Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1904-05-28
specInl Corrosnondence.

| fRN'lul correspondence,
7 oNDoN, May i5-.As a feat ir
military transport, Hannlbals
famed passage Of the Alps 4.
dwarfed TO insgnAcance by com.
porison with what has been accom-.
plishcd by the little British army
(which under the guise Of a political
and commercial mission, has invaded
the forbidden land OF Tibet In pursuit
OF a DOGGY
Starting from sIligurl, IN the warm
plains below Darjeeling, very little
above sea level. the expedition has
climbed the HlmalayaS by the most
stupendous natural staircase In the
world, despite obstacles that would
nave taxed the ingenuity OF an ex-
perlenced mountain goat, forcing It's
way upward into tho region Of tho
eternal snow and ice' threading lts way
through passes above the clouds, ana
camping IN one place $4,000 feet above
sea level, higher up than the summit OF
Mont Blanc the tallest mountain I'm
Europe Mules failed them, camelt
succumbed, yaks persisted by the thou
sand, but these indomitQble soldiers,
aided by Baltic coolies, pushed forward,
taking With them the guns and the
stores whore no four-footed aninals
could carry them and treading whore
feet Of white men had never trod be-
fore.
The passage OF this British force into
the heretofore inaccessible land OF dark
mystery and fateful fascination con-
sututes the most brilliant and thrilling
achievement " military mountaineering
that history records But for what has
IL peen doneP TO compel a barbarous
people Who urged by some instinct OF
self preservation, have passed an act OF
exclusion against all Europeans TO on
ter into political and trade relations
with the empire--to bring them within
the sphere Of British influence.
WANTED TO BE LET ALONE.
Tibet wants 10 be let alone. And ~
there is one land under the sun where
nature seems TO have safeguarded that
desire It Ia Tibet Fenced round by al
most impenetrabe mountains among
the loftlest ON the globe, this vast pla-
teau, in extent about eight times the
area OF Great Britain. Ia by reason Of
It's great altitude, ranging from 10000
to 1900 feet absolutely devoid OF al
most everything that civilized man can
less wilderness OF dreary stoppes--truly
q forhiddlng az well as a forbidden
land. 1t Is not worth possessing. What
trade could be done by It's wretched In
hahitants would not I'm many years suf-
hce TO defray the cost OF the present
expedition.
The preteXt officially forwarded for
the expedition is the failure Of Tibet to
comply with the treaty obligations Of
1898. Three years prior 10 that Tlbetans
roided the Indian yassal state Of Six
kim, A British force drove them out.
Then followed negotiations. not with
Tibet but with China, which exercises
a su2eralnty over Tibet The result was
come sort Of treaty by which China.
on behalf Of Tibet-Tibet had no say In
the business-agreed that the restrlc.
lions TO trade With India imposed by
Tibet should be relaxed, and new
frontier market opened The Tibetana
paid little heed to the treaty. They
did open new frontier market-on the
top OF an inaccessible hill-and laughed
over their Joke And I'm general they
continued to play the leave-mc-aloue
game I'm the same Old way So things
logged along for many years The IN
dian government recognized that the
matter was not worth fusslng about
Then II was discovered that a Russian
agent Dorgieff. who, being Monaghan
Buddhist was not subject to the opera
tons Of the European exclusion act. had
established himself at Lhassa. Worse
than this, the Dalai Lama, the sacred
yellow Pope Of Tibet, dispatched a mis-
sion 10 ST, Petersburg.
THE BLACK BoGEY.
It was this that brought that black
DOGGY Of India, the Russian bear. into |
the game. Russia and China We're ask |
,d to explain, They replied to the ef- |
feet that the mission to ST. Petersburg |
was intended merely to convey to the |
'far the assurance Of the Dalai Lama's |
consideration. that It was |