.

In 1901 Lord Curzon was permitted to send a despatch to the Dalai Lama
in which it was pointed out that his Government had consistently defied
and ignored treaty rights; and in view of the continued occupation of
British territory, the destruction of frontier pillars, and the
restrictions imposed on Indian trade, we should be compelled to resort
to more practical measures to enforce the observance of the treaty,
should he remain obstinate in his refusal to enter into friendly
relations. The letter was returned unopened, with the verbal excuse that
the Chinese did not permit him to receive communications from any
foreign Power. Yet so great was our reluctance to resort to military
coercion that we might even at this point have let things drift, and
submitted to the rebuffs of these impossible Tibetans, had not the
Dalai Lama chosen this moment for publicly flaunting his relations with
Russia.

The second[5] Tibetan Mission reached St. Petersburg in June, 1901,
carrying autograph letters and presents to the Czar from the Dalai Lama.
Count Lamsdorff declared that the mission had no political significance
whatever. We were asked to believe that these Lamas travelled many
thousand miles to convey a letter that expressed the hope that the
Russian Foreign Minister was in good health and prosperous, and informed
him that the Dalai Lama was happy to be able to say that he himself
enjoyed excellent health.

[5] A previous mission had been received by the Czar at Livadia in
October, 1900.

It is possible that the mission to St. Petersburg was of a purely
religious character, and that there was no secret understanding at the
time between the Lhasa authorities and Russia. Yet the fact that the
mission was despatched in direct contradiction to the national policy of
isolation that had been respected for over a century, and at a time when
the Tibetans were aware of impending British activity to exact
fulfilment of the treaty obligations so long ignored by them, points to
some secret influence working in Lhasa in favour of Russia, and opposed
to British interests. The process of Russification that has been carried
on with such marked success in Persia and Turkestan, Merv and Bokhara,
was being applied in Tibet. It has long been known to our Intelligence
Department that certain Buriat Lamas, subjects of the Czar, and educated
in Russia, have been acting as intermediaries between Lhasa and St.
Petersburg. The chief of the