THE VALUE OF THIBET TO ENGLAND. [To THE EDITOR OF
THR " SPEOTATOR."] :Si,—Mr. Archibald Little's letter on "The Value of Thibet to England" in the Spectator of September 17th reopens a ,question which has hardly been before the public since the -collapse of the ill-managed Macaulay mission to Lhassa twelve years ago. But Mr. Little is greatly misinformed as to that mission, of which I was a member. He says : "The
Macaulay mission was despatched to Lhassa, overcame the 'feeble opposition of the Dalai-Lama's force on the SikL.m frontier, and had advanced to within three or four days' march of Lhassa when it was suddenly recalled by the Indian Government.' The facts are quite different. The late Mr. Macaulay, after obtaining his passport in person in Pekin, wasted at least six months in elaborate preparations for
leading an imposing mission to Lhassa, and when at last he was ready to start, which was not till the end of May, 1886, the Thibetana were so frightened lay the rumours, which had magnified our party of about two hundred men and five hundred mules into an army of invasion, that they assembled a force on the frontier to stop us. We never rightly knew whether this ,opposition was inspired by the Chinese, or whether it was got • up by the Lamas, who rule the country with a rod of iron, but the mission never left Darjeeling; and after three months of .delay and negotiation with Pekin, for we hardly entered into .any communication with the Thibetans themselves, the Government agreed to withdraw the mission on the under- .standing that a Commission to define the Burruo-Chinese 'frontier was appointed by the Chinese. This Commission I 'believe has not yet finished its work ; but at the time, though ,much disappointed at missing the chance of seeing a country
which has all my life had the greatest interest for me, I cthought the Government acted wisely, as it is certain that an Embassy constituted as ours was could not have done much good, and would probably have got into serious trouble.
The Thibetans were so much elated by their success that they aetually invaded the protected State of Sikkim, and las.d to be turned out by a military force the next year. This force occupied the Thibetan valley of Chumbi, which would have been an admirable outpost or frontier station if we had held it, but retired very shortly afterwards, for reasons unknown to me ; and our position has ever since been the same as it has been during the whole of this century,—one of absolute non-intercourse with Thibet. I quite agree with Mr. Little that many parts of the Thibetan plateau on the Indian frontier would be a most 'desirable addition to our Indian Empire, and I feel con- -rimed that the Thibetans themselves would welcome any Government that would free them from the grinding 'tyranny of the Lamas; but until we have a Government -which takes very different views of such a question from 'those taken by any recent one, I have no hopes of better relations with, and freer intercourse with the Thibetans. And I feel sure that the very worst way of opening up the .country to trade and promoting an intercourse, which would he most advantageous both to India and to Thibet, would be to adopt Mr. Little's plan of sending a mission of five hundred men to Lhassa. Three men of the right sort, one of whom could ;speak the Thibetan language fluently, would probably succeed in ;getting into friendly communication with the Thibetan Govern- ment, if properly supported from Calcutta, but five hundred -would certainly fail to do anything but bring on a frontier war, which might last for years, and involve us in difficulties
with Nepal and Bhotan.—I am, Sir, &c., H. J. ELWES. Colesborne, Andoversford, R.S.O., Gloucestershire, Sept. 1Sth.
Previous page
