to the soldiers to pillage, and scenes of indescribable horror ensued during the ten days that the sack continued. The capture of Canton virtually decided the chances of Kwei Wang, but some time elapsed before he fell into the power of the Manchus. For the moment he only withdrew to a safer distance from them, and established his headquarters at Nangan, in the south of Kwangsi. Several of his officers deserted him, and the town of Woochow, which he had named his capital, shared the fate of Canton.

Kwei Wang for a short space of time imagined that he might rally to his side the disappointed population of Yunnan, which had fallen into the hands of four military adventurers; but, although he conferred titles of honour on one of these, he soon saw that the hope was delusive. As much disgusted with the treachery of his supporters as disheartened by fear of the Tartars, Kwei Wang fled over the borders of Kwangsi into Yunnan, whence he passed among the tribes of the Burmese frontier. Seven years later we shall find him reissuing from his place of concealment to meet his fate at the hands of Wou Sankwei.

The rebel leaders in Yunnan sought to make use of Kwei Wang to promote their schemes of personal ambition, and one of them, finding that the Ming cause was defunct, and that it would not be possible to instil fresh vitality into it, resolved to proclaim the authority of Chuntche and to adopt the Manchu laws. This recognition of the Tartar yoke in Yunnan, which promised to bring without further bloodshed the last of the Chinese provinces under the Manchu domination, rested upon no very solid foundation, for the leader with whom the scheme originated had palpably views of his own, and expected a larger measure of liberty than could belong to a Manchu lieutenant. In the troubles which followed the advance of the Manchus was checked, and several reverses inflicted upon them; and the nominal authority of Kwei Wang was again set up and maintained in Yunnan. But these events were of local rather than general importance, and we may leave them for a time to see what was happening in other parts of China.

The repression of the Taitong revolt had been the last

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military exploit of the Regent, Ama Wang, although to him. much of the praise must be given for having supervised the preparations for the conquest of the south. He lived long enough to hear of the capture of Canton, the stubborn defence of which had greatly contributed to swell his later anxieties; but when the news came that the city was taken, and that Kwei Wang's power was broken, he felt that his work was done. To Ama Wang belongs all the credit of having consolidated the Manchu power in China. Chuntche owed to his vigour and moderation the position, as Emperor, which both his father and grandfather, although men of approved ability and experience, had failed to attain. While he devoted himself to the service of his nephew, he appears to have been actuated as much by the desire for personal distinction as by the motive of aggrandising the power of his family and race. Towards the Chinese he assumed an attitude of moderation and even of studied conciliation, which did not fail to produce a beneficial effect. Indeed, the people had in him not only a warm but a discreet friend, and to his influence must be attributed the speedy pacification of the capital and the northern provinces, which had long remained tranquil with the one exception of the Taitong revolt. We cannot doubt that this satisfactory result was mainly due to the untiring vigilance and prudent measures of the Regent, in whose hands the boy-emperor Chuntche, whether of his own accord or under compulsion may not be known, had placed all the functions and responsibility of government. Some trace of a warmer feeling between these near relations may, however, be detected in the name which Chuntche gave his uncle of Ama Wang, the Father Prince.

The Regent's death inspired several of the elder Manchu princes with the desire to succeed to his position; but fortunately the general opinion of the ministers was adverse to their views. The Emperor, who had profited by the advice of his wise uncle, was considered to be old enough to rule for himself, and all the ministers returned their seals of office and refused to receive them back save from the Emperor himself. This extreme measure had the desired effect. The ambitious uncles retired discomfited, if not abashed, from the

scene, and Chuntche assumed the rights as well as the name of Emperor.

Then it was that he formed the supreme administrative council of the Empire, which still possesses the privilege of advising the Emperor and of approaching his person, and which, in conjunction with the six Tribunals and the Board of Censors, now controls the affairs of this vast empire. To this august body, composed of only four persons, he raised the more important of those dignitaries who had thrown up their seals of office sooner than acquiesce in the usurpation of his uncles; and in order to attract the sympathy of the people, and, possibly, also to reward the services of faithful Chinese officials, he passed a decree to the effect that this council should be composed of an equal number of Manchu and Chinese officials. Before this act Chinese subjects had been admitted to no recognized share in the government, and this was the first formal admission of their right to occupy their natural position in the administration of the country.

