The Secretary of State hesitated to accept at once the proposal regarding Gyantse, and wished before coming to any decision to be informed whether the Viceroy could propose any alternative in place of the extreme course of advancing by force into Tibet; and the Viceroy said the only alternatives were (a) the costly and ineffectual measure of blocking all trade-routes and excluding Tibetans from British India, and (b) an occupation of the Chumbi Valley.
The final decision of the Home Government on the whole matter was telegraphed to the Viceroy on May 28. They approved a procedure by which both the Chinese and Tibetan Governments would be bound by the action of their representatives, but they wished that the negotiations should be confined to questions concerning trade relations, the frontier, and grazing rights, and that no proposal should be made for the establishment of a Political Agent at Gyantse or Lhasa, as such a political outpost might entail difficulties and responsibilities incommensurate with any benefits which would be gained by it. They had recently received assurances that Russia had no intention of developing political interests in Tibet, and they were unwilling to be committed by threats to any definite course of compulsion to be undertaken in future.
While the Home Government and the Indian Government were thus deliberating as to the final action which should be taken, communications with the Chinese were being exchanged. The Chinese Government had, in December, informed our Minister at Peking that “the Throne, attaching deep importance to international relations, and regarding the Tibetan question of great importance, had specially appointed Yu Tai to be Imperial Resident in Tibet, with orders to proceed with all speed, and negotiate with Mr. White in an amicable spirit.” This newly-appointed Resident called on the British Minister on January 5, and informed him that he had hoped to be able to travel to his new post by way of India, but that, in order to avoid arousing the suspicion of the Tibetans, it had been decided that he should travel by the Yangtse River and Szechuan, and would not be able to reach Lhasa much before July. He did not, in fact, reach it till six months later still, till thirteen critical months had elapsed since the Chinese Government had told us that he was to proceed to Lhasa with all possible speed.
Mr. Townley, the British Chargé d’Affaires at Peking, on May 12, informed the Chinese Government that the Government of India would invite the Resident at Lhasa to send Chinese delegates to meet the representatives of the British Government at Khamba Jong, for the settlement of pending questions, and would inform the Resident that the Chinese delegates should be accompanied by a duly accredited Tibetan representative. The Chinese Government were told that we attached great importance to this latter point, for the Tibetans had more than once intimated to the British authorities that they did not consider themselves bound to observe the provisions of the treaties previously made between the British and Chinese representatives, because no representative of the Dalai Lama had taken part in the negotiations.
The Chinese Government, on receipt of this, telegraphed to the Resident at Lhasa, asking him again to admonish the Dalai Lama, and to persuade him not to fail to send, with speed, a Tibetan official to be associated with the deputy Ho in his discussion with Mr. White. In reply, the Chinese Government received, on July 18, a telegram from the Resident, saying that he had at once communicated these instructions to the Dalai Lama, “directing him to send a Tibetan [lit., barbarian] official of fairly high standing and despatch him to the frontier, provided with credentials as a negotiator, in order to concert with the Prefect Ho and his colleagues, to await British officials, and effect a harmonious and sincere settlement.”
The Resident at Lhasa had also at this time submitted to the Throne a memorial, which furnishes exceedingly instructive reading. He said he had summoned the Tibetan Councillors to his office, and admonished them in person to the effect that the English intended to bring troops to Tibet, and that it was difficult to fathom their objects. All this, he said, was the result of their obstructing last year a deputy with his retinue, so that a favourable opportunity was lost. If the English did make this long march, it would, of course, be the duty of him, the Imperial Resident, to proceed in person to the frontier and find some way of persuading them to stop. But the Tibetans, on their side, must not show their previous obstinacy; and if the English did not stop, and insisted on entering Tibet, they must on no account repel them with arms, but must discuss matters with them on the basis of reason. Thus he hoped a rupture might be avoided, and things brought back to a satisfactory conclusion. But if, as before, the Councillors allowed themselves to be guided by the three great monasteries, and hostilities once began, then the horrors of war would be more than he could bear to think of, and even the mediation of him, the Imperial Resident, would be of no avail.
Such, said the Resident, were the admonitions which he addressed to the Tibetan Councillors, and as he did so he watched their demeanour. It was submissive certainly, but obstinacy was engrained in the character of the Tibetan barbarians, and whether, when matters should become pressing, they would consent to obey and discuss questions in a friendly spirit, it was difficult for him to tell in advance.
The laconic observation by the Emperor on this curious document, which correctly described the Tibetans, and which incidentally depicted both the contempt of the Chinese for these “barbarians” and the ineffectiveness of their control over them, was—“Seen.”
But the Resident had also written to the Viceroy, on April 6, saying that he had deputed Mr. Ho and Captain Parr for the discussion of affairs, and they were waiting at Yatung. The deputy appointed by the Viceroy might, he said, either come to Yatung, or the Chinese deputies would proceed to Sikkim, or such other place as might be decided on by the Viceroy.