It is an interesting reflection for those to make who think that we must necessarily have been the aggressive party, that the far-distant primary cause of all our attempts at intercourse with the Tibetans was an act of aggression, not on our part, not on the part of an ambitious Pro-consul, or some headstrong frontier officer, but of the Bhutanese, neighbours, and then vassals, of the Tibetans, who nearly a century and a half ago committed the first act—an act of aggression—which brought us into relationship with the Tibetans. In the year 1772 they descended into the plains of Bengal and overran Kuch Behar, carried off the Raja as a prisoner, seized his country, and offered such a menace to the British province of Bengal, now only separated from them by a small stream, that when the people of Kuch Behar asked the British Governor for help, he granted their request, and resolved to drive the mountaineers back into their fastnesses. Success attended his efforts, though, as usual, at much sacrifice. We learn that our troops were decimated with disease, and that the malaria proved fatal to Captain Jones, the commander, and many other officers. “One can hardly breathe,” says Bogle, who passed through the country two years later—“frogs, watery insects, and dank air.” And those who have been over that same country since, and seen, if only from a railway train, those deadly swamps, who have felt that suffocating, poisonous atmosphere arising from them, and who have experienced that ghastly, depressing enervation which saps all manhood and all life out of one, can well imagine what those early pioneers must have suffered.

Fortunately there was at the head of affairs the greatest, though the most maligned, of all the Governors-General of India, who was able to turn to profit the advantages accruing from the sacrifices which had been made. Fortunately, too, in those days a Governor-General still had some power and initiative left, and was able, without interminable delays, debates, correspondence, and international considerings, to act decisively and strongly before the psychological moment had passed.

Warren Hastings resisted the aggression of the Bhutanese, and drove them back from the plains of Bengal into their own mountains; but when the Tashi Lama of Tibet interceded on their behalf, he at once not only acceded, but went further, and made a deliberate effort to come into permanent relationship with both the Bhutanese and Tibetans. Nor did he think he would gain lasting results by any fitful effort. He knew well that to achieve anything effort must be long, must be continuous, and must be persistent, and that the results would be small at first, but, accumulating in the long process of years, would eventually amount to what was of value.

The Bhutanese, I have said, when they found themselves being sorely punished for their aggression, appealed to the Tashi Lama of Tibet to intercede for them with the Governor of Bengal; and the Tashi Lama, who was then acting as Regent of Tibet during the infancy of the Dalai Lama, wrote to Warren Hastings a very remarkable letter, which is quoted both by Turner and Markham, and which is especially noteworthy as marking that the intercourse between us and the Tibetans was started by the Tibetans. The Tibetans have stated on many a subsequent occasion to the Government of India, and on innumerable occasions to myself, that they are not permitted to have intercourse with us. But originally, and when they wanted a favour from us, the intercourse was started by themselves, and in a very reasonable, dignified, and neighbourly manner.

The Tashi Lama wrote to Warren Hastings, after various compliments: "Neither to molest nor to persecute is my aim.... But in justice and humanity I am informed you far surpass ... I have been repeatedly informed that you have been engaged in hostilities against the Deb Judhur, to which, it is said, the Deb’s own criminal conduct in committing ravages and other outrages on your frontier has given rise. As he is of a rude and ignorant race (past times are not destitute of instances of the like misconduct which his own avarice tempted him to commit), it is not unlikely that he has now renewed those instances, and the ravages and plunder which he committed on the skirts of the Bengal and Behar provinces have given you provocation to send your avenging army against him. However, his party has been defeated, many of his people have been killed, three forts have been taken from him, he has met with the punishment he deserved, and it is evident as the sun that your army has been victorious, and that, if you had been desirous of it, you might in the space of two days have entirely extirpated him, for he had no power to resist your efforts. But I now take upon me to be his mediator, and to represent to you that, as the said Deb Raja is dependent upon the Dalai Lama ... should you persist in offering further molestation to the Deb Raja’s country, it will irritate both the Lama and all his subjects against you. Therefore, from a regard to our religion and customs, I request you will cease all hostilities against him, and in doing this you will confer the greatest favour and friendship upon me. I have reprimanded the Deb for his past conduct, and I have admonished him to desist from his evil practices in future, and to be submissive to you in all matters. I am persuaded that he will conform to the advice which I have given him, and it will be necessary that you treat him with compassion and clemency. As for my part, I am but a Fakir, and it is the custom of my Sect, with the rosary in our hands, to pray for the welfare of mankind and for the peace and happiness of the inhabitants of this country; and I do now, with my head uncovered, entreat that you may cease all hostilities against the Deb in future."

