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
228 THE ADVANCE TO LHASA
The delegates listened attentively while I made this
exhortation to them, but, after consulting together, replied
that even if we did make a settlement at Lhasa, it would
be of no use, for in Tibet everything depended on religion,
and by the mere fact of our going to Lhasa we should
spoil their religion, as no men of other religions were
allowed in Lhasa. I asked them if there were no Moham-
medans living in Lhasa, and they replied that there were
a few, but they were not allowed to practise their religious
rites—a sad admission in view of the toleration which the
Buddhist religion in reality enjoins. I added that we
would not have gone to Lhasa unless we had been abso-
lutely compelled to by their incivility in not meeting us
elsewhere ; that personally I had already suffered great
inconvenience, and would much prefer not to have the
further inconvenience of going to Lhasa ; but no other
resource was now left to us, and my orders from the
Viceroy were final.
The Yutok Sha-pé throughout was calm and polite,
and at his departure was cordial in his manner. The
Ta Lama, though more excited, was not ill-mannered.
The Chief Secretary was very much excited throughout,
and argumentative and querulous. The whole tone of the
delegates showed that they—or, at any rate, the Dalai
Lama—had not even yet realized the seriousness of the
position. The tone they adopted entirely ignored their
serious breaches of international courtesy, and was that of
people with a grievance against us and quite ignorant of
the fact that we had grievances against them ; they were,
too, excessively unbusinesslike and impracticable, and I
anticipated an infinity of trouble in carrying through a
settlement with such men. On the other hand, the dis-
position and manners of the Yutok Sha-pé gave one more
confirmation of the impression I had long formed that the
laymen of 'Tibet were by no means inimical, and that but
for the opposition of the monks we might be on extremely
friendly terms with them.
Under General Macdonald's well-thought-out arrange-
ments the occupation of the jong was effected without
any mishap or loss of life. Captain O'Connor accom-
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