The British expedition has arrived within forty-five miles of Lhasa,
and some of its difficulties seem to be disappearing. The Dalai Lama, indeed, is as determined as ever, the fresh Envoys whom he despatched to Nagartse, some ninety miles from his capital, having insisted that negotiation was im- possible unless the British first retreated to Gyangtse. Lhasa, they said, was too sacred a place for political business. Colonel Younghusband could not, of course, pay any regard to " negotiations " of this kind ; and the little force which accompanies him, less than three thousand men, moves steadily forward. Whether Lhasa can be defended by the monks remains uncertain; but it would appear that the lay population is deserting the Dalai Lama. The troops from the province of KIrtm, in particular, upon whom he relied, have mutinied and dispersed to their homes. It is quits possible that the bitter disgust which a theocratic govern- ment always provokes exists in Tibet, as it did in the Papal States, and that the fall of Lhasa may be followed by a general rising of the Tibetan provinces against the monks. A civil ruler would be much more amenable to political pressure.
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