Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/140

Rh the approval of either the Chinese or the British governments Elliot permitted the occupation of Hong Kong (January 26) and formally declared it a part of the British Empire (February 1). This step was immediately reported to the throne by I-liang, governor of Kwangtung, who at the same time professed complete ingoranceignorance [sic] of the terms of the Chuenpi Convention. I-liang's report convinced the emperor that Ch'i-shan was acting with duplicity. On the other hand, the pouring in of new troops and the increase of defense measures as ordered by imperial decrees (see under ) led the British to suspect that Ch'i-shan was playing false to them also. Ch'i-shan's later explanation to the emperor that Hong Kong was geographically indefensible and without military advantage, that it was lacking in arms and man power, and that among the population there was no fighting spirit, was naturally unconvincing in Peking, and the Court reiterated its orders to exterminate the British. Ch'i-shan's two personal interviews with Elliot on January 27 and February 13 convinced his Chinese critics that he had secret dealings with the British—all the more since he had failed to prevent the British attack of February 23 and the fall of the Bogue Forts (Bocca Tigris 虎門) on the 26th. On this last-mentioned day the emperor issued from Peking an edict condemning Ch'i-shan's policy and methods and accusing him of failure to report the truth. He was dismissed from all his official posts, stripped of all honors and titles, and his immense private fortune, amassed during his years of official life, was confiscated. His military command was given to and his post as governor-general was given to Ch'i Kung 祁𡎴. On March 12 Ch'i-shan was escorted from Canton in chains. He was tried in Peking and was sentenced to be executed, but the emperor commuted the sentence to banishment.

In 1842, after the termination of the war, Ch'i-shan was reinstated in officialdom and made assistant military governor of Yarkand. In 1843 he was appointed military governor of Jehol, but the appointment was immediately denounced by a censor, and consequently he was not allowed to fill the post. However, late in 1843 he was sent as Imperial Commissioner to Tibet, where in 1846 he ordered the French missionaries Huc and Gabet back into China. On March 15, 1846 they started, taking with them two large cases containing Ch'i-shan's effects which he asked them to deposit at Chengtu, Szechwan, for him to pick up upon his return. Ch'i-shan was appointed governor-general of Szechwan early in 1847 and the next year an edict congratulated him on his good administration and granted him the restoration of the first rank. Late in 1848 he was again made an assistant Grand Secretary though, at the same time he retained his position as governor-general of Szechwan. In 1849 he was made governor-general of Shensi and Kansu, but in 1851 was deprived of office because of his severe treatment (1850) of the native and Mohammedan tribes in Kokonor. He was again banished (1852), this time to Kirin, but after a few months his services were needed in Honan to check the advance of the Taiping rebels and he was recalled. As acting governor of Honan he supervised the garrisoning of the Honan-Hupeh border. In the spring of 1853 Emperor Wên-tsung ordered him to assist in the defense of the country in Kiangsu north of the Yangtze, and in March he took part in the defeat of the rebels round Pukow and Yangchow (see under ). He was actively engaged in the fighting in this sector until his death in the summer of 1854. He was canonized as Wên-ch'in 文勤.

A son of Ch'i-shan, named Kung-t'ang 恭鏜, was at one time military governor of Heilungkiang (1886–89). Kung-t'ang's son, Jui-chêng 瑞澂, was governor-general at Wuchang when the revolution broke out in that city in 1911. Jui-chêng fled from the city and was ordered arrested by the Ch'ing government for neglect of duty, but escaped to Shanghai and took refuge in the foreign concessions. After the termination of Manchu rule he remained in Shanghai until his death (1914?). He was one of the first officials of China to seek refuge in a foreign concession and thus escape punishment that had been ordered by the government. Another son of Kung-t'ang was Jui-yüan (see under Chang Yin-huan) who was a secretary in the Chinese Legation at Washington from 1886 to 1888. A granddaughter of Ch'i-shan married a son of.

[1/376/1a; 2/40/18a; Ch'ou-pan I-wu shih-mo (see under ) Tao-kuang, chüan 12–23, 31; The Chinese Repository, vols. IX–XI, passim; Davis, J. F., China During the War, vol. I, pp. 24–52, 141–43; Eitel, E. J., Europe in China, pp. 11–12, 115–25; M. Huc, A Journey Through Tartary, Tibet and China (1852) vol. II, pp. 181–244; Barnard, W. D., Narrative of Voyages of the 128