The Life of Yakoob Beg; Athalik Ghazi, and Badaulet; Ameer of Kashgar

After leaving Sanju, the country had, for some days' journey, an appearance of barrenness, that was only relieved by the avidity with which patches of more promising soil had been cultivated, a fact which testified alike to the beneficence of the ruler and to the assiduity of his people. There is good reason for believing that in the Yarkand and Khoten districts, Yakoob Beg's administration was most successful. This may have been caused by the superior qualities of the people over the Tungani, and mixed populations farther east; but it must also be attributed to the absence of those desolating wars which went on without any long intervals down to the year 1874, in the country held by the Tungani. The treachery of Yakoob Beg in murdering the Khan Habitulla of Khoten had aroused suspicions as to his good faith that only lay dormant during the days of his power; but the people of Khoten, Sanju, Karghalik, and Kilia were far too thrifty and too prudent to sit down supinely and dwell upon their wrongs. They neither forgot nor forgave, but they suppressed all trace of seditious opinions against the new ruler.

The next city which Mr. Forsyth reached, Karghalik, showed still further signs of prosperity and civilization. "An eating-house, with its clean table, and forms, and piles of china plates and bowls, at once took us back across the seas to the recollection of many a country restaurant in France." Special preparations had in every way been made for the reception of the representatives of England, and Mr. Forsyth expressed his surprise at finding fire-places, like our own, ventilators, and rich carpets from Khoten, famous in days of yore for its manufacture of those articles, in the quarters that had been set apart as his residence. Similar preparations had been made at every stopping place, and the people not less than the sovereign did their best, and spared no exertion, to make the stay of the Feringhees as pleasant as possible for them. More than that, even at the resting places during the daily march, the headman or local magnate, without exception, always entertained them at a "dastarkhwan," that is to say, at a course of refreshments. The "dastarkhwan" literally means table-cloth, and consists of any number of distinct dishes, sometimes as many as a hundred, held by as many attendants. This is a national custom, from which there is never any deviation. It is incumbent upon the guest to break bread first, and then present it to his host. One of their customs is refreshing to any one who has come fresh from India, with all its troublesome caste distinctions. "Be the host Turk or British, he and his guests eat alike from the same dish, and hand food to the surrounding attendants, who are troubled with no scruples of caste to interfere with their hearty appetite."

The mission was now drawing close to Yarkand, politically and commercially the most important city in the state, and accordingly preparations were made for a formal entry. At a village called Zilchak a chamberlain, or Yasawal-Bashi, came out with a party of the royal body-guard, Yakoob Beg's favourite jigits, in their buff leather uniform, to act as an escort, and the party was swollen en route by numerous influential citizens and merchants, who advanced to give an early welcome to the new arrivals. By these additions quite an imposing cavalcade drew nigh to the walls of Yarkand. The quarters set apart for the Englishmen were in the fort, which lies to the north of the city, so that Yarkand had to be ridden through before their halting place was reached. The people who thronged to witness the sight seemed very well disposed, and altogether there was every reason to feel well satisfied with these mutual first impressions, which, some had asserted, would be far from pleasant.

The following day there was an interview of ceremony with the Dadkhwah of Yarkand, Mahomed Yunus Jan, for whose history the reader is referred to Chapter IX., and then the visitors were permitted to go wherever they liked. On Mr. Forsyth's former visit a similar freedom had not been accorded him. Their first appearance in the streets was the occasion for a great deal of bustling on the part of the curious, but of friendly goodwill also. All the principal streets and bazaars were visited in turn, such as the butchers' street, or market, where the varieties of meat were clearly to be seen, and their quality tested by their tails or heads being left untouched. It appears to be the fashion in Yarkand to purchase the necessaries of life during the morning, and the luxuries in the evening. There is a special evening bazaar, called Shám, where hats and other clothes, in addition to various other articles, are put up for sale in the afternoon. This, when lit up with Chinese lamps, must have presented a stirring sight, very similar to a country fair in our country. Sir Douglas Forsyth does not tell us whether under Yakoob Beg it was customary to illuminate this bazaar with the gaudy lamps of the Chinese, or whether our imagination of such a scene must be referred back to the days of the old domination.

