government paying any attention to their letters so
long as we were illegally detained.
All this sank deep into the Dewan’s h e a rt: he
answered “ You have spoken truth, and I will submit
it all to the Rajah; ” but at the same time he urged
that there was nothing dishonourable in the imprisonment,
and that the original violence being all a
mistake, it should be overlooked by both parties. We
parted on good terms, and heard shortly after the
second conference that our release was promised and
arranged: when a communication * from Dorjiling
changed their plans, the Dewan conveniently fell sick
on the spot, and we were thrown back again.
In the meantime, however, we were allowed to write
to our friends, and to receive money and food, of which
we stood in great need. I transmitted a private account
of the whole affair to the Governor-General, who was
unfortunately at Bombay, but to whose prompt and
vigorous measures we were finally indebted for our
release. His lordship expedited a despatch to the
Rajah, such as the latter was accustomed to receive
from, Nepal, Bhotan, or Lhassa, and such as alone
commands attention from these half-civilized Indo-
Chinese, who measure power by the firmness of tone
adopted towards th em ; and who, whether in Sikkim,
* I need scarcely say that every step was taken at Dorjiling for our
release that the most anxious solicitude for our safety could suggest; hut
the first communication to the Rajah, though it pointed out the heinous
nature of his offence, was, through a natural fear of exasperating our
captors, couched in very moderate language. The particulars of our
seizure, and the reasons for it, and for our further detention, were unknown
at Doijiling, or a very different line of policy would have been pursued.
Birmah, Siam, Bhotan, or China, have too long been
accustomed to see every article of our treaties com
travened, with no worse consequences than a protest or
threat, which is never carried into execution till some
fatal step calls forth the dormant power of the British
Government.*
The end of the month arrived without bringing any
prospect of our release, whilst we were harassed by
false reports of all kinds. The Dewan went on the
85th to a hot bath, a few hundred feet down the hill ;
he was led past our hut, his burly frame tottering as
if in great weakness, but a more transparent fraud
could not have been practised : he was, in fact, lying
on his oars, pending further négociations. The A ml ah
proposed that Campbell should sign a bond, granting
immunity for all past offences on their part, whilst they
were to withdraw the letter of grievances against him.
The Lamas cast horoscopes for the future, little
presents continually arrived for us, and the Ranee sent
me some tobacco, and to Campbell brown sugar and
Murwa beer. The blacksmiths, who had been ostentatiously
making long knives at the forge hard by,
were dismissed; troops were said to be arriving at
* We forget that all our concessions to these people are interpreted into
weakness ; that they who cannot live on an amicable equality with one
another, cannot he expected to do so with us ; that all our talk of power
and resources are mere boasts to habitual bullies, so long as we do not
exert ourselves in the correction of premeditated insults. No Government
can be more tolerant, more sincerely desirous of peace, and more anxious
to confine its sway within its own limits than that of India, but it can
only continue at peace by demanding respect, and the punctilious enforcement
of even the most trifling terms in the treaties it makes with Indo-
Chinese.