The next Chinese move was the Imperial Decree issued in November, 1908, to which more detailed allusion will be made later,[[52]] ostensibly conferring an additional honour on the Dalai Lama, in reality containing, as Sir John Jordan put it, "the first unequivocal declaration on the part of China that she regarded Tibet as within her sovereignty"—sovereignty, be it noted, not suzerainty.
Then, a year later, came the announcement by the Chinese Government to our Minister, that "Chao Erh-feng was faced with a serious state of unrest on the Tibetan marches—so much so that the Chinese Government, having reason to fear complications with Tibet, and desiring to strengthen their influence at Lhasa, were contemplating the despatch of a body of troops to the Tibetan capital."
By a remarkable coincidence, on the very day, November 12, 1909, on which the Chinese Councillor made this announcement to our Minister, the Dalai Lama, from a monastery three marches outside Lhasa, despatched a messenger to him, expressing the Dalai Lama’s concern to find, on his return to Tibet, that active measures were being taken in the country by Chinese troops, and adding his hope that the Minister would do what he could in the matter.
The events which led up to this will be set forth in detail in the following Chapter. To make the consecutive narrative of Chinese action complete, it will merely be noted here that three months later the Chinese troops arrived in Lhasa; that on the day of their arrival ten soldiers were sent to each of the Tibetan Ministers’ houses; that the Dalai Lama thereupon fled to India; that the Chinese sent several hundred soldiers to “attend” and “protect” him, but that he escaped across our frontier; that only a fortnight after he had left Lhasa he was deposed by Imperial decree; that the Chinese then took the Government of Tibet into their hands, preventing the sole remaining Minister from doing anything without the Resident’s consent, holding the ferry across the Brahmaputra, and preventing anyone crossing the river without a pass from the Resident, replacing Tibetan by Chinese police, seizing rifles, closing the arsenal and mint; and, what more intimately concerns ourselves, and what was immediately opposed to Treaty obligations, preventing the Tibetans dealing directly with our Trade Agents.
All this was done, moreover, with the object, as our Minister was informed, of “tranquillizing the country,” of “protecting the trade-marts,” and of “seeing that the Tibetans conform to the Treaties.”
Whether the Chinese forward movement extended beyond Tibet to Nepal and Bhutan, there is no official information. But Government evidently expected some such action, for in January, 1910, they concluded a Treaty with Bhutan, increasing the annual allowance from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 100,000, and securing from the Bhutanese an agreement that they would be guided by the advice of the British Government in regard to their external relations. And on Lord Morley’s suggestion, the Chinese Government was informed in February of this year that we could not prevent Nepal from taking such steps to protect her interests as she might think necessary under the circumstances; while in April we went a step farther, and gave a clear intimation to China[[53]] that we could not allow administrative changes in Tibet to affect or prejudice the integrity either of Nepal or of Sikkim and Bhutan, and that we were prepared, if necessary, to protect the interests and rights of these three States. It was also impressed upon the Chinese Government that it was inadvisable to locate troops upon, or in, the neighbourhood of the frontiers of India and the adjoining States in such numbers as would necessitate corresponding movements on the part of the Government of India and the rulers of the States concerned.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE ATTITUDE OF THE TIBETANS SINCE 1904
Immediately following the conclusion of the Treaty at Lhasa, the attitude of the Tibetans was friendly enough. The Ti Rimpoche wrote to the Government of India expressing the gratitude of the Tibetans for the reduction of the indemnity from 75 to 25 lakhs of rupees, and for the promise to restore the Chumbi Valley after three years if the provisions of the Treaty were duly observed. “The two parties have now commenced friendly relations,” wrote the Regent, “and we hope that for the future they will be firmly established, and that the Viceroy will vouchsafe his aid in making this friendship last for a very long time to the benefit of the Tibetans.”
The Yutok Sha-pé, one of the councillors who had negotiated the Treaty at Lhasa, was appointed a kind of Special Commissioner to Gyantse to arrange about the opening of the trade-mart, and in a speech he made during a visit to Captain O’Connor he said that the Tibetans were quite satisfied with the arrangements regarding the trade-marts, and that they all hoped that the newly cemented friendship would be of long duration, and that a flourishing trade would spring up.