Nor were these harmonious relations confined to the lower people and ourselves alone. Their rulers set an example that all strove to imitate. Between the officers of the mission and the Dadkhwah something more cordial than a chivalrous sentiment of guest towards host sprang up, and was heartily reciprocated; while Hadji Torah smoothed down all difficulties by his ready tact and never-failing resource. The latter did not remain the whole time of the three weeks that the mission remained at Yarkand, but set out for the capital, in order to put the Ameer au courant with English affairs, and the exact objects our authorities had before them with regard to his country.

Mahomed Yunus had placed at the disposal of the mission a considerable number of the carts of the country, which proved very serviceable. These carts are strongly built, with two wheels, six feet in diameter, and are drawn by four or six ponies, as the case may be. They are not permitted to carry a greater weight than ten hundredweight, but with that load it is quite customary for them to perform journeys of twenty and twenty-five miles a day. In carts of this kind the heavier baggage was carried from Yarkand to Kashgar, while the members of the mission with a lighter camp followed on some days afterwards. While mentioning these carts, so superior to the Indian modes of conveyance, we will remark that they also are used as omnibuses and stage coaches. They ply frequently between the fort and city of Kashgar, a distance of five miles, and they are also used as a stage coach doing the whole distance from Yarkand to Kashgar in five stages. But no company, with its regulations and bye-laws has a monopoly of this branch of locomotion, and there is a tariff fixed by law which cannot be departed from.

On the 28th of November the mission set out from Yarkand, and for a certain distance high officials, by order of the Dadkwah, bore it company to speed it on its journey. From Yarkand to Yangy Hissar the country was equally prosperous-looking, but there was much desert land as well. The villages of Kok Robat and Ak Robat (names meaning Blue and White Post-house respectively) wore a flourishing look, and the appearance of Yakoob Beg's soldiery, still jigits, who looked prim on parade, and yet could play the part of waiter, carpenter, or what not, with equal facility, added a sense of order and cohesion to the whole display. The appearance of Yangy Hissar was made more imposing to the view by the proximity of the formidable fort Yakoob Beg had erected there; but in itself, owing to the houses being surrounded by mud walls, with crenellated tops, it closely resembled a fortification. There was only a brief stay here, and the mission then commenced its last stage of all. The 4th of December, 1873, was the eventful day which first saw an English envoy enter that capital, which Mr. Shaw had visited four years before in a non-official capacity. Special quarters had been prepared, at a short distance from the fort, where is also the royal palace, for the envoy, and these Elchi Khana had been fitted up in a very comfortable, if not luxurious style. Ihrar Khan Torah, who had visited India as envoy twice before, was the first to pay a visit to the new arrivals, and to request that they would come at once to see the Athalik Ghazi. The following description is Sir Douglas Forsyth's own account of his first interview with the Ameer: —

"According to etiquette we dismounted at about forty paces from the gateway, and walked slowly along with Ihrar Khan, the Yasawal-Bashi, or head chamberlain, with white wand in hand going ahead. In the outer gateway soldiers were seated on a dais with their firearms laid on the ground before them, their arms folded, and their eyes on the ground. We then crossed obliquely an empty court-yard, and passing through a second gateway filled with soldiers, crossed another court, on all sides of which soldiers in gay costumes were ranged seated. From this court we passed into the penetralia, a small court, in which not a soul was visible, and everywhere a deathlike stillness prevailed. At the further end of this court was a long hall, with several window doors. Ihrar Khan then led us in single file, with measured tread, to some steps at the side of the hall, and, entering almost on tiptoe, looked in, and, returning, beckoned with his hand to me to advance alone. As I approached the door he made a sign for me to enter, and immediately withdrew. I found myself standing at the threshold of a very common-looking room, perfectly bare of all ornament, and with a not very good carpet on the floor: looking about I saw enter at a doorway on the opposite side a tall stout man, plainly dressed. He beckoned with his hand, and I advanced, thinking that it must be a chamberlain who was to conduct me to 'the presence.' Instinctively, however, I made a bow as I advanced, and soon found myself taken by both hands, and saluted with the usual form of politeness, and I knew that I was standing before the far-famed ruler of Eastern Turkestan. After a few words of welcome the Athalik led me across the room and seated me near him, by the side of a window. At this moment a salute of fifteen guns was fired. His Highness asked in an eager tone after the health of Her Majesty, and of the Viceroy, and soon afterwards called, in a low voice, to Ihrar Khan to bring in the other officers. They came in one by one, and each was shaken by the hand, and made to sit down by my side. Then there was a long and somewhat trying pause, during which the Athalik eyed each one of us with intent scrutiny. I had been told that etiquette forbade the guest to speak much on the first interview, and that it was a point of good manners to sit perfectly still with downcast eyes… After this silent ordeal had been undergone for some time, at a sign from the Athalik, sixteen soldiers came in with the dastarkhwan, and the Athalik breaking a loaf of bread shared it with us. After the cloth was removed, we, remembering our lesson in manners, rose up, and stroking our beards, said, 'Allah o Akbar;' soon after which the Athalik said, 'Khush, amadeed' ('You are welcome')."

