India and Tibet : vol.1 / Page 57 (Color Image)

0057	India and Tibet : 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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