196 Tibet and Turkestan
accepted as tribute money, with the dream that he might be recognised as suzerain instead of the Chinese throne, which was just then being emptied of one dynasty (Ming) to be filled by another (now reigning).
As soon as the wily lama saw the backs of the Mongols, and knew that a firm command of China was now practically in the hands of the Manchus, he sent to the new sovereign of that mighty empire, asking intervention on his part. This seems to have angered Yuchi Khan, son of the Mongol prince who had so recently been the patron of the land ; or it gave occasion to some rival monastery unfriendly to the Chinese party. From whatever cause, Yuchi Khan swept down upon Tibet, upset a number of princelets and recalcitrant monks, and established the Dalai Lama of that date (1645) as supreme ruler. Neither these Mongols nor their Manchu successors, attempted to take in hand the direct and detailed control of Tibetan administration ; but the Ambans, delegates-resident of China, must be consulted in the selection of all important officials. And even the divinely guided choice, by the head monks, of the Dalai Lama is not effective until approved in Pekin. Something of this worldly aid to inspired action has been seen in the election of more than one Roman pontiff of modern date, while in the past he who wore the crown of the Holy Roman Empire boldly claimed and exercised a right of approval, entirely analogous to that possessed by the Chinese Emperor in respect to the Dalai Lama.
The patronage of art by corrupt churchmen, the building by them of great monuments which became
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