On receipt of this letter, Warren Hastings laid it before the Board at Calcutta, and informed them that, in reply, he had written to the Tashi Lama, proposing a general treaty of amity and commerce between Bengal and Tibet. The letter of the Lama, he said, had invited us to friendship, and the final arrangement of the disputes on the frontier had rendered the country accessible, without danger either to the persons or effects of travellers. He had, therefore, written for and obtained a passport for a European to proceed to Tibet for the negotiation of the treaty, and he now purposed sending Mr. Bogle, a servant of the Company, well known for his intelligence, assiduity, and exactness in affairs, as well as for the “coolness and moderation of temper which he seems to possess in an eminent degree.” Warren Hastings, with great wisdom and knowledge of Asiatic affairs, adds that he “is far from being sanguine in his hopes of success, but the present occasion appears too favourable for the attempt to be neglected.”

This latter is precisely the point which we who have dealt with Asiatics can appreciate so well—taking the opportunity, striking while the iron is hot, not letting the chance go by, knowing our mind, knowing what we want, and acting decisively when the exact occasion arises. It is hard to do nowadays, with the Provincial Government so subordinate to the Government of India, with the Government of India so governed by the Secretary of State, with Cabinet Ministers telling us that the House of Commons are their masters, and members of the House of Commons saying they are the mouthpieces of their constituents. Nevertheless, the advantages of such a method of conducting affairs must not be forgotten. Decision and rapidity of action are often important factors in the conduct of Asiatic affairs, and may save more trouble than is saved by caution and long deliberation.

Warren Hastings’ policy was, then, not to sit still within his borders, supremely indifferent to what occurred on the other side, and intent upon respecting not merely the independence but also the isolation of his neighbours. It was a forward policy, and combined in a noteworthy manner alertness and deliberation, rapidity and persistency, assertiveness and receptivity. He sought to secure his borders by at once striking when danger threatened, but also by taking infinite pains over long periods of time to promote ordinary neighbourly intercourse with those on the other side. Both qualities are necessary. Spasmodic action unaccompanied by steady, continuous efforts at conciliation produces no less bad results than does plodding conciliation never accompanied by action. It was because Warren Hastings possessed this capacity for instantly seizing an opportunity, because he could and would without hesitation or fear use severity where severity alone would secure enduring harmony, but would yet persistently and with infinite tact, sagacity, and real good-heartedness work for humane and neighbourly relationship with adjoining peoples, that he must be considered the greatest of all the great Governors-General of India.

But to be successful a policy must be embodied in a fitting personality. And to appreciate Warren Hastings’ Tibetan policy we must know something of the agent he chose to carry it into effect. What was the character of the man who was to lead the first Mission ever sent to Tibet? We learn from Markham that he was born in 1746, and had at first been brought up in a business office; but on proceeding to India had been given a post in the Revenue Department. His letters to his father and sisters show him to have been a man of the strongest home feelings, and his conversations with the Tibetans indicate that he was a man of high honour and strict rectitude. Warren Hastings himself not only had a high opinion of his abilities and official aptitude, but also entertained for him a warm personal friendship.

The youth of Warren Hastings’ agent is the first point to note: he was only twenty-eight. Nowadays we use men who are much too old. It is when men are young, when they are still crammed full of energy, when their faculties are alert, that they are most useful and effective. I often doubt whether the experience of maturer age possesses all the advantages which are commonly attributed to it, and whether young men act more rashly or irresponsibly than old men. The former have their whole careers before them, and their reputations to make. They are no more likely, therefore, to act rashly than “old men in a hurry.” Warren Hastings was therefore wise, in my opinion, to choose a young man, and he was equally wise to choose an agent of good breeding and with great natural kindliness of disposition. Asiatics do not mind quickness or hotness of temper, or severity of manner, as long as they can feel that at bottom the man they have to do with has a good, warm, generous heart. He need not wear it on his sleeve, but they will know right enough whether he possesses one or not. And that Warren Hastings’ agent had such a heart his home correspondence, his friendship with Hastings himself, and his eventual dealings with the Tibetans amply testify.

