Among These Were The Restitution Of The Plunder And The Surrender
Of The Renegade Lama, Whose Tales Were Said To Have Whetted The Cupidity
Of The Goorkhas.
A haughty reply was sent back, and the Chinese were told
to do their worst.
In the desperately-contested battle which ensued the victory was decisive,
and the Goorkha king at once sued for peace, which was readily granted, as
the Chinese had attained all their objects, and Sund Fo was beginning to
be anxious about his retreat owing to the approach of winter. When,
therefore, the Goorkha embassy entered his camp Sund Fo granted terms
which, although humiliating, were as favorable as a defeated people could
expect. The Goorkhas took an oath to keep the peace toward their Tibetan
neighbors, to acknowledge themselves the vassals of the Chinese emperor,
to send a quinquennial embassy to China with the required tribute, and,
lastly, to restore all the plunder that had been carried off from Teshu
Lumbo. The exact language of this treaty has never been published, but its
provisions have been faithfully kept. The Goorkhas still pay tribute to
China; they have kept the peace with one insignificant exception ever
since on the Tibetan border; and they are correctly included among the
vassals of Pekin at the present time. The gratitude of the Tibetans, as
well as the increased numbers of the Chinese garrison, insured the
security of China's position in Tibet, and, as both the Tibetans and the
Goorkhas considered that the English deserted them in their hour of need,
for the latter when hard pressed also appealed to us for assistance, China
has had no difficulty in effectually closing Tibet to Indian trade. China
closed all the passes on the Nepaul frontier, and only allowed the
quinquennial mission to enter by the Kirong Pass. Among all the military
feats of China none is more remarkable or creditable than the overthrow of
the Goorkhas, who are among the bravest of Indian races, and who, only
twenty years after their crushing defeat by Sund Fo, gave the Anglo-Indian
army and one of its best commanders, Sir David Ochterloney, an infinity of
trouble in two doubtful and keenly contested campaigns.
Keen Lung's war in Formosa calls for only brief notice; but, in concluding
our notice of his many military conquests and campaigns, some description
must be given of the great rising in an island which Chinese writers have
styled "the natural home of sedition and disaffection." In the year 1786
the islanders rose, slaughtered the Tartar garrisons, and completely
subverted the emperor's authority. The revolt was one not on the part of
the savage islanders themselves, but of the Chinese colonists, who were
goaded into insurrection by the tyranny of the Manchu officials. At first
it did not assume serious dimensions, and it seemed as if it would pass
over without any general rising, when the orders of the Viceroy of
Fuhkien, to which Formosa was dependent until made a separate province a
few years ago, fanned the fuel of disaffection to a flame. The popular
leader Ling organized the best government he could, and, when Keen Lung
offered to negotiate, laid down three conditions as the basis of
negotiation. They were that "the mandarin who had ordered the cruel
measures of repression should be executed," that "Ling personally should
never be required to go to Pekin," and, thirdly, that "the mandarins
should abandon their old tyrannical ways." Keen Lung's terms were an
unconditional surrender and trust in his clemency, which Ling, with
perhaps the Miaotze incident fresh in his mind, refused. At first Keen
Lung sent numerous but detached expeditions to reassert his power; but
these were attacked in detail, and overwhelmed by Ling. Keen Lung said
that "his heart was in suspense both by night and by day as to the issue
of the war in Formosa"; but, undismayed by his reverses, the emperor sent
100,000 men under the command of a member of his family to crush the
insurrection. Complete success was attained by weight of numbers, and
Formosa was restored to its proper position in the empire.
A rising in Szchuen, which may be considered from some of its features the
precursor of the Taeping Rebellion, and the first outbreak of the Tungan
Mohammedans in the northwest, whom Keen Lung wished to massacre, marked
the close of this long reign, which was rendered remarkable by so many
military triumphs. The reputation of the Chinese empire was raised to the
highest point, and maintained there by the capacity and energy of this
ruler. Within its borders the commands of the central government were
ungrudgingly obeyed, and beyond them foreign peoples and states respected
the rights of a country that had shown itself so well able to exact
obedience from its dependents and to preserve the very letter of its
rights. The military fame of the Chinese, which had always been great
among Asiatics, attained its highest point in consequence of these
numerous and rapidly-succeeding campaigns. The evidences of military
proficiency, of irresistible determination, and of personal valor not
easily surpassed, were too many and too apparent to justify any in
ignoring the solid claims of China to rank as the first military country
in Asia - a position which, despite the appearance of England and Russia in
that continent, she still retains, and which must eventually enable her to
exercise a superior voice in the arrangement of its affairs to that of
either of her great and at present more powerful and better prepared
neighbors.
CHAPTER XIV
THE COMMENCEMENT OF EUROPEAN INTERCOURSE
Keen Lung was the first Manchu prince to receive formal embassies from the
sovereigns of Europe. Among these the Portuguese were the first in point
of time, although they never attained the advantage derivable from that
priority; and indeed the important period of their connection with China
may be said to have terminated before the Manchus had established their
authority. Still, as the tenants of Macao, the oldest European settlement
in China for more than three centuries and a half, their connection with
the Chinese government must always possess some features of interest and
originality.
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