drew attention to the weakness of the tenure of Chinese authority, and many petitions were forwarded to Canton for aid. At last the entreaties of the settlers could be no longer ignored, and troops were sent to attack the aborigines. The Viceroy even went in person, and his measures were completely successful. Security was obtained for the people, and Hainan reverted to its natural position as a Chinese island. By right both of its resources and situation this is an island of which the outer world is certain before long to hear more.

The Emperor had many causes of anxiety in his own domestic affairs and in the condition of the country. Famine in the North, and inundations from the overflow of the great rivers, entailed an amount of suffering and a loss of human life that would appear almost incredible if stated in the bald language of figures. But in a country in parts not merely over-populated, but with a population rapidly increasing to excess, such sweeping calamities seemed to be the providential remedy of a permanent evil. Yet under a combination of difficulties the Government never showed itself supine, or allowed itself to be suspected of indifference to popular suffering. Taoukwang's energy was laudably conspicuous, and no means were spared by him to mitigate suffering and to prevent the recurrence of national catastrophes.

In his domestic life, also, Taoukwang was not free from disquietude. In the year 1831, his only son, who had been selected as his successor, and who was then twenty years of age, gave him some cause of offence. The Emperor, enraged at the prince's conduct, is said to have inflicted personal chastisement with his own hand. The blow may have hastened the end of this prince, a weak youth addicted to debauchery in every form. He certainly died soon afterwards, leaving Taoukwang without a son. The grief at this occurrence was, however, soon appeased by the news that two of his favourite concubines had been delivered of sons, one of whom became, many years afterwards, the Emperor Hienfung. At this critical moment the Emperor was seized with a severe illness, which seemed likely to prove mortal

and his brother Hwuy Wang took steps to secure the succession for himself. Taoukwang fortunately recovered, and those who had hoped to profit by his disappearance became the objects of his suspicion, and felt the force of his righteous indignation. His troubles, however, were not yet over; the death of the Empress, his favourite wife, cast a still greater gloom over the year 1831, and made a permanent impression on the mind of the ruler, which, always disposed to brooding, became tinged with a deeper shade of melancholy.

These troubles in the palace and in the bosom of the reigning family were the fitting prelude to the far more serious perils which suddenly revealed themselves in the interior of the country. Taoukwang had had minor insurrections and popular disturbances to deal with, like all his predecessors; but they had not presented themselves in any grave form, and they had been confined to remote quarters of his dominions. Even the secret societies which had disturbed his father gave no symptoms of life, and were apparently deprived of the importance which they once. possessed. These anticipations received, however, a shock not less severe than sudden in the year 1832, that following the deaths of the heir-apparent and the Empress.

The Miaotze have been mentioned on many previous occasions as a source of trouble to the governors in the southern provinces of the Empire. They had been kept in order of late years by the fear as much of losing their supply of salt as of active reprisals on the part of the Imperial authorities. But there was always a sense of strained relationship between these independent hillmen and the local mandarins, who interpreted their inaction as a testimony to their own power and vigilance, and who were disposed to be arrogant in proportion as their neighbours were humble. In 1832, tired of a life of inaction, or irritated by some more than usually dictatorial act on the part of the officials, they broke out into rebellion, and one of their chiefs was said to have taken the extreme step of proclaiming himself Emperor. However false that may have been, the conduct of the Miaotze could not have been more pronounced in its hostility than

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it was, and a small body of Chinese troops was ordered to proceed against the insurgents and pursue them even into their fastnesses.

The Miaotze of the district round Lienchow, in the northwest of the province of Kwantung, were the most turbulent on this occasion. Their chief took the distinctive title of Wang, with the appellation of "the Golden Dragon." But perhaps the strongest proof that in this outbreak they were prompted by some deeper motive than an instinct of marauding was furnished by the marked forbearance they evinced towards the people. Four towns passed into their possession, but the inhabitants were spared and treated with consideration. The military alone were put to the sword. Were it conceivable that the Chinese could have accepted liberty and emancipation from a foreign yoke at the hands of a semibarbarous tribe, then the Miaotze might have been joined by large numbers of the Chinese people, discontented with their lot and not over-well disposed to the authority of Pekin. But the national dislike to the Miaotze as an alien and inferior race was not to be removed by any considerations of a temporary identity of interest, and although the Miaotze chief's proclamation and line of conduct showed political sagacity and a statesman-like instinct, it could not convert the ebullition of warlike fervour among his own people into a patriotic movement on a large scale.

