as
continually receiving applications to declare an open war against the
Chinese. His own troubles with the rulers of Scinde and Persia were
sufficient to keep his religions sympathies within due bounds. But he
sent an embassy to Pekin, to point out that his fellow-religionists were
suffering under the conquering sway of the Chinese forces in Central
Asia; and on its return with an unsatisfactory reply, he appears to have
stationed a large body of troops in Badakshan. The proud Durani monarch
was probably eager to oppose the Chinese, but, wiser than his
contemporaries in Turkestan and Jungaria, he accurately reckoned up the
risks of the enterprise, and contented himself with the maintenance of
the powerful empire he had erected on the ruins of the conquests of
Nadir Shah. When the Afghans had done so much, and given promises of aid
in the defence of Samarcand, it is not to be wondered at if the people
of Kashgar thought they would do more, and risings took place in several
parts of the state, notably at Ush Turfan. The Chinese measures were
prompt and effectual; the rebellion was suppressed, the inhabitants
massacred, and the town destroyed. This failure struck so complete a
panic into the hearts of the people, that no inducements, for more than
half a century, could encourage them to rise against the Chinese. The
Chinese conquest of Kashgar gave an effectual solution to the rivalries
of the numerous claimants to its sovereignty, and among other
competitors to the Khojas, that is, to the descendants of that Sarimsak
who alone survived the massacre of his family in 1760. While very
possibly the people may have suffered that mental depression which must
accompany the installation of a foreign rule, and despite the very harsh
and unmistakable evidences given by the Chinese of their intolerance of
opposition, there was some prospect, notwithstanding these, that the
Chinese would prove permanent masters, and that their rule would
consequently become milder and milder every year. It was this feeling,
that things could not become much worse, that rendered the Kashgari
apathetic in their resistance to the Chinese. They did not dare to
expect much improvement in their lot; but at all events they might
suppose that Chinese massacres would cease with the disappearance of
resistance, whereas massacres by their own countrymen and tyrants had
been for centuries an every-day occurrence.

Before considering the Chinese occupation of Ka