Captain O’Connor, Captain Ryder, and Mr. Hayden rode down the Shigatse road to Dongtse and visited its monastery, besides other houses and estates of note in the valley. They found the people everywhere friendly and very different from what they would have been on the north-west frontier, for instance, under similar circumstances. The peasants were ploughing and sowing their fields, and the whole country appeared perfectly contented and quiet.
From the rear, too, came encouraging tidings. I received a letter from the Dharm Raja, of Bhutan, saying that when he heard that his friends had won a victory he was greatly rejoiced, for nowadays England and Bhutan had established a firm friendship, and he hoped that there would always be firm faith and friendship between the English and Bhutanese.
Yet, with all this ease and quiet, there was not the slightest real sign of the business of negotiation being commenced. I had naturally expected that, when the Resident had been specially deputed by the Chinese Government for these negotiations sixteen months previously, I should have found him at Gyantse, or at any rate on his way there, and that, after the Chinese Government had been urging the Tibetans since the previous summer to send a properly empowered delegate, the Resident would have been accompanied by a Tibetan Commissioner capable of negotiating with me. But on April 22 I received a despatch from the Resident, stating, indeed, his intention of arriving at Gyantse before May 12, but giving no news that a proper Tibetan Commissioner had been appointed. He stated that the Lhasa General had been the aggressor in the fight at Guru, that the fault was on the side of the Tibetans, who had disregarded his advice, and he recognized our compassion in having magnanimously released the foolish and ignorant prisoners, cared for the wounded, and shown humane motives of sternness and mercy. He added that the Dalai Lama was now aroused to a sense of our power. But still there was no mention that the transport which the Resident was “insisting on” had been provided, and the appointment of a proper Tibetan Commissioner was still not made. In fact, the Councillors had all been imprisoned by the Dalai Lama, and there were “but few capable Tibetan officials to settle the frontier and other important questions,” which could not, added the Resident, “be disposed of in a peremptory manner.” A few days’ delay would not, therefore, he considered, be out of place.
Three days later he wrote that in this matter of proceeding to meet me he had exhausted himself in talking with the Tibetans, and trusted I would perceive something of the difficult nature of the circumstances. And on April 29 he wrote that he had received a reply from the Dalai Lama about some representations I had made against monks taking part in the fighting, but in this reply not a word was mentioned about his transport or any other matters.
In these circumstances I telegraphed to Government on April 22 that the best way to meet these dilatory tactics was, at the earliest moment by which military preparations could be completed, to move the Mission straight to Lhasa, and carry on the negotiations at the capital, instead of halfway. This, I said, would be the most effective and only permanent way of clinching matters, besides being the cheapest and quickest. Our prestige, I urged, was then at its height, Nepal and Bhutan were with us, the people were not against us, the Tibetan soldiers did not care to fight, the Lamas were stunned. By a decisive move then a permanent settlement could be procured. I added that, in recommending this proposal at so early a stage for the consideration of Government, my object was that the favourable season might be utilized to the full, and that we might not allow the psychological moment to pass without taking advantage of it. Meanwhile, I said, I would receive the Amban, and would ascertain what power to effect a settlement he and the Tibetan representative really possessed.
In making this recommendation I was counting on a collapse of the Lhasa authorities, which seemed to be indicated by the Resident’s statement, by the statement of a Chinese official from Lhasa that Tibetan officers were begging the Resident to intercede, by the fact that the common people even, it was said, at Lhasa did not resent our presence, that there were few troops between Gyantse and Lhasa, and that the Lhasa authorities had been able to produce only 5,000 men to oppose our advance as far as Gyantse.
Whether this collapse would have taken place if we had then set about advancing to Lhasa it is impossible to say. Certainly it did not take place. But this may have been due to the retirement of General Macdonald with the greater part of the force which now took place, in accordance with the plan prearranged between us of leaving the Mission with a good strong escort to conduct negotiations while the bulk of the force remained in support in Chumbi, where supplies were more readily available. This, from a supply point of view, was desirable, and it was in accordance with the policy of Government, but it may have had the effect of re-arousing the Tibetans.
Anyhow, rumours soon began to reach me that Tibetan forces were collecting again. On the 24th came news that they were building walls across the road at the Karo-la (pass) on the way to Lhasa, that camps holding 700 or 800 Tibetans had been established there, that the Dalai Lama was endeavouring to gain time to enlist Tibetans from far and wide to resist a British advance to Lhasa, and that the local soldiers round Gyantse were, under his orders, quietly leaving and proceeding towards Lhasa.
To ascertain the truth of these rumours, Colonel Brander, who was now in command of the Mission escort of 500 men, two guns and two Maxims, and some mounted infantry, on April 28 sent out a reconnaissance party of one company of mounted infantry to the Karo-la; and on May 1 we received news from Captain Hodgson, commanding the party, that he had advanced with his mounted infantry across the pass, and three miles beyond had found the Tibetans in occupation of a wall, some 600 yards long, built across the valley. The Tibetans, estimated at from 1,000 to 1,500 in number, opened a heavy fire on the mounted infantry at about 300 yards’ distance. Our men then retired steadily, firing only a few shots and returned towards Gyantse.
Besides the definite information thus acquired, reports also reached me that other troops were assembling in the Rong Valley, ready to support those on the Lhasa road, and that there was a large gathering, estimated at 4,000, assembled at Shigatse itself, a portion of which was to move up to Dongtse, twelve miles from Gyantse.