Having determined his policy and selected his agent, Warren Hastings gave him the following instructions,^[1] dated May 13, 1774: "I desire you will proceed to Lhasa.... The design of your mission is to open a mutual and equal communication of trade between the inhabitants of Bhutan [Tibet] and Bengal, and you will be guided by your own judgment in using such means of negotiation as may be most likely to effect this purpose. You will take with you samples, for a trial of such articles of commerce as may be sent from this country.... And you will diligently inform yourself of the manufactures, productions, goods, introduced by the intercourse with other countries, which are to be procured in Bhutan.... The following will be also proper objects of your inquiry: the nature of the roads between the borders of Bengal and Lhasa, and of the country lying between; the communications between Lhasa and the neighbouring countries, their government, revenue, and manners.... The period of your stay must be left to your discretion. I wish you to remain a sufficient time to fulfil the purposes of your deputation, and obtain a complete knowledge of the country and the points referred to your inquiry. If you shall judge that a residence may be usefully established at Lhasa without putting the Company to any expense, but such as may be repaid by the advantages which may be hereafter derived from it, you will take the earliest opportunity to advise me of it; and if you should find it necessary to come away before you receive my orders upon it, you may leave such persons as you shall think fit to remain as your agents till a proper resident can be appointed.... You will draw on me for your charges, and your drafts shall be regularly answered. To these I can fix no limitation, but empower you to act according to your discretion, knowing that I need not recommend to you a strict frugality and economy where the good of the service on which you are commissioned shall not require a deviation from these rules."

Did ever an agent despatched on an important mission receive more satisfactory instructions? The object clearly defined, and the fullest discretion left to him as to the manner of carrying it out. Hastings, having selected the fittest agent to carry out his purpose, leaves everything to his judgment. Whatever would most effectively carry out the main purpose, that the agent was at perfect liberty to do, and time and money were freely at his disposal. “I want the thing done,” says Warren Hastings in effect, “and all you require to get it done you shall have.”

The only equally good instructions I have personally seen issued to an agent were given by Cecil Rhodes in Rhodesia. I travelled up to Fort Salisbury with Major Forbes, whom Rhodes had summoned from a place two months’ journey distant to receive instructions, for he did not believe in letters, but only in personal communication. After dinner Rhodes questioned Forbes most minutely as to his requirements, as to the condition of things, as to the difficulties which were likely to be encountered, and as to his ideas on how those difficulties should be overcome. He said he wanted to know now what Forbes required in order to accomplish the object in view, because he did not wish to see him coming back later on, saying he could have carried it out if only he had had this, that, or the other. Let him therefore say now whatever he required to insure success. All that he asked, and more than he asked, Rhodes gave him, and then despatched him, saying, “Now, I don’t want to hear of you again till I get a telegram saying your job is done.”

These are, of course, ideal methods of conveying instructions to an agent, which it is not always possible for a high official to give. Lord Curzon would, I know, have liked to give similar instructions to me, and, as far as providing money, staff, military support, etc., he did. But, with the closer interconnection of public affairs, public business is now so complicated that it is not, I suppose, possible to leave to an agent the same amount of discretion that Warren Hastings did to Bogle. Still, great results in many fields, and, what is more, great men, have been produced by the use of Warren Hastings’ method of selecting the fittest agent, and then leaving everything in his hands. I do not see that any better results have been obtained by utilizing human agents as mere telephones. If the conduct of affairs has become complicated, that does not appear to be any reason in itself for abandoning the method. It appears only a reason for principals and agents rising to the higher occasion while still pursuing the old successful method. Ease of communication has brought nations more closely together and complicated affairs, but it has also made possible readier personal communication between principal and agent. And therefore there is need not so much for curtailing the discretion of the agent while he is at work as for utilizing the greater facility for personal intercourse now possible. In conversation the agent will be able to impress his principals with whatever local and personal difficulties he has to contend with, and the means required for carrying out their object, and they will be able to impress him with the limits outside which it is impossible to allow him to act. It is a clear certainty that the present tendency to concentrate, not merely control, but also direction, in London, cannot go on for ever. An Empire like ours, immense in size and immensely complicated, cannot be managed in detail from headquarters. The time must come when the House of Commons and the constituencies, overburdened with the great affairs with which they have to deal, will, by the sheer force and weight of circumstances, see the advantages of leaving more to the men on the spot. They will probably insist on agents being more carefully selected. They will require them to keep in much closer personal contact with headquarters. They will expect, too, that politicians who control should already be personally acquainted, or make themselves personally acquainted, with the countries they control. But with these conditions fulfilled they will, it may be hoped, be able to leave more to the men on the spot, removing them relentlessly if they act wrongly, but while they are acting, leaving them to act in their own way.

