The Life Of Yakoob Beg - free ebook by Demetrius Charles Boulger

THE LIFE OF YAKOOB BEG; ATHALIK GHAZI, AND BADAULET; AMEER OF KASHGAR. BY DEMETRIUS CHARLES BOULGER, MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY.

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THE LIFE OF YAKOOB BEG.

TO MY FATHER, BRIAN AUSTEN BOULGER, I Dedicate THE FOLLOWING PAGES, AS SOME FAINT TOKEN OF FILIAL AFFECTION AND GRATITUDE. The following account of the life of Yakoob Beg was written with a twofold intention. In the first place, it attempts to trace the career of a soldier of fortune, who, without birth, power, or even any great amount of genius, constructed an independent rule in Central Asia, and maintained it against many adversaries during the space of twelve years. The name of the Athalik G

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CHAPTER I. GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF KASHGAR.

Kashgar is situated in a plain in the north of the province, and the small river on which it is built is known as the Kizil Su. Immediately beyond it the country becomes hilly and mountainous, until in the far distance may be seen the snow-clad peaks of the Tian Shan, and the Aksai Plateau. Although the population is barely 30,000, there is now an air of brisker activity in the bazaars and caravanserais of this capital than in any other city in the country. The trade carried on with Russia in re

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CHAPTER II. ETHNOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF KASHGAR.

The great nomadic tribe of the Kirghiz, or Kara Kirghiz, as the Russians call them, to distinguish them from the Kirghiz of the various hordes who, by the way, are not true Kirghiz at all, has at all times played a fitful, yet important part in the histories of Khokand, Jungaria, and Eastern Turkestan. Preserving their independence in the inaccessible region lying west of Lake Issik Kul, and along the Kizil Yart plateau and range, this tribe has always been a source of trouble to its neighbours,

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CHAPTER III. HISTORY OF KASHGAR.

In the tenth century, Satuk Bughra Khan, the ruling prince of Kashgar, who had been converted to Islam, forced his people to adopt that religion, although it is tolerably clear that up to this time there had been no acknowledgment of supremacy to the representative of Mahomed on earth. A disunited state, which had on several occasions felt the heavy hand of the authority of its generals, and at whose very gates its power was consolidated, could not but be in some sort of dependence to the strong

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CHAPTER IV. THE CONQUEST OF KASHGAR BY CHINA.

It is now time to return to Kashgar and narrate the events that were happening in that troubled district. The feud between the Aktaghluc and Karataghluc factions reached its height when Afak, who had been placed on the throne of Yarkand by the Calmucks, under Galdan, the chief representative of the Aktaghluc, succeeded in expelling all the prominent supporters of the rival clan. Afak ruled for some years, but with difficulty maintained himself in some parts of Kashgar, against the Calmucks, Kirg

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CHAPTER V. THE CHINESE RULE IN KASHGAR.

Very often their own countryman, the Hakim Beg, was a greater tyrant than the Chinese amban in the fort outside their gates; but against his exactions they could obtain speedy redress. When their Hakims, or Wangs as the Chinese called them, became unpopular in a district, the amban promptly removed them; even if he considered they were not much to blame, he always transferred them to some other district. The first object in the eyes of the amban was the maintenance of order, and he knew well eno

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CHAPTER VI. THE BIRTH OF YAKOOB BEG AND CAREER IN THE SERVICE OF KHOKAND.

Mahomed Yakoob's early years were passed at his home at Piskent, and it is said that it was intended that he should follow the profession which his father had repudiated. As a youth he was too wayward to submit to any check on his impulses, and the design of educating him as a "mollah," if it was ever seriously entertained, was abandoned long before he arrived at man's estate. He appears to have passed the first twenty years of his life in an idle, uneventful manner at Piskent, and then suddenly

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CHAPTER VII. THE INVASION OF KASHGAR BY BUZURG KHAN AND YAKOOB BEG.

In 1862, a riot occurred in a small village of Kansuh; it was suppressed with some loss of life, and people were beginning to suppose that it possessed no significance, when a disturbance broke out on a large scale at Houchow, or Salara. The Tungani had risen, and the unfortunate unarmed Khitay were massacred right and left. The rising soon assumed the proportions of a civil war, and the infection spread to the neighbouring province of Shensi. Then ensued scenes of the most atrocious barbarity.

