418 



KASHGARIA. 



In October, 1876, a Russian Embassy was 

 dispatched to Yakub Beg, Amir of Kashgaria, 

 who had, however, departed before its arrival, 

 for the eastern portion of his dominions, in 

 consequence of rumors of Chinese victories 

 on the borders of Kansu. After spending a 

 month in the city of Kashgar, the Embassy 

 set out on its journey after the Amir, and 

 passing through the towns of Aksu and Kucha, 

 reached Kurnja, where he then was, on Jan- 

 uary 25th. It received a most nattering re- 

 ception at his hands, and remained at his head- 

 quarters for several weeks. It returned in 

 safety on April 18th. In this march of nearly 

 900 miles each way, the greater part of the 

 territory of Yakub Beg was passed through, 

 and exceptional means for acquiring informa- 

 tion was at the disposal of the Russian officers. 

 Captain Kuropatkin, who was intrusted with 

 the charge of the Embassy, contributed to the 

 Turkistan Gazette an account of the army 

 which the Amir had collected round Turfan, 

 and of which but for this statement we should 

 know nothing authentic. The picture he drew 

 of this force was anything but favorable. In- 

 stead of having under his command an army 

 of 50,000. as had previously been asserted, his 

 main force at Turfan was estimated at but 

 8,000, while at various other points along the 

 frontier there were only 17,500. Of these 10,- 

 000 were Sungarians, who are the same as the 

 Mohammedan rebels of Kansu, and Captain Ku- 

 ropatkin represents them as not only badly 

 armed, but also untrustworthy. The Kashgar 

 force proper was, therefore, according to this 

 Russian account, scarcely 16,000 men. Even 

 in their equipment, the stories told of his troops 

 being armed with breech-loaders seem to have 

 been much exaggerated, for only 2,000 were 

 armed with such weapons, the remainder pos- 

 sessing flint-locks, match-locks, and falconets 

 of various degrees of usefulness. As a pre- 

 liminary to the war with China, Yakub Beg 

 sought to improve his relations with Russia. 

 He gave a cordial reception to Colonel Preye- 

 valski, when crossing Kashgaria on his way 

 to Thibet, and also met Captain Kuropatkin's 

 mission with a very flattering reception. In 

 the midst of his operations, and after he had 

 been defeated by the Chinese in a battle in 

 the Devan defile, he was overtaken by death 

 on May 31st. His career, which was closely 

 identified with the history of Kashgaria, was 

 certainly a very remarkable one. He owed 

 nothing to birth, but was one of those soldiers 

 of fortune who nowhere so frequently reach 

 supreme power as in the troubled states of the 

 East. A native of Khokan, he first distin- 

 guished himself in the defense of the state 

 against the Russians. As early as 1853 he 

 was intrusted with the defense of Fort Ak- 

 Musjid, on the Syr-Darya, and even his foes 

 admitted that he f ought Tierdieally, although 

 he was unsuccessful. For a time little was 

 heard of him. But in 1863 he seized a chance 

 of distinction offered by the troubled state of 



Kashgaria. That khanate had been conquered 

 by the Chinese. Their rule, however, had been 

 disturbed by a mutiny of the Sungarian soldiers' 

 in their service, and the country was thrown 

 into a state of anarchy by the savageness and 

 fierceness of the struggle. The confusion was 

 rendered worse by marauding bands of Kir- 

 ghiz, who took the town of Kashgar after a 

 long siege, and instantly made it the scene of 

 pillage and frightful massacre. At that stage 

 of anarchy another invader appeared in the 

 person of Khoja Buzurg Khan, who belonged 

 to the family which had formerly ruled Kash- 

 garia, and which the Chinese had exiled. Bu- 

 zurg Khan took with him, as his general-in- 

 chief, Yakub Beg. Although the two adven- 

 turers brought a very small force, large num- 

 bers soon flocked to their standard, and the 

 military genius of Yakub gradually overcame 

 all opposition, and brought the whole country 

 under the nominal rule of Buzurg Khan. But 

 then followed an event which has become a 

 commonplace in Oriental warfare. Buzurg 

 was as indolent as Yakub was energetic, and 

 the lieutenant set aside the master. It is al- 

 most surprising that the chapter of deposition 

 was bloodless, for the successful aspirant was 

 never troubled by scruples. But Buzurg was 

 allowed to go into exile, and he may still be 

 alive. Yakub Khan, as he now called himself, 

 then showed that he had at least the right to 

 rule which comes from force of character and 

 grasp of intellect. He made his country the 

 most peaceful part of Central Asia. If he 

 ruled it with a rod of iron, he at least kept it 

 free from such revolutions as disturbed the 

 neighboring khanates. All the old factions 

 felt the grasp of a master, and they did not 

 dare to intrigue. His fame soon spread far 

 beyond the confines of Kashgar ; and, seeing 

 what he had done for the waning fortunes of 

 Mohammedanism, the Amir of Bokhara gave 

 him the title of the Attalik Ghazi, or leader of 

 the champions of the faith. The Turks seem 

 to have hoped that he might become a great 

 Mussulman power, and thus check the advance 

 of Russia. Abdul Aziz allowed him to take 

 the peculiarly honored title of Amir-el-Mume- 

 nein, or Commander of the Faithful, and Yakub 

 agreed to recognize the spiritual sovereignty 

 of Constantinople by putting the superscrip- 

 tion of the Sultan on his coins. He was alive 

 to the interests of trade as well as of religion, 

 and he entered into a treaty of commerce with 

 the Viceroy of India. But most of his energy 

 was spent in the drilling and the equipping of 

 his army. It is stated that he manufactured 

 rifles after Russian models, and, at all events, 

 he made his troops the most formidable body 

 of native soldiers in Central Asia. He had 

 good need to make ceaseless efforts to strength- 

 en his defenses, for he was hemmed on all sides 

 save the south by enemies of overwhelming 

 power. He saw Russia advancing year by 

 year as if at the impulse of fatalism. He saw 

 one native state after another falling to pieces 