Bogle, with these free instructions and this ample support, set out from Calcutta in the middle of May, 1774, that is, less than two months from the date of the despatch of the Tashi Lama’s letter from Shigatse, so that Warren Hastings, if he had left ample leisure to his agent to carry out his purpose, had himself acted with the utmost promptitude, even in so important a matter as sending a mission to Lhasa with the possibility of establishing there a permanent resident. Rapidity of communication has not resulted in the rapidity of the transaction of public affairs, and the consideration of despatching a mission to Lhasa nowadays takes as many years as weeks were occupied in the days of Warren Hastings.

During his passage through Bhutan, Bogle found many obstacles placed in his way; but he eventually left the capital in the middle of October, and on the 23rd of that month reached Phari, at the head of the Chumbi Valley, up which we marched to Lhasa 130 years later. Here he was received by two Lhasa officers, and farther on, at Gyantse, where the Mission of 1904 was attacked and besieged for nearly two months, he was entertained by a priest, “an elderly man of polite and pleasant manners,” who sat with him most of the afternoon, and drank “above twenty cups of tea.” Crowds of people appear to have assembled to look at him, but beyond the irksomeness of these attentions he suffered no inconvenience or opposition.

On November 8, 1774, he arrived at the place near Shigatse where the Tashi Lama was at the time in residence. The day following he had an interview with the Lama, and delivered to him a letter and a necklace of pearls from Warren Hastings. This was the first official interview which had ever taken place between a British officer and a Tibetan, and as such is particularly worthy of note.

The Tashi Lama received Bogle^[2] “with a very courteous and smiling countenance,” seated him near him on a high stool covered with a carpet, and spoke to him in Hindustani, of which he had “a moderate knowledge.” After inquiring about Warren Hastings’ health, and Bogle’s journey through Bhutan, he introduced the subject of the war in Behar—that is, the Bhutanese invasion of the plains of Bengal. “I always,” said the Lama, “disapproved of Deb Judhur (the Bhutanese Chief) seizing the Behar Raja (the Raja of Kuch Behar) and going to war with the Fringies (the English); but the Deb considered himself as powerful in arms, and would not listen to my advice. After he was defeated, I wrote to the Governor, who, in ceasing hostilities against the Bhutanese, in consequence of my application, and restoring to them their country, has made me very happy, and has done a very pious action. My servants who went to Calcutta were only little men, and the kind reception they had from the Governor I consider as another mark of friendship.”

Bogle explained that Kuch Behar was separated from the British province of Bengal only by a rivulet; that the Bhutanese from time immemorial had confined themselves to their mountains, and when they visited the low countries it was in an amicable manner, and in order to trade; that when many thousand armed men issued at once from their forests, carried off the Raja of Kuch Behar as prisoner, and seized his country, the Company very justly became alarmed, and concluded that the Bhutanese, encouraged by their successes in Kuch Behar to-day, and undeterred by so slight a boundary as a small stream, might invade the British provinces to-morrow. Bogle continued that Warren Hastings, on the people of Kuch Behar applying to him for assistance, immediately despatched a battalion of sepoys to repel the invaders, but was extremely glad, on receipt of the Tashi Lama’s letter, to suspend hostilities and subsequently to conclude a peace with the Bhutanese and restore them their country. In conclusion, he said that Warren Hastings, being happy to cultivate the friendship of a man whose fame was so well known, and whose character was held in veneration by so many nations, had sent him to the Lama’s presence with the letter and tokens of friendship which he had laid before him.

The Lama said that the Deb Judhur did not manage his country properly, and had been turned out. Bogle replied that the English had no concern with his expulsion; it was brought about by his own people: the Company only wished the Bhutanese to continue in their own country, and not to encroach upon Bengal, or raise disturbances upon its frontier. “The Governor,” said the Lama, “had reason for going to war, but, as I am averse from bloodshed, and the Bhutanese are my vassals, I am glad it is brought to a conclusion.”

The point, then, that it was an act of aggression on the part of a vassal of the Tibetans which was the initial cause of our relationship with the Tibetans; that that act was considered unjustifiable by the then ruler of Tibet, and that our own action was approved of and appreciated by him, is established by this conversation. Except for the unjustifiable aggression of the Bhutanese upon our neighbours, we would never have been brought into conflict with these vassals of Tibet; and but for the intervention of the Tibetan Regent on their behalf, we should not then have thought of any relationship with the Tibetans. The initiation of our intercourse did not rest with us. We were not the interferers. It was the Tibetans themselves who made the first move. This much is clear from the Tashi Lama’s conversation.