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CHAPTER VIII. WARS WITH THE TUNGANI.

The Tungan movement proper originated, as explained in the last chapter, in the Chinese provinces of Kansuh and Shensi, and then extended with scarcely a check to Turfan south of the Tian Shan and to Urumtsi north of that range. The flame soon spread from Turfan to Karashar, Kucha, and Aksu, and at all of these towns it was fomented by the appearance of the new element of the Mahomedan Khokandian, and native settlers, acting in combination with the Chinese Tungani. North of the Tian Shan the mov

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CHAPTER IX. YAKOOB BEG'S GOVERNMENT OF KASHGAR.

The most unmistakable proof of how Yakoob Beg's rule was founded, and how it was maintained, is to be seen in the fact that his orda , or palace, was one large barrack, the interior compartments of which were devoted to the accommodation of the royal household. His out-houses were filled with cannon of every description, from antiquated Chinese irjirs to modern Krupps and Armstrongs, and his select corps of artillerymen, clothed in a scarlet uniform, seldom left the chief cities, except for seri

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CHAPTER X. YAKOOB BEG'S POLICY TOWARDS RUSSIA.

In 1866, however, some indefinite agreement was arrived at by the commanders of forces along the Naryn borders, to abstain from interfering with each other's actions. The Russian forces were permitted to follow refugees from Khokand and predatory Kirghiz within the nominal frontier of Kashgar, and when occasion arose a similar right was accorded to the Kashgarian officials. By some good fortune, perhaps caused by a feeling of mutual respect, no collisions of any consequence occurred between the

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CHAPTER XI. YAKOOB BEG'S RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND.

Such was the untoward fate of the first explorer of Kashgar. In the course of the early summer of 1868, it became generally known that the Chinese had been driven out of Kashgar, and that Yakoob Beg was ruling the country, under the title, conferred upon him by the Ameer of Bokhara, of Athalik Ghazi. He had sent a sort of semi-official messenger, Mahomed Nazzar, in that year into the Punjab, to take notes, as it were, of our dominions. Mr. Shaw, in Ladakh, had heard of the recent changes in East

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CHAPTER XII. YAKOOB BEG'S LAST WAR WITH CHINA, AND DEATH.

Although several officers in the service of Yakoob Beg happened to be in the city, and several of the leading Tungani resided there, the defence was not prolonged, and after a few days Urumtsi surrendered to the Chinese. Many of the inhabitants had fled to the neighbouring city of Manas, but the garrison was massacred by order of the Chinese generals. There is no mention in this case of what fate befell those of the inhabitants who remained. Urumtsi surrendered towards the close of August, 1876,

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CHAPTER XIII. THE CHINESE RECONQUEST OF KASHGAR.

When Hacc Kuli Beg left Korla no personal representative remained there of the dynasty of the Athalik Ghazi, and during that interval the occasion arose for the intriguing elements that a mixed court, such as that of Yakoob Beg, could never be free from. Hakim Khan seized that opportunity, and established his authority in Karashar, Korla, and, probably, Kucha also; and during a short time Kashgaria was accordingly divided into three hostile camps. It appears that Beg Bacha, lulled into a false s

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CHAPTER XIV. THE CHINESE FACTOR IN THE CENTRAL ASIAN QUESTION.

When an independent government had been founded in Kuldja in 1866, a ruler of the name of Abul Oghlan was placed upon the throne. He appears to have been a Tungan, and he certainly was a truculent and self-confident potentate. He refused to abide by the stipulations of the Treaties of Kuldja and Pekin, and in petty matters as in great, set himself in direct opposition to Russia. For five years he pursued his career undisturbed by exterior influences, and during that period he tolerated the inroa

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THE POSITION OF LOB-NOR.

"It is, however, certain that he will encounter great, if not insuperable, obstruction, for we learn from private advices from India, that the ill-advised publication in the Chefoo Convention of the then proposed mission to Tibet has resulted in the issue of the most stringent orders to the Tibetan officials at all the various routes and passes to allow no European traveller to enter into the country on any pretext whatever." Having stated the view of Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen, which is end

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TREATY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND CHINA. Treaty of Commerce concluded between Russia and China, at Kuldja, on the 25th Day of July, 1851, and ratified on the 13th Day of November, 1851.

