Part 4 (1/2)

YAKOOB BEG'S GOVERNMENT OF KASHGAR

Yakoob Beg's chief claim to our consideration is that, for e portion of Central Asia, and that, however faulty his external policy ement was founded on a practical and sufficiently just basis As a warrior he had done ht field, and in many a desperate encounter, his claims to be considered a fearless and resolute soldier; but in this quality he was equalled, if not excelled, by his own lieutenant, Abdulla Beg, the Murat of Kashgar, while so and surpass in ferocity anything achieved by the Athalik Ghazi But in capacity for ad far surpassed his contemporaries, and the inality of the our and perseverance hich it was put into force The secret of his power can only be discovered by constantly bearing in mind the fact that he had constituted hiion in Central Asia The Aht trifle with the seductive proht consent to sacrifice the interests of their religion for a transitory advanceradations the Athalik Ghazi--true ”chainary power the syood-will of the Mahomedan peoples of Turkestan may have clothed this ruler, there is no question that his attitude towards the Muscovite would have warranted the assertion of greater power than was ever attributed to him; and the secret of this delusion, an attitude of defiant strength without any solid foundation for so bold a course, can only be unravelled by re that the Athalik Ghazi strove to represent, not so aria, as the whole Mahomedan world of Central Asia The necessities of his own position, when, having conquered Kashgar, he found that he had aroused the susceptibilities of the Russians, compelled him to seek in every direction for aid, and to have recourse to every artifice for increasing his strength, or its semblance, in order to avoid the dissolution of his state and a subjection to the Czar So well did he succeed in his efforts, and so prompt were his movements and so fearless his attitude, that the Russians were deluded into a belief--which was, as we ear would prove a onist than either Bokhara, or Khokand, or Khiva

The interiorin years, yet seeht be supposed to be a very interesting topic to dilate upon; but on this subject there is less direct evidence than could be wished Even Sir Douglas Forsyth, in his official report, is not able to throw asof the ad Still, such as it is, with the exception of the Russian writer, Gregorieff, he is the only authority on the subject

To cos of Yakoob Beg, we are struck by two inconsistencies In the first place, there were no great nobles, or indeed adherents or his family; those chiefs hether they were Khokandian nobles or Kirghiz or Afghan adventurers, had proved their fidelity to his rule, and their capacity for service, were actively eovernors of districts, or as co dominions of their imperious master

