D IFFICULTIES seem to be thickening round the Tibetan Expedition. Colonel
Younghushand is in the position of a climber in the Andes or the Himalayas who, as he masters one great acclivity, finds another still higher, of which he had scarcely suspected the existence, rearing itself before him. It is now announced that the Expedition must go on to Lhasa. The British and the Indian Governments had hoped that the ruling powers in the " mysterious city," when once aware that their giant neighbour was in earnest, and that they could not resist the advance of the Envoy, would eagerly ask for terms, would sign any treaty put before them which did not contain clauses interfering with their position in Tibet, and even if they broke it the week after, would retain a salutary convic- tion that "India" was too strong for them, and that they must in future evade rather than defy her commands. Power, however, in the Tibetan capital has passed into un- expectedly strong hands. It was known that the Lamas, actuated by motives impenetrable by Western minds, had recently abandoned their custom of poisoning the Incarnation of Buddha before he had quite ceased to be a child, and that the present Dalai Lama was a grown man nearly thirty years old. It now appears that, aided, perhaps, by some festering discontents within the great lamaseries or monasteries them- selves, his Holiness has taken the reins in his own hands, has removed his four principal Ministers, and—probably under the advice of Dorjieff, the Buriat Lama whom St. Petersburg employs as its agent—has determined to resist the advance of the expedition, which he probably under- rates because it includes so few white men. His means seem to Englishmen ludicrously disproportionate to his object ; but Lhasa knows nothing of the sea, little of the force at the disposal of the great transmarine Powers, and still less of the terrible armour with which modern science has supplied them. So the Grand Lama picks from among the peasantry who reverence him very tall men, the "giants " of the bulletin-makers, who, his advisers doubt- less think, will produce a great impression on their in- feriors in size, arms them with the best weapons he has— big swords, big shields, a proportion of rifles, and a few jingalls, or big bell-mouthed muskets—and orders them to bar the road. His officers execute his plans as well as they can, building thick stone walls and loopholed pounds, _and fighting in defence of them with a sullen Mongolian courage which it is pitiful to read. of, it is so useless. They could, we imagine, stop the invaders if the latter were armed like the Tibetans—at least, the account of the skirmish in which Captain Bethune fell reads very like it —but the moment the Western artillery gets into play their chance is over. Even Mahommedan ghazis cannot stand up to a shower of shells ; and the Tibetans, though they die well and are evidently brave men, have not the rushing courage of the ghazi when he is seeking death. The attack of the 5th inst. on the Mission at Gyangtse, which was dexterously planned, was defeated in this way ; and the small advance guard which carried the "wall with wings" which they found across their path at Karo owed their victory to the European guns as much as to their own daring. Still, though he never succeeds, there is no sign that the Grand Lama, who, we must remember, has been reverenced as a god. all his life, feels himself defeated, or intends to send Envoys of rank, or to permit the Chinese Amba,n, whom he probably regards as a dignified spy, to act as his intermediary. The Mission is still far off, he is possibly assured that it will never have the audacity to threaten Lhasa, and he may have resources still unused in which he has hope. There must be many riding tribes who acknowledge, if not his direct authority, at least his sanctity, and who may be persuaded or bribed to come to his relief. At all events, he sits, like any other Buddha, motionless.
It is, therefore, necessary to advance to Lhasa. It is a most annoying necessity, for reasons we shall explain, but there is hardly an alternative open to us. The Mission cannot stay at Gyangtse for ever, though the surrounding peasantry, who are receiving undreamed-of prices for their supplies, cordially wish it would ; and to retreat with nothing accomplished would make the Indian Government ridiculous, not only in St. Petersburg, which might not matter just now, but in Nepal, whence we recruit our peerless Ghoorkas, in Bhutan, which controls the easiest passes into Tibet, and throughout the tribes who, in their obscure way, hold the Eastern Himalayas. No such policy will be well received in this country ; and in India retreat, even when it is obviously the path of wisdom, is always regarded as a galling humiliation. We are not here, Anglo-Indians think, to suffer humiliation at the hands of the peoples which misuse the broad glacis around the Empire. We are too dependent upon prestige, both Governments will say, and say with undeniable justice, though the saying does not cover the whole situation. We entertain little doubt, therefore, that the expedition will be reinforced, and that it will march on Lhasa, where, after several engagements like that of Karo, it will arrive in safety, having performed a splendid feat of arms, and conquered, or rather defied, an Empire in the clouds.
And then the difficulties may be thicker than ever. The Grand Lama may, of course, be greatly impressed by our visit, may sign the treaty submitted to him, and may give us a gracious permission to depart, with assurance of abundant provision all along the road home. Judging, however, by the obstinacy be has throughout displayed, and remembering the difficulty a theocracy always experiences in acknowledging total defeat, it is much more probable that his Holiness will retreat to some distant monastery, leaving Colonel Younghusband to waste his great ability in conciliation upon officers who will discuss matters with him for any number of months, and then declare that without the Grand Lama's signature they have no authority to arrange anything. What, then, is Colonel Younghusband to do ? He cannot go hunting the Grand Lama through the clouds as we hunted the Mullah through the deserts of Somaliland. That would be too purpose- less a waste of life and treasure. He cannot hold Lhasa for years as " a material guarantee," for it would im- mediately cease to be the capital ; and though General Macdonald would, we doubt not, hold it safely enough, still we do not want to be responsible for a post in the clouds, with no easy connecting link betweei it and India. If we do not make good roads, the outpost at Lhasa will be a perpetual anxiety ; and if we do make them, they may be used by enemies, or, worse still, by the swarms of projectors who the moment they hear that " Tibet is open " will be rushing to ascertain and exploit its reported mineral treasures. If instead of a garrison we leave only an Envoy, he will, if the Grand Lama has fled, be accredited to no accessible person, and will almost cer- tainly be murdered some morning by irritated Lamas, to punish whom we must send a second and more costly expedition. It is a most annoying business ; but we can see no way out of it except to go forward to Lhasa, and there decide, when we have seen, or missed seeing, the Dalai Lama, what next is to be done. Perhaps the English good fortune will attend us even there, and we may dis- cover personages whose influence is sufficient to counter- balance that of the Grand Lama, and even to compel him to be reasonable. Perhaps, too, we may be able to make use of the Teshu Lama, who appears to be friendly, and who, according to the most recent information, is of much higher spiritual authority than the Dalai Lama at Lhasa, whom we have hitherto chosen to regard as the Grand Lama. Fortunately, we have in Colonel Young- husband an Envoy who is a born diplomatist, and not merely a " Political," who knows from previous experience the ramifications of Lamaism, and who is the last man in the world to believe that for the vast Indian Empire " expansion " is an object in itself. He will do what can be done; but still, we wish that his trained energies were being employed upon some less dreary, or, as it may prove, impossible, task.
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