New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-04-10
ARMED PE1CE MISSIONS.
Continued from page fv-

/ mourn the loss Of their power and of their
| revenues. yet the people of the Forbidden
/ Land" will remember Colonel Younghusband as
the man who delivered them from clerical tyr
/ amy and eXacton. and who first admitted to
/ their mountain Businesses the light of Western
civilization
! 1t Is possible that the British government
might have delayed for some years the dis
/ patch Of Colonel Younghusband's mission to the
/ Grand Lama had it not been ascertained at
/ Calcutta that Russia was endeavoring. through
/ Buriat Buddhist emissaries. to establish
Outstanding with the authorities at Lhassa and
TO secure a foothod in Tibet. which would have
| constituted a source OF danger to the British
possessions in India Moreover. the friendly ad-
vances made by Lord Curzon and those states
men who have preceded him in the office OF
Vlceroy OF India had been treated with SO much
| disdain by the Tibetan government. and had
| been so contemptuously spurned. that English
| prestige among the native princes and people
| OF India subjected to 4 severe strain. the
spectacle presented by England permitting her
self TO be treated with contumely by the Dali
Lama being not precisely calculated to i'm
press the 3OOCOOOOO inhabitants OF Hin
dostan with a very salutary conviction OF
| King Edwards power and might In fact.
both the necessity of maintaining its
prestige within her borders I'm India
and the Importance OF preventing Rus
STA from securing footnoId what Lord
Curzon has graphically described as the 'gla-
cis,'' just beyond the northeastern ramparts OF
Hindostan. len the British government al
| tentative but to dispatch Colonel Younghusband
at this time in order TO ext0rt from the Dali
Lama, much in the same way Commodore
Perry exacted from the Shotgun OF Japan fifty
years ago. treaty opening up the country TO
foreign trade and establishing official and
friendly relations between I-hassa and Calcutta
1t may be added that Tibet Is nominally SUBJ
ject to the suzerainty of the Emperor of China,
who years ago agreed. as far as he was con-
cerned. to permit England to enter Tibet. and
to accord to British subjects there the same
liberties and prerogatives that they enjoyed in
other portions of the Chinese Empire But the
Lhassan government. while II continues TO send
tribute to Picking. thus admitting the suzerainty
of the ruler OF China, has always Until now
fused to give execution to his treaty with Great
Britain the subject Of Tibet. which Will in
consequence remain imperative until the colo
mel comes to some forcible understanding with
the DAB Lama about the matter-presumably 1T
Lhassa-
| 1t is unfortunate that Colonel Younghusband's
mission should have been compelled to resort
TO bloodshed in endeavoring to reach its destina-
| ton. But, inasmuch the Tfbetans not con-
tent with placing every conceivable obstacle
| in the way of the expedition, had at length
1
force, there alternative but to resort to
| arms. Indeed. the latter, according TO the re-
ports, to have been used In self de-
fence, since the first shots fired by
the Tibetans, who quickly succumbed how
ever. to the superior weapons with which
Colonel Younghusband's men equipped.
In fact, the expedition was confronted
by the alternative of either beating an
ignominious retreat, else of fighting in the
same way that Commodore Perry threatened to
do fifty years ago unless his demands for 4
treaty Of friendship were conceded by Japan 1t
is unlikely that the encounter reported in last
weeks cable dispatches will seriously affect the
success of the English mission. On the con-
trary, 1t may prove of assistance to the latter by
impressing the Tibetans with a sense OF the
military power of Western nations which they
have not until now had any opportunity of
quiring. 1t may be remembered that the open
ing up Of Corea to American trade was pre-
coded by an analogous passage Of arms between
the COTean forts and Admiral Rodgers and his
squadron, which involved considerable loss of
life among the natives. while before the West
ern powers were able to establish legations at
Picking. and to inaugurate official and CONNER
cial intercourse with China, many lombard
ments of coast towns well three san
culinary wars took place. during the Of
which both Canton and the capital were capt