The impression left upon me by this interview, I reported at the time, was that the Tibetans, though excessively childish, were very pleasant, cheery people, and, individually, probably quite well disposed towards us.
Mr. Wilton, of the China Consular Service, joined us on August 7. He had been acting as Consul at Chengtu, in Szechuan, and I had not spoken to him for more than five minutes before I realized what a help he would be to us. He at once said that neither the Chinese nor the Tibetan delegates were of at all sufficient rank or authority to conduct negotiations with us, and no one else than one of the Ambans and one of the Tibetan Councillors would be of any use. The new Chinese Resident, who had been deputed in the previous December specially for the purpose of conducting these negotiations he had himself seen at Chengtu, and it is significant of the dilatoriness of the Chinese that, while Mr. Wilton reached me early in August, the Resident did not reach Lhasa till the next February, thirteen months after he had set out from Peking.
Having received Mr. Wilton’s advice regarding the status of the delegates, the Viceroy, on August 25, wrote to the Chinese Resident, suggesting that either he himself or his Associate Resident should meet me, and that, as the present Tibetan delegates had shown themselves entirely unsuited for diplomatic intercourse, and would not even accept the copy of the speech explanatory of the relations between India and Tibet which I had made, he proposed that the Tibetan Government should be invited to depute a Councillor of the Dalai Lama, accompanied by a high member of the National Assembly.
As regards the objection which the Resident had made to the selection of Khamba Jong as the meeting-place, Lord Curzon said that it was the nearest point in Tibet to the disputed boundary; and it was necessary that the present negotiations should be conducted in Tibet, as the former Convention which the Tibetans had repudiated was concluded in India, and His Majesty’s Government were not prepared to allow a similar repudiation of any new agreement. But, as winter was approaching, if the negotiations were not completed, I might have to select some other place in Tibet for passing the winter. In conclusion, the Viceroy emphasized the importance of my position and duties, and stated that I was entitled to expect that he should reply to my communications, and look to him for co-operation.
At Khamba Jong itself no progress was being made. There was, indeed, fear at one time that we should be attacked, and I have not much doubt that we should have been if we had shown any slackness or unguardedness. But Captain Bethune was an officer of much experience, and his men were all accustomed to frontier warfare, and every precaution was taken. Our camp was well fortified and the country round regularly patrolled.
Two Sikkim men who had gone to Shigatse, as was customary, were seized, however, and, we heard, had either been tortured or killed. In spite of our representations, the Tibetans refused to give them up, and, in retaliation, we had to seize Tibetan herds and to remove all the Tibetans I had so far, though at considerable risk, allowed to remain at Giagong.
Some slight chance of a settlement appeared when, on August 21, the head Abbot of the Tashi Lumpo monastery, near Shigatse, came to make another representation on behalf of the Tashi Lama. He was a courteous, kindly man, and was accompanied by two monks and a lay representative, besides the former deputy from the Tashi Lama. The Abbot said that a Council had been held by the Tashi Lama, and it had been decided to make another representation to me. This representation did not, however, differ from the first, and I repeated the same arguments in reply. He was especially insistent about Giagong, and I asked him when one man had a certain thing which another man wished to get from him, which was the wiser course to pursue—to make friends with him, or to do everything to make him annoyed. The Tibetans all burst out laughing at this argument, and I then went on to say that the Lhasa authorities, instead of doing everything they could to dispose us favourably towards them, and incline us to make concessions in regard to Giagong, had adopted a steadily unfriendly attitude; they had sent only small officials to meet Mr. White and myself, and these small officials did nothing but say they would negotiate nowhere else but at Giagong. This was not the way to predispose us in their favour.
The Abbot said the delegates were not small officials, but were next in rank to the Councillors. I said I had concluded they were men of little power, because when I had made a speech to them on my first arrival, and had asked them to report the substance of it to the Lhasa Government, they had refused. If they could not even report a speech, I supposed they would not be fit to negotiate an important treaty.
I asked the Abbot to give this advice to His Holiness—that if he wished us to withdraw from Khamba Jong, he should use his influence with the Lhasa authorities to induce them to send proper delegates, and instruct such delegates to discuss matters with us in a reasonable and friendly spirit. Then matters would be very soon settled, and we would return to India.
I then made some personal observations to the Abbot, and he told me that from a boy he had been brought up in a monastery in a religious way, and was not accustomed to deal with political matters. I told him I envied him his life of devotion. It was my business to wrangle about these small political matters, but I always admired those who spent their lives in the worship of God. He asked me if he might come and see me again, and I said he might come and see me every day and all day long; and Captain O’Connor, who could speak Tibetan, would often pay him visits.