Some months after the return of Mr. Shaw to Lêh, the Athalik Ghazi, who had doubtless considered very attentively that gentleman's suggestion to maintain a representative at Lahore, despatched an envoy to India for the purpose of expressing his desire for the establishment of friendly relations with the British Government, for the development of trade between the countries, and for the visit of a British officer to his capital. He had fully realized by this time what Mr. Shaw meant by saying that he came in no official capacity. If he intended, therefore, to reap any reward for the manifestation of his friendship towards England, or to be able to play England's alliance off against Russia's hostility, he discovered that he must take the initiative. In consequence of that discovery, Ihrar Khan came to India, and was entertained by our Government in a very friendly manner. It was in response to Ihrar Khan's visit that Mr. Forsyth was sent as our first envoy to Kashgar, in the following year.
Mr. Forsyth was accompanied by Mr. Shaw, who had volunteered for the service, and by Dr. Henderson. He reached Yarkand, by the same route as that followed by Mr. Shaw, in safety, and without suffering any great amount of inconvenience. But the mission had reached the scene of its labours at a very inopportune moment. The Athalik Ghazi had just been summoned away to the far eastern frontier to repress hostile movements on the part of the Tungan cities of Turfan and Urumtsi, and it was very uncertain for how long a time he might be detained there. Mr. Forsyth accordingly left Yarkand in the month of September on his return journey, without having had an opportunity of settling the future of the relations between India and Kashgar. Dr. Henderson, in his "Lahore to Yarkand," chronicled the events of this journey to the region north of the Himalaya.
The very next year, 1871, Yakoob Beg sent Ihrar Khan once more to India to renew his protestations of friendship, entrusting him with letters, not only for the Viceroy but also for Her Majesty the Queen. But there was no immediate result from this later overture.
In the meanwhile Russia had broken ground more firmly in Eastern Turkestan. The treaty of commerce between Russia and her neighbour, which had been for several years on the carpet, had at last been signed at Kashgar on the 8th of June, 1872. That treaty conceded no inconsiderable trade privileges to Russia, for, as will be seen from a perusal of its clauses, Russian goods entering the country could not be subjected to a higher tax than 2½ per cent. ad valorem. In fact, but for Yakoob Beg's prudence in restricting the appointment of Russian commercial agents in the cities to the inferior caravan-bashi, a far different personage to the Aksakal, that treaty would have placed Kashgar virtually in the possession of General Kaufmann. Even as it was, Russia, regarded as a foe, had out-distanced England, who was held to be a friend; and for a considerable time afterwards, English commerce, which had no status there, hesitated to seek admission into the dominions of the Athalik Ghazi.
But the treaty of Baron Kaulbars was in its essence a sham, for no good feeling sprang up between the countries; and where there was distrust on either side, trade languished, as was to be expected. Two months after this treaty, Yakoob Beg sent his nephew, the Seyyid Yakoob Khan, on a special embassy to Russia, whence he went on to Constantinople, and returned viâ India. He then had several long discussions with our authorities relative to the measures that should be adopted to place everything on a friendly footing between Kashgar and ourselves. The Sultan had conferred upon the ruler of Kashgar the high title of Emir ul Moomineen, and shortly afterwards Yakoob Beg proclaimed himself in consequence of that decree Emir or Ameer of Kashgar, under the title of Yakoob Khan. It is appropriate here to say something of these two titles, Khan and Beg. In this work the ruler of Kashgar has been consistently called Beg or prince, and not Khan or lord; and for the following reasons. The title of Khan is much higher than that of Beg; it is, moreover, hereditary. Gibbon, whose authority in these Central Asian matters stands higher than many modern scholars will admit, defines it as the distinguishing mark of the descendants of Genghis Khan. His heirs and their children became the Khans of Western Asia. The Mongol who grafted himself on the Turk and the Usbeg, brought with him the unique authority that was vested by public voice in the house of Genghis, the Khan of Khans. Now, although in his later days Yakoob Beg, or his admirers, invented a lineage for himself back to Timour, consequently making him of Mongol descent, it is highly improbable that this mythical descent was based on any reliable data, nor can we admit any other claim to according Yakoob Beg that higher title than one that will stand the criticism of history. Yakoob Beg was not free from some of that craving that haunts the minds of rulers "born out of the purple" to claim cousinship with the select caste of former sovereigns; and the visible embodiment of temporal sovereignty in Turkestan was this very title of Khan, which has been so much abused in its application.
