signal defeat completed the Manchu triumph over theChinese army of invasion. The defeat of Liuyen was effected by a stratagemas much as by superior force. Noorhachu dressed some of his troops in theChinese uniforms he had captured, and sent them among the Chinese, whoreceived them as comrades until they discovered their mistake in thecrisis of the battle. During this campaign it was computed that the totallosses of the Chinese amounted to 310 general officers and 45, 000 privatesoldiers. Among other immediate results of this success were the return of20, 000 Yeho troops to their homes and the defection of 5, 000 Coreans, whojoined Noorhachu. Like all great commanders, Noorhachu gave his enemies notime to recover from their misfortunes. He pursued Malin to Kaiyuen, whichhe captured, with so many prisoners that it took three days to count them. He invaded Yeho, which recognized his authority without a blow, and gavehim an additional 30, 000 fighting men. All the Niuche clans thus becameunited under his banner, and adopted the name of Manchu. He had succeededin the great object of his life, the union of his race, and he had wellavenged the death of his father and grandfather; but his ambition was notsatisfied with this success. It had rather grown with the widening horizonopened by the discomfiture of the Chinese, and with the sense of militarysuperiority. 

Amid these national disasters the long reign of Wanleh closed in the year1620. That unhappy monarch lived long enough to see the establishment onhis northern borders of the power which was to destroy his dynasty. Thevery last act of his reign was, whether by accident or good judgment, themost calculated to prevent the Manchus overrunning the State, and that wasthe selection of a capable general in the person of Hiung Tingbi. With thedeath of Wanleh the decadence of Ming power became clearly marked, and theonly question that remained was whether it could be arrested before itresulted in absolute ruin. 

CHAPTER IX

THE MANCHU CONQUEST OF CHINA

Tingbi, with the wrecks of the Chinese armies, succeeded in doing more forthe defense of his country than had been accomplished by any of hispredecessors with undiminished resources. He built a chain of forts, heraised the garrison of Leaoutung to 180, 000 men, and he spared no effortto place Leaouyang, the capital of that province, in a position to stand aprotracted siege. If his counsels had been followed to the end, he mighthave succeeded in permanently arresting the flood of Manchu conquest; butat the very moment when his plans promised to give assured success, hefell into disgrace at the capital, and his career was summarily ended bythe executioner. The greatest compliment to his ability was that Noorhachuremained quiescent as long as he was on the frontier, but as soon as hewas removed he at once resumed his aggression on Chinese soil. 

Meanwhile, Wanleh had been succeeded on the Chinese throne by his son, ChuChanglo, who took the name of Kwangtsong. He was an amiable and well-meaning prince, whose reign was unquestionably cut short by foul means. There is little doubt that he was poisoned by the mother of his half-brother, from a wish to secure the throne for her son; but if so she nevergained the object that inspired her crime, for the princes of the familymet in secret conclave, and selected Kwangtsong's son a youth of sixteen, as his successor. The choice did not prove fortunate, as this princebecame known as Tienki the Unhappy, whose reign witnessed the culminationof Ming misfortunes. One of his first acts was the removal of Tingbi fromhis command, and this error of judgment, aggravated by the ingratitude itimplied to a faithful servant, fitly marked the commencement of a reign ofincompetence and misfortune. 

In 1621 the Manchu war reopened with an attack on Moukden or Fanyang, which Noorhachu had marked out as his next object. The garrison wasnumerous, and might have made a good defense, for the walls were strong;but the commandant was brave to the degree of temerity, and, leaving hisfortress, marched out to meet the Manchus in the open. The result was adecisive overthrow, and the victors entered Moukden at the heels of thevanquished. The Chinese still resisted, and a terrible slaughter ensued, but the Manchus retained their conquest. At this juncture the Chinese wereoffered the assistance of the Portuguese at Macao, who sent a small bodyof 200 men, armed with arquebuses and with several cannon, to Pekin; butafter some hesitation the Chinese, whether from pride or contempt of sosmall a force, declined to avail themselves of their service, and thuslost an auxiliary that might have turned the fortune of the war in theirfavor. The Portuguese were sent back to Macao, and, although the Chinesekept the cannon, and employed the Jesuit priests in casting others forthem, nothing came of an incident which might have exercised a lastinginfluence not merely on the fortune of the war, but also on the relationsbetween the Chinese and Europeans. The Chinese sent several armies torecover Moukden; but, although they took these guns with them, they metwith no success, and Noorhachu made it the base of his plan of attack onLeaouyang, the capital of the province. The defense of this important townwas intrusted to Yuen Yingtai, the court favorite and incompetentsuccessor of Tingbi. That officer, unwarned by the past, and regardless ofthe experience of so many of his predecessors, weakened himself andinvited defeat by attempting to oppose the Manchus in the open. He wasdefeated, losing some of his best soldiers, and compelled to shut himselfup in the town with a disheartened garrison. The Manchus gained anentrance into the city. Then a terrible encounter took place. The garrisonwas massacred to a man, Yuen Yingtai, brave, if incapable, committedsuicide, and those of the townspeople who wished to save their lives hadto shave their heads in token of subjection. This is the first historicalreference to a practice that is now universal throughout China, and thathas become what may be called a national characteristic. The badge ofconquest has changed to a mark of national pride; but it is strange tofind that the Chinese themselves and the most patient inquirers amongsinologues are unable to say what was the origin of the pig-tail. Theycannot tell us whether shaving the head was the national custom of theManchus, or whether Noorhachu only conceived this happy idea ofdistinguishing those who surrendered to his power among the countlessmillions of the long-haired people of China. All that can be said of theorigin of the pig-tail is that it was first enforced as a badge ofsubjugation by the Manchus at the siege of Leaouyang, and thatthenceforward, until the whole of China was conquered, it was made the onecondition of immunity from massacre. 

The capture of Leaouyang signified the surrender of the remaining placesin Leaoutung, which became a Manchu possession, and Noorhachu, tocelebrate his triumph, and also to facilitate his plans for the furtherhumiliation of the Chinese, transferred his capital from Moukden toLeaouyang. Misfortunes never come singly. In Szchuen a local chief hadraised a force of 30, 000 men for service on the frontier in the wars withthe Manchus, and the viceroy of the province not only declined to utilizetheir services, but dismissed them without reward or even recognition oftheir loyalty. These slighted and disbanded braves easily changedthemselves into brigands, and as the government would not have them assupporters, they determined to make it feel their enmity, Chetsong Ming, the chief who had raised them, placed himself at their head, and attracteda large number of the inhabitants to his standard. The local garrisonswere crushed, the viceroy killed, and general disorder prevailed among thepeople of what was the most fertile and prosperous province of the empire. Chetsong attempted to set up an administration, but he does not seem tohave possessed the capacity or the knowledge to establish a regulargovernment. While he headed the rebellious movement, a woman namedTsinleang, the hereditary chieftainess of a small district, placed herselfat the head of the loyalists in the state, and, leading them herself, succeeded in recovering the principal cities and in driving Chetsong outof the province. She has been not inappropriately called by one of themissionary historians the Chinese Penthesilea. The success she met with inpacifying Szchuen after a two years' struggle was not attained in otherdirections without a greater effort and at a still heavier cost. InKweichow and Yunnan a rebel named Ganpangyen raised an insurrection on alarge scale, and if his power had not been broken by the long siege of astrong fortress, obstinately defended by a valiant governor, there is notelling to what success he might not have attained. But his followers weredisheartened by the delay in carrying this place, and they abandoned himas soon as they found that he could not command success. In Shantunganother rising occurred; but after two years' disturbance the rebel leaderwas captured and executed. These internal disorders, produced by thecorruption and inertness of the officials as much as by a prevalent senseof the embarrassment of the Mings, distracted the attention of the centralgovernment from Manchuria, and weakened its preparations againstNoorhachu. 

For a time Noorhachu showed no disposition to cross the River Leaou, andconfined his attention to consolidating his position in his new conquest. But it was clear that this lull would not long continue, and the Chineseemperor, Tienki, endeavored to meet the coming storm by once moreintrusting the defense of the frontier to Tingbi. That general devised asimple and what might have proved an efficacious line of defense, but hiscolleague, with more powerful influence at court, would have none of it, and insisted on his own plan being adopted. Noorhachu divined that thecouncils of the Chinese were divided, and that Tingbi was hampered. Hepromptly took advantage of the divergence of opinion, and, crossing thefrontier, drove the Chinese behind the Great Wall. Even that barrier wouldnot have arrested his progress but for the stubborn resistance offered bythe fortress of Ningyuen--a town about seventy miles northeast ofShanhaikwan, once of great importance, but now, for many years past, inruins. When he reached that place he found that Tingbi had fallen intodisgrace and been executed, not for devising his own plan of campaign, butfor animadverting on that of his colleague in satirical terms. The Chinesehad made every preparation for the resolute defense of Ningyuen, and whenNoorhachu sat down before it, its resolute defender, Chungwan, defied himto do his worst, although all the Chinese troops had been compelled toretreat, and there was no hope of re-enforcement or rescue. At firstNoorhachu did not conduct the siege of Ningyuen in person. It promised tobe an affair of no great importance, and he intrusted it to hislieutenants, but he soon perceived that Chungwan was a resolute soldier, and that the possession of Ningyuen was essential to the realization ofhis future plans. Therefore, he collected all his forces and sat downbefore Ningyuen with the full determination to capture it at all costs. But the garrison was resolute, its commander capable, and on the wallswere arranged the cannon of European construction. Noorhachu led twoassaults in person, both of which were repulsed, and it is said that thisresult was mainly due to the volleys of the European artillery. At last, Noorhachu was compelled to withdraw his troops, and although he obtainedsome successes in other parts of the country, he was so chagrined at thisrepulse that he fell ill and died some months later at Moukden, inSeptember, 1626. 

Noorhachu was succeeded by his fourth son, the fourth Beira or Prince, known as Taitsong, who continued both his work and policy. Taitsong was asdetermined to humiliate the Mings as his father had been. He commenced hisoffensive measures by an attack on Corea, which he speedily reduced tosuch a pass that it accepted his authority and transferred its allegiancefrom the Mings to the Manchus. This was an important success, as itsecured his eastern flank and deprived the Chinese of a useful ally in theForbidden Kingdom. It encouraged Taitsong to think that the time was oncemore ripe for attacking Ningyuen, and he laid siege to that fortress atthe head of a large army, including the flower of his troops. Notwithstanding the energy of his attack, Chungwan, the former bolddefender of the place, had again the satisfaction of seeing the Manchusrepulsed, and compelled to admit that the ramparts of Ningyuen presented aserious if not insuperable obstacle to their progress. Almost at the verymoment of this success the Emperor Tienki died, and was succeeded, in1627, by his younger brother, Tsongching, who was destined to be the lastof the Ming rulers. 

The repulse of Taitsong before Ningyuen might have been fatal if he hadnot been a man of great ability and resource. The occasion called for somespecial effort, and Taitsong proved himself equal to it by a stroke ofgenius that showed he was the worthy inheritor of the mission ofNoorhachu. Without taking anybody into his confidence he ordered his armyand his allies, the Kortsin Mongols, to assemble in the country west ofNingyuen, and when he had thus collected over a hundred thousand men, heannounced his intention of ignoring Ningyuen and marching direct on Pekin. At this juncture Taitsong divided his army into eight banners, which stillremain the national divisions of the Manchu race. The Manchus seem to havebeen a little alarmed by the boldness of Taitsong's scheme, and they mighthave hesitated to follow him if he had given them any time for reflection, but his plans were not fully known until his forces were through theDangan Pass on the march to the capital. The Chinese, relying altogetheron Ningyuen as a defense, had made no preparation to hold their ground onthis side, and Taitsong encountered no opposition until he reached Kichow. Then Chungwan, realizing that he had been outmaneuvered, and that thedefenses of Ningyuen had been turned, hastened back by forced marches todefend Pekin. Owing to his road being the better of the two he gained thecapital in time, and succeeded in throwing himself and his troops into itin order to defend it against the assault of the Manchus. After Taitsongsat down before Pekin he engaged in an intrigue for the ruin of Chungwan, whose disgrace would be equivalent to a great victory. The method is notto be approved on general grounds, but Taitsong conceived that he wasjustified in bribing persons in Pekin to discredit Chungwan and compasshis ruin. The emperor was persuaded that Chungwan was too powerful asubject to be absolutely loyal, and it was asserted that he was incommunication with the enemy. Chungwan, who had been so long the buttressof the kingdom, was secretly arrested and thrown into a prison from whichhe never issued. The disappearance of Chungwan was as valuable to Taitsongas a great victory, and he made his final preparations for assaultingPekin; but either the want of supplies or the occurrence of somedisturbance in his rear prevented the execution of his plan. He drew offhis forces and retired behind the Great Wall at the very moment when Pekinseemed at his mercy. 

During four years of more or less tranquillity Taitsong confined hisattention to political designs, and to training a corps of artillery, andthen he resumed his main project of the conquest of China. Instead ofavailing themselves of the lull thus afforded to improve their position, the Chinese ministers seemed to believe that the danger from the Manchushad passed away, and they treated all the communications from Taitsongwith imprudent and unnecessary disdain. Their attention was alsodistracted by many internal troubles, produced by their own folly, as wellas by the perils of the time. 

Taitsong, in 1634, resumed his operations in China, and on this occasionhe invaded the province of Shansi, at the head of an army composed largelyof Mongols as well as of Manchus. Although the people of Shansi had nothad any practical experience of Manchu prowess, and notwithstanding thattheir frontier was exceedingly strong by nature, Taitsong met with littleor no resistance from either the local garrisons or the people themselves. One Chinese governor, it is said, ventured to publish a boastful report ofan imaginary victory over the Manchus, and to send a copy of it to Pekin. Taitsong, however, intercepted the letter, and at once sent the officer achallenge, matching 1, 000 of his men against 10, 000 of the Chinese. Thatthe offer was not accepted is the best proof of the superiority of theManchu army. 

It was at the close of this successful campaign in Shansi, that Taitsong, in the year 1635, assumed, for the first time among any of the Manchurulers, the style of Emperor of China. Events had long been moving in thisdirection, but an accident is said to have determined Taitsong to takethis final measure. The jade seal of the old Mongol rulers was suddenlydiscovered, and placed in the hands of Taitsong. When the Mongols heard ofthis, forty-nine of their chiefs hastened to tender their allegiance toTaitsong and the only condition made was that the King of Corea should becompelled to do so likewise. Taitsong, nothing loth, at once sent offletters to the Corean court announcing the adhesion of the Mongols, andcalling upon the king of that state to recognize his supremacy. But theCorean ruler had got wind of the contents of these letters and declined toopen them, thus hoping to get out of his difficulty without offending hisold friends the Chinese. But Taitsong was not to be put off in thisfashion. He sent an army to inflict chastisement on his neighbor, and itsmission was successfully discharged. The king and his family were takenprisoners, although they had fled to the island of Gangwa for safety, andCorea became a Manchu possession. The last years of Taitsong's life werespent in conducting repeated expeditions into the provinces of Shansi andPechihli, but the strength of the fortresses of Ningyuen and Shanhaikwanon the Great Wall effectually prevented his renewing his attempt on Pekin. These two places with the minor forts of Kingchow and Songshan formed aquadrilateral that effectually secured Pekin on its northern side, andbeing intrusted to the defense of Wou Sankwei, a general of greatcapacity, of whom much more will be heard, all Taitsong's ability andresources were taxed to overcome those obstacles to his progress south ofthe Great Wall. He succeeded after great loss, and at the end of severalcampaigns, in taking Kingchow and Songshan, but these were his lastsuccesses, for in the year 1643 he was seized with a fatal illness atMoukden, which terminated his career at the comparatively early age offifty-two. Taitsong's premature death, due, in all probability, to theincompetence of his physicians, cut short a career that had not reachedits prime, and retarded the conquest of China, for the supreme authorityamong the Manchus then passed from a skillful and experienced ruler intothe hands of a child. 

The possession of a well-trained army, the production of two great leadersof admitted superiority, and forty years of almost continuously successfulwar, had not availed to bring the authority of the Manchus in anypermanent form south of the Great Wall. The barrier of Tsin Che Hwangtistill kept out the most formidable adversary who had ever borne down uponit, and the independence of China seemed far removed from seriousjeopardy. At this juncture events occurred that altered the wholesituation, and the internal divisions of the Chinese proved more seriousand entailed a more rapid collapse than all the efforts of the Manchus. 

The arch rebel Li Tseching, who proved more formidable to the Ming rulerthan his Manchu opponent, was the son of a peasant in the province ofShansi. At an early age he attached himself to the profession of arms, andbecame well known as a skillful archer and horseman. In 1629, he firstappears on the scene as member of a band of robbers, who were, however, destroyed by a rare display of energy on the part of one of the emperor'slieutenants. Li was one of the few who were fortunate enough to escapewith their lives and liberty. He soon gathered round him another band, andunder his successful and courageous leading it shortly acquired the sizeof an army. One reason of his success was his forming an alliance with theMohammedan settlers in Kansuh, who were already known as Tungani or"Colonists. " But the principal cause of his success was his skill andpromptitude in coming to terms with the imperial authorities whenever theybecame too strong for him, and he often purchased a truce when, if theofficials had pushed home their advantage, he must have been destroyed. His power thus grew to a high point, while that of other robber chiefsonly waxed to wane and disappear; and about the year 1640, when it wassaid that his followers numbered half a million of men, he began to thinkseriously of displacing the Ming and placing himself on the throne ofChina. With this object in view he laid siege to the town of Honan, thecapital of the province of the same name. At first the resolution of thegovernor baffled his attempt, but treachery succeeded when force failed. Atraitor opened a gate for a sum of money which he was never paid, and Li'sarmy burst into the city. The garrison was put to the sword, and horribleoutrages were perpetrated on the townspeople. From Honan Li marched onKaifong, which he besieged for seven days; but he did not possess thenecessary engines to attack a place of any strength, and Kaifong wasreputed to be the strongest fortress in China. He was obliged to beat ahasty retreat, pursued by an army that the imperial authorities hadhurriedly collected. There is reason to think his retreat was a skillfulmovement to the rear in order to draw the emperor's troops after him. Certain it is that they pursued him in four separate corps, and that heturned upon them and beat them one after the other. When he had vanquishedthese armies in four separate encounters he again laid siege to Kaifong, and it was thought that he would have taken it, when Li was wounded by anarrow, and called off his troops in consequence. Several times afterwardhe resumed the attempt, but with no better fortune, until an accidentaccomplished what all his power had failed to do. The governor had amongother precautions flooded the moat from the Hoangho, and this extrabarrier of defense had undoubtedly done much toward discomfiting thebesiegers. But in the end it proved fatal to the besieged, for theHoangho, at all times capricious in its movements, and the source of asmuch trouble as benefit to the provinces it waters, rose suddenly to thedimensions of a flood, and overflowing its banks spread over the country. Many of Li's soldiers were drowned, and his camp was flooded, but the mostserious loss befell the Imperialists in Kaifong. The waters of the riverswept away the walls and flooded the town. Thousands perished at the time, and those who attempted to escape were cut down by the rebels outside. Kaifong itself was destroyed and has never recovered its ancientimportance, being now a town of only the third or fourth rank. This greatsuccess established the reputation of Li Tseching on a firm basis, andconstituted him one of the arbiters of his country's destiny. He foundhimself master of one-third of the state; proclaimed himself Emperor ofChina, under the style of Yongchang, and gave his dynasty the name ofTachun. Having taken this step of open defiance to the Ming government, Liinvaded Shansi, which he reduced to subjection with little difficulty orbloodshed. An officer, named Likintai, was sent to organize some measuresof defense, but, on arrival, he found the province in the hands of therebel, and he had no choice save to beat a discreet and rapid retreat. Thesuccess of Li continued unchecked. Important places like Taiyuen andTaitong surrendered to him after a merely nominal resistance, and whenthey fell there was no further impediment in the way of his marching onPekin. 

No preparations had been made to defend Pekin. The defenses were weak, thegarrison insufficient, as all the best troops were on the frontier, andthe citizens disposed to come to terms with the assailant rather than todie in the breach for their sovereign. When Li pitched his tent outsidethe western gate of the capital, and sent a haughty demand to the emperorto abdicate his throne, he was master of the situation; but Tsongching, ignorant of his own impotence, defied and upbraided his opponent as arebel. His indignation was turned to despair when he learned that thetroops had abandoned his cause, that the people were crying out for LiTseching, and that that leader's followers were rapidly approaching hispalace. Tsongching strangled himself with his girdle, but only one officerwas found devoted enough to share his fate. Although Tsongching had somenominal successors, he was, strictly speaking, the last of the Mingemperors, and with him the great dynasty founded by Hongwou came to anend. The many disasters that preceded its fall rendered the loss of theimperial station less of a blow to the individual, and the last of theMing rulers seems to have even experienced relief on reaching the term ofhis anxieties. The episode of the faithful officer, Li Kweiching, concludes the dramatic events accompanying the capture of Pekin and thefall of the dynasty. After the death of his sovereign he attempted todefend the capital; but overpowered by numbers he surrendered to thevictor, who offered him an honorable command in his service. Li Kweichingaccepted the offer on the stipulation that he should be allowed to givethe Emperor Tsongching honorable burial, and that the surviving members ofthe Ming family should be spared. These conditions, so creditable to LiKweiching, were granted; but, at the funeral of his late sovereign, griefor a spirit of duty so overcame him that he committed suicide on the graveof Tsongching. Li Tseching, who had counted on valuable assistance fromthis officer, became furious at this occurrence. He plundered anddestroyed the ancestral temple of the Mings, and he caused every member ofthe imperial family on whom he could lay hands to be executed. Thusterminated the events at Pekin in the absolute and complete triumph of therebel Li Tseching, and the panic produced by his success and severityblinded observers to the hollowness of his power, and to the want ofsolidity in his administration. Yet it seemed for a time as if he wereleft the virtual master of China. 

While the Ming power was collapsing before the onset of Li Tseching, therestill remained the large and well-trained Ming army in garrison on theManchu frontier, under command of the able general, Wou Sankwei. At theeleventh hour the Emperor Tsonching had sent a message to Wou Sankwei, begging him to come in all haste to save the capital; and that general, evacuating Ningyuen, and leaving a small garrison at Shanhaikwan, hadbegun his march for Pekin, when he learned that it had fallen and that theMing dynasty had ceased to be. Placed in this dilemma, between theadvancing Manchus, who immediately occupied Ningyuen on his evacuation ofit, and the large rebel force in possession of Pekin, Wou Sankwei had nochoice between coming to terms with one or other of them. Li Tsechingoffered him liberal rewards and a high command, but in vain, for WouSankwei decided that it would be better to invite the Manchus to enter thecountry, and to assist them to conquer it. There can be no doubt that thiscourse was both the wiser and the more patriotic, for Li Tseching wasnothing more than a successful brigand on a large scale; whereas theManchu government was a respectable one, was well organized, and aspiredto revive the best traditions of the Chinese. Having come to a promptdecision, Wou Sankwei lost no time in promptly carrying it out. He wrote aletter to the Manchus, asking them to send an army to co-operate with hisin driving Li Tseching out of Pekin; and the Manchus, at once realizingthat the moment had arrived for conquering China, acquiesced promptly inhis plans, sent forward their advanced corps, and ordered a _levee enmasse_ of the nation for the conquest of China. Assured of his rear, and also of speedy re-enforcement, Wou Sankwei did not delay a day inmarching on Pekin. Li Tseching sent out a portion of his army to opposethe advance of Wou Sankwei; but the officer's instructions were rather tonegotiate than to fight, for to the last Li Tseching expected that WouSankwei would come over to his side. He was already beginning to feeldoubtful as to the security of his position; and his fears were increasedby his superstition, for when, on entering Pekin, he passed under a gateabove which was written the character "joong" (middle), he exclaimed, drawing his bow at the same time, "If I hit this joong in the middle, itis a sign I have gained the whole empire, as the empire is joong, themiddle kingdom. " His arrow missed its mark. The apprehensions of LiTseching were soon confirmed, for Wou Sankwei defeated the first army hehad sent out with a loss of 20, 000 men. Li does not seem to have known ofthe alliance between that officer and the Manchus, for he marched at thehead of 60, 000 men to encounter him. He took with him the aged father ofWou Sankwei and two Ming princes, who had survived the massacre of theirfamily, with a view to appealing to the affection and loyalty of thatcommander; but these devices proved vain. 

Wou Sankwei drew up his forces at Yungping in a strong position near thescene of his recent victory; his front seems to have been protected by theriver Zanho, and he calmly awaited the attack of Li Tseching, whose armyfar outnumbered his. Up to this point Wou Sankwei had not been joined byany of the Manchus, but a body was known to be approaching, and he wasanxious to put off the battle until they arrived. For the same reason LiTseching was as anxious to begin the attack, and, notwithstanding thestrength of Wou Sankwei's position, he ordered his troops to engagewithout delay. Adopting the orthodox Chinese mode of attack of forming hisarmy in a crescent, so that the extreme wings should overlap and graduallyencompass those of the enemy, Li trusted to his numerical superiority togive him the victory. At one moment it seemed as if his expectation wouldbe justified; for, bravely as Wou Sankwei and his army fought, the weightof numbers was telling its inevitable tale when a Manchu corps opportunelyarrived, and attacking the Chinese with great impetuosity, changed thefortune of the day and put the army of Li Tseching to the rout. Thirtythousand men are said to have fallen on the field, and Li himself escapedfrom the carnage with only a few hundred horsemen. 

After this Li met with disaster after disaster. He was driven out ofShansi into Honan, and from Honan into Shensi. Wou Sankwei took Tunkwanwithout firing a shot, and when Li attempted to defend Singan he foundthat his soldiers would not obey his orders, and wished only to come toterms with Wou Sankwei. Expelled from the last of his towns he took refugein the hills, but the necessity of obtaining provisions compelled him nowand then to descend into the plains, and on one of these occasions he wassurprised in a village and killed. His head was placed in triumph over thenearest prefecture, and thus ended the most remarkable career of aprincely robber chieftain to be found in Chinese annals. At one time itseemed as if Li Tseching would be the founder of a dynasty, but hismeteor-like career ended not less suddenly than his rise to supreme powerwas rapid. Extraordinary as was his success, Wou Sankwei had rightlygauged its nature when he declared that it had no solid basis. 

The overthrow of Li Tseching paved the way for a fresh difficulty. It hadbeen achieved to a large extent by the military genius of Wou Sankwei andby the exertions of his Chinese army. That officer had invited the Manchusinto the country, but when victory was achieved he showed some anxiety fortheir departure. This was no part of the compact, nor did it coincide withthe ambition of the Manchus. They determined to retain the territory theyhad conquered, at the same time that they endeavored to propitiate WouSankwei and to retain the command of his useful services. He was given thehigh sounding title of Ping-si Wang, or Prince Pacifier of the West, andmany other honors. Gratified by these rewards and unable to discover anyperson who could govern China, Wou Sankwei gradually reconciled himself tothe situation and performed his duty faithfully as the most powerfullieutenant of the young Manchu ruler, Chuntche, the son of Taitsong, who, after the fall of Li Tseching, removed his capital to Pekin, and assumedthe style and ceremony of a Chinese emperor. The active administration wasintrusted to Prince Dorgun, brother of Taitsong, who now became known asAma Wang, the Father Prince, and who acted as regent during the longminority of his nephew. The new dynasty was inaugurated at Pekin with agrand ceremony and court. 

After this formal and solemn assumption of the governing power in China bythe young Manchu prince, the activity of the Manchus increased, andseveral armies were sent south to subject the provinces, and to bring thewhole Chinese race under his authority. For some time no seriousopposition was encountered, as the disruption of Li's forces entailed thesurrender of all the territory north of the Hoangho. But at Nankin, and inthe provinces south of the Yangtsekiang, an attempt had been made, and notunsuccessfully, to set up a fresh administration under one of the membersof the prolific Ming family. Fou Wang, a grandson of Wanleh, was placed onthe Dragon Throne of Southern China in this hope, but his character didnot justify the faith reposed in him. He thought nothing of the seriousresponsibility he had accepted, but showed that he regarded his highstation merely as an opportunity for gratifying his own pleasures. Thereis little or no doubt that if he had shown himself worthy of his stationhe might have rallied to his side the mass of the Chinese nation, and WouSankwei, who had shown some signs of chafing at Manchu authority, mighthave been won back by a capable and sympathetic sovereign. Butnotwithstanding the ability of Fou Wang's minister, Shu Kofa, who stroveto repair the errors of his master, the new Ming power at Nankin did notprosper. Wou Sankwei, cautious not to commit himself, rejected the patentof a duke and the money gifts sent him by Shu Kofa, while Ama Wang, on hisside, sought to gain over Shu Kofa by making him the most lavish promisesof reward. But that minister proved as true to his sovereign as WouSankwei did to the Manchu. The result of the long correspondence betweenthem was nil, but it showed the leaders of the Manchus in very favorablecolors, as wishing to avert the horrors of war, and to simplify thesurrender of provinces which could not be held against them. When Ama Wangdiscovered that there was no hope of gaining over Shu Kofa, and thuspaving his way to the disintegration of the Nankin power, he decided toprosecute the war against the surviving Ming administration with thegreatest activity. 

While these preparations were being made to extend the Manchu conquestover Central China, all was confusion at Nankin. Jealousies between thecommanders, none of whom possessed much merit or experience, bickeringsamong the ministers, apathy on the part of the ruler, and bitterdisappointment and disgust in the ranks of the people, all combined toprecipitate the overthrow of the ephemeral throne that had been erected inthe Southern capital. Ama Wang Waited patiently to allow these causes ofdisintegration time to develop their full force, and to contribute to theruin of the Mings, but in the winter of 1644-45 he decided that the rightmoment to strike had come. Shu Kofa made some effort to oppose the Manchuarmies, and even assumed the command in person, although he was only acivilian, but his troops had no heart to oppose the Manchus, and thedevices to which he resorted to make his military power appear moreformidable were both puerile and ineffective. Yet one passage may bequoted to his credit if it gave his opponent an advantage. It is affirmedon good authority that he could have obtained a material advantage if hewould only have flooded the country, but he "refused to do so, on theground that more civilians would perish than Manchus, and he said, 'Firstthe people, next the dynasty. '" The sentiment was a noble one, but it wastoo severe a crisis to admit of any sentiment, especially when fighting anup-hill battle, and Shu Kofa, soon realizing that he was not qualified toplay the part of a great soldier, resolved to end his existence. He tookshelter with a small force in the town of Yangchow, and when he heard thatthe Manchus were entering the gate, he and his officers committed suicide. The Chinese lamented and were crushed by his death. In him they saw thelast of their great men, and, no doubt, they credited him with a highercapacity even than he possessed. Only a military genius of the first rankcould have saved the Mings, and Shu Kofa was nothing more than aconscientious and capable civil mandarin, ignorant of war. His fortitudecould only be measured by his indifference to life, and by his resolve toanticipate the fall of his sovereign as soon as he saw it to beinevitable. 

Fou Wang speedily followed the fate of his faithful minister; for, whenthe Manchus marched on Nankin, he abandoned his capital, and sought safetyin flight. But one of his officers, anxious to make favorable terms forhimself with the conqueror, undertook his capture, and coming up with himwhen on the point of entering a junk to put to sea, Fou Wang had noalternative left between an ignominious surrender and suicide. He chosethe latter course, and throwing himself into the river was drowned, thusending his own career, and the Ming dynasty in its southern capital ofNankin. 

Meantime dissension further weakened the already discouraged Chineseforces. The pirate Ching Chelong, who was the mainstay of the Ming cause, cherished the hope that he might place his own family on the throne, andhe endeavored to induce the Ming prince to recognize his son, Koshinga, ashis heir. Low as he had fallen, it is to the credit of this prince that herefused to sign away the birth-right of his family. Ching was bitterlychagrined at this refusal, and after detaching his forces from the otherChinese he at last came to the resolution to throw in his lot with theManchus. He was promised honorable terms, but the Tartars seem to have hadno intention of complying with them, so far at least as allowing him toretain his liberty. For they sent him off to Pekin, where he was kept inhonorable confinement, notwithstanding his protests and promises, and thedefiant threats of his son Koshinga. In preserving his life he was morefortunate than the members of the Ming family, who were hunted down in aremorseless manner and executed with all their relations on capture. Theonly place that offered any resistance to the Manchus was the town ofKanchow, on the Kan River, in Kiangsi. The garrison defended themselveswith desperate valor during two months, and a council of war was held amidmuch anxiety, to consider whether the siege should be abandoned. Boldcounsels prevailed. The Manchus returned to the attack, and had thesatisfaction of carrying the town by assault, when the garrison were putto the sword. 

The relics of the Chinese armies gathered for a final stand in the city ofCanton, but unfortunately for them the leaders were still divided by pettyjealousies. One Ming prince proclaimed himself Emperor at Canton, andanother in the adjoining province of Kwangsi. Although the Manchus weregathering their forces to overwhelm the Chinese in their last retreat, they could not lay aside their divisions and petty ambitions in order tocombine against the national enemy, but must needs assail one another todecide which should have the empty title of Ming emperor. The Manchus hadthe satisfaction of seeing the two rivals break their strength againsteach other, and then they advanced to crush the victor at Canton. Strongas the place was said to be, it offered no serious resistance, and thegreat commercial city of the south passed into the hands of the race whohad subdued the whole country from Pekin to the Tonquin frontier. At thismoment the fortune of the Manchus underwent a sudden and inexplicablechange. Two repulses before a fortress southwest of Canton, and thedisaffection of a large part of their Chinese auxiliaries, who clamoredfor their pay, seem to have broken the strength of the advanced Manchuarmy. A wave of national antipathy drove the Tartars out of Canton and thesouthern provinces, but it soon broke its force, and the Manchus, returning with fresh troops, speedily recovered all they had lost, and byplacing stronger garrisons in the places they occupied consolidated theirhold on Southern China. Although the struggle between the Manchus andtheir new subjects was far from concluded, the conquest of China as suchmay be said to have reached its end at this stage. How a small Tartartribe succeeded after fifty years of war in imposing its yoke on theskeptical, freedom-loving, and intensely national millions of China willalways remain one of the enigmas of history. 

CHAPTER X

THE FIRST MANCHU RULER

While the Manchu generals and armies were establishing their power inSouthern China the young Emperor Chuntche, under the direction of hisprudent uncle, the regent Ama Wang, was setting up at Pekin the centralpower of a ruling dynasty. In doing so little or no opposition wasexperienced at the hands of the Chinese, who showed that they longed oncemore for a settled government; and this acquiescence on the part of theChinese people in their authority no doubt induced the Manchu leaders toadopt a far more conciliatory and lenient policy toward the Chinese thanwould otherwise have been the case. Ama Wang gave special orders that thelives and property of all who surrendered to his lieutenants should bescrupulously respected. This moderation was only departed from in the caseof some rebels in Shensi, who, after accepting, repudiated the Manchuauthority, and laid close siege to the chief town of Singan, which held agarrison of only 3, 000 Manchus. The commandant wished to make his positionsecure by massacring the Chinese of the town, but he was deterred fromtaking this extreme step by the representations of a Chinese officer, who, binding himself for the good faith of his countrymen, induced him toenroll them in the ranks of the garrison. They proved faithful andrendered excellent service in the siege; and when a relieving Manchu armycame from Pekin the rebels were quickly scattered and pursued withunflagging bitterness to their remotest hiding places. 

In the province of Szchuen a Chinese leader proclaimed himself Si Wang, orKing of the West. He was execrated by those who were nominally hissubjects. Among the most heinous of his crimes was his invitation toliterary men to come to his capital for employment, and when they hadassembled to the number of 30, 000, to order them to be massacred. He dealtin a similar manner with 3, 000 of his courtiers, because one of themhappened to omit a portion of his full titles. His excesses culminated inthe massacre of Chentu, when 600, 000 innocent persons are said to haveperished. Even allowing for the Eastern exaggeration of numbers, thecrimes of this inhuman monster have rarely, if ever, been surpassed. Hisrage or appetite for destruction was not appeased by human sacrifices. Hemade equal war on the objects of nature and the works of man. He destroyedcities, leveled forests, and overthrew all the public monuments thatembellished his province. In the midst of his excesses he was told that aManchu army had crossed the frontier, but he resolved to crown his inhumancareer by a deed unparalleled in the records of history, and, what is moreextraordinary, he succeeded in inducing his followers to execute hiscommands. His project was to massacre all the women in attendance on hisarmy. 

When the assembly took place Si Wang slew his wives _coram populo_, andhis followers, seized with an extreme frenzy, followed his example. Itis said that as many as 400, 000 women were slain that day, and Si Wang, intoxicated by his success in inducing his followers to execute hisinhuman behests, believed that he had nothing to fear at the hands of theManchus. But he was soon undeceived, for in one of the earliest affairs atthe outposts he was killed by an arrow. His power at once crumbled away, and Szchuen passed under the authority of the Manchus. The conquest ofSzchuen paved the way for the recovery of the position that had been lostin Southern China, and close siege was laid to the city of Canton. OutsideCanton the Manchus carried everything before them, and that city itself atlast was captured, after what passed for a stubborn resistance. Canton wasgiven over to pillage. 

At this moment of success Ama Wang, the wise regent, died, and Chuntcheassumed the reins of government. He at once devoted his attention toadministrative reforms. Corruption had begun to sway the publicexaminations, and Chuntche issued a special edict, enjoining the examinersto give fair awards and to maintain the purity of the service. But severalexaminers had to be executed and others banished beyond the Wall beforematters were placed on a satisfactory basis. He also adopted theastronomical system in force in Europe, and he appointed the priest AdamSchaal head of the Mathematical Board at Pekin. But his most importantwork was the institution of the Grand Council, which still exists, andwhich is the supreme power under the emperor in the country. It iscomposed of only four members--two Manchus and two Chinese--who alonepossess the privilege of personal audience with the emperor whenever theymay demand it. As this act gave the Chinese an equal place with theManchus in the highest body of the empire it was exceedingly welcome, andexplains, among other causes, the popularity and stability of the Manchudynasty. When allotting Chuntche his place among the founders of Manchugreatness, allowance must be made for this wise and far-reaching measure. 

An interesting event in the reign of Chuntche was the arrival at Pekin ofmore than one embassy from European States. The Dutch and the Russians canequally claim the honor of having had an envoy resident in the Chinesecapital during the year 1656. 

In 1661 the health of Chuntche became so bad that it was evident to hiscourtiers that his end was drawing near, although he was little more thanthirty years of age. On his deathbed he selected as his successor thesecond of his sons, who afterward became famous as the Emperor Kanghi. Kanghi assumed the personal direction of affairs when only fourteen yearsof age. Such a bold step undoubtedly betokened no ordinary vigor on thepart of a youth, and its complete success reflected still further creditupon him. 

The interest of the period passes from the scenes at court to the camp ofWou Sankwei, who, twenty years earlier, had introduced the Manchus intoChina. During the Manchu campaign in Southern China he had kept peace onthe western frontier, gradually extending his authority from Shensi intoSzchuen and thence over Yunnan. When a Ming prince, Kwei Wang, who hadfled into Burmah, returned with the support of the king of that country tomake another bid for the throne, he found himself confronted by all thepower and resources of Wou Sankwei, who was still as loyal a servant ofthe Manchu emperor as when he carried his ensigns against Li Tseching. Kwei Wang does not appear to have expected opposition from Wou Sankwei, and in the first encounter he was overthrown and taken prisoner. Theconqueror, who was already under suspicion at the Manchu court, and whomevery Chinese rebel persisted in regarding as a natural ally, nowhesitated as to how he should treat these important prisoners. Kwei Wangand his son--the last of the Mings--were eventually led forth toexecution, although it should be stated that a less authentic reportaffirms they were allowed to strangle themselves. Having made use of WouSankwei, and obtained, as they thought, the full value of his services, the Manchus sought to treat him with indifference and to throw him intothe shade. But the splendor of his work was such that they had to conferon him the title of Prince, and to make him viceroy of Yunnan and theadjacent territories. He exerted such an extraordinary influence over theChinese subjects that they speedily settled down under his authority;revenue and trade increased, and the Manchu authority was maintainedwithout a Tartar garrison, for Wou Sankwei's army was composed exclusivelyof Chinese, and its nucleus was formed by his old garrison of Ningyuen andShanhaikwan. There is no certain reason for saying that Wou Sankwei nursedany scheme of personal aggrandizement, but the measures he took and thereforms he instituted were calculated to make his authority becomegradually independent of Manchu control. For a time the Manchu governmentsuppressed its apprehensions on account of this powerful satrap, by theargument that in a few years his death in the course of nature mustrelieve it from this peril, but Wou Sankwei lived on and showed no signsof paying the common debt of humanity. Then it seemed to Kanghi that WouSankwei was gradually establishing the solid foundation of a formidableand independent power. The Manchu generals and ministers had always beenjealous of the greater fame of Wou Sankwei. When they saw that Kanghiwanted an excuse to fall foul of him, they carried every tale of allegedself-assertion on the part of the Chinese viceroy to the imperial ears, and represented that his power dwarfed the dignity of the Manchu throneand threatened its stability. 

At last Kanghi resolved to take some decisive step to bring the questionto a climax, and he accordingly sent Wou Sankwei an invitation to visithim at Pekin. Wou Sankwei excused himself from going to court on theground that he was very old, and that his only wish was to end his days inpeace. He also deputed his son to tender his allegiance to the emperor andto perform the Kotao in his name. But Kanghi was not to be put off in thisway, and he sent two trusted officials to Wou Sankwei to represent that hemust comply with the exact terms of his command, and to point out thegrave consequences of his refusing. Wou Sankwei cast off his allegiance tothe Manchus, and entered upon a war which aimed at the subversion of theirauthority. Such was the reputation of this great commander, to whoseability and military prowess the Manchus unquestionably were indebted fortheir conquest of the empire, that a large part of Southern China at onceadmitted his authority, and from Szchuen to the warlike province of Hunanhis lieutenants were able to collect all the fighting resources of thestate, and to array the levies of those provinces in the field for theapproaching contest with Kanghi. 

While Wou Sankwei was making these extensive preparations in the south, his son at Pekin had devised an ingenious and daring plot for the massacreof the Manchus and the destruction of the dynasty. He engaged in hisscheme the large body of Chinese slaves who had been placed in servitudeunder their Tartar conquerors, and these, incited by the hope of liberty, proved very ready tools to his designs. They bound themselves together bya solemn oath to be true to one another, and all the preparations weremade to massacre the Manchus on the occasion of the New Year's Festival. This is the grand religious and social ceremony of the Chinese. It takesplace on the first day of the first moon, which falls in our month ofFebruary. All business is stopped, the tribunals are closed for ten days, and a state of high festival resembling the Carnival prevails. Theconspirators resolved to take advantage of this public holiday, and of theexcitement accompanying it, to carry out their scheme, and the Manchusappear to have been in total ignorance until the eleventh hour of the plotfor their destruction. The discovery of the conspiracy bears a closeresemblance to that of the Gunpowder Plot. A Chinese slave, wishing tosave his master, gave him notice of the danger, and this Manchu officer atonce informed Kanghi of the conspiracy. The son of Wou Sankwei and theother conspirators were immediately arrested and executed without delay. The Manchus thus escaped by the merest accident from a danger whichthreatened them with annihilation, and Kanghi, having succeeded in gettingrid of the son, concentrated his power and attention on the more difficulttask of grappling with the father. 

But the power and reputation of Wou Sankwei were so formidable that Kanghiresolved to proceed with great caution, and the emperor began his measuresof offense by issuing an edict ordering the disbandment of all the nativearmies maintained by the Chinese viceroys, besides Wou Sankwei. The objectof this edict was to make all the governors of Chinese race show theirhands, and Kanghi learned the full measure of the hostility he had to copewith by every governor from the sea coast of Fuhkien to Canton defyinghim, and throwing in their lot with Wou Sankwei. The piratical confederacyof Formosa, where Ching, the son of Koshinga, had succeeded to hisauthority, also joined in with what may be called the national party, butits alliance proved of little value, as Ching, at an early period, tookumbrage at his reception by a Chinese official, and returned to his islandhome. But the most formidable danger to the young Manchu ruler came froman unexpected quarter. The Mongols, seeing his embarrassment, andbelieving that the hours of the dynasty were numbered, resolved to takeadvantage of the occasion to push their claims. Satchar, chief of one ofthe Banners, issued a proclamation, calling his race to his side, anddeclaring his intention to invade China at the head of 100, 000 men. Itseemed hardly possible for Kanghi to extricate himself from his manydangers. With great quickness of perception Kanghi saw that the mostpressing danger was that from the Mongols, and he sent the whole of hisnorthern garrisons to attack Satchar before the Mongol clans could havegathered to his assistance. The Manchu cavalry, by a rapid march, surprised Satchar in his camp and carried him and his family off asprisoners to Pekin. The capture of their chief discouraged the Mongols andinterrupted their plans for invading China. Kanghi thus obtained a respitefrom what seemed his greatest peril. Then he turned his attention todealing with Wou Sankwei, and the first effort of his armies resulted inthe recovery of Fuhkien, where the governor and Ching had reducedthemselves to a state of exhaustion by a contest inspired by personaljealousy not patriotism. From Fuhkien his successful lieutenants passedinto Kwantung, and the Chinese, seeing that the Manchus were not sunk aslow as had been thought, abandoned all resistance, and again recognizedthe Tartar authority. The Manchus did not dare to punish the rebels exceptin rare instances, and, therefore, the recovery of Canton wasunaccompanied by any scenes of blood. But a garrison of Manchus was placedin each town of importance, and it was by Kanghi's order that a walledtown, or "Tartar city, " was built within each city for the accommodationand security of the dominant race. 

But notwithstanding these successes Kanghi made little or no progressagainst the main force of Wou Sankwei, whose supremacy was undisputedthroughout the whole of southwest China. It was not until 1677 that Kanghiventured to move his armies against Wou Sankwei in person. Although heobtained no signal success in the field, the divisions among the Chinesecommanders were such that he had the satisfaction of compelling them toevacuate Hunan, and when Wou Sankwei took his first step backward the sunof his fortunes began to set. Calamity rapidly followed calamity. WouSankwei had not known the meaning of defeat in his long career of fiftyyears, but now, in his old age, he saw his affairs in inextricableconfusion. His adherents deserted him, many rebel officers sought to cometo terms with the Manchus, and Kanghi's armies gradually converged on WouSankwei from the east and the north. Driven out of Szchuen, Wou Sankweiendeavored to make a stand in Yunnan. He certainly succeeded in prolongingthe struggle down to the year 1679, when his death put a sudden end to thecontest, and relieved Kanghi from much anxiety; for although the successof the Manchus was no longer uncertain, the military skill of the oldChinese warrior might have indefinitely prolonged the war. Wou Sankwei wasone of the most conspicuous and attractive figures to be met with in thelong course of Chinese history, and his career covered one of the mostcritical periods in the modern existence of that empire. From the time ofhis first distinguishing himself in the defense of Ningyuen until he died, half a century later, as Prince of Yunnan, he occupied the very foremostplace in the minds of his fellow-countrymen. The part he had taken, firstin keeping out the Manchus, and then in introducing them into the state, reflected equal credit on his ability and his patriotism. In requestingthe Manchus to crush the robber Li and to take the throne which the fallof the Mings had rendered vacant, he was actuated by the purest motives. There was only a choice of evils, and he selected that which seemed theless. He gave the empire to a foreign ruler of intelligence, but he savedit from an unscrupulous robber. He played the part of king-maker to thefamily of Noorhachu, and the magnitude of their obligations to him couldnot be denied. They were not as grateful as he may have expected, and theylooked askance at his military power and influence over his countrymen. Probably he felt that he had not been well treated, and chagrinundoubtedly induced him to reject Kanghi's request to proceed to Pekin. Ifhe had only acceeded to that arrangement he would have left a name forconspicuous loyalty and political consistency in the service of the greatrace, which he had been mainly instrumental in placing over China. Buteven as events turned out he was one of the most remarkable personages theChinese race ever produced, and his military career shows that they arecapable of producing great generals and brave soldiers. 

The death of Wou Sankwei signified the overthrow of the Chinese uprisingwhich had threatened to extinguish the still growing power of the Manchuunder its youthful Emperor Kanghi. Wou Shufan, the grandson of thatprince, endeavored to carry on the task of holding Yunnan as anindependent territory, but by the year 1681 his possessions were reducedto the town of Yunnanfoo, where he was closely besieged by the Manchuforces. Although the Chinese fought valiantly, they were soon reduced toextremities, and the Manchus carried the place by storm. The garrison weremassacred to the last man, and Wou Shufan only avoided a worse fate bycommitting suicide. The Manchus, not satisfied with his death, sent hishead to Pekin to be placed on its principal gate in triumph, and the bodyof Wou Sankwei himself was exhumed so that his ashes might be scattered ineach of the eighteen provinces of China as a warning to traitors. Havingcrushed their most redoubtable antagonist, the Manchus resorted to moresevere measures against those who had surrendered in Fuhkien and Kwantung, and many insurgent chiefs who had surrendered, and enjoyed a briefrespite, ended their lives under the knife of the executioner. The Manchusoldiers are said to have been given spoil to the extent of nearly tenmillion dollars, and the war which witnessed the final assertion of Manchupower over the Chinese was essentially popular with the soldiers whocarried it on to a victorious conclusion. A very short time after thefinal overthrow of Wou Sankwei and his family, the Chinese regime inFormosa was brought to an end. Kanghi, having collected a fleet, andconcluded a convention with the Dutch, determined on the invasion andconquest of Formosa. In the midst of these preparations Ching, the son ofKoshinga, died, and no doubt the plans of Kanghi were facilitated by theconfusion that followed. The Manchu fleet seized Ponghu, the principalisland of the Pescadore group, and thence the Manchus threw a force intoFormosa. It is said that they were helped by a high tide, and by thesuperstition of the islanders, who exclaimed, "The first Wang (Koshinga)got possession of Taiwan by a high tide. The fleet now comes in the samemanner. It is the will of Heaven. " Formosa accepted the supremacy of theManchus without further ado. Those of the islanders who had everrecognized the authority of any government, accepted that of the EmperorKanghi, shaved their heads in token of submission, and became so far as inthem lay respectable citizens. 

The overthrow of Wou Sankwei and the conquest of Formosa completed whatmay be called the pacification of China by the Manchus. From that periodto the Taeping Rebellion, or for nearly 200 years, there was no internalinsurrection on a large scale. On the whole the Manchus stained theirconclusive triumph by few excesses, and Kanghi's moderation was scarcelyinferior to that of his father, Chuntche. The family of Wou Sankwei seemsto have been rooted out more for the personal attempt of the son at Pekinthan for the bold ambition of the potentate himself. The family ofKoshinga was spared, and its principal representative received the patentof an earl. Thus, by a policy judiciously combined of severity andmoderation, did Kanghi make himself supreme, and complete the work of hisrace. Whatever troubles may have beset the government in the last 220years, it will be justifiable to speak of the Manchus and the Tatsingdynasty as the legitimate authorities in China, and, instead of foreignadventurers, as the national and recognized rulers of the Middle Kingdom. 

CHAPTER XI

THE EMPEROR KANGHI

Among the Mongol tribes the noblest at this period were the Khalkas. Theyprided themselves on being the descendants of the House of Genghis, therepresentatives of the special clan of the great conqueror, and theoccupants of the original home in the valleys of the Onon and Kerulon. Although their military power was slight, the name of the Khalka princesstood high among the Mongol tribes, and they exercised an influence far inexcess of their numbers or capacity as a fighting force. Kanghi determinedto establish friendly relations with this clan, and by the dispatch offriendly letters and costly presents lie succeeded in inducing the Khalkachiefs to enter into formal alliance with himself, and to conclude atreaty of amity with China, which, be it noted, they faithfully observed. Kanghi's efforts in this direction, which may have been dictated byapprehension at the movements of his new neighbors, the Russians, werethus crowned with success, and the adhesion of the Khalkas signified thatthe great majority of the Mongols would thenceforth abstain from acts ofunprovoked aggression on the Chinese frontier. But the advance of Chinaand her influence, even in the form of paying homage to the emperor as theBogdo Khan, or the Celestial Ruler, so far west as the upper course of theAmour, involved the Pekin Government in fresh complications by bringing itinto contact with tribes and peoples of whom it had no cognizance. Beyondthe Khalkas were the Eleuths, supreme in Ili and Kashgaria, and dividedinto four hordes, who obeyed as many chiefs. They had had some relationswith the Khalkas, but of China they knew nothing more than the greatnessof her name. When the surrender of the Khalka princes became known theEleuth chiefs held a grand assembly or kuriltai, and at this it wasfinally, and, indeed, ostentatiously, decided not to yield Kanghi hisdemands. Important as this decision was, it derived increased weight fromthe character of the man who was mainly instrumental in inducing theEleuths to take it. 

Much has been written of the desert chiefs from Yenta to Yakoob Beg, butnone of these showed greater ability or attained more conspicuous successthan Galdan, who strained the power of China, and fought for many years onequal terms with the Emperor Kanghi. Galdan determined that the easiestand most advantageous beginning for his enterprise would be to attack hisneighbors the Khalkas, who, by accepting Kanghi's offers, had madethemselves the advanced guard of China in Central Asia. He began asystematic encroachment into their lands in the year 1679, but at the sametime he resorted to every device to screen his movements from the Chinesecourt, and such was the delay in receiving intelligence, and the ignoranceof the situation beyond the border, that in the very year of his beginningto attack the Khalkas, his envoy at Pekin received a flattering receptionat the hands of Kanghi, still hopeful of a peaceful settlement, andreturned with the seal and patent of a Khan. Events had not reached astate of open hostility three years later, when Kanghi sent special envoysto the camp of Galdan, as well as to the Khalkas. They were instructed topromise and pay much, but to rest content with nothing short of the formalacceptance by all the chiefs of the supremacy of China. Galdan, bound bythe laws of hospitality, nowhere more sacred than in the East, gave theman honorable reception, and lavished upon them the poor resources hecommanded. In hyperbolic terms he declared that the arrival of an embassyfrom the rich and powerful Chinese emperor in his poor State would behanded down as the most glorious event of his reign. But he refused tomake any tender of allegiance, or to subscribe himself as a Chinesevassal. The dissensions among the Khalka princes assisted the developmentof Galdan's ambition, and added to the anxiety of the Chinese ruler. Kanghi admonished them to heal their differences and to abstain from aninternecine strife, which would only facilitate their conquest by Galdan, and he succeeded so far that he induced them to swear a peace amongthemselves before an image of Buddha. 

At this juncture the Chinese came into collision with the Russians on theAmour. The Russians had built a fort at Albazin, on the upper course ofthat river, and the Chinese army located in the Khalka country, considering its proximity a menace to their own security, attacked it inoverwhelming force. Albazin was taken, and those of the garrison who fellinto the hands of the Chinese were carried off to Pekin, where theirdescendants still reside as a distinct Russian colony. But when theChinese evacuated Albazin the Russians returned there with characteristicobstinacy, and Kanghi, becoming anxious at the increasing activity ofGaldan, accepted the overtures of the Russian authorities in Siberia, who, in 1688, sent the son of the Governor-general of Eastern Siberia to Pekinto negotiate a peace. After twelve months' negotiation, protracted by theoutbreak of war with Galdan, the Treaty of Nerchinsk, the first concludedbetween China and any European power, was signed, and the brief and onlywar between Russia and China was thus brought to a speedy and satisfactorytermination. The Russians agreed to the destruction of Fort Albazin, butthey were allowed to build another at Nerchinsk. 

There is reason to believe that Galdan thought that he might derive someadvantage from the complications with Russia, for his military movementswere hastened when he heard that the two powers were embroiled on theAmour, and he proclaimed his intention of invading the Khalka region, because some of their people had murdered his kinsmen. Galdan endeavoredto conclude an alliance with the Russians, who sent an officer to hiscamp; but they soon came to the determination that it would be moreadvantageous to keep on friendly terms with the Chinese than to embark ona hazardous adventure with the chief of an Asiatic horde. The mere rumorof a possible alliance between Galdan and the Russians roused Kanghi toincreased activity, and all the picked troops of the Eight Manchu Banners, the Forty-nine Mongol Banners, and the Chinese auxiliaries, weredispatched across the steppe to bring the Napoleon of Central Asia toreason. In face of this formidable danger Galdan showed undiminishedcourage and energy. Realizing the peril of inaction, he did not hesitateto assume the offensive, and the war began with a victory he gained over ageneral named Horni, within the limits of Chinese territory. The moral ofthis success was that it showed that Kanghi had not decided a moment toosoon in resorting to extreme measures against the ambitious potentate whofound the Gobi Desert and the surrounding region too circumscribed for hisambition. 

Kanghi intrusted the chief command of his armies to his brother, Yu TsingWang, who justified his appointment by bringing the Eleuth forces speedilyto an engagement, and by gaming a more or less decisive victory over themat Oulan Poutong. The loss was considerable on both sides, among theimperial officers killed being an uncle of the emperor; but Galdan'sforces suffered a great deal more during the retreat than they had done inthe action. After this disaster Galdan signed a treaty with the Chinesecommander, Yu Tsing Wang. At first he attempted to gain an advantage byexcluding his personal enemies, the Khalkas, from it, but the Chinese werenot to be entrapped into any such arrangement, and, standing up for theirdependents, the provisions of the treaty provided equally for their safetyand for the acceptance by Galdan of the supremacy of China. This newarrangement or treaty was concluded in 1690, but Kanghi himself seems tohave placed no great faith in the sincerity of Galdan, and to haveregarded it merely as a truce. This view was soon found to be correct, forneither side laid aside their arms, and the unusual vigilance of theChinese gave Galdan additional cause for umbrage. Kanghi showed that hewas resolved not to let the terms, to which Galdan had subscribed, becomea dead letter. He summoned a great assemblage of the Khalka tribes on theplain of Dolonor--the Seven Springs near Changtu--and he attended it inperson, bestowing gifts and titles with a lavish hand. Kanghi was thusable to convince himself that, so far as the Mongol tribes were concerned, he might count on their loyalty and support. He then began to establish anunderstanding with Tse Wang Rabdan, and thus obtain an ally in the rear ofGaldan. This latter circumstance was the direct cause of the second warwith Galdan, for Kanghi's embassador was waylaid and murdered in theneighborhood of Hami. The outrage for which, whether he inspired it ornot, Galdan was held blameworthy, aroused the strongest resentment andanger of Kanghi. 

Kanghi made extraordinary preparations for the campaign. He placed fourarmies in the field numbering about 150, 000 combatants, and it has beencomputed that, with non-combatants, the total of men employed did not fallshort of a million. The first of these armies numbered 35, 600 men, and wasintrusted to Feyanku, the Ney of the Manchu army. Kanghi took personalcommand of the second, and its strength is given at 37, 700 men; and thethird army, 35, 400 men, was placed under the orders of Sapsu. The fourth, of unstated but greatest numerical strength, acted as the reserve forcefor the others, and did not, properly speaking, come into action at all. In order to render the war popular Kanghi offered special pay to thesoldiers, and undertook to provide for the widows and orphans of thoseslain. At the same time Kanghi neglected no precaution to insure thesuccess of his arms. He provided cotton armor which was proof to thebullet for his cavalry and part of his infantry, and he organized a corpsof artillerists mounted on camels, which also carried the light pieces, and rendered good service as "flying artillery. " Before setting out forthe campaign, the emperor reviewed his army, and he chose for the occasionthe date of the popular Feast of Lanterns, when all China takes a holiday. After the inspection of the numerous and well equipped army an impressiveceremony took place. Feyanku approached his sovereign, and received at hishands a cup of wine, which the general took while on his knees, and which, on descending from the steps of the throne, he quaffed in full view of thespectators. Each of his assistant generals and the subordinate officers ingroups of ten went through the same ceremony, and the ruin of Galdan wasanticipated in the libations of his conquerors. While Feyanku marched toencounter Galdan wherever he should find him, the ministers and courtiersat Pekin made a strenuous effort to prevent Kanghi taking the field inperson, expatiating on the dangers of a war in the desert, and of the lossto the empire if anything happened to him. But Kanghi, while thanking themfor their solicitude, was not to be deterred from his purpose. He led hisarmy by a parallel route to that pursued by Feyanku across the Gobi Desertto Kobdo, where Galdan had established his headquarters. The details ofthe march are fully described by the Roman Catholic priest, Gerbillon, inhis interesting narrative. They reveal the difficulties of the enterpriseas well as its success. Some detachments of the Chinese army werecompelled to beat a retreat, but the main body succeeded in making its wayto the valley of the Kerulon, where some supplies could be obtained. Feyanku's corps, when it reached the neighborhood of the modern Ourga, wasreduced to an effective strength of 10, 000 men, and of Sapsu's army only2, 000 ever reached the scene of operations, and they formed a junctionwith the force under Feyanku. But Galdan did not possess the militarystrength to take any advantage of the enfeebled state in which the Chinesearmies reached his neighborhood. He abandoned camp after camp, and soughtto make good his position by establishing an empty alliance with theRussians in Siberia, from whom he asked 60, 000 troops to consummate theconquest of China. Such visionary projects as this provided a poor defenseagainst the active operations of a Chinese army in his own country. In afit bordering on desperation Galdan suddenly determined to risk an attackon the camp of Feyanku at Chowmodo. That general, less fortunate than hissovereign, had been reduced to the verge of distress by the exhaustion ofhis supplies, and was even meditating a retreat back to China, when theaction of Galdan relieved him from his dilemma. The exact course of thebattle at Chowmodo is not described in any authentic document. Duringthree hours Feyanku stood on the defensive, but when he gave the order forattack, the Eleuths broke in confusion before the charge of his cavalry. Two thousand of their best warriors were slain, their organization wasshattered, and Galdan became a fugitive in the region where he had posedas undisputed master. This victory undoubtedly relieved the Chinese fromserious embarrassment, and Kanghi felt able to return to Pekin, leavingthe further conduct of the war and the pursuit of Galdan in the hands ofFeyanku. Formidable enemy as Galdan had proved himself, the defeat atChowmodo put an end to his career, and destroyed all his schemes ofgreatness. The Chinese pursued him with great persistence, and at last hedied in 1697, either of his deprivations or by the act of his own hand. With Galdan disappeared one of the most remarkable of the desert chiefs;but, although Kanghi flattered himself that such would be the case, peacedid not settle down on Central Asia as the consequence of the death of hisactive and enterprising antagonist. The Chinese armies were recalled forthis occasion, and the only force left on the remote frontier was a smallone under the command of the gallant Feyanku. 

The overthrow and death of Galdan brought Tse Wang Rabdan into directcontact with the Chinese. He had from his hostile relations with Galdan--the murderer of his father Tsenka--acted as the ally of Kanghi, but whenhe became the chief of the Eleuths on the death of his uncle, his ideasunderwent a change, and he thought more of his dignity and independence. No rupture might have taken place, but that the Chinese, in theirimplacable resolve to exterminate the family of their enemy Galdan, demanded from Tse Wang Rabdan not only the bones of that chieftain, butalso the persons of his son and daughter, who had taken refuge with him. Tse Wang Rabdan resented both the demand itself and the language in whichit was expressed. He evaded the requests sent by Feyanku, and he addresseda letter of remonstrance to Kanghi, in the course of which he said, "Thewar being now concluded, past injuries ought to be buried in oblivion. Pity should be shown to the vanquished, and it would be barbarous to thinkof nothing but of how to overwhelm them. It is the first law inspired byhumanity, and one which custom has consecrated from the earliest periodamong us who are Eleuths. " Kanghi, undeterred by this homily, continued topress his demand, and sent several missions to the Eleuth camp to obtainthe surrender of Galdan's remains and relations. His pertinacity was atlast rewarded, and the bones of his old opponent were surrendered to bescattered as those of a traitor throughout China, and his son was sent toPekin, where, however, he received an honorable appointment in lieu ofbeing handed over to the public executioner. Although Tse Wang Rabdan atlast conceded to Kanghi what he demanded, his general action soon markedhim out as the antagonist of the Chinese in Central Asia. He firstvanquished in battle, and then established an alliance with the Kirghiz, and thus his military forces were recruited from the whole of the vastterritory from Hami on the east to Khokand on the west. 

The main object of his policy was to assert his influence and authority inTibet, and to make the ruling lama at Lhasa accept whatever course hemight dictate for him. Galdan had at one time entertained the same idea;but probably because he had not as good means of access into the countryas Tse Wang Rabdan had, on account of his possession of Khoten, it laydormant until it was dispelled by the rupture after his adoption ofMohammedanism. Up to this time China had been content with a very shadowyhold on Tibet, and she had no resident representative at Lhasa. ButKanghi, convinced of the importance of maintaining his supremacy in Tibet, took energetic measures to counteract the Eleuth intrigues, and for a timethere was a keen diplomatic struggle between the contending potentates. From an early period the supremacy in the Tibetan administration had beendisputed between two different classes, the one which represented themilitary body making use of religious matters to forward its designs, theother being an order of priests supported by the unquestioning faith andconfidence of the mass of the people. The former became known as Red Capsand the latter as Yellow Caps. The rivalry between these classes had beenkeen before, and was still bitterly contested when Chuntche first ascondedthe throne; but victory had finally inclined to the side of the YellowCaps before the fall of Galdan. The Dalai Lama was their great spiritualhead, and his triumph had been assisted by the intervention and influenceof the Manchu emperor. The Red Caps were driven out of the country intoBhutan, where they still hold sway. After this success a new functionary, with both civil and military authority, was appointed to carry on theadministration, under the orders of the Dalai Lama, who was supposed to belost in his spiritual speculations and religious devotions. Thisfunctionary received the name of the Tipa, and, encouraged by the littlecontrol exercised over his acts, he soon began to carry on intrigues forthe elevation of his own power at the expense of that of his priestlysuperiors. The ambition of one Tipa led to his fall and execution, but theoffense was attributed to the individual, and a new one was appointed. This second Tipa was the reputed son of a Dalai Lama, and when his fatherdied in 1682 he kept the fact of his death secret, giving out that he hadonly retired into the recesses of the palace, and ruled the state in hisname for the space of sixteen years. The Tipa well knew that he could nothope to obtain the approval of Kanghi for what he had done, and he hadmade overtures to the princes of Jungaria for protection, whenever hemight require it, against the Chinese emperor. At last the truth wasdivulged, and Kanghi was most indignant at having been duped, andthreatened to send an army to punish the Tipa for his crime. Then the Tipaselected a new Dalai Lama, and endeavored to appease Kanghi, but hischoice proved unfortunate because it did not satisfy the Tibetans. His owngeneral, Latsan Khan, made himself the executor of public opinion. TheTipa was slain with most of his supporters, and the boy Dalai Lama sharedthe same fate. These occurrences did not insure the tranquillity of thestate, for when another Dalai Lama was found, the selection was notagreeable to Latsan Khan, and his friends had to convey the youth forsafety to Sining, in China. 

It was at this moment that Tse Wang Rabdan determined to interfere inTibet, and, strangely enough, instead of attempting to make Latsan Khanhis friend, he at once resolved to treat him as an enemy, throwing hisson, who happened to be at Ili, into prison. He then dispatched an armyinto Tibet to crush Latsan Khan, and at the same time he sent a forceagainst Sining in the hope of gaining possession of the person of theyoung Dalai Lama. The Eleuth army quitted the banks of the Ili in 1709, under the command of Zeren Donduk, and having crossed Eastern Turkestanappeared in due course before Lhasa. It met with little or no resistance. Latsan Khan was slain, and the Eleuth army collected an incalculablequantity of spoil, with which it returned to the banks of the Ili. Theexpedition against Sining failed, and the rapid advance of a Chinese armycompelled the retreat of Zeren Donduk without having attained anypermanent success. As the Eleuth army had evacuated Tibet there was noobject in sending Chinese troops into that state, and Kanghi's generalswere instructed to march westward from Hami to Turfan. But their movementswere marked by carelessness or over-confidence, and the Eleuths surprisedtheir camp and inflicted such loss upon Kanghi's commanders that they hadeven to evacuate Hami. But this was only a temporary reverse. A freshManchu army soon retrieved it, and Hami again became the bulwark of theChinese frontier. At the same time Kanghi sent a garrison to Tibet, andappointed resident ambans at Lhasa, which officials China has retainedthere ever since. The war with Tse Wang Rabdan was not ended by thesesuccesses, for he resorted to the hereditary tactics of his family, retiring when the Chinese appeared in force, and then advancing on theirretreat. As Kanghi wrote, they are "like wolves who, at the sight of thehuntsmen, scatter to their dens, and at the withdrawal of danger assembleagain round the prey they have abandoned with regret. Such was the policyof these desert robbers. " The last year of Kanghi's reign was illustratedby a more than usually decisive victory over the forces of Tse WangRabdan, which a courtier declared to be "equivalent to the conquest ofTibet"; but on the whole the utmost success that can be claimed forKanghi's policy was that it repelled the chronic danger from the desertchiefs and their turbulent followers to a greater distance from theimmediate frontier of the empire than had been the case for manycenturies. He left the task of breaking the Eleuth power to his grandson, Keen Lung. 

The close of Kanghi's reign witnessed a decline in the interest he took inthe representatives of Europe, and this was not revived by the splendor ofthe embassy which Peter the Great sent to Pekin in 1719. The embassyconsisted of the embassador himself, M. Ismaloff; his secretary, M. DeLange; the English traveler, Mr. Bell, and a considerable suite. Kanghireceived in the most gracious manner the letter which Peter addressed tohim in the following terms: "To the emperor of the vast countries of Asia, to the Sovereign Monarch of Bogdo, to the Supreme Majesty of Khitay, friendship and greeting. With the design I possess of holding andincreasing the friendship and close relations long established betweenyour Majesty and my predecessors and myself, I have thought it right tosend to your court, in the capacity of embassador-extraordinary, LeonIsmaloff, captain in my guards. I beg you will receive him in a mannersuitable to the character in which he comes, to have regard and to attachas much faith to what he may say on the subject of our mutual affairs asif I were speaking to you myself, and also to permit his residing at yourCourt of Pekin until I recall him. Allow me to sign myself your Majesty'sgood friend. Peter. " Kanghi gave the Russian envoy a very honorablereception. A house was set apart for his accommodation, and when thedifficulties raised by the mandarins on the question of the kotao ceremonyat the audience threatened to bring the embassy to an abortive end, Kanghihimself intervened with a suggestion that solved the difficulty. Hearranged that his principal minister should perform the kotao to theletter of the Russian emperor, while the Russian envoy rendered him thesame obeisance. The audience then took place without further delay, and itwas allowed on all hands that no foreign embassy had ever been receivedwith greater honor in China than this. Ismaloff returned to his masterwith the most roseate account of his reception and of the opening in Chinafor Russian trade. A large and rich caravan was accordingly fitted out byPeter, to proceed to Pekin; but when it arrived it found a very differentstate of affairs from what Ismaloff had pictured. Kanghi lay on his death-bed, the anti-foreign ministers were supreme, declaring that "trade was amatter of little consequence, and regarded by them with contempt, " and theRussians were ignominiously sent back to Siberia with the finaldeclaration that such intercourse as was unavoidable must be restricted tothe frontier. Thus summarily was ended Peter's dream of tapping the wealthof China. 

Although Kanghi was not altogether free from domestic trouble, through theambition of his many sons to succeed him, his life must on the whole besaid to have passed along tranquilly enough apart from his cares of state. The public acts and magnificent exploits of his reign prove him to havebeen wise, courageous, and magnanimous, and his private life will bear themost searching examination, and only render his virtue the moreconspicuous. He always showed a tender solicitude for the interests of hispeople, which was proved, among other things, by his giving up his annualtours through his dominions on account of the expense thrown on hissubjects by the inevitable size of his retinue. His active habits as ahunter, a rider, and even as a pedestrian, were subjects of admiringcomment on the part of the Chinese people, and he was one of their fewrulers who made it a habit to walk through the streets of his capital. Hewas also conspicuous as the patron of learning; notably in his support ofthe foreign missionaries as geographers and cartographers. He was also theconsistent and energetic supporter of the celebrated Hanlin College, and, as he was no ordinary _litterateur_ himself, this is not surprising. His own works filled a hundred volumes, prominent among which were hisSixteen Maxims on the Art of Government, and it is believed that he took alarge part in bringing out the Imperial Dictionary of the Hanlin College. His writings were marked by a high code of morality as well as by thelofty ideas of a broad-minded statesman. His enemies have imputed to himan excessive vanity and avarice; but the whole tenor of his life disprovesthe former statement, and, whatever foundation in fact the latter may havehad, he never carried it to any greater length than mere prudence andconsideration for the wants of his people demanded. We know that heresorted to gentle pressure to attain his ends rather than to tyrannicalforce. When he wished to levy a heavy contribution from a too rich subjecthe had recourse to what may be styled a mild joke, sooner than to threatsand corporal punishment. The following incident has been quoted in thisconnection: One day Kanghi made an official, who had grown very wealthy, lead him, riding on an ass, round his gardens. As recompense the emperorgave him a tael. Then he himself led the mandarin in similar fashion. Atthe end of the tour he asked how much greater he was than his minister?"The comparison is impossible, " said the ready courtier. "Then I must makethe estimate myself, " replied Kanghi. "I am 20, 000 times as great, therefore you will pay me 20, 000 taels. " His reign was singularly freefrom the executions so common under even the best of Chinese rulers; and, whenever possible, he always tempered justice with mercy. 

Notwithstanding his enfeebled health and the many illnesses from which hehad suffered in later life, he persisted in following his usual sportingamusements, and he passed the winter of 1722 at his hunting-box at Haidsu. He seems to have caught a chill, and after a brief illness he died on the2oth of December in that year. 

The place of Kanghi among Chinese sovereigns is clearly defined. He rankson almost equal terms with the two greatest of them all--Taitsong and hisown grandson, Keen Lung--and it would be ungracious, if not impossible, tosay in what respect he falls short of complete equality with either, sonumerous and conspicuous were his talents and his virtues. His longfriendship and high consideration for the Christian missionaries have nodoubt contributed to bring his name and the events of his reign moreprominently before Europe than was the case with any other Chinese ruler. But, although this predilection for European practices may have had theeffect of strengthening his claims to precede every other of his country'srulers, it can add but little to the impression produced on even the mostcursory reader by the remarkable achievements in peace and waraccomplished by this gifted emperor. Kanghi's genius dominates one of themost critical periods in Chinese history, of which the narrative shouldform neither an uninteresting nor an uninstructive theme. Celebrated asthe consolidator and completer of the Manchu conquest, Kanghi's virtue andmoderation have gained him permanent fame as a wise, just, and beneficentnational sovereign in the hearts of the Chinese people. 

CHAPTER XII

A SHORT REIGN AND THE BEGINNING OF A LONG ONE

Immediately after the death of Kanghi, his fourth son, who had long beendesignated as his heir, was proclaimed emperor, under the style of YungChing, which name means "the indissoluble concord or stable peace. " Thelate emperor had always favored this prince, and in his will he publiclyproclaimed that he bore much resemblance to himself, and that he was a manof rare and precious character. His first acts indicated considerablevigor and decision of mind. In the edict announcing the death of hisfather and his own accession he said that on the advice of his ministershe had entered upon the discharge of his imperial duties, without givingup precious time to the indulgence of his natural grief, which would begratifying to his feelings, but injurious to the public interests. As YungChing was of the mature age of forty-five, and as he had enjoyed theconfidence of his predecessor, he was fully qualified to carry on theadministration. He declared that his main purpose was to continue hisfather's work, and that he would tread as closely as he could in Kanghi'sfootsteps. While Yung Ching took these prompt steps to secure himself onthe throne, some of his brothers assumed an attitude of menacing hostilitytoward him, and all his energy and vigilance were required to counteracttheir designs. A very little time was needed, however, to show that Kanghihad selected his worthiest son as his successor, and that China would haveno reason to fear under Yung Ching the loss of any of the benefitsconferred on the nation by Kanghi. His fine presence, and frank, openmanner, secured for him the sympathy and applause of the public, and in avery short time he also gained their respect and admiration by his wisdomand justice. 

