gested to the shrewder Tibetans that the time had
come finally to take their affairs into their own hands.
China had been of no use to them in their dispute with
India, and to have 1 reincarnated ’ the Dalai Lama at
that moment meant a repetition of the usual opportunity
for the exertion of Chinese influence which would have
been peculiarly inopportune and even disastrous. He
was therefore allowed to survive maturity, but only as
a religious pontiff, the temporal power remaining in
the hands of the regent. But as soon as the treaty
was signed the last vestige of Chinese influence in
Tibet was thrown off by a .coup d’état, in 1895, strangely
resembling that of King Alexander of Servia under
similar circumstances, Tubdan Gyatso declared himself
temporal sovereign as well as religious autocrat,
cast the regent into prison and poisoned him almost
immediately.
Such was the position in 1901. There were at this
time three important men in Lhasa : the Dalai Lama,
Dorjieff and the * Premier ’— the Shata Shape.* The
last of the triumvirate was a man who had been brought
into prominence some years ago by an unfortunate
incident in Darjeeling. The story is well known : a
Tibetan was ducked in the fountain for insolence displayed
by him or by one of his countrymen towards an
Englishwoman in a rickshaw. The man s rudeness
did not, perhaps, justify so drastic a punishment, but
it was not altogether unnatural, and it was our misfortune
rather than our fault that we thus incurred the
perpetual and bitter hatred of the man, who, in the
course of a few years, was destined to become prime
minister of Tibet ; for the victim was no other than
* He is also known as Shaffi Phen-tso Dorje.
the Shata Shape, then exiled and under a temporary
cloud. He never forgot or forgave, and it is not surprising
that when the opportunity presented itself he
flung himself heart and soul into the change of policy
advocated by Dorjieff. Sufficient reference has already
been made to the career of Dorjieff; of the
Dalai Lama, we only know from Chinese sources that
he is a headstrong and somewhat conceited man, not
without strength of character, but intolerant of restraint
in any form. Physically he is a tall and powerfully
built man with unusually oblique eyes.
Opposed to them stood the various representatives
and delegates of the ruling priestly caste, greatly swayed
by the traditional respect and homage which the Grand
Lama’s position inspires in the least dutiful of his subjects,
but stubbornly refusing to depart from their
ancient principles and the policy of seclusion which had
stood Tibet and themselves in good stead for so long.
In all else the Dalai Lama was able to have his way,
but neither the introduction of a Russian protectorate,
nor the presence of Russian representatives in Lhasa,
would the Tsong-du tolerate in' any form whatever, or
for an instant. To neither side were the claims or the
opinions of the Chinese of the slightest moment. The
return of Dorjieff in December with the unofficial understanding
between Russia and Tibet was, therefore, the
inauguration of a difficult period for the Dalai Lama.
The existence of this understanding was a fact that
he could neither openly avow nor, on the other hand,
entirely conceal. The solemn anti-foreigner covenant,
signed by the Tsong-du, was obstinately pleaded by the
opposition and nothing could be done. The Dalai Lama
changed his methods. Not for a moment did he abandon