We may well pause for a moment to consider the man who had thus first communicated with us. It so happens that he was the most remarkable man Tibet has produced in the last century and a half, and one cannot help thinking that if he had lived longer, and Warren Hastings had remained longer in India, these two able and eminently sensible and conciliatory men would have come to some amicable and neighbourly agreement by which the interrelations of their respective countries might have been peacefully conducted from that time till now.

Bogle says of him that he was about forty years of age, that his disposition was open, candid, and generous, and that the expression of his countenance was smiling and good-humoured. He was extremely merry and entertaining in conversation, and told a pleasant story with a great deal of humour and action. “I endeavoured,” says Bogle, “to find out, in his character, those defects which are inseparable from humanity, but he is so universally beloved that I had no success, and not a man could find it in his heart to speak ill of him.”

The Lama treated Bogle in the most intimate manner. He would walk the room with the strange Englishman, explain to him the pictures, and make remarks upon the colour of his eyes. “For, although,” says Bogle, “venerated as God’s vicegerent through all the eastern countries of Asia, endowed with a portion of omniscience, and with many other Divine attributes, he throws aside, in conversation, all the awful part of his character, accommodates himself to the weakness of mortals, endeavours to make himself loved rather than feared, and behaves with the greatest affability to everybody, particularly to strangers.”

Continuing his conversation on the subject of Behar, the Lama, in subsequent interviews, said that many people had advised him against receiving an Englishman. "I had heard also,"^[3] he said, “much of the power of the Fringies: that the Company was like a great King, and fond of war and conquest; and as my business and that of my people is to pray to God, I was afraid to admit any Fringies into the country. But I have since learned that the Fringies are a fair and a just people.” To this Bogle replied that the Governor was, above all things, desirous of obtaining his friendship and favour, as the character of the English and their good or bad name depended greatly upon his judgment. In return the Lama assured Bogle that his heart was open and well disposed towards the English, and that he wished to have a place on the banks of the Ganges to which he might send his people to pray, and that he intended to write to Warren Hastings about it. This he did, after Bogle’s return, and a piece of land was given him on the banks of the Hooghly branch of the Ganges, opposite Calcutta, and a house and temple were constructed on it by Bogle for the Lama.

The conversation now turned to the question of trade. The Tashi Lama said that, owing to the recent wars in Nepal and Bhutan, trade between Bengal and Tibet was not flourishing, but that, as for himself, he gave encouragement to merchants, and in Tibet they were free and secure. He enumerated the different articles which went from Tibet to Bengal—"gold, musk, cow-tails (yak-tails), and coarse woollen clothes"—but he said the Tibetans were afraid to go to Bengal on account of the heat. In the previous year he had sent four people to worship at Benares, but three had died. In former times great numbers used to resort to Hindustan. The Lamas had temples in Benares, Gaya, and several other places; their priests used to travel thither to study the sacred books and the religion of the Hindus, and after remaining there ten, twenty, or thirty years, return to Tibet and communicate their knowledge to their countrymen; but since the Mohammedan conquest of India the inhabitants of Tibet had had little connection with Bengal or the southern countries.

Bogle assured him that times were now altered, that under the Company in Bengal—and it must be remembered that when he was speaking our rule did not extend beyond Bengal on that side of India—every person’s property was secure, and everyone was at liberty to follow his own religion.

The Lama said he was informed that under the Fringies the country was very quiet, and that he would be ashamed if Bogle were to return with a fruitless errand. He would therefore consult his officers and some men from Lhasa, as well as some of the chief merchants, and after informing them of the Governor’s desire to encourage trade, and of the encouragement and protection which the Company afforded to traders in Bengal, “discuss the most proper method of carrying it on and extending it.”

The following day the Lama told Bogle that he “had written to Lhasa on the subject of opening a free commercial communication between his country and Bengal.” “But,” says Bogle, “although he spoke with all the zeal in the world, I confess I did not much like the thoughts of referring my business to Lhasa, where I was not present, where I was unacquainted, and where I had reason to think the Ministers had entertained no favourable idea of me and my commission.”