The most important and formidable of his brothers was the fourteenth sonof Kanghi, by the same mother, however, as that of Yung Ching. He and hisson Poki had been regarded with no inconsiderable favor by Kanghi, and atone time it was thought that he would have chosen them as his successors;but these expectations were disappointed. He was sent instead to hold thechief command against the Eleuths on the western borders. Young Chingdetermined to remove him from this post, in which he might haveopportunities of asserting his independence, and for a moment it seemed asif he might disobey. But more prudent counsels prevailed, and he returnedto Pekin, where he was placed in honorable confinement, and retained thereduring the whole of Yung Ching's reign. He and his son owed their releasethirteen years later to the greater clemency or self-confidence of KeenLung. Another brother, named Sessaka, also fell under suspicion, and hewas arrested and his estates confiscated. He was then so far forgiven thata small military command was given him in the provinces. Others of moreimportance were involved in his affairs. Lessihin, son of PrinceSourniama, an elder brother of Kanghi, was denounced as a sympathizer andsupporter of Sessaka. The charge seems to have been based on slenderevidence, but it sufficed to cause the banishment of this personage andall his family to Sining. It appears as if they were specially punishedfor having become Christians, and there is no doubt that their conversionimbittered the emperor's mind against the Christian missionaries and theirreligion. It enabled him to say, or at least induced him to accept thestatement, that the Christians meddled and took a side in the internalpolitics of the country. Yung Ching saw and seized his opportunity. Hismeasures of repression against the recalcitrant party in his own familyculminated in the summary exile of Sourniama and all his descendants downto the fourth generation. Sourniama vainly endeavored to establish hisinnocence, and he sent three of his sons, laden with chains, to thepalace, to protest his innocence and devotion. But they were refusedaudience, and Sourniama and his family sank into oblivion and wretchednesson the outskirts of the empire. 

Having thus settled the difficulties within his own family, Yung Chingnext turned his attention to humbling the bold band of foreigners who hadestablished themselves in the capital and throughout the country, as muchby their own persistency and indifference to slight as by the acquiescenceof the Chinese government, and who, after they had reached some of thehighest official posts, continued to preach and propagate their gospel ofa supreme power and mercy beyond the control of kings, a gospel which wassimply destructive of the paternal and sacred claims on which a Chineseemperor based his authority as superior to all earthly interference, andas transmitted to him direct from Heaven, The official classes confirmedthe emperor's suspicions, and encouraged him to proceed to extremelengths. On all sides offenses were freely laid at the doors of themissionaries. It was said of them that "their doctrine sows trouble amongthe people, and makes them doubt the goodness of our laws. " In theprovince of Fuhkien their eighteen churches were closed, and the priestswere summarily ordered to return to Macao. At Pekin itself the Jesuitslost all their influence. Those who had been well-disposed toward themwere either banished or cowed into silence. The emperor turned his back onthem and refused to see them, and they could only wait with their usualfortitude until the period of imperial displeasure had passed over. Whenthey endeavored to enlist in their support the sympathy and influence ofthe emperor's brother--the thirteenth prince--who in Kanghi's time hadbeen considered their friend, they met with a rebuff not unnatural orunreasonable when the mishaps to his relations for their Christianproclivities are borne in mind. This prince said, in words which haveoften been repeated since by Chinese ministers and political writers, "What would you say if our people were to go to Europe and wished tochange there the laws and customs established by your ancient sages? Theemperor, my brother, wishes to put an end to all this in an effectualmanner. I have seen the accusation of the Tsongtou of Fuhkien. It isundoubtedly strong, and your disputes about our customs have greatlyinjured you. What would you say if we were to transport ourselves toEurope and to act there as you have done here? Would you stand it for amoment? In the course of time I shall master this business, but I declareto you that China will want for nothing when you cease to live in it, andthat your absence will not cause it any loss. Here nobody is retained byforce, and nobody also will be suffered to break the laws or to make lightof our customs. "

The influence of Yung Ching on the development of the important foreignquestion arrested the ambition and sanguine flight of the imagination ofthe Roman Catholic missionaries, who, rendered overconfident by theirsuccess under Kanghi, believed that they held the future of China in theirown hands, and that persistency alone was needed to secure the adhesion ofthat country to the Christian Church. Yung Ching dispelled theseillusions, and so far as they were illusions, which nearly two subsequentcenturies have proved them to be, it was well that they should be sodispelled. He asserted himself in very unequivocal terms as an emperor ofChina, and as resolute in maintaining his sovereign position outside thecontrol of any religious potentate or creed. The progress of the Christianreligion of the Roman Catholic Church in China was quite incompatible withthe supposed celestial origin of the emperor, who was alleged to receivehis authority direct from Heaven. It is not surprising that Yung Ching, atthe earliest possible moment, decided to blight these hopes, and to assertthe natural and inherited prerogative of a Chinese emperor. There is noroom to doubt that the Catholic priests had drawn a too hasty and toofavorable deduction from the favor of Kanghi. They confounded theirpractical utility with the intrinsic merit and persuasive force ofChristianity. An enlightened ruler had recognized the former, but askeptical people showed themselves singularly obdurate to the latter. Thepersecution of the Christians, of which the letters from the missionariesat Pekin at this time are so full, did not go beyond the placing of somerestraint on the preaching of their religion. No wholesale executions orsweeping decrees passed against their persons attended its course ormarked its development. Yung Ching simply showed by his conduct that theymust count no longer on the favor of the emperor in the carrying out oftheir designs. The difficulties inherent in the task they had undertakenstood for the first time fully revealed, and having been denounced as asource of possible danger to the stability of the empire, they became anobject of suspicion even to those who had sympathized with thempersonally, if not with their creed. 

The early years of the reign of Yung Ching were marked by extraordinarypublic misfortunes. The flooding of the Hoangho entailed a famine, whichspread such desolation throughout the northern provinces that it isaffirmed, on credible authority, that 40, 000 persons were fed at the stateexpense in Pekin alone for a period of four months. The taxes in some ofthe most important cities and wealthiest districts had to be greatlyreduced, and the resources of the exchequer were severely strained. Butthe loss and suffering caused by the famine were speedily cast into theshade by a terrible and sudden visitation which carried desolation anddestruction throughout the whole of the metropolitan province of Pechihli. The northern districts of China have for many centuries been liable to thefrequent recurrence of earthquakes on a terribly vast and disastrousscale, but none of them equaled in its terrific proportions that of theyear 1730. It came without warning, but the shocks continued for ten days. Over 100, 000 persons were overwhelmed in a moment at Pekin, the suburbswere laid in ruins, the imperial palace was destroyed, the summerresidence at Yuen Ming Yuen, on which Yung Ching had lavished his tasteand his treasure, suffered in scarcely a less degree. The emperor and theinhabitants fled from the city, and took shelter without the walls, wherethey encamped. The loss was incalculable, and it has been stated that YungChing expended seventy-five million dollars in repairing the damage andallaying the public misfortune. Notwithstanding these national calamitiesthe population increased, and in some provinces threatened to outgrow theproduction of rice. Various devices were resorted to to check the growthof the population; but they were all of a simple and harmless character, such as the issue of rewards to widows who did not marry again and tobachelors who preserved their state. 

The military events of Yung Ching's reign were confined to the side ofCentral Asia, where Tse Wang Rabdan emulated with more than ordinarysuccess the example of his predecessors, and where he transmitted hispower and authority to his son, Galdan Chereng, on his death in 1727. Heestablished his sovereignty over the whole of Kashgaria, which he ruledthrough a prince named Daniel, and he established relations with theRussians, which at one time promised to attain a cordial character, butwhich were suddenly converted into hostility by the Russian belief thatthe Upper Urtish lay in a gold region which they resolved to conquer. Instead of an ally they then found in Tse Wang Rabdan the successfuldefender of that region. But the wars of Central Asia had no interest forYung Ching. He was one of the Chinese rulers who thought that he shouldregard these matters as outside his concern, and the experience ofKanghi's wars had divided Chinese statesmen into two clearly-definedparties: those who held that China should conquer Central Asia up to thePamir, and those who thought that the Great Wall was the best practicallimit for the exercise of Chinese authority. Yung Ching belonged to thelatter school, and, instead of dispatching fresh armies into the Gobiregion to complete the triumph of his father, he withdrew those that werethere, and publicly proclaimed that the aggressive chiefs and turbulenttribes of that region might fight out their own quarrels, and indulgetheir own petty ambitions as best they felt disposed. The success of thispolicy would have been incontestable if it had been reflected in theconduct of the Central Asian princelets, who, however, seemed to see inthe moderation and inaction of the Chinese ruler only a fresh incentive toaggression and turbulence. Yung Ching himself died too soon to appreciatethe shortcomings of his own policy. 

In the midst of his labors as a beneficent ruler the life of Yung Chingwas cut short. On October 7, 1735, he gave audience to the high officialsof his court in accordance with his usual custom; but feeling indisposedhe was compelled to break off the interview in a sudden manner. Hisindisposition at once assumed a grave form, and in a few hours he hadceased to live. The loss of this emperor does not seem to have caused anyprofound or widespread sentiment of grief among the masses, although themore intelligent recognized in him one of those wise and prudent rulerswhose tenure of power makes their people's happiness. 

Yung Ching died so suddenly that he had not nominated his heir. He leftthree sons, and, after brief consideration, the eldest of these--to whomwas given the name of Keen Lung--was placed upon the throne. The choicewas justified by the result, although the chroniclers declare that it cameas a surprise to the recipient of the honor, as he had passed his life inthe pursuit of literary studies rather than in practical administrativework. His skill and proficiency in the field of letters had already beenproved before his father's death; but of public affairs and the governmentof a vast empire he knew little or nothing. He was a student of booksrather than of men, and he had to undergo a preliminary course of trainingin the art of government before he felt himself capable of assuming thereigns of power. Moreover, Keen Lung, although the eldest son, was not theoffspring of the empress, and the custom of succession in the imperialfamily was too uncertain to allow any one in his position to feel absoluteconfidence as to his claims securing the recognition they might seem towarrant. His admission of his being unequal to the duties of his loftyposition, notwithstanding that he was twenty-five years of age, wasthoroughly characteristic of the man, and augured well for the future ofhis reign. He appointed four regents, whose special task was to show himhow to rule; but in the edict delegating his authority to them heexpressly limited its application to the period of mourning, covering aspace of four years; and as a measure of precaution against any undueambition he made the office terminable at his discretion. 

Keen Lung began his reign with acts of clemency, which seldom fail to adda special luster to a sovereign's assumption of power. His father hadpunished with rigor some of the first princes of the court simply becausethey were his relations, and there is some ground for thinking that he hadput forward antipathy to the foreign heresy of the Christians as a cloakto conceal his private animosities and personal apprehensions. Keen Lungat once resolved to reverse the acts of his predecessor, and to offer suchreparation as he could to those who had suffered for no sufficientoffense. The sons of Kanghi and their children who had fallen under thesuspicion of Yung Ching were released from their confinement, and restoredto their rank and privileges. They showed their gratitude to theirbenefactor by sustained loyalty and practical service that contributed tothe splendor of his long reign. The impression thus produced on the publicmind was also most favorable, and already the people were beginning todeclare that they had found a worthy successor to the great Kanghi. 

There is nothing surprising to learn that in consequence of the pardon andrestitution of the men who had nominally suffered for their Christianproclivities the foreign missionaries began to hope and to agitate for animprovement in their lot and condition. They somewhat hastily assumed thatthe evil days of persecution wore over, and that Keen Lung would accordthem the same honorable positions as they had enjoyed under hisgrandfather, Kanghi. These expectations were destined to a rudedisappointment, as the party hostile to the Christians remained as strongas ever at court, and the regents were not less prejudiced against themthan the ministers of Yung Ching had been. The emperor's own opinion doesnot appear to have been very strong one way or the other, but it seemsprobable that he was slightly prejudiced against the foreigners. Hecertainly assented to an order prohibiting the practice of Christianity byany of his subjects, and ordaining the punishment of those who shouldobstinately adhere to it. At the same time the foreign missionaries wereordered to confine their labors to the secular functions in which theywere useful, and to give up all attempts to propagate their creed. Stillsome slight abatement in practice was procured of these rigid measuresthrough the mediation of the painter Castiglione, who, while taking aportrait of the emperor, pleaded, and not ineffectually, the cause of hiscountrymen. There was one distinct persecution on a large scale in theprovince of Fuhkien, where several Spanish missionaries were tortured, their chief native supporters strangled, and Keen Lung himself sent theorder to execute the missionaries in retaliation for the massacre ofChinese subjects by the Spaniards in the Philippines. After he had been onthe throne fifteen years, Keen Lung began to unbend toward the foreigners, and to avail himself of their services in the same manner as hisgrandfather had done. The artists Castiglione and Attiret were constantlyemployed in the palace, painting his portrait and other pictures. KeenLung is said to have been so pleased with that drawn by Attiret that hewished to make him a mandarin. The French in particular strove to amusethe great monarch, and to enable him to wile away his leisure withingeniously constructed automatons worked by clockwork machinery. He alsolearned from them much about the politics and material condition ofEurope, and it is not surprising that he became imbued with the idea thatFrance was the greatest and most powerful state in that continent. Almostinsensibly Keen Lung entertained a more favorable opinion of theforeigners, and extended to them his protection with other privileges thathad long been withheld. But this policy was attributable to practicalconsiderations and not to religious belief. 

Very little detailed information is obtainable about the inner working ofthe government and the annual course of events, owing to the practice ofnot giving the official history of the dynasty publicity until after ithas ceased to reign; so all that can be said with any confidence of thefirst fifteen years of Keen Lung's reign, is that they were marked bygreat internal prosperity arising from the tranquillity of the realm andthe content of the people. Any misfortunes that befell the realm were ofpersonal importance to the sovereign rather than of national significance, although some of the foreign priests affected to see in them theretribution of Providence for the apathy and tyranny of the Chineserulers. In 1751 Keen Lung lost both his principal wife, the empress, andhis eldest son. His disagreements with his ministers also proved many andserious, and the letters from Pekin note, with more than a gleam ofsatisfaction, that those who were most prominent as Anti-Christianssuffered most heavily. Keen Lung suffered from physical weakness, and asusceptibility to bodily ailments, that detracted during the first fewyears of his reign from his capacity to discharge all the duties of hisposition, and more than their usual share of power consequently fell intothe hands of the great tribunals of the state. When Keen Lung resolutelydevoted himself to the task of supervising the acts of the official worldthe evils became less perceptible, and gradually the provincial governorsfound it to be their best and wisest course to obey and faithfully executethe behests of their sovereign. For a brief space Keen Lung seemed likelyto prove more indifferent to the duties of his rank than either of hispredecessors; but after a few years' practice he hastened to devotehimself to his work with an energy which neither Kanghi nor Yung Ching hadsurpassed. 

Keen Lung seems to have passed his time between his palace at Pekin andhis hunting-box at Jehol, a small town beyond the Wall. The latter, perhaps, was his favorite residence, because he enjoyed the quiet of thecountry, and the purer and more invigorating air of the northern regionagreed with his constitution. Here he varied the monotony of ruralpursuits--for he never became as keen a hunter as Kanghi--with grandceremonies which he employed the foreigners in painting. It was at Jeholthat he planned most of his military campaigns, and those conquests whichcarried his banners to the Pamir and the Himalaya. If the earlier periodof Keen Lung's reign was tranquil and undisturbed by war, the last fortyyears made up for it by their sustained military excitement andachievement. As soon as Keen Lung grasped the situation and found that theadministration of the country was working in perfect order, he resolved toattain a complete settlement of the questions pending in Central Asia, which his father had shirked. Up to this time Keen Lung had been generallyset down as a literary student, as a man more of thought than of action. But his reading had taught him one thing, and that was that the danger toChina from the side of Central Asia was one that went back to remote ages, that it had never been allayed, save for brief intervals, and then only byestablishing Chinese authority on either side of the Tian Shan. Hisstudies showed Keen Lung what ought to be done, and the aggressions of hisneighbors soon gave him the opportunity of carrying out the policy that hefelt to be the best. 

CHAPTER XIII

KEEN LUNG'S WARS AND CONQUESTS

It was the arrival of a chief named Amursana at his court that first ledKeen Lung to seriously entertain the idea of advancing into Central Asia, and having determined on the Central Asian campaign, Keen Lung's militarypreparations were commensurate with the importance and magnitude of theundertaking. He collected an army of 150, 000 men, including the pickedManchu Banners and the celebrated Solon contingent, each of whom was saidto be worth ten other soldiers. The command of this army was given toPanti, the best of the Manchu generals, and Amursana, who accompanied it, received a seal and the honorary title of Great General. But Keen Lungsuperintended all the operations of the war, and took credit to himselffor its successful issue. 

The triumph of Amursana, by the aid of the Chinese, did not bringtranquillity to Central Asia. He was not contented with the position towhich the friendship of Keen Lung had raised him, and, placing too high anestimate on his own ability and resources, he was inclined to dispute theaccepted opinion that all his success was due to the Chinese army. On thetermination of the campaign the major portion of that army returned toChina, but Panti was left with a select contingent, partly to supportAmursana, and partly to secure the restoration of China's authority. Amursana, however, considered that the presence of this force detractedfrom the dignity of his position. Having risen to the greatness hecoveted, Amursana meditated casting aside the prop by which he had risen;but before he took an irretraceable step he resolved to make use of theChinese forces for extending his authority south of the Tian Shan rangeinto Kashgaria. With some hesitation Panti lent him 500 Chinese soldiers, and with their aid the Eleuth prince captured the cities of Kashgar andYarkand, and set up a chief named Barhanuddin Khoja as his nominee. Thissuccess confirmed Amursana in his good opinion of himself and hisresources, and when Keen Lung, who had grown mistrustful of his goodfaith, summoned him to Pekin, he resolved to throw off the mask and hisallegiance to China. At this supreme moment of his fate not the leastthought of gratitude to the Chinese emperor, who had made him what he was, seems to have entered his mind. He determined not merely to disregard thesummons to Pekin and to proclaim his independence, but also to show theextent of his hostility by adding to his defiance an act of treachery. Before he fully revealed his plans he surprised the Chinese garrison andmassacred it to the last man; the valiant Panti, who had gained hisvictories for him, being executed by the public executioner. 

The impression produced by this event was profound, and when Amursanafollowed up the blow by spreading abroad rumors of the magnitude of hisdesigns they obtained some credence even among the Mongols. Encouraged bythis success he sought to rally those tribes to his side by imputingminister intentions to Keen Lung. His emissaries declared that Keen Lungwished to deprive them all of their rank and authority, and that he hadsummoned Amursana to Pekin only for the purpose of deposing him. Tocomplete the quarrel, Amursana declared himself King of the Eleuths, andabsolutely independent of China. But the energy and indignation of KeenLung soon exposed the hollowness of these designs, and the inadequacy ofAmursana's power and capacity to make good his pretensions. Keen Lungcollected another army larger than that which had placed him on histhrone, to hurl Amursana from the supremacy which had not satisfied himand which he had grossly abused. 

The armies of Keen Lung traversed the Gobi Desert and arrived in CentralAsia, but the incapacity of his generals prevented the campaigns havingthose decisive results which he expected. The autocratic Chinese rulertreated his generals who failed like the fickle French Republic. Thepenalty of failure was a public execution. Keen Lung would accept nothingshort of the capture of Amursana as evidence of his victory, and Amursanaescaped to the Kirghiz. His celerity or ingenuity cost the lives of fourrespectable Chinese generals, two of whom were executed at Pekin and twowere slain by brigands on their way there to share the same fate. Emboldened by the inability of the Chinese to capture him, Amursana againassembled an army and pursued the retiring Chinese across the desert, where he succeeded in inflicting no inconsiderable loss upon them. 

When the Chinese army retired before Amursana one corps maintained itsposition and successfully defied him, thanks to the capacity of itscommander, Tchaohoei. Tchaohoei not merely held his ground, but drew up ascheme for regaining all that had been lost in Central Asia, and Keen Lungwas so impressed by it that he at once resolved to intrust the executionof his policy to the only officer who had shown any military capacity. Twofresh armies were sent to the Ili, and placed, on their arrival there, under the command of Tchaohoei, who was exhorted, above all things, tocapture Amursana, dead or alive. Tchaohoei at once assumed the offensive, and as Amursana was abandoned by his followers as soon as they saw thatChina was putting forth the whole of her strength, he had no alternativebut once more to flee for shelter to the Kirghiz. But the conditionsimposed by Keen Lung were so rigorous that Tchaohoei realized that thecapture of Amursana was essential to his gaining the confidence andgratitude of his master. He, therefore, sent his best lieutenant, Fouta, to pursue the Eleuth prince. Fouta pursued Amursana with the energy of onewho has to gain his spurs, and he almost succeeded in effecting hiscapture, but Amursana just made his escape in time across the frontierinto Russian territory. But Keen Lung was not satisfied with this result, and he sent both to Fouta and Tchaohoei to rest satisfied with nothingshort of the capture of Amursana. The close of that unfortunate prince'scareer was near at hand, although it was not ended by the act of theChinese officers. He died in Russian territory of a fever, and when theChinese demanded of their neighbors that his body should be surrenderedthey refused, on the ground that enmity should cease with death; but Foutawas able to report to his sovereign that he had seen with his own eyes themortal remains of the Eleuth chief who had first been the humble friendand then the bitter foe of the Manchu ruler. 

Keen Lung decided to administer the country which he had conquered. Butanother step was seen to be necessary to give stability to the Chineseadministration, and that was the annexation of Kashgaria. The great regionof Little Bokhara or Eastern Turkestan, known to us now under the moreconvenient form of Kashgaria, was still ruled by the Khoja Barhanuddin, who had been placed in power by Amursana, and it afforded a shelter forall the disaffected, and a base of hostility against the Chinese. Even ifTchaohoei had not reported that the possession of Kashgaria was essentialto the military security of Jungaria, there is no doubt that sooner orlater Keen Lung would have proceeded to extreme lengths with regard toBarhanuddin. The Chinese were fully warranted, however, in treating him asan enemy when he seized an envoy sent to his capital by Tchaohoei andexecuted him and his escort. This outrage precluded all possibility of anamicable arrangement, and the Chinese prepared their fighting men for theinvasion and conquest of Kashgaria. They crossed the frontier in twobodies, one under the command of Tchaohoei, the other under that of Fouta. Any resistance that Barhanuddin and his brother attempted was speedilyovercome; the principal cities, Kashgar and Yarkand, were occupied, andthe ill-advised princes were compelled to seek their personal safety by aprecipitate flight. The conquest and annexation of Kashgaria completed thetask with which Tchaohoei was charged, and it also realized Keen Lung'smain idea by setting up his authority in the midst of the turbulent tribeswho had long disturbed the empire, and who first learned peaceful pursuitsas his subjects. The Chinese commanders followed up this decided successby the dispatch of several expeditions into the adjoining states. 

The ruler of Khokand was either so much impressed by his neighbor'sprowess, or, as there is much reason to believe, experienced himself theweight of their power by the occupation of his principal cities, Tashkentand Khokand, that he hastened to recognize the authority of the emperorand to enroll himself among the tributaries of the Son of Heaven. Thetribute he bound himself to pay was sent without a break for a period ofhalf a century. The Kirghiz chiefs of low and high degree imitated hisexample, and a firm peace was thus established from one end of CentralAsia to the other. The administration was divided between Chinese andnative officials, and if there was tyranny, the people suffered ratherfrom that of the Mohammedan Hakim Beg than that of the Confucian Amban. 

Keen Lung was engaged in many more wars than those in Central Asia. On theside of Burmah he found his borders disturbed by nomad and predatorytribes not less than in the region of Gobi. These clans had long been asource of annoyance and anxiety to the viceroy of Yunnan, but the weaknessof the courts of Ava and Pegu, who stood behind these frontagers, hadprevented the local grievance becoming a national danger. But the triumphof the remarkable Alompra, who united Pegu and Burmah into a single state, and who controlled an army with which he effected many triumphs, showedthat this state of things might not always continue, and that the daywould come when China might be exposed to a grave peril from this side. The successors of Alompra inherited his pretensions if not his ability, and when the Chinese called upon them to keep the borders in better orderor to punish some evildoers, they sent back a haughty and unsatisfactoryreply. Sembuen, the grandson of Alompra, was king when Keen Lung ordered, in the year 1768, his generals to invade Burmah, and the conduct of thewar was intrusted to an officer in high favor at court, named CountAlikouen, instead of to Fouta, the hero of the Central Asian war, who hadfallen under the emperor's grave displeasure for what, after all, appearsto have been a trifling offense. The course of the campaign is difficultto follow, for both the Chinese and the Burmese claim the same battles asvictories, but this will not surprise those who remember that the Burmesecourt chroniclers described all the encounters with the English forces inthe wars of 1829 and 1853 as having been victorious. The advance of theChinese army, estimated to exceed 200, 000 men, from Bhamo to Ava showsclearly enough the true course of the war, and that the Chinese were ableto carry all before them up to the gates of the capital. Count Alikouendid not display any striking military capacity, but by retainingpossession of the country above Ava for three years he at last compelledthe Burmese to sue for peace on humiliating terms. 

In previous chapters the growth of China's relations with Tibet has beentraced, and especially under the Manchu dynasty. The control establishedby Kanghi after the retirement of the Jungarian army was maintained byboth his successors, and for fifty years Tibet had that perfecttranquillity which is conveyed by the expression that it had no history. The young Dalai Lama, who fled to Sining to escape from Latsan Khan, wasrestored, and under the name of Lobsang Kalsang pursued a subservientpolicy to China for half a century. In the year 1749 an unpleasantincident took place through a collision between the Chinese ambans and theCivil Regent or Gyalpo, who administered the secular affairs of the DalaiLama. The former acted in a high-handed and arbitrary manner, and put theGyalpo to death. But in this they went too far, for both the lamas and thepeople strongly resented it, and revolted against the Chinese, whom theymassacred to the last man. For a time it looked as if the matter mighthave a very serious ending, but Keen Lung contented himself with sendingfresh ambans and an escort to Tibet, and enjoining them to abstain fromundue interference with the Tibetans. But at the same time that theyshowed this moderation the Chinese took a very astute measure to rendertheir position stronger than ever. They asserted their right to have thesupreme voice in nominating the Gyalpo, and they soon reduced that highofficial, the Prime Minister of Tibet, to the position of a creature oftheir own. The policy was both astute and successful. The Tibetans hadwelcomed the Chinese originally because they saved them from the Eleutharmy, and provided a guarantee against a fresh invasion. But the longpeace and the destruction of the Eleuth power had led the Tibetans tothink less of the advantage of Chinese protection, and to pine forcomplete independence. The lamas also bitterly resented the assumption bythe ambans of all practical authority. How long these feelings could havecontinued without an open outbreak must remain a matter of opinion; but anunexpected event brought into evidence the unwarlike character of theTibetans, and showed that their country was exposed to many dangers fromwhich only China's protection could preserve them. In Kanghi's time thedanger had come from Ili; in the reign of Keen Lung it came from the sideof Nepaul. 

As a general rule the mighty chain of the Himalaya has effectuallyseparated the peoples living north and south of it, and the instances inhistory are rare of any collision between them. Of all such collisions themost important was that which has now to be described as the main cause ofthe tightening of the hold of China upon Tibet. The mountain kingdom ofNepaul was equally independent of the British and the Mogul Empire ofDelhi. It was ruled by three separate kings, until in the year 1769 theGoorkha chief Prithi Narayan established the supremacy of that warlikerace. The Goorkhas cared nothing for trade, and their exactions resultedin the cessation of the commercial intercourse which had existed under theNepaulese kings between India and Tibet. Their martial instincts led themto carry on raids into both Tibet and India. The Tibetans were unequal tothe task of punishing or restraining them, and at last the Goorkhas wereinspired with such confidence that they undertook the invasion of theircountry. It is said that the Goorkhas were encouraged to take this, stepby the belief that the Chinese would not interfere, and that thelamaseries contained an incalculable amount of treasure. The Goorkhasinvaded Tibet in 1791 with an army of less than 20, 000 men, and, advancingthrough the Kirong and Kuti passes, overcame the frontier guards, andcarried all before them up to the town of Degarehi, where they plunderedthe famous lamasery of Teshu Lumbo, the residence of the Teshu Lama. Having achieved this success and gratified their desire for plunder, theGoorkhas remained inactive for some weeks, and wasted much precious time. The Tibetans did not attempt a resistance, which their want of militaryskill and their natural cowardice would have rendered futile, but theysent express messengers to Pekin entreating the Chinese emperor to send anarmy to their assistance. Keen Lung had not sent troops to put a stop tothe raids committed on the frontier by the Goorkhas; but when he heardthat a portion of his dominions was invaded, and that the predominance ofhis country in the holy land of Buddhism was in danger, he at once orderedhis generals to collect all the forces they could and to march withoutdelay to expel the foreign invader. He may have been urged to increasedactivity by the knowledge that the Tibetans had also appealed for aid tothe British, and by his being ignorant what steps the Indian Governmentwould take. Within a very short time of the receipt of the appeal forassistance a Chinese army of 70, 000 men was dispatched into Tibet, and theGoorkhas, awed by this much larger force, began their retreat to their owncountry. Their march was delayed by the magnitude of their spoil, andbefore they had reached the passes through the Himalaya the Chinese armyhad caught them up. In the hope of securing a safe retreat for his baggageand booty, the Goorkha commander drew up his force in battle array on theplain of Tengri Maidan, outside the northern entrance of the Kirong Pass, and the Chinese general, Sund Fo, made his dispositions to attack theGoorkhas; but before delivering his attack he sent a letter reciting theoutrages committed, and the terms on which his imperial master would grantpeace. Among these were the restitution of the plunder and the surrenderof the renegade lama, whose tales were said to have whetted the cupidityof the Goorkhas. A haughty reply was sent back, and the Chinese were toldto do their worst. 

In the desperately-contested battle which ensued the victory was decisive, and the Goorkha king at once sued for peace, which was readily granted, asthe Chinese had attained all their objects, and Sund Fo was beginning tobe anxious about his retreat owing to the approach of winter. When, therefore, the Goorkha embassy entered his camp Sund Fo granted termswhich, although humiliating, were as favorable as a defeated people couldexpect. The Goorkhas took an oath to keep the peace toward their Tibetanneighbors, to acknowledge themselves the vassals of the Chinese emperor, to send a quinquennial embassy to China with the required tribute, and, lastly, to restore all the plunder that had been carried off from TeshuLumbo. The exact language of this treaty has never been published, but itsprovisions have been faithfully kept. The Goorkhas still pay tribute toChina; they have kept the peace with one insignificant exception eversince on the Tibetan border; and they are correctly included among thevassals of Pekin at the present time. The gratitude of the Tibetans, aswell as the increased numbers of the Chinese garrison, insured thesecurity of China's position in Tibet, and, as both the Tibetans and theGoorkhas considered that the English deserted them in their hour of need, for the latter when hard pressed also appealed to us for assistance, Chinahas had no difficulty in effectually closing Tibet to Indian trade. Chinaclosed all the passes on the Nepaul frontier, and only allowed thequinquennial mission to enter by the Kirong Pass. Among all the militaryfeats of China none is more remarkable or creditable than the overthrow ofthe Goorkhas, who are among the bravest of Indian races, and who, onlytwenty years after their crushing defeat by Sund Fo, gave the Anglo-Indianarmy and one of its best commanders, Sir David Ochterloney, an infinity oftrouble in two doubtful and keenly contested campaigns. 

Keen Lung's war in Formosa calls for only brief notice; but, in concludingour notice of his many military conquests and campaigns, some descriptionmust be given of the great rising in an island which Chinese writers havestyled "the natural home of sedition and disaffection. " In the year 1786the islanders rose, slaughtered the Tartar garrisons, and completelysubverted the emperor's authority. The revolt was one not on the part ofthe savage islanders themselves, but of the Chinese colonists, who weregoaded into insurrection by the tyranny of the Manchu officials. At firstit did not assume serious dimensions, and it seemed as if it would passover without any general rising, when the orders of the Viceroy ofFuhkien, to which Formosa was dependent until made a separate province afew years ago, fanned the fuel of disaffection to a flame. The popularleader Ling organized the best government he could, and, when Keen Lungoffered to negotiate, laid down three conditions as the basis ofnegotiation. They were that "the mandarin who had ordered the cruelmeasures of repression should be executed, " that "Ling personally shouldnever be required to go to Pekin, " and, thirdly, that "the mandarinsshould abandon their old tyrannical ways. " Keen Lung's terms were anunconditional surrender and trust in his clemency, which Ling, withperhaps the Miaotze incident fresh in his mind, refused. At first KeenLung sent numerous but detached expeditions to reassert his power; butthese were attacked in detail, and overwhelmed by Ling. Keen Lung saidthat "his heart was in suspense both by night and by day as to the issueof the war in Formosa"; but, undismayed by his reverses, the emperor sent100, 000 men under the command of a member of his family to crush theinsurrection. Complete success was attained by weight of numbers, andFormosa was restored to its proper position in the empire. 

A rising in Szchuen, which may be considered from some of its features theprecursor of the Taeping Rebellion, and the first outbreak of the TunganMohammedans in the northwest, whom Keen Lung wished to massacre, markedthe close of this long reign, which was rendered remarkable by so manymilitary triumphs. The reputation of the Chinese empire was raised to thehighest point, and maintained there by the capacity and energy of thisruler. Within its borders the commands of the central government wereungrudgingly obeyed, and beyond them foreign peoples and states respectedthe rights of a country that had shown itself so well able to exactobedience from its dependents and to preserve the very letter of itsrights. The military fame of the Chinese, which had always been greatamong Asiatics, attained its highest point in consequence of thesenumerous and rapidly-succeeding campaigns. The evidences of militaryproficiency, of irresistible determination, and of personal valor noteasily surpassed, were too many and too apparent to justify any inignoring the solid claims of China to rank as the first military countryin Asia--a position which, despite the appearance of England and Russia inthat continent, she still retains, and which must eventually enable her toexercise a superior voice in the arrangement of its affairs to that ofeither of her great and at present more powerful and better preparedneighbors. 

CHAPTER XIV

THE COMMENCEMENT OF EUROPEAN INTERCOURSE

Keen Lung was the first Manchu prince to receive formal embassies from thesovereigns of Europe. Among these the Portuguese were the first in pointof time, although they never attained the advantage derivable from thatpriority; and indeed the important period of their connection with Chinamay be said to have terminated before the Manchus had established theirauthority. Still, as the tenants of Macao, the oldest European settlementin China for more than three centuries and a half, their connection withthe Chinese government must always possess some features of interest andoriginality. The Portuguese paid their rent to and carried on all theirbusiness with the mandarins at Canton, who lost no opportunity ofsqueezing large sums out of the foreigners, as they were absolutely intheir power. The Portuguese could only pay with good or bad grace thebribes and extra duty demanded as the price of their being allowed totrade at all. The power of China seemed so overwhelming that they neverattempted to make any stand against its arbitrary decrees, and the onlymode they could think of for getting an alleviation of the hardshipsinflicted by the Canton authorities was to send costly embassies to theChinese capital. These, however, failed to produce any tangible result. Their gifts were accepted, and their representatives were accorded a moreor less gratifying reception; but there was no mitigation of the severityshown by the local mandarins, and, for all practical purposes, the moneyexpended on these missions was as good as thrown away. The Portuguesesucceeded in obtaining an improvement in their lot only by combining theirnaval forces with those of the Chinese in punishing and checking the raidsof the pirates, who infested the estuary of the Canton River known as theBogue. But they never succeeded in emancipating themselves from thatposition of inferiority in which the Chinese have always striven to keepall foreigners; and if the battle of European enterprise against Chineseexclusiveness had been carried on and fought by the Portuguese it wouldhave resulted in the discomfiture of Western progress and enlightenment. 

The Dutch sent an embassy to Pekin in 1795, but it was treated with suchcontumely that it does not reflect much credit on those who sent it. TheSpaniards never held any relations with the central government, all theirbusiness being conducted with the Viceroy of Fuhkien; and the successivemassacres of Manila completely excluded them from any good understandingwith the Pekin government. With Russia, China's relations have always beendifferent from those with the other powers, and this is explained partlyby the fact of neighborship, and partly by Russia seeking only her ownends, and not advantages for the benefit of every other foreign nation. 

With France, the relations of China, owing to a great extent to theefforts and influence of the missionaries, had always been marked withconsiderable sympathy and even cordiality. The French monarchs had fromtime to time turned their attention to promoting trade with China and theFar East. Henry the Fourth sanctioned a scheme with this object, but itcame to nothing; and Colbert only succeeded in obtaining the right for hiscountrymen to land their goods at Whampoa, the river port of Canton. ButFrench commerce never flourished in China, and a bold but somewhatQuixotic attempt to establish a trade between that country and the Frenchsettlements on the Mississippi failed to achieve anything practical. Butwhat the French were unable to attain in the domain of commerce theysucceeded in accomplishing in the region of literature. They were thefirst to devote themselves to the study of the Chinese literature andlanguage, and what we know of the history of China down to the lastcentury is exclusively due to their laborious research and painstakingtranslations of Chinese histories and annals. They made China known to thepolite as well as the political world of Europe. Keen Lung himselfappreciated and was flattered by these efforts. His poetry, notably hisodes on "Tea, " and the "Eulogy of Moukden" as the cradle of his race, wastranslated by Pere Amiot, and attracted the attention of Voltaire, whoaddressed to the emperor an epistolary poem on the requirements anddifficulties of Chinese versification. The French thus rendered a materialservice in making China better known to Europe and Europe better known inChina, which, although it may be hard to gauge precisely, entitles themstill to rank among those who have opened up China to Europeans. Thehistory of China, down to the eighteenth century at least, could not havebeen written but for the labors of the French, of Mailla, Du Halde, Amiot, and many others. 

There remains only to summarize the relations with the English, who, earlyin the seventeenth century, and before the Manchus had established theirsupremacy, possessed factories at Amoy and on the island of Chusan. Buttheir trade, hampered by official exactions, and also by the jealousy ofthe Portuguese and Dutch, proved a slow growth; and at Canton, which theysoon discovered to be the best and most convenient outlet for the state, they were more hampered than anywhere else, chiefly through the hostilerepresentations of the Portuguese, who bribed the mandarins to exclude allother foreigners. The English merchants, like the Portuguese, believedthat the only way to obtain a remedy for their grievances was byapproaching the imperial court and obtaining an audience with the emperor;but they were wise in not attempting to send delegates of their own. Theysaw that if an impression was to be created at Pekin the embassador mustcome fully accredited by the British government, and not merely as therepresentative of a body of merchants who were suppliants for commercialprivileges. The war with the Goorkhas had made the Chinese authoritiesacquainted with the fact that the English, who were only humble suitorsfor trade on the coast, were a great power in India. The knowledge of thisfact undoubtedly created a certain amount of curiosity in the mind of KeenLung, and when he heard that the King of England contemplated sending anembassy to his court he gave every encouragement to the suggestion, andpromised it a welcome and honorable reception. Permission was given it toproceed to Pekin, and thus was a commencement made in the long story ofdiplomatic relations between England and China, which have at lengthacquired a cordial character. As great importance was attached to thisembassy, every care was bestowed on fitting it out in a worthy manner. Colonel Cathcart was selected as the envoy, but died on the eve of hisdeparture, and a successor was found in the person of Lord Macartney, anobleman of considerable attainments, who had been Governor of Madras twoyears before. Sir George Staunton, one of the few English sinologues, wasappointed secretary, and several interpreters were sought for andobtained, not without difficulty. The presents were many and valuable, chosen with the double object of gratifying the emperor and impressing himwith the wealth and magnificence of the English sovereign. In September, 1792--the same month that witnessed the overthrow of the Goorkhas atNayakot--the embassy sailed from Portsmouth, but it did not reach thePeiho, on which Pekin is inaccurately said to stand, until the followingAugust. 

An honorable and exceedingly gratifying reception awaited it. Theembassador and his suite, on landing from the man-of-war, were conductedwith all ceremony and courtesy up the Peiho to Tientsin, where theyreceived what was called the unusual honor of a military salute. Visitswere exchanged with the Viceroy of Pechihli and some of the other highofficials, and news came down from Pekin that "the emperor had shown somemarks of great satisfaction at the news of the arrival of the Englishembassador. " Keen Lung happened to be residing at his summer palace atJehol beyond the Wall, but he sent peremptory instructions that there wasto be no delay in sending the English up to Pekin. Up to this point allhad gone well, but the anti-foreign party began to raise obstructions, and, headed by Sund Fo, the conqueror of the Goorkhas, to advise theemperor not to receive the embassador, and to reject all his propositions. Whether to strengthen his case, or because he believed it to be the fact, Sund Fo declared that the English had helped "the Goorkha robbers, " andthat he had found among them "men with hats, " _i. E. _, Europeans, as wellas "men with turbans. " As Sund Fo was the hero of the day, and also theviceroy of the Canton province, his views carried great weight, andthey were also of unfavorable omen for the future of foreign relations. But for this occasion the inquisitiveness of the aged emperor prevailedover the views of the majority in his council and also over popularprejudice. When the embassy had been detained some time at Pekin, andafter it looked as if a period of vexatious delay was to herald thediscomfiture of the mission, such positive orders were sent by Keen Lungfor the embassy to proceed to Jehol that no one dared to disobey him. LordMacartney proceeded to Jehol with his suite and a Chinese guard of honor, and he accomplished the journey, about one hundred miles, in an Englishcarriage. The details of the journey and reception are given in Sir GeorgeStaunton's excellent narrative; but here it may be said that the emperortwice received the British embassador in personal audience in a tentspecially erected for the ceremony in the gardens of the palace. Theembassy then returned to Pekin, and, as the Gulf of Pechihli was frozen, it was escorted by the land route to Canton. On this journey LordMacartney and his party suffered considerable inconvenience and annoyancefrom the spite and animosity of the Chinese inferior officials; butnothing serious occurred to mar what was on the whole a successfulmission. Keen Lung is said to have wished to go further, but his officialutterance was limited to the reciprocation of "the friendly sentiments ofHis Britannic Majesty. " His advanced age and his abdication alreadycontemplated left him neither the inclination nor the power to go veryclosely into the question of the policy of cultivating closer relationswith the foreign people who asserted their supremacy on the sea and whohad already subjugated one great Asiatic empire. But it may at least besaid that he did nothing to make the ultimate solution of the questionmore difficult, and his flattering reception of Lord Macartney's embassywas an important and encouraging a precedent for English diplomacy withChina. 

The events of internal interest in the history of the country during thelast twenty years of this reign call for some, brief notice, although theyrelate to comparatively few matters that can be disentangled from thecourt chronicles and official gazettes of the period. The great floods ofthe Hoangho and the destruction caused thereby had been a nationalcalamity from the earliest period. Keen Lung, filled with the desire tocrown his reign by overcoming it, intrusted the task of dealing with thisdifficulty to Count Akoui, whose laurels over the Miaotze had raised himto the highest position in public popularity and his sovereign'sconfidence. Keen Lung issued his personal instructions on the subject inunequivocal language. He said in his edict, "My intention is that thiswork should be unceasingly carried on, in order to secure for the people asolid advantage both for the present and in the time to come. Share myviews, and in order to accomplish them, forget nothing in the carrying outof your project, which I regard as my own, since I entirely approve of it, and the idea which originated it was mine. For the rest, it is at my owncharge, and not at the cost of the province, that I wish all this to bedone. Let expenses not be stinted. I take upon myself the consequences, whatever they may be. " Akoui threw himself into his great task withenergy, and it is said that he succeeded in no small degree in controllingthe waters and restricting their ravages. We are ignorant of the detailsof his work, but it may certainly be said that the Hoangho has done lessdamage since Akoui carried out his scheme than it had effected before. Thequestion is still unsolved, and probably there is no undertaking in whichChina would benefit more from the engineering science of Europe than this, if the Chinese government were to seriously devote its attention to amatter that affects many millions of people and some of the most importantprovinces of the empire. 

A great famine about the same period is chiefly remarkable for thepersecution it entailed on the Christian missionaries and those among theChinese themselves professing the foreign religion. The cause of thisscarcity was mainly due to the extraordinary growth of the population, which had certainly doubled in fifty years, and which, according to theofficial censuses, had risen from sixty millions in 1735 to three hundredmillions in 1792. Of course the larger part of this increase was due tothe expansion of the empire and the consolidation of the Manchu authority. So great was the national suffering that the gratuitous distribution ofgrain and other supplies at the cost of the state provided but a verypartial remedy for the evil, which was aggravated by the peculation of themandarins, and the evidence of the few European witnesses shows that thehorrors of this famine have seldom been surpassed. The famine was laid tothe charge of the Christians, and a commission of mandarins drew up aformal indictment of Christianity, which has stood its ground ever sinceas the text of the argument of the anti-foreign school. It read asfollows: "We have examined into the European religion (or the doctrine) ofthe Lord of Heaven, and although it ought not to be compared with otherdifferent sects, which are absolutely wicked, yet, and that is what we layto its blame, it has had the audacity to introduce itself, to promulgateitself, and to establish itself in secret. No permission has ever beengiven to the people of this country to embrace it. Nay, the laws haveabsolutely long forbidden its adoption. And now all these criminals havehad the boldness to come, all of a sudden, into our kingdom, to establishtheir bishops and priests in order to seduce the people! This is why it isnecessary to extinguish this religion by degrees and to prevent itsmultiplying its votaries. " The fury of the Chinese, fortunately, soonexhausted itself; and although many Europeans were injured none lost theirlives, but several thousand native converts were branded on the face andsent to colonize the Ili valley. 

While Lord Macartney was at Pekin it was known that the emperorcontemplated abdicating when he had completed the sixtieth year of hisreign--the cycle of Chinese chronology--because he did not desire hisreign to be of greater length than that of his illustrious grandfather, Kanghi. This date was reached in 1796, when on New Year's day (6th ofFebruary) of the Chinese calendar, he publicly abdicated, and assigned theimperial functions to his son, Kiaking. He survived this event threeyears, and during that period he exercised, like Charles the Fifth ofGermany, a controlling influence over his son's administration; and heendeavored to inculcate in him the right principles of sound government. But in China, where those principles have been expressed in the noblestlanguage, their practical application is difficult, because the officialclasses are underpaid and because the law of self-preservation, as well ascustom, compels them to pay themselves at the equal expense of thesubjects and the government. Even Keen Lung had been unable to grapplewith this difficulty of the Chinese civil service, which is as formidableat the present time as ever. One of the ablest and most honest of KeenLung's ministers, when questioned on the subject, said that there was noremedy. "It is impossible, the emperor himself cannot do it, the evil istoo widespread. He will, no doubt, send to the scene of these disordersmandarins, clothed with all his authority, but they will only commit stillgreater exactions, and the inferior mandarins, in order to be leftundisturbed, will offer them presents. The emperor will be told that allis well, while everything is really wrong, and while the poor people arebeing oppressed. " And so the vicious circle has gone on to the presentday, with serious injury to the state and the people. When Keen Lung hadthe chance of bringing matters under his own personal control he did nothesitate to exercise his right and power, and all capital punishments werecarried out at the capital only after he had examined into each case. Itis declared that he always tempered justice with mercy, and that none butthe worst offenders suffered death. Transportation to Ili, which he wishedto develop, was his favorite form of punishment. 

To the end of his life Keen Lung retained the active habits which hadcharacterized his youth. Much of his official work was carried on at anearly hour of the morning, and it surprised many Europeans to find theaged ruler so keen and eager for business at these early conferences. Hisvigor was attributed by competent observers to the active life andphysical exercises common among the Tartars. It will be proper to give adescription of the personal appearance of this great prince. A missionarythus described him: "He is tall and well built. He has a very graciouscountenance, but capable at the same time of inspiring respect. If inregard to his subjects he employs a great severity, I believe it is lessfrom the promptings of his character than from the necessity which wouldotherwise not render him capable of keeping within the bounds ordependence and duty two empires so vast as China and Tartary. Thereforethe greatest tremble in his presence. On all the occasions when he hasdone me the honor to address me it has been with a gracious air thatinspired me with the courage to appeal to him in behalf of ourreligion. .. . He is a truly great prince, doing and seeing everything forhimself. " Keen Lung survived his abdication about three years, dying onthe 8th of February, 1799--which also happened to be the Chinese NewYear's day. 

With the death of Keen Lung the vigor of China reached a term, and just asthe progress had been consistent and rapid during the space of 150 years, so now will its downward course be not less marked or swift, until, in thevery hour of apparent dissolution, the empire will find safety in thevalor and probity of an English officer, Charles George Gordon, and in theability and resolution of the empress-regents and their two great soldier-statesmen, Li Hung Chang and Tso Tsung Tang. 

CHAPTER XV

THE DECLINE OF THE MANCHUS

The favorable opinion which his father had held of Kiaking does not seemto have been shared by all his ministers. The most prominent of them all, Hokwan, who held to Keen Lung the relation that Wolsey held to Henry theEighth, soon fell under the displeasure of the new emperor, and was calledupon to account for his charge of the finances. The favor and the age ofKeen Lung left Hokwan absolutely without control, and the minister turnedhis opportunities to such account that he amassed a private fortune ofeighty million taels, or more than one hundred and twenty-five milliondollars. He was indicted for peculation shortly after the death of KeenLung, and, without friends, he succumbed to the attack of his many enemiesincited to attack him by the greed of Kiaking. But the amount of hispeculations amply justified his punishment, and Kiaking in signing hisdeath warrant could not be accused of harshness or injustice. Theexecution of Hokwan restored some of his ill-gotten wealth to the state, and served as a warning to other officials; but as none could hope toenjoy his opportunities, it did not act as a serious deterrent upon themass of the Chinese civil service. If arraigned, they might have justifiedtheir conduct by the example of their sovereign, who, instead of devotingthe millions of Hokwan to the necessities of the state, employed them onhis own pleasure, and in a lavish palace expenditure. 

The Portuguese were the tenants, as has previously been stated, of Macao, for which they paid an annual rent to the Chinese; but the nature of theirtenure was not understood in Europe, where Macao was considered aPortuguese possession. During the progress of the great European struggle, the French, as part of one of their latest schemes for regaining theirposition in the East, conceived the idea of taking possession of Macao;but while they were contemplating the enterprise, an English squadron hadaccomplished it, and during the year 1802 Macao was garrisoned by anEnglish force. The Treaty of Amiens provided for its restoration toPortugal, and the incident closed, chiefly because the period ofoccupation was brief, without the Chinese being drawn into the matter, orwithout the true nature of the Portuguese hold on Macao being explained. The exigencies of war unfortunately compelled the re-occupation of Macaosix years later, when the indignation of the Chinese authorities at theviolation of their territory fully revealed itself. Peremptory orders weresent to the Canton authorities from Pekin to expel the foreigners at allcosts. The government of India was responsible for what was a distinctblunder in our political relations with China. In 1808, when alarm atNapoleon's schemes was at its height, it sent Admiral Drury and aconsiderable naval force to occupy Macao. The Chinese at once protested, withheld supplies, refused to hold any intercourse with that commander, and threatened the English merchants at Lintin with the completesuspension of the trade. In his letter of rebuke the chief mandarin atCanton declared that, "as long as there remained a single soldier atMacao, " he would not allow any trade to be carried on, and threatened to"block up the entrance to Macao, cut off your provisions, and send an armyto surround you, when repentance would be too late. " The English merchantswere in favor of compliance with the Chinese demands, but Admiral Druryheld a very exalted opinion of his own power and a corresponding contemptfor the Chinese. He declared that, as "there was nothing in hisinstructions to prevent his going to war with the Emperor of China, " hewould bring the Canton officials to reason by force. He accordinglyassembled all his available forces, and proceeded up the river at the headof a strong squadron of boats with the avowed intention of forcing his wayup to the provincial capital. On their side the Chinese made everypreparation to defend the passage, and they blocked the navigation of theriver with a double line of junks, while the Bogue forts were manned byall the troops of the province. When Admiral Drury came in sight of thesedefenses, which must have appeared formidable to him, he hesitated, andinstead of delivering his attack he sent a letter requesting an interviewwith the mandarin, again threatening to force his way up to Canton. Butthe Chinese had by this time taken the measure of the English commander, and they did not even condescend to send him a reply; when Admiral Drury, submitting to their insult, hastily beat a retreat. On several subsequentoccasions he renewed his threats, and even sailed up the Bogue, but alwaysretreated without firing a shot. It is not surprising that the Chinesewere inflated with pride and confidence by the pusillanimous conduct ofthe English officer, or that they should erect a pagoda at Canton in honorof the defeat of the English fleet. After these inglorious incidentsAdmiral Drury evacuated Macao and sailed for India, leaving the Englishmerchants to extricate themselves as well as they could from theembarrassing situation in which his hasty and blundering action had placedthem. If the officials at Canton had not been as anxious for their ownselfish ends that the trade should go on as the foreign merchantsthemselves, there is no doubt that the views of the ultra school at Pekin, who wished all intercourse with foreigners interdicted, would haveprevailed. But the Hoppo and his associates were the real friends of theforeigner, and opened the back door to foreign commerce at the very momentthat they were signing edicts denouncing it as a national evil andmisfortune. 

The Macartney mission had attracted what may be called the officialattention of the British government to the Chinese question, and the EastIndia Company, anxious to acquire fresh privileges to render that trademore valuable, exercised all its influence to sustain that attention. Onits representations a costly present was sent to Sung Tajin, one of theablest and most enlightened of all the Chinese officials who had showncordiality to Lord Macartney, but the step was ill-advised and hadunfortunate consequences. The present, on reaching Pekin, was returned toCanton with a haughty message that a minister of the emperor dare not evensee a present from a foreign ruler. The publicity of the act rather thanthe offer of a present must be deemed the true cause of this unqualifiedrejection, but the return of the present was not, unfortunately, the worstpart of the matter. The Emperor Kiaking sent a letter couched in loftylanguage to George the Third, declaring that he had taken such Britishsubjects as were in China under his protection, and that there was "nooccasion for the exertions of your Majesty's Government. " The advice ofthe Minister Sung, who was suspected of sympathy with the foreigners, wasmuch discredited, and from a position of power and influence he graduallysank into one of obscurity and impotence. This was especially unfortunateat a moment when several foreign powers were endeavoring to obtain afooting at Pekin. The Russian emperor, wishing no doubt to emulate theEnglish, sent, in 1805, an imposing embassy under Count Goloyken to theChinese capital. The presents were rich and numerous, for the expresspurpose of impressing the Chinese ruler with the superior wealth and powerof Russia over other European states, and great hopes were entertainedthat Count Goloyken would establish a secure diplomatic base at Pekin. Theembassy reached Kalgan on the Great Wall in safety, but there it wasdetained until reference had been made to the capital. The instructionscame back that the Russian envoy would only be received in audienceprovided he would perform the kotow, or prostration ceremony, and that ifhe would not promise to do this he was not to be allowed through the Wall. Count Goloyken firmly refused to give this promise, and among otherarguments he cited the exemption accorded to Lord Macartney. The Chineseremained firm in their purpose, Count Goloyken was informed that his visithad been prolonged too far, and the most brilliant of all Russianembassies to China had to retrace its steps without accomplishing any ofits objects. This was not the only rebuff Russia experienced at this time. The naval officer Krusenstern conceived the idea that it would be possibleto attain all the objects of his sovereign, and to open up a new channelfor a profitable trade, by establishing communications by sea with Canton, where the Russian flag had never been seen. The Russian government fittedout two ships for him, and he safely arrived at Canton, where he disposedof their cargoes. When it became known at Pekin that a new race offoreigners had presented themselves at Canton, a special edict was issuedordering that "all vessels belonging to any other nation than those whichhave been in the habit of visiting this port shall on no account whateverbe permitted to trade, but merely suffered to remain in port until everycircumstance is reported to us and our pleasure made known. " Thus in itsfirst attempt to add to its possession of a land trade, via Kiachta andthe Mongol steppe, a share in the sea trade with Canton, Russiaexperienced a rude and discouraging rebuff. 

The unsatisfactory state of our relations with the Chinese government, which was brought home to the British authorities by the difficulty ourships of war experienced in obtaining water and other necessary supplieson the China coast, which had generally to be obtained by force, led tothe decision that another embassy should be sent to Pekin, for the purposeof effecting a better understanding. 

Lord Amherst, who was specially selected for the mission on account of hisdiplomatic experience, reached the mouth of the Peiho in August, 1816. When the embassy reached Pekin, the Emperor Kiaking's curiosity to see theforeigners overcame his political resolutions, and with the naturalresolve of an irresponsible despot to gratify his wish without regard tothe convenience of others, he determined to see them at once, and orderedthat Lord Amherst and his companions should be brought forthwith into hispresence. This sudden decision was most disconcerting to his ownministers, who had practically decided that no audience should be grantedunless Lord Amherst performed the kotow, and especially to his brother-in-law Ho Koong Yay, who, at the emperor's repeated wish to see the Englishrepresentatives, was compelled to abandon his own schemes and to removeall restrictions to the audience. The firmness of Lord Amherst wasunexpected and misunderstood. Ho Koong Yay repeated his invitation severaltimes, and even resorted to entreaty; but when the Chinese found thatnothing was to be gained they changed their tone, and the infuriatedKiaking ordered that the embassador and his suite should not be allowed toremain at Pekin, and that they should be sent back to the coast at once. Thus ignominiously ended the Amherst mission, which was summarilydismissed, and hurried back to the coast in a highly-inconvenient andinglorious manner. In a letter to the Prince Regent, Kiaking suggestedthat it would not be necessary for the British government to send anotherembassy to China. He took some personal satisfaction out of hisdisappointment by depriving Ho Koong Yay of all his offices, and mulctinghim in five years of his pay as an imperial duke. The cause of hisdisgrace was expressly stated to be the mismanagement of the relationswith the English embassador and the suppression of material facts from theemperor's knowledge. Sung Tajin, who had been specially recalled from hisgovernorship in Ili to take part in the reception of the Europeans, andwhose sympathy for them was well known, was also disgraced, and did notrecover his position until after the death of Kiaking. The failure of theAmherst mission put an end to all schemes for diplomatic intercourse withPekin until another generation had passed away; but the facts of the caseshow that its failure was not altogether due to the hostility of theChinese emperor. No practical results, in all probability, would havefollowed; but if Lord Amherst had gone somewhat out of his way to humorthe Chinese autocrat, there is no doubt that he would have been receivedin audience without any humiliating conditions. 

Long before the Amherst mission reached China evidence had been affordedthat there were many elements of disorder in that country, and that adangerous feeling of dissatisfaction was seething below the surface. TheManchus, even in their moments of greatest confidence, had alwaysdistrusted the loyalty of their Chinese subjects, and there is no disputethat one of their chief reasons for pursuing an excluding policy towardEuropeans was the fear that they might tamper with the mass of theircountrymen. What had been merely a sentiment under the great rulers of theeighteenth century became an absolute conviction when Kiaking foundhimself the mark of conspirators and assassins. The first of the plots towhich he nearly fell a victim occurred at such an early period of hisreign that it could not be attributed to popular discontent at hismisgovernment. In 1803, only four years after the death of Keen Lung, Kiaking, while passing through the streets of his capital in his chair, carried by coolie bearers, was attacked by a party of conspirators, members of one of the secret societies, and narrowly escaped with hislife. His eunuch attendants showed considerable devotion and courage, andin the struggle several were killed; but they succeeded in driving off thewould-be assassins. The incident caused great excitement, and muchconsternation in the imperial palace, where it was noted that out of thecrowds in the streets only six persons came forward to help the sovereignin the moment of danger. After this the emperor gave up his practice ofvisiting the outer city of Pekin, and confined himself to the imperialcity, and still more to the Forbidden palace which is situated within it. But even here he could not enjoy the sense of perfect security, for thediscovery was made that this attempted assassination was part of anextensive plot with ramifications into the imperial family itself. Inquisitorial inquiries were made, which resulted in the disgrace andpunishment of many of the emperor's relatives, and thus engendered anamount of suspicion and a sense of insecurity that retained unabated forceas long as Kiaking filled the throne. That there was ample justificationfor this apprehension the second attempt on the person of the emperorclearly revealed. Whatever dangers the emperor might be exposed to in thestreets of Pekin, where the members of the hated and dreaded secretsocieties had as free access as himself, it was thought that he could feelsafe in the interior of the Forbidden city--a palace-fortress within theTartar quarter garrisoned by a large force, and to which admission wasonly permitted to a privileged few. Strict as the regulations were at alltimes, the attempt on Kiaking and the rumors of sedition led undoubtedlyto their being enforced with greater rigor, and it seemed incredible forany attempt to be made on the person of the emperor except by the mutinyof his guards or an open rebellion. Yet it was precisely at this momentthat an attack was made on the emperor in his own private apartments whichnearly proved successful, and which he himself described as an attackunder the elbow. In the year 1813 a band of conspirators, some two hundredin number, made their way into the palace, either by forcing one of thegates, or, more probably, by climbing the walls at an unguarded spot, and, overpowering the few guards they met, some of them forced their way intothe presence of the emperor. There is not the least doubt that Kiakingwould then have fallen but for the unexpected valor of his son PrinceMeenning, afterward the Emperor Taoukwang, who, snatching up a gun, shottwo of the intruders. This prince had been set down as a harmless, inoffensive student, but his prompt action on this occasion excitedgeneral admiration, and Kiaking, grateful for his life, at once proclaimedhim his heir. 

Toward the close of his reign, and very soon after the departure of LordAmherst, Kiaking was brought face to face with a very serious conspiracy, or what he thought to be such, among the princes of the Marichu imperialfamily. By an ordinance passed by Chuntche all the descendants of thatprince's father were declared entitled to wear a yellow girdle and toreceive a pension from the state; while, with a view to prevent theirbecoming a danger to the dynasty, they were excluded from civil ormilitary employment, and assigned to a life of idleness. This imperialcolony was, and is still, one of the most peculiar and least understood ofthe departments of the Tartar government; and although it has served itspurpose in preventing dynastic squabbles, there must always remain thedoubt as to how far the dynasty has been injured by the loss of theservices of so many of its members who might have possessed usefulcapacity. They purchased the right to an easy and unlaborious existence, with free quarters and a small income guaranteed, at the heavy price ofexclusion from the public service. No matter how great their ambition ornatural capability, they had no prospect of emancipating themselves fromthe dull sphere of inaction to which custom relegated them. Toward theclose of Kiaking's reign the number of these useless Yellow Girdles hadrisen to several thousand, and the emperor, alarmed by the previousattacks, or having some reason to fear a fresh plot, adopted strenuousmeasures against them. Whether the emperor's apprehensions overcame hisreason, or whether there were among his kinsmen, some men of more thanaverage ability, it is certain that the princes of the Manchu family weregoaded or incited into what amounted to rebellion. The exact particularsremain unknown until the dynastic history sees the light of day; but it isknown that many of them were executed, and that many hundreds of them werebanished to Manchuria, where they were given employment in taking care ofthe ancestral tombs of the ruling family. 

Special significance was given to these intrigues and palace plots by theremarkable increase in the number and the confidence of the secretsocieties which, in some form or other, have been a feature of Chinesepublic life from an early period. Had they not furnished evidence by theirincreased numbers and daring of the dissatisfaction prevalent among theChinese masses, whether on account of the hardships of their lot, or fromhatred of their Tartar lords, they would scarcely have created so muchapprehension in the bosom of the Emperor Kiaking, whose authority met withno open opposition, and whose reign was nominally one of both internal andexternal peace. These secret societies have always been, in the form offraternal confederacies and associations, a feature in Chinese life; butduring the present century they have acquired an importance they couldnever previously claim, both in China and among Chinese colonies abroad. The first secret society to become famous was that of the Water-Lily, orPe-leen-keaou, which association chose as its emblem and title the mostpopular of all plants in China. Although the most famous of the societies, and the one which is regarded as the parent of all that have come afterit, the Water-Lily had, as a distinct organization, a very briefexistence. Its organizers seem to have dropped the name, or to haveallowed it to sink into disuse in consequence of the strenuous officialmeasures taken against the society by the government for the attempt, in1803, on Kiaking's life in the streets of Pekin. They merged themselvesinto the widely-extended confederacy of the Society of Celestial Reason--the Theen-te-Hwuy--which became better known by the title given to it byEuropeans of the Triads, from their advocacy of the union between Heaven, earth, and man. The Water-Lily Society, before it was dissolved, causedserious disturbances in both Shantung and Szchuen, and especially in thelatter province, where the disbanded army that had rescued Tibet andpunished the Goorkhas furnished the material for sedition. With more orless difficulty, and at a certain expense of life, these risings weresuppressed, and Kiaking's authority was rendered secure against theseassailants, while for his successors was left the penalty of feeling thefull force of the national indignation of which their acts were theexpression. 

With regard to the organization of these secret societies, which probablyremain unchanged to the present day, China had nothing to learn fromEurope either as to the objects to be obtained in this way or as to howmen are to be bound together by solemn vows for the attainment of illegalends. By signs known only to themselves, and by pass-words, these swornconspirators could recognize their members in the crowded streets, andcould communicate with each other without exciting suspicion as to theirbeing traitors at heart. In its endeavors to cope with this formidable andwidespread organization under different names, Kiaking's government founditself placed at a serious disadvantage. Without an exact knowledge of theintentions or resources of its secret enemies, it failed to grapple withthem, and, as its sole remedy, it could only decree that proof ofmembership carried with it the penalty of death. 

During the last years of the reign of Kiaking the secret societies ratherthreatened future trouble than constituted a positive danger to the state. They were compelled to keep quiet and to confine their attention toincreasing their numbers rather than to realizing their programme. Theemperor was consequently able to pass the last four years of his life withsome degree of personal tranquillity, and in full indulgence of his palacepleasures, which seem at this period to have mainly consisted of atheatrical troupe which accompanied him even when he went to offersacrifice in the temples. His excessive devotion to pleasure did not addto his reputation with his people, and it is recorded that one of thechief causes of the minister Sung's disgrace and banishment to Ili was hismaking a protest against the emperor's proceedings. Some time before hisdeath Kiaking drew up his will, and on account of his great virtues hespecially selected as his successor his second son, Prince Meenning, whohad saved his life from assassins in the attack on the palace. Kiakingdied on September 2, 1820, in the sixty-first year of his age, leaving tohis successor a diminished authority, an enfeebled power, and adiscontented people. Some mitigating circumstance may generally be pleadedagainst the adverse verdict of history in its estimation of a publiccharacter. The difficulties with which the individual had to contend mayhave been exceptional and unexpected, the measures which he adopted mayhave had untoward and unnatural results, and the crisis of the hour mayhave called for genius of a transcendent order. But in the case of Kiakingnot one of these extenuating facts can be pleaded. His path had beensmoothed for him by his predecessor, his difficulties were raised by hisown indifference, and the consequences of his spasmodic and ill-directedenergy were scarcely less unfortunate than those of his habitual apathy. So much easier is the work of destruction than the labor of construction, that Kiaking in twenty-five years had done almost as much harm to theconstitution of his country and to the fortunes of his dynasty as KeenLung had conferred solid advantages on the state in his brilliant reign ofsixty years. 

On the whole it seems as if the material prosperity of the people wasnever greater than during the reign of Kiaking. The population by thecensus of 1812 is said to have exceeded 360 millions, and the revenuenever showed a more flourishing return on paper. To the external view allwas still fair and prosperous when Kiaking died; under his successor, whowas in every sense a worthier prince, the canker and decay were to beclearly revealed. 

CHAPTER XVI

THE EMPEROR TAOUKWANG

The early years of the new reign were marked by a number of eventsunconnected with each other but all contributing to the importantincidents of the later period which must be described, although theycannot be separated. The name of Taoukwang, which Prince Meenning took onascending the throne, means Reason's Light, and there were many whothought it was especially appropriate for a prince who was more qualifiedfor a college than a palace. Most of the chroniclers of the period gave anunfavorable picture of the new ruler, who was described as "thin andtoothless, " and as "lank in figure, low of stature, with a haggard face, areserved look, and a quiet exterior. " He was superior to his externalaspect, for it may be truly said that although he had to deal with newconditions he evinced under critical circumstances a dignity of demeanorand a certain royal patience which entitled him to the respect of hisopponents. 

Taoukwang began his reign in every way in a creditable manner. Whileprofessing in his proclamations the greatest admiration for his father, his first acts reversed his policy and aimed at undoing the mischief hehad accomplished. He released all the political prisoners who had beenconsigned to jail by the suspicious fear of Kiaking, and many of thebanished Manchu princes were allowed to return to Pekin. He made manypublic declarations of his intention to govern his people after a modeland conscientious fashion and his subsequent acts showed that he was atleast sincere in his intentions, if an accumulation of troubles preventedhis attaining all the objects he set before himself when he first took thegovernment in hand. Nothing showed his integrity more clearly than hisrestoration of the minister Sung to the favor and offices of which he hadbeen dispossessed. The vicissitudes of fortune passed through by thisofficial have been previously referred to, and his restoration to powerwas a practical proof of the new ruler's good resolutions, and meant morethan all the virtuous platitudes expressed in vermilion edicts. Sung hadgained a popularity that far exceeded that of the emperor, through thelavish way in which he distributed his wealth, consistently refusing toaccumulate money for the benefit of himself or his family. But hisindependent spirit rendered him an unpleasant monitor for princes who wereeither negligent of their duty or sensitive of criticism, and evenTaoukwang appears to have dreaded, in anticipation, the impartial andfearless criticism of the minister whom he restored to favor. Sung wasemployed in two of the highest possible posts, Viceroy of Pechihli andPresident of the Board of Censors, and until his death he succeeded inmaintaining his position in face of his enemies, and notwithstanding hisexcessive candor. One of the first reforms instituted by the EmperorTaoukwang was to cut down the enormous palace expenses, which his fatherhad allowed to increase to a high point, and to banish from the imperialcity all persons who could not give some valid justification for theirbeing allowed to remain. The troupes of actors and buffoons were expelled, and the harem was reduced to modest dimensions. Taoukwang declared himselfto be a monogamist, and proclaimed his one wife empress. He also put astop to the annual visits to Jehol and to the costly hunting establishmentthere, which entailed a great waste of public funds. The money thus savedwas much wanted for various national requirements, and the sufferingscaused by flood and famine were alleviated out of these palace savings. How great the national suffering had become was shown by the markedincrease of crime, especially all forms of theft and the coining of falsemoney, for which new and severe penalties were ordained without greatlymitigating the evil. During all these troubles and trials Taoukwangendeavored to play the part of a beneficent and merciful sovereign, tempering the severity of the laws by acts of clemency, and personallysuperintending every department of the administration. He seems thus tohave gained a reputation among his subjects which he never lost, and theblame for any unpopular measures was always assigned to his ministers. Butalthough he endeavored to play the part of an autocrat, there is everyground for saying that he failed to realize the character, and that he wasswayed more than most rulers by the advice of his ministers. The fourprincipal officials after Sung, whose death occurred at an early dateafter Taoukwang's accession, were Hengan, Elepoo, Keying, and Keshen. 

The first ten years of Taoukwang's reign have been termed prosperous, because they have left so little to record, but this application of thetheory that "the country is happy which has no history, " does not seemborne out by such facts as have come to our knowledge. There is no doubtthat there was a great amount of public suffering, and that the prosperityof the nation declined from the high point it had reached under Kiaking. Scarcity of food and want of work increased the growing discontent, whichdid not require even secret societies to give it point and expression, andas far as could be judged it was worse than when the Water-Lily Societyinspired Kiaking with most apprehension. Kiaking, as has been observed, escaped the most serious consequences of his own acts. There was muchpopular discontent, but there was no open rebellion. Taoukwang had notbeen on the throne many years before he was brought face to face withrebels who openly disputed his authority, and, strangely enough, histroubles began in Central Asia, where peace had been undisturbed for halfa century. 

The conquest of Central Asia had been among the most brilliant andremarkable of the feats of the great Keen Lung. Peace had been preservedthere as much by the extraordinary prestige or reputation of China as bythe skill of the administration or the soundness of the policy of thegoverning power, which left a large share of the work to the subjectraces. Outside each of the principal towns the Chinese built a fort orgulbagh, in which their garrison resided, and military officers or ambanswere appointed to every district. The Mohammedan officials were heldresponsible for the good conduct of the people and the due collection ofthe taxes, and as long as the Chinese garrison was maintained in strengthand efficiency they discharged their duties with the requisite good faith. The lapse of time and the embarrassment of the government at home led tothe neglect of the force in Central Asia, which had once been an efficientarmy. The Chinese garrison, ill-paid and unrecruited, gradually lost thesemblance of a military force, and was not to be distinguished from therest of the civil population. The difference of religion was the onlyunequivocal mark of distinction between the rulers and the ruled, and itfurnished an ever-present cause of enmity and dislike, although apart fromthis the Mohammedans accepted the Chinese rule as not bad in itself, andeven praised it. The Chinese might have continued to govern Ili andKashgar indefinitely, notwithstanding the weakness and decay of theirgarrison, but for the ambition of a neighbor. The Chinese are to blame, however, not merely for having ignored the obvious aggressiveness of thatneighbor, but for having provided it with facilities for carrying out itsplans. The Khanate of Khokand, the next-door state in Central Asia, hadbeen intimately connected with Kashgar from ancient times, both inpolitics and trade. The Chinese armies in the eighteenth century hadadvanced into Khokand, humbled its khan, and reduced him to a state ofvassalage. For more than fifty years the khan sent tribute to China, andwas the humble neighbor of the Chinese. He gave, however, a place ofrefuge and a pension to Sarimsak, the last representative of the old Khojafamily of Kashgar, and thus retained a hold on the legitimate ruler ofthat state. Sarimsak had as a child escaped from the pursuit of Fouta andthe massacre of his relations by the chief of Badakshan, but he wascontent to remain a pensioner at Khokand to the end of his days, and heleft the assertion of what he considered his rights to his children. Histhree sons were named, in the order of their age, Yusuf, Barhanuddin, andJehangir, and each of them attempted at different times to dispossess theChinese in Kashgar. In the year 1812, when Kiaking's weakness wasbeginning to be apparent, the Khan of Khokand, a chief of more than usualability, named Mahomed Ali, refused to send tribute any more to China, andthe Viceroy of Ili, having no force at his disposal, acquiesced in thechange with good grace, and no hostilities ensued. The first concessionwas soon followed by others. The khan obtained the right to levy a tax onall Mohammedan merchandise sold in the bazaars of Kashgar and Yarkand, anddeputed consuls or aksakals for the purpose of collecting the duties. These aksakals naturally became the center of all the intrigue anddisaffection prevailing in the state against the Chinese, and theyconsidered it to be as much their duty to provoke political discontent asto supervise the customs placed under their charge. Before the aksakalsappeared on the scene the Chinese ruled a peaceful territory, but afterthe advent of these foreign officials trouble soon ensued. 