Thus ended this imposing interview, imposing not for any magnificence or barbaric splendour that appertained either to the court or person of the ruler, but by reason of the mysterious character of the Ameer himself, of his vague power and influence, and of the hold he had acquired over such of his subjects as comprised his court and his body guard. All his Khokandian friends and relations, whose fortunes, indeed, depended on his power, were stanchly attached to his person. It could not be given to envoys to possess such complete prescience as to foresee that the jarring elements, that still existed beneath the surface would suffice to overthrow his rule still more irretrievably when it received its first shock from external foes. To the observer, the appearance of Yakoob Beg and his military following was the highest evidence of latent power. Order was supreme, and discipline was as apparent in the palace of the Ameer as in the barrack yards of his fortresses.

The formal interview took place on the 11th of December, when the presents from our government to the Ameer, carried by over 100 men, were delivered to His Highness. There were guns of all kinds, including two small cannon, vases, &c., &c.; but the token of friendship at which the ruler showed most symptoms of pleasure was the autograph letter of Her Majesty. This letter was enclosed in a "magnificent casket of pale yellow quartz, clamped with gilt bands and handles, and bossed with onyx stones." The Ameer received this with unconcealed satisfaction, several times repeating, "God be praised." And then he made those declarations of friendship which, taken in conjunction with our admiration for the man, were the means of riveting England and Kashgar into a closer alliance than any that has as yet subsisted between ourselves and any other Central Asian ruler. "Your Queen is a great sovereign. Her government is a powerful and a beneficent one. Her friendship is to be desired, as it always proves a source of advantage to those who possess it. The Queen is as the sun, in whose genial rays such poor people as I flourish. I particularly desire the friendship of the English. It is essential to me. Your rule is just. The road is open to every one, and from here to London any one can come and go with perfect freedom."

On the 13th of December our representatives paid their first visit to the city of Kashgar. The country round Kashgar is very fertile, highly cultivated, and thickly populated, and the mission was not less struck by the air of prosperity prevalent here than it had been at Yarkand. In addition, the people had a healthier appearance, mainly through the absence of goitre. The Dadkhwah of Kashgar, Alish Beg, who was a Kashgari and not a Khokandian, was not less friendly than the Governor of Yarkand had been, and a very pleasant day was passed in his company. On the 18th a grand review was held, but for some reason, far from clear, only of the old Chinese troops who had taken service under the new ruler when Kashgar citadel fell. The description of the manœuvres which this force performed reads more like the display of an itinerant circus than of a disciplined army, but, nevertheless, these Khitay troops were excellent material for an army. Their practice with the tyfu, an awkward weapon, being a sort of gun-cannon, carried by two men and served by three, was pronounced very good up to 250 yards.

It is proper to state here, very clearly, that while the English mission was on Kashgarian soil it lived and travelled free of all expense, and as the Ameer paid his subjects in hard cash for whatever service they rendered, it is obvious that for a small state such as his was this was no trivial expense. It is only fair that this fact should be as widely known as possible, for some discontent was aroused by a similar hospitality being extended to the Seyyid Yakoob Khan last year. That discontent arose from ignorance; for it is hardly to be imagined that any Englishman would grumble at reciprocating the courteousness of a Central Asian potentate. The mission remained at the capital almost four months, and altogether the time passed very pleasantly. The weather was certainly rigorous; but then there was much to be done in the way of business, sight-seeing and amusement.

