国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
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India and Tibet : vol.1 | |
インドとチベット : vol.1 |
TRADE AGAIN STOPPED 31
tions which he made to his Government, coupled, says
Turner, with our declining to afford effectual assistance to
the Lamas' cause, had considerable weight. As a conse-
quence, all communication between Tibet and India was
stopped, and the approach of strangers, even of Bengal
and Hindustan, was utterly prohibited." The Hindu holy
men were charged with treachery in acting as spies and
guides for the Nepalese, and were forbidden to remain
any longer in Shigatse ; and from this period," con-
tinues Turner, unhappily is to be dated the interrup-
tion which has taken place in the regular intercourse
between the Company's possessions and the territory of
the Lama."
It was a sad ending to what had begun so promisingly,
and one is tempted to reflect what Warren Hastings
would have done if he had still held the reins of govern-
ment in Bengal, and whether he would have been able to
restrain the Gurkhas, to assist the Lamas, and to reassure
the Chinese. Certainly it is a most unfortunate circum-
stance that we so often are unable to help our friends just
when they most need our help, and press our friendship
upon them just when they least want it.
Thus the results of Warren Hastings' forethought and
careful, steady endeavour were all lost. Yet it must be
a conceded by the sturdiest advocate of non-interference
ti that those endeavours were not merely statesman-like, but
humane. There was never any attempt to aggress. No
threats were ever used ; no impatience was shown.
Warren Hastings, as the representative of a trading com-
pany, looked, firstly, to improve trade relations ; but as
the ruler of many millions of human beings, he knew
that trade or any other relationship must be based on
mutual good feeling, and he knew that good feeling with
a suspicious people can only be established by a very,
very slow process. He therefore took each step deliber-
ately, and he strove to secure permanently the advantages
of each small step taken ; and, having done this, he had
r some right to expect that when he himself had shown
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