Ten years after his refusal to pay tribute the Khan of Khokand decided tosupport the Khoja pretenders who enjoyed his hospitality, and in 1822Jehangir was provided with money and arms to make an attempt on theChinese position in Kashgaria. Although the youngest, Jehangir seems tohave been the most energetic of the Khoja princes; and having obtained thealliance of the Kirghiz, he attempted, by a rapid movement, to surprisethe Chinese in the town of Kashgar. In this attempt he was disappointed, for the Chinese kept better guard than he expected, and he was compelledto make an ignominious retreat. The Khan of Khokand, disappointed at theresult and apprehensive of counter action on the part of the Chinese, repudiated all participation in the matter, and forbade Jehangir to returnto his country. That adventurer then fled to Lake Issik Kul, whither theChinese pursued him; but when his fortunes seemed to have reached theirlowest ebb a revulsion suddenly took place, and by the surprise andannihilation of a Chinese force he was again able to pose as an arbiter ofaffairs in Central Asia. The fortitude of Jehangir confirmed theattachment of his friends, and the Khokandian ruler, encouraged by thedefeat of the Chinese, again took up his cause and sent him troops and ageneral for a fresh descent on Kashgaria. The khan had his own ends inview quite as much as to support the Khoja pretender; but his supportencouraged Jehangir to leave his mountain retreat and to cross the TianShan into Kashgaria. This happened in the year 1826, and the Chinesegarrison of Kashgar very unwisely quitted the shelter of its citadel andwent out to meet the invaders. The combat is said to have been fiercelycontested, but nothing is known about it except that the Chinese weresignally defeated. This overthrow was the signal for a generalinsurrection throughout the country, and the Chinese garrisons, after moreor less resistance, were annihilated. An attempt was then made to restorethe old Mohammedan administration, and Jehangir was proclaimed by thestyle of the Seyyid Jehangir Sultan. One of his first acts was to dismissthe Khokandian contingent, and to inform his ally or patron, Mahomed Ali, that he no longer required his assistance. His confidence received a rudecheck when he learned a short time afterward that the Chinese were makingextraordinary preparations to recover their lost province, and that theyhad collected an immense army in Ili for the purpose. Then he wished hisKhokandian allies back again; but he still resolved to make as good afight as he could for the throne he had acquired; and when the Chinesegeneral Chang marched on Kashgar, Jehangir took up his position atYangabad and accepted battle. He was totally defeated; the capture ofKashgar followed, and Jehangir himself fell into the hands of the victors. The Khoja was sent to Pekin, where, after many indignities, he wasexecuted and quartered as a traitor. The Chinese punished all open rebelswith death, and as a precaution against the recurrence of rebellion theyremoved 12, 000 Mohammedan families from Kashgar to Ili, where they becameknown as the Tarantchis, or toilers. They also took the very wise step ofprohibiting all intercourse with Khokand, and if they had adhered to thisresolution they would have saved themselves much serious trouble. ButMahomed Ali was determined to make an effort to retain so valuable aperquisite as his trade relations with Kashgar, and as soon as the Chinesehad withdrawn the main portion of their force he hastened to assailKashgar at the head of his army, and put forward Yusuf as a successor toJehangir. Only desultory fighting ensued, but his operations were so farsuccessful that the Chinese agreed to resort to the previous arrangement, and Mahomed Ali promised to restrain the Khojas. Fourteen years of peaceand prosperity followed this new convention. 

Serious disorders also broke out in the islands of Formosa and Hainan. Inthe former the rebellion was only put down by a judicious manipulation ofthe divisions of the insurgent tribes; but the settlement attained must bepronounced so far satisfactory that the peace of the island was assured. In Hainan, an island of extraordinary fertility and natural wealth, whichmust some day be developed, the aboriginal tribes revolted against Chineseauthority, and massacred many of the Chinese settlers, who had begun toencroach on the possessions of the natives. Troops had to be sent fromCanton before the disorders were suppressed, and then Hainan reverted toits tranquil state, from which only the threat of a French occupationduring the Tonquin war roused it. These disorders in different parts ofthe empire were matched by troubles of a more domestic character withinthe palace. In 1831 Taoukwang's only son, a young man of twenty, whosecharacter was not of the best, gave him some cause of offense, and hestruck him. The young prince died of the blow, and the emperor was leftfor the moment without a child. His grief was soon assuaged by the newsthat two of his favorite concubines had borne him sons, one of whom becamelong afterward the Emperor Hienfung. At this critical moment Taoukwang wasseized with a severe illness, and his elder brother, Hwuy Wang, whosepretensions had threatened the succession, thinking his chance had at lastcome, took steps to seize the throne. But Taoukwang recovered, and thosewho had made premature arrangements in filling the throne were severelypunished. These minor troubles culminated in the Miaotze Rebellion, themost formidable internal war which the Chinese government had to deal withbetween that of Wou Sankwei and the Taepings. From an early period theMiaotze had been a source of trouble to the executive, and the relationsbetween them and the officials had been anything but harmonious. TheManchu rulers had only succeeded in keeping them in order by stoppingtheir supply of salt on the smallest provocation; and in the belief thatthey possessed an absolutely certain mode of coercing them, the Chinesemandarins assumed an arrogant and dictatorial tone toward their rude andunreclaimed neighbors. In 1832 the Miaotze, irritated past endurance, broke out in rebellion, and their principal chief caused himself to beproclaimed emperor. Their main force was assembled at Lienchow, in thenorthwest corner of the Canton province, and their leader assumed thesuggestive title of the Golden Dragon, and called upon the Chinese peopleto redress their wrongs by joining his standard. But the Chinese, whoregarded the Miaotze as an inferior and barbarian race, refused to combinewith them against the most extortionate of officials or the most unpopularof governments. Although they could not enlist the support of any sectionof the Chinese people, the Miaotze, by their valor and the military skillof their leader, made so good a stand against the forces sent against themby the Canton viceroy that the whole episode is redeemed from oblivion, and may be considered a romantic incident in modern Chinese history. TheMiaotze gained the first successes of the war, and for a time it seemed asif the Chinese authorities would be able to effect nothing against them. The Canton viceroy fared so badly that Hengan was sent from Pekin to takethe command, and the chosen braves of Hoonan were sent to attack theMiaotze in the rear. The latter gained a decisive victory at Pingtseuen, where the Golden Dragon and several thousand of his followers were slain. But, although vanquished in one quarter, the Miaotze continued to showgreat activity and confidence in another, and when the Canton viceroy madea fresh attack on them they repulsed him with heavy loss. The disgrace ofthis officer followed, and his fall was hastened by the suppression of thefull extent of his losses, which excited the indignation of his owntroops, who said, "There is no use in our sacrificing our lives in secret;if our toils are concealed from she emperor neither we nor our posteritywill be rewarded. " This unlucky commander was banished to Central Asia, and after his supersession Hengan had the satisfaction of bringing the warto a satisfactory end within ten days. Some of the leaders were executed, the others swore to keep the peace, and a glowing account of thepacification of the Miaotze region was sent to Pekin. Some severe criticssuggested that the whole arrangement was a farce, and that Hengan'striumph was only on paper; but the lapse of time has shown this skepticismto be unjustified, as the Miaotze have remained tranquil ever since, andthe formidable Yaoujin, or Wolfmen, as they are called, have observed thepromises given to Hengan, which would not have been the case unless theyhad been enforced by military success. Should they ever break out again, the government would possess the means, from their command of money andmodern arms, of repressing their lawlessness with unprecedentedthoroughness, and of absolutely subjecting their hitherto inaccessibledistricts. 

If the first ten or twelve years of the reign of the Emperor Taoukwangwere marked by these troubles on a minor scale, an undue importance shouldnot be attached to them, for they did not seriously affect the stabilityof the government or the authority of the emperor. It is true that theycaused a decline in the revenue and an increase in the expenditure, whichresulted in the year 1834 in an admitted deficit of fifty million dollars, and no state could be considered in a flourishing condition with thepublic exchequer in such a condition. But this large deficit must beregarded rather as a floating debt than an annual occurrence. 

The Chinese authorities continued to hinder and protest against theforeign trade and intercourse between their subjects and the merchants ofEurope as much as ever; but their opposition was mainly confined to edictsand proclamations. When Commissioner Lin resorted to force and violencesome years later the auspicious moment for expelling all foreigners hadpassed away, and the weakness of the government contributed in no smalldegree to this result. Taoukwang, although his claims as occupant of theDragon Throne were unabated, could not pretend to the power of a greatruler like Keen Lung, who would have known how to enforce his will. Forwas it possible after 1834 to continue the policy of uncompromisinghostility to all foreign nations whose governments had become directlyinterested in, and to a certain extent responsible to, their respectivepeoples, for the opening of the Chinese empire to civilized intercourseand commerce. Up to this point Taoukwang's only experience of thepretensions of the foreign powers had been the Amherst mission, in thetime of his father, which had ended so ignominiously, and the Russianmission which arrived at Pekin every ten years to recruit the Russiancollege there, and to pay the descendants of the garrison of Albazin thesum allotted by the czar for their support. But from these triflingmatters Taoukwang's attention was suddenly and completely distracted tothe important situation at Canton and on the coast, the settlement of thequestions arising out of which filled the remainder of his reign. 

CHAPTER XVII

THE FIRST FOREIGN WAR

AT the very time that the Emperor Taoukwang, by the dismissal of thePortuguese astronomers at Pekin and by his general indifference to theforeign question, was showing that no concessions were to be expected fromhim, an unknown legislature at a remote distance from his capital wasdecreeing, in complete indifference to the susceptibilities of theoccupant of the Dragon Throne, that trade with China might be pursued byany English subject. Up to the year 1834 trade with China had, by theroyal charter, remained the monopoly of the East India Company; but whenthe charter was renewed in that year for a further period of twenty years, it was shorn of the last of its commercial privileges, and an immediatechange became perceptible in the situation at Canton, which was theprincipal seat of the foreign trade. The withdrawal of the monopoly wasdictated solely by English, and not Chinese, considerations. Far fromfacilitating trade with the Chinese, it tended to hinder and prevent itsdeveloping; for the Chinese officials had no objection to foreignerscoming to Canton, and buying or selling articles of commerce, so long asthey derived personal profit from the trade, and so long as the laws ofthe empire were not disputed or violated. The servants of the East IndiaCompany were content to adapt themselves to this view, and they might havecarried on relations with the Hong merchants for an indefinite period, andwithout any more serious collision than occasional interruptions. Had themonopoly been renewed things would have been left in precisely the sameposition as when intercourse was first established, and trade might havecontinued within its old restricted limits. But the abolition of themonopoly and the opening of the trade created quite a new situation, andby intensifying the opposition of the Chinese government, paved the way tothe only practicable solution of the question of foreign intercourse withChina, which was that, however reluctantly she should consent to take herplace in the family of nations. 

The Chinese were not left long in doubt as to the significance of thischange. In December, 1833, a royal commission was issued appointing LordNapier chief superintendent of trade with China, and two assistants underhim, of whom one was Sir John Davis. The Chinese had to some extentcontributed to this appointment, the Hoppo at Canton having written that"in case of the dissolution of the Company it was incumbent on the Britishgovernment to appoint a chief to come to Canton for the general managementof commercial dealings, and to prevent affairs from going to confusion. "But in this message the Hoppo seems to have expressed his own view ratherthan that of the Pekin government or the Canton viceroy; and certainlynone of the Chinese were prepared to find substituted for "a chief ofcommercial dealings" an important commissioner clothed with all theauthority of the British ruler. How very different was the idea formed ofthis functionary by the Chinese and English may be gathered from theirofficial views of his work. What the Chinese thought has been told in thewords of the Hoppo. Lord Palmerston was more precise from his point ofview. His instruction to Lord Napier read, "Your lordship will announceyour arrival at Canton by letter to the viceroy. In addition to the dutyof protecting and fostering the trade at Canton, it will be one of yourprincipal objects to ascertain whether it may not be practicable to extendthat trade to other parts of the Chinese dominions. It is obvious that, with a view to the attainment of this object, the establishment of directcommunication with the imperial court at Pekin would be most desirable. "The two points of radical disagreement between these views were that theChinese wished to deal with an official who thought exclusively of trade, whereas Lord Napier's task was not less diplomatic than commercial; and, secondly, that they expected him to carry on his business with the Hoppo, as the Company's agents had done, while Lord Napier was speciallyinstructed to communicate with the viceroy, whom those agents had neverdared to approach. 

If it was thought that the Chinese would not realize all the significanceof the change, those who held so slight an opinion of their clear-headedness were quickly undeceived. Lord Napier reached the Canton Riverin July, 1834, and he at once addressed a letter of courtesy to theviceroy announcing his arrival. The Chinese officers, after perusing it, refused to forward it to the viceroy, and returned it to Lord Napier. Suchwas the inauspicious commencement of the assumption of responsibility bythe crown in China. The Chinese refused to have anything to do with LordNapier, whom they described as "a barbarian eye, " and they threatened themerchants with the immediate suspension of the trade. The viceroy issuedan order forbidding the new superintendent to proceed to Canton, andcommanding him to stay at Macao until he had applied in the prescribedform for permission to proceed up the river. But Lord Napier did notlisten to these representations, nor did he condescend to delay hisprogress a moment at Macao. He proceeded up the river to Canton, but, although he succeeded in making his way to the English factory, it wasonly to find himself isolated, and that, in accordance with the viceroy'sorder, the Hoppo had interdicted all intercourse with the English. TheChinese declared that the national dignity was at stake, and so thoroughlydid both officials and merchants harmonize that the English factory was atonce deserted by all Chinese subjects, and even the servants left theiremployment. On his arrival at Canton, Lord Napier found himself confrontedwith the position that the Chinese authorities refused to have anything todo with him, and that his presence effectually debarred his countrymenfrom carrying on the trade, which it was his first duty to promote. Atthis conjuncture it happened that the Chinese had discovered what theythought to be a new grievance against the foreign traders in the steadyefflux of silver as the natural consequence of the balance of trade beingagainst China. In a report to the throne in 1833 it was stated that asmuch as 60, 000, 000 taels of silver, or $100, 000, 000, had been exportedfrom China in the previous eleven years, and, as the Chinese of coursemade no allowance for the equivalent value imported into their country, this total seemed in their eyes an incredibly large sum to be lost fromthe national treasure. It will be easily understood that at thisparticular moment the foreign trade appeared to possess few advantages, and found few patrons among the Chinese people. 

In meeting this opposition Lord Napier endeavored to combine courtesy andfirmness. He wrote courteous and argumentative letters to the mandarins, combating their views, and insisting on his rights as a diplomatist to bereceived by the officials of the empire; and at the same time he issued anotice to the Chinese merchants which was full of threats and defiance. "The merchants of Great Britain, " he said, "wish to trade with all Chinaon principles of mutual benefit; they will never relax in their exertionstill they gain a point of equal importance to both countries, and theviceroy will find it as easy to stop the current of the Canton River as tocarry into effect the insane determinations of the Hong. " This notice wasnaturally enough interpreted as a defiance by the viceroy, who placed themost severe restrictions he could on the trade, sent his troops into theforeign settlements to remove all Chinese servants, and ordered the Bogueforts to fire on any English ship that attempted to pass. The Englishmerchants, alarmed at the situation, petitioned Lord Napier to allay thestorm he had raised by retiring from Canton to Macao, and, harassed inmind and enfeebled in body, Lord Napier acquiesced in an arrangement thatstultified all his former proceedings. The Chinese were naturallyintoxicated by their triumph, which vindicated their principle that noEnglish merchant or emissary should be allowed to come to Canton except bythe viceroy's permit, granted only to the petition and on the guarantee ofthe Hong merchants. The viceroy had also carried his point of holding nointercourse with the English envoy, to whom he had written that "the greatministers of the Celestial Empire, unless with regard to affairs of goingto court and carrying tribute, or in consequence of imperial commands, arenot permitted to have interviews with outside barbarians. " While theChinese officials had been both consistent and successful, the new Englishsuperintendent of trade had been both inconsistent and discomfited. He hadattempted to carry matters with a high hand and to coerce the mandarins, and he was compelled to show in the most public manner that he had failedby his retirement to Macao. He had even imperiled the continuance of thetrade which he had come specially to promote, and all he could do to showhis indignation was to make a futile protest against "this act ofunprecedented tyranny and injustice. " Very soon after Lord Napier's returnto Macao he died, leaving to other hands the settlement of the difficultaffair which neither his acts nor his language had simplified. 

On Lord Napier's departure from Canton the restrictions placed on tradewere removed, and the intercourse between the English and Chinesemerchants of the Hong was resumed. But even then the mandarins refused torecognize the trade superintendents, and after a short time they issuedcertain regulations which had been specially submitted to and approved bythe Emperor Taoukwang as the basis on which trade was to be conducted. These Regulations, eight in number, forbade foreign men-of-war to enterthe inner seas, and enforced the old practice that all requests on thepart of Europeans should be addressed through the Hong in the form of apetition. It therefore looked as if the Chinese had completely triumphedin carrying out their views, that the transfer of authority from the EastIndia Company to the British crown, with the so-called opening of thetrade, had effected no change in the situation, and that such commerce aswas carried on should be as the Chinese dictated, and in accordance withtheir main idea, which was to "prevent the English establishing themselvespermanently at Canton. " The death of the Viceroy Loo and the familiarityresulting from increased intercourse resulted in some relaxation of thesesevere regulations, and at last, in March, 1837, nearly three years afterLord Napier's arrival in the Bogue, the new superintendent of trade, Captain Elliot, received, at his own request, permission through the Hongto proceed to Canton. The emperor passed a special edict authorizingCaptain Elliot to reside in the factory at Canton, where he was to"control the merchants and seamen"; but it was also stipulated that he wasto strictly abide by the old regulations, and not to rank above asupercargo. As Captain Elliot was the representative of a government notless proud or exacting than that of China, it was clear that theseconditions could not be permanently enforced; and although he endeavoredfor a period to conciliate the Chinese and to obtain more favorable termsby concessions, there came a time when it was impossible to assent to thearrogant demands of the mandarins, and when resort became necessary to the_ultima ratio regum_. But for the first two critical years Captain Elliotpursued the same policy as Lord Napier, alternating concessions withthreats, and, while vaunting the majesty of his sovereign, yielding todemands which were unreasonable and not to be endured. 

The balance of trade against China was the principal cause of the exportof silver, and the balance of trade was only against China through theincreasing import of opium. Without acquiescing in the least with thestrong allegations of the anti-opium party, there is no reason to doubtthat the excessive use of opium, especially in a crowded city like Canton, was attended with sufficient mischief to justify its officialdenunciation. The Pekin government may be so far credited with the honestintention to reduce the mischief and to prevent a bad habit from becomingmore and more of a national vice, when they determined for far otherreasons to place it in the front of their tirade against foreign tradegenerally. They soon found that it would be more convenient and moreplausible to substitute the moral opposition to the opium traffic for thepolitical disinclination to foreign intercourse in any form. They scarcelyexpected that in this project they would receive the assistance and co-operation of many of the Europeans themselves, who shared with them theopinion that opium was detestable, and its use or sale a mark ofdepravity. 

In January, 1839, Taoukwang ordered Lin Tsihseu, viceroy of the doubleprovince of Houkwang and an official of high reputation, to proceed toCanton as Special Commissioner to report on the situation, and to propoundthe best remedy for the opium evil. At this moment the anti-opium partywas supreme in the imperial council, and three Manchu princes weredisgraced and banished from Pekin for indulging in the practice. Theperemptory instructions given to Commissioner Lin, as he is historicallyknown, were "to cut off the fountain of evil, and, if necessary for theattainment of his object, to sink his ships and break his caldrons, forthe indignation of the great emperor has been fairly aroused at thesewicked practices--of buying and selling and using opium--and that thehourly thought of his heart is to do away with them forever. "

Before Lin reached Canton there had been frequent friction between CaptainElliot and the local mandarins, and more than one interruption of thetrade. Less than six months after his installation at Canton his officialrelations were broken off, and he wrote home to his government a dispatchcomplaining of the difficulty of conducting any sort of amicable relationswith the local mandarins, and indorsing the growing demand for the rightof dealing direct with the Pekin government. Captain Elliot, acting underinstructions from home, issued a public notice warning all Englishsubjects to discontinue the illicit opium trade, and stating that "herMajesty's Government would not in any way interfere if the ChineseGovernment should think fit to seize and confiscate the same. "

At this juncture Commissioner Lin, whose fervor and energy carried himaway, appeared upon the scene, and, whereas a less capable or honest manwould have come to an arrangement with Captain Elliot, his very abilityand enthusiasm tended to complicate the situation and render a pacificsolution unattainable. Commissioner Lin, on taking up his post, lost notime in showing that he was terribly in earnest; but both his language andhis acts proved that he had a very much larger programme than was includedin his propaganda against the opium traffic. He wished to achieve thecomplete humiliation of the foreigners, and nothing less would satisfyhim. Within a week of his arrival at Canton he issued an edict denouncingthe opium trade; throwing all the blame for it on the English, andasserting what was absolutely untrue; viz. , that "the laws of Englandprohibited the smoking of opium, and adjudged the user to death. " Thelanguage of the edict was unfriendly and offensive. The Europeans werestigmatized as a barbarous people, who thought only of trade and of makingtheir way by stealth into the Flowery Land. At the same time that heissued this edict he gave peremptory orders that no foreigner was to leaveCanton or Macao until the opium question had been settled to hissatisfaction. Even then English merchants and officials, who felt no greatsympathy with the opium traffic, saw that these proceedings indicated anintention to put down the trade in other articles, and to render theposition of foreigners untenable. Lin's demands culminated in the requestfor all stores of opium to be surrendered to him within three days. By theefforts of some of the merchants about a thousand chests were collectedand handed over to the Chinese for destruction; but this did not satisfyLin, who collected a large rabble force, encamped it outside thesettlement, and threatened to carry the place by storm. In this crisisCaptain Elliot, who had declared that his confidence in the justice andgood faith of the provincial government was destroyed, and who had evendrawn up a scheme for concentrating all his forces at Hongkong, calledupon all the English merchants to surrender to him, for paramountconsiderations of the lives and property of every one concerned, all thestores of opium in their possession. More than 20, 000 chests, of anestimated value of $10, 000, 000, were placed at his disposal, and in duecourse handed over by him to Commissioner Lin for destruction. This taskwas performed at Chuenpee, when the opium was placed in trenches, thenmixed with salt and lime, and finally poured off into the sea. After thisvery considerable triumph, Lin wrote a letter to Queen Victoria--whosereign has witnessed the most critical periods of the China question andits satisfactory settlement--calling upon her Majesty to interdict thetrade in opium forever. The letter was as offensive in its tone as it wasweak in argument, and no answer was vouchsafed to it. Before any replycould be given, the situation, moreover, had developed into one of openhostilities. 

But great as were the concessions made by Captain Elliot, in consequenceof the threatening attitude of Commissioner Lin, the Chinese were notsatisfied, and made fresh and more exacting demands of those who had beenweak enough to make any concession at all. They reasserted their oldpretension that Europeans in China must be subject to her laws, and as thesale of opium was a penal offense they claimed the right to punish thoseEnglishmen who had been connected with the traffic. They accordingly drewup a list of sixteen of the principal merchants, some of whom had neverhad anything to do with opium, and they announced their intention toarrest them and to punish them with death. Not only did Commissioner Linand the Canton authorities claim the right to condemn and punish Britishsubjects, but they showed in the most insolent manner that they would takeaway their liberty and lives on the flimsiest and falsest pretext. CaptainElliot, weak and yielding as he was on many points, declared that "thislaw is incompatible with safe or honorable continuance at Canton. "Apparently the Chinese authorities acted on the assumption that so long asthere remained even one offending European the mass of his countrymenought to be hindered in their avocations, and consequently pettyrestrictions and provocations continued to be enforced. Then CaptainElliot, seeing that the situation was hopeless and that there was no signof improvement, took the bold, or at least the pronounced, step ofordering all British subjects to leave Canton or to stay at their ownperil. It was on this occasion that he explained away, or put a newinterpretation on, his action with regard to the opium surrendered fordestruction, which most of the merchants thought represented anirrecoverable loss. It will be best to give the precise words used in hisnotice of the 22d of May, 1839. "Acting on behalf of her Majesty'sGovernment in a momentous emergency, he has, in the first place, tosignify that the demand he recently made to her Majesty's subjects for thesurrender of British-owned opium under their control had no specialreference to the circumstances of that property; but (beyond the actualpressure of necessity) that demand was founded on the principle that theseviolent compulsory measures being utterly unjust _per se_ and of generalapplication for the enforced surrender of any other property, or of humanlife, or for the constraint of any unsuitable terms or concessions, itbecame highly necessary to vest and leave the right of exacting effectualsecurity and full indemnity for every loss directly in the queen. "Unfortunately, Captain Elliot's language at the time of the surrender ofthe opium had undoubtedly led to the conclusion that he sympathized withCommissioner Lin, and that he took the same view as the Chinese officialsof the moral iniquity of selling or using opium. The whole mercantilecommunity adopted Captain Elliot's counsel, and the English factory atCanton, which had existed for nearly two hundred years, was abandoned. Atthe same time a memorial was sent home begging the government to protectthe English merchants in China against "a capricious and corruptgovernment, " and demanding compensation for the $10, 000, 000 worth of opiumdestroyed by Commissioner Lin. Pending the reply of the home government tothat appeal, nothing could be more complete than the triumph ofCommissioner Lin. The Emperor Taoukwang rewarded him with the importantviceroyship of the Two Kiang, the seat of which administration is atNankin. 

But the limit of endurance had been reached, and the British governmentwas on the point of taking decisive action at the very moment when theChinese triumph seemed most complete and unthreatened. Even before theaction of the home authorities was known in the Bogue the situation hadbecome critical, and the sailors in particular had thrown off allrestraint. Frequent collisions occurred between them and the foreigners, and in one of them a Chinaman was killed. Commissioner Lin characterizedthis act as "going to the extreme of disobedience to the laws, " anddemanded the surrender of the sailor who committed the act, so that a lifemight be given for a life. This demand was flatly refused, and inconsequence of the measures taken by the Chinese at Lin's direction toprevent all supplies reaching the English, Captain Elliot felt bound toremove his residence from Macao to Hongkong. The Chinese called out alltheir armed forces, and incited their people along the Canton River toattack the foreigners wherever found. An official notice said, "Producearms and weapons; join together the stoutest of your villagers, and thusbe prepared to defend yourselves. If any of the said foreigners be foundgoing on shore to cause trouble, all and every of the people are permittedto fire upon them, to withstand and drive them back, or to make prisonersof them. " This appeal to a force which the Chinese did not possess was anact of indiscretion that betrayed an overweening confidence or a singulardepth of ignorance. When the mandarins refused to supply the ships withwater and other necessaries they carried their animosity to a length whichthe English naval officers at once defined as a declaration of openhostilities. They retaliated by ordering their men to seize by forcewhatever was necessary, and thus began a state of things which may betermed one of absolute warfare. The two men-of-war on the station hadseveral encounters with the forts in the Bogue, and on November 3, 1839, they fought a regular engagement with a Chinese fleet of twenty-nine junksoff Chuenpee. The Chinese showed more courage than skill, and four oftheir junks were sunk. It is worth noting that the English sailorspronounced both their guns and their powder to be excellent. While thisaction deterred the Chinese fleet from coming to close quarters, it alsoimbittered the contest, and there was no longer room to doubt that if theChinese were to be brought to take a more reasonable view of foreign tradeit would have to be by the disagreeable lesson of force. And at the end of1839 the Chinese were fully convinced that they had the power to carry outtheir will and to keep the European nations out of their country by thestrong hand. 

A short time after the action at Chuenpee an Englishman named Mr. Gribblewas seized by the Canton officials and thrown into prison. The Englishmen-of-war went up the river as far as the Bogue forts, which theythreatened to bombard unless he was released; and, after considerablediscussion, Mr. Gribble was set free, mainly because the Chinese heard ofthe large force that was on its way from England. Before that armamentarrived the Emperor Taoukwang had committed himself still further to apolicy of hostility. A report of the fight at Chuenpee was duly submittedto him, but the affair was represented as a very creditable one for hiscommander, and as a Chinese victory. The misled monarch at once conferreda high honor on his admiral, and commanded his officers at Canton "to atonce put a stop to the trade of the English nation. " This had, practicallyspeaking, been already accomplished, and the English merchants had takenrefuge at Macao or in their ships anchored at Hongkong. 

Before describing the military operations now about to take place, asurvey may conveniently be taken of events since the abolition of themonopoly, and it may be pardonable to employ the language formerly used. From an impartial review of the facts, and divesting our minds, so far asis humanly possible, of the prejudice of accepted political opinions, andof conviction as to the hurtful or innocent character of opium in themixture as smoked by the Chinese, it cannot be contended that the coursepursued by Lord Napier and Captain Elliot, and particularly by the latter, was either prudent in itself or calculated to promote the advantage andreputation of England. Captain Elliot's proceedings were marked by theinconsistency that springs from ignorance. The more influential Englishmerchants, touched by the appeal to their moral sentiment, or impressed bythe depravity of large classes of the Canton population, of which thepractice of opium-smoking was rather the mark than the cause, set theirfaces against the traffic in this article, and repudiated all sympathy andparticipation in it. The various foreign publications, whether theyreceived their inspirations from Mr. Gutzlaff or not matters little, differed on most points, but were agreed on this, that the trade in opiumwas morally indefensible, and that we were bound, not only by our owninterests, but in virtue of the common obligations of humanity, to ceaseto hold all connection with it. Those who had surrendered their stores ofopium at the request of Captain Elliot held that their claim forcompensation was valid, in the first place, against the English governmentalone. They had given them up for the service of the country at therequest of the queen's representative, and, considering the line whichCaptain Elliot had taken, many believed that it would be quite impossiblefor the English government to put forward any demand upon the governmentof China. The ten million dollars, according to these large-hearted andunreflecting moralists, would have to be sacrificed by the people ofEngland in the cause of humanity, to which they had given so much byemancipating the slaves, and the revenue of India should, for the future, be poorer by the amount that used to pay the dividend of the greatCompany! The Chinese authorities could not help being encouraged in theiropinions and course of proceeding by the attitude of the English. Theirmost sweeping denunciations of the iniquity of the opium traffic eliciteda murmur of approval from the most influential among the foreigners. NoEuropean stood up to say that their allegations as to the evil of usingopium were baseless and absurd. What is more, no one thought it. Had theChinese made sufficient use of this identity of views, and shown a desireto facilitate trade in the so-called innocent and legitimate articles, there is little doubt that the opium traffic would have been reduced tovery small dimensions, because there would have been no rupture. But theaction of Commissioner Lin revealed the truth that the Chinese were not tobe satisfied with a single triumph. The more easily they obtained theirobjects in the opium matter the more anxious did they become to impressthe foreigners with a sense of their inferiority, and to force them toaccept the most onerous and unjust conditions for the sake of acontinuance of the trade. None the less, Captain Elliot went out of hisway to tie his own hands, and to bind his own government, so far as hecould, to co-operate with the emperor's officials in the suppression ofthe opium traffic. That this is no random assertion may be judged from thefollowing official notice, issued several months after the surrender ofthe stores of opium. In this Captain Elliot announced that "Her Majesty'sflag does not fly in the protection of a traffic declared illegal by theemperor, and, therefore, whenever a vessel is suspected of having opium onboard Captain Elliot will take care that the officers of his establishmentshall accompany the Chinese officers in their search, and that if, afterstrict investigation, opium shall be found, he will offer no objection tothe seizure and confiscation of the cargo. "

The British expedition arrived at the mouth of the Canton River in themonth of June, 1840. It consisted of 4, 000 troops on board twenty-fivetransports, with a convoy of fifteen men-of-war. If it was thought thatthis considerable force would attain its objects without fighting andmerely by making a demonstration, the expectation was rudely disappointed. The reply of Commissioner Lin was to place a reward on the person of allEnglishmen, and to offer $20, 000 for the destruction of an English man-of-war. The English fleet replied to this hostile step by instituting a closeblockade at the mouth of the river, which was not an ineffectual retort. Sir Gordon Bremer, the commander of the first part of the expedition, camepromptly to the decision that it would be well to extend the sphere of hisoperations, and he accordingly sailed northward with a portion of hisforce to occupy the island of Chusan, which had witnessed some of theearliest operations of the East India Company two centuries before. Thecapture of Chusan presented no difficulties to a well-equipped force, yetthe fidelity of its garrison and inhabitants calls for notice as astriking instance of patriotism. The officials at Tinghai, the capital ofChusan, refused to surrender, as their duty to their emperor would notadmit of their giving up one of his possessions. It was their duty tofight, and although they admitted resistance to be useless, they refusedto yield, save to force. The English commander reluctantly ordered abombardment, and after a few hours the Chinese defenses were demolished, and Tinghai was occupied. Chusan remained in our possession as a base ofoperations during the greater part of the war, but its insalubrity ratherdissipated the reputation it had acquired as an advantageous and well-placed station for operations on the coast of China. Almost at the sametime as the attack on Chusan, hostilities were recommenced against theChinese on the Canton River, in consequence of the carrying off of aBritish subject, Mr. Vincent Stanton, from Macao. The barrier forts wereattacked by two English men-of-war and two smaller vessels. After a heavybombardment, a force of marines and blue-jackets was landed, and theChinese positions carried. The forts and barracks were destroyed, and Mr. Stanton released. Then it was said that "China must either bend or break, "for the hour of English forbearance had passed away, and unless Chinacould vindicate her policy by force of arms there was no longer any doubtthat she would have to give way. 

While these preliminary military events were occurring, the diplomaticside of the question was also in evidence. Lord Palmerston had written aletter stating in categorical language what he expected at the hands ofthe Chinese government, and he had directed that it should be deliveredinto nobody else's hands but the responsible ministers of the EmperorTaoukwang. The primary task of the English expedition was to give thisdispatch to some high Chinese official who seemed competent to convey itto Pekin. This task proved one of unexpected difficulty, for themandarins, basing their refusal on the strict letter of their duty, whichforbade them to hold any intercourse with foreigners, returned thedocument, and declared that they could not receive it. This happened atAmoy and again at Ningpo, and the occupation of Chusan did not bring ourauthorities any nearer to realizing their mission. Baffled in theseattempts, the fleet sailed north for the mouth of the Peiho, when at lastLord Palmerston's letter was accepted by Keshen, the viceroy of theprovince, and duly forwarded by him to Pekin. The arrival of the Englishfleet awoke the Chinese court for the time being from its indifference, and Taoukwang not merely ordered that the fleet should be provided withall the supplies it needed, but appointed Keshen High Commissioner for theconclusion of an amicable arrangement. The difficulty thus seemed in afair way toward settlement, but as a matter of fact it was only at itscommencement, for the wiles of Chinese diplomacy are infinite and werethen only partially understood. Keshen was remarkable for his astutenessand for the yielding exterior which covered a purpose of iron, and in theEnglish political officer, the Captain Elliot of Canton, he did not findan opponent worthy of his steel. Although experience had shown how greatwere the delays of negotiation at Canton, and how inaccessible were thelocal officials, Captain Elliot allowed himself to be persuaded that thebest place to carry on negotiations was at that city, and after a briefdelay the fleet was withdrawn from the Peiho and all the advantages of thealarm created by its presence at Pekin were surrendered. Relieved by thedeparture of the foreign ships, Taoukwang sent orders for the dispatch offorces from the inland provinces, so that he might be able to resume thestruggle with the English under more favorable conditions, and at the sametime he hastened to relieve his overcharged feelings by punishing the manwhom he regarded as responsible for his misfortunes and humiliation. Thefull weight of the imperial wrath fell on Commissioner Lin, who from theposition of the foremost official in China fell at a stroke of thevermilion pencil to a public criminal arraigned before the Board ofPunishments to receive his deserts. He was stripped of all his offices, and ordered to proceed to Pekin, where, however, his life was spared. 

Keshen arrived at Canton on November 29, 1840, but his dispatch to theemperor explaining the position he found there shows that his view of thesituation did not differ materially from that of Lin. "Night and day Ihave considered and examined the state of our relations with the English. At first moved by the benevolence of his Majesty and the severity of thelaws, they surrendered the opium. Commissioner Lin commanded them to givebonds that they would never more deal in opium--a most excellent plan forsecuring future good conduct. This the English refused to give, and thenthey trifled with the laws, and so obstinate were their dispositions thatthey could not be made to submit. Hence it becomes necessary to soothe andadmonish them with sound instruction, so as to cause them to change theirmien and purify their hearts, after which it will not be too late to renewtheir commerce. It behooves me to instruct and persuade them so that theirgood consciences may be restored, and they reduced to submission. " Thelanguage of this document showed that the highest Chinese officers stillbelieved that the English would accept trade facilities as a favor, thatthey would be treated _de haut en bas_, and that China possessed thepower to make good her lofty pretensions. China had learned nothing fromher military mishaps at Canton, Amoy, and Chusan, and from the appearanceof an English fleet in the Gulf of Pechihli. Keshen had gained a breathingspace by procrastination in the north, and he resorted to the same tacticsat Canton. Days expanded into weeks, and at last orders were issued for anadvance up the Canton River, as it had become evident that the Chinesewere not only bent on an obstructive policy, but were making energeticefforts to assemble a large army. On January 7, 1841, orders wereconsequently issued for an immediate attack on the Bogue forts, which hadbeen placed in a state of defense, and which were manned by large numbersof Chinese. Fortunately for us, the Chinese possessed a very rudimentaryknowledge of the art of war, and showed no capacity to take advantage ofthe strength of their position and forts, or even of their excellent guns. The troops were landed on the coast in the early morning to operate on theflank and rear of the forts at Chuenpee. The advance squadron, underCaptain, afterward Sir Thomas, Herbert, was to engage the same forts infront, while the remainder of the fleet proceeded to attack the stockadeson the adjoining island of Taikok. The land force of 1, 500 men and threeguns had not proceeded far along the coast before it came across astrongly intrenched camp in addition to the Chuenpee forts, with severalthousand troops and many guns in position. After a sharp cannonade theforts were carried at a rush, and a formidable army was drivenignominiously out of its intrenchments with hardly any loss to theassailants. The forts at Taikok were destroyed by the fire of the ships, and their guns spiked and garrisons routed by storming parties. In all, the Chinese lost 500 killed, besides an incalculable number of wounded, and many junks. The Chinese showed some courage as well as incompetence, and the English officers described their defense as "obstinate andhonorable. "

The capture of the Bogue forts produced immediate and importantconsequences. Keshen at once begged a cessation of hostilities, andoffered terms which conceded everything we had demanded. These were thepayment of a large indemnity, the cession of Hongkong, and the right tohold official communication with the central government. In accordancewith these preliminary articles, Hongkong was proclaimed, on January 29, 1841, a British possession, and the troops evacuated Chusan to garrisonthe new station. It was not considered at the time that the acquisitionwas of much importance, and no one would have predicted for it thebrilliant and prosperous position it has since attained. But the promisesgiven by Keshen were merely to gain time and to extricate him from a veryembarrassing situation. The morrow of what seemed a signal reverse wasmarked by the issue of an imperial notice, breathing a more defiant tonethan ever. Taoukwang declared, in this edict, that he was resolved "todestroy and wash the foreigners away without remorse, " and he denouncedthe English by name as "staying themselves upon their pride of power andfierce strength. " He, therefore, called upon his officers to proceed withcourage and energy, so that "the rebellious foreigners might give up theirringleaders, to be sent encaged to Pekin, to receive the utmostretribution of the laws. " So long as the sovereign held such opinions asthese it was evident that no arrangement could endure. The Chinese did notadmit the principle of equality in their dealings with the English, andthis was the main point in contention, far more than the alleged evils ofthe opium traffic. So long as Taoukwang and his ministers held theopinions which they did not hesitate to express, a friendly intercoursewas impossible. There was no practical alternative between withdrawingfrom the country altogether and leaving the Chinese in undisturbedseclusion, or forcing their government to recognize a common humanity andan equality in national privileges. 

It is not surprising that under these circumstances the suspension ofhostilities proved of brief duration. The conflict was hastened by theremoval of Keshen from his post, in consequence of his having reportedthat he considered the Chinese forces unequal to the task of opposing theEnglish. His candor in recognizing facts did him credit, while it cost himhis position; and his successor, Eleang, was compelled to take an oppositeview, and to attempt something to justify it. Eleang refused to ratify theconvention signed by Keshen, and, on February 25, the English commanderordered an attack on the inner line of forts which guarded the approachesto Canton. After a brief engagement, the really formidable lines ofAnunghoy, with 200 guns in position, were carried at a nominal loss. Themany other positions of the Chinese, up to Whampoa, were occupied insuccession; and on March 1 the English squadron drew up off Howqua'sFolly, in Whampoa Reach, at the very gateway of Canton. On the followingday the dashing Sir Hugh Gough arrived to take the supreme direction ofthe English forces. After these further reverses, the Chinese again beggeda suspension of hostilities, and an armistice for a few days was granted. The local authorities were on the horns of a dilemma. They saw thefutility of a struggle with the English, and the Cantonese had to bear allthe suffering for the obstinacy of the Pekin government; but, on the otherhand, no one dared to propose concession to Taoukwang, who, confident ofhis power, and ignorant of the extent of his misfortunes, breathed nothingbut defiance. After a few days' delay, it became clear that the Cantonesehad neither the will nor the power to conclude a definite arrangement, andconsequently their city was attacked with as much forbearance as possible. The fort called Dutch Folly was captured, and the outer line of defenseswas taken possession of, but no attempt was made to occupy the cityitself. Sir Hugh Gough stated, in a public notice, that the city wasspared because the queen had desired that all peaceful people should betenderly considered. The first English successes had entailed the disgraceof Lin, the second were not less fatal to Keshen. Keshen was arraignedbefore the Board at Pekin, his valuable property was escheated to thecrown, and he himself sentenced to decapitation, which was commuted tobanishment to Tibet, where he succeeded in amassing a fresh fortune. Thesuccess of the English was proclaimed by the merchants re-occupying theirfactories on March 18, 1841, exactly two years after Lin's first fieryedict against opium. It was a strange feature in this struggle that theinstant they did so the Chinese merchants resumed trade with undiminishedardor and cordiality. The officials even showed an inclination to followtheir example, when they learned that Taoukwang refused to listen to anyconclusive peace, and that his policy was still one of expelling theforeigners. To carry out his views, the emperor sent a new commission ofthree members to Canton, and it was their studious avoidance of allcommunication with the English authorities that again aroused suspicion asto the Chinese not being sincere in their assent to the convention whichhad saved Canton from an English occupation. Taoukwang was ignorant of thesuccess of his enemy, and his commissioners, sent to achieve what Lin andKeshen had failed to do, were fully resolved not to recognize the positionwhich the English had obtained by force of arms, or to admit that it waslikely to prove enduring. This confidence was increased by the continuousarrival of fresh troops, until at last there were 50, 000 men in theneighborhood of Canton, and all seemed ready to tempt the fortune of waragain, and to make another effort to expel the hated foreigner. Themeasure of Taoukwang's animosity may be taken by his threatening to punishwith death any one who suggested making peace with the barbarians. 

[Illustration: CANTON--THE FLOWER PAGODA]

While the merchants were actively engaged in their commercial operations, and the English officers in conducting negotiations with a functionary whohad no authority, and who was only put forward to amuse them, the Chinesewere busily employed in completing their warlike preparations, which atthe same time they kept as secret as possible, in the hope of taking theEnglish by surprise. But it was impossible for such extensive preparationsto be made without their creating some stir, and the standing aloof of thecommissioners was in itself ground of suspicion. Suspicion becamecertainty when, on Captain Elliot paying a visit to the prefect in thecity, he was received in a disrespectful manner by the mandarins andinsulted in the streets by the crowd. He at once acquainted Sir HughGough, who was at Hongkong, with the occurrence, and issued a notice, onMay 21, 1841, advising all foreigners to leave Canton that day. Thisnotice was not a day too soon, for, during the night, the Chinese made adesperate attempt to carry out their scheme. The batteries which they hadsecretly erected at various points in the city and along the river banksbegan to bombard the factories and the ships at the same time that fire-rafts were sent against the latter in the hope of causing a conflagration. Fortunately the Chinese were completely baffled, with heavy loss tothemselves and none to the English; and during the following day theEnglish assumed the offensive, and with such effect that all the Chinesebatteries were destroyed, together with forty war-junks. The only exploiton which the Chinese could compliment themselves was that they had sackedand gutted the English factory. This incident made it clearer than everthat the Chinese government would only be amenable to force, and that itwas absolutely necessary to inflict some weighty punishment on the Chineseleaders at Canton, who had made so bad a return for the moderation shownthem and their city, and who had evidently no intention of complying withthe arrangement to which they had been a party. 

Sir Hugh Gough arrived at Canton with all his forces on May 24, and on thefollowing morning the attack commenced with the advance of the fleet upthe Macao passage, and with the landing of bodies of troops at differentpoints which appeared well suited for turning the Chinese position andattacking the gates of Canton. The Chinese did not molest the troops inlanding, which was fortunate, as the operation proved exceedinglydifficult and occupied more than a whole day. The Chinese had taken up astrong position on the hills lying north of the city, and they showedconsiderable judgment in their selection, and no small skill instrengthening their ground by a line of forts. The Chinese were said to befull of confidence in their ability to reverse the previous fortune of thewar, and they fought with considerable confidence, while the turbulentCantonese populace waited impatiently on the walls to take advantage ofthe first symptoms of defeat among the English troops. The English army, divided into two columns of nearly 2, 000 men each, with a strong artilleryforce of seven guns, four howitzers, five mortars, and fifty-two rockets, advanced on the Chinese intrenchments across paddy fields, rendered moredifficult of passage by numerous burial-grounds. The obstacles wereconsiderable and the progress was slow, but the Chinese did not attemptany opposition. Then the battle began with the bombardment of the Chineselines, and after an hour it seemed as if the Chinese had had enough ofthis and were preparing for flight, when a general advance was ordered. But the Chinese thought better of their intention or their movement wasmisunderstood, for when the English streamed up the hill to attack themthey stood to their guns and presented a brave front. Three of their fortswere carried with little or no loss, but at the fourth they offered astubborn if ill-directed resistance. Even then the engagement was notover, for the Chinese rallied in an intrenched camp one mile in the rearof the forts, and, rendered confident by their numbers, they resolved tomake a fresh stand, and hurled defiance at the foreigners. The Englishtroops never halted in their advance, and, led by the 18th or Royal Irish, they carried the intrenchment at a rush and put the whole Chinese army toflight. The English lost seventy killed and wounded, the Chinese losseswere never accurately known. It was arranged that Canton was to be stormedon the following day, but a terrific hurricane and deluge of rainprevented all military movements on May 26, and, as it proved, saved thecity from attack. Once more Chinese diplomacy came to the relief ofChinese arms. To save Canton the mandarins were quite prepared to makeevery concession, if they only attached a temporary significance to theirlanguage, and they employed the whole of that lucky wet day in gettinground Captain Elliot, who once more allowed himself to place faith in thepromises of the Chinese. The result of this was seen on the 27th, when, just as Sir Hugh Gough was giving orders for the assault, he received amessage from Captain Elliot stating that the Chinese had come to terms andthat all hostilities were to be suspended. The terms the Chinese hadagreed to in a few hours were that the commissioners and all the troopsshould retire to a distance of sixty miles from Canton, and that$6, 000, 000 should be paid "for the use of the English crown. "

Five of the $6, 000, 000 had been handed over to Captain Elliot, andamicable relations had been established with the city authorities, whenthe imperial commissioners, either alarmed at the penalties their failureentailed, or encouraged to believe in the renewed chances of success fromthe impotence into which the English troops might have sunk, made a suddenattempt to surprise Sir Hugh Gough's camp and to retrieve a succession ofdisasters at a single stroke. The project was not without a chance ofsuccess, but it required prompt action and no hesitation in coming toclose quarters--the two qualifications in which the Chinese were mostdeficient. So it was on this occasion. Ten or fifteen thousand Chinesebraves suddenly appeared on the hills about two miles north of the Englishcamp; but instead of seizing the opportunity created by the surprise attheir sudden appearance and at the breach of armistice, and deliveringhome their attack, they merely waved their banners and uttered threats ofdefiance. They stood their ground for some time in face of the rifle andartillery fire opened upon them, and then they kept up a sort of runningfight for three miles as they were pursued by the English. They did notsuffer any serious loss, and when the English troops retired inconsequence of a heavy storm they became in turn the pursuers andinflicted a few casualties. The advantages they obtained were due to theterrific weather more than to their courage, but one party of Madrassepoys lost its way, and was surrounded by so overwhelming a number ofChinese that they would have been annihilated but that their absence wasfortunately discovered and a rescuing party of marines, armed with the newpercussion gun, which was to a great degree secure against the weather, went out to their assistance. They found the sepoys, under their twoEnglish officers, drawn up in a square firing as best they could andpresenting a bold front to the foe--"many of the sepoys, after extractingthe wet cartridge very deliberately, tore their pocket handkerchiefs orlining from their turbans and, baling water with their hands into thebarrel of their pieces, washed and dried them, thus enabling them to firean occasional volley. " Out of sixty sepoys one was killed and fourteenwounded. After this Sir Hugh Gough threatened to bombard Canton if therewere any more attacks on his camp, and they at once ceased, and when thewhole of the indemnity was paid the English troops were withdrawn, leavingCanton as it was, for a second time "a record of British magnanimity andforbearance. "

After this trade reverted to its former footing, and by the Cantonconvention, signed by the imperial commissioners in July, 1841, theEnglish obtained all the privileges they could hope for from the localauthorities. But it was essentially a truce, not a treaty, and the greatpoint of direct intercourse with the central government was no nearersettlement than ever. At this moment Sir Henry Pottinger arrived asPlenipotentiary from England, and he at once set himself to obtaining aformal recognition from the Pekin executive of his position and theadmission of his right to address them on diplomatic business. With theview of pressing this matter on the attention of Taoukwang, who personallyhad not deviated from his original attitude of emphatic hostility, SirHenry Pottinger sailed northward with the fleet and a large portion of theland forces about the end of August. The important seaport of Amoy wasattacked and taken after what was called "a short but animatedresistance. " This town is situated on an island, the largest of a grouplying at the entrance to the estuary of Lungkiang, and it has long beenfamous as a convenient port and flourishing place of trade. The Chinesehad raised a rampart of 1, 100 yards in length, and this they had armedwith ninety guns, while a battery of forty-two guns protected its flank. Kulangsu was also fortified, and the Chinese had placed in all 500 guns inposition. They believed in the impregnability of Amoy, and it was allowedthat no inconsiderable skill as well as great expense had been devoted tothe strengthening of the place. When the English fleet arrived off theport the Chinese sent a flag of truce to demand what it wanted, and theywere informed the surrender of the town. The necessity for this measurewould be hard to justify, especially as we were nominally at peace withChina, for the people of Amoy had inflicted no injury on our trade, andtheir chastisement would not bring us any nearer to Pekin. Nor was theoccupation of Amoy necessary on military grounds. It was strong only foritself, and its capture had no important consequences. As the Chinesedetermined to resist the English, the fleet engaged the batteries, and theChinese, standing to their guns "right manfully, " only abandoned theirposition when they found their rear threatened by a landing party. Then, after a faint resistance, the Chinese sought safety in flight, but some oftheir officers, preferring death to dishonor, committed suicide, one ofthem being seen to walk calmly into the sea and drown himself in face ofboth armies. The capture of Amoy followed. 

As the authorities at Amoy refused to hold any intercourse with theEnglish, the achievement remained barren of any useful consequence, andafter leaving a small garrison on Kulangsu, and three warships in theroadstead, the English expedition continued its northern course. Afterbeing scattered by a storm in the perilous Formosa channel, the fleetreunited off Ningpo, whence it proceeded to attack Chusan for a secondtime. The Chinese defended Tinghai, the capital, with great resolution. Atthis place General Keo, the chief naval and military commander, waskilled, and all his officers, sticking to him to the last, also fell withhim. Their conduct in fact was noble; nothing could have surpassed it. Onthe reoccupation of Chusan, which it was decided to retain until a formaltreaty had been concluded with the emperor, Sir Henry Pottinger issued aproclamation to the effect that years might elapse before that place wouldbe restored to the emperor's authority, and many persons wished that itshould be permanently annexed as the best base for commercial operationsin China. A garrison of 400 men was left at Tinghai, and then theexpedition proceeded to attack Chinhai on the mainland, where the Chinesehad made every preparation to offer a strenuous resistance. The Chinesesuffered the most signal defeat and the greatest loss they had yetincurred during the war. The victory at Chinhai was followed by theunopposed occupation of the important city of Ningpo, where theinhabitants shut themselves up in their houses, and wrote on their doors"Submissive People. " Ningpo was put to ransom and the authorities informedthat unless they paid the sum within a certain time their city would behanded over to pillage and destruction. As the Pekin government had madeno sign of giving in, it was felt that no occasion ought to be lost ofoverawing the Chinese, and compelling them to admit that any furtherprolongation of the struggle would be hopeless. The arrival of furthertroops and warships from Europe enabled the English commanders to adopt amore determined and uncompromising attitude, and the capture of Ningpowould have been followed up at once but for the disastrous events inAfghanistan, which distracted attention from the Chinese question, anddelayed its settlement. It was hoped, however, that the continuedoccupation of Amoy, Chusan and Ningpo would cause sufficient pressure onthe Pekin government to induce it to yield all that was demanded. 

These anticipations were not fulfilled, for neither the swift-recurringvisitation of disaster nor the waning resources of the imperial governmentin both men and treasure, could shake the fixed hostility of Taoukwang orinduce him to abate his proud pretensions. Minister after minister passedinto disgrace and exile. Misfortune shared the same fate as incompetence, and the more the embarrassments of the state increased the heavier fellthe hand of the ruler and the verdict of the Board of Punishments uponbeaten generals and unsuccessful statesmen. The period of inaction whichfollowed the occupation of Ningpo no doubt encouraged the emperor to thinkthat the foreigners were exhausted, or that they had reached the end oftheir successes, and he ordered increased efforts to be made to bring uptroops, and to strengthen the approaches to Pekin. The first proof of hisreturning spirit was shown in March, 1842, when the Chinese attempted toseize Ningpo by a coup de main. Suddenly, and without warning, a force ofbetween ten and twelve thousand men appeared at daybreak outside the southand west gates of Ningpo, and many of them succeeded in making their wayover the walls and gaining the center of the town; but, instead of provingthe path to victory, this advance resulted in the complete overthrow ofthe Chinese. Attacked by artillery and foot in the market-place they werealmost annihilated, and the great Chinese attack on Ningpo resulted in afiasco. Similar but less vigorous attacks were made about the same time onChinhai and Chusan, but they were both repulsed with heavy loss to theChinese. In consequence of these attacks and the improved position inAfghanistan it was decided to again assume the offensive, and to break upthe hostile army at Hangchow, of which the body that attacked Ningpo wasthe advanced guard. Sir Hugh Gough commanded the operations in person, andhe had the co-operation of a naval force under Sir William Parker. Thefirst action took place outside Tszeki, a small place ten miles fromNingpo, where the Chinese fancied they occupied an exceedingly strongposition. But careful inspection showed it to be radically faulty. Theirlines covered part of the Segaou hills, but their left was commanded bysome higher hills on the right of the English position, and the Chineseleft again commanded their own right. It was evident, therefore, that thecapture of the left wing of the Chinese encampment would entail thesurrender or evacuation of the rest. The difficulties of the ground causeda greater delay in the advance than had been expected, and the assault hadto be delivered along the whole line, as it was becoming obvious that theChinese were growing more confident, and, consequently, more to be fearedfrom the delay in attacking them. The assault was made with theimpetuosity good troops always show in attacking inferior ones, no matterhow great the disparity of numbers; and here the Chinese were driven outof their position--although they stood their ground in a creditablemanner--and chased over the hills down to the rice fields below. TheChinese loss was over a thousand killed, including many of the ImperialGuard, of whom 500 were present, and whom Sir Hugh Gough described as"remarkably fine men, " while the English had six killed and thirty-sevenwounded. For the moment it was intended to follow up this victory by anattack on the city of Hangchow, the famous Kincsay of medieval travelers;but the arrival of fresh instructions gave a complete turn to the wholewar. 

Little permanent good had been effected by these successful operations onthe coast, and Taoukwang was still as resolute as ever in his hostility;nor is there any reason to suppose that the capture of Hangchow, or anyother of the coast towns, would have caused a material change in thesituation. The credit of initiating the policy which brought the Chinesegovernment to its knees belongs exclusively to Lord Ellenborough, thengovernor-general of India. He detected the futility of operations alongthe coast, and he suggested that the great waterway of the Yangtsekiang, perfectly navigable for warships up to the immediate neighborhood ofNankin, provided the means of coercing the Chinese, and effecting theobjects which the English Government had in view. The English expedition, strongly re-enforced from India, then abandoned Ningpo and Chinhai, and, proceeding north, began the final operations of the war with an attack onChapoo, where the Chinese had made extensive measures of defense. Chapoowas the port appointed for trade with Japan, and the Chinese had collectedthere a very considerable force from the levies of Chekiang, which ex-Commissioner Lin had been largely instrumental in raising. Sir Hugh Goughattacked Chapoo with 2, 000 men, and the main body of the Chinese wasrouted without much difficulty, but 300 desperate men shut themselves upin a walled inclosure, and made an obstinate resistance. They held outuntil three-fourths of them were slain, when the survivors, seventy-fivewounded men, accepted the quarter offered them from the first. The Englishlost ten killed and fifty-five wounded, and the Chinese more than athousand. After this the expedition proceeded northward for the GreatRiver, and it was found necessary to attack Woosung, the port of Shanghai, en route. This place was also strongly fortified with as many as 175 gunsin position, but the chief difficulty in attacking it lay in that ofapproach, as the channel had first to be sounded, and then the sailingships towed into position by the steamers. Twelve vessels were in thismanner placed broadside to the batteries on land, a position whichobviously they could not have maintained against a force of anything likeequal strength; but they succeeded in silencing the Chinese batteries withcomparatively little loss, and then the English army was landed withoutopposition. Shanghai is situated sixteen miles up the Woosung River, andwhile part of the force proceeded up the river another marched overland. Both columns arrived together, and the disheartened Chinese evacuatedShanghai after firing one or two random shots. No attempt was made toretain Shanghai, and the expedition re-embarked, and proceeded to attackChankiang or Chinkiangfoo, a town on the southern bank of theYangtsekiang, and at the northern entrance of the southern branch of theGreat Canal. This town has always been a place of great celebrity, bothstrategically and commercially, for not merely does it hold a very strongposition with regard to the Canal, but it forms, with the Golden andSilver Islands, the principal barrier in the path of those attempting toreach Nankin. At this point Sir Hugh Gough was re-enforced by the 98thRegiment, under Colonel Colin Campbell. The difficulties of navigation andthe size of the fleet, which now reached seventy vessels, caused a delayin the operations, and it was not until the latter end of July, or morethan a month after the occupation of Shanghai, that the English reachedChinkiangfoo, where, strangely enough, there seemed to be no militarypreparations whatever. A careful reconnaissance revealed the presence ofthree strong encampments at some distance from the town, and the firstoperation was to carry them, and to prevent their garrisons joining suchforces as might still remain in the city. This attack was intrusted toLord Saltoun's brigade, which was composed of two Scotch regiments andportions of two native regiments, with only three guns. The opposition wasalmost insignificant, and the three camps were carried with comparativelylittle loss and their garrisons scattered in all directions. At the sametime the remainder of the force assaulted the city, which was surroundedby a high wall and a deep moat. Some delay was caused by these obstacles, but at last the western gate was blown in by Captain Pears, of theEngineers, and at the same moment the walls were escaladed at twodifferent points, and the English troops, streaming in on three sides, fairly surrounded a considerable portion of the garrison, who retired intoa detached work, where they perished to the last man either by our fire orin the flames of the houses which were ignited partly by themselves andpartly by the fire of our soldiers. The resistance did not stop here, forthe Tartar or inner city was resolutely defended by the Manchus, and owingto the intense heat the Europeans would have been glad of a rest; but, asthe Manchus kept up a galling fire, Sir Hugh Gough felt bound to order animmediate assault before the enemy grew too daring. The fight was renewed, and the Tartars were driven back at all points; but the English troopswere so exhausted that they could not press home this advantage. Theinterval thus gained was employed by the Manchus, not in making good theirescape, but in securing their military honor by first massacring theirwomen and children, and then committing suicide. It must be rememberedthat these were not Chinese, but Manchu Tartars of the dominant race. 

The losses of the English army at this battle--40 killed, and 130 wounded--were heavy, and they were increased by several deaths caused by the heatand exhaustion of the day. The Chinese, or rather the Tartars, neverfought better, and it appears from a document discovered afterward that ifHailing's recommendations had been followed, and if he had been properlysupported, the capture of Chinkiangfoo would have been even more difficultand costly than it proved. 

Some delay at Chinkiangfoo was rendered necessary by the exhaustion of thetroops and by the number of sick and wounded; but a week after the captureof that place in the manner described the arrangements for the furtheradvance on Nankin were completed. A small garrison was left in anencampment on a height commanding the entrance to the Canal; but there waslittle reason to apprehend any fresh attack, as the lesson of Chinkiangfoohad been a terrible one. That city lay beneath the English camp like avast charnel house, its half-burned buildings filled with the self-immolated Tartars who had preferred honor to life; and so thickly strewnwere these and so intense the heat that the days passed away without theability to give them burial, until at last it became absolutely impossibleto render the last kind office to a gallant foe. Despite the greatestprecautions of the English authorities, Chinkiangfoo became the source ofpestilence, and an outbreak of cholera caused more serious loss in theEnglish camp than befell the main force intrusted with the capture ofNankin. Contrary winds delayed the progress of the English fleet, and itwas not until the fifth of August, more than a fortnight after the battleat Chinkiangfoo, that it appeared off Nankin, the second city inreputation and historical importance of the empire, with one millioninhabitants and a garrison of 15, 000 men, of whom two-thirds were Manchus. The walls were twenty miles in length, and hindered, more than theypromoted, an efficient defense; and the difficulties of the surroundingcountry, covered with the debris of the buildings which constituted thelarger cities of Nankin at an earlier period of history, helped theassailing party more than they did the defenders. Sir Hugh Gough drew upan admirable plan for capturing this vast and not defenseless city withhis force of 5, 000 men, and there is no reason to doubt that he would havebeen completely successful; but by this the backbone of the Chinesegovernment had been broken, and even the proud and obstinate Taoukwang wascompelled to admit that it was imperative to come to terms with theEnglish, and to make some concessions in order to get rid of them. 

The minister Elepoo, who once enjoyed the closest intimacy with Taoukwang, and who was the leader of the Peace party, which desired the cessation ofan unequal struggle, had begun informal negotiations several months beforethey proved successful at Nankin. He omitted no opportunity of learningthe views of the English officers, and what was the minimum of concessionon which a stable peace could be based. He had endeavored also to givesomething of a generous character to the struggle, and he had more thanonce proved himself a courteous as well as a gallant foe. After thecapture of Chapoo and Woosung he sent back several officers and men whohad at different times been taken prisoners by the Chinese, and heexpressed at the same time the desire that the war should end. Sir HenryPottinger's reply to this letter was to inquire if he was empowered by theemperor to negotiate. If he had received this authority the Englishplenipotentiary would be very happy to discuss any matter with him, but ifnot the operations of war must proceed. At that moment Elepoo had not therequisite authority to negotiate, and the war went on until the victoriousEnglish troops were beneath the walls of Nankin. At the same time as thesepourparlers were held with Elepoo at Woosung, Sir Henry Pottinger issued aproclamation to the Chinese stating what the British Government requiredto be done. In this document the equality of all nations as members of thesame human family was pointed out, and the right to hold friendlyintercourse insisted on as a matter of duty and common obligation. SirHenry said that "England, coming from the utmost west, has heldintercourse with China in this utmost east for more than two centuriespast, and during this time the English have suffered ill-treatment fromthe Chinese officials, who, regarding themselves as powerful and us asweak, have thus dared to commit injustice. " Then followed a list of themany high-handed acts of Commissioner Lin and his successors. The Chinese, plainly speaking, had sought to maintain their exclusiveness and to liveoutside the comity of nations, and they had not the power to attain theirwish. Therefore they were compelled to listen to and to accept the termsof the English plenipotentiary, which were as follows:--The emperor wasfirst of all to appoint a high officer with full powers to negotiate andconclude arrangements on his own responsibility, when hostilities would besuspended. The three principal points on which these negotiations were tobe based were compensation for losses and expenses, a friendly andbecoming intercourse on terms of equality between officers of the twocountries, and the cession of insular territory for commerce and for theresidence of merchants, and as a security and guarantee against the futurerenewal of offensive acts. The first step toward the acceptance of theseterms was taken when an imperial commission was formed of three members, Keying, Elepoo, and Niu Kien, viceroy of the Two Kiang; and to the lastnamed, as governor of the provinces most affected, fell the task ofwriting the first diplomatic communication of a satisfactory characterfrom the Chinese government to the English plenipotentiary. This letterwas important for more reasons than its being of a conciliatory nature. Itheld out to a certain extent a hand of friendship, and it also sought toassign an origin to the conflict, and Niu Kien could find nothing morehandy or convenient than opium, which thus came to give its name to thewhole war. With regard to the Chinese reverses, Niu Kien, while admittingthem, explained that "as the central nation had enjoyed peace for a longtime the Chinese were not prepared for attacking and fighting, which hadled to this accumulation of insult and disgrace. " In a later communicationNiu Kien admitted that "the English at Canton had been exposed to insultsand extortions for a series of years, and that steps should be taken toinsure in future that the people of your honorable nation might carry ontheir commerce to advantage, and not receive injury thereby. " Thesedocuments showed that the Chinese were at last willing to abandon the oldand impossible principle of superiority over other nations, for which theyhad so long contended; and with the withdrawal of this pretensionnegotiations for the conclusion of a stable peace became at once possibleand of hopeful augury. 

The first step of the Chinese commissioners was to draw up a memorial forpresentation to the emperor, asking his sanction of the arrangement theysuggested. In this document they covered the whole ground of the dispute, and stated in clear and unmistakable language what the English demanded, and they did not shrink from recommending compliance with their terms. Keying and his colleagues put the only two alternatives with greatcogency. Which will be the heavier calamity, they said, to pay the Englishthe sum of money they demand (21, 000, 000 dollars, made up as follows: Sixmillion for the destroyed opium, 3, 000, 000 for the debts of the Hongmerchants, and 12, 000, 000 for the expenses of the war), or that theyshould continue those military operations which seemed irresistible, andfrom which China had suffered so grievously? Even if the latteralternative were faced and the war continued, the evil day would only beput off. The army expenses would be very great, the indemnity would beincreased in amount, and after all there would be only "the name offighting without the hope of victory. " Similar arguments were used withregard to the cession of Hongkong, and the right of trading at five of theprincipal ports. The English no doubt demanded more than they ought, butwhat was the use of arguing with them, as they were masters of thesituation? Moreover, some solace might be gathered in the midst ofaffliction from the fact that the English were willing to pay certainduties on their commerce which would in the end repay the war indemnity, and contribute to "the expenditure of the imperial family. " With regard tothe question of ceremonial intercourse on a footing of equality, theydeclared that it might be "unreservedly granted. " The reply of Taoukwangto this memorial was given in an edict of considerable length, and hetherein assented to all the views and suggestions of the commissioners, while he imposed on Keying alone the responsibility of making all thearrangements for paying the large indemnity. All the preliminaries forsigning a treaty of peace had therefore been arranged before the Englishforces reached Nankin, and as the Chinese commissioners were sincere intheir desire for peace, and as the emperor had sanctioned all thenecessary arrangements, there was no reason to apprehend any delay, andmuch less a breakdown of the negotiations. 

It was arranged that the treaty should be signed on board a British man-of-war, and the Chinese commissioners were invited to pay a visit for thepurpose to the "Cornwallis, " the flagship of the admiral. The event cameoff on the 20th of August, 1842, and the scene was sufficientlyinteresting, if not imposing. The long line of English warships andtransports, drawn up opposite to and within short range of the lofty wallsof Nankin; the land forces so disposed on the raised causeways on shore asto give them every facility of approach to the city gates, while leavingit doubtful to the last which gate would be the real object of attack; andthen the six small Chinese boats, gayly decorated with flags, bearing theimperial commissioners and their attendants, to sign for the first time inhistory a treaty of defeat with a foreign power. The commissioners weredressed in their plainest clothes, as they explained, because imperialcommissioners are supposed to proceed in haste about their business, andhave no time to waste on their persons, but there is reason to believethat they thought such clothing best consorted with the inauspiciouscharacter for China of the occasion. The ceremony passed off without ahitch, and four days later Sir Henry Pottinger paid the Chinese officers areturn visit, when he was received by them in a temple outside the citywalls. A third and more formal reception was held on the 26th of August inthe College Hall, in the center of Nankin, when Sir Henry Pottinger, twenty officers, and an escort of native cavalry rode through the streetsof one of the most famous cities of China. It was noted at the time thaton this date an event of great importance had happened in each of thethree previous years. On the 26th of August, 1839, Lin had expelled theEnglish from Macao, in 1840 the British fleet anchored off the Peiho, andin 1841 Amoy was captured. Three days after this reception the treatyitself was signed on board the "Cornwallis, " when Keying and hiscolleagues again attended for the purpose. The act of signing wascelebrated by a royal salute of twenty-one guns, and the hoisting of thestandards of England and China at the masthead of the man-of-war. TheEmperor Taoukwang ratified the treaty with commendable dispatch, and theonly incident to mar the cordiality of the last scene in this part of thestory of Anglo-Chinese relations was the barbarous and inexcusable injuryinflicted by a party of English officers and soldiers on the famousPorcelain Tower, which was one of the finest specimens of Chinese art, having been built 400 years before at great expense and the labor oftwenty years. 

The ports in addition to Canton to be opened to trade were Shanghai, Ningpo, Amoy and Foochow, but these were not to be opened until a tariffhad been drawn up and consular officers appointed. As the installments ofthe indemnity were paid the troops and fleet were withdrawn, but agarrison was left for some time in Chusan and Kulangsu, the island offAmoy. The attack and massacre of some shipwrecked crews on the coast ofFormosa gave the Chinese government an occasion of showing how marked achange had come over its policy. An investigation was at once ordered, theguilty officials were punished, and the emperor declared, "We will notallow that, because the representation came from outside foreigners, itshould be carelessly cast aside without investigation. Our own subjectsand foreigners, ministers and people, should all alike understand that itis our high desire to act with even-handed and perfect justice. " Sir HenryPottinger's task was only half performed until he had drawn up the tariffand installed consular officers in the new treaty ports. Elepoo wasappointed to represent China in the tariff negotiations, and Canton wasselected as the most convenient place for discussing the matter. Withintwo months of the resumption of negotiations they seemed on the point of asatisfactory termination, when the death of Elepoo, the most sincere andstraightforward of all the Chinese officials, caused a delay in thematter. Elepoo was a member of the Manchu imperial family, being descendedfrom one of the brothers of Yung Ching, who had been banished by thatruler and reinstated by Keen Lung. That the Pekin government did not wishto make his death an excuse for backing out of the arrangement was shownby the prompt appointment of Keying as his successor. At this stage of thequestion the opium difficulty again rose up as of the first importance inreference to the settlement of the commercial tariff. The main point waswhether opium was to appear in the tariff at all or to be relegated to thecategory of contraband articles. Sir Henry Pottinger disclaimed allsympathy with the traffic, and was quite willing that it should bedeclared illicit; but at the same time he stated that the responsibilityof putting it down must rest with the Chinese themselves. The Chinese werenot willing to accept this responsibility, and said that "if thesupervision of the English representatives was not perfect, there will beless or more of smuggling. " Keying paid Sir Henry Pottinger a ceremoniousvisit at Hongkong on the 2eth of June, 1843, and within one month of thatday the commercial treaty was signed. Sir Henry issued a publicproclamation calling upon British subjects to faithfully conform with itsprovisions, and stating that he would adopt the most stringent and decidedmeasures against any offending persons. On his side Keying published anotification that "trade at the five treaty ports was open to the men fromafar. " The only weak point in the commercial treaty was that it containedno reference to opium. Sir Henry Pottinger failed to obtain the assent ofthe Chinese government to its legalization, and he refused to undertakethe responsibility of a preventive service in China, but at the same timehe publicly stated that the "traffic in opium was illegal and contrabandby the laws and imperial edicts of China. " Those who looked further aheadrealized that the treaty of Nankin, by leaving unsettled the main point inthe controversy and the primary cause of difference, could not beconsidered a final solution of the problem of foreign intercourse withChina. The opium question remained over to again disturb the harmony ofour relations. 

As has been said before, it would be taking a narrow view of the questionto affirm that opium was the principal object at stake during this war. The real point was whether the Chinese government could be allowed thepossession of rights which were unrecognized in the law of nations andwhich rendered the continuance of intercourse with foreigners animpossibility. What China sought to retain was never claimed by any othernation, and could only have been established by extraordinary militarypower. When people talk, therefore, of the injustice of this war asanother instance of the triumph of might over right, they should recollectthat China in the first place was wrong in claiming an impossible positionin the family of nations. We cannot doubt that if the acts of CommissionerLin had been condoned the lives of all Europeans would have been at themercy of a system which recognizes no gradation in crime, which affordsmany facilities for the manufacture of false evidence, and which inflictspunishment altogether in excess of the fault. It is gratifying to findthat many unprejudiced persons declared at the time that the war whichresulted in the Nankin treaty was a just one, and so eminent an authorityon international law as John Quincy Adams drew up an elaborate treatise toshow that "Britain had the righteous cause against China. " We may leavethe scene of contest and turn from the record of an unequal war with thereflection that the results of the struggle were to be good. Howeverinadequately the work of far-seeing statesmanship may have been performedin 1842, enough was done to make present friendship possible and a betterunderstanding between two great governing peoples a matter of hope and notdesponding expectancy. 

CHAPTER XVIII

TAOUKWANG AND HIS SUCCESSOR

The progress and temporary settlement of the foreign question socompletely overshadows every other event during Taoukwang's reign that itis difficult to extract anything of interest from the records of thegovernment of the country, although the difficult and multifarious task ofruling three hundred millions of people had to be performed. More than onefact went to show that the bonds of constituted authority were loosened inChina, and that men paid only a qualified respect to the imperial edict. Bands of robbers prowled about the country, and even the capital was notfree from their presence. While one band made its headquarters within theimperial city, another established itself in a fortified position in thecentral provinces of China, whence it dominated a vast region. The policewere helpless, and such military forces as existed were unable to make anyserious attempt to crush an opponent who was stronger than themselves. Theforeign war had led to the recruiting of a large number of braves, and thepeace to their sudden disbandment, so that the country was covered with alarge number of desperate and penniless men, who were not particular as towhat they did for a livelihood. It is not surprising that the secretsocieties began to look up again with so promising a field to work in, anda new association, known as the Green Water Lily, became extremelyformidable among the truculent braves of Hoonan. But none of thesetroubles assumed the extreme form of danger in open rebellion, and therewas still wanting the man to weld all these hostile and dangerous elementsinto a national party of insurgents against Manchu authority, and so itremained until Taoukwang had given up his throne to his successor. 

In Yunnan there occurred, about the year 1846, the first simmerings ofdisaffection among the Mohammedans, which many years later developed intothe Panthay Rebellion, but on that occasion the vigor of the viceroynipped the danger in the bud. In Central Asia there was a revival ofactivity on the part of the Khoja exiles, who fancied that thediscomfiture of the Chinese by the English and the internal disorders, ofwhich rumor had no doubt carried an exaggerated account into Turkestan, would entail a very much diminished authority in Kashgar. As it happened, the Chinese authority in that region had been consolidated and extended bythe energy and ability of a Mohammedan official named Zuhuruddin. He hadrisen to power by the thoroughness with which he had carried out thesevere repressive measures sanctioned after the abortive invasion ofJehangir, and during fifteen years he increased the revenue and trade ofthe great province intrusted to his care. His loyalty to the Chinesegovernment seems to have been unimpeachable, and the only point he seemsto have erred in was an overconfident belief in the strength of hisposition. He based this opinion chiefly on the fact of his havingconstructed strong new forts, or yangyshahr, outside the principal towns. But a new element of danger had in the meantime been introduced into thesituation in Kashgar by the appointment of Khokandian consuls, who wereempowered to raise custom dues on all Mohammedan goods. These officialsbecame the center of intrigue against the Chinese authorities, andwhenever the Khan of Khokand determined to take up the cause of the Khojashe found the ground prepared for him by these emissaries. 

In 1842 Mahomed Ali, Khan of Khokand, a chief of considerable ability andcharacter, died, and his authority passed, after some confusion, to hiskinsman, Khudayar, who was a man of little capacity and indisposed tomeddle with the affairs of his neighbors. But the Khokandian chiefs wereloth to forego the turbulent adventures to which they were addicted forthe personal feelings of their nominal head, and they thought that adescent upon Kashgar offered the best chance of glory and booty. Thereforethey went to the seven sons of Jehangir and, inciting them by the memoryof their father's death as well as the hope of a profitable adventure, tomake another attempt to drive the Chinese out of Central Asia, succeededin inducing them to unfurl once more the standard of the Khojas. The sevenKhojas--Haft Khojagan--issued their proclamation in the winter of 1845-46, rallied all their adherents to their side, and made allies of the Kirghiztribes. 

