WE TIBETAN QUESTION.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 495, 28 August 1912, Page 7

WE TIBETAN QUESTION.

Dr. SVEN HEDIN ON RECENT

EVENTS

Dr. Sven Hedin, the famous Central Asian explorer,, has an interest' ing article in the "Contemporary Review" upon the "Policy of the Dalai Lama." Dr. Hedin is qsl authority upon the subject about which he writes. He says :

"The East is a land of surprises. About 2200 years ago both the West and Asia were lost in astonishment at the invasion of Alexander the Gireat, the West at the wonders that came to light in the kingdom of the Achaemenides and in India, Asia at the irresistible strength of the Greeks. Even 170 years ago it must have :omc as an infinite stirprise that the cruel Persian monarch, Nadir Shah, could invade India with success ; but in him the flame, which now is being extinguished for ever, had its last flicker. ENGLAND IN INDIA. "How strange it seems to us that a trading company was able to conquer nearly all India, and that a handful of Englishmen can rule over its three hundred million of inhabitants .' It is a social problem that causes astonishment and admiration in every traveller. "The greatest surprise remained, however —the defeat of mighty Russia, till then invincible in Asia, by an Asiatic nation about which Europe had not troubled herself much so far. We may be quite sure that this surprise is not the last. Thereby I don't mean a distant future, centuries and thousands of years, for if 2200 years hence the learned seek in mouldy documents for information about the Russo-Japanese war, a time will have intervened as full of revolutions, migrations, and wars as the time intervening between the wondrous deeds of Alexander and our own days. No ; I mean that we ourselves shall see in our own times many great surprises in Asia. '"lt is really the outskirts of the great continent that have been the scenes of movements and political catastrophes in later times. During all these centuries Tibet has been lying in the heart of Asi. i, silent and forgotten, like au old mediaeval castle in an inaccessible oeimtty, a hermitage among the mountains." THE CURZON POLICY. Referring to the Briti-jh expedition to Lhasa in 1904, Dr. Hediu continues : "Now that six more jcars have passed we are able from a greater distance, to get a oetter prospective of those events whose scene is laid in the highest mountain ranges of the world. It is easier to criticise than to strike a great blow. Many—among these myself—disapproved of Lord Curzon's Tibetan policy six years ago. Now that all details are known and one can see the action of the great Viceroy in its right milieu, one must recognise that it was a political necessity, brought about by the irresistible course of events. "Several accidental circumstances affected the course of events. If the Japanese war. had not come the upshot might have been different. If the Russian Ambassador in London had not protested, Tibet would not have got off so easily. If the Leader of the Opposition had not become the chief of the new British Cabinet the consequences of Lord Curzon's policy would, probably at least, have been carried out. One surprise after another interfered with the logical development of events.

"England has emerged from this :omplicated tangle without loss of prestige, except in Tibet, and it is only owing to the above-named accidental circumstances that the Lhasa expedition did not yield better results." HAS CHINA BENEFITED ? In Dr. Hedin's opinion the Government has let go the advantages that might have been gained from Lord Curzon's policy. The Doctor remarks :—The Chinese are v the only people who have benefited by the STounghusband expedition. After his return to Lhasa the Dalai Lama did not carry out the obligations he had mtered into at Pekin, and "the Tioetans .had seen for themselves that his promises were worthless and vain." He was altogether deserted by his people. England missed the opportunity. China has taken it.

"The English now play the same part as onlookers as the Chinese did luring Younghusband's expedition. Dnly they have exchanged parts. "Then the English showed great md unswerving energy, while the Chinese, with an impertubable Eastern calm, smiled and did not move a anger. Without breaking any treaties che Chinese are now acting" with admirable energy, and they want—l ascertained this two years ago—to make Tibet a province as dependent Dn the Pekin Government as is Eastjrn Turkestan.

"At present the English sit with 'olded arms, but they have no realon to smile.

"Why do not the English act with energy and force on the frontier of Tibet ? Because an invasion of Tibetan territory means war with China. No English Government will enter upon such an adventure except in the case of extreme necessity. The Chinese know this ; their Japanese instructors know it too ; the German firms that provide them with arms know it. Lord Curson acted at the right moment. Now it is too late, now one must be satisfied with strict neutrality." ,-