India and Tibet : vol.1 / Page 43 (Color Image)

0043	India and Tibet : vol.1

OBSTRUCTION FROM LHASA 17

Bogle assured him that times were now altered, that

under the Company in Bengal—and it must be remembered

that when he was speaking our rule did not extend beyond

Bengal on that side of India—every person's property was

secure, and everyone was at liberty to follow his own

religion.

The Lama said he was informed that under the

Fringies the country was very quiet, and that he would

be ashamed if Bogle were to return with a fruitless errand.

He would therefore consult his officers and some men

from Lhasa, as well as some of the chief merchants, and

after informing them of the G overnor's desire to encourage

trade, and of the encouragement and protection which the

Company afforded to traders in Bengal, discuss the most

proper method of carrying it on and extending it."

The following day the Lama told Bogle that he had

written to Lhasa on the subject of opening a free com-

mercial communication between his country and Bengal."

But," says Bogle, although he spoke with all the zeal

in the world, I confess I did not much like the thoughts

of referring my business to Lhasa, where I was not present,

where I was unacquainted, arid where I had reason to

think the Ministers had entertained no favourable idea of

me and my commission."

Later on, at the request of the Tashi Lama, two

deputies from Lhasa came to visit Bogle. They said the

English had shown great favour to the Lama and to them

by making peace with the Bhutanese and restoring their

country. Bogle replied that the English were far from

being of that quarrelsome nature which some evil-minded

persons represented them to be, and wished not for extent

of territories. They were entrusted with the management

of Bengal, and only wished it should remain in tran-

quillity. The war with the Bhutanese was of their own

seeking. The deputies might judge whether the Company

had not cause for alarm when eight or ten thousand Bhu-

tanese, who had formerly confined themselves to their

mountains, poured into the low country, seized the Raja

National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books