Periodically they came to pay their respects in the capital, and at frequent intervals Yakoob Beg, in his journeys to the frontier, visited them, and superintended their operations in person; but, in so active a community where there was a dearth of ifted members of the society were too valuable to be peries and their attention to the object of beco had forced hiarded him with indifference, and he had to our To e staff of efficient and trustworthy subordinates, who may be divided into three classes of various capacities, viz, soldiers, adatherers Until the last few n there was no syour, or that his supply of co exhausted Even in his most prosperous years, however, there was always a difficulty in obtaining a full supply; and in all inferior posts the disaffected Khitay had to be eani of Kucha and Aksu were scarcely ency than their Buddhist kinsmen Yet the extensive civil service of the state, which undertook the education, the religion, the civil order, the local administration of the people all into its own hands, had to be kept in working order, whatever else overnment which never obtained any deep hold on the affections of the people had only a limited population to draw upon, it was only a question of time to solve the difficulty by an exhaustion of the supply of suitable brainof an, at heart, dissatisfied people No one will ever understand the secret of Yakoob Beg's rule unless he constantly bears in mind that his strict orthodoxy as a Mussulman, and his still stricter enforceion within his borders, were eleth only in his external relations; in his internal affairs they placed hiht of a tyrant, and prevented his people ever experiencing any enthusiasm for his person and rule It is doubtful whether outside the priesthood and the ious zeal at all, and it is quite a delusion to speak of the Kashgari, as a whole, as being fanatical Mahoree that it is true to say so of the Bokhariots or Afghans In addition to there being no noble or wealthy official class in the city of Kashgar, there was also the strange inconsistency of an intensely strict etiquette being enforced side by side with extreme plainness in costume and cerear speaking of the richness or finery of court functionaries Even Hadji Torah, or the Seyyid Yakoob Khan, as he is now called, and Mahoovernor of Yarkand, two of the most trusted and prouished from a host of nia of their elevated position Some of the military, officers of the household troops, wore a device of a dragon's head worked in silk over their plain unifor the disappearance of the Chinese Hadji Torah--who recently visited this country, and who had on previous occasions travelled in Russia, Turkey, and India--however, alone aarian notables, had introduced into his household some of the comforts and luxuries of European life His example was not imitated by many others, and, after a brief period of fashi+on, the improvements he had striven to ht of The ordinary dress of a person above the rank of gentle tunic and breeches; and the dress of the peasant is similar, only his cloak is usually a sheepskin The A plainness in his costume, and his folloere far too skilled courtiers to vary their practice froained in impressiveness by the perfect system of etiquette enforced, and by the external show of reverence to the ruler and to his religion, manifested in every petty detail of the palace ceremonial The Ameer received publicly in his audience-chaent punishn secretaries, ht behis relations with India or Russia, with Afghanistan or the Tungani; and the local governors, who ht happen to have arrived at the capital, were received in audience, either to present their personal respects to the ruler, or their reports of the government of their provinces But with the exception of a few of his kinsmen, and more intimate associates, such as Abdulla, none were permitted to be seated in his presence Even these could not sit within a certain distance of their sovereign All subjects ere allowed to approach his person had to do so in the humblest manner, and with the deepest expressions of hu, was still more particular in his intercourse with his subjects Even his cousin, Hadji Torah, a e entitled him to exceptional consideration, never placed himself on an equality with this youthful despot, and always clothed his words and thoughts when in conversation with him in an outward show of humble respect and deferential obsequiousness It will be at once surmised, and, so far as our information warrants an opinion, with correctness, that all this terroris faht have secured for it In Kashgar we have a forcible proof of the truth of Tennyson's line, that ”he who only rules by terror doeth grievous wrong;” and yet, founded as it was on a military system, and on the deepest distrust of the subject races, it could not well have been otherwise

The 's rule was founded, and hoas 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, fros, and his select corps of artillerymen, clothed in a scarlet uniform, seldoainst foreign enear, too, he kept his military stores, and it was said that in his workshops there he was able to construct cannon and muskets in considerable numbers in imitation of the most perfect weapons of European science But it must be noted that we have no record of any of his ho used in actual hostilities, while the supply of arms received from Russia, or this country, is known to have been made the most of Besides the natural aptitude of his subjects of Chinese descent for imitation, he had in his service, particularly in his artillery, many sepoys who had deserted our service either at the time of the mutiny or since These soldiers, valuable either as non-coher ranks still, coood troops froave a cohesion and vigour to the whole army that was simply inestimable That army, it may be here convenient to say, was divided into two classes widely differing froency, when all the resources of the state were summoned to take part in its defence, to perform duties as opposite as their own composition The are hich he conquered Kashgar, was divided into two bodies, the _jigit_ or _djinghite_, the horse soldier, and the _sarbaz_, or foot soldier The for selected for personal strength or skill The _jigits_ were trained to fight on foot as well as on horse, and were arun and a sabre Their uniform was a serviceable coat of leathern armour mostly buff in colour, and to all intents and purposes they correspond with our dragoons, or, perhaps, still more closely with the proposed corps ofwhoreater varieties of efficiency than his ular drill and training, and resided in barracks He was a regular soldier, and ht be trusted in defence of his country up to a certain point In nuits_ and _sarbazes_ there were in the service of the state; soh as 50,000 or 60,000 strong, possibly at a higher nuone to the other end of the scale It is probable, however, that Yakoob Beg never had 20,000 perfectly trustworthy soldiers in his aran wars, half that nuits_ and _sarbazes_ But in addition to the more or less effective ani, half-savage Kirghiz, and rude degraded savages like the Dolans, that in numbers would have presented a very formidable appearance The Khitay must at once be struck out of the estio beyond the iar, where they kept themselves apart, and were employed as military servants, as sentries, and as workani, who enrolled thear, were more than dubious in their fidelity to the state; besides they were of such questionable courage, that they were no allies of any importance Even as co kinds of efficiency; the Tungani who joined Yakoob Beg in the earlier portion of his career see to be the best of them Those who joined after the fall of Aksu and Kucha, less efficient and uous in their fidelity; and those elt in the country from Korla to Turfan and Manas, were totally inefficient, and not to be trusted to any degree whatever The Kirghiz and Kipchak noer to their friends than of dread to their foes Yakoob Beg had, therefore, at his orders but a very liainst theand vulnerable frontier against hbours It was absurd for hile-handed across the path of Russia, and to do him justice he never deluded himself into the idea that he could All he seems to have aspired to was to resist to the uttermost any invasion of his territory by them, and to die sooner than surrender Liular forces were, they seeh in the rank of Asiatic soldiers They were certainly not as formidable a body as the Sikhs or Ghoorkas, probably not as the Afghans; still they were infinitely superior, except in numbers, to any forces the Ameer of Bokhara or the Khan of Khokand could place in the line of battle To Yakoob Beg alone belongs the credit of their organization

