Therefore it was that while, on the one hand, they took measures to weaken the Mahomedan population, they agreed, on the other, to make concessions in matters of trade to the neighbouring Khan of Khokand, in return for which he gave the easy promise to discourage and to keep inactive the Khoja chiefs who lived within his borders.

Concessions to the unscrupulous ruler of Khokand could only purchase a brief and uncertain truce. Concessions are always the sign of weakness, and of a self-distrusting mind. When made by a foreign conqueror in a state held to subjection by the sword alone, they can have but one significance; they herald the victor's downfall. In Kashgar the merit of an individual, the rare tenacity of the Chinese, served to postpone the inevitable day of evil; and the great overshadowing reputation of the Empire availed for many years to repel the fatal attack. It was strange that the main credit of this respite should have been due to a Mahomedan and a son of the soil; but so it was, although it should be remembered that when the subjected are held worthy of the highest seat in the administration the basis of an alien rule is destroyed. Zuhuruddin gave peace to the Kashgarians for many years, and a new sense of security to the Chinese by the construction of fresh forts at the principal cities; yet there is no doubt that Zuhuruddin's example was the most powerful inducement to his co-religionists and fellow-countrymen to believe that they could displace the Chinese authority.

It was not until the year 1846, when the result of the foreign war was well known, and when the embarrassments of the Pekin Government were patent to all beholders, that any fresh attempt was made to molest the Chinese. In the previous year a change had taken place in the chiefship of Khokand. Mahomed Ali, a Khan of some character, was murdered by his neighbour, the ruler of Bokhara, in 1842, and after an interval of a few years his authority passed to his relative, Khudayar; but this prince proved unable to retain the possessions which his predecessor had drawn together. Mahomed Ali had given plenty of employment to the turbulent spirits of his state, as well as to those numerous adventurers who made their home in his dominions. It was

evident to all that Khudayar, with less capacity, had a greater desire for the tranquillity that, in unsettled countries, is only to be won by constant vigilance and the proof of effective valour. The loss of employment raised an effervescence among these adventurers, and the opportunity of distinction seemed most encouraging to them in the direction of Kashgar. Therefore they went to the sons of Jehangir, and appealing to them, both by the necessity of avenging their father's death and by the prospect of gaining much fame and advantage through the expulsion of the Chinese from Central Asia, laid their plans of action before them. These Khoja princes were young, and seven in number. They were impelled to make the attempt by the temper of their age, as well as by the knowledge that if many of them refused there would surely be one to accept the adventure, the more readily, perhaps, in the hope of enjoying the fruits of victory alone.

The seven Khoja princes, who gave their joint name to the invasion, issued their proclamation in the winter months of 1845-46, rallied their adherents to their side, made allies of the Kirghiz tribes, and summoned recruits from far and near. They hung on the frontier during the winter months, and Zuhuruddin seems to have thought that they and their forces would melt away with the snows. Truly they and their nondescript following were not a very formidable body, and seemed ill able to conquer kingdoms and dictate the fate of nations. But, on the other hand, the Chinese garrison was very weak, and was distributed over a wide surface; the people of Kashgar might be easily won over, and Zuhuruddin had been so inactive as to raise a suspicion, probably unfounded, of his treachery. The chances, therefore, were not as unequal as they seemed, and only the miserable incapacity and tyrannical injustice of the Khojas prevented their achieving a greater success than they did.

The Khojas at last quitted the hills, and marched upon Kashgar, to which they laid siege. The fort successfully defied their efforts, and so might the town have done, but that one of its gates was opened by a traitor thirteen days after the Khojas appeared before the walls. They then attempted to raise the country, but their misbehaviour at

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Kashgar disgusted their sympathizers, and, after a two months' occupation, they were defeated in a fight at Kok Robat by the garrison of Yarkand, and driven out of the country. The invasion of the Seven Khojas, which at one time threatened to assume serious proportions, thus terminated in what was practically a collapse. The Chinese had not to bring up any fresh forces, their attenuated garrison sufficing to hold the citadels of the various towns, and in the end to inflict a decisive defeat on the Mahomedan army. The sympathy of the people was alienated by the excesses of the Kirghiz and Khokandians, who found a bad example in the Khoja princes; and they were, fortunately, not induced to betray any wish for their success before it had become evident that the Chinese were certain to crush the invading foe without any serious difficulty. This campaign was only fatal to Zuhuruddin. His conduct was open to the charge of over-confidence, and he was removed from his high office. The remembrance of what he had previously done ensured him his life.

