India and Tibet : vol.1 / Page 505 (Color Image)

0505	India and Tibet : vol.1

BUREAUCRATIC DESIGNS ? 431

really, as the Spectator suggested, some strange force

driving us forward ? and if so, whither is it driving us ?

These questions are not applicable to the Tibetan

affair alone, but to the British Empire generally ; and not

only to the British Empire, but to the Russian Empire,

the Chinese Empire, the Japanese Empire ; to the French

in Tongking and Annam, Algeria and Tunis ; to the

Americans in the Philippines, the Germans in Asia Al inor,

the Austrians in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They are of

fundamental importance, and go to the very root of things.

They are therefore worth examination by so practical a

people as ourselves.

In all these cases where one country advanced into

the territory of another the forward movement has been

attributed to the intrigues of bureaucrats or the crafty

designs of scheming politicians. If the Germans advance

to Paris, the action is attributed to the Machiavellian

designs of Bismarck ; if the Austrians openly declare what

is already the accomplished fact of their sovereignty over

Bosnia, Baron von Ahrenthal is believed to have deliber-

ately schemed some devilment ; if the French attempt to

assert a predominance in Morocco, Delcassé is accused of

plotting against Germany ; if the British laboriously

straighten out the affairs of Egypt, Lord Cromer is said

to be designing to establish a permanent occupation of

the country ; and if we advance to Lhasa, Lord Curzon

is accused of bureaucratic designs upon Tibet.

To take one very noteworthy case, the German

invasion of France in 1870. To this day the action is

ascribed to the deliberate designs of Prince Bismarck, and

the story of his alteration of the Ems telegram is regarded

as a proof positive of his set design heartlessly to make

war on France. Yet quite recently there has appeared in

the Reminiscences of Carl Schurz," the American states-

man, who was originally a German subject and revo-

lutionist of 1848, the account of a very remarkable

interview* he had with Bismarck before the Franco

German War. In a tone quite serious, grave, and almos

solemn, Bismarck said to Schurz : " Do not believe that I "Reminiscences of Carl Schurz," vol. iii., p. 272.

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