m on to St. Petersburg, where he
arrived in the last days of 1868. He had several informal interviews
with the governor of Turkestan, but he was not received by the Czar or
any of the higher officials. In fact, he was only treated as an ordinary
traveller, and not as the representative of a neighbouring state.
Nothing up to this had been done by the Russian government, showing that
they recognized Yakoob Beg as ruler of Kashgaria. The Chinese were
still, in their eyes, the _de jure_ owners of that province, whoever
might be the temporary owners _de facto_. On the return of Shadi Mirza
to Kashgar, in January, 1869, the relations between Russia and Yakoob
Beg may be said to have returned to the exact _status quo ante_. All the
Russian demands for trade had been unsuccessful, and, except the
brilliant journey of Mr. Kludof, no one had broken through the mystic
charm that shut out the Garden of Asia from all foreign spectators.
Their envoy, Captain Reinthal, had been treated in a precisely similar
manner to that in which Shadi Mirza had been received at Vernoe and St.
Petersburg; and a firm and dignified attitude had effectually checked
the Russian officer when he attempted to express those threats which
formed the principal part of his instructions. There was something
imposing in the quiet way in which Yakoob Beg asserted his equality in
rank with the Czar of All the Russias. His invariable reply, when the
great power of Russia was made use of as an argument to overcome his
refusal to accede to the trade concessions demanded, was, "My brother,
the White Czar, is a most powerful monarch, and rules over the greater
portion of the earth, and I am only an insignificant prince in
comparison to him. But none the less can I encounter the danger like a
true man, and esteem it a happiness to die in defence of my country and
my faith." To so courageous and so honourable a reply what rejoinder
could be made by the abashed officers? It is impossible to refuse Yakoob
Beg the highest admiration for his stanchness in his opposition to
Russia. If for his own narrow interests it may have been imprudent to
throw down the gage of battle so freely, all the more does that attitude
claim respect when we see him trampling on purely selfish motives, and
asserting his claim to leadership in that wider question of Asiatic
against Muscovite, of Mahomedan against Greek. Had he only been
consistent throughout his career, had he only been as firm in his