On the 2nd of February Yakoob Beg placed his seal to the treaty of commerce, and this act concluded the business portion of the English mission. On the 16th of March formal leave was taken of the Athalik Ghazi, and the mission returned to India. It had accomplished its task with pre-eminent success, and the Forsyth Embassy deserves long to be remembered as the most ably conducted and practically useful embassy that ever set out from India.

Since the signature of that treaty the Turkestan Trading Company has been very actively engaged in despatching several caravans annually into Kashgaria; but now, whether temporarily or permanently remains to be seen, its operations have come to a standstill. In these later years, Mr. Shaw, in his old post as Commissioner in Ladakh, had been as quietly performing his useful work as ever before; and there were rumours that he was to receive his reward in being sent as another envoy, or rather as a resident agent, into Kashgaria, last year. If the appointment were made, it has at this date (October 1st) been for the time suspended; and such entirely new considerations have come into play that it may be postponed for an indefinite period. Hadji Torah's visit to this country, in June and July, 1877, when the Turko-Russian war had rendered the Eastern Question once more acute, revived our interest, which had been flagging, in Eastern Turkestan. But he came at an unfortunate moment, for June brought us tidings of reverses round Turfan, and July did not pass away without the intelligence of the death of the Athalik Ghazi himself.

There had, before the receipt of this definite intelligence, been absurd rumours of the part Yakoob Beg was resolved to play in Central Asia as the ally of the Porte, while he, poor man, was opposing with despair, and at the cost of his life, a relentless and irresistible foe. Such is the irony of circumstance! The vanquished in Asia was by some freak of imagination converted in Europe into the arbiter of a great question, and the guide of all those peoples of either Turkestan who chafe at the bit because of Russian rule. But in reality, with the return of Sir Douglas Forsyth, our relations with Kashgar, which at one time promised to have been most cordial, languished for want of a motive. No amount of admiration would suffice to make us permanently guarantee Kashgar against Russia, for the bare facts concerning the intervening country at once chilled the sympathy at our hearts. The Grim Pass, and the road lined with desiccated travellers and animals, effaced the bright picture of the orchards of Kashgar and the busy streets of Yarkand. There was a sigh of profound relief, that would not be suppressed, when Sir Douglas Forsyth's report made the fact clear, that wherever else India might be menaced she was safe, at least, from attack north of Cashmere. It is true that there is a feasible route from Khoten to Ruduk, and thence to India; but Yakoob Beg did not hold it, and its consideration was considered to be beside the question. In fact, after 1874, we entertained much the same opinion towards Kashgar and Yakoob Beg that we did towards Poland and Kosciusko; and we were beginning to reconcile ourselves to a Russian installation in that state, when the returning Chinese made us reflect more deeply on Central Asian matters, and discover that after all has been said against the assertion there exists a third, and hitherto neglected, great Power in Central Asia. There was never anything save a kindly feeling between the two countries, and all who could admire bravery and justice and hospitality and frank courtesy were attached to the individual who had proved that he possessed all these attributes in no mean degree. But there was no deeper sympathy than this, or rather there was no stronger connecting link. The Indian government felt that it would be championing an unrecognized cause in supporting Yakoob Beg against all comers, and in the press of more urgent matters our relations with the Athalik Ghazi became lost sight of.

The effect of this treatment upon the Ameer was not unapparent, and during the last twelve months of his rule he had become more Russian and less English in his policy. But we preserved "the even-tenor of our way." Yakoob Beg had no hold over us such as must always be possessed by the ruler of Afghanistan. Practically speaking, his state was more inaccessible to us than Tibet, and the Russians at Yarkand would be a source of far less danger to us than warlike and hostile Chinese might become at Lhasa. To sum up, England and Kashgar were friends because they had no reason to be foes; but they were indifferent friends. The tear might be shed for mutual misfortunes, and condolences might be uttered when cause for grief arose; but that was all. There was no alliance in the true sense, nor was there firm and unswerving friendship. There was a brief space occupied by sympathy and goodwill; then ensued an unbroken period of unvarying indifference. Before 1877, the spark that had been kindled by Mr. Shaw, and fanned to the dimensions of a flame by Sir Douglas Forsyth, had gone out, and with its extinction passed away the solid fabric that many had hoped to rear upon the base which the enterprise of a few intrepid men had diligently prepared. Whether we were prudent or imprudent, true or false, kind or unkind, Yakoob Beg leaned on a broken reed when he bade defiance to Russia, trusting on our support. This chapter of our policy in Central Asia may be closed as speedily as possible; if we do not come out of it with much glory, it is to be hoped that a lenient posterity may judge our demerits with a merciful consideration for the preservation of a strict and irresponsible neutrality.

