36 



Till: STANDARD DKTI'N\KY OF FACTS 



conquered China, and in U.'iJ). the celebrated 

 Kuhlai Khan, a nephew of the latter, ascended 

 the throne and founded the Mongol dynasty. 

 His ninth descendant was driven from the 

 throne, and a native dyna>ty. called Ming, again 

 succeeded in 1368, in the person of Hungwu. A 

 long period of peace ensued, but was broken 

 about 1618. when the Munchus gained the as- 

 cendency. and after a war of twenty-seven years, 

 founded" the existing Tartar dynasty in the per- 

 son of Tun. lishing their capital in the 



northern city of Peking, which was nearer their 

 OOUntjy and re-ouree- than the old capital 

 Nanking. The earliest authentic accounts of 

 China, published in Europe, are those of Marco 

 Polo, who visited the country in the Thirteenth 

 Century. The fir-t British intercourse was at- 

 tempted under Queen Elizabeth. in 1596, and a 

 trade was subsequently established by the East 

 India Company, but no direct intercourse be- 

 tween the governments took place till the em- 

 bassy of Lord Macartney, in 1792. A second 

 embassy in 1816, by Lore! Amherst, was treated 

 with insolence; and, subsequently, the treat- 

 ment of British merchants became such that a 

 collision was inevitable. In 1840, the British, 

 on being refused redress for injuries, partly real 

 ainl partly alleged, proceeded to hostilities, and 

 after scattering, almost without a struggle, every 

 force which was opposed to them, were prepar- 

 ing to lay siege to Nanking, when the Chinese 

 found it necessary to sue for peace. A treaty 



which the five 



n necessary o sue or p 



then concluded (1842), by 



ts of Canton, Amoy, Foo-ch 



was 



ports of Canton, Amoy, Foo-chow-foo, Ningpo, 

 and Shanghai were opened to British merchants, 

 the island of Hong-Kong ceded 'tq the British in 

 perpetuity, and the payment of 21,000,000 dol- 

 lars agreed to be made by the Chinese. In 1850, 

 an insurrection, headed by Hung-seu-tseuan, or 

 Tien-te, broke out in the provinces adjoining 

 Canton, with the object of expelling the Manchu 

 dynasty from the throne, as well as of restoring 

 the ancient national religion of Shan-ti, and of 

 making Tien-te the founder of a new dynasty, 

 which he called that of Tai-ping, or Universal 

 Peace. After a long period of civil war, the 

 Tai-ping rebellion was at length suppressed in 

 1865, chiefly by the exertions of General Gordon 

 and other British and American officers at the 

 head of the Chinese army. In October, 1856, 

 the crew of a vessel belonging to Hong-Kong 

 were seized by the Chinese. The men were 

 afterwards brought back, but all reparation or 

 apology was refused. In consequence of this, a 

 war with China commenced, in which the French 

 took part with the British. Peking had to be 

 taken (in 1860) before the Chinese Government 

 finally gave way, and granted a treaty securing 

 important privileges to the allies. The present 

 emperor, Tsaitien, succeeded in 1875, but only 

 a uined the reigns of government in 1887, on 

 reaching the age of sixteen. War was declared ; 

 between China and Japan on July 31, 1894. \ 

 Japan, by a series of brilliant victories, both on 

 land and sea, brought the war to an end in 

 April, 1895. Corea was declared independent, 

 Formosa ceded to Japan, and China was forced 

 to pay a very large war indemnity. The follow- 

 ing succinct statement of recent progress in I 

 China was lately made by a missionary who , 



has labored in that country since 1863: "\Ylu> 

 among us, ten years ago, would have dared to 

 imagine that to-day China would have (1) a 

 national fleet ; (2) the telegraph radiating to the 

 most distant provinces; (3) government colleges 

 for engineering, navigation, military tactics, 

 electricity, and medicine; (4) the Kai-ping mines 

 supplying steamers and the north ports with 

 excellent and cheap coal." During 1898, both 

 Kiiia and (Jermany had taken possession of 

 certain provinces of China. In 1900, the Boxers 

 rose against the foreigners, attacked the lega- 

 tions in Peking, murdered the German and other 

 ! attache's, a number of the missionaries and 

 native converts, and destroyed the stations. A 

 'punitive war by the powers followed; indem- 

 I nity and future guarantees and punishment of 

 ' the principals were demanded, and subsequently 

 paid. 



In 1903, insurrection and rebellion kept sev- 

 eral provinces in a state of disturbance during 

 a greater part of the year. Kwang Si, Che 

 Kiang, Canton, Chi-li, Hu Pei, and Yun Nan. 

 widely separated provinces, were the scenes of 

 the most important of the revolts. That in 

 Kwang Si assumed the mpst alarming propor- 

 tions, and lasted from January until May. 

 Rebels in North China proclaimed Pu Chun, 

 Prince Tuan's son, as emperor, but the move- 

 ment was suppressed before it reached great 

 importance. As a result of the rebellion in the 

 Province of Kwang Si, the country was deso- 

 lated and a serious famine threatened. It was 

 reported that 1,000,000 persons were starving, 

 and that men were selling their wives and chil- 

 dren in jorder to get food. A complete crop 

 failure in the region around Peking threatened 

 to bring about the same conditions in that prov- 

 ince. In 1907-'08, a number of edicts were issued 

 looking to the extension of self-government in 

 the cities, and a larger degree of civil liberty. 



Cisalpine Republic. A former political 

 division of Italy, embracing portions of Mantua, 

 the Milanese, the Valteline, Venetia west and 

 south of the Adige, Modena, and the northern 

 Pontifical States. Inaugurated by Napoleon I. 

 in 1797, it was named the Italian Republic in 

 1802, and three years later constituted the prin- 

 cipal part of the Italian Kingdom. 



Cispadane Republic (sis' pah-dan). One 

 of the embryo states the other being the so-" 

 called Transpadane Republic initiated by Na- 

 poleon I., 1796; they were composed of Italian 

 territory reconquered from the Austrians, etc., 

 and, in 1797, became absorbed in the Cisalpine 

 Republic, q. v.: so termed from being on that 

 side of the river Po (Padus} nearest to Rome. 



Colorado. Colorado was first organized 

 as a territory in 1861, from parts of Kan 

 Nebraska, New Mexico, and Utah. A portion 

 of it was derived from the Louisiana purchase 

 of 1803, and a part from the Mexican cession of 

 1848. This region was first settled by Corona* lo 

 in 1540. It was thoroughly explored by expe- 

 ditions sent out by the government, under 

 Major Zebulon M. Pike, in 1806; under Colonel 

 S. H. Long, in 1820; and under Colonel J. C. 

 Fremont, in 1842-44. The first American set- 

 tlements were made by mining parties in 1858- 

 59, since which time Colorado has become even 



