166 NATURE'S IDEAL 



miles, and it would have been the height of folly to 

 have stirred up in the Tibetans a lasting animosity. 

 Far more important, then, than securing the actual 

 treaty we regarded securing the permanent good- 

 will ; and when I felt that through the exertion of 

 my Staff and the good behaviour of the troops as 

 well as through my own efforts the goodwill of the 

 Tibetans really had been secured, my satisfaction 

 was profound. 



It was after enduring all these hardships, after 

 running all these risks, and after battling in all these 

 controversies, that this deep satisfaction came upon 

 me. For though at times I felt, as every leader 

 feels in like circumstances, that success must 

 have been due to everyone else besides myself — ^to 

 the backing and firm direction I had received from 

 Government, to the sound advice and help of my 

 Staff, to the bravery and endurance of the troops, 

 without all or any one of which aids success would 

 have been unattainable — ^yet I could not help also 

 feeling that I had often on my own responsibility to 

 make decisions and run risks, and to give advice to 

 Government ; and that if I had erred in my decisions 

 or in the advice I gave or in taking the risks, success 

 most assuredly would not have been achieved, how- 

 ever much support I received from elsewhere. ' I 

 had, therefore, that satisfaction a man naturally 

 feels when his special qualifications and training and 

 the experience he has gained during the best part of 

 his life have proved of acknowledged good to his 

 country. And this was the frame of mind in which I 

 rode out of Lhasa on our march homeward. 



These were the circumstances in which I had the 



