The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-03-18
RUSSIA AND TIBET.


but it doubts the accuracy of the news
1t thinks that Russia has enough on
her hands at the present time to pre-
vent her coming to war with Great
Britain; for there is not the slightest
doubt that were Russia to do as she Is
reported to have threatened, such ac-
ton would promptly be construed by
Britain as an "unfriendly act" and
would mean the whole of the Near
East being plunged into war. This
move of the British through the sacred
country is because the Indian Empire
insists that Tibet shall keep to her
treaties and promises. The British
mission is a peaceful mission. 1t has
no desire to annex country, or to de-
pose the Da1ai-Lama. 1t is true that
If is an armed force of considerable
strength, but that is necessitated by
the fact that it is a wild country and
that it's inhabitants are more than like
Iy to be hostile. To have sent a small
force on such an expedition would have
been sheer madness. The Viceroy of
India is too shrewd a man to make
mistakes of this kind. He knows the
value of a strong hand and the won
derful aid it is to diplomacy. He
knows that cunning must be met with
cunning He knows that the methods
of the West are useless when dealing
with the peoples of Asia. And so, for
the first time for many years, Rus
sian intrigue and Asiatic cunning are
met on their own ground by a strong
man who over-rides the scruples of |
modern civilization and uses their own |
weapons.
This advance into Tibet means an ex-
traordinary thing for the prestige of /
Great Britain and the Empire of India.
It strikes Russia in one of her vital
spots. 1t will make her the laughing
stock of the bazaars and the camp fires.
In 1900 the Grand Lama deliberately
transferred his allegiance to the Car,
who at once became Lord and Guar
dian of the Gifts of Faith,' and, prac-
tically, head of The Buddhist religion.
Russia, however, blundered in this di-
rection. She used her great influence
TO cause Tibet to break her treaties.
She used cunning and lies. Then came
along the cold wisdom and statesman
ship of Lord Curzon, the Viceroy. He
met fraud with force, and with one dex-
ferrous blow--this present advance
made Tibet realize that this great Pow
70 ic+ har- |
1t is so far-reaching a move that it
may end in the Grand Lama transfer
ring his allegiance from the Gear to the
Emperor of India, and thus make Ed
ward VII. the practical head of nearly
the whole of the Buddhist religion. In
brilliant article in the Contemporary
Review Mr.. Alexander U1ar says
1.-THE Lhassa authorities conferred the
supreme Buddhist honor on the Gar
Oh the implicit condition that Russia
would, with more success than China,
defend the territorial integrity and ad-
rninistrative independence of Tibet.
When they have learned-to their
heavy cost-that these things cannot
possibly be guaranteed at the present
time by Russia, they will probably
adopt toward their new Lord of Faith
the same line of conduct that has turn
ed out to the extreme disadvantage of
their former secular protector, the .
Manchu Emperor of China In this
pregnant opinion of Mr. Ular's there is
great truth. The Tibetan people have
always been a weak people. They have
always preferred to lean upon sone-
body rather than trust to themselves,
to live in seclusion and peace, to have !,
one great spiritual head who would
protect them in case of need. They :
forsook the Emperor of China because
he failed them. Now in turn they may
forsake the Car because he has failed
them.
Mr.. Ular argues that Russia's great
est blunder-a blunder by which she
may lose for ever the allegiance of the
Grand Lania-was in not officially an
nouncing her influence at Lhassa and
making Tibet a kind of Afghanistan.
She gained her position by secret de-
vices and intrigue: and having gained
them, kept them secret. When she was
questioned by Britain as to these
rights, she professed that she had no
special interests there. She lacked the
courage to publicly announce her posi-
ton, with the result that Lord Curzon
saw his opportunity. and with states
manIike prescience for which he cannot
be given too much credit sent his mis-
sion into the country of Tibet to en-
force his demands. Russian craft and |
diplomacy in this case overreached it
self. 1t put the viceroy of India in the
position of being able to say, You