CHAPTER XII.

YAKOOB BEG'S LAST WAR WITH CHINA, AND DEATH

Until the close of the autumn of 1876 Yakoob Beg had not devoted much personal attention to his eastern frontier. After the first Tungan war and the capture of Kucha he had confided to his son and his lieutenants, the charge of maintaining order in the annexed districts, and of protecting his dominions against any hostile attempt on the part of the Chinese. About the month of September in that year couriers arrived with strange tidings in Kashgar. The message, we can well imagine, was terrible in its brevity. The Chinese had appeared north of the Tian Shan. They had sacked Urumtsi, and were laving close siege to Manas. Their numbers rumour had magnified to almost a hundred thousand combatants, and they came armed with all the auxiliaries Western science could supply.

Before following the movements of the ruler of Kashgar upon the receipt of this intelligence, it will be necessary to consider what had been the history of this Chinese army which had so suddenly appeared in Jungaria. When in the natural course of events the Chinese government, having solved the Taeping and Panthay difficulties, having restored order where disorder had been supreme, and having created an army where there had been only a disorganized rabble, turned its attention to the question, which it had never lost sight of, of chastising the Tungan rebels beyond Kansuh, the victorious soldiers of Yunnan, instead of being disbanded, were invited to participate in a fresh campaign in the regions beyond Gobi. It requires no great stretch of imagination to realize the scene when the imperial edict came before these veterans, calling on all true soldiers to vindicate their country's honour and their outraged religion against the Tungan outcasts; how the generals, such as Chang Yao, set an example of enthusiasm which the main body of their soldiers speedily followed. In the presence of such military enthusiasm we are transported back to the days of imperial Rome, when the subjection of one province was only the prelude to some fresh triumph, and when every campaign found in the ranks of the army the veterans of the last. So it was that the victors of Talifoo, by long marches through Szchuen and Shensi, reached Lanchefoo, the capital of Kansuh, where the viceroy of that province was gathering together the munitions of war, and the recruits who were to swell the nucleus of trained soldiers to the proportions suitable to an invading army. Some have considered, and we are far from denying that there is much to support such a view, that there was a political motive at the root of this enterprise, the motive being a desire on the part of the ruling family to give employment to a large disciplined body of men, who if retained in China proper would be at the service of any powerful conspirator or presumptuous aspirant to imperial honours. Whether there is any foundation or not for this supposition, it is certain that those troops who were not required for garrison work in Yunnan were taken by a round-about route at a great distance from the capital to the north-west frontier town of Lanchefoo, there to prepare for the most arduous military enterprise China had undertaken since her conquest of Eastern Turkestan in the last century.

It is not certain when these movements began to be carried out, but there appears to be no reason to doubt that the advanced portion of the Chinese army had commenced its march westward before the end of the year 1874. In the barren region between Lanchefoo and Hamil, a tract of country some 900 miles as the crow flies, but probably nearer 1,200 by the road followed by the Chinese, such difficulties were encountered that one if not two winters were occupied in overcoming these preliminary obstacles to the advance of the main force. The interval was not passed in complete idleness at headquarters, where magazines of arms and stores were being collected, recruits enlisted and drilled, and the plan of campaign that was to astonish Asia, if not Europe also, was being drawn up by the Viceroy of Kansuh in person and his able lieutenants. At last, with the break of spring upon the desert plains of Gobi, the Chinese army, which numbered in its entirety some 50,000 men, set out on the long road across the desert to the more fertile regions lying north and south of the Celestial Mountains. Of the details of this portion of the enterprise the Pekin Gazette is strangely reticent. The most profound secrecy was observed, and, although it was known that military events were in progress in the north-west, their object and their extent were mysteries. After the delay experienced by the advanced guard, which had to form fixed encampments, or rather settlements, in the desert, and plant the corn that was to enable it to advance in the following spring, no serious check was experienced by the Chinese until they appeared before the walls of Urumtsi, which the Tungan leaders had resolved to defend.