Yakoob Beg's system of adovernor, was appointed for each district, and in his hands was vested the supreme control in all the affairs of his province

Yet he was no irresponsible minister who could tyrannize as he pleased

Tyrannize in small ways, undoubtedly, many of them did, but, as the life of the subject could only be taken away by order of the ruler himself, the most powerful weapon in the hands of an unscrupulous viceroy was removed

At stated periods, too, he had to proceed to Kashgar to give a report of the chief occurrences in his province, and on such occasions petitions containing charges against the Dadkere formally considered in his presence Itwas a farce, and it is probably true that a favoured viceroy could laugh at any ordinary accusation against his character But that would be an exceptional case

Many Dadkere reduced in official rank, for 's own half-brother, were rees Side by side, too, with the Dadkwah, ruled the Kazi or Judge, who, if of course not on a par in rank with the viceroy, was still invested with coal decisions on crial authorities had a good effect on the public ht not dare to thwart the wishes of the Dadkwah, the effect of the law being supreme was scarcely detracted from And as that law? it may naturally be asked Precisely the same as the law of every other Mahomedan state, with a few innovations traceable to the influence of the Chinese The Shariat, the holy code of the Prophet followed in all the Sunni states, was enforced by Yakoob Beg, with particular severity; and in its working no sense of ulations Crireater inflictions than the sa, mutilation, and torture could be inflicted by order of the Dadkwah Only in capital cases had the decision to rest with the sovereign Thieves, beggars, and vagrants found wandering about the streets at prohibited hours were iht before the Kazi, ould either ad, if the accused had previously offended Another check on the abuse of power by the officials was to be found in the following regulation A charge to be visited with a severer punishment than twenty heavy strokes from the _dira_--a leather strap, fixed in a wooden handle--had to be investigated by a member of each official rank; so the Kazi passed a culprit on, with his comments, to the Mufti, the Mufti to the Alim, and the Alim to the Dadkwah If any of these officials dissented from the remarks of his subordinate, and the e by n for solution, or was perh The Dadkwah had also to be present at every punishment within his jurisdiction, and was directly responsible to the Ae of justice The Kazi Rais, or head judge, had the right to decide all h the streets, if he met a woman unveiled he could order her to be struck soadulterated food, or using light weights, he could confiscate his goods, or in so a certain nuetic and zealous in co idlers about the bazaars to repair to the mosques at prayer time, and in a very paternal and authoritative ood of his people Even on his despotism there was some check, as he had no authority to inflict more than forty bloith the _dira_ for one offence Intimately connected with the administration of justice was the police system, which in its intricate ramifications permeated all sections of society Much as we may feel admiration for the judicial code, which, up to a certain point adh justice throughout the Athalik Ghazi's doreater claims to our favourable opinion, as evidences of an astonishi+ng capacity for govern simply adopted the laws enforced on all true believers by the Koran, and he had no clai all those checks on sedition which lie at the disposal of an unscrupulous sovereign, and which were brought to such a pitch of perfection under Fouche and the Second Ehest class of such potentates In this achieveiarist, and, as hein Europe, he inated a systele flaw In China, indeed, so of the same kind has at all tirasped the sceptre firement of affairs, the police were one of the most active tools of power But even in that e attained so complete a control over the actions and senti the last decade It appears, too, that in superiority of systean, or policeman, of China was, individually arian and other constables of Yakoob Beg In short, the whole credit of their existence belongs to that ruler