When the Mohammedan forces left the hills they advanced with extremerapidity on Kashgar, to which they laid siege. After a siege of afortnight they obtained possession of the town through the treachery ofsome of the inhabitants; but the citadel or yangyshahr continued to holdout, and their excesses in the town so alienated the sympathy of theKashgarians, that no popular rising took place, and the Chinese were ableto collect all their garrisons to expel the invaders. The Khojas weredefeated in a battle at Kok Robat, near Yarkand, and driven out of thecountry. The affair of the seven Khojas, which at one time threatened theChinese with the gravest danger, thus ended in a collapse, and it isremarkable as being the only invasion in which the Mohammedan subjects ofChina did not fraternize with her enemies. Notwithstanding the magnitudeof his services as an administrator, Zuhuruddin was disgraced anddismissed from his post for what seemed his culpable apathy at thebeginning of the campaign. 

Another indication of the weakness of the Chinese executive was furnishedin the piratic confederacy which established itself at the entrance of theCanton River, and defied all the efforts of the mandarins until theyenlisted in their behalf the powerful co-operation of the English navy. The Bogue had never been completely free from those lawless persons whoare willing to commit any outrage if it holds out a certain prospect ofgain with a minimum amount of danger, and the peace had thrown manydesperate men out of employment who thought they could find in piracy amode of showing their patriotism as well as of profiting themselves. Theseturbulent and dangerous individuals gathered round a leader namedShapuntsai, and in the year of which we are speaking, 1849, theycontrolled a large fleet and a well-equipped force, which levied blackmailfrom Fochow to the Gulf of Tonquin, and attacked every trading ship, European or Chinese, which did not appear capable of defending itself. Ifthey had confined their attacks to their own countrymen it is impossibleto say how long they might have gone on in impunity, for the empirepossessed no naval power; but, unfortunately for them, and fortunately forChina, they seized some English vessels and murdered some Englishsubjects. One man-of-war under Captain Hay was employed in operationsagainst them, and in the course of six months fifty-seven piraticalvessels were destroyed, and a thousand of their crews either slain ortaken prisoners. Captain Hay, on being joined by another man-of-war, hadthe satisfaction of destroying the remaining junks and the depots in theCanton River, whereupon he sailed to attack the headquarters of Shapuntsaiin the Gulf of Tonquin. After some search the piratical fleet wasdiscovered off an island which still bears the name of the Pirates' Hold, and after a protracted engagement it was annihilated. Sixty junks weredestroyed, and Shapuntsai was compelled to escape to Cochin China, whereit is believed that he was executed by order of the king. The dispersionof this powerful confederacy was a timely service to the Chinese, who wereinformed that the English government would be at all times happy to affordsimilar aid at their request. Even at this comparatively early stage ofthe intercourse it was apparent that the long-despised foreigners would beable to render valuable service of a practical kind to the Pekinexecutive, and that if the Manchus wished to assert their power moreeffectually over their Chinese subjects they would be compelled to haverecourse to European weapons and military and scientific knowledge. Thesuppression of the piratical confederacy of the Bogue was the firstoccasion of that employment of European force, which was carried to a muchmore advanced stage during the Taeping rebellion, and of which we havecertainly not seen the last development. 

One of the last acts of Taoukwang's reign showed to what a depth of mentalhesitation and misery he had sunk. It seems that the Chinese New Year'sday--February 12, 1850--was to be marked by an eclipse of the sun, whichwas considered very inauspicious, and as the emperor was especiallysusceptible to superstitious influences, he sought to get out of thedifficulty, and to avert any evil consequences, by decreeing that the newyear should begin on the previous day. But all-powerful as a Chineseemperor is, there are some things he cannot do, and the good sense of theChinese revolted against this attempt to alter the course of nature. Theimperial decree was completely disregarded, and received with expressionsof derision, and in several towns the placards were torn down and defaced. Notwithstanding the eclipse, the Chinese year began at its appointed time. Some excuse might be made for Taoukwang on the ground of ill-health, forhe was then suffering from the illness which carried him off a few weekslater. His health had long been precarious, the troubles of his reign hadprematurely aged him, and he had experienced a rude shock from the death, at the end of 1849, of his adopted mother, toward whom he seems to havepreserved the most affectionate feelings. From the first day of hisillness its gravity seems to have been appreciated, and an unfavorableissue expected. On February 25, a grand council was held in the emperor'sbed-chamber, and the emperor wrote in his bed an edict proclaiming hisfourth son his heir and chosen successor. Taoukwang survived thisimportant act only a very short time, but the exact date of his death isuncertain. There is some reason for thinking that his end was hastened bythe outbreak of a fire within the Imperial City, which threatened it withdestruction. The event was duly notified to the Chinese people in aproclamation by his successor, in which he dilated on the virtues of hispredecessor, and expressed the stereotyped wish that he could have lived ahundred years. 

Taoukwang was in his sixty-ninth year, having been born on September 12, 1781, and the thirty years over which his reign had nearly extended wereamong the most eventful, and in some respects the most unfortunate, in theannals of his country. When he was a young man, the power of hisgrandfather, Keen Lung, was at its pinnacle, but the misfortunes of hisfather's reign had prepared him for the greater misfortunes of his own, and the school of adversity in which he had passed the greater portion ofhis life had imbued him only with the disposition to bear calamity, andnot the vigor to grapple with it. Yet Taoukwang was not without many goodpoints, and he seems to have realized the extent of the national trouble, and to have felt acutely his inability to retrieve what had been lost. Hewas also averse to all unnecessary display, and his expenditure on thecourt and himself was less than that of any of his predecessors orsuccessors. He never wasted the public money on his own person, and thatwas a great matter. His habits were simple and manly. 

Although Taoukwang's reign had been marked by unqualified misfortune, heseems to have derived consolation from the belief that the worst was over, and that as his authority had recovered from such rude shocks it was notlikely to experience anything worse. He had managed to extricate himselffrom a foreign war, which was attended with an actual invasion of a mostalarming character, without any diminution of his authority. The symptomsof internal rebellion which had revealed themselves in more than onequarter of the empire had not attained any formidable dimensions, andseemed likely to pass away without endangering the Chinese constitution. Taoukwang may have hoped that while he had suffered much he had saved hisfamily and dynasty from more serious calamities, and that on him alone hadfallen the resentment of an offended Heaven. The experience of the nextfifteen years was to show how inaccurately he had measured the situation, and how far the troubles of the fifteen years following his death were toexceed those of his reign; for just as he had inherited from his father, Kiaking, a legacy of trouble, so did he pass on to his son an inheritanceof misfortune and difficulty, rendered all the more onerous by thepretension of supreme power without the means to support it. 

The accession of Prince Yihchoo--who took the name of Hienfung, whichmeans "great abundance, " or "complete prosperity"--to the thronethreatened for a moment to be disturbed by the ambition of his uncle, HwuyWang, who, it will be remembered, had attempted to seize the throne fromhis brother Taoukwang. This prince had lived in retirement during the lastyears of his brother's reign, and the circumstances which emboldened himto again put forward his pretensions will not be known until the statehistory of the Manchu dynasty is published. His attempt signally failed, but Hienfung spared his life, while he punished the ministers, Keying andMuchangah, for their supposed apathy, or secret sympathy with the aspirantto the imperial office, by dismissing them from their posts. When Hienfungbecame emperor he was less than twenty years of age, and one of his firstacts was to confer the title of Prince on his four younger brothers, andto associate them in the administration with himself. This was a newdeparture in the Manchu policy, as all the previous emperors hadsystematically kept their brothers in the background. Hienfung's brothersbecame known in the order of their ages as Princes Kung, Shun, Chun, andFu, and as Hienfung was the fourth son of Taoukwang, they were alsodistinguished numerically as the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighthprinces. Although Hienfung became emperor at a time of great nationaldistress, he was so far fortunate that an abundant harvest, in the year1850, tended to mitigate it, and by having recourse to the common Chinesepractice of "voluntary contributions, " a sufficiently large sum was raisedto remove the worst features of the prevailing scarcity and suffering. Butthese temporary and local measures could not improve a situation that wasradically bad, or allay a volume of popular discontent that was rapidlydeveloping into unconcealed rebellion. 

An imperial proclamation was drawn up by the Hanlin College in whichHienfung took upon himself the whole blame of the national misfortunes, but the crisis had got far beyond a remedy of words. The corruption of thepublic service had gradually alienated the sympathies of the people. Justice and probity had for a time been banished from the civil service ofChina. The example of the few men of honor and capacity served but tobring into more prominent relief the faults of the whole class. Justicewas nowhere to be found; the verdict was sold to the highest bidder. Theguilty, if well provided in worldly goods, escaped scot-free; the poorsuffered for their own frailties as well as the crimes of wealthieroffenders. There was seen the far from uncommon case of individualssentenced to death obtaining substitutes for the capital punishment. Offices were sold to men who had never passed an examination, and who werewholly illiterate, and the sole value of office was as the means ofextortion. The nation was heavily taxed, but the taxes to the state wereonly the smaller part of the sums wrung from the people of the MiddleKingdom. How was honor, or a sense of duty, to be expected from men whoknew that their term of office must be short, and who had to receive theirpurchase money and the anticipated profit before their post was sold againto some fresh and possibly higher bidder? The officials waxed rich on ill-gotten wealth, and a few individuals accumulated enormous fortunes, whilethe government sank lower and lower in the estimation of the people. Itlost also in efficiency and striking power. A corrupt and effeminate bodyof officers and administrators can serve but as poor defenders for anembarrassed prince and an assailed government against even enemies who arein themselves insignificant and not free from the vices of a corruptsociety and a decaying age, and it was only on such that Hienfung had inthe first place to lean against his opponents. Even his own Manchus, thewarlike Tartars, who, despite the smallness of their numbers, hadconquered the whole of China, had lost their primitive virtue and warlikeefficiency in the southern climes which they had made their home. To themthe opulent cities of the Chinese had proved as fatal as Capua to the armyof the Carthaginian, and, as the self-immolations of Chapoo andChinkiangfoo proved to have no successors, they showed themselves unworthyof the empire won by their ancestors. For the first time since the revoltof Wou Sankwei, the Manchus were brought face to face with a dangerthreatening their right of conquest; yet on the eve of the TaepingRebellion all Hienfung could think of to oppose his foes with was finewords as to his shortcomings and lavish promises of amendment. 

Among the secret societies the Triads were the first to give a politicaland dynastic significance to their propaganda. The opening sentence of theoath of membership read as follows: "We combine everywhere to recall theMing and exterminate the barbarians, cut off the Tsing and await the rightprince. " But as there were none of the Mings left, and as their name hadlost whatever hold it may have possessed on the minds of the Chinesepeople, this proclaimed object tended rather to deter than to inviterecruits to the society. Yet if any secret society shared in theorigination of the Taeping Rebellion that credit belongs to the Triads, whose anti-Manchu literature enjoyed a wide circulation through SouthernChina, and they may have had a large share in drafting the programme thatthe Taeping leader, Tien Wang, attempted to carry out. 

The individual on whom that exalted title was subsequently bestowed had avery common origin, and sprang from an inferior race. Hung-tsiuen, suchwas his own name, was the son of a small farmer near Canton, and he was a_hakka_, a despised race of tramps who bear some resemblance to ourgypsies. He was born in the year 1813, and he seems to have passed all hisexaminations with special credit; but the prejudice on account of hisbirth prevented his obtaining any employment in the civil service of hiscountry. He was therefore a disappointed aspirant to office, and at such aperiod it was not surprising that he should have become an enemy of theconstituted authorities and the government. As he could not be the servantof the state he set himself the ambitious task of being its master, andwith this object in view he resorted to religious practices in order toacquire a popular reputation, and a following among the masses. He took uphis residence in a Buddhist monastery; and the ascetic deprivations, theloud prayers and invocations, the supernatural counsels and meetings, werethe course of training which every religious devotee adopts as the propernovitiate for those honors based on the superstitious reverence of mankindwhich are sometimes no inadequate substitute for temporal power andinfluence, even when they fail to pave the way to their attainment. Heleft his place of seclusion to place himself at the head of the largestparty of rebels, who had made their headquarters in the remote province ofKwangsi, and he there proclaimed himself as Tien Wang, which means theHeavenly Prince, and as an aspirant to the imperial dignity. Gradually therebels acquired possession of the whole of the territory south of theCanton River, and when they captured the strong and important militarystation at Nanning the emperor sent three commissioners, one of them beinghis principal minister Saichangah, to bring them to reason, but the resultwas not encouraging, and although the Taepings were repulsed in theirattempt on Kweiling, they remained masters of the open part of theprovince. One of the Chinese officers had the courage to write and tellthe emperor that "the outlaws were neither exterminated nor madeprisoners. " Notwithstanding the enormous expenditure on the war and thecollection of a large body of troops the imperial forces made no realprogress in crushing the rebels. Fear or inexperience prevented them fromcoming at once to close quarters with the Taepings, when their superiornumbers must have decided the struggle in their favor and nipped a mostformidable rebellion in the bud. That some of Hienfung's officers realizedthe position can be gathered from the following letter, written at thisperiod by a Chinese mandarin: "The whole country swarms with rebels. Ourfunds are nearly at an end, and our troops few; our officers disagree, andthe power is not concentrated. The commander of the forces wants toextinguish a burning wagonload of fagots with a cupful of water. I fear weshall hereafter have some serious affair--that the great body will riseagainst us, and our own people leave us. " The military operations inKwangsi languished during two years, although the tide of war declareditself, on the whole, against the imperialists; but the rebels themselveswere exposed to this danger--that they were exclusively dependent on theresources of the province, and that these being exhausted, they were indanger of being compelled to retire into Tonquin. It was at thisexceedingly critical moment that Tien Wang showed himself an able leaderof men by coming to the momentous decision to march out of Kwangsi, andinvade the vast and yet untouched provinces of Central China. If the stepwas more the pressure of dire need than the inspiration of genius, it nonethe less forms the real turning-point in the rebellion. 

Tien Wang announced his decision by issuing a proclamation, in the courseof which he declared that he had received "the Divine commission toexterminate the Manchus, and to possess the empire as its true sovereign";and, as it was also at this time that his followers became commonly knownas Taepings, it may be noted that the origin of this name is somewhatobscure. According to the most plausible explanation it is derived fromthe small town of that name, situated in the southwest corner of theprovince of Kwangsi, where the rebel movement seems to have commenced. Another derivation gives it as the style of the dynasty which Tien Wanghoped to found, and its meaning as "Universal peace. " Having called in allhis outlying detachments and proclaimed his five principal lieutenants bytitles which have been rendered as the northern, southern, eastern, western and assistant kings, Tien Wang began his northern march in April, 1852. At the town of Yungan, on the eastern borders of the province ofKwangsi, where he seems to have hesitated between an attack on Canton andthe invasion of Hoonan, an event occurred which threatened to break up hisforce. The Triad chiefs, who had allied themselves with Tien Wang, weresuperior in knowledge and station to the immediate followers of theTaeping leader, and they took offense at the arrogance of his lieutenantsafter they had been elevated to the rank of kings. These officers, whopossessed no claim to the dignity they had received, assumed the yellowdress and insignia of Chinese royalty, and looked down on all theircomrades, especially the Triad organizers, who thought themselves the trueoriginators of the rebellion. Irritated by this treatment, the Triads tooktheir sudden and secret departure from the Taeping camp, and hastened tomake their peace with the imperialists. Of these Triads one chief, namedChang Kwoliang, received an important command, and played a considerablepart in the later stages of the struggle. 

The defection of the Triads put an end to the idea of attacking Canton, and the Taepings marched to attack Kweiling, where the ImperialCommissioners still remained. Tien Wang's assault was repulsed with someloss, and, afraid of discouraging his troops by any further attempt toseize so strong a place, he marched into Hoonan. Had the imperialcommanders, who had shown no inconsiderable capacity in defense, exhibitedas much energy in offensive measures, they might then and there haveannihilated the power of the Taepings. Had they pursued the Taeping armythey might have harassed its rear, delayed its progress, and eventuallybrought it to a decisive engagement at the most favorable moment. But theImperial Commissioners did nothing, being apparently well satisfied withhaving rid themselves of such troublesome neighbors. The advance of theTaepings across the vast province of Hoonan was almost unopposed. Thetowns were unprepared to resist an assailant, and it was not until TienWang reached the provincial capital, Changsha, that he encountered anyresistance worthy of the name. Some vigorous preparations had been madehere to resist the rebels. Not merely was there a garrison in the place, but it so happened that Tseng Kwofan, a man of considerable ability and ofan influential family, was residing near the town. Tseng had held severaloffices in the public service, and, as a member of the Hanlin, enjoyed ahigh position and reputation; but he happened to be at his own home inretirement in consequence of the death of a near relation when tidings ofthe approaching Taepings reached him, and he at once made himselfresponsible for the defense of Changsha. He threw himself with all theforces his influence or resources enabled him to collect into that town, and at the same time he ordered all the militia of the province to collectand harass the enemy. He called upon all those who had the means to showtheir duty to the state and sovereign by raising recruits or by promisingrewards to those volunteers who would serve in the army against therebels. Had the example of Tseng Kwofan been generally followed, it is nottoo much to say that the Taepings would never have got to Nankin. When therebels reached Changsha, therefore, they found the gates closed, the wallsmanned, and the town victualed for a siege. They attempted to starve theplace into surrender, and to frighten the garrison into yielding bythreats of extermination; but when these efforts failed they deliveredthree separate assaults, all of which were repulsed. After a siege ofeighty days, and having suffered very considerable losses, the Taepingsabandoned the attack, and on the 1st of December resumed their marchnorthward, which, if information could have been rapidly transmitted, would have soon resulted in their overthrow. On breaking up from beforeChangsha they succeeded in seizing a sufficient number of junks and boatsto cross the great inland lake of Tungting, and on reaching theYangtsekiang at Yochow they found that the imperial garrison had fled atthe mere mention of their approach. The capture of Yochow was important, because the Taepings acquired there an important arsenal of much-neededweapons and a large supply of gunpowder, which was said to have been theproperty of Wou Sankwei. Thus, well equipped and supplying their otherdeficiencies by celerity of movement, they attacked the important city ofHankow, which surrendered without a blow. The scarcely less important townof Wouchang, on the southern and opposite bank of the river, was thenattacked, and carried after a siege of a fortnight. The third town ofHanyang, which forms, with the others, the most important industrial andcommercial hive in Central China, also surrendered without any attempt atresistance, and this striking success at once restored the sinking courageof the Taepings, and made the danger from them to the dynasty again wearan aspect of the most pressing importance. 

It would be difficult to exaggerate the effect of this success on thespirits of the Taepings, who had been seriously discouraged before theyachieved this gratifying result. The capture of these towns removed alltheir most serious causes of doubt, and enabled them to repay themselvesfor the losses and hardships they had undergone, while it also showed thatthe enterprise they had in hand was not likely to prove unprofitable. After one month's rest at Hankow, and having been joined by many thousandsof new followers, the Taepings resolved to pursue their onward course. Totell the truth, they were still apprehensive of pursuit from Tseng Kwofan, who had been joined by the Triad loader, Chang Kwoliang; but there was noground for the fear, as these officials considered themselves tied totheir own province, and unfortunately the report of the success of theimperialists in Hoonan blinded people to the danger in the Yangtse Valleyfrom the Taepings. The Taepings resumed active operations with the captureof Kiukiang and Ganking, and in March, 1853, they sat down before Nankin. The siege continued for a fortnight, but notwithstanding that there was alarge Manchu force in the Tartar city, which might easily have beendefended against an enemy without artillery, the resistance offered wassingularly and unexpectedly faint-hearted. The Taepings succeeded inblowing in one of the gates, the townspeople fraternized with theassailants, and the very Manchus who had defied Sir Hugh Gough in 1842surrendered their lives and their honor to a force which was nothing morethan an armed rabble. The Tartar colony at Nankin, numbering 2, 000families, had evidently lost the courage and discipline which could aloneenable them to maintain their position in China. Instead of dying at theirposts they threw themselves on the mercy of the Taeping leader, imploringhim for pity and for their lives when the gate was blown in by Tien Wang'ssoldiery. Their cowardice helped them not; of 20, 000 Manchus not onehundred escaped. The tale rests on undoubted evidence. A Taeping who tookpart in the massacre said, "We killed them all, to the infant in arms; weleft not a root to sprout from, and the bodies of the slain we cast intothe Yangtse. "

The acquisition of Nankin at once made the Taepings a formidable rival tothe Manchus, and Tien Wang a contestant with Hienfung for imperial honors. The possession of the second city in the empire gave them the completecontrol of the navigation of the Yangtsekiang, and thus enabled them tocut off communications between the north and the south of China. To attainthis object in a still more perfect manner they occupied Chinkiangfoo atthe entrance to the Grand Canal. They also seized Yangchow on the northernbank of the river immediately opposite the place where Sir Hugh Gough hadgained his decisive victory in 1842. Such was the terror of the Taepingsthat the imperial garrisons did not attempt the least resistance, and townafter town was evacuated at their approach. Tien Wang, encouraged by hissuccess, transferred his headquarters from Hankow to Nankin, andproclaimed the old Ming city his capital. By rapidity and an extraordinarycombination of fortunate circumstances, the Taepings had advanced from theremote province of Kwangsi into the heart of the empire, but it was clearthat unless they could follow up their success by some blow to the centralgovernment they would lose all they had gained as soon as the Manchusrecovered their confidence. At a council of war at Nankin it was decidedto send an army against Pekin as soon as Nankin had been placed in aproper state to undergo a protracted siege. Provisions were collected tostand a siege for six or seven years, the walls were repaired and freshbatteries erected. By the end of May, 1853, these preparations werecompleted, and as the Taeping army had then been raised to a total of80, 000 men, it was decided that a large part of it could be spared foroperations north of the Yangtsekiang. That army was increased to a verylarge total by volunteers who thought an expedition to humble the Manchusat the capital promised much glory and spoil. The progress of thisnorthern army very closely resembled that of the Taepings from Kwangsi toNankin. They overran the open country, and none of the imperial troopsventured to oppose them, but when any Manchu officer showed valor indefending a walled city they were fain to admit their inadequateengineering skill and military capacity. They attacked Kaifong, thecapital of Honan, but were repulsed, and pursuing their former tacticscontinued their march to Pekin. Having crossed the Hoangho they attackedHwaiking, where, after being delayed two months, they met with as signal arepulse as at Kaifong. Notwithstanding this further reverse, the Taepingspressed on, and defeating a Manchu force in the Lin Limming Pass, theyentered the metropolitan province of Pechihli in September, 1853. Theobject of their march was plain. Not only did they mystify the emperor'sgenerals, but they passed through an untouched country where supplies wereabundant, and they thus succeeded in coming within striking distance ofPekin in almost as fresh a state as when they left Nankin. Such was theeffect produced by their capture of the Limming Pass that none of thetowns in the southern part of the province attempted any resistance, andthey reached Tsing, only twenty miles south of Tientsin, and less than ahundred from Pekin, before the end of October. This place marked thenorthern limit of Taeping progress, and a reflex wave of Manchu energybore back the rebels to the Yangtse. 

The forcing of the Limming Pass carried confusion and terror into theimperial palace and capital. The fate of the dynasty seemed to tremble inthe balance at the hands of a ruthless and determined enemy. Therehappened to be very few troops in Pekin at the time, and levies had to behastily summoned from Mongolia. If the Taepings had only shown the sameenterprise and rapidity of movement that they had exhibited up to thispoint, there is no saying that the central government would not have beensubverted and the Manchu family extinguished as completely as the Mings. But fortunately for Hienfung, an unusual apathy fell upon the Taepings, who remained halted at Tsing until the Mongol levies had arrived, undertheir great chief, Sankolinsin. They seem to have been quite exhausted bytheir efforts, and after one reverse in the open field they retired totheir fortified camp at Tsinghai, and sent messengers to Tien Wang forsuccor. In this camp they were closely beleaguered by Sankolinsin fromOctober, 1853, to March, 1854, when their provisions being exhausted theycut their way out and began their retreat in a southerly direction. Theywould undoubtedly have been exterminated but for the timely arrival of arelieving army from Nankin. The Taepings then captured Lintsing, whichremained their headquarters for some months; but during the remainder ofthe year 1854 their successes were few and unimportant. They werevigilantly watched by the imperial troops, which had expelled them fromthe whole of the province of Shantung before March, 1855. Their numberswere thinned by disease as well as loss in battle, and of the two armiessent to capture Pekin only a small fragment ever regained Nankin. Whilethese events were in progress in the region north of Nankin, the Taepingshad been carrying their arms up the Yangtsekiang as far as Ichang, andeastward from Nankin to the sea. These efforts were not always successful, and Tien Wang's arms experienced as many reverses as successes. Theimportant city of Kanchang, the capital of the province of Kiangsi, wasbesieged by them for four months, and after many attempts to carry it bystorm the Taepings were compelled to abandon the task. They were moresuccessful at Hankow, which they recovered after a siege of eighty days. They again evacuated this town, and yet once again, in 1855, wrested itfrom an imperial garrison. 

The establishment of Taeping power at Nankin and the rumor of its rapidextension in every direction had drawn the attention of Europeans to thenew situation thus created in China, and had aroused opposite opinions indifferent sections of the foreign community. While the missionaries weredisposed to regard the Taepings as the regenerators of China, and as thechampions of Christianity, the merchants only saw in them the disturbersof peace and the enemies of commerce. To such an extent did the latteranticipate the ruin of their trade that they petitioned the consuls tosuspend, if not withhold, the payment of the stipulated customs to theChinese authorities. This proposed breach of treaty was emphaticallyrejected, and the consuls enjoined the absolute necessity of preserving astrict neutrality between the Taepings and the imperial forces. But at thesame time it became necessary to acquaint the Taeping ruler with the factthat he would be expected to observe the provisions of the Treaty ofNankin as scrupulously as if he were sovereign of China or a Manchuviceroy. Sir George Bonham, the superintendent of trade and the governorof Hongkong, determined to proceed in person to Nankin, in order toacquaint the Taepings with what would be expected from them, and also togain necessary information as to their strength and importance by personalobservation. But unfortunately this step of Sir George Bonham tended tohelp the Taepings by increasing their importance and spreading about thebelief that the Europeans recognized in them the future ruling power ofChina. It was not intended to be, but it was none the less, an unfriendlyact to the Pekin government, and as it produced absolutely no practicalresult with the Taepings themselves, it was distinctly a mistaken measure. Its only excuse was that the imperial authorities were manifesting anincreasing inclination to enlist the support of Europeans against therebels, and it was desirable that accurate information should be obtainedbeforehand. The Taotai of Shanghai even presented a request for the loanof the man-of-war at that port, and when he was informed that we intendedto remain strictly neutral, the decision was also come to to inform theTaepings of this fact. Therefore in April, 1853, before the army had leftfor the northern campaign, Sir George Bonham sailed for Nankin in the"Hermes" man-of-war. On the twenty-seventh of that month the vesselanchored off Nankin, and several interviews were held with the TaepingWangs, of whom the Northern King was at this time the most influential. The negotiations lasted a week, and they had no result. It was soon madeapparent that the Taepings were as exclusive and impracticable as theworst Manchu mandarin, and that they regarded the Europeans as an inferiorand subject people. Sir George Bonham failed to establish any directcommunication with Tien Wang, who had by this retired into private life, and while it was given out that he was preparing sacred books he wasreally abandoning himself to the pursuit of profligacy. There is nothingto cause surprise in the fact that the apathy of Tien Wang led to attemptsto supersede him in his authority. The Eastern King in particular posed asthe delegate of Heaven. He declared that he had interviews with thecelestial powers when in a trance, he assumed the title of the Holy Ghostor the Comforter, and he censured Tien Wang for his shortcomings, and eveninflicted personal chastisement upon him. If he had had a following hemight have become the despot of the Taepings, but as he offended all alikehis career was cut short by a conspiracy among the other Wangs, who, notwithstanding his heavenly conferences, murdered him. 

At this period one of the most brilliant military exploits of the Taepingswas performed, and as it served to introduce the real hero of the wholemovement, it may be described in more detail than the other operations, which were conducted in a desultory manner, and which were unredeemed byany exhibition of courage or military capacity. The government hadsucceeded in placing two considerable armies in the field. One numbering40, 000 men, under the command of Hochun and the ex-Triad Chang Kwoliang, watched Nankin, while the other, commanded by a Manchu general, laid closesiege to Chankiang, which seemed on the point of surrender. The Taepingsat Nankin determined to effect its relief, and a large force was placedunder the orders of an officer named Li, but whom it will be moreconvenient to designate by the title subsequently conferred on him ofChung Wang, or the Faithful King. His energy and courage had alreadyattracted favorable notice, and the manner in which he executed thedifficult operation intrusted to him fully established his reputation. Bya concerted movement with the Taeping commandant of Chankiang, he attackedthe imperialist lines at the same time as the garrison made a sortie, andthe result was a decisive victory. Sixteen stockades were carried byassault, and the Manchu army was driven away from the town which seemed tolie at its mercy. But this success promised only to be momentary, for theimperialist forces, collecting from all sides, barred the way back toNankin, while the other Manchu army drew nearer to that city, and itsgeneral seemed to meditate attacking Tien Wang in his capital. Animperative summons was sent to Chung Wang to return to Nankin. As theimperialist forces were for the most part on the southern side of theriver, Chung Wang crossed to the northern bank and began his march toNankin. He had not proceeded far when he found that the imperialists hadalso crossed over to meet him, and that his progress was arrested by theirmain army under Chang Kwoliang. With characteristic decision and rapidityhe then regained the southern bank, and falling on the weakenedimperialists gained so considerable a victory that the Manchu commanderfelt bound to commit suicide. After some further fighting he made good hisway back to Nankin. But when he arrived there the tyrant Tung Wang refusedto admit him into the city until he had driven away the main imperialistarmy, which had been placed under the command of Hienfung's generalissimo, Heang Yung, and which had actually seized one of the gates of the city. Although Chung Wang's troops were exhausted they attacked the governmenttroops with great spirit, and drove them back as far as Tanyang, where, however, they succeeded in holding their ground, notwithstanding hisrepeated efforts to dislodge them. Heang Yung, taking his misfortune toodeeply to heart, committed suicide, and thus deprived the emperor of atleast a brave officer. But with this success the Taeping tide of victoryreached its end, for Chang Kwoliang arriving with the other imperialistarmy, the whole force fell upon Chung Wang and drove him back into thecity with the loss of 700 of his best men, so that the result left ofChung Wang's campaign was the relief of Chankiang and the return to thestatus quo at Nankin. It was immediately after these events that Tung Wangwas assassinated, and scenes of blood followed which resulted in themassacre of 20, 000 persons and the disappearance of all, except one, ofthe Wangs whom Tien Wang had created on the eve of his enterprise. ChungWang seems to have had no part in these intrigues and massacres, and thereis little doubt that if the imperialist commanders had taken promptadvantage of them the Taepings might have been crushed at that moment, orten years earlier than proved to be the case. 

While the main Taeping force was thus causing serious danger to theexisting government of China, its offshoots or imitators were emulatingits example in the principal treaty ports, which brought the rebels intocontact with the Europeans. The Chinese officials, without any militarypower on which they could rely, had endeavored to maintain order among theturbulent classes of the population by declaring that the English were theallies of the emperor, and that they would come to his aid with theirformidable engines of war if there were any necessity. Undoubtedly thisthreat served its turn and kept the turbulent quiet for a certain period;but when it could no longer be concealed that the English were determinedto take no part in the struggle, the position of the government wasweakened by the oft-repeated declaration that they mainly relied on thesupport of the foreigners. The first outbreak occurred at Amoy in May, 1853, when some thousand marauders, under an individual named Magay, seized the town and held it until the following November. The imperialistsreturned in sufficient force in that month and regained possession of thetown, when, unfortunately for their reputation, they avenged theirexpulsion in a particularly cruel and indiscriminating fashion Manythousand citizens were executed without any form of trial, and the arrestof the slaughter was entirely due to the intervention of the English navalofficer at Amoy. The rising at Shanghai was of a more serious character, and took a much longer time to suppress. As the European settlement therewas threatened with a far more imminent danger than anywhere else, preparations to defend it began in April, 1853, and under the auspices ofthe consul, Mr. Rutherford Alcock, the residents were formed into avolunteer corps, and the men-of-war drawn up so as to effectually coverthe whole settlement. These precautions were taken in good time, fornothing happened to disturb the peace until the following September. TheTriads were undoubtedly the sole instigators of the rising, and theTaepings of Nankin were in no sense responsible for, or participators init. They seized the Taotai's official residence, and as his guard desertedhim, that officer barely escaped with his life. Other officials were notso fortunate, but on the whole Shanghai was acquired by the rebels withvery little bloodshed. In a few hours this important Chinese city passedinto the hands of a lawless and refractory mob, who lived on the plunderof the townspeople, and who were ripe for any mischief. The Europeansettlement was placed meantime in a position of efficient defense, andalthough the Triads wished to have the spoil of its rich factories, theyvery soon decided that the enterprise would be too risky, if notimpossible. 

After some weeks' inaction the imperialist forces, gathering from allquarters, proceeded to invest the marauders in Shanghai, and had theattack been conducted with any degree of military skill and vigor theymust have succumbed at the first onset. But, owing to the pusillanimity ofthe emperor's officers and their total ignorance of the military art, thesiege went on for an indefinite period, and twelve months after it beganseemed as far off conclusion as ever. 

While the imperialists laboriously constructed their lines and batteriesthey never ceased to importune the Europeans for assistance, and as itbecame clearer that the persons in possession of Shanghai were a mobrather than a power, the desire increased among the foreigners generallyto put an end to what was an intolerable position. On this occasion theFrench took an initiative which had previously been left to the English. The French settlement at Shanghai consisted at this time of a consulate, acathedral, and one house, but as it was situated nearest the walls of theChinese city it was most exposed to the fire of the besiegers andbesieged. In consequence of this the French admiral, Laguerre, determinedto take a part in the struggle, and erecting a battery in the Frenchsettlement, proceeded to bombard the rebels on one side of the city whilethe imperialists attacked it on another. Although the bombardment wasvigorous and effective, the loss inflicted on the insurgents wasinconsiderable, because they had erected an earthwork behind the main wallof the place, and every day the Triads challenged the French to come on tothe assault. At last a breach was declared to be practicable, and 400French sailors and marines were landed to carry it, while theimperialists, wearing blue sashes to distinguish them from the rebels, escaladed the walls at another point. But the assault was premature, for, although the assailants gained the inside of the fortification, they couldnot advance. The insurgents fought desperately behind the earthworks andin the streets, and after four hours' fighting they put the wholeimperialist force to flight. The French were carried along by theirdisheartened allies who, allowing race hatred to overcome a temporaryarrangement, even fired on them, and when Admiral Laguerre reckoned up thecost of his intervention he found it amounted to four officers and sixtymen killed and wounded. Such was the result of the French attack onShanghai, and it taught the lesson that even good European troops cannotignore the recognized rules and precautions of war. After this engagementthe siege languished, and the French abstained from taking any furtherpart in it. But the imperialists continued their attack in their ownbungling but persistent fashion, and at last the insurgents, having failedto obtain the favorable terms they demanded, made a desperate sortie, whena few made their way to the foreign settlement, where they found safety, but by far the greater number perished by the sword of the imperialists. More than 1, 500 insurgents were captured and executed along the highroads, but the two leaders of the movement escaped, one of them to attain greatfortune as a merchant in Siam. The imperialists unfortunately sulliedtheir success by grave excesses and by the cruel treatment of theunoffending townspeople, who were made to suffer for the originalincapacity and cowardice of the officials themselves. At Canton, which wasalso visited by the Triads in June, 1854, matters took a different course. The Chinese merchants and shopkeepers combined and raised a force fortheir own protection, and these well-paid braves effectually kept theinsurgents out of Canton. They, however, seized the neighboring town ofFatshan, where the manufacturing element was in strong force, and but forthe unexpected energy of the Cantonese they would undoubtedly have seizedthe larger city too, as the government authorities were not less apathetichere than at Shanghai. The disturbed condition of things continued untilFebruary, 1855, when the wholesale executions by which its suppression wasmarked, and during which a hundred thousand persons are said to haveperished, ceased. 

The events have now been passed in review which marked the beginning andgrowth of the Taeping Rebellion, from the time of its being a local risingin the province of Kwangsi to the hour of its leader being installed as aruling prince in the ancient city of Nankin. But from the growing TaepingRebellion, which we have now followed down to the year 1856, our attentionmust be directed to the more serious and important foreign question whichhad again reached a crisis, and which would not wait on the convenience ofthe Celestial emperor and his advisers. 

CHAPTER XIX

THE SECOND FOREIGN WAR

The events which caused the second foreign war began to come into evidenceimmediately after the close of the first; and for the sake of clearnessand brevity they have been left for consideration to the same chapter, although they happened while Taoukwang was emperor. After the departure ofSir Henry Pottinger, who was succeeded by Sir John Davis, and the arrivalof the representatives of the other European powers, who hastened to claimthe same rights and privileges as had been accorded to England, the maintask to be accomplished was to practically assert the rights that had beentheoretically secured, and to place the relations of the two nations onwhat may be called a working basis. The consulates were duly appointed, the necessary land for the foreign settlements was acquired, and the warindemnity being honorably discharged, Chusan was restored to the Chinese. With regard to the last matter there was some maneuvering of a notaltogether creditable nature, and although the Chinese paid the lastinstallment punctually to date, Chusan and Kulangsu were not evacuated forsome months after the stipulated time. It was said that our hesitation inthe former case was largely due to the fear that France would seize it;but this has been permanently removed by the expressed assertion of ourprior right to occupy it. A far more gratifying subject is suggested bythe harmony of the relations which were established in Chusan between thegarrison under Sir Colin Campbell and the islanders, who expressed deepregret at the departure of the English troops. The first members of theconsular staff in China were as follows: Mr. G. T. Lay was consul atCanton, Captain George Balfour at Shanghai (where, however, he was soonsucceeded by Sir Rutherford Alcock), Mr. Henry Gribble at Ainoy, and Mr. Robert Thorn at Ningpo. Among the interpreters were the future Sir ThomasWade and Sir Harry Parkes. Various difficulties presented themselves withregard to the foreign settlements, and the island of Kulangsu at Amoy hadto be evacuated because its name was not mentioned in the treaty. AtCanton also an attempt was made to extend the boundaries of the foreignsettlement by taking advantage of a great conflagration, but in thisattempt the Europeans were baffled by the superior quickness of theChinese, who constructed their new houses in a single night. Theseincidents showed that the sharpness was not all on one side, and that ifthe Chinese were backward in conceding what might be legitimatelydemanded, the Europeans were not averse to snatching an advantage if theysaw the chance. 

The turbulence of the Canton populace, over whom the officials possessedbut a nominal control, was a constant cause of disagreement and trouble. In the spring of 1846 a riot was got up by the mob on the excuse that avane erected on the top of the flagstaff over the American Consulateinterfered with the Fung Shui, or spirits of earth and air; and althoughit was removed to allay the excitement of the superstitious, thedisturbance continued, and several personal encounters took place, in oneof which a Chinese was killed. The Chinese mandarins, incited by the mob, demanded the surrender of the man who fired the shot; and that they shouldhave made such a demand, after they had formally accepted and recognizedthe jurisdiction of consular courts, furnished strong evidence that theyhad not mastered the lessons of the late war or reconciled themselves tothe provisions of the Treaty of Nankin. The fortunate arrival of Keying to"amicably regulate the commerce with foreign countries" smoothed over thisdifficulty, and the excitement of the Canton mob was allayed without anysurrender. It was almost at this precise moment, too, that Taoukwang madethe memorable admission that the Christian religion might be tolerated asone inculcating the principles of virtue. But the two pressing andpractical difficulties in the foreign question were the opening of thegates of Canton and the right of foreigners to proceed beyond the limitsof their factories and compounds. The Chinese wished for many reasons, perhaps even for the safety of the foreigners, to confine them to theirsettlements, and it might be plausibly argued that the treaty supportedthis construction. Of course such confinement was intolerable, and Englishmerchants and others would not be prevented from making boating orshooting excursions in the neighborhood of the settlements. The Chineseauthorities opposed these excursions, and before long a collision occurredwith serious consequences. In March, 1847, a small party of Englishmenproceeded in a boat to Fatshan, a manufacturing town near Canton which hasbeen called the Chinese Birmingham. On reaching the place symptoms ofhostility were at once manifested, and the Europeans withdrew for safetyto the yamen of the chief magistrate, who happened unfortunately to beaway. By this time the populace had got very excited, and the Englishmenwere with difficulty escorted in safety to their boat. The Chinese, however, pelted them with stones, notwithstanding the efforts of the chiefofficer, who had by this time returned and taken the foreigners under hisprotection. It was due to his great heroism that they escaped with theirlives and without any serious injury. 

The incident, unpleasant in itself, might have been explained away andclosed without untoward consequences if Sir John Davis had not seized, ashe thought, a good opportunity of procuring greater liberty and securityfor Englishmen at Canton. He refused to see in this affair an accident, but denounced it as an outrage, and proclaimed "that he would exact andrequire from the Chinese government that British subjects should be asfree from molestation and insult in China as they would be in England. "This demand was both unreasonable and unjust. It was impossible that thehated foreigner, or "foreign devil, " as he was called, could wander aboutthe country in absolute security when the treaty wrung from the emperor asthe result of an arduous war confined him to five ports, and limited theemperor's capacity to extend protection to those places. But Sir JohnDavis determined to take this occasion of forcing events, so that he mightcompel the Chinese to afford greater liberty to his countrymen, and thushasten the arrival of the day for the opening of the gates of Canton. Onthe 1st of April all the available troops at Hongkong were warned forimmediate service, and on the following day the two regiments in garrisonleft in three steamers and escorted by one man-of-war to attack Canton. They landed at the Bogue forts, seized the batteries without oppositionand spiked the guns. The Chinese troops, whether surprised or acting underorders from Keying, made no attempt at resistance. Not a shot was fired, not a man was injured among the assailants. The forts near Canton, thevery batteries on the island opposite the city, were captured without ablow, and on the 3d of April, 1847, Canton again lay at the mercy of anEnglish force. Sir John Davis then published another notice, stating that"he felt that the moderation and justice of all his former dealings withthe government of China lend a perfect sanction to measures which he hasbeen reluctantly compelled to adopt after a long course of misinterpretedforbearance, " and made certain demands of the Chinese authorities whichmay be epitomized as follows: The City of Canton to be opened at twoyears' date from April 6, 1847; Englishman to be at liberty to roam forexercise or amusement in the neighborhood of the city on the one conditionthat they returned the same day; and some minor conditions, to which noexception could be taken. After brief consideration, and notwithstandingthe clamor of the Cantonese to be led against the foreigners, Keyingagreed to the English demands, although he delivered a side-thrust at thehigh-handed proceedings of the English officer when he said, "If a mutualtranquillity is to subsist between the Chinese and foreigners, the commonfeelings of mankind, as well as the just principles of Heaven, must beconsidered and conformed with. "

Keying, by the terms of his convention with Sir John Davis, had agreedthat the gates of Canton were to be opened on April 6, 1849, but thenearer that day approached the more doubtful did it appear whether thepromise would be complied with, and whether, in the event of refusal, itwould be wise to have recourse to compulsion. The officials on both sideswere unfeignedly anxious for a pacific solution, but trade was greatlydepressed in consequence of the threatening demeanor of the Cantonpopulace. There was scarcely any doubt that the Chinese authorities didnot possess the power to compel obedience on the part of the Cantonese toan order to admit Europeans into their city, and on the question beingreferred to Taoukwang he made an oracular reply which was interpreted asfavoring the popular will. "That, " he said, "to which the hearts of thepeople incline is that on which the decree of Heaven rests. Now the peopleof Kwantung are unanimous and determined that they will not haveforeigners enter the city; and how can I post up everywhere my imperialorder and force an opposite course on the people?" The English governmentwas disposed to show great forbearance and refrained from opposingTaoukwang's views. But although the matter was allowed to drop, the rightacquired by the convention with Keying was not surrendered; and, asTaoukwang had never formally ratified the promise of that minister, it wasconsidered that there had been no distinct breach of faith on the part ofthe Chinese government. The Chinese continued to cling tenaciously totheir rights, and to contest inch by inch every concession demanded by theEuropeans, and sometimes they were within their written warrant in doingso. Such a case happened at Foochow shortly after the accession ofHienfung, when an attempt was made to prevent foreigners residing in thattown, and after a long correspondence it was discovered that the Chinesewere so far right, as the treaty specified as the place of foreignresidence the _kiangkan_ or mart at the mouth of the river, and notthe _ching_ or town itself. It was at this critical moment that theChinese were attracted in large numbers by the discovery of gold inCalifornia and Australia to emigrate from China, and they showedthemselves well capable by their trade organization and close union ofobtaining full justice for themselves and an ample recognition of alltheir rights in foreign countries. The effect of this emigration onChinese public opinion was much less than might have been expected, andthe settlement of the foreign question was in no way simplified orexpedited by their influence. 

The position of affairs at Canton could not, by the greatest stretch oflanguage, be pronounced satisfactory. The populace was unequivocallyhostile; the officials had the greatest difficulty in making theirauthority respected, and the English government was divided between thedesire to enforce the stipulation as to the opening of the Canton gates, and the fear lest insistence might result in a fresh and serious rupture. Sir George Bonham, who succeeded Sir John Davis, gave counsels ofmoderation, and when he found that some practical propositions which hemade for improved intercourse were rejected he became more convinced thatthe question must wait for solution for a more convenient and promisingoccasion. 

In 1852 Sir George Bonham returned to England on leave, and his place wastaken by Dr. John Bowring, who had officiated for a short period as consulat Canton. His instructions were of a simple and positive character. Theywere "to avoid all irritating discussions with the authorities of China. "He was also directed to avoid pushing arguments on doubtful points in amanner that would fetter the free action of the government; but he was, atthe same time, to recollect that it was his duty to carefully watch overand insist upon the performance by the Chinese authorities of theirengagements. The proper fulfillment of the latter duty necessarilyinvolved some infringement of the former recommendation; and while theparamount consideration with the Foreign Office was to keep things quiet, it was natural that the official on the spot should think a great deal, ifnot altogether, of how best to obtain compliance to the fullest extentwith the pledges given in the treaty and the subsequent conventions. Dr. Bowring was not an official to be deterred from expressing his opinions byfear of headquarters. He sent home his view of the situation, expressed invery clear and intelligible language. "The Pottinger treaties, " he said, "inflicted a deep wound upon the pride, but by no means altered thepolicy, of the Chinese government. .. . Their purpose is now, as it everwas, not to invite, not to facilitate, but to impede and resist the accessof foreigners. It must, then, ever be borne in mind, in considering thestate of our relations with these regions, that the two governments haveobjects at heart which are diametrically opposed, except in so far thatboth earnestly desire to avoid all hostile action, and to make its ownpolicy, as far as possible, subordinate to that desire. " At this point aLiberal administration gave place to a Conservative; but Lord Malmesburyreiterated in stronger language the instructions of Lord Granville. "Allirritating discussions with the Chinese should be avoided, and theexisting good understanding must in no way be imperiled. " One of Dr. Bowring's first acts was to write a letter to the viceroy expressing adesire for an interview, with the object of suggesting a settlement ofpending difficulties; but the viceroy made his excuses. The meeting didnot take place, and the whole question remained dormant for two years, bywhich time not only had Sir John Bowring been knighted and confirmed inthe post of governor, but the viceroy had been superseded by thesubsequently notorious Commissioner Yeh. Up to this point all Sir JohnBowring's suggestions with regard to the settlement of the questionspending with the Chinese had been received with the official reply that hewas to abstain from all action, and that he was not to press himself onthe Canton authorities. But, in the beginning of 1854, his instructionswere so far modified that Lord Clarendon wrote admitting the desirabilityof "free and unrestricted intercourse with the Chinese officials, " and of"admission into some of the cities of China, especially Canton. "

Encouraged by these admissions in favor of the views he had been advancingfor some time, Sir John Bowring wrote an official letter to CommissionerYeh inviting him to an early interview, but stating that the interviewmust be held within the city of Canton at the viceroy's yamen. It will benoted that what Sir John asked fell short of what Keying had promised. Theopening of the gates of Canton was to have been to all Englishmen, but theEnglish government would at this point have been satisfied if itsrepresentative had been granted admission for the purpose of directnegotiation with the Chinese authorities. To the plain question put to himYeh returned an evasive answer. All his time was taken up with themilitary affairs of the province, and he absolutely ignored the proposalfor holding an interview within the city. The matter had gone too far tobe put on one side in this manner, and Sir John Bowring sent his secretaryto overcome, if possible, the repugnance of Commissioner Yeh to theinterview, and in any case to gain some information as to his objections. As the secretary could only see mandarins of very inferior rank hereturned to Hongkong without acquiring any very definite information, buthe learned enough to say that Yeh denied that Keying's arrangementpossessed any validity. The Chinese case was that it had been allowed todrop on both sides, and the utmost concession Yeh would make was to agreeto an interview at the Jinsin Packhouse outside the city walls. Thisproposition was declared to be inadmissible, when Yeh ironically remarkedthat he must consequently assume that "Sir John Bowring did not wish foran interview. " It was hoped to overcome Chinese finesse with counterfinesse, and Sir John Bowring hastened to Shanghai with the object ofestablishing direct relations with the viceroy of the Two Kiang. Aftercomplaining of the want of courtesy evinced by Yeh throughout hiscorrespondence, he expressed the wish to negotiate with any of the otherhigh officials of the empire. The reply of Eleang, who held this post, andwho was believed to be well disposed to Europeans, did not advancematters. He had no authority, he said, in the matter, and could notinterfere in what was not his concern. Commissioner Yeh was the officialappointed by the emperor to conduct relations with the foreigners, and noother official could assume his functions. Sir John Bowring thereforereturned to Hongkong without having effected anything by his visit toShanghai, but at this moment the advance of the rebels to the neighborhoodof Canton seemed likely to effect a diversion that might have importantconsequences. In a state of apprehension as to the safety of the town, Yehapplied to Sir John Bowring for assistance against the rebels, but thiscould not be granted, and Sir John Bowring only proceeded to Canton tosuperintend the preparations made for the defense of the Englishsettlement at that place. All the consuls issued a joint proclamationdeclaring their intention to remain neutral. The prompt suppression of therebellion, so far as any danger to Canton went, restored the confidence ofthe Chinese authorities, and they reverted to their old position on thequestion of the opening of the gates of Canton. 

In June, 1855, Sir John Bowring returned to the subject of officialinterviews, and made an explicit demand for the reception if not ofhimself, then at least of the consul at Canton. Yeh took his time beforehe made any reply, and when he did send one it was to the effect thatthere was no precedent for an interview with a consul, and that as SirJohn had refused to meet him outside the city there was an end of thematter. Mr. Harry Parkes succeeded Mr. Alcock as consul at Canton, and noinconsiderable amount of tact was required to carry on relations withofficials who refused to show themselves. But the evil day of opencollision could not be averted, and the antagonism caused by clashingviews and interests at last broke forth on a point which would have beenpromptly settled, had there been direct intercourse between the Englishand Chinese officials. 

On October 8, 1856, Mr. Parkes reported to Sir John Bowring at Hongkongthe particulars of an affair which had occurred on a British-owned lorchaat Canton. The lorcha "Arrow, " employed in the iron trade between Cantonand the mouth of the river, commanded by an English captain, and flyingthe English flag, had been boarded by a party of mandarins and theirfollowers while at anchor near the Dutch Folly. The lorcha--a Portuguesename for a fast sailing boat--had been duly registered in the office atHongkong, and although not entitled at that precise moment to Britishprotection, through the careless neglect to renew the license, this factwas only discovered subsequently, and was not put forward by the Chinesein justification of their action. The gravity of the affair was increasedby the fact that the English flag was conspicuously displayed, and that, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the master, it was ostentatiouslyhauled down. The crew were carried off prisoners with the exception of twomen, left at their own request to take charge of the vessel. Mr. Parkes atonce sent a letter to Yeh on the subject of this "very grave insult, "requesting that the captured crew of the "Arrow" should be returned tothat vessel without delay, and that any charges made against them shouldbe then examined into at the English consulate. In his reply CommissionerYeh justified and upheld the act of his subordinates. Of the twelve menseized, he returned nine, but with regard to the three whom he detained, he declared one to be a criminal, and the others important witnesses. Notmerely would he not release them, but he proceeded to justify theirapprehension, while he did not condescend to so much as notice the pointsof the insult to the English flag, and of his having violated treatyobligations. Yeh did not attempt to offer any excuse for the proceedingstaken in his name. He asserted certain things as facts which, in hisopinion, it was sufficient for him to accept that they should passcurrent. But the evidence on which they were based was not sufficient toobtain credence in the laxest court of justice; but even if it had beenconclusive it would not have justified the removal of the crew from the"Arrow" when the British flag was flying conspicuously at her mast. What, in brief, was the Chinese case? It was that one of the crew had beenrecognized by a man passing in a boat as one of a band of pirates who hadattacked, ill-used, and plundered him several weeks before. He hadforthwith gone to the Taotai of Canton, presented a demand for redress, and that officer had at once given the order for the arrest of theoffender, with the result described. There is no necessity to impugn theveracity of the Chinaman's story, but it did not justify the breach of"the ex-territorial rights of preliminary consular investigation beforetrial" granted to all under the protection of the English flag. The pleaof delay did not possess any force either, for the man could have beenarrested just as well by the English consul as by the mandarins, but itwould have involved a damaging admission of European authority in thematter of a Chinese subject, and the mandarins thought there was nonecessity to curtail their claim to jurisdiction. Commissioner Yeh did notattempt any excuses, and he even declared that "the 'Arrow' is not aforeign lorcha, and, therefore, " he said, "there is no use to enter intoany discussion about her. "

The question of the nationality of the "Arrow" was complicated by the factthat its registry had expired ten days before its seizure. The masterexplained that this omission was due to the vessel having been at sea, andthat it was to have been rectified as soon as he returned to Hongkong. AsLord Clarendon pointed out, this fact was not merely unknown to theChinese, but it was also "a matter of British regulation which would notjustify seizure by the Chinese. No British lorcha would be safe if hercrew were liable to seizure on these grounds. " The history of the lorcha"Arrow" was officially proved to be as follows: "The 'Arrow' washeretofore employed in trading on the coast, and while so employed wastaken by pirates. By them she was fitted out and employed on the CantonRiver during the disturbances between the imperialists and the insurgents. While on this service she was captured by the braves of one of theloyalist associations organized by the mandarins for the support of thegovernment. By this association she was publicly sold, and was purchasedby a Chin-chew Hong, a respectable firm at Canton, which also laid out aconsiderable sum in repairing her and otherwise fitting her out. Shearrived at Hongkong about the month of June, 1855, at which time a treatywas on foot (which ended in a bargain) between Fong Aming, Messrs. T. Burd& Co. 's comprador, and Lei-yeong-heen, one of the partners in the Chin-chew Hong, for the purchase of the lorcha by the former. Shortly after thearrival of the vessel at Hongkong she was claimed by one Quantai, ofMacao, who asserted that she had been his property before she was seizedby the pirates. Of course, the then owner disputed his claim; upon whichhe commenced a suit in the Vice-Admiralty Court. After a short time, byconsent of the parties, the question was referred to arbitration, but thearbitrators could not agree and an umpire was appointed, who awarded thatthe ownership of the lorcha should continue undisturbed. The ownership ofthe vessel was then transferred to Fong Aming, and in his name she isregistered. These are the simple facts connected with the purchase of thelorcha by a resident of the colony at Hongkong and her registry as aBritish vessel, and it is from these facts that the Imperial CommissionerYeh has arrived at an erroneous conclusion as to the ownership of theboat. " As the first step toward obtaining the necessary reparation, ajunk, which was supposed to be an imperial war vessel, was seized as ahostage, and Mr. Parkes addressed another letter to Yeh reminding him that"the matter which has compelled this menace still remains unsettled. "

Had there been that convenient mode of communication between the governorof Hongkong and the Chinese officials at Canton which was provided for bythe Nankin Treaty and the Keying Convention, the "Arrow" complicationwould, in all probability, never have arisen, and it is also scarcely lesscertain that it would not have produced such serious consequences as itdid but for the arrogance of Yeh. He even attempted to deny that the"Arrow" carried the English flag, but this was so clearly proved to be afact by both English and Chinese witnesses that it ceased to hold a placein the Chinese case. As it was clear that Commissioner Yeh would not giveway, and as delay would only encourage him, the admiral on the station, Sir Michael Seymour, received instructions to attack the four forts of theBarrier, and he captured them without loss. Thus, after an interval offourteen years, was the first blow struck in what may be called the thirdact of Anglo-Chinese relations, but it would be a mistake to suppose thatthe "Arrow" case was the sole cause of this appeal to arms. A blue book, bearing the significant title of "Insults to Foreigners, " gives a list andnarrative of the many outrages and indignities inflicted on Europeansbetween 1842 and 1856. The evidence contained therein justifies thestatement that the position of Europeans in China had again become mostunsafe and intolerable. Those who persist in regarding the "Arrow" affairas the only cause of the war may delude themselves into believing that theChinese were not the most blameworthy parties in the quarrel; but no onewho seeks the truth and reads all the evidence will doubt that if therehad been no "Arrow" case there would still have been a rupture between thetwo countries. The Chinese officials, headed by Yeh, had fully persuadedthemselves that, as the English had put up with so much, and hadacquiesced in the continued closing of the gates of Canton, they were notlikely to make the "Arrow" affair a casus belli. Even the capture of theBarrier forts did not bring home to their minds the gravity of thesituation. 

After dismantling these forts, Sir Michael Seymour proceeded up the river, capturing the fort in Macao Passage, and arriving before Canton on thesame day. An ultimatum was at once addressed to Yeh, stating that unlesshe at once complied with all the English demands the admiral would"proceed with the destruction of all the defenses and public buildings ofthis city and of the government vessels in the river. " This threat broughtno satisfactory answer, and the Canton forts were seized, their gunsspiked and the men-of-war placed with their broadsides opposite the city. Then Yeh, far from being cowed, uttered louder defiance than ever. Heincited the population to make a stubborn resistance; he placed a rewardof thirty dollars on the head of every Englishman slain or captured, andhe publicly proclaimed that there was no alternative but war. He seems tohave been driven to these extremities by a fear for his own personalsafety and official position. He had no warrant from his imperial masterto commit China to such a dangerous course as another war with theEnglish, and he knew that the only way to vindicate his proceedings was toobtain some success gratifying to national vanity. While Yeh was countingon the support of the people, the English admiral began the bombardment ofthe city, directing his fire principally against Yeh's yamen and a part ofthe wall, which was breached in two days. After some resistance the breachwas carried; a gate was occupied, and Sir Michael Seymour and Mr. Parkesproceeded to the yamen of the viceroy, but as it was thought dangerous tooccupy so large a city with so small a force the positions seized wereabandoned, although still commanded by the fire of the fleet. After a fewdays' rest active operations were resumed against the French Folly fortand a large fleet of war junks which had collected up the river. After awarm engagement the vessels were destroyed and the fort captured. Undaunted by these successive reverses, Yeh still breathed nothing butdefiance, and refused to make the least concession. There remained noalternative but to prosecute hostilities with renewed vigor. On the 12thand 13th of November, Sir Michael attacked the Bogue forts on both sidesof the river and captured them with little loss. These forts mounted 400guns, but only contained 1, 000 men. 

Notwithstanding these continuous reverses, the Chinese remained defiantand energetic. As soon as the English admiral left Canton to attack theBogue forts the Chinese hastened to re-occupy all their positions and torepair the breaches. They succeeded in setting fire to and thus destroyingthe whole foreign settlement, and they carried off several Europeans, allof whom were put to death and some of them tortured. The heads of theseEuropeans treacherously seized and barbarously murdered were paradedthroughout the villages of Kwangtung, in order to stimulate recruiting andto raise national enthusiasm to a high pitch. Notwithstanding theirreverses whenever it became a question of open fighting, the Chinese, bytheir obstinacy and numbers, at last succeeded in convincing Sir MichaelSeymour that his force was too small to achieve any decisive result, andhe accordingly withdrew from his positions in front of the city, and senthome a request for a force of 5, 000 troops. Meantime the Chinese were muchencouraged by the lull in hostilities, and for the time being Yeh himselfwas not dissatisfied with the result. The Cantonese saw in the destructionof the foreign settlement and the withdrawal of the English fleet somepromise of future victory, and at all events sufficient reason for thecontinued confidence of the patriot Yeh. Curiously enough, there was peaceand ostensible goodwill along the coast and at the other treaty ports, while war and national animosity were in the ascendant at Canton. Thegovernor-generals of the Two Kiang and Fuhkien declared over and overagain that they wished to abide by the Treaty of Nankin, and they threwupon Yeh the responsibility of his acts. Even Hienfung refrained fromshowing any unequivocal support of his truculent lieutenant, althoughthere is no doubt that he was impressed by the reports of many victoriesover the English barbarians with which Yeh supplied him. As long as Yehwas able to keep the quarrel a local one, and to thus shield the centralgovernment from any sense of personal danger, he enjoyed the good wishes, if not the active support, of his sovereign. But, unfortunately for thesuccess of his schemes, only the most energetic support of the Pekingovernment in money and men could have enabled him to hold his own; and ashe did nothing but report victories in order to gain a hearing for hispolicy, he could not grumble when he was not sent the material aid ofwhich he stood most in need. His unreasonable action had done much tounite all foreign nations against China. French, American and Spanishsubjects had been the victims of Chinese ignorance and cruelty, as well asEnglish, and they all saw that the success of Yeh's policy would rendertheir position untenable. 

On the receipt of Sir Michael Seymour's request for a force of 5, 000 men, it was at once perceived in London that the question of our relations withChina had again entered a most important and critical phase. It was atonce decided to send the force for which the admiral asked; and, while1, 500 men were sent from England and a regiment from the Mauritius, theremainder was to be drawn from the Madras army. At the same time it wasconsidered necessary to send an embassador of high rank to acquaint thePekin authorities that, while such acts as those of Yeh would not betolerated, there was no desire to press too harshly on a country which wasonly gradually shaking off its exclusive prejudices. Lord Elgin wasselected for the difficult mission, and his instructions contained thefollowing five categorical demands, the fourth of which was the mostimportant in its consequences:

Those instructions were conveyed in two dispatches of the same date, April20, 1857. We quote the following as the more important passages: "Thedemands which you are instructed to make will be (1), for reparation ofinjuries to British subjects, and, if the French officers should co-operate with you, for those to French subjects also; (2) for the completeexecution at Canton, as well as at the other ports, of the stipulations ofthe several treaties; (3) compensation to British subjects and personsentitled to British protection for losses incurred in consequence of thelate disturbances; (4) the assent of the Chinese government to theresidence at Pekin, or to the occasional visit to that capital, at theoption of the British government, of a minister duly accredited by thequeen to the emperor of China, and the recognition of the right of theBritish plenipotentiary and chief superintendent of trade to communicatedirectly in writing with the high officers at the Chinese capital, and tosend his communications by messengers of his own selection, sucharrangements affording the best means of insuring the due execution of theexisting treaties, and of preventing future misunderstandings; (5) arevision of the treaties with China with a view to obtaining increasedfacilities for commerce, such as access to cities on the great rivers aswell as to Chapoo and to other ports on the coast, and also permission forChinese vessels to resort to Hongkong for purposes of trade from all portsof the Chinese empire without distinction. " These were the demandsformulated by the English government for the consent of China, and sevenproposals were made as to how they were to be obtained should coercionbecome necessary. It was also stated that "it is not the intention of herMajesty's government to undertake any land operations in the interior ofthe country. "

An event of superior, and, indeed, supreme importance occurred to arrestthe movement of the expedition to Canton. When Lord Elgin reachedSingapore, on June 3, 1857, he found a letter waiting for him from LordCanning, then Governor-general of India, informing him of the outbreak ofthe Indian Mutiny, and imploring him to send all his troops to Calcutta inorder to avert the overthrow of our authority in the valley of the Ganges, where, "for a length of 750 miles, there were barely 1, 000 Europeansoldiers. " To such an urgent appeal there could only be one answer, andthe men who were to have chastised Commissioner Yeh followed Havelock toCawnpore and Lucknow. But while Lord Elgin sent his main force toCalcutta, he himself proceeded to Hongkong, where he arrived in the firstweek of July, and found that hostilities had proceeded to a still moreadvanced stage than when Sir Michael Seymour wrote for re-enforcements. The Chinese had become so confident during the winter that that officerfelt bound to resume offensive measures against them, and having beenjoined by a few more men-of-war, and having also armed some merchant shipsof light draught, he attacked a main portion of the Chinese fleetoccupying a very strong position in Escape Creek. The attack was intrustedto Commodore Elliott, who, with five gunboats and the galleys of thelarger men-of-war, carried out with complete success and little loss theorders of his superior officer. Twenty-seven armed junks were destroyed, and the thirteen that escaped were burned the next day. It was thendetermined to follow up this success by attacking the headquarters ofYeh's army at Fatshan, the place already referred to as being somedistance from Canton. By road it is six and by water twelve miles fromthat city. The remainder of the Chinese fleet was drawn up in FatshanChannel, and the Chinese had made such extensive preparations for itsdefense, both on land and on the river, that they were convinced of theimpregnability of its position. 

The Chinese position was unusually strong, and had been selected withconsiderable judgment. An island named after the hyacinth lies inmidstream two miles from the entrance to the Fatshan Channel, which joinsthe main course of the Sikiang a few miles above the town of that name. The island is flat and presents no special advantages for defense, but itenabled the Chinese to draw up a line of junks across the two channels ofthe river, and to place on it a battery of six guns, thus connecting theirtwo squadrons. The seventy-two junks were drawn up with their sternsfacing down stream, and their largest gun bearing on any assailantproceeding up it. On the left bank of the river an elevated andprecipitous hill had been occupied in force and crowned with a battery ofnineteen guns, and other batteries had been erected at different pointsalong the river. There seems no reason to question the accuracy of theestimate that more than 300 pieces of artillery and 10, 000 men wereholding this position, which had been admirably chosen and carefullystrengthened. The force which Sir Michael Seymour had available to attackthis formidable position slightly exceeded 2, 000 men, conveyed to theattack in six gunboats and a large flotilla of boats. The English advancewas soon known to the Chinese, who began firing from their junks andbatteries as soon as they came within range. Three hundred marines werelanded to attack the battery on the hill, which was found not to be sostrong as it appeared; for on the most precipitous side the Chinese, believing it to be unscalable, had placed no guns, and those in positioncould not be moved to bear on the assailants in that quarter. The marinesgained the top with scarcely any loss, and as they charged over the sidethe Chinese retired with little loss, owing to the ill-directed fire ofthe marines. 

Meantime the sailors had attacked the Chinese position on the river. Thetide was at low water, and the Chinese had barred the channel with a rowof sunken junks, leaving a narrow passage known only to themselves. Theleading English boat struck on the hidden barrier, but the passage beingdiscovered the other vessels got through. Those boats which ran agroundwere gradually floated, one after the other, by the rising tide, and atlast the flotilla, with little damage, reached the line of stakes whichthe Chinese had placed to mark the range of the guns in their junks. Atonce the fire from the seventy-two junks and the battery on HyacinthIsland became so furious and well-directed that it was a matter ofastonishment how the English boats passed through it. They reached andpierced the line of junks, of which one after another was given to theflames. Much of the success of the attack was due to the heroic example ofCommodore Harry Keppel, who led the advance party of 500 cutlasses, andwho gave the Chinese no time to rest or rally. Having broken the line ofjunks, he took up the pursuit in his seven boats, having determined thatthe only proof of success could be the capture of Fatshan, and after fourmiles' hard rowing he came in sight of the elaborate defenses drawn up bythe Chinese for the security of that place. At the short range of aquarter of a mile the fire of the Chinese guns was tremendous anddestructive. Keppel's own boat was reduced to a sinking state, and had tobe abandoned. Some of his principal officers were killed, three of hisboats ran aground, and things looked black for the small English force. Atthis critical moment, the Chinese, thinking that they had checked theEnglish attack, and hearing of the magnitude of their reverse down stream, thought their best course would be to retire. Then the few English boatsresumed the attack, and hung on to the retreating junks like bull-dogs. Many junks were given to the flames, and five were carried off under theteeth of the Fatshan populace; but Keppel's force was too small to holdthat town and put it to the ransom, so the worn-out, but stillenthusiastic force, retired to join the main body under Sir MichaelSeymour, who was satisfied that he had achieved all that was necessary orprudent with his squadron. In these encounters thirteen men were killedand forty wounded, of whom several succumbed to their wounds, for it wasnoticed that the Chinese shot inflicted cruel injuries. The destruction ofthe Chinese fleet on the Canton River could not be considered heavilypurchased at the cost, and the extent of the trepidation caused byCommodore Keppel's intrepidity could not be accurately measured. 

Lord Elgin reached Hongkong very soon after this event, and, although hebrought no soldiers with him, he found English opinion at Hongkong verypronounced in favor of an attack on Canton with a view of re-opening thatcity to trade. But the necessary force was not available, and Lord Elginrefused to commit himself to this risky course. Sir Michael Seymour saidthe attack would require 5, 000 troops, and General Ashburnham thought itcould be done with 4, 000 men if all were effective, while the wholeHongkong garrison numbered only 1, 500, and of these one-sixth wereinvalided. Lord Elgin decided to go to Calcutta, and ascertain when LordCanning would be able to spare him the troops necessary to bring China toreason. He returned to Hongkong on September 20, and he found matters verymuch as he had left them, and all the English force was capable of was toblockade the river. To supplement the weakness of the garrison a cooliecorps of 750 Chinese was organized, and proved very efficient, and towardthe end of November troops, chiefly marines, began at last to arrive fromEngland. A fleet of useful gunboats of small draught, under CaptainSherard Osborn, arrived for the purpose of operating against the junks inshallow creeks and rivers. At the same time, too, came the Frenchembassador, Baron Gros, charged with a similar mission to Lord Elgin, andbent on proving once for all that the pretensions of China to superiorityover other nations were absurd and untenable. 

On December 12 Lord Elgin sent Yeh a note apprising him of his arrival asplenipotentiary from Queen Victoria, and pointing out the repeated insultsand injuries inflicted on Englishmen, culminating in the outrage to theirflag and the repeated refusal to grant any reparation for their wrongs. But Lord Elgin went on to say that even at this eleventh hour there wastime to stay the progress of hostilities by making prompt redress. Theterms were plain and simple, and the English demands were confined to twopoints--the complete execution at Canton of all treaty engagements, including the free admission of British subjects to the city, andcompensation to British subjects and persons entitled to Britishprotection for losses incurred in consequence of the late disturbances. Tothis categorical demand Yeh made a long reply, going over the ground ofcontroversy, reasserting what he wished to believe were the facts, andcurtly concluding that the trade might continue on the old conditions, andthat each side should pay its own losses. Mr. Wade said that his languagemight bear the construction that the English consul, Mr. Harry Parkes, should pay all the cost himself. If Commissioner Yeh was a humorist hechose a bad time for indulging his proclivities, and, a sufficient forcebeing available, orders were at once given to attack Canton. On December15 Honan was occupied, and ten days were passed in bringing up the troopsand the necessary stores, when, all being in readiness, an ultimatum wassent to Yeh that if he would not give way within forty-eight hours theattack would commence. At the same time every effort was made to warn theunoffending townspeople, so that they might remove to a place of safety. The attacking force numbered about 5, 000 English, 1, 000 French, and 750 ofthe Chinese coolie corps, and it was agreed that the most vulnerable pointin the Chinese position was Lin's fort, on the eastern side of the city. When the attack began, on December 28, this fort was captured in half anhour, and the Chinese retired to the northern hills, which they had madetheir chief position in 1842. The destruction of Lin's fort by theaccidental explosion of the magazine somewhat neutralized the advantage ofits capture. On the following day the order was given to assault the cityby escalade, and three separate parties advanced on the eastern wall. TheChinese kept up a good fire until the troops were within a short distance, but before the ladders were placed against the wall they abandoned theirdefenses and fled. The English troops reformed on the wide rampart of thewall and pursued the Chinese to the north gate, where, being joined bysome Manchu troops, the latter turned and charged up to the bayonets of anEnglish regiment. But they were repulsed and driven out of the city, andsimultaneously with this success the fort on Magazine Hill, commandingboth the city and the Chinese position on the northern hills, was capturedwithout loss. In less than two hours the great city of Canton was in thepossession of the allies, and the Chinese resistance was far less vigorousand worse directed than on any occasion of equal importance. Still, theEnglish loss was fourteen killed and eighty-three wounded, while theFrench casualties numbered thirty-four. The Chinese had, however, toabandon their positions north of the city, and their elaboratefortifications were blown up. 

Although all regular resistance had been overcome, the greater part of thecity remained in possession of the Chinese and of Yeh in person. Thatofficial, although in the lowest straits, had lost neither his fortitudenor his ferocity. He made not the least sign of surrender, and his lastact of authority was to order the execution of 400 citizens, whom hedenounced as traitors to their country. From his yamen in the interior ofthe city, when he found that the English hesitated to advance beyond thewalls, he incited the populace to fresh efforts of hostility, and, inorder to check their increasing audacity, it was resolved to send a forceinto the city to effect the capture of Yeh. On January 5, 1858, threedetachments were sent into the native city, and they advanced at once uponthe official residences of Yeh and Pihkwei, the governor. The Chinese werequite unprepared for this move, and being taken unawares they offeredscarcely any resistance. The yamen was occupied and the treasury captured, while Pihkwei was made prisoner in his own house. The French at the sametime attacked and occupied the Tartar city--a vast stone-built suburbwhich had been long allowed to fall into decay, and which, instead ofbeing occupied, as was believed, by 7, 000 Manchu warriors, was theresidence of bats and nauseous creatures. But the great object of theattack was unattained, for Yeh still remained at large, and no one seemedto know where he ought to be sought, for all the official buildings hadbeen searched in vain. But Mr. Parkes, by indefatigable inquiry, at lastgained a clew from a poor scholar whom he found poring over an ancientclassic at the library, undisturbed in the midst of the turmoil. From himhe learned that Yeh would probably be found in a yamen situated in thesouthwest quarter of the city. Mr. Parkes hastened thither with Captain(afterward Admiral) Cooper Key and a party of sailors. They arrived justin time, for all the preparations for flight had been made, and CaptainKey caught Yeh with his own hand as he was escaping over the wall. One ofhis assistants came forward with praiseworthy devotion and declaredhimself to be Yeh, in the hope of saving his superior; but the deceptionwas at once detected by Mr. Parkes, who assured Yeh that no harm would bedone him. The capture of Yeh completed the effect of the occupation ofCanton, and the disappearance of the most fanatical opponent of theforeigners insured the tranquillity of the Canton region, which had beenthe main seat of disorder, during the remainder of the war. The governmentof Canton was then intrusted to Pihkwei and a commission of one Frenchmanand two Englishmen, and the Chinese admitted it had never been bettergoverned. Yeh himself was sent to Calcutta, where he died two years later, and, considering the abundant evidence of his cruel treatment ofdefenseless prisoners, he had every reason to consider his punishmentlenient. 

