IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| India and Tibet : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
CRITICAI. SITUATION 167
smile as much as he possibly could, and I then said that I
had to obey the orders of my Government, just as much as
they had to obey the orders of theirs ; that I would ask
them to report to their Government what I had said, and
I would report to my Government what they had told
me. That was all that could be done at present ; but if
the Viceroy, in reply to my reports, ordered me back to
India I should personally be only too thankful, as theirs
was a cold, barren, and inhospitable country, and I had a
wife and child at Darjiling, whom I was anxious to see
again as soon as I could.
This eased matters a little. But the monks continued
to clamour for me to name a date for withdrawal, and the
situation was only relieved when a General suggested that
a messenger should return with me to Tuna to receive
there the answer from the Viceroy. The other Generals
eagerly accepted the suggestion, and the tension was at
once removed. 'Their faces became smiling again, and they
conducted me to the outer door with the same geniality
and politeness with which they had received us, though
the monks remained seated and as surly and evil-looking
as men well could look.
\Ve preserved our equanimity of demeanour and the
smiles on our faces till we had mounted our ponies and
were well outside the camp, and then we galloped off as
hard as we could, lest the monks should get the upper
hand again and send men after us. It had been a close
shave, but it was worth it.
I had sized up the situation, and felt now I knew how
I stood. I knew from that moment that nowhere else
than in Lhasa, and not until the monkish power had been
broken, should we ever make a settlement. But it was
still treason to mention the word " Lhasa " in any com-
munication to Government, and I had to keep these con-
clusions to myself for many months yet, for fear I might
frighten people in England who had not yet got accus-
tomed to the idea of our going even as far as Gyantse.
While I perceived that the monks were implacably
hostile, that they had the preponderating influence in the
State, and were entirely convinced of their power to
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