It is wrong, in a strict sense, to apply the title of Khan to Yakoob Beg, although he undoubtedly made use of it during the last three years of his reign; but as a matter of mere convenience, it is also misleading. On the stage of Asiatic politics there is another Yakoob Khan, who is, by descent, a Khan, and possesses qualities not less eminent than did his namesake in Eastern Turkestan. Confusion was often caused by the confounding of one of these personages with the other, whereas if each had been defined by his legitimate title, there would have been no misunderstanding. Towards the close of the year 1873, the Seyyid Yakoob Khan, who, by descent, could claim the title which was not his uncle's, returned to India, where he found that the English mission was a few days ahead of him on its journey to Kashgar.
The Indian government had, in the meanwhile, appointed Mr. T. Douglas Forsyth as their envoy to Kashgar once more, and, during the summer of 1873, preparations were busily in progress for the important embassy that was to counteract the adverse effects of Baron Kaulbars' treaty. As this is the turning-point in Anglo-Kashgarian relations, it is necessary to follow it in considerable detail. Upon Mr. Forsyth's embassy depends the whole fabric of our policy in, and intercourse with, Eastern Turkestan during the past four years. In fact, but for Sir Douglas Forsyth's Report and Treaty, even Mr. Shaw's interesting volume and intrepid journey would have failed to have preserved the vitality of our interest in Kashgar and its ruler.
By the month of July, everything was in readiness for a forward movement, but owing to the delay in the arrival of Seyyid Yakoob Khan, or Hadji Torah as he was more usually termed, Mr. Forsyth still lingered at Murree. Captains Biddulph and Trotter, and Dr. Stoliczka, in the meanwhile set out for Lêh to explore the routes between that town and Shahidoola. These three gentlemen explored the country beyond Ladakh very carefully, although it had already been described by Messrs. Shaw and Hayward, and Dr. Cayley. Mr. Forsyth and the headquarters, after a short stay at Srinagar in Cashmere, arrived at Lêh on the 20th of September. It may be useful to give here the names of those who comprised this important embassy. In the first place there was the envoy himself, Mr., now Sir, T. Douglas Forsyth, C.B., and now K.C.S.I. His second in command was Lieut.-Colonel T. E. Gordon, C.S.I., who, after the prime object of the mission had been accomplished, explored a very considerable portion of the Pamir, the result of whose investigations is to be found in his work "The Roof of the World." Then came Dr. Bellew, C.S.I., Surgeon-Major, entrusted with the medical control of the expedition. The three military men—Captains Chapman, Trotter, and Biddulph—held various functions; the first as secretary, the latter two in scientific capacities. In addition to these there were the learned Dr. Stoliczka, who died from the effects of the rarefaction of the atmosphere; an English corporal of a Highland regiment, and six native officers and skilled assistants. There was also an escort of ten sowars, one naick, and ten sepoys furnished by the Corps of Guides.
The appointments of the embassy were also most carefully selected, and with special regard to the difficulties that lay before it in the obstacles of nature, and the inconveniences attending complete dependence on natives for the means of transporting the large quantity of impedimenta. One hundred mules "of a fair stamp" were accordingly purchased in India by Tara Sing, a merchant, and the treasurer to the embassy. And these were equipped with saddles and trunks of a special pattern, made in the government workshops at Cawnpoor. Altogether, then, this English embassy to Kashgar was a very formidable undertaking, and in its proportions assumed something of the appearance of a small army; in camp there were "300 souls and 400 animals." The day had gone by when English travellers entertained doubts of entering Kashgar in company at the same time, lest they should arouse the apprehensions of the people. Mr. Forsyth came vested with all the authority of his Sovereign and the Viceroy, to negotiate a treaty of amity with the ruler of Kashgar, and the people generally saw in that fact a guarantee of the preservation of their liberties and independence.
So far as Shahidoola, the journey was in a well known region, and outside the frontier of Yakoob Beg. At that place the first sign of that ruler's power was encountered in the same way as Mr. Shaw, five years before, had witnessed the advanced limit of the power of the Athalik Ghazi in a southerly direction. A captain of the Kashgarian army, Yuzbashi Mahomed Zareef Khan, had been deputed to receive our envoy at the frontier, and to give him a hearty welcome. After a rest of four days, the whole expedition, advancing in two bodies over the Grim Pass, Sanju Devan, entered the inhabited territory of Sanju. Here Hadji Torah, who had been travelling "post" after them from India, caught them up, and by his tact and real friendship for this country, contributed greatly to the complete success of the mission. The passage of the Grim Pass, although accomplished with success, was no easy task. Dr. Bellew, in his book "Kashmir and Kashgar," gives the following graphic description of it, which may be quoted with advantage as showing some of the "obstacles of nature" to the advance either of an army or a caravan in this quarter:—