spect, in India and England
were vain in the eyes of a people whose "empire has," in their own
tongue, "been planted by heaven." Before Chinese viceroys and Mantchoo
chivalry Khokandian soldiers and Mussulman pride must be held vain. So
thought the Chinese, if they thought upon the subject at all. And so
must we think who view past history by the aid of Yakoob Beg's
overthrow. Yakoob Beg's rule in Kashgar was for twelve years a visible
fact; it was recognized by England and by Russia. The Central Asian
Khans gladly acknowledged the admission of another to their fast
dwindling ranks. Even Shere Ali, an ostensibly powerful ruler, honoured
Yakoob Beg not so much with his friendship as with his jealousy. Yet it
was all fleeting fast away.

In comparison with Chinese power his was as nothing; in comparison with
Chinese perseverance his was weakness; in comparison with Chinese
tactics, his tactics were those of a school-boy; and even in comparison
with Chinese courage his courage had to confess an equal. There was not
only the dead weight of numbers against him, but there was also the
quick weight of superior intellect. There were superior strategy and
superior weapons; greater force and greater determination; no hesitation
in action, and perfect unanimity in council; all combined to crush one
poor forlorn man, fighting with all the desperation of despair for life,
if not for liberty. Worthier of a better fate, and meeting destiny with
the calm that is natural to brave men, Yakoob Beg's defeat and death may
serve to "point a moral and adorn a tale." The tale has been told in
these pages with as close a regard for fact as the meagre records will
supply, and for the personage whose name is the pivot round which the
main facts concentrate, it may be claimed that he deserved attention
even from Englishmen. It may well be that some future generation may
recur to this career with interest as marking the only real break in the
Chinese domination in Eastern Turkestan. When the massacres and other
atrocities that marked the Khoja invasions and the Tungan outbreak on
both sides shall have been forgotten or condoned, then it will be
admitted that, despite the great benefits conferred by China on the
people in the way of trade-fostering and good government, there was some
merit in the administration which a Khokandian soldier had unaided
created in this region. High credit, then, let us, who view the subject
from an impartial stand-point