A. well-informed correspondent of the Times complains bitterly that the
Mission to Thibet has been abandoned. He maintains that the Chinese were sincere in permitting it, that the Dalai Lama and the older priests were in favour of it, and that resistance came only from the younger priests, or " Kaloo " party, who coerced the Chinese Resident into deceiving his Court, gathered a force on the frontier, and at last invaded Sikkim. They were afraid, he says, that the British would punish them for some oppressions of theirs, and he asks that Mr. Macaulay and his Mission should even now be permitted to start. We doubt the wisdom of the advice. The Thibetans must leave Sikkim, of course, and must pay an indemnity ; but the Mission to Lhassa, would produce nothing equal to its risk. It is clearly the dominant party in Lhassa which is resisting our entry, and the Chinese may not be quite so sincere in desiring it as the writer thinks. If they were, why did the Marquis Tseng hint so very clearly that if Pekin was to abstain from giving trouble in Burmah, the Mission to Thibet must be given up P
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