rs had come to
such a crisis, that prudence obliged us to yield to circumstances, and to
oppose no further resistance, for fear of compromising the Regent, and of
becoming, perhaps, the cause of lamentable dissensions between China and
Thibet. By further opposing this unjust persecution, we might irritate
too vehemently the Chinese, and furnish pretexts for their project of
usurping the Thibetian government. If, on our account, a rupture
unhappily broke out between Lha-Ssa and Peking, we should inevitably be
held responsible for it; we should become odious in the eyes of the
Thibetians, and the introduction of Christianity into these countries
would be encountered hereafter with greater difficulties than ever. We
therefore considered that it would be better to submit, and to accept
with resignation the crown of persecution. Our conduct should prove to
the Thibetians, that at least we had come among them with peaceful
intentions, and that we did not intend to establish ourselves there by
violence.

Another consideration helped to confirm our resolution. It occurred to
us that this very tyranny which the Chinese exercised against us, might
perhaps be the ultimate occasion of our missionaries establishing
themselves in Thibet with security. In our simplicity, we imagined that
the French government would not see with indifference this monstrous
assumption of China, in daring to persecute Christianity and the French
name even among foreign nations, and at a distance of more than a
thousand leagues from Peking. We were persuaded that the representative
of France at Canton could not omit to make emphatic remonstrances to the
Chinese authorities, and that he would obtain just reparation for the
violence with which we had been treated. In thinking thus, we poor and
obscure missionaries were far from wishing to give ourselves, in our own
eyes, the least personal importance; but we do not disguise it, we were
proud in the belief that our position as Frenchmen would be a sufficient
title for our obtaining the protection of the government of our country.

After having maturely considered these points, we proceeded to the
Regent. On learning that we had determined to leave Lha-Ssa, he seemed
sad and embarrassed. He told us he greatly wished he had it in his power
to secure for us a free and tranquil abode in Thibet; but that alone, and
without the support of his sovereign, he had found himself too weak to
resist the tyrann