When Canton fell into the power of the Manchus many Chinese escaped by the aid of the fleet over which Koshinga, or Ching Ching Tong, held command. As the Manchus had no vessels, this body of men was held together mainly by the sense of security derived from their immunity from pursuit, and they soon found in the daring and success of their leader a still stronger inducement to remain devoted to his interests. The marauding deeds of Koshinga became the admiration and the solace of the Chinese, just as they certainly proved a source of annoyance to the Tartars, if the statement cannot be sustained that they inspired them with terror. While the main forces of the Manchus remained assembled in the south, Koshinga seized the favourable moment to attempt a diversion in their rear, and, proceeding along the coast of Fuhkien, captured the port of Amoy. In the vicinity of that place he had the satisfaction of defeating a corps of Tartars or, more probably, of local levies; but land operations on any large scale were not within reach of his capacity or resources, and he soon put to sea again. He still proceeded northwards, making several descents upon the coast, and, when the

Manchu forces collected, he effected his escape in his ships with much spoil and many fresh recruits.

In the year 1656 he obtained possession of the island of Tsong-ming, situated at the entrance to the river Kiang, whence he hoped to be able to carry out his most ambitious design of establishing himself in the dual province of Kiangnan. For the time being Koshinga had, at the least, obtained a place of retreat in the event of disaster, and an admirable station for his magazines and stores. His next step was to capture the town of Tongchow, on the northern bank of the Kiang, and to fortify it to the best of his art. Thus he secured the complete command of the entrances to that great river, and of all the water approaches to the city of Nankin, which he had marked as his next object of attack. The Manchus did not give Koshinga credit for as much audacity as he possessed, and flattered themselves that, although he had obtained a few successes on the sea, he would never dare to attack a place of such importance as Nankin. This view was destined to be rudely dispelled, for, notwithstanding the danger and difficulty of the expedition, Koshinga sailed up the Kiang with his fleet, and appeared off the city of Nankin. Not only had the Tartar governor made no preparations for defence, but the garrison under his orders, far from being numerically strong, scarcely sufficed to keep in awe a large population doubtfully affected towards the Government.

Up to this point Koshinga's movements had been marked by resolution and vigour, but here in the very crisis of his career he allowed himself to hesitate so far that he put off striking a decisive blow against the city until the garrison had been largely reinforced by fresh troops. His motive had apparently been to spare his men in the expectation of a rising on the part of the townspeople saving him the loss of carrying the place by storm; but, although the Manchu officer at one time so far suspected their good faith that he meditated giving an order for the slaughter of every man in the city, the inhabitants gave no sign of an intention to go over to Koshinga, and took their share in the labour of defending the city against this semi-piratical leader. The siege had lasted some weeks without any decisive action VOL. L

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taking place, when the intelligence that the garrison was undergoing great privations induced Koshinga to believe that the time had come to deliver his assault with certain effect. Unfortunately for himself, he allowed his men to spend the night previous to the proposed attack in a state of high revelry, and the vigilant commandant of Nankin did not fail to perceive and to seize the auspicious moment for frustrating his intentions. The Manchus sallied forth and attacked the intoxicated Chinese with fury; and such resistance as they attempted was speedily overcome. More than 3000 of Koshinga's men were slain, and the rest with their discomfited leader were glad to find security in their ships, leaving their camp and the spoil of the towns they had plundered in the hands of the victor. Thus closed the siege of Nankin, and, with this repulse, Koshinga's dreams of making any further stand against the Tartar conquerors were dispelled. His naval superiority remained above challenge, but henceforth he is to be regarded rather as a rover of the sea than as a patriotic leader attempting to uphold the lost cause of the Mings.

We have now to turn our attention to the close of the career of the Ming prince Kwei Wang, who, after the failure of his officers to maintain themselves against the Manchus, had fled across the Yunnan frontier into the territories of the King of Mien or Burmah, by whom he was received with the honour due to an unfortunate potentate. He had resided seven years in the land of the stranger when a rising in the province of Kweichow, headed by several officers who proclaimed him Emperor, revived the hope of recovering the position he had lost. He left his place of refuge in Burmah with the wealth he had saved from the wreck of his fortunes in China, and also laden with gifts of friendship from his host; but, while he was making his way through Yunnan to join his new partisans, Wou Sankwei, who, during the years of Chuntche's reign, had been playing the part of Warden of the Western Marches with credit to himself and advantage to the State, heard of his movements and hastened to intercept him. Kwei Wang was not in a position to offer much resistance to his assailant. His small party fought valiantly,