have the honour to forward the correspondence contained in the attached list, showing the results of his tour. The Tibetans who were in occupation of the Giaogong plateau were directed by Mr. White to withdraw beyond the frontier, and our right to insist upon the observance of the boundary laid down by the Convention of 1890 was clearly asserted. We have since learned from Mr. White that the grazing rights on the Sikkim side of the border which had been usurped by the Tibetans are, in fact, balanced by similar rights which are conceded to the Sikkimese across the Tibetan border, and that the status quo is probably the most convenient arrangement in the interest of both parties
and it is probable that the chief advantage derived from Mr. White's mission up to the present time consists in the fear inspired among the Tibetans that it is the prelude to some further movement—an advantage which would be wholly sacrificed when the discovery was made that no such consequence was likely to ensue. If, therefore, we now enter upon negotiations with no other vantage ground than the successful reassertion of our authority on a very inconspicuous section of the border, it does not appear that there is much reason for anticipating a more favourable solution of the Tibetan problem than has attended our previous efforts, unless indeed, we are prepared to assume a minatory tone and to threaten Tibet with further advance if the political and commercial relations between us are allowed any longer to be reduced to a nullity by her policy of obstinate inaction. The second combination of circumstances that has materially affected the situation is the rumoured conclusion of a Secret Agreement by which the Russian Government has acquired certain powers of interference in Tibet. We have ourselves reported to Your Lordship circumstantial evidence derived from a variety of quarters all pointing in the same direction and tending to show the existence of an arrangement of some sort between Russia and Tibet. . . . It is unnecessary for us to remind Your Lordship that the Russian border nowhere even touches that of Tibet, and that the nearest point of Russian territory is considerably more than a thousand miles short of the Tibetan capital, which is situated in the
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