Having thus settled the difficulty at Canton, it remained for Lord Elginto carry out the other part of his task, and place diplomatic relationsbetween England and China on a satisfactory basis by obtaining the rightof direct communication with Pekin. A letter dated February 11, 1858, wassent to the senior Secretary of State at Pekin describing what hadoccurred in the south, and summarizing what would be required from theChinese government. The English and French plenipotentiaries also notifiedthat they would proceed to Shanghai for the purpose of conducting furthernegotiations. This letter was duly forwarded to Pekin by the Governor ofKiangsu, and when Lord Elgin reached Shanghai on March 30 he found thereply of Yu-ching, the chief adviser of Hienfung, waiting for him. Yuching's letter was extremely unsatisfactory. It was arrogant in itsterms and impracticable as to its proposals. Lord Elgin was told that "noimperial commissioner ever conducts business at Shanghai, " and that itbehooved the English minister to wait at Canton until the arrival of a newimperial commissioner from Pekin. The only concession the Chinese made wasto dismiss Yeh from his posts, and as he was a prisoner in the hands ofthe English this did not mean much. Lord Elgin's reply to thiscommunication was to announce his intention of proceeding to the Peiho, and there negotiating direct with the imperial government. Lord Elginreached the Gulf of Pechihli about the middle of April, and he againaddressed Yuching in the hope of an amicable settlement, and requestedthat the emperor would appoint some official to act as hisplenipotentiary. Three minor officials were appointed, more out ofcuriosity than from a desire to promote business, but on Lord Elgindiscovering that they were of inferior rank and that their powers wereinadequate, he declined to see them. But Yuching refused to appoint anyothers; stating curtly that their powers were ample for the adjustment ofaffairs, and then Lord Elgin announced that he would proceed up the Peihoto Tientsin. Some delay was caused by the non-arrival of the fleet, whichwas not assembled in the Gulf of Pechihli, through different causes ofdelay, until the end of May, or about three weeks after Lord Elginannounced his intention of forcing his way up to Tientsin. There is nodoubt that Sir Michael Seymour was in no sense to blame for this delay, but unfortunately it aroused considerable irritation in the mind of LordElgin, who sent home a dispatch, without informing his colleague, statingthat the delay was "a most grievous disappointment, " and attributing it tothe supineness of the admiral. 

On May 19 the allied fleet proceeded to the mouth of the river, andsummoned the commandant to surrender the Taku forts on the followingmorning. No reply being received, the attack commenced, and after thebombardment had gone on at short range for an hour and a quarter theChinese gunners were driven from their batteries, and the troops landed, occupying the whole line of forts and intrenched camps. An attempt toinjure our fleet by fire-ships miscarried, and considering that theChinese had some of their best troops present, including a portion of theImperial Guard, their resistance was not as great as might have beenexpected. Their general committed suicide, and the Chinese lost the bestpart of their artillery, which had been removed from Pekin and Tientsinfor the defense of the entrance to the Peiho. The fleet proceeded up theriver to Tientsin, and Lord Elgin took up his quarters in that city. TheChinese government was brought to reason by this striking success, and, with his capital menaced, the emperor hastened to delegate full powers totwo high commissioners, Kweiliang and Hwashana, both Manchus anddignitaries of the highest birth and rank. Their powers were superior tothose granted to Keying at the time of the old war, and they werecommanded with affectionate earnestness to show the foreigners that theywere competent and willing to grant anything not injurious to China. Nothing could be more satisfactory than the proposals of the new Chineserepresentatives, and they were anxious to settle everything with the leastpossible delay. At this point there reappeared upon the scene a man whoseprevious experience and high position entitled him to some consideration. Less than a week after his first interview with the imperialrepresentatives, Lord Elgin received a letter from Keying, who, it wassoon found, had come on a self-appointed mission to induce the English byartifice and plausible representation to withdraw their fleet from theriver. His zeal was increased by the knowledge that the penalty of failurewould be death, and as his reputation had been very great among Europeansthere is no saying but that he might have succeeded had there not beendiscovered in Yeh's yamen at Canton some of his papers, which showed thathe had played a double part throughout, and that at heart he was bitterlyanti-foreign. When he found that the English possessed this information hehastened back to Pekin, where he was at once summoned before the Board ofPunishment for immediate judgment, and, being found guilty, it was orderedthat as he had acted "with stupidity and precipitancy" he should bestrangled forthwith. As an act of extreme grace the emperor allowed him toput an end to his existence in consideration of his being a member of theimperial family. 

After the departure of Keying, negotiations proceeded very satisfactorilywith Kweiliang and Hwashana, and all the points were practically agreedupon, excepting the right to have a resident minister at Pekin. This claimwas opposed on several grounds. It was not merely something that had neverbeen heard of, but it would probably be attended with peril to the envoyas well as to the Chinese government. Then the commissioners wanted toknow if he would wear the Chinese dress, if all the powers would have onlyone minister, and if he would make the kotow? Finding such arguments failthey asked that the visit of an English embassador to Pekin should bepostponed till a more favorable occasion. They made the admission that"there is properly no objection to the permanent residence at Pekin of aplenipotentiary minister of her Britannic Majesty, " and they even spoke ofsending a return mission to London; but they deprecated the proposal asnovel and as specially risky at this moment in consequence of theformidable Taeping Rebellion. These representations did not fail toproduce their effect, for it was not to the interest of Europeansgenerally that the emperor's authority should be subverted on the morrowof his signing a treaty with us. In consequence of these feelings, andwith a wish to reciprocate the generally conciliatory attitude of theChinese officials, Kweiliang and Hwashana were informed that the rightwould be waived for the present, except that it would be necessary for theEnglish minister to visit Pekin twelve months later, on the occasion ofexchanging the ratifications of the treaty; and so the matter was leftpending the arrival of that occasion. While the Treaty of Tientsinprovided for the conclusion of a peace that promised to be enduring, andarranged for the future diplomatic relations of the two countries, commissioners were duly appointed to meet at Shanghai and draw up atariff. But at Tientsin the great crux in the commercial relations betweenus and the Chinese had been settled by the legalization of opium. It wasagreed that opium might be imported into China on payment of thirty taels, or about fifty dollars, per chest. Experience had shown that leaving themost largely imported article into China contraband had been both futileand inconvenient, while the Chinese government was a direct loser by notenjoying a legitimate source of revenue. How general the view had becomethat the evils of the use of opium were exaggerated, and, even admittingthem, that there was no better way of diminishing their effect than bylegalizing the import of opium, can be judged by the ready acquiescence ofthe Chinese commissioners; and here, from many other matured opinions, wemay quote the final and deliberate conviction of Sir Henry Pottinger:

"I take this opportunity to advert to one important topic on which I havehitherto considered it right to preserve a rigid silence--I allude to thetrade in opium; and I now unhesitatingly declare in this public mannerthat after the most unbiased and careful observations I have becomeconvinced during my stay in China that the alleged demoralizing anddebasing evils of opium have been and are vastly exaggerated. Like allother indulgences, excesses in its use are bad and reprehensible; but Ihave neither myself seen such vicious consequences as are frequentlyascribed to it, nor have I been able to obtain authentic proofs orinformation of their existence. The great, and perhaps I might say sole, objection to the trade, looking at it morally and abstractedly, that Ihave discovered, is that it is at present contraband and prohibited by thelaws of China, and therefore to be regretted and disavowed; but I havestriven--and I hope with some prospect of eventual success--to bring aboutits legalization; and were that point once effected, I am of opinion thatits most objectionable feature would be altogether removed. Even as it nowexists it appears to me to be unattended with a hundredth part of thedebasement and misery which may be seen in our native country from thelamentable abuse of ardent spirits, and those who so sweepingly condemnthe opium trade on that principle need not, I think, leave the shores ofEngland to find a far greater and more besetting evil. "

The ink on the Tientsin treaty was scarcely dry before reasons began to befurnished against the sincerity of the emperor and his desire for peace. Before the fleet left the Peiho workmen were already engaged repairing andre-arming the Taku forts, and the morrow of Lord Elgin's departure fromHongkong witnessed the revival of disturbances round Canton, where the newimperial commissioner Hwang, instead of seeking to restore harmony, haddevoted himself to inciting the population to patriotic deeds in emulationof Commissioner Yeh. It was found necessary to take strenuous measuresagainst the turbulent patriots of Kwantung, and to break up their mainforce in their strong and well-chosen position at Shektsin, which wasaccomplished by a vigorous attack both on land and water. The suspicionthat the Chinese were not absolutely straightforward in their latestdealings with us was confirmed by the discovery at Shektsin of secretimperial edicts, breathing defiance to the foreigners and inciting thepeople to resistance. These and other facts warned the Europeanauthorities on the spot that there was no certainty that the Treaty ofTientsin would be ratified, or that a British envoy would be admitted intothe capital for even the temporary business of a diplomatic ceremony. While people in Europe were assuming that the Chinese question might bedismissed for twenty years, the English consuls and commanders in thetreaty ports were preparing themselves for a fresh and more vigorousdemonstration of Chinese hostility and animosity. The matter that was toprove the sincerity and good faith of the Chinese government was thereception at Pekin of the English officer intrusted with the duty ofexchanging the ratified copies of the treaty. If he were allowed toproceed to Pekin there would be reason for accepting the assurances of theemperor that a permanent arrangement should be effected later on, when itwould not injure his dignity or authority. 

Mr. Frederick Bruce, who had been secretary to his brother, Lord Elgin, and who had previously served at Hongkong, was appointed her Majesty'srepresentative for the purpose of exchanging the ratifications of thetreaty. He was instructed to inform the Chinese officials that, while theBritish government would not renounce the right of having a permanentresident minister at Pekin, they were prepared to waive it for a time byallowing diplomatic intercourse to be carried on at Shanghai. But nodeviation was to be permitted from the arrangement that the ratificationswere to be exchanged at Pekin, and Lord Malmesbury warned the new envoythat "all the arts at which the Chinese are such adepts will be put inpractice to dissuade you from repairing to the capital. " Mr. Brucereceived his instructions on March 1, 1859, and the exchange ofratifications had to be effected before June 26. Mr. Bruce reachedHongkong in April, and he found the air full of unsatisfactory rumors; andwhen he reached Shanghai the uncertainty was intensified by the presenceof Kweiliang and Hwashana, who seemed to think that everything might besettled without a journey to Pekin. They endeavored to get up a discussionon some unsettled details of minor importance, in the hope that the periodfor the ratification of the treaty might be allowed to expire. Mr. Bruceannounced his imminent departure for the Peiho to Kweiliang, and expressedthe hope that arrangements would be made for his safe conveyance to andappropriate accommodation at Pekin. Neither Mr. Bruce's instructions norhis own opinion justified any delay in proceeding to the north, and thefleet sent on in advance under the command of Admiral Hope reached themouth of the Peiho on June 17, three days before Mr. Bruce. The admiral onarrival sent a notification to the Chinese officers in command of theforts that the English envoy was coming. But the reception given to theofficers who conveyed this intimation was distinctly unfavorable and evenhostile. The two boats sent ashore found that the entrance to the riverwas effectually barred by a row of iron stakes and by an inner boom, andthat a large and excited crowd forbade them to land. A vague promise wasgiven that an opening would be made in the obstructions to admit thepassage of the English ships; but on the boats repeating their visit onthe succeeding day they found that the small passages had been moreeffectually secured, and that there could no longer be any doubt that theChinese did not intend to admit the English envoy. It was thereforedetermined to make a demonstration with the fleet, and if necessary toresort to force, which it was never doubted would be attended with littlerisk and crowned With complete success. 

On June 25 the attack on the Taku forts began with the removal of the ironstakes forming the outer barrier by the steamer "Opossum, " and this partof the operations was performed without a shot being fired. When, however, the eleven ships forming the English fleet reached the inner boomall the Chinese forts and batteries began to fire with an accuracy whichshowed that the guns had been trained to bear on this precise spot. Theresult of this unexpectedly vigorous bombardment was soon shown in thedamaged condition of our ships. Two gunboats were sunk, all the vesselswere more or less damaged, and when, after three hours' cannonade, it wassought to retrieve the doubtful fortune of the day by a land attack, theresult only went to accentuate the ill results of the naval engagement. Inthis disastrous affair more than 300 men were killed and wounded, which, added to the loss of three gunboats, represented a very serious disaster. But the worst of it was that it convinced the emperor and his advisersthat they could hold their own against Europeans, and that it placed theextreme party once more in the ascendant at Pekin. Sankolinsin, the Mongolprince who had checked the advance of the Taepings, became master of thesituation, and declared that there was nothing to fear from an enemy whohad been repulsed by the raw levies of the province while he held the flatcountry between the Peiho and Pekin with the flower of the Banner army. Mr. Bruce returned to Shanghai, the fleet to Hongkong, and the matterremained suspended until fresh instructions and troops could be receivedfrom Europe. 

After some hesitation and delay, a plan of joint action was agreed upon inNovember, 1859, between France and England, and it was hoped that thewhole expeditionary force would have reached its destination by April, 1860. Pending its arrival Mr. Bruce was instructed to present an ultimatumwith thirty days' grace demanding an immediate apology, the payment of alarge indemnity amounting to $12, 000, 000 to both England and France, andthe ratification of the Treaty of Tientsin. The minister, Pang Wanching, replied, categorically refusing all these requests; and, as neitherindemnity nor apology was offered, there remained no alternative but theinevitable and supreme appeal to arms. 

The troops which were to form the expedition were mainly drawn from India, and Sir Hope Grant, who had not merely distinguished himself during theMutiny, but who had served in the first English war with China during theoperations round Canton, was appointed to the command of the army; whileAdmiral Hope, strongly re-enforced in ships, retained the command of thenaval forces. A force of five batteries of artillery, six regiments ofinfantry, two squadrons of cavalry, together with a body of horse and footfrom the native army of India, amounting in all to about 10, 000 men, wasplaced at the general's disposal in addition to the troops already inChina. The French government agreed to send another army of about two-thirds this strength to co-operate on the Peiho, and General Montauban wasnamed for the command. The collection of this large expedition broughtinto prominence the necessity of employing as embassador a diplomatist ofhigher rank than Mr. Bruce; and accordingly, in February Lord Elgin andBaron Gros were commissioned to again proceed to China for the purpose ofsecuring the ratification of their own treaty. Sir Hope Grant reachedHongkong in March, 1860, and by his recommendation a stronger nativecontingent (one Sikh regiment, four Punjab regiments, two Bombayregiments, one Madras regiment of foot, and two irregular regiments ofSikh cavalry, known as Fane's and Probyn's Horse; Sir John Michel and SirRobert Napier commanding divisions under Sir Hope Grant) was added, raising the English force in the field to more than 13, 000 men. A leasewas obtained in perpetuity, through the skillful negotiation of Mr. Parkes, of Kowlun and Stonecutter Island, where, from their salubriousposition, it was proposed to place the troops on their arrival from Indiaor England. Chusan was occupied the following month without opposition byan English brigade of 2, 000 men. 

The summer had commenced before the whole of the expedition assembled atHongkong, whence it was moved northward to Shanghai about a year after thefailure of the attack on the forts on the Peiho. A further delay wascaused by the tardiness of the French, and July had begun before theexpedition reached the Gulf of Pechihli. Then opposite opinions led todifferent suggestions, and while the English advocated proceeding toattack Pehtang, General Montauban drew up another plan of action. But theexigencies of the alliance compelled the English, who were ready, to waitfor the French, who were not, in order that the assault might be madesimultaneously. Before that time arrived the French commander had beenbrought round to the view that the proper plan of campaign was thatsuggested by the English commander; viz. , to attack and capture Pehtang, whence the Taku forts might be taken in the rear. It is somewhatremarkable to observe that no one suggested a second time endeavoring tocarry by a front attack these forts, which had in the interval sinceAdmiral Hope's failure been rendered more formidable. 

At Pehtang the Chinese had made few preparations for defense, and nothingof the same formidable character as at Taku. The forts on both sides ofthe river were neither extensive nor well-armed. The garrison consistedlargely of Tartar cavalry, more useful for watching the movements of theforeigners than for working artillery when exposed to the fire of the newArmstrong guns of the English. The attacking force landed in boats and bywading, Sir Hope Grant setting his men the example. No engagement tookplace on the night of disembarkation. When morning broke, a suspicioussilence in the enemy's quarters strengthened the belief that Pehtang wouldnot be defended. While the garrison had resolved not to resist an attack, they had contemplated causing their enemy as much loss as if he had beenobliged to carry the place by storm by placing shells in the magazinewhich would be exploded by the moving of some gunlocks put in a spot wherethey could not fail to be trodden upon. This plot, which was thoroughly inaccordance with the practices of Chinese warfare, was fortunately divulgedby a native more humane than patriotic, and Pehtang was captured andoccupied without the loss of a single man. This success at thecommencement enabled the whole of the expedition to land without furtherdelay or difficulty. Three days after the capture of Pehtang, reconnoitering parties were sent out to ascertain what the Chinese weredoing, and whether they had made any preparations to oppose an advancetoward Taku or Tientsin. Four miles from Pehtang they came in sight of astrongly intrenched camp, where several thousand men opened fire upon thereconnoitering parties with their gingalls, and several men were wounded. The object being only to find out what the Celestial army was doing, andwhere it was, the Europeans withdrew on discovering the proximity of sostrong a force. The great difficulty was to discover a way of getting fromPehtang on to some of the main roads leading to the Peiho; for the wholeof the surrounding country had been under water, and was more or lessimpassable. In fact, the region round Pehtang consisted of nothing butmud, while the one road, an elevated causeway, was blocked by thefortified camp just mentioned as having been discovered by thereconnoitering party. A subsequent reconnaissance, conducted by Colonel(now Lord) Wolseley, revealed the presence of a cart-track which mightprove available for the march of troops. This track was turned toadvantage for the purpose of taking the Chinese position in flank, and toSir Robert Napier's division was assigned this, as it proved, difficultoperation. When the maneuver of out-flanking had been satisfactorilyaccomplished, the attack was commenced in front. Here the Chinese stood totheir position, but only for a brief time, as the fire from eighteen guns, including some forty-pounders, soon silenced their gingalls, and theyprecipitately abandoned their intrenchments. While the engagement in fronthad reached this favorable termination Sir Robert Napier had been engagedon the right hand with a strong body of Tartar cavalry, which attackedwith considerable valor, and with what seemed a possibility of success, until the guns opening upon them and the Sikh cavalry charging themdispelled their momentary dream of victory. The prize of this battle wasthe village of Sinho with its line of earthworks, one mile north of thePeiho, and about seven miles in the rear of the Taku forts. 

The next day was occupied in examining the Chinese position and indiscovering, what was more difficult than its capture, how it might beapproached. It was found that the village, which formed a fortified squareprotected by batteries, could be best approached by the river bank, andthe only obstacle in this quarter was that represented by the fire of theguns of two junks, supported by a battery on the opposite side of theriver. These, however, were soon silenced by the superior fire directedupon them, and the guns were spiked by Captain Willis and a few sailors, who crossed the river for the purpose. The flank of the advance being thusprotected, the attack on Tangku itself began with a cannonade from thirty-six pieces of the best artillery of that age. The Chinese fire was soonrendered innocuous, and their walls and forts were battered down. Eventhen, however, the garrison gave no signs of retreat, and it was not untilthe Armstrongs had been dragged within a very short distance of the walls, and the foot-soldiers had absolutely effected an entrance, that thegarrison thought of their personal safety and turned in flight. 

Some days before the battle and capture of Tangku, Lord Elgin receivedseveral communications from Hang, the Governor-general of Pechihli, requesting a cessation of hostilities, and announcing the approach of twoimperial commissioners appointed for the express purpose of ratifying theTreaty of Tientsin. But Lord Elgin very wisely perceived that it would beimpossible to negotiate on fair terms unless the Taku forts were in hispossession. The capture of Tangku placed the allied forces in the rear ofthe northern forts on the Peiho; and those forts once occupied, the otherson the southern side would be practically untenable and obliged tosurrender at discretion. Several days were passed in preliminaryobservations and skirmishing. On the one side, the whole of the Tartarcavalry was removed to the southern bank; on the other, a bridge of boatswas thrown across the Peiho, and the approach to the northern fortcarefully examined up to 600 yards from the wall. At this point the viewsof the allied generals again clashed. General Montauban wished to attackthe southern forts. Sir Hope Grant was determined to begin by carrying thenorthern. The attack on the chief northern fort commenced on the morningof August 21 with a heavy cannonade; the Chinese, anticipating the plansof the English, were the first to fire. The Chinese fought their guns withextraordinary courage. A shell exploded their principal magazine, whichblew up with a terrible report; but as soon as the smoke cleared off theyrecommenced their fire with fresh ardor. Although even this fort had notbeen constructed with the same strength in the rear as they all presentedin the front, the resistance was most vigorous. A premature attempt tothrow a pontoon across the ditch was defeated with the loss of sixteenmen. The coolie corps here came to the front, and, rushing into the water, held up the pontoons while the French and some English troops dashedacross. But all their efforts to scale the wall were baffled, and itseemed as if they had only gone to self-destruction. While the battle wasthus doubtfully contested, Major Anson, who had shown the greatestintrepidity on several occasions, succeeded in cutting the ropes that heldup a drawbridge, and an entrance was soon effected within the body of theworks. The Chinese still resisted nobly, and it was computed that out of agarrison of 500 men but 100 escaped. The English loss was 22 killed, and179, including 21 officers, were wounded. To these figures must be addedthe French loss. 

There still remained four more forts on the northern side of the river, and it seemed as if these would offer further resistance, as the garrisonsuttered threats of defiance to a summons to surrender. But appearanceswere deceptive, and for the good reason that all of these forts were onlyprotected in the rear by a slight wall. The French rushed impetuously tothe attack, only to find that the garrison had given up the defense, whilea large number had actually retired. Two thousand prisoners were made, andthe fall of the forts on the northern bank was followed by an immediatesummons to those on the southern to surrender; and as they were commandedby the guns in the former they yielded with as good a grace as they couldmuster. The following day formal occupation was made, and the spoilincluded more than 600 cannon of various sizes and degrees of efficiency. On that day also the fleet, which had during these operations been ridingat anchor off the mouth of the river, proceeded across the bar, removedthe different obstacles that had been intended to hinder its approach, andAdmiral Hope anchored in security off those very forts which had repulsedhim in the previous year, and which would in all probability havecontinued to defy any direct attack from the sea. Let it not be said, therefore, that Sir Hope Grant's capture of the Taku forts reflected inany way on the courage or capacity of Admiral Hope for the failure in1859. 

By this decisive success the road to Tientsin was opened both by land andby the river. The fleet of gunboats, which had participated as far as theycould without incurring any undue danger in the attack on the forts, wereordered up the Peiho; and the English embassador, escorted by a strongnaval and military force, proceeded to Tientsin, where it would bepossible, without any loss of dignity, to resume negotiations with thePekin government. The advanced gunboats arrived at Tientsin on August 23, and three days later the greater portion of the expedition had enteredthat city. No resistance was attempted, although several batteries andintrenched camps were passed on the way. Precautions were at once taken tomake the position of the troops as secure as possible in the midst of avery large and presumably hostile population. The people showed, accordingto the ideas of Europe, an extraordinary want of patriotic fervor, andwere soon engaged, on the most amicable terms, in conducting a brisk tradewith the invaders of their country; but there was never any doubt that onthe first sign of a reverse they would have turned upon the foreigntroops, and completed by all the means in their power their discomfiture. Several communications passed between the opposite camps during thesedays; and when Hang announced the withdrawal of all Chinese troops fromTientsin he expressed a wish that the English embassador would not bringmany vessels of war with him. But such requests were made more with thedesire to save appearances than from any hope that they would be granted. The reality of their fears, and of their consequent desire to negotiate, was shown by the appointment of Kweiliang, who had arranged the Treaty ofTientsin, as high commissioner to provide for the necessary ceremonies inconnection with its ratification. Kweiliang apparently possessed powers ofthe most extensive character; and he hastened to inform Lord Elgin, whohad taken up his residence in a beautiful yamen in Tientsin, that he hadreceived the emperor's authority to discuss and decide everything. Inresponse to this notification the reply was sent that the three conditionsof peace were an apology for the attack on the English flag at Peiho, thepayment of an indemnity, including the costs of the war, and, thirdly, theratification and execution of the Treaty of Tientsin, including, ofcourse, the reception at Pekin of the representative of the Queen ofEngland on honorable terms adequate to the dignity of that greatsovereign. To none of these was Kweiliang himself disposed to raise anyobjection. Only in connection with the details of the last named point wasthere likely that any difference of opinion would arise; and thatdifference of opinion speedily revealed itself when it became known thatthe English insisted on the advance of their army to the town of Tungchow, only twelve miles distant from the walls of Pekin. To the Chineseministers this simple precaution seemed like exacting the extreme rightsof the conqueror, before, too, the act of conquest had been consummated;for already fresh troops were arriving from Mongolia and Manchuria, andthe valor of Sankolinsin was beginning to revive. That the Chinesegovernment had under the hard taskmaster, necessity, made great progressin its views on foreign matters was not to be denied, but somehow or otherits movements always lagged behind the requirements of the hour, and thedemands of the English were again ahead of what it was disposed to yield. 

If the Chinese government had promptly accepted the inevitable, and ifKweiliang had negotiated with as much celerity as he pretended to be hisdesire, peace might have been concluded and the Chinese saved some furtherignominy. But it soon became clear that all the Chinese were thinkingabout was to gain time, and as the months available for active campaigningwere rapidly disappearing, it was imperative that not the least delayshould be sanctioned. On September 8, Lord Elgin and Sir Hope Grant leftTientsin with an advance force of about 1, 500 men; and, marching by thehighroad, reached the pretty village of Hosiwu, half-way between that townand the capital. A few days later this force was increased by theremainder of one division, while to Sir Robert Napier was left the task ofguarding with the other Tientsin and the communications with the sea. AtHosiwu negotiations were resumed by Tsai, Prince of I, a nephew of theemperor, who declared that he had received authority to conclude allarrangements; but he was curtly informed that no treaty could be concludedsave at Tung-chow, and the army resumed its advance beyond Hosiwu. Themarch was continued without molestation to a point beyond the village ofMatow, but when Sir Hope Grant approached a place called Chan-chia-wan hefound himself in presence of a large army. This was the first sign of anyresolve to offer military opposition to the invaders since the capture ofthe Taku forts, and it came to a great extent in the manner of a surprise, for by a special agreement with Mr. Parkes the settlement of thedifficulty was to be concluded at Chan-chia-wan in an amicable manner. Instead, however, of the emperor's delegates, the English commander foundSankolinsin and the latest troops drawn from Pekin and beyond the wall inbattle array, and occupying the very ground which had been assigned forthe English encampment. 

The day before the English commander perceived that he was in face of astrong force Mr. Parkes and some other officers and civilians had beensent ahead with an escort of Sikh cavalry to arrange the finalpreliminaries with the imperial commissioners at Tungchow, both as towhere the camp was to be pitched and also as to the interview between therespective plenipotentiaries of the opposing powers. This party proceededto Tungchow without encountering any opposition or perceiving anyexceptional military precautions. Troops were indeed observed at severalpoints, and officers in command of pickets demanded the nature of theirbusiness and where they were going, but the reply "To the Commissioners"at once satisfied all inquiries and opened every barrier. The one incidentthat happened was of happy augury for a satisfactory issue if the resultwent to prove the fallaciousness of human expectations. A change had inthe meanwhile come over the minds of the imperial commissioners, whetherin accordance with the working of a deep and long-arranged policy, or fromthe confidence created by the sight of the numerous warriors drawn fromthe cradle of the Manchu race for the defense of the capital and dynasty, can never be ascertained with any degree of certainty, Their tone suddenlyassumed greater boldness and arrogance. To some of the Englishmen itappeared "almost offensive, " and it was only after five hours' discussionbetween Mr. Parkes and the commissioners at Tungchow that some sign wasgiven of a more yielding disposition. The final arrangements were hastilyconcluded in the evening of September 17 for the arrival of the troops atthe proposed camping ground on the morrow, and for the interview that wasto follow as soon after as possible. While Mr. Parkes and some of hiscompanions were to ride forward in the morning to apprise Sir Hope Grantof what had been agreed upon, and to point out the site for his camp, theothers were to remain in Tungchow with the greater part of the Sikhescort. 

On their return toward the advancing English army in the early morning ofthe following day, Mr. Parkes and his party met with frequent signs ofmilitary movement in the country between Tungchow and Chan-chia-wan. Largebodies of infantry and gingall-men were seen marching from all quarters tothe town. At Chan-chia-wan itself still more emphatic tokens were visibleof a coming battle. Cavalry were drawn up in dense bodies, but undershelter. In a nullah one regiment of a thousand sabers was stationed withthe men standing at their horses' heads ready for instant action. Atanother point a number of men were busily engaged in constructing abattery and in placing twelve guns in position. When the Englishmen gainedthe plain they found the proposed site of the English camp in the actualpossession of a Chinese army, and a strong force of Tartar cavalry, alonereckoned to number six or seven thousand men, scouring the plain. To allinquiries as to what these warlike arrangements betokened no reply wasmade by the soldiers, and when the whereabout of the responsible generalwas asked there came the stereotyped answer that "he was many li away. " Tothe most obtuse mind these arrangements could convey but one meaning. Theyindicated that the Chinese government had resolved to make anotherendeavor to avert the concessions demanded from them by the English andtheir allies, and to appeal once more to the God of Battles ere theyaccepted the inevitable. When the whole truth flashed across the mind ofMr. Parkes, the army of Sir Hope Grant might be, and indeed was, marchinginto the trap prepared for it, with such military precautions perhaps as awise general never neglected, but still wholly unprepared for theextensive and well-arranged opposition planned for its reception by anumerous army established in a strong position of its own choosing. Itbecame, therefore, of the greatest importance to communicate the actualstate of affairs to him, and to place at his disposal the invaluableinformation which the Englishmen returning from Tungchow had in theirpossession. But Mr. Parkes had still more to do. It was his duty to bringbefore the Chinese imperial commissioners at the earliest possible momentthe knowledge of this flagrant breach of the convention he had concludedthe day before, to demand its meaning, and to point out the graveconsequences that must ensue from such treacherous hostility; and in thatsupreme moment, as he had done on the many other critical occasions of hiscareer in China--at Canton and Taku in particular--the one thought in themind of Mr. Parkes was how best to perform his duty. He did not forgetalso that, while he was almost in a place of safety near the limits of theChinese pickets, and not far distant from the advancing columns of SirHope Grant, there were other Englishmen in his rear possibly in imminentperil of their lives amid the Celestials at Tungchow. 

Mr. Parkes rode back, therefore, to that town, and with him went oneEnglish dragoon, named Phipps, and one Sikh sowar carrying a flag of truceon his spear-point. We must leave them for the moment to follow themovements of the others. To Mr. Loch was intrusted the task ofcommunicating with Sir Hope Grant; while the remainder of the party wereto remain stationary, in order to show the Chinese that they did notsuspect anything, and that they were full of confidence. Mr. Loch, accompanied by two Sikhs, rode at a hard canter away from the Chineselines. He passed through one body of Tartar cavalry without opposition, and reached the advanced guard of the English force in safety. To tell hisnews was but the work of a minute. It confirmed the suspicions whichGeneral Grant had begun to feel at the movements of some bodies of cavalryon the flank of his line of march. Mr. Loch had performed his share of thearrangement. He had warned Sir Hope Grant. But to the chivalrous mind dutyis but half-performed if aid is withheld from those engaged in fulfillingtheirs. What he had done had proved unexpectedly easy; it remained for himto assist those whose share was more arduous and perilous. So Mr. Lochrode back to the Chinese lines, Captain Brabazon insisting on followinghim, again accompanied by two Sikhs but not the same who had ridden withhim before. 

Sir Hope Grant had given him the assurance that unless absolutely forcedto engage he would postpone the action for two hours. This small party offour men rode without hesitation, and at a rapid pace, through theskirmishers of the Chinese army. The rapidity of their movementsdisconcerted the Chinese, who allowed them to pass without opposition andalmost without notice. They rode through the Streets of Chan-chia-wanwithout meeting with any molestation, although they were crowded with themustering men of the imperial army. They gained Tungchow without let orhinderance, after having passed through probably not less than 30, 000 menabout to do battle with the long hated and now feared foreigners. It mayhave been, as suggested, that they owed their safety to a belief that theywere the bearers of their army's surrender! Arrived at Tungchow, Mr. Lochfound the Sikh escort at the temple outside the gates unaware of anydanger--all the Englishmen being absent in the town, where they wereshopping--and a letter left by Mr. Parkes warning them on return toprepare for instant flight, and saying that he was off in search of PrinceTsai. In that search he was at last successful. He found the highcommissioner, he asked the meaning of the change that had taken place, andwas told in curt and defiant tones that "there could be no peace, theremust be war. "

The last chance of averting hostilities was thus shown to be in vain. Prince Tsai indorsed the action of Sankolinsin. Mr. Parkes had only thepersonal satisfaction of knowing that he had done everything he could toprove that the English did not wish to press their military superiorityover an antagonist whose knowledge of war was slight and out of date. Hehad done this at the greatest personal peril. It only remained to securehis own safety and that of his companions. By this time the whole party ofEnglishmen had re-assembled in the temple; and Mr. Loch, anxious for Mr. Parkes, had gone into the city and met him galloping away from the yamenof the commissioner. There was no longer reason for delay. Not anEnglishman had yet been touched, but between this small band and safetylay the road back through the ranks of Sankolinsin's warriors. FromTungchow to the advanced post of Sir Hope Grant's army was a ten mileride; and most of the two hours' grace had already expired. Could it bedone? By this time most of the Chinese troops had reached Chan-chia-wan, where they had been drawn up in battle array among the maize-fields and inthe nullahs as already described. From Tungchow to that place the countrywas almost deserted; and the fugitives proceeded unmolested along the roadtill they reached that town. The streets were crowded partly with armedcitizens and peasants, but chiefly with panic-stricken householders; andby this time the horses were blown, and some of them almost exhausted. Through this crowd the seven Englishmen and twenty Sikhs walked theirhorses, and met not the least opposition. They reached the eastern sidewithout insult or injury, passed through the gates, and descending thedeclivity found themselves in the rear of the whole Chinese army. Thedangers through which they had passed were as nothing compared with thosethey had now to encounter. A shell burst in the air at this moment, followed by the discharge of the batteries on both sides. The battle hadbegun. The promised two hours had expired. The fugitives were some tenminutes too late. 

The position of this small band in the midst of an Asiatic army actuallyengaged in mortal combat with their kinsmen may be better imagined thandescribed. They were riding down the road which passed through the centerof the Chinese position, and the banks on each side of them were linedwith matchlock-men, among whom the shells of the English guns were alreadybursting. Parties of cavalry were not wanting here, but out in the plainwhere the Tartar horsemen swarmed in thousands the greatest danger of allawaited them. Their movements were slow, painfully slow, and the progresswas delayed by the necessity of waiting for those who were the worstmounted; but they were "all in the same boat, and, like Englishmen, wouldsink or swim together. " In the accumulation of difficulties that staredthem in the face not the least seemed to be that they were advancing inthe teeth of their own countrymen's fire, which was growing fiercer everyminute. In this critical moment men turned to Mr. Parkes, and CaptainBarbazon expressed the belief of those present in a cool brave man inarduous extremity when he cried out, "I vote Parkes decides what is to bedone. " To follow the main road seemed to be certain destruction and deathwithout the power of resisting; for even assuming that some of them couldhave cut their way through the Tartar cavalry, and escaped from theEnglish shell, they could hardly have avoided being shot down by the longlines of matchlock-men who were ready to fire on them the instant they sawtheir backs. There was only one possible avenue of escape, and that was togain the right flank of the army, and endeavor to make their way by adetour round to the English lines. Assuredly this was not a very promisingmode of escape, but it seemed to have the greatest chances of success. Butwhen the Chinese, who had up to this regarded their movements withoutinterfering, saw this change in their course, they at once took measuresto stop it. A military mandarin said if they persisted in their attemptthey would be treated as enemies and fired upon; but that he was willingto respect their flag of truce, and that if they would accompany him tothe general's presence he would obtain a safe conduct for them. The offerwas accepted, partly no doubt because it could not be refused, but stillalso on its own merits. Safe conducts during the heat of battle, even withcivilized European peoples, are, however, not such easy things either togrant or to carry out. Mr. Parkes accepted his offer, therefore, and he, Mr. Loch, and the Sikh trooper Nalsing, bearing a flag of truce, rode offwith the mandarin in search of the general, while the five other Europeansand the Sikh escort remained on the road awaiting their return. Theyproceeded to the left, where it was understood that Sankolinsin commandedin person. They met with some adventures even on this short journey. Coming suddenly upon a large body of infantry, they were almost pulledfrom their horses, and would have been killed but for the mandarin rushingbetween them and shouting to the men "not to fire. " A short distancebeyond this they halted, when the approach of Sankolinsin was announced byloud shouts of his name from the soldiery. Mr. Parkes at once addressedhim, saying that they had come under a flag of truce, and that they wishedto regain their army. The Chinese commander replied to his remarks on theusages of war in true Tartar fashion--with laughter and abuse. Thesoldiers pressed round the unfortunate Englishmen and placed theirmatchlocks against their bodies. Escape was hopeless, and death seemedinevitable. But insult was more the object of the Mongol general thantheir death. They were dragged before him and forced to press the groundwith their heads at the feet of Sankolinsin. They were subjected tonumerous other indignities, and at last, when it became evident that thebattle was going against the Chinese, they were placed in one of thecountry carts and sent off to Pekin. While Mr. Parkes and Mr. Loch werethus ill-used, their comrades waiting on the road had fared no better. Shortly after their departure the Chinese soldiers began to hustle andjeer at the Englishmen and their native escort. As the firing increasedand some of the Chinese were hit they grew more violent. When the news wasreceived of what had happened to Mr. Parkes, and of how Sankolinsin hadlaughed to scorn their claim to protection, the soldiers could no longerbe restrained. The Englishmen and the natives were dragged from theirhorses, cruelly bound, and hurried to the rear, whence they followed at nogreat distance their companions in misfortune. While the greater portionof these events had been in progress, Colonel Walker, Mr. Thompson, andthe men of the King's Dragoon Guards, had been steadily pacing up and downon the embankment as arranged, in order to show the Chinese that theysuspected no treachery and had no fears. They continued doing this until aFrench officer joined them; but on his getting into a dispute with some ofthe Chinese about his mule, he drew his pistol and fired at them. He wasimmediately killed. There was then no longer the least hope of restrainingthe Chinese, so the whole of the party spurred their horses and escaped tothe English army under a heavy but ineffectual fire from matchlocks andgingalls. Their flight was the signal for the commencement of the battle, although at that very moment, had they only known it, the chief party ofEnglishmen had gained the road east of Chan-chia-wan, and, if the battlehad only been delayed a quarter of an hour, they might all have escaped. 

But the two hours of grace were up, and Sir Hope Grant saw no further usein delay. General Montauban was still more impatient, and the men wereeager to engage. They had to win their camping-ground that night, and theday was already far advanced. The French occupied the right wing, that isthe position opposite the spot where we have seen Sankolinsin commandingin person, and a squadron of Fane's Horse had been lent them to supplytheir want of cavalry. The battle began with the fire of their batteries, which galled the Chinese so much that the Tartar cavalry were ordered upto charge the guns, and right gallantly they did so. A battery was almostin their hands, its officers had to use their revolvers, when the Sikhsand a few French dragoons, led by Colonel Foley, the English commissionerwith the French force, gallantly charged them in turn, and compelled themto withdraw. Neither side derived much advantage from this portion of thecontest, but the repulse of the Tartar cavalry enabled the French guns torenew their fire with great effect on the line of Chinese infantry. Whilethe French were thus engaged on the right, the English troops had begun avigorous attack on both the center and their left. The Chinese appeared insuch dense masses, and maintained so vigorous, but fortunately so ill-directed, a fire, that the English force made but little progress ateither point. The action might have been indefinitely prolonged and leftundecided, had not Sir Hope Grant suddenly resolved to re-enforce his leftwith a portion of his center, and to assail the enemy's right vigorously. This latter part of the battle began with a charge of some squadrons ofProbyn's Horse against the bodies of mounted Tartars moving in the plain, whom they, with their gallant leader at their head, routed in the sight ofthe two armies. This overthrow of their chosen fighting-men greatlydiscouraged the rest of the Chinese soldiers, and when the infantryadvanced with the Sikhs in front they slowly began to give ground. Buteven then there were none of the usual symptoms of a decisive victory. TheFrench were so exhausted by their efforts that they had been compelled tohalt, and General Montauban was obliged to curb his natural impetuosity, and to admit that he could take no part in the final attack on Chan-chia-wan. Sir Hope Grant, however, pressed on and occupied the town. He did notcall in his men until they had seized without resistance a large campabout one mile west of the town, where they captured several guns. Thusended the battle of Chan-chia-wan with the defeat and retreat of thestrong army which Sankolinsin had raised in order to drive the barbariansinto the sea. 

Although the battle was won, Sir Hope Grant, measuring the resistance withthe eye of an experienced soldier, came to the conclusion that his forcewas not sufficiently strong to overawe so obstinate a foe; and accordinglyordered Sir Robert Napier to join him with as many troops as he couldspare from the Tientsin garrison. Having thus provided for the arrival ofre-enforcements at an early date, he was willing to resume his onwardmarch for Tungchow, where it was hoped some tidings would be obtained ofthe missing officers and men. Two days intervened before any decisive movewas made, but Mr. Wade was sent under a flag of truce into Tungchow tocollect information. But he failed to learn anything more about Mr. Parkesthan that he had quitted the town in safety after his final interview withPrince Tsai. Lord Elgin now hastened up from Hosiwu to join the militaryheadquarters, and on September 21, the French having been joined byanother brigade, offensive operations were recommenced. The delay hadencouraged the Chinese to make another stand, and they had collected inconsiderable force for the defense of the Palikao bridge, which affordsthe means of crossing the Peiho west of Tungchow. Here again the battlecommenced with a cavalry charge which, despite an accident that might havehad more serious results, was completely successful. This achievement wasfollowed up by the attack on several fortified positions which were notdefended with any great amount of resolution, and while these matters werein progress on the side where the English were engaged, the French hadcarried the bridge with its twenty-five guns in position in very gallantstyle. The capture of this bridge and the dispersion of the troops, including the Imperial Guard, which had been intrusted with its defense, completed the discomfiture of the Chinese. Pekin itself lay almost at themercy of the invader, and, unless diplomacy could succeed better thanarms, nothing would prevent the hated foreigners violating its privacy notmerely with their presence, but in the most unpalatable guise of armedvictors. 

The day after the battle at the Palikao bridge came a letter from PrinceKung the emperor's next brother, stating that Prince Tsai and hiscolleagues had not managed matters satisfactorily, and that he had beenappointed with plenipotentiary powers for the discussion and decision ofthe peace question. But the prince went on to request a temporarysuspension of hostilities--a demand with which no general or embassadorcould have complied so long as officers were detained who had been seizedin violation of the usages of war. Lord Elgin replied in the clearestterms that there could be no negotiations for peace until these prisonerswere restored, and that if they were not sent back in safety theconsequences would be most serious for the Chinese government. But even atthis supreme moment of doubt and danger, the subtlety of Chinese diplomacywould have free play. Prince Kung was young in years and experience, buthis finesse would have done credit to a gray-haired statesman. Unfortunately for him, the question had got beyond the stage fordiscussion: the English embassador had stated the one condition on whichnegotiations would be renewed, and until that had been complied with therewas no need to give ear to the threats, promises and entreaties even ofPrince Kung. As the prince gave no sign of yielding this point during theweek's delay in bringing up the second division from Tientsin, Lord Elginrequested Sir Hope Grant to resume his march on Pekin, from which theadvanced guard of the allied forces was distant little more than tenmiles. The cavalry had reconnoitered almost up to the gates, and hadreturned with the report that the walls were strong and in good condition. The danger to a small army of attempting to occupy a great city of thesize and population of Pekin is almost obvious; and, moreover, theconsistent policy of the English authorities had been to cause the Chinesepeople as little injury and suffering as possible. Should an attack on thecity become unavoidable, it was decided that the point attacked should bethe Tartar quarter, including the palace, which occupied the northern halfof the city. By this time it had become known that Parkes and Loch wereliving, that they were confined in the Kaou Meaou Temple, near the TehshunGate, and that latterly they had been fairly well treated. 

In execution of the plan of attack that had been agreed upon, the alliedforces marched round Pekin to the northwest corner of the walls, having astheir object the Summer Palace of the emperor at Yuen Min Yuen, not quitefour miles distant from the city. 

On the approach of the foreign army, Hienfung fled in terror from hispalace, and sought shelter at Jehol, the hunting residence of the emperorsbeyond the Wall. His flight was most precipitate; and the treasures of theSummer Palace were left at the mercy of the Western spoilers. The Frenchsoldiers had made the most of the start they had obtained, and leftcomparatively little for their English comrades, who, moreover, wererestrained by the bonds of a stricter discipline. But the amount of prizeproperty that remained was still considerable, and, by agreement betweenthe two generals, it was divided in equal shares between the armies. Thecapture and occupation of the Summer Palace completed the Europeantriumph, and obliged Prince Kung to promptly acquiesce in Lord Elgin'sdemand for the immediate surrender of the prisoners, if he wished to avoidthe far greater calamity of a foreign occupation of the Tartar quarter ofPekin and the appropriation of its vaster collection of treasures. 

On October 6 Mr. Parkes wrote from his place of confinement that theFrench and English detained were to be returned on the 8th of the month, and that the imperial commanders had been ordered at the same time toretire for a considerable distance from Pekin. These promises were carriedout. Prince Kung was at last resolved to make all the concessionsrequisite to insure the speedy conclusion of peace. The restoration ofthese captives removed what was thought to be the one obstacle to LordElgin's discussing the terms on which the invading force would retire andto the respective governments resuming diplomatic relations. It wasfortunate for China that the exact fate of the other prisoners wasunknown, and that Lord Elgin felt able, in consequence of the morefriendly proceedings of Prince Kung, to overlook the earlier treatment ofthose now returned to him, for the narrative of Mr. Parkes and his fellowprisoners was one that tended to heighten the feeling of indignation atthe original breach of faith. To say that they were barbarously ill-usedis to employ a phrase conveying a very inadequate idea of the numerousindignities and the cruel personal treatment to which they were subjected. Under these great trials neither of these intrepid Englishmen wavered intheir refusal to furnish any information or to make any concessioncompromising their country. Mr. Loch's part was in one sense the moreeasy, as his ignorance of the language prevented his replying, but inbodily suffering he had to pay a proportionately greater penalty. Theincidents of their imprisonment afford the most creditable testimony tothe superiority which the pride of race as well as "the equal mind inarduous circumstance" gives weak humanity over physical suffering. Theyare never likely to pass out of the public memory; and those who rememberthe daring and the chivalry which had inspired Mr. Parkes and Mr. Loch onthe day when Prince Tsai's treachery and Sankolinsin's mastery wererevealed, will not be disposed to consider it exaggerated praise to saythat, for an adventure so honorably conceived and so nobly carried out, where the risk was never reckoned and where the penalty was so patientlyborne, the pages of history may be searched almost in vain for an eventthat, in the dramatic elements of courage and suffering, presents such acomplete and consistent record of human gallantry and devotion as thecapture and subsequent captivity of these English gentlemen and their Sikhcompanion. 

The further conditions as preliminary to the ratification of the Treaty ofTientsin were gradually, if reluctantly, complied with. On October 13 thenortheast gate was handed over to the allied troops, but not before SirHope Grant had threatened to open fire on the walls. At the same timePrince Kung returned eight sowars of Fane's Horse and one Frenchman, allthe survivors, besides those already surrendered, of the small band whichhad ridden from Tungchow nearly a month before. The Chinese prince statedin explanation that "a certain number were missing after the fight, orhave died of their wounds or of sickness. " But the narrative of the Sikhswas decisive as to the fate of the five Englishmen and their own comrades. They had been brutally bound with ropes which, although drawn as tight ashuman force could draw them, were tightened still more by cold water beingpoured upon the bands, and they had been maltreated in every form by acruel enemy, and provided only with food of the most loathsome kind. Someof the prisoners were placed in cages. Lieutenant Anderson, a gallantyoung officer for whom future renown had been predicted, became deliriousand died on the ninth day of his confinement. Mr. De Normann died a weeklater. What fate befell Captain Barbazon and his French companion, theAbbe de Luc, is uncertain, but the evidence on the subject inclines us toaccept as accurate the statement that the Chinese commander in the fightat Palikao, enraged at his defeat, caused them to be executed on thebridge. The soldier Phipps endured for a longer time than Mr. Bowlby thetaunts and ill-usage of their jailers, but they at last shared the samefate, dying from the effects of their ill-treatment. The bodies of all theEnglishmen, with the exception of Captain Barbazon, were restored, and ofmost of the Sikhs also. The Chinese officials were more barbarous in theircruelty than even the worst scum among their malefactors; for theprisoners in the jails, far from adding to the tortures of the unfortunateEuropeans, did everything in their power to mitigate their sufferings, alleviate their pains, and supply their wants. 

The details of these cruel deeds raised a feeling of great horror in men'sminds, and, although the desire to arrange the question of peace withoutdelay was uppermost with Lord Elgin, still it was felt that some gravestep was necessary to express the abhorrence with which England regardedthis cruel and senseless outrage, and to bring home to the Chinese peopleand government the fact that Englishmen could not be murdered withimpunity. Lord Elgin refused to hold any further intercourse with theChinese government until this great crime had been purged by some signalpunishment. Sir Hope Grant and he had little difficulty in arriving at thedecision that the best mode of expiation was to destroy the Summer Palace. The French commander refused to participate in the act which carried apermanent lesson of political necessity to the heart of the Pekingovernment, and which did more than any other incident of the campaign toshow Hienfung that the hour had gone by for trifling. On October 18 thethreat was carried into execution. The Summer Palace was destroyed byfire, and the sum of $500, 000 was demanded and obtained from the Chineseas some compensation for the families of the murdered men. The palace ofYuen Min Yuen had been the scene of some of the worst sufferings of theEnglish prisoners. From its apartments the high mandarins and theimmediate courtiers of the emperor had gloated over and enjoyed thespectacle of their foreign prisoners' agony. The whole of Pekin witnessedin return the destruction wrought to the sovereign's abode by theindignant English, and the clouds of smoke hung for days like a vast blackpall over the city. 

That act of severe but just vengeance consummated, the negotiations forthe ratification of the treaty were resumed. The Hall of Ceremonies wasselected as the place in which the ratifying act should be performed, while, as some punishment for the hostile part he had played, the palaceof Prince Tsai was appropriated as the temporary official residence ofLord Elgin and Baron Gros. The formal act of ratification was performed inthis building on October 24. Lord Elgin proceeded in a chair of state, accompanied by his suite, and also by Sir Hope Grant with an escort of 100officers and 500 troops, through the streets from the Anting Gate to theHall of Ceremonies. Prince Kung, attended by a large body of civil andmilitary mandarins, was there in readiness to produce the imperial edictauthorizing him to attach the emperor's seal to the treaty, and to acceptthe responsibility for his country of conforming with its terms andcarrying out its stipulations. Some further delay was caused by thenecessity of waiting until the edict should be received from the emperorat Jehol authorizing the publication of the treaty, not the leastimportant point in connection with its conclusion if the millions of Chinawere to understand and perform what their rulers had promised for them. That closing act was successfully achieved, and more rapidly than had beenexpected. The Pekinese beheld English troops and officers in residence intheir midst for the first time, and when the army was withdrawn and theplenipotentiary, Lord Elgin, transferred to his brother, Mr. FrederickBruce, the charge of affairs in China as Resident Minister, the ice hadbeen broken in the relations between the officials of the two countries, and the greatest, if not the last, barrier of Chinese exclusiveness hadbeen removed. The last of the allied troops turned their backs upon Pekinon November 9, and the greater portion of the expedition departed forIndia and Europe just before the cold weather set in. A few days later therivers were frozen and navigation had become impossible, which showed hownarrow was the margin left for the completion of the operations of war. 

The object which the more far-seeing of the English residents had from thefirst hour of difficulty stated to be necessary for satisfactoryrelations--direct intercourse with the Pekin government--was thus obtainedafter a keen and bitter struggle of thirty years. Although vanquished, theChinese may be said to have come out of this war with an increasedmilitary reputation. The war closed with a treaty enforcing all theconcessions made by its predecessor. The right to station an embassador inPekin signified that the greatest barrier of all had been broken down; theold school of politicians were put completely out of court, and a youngand intelligent prince, closely connected with the emperor, assumed thepersonal charge of the foreign relations of the country. As one who hadseen with his own eyes the misfortunes of his countrymen, Prince Kung wasthe more disposed to adhere to what he had promised to perform. Under hisdirection the ratified Treaty of Tientsin became a bond of union insteadof an element of discord between the cabinets of London and Pekin; and atermination was put, by an arrangement carried at the point of the sword, to the constant friction and recrimination which had been the prevailingcharacteristics of the intercourse for a whole generation. The Chinese hadbeen subjected to a long and bitter lesson. They had at last learned thevirtue of submitting to necessity; but although they have profited to someextent both in peace and war by their experience, it requires someassurance to declare that they have even now accepted the inevitable. Thatremains the problem of the future; but in 1860 Prince Kung came to thesensible conclusion that for that period, and until China had recoveredfrom her internal confusion, there was nothing to be gained and much to belost by protracted resistance to the peoples of the West. Whatever couldbe retained by tact and finesse were to form part of the natural rights ofChina; but the privileges only to be asserted in face of Armstrong gunsand rifles were to be abandoned with as good a grace as the injuredfeeling of a nation can ever display. 

CHAPTER XX

THE TAEPING REBELLION

We left the Taepings supreme at Nankin, but maintaining themselves therewith some difficulty against two imperial armies raised by the loyalefforts of the inhabitants of the central provinces. This was at thebeginning of 1857; and there is no doubt that if the government hadavoided a conflict with the Europeans, and concentrated its efforts andpower on the contest with the Taeping rebels, they would have speedilyannihilated the tottering fabric of Tien Wang's authority. But the respiteof four years secured by the attention of the central government beingmonopolized by the foreign question enabled the Taepings to consolidatetheir position, augment their fighting forces, and present a moreformidable front to the imperial authorities. When Prince Kung learnedfrom Lord Elgin the full extent of the success of the Taepings on theYangtse, of which the officials at Pekin seemed to possess a veryimperfect and inaccurate knowledge, the Manchu authorities realized thatit was a vital question for them to reassert their authority withoutfurther delay, but on beginning to put their new resolve into practicethey soon experienced that the position of the Taepings in 1861 differedmaterially from what it was in 1857. 

The course of events during that period must be briefly summarized. In1858 the imperialists under Tseng Kwofan and Chang Kwoliang renewed thesiege of Nankin, but as the city was well supplied with provisions, and asthe imperialists were well known to have no intention of delivering anassault, the Taepings did not feel any apprehension. After the investmenthad continued for nearly a year, Chung Wang, who had now risen to thesupreme place among the rebels, insisted on quitting the city before itwas completely surrounded, with the object of beating up levies andgenerally relieving the pressure caused by the besiegers. In this endeavorhe more than once experienced the unkindness of fortune, for when he hadcollected 5, 000 good troops he was defeated in a vigorous attempt to cuthis way through a far larger imperial force. Such, however, was hisreputation that the imperial commanders before Nankin sent many of theirmen to assist the officers operating against him, and Chung Wang, seizingthe opportunity, made his way by forced marches back to Nankin, overcomingsuch resistance as the enfeebled besiegers were able to offer. The wholeof the year 1859 was passed in practical inaction, but at its close theTaepings only retained possession of four towns, besides Nankin, on theYangtse. It again became necessary for Chung Wang to sally forth andassume the offensive in the rear and on the line of supplies of thebeleaguering imperialists. His main difficulty was in obtaining theconsent of Tien Wang, who was at this time given over to religiouspursuits or private excesses, and Chung Wang states that he only consentedwhen he found that he could not stop him. In January, 1860, Chung Wangbegan what proved to be a very remarkable campaign. He put his men in goodhumor by distributing a large sum of money among them, and he succeeded ineluding the imperial commanders and in misleading them as to hisintentions. While they thought he had gone off to relieve Ganking, he hadreally hastened to attack the important city of Hangchow, where much spoiland material for carrying on the war might be secured by the victor. Hecaptured the city with little or no loss, on March 19, 1860, but theTartar city held out until relieved by Chang Kwoliang, who hastened fromNankin for the purpose. Once again the imperial commanders in theiranxiety to crush Chung Wang had reduced their force in front of Nankin toan excessively low condition, and the Taeping leader, placed in adesperate position, seized the only chance of safety by hastening fromHangchow to Nankin at full speed, and attacking the imperial lines. Thisbattle was fought early in the morning of a cold snowy day--May 3, 1860--and resulted in the loss of 5, 000 imperialists, and the compulsory raisingof the siege. The Taeping cause might have been resuscitated by thissignal victory if Tien Wang had only shown himself able to act up to thegreat part he assumed, but not merely was he incapable of playing the partof either a warrior or a statesman, but his petty jealousy prevented hismaking use of the undoubted ability of his lieutenant Chung Wang, whoafter the greatest of his successes was forbidden to re-enter Nankin. 

The energy and spirit of Chung Wang impelled him to fresh enterprises, andseeing the hopelessness of Tien Wang, he determined to secure a base ofoperations for himself, which should enable him to hold his own in thewarring strife of the realm, and perhaps to achieve the triumph of thecause with which he was associated. It says much for his military energyand skill that he was able to impart new vigor to the Taeping system, andto sustain on a new field his position single-handed against the mainforces of the empire. He determined to obtain possession of the importantcity of Soochow, on the Grand Canal, and not very far distant fromShanghai. On his way to effect this object he gained a great victory overChang Kwoliang, who was himself killed in the battle. As the ex-Triadchief possessed great energy, his loss was a considerable one for thegovernment, but his troops continued to oppose the advance of theTaepings, and fought and lost three battles before Chung Wang reachedSoochow. That place was too large to be successfully defended by a smallforce, and the imperialists hastily abandoned it. At this critical moment--May, 1860--Ho Kweitsin, the viceroy of the Two Kiang, implored the aidof the English and French, who were at this moment completing theirarrangements for the march on Pekin, against these rebels, and the Frenchwere so far favorable to the suggestion that they offered to render theassistance provided the English would combine with them. Mr. Bruce, however, declined the adventure, which is not surprising, considering thatwe were then engaged in serious hostilities with the Chinese, but theincident remains unique of a country asking another for assistance duringthe progress of a bitter and doubtful war. The utmost that Mr. Bruce woulddo was to issue a notification that Shanghai would not be allowed to againfall into the hands of an insurgent force. The viceroy who solicited theaid was at least consistent. He memorialized the Throne, praying that thedemands of the Europeans should be promptly granted, and that they shouldthen be employed against the Taepings. His memorial was ill-timed. He wassummoned to Pekin and executed for his very prudent advice. With thepossession of Soochow, Chung Wang obtained fresh supplies of money, material, and men, and once more it was impossible to say to what heightof success the Taepings might not attain. But Chung Wang was not satisfiedwith Soochow alone; he wished to gain possession of Shanghai. 

Unfortunately for the realization of his project, the Europeans haddetermined to defend Shanghai at all hazards, but Chung Wang believedeither that they would not, or that their army being absent in the norththey had not the power to carry out this resolve. The necessity ofcapturing Shanghai was rendered the greater in the eyes of Chung Wang byits being the base of hostile measures against himself, and by a measurewhich threatened him with a new peril. The wealthy Chinese merchants ofShanghai had formed a kind of patriotic association, and provided thefunds for raising a European contingent. Two Americans, Ward andBurgevine, were taken into their pay, and in July, 1860, they, havingraised a force of 100 Europeans and 200 Manila men, began operations withan attack on Sunkiang, a large walled town about twenty miles fromShanghai. This first attack was repulsed with some loss, but Ward, afraidof losing the large reward he was promised for its capture, renewed theattack, and with better success, for he gained possession of a gate, andheld it until the whole imperial army had come up and stormed the town. After this success Ward was requested to attack Tsingpu, which was a farstronger place than Sunkiang, and where the Taepings had the benefit ofthe advice and leading of several Englishmen who had joined them. Wardattacked Tsingpu on August 2, 1860, but he was repulsed with heavy loss. He returned to Shanghai for the purpose of raising another force and twolarger guns, and then renewed the attack. It is impossible to say whetherthe place would have held out or not, but after seven days' bombardmentChung Wang suddenly appeared to the rescue, and, surprising Ward's force, drove it away in utter confusion, and with the loss of all its guns andstores. Encouraged by this success, Chung Wang then thought the timeopportune for attacking Shanghai, and he accordingly marched against it, burning and plundering the villages along the road. The imperialists hadestablished a camp or stockade outside the western gate, and Chung Wangcarried this without any difficulty, but when he reached the walls of thetown he found a very different opponent in his path. The walls were linedwith English and French troops, and when the Taepings attempted to enterthe city they were received with a warm fire, which quickly sent them tothe right-about. Chung Wang renewed the attack at different points duringthe next four or five days, but he was then obliged to retreat. Beforedoing so, however, he sent a boasting message that he had come at theinvitation of the French, who were traitors, and that he would have takenthe city but for the foreigners, as "there was no city which his men couldnot storm. " At this moment the attention of Chung Wang was called off toNankin, which the imperialists were investing for a sixth time, underTseng Kwofan, who had been elevated to the viceroyalty of the Two Kiang. Tien Wang, in despair, sent off an urgent summons to Chung Wang to come tohis assistance, and although he went with reluctance he felt that he hadno course but to obey. 

Having done what he could to place Nankin in an efficient state ofdefense, Chung Wang hastened back to Soochow to resume active operations. It is unnecessary to describe these in detail; but although Chung Wang wastwice defeated by a Manchu general named Paochiaou, he succeeded, byrapidity of movement, in holding his own against his more numerousadversaries. In the meantime an important change had taken place in thesituation. The peace between China and the foreign powers compelled arevision of the position at Shanghai. Admiral Hope sailed up to Nankin, interviewed the Wangs, and exacted from them a pledge that Shanghai shouldnot be attacked for twelve months, and that the Taeping forces should notadvance within a radius of thirty miles of that place. In consequence ofthis arrangement Ward and Burgevine were compelled to desist fromrecruiting Europeans; but after a brief interval they were taken into theChinese service for the purpose of drilling Chinese soldiers, a measurefrom which the most important consequences were to flow, for it proved tobe the origin of the Ever-Victorious Army. These preparations were not faradvanced when Chung Wang, elated by his capture of Ningpo and Hangchow, resolved to disregard Tien Wang's promise, and make a second attack onShanghai, the possession of which he saw to be indispensable if his causewas to attain any brilliant triumph. He issued a proclamation that "thehour of the Manchus had come! Shanghai is a little place, and we havenothing to fear from it. We must take Shanghai to complete our dominions. "The death of Hienfung seems to have encouraged Chung Wang to take what hehoped would prove a decisive step. 

On January 14, 1862, the Taepings reached the immediate vicinity of thetown and foreign settlement. The surrounding country was concealed by thesmoke of the burning villages, which they had ruthlessly destroyed. Theforeign settlement was crowded with thousands of fugitives, imploring theaid of the Europeans to save their houses and property. Their sufferings, which would at the best have been great, were aggravated by theexceptional severity of the winter. The English garrison of two nativeregiments and some artillery, even when supported by the volunteers, wasfar too weak to attempt more than the defense of the place; but this itwas fortunately able to perform. The rebels, during the first week aftertheir reappearance, plundered and burned in all directions, threateningeven to make an attack on Woosung, the port at the mouth of the river, where they were repulsed by the French. Sir John Michel arrived atShanghai with a small re-enforcement of English troops, and Ward, havingsucceeded in disciplining two Chinese regiments of about one thousandstrong in all, sallied forth from Sunkiang for the purpose of operating onthe rear of the Taeping forces. Ward's capture of Quanfuling, with severalhundred rebel boats which were frozen up in the river, should have warnedthe Taepings that it was nearly time for them to retire. However, they didnot act as prudence would have dictated, and during the whole of Februarytheir raids continued round Shanghai. The suburbs suffered from theirattacks, the foreign factories and boats were not secure, and severaloutrages on the persons of foreigners remained unatoned for. It wasimpossible to tolerate any longer their enormities. The English and Frenchcommanders came to the determination to attack the rebels, to enforce theoriginal agreement with Tien Wang, and to clear the country round Shanghaiof the presence of the Taepings for the space of thirty miles. 

On February 21, therefore, a joint force composed of 336 English sailorsand marines, 160 French seamen, and 600 men from Ward's contingent, accompanied by their respective commanders, with Admiral Hope in chiefcharge, advanced upon the village of Kachiaou, where the Taepings hadstrengthened their position and placed guns on the walls. After a sharpengagement the place was stormed, Ward's men leading the attack withBurgevine at their head. The drilled Chinese behaved with greatsteadiness, but the Taepings were not to be dismayed by a single defeat. They even resumed their attacks on the Europeans. On one occasion AdmiralHope himself was compelled to retire before their superior numbers, and tosummon fresh troops to his assistance. The re-enforcements consisted of450 Europeans and 700 of Ward's force, besides seven howitzers. With theseit was determined to attack Tseedong, a place of great strength, surrounded by stone walls and ditches seven feet deep. The Taepings stoodto their guns with great spirit, receiving the advancing troops with avery heavy fire. When, however, Ward's contingent, making a detour, appeared in the rear of the place, they hastily evacuated their positions;but the English sailors had carried the walls, and, caught between twofires, they offered a stubborn but futile resistance. More than 700 werekilled and 300 were taken prisoners. The favorable opinion formed of "theEver-Victorious Army" by the action at Kachiaou was confirmed by the moreserious affair at Tseedong; and Mr. Bruce at Pekin brought it under thefavorable notice of Prince Kung and the Chinese government. Having takenthese hostile steps against the rebels, it necessarily followed that noadvantage would accrue from any further hesitation with regard to allowingEuropeans to enter the imperial service for the purpose of opposing them. Ward was officially recognized, and allowed to purchase weapons and toengage officers. An Englishman contracted to convey 9, 000 of the troopswho had stormed Ganking from the Yangtse to Shanghai. These men were Honanbraves, who had seen considerable service in the interior of China, and itwas proposed that they should garrison the towns of Kiangsu accordingly asthey were taken from the rebels. The arrival of General Staveley fromTientsin at the end of March, with portions of two English regiments (the31st and 67th), put a new face on affairs, and showed that the time was athand when it would be possible to carry out the threat of clearing thecountry round Shanghai for the space of thirty miles. 

The first place to be attacked toward the realization of this plan was thevillage of Wongkadza, about twelve miles west of Shanghai. Here theTaepings offered only a brief resistance, retiring to some strongerstockades four miles further west. General Staveley, considering that hismen had done enough work for that day, halted them, intending to renew theattack the next morning. Unfortunately Ward was carried away by hisimpetuosity, and attacked this inner position with some 500 of his ownmen. Admiral Hope accompanied him. The Taepings met them with a tremendousfire, and after several attempts to scale the works they were repulsedwith heavy loss. Admiral Hope was wounded in the leg, seven officers werewounded, and seventy men killed and wounded. The attack was repeated inforce on the following day, and after some fighting the Taepings evacuatedtheir stockades. The next place attacked was the village of Tsipoo; and, notwithstanding their strong earthworks and three wide ditches, the rebelswere driven out in a few hours. It was then determined to attack Kahding, Tsingpu, Nanjao, and Cholin, at which places the Taepings were known tohave mustered in considerable strength. 

The first place was taken with little resistance, and its capture wasfollowed by preparations for the attack on Tsingpu, which were hastenedrather than delayed by a desperate attempt to set fire to Shanghai. Theplot was fortunately discovered in time, and the culprits captured andsummarily executed to the number of two hundred. Early in May a strongforce was assembled at Sunkiang, and proceeded by boat, on account of thedifficulties of locomotion, to Tsingpu. The fire of the guns, in which theexpedition was exceptionally strong, proved most destructive, and twobreaches being pronounced practicable the place was carried by assault. The rebels fought well and up to the last, when they found flightimpossible. The Chinese troops slew every man found in the place with armsin his hands. A few days later Nanjao was captured, but in the attack theFrench commander, Admiral Protet, a gallant officer who had been to thefront during the whole of these operations, was shot dead. The rebels, disheartened by these successive defeats, rallied at Cholin, where theyprepared to make a final stand. The allied force attacked Cholin on May20, and an English detachment carried it almost at the point of thebayonet. With this achievement the operations of the English troops camefor the moment to an end, for a disaster to the imperial arms in theirrear necessitated their turning their attention to a different quarter. 

The troops summoned from Ganking had at last arrived to the number of fiveor six thousand men; and the Futai Sieh, who was on the point of beingsuperseded to make room for Li Hung Chang, thought to employ them beforehis departure on some enterprise which should redound to his credit andrestore his sinking fortunes. The operation was as hazardous as it wasambitious. The resolution he came to was to attack the city and forts ofTaitsan, a place northwest of Shanghai, and not very far distant fromChung Wang's headquarters at Soochow. The imperialist force reachedTaitsan on May 12, but less than two days later Chung Wang arrived inperson at the head of 10, 000 chosen troops to relieve the garrison. Abattle ensued on the day following, when, notwithstanding their greatsuperiority in numbers, the Taepings failed to obtain any success. In thisextremity Chung Wang resorted to a stratagem. Two thousand of his menshaved their heads and pretended to desert to the imperialists. When thebattle was renewed at sunrise on the following morning this band threwaside their assumed character and turned upon the imperialists. A dreadfulslaughter ensued. Of the 7, 000 Honan braves and the Tartars from Shanghai, 5, 000 fell on the field. The consequences of this disaster were to undomost of the good accomplished by General Staveley and his force. Theimperialists were for the moment dismayed, and the Taepingscorrespondingly encouraged. General Staveley's communications werethreatened, and he had to abandon his intended plan and retrace his stepsto Shanghai. 

Chung Wang then laid regular siege to Sunkiang, where Ward was in person, and he very nearly succeeded in carrying the place by escalade. Theattempt was fortunately discovered by an English sailor just in time, andrepulsed with A loss to the rebels of 100 men. The Taepings continued toshow great daring and activity before both Sunkiang and Tsingpu; andalthough the latter place was bravely defended, it became clear that thewisest course would be to evacuate it. A body of troops was therefore sentfrom Shanghai to form a junction with Ward at Sunkiang, and to effect thesafe retreat of the Tsingpu garrison. The earlier proceedings weresatisfactorily arranged, but the last act of all was grossly mismanagedand resulted in a catastrophe. Ward caused the place to be set on fire, when the Taepings, realizing what was being done, hastened into the town, and assailed the retiring garrison. A scene of great confusion followed;many lives were lost, and the commandant who had held it so courageouslywas taken prisoner. Chung Wang could therefore appeal to some facts tosupport his contention that he had got the better of the Europeans and theimperialists in the province of Kiangsu. 

From the scene of his successes Chung Wang was once more called away bythe timidity or peril of Tien Wang, who was barely able to maintain hisposition at Nankin, but when he hastened off to assist the chief of theTaepings he found that he was out of favor, and that the jealousy or fearof his colleagues had brought about his temporary disgrace and loss oftitle. Shortly after Chung Wang's departure Ward was killed in action andBurgevine succeeded to the command, but it soon became apparent that hisrelations with the Chinese authorities would not be smooth. General Chingwas jealous of the Ever-Victorious Army and wished to have all the creditfor himself. Li Hung Chang, who had been appointed Futai or Governor ofKiangsu, entertained doubts of the loyalty of this adventurer. Burgevinewas a man of high temper and strong passions, who met the wiles of theFutai with peremptory demands to recognize the claims of himself and hisband. Nor was this all. Burgevine had designs of his own. Although theproject had not taken definite form in his mind the inclination was strongwithin him to play the part of military dictator with the Chinese; orfailing that, to found an independent authority on some convenient spot ofCelestial territory. The Futai anticipated, perhaps, more than divined hiswishes. In Burgevine he saw, very shortly after their coming into contact, not merely a man whom he disliked and distrusted, but one who, if allowedto pursue his plans unchecked, would in the end form a greater danger tothe imperial authority than even the Taepings. It is not possible to denyLi's shrewdness in reading the character of the man with whom he had todeal. 

The Futai Li, in order to test his obedience, proposed that Burgevine andhis men should be sent round by sea to Nankin to take part in the siege ofthat city. The ships were actually prepared for their conveyance, and theTaotai Wou, who had first fitted out a fleet against the rebels, was inreadiness to accompany Burgevine, when Li and his colleague, as suspiciousof Burgevine's compliance as they would have been indignant at hisrefusal, changed their plans and countermanded the expedition. Instead ofcarrying out this project, therefore, they laid a number of formalcomplaints before General Staveley as to Burgevine's conduct, andrequested the English government to remove him from his command, and toappoint an English officer in his place. The charges against Burgevine didnot at this time amount to more than a certain laxness in regard to theexpenditure of the force, a disregard for the wishes and prejudices of theChinese government, and the want of tact, or of the desire to conciliate, in his personal relations with the Futai. If Burgevine had resigned, allwould have been well, but he regarded the position from the standpoint ofthe adventurer who believes that his own interests form a supreme law andare the highest good. As commander of the Ever-Victorious Army he was apersonage to be considered even by foreign governments. He would notvoluntarily surrender the position which alone preserved him fromobscurity. Having come to this decision it was clear that even the partialexecution of his plans must draw him into many errors of judgment whichcould not but imbitter the conflict. The reply of the English commanderwas to the effect that personally he could not interfere, but that hewould refer the matter to London as well as to Mr. Bruce at Pekin. Inconsequence of the delay thus caused the project of removing the force toNankin was revived, and, the steamers having been chartered, Burgevine wasrequested to bring down his force from Sunkiang and to embark it atShanghai. This he expressed his willingness to do on payment of his men, who were two months in arrear, and on the settlement of all outstandingclaims, Burgevine was supported by his troops. Whatever his dislike to theproposed move, theirs was immeasurably greater. They refused to movewithout the payment of all arrears; and on January 2 they even went so faras to openly mutiny. Two days later Burgevine went to Shanghai and had aninterview with Takee. The meeting was stormy. Burgevine used personalviolence toward the Shanghai merchant, whose attitude was at firstoverbearing, and he returned to his exasperated troops with the money, which he carried off by force. The Futai Li, on hearing of the assault onTakee, hastened to General Staveley to complain of Burgevine's grossinsubordination in striking a mandarin, which by the law of China waspunishable with death. Burgevine was dismissed the Chinese service, andthe notice of this removal was forwarded by the English general, with arecommendation to him to give up his command without disturbance. ThisBurgevine did, for the advice of the English general was equivalent to acommand, and on January 6, 1863, Burgevine was back at Shanghai. CaptainHolland was then placed in temporary command, while the answer of the homegovernment was awaited to General Staveley's proposition to intrust theforce to the care of a young captain of engineers, named Charles Gordon. Chung Wang returned at this moment to Soochow, and in Kiangsu the cause ofthe Taepings again revived through his energy. In February a detachment ofHolland's force attacked Fushan, but met with a check, when the news of aserious defeat at Taitsan, where the former Futai Sieh had been defeated, compelled its speedy retreat to Sunkiang. Li had some reason to believethat Taitsan would surrender on the approach of the imperialists, and heaccordingly sent a large army, including 2, 500 of the contingent, toattack it. The affair was badly managed. The assaulting party was stoppedby a wide ditch; neither boats nor ladders arrived. The Taepings firedfuriously on the exposed party, several officers were killed, and the menbroke into confusion. The heavy guns stuck in the soft ground and had tobe abandoned; and despite the good conduct of the contingent the Taepingsachieved a decisive success (February 13). Chung Wang was able to feelthat his old luck had not deserted him, and the Taepings of Kiangsurecovered all their former confidence in themselves and their leader. Thisdisaster inflicted a rude blow on the confidence of Li and his assistants;and it was resolved that nothing should be attempted until the Englishofficer, at last appointed, had assumed the active command. 

