INTRODUCTION. XV 



their coolies in the Duars, or force us to make an expedition into 

 Bhutan to avert such a calamity. 



Turning now to the western member of the East Himalayan 

 group of States, we are struck by a remarkable contrast. Whatever 

 else it may be, the Hindu kingdom of Nepal is certainly not a 

 ■weak Government. Its methods are not exactly our methods, and its 

 ways with political dissenters are exceedingly short. Nevertheless its 

 officers hold regular trials, record evidence, and 

 *^^' administer a rough sort of justice, which seems to 



be on the road to discarding barbarous punishments in the case of 

 offences which are not of a political character. Nepal at any rate is 

 civilised enough for us to have concluded with it an extradition treaty, 

 which on the whole works fairly well ; while in matters of revenue 

 administration it is centuries ahead of Sikhim and Bhutan. Many of 

 the leading men of the country have been educated in our schools; 

 they take a just and intelligent view of Indian politics, and at the 

 present day they are in no way inclined to tmderrate the length of 

 the British arm. From the beginning of the Sikhim difficulty the 

 Katmandu darhar has shown every disposition to make itself service- 

 able to us by communicating information and by warning us of certain 

 manoeuvres, such as poisoning springs, making attacks by night, and 

 constructing booby traps, which are supposed to characterise the art 

 of war as practised in Tibet. It has behaved, in short, in a manner 

 befitting the governing body of a strong State, occupying country 

 which we have no wish to annex, and recognising that its interests are 

 in the main identical with ours. As a buffer between ourselves and 

 the barbarous country beyond, Nepal leaves little to be desired. 



The peculiar position of Sikhim renders it impossible for us to 

 ignore it as we ignore Bhutan, or to treat it on 

 terms of comparative equality as we treat Nepal. 

 Sikhim cannot stand by itself, and if we withdrew our support, it must 

 ultimately fall either to Tibet or to Nepal. But for our treaty obliga- 

 tions the latter consummation would hardly be one to be deej^ly 

 regretted, but it is difficult to see how it could be brought about peace- 

 ably. The Tibetan party would certainly try to hold the country for 

 themselves ; and although the stronger races of Nepal would probably 

 win in the long run, the period of transition would be one of intoler- 

 able anarchy. Once let our hold be relaxed, and Sikhim would 

 become the Alsatia of the Eastern Himalayas, and such a state of 

 things would react most formidably on the security of life and pro- 

 perty in the great European settlement of Darjeeling. Every rood 

 of land in that district that is not expressly reserved by Government 

 for the cultivation of food-crops has already been taken up for tea, 

 and a very large capital has been sunk in its cultivation, which gives 