Later on, at the request of the Tashi Lama, two deputies from Lhasa came to visit Bogle. They said the English had shown great favour to the Lama and to them by making peace with the Bhutanese and restoring their country. Bogle replied that the English were far from being of that quarrelsome nature which some evil-minded persons represented them to be, and wished not for extent of territories. They were entrusted with the management of Bengal, and only wished it should remain in tranquillity. The war with the Bhutanese was of their own seeking. The deputies might judge whether the Company had not cause for alarm when eight or ten thousand Bhutanese, who had formerly confined themselves to their mountains, poured into the low country, seized the Raja of Kuch Behar, took possession of his territories, and carried their arms to the borders of Bengal. The deputies could judge for themselves whether the Company were not in the right in opposing them. In the course of the war some of the Bhutan territory was taken from them, but was immediately restored at the request of the Tashi Lama, and so far from desiring conquest, the boundaries of Bengal remained the same as formerly.

The Lhasa deputies said the Lama had written to Lhasa about trading, but that the Tibetans were afraid of the heat, and proceeded, therefore, only as far as Phari, where the Bhutanese brought the commodities of Bengal and exchanged them for those of Tibet. This was the ancient custom, and would certainly be observed.

Bogle stated that besides this there was formerly a very extensive trade carried on between Tibet and Bengal; Warren Hastings was desirous of removing existing obstacles, and had sent him to Tibet to represent the matter to the Tashi Lama, and he trusted that the Lhasa authorities would agree to so reasonable a proposal. They answered that Gesub Rimpoche (the Regent at Lhasa) would do everything in his power, but that he and all the country were subject to the Emperor of China.

“This,” says Bogle, “is a stumbling-block which crosses me in all my paths.” And in the paths of how many negotiators since has it not stood as a stumbling-block! The Tibetans are ready to do anything, but they can do nothing without the permission of the Chinese. The Chinese would freely open the whole of Tibet, but the Tibetans themselves are so terribly seclusive. So the same old story goes on year after year, till centuries are beginning to roll by, and the story is still unfinished. When in the Audience Hall of the Dalai Lama’s Palace at Lhasa itself I had obtained the seals of the Dalai Lama, of the Council, of the National Assembly, and of the three great monasteries, to an agreement, and had done all this in the presence of the Chinese Resident, I thought we had at last laid that fiction low for ever. But it seems to be springing up again in all its old exuberance, and showing still perennial vitality.

Bogle, at the request of the Tashi Lama, related to him the substance of his conversation with the Lhasa deputies. The Lama assured him again of the reasonableness of his proposals in regard to trade, but said that, in reply to the letter he had written on the subject, he had received a letter from the Lhasa Regent mentioning his apprehension of giving umbrage to the Chinese. There were, too, disturbances in Nepal and Sikkim which rendered this an improper time to settle anything, but in a year or two he hoped to bring it about. As to the English, the Lhasa Regent had received such accounts as made him suspicious, “and,” added the Tashi Lama, “his heart is confined, and he does not see things in the same view as I do.”

Bogle then hinted at the advisability of the Tibetans coming into some form of alliance with the English so that the influence of the latter might be used to restrain the Gurkhas of Nepal from attacking Tibet and its feudatories. This argument evidently much struck the Lama, who asked if he might write it to the Lhasa Regent. Bogle told him he might, and that he had no doubt that Warren Hastings would be ready to employ his mediation to make the Gurkha Raja desist from his attempts on the territories subject to Lhasa, and that he had reason to think that from the Gurkha Raja’s dread of the English it would be effectual. The Lama said that the Regent’s apprehensions of the English arose not only from himself, but also from his fear of giving offence to the Chinese, to whom Tibet was subject. The Regent wished, therefore, to receive an answer from the Court at Peking.

Bogle contended that Warren Hastings, in his proposals to facilitate trade, was promoting the advantage of Tibet as well as of Bengal; that in former times merchants used to come freely into Tibet; that the Gurkha Raja’s wars and oppressions had prevented their coming for some years past, and he only prayed the Lama to remove the obstacles which these had occasioned. To this the Lama replied that he had no doubt of carrying the point, but that it might require a year or two to do it effectually.

So we see the well-intentioned Tashi Lama held back by the obstructive Lhasa authorities; and this was still more evident at Bogle’s next interview, which was with the Lhasa deputies. They came to pay him a farewell visit, and in the innocence of his heart he made the very simple request that they would convey a letter from him to the Lhasa Regent. Nothing could be more natural than such a request; but, till recently, one might just as well have asked a Tibetan to touch a red-hot poker as to carry a letter from an Englishman. The deputies said that if it contained anything to do with business they could not carry it. “I confess,” says Bogle, “I was much struck with this answer.” Poor man, he might well be! And I was equally struck, 130 years later, when I was formally deputed on a mission to Tibet, with the full consent of the Chinese suzerain, when Tibetans still refused to take a letter from an Englishman. It was only when we were in full march to Lhasa, and but a few miles distant, that they at last consented to so simple a proceeding as receiving a letter, though now they have changed so completely round, that this year the Dalai Lama himself, at Calcutta, appealed to the Viceroy of India “to secure the observance of the right which the Tibetans had of dealing direct with the British.”

