What I thought, however, would have a greater effect than anything else upon the Tibetans would be the demonstrating to them that the Nepalese were on our side, and not theirs. The Nepalese Minister had offered 8,000 yaks. I would have 500 of these march across to us by the Tinki Jong route, and would recommend that a suitable representative of the Nepalese Durbar should accompany them for the purpose of formally handing them over to us. This would be a sign which the Tibetans could not mistake that the Nepalese were on our side.
The strengthening of my escort and the appearance of the Nepalese yaks might be made to coincide with the concentration of the 23rd Pioneers in the neighbourhood of the Jelap-la (pass) in about a month’s time. This I thought was all that could be done to bring the Tibetans to a more suitable frame of mind. If these measures failed, an advance into the Chumbi Valley was the most obvious course to take, for the Jelap-la could be crossed at any time during the winter, and along the Chumbi Valley lay the best trade-route and military road to Lhasa. When the Chumbi Valley had been occupied, the mission might, transported by Nepalese yaks, march across to Gyantse. The 32nd Pioneers and all transport would then be transferred to the Chumbi Valley line, and that line be made our chief line of communication.
These were my recommendations to Government when two months’ experience had shown me the difficulty of even entering into communication with the Tibetans. Neither Mr. White nor I, nor any of us, had any real hope of effecting a final settlement anywhere short of Lhasa itself; for it was quite evident to us on the spot that to carry the negotiations through we should have to come to close grips with the priestly autocrats who kept all power in their own hands, and to whom the officials on the frontier were frightened to represent the real state of affairs. But at that time it was high treason for me to whisper the word Lhasa to my nearest friend, such agitation did the sound of it cause in England. So I racked my brains and everyone else’s brains to think of alternative measures to an advance to Lhasa, which might be exhausted before this alarming proposal could be made. And I subsequently strove honestly to get the utmost out of each of those measures before I suggested the next, for I quite realized the difficulty which any Government at home has in securing support from the House of Commons in a matter of this kind. Such methods are very costly, very risky, and very ineffective; but as long as what an officer in the heart of Asia may do is contingent on the “will” of “men in the street” of grimy manufacturing towns in the heart of England, so long must our action be slow, clumsy, and hesitating, when it ought to be sharp and decisive.
I have referred to the offer of the Nepalese Government to help us with yaks, a species of buffalo peculiar to Tibet, which are of value as transport animals at high altitudes. This offer was not only of great practical use, but of still greater political significance. And it is time now to consider this yet other important factor in the situation—the attitude of the Nepalese Government; for Nepal was in rather a peculiar position in this matter. On the one hand, it sends a mission to Peking every three years, and also has a treaty with the Tibetans, under which it is bound to come to their assistance if they are attacked; on the other hand, it has political relations with ourselves. The attitude which the Nepalese Government would take under the circumstances was a matter of considerable importance to us, and no doubt of much questioning among themselves.
Recognizing this, the Government of India at the start laid down in their despatch to the Secretary of State of January 8, 1903, that they contemplated acting in complete unison with the Nepalese Durbar throughout their proceedings, and would invite them, if thought advisable, to take part in our mission. The Indian Government believed that the policy of frank discussion and co-operation with the Nepalese Durbar would find the latter prepared most cordially to assist our plans. An interview at Delhi at the time of the Durbar between Lord Curzon and the Prime Minister of Nepal, Maharaja Chandra Shamsher Jang—the same who came to England in 1908—confirmed the impression. The Nepalese Government regarded this rumour of intrigue in Tibet with the most lively apprehension, and considered the future of the Nepalese State to be directly involved. Further, the Maharaja (the Prime Minister) was prepared to co-operate with the Government of India in whatever way might be thought most desirable, either within or beyond the frontier, for the frustration of designs which he deemed to be utterly inconsistent with the interests of his own country.
This intention the Maharaja afterwards most amply fulfilled right up to the close of the mission. The welcome offer of 500 yaks, now accompanied as it was by a further offer of 8,000 yaks within a month, was the first practical sign of the intention. A second was to follow. And early in September I received from Colonel Ravenshaw, our Resident in Nepal, who had so much contributed to this good understanding between us and the Nepal Prime Minister, the translation of a letter which the latter had just addressed to the Council of Lhasa.
THE PRIME MINISTER OF NEPAL.
In this letter the Nepal Minister said that he had heard from his frontier officers and from newspaper reports that, in the absence of fully-empowered Commissioners from Tibet to deal with the British Commissioners at Khamba Jong, no settlement could be arrived at, and the latter were being unnecessarily detained. This omission to depute Commissioners vested with full authority, and the neglect or failure of the Tibetan Council to bring about a reasonable settlement for so long, compelled him to say that “such unjustifiable conduct” might lead to grave consequences. It was laid down, the Minister said, in the treaty between Nepal and Tibet that Nepal would assist Tibet in the case of the invasion of its territory by any foreign Rajas. Consequently, when a difference of opinion arose between the Tibetans and anyone else, it was incumbent on him to help them to the best of his power with his advice and guidance, in order to prevent any trouble befalling them from such difference of opinion. And the manner in which the Tibetans had managed the present business not appearing commendable, the assistance he would give at this crisis “of their own creation” would consist in giving such advice as would conduce to the welfare of their country. Should they fail to follow his advice and trouble befall them, there would be no other way open to him of assisting them in the troublous solution brought about by following a wayward course of their own. This should be understood well, for the British Government did not appear to him to have acted in an improper or high-handed way in this matter, but was simply striving to have the conditions of the treaty fulfilled, and it was against the treaty and against all morality or policy to allow matters to drift, and to regard as enemies the officers of such a powerful Government who had come to enforce such rights. Besides, when the Emperor of China had, for their good, posted Ambans of high rank, it was a serious mistake on their part to disregard even their advice and neglect to carry on business with the British Commissioners.