India and Tibet / A history of the relations which have subsisted between the two countries from the time of Warren Hastings to 1910; with a particular account of the mission to Lhasa of 1904

by Sir Francis Edward Younghusband

The delegates replied that if we went on to Lhasa there was no chance of a settlement being arrived at; that they had come here with the sincere intention of making friendship with us and securing peace, but if we sent troops into the jong they did not see how they could be friends with us; they were the two biggest men in Tibet next to the Dalai Lama, and it was both against their religion and disgusting to them to have soldiers in the same place where they were staying. I said they must, after all, allow that this could not be half so disgusting to them as having their soldiers firing into my camp at Gyantse, while I was asleep, was to me. They continued one after another wrangling and protesting against our occupying the jong. After listening for an hour to their protests, I asked them if they would now care to hear the terms we intended to ask of them. They replied that they could not discuss any terms till we returned to Gyantse. I said I had no wish now to discuss the terms, but merely desired to know if they wanted to be acquainted with them. They continued to protest that they would discuss nothing here, and it was only after considerable fencing that I got them to admit that they had heard the terms from the Tongsa Penlop.

I then said that I wished them to understand that if we were further opposed on the way to Lhasa, or at Lhasa itself, these terms would be made stricter. I said the British Government had no wish to be on any other than friendly terms with Tibet, that we had no intention of remaining in Lhasa any longer than was required to make a settlement, and as soon as a settlement was made we would leave. But I had the Viceroy’s orders to go to Lhasa, and go there I must. I desired, however, to give them most earnest advice and warning. They were the leading men of Tibet, and upon them lay a great responsibility. I was quite prepared on arrival at Lhasa to live on as friendly and peaceable terms with the people as I had at Khamba Jong, and as I had when I first arrived at Gyantse; to pay for everything, and to respect their religious buildings. It rested with them now to decide whether our stay at Lhasa should be of this peaceable nature and of short duration, and whether the settlement should be of the mild nature we at present contemplated, or whether we should have to resort to force, as we had been compelled to do at Gyantse, to impose severer terms, and to prolong our stay.

The delegates listened attentively while I made this exhortation to them, but, after consulting together, replied that even if we did make a settlement at Lhasa, it would be of no use, for in Tibet everything depended on religion, and by the mere fact of our going to Lhasa we should spoil their religion, as no men of other religions were allowed in Lhasa. I asked them if there were no Mohammedans living in Lhasa, and they replied that there were a few, but they were not allowed to practise their religious rites—a sad admission in view of the toleration which the Buddhist religion in reality enjoins. I added that we would not have gone to Lhasa unless we had been absolutely compelled to by their incivility in not meeting us elsewhere; that personally I had already suffered great inconvenience, and would much prefer not to have the further inconvenience of going to Lhasa; but no other resource was now left to us, and my orders from the Viceroy were final.

The Yutok Sha-pé throughout was calm and polite, and at his departure was cordial in his manner. The Ta Lama, though more excited, was not ill-mannered. The Chief Secretary was very much excited throughout, and argumentative and querulous. The whole tone of the delegates showed that they—or, at any rate, the Dalai Lama—had not even yet realized the seriousness of the position. The tone they adopted entirely ignored their serious breaches of international courtesy, and was that of people with a grievance against us and quite ignorant of the fact that we had grievances against them; they were, too, excessively unbusinesslike and impracticable, and I anticipated an infinity of trouble in carrying through a settlement with such men. On the other hand, the disposition and manners of the Yutok Sha-pé gave one more confirmation of the impression I had long formed that the laymen of Tibet were by no means inimical, and that but for the opposition of the monks we might be on extremely friendly terms with them.

Under General Macdonald’s well-thought-out arrangements the occupation of the jong was effected without any mishap or loss of life. Captain O’Connor accompanied the delegates back towards the jong, which, however, they did not again enter, but took up their quarters in the village, while their followers and baggage were sent down to them there. I expressed my regret to the Yutok Sha-pé that at our first meeting I should have had to put him to such inconvenience. But the occupation of the jong was a military necessity. It was a matter of congratulation that it should have been effected without the loss of life on either side.

The following day the Tibetan delegates held another prolonged interview with me, lasting three and a half hours. They made no further mention of the occupation of the jong, but were very insistent that we should not advance to Lhasa. The Yutok Sha-pé was the chief spokesman at first, but during the course of the interview each one repeated separately much the same arguments. They said that in Lhasa there were a great number of monks and many unruly characters, and disturbances might easily arise; to which I replied that I should much regret any such disturbances, and hoped the delegates would do their best to prevent them, for the result could only be the same as the result of the disturbances at Gyantse.

Another argument the delegates used was that, if we went to Lhasa, we should probably find no one there. To this I replied that this would necessitate our waiting until people returned. I reminded them that they lived apart from the rest of the world, and did not understand the customs of international intercourse. To us the fact of their having kept the representative of a great Power waiting for a year to negotiate was a deep insult, which most Powers would resent by making war without giving any further chance for negotiation. But the British Government disliked making war if they could possibly help it. They had therefore commanded me to give the Tibetans one more chance of negotiating, though that chance could only be given at Lhasa itself. Let them make the most of this opportunity.

The delegates replied that they had intended no insult by keeping me waiting a year; it was merely the custom of their country to keep out strangers. “But, anyhow,” they said, “let us forget the past; let us be practical, and look only at the present. Here we are, the leading men in Tibet, ready to negotiate at Gyantse, and make a settlement which will last for a century.”

I replied to the Yutok Sha-pé that I had no doubt that if a sensible man like himself had been sent to me sooner, we might have made up a satisfactory settlement long ago, and there would have been no necessity for us to go through all this inconvenience of advancing through an inhospitable country to Lhasa; but after the many chances which had been given them of negotiating at Gyantse, they could hardly consider it reasonable that we should give them any more. Moreover, the Viceroy had formed the opinion, from the fact of the Ta Lama having told me at Gyantse that he had no authority to evacuate the jong without referring to Lhasa, and from the fact of his running away, that he had not sufficient power to make a settlement. For all these reasons we were compelled to go to Lhasa, though I was ready to negotiate on the way, and we would return directly a settlement was made.

They then made further reference to their religion being spoilt if we went to Lhasa, and I asked them to make more clear to me in what way precisely their religion would be spoilt. I said we were not intolerant of other religions, as they themselves were. They had yesterday told me that, though there were some Mohammedans in Lhasa, yet they were not allowed to practise their religious rites. We had no such feelings towards other religions. On the contrary, we allowed the followers of each to practise their religious observances as they liked.