Bogle told the Lhasa deputies that he wished to know the grounds of the Regent’s suspicions, but they replied “that much conversation was not the custom of their country,” and wished him a good journey back to Bengal. Bogle endeavoured to get them to listen to him, as he wished to introduce the subject of trade, but it was to no purpose.

“This conversation gave me more concern,” he records, “than any I had in Tibet.” He immediately asked to see the Tashi Lama, and told him “with some warmth,” as he was “a good deal affected,” that he could not help being concerned that the Regent should suspect him of coming into his country to raise disturbances; that God was his witness that he wished the Regent well, and wished the Lama well, and the country well, and that a suspicion of treachery and falsehood he could not bear. The Tashi Lami tried to calm him, and eventually dictated a letter in Tibetan in Bogle’s name to the Lhasa Regent. This letter contained only one sentence of pure business. It simply said: “I request, in the name of the Governor, my master, that you will allow merchants to trade between this country and Bengal.” Not a very aggressive request to make or a very great favour to ask, especially as the Tibetans had begun their intercourse by asking a favour from us. But it was not for a century and a quarter, and not till we had carried our arms to Lhasa itself, that that simple request was answered, although all the time the people and traders of Tibet were only too willing to trade with us.

Why Bogle did not himself go to Lhasa, as he was empowered to do by his instructions, seems strange. The Tashi Lama said that he himself would have been quite willing, but that the Lhasa Regent was very averse, and he dissuaded Bogle, saying that the Regent’s heart was small and suspicious, and he could not promise that he would be able to procure the Regent’s consent.

And now the feeling of suspicion was to be increased by an unfortunate occurrence. The Gurkha Raja of Nepal wrote to both the Tashi Lama and the Lhasa Regent, announcing that he had subdued certain districts. He said he did not wish to quarrel with Tibet, but if they had a mind for war he let them know he was well prepared, and he would desire them to remember he was a Rajput. He wished to establish factories at places upon the Tibetan border, where the merchants of Tibet might purchase the commodities of his country and of Bengal, and he desired the concurrence of the Tibetans. He also further desired the Tibetans "to have no connection with Fringies or Moghuls, and not to allow them into the country, but to follow the ancient custom, which he was resolved likewise to do." A Fringy had come to him upon some business, and was now in his country, but he intended to send him back as soon as possible, and desired the Tibetans to do the same with Bogle.

Thus were Bogle’s difficulties still further increased. And in one respect, at least, we have advanced since his day; for the Mission to Lhasa in 1904, instead of being hampered, was warmly supported by the Nepalese. The Dewan of Nepal wrote strongly to the Lhasa authorities, urging them to reason, and his agent at Lhasa was of the greatest assistance to me in my negotiations with the Tibetans.

Besides China and Nepal thus entering into this Tibetan question, there was also some mention of Russia even so far back as that. The Tashi Lama had already questioned Bogle about the Empress of Russia. He now told Bogle that there was a quarrel between the Russians and the Chinese over some Tartar tribe. The Russians had not yet begun hostilities, but he imagined they would soon go to war about it. Bogle told him that as the Russians were engaged in a very heavy war with the Turks—how far back that other story reaches!—he supposed they would hardly think of entering into another with the Chinese. He said the Russians were a very hardy and warlike people, capable of great efforts, and he doubted whether the Chinese would be able to cope with their troops.

Bogle then had conversations with the Kashmiri traders, who had been sent to him by the Tashi Lama, and who wanted to be allowed to trade with Bengal through Bhutan. They stated the difficulties which the Bhutanese placed in their way, and said that the Chief of Bhutan would soon remove these if the Company would threaten him with war, as after the last war he was in great dread of the English. It is a point which should be specially noted by those who believe that Warren Hastings’ policy was aggressive, that Bogle, in reply to this hint, told the merchants^[4] that he had no power to use such language to the Bhutanese, and that whatever he did with the Raja must be by peaceable and friendly means. The Company had entered into a treaty of peace with them, “which, according to the maxim of the English Government, would ... remain for ever inviolate.”