Such was the position of affairs when on March 24, 1863, Major Gordon tookover the command of the Ever-Victorious Army. At that moment it was notmerely discouraged by its recent reverses, but it was discontented withits position, and when Major Gordon assumed the command at Sunkiang therewas some fear of an immediate mutiny. The new commander succeeded inallaying their discontent, and believing that active employment was thebest cure for insubordination resolved to relieve Chanzu without delay. The Taepings were pressing the siege hard and would probably have capturedthe place before many days when Major Gordon attacked them in theirstockades and drove them out with no inconsiderable loss. Having thusgained the confidence of his men and the approbation of the Chineseauthorities Major Gordon returned to Sunkiang, where he employed himselfin energetically restoring the discipline of his force, and in preparingfor his next move, which at the request of Li Hung Chang was to be thecapture of Quinsan. On April 24 the force left Sunkiang to attack Quinsan, but it had not proceeded far when its course had to be altered to Taitsan, where, through an act of treachery, a force of 1, 500 imperialists had beenannihilated. It became necessary to retrieve this disaster without delay, more especially as all hope of taking Quinsan had for the moment to beabandoned. Major Gordon at once altered the direction of his march, andjoining _en route_ General Ching, who had, on the news, broken up hiscamp before Quinsan, hastened as rapidly as possible to Taitsan, where hearrived on April 29. Bad weather obliged the attack to be deferred untilMay 1, when two stockades on the west side were carried, and theirdefenders compelled to flee, not into the town as they would have wished, but away from it toward Chanzu. On the following day, the attack wasresumed on the north side, while the armed boats proceeded to assault theplace from the creek. The firing continued from nine in the morning untilfive in the evening, when a breach seemed to be practicable, and tworegiments were ordered to the assault. The rebels showed great courage andfortitude, swarming in the breach and pouring a heavy and well-directedfire upon the troops. The attack was momentarily checked; but while thestormers remained under such cover as they could find, the shells of twohowitzers were playing over their heads and causing frightful havoc amongthe Taepings in the breach. But for these guns, Major Gordon did not thinkthat the place would have been carried at all; but after some minutes ofthis firing at such close quarters, the rebels began to show signs ofwavering. A party of troops gained the wall, a fresh regiment advancedtoward the breach, and the disappearance of the snake flag showed that theTaeping leaders had given up the fight. Taitsan was thus captured, and thethree previous disasters before it retrieved. 

On May 4 the victorious force appeared before Quinsan, a place ofconsiderable strength and possessing a formidable artillery directed by aEuropean. The town was evidently too strong to be carried by an immediateattack, and Major Gordon's movements were further hampered by the conductof his own men, who, upon their arrival at Quinsan, hurried off indetachments to Sunkiang for the purpose of disposing of their spoil. Ammunition had also fallen short, and the commander was consequentlyobliged to return to refit and to rally his men. At Sunkiang worseconfusion followed, for the men, or rather the officers, broke out intomutiny on the occasion of Major Gordon appointing an English officer withthe rank of lieutenant-colonel to the control of the commissariat, whichhad been completely neglected. The men who had served with Ward andBurgevine objected to this, and openly refused to obey orders. Fortunatelythe stores and ammunition were collected, and Major Gordon announced thathe would march on the following morning, with or without the mutineers. Those who did not answer to their names at the end of the first half-marchwould be dismissed, and he spoke with the authority of one in completeaccord with the Chinese authorities themselves. The soldiers obeyed him asa Chinese official, because he had been made a tsungping or brigadier-general, and the officers feared to disobey him as they would have likedon account of his commanding the source whence they were paid. Themutineers fell in, and a force of nearly 3, 000 men, well-equipped andanxious for the fray, returned to Quinsan, where General Ching had, in themeanwhile, kept the rebels closely watched from a strong position defendedby several stockades and supported by the "Hyson" steamer. Immediatelyafter his arrival, Major Gordon moved out his force to attack thestockades which the rebels had constructed on their right wing. These werestrongly built; but as soon as the defenders perceived that the assailantshad gained their flank they precipitately withdrew into Quinsan itself. General Ching wished the attack to be made on the eastern gate, oppositeto which he had raised his own intrenchments, and by which he hadannounced his intention of forcing his way; but a brief inspection showedMajor Gordon that that was the strongest point of the town, and that adirect attack upon it could only succeed, if at all, by a veryconsiderable sacrifice of men. Like a prudent commander Major Gordondetermined to reconnoiter; and, after much grumbling on the part ofGeneral Ching, he decided that the most hopeful plan was to carry somestockades situated seven miles west of the town, and thence assail Quinsanon the Soochow side, which was weaker than the others. These stockadeswere at a village called Chumze. On May 30 the force detailed for thiswork proceeded to carry it out. The "Hyson" and fifty imperial gunboatsconveyed the land force, which consisted of one regiment, some guns, and alarge body of imperialists. The rebels at Chumze offered hardly the leastresistance; whether it was that they were dismayed at the suddenappearance of the enemy, or, as was stated at the time, because theyconsidered themselves ill-treated by their comrades in Quinsan. The"Hyson" vigorously pursued those who fled toward Soochow, and completedthe effect of this success by the capture of a very strong and well-builtfort covering a bridge at Ta Edin. An imperialist garrison was installedthere, and the "Hyson" continued the pursuit to within a mile of Soochowitself. 

The defenders of Quinsan itself were terribly alarmed at the cutting offof their communications. They saw themselves on the point of beingsurrounded, and they yielded to the uncontrollable impulse of panic. During the night, after having suffered severely from the "Hyson" fire, the garrison evacuated the place, which might easily have held out; andGeneral Ching had the personal satisfaction, on learning from somedeserters of the flight of the garrison, of leading his men over theeastern walls which he had wished to assault. The importance of Quinsanwas realized on its capture. Major Gordon pronounced it to be the key ofSoochow, and at once resolved to establish his headquarters there, partlybecause of its natural advantages, but also and not less on account of itsenabling him to gradually destroy the evil associations which the men hadcontracted at Sunkiang. 

The change was not acceptable, however, to the force itself; and theartillery in particular refused to obey orders, and threatened to shoottheir officers. Discipline was, however, promptly reasserted by the energyof the commander, who ordered the principal ringleader to be shot, and"the Ever-Victorious Army" became gradually reconciled to its new positionat Quinsan. After the capture of Quinsan there was a cessation of activeoperations for nearly two months. It was the height of summer and the newtroops had to be drilled. The difficulty with Ching, who took all thecredit for the capture of Quinsan to himself, was arranged through themediation of Dr. Macartney, who had just left the English army to becomeLi's right-hand man. Two other circumstances occurred to embarrass theyoung commander. There were rumors of some meditated movement on the partof Burgevine, who had returned from Pekin with letters exculpating him, and who endeavored to recover the command in spite of Li Hung Chang, andthere was a further manifestation of insubordination in the force, which, as Gordon said, bore more resemblance to a rabble than the magnificentarmy it was popularly supposed to be. The artillery had been cowed byMajor Gordon's vigor, but its efficiency remained more doubtful than couldbe satisfactory to the general responsible for its condition, and alsorelying upon it as the most potent arm of his force. He resolved to removethe old commander, and to appoint an English officer, Major Tapp, in hisplace. On carrying his determination into effect the officers sent in "around robin, " refusing to accept a new officer. This was on July 25, andthe expedition which had been decided upon against Wokong had consequentlyto set out the following morning without a single artillery officer. Inface of the inflexible resolve of the leader, however, the officersrepented, and appeared in a body at the camp begging to be taken back, andexpressing their willingness to accept "Major Tapp or any one else" astheir colonel. 

With these troops, part of whom had only just returned to a proper senseof discipline, Gordon proceeded to attack Kahpoo, on the Grand Canal southof Soochow, where the rebels held two strongly-built stone forts. Theforce had beep strengthened by the addition of another steamer, the"Firefly, " a sister vessel to the "Hyson. " Major Gordon arrived beforeKahpoo on July 27; and the garrison, evidently taken by surprise, madescarcely the least resistance. The capture of Kahpoo placed Gordon's forcebetween Soochow and Wokong, the next object of attack. At Wokong therebels were equally unprepared. The garrison at Kahpoo, thinking only ofits own safety, had fled to Soochow, leaving their comrades at Wokongunwarned and to their fate. So heedless were the Taepings at this place ofall danger from the north, that they had even neglected to occupy a strongstone fort situated about 1, 000 yards north of the walls. The Taepingsattempted too late to repair their error, and the loss of this fort causedthem that of all their other stockades. Wokong itself was too weak tooffer any effectual resistance; and the garrison on the eve of the assaultordered for July 29 sent out a request for quarter, which was granted, andthe place surrendered without further fighting. Meanwhile an event of fargreater importance had happened than even the capture of these towns, although they formed the necessary preliminary to the investment ofSoochow. Burgevine had come to the decision to join the Taepings. 

Disappointed in his hope of receiving the command, Burgevine remained onat Shanghai, employing his time in watching the varying phases of acampaign in which he longed to take part, and of which he believed that itwas only his due to have the direction, but still hesitating as to whatdecision it behooved him to take. His contempt for all Chinese officialsbecame hatred of the bitterest kind of the Futai, by whom he had been notmerely thwarted but overreached, and predisposed him to regard with nounfavorable eye the idea of joining his fortunes to those of the rebelTaepings. To him in this frame of mind came some of the dismissed officersand men of the Ward force, appealing to his vanity by declaring that hissoldiers remembered him with affection, and that he had only to hoist hisflag for most of his old followers to rally round him. There was little tomarvel at if he also was not free from some feeling of jealousy at thesuccess and growing fame of Major Gordon, for whom he simulated a warmfriendship. The combination of motives proved altogether irresistible assoon as he found that several hundred European adventurers were ready toaccompany him into the ranks of the Taepings, and to endeavor to do forthem what they had failed to perform for the imperialists. On July 15, Dr. Macartney wrote to Major Gordon stating that he had positive informationthat Burgevine was enlisting men for some enterprise, that he had alreadycollected about 300 Europeans, and that he had even gone so far as tochoose a special flag, a white diamond on a red ground, and containing ablack star in the center of the diamond. On the 21st of the same monthBurgevine wrote to Major Gordon saying that there would be many rumorsabout him, but that he was not to believe any of them, and that he wouldcome and see him shortly. This letter was written as a blind, and, unfortunately, Major Gordon attached greater value to Burgevine's wordthan he did to the precise information of Dr. Macartney. He was too muchdisposed to think that, as the officer who had to a certain extentsuperseded Burgevine in the command, he was bound to take the mostfavorable view of all his actions, and to trust implicitly in his goodfaith. Major Gordon, trusting to his word, made himself personallyresponsible to the Chinese authorities for his good faith, and thusBurgevine escaped arrest. Burgevine's plans had been deeply laid. He hadbeen long in correspondence with the Taepings, and his terms had beenaccepted. He proclaimed his hostility to the government by seizing one oftheir new steamers. 

At this very moment Major Gordon came to the decision to resign, and hehastened back to Shanghai in order to place his withdrawal from the forcein the hands of the Futai. He arrived there on the very day that Burgevineseized the "Kajow" steamer at Sunkiang, and on hearing the news he at oncewithdrew his resignation, which had been made partly from irritation atthe irregular payment of his men, and also on account of the cruelty ofGeneral Ching. Not merely did he withdraw his resignation, but he hastenedback to Quinsan, into which he rode on the night of the very same day thathad witnessed his departure. The immediate and most pressing danger wasfrom the possible defection of the force to its old leader, when, with thelarge stores of artillery and ammunition at Quinsan in their possession, not even Shanghai, with its very weak foreign garrison, could beconsidered safe from attack. As a measure of precaution Major Gordon sentsome of his heavy guns and stores back to Taitsan, where the Englishcommander, General Brown, consented to guard them, while he hastened offto Kahpoo, now threatened both by the Soochow force and by the foreignadventurers acting under Burgevine. He arrived at a most critical moment. The garrison was hard pressed. General Ching had gone back to Shanghai, and only the presence of the "Hyson" prevented the rebels, who were well-armed and possessed an efficient artillery, from carrying the fort by arush. The arrival of Major Gordon with 150 men on board his third steamer, the "Cricket, " restored the confidence of the defenders, but there was nodoubt that Burgevine had lost a most favorable opportunity, for if he hadattacked this place instead of proceeding to Soochow it must have fallen. 

General Ching, who was a man of almost extraordinary energy andrestlessness, resolved to signalize his return to the field by somestriking act while Major Gordon was completing his preparations at Quinsanfor a fresh effort. His headquarters were at the strong fort of Ta Edin, on the creek leading from Quinsan to Soochow, and having the "Hyson" withhim he determined to make a dash to some point nearer the great rebelstronghold. On August 30 he had seized the position of Waiquaidong, where, in three days, he threw up stockades, admirably constructed, and whichcould not have been carried save by a great effort on the part of thewhole of the Soochow garrison. Toward the end of September, Major Gordon, fearing lest the rebels, who had now the supposed advantage of Burgevine'spresence and advice, might make some attempt to cut off General Ching'slengthy communications, moved forward to Waiquaidong to support him; butwhen he arrived he found that the impatient mandarin, encouraged either bythe news of his approach or at the inaction of the Taepings in Soochow, had made a still further advance of two miles, so that he was only 1, 000yards distant from the rebel stockades in front of the east gate. MajorGordon had at this time been re-enforced by the Franco Chinese corps, which had been well disciplined, under the command of Captain Bonnefoy, while the necessity of leaving any strong garrison at Quinsan had beenobviated by the loan of 200 Belooches from General Brown's force. Therebel position having been carefully reconnoitered, both on the east andon the south, Major Gordon determined that the first step necessary forits proper beleaguerment was to seize and fortify the village ofPatachiaou, about one mile south of the city wall. The village, althoughstrongly stockaded, was evacuated by the garrison after a feebleresistance, and an attempt to recover it a few hours later by Mow Wang inperson resulted in a rude repulse chiefly on account of the effective fireof the "Hyson. " Burgevine, instead of fighting the battles of the failingcause he had adopted, was traveling about the country: at one moment inthe capital interviewing Tien Wang and his ministers, at another goingabout in disguise even in the streets of Shanghai. But during the weekswhen General Ching might have been taken at a disadvantage, and when itwas quite possible to recover some of the places which had been lost, hewas absent from the scene of military operations. After the capture ofPatachiaou most of the troops and the steamers that had taken it were sentback to Waiquaidong, but Major Gordon remained there with a select body ofhis men and three howitzers. The rebels had not resigned themselves to theloss of Patachiaou, and on October 1 they made a regular attempt torecover it. They brought the "Kajow" into action, and, as it had found adaring commander in a man named Jones, its assistance proved veryconsiderable. They had also a 32-pounder gun on board a junk, and thisenabled them to overcome the fire of Gordon's howitzers and also of the"Hyson, " which arrived from Waiquaidong during the engagement. Butnotwithstanding the superiority of their artillery, the rebels hesitatedto come to close quarters, and when Major Gordon and Captain Bonnefoy leda sortie against them at the end of the day they retired precipitately. 

At this stage Burgevine wrote to Major Gordon two letters--the firstexalting the Taepings, and the second written two days later asking for aninterview, whereupon he expressed his desire to surrender on the provisionof personal safety. He assigned the state of his health as the cause ofthis change, but there was never the least doubt that the true reason ofthis altered view was dissatisfaction with his treatment by the Taepingleaders and a conviction of the impossibility of success. Inside Soochow, and at Nankin, it was possible to see with clearer eyes than at Shanghaithat the Taeping cause was one that could not be resuscitated. Butalthough Burgevine soon and very clearly saw the hopelessness of theTaeping movement, he had by no means made up his mind to go over to theimperialists. With a considerable number of European followers at his beckand call, and with a profound and ineradicable contempt for the wholeChinese official world, he was both to lose or surrender the positionwhich gave him a certain importance. He vacillated between a number ofsuggestions, and the last he came to was the most remarkable, at the sametime that it revealed more clearly than any other the vain andmeretricious character of the man. In his second interview with MajorGordon he proposed that that officer should join him, and combining thewhole force of the Europeans and the disciplined Chinese, seize Soochow, and establish an independent authority of their own. It was the oldfilibustering idea, revived under the most unfavorable circumstances, offighting for their own hand, dragging the European name in the dirt, andfounding an independent authority of some vague, undefinable andtransitory character. Major Gordon listened to the unfolding of thisscheme of miserable treachery, and only his strong sense of the utterimpossibility, and indeed the ridiculousness of the project, prevented hiscontempt and indignation finding forcible expression. Burgevine, thetraitor to the imperial cause, the man whose health would not allow him todo his duty to his new masters in Soochow, thus revealed his plan fordefying all parties, and for deciding the fate of the Dragon Throne. Theonly reply he received was the cold one that it would be better and wiserto confine his attention to the question of whether he intended to yieldor not, instead of discussing idle schemes of "vaulting ambition. "

Meantime, Chung Wang had come down from Nankin to superintend the defenseof Soochow; and in face of a more capable opponent he still did notdespair of success, or at the least of making a good fight of it. Heformed the plan of assuming the offensive against Chanzu while GeneralChing was employed in erecting his stockades step by step nearer to theeastern wall of Soochow. In order to prevent the realization of thisproject Major Gordon made several demonstrations on the western side ofSoochow, which had the effect of inducing Chung Wang to defer hisdeparture. At this conjuncture serious news arrived from the south. Alarge rebel force, assembled from Chekiang and the silk districts south ofthe Taho Lake, had moved up the Grand Canal and held the garrison ofWokong in close leaguer. On October 10 the imperialists stationed theremade a sortie, but were driven back with the loss of several hundred menkilled and wounded. Their provisions were almost exhausted, and it wasevident that unless relieved they could not hold out many days longer. OnOctober 12 Major Gordon therefore hastened to their succor. The rebelsheld a position south of Wokong, and, as they felt sure of a safe retreat, they fought with great determination. The battle lasted three hours; theguns had to be brought up to within fifty yards of the stockade, and thewhole affair is described as one of the hardest fought actions of the war. On the return of the contingent to Patachiaou, about thirty Europeansdeserted the rebels, but Burgevine and one or two others were not withthem. Chung Wang had seized the opportunity of Gordon's departure for therelief of Wokong to carry out his scheme against Chanzu. Taking the"Kajow" with him, and a considerable number of the foreign adventurers, hereached Monding, where the imperialists were strongly intrenched at thejunction of the main creek from Chanzu with the Canal. He attacked them, and a severely contested struggle ensued, in which at first the Taepingscarried everything before them. But the fortune of the day soon veeredround. The "Kajow" was sunk by a lucky shot, great havoc was wrought bythe explosion of a powder-boat, and the imperialists remained masters of ahard fought field. The defection of the Europeans placed Burgevine inserious peril, and only Major Gordon's urgent representations and acts ofcourtesy to the Mow Wang saved his life. The Taeping leader, struck by thegallantry and fair dealing of the English officer, set Burgevine free, andthe American consul thanked Major Gordon for his great kindness to thatmisguided officer. Burgevine came out of the whole complication with areputation in every way tarnished. He had not even the most common couragewhich would have impelled him to stay in Soochow and take the chances ofthe party to which he had attached himself. Whatever his natural talentsmight have been, his vanity and weakness obscured them all. With theinclination to create an infinity of mischief, it must be consideredfortunate that his ability was so small, for his opportunities wereabundant. 

The conclusion of the Burgevine incident removed a weight from MajorGordon's mind. Established on the east and south of Soochow, he determinedto secure a similar position on its western side, when he would be able tointercept the communications still held by the garrison across the TahoLake. In order to attain this object it was necessary, in the first place, to carry the stockades at Wuliungchow, a village two miles west ofPatachiaou. The place was captured at the first attack and successfullyheld, notwithstanding a fierce attempt to recover it under the personaldirection of Chung Wang, who returned for the express purpose. Thissuccess was followed by others. Another large body of rebels had come upfrom the south and assailed the garrison of Wokong. On October 26 one ofGordon's lieutenants, Major Kirkham, inflicted a severe defeat upon them, and vigorously pursued them for several miles. The next operationundertaken was the capture of the village of Leeku, three miles north ofSoochow, as the preliminary to investing the city on the north. Here MajorGordon resorted to his usual flanking tactics, and with conspicuoussuccess. The rebels fought well; one officer was killed at Gordon's side, and the men in the stockade were cut down with the exception of aboutforty, who were made prisoners. Soochow was then assailed on the northernas well as on the other sides, but Chung Wang's army still served to keepopen communications by means of the Grand Canal. That army had itsprincipal quarters at Wusieh, where it was kept in check by a largeimperialist force under Santajin, Li's brother, who had advanced fromKongyin on the Yangtse. Major Gordon's main difficulty now arose from theinsufficiency of his force to hold so wide an extent of country; and inorder to procure a re-enforcement from Santajin, he agreed to assist thatcommander against his able opponent Chung Wang. With a view toaccomplishing this the Taeping position at Wanti, two miles north ofLeeku, was attacked and captured. 

At this stage of the campaign there were 13, 500 men round Soochow, and ofthese 8, 500 were fully occupied in the defense of the stockades, leavingthe very small number of 5, 000 men available for active measures in thefield. On the other hand, Santajin had not fewer than 20, 000, and possiblyas many as 30, 000 men under his orders. But the Taepings still enjoyed thenumerical superiority. They had 40, 000 men in Soochow, 20, 000 at Wusieh, and Chung Wang occupied a camp, half-way between these places, with 18, 000followers. The presence of Chung Wang was also estimated to be worth acorps of 5, 000 soldiers. Had Gordon been free to act, his plan of campaignwould have been simple and decisive. He would have effected a junction ofhis forces with Santajin, he would have overwhelmed Chung Wang's 18, 000with his combined army of double that strength, and he would have appearedat the head of his victorious troops before the bewildered garrison ofWusieh. It would probably have terminated the campaign at a stroke. Eventhe decisive defeat of Chung Wang alone might have entailed the collapseof the cause now tottering to its fall. But Major Gordon had to considernot merely the military quality of his allies, but also their jealousiesand differences. General Ching hated Santajin on private grounds as wellas on public. He desired a monopoly of the profit and honor of thecampaign. His own reputation would be made by the capture of Soochow. Itwould be diminished and cast into the shade were another imperialcommander to defeat Chung Wang and close the line of the Grand Canal. WereGordon to detach himself from General Ching he could not feel sure whatthat jealous and impulsive commander would do. He would certainly notpreserve the vigilant defensive before Soochow necessary to insure thesafety of the army operating to the north. The commander of the Ever-Victorious Army had consequently to abandon the tempting idea of crushingChung Wang and to have recourse to slower methods. 

On November 19 Major Gordon collected the whole of his available force toattack Fusaiquan, a place on the Grand Canal six miles north of Soochow. Here the rebels had barred the Canal at three different points, while onthe banks they occupied eight earthworks, which were fortunately in a veryincomplete state. A desperate resistance was expected from the rebels atthis advantageous spot, but they preferred their safety to their duty, andretreated to Wusieh with hardly any loss. In consequence of this reverseChung Wang withdrew his forces from his camp in face of Santajin, andconcentrated his men at Monding and Wusieh for the defense of the GrandCanal. The investment of Soochow being now as complete as the number oftroops under the imperial standard would allow of, Major Gordon returnedto General Ching's stockades in front of that place, with the view ofresuming the attack on the eastern gate. General Ching and CaptainBonnefoy had met with a slight repulse there on October 14. The stockadein front of the east gate was known by the name of the Low Mun, and hadbeen strengthened to the best knowledge of the Taeping engineers. Theirposition was exceedingly formidable, consisting of a line of breastworksdefended at intervals with circular stockades. Major Gordon decided uponmaking a night attack and he arranged his plans from the informationprovided by the European and other deserters who had been inside. TheTaepings were not without their spies and sympathizers also, and theintended attempt was revealed to them. The attack was made at two in themorning of November 27, but the rebels had mustered in force and receivedMajor Gordon's men with tremendous volleys. Even then the disciplinedtroops would not give way, and encouraged by the example of their leaderwho seemed to be at the front and at every point at the same moment, fairly held their own on the edge of the enemy's position. Unfortunatelythe troops in support behaved badly, and got confused from the heavy fireof the Taepings, which never slackened. Some of them absolutely retiredand others were landed at the wrong places. Major Gordon had to hasten tothe rear to restore order, and during his absence the advanced guard wereexpelled from their position by a forward movement led by Mow Wang inperson. The attack had failed, and there was nothing to do save to drawoff the troops with as little further loss as possible. This was MajorGordon's first defeat, but it was so evidently due to the accidentsinseparable from a night attempt, and to the fact that the surprise hadbeen revealed, that it produced a less discouraging effect on officers andmen than might have seemed probable. Up to this day Major Gordon hadobtained thirteen distinct victories besides the advantage in many minorskirmishes. 

Undismayed by this reverse Major Gordon collected all his troops andartillery from the other stockades, and resolved to attack the Low Munposition with his whole force. He also collected all his heavy guns andmortars and cannonaded the rebel stockade for some time; but on an advancebeing ordered the assailants were compelled to retire by the fire whichthe Taepings brought to bear on them from every available point. ChungWang had hastened down from Wusieh to take part in the defense of what wasrightly regarded as the key of the position at Soochow, and both he andMow Wang superintended in person the defense of the Low Mun stockade. After a further cannonade the advance was again sounded, but this secondattack would also have failed had not the officers and men boldly plungedinto the moat or creek and swum across. The whole of the stockades and astone fort were then carried, and the imperial forces firmly establishedat a point only 900 yards from the inner wall of Soochow. Six officers andfifty men were killed, and three officers, five Europeans, and 128 menwere wounded in this successful attack. The capture of the Low Munstockades meant practically the fall of Soochow. Chung Wang then left itto its fate, and all the other Wangs except Mow Wang were in favor ofcoming to terms with the imperialists. Even before this defeat Lar Wanghad entered into communications with General Ching for coming over, and ashe had the majority of the troops at Soochow under his orders Mow Wang waspractically powerless, although resolute to defend the place to the last. Several interviews took place between the Wangs and General Ching and LiHung Chang. Major Gordon also saw the former, and had one interview withLar Wang in person. The English officer proposed as the most feasible planhis surrendering one of the gates. During all this period Major Gordon hadimpressed on both of his Chinese colleagues the imperative necessity therewas, for reasons of both policy and prudence, to deal leniently andhonorably by the rebel chiefs. All seemed to be going well. General Chingtook an oath of brotherhood with Lar Wang, Li Hung Chang agreed witheverything that fell from Gordon's lips. The only one exempted from thistacit understanding was Mow Wang, always in favor of fighting it out anddefending the town; and his name was not mentioned for the simple reasonthat he had nothing to do with the negotiations. For Mow Wang Major Gordonhad formed the esteem due to a gallant enemy, and he resolved to spare noeffort to save his life. His benevolent intentions were thwarted by theevents that had occurred within Soochow. Mow Wang had been murdered by theother Wangs, who feared that he might detect their plans and prevent theirbeing carried out. The death of Mow Wang removed the only leader who washeartily opposed to the surrender of Soochow, and on the day after thischief's murder the imperialists received possession of one of the gates. The inside of the city had been the scene of the most dreadful confusion. Mow Wang's men had sought to avenge their leader's death, and on the otherhand the followers of Lar Wang had shaved their heads in token of theiradhesion to the imperialist cause. Some of the more prudent of the Wangs, not knowing what turn events might take amid the prevailing discord, secured their safety by a timely flight. Major Gordon kept his force wellin hand, and refused to allow any of the men to enter the city, where theywould certainly have exercised the privileges of a mercenary force inrespect of pillage. Instead of this Major Gordon endeavored to obtain forthem two months' pay from the Futai, which that official stated hisinability to procure. Major Gordon thereupon resigned in disgust, and onsucceeding in obtaining one month's pay for his men, he sent them back toQuinsan without a disturbance. 

The departure of the Ever-Victorious Army for its headquarters wasregarded by the Chinese officials with great satisfaction, and for severalreasons. In the flush of the success at Soochow both that force and itscommander seemed in the way of the Futai, and to diminish the extent ofhis triumph. Neither Li nor Ching also had the least wish for any of theex-rebel chiefs, men of ability and accustomed to command, to be takeninto the service of the government. Of men of that kind there were alreadyenough. General Ching himself was a sufficiently formidable rival to theFutai, without any assistance and encouragement from Lar Wang and theothers. Li had no wish to save them from the fate of rebels; and althoughhe had promised, and General Ching had sworn to, their personal safety, hewas bent on getting rid of them in one way or another. He feared MajorGordon, but he also thought that the time had arrived when he coulddispense with him and the foreign-drilled legion in the same way as he hadgot rid of Sherard Osborn and his fleet. The departure of the Quinsanforce left him free to follow his own inclination. The Wangs were invitedto an entertainment at the Futai's boat, and Major Gordon saw them both inthe city and subsequently when on their way to Li Hung Chang. The exactcircumstances of their fate were never known; but nine headless bodieswere discovered on the opposite side of the creek, and not far distantfrom the Futai's quarters. It then became evident that Lar Wang and hisfellow Wangs had been brutally murdered. Major Gordon was disposed to takethe office of their avenger into his own hands, but the opportunity ofdoing so fortunately did not present itself. He hastened back to Quinsan, where he refused to act any longer with such false and dishonorablecolleagues. The matter was reported to Pekin. Both the mandarins sought toclear themselves by accusing the other; and a special decree came fromPekin conferring on the English officer a very high order and the sum of10, 000 taels. Major Gordon returned the money, and expressed his regret atbeing unable to accept any token of honor from the emperor in consequenceof the Soochow affair. 

A variety of reasons, all equally creditable to Major Gordon's judgmentand single-mindedness, induced him after two months' retirement to abandonhis inaction and to sink his difference with the Futai. He saw veryclearly that the sluggishness of the imperial commanders would result inthe prolongation of the struggle with all its attendant evils, whereas, ifhe took the field, he would be able to bring it to a conclusion within twomonths. Moreover, the Quinsan force, never very amenable to discipline, shook off all restraint when in quarters, and promised to become asdangerous to the government in whose pay it was as to the enemy againstwhom it was engaged to fight. Major Gordon, in view of these facts, cameto the prompt decision that it was his duty, and the course mostcalculated to do good, for him to retake the field and strive asenergetically as possible to expel the rebels from the small part ofKiangsu still remaining in their possession. On February 18, 1864, heaccordingly left Quinsan at the head of his men, who showed greatsatisfaction at the return to active campaigning. Wusieh had beenevacuated on the fall of Soochow, and Chung Wang's force retired toChangchow, while that chief himself returned to Nankin. A few weeks laterGeneral Ching had seized Pingwang, thus obtaining the command of anotherentrance into the Taho Lake. Santajin established his force in a camp notfar distant from Changchow, and engaged the rebels in almost dailyskirmishes. This was the position of affairs when Major Gordon took thefield toward the end of February, and he at once resolved to carry the warinto a new country by crossing the Taho Lake and attacking the town ofYesing on its western shores. By seizing this and the adjoining towns hehoped to cut the rebellion in two, and to be able to attack Changchow inthe rear. The operations at Yesing occupied two days; but at last therebel stockades were carried with tremendous loss not only to thedefenders, but also to a relieving force sent from Liyang. Five thousandprisoners were also taken. Liyang itself was the next place to beattacked; but the intricacy of the country, which was intersected bycreeks and canals, added to the fact that the whole region had beendesolated by famine, and that the rebels had broken all the bridges, rendered this undertaking one of great difficulty and some risk. However, Major Gordon's fortitude vanquished all obstacles, and when he appearedbefore Liyang he found that the rebel leaders in possession of the townhad come to the decision to surrender. At this place Major Gordon cameinto communication with the general Paochiaou, who was covering the siegeoperations against Nankin, which Tseng Kwofan was pressing with ever-increasing vigor. The surrender of Liyang proved the more important, asthe fortifications were found to be admirably constructed, and as itcontained a garrison of fifteen thousand men and a plentiful supply ofprovisions. From Liyang Major Gordon marched on Kintang, a town due northof Liyang, and about half-way between Changchow and Nankin. The capture ofKintang, by placing Gordon's force within striking distance of Changchowand its communications, would have compelled the rebels to suspend theseoperations and recall their forces. Unfortunately the attack on Kintangrevealed unexpected difficulties. The garrison showed extraordinarydetermination; and although the wall was breached by the heavy fire, twoattempts to assault were repulsed with heavy loss, the more seriousinasmuch as Major Gordon was himself wounded below the knee, and compelledto retire to his boat. This was the second defeat Gordon had experienced. 

In consequence of this reverse, which dashed the cup of success fromGordon's hands when he seemed on the point of bringing the campaign to aclose in the most brilliant manner, the force had to retreat to Liyang, whence the commander hastened back with one thousand men to Wusieh. Hereached Wusieh on the 25th of March, four days after the repulse atKintang, and he there learned that Fushan had been taken and that Chanzuwas being closely attacked. The imperialists had fared better in thesouth. General Ching had captured Kashingfoo, a strong place in Chekiang, and on the very same day as the repulse at Kintang, Tso Tsung Tang hadrecovered Hangchow. Major Gordon, although still incapacitated by hiswound from taking his usual foremost place in the battle, directed alloperations from his boat. He succeeded, after numerous skirmishes, incompelling the Taepings to quit their position before Chanzu; but theydrew up in force at the village of Waisso, where they offered him battle. Most unfortunately, Major Gordon had to intrust the conduct of the attackto his lieutenants, Colonels Howard and Rhodes, while he superintended theadvance of the gunboats up the creek. Finding the banks were too high toadmit of these being usefully employed, and failing to establishcommunications with the infantry, he discreetly returned to his camp, where he found everything in the most dreadful confusion owing to aterrible disaster. The infantry, in fact, had been outmaneuvered androuted with tremendous loss. Seven officers and 265 men had been killed, and one officer and sixty-two men wounded. Such an overwhelming disasterwould have crushed any ordinary commander, particularly when coming sosoon after such a rude defeat as that at Kintang. It only roused MajorGordon to increased activity. He at once took energetic measures toretrieve this disaster. He sent his wounded to Quinsan, collected freshtroops, and, having allowed his own wound to recover by a week's rest, resumed in person the attack on Waisso. On April 10 Major Gordon pitchedhis camp within a mile of Waisso, and paid his men as the preliminary tothe resumption of the offensive. The attack commenced on the followingmorning, and promised to prove of an arduous nature; but by a skillfulflank movement Major Gordon carried two stockades in person, and renderedthe whole place no longer tenable. The rebels evacuated their position andretreated, closely pursued by the imperialists. The villagers, who hadsuffered from their exactions, rose upon them, and very few rebelsescaped. The pursuit was continued for a week, and the lately victoriousarmy of Waisso was practically annihilated. The capture of Changchow wasto be the next and crowning success of the campaign. For this enterprisethe whole of the Ever-Victorious Army was concentrated, including the ex-rebel contingent of Liyang. On April 23 Major Gordon carried the stockadesnear the west gate. In their capture the Liyang men, although led only byChinese, showed conspicuous gallantry, thus justifying Major Gordon'sbelief that the Chinese would fight as well under their own countrymen aswhen led by foreigners. Batteries were then constructed for thebombardment of the town itself. Before these were completed theimperialists assaulted, but were repulsed with loss. On the following day(April 27) the batteries opened fire, and two pontoon bridges were thrownacross, when Major Gordon led his men to the assault. The first attack wasrepulsed, and a second one, made in conjunction with the imperialists, fared not less badly. The pontoons were lost, and the force suffered agreater loss than at any time during the war, with the exception ofWaisso. The Taepings also lost heavily; and their valor could not alterthe inevitable result. Changchow had consequently to be approachedsystematically by trenches, in the construction of which the Chineseshowed themselves very skillful. The loss of the pontoons compelled theformation of a cask-bridge; and, during the extensive preparations forrenewing the attack, several hundred of the garrison came over, reportingthat it was only the Cantonese who wished to fight to the bitter end. OnMay 11, the fourth anniversary of its capture by Chung Wang, Li requestedMajor Gordon to act in concert with him for carrying the place by storm. The attack was made in the middle of the day, to the intense surprise ofthe garrison, who made only a feeble resistance, and the town was at lastcarried with little loss. The commandant, Hoo Wang, was made prisoner andexecuted. This proved to be the last action of the Ever-Victorious Army, which then returned to Quinsan, and was quietly disbanded by its commanderbefore June 1. To sum up the closing incidents of the Taeping war. Tayanwas evacuated two days after the fall of Changchow, leaving Nankin alonein their hands. Inside that city there were the greatest misery andsuffering. Tien Wang had refused to take any of the steps pressed on himby Chung Wang, and when he heard the people were suffering from want, allhe said was, "Let them eat the sweet dew. " Tseng Kwofan drew up his lineson all sides of the city, and gradually drove the despairing rebels behindthe walls. Chung Wang sent out the old women and children; and let it berecorded to the credit of Tseng Kwotsiuen that he did not drive them back, but charitably provided for their wants, and dispatched them to a place ofshelter. In June Major Gordon visited Tseng's camp, and found his workscovering twenty-four to thirty miles, and constructed in the mostelaborate fashion. The imperialists numbered 80, 000 men, but were badlyarmed. Although their pay was very much in arrear, they were well fed, andhad great confidence in their leader, Tseng Kwofan. On June 30, Tien Wang, despairing of success, committed suicide by swallowing golden leaf. Thusdied the Hungtsiuen who had erected the standard of revolt in Kwangsithirteen years before. His son was proclaimed Tien Wang on his deathbecoming known, but his reign was brief. The last act of all had nowarrived. On July 19 the imperialists had run a gallery under the wall ofNankin, and charged it with 40, 000 pounds of powder. The explosiondestroyed fifty yards of the walls, and the imperialists, attacking on allsides, poured in through the breach. Chung Wang made a desperateresistance in the interior, holding his own and the Tien Wang's palace tothe last. He made a further stand with a thousand men at the southerngate, but his band was overwhelmed, and he and the young Tien Wang fledinto the surrounding country. In this supreme moment of danger Chung Wangthought more of the safety of his young chief than of himself, and he gavehim an exceptionally good pony to escape on, while he himself took a veryinferior animal. As the consequence Tien Wang the Second escaped, whileChung Wang was captured in the hills a few days later. Chung Wang, who hadcertainly been the hero of the Taeping movement, was beheaded on August 7, and the young Tien Wang was eventually captured and executed also, by ShenPaochen. For this decisive victory, which extinguished the TaepingRebellion, Tseng Kwofan, whom Gordon called "generous, fair, honest andpatriotic, " was made a Hou, or Marquis, and his brother Tseng Kwotsiuen anEarl. 

It is impossible to exaggerate the impression made by Gordon'sdisinterestedness on the Chinese people, who elevated him for his courageand military prowess to the pedestal of a national god of war. The canewhich he carried when leading his men to the charge became known as"Gordon's wand of victory"; and the troops whom he trained, and convertedby success from a rabble into an army, formed the nucleus of China'smodern army. The service he rendered his adopted country was, therefore, lasting as well as striking, and the gratitude of the Chinese has, totheir credit, proved not less durable. The name of Gordon is still one toconjure with among the Chinese, and if ever China were placed in the samestraits, she would be the more willing, from his example, to intrust hercause to an English officer. As to the military achievements of GeneralGordon in China nothing fresh can be said. They speak indeed forthemselves, and they form the most solid portion of the reputation whichhe gained as a leader of men. In the history of the Manchu dynasty he willbe known as "Chinese Gordon"; although for us his earlier sobriquet mustneeds give place, from his heroic and ever-regrettable death, to that of"Gordon of Khartoum. "

CHAPTER XXI

THE REGENCY

While the suppression of the Taeping Rebellion was in progress, events ofgreat interest and importance happened at Pekin. It will be recollectedthat when the allied forces approached that city in 1860, the EmperorHienfung fled to Jehol, and kept himself aloof from all the peacenegotiations which were conducted to a successful conclusion by hisbrother, Prince Kung. After the signature of the convention in Pekin, ratifying the Treaty of Tientsin, he refused to return to his capital; andhe even seems to have hoped that he might, by asserting his imperialprerogative, transfer the capital from Pekin to Jehol, and thus evade oneof the principal concessions to the foreigners. But if this wasimpossible, he was quite determined, for himself, to have nothing to dowith them, and during the short remainder of his life he kept his court atJehol. While his brother was engaged in meeting the difficulties ofdiplomacy, and in arranging the conditions of a novel situation, Hienfung, by collecting round his person the most bigoted men of his family, showedthat he preferred those counselors who had learned nothing from recentevents, and who would support him in his claims to undiminishedsuperiority and inaccessibility. Prominent among the men in his confidencewas Prince Tsai, who had taken so discreditable a part in the arrest ofParkes and his companions at Tungchow, and among his other advisers wereseveral inexperienced and impetuous members of the Manchu family. Theywere all agreed in the policy of recovering, at the earliest possiblemoment, what they considered to be the natural and prescriptive right ofthe occupant of the Dragon Throne to treat all other potentates as in nodegree equal to himself. No respect for treaties would have deterred themfrom reasserting what had solemnly been signed away, and the permanentsuccess of the faction at Jehol would have entailed, within acomparatively short period, the outbreak of another foreign war. But thecontinued residence of the emperor at Jehol was not popular, with eitherhis own family or the inhabitants of Pekin. The members of the Manchuclan, who received a regular allowance during the emperor's residence atPekin, were reduced to the greatest straits, and even to the verge ofstarvation, while the Chinese naturally resented the attempt to remove thecapital to any other place. This abnegation of authority by Hienfung, forhis absence meant nothing short of that, could not have been prolongedindefinitely, for a Chinese emperor has many religious and secular dutiesto perform which no one else can discharge, and which, if not discharged, would reduce the office of emperor to a nonentity. Prince Tsai and hisassociates had no difficulty in working upon the fears of this prince, whoheld the most exalted idea of his own majesty, at the same time that hehad not the power or knowledge to vindicate it. 

While such were the views prevailing in the imperial circle at Jehol, arrangements were in progress for the taking up of his residence at Pekinof the British minister. After Lord Elgin's departure, his brother, SirFrederick Bruce, who was knighted for his share in the negotiations, wasappointed first occupant of the post of minister in the Chinese capital, and on March 22, 1861, he left Tientsin for Pekin. Mr. Wade accompaniedSir Frederick as principal secretary, and the staff included six studentinterpreters, whose ranks, constantly recruited, have given many able mento the public service. Before Sir Frederick reached the capital, theChinese minister had taken a step to facilitate the transaction ofbusiness with the foreign representatives. Prince Kung--and the credit ofthe measure belongs exclusively to him--will always be gratefullyremembered by any foreign writer on modern China as the founder of thedepartment known as the Tsungli Yamen, which he instituted in January, 1861. This department, since its institution, has very fully answered allthe expectations formed of it; and, although it is erroneous to representit as in any sense identical with the Chinese government, or as theoriginating source of Chinese policy, it has proved a convenient and well-managed vehicle for the dispatch of international business. Prince Kungbecame its first president, and acted in that capacity until his fall frompower in 1884. 

Before long, reports began to be spread of the serious illness of theemperor. In August Prince Kung hastened to Jehol, the object of hisjourney being kept secret. The members of the Tsungli Yamen were observedby the foreign officials to be pre-occupied, and even the genial Wansiangcould not conceal that they were passing through a crisis. Not merely wasHienfung dying, but it had become known to Prince Kung and his friendsthat he had left the governing authority during the minority of his son, achild of less than six years of age, to a board of regency composed ofeight of the least intelligent and most arrogant and self-seeking membersof the imperial family, with Prince Tsai at their head. The emperor diedon August 22. A few hours later the imperial decree notifying the lastwishes of the ruler as to the mode of government was promulgated. Theboard of regency assumed the nominal control of affairs, and Hienfung'sson was proclaimed emperor under the style of Chiseang. In all of thesearrangements neither Prince Kung nor his brothers, nor the responsibleministers at the capital, had had the smallest part. It was an intrigueamong certain members of the imperial clan to possess themselves of theruling power, and for a time it seemed as if their intrigue would be onlytoo successful. Nothing happened during the months of September andOctober to disturb their confidence, for they remained at Jehol, and atPekin the routine of government continued to be performed by Prince Kung. That statesman and his colleagues employed the interval in arranging theirown plan of action, and in making sure of the fidelity of a certain numberof troops. Throughout these preparations Prince Kung was ably andenergetically supported by his brother, Prince Chun, by his colleague, Wansiang, and by his aged father-in-law, the minister Kweiliang. But theconspirators could not keep the young emperor at Jehol indefinitely, andwhen, at the end of October, it became known that he was on the point ofreturning to Pekin, it was clear that the hour of conflict had arrived. AtJehol the Board of Regency could do little harm; but once its pretensionsand legality were admitted at the capital, all the ministers would have totake their orders from it, and to resign the functions which they hadretained. The main issue was whether Prince Kung or Prince Tsai was to besupreme. On November 1 the young emperor entered his capital in state. Alarge number of soldiers, still dressed in their white mourning, accompanied their sovereign from Jehol; but Shengpao's garrison wasinfinitely more numerous, and thoroughly loyal to the cause of PrinceKung. The majority of the regents had arrived with the reigning prince;those who had not yet come were on the road, escorting the dead body ofHienfung toward its resting-place. If a blow was to be struck at all nowwas the time to strike it. The regents had not merely placed themselves inthe power of their opponent, but they had actually brought with them theyoung emperor, without whose person Prince Kung could have accomplishedlittle. Prince Kung had spared no effort to secure, and had fortunatelysucceeded in obtaining, the assistance and co-operation of the EmpressDowager, Hienfung's principal widow, named Tsi An. Her assent had beenobtained to the proposed plot before the arrival in Pekin, and it now onlyremained to carry it out. On the day following the entry into the capital, Prince Kung hastened to the palace, and, producing before the astonishedregents an Imperial Edict ordering their dismissal, he asked them whetherthey obeyed the decree of their sovereign, or whether he must call in hissoldiers to compel them. Prince Tsai and his companions had no choice saveto signify their acquiescence in what they could not prevent; but, onleaving the chamber in which this scene took place, they hastened towardthe emperor's apartment in order to remonstrate against their dismissal, or to obtain from him some counter-edict reinstating them in theirpositions. They were prevented from carrying out their purpose, but thisproof of contumacy sealed their fate. They were promptly arrested, and asecond decree was issued ordering their degradation from their officialand hereditary rank. To Prince Kung and his allies was intrusted thecharge of trying and punishing the offenders. 

The next step was the proclamation of a new regency, composed of the twoempresses, Tsi An, principal widow of Hienfung, and Tsi Thsi, mother ofthe young emperor. Two precedents for the administration being intrustedto an empress were easily found by the Hanlin doctors during the Mingdynasty, when the Emperors Chitsong and Wanleh were minors. Special edictswere issued and arrangements made for the transaction of business duringthe continuance of the regency, and as neither of the empresses knewManchu, it was specially provided that papers and documents, which werealways presented in that language, should be translated into Chinese. Concurrently with these measures for the settlement of the regencyhappened the closing scenes in the drama of conspiracy which began sosuccessfully at Jehol and ended so dramatically at Pekin. For completesuccess and security it was necessary that all the ringleaders should becaptured, and some of them were still free. The bravest, if not theablest, of the late Board of Regency, Sushuen, remained at large. He hadbeen charged with the high and honorable duty of escorting the remains ofHienfung to the capital. It was most important that he should be seizedbefore he became aware of the fate that had befallen his colleagues. Prince Chun volunteered to capture the last, and in a sense the mostformidable, of the intriguers himself, and on the very day that the eventsdescribed happened at Pekin he rode out of the capital at the head of abody of Tartar cavalry. On the following night Prince Chun reached thespot where he was encamped, and, breaking into the house, arrested himwhile in bed. Sushuen did not restrain his indignation, and betrayed theulterior plans entertained by himself and his associates by declaring thatPrince Chun had been only just in time to prevent a similar fate befallinghimself. He was at once placed on his trial with the other prisoners, andon November 10 the order was given in the emperor's name for theirexecution. Sushuen was executed on the public ground set apart for thatpurpose; but to the others, as a special favor from their connection withthe imperial family, was sent the silken cord, with which they werepermitted to put an end to their existence. In the fate of Prince Tsai maybe seen a well merited retribution for his treachery and cruelty to SirHarry Parkes and his companions. 

Another important step which had to be taken was the alteration of thestyle given to the young emperor's reign. It was felt to be impolitic thatthe deposed ministers should retain any connection whatever in historywith the young ruler. Were Hienfung's son to be handed down to posterityas Chiseang there would be no possibility of excluding their names andtheir brief and feverish ambition from the national annals. After duedeliberation, therefore, the name of Tungche was substituted for that ofChiseang, and meaning, as it does, "the union of law and order, " it willbe allowed that the name was selected with some proper regard for thecircumstances of the occasion. Prince Kung was rewarded with many highoffices and sounding titles in addition to the post of chief ministerunder the two empresses. He was made president of the Imperial Clan Courtin the room of Prince Tsai, and the title of Iching Wang, or PrinceMinister, was conferred upon him. His stanch friends and supporters, Wansiang, Paukwen, and Kweiliang, were appointed to the Supreme Council. Prince Chun, to whose skill and bravery in arresting Sushuen Prince Kungfelt very much indebted, was also rewarded. With these incidents closedwhat might have proved a grave and perilous complication for the Chinesegovernment. Had Prince Kung prematurely revealed his plans there is everyreason to suppose that he would have alarmed and forewarned his rivals, and that they, with the person of the emperor in their possession, wouldhave obtained the advantage. His patience during the two months of doubtand anxiety while the emperor remained at Jehol was matched by the vigorand promptitude that he displayed on the eventful 2d of November. That hissuccess was beneficial to his country will not be disputed by any one, andPrince Kung's name must be permanently remembered both for havingcommenced, and for having insured the continuance of, diplomatic relationswith England and the other foreign powers. 

The increased intercourse with Europeans not merely led to greaterdiplomatic confidence and to the extension of trade, but it also inducedmany foreigners to offer their services and assistance to the Pekingovernment, during the embarrassment arising from internal dissension. Atfirst these persons were, as has been seen, encouraged and employed morein consequence of local opinion in the treaty-ports than as a matter ofState policy. But already the suggestion had been brought forward in morethan one form for the employment of foreigners, with the view ofincreasing the resources of the government by calling in the assistance ofthe very agency which had reduced them. A precedent had been establishedfor this at an earlier period--before, in fact, the commencement ofhostilities--by the appointment of Mr. Horatio N. Lay to direct and assistthe local authorities in the collection of customs in the Shanghaidistrict. Mr. Lay's experience had proved most useful in drawing up thetariff of the Treaty of Tientsin, and his assistance had been suitablyacknowledged. In 1862, when the advantages to be derived from the militaryexperience of foreigners had been practically recognized by theappointment of Europeans to command a portion of the army of China, and inpursuance of a suggestion made by the present Sir Robert Hart in theprevious year, it was thought desirable for many reasons that somethingshould also be done to increase the naval resources of the empire, and Mr. Lay was intrusted with a commission for purchasing and collecting inEurope a fleet of gunboats of small draught, which could be usefullyemployed for all the purposes of the Pekin government on the rivers andshallow estuaries of the country. Mr. Lay, who undertook the commission, said, "This force was intended for the protection of the treaty-ports, forthe suppression of piracy then rife, and for the relief of this countryfrom the burden of 'policing' the Chinese waters"; but its first use inthe eyes of Prince Kung was to be employed against the rebels and theirEuropean supporters of whom Burgevine was the most prominent. CaptainSherard Osborn, a distinguished English naval officer, was associated withMr. Lay in the undertaking. An Order of Council was issued on August 30, 1862, empowering both of these officers to act in the matter as delegatesof the Chinese. Captain Osborn and Mr. Lay came to England to collect thevessels of this fleet, and the former afterward returned with them toChina in the capacity of their commodore. The transaction was not wellmanaged from the very commencement. Mr. Lay wrote in August, 1862, to saythat he had chosen as the national ensign of the Chinese navy "a greenflag, bearing a yellow diagonal cross, " and he wrote again to request thatan official notification should appear in the "Gazette. " Had his requestbeen complied with, there would have been very strong reason for assumingthat the English government was prepared to support and facilitate everyscheme for forcing the Chinese to accept and submit to the exact method ofprogress approved of and desired by the European servants of theirgovernment, without their taking any part in the transaction save toratify terms that might be harsh and exorbitant. Fortunately, theinstinctive caution of our Foreign Office was not laid aside on thisoccasion. Mr. Lay was informed that no notice could appear in the "LondonGazette" except after the approval of the Pekin authorities had beenexpressed; and Prince Kung wrote, on October 22, to say that the Chineseensign would be of "yellow ground, and on it will be designed a dragonwith his head toward the upper part of the flag. " Mr. Lay preceded thevessels--seven gunboats and one store-ship--and arrived at Pekin in May, 1863. 

Prince Kung had been most anxious for the speedy arrival of the flotilla;and the doubtful fortune of the campaign in Kiangsu, where the gunboatswould have been invaluable, rendered him extremely desirous that theyshould commence active operations immediately on arrival. But he found, inthe first place, that Mr. Lay was not prepared to accept the appointmentof a Chinese official as joint-commander, and in the second place, that hewould not receive orders from any of the provincial authorities. Such adecision was manifestly attended with the greatest inconvenience to China;for only the provincial authorities knew what the interests of the Statedemanded, and where the fleet might co-operate with advantage in theattacks on the Taepings. Unless Captain Osborn were to act on the ordersof Tsen Kwofan, and particularly of Li Hung Chang, it was difficult to seeof what possible use he or his flotilla could be to China. The founders ofthe new Chinese navy claimed practically all the privileges of an ally, and declined the duties devolving on them as directing a department of theChinese administration. Of course, it was more convenient and moredignified for the foreign officers to draw their instructions and theirsalaries direct from the fountain-head; but if the flotilla was not to beof any practical use to China it might just as well never have beencreated. The fleet arrived in safety, but remained inactive. The wholesummer and autumn of 1863, with its critical state of affairs roundSoochow, passed away without anything being done to show what a powerfulauxiliary Mr. Lay's ships might be. The ultimate success of thoseoperations without the smallest co-operation on the part of Captain Osbornor his flotilla virtually sealed its fate. In October, Wansiang, in thename of the Foreign Office, declared that the Chinese could not recognizeor ratify the private arrangement between Mr. Lay and his naval officer, and that it was essential for Captain Osborn to submit to receive hisinstructions from the provincial authorities. In the following month Mr. Lay was summarily dismissed from the Chinese service, and it wasdetermined, after some delay and various counter suggestions, to send backthe ships to Europe, there to be disposed of. The radical fault in thewhole arrangement had been Mr. Lay's wanting to take upon himself theresponsibility not merely of Inspector-General of Customs, but also ofsupreme adviser on all matters connected with foreign questions. TheChinese themselves were to take quite a subordinate part in theirrealization, and were to be treated, in short, as if they did not know howto manage their own affairs. Mr. Lay's dreams were suddenly dispelled, andhis philanthropic schemes fell to the ground. Neither Prince Kung nor hiscolleagues had any intention to pave the way for their own effacement. 

After Mr. Lay's departure the Maritime Customs were placed under thecontrol of Mr. Robert Hart, who had acted during Mr. Lay's absence inEurope. This appointment was accompanied by the transfer of the officialresidence from Pekin to Shanghai, which was attended with much practicaladvantage. Already the customs revenue had risen to three millions, andtrade was steadily expanding as the rebels were gradually driven back, andas the Yangtsekiang and the coasts became safer for navigation. Numerousschemes were suggested for the opening up of China by railways and thetelegraph; but they all very soon ended in nothing, for the simple reasonthat the Chinese did not want them. They were more sincere and energeticin their adoption of military improvements. 

The anxieties of Prince Kung on the subject of the dynasty, and withregard to the undue pretensions and expectations of the foreign officialswho looked on the Chinese merely as the instruments of their self-aggrandizement, were further increased during this period by thedepredations of the Nienfei rebels in the province of Shantung. Duringthese operations Sankolinsin died, leaving Tseng Kwofan in undisputedpossession of the first place among Chinese officials. Sankolinsin, whenretreating after a reverse, was treacherously murdered by some villagerswhose hospitality he had claimed. 

The events of this introductory period may be appropriately concluded withthe strange stroke of misfortune that befell Prince Kung in the spring of1865, and which seemed to show that he had indulged some views of personalambition. The affair had probably a secret history, but if so the truth ishardly likely to be ever known. The known facts were as follows: On April2, 1865, there appeared an edict degrading the prince in the name of thetwo regent-empresses. The charge made against him was of having grownarrogant and assumed privileges to which he had no right. He was at first"diligent and circumspect, " but he has now become disposed "to overratehis own importance. " In consequence, he was deprived of all hisappointments and dismissed from the scene of public affairs. Five weeksafter his fall, however, Prince Kung was reinstated, on May 8, in all hisoffices, with the exception of that of President of the Council. Thisepisode, which might have produced grave complications, closed with areturn to almost the precise state of things previously existing. Therewas one important difference. The two empresses had asserted theirpredominance. Prince Kung had hoped to be supreme, and to ruleuncontrolled. From this time forth he was content to be their minister andadviser, on terms similar to those that would have applied to any otherofficial. 

The year 1865, which witnessed this very interesting event in the historyof the Chinese government, beheld before its close the departure of SirFrederick Bruce from Pekin, and the appointment of Sir Rutherford Alcock, who had been the first British minister to Japan during the criticalperiod of the introduction of foreign intercourse with that country, tofill the post of Resident Minister at Pekin. Sir Rutherford Alcock thenfound the opportunity to put in practice some of the honorable sentimentsto which he had given expression twenty years before at Shanghai. When SirRutherford left Yeddo for Pekin, the post of Minister in Japan wasconferred on Sir Harry Parkes, who had been acting as consul at Shanghaisince the conclusion of the war. The relations between the countries weregradually settling down on a satisfactory basis, and the appointment of aSupreme Court for China and Japan at Shanghai, with Sir Edmund Hornby asChief Judge, promised to enforce obedience to the law among even theunsettled adventurers of different, nationalities left by the conclusionof the Taeping Rebellion and the cessation of piracy without a profitablepursuit. 

While the events which have been set forth were happening in the heart ofChina, other misfortunes had befallen the executive in the more remotequarters of the realm, but resulting none the less in the loss and ruin ofprovinces, and in the subversion of the emperor's authority. Two greatuprisings of the people occurred in opposite directions, both commencingwhile the Taeping Rebellion was in full force, and continuing to disturbthe country for many years after its suppression. The one had for itsscene the great southwestern province of Yunnan; the other the twoprovinces of the northwest, Shensi and Kansuh, and extending thencewestward to the Pamir. They resembled each other in one point, and thatwas that they were instigated and sustained by the Mohammedan populationalone. The Panthays and the Tungani were either indigenous tribes orforeign immigrants who had adopted or imported the tenets of Islam. Theirsympathies with the Pekin government were probably never very great, butthey were impelled in both cases to revolt more by local tyranny than byany distinct desire to cast off the authority of the Chinese; but, ofcourse, the obvious embarrassment of the central executive encouraged bysimplifying the task of rebellion. The Panthay rising calls fordescription in the first place, because it began at an earlier period thanthe other, and also because the details have been preserved with greaterfidelity. Mohammedanism is believed to have been introduced into Yunnan inor about the year 1275, and it made most progress among the so-calledaboriginal tribes, the Lolos and the Mantzu. The officials were mostlyChinese or Tartars, and, left practically free from control, they moreoften abused their power than sought to employ it for the benefit of thepeople they governed. In the very first year of Hienfung's reign (1851) apetition reached the capital from a Mohammedan land proprietor in Yunnannamed Ma Wenchu, accusing the emperor's officials of the gravest crimes, and praying that "a just and honest man" might be sent to redress thewrongs of an injured and long-suffering people. The petition was carefullyread and favorably considered at the capital; but beyond a gracious answerthe emperor was at the time powerless to apply a remedy to the evil. Fouryears passed away without any open manifestation of the deep discontentsmoldering below the surface. But in 1855 the Chinese and the Mohammedanlaborers quarreled in one of the principal mines of the province, which iscovered with mines of gold, iron, and copper. It seems that the greatersuccess of the Mohammedans in the uncertain pursuit of mining had rousedthe displeasure of the Chinese. Disputes ensued, in which the Mussulmansadded success in combat to success in mineing; and the official appointedto superintend the mines, instead of remaining with a view to therestoration of order, sought his personal safety by precipitate flight tothe town of Yunnan. During his absence the Chinese population raised alevy _en masse_, attacked the Mohammedans who had gained a momentarytriumph, and compelled them by sheer weight of numbers to beat a hastyretreat to their own homes in a different part of the province. Thissuccess was the signal for a general outcry against the Mohammedans, whohad long been the object of the secret ill-will of the other inhabitants. Massacres took place in several parts of Yunnan, and the followers of theProphet had to flee for their lives. 

Among those who were slain during these popular disorders was a youngchief named Ma Sucheng; and when the news of his murder reached his nativevillage, his younger brother, Ma Sien, who had just received a smallmilitary command, declared his intention to avenge him, and fled to jointhe Mohammedan fugitives in the mountains. In this secure retreat theyrallied their forces, and, driven to desperation by the promptings ofwant, they left their fastnesses with the view of regaining what they hadlost. In this they succeeded better than they could have hoped for. TheChinese population experienced in their turn the bitterness of defeat; andthe mandarins had the less difficulty in concluding a temporaryunderstanding between the exhausted combatants. Tranquillity was restored, and the miners resumed their occupations. But the peace was deceptive, andin a little time the struggle was renewed with increased fury. In thisemergency the idea occurred to some of the officials that an easy andefficacious remedy of the difficulty in which they found themselves wouldbe provided by the massacre of the whole Mussulman population. In thisplot the foremost part was taken by Hwang Chung, an official who bitterlyhated the Mohammedans. He succeeded in obtaining the acquiescence of allhis colleagues with the exception of the viceroy of the province, whoexposed the iniquity of the design, but who, destitute of all support, waspowerless to prevent its execution. At the least he resolved to save hishonor and reputation by committing suicide, and he and his wife were foundone morning hanging up in the hall of the yamen. His death simplified theexecution of the project which his refusal might possibly have prevented. May 19, 1856, was the date fixed for the celebration of this Chinese St. Bartholomew. But the secret had not been well kept. The Mohammedans, whether warned or suspicious, distrusted the authorities and theirneighbors, and stood vigilantly on their guard. At this time they lookedchiefly to a high priest named Ma Tesing for guidance and instruction. Butalthough on the alert, they were after all, taken to some extent bysurprise, and many of them were massacred after a more or less unavailingresistance. But if many of the Mussulmans were slain, the survivors wereinspired with a desperation which the mandarins had never contemplated. From one end of Yunnan to the other the Mohammedans, in face of greatpersonal peril, rose by a common and spontaneous impulse, and the Chinesepopulation was compelled to take a hasty refuge in the towns. At Talifoo, where the Mohammedans formed a considerable portion of the population, themost desperate fighting occurred, and after three days' carnage theMussulmans, under Tu Wensiu, were left in possession of the city. Therebels did not remain without leaders, whom they willingly recognized andobeyed; for the kwanshihs, or chiefs, who had accepted titles of authorityfrom the Chinese, cast off their allegiance and placed themselves at thehead of the popular movement. The priest Ma Tesing was raised to thehighest post of all as Dictator, but Tu Wensiu admitted no higherauthority than his own within the walls of Talifoo. Ma Tesing hadperformed the pilgrimage to Mecca, he had resided at Constantinople fortwo years, and his reputation for knowledge and saintliness stood highestamong his co-religionists. 

While Ma Tesing exercised the supremacy due to his age and attainments, the young chief Ma Sien led the rebels in the field. His energy was mostconspicuous, and in the year 1858 he thought he was sufficiently strong tomake an attack upon the city of Yunnan itself. His attack was baffled bythe resolute defense of an officer named Lin Tzuchin, who had shown greatcourage as a partisan leader against the insurgents before he wasintrusted with the defense of the provincial capital. Ma Sien wascompelled to beat a retreat, and to devote himself to the organization ofthe many thousand Ijen or Lolos recruits who signified their attachment tohis cause. For the successful defense of Yunnan Lin was made a Titu, andgradually collected into his own hands such authority as still remained tothe emperor's lieutenants. On both sides preparations were made for therenewal of the struggle, but before the year 1858 ended Ma Sien met with asecond repulse at the town of Linan. The year 1859 was not marked by anyevent of signal importance, although the balance of success inclined onthe whole to the Mussulmans. But in the following year the Mohammedansdrew up a large force, computed to exceed 50, 000 men, round Yunnanfoo, towhich they laid vigorous siege. The imperialists were taken at adisadvantage, and the large number of people who had fled for shelter intothe town rendered the small store of provisions less sufficient for aprotracted defense. Yunnanfoo was on the point of surrender when an eventoccurred which not merely relieved it from its predicament, but alteredthe whole complexion of the struggle. The garrison had made up its mind toyield. Even the brave Lin had accepted the inevitable, and begun tonegotiate with the two rebel leaders, Ma Sien and the priest Ma Tesing. Those chiefs, with victory in their grasp, manifested an unexpected andsurprising moderation. Instead of demanding from Lin a complete andunconditional surrender, they began to discuss with him what terms couldbe agreed upon for the cessation of the war and the restoration oftranquillity to the province. At first it was thought that thesepropositions concealed some intended treachery, but their sincerity wasplaced beyond dispute by the suicide of the mandarin Hwang Chung, who hadfirst instigated the people to massacre their Mohammedan brethren. Theterms of peace were promptly arranged, and a request was forwarded toPekin for the ratification of a convention concluded under the pressure ofnecessity with some of the rebel leaders. The better to conceal the factthat this arrangement had been made with the principal leader of thedisaffected, Ma Sien changed his name to Ma Julung, and received the rankof general in the Chinese service; while the high priest accepted as hisshare the not inconsiderable pension of two hundred taels a month. It isimpossible to divine the true reasons which actuated these instigators ofrebellion in their decision to go over to the side of the government. Theyprobably thought that they had done sufficient to secure all practicaladvantages, and that any persistence in hostilities would only result inthe increased misery and impoverishment of the province. Powerful as theywere, there were other Mohammedan leaders seeking to acquire the supremeposition among their co-religionists; and foremost among these was TuWensiu, who had reduced the whole of Western Yunnan to his sway, andreigned at Talifoo. The Mohammedan cause, important as it was, did notafford scope for the ambitions of two such men as Ma Julung and Tu Wensiu. The former availed himself of the favorable opportunity to settle thisdifficulty in a practical and, as he shrewdly anticipated, the mostprofitable manner for himself personally, by giving in his adhesion to thegovernment. 

This important defection did not bring in its train any certainty oftranquillity. Incited by the example of their leaders, every petty officerand chief thought himself deserving of the highest honors, and resolved tofight for his own hand. Ma Julung left Yunnanfoo for the purpose ofseizing a neighboring town which had revolted, and during his absence oneof his lieutenants seized the capital, murdered the viceroy, andthreatened to plunder the inhabitants. Ma Julung was summoned to return inhot haste, and as a temporary expedient the priest Ma Tesing was electedviceroy. When Ma Julung returned with his army he had to lay siege toYunnanfoo, and although he promptly effected an entrance into the city, ittook five days' hard fighting in the streets before the force inoccupation was expelled. The insurgent officer was captured, exposed tothe public gaze for one month in an iron cage, and then executed in acruel manner. Ma Tesing was deposed from the elevated position which hehad held for so short a time, and a new Chinese viceroy arrived fromKweichow. The year 1863 opened with the first active operations against TuWensiu, who, during these years of disorder in Central Yunnan, had beengoverning the western districts with some prudence. It would have beenbetter if they had not been undertaken, for they only resulted in thedefeat of the detachments sent by Ma Julung to engage the despot ofTalifoo. Force having failed, they had recourse to diplomacy, and MaTesing was sent to sound Tu Wensiu as to whether he would not imitatetheir example and make his peace with the authorities. These overtureswere rejected with disdain, and Tu Wensiu proclaimed his intention ofholding out to the last, and refused to recognize the wisdom or thenecessity of coming to terms with the government. The embarrassment of MaJulung and the Yunnan officials, already sufficiently acute, was at thisconjuncture further aggravated by an outbreak in their rear among theMiaotze and some other mountain tribes in the province of Kweichow. To thedifficulty of coping with a strongly placed enemy in front was thus addedthat of maintaining communications through a hostile and difficult region. A third independent party had also come into existence in Yunnan, where anex-Chinese official named Liang Shihmei had set up his own authority atLinan, mainly, it was said, through jealousy of the Mohammedans taken intothe service of the government. The greatest difficulty of all was toreconcile the pretensions of the different commanders, for the Chineseofficials, and the Futai Tsen Yuying in particular, regarded Ma Julungwith no friendly eye. With the year 1867, both sides having collectedtheir strength, more active operations were commenced, and Ma Julungproceeded in person, at the head of the best troops he could collect, toengage Tu Wensiu. It was at this time that the imperialists adopted thered flag as their standard in contradistinction to the white flag of theinsurgents. A desultory campaign ensued, but although Ma Julung evincedboth courage and capacity, the result was on the whole unfavorable to him;and he had to retreat to the capital, where events of some importance hadoccurred during his absence in the field. The viceroy, who had beenstanchly attached to Ma Julung, died suddenly and under such circumstancesas to suggest a suspicion of foul play; and Tsen Yuying had by virtue ofhis rank of Futai assumed the temporary discharge of his duties. Theretreat of Ma Julung left the insurgents free to follow up theirsuccesses; and, in the course of 1868, the authority of the emperor haddisappeared from every part of the province except the prefectural city ofYunnanfoo. This bad fortune led the Mussulmans who had followed the adviceand fortunes of Ma Julung to consider whether it would not be wise torejoin their co-religionists, and to at once finish the contest by thedestruction of the government. Had Ma Julung wavered in his fidelity for amoment they would have all joined the standard of Tu Wensiu, and the ruleof the Sultan of Talifoo would have been established from one end ofYunnan to the other; but he stood firm and arrested the movement in asummary manner. 

Tu Wensiu, having established the security of his communications withBurmah, whence he obtained supplies of arms and munitions of war, devotedhis efforts to the capture of Yunnanfoo, which he completely invested. Thegarrison was reduced to the lowest straits before Tsen Yuying resolved tocome to the aid of his distressed colleague. The loss of the prefecturaltown would not merely entail serious consequences to the imperialistcause, but he felt it would personally compromise him as the Futai atPekin. In the early part of 1869, therefore, he threw himself into thetown with three thousand men, and the forces of Tu Wensiu found themselvesobliged to withdraw from the eastern side of the city. A long period ofinaction followed, but during this time the most important events happenedwith regard to the ultimate result. Ma Julung employed all his artificeand arguments to show the rebel chiefs the utter hopelessness of theirsucceeding against the whole power of the Chinese empire, which, from thesuppression of the Taeping Rebellion, would soon be able to be employedagainst them. They felt the force of his representations, and they werealso oppressed by a sense of the slow progress they had made toward thecapture of Yunnanfoo. Some months after Tsen Yuying's arrival, those ofthe rebels who were encamped to the north of the city hoisted the red flagand gave in their adhesion to the government. Then Ma Julung resumedactive operations against the other rebels, and obtained several smallsuccesses. A wound received during one of the skirmishes put an end to hisactivity, and the campaign resumed its desultory character. But MaJulung's illness had other unfortunate consequences; for during it TsenYuying broke faith with those of the rebel leaders who had come over, andput them all to a cruel death. The natural consequence of this foolish andferocious act was that the Mohammedans again reverted to their desperateresolve to stand firmly by the side of Tu Wensiu. The war again passedinto a more active phase. Ma Julung had recovered from his wounds. A newviceroy, and a man of some energy, was sent from Pekin. Lin Yuchow hadattracted the notice of Tseng Kwofan among those of his native provincewho had responded to his appeal to defend Hoonan against the Taepingssixteen years before; and shortly before the death of the last viceroy ofYunnan, he had been made Governor of Kweichow. To the same patron at Pekinhe now owed his elevation to the viceroyalty. It is said that he had lostthe energy which once characterized him; but he brought with him severalthousand Hoonan braves, whose courage and military experience made theminvaluable auxiliaries to the embarrassed authorities in Yunnan. In thecourse of the year 1870 most of the towns in the south and the north ofYunnan were recovered, and communications were reopened with Szchuen. Assoon as the inhabitants perceived that the government had recovered itsstrength, they hastened to express their joy at the change by repudiatingthe white flag which Tu Wensiu had compelled them to adopt. Theimperialists even to the last increased the difficulty of their work ofpacification by exhibiting a relentless cruelty; and while the inhabitantsthought to secure their safety by a speedy surrender, the Mussulmans wererendered more desperate in their resolve to resist. The chances of aMohammedan success were steadily diminishing when Yang Yuko, a mandarin ofsome military capacity, who had begun his career in the most approvedmanner as a rebel, succeeded in capturing the whole of the salt-producingdistrict which had been the main source of their strength. In the year1872 all the preliminary arrangements were made for attacking Talifooitself. A supply of rifles had been received from Canton or Shanghai, anda few pieces of artillery had also arrived. With these improved weaponsthe troops of Ma Julung and Tsen Yuying enjoyed a distinct advantage overthe rebels of Talifoo. The horrors of war were at this point increased bythose of pestilence, for the plague broke out at Puerh on the southernfrontier, and, before it disappeared, devastated the whole of theprovince, completing the effect of the civil war, and ruining the fewdistricts which had escaped from its ravages. The direct command of thesiege operations at Talifoo was intrusted to Yang Yuko, a hunchbackgeneral, who had obtained a reputation for invincibility; and when TsenYuying had completed his own operations he also proceeded to the campbefore the Mohammedan capital for the purpose of taking part in thecrowning operation of the war. 

Tu Wensiu and the garrison of Talifoo, although driven to desperation, could not discover any issue from their difficulties. They were reduced tothe last stage of destitution, and starvation stared them in the face. Inthis extremity Tu Wensiu, although there was every reason to believe thatthe imperialists would not fulfill their pledges, and that surrendersimply meant yielding to a cruel death, resolved to open negotiations withYang Yuko for giving up the town. The emperor's generals signified theirdesire for the speedy termination of the siege, at the same timeexpressing acquiescence in the general proposition of the garrison beingadmitted to terms. Although the Futai and Yang Yuko had promptly come tothe mutual understanding to celebrate the fall of Talifoo by a wholesalemassacre, they expressed their intention to spare the other rebels on thesurrender of Tu Wensiu for execution and on the payment of an indemnity. The terms were accepted, although the more experienced of the rebelswarned their comrades that they would not be complied with. On January 15, 1873, Tu Wensiu, the original of the mythical Sultan Suliman, the fame ofwhose power reached England, and who had been an object of the solicitudeof the Indian government, accepted the decision of his craven followers asexpressing the will of Heaven, and gave himself up for execution. Heattired himself in his best and choicest garments, and seated himself inthe yellow palanquin which he had adopted as one of the few marks of royalstate that his opportunities allowed him to secure. Accompanied by the menwho had negotiated the surrender, he drove through the streets, receivingfor the last time the homage of his people, and out beyond the gates toYang Yuko's camp. Those who saw the cortege marveled at the calmindifference of the fallen despot. He seemed to have as little fear of hisfate as consciousness of his surroundings. The truth soon became evident. He had baffled his enemies by taking slow poison. Before he reached thepresence of the Futai, who had wished to gloat over the possession of hisprisoner, the opium had done its work, and Tu Wensiu was no more. Itseemed but an inadequate triumph to sever the head from the dead body, andto send it preserved in honey as the proof of victory to Pekin. Four daysafter Tu Wensiu's death, the imperialists were in complete possession ofthe town, and a week later they had taken all their measures for theexecution of the fell plan upon which they had decided. A great feast wasgiven for the celebration of the convention, and the most important of theMohammedan commanders, including those who had negotiated the truce, werepresent. At a given signal they were attacked and murdered by soldiersconcealed in the gallery for the purpose, while six cannon shots announcedto the soldiery that the hour had arrived for them to break loose on thedefenseless townspeople. The scenes that followed are stated to havesurpassed description. It was computed that 30, 000 men alone perishedafter the fall of the old Panthay capital, and the Futai sent to Yunnanfootwenty-four large baskets full of human ears, as well as the heads of theseventeen chiefs. 

