The Seven
Khojas - Haft Khojagan - Issued Their Proclamation In The Winter Of 1845-46,
Rallied All Their Adherents To Their Side, And Made Allies Of The Kirghiz
Tribes.
When the Mohammedan forces left the hills they advanced with extreme
rapidity on Kashgar, to which they laid siege.
After a siege of a
fortnight they obtained possession of the town through the treachery of
some of the inhabitants; but the citadel or yangyshahr continued to hold
out, and their excesses in the town so alienated the sympathy of the
Kashgarians, that no popular rising took place, and the Chinese were able
to collect all their garrisons to expel the invaders. The Khojas were
defeated in a battle at Kok Robat, near Yarkand, and driven out of the
country. The affair of the seven Khojas, which at one time threatened the
Chinese with the gravest danger, thus ended in a collapse, and it is
remarkable as being the only invasion in which the Mohammedan subjects of
China did not fraternize with her enemies. Notwithstanding the magnitude
of his services as an administrator, Zuhuruddin was disgraced and
dismissed from his post for what seemed his culpable apathy at the
beginning of the campaign.
Another indication of the weakness of the Chinese executive was furnished
in the piratic confederacy which established itself at the entrance of the
Canton River, and defied all the efforts of the mandarins until they
enlisted in their behalf the powerful co-operation of the English navy.
The Bogue had never been completely free from those lawless persons who
are willing to commit any outrage if it holds out a certain prospect of
gain with a minimum amount of danger, and the peace had thrown many
desperate men out of employment who thought they could find in piracy a
mode of showing their patriotism as well as of profiting themselves. These
turbulent and dangerous individuals gathered round a leader named
Shapuntsai, and in the year of which we are speaking, 1849, they
controlled a large fleet and a well-equipped force, which levied blackmail
from Fochow to the Gulf of Tonquin, and attacked every trading ship,
European or Chinese, which did not appear capable of defending itself. If
they had confined their attacks to their own countrymen it is impossible
to say how long they might have gone on in impunity, for the empire
possessed no naval power; but, unfortunately for them, and fortunately for
China, they seized some English vessels and murdered some English
subjects. One man-of-war under Captain Hay was employed in operations
against them, and in the course of six months fifty-seven piratical
vessels were destroyed, and a thousand of their crews either slain or
taken prisoners. Captain Hay, on being joined by another man-of-war, had
the satisfaction of destroying the remaining junks and the depots in the
Canton River, whereupon he sailed to attack the headquarters of Shapuntsai
in the Gulf of Tonquin. After some search the piratical fleet was
discovered off an island which still bears the name of the Pirates' Hold,
and after a protracted engagement it was annihilated. Sixty junks were
destroyed, and Shapuntsai was compelled to escape to Cochin China, where
it is believed that he was executed by order of the king. The dispersion
of this powerful confederacy was a timely service to the Chinese, who were
informed that the English government would be at all times happy to afford
similar aid at their request. Even at this comparatively early stage of
the intercourse it was apparent that the long-despised foreigners would be
able to render valuable service of a practical kind to the Pekin
executive, and that if the Manchus wished to assert their power more
effectually over their Chinese subjects they would be compelled to have
recourse to European weapons and military and scientific knowledge. The
suppression of the piratical confederacy of the Bogue was the first
occasion of that employment of European force, which was carried to a much
more advanced stage during the Taeping rebellion, and of which we have
certainly not seen the last development.
One of the last acts of Taoukwang's reign showed to what a depth of mental
hesitation and misery he had sunk. It seems that the Chinese New Year's
day - February 12, 1850 - was to be marked by an eclipse of the sun, which
was considered very inauspicious, and as the emperor was especially
susceptible to superstitious influences, he sought to get out of the
difficulty, and to avert any evil consequences, by decreeing that the new
year should begin on the previous day. But all-powerful as a Chinese
emperor is, there are some things he cannot do, and the good sense of the
Chinese revolted against this attempt to alter the course of nature. The
imperial decree was completely disregarded, and received with expressions
of derision, and in several towns the placards were torn down and defaced.
Notwithstanding the eclipse, the Chinese year began at its appointed time.
Some excuse might be made for Taoukwang on the ground of ill-health, for
he was then suffering from the illness which carried him off a few weeks
later. His health had long been precarious, the troubles of his reign had
prematurely aged him, and he had experienced a rude shock from the death,
at the end of 1849, of his adopted mother, toward whom he seems to have
preserved the most affectionate feelings. From the first day of his
illness its gravity seems to have been appreciated, and an unfavorable
issue expected. On February 25, a grand council was held in the emperor's
bed-chamber, and the emperor wrote in his bed an edict proclaiming his
fourth son his heir and chosen successor. Taoukwang survived this
important act only a very short time, but the exact date of his death is
uncertain. There is some reason for thinking that his end was hastened by
the outbreak of a fire within the Imperial City, which threatened it with
destruction.
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