348 A TIBETAN EPISODE. 



revoke their decision, thereby hammering the first 

 nail into the Tibetan coffin of British prestige. 



For a while the question of Tibet was allowed to 

 slumber, but the next move was of a very different 

 nature, consisting of an absolutely uncalled-for act of 

 aggression against British Sikkim on the part of the 

 people of Tibet. The first-fruits of the fatuous action 

 of 1885 had been born. 



Once more did we, by our failure to seize the oppor- 

 tunity thus offered of settling once for all the question 

 of Tibet, lay up for ourselves trouble for the future. 

 India had been invaded, but rather than take prompt 

 action by sending a small force to Lhassa — a proceeding 

 which would have had the desired effect of dispelling 

 the unfortunate illusion, which had become engrafted 

 on the Tibetan mind as a result of our previous in- 

 competency, that Great Britain could be treated with 

 contempt, — we preferred to fall back upon that pro- 

 digious exjDedient for passing time — Chinese diplomacy. 

 The home Government, in fact — as distinguished from 

 Indian statesmen on the spot — continued to be ruled, 

 as Mr Michie remarks, " by influences which were 

 neither military, nor political, nor practical." ^ 



The net result of an incalculable waste of foolscap 

 indulged in by the two countries during the next few 

 years was the Calcutta Convention of 1890, supple- 

 mented by the Sikkim trade convention of 1893. By 

 the Convention of 1890 the boundary of Sikkim and 

 Tibet was decided, the British protectorate over Sikkim 

 was recognised, and British and Chinese joint com- 

 missioners were appointed to draw up arrangements 

 for providing increased facilities for trade, to decide 

 the question of pasturage on the Sikkim side of the 

 frontier, and to determine the method in which official 



^ The Englishman in China. 