Yet the valour of the Miaotze secures the movement from being consigned to the limbo of oblivion on account of its insignificance. A small detachment under the command of a Manchu officer was attacked in an ambuscade and exterminated. The arms of those who fell increased the scanty stock of weapons in the possession of the Miaotze. On the approach of a stronger force they retired to the security of their hills, covered with snow during the winter. Peremptory orders were sent from Pekin to suppress the insurrection, and Le, the Viceroy at Canton, took the field in person, with all the troops he could collect. These were not very efficient, and when Le came into contact with the rebels he found himself compelled to remain on the defensive. Other measures were resorted to in order to effect the pacification of the country,

and the services of some of the Miaotze were utilized for the purpose of bringing their kinsmen to their knees. But for a long time neither manner of proceeding effected much to any purpose. The traitors were discovered and executed, and Taoukwang's levies were repulsed, although some successful skirmishes were magnified by the process common to all embarrassed administrations into great victories. Even the despatch to the scene of Hengan, one of the great functionaries of the Court, failed to produce any speedy improvement.

While the Canton troops were making this slow progress, those of Hoonan had been more fortunate. In May, 1832, they gained a decided success over the rebels at the town of Pingtseuen, and drove the Miaotze back into their hills. The blow was made still more severe by the death of the chief, Golden Dragon. So far as that portion of the country was concerned the rebels were completely overthrown, and the lieutenants of Taoukwang could conscientiously report that they had maintained and vindicated his power. This victory was, however, heavily compensated for by the signal defeat of the Viceroy Le and the Canton army in the following month. Encouraged by the success of his Northern colleague, Le attacked the main body of the Miaotze in their mountain fastness; but the result was not flattering to his skill and courage. The Chinese army was driven back in confusion, and eighty officers and many hundreds of soldiers were slain. Le endeavoured to conceal the extent of his discomfiture, and in his official report omitted to give the names of the men who had fallen. This produced great dissatisfaction in the army, and a mutiny was only averted by the prompt addition of the names of those who had deserved well of their country. For, as the soldiers said, "there is no use in our sacrificing our lives in secret; if our toils are concealed from the Emperor, neither we nor our posterity will be rewarded!"

Le was severely reprimanded for his incompetence or misfortune, and, under the goad of Imperial displeasure, raised his army in the field to an effective strength of 15,000 men, with which he prepared to exact a summary revenge.

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He was not destined to effect the solution of the difficulty. The credit rested with the military of Hoonan, and with the resolute acts of the Imperial commissioner Hengan. Le was removed from his high post and recalled to Pekin, when he was banished to Urumsti. His lieutenants were punished in different ways, and the successful Hoonan officer was appointed viceroy in Le's place. Whatever may have been the causes that contributed to the speedy pacification of the Miaotze region, Hengan was able to report, "ten days after his arrival," that the principal offenders had been brought to justice, that the Miaotze had given pledges of improved behaviour, and that some of them had become so submissive as even to shave their heads and adopt the Tartar tail. Although there were subsequent rumours of fresh risings and renewed disorders, the Miaotze never after that day disturbed the Emperor's peace of mind.

Some were disposed to think that Hengan's arrangement was a farce, and that the Miaotze remained as turbulent in their practices as ever. The lapse of time served to show that such scepticism was not justified by the facts, and that the fierce Yaoujin, or Wolfmen, as they were called, had indeed consented to abstain from violence. With the death of their chief, the Golden Dragon, at Pingtseuen, the tribe lost the man who had given a motive to their uprising, and who seemed to supply, in political capacity, the main deficiencies of a semi-barbarous people. The Miaotze have ever since been quiescent, if not altogether as dutiful in their allegiance as other Chinese subjects. But they are still independent, and their mountain homes constitute a region apart from the rest of the Empire. A later generation may witness some fresh ebullition of martial ardour or of predatory instinct. But when that time comes, the Pekin Government will be able, by the aid of European weapons, to accomplish the task of correction with greater ease than at any previous period. The Miaotze have been magnified by Western writers into a source of national danger. They were never that, and even as the pest of certain localities their days of power are already numbered.

These insurrections, and the military operations which