IXDIA. 



435 



tal, before the close of 1887, bringing with him 

 a large train of Tibetan counselors. A regi- 

 ment of pioneers, with two mountain-guns, 

 was ordered to Sikkim. with the expectation 

 that they would secure possession of the coun- 

 try and frighten away the Tibetans. At their 

 approach the Rajah sent a message expressing 

 a wish to enter into friendly negotiations, and 

 asking for the restoration of the stipend that 

 he received from the Indian Government be- 

 fore he went to Tibet. In conferences with 

 Mr. Paul, deputy-commissioner at Darjeeling, 

 he nevertheless showed an intractable and de- 

 fiant disposition. The Viceroy addressed the 

 lama on the subject of the violation of the 

 Indian frontier, saying that the Indian Govern- 

 ment desired to be on terms of friendship with 

 Tibet ; and the Chinese Government brought 

 pressure to bear at Lhassa to secure the with- 

 drawal of the Tibetan garrison in Sikkim. The 

 advance of the British force of 1,300 men, whose 

 ostensible mission was to repair the road that 

 had been constructed by the Indian Govern- 

 ment through Sikkim, was preceded by an 

 ultimatum demanding the evacuation of Fort 

 Lingtu, on the receipt of which the Tibetans 

 strengthened their garrison. The Viceroy 

 went to Darjeeling to hold a conference with 

 the Rajah of Sikkim. who refused to come. 

 The Chinese Am bans were recalled from I. 

 on account of the failure of his mediation, and 

 others of higher rank were sent, while the 

 Pekin Government requested a further post- 

 ponement of hostile operations to allow time 

 for one more diplomatic effort. To this the 

 English would not accede. The expeditionary 

 force, which was increased to 2,000 men and 

 transformed from a pretended road-mending 

 expedition into a regular field force, command- 

 ed by Col. Graham, halted on the border, and 

 made preparations to march into Sikkim at the 

 expiration of the time set. Meanwhile the 

 Tibetans collected larjre bodies of troops be- 

 yond the Jelapla and Donkyla passes, ready to 

 enter Sikkim if the British advanced. Lingtu 

 is forty miles from Darjeeling and within seven 

 miles of the Jelapla Pass, which is 13,700 feet 

 above the sea-level. There are several passes 

 connecting Sikkim with Tibet, 13,000 to 16,000 

 feet in height. Sikkim is the most insignifi- 

 cant of the Indian dependencies of Great Brit- 

 ain, which has no value except that it com- 

 mands the principal route into Tibet. The 

 road to the Jelapla Pass that the Tibetans 

 seized was built by the British under a treaty 

 made with the Rajah in 1861, giving them the 

 right to make and maintain roads in Sikkim. 

 The relations between the Indian Government 

 and Sikkim began in 181-1. when they entered 

 into an alliance against Xepaul. At the close 

 of the war the Rajah received a large accession 

 of territory, and twenty years later he ceded 

 to the Indian Government the district of Dar- 

 jeeling, which has since become important as 

 a sanitarium and as a tea-growing district. A 

 few years after this the Rajah, in retaliation 



for some act of the British authorities, made a 

 captive of Dr. Joseph Hooker, the botanist, 

 and was compelled by a military expedition to 

 part with a section of his territory. Another 

 expedition in 1860 extorted a treaty granting 

 free trade, protection of foreigners, and the 

 right of road-making. The Rajah is a Bud- 

 dhis.t, owning the authority of the Grand Lama, 

 and when the Macaulay expedition collected 

 on the confines of his territory he retired to 

 Lhassa and submitted the question to his spirit- 

 ual lord to dispose of, and the latter posted a 

 force in Sikkim to meet the invaders. The 

 present area of Sikkim is 1,550 square miles, 

 and the population does not exceed 7,000. 

 The Rajah is sovereign also of a territory in 

 the Chumbi valley across the Himalayas, where 

 he has been accustomed to spend a portion of 

 every year. 



Ct.'l. Graham's force moved forward in two 

 columns on March 17. On the 20th they 

 reached the works at Lingtu under cover of "a 

 fog, and took them with a rush, the Tibetans 

 hastily escaping into the forest. The troops 

 advanced to Rhaderchen, where they were 

 brought to a stand by a Tibetan force firing 

 from a stockade. This was captured on the fol- 

 lowing day. Garrisons were posted at several 

 points, while a Tibetan army mustered in the 

 Chumbi valley, beyond the Jelapla Pass. The 

 Tibetan lamas made an attack on the British 

 at Lingtu. but were severely defeated and pur- 

 sued in all directions. In the middle of April 

 Col. Graham transferred his principal encamp- 

 ment from Padong to Gnatong, which com- 

 mands the Tukola Pass. The Lieutenant-Go^- 

 ernor of Bengal made an unsuccessful attempt 

 to open peace negotiations. On May 23 the 

 Tibetans nearly surprised the camp at Gnatong, 

 and made a heroic effort to capture it, but 

 were repelled after an engagement of three 

 hours, with a loss of one hundred killed, while 

 with their antiquated weapons they inflicted 

 on the British a loss of only three killed and 

 seven wounded. The European troops, who 

 suffered severely from the cold and storms, 

 were ordered to withdraw from Sikkim before 

 the rainy season, being replaced by native 

 troops in the fortified camp that was con- 

 structed at Gnatong. A campaign far away 

 from the base, beyond the snowy mountains, 

 was what the British desired to avoid, for if 

 it were undertaken nothing would solve the 

 difficulty but an expensive war for the occupa- 

 tion of Lhassa and the effective conquest of 

 Tibet. They therefore preferred to remain in 

 the awkward situation in which they had been 

 betrayed, looking to Chinese intervention for 

 an escape from the necessity of keeping a per- 

 manent military guard in the icy passes of the 

 Himalaya^. The Tibetans were as active as 

 the English in the work of fortification, throw- 

 ing a hisrh stone wall across the entire width 

 of~the Jalapla Pass. Soon after the arrival of 

 the new Chinese Residents the authorities at 

 Lhassa sent messengers to Gnatong, but instead 



