434 



INDIA. 



to two English promoters named Watson and 

 Stewart, who undertook to form a company, 

 primarily to work the coal-mines at Singereni, 

 for which purpose 150,000 shares of capital, 

 one half paid up should be issued. The re- 

 mainder of the 1,000,000 nominal capital was 

 to be issued when new mines were opened 

 or iron-works established, in such amounts as 

 the needs of the company warranted. The 

 East India Deccan Mining Company was in- 

 corporated in London, and the promoters is- 

 sued to themselves the 85,000 reserve 10 

 shares, no part of which was paid up. The 

 Nizam, who expected the company to aid in 

 the material development of his country and 

 the completion of its railroad network, au- 

 thorized his Secretary of the Interior, Abdul 

 Huk, who was in London as his representative 

 at the Queen's Jubilee, to invest in the enter- 

 prise. Abdul Huk, who had privity of the 

 issue of the entire stock, and received a bribe 

 of 150,000, purchased 10,000 shares, bidding 

 the price up to 12 per share. The Nizam, 

 when he learned how the concessionnaires were 

 swindling him and the public, in collusion 

 with his agent, compelled the latter to dis- 

 gorge the bribe, and considered how he could 

 annul the franchise without prejudice to the 

 rights of lona-fide investors. On the motion 

 of Mr. Labouchere, the subject was investigated 

 by a special committee of the House of Com- 

 mons. Sir Salar Jung, who had innocently 

 arranged the purchase of shares in London for 

 the sake of aiding the credit of the company, 

 was soon afterward succeeded as Nawab or 

 Prime Minister by Sir Asman Jah. 



The War in Sikkim. The commercial exploita- 

 tion of Tibet has been discussed by English 

 writers for some years past, especially since 

 the extensive travels in that country of two 

 native Indian officials were published. The 

 tea-planters of Assam are covetous of the 

 Tibetan market, because the refuse of their 

 product is superior to the article supplied at 

 exorbitant prices by a combination of the 

 Lama priests and Chinese merchants to the 

 Tibetans, who would eagerly exchange their 

 excellent wool for tea, of which they are ex- 

 traordinarily fond, although so ill supplied. 

 In 1886 a commercial mission to Lhassa was 

 planned by the Indian Government, and an 

 expedition was organized on a large scale, 

 which was to start fromDarjeeling, under Col- 

 man Macaulay, with an imposing military es- 

 cort. The Tibetans taking alarm, occupied 

 Sikkim, a frontier feudatory state of India, 

 and built a fort at Lingtu to contest the ad- 

 vance of the English expedition from Darjeel- 

 ing to the Jelapla Pass. The commercial mis- 

 sion was therefore abandoned, and the Tib- 

 etans were left in possession of Sikkim, the 

 Eajah of which retired into Tibet, and made 

 common cause with the invaders. A force 

 was sent in 1887 to reassert British sover- 

 eignty, but it was totally inadequate, and re- 

 tired on discovering the true situation. Great 



Britain then made representations to the Chi- 

 nese Government, considering Tibet a tribu- 

 tary state of China. The Chinese disclaimed 

 any sovereignty over Lhassa, except one of a 

 spiritual and ceremonial nature, and denied 

 having rights of any sort over the numerous 

 kingdoms outside of Lhassa. In the treaty 

 concluded with the British Government on the 

 subject of the occupation of Upper Burmah, 

 the Pekin Government promised to exercise its 

 good offices at Lhassa to prepare a favorable 

 reception for a commercial mission if the Eng- 

 lish would defer the expedition till a more fa- 

 vorable time. The Chinese ministers in 1876, 

 when the British Government negotiated with 

 them for an additional article to the conven- 

 tion of Chefoo, explained that their authority 

 over Lhassa was very limited, and that they 

 could do no more than exercise their influence 

 to assist a British mission to enter the country. 

 In 1883, when referring to the visit of an Eng- 

 lish traveler to Yarkand, they declared that 

 they would always issue passports to British 

 subjects to travel in Turkistan, because that 

 was a dominion of the empire, but -were un- 

 able to issue passports for Tibet, which did 

 not belong to the empire, and the Pekin Gov- 

 ernment could not overcome the reluctance of 

 the lamas to admit Europeans. And again, 

 in documents relating to the journey of Mr. 

 Carey in Turkistan and Tibet, they made the 

 same disclaimer of authority in Si-Tsang, or the 

 Lhassa territory. The British have neverthe- 

 less assumed to regard Tibet as a dependency 

 of China, and regard the two Chinese Ambans 

 Residents at Lhassa, as the actual regents of 

 the country. In the beginning of 1888, before 

 taking military measures for the re-establish- 

 ment of British power in Sikkim, the Govern- 

 ment of China was called upon to secure the 

 evacuation of the country by the Tibetans. 

 The Lhassa authorities have heretofore given 

 currency to the fiction that they are subject to 

 the Chinese Emperor's rule, by pretending to 

 have orders from Pekin whenever they refused 

 permission to travelers to enter Tibet from 

 India. The exclusiveness of the Mongol races 

 is exaggerated in the Tibetans, owing to the 

 mountainous nature of their frontiers, the 

 character of their religion, and their dread of 

 an influx of .foreigners to contest with them 

 the scanty food-supply of their infertile land. 

 Formerly the Tibetans received English mis- 

 sions freely, and it is only since they have be- 

 come afraid of British conquest that they re- 

 fuse to allow Europeans to set foot on the other 

 side of the Himalayan passes, although they 

 admit native Indian traders. 



The Indian Government made preparations 

 to expel the Tibetans from Sikkim in August, 

 1887, but the Chinese Government pleaded for 

 delay in order that it might use its influence at 

 Lhassa. The request was granted, and the 15th 

 of March was fixed as the last day of grace for 

 the evacuation of Sikkim. The Rajah of Sik- 

 kim returned from Tibet to Tumlong, his capi- 