With the capture of Talifoo the great Mohammedan rebellion in thesouthwest, to which the Burmese gave the name of Panthay, closed, after adesultory struggle of nearly eighteen years. The war was conducted withexceptional ferocity on both sides, and witnessed more than the usualamount of falseness and breach of faith common to Oriental struggles. Nobody benefited by the contest, and the prosperity of Yunnan, which atone time had been far from inconsiderable, sank to the lowest possiblepoint. A new class of officials came to the front during this period ofdisorder, and fidelity was a sufficient passport to a certain rank. MaJulung, the Marshal Ma of European travelers, gained a still higherstation; and notwithstanding the jealousy of his colleagues, acquiredpractical supremacy in the province. The high priest, Ma Tesing, who maybe considered as the prime instigator of the movement, was executed orpoisoned in 1874 at the instigation of some of the Chinese officials. YangYuko, the most successful of all the generals, only enjoyed a brief tenureof power. It was said that he was dissatisfied with his position ascommander-in-chief, and aspired to a higher rank. He also was summoned toPekin, but never got further than Shanghai, where he died, or was removed. But although quiet gradually descended upon this part of China, it waslong before prosperity followed in its train. 

About six years after the first mutterings of discontent among theMohammedans in the southwest, disturbances occurred in the northwestprovinces of Shensi and Kansuh, where there had been many thousandfollowers of Islam since an early period of Chinese history. They weregenerally obedient subjects and sedulous cultivators of the soil; but theywere always liable to sudden ebullitions of fanaticism or of turbulence, and it was said that during the later years of his reign Keen Lung hadmeditated a wholesale execution of the male population above the age offifteen. The threat, if ever made, was never carried out, but the reportsuffices to show the extent to which danger was apprehended from theTungan population. The true origin of the great outbreak in 1862 in Shensiseems to have been a quarrel between the Chinese and the Mohammedanmilitia as to their share of the spoil derived from the defeat andoverthrow of a brigand leader. After some bloodshed, two imperialcommissioners were sent from Pekin to restore order. The principalMohammedan leader formed a plot to murder the commissioners, and on theirarrival he rushed into their presence and slew one of them with his ownhand. His co-religionists deplored the rash act, and voluntarily seizedand surrendered him for the purpose of undergoing a cruel death. Butalthough he was torn to pieces, that fact did not satisfy the outrageddignity of the emperor. A command was issued in Tungche's name to theeffect that all those who persisted in following the creed of Islam shouldperish by the sword. From Shensi the outbreak spread into the adjoiningprovince of Kansuh; and the local garrisons were vanquished in a pitchedbattle at Tara Ussu, beyond the regular frontier. The insurgents did notsucceed, however, in taking any of the larger towns of Shensi, and afterthreatening with capture the once famous city of Singan, they weregradually expelled from that province. The Mohammedan rebellion within thelimits of China proper would not, therefore, have possessed more thanlocal importance but for the fact that it encouraged a similar outbreak inthe country further west, and that it resulted in the severance of theCentral Asian provinces from China for a period of many years. 

The uprising of the Mohammedans in the frontier provinces appealed to thesecret fears as well as to the longings of the Tungan settlers andsoldiers in all the towns and military stations between Souchow andKashgar. The sense of a common peril, more perhaps than the desire toattain the same object, led to revolts at Hami, Barkul, Urumtsi, andTurfan, towns which formed a group of industrious communities half-waybetween the prosperous districts of Kansuh on the one side and Kashgar onthe other. The Tungani at these towns revolted under the leading of theirpriests, and imitated the example of their co-religionists within thesettled borders of China by murdering all who did not accept their creed. After a brief interval, which we may attribute to the greatness of thedistance, to the vigilance of the Chinese garrison, or to the apathy ofthe population, the movement spread to the three towns immediately west ofTurfan, Karashar, Kucha, and Aksu, where it came into contact with, andwas stopped by, another insurrectionary movement under Mohammedan, buttotally distinct, auspices. West of Aksu the Tungan rebellion neverextended south of the Tian Shan range. The defection of the Tungani, whohad formed a large proportion, if not the majority, of the Chinesegarrisons, paralyzed the strength of the Celestials in Central Asia. Bothin the districts dependent on Ili, and in those ruled from Kashgar andYarkand, the Chinese were beset by many great and permanent difficulties. They were with united strength a minority, and now that they were dividedamong themselves almost a hopeless minority. The peoples they governedwere fanatical, false, and fickle. The ruler of Khokand and the refugeesliving on his bounty were always on the alert to take the most advantageof the least slip or act of weakness on the part of the governing classes. Their machinations had been hitherto baffled, but never before had sofavorable an opportunity presented itself for attaining their wishes aswhen it became known that the whole Mohammedan population was up in armsagainst the emperor, and that communications were severed between Kashgarand Pekin. The attempts made at earlier periods on the part of the membersof the old ruling family in Kashgar to regain their own by expelling theChinese have been described. In 1857 Wali Khan, one of the sons ofJehangir, had succeeded in gaining temporary possession of the city ofKashgar, and seemed for a moment to be likely to capture Yarkand also. Hefell by his vices. The people soon detested the presence of the man towhom they had accorded a too hasty welcome. After a rule of four months hefled the country, vanquished in the field by the Chinese garrison, andfollowed by the execrations of the population he had come to deliver. Theinvasion of Wali Khan further imbittered the relations between the Chineseand their subjects; and a succession of governors bore heavily on theMohammedans. Popular dissatisfaction and the apprehension in the minds ofthe governing officials that their lives might be forfeited at any momentto a popular outbreak added to the dangers of the situation in Kashgaritself, when the news arrived of the Tungan revolt, and of the many othercomplications which hampered the action of the Pekin ruler. We cannotnarrate here the details of the rebellion in Kashgar. Its influence on thehistory of China would not sanction such close exactitude. But in the year1863 the Chinese officials had become so alarmed at their isolatedposition that they resolved to adopt the desperate expedient of massacringall the Mohammedans or Tungani in their own garrisons. The amban and hisofficers were divided in council and dilatory in execution. The Tunganiheard of the plot while the governor was summoning the nerve to carry itout. They resolved to anticipate him. The Mohammedans at Yarkand, thelargest and most important garrison in the country, rose in August, 1863, and massacred all the Buddhist Chinese. Seven thousand men are computed tohave fallen. A small band fled to the citadel, which they held for a shorttime; but at length, overwhelmed by numbers, they preferred death todishonor, and destroyed themselves by exploding the fort with themagazine. The defection of the Tungani thus lost Kashgaria for theChinese, as the other garrisons and towns promptly followed the example ofYarkand; but they could not keep it for themselves. The spectacle of thisinternal dissension proved irresistible for the adventurers of Khokand, and Buzurg, the last surviving son of Jehangir, resolved to make anotherbid for power and for the recovery of the position for which his fatherand kinsmen had striven in vain. The wish might possibly have been no moreattained than theirs, had he not secured the support of the most capablesoldier in Khokand, Mahomed Yakoob, the defender of Ak Musjid against theRussians. It was not until the early part of the year 1865 that this Khojapretender, with his small body of Khokandian officers and a considerablenumber of Kirghiz allies, appeared upon the scene. Then, however, theirsuccess was rapid. The Tungan revolt in Altyshahr resolved itself into amovement for the restoration of the Khoja dynasty. In a short time Buzurgwas established as ruler, while his energetic lieutenant was employed inthe task of crushing the few remaining Chinese garrisons, and also incowing his Tungan allies, who already regarded their new ruler with adoubtful eye. By the month of September in the same year that witnessedthe passage of the invading force through the Terek defile, the triumph ofthe Khoja's arms was assured. A few weeks later Mahomed Yakoob deposed hismaster, and caused himself to be proclaimed ruler in his stead. The voiceof the people ratified the success of the man; and in 1866 Mahomed Yakoob, or Yakoob Beg, received at the hands of the Ameer of Bokhara the proudtitle of Athalik Ghazi, by which he was long known. The Mohammedan risingspread still further within the limits of Chinese authority in CentralAsia. 

While the events which have been briefly sketched were happening in theregion south of the great Tian Shan range, others of not less importancehad taken place in Ili or Kuldja, which, under Chinese rule, had enjoyeduninterrupted peace for a century. It was this fact which marked theessential difference between the Tungan rebellion and all the disturbancesthat had preceded it. The revolution in the metropolitan province wascomplicated by the presence of different races, just as it had been inKashgaria by the pretensions of the Khoja family. A large portion of thepopulation consisted of those Tarantchis who were the descendants of theKashgarians deported on more than one occasion by the Chinese from theirown homes to the banks of the Ili; and they had inherited a legacy of ill-will against their rulers which only required the opportunity to displayitself. The Tungan--or Dungan, as the Russians spell it--element was alsovery strong, and colonies of the Sobo and Solon tribes, who had beenemancipated from their subjection to the Mongols by the Emperor Kanghi fortheir bravery, further added to the variety of the nationalities dwellingin this province. It had been said with some truth that the Chinese ruledin this quarter of their dominions on the old principle of commanding bythe division of the subjected; and it had been predicted that they wouldfall whenever any two of the dependent populations combined against them. There is little difficulty in showing that the misfortunes of the Chinesewere due to their own faults. They neglected the plainest militaryprecautions, and the mandarins thought only of enriching themselves. Butthe principal cause of the destruction of their power was the cessation ofthe supplies which they used to receive from Pekin. The government ofthese dependencies was only possible by an annual gift from the imperialtreasury. When the funds placed at the disposal of the Ili authoritieswere diverted to other uses, it was no longer possible to maintain the oldefficiency of the service. Discontent was provided with a strongerargument at the same time that the executive found itself embarrassed ingrappling with it. 

The news of the Mohammedan outbreak in China warned the Tungani in Ilithat their opportunity had come. But although there were disturbances asearly as January, 1863, these were suppressed, and the vigilance of theauthorities sufficed to keep things quiet for another year. Theirsubsequent incapacity, or hesitation to strike a prompt blow, enabled theMohammedans to husband their resources and to complete their plans. Atemporary alliance was concluded between the Tungani and the Tarantchis, and they hastened to attack the Chinese troops and officials. The year1865 was marked by the progress of a sanguinary struggle, during which theChinese lost their principal towns, and some of their garrisons wereruthlessly slaughtered after surrender. The usual scenes of civil warfollowed. When the Chinese were completely vanquished and their garrisonsexterminated, the victors quarreled among themselves. The Tungani and theTarantchis met in mortal encounter, and the former were vanquished andtheir chief slain. When they renewed the contest, some months later, theywere, after another sanguinary struggle, again overthrown. The Tarantchisthen ruled the state by themselves, but the example they set of nativerule was, to say the least, not encouraging. One chief after another wasdeposed and murdered. The same year witnessed no fewer than five leadersin the supreme place of power; and when Abul Oghlan assumed the title ofSultan the cup of their iniquities was already full. In the year 1871 anend was at last put to these enormities by the occupation of the provinceby a Russian force, and the installation of a Russian governor. Althoughit is probable that they were only induced to take this step by the fearthat if they did not do so Yakoob Beg would, the fact remains that theRussian government did a good thing in the cause of order by interferingfor the restoration of tranquillity in the valley of the Ili. 

The Mohammedan outbreaks in southwestern and northwestern China resulted, therefore, in the gradual suppression of the Panthay rebellion, which wascompleted in the twelfth year of Tungche's reign, while the Tungan rising, so far as the Central Asian territories were concerned, remained unquelledfor a longer period. The latter led to the establishment of an independentTungan confederacy beyond Kansuh, and also of the kingdom of Kashgariaruled by Yakoob Beg. The revolt in Ili, after several alternations offortune, resulted in the brief independence of the Tarantchis, who were inturn displaced by the Russians under a pledge of restoring the province tothe Chinese whenever they should return. Judged by the extent of territoryinvolved, the Mohammedan rebellion might be said to be not less importantthan the Taeping; but the comparison on that ground alone would be reallydelusive, as the numerical inferiority of the Mohammedans rendered italways a question only of time for the central power to be restored. 

The young Emperor Tungche, therefore, grew up amid continual difficulties, although the successes of his principal lieutenants afforded good reasonto believe that, so far as they arose from rebels, it was only a questionof time before they would be finally removed. The foreign intercoursestill gave cause for much anxiety, although there was no apprehension ofwar. It would have been unreasonable to suppose that the relations betweenthe foreign merchants and residents and the Chinese could become, afterthe suspicion and dangers of generations, absolutely cordial. Thecommercial and missionary bodies, into which the foreign community wasnaturally divided, had objects of trade or religion to advance, whichrendered them apt to take an unfavorable view of the progress made by theChinese government in the paths of civilization, and to be ever skepticaleven of its good faith. The main object with the foreign diplomaticrepresentatives became not more to obtain justice for their countrymenthan to restrain their eagerness, and to confine their pretensions to therights conceded by the treaties. A clear distinction had to be drawnbetween undue coercion of the Chinese government on the one hand, and theeffectual compulsion of the people to evince respect toward foreigners andto comply with the obligations of the treaty on the other. Instancesrepeatedly occurred in reference to the latter matter, when it would havebeen foolish to have shown weakness, especially as there was not the leastroom to suppose that the government possessed at that time the power andthe capacity to secure reparation for, or to prevent the repetition of, attacks on foreigners. Under this category came the riot at Yangchow inthe year 1868, when some missionaries had their houses burned down, andwere otherwise maltreated. A similar outrage was perpetrated in Formosa;but the fullest redress was always tendered as soon as the executiverealized that the European representatives attached importance to theoccurrence. The recurrence of these local dangers and disputes served tobring more clearly than ever before the minds of the Chinese ministers theadvisability of taking some step on their own part toward an understandingwith European governments and peoples. The proposal to depute a Chineseembassador to the West could hardly be said to be new, seeing that it hadbeen projected after the Treaty of Nankin, and that the minister Keyinghad manifested some desire to be the first mandarin to serve in that novelcapacity. But when the Tsungli Yamen took up the question it was decidedthat in this as in other matters it would be expedient to avail themselvesin the first place of foreign mediation. The favorable opportunity ofdoing so presented itself when Mr. Burlinghame retired from his post asminister of the United States at Pekin. In the winter of 1867-68 Mr. Burlinghame accepted an appointment as accredited representative of theChinese government to eleven of the principal countries of the world, andtwo Chinese mandarins and a certain number of Chinese students wereappointed to accompany him on his tour. The Chinese themselves did notattach as much importance as they might have done to his efforts, and Mr. Burlinghame's mission will be remembered more as an educational processfor foreigners than as signifying any decided change in Chinese policy. His death at St. Petersburg, in March, 1870, put a sudden and unexpectedclose to his tour, but it cannot be said that he could have done moretoward the elucidation of Chinese questions than he had alreadyaccomplished, while his bold and optimistic statements, after awakeningpublic attention, had already begun to produce the inevitable reaction. 

In 1869 Sir Rutherford Alcock retired, and was succeeded in the difficultpost of English representative in China by Mr. Thomas Wade, whose serviceshave been more than once referred to. In the very first year of hisholding the post an event occurred which cast all the minor aggressiveacts that had preceded it into the shade. It may perhaps be surmised thatthis was the Tientsin massacre--an event which threatened to re-open thewhole of the China question, and which brought France and China to theverge of war. It was in June, 1870, on the eve of the outbreak of theFranco-Prussian War, that the foreign settlements were startled by thereport of a great popular outbreak against foreigners in the importanttown of Tientsin. At that city there was a large and energetic colony ofRoman Catholic priests, and their success in the task of conversion, smallas it might be held, was still sufficient to excite the ire and fears ofthe literary and official classes. The origin of mob violence is everdifficult to discover, for a trifle suffices to set it in motion. But atTientsin specific charges of the most horrible and, it need not be said, the most baseless character were spread about as to the cruelties and evilpractices of those devoted to the service of religion. These rumors werediligently circulated, and it need not cause wonder if, when the mere cryof "Fanquai"--Foreign Devil--sufficed to raise a disturbance, theseallegations resulted in a vigorous agitation against the missionaries, whowere already the mark of popular execration. It was well known beforehandthat an attack on the missionaries would take place unless the authoritiesadopted very efficient measures of protection. The foreign residents andthe consulates were warned of the coming outburst, and a very heavyresponsibility will always rest on those who might, by the display ofgreater vigor, have prevented the unfortunate occurrences that ensued. Atthe same time, allowing for the prejudices of the Chinese, it must beallowed that not only must the efforts of all foreign missionaries beattended with the gravest peril, but that the acts of the French priestsand nuns at Tientsin were, if not indiscreet, at least peculiarlycalculated to arouse the anger and offend the superstitious predilectionsof the Chinese. That the wrong was not altogether on the side of theChinese may be gathered from an official dispatch of the United StatesMinister, describing the originating causes of the outrage: "At many ofthe principal places in China open to foreign residence, the Sisters ofCharity have established institutions, each of which appears to combine initself a foundling hospital and orphan asylum. Finding that the Chinesewere averse to placing children in their charge, the managers of theseinstitutions offered a certain sum per head for all the children placedunder their control, to be given to them; it being understood that a childonce in their asylum no parent, relative, or guardian could claim orexercise any control over it. It has for some time been asserted by theChinese, and believed by most of the non-Catholic foreigners residinghere, that the system of paying bounties induced the kidnaping of childrenfor these institutions for the sake of the reward. It is also assertedthat the priests or sisters, or both, have been in the habit of holdingout inducements to have children brought to them in the last stages ofillness for the purpose of being baptized _in articulo mortis_. In thisway many children have been taken to these establishments in the laststages of disease, baptized there, and soon after taken away dead. Allthese acts, together with the secrecy and seclusion which appear to be apart and parcel of the regulations which govern institutions of thischaracter everywhere, have created suspicions in the minds of the Chinese, and these suspicions have engendered an intense hatred against thesisters. "

At that time Chung How, the superintendent of trade for the three northernports, was the principal official in Tientsin; but although somerepresentations, not as forcible however as the occasion demanded, weremade to him by M. Fontanier, the French Consul, on June 18, three daysbefore the massacre, no reply was given and no precautions were taken. Onthe 21st a large crowd assembled outside the mission house. They very soonassumed an attitude of hostility, and it was clear that at any moment theattack might begin. M. Fontanier hastened off in person to Chung How, buthis threats seem to have been as unavailing as his arguments. On hisreturn he found the attack on the point of commencing. He made use ofmenaces, and he fired a shot from his revolver, whether in self-defense orin the heat of indignation at some official treachery will never be known. The mob turned upon him, and he was murdered. The Chinese then hastened tocomplete the work they had begun. Chung How, like Surajah Dowlah, was notto be disturbed, and the attack on the mission house and consulateproceeded, while the officials responsible for order remained inactive. Twenty-one foreigners in all were brutally murdered under circumstances ofthe greatest barbarity, while the number of native converts who fell atthe same time can never be ascertained. 

The Tientsin massacre was followed by a wave of anti-foreign feeling overthe whole country; but although an official brought out a work--entitled"Death-blow to Corrupt Doctrine"--which obtained more than a passingnotoriety, and notwithstanding that some members of the imperial family, and notably, as it was stated, Prince Chun, regarded the movement withfavor, the arguments of Prince Kung and the more moderate ministerscarried the day, and it was resolved to make every concession in the powerof the government for the pacific settlement of the dispute that hadarisen with France. The outbreak of the war between France and Germany, while it contributed to a peaceful settlement of the question, renderedthe process of diplomacy slow and dubious. The Tsungli Yamen, as soon asit realized that nothing short of the dispatch of a mission of apology toEurope would salve the injured honor of France, determined that none otherthan Chung How himself should go to Paris to assure the French that thegovernment deplored the popular ebullition and had taken no part in it. The untoward result of the great war for France embarrassed her action inChina. Chung How's assurances were accepted, the proffered compensationwas received; but the Chinese were informed that in recognition ofFrance's moderation, and in return for the reception of their envoy by M. Thiers, the right of audience should be conceded to the French ministerresident at Pekin. The Audience Question naturally aroused the greatestinterest at Pekin, where it agitated the official mind not merely becauseit signified another concession to force, but also because it promised toproduce a disturbing effect on the mind of the people. The young emperorwas growing up, and might be expected to take a direct share in theadministration at an early date. It was not an idle apprehension thatfilled the minds of his ministers lest he might lay the blame on them forhaving cast upon him the obligation of receiving ministers of foreignStates in a manner such as they had never before been allowed to appear inthe presence of the occupant of the Dragon Throne. The youth of thesovereign served to postpone the question for a short space of time, butit was no longer doubtful that the assumption of personal authority by theyoung Emperor Tungche would be accompanied by the reintroduction, andprobably by the settlement, of the Audience Question. It was typical ofthe progress Chinese statesmen were making that none of them seemed toconsider the possibility of distinctly refusing this privilege. Itsconcession was only postponed until after the celebration of the youngemperor's marriage. 

It had been known for some time that the young ruler had fixed hisaffections on Ahluta, a Manchu lady of good family, daughter of DukeChung, and that the empresses had decided that she was worthy of the highrank to which she was to be raised. The marriage ceremony was deferred onmore than one plea until after the emperor had reached his sixteenthbirthday, but in October, 1872, there was thought to be no longer anyexcuse for postponement, and it was celebrated with great splendor on the16th of that month. The arrangements were made in strict accordance withthe precedent of the Emperor Kanghi's marriage in 1674, that ruler havingalso married when in occupation of the throne, and before he had attainedhis majority. It was stated that the ceremonial was imposing, that theincidental expenses were enormous, and that the people were very favorablyimpressed by the demeanor of their young sovereign. Four months after thecelebration of his marriage the formal act of conferring upon Tungche thepersonal control of his dominions was performed. In a special decreeissued from the Board of Rites the emperor said that he had received "thecommands of their majesties the two empresses to assume thesuperintendence of business. " This edict was directed to the ForeignMinisters, who in return presented a collective request to be received inaudience. Prince Kung was requested "to take his Imperial Majesty's orderswith reference to their reception. " The question being thus brought to acrucial point, it was not unnatural that the Chinese ministers should makethe most vigorous resistance they could to those details which seemed toand did encroach upon the prerogative of the emperor as he had beenaccustomed to exercise it. For, in the first place, they were no longerfree agents, and Tungche had himself to be considered in any arrangementfor the reception of foreign envoys. The discussion of the questionassumed a controversial character, in which stress was laid on the oneside upon the necessity of the kotow even in a modified form, while on theother it was pointed out that the least concession was as objectionable asthe greatest, and that China would benefit by the complete settlement ofthe question. It says a great deal for the fairness and moderation ofPrince Kung and the ministers with him that, although they knew that theforeign governments were not prepared to make the Audience Question one ofwar, or even of the suspension of diplomatic relations, they determined tosettle the matter in the way most distasteful to themselves and mostagreeable to foreigners. On June 29, 1873, Tungche received in audiencethe ministers of the principal powers at Pekin, and thus gave completenessto the many rights and concessions obtained from his father andgrandfather by the treaties of Tientsin and Nankin. The privilege thussecured caused lively gratification in the minds of all foreign residents, to whom it signified the great surrender of the inherent right tosuperiority claimed by the Chinese emperors, and we have recently seenthat it has been accepted as a precedent. 

The sudden death of Tseng Kwofan in the summer of 1873 removedunquestionably the foremost public man in China. After the fall of Nankinhe had occupied the highest posts in the empire, both at that city and inthe metropolis. He was not merely powerful from his own position, but fromhis having placed his friends and dependents in many of the principaloffices throughout the empire. At first prejudiced against foreigners, hehad gradually brought himself to recognize that some advantage might bederived from their knowledge. But the change came at too late a period toadmit of his conferring any distinct benefit on his country from the moreliberal policy he felt disposed to pursue with regard to the training ofChinese youths in the science and learning of the West. It was said thathad he been personally ambitious he might have succeeded in displacing theTartar regime. But such a thought never assumed any practical shape in hismind, and to the end of his days Tseng Kwofan was satisfied to remain thesteadfast supporter and adherent of the Manchus. In this respect ho hasbeen closely imitated by his most distinguished lieutenant, Li Hung Chang, who succeeded to some of his dignities and much of his power. 

Another of Tseng's proteges, Tso Tsung Tang, had been raised from theviceroyalty of Chekiang and Fuhkien to that of Shensi and Kansuh. Thepromotion was of the more doubtful value, seeing that both those provinceswere in the actual possession of the rebels; but Tso threw himself intothe task of reconquering them with remarkable energy, and within two yearsof his arrival he was able to report that he had cleared the province ofShensi of all insurgents. He then devoted his attention to thepacification of Kansuh; and after many desultory engagements proceeded tolay siege to the town of Souchow, where the Mohammedans had massed theirstrength. At the end of the year 1872 the imperial army was drawn up infront of this place, but Tso does not seem to have considered himselfstrong enough to deliver an attack, and confined his operations topreventing the introduction of supplies and fresh troops into the town. Even in this he was only partially successful, as a considerable body ofmen made their way in, in January, 1873. In the following month hesucceeded in capturing, by a night attack, a temple outside the walls, upon which the Mohammedans placed considerable value. The siege continuedduring the whole of the summer, and it was not until the month of Octoberthat the garrison was reduced to such extremities as to surrender. Thechiefs were hacked to pieces, and about four thousand men perished by thesword. The women, children, and old men were spared, and the spoil of theplace was handed over to the soldiery. It was Tso's distinctive meritthat, far from being carried away by these successes, he neglected nomilitary precaution, and devoted his main efforts to the reorganization ofthe province. In that operation he may be left employed for the briefremainder of Tungche's reign; but it may be said that in 1874 the campaignagainst Kashgaria had been fully decided upon. A thousand Manchu cavalrywere sent to Souchow. Sheepskins, horses, and ammunition in largequantities were also dispatched to the far west, and General Kinshun, theManchu general, was intrusted with the command of the army in the field. 

The year 1874 witnessed an event that claims notice. There never has beenmuch good will between China and her neighbors in Japan. The latter aretoo independent in their bearing to please the advocates of Chinesepredominance, at the same time that their insular position has left themsafe from the attack of the Pekin government. The attempt made by theMongol, Kublai Khan, to subdue these islanders had been too disastrous toinvite repetition. In Corea the pretensions of the ruler of Yeddo had beenrepelled, if not crushed; but wherever the sea intervened the advantagerested more or less decisively with him. The island of Formosa isdependent upon China, and the western districts are governed by officialsduly appointed by the Viceroy of Fuhkien. But the eastern half of theisland, separated from the cultivated districts by a range of mountainscovered with dense if not impenetrable forests, is held by tribes who ownno one's authority, and who act as they deem fit. In the year 1868 or 1869a junk from Loochoo was wrecked on this coast, and the crew were murderedby the islanders. The civil war in Japan prevented any prompt claim forreparation, but in 1873 the affair was revived, and a demand made at Pekinfor compensation. The demand was refused, whereupon the Japanese, takingthe law into their own hands, sent an expedition to Formosa. China repliedwith a counter-demonstration, and war seemed inevitable. In this crisisMr. Wade offered his good services in the interests of peace, and afterconsiderable controversy he succeeded in bringing the two governments toreason. The Chinese paid an indemnity of half a million taels, and theJapanese evacuated the island. 

In all countries governed by an absolute sovereign it is as interesting asit is difficult to obtain some accurate knowledge of the character of theautocrat. A most important change had been effected in the government ofChina, yet it is impossible to discover what its precise significance was, or to say how far it influenced the fortunes of the country. The empresseshad retired into private life, and for a time their regency came to anend. Prince Kung was only the minister of a young prince who had it in hispower to guide affairs exactly as he might feel personally disposed. Prince Kung might be either the real governor of the state or only thecourtier of his nephew. It depended solely on that prince's character. There were not wanting signs that Tungche had the consciousness, if notthe capacity, of supreme power, and that he wished his will to beparamount. Such evidence as was obtainable agreed in stating that he wasimpatient of restraint, and that the prudent reflections of his uncle werenot overmuch to his fancy. On September 10 the young ruler took the worldinto his confidence by announcing in a Vermilion Edict that he haddegraded Prince Kung and his son in their hereditary rank as princes ofthe empire, for using "language in very many respects unbecoming. " WhetherTungche took this very decided step in a moment of pique or because heperceived that there was a plan among his chief relatives to keep him inleading-strings, must remain a matter of opinion. At the least he musthave refused to personally retract what he had done, for on the veryfollowing day (September 11) a decree appeared from the two empressesreinstating Prince Kung and his son in their hereditary rank and dignity, and thus reasserting the power of the ex-regents. 

Not long after this disturbance in the interior of the palace, of whichonly the ripple reached the surface of publicity, there were rumors thatthe emperor's health was in a precarious state, and in the month ofDecember it became known that Tungche was seriously ill with an attack ofsmallpox. The disease seemed to be making satisfactory progress, for thedoctors were rewarded; but on December 18 an edict appeared ordering orrequesting the empresses dowager to assume the personal charge of theadministration. Six days later another edict appeared which strengthenedthe impression that the emperor was making good progress toward recovery. But appearances were deceptive, for, after several weeks' uncertainty, itbecame known that the emperor's death was inevitable. On January 12, 1875, Tungche "ascended upon the Dragon, to be a guest on high, " without leavingany offspring to succeed him. There were rumors that his illness was onlya plausible excuse, and that he was really the victim of foul play; but itis not likely that the truth on that point will ever be revealed. Whetherhe was the victim of an intrigue similar to that which had marked hisaccession to power, or whether he only died from the neglect orincompetence of his medical attendants, the consequences were equallyfavorable to the personal views of the two empresses and Prince Kung. Theyresumed the exercise of that supreme authority which they had resignedlittle more than twelve months. The most suspicious circumstance inconnection with this event was the treatment of the young Empress Ahluta, who, it was well known, was pregnant at the time of her husband's death. Instead of waiting to decide as to the succession until it was knownwhether Tungche's posthumous child would prove to be a son or a daughter, the empresses dowager hastened to make another selection and to place theyoung widow of the deceased sovereign in a state of honorable confinement. Their motive was plain. Had Ahluta's child happened to be a son, he wouldhave been the legal emperor, as well as the heir by direct descent, andshe herself could not have been excluded from a prominent share in thegovernment. To the empresses dowager one child on the throne mattered nomore than another; but it was a question of the first importance thatAhluta should be set on one side. In such an atmosphere there is oftengrievous peril to the lives of inconvenient personages. Ahluta sickenedand died. Her child was never born. The charitable gave her credit forhaving refused food through grief for her husband, Tungche. The skepticallistened to the details of her illness with scorn for the vain efforts toobscure the dark deeds of ambition. In their extreme anxiety to realizetheir own designs, and at the same time not to injure the constitution, the two empresses had been obliged to resort to a plan that could onlyhave been suggested by desperation. For the first time since the Manchudynasty occupied the throne it was necessary to depart from the due lineof succession, and to make the election of the sovereign a matter ofindividual fancy or favor instead of one of inheritance. The range ofchoice was limited; for the son of Prince Kung himself, who seemed toenjoy the prior right to the throne, was a young man of sufficient age togovern for himself; and moreover his promotion would mean the compulsoryretirement from public life of Prince Kung, for it was not possible inChina for a father to serve under his son, until Prince Chun, the fatherof the present reigning emperor, established quite recently a precedent tothe contrary. The name of Prince Kung's son, if mentioned at all, was onlymentioned to be dismissed. The choice of the empresses fell upon TsaiTien, the son of Prince Chun or the Seventh Prince, who on January 13 wasproclaimed emperor. As he was of too tender an age to rule for himself, his nomination served the purposes of the two empresses and their ally, Prince Kung, who thus entered upon a second lease of undisputed power. 

CHAPTER XXII

THE REIGN OF KWANGSU

Thus after a very brief interval the governing power again passed into thehands of the regents who had ruled the state so well for the twelve yearsfollowing the death of Hienfung. The nominal emperor was a child of littlemore than three years of age, to whom was given the style of "Kwangsu, " or"illustrious succession, " and the empresses could look forward to manyyears of authority in the name of so young a sovereign. The onlyopposition to their return to power seems to have come from the palaceeunuchs, who had asserted themselves during the brief reign of Tungche andhoped to gain predominance in the imperial councils. But they found adetermined mistress in the person of Tsi An, the Eastern Empress, as shewas also called, who took vigorous action against them, punishing theirleaders with death and effectually nipping in the bud all their projectsfor making themselves supreme. 

The return of the empresses to power was followed by a great catastrophein the relations between England and China. For the moment it threw everyother matter into the shade, and seemed to render the outbreak of warbetween the two countries almost inevitable. In the year 1874 thegovernment of India, repenting of its brief infatuation for the Panthaycause, yet still reluctant to lose the advantages it had promised itselffrom the opening of Yunnan to trade, resolved upon sending a formalmission of explory under Colonel Horace Browne, an officer of distinction, through Burmah to that province. The difficulties in the way of theundertaking seemed comparatively few, as the King of Burmah was friendlyand appeared disposed at that time to accept his natural position as thedependent of Calcutta. The Pekin authorities also were outwardly notopposed to the journey; and the only opposition to be apprehended was fromthe Yunnan officials and people. 

It was thought desirable, with the view of preparing the way for theappearance of this foreign mission, that a representative of the Englishembassy at Pekin, having a knowledge of the language and of the ceremonialetiquette of the country, should be deputed to proceed across China andmeet Colonel Browne on the Burmese frontier. The officer selected for thisdelicate and difficult mission was Mr. Raymond Augustus Margary, who tothe singular aptitude he had displayed in the study of Chinese added abuoyant spirit and a vigorous frame that peculiarly fitted him for thelong and lonely journey he had undertaken across China. His receptionthroughout was encouraging. The orders of the Tsungli Yamen, speciallydrawn up by the Grand Secretary Wansiang, were explicit, and not to belightly ignored. Mr. Margary performed his journey in safety; and, onJanuary 26, 1875, only one fortnight after Kwangsu's accession, he joinedColonel Browne at Bhamo. A delay of more than three weeks ensued at Bhamo, which was certainly unfortunate. Time was given for the circulation ofrumors as to the approach of a foreign invader along a disturbed frontierheld by tribes almost independent, and whose predatory instincts wereexcited by the prospect of rich plunder, at the same time that theirleaders urged them to oppose a change which threatened to destroy theirhold on the caravan route between Bhamo and Talifoo. When, on February 17, Colonel Browne and his companions approached the limits of Burmeseterritory, they found themselves in face of a totally different state ofaffairs from what had existed when Mr. Margary passed safely through threeweeks before. The preparations for opposing the English had been madeunder the direct encouragement, and probably the personal direction, ofLisitai, a man who had been a brigand and then a rebel, but who at thistime held a military command on the frontier. 

As Colonel Browne advanced he was met with rumors of the opposition thatawaited him. At first these were discredited, but on the renewedstatements that a large Chinese force had been collected to bar his way, Mr. Margary rode forward to ascertain what truth there was in theserumors. The first town on this route within the Chinese border is Momein, which, under the name of Tengyue, was once a military station ofimportance, and some distance east of it again is another town, calledManwein. Mr. Margary set out on February 19, and it was arranged that onlyin the event of his finding everything satisfactory at Momein was he toproceed to Manwein. Mr. Margary reached Momein in safety, and reported ina letter to Colonel Browne that all was quiet at that place, and thatthere were no signs of any resistance. That letter was the last news everreceived from Mr. Margary. On February 19 he started from Momein, and theinformation subsequently obtained left no doubt that he was treacherouslymurdered on that or the following day at Manwein. An ominous silencefollowed, and Colonel Browne's party delayed its advance until somedefinite news should arrive as to what had occurred in front, although thesilence was sufficient to justify the worst apprehensions. Three dayslater the rumor spread that Mr. Margary and his attendants had beenmurdered. It was also stated that an army was advancing to attack theEnglish expedition; and on February 22 a large Chinese force did make itsappearance on the neighboring heights. There was no longer any room todoubt that the worst had happened, and it only remained to secure thesafety of the expedition. The Chinese numbered several thousand men underLisitai in person, while to oppose them there were only four Europeans andfifteen Sikhs. Yet superior weapons and steadfastness carried the dayagainst greater numbers. The Sikhs fought as they retired, and theChinese, unable to make any impression on them, abandoned an attack whichwas both perilous and useless. 

The news of this outrage did not reach Pekin until a month later, when Mr. Wade at once took the most energetic measures to obtain the amplestreparation in the power of the Pekin government to concede. The first andmost necessary point in order to insure not merely the punishment of theguilty, but also that the people of China should not have cause to supposethat their rulers secretly sympathized with the authors of the attack, wasthat no punitive measures should be undertaken, or, if undertaken, recognized, until a special Commission of Inquiry had been appointed toinvestigate the circumstances on the spot. Mr. Margary was an officer ofthe English government traveling under the special permission andprotection of the Tsungli Yamen. The Chinese government could not expectto receive consideration if it failed to enforce respect for its owncommands, and the English government had an obligation which it could notshirk in exacting reparation for the murder of its representative. Thetreacherous killing of Mr. Margary was evidently not an occurrence forwhich it could be considered a sufficient atonement that some miserablecriminals under sentence of death, or some desperate individuals anxiousto secure the worldly prosperity of their families, should undergo painfultorture and public execution in order to shield official falseness andinfamy. Although no one ever suspected the Pekin government of havingdirectly instigated the outrage, the delay in instituting an impartial andsearching inquiry into the affair strengthened an impression that it feltreluctant to inflict punishment on those who had committed the act ofviolence. Nearly three months elapsed before any step was taken towardappointing a Chinese official to proceed to the scene of the outrage incompany with the officers named by the English minister; but on June 19 anedict appeared in the "Pekin Gazette" ordering Li Han Chang, governor-general of Houkwang, to temporarily vacate his post, and "repair with allspeed to Yunnan to investigate and deal with certain matters. " Even thenthe matter dragged along but slowly. Li Han Chang, who, as the brother ofLi Hung Chang, was an exceptionally well-qualified and highly-placedofficial for the task, and whose appointment was in itself some evidenceof sincerity, did not leave Hankow until August, and the Englishcommissioners, Messrs. Grosvenor, Davenport and Colborne Baber, did notset out from the same place before the commencement of October. Theintervening months had been employed by Mr. Wade in delicate andfluctuating negotiation with Li Hung Chang (who had succeeded Tseng Kwofanas Viceroy of Pechihli and who had now come to the front as the chiefofficial in the Chinese service) at Tientsin and with the Tsungli Yamen atPekin. It was not till the end of the year that the commission toascertain the fate of Mr. Margary began its active work on the spot. Theresult was unexpectedly disappointing. The mandarins supported oneanother. The responsibility was thrown on several minor officials, and onthe border-tribes or savages. Several of the latter were seized, and theirlives were offered as atonement for an offense they had not committed. Thefurthest act of concession which the Chinese commissioner gave was totemporarily suspend Tsen Yuying the Futai for remissness; but even thismeasure was never enforced with rigor. The English officers soon foundthat it was impossible to obtain any proper reparation on the spot. 

Sir Thomas Wade, who was knighted during the negotiations, refused toaccept the lives of the men offered, whose complicity in the offense wasknown to be none at all, while its real instigators escaped without anypunishment. When the new year, 1876, opened, the question was stillunsettled, and it was clear that no solution could be discovered on thespot. Sir Thomas Wade again called upon the Chinese in the most emphaticlanguage allowed by diplomacy to conform with the spirit and letter oftheir engagements, and he informed the Tsungli Yamen that unless theyproffered full redress for Mr. Margary's murder it would be impossible tocontinue diplomatic relations. To show that this was no meaninglessexpression, Sir Thomas Wade left Pekin, while a strong re-enforcement tothe English fleet demonstrated that the government was resolved to supportits representative. In consequence of these steps, Li Hung Chang was, inAugust, 1876, or more than eighteen months after the outrage, intrustedwith full powers for the arrangement, of the difficulty; and the smallseaport of Chefoo was fixed upon as the scene for the forthcomingnegotiations. Even then the Chinese sought to secure a sentimentaladvantage by requesting that Sir Thomas Wade would change the scene ofdiscussion to Tientsin, or at least that he would consent to pay Li HungChang a visit there. This final effort to conceal the fact that theEnglish demanded redress as an equal and not as a suppliant having beenbaffled, there was no further attempt at delay. The Chefoo Convention wassigned in that town, to which the viceroy proceeded from Tientsin. Li HungChang entertained the foreign ministers at a great banquet; and the finalarrangements were hurried forward for the departure to Europe of theChinese embassador, whose dispatch had been decided upon in the previousyear. When the secret history of this transaction is revealed it will beseen how sincere were Li Hung Chang's wishes for a pacific result, and howmuch his advice contributed to this end. 

The most important passage in the Chefoo Convention was unquestionablythat commanding the different viceroys and governors to respect, andafford every protection to, all foreigners provided with the necessarypassport from the Tsungli Yamen, and warning them that they would be heldresponsible in the event of any such travelers meeting with injury ormaltreatment. The next most important passage was that arranging for thedispatch of an embassy to London bearing a letter of regret for the murderof the English official. The official selected for this duty was KwoSungtao, a mandarin of high rank and unexceptionable character. The letterwas submitted to Sir Thomas Wade in order that its terms should be exactlyin accordance with Chinese etiquette, and that no phrase should be usedshowing that the Chinese government attached less importance to themission than the occasion demanded. The embassy proceeded to Europe, and, whatever may be thought of its immediate effect, it must be allowed thatit established a precedent of friendly intercourse with this country, which promises to prove an additional guarantee of peace. Kwo Sungtao wasaccompanied by the present Sir Halliday Macartney, who had rendered suchgood service to China, his adopted country, during the Taeping war andafterward, and who, during the last sixteen years, has taught the Chinesegovernment how to make itself listened to by the most powerful States ofEurope. 

A curious incident arising from the passion of gambling which is soprevalent in China, and bearing incidentally upon the national character, may be briefly referred to. The attention of the Pekin government wasattracted to this subject by a novel form of gambling, which not merelyattained enormous dimensions, but which threatened to bring the system ofpublic examination into disrepute. This latter fact created a profoundimpression at Pekin, and roused the mandarins to take unusually promptmeasures. Canton was the headquarters of the gambling confederacy whichestablished the lotteries known as the Weising, but its ramificationsextended throughout the whole of the province of Kwantung. The Weising, orexamination sweepstakes, were based on the principle of drawing the namesof the successful candidates at the official examinations. They appealed, therefore, to every poor villager, and every father of a family, as wellas to the aspirants themselves. The subscribers to the Weising lists werenumbered by hundreds of thousands. It became a matter of almost as muchimportance to draw a successful number or name in the lottery as to takethe degree. The practice could not have been allowed to go on withoutintroducing serious abuses into the system of public examination. Theprofits to the owners of the lottery were so enormous that they were ableto pay not less than eight hundred thousand dollars as hush-money to theviceroy and the other high officials of Canton. In order to shield his ownparticipation in the profits, the viceroy declared that he devoted thisnew source of revenue to the completion of the river defenses of Canton. 

In 1874 the whole system was declared illegal, and severe penalties werepassed against those aiding, or participating in any way in, the WeisingCompany. The local officers did not, however, enforce with any stringencythese new laws, and the Weising fraternity enjoyed a further but briefperiod of increased activity under a different name. The fraud was soondetected, and in an edict of August 11, 1875, it was very rightly laiddown that "the maintenance of the purity of government demands that it benot allowed under any pretext to be re-established, " and for their apathyIn the matter the Viceroy Yinghan and several of the highest officials inCanton were disgraced and stripped of their official rank. 

In China natural calamities on a colossal scale have often aggravatedpolitical troubles. The year 1870 witnessed the commencement of a dearthin the two great provinces of Honan and Shansi which has probably neverbeen surpassed as the cause of a vast amount of human suffering. Althoughthe provinces named suffered the most from the prevalent drought, thesuffering was general over the whole of Northern China, from Shantung andPechihli to Honan and the course of the Yellow River. At first thegovernment, if not apathetic, was disposed to say that the evil would bemet by the grant of the usual allowance made by the provincial governorsin the event of distress; but when one province after another was absorbedwithin the famine area, it became no longer possible to treat the matteras one of such limited importance, and the high ministers felt obliged tobestir themselves in face of so grave a danger. Li Hung Chang inparticular was most energetic, not merely in collecting and forwardingsupplies of rice and grain, but also in inviting contributions of moneyfrom all those parts of the empire which had not been affected by famine. Allowing for the general sluggishness of popular opinion in China, and forthe absence of any large amount of currency, it must be allowed that theseappeals met with a large and liberal response. The foreign residents alsocontributed their share, and even the charity of London found a vent insending some thousands of pounds to the scene of the famine in NorthernChina. This evidence of foreign sympathy in the cause of a common humanitymade more than a passing impression on the minds of the Chinese people. 

While the origin of the famine may be attributed to either drought orcivil war, there is no doubt that its extension and the apparent inabilityof the authorities to grapple with it may be traced to the want of meansof communication, which rendered it almost impossible to convey theneedful succor into the famine districts. The evil being so obvious, itwas hoped that the Chinese would be disposed to take a step forward ontheir own initiative in the great and needed work of the introduction ofrailways and other mechanical appliances. The viceroy of the Two Kianggave his assent to the construction of a short line between Shanghai andthe port of Woosung. The great difficulty had always been to make a start;and now that a satisfactory commencement had been made the foreigners weredisposed in their eagerness to overlook all obstacles, and to imagine theFlowery Land traversed in all directions by railways. But theseexpectations were soon shown to be premature. Half of the railway was openfor use in the summer of 1876, and during some weeks the excitement amongthe Chinese themselves was as marked as among the Europeans. The hopesbased upon this satisfactory event were destined to be soon dispelled bythe animosity of the officials. They announced their intention to resortto every means in their power to prevent the completion of theundertaking. The situation revealed such dangers of mob violence that SirThomas Wade felt compelled to request the company to discontinue itsoperations, and after some discussion it was arranged that the Chineseshould buy the line. After a stipulated period the line was placed underChinese management, when, instead of devoting themselves to the interestsof the railway, and to the extension of its power of utility, theywillfully and persistently neglected it, with the express design ofdestroying it. At this conjuncture the viceroy allowed the Governor ofFuhkien to remove the rails and plant to Formosa. The fate of the Woosungrailway destroyed the hopes created by its construction, and postponed toa later day the great event of the introduction of railways into China. Notwithstanding such disappointments as this, and the ever presentdifficulty of conducting relations with an unsympathetic people controlledby suspicious officials, there was yet observable a marked improvement inthe relations of the different nations with the Chinese. Increasedfacilities of trade, such as the opening of new ports, far from extendingthe area of danger, served to promote a mutual goodwill. In 1876Kiungchow, in the island of Hainan, was made a treaty port, or rather thefact of its having been included in the Treaty of Tientsin was practicallyaccepted and recognized. In the following year four new ports were addedto the list. One, Pakhoi, was intended to increase trade intercourse withSouthern China. Two of the three others, Ichang and Wuhu, were selected asbeing favorably situated for commerce on the Yangtse and its affluents, while Wenchow was chosen for the benefit of the trade on the coast. Mr. Colborne Baber, who had been a member of the Yunnan commission, wasdispatched to Szchuen, to take up his residence at Chungking for thepurpose of facilitating trade with that great province. The successfultour of Captain Gill, not merely through Southwest China into Burmah, butamong some of the wilder and more remote districts of Northern Szchuen, afforded reason to believe that henceforth traveling would be safer inChina, and nothing that has since happened is calculated to weaken thatimpression. 

When Kwangsu ascended the throne the preparations for the campaign againstKashgaria were far advanced toward completion, and Kinshun had struck thefirst of those blows which were to insure the overthrow of the Tungani andof Yakoob Beg. The fall of Souchow had distinguished the closing weeks ofthe year 1873, and in 1874 Kinshun had begun, under the direction of TsoTsung Tang, who was described by a French writer as "very intelligent, ofa bravery beyond all question, and an admirable organizer, " his marchacross the desert to the west. He followed a circuitous line of march, with a view of avoiding the strongly placed and garrisoned town of Hami. The exact route is not certain, but he seems to have gone as far north asUliassutai, where he was able to recruit some of the most faithful andwarlike of the Mongol tribes. But early in 1875 he arrived before thewalls of Barkul, a town lying to the northwest of Hami. No resistance wasoffered, and a few weeks later Hami was also occupied. The Tunganiretreated on the approach of the Chinese, and assembled their main forcefor the defense of the two towns of Urumtsi and Manas, which are situatedon the northern side of the eastern spurs of the Tian Shan. Once Barkuland Hami were in the possession of the Chinese, it became necessary toreopen direct communications with Souchow. This task occupied the whole ofthe next twelve months, and was only successfully accomplished after manydifficulties had been overcome, and when halting-stations had beenestablished across Gobi. There is nothing improbable in the statement thatduring this period the Chinese planted and reaped the seed which enabledthem, or those who followed in their train, to march in the followingseason. With the year 1876 the really arduous portion of the campaigncommenced. The natural difficulties to the commencement of the war fromdistance and desert had been all overcome. An army of about twenty-fivethousand effective troops, besides a considerable number of Mongol andother tribal levies, had been placed in the field and within strikingdistance of the rebels. The enemies were face to face. The Tungani couldretreat no further. Neither from Russia nor from Yakoob Beg could theyexpect a place of refuge. The Athalik Ghazi might help them to hold theirown; he certainly would not welcome them within the limits of the sixcities. The Tungani had, therefore, no alternative left save to make asresolute a stand as they could against the Chinese who had returned torevenge their fellow-countrymen who had been slaughtered in theirthousands twelve years before. The town of Urumtsi, situated within a loopof the mountains, lies at a distance by road of more than 300 miles fromBarkul. Kinshun, who had now been joined by Liu Kintang, the taotai of theSining district and a man of proved energy and capacity, resolved toconcentrate all his efforts on its capture. He moved forward his army toGuchen, 200 miles west of Barkul, where he established a fortified campand a powder factory, and took steps te ascertain the strength andintentions of the enemy. Toward the end of July the Chinese army resumedits march. The difficulties of the country were so great that the advancedguards of the opposing armies did not come into contact until August 10. The Chinese general seems to have attempted on that date a night surprise;but although he gained some success in the encounter which ensued, theresult must have been doubtful, seeing that he felt obliged to call offhis men from the attack. It was only, however, to collect his forces forthe delivery of a decisive blow. On August 13 a second battle was foughtwith a result favorable to the Chinese. Two days later the enemy, who helda fortified camp at Gumti, were bombarded out of it by the heavy artillerybrought from the coasts of China for the purposes of the war, and aftertwenty-four hours' firing three breaches were declared to be practicable. The place was carried by storm at the close of four hours' fighting andslaughter, during which 6, 000 men were stated to have been killed. Kinshunfollowed up his victory by a rapid march on Urumtsi. That town surrenderedwithout a blow, and many hundred fugitives were cut down by the unsparingManchu cavalry, which pursued them along the road to Manas, their lastplace of shelter. As soon as the necessary measures had been taken for themilitary protection of Urumtsi, the Chinese army proceeded against Manas. Their activity, which was facilitated by the favorable season of the year, was also increased by the rumored approach of Yakoob Beg with a large armyto the assistance of the Tungani. At Manas the survivors of the Tunganmovement proper had collected for final resistance, and all thatdesperation could suggest for holding the place had been done. Kinshunappeared before Manas on September 2. On the 7th his batteries werecompleted, and he began a heavy fire upon the northeast angle of the wall. A breach of fourteen feet having been made, the order to assault wasgiven, but the stormers were repulsed with the loss of 100 killed. Theoperations of the siege were renewed with great spirit on both sides. Several assaults were subsequently delivered; but although the Chinesealways gained some advantage at the beginning they never succeeded inretaining it. In one of these later attacks they admitted a loss of 200killed alone. The imperial army enjoyed the undisputed superiority inartillery, and the gaps in its ranks were more than filled by the constantflow of re-enforcements from the rear. The siege gradually assumed a lessactive character. The Chinese dug trenches and erected earthworks. Theyapproached the walls by means of galleries in readiness to deliver theattack on any symptom of discouragement among the besieged. On October 16a mine was sprung under the wall, making a wide breach; but although thebest portion of the Chinese army made two assaults on separate occasions, they were both repulsed with loss. Twelve days later another mine wassprung, destroying a large portion of the wall; but when the Chinesestormers endeavored to carry the remaining works, they were again drivenback with heavy loss, including two generals killed in the breach. Although thus far repulsed, the imperialists had inflicted very heavylosses on the besieged, who, seeing that the end of their resources was athand, that there was no hope of succor, and that the besiegers were asenergetic as ever, at last arrived at the conclusion that they had nochoice left save to surrender on the best terms they could obtain. OnNovember 4, after a two months' siege, Haiyen, as the Chinese named theMohammedan leader, came out and offered to yield the town. His offer seemsto have been partly accepted, and on the 6th of the month the survivors ofthe brave garrison, to the number of between two and three thousand men, sallied forth from the west gate. It was noticed as a ground of suspicionthat all the men carried their weapons, and that they had placed their oldmen, women and children in the center of their phalanx as if theycontemplated rather a sortie than a tame and unresisting surrender. TheChinese commanders were not indisposed to deal with the least suspiciouscircumstances as if they meant certain treachery. The imperialistsgradually gathered around the garrison. The Mohammedans made one boldeffort to cut their way through. They failed in the attempt, and werepractically annihilated on the ground. Those men who were taken by thecavalry were at once beheaded, whether in the city or among those who hadgone forth, but the aged, the women and the children were spared byKinshun's express orders. All the leaders taken were tortured beforeexecution as rebels, and even the bodies of the dead chiefs were exhumedin order that they might be subjected to indignity. The siege of Manas wasinteresting both for the stubbornness of the attack and defense, and alsoas marking the successful termination of the Chinese campaign against theTungani. With its capture, those Mohammedans who might be said to beChinese in ways and appearance ceased to possess any political importance. It would not be going much too far to say that they no longer existed. Themovement of rebellion which began at Hochow in 1862 was thus repressed in1876, after having involved during those fourteen years the northwesternprovinces of China, and much of the interior of Asia, in a struggle which, for its bitter and sanguinary character, has rarely been surpassed. 

[Illustration: KANG, THE REFORMER]

The successes of the Chinese gave their generals and army the confidenceand prestige of victory, and the overthrow of the Tungani left themdisengaged to deal with a more formidable antagonist. The siege of Manashad been vigorously prosecuted in order that the town might be takenbefore the army of Yakoob Beg should arrive. The Athalik Ghazi may havebelieved that Manas could hold out during the winter, for his movements in1876 were leisurely, and betrayed a confidence that no decisive fightingwould take place until the following spring. His hopes were shown to bedelusive, but too late for practical remedy. Manas had fallen before hecould move to its support. The Chinese had crushed the Tungani, and werein possession of the mountain passes. They were gathering their wholestrength to fall upon him, and to drive him out of the state in which hehad managed to set up a brief authority. While the events recorded hadbeen in progress, Yakoob Beg had been ruling the state of Kashgaria withsufficient vigor and wisdom to attract the observation of his greatneighbors, the governments of England and Russia. He had shown rare skillin adapting circumstances to suit his own ends. The people passivelyaccepted the authority which he was prepared to assert with his Khokandiansoldiery, and the independent state of Kashgaria might have continued toexist for a longer period had the Chinese not returned. But in 1875 thearrival of Kinshun at Barkul showed Yakoob Beg that he would have todefend his possessions against their lawful owners, while the overthrow ofthe Tungani and the capture of their strongholds, in 1876, carried withthem a melancholy foreboding of his own fate. The Athalik Ghazi made hispreparations to take the field, but there was no certainty in his mind asto where he should make his stand. He moved his army eastward, establishing his camp first at Korla and then moving it on to Turfan, 900miles distant from Kashgar. The greatest efforts of this ruler onlyavailed to place 15, 000 men at the front, and the barrenness of the regioncompelled him to distribute them. The Ameer was at Turfan with 8, 500 menand twenty guns. His second son was at Toksoun, some miles in the rear, atthe head of 6, 000 more and five guns. There were several smallerdetachments between Korla and the front. Opposed to these was the mainChinese army under Kinshun at Urumtsi, while another force had been placedin the field at Hami by the energy of Tso, and intrusted to the directionof a general named Chang Yao. No fighting took place until the month ofMarch, 1877, and then the campaign began with a rapid advance by Chang Yaofrom Hami to Turfan. The Kashgarians were driven out of Pidjam, andcompelled, after a battle, to evacuate Turfan. The Chinese records do nothelp us to unravel the events of the month of April. The campaigncontained no more striking or important episodes, and yet the reports ofthe generals have been mislaid or consigned to oblivion. The Athalik Ghazifought a second battle at Toksoun, where he rejoined his son's army, butwith no better fortune. He was obliged to flee back to his former camp atKorla. After the capture of Turfan the Chinese armies came to a halt. Itwas necessary to reorganize the vast territory which they had alreadyrecovered, and to do something to replenish their arsenals. During fivemonths the Celestials stayed their further advance, while the cities werebeing re-peopled and the roads rendered once more secure. Tso Tsung Tangwould leave nothing to chance. He had accomplished two of the three partsinto which his commission might be naturally divided. He had pacified thenorthwest and overthrown the Tungani, and he would make sure of his groundbefore attempting the third and the most difficult of all. And while theChinese viceroy had, for his own reasons, come to the very sensibleconclusion to refresh his army after its arduous labors in the limitedproductive region situated between two deserts, the stars in their coursesfought on his side. 

Yakoob Beg had withdrawn only to Korla. He still cherished the futilescheme of defending the eastern limits of his dominion, but with hisoverthrow on the field of battle the magic power which he had exercisedover his subjects vanished. His camp became the scene of factious rivalryand of plots to advance some individual pretension at the cost of thebetter interests and even the security of the State. The exact details ofthe conspiracy will never be known, partly from the remoteness of thescene, but also on account of the mention of persons of whom nothing was, or is ever likely to be, known. The single fact remains clear that YakoobBeg died at Korla on May 1, 1877, of fever according to one account, ofpoison administered by Hakim Khan Torah according to another. Still theChinese did not even then advance, and Yakoob's sons were left to contestwith Hakim Khan Torah over the dismembered fragments of their father'srealm, A bitter and protracted civil war followed close upon thedisappearance of the Athalik Ghazi. On the removal of his dead body forsepulture to Kashgar his eldest son, Kuli Beg, murdered his youngerbrother over their father's bier. It was then that Hakim Khan cameprominently forward as a rival to Kuli Beg, and that the Mohammedans, weakand numerically few as they were, divided themselves into two hostileparties. While the Chinese were recruiting their troops and repairingtheir losses, the enemy were exhausting themselves in vain and uselessstruggles. In June, 1877, Hakim Khan was signally defeated and compelledto flee into Russian territory, whence on a later occasion he returned fora short time in a vain attempt to disturb the tranquillity of Chineserule. When, therefore, the Chinese resumed their advance much of theirwork had been done for them. They had only to complete the overthrow of anenemy whom they had already vanquished, and who was now exhausted by hisown disunion. The Chinese army made no forward movement from Toksoun untilthe end of August, 1877. Liu Kintang, to whom the command of the advancehad been given, did not leave until one month later; and when he arrayedhis forces he found them to number about 15, 000 men. It had been decidedthat the first advance should not be made in greater force, as the chiefdifficulty was to feed the army, not to defeat the enemy. 

The resistance encountered was very slight, and the country was found tobe almost uninhabited. Both Karashar and Korla were occupied by a Chinesegarrison, and the district around them was intrusted to the administrationof a local chief. Information that the rebel force was stationed at thenext town, Kucha, which is as far beyond Korla as that place is fromToksoun, induced Liu Kintang to renew his march and to continue it stillmore rapidly. A battle was fought outside Kucha in which the Chinese werevictorious, but not until they had overcome stubborn resistance. However, the Chinese success was complete, and with Kucha in their power they hadsimplified the process of attacking Kashgar itself. A further halt wasmade at this town to enable the men to recover from their fatigue, toallow fresh troops to come up, and measures to be taken for insuring thesecurity of communications with the places in the rear. At Kucha also thework of civil administration was intrusted to some of the local notables. The deliberation of the Chinese movements, far from weakening theireffect, invested their proceedings with the aspect of being irresistible. The advance was shortly resumed. Aksu, a once flourishing city within thelimits of the old kingdom of Kashgar, surrendered at the end of October. Ush Turfan yielded a few days later. The Chinese had now got withinstriking distance of the capital of the state. They had only to providethe means of making the blow as fatal and decisive as possible. InDecember they seized Maralbashi, an important position on the KashgarDarya, commanding the principal roads to both Yarkand and Kashgar. Yarkandwas the chief object of attack. It surrendered without a blow on December21. A second Chinese army had been sent from Maralbashi to Kashgar, whichwas defended by a force of several thousand men. It had been besieged ninedays, when Liu Kintang arrived with his troops from Yarkand. A battleensued, in which the Mohammedans were vanquished, and the city with thecitadel outside captured. Several rebel leaders and some eleven hundredmen were said to have been executed; but Kuli Beg escaped into Russianterritory. The city of Kashgar was taken on December 26, and one weeklater the town of Khoten, famous from a remote period for its jadeornaments, passed into the hands of the race who best appreciated theirbeauty and value. The Chinese thus brought to a triumphant conclusion thecampaigns undertaken for the reassertion of their authority over theMohammedan populations which had revolted. They had conquered in this warby the superiority of their weapons and their organization, and not by anoverwhelming display of numbers. Although large bodies of troops werestationed at many places, it does not seem that the army which seized thecities of Yarkand and Kashgar numbered more than twenty thousand men. Having vanquished their enemy in the field, the Celestials devoted alltheir attention to the reorganization of what was called the New Dominion, the capital of which after much deliberation was fixed at Urumtsi. Theirrule has been described by a Mussulman as being both very fair and veryjust. 

Having conquered Eastern Turkestan, the Chinese next took steps for therecovery of Ili. Without the metropolitan province the undertaking of TsoTsung Tang would lack completeness, while indeed many political andmilitary dangers would attend the situation in Central Asia. But this wasevidently a matter to be effected in the first place by negotiation, andnot by violence and force of arms. Russia had always been a friendly andindeed a sympathetic neighbor. In this very matter of Ili she hadoriginally acted with the most considerate attention for China's rights, when it seemed that they had permanently lost all definite meaning, forshe had declared that she would surrender it on China sending a sufficientforce to take possession, and now this had been done. It was, therefore, by diplomatic representations on the part of the Tsungli Yamen to theRussian Minister at Pekin that the recovery of Ili was expected in thefirst place to be achieved. At about the same time the Russian authoritiesat Tashkent came to the conclusion that the matter must rest with theCzar, and the Chinese official world perceived that they would have todepute a Minister Plenipotentiary to St. Petersburg. 

The official selected for the difficult and, as it proved, dangerous taskof negotiating at St. Petersburg, was that same Chung How who had beensent to Paris after the Tientsin massacre. He arrived at Pekin in August, 1878, and was received in several audiences by the empresses while waitingfor his full instructions from the Tsungli Yamen. He did not leave untilOctober, about a month after the Marquis Tseng, Tseng Kwofan's eldest son, set out from Pekin to take the place of Kwo Sungtao as Minister in Londonand Paris. Chung How reached St. Petersburg in the early part of thefollowing year, and the discussion of the various points in question, protracted by the removal of the court to Livadia, occupied the whole ofthe summer months. At last it was announced that a treaty had been signedat Livadia, by which Russia surrendered the Kuldja valley, but retainedthat of the Tekes, which left in her hands the command of the passesthrough the Tian Shan range into Kashgar. Chung How knew nothing aboutfrontiers or military precautions, but he thought a great deal aboutmoney. He fought the question of an indemnity with ability, and got itfixed at five million roubles, or little more than half that at which itwas placed by the later treaty. There was never any reason to suppose thatthe Chinese government would accept the partial territorial concessionobtained by Chung How. The first greeting that met Chung How on his returnrevealed the fate of his treaty. He had committed the indiscretion ofreturning without waiting for the Edict authorizing his return, and as theconsequence he had to accept suspension from all his offices, while histreaty was submitted to the tender mercies of the grand secretaries, thesix presidents of boards, the nine chief ministers of state, and themembers of the Hanlin. Three weeks later, Prince Chun was speciallyordered to join the Committee of Deliberation. On January 27 Chung How wasformally cashiered and arrested, and handed over to the Board ofPunishment for correction. The fate of the treaty itself was decided afortnight later. Chung How was then declared to have "disobeyed hisinstructions and exceeded his powers. " On March 3 an edict appeared, sentencing the unhappy envoy to "decapitation after incarceration. " Thissentence was not carried out, and the reprieve of the unlucky envoy wasdue to Queen Victoria's expression of a hope that the Chinese governmentwould spare his life. 

At the same time that the Chinese refused their ratification to ChungHow's treaty, they expressed their desire for another pacific settlement, which would give them more complete satisfaction. The Marquis Tseng wasaccordingly instructed to take up the thread of negotiation, and toproceed to the Russian capital as Embassador and Minister Plenipotentiary. Some delay ensued, as it was held to be doubtful whether Russia wouldconsent to the reopening of the question. But owing to the cautious andwell-timed approaches of the Marquis Tseng, the St. Petersburg ForeignOffice acquiesced in the recommencement of negotiations, and, after sixmonths' discussion, accepted the principle of the almost unqualifiedterritorial concession for which the Chinese had stood firm. On February12, 1881, these views were embodied in a treaty, signed at St. Petersburg, and the ratification within six months showed how differently itsprovisions were regarded from those of its predecessor. With the MarquisTseng's act of successful diplomacy the final result of the long war inCentral Asia was achieved. The Chinese added Ili to Kashgar and the restof the New Dominion, which at the end of 1880 was made into a HighCommissionership and placed under the care of the dashing General LiuKintang. 

The close of the great work successfully accomplished during the twoperiods of the Regency was followed within a few weeks by thedisappearance of the most important of the personages who had carried onthe government throughout these twenty years of constant war anddiplomatic excitement. Before the Pekin world knew of her illness, itheard of the death of the Empress Dowager Tsi An, who as Hienfung'sprincipal widow had enjoyed the premier place in the government, althoughshe had never possessed a son to occupy the throne in person. In aproclamation issued in her name and possibly at her request, Tsi Andescribed the course of her malady, the solicitude of the emperor, andurged upon him the duty of his high place to put restraint upon his grief. Her death occurred on April 18, from heart disease, when she was onlyforty-five, and her funeral obsequies were as splendid as her servicesdemanded. For herself she had always been a woman of frugal habits, andthe successful course of recent Chinese history was largely due to herfirmness and resolution. Her associate in the Regency, Tsi Thsi, who hasalways been more or less of an invalid, still survives. 

The difficulty with Russia had not long been composed, when, on twoopposite sides of her extensive dominion, China was called upon to face aserious condition of affairs. In Corea, "the forbidden land" of the FarEast, events were forced by the eagerness and competition of Europeanstates to conclude treaties of commerce with that primitive kingdom, andperhaps, also, by their fear that if they delayed Russia would appropriatesome port on the Corean coast. To all who had official knowledge ofRussia's desire and plan for seizing Port Lazareff, this apprehension wasfar from chimerical, and there was reason to believe that Russia'sencroachment might compel other countries to make annexations in or roundCorea by way of precaution. Practical evidence of this was furnished bythe English occupation of Port Hamilton, and by its subsequent evacuationwhen the necessity passed away; but should the occasion again arise thekey of the situation will probably be found in the possession not of PortHamilton or Quelpart, but of the Island of Tsiusima. Recourse was had todiplomacy to avert what threatened to be a grave international danger; andalthough the result was long doubtful, and the situation sometimes full ofperil, a gratifying success was achieved in the end. In 1881 a draftcommercial treaty was drawn up, approved by the Chinese authorities andthe representatives of the principal powers at Pekin, and carried to thecourt of Seoul for acceptance and signature by the American naval officer, Commodore Schufeldt. The Corean king made no objection to the arrangement, and it was signed with the express stipulation that the ratifications ofthe treaty were to be exchanged in the following year. Thus was itharmoniously arranged at Pekin that Corea was to issue from her hermit'scall, and open her ports to trading countries under the guidance andencouragement of China. There can be no doubt that if this arrangement hadbeen carried out, the influence and the position of China in Corea wouldhave been very greatly increased and strengthened. But, unfortunately, thepolicy of Li Hung Chang--for if he did not originate, he took the mostimportant part in directing it--aroused the jealousy of Japan, which haslong asserted the right to have an equal voice with China in the controlof Corean affairs; and the government of Tokio, on hearing of theSchufeldt treaty, at once took steps not merely to obtain all the rightsto be conferred by that document, to which no one would have objected, butalso to assert its claim to control equally with China the policy of theCorean court. With that object, a Japanese fleet and army were sent to theSeoul River, and when the diplomatists returned for the ratification ofthe treaty, they found the Japanese in a strong position close to theCorean capital. The Chinese were not to be set on one side in so open amanner, and a powerful fleet of gunboats, with 5, 000 troops, were sent tothe Seoul River to uphold their rights. Under other circumstances, moreespecially as the Chinese expedition was believed to be the superior, ahostile collision must have ensued, and the war which has so often seemednear between the Chinese and Japanese would have become an accomplishedfact; but fortunately the presence of the foreign diplomatists moderatedthe ardor of both sides, and a rupture was averted. By a stroke ofjudgment the Chinese seized Tai Wang Kun, the father of the young king, and the leader of the anti-foreign party, and carried him off to Pekin, where he was kept in imprisonment for some time, until matters had settleddown in his own country. The opening of Corea to the Treaty Powers did notput an end to the old rivalry of China and Japan in that country, of whichhistory contains so many examples; and, before the Corean question wasdefinitely settled, it again became obtrusive. Such evidence as isobtainable points to the conclusion that Chinese influence was graduallygetting the better of Japanese in the country, and the attack on theJapanese legation in 1884 was a striking revelation of popular antipathyor of an elaborate anti-Japanese plot headed by the released Chineseprisoner, Tai Wang Kun. 

At the opposite point of the frontier China was brought face to face witha danger which threatened to develop into a peril of the first magnitude, and in meeting which she was undoubtedly hampered by her treaties with thegeneral body of foreign powers and her own peculiar place in the family ofnations. It is the special misfortune of China that she cannot engage inany, even a defensive, war with a maritime power without incurring thegrave risk, or indeed the practical certainty, that if such a war becontinued for any length of time she must find herself involved with everyother foreign country through the impossibility of confining the hostilityof her own subjects to one race of foreigners in particular. Inconsidering the last war with a European country in which China wasengaged, due allowance must be made for these facts, and also for theanomalous character of that contest, when active hostilities were carriedon without any formal declaration of war--a state of things which gave theFrench many advantages. Toward the end of the year 1882, the Frenchgovernment came to the decision to establish a "definite protectorate"over Tonquin. Events had for some time been shaping themselves in thisdirection, and the colonial ambition of France had long fixed on Indo-China as a field in which it might aggrandize itself with comparativelylittle risk and a wide margin of advantage. The weakness of the kingdom ofAnnam was a strong enough temptation in itself to assert the protectorateover it which France had, more or less, claimed for forty years; but whenthe reports of several French explorers came to promote the convictionthat France might acquire the control of a convenient and perhaps the bestroute into some of the richest provinces of interior China without muchdifficulty, the temptation became irresistible. French activity in Indo-China was heightened by the declaration of Garnier, Rocher, and others, that the Songcoi, or Red River, furnished the best means of communicatingwith Yunnan, and tapping the wealth of the richest mineral province inChina. The apathy of England in her relations with Burmah, whichpresented, under its arrogant and obstructive rulers, what may have seemedan insuperable obstacle to trade intercourse between India and China, afforded additional inducement to the French to act quickly; and, as theyfelt confident of their ability and power to coerce the court of Hue, theinitial difficulties of their undertaking did not seem very formidable. That undertaking was, in the first place, defined to be a protectorate ofAnnam, and, as the first step in the enterprise, the town of Hanoi, in thedelta of the Red River, and the nominal capital of Tonquin, was capturedbefore the end of the year 1882. 

Tonquin stood in very much the same relationship to China as Corea; and, although the enforcement of the suzerain tie was lax, there was no doubtthat at Pekin the opinion was held very strongly that the action of Francewas an encroachment on the rights of China. But if such was the secretopinion of the Chinese authorities, they took no immediate steps to arrestthe development of French policy in Tonquin by proclaiming it a Chinesedependency, and also their intention to defend it. It is by no meanscertain that the prompt and vigorous assertion of their rights would haveinduced the French to withdraw from their enterprise, for its difficultieswere not revealed at first; but if China is to make good her hold oversuch dependencies, she must be prepared to show that she thinks them worthfighting for. While Li Hung Chang and the other members of the Chinesegovernment were deliberating as to the course they should pursue, theFrench were acting with great vigor in Tonquin, and committing theirmilitary reputation to a task from which they could not in honor drawback. During the whole of the year 1883 they were engaged in militaryoperations with the Black Flag irregulars, a force half piratical and halfpatriotic, who represented the national army of the country. It wasbelieved at the time, but quite erroneously, that the Black Flags werepaid and incited by the Chinese. Subsequent evidence showed that theChinese authorities did not taken even an indirect part in the contestuntil a much later period. After the capture of Hanoi, the French wereconstantly engaged with the Black Flags, from whom they captured theimportant town of Sontay, which was reported to be held by imperialChinese troops, but on its capture this statement was found to be untrue. The French were in the full belief that the conquest of Tonquin would beeasily effected, when a serious reverse obliged them to realize thegravity of their task. A considerable detachment, under the command ofCaptain Henri Riviere, who was one of the pioneers of French enterprise onthe Songcoi, was surprised and defeated near Hanoi. Riviere was killed, and it became necessary to make a great effort to recover the ground thathad been lost. Fresh troops were sent from Europe, but before they arrivedthe French received another check at Phukai, which the Black Flags claimedas a victory because the French were obliged to retreat. 

Before this happened the French had taken extreme measures against theKing of Annam, of which state Tonquin is the northern province. The kingof that country, by name Tuduc, who had become submissive to the French, died in July, 1883, and after his death the Annamese, perhaps encouragedby the difficulties of the French in Tonquin, became so hostile that itwas determined to read them a severe lesson. Hue was attacked and occupieda month after the death of Tuduc, and a treaty was extracted from the newking which made him the dependent of France. When the cold season began inTonquin, the French forces largely increased, and, commanded by AdmiralCourbet, renewed operations, and on December 11 attacked the main body ofthe Black Flags at Sontay, which they had reoccupied and strengthened. They offered a desperate and well sustained resistance, and it was onlywith heavy loss that the French succeeded in carrying the town. Thevictors were somewhat recompensed for their hardships and loss by themagnitude of the spoil, which included a large sum of money. Desultoryfighting continued without intermission; Admiral Courbet was superseded byGeneral Millot, who determined to signalize his assumption of the commandby attacking Bacuinh, which the Black Flags made their headquarters afterthe loss of Sontay. On March 8, he attacked this place at the head of12, 000 men, but so formidable were its defenses that he would not risk anattack in front, and by a circuitous march of four days he gained theflank of the position, and thus taken at a disadvantage the Black Flagsabandoned their formidable lines, and retreated without much loss, leavingtheir artillery, including some Krupp guns, in the hands of the victors. At this stage of the question diplomacy intervened, and on May 11 a treatyof peace was signed by Commander Founder, during the ministry of M. JulesFerry, with the Chinese government. One of the principal stipulations ofthis treaty was that the French should be allowed to occupy Langson andother places in Tonquin. When the French commander sent a force underColonel Dugenne to occupy Langson it was opposed in the Bacle defile andrepulsed with some loss. The Chinese exonerated themselves from allresponsibility by declaring that the French advance was premature, becauseno date was fixed by the Fournier Convention, and because there had notbeen time to transmit the necessary orders. On the other hand, M. Fournierdeclared on his honor that the dates in his draft were named in theoriginal convention. The French government at once demanded an apology, and an indemnity fixed by M. Jules Ferry, in a moment of mentalexcitement, at the ridiculous figure of $50, 000, 000. An apology wasoffered, but such an indemnity was refused, and eventually France obtainedone of only $800, 000. 

