enerals marched 70,000
men into Nepal to within 60 miles of the British frontiers, and having
subjugated the Gurkhas they received the submission of the Nepalese,
and acquired an additional hold over Tibet (1792). In other directions
his arms were not so successful. There is no poem commemorating the
campaign against the rebellious Formosans, nor lament over the loss of
100,000 men in that island, and the last few years of his reign were
disturbed by outbreaks among the Miao-tsze, hill tribes living in the
mountains in the provinces of Kwei-chow and Kwang-si. In 1795, after a
reign of sixty years, K'ien-lung abdicated in favour of his fifteenth
son, who adopted the title of Kia-k'ing as the style of his reign.
K'ien-lung died at the age of eighty-eight in 1798.

Trade with Europe.

During the reign of K'ien-lung commerce between Europe and Canton--the
only Chinese port then open to foreign trade--had attained important
dimensions. It was mainly in the hands of the Portuguese, the British
and the Dutch. The British trade was then a monopoly of the East India
Company. The trade, largely in opium, tea and silk, was subject to many
exactions and restrictions,[49] and many acts of gross injustice were
committed on the persons of Englishmen. To obtain some redress the
British government at length sent an embassy to Peking (1793) and Lord
Macartney was chosen to represent George III. on the occasion. The
mission was treated as showing that Great Britain was a state tributary
to China, and Lord Macartney was received with every courtesy. But the
concessions he sought were not accorded, and in this sense his mission
was a failure.

Kia-k'ing's reign was disturbed and disastrous. In the northern and
western provinces, rebellion after rebellion broke out, due in a great
measure to the carelessness, incompetency and obstinacy of the emperor,
and the coasts were infested with pirates, whose number and organization
enabled them for a long time to hold the imperial fleet in check.
Meanwhile the condition of the foreign merchants at Canton had not
improved, and to set matters on a better footing the British government
despatched a second ambassador in the person of Lord Amherst to Peking
in 1816. As he declined to _kowtow_ before the emperor, he was not
admitted to the imperial presence and the mission proved abortive.
Destitute of all royal qualities, a slave to his passions, and the
servant of caprice, Ki