Sikkim and the British government. British subjects
were rigorously excluded from Sikkim; every liberal
offer for free trade and intercourse was rejected,
generally with insolence; merchandise was taxed, and
notorious offenders, refugees from the British territories,
were harboured; despatches were detained; and the
Vakeels, or Rajah’s representatives, were chosen for
their overhearing manners and incapacity. The conduct
of the Dewan throughout was Indo-Chinese ;
assuming, arrogant, aggressive, never perpetrating open
violence, hut by petty insults effectually preventing all
good understanding. He was met by neglect or forbearance
on the part of the Calcutta government; and
by patience and passive resistance at Dorjiling. Such
has been our policy in China, Siam, and Burmah,
and in each instance the result has been the same:
our inaction and long-suffering have been taken for
weakness, and our concessions for timidity. Had it
been insisted that the terms of the treaty should he
strictly kept, and had the first act of insolence been
noticed, we should have maintained the best relations
with Sikkim, whose people and rulers (with the
exception of the Dewan and his faction) have proved
themselves friendly throughout, and most anxious for
unrestricted communication.
These political difficulties have not, however, prevented
the rapid increase of Dorjiling; the progress of
which, during the two years I spent in Sikkim, resembled
that of an Australian colony, not only in amount of
building, hut in the accession of native families from
the surrounding countries. There were not a hundred
inhabitants under British protection when the ground
was transferred; there are now four thousand. At the
former period there was no trade whatever; there is
now a very considerable one, in musk, salt, gold-dust,
borax, soda, woollen cloths, and especially in ponies, of
which the Dewan in one year brought on his own
account upwards of fifty into Dorjiling* The trade
has been greatly increased by the annual fair which
Dr. Campbell has established at the foot of the hills,
to which many thousands of natives flock from all
quarters, and which exercises a most beneficial influence
throughout the neighbouring territories. At
this, prizes (in medals, money, and kind) are given for
agricultural implements and produce, stock, &c., by the
originator and a few friends ; a measure attended with
eminent success.
When estimating in a sanatory point of view the value
of any health-station, little reliance can he placed on
the general impressions of invalids, or even of residents;
the opinion of each varies with the nature and state of
his complaint, if ill, or with his idiosyncracy and disposition,
if well. I have seen prejudiced individuals
rapidly recovering, in spite of themselves, and all the
while complaining in unmeasured terms of the climate
of Dorjiling, and abusing it as killing them. There
are others who languish under the heat of the plains at
one season, and the damp at another; and who, though
* The Tibetan pony, though born and bred 10,000 to 14,000 feet above
the sea, is one of the most active and useful animals in the plains of Bengal,
powerful and hardy, and when well trained early, docile, although by
nature vicious and obstinate.