India and Tibet: A history of the relations which have subsisted between the two countries from the time of Warren Hastings to 1910; with a particular account of the mission to Lhasa of 1904Younghusband, Francis Edward, Sir
History
India and Tibet: A history of the relations which have subsisted between the two countries from the time of Warren Hastings to 1910; with a particular account of the mission to Lhasa of 1904
Younghusband, Francis Edward, Sir
British -- China -- Tibet Autonomous Region; India -- Foreign relations -- China -- Tibet Autonomous Region; Lhasa (China); Tibet Autonomous Region (China) -- Foreign relations -- India
We may well pause for a moment to consider the man who had thus first
communicated with us. It so happens that he was the most remarkable man
Tibet has produced in the last century and a half, and one cannot help
thinking that if he had lived longer, and Warren Hastings had remained
longer in India, these two able and eminently sensible and conciliatory
men would have come to some amicable and neighbourly agreement by which
the interrelations of their respective countries might have been
peacefully conducted from that time till now.
Bogle says of him that he was about forty years of age, that his
disposition was open, candid, and generous, and that the expression of
his countenance was smiling and good-humoured. He was extremely merry
and entertaining in conversation, and told a pleasant story with a great
deal of humour and action. “I endeavoured,” says Bogle, “to find out, in
his character, those defects which are inseparable from humanity, but he
is so universally beloved that I had no success, and not a man could
find it in his heart to speak ill of him.”
The Lama treated Bogle in the most intimate manner. He would walk the
room with the strange Englishman, explain to him the pictures, and make
remarks upon the colour of his eyes. “For, although,” says Bogle,
“venerated as God’s vicegerent through all the eastern countries of
Asia, endowed with a portion of omniscience, and with many other Divine
attributes, he throws aside, in conversation, all the awful part of his
character, accommodates himself to the weakness of mortals, endeavours
to make himself loved rather than feared, and behaves with the greatest
affability to everybody, particularly to strangers.”
* * * * *
Continuing his conversation on the subject of Behar, the Lama, in
subsequent interviews, said that many people had advised him against
receiving an Englishman. "I had heard also,"[3] he said, “much of the
power of the Fringies: that the Company was like a great King, and fond
of war and conquest; and as my business and that of my people is to pray
to God, I was afraid to admit any Fringies into the country. But I have
since learned that the Fringies are a fair and a just people.” To this
Bogle replied that the Governor was, above all things, desirous of
obtaining his friendship and favour, as the character of the English and
their good or bad name depended greatly upon his judgment. In return the
Lama assured Bogle that his heart was open and well disposed towards the
English, and that he wished to have a place on the banks of the Ganges
to which he might send his people to pray, and that he intended to write
to Warren Hastings about it. This he did, after Bogle’s return, and a
piece of land was given him on the banks of the Hooghly branch of the
Ganges, opposite Calcutta, and a house and temple were constructed on it
by Bogle for the Lama.
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