The Siege Of Manas
Had Been Vigorously Prosecuted In Order That The Town Might Be Taken
Before The Army Of Yakoob Beg Should Arrive.
The Athalik Ghazi may have
believed that Manas could hold out during the winter, for his movements in
1876 were leisurely, and betrayed a confidence that no decisive fighting
would take place until the following spring.
His hopes were shown to be
delusive, but too late for practical remedy. Manas had fallen before he
could move to its support. The Chinese had crushed the Tungani, and were
in possession of the mountain passes. They were gathering their whole
strength to fall upon him, and to drive him out of the state in which he
had managed to set up a brief authority. While the events recorded had
been in progress, Yakoob Beg had been ruling the state of Kashgaria with
sufficient vigor and wisdom to attract the observation of his great
neighbors, the governments of England and Russia. He had shown rare skill
in adapting circumstances to suit his own ends. The people passively
accepted the authority which he was prepared to assert with his Khokandian
soldiery, and the independent state of Kashgaria might have continued to
exist for a longer period had the Chinese not returned. But in 1875 the
arrival of Kinshun at Barkul showed Yakoob Beg that he would have to
defend his possessions against their lawful owners, while the overthrow of
the Tungani and the capture of their strongholds, in 1876, carried with
them a melancholy foreboding of his own fate.
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Words from 170411 to 170669
of 191255