The famous Commissioner Lin was indirectly connected with the suppression of this movement. After his disgrace at Canton in the winter of 1840, he was summoned before the Board of Punishment, and sentenced to banishment in Ili. The sentence was not carried out, for before he had completed the arrangements for his departure the Yellow river broke its banks, and he was called upon to proceed to the scene of disaster. The choice naturally fell upon him, as the greater portion of his early official career had been passed as commissioner of rivers in different quarters of the Empire. At the end of 1845 he was rewarded for such services as he had been able to render in this post with the viceroyalty of the two north-west provinces, Shensi and Kansuh, and of these Ili was, in a certain sense, the outlying dependency. But although we know this fact in connection with his career, the details of his government are wanting, and we only obtain some idea of the disturbance in Central Asia from the fact that in the spring of 1846 he requested that rewards might be bestowed upon the worthy soldiers of Kansuh.

VOL. II.

N

The progress of intercourse with the peoples of Europe did not bring that better understanding with it which was generally expected, and the last four years of Taoukwang's reign witnessed an unceasing struggle on the part of the Chief Superintendent and the Consuls to obtain the fulfilment of all the Treaty stipulations, and, on the other hand, of the Chinese officials to retard their realisation and to limit their application. Great allowance should be made, and, generally speaking, was made, for the embarrassment of the Central executive of China in having suddenly to violate and fly in the face of every principle of government which it had sought to impress on its subjects. The greatest peril in the whole situation was that the authority of the Emperor might be set on one side and fall into contempt. Therefore, while the English representatives had to afford protection to the Queen's subjects, and to secure the execution of the terms of the Treaty, they had also to make every allowance for the weakness of the mandarins, and to remember that their acts were not to entail, above all things, the collapse of the Chinese administration in the treaty ports. It is satisfactory to be able to feel, on looking back to this period, that the action of the English consuls came up to this standard, and that no charge can be made against the agents of the British Crown of having abused their superiority during a most critical period.

The production of opium in India during these years was greatly increasing, not because the East India Company was oblivious of moral considerations, and thought only of increasing its revenue, but simply in obedience to the irresistible law of supply and demand. The Chinese would have opium, just as the English during the Napoleonic wars would have French brandy, and it was supplied. The dangers of the contraband trade in this article could not obscure its profitable nature, and the coasts of China were visited each year by a steadily increasing number of opium vessels. To be correct, the perils of the adventure were not excessive. The Chinese navy had been reduced to the lowest point, and among no class were the merits of opium better appreciated than by the officials. Such danger as there was arose chiefly from the attacks of pirates, who wished to obtain the source of pleasure

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without paying for it, or who captured the rich plunder for sale. These piratical gangs were well armed, and composed of desperate men. Generally they were baffled in their attempts, but sometimes they succeeded in their purpose.*

But for the time being there were many more urgent matters than the opium trade; and of these none was so pressing as the question of the right of foreigners to proceed beyond the limits of their factories and compounds. The Chinese wished for many reasons, perhaps even for the safety of the foreigners, to confine them to their settlements; and it might be plausibly contended that the Treaty bore no other construction. Of course this confinement was intolerable, and with the examples before them of M. Huc and his companion, M. Gabet, who had just traversed the whole extent of the

* A reaction was beginning to set in against the sweeping denunciations of the missionaries as to the evils of opium-smoking-charges which had been rendered more plausible to the public mind by the brilliant Confessions of De Quincey as to the effect of opium-eating, between which there is an immense difference. Christison had made scientific investigations, which minimized the evil consequences, but the first authoritative statement in contradiction to these views was made by Sir Henry Pottinger on his return to England. The following is his expression of opinion: "I take this opportunity to advert to one important topic on which I have hitherto considered it right to preserve a rigid silence-I allude to the trade in opium; and I now unhesitatingly declare, in this public manner, that after the most unbiassed and careful observations, I have become convinced, during my stay in China, that the alleged demoralizing and debasing evils of opium have been, and are, vastly exaggerated. Like all other indulgences, excesses in its use are bad and reprehensible; but I have neither myself seen such vicious consequences as are frequently ascribed to it, nor have I been able to obtain authentic proofs or information of their existence. The great, and perhaps I may say sole, objection to the trade, looking at it morally and abstractedly, that I have discovered or heard of, is that it is at present contraband, and prohibited by the laws of China, and therefore to be regretted and disavowed; but I have striven-and I hope with some prospect of eventual success-to bring about its legalization; and were that point once effected, I am of opinion that its most objectionable feature would be altogether removed. Even as it now exists, it appears to me to be unattended with a hundredth part of the debasement and misery which may be seen in our native country from the lamentable abuse of ardent spirits; and those who so sweepingly condemn the opium trade on that principle need not, I think, leave the shores of England to find a far greater and besetting evil."