350 A TIBETAN EPISODE. 



in fact, been established. Some merchants visited that 

 place from India during the year for the purpose of 

 trade, but they had to return without doing any busi- 

 ness, as the Tibetans were prohibited by their officials 

 from meeting them." 



So the arrangements of 1890 and 1893 were studi- 

 ously ignored, as indeed was only to be expected, 

 since the people who ignored them were in no way 

 responsible for them, and had never been anything 

 but opposed to them. China, in other words, had 

 stood sponsor for Tibet, and China, however loud her 

 protestations, was in no position to do so, a fact 

 which had not dawned upon the understanding of the 

 negotiators of 1890 and 1893. It came home later, 

 it is true, which is why we are now dealing with 

 Tibet. 



In ,1899 the Government of India summed up the 

 situation as it had been summed up many times be- 

 fore : " No real progress has as yet been made towards 

 the settlement of the frontier, while the stipulations 

 as to trade have been practically inoperative." But 

 there was a healthy sign visible in the same despatch, 

 for the sham of Chinese suzerainty was at length 

 officially laid bare : " We do not desire to conceal 

 from your lordship our opinion that negotiations with 

 the Chinese Resident — although they now have the 

 sanction of long usage, and although the attempts 

 that have so far been made to open direct communi- 

 cation with the Tibetan authorities have resulted in 

 failure — are not likely to be productive of any serious 

 result." The whole question rested on an unsatisfac- 

 tory basis. Applications to Tibet were referred to 

 the Chinese Resident, while applications to the latter 

 were put off on the plea of his inability to put any 

 pressure on Tibet, and there can be few who will not 