The plenipotentiary of His Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias, and the plenipotentiaries of His Majesty the Bogdokhan of Tatsing, hereby declare; the Governor General of Ili, and its dependent provinces, as well as his deputy, have, after consulting together, concluded in the city of Ili (Kuldja), in favour of the subjects of both empires, a Treaty of Commerce, which establishes a traffic in the cities of Ili (Kuldja), and of Tarbagatai (Chuguchak). This treaty is composed of the following a

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TREATY BETWEEN ENGLAND AND CASHMERE. Treaty between the British Government and His Highness Maharaja Runbeer Singh, G.C.S.I., Maharaja of Jummoo and Cashmere, His Heirs and Successors, executed on the one part by Thomas Douglas Forsyth, C.B., in virtue of the full powers vested in him by His Excellency the Right Honourable Richard Southwell Bourke, Earl of Mayo, Viscount Mayo of Monycrower, Baron Naas of Naas, K.P., G.M.S.I., P.C., &c., &c., &c., Viceroy and Governor-General of India, and on the other part by His Highness Maharaja Runbeer Singh aforesaid, in person.

Whereas in the interest of the high contracting parties and their respective subjects it is deemed desirable to afford greater facilities than at present exist for the development and security of trade with Eastern Turkestan, the following Articles have with this object been agreed upon:— With the consent of the Maharaja, officers of the British Government will be appointed to survey the trade routes through the Maharaja's territories from the British frontier of Lahoul to the territories of the

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TREATY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND KASHGAR. The following Conditions of Free Trade were proposed and agreed upon between General Aide-de-Camp Von Kaufmann and Yakoob Beg, Chief of Djety-Shahr.

All Russian subjects, of whatsoever religion, shall have the right to proceed for purposes of trade to Djety-Shahr, and to all the localities and towns subjected to the Chief of Djety-Shahr, which they may desire to visit in the same way as the inhabitants of Djety-Shahr have hitherto been, and shall be in the future, entitled to prosecute trade throughout the entire extent of the Russian Empire. The honourable chief of Djety-Shahr undertakes to keep a vigilant guard over the complete safety of

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TREATY BETWEEN ENGLAND AND KASHGAR. Treaty between the British Government and His Highness the Ameer Mahomed Yakoob Khan, Ruler of the Territory of Kashgar and Yarkand, his heirs and successors, executed on the one part by Thomas Douglas Forsyth, C.B., in virtue of full powers conferred on him in that behalf by His Excellency the Right Hon. Thomas George Baring, Baron Northbrook of Stratton, and a Baronet, Member of the Privy Council of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Grand Master of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India, Viceroy and Governor-General of India, in Council, and on the other part by Syud Mahomed Khan Toorah, Member of the 1st class of the Order of Medjidie, &c., in virtue of full powers conferred on him by His Highness.

Whereas it is deemed desirable to confirm and strengthen the good understanding which now subsists between the high contracting parties, and to promote commercial intercourse between their respective subjects, the following Articles have been agreed upon: — The high contracting parties engage that the subjects of each shall be at liberty to enter, reside in, trade with, and pass with their merchandise and property into and through all parts of the dominions of the other; and shall enjoy in such

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RULES FOR THE GUIDANCE OF THE JOINT COMMISSIONERS APPOINTED FOR THE NEW ROUTE TO EASTERN TURKESTAN.

1. As it is impossible, owing to the character of the climate, to retain the Commissioners throughout the year, the period during which they shall exercise their authority shall be taken to commence on 15th May, and to end on 1st December. 2. During the absence of either Commissioner, cases may be heard and decided by the other Commissioner, subject to appeal to the Joint Commissioners. 3. In the months when the Joint Commissioners are absent, i.e. between 1st December and 15th May, all cases wh

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A STORY FROM KASHGAR.

Mirza Mulla Rahmat , of Kashgar, who arrived at Peshawur lately, on his way to Mecca, has told what he knows about events in Kashgar. The following is his story:—In the month of Jamadi-us-sani 1294 (June-July, 1877), that Mahomed Yakoob Khan, the Badshah of Kashgar, collected a large army to fight the Chinese. He died near the town of Balisan (? Bai), and his army then recognized Hakim Khan Torah as his successor. The mullahs in Kashgar in the meantime appointed Beg Kuli Beg, Yakoob's eldest son

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