The Resident and his staff laughed heartily over this, and said that trade-marts were of course to their advantage. As to the indemnity, I said I had had some experience of Native States, and comparing Tibet with them, I should say Tibet was quite able to pay the amount we were asking. If, however, the Tibetans could not pay the whole amount within three years, I was quite prepared, as I had informed them, to receive proposals for the extension of the period of payment. The Resident thought this reasonable, but made no further remark.
I then observed that the draft Convention which I had received from Government was made out between me and the Dalai Lama. Was there any chance of the Dalai Lama returning in time to conclude the Convention with me? The Resident said there was not. I thereupon asked with whom, in that case, I should conclude the Treaty. He said that the Ti Rimpoche would act as Regent, and would use the seal which the Dalai Lama had left with him, and this seal would be supported by the seals of the National Assembly, of the Council, and of the three great monasteries.
My bolt had been shot: what would be the result? This was the thought which I kept asking myself as I rode back through the streets of Lhasa. Would the Tibetans fight? Would they brazen it out, and still remain obstinate? Or would they, perhaps, fly as the Dalai Lama had done? On the whole, I thought they would take none of these courses, or I would not have acted as I had done, for all the way through I had tried to follow the principle of looking before I made a step in advance, so that when my foot was once down, I could keep it down. It was a dull and heavy method of procedure, but was the best way, I thought, of impressing an obstinate people like the Tibetans. I considered, on the whole, that their resistance to our demands would now collapse, though I was naturally anxious as to the result.
On the day following, September 2, one of the Councillors and some other officials visited Captain O’Connor, and went through the draft Treaty with him word by word. On the same day the Tongsa Penlop suggested, on his own initiative, to the Tibetans that they should let us collect the Customs duty at the marts, and get the amount of the indemnity from that source. I telegraphed to Government that I was making no move in this matter of adjusting the difficulty about the indemnity till the Tibetans made definite proposals, but that I thought it would be advantageous to move, and would like the views of Government.
On September 4 the Ti Rimpoche (the Regent) and a Secretary of Council, accompanied by the Tongsa Penlop and the Nepalese representative, came to me and announced that the Tibetan Government were prepared to conclude the Treaty with me if the term for the payment of the indemnity would be extended, and the payment made in seventy-five annual instalments of one lakh of rupees each.
I kept Captain O’Connor talking with them for a few minutes while I turned the whole question over in my mind once more before I gave a final decision. One very easy course I might have adopted was to say that I must refer the matter to Government and await their orders. But before I could get an answer military considerations might have predominated, and I might find myself forced to leave Lhasa. As the Government of India subsequently said, the language of the communications which they received from the Home Government was such as to impress on them and me alike that they were strongly averse to any prolongation of the stay at Lhasa. I had, therefore, no assurance that I should have time to go on discussing this point with the Tibetans. Then, again, I thought that in the matter of the indemnity a certain amount of latitude had been left me. The Secretary of State’s instructions on this point were: “In regard to the question of an indemnity, the sum to be demanded should not exceed an amount which, it is believed, will be within the power of the Tibetans to pay, by instalments, if necessary, spread over three years. Colonel Younghusband will be guided by circumstances in this matter.” The full despatch was more definite than this telegram. But the despatch had not yet arrived. Some degree of discretion was left me. Was I justified by the very difficult circumstances in which I found myself in stretching it to seventy-five years? This was the question I had to settle in my mind while the Regent was waiting for my reply.
But this question of the indemnity did not stand alone. It had to be taken in connection with another clause which would give us the right to occupy the Chumbi Valley until the indemnity was paid. I had, then, to ask myself further: Would an occupation of the Chumbi Valley for seventy-five years as a guarantee for the payment of an indemnity run counter to any pledge we had given to Russia? Now, Lord Lansdowne, when he gave his pledge, distinctly said that the action of Government must to some extent depend upon the conduct of the Tibetans themselves, and that His Majesty’s Government could not undertake that they would not depart in any eventuality from the policy which then commended itself to them.
This was said to the Russian Ambassador on June 2, before Government had heard the result of our announcement to the Tibetans that we would be prepared to negotiate at Gyantse up to June 25. Since Lord Lansdowne had spoken to the Russian Ambassador, the Tibetans had continued fighting, had attacked me at Kangma, and by June 25 had sent no negotiators. The conduct of the Tibetans had, therefore, been such as might very well cause Government to alter their action.
Further, the Tibetans, during our advance to Lhasa, had opposed us at the Karo-la, and fired on us from Nagartse Jong. This opposition was indeed slight, because we had been obliged, after June 25, to break down at Gyantse the Tibetan forces which intervened between us and our advance to Lhasa. Had General Macdonald not captured the jong and dispersed the Tibetan forces round Gyantse, the opposition to our advance to Lhasa would have been very much greater than it was.
Since Lord Lansdowne had given his pledge to the Russian Ambassador, events had occurred—the failure to send accredited negotiators before June 25 and the continued opposition of the Tibetans—which might, I thought, be considered by His Majesty’s Government sufficient justification for departing in some slight degree from the policy which on June 2, before they were completely aware of the nature of the Tibetan position, commended itself to them. Lord Lansdowne had said in April in the House of Lords, referring then to the policy laid down in the telegram of November 6, 1903, that he did not mean to say that, “whatever happened, we were never to move an inch beyond the limits therein laid down.” And I thought that the policy settled in London, before Government were aware of the conditions I should find at Lhasa, would admit of some little elasticity.