apitulate the wars which we have at various
times been compelled to wage in Eastern China. The result of those wars,
those treaties, and that constant inter-communication has been, that
Englishmen have secured a foothold in many of the principal cities, and
that English trade is supreme there. But the relations along the land
frontier are quite the opposite of those obtained on the sea-board, and
they are influenced by entirely different considerations. During the
last century, and for a considerable portion of the present, we were
not, strictly speaking, neighbours of the Chinese; for between the two
empires there intervened a belt of semi-independent states, who
nominally owned allegiance to China. Some of these were Nepaul, Sikhim,
Bhutan and Birma, with its dependency of Assam. It was in the days of
Lord Cornwallis that we first realized the significance of the fact that
Chinese prestige had penetrated south of the Himalaya. The Ghoorka
rulers of Nepaul had, on several occasions, molested the peaceable
Tibetans, and at last had grown so bold, that on one expedition they
advanced as far as Lhasa, which they plundered. At that moment the aged
Keen-Lung was meditating the retirement from public life, which a few
years afterwards, like the Asiatic Charles the Fifth that he was, he
adopted; but, on the news of this insult to his authority, his warlike
spirit fired up, and he vowed that the marauders of Khatmandoo should
dearly pay for their audacity. A large army, of the reputed strength of
70,000 men, was collected, and the Chinese generals advanced by the
Kirong Pass upon the Nepaulese capital. A desperate battle was fought
along this elevated road, resulting in victory to the Chinese. Several
other encounters took place with the same result, and the Ghoorkas were
compelled to sue for terms. The Chinese showed no disposition to stay
their advance, until Lord Cornwallis mediated between the foes, and
peace ensued. Nepaul acknowledged its suzerainty to China, and agreed to
send tribute every five years to Pekin. For more than half a century
this was regularly sent, but during the last thirty years it has been
either discontinued, or has grown irregular. But for us the main point
is, after all, that the Chinese, although yielding to the remonstrance
of Lord Cornwallis, really did so with a bad grace. We had stood between
them and their prey.

But this was not the full extent of the mistake we had actually
committed. We ha