The Opelousas courier., 1904-07-09
The BRITISH IN THIBET.
STRIVE TO MAZE THE NATIVES
Less uNN8eHBoRLY.

STRIVE TO MAZE THE NATIVES
LESS uNN8eHBoRLY.
John Bull Gathering Hay in Thibet
While the Russian @ Fully Occupied
In M.nehur'a-A FflEe" and Sterile
Country. r
John Bull is chucKfhg nightly
these days over the plight of Br'er
Bear in Manchuria, says the New
York World. And while Russian in
luence in waning in the Northeast OF
Asia he is making hay in the centre.
A Decline from Bombay to Picking
would pass through the centre OF
Thibet just where the British "explo-
ration" outfit with 1000 armed guards
is now strolling leisurely toward the
capital. But Declines don't count in
q country with moutains over 10000
feet high. TIE railroads Of the fu-
ture from Asia's teeming east TO west
must pass from Picking to the south
west for 500 mics, gau then thread
the headwaters of the yellow River
into Thibet, and thence into Turke-
stan, following, indeed, exactly the
wagon route from Picking.
Lhassa, the ditry and ill-conditioned
capital Of Thibet, is 1900 miles from
Picking by the long road, which at
times threads the desert; it is only
500 miles from the sea at Calcutta,
and the pass from Darjiling, in British
India, is in summer fairly easy and is
traversed by thousands of traders,
Too many traders, according to thy
belief of the Chinese generals, who
practically rule Thibet. 1t il there
the shoe pfnches. The desire to keep
Thibetan trade to themselves has had
much to do with the Chinese policy Of
exclusion.
It's a tea and opium rivalry. Chi
nese opium is growing into profitable
rivalry with that Of British India, and
the Chinese wish to push its sale in
Thibet and in Chinese Turkestan to
the westward.
With tea the cas- is reversed. Here
it is the Indian and Ceylonese product
that completes with the Chinese. Oar.
jiling, right on the Thibetan border,
is the centre Of the Indian tea dis
trict.
So much for the trade side. Besides
her commanding position in Chinese
trade in Hongkong and at half a doz-
en- treaty ports up the Y~angtsekiang
River, the British are boring a rail
road from Mandalay, in Burmah,
through to the northeast, into Yum
nan and Szechuan. the latter natural.
ly one of the richest provinces In
China. Here again the road south to
q British Indian seaport will be much
shorter than that to Picking or Can
ton.
Russian influence has for the past
few years been stronger in Thibet
than British. The Dalai Lama-the
sea" Lama, as he is called, because
| he never saw the seals the head Of
the Buddhist religion. Personally he
is always a weak boy, who is poison.
ed off as soon as he shows signs Of
strength or Independent thought, when
his is discovered by the
priests through miraculous manifesto
ton in some babe of humble birth
During the long childhood of the new
Lama the court officials do as they
please.
News trickles slowly to Thibet, bui
the story of the Russian defeat should
get there in about two months BY
means Of Chinese officials, not all O
whom love the Bear. The advance O.
Col. Younghusband, the British Com
missioner in Thibet. with his little
bodyguard Of 1000 men, taken in con
nection with the difficulties Of tht
Russians elsewhere, is expected t.
make the court Of the Lama listen tt
reason"
Col. Younghusband dossn't want t.
annex Thibet. That would b equiva
lent to the heinous sin Of "dismem
bering China" No, he just wants t.
overcome the unneighborly exclusive
ness OF the Thibetans and coax then
to DO more chummy and sociable 1ik'
with their nearest neighbors.
The Dalai Lama is the spiritua
head OF 500, 100000 Buddhists in India
China and Japan. A preponderant in
ffuence at his court would be Of vas
political value in all these countries
And then there is the tea and tn
opium.
Religious shrine as it is and the car
ital OF the second in order Of numel
ical strength OF the worlds faiths
Lhassa is a filthy town, and Thibet i
one of the most backward Of countrie
which profess to boast an ancient civ
~ilization and an intellectual life. Chin
is far superior.