After the Bacle affair hostilities were at once resumed, and for the firsttime the French carried them on not only against the Black Flags, butagainst the Chinese. M. Jules Ferry did not, however, make any formaldeclaration of war against China, and he thus gained an advantage ofposition for his attack on the Chinese which it was not creditable toFrench chivalry to have asserted. The most striking instance of thisoccurred at Foochow, where the French fleet, as representing a friendlypower, was at anchor above the formidable defenses of the Min River. Inaccordance with instructions telegraphed to him, the French admiralattacked those places in reverse and destroyed the forts on the Minwithout much difficulty or loss, thanks exclusively to his having beenallowed past them as a friend. The French also endeavored to derive allpossible advantage from there being no formal declaration of war, and tomake use of Hongkong as a base for their fleet against China. But thisunfairness could not be tolerated, and the British minister at Pekin, where Sir Harry Parkes had in the autumn of 1883 succeeded Sir ThomasWade, issued a proclamation that the hostilities between France and Chinawere tantamount to a state of war, and that the laws of neutrality must bestrictly observed. The French resented this step, and showed someinclination to retaliate by instituting a right to search for rice, butfortunately this pretension was not pushed to extremities, and the war wasclosed before it could produce any serious consequences. The Frenchdevoted much of their attention to an attack on the Chinese possessions inFormosa, and the occupation of Kelung; a fort in the northern part of thatisland was captured, but the subsequent success of the French was small. The Chinese displayed great energy and resource in forming defensesagainst any advance inland from Kelung or Tamsui, and the Frenchgovernment was brought to face the fact that there was nothing to begained by carrying on these desultory operations, and that unless theywere prepared to send a large expedition, it was computed of not less than50, 000 men, to attack Pekin, there was no alternative to coming to termswith China. How strong this conviction had become may be gathered from thefact that the compulsory retreat, in March, 1885, of the French frombefore Langson, where some of the Chinese regular troops were drawn upwith a large force of Black and Yellow Flags--the latter of whom were inChinese pay--did not imperil the negotiations which were then far advancedtoward completion. On June 9 of the same year a treaty of peace was signedby M. Patenotre and Li Hung Chang which gave France nothing more than theFournier Convention. 

The military lessons of this war must be pronounced inconclusive, for thenew forces which China had organized since the Pekin campaign were neverfully engaged, and the struggle ended before the regular regiments sent toLangson had any opportunity of showing their quality. But the impressionconveyed by the fighting in Formosa and the northern districts of Tonquinwas that China had made considerable progress in the military art, andthat she possessed the nucleus of an army that might become formidable. But while the soldiers had made no inconsiderable improvement, as muchcould not be said of the officers, and among the commanders there seemedno grasp of the situation, and a complete inability to conduct a campaign. Probably these deficiencies will long remain the really weak spot in theChinese war organization, and although they have men who will fight well, the only capacity their commanders showed in Tonquin and Formosa was inselecting strong positions and in fortifying them with consummate art. Butas the strongest position can be turned and avoided, and as the Chinese, like all Asiatics, become demoralized when their rear is threatened, itcannot be denied that, considerable progress as the Chinese have made inthe military art, they have not yet mastered some of its rudiments. Allthat can be said is that the war between France and China was calculatedto teach the advisability of caution in fixing a quarrel upon China. Undersome special difficulties from the character of the war and with dividedcouncils at Pekin, the Chinese still gave a very good account ofthemselves against one of the greatest powers of Europe. 

During the progress of this struggle a coup d'etat was effected at Pekinof which at the time it was impossible to measure the whole significance. In July, 1884, the Chinese world was startled by the sudden fall anddisgrace of Prince Kung, who had been the most powerful man in China sincethe Treaty of Pekin. A decree of the empress-regent appeared dismissinghim from all his posts and consigning him to an obscurity from which afternine years he has not yet succeeded in emerging. The causes of his fallare not clear, but they were probably of several distinct kinds. While hewas the leader of the peace party and the advocate of a prompt arrangementwith France, he was also an opponent of Prince Chun's desire to have ashare in the practical administration of the state, or, at least, anobstacle in the way of its realization. Prince Chun, who was a man of animperious will, and who, on the death of the Eastern Empress, became themost important personage in the palace and supreme council of the empire, was undoubtedly the leader of the attack on Prince Kung, and the immediatecause of his downfall. Prince Kung, who was an amiable and wellintentioned man rather than an able statesman, yielded without resistance, and indeed he had no alternative, for he had no following at Pekin, andhis influence was very slight except among Europeans. Prince Chun thencame to the front, taking an active and prominent part in the government, making himself president of a new board of national defense and taking upthe command of the Pekin Field Force, a specially trained body of troopsfor the defense of the capital He retained possession of these posts afterhis son assumed the government in person, notwithstanding the lawforbidding a father serving under his son, which has already been cited, and he remained the real controller of Chinese policy until his sudden andunexpected death in the first days of 1891. Some months earlier, in April, 1890, China had suffered a great loss in the Marquis Tseng, whosediplomatic experience and knowledge of Europe might have rendered hiscountry infinite service in the future. He was the chosen colleague ofPrince Chun, and he is said to have gained the ear of his young sovereign. While willing to admit the superiority of European inventions, he was alsoan implicit believer in China's destiny and in her firmly holding herplace among the greatest powers of the world. In December, 1890, also diedTseng Kwo Tsiuen, uncle of the marquis, and a man who had taken aprominent and honorable part in the suppression of the Taeping Rebellion. 

In 1885 an important and delicate negotiation between England and Chinawas brought to a successful issue by the joint efforts of Lord Salisburyand the Marquis Tseng. The levy of the lekin or barrier tax on opium hadled to many exactions in the interior which were injurious to the foreigntrade and also to the Chinese government, which obtained only the customsduty raised in the port. After the subject had been thoroughly discussedin all its bearings a convention was signed in London, on July 19, 1885, by which the lekin was fixed at eighty taels a chest, in addition to thecustoms due of thirty taels, and also that the whole of this sum should bepaid in the treaty port before the opium was taken out of bond. Thisarrangement was greatly to the advantage of the Chinese government, whichcame into possession of a large revenue that had previously been fritteredaway in the provinces, and much of which had gone into the pockets of themandarins. This subject affords the most appropriate place for callingattention to the conspicuous services rendered, as Director-general ofChinese Customs during more than thirty years, by Sir Robert Hart, who, onthe premature death of Sir Harry Parkes, was appointed British Minister atPekin, which post, for weighty reasons, he almost immediately resigned. Itis impossible to measure the consequences and important effect of hisconduct and personal influence upon the policy and opinion of China, whilehis work in the interests of that country has been both striking andpalpable. To his efforts the central government mainly owes its large andincreasing cash revenue, and when some candid Chinese historian sums upthe work done for his country by foreigners, he will admit that, whatGordon did in war and Macartney in diplomacy, Hart accomplished in thoserevenue departments which are an essential element of strength, and wemust hope that this truthful chronicler will also not forget to recordthat all these loyal servants were English, members of a race which, afterfighting China fairly, frankly held out the hand of friendship andalliance. In connection with this subject it may be noted that the emperorissued an edict in 1890 formally legalizing the cultivation of opium, which, although practically carried on, was nominally illegal. Animmediate consequence of this step was a great increase in the area undercultivation, particularly in Manchuria, and so great is the production ofnative opium now becoming that that of India may yet be driven from thefield as a practical revenge for the loss inflicted on China by thecompetition of Indian tea. But at all events these measures debar Chinafrom ever again posing as an injured party in the matter of the opiumtraffic. She has very rightly determined to make the best of the situationand to derive all the profit she can by taxing an article in such verygeneral use and consumption; but there is an end to all representationslike those made by prominent officials from Commissioner Lin to PrinceKung and Li Hung Chang, that the opium traffic was iniquitous, andconstituted the sole cause of disagreement between China and England. 

During these years the young Emperor Kwangsu was growing up. In February, 1887, in which month falls the Chinese New Year, it was announced that hismarriage was postponed in consequence of his delicate health, and it wasnot until the new year of 1889, when Kwangsu was well advanced in hiseighteenth year, that he was married to Yeh-ho-na-la, daughter of a Manchugeneral named Knei Hsiang, who had been specially selected for this greathonor out of many hundred candidates. The marriage was celebrated with theusual state, and more than $5, 000, 000 is said to have been expended on theattendant ceremonies. At the same time the empress-regent issued herfarewell edict and passed into retirement, but there is reason to believethat she continued to exercise no inconsiderable influence over the youngemperor. 

The marriage and assumption of governing power by the Emperor Kwangsubrought to the front the very important question of the right of audienceby the foreign ministers resident at Pekin. This privilege had beenconceded by China at the time of the Tientsin massacre, and it had beenput into force on one occasion during the brief reign of Tungche. The timehad again arrived for giving it effect, and, after long discussions as tothe place of audience and the forms to be observed, Kwangsu issued inDecember, 1890, an edict appointing a day soon after the commencement ofthe Chinese New Year for the audience, and also arranging that it shouldbe repeated annually on the same date. In March, 1891, Kwangsu gave hisfirst reception to the foreign ministers, but after it was over somecriticism and dissatisfaction were aroused by the fact that the ceremonyhad been held in the Tse Kung Ko, or Hall of Tributary Nations. As thiswas the first occasion on which Europeans saw the young emperor, the factthat he made a favorable impression on them is not without interest, andthe following personal description of the master of so many millions maywell be quoted. "Whatever the impression 'the Barbarians' made on him theidea which they carried away of the Emperor Kwangsu was pleasing andalmost pathetic. His air is one of exceeding intelligence and gentleness, somewhat frightened and melancholy looking. His face is pale, and thoughit is distinguished by refinement and quiet dignity it has none of theforce of his martial ancestors, nothing commanding or imperial, but isaltogether mild, delicate, sad and kind. He is essentially Manchu infeatures, his skin is strangely pallid in hue, which is, no doubt, accounted for by the confinement of his life inside these forbidding wallsand the absence of the ordinary pleasures and pursuits of youth, with theconstant discharge of onerous, complicated and difficult duties of statewhich, it must be remembered, are, according to imperial Chineseetiquette, mostly transacted between the hours of two and six in themorning. His face is oval shaped with a very long narrow chin and asensitive mouth with thin, nervous lips; his nose is well shaped andstraight, his eyebrows regular and very arched, while the eyes areunusually large and sorrowful in expression. The forehead is well shapedand broad, and the head is large beyond the average. "

Owing to the dissatisfaction felt at the place of audience, which seemedto put the Treaty Powers on the same footing as tributary states, theforeign ministers have endeavored to force from the Tsungli Yamen theformal admission that a more appropriate part of the imperial city shouldbe assigned for the ceremony; but as the powers themselves were notdisposed to lay too much stress on this point, no definite concession hasyet been made, and the Chinese ministers have held out against thepressure of some of the foreign representatives. But, although no concisealteration has been made in the place of audience, the question has beenpractically settled by a courteous concession to the new English minister, Mr. O'Conor, who succeeded Sir John Walsham in 1892, and it is gratifyingto feel that this advantage was gained more by tact than by coercion. WhenMr. O'Conor wished to present his credentials to the emperor, it wasarranged that the emperor should receive him in the Cheng Kuan TienPalace, which is part of the imperial residence of Peace and Plenty withinthe Forbidden City. The British representative, accompanied by hissecretaries and suite in accordance with arrangement, proceeded to thispalace on December 13, 1892, and was received in a specially honorable wayat the principal or imperial entrance by the officials of the court. Sucha mark of distinction was considered quite unique in the annals of foreigndiplomacy in China, and has since been a standing grievance with the otherministers at Pekin. It was noticed by those present that the emperor tooka much greater interest in the ceremony than on previous occasions, andthat he showed special attention as Prince Ching, the President of theYamen, translated the letter from Queen Victoria. This audience, whichlasted a considerable time, was certainly the most satisfactory andencouraging yet held with the Emperor Kwangsu by any foreign envoy, and italso afforded opportunity of confirming the favorable impression which theintelligence and dignified demeanor of the Emperor Kwangsu have made onall who have had the honor of coming into his presence. One incident inthe progress of the audience question deserves notice, and that was theemperor's refusal, in 1891, to receive Mr. Blair, the United StatesMinister, in consequence of the hostile legislation of that countryagainst China. The anti-foreign outbreak along the Yangtsekiang, in thesummer of 1891, was an unpleasant incident, from which at one time itlooked as if serious consequences might follow; but the ebullitionfortunately passed away without an international crisis, and it may behoped that the improved means of exercising diplomatic pressure at Pekinwill render these attacks less frequent, and their settlement and redressmore rapid. 

During the last ten years events in Central Asia and Burmah have drawnEngland and China much more closely together, and have laid the basis ofwhat it must be hoped will prove a firm and durable alliance. If suspicionwas laid aside and candid relations established on the frontier, it shouldnot be difficult to maintain an excellent understanding with China, and atthe present moment every difficulty has been smoothed over with theexception of that on the Burmese frontier. It is to be hoped that not lesssuccess will be obtained in this quarter than in Sikhim and Hunza, and Mr. O'Conor's convention of Pekin in July, 1886, recognizing China's right toreceive a tribute mission from Burmah once in ten years went far to provethe extent of concession England would make to China. It is divulging whatcannot long be kept secret, to explain the circumstances under which Mr. O'Conor's convention was signed, and the unusual concession made by aBritish government of admitting its liability to send a tribute mission. The Chefoo Convention, closing the Yunnan incident, contained a promisefrom the Chinese government to allow an English mission to pass throughTibet. Years passed without any attempt to give effect to thisstipulation, but at last, in 1884, Mr. Colman Macaulay, a member of theIndian Civil Service, obtained the assent of his government to requestingthe permission of the Chinese government to visit Lhasa. He went to Pekinand he came to London, and he obtained the necessary permission and theformal passport of the Tsungli Yamen; and there is no doubt that if he hadset off for Tibet with a small party, he would have been honorablyreceived and passed safely through Tibet to India. On the other hand thereis no doubt that such a visit would have presented no feature of specialor striking importance. It would have been an interesting individualexperience, but scarcely an international landmark, This modest characterfor his long-cherished project did not suit Mr. Macaulay, and unmindful ofthe adage that there may be a slip betwixt the cup and the lip, he notmerely delayed the execution of his visit, but he made ostentatiouspreparations for an elaborate mission, and he engaged many persons withscientific qualifications to accompany him, with the view of examining themineral resources of Tibet. The Chinese themselves did not like, and hadnever contemplated, such a mission, but their dissatisfaction was slightin comparison with the storm it raised in Tibet; and the Chinesegovernment was thus brought face to face with a position in which it musteither employ its military power to coerce the Tibetans, who madepreparations to oppose the Macaulay mission by force of arms, or acquiescein the Tibetans ignoring its official passports, and thus provoke aserious complication with this country. Such was the position of theTibetan question when Burmah was annexed in January, 1886, andnegotiations followed with China for the adjustment of her claims in thecountry. Negotiations were carried on, in the first place by LordSalisbury, and in the second by Lord Rosebery, with the Chinese ministerin London, and the draft of more than one convention was prepared. Amongsuch contemplated arrangements were the dispatch of a mission from Burmahto China, and of a return one from China; the appointment of the HeadPriest of Mandalay as the person to send the mission, thus making it apurely native matter, outside the participation of the British government;and the concession of material advantages on the Irrawaddy and in the Shancountry, as the equivalent for the surrender of the tribute. It isprobable that one of these three arrangements would have been carried out, but that, on certain points being referred to Pekin, the knowledge came tothe ears of the British government that if the Tibetan mission werewithdrawn, the Chinese would be content with the formal admission of theirclaim to receive the tribute mission from Burmah in accordance withestablished usage. As both governments wanted a speedy settlement of thequestion, the Chinese, with the view of allaying the rising agitation inTibet and getting rid of a troublesome question, and the English not lessanxious to have the claims of China in Burmah defined in diplomaticlanguage, the convention which bears Mr. O'Conor's name was drawn up andsigned with quite remarkable dispatch. For the abandonment of the Macaulaymission, and the recognition of their right to receive the tribute missionfrom Burmah, the authorities at Pekin were quite, at the moment, willingto forego material claims such as a port on the Irrawaddy. Diplomacy hasnot yet said the last word on this matter, and the exact frontier betweenBurmah and China has still to be delimited, but the fixing of a definitedate for the dispatch of the first mission from Mandalay to Pekin, whichis timed to set out in January, 1894, is in itself of hopeful augury forthe settlement of all difficulties. When this matter is composed therewill be no cloud in the sky of Anglo-Chinese relations, and that such anauspicious result will be obtained is not open to serious doubt. The mostgratifying fact in the history of China during the last ten years is theincreasing sympathy and tacit understanding between the two great empiresof England and China in Asia, which must in time constitute an effectivealliance against any common danger in that continent, and the aggressivepolicy of Russia. 

THE WAR WITH JAPAN AND SUBSEQUENT EVENTS

We have seen that, up to 1892, it had been customary to receive therepresentatives of foreign powers in the Tse Kung Ko, or Hall of TributaryNations. Naturally, much dissatisfaction was provoked by the selection ofa place of audience which seemed to put the treaty powers on the samefooting as tributary states, and, accordingly, the foreign ministersundertook to exact from the Tsungli Yamen, or Board for Foreign Affairs, the designation of a more suitable locality in the imperial city for theannual ceremony. The proposed innovation was resisted for some time; butwhen Sir Nicolas O'Conor was appointed British Minister at Pekin, anexception was made in his favor, and a place of superior importance to theHall of Tributary Nations was chosen for the presentation of hiscredentials. The Emperor Kwangsu agreed to receive him in the Cheng KuanTien Palace, or pavilion which forms part of the imperial residence ofPeace and Plenty within the Forbidden City. In pursuance of thisarrangement, the British representative, attended by his suite, proceededto this pavilion on December 13, 1892, and was received at the principalentrance by the high court officials. It was also noted that the emperortook a greater interest in the ceremony than on preceding occasions, andfollowed with attention the reading of Queen Victoria's letter, by PrinceChing, then president of the Tsungli Yamen. Thenceforth, there wasobserved with every year a decided improvement in the mode of receivingforeign diplomatists, and, eventually, the imperial audience wassupplemented with an annual dinner given by the Board for Foreign Affairs. Through the personal reception accorded by the Emperor of China to PrinceHenry of Prussia on May 15, 1898, the audience question was finallysettled in favor of the right of foreign potentates to rank on an equalitywith the so-called Son of Heaven. 

We come now to the most memorable event in the modern history of Chinasince the Taeping Rebellion; to wit, the war with Japan. In order tocomprehend, however, the causes of this contest between the two chiefraces of the Far East, it is necessary to review the development of theCorean question which gave rise to it. There seems to be no doubt thatJapan derived its first civilizing settlers, and most of its arts andindustries, from the Corean peninsula. It is certain that, for centuries, the intercourse between the two countries was very close, and that morethan one attempt was made by Japanese rulers to subjugate Corea. Thelatest and most strenuous endeavor to that end was made near the end ofthe sixteenth century, and, although it resulted in a temporary occupationof the peninsula, the Japanese troops were eventually withdrawn, and Corearesumed its former status of a kingdom tributary to the Celestial Empire. Thenceforth, for almost three centuries, Corea and Tonquin bore, intheory, precisely the same relation to the Middle Kingdom. In eachinstance, the practical question was whether China was strong enough tomake good her nominal rights. The outcome of her resistance to Frenchaggression in Tonquin had shown that there, at least, she had no suchpower. But, in the subsequent ten years, efforts had been made to organizean efficient army and navy, and the belief was entertained at Pekin thatChina was at all events strong enough to uphold her claims in Corea, whichwas, geographically and strategically, of far more importance to theMiddle Kingdom than was Tonquin. Yet, while it was evident that Coreawould not be renounced without a struggle, the Pekin authorities, for someyears, met the Japanese encroachments with a weak and vacillating policy. As early as 1876, the Mikado's advisers entered on a course whichobviously aimed at the attainment of commercial, if not, also, political, ascendency in the Hermit Kingdom. An outrage having been committed uponsome of her sailors, Japan obtained, by way of reparation from the courtof Seoul, the opening of the port of Fushan to her trade. Four yearslater, Chemulpo, the port of Seoul, was also opened. These forward stepson the part of the Japanese aroused the Chinese to activity, and, in 1881, a draft commercial treaty was prepared by the Chinese authorities incouncil with the representatives of the principal powers at Pekin, andsent to Seoul, where it was accepted. The Japanese alleged, however, thatthey possessed a historical right to an equal voice with China in theCorean peninsula, and that, consequently, the treaty to which we have justreferred required their ratification. To sustain this claim, the Japaneseallied themselves with the Progressive party in Corea, a move whichcompelled the Chinese to lean upon the Reactionists, who were opposed tothe concessions lately made to foreigners, and who, as events were toshow, were preponderant in the Hermit Kingdom. In June, 1882, the CoreanReactionists attacked the Japanese Legation at Seoul, murdered somemembers of it, and compelled the survivors to flee to the seacoast. Thereupon, the Mikado sent some troops to exact reparation, and theChinese, on their part, dispatched a force to restore order. A compromisewas brought about, and, for two years, Japanese and Chinese soldiersremained encamped beside one another under the walls of the Coreancapital. In December, 1884, however, a second collision occurred betweenthe Japanese and the Coreans, the latter being, this time, assisted by theChinese. The Mikado's subjects were again compelled to take to flight. TheTokio government now resolved upon firm measures, and, while it exactedcompensation from the Coreans, it sent Count Ito Hirobumi to China tobring about an accommodation with the Pekin government. At thatconjuncture, there is no doubt that China possessed advantages in theCorean peninsula that were lacking to the Japanese. Not only was shepopular with the majority of the people, but the treaty powers were moredisposed to act through her than through Japan in order to secure thegeneral extension of trade with the Hermit Kingdom. Those advantages, nevertheless, were thrown away by an agreement which the shortsightedadvisers of the Chinese emperor were persuaded to accept. Li Hung Changwas appointed the Chinese Plenipotentiary to negotiate with Count Ito, and, after a short conference, a convention was signed at Tientsin onApril 18, 1885. The provisions of the convention were, first, that bothcountries should withdraw their troops from Corea; secondly, that no moreofficers should be sent by either country to drill the Corean army; and, thirdly, that if, at any future time, either of the two countries shouldsend troops to Corea, it must inform the other. It is manifest that, bythis agreement, China, practically, acquiesced in Japan's assertion of anequal right to control the Hermit Kingdom. Thenceforth, it was impossibleto speak of Corea as being a vassal state of the Celestial Empire. 

For some nine years, nevertheless, after the conclusion of the Tientsinagreement, there were no dangerous disturbances in the Peninsular Kingdom. In the early part of 1894, however, Kim-Ok-Kiun, a reformer, and theleader of the Corean uprising in 1884, was assassinated at Shanghai, andit subsequently transpired that the murder had been committed by the orderof the Corean authorities. It is certain that honors and rewards werebestowed upon the assassin on his return to the Hermit Kingdom, while thebody of his victim was drawn and quartered as that of a traitor. Just atthis juncture, the Tonghaks, a body of religious reformers, having failedto obtain certain concessions, revolted, and, by the end of May, achievedso much success over the Corean forces that the Seoul government becamealarmed, and sent to China for assistance. In response to the request, some two thousand Chinese troops were disembarked on June 10 at Asan, aseaport some distance south of the Corean capital, and a few Chinese men-of-war were dispatched to the coast of the peninsula. Formal notice ofthese proceedings was given to Japan under the terms of the TientsinConvention. Thereupon, the Mikado's government decided to undertake a likeinterposition, and acted with so much energy that, within forty-eighthours after the arrival of the Chinese at Asan, they had placed at Seoul amuch superior force. They were thus able to dominate the court, althoughit was in entire sympathy with China. The Pekin government now made themistake of reviving its pretensions to regard the Hermit Kingdom as avassal state. These pretensions Japan refused to tolerate, on the ground, first, that she had never admitted them, and, secondly, that the TientsinConvention recognized an equality of rights in the two states. TheJapanese also called attention to the misrule that prevailed in Corea, andproposed that the Chinese should join them in carrying out needfulreforms. To this proposal, China could not accede, being hampered by heralliance with the reactionary party at Seoul; consequently, Japanundertook the execution of the task alone. As a first step in thatdirection, the Japanese got possession of the person of the Corean ruler, and compelled him to act as the instrument of his captors. The initialdocument which he was constrained to sign was an order that the Chinesetroops, who had come at his invitation, should leave the country. Theseizure of the king's person, which occurred on July 23, 1894, wasfollowed by two successful acts of aggression. On the 25th, the Japanesesquadron attacked the Chinese transport "Kowshing, " conveying freshsoldiers to Asan, and its escort of warships. In the engagement, oneChinese man-of-war was sunk, one was disabled, and 1, 200 soldiers weredestroyed on the "Kowshing, " which was torpedoed. On July 29, the Japanesegeneral Oshima, at the head of a small force, made a night attack upon theChinese fortified camp at Song Hwang, and carried the place with a loss totheir opponents of 500 killed and wounded. These preliminary encounterswere followed by a declaration of war on August 1, 1894. During theensuing six weeks, Japan poured her troops into the peninsula, while theChinese fleet, instead of harassing the enemy, remained in the harbors ofPort Arthur and Wei-hai-Wei. On September 15, the Japanese army in Coreawas strong enough to detach a corps of 14, 000 men to attack the Chineseposition at Pingyang, a town on the northern banks of the Paidong River. The passage of the river was difficult, and the Chinese might haveoverwhelmed the Japanese when crossing it, but they took no measures tothis end, and the battle began at sunrise on the day just named. Therewere five forts to be captured, and some of them were vigorously defended, nor was it until night set in that the garrison finally determined uponevacuating the place. In the battle itself and the retreat, over 2, 000Chinese were killed, to say nothing of the wounded and the prisoners. TheJapanese themselves lost 162 killed, 438 wounded and 33 missing, and thereseems to be no reason to doubt that, had all the Chinese officers beencapable of the valor displayed by the general Tso-pao-kuei, the Japanesewould have been repulsed. As it was, the battle proved decisive, for not aChinaman paused until he had reached the other side of the Yalu River, which forms the northwest boundary of Corea. 

On the very day of the fight at Pingyang, a number of Chinese war vessels, under the command of Admiral Ting, were transporting troops to the mouthof the Yalu, where the Chinese were assembling a second army. On itsreturn from this task, it was encountered, September 17, off tha island ofHaiyang, by a Japanese squadron under Admiral Ito. Ostensibly, the twofleets were evenly matched. They each numbered ten fighting vessels, and, if two of the Chinese ships possessed a more powerful armament, theJapanese were superior in steam power. It was to quickness in maneuveringthat the Japanese admiral trusted for victory, and his first attackconsisted mainly in circling around the Chinese squadron. He was careful, also, to reserve his fire until only two miles separated him from hisadversaries. After a duel with the Japanese "Matsushima, " the Chineseflagship "Tingyuen" was severely damaged, and only saved from sinking bythe intervention of her sister ship, the "Chenyuen. " These two ironclads, together with the torpedo boats, succeeded in making their escape, butfive of the Chinese vessels were sunk or destroyed. In men, the Chineselost 700 killed or drowned and 300 wounded, while the Japanese lost 115killed and 150 wounded. The result of this victory was that the Chinesenever afterward attempted to dispute the control of the sea, and theirwater communication with the Yalu was effectually cut off. 

After the battle of Pingyang, the Japanese army halted, and it was notuntil after they received re-enforcements under Marshal Yamagata that theyresumed their forward movement. On October 10 their advance guard reachedthe Yalu, a river broad and difficult of passage, behind which wasstationed a considerable Chinese army, which, however, after a nominalresistance, soon retreated. In the abandoned positions on the northernbank of the Yalu, the Japanese captured a vast quantity of material ofwar, including 74 cannons, over 4, 000 rifles, and more than 4, 000, 000rounds of ammunition. It was supposed that the retreating Chinese forcewould make a stand at Feng Hwang, but, on reaching that town, October 30, the Japanese found it evacuated, and were informed that the Chinesesoldiers had dispersed. 

While Marshal Yamagata was beginning the invasion of China from thedirection of Corea, another Japanese army, under Marshal Oyama, had landedon the Liau-Tung, or Regent's Sword Peninsula, with the aim of capturingthe Chinese naval station of Port Arthur. Even in Chinese hands, this wasa redoubtable stronghold. It had 300 guns in position, and the garrisonnumbered some 10, 000 men, while the attacking force did not exceed 13, 000, although we should bear in mind that it was aided by the Japanese fleet. After landing at the mouth of the Huhua-Yuan River, about 100 miles northof Port Arthur, the Japanese advanced south, and took the fortified cityof Chinchow, without incurring any loss. The next day they reachedTalienwan, where the Chinese had five heavily armed batteries, and aconsiderable garrison, which, however, on the approach of the enemy, abandoned the post without firing a shot. In the forts at this point werefound over 120 cannons, two and a half million rounds of ammunition forthe artillery and nearly 34, 000, 000 rifle cartridges. On November 20, 1894, the Japanese army was drawn up in front of Port Arthur, and thefleet prepared to co-operate in the action. The attack began in themorning of November 22, and, although, in one quarter, the Chinese offeredsturdy resistance, yet, by the end of the day, with the loss of no morethan 18 men killed and 250 wounded, the Japanese were in possession of thestrongest position in China, a naval fortress and arsenal on which$30, 000, 000 had been spent. 

Throughout December the force under Marshal Yamagata pushed forward intoManchuria, but met there with more vigorous opposition than it hadhitherto encountered. In the fight at Kangwasai, the Japanese lost 400, and, in the capture of the town of Kaiting, 300 killed and wounded. Aboutthe middle of January, 1895, the Japanese began operations against Wei-hai-Wei, the naval stronghold on the northern coast of Shangtung, in whichthe remnant of China's fleet had taken refuge. Although not so strong asPort Arthur, this harbor is considered one of the keys to the Gulf ofPechihli. On January 20 the Japanese troops began to land at Yungchang, alittle west of the point to be attacked, and, on the 26th, they appearedat the gates of Wei-hai-Wei. About half of the beleaguered garrisonconsisted of 4, 000 sailors from the fleet, under Admiral Ting, who was toshow himself a leader of courage and energy. The assault on the land sideof Wei-hai-Wei began on January 29, and continued throughout that and thefollowing day. At certain points, where Admiral Ting's squadron was ableto act with effect, the Japanese were repulsed, but, eventually, the wholeof the land garrison fled panic-stricken to Chefoo. Even then Ting'ssquadron and the island force continued to resist, and it was not untilFebruary 9, when almost all the vessels had been taken or sunk, that heconsented to capitulate, after receiving a telegram from Li Hung Chang tothe effect that no help could be given him. No sooner were the terms ofcapitulation agreed upon than Admiral Ting retired to his cabin and took afatal dose of opium. He had held out for three weeks, whereas Port Arthurhad been lost in a day. The war continued for a few weeks longer, theJapanese pursuing their advance in Manchuria, and capturing the two placeswhich are collectively called Newchang, thus threatening Pekin. They nowpossessed an army of 100, 000 men ready to advance upon the Chinesecapital. As there was no reason to suppose that Pekin could besuccessfully defended, the necessity of concluding peace as promptly aspossible was recognized. To that end it was needful to appoint aplenipotentiary whose name would convince the Japanese government that theChinese were in earnest in their overtures. The only two men who possessedthe requisite qualifications were Prince Kung and Li Hung Chang. Theformer, however, being a prince of the imperial family, and the uncle ofthe reigning emperor, Kwangsu, could not be induced to submit to thehumiliation of proceeding to Japan and suing for peace. The only possibleselection, therefore, was Li Hung Chang, who was, accordingly, appointedplenipotentiary. He reached Shimonoseki on March 20, 1895, and, four daysafter his arrival, the success of his mission was greatly promoted by theattempt of a fanatic to assassinate him during his conference with CountIto, the Japanese representative. The wound was not very serious, but theoutrage caused a unanimous expression of sympathy and regret on the partof the Japanese people, and the Mikado sent his own physician to attendthe wounded minister. To attest their sorrow for this incident, theJapanese at once granted an armistice, and the terms of peace which theyat first proposed were materially mitigated. On April 17 the Treaty ofShimonoseki was signed, and, on May 8, the ratifications were exchanged atChefoo. The terms of the original treaty were these: First, China was tosurrender Formosa and the Pescadores Islands and the southern part of theShingking province, including the Liau-Tung, or Regent's Sword Peninsula, and of course, also, the naval fortress of Port Arthur. China was likewiseto pay in eight installments a money indemnity of 200, 000, 000 Kupingtaels, or, say, $160, 000, 000. She was also to grant certain commercialconcessions, including the admission of ships under the Japanese flag tothe Chinese lakes and rivers, and the appointment of consuls. In view ofthe completeness of Japan's triumph, these conditions could not beconsidered onerous, but they, undoubtedly, disturbed the balance of powerin the Far East, and, had they been permitted to stand, would haveeffectually thwarted Russia's plan of advancing southward, and ofobtaining an ice-free port. The Czar's government, accordingly, determinedto interpose, and, having secured the co-operation of its French ally, andalso of Germany, it presented to the Mikado, in the name of the threepowers, a request that he should waive that part of the Shimonoseki Treatywhich provided for the surrender of the Liau-Tung Peninsula. It wasproposed that, in return for the renunciation of this territory on theChinese mainland, the pecuniary indemnity should be increased by$30, 000, 000, and that Wei-hai-Wei should be retained until the whole sumshould have been paid. The demand was, obviously, one that could not berejected without war against the three interposing powers, and the oddswere too great for Japan to face without the assistance of Great Britain, which Lord Rosebery, then prime minister, did not see fit to offer. TheMikado, accordingly, submitted to the loss of the best part of the fruitsof victory, retaining only Formosa and the Pescadores, the value of whichis, as yet, undetermined; with the money indemnity, however, Japan hasbeen enabled so greatly to strengthen her fleet that, when all the vesselsbuilding for her are completed, she will take rank as a naval power of thefirst class in the Pacific. 

For some time after the revision of the Shimonoseki Treaty, the Chineseseem to have imagined that the Czar had intervened from disinterestedmotives, but Count Cassini, the Russian minister at Pekin, eventually madeit clear that the interposition would not be gratuitous. In what form thepayment for Russia's services should be made was, for some time, thesubject of debate, but, before Li Hung Chang left China in the spring of1896, as a special embassador to attend the coronation of Nicholas II. AtMoscow, the heads of a convention had been drawn up, and, on Li's arrivalin Russia, he signed an agreement which embodied the concessions to bemade to the Czar in return for his services. This secret treaty gaveRussia the control of the Liau-Tung Peninsula, which she had ostensiblysaved, at the cost to China of $30, 000, 000, and the St. Petersburggovernment was also to be allowed to build a branch of the Trans-SiberianRailway through Manchuria to Talienwan and Port Arthur. A period ofeighteen months elapsed before the details of this momentous agreementbecame known. On the return of Li Hung Chang to Pekin, he not only failedto recover the viceroyship of Chihli, but he found his relations with theEmperor Kwangsu quite as unsatisfactory as they had been after his returnfrom Shimonoseki. He was restored, indeed, to a seat on the Tsungli Yamen, or Board of Foreign Affairs, but, for twelve months, it seemed as if, despite the support of the Empress-dowager Tsi An, his influence wouldnever revive. 

The two years that followed the Shimonoseki Treaty gave a breathing spellto China, and should have been devoted to energetic reforms in themilitary and naval administration. As a matter of fact, nothing had beenaccomplished, when, in 1897, a blow fell which brought the Middle Kingdomface to face with the prospect of immediate partition. In November of thatyear, without any preliminary notice or warning to the Pekin government, two German men-of-war entered the harbor of Kiao Chou, and ordered thecommandant to give up the place in reparation for the murder of two Germanmissionaries in the province of Shantung. Germany refused to evacuate KiaoChou unless due reparation should be made for the outrage on themissionaries, and unless, further, China would cede to her the exclusiveright to construct railways and work mines throughout the extensive andpopulous province of Shantung. This, of course, was equivalent to thedemarcation of a sphere of influence. For a time, the Pekin governmentshowed itself recalcitrant, but, in January, 1898, it consented to leaseKiao Chou to Germany for ninety-nine years, and to make the requiredadditional concession of exclusive rights in Shantung. Russia, on herpart, did not wait long after the German seizure of Kiao Chou, to putforward her claim for compensation on account of the services rendered inthe matter of the revision of the Shimonoseki Treaty. The terms of theCassini agreement were now gradually revealed. In December, 1897, the St. Petersburg government announced that the Chinese had given permission tothe Russian fleet to winter at Port Arthur; in February, 1898, Russiaadded Talienwan to Port Arthur, but essayed to disarm criticism bydeclaring that the first-named port would be opened to the ships of allthe great powers like other ports on the Chinese mainland. This promisewas subsequently qualified, and on March 27 a convention was signed atPekin giving the Russians the "usufruct" of Port Arthur and Talienwan, which, practically, meant that Russia had obtained those harborsunconditionally, and for an indefinite period. France, on her part, obtained possession of the port of Kwangchowfoo, which is the best outletto the sea for the trade of the southern province of Kwangsi; she alsosecured a promise that the island of Hainan should not be ceded to anyother power; and, finally, she gained a recognition of her claim, firstadvanced in 1895, to a prior right to control the commercial developmentof the province of Yunnan. This claim is as reasonable as that put forwardby Germany with reference to the province of Shantung, but it isincompatible with the northeastward development of British Burmah. Whilethese acts, which, virtually, amounted to mutilations of the MiddleKingdom, were being committed by Germany, Russia and France, Englandundertook to assert the principle of the "open door, " the principle, namely, that, whatever territorial concessions might be made by the Pekingovernment, no nation could be deprived of its treaty rights in the portsceded. That is to say, American citizens, British subjects, or thesubjects of any other power which has a treaty with China containing "themost favored nation" clause, must be allowed to enjoy precisely the samerights in Talienwan, Kiao Chou and Kwangchowfoo as they would have enjoyedhad not those places been surrendered to Russia, Germany and Francerespectively. This principle could only have been enforced by war, inwhich England would have needed the assistance of Japan; but Japan was notyet ready to engage in a contest, for the reason that she still had toreceive $60, 000, 000 of the war indemnity due from China, and because thewar vessels which she had ordered to be constructed in foreign shipyardswere not yet sufficiently near completion. Being thus constrained toabandon the hope of maintaining its treaty rights in the ceded parts ofChina, the British Foreign Office changed its ground and fell back on thepolicy of exacting an equivalent for the advantages gained by Russia, Germany and France. In the pursuance of this policy it obtained Wei-hai-Wei, which, as we have said, is one of the two keys to the Gulf ofPechihli. It is, however, very inferior to Port Arthur; only by theexpenditure of a large sum of money could it be made a naval fortress ofhigh rank, and, even then, it would require a large garrison for itsprotection. This was not all that England gained, however; she secured apromise from the Pekin government that the valley of the Yangstekiangshould never be alienated to any foreign power except Great Britain. Thelimits of the valley, nevertheless, were not defined, and the Pekinauthorities have acted on the hypothesis that the covenant againstalienation did not debar them from giving commercial and industrialprivileges within the basin to the subjects of European powers other thanEngland. The right to build, for instance, a railway from Pekin toHangchow has been conferred upon a syndicate nominally Belgian, in which, however, it is understood that Russia is deeply interested. On the otherhand, in spite of protests from St. Petersburg, the privilege of extendingto Newchwang in Manchuria the railway which already extends some distancein a northeasterly direction from Tientsin, has been secured by a Britishcorporation. 

In September, 1898, a palace revolution occurred at Pekin. For some time, the Emperor Kwangsu had been known to be under the influence of a highlyintelligent and progressive Cantonese named Kang Yu Wei. At the latter'ssuggestion, edicts were put forth decreeing important administrativereforms which would have deprived the mandarins of their opportunities ofembezzlement, and also indicating an intention to reorganize theeducational system of China upon European models. The necessity of suchchanges is obvious enough if China is to follow Japan in the path ofprogress, but it is equally plain that the advocacy of them would renderthe emperor obnoxious to the whole body of mandarins and of the literati. The unpopularity caused by his proposed innovations proved fatal toKwangsu; for the party at court, headed by the Empress-dowager Tsi An, took advantage of it to arrest and imprison him. Kang Yu Wei, havingreceived warning of the conspiracy, had fled, and succeeded in gaining anasylum under the British flag, but many of the emperor's personalfollowers were put to death. On September 22, appeared an edict ostensiblysigned by Kwangsu announcing that he had requested the empress-dowager toresume authority over the affairs of State. It has been since reportedthat he has been killed. The immediate effect of the _coup d'etat_ was toplace all power at Pekin in the hands of Manchus least friendly to theadoption of European ideas, and more willing to lean upon Russia thanupon any other foreign power. The early restoration to high office of LiHung Chang, who has, for some time, been a useful tool of the St. Petersburg government, and who is a favorite of the empress-dowager, maybe looked upon as probable. 

THE FUTURE OF CHINA

It is obvious that arterial communication is the first organic need of allcivilized States, and pre-eminently of a country so vast and various inits terrestrial conditions as is China. This need has been recognized bythe ablest of its rulers, who, from time to time, have made seriousefforts to connect the most distant parts of the empire by both land andwater routes. The Grand Canal, or Yunho ("River of Transports"), ispronounced as memorable a monument of human industry in its way as is theGreat Wall. It is not, however, a canal in the Western sense of the word, but merely, as Richthofen has explained, "a series of abandoned riverbeds, lakes and marshes, connected one with another by cuttings of noimportance, fed by the Wanho in Shantung, which divides into two currentsat its summit, and by other streams and rivers along its course. A part ofthe water of the Wanho descends toward the Hoangho and Gulf of Pechihli;the larger part runs south in the direction of the Yangtse. " The GrandCanal links Hangchow, a port on the East China Sea, south of the Yangtse, with Tientsin in Chihli, where it unites with the Peiho, and thus may besaid to extend to Tungchow in the neighborhood of Pekin. When the canalwas in order, before the inflow of the Yellow River failed, there wasuninterrupted water communication from Pekin to Canton, and to the manycities and towns met with on the way. For many years past, however, andespecially since the carriage of tribute-rice by steamers along the coastbegan, repairs of the Grand Canal have been practically abandoned. Theroads in China, confined generally to the northern and western sections ofthe country, are described as the very worst in the world. The paving, according to Baber, "is of the usual Chinese pattern, rough bowlders andblocks of stone being laid somewhat loosely together on the surface of theground; 'good for ten years and bad for ten thousand, ' as the Chineseproverb admits. On the level plains of China, where the population issufficiently affluent to subscribe for occasional repairs, the system hasmuch practical value. But, in the Yunnari mountains, the roads are neverrepaired; so far from it, the indigent natives extract the most convenientblocks to stop the holes in their hovel walls, or to build a fence on thewindward side of their poppy patches. The rains soon undermine thepavement, especially where it is laid on a steep incline; sections of ittopple down the slope, leaving chasms a yard or more in depth. " Wheretraveling by water is impossible, sedan chairs are used to carrypassengers, and coolies with poles and slings transport the luggage andgoods. The distances covered by the sedan chair porters are remarkable, being sometimes as much as thirty-five miles a day, even on a journeyextending over a month. The transport animals--ponies, mules, oxen anddonkeys--are strong and hardy, and manage to drag carts along theexecrable roads. The ponies are said to be admirable, and the mulesunequaled in any other country. The distances which these animals willcover on the very poorest of forage are surprising. 

The rapid adoption of steamers along the coast and on the Yangtse haspaved the way for railways. Shallow steamers have yet to traverse thePoyang and the Tungting Lakes, which lie near the Yangtse, and Peiho andCanton Rivers, as well as many minor streams. It is the railway, however, that is the supreme necessity. Mr. Colquhoun has pointed out that, exceptalong the Yangtse for the thousand-odd miles now covered by steamers, there is not a single trade route of importance in China where a railwaywould not pay. Especially would a line from Pekin carried through theheart of China to the extreme south, along the existing trade routes, beadvantageous and remunerative. The enormous traffic carried on throughoutthe Celestial Empire in the face of appalling difficulties, on men'sbacks, or by caravans of mules or ponies, or by the rudest of carts andwheelbarrows, must be, some day, undertaken by railways. In the judgmentof careful observers, too much stress should not be laid on theintroduction of the locomotive for strategic purposes. The capital aim ofrailway construction should be, they think, the development of theinterprovincial trade of China, the interchange of the varied products ofa country which boasts so many climates and soils. This would bringprosperity to the people, render administrative reforms possible, and openChina for the Chinese quite as much as for the European merchant ormanufacturer. From the viewpoint of Chinese interests, the most usefullines would be two that should connect Pekin, Tientsin and all thenorthern part of the country with central and southern China. Trunk linescould be constructed for this purpose without any difficulty. They wouldpass along the old trade tracks, and would encounter populous cities thewhole way. Through eastern Shansi and Honan, for example, to Hangchow onthe Yangtse; thence to the Si Kiang and Canton; such lines would be shaftsdriven through the heart of the Middle Kingdom, connecting the North andthe South. For the entire distance, some 1, 300 or 1, 400 miles, the extent, fertility and variety of the soil are described as remarkable. From theNorth, abounding in cotton and varieties of grain and pulse, to the South, where many vegetable products of the Orient are met, the redundancy of thepopulation is a striking feature. A constant succession of villages, townsand cities would be transformed into a picture of bustle and business. 

The internal economical conditions of China to-day are very much the sameas were those of India when railways were introduced. The only differenceis that the Chinese people are better off per man, and that the Chineseand Indo-Chinese, unlike the natives of India, are born travelers andtraders. Yet, even in India, contrary to expectation, the passengertraffic on the railways has, from the first, exceeded the goods traffic. In 1857, the number of passengers carried by railway in India was2, 000, 000; in 1896, it had risen to 160, 000, 000. In the first named year, the quantity of goods transported was 253, 000 tons; in 1896, it was32, 500, 000 tons. There has been witnessed in India during those fortyyears an expansion of commerce which, at the outset of the period, wouldhave been deemed incredible. The imports and exports rose in that timefrom 400, 000, 000 to 2, 000, 000, 000 rupees. Forty years ago, India wasmerely a dealer in drugs, dyes and luxuries; now she is one of the largestpurveyors of food grains, fibers, and many other staples. Few persons areaware how favorably the earnings of Indian railways compare with those ofother countries. The average earnings of railways in the United States are3 per cent; in Great Britain, 3. 60 per cent; in India, 5. 46 per cent. Thisin spite of the fact that, in India, a man can travel 400 miles withintwenty-four hours for the sum of $2. 08. The policy of low charges hasanswered well, the people, on its adoption, at once having begun to traveland to send their produce by rail. In China, also, low rates will be anecessity. Another fact of importance to China is that, out of the 260, 000people employed on Indian railways, 95. 66 per cent are natives. Only thehigher posts are held by Europeans. In China, the proportions wouldprobably be even more in favor of the native element. 

Mr. Colquhoun, who is a high authority, has no doubt that, as Richthofenanticipated years ago, China will eventually be directly connected withEurope via Hami, Lanchow and Sian. "No direct connection of this kind, "says Richthofen "is possible south of the Wei basin, and any road to thenorth of it would have to keep entirely north of the Yellow River and runaltogether through desert countries. " The same reason which confined thecommerce of China with the West during thousands of years to the naturalroute via Hami will be decisive as regards railway communication also. Inrespect of natural facilities, and because of the existence of populous, productive and extensive commercial regions at both ends of the line, itis the only practicable route. It is further to be noted that the wholetract would be provided with coal. The province of Kansuh rivals Shansi inthe richness and extent of its coal fields; no section of it north of theTsungling Mountains appears to be deficient in coal measures, and, in someparts, a superabundance of the combustible exists. The coal formationextends, with few interruptions, from Eastern Shansi to Hi through thirtydegrees of longitude. There is scarcely, remarks Richthofen, an instanceon record "where so many favorable and essential conditions co-operate toconcentrate all future intercourse on so long a line upon one single anddefinite channel. " As regards railways within the empire, a Pekin-Hankowline has been arranged for, as we pointed out in the previous chapter, with a so-called Belgian syndicate, and, if properly executed, should be agood line; but, as we have said, it is the opinion of experts that thebest railway contemplated in China would be that from Pekin via Tientsinto Hangchow, with an extension later to Canton. The line would pass someforty towns, with an average population of 25, 000 each, and a large numberof villages. The length of the Grand Canal from Tientsin to Hangchow is650 miles. According to Mr. Colquhoun, no better line for a railway existsin the world, from the viewpoint of population, resources and cheapness ofconstruction. It follows the most important of the actual routes ofcommerce in the empire, passes the greatest possible number of cities, towns and villages, and connects great seaports with rich coal regions ofauthenticated value. 

We pass to the telegraph and postal service. It appears that governmenttelegraphs are being rapidly extended throughout the empire. There arelines between Pekin and Tientsin, and lines connecting the capital withthe principal places in Manchuria as far as the Russian frontier on theAmour and the Usuri, while Newchwang, Chefoo, Shanghai, Yangchow, Souchow, the seven treaty ports on the Yangtse, Canton, Woochow, Lungchow, and, infact, most of the principal cities in the empire, are now joined by wirewith one another and with the metropolis. The line from Canton westwardpasses via Yunnanfoo to Manwein, on the borders of Burmah. Shanghai is incommunication with Foochow and Moy, Kashing, Shaoshing, Ningpo and otherplaces. Lines have been constructed between Foochow and Canton and betweenTaku, Port Arthur and Seoul in Corea, and the line along the YangtseValley has been extended to Chungking. By an arrangement made with theRussian telegraph authorities, the Chinese and Siberian lines in the AmourValley were joined in the latter part of 1892, and there is now overlandcommunication between Pekin and Europe through Russian territory. Thepostal service of China is unquestionably primitive from a Western pointof view. It is carried on by means of post carts and runners. There are, besides, numerous private postal couriers, and, during the winter, whenthe approach to the capital is closed by sea and river, a service betweenthe office of Foreign Customs at Pekin and the outports is maintained. TheChinese, it seems, have always been great believers in their own postalsystem. Even those who have emigrated to British colonies have adhered totheir own method of transporting letters, refusing to use the dulyconstituted government posts, except under compulsion. Both Hongkong andthe Straits Settlements have been actually compelled to legislate in thematter. It is said, however, to be remarkable how safe the native post is, not merely for the carriage of ordinary letters, but for the conveyance ofmoney. We should add that, on February 2, 1897, the Imperial Chinese PostOffice was opened under the management of Sir Robert Hart, and China hassince joined the Postal Union. 

In a chapter of Mr. Colquhoun's book bearing the caption "England'sObjective in China, " we are told that there are two ways of attacking thetrade of China in the Middle Kingdom, so far as England is concerned. Theone is from the seaboard, entering China by the chief navigable rivers, notably the Yangtse, which is the main artery of China, and the WestRiver, which passes through the southern provinces. The other mode ofapproach is from England's land base, Burmah, through Yunnan. It isacknowledged that the sea approach, hitherto the only one, is, from thepurely trading point of view, incomparably the more important; but theother, or complementary land route, is pronounced a necessity if England'scommercial and political influence is to be maintained and extended. Theisolation of China over sea has long since been annuled by steam, and herformer complete isolation by land has now ceased also. Hitherto cut offfrom access by land, she will, in the north, be shortly placed in directrailway communication with Europe, a fact which by itself rendersimperative a corresponding advance from the south. It is many years sinceMr. Colquhoun began to advocate the railway communication of Burmah withsouthwestern China, first with the view to open Yunnan and Szchuen, and, secondly, to effect a junction between those two great waterways, theYangtse and the Irrawaddy. It seemed to him that the connection of thenavigation limit of the Yangtse with the most easterly province of Anglo-India was a matter of cardinal importance, not merely because it waseminently desirable for commercial purposes to connect the central andlower regions of the Yangtse with Burmah, but also for political reasons. It so happens that the navigation limit of that river lies within theprovince of Szchuen, which, in Mr. Colquhoun's opinion, should be thecommercial and political objective of England. Szchuen, from its size, population, trade and products, may, according to Mrs. Bishop, be trulycalled the Empire Province. Apart from its great mineral resources, theprovince produces silk, wax and tobacco, all of good quality; grass cloth, grain in abundance, and tea, plentiful though of poor flavor. The climateis changeable, necessitating a variety of clothing. Cotton is grown inSzchuen, but Bourne states that Indian yarn is driving it out ofcultivation, not apparently on account of the enormous saving throughspinning by machinery, but because the fiber can be grown more cheaply inIndia. The greater part of the surplus wealth of Szchuen is devoted to thepurchase of raw native and foreign cotton and woolen goods. All the cottonbought is not consumed in the province, for the inhabitants manufacturefrom the imported raw material and export the product to Yunnan andwestern Kweichow. Rich as it is, Szchuen has the disadvantage of beingdifficult of access from the rest of the world, for at present merchandisecan now only reach it during certain months of the year, and after adifficult voyage. Its trade would be increased very greatly were thenavigation of the Yangtse rendered easier and safer, thus facilitating theestablishment of effective steam communication not only to Chungking, butas far as Suifoo. 

The natural channel of trade between Hongkong and southwestern China isthe Sikiang, or West River. Owing, however, to the obstacles raised bytaxation and the non-enforcement by England of the transit-pass system, trade has been diverted to other channels, such as the Pakhoi-Nanningroute, and later to the Tonquin route, the French having insisted on theeffective carrying out of the transit-pass system via Mengtse. At presentBritish goods are actually sent from Hongkong through French territory viaMengtse to a point within seven days of Bhamo in Burmah. The Lungchowroute, whatever its merits might have been, had the railway line fromPakhoi to Nanning not been secured by the French government, is now, according to Mr. Colquhoun, of quite secondary importance. He concedesthat, unless the West River is at once effectively opened throughout itscourse, the Pakhoi-Nanning-Yunnan route is bound to command the largestshare of the trade of south and southwestern China. 

Having passed under review the provinces of south and southwestern Chinaand the great waterways--to wit, the Yangtse and West rivers--we may nowinquire what measures should be adopted to improve the present state ofaffairs in the interest of China and of foreign trade. The first stepsuggested is the improvement of communication by railways and steamnavigation. So far as railways are concerned, Burmah should be connectedwith Tali and Yunnanfoo, Yunnanfoo with Nanning, Canton with Kaulun. Thiswould thoroughly open the whole of Southern China lying between Burmah andthe British colony of Hongkong. Yunnanfoo should also be connected to thenortheast with Suifoo on the upper Yangtse, the navigation limit of thatwaterway. Steam navigation should at once be extended to Nanning and toSuifoo, and also, wherever it may be practicable, throughout all inlandwaters. Next in importance to the creation of proper communication is thequestion of taxation. All travelers, in Southern China especially, dwellon the obstacles to trade resulting from the collection of so many variousimposts. The British government should insist on its treaty rights, especially the enforcement, successfully accomplished by the Frenchgovernment, of the transit-pass system. It is, finally, the conviction ofall competent students of the subject that it is from Burmah, on the onehand, and from Shanghai and Hongkong on the other, that England must, bythe aid of steam applied overland and by water, practically occupy theupper Yangtse region, which will be found to be the key to a dominantposition in China. 

In some comments on China's prospective commercial development Mr. Colquhoun, the latest first-hand observer, sets forth some statisticswhich are of interest not only to Englishmen but to Americans. He showsthat in 1896 the total net value of imports and of exports was55, 768, 500 pounds, and the total gross value 57, 274, 000 pounds, of whichthe British dominions contributed 39, 271, 000 pounds, leaving for all othernations 18, 003, 000 pounds. Of this aggregate Russia contributed 2, 856, 000pounds, the rest of Europe 4, 585, 000 pounds, Japan 4, 705, 000 pounds, andother countries, including the United States, 5, 767, 000 pounds. Thepercentage of the carrying trade of the Middle Kingdom under foreign flagswas: British, 82. 04; German, 7. 49; French, 2. 00; Japanese, 1. 34; Russian, 0. 59; other countries, 5. 54. The percentage of dues and duties paid underforeign flags was as follows: British, 76. 04; German, 10. 12; French, 2. 95;Japanese, 2. 28; Russian, 1. 90; all other nations, 6. 71. It appears, then, that Great Britain not only carries eighty-two per cent of the totalforeign trade with China, but pays seventy-two per cent of the revenueresulting from that trade. Until recently, British subjects were atliberty to carry on business at but eighteen ports in China. They wereNewchwang, Tientsin, Chifui, on the northern coast; Chungking, Ichang, Hankow, Kiukiang, Wehu, Chinkiang and Shanghai, on the Yangtse River;Ningpo, Wenchow, Foochow, Amoy, Swatow, Canton, Hoihow (Kiungchow) andPakhoy, on the coast south of the Yangtse. To these must be now addedShansi on the Yangtse, between Ichang and Hankow; Hangchow and Souchow, two inland cities near Shanghai; Woochow and Sanshui on the West River andSsumao and Lungchow, in the south. It is also reported that three otherports have been very recently opened; viz. , Yochow, on the Tungting Lake;Chungwang, on the Gulf of Pechihli, and Funing in Fuhkien. 

Let us now proceed to demonstrate how deeply the United States areconcerned in the China question from the industrial point of view. Inasmuch as, owing to the fact that Americans now manufacture more thanthey consume, they are compelled to embark on a foreign policy and to lookincreasingly to foreign markets, they cannot but feel that the future ofthe Middle Kingdom is a matter of vital importance to themselves. It ismanifest that the Pacific slope, though at present playing but a smallpart, is destined to be more profoundly affected by the development ofChina than is any other section of the American republic. Our PacificStates are possessed of enormous natural resources; their manufactureshave quadrupled in twenty years, and will, in the course of time, find amost advantageous market in the Far East. When the Nicaragua Canal shallhave been dug, the Atlantic States will also be brought into closeconnection with China and with the rest of Eastern Asia. The volume of theUnited States traffic with China already represented a considerable partof the foreign trade of the empire in 1896. While the imports from Chinareceived by the United States have increased but slowly, the exports fromthe last-named country to the Middle Kingdom have increased 126 per centin ten years, and are more than fifty per cent greater than the exports ofGermany to the same market. The export of American cotton cloths to Chinaamounted to $7, 485, 000 in 1897, or nearly one-half the entire value ofcotton cloths sent abroad by the United States. The export of kerosene oilfrom the States to China now ranks second in importance to that of cottongoods, and is likely to increase at a rapid rate. The Chinese demand forthe illuminating fluid is quickly growing, and the delivery of it from theUnited States to China has more than trebled in value during the past tenyears. That is to say, it has risen from $1, 466, 000 in 1888 to $4, 498, 000in 1897. The Russian oil has hitherto been the only serious foreigncompetitor of the American product, but the Langkat oil is coming to someextent into use. The exports of American wheat flour to China reached avalue in 1897 of $3, 390, 000, and those of chemicals, dyes, etc. , $1, 000, 000. At present, the export trade of the United States to China isconfined mainly to cottons and mineral oils; that is to say, it is largelyrestricted to commodities which would be hard to sell in any Chinese portwhere the conditions of equal trade did not prevail. It would probablyprove impossible to sell them in any Asiatic port controlled by Russia orby France. It follows that, although England has most to lose by thepartition of China, even though she should receive a large share ofterritory, the United States are also deeply interested in the question, for their trade is already considerable, and is likely, under favorablecircumstances, to undergo great expansion. 

Let us, finally, examine the Chinese question from a political point ofview. We concur with Mr. Colquhoun in believing that Englishmen are now atthe parting of the ways, and that their failure to take the right coursein the Far East will mean the loss of England's commercial supremacy, and, eventually, the disintegration of the British Empire. He maintains that, since November 16, 1896, when the German government was compelled byBismarck's revelations to disclose the drift of its future policy, it hasbeen apparent that there is an increasing tendency toward cooperation inthe Near East and the Par East between Germany and Russia, and therefore, also, between those powers and France, which is Russia's ally. Theunderstanding is based upon mutual interest, territorial in the case ofRussia, commercial in that of Germany, and political in the case ofFrance. The cornerstone of the combination is Russia, whose goodwill issought for at all costs by France, in a lesser degree by Germany, and, latterly, even by Austria-Hungary. The chief aim of the combination is thereduction of England to a secondary position, politically andcommercially. In China, the outcome of the coalition has been to isolateEngland completely. For some years past, her efforts to secure concessionsat Pekin have been frustrated by Russia and France. Meanwhile, these twocountries, and, more lately, Germany as well, have secured for themselvessolid advantages. Japan, on her part, since she was compelled to submit toa revision of the Shimonoseki treaty, has been watching silently andpreparing anxiously for eventualities. England's official optimists talkedin 1895, however, as they still talk, of the successes gained, the"rectification" of the Burmo-Chinese frontier and the incomplete "opening"of the West River. As a matter of fact, the British government has donelittle or nothing to establish overland railway communication from Burmahto China, or to reach China "from behind, " as Lord Salisbury called it;and the Upper Yangtse, the main artery of China, has remained practicallyunopened. Such, at least, was the situation a few months ago. 

To understand the present situation, which is the natural sequel of 1895, it is needful, first of all, to recognize the fact that Russia is, at thismoment, the protector of China against all comers, and that Francesupports her firmly, while Germany, having once taken the decisive step ofplacing herself alongside Russia, is likely to follow the czar's lead fortwo sufficient reasons; namely, for fear of displeasing the Russian allyof France, and because concessions are not likely to be obtained at Pekinby Germany, if the latter country places itself in direct and openopposition to the St. Petersburg government. Russian influence has, forsome time past, been omnipotent at Pekin, mainly through the kindlyassistance rendered to China in 1895, followed up by what has beenpractically an offensive and defensive league. The nature of theunderstanding between Russia and the Middle Kingdom has, indeed, for sometime been patent to all the world except Englishmen, the chief features ofit being: First, an offensive and defensive alliance; secondly, branchrailways through Manchuria; thirdly, the refortification of Port Arthurand Talienwan, both to be paid for by China, and either or both of theseharbors to be placed at Russia's disposal whenever they may be required. It is true that China has denied the existence of any agreement exceptthat concerning the northern Manchurian Railway, but Russia has neverdenied anything except the accuracy of the version of the so-called"Cassini" Convention, published by a Shanghai paper. Apart from theexistence of any written contract, the facts speak for themselves. Russia, having had a prior lien on Kiao Chou, it is obvious that Germany could nothave seized that harbor in opposition to Russia. Again, what is to preventGermany from discovering some day that Kiao Chou does not "meet herrequirements, " in which event what is there to hinder Russia from takingover Kiao Chou and giving Germany another port? Provision has, in truth, been made to enable Germany to treat Kiao Chou as a negotiable bill ofexchange. 

There is really nothing unforeseen in the recent evolution of affairs inthe Far East. On the contrary, it has been clearly indicated by variouswriters in the past fifty years. As far back as 1850, Meadows wrote:"China will not be conquered by any Western power until she becomes thePersia of some future Alexander the Great of Russia, which is the Macedonof Europe. England, America and France will, if they are wise, wage, severally or collectively, a war of exhaustion with Russia rather thanallow her to conquer China, for, when she has done that, she will bemistress of the world. " In reply to those who ridicule the policy of"guarding against imaginary Russian dangers in China, " he said: "Many maysuppose the danger to be too remote to be a practical subject for thepresent generation. The subject is most practical at the present hour, for, as the English, Americans and French now deal with China, and withher relations to Russia, so the event will be. For those to whom 'it willlast our time' is a word of practical wisdom, this volume is not written. "Again, a few years later, Meadows wrote: "The greatest, though notnearest, danger of a weak China lies precisely in those territorialaggressions of Russia which she began two centuries ago, and which, ifallowed to go on, will speedily give her a large and populous territory, faced with Sveaborgs and Sebastopols on the seaboard of Eastern Asia. LetEngland, America and France beware how they create a sick giant in the FarEast. China is a world-necessity. " Foreshadowing the gradual extension ofRussia into China, and the time when the former country would becomedominant at Pekin, and when, with all Manchuria organized behind her, shewould occupy the whole of the Yellow River basin, Meadows expressed thebelief that, should that occasion occur, no combination of powers wouldthen be able to thwart Russia's purpose. "With 120, 000, 000 Chinese to workor fight for her, nothing would stand between Russia and the conquest ofthe rest of the Celestial Empire; not China alone, but Europe itself wouldthen be dominated, and it would cost the Russian Emperor of China butlittle trouble to overwhelm the Pacific States of the New World. " Such wasthe forecast of a writer whose name is to-day forgotten. 

What are the advantages which Russia possesses over England in dealingwith China? There is, in the first place, the advantage of proximity. TheChinese people in the northern provinces, and especially at the capital, which is not far from the Great Wall, undoubtedly discriminate betweenRussians and other foreigners. Like other Orientals, they only believewhat they see; and Russia is seen and realized on the northern frontier. Besides the effect of contact, the Russians possess a gift in dealing withthe Chinese. The affinities and analogies which the Russians and Chineseexhibit have been depicted by Michie in his book on the "Siberian OverlandRoute. " "Analogies in the manners, customs and modes of thought of the tworaces are constantly turning up, and their resemblance to the Chinese hasbecome a proverb among the Russians themselves. The Russians and theChinese are peculiarly suited to each other in the commercial as well asin the diplomatic departments. They have an equal disregard for truth, forthe Russian, in spite of his fair complexion, is, at the bottom, more thanhalf Asiatic. There is nothing original about this observation, but itserves to explain how it is that the Russians have won their way intoChina by quiet and peaceable means, while we have always been running ourheads against a stone wall, and never could get over it without breakingit down. The Russians meet the Chinese as Greek meets Greek; craft isencountered with craft, politeness with politeness, and patience withpatience. They understand each other's character thoroughly, because theyare so closely alike. " Michie went on to say that "when either a Russianor a Chinese meets a European, say an Englishman, he instinctively recoilsfrom the blunt, straightforward, up-and-down manner of coming to businessat once, and the Asiatic either declines a contest which he cannot fightwith his own weapons, or, seizing the weak point of his antagonist, heangles for him until he wearies him into acquiescence. As a rule, theAsiatic has the advantage. His patient equanimity and heedlessness of thewaste of time are too much for the impetuous haste of the European. Thischaracteristic of the Russian trading classes has enabled them toinsinuate them selves into the confidence of the Chinese; to fraternizeand identify themselves with them, and, as it were, to make common causewith them in their daily life; while the Western European holds himselfaloof, and only comes in contact with the Chinese when business requiresit; for, in all the rest, a great gulf separates them in thoughts, ideasand the aims of life. "

Of interest, also, as showing how history repeats itself, are theobservations made nearly forty years ago by Lockhart, a missionary, aftera long residence in China. Lockhart wrote: "The Russian governmentanticipated us, not in the knowledge of the advantages of close commercialand political relations with an empire so enormous in its resources, butin the employment of those arguments that alone could render a vain andeffeminate State sensible of their value. .. . The map of all the Russias, published at St. Petersburg, now includes that vast portion of CentralAsia heretofore constituting the outlying provinces of the Chinese empirebeyond the Great Wall. Having placed a mission in the Chinese capital andorganized an overwhelming army in Chinese Tartary, with magazines ofwarlike resources, Russia easily secured a permanent footing in regionafter region, till she had dominated over, and then obtained the cessionof, all the intervening space, leaving the conquest of the entire Chineseempire to the time when it should please the reigning Czar to order hisCossacks to take possession. It is impossible to state with any precisionthe amount of moral or material support which the Chinese emperor receivedfrom his imperial brother and formidable neighbor, and which encouragedhim to the obstinate resistance that he offered to the demands of Englandand France [in 1860]; but a slight acquaintance with Russian policy mustsatisfy any one that, having established itself as a favored nation, Russia could not regard with complacency any attempt made by anothernation to share such advantages. " Comprehending, therefore, the Chinesecharacter, perceiving clearly that the present Manchu dynasty is unable toperform the elementary functions of an organized society, that Pekin isanother Teheran or Constantinople, that, while the people are sound, thecourts and the officials are corrupt, Russia has studied and gained overcertain influential persons and applied skillfully the maxim, _divide etimpera_. What China is taught night and day is that Russia is a landpower, and, therefore, alone can protect China; that she keeps herpromises and threats; that, with England, on the other hand, it is alwaysa case of _vox et praeterea nihil_. In short, Russia protects China ina peculiar sense, that is to say, for a price, to be paid to Russia oreven to her friends. The dominating idea instilled into the Chinese courtand bureaucracy, which, in the absence of a strong policy on England'spart, are in a hypnotized condition, is to be saved from Japan. The greatobject of Russian policy is to utilize China for territorial and politicalexpansion. 

What would China be worth to Russia? This question is answered by Mr. Colquhoun at considerable length. What the utilization of China would meancan be realized, he says, only by a full appreciation of the extraordinaryresources of that country, judged from various points of view. TheCelestial Empire has the men with which to create armies and navies; thematerials, especially iron and coal, requisite for the purposes of railwayand steam navigation; all the elements, in fact, out of which to evolve agreat living force. One thing alone is wanting, namely, the will, thedirecting power, which, absent from within, is now being applied fromwithout. That supplied, there are to be found in abundance within Chinaitself the capacity to carry out, the brains to plan, the hands to work. When, moreover, it is understood that not merely is the soil fertile, butthat the mineral resources, the greatest, perhaps, in the whole world, are, as yet, practically untouched, the merest surface being scratched;when we further consider the volume of China's population, the ability andenterprise, and, above all, the intense vitality of the people, as strongas ever after four millenniums; when we reflect on the generalcharacteristics of the race; it seems indisputable that the Chinese, underwise direction, are destined to dominate the whole of Eastern Asia, and, may be, to play a leading part in the affairs of the world. Even althoughthe Celestial Empire appears to be now breaking up, it is capable, undertutelage, of becoming reconsolidated. Often before now, when conquered, has China either thrown off the yoke or absorbed its conquerors. But neverbefore has the conqueror come, as does the czar to-day, in the guise of agreat organizing force. To much the same effect wrote Michie, whoseopinion is of weight, and from whom we have already quoted: "The theorythat China's decadence is due to the fact that she has long since reachedmaturity and has outlived the natural term of a nation's existence doesnot hold good. The mass of the people have not degenerated; they are asfresh and vigorous as ever they were; it is the government only that hasbecome old and feeble; a change of dynasty may yet restore to China theluster which belongs legitimately to so great a nation. The indestructiblevitality of Chinese institutions has preserved the country unchangedthroughout many revolutions. The high civilization of the people and theirearnestness in the pursuit of peaceful industry have enabled them topreserve their national existence through more dynastic changes thanperhaps any other country or nation has experienced. " Mr. Colquhoun, forhis own part, testifies that, in peaceful pursuits, in agriculture, in thearts and manufactures, no limit can be placed to the capabilities ofChina. Even in the paths of war, he deems it difficult to foretell what, under skillfull direction, may not be accomplished. It is true that, touching this point, there is a wide difference of opinion. Prjevalskisaid, apropos of the Tonquin campaign: "She [China] lacks the propermaterial; she lacks the life-giving spirit. Let Europeans supply theChinese with any number of arms that they please: let them exertthemselves ever so energetically to train Chinese soldiers: let them evensupply leaders: the Chinese Army will, nevertheless, even under the mostfavorable conditions, never be more than an artificially created, mechanically united, unstable organism. Subject it but once to the serioustest of war, speedy dissolution will overtake such an army, which couldnever hope for victory over a foe animated with any real spirit. " On theother hand, high testimony has been borne by other travelers and militarycritics to the excellent quality of China's raw material for militarypurposes. Wingrove Cooke, the "Times" correspondent with the allied forcesin 1857-58, who is generally accounted one of the best critics of Chinesemen and affairs; Count d'Escayrac de Lauture, one of the Pekin prisonersin 1859-60; Chinese Gordon and Lord Wolseley, have all spoken highly ofthe courage and endurance of the Chinese soldier. The following summary ofhis capabilities was given by one who had had experience with Gordon's"Ever-Victorious Army": "The old notion is pretty well got rid of thatthey are at all a cowardly people, when properly paid and efficiently led;while the regularity and order of their habits, which dispose them topeace in ordinary times, give place to a daring bordering on recklessnessin times of war. Their intelligence and capacity for remembering factsrender them well fitted for use in modern warfare, as do also the coolnessand the calmness of their disposition. Physically, they are, on theaverage, not so strong as Europeans, but considerably more so than most ofthe other races of the East; and, on a cheap diet of rice, vegetables, salt fish and pork, they can go through a vast amount of fatigue whetherin a temperate climate or a tropical one, where Europeans are ill fittedfor exertion. Their wants are few; they have no caste prejudices andhardly any appetite for intoxicating liquors. " It is Mr. Colquhoun'sopinion, based upon prolonged observation, that, if China were conqueredby Russia, organized, disciplined and led by Russian officers and Russianadministrators, an industrial and military organization would be developedwhich India could not face, and which would shake to its foundations theentire fabric of the British Empire. If, he says, the Chinese failed toprofit by their numerical superiority and their power of movement inTonquin, it must be remembered that they were as ill-equipped and suppliedand nearly as unorganized and unofficered as they were in the Chino-Japanese war. Transport, commissariat, tents, medical service, all theparaphernalia employed in organized army work, were then, as in the latecampaign, absolutely unknown. Notwithstanding the unfavorable judgment ofPrjevalski that the Chinese are animated by neither military nor patrioticspirit, the conviction of many observers is that, however undisciplinedthey proved themselves in the Chino-Japanese war; however badly theundrilled, unfed, unled Chinamen in uniform compared with the highlyorganized troops of Japan, their capabilities, as the components of afighting machine, should be rated exceedingly high. The apparentinconsistencies of the Chinese can, in all likelihood, be reconciled. Thatthey offer excellent military material when shaped and guided byforeigners may be pronounced certain. If they come from the Manchurianprovinces or from Shantung, they are found to be steady, willing to betaught and amenable to discipline, of splendid physique and able to bearhardships and cold without a murmur. If from Honan, they exhibit many ofthe best characteristics of highland races--courage and loyalty to theirown leader, but they are more difficult to manage, and they are not steadyin any sense of the word. The southern Chinese seem to be held generallyin low esteem, but one should not forget that the best fighters of theTaeping army were the men from the Canton province, and that, as seamen, the coast populations of Southern China are unequaled. The westernhighlanders, whether Mohammedans or not, are men of good physique, andwould make good fighting material. The Mongolians are horsemen from theirearly years, and are suitable for light cavalry of the Cossack type. 

Like the Central Asian peoples, the Chinese possess in a high degree thevirtue of passive bravery. At first the Russians, in their contests inCentral Asia, expended much time and wasted many lives in besieging towns. They acted with caution, throwing up approaches and opening trenches. Thismethod, however, was presently abandoned for that of open escalade, as, for instance, at Tashkend, Khojand and Uratapa. Finally, the plan wasadopted of storming breaches, to permit of which breaching batteries wouldbe thrown up at very close quarters, after which, a favorable time beingchosen, the place would be carried by storm. From every point of view, this proved to be the most effective method. The Chinamen, as has beenproved repeatedly, is like other Central Asiatics in this respect, that, under cover, he sustains the heaviest fire with indifference; he neversurrenders except under bold assaults, which he cannot withstand. 

What is the conclusion to which the observations of all first-handstudents of China have conducted them? Their conclusion is that it is aquestion of vital importance, a matter of commercial life and death, forEngland to maintain and consolidate herself in the Yangtse basin, whichcannot possibly be done except by an effective occupation of the upperYangtse, and by developing in every possible way her communications alongthat watercourse, and by the West River from Hongkong, also by railwayconnection with Upper Burmah and through that province with India. Mr. Colquhoun, for his part, also believes it to be high time that countrieslike the United States, Australasia and Germany should set themselves towatch with attention, not to say anxiety, the situation in the Far East. He advises them to reflect upon the history of the ancient empire formedby Genghis Khan and his successors, for that history is repeating itselfto-day. Russia is conquering by modern methods the kingdoms of Genghis andKublai Khan, and the Russian Czar, once emperor of China, will take theplace of the Tartar conquerors who carried fire and sword beyond theCarpathians and the Vistula and throughout eastern, western and southernAsia. 

THE END