iT
12 LH A S A
The points were put upon the i’s of the situation by a
remark of the Amban’s about this time that even if
ambassadors were sent to meet the British at any
point, and even if they succeeded in coming to an agreement,
the Tsong-du would refuse to ratify the treaty.
Of the four Shapes or Kalons, the monk official Te-kang,
the Shata Shape and Sho-kang were the more responsible
and respectable officers; the last, by name
Hor-kang, a man of somewhat weak character, who
had been in office but four months, committed suicide
almost immediately in terror. Their places were taken
by the Ta Lama, as ecclesiastical member, the head of
the house of Yutok, the Tsarong Depen and the Tse-
chung Shape ; none of them, with the exception of the
Yutok Shape, of any social position or strength of mind.
The Ta Lama, whom we repeatedly met at one
time or another, was a gentlemanlike old priest, verging
on his second childhood and incapable of keeping
his attention fixed on any subject for more than a
minute or so at a time. The Yutok Shape was a phlegmatic
fatalist who seemed fully aware of the impossibility
of doing anything for his country with the scanty
authority he possessed. The other two were negligible
quantities and were clearly appointed for the sole
purpose of allowing a freer hand to the Dalai Lama’s
personal eccentricities. With this ramshackle government
the affairs of Tibet w'ere carried on ; every now
and then the Amban, who had already received notice
of his dismissal, tried, in a weak manner, to settle the
matter by a personal appeal to the Grand Lama or the
Tsong-du, but the treatment of the Mission at Kamba
jong is witness enough to the small importance that
was attached to Chinese representations at this period.
YU -K AN G , TH E OLD AMBAN 13
In December 1903 the Shapes, by instruction of the
Dalai Lama, definitely refused transport to the Amban.
This, by preventing his approaching Colonel Young-
husband, was tantamount to an active refusal to allow
China to interfere in any way. It was the last straw |
he angrily demanded that their refusal to obey the
orders of the Chinese Emperor should be set down in
writing. It was probably somewhat to his surprise
the Dalai Lama instantly acquiesced and assumed full
responsibility for the action. Tibet had decided to act
as an independent kingdom, and as soon as the gauntlet
had been thrown down, troops were moved out from
Lhasa along the southern road to Phari. Yu-kang then
rather weakly offered to pay his own transport expenses,
but this was as steadily refused as before. For some time
now the Amban had been unable to obtain an answer from
the Dalai Lama even to questions whollyunconnected with
the dispute with ourselves ; from this moment he was
an insignificant and ultimately a disgraced man.
The arrival of the new Amban, Yu-tai, was about
this time announced from Chyando, and Yu-kang made
his preparations to return. His degradation was no
loss to us. He had been acting upon the confidential
orders of Yung-lu for many years and undoubtedly
supported the Tibetans in their refusal to negotiate with
the English, relying upon assurances received from
Yung-lu that Lhasa would be occupied by Russian
troops in the spring of 1903. This corroborates
Dorjieff’s boast, and our minister in Peking obtained
from Prince Ching an admission that he had heard the
report. Nor when pressed did the Russian minister
in Peking deny that there was a certain rapprochement
‘ on religious grounds ’ ; but Yung-lu’s death shortly