offered on more than one day. However, the Chinese success was complete, and with Kucha in their power they had simplified the process of attacking Kashgar itself. A further halt was made at this town to enable the men to recover from their fatigue, to allow fresh troops to come up, and measures to be taken for ensuring the security of communications with the places in their rear. At Kucha also the work of civil administration was entrusted to some of the local notables.

The deliberation of the Chinese movements, far from weakening their effect, invested their proceedings with the character of being irresistible. The advance was shortly resumed. Aksu, a once flourishing city within the limits of the old kingdom of Kashgar, surrendered at the end of October. Ush Turfan yielded a few days later. The Chinese had now got within striking distance of the capital of the state. They had only to provide the means of making the blow as fatal and decisive as possible. In December they seized Maralbashi, an important position on the Kashgar Darya, commanding the principal roads to both Yarkand and Kashgar. Yarkand was the principal object of attack. It surrendered without a blow on December 21st. A second Chinese army had been sent from Maralbashi to Kashgar, which was defended by a force of several thousand men. It had been besieged nine days, when Liu Kintang arrived with his troops from Yarkand. A battle ensued, in which the Mahomedans were vanquished, and the city with the citadel outside was captured. Several rebel leaders and some eleven hundred men were said to have been executed; but Kuli Beg escaped into Russian territory. The city of Kashgar was thus taken on the 26th of December, and one week later the town of Khoten, famous from a remote period for its jade ornaments, passed into the hands of the race who best appreciated their beauty and value.

The Chinese had thus brought to a triumphant conclusion the campaigns undertaken for the reassertion of their authority over the Mahomedan populations which had revolted. They had conquered in this war by the superiority of their weapons and their organization, and not by an overwhelming display

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of numbers. Although large bodies of troops were stationed at many places, it does not seem that the army which seized the cities of Yarkand and Kashgar numbered more than twenty thousand men. Having vanquished their enemy in the field, the Celestials devoted all their attention to the reorganization of what was called the New Dominion. Their rule has been described by a Mussulman as being both very fair and very just.

Having conquered Eastern Turkestan, the Chinese next took steps for the recovery of Ili. Without the metropolitan province the undertaking of Tso Tsung Tang would lack completeness, while indeed many political and military dangers would attend the situation in Central Asia. But this was evidently a matter to be effected in the first place by negotiation, and not by violence and force of arms. Russia had always been a friendly and indeed a sympathetic neighbour. In this very matter of Ili, she had originally acted with the most considerate attention for China's rights, when it seemed that they had permanently lost all definite meaning. It was, therefore, by diplomatic representations on the part of the Tsungli Yamen to the Russian Minister at Pekin that the recovery of Ili was expected in the first place to be achieved. While Tso and his lieutenants were reorganizing the New Dominion and sending useless envoys to Tashkent, Prince Kung and the other grand secretarics were deciding on the course they ought to pursue. At about the same moment of time the Russian authorities at Tashkent came to the conclusion that the matter must rest with the Czar, and the Chinese official world perceived that they would have to depute a Minister Plenipotentiary to St. Petersburg.

The official selected for the difficult and, as it proved, dangerous task of negotiating at St. Petersburg, was that same Chung How who had been sent to Paris after the Tientsin massacre. He arrived at Pekin in August, 1878, and was received at several audiences by the Emperor while waiting for his full instructions from the Tsungli Yamen. He did not leave until October, about a month after the Marquis Tseng, son of Tseng Kwofan, set out from Pekin to take the place of Kwo Sungtao as Ambassador in London and Paris.

Chung How reached St. Petersburg in the early part of the following year, and the discussion of the various points in question, protracted by the constant removal of the Court to Livadia, occupied the whole of the summer months. At last it was announced that a treaty had been signed at Livadia, by which Russia surrendered the Kuldja valley, but retained that of the Tekes, which left in her hands the command of the passes through the Tian Shan range into Kashgar. There was never any good reason to suppose that the Chinese Government would accept as complete satisfaction the partial territorial concession obtained by Chung How. Chung How knew nothing about frontiers or military precautions, but he thought a great deal about money. He fought the question of an indemnity with ability, and got it fixed at five million roubles, or little more than half that at which it was placed by the later treaty.

The first greeting that met Chung How on his return told him what reception awaited him, at the same time that it revealed the sure fate of his treaty. He had committed the indiscretion of returning without waiting for the Edict authorizing his return, and as the consequence he had to accept suspension from all his offices, while his treaty was submitted to the tender mercies of the grand secretaries, the six presidents of boards, the nine chief ministers of state, and the members of the Hanlin. Three weeks later, Prince Chun was specially ordered to join the Committee of Deliberation. On the 27th of January, Chung How was formally cashiered and arrested, and handed over to the Board of Punishment for correction. The fate of the treaty itself was decided a fortnight later. Chung How was then declared to have "disobeyed his instructions and exceeded his powers." On the 3rd of March an Edict appeared, sentencing the unhappy envoy to "decapitation after incarceration."

At the same time that the Chinese resolved to refuse their ratification to Chung How's treaty, they expressed their desire for another pacific settlement, which would give them more complete satisfaction. The Marquis Tseng was accordingly instructed to take up the thread of negotiation, and to proceed to the Russian capital as Ambassador and Minister

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Plenipotentiary. Some delay ensued, as it was held to be doubtful whether Russia would consent to the reopening of the question. But owing to the cautious and well-timed approaches of the Marquis Tseng, the St. Petersburg Foreign Office, propitiated by the voluntary pardon of Chung How at the special request of Queen Victoria, who telegraphed a request for mercy direct to the Empress Dowager, through Sir Thomas Wade, acquiesced in the recommencement of negotiations. After six months' discussion the Russian Government accepted the principle of the almost unqualified territorial concession for which the Chinese stood firm. On the 12th of February, 1881, these views were embodied in a treaty signed at St. Petersburg, and the ratification within six months showed how differently its provisions were regarded from those of its predecessor. With the Marquis Tseng's act of successful diplomacy the final result of the long war in Central Asia was achieved. The Chinese added Ili to Kashgar and the rest of the New Dominion, which at the end of 1880 was made into a High Commissionership and placed under the care of the dashing general Liu Kintang.

CHAPTER XX.

THE WAR BETWEEN FRANCE AND CHINA.

THE signature of the Treaty of St. Petersburg was the highwater mark of China's reputation in Europe. China, without any external support, without even looking for an ally, had resolutely faced a great Power, and insisted on the surrender to the very letter of her rights. She had stood firm, and Russia, of all Powers, had given way. The significance of such an incident might easily be, as we now know that it was, exaggerated. It did not mean that the strength of the Chinese Government was equal to a great war with the states of Europe, but that its diplomacy in Europe had been directed with such astuteness as to produce an impression of power that in reality had no existence. For this costless triumph China was indebted to the rare courage and skill of the Englishman who has been the true director of her diplomacy in the capitals of Europe since she made her appearance there, and whose portrait forms the frontispiece of this volume. I have said that Sir Halliday Macartney was the guide of her diplomacy, but it must not be supposed that he has had any part or share in the feeble policy favoured by the blind and weakkneed rulers of China. Well would it have been for their unfortunate country if they had followed his advice, and stood firm at the right moment and given way when it was prudent and possible to abate with dignity antiquated and untenable pretensions. As they would not take advice they have had to suffer, and the twenty years of creditable effort and uniform success that culminated in the St. Petersburg Treaty have been followed by an equal period of discomfiture, defeat, and