Tibetan merchants also came, at the Tashi Lama’s request, to see Bogle. They dealt chiefly in tea, some of them to the extent of two or three lakhs of rupees a year—of the then value of £20,000 to £30,000. They said the Lama had advised them to send agents to Bengal, but they were afraid to go into the heat of the plains. They had a tradition that about eight hundred years ago people of Tibet used to go to Bengal, but that eight out of ten died before their return. Bogle told them that if they were afraid of sending their servants thither, the Kashmiri would supply them with what they wanted. They said that formerly wool, broadcloth, etc., used to come through Nepal, but since the wars in Nepal the trade had diminished. They added that people imagined from gold being produced in Tibet that it was extremely rich, but that this was not the case, and if extraordinary quantities of gold were sent to Bengal, the Emperor of China, who was Sovereign of the country, would be displeased.

At his farewell interview Bogle said that Warren Hastings would send letters to the Lama by his own servants, upon which the Lama said: "I wish the Governor will not at present send an Englishman. You know what difficulties I had about your coming into the country, and how I had to struggle with the jealousy of the Gesub Rimpoche (the Regent) and the people at Lhasa. Even now they are uneasy at my having kept you so long. I could wish, therefore, that the Governor would rather send a Hindu. I am in hopes my letter to the Regent will have a good effect in removing his jealousy, and I expect in a year or two that the government of this country will be in the Dalai Lama’s hands, when I will inform the Governor, and he may then send an Englishman to me and to the Dalai Lama."

The Tashi Lama repeated his concern at Bogle’s departure and the satisfaction he had received in being informed of the customs of Europe. He spoke all this, in and with a look very different from the studied compliments of Hindustan. “I never could reconcile myself,” continues Bogle, “to taking a last leave of anybody; and what from the Lama’s pleasant and amiable character, what from the many favours and civilities he had shown me, I could not help being particularly affected. He observed it, and in order to cheer me mentioned his hopes of seeing me again.”

Of Bogle’s own warm-hearted and affectionate feelings to the people of Tibet there can be no question. On the eve of his departure he wrote in a letter to his sister: “Farewell, ye honest and simple people! May ye long enjoy the happiness which is denied to more polished nations; and while they are engaged in the endless pursuits of avarice and ambition, defended by your barren mountains, may ye continue to live in peace and contentment, and know no wants but those of nature.”

At the close of Bogle’s Mission we may review its results. He was sent by Warren Hastings to establish relationship and intercourse of trade with the Tibetans. How far did he succeed in carrying out that object?

It is sufficiently clear that, as regards personal relationship, he was eminently successful, and that was about as much as he could have expected to establish at the start. As we have already seen, Warren Hastings never expected any very striking result from the first communication. He wished to lay the foundation for neighbourly intercourse, and in this much he succeeded. He had had experience enough of Asiatics in other quarters to be aware that they are very naturally suspicious of a European Power, then by some apparently irresistible process gradually expanding over smaller Asiatic peoples. As the instance of the Gurkha Raja’s letter showed, there are few Asiatic rulers who, if they have the power to subdue a weaker neighbour, will not as a perfectly natural course proceed to bring that neighbour under subjection. This is looked upon by most Asiatics as a quite normal and inevitable proceeding. Naturally, therefore, the Tibetans would assume that it would only be a matter of time before the English Governor of Bengal would attack Tibet. He had the power to subdue the country; he would therefore subdue it. In the first instance he would, of course, send up an agent to spy out the land, to see what it was worth, and to find out the best way into it; and such an agent doubtless Bogle was, in their opinion. It was inevitable, therefore, that Bogle should be viewed with suspicion, and that the Tibetans should not, at the first jump off, throw their country freely open to trade. How much wiser, in their opinion, would be the views of some shrewd old counsellor who said: “Keep the English at a distance; don’t let one into our country; stay behind our mountain barrier and have nothing whatever to do with anyone beyond it. This is the ‘ancient custom.’ Do not let us depart from it. Let us be civil to this Bogle now he is here, lest we offend his powerful master, but for God’s sake let us get rid of him as soon as we can, and put every polite difficulty we know of in the way of any other Englishman coming amongst us.”

We can imagine how sound such an opinion would seem to the generality of the old greybeard’s hearers, and how difficult it would be for anyone—even the Tashi Lama—to contend against it. And with such a feeling in existence Bogle could not do more than produce a favourable personal impression, and put in an argument or two, whenever he had the opportunity, to show that there were also some advantages in having relationship with the English, in the hopes that these arguments might gradually sink into the Tibetan mind, and when the opportunity should arise, bring forth fruit. And this much he did most effectively in carrying out the Governor’s policy.