BOKHARA AN ANALOGOUS CASE. 363 



Hastings, reports to his chief that—" Although Tashe- 

 Lama is not intrusted with the actual government of 

 the country, yet his authority and influence appear 

 fully equal to accomplish the views which you entertain 

 in regard to the encouragement of trade. His passports 

 to merchants and travellers are obeyed universally 

 throughout Tibet." ^ 



However that may be, and whatever be the details 

 of any future settlement, Russia has no legitimate 

 grounds whatsoever for interference. The deference 

 which British statesmen have always seemed to find 

 it incumbent on them to pay to Russian susceptibilities 

 constitutes one of the most egregious traditions of the 

 British Foreign Office. When Russia embarked upon a 

 policy of wholesale annexation, and absorbed territory 

 after territory in Central Asia, she did not deem it 

 either expedient or necessary to consult the wishes or 

 the feelings of Great Britain, nor am I aware that she 

 considered it necessary to obtain the permission of this 

 country prior to concluding the treaty of Bokhara of 

 1873. Should Russia feel obliged to raise objections 

 to the appointment at any future time of an English 

 representative at the capital of Tibet, she might with 

 advantage be asked to rehearse article xvi. of the said 

 treaty, which presents a striking analogy : " The Russian 

 Government may in like manner have a permanent 

 representative in Bokhara, who shall be near the person 

 of his Eminence the Amir." There is very little likeli- 

 hood of our ever finding it necessary or desirable to 

 demand from Tibet a fraction of the concessions that 

 Russia upon that occasion demanded and secured from 

 Bokhara ; but even if we did, it is difficult to see how, 

 with the words of that treaty before her, she could 

 manufacture any logical objection to our doing so. 



1 See Markham's ' Tibet.' 