Let us now give some account of this important body It was divided into two chief divisions quite distinct from and irrespective of each other, secret and municipal The _secret_ was not, like ours, a perceptible class of detectives, acting in combination with the municipal, to which was entrusted the discovery of crimes and conspiracies Itof every member of the community, for all desired to stand ith the powers that be, and the easiest way to attain that object would be to place all confidential information at their disposal But it is evident that even in a state of irresponsible power, like Kashgar, a clear encouragehbours, could only end in unprofitable litigation and confusion There was certainly a check on the too zealous ih there is not much evidence on the subject, it appears to have been twofold In the first place a libeller incurred the risk of receiving very severe punishment, particularly if the person libelled were of saintly lineage, or if he filled any official post This operated as a check on too hasty accusations, especially when it became known that the reward for such service was seldo, and scarcely ever answered the expectations of the informer But this check, which alone see's authority, was found to be insufficient as his power becaanized to a certain degree; that is to say, they so far formed a distinct corps that a member had to be approved of either by the Dadkwah or the Rais So well, however, was the secret of their individuality enerally known to the people Suspicion ide-spread throughout all ranks of society, and the governor in his _orda_, or the Rais in his hall of justice, or the shopkeeper in his booth, or the artisan in his hut, never felt safe that his neighbour, thethehis expressions to discover whether they contained anything treasonable Members of this formidable body were always attached to the suite of either foreign envoys or e_, always effectually closed the mouths of the inhabitants, or only induced theive false or contradictory replies

There can be no doubt that this secret organization, brought to a high pitch of perfection during the later years of his reign, gave a consistency and strength to Yakoob Beg's tenure of power that anting to all his predecessors In leaving this part of the system, it is as well to point out in conclusion that this detective force was only useful in discovering as about to occur in the state aani, and that it was powerless to atte Its members were simply spies, and as a body its value vanished when its , and the introduction of freshthe _incognito_ of a large body of men, and women even, who preserved official coe

The municipal police were subdivided into urban and suburban, and they present a coue body we have just attenizable They were the functionaries who put into practice the behests of the Kazi, and they maintained order in the streets and bazaars, much as our own do The _Corbashi+_ is the head of this body, and his subordinates are styled _tarzagchi_ They wore a distinct uniforrounds attached to barracks, in which, however, they were not all compelled to reside They were essentially military in their rules, and presented a powerful first front to all evil-doers and would-be rebels It was they who accompanied the Kazi Rais in his daily circuit of the streets and market-place, and it was from their weapon, the _dira_, that the ordinary punishment was received Their principal avocation seeht-ti detailed for personal attendance on the Dadkwah and Kazi With sunset their true importance is more visible, for not only were they stationed in all hfares, squares, and other open places of the city; but until sunrise patrols at frequent intervals throughout the night visited all the chief quarters of the town The power vested in their hands during these hours was very great, and it was dangerous for any stranger to venture out after prohibited hours All persons found in the streets after sunset were arrested and incarcerated until the ive a satisfactory account of themselves, they were released, with a caution not to keep such unseemly hours for the future

