BATTLING WITH MEN 165 



that I should stand up for the political as against 

 the military, the local as against the international, 

 and the permanent settlement as against the tem- 

 porary arrangement. It was my duty vigorously 

 to battle for this — as it was equally the duty of the 

 military and those responsible for international 

 affairs to battle for their own point of view. And 

 of course I had to submit, after contesting my 

 standpoint, to the decision of those in authority ; 

 though I had to contend for the particular, it was 

 the general which had to prevail. 



In the end a settlement was reached, and in this 

 remote city we had received congratulations from 

 many different people in many different lands. The 

 troops, my staff, and all about me were filled 

 with delight at the- success of our enterprise. 

 Even the Tibetans themselves seemed pleased 

 at the settlement; at any rate, they asked to 

 be taken under our protection. On the morn- 

 ing we left Lhasa the Lama Regent, who in the 

 absence of the Dalai Lama had conducted negotia- 

 tions ,with us, paid us a farewell visit and gave us 

 the impression of genuine goodwill towards us. 

 We and the Tibetans had contended strongly against 

 one another. But it seemed that a way had been 

 found by which good relations between us could be 

 maintained. We had discovered that funda- 

 mentally we were perfectly well-disposed towards 

 each other, and means had been found for compos- 

 ing our differences . Throughout the Mission we 

 had kept before us the supreme importance of 

 securing this goodwill eventually. The Tibetan 

 frontier runs with the Indian frontier for a thousand 



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