Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/403

Rh I (怡), Prince. See under.

 I (儀), Prince. See under.

 I-shan 奕山, d. 1878, official, was a member of the Imperial Clan. He was a great-great-grandson of [禵 q.v.] who was imprisoned by his jealous brother, Emperor Shih-tsung (see under ). Yin-t'i's eldest son, Hung-ch'un (see under ), was deprived of all ranks in 1735 and his descendants were assigned to the Bordered Blue Banner and not to the higher Bordered Yellow Banner. But the services of I-shan brought this branch of the family to prominence again. As a fourth grade Imperial Clansman, I-shan was perhaps not satisfied with his lot and sought promotion through service as a military official. He began in the Imperial Bodyguard and in that capacity participated for a year (1826) in the campaign in Kashgar (see under ). After several promotions he became (1832) commandant of the forces in Ili, and a year later in Tarbagatai. In 1835 he was appointed assistant military governor at Ili; two years later, acting military governor; and in 1838 full military governor. In 1840 he took charge of colonization work in the Ili region in the course of which he established 1,000 Muslim families on 164,000 mu (about 27,300 acres) of land. In the autumn of the same year he became a chamberlain of the Imperial Bodyguard and early in the following year was made an adjutant general.

At this time the Anglo-Chinese War was in its second year and in January 1841 the British took two forts below Canton. When the report of, the High Commissioner at Canton, reached Peking Emperor Hsüan-tsung was angered and ordered that troops from several provinces be concentrated at Canton. I-shan, invested with the title of Ching-ni chiang-chün 靖逆將軍, was made commander of these troops; and and Lung-wên 隆文  were named assistant commanders. Before they arrived Ch'i-shan had been cashiered and arrested for agreeing to the Convention of Chuenpi (January 20) which ceded the island of Hong Kong to England. Late in February 1841 hostilities were resumed and the Bogue forts fell to the British (February 26) who dominated the waterways leading to Canton. Yang Fang, the first of the three commanders to arrive at Canton (March 5), could do nothing except strengthen the defenses of the city. He reopened negotiations with Elliot (see under ), and fighting temporarily ceased. However, with the arrival of I-shan and Lung-wên on April 14, military preparations were hastened and further hostilities became unavoidable. On May 21 fighting again broke out and the British supremacy in arms once more shattered the weak Chinese defenses. Six days later a truce was signed with five articles, by which I-shan and his subordinates consented to withdraw the Chinese troops to a distance of sixty miles from Canton and to pay to England an indemnity of six million silver dollars. As the British forces withdrew from the neighborhood of Canton I-shan made false reports to the emperor announcing that the payment was to settle former debts of the Cantonese merchants to the British merchants and that the British had sued for peace and had asked to resume trade. Emperor Hsüan-tsung probably regarded the Sino-British conflict as already settled and ordered the withdrawal of troops on the coasts of Fukien, Chekiang and other provinces (see under ). But soon the British under Sir Henry Pottinger (see under ) carried the war northward to Fukien, Chekiang and Kiangsu. In June 1842 I-shan was deprived of his ranks (but was ordered to continue his duties) on the charge of failing to prosecute the soldiers at the Bogue forts who had retreated during an engagement. After the Treaty of Nanking was signed (see under ), I-shan was ordered to return to Peking, and was sent to take his place. In the meantime I-shan, and other generals were tried for failure to defeat the British. I-shan was sentenced to imprisonment awaiting execution and on arrival at Peking, early in 1843, was thrown into the prison of the Imperial Clan Court.

Nevertheless, I-shan was released on September 30, 1843. Two months later he was again made an Imperial Bodyguard and was sent to Ho-t'ien as imperial agent. In 1845 he was raised to assistant military-governor of Ili. Two years later he was transferred to Yarkand and given a second class Chên-kuo chiang-chün 鎮國將軍 (Noble of the Imperial Lineage of the Ninth Rank) while taking part in the pacification of the Buruts in Kashgar. In 1848 he was transferred back to Ili where in 1850 he became military governor. About this time the Russian government made representations to the Imperial government in Peking asking to be permitted to trade at Ili, Kashgar and Tarbagatai, in addition to Kiakhta, the only town hitherto open to Russian trade. The Chinese consented to the opening of Ili and Tarbagatai 391