If, however, they were unable to explain their business, a further term of imprisonment was ier to obtain his complete liberty for some time afterwards The suburban police fulfilled much the same duties, and on all the country roads patrols passed up and down during the night, while pickets were stationed at the cross-roads In the same manner as in the towns all travellers, except those aration into their affairs in the ars, and wanderers” were chastised at the discretion of the local rant laere as much enforced, too, as they were in this country in the days of Queen Elizabeth, and in a general hts and actions of its subjects, the Kashgarian governht of excellence that would entitle it to rank with the Inquisition Still there was order No riots occurred to distract the harmony of the public weal, and to an external observer, especially to one belonging to a country where order is considered the greatest _desideratuovernment of the Athalik Ghazi seemed to be the perfection of an Asiatic state, and that order a reason for attributing all other virtues to its originator

Travellers, however, ere provided with a passport, were accorded privileges of transit, and were permitted, if they felt so disposed, to continue their journeys during hours interdicted to less privileged mortals In each chief town there were offices for the issue of these permits to travel Not many obstacles were thrown in the path of those, who left peruarantees in the shape of property behind the their desire for travel; but rarely was perranted to any one, not blessed with these worldly advantages, to proceed farther than the neighbouring district Indeed in all cases leave to visit foreign states, other than Khokand or Bokhara, was a matter of difficulty to be obtained, and only in the ranted But it appears that there were soious zeal, for the Sheikh-ul-Islarant peres to Bokhara the ”holy,” or to Mecca In they They merely stated the name and address of the traveller, the nature of his business, and his destination Having obtained the consent of the Dadkwah, and the authority of the Kazi, no difficulty was experienced in procuring the necessary slip of paper Infractions of this per in some forbidden direction, were visited on a first offence with a fine On a repetition of it, however, the punish to kno these protectors of the public peace were paid, and by what means But on this point there is little trustworthy information We, however, know of one tax which was devoted to the support of the urban police, but of the funds from which the suburban were remunerated, we have no authority for any assertion A weekly tax was levied froo towards the payment of their protectors; but it is not supposed that this ae force in the more important cities The difference was probably paid out of the state coffers under the head of justice Judging fro that a similar tax was levied on the farmers and country residents for the support of the suburban police; and as the secret police required less outlay in the country than in the cities, it is possible that that tax more nearly defrayed the total cost, than it did in Yarkand or Kashgar The police supervision and the military terroris an excuse for such an extre traces of their existence and influence in the daily life of the Kashgari, and on the countenances and sentiht-hearted and happy race there now seeloom had settled down on the face of the land, and neither the assurance of security nor the irregular encourageht that had fallen upon the energies and happiness of the people As one of the the Chinese rule there was everything; there is nothing now” The speaker of that sentence was no ht have been expected to be depressed by the falling-off in trade, but a warrior and a chieftain's son and heir If to hi seemed unsatisfactory and irksome, what must it have appeared to those more peaceful subjects to whom merchandise and barter were as the breath of their nostrils? All the advantages of a perfect police systehted by the incumbrance of a costly addition of spies and tale-bearers, would see compared with the loss incurred by the fetters placed on individual anization of Kashgar was, perhaps, the , and his co in effectiveness that has ever been accomplished by any potentate But as a perth it is permissible to doubt whether he really secured his rule by e the latter, or obtained much more by the formation of the foreous men The restrictions imposed on trade by the severance of all coan wars and by the liari, proved most deterrent to all mercantile adventure, and placed in the hands of Khokandians or Russians on the north, and of Cashmerians and Punjabis on the south, most of the